Review responses:
PsychicEevee0103: AJ didn't exactly try that hard to make a good first impression. Plus, he completely turned her worldview inside-out by revealing Pokémon as higher thinking beings rather than animals. Also, it's not the cheery world where Pokémon cannot die. As the daughter of a Pokémon researcher, May is very aware of how her Pokémon can die. Trying to write her game personality here would either be interpreted as her in denial or not being "all there".
Also, good for you. I never cared much for filling the Pokédex, only using the Pokémon that I liked. LOL, I'm pretty sure I had an Exploud in my Emerald file as one of my main Pokémon just because I liked Loudred.
On with the story!
Chapter 4: The Merchant and the Ninja
After another quick visit to say his goodbyes to his mom, AJ set out with Leif back towards Route 101. When halfway through, the two of them got hungry, so they decided to take a break for lunch.
AJ opened the box to find two partitions, each containing a foot-long ham and cheese sandwich topped with vegetables, both of which he immediately broke in half to set the other portions aside for later, a bag of barbeque flavored chips and sealed plastic bowl of salad with a pouch of dried fruit and berries.
"Well?" he asked Leif. "Take your pick. Or are you vegetarian?"
Leif shrugged, "Grass-types can eat meat, but in my experience, most are inclined towards a vegetarian diet—berries, tree sap, vegetables and stuff like that." He took the salad bowl and a plastic fork, "I'm not sure what effect my half-Human form has in that regard, but I'd prefer to stick with what I know for now."
"Eh, your choice," the Trainer granted while he took half a sandwich.
As they started eating, a faint rustle barely registered and Leif put down his food to stand on guard. But AJ held a placating hand out and called, "[Would you like to join us? There's enough food for a third friend.]"
A brown furred muzzle poked out from the grass, sniffing the air, and a Zigzagoon came out. They looked confused, but sniffed the air again and came forward.
"[My nose didn't lie. You are Human. But you speak like a Pokémon. And you…]" Zigzagoon turned to Leif, [You smell like a Pokémon but look Human.]
AJ tilted his head, "[Yes, it's a very long story with tears and tragedy. Do you want some food or not?]"
"[Can you make me Human too?]"
The duo's eyebrows rose at that request and they looked at each other before Leif asked why.
"[I've seen other Humans in their shelters, able to survive better and eat better food than I can find. They do tasks to get those papers to exchange for those things. If I'm Human, then I can work for those things.]"
"[You mean get a job?]" AJ asked with a single eyebrow raised now. "[Is that what you want?]"
"[I can still smell the Pokémon on your Grass-type,]" Zigzagoon said with a smile. "[I bet he still has his speed and climbing ability. If I keep my speed, and can evolve too, then I can create my own job to get paid for. I know nobody would pay a Pokémon. They'd just try to capture me or worse.]"
"[Well, until I get more Pokémon and can find a suitable replacement for you as a battler, you'd have to stay on the team,]" AJ replied.
Zigzagoon nodded with a smirk, "[My first job, then. The payment: my future. Glad to come aboard, Boss.]"
AJ reached to his belt and took an empty Poké Ball before tapping it to the raccoon's head. Once enveloped, he checked his Pokédex, which identified the Zigzagoon as a female and asked if he wanted to nickname her.
"Hmm," he mused, "as an aspiring entrepreneur, she should be a Merchant. Now, a name…" AJ typed the letters in, "Mar-cel-la. Marcella! And now…"
The teen took out his game player and pulled an attachment from the back of the casing. Once extended, a cup popped out, the interlocking pieces forming the shape. He placed the Poké Ball inside and pressed a few buttons on the device itself.
"Done!" he beamed. He took off the Poké Ball and put the item away, "Come on out, Marcella!"
The sphere released her in a flash of white light, and she reformed into a new shape. Once the light faded, it revealed a skinny tan-skinned girl wearing a fuzzy, brown and cream striped shirt with brown pants and shoes, the latter having cream-colored patterns. A brown rucksack hung over her shoulder, one pocket containing red candies while the bag itself contained a mass of fluff at the end of a stick, like a cat toy. Her chin-length hair was frizzy and had cream highlights through it, framing her face. A black mask reminiscent of the pattern around her eyes rested upon her face, and her eyes were brown like her Pokémon form's.
She looked satisfyingly at herself – particularly her hands, flexing her thumbs for good measure – and then smiled up at AJ, "Thanks."
"Ask and you shall receive," AJ smiled back. "Now, do you want half a sandwich or a bag of chips? Or, dare I ask, a salad?"
"Chips," she answered. "Never had a whole bag to myself. Hand 'em over, I wanna open the bag myself and try out my new thumbs."
After lunch came and went (Marcella said she had enough and stored the rest of the chips in her bag for later), AJ stood up and clapped his hands with a grin, "All right! Grinding time."
The two Pokémon looked at him curiously. Marcella raised an eyebrow, "'Grinding', Boss?"
"Sorry, old habit," the gamer explained sheepishly. "What I mean is that it's time to train."
Leif and Marcella nodded, growing serious as they looked around the tall grass surrounding the group.
"Now, Marcella," AJ addressed as he opened his Pokédex, "it says here that you're a little bit weaker than Leif, since he's been through a few battles already. So, we're going to do some switch EXP farming."
Leif cleared his throat, "In English?"
"She goes out first, deals a few hits, and then switches out if things get dangerous," AJ simplified. "If she can take out the opponent herself, great. If not, then you can switch in to pick up the slack."
He kneeled down to look Marcella in the eye, "But let me be clear: If I say switch, then you should switch, please. You know the danger in battling, don't you?"
"Spent most of my life avoiding it," she nodded. "If you think I should back off, I will."
Leif watched the interaction discreetly, noticing how AJ was more aware of the danger than most beginning Trainers.
"And you." Leif blinked as AJ suddenly addressed him, "Be ready to switch in. If you space out and miss your cue, it could cost a teammate their life."
The hybrid Treecko nodded seriously.
So it went for a few hours, Marcella would take point in battles and dole out some damage before switching out with Leif when the opposition struck back. The trio took intermittent trips to the Pokémon Center to get the two Pokémon patched up. At that point, the nurse of that hospital was familiar with him and told him that she took the liberty of informing the other nurses about his unique Pokémon, so he wouldn't have to convince them as well. AJ thanked her before heading back out to train.
On one battle, Marcella had taken a few hits from a Wurmple, as well as getting half-covered with String Shot, slowing her down. She barged against the surprisingly strong bug at the same time that it leaped forward for a Tackle and broke away as she nursed her shoulder. Regardless, she felt that she had enough in her to finish this one off before heading back to get healed.
Suddenly, though, the Wurmple seemed to get their second wind and sped forward before she could finish them. She couldn't move fast enough to dodge, and was about to call for help when she heard "Switch!"
Leif, nearly in perfect condition, ran in front of her as the Wurmple attacked and took the hit, the bug's stinger sinking into his leather breast plate.
Critical hit (1)
AJ let out a breath of relief, despite the readout from his Pokédex. According to the device's health readings, that Tackle would've finished Marcella, but it hardly made a dent in Leif's health bar.
"Finish 'em," the teen ordered.
Leif plucked the Wurmple from his chest and sent the bug flying back into the tall grass with a Pound attack before turning around, checking Marcella. "Are you okay?" he asked, ignoring the slight bleeding from his own wound.
"Yeah," she answered somewhat meekly. "Thanks, Leif, Boss."
"Let's get you two to a Pokémon Center," AJ replied. "We can pick this up again later."
After a trip to the hospital and some more training, Marcella reached about Leif's level in raw power, so AJ elected to try going to the slightly stronger Pokémon on Route 103, where he'd fought May.
Unfortunately, he immediately ran into a problem.
"No, dammit…" AJ muttered as he palmed his face in frustration. "A Dark-type could've been very useful."
Marcella had a dead Poochyena's neck under her foot, shrugging, "Sorry, Boss. But nobody insults the fur and gets away with it."
The unfortunate Dark-type had made that mistake, saying something very unflattering about Marcella and her species as a whole. Before AJ could stop her, she brutally beat down the Bite Pokémon, yelling "SAY MY NAME, BITCH!"
By the time she stopped, the Poochyena was long dead from the various injuries.
"All right, I guess now's as good a time as any to lay down this little ground rule," AJ said as he dragged his hand down his face. "No killing if we can help it, got it?"
"Why?" Marcella asked. "I mean, I'm not saying I like killing, but why?"
AJ crossed his arms, "We haven't fought any Trainers besides May yet, and you should know that if Trainers lose all of their team Pokémon, even if they have extra in the PC, their license gets suspended and they have to wait a year before starting over again. But if you just knock the Pokémon out, then the Trainers get to keep their license, and we can rematch them later to keep training."
Leif nodded in understanding, "Makes sense to me, I guess."
"Don't get me wrong," the Trainer added. "If your life is at stake, Trainer Pokémon or otherwise, then don't hold back. Now, it seems the Pokémon around here aren't any stronger than on Route 101. Let's move on to Route 102. Should probably pay the old man a visit before the day's out, so he doesn't get too worried."
AJ led his two Pokémon down the path that connected Oldale to Petalburg City. A few minutes of walking later, he got challenged by a young boy named Calvin. He wore a red shirt with thin black stripes, black pants, and plain tennis shoes. His blonde hair stuck out in spikes, seemingly defying gravity. (2)
"Our eyes met! You can't refuse my challenge!" Calvin pointed at the older Trainer. "Go, Hobbes!"
A Zigzagoon emerged from his Poké Ball and shook his fur before glancing back at Calvin, "[About time you let me out of that thing!]" Then he looked forward and got ready for battle, muttering, "['Find a Trainer', they said. 'You'll get stronger and free food', they said.]"
"I can tell you're griping!" Calvin said. "Just battle and I'll buy you a sandwich."
"[…Promise?]"
AJ tilted his head, "Hey, kid. How'd you like to see something cool?"
"Just send out your Pokémon!"
Leif raised an eyebrow, "You're looking at them."
Calvin gawked as he connected the color of the two Pokémon's outfits with their species, particularly Marcella's. "Wait, those are your Pokémon?! That's so awesome! Change Hobbes now!"
"Rude. How about saying pretty please?" Marcella retorted with a raised eyebrow.
"I beg you to transform Hobbes into a cool half-human Pokémon!" Calvin proclaimed, actually getting on his knees.
AJ took out his game player. A few moments and a flash later, Hobbes stood in a hybrid form. His hair was frizzy, but shorter than Marcella's making two sideburns and running a little long on the back of his head. He had a similar mask and had deep pockets in his brown cargo shorts instead of a rucksack. His shirt and hair color matched Marcella's, but he was older, appearing around fifteen.
"Test, test," Hobbes said, just to see if he could speak English. "Whoa, it really worked!"
"Do you still want a battle, kid?" AJ asked.
"Forget that!" the male Zigzagoon hybrid said, grabbing Calvin's arm. "You and I are going to have a long talk about proper care of Pokémon."
"Wha- Hey! There's no running from a Trainer battle!" Calvin shouted as Hobbes dragged him off.
"Hm, well that happened," AJ shrugged while turning towards the west. "Now, let's see what we can find on this route."
"I found a Potion," Marcella supplied while holding up the medicine.
AJ blinked and took it, "Thank you, Marcella. But I was more referring to a Pokémon."
Just then, his PokéNav Plus chimed. He checked it to see that the DexNav had detected a Pokémon. He clicked for details and found that it was a Seedot.
"Ooh, now that sounds rather promising," he commented in fascination. "And this one even knows Beat Up! Let's find…" The signal kept getting stronger, as if he were moving closer. "Huh?"
He moved quietly towards the grass, and the blades rustled as something moved closer and closer. The detected Pokémon moved right up to the edge of the grass and peeked out with their unblinking eyes. AJ squatted down, "[Hello. Were you seeking me out?]"
The Seedot nodded without comment.
"[Do you want to come with us? Would you prefer a battle first?]"
A nod, and then a negative headshake.
AJ took a Poké Ball and expanded it, "[Then welcome.]" (3)
AJ typed the Grass-type's nickname into the Pokédex to register her, and then took the sphere off the mount. He already had an idea of what class to make her from her evolutionary line.
"Come on out, Kuno."
The Seedot appeared much taller now, though not quite as tall as Leif, but of indeterminate age from the mask covering her face. Said mask had Seedot eyes on it, aside from the pupils having holes which revealed her eye color to be grey. A brown ninja suit covered her body with wooden armguards fastened over the cloth. Her hair was silver and very short aside from a small ponytail at the top, reminiscent of an acorn stem.
She simply looked down at herself, tilting her head to look through the holes of her mask, and looked back up, nodding at AJ.
"Doesn't talk much, does she?" Marcella asked.
AJ shrugged, "Maybe she just doesn't have anything to say. Some people just prefer to be word efficient."
Extra 3: Stay in Touch!
Calvin was in front of AJ again while his Pokémon trained in the tall grass. Hobbes stood behind him as Calvin asked, "Please change him back…"
"Why?"
"He was annoying enough when I couldn't understand him," the boy answered.
"Hey," the Zigzagoon warned.
"Do you not have other Pokémon?" AJ asked. "Why not just release him? I'm sure in his human form he could find something to do with himself."
"Well, yeah," the blonde answered. "But Hobbes is my best fighter. And anyway, I could never get rid of him, no matter how annoying he can be. He's the first Pokémon I caught."
"Then why?" the teen asked again. "I think that his language isn't the main issue here, is it?"
Calvin looked down while Hobbes put a hand on his shoulder, "I feel like if adults knew about him, they'd try to take him away. Adults are close-minded. I used to have an imaginary friend named Hobbes, but then my parents sent me to therapy to get rid of him…"
"I see… All right, then," AJ answered. He took out a slip of paper, "Tell you what, Calvin, I'll change him back and give you this." Writing something on it, he handed the note to the youngster, "Once I complete my plans, I'll come find you. That's my Pokégear's number; it's pretty much a direct line to me. And if you ever want to spend a day with Hobbes as a human, just let me know if we're ever in the same area."
The teen pressed a button on his game player and Hobbes reverted back to his Zigzagoon form, no flash masking the metamorphosis. Calvin petted him a bit and Hobbes said something in Pokémon language.
"Yeah, I remember. You hate your Poké Ball," the blonde said with a roll of his eyes, though he could only guess that's what the Pokémon said.
Two new party members in one chapter! Marcella made me keep going since her Pickup ability made her appropriate for a Merchant class, but Kuno really made me commit to completing the run except in the face of a game over.
Notes:
1. That critical hit really happened. I had no way of knowing whether it would, but Marcella was slowed down to the point where Wurmple was faster than her. But the real kicker was that a standard attack, she could've toughed out with one or two HP left. The only thing that prevented her death was a bad feeling. Thank goodness I switched out for Leif to tank the hit.
2. I just couldn't help myself. It was Youngster Calvin, and he had one male Zigzagoon.
3. In the game, Kuno just kept using Harden, despite having an offensive move in Beat Up. So I interpreted it that she wanted to get caught.
See you when I see you.
-AJ203
