A Viper in the Hole (Pokémon)

The Dave · 2024-09-04T11:58:40+00:00

Author's note: This story is planned to receive updates twice a week, generally on Wednesday and Sunday. There is a backlog at time of publishing, so feel free to get invested early, this won't just be a flash in the pan. Keep in mind, I've taken the games, the anime, some theories, fanon and my own thoughts, shaken and stirred to come up with my own variation on the pokéverse, so don't assume that all of your pre-existing knowledge ends up correct. "These Slowpoke are all about equal in strength. They know Tackle, Curse, Growl, Water Gun, Yawn and Confusion. You have one day to catch a pokémon, familiarize yourself with it and show up here for your first battles. Whoever wins, becomes this year's sponsored trainer." Those words had preceded the three most frantic hours in Ran's life. Well, the most frantic hours thus far, at least. He'd taken off like a startled Zubat, jostling for position with the other five kids who'd made it to the penultimate step of the Azalea Gym Sponsorship process. But where they'd all taken off for Ilex Forest, Ran had taken off in the opposite direction, racing towards Route 33 eagerly. He'd been forced to slow down long before getting there of course, with Route 33 being quite a bit further away than he could comfortably sprint. He assumed the others had come to similar conclusions in their own sprints towards Ilex, but with them being closer to each other, they'd likely try and overdo it just to be the first to make it to the forest and get the 'best' chance at a destined encounter. Going towards Ilex made sense, of course. Filled with Bug types, renowned for their fast early growth and relative ease of capturing, they offered an obvious opportunity to the young trainers-to-be. But Ran had discarded that option long ago. After all, it was well-known that in Azalea Town, to get the Gym sponsorship, you'd be loaned a Slowpoke. Slow, part-Psychic Slowpoke. Especially with weak pokémon, type (dis)advantage often proved crucial. With only one pokéball, one loaned Slowpoke and twenty four hours, Ran wasn't willing to risk it. Instead, he was headed towards the grasslands that led to Union Cave. There, most of the usually present pokémon offered better match-ups: Rattata, Pidgey and Spearow's lack of bulk, Geodude's severe weakness to water (if one wandered out from Union Cave) plus Zubat and Ekans' weakness to Confusion. All of them at a disadvantage against Ran's loaner and, just as important, barring Rattata all of them were strong against the Bug types the other three would likely be tying their fates to. As he finally wandered into the Route properly, Ran was barely aware of his own eager grin. He'd capture his destined starter, defeat the other candidates and before the week was through, set out on the road and start his journey. His journey, the well-deserved reward for making it through the Azalea Gym Sponsorship process. There'd been twenty of them at the start and only he, Ran Carr, would be setting out on his journey at the age of twelve without a care in the world. The others would be stuck in Azalea, trying to scrounge together enough funds to give full-time training a real shot. Getting stopped right at the start was, unfortunately, the fate of the vast, unimpressive majority of aspiring pokémon trainers. There was a lot of money to be made as a trainer, but the start-up costs were substantial as well and for inexperienced trainers, it was very easy to run at a loss rather than a profit. Fortunately, as Ran finally wandered off the beaten path and into the tall grass, he could soon put the depressing thoughts of those trainers who had to claw their way up without a sponsorship out of his mind, as he caught a faint rustle in the grass ahead of him. Thumbing the pokéball at his side, Slowpoke materialized in front of him just as, with a rattling sound, two yellow eyes rose up from amongst the grass. "Perfect." Ran muttered, as the Ekans in front of him drew itself up with a threatening hiss. "Slowpoke, use Confusion!" He cried out enthusiastically, as a feeling of rightness settled into his chest. Ekans would do perfectly. "Ekans is unable to battle! Ran Carr is out of pokémon! Bugsy is the winner!" After those words, things became blurry for Ran. Afterwards, he'd have near-total recollection of his first twenty four hours as a pokémon trainer, but, from the moment the referee called out Bugsy's name, it was as if he only caught glimpses. He'd caught Ekans after a tense fight, Slowpoke's trademark slowness making the fight a lot closer than it should have been, but eventually, Ran's lone pokéball had connected with Ekans and successfully captured him. He'd immediately let the snake out of his pokéball and, with eager words and the aid of the Potion he'd been given by the Gym earlier, won Ekans' trust. They'd rushed back to Azalea, turning Slowpoke in to the Pokécenter for proper treatment and getting Ekans' a quick check-up. Part of him had worried about the time not spent training, especially when the Pokécenter Nurse had confirmed that none of the other candidates had been by yet, but the need for Ekans to be at his very best the next day had left him convinced of the necessity of a check-up. Then they'd spent long hours practicing and figuring out just what Ekans could do. With Wrap, Leer, Poison Sting, Bite and Glare all already in Ekans' arsenal, he'd felt great about their chances. Going to sleep, despite his eagerness for the next day, had actually been a breeze, Ekans already coiled up at the foot end of his bed as if it'd always been that way. The next morning, they'd spent a few hours drilling lightly, working hard to make sure Ekans was capable of following Ran's orders swiftly. By the time he'd returned to the Gym, Ekans in his pokéball as to not give his competitors an early edge by giving away what pokémon he'd caught prematurely, he'd been confident about his odds. Confidence which had only increased when two of the other candidates returned without a successful capture. Then his mood had increased further when of the other three remaining competitors, one had been foolish enough to keep his new Ledyba out of its ball. Before the Gym leader had even shown up to announce the match-ups, Ran had already decided how Ekans and he would dismantle the bug. The lots the leader had them draw had been in his favor, as they saw him meeting Ledyba and its underwhelming trainer in the first round. He'd turned his plan into reality, swiftly dismantling them, with Glare freezing the other pokémon in place long enough for Ekans to close the gap, Wrap around the other pokémon and squeeze it relentlessly into submission. It had all been going perfectly. Ekans hadn't taken so much as a scratch and, assuming the other fight was more competitive and both trainers had already used their own allotted Potions, they'd be sailing into the final, decisive fight with the clear advantage. But then… then it happened. Bugsy, as everyone their age had been calling the purple-haired Bug-enthusiast for years, unveiled his own first pokémon. When Ekans materialized on Ran's side of the battlefield, he faced a Scyther on Bugsy's side. Ran had frozen in disbelief for a few seconds, unable to comprehend the sight before him. He couldn't understand how Bugsy had caught a pokémon that had its place in Conference Finals. It shouldn't be possible for someone to go out with a loaner Slowpoke for a day and come back with a Scyther, one of the premier Bug types not just in Johto, but in the world. Yet as the shock had faded, he'd noticed the hints of battle damage on Scyther. There were a few minor marks on its carapace, one of its blades had a visible dent in it and there were traces of soot and char across its body. Whatever fight it had faced in the previous round, it had not come out entirely unscathed, unlike Ekans. For a few moments, hope had flared up once more, as Ran called out an instant order to use Glare when the fight began. Before Ekans had even finished rearing up, however, Scyther had blurred away. They'd changed strategies, Ekans firing out Poison Sting in as wide an arc as he could manage, spraying the battlefield with salvo after salvo of tiny poisonous stingers. Before they could land a single hit however, Scyther had reappeared, hacking away at Ekans with its blades. Ran's starter fought back valiantly, managing to wrap around Scyther's legs, immobilizing the other pokémon. But by then the damage had already been done, Ekans' last gasp attempt at Bite not connecting before pain, shock and blood loss forced the poison type into unconsciousness. The referee ended the match and then his recollection of events became much blurrier. Only a few moments stood out: recalling Ekans, watching Bugsy accept the Gym leader's congratulations, sitting in the Pokécenter numbly despite the nurse's insistence that it'd be at least a day before Ekans would be ready to be discharged again, coming home and seeing his father's cautiously hopeful expression fall. Ran spent the next week in a listless haze, only vaguely processing that Bugsy had set out, Scyther by his side, on the journey that should have been Ran's. Eventually, his father felt that enough time had passed to ask about Ran's failed bid for the sponsorship, which led to a conversation that finally drew Ran out of his rut. "So you made it all the way to the final two?" His father asked, for what had to have been the third time. "Yes," Ran affirmed dully once more, "I passed the initial test, the type simulation, the capture test and the first round of the battle test. But Bugsy caught a Scyther and wiped the floor with me." The first time, his father had muttered in disbelief at the mention of a Scyther, but that reaction didn't rear its head again, the man instead seeming intent to keep the conversation moving. "The Azalea Town Gym has been sponsoring a trainer every year for decades, Ran. Not once, and I mean literally not once, has anyone started out with a Scyther! Any other year, you would probably have won the whole thing!" His father insisted, irking Ran as those words only felt like needless kicks when he was already down. "Yeah but I didn't turn twelve during any of those years, did I? I missed my only shot! What, do you think that me losing because of bad luck makes any of this any better? It doesn't!" Ran shouted, as emotions finally punched through the numb fog that'd been hanging over him for a week. Anger firmly in the driver's seat, he continued, "I did everything right! I studied my ass off to make sure I'd pass the first tests! I made a plan, a good plan! A plan that took into account not just the capture of my starter, but everything all the way to what pokémon the others were likely to have! I did everything right! Telling me that it would have been enough any other year doesn't help me! I'm stuck here!" His father's answer, ever the disciplinarian, was curt, "You will not raise your voice to me again. Understood?" "Y-yes sir." Ran stuttered, his ire dying down quickly in the face of raising his father's far more potent brand. "Good. Now, my point, as it happens, isn't that you were unlucky. It's that you've clearly got the potential to be a real trainer. One who makes a living, a real living, as a battler," His father continued, stern gaze still fixed on his son, "The sponsorship was the sure thing, the guarantee of success. But there are plenty of self-made trainers who succeed without such help, even if it is an uphill battle." Ran hesitated, a bevy of half-formed retorts on the tip of his tongue, but he knew better than to speak out of emotion again. His father had no such compunctions, continuing to think out loud after a moment's pause. "Money will be an issue, that's true enough, but there are ways for you to train that Ekans of yours without bankrupting us. As you're not journeying, your own necessities are something you won't have to worry about. So you'd just need to make enough money to feed Ekans, properly care for him and purchase the equipment and supplies a full-time trainer needs." "You have a handful of free Pokécenter visits a year, so as long as you keep close track of that number and don't overtrain, that's an expense you can avoid. Feeding is something you can cut down on by letting him hunt. It's… not for the faint of heart, but it's how he'd keep himself alive as a wild pokémon in the first place and it's sure to be better for him than the generic cheap chow the Mart has on offer." Ran's father continued to reason out loud, slowly but steadily chipping away at each unspoken objection the boy was yet to give voice to. "The stakes in low-level trainer battles aren't worth the Pokécenter visits, but you could collect apricorns for Kurt and help out at the Charcoal Kiln. If you're willing to put the work in and if you've really got the talent, you might be one of the rare cases to beat the odds." The older man finally finished speaking, looking at his son's stunned expression shrewdly. "Unless you'd prefer moping around and going back to school when the break ends in a week?" One week later, Ran knocked on the front door of Kurt's house, Ekans' pokéball by his side and an eager smile plastered on his face. Working for Kurt and the Kiln was a good start to get some money coming in, with Ran's first week of labor having resulted in his first payday ever. Now that the weekend had arrived and both Kurt and the Kiln were closed, it was time for another and arguably far more important event. His budding partnership with Ekans was developing nicely, the purple poison-type not appearing to hold a grudge over its capture and in fact proving remarkably willing to listen to Ran's commands. He'd already proven his strength in their first training session and by getting them to the sponsorship final. But, in order to take on larger jobs for Kurt and the Kiln, Ekans would need to be stronger. Plus, if he was going to become an unsponsored trainer, his starter would probably have to be strong enough to carry Ran and his team through the first few months of his journey without any major delays, to ensure there'd be enough money coming in to compensate for the increasing costs that came with a growing roster of Pokémon. So, to help his starter get stronger, they'd headed out late on what was otherwise an unremarkable Saturday evening and headed to a secluded clearing near the southern edge of town. Not so far away from civilization as to risk the attention of wild Pokémon, but hidden away enough to realistically expect no disturbances from any curious passersby. Additionally, this place, unlike the 'official' park, unremarkable as that was, wasn't really claimed by anyone in particular, leaving Ran free to take to it with the shovel he'd dragged along from home. It'd taken well over an hour, but he was rather proud of his work. Although Ekans' doubtful hiss, as his gaze swept over the field Ran had tirelessly prepared, was less than encouraging. "Look, I know it's hardly a professional course or anything," Ran admitted begrudgingly, as his starter peered at him in disbelief, "But give it a chance! I did a lot of research and there's a logic behind every last bit of this, alright?" Ekans didn't seem convinced in the least, but a slow, unthreatening wag of his tail, which Ran had quickly learned to differentiate from the far more energetic shaking that was meant to cause Ekans' trademark rattling sound, at least showed the poison-type's willingness to hear him out for now. "Alright, first of all, I've done a lot of research on everything there is to know about your species. The whole reason why we didn't come here any earlier in the day is because you're generally nocturnal, just to give the most obvious example." Ran explained proudly, his enthusiastic explanation undeterred by Ekans' unimpressed eye roll. "Second, Arbok generally favor physical attacks, supplementing a wide range of biting and immobilizing attacks with a number of poison-type projectile attacks. Seeing as you don't really get any natural means to increase your speed, like Quick Attack or Agility, that makes your speed and endurance hugely important. Which is honestly perfect, as speed and endurance are two things we can easily train without needing a Pokécenter to patch you up at the end of the day!" Ran continued, now properly on a roll. Ekans slowly perked up as he spoke, clearly increasingly interested in his trainer's explanation, which further emboldened him. "So that's why I've dug those ditches and pits for you. We'll start out by having you race through the gates and I'll time you as you do so. Hopefully, over time you should get faster at it. Then, I brought this bag of tennis balls. I'll be playing the part of a ranged attacker and you need to make your way across the field to Wrap me up without getting hit," Ekans was clearly fully on board by this point, gaze turning to examine the field far more closely than before, clearly already plotting his eventual approach, which forced Ran to raise his voice slightly to ensure his starter was still listening, "Be gentle though, I'm not as tough as the pokémon you'll be fighting!" Ekans' head bobbed up and down slowly in agreement, his agreeable body language allowing Ran to lower his voice once more as he continued. "Finally, to finish, we'll be picking out a few trees with different trunk sizes. Small to big, you'll Wrap them up and try to squeeze right through them! There's no way we can reliably quantify that to compare it to your future progress, but it's the best thing I can think of for you to work on your core strength. Or that's the goal at least, we'll see if you can actually manage that much already, or if we need to start a bit slower and ramp up gradually." Ran finished kindly, not wanting to discourage Ekans by possibly demanding too much on their first day of real training. The poison-type clearly took offense at the apparent doubt in his abilities however, as Ran was met with a sharp Glare. His muscles locked up instantly, only his fortunately solid footing keeping him from keeling over like a freshly felled tree. By the time his muscles relaxed and he finally managed to look around properly once more, it was to find Ekans impatiently slithering over his feet, lithe purple form covered in dirt and splotches of mud. A brief look towards the field showed the clear signs of Ekans having raced through it at what was likely an impressive pace. Which left only one problem. "You're going to have to go again, I didn't time you." Ran told his starter dryly, only to be met with an aggrieved though thankfully not Glare-empowered look. "Hey, don't look at me!" Ran retorted, "You're the one that paralyzed me!" Ekans' whole body trembled in clear agitation, but Ran merely waved him back towards the track, "Yeah well it's your own fault. Now, go again!"

Thread starter The Dave
Start date Sep 4, 2024
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pokemon action adventure

Created: Sep 4, 2024

Status: Ongoing

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Follow Ran Carr, a teenage trainer setting out on his first journey as a Pokémon trainer, as he sets out from Azalea Town on a quest to acquire Johto's eight badges to participate in the Silver Conference at the end of the league season.

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The Dave

Sep 18, 2024

Disclaimer: These portraits are AI-generated, but for lack of the budget to commission an artist, they give a very decent represenation of how I picture the characters. They are by no means a must, but in the online fiction format, where people tend to read and follow a lot of stories at once, I figure an easy visual aid is a nice tool for those that want it. This post will be edited when new 'major' characters are introduced.