Chapter 4
Calvin and Dorothy had been walking for only a few minutes along Route 101, and were surprised to see a Pokémon approach them. It looked like a raccoon, but with spiky fur. It walked in a an odd zigzag pattern, which was quite confusing and distracting, especially to Pandora, who seemed to be struggling to make sense of what she was looking at, judging by her facial expression and posture.
"Do you know what that thing is, Dorothy?" Calvin asked, studying it as it walked up to them. It stopped in front of Calvin, sniffed at him, than walked over to Dorothy and did the same thing, and finally Pandora, who didn't take kindly to being sniffed, and shoved her left paw into its nose to push it away. Strangely, the weird Pokémon seemed to be interested in Pandora the most, and continued to invade her personal space and sniff her.
"If memory serves, it is a Zigzagoon." Dorothy answered, kneeling down to get a closer look at it. "Why don't you check your Pokédex?"
"Oh, duh." Calvin scoffed, pulling his Pokédex out of his pocket and pointing it at the creature Dorothy thought to be a Zigzagoon. After a second, it beeped and began speaking.
"Zigzagoon, the Tiny Raccoon Pokémon. Zigzagoon restlessly wanders everywhere at all times, doing so because it is very curious. It becomes interested in anything that it happens to see."
"Sound like it has a short attention span." Calvin commented, putting the Pokédex away.
"Pandora might beg to differ." Dorothy stated, watching Zigzagoon continue to sniff at Pandora, much to her annoyance. Finally, she lashed out with a left paw swipe, knocking Zigzagoon to the ground. It shook off the hit, and resumed what it was doing without a moment's hesitation. Pandora would have none of it, smacking it away again. This time, Zigzagoon grew irritated, and assumed a stance, an action which Pandora seemed all too eager to emulate.
"Alright, let's battle it, Pandora!" Calvin cheered. Pandora ignored him, planting her feet and tensing up, causing a white aura to wash over her. While Zigzagoon was distracted her the aura around her, she sprang forward, moving faster than human eyes could follow, and plowed through Zigzagoon, throwing it backwards a fair distance.
"Whoa, that attack was fast!" Calvin exclaimed as Pandora moved back to her starting position and waited for Zigzagoon to get back up.
"Quick Attack is fast, is it?" Dorothy asked in a bland monotone. "Hmm. Imagine that." As she spoke, Zigzagoon got up and rushed at Pandora, not moving nearly as fast as Pandora had, though still fast in its own right. When it entered striking distance, it lunged forward, attempting to ram Pandora, but instead passed through her as several more of her seemed to materialize of thin air, surrounding it.
"Hey, how did Pandora duplicate herself?" Calvin asked, clearly as confused as Zigzagoon. "Is that what Double Team is?" He was even more confused when Zigzagoon lunged at the one standing behind it, landing a solid hit on Pandora, who was even more confused. "How was it able to figure out which one was real? I had no clue!"
"It's hard to know for sure, but I believe that Zigzagoon identified Pandora through smell." Dorothy said thoughtfully, watching the battle closely. "It did spend quite a bit of time sniffing at her, so it makes sense that it would be able to identify the real one through smell." As she said this, the fakes vanished, and Pandora picked herself up, shaking off the blow. It didn't seem to affect her that much, though her fur was quite ruffled, and she was very annoyed, as evidenced by her lunging with a glowing black paw and smacking Zigzagoon's face into the dirt.
"That must have been Knock Off." Calvin commented as Pandora jumped back towards him to put some distance between herself and Zigzagoon. "Okay Pandora, let's put this battle to bed. Quick Attack!" At his order, Pandora turned towards him to give him a quizzical look. "What, what's wrong?" Pandora rolled her eyes, sitting down and watching Zigzagoon charge at her. "It's coming! Hurry up and use Quick Attack!" In response, Pandora coolly jumped to the side to dodge Zigzagoon's Tackle, and sank her fangs into its tail as it passed. Zigzagoon howled out in pain, and Pandora whipped her head around and let go, throwing it into the nearest tree. Noticing it was clearly outmatched, Zigzagoon struggled to its feet and ran off, disappearing into the foliage.
"Congratulations, Master Calvin. You won your first battle." Dorothy commented in a notably bland and mocking tone as Pandora walked back to him and sat down, lciking her paws.
"Yeah, right. I didn't win anything. Pandora didn't listen to a word I said!" Calvin complained, scowling at Pandora, who looked up at him, smiling innocently as if to say, 'who, me?' "You heard me. We're supposed to work together as a team! That means when I give a command, you're supposed to listen!" Pandora scoffed and rolled her eyes.
"It's just a hunch, but I believe the reason she did not obey you is because she is holding a grudge against you." Dorothy chimed in, looking down at Pandora curiously.
"How am I supposed to know what she's mad at me for?" Calvin asked, looking between the two females in exasperation. "She's not telling me what's wrong, or even trying for that matter."
"She's not supposed to tell you, you're supposed to know what you did wrong." Dorothy said with a smirk. "But you're smart, you'll figure it out."
"You're mocking me." Calvin sighed, walking ahead.
"Why would I want to mock you?" Dorothy asked, not sparing any sarcasm as she followed him, Pandora tagging along behind her. "Just think, when was it that she was first mad at you, and what had you done to warrant it?"
"It was right after I told her she couldn't have any of my tea because she was being mean to me." Calvin replied, turning to look at Pandora. "You can't possibly still be on about that."
"You underestimate a female's ability to hold grudges." Dorothy giggled. "In any case, what do you think you should do?"
"Eh, I suppose I could give her some next time." Calvin said after a moment of thought. "How does that sound, Pandora?" Pandora turned up her nose at him, clearly rejecting the idea. "Well, it was worth a shot. Hey, is that the next town?" Straight ahead, Calvin could see a town similar in size to Littleroot Town, but looked a lot different in that this town wasn't surrounded by a forest, and it had a Pokémon Center, as well as a Poké Mart.
"Indeed, that is Oldale Town." Dorothy answered. "I do not believe there is anything we need here, so if you wish, we can head west through Oldale to get to Route 102."
"Fine by me. Maybe we'll find some more interesting Pokémon there." Calvin muttered, entering town and making his way westward. Someone else seemed to have other ideas, however, as a strange looking person wearing a white apron with a blue Poké Ball symbol on it walked up to him. He was holding a box full of spray bottles that Calvin identified as Potions.
"Hello! You look like a new Trainer! Are you familiar with the Poké Mart?" The strange man asked him.
"If you mean the building with the blue roof, yeah." Calvin replied, obviously uninterested in holding a conversation with the person, yet he went on.
"As part of our promotional campaign, we're giving out free Potions to new Trainers who pass through." The man explained, grabbing a Potion out of the box and handing it to Calvin.
"Oh, well thank you." Calvin said with blatant surprise, putting the Potion in his backpack.
"My pleasure! Have a great day!" The man replied, turning to go back to the Poké Mart, leaving Calvin in stunned silence.
"Pandora, do you have any idea what that was all about?" Calvin asked after a moment. Pandora just sighed quietly and kept walking, prompting Calvin to follow her. "Hey, where did Dorothy disappear to, anyway?"
"I never went anywhere." Dorothy replied from behind him, scaring the crap out of him. "I was right behind you the whole time. You were simply too distracted to notice."
"Don't scare me like that!" Calvin exclaimed, trying to get his heart to slow down. "Anyway, let's head to Route 102." He kept walking west through town, with Pandora walking ahead of him and Dorothy walking behind him.