The Weirdness of Wyrd

As our heroes set off down Route 1 on the way to Gad City, Ash is already getting thrilled for his first Gym battle in the Zooks region.

"This is going to be so awesome!" Ash yelled. "New region, new Gyms to battle, I'm so excited!"

"Pika Pika!" Pikachu agreed.

Brian admired Ash's enthusiasm. Sure, Ash seemed to lack the ability to hold himself back emotionally, but maybe that was a good thing. Especially in this region.

Luna was also impressed with Ash. "So, what type of Pokemon does the Gad City Gym Leader use?" She asked Brian.

"Psychic types." Brian replied. "And she's pretty strong too. You'll have a hard time beating her, Ash."

"Hey, there's nothing I love more than a challenge!" Ash said. "Now, come on! Let's go!"

Ash took off running down the path through the meadows of Route 1, leaving Brian and Luna in the dust. Suddenly, Ash noticed a shadow passing overhead and stopped dead in his tracks. "Snallyyyyy!" A large, purple bird Pokemon cried as it flew overhead.

Three other Pokemon, looking more like some sort of flying, clear jellyfish floated by next to it. "Atmo Atmo Atmo Atmo." They all said in cute little voices as they floated by.

Ash broke out into a wide grin. "Wow!" He exclaimed. "What Pokemon are those?" He pulled out the steampunk Pokedex he had gotten from Prof. Bayberry and scanned the large bird Pokemon.

"Snallyghast," the Pokedex said, "the Ghostly Bird Pokemon. A Ghost and Flying type. Snallyghast are typically seen during the day. It is said that they never appear at night because they are afraid of the stars in the sky." Ash then scanned one of the three jellyfish Pokemon. "Atmospheird: the Atmospheric Pokemon. Atmospheird usually simply float around in the sky, not going in any particular direction. They rarely attack and are generally very peaceful."

"So cool!" Ash exclaimed. "Whoa! And there's another new Pokemon!"

A large wolf pup-like Pokemon was bounding towards the three of them. "Pup! Pup! Pup!" It barked as it ran.

"Is it going to attack?" Ash asked, ready to defend the others.

"No, silly. That's one of my friends." Luna replied. She pulled up the Pokedex data on it.

"Puppeela," the Pokedex said, "the Enormous Puppy Pokemon. Puppeela can be quite vicious in the wild, but, if a trainer manages to befriend one-"

The rest of the dex entry was cut short by the Puppeela pouncing on Luna, knocking her down to the ground. Luna giggled as the large wolf Pokemon began licking her face happily."If a trainer manages to befriend one, they become lifelong friends." Brian said, finishing the entry for them.

"Puppeela, stop!" Luna said happily between giggles as the large Pokemon continued to lick her face. Puppeela stopped and allowed Luna to get up. Luna could sense that this Pokemon was very happy to see her. It probably thought she was here to play with it and all the other Pokemon she had befriended in these meadows. Luna's expression turned sad when she realized this. It had never occurred to her that going on a big Pokemon journey would mean leaving the only friends she had ever had.

"Puppeela, listen," Luna said, getting down so she could be face to face with it, "I'm going to be leaving, and I'll be gone awhile."

"Puppeela?" Puppeela sounded like it didn't understand why Luna was doing this.

"It's just time for me to try and figure out what I want to do as a Pokemon trainer." Luna went on. "I promise, though, I'll come back someday real soon. Look after the others while I'm gone, won't you?"

Luna could sense that Puppeela was heartbroken over the fact that Luna would be leaving, but she also sensed a sort of inner strength she had never seen before in the big wolf pup Pokemon. An inner strength that was determined not to let her down. "Puppeela!" It said, nodding its head to say it would follow Luna's wishes. Luna hugged the Pokemon close to her.

"I'll miss you." She said. "You and all the others." And, with that, Puppeela bounded off back through the meadows.

Luna's Clefairy could tell Luna was sad to see Puppeela go. The little Fairy Pokemon hugged her leg comfortingly. "Clefairy." It said, trying to make Luna feel better.

Luna sniffled a little and smiled. "Thank you, Clefairy." She said. "I needed that."

"You and that Puppeela must have been really great friends." Brian remarked as the trio kept going down the path.

"I was friends with all the Pokemon on this route." Luna said. "Honestly, they were my only friends."

Hearing that Luna didn't have any actual human friends made Ash feel sorry for her. "Well, now you've got two new friends!" He said, trying to perk her up.

"I do?" Luna said.

"Yeah! Me and Pikachu!" Ash replied.

"I'd be happy to be your friend as well." Brian said.

Luna smiled, loving the fact that she now had actual human friends. "Thank you so much!" She said happily.

"So, what other kinds of Pokemon are out here on Route 1?" Ash asked.

"Well, let's see now…" Luna pulled up several different Pokemon on her own Pokedex. "There were Grunchlunches," she said, scrolling past a green, lizard-like Pokemon, "there were Lightweets," she scrolled past a bird Pokemon with glowing wings, "I even saw a Bigfeet one time." She scrolled past the last Pokemon which looked like a brown fuzzball with enormous feet.

Ash was ready to burst with excitement at the mention of all these new Pokemon. "Wow! These Pokemon are so cool!" But one question did run through Ash's head. "Why haven't I seen any of these Pokemon anywhere else before?" He asked.

"Actually, I can answer that." Brian said. "You see, the Zooks region has a reputation for having strange, odd, even bizarre Pokemon that live here. Whether they're odd in appearance, abilities, or other features, Zooks just seems to attract them. Many people outside of the region don't even believe that such Pokemon can exist."

"So then why does Zooks attract them?" Ash asked.

Brian smiled. "That's actually what I've been trying to study lately." He replied. "Prof. Bayberry and I believe that the reason why Zooks attracts so many odd Pokemon is because of a strange sort of energy we've been able to detect that we call Wyrdness."

"Wyrdness?" Ash repeated.

"Yes, Wyrdness. This strange energy force can be found throughout the entire Zooks region, and, when its in certain concentrated amounts, it can have marvelous effects on Pokemon."

"Like what?" Ash asked.

"Oh, all sorts of different things." Brian replied. "It's different for every Pokemon. Sometimes harnessing Wyrdness grants them a new, extremely powerful move. Sometimes its a new ability. And even rarer is it sometimes a new evolution."

"Wow…" Ash was completely awestruck by this fascinating discovery. That must have been what Prof. Sycamore sent his friend Clemont here to research. And, if Wyrdness truly was similar to Mega Evolution, Ash knew right away that he wanted to know how to use this strange Wyrdness energy himself. "So, how do Pokemon use Wyrdness?"

"Well," Brian said, "legend has it that, millenia ago, a large meteorite struck the Zooks region. And they say that this meteorite and the pieces collected from it have enormous amounts of Wyrdness within them. People call the fragments of the meteorite 'Wyrd Rocks.' When used correctly, Wyrd Rocks allow a trainer's Pokemon to harness their own Wyrdness energy and use it in battle."

"Wow! I so wanna get one of those Wyrd Rocks!" Ash exclaimed. "What do you think one of them would do to Pikachu? I bet he'll get a new move like Gigavolt Havoc."

"Pika Pika!" Pikachu said, already getting pumped up like Ash about it.

Brian chuckled. "Well, unfortunately, Wyrd Rocks are much harder to control than Z-Moves."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Well, the professor's working on a device that will allow trainers to control their Wyrd Rock's powers, but, until he finishes work on it, there's no way to control them. That's why you'll see very few trainers who actually use them right now. The powers gained from using Wyrd Rocks can be very dangerous sometimes. I've heard stories of whole buildings and even small towns nearly getting obliterated because a trainer couldn't control their Pokemon's Wyrdness."

The thought of Pokemon accidentally destroying whole towns made Ash reconsider his thoughts on using Wyrd Rocks. "Wow… Whole towns?" Brian nodded.

Luna had stayed quiet throughout this whole conversation on Wyrd Rocks and Wyrdness. The idea of some strange energy in the region giving Pokemon new powers, coupled with her knowledge of her own abilities… Was it possible?

"Brian," she said, "can Wyrdness affect people as well as Pokemon?"

"None of my research says it can so far." Brian replied. "But, then again, I was never really testing for that. Why do you ask?"

The gears in Luna's brain were turning. Could her own empathic powers be the result of this Wyrdness Brian and Ash were talking about?

And, if it was, was there a way to get rid of it?

"Just curious." Luna said with a false smile.

The three trainers kept walking. Eventually, they made it to a small hill, and just on the other side of that… "There it is, guys." Brian said as he, Ash, and Luna all looked down at the large city that stood in front of them. Ash was ecstatic. In the town, he could see a large, pointy, tower-like structure in the center, along with another smaller building that looked like a grand museum of some sort. He couldn't see the Pokemon Gym from here, but he was still super pumped.

"Welcome to Gad City."