Chapter 7: Tension
The next day had rolled around rather quickly as the four of them camped out in the middle of the woods, just deep enough to get a visual view of the beaten path leading to Jubilife city. Getting lost on the first length of the journey was something none of them wanted to happen. Having left Sandgem around mid-day allowed them to get a good start, and thankfully enough, it hadn't started raining as they did so. They spent most of the first part of the journey trying to put up the tents correctly and failed on a number of occasions as neither Sirius nor Harry had ever been camping, while Volkner apparently was not a fan of it but was determined to get the tents set up right.
Apparently the blonde was very competitive. Eyes sparked with determination Volkner fiddled with the poles, struggling to get it to work and having it fall on him. Needless to say after that fiasco, Norman had stepped in and managed to get the tents standing.
It had taken seven attempts before the man was finally able to get them up. Not having gone camping in nearly a decade had rendered Norman to be just as useless as the rest of them were.
Overall much to Harry's dismay, the man also shared the same inability with the culinary arts leaving him as the cook out of the four. Not that Harry personally minded, but still it would have been nice to have someone other than himself to switch every so often. The situation could have been worse in his opinion and Harry simply decided to accept the fact, besides there was nothing to stop him from attempting to teach the three of them how to cook anyway.
The previous night had been differentthen what Harry had imaged. Sleeping on the hard ground wasn't as bad as he initially expected, having slept in a cupboard underneath the stairs for the majority of his life, laying on the ground was nothing.
He tiredly glanced to the side, Sirius was still very fast asleep and hugging his pillow tightly against him. The man looked very peaceful, sleeping. Being finally able to rest without nightmares, worry or others interrupting Sirius from getting the rest he needed. Recalling the snipped remarks being tossed around at Sirius whenever he allowed himself to take a moment to sit down and catch his breath due to the lack of sleep caused by his imprisonment. Not that Harry could personally blame his godfather especially after twelve years of constant Dementor exposure he was able to understand how hard it must have been for Sirius to sleep with the barrage of nightmares and the malicious memories slipping through his ear, as the man struggled for control to remain sane. But no one took it into consideration, shifting any blame that occurred in Grimmauld place straight onto Sirius' shoulder without as much giving the man to defend himself. Whenever he did try it had been for nothing, as Harry was the only one that even took his side and made certain to protect him from them. Only to be pushed away and shoved into another room as if he was fragile like glass.
It sickened him.
There had been nights where Sirius and Harry had both went into each other's bedrooms and helped the other sleep. However, Sirius usually went into his Animagus form to avoid making it look inappropriate and usually left the room before anyone woke up and vise versa. None of them needed to know what they did. They wouldn't understand. Harry was only glad that Ron was such a heavy sleeper or else they would have been problems.
It had been one of the reasons that they had chosen to share a tent together leaving Norman and Volkner in the other one. It hadn't taken Harry very long to figure out that Sirius held a deep attraction to the other man and originally thought about sharing a tent with Norman eventually deciding against it. Though he was also certain that another reason Sirius had shared with him was because of his distrust of the electric leader and his overprotective nature, which was understandable given the situation that they were stuck in. He sincerely doubted that the blonde held any malicious intentions having spent a great deal of time around Volkner, and not once sensed anything ill intent.
Harry covered his mouth, preventing himself from yawning and quickly slipped on a shirt, pants and his shoes before quietly heading outside of the tent. He glanced at his sleeping godfather giving a small smile, zipping the tent close again. The small camp fire that they had made was out, and everything was packed back into the bags thankfully washed.
"I guess I should start preparing some breakfast then. Alright, let's go Bagon!" Harry called as he took out the Pokéball, holding it tightly as a flash of light escape it and formed into the small blue dragon. His eyes danced with mirth as Bagon's head whipped around looking for him, before turning around and spotting him. Without much of a notice, the small dragon jumped straight into his arms and snuggled only for Harry to chuckle at the affection. "Hey, it's good to see you as well. Did you sleep well?"
"Bagon!"
Harry's smiled became soft. "I'm glad to hear it. Sorry that I kept you in your Pokéball that long, I'll try not to do it often. Okay?"
"Bagon!" The dragon replied, happily.
"Alright then," Harry began as returned his attention back onto the camp fire and pointed towards it. "Do you think you can use fire to make it going?"
The dragon type stared, titled his head. "Bag?"
"Ummmm...eerrr..." Harry hesitated as he remembered how Norman and Flint had given their Pokémon commands during battle. How was he supposed to figure out what Bagon was capable of? And more importantly, where could he find out? "Ummm...use fire breath?"
"...Bagon." The dragon type stated flatly.
He sighed, giving Bagon a pitiful look. "I'm sorry, I'm trying. I really am."
"Check your Pokedex," A male voice suggested from behind him, as Harry turned to see Norman stepping out of the tent wearing a pair of beige shorts and a black t-shirt. He wore a warm expression making his way over to him. "Since Bagon is registered into your Pokedex as yours, it will provide you with the information about him." Watching as the boy pulled out the device. "Alright, now give the verbal command about your Bagon."
"Pokédex analyze Bagon?" Harry said, sounding like a question rather than a statement.
The device buzzed. "Pokémon name: Bagon. Type: Dragon."
"Now ask about Bagon's moveset," Norman continued.
Harry nodded. "What are Bagon's current moves?"
"Analyzing... current moves: Tackle, Dragon Rage, Focus Energy, Hidden Power and Zen Headbutt." The Pokedex answered, with small ball of light flashed with each word. "One move slot is available. Would you like to use a TM?"
"One move slot?" Harry repeated.
The older man chuckled. "Pokémon can learn up to six moves. As it grows and adapts new moves will replace old moves depending on the situation. Which is why there are TMs, it allows a Pokémon to learn a move that they usually cannot learn naturally or an old move a trainer wishes their Pokémon to re-learn. Though, there are move tutors that are able to do that."
"What does Dragon Rage, Focus Energy, Hidden Power and Zen Headbutt do?" Harry asked curiously, the last one sounded rather obvious to him but it was better to know instead of later.
"Dragon Rage: A Dragon type energy based attack that comes in the form of shockwaves. It is powered by pure rage." The machine answered in monotone. "Focus Energy: A normal type move that allows that doubles that amount of damage after use," The Pokedex paused for a moment. "Hidden Power: A Normal type attack that is a complete mystery, the strength and power varies from Pokémon to Pokémon. Zen Headbutt: A psychic attack that is a stronger version of the move Headbutt the user channels willpower to it's head to cause greater damage."
Harry frowned. "Bagon can learn Normal and Psychic type attacks?"
"I guess we should have explained a bit better. Just because a Pokémon is of a certain type doesn't mean that they are unable to learn moves stemming from a different type," Norman explained. "However, the majority of the moves they learn will have a strong connection to their own typing. But, Normal type Pokémon have a bit of an advantage when it comes to moves, as they are capable of learning various moves of each typing."
"Why is that?" Harry asked curiously, still holding Bagon in his arms.
The dark haired man beamed. "Well, that's because Normal types are classified as neutral. Because their innate energy, called Aura, it allows them to adapt the easiest which is how they are able to learn a different number of moves than most types."
"So their Aura pool is larger." Harry stated slowly.
Norman nodded. "Exactly, as Normal types are well known for their physical strength and special attacks. Being a leader that trains Normal types, I can tell you how difficult and rewarding it is to be able to train them." Growing up in Goldenrod City he had grown up around normal types ever since childhood, eventually decided to become a master of normal types as he rose the ranks and landed a job as the Petalburg Gym leader after the old one had retired several years back. He hadn't regretted it.
"I see," Harry murmured, looking rather thoughtful and gazed down at Bagon. The small dragon beamed happily upwards causing him to chuckle, allowing his smile to spread across his face.
"You don't have to train just one type, you know." The man quickly reassured quickly.
The teen glanced at him. "Hm? Oh, yeah I figured as much."
"That's good," Norman let loose a sigh of relief. "I was a bit worried there for a moment!" He chuckled cheerfully and focused back onto the teen. "How is Bagon anyway?"
"He's alright." Harry informed the man. "Just... I don't like keeping him in a Pokéball for long." It felt unfair to Harry keeping the dragon inside of the ball after gaining it's trust, not allowing him to move around and see the world around him. He made a mental note to keep the small dragon out unless it was unnecessary. "What are you doing up this early?" He asked curiously, changing the subject.
"I'm usually up this early. Hardly do I ever let myself sleep in," The leader answered sheepishly and grinned. "Relaxing and sleeping is good and all, but I prefer getting up and doing something rather than sitting around all day."
Harry blinked. "Oh, well...I guess you could help make breakfast?"
"Really?" Norman asked, shocked. "You'd let me? After last night?"
"Why not?" Harry retorted, picking a frying pan from the bag. "Besides, it's better having another person around to help."
The leader smiled. "Alright, what do you want me to do?"
"...I haven't really decided what to make for breakfast to be honest," Harry admitted truthfully focused on the small fire area. "My attention was getting the fire going and with Bagon not knowing any fire related moves... looks like we'll have to do things the old fashion way," Picking up two twigs from the ground placing them in the middle of where the fire was and began to rub them together, hoping to ignite a small spark to get it going.
"Are you sure that's going to work?" Norman asked bemused.
His emerald eyes darted towards the older man. "Do you have a better idea?"
"Rather than telling, how about I show you instead?" Norman stated as he dug through his shorts and pulled out a dark blue lighter. "We can use this match to light the fire, but..." His gaze fell straight to the burnt wood from the previous night. "These may work. Just in case, how about you and I go grab some new fire wood while the other two sleep."
Harry briefly thought over the idea and decided to go with the man. He sincerely doubted that the two would be up before they returned to the site anyway, at least Volkner anyhow as the blonde seemed to be the type to sleep through any and everything no matter how noise and loud. Plus, Sirius needed as much rest and relaxation as possible, despite the man not being a deep sleeper Harry could not bring himself to waking the man up after seeing how content his godfather had looked. Sincerely doubting that the two would mind Norman and himself fleeted deeper inside of the trees to gather more wood.
It hadn't taken very long. Norman seemed to at least know which types of wood would be good for the fire and ones that didn't. Together they managed to break back a great deal for the next several nights pending on how long they planned on staying in the woods.
That didn't matter to Harry as he had never experienced the outdoors before. The same could not be said for Sirius and Volkner, though he was somewhat certain that his godfather was at least enjoying himself as the previous night the man had practically been bouncy, while not an unusual trait for Sirius it seemed different. His godfather never struck him as the outdoors type, though Sirius' animagus form was a dog, or maybe he was just celebrating their new found freedom?
Harry didn't know.
Upon returning to the camp Norman and himself quickly went to work on the meal, having decided to make bacon sandwiches with eggs. Mostly, Harry was doing the work as the man fetched what he needed and carefully watched him going to work.
"Smells delicious," Norman informed with a large smile sniffing the air as his stomach rumbled loudly. His cheeks went red with embarrassment before laughing. "Think I can get a quick bite?"
Harry snorted, glancing up. "Once it's done. Patient is a virtue. Speaking of which," diverting his attention to the tents. "I'm surprised that they're still asleep. I would have thought that aroma of bacon would have woken them up," Shaking his head in mock pity and returned to the meal.
"Poor souls," Norman agreed with a cheeky grin. "Don't know the wondrous powers of bacon." Beaming as he saw Harry's lips twitched bemused and nearly laughed at the comment. Norman was rather glad to see that the teen was finally beginning to warm up to him. The first meeting Harry had been rather polite and formal, barely saying a word unless it was to Volkner or Sirius, so getting the teen to talk and laugh he was able to consider a point in his favour.
The rustling sounds eventually echoed from the tents as the two finally emerged from their slumber, Volkner being disgruntled and murmuring incoherently under his breath and Sirius being the polar opposite looking completely energized as they plopped themselves straight beside them and dug into their meals.
"Have a good sleep?" Harry questioned, unable to prevent the smile from spreading on his face.
The blonde stared at him passively. "I wish I could have slept longer," he murmured jamming the sandwich into his mouth and chewed slowly, allowing himself to swallow the food. It was very delicious and addictive as he went in for another bite.
"Thanks Harry!" Sirius remarked, having finished his meal and grinned widely. "I'm ever so thankful to have a godson that is capable of cooking!"
Harry rolled his eyes. "Yeah, I know," Shaking his head fondly and returned to his meal before briefly exchanging a look with Volkner which had not gone unnoticed by Sirius. Not that Harry had noticed being occupied by finishing his meal. The cleaning had been done post haste after the meal due to the extra hands.
"So what are we going to do now?" Sirius asked a frown on his lips.
Volkner and Norman looked at one another prompting the older to take the lead. "We'll we think it's time that you learn how to capture your first Pokémon," As he watched the reactions noting Harry's uncomfortable stance and Sirius' intrigued gaze. "Well split off into a pair so we can cover more ground. If that's alright with the both of you," Nodding towards the two and continued. "That is, if you want to."
"That's..." Sirius began slowly; his eyes darted at his godson and back at the man. "Sounds like a good idea to me."
"Are you okay with it?" Volkner asked, bluntly towards Harry gazing with concern.
The wizard stared for several minutes before sighing. "I... think I am. Just let me give it a shot, okay?"
"You came around quick," Sirius commented with surprising.
The teen shrugged. "Complaining about it doesn't solve anything. So actually doing it and seeing how it works would be the first step in getting over my dislike of it."
"Very mature," Norman complimented sincerely.
Volkner took this moment to stride over to Harry's side, moving in for the kill. "Guess the two of us will be heading off then," and sharply turning his back towards the two men with Harry slowly following behind him. On the outside he appeared to be passive and disinterested, inwardly he was rather excited to be accompanying Harry on his first capture. "Shall we-"
"Hold it!" Norman's voice caused the two to freeze as the man wore a stern expression. "Not so fast Volkner."
The blonde shot him a look. "What?"
"I believe a demonstration should be first before spreading out," The Hoenn leader said firmly. "Just so they get the gist of things."
Volkner raised an eyebrow before nodding. "Alright," Nodding and gestured towards the man, leaving it to the older man as he remained by Harry's side. Sliding his hands into his pocket watching as the older male ventured forward, subtly following the man's back as he moved around carefully.
"What are you looking at?" Sirius asked curiously as the other adult seemed focused staring up at the sky. Frowning, his eyes followed Norman's, looking at the blue trying to find exactly the man was trying to find. Only the large trees came into his view, with branches gently swaying against the wind. "Norman?"
The man held up his hand silencing Sirius, eyes focused. Slowly, he moved his hand and pointed towards a clearing. "There."
"Huh?"
Norman glanced. "C'mon, I'll show you. This way," As he lead them towards the direction pushing past the branches quietly approaching where the man was focused on, bending down as a small bird like creature stood facing rightly up towards the tree. "A Pokémon," He murmured. "Looks like my instincts haven't gotten rusty over the years."
"A Starly," Volkner murmured, eyeing the flying type.
"Might as well. Having another flyer on us wouldn't be such a bad idea, would it?" Norman stated, unclipping a Pokéball from his waist as his eyes glanced to both Harry and Sirius. "Make sure you watch what I do alright?" Before either of them could reply, the man moved upwards abruptly almost scaring the small bird out of it's wits and turned angry. "Alright, Glameow let's go!" Tossing the ball into the air to reveal the feline he had captured previously. "It's time for you to show them what we got!"
"Glam!" The cat purred taking an offensive stance.
Bagon was watching intensely from Harry's arms. "Bagon..." Not noticing his trainer's gaze before re-focusing what was going on in front of them.
"Glameow start off with Quick Attack, and follow up with Hypnosis!" Norman order swiftly, as the feline lunged into action.
Starly managed to barely dodged the attack as Glameow attempted to knock the bird off balance, slamming it's tail against the bird sending it colliding into the tree. Noting that it wasn`t moving, Glameow moved in for the final attack, purring loudly in pride as it`s eyes began to glow. The normal type placed it`s arms upon the bird`s arms, preventing it from moving and unleashed the final attack, looking gleefully down at the Starly watching it struggle to escape.
Suddenly, the Starly's beak opened letting loose a powerful cry forcing Glameow to remove the paws and cover it's ears, shivering in pain and shutting eyes tightly. Taking the advantage over the fight, Starly jumped forward straight into the cat's stomach sending it bouncing off the ground.
"Staaaarly!" The bird announced roughly, flapping it's wings staring down at Glameow angrily.
"Looks like someone isn't too happy," Volkner murmured.
Harry snorted. "That's an understatement."
"Now you're fighting back," Norman said with approval at the bird. His eyes narrowed and smirk formed, slashing his arm to the side. "But we won't be giving in that easy, Glameow retaliate with your own Growl!"
The feline pushed back up, glaring at the bird before breathing in a deep breath and unleashing a similarly powerful blast of sound. Starly unleashed another Growl, pitting the two attacks up against each other and neither of them looked liked they'd be giving up any time soon. However, the exhaustion on the flying type was evident, the fatigued expression and heavy panting could be heard even from where the three had been standing. It was only a matter of time before one was forced to concede.
The Hoenn leader's eyes flashed. "It was good battling with you Starly," taking in a moment of silence before his tone and expression hardened. "Glameow, finish Starly off with Fury Swipes!"
Glameow stopped using Growl, narrowly dodging Starly's. The feline stretched arms forward watching the claws began to shine with a bright white light, Glameow purred and kicked off the ground by its hind legs increase it's speed. Spreading both arms out, the cat slashed down on the Starly, multiple times in a quick motion that was almost impossible to see.
"Pokéball!" Norman cried, unclipping an empty one from his belt and tossed it. "Go!"
The ball bounced right on top of Starly's head, turning the flying type into red light and sucked in clamping shut. Landing on to the ground with a small thump, the light in the middle began to pulse wildly making noises rocking back and forth. No one moved, waiting for something to happen. Then, without much else, another sound echoed from the Pokéball and stopped moving. Silence could be heard as Norman went over and picked it up.
"And that," He said with a grin. "Is how you capture a Pokémon. You have to battle before capturing, since that's how you earn a Pokémon's respect." Seeing Harry's and Sirius' looks, he continued. "Just keep in mind that just because you captured them doesn't mean that they'll listen to you. They are very prideful creatures, they won't hesitate to disobey a trainer even if they had spent a great deal of time under their care."
"Sound like someone I know," Harry said dryly.
Sirius raised an eyebrow. "And who might that be?"
"Oh... no one you know," The teen remarked innocently smiling.
His godfather rolled his eyes and ruffled Harry's hair. "Smartarse," Sirius said fondly at his godson.
"What did you think?" Norman inquired.
"It... wasn't as bad as I thought it would be." Harry began slowly, ignoring his messed up hair.
Sirius grinned. "I'm actually eager try it myself!"
"I can tell," Norman said with a grin, walking over to them. "So how's about Harry and I go one way and you and Volkner can go the other way? We can meet back here in say...an hour?"
Volkner frowned. "Why do I have to go with him?"
"Well," Norman began rubbing the back of his head and looking rather sheepish. "I couldn't help notice the tension between you and Sirius. I think it would be good for the both of you to work together on this, you might even learn something from each other."
The blonde frowned at the other leader's words. Was there tension between himself and Sirius? Personally, he hadn't really been paying much attention as his focus had mainly been to getting to know Harry more and help him during his journey through Sinnoh. However, the longer that he thought about it there had been moments when Sirius would interrupt or cut in like he had done during breakfast as the man had deliberately sat in between himself and Harry. It had become evident that the man clearly did not hold him in high regard.
How Sirius noticed his attraction towards his godson? That seemed to be the most likely reason Volkner could think of. He hadn't exactly been hiding it.
'Great. I have to deal with an overprotective father figure, just my luck.' Volkner thought to himself pinching the bridge of his nose. Telling himself that it was simply an obstacle that he needed to get through, Volkner turned towards the man. "Alright, let's go."
Sirius inclined his head. "Lead the way," ignoring the roll of eyes from the blonde as he followed behind him staring hard at the man's back.
The two vanished from sight as they went deep into the woods leaving Harry and Norman together, rather awkwardly.
"So," Norman stated, attempting to start a conversation. "Are you ready to try?"
"I think so," Harry agreed with a nod, and glanced down at Bagon. "You ready?"
The dragon beamed. "Bag! On! Bagon!"
"Looks like you have enough excitement for the both of us," Harry laughed as the dragon happily nodded at him. "Okay, I get." He kneeled down, placing Bagon onto the ground and watched the dragon closely. "Can you smell any Pokémon nearby?"
The leader mused thoughtfully. "Using a Pokémon to sniff out other Pokémon?"
"Errr..." Harry started, only to give a shrug in response. "It seemed logical to me."
Norman smiled reassuringly. "Can you explained to me why you thought that way?"
"Pokémon are animals right, so obviously they have different scents from us humans." Harry answered slowly. "To be me, some Pokémon would mark their territory thus leaving a mark, which would be a scent of sorts to ward other Pokémon away from that area." It had sounded a lot better in his head, feeling rather stupid after the words left his mouth.
"That was well thought out," Norman stated without hesitation. "And some Pokémon do leave territorial marks, not all of them mind you. But some, such as canine like Pokémon, Grass types, and lastly prideful Pokémon which can vary from type to type. The scent notion is not too shabby either."
Harry flushed. "Ummm...thank you."
"No need," The man dismissed smiling and kneeled down to pick up Glameow. "How's Bagon gotten a scent yet?"
The teen froze. "Errr..." His head whipped back to where he had placed Bagon and noticed that the small dragon had moved from the spot, having wandered forwards without warning. Without much of speaking, Harry launched after his partner leaving a bemused Norman behind him.
The leader shook his head. "Why do I have a feeling it's never going to be dull moment anymore?"
Needlessly to say after looking through the woods for Pokémon having it come up completely fruitless, Volkner found himself struggling to keep himself from laughing his ass off watching as Sirius was beginning to become annoyed. With the lack of anything happening the tension that Norman had brought up was more apparent, the shortness of the man's temper and cold shoulder attitude, and the glares. He couldn't deny how laughable the situation was.
He hadn't known the man long enough to form an opinion. A part of him blamed his anti-social nature and aversion to socialization outside of Flint and the rest of his colleagues, to a margin. Volkner was doing his best to interact with people better.
That didn't mean he had to tolerate everything thrown at him.
"Having fun?" Volkner commented, struggling to keep himself from enjoying the man's ire too much. As Sirius threw him a glare only for him to put on an innocent expression masking what he truly felt.
"You're enjoying this, aren't you?" The man accused.
Volkner snorted, eyeing him with disinterest. "Keeping telling yourself that," 'Don't smirk, don't smirk, don't smirk!' chanting the mantra repetitively in his man. "You need to calm down. You might even capture something today."
"I don't need to calm down and I don't really care if I capture anything," Sirius rebutted eyes trained him. "I don't know you."
"...Okay." Came Volkner's confused reply.
The man's eyes turned into slits. "But you're getting to close to Harry."
What?
Volkner abruptly straightened his posture, and blinked rapidly at the man allowing his mind to absorb the words. "Excuse me?"
"I'm not stupid and you're not bothering to hide it either. You're attracted to my godson, aren't you?" Sirius' eyes were hard as steel, staring at him with a darkened expression that Volkner was all too familiar with because of his friendship with Flint. "Don't lie to me."
Volkner's eyes narrowed coldly at the man standing in front of and glared right back at him. "My feelings towards Harry are no one's business other than mine and his." Seeing the light angered look in the man's eyes he continued. "I'm not finished. I do like him. As in more than a friend," he admitted truthfully. "Whether he feels that same way about me, I don't know. Just being around him is enough and even if he does feel the same way. You don't have a say."
"Like hell I do," Sirius snarled at him. "There's no way in hell I'm letting Harry date you!"
"That's a choice the two of us can't make." Volkner said, his facial expression screwed him as if the words caused him a great deal of pain. "It's his choice. Not ours."
The man shook his head. "That may be true. That doesn't mean I'll simply let anyone come and sweep Harry away from me, especially if they're not worthy in my eyes." Folding his arm upon his chest and glared at the blonde. "And that especially means you."
"Then I'll have to make certain that I become worthy," Volkner retorted confidently.
Sirius was silent staring at him with an unreadable expression. "You'll be waiting a long time before you'll ever get it, boy."
"Don't underestimate me," Volkner shot back coldly. "I'll show you exactly what I'm capable of."
"I'll be looking forward to it," The man growled.
The two remained still staring back at one another with a mixture of loathing and determination as they continued on into the woods in complete silence. There was nothing more that needed to be said since the tension between them had increased with no signs of it dissipating. Wanting to get the hour over and done with Sirius searched relentlessly for a Pokémon to bring back to camp and if to prove to Norman and Harry that he was far better than Volkner.
"Bagon!"
Harry's voice echoed loudly, looking around fervently for the small dragon his head whipping around frantically as his body was consumed by worry and dread. Seeing a clearing he quickly rushed towards it, sharply spinning his body.
"Bagon! Where are you?"
He was staring to get worried with the lack of response starting to fear the worst and moved to continue onward until he felt weight being placed upon his shoulder almost tipping him over as he glanced to see Norman standing beside him, giving him a warm smile, as he went stiff. Harry could tell that the man barely tried to keep him in place since that was what he was trying to do finding himself unable to move from the position. The man waited for him to stop before speaking.
"Bagon is somewhere around. You need to calm down," Norman told him in a kind but firm tone.
Harry clutched his fist tightly. "I... I can't just leave him out there all by himself."
"Trust in him. He is your partner, have faith in his abilities just as he has faith in you."
The wizard stared, and blinked several times. "Wow...that was...kinda.. Corny Norman," Harry informed the man not unkindly yet looked at him dryly.
Norman shrugged. "I'm a father of a teenager girl and a ten year old. What can I say?"
"Errr... nothing?" Harry supplied, not entirely certain of how to answer the question and feeling rather small the longer the other male stared at him. It made him feel uncomfortable.
His eyes softened. "I was being rhetorical, Harry."
"Oh..." The words feel flat from his lips. "Whoops?"
"It's fine," Dismissing it with a wave of his hand. "Don't worry about it. Let's just get back to finding Bagon shall we?" Norman flashed the young teen a smile, as Harry nodded hesitantly in agreement and released the boy from his hold allowing him movement. Now that he knew that Harry wouldn't wander off on his own.
Harry nodded. "Right. But where do you think Bagon went?" Stepping to the side and turning his body, looking at the directions the dragon could have gone. "He could be anywhere." Covering his face with his palm, his eyes focused on the ground staring in despair. Slowly, they widened as he kneeled down seeing the trampled grass. "These looks like foot prints, definitely not human. Do you think...?"
"There's no harm in investigating," Norman agreed. "Just remember to be careful. There are many wild Pokémon in the woods and not all of them are friendly towards trainers and their Pokémon," warning the teen seriously.
"I'll keep that in mind," Harry promised.
The two carefully followed the trail of footprints as not to awaken the possibly aggravated Pokémon that could be slumbering near them. As Norman had told him, fully-evolved Bug Pokémon were apparently the worse type to wake up since their added status as Poison types were notorious among humans alongside the dreaded Zubat. Whatever that Pokémon was. Harry made a mental note to look up more about types upon returning to civilization.
He knew that eventually the lack of knowledge of the new world that they were stuck in would cause problems, and if his luck held out a library would be located somewhere in the next city.
The sounds of bushes ruffling echoed clearly through Harry's ear. He and Norman exchanged a short glance staring at the source, heading towards it slowly keeping as quiet as possible they approached exactly where the ruffling bush was. Taking the initiative, Harry was the first to the bush peeking through it, and sighed with relief.
Bagon was on top a strange light purple Pokémon, both of which were happily laughing as they rolled around on the grass playing together. Neither of them had noticed their presence too busy having fun with the other. Their eyes brimmed under the light, oblivious to the world around them, in their own world. As they both split from each other and fell backwards onto the grass, laughing loudly and cheerfully ringing through the woods without a care.
"Should we interrupt them?" Harry murmured silently to the other man.
Norman mused thoughtfully. "I think we can wait a bit longer. I'd feel pretty bad if we did."
"Ditto." Harry shook his head, smiling underneath his bangs. "I can't believe he made it all the way here. He's certainly a fast one."
"Appearances can be very deceiving," The dark haired man stated nonchalantly.
Hearing the sounds from them, Bagon practically jumped up from the spot and darted towards Harry leaping into his arms. The dragon snuggled deep into his chest, provoking a tingling sensation that ran through him. A snicker escaped from his lips.
"Miss me?" Harry teased the dragon, letting out a chuckle upon seeing Bagon's rapid nod. "H-hey it's good to see you to. But no running off anymore, alright?" He picked the dragon up and held up to a level where their eyes could meet, struggling to hold his partner. He wouldn't say it out loud, but the small dragon was very heavy. Not that would stop him from holding him. "You gave me a scare." The dragon let out a happy shrill, Harry rolled his eyes. "Good to hear. Want to introduce us to your friend-Whoa!"
The purple Pokémon squirmed its way straight onto Harry's lap, staring up with shining red eyes peering with curiosity and awe. Now that Harry could get a clear look of the creature, he noticed the dotted pattern all over it's body and the spiky horns upon the forehead.
"So what's your name?" Harry asked curiously, placing Bagon down and focused that parked on his body.
The Pokémon perked up. "Nido!"
"Nido?" Harry repeated confused.
Norman chuckled. "Check your Pokedex, and point it at Nidoran."
Harry blinked at the man, but did what he suggested and pointed the device flipping it open. "Nidoran the poison pin Pokémon. By using it's ears out of the grass it is capable of scanning the area for threats and uses its toxic horn to protect."
"So it's a poison type then?" Harry murmured.
Nidoran let out a tiny, happy roar.
"Looks like he likes you," Norman stated cheekily, covering his mouth with his hand hiding the chuckles that threatened to escape. Watching as the small poison type jumped completely onto Harry's lap making the boy's eyes nearly bug out. He turned his head away and began to whistle upon receiving a glare.
"A-apparently," Harry gasped. "A little warning next time, will ya?"
"Ran!"
He sighed. "Alright, I guess that means you want to come with us?" The moment those words had left his mouth Nidoran's horn poked his stomach. "O-Ow. I-I guess that's a yes?" The poison type nodded waiting for him to hold out a Pokéball, knocking its horn against it and was turned into the red light that went into the Pokéball. It had taken a few moments before the ball had stopped vibrating, as the ping sound echoed loudly. "Welcome to the team, Nidoran."
"Congratulations you caught a Nidoran!" Norman praised.
Harry stared him. "That...sounds weird."
"How so?"
"Never mind," Harry dismissed and stood up. "So should we head back to camp then?"
An explosion gained their full attention prompting the two males to head towards the direction from where it came from. It hadn't been too far from the camp site and in the general vicinity that Volkner and Sirius had gone, the possibility of the two breaking out into battle didn't seem likely then again it could just be a pair of different trainers Harry tried to reason. Norman had used Glameow to battle it out with the Starly, maybe either of them had engaged into a fight with a stronger Pokémon?
It sounded like Harry was trying to convince himself of that.
The distance between where they had been and where the area of the explosion hadn't been very far, arriving to see a completely blank-faced Volkner and angry looking Sirius. His godfather had his back to them, standing behind Chatot, whom was flying it's wings furiously waiting for the dust in front to die out. As a dark figure flashed before them coming into contact with the flying type, hitting head first into Chatot's side knocking it to the ground roughly doing an impressive backflip in the air before landing gracefully upon it's paws.
"Damn it!" Sirius cursed loudly. "Chatot!"
The bird pushed upon using it's wings. "Chat!"
"Sirius!" Harry called, as they moved towards them. "Volkner!"
The blonde flashed a tiny smile. "Hey, you made it. Capture anything?"
"That he did," Norman answered striding over towards his fellow leader, his attention focused on Sirius and the Pokémon in front of him.
It appeared to be a canine standing fiercely on it's legs glaring at Sirius, with a cocky expression. The body was red with black strips all over it and a tanned spot of fur upon it's forehead that went down to the bell and underneath to the tail, scratching the ground and growled lowly at him. Not backing down from the challenge.
Harry pulled out his Pokedex. "Growlithe the puppy Pokémon. An extremely loyal and trustworthy Pokémon, it will protect and defend it's trainer regardless of the opponent's size and strength."
His lips twitch, glancing at godfather. 'Just like Sirius.' "C'mon you can do it Sirius!" He cheered the man on.
Sirius turned his head, and grinned while giving thumbs up before returning to the battle. "Chatot, Harry's watching so we can't back down you hear?" The flying type nodding firmly as he cracked a smirk. "Good to see you understand, let's finish this guy off shall we? Use Peck attack and then use Air Cutter!"
"Chat!"
The canine growled. "Grow!"
Chatot's peck began to glow pure white, expanding in size darting towards the canine without hesitation closing in it. The canine lunged forward barring it's sharp teeth, the two attacks collided together causing another small explosion throwing both Pokémon to the sides. Having been prepared, the flying type pulled back upon it's wings causing them to flash and unleashing the second attack, just at the moment when the Growlithe spit out a ball of flames cancelling the attack.
"Ember," Volkner noted. "A fire based attack."
Sirius ignored him. "Use Air Cutter again!"
"CHATOT!"
The canine growled as the second wave of the attack came. "Growlithe!" Spitting another ball of fire, cancelling the attack again only this time the flying type did not stop attacking. The fire type attempted to dodge the attack as the attack had come out faster and fast before hitting him directly, nailing him against the tree stump.
Pulling out a Pokéball, Sirius threw it immediately upon Growlithe's knock out watching as the canine had been absorbed into the ball promptly dropping onto the floor. Soon afterwards the Pokéball had stopped moving, Sirius went over to it and picked it up smirking as he did so. He held out his arm, not even blinking when Chatot had quickly perched on it. Sirius held out the ball towards the bird staring at him seriously saying nothing for several moments.
"Thank you," He said truthfully. "You did a great job Chatot."
The flying type titled it's head. "Chat?"
"Never mind, you ruined the moment." Sirius groaned, rolling his eyes mocking the flying type, and turned towards the others. "That was easy, as pie!"
"It definitely suits you," Harry said with a grin.
Sirius cocked an eyebrow at his godson, and shook his head. "Did you catch anything?"
"He did indeed, a Nidoran." Norman answered his arms folded upon his chest.
"It's weird though. Nidoran and Growlithe are more sighted in the Kanto Region rather than Sinnoh," Volkner murmured stroking his chin looking deep into thought. His ever present frown appeared. "What are they doing all out here?"
"Maybe they migrated?" Harry offered and shrugged his shoulders.
Sirius titled his head. "Maybe someone decided to bring them over?"
"That's...not entirely impossible." Norman began slowly, and shook his head. "Whatever the reason is I'm sure it's nothing bad. In the mean time, we should probably head back to camp and relax for a bit before we move on to the second routine for the day."
"Second?"
Volkner and Norman exchanged a smirk, their eyes on the two. "Training."
Chapter Seven-end.
And so ends another chapter filled with character development, the growing tension between Volkner and Sirius, and finally some interaction with Harry and Norman not to mention three captures in one chapter! Ending it all with a cliff hanger, aren't you guys lucky?
Before anyone asks ago the Egg; it will be brought up every now and then so don't worry about it. And make sure to check out the poll on my profile as well as my other PKMHP fics!
Don't forget to review!
Sirius party:
Chatot
Turtwig
Type: Grass
Gender: Male
Nature: Relaxed
Ability: Overgrow
Moves: Withdraw, Tackle.
Growlithe
Type: Fire
Gender: Male
Nature: Rash
Ability: Flash Fire
Moves: Roar, Bite and Ember.
Norman's Team
Glameow
Starly
Type: Flying/Normal
Gender: Male
Nature: Brave
Ability: Keen Eye
Moves: Tackle, Growl.
Harry's team
Bagon
Egg
Nidoran
Type: Poison
Gender: Male
Nature: Naive
Ability: Poison Point
Moves: Leer, Peck.
Volkner's Team:
Unknown.