Reborn as Pokèmon, a highly experienced individual sets out on a Journey for fame and fortune. Because if they are going to be two foot tall creature of tightly bound violence for the rest of their current life, they might as well get to enjoy a cocktail on the beach to make up for it.
Pokenya (Youjo Senki/Pokemon)
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Chapter One
The Pokémon Journey, a right of passage for seemingly anyone growing up to go out and see the world. Children given a partner pokémon and sent out on their own into a rather hostile world and made to discover who they are and who they want to be.
A rather harsh tradition, but one so ingrained into the fabric of the local society that it was unthinkable to end it. And, for my purposes, it was the perfect avenue for being able to enjoy the high life.
I had traveled around the region. Or regions, I suppose I should say, as the areas were essentially provinces that shared a land border. Either way, I had traveled around the regions observing everyone carefully, staying in the shadows, learning what I could.
I am not fully aware of how reincarnation works despite having gone through it three times already, but for reasons beyond my understanding I was born in this world as a pokémon. I awoke alone in some sort of cave with a black body, no parental figures. No one to help me, so I left the cave to explore the world I found myself in. I still have yet to come across another pokémon that looks like me, but for now that is immaterial.
I could try to live out a simple life, gathering food, hunkering down in some shelter I craft myself, and generally just try to live a simple life as a wild pokémon, I could allow myself be captured and forced to fight for other's amusement and hope my trainer chooses to live a lifestyle I would appreciate, or I can disguise myself as a human and try to get myself a comfortable life.
I've tried living a life of being paid to dish out violence unto others, and that left me old, tired and full of regrets. I had done a simple life of teaching others and found that far more rewarding as I had no regrets when I was on my deathbed last time. This time, I think going for a celebrity lifestyle could be interesting. Teach a few pokémon how to battle, put on a good show for spectators, and aim for the high life of penthouse suites and tropical vacations.
But to get there, I have to start small, so I am in Pallet Town in a disguise I had put together. A wide brimmed hat and a blanket I found and modified into something resembling robes left me looking a bit witchy. A bit of a holdover from my last life, but I could replace those with something else once I had some cash to visit a clothing store. And to complete my disguise, a mask I had carved from some wood. Really it was more a plank of wood that fit my face with some eye slits I could see out of.
I didn't need to hide myself, the disguise just needed to keep people from realizing I wasn't human. If they thought me odd, that was fine.
The local professor, Professor Oak, would be my way into starting my journey. I would need to first pass a test showing I knew how to care for a pokémon and that while I might be in danger during my journey, that I knew enough to not die in my first week by doing something stupid like running off a cliff or sleeping in the snow in shorts.
There were a couple of unknowns to me however. Unknowns caused by conflicting accounts in my travels. Some talked about already having a pokémon partner when they set out on their journey, while others seemed to have found their partners on the journey.
Regardless of how I was supposed to find a partner Pokémon, I came prepared. In my journeys before deciding on this path of becoming a Pokémon Trainer, I had met a friendly water snake that called herself Yini who decided she wanted to join me in seeing the world and was not afraid of putting in the effort to become a strong fighter with me.
"This is likely going to be a bit boring, so why don't you curl up around me and rest," I told Yini as we stood in the tree line outside of the Professor's lab.
"Ok Yanya," she agreed, wrapping herself around me under the robes. Talking to Pokémon was an interesting experience. I could understand what they were saying despite not using words, which made thinking about how Yini couldn't pronounce her T's headache inducing.
Putting that aside, with her long body wrapped around me, we went up to the doors of the lab and I knocked firmly.
—
With the start of the local childrens' Pokémon Journeys being the next day, Professor Oak was busy preparing for them to arrive the following day for their first pokémon, a starting set of pokéballs, and their pokédex.
There were four children that were supposed to show up, including his grandson and a boy he knew from a rather confusing event in his childhood involving time travel. He did not know how that boy got his Pikachu, but Professor Oak was certain the one he had caught this morning chewing on some wires was the same one and he would need to make sure the right child ended up with it to keep the time loop stable. The other children would be allowed to pick their own starter out of the standard trio.
He was jostled out of his thoughts by a knock on the lab door. He wasn't expecting anyone to stop by and the knock was far too authoritative to be one of his neighbors stopping by for a social call. Getting up he answered the door.
"Hello?" He asked seeing a small, oddly dressed child at his doorstep. A rather fat child too judging by how wide their clothing sat on them.
"Hello," Professor Oak heard, though the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He knew the greeting came from the child, but there was something wrong about how he heard it. "You must be the Professor. I would like to start my Pokémon Journey."
"Yes. I am Professor Oak. Uh, where might your parents be?"
The child shook their head. "Don't have any."
Professor Oak winced. "Oh my. How about you step inside?" he said, opening the door wider and stepping aside.
The child bowed slightly before entering "Thank you."
Professor Oak led the child to a small seating are near a little kitchenette and began busying himself preparing some tea.
"I must say that you came at a bit of an unfortunate time. Tomorrow is the day the local kids are starting their journey, but I only have so many Pokémon to offer new trainers."
The child cocked their head as the tea cup offered to them floated over to them, nearly causing Professor Oak to drop his own cup. A young psychic? And a skilled one at that! "I was not aware you were the one to match trainers and partner pokémon. I actually already have a partner ready to join me."
Professor Oak raised an eyebrow as he took a sip of his tea. "Really? How did you get a pokémon already?"
The child bowed their head to lift their mask to take a drink of the tea, hiding their face from him.
"We met as I made my way here. I had heard you were one of the people that could help someone start their journey and were a highly respected individual."
The child set down their empty tea cup and fixed up their mask before looking back at Professor Oak.
"I can. Have you taken the basic qualification test yet?"
The child shook their head and gave a simple no.
"Ok. It is a rather simple test to make sure you are ready for the responsibility of being a Pokémon Trainer."
"I am aware. I believe it will not be an issue for me."
Professor Oak leaned back in his seat and looked the child over. Judging by their height, they should be about six or seven. Young for a pokémon journey as ten was more the typical age to start, though there are always a few indulgent parents that let their youngsters start early. From his memories, the ones that start very early usually end up giving up quickly before returning home and are often very immature, but the child in front of him was acting very mature for their age so far.
"Alright, I suppose I can give you the test," Professor Oak said, getting up to grab a copy of the test.
The child's hand appeared to be black, but that must have just been some sort of glove, as they grabbed the pencil to start the test.
—
After an hour, Professor Oak was grading the test and finding that while the child had some difficulties with some aspects of being a pokémon trainer, namely the admittedly complex relation of type advantages, they were very thorough in describing how to care for pokémon and camping out in the wilderness.
Overall, he could find no reason to stop her from going on the journey until she was a bit older. This Tanya as she put as her name seemed to be ready for the trials that were to come. Professor Oak sighed to himself, knowing that the Pokémon Journey was a coming of age trial, but to have one so young attempting to prove they were ready just made him feel so old.
For now though, he simply began preparing a few pokéballs and a pokédex for her to pick up the next day.
Tanya, no family name given.
Gender: Female
Age: 10?
She believed herself to be 10? She had a birth date listed on the form he gave her to fill out that put her as a really small ten year old.
Hometown: Pallet Town.
Professor Oak sighed again. She clearly had no real home and just filled out something for the form.
Pulling out a piece of paper, Professor Oak wrote a note that he stuck among the items he had prepped for her. He wouldn't stop her from pursuing her journey as it was important for any child to experience the world, but he could offer her an opportunity to come work for him if she ever decided to quit. At the very least she would have a roof over her head and warm meals in her belly if she decided to take him up on the offer.
Looking over his work one last time, Professor Oak decided everything was ready for the next day and headed into the back of the lab to his small home to turn in for the night.
—
The next morning started bright and early for myself and Yini. We had made camp just within the treeline and had a meal of berries we found nearby. Making our way to the lab, I knocked on the door and was soon greeted by the professor.
"Oh, Tanya. You are early," Professor Oak said with a smile.
"I hope it is not a problem, sir," I say, giving him a slight bow.
"I suppose it is not, though you will miss the town send off," he said before stepping into the lab, allowing me to follow him in.
"That is fine. I don't think I would like the attention," I said calmly. I may be looking to be on the path of getting a lot of attention, but if I was to be accepted as a trainer of pokémon while being a pokémon myself, I would need to already be viewed as strong enough to not be worth the effort of stopping. The gym circuit was apparently a good way to prove one's abilities as a trainer.
"Does it have anything to do with why you dress like that?" Professor Oak asked softly.
"Skin condition," I answered.
"Oh dear," Professor Oak said. "I suppose I can understand why you might be uncomfortable about being here for the celebration then."
I was led to an area of the lab and Professor Oak picked up a tray with several pokéballs on it and a little red device.
"Well, Tanya, here is your pokédex and some balls to get you started. You said you already have a partner, do you need a ball for them as well?"
I nodded my head as I pocketed the balls into a little bag I had under my robes, along with my dex. I would need to examine them later, but for now I needed to focus on the situation at hand.
"Alright, let me get you another ball then," Professor Oak said, opening a drawer under where he still had four trays setup. Pulling out a ball he clicked the button to expand it and handed it to me. "Where is your partner currently at, if I may ask?"
"Here," I said and gave a sharp whistle to wake up Yini. With a light thunk, she dropped off of me and slithered out from under my robe.
"Oh my!" Professor Oak said, eyes going wide in surprise as I help out the ball for Yini to get into it.
"Ok Yini, time for me to officially become a trainer."
"Will we ge' 'o bayle o'hers soon yen?" Yini asked with a smile. I simply nodded. She may look adorable and could be rather sweet, but in her heart was a true battle maniac. And I would accept no less than that in my team. It was cruel to force those who did not wish to battle into fights.
Pokéballs were a rather fascinating bit of technology as they seemed to know just what the person holding them wanted them to do, so it was with barely a thought it opened up and turned Yini into a red light that entered the device. Advanced technology, nearly indistinguishable from magic.
"With a pokémon like that as your starter, I will be expecting to hear great things from you," Professor Oak said before getting on one knee and placing a hand on my shoulder. "With that said, do try and keep in touch. I know we just met, but I am worried that you may be jumping into this a bit early."
"Thank you for your concern, Professor, but I will be fine," I responded.
"As that may be," he said, reaching into his pocket and taking out his wallet. "Don't tell the others about this, but since you are going on your journey without any parents to have helped prepare you, it is the least I can do to help you out."
The kindness and generosity on display reminded me of another Professor I had, long ago in my last life. Even if it was only a little bit of cash, it was still far beyond what I expected.
"Thank you sir. I will put this to good use."
"I'm sure you will," Professor Oak said, before looking at a clock hanging on the wall. "You best be going now if you want to avoid the crowds."
With that, I headed out the lab and into the first day of being a Pokémon Trainer. A bright day hopefully being a sign of a bright future for me.
—
I can hear a crowd gathering near the lab as I leave Pallet Town and get to the edge of Route 1. There is no reason for me to look back as while officially it is my hometown, I did not grow up there. I had no real attachment to the town. I have not really had a home in this life as I traveled.
I awoke inside a shrine in a cave high up in the mountains. I suppose it could be said I was born there, though I wasn't even sure I was born. From what I have gathered, Pokemon are hatched from eggs. All of them. In my previous lives, live births were fairly common for animals as far as I was aware, but this was a very different world. Regardless, I do not recall there being any eggshells near me when I woke up that first time.
Shaking my head as I enter the wooded path, I send out Yini.
"Ok, let us see what this Pokedex has to say about you," I said to my companion, opening up the red device and pointing it towards Yini.
"Dratini, the dragon pokemon," the device spoke out in a cheery male voice. "This mythical Pokemon has only recently been proven to exist."
"Huh, dratini," I mutter as I look over the information on the screen, which provides much more in-depth information on dratini. Resists the basic elemental attacks, weak against ice, dragon, and fairy-powered attacks. There was also a chart showing different measurements corresponding to different attributes such as health and defense, but the meaning behind the chart was lost on me for now as I had no comparison point to determine what was good or bad.
"Looks like you are a dragon," I said, giving Yini a pet on the head.
"Yep," she agreed, closing her eyes and smiling as she leaned into the petting.
"Well, let's see what I am."
Turning the device towards me, I let it scan me. "There is no data. There are still Pokémon yet to be identified," it cheerfully said. Well, that is disappointing, but not entirely unexpected.
"How sad," Yini said, frowning before wrapping around me in a snakey version of a hug.
"It is fine, we'll figure it out eventually," I said with a shrug before moving on. "More important than that is we should try to find someone else to join us and begin to train them into being able to work with us."
"Righ'," Yini agreed with a nod before unwrapping and joining me in exploring the forest.
It had been fortunate for me to find Yini before becoming a trainer myself and her wanting to become strong as well as to see the human world. She was a bit of a troublemaker for her community when I had met her, but as we traveled and trained together, I managed to get her to focus more and calm down significantly.
All the other Pokémon we had come across have been far less willing to travel randomly in some vague hope of one of them being able to pass themself off as human enough to become a trainer.
A fair concern, all things considered. That I had managed it so far could only really be attributed to my experiences in being human for about two centuries all told.
"Dish!" A voice rang out angrily.
Turning, I saw a bulb plant creature near the side of the road, glaring at the pair of us. With the leaves on the top of its… head-body, it was about half my height.
"Hm? Something wrong?" I ask the creature.
"Dish. Oddish odd. Dish!"
A good amount of Pokémon I could understand easily. But that wasn't every Pokémon. Here, facing this plant Pokémon, I was only getting rough conceptual information. The creature wanted to fight.
I snorted. A battle maniac of a Pokémon was exactly who I was looking for. Someone up for a tussle and always seeking greater challenges.
"Alright. Impress me," I say, sweeping a leg back and readying a fighting stance.
"Odd?" It seemed confused that I was the one going to be its opponent.
"Can't be a good trainer if I'm not ready to fight with you," I say before rushing in, gathering energy into my fist.
I could feel the magic that infused this world far easier than either of my past two lives, though it behaved in very different ways. Here it felt more wild with different… 'flavors' of magic available to tap into.
I did not know how many there were yet, but I suspected the energy correlated to the different elements Pokémon could be.
The energy coalesced around my fist, sparks and crackles as the yellow electricity surrounded my fist. I held back as I saw the bulb's eyes widen as I rushed in front of it before backhanding it, sending it flying into the forest, a tree stopping it suddenly.
"Di~ish," it said as it got up, glaring at me as a red energy began collecting in the leaves on the top of its head.
I was already moving, circling around my current opponent when it fired its shot. The red beam was wide and fast, but shadows are faster.
I sunk into my own shadow. To a degree, my shadow was part of my body as my feet seemed to come out of the shadow and I had found in my travels that I could sink into it and move through shadows at will.
"Not bad," I say, striking from the creature's shadow.
It tumbles away. For a moment it seems to be knocked out after only two hits, but slowly I can see it trying to get up.
I smirk at its guts. It is clearly outmatched, but it is still trying. It is getting up to keep going. That is the kind of partners I'm looking for. The ones willing to go the distance no matter how hard or how painful it may be. Hardworkers.
I step over to it and present one of the balls the Professor had given to me. "I like what I see. Your choice. Join me and we can train together. Grow strong. Become an elite team fighting the strongest there are for glory, fame, and wealth. Or I can leave you and you can do whatever it is you wish to do."
"Dish," it says, determined. "Oddish."
With that it slaps the ball with a leaf, causing the ball to open up, the creature to turn into a red energy and enter the ball before it shook twice before it gave a ding.
"Welcome to the team," I say to the ball before giving it a light toss to release the bulb. "Let's tend to those injuries and we can get going."
"Dish," it says, nodding.
"So, we go' a new companion," Yini says, slithering up from where she was watching.
I did not have a great supply of proper medications, but in my travels I had discovered a few berries that could help treat wounds. Reaching into my robe, I pulled one of these berries and crushed it in my hands to make a makeshift salve to apply to my new companion's wounds.
"Yes, it would seem we do. Do you have a name?" I asked the bulb creature to distract it from trying to eat the juices covering my hands.
"Dish, Oddish odd," it introduces itself.
It takes me a moment to puzzle out the meaning. There were multiple concepts in there. Little onion/garlic, growth, underground, potency.
"Hmm, I think Ginger may be the closest I can pronounce," I say to it.
It gives me a look, thinking for a moment before nodding. "Dish."
"Ok, Ginger, good to meet you. Now, let's find out more about you," I say, pulling out my Pokédex.
"Oddish, the weed Pokémon. It will shriek horribly if you attempt to pull it out of the ground."
Looking at the information the Pokédex gave me, I could see Ginger was female, along with the various other stats it was able to give.
"Ya' seems a bi' rude oo do," Yini said, frowning.
"Don't worry Ginger, I won't be pulling you out of the ground," I say, giving the Oddish a pat on the back and finally letting it have the rest of the berry.
One of the benefits of seemingly being part shadow was that I could go semi-intangible to get most of the excess juices off my hands. It wasn't perfectly effective though and I still desired to find a nearby stream to rinse the rest off my hands, but it was enough to make my hands clean enough that I wasn't worried about getting a bunch of gunk on Ginger's pokéball.
"Alright, let's get going," I tell the other two, leading the way along the path that we had only somewhat gotten away from. It wasn't long before we came to a stream I could wash my hands in.
The feeling of the remaining residue releasing from my hands was pleasant as it wasn't just on the surface, but partially inside my hands. My biology was very unusual compared to my previous lives, though in this world I seemed to not be too strange. I had seen creatures made out of lava, rocks, and other inorganic materials. So a living shadow wasn't out of the realm of possibility to me.
While washing my hands, I heard a commotion coming from where I had been traveling from. A group of people and some sort of vehicle from the sound of things.
"Probably best if you two return," I tell Yini and Ginger, pulling out their balls and returning them in a pair of red lights.
Stepping over to the side of the road, I can see a group of cheerleaders and a kid in a red convertible coming from Pallet Town.
I can't help but raise an eyebrow at the sight. If I was right, the kid was one of the ones setting out today for the first time, and he had cheerleaders? Well, if he can afford a cheer squad to follow him around, then the tradition of winning against another trainer should pay out well.
That Pokémon battles were some sort of legalized betting left a strange taste in my mouth. On one hand, it made the whole thing comparable to dog or cock fighting rings in my previous lives, but this was mitigated by the willingness of Pokémon to be involved in these fights for their own enjoyment and profit.
Waving the car down, I called out, "Hey!" As it slowed to a stop, I pulled out Yini's ball. "You are one of the trainers Professor Oak was sending out today, right?"
"Yeah," the kid said, hopping out of the car said. "Gramps gave me the best starter. Who are you?"
The kid seemed a bit smug. At this age, it was usually a false confidence hiding some sort of insecurity. If I was the kid's teacher, I would probably try working on giving the kid a real solid foundation for a more genuine confidence that was less of a braggart.
But I wasn't here as a teacher.
"My name is Tanya. I also just started my journey today. How about we see where we stand?" I suggest.
"This should be a good laugh," he says, pulling out his own Pokéball. "Go! Squirtle!"
"Show time!" I tell Yini as I send her out. It wasn't just that we needed to be strong, we needed to be strong in a way that spectators could enjoy if my plans were to work out.
We were a few meters apart as the two Pokémon came into being. Yini, the draconic snake if her entry was accurate, versus Squirtle, a blue turtle.
My opponents began to cheer, revealing his name was Gary. Pointing to Gary's driver, I called out, "You mind counting us down?"
"Sure," She says, heading to the side of the makeshift arena. "Three! Two! One! Battle!"
I fold my arms as the battle begins, Gary calling out for Squirtle to tail whip. The purpose of such a move was lost on me as the title turned around and wagged its tail at Yini.
Regardless, the calling out of tactics seemed inefficient to me, but it was likely the best move for a new trainer who hasn't had time to train with their team and figure out strategies to use.
Yini slithered to the side, gathering electrical energy in her mouth before releasing a wave of energy in Squirtle's direction. I knew from experience the move wasn't painful and caused no damage, but it would screw with anyone hit with its ability to move as muscle spasms would go through the whole body.
Gary tried to warn Squirtle, but the wave was faster than his words and I could see the sparks on the shell of Squirtle. As that wave left Yini's mouth, she was already gathering some sort of energy into her tail. Out of the various magics I have come across so far, it was one of the ones that most felt like the magic from my previous two lives. A strong, fierce power ready to take on the world.
Just as the electric wave dispersed, Yini spun, letting that power go in barely contained cyclones that Squirtle was unable to dodge out of the way of. Both twisters hit, buffeting Squirtle in a vortex of energy that soon sent out flying, landing hard, and tumbling before coming to a stop.
"Yini, hold!" I ordered, waiting to see if Squirtle would be getting up. I wasn't going to do unnecessary harm if the opponent was already knocked out.
"Squirtle!" Gary cried out, rushing to his Pokémon's side before returning it to its ball.
The cheerleaders were upset at the loss, shouting encouragement to Gary.
I gave Yini a pat on the head. "Good job," I say before noticing the scales on the top of her head were loose. "Looks like we will need to deal with your shedding later."
Yini leaned into the head pats, a murmur from her throat showing she was liking the attention.
Looking at where Gary was being consoled by a group of cheerleaders, I rolled my eyes before clearing my throat. "I believe it is traditional that when one loses a battle, they pay the winner."
Gary frowned but pulled out his Pokédex. "There, the money is sent. How did you win without giving any orders?"
I pull out my Pokédex and find a bank app that shows some funds have entered into my account.
"We are trainers. We need to train our team to battle. That includes tactics and situational awareness. If we have to coach them constantly during a battle, we have failed as trainers," I tell him. Over a century of teaching made answering such questions second nature. While there may come a day I would need to avoid answering such questions, for now, I could help out a new trainer with a bit of advice.
I wanted to be a popular trainer someday. Being helpful and friendly to other trainers should help my PR.
"Anyways, I guess I will see you around," I tell the group, returning Yini to her ball and continuing down the route to the next town.
"Yeah, smell ya' later," Gary called after me, sounding a bit dispirited.
A rather harsh tradition, but one so ingrained into the fabric of the local society that it was unthinkable to end it. And, for my purposes, it was the perfect avenue for being able to enjoy the high life.
I had traveled around the region. Or regions, I suppose I should say, as the areas were essentially provinces that shared a land border. Either way, I had traveled around the regions observing everyone carefully, staying in the shadows, learning what I could.
I am not fully aware of how reincarnation works despite having gone through it three times already, but for reasons beyond my understanding I was born in this world as a pokémon. I awoke alone in some sort of cave with a black body, no parental figures. No one to help me, so I left the cave to explore the world I found myself in. I still have yet to come across another pokémon that looks like me, but for now that is immaterial.
I could try to live out a simple life, gathering food, hunkering down in some shelter I craft myself, and generally just try to live a simple life as a wild pokémon, I could allow myself be captured and forced to fight for other's amusement and hope my trainer chooses to live a lifestyle I would appreciate, or I can disguise myself as a human and try to get myself a comfortable life.
I've tried living a life of being paid to dish out violence unto others, and that left me old, tired and full of regrets. I had done a simple life of teaching others and found that far more rewarding as I had no regrets when I was on my deathbed last time. This time, I think going for a celebrity lifestyle could be interesting. Teach a few pokémon how to battle, put on a good show for spectators, and aim for the high life of penthouse suites and tropical vacations.
But to get there, I have to start small, so I am in Pallet Town in a disguise I had put together. A wide brimmed hat and a blanket I found and modified into something resembling robes left me looking a bit witchy. A bit of a holdover from my last life, but I could replace those with something else once I had some cash to visit a clothing store. And to complete my disguise, a mask I had carved from some wood. Really it was more a plank of wood that fit my face with some eye slits I could see out of.
I didn't need to hide myself, the disguise just needed to keep people from realizing I wasn't human. If they thought me odd, that was fine.
The local professor, Professor Oak, would be my way into starting my journey. I would need to first pass a test showing I knew how to care for a pokémon and that while I might be in danger during my journey, that I knew enough to not die in my first week by doing something stupid like running off a cliff or sleeping in the snow in shorts.
There were a couple of unknowns to me however. Unknowns caused by conflicting accounts in my travels. Some talked about already having a pokémon partner when they set out on their journey, while others seemed to have found their partners on the journey.
Regardless of how I was supposed to find a partner Pokémon, I came prepared. In my journeys before deciding on this path of becoming a Pokémon Trainer, I had met a friendly water snake that called herself Yini who decided she wanted to join me in seeing the world and was not afraid of putting in the effort to become a strong fighter with me.
"This is likely going to be a bit boring, so why don't you curl up around me and rest," I told Yini as we stood in the tree line outside of the Professor's lab.
"Ok Yanya," she agreed, wrapping herself around me under the robes. Talking to Pokémon was an interesting experience. I could understand what they were saying despite not using words, which made thinking about how Yini couldn't pronounce her T's headache inducing.
Putting that aside, with her long body wrapped around me, we went up to the doors of the lab and I knocked firmly.
—
With the start of the local childrens' Pokémon Journeys being the next day, Professor Oak was busy preparing for them to arrive the following day for their first pokémon, a starting set of pokéballs, and their pokédex.
There were four children that were supposed to show up, including his grandson and a boy he knew from a rather confusing event in his childhood involving time travel. He did not know how that boy got his Pikachu, but Professor Oak was certain the one he had caught this morning chewing on some wires was the same one and he would need to make sure the right child ended up with it to keep the time loop stable. The other children would be allowed to pick their own starter out of the standard trio.
He was jostled out of his thoughts by a knock on the lab door. He wasn't expecting anyone to stop by and the knock was far too authoritative to be one of his neighbors stopping by for a social call. Getting up he answered the door.
"Hello?" He asked seeing a small, oddly dressed child at his doorstep. A rather fat child too judging by how wide their clothing sat on them.
"Hello," Professor Oak heard, though the hairs on the back of his neck stood up. He knew the greeting came from the child, but there was something wrong about how he heard it. "You must be the Professor. I would like to start my Pokémon Journey."
"Yes. I am Professor Oak. Uh, where might your parents be?"
The child shook their head. "Don't have any."
Professor Oak winced. "Oh my. How about you step inside?" he said, opening the door wider and stepping aside.
The child bowed slightly before entering "Thank you."
Professor Oak led the child to a small seating are near a little kitchenette and began busying himself preparing some tea.
"I must say that you came at a bit of an unfortunate time. Tomorrow is the day the local kids are starting their journey, but I only have so many Pokémon to offer new trainers."
The child cocked their head as the tea cup offered to them floated over to them, nearly causing Professor Oak to drop his own cup. A young psychic? And a skilled one at that! "I was not aware you were the one to match trainers and partner pokémon. I actually already have a partner ready to join me."
Professor Oak raised an eyebrow as he took a sip of his tea. "Really? How did you get a pokémon already?"
The child bowed their head to lift their mask to take a drink of the tea, hiding their face from him.
"We met as I made my way here. I had heard you were one of the people that could help someone start their journey and were a highly respected individual."
The child set down their empty tea cup and fixed up their mask before looking back at Professor Oak.
"I can. Have you taken the basic qualification test yet?"
The child shook their head and gave a simple no.
"Ok. It is a rather simple test to make sure you are ready for the responsibility of being a Pokémon Trainer."
"I am aware. I believe it will not be an issue for me."
Professor Oak leaned back in his seat and looked the child over. Judging by their height, they should be about six or seven. Young for a pokémon journey as ten was more the typical age to start, though there are always a few indulgent parents that let their youngsters start early. From his memories, the ones that start very early usually end up giving up quickly before returning home and are often very immature, but the child in front of him was acting very mature for their age so far.
"Alright, I suppose I can give you the test," Professor Oak said, getting up to grab a copy of the test.
The child's hand appeared to be black, but that must have just been some sort of glove, as they grabbed the pencil to start the test.
—
After an hour, Professor Oak was grading the test and finding that while the child had some difficulties with some aspects of being a pokémon trainer, namely the admittedly complex relation of type advantages, they were very thorough in describing how to care for pokémon and camping out in the wilderness.
Overall, he could find no reason to stop her from going on the journey until she was a bit older. This Tanya as she put as her name seemed to be ready for the trials that were to come. Professor Oak sighed to himself, knowing that the Pokémon Journey was a coming of age trial, but to have one so young attempting to prove they were ready just made him feel so old.
For now though, he simply began preparing a few pokéballs and a pokédex for her to pick up the next day.
Tanya, no family name given.
Gender: Female
Age: 10?
She believed herself to be 10? She had a birth date listed on the form he gave her to fill out that put her as a really small ten year old.
Hometown: Pallet Town.
Professor Oak sighed again. She clearly had no real home and just filled out something for the form.
Pulling out a piece of paper, Professor Oak wrote a note that he stuck among the items he had prepped for her. He wouldn't stop her from pursuing her journey as it was important for any child to experience the world, but he could offer her an opportunity to come work for him if she ever decided to quit. At the very least she would have a roof over her head and warm meals in her belly if she decided to take him up on the offer.
Looking over his work one last time, Professor Oak decided everything was ready for the next day and headed into the back of the lab to his small home to turn in for the night.
—
The next morning started bright and early for myself and Yini. We had made camp just within the treeline and had a meal of berries we found nearby. Making our way to the lab, I knocked on the door and was soon greeted by the professor.
"Oh, Tanya. You are early," Professor Oak said with a smile.
"I hope it is not a problem, sir," I say, giving him a slight bow.
"I suppose it is not, though you will miss the town send off," he said before stepping into the lab, allowing me to follow him in.
"That is fine. I don't think I would like the attention," I said calmly. I may be looking to be on the path of getting a lot of attention, but if I was to be accepted as a trainer of pokémon while being a pokémon myself, I would need to already be viewed as strong enough to not be worth the effort of stopping. The gym circuit was apparently a good way to prove one's abilities as a trainer.
"Does it have anything to do with why you dress like that?" Professor Oak asked softly.
"Skin condition," I answered.
"Oh dear," Professor Oak said. "I suppose I can understand why you might be uncomfortable about being here for the celebration then."
I was led to an area of the lab and Professor Oak picked up a tray with several pokéballs on it and a little red device.
"Well, Tanya, here is your pokédex and some balls to get you started. You said you already have a partner, do you need a ball for them as well?"
I nodded my head as I pocketed the balls into a little bag I had under my robes, along with my dex. I would need to examine them later, but for now I needed to focus on the situation at hand.
"Alright, let me get you another ball then," Professor Oak said, opening a drawer under where he still had four trays setup. Pulling out a ball he clicked the button to expand it and handed it to me. "Where is your partner currently at, if I may ask?"
"Here," I said and gave a sharp whistle to wake up Yini. With a light thunk, she dropped off of me and slithered out from under my robe.
"Oh my!" Professor Oak said, eyes going wide in surprise as I help out the ball for Yini to get into it.
"Ok Yini, time for me to officially become a trainer."
"Will we ge' 'o bayle o'hers soon yen?" Yini asked with a smile. I simply nodded. She may look adorable and could be rather sweet, but in her heart was a true battle maniac. And I would accept no less than that in my team. It was cruel to force those who did not wish to battle into fights.
Pokéballs were a rather fascinating bit of technology as they seemed to know just what the person holding them wanted them to do, so it was with barely a thought it opened up and turned Yini into a red light that entered the device. Advanced technology, nearly indistinguishable from magic.
"With a pokémon like that as your starter, I will be expecting to hear great things from you," Professor Oak said before getting on one knee and placing a hand on my shoulder. "With that said, do try and keep in touch. I know we just met, but I am worried that you may be jumping into this a bit early."
"Thank you for your concern, Professor, but I will be fine," I responded.
"As that may be," he said, reaching into his pocket and taking out his wallet. "Don't tell the others about this, but since you are going on your journey without any parents to have helped prepare you, it is the least I can do to help you out."
The kindness and generosity on display reminded me of another Professor I had, long ago in my last life. Even if it was only a little bit of cash, it was still far beyond what I expected.
"Thank you sir. I will put this to good use."
"I'm sure you will," Professor Oak said, before looking at a clock hanging on the wall. "You best be going now if you want to avoid the crowds."
With that, I headed out the lab and into the first day of being a Pokémon Trainer. A bright day hopefully being a sign of a bright future for me.
—
I can hear a crowd gathering near the lab as I leave Pallet Town and get to the edge of Route 1. There is no reason for me to look back as while officially it is my hometown, I did not grow up there. I had no real attachment to the town. I have not really had a home in this life as I traveled.
I awoke inside a shrine in a cave high up in the mountains. I suppose it could be said I was born there, though I wasn't even sure I was born. From what I have gathered, Pokemon are hatched from eggs. All of them. In my previous lives, live births were fairly common for animals as far as I was aware, but this was a very different world. Regardless, I do not recall there being any eggshells near me when I woke up that first time.
Shaking my head as I enter the wooded path, I send out Yini.
"Ok, let us see what this Pokedex has to say about you," I said to my companion, opening up the red device and pointing it towards Yini.
"Dratini, the dragon pokemon," the device spoke out in a cheery male voice. "This mythical Pokemon has only recently been proven to exist."
"Huh, dratini," I mutter as I look over the information on the screen, which provides much more in-depth information on dratini. Resists the basic elemental attacks, weak against ice, dragon, and fairy-powered attacks. There was also a chart showing different measurements corresponding to different attributes such as health and defense, but the meaning behind the chart was lost on me for now as I had no comparison point to determine what was good or bad.
"Looks like you are a dragon," I said, giving Yini a pet on the head.
"Yep," she agreed, closing her eyes and smiling as she leaned into the petting.
"Well, let's see what I am."
Turning the device towards me, I let it scan me. "There is no data. There are still Pokémon yet to be identified," it cheerfully said. Well, that is disappointing, but not entirely unexpected.
"How sad," Yini said, frowning before wrapping around me in a snakey version of a hug.
"It is fine, we'll figure it out eventually," I said with a shrug before moving on. "More important than that is we should try to find someone else to join us and begin to train them into being able to work with us."
"Righ'," Yini agreed with a nod before unwrapping and joining me in exploring the forest.
It had been fortunate for me to find Yini before becoming a trainer myself and her wanting to become strong as well as to see the human world. She was a bit of a troublemaker for her community when I had met her, but as we traveled and trained together, I managed to get her to focus more and calm down significantly.
All the other Pokémon we had come across have been far less willing to travel randomly in some vague hope of one of them being able to pass themself off as human enough to become a trainer.
A fair concern, all things considered. That I had managed it so far could only really be attributed to my experiences in being human for about two centuries all told.
"Dish!" A voice rang out angrily.
Turning, I saw a bulb plant creature near the side of the road, glaring at the pair of us. With the leaves on the top of its… head-body, it was about half my height.
"Hm? Something wrong?" I ask the creature.
"Dish. Oddish odd. Dish!"
A good amount of Pokémon I could understand easily. But that wasn't every Pokémon. Here, facing this plant Pokémon, I was only getting rough conceptual information. The creature wanted to fight.
I snorted. A battle maniac of a Pokémon was exactly who I was looking for. Someone up for a tussle and always seeking greater challenges.
"Alright. Impress me," I say, sweeping a leg back and readying a fighting stance.
"Odd?" It seemed confused that I was the one going to be its opponent.
"Can't be a good trainer if I'm not ready to fight with you," I say before rushing in, gathering energy into my fist.
I could feel the magic that infused this world far easier than either of my past two lives, though it behaved in very different ways. Here it felt more wild with different… 'flavors' of magic available to tap into.
I did not know how many there were yet, but I suspected the energy correlated to the different elements Pokémon could be.
The energy coalesced around my fist, sparks and crackles as the yellow electricity surrounded my fist. I held back as I saw the bulb's eyes widen as I rushed in front of it before backhanding it, sending it flying into the forest, a tree stopping it suddenly.
"Di~ish," it said as it got up, glaring at me as a red energy began collecting in the leaves on the top of its head.
I was already moving, circling around my current opponent when it fired its shot. The red beam was wide and fast, but shadows are faster.
I sunk into my own shadow. To a degree, my shadow was part of my body as my feet seemed to come out of the shadow and I had found in my travels that I could sink into it and move through shadows at will.
"Not bad," I say, striking from the creature's shadow.
It tumbles away. For a moment it seems to be knocked out after only two hits, but slowly I can see it trying to get up.
I smirk at its guts. It is clearly outmatched, but it is still trying. It is getting up to keep going. That is the kind of partners I'm looking for. The ones willing to go the distance no matter how hard or how painful it may be. Hardworkers.
I step over to it and present one of the balls the Professor had given to me. "I like what I see. Your choice. Join me and we can train together. Grow strong. Become an elite team fighting the strongest there are for glory, fame, and wealth. Or I can leave you and you can do whatever it is you wish to do."
"Dish," it says, determined. "Oddish."
With that it slaps the ball with a leaf, causing the ball to open up, the creature to turn into a red energy and enter the ball before it shook twice before it gave a ding.
"Welcome to the team," I say to the ball before giving it a light toss to release the bulb. "Let's tend to those injuries and we can get going."
"Dish," it says, nodding.
"So, we go' a new companion," Yini says, slithering up from where she was watching.
I did not have a great supply of proper medications, but in my travels I had discovered a few berries that could help treat wounds. Reaching into my robe, I pulled one of these berries and crushed it in my hands to make a makeshift salve to apply to my new companion's wounds.
"Yes, it would seem we do. Do you have a name?" I asked the bulb creature to distract it from trying to eat the juices covering my hands.
"Dish, Oddish odd," it introduces itself.
It takes me a moment to puzzle out the meaning. There were multiple concepts in there. Little onion/garlic, growth, underground, potency.
"Hmm, I think Ginger may be the closest I can pronounce," I say to it.
It gives me a look, thinking for a moment before nodding. "Dish."
"Ok, Ginger, good to meet you. Now, let's find out more about you," I say, pulling out my Pokédex.
"Oddish, the weed Pokémon. It will shriek horribly if you attempt to pull it out of the ground."
Looking at the information the Pokédex gave me, I could see Ginger was female, along with the various other stats it was able to give.
"Ya' seems a bi' rude oo do," Yini said, frowning.
"Don't worry Ginger, I won't be pulling you out of the ground," I say, giving the Oddish a pat on the back and finally letting it have the rest of the berry.
One of the benefits of seemingly being part shadow was that I could go semi-intangible to get most of the excess juices off my hands. It wasn't perfectly effective though and I still desired to find a nearby stream to rinse the rest off my hands, but it was enough to make my hands clean enough that I wasn't worried about getting a bunch of gunk on Ginger's pokéball.
"Alright, let's get going," I tell the other two, leading the way along the path that we had only somewhat gotten away from. It wasn't long before we came to a stream I could wash my hands in.
The feeling of the remaining residue releasing from my hands was pleasant as it wasn't just on the surface, but partially inside my hands. My biology was very unusual compared to my previous lives, though in this world I seemed to not be too strange. I had seen creatures made out of lava, rocks, and other inorganic materials. So a living shadow wasn't out of the realm of possibility to me.
While washing my hands, I heard a commotion coming from where I had been traveling from. A group of people and some sort of vehicle from the sound of things.
"Probably best if you two return," I tell Yini and Ginger, pulling out their balls and returning them in a pair of red lights.
Stepping over to the side of the road, I can see a group of cheerleaders and a kid in a red convertible coming from Pallet Town.
I can't help but raise an eyebrow at the sight. If I was right, the kid was one of the ones setting out today for the first time, and he had cheerleaders? Well, if he can afford a cheer squad to follow him around, then the tradition of winning against another trainer should pay out well.
That Pokémon battles were some sort of legalized betting left a strange taste in my mouth. On one hand, it made the whole thing comparable to dog or cock fighting rings in my previous lives, but this was mitigated by the willingness of Pokémon to be involved in these fights for their own enjoyment and profit.
Waving the car down, I called out, "Hey!" As it slowed to a stop, I pulled out Yini's ball. "You are one of the trainers Professor Oak was sending out today, right?"
"Yeah," the kid said, hopping out of the car said. "Gramps gave me the best starter. Who are you?"
The kid seemed a bit smug. At this age, it was usually a false confidence hiding some sort of insecurity. If I was the kid's teacher, I would probably try working on giving the kid a real solid foundation for a more genuine confidence that was less of a braggart.
But I wasn't here as a teacher.
"My name is Tanya. I also just started my journey today. How about we see where we stand?" I suggest.
"This should be a good laugh," he says, pulling out his own Pokéball. "Go! Squirtle!"
"Show time!" I tell Yini as I send her out. It wasn't just that we needed to be strong, we needed to be strong in a way that spectators could enjoy if my plans were to work out.
We were a few meters apart as the two Pokémon came into being. Yini, the draconic snake if her entry was accurate, versus Squirtle, a blue turtle.
My opponents began to cheer, revealing his name was Gary. Pointing to Gary's driver, I called out, "You mind counting us down?"
"Sure," She says, heading to the side of the makeshift arena. "Three! Two! One! Battle!"
I fold my arms as the battle begins, Gary calling out for Squirtle to tail whip. The purpose of such a move was lost on me as the title turned around and wagged its tail at Yini.
Regardless, the calling out of tactics seemed inefficient to me, but it was likely the best move for a new trainer who hasn't had time to train with their team and figure out strategies to use.
Yini slithered to the side, gathering electrical energy in her mouth before releasing a wave of energy in Squirtle's direction. I knew from experience the move wasn't painful and caused no damage, but it would screw with anyone hit with its ability to move as muscle spasms would go through the whole body.
Gary tried to warn Squirtle, but the wave was faster than his words and I could see the sparks on the shell of Squirtle. As that wave left Yini's mouth, she was already gathering some sort of energy into her tail. Out of the various magics I have come across so far, it was one of the ones that most felt like the magic from my previous two lives. A strong, fierce power ready to take on the world.
Just as the electric wave dispersed, Yini spun, letting that power go in barely contained cyclones that Squirtle was unable to dodge out of the way of. Both twisters hit, buffeting Squirtle in a vortex of energy that soon sent out flying, landing hard, and tumbling before coming to a stop.
"Yini, hold!" I ordered, waiting to see if Squirtle would be getting up. I wasn't going to do unnecessary harm if the opponent was already knocked out.
"Squirtle!" Gary cried out, rushing to his Pokémon's side before returning it to its ball.
The cheerleaders were upset at the loss, shouting encouragement to Gary.
I gave Yini a pat on the head. "Good job," I say before noticing the scales on the top of her head were loose. "Looks like we will need to deal with your shedding later."
Yini leaned into the head pats, a murmur from her throat showing she was liking the attention.
Looking at where Gary was being consoled by a group of cheerleaders, I rolled my eyes before clearing my throat. "I believe it is traditional that when one loses a battle, they pay the winner."
Gary frowned but pulled out his Pokédex. "There, the money is sent. How did you win without giving any orders?"
I pull out my Pokédex and find a bank app that shows some funds have entered into my account.
"We are trainers. We need to train our team to battle. That includes tactics and situational awareness. If we have to coach them constantly during a battle, we have failed as trainers," I tell him. Over a century of teaching made answering such questions second nature. While there may come a day I would need to avoid answering such questions, for now, I could help out a new trainer with a bit of advice.
I wanted to be a popular trainer someday. Being helpful and friendly to other trainers should help my PR.
"Anyways, I guess I will see you around," I tell the group, returning Yini to her ball and continuing down the route to the next town.
"Yeah, smell ya' later," Gary called after me, sounding a bit dispirited.
Chapter Two
Ash Ketchum of Pallet Town had just started his journey towards being a Pokémon master in a rather unglamorous way. Waking up late, he was the last one to arrive at Professor Oak's lab, showing up still in his pajamas, his rival Gary already leaving with his Pokémon.
Thankfully for Ash, Professor Oak still had one Pokémon left, a rebellious pikachu that hated being confined to its ball. After dragging the disagreeable Pokémon along, failing to catch a pidgey, a small bird Pokémon, Ash angered a spearow, a small bird Pokémon with a bad temper, who proceeded to call its flock to help it in hurting those that angered it.
Ash and his pikachu were chased a long distance, meeting a young girl they stole her bicycle to get more distance from the angry flock, until Ash's bravery in defending Pikachu inspired the electric mouse to use the brewing thunderstorm to blast away the birds with a mighty thundershock.
Injured, the pair woke up some time later and saw a golden bird flying across the clearing skies. Seeing his first, and only, Pokémon laying there injured, Ash scoops up his Pikachu and continues on towards Viridian City's Pokémon center as fast as possible.
In his rush, a suspicious police officer, Officer Jenny, stops the boy to confirm he isn't a Pokémon thief before recklessly driving him into the Pokémon Center and getting the doctor on duty, Nurse Joy, to help the injured Pikachu.
As the officer is getting onto her motorcycle she had parked at the front desk, the doors slide open and a mysterious figure steps inside. A short figure in black robes and a wide brimmed hat who has their face hidden behind a rough, wooden mask.
Officer Jenny steps back off her motorcycle and approaches the figure, Ash watching while his mind is focused on his Pikachu getting treatment in the back of the center.
"And who might you be?" Officer Jenny asks.
"Tanya. Pokémon Trainer registered to Pallet Town," the short figure said as she pulled out a Pokédex to confirm the information. Ash looked at the figure, trying to remember who she could be. He didn't remember anyone that looked like her, and she already knew the Pokédex could be used as ID.
"The fifth one from Pallet Town today," Officer Jenny said with a shake of her head. "There sure are a lot of you."
"Oh?" Tanya said, and Ash could sense the raised eyebrow. "I must have missed one. I fought three of the other trainers on my way here as they passed me."
"Probably that trainer over there," Jenny said, pointing towards Ash. "Though his Pikachu is in pretty rough shape."
Ash gave a weak wave when Tanya looked towards him before she looked at the empty desk. "I take it that is also why the desk is unmanned," she asked.
Jenny nodded. "Nurse Joy is in the back helping the poor thing."
Tanya sighed. "Nothing for it then, I'll just have to wait then."
"Be careful, there are Pokémon thieves currently on the loose," Officer Jenny warned before getting back on her motorcycle.
"I'm sure you will get them soon enough," Tanya said, heading towards a bench to wait on, Ash taking a seat next to her.
Tanya pulled out her Pokédex and began messing around with it. Ash looked towards the closed door to the back of the center with uncertainty.
"So, you're from Pallet Town too?" Ash asked, wanting to fill the silence with anything other than his own worries.
"Registered. I'm from the middle of nowhere in the mountains," Tanya answered. "Pallet Town and Professor Oak there seemed as good as any to start my journey with."
"Oh. That explains why I don't recognize you."
"Yeah, I only arrived there a few days ago."
Tanya snapped her Dex shut and turned towards Ash, facing him fully, the wooden mask hiding her expression entirely.
"Do you want to talk about what is wrong with your Pikachu, or would you prefer small talk about anything else?" She asked. Ash could feel her critical gaze on him.
Ash sighed and began explaining what happened. How Pikachu was being difficult and that Ash had tried catching a Pokémon, but instead just angered a bunch of spearows.
Tanya nodded along as Ash spilled everything. After he was done, looking down and feeling awful, he felt a hand on his shoulder. "I am not going to say the situation wasn't your fault, but you are young and still have a lot to learn. Your heart in the end was in the right place to protect Pikachu and bring him here. Learn from your mistakes, try not to repeat them."
Ash rubbed his eyes and nodded. "You're right. Thank you."
Before Tanya could respond, the young girl Ash had met earlier came storming into the Center carrying a burnt, and damaged bike. She was in a yellow top and jean shorts held up by suspenders, had red hair, and an angry expression as she marched over to where Ash and Tanya sat.
"I've got you now!" The girl angrily growled out. "I knew I'd find you here!"
Ash gulped.
"We are in a medical center, please lower your voice," Tanya said calmly.
"And what are you going to do about it?" The girl ask, turning her ire towards Tanya for a moment.
"I could call the police. That Officer Jenny seemed like a reasonable young lady that would take someone disturbing the peace seriously, especially the peace at a medical center."
The girl deflated and her bike lowered to the ground. "Oh."
"Oh indeed. Now Ash here isn't going anywhere for a while, so why don't we have a nice calm discussion instead and you can tell me what he did to upset you."
"This twerp stole my bike and destroyed it trying to save his pokemon," the girl said.
"I'm sorry. I'll make it up for what I did to your bike," Ash said.
"There, he has accepted responsibility," Tanya said, interrupting Ash from explaining he couldn't do anything currently. "If you have some paper and a pen, we can start working out some sort of agreement where he repays you appropriately."
"I don't want to wait, I want a new bike right now," the girl said.
"Considering that Ash is waiting for his Pikachu to heal, you will just have to wait," Tanya said, stretching her arms over her head. "As a life is more important than some bike."
The girl calmed down at that. "Is it very serious?"
"I think so," Ash said. "And there is nothing I can do to help now."
"You being here when Pikachu comes out will do a lot more than you may think," Tanya said. "But while we wait, let's work on that agreement."
The three of them settled down, names being exchanged with Tanya and Ash learning the girl was Misty, and they got to work hammering out an agreement on how Ash would be able to repay or replace Misty's bike. A conversation that left neither party happy, but would work for the time being.
Soon enough the sign above the door to the back of the center turned off with a chime and Nurse Joy along with a pair of egg shaped Chansey came out with Pikachu asleep on a gurney with a strange device on his head.
Ash and Misty rushed over to check on Pikachu.
The news was good. Pikachu was recovering and just needed some rest.
"Your attention please!" Officer Jenny's voice called out over a city wide alert system. "Our Viridian City radar centers have detected an aircraft belonging to a gang of Pokémon thieves. If you have a Pokémon in your possession, exercise extreme caution!"
Shortly afterwards a pair of Pokéballs crashed through the skylight of the Center, releasing a pair of Pokémon, one which quickly filled the large space of the entrance area of the center with smoke.
"Yini! Ginger! Go!" Tanya called out in a commanding tone. "Ash, Misty, Joy, get in the back!"
"What? But-" Ash started, confused.
"Now!" Tanya snapped startling the group into the back.
While scrambling quickly, Misty and Ash chose to watch from the door to the back.
"My, what an- ooph," a male voice started speaking before going cut off with a meaty thunk.
A red beam shot through the smoke, hitting a snake Pokémon, a trail of energy going back to a tired, injured plant Pokémon that was starting to look better as the energy flowed into it.
The smoke cleared up as a twister spiraled forth, missing the smoking ball floating around the room.
"James!" A woman with long red hair cried out in surprise before the much smaller figure of Tanya moved to kick her legs out from under her, grabbing that long hair and pulling the woman to the ground, head making contact hard against the floor.
It was a full on battle royale going on. A cat Pokémon cried out and began furiously scratching at Tanya.
As this went on, Ash pulled out his Pokédex to figure out what all the Pokémon were.
His Dex identified the floating ball as Koffing, a poison gas Pokémon, the snake was an Ekans, and the cat was a Meowth. At least that was the ones Tanya and her team were fighting. Tanya's team was an Oddish and Dratini, but the Pokédex tried to identify Tanya as an unidentified Pokémon for some reason.
"You brat!" The woman yelled as she tried getting up, her face a mask of rage. "You'll pay for that!"
Tanya did not respond, just defending against the attack from the Meowth until she ducked to the side, her fist coming in hot to punch the cat Pokémon in its side.
Her first wasn't even metaphorically hot, Ash saw it was covered in flames as she struck. The flames lit Meowth's fur on fire as it stumbled back.
"Yeowch! Hothothot!" Meowth said, patting its fur.
"Meowth! Stop, drop, and roll!" the purple haired man, James, cried out.
"Right!" Meowth quickly started rolling on the ground.
"A talking Pokémon?" Misty said in surprise.
Ekans managed to get the Oddish wrapped in its coils, squeezing before going in for a string bite.
"Dish!" the Oddish cried out before fainting.
Tanya backed up, giving room to the thieves as she pulled out a ball and returned her Oddish to its ball. As that was happening, the Dratini struck the Koffing with its tail, which was glowing with a bright purple energy.
Koffing flew through the air, landing in James's arms. "Koff~."
"Koffing!" James yelled, returning the poisonous ball to its Pokéball.
"This twerp is a pain," Meowth said, gritting his teeth.
"Dra!" the Dratini said, using its tail to send a twister towards the other serpent Pokémon.
Tanya rushed in. Meowth readied his claws, but Tanya sidestepped the cat, striking at the woman's thigh, bringing her to her knees before an uppercut palm strike knocked her out cold.
"Jessie!" James cried out before having his legs swept out from under him. His head hitting the ground hard enough to join his partner in unconsciousness.
Tanya turned towards Meowth, in a fighting position. A quick glance towards Ekans showed the snake was passed out in the Dratini's grip, Dratini letting go and beginning to move towards the cat.
"I surrender!" Meowth said, raising his hands.
"Good. Get on the ground," Tanya said, the first words she said since the battle started. Looking back, she saw Ash and Misty peeking through the doorway. "Have the police been called?"
"R-right!" Misty said, quickly moving towards the phones to make a call.
"How did you do all that?" Ash asked, eyes wide in shock.
"I told you I came from the mountains. You need to be able to protect yourself in the wilderness." Tanya turned back towards Meowth. "Stop!"
Meowth had been trying to slip away, but stopped at Tanya's barked order.
It was not long before the Center was crowded by cops arresting the thieves and taking statements over what occurred. Officer Jenny gave Tanya a thorough talking to about getting personally involved in fighting the thieves that Tanya seemingly dismissed, unconcerned as anyone willing to attack a medical facility was not someone to take lightly, according to Tanya's words.
Ash was questioned, but allowed to leave quickly to stay by his Pikachu's side, Misty being given a more thorough questioning as she did not have any Pokémon currently injured.
As for the thieves…
—-
It took a bit of time for them to wake up, finding themselves locked up, but they were able to quickly plan and execute an escape from the cell they were being held in.
"Did you see that Pokémon that brat had?" Meowth asked as they dug their way out.
"Yeah, a dratini. Very rare Pokémon," James said.
"Would probably catch a good price if we could steal it," Jessie agreed.
"Though there was something funny about that brat," Meowth said.
"Besides hitting like a truck and not saying anything during the fight?" James asked
"Yeah," Meowth said. "Her first ignited when she went to attack me, almost like she was using a fire type move.
The trio paused at that and looked at each other.
"You aren't suggesting?" Jessie asked.
"We can't know till we check…"
"But that would be…"
Jessie and James looked at Meowth, almost as though looking at him for the first time in a while.
"'Not impossible.'" The three agreed.
Thankfully for Ash, Professor Oak still had one Pokémon left, a rebellious pikachu that hated being confined to its ball. After dragging the disagreeable Pokémon along, failing to catch a pidgey, a small bird Pokémon, Ash angered a spearow, a small bird Pokémon with a bad temper, who proceeded to call its flock to help it in hurting those that angered it.
Ash and his pikachu were chased a long distance, meeting a young girl they stole her bicycle to get more distance from the angry flock, until Ash's bravery in defending Pikachu inspired the electric mouse to use the brewing thunderstorm to blast away the birds with a mighty thundershock.
Injured, the pair woke up some time later and saw a golden bird flying across the clearing skies. Seeing his first, and only, Pokémon laying there injured, Ash scoops up his Pikachu and continues on towards Viridian City's Pokémon center as fast as possible.
In his rush, a suspicious police officer, Officer Jenny, stops the boy to confirm he isn't a Pokémon thief before recklessly driving him into the Pokémon Center and getting the doctor on duty, Nurse Joy, to help the injured Pikachu.
As the officer is getting onto her motorcycle she had parked at the front desk, the doors slide open and a mysterious figure steps inside. A short figure in black robes and a wide brimmed hat who has their face hidden behind a rough, wooden mask.
Officer Jenny steps back off her motorcycle and approaches the figure, Ash watching while his mind is focused on his Pikachu getting treatment in the back of the center.
"And who might you be?" Officer Jenny asks.
"Tanya. Pokémon Trainer registered to Pallet Town," the short figure said as she pulled out a Pokédex to confirm the information. Ash looked at the figure, trying to remember who she could be. He didn't remember anyone that looked like her, and she already knew the Pokédex could be used as ID.
"The fifth one from Pallet Town today," Officer Jenny said with a shake of her head. "There sure are a lot of you."
"Oh?" Tanya said, and Ash could sense the raised eyebrow. "I must have missed one. I fought three of the other trainers on my way here as they passed me."
"Probably that trainer over there," Jenny said, pointing towards Ash. "Though his Pikachu is in pretty rough shape."
Ash gave a weak wave when Tanya looked towards him before she looked at the empty desk. "I take it that is also why the desk is unmanned," she asked.
Jenny nodded. "Nurse Joy is in the back helping the poor thing."
Tanya sighed. "Nothing for it then, I'll just have to wait then."
"Be careful, there are Pokémon thieves currently on the loose," Officer Jenny warned before getting back on her motorcycle.
"I'm sure you will get them soon enough," Tanya said, heading towards a bench to wait on, Ash taking a seat next to her.
Tanya pulled out her Pokédex and began messing around with it. Ash looked towards the closed door to the back of the center with uncertainty.
"So, you're from Pallet Town too?" Ash asked, wanting to fill the silence with anything other than his own worries.
"Registered. I'm from the middle of nowhere in the mountains," Tanya answered. "Pallet Town and Professor Oak there seemed as good as any to start my journey with."
"Oh. That explains why I don't recognize you."
"Yeah, I only arrived there a few days ago."
Tanya snapped her Dex shut and turned towards Ash, facing him fully, the wooden mask hiding her expression entirely.
"Do you want to talk about what is wrong with your Pikachu, or would you prefer small talk about anything else?" She asked. Ash could feel her critical gaze on him.
Ash sighed and began explaining what happened. How Pikachu was being difficult and that Ash had tried catching a Pokémon, but instead just angered a bunch of spearows.
Tanya nodded along as Ash spilled everything. After he was done, looking down and feeling awful, he felt a hand on his shoulder. "I am not going to say the situation wasn't your fault, but you are young and still have a lot to learn. Your heart in the end was in the right place to protect Pikachu and bring him here. Learn from your mistakes, try not to repeat them."
Ash rubbed his eyes and nodded. "You're right. Thank you."
Before Tanya could respond, the young girl Ash had met earlier came storming into the Center carrying a burnt, and damaged bike. She was in a yellow top and jean shorts held up by suspenders, had red hair, and an angry expression as she marched over to where Ash and Tanya sat.
"I've got you now!" The girl angrily growled out. "I knew I'd find you here!"
Ash gulped.
"We are in a medical center, please lower your voice," Tanya said calmly.
"And what are you going to do about it?" The girl ask, turning her ire towards Tanya for a moment.
"I could call the police. That Officer Jenny seemed like a reasonable young lady that would take someone disturbing the peace seriously, especially the peace at a medical center."
The girl deflated and her bike lowered to the ground. "Oh."
"Oh indeed. Now Ash here isn't going anywhere for a while, so why don't we have a nice calm discussion instead and you can tell me what he did to upset you."
"This twerp stole my bike and destroyed it trying to save his pokemon," the girl said.
"I'm sorry. I'll make it up for what I did to your bike," Ash said.
"There, he has accepted responsibility," Tanya said, interrupting Ash from explaining he couldn't do anything currently. "If you have some paper and a pen, we can start working out some sort of agreement where he repays you appropriately."
"I don't want to wait, I want a new bike right now," the girl said.
"Considering that Ash is waiting for his Pikachu to heal, you will just have to wait," Tanya said, stretching her arms over her head. "As a life is more important than some bike."
The girl calmed down at that. "Is it very serious?"
"I think so," Ash said. "And there is nothing I can do to help now."
"You being here when Pikachu comes out will do a lot more than you may think," Tanya said. "But while we wait, let's work on that agreement."
The three of them settled down, names being exchanged with Tanya and Ash learning the girl was Misty, and they got to work hammering out an agreement on how Ash would be able to repay or replace Misty's bike. A conversation that left neither party happy, but would work for the time being.
Soon enough the sign above the door to the back of the center turned off with a chime and Nurse Joy along with a pair of egg shaped Chansey came out with Pikachu asleep on a gurney with a strange device on his head.
Ash and Misty rushed over to check on Pikachu.
The news was good. Pikachu was recovering and just needed some rest.
"Your attention please!" Officer Jenny's voice called out over a city wide alert system. "Our Viridian City radar centers have detected an aircraft belonging to a gang of Pokémon thieves. If you have a Pokémon in your possession, exercise extreme caution!"
Shortly afterwards a pair of Pokéballs crashed through the skylight of the Center, releasing a pair of Pokémon, one which quickly filled the large space of the entrance area of the center with smoke.
"Yini! Ginger! Go!" Tanya called out in a commanding tone. "Ash, Misty, Joy, get in the back!"
"What? But-" Ash started, confused.
"Now!" Tanya snapped startling the group into the back.
While scrambling quickly, Misty and Ash chose to watch from the door to the back.
"My, what an- ooph," a male voice started speaking before going cut off with a meaty thunk.
A red beam shot through the smoke, hitting a snake Pokémon, a trail of energy going back to a tired, injured plant Pokémon that was starting to look better as the energy flowed into it.
The smoke cleared up as a twister spiraled forth, missing the smoking ball floating around the room.
"James!" A woman with long red hair cried out in surprise before the much smaller figure of Tanya moved to kick her legs out from under her, grabbing that long hair and pulling the woman to the ground, head making contact hard against the floor.
It was a full on battle royale going on. A cat Pokémon cried out and began furiously scratching at Tanya.
As this went on, Ash pulled out his Pokédex to figure out what all the Pokémon were.
His Dex identified the floating ball as Koffing, a poison gas Pokémon, the snake was an Ekans, and the cat was a Meowth. At least that was the ones Tanya and her team were fighting. Tanya's team was an Oddish and Dratini, but the Pokédex tried to identify Tanya as an unidentified Pokémon for some reason.
"You brat!" The woman yelled as she tried getting up, her face a mask of rage. "You'll pay for that!"
Tanya did not respond, just defending against the attack from the Meowth until she ducked to the side, her fist coming in hot to punch the cat Pokémon in its side.
Her first wasn't even metaphorically hot, Ash saw it was covered in flames as she struck. The flames lit Meowth's fur on fire as it stumbled back.
"Yeowch! Hothothot!" Meowth said, patting its fur.
"Meowth! Stop, drop, and roll!" the purple haired man, James, cried out.
"Right!" Meowth quickly started rolling on the ground.
"A talking Pokémon?" Misty said in surprise.
Ekans managed to get the Oddish wrapped in its coils, squeezing before going in for a string bite.
"Dish!" the Oddish cried out before fainting.
Tanya backed up, giving room to the thieves as she pulled out a ball and returned her Oddish to its ball. As that was happening, the Dratini struck the Koffing with its tail, which was glowing with a bright purple energy.
Koffing flew through the air, landing in James's arms. "Koff~."
"Koffing!" James yelled, returning the poisonous ball to its Pokéball.
"This twerp is a pain," Meowth said, gritting his teeth.
"Dra!" the Dratini said, using its tail to send a twister towards the other serpent Pokémon.
Tanya rushed in. Meowth readied his claws, but Tanya sidestepped the cat, striking at the woman's thigh, bringing her to her knees before an uppercut palm strike knocked her out cold.
"Jessie!" James cried out before having his legs swept out from under him. His head hitting the ground hard enough to join his partner in unconsciousness.
Tanya turned towards Meowth, in a fighting position. A quick glance towards Ekans showed the snake was passed out in the Dratini's grip, Dratini letting go and beginning to move towards the cat.
"I surrender!" Meowth said, raising his hands.
"Good. Get on the ground," Tanya said, the first words she said since the battle started. Looking back, she saw Ash and Misty peeking through the doorway. "Have the police been called?"
"R-right!" Misty said, quickly moving towards the phones to make a call.
"How did you do all that?" Ash asked, eyes wide in shock.
"I told you I came from the mountains. You need to be able to protect yourself in the wilderness." Tanya turned back towards Meowth. "Stop!"
Meowth had been trying to slip away, but stopped at Tanya's barked order.
It was not long before the Center was crowded by cops arresting the thieves and taking statements over what occurred. Officer Jenny gave Tanya a thorough talking to about getting personally involved in fighting the thieves that Tanya seemingly dismissed, unconcerned as anyone willing to attack a medical facility was not someone to take lightly, according to Tanya's words.
Ash was questioned, but allowed to leave quickly to stay by his Pikachu's side, Misty being given a more thorough questioning as she did not have any Pokémon currently injured.
As for the thieves…
—-
It took a bit of time for them to wake up, finding themselves locked up, but they were able to quickly plan and execute an escape from the cell they were being held in.
"Did you see that Pokémon that brat had?" Meowth asked as they dug their way out.
"Yeah, a dratini. Very rare Pokémon," James said.
"Would probably catch a good price if we could steal it," Jessie agreed.
"Though there was something funny about that brat," Meowth said.
"Besides hitting like a truck and not saying anything during the fight?" James asked
"Yeah," Meowth said. "Her first ignited when she went to attack me, almost like she was using a fire type move.
The trio paused at that and looked at each other.
"You aren't suggesting?" Jessie asked.
"We can't know till we check…"
"But that would be…"
Jessie and James looked at Meowth, almost as though looking at him for the first time in a while.
"'Not impossible.'" The three agreed.
Chapter Three
Pokémon Centers have accommodations for traveling trainers. Or, I should say, most will have hostel-style accommodations for traveling trainers. Up to a week per three-month period is allowed to encourage traveling trainers to keep traveling the region, with exceptions at the discretion of Nurse Joy running the center for any special events that may result in longer stays.
While getting set up for the night, I talked with Nurse Joy at the Viridian City Center. She mentioned that some centers were emergency outposts without any real space for such accommodations, but that any of the centers in major cities, especially the ones with gyms, would have the room. Well, unless the city was big enough for multiple Pokémon Centers, then you must have a primary center for the traveling trainers and smaller centers focused more on caring for the local trainers and their Pokémon.
With that information, Misty and Ash decided to travel with me for a bit. Misty decided to follow Ash until her bike was replaced, and Ash decided to follow me because we were on similar journeys and going in the same direction.
We find ourselves outside the Viridian City Gym, which Is currently closed for renovations and has a large amount of construction equipment and crew working.
"Well, guess we aren't doing this gym yet," I said with a sigh and a shake of my head.
"Wow, that is some bad timing," Misty said.
Ash groaned, "Now what?"
"I'm going to get some new clothes," I said, turning and starting towards the shops. "Then start heading to Pewter City. "
"Shopping?" Ash groaned.
"Unlike you two, I don't have a good travel bag and just have all my things in my pockets within these robes," I said, not stopping. "And while I do not mind the witch look, it is time for a change. You can look for a new mask for me if you want."
"Speaking of masks," Misty spoke up, keeping up with me and seeming more excited about a quick shopping trip. "Why do you wear the mask?"
"Skin condition."
"Skin condition?"
"Skin condition." I was not going to elaborate, and they would have to deal with my non-answer as I was not going to explain in the middle of a crowded city that I was a Pokemon with inhuman skin. "Do try to find one that can fully cover my face, please."
"Fine, fine," Ash said, starting to wander off.
"We will meet back up at the Pokemon Center in two hours," I called over to him.
"So, what kind of clothes are you looking for?" Misty asked, starting to look at the different shop windows.
"Something full coverage. Probably a new hat to match with a nice wide brim," I said, stopping as I came across a toddler clothing store. Unfortunately, my height meant that even children's clothing would likely be too large for me. Thankfully, no one seemed willing to treat me as a child when I began talking and acting as the adult I have been multiple times over. Likely due to how there were humans with psychic abilities, including small children, among many other oddities within humans.
Regardless of why I was being taken seriously despite my small size, Misty and the shop clerk were able to help me find an outfit I would be comfortable traveling in. A pair of khaki pants with nice roomy cargo pockets going down the sides, a soft shirt covered by a black turtleneck with long sleeves, and a black fedora with a nice, wide brim. To finish off the outfit, I also got a pair of trainer gloves meant to help with catching and throwing pokeballs, which would also aid me in hiding my less-than-human hands. It was somewhat surprising that the store had such items available, but the cargo pants and the gloves were apparently meant to get toddlers used to wearing such for whenever they start on their Pokemon Journeys at a young age.
I also got a round red bag that had two round pockets on either side of the bag. Both Misty and the store clerk were rather insistent I get at least one thing that was colorful and a red bag would be easy to locate if I ever needed to find it for some reason.
With an outfit set, along with extra shirts and a spare pair of pants, Misty and I met up with Ash who had found a festival mask with fox-like features. It was white and the details were carved in, but not painted.
"Where did you find this?" I asked, appreciating Ash's find.
"There is an old man who makes masks for festivals. After I told him about you, he was willing to sell that one."
"Hmm." A festival mask? Made sense. I turned away for a moment to switch masks and looked at the two children. "How do I look?"
"Good, I guess. Can we get going now? You and Gary already caught your first Pokémon and I need to catch up," Ash said.
"You aren't suppose to just dismiss a lady like that! You are suppose to tell her she is cute or beautiful," Misty yelled at Ash. I placed a hand lightly on her arm to calm her down.
"It is fine. I was just making sure it was not clashing too much with the rest of the outfit." Seeing Misty take a deep breath and calm down before nodding to me, I turn northward and begin leading the way. "Now Pewter City is on the other side of the forest north of here. I would say if we don't dawdle too much, we should only need to camp one night, but we would be getting there late. If we take our time, we can get there camping twice and still get there around lunchtime and after we eat, we can do the gym challenge."
"What's with the gym challenge anyways?" Ash asked.
"In order to enter the Pokémon League Challenge, you need to have eight Gym Badges," Misty answered.
"The Pokémon League is a tournament held in the fall of each year of the best trainers in the region. We probably can't make this year's, but next year's, if we train hard and have a full team, should be doable."
"Why can't we make this year's?" Ash asked.
"Three months is a rather quick turnaround time for catching and training up five Pokémon, traveling the entire region to hit up the different gyms, and making sure our teams are ready for the league. I would estimate our best timeline would be about six months."
"What do you mean by five Pokémon?"
"A trainer may only have with them up to six Pokémon. Any excess will automatically be sent to a care facility. As you and I are registered to Pallet Town, Professor Oak will receive them. Which is likely one of the better options as many will wind up at Pokémon Centers in crowded cities instead of a lab with a large pasture for the Pokémon to run around in."
Ash grew quiet after that, probably in thought. A lot of this should have been information he should have been given before he started on his journey, but he was a kid so it might have just not stuck.
Viridian City was an aptly named city as there was a lot of greenery around. Trees were visible everywhere, plenty of flower beds, even the buildings were more often than not painted in some shade of green. A city that felt like it was part of the natural environment more than humans forcing their will upon the land. I don't know who managed to achieve this for the city, but it left the city, even with some skyscrapers and traffic, feeling comfortable and peaceful instead of the fast paced mania of a big city.
Maybe it was just getting to old age twice over, but the slower pace of Viridian City appealed to me. I was still very much a city person at heart, the convenience of everything being within a quick jog and maybe a train ride from my home would always be desirable to me. But there was also a lot to be said about taking it slow and watching the world turn.
"Eeeee~!" Misty squealed, snapping me out of my contemplation. "Get it away!"
"A caterpie!" Ash said, turning his hat around and pulling out a ball. "I'm going to catch it."
With a throw, Ash tossed the ball and the small green worm entered the ball. After a few shakes, the ball chimed, indicating it was caught.
"Yes! I did it!" Ash cried out with a laugh and posing in a rather silly manner. "I did it! I got Caterpie! I did it all by myself. I caught my first Pokémon! This is the first step on my way to becoming the number one Pokémon Master in the whole world."
I gave him a polite golf clap. "Congrats. It would seem you found a Pokémon that was wanting to accompany a trainer."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I mean that if that caterpie did not want to join you, it would have broken out of that ball. There are three ways to catch a Pokémon. The first is to find one that wants to join any trainer or to join you specifically for some reason. That is your caterpie." I pulled out Ginger's ball and sent her out. "The second is to convince a Pokémon to join you. In the case of Ginger, she wanted to fight and grow strong and I had to convince her I was the right trainer for the job. We sparred and after she proved her willingness to keep going in the face of adversity I let her choose if she wanted to come with me. The last way is to force a catch by beating up a Pokémon in a fight until they have no choice but to be caught in the ball."
"Huh," Ash looked at the ball in his hand for a moment before turning to Pikachu with a grin. "Did you hear that? Caterpie wanted to join us!"
"That doesn't mean," Misty started before being interrupted by Ash.
"Caterpie, come on out!"
"Eeeeee~!" Misty ran and cowered behind a tree.
I chuckled to myself at the childish reaction. Misty may dress and act in a Tomboy manner mostly, but the shopping trip and this silly reaction to bugs was showing that Misty had a lot of stereotypically girly qualities to her.
I released Yini as I approached Misty. "So, you don't like bugs?" I asked in a casual manner.
"Bugs are one of the three most disgusting things in the world!" Misty said with authority.
I nodded my head. I don't really agree, but I had spent a century as a teacher and learned how to help students through issues, especially fears, since that was a major aspect of third-year lessons.
"Even butterflies? Personally I find butterflies to have a certain beauty to them as they dance in the air around flowers."
"I suppose butterflies aren't too bad," Misty carefully admitted.
I smiled, though I doubted Misty would be able to tell. "Well, caterpie are a caterpillar Pokémon that will eventually change into a beautiful butterfly. So while it may look creepy or ugly to you now, just remember that someday soon it will blossom into something wonderful." I gave a chuckle. I was aiming for a life akin to a rockstar, yet here I was in teacher mode imparting wisdom. "In some ways, we all are just a caterpillar waiting to mature into our own butterflies."
"Maybe," Misty agreed. She looked over to where Ash was with his Pokémon before shuddering. "I still don't want that thing near me!"
I patted her on the arm. "It will be alright. It isn't going to hurt you. Just take a deep breath and think about how it will change."
Turning back, I saw the little bug seemingly charging towards where Misty and I were. I moved quickly and scooped the big bug up. It was nearly half my size and it began wiggling in my arms instantly.
"Ash, please try to keep Caterpie away from Misty," I said, bringing the bug over to him.
"Sorry, I don't know why Caterpie rushed at you two like that," He said, taking the bug from me.
"It is fine. Misty does not like bugs and it would be rather impolite to force her to deal with them without fair warning."
"Oh, she doesn't?" Ash asked, getting a look I had seen many a troublemaker get in my time.
"Correct. In fact, it would be so rude to discomfort her like that, I would be obligated to find an appropriate punishment for you if you did that." Ash paused and looked down at me as I stared up at him. "I would highly advise you to not test me on this."
Ash gulped as he took me seriously despite the rather obvious height difference. I nodded once, "Good" I said before turning and continuing our trek into the forest. Ash talking to his Pokémon and Misty giving him a wide berth as he had Caterpie out.
Yini and Ginger kept up with me for a time, but Ginger had to jog to keep up and eventually tired her out, so I ended up carrying her.
"We will need to work on your stamina and speed," I told the plant creature.
"Dish," she said in my arms.
"You need to be able to avoid hits."
"Odd. Oddish-odd!"
"I don't care if you can absorb energy from your opponent. If you are getting hit and can't land your hit on them, it doesn't matter if you have a way to siphon off their health. Or are you forgetting our fight?"
"O~dd," Ginger said grumpily.
"Wow, you must have a really good connection with your Pokémon to understand her like that," Misty said.
"Not really. I am mostly just getting concepts She is trying to say. Yini I can fully understand."
"Really?" Misty said, surprised.
"Open your ears and pay attention, and you may learn to understand what Pokémon say. At least, the ones capable of saying something."
"I had heard that Pokémon were smart and that there are people trying to make devices to understand what they are saying, but not too many people can just understand Pokémon like that."
"Not many people have learned as many languages as I have either. Taking time to learn is never a bad thing."
The conversation continued for a bit before dying off until the sky between the trees began changing colors.
"We should make camp," I said. "Either of you have much experience?"
"Yeah," Misty said.
"No," Ash said.
I nodded. "Ash, look for dry wood. Sticks and branches on the ground that are dry and not rotten. Misty, start making a firepit. I will forage up something to eat."
"Right!" "Ok."
I headed into the woods along with Yini and Ginger. The options weren't too great at first. I could try my luck with some of the Pokémon in the area, but I wasn't sure if Misty or Ash would be comfortable watching me bring back and prepare an animal in front of them.
Children could be rather squeamish about where their food comes from if they have been sheltered from the truth and I didn't know if Misty or Ash had ever even fished for dinner.
I did end up finding several edible berry bushes and collected enough to make a couple of meals out of. Probably would be worthwhile to get a few field rations for the road when we got to town.
Returning, I saw that Misty had not only gotten a rock circle setup, but that she had already gotten a fire going with the wood Ash found.
I passed out the fruit and we had a simple conversation over dinner before I suggested a Pokémon battle to Ash before bed.
"I caught Ginger yesterday and you got Caterpie today and it would be good experience for them."
"Alright," Ash said, hopping up, excited.
"Are you sure about that?" Misty asked me. "Bugs eat plants. You would be at a disadvantage."
"Maybe, but my team will not always find themselves in an advantageous position." I stretched out a bit. "Besides, this is just a friendly little training battle. We aren't even going to put any money on it, right Ash?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Ash asked as we got into position far enough from the fire to not worry about putting it out by a stray attack.
"Normally, when two trainers decide to battle they would be agreeing to also put up a bit of cash on the fight. A friendly little wager on the outcome. I'm saying that we aren't going all out to win, just one versus one, so no need to put money on it this time."
"Alright. Caterpie, let's show them what we got!"
"Ginger, take position." I turned to Misty. "Please referee the match."
"Oh, sure," Misty agreed, going to the makeshift sideline. "Ready? Go!"
Caterpie began rushing towards Ginger right away as ginger infused herself with a green light that made her grow bigger. It seemed there was a way to use the magic of this world to become larger and stronger, though the size change may be limited to plant based creatures.
Though the size increase did nothing to help Ginger move out of the way of Caterpie's tackle as the small bug rammed itself into Ginger.
"Keep an eye on your opponent and keep moving while you power yourself up," I whisper into Ginger's ear.
"Dish!" She calls out with a nod before beginning to try running a circle around Caterpie, face scrunched up in focus as the green energy returned, making the bulb even larger.
"That's it Caterpie!" Ash cried out in excitement. "Now Stringshot! Stick her in place!"
Ginger was already moving, but the spray of web was wide enough and Ginger was unable to get out of the way, getting stuck in place.
"Odd!" Ginger cried out, struggling.
"Stop struggling," I whispered to her. "You can attack at range."
I had already seen her use that red beam attack that was ranged, so as long as she could aim, she could attack.
"Dish!" She nodded before puffing up. I raised an eyebrow as I expected her to gather a red beam for an attack. "Odd-DISH!" She cried out as she spat out a stream of purple goo at the bug.
"Caterpie!" Ash cried out a warning, but it was too late as the goo hit the bug and began sizzling.
Hmm, some sort of acidic attack? Interesting.
"Counter attack, Caterpie!"
I watched as the bug rushed in for another tackle, slamming into Ginger.
"Dish!"
I sighed and shook my head. "Until the referee calls it, press the attack," I told her.
"Dish!" She nodded, beginning to gather up the red energy.
"Caterpie! Hit her again!"
Caterpie went in for another hit. Ginger was about to unleash her attack.
"Enough!" I called out, causing the attack to sputter out and everyone to look at me. "I've seen enough."
"What? But I was just about to win!" Ash said.
"Maybe. Maybe not," I said heading over to help Ginger out of the webs. They were very sickly indeed. "Regardless, I think that is enough for one night and this has shown me clear places for Ginger to improve."
"She might have done better if you had given her any orders," Misty said.
I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. I suppose I had given my commands softly enough she couldn't hear them from the sideline.
"I did," I said from behind her.
Misty yelled and spun around before turning back around at me where I chuckled, Ash joining me with a laugh of his own.
"How did you do that?" Misty asked, pointing at me.
I lifted my web covered fingers and wiggled them. "Magic." It was very easy to use some of this world's magic to speak and while I had it originate from myself usually, I was not bound by such limitations.
Looking at Ash and Caterpie, I shrugged. "If you want to consider this your win, go ahead. I basically forfeited."
"You hear that Caterpie? We won," Ash excitedly said, picking up his bug and laughing. "My first ever battle and we won!"
"Pee!" Caterpie cried out happily before it started to glow.
"Caterpie?" Ash asked, setting the bug down.
"It's evolving?" Misty said in shock.
After a moment, the bug was in a cocoon, sitting still.
"Metapod, Caterpie's next stage," Ash's Pokédex spoke up. "It has encased its body in a hard shell. This specimen reached this stage faster than any previously discovered Pokémon of this variety."
"Maybe that means it can keep on changing and go to the next stage right away!" Ash said excitedly, picking up the cocoon and hugging it.
"Whatever, it is still a bug," Misty said from where she stood.
"Misty, please keep such comments to yourself," I chided the girl before shaking my head. "Congrats, Caterpie, on evolving. Now let's get to bed."
"Aww, but this is so exciting," Ash said with a grin.
"Maybe, but it is dark out and, if possible, I would like to be in a bed tomorrow night," I said, pulling out my robes. They were still useful for doubling as a blanket while camping. Ash and Misty pulled out sleeping bags that looked to have some cushion to them. I would need to see about getting one for myself at some point.
For now though, Ginger and I laid our heads on Yini's side while she rested her head on my belly, the three of us comfortably snuggled up. Ash was hugging his newly evolved Metapod while Pikachu was laying against him and Misty was laying by herself. "Goodnight," I called out as I closed my eyes.
"Night!" "Goodnight."
—
Misty thought she was the first to wake up, shivering at the sight of Ash still cuddling his Metapod, until she saw Tanya give her a wave.
"Good morning," Tanya said, still partially buried under her sleeping pokèmon.
"Morning," Misty said with a yawn, stretching before beginning to put away her sleeping bag.
"You mind waking Ash up?" Tanya said as she began nudging her team awake.
Misty looked at Ash and his Metapod again, shuddered before taking a deep breath. "Fine. I guess I can." Misty stepped over to Ash and took a deep breath. "Ash! Time to get up!"
Misty could practically feel Tanya rolling her eyes as Ash yelled and began to look around fretfully.
"Huh what? What's going on?" He asked.
"Really now?" Tanya asked sarcastically as Yini and Ginger woke up enough from Tanya's prodding and the yelling to groggily move around. "I could have done that myself if I had wanted to make a loud spectacle of things. I'm sure nearly everyone nearby heard that."
Misty simply crossed her arms and raised her nose in the air. "Hmph, well maybe next time you can do the wakeup call."
"Maybe I will," Tanya said before turning to Ash. "My apologies for the rude awakening. I did not think Misty would choose to be so loud."
"Huh? It's fine," Ash said. "It isn't like you can control an ill tempered barbarian like her."
Tanya sighed and rubbed the bridge of her mask's nose as Ash and Misty began bickering until the flapping of wings and a bird pokèmon swooping in interrupted them.
"A Pidgeotto," Ash said, pulling out his Pokèdex as the bird began eating the worm it had caught.
"Pidgeotto, an evolved form of the Pidgey," his Pokèdex started. "It is armed with sharp claws and dives from the sky to capture its prey. Unlike the more gentle Pidgey, Pidgeotto can be dangerous. Approach with extreme caution."
"Hm, a flying Pokèmon?" Tanya asked as she stepped forwards, excitement in her voice as she dropped the robes she slept in to the ground. "You want to show me what you got? Prove you are worth joining me?"
"Hey!" Ash said, Pokèball already in hand. "I want to catch it."
Tanya turned to Ash and gave a shrug. "I offered it a chance first." She then stepped up to the bird that was noticeably taller than her. "Now, what say you? Show me your moves, prove yourself capable, and join me? Or try to find your own way to reach your potential? If you even want to reach what you could be."
"What are you doing?" Misty cried out as Ginger and Yini took positions to watch.
Pidgeotto screeched and took flight, going in to attack Tanya who easily side-stepped the attack. "Proving that I know a thing or two about fighting so that my team will respect me," Tanya said as she watched the bird turn in the air, coming in for another attack. Tanya waited till the last moment before sidestepping the attack and chopping down at Pidgeotto's neck.
The bird crashed to the ground and it took a moment to get up, shaking itself off. It turned and glared at Tanya. It began flapping its wings at the small girl, sending a gust of air at her.
Tanya simply crossed her arms in front of herself, taking the brunt of the attack before the bird was off once again, flying fast straight at the girl.
"Heh," a small chuckle from Tanya. "Telegraphed."
Pidgeotto was on target to strike Tanya hard, shrieking out a victorious cry. A preemptive victory cry as Tanya thrust a palm right into Pidgeotto's face, stopping it hard in its tracks before grabbing one of its wings and tossing it into a tree.
Pidgeotto gave a warbling caw as it tried to stand back up, favoring one side as it winced as it tried to move the wing Tanya had grabbed.
"Not bad," Tanya said, pulling out a pokèball and bringing it to full size before rolling it in front of the bird. "You need some work. Your movements are telegraphed and you could do with learning a bit of discipline, but you got a spark in your eye I like and I could feel the power in your strikes. I am willing to train you if you are willing to join my team."
"That isn't how you catch a pokèmon!" Misty called from the sidelines.
"What's wrong?" Ash asked. "She's just asking if Pidgeotto wants to join her team. I think that is a great way to make friends with your team."
"You are supposed to weaken the pokèmon and then throw the ball, not talk it into…" Misty shut up as she watched the Pidgeotto peck at the ball and let itself just be caught without more of a fight.
"You were saying?" Ash smugly asked.
"Whatever," Misty said, huffing.
"As I said yesterday, there are three ways to catch a pokèmon," Tanya told Misty. "You seem to be focused on the 'forcefully making them part of your team' method. Maybe it will always work out well for you, but I prefer freedom of choice. Everyone on my team will be there willingly and can choose to part ways with me whenever they so choose."
Ash nodded with a grin. "And so will my team," he declared strongly.
A woman's laugh rang out.
"How precious," a man said.
"That voice," Ash started as everyone turned towards the source of the laugh.
"To protect the world from devastation," the long haired woman said from the path towards Pewter City, lit from behind by the sun.
"To unite all people within our nation," the man said, silhouetted next to the long haired woman, far enough to see the cat Pokèmon between the two.
"To denounce the evil of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above."
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!" The woman, Jessie said, striking a dynamic pose.
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!" The man, James said, joining in on the posing.
"Meowth, that's right!" The cat said between the pair.
Colorful explosions went off behind the trio.
"Look, we're kinda busy," Ash started to say.
"Quiet little boy," Jessie said. "We aren't here to listen to you. We are here for your Pokèmon."
"Hand over that masked one and her Dratini," James said as both Jessie and James pointed at Tanya.
"'Huh?'" Ash and Misty said in confusion at the same time.
"Is it my height?" Tanya asked. "Was that what gave it away?"
"'What?!'" Ash and Misty both yelled in shock as they looked at Tanya.
"And that fire punch you hit me with," Meowth said.
Tanya huffed a laugh. "Guess there is no point in trying to convince you it was magic," she said, getting into a fighting position. "Now, you already know I can beat you, so kindly get out of our way and I won't send you home black and blue."
"Hmph," James huffed. "You got lucky last time."
"This time we are prepared for you," Jessie said.
"I'll take that as a 'please kick my butt three ways to sunday and show us how frightening you are'," Tanya said before falling backwards and sinking into her own shadow.
"What? Where she go?" Meowth asked.
"Behind you," Tanya said, jumping out of a tree's shadow and grabbing Jessie's hair, pulling her backwards.
"Ow!Ow!Ow! Let go you brat!" Jessie yelled out before a fist came in from the side.
"Last time I was attempting to hide what I was."
"And you did a horrible job," Meowth said, claws at the ready.
"So I did," Tanya agreed before lifting up a palm and gathering energy into a yellow speckled blue ball in front of her. "I will need to be more careful in the future."
Meowth gulped and tried jumping out of the way, but was still sent sprawling as the ball swiftly moved towards him and pounded against his side.
"You leave me no choice," James says, pokèball in hand. Tanya reached out with a clawed hand and twisted. "Wha-?" James was confused as the ball in his hand was moving to Tanya's control before it began slamming into his groin, crumpling the man to the ground.
The three would-be thieves were huddled together on the ground, staring up as Tanya stepped up to them. "I am being nice today," she said, reaching up to her mask. "But next time I may be hungry." She removed her mask as she stared down the trio who went pale as they witnessed what was under the fox mask. "Do not anger me, do not reveal what I am, and maybe I will remain nice to you."
Tanya put the mask back on as she began to walk past the trio. "Let's go!" She called back to Ash, Misty, and the group's Pokèmon.
"Right!" Misty called out, gathering up Tanya's things as she hurried to follow along with Ash.
After they were a bit away from Team Rocket, Ash broke the silence. "So, you are a Pokèmon?"
"No. I am a three hundred foot tall statue," Tanya said sarcastically before she stopped and turned to the two humans she had been traveling with. She took a sigh. "My apologies, I shouldn't take my frustrations out on you. I was just hoping not to reveal that until I felt I had garnered enough fame as a trainer to not worry about anyone attempting to capture me."
Ash and Misty looked at each other for a moment. "I guess I can understand that," Ash said.
"Is that why you are so adamant about asking pokèmon if they want to join you," Misty asked.
"One of them," Tanya agreed with a nod. "There is also the fact that I can understand most Pokèmon and being able to hold a conversation with someone makes it rather tricky to want to enslave them. At least, I find it difficult to find any logical justification for slavery in an enlightened world when mutually beneficial agreements can be made instead."
After a few more steps, Tanya stopped and turned towards Ash and Misty. "You both seem like good enough kids, so I'm going to ask you not to go sharing this with others. I already messed up enough with those thieves figuring it out, but I would prefer it be my own choices and mistakes that reveal it over others spreading it around."
"No problem."
"I won't."
"Thank you," Tanya told the two with a slight bow before continuing on their path through the forest.
"So, what kind of Pokémon are you?" Ash asked.
"I do not know."
"Huh?"
"What do you mean you don't know?" Misty asked.
"I have not met another Pokémon that looks like me," Tanya said before pulling back a sleeve of her turtle neck to reveal her coal black skin. "And my skin is not normal. It seems to be more akin to shadow given form than something more organic."
"If you haven't met another of you, and the Pokédex tried and failed to identify you, then whatever you are must be incredibly rare."
"I may be the only one," Tanya said with a shrug. "Or the circumstances of my birth are so uncommon that there are only a handful of what I am around the world."
The conversation continued with Ash and Misty asking questions of the talking Pokémon they were traveling with, Ash having returned Metapod to its Pokèball while Yini and Ginger followed closely behind.
"HIIIYAH!" A boy in a samurai costume jumped out from the treeline with a drawn katana, chopping down at the group. Tanya and Yini already poised to strike with Ginger puffing itself up as well. "Greetings. Are you the ones from Pallet?"
"Depends on what you mean," Tanya said. "Why do you ask?"
"I seek to challenge the trainers from Pallet," the samurai kid answered, trying very hard to sound grown up and mature.
"And you think striking at every random person in the forest is a smart way to do that?" Tanya huffed. "Instead of swinging that thing around, next time just ask."
"Yeah!" Ash agreed. "I would be happy to give you a Pokèmon battle."
"You are the one from Pallet?" The kid asked, turning to Ash specifically.
"Yeah. I'm from Pallet."
The samurai kid put away his sword and pulled out a Pokèball. "Then let us have a match."
"I'll referee that match," Tanya said. "Do you have two Pokèmon?"
"Yes."
"Ok. Then this will be a two on two match. I want this to be quick, so if you have to switch out a Pokèmon for any reason, they are considered knocked out. If I say a Pokèmon is unable to continue, then both of you are to stop until the Pokèmon in question is removed from the battle. If a Pokèmon is knocked outside the ring for any reason, they are considered knocked out. Am I clear?"
"Yes." Samurai said.
"Uh, what ring?" Ash asked, looking around.
"Yini, go!"
With a swipe of her tail, Yini sent out a pair of twisters that arced out in a wide circle before crashing into each other and canceling themselves out, carving a quick circular ring into the forest path.
"Oh, that ring."
"Any other questions?"
"No."
"I'm good."
"Then send out your first Pokèmon and wait for my signal."
Misty was waiting at the edge of the arena when the Samurai sent out his first Pokèball, revealing a massive bug with large spiked horns on its head.
"Pikachu! Let's go!" Ash said.
Pikachu chose to get comfortable in a futon for a nap instead.
"Ha ha! You must truly be a novice for your Pokémon to be unwilling to battle!" The samurai boy said.
"The match has begun, Pikachu is unwilling to battle!" Tanya declared. "Send out your last Pokémon."
"Wha-? But …"
"I am well aware that this may seem harsh, Ash, but you attempted to send out a Pokémon that did not want to battle. It is on you as a trainer to know how your team is feeling and what they are capable of. Now, send out your last Pokémon."
"Right," Ash scowled as he pulled out a Pokéball. "Metapod! Go!"
In a flash, his green cocoon Pokémon was in the ring.
"Pincer! Crush that Metapod," Samurboy said, his Pinser quickly picking up the immobile Pokémon up to squeeze it.
"Metapod! No!" Ash said, clearly imagining what would happen if he did nothing. "Use harden!"
Metapod glowed green as the Pincer tried squeezing it between its pincers, only for the barbs along the pincers to shatter under the pressure of trying to crush Metapod in half.
"Pincer, return!" The cosplaying boy called out upon seeing his Pokémon injured. "Go Pokéball!"
Across the ring from Ash's Metapod, another Metapod emerged from the red light to stand.
What followed was an intense match of willpower, mental fortitude, and strategy as these titans of big might stared off against each other. Their bodies hardening under the intense scrutiny as they fought for any edge.
"Neither Pokémon is able to do anything! As both are the final Pokémon of the match, this match is a tie!" Tanya called out.
"What?'" Both boys cried out at once.
"You two have been staring at each other for a minute only telling your Pokémon to use harden. This match is not progressing in any meaningful way, so you two tie. I am not standing here watching you two waste a day in a match that will not end."
"Thank you," Misty said, relieved that she was not going to be stuck watching a pair of icky bugs sitting there doing nothing.
Tanya gathered up her things and started heading north. "Now if you don't mind, I think we can still make it to Pewter City in time for dinner if we hurry."
"How can you be so certain, tiny maiden?" The armored kid asked.
"Not my first time in this forest." Tanya answered.
"If you have been here before, how do I not recognize you?"
"I am capable of traveling with great stealth."
Misty giggled a little at Tanya's joke, knowing what she meant by stealth travel, having just seen first hand how stealthy she was.
"Very well, for now, we shall part, but Ash, next time we cross paths, we will have a rematch. And it will not end in a draw."
Ash grinned and shook the samurai kid's hand. "You can count on it."
And with that bright note, the four broke off and headed their separate ways. Ash and Tanya off to Pewter City for their first gym battle, Misty tagging along for her bike, and the bug loving samurai kid into the woods to train for the eventual rematch.
---
AN: The current team:
Artist is Yoshikage on Twitter. No direct link due to them being an NSFW artist.
This is not Tanya's current outfit, but those are her first three pokemon.
While getting set up for the night, I talked with Nurse Joy at the Viridian City Center. She mentioned that some centers were emergency outposts without any real space for such accommodations, but that any of the centers in major cities, especially the ones with gyms, would have the room. Well, unless the city was big enough for multiple Pokémon Centers, then you must have a primary center for the traveling trainers and smaller centers focused more on caring for the local trainers and their Pokémon.
With that information, Misty and Ash decided to travel with me for a bit. Misty decided to follow Ash until her bike was replaced, and Ash decided to follow me because we were on similar journeys and going in the same direction.
We find ourselves outside the Viridian City Gym, which Is currently closed for renovations and has a large amount of construction equipment and crew working.
"Well, guess we aren't doing this gym yet," I said with a sigh and a shake of my head.
"Wow, that is some bad timing," Misty said.
Ash groaned, "Now what?"
"I'm going to get some new clothes," I said, turning and starting towards the shops. "Then start heading to Pewter City. "
"Shopping?" Ash groaned.
"Unlike you two, I don't have a good travel bag and just have all my things in my pockets within these robes," I said, not stopping. "And while I do not mind the witch look, it is time for a change. You can look for a new mask for me if you want."
"Speaking of masks," Misty spoke up, keeping up with me and seeming more excited about a quick shopping trip. "Why do you wear the mask?"
"Skin condition."
"Skin condition?"
"Skin condition." I was not going to elaborate, and they would have to deal with my non-answer as I was not going to explain in the middle of a crowded city that I was a Pokemon with inhuman skin. "Do try to find one that can fully cover my face, please."
"Fine, fine," Ash said, starting to wander off.
"We will meet back up at the Pokemon Center in two hours," I called over to him.
"So, what kind of clothes are you looking for?" Misty asked, starting to look at the different shop windows.
"Something full coverage. Probably a new hat to match with a nice wide brim," I said, stopping as I came across a toddler clothing store. Unfortunately, my height meant that even children's clothing would likely be too large for me. Thankfully, no one seemed willing to treat me as a child when I began talking and acting as the adult I have been multiple times over. Likely due to how there were humans with psychic abilities, including small children, among many other oddities within humans.
Regardless of why I was being taken seriously despite my small size, Misty and the shop clerk were able to help me find an outfit I would be comfortable traveling in. A pair of khaki pants with nice roomy cargo pockets going down the sides, a soft shirt covered by a black turtleneck with long sleeves, and a black fedora with a nice, wide brim. To finish off the outfit, I also got a pair of trainer gloves meant to help with catching and throwing pokeballs, which would also aid me in hiding my less-than-human hands. It was somewhat surprising that the store had such items available, but the cargo pants and the gloves were apparently meant to get toddlers used to wearing such for whenever they start on their Pokemon Journeys at a young age.
I also got a round red bag that had two round pockets on either side of the bag. Both Misty and the store clerk were rather insistent I get at least one thing that was colorful and a red bag would be easy to locate if I ever needed to find it for some reason.
With an outfit set, along with extra shirts and a spare pair of pants, Misty and I met up with Ash who had found a festival mask with fox-like features. It was white and the details were carved in, but not painted.
"Where did you find this?" I asked, appreciating Ash's find.
"There is an old man who makes masks for festivals. After I told him about you, he was willing to sell that one."
"Hmm." A festival mask? Made sense. I turned away for a moment to switch masks and looked at the two children. "How do I look?"
"Good, I guess. Can we get going now? You and Gary already caught your first Pokémon and I need to catch up," Ash said.
"You aren't suppose to just dismiss a lady like that! You are suppose to tell her she is cute or beautiful," Misty yelled at Ash. I placed a hand lightly on her arm to calm her down.
"It is fine. I was just making sure it was not clashing too much with the rest of the outfit." Seeing Misty take a deep breath and calm down before nodding to me, I turn northward and begin leading the way. "Now Pewter City is on the other side of the forest north of here. I would say if we don't dawdle too much, we should only need to camp one night, but we would be getting there late. If we take our time, we can get there camping twice and still get there around lunchtime and after we eat, we can do the gym challenge."
"What's with the gym challenge anyways?" Ash asked.
"In order to enter the Pokémon League Challenge, you need to have eight Gym Badges," Misty answered.
"The Pokémon League is a tournament held in the fall of each year of the best trainers in the region. We probably can't make this year's, but next year's, if we train hard and have a full team, should be doable."
"Why can't we make this year's?" Ash asked.
"Three months is a rather quick turnaround time for catching and training up five Pokémon, traveling the entire region to hit up the different gyms, and making sure our teams are ready for the league. I would estimate our best timeline would be about six months."
"What do you mean by five Pokémon?"
"A trainer may only have with them up to six Pokémon. Any excess will automatically be sent to a care facility. As you and I are registered to Pallet Town, Professor Oak will receive them. Which is likely one of the better options as many will wind up at Pokémon Centers in crowded cities instead of a lab with a large pasture for the Pokémon to run around in."
Ash grew quiet after that, probably in thought. A lot of this should have been information he should have been given before he started on his journey, but he was a kid so it might have just not stuck.
Viridian City was an aptly named city as there was a lot of greenery around. Trees were visible everywhere, plenty of flower beds, even the buildings were more often than not painted in some shade of green. A city that felt like it was part of the natural environment more than humans forcing their will upon the land. I don't know who managed to achieve this for the city, but it left the city, even with some skyscrapers and traffic, feeling comfortable and peaceful instead of the fast paced mania of a big city.
Maybe it was just getting to old age twice over, but the slower pace of Viridian City appealed to me. I was still very much a city person at heart, the convenience of everything being within a quick jog and maybe a train ride from my home would always be desirable to me. But there was also a lot to be said about taking it slow and watching the world turn.
"Eeeee~!" Misty squealed, snapping me out of my contemplation. "Get it away!"
"A caterpie!" Ash said, turning his hat around and pulling out a ball. "I'm going to catch it."
With a throw, Ash tossed the ball and the small green worm entered the ball. After a few shakes, the ball chimed, indicating it was caught.
"Yes! I did it!" Ash cried out with a laugh and posing in a rather silly manner. "I did it! I got Caterpie! I did it all by myself. I caught my first Pokémon! This is the first step on my way to becoming the number one Pokémon Master in the whole world."
I gave him a polite golf clap. "Congrats. It would seem you found a Pokémon that was wanting to accompany a trainer."
"Huh? What do you mean?"
"I mean that if that caterpie did not want to join you, it would have broken out of that ball. There are three ways to catch a Pokémon. The first is to find one that wants to join any trainer or to join you specifically for some reason. That is your caterpie." I pulled out Ginger's ball and sent her out. "The second is to convince a Pokémon to join you. In the case of Ginger, she wanted to fight and grow strong and I had to convince her I was the right trainer for the job. We sparred and after she proved her willingness to keep going in the face of adversity I let her choose if she wanted to come with me. The last way is to force a catch by beating up a Pokémon in a fight until they have no choice but to be caught in the ball."
"Huh," Ash looked at the ball in his hand for a moment before turning to Pikachu with a grin. "Did you hear that? Caterpie wanted to join us!"
"That doesn't mean," Misty started before being interrupted by Ash.
"Caterpie, come on out!"
"Eeeeee~!" Misty ran and cowered behind a tree.
I chuckled to myself at the childish reaction. Misty may dress and act in a Tomboy manner mostly, but the shopping trip and this silly reaction to bugs was showing that Misty had a lot of stereotypically girly qualities to her.
I released Yini as I approached Misty. "So, you don't like bugs?" I asked in a casual manner.
"Bugs are one of the three most disgusting things in the world!" Misty said with authority.
I nodded my head. I don't really agree, but I had spent a century as a teacher and learned how to help students through issues, especially fears, since that was a major aspect of third-year lessons.
"Even butterflies? Personally I find butterflies to have a certain beauty to them as they dance in the air around flowers."
"I suppose butterflies aren't too bad," Misty carefully admitted.
I smiled, though I doubted Misty would be able to tell. "Well, caterpie are a caterpillar Pokémon that will eventually change into a beautiful butterfly. So while it may look creepy or ugly to you now, just remember that someday soon it will blossom into something wonderful." I gave a chuckle. I was aiming for a life akin to a rockstar, yet here I was in teacher mode imparting wisdom. "In some ways, we all are just a caterpillar waiting to mature into our own butterflies."
"Maybe," Misty agreed. She looked over to where Ash was with his Pokémon before shuddering. "I still don't want that thing near me!"
I patted her on the arm. "It will be alright. It isn't going to hurt you. Just take a deep breath and think about how it will change."
Turning back, I saw the little bug seemingly charging towards where Misty and I were. I moved quickly and scooped the big bug up. It was nearly half my size and it began wiggling in my arms instantly.
"Ash, please try to keep Caterpie away from Misty," I said, bringing the bug over to him.
"Sorry, I don't know why Caterpie rushed at you two like that," He said, taking the bug from me.
"It is fine. Misty does not like bugs and it would be rather impolite to force her to deal with them without fair warning."
"Oh, she doesn't?" Ash asked, getting a look I had seen many a troublemaker get in my time.
"Correct. In fact, it would be so rude to discomfort her like that, I would be obligated to find an appropriate punishment for you if you did that." Ash paused and looked down at me as I stared up at him. "I would highly advise you to not test me on this."
Ash gulped as he took me seriously despite the rather obvious height difference. I nodded once, "Good" I said before turning and continuing our trek into the forest. Ash talking to his Pokémon and Misty giving him a wide berth as he had Caterpie out.
Yini and Ginger kept up with me for a time, but Ginger had to jog to keep up and eventually tired her out, so I ended up carrying her.
"We will need to work on your stamina and speed," I told the plant creature.
"Dish," she said in my arms.
"You need to be able to avoid hits."
"Odd. Oddish-odd!"
"I don't care if you can absorb energy from your opponent. If you are getting hit and can't land your hit on them, it doesn't matter if you have a way to siphon off their health. Or are you forgetting our fight?"
"O~dd," Ginger said grumpily.
"Wow, you must have a really good connection with your Pokémon to understand her like that," Misty said.
"Not really. I am mostly just getting concepts She is trying to say. Yini I can fully understand."
"Really?" Misty said, surprised.
"Open your ears and pay attention, and you may learn to understand what Pokémon say. At least, the ones capable of saying something."
"I had heard that Pokémon were smart and that there are people trying to make devices to understand what they are saying, but not too many people can just understand Pokémon like that."
"Not many people have learned as many languages as I have either. Taking time to learn is never a bad thing."
The conversation continued for a bit before dying off until the sky between the trees began changing colors.
"We should make camp," I said. "Either of you have much experience?"
"Yeah," Misty said.
"No," Ash said.
I nodded. "Ash, look for dry wood. Sticks and branches on the ground that are dry and not rotten. Misty, start making a firepit. I will forage up something to eat."
"Right!" "Ok."
I headed into the woods along with Yini and Ginger. The options weren't too great at first. I could try my luck with some of the Pokémon in the area, but I wasn't sure if Misty or Ash would be comfortable watching me bring back and prepare an animal in front of them.
Children could be rather squeamish about where their food comes from if they have been sheltered from the truth and I didn't know if Misty or Ash had ever even fished for dinner.
I did end up finding several edible berry bushes and collected enough to make a couple of meals out of. Probably would be worthwhile to get a few field rations for the road when we got to town.
Returning, I saw that Misty had not only gotten a rock circle setup, but that she had already gotten a fire going with the wood Ash found.
I passed out the fruit and we had a simple conversation over dinner before I suggested a Pokémon battle to Ash before bed.
"I caught Ginger yesterday and you got Caterpie today and it would be good experience for them."
"Alright," Ash said, hopping up, excited.
"Are you sure about that?" Misty asked me. "Bugs eat plants. You would be at a disadvantage."
"Maybe, but my team will not always find themselves in an advantageous position." I stretched out a bit. "Besides, this is just a friendly little training battle. We aren't even going to put any money on it, right Ash?"
"Huh? What do you mean?" Ash asked as we got into position far enough from the fire to not worry about putting it out by a stray attack.
"Normally, when two trainers decide to battle they would be agreeing to also put up a bit of cash on the fight. A friendly little wager on the outcome. I'm saying that we aren't going all out to win, just one versus one, so no need to put money on it this time."
"Alright. Caterpie, let's show them what we got!"
"Ginger, take position." I turned to Misty. "Please referee the match."
"Oh, sure," Misty agreed, going to the makeshift sideline. "Ready? Go!"
Caterpie began rushing towards Ginger right away as ginger infused herself with a green light that made her grow bigger. It seemed there was a way to use the magic of this world to become larger and stronger, though the size change may be limited to plant based creatures.
Though the size increase did nothing to help Ginger move out of the way of Caterpie's tackle as the small bug rammed itself into Ginger.
"Keep an eye on your opponent and keep moving while you power yourself up," I whisper into Ginger's ear.
"Dish!" She calls out with a nod before beginning to try running a circle around Caterpie, face scrunched up in focus as the green energy returned, making the bulb even larger.
"That's it Caterpie!" Ash cried out in excitement. "Now Stringshot! Stick her in place!"
Ginger was already moving, but the spray of web was wide enough and Ginger was unable to get out of the way, getting stuck in place.
"Odd!" Ginger cried out, struggling.
"Stop struggling," I whispered to her. "You can attack at range."
I had already seen her use that red beam attack that was ranged, so as long as she could aim, she could attack.
"Dish!" She nodded before puffing up. I raised an eyebrow as I expected her to gather a red beam for an attack. "Odd-DISH!" She cried out as she spat out a stream of purple goo at the bug.
"Caterpie!" Ash cried out a warning, but it was too late as the goo hit the bug and began sizzling.
Hmm, some sort of acidic attack? Interesting.
"Counter attack, Caterpie!"
I watched as the bug rushed in for another tackle, slamming into Ginger.
"Dish!"
I sighed and shook my head. "Until the referee calls it, press the attack," I told her.
"Dish!" She nodded, beginning to gather up the red energy.
"Caterpie! Hit her again!"
Caterpie went in for another hit. Ginger was about to unleash her attack.
"Enough!" I called out, causing the attack to sputter out and everyone to look at me. "I've seen enough."
"What? But I was just about to win!" Ash said.
"Maybe. Maybe not," I said heading over to help Ginger out of the webs. They were very sickly indeed. "Regardless, I think that is enough for one night and this has shown me clear places for Ginger to improve."
"She might have done better if you had given her any orders," Misty said.
I looked at her with a raised eyebrow. I suppose I had given my commands softly enough she couldn't hear them from the sideline.
"I did," I said from behind her.
Misty yelled and spun around before turning back around at me where I chuckled, Ash joining me with a laugh of his own.
"How did you do that?" Misty asked, pointing at me.
I lifted my web covered fingers and wiggled them. "Magic." It was very easy to use some of this world's magic to speak and while I had it originate from myself usually, I was not bound by such limitations.
Looking at Ash and Caterpie, I shrugged. "If you want to consider this your win, go ahead. I basically forfeited."
"You hear that Caterpie? We won," Ash excitedly said, picking up his bug and laughing. "My first ever battle and we won!"
"Pee!" Caterpie cried out happily before it started to glow.
"Caterpie?" Ash asked, setting the bug down.
"It's evolving?" Misty said in shock.
After a moment, the bug was in a cocoon, sitting still.
"Metapod, Caterpie's next stage," Ash's Pokédex spoke up. "It has encased its body in a hard shell. This specimen reached this stage faster than any previously discovered Pokémon of this variety."
"Maybe that means it can keep on changing and go to the next stage right away!" Ash said excitedly, picking up the cocoon and hugging it.
"Whatever, it is still a bug," Misty said from where she stood.
"Misty, please keep such comments to yourself," I chided the girl before shaking my head. "Congrats, Caterpie, on evolving. Now let's get to bed."
"Aww, but this is so exciting," Ash said with a grin.
"Maybe, but it is dark out and, if possible, I would like to be in a bed tomorrow night," I said, pulling out my robes. They were still useful for doubling as a blanket while camping. Ash and Misty pulled out sleeping bags that looked to have some cushion to them. I would need to see about getting one for myself at some point.
For now though, Ginger and I laid our heads on Yini's side while she rested her head on my belly, the three of us comfortably snuggled up. Ash was hugging his newly evolved Metapod while Pikachu was laying against him and Misty was laying by herself. "Goodnight," I called out as I closed my eyes.
"Night!" "Goodnight."
—
Misty thought she was the first to wake up, shivering at the sight of Ash still cuddling his Metapod, until she saw Tanya give her a wave.
"Good morning," Tanya said, still partially buried under her sleeping pokèmon.
"Morning," Misty said with a yawn, stretching before beginning to put away her sleeping bag.
"You mind waking Ash up?" Tanya said as she began nudging her team awake.
Misty looked at Ash and his Metapod again, shuddered before taking a deep breath. "Fine. I guess I can." Misty stepped over to Ash and took a deep breath. "Ash! Time to get up!"
Misty could practically feel Tanya rolling her eyes as Ash yelled and began to look around fretfully.
"Huh what? What's going on?" He asked.
"Really now?" Tanya asked sarcastically as Yini and Ginger woke up enough from Tanya's prodding and the yelling to groggily move around. "I could have done that myself if I had wanted to make a loud spectacle of things. I'm sure nearly everyone nearby heard that."
Misty simply crossed her arms and raised her nose in the air. "Hmph, well maybe next time you can do the wakeup call."
"Maybe I will," Tanya said before turning to Ash. "My apologies for the rude awakening. I did not think Misty would choose to be so loud."
"Huh? It's fine," Ash said. "It isn't like you can control an ill tempered barbarian like her."
Tanya sighed and rubbed the bridge of her mask's nose as Ash and Misty began bickering until the flapping of wings and a bird pokèmon swooping in interrupted them.
"A Pidgeotto," Ash said, pulling out his Pokèdex as the bird began eating the worm it had caught.
"Pidgeotto, an evolved form of the Pidgey," his Pokèdex started. "It is armed with sharp claws and dives from the sky to capture its prey. Unlike the more gentle Pidgey, Pidgeotto can be dangerous. Approach with extreme caution."
"Hm, a flying Pokèmon?" Tanya asked as she stepped forwards, excitement in her voice as she dropped the robes she slept in to the ground. "You want to show me what you got? Prove you are worth joining me?"
"Hey!" Ash said, Pokèball already in hand. "I want to catch it."
Tanya turned to Ash and gave a shrug. "I offered it a chance first." She then stepped up to the bird that was noticeably taller than her. "Now, what say you? Show me your moves, prove yourself capable, and join me? Or try to find your own way to reach your potential? If you even want to reach what you could be."
"What are you doing?" Misty cried out as Ginger and Yini took positions to watch.
Pidgeotto screeched and took flight, going in to attack Tanya who easily side-stepped the attack. "Proving that I know a thing or two about fighting so that my team will respect me," Tanya said as she watched the bird turn in the air, coming in for another attack. Tanya waited till the last moment before sidestepping the attack and chopping down at Pidgeotto's neck.
The bird crashed to the ground and it took a moment to get up, shaking itself off. It turned and glared at Tanya. It began flapping its wings at the small girl, sending a gust of air at her.
Tanya simply crossed her arms in front of herself, taking the brunt of the attack before the bird was off once again, flying fast straight at the girl.
"Heh," a small chuckle from Tanya. "Telegraphed."
Pidgeotto was on target to strike Tanya hard, shrieking out a victorious cry. A preemptive victory cry as Tanya thrust a palm right into Pidgeotto's face, stopping it hard in its tracks before grabbing one of its wings and tossing it into a tree.
Pidgeotto gave a warbling caw as it tried to stand back up, favoring one side as it winced as it tried to move the wing Tanya had grabbed.
"Not bad," Tanya said, pulling out a pokèball and bringing it to full size before rolling it in front of the bird. "You need some work. Your movements are telegraphed and you could do with learning a bit of discipline, but you got a spark in your eye I like and I could feel the power in your strikes. I am willing to train you if you are willing to join my team."
"That isn't how you catch a pokèmon!" Misty called from the sidelines.
"What's wrong?" Ash asked. "She's just asking if Pidgeotto wants to join her team. I think that is a great way to make friends with your team."
"You are supposed to weaken the pokèmon and then throw the ball, not talk it into…" Misty shut up as she watched the Pidgeotto peck at the ball and let itself just be caught without more of a fight.
"You were saying?" Ash smugly asked.
"Whatever," Misty said, huffing.
"As I said yesterday, there are three ways to catch a pokèmon," Tanya told Misty. "You seem to be focused on the 'forcefully making them part of your team' method. Maybe it will always work out well for you, but I prefer freedom of choice. Everyone on my team will be there willingly and can choose to part ways with me whenever they so choose."
Ash nodded with a grin. "And so will my team," he declared strongly.
A woman's laugh rang out.
"How precious," a man said.
"That voice," Ash started as everyone turned towards the source of the laugh.
"To protect the world from devastation," the long haired woman said from the path towards Pewter City, lit from behind by the sun.
"To unite all people within our nation," the man said, silhouetted next to the long haired woman, far enough to see the cat Pokèmon between the two.
"To denounce the evil of truth and love."
"To extend our reach to the stars above."
"Jessie!"
"James!"
"Team Rocket blasts off at the speed of light!" The woman, Jessie said, striking a dynamic pose.
"Surrender now or prepare to fight!" The man, James said, joining in on the posing.
"Meowth, that's right!" The cat said between the pair.
Colorful explosions went off behind the trio.
"Look, we're kinda busy," Ash started to say.
"Quiet little boy," Jessie said. "We aren't here to listen to you. We are here for your Pokèmon."
"Hand over that masked one and her Dratini," James said as both Jessie and James pointed at Tanya.
"'Huh?'" Ash and Misty said in confusion at the same time.
"Is it my height?" Tanya asked. "Was that what gave it away?"
"'What?!'" Ash and Misty both yelled in shock as they looked at Tanya.
"And that fire punch you hit me with," Meowth said.
Tanya huffed a laugh. "Guess there is no point in trying to convince you it was magic," she said, getting into a fighting position. "Now, you already know I can beat you, so kindly get out of our way and I won't send you home black and blue."
"Hmph," James huffed. "You got lucky last time."
"This time we are prepared for you," Jessie said.
"I'll take that as a 'please kick my butt three ways to sunday and show us how frightening you are'," Tanya said before falling backwards and sinking into her own shadow.
"What? Where she go?" Meowth asked.
"Behind you," Tanya said, jumping out of a tree's shadow and grabbing Jessie's hair, pulling her backwards.
"Ow!Ow!Ow! Let go you brat!" Jessie yelled out before a fist came in from the side.
"Last time I was attempting to hide what I was."
"And you did a horrible job," Meowth said, claws at the ready.
"So I did," Tanya agreed before lifting up a palm and gathering energy into a yellow speckled blue ball in front of her. "I will need to be more careful in the future."
Meowth gulped and tried jumping out of the way, but was still sent sprawling as the ball swiftly moved towards him and pounded against his side.
"You leave me no choice," James says, pokèball in hand. Tanya reached out with a clawed hand and twisted. "Wha-?" James was confused as the ball in his hand was moving to Tanya's control before it began slamming into his groin, crumpling the man to the ground.
The three would-be thieves were huddled together on the ground, staring up as Tanya stepped up to them. "I am being nice today," she said, reaching up to her mask. "But next time I may be hungry." She removed her mask as she stared down the trio who went pale as they witnessed what was under the fox mask. "Do not anger me, do not reveal what I am, and maybe I will remain nice to you."
Tanya put the mask back on as she began to walk past the trio. "Let's go!" She called back to Ash, Misty, and the group's Pokèmon.
"Right!" Misty called out, gathering up Tanya's things as she hurried to follow along with Ash.
After they were a bit away from Team Rocket, Ash broke the silence. "So, you are a Pokèmon?"
"No. I am a three hundred foot tall statue," Tanya said sarcastically before she stopped and turned to the two humans she had been traveling with. She took a sigh. "My apologies, I shouldn't take my frustrations out on you. I was just hoping not to reveal that until I felt I had garnered enough fame as a trainer to not worry about anyone attempting to capture me."
Ash and Misty looked at each other for a moment. "I guess I can understand that," Ash said.
"Is that why you are so adamant about asking pokèmon if they want to join you," Misty asked.
"One of them," Tanya agreed with a nod. "There is also the fact that I can understand most Pokèmon and being able to hold a conversation with someone makes it rather tricky to want to enslave them. At least, I find it difficult to find any logical justification for slavery in an enlightened world when mutually beneficial agreements can be made instead."
After a few more steps, Tanya stopped and turned towards Ash and Misty. "You both seem like good enough kids, so I'm going to ask you not to go sharing this with others. I already messed up enough with those thieves figuring it out, but I would prefer it be my own choices and mistakes that reveal it over others spreading it around."
"No problem."
"I won't."
"Thank you," Tanya told the two with a slight bow before continuing on their path through the forest.
"So, what kind of Pokémon are you?" Ash asked.
"I do not know."
"Huh?"
"What do you mean you don't know?" Misty asked.
"I have not met another Pokémon that looks like me," Tanya said before pulling back a sleeve of her turtle neck to reveal her coal black skin. "And my skin is not normal. It seems to be more akin to shadow given form than something more organic."
"If you haven't met another of you, and the Pokédex tried and failed to identify you, then whatever you are must be incredibly rare."
"I may be the only one," Tanya said with a shrug. "Or the circumstances of my birth are so uncommon that there are only a handful of what I am around the world."
The conversation continued with Ash and Misty asking questions of the talking Pokémon they were traveling with, Ash having returned Metapod to its Pokèball while Yini and Ginger followed closely behind.
"HIIIYAH!" A boy in a samurai costume jumped out from the treeline with a drawn katana, chopping down at the group. Tanya and Yini already poised to strike with Ginger puffing itself up as well. "Greetings. Are you the ones from Pallet?"
"Depends on what you mean," Tanya said. "Why do you ask?"
"I seek to challenge the trainers from Pallet," the samurai kid answered, trying very hard to sound grown up and mature.
"And you think striking at every random person in the forest is a smart way to do that?" Tanya huffed. "Instead of swinging that thing around, next time just ask."
"Yeah!" Ash agreed. "I would be happy to give you a Pokèmon battle."
"You are the one from Pallet?" The kid asked, turning to Ash specifically.
"Yeah. I'm from Pallet."
The samurai kid put away his sword and pulled out a Pokèball. "Then let us have a match."
"I'll referee that match," Tanya said. "Do you have two Pokèmon?"
"Yes."
"Ok. Then this will be a two on two match. I want this to be quick, so if you have to switch out a Pokèmon for any reason, they are considered knocked out. If I say a Pokèmon is unable to continue, then both of you are to stop until the Pokèmon in question is removed from the battle. If a Pokèmon is knocked outside the ring for any reason, they are considered knocked out. Am I clear?"
"Yes." Samurai said.
"Uh, what ring?" Ash asked, looking around.
"Yini, go!"
With a swipe of her tail, Yini sent out a pair of twisters that arced out in a wide circle before crashing into each other and canceling themselves out, carving a quick circular ring into the forest path.
"Oh, that ring."
"Any other questions?"
"No."
"I'm good."
"Then send out your first Pokèmon and wait for my signal."
Misty was waiting at the edge of the arena when the Samurai sent out his first Pokèball, revealing a massive bug with large spiked horns on its head.
"Pikachu! Let's go!" Ash said.
Pikachu chose to get comfortable in a futon for a nap instead.
"Ha ha! You must truly be a novice for your Pokémon to be unwilling to battle!" The samurai boy said.
"The match has begun, Pikachu is unwilling to battle!" Tanya declared. "Send out your last Pokémon."
"Wha-? But …"
"I am well aware that this may seem harsh, Ash, but you attempted to send out a Pokémon that did not want to battle. It is on you as a trainer to know how your team is feeling and what they are capable of. Now, send out your last Pokémon."
"Right," Ash scowled as he pulled out a Pokéball. "Metapod! Go!"
In a flash, his green cocoon Pokémon was in the ring.
"Pincer! Crush that Metapod," Samurboy said, his Pinser quickly picking up the immobile Pokémon up to squeeze it.
"Metapod! No!" Ash said, clearly imagining what would happen if he did nothing. "Use harden!"
Metapod glowed green as the Pincer tried squeezing it between its pincers, only for the barbs along the pincers to shatter under the pressure of trying to crush Metapod in half.
"Pincer, return!" The cosplaying boy called out upon seeing his Pokémon injured. "Go Pokéball!"
Across the ring from Ash's Metapod, another Metapod emerged from the red light to stand.
What followed was an intense match of willpower, mental fortitude, and strategy as these titans of big might stared off against each other. Their bodies hardening under the intense scrutiny as they fought for any edge.
"Neither Pokémon is able to do anything! As both are the final Pokémon of the match, this match is a tie!" Tanya called out.
"What?'" Both boys cried out at once.
"You two have been staring at each other for a minute only telling your Pokémon to use harden. This match is not progressing in any meaningful way, so you two tie. I am not standing here watching you two waste a day in a match that will not end."
"Thank you," Misty said, relieved that she was not going to be stuck watching a pair of icky bugs sitting there doing nothing.
Tanya gathered up her things and started heading north. "Now if you don't mind, I think we can still make it to Pewter City in time for dinner if we hurry."
"How can you be so certain, tiny maiden?" The armored kid asked.
"Not my first time in this forest." Tanya answered.
"If you have been here before, how do I not recognize you?"
"I am capable of traveling with great stealth."
Misty giggled a little at Tanya's joke, knowing what she meant by stealth travel, having just seen first hand how stealthy she was.
"Very well, for now, we shall part, but Ash, next time we cross paths, we will have a rematch. And it will not end in a draw."
Ash grinned and shook the samurai kid's hand. "You can count on it."
And with that bright note, the four broke off and headed their separate ways. Ash and Tanya off to Pewter City for their first gym battle, Misty tagging along for her bike, and the bug loving samurai kid into the woods to train for the eventual rematch.
---
AN: The current team:
Artist is Yoshikage on Twitter. No direct link due to them being an NSFW artist.
This is not Tanya's current outfit, but those are her first three pokemon.
Chapter Four
Pewter City, named for the dark gray of the stones that made up much of the area, was a lovely city situated at the base of Mt. Moon with an economy focused around geology and paleontology. There was a lovely fossil museum that I had explored about a year ago while practicing my abilities to become one with the shadows.
Even while in the shadow of another person or object, I could see everything around me with startling clarity. Thankfully the museum seemed to be under the impression that ancient life meant low light for most of the exhibit except for the actual displays, so there were shadows everywhere I could flit between without anyone's notice and take my time looking at the fossils.
"Pewter City is gray, the color of stone. This town has always been famous for stone," A dusky skinned, rough looking man said from where he sat next to the entrance to the forest.
"And fossils," I said, hopping down to look at the little setup the man had made, seeing that he had variously sized rocks marked up with prices. "A stone salesman?"
"They're Pewter City souvenirs. The name's Flint and your friend is sitting on some of my merchandise."
"Oh~!" Ash exclaimed, getting back to his feet and joining me in Flint's 'store'. "Sorry."
Looking the stones over I couldn't help come to a specific conclusion. "You might want to sell some more modestly sized stones for tourists with limited space."
"Ha ha," Flint laughed flatly. "I do well enough without small rocks."
"If you say so," I shrugged, heading into the city. "Have a good day."
"Yeah, have a good day Mr. Flint!" Ash called out as he hurried to keep up with me.
"Hope to see you again," Misty said.
"Kids," Flint muttered to himself as we left his setup.
It was not long before we were at the Pokécenter getting our teams back to full vitality. "Do you want to go first?" I asked Ash.
"First?"
"With the Gym Challenge. If I remember correctly, it is Brock that is the Gym Leader here, and he can only battle one of us at a time."
"I can help if you ask nicely," Misty offered with a grin.
Ash frowned. "No, I can do it myself. And I'll go first." Ash pumped a fist, looking serious.
I got up as my name was called to retrieve my team. "Good. There is just one thing before you go. Each Gym Leader specializes in a specific kind of Pokémon. Like Pewter City, Brock specializes in stone based Pokémon."
"Rock type," Misty corrected me.
"Whatever the term is," I say, waving off the correction. "You will not always have the advantage of being able to strategize before a match. Take a few moments and make a plan. Take Misty up on her help and use her to bounce some ideas off of."
"And what about you?" Ash asked.
"I'm going to do a quick bit of training, get to know the pidgeotto that is now on my team a bit better. Tell Brock he'll have another challenger when you go see him." With my team healthy, I stepped out of the Center and made my way to a clear area between the town and the forest and tossed the three Pokéballs into the air. "Come out everyone!"
Yini, Ginger, and the Pidgeotto all came out in beams of red light, all at attention and looking at me. I clasped my hands behind my back after putting their balls away.
"Proper introductions first," I state. "I am Tanya, this is Yini and Ginger." I gesture at the two as I introduce them. "And is there something you wish to be known as?"
The Pidgeotto nodded. "Sharp Beak name," They said, puffing themself up. Looking Sharp Beak over, I nodded.
"Alright, Sharp Beak, welcome to the team. We got some time before we face off against Brock, so we are going to get you up to speed."
I motioned for Ginger to get into position across from Sharp Beak while Yini and I took up positions to either side. "In our first match showing each other what we've got, you showed good speed and power along with a determination I like, but you are too straight forward and predictable. Ginger, you need more variety in your arsenal and speed. The two of you are going to spar each other. Yini and I will be on the side throwing out attacks to distract you two."
I gave the two a serious look from behind my mask. "I will be very disappointed if either of you let us hit you."
"Dish!"
"Fight!"
I nodded, smirked, gathered up two balls of energy and fired them at the pair. The two cried out in shock, diving out of the way.
"What are you waiting for?" I asked. "Your opponents won't always be polite and predictable about starting the match!"
Sharp Beak tried sending a gust of wind at me that I dodged out of the way. "I'm not your opponent." I tell him, gathering dark, sticky energy around me and pulsing it in retribution back at the bird. I held back enough not to hurt him too badly, but I could tell he got the message and turned back to Ginger, who hit him with that red beam that stole a Pokémon's energy.
Sharp Beak was angry. Angry was fine so long as he did not lose himself in it. Emotions were a tool like any other someone could use. Not inherently good, not inherently bad.
Learning how to properly read, understand, and effectively use emotions was something I was still learning, though the heightened emotions of teens were well trodden ground for me now. And Sharp Beak's emotions were simpler than any teen's were.
The spar was fast paced and without Yini and my interference to distract the two from landing hits, it would likely have ended much sooner. As it was, we managed to stretch it out to about half an hour of high paced sparring before Sharp Beak was unable to continue flying with confidence and Ginger was breathing heavily from exhaustion.
"STOP!" I called. "Good job everyone."
I saw improvement from both Ginger and Sharp Beak during the spar. Ginger was moving around the field more, attempting more hit and run tactics mixed in with spore based area denial, though her pool of moves was still shallow and would need to be addressed at another time in specialized manners. Sharp Beak's improvement was more in waiting till the last possible moment to commit to an attack, when Ginger had the least opportunity to attempt dodging or countering the attack. Both also were more aware of their surroundings and how to dodge out of sudden attacks.
They were not ready for a fight against elites, but I hoped that the Gym Challenge would be scaled against the fact I was a rookie trainer with a rookie team. If not, I would just have to travel around a lot more, get a full team, and train them hard before trying again.
Either way, my team was tired and would need some care at the Pokémon Center again before I faced Brock. The Nurse Joy did not seem pleased that I was already back after only an hour, but training can be rough and if they have means to heal a Pokémon to full health swiftly, I would take advantage of it.
I thought I would have seen Misty or Ash at some point as I made my way to the Gym from the Center, but I suppose they were off celebrating his win or consoling his loss. Regardless, there was still plenty of daylight left as I opened the large steel doors and entered the Gym.
"Hello!" I called out. "I am here to challenge the Gym Leader for the Pokémon League Challenge!"
"Are you Tanya?" A voice asked.
"Yes. You must have already fought Ash," I said to the teen seemingly meditating on a raised platform.
"There are special rules for a Pokémon League Challenge. We will use two Pokémon each," Brock said, standing up. "As Gym Leader, I have to accept every challenge."
Brock snapped his fingers and the lights in the warehouse looking gym came on, bay doors on either side rolling up as an arena rolled into position.
"Let's get this over with."
I nodded my head in agreement, my fingers brushing against the different balls on my belt. Pidgeotto was swift and strong, but would still need more coaching during the battle. Yini was my best choice, but starting the match with her seemed tactically unwise. Best to save her as my second after probing the defenses of my opponent first. Ginger would have to be my starting choice.
"Ginger, go!" I call out as Brock announces his Geodude.
"Hmm, a grass type," Brock said with a nod. "You are well prepared, but type advantage doesn't win matches on their own. Geodude, Rock Throw!"
I calmly stood at ease, legs comfortably apart and hands clasped behind my back, as I watched Ginger dodge the stones Geodude ripped out of the ground and threw at her before returning fire with that red energy absorbing beam.
With a single shot, Geodude was looking rough. A surprise considering a living rock should be a lot more sturdy.
But it only took another exchange for Geodude to go down and for Brock to send out his giant rock snake, Onix.
Ginger did her best to avoid Onix's strikes, but for something so large and heavy, it was very quick. Ginger got a couple of shots in, but it was quickly obvious that she was going to lose.
"Ginger, return!" I said, pulling out her ball to remove her from the Onix's grip in its tail. Onix shifted and blocked the beam from the ball. "Enough! Release her. She is done!"
"Onix, release!" Brock called out, giving me the opportunity to relieve Ginger from the fight, ignoring the annoyed look Ginger was giving me.
Ginger may be a fight minded fool, but she wasn't the only one I had with me. "Yini! Time to show off!"
Brock gasped and took a step back as Yini came out. I couldn't hear what he said as the battle resumed. Onix went to slam its tail into Yini, but we had trained together enough that a telegraphed move like that was not going to make contact.
No, Yini dodged while sending a pair of twisters before turning and firing a blast of dark blue-purple fire at the larger snake. As the large stone roared, Yini rushed in close, her tail glowing in that same blue-purple energy the fire was made from. With a spring, Yini struck Onix in the throat, whipping herself around in mid-air to slam her tail hard, releasing a burst of energy.
Yini curled around herself as she and I watched the Onix fall backwards with a groan. In a flash of red, Onix was returned to its ball. I couldn't help the smile gracing my lips as I made my way to Yini to pet her head.
"Good job," I told her, firmly rubbing her head as she wrapped around me in a simulation of a hug.
"Your pokémon have won, but you did not give any orders during the match," Brock said, stepping forwards.
"I am a pokémon trainer. If I have to micromanage my team during a match, then I have failed to prepare them," I said, continuing to give attention to Yini.
Brock nodded before smiling and holding out his hand. "Well said, you have earned the Boulder Badge."
I accepted the badge, pinning it to the strap of my bag, before pulling out Yini's ball for her to return to it herself. I give him a polite bow. "It was a pleasure meeting you." From what I learned, the Champion had to work with Gym Leaders to handle certain issues, so if I was going to eventually become Champion it was best to maintain a polite relationship with future coworkers.
With my business done, I returned once more to the Pokémon center.
"Oh! Is that the Boulder Badge?" Nurse Joy asked as I went up to the counter.
"Yes. My team did well, though Ginger did take a few hard hits from his Onix," I say, putting both Yini's and Ginger's balls forward to be healed. Sharp Beak did not exert himself at all and while Yini didn't take any hits, I felt better making sure she didn't over exert herself if the healing technology was really as advanced as it seemed.
"Congratulations! Brock may be young, but he is a tough Gym Leader. Many trainers end up giving up after facing him," Nurse Joy seemed upset on behalf of the trainers that gave up.
"I am sure those that ended their journey went on to find something they enjoyed doing," I said, putting on a sympathetic tone to my voice that brought a smile to the nurse's face.
"Yeah, you're probably right."
I gathered up my team just as Misty came storming into the Center, muttering harshly to herself. Raising my eyebrow behind my mask I went over to see what was wrong.
"Did something happen?" I asked her.
"That stubborn boy wouldn't listen and is off on some foolish attempt to power up his pikachu!" Misty angrily said.
I sighed. Ash was so very young. He seemed like he was listening and learning from me, but it seemed he had to learn some lessons the hard way. I made to rub the bridge of my nose, being blocked by the mask. "Where is he?"
"At some old water wheel at the edge of town," Misty said.
"I'll see you in a bit," I tell her, heading out.
"Where are you going?"
"To make sure he doesn't do anything too reckless."
The job of a teacher was not just to provide information, but to ensure the environment my students learned in was conductive towards the lesson. If Ash was doing something dangerous, I had to make sure he would be able to live through it and learn a valuable lesson from it. Preferably with minimal physical scarring.
As I made my way towards the river that a water wheel would be on, I stopped in at a convenience store and got several bentos, checking information on my pokédex to make sure the bentos were safe for the pokémon. Different mons had different dietary needs, though there were a few things that were universally good for them. I got Yini and myself eel bentos, Ginger got a bean and egg bento that seemed to be really good for plant pokémon, a bento specially designed for bird pokémon filled with seeds and bugs for Sharp Beak, and for Ash and Pikachu chicken bentos. Metapod would not be getting a bento as until he evolved again, Metapod could not eat.
Loaded up with bentos, I found the old water wheel Ash was at. Barely better than a shack falling apart. Ash was manually moving the wheel by walking on top of it, using his weight to do the work of keeping it moving.
"Ash!" I called out.
"What?" He asked, sounding angry.
"Come down from there," I told him.
"No! Pikachu needs to be stronger if we're going to beat Brock."
I rolled my eyes and held up the convenience store bentos. "You can keep going after you eat. Now get down so we can have a meal."
Ash looked back at me for a bit as he kept going before his stomach growled and the determination left his face. "Fine!"
It was a few moments that we were gathered around, my pokémon out eating happily at their dinners along with Ash and Pikachu scarfing down their meals.
"Sorry Mr. Flint," I told the older man. "I did not know you were with Ash."
Not that I would have bought the old man any food if I had known. No reason to encourage an adult to spend more time around children than was necessary.
"It's fine, though you did interrupt us as we were making some good progress."
Looking at the wires jury-rigged to Pikachu's cheeks, I mentally scoffed, but as long as Pikachu was going along with all of this and didn't get hurt too badly, I would not stop this exercise in foolishness.
Looking over at Ash, I could see he was upset about something, and there was only one thing I could imagine it being.
"You lost, didn't you?" I asked, very bluntly. The flinch told me I was right. "Don't take it so hard. Losses happen."
"That's easy for you to say, you got your badge."
I nodded my head in agreement and looked over at Ginger, who was giving me a stink eye. "Yes, my team won. And they did very well, though I think Ginger needs to learn the same lesson you do here."
"Dish?" "Huh?"
"Not every obstacle can be overpowered and pushed through. More power never hurts, but sometimes you need to know when to stop, step back, and decide if you really should keep going as it is, or if you should instead come at the situation in a different manner."
I placed a hand on top of Ginger and gently ruffled the leaves she had. "You are part of a team, so sometimes you need to let your teammates step up."
"Odd," Ginger grumbled, but nodded in agreement. I could almost imagine if she had arms she would cross them like a surly teen.
"And you have companions traveling with you that you should be willing to rely upon to help you," I said, looking at Ash.
"Hmph," he grunted, folding his arms. "I will beat Brock with the pokémon I caught and am raising, not Misty's."
"Is that what Misty tried to do? To get you to use her pokémon?" I asked.
"Yeah. Stupid girl not understanding that I can do this on my own."
I shook my head and stood up, setting the rest of my bento in front of Yini to finish as I placed a hand on Ash's shoulder. "I'm not going to say that is the right choice, but I can respect it. You still need to think up a plan on how to deal with Brock's team though. You know who is on his team, and you know what the arena looks like. If you want to keep running on that water wheel all night long, go ahead, but while your body is moving, use your head and think."
Ash was looking down at that and nodded his head. I gave him a solid pat on the shoulder. "Good," I said before looking at Flint and glared at him through my mask. He seemed to flinch at it, knowing the expression I was giving him despite the blankness of my mask. "Make sure Ash and Pikachu don't get too hurt doing this or I will find you and personally haul you to the police station."
Flint gulped and nodded.
With that out of the way, I checked and saw that the bentos were all eaten and returned Yini and Sharp Beak to their balls and tossed out the containers. I then motioned for Ginger to follow me.
After we got out of earshot, I turned to her and gently placed a hand on her, trying to soothe her. "I know you are upset that I returned you when you felt you could keep fighting. You need to understand that these Pokémon League battles are not just a fight, but that there is more going on. You did well and I do not know for sure if we would have won without you taking out that geodude the way you did. I won't do this after every match, but this once I am going to get you something special. As long as it doesn't cost too much, anything you see on our way back to the Pokémon Center I will get you."
"Dish?" Ginger questioned before her eyes went wide and she hopped up and down excitedly. "Oddish odd!"
She began running through the town, forcing me to rush after her. "Woah! Slow down! No need to rush!"
Even while in the shadow of another person or object, I could see everything around me with startling clarity. Thankfully the museum seemed to be under the impression that ancient life meant low light for most of the exhibit except for the actual displays, so there were shadows everywhere I could flit between without anyone's notice and take my time looking at the fossils.
"Pewter City is gray, the color of stone. This town has always been famous for stone," A dusky skinned, rough looking man said from where he sat next to the entrance to the forest.
"And fossils," I said, hopping down to look at the little setup the man had made, seeing that he had variously sized rocks marked up with prices. "A stone salesman?"
"They're Pewter City souvenirs. The name's Flint and your friend is sitting on some of my merchandise."
"Oh~!" Ash exclaimed, getting back to his feet and joining me in Flint's 'store'. "Sorry."
Looking the stones over I couldn't help come to a specific conclusion. "You might want to sell some more modestly sized stones for tourists with limited space."
"Ha ha," Flint laughed flatly. "I do well enough without small rocks."
"If you say so," I shrugged, heading into the city. "Have a good day."
"Yeah, have a good day Mr. Flint!" Ash called out as he hurried to keep up with me.
"Hope to see you again," Misty said.
"Kids," Flint muttered to himself as we left his setup.
It was not long before we were at the Pokécenter getting our teams back to full vitality. "Do you want to go first?" I asked Ash.
"First?"
"With the Gym Challenge. If I remember correctly, it is Brock that is the Gym Leader here, and he can only battle one of us at a time."
"I can help if you ask nicely," Misty offered with a grin.
Ash frowned. "No, I can do it myself. And I'll go first." Ash pumped a fist, looking serious.
I got up as my name was called to retrieve my team. "Good. There is just one thing before you go. Each Gym Leader specializes in a specific kind of Pokémon. Like Pewter City, Brock specializes in stone based Pokémon."
"Rock type," Misty corrected me.
"Whatever the term is," I say, waving off the correction. "You will not always have the advantage of being able to strategize before a match. Take a few moments and make a plan. Take Misty up on her help and use her to bounce some ideas off of."
"And what about you?" Ash asked.
"I'm going to do a quick bit of training, get to know the pidgeotto that is now on my team a bit better. Tell Brock he'll have another challenger when you go see him." With my team healthy, I stepped out of the Center and made my way to a clear area between the town and the forest and tossed the three Pokéballs into the air. "Come out everyone!"
Yini, Ginger, and the Pidgeotto all came out in beams of red light, all at attention and looking at me. I clasped my hands behind my back after putting their balls away.
"Proper introductions first," I state. "I am Tanya, this is Yini and Ginger." I gesture at the two as I introduce them. "And is there something you wish to be known as?"
The Pidgeotto nodded. "Sharp Beak name," They said, puffing themself up. Looking Sharp Beak over, I nodded.
"Alright, Sharp Beak, welcome to the team. We got some time before we face off against Brock, so we are going to get you up to speed."
I motioned for Ginger to get into position across from Sharp Beak while Yini and I took up positions to either side. "In our first match showing each other what we've got, you showed good speed and power along with a determination I like, but you are too straight forward and predictable. Ginger, you need more variety in your arsenal and speed. The two of you are going to spar each other. Yini and I will be on the side throwing out attacks to distract you two."
I gave the two a serious look from behind my mask. "I will be very disappointed if either of you let us hit you."
"Dish!"
"Fight!"
I nodded, smirked, gathered up two balls of energy and fired them at the pair. The two cried out in shock, diving out of the way.
"What are you waiting for?" I asked. "Your opponents won't always be polite and predictable about starting the match!"
Sharp Beak tried sending a gust of wind at me that I dodged out of the way. "I'm not your opponent." I tell him, gathering dark, sticky energy around me and pulsing it in retribution back at the bird. I held back enough not to hurt him too badly, but I could tell he got the message and turned back to Ginger, who hit him with that red beam that stole a Pokémon's energy.
Sharp Beak was angry. Angry was fine so long as he did not lose himself in it. Emotions were a tool like any other someone could use. Not inherently good, not inherently bad.
Learning how to properly read, understand, and effectively use emotions was something I was still learning, though the heightened emotions of teens were well trodden ground for me now. And Sharp Beak's emotions were simpler than any teen's were.
The spar was fast paced and without Yini and my interference to distract the two from landing hits, it would likely have ended much sooner. As it was, we managed to stretch it out to about half an hour of high paced sparring before Sharp Beak was unable to continue flying with confidence and Ginger was breathing heavily from exhaustion.
"STOP!" I called. "Good job everyone."
I saw improvement from both Ginger and Sharp Beak during the spar. Ginger was moving around the field more, attempting more hit and run tactics mixed in with spore based area denial, though her pool of moves was still shallow and would need to be addressed at another time in specialized manners. Sharp Beak's improvement was more in waiting till the last possible moment to commit to an attack, when Ginger had the least opportunity to attempt dodging or countering the attack. Both also were more aware of their surroundings and how to dodge out of sudden attacks.
They were not ready for a fight against elites, but I hoped that the Gym Challenge would be scaled against the fact I was a rookie trainer with a rookie team. If not, I would just have to travel around a lot more, get a full team, and train them hard before trying again.
Either way, my team was tired and would need some care at the Pokémon Center again before I faced Brock. The Nurse Joy did not seem pleased that I was already back after only an hour, but training can be rough and if they have means to heal a Pokémon to full health swiftly, I would take advantage of it.
I thought I would have seen Misty or Ash at some point as I made my way to the Gym from the Center, but I suppose they were off celebrating his win or consoling his loss. Regardless, there was still plenty of daylight left as I opened the large steel doors and entered the Gym.
"Hello!" I called out. "I am here to challenge the Gym Leader for the Pokémon League Challenge!"
"Are you Tanya?" A voice asked.
"Yes. You must have already fought Ash," I said to the teen seemingly meditating on a raised platform.
"There are special rules for a Pokémon League Challenge. We will use two Pokémon each," Brock said, standing up. "As Gym Leader, I have to accept every challenge."
Brock snapped his fingers and the lights in the warehouse looking gym came on, bay doors on either side rolling up as an arena rolled into position.
"Let's get this over with."
I nodded my head in agreement, my fingers brushing against the different balls on my belt. Pidgeotto was swift and strong, but would still need more coaching during the battle. Yini was my best choice, but starting the match with her seemed tactically unwise. Best to save her as my second after probing the defenses of my opponent first. Ginger would have to be my starting choice.
"Ginger, go!" I call out as Brock announces his Geodude.
"Hmm, a grass type," Brock said with a nod. "You are well prepared, but type advantage doesn't win matches on their own. Geodude, Rock Throw!"
I calmly stood at ease, legs comfortably apart and hands clasped behind my back, as I watched Ginger dodge the stones Geodude ripped out of the ground and threw at her before returning fire with that red energy absorbing beam.
With a single shot, Geodude was looking rough. A surprise considering a living rock should be a lot more sturdy.
But it only took another exchange for Geodude to go down and for Brock to send out his giant rock snake, Onix.
Ginger did her best to avoid Onix's strikes, but for something so large and heavy, it was very quick. Ginger got a couple of shots in, but it was quickly obvious that she was going to lose.
"Ginger, return!" I said, pulling out her ball to remove her from the Onix's grip in its tail. Onix shifted and blocked the beam from the ball. "Enough! Release her. She is done!"
"Onix, release!" Brock called out, giving me the opportunity to relieve Ginger from the fight, ignoring the annoyed look Ginger was giving me.
Ginger may be a fight minded fool, but she wasn't the only one I had with me. "Yini! Time to show off!"
Brock gasped and took a step back as Yini came out. I couldn't hear what he said as the battle resumed. Onix went to slam its tail into Yini, but we had trained together enough that a telegraphed move like that was not going to make contact.
No, Yini dodged while sending a pair of twisters before turning and firing a blast of dark blue-purple fire at the larger snake. As the large stone roared, Yini rushed in close, her tail glowing in that same blue-purple energy the fire was made from. With a spring, Yini struck Onix in the throat, whipping herself around in mid-air to slam her tail hard, releasing a burst of energy.
Yini curled around herself as she and I watched the Onix fall backwards with a groan. In a flash of red, Onix was returned to its ball. I couldn't help the smile gracing my lips as I made my way to Yini to pet her head.
"Good job," I told her, firmly rubbing her head as she wrapped around me in a simulation of a hug.
"Your pokémon have won, but you did not give any orders during the match," Brock said, stepping forwards.
"I am a pokémon trainer. If I have to micromanage my team during a match, then I have failed to prepare them," I said, continuing to give attention to Yini.
Brock nodded before smiling and holding out his hand. "Well said, you have earned the Boulder Badge."
I accepted the badge, pinning it to the strap of my bag, before pulling out Yini's ball for her to return to it herself. I give him a polite bow. "It was a pleasure meeting you." From what I learned, the Champion had to work with Gym Leaders to handle certain issues, so if I was going to eventually become Champion it was best to maintain a polite relationship with future coworkers.
With my business done, I returned once more to the Pokémon center.
"Oh! Is that the Boulder Badge?" Nurse Joy asked as I went up to the counter.
"Yes. My team did well, though Ginger did take a few hard hits from his Onix," I say, putting both Yini's and Ginger's balls forward to be healed. Sharp Beak did not exert himself at all and while Yini didn't take any hits, I felt better making sure she didn't over exert herself if the healing technology was really as advanced as it seemed.
"Congratulations! Brock may be young, but he is a tough Gym Leader. Many trainers end up giving up after facing him," Nurse Joy seemed upset on behalf of the trainers that gave up.
"I am sure those that ended their journey went on to find something they enjoyed doing," I said, putting on a sympathetic tone to my voice that brought a smile to the nurse's face.
"Yeah, you're probably right."
I gathered up my team just as Misty came storming into the Center, muttering harshly to herself. Raising my eyebrow behind my mask I went over to see what was wrong.
"Did something happen?" I asked her.
"That stubborn boy wouldn't listen and is off on some foolish attempt to power up his pikachu!" Misty angrily said.
I sighed. Ash was so very young. He seemed like he was listening and learning from me, but it seemed he had to learn some lessons the hard way. I made to rub the bridge of my nose, being blocked by the mask. "Where is he?"
"At some old water wheel at the edge of town," Misty said.
"I'll see you in a bit," I tell her, heading out.
"Where are you going?"
"To make sure he doesn't do anything too reckless."
The job of a teacher was not just to provide information, but to ensure the environment my students learned in was conductive towards the lesson. If Ash was doing something dangerous, I had to make sure he would be able to live through it and learn a valuable lesson from it. Preferably with minimal physical scarring.
As I made my way towards the river that a water wheel would be on, I stopped in at a convenience store and got several bentos, checking information on my pokédex to make sure the bentos were safe for the pokémon. Different mons had different dietary needs, though there were a few things that were universally good for them. I got Yini and myself eel bentos, Ginger got a bean and egg bento that seemed to be really good for plant pokémon, a bento specially designed for bird pokémon filled with seeds and bugs for Sharp Beak, and for Ash and Pikachu chicken bentos. Metapod would not be getting a bento as until he evolved again, Metapod could not eat.
Loaded up with bentos, I found the old water wheel Ash was at. Barely better than a shack falling apart. Ash was manually moving the wheel by walking on top of it, using his weight to do the work of keeping it moving.
"Ash!" I called out.
"What?" He asked, sounding angry.
"Come down from there," I told him.
"No! Pikachu needs to be stronger if we're going to beat Brock."
I rolled my eyes and held up the convenience store bentos. "You can keep going after you eat. Now get down so we can have a meal."
Ash looked back at me for a bit as he kept going before his stomach growled and the determination left his face. "Fine!"
It was a few moments that we were gathered around, my pokémon out eating happily at their dinners along with Ash and Pikachu scarfing down their meals.
"Sorry Mr. Flint," I told the older man. "I did not know you were with Ash."
Not that I would have bought the old man any food if I had known. No reason to encourage an adult to spend more time around children than was necessary.
"It's fine, though you did interrupt us as we were making some good progress."
Looking at the wires jury-rigged to Pikachu's cheeks, I mentally scoffed, but as long as Pikachu was going along with all of this and didn't get hurt too badly, I would not stop this exercise in foolishness.
Looking over at Ash, I could see he was upset about something, and there was only one thing I could imagine it being.
"You lost, didn't you?" I asked, very bluntly. The flinch told me I was right. "Don't take it so hard. Losses happen."
"That's easy for you to say, you got your badge."
I nodded my head in agreement and looked over at Ginger, who was giving me a stink eye. "Yes, my team won. And they did very well, though I think Ginger needs to learn the same lesson you do here."
"Dish?" "Huh?"
"Not every obstacle can be overpowered and pushed through. More power never hurts, but sometimes you need to know when to stop, step back, and decide if you really should keep going as it is, or if you should instead come at the situation in a different manner."
I placed a hand on top of Ginger and gently ruffled the leaves she had. "You are part of a team, so sometimes you need to let your teammates step up."
"Odd," Ginger grumbled, but nodded in agreement. I could almost imagine if she had arms she would cross them like a surly teen.
"And you have companions traveling with you that you should be willing to rely upon to help you," I said, looking at Ash.
"Hmph," he grunted, folding his arms. "I will beat Brock with the pokémon I caught and am raising, not Misty's."
"Is that what Misty tried to do? To get you to use her pokémon?" I asked.
"Yeah. Stupid girl not understanding that I can do this on my own."
I shook my head and stood up, setting the rest of my bento in front of Yini to finish as I placed a hand on Ash's shoulder. "I'm not going to say that is the right choice, but I can respect it. You still need to think up a plan on how to deal with Brock's team though. You know who is on his team, and you know what the arena looks like. If you want to keep running on that water wheel all night long, go ahead, but while your body is moving, use your head and think."
Ash was looking down at that and nodded his head. I gave him a solid pat on the shoulder. "Good," I said before looking at Flint and glared at him through my mask. He seemed to flinch at it, knowing the expression I was giving him despite the blankness of my mask. "Make sure Ash and Pikachu don't get too hurt doing this or I will find you and personally haul you to the police station."
Flint gulped and nodded.
With that out of the way, I checked and saw that the bentos were all eaten and returned Yini and Sharp Beak to their balls and tossed out the containers. I then motioned for Ginger to follow me.
After we got out of earshot, I turned to her and gently placed a hand on her, trying to soothe her. "I know you are upset that I returned you when you felt you could keep fighting. You need to understand that these Pokémon League battles are not just a fight, but that there is more going on. You did well and I do not know for sure if we would have won without you taking out that geodude the way you did. I won't do this after every match, but this once I am going to get you something special. As long as it doesn't cost too much, anything you see on our way back to the Pokémon Center I will get you."
"Dish?" Ginger questioned before her eyes went wide and she hopped up and down excitedly. "Oddish odd!"
She began running through the town, forcing me to rush after her. "Woah! Slow down! No need to rush!"
Interrobang!? 1 (Pokenya, Backwards Grin, Hyphen)
In the depths outside of space and time where eldritch gods lay dead, dreaming their dead dreams, a pair of legendary beings sneeze in their sleep crash a universe.
---
"Again!" Z yelled, annoyed at the error message on display. "What is going on?"
"Looks like Palkia and Dialga wanted to add in some more into our group," J piped up, pulling up the ?????????? stat sheet that froze everything.
"Why are they so concerned about this group that they keep giving it more to work with?" M asked.
"I don't care!" Z yelled. "Just find out what they are supposed to be! F and D, get ready to install whatever module we need for them."
"Found it!" H said. He looked it over, visibly wincing. "Woo boy, is it a doozy."
"Auch," B said in agreement. "It seems to be a multilayered Marshadow. It looks like they're sapient; what do we do about that?"
"We already have a whole section of code dedicated to sapient Pokemon," C said. "We can utilize that module and build up the rest from there within the shell of a Marshadow sub-module."
"Damn Palkia and Dialga," Z muttered. "I bet those pompous bastards over in AN-1M-3 never have to deal with this crap. Well, everyone, let's get to work! I want this up and running now!"
"'AYE!'"
---
I was no longer where I was supposed to be. I was piled up against a wall with Ginger and several random pokémon in what appeared to be a hotel room.
"What the fuck?" the harsh tone of a young girl exclaimed as she scrambled off a nearby bed.
Slowly, I detangled myself from the pile, cooly meeting the furious glare of the red-clad teenager in front of me.
"Who the fuck are you?" she shouted, fists raised as if ready to personally throw hands. "What the fuck are you doing barging into our room like that?"
I gave the foul mouthed girl a glare, though my mask seemed to reduce the effectiveness of the sentiment. "Language, young lady," I said. I didn't put up with such crass language in my classroom for over a century, I wasn't going to let a young girl use such language casually here either. "My name is Tanya, and I did not barge into your room."
"Oh? And what pray tell do you fucking call that?" The girl asked, pointing to where Ginger was getting up from some other pokémon I had not seen before.
I considered the question. The transition had been rather abrupt, but I'd seen enough strangeness in my many lifetimes to make a reasonable assumption. "If I was to hazard a guess... an interdimensional transference coinciding with a rather unfortunate timing of excitement mixed with exasperation."
She stared at me, fury momentarily replaced with a baffled squint. "What?"
"Me and Ginger got transported here against our will while we were running."
"And where did you get transported from?" Another girl asked, her voice sounding...peculiar. I ignored her and her question for the moment and strode over to the window. Looking into the skyscape, a very different, very unfamiliar city greeted me.
"I would say a different world is most likely, but Pewter City specifically." I answered, still examining the buildings. Aside from the Pokecenters and Pokemarts, none of the visible signage or storefronts seemed recognizable, and I'm sure I would have remembered a city containing the two towers that dominated the skyline.
"Pewter City? You're from Kanto?" The crude girl asked.
"Yes, but I will need to make a call to see if it is the same one I was just in," I said, turning around and getting a better look at who was in the room. The angry one in red was obviously the crude one. The other one stiffened up as I looked her over. She had green hair and red eyes, and was wrapped up entirely in towels like some sort of terry cotton mummy.
Something about her was setting my senses on edge, and not just my aesthetic ones.
The girl in red glared at me again. "Well, shorty, feel free to get the hell out of our room and make your call."
"Astra, she's in the same boat we were in not long ago. The same as I still am!" Another spoke up, mixed in with the distinctive sound of a pokémon saying their own name. Looking at the one who spoke, I saw it was some sort of yellow doll looking pokémon with hakama looking legs and a massive black ponytail. A ponytail that looked like it was grinning at me.
"Oh, you also crossed dimensions?" I asked.
The doll turned towards me with wide eyes. "You can understand me?"
"Huh?" The rude girl asked, looking between me and the doll-like pokemon. "Who are you talking to?"
"Her, obviously," I said, rolling my eyes. "Maybe if you cleaned out your ears and listened more than you swore you could learn to understand the basics of a civil conversation."
"Why you little," the girl got up, looking rather angry. Hmm, she seemed to have a rather short temper.
"May! No!" The other girl said, standing up and grabbing the other girl's shoulder to stop her.
She said it, but her lips did not match the movements. Looking closer, her stiffening again under my gaze, I noticed a few other details I hadn't before. Like how I hadn't noticed her face's coloration, or lack thereof. Or that her hair was entirely in front of her face, but not blocking her eyes in a manner human hair does not grow. Or that her hands moved like she was wearing mittens.
Clever. Very clever. Layering a field to be less noticeable on top of an illusion. Which meant... she was also a pokémon. One that clearly needed help if I was able to see through her disguise within half a minute while distracted. Though, maybe it was unfair of anyone to expect them to account for my centuries of experience with zero warning.
"Might I suggest a mask?" I asked.
"You calling me ugly now?" The rude girl, May, snarled, taking another step towards me.
"Not you," I said, brushing aside the threat. "Astra, was it? Your illusion is good, but the face is a rather hard thing to get right. Using a mask would greatly decrease the complexity needed if you're affecting your entire face and not just using a little bit as a form of makeup."
"Huh? The hell are you- illusions?" May asked, turning to Astra, who was wide eyed and opened mouthed.
"Wh—I—how?" she stammered, shocked.
"Hey, hang on now-" the doll spoke up.
"The telepathy was the first clue that something was unusual about you," I answered, assuming my teaching posture. "That, combined with your mouth not syncing up with the words I was hearing made me take a closer look. I realized I hadn't taken in your appearance like I normally would, which told me you had layered on a SEP field around yourself, but those only work until someone focuses on you specifically. And once I did, I noticed how your hair was in front of your face in a way human bangs do not hang, you are far too pale even for someone who has albinism, and you move your hand as though you are wearing a mitten."
"Wait, what?" May asked, looking between the two of us. "Astra, what the hell is she talking about?"
Astra had gone several shades paler, an impressive feat considering she was already stark-white to begin with, and backed away, looking scared. The doll Pokemon just sighed and put its hands over its face.
Hmm, I seemed to have made a mistake. "You have been sharing a room with her and never noticed your friend?" I asked May, shaking my head. "What a horrible roommate you must be."
"Hey!" she yelled, looking more offended at that than my ostensible break-in. "I'm not a horrible roommate! Tell her Astra! I'm great!"
Astra declined to comment, preferring to shake like a leaf in a storm.
"Prove it," I say, grinning behind my mask.
"What? How?"
"Tell your friend that you accept her, even if she isn't human."
She squinted at me, bewildered. "What? Why would I need to do that?"
"Because you are the only human in the room."
I take off my mask and look up at the much taller girl, my face contorted into a mask of contempt.
May takes a step back in shock before turning to Astra.
Astra stares at me in utter shock before her eyes unfocus slightly. Slowly, the towels begin to drop and Astra's form is revealed as her illusion dissipates. "Yeah. Okay. Sure. I'm not human either. Can I wake up now?" she asks, sounding thoroughly out of it.
"What? You…huh!?" May grabbed her head as she tried to grapple with the reveal. "You!" she pointed at me, accusingly. "Why the fuck!? Augh, what the hell is going on here!? Screw this shit, I need some air!"
May marched over to the hotel door. I sank into the shadows and came out in front of her, between her and the door. "If you need a moment, you can go to the bathroom, but I cannot let you leave until this is discussed."
"Oh? And you are going to stop me, Pipsqueak?" May threatened, looming over me and apparently completely unphased at me rising from the floor like a horror movie monster.
I pulled upon the miasma of death that infused my very being from dying multiple times and all the deaths I had caused to form a deadly orb above my outstretched hand. A ball that wailed with the cries of the deceased.
"Yes," I say calmly. "If I must. I do not know if you understand the seriousness of the situation and your behavior so far leads me to having doubts."
I had seen many students in my time with attitudes similar to May's. Anti-establishment, let it all burn types that did not take anything seriously. That would leak secrets… similarly to what I had fumbled my way into doing.
The two of us stared down the other. May broke first, looking back at where Astra and our pokemon were staring at us before huffing and took her seat at the table where an empty pizza box sat. The doll pokémon's eyes remained similarly locked on me, an unreadable expression on its face, but it said nothing. I let the orb slowly dissipate.
"So, is someone going to explain to me what the fuck is going on?" May asked, crossing her arms.
"In a moment, yes," I acknowledged. "But what is happening is not important right now. What is important right now is making it clear that you are not allowed to tell anyone about me or Astra without our express permission first. It is not your secret to tell."
"Well, you did a wonderful job revealing her secret yourself," the doll pokémon huffed.
I felt myself flush in embarrassment. "I didn't mean to!" I said, turning to the doll. "You would think after a few decades of doing theater, including some improv work, I would be able to tell when someone is actually hiding something! But no, I just learned how to play to the back of the theater."
May coughed to get the attention back to her. "I...still don't know what the hell is going on, but I promise not to tell, or whatever."
"Really?" Astra asked in a small telepathic voice, having recovered from her dissociative break.
"Sure," she said, blankly. "Not like I care that you've been lying to me about being a pokémon this whole time or anything. Or that talking pokemon actually exist. Or that one is my best friend. No big deal at all. 's fine."
May made a peculiar, scrunched face, and then devolved into horrified realization. Her head dropped into her hands with an audible groan. "For fuck's sake, my best friend is a Pokemon. Those jackasses in school were right. Is my life a cartoon? Holy shit."
May continued to have an existential crisis by closely examining her palms. Astra stared at her, looking conflicted, before deciding to take her friend's statements at face value.
"Thank you May!" Astra practically yelled as she hugged her friend, tears rolling down her cheeks. May yelped in shock as Astra nearly knocked her off the chair, then hesitantly hugged the girl back, a complicated expression on her face.
With that out of the way, I felt a nudge as Ginger tried to get my attention.
"Odd?"
I placed a hand on the top of her head. "I'm sorry Ginger, but I'll have to give you a rain check on that treat. I don't even know if I can access my money here or if it is any good even if I can." I grabbed her ball off of my belt. "But I won't forget."
Looking back at the two friends hugging... well, Astra was still hugging; May was now trying to get out of the embrace, looking embarrassed about the whole thing. I took off my backpack and began digging in it, soon pulling out my old mask. It was rough, plain, bare wood, but it should do for now.
"Astra, here," I said, holding out the mask for the girl to take.
"Huh? What's this?" she asked, letting go of May to accept the mask.
"It is my old mask. I want you to have it since I don't need it anymore; my current one suits my purposes well enough and this one is still usable."
May looked me over, seeing what I was wearing with a raised eyebrow. "And what did you wear before that?"
I pulled out my old robe and hat and tossed them on real quick to show off the vaguely witch look I used to have. May looked between the two of us as she seemed to make more connections in her head now that she knew Astra and I were pokémon. "Astra, we are going shopping tomorrow."
"Why?"
"Because your outfit fucking sucks balls. It is literally just a single roll of cloth you wrap yourself in like a damned Dusclops."
"It's what?" I ask, almost unable to believe May's statement.
The doll-like pokemon proffers a small pile of newly-cleaned black cloth on the table. Astra demonstrates by telekinetically wrapping the long, uniform bolt of uncut cloth around herself until only her hands and face are visible. She then dons a straw sunhat.
I stare at her. Sure, her face is much more obscured now, and her previous display of illusions now made more sense, but...
"You were trying to hide, right?" I check.
May and the doll burst into laughter. Astra turns pink with anger and embarrassment.
"It's not that bad!" she protests, very incorrectly. "It was the best we had!"
I pause, then lean forward intently.
"And what do you mean," I say, slowly. "by 'we'?"
Astra turns white again, and gulps.
---
"Again!" Z yelled, annoyed at the error message on display. "What is going on?"
"Looks like Palkia and Dialga wanted to add in some more into our group," J piped up, pulling up the ?????????? stat sheet that froze everything.
"Why are they so concerned about this group that they keep giving it more to work with?" M asked.
"I don't care!" Z yelled. "Just find out what they are supposed to be! F and D, get ready to install whatever module we need for them."
"Found it!" H said. He looked it over, visibly wincing. "Woo boy, is it a doozy."
"Auch," B said in agreement. "It seems to be a multilayered Marshadow. It looks like they're sapient; what do we do about that?"
"We already have a whole section of code dedicated to sapient Pokemon," C said. "We can utilize that module and build up the rest from there within the shell of a Marshadow sub-module."
"Damn Palkia and Dialga," Z muttered. "I bet those pompous bastards over in AN-1M-3 never have to deal with this crap. Well, everyone, let's get to work! I want this up and running now!"
"'AYE!'"
---
I was no longer where I was supposed to be. I was piled up against a wall with Ginger and several random pokémon in what appeared to be a hotel room.
"What the fuck?" the harsh tone of a young girl exclaimed as she scrambled off a nearby bed.
Slowly, I detangled myself from the pile, cooly meeting the furious glare of the red-clad teenager in front of me.
"Who the fuck are you?" she shouted, fists raised as if ready to personally throw hands. "What the fuck are you doing barging into our room like that?"
I gave the foul mouthed girl a glare, though my mask seemed to reduce the effectiveness of the sentiment. "Language, young lady," I said. I didn't put up with such crass language in my classroom for over a century, I wasn't going to let a young girl use such language casually here either. "My name is Tanya, and I did not barge into your room."
"Oh? And what pray tell do you fucking call that?" The girl asked, pointing to where Ginger was getting up from some other pokémon I had not seen before.
I considered the question. The transition had been rather abrupt, but I'd seen enough strangeness in my many lifetimes to make a reasonable assumption. "If I was to hazard a guess... an interdimensional transference coinciding with a rather unfortunate timing of excitement mixed with exasperation."
She stared at me, fury momentarily replaced with a baffled squint. "What?"
"Me and Ginger got transported here against our will while we were running."
"And where did you get transported from?" Another girl asked, her voice sounding...peculiar. I ignored her and her question for the moment and strode over to the window. Looking into the skyscape, a very different, very unfamiliar city greeted me.
"I would say a different world is most likely, but Pewter City specifically." I answered, still examining the buildings. Aside from the Pokecenters and Pokemarts, none of the visible signage or storefronts seemed recognizable, and I'm sure I would have remembered a city containing the two towers that dominated the skyline.
"Pewter City? You're from Kanto?" The crude girl asked.
"Yes, but I will need to make a call to see if it is the same one I was just in," I said, turning around and getting a better look at who was in the room. The angry one in red was obviously the crude one. The other one stiffened up as I looked her over. She had green hair and red eyes, and was wrapped up entirely in towels like some sort of terry cotton mummy.
Something about her was setting my senses on edge, and not just my aesthetic ones.
The girl in red glared at me again. "Well, shorty, feel free to get the hell out of our room and make your call."
"Astra, she's in the same boat we were in not long ago. The same as I still am!" Another spoke up, mixed in with the distinctive sound of a pokémon saying their own name. Looking at the one who spoke, I saw it was some sort of yellow doll looking pokémon with hakama looking legs and a massive black ponytail. A ponytail that looked like it was grinning at me.
"Oh, you also crossed dimensions?" I asked.
The doll turned towards me with wide eyes. "You can understand me?"
"Huh?" The rude girl asked, looking between me and the doll-like pokemon. "Who are you talking to?"
"Her, obviously," I said, rolling my eyes. "Maybe if you cleaned out your ears and listened more than you swore you could learn to understand the basics of a civil conversation."
"Why you little," the girl got up, looking rather angry. Hmm, she seemed to have a rather short temper.
"May! No!" The other girl said, standing up and grabbing the other girl's shoulder to stop her.
She said it, but her lips did not match the movements. Looking closer, her stiffening again under my gaze, I noticed a few other details I hadn't before. Like how I hadn't noticed her face's coloration, or lack thereof. Or that her hair was entirely in front of her face, but not blocking her eyes in a manner human hair does not grow. Or that her hands moved like she was wearing mittens.
Clever. Very clever. Layering a field to be less noticeable on top of an illusion. Which meant... she was also a pokémon. One that clearly needed help if I was able to see through her disguise within half a minute while distracted. Though, maybe it was unfair of anyone to expect them to account for my centuries of experience with zero warning.
"Might I suggest a mask?" I asked.
"You calling me ugly now?" The rude girl, May, snarled, taking another step towards me.
"Not you," I said, brushing aside the threat. "Astra, was it? Your illusion is good, but the face is a rather hard thing to get right. Using a mask would greatly decrease the complexity needed if you're affecting your entire face and not just using a little bit as a form of makeup."
"Huh? The hell are you- illusions?" May asked, turning to Astra, who was wide eyed and opened mouthed.
"Wh—I—how?" she stammered, shocked.
"Hey, hang on now-" the doll spoke up.
"The telepathy was the first clue that something was unusual about you," I answered, assuming my teaching posture. "That, combined with your mouth not syncing up with the words I was hearing made me take a closer look. I realized I hadn't taken in your appearance like I normally would, which told me you had layered on a SEP field around yourself, but those only work until someone focuses on you specifically. And once I did, I noticed how your hair was in front of your face in a way human bangs do not hang, you are far too pale even for someone who has albinism, and you move your hand as though you are wearing a mitten."
"Wait, what?" May asked, looking between the two of us. "Astra, what the hell is she talking about?"
Astra had gone several shades paler, an impressive feat considering she was already stark-white to begin with, and backed away, looking scared. The doll Pokemon just sighed and put its hands over its face.
Hmm, I seemed to have made a mistake. "You have been sharing a room with her and never noticed your friend?" I asked May, shaking my head. "What a horrible roommate you must be."
"Hey!" she yelled, looking more offended at that than my ostensible break-in. "I'm not a horrible roommate! Tell her Astra! I'm great!"
Astra declined to comment, preferring to shake like a leaf in a storm.
"Prove it," I say, grinning behind my mask.
"What? How?"
"Tell your friend that you accept her, even if she isn't human."
She squinted at me, bewildered. "What? Why would I need to do that?"
"Because you are the only human in the room."
I take off my mask and look up at the much taller girl, my face contorted into a mask of contempt.
May takes a step back in shock before turning to Astra.
Astra stares at me in utter shock before her eyes unfocus slightly. Slowly, the towels begin to drop and Astra's form is revealed as her illusion dissipates. "Yeah. Okay. Sure. I'm not human either. Can I wake up now?" she asks, sounding thoroughly out of it.
"What? You…huh!?" May grabbed her head as she tried to grapple with the reveal. "You!" she pointed at me, accusingly. "Why the fuck!? Augh, what the hell is going on here!? Screw this shit, I need some air!"
May marched over to the hotel door. I sank into the shadows and came out in front of her, between her and the door. "If you need a moment, you can go to the bathroom, but I cannot let you leave until this is discussed."
"Oh? And you are going to stop me, Pipsqueak?" May threatened, looming over me and apparently completely unphased at me rising from the floor like a horror movie monster.
I pulled upon the miasma of death that infused my very being from dying multiple times and all the deaths I had caused to form a deadly orb above my outstretched hand. A ball that wailed with the cries of the deceased.
"Yes," I say calmly. "If I must. I do not know if you understand the seriousness of the situation and your behavior so far leads me to having doubts."
I had seen many students in my time with attitudes similar to May's. Anti-establishment, let it all burn types that did not take anything seriously. That would leak secrets… similarly to what I had fumbled my way into doing.
The two of us stared down the other. May broke first, looking back at where Astra and our pokemon were staring at us before huffing and took her seat at the table where an empty pizza box sat. The doll pokémon's eyes remained similarly locked on me, an unreadable expression on its face, but it said nothing. I let the orb slowly dissipate.
"So, is someone going to explain to me what the fuck is going on?" May asked, crossing her arms.
"In a moment, yes," I acknowledged. "But what is happening is not important right now. What is important right now is making it clear that you are not allowed to tell anyone about me or Astra without our express permission first. It is not your secret to tell."
"Well, you did a wonderful job revealing her secret yourself," the doll pokémon huffed.
I felt myself flush in embarrassment. "I didn't mean to!" I said, turning to the doll. "You would think after a few decades of doing theater, including some improv work, I would be able to tell when someone is actually hiding something! But no, I just learned how to play to the back of the theater."
May coughed to get the attention back to her. "I...still don't know what the hell is going on, but I promise not to tell, or whatever."
"Really?" Astra asked in a small telepathic voice, having recovered from her dissociative break.
"Sure," she said, blankly. "Not like I care that you've been lying to me about being a pokémon this whole time or anything. Or that talking pokemon actually exist. Or that one is my best friend. No big deal at all. 's fine."
May made a peculiar, scrunched face, and then devolved into horrified realization. Her head dropped into her hands with an audible groan. "For fuck's sake, my best friend is a Pokemon. Those jackasses in school were right. Is my life a cartoon? Holy shit."
May continued to have an existential crisis by closely examining her palms. Astra stared at her, looking conflicted, before deciding to take her friend's statements at face value.
"Thank you May!" Astra practically yelled as she hugged her friend, tears rolling down her cheeks. May yelped in shock as Astra nearly knocked her off the chair, then hesitantly hugged the girl back, a complicated expression on her face.
With that out of the way, I felt a nudge as Ginger tried to get my attention.
"Odd?"
I placed a hand on the top of her head. "I'm sorry Ginger, but I'll have to give you a rain check on that treat. I don't even know if I can access my money here or if it is any good even if I can." I grabbed her ball off of my belt. "But I won't forget."
Looking back at the two friends hugging... well, Astra was still hugging; May was now trying to get out of the embrace, looking embarrassed about the whole thing. I took off my backpack and began digging in it, soon pulling out my old mask. It was rough, plain, bare wood, but it should do for now.
"Astra, here," I said, holding out the mask for the girl to take.
"Huh? What's this?" she asked, letting go of May to accept the mask.
"It is my old mask. I want you to have it since I don't need it anymore; my current one suits my purposes well enough and this one is still usable."
May looked me over, seeing what I was wearing with a raised eyebrow. "And what did you wear before that?"
I pulled out my old robe and hat and tossed them on real quick to show off the vaguely witch look I used to have. May looked between the two of us as she seemed to make more connections in her head now that she knew Astra and I were pokémon. "Astra, we are going shopping tomorrow."
"Why?"
"Because your outfit fucking sucks balls. It is literally just a single roll of cloth you wrap yourself in like a damned Dusclops."
"It's what?" I ask, almost unable to believe May's statement.
The doll-like pokemon proffers a small pile of newly-cleaned black cloth on the table. Astra demonstrates by telekinetically wrapping the long, uniform bolt of uncut cloth around herself until only her hands and face are visible. She then dons a straw sunhat.
I stare at her. Sure, her face is much more obscured now, and her previous display of illusions now made more sense, but...
"You were trying to hide, right?" I check.
May and the doll burst into laughter. Astra turns pink with anger and embarrassment.
"It's not that bad!" she protests, very incorrectly. "It was the best we had!"
I pause, then lean forward intently.
"And what do you mean," I say, slowly. "by 'we'?"
Astra turns white again, and gulps.