A/N: Well damn, I was hoping that I'd just be able to get this out of my system with the intro. No such luck. Guess I'll just keep making this up as I go. Favorites, follows, reviews, blah blah blah.
ONWARD!
Chapter 2: Fights and Flower Shops
The first day of my expedition was spectacularly uneventful. It wasn't that surprising; I was using trails I knew, but starting tomorrow it was going to be new ground.
Once it the sky started visibly darkening, I decided to look for a place to camp for the night. A little ways off of the path there was a small clearing that looked like a good spot, trees circling a small grassy area with a pond. After finding a good place to set up, I crawled into a conveniently shaped nook in some tree roots, using my sleeping bag as a blanket. It had been clear skies all day and the forecast said it was going to stay that way, so there was no need to set up the tent. Mutt took his usual position perched on my chest while Imp wedged herself under my arm.
"I wonder if I'll be able to keep this up all the way across Hoenn," I pondered.
Mutt groused at me for talking.
"The map the professor gave me shows pretty friendly terrain for a while, but what happens when I get to Mt. Chimney? Or the ocean? I'm not really going to be able to sit under a tree and throw some pokéblocks."
Imp put an appendage on my jaw.
'Go to sleep.'
I smiled and gave Imp a pat.
"All right, all right. We'll deal with that when we get to it."
The next two days of walking provided little new data. There was the usual bunch of zigzagoons and poochyenas that wandered away after they'd been fed. I did get another ralts close enough to scan, but he and Imp didn't seem to like each other much.
Finally, after two and a half days of walking I got to the next proper town. Petalburg was bigger than Littleroot - and while that didn't say much, it said about everything it needed to. There were a few more houses, another shop, and most importantly a Gym.
I decided to drop by for a visit.
Thankfully, Dad was already in the front area when I walked in.
"I'm sorry, but the challenge isn't open toda- oh! Wallace, I wasn't expecting you."
"I'm surprised Mom didn't give you a heads up, I'm on my expedition!" I said with a grin.
My father was an intelligent man, but you wouldn't guess it if you saw his face right then.
"Your exp- what?" he sputtered, before collecting himself. "I think we need to talk. Joseph, can you watch the Gym?"
He put his drink down on the table, something he'd randomly ordered from the menu sitting in front of him.
"I was kind of hoping to get you out of your shell when we moved," he commented as he poked his food. "I was not expecting you to embark on a months long trip on your own as a newly minted pokémon trainer less than three weeks after moving in."
"My bad," I responded shamelessly. I was doing what I could to imply that I'd left of my own volition, which I had, but...
No, I didn't want to get my dad involved with this too.
He quirked an eye at me with an evaluating look. "You've already changed."
I felt my smile slip a little. I knew he wasn't unhappy with me... probably.
My silent anxiety was not helped by the long silence that followed. I started to fidget while my brain helpfully provided all kinds of reasons for him to be mad at me.
"Oh, quit worrying. I couldn't be mad at you if I tried right now," he said with a rueful smile. "Actually, if you'd be willing to humor your old man, I agreed to show an old friend's kid the basics of catching pokémon. I'd enjoy your company. What do you say?"
"Hmm, I'm really not sure..." I mock-stroked my chin.
He gave me The Look.
"Of course, father dearest."
"That's what I thought," he said, reaching across the table to tousle my hair. "Brat."
As it was wont to do, Life drop-kicked our plans into the nearest fire.
"Norman! You're back, listen, it's that kid what's-his-name, Colin I think. He got into the strength room somehow, locked the doors and won't come out."
Dad wearily pinched the bridge of his nose.
"Of course this would happen now. Why would it happen any time but now? Ugh, okay, Wallace?" He turned to me. "Wally's going to be here any minute but I really need to take care of this and I have no idea how long it'll take. Would you mind showing him the ropes for me?" He asked with a glance at Imp, still perched on my shoulders.
"Sure, who should I be looking for?"
"Brown mid-length hair, probably in a white shirt, shy, about your age. You'll probably notice him when you see him. Sorry for making you do this."
"Eh, it wasn't your fault. Want me to bring him back here when we're done?"
He gave me a thumbs up as he walked out of the room, already talking to one of his other trainers.
And so I sat in the entrance area, idly scratching Mutt's scruff as the time passed. It was weird too, I was getting the same feeling I had before May, that creeping sense of deja vu. Like I'd already met him. Hopefully this would go a little better.
Dad was right though, I couldn't have been waiting more than a few minutes when the doors slid open.
A boy that fit Dad's description and pinged my weird familiarity walked in. "Hey, Wally, right?" I asked, standing.
"Oh, um, yes. I was, uh, looking for Norman. I mean if he's around-"
"Don't worry, he told me what's up. I'm sorry to say this, but something came up and he had to run, so I'm going to be teaching you instead. Name's Wallace," I offered my hand.
"Oh, Wally. But you already knew that," he said, ducking his head as he shook my hand.
"No worries. The peanut gallery here here are Imp and Mutt, respectively." I motioned to the two tag-alongs. Imp warbled in response and Mutt gave a wag.
"So what do you know so far about catching pokémon?" I asked as we walked out the door and started toward the trail I'd arrived from earlier today.
"Not much, but you're supposed to weaken it before throwing a pokéball, right?"
"That's one way of doing it," I answered carefully.
Dad had said that Wally was the son of a friend, so I really didn't want to screw this up. But if Wally was looking to my dad for training then neither he nor his family was likely to know much about the details. And besides, Wally struck me as someone who would do better with some strangely shaped friends than a combat team.
"There's more than one way?" He asked, sounding more surprised that I would have expected.
"A few," I acquiesced. I didn't actually know about any other methods than the normal one and my particular offshoot, but if I came up with literally the only alternative method in the world I'd eat my hat.
"I can show you the more common way if you'd like, but my dad would be better at than I ever could," I elaborated after realizing I'd zoned out again.
He seemed genuinely confused. "How can there be more than one way? I thought a pokéball couldn't catch anything that wasn't weakened."
"By not using pokéballs, neither of these two has ever been inside one so far as I know," I gestured to my companions.
Wally stopped, his mouth hanging open.
"How?" He finally got out.
"Allow me to show you," I grinned back.
We walked further down the trail until the sounds of Petalburg had faded and I was relatively sure no one was going to stumble across us. Then I veered off the trail. I made the 'follow me' gesture when Wally looked hesitant.
I made sure to move slowly so he'd be less likely stumble, he was already looking fairly shaky on the untouched soil.
After a few minutes of walking I decided we were still close enough to the trail but far enough out to have a reasonable chance of being found. So I sat down under a tree in a clearing and patted the space next to me.
Wally looked hesitant but sat down anyways.
"This part's a bit boring, now we just wait until we hear something moving and work from there," I explained as I got out some pokéblocks.
"Then...?"
"It'll probably better if you see for yourself, give me a tap if you see anything."
We waited in silence, which thankfully gave me time to contemplate the nostalgia's sudden reappearance. I'd noticed it cropped up sometimes with places, but mostly with people and some pokémon. And particularly after I'd been hit by it I almost felt like I could remember what happened next.
Like Wally catching a ralts right after I met him.
They're good at avoiding people; I've only found two thus far. That doesn't preclude not finding a third, though. We'll just have to see.
After a few minutes of quiet I decided to push it a little.
"This is taking a little while and I just thought of something that might help our luck," I said as I tossed the pokéblock I'd been holding to Mutt and Imp. "Ralts are empaths and tend to approach people who're happy. The next best thing is happy pokémon."
Wally looked thoughtful while I dug out another cube and offered it to him.
Then I pointed Imp at him. "Go get 'im."
The look on Wally's face was priceless.
"What-" was all he was able to get out before Imp pounced and started crawling over him, trying to get him to open his hand.
I couldn't help but start laughing at the scene, and I'm pretty sure Mutt was smirking as well. The laughter apparently proved infectious too as Wally started giggling while Imp was still doggedly trying to get to the precious cube.
Half a minute later, Imp had finally gotten his fingers open and was triumphantly sitting on his head, chewing on her prize. While our collective chuckling was dying down, I heard a bush rustle on the opposite side of the clearing.
Please- YES!
A ralts was sticking its head out of the bush, looking unsure of whether it should approach or not.
"Hey little guy, come to join the fun?" I made sure to keep my tone light, this one looked more skittish.
It obviously didn't say anything back, so I pulled out another pokéblock. Making sure to tilt my hand so it could see it wasn't a pokéball before tossing it lightly.
The food landed on the ground with a soft pat. It's nose twitched curiously as it stepped out of the bush. It got close enough to give it a good wiff, but didn't pick it up, just staring at us from a distance.
Doesn't like sweets? Maybe... bitter?
I threw another block, a little bit closer to our group. This time it walked quickly to where it fell and picked it up, then promptly sat down and started gnawing on it.
"Well, I guess not all ralts are flying types too," I said as I shot a look at Imp.
Imp stuck her tongue out at me, still sitting on Wally.
I am going to be completely unsurprised when you start speaking. But that's later, focus on now.
I continued tossing cubes as it ate them, but it seemed reluctant to get within conceivable grabbing range. I looked back at our group while I thought about what to do. Chasing was both unlikely to work and against what this method was about besides. But if I wanted to get it closer to the group...
An idea hit me.
"Hey, Wally. Take these and go sit by that bush," I said as I handed him my case of bitter pokéblocks.
"What? What am I-"
"Just do what I did, I don't think it wants to get closer to the group, but it might approach you if you're alone."
He gave me a fish out of water expression, which I dutifully ignored while I made shooing motions. Eventually he swallowed dryly and stood up, placing Imp on the ground next to me before creeping over to the bush I'd indicated.
"It knows you're here. You don't need to worry about being quiet. It's just not sure we're not planning on throwing pokéballs at it."
I mentally slapped myself as Wally cringed, causing the ralts to cringe as well. But eventually he made it to the bush I'd pointed to and sat down.
Then he looked back at me. I just made tossing motions and pointed my eyes to the shy psychic type, who was making sure to keep all of us in sight.
Wally swallowed again and carefully opened the case before picking a piece out of it and tossing it to the pokémon. It looked confused at the change in situation, but slowly crept towards Wally at the temptation of free food.
I gave Wally a thumbs up. He tossed another piece.
Step by step, the wild pokémon crept closer and closer. Finally, it sat down right next to Wally and quirked its head at him. Wally glanced back at me.
I took a sweet pokéblock out of my bag and held it to Imp, who immediately snatched it out of my hand and swallowed it.
Wally carefully held a cube out in his palm.
The ralts looked at him for a long moment before reaching its forelimbs out and gently plucking the food from his hand. Then it sat down on his leg and started eating its latest acquisition.
If Wally's eyes opened any wider they'd have popped out. After a moment he gave a small, halting laugh.
His new friend gave a contented warble and continued to chew on its prize.
"What do you think about a name?" I asked through my own grin.
He looked thoughtful for a moment.
"Orsus," he said with a nod. Orsus warbled approvingly, I think. Might've been the food.
"Orsus?" I asked, I honestly didn't know where he'd gotten that.
Wally looked a little sheepish. "It's Latin. Anyways, what now?"
"Now we go tell everyone the good news."
Apparently, the human head and shoulders were actually designed as a riding surface for ralts. My hypothesis was supported by Imp perching on my shoulders as usual while Orsus was doing the same to Wally while we walked back through Petalburg back to the gym.
And forgive me if I was feeling a bit smug, but Wally looked like he was walking on cloud nine and Orsus looked like he was enjoying his new height almost as much as Imp.
Dad managed to clear up whatever had happened at the gym by the time we got back.
"I see you two were successful," he observed with a smile.
"I would like to think so," I remarked as Wally fed Orsus another cube, eliciting a happy warble.
"Well, I'm glad things went well. Sorry I had to dash Wally."
"It's fine, I'm glad you sent me with Wallace actually. I really like his method," he said with a happy smile, giving Orsus a pat.
Dad gave me a quirked eyebrow.
'Later,' I mouthed to him. He just shrugged and looked back to Wally.
"I'm glad then. Is there anything else I can do for you?"
Wally snapped back to the present. "Uh, no sir. I should probably be getting back."
With a few stuttered goodbyes, Wally walked out the door.
Once it was closed, Dad turned and looked at me. "So what's the magic behind wearing psychic types as hats?"
Despite my efforts, we wound up gravitating towards Dad's office. So I wound up having to explain myself from the interrogation seat in front of Dad's desk.
It was rather difficult to miss someone tensing up when they were in the middle of your field of view.
"So... yeah," I finished stupidly.
Dad just looked at me. This wasn't the 'you've changed' look, it wasn't even The Look.
Just looking.
Imp fidgeted on my shoulders, no doubt sensing my twitching discomfort.
"I never quite had it in myself to be a pacifist," he finally said in a neutral tone. "Always enjoyed battles too much. But you said you made it all the way here without fighting anyone so far?"
I nodded silently.
"You must've been pretty light-footed, then. The trail you used is frequented by the newer trainers around here."
"Yeah, Imp usually gives me a heads up when she feels someone. Helps me get around people," I explained.
Dad nodded. "That should work for a while, but you're going to get cornered at some point or another. Either by a trainer or an irritated pokémon. Have you been training your team?"
I cringed. "Not... No."
Dad crossed his arms. "Wallace, I know you're not dumb enough to think you'd get all the way through your expedition without needing to fight at least in self defense."
"I know, there's going to be someone pushy enough to force my hand or something is going to happen. I just don't..." I trailed off, putting a hand on Mutt.
"Don't want to get anyone hurt, I know. Every trainer feels that way. No one wants to see their team injured, even the professionals. But it's going to happen, so the best you can do is make sure you're prepared when it finally does. Here," he stood and made the 'follow me' gesture.
With mounting anxiety, I stood and followed.
We walked back into the Gym proper and through the challenge doors, not stopping until we'd reached Dad's arena.
He palmed a pokéball. My heart dropped through my gut.
"Relax, I wouldn't put you through a real fight as you are right now. I'd be more than reluctant to do so until you have at least a couple badges. I just want to see how your team responds to a battle situation."
He tossed the white and red sphere to the ground where it ejected a linoone. Dad knelt down and muttered a few things I couldn't make out. It raised its head to look at him before blinking in what looked like understanding.
Then it dashed towards Mutt.
Neither I or the dark type was able to react to the alarming burst of speed before it closed distance entirely. Thankfully the normal type stopped a foot short and bristled its hair threateningly.
Mutt recovered and stood his ground, growling at the larger pokémon.
Dad looked at me.
I swallowed.
"Mutt, use tackle!"
He seemed surprised for the space of a second before bounding forward and slamming himself into the Linoone.
It barely twitched, but Dad nodded.
"Inruo, back!" He barked. The pokémon didn't miss a beat, putting distance between itself and Mutt. Mutt trotted over to my side, still growling with his tail puffed out.
Dad looked at me again and tilted his chin back towards Inruo.
"Mutt, use howl."
He looked confused for longer this time, but after looking up at me he eventually acquiesced and loosed a small howl.
And now...
"Mutt use tackle!"
He thankfully didn't wait, instead just sprinting forward and throwing himself against the linoone for the second time. He all but bounced off. Dad seemed satisfied anyways.
"Mutt, back!" He ran back to my side, looking a little shaken at how little he'd managed.
I gave him a pat. "You did well."
I stood straight and made eye contact with Dad. He gave a pointed look to Imp before looking back to me.
Damn.
I reluctantly took Imp off of my shoulders, despite her nervous warble.
"You'll be fine," I said as comfortingly as I could.
Dad thankfully gave me a chance to react instead of forcing Imp's hand. He muttered another quiet command and Inruo did the same bluff-charge he'd done with Mutt.
"Imp, use confusion!"
She responded almost immediately, standing still and...
Psychic attacks didn't have much flair, save for the exceptionally powerful ones. Confusion was nothing more than a vague, prismatic sheen in the air between the Imp and her target with a barely perceptible sound like a whistle.
The linoone twitched and shook its head until the attack faded.
Dad nodded again. "I think that's enough for now."
I disguised my relieved slump by scooping Imp up and putting her back on my shoulders, trying to emotionally express an apology.
"You could probably stand to do some more training on your own, but I just wanted to make sure they'd obey you in a fight. Not being conventionally domesticated and all. Now," he clapped his hands. "It sounds like you need to restock your pokéblocks if I'm not mistaken."
The rest of my stay in Petalburg was fairly brief. I spent the rest of that evening with the resident little old lady and her skitty replenishing the pokéblocks I'd given to Wally, and I was actually able to get her to accept some payment for the dent in her stock.
I said my goodbyes to Dad the next morning, with promises to train more and keep in touch.
There were a couple trails to Rustboro, but one of the biggest objectives of an expedition was to collect data, so I took the most scenic one I thought I could manage. It would pass me by the coast before getting on into Petalburg Woods.
I also promised myself I'd stop avoiding trainers.
If I was being perfectly honest I'd much rather never have to make my team fight, but Dad had made sure he'd driven the point home that that wasn't going to happen. So I was going to do my damndest to make sure my team was the one walking away.
I'd barely made it ten minutes out of Petalburg before I locked eyes with someone.
"Hey!" The kid shouted as he stood from where he'd been sitting. "The name's Billy! You wanna battle?"
Not really.
"Sure," I made myself smile.
"Go Zigzagoon!" He threw a pokéball to the ground where it burst open and released a smallish zigzagoon.
"Mutt, you're up," I said with an encouraging smile. He seemed to understand what was going on as his tail puffed out and he started growling.
"Now. Mutt, use howl!" He loosed a long howl before fixing eyes with the zigzagoon again.
"Zigzagoon, use tackle!" The brown critter darted forward and slammed into Mutt who stumbled back with a growl.
"Mutt, use tackle!" The hit was hard enough to send the offending racoon skidding away.
"Use tail whip!" It whirled around and smacked its tail across Mutt's face, he cringed but didn't seem particularly hurt.
"Tackle again!" Dark fur barreled into brown, sending it tumbling. The pokémon got up again, but it was obviously slow. "Ok, I think that's enou-"
"Zigzagoon, use tackle!" Billy shouted across me. The attack was slow enough for Mutt to avoid it fairly easily.
"Billy, I think he's had enough-"
"Come on! Tackle!" Another miss.
"Billy!"
"Tackle!" A glancing hit.
I frowned, harder than I was already.
Ugh, fine.
"Mutt, tackle!" The slow moving normal type failed to avoid the attack, it gave a huff of defeat from where it stopped tumbling.
"Dang it! You're in for it now!" Billy yelled as he pulled another pokéball out of his pocket and threw it as he withdrew his fallen zigzagoon. "Go Seedot!"
I glanced at my own charge, he wasn't in too bad of shape yet but I would need to be careful.
"Mutt, tackle!"
"Seedot, Bide!"
Wha- shit!
I wasn't fast enough to countermand before Mutt plowed into the now rumbling grass type.
"Mutt, back!" I ordered, knowing what was about to happen.
Mutt made it to my side just in time for the Seedot to explode forward and smash itself into his side. He let out a startled yelp as he was thrown several feet away. He wasn't moving too well when he got up, but he was still moving.
"Mutt, that's enough. Imp, confusion!"
"Seedot, harden!" The defensive technique did nothing to mitigate the psychic impact, as was shown by the plant rolling onto its side and making a panicked clicking sound.
This added to Mutt's tackle, the other pokémon wasn't looking too good.
"Billy, we're done-"
"We can still win this! Seedot, use bide!" It wobbled to its feet and promptly hurled itself into the nearest rock.
I sucked breath in between my teeth, that looked painful.
"Aw come on, we almost had it!" Billy shouted angrily, kicking the dirt.
"Billy, that was disappointing," I said, trying to muffle most of my anger.
"Hey, I didn't fight that badly-"
"I'm not talking about our fight, you fought well. I'm talking about how you treated your pokémon."
"What?" He looked genuinely confused, I wasn't sure if that was good or bad.
"You made them fight even when you knew they were in bad shape. You treated your team like they were disposable," I was trying and failing to not bite my words out. This kid was everything I hadn't liked about May's method.
"I can always just take them to the pokécenter, they'll be fine," he said dismissively, recalling the seedot to its pokéball.
"Billy, would you like it if you smashed your head against that rock?" I gestured to the offending sediment.
"What? No-"
"Then do you think your seedot enjoyed it?"
It was a little satisfying and a little exasperating to watch all three of his neurons start firing.
"If you treat your pokémon with more respect, you may find things work out better. Now, don't you have a pokécenter to get to?"
After the fight I gave each of my fearless champions a few berries and time to nap before we started moving again. I wanted to avoid bringing them to a pokécenter if I could, since it would entail technically 'catching' them, but if they were really hurting or fainted I knew what I'd do.
Once we got to the shoreline I did some baiting and was able to get two more wingulls and a marill within scanning range.
Once I'd gotten my data I decided to just keep going down the beach, the marill wandered after me for a while but eventually grew bored and ambled away.
I wasn't trying very hard to get more pokémon to follow me either. Having too much of an entourage would make it difficult to collect data.
After walking a bit further down the shore and having a very simply-worded conversation with a fisherman who tried to fight me with a baby magikarp, I came to a small cabin at the end of the beach. Following the trail back inland quickly brought me towards the encroaching Petalburg Forest.
It was starting to get late though, so I stopped within sight of the forest and set up camp.
"Looks like we're headed for the forest tomorrow," I mused quietly while I set my ground pad out. "Wonder if anyone else is going to join our little team."
I wasn't really worried about what the forest might bring. We were still in southern Hoenn so we weren't likely to run across much new and the pokénav tagged it with a low danger rating.
Still, felt like it would be better to be prepared than not...
The pokémon here were weird. There were more bug-types than I would've expected.
As in way more.
"I honestly thought these trees were white for a second," I muttered to myself, scanning the umpteenth silk pod without stopping.
I'd also spotted a few strange looking green and tan mushrooms that had scampered away when is gotten too close and scared me half to death in the process. I hadn't found any more since though so I was going to have to be careful if I spotted any others.
Also...
"Hey, you wanna battle?"
Trainers
I'll be the first to admit, I was more concerned with moving quickly than getting as much data as I could. I didn't want to sleep in the forest if I could avoid it. I could also camp outside and make trips back in once I got through, so I figured there was little harm moving this quickly.
The problem was the number of trainers I ran into doing this. I'd already had to battle my way through a few more avid bug enthusiasts, so my team wasn't in perfect shape. Then Imp gave me a pat and a quiet warble, pointing my head to where the trail curved left out of sight.
I had already spent longer in here than I'd wanted and I wanted to give my two companions a chance to rest. On the other hand none of the fights so far had been very difficult and I'd promised not to avoid trainers.
Unfortunately I thought for long enough that the decision made itself for me. Imp warbled again, a little more urgently. Before I could find a plausible place to hide an average looking man in a green jacket wandered into sight and spotted me.
"Oh, hello there!" He called out with a wave.
Doesn't seem like he wants to fight... I thought as I cautiously returned the greeting.
He glanced around at the surrounding foliage by the trail before looking back at me. "Excuse me, but have you seen any shroomish around? I-"
I stopped paying attention when Imp gave another warble and pointed my head back down the path.
"Excuse me," I cut him off as politely as I could. "But was anyone else with you?"
He looked confused, turning to look down the path he'd just come. "No, I'm on my own. Why-"
An irate looking teenager dressed in blue rounded the bend. I could see him lock on to the still unnamed man and start marching forward with a sneer.
"You just had to hang out in the woods didn't you? I got sick of waiting, time for you to cough up old man!" He yelled as he approached.
"Eek, you there! You're a trainer right? Help me!" He said somewhat pathetically as he used me as a meat shield.
I instinctively dropped into a more guarded stance, though against who I wasn't sure. This was apparently taken as me accepting the plea.
"You wanna go, punk? No one stands in the way of Team Aqua! Let's go!" He punctuated his shout by throwing a pokéball that released a poochyena.
Not having much of a choice...
"Mutt, howl!"
"Poochyena, sand-attack!"
I glared at him.
"Mutt, tackle! Imp, confusion!"
"What? You can't-" he spluttered as both attacks connected with their target.
"Watch me! Again!"
And that was all it took. I felt a little bad, looking at the other dark type fall to the ground; it couldn't have seen that coming any more than it's trainer.
"You cheating little-"
"The Rules," I talked over him. "Apply to recreational fights between pokémon. They mandate conduct between trainers and how the standard official match progresses. You, on the other hand, were literally just trying to rob someone. Are you honestly going to accuse me of cheating while you actively broke the law?"
He seemed surprised.
Arceus, are you rationing the sense you're giving people? Cause you're making an awful lot of idiots.
He growled under his breath. "This isn't the last you'll hear of us!" And with that he recalled his fallen pokémon and ran back the way he came.
I heard the man behind me let out a relieved breath.
"Thank you. I'd have been toast if you hadn't stepped in." He deliberated a moment before brightening. "I know! You're a trainer right? I'll just give you a great ball for your trouble."
"I don't use pokéballs."
"That way I can-" he dropped the blue and white sphere he'd pulled out.
I was still feeling a little irritated at having had to defend a grown man, so I started talking before he asked any more stupid questions.
"Yes, I am a trainer. No, I don't use pokéballs. Yes, I am on an expedition. No, I really don't use pokéballs. Finally, if you really want to thank me make sure you can defend yourself the next time someone threatens you with an irate puppy."
Having said my piece, I turned down the trail and walked away.
I felt his eyes on my back all the way to the bend.
The rest of my time in the forest was uneventful, so I was able to get to Rustboro Lake before the sun got all the way down. After a bit of quick scouting, since daylight was fading quickly, I decided to set up behind some berry bushes. There was a small building within sight of where I made camp, but the lights were off so I didn't worry too much about camping so close.
I also took the liberty of swiping a few berries off the bushes I'd crashed behind. I'd have to wait until I got to Rustboro to find a berry blender, but that was no reason to to stock up.
An idle glance showed me that the lights were on in the building I'd slept near, the sunrise also gave me enough light to read the sign.
Pretty Petal Flower Shop, might be worth a look.
The main product of the shop was, surprise, flowers. There were a few other though, things like berry seeds, a comprehensive flora guide of Hoenn, and a TM for Dig that all found their way into my pack. I was certain I'd find a use for it, but I wasn't quite sure I wanted to use it yet.
After I was done there, I turned right around and walked back into the forest. I'd scanned and endless number of silk pods during my run through yesterday, but I still had most of an ecosystem to document.
I'd spotted a couple small blue birds in the trees earlier and given how quickly they'd flown away I was guessing they would be the hardest to scan. So I decided to start there.
I made my way back to a clearing I'd noted yesterday and scanned the treeline, looking for the telltale shade of blue. After locating a group of the birds I approached.
Their calls shifted once I got close, I was no expert but they sounded more like warnings.
Setting down my bag, I pondered how to do this. They could already see me and I could see them, but the scanner had a fairly limited range, ten feet at the absolute most. I would need to get them to come to me.
"Feel free to wander around you two, I'm probably going to be here awhile," I gestured towards the clearing while I set about scattering some pokéblocks.
My travelling company glanced at each other before Mutt started sniffing the ground and wandering around. Imp stayed perched on my shoulders.
I aimed the pokéblocks so the closest handful would be in scanning range but the furthest ones far enough for even the most skittish pokémon to still approach. I sat down and palmed my scanner so I wouldn't have to move when something got within range.
Now, all there was to do was wait.
Between the warm sun, cool breeze, and relative quiet of the forest I eventually nodded off to sleep. I don't think I was out for more than a hour, given the movement of the sun.
I would have probably slept the day away though if something hadn't woken me. That something specifically being a clawed weight settling on top of my head.
I simply sat still while I drudged my mind from its unexpected slumber and took stock of the situation. Something was on my head; said something had clawed toes, didn't seem to weigh very much given its size, and had made flapping sounds. Thus my deduction was that there was a taillow perched on my head.
Scanning my eyes around showed me that Mutt was blinking blearily up at me from my side but did not seem to register my headware as a threat. Imp was eating the pokéblocks I'd laid out.
A pointed twinge of annoyance brought her attention back to me and I gave her a stern look.
She continued eating.
Cheeky little rugrat, see if I carry you the rest of today.
Unfortunately, this still left me in a predicament. I had thankfully kept my grip on my scanner, but it was still pointed in the direction of where Imp was leppa picking the scattered candies. I could either try waiting for the taillow to move on its own and hope it landed nearby, or move to scan it and risk scaring it away.
I pondered for a moment.
If it was brave enough to actually land on me, then it probably isn't going to immediately panic if I move a little.
Very slowly, I started raising my scanner. The bird remained either unperturbed or unaware as it didn't move. Once I got the scanner pointed as best as I could, I pressed the button on the side. I'd half expected the click of the camera's shutter to scare it away.
The bird still didn't move.
This left we with a somewhat different problem.
I'd rather not scare away a pokémon with a propensity for being friendly to people, but I really need to keep surveying the woods. Guess I'll just get up and try to give it some pokéblock. I'd rather not scare away a pokéblock as an apology.
I leaned forward very deliberately, giving it ample opportunity to fly away. It remained perched on my head. I continued the motions of getting up until...
Well, until I'd gotten up.
The pokémon seemed not to care, I wasn't even sure it was awake.
After standing there for a very long moment, I gave an internal shrug and went about my work.
Over the rest of the day, the only notable thing I achieved was spotting and scanning a cluster of shroomish before scaring them away. The flying type remained happily seated on my cranium, much to Imp's displeasure.
"I would let you take priority if you hadn't eaten the pokéblock you know," I shot a look to the pouting psychic type. She gave a buzzing warble and puffed out her cheeks.
My next destination was the flower shop I'd wandered through this morning. I wanted to get another look at the TMs before the shop closed.
By the time I got back to where I'd woken up this morning, my awareness of my most recent companion had faded to cursory. Which was why I was so startled when it gave a loud chirp and leapt off of my head the second I opened the door.
The taillow flew several laps around the empty shop before the owner walked in from the back door.
"What is making all the racket-"
The blue feathered bundled made a hard turn and beelined for the owner before coming to a full stop and perching on her head.
We were all so startled that none of us spoke. I opened my mouth to apologize when I saw the expression on the owner's face.
"Fez, is that you?" She asked, sounding both hopeful and tense somehow.
The bird gave a loud chirp and flapped a few times.
"You- you stupid, little, bird brained..." She took the pokémon off of her head and gave it a hug.
I remained silent, exchanging a glance with Mutt who seemed as confused as I was at the scene.
"Oh dear, I'm sorry. Are you the one who let this one in here?" She asked, though I thought I caught a tremor in her voice.
"Yes. Is...?" I was unsure of what question I wanted to ask or how to ask it.
"He's mine, yes. He likes sleeping outside but we had a storm a month or so ago and he turned up missing. I'd frankly given up on him coming back," she explained, reaching up to give the bird a scratch under the feathers. "Thank you for bringing him back."
"Well, glad to be of service then. At least that explains why he's so comfortable around people."
I wound up camping near the flower shop again since I didn't want to make the three hour trek to Rustboro just to have to make it back tomorrow morning. I still had work to do in Petalburg Forest.
Also, the aptly named Fez had little apparent trouble re-acclimating to his roles of mascot, headwarmer, security camera, and vacuum. The owner of the flower shop, Theodora by the name tag I'd missed, kept trying to get me to buy things so she could give me discounts.
It had been a few days since I'd gotten through the forest and I'd initially planned to have moved on from it by now, but no matter how I looked at the ecosystem, I was missing either an omnivore or herbivore from my setup. It had been almost five days since I first made it through the woods to find the missing pokémon. It was also more than a little irritating once I realized I'd already passed several of them.
People never looked up, I was no exception.
"You've got to be kidding me," I muttered to myself, looking into the canopy at the group of slakoths.
It took me a little while to find a tree I thought I could climb, then it took me twice as long to actually climb it. The only reason this worked was that slakoths were apparently the slowest pokémon in the history of ever.
I was able to get close enough to scan about half a dozen out of the group before I'd decided I'd had enough of pretending not to look down. Once I made it back to terra firma I finished up my ecosystem records and made my way back to the shop.
"Heading off then?" Theo asked from the counter after the customer she'd been helping left.
"I'm afraid so. I still have most of Hoenn to cover before I get to start setting roots again," I answered with a sideways frown. My time at the shop had been pleasant since I'd inadvertently returned Fez.
"I understand dear, it's been a pleasure having you though. It can get a bit lonely around here is all."
"Well, as I understand a flying type who is to remain unnamed should do an admirable job of making sure you're never alone," I smiled back.
"Thanks to you that is. I really can't thank you enough for that, really. If you ever find yourself around these parts again drop by and visit won't you?"
"I guess I could try to find the time," I gave an exaggerated sigh. "Until then, take care!"
I gave a wave and walked out the door. Time for Rustboro.
A/N: Realized that if I was going to be taking a semi-realistic approach to this then there's no feasible way to scan an entire ecosystem just walking through it once. I also haven't decided about the gyms yet, going to need to make my mind up soon.
But soon doesn't mean now, I'll figure it out later.
Also, thanks to both Decidedly Deciduous and St Elmo's Fire for helping me figure out the grammar and capitalization.
