A/N: If you've been paying attention to my work as of late, you would've seen me posting that I was sick. That means I didn't have the energy to write out this chapter and put it out more quickly. But by the looks of things, I'm updating this story at a reasonable level, methinks.
Oh, and also, I got bombarded by the discovery that this story is featured in the Fanfic Recs section of TLH TV Tropes page, and the first crossover at that. That is just…wow. Thanks for the recommendation. Means a lot to me.
But enough of the sap and sentiment, let's move on to "Chapter 4: Camp It Up".
Previously, on PokéLoud Journeys…
At last, best friends, Lincoln Loud and Clyde McBride, have ventured out of their hometown of Vaniville, bidding farewell to their respective families as they embarked on their journey side by side. The two boys spent the night at the Pokémon Center in Aquacorde Town and once there, planned their next destination on where they'd be camping out for the next few weeks: Santalune Forest.
Now, as they head towards the forest, Lincoln finds that he has his hands full with a rather…distant problem…
CHAPTER 4: Camp It Up
Route 2. June 11th, 2036. 10: 38 AM.
Route 2. Unlike what Lincoln and Clyde knew about routes from personal experience, Route 2 was much more scenic; outstretching grassy plains, trees littered about, skies full of Flying-type Pokémon, mountains erected from the earth from far away. Upon looking on either side of the gravely pathway, the nature around them seemed like it could stretch on for miles and given how long they had been walking since they left Aquacorde Town hours ago, that was a very realistic possibility.
However, for Lincoln Loud, he didn't have time to chew the scenery any further than he already did for he was far too busy on his Holo Caster, chatting it up with Lola for the first time since he had left home yesterday. Though, he was somewhat worried about the fact that he didn't call his family yesterday, Lola especially, he was sure that Lola could survive at least one night without hearing from her big brother.
Much to his surprise, though, as soon as he called in Lola's Holo Caster, he was greeted with her holographic face glaring at him, as if he had the audacity to act like he didn't mess up on a cosmological level.
"OH, SO NOW YOU FINALLY DECIDE TO CALL ME, HUH?!" Lola yelled.
Lincoln winced, pulling back the device back and tried to give off his best mollifying expression that he could.
"Lola, come on, I-"
"NO EXCUSES! YOU PROMISED TO CALL ME AND YOU DIDN'T!"
Lincoln, though sympathetic with Lola's plight, was starting to get a tad bit fed up with her already. He thought that she had gotten over him leaving by now but by the sounds of it, she was still acting overly clingy and he hadn't even been gone for twenty-four hours yet! Was it really such a crime to not check in on her last night?
With a groan, Lincoln responded, "Lola, what do you mean? I'm doing it right now, aren't I?"
Anticipating another angry retort, Lincoln was completely taken off guard when Lola's hologram shyly submitted under the weight of his question and sniffled.
"Yeah, but…" Lola started to say but relented as her eyes began to water.
After five seconds of simply staring at Lincoln pleadingly, Lola spoke up again.
"B-but why didn't you do it yesterday after you left?"
All of Lincoln's indignation melted under the pressure of his brotherly instincts. Lola could be really, really annoying but when any of his sisters were sad, regardless of the circumstances, Lincoln was ready to take on the challenge of making them feel better about themselves. The fact that her angst revolved around him, no matter what his fault in the matter was, only stirred him to be as proactive as ever.
"Lola," Lincoln said softly, "it was just one night. Look, I'm here now so we can-"
"WAAAAAAAAAAAAAH! LINCOLN HATES MEEEEEEEEEEEE!"
Lincoln eyes widened as he took a firmer grasp on his Holo Caster and he urged fervently, "Lola, wait! Come…"
The transmission cut before he could finish.
"…back."
Lincoln sighed irritably and shoved his Holo Caster back into his pocket, doing his best to ignore the snickering from Clyde, who apparently, was rather amused by the familial "drama" that just took place.
"I see you're having a grand old time at my expense," Lincoln groused half-heartedly.
"What? Can't a guy walk to Santalune Forest, with his best friend in the whole wide world, with a smile on his face?" Clyde asked innocuously.
Before Lincoln could retort with a quip of his own, he felt a tint trickle of sweat roll down his arm. Lincoln looked up and sure enough, the Sun was up and about, beating down on him heavily. He hadn't realized it that much before but now that the slight exhaustion of his long walk settled in, he could feel his clothes clinging to him from the adhesion of his sweat.
"I sure hope we get to Santalune Forest soon so we can find some shade under the trees," Lincoln said tiredly.
"Actually, Lincoln," Clyde corrected, "it wouldn't be the best idea for us to camp by too many trees."
Lincoln raised an eyebrow. "Really? Why's that?"
"Well, according to From Recruit to Ranger, we shouldn't set up camp near so many trees because we don't want to get in the thick of a possible forest fire in case any of the trees catch fire. Plus, Bug-type Pokémon can be extremely territorial of their turf and we could set them off if we get too close to them. Since most of them like making their homes either in trees or by trees, it'd be smart not to run the risk of triggering their aggressive behavior."
"Ah, who cares about a few Bug-types anyway?" Lincoln lightly scoffed with a hand wave. "They're weak to Fire-types like Fennekin. She can just burn them away."
"And possibly set the trees around us on fire in the process, thus trapping us in a vortex of unforgiving flames?" Clyde questioned.
Lincoln felt a blush spread across his face. He hadn't even thought of that.
"Oh," he chuckled. "Whoops."
"Let's just trust the wisdom of Ranger Lopez, okay?" Clyde suggested. "She really knows what she's talking about. Why, there's this one section of the book that teaches you how to use your poop as an emergency source of fuel for fire. It's pretty insightful."
"Let's…uh…hope it doesn't come to that," Lincoln said, resisting the urge to vomit.
Wanting to switch the conversation to another subject, and one that he was already curious about anyways, Lincoln asked, "Say, Clyde?"
"Yeah?"
"So, I've been wondering, you said that you brought your own Pokémon with you, right?"
Clyde nodded.
"Well, I haven't seen it since we've been together. Where is it exactly?"
Clyde pointed to the backpack he was hauling.
"In my backpack. It's in its Pokéball right now. As to why you haven't seen it? Well, I wanted to keep it a surprise from you until we set up camp. I even fed it last night and this morning while you weren't looking."
'Well, whatever the Pokémon is, I sure hope its strong. Fennekin could use a good training partner,' Lincoln thought to himself before he focused on the path they were currently treading on.
Thinking about the distance they covered, Lincoln wanted to make sure that they still weren't too far off from their destination. Using the hand that wasn't holding his briefcase, he rummaged through his backpack and pulled out his map, flipping it on and surveying where they were and how far from Santalune Forest they were.
Judging from their spot on the map, which was indicated by a red, blinking dot, and the area they were headed, which Lincoln marked with a gold star, in about another hour, they would be there.
"Looks like we don't have much time left until we get there," Lincoln said. "Let's pick up the pace so we can get started on setting up camp and we can eat."
"Sounds good to me," Clyde agreed and hurried along the path, running ahead of Lincoln.
"Hey, wait for me!" Lincoln chortled and quickly caught up to him.
And with a pep in their steps, the two friends continue to race down Route 2, hoping to get to Santalune Forest as fast as they can. Their efforts prove to be effectual as before they know it, they arrive at the entry of their destination…
Entry of Santalune Forest. June 11th, 2036. 11:23 AM.
"And…h-here…we…are," Lincoln heaved with labored breath as he slouched forward and rested his hands on his knees.
Waiting for Clyde to catch up to him, Lincoln looked up and realized the magnitude of the forest that they were about to enter. From the entryway, Lincoln couldn't quite see what was within the thick of the forest but from what he could tell, the forest was massive.
Not only were trees, that blocked off the sunlight from raining down on him any further, large and imposing, but the sounds of different Pokémon species, chattering about loudly, indicated that this was an ecosystem of great distinction.
Before he could marvel any further, he finally heard footsteps approaching him from behind. He spun around and sure enough, Clyde was trundling along, doing his best not to completely keel over.
Lincoln had to admire Clyde's resolve; he knew he wasn't the fittest boy around yet here he was, embracing the elements as best he could.
"You good for the rest of the way, buddy?" Lincoln said to Clyde as he stood alongside him.
"Yeah," Clyde nodded. "I should be just fine. Let's just hope we find us a good spot before it gets too late."
"Right," Lincoln said and headed into the forest, this time, taking his time so Clyde wouldn't have to keep up with him any longer.
Two hours later…
Though Lincoln was grateful that the shade of the towering trees was shielding off the blazing sunlight, a new problem had long ago set in for the poor boy.
His feet were absolutely sore, almost feeling as if his nerves were pressed against spikes. Every step he took, through the forest, seemingly exacerbated the dilemma twofold.
At first, things were quite easy and Lincoln, rather than think about food despite his growing hunger, simply walked by Clyde and took in the scenery, oohing and aahing at every penchant of nature that took them in. In fact, Lincoln was so mesmerized by his surroundings, that while Clyde led the charge of searching for a proper campsite, he was busy scanning every Pokémon that he came across with his Pokédex. From Caterpie to Scatterbug, by the time Lincoln finally decided that he had enough, he had scanned nearly ten different species. He thought about possibly catching them but because his Fennekin was untrained, he thought better of it.
Overall, though, Lincoln was having the time of his life.
But then, minutes flew by. Then more, then more, then more, then even more…until Lincoln realized that they had been searching for a long time. Way too long. Lincoln didn't complain at first, though. Clyde didn't seem to mind the taxing trek through Santalune Forest at all, a fact that put Lincoln in check; if Clyde could handle the walk, why couldn't he?
But now that two hours had flown by, Lincoln just had to say something regarding his pain and overall discomfort of his experience. He felt that the soles of his feet were going to peel of any second now.
"Hey, Clyde?" Lincoln asked wearily to Clyde, who was walking in pace in front of him.
"Yeah?" Clyde replied without looking back.
"Does that handbook have anything about treating foot blisters? I'm pretty sure I've got a ton of 'em right now," Lincoln grumbled.
"Unfortunately, it doesn't."
"Great. Juuuuuuust great."
Clyde chuckled. "Aw, come on, Lincoln. What's a manly expedition without a few hardships?"
Lincoln wanted to find this Dr. Lopez and give her a piece of his mind. Something in that book must've changed Clyde and although he was genuinely happy for Clyde's more robust attitude, that didn't mean that he had to get dragged along at his own ridiculous pace! Wasn't he the least bit tired?! Hungry?! ANYTHING?!
He bit back a frustrated growl, not wanting Clyde to think that he was at fault for his discomfort, especially since he was trying to make the best out of a bad situation. Besides, it wasn't his fault that they couldn't find a body of water to camp by, much like they had planned to do yesterday.
"I'll take any hardship I can as long as I can have a place to rest," Lincoln joked. "Heck, I'd rather take on an army of Scyther than walk another…"
Something caught his ears before he could finish. But unlike the crunching of sticks and dirt under his shoes or the chirping and chattering of Pokémon or the rustling of leaves from the trees, this noise was far less familiar than all of those things. In fact, if his ears weren't playing tricks on him, he could swear that what he was listening in on was the tranquil, steady waves of…water.
Clyde stopped in his tracks, having heard the noise for himself. He silently motioned for Lincoln to follow him, towards a thick array of bushes that blocked off whatever was on the other side. Once they approached the bushes, both boys poked their heads through and gasped at what they saw.
There, right in front of them, was a wide clearing of land, completely untouched by trees besides a few here and there. It was semi-circular in shape, with the bushes they were in making a firm border around the curve of the land's shape.
However, the thing that caught their attention the most was the fact that there, right the edge of the clearing's straight border, was a lake. It was everything that they had been looking for and as that realization dawned on Lincoln, he had forgotten all about everything that had been bothering him up to that point.
"Clyde, you seein' what I'm seein'?" Lincoln whispered excitedly.
"It's…it's a lake!" Clyde said jubilantly.
"Heck yeah, it is! And look!" Lincoln said as he pointed out to the chunk of land. "Look at all that wide space! It's the perfect place to set up camp!"
With their newfound camping site in check, Lincoln and Clyde stepped through the bushes and onto the land on the other side. Although there was no longer a thick jungle of trees to keep them cool, that downside paled in comparison to the upside of their new spot.
"Lincoln, this calls for a celebratory bro fist," Clyde remarked.
"Lay one on me, buddy," Lincoln replied as he outstretched his fist for Clyde.
After Clyde reciprocated Lincoln's gesture with his own fist, the two friends made their way towards the middle of the ground. Like Clyde, Lincoln scrutinized the area, wanting to see where they could set up camp. After some careful consideration, Lincoln spoke up when he felt that he had a suitable arrangement; the spot he was standing on, which was the closest to the lake, looked good to him.
"Alright, so I'm thinking that I set up my tent over here and you can pitch yours oveeeeeeeeer…" Lincoln pointed to a spot about ten feet from where he was standing, "there. Sound good?"
Clyde took a minute to look between his designated spot and Lincoln's. He nodded once he found everything to be fair.
"Sounds good to me," Clyde said.
With that settled, Lincoln shuffled off his backpack and placed it on the ground. He then took a hold of his briefcase with both hands, ready to operate the release function.
"Now then, I'm gonna have to ask you to stand back, Clyde," Lincoln said as he pointed the briefcase towards where Clyde was standing.
Once Clyde did as he was told, Lincoln went through the release routine and in a flash, everything that had been stored inside was dumped out, landing on the soft grass in a cluttered mountain of a heap. Clyde's three blue duffel bags rested a top of Lincoln's green suitcase. Next to that were two tent bags; the bigger, yellow one belonging to Clyde and the smaller, blue belonging to Lincoln's.
"That's a looooot of stuff that we have to take care of," Clyde said, looking on in a mix of both awe and dread at the work he had ahead of him.
Lincoln took on a sympathetic outlook on Clyde's behalf. Though, it was Clyde's overexuberance that led him to pack so much, he was only trying to help the both of them out and beyond that, he was his friend. He deserved all the help he could get.
"Thankfully, it doesn't seem like I have to do that much. But don't worry, I'll be sure to give you a hand just in case I'm done before you," Lincoln assured.
Lincoln was taken aback when, instead of graciously accepting his offer, Clyde shook his head.
"Thanks, but I'm sure I can manage. Rangers have to be tough. If I can't even set up my own campsite on my own, what's the point of me being out here?"
Lincoln sighed, knowing full well that with Clyde in "Ranger mode", he wouldn't listen that well to reason.
"Well, if you insist," Lincoln listlessly retorted and headed over to his stuff. It wasn't going to unpack itself, after all.
Forty minutes later…
"Phew," Lincoln said with relief as he looked on at Clyde shuffling in the last of his belongings, his humidifier, from his bag and into his propped up yellow tent. "Finally finished."
It had taken longer than they both thought but eventually, it had finally been done; their own campsite was finally finished. Lincoln had finished in a fourth of the time it took Clyde and while he waited for him to get done, he knew that his first order of business was getting Fennekin trained. He couldn't wait to see what she was capable of.
While he was in his daze, thinking about all of the things that Fennekin could possibly do at the end of his training routine, his stomach growled. Lincoln chuckled, knowing full well why. He hadn't eaten since breakfast and it had to have been way past noon by now. Even so, he cared more about Fennekin's training than anything else. Still, that didn't mean he had to starve.
"Hey, Clyde, you didn't bring other snacks besides that trail mix, did you?" Lincoln called out to Clyde, who was still in his tent.
At the sound of his name getting called out, Clyde popped his head out from inside the tent.
"Yeah. I brought some granola bars, raisins, and some peanut brittle. Why?"
"Mind tossing me a granola bar or two?" Lincoln asked, liking the sound of a granola bar right now.
Clyde gave him an incredulous look at his request.
"I mean, I could do that for you and all but aren't you…I dunno, starving? I don't think 'a granola bar or two' is really gonna help."
"True, but I don't want to go fishing for food until around late afternoon. Plus, I want to get started on Fennekin's training right away."
With a shrug, Clyde did as he was asked, going back into his tent and grabbing two granola bars for Lincoln. Sticking his upper half out of his tent again, Clyde tossed them over to Lincoln, who stood a good five feet away from him. Upon catching them, instead of eating them right away, Lincoln stuffed them into the front pocket of his tracksuit and upon doing so, happened to look at his Pokéball belt.
"Oh, speaking of Fennekin and food, I think it's about time that we fed our Pokémon," Lincoln told Clyde.
"Good call," Clyde said and retreated into his tent once more, evidently to grab some food and get his Pokémon.
Upon seeing him do so, Lincoln decided to enter his own tent, a dome-shaped blue one that was more wide than tall, unlike Clyde's, which was more narrow but tall. When he did, he found what he was looking for, his backpack and the kibble that he had stuffed in there. Once he got the kibble out of his backpack and placed it by his side, he reached into the side pocket and retrieved his trusty Pokédex and switched it on.
"But first, I'm gonna have her registered into the Attackdex and Abilitydex feature on my Pokédex," Lincoln said to himself as he unclipped Fennekin's Pokéball from his belt and pressed the middle white button to make it grow.
With that step done, Lincoln held up the Pokéball close to the Pokédex screen and scanned it. After a few seconds, the Pokédex's screen lit up with a translucent green hue and flashed the words "REGISTRATION COMPLETE". After committing to the registration, Lincoln clipped the Pokéball, still in its enlarged state, back onto the belt. He then took the Pokédex and shuffled it away where he put the granola bars earlier.
"Just like the good Professor told me," Lincoln said as he thought back to Professor's Spruce's lecture from yesterday.
"Attackdex? Abilitydex? What're those?" Lincoln asked Professor Spruce, who was standing before him and pointing at the Pokédex he was holding onto.
Since he was going through his Pokédex tutorial, the girl genius decided to give him information about the technological attachments that she referred to as the "AttackDex" and "AbilityDex".
Taking her time to push her glasses up her nose, Professor Spruce exposited about them in her stoic, bored manner.
"Those are Pokédex features that will enable you to train your Pokémon effectively. As you probably know, every Pokémon is imbued with a specific plethora of offensive and defensive moves. They also have innate abilities that can passively influence the tide of battle either against their favor or towards it.
The function of a Pokédex is to ensure that a Trainer is supplemented with information about a specific Pokémon's natural habitat, disposition, and biology. However, when it comes to teaching them how to battle, that all comes down to a Trainer's unique approach. In order to make that process easier, I upgraded my Pokédexes with an encyclopedia on every known ability and attack that's ever been publicly recorded in official tournaments from the past fifty years. It's safe to say that they're sufficiently complete."
Lincoln blinked, completely baffled at what he had just been told. There was…absolutely no way she got any sleep at all, did she? Certainly, not at the level that a four-and-a-half-year-old should.
"Um, no offense, Professor Spruce," Lincoln asked with a joking grin, "but how much time did you have on your hands to pull all of that stuff off?"
Professor Spruce rolled her eyes at the quip, no doubt finding it juvenile.
"Please, I had those databases collected in the time it takes for my 'nappy time' to conclude."
Lincoln breathed a sigh of relief, thanking the heavens that all he was gifted with wasn't at the expense of a young girl being out through her paces beyond moral levels. He couldn't imagine sleeping a wink with the knowledge that it was at the expense of his mentor.
"Anyways," the Professor continued, "the Attackdex and Abilitydex will reveal the potential respective properties of whatever Pokémon is registered in your Pokédex.
Once registered, that unqiue Pokémon will be featured next to every possible move it can learn on the Attackdex. It will also show off the moves that the Pokémon knows right off the bat. As a Pokémon grows stronger, it will naturally acclimate to certain new moves without learning them, although there will be exceptions. It's up to you, as a Trainer, to figure out what those exceptions are as you train your Pokémon. If you want to see what new moves your Pokémon have mastered, you can simply scan them with your Pokédex.
For the Abilitydex, it will reveal its ability outright instead of simply displaying all of its potential abilities, although it does that as well. In addition, there are certain cases where specific Pokémon harbor additional abilities called 'Hidden Abilities'. Although the Abilitydex has those abilities in the database, it will not reveal if your Pokémon has a Hidden Ability or, if they happen to have one, what it is. I figured it'd be a greater learning experience for you to figure that one out on your own."
Lincoln marveled at what he had just been told but above all else, found the news exciting. He'd have his Pokémon's strength and progress monitored in a convenient package and on top of that, have such a myriad of different possibilities and combinations that he'd be able to teach them, thus eliminating any unnecessary baggage and skipping over to what was important.
"So, all I have to do is scan the Pokémon like I'd normally do and then the Attackdex and Abilitydex will show off what its capable of?" Lincoln asked, wanting to confirm if it was just as easy as that.
"Noooooot quite," Professor Spruce corrected, ignoring Lincoln's confused expression. "While it is true that the Attackdex and Abilitydex will do as advertised and reveal a Pokémon's capabilities, it, however, will not commit to the revelation without proper registration. In other words, simply scanning the Pokémon will not be enough. You must register it under a specific method."
"And that is?" Lincoln wondered.
"When your desired Pokémon is in its designated Pokéball, all you must do is scan it. To do this, the Pokéball must be within the range of no greater than an inch away from the screen."
Lincoln wondered if that sounded needlessly complicated to the Professor because it sure did seem that way to him. He didn't doubt his mentor's brilliance but this seemed like a very egregious design flaw.
"So…the only difference is that the Pokémon is in its Pokéball and that it has to be closer to you?" Lincoln asked.
"Exactly."
"But Professor, doesn't that sound just a little bit too…I dunno, unnecessary? Why not just reveal all of this information right from the start with a normal scan?"
Professor Spruce shook his head and sighed.
"It's a matter of morality, Lincoln," she stated matter-of-factly.
"What's that mean?" Lincoln asked with a shrug.
"Since you were ignorant to a Pokédex's existence until today, I can safely surmise that you aren't exactly privy to the unspoken conduct that a Pokédex user abides by in battle, correct?" Professor Spruce estimated sharply.
"I, uh, I guess," Lincoln admitted.
"To put it simply, Pokédexes can be used to scan an opponent's Pokémon before a battle officially starts. In order to not create an unfair advantage for the Pokédex user, more often than not, the Pokédex models will only provide the Trainer will the basic biological information that a standard Pokédex usually does and nothing more. I've implemented the same standard as well but without depriving the Trainer with the ability and attack encyclopedias."
Without another word from his Professor, Lincoln stood there, trying to imagine why, despite her good intentions, that the Pokémon would need to be in its Pokéball and all up close to the Pokédex for things to be fair.
Needless to say, it didn't take long for his sharp mind to pick up on why after he imagined a mock battle scenario in his head.
"Oh, I get it! So, the only time I'd be able to register Pokémon for the Attackdex and Abilitydex is if they'd be in a Pokéball, meaning that in the heat of battle, there wouldn't be a chance for me to properly do it and give myself a leg up," Lincoln said proudly.
He beamed with pride when Professor Spruce nodded and smiled back at him.
"A profound and correct observation, my young intern. You might just make a worthy lab assistant of mine one of these days."
With his mind in the present, Lincoln tugged out the kibble bag out of the tent until he a few feet away from it. With a few gentle shakes, Lincoln poured out a substantial heap of kibble out on the grass for his Fennekin to enjoy.
After preparing Fennekin's feast, Lincoln knew that there was only one thing left to do. He unclipped Fennekin's Pokéball from his belt and tossed it at the ground, shouting, "Time for food, Fennekin!"
After the red beam dissipated, there sat Fennekin, taking in all of her new surroundings cautiously. If Lincoln had to hazard a guess, he figured that Fennekin had never been in a forest before or if she did, she hardly remembered, hence the apprehensive scrutiny. However, once she turned around in Lincoln's direction, her tail wagged excitedly and a big smile broke out on her face.
"Fennekin!" Fennekin cried out.
Lincoln gave his Pokémon a friendly wave as she seemingly ran to him.
"Hey, Fennekin, long time, no…"
Instead of running into his arms like he both expected and wanted, Fennekin zoomed right past him towards one of the trees that was a good ten feet away from him or so. Lincoln looked on as Fennekin ran towards the tree until she stopped right underneath the shade and began to nibble on the one twig that had been laid out next to the base of the trunk, munching away happily without a care in the world.
"It's, uh, good to see you, too, Fennekin," Lincoln said with a sad laugh.
'Guess I can't be too sad. After all, according to the Pokédex, Fennekin really digs twigs.'
After (mostly) getting over his hurt feelings, realizing that Fennekin didn't mean to give him the cold shoulder, Lincoln noticed that Clyde had come out of his tent, carrying a Pokéball in his left hand.
"Well, uh, since Fennekin's getting her fill on twigs, I guess your Pokémon can have this share of the kibble," Lincoln said to Clyde as he walked over to where he stood.
"Cool. Just gimme a sec to bring him out," Clyde replied and largened his Pokéball before tossing it out a few feet ahead of him.
Once the Pokéball hit the ground, Lincoln hurriedly pulled out his Pokédex and switched it on, waiting for the red light to unsheathe and reveal what the silhouette of Clyde's Pokémon revealed. Once it did, Lincoln smiled from ear-to-ear at the creature that had been unveiled before his eyes.
"Rawr!" the Pokémon barked.
It was a light brown, canine Pokémon with a short snout. Its face had long, cream fur, which formed a mustache and a three-pointed crest. Its ears were large and perked, and it had a black nose. It had shaggy dark blue fur covering its body and short tail. Finally, it had four short legs, with three-toed paws.
What took Lincoln back the most about the Pokémon was how…stern and attentive it looked, almost as if it were ready to commit to any cause that its Trainer would give it. In other words, it exuded loyalty.
Not wanting to be kept in the dark any longer, Lincoln scanned the creature that was stood by and waited for Clyde to approach him.
"Herdier, the Loyal Dog Pokémon, and the evolved form of Lillipup. This faithful and obedient species of Pokémon have been known to assist Trainers in raising other Pokémon. Its black fur acts like armor against an opponent's attacks.
This Herdier is a Male."
Once Clyde was side-by-side with his Herdier, he proudly told Lincoln, "Lincoln, as your nifty little Pokédex already informed you, this is Herdier. He's a great hand to have around. Trust me."
Though Lincoln certainly didn't doubt his friend on that one, he still wanted to have a good idea on what Herdier could do.
"Is that so?" Lincoln asked in a playfully challenging tone. "What can he do?"
"Well, he's not as fully capable as I want him to be but all the same, he tries to follow through with my commands as best he can. Watch."
Kneeling on both knees, Clyde gave Herdier a few pats on the head until he was looking up at his owner dutifully.
"Herdier, go get the blue ball," Clyde ordered with gusto.
In an instant, Herdier ran into to Clyde's tent, intent on following his order. Clyde stood up from the ground and awaited his Herdier to complete his task. His heart sank when Herdier returned with a ball in his mouth…but not quite the one he wanted. He plopped it down in front of Clyde, who still gave Herdier a pet behind the ears.
"Dang it. He got the green one again," Clyde sad with a hint of disappointment, "Ah well, at least he got a ball this time. When I first started to train him, he'd get a bell instead of a ball."
Picking the ball up, Clyde looked down at his Herdier once more.
"Okay then, Herdier, see that food over there?" he asked as he pointed Lincoln's kibble. "Go eat."
Letting out an excited yelp, Herdierd bounded towards the kibble. Once he got to it, he began scarfing it down immediately, not giving Lincoln any mind at all.
"Heh, now that's a command he doesn't have a problem following through with," Clyde joked.
Through all of this, Lincoln had to wonder when Clyde got him. He had been over his house before and didn't recall seeing him at all. Besides his usual pets, Cleopawtra the Delcatty and Nepurrtiti the Espurr, Herdier never seemed to pop up at all whenever he was around.
Turning to Clyde, Lincoln asked him, "When'd you get him? I've never seen him around your house before."
"At a kennel in Aquacorde Town a few months ago," Clyde began to explain. "When I told my dads about my Ranger training, the dad I'm living with now suggested that I get a Herdier since they're super loyal and could really be a good help to me out here, what with retrieval, rescue, and whatnot. So, after we picked him up, we had him registered in a few training classes to get him up to speed. After about a month of that, I began training him myself to get him 'Ranger-ready'."
"And as to why I haven't seen him?" Lincoln asked, still not satisfied with that answer not addressing that particular issue.
"I, uh, hid him from you," Clyde said somewhat hesitantly.
O…kaaaaaaay. That was the least anticipated response that Lincoln felt that Clyde could've given him. But still, all the same, Lincoln had to know one thing.
"Why?"
It took a little bit for Clyde to answer honestly, but when he did, his voice had a solemn, somber edge to it.
"Well…let's just say that the reason that Herdier was in a kennel in the first place was because he had an…aggressive streak. According to the files that the kennel had about him, he'd get really hostile towards people he didn't really know too well and even though he went through training, before I brought him home, I still didn't want him interacting with strangers until I knew I could trust him."
Lincoln nearly gasped. Now that made sense. All the same, though, it was hard to imagine any Pokémon of Clyde's being hostile and aggressive. But what made this revelation all the more amazing was the fact that Herdier did a complete 180° and Clyde must've had something to do with it. Overall, it was a testament to how Clyde was as a trainer.
"I guess that makes sense," Lincoln said after mulling the story over a bit in his head.
Before Clyde could say anything, Herdier ran back to his side, wagging his tail excitedly. Both boys looked over to where Herdier was just eating and realized that all the food was gone.
"Done already, boy?" Clyde asked Herdier, already knowing the answer.
"Her!" Herdier barked enthusiastically.
Taking that answer as permission to initiate something new for the day, Clyde said, "Alright, Herdier, now that you're full, we're gonna step up our training today. Today, we're gonna look for berries and you're gonna help me sniff 'em out, okay?"
"Her! Her!" Herdier replied all the more exuberant.
"That's what I wanna hear!" Clyde replied, matching Herdier's eagerness. "Let's go!"
"Wait!"
Before Clyde and Herdier could go anywhere, Lincoln called out to them. He couldn't let Clyde leave, not without giving him a convenient way of finding the campsite. The last thing he wanted was for him to get lost. They had but a small taste of how large Santalune Forest today and Lincoln refused to let Clyde go through that again.
Bolting into his tent, Lincoln took out his electronic map, turned it on, and made a gold star marker on the coordinates they were presently standing on, effectively locking in the location of campsite for reference. With that done, he ran back out to Clyde and held out the map for him to grab.
"Here's my map. I've just put a marker on the campsite. Just follow the coordinates to get back here."
Clyde just smiled and pushed the map away from him.
"That won't be necessary. My Herdier's got a great sense of smell. He can find our way back without a problem."
"Seriously, Clyde, just take the map," Lincoln growled. "I promise that you won't be any less of a Ranger if you decide to use it. I'm pretty sure that even Rangers use maps.
Clyde could clearly see that Lincoln was not in the mood to take "no" for an answer and rather than get into an argument with Lincoln over the subject, just decided to comply with him.
"Alright, Lincoln, if it'll put you at ease, I'll take the map," Clyde sighed and took it from Lincoln's possession.
After stuffing into his pocket, Clyde turned to Herdier and declared, "Well then, Herdier, let the berry hunt begin!"
After that, the duo shuffled inside Clyde's tent, presumably to grab some supplies, and then made a tear into the forest through the bushes. Lincoln watched as his friend disappeared and at that moment, his mind focused on his own Pokémon.
"Guess it's time to start on my own training with Fennekin," Lincoln said resolutely as he turned to walk over to Fennekin, who was still eating her twig without giving much notice to anyone else.
Once he was standing before her, Lincoln asked, "Hey, Fennekin?"
Fennekin immediately stopped chewing on her twig to look up at her Trainer.
"Fen?" Fennekin yipped inquisitively.
"You wanna get started on training now?" Lincoln asked, hoping that Fennekin's love for twigs wouldn't completely overshadow her eagerness for battle training.
Fennekin just continued to stare at Lincoln and Lincoln had an inkling of Fennekin's conflict in all of this, almost as if she didn't want to disappoint her Trainer by disobeying but wanted nothing more than to eat her twig.
"Lemme guess, you wanna finish up with your twig?" Lincoln asked with a sigh.
His heart sank when Fennekin gave him a tiny, shy nod but nonetheless, Lincoln knew he had to make his intentions for her firm and clear.
"Alright, fine but after you're done, we've gotta get you prepped for the Gym in Santalune City. I wanna get going there as soon as this year's Lumiose Conference is finished and by then, I want you to be as strong as you can get."
He began to tremble when Fennekin stared at him under the pretense of her inner conflict; obedience vs. indulgence. Lincoln began to wonder if Fennekin really didn't want to train but would rather just eat twigs and sleep all day. Sure, she may not have looked like much, at least compared to more popular and powerful Pokémon, but Lincoln was certain that she would be up for training all the same.
Before Lincoln could throw in the towel and quit, a thought came to him, just as his eyes scanned the tree they were standing under. It was mostly covered with bright green leaves, save for a few branches that were bare. And, of course, those branches also had twigs attached to the end.
With the swiftness of an Aipom, at least in Lincoln's mind, Lincoln scaled the tree to reach to the closest dry branch within his reach, which was only about eight feet off the ground. Without losing his grip, he snapped off a good number of twigs off the branch and let them flutter towards the ground, right in front of Fennekin. Almost as quickly as he climbed up, he scaled back down the trunk and scooped up the bundle of twigs in one hand before snapping his fingers to draw Fennekin's attention back on him.
"Tell you what, Fennekin, if you follow up on your training, after you're done, I'll let you have all the twigs you want. That sound good?"
Much to Lincoln's delight, Fennekin's eyes twinkled and she began running about in circles.
"Fennekin! Fennekin! Feeeeeeeeennekin!" the Fox Pokémon agreed with the energy of a unanimous decision from an entire council of officials.
"Atta girl!" Lincoln beamed, taking the twigs and storing him into his tracksuit's front pocket but not before tossing her one of them at her paws as a sign of good faith.
With his hands still in his pocket, Lincoln pulled out a granola bar along with his Pokédex. Giving special attention to his Pokédex, Lincoln turned it on and sifted through the entries of Pokémon he scanned until he got to Fennekin's profile; the only Pokémon that he registered for the Attackdex and Abilitydex. He needed to have an idea on Fennekin's capabilities and what she could do in battle.
Taking a seat next to Fennekin, as she munched at the twig Lincoln just tossed her, Lincoln opened the granola bar's package and took a bite of it, all while looking at the Pokédex screen.
'Now then, let's see what we have here…'
10 minutes later...
The Abilitydex and Attackdex were very similar in design. Each encyclopedic database had a list of every available attack and ability that Professor Spruce collected, which in Lincoln's mind, meant that she hadn't skipped over anything at all. Having already checked Fennekin's ability, Lincoln skipped over to the Attackdex, wanting to ensure that there wasn't anything else he wanted to add to Fennekin's training regime for the day.
'So, according to the Abilitydex, it looks like Fennekin has the Blaze ability, meaning that if she's really banged up, Fire-type moves will increase in power by up to fifty percent.'
Lincoln gave Fennekin's moves another check and found nothing else he wanted Fennekin to learn for now but felt it necessary to give himself a recap of what he had decided on before.
'And, judging by the Attackdex, looks like Fennekin knows Scratch, Howl, and Ember. Since Howl just increases the power behind an attack for a short period of time, I don't need to train her how to use that. And since she knows Scratch and Ember already, I don't need to focus entirely on those moves, although getting them stronger wouldn't hurt, either.
So, based on what Fennekin can learn, there's only one move that I really want to focus on her learning and that's Flame Charge. It increases her speed and it gives her a close-range Fire-type attack that compliments Ember, which she can use from a distance. She may not be strong enough to use Flame Charge now but as long as we can learn it before we hit Santalune City, I know we'll have the badge in the bag.'
With that last train of thought complete, Lincoln brought himself back to reality and found that Fennekin was finished with her twig and was looking up at Lincoln expectantly. With a smile, Lincoln stood up and declared, "Alright, Fennekin, let's get ready to train 'til you gain!"
"Fennekin!" Fennekin agreed with a cocky expression on her face.
With a nod, Lincoln pointed at the ground.
"Fennekin, let's see how your Scratch looks! Use it on the ground beneath you!"
Anticipating some serious fireworks, Lincoln stood a respectable distance, about five feet away, as he prepared for Fennekin to give her all into her Scratch.
"Fenneeeeeeeeeee…" Fennekin steadily bellowed.
In that moment, her tiny front paws began to glow white, packed to the brim with kinetic energy. Lincoln looked on in amazement as Fennekin stood up on her hind legs momentarily before shifting her bodyweight down at the ground, her brightened paws aimed towards her target.
"Kin!" Fennekin yelled as she swiped both paws at the ground, blazing a small path through the earth as her paws dug up chunks of dirt and grass from the wake of her practiced attack.
Lincoln shielded his face from the specks of debris that flew in his direction but despite the inconvenience, was all too giddy about Fennekin's power. He knew that Scratch was nothing to write home about but the fact that it was his Pokémon that did it, made such a mundane, underappreciated move look cool.
Once her objective was finished, Lincoln ran up to the streak that Fennekin made and judged its depth. It wasn't really all that long, only about three feet in length and it didn't uproot as much earth as he wanted but all the same, he was genuinely elated by Fennekin's strength.
"Woah! Not bad, Fennekin! It's even better than I thought it'd be for your first try!" Lincoln extolled.
"Fennekin!" Fennekin yipped excitedly, letting steam pour out of her ears.
Lincoln laughed. "Those twigs must've really pumped you up, huh?"
He immediately regretted mentioning "twigs" when Fennekin broke out of her battle-ready demeanor and began to drool slightly out of the corner of her mouth.
"W-wait, hold on!" Lincoln begged as he waved his hands in front of him frantically. "Let's not get in those twigs until after we've had you trained all the way, okay?"
Lincoln sighed in relief when Fennekin agreed, albeit not without a bratty huff.
'Okay, Lincoln, note to self: be careful with the 't' word around Fennekin.'
With that hurdle cleared, Lincoln decided to continue with the Scratch training. This time, though, he wanted Fennekin to use it against an object with more resistance than the soft, pliant earth. He stumbled upon the perfect spot after looking around his surrounding for a little bit.
"Fennekin, I want you to use Scratch the same way you just did, only this time, I want you to use it on that tree," Lincoln instructed while pointing to the tree that they were just resting under.
"Kin?" Fennekin said with the tilt of the head.
"That's right. Use it on that tree. Keep at it until I tell you to stop. Then, once you're done with that, you can take a quick break before we move onto the next part."
With that, Fennekin did as she was told, running up to the tree and leaping up at it to slash at the bark of the trunk with Scratch. Lincoln sat back and watched as Fennekin faithfully followed through with her orders and was impressed with what Fennekin could do. He didn't know how long it had been since she started but really, all he wanted to note as how many Scratches Fennkin could commit to before being visibly worn out.
After the fifteenth Scratch, Lincoln began to see Fennekin tiring; her ears bean to flop, her breath was more labored, her teeth gritted together, and her tiny legs began to shake. Before she could hop up and Scratch at the tree again, Lincoln called out, "Okay, Fennekin, that's enough! Come back here!"
Doing as she was told, Fennekin wearily wobbled over to Lincoln and upon reaching her owner's feet, flopped to her side and panted.
Taking out two twigs, Lincoln placed them by Fennekin.
"Here," Lincoln said warmly. "You deserve a couple of these for all your hard work."
The boy stood in stunned silence when Fennekin scarfed down each twig in the blink of an eye.
"Dang, Fennekin, you must've been more worn out than I thought! At least you're committing to the training, though!"
With more fuel in her belly, Fennekin rose to her feet with newfound vigor and blew steam out of her ears to show off how pumped up she was.
"You ready for the next part?" Lincoln asked.
"Kin!" Fennekin chirped, clearly chomping at the bit to get started.
Without thinking, Lincoln pointed to the tree she just scratched the trunk up with and yelled, "Alright, Fennekin, go use Ember on that-"
Before he could finish the thought, Lincoln thought of the likely scenario of Fennekin burning down the tree and watching helplessly as the flames ate it up. Scratching the tree was one thing but downright burning it, and possibly setting the entire campsite on fire along with it, did not seem like a good idea.
"On second thought, how's about you just use Ember up in the sky?" Lincoln chuckled weakly as he pointed upwards.
Fennekin followed Lincoln's finger and doing as instructed, Fennekin's mouth opened and Lincoln watched in anticipation as orange fire began to fill up her mouth. After being filled to the brim with fire, Fennekin gave a might shout of her name and shot it out of her mouth, the fireball streaking through the air before finally dissipating in a shower of tiny sparks.
"Awesome! That's the best-looking Ember I've ever seen!" Lincoln said, speaking more out of excitement than a truthful observation.
"Fenne!" Fennekin cheered at the praise she got.
Lincoln, while happy, wasn't done with Fennekin just yet. Like Scratch, he wanted to know what her limit was with Ember, especially considering that he knew that being a Fire-type, Fennekin's Fire-type moves were more powerful than any other type of move she could learn.
"So, how about we shoot out some more up in the sky?" Lincoln instructed, pointing up much like he did before.
"Kiiiiiiin!" Fennekin responded energetically.
Once more, Fennekin shot up another Ember up into the air. Once it dissipated, Lincoln cried out, "And again!"
Another Ember spat out, although Lincoln could tell that Fennekin was beginning to tire out again from how slow this one was compared to the last two. Still, Lincoln felt that Fennekin could handle one more.
"One more time, Fennekin!"
With a tiny yelp, Fennekin spat out her fourth Ember and upon doing so, stumbled and fell on the ground in a tired heap.
"Alright, we're good, Fennekin," Lincoln said and bent down to give Fennekin another twig, placing it by her mouth so she wouldn't have to go far and eat it.
"Fe…nne…kin," Fennekin panted wearily and scooted up to the twig and gave it a few timid bites.
"I'm proud of you, girl. Way to hustle," Lincoln said and petted Fennekin's head a few times.
'Looks like her limit is four Embers. Plus, they weren't really all that fast on the draw. But that's okay, I know you can do better. We just have to keep practicing.'
Lincoln broke out of his thoughts to look down at Fennekin, whom by now, had almost finished her twig. It was then that Lincoln realized that Fennekin didn't have much left in the tank and feeding her twigs to combat her lack of energy wouldn't hold out for long. She needed genuine rest soon and he was dead set on giving to her…
But not before seeing how capable she was of using Flame Charge. To Lincoln, it was a trump card in the making and he just had to see how far she had to go to learning it or if she already had it down pat.
"Okay, Fennekin," Lincoln said to Fennekin once he saw that her twig munching was done, "this will be the final part of your training for today. Let's give it our best, alright?"
"Fenne…kiiiiiiiiin!" Fennekin sounded off, slightly tired.
"Okay, Fennekin, I want you to try and use Flame Charge!" Lincoln bellowed vigorously.
"Fenne?" Fennekin said hesitantly.
Lincoln, though disappointed by Fennekin's lack of aptitude towards the order, supposed it made sense. After all, it was a move that Fennekin probably didn't know or if she did, wasn;t well versed in using it at all.
"Yeah! Let's see if you got what it takes, alright?!" Lincoln asked, trying to get Fennekin hyped up.
It worked with some minor success as Fennkin nodded in compliance. Lincoln's eager smile got even wider.
"Good, now, just use Flame Charge towards that lake over there, okay?" Lincoln told her as he pointed out to the lake. "But stop just before you run over the edge."
After taking in the magnitude of her owner's request, Fennekin responded with a hearty, "Fennekin!"
'This is great,' Lincoln thought. 'This'll teach Fennekin how to control Flame Charge and stop herself before her speed gets too much for her and she goes out of control. Plus, since it's a good distance between this spot and the lake, hopefully, Fennekin can show the endurance to make the distance. Control and endurance. That's the name of the game, Fennekin. Let's see what you're made of.'
Pointing at the lake with aplomb, Lincoln yelled out, "Fennekin, Flame Charge!"
The second the last word left his lips, Fennekin's body began to shake slightly as a trickling, bright red, fiery aura began to leak out of her body. Soon, her entire body was outlined with smoldering flames and just when it seemed like everything was going well…
The flames immediately died out and a staggering Fennekin fell over, her head slamming into the ground roughly. Lincoln was at Fennekin's side in a hurry and scooped her up in his arms, bringing her close to his face.
"Fennekin, are you alright?!"
Fennekin cracked an eye open, revealing the tired glaze that hid behind her eyelids.
"Fe…fenne…" was all she could respond with.
Guilt began to awash Lincoln and his eyes began cropping with tears. He hadn't meant to put Fennekin through this, pushing her so far that she's outright collapse.
"I'm sorry, girl! I didn't want to push you too far, I swear!"
Despite his intentions, Lincoln couldn't help but let a few tears trickle out of his now squeezed eyelids. What kind of Trainer did this to their Pokémon, pushing them and pushing them until they nearly fainted? Here he was, thinking that he'd be some amazing Trainer after months and months of hard work but he couldn't even go one day without going too far and letting his Fennekin suffer from his inexperience.
She probably hated him now and no amount of twig bribing was going to change that.
"Kiiiiiiin."
He opened his misty eyes and looked down to see Fennekin staring up at him, her weary, soft eyes not looking the least bit judgmental or scornful. Despite thinking that he didn't deserve better, Lincoln asked with hope, "You…you forgive me?"
"Fennekin," his Pokémon replied softly and craned her neck up to lick at the tears that clung to his cheeks.
Lincoln giggled, both at how Fennkin's tongue tickled him and at how grateful he was that Fennekin didn't hold his mistreatment of her against him. All the same, Lincoln knew that he'd have to be more careful and not take Fennekin's kindness for granted. He would do better next time.
"That's a relief," Lincoln said. "You can have the rest of the twigs, okay? You did an awesome job today, Fennekin."
With that, Lincoln carried Fennekin over to the scratched-up tree, intent on resting while he waited for Clyde to show up with his berries.
'I'm sorry, Fennekin. I really am. I…I guess I got a little carried away today. I promise that we won't train with Flame Charge again until you've gotten a little stronger. But for now, let's take it easy.'
And take it easy, Lincoln and Fennekin most certainly did. For the next few hours, Lincoln and Fennekin simply rested against the trunk of Fennein's practice tree, taking in the surroundings of the scenery.
And, of course, all the while, Lincoln couldn't help but spoil his little friend and give her another twig or two after being given the "sparkly sad eyes" treatment. It was after realizing, that he had been caught under her spell, that Lincoln realized that Fennekin was far more dangerous than he gave her credit for…
Santalune Forest. June 11th, 2036. 4:32 PM
"Hey, Lincoln," Lincoln heard Clyde call out to him.
Sure enough, there was Clyde, walking out to him while carrying his knapsack, which by the looks of things, was full of berries. His Herdier followed closely behind him, his eyes not leaving the bag once. Lincoln looked down at Fennekin, who was curled up between his legs and gave her a tiny scratch under the chin before he addressed Clyde.
"Oh, hey, Clyde. How'd your berry hunt go?" Lincoln asked when Clyde and Herdier stood before them.
"Berry hunts," Clyde remarked with a bit of disdain. "Thanks to a certain Herdier, we had to take multiple trips to different berry patches because he couldn't control himself and ate half the rations I painstakingly plucked out with each bush we came upon. Plus, some Weedle were giving us a little trouble."
Lincoln's eyes widened and he hurriedly got to his feet to give his friend a once over.
"They didn't hurt you, did they?!" Lincoln asked in alarm.
Clyde chortled at the query, almost as if Lincoln had asked him some bizarre question that shouldn't even need answering.
"Pssh, naw. Herider took care of all of 'em. We got ambushed by four of them but Herider here took care of them by himself," Clyde beamed with pride.
"Her," Herdier barked.
Lincoln looked at Herdier, now more impressed with him than he was before. Defending himself against four Pokémon at once, even if they weren't big and imposing, was certainly a feat worthy of praise.
'So, Herdier can fight, too, huh? I should ask Clyde if he can help Fennekin with her train-'
Lincoln's growling stomach held him off from finishing his sentence. It both took him by surprise, by the nature of the spontaneity, and came as expected, given how long it had been since he had eaten something substantial.
"Looks like I've been holding off on food for too long. Time for some fishing," Lincoln said as he went towards his tent to retrieve his fishing rod.
A thought stopped him from going far and it all concerned his Fennekin, the Pokémon that he instinctively picked to be his fishing partner. That now seemed like a horrible idea that more that prospect settled with him.
"Hey, uh, Clyde?" Lincoln asked while turning back to him.
"Yeah?"
"You mind if I use Herdier as my fishing partner?"
Clyde shrugged. "Why?"
"Fennekin is a Fire-type and she's at a disadvantage against Water-types. Plus, she's had enough action for today, with all of her training, and I don't want to hurt her by wearing her out."
Clyde hummed in agreement, finding total sense in Lincoln's sentiments.
"Good call," Clyde said. "You fish and Herdier and I will take over once you reel something in."
Before Lincoln, Herdier, and Clyde could be on their way to do some fishing by the lake, Fennekin suddenly ran up to them and blocked their path to Lincoln's tent.
"Fennekin?" Fennekin mewled pleadingly.
Clyde didn't know what to make of Fennekin's behavior but Lincoln thought he got the gist of it. Walking over to Fennekin, he squatted down to the ground and looked down at her lovingly.
"Sorry, Fennekin, but you gotta sit this one out, okay?"
"Kiiiiiiiin," Fennekin whined with dropping ears.
Lincoln melted, wanting to give in to whatever Fennekin's little heart desired but knew that leaving her out was for the best for now.
"Aw, don't be like that, Fennekin," Lincoln begged. "I promise that one of these days, you can come with us and help us fish but for now, just stay behind, okay?"
Though Fennekin's pleading gaze didn't falter, she complied regardless after a moment's hesitation.
"Fennekin," Fennekin spoke out in a more chipper tone than before but not one that betrayed her sadness regardless.
With that, the trio moved past her and Fennekin shuffled back to the tree, curling back in a ball and letting out a sigh as she waited for her Trainer to come back to her.
One hour later…
"Stew's on!" Clyde yelled out.
Lincoln rolled his eyes, standing up from against the tree that he and Fennekin were resting under earlier before Clyde came back. Fennekin, who was sitting by her Trainer the whole time, stood up along with him.
He didn't know what on Earth took Clyde so long to finally put together his homecooked dinner but he was glad that he no longer had to wait. Soon after he and Clyde's Herdier subdued a Corphish, instead of letting Lincoln gut it in peace, Clyde insisted on setting up a campfire and using his pot tripod to boil them both something out of the cooking catalog of From Recruit to Ranger. His recipe called for his Corphish to be used as the main ingredient.
At first, Lincoln was reluctant to do so, not wanting his hard-earned catch to go to waste, but he knew that Clyde needed the experience and it wouldn't be fair to let him be deprived of the practice.
Little did he know that it would take nearly half an hour to finally put his culinary concoction together.
As Lincoln walked towards Clyde, his Fennekin stepping in line with him by his side, he could see the steam rising out of the pot and anticipated the smell that would soon hit his nose.
"Finally, between hauling in that Corphish and waiting for you to finish up on your stew, I was beginning to wonder if…"
He stopped in his tracks the instant the smell of the stew wafted into his nostrils. He gagged and retched at the putrid odor, wondering what on Earth Clyde could've crated to make it smell as bad as it did. It didn't quite stink as much as Lily's dirty diapers did but Lincoln knew that anything that smelled that retched had no business being consumed.
"Yech! Clyde, what died in that pot?!" Lincoln cried out as he unclipped Fennekin's Pokéball from his belt and quickly sucked Fennekin in, not wanting her to have to suffer the same fate as him.
Clyde sheepishly smiled back at his disgusted friend and Lincoln wondered how, besides Clyde's terrible cooking skills being so…well, terrible, could he survive being so close to his "stew" without keeling over. He looked like he was trying to put on a brave face but all the same, it was amazing that he could do that much.
"Yeah, I know, it's not the, uh, best smelling stew in the world but believe me, Lincoln, I promise you that this will taste wonderful," Clyde assured as Lincoln took a seat next to him by the pot. "I copied the recipe from the handbook. And even if it's not the best, I still got plenty of stew mix left for us to experiment with. We'll get it until it's good."
"Eh behher geh guuh," Lincoln snarkily replied as he pinched his nose.
Clyde just laughed and went back into his tent. He returned with two white bowls, stacked on one another while the top bowl had two spoons inside of it. His other hand held a ladle, obviously for fishing out the stew. Lincoln watched with dread as Clyde took his time, gingerly pouring a hearty serving of his prepared meal into each bowl and laid one at Lincoln's feet.
Mercifully, the one he got seemed to have less stew than Clyde's. Still, it didn't look promising at all. The stew was a murky yellow flavor and did it…yes, it did! It bubbled! It actually bubbled, like it was some kind of witch's potion that was brewed in a cauldron!
Looking at Clyde again, silently pleading all the while that this was all a practical joke, Clyde simply took his spoon and dipped it into his stew, pulling out a spoonful of it and holding it close to his mouth.
"Welp…" Clyde chuckled nervously, "to manliness."
Lincoln looked down at his bowl again and swallowed nervously. He really, really didn't want to eat this stew but he didn't want to hurt Clyde's feelings even more than that. Telling him it didn't smell good was one thing but flat out refusing to eat it would really put a damper on his pride and possibly deter him from trying to improve himself.
'The things I do for friends,' Lincoln inwardly sighed with remorse and grabbed a hold of his spoon before dunking it into his stew and fishing some of it out. He held it up to his pursed lips, much like Clyde did.
"Tah mahlenass," Lincoln said while still pinching his nose.
With that, the two friends simultaneously opened their mouths, and swallowed their respective spoonful of stew.
Later…
'Okay, Lincoln, another note to self: if you value your digestive tract, never let Clyde cook. Ever,' Lincoln warned himself as he gazed up at the starry night sky through the clear roof of his tent.
Dinner time was a bit of a disaster.
Okay, it was a total disaster. Soon after gulping down a cautious spoonful of Clyde's Corphish stew, Lincoln had to hold back to urge to throw up, at least until he could run towards some nearby bushes and upchuck his stomach contents into the forage. Even though he spent an hour hurling his brains out into some bushes, he could at least get some satisfaction in the fact that Clyde had suffered the same fate; it wasn't as if Lincoln was malicious or anything but he hated having to waste his food like that.
'But hey, it wasn't all bad. At least we had enough Corphish left to make a decent filling meal.'
Deciding to roll over on his side, Lincoln did so until he was face to face with his Pokéball belt, which was resting right next to his orange sleeping bag that he was snuggled into. His focus remained on the Pokéball that he knew was Fennekin's. He smiled as he could almost feel Fennekin within the capsule, resting soundly.
'And on top of that, I finally got to see what Fennekin can do. All in all, not bad but by the end of all of this, we'll be more than just not bad.'
Reaching out towards his LED lamp, he switched it off before retreating back into his sleeping bag, snuggling into the warmth and letting himself slowly drifting off to sleep but not before assuring himself of something that he believed with every fiber of his being.
'We're gonna be champions.'
With just one out of the many days of their journey completed, both Lincoln and Clyde are just as enthusiastic as ever to see their dreams become reality.
But will a rancid pot of stew be the only trial that they must persevere through or will another set of odds be cast against their paths?
As PokéLoud Journeys continues, you'll just have to see for yourselves!
A/N: Like I said in the last A/N, this was essentially a "set-up" chapter, in which I go through detail about how a certain element of the story will be told so I don't have to write it out in painstakingly long detail anymore. In this case, it's the general idea about how the boys camp out.
If you have any further questions about how certain things work, chances are, I already covered it in Chapters 1 – 4. Either that or I completely forgot to include it and now, I have to find some way to not awkwardly slap it into the story later. I'm praying it doesn't come to that but…oh well.