After we chased down Sparky and punished him for trying to chew the electric cords we sat down on a nearby chair to take a break. I had more than a fair suspicion that my friend Phoenix, currently reclining as a Ditto in my arms, was responsible for us winning the Dratini. We were sitting in a nearby chair waiting for the manager to bring us the pokéball containing our newest teammate. Very softly without looking down at her just in case there were cameras in this place I said to my currently fuzzy friend, "Nix, when we get out of here and far enough away you are gonna explain what just happened here. I know it was somehow because of you that we won."
My voice was calm, but calm was the last thing I that was feeling. If they somehow found out that we had cheated, what would they do to us? Phoenix in her cute little Ditto disguise just wiggled in my lap and said as innocent as could be "Ditto? Ditto, ditto, ditto. Di. Tto. ...Yes, I know I don't actually sound like I'm saying 'ditto', but a gal's gotta keep herself entertained, you know. "
My voice clearly portrayed my slight irritation as I said, "Oh you are so gonna get it, Nix! Just wait until I give you a piece of my mind."
She grinned and chuckled, "Another piece? At this rate, I'll own all of it before the year is out! You really should be more careful with how much of your mind you give away, Toriori."
I was about to respond when I saw the manager approaching. I shut up as he came over to us holding a bright gold colored box with a big glittering ribbon in a rather fetching emerald green. Holding it out to me with a very fake smile, he said "Congratulations, young lady. Here is your grand prize, our Dratini. We hope you will be a returning customer to our gaming facility in the future. Have a wonderful day! "
I took the box with a smile and politely thanked him before leaving as fast as I could manage trying to not look guilty for fear it would end badly for Phoenix and I. No matter what the manager had said, I never planned to come near the gaming corner ever again. Once outside, I kept walking at a steady pace and started talking to Phoenix under my breath, knowing she could easily hear me talking from her usual perch on my shoulder. "Ok Nix, spill. What just happened in there? First Celebi shows up out of nowhere and then we win the Dratini? I know you did something. That pull game... I didn't move my arm at all, Nix! It felt like something else took control of my body and moved it. And I have a strong suspicion that something was you. Tell me what happened, Nix."
I looked both ways and crossed the street, taking extra care to pay attention to my surroundings as my mind was split between paying attention to my surroundings while walking home to the daycare and listening to what Phoenix had to say for herself. "As far as Celebi showing up goes, I'm just as much as in the dark about that as you are, Toriori. As for the game, well, I may or may not have helped. Just a bit. Tiny really. Nothing major that you need to worry about, twister."
I sighed, "Nix, stop beating around the bush and tell me what you did. I'm just scared and confused, I'm not mad at you. Things happen to us and surprise me and I'm worried about protecting you."
I heard her echo my sigh next to my ear and she patted my cheek in a comforting manner. "You, my dear Astoria, worry far too much. If you aren't careful, it's gonna give you wrinkles. You really should try to relax more; besides, don't you know it's my job to protect you? I'm the small but mighty super psychotic pokémon of- HOLY CRAP, SHINY!"
And with that outburst of extreme ADHD, she was off of my shoulder and on the ground, holding up what looked like a newly minted pokedollar bright sun made the walnut sized silver colored coin seem to sparkle, much to Phoenix's delight, and after a moment she seemed to catch herself and hold the coin out to me. "Look, shiny."
I chuckled and picked her up, looking at the coin that she had handed me as she settled back in her normal spot; it was a coin worth five pokedollars. "Good eye, Nix." I complimented, handing her the coin to put away into the main pouch of my backpack.
"Thanks, Tori. I do have a good eye for shiny things." she replied as she put the money safely in the bag.
As we got out of the main part of Goldenrod and onto the forest road that lead to the daycare, I continued my prior questioning. "You can protect me all you want, but I still reserve the right to do the same for you. Now tell me the truth, Phoenix. Did you use some type of psychic power to help me win the Dratini?"
I knew enough about pokémon types and their special abilities to make an educated guess at what had happened in the gaming center. I felt Nix's Ditto head go up and down in what I assume was a nod. "Yes, yes, I admit the deed. I did use my psychic powers to make sure you won. You see, I've been experimenting lately. Since I'm currently a Mew, I've been testing to see what I can do in other forms. It's kind of the mother of all pokémon which is why it can use any move, right? So I figured being a Mew must have some way to I compensate for being tiny and pink. Surviving as a species would be impossible without some type of advantage right? Thus I tried using my awesomely impish mind to test what other abilities I might have. Sometimes if I've focused while in other pokémon forms, I've seen or felt things that I felt stronger as a Mew. Things like weird pictures or feelings in my head. I realized it was some kind of psychic powers after our first real battle with that arrogant asshle of a cyclist; you know who I mean. The idiot with the macho Machop. It's a strange feeling, but really cool. The power feels like water that I can hold and direct. When I'm in my Mew form I have an easier time holding it and controlling it almost as if I have a glass to hold the water, but when I'm another kind of pokémon that doesn't have psychic powers it's like I'm using my hands to hold the water or power in this case. It's possible, but harder and takes a lot more of my concentration."
Coincidentally we were now next to that same river where we had had that battle she was talking about. It was five minutes away from the daycare building and very beautiful, very peaceful. I paused for a moment and stared at the river as I absorbed what Nix had said.
"Nix that's... Wow. It's so amazing you can do that. It's just wow. ... I don't think I have the words of how happy I am for you, Nix."
I turned my head so she could see my smile. Inside I was a mess of mixed emotions swirling around like a whirlpool. I still felt so guilty for making that stupid wish and protecting Phoenix had been my number one priority because of that. Knowing Phoenix had this power to protect herself didn't take away the guilt, but it did a great deal to ease my worry. "I'll try to work on worrying less because you have such great defences, Nix. I make no promises not to worry, though."
Raksha, who was nestled in his favorite spot in my vests hood seemed to sense we were happy and chirped in his soft voice while rubbing his furry cheek against mine like a cat would when it was happy. "Well, aren't you just the sweetest little guy, Raksha. Hey, Nix can you understand him? What he's saying?"
Phoenix looked at Raksha with one side of her ditto face tilted up so slightly. The motion reminded me of my pet dogs when they had one ear perked up at attention as they listened for some sound only their super sensitive canine ears could pick up. Finally she said "He's a little hard to understand. I think it's because he's still mostly a baby, but pokémon mature much faster than humans. Much, much, faster. It's a lot easier to understand what Sparky or other older pokémon are saying. I think his tiny brain probably hasn't developed enough for clear speech and thought patterns. If I understood what he was trying to say correctly, it pretty much sums up to 'Mommy happy makes Raksha happy.' Oh and he loves you."
I smiled and scratched Raksha on his head between his ears. "So, he thinks I'm his mommy? That's adorable. I'm ok with that. I love you too, little guy."
It was hard not to love him, he was like a fluffy combination of a kitten and a puppy and he had such a laid back and easygoing personality that you'd have to have a heart of ice not to like him, let alone have warm fuzzy feelings for the baby pokémon. I suddenly remembered that the box in my other hand reminded me that we had a new pokémon to get to know.
"Well Nix, I guess we'll talk more about your cheating thing later-"
"Cheaters always prosper! So sayeth the gamer." Phoenix interrupted, thrusting a gelatinous blob of fist skyward.
I ignored her outburst and continued, "You got us the Dratini and while I morally don't like doing dishonest things, I think we are supposed to have this pokémon. I can't explain it yet, but I think Celebi has something to do with it."
"Of course she did! That bitch couldn't mind her own business to save her soul."
I shook my head while saying, "I'll bet you five ice creams that her showing up like that wasn't a coincidence. Seeing that we've been given things that we need since we got here, I think there is some kind of higher being at work here. What that's all about has me stumped though. I think this Dratini is supposed to be ours, just like Raksha was. I think we should take a few minutes and get to know the little guy or girl."
"No bet." she replied simply.
I saw a handy seat sized rock nearby and sat down on it. I took off my backpack laying it beside the rock and put Phoenix on top of it so that she would have an unobstructed view of our potential new friend. I left Raksha in my hood, despite the lack of a view, since I wasn't sure if the little guy would have the sense not to wander off yet. I open the box finding the pokéball inside.
Upon inspecting it, I was surprised to see that it was one of those special pokéballs that were used in the competitions. Although they were called different things in different regions of Poké Earth, in my mind I would always call those type of trainers coordinators.
On the pokéball was a special sticker that made a light colored display when the pokémon come out. It was supposed to add extra beauty to the pokémon when released as well as increase the scores during competitions. Did that mean that this was a competing pokémon? If this ball had a special sticker like that, did that mean this pokémon had another trainer before me? That was odd in my mind, but I put the thought aside to be examined later and took a closer look at the ball; it was a love ball. Those were one of the special pokéballs made from apricorns. When I had played the game, I had collected the useful nuts and used them myself, but I hadn't seen one in this world until this moment. This pokéball had star and heart stickers decorating it rather tastefully; those stickers must have meant that stars and hearts came out with the pokémon if the games were anything to go by.
I was a little nervous about meeting this new pokémon and so to chase away my worries I said "Ok in there, I'm going to let you out now so we can say hi, so don't be scared; we're really nice and just want to meet you."
Phoenix beside me snorted "Oh Tori, you are funny. You're the nice one, remember? I'm clinically insane and kind of evil."
I shook my head and chuckled, pushing the button on the love ball and releasing the Dratini out into the afternoon sunshine. There was a flash of light similar to when other pokémon came out, but with extra flashes of sparkling stars and hearts coming out everywhere.
"Oh dear gods of the other worlds, that shininess burns!" Phoenix exclaimed, her blobby hands protectively covering her sensitive eyes.
The dratini formed out of the lights in front of us and just stared at us a minute. It was funny in my mind that Phoenix had chosen that specific word to describe the light given off by the pokéball since our new friend was just that, a "shiny" pokémon. The pokémons coloring was different from what would be considered normal for it's species, it's scales were a beautiful royal purple as opposed to the standard blue. Around its neck I noticed a shiny silver chain with a pretty gray stone attached to it. It was hung suspended between both ends of chain, so that the stone hung center of the Dratini's neck.
Still slightly nervous, I waved slowly, being careful to not make any sudden movements, trying my best not to scare it. "Hi there. My name is Astoria, this is Nix and Raksha." I said this pointing to each in turn. The dratini looked at all of us in turn, quiet yet curious.
I looked at Phoenix and asked "Can you hear the pokémon talking?"
She shook her head and said "Nope, although I can tell that she's female. I think she's just watching us because she hasn't said anything."
I paused, my mind stuck for a minute as I tried to figure out how to make the Dratini see we were nice and that we wanted to be her friends. If a light bulb could have flashed over my head at that moment, it would have as I got a good idea. I reached into the bag for an oran berry, pulled it out, and held the sweet fruit out to the wary pokémon. The saying that the way to the heart was through the stomach was something I firmly believed whether person or pokémon, it didn't matter. Phoenix, however. would usually follow that same saying with 'but only if you tilt the blade up and twist a little'.
The dratini looked at me, Phoenix, and then the berry. Slowly, hesitantly the serpent like female inched her long body towards me. After a minute she reached my hand and started nibbling on the berry with obvious enjoyment. When it was done, the dratini licked the juice off my hand making me giggle at how it tickled.
"Ok there, you're starting to like me a little bit huh? That's good. Ok, now if it's ok with you, I'm gonna pet you." I reached out tentatively and touched the dratini's cheek. It felt soft and scaly at the same time. Like if you mixed a little bit of fur texture with lizard scales. It was really cool. I was gentle with the fins by its ears since they were webbed and looked very delicate.
"I think we are gonna be good friends, dratini. Welcome to your new home with us."
I heard a chewing sound next to me and spotted Phoenix munching on an oran berry "Hey Tori? This is really weird. It tastes like a giant blueberry. Finally pokémon food I don't seriously hate or find disgusting!"
I chuckled amused. "I'm glad you're enjoying it, Nix."
She smiled happily around a mouthful of berry before swallowing and replying, "I sure am. It's fruit, I absolutely love fruit!"
I decided it was such a nice late afternoon day that we could spend a little while here enjoying the soft sun and quiet moment at the river. The sun was warm with a beautiful blue sky dotted with fluffy clouds. It was quiet and oh so inviting. Who knew how many calm moments like this we would get the rest of our stay in Poké Earth?