Attached
A Pokémon Persona Crossover Fanfiction
by Three Black Noises
Chapter 7
"Goooood morning Michael!" Said an unfamiliar voice that roused me from my slumber.
"What time is it?" I mumbled; still half asleep.
"Just after seven in the morning. You've got a big day today, what with your first gym battle and all. Plus you still gotta figure out how you're 'gunna deal with those pesky news reporter people to."
That got me moving.
"News reporters?" I asked as I stumbled to the bath room to wake myself up fully.
"Oh you better believe it. You're the first blind trainer ever! So yeah, news reporter people." the new voice said.
By that point I'd had enough time to splash some vary cold water on my face and confirm that I wasn't dreaming.
"So who are you anyway?" I asked as I came back into the bedroom.
"Rotom sir! Your humble Pokémon assistant. I'm here for whatever you need, and I hope we can be really good friends." the voice answered from somewhere near my waste.
"Rotom. Aren't you an electric ghost type?" I asked.
"That is most definitely correct Michael. So I just checked out some sites and found the questions you're 'gunna be asked today." Rotom replied instantly.
"How! You're a ghost?" I asked.
"Crystal's the most awsomest Marill ever! I'm your Pokédex, phone, and Poképad! Plus Igore made me this awsome body so we can touch and stuff, plus it's powered by crystal tech which means I'm completely unhackable!" Rotom replied.
"Igore? But how'd you get access to the velvot room?" I asked.
"after I came out of the keyboard Crystal was using and made my wish to join you known to her, she, kind of freeked out and brought me before Igore." rotom said in a voice that was softer and lower than the happy voice he'd been using up to that point.
"And he made you a body that's, half computer." I finished.
"More like all computer, but completely organic." rotom replied.
"And Crystal had no idea up to that point that you were hiding out in one of her keyboards?" Liz asked.
I'd thought the others still asleep, so I jumped vary slightly as Liz asked her question.
"Yes that's right." rotom asked; his voice back to the cheery voice that sounded like those little boies in anime do when they're dubbed into english.
Liz put her hand on my arm at that point.
"Crystal woke us all up and told us about Rotom." she explained.
"And we needed to let your meeting gaa" feara made a frustrated sound before trying again.
"...needed to let you make this new friend without interuption, or saa" another frustrated sound.
"That's what Crystal... wanted." Feara finished.
"I see." I said; deciding not to make a deal of Feara's, speach impediment that obviously wasn't fixed by Hope and Liz the night before.
A nock on the door put an end to any more conversation.
bella came in and told us that she'd made breakfast, and that we needed to eat it while Crystal got ready to take us to the gym match.
breakfast time was a combination of a battle strategy review, cuppled with a press interview roleplay session.
Liz lead my Pokémon and I in a sort of call and response game, in witch she'd call out an attack and we'd respond with the correct counter attack or technique.
To my great surprise, Sarah and Hope got every response correct.
As for myself, Liz, Robin, feara, rotom and even Bella and Bethany took turns calling out various things a gym leader might say to a Pokémon to attempt to code commands, and I got most of them correct.
Next, all of them; including chris and christina; took turns asking me questions reporters might ask.
I stayed calm and answered each question as best as I was able without giving to much away.
"what will you do if you lose?" Crystal asked; surprising us all as she came out of her private room.
The question wasn't har to answer.
"I have two more gym battles after this, so I'll just press on." I said calmly.
"Yep! I think you're ready." Cristal said proudly.
"As ready as I'll ever be." I said; giving each of my new friends a quick hug.
Crystal seemed surprised; and a little put off; by the hug, but she excepted it all the same.
As I huggd her, I couldn't help but notice that she'd soaked her body in some kind of moisturizing cream that gave her a pleasant smell.
She must have noticed, because she said; more as an afterthought, "I'm still a water type, and who knows how long I'll be away from water."
After I released her, she went straight for the table where she'd dropped her car keys the night before.
"Now." she began as she picked them up, "Who's going to be your support for today's battle?" she asked.
"Is that like a coach?" I varified.
"More or less." Crystal responded.
"That's easy then. Robin." I declared.
"Why me?" Robin asked in surprise.
"That's easy to. You came up with most of the ideas for our strategies, and you got the hole process started in the first place. Aside from that, you're both a normal and flying type, both types Hope an Sarah will most likely be facing today, and your vary observant, calm, and supportive, things I'll most definitely need, oh and you're vary knowledgeable in lots of things to boot." I explained.
"That's, vary nice to hear, but I thought for sirtain you'd choose Liz." Robin said.
"Liz is awsome to, but you're my choice for today." I said.
Liz put a hand on my shoulder.
"Thanks for thinking of the others to." she whispered.
"Not a problem." I whispered back.
"all right. Now that that's settled, sarah, Hope, into your Poké Balls, gym rules you know." crystal stated.
Hope whent into her ball without any fus what-so-ever.
Sarah, blew out a vary disgusted breath, then exclaimed in her own language, before going into her ball; prompting me to pick up her ball along with Hopes and say softly as I put them on my belt, "Sarah, I'm sorry, but these are the rules."
bella took that time to plunk herself down in a chair and turn on a TV with a remote.
"So, who's watching the battle with me?" she asked.
Chris, Christina, feara and bethany joined her vary quickly.
"I guess that means Liz and Rotom are coming with us huh?" I asked by way of confirmation
I would have taken them anyway, but I felt they had as much of a choice as the others of staying or going.
They didn't give me much of a choice; Rotom saying that as my Pokédex, their was no way I was leaving him behind, and Liz simply saying she was coming along as extra support and a really good friend.
We then headed out to crystal's car after receiving wishes of good luck from all the others.
Crystal let out an exasperated sigh as we pulled into the parking lot of the Aspertia trainer school.
"What's up?" I asked.
"Nothing much. Just that the place is packed, and the reporters are making no secret of their presence." Crystal said.
Robin and I sat next to her in the front. He and Crystal were unencumbered, but Rotom was currently taking up residence in my lap.
I couldn't help but notice what a great job Igore had done designing Rotom; giving him a strange feeling somewhere between a small human child, a plastic doll, and a cuddly; not quite furry; stuffed animal.
"Well?" Rotom began presently, "All we can do is go in there." he finished.
"We sure can't prep anymore than we already have." Liz said from behind me.
"Actually, yes we can." I said; removing Bethany's special potion from my bag as Crystal killed the engine. She didn't make to remove her keys from the ignition however.
"What's that?" Crystal asked; tapping on some kind of touch screen as she did so.
"Something bethany gave me last night. I'm not sure what it does, but I'll need Robin to hold on to it for me, if you can."
I directed that last part in Robin's direction, and instead of answering, he simply leaned over, took the potion in his beak, then transfered it to some place else on his person.
"I'll keep this until you're ready for it. Just say wen." Robin said.
Just then, a voice suddently came from the radeo's speakers.
"...not sure what's going down here today, but you can't argue that word of the first blind trainer has gotten a lot of buz lately." a male voice was saying.
"That's right Jin, everyone's been wondering what Pokémon this teen will be using, but the bigger question on the mind of trainers and non-trainers alike from Kanto to Unova is how this trainer is going to command his Pokémon." a female voice said.
"Of course it had to be them." Robin groaned.
"Who?" I asked.
"Jin and Jennie, a world famous husband and wife battle commentating team." Liz replied.
"So, basically, the best of the best?" I asked.
"That's putting it mildly." Crystal answered in a somewhat shaky voice.
I knew that the choice of who was covering my first televised appearance didn't make much of a difference; as we still had to go through with the gym battle, but I was somewhat comforted by the notion that the best of the best would be evaluating my performance.
I said as much, then made to exit the car, but Crystal locked the doors before I could pull the handle.
"Hay!" Rotom exclaimed.
"Listen everyone. This just got bigger than some local news crews, so I might not be able to stop them from harassing you as I'd originally planned. I can stay with you all and try to provide some cover if you wish, but I'm most likely going to be pretty much useless out their." Crystal explained.
At the same time, she started typing on what sounded like a fold-out keyboard vary fast.
I thought about what Crystal was saying, and decided that things really hadn't changed all that much.
"Word would have spread eventually right? About me I mean." I asked Crystal.
"That's correct." She said; her voice still slightly shaky.
"We've still got our script to follow." Rotom said.
"That's one thing we've got going for us." robin afirmed.
"What if Rotom got some of the reporter's attention." Liz suggested.
"Liz, you're a genius." crystal exclaimed; rather calmly as she continued to type.
The car made a beaping sound, and crystal let out an exclaimation.
"Okay, things aren't as bad as I feard. It's only local news crews out their, so here's what we do."
Getting into the gym turned out to be incredibly simple.
Liz and Robin walked with me, and crystal took Rotom with her.
As we approached the gym, reporters swarmed us; as we'd expected.
However with two targets instead of one, the reporters were forced to split their attention between me; the new blind trainer, and Crystal and Rotom, the strange and fascinating newcommer to Unova, and the strange new form of Rotom who could talk and appeared to interact with the mortal world.
As we'd quickly practiced in Crystal's driveway and reviewed before stepping out of the car, Robin walked behind me, using his wings to give me directions on where to sidestep and turn while I used my cane.
Liz followed at a discreet distance, but was close enough to intervene if things got out of hand.
The questions we'd practiced were asked, but not by as many people as we prepped for.
I staied calm and politely answered all questions with a confident smile, and almost before I knew it, we were inside the school.
Crystal had told me that the gym was actually in the school's back yard, outdoors, away from TVs and other destractions, though we'd still be filmed.
"Are you Michael?" a gruf yet somehow friendly voice asked me as we walked through the school's front half.
"That's me." I afirmed.
"You're right on time. You ready to brake a leg for the world?"
"as ready as I'll ever be." I answered; trying to stay relaxed.
"glad to hear it. Is that Pidgeot behind you your support for the battle?"
"He is." I replied as the man felt my belt and checked it for Hope and sarah's balls.
"Good, only two Pokémon. Looks like everything checks out." he said.
It occurred to me that he'd used some kind of scanning wand on the Pokéballs, and knew what Pokémon they contained.
"One more thing." he said.
"The judges calls are absolute. When a Pokémon is unable to battle, it's unable to battle. Understand?"
I indicated that I did, and the man; probably some kind of securitty; stepped aside, and allowed me to pass through the door in front of me, into the gym propper.
As I moved to open it however, Liz and Crystal ran up behind me, and I was surprised to hear Liz out of breath.
"You ran?" I asked.
"No point in using my powers in here." Liz said to me, then seemd to address the man who'd blocked my path.
"We're with him. I'll be an observer, but Crystal's here to test out her new Rotom Dex that Michael will be using from here on out." She explained.
"no powers, or your friend gets disqualified." the gard woarned.
Liz agreed, but told the man that if anything happened that put me or any of the others lives in danger, all bets were off.
"I understand how your kind do things." the gard said in Liz's direction, then he wished me luck and left.
Crystal set Rotom down, and he promply climbed onto my sholder.
"He wasn't heavy at all, and as he asked if he could sit their, I decided that Rotom would sit on my sholder from now on and be my support; just like Ash's Pikachu in the anime.
"Ready to be my Pokédex?" I asked Rotom.
"You'd better believe it! Let's win this thing!" he said.
with that, I opened the door and stepped into the gym.
"Hy their. welcome to the Aspertia gym." said a kind voice.
"You must be Cheren." I said; offoreing my hand.
"And you must be Michael. Nice to meat you." the man replied; shaking my hand.
I was then directed to take my place as marked on the ground, and Robin lead me onto a kind of raised platform about twenty steps farther into the outdoor room.
"You getting everything?" Rotom asked.
"Lout and clear. we're good to go." Crystal answered from near the door as Cheren took his place.
Another person; standing somewhere off to the side; chose that time to speak up.
"The gym battle between the gym leader Cheren and the challenger Michael will now begin. Each trainer must use two Pokémon, and the battle will be over when either side loses both their Pokémon, either due to the Pokémon passing out from injury or fatigue do to the Pokémon being depleted of stamina. During the battle, only the challenger may substitute his Pokémon. The height limit of Pokémon in this battle is restricted to two and a half feet, the flight limit is restricted to eight feet, and only Pokémon of first or middle evolutionary stages are allowed. Do both trainers agree with the rules?"
The person said all this as if it were memorised; which it probably was.
Cheren and I agreed, and some kind of computer program somewhere must have reached a decision, because the third person; most defanatly the battle judge; declared that I had to send out my first Pokémon.
"I thought" I began.
"New rule. Trainers always had it easy because their strategies always revolved around seeing what they were up aginst before they chose their first Pokémon, so now we use a coin toss app to randomise that particular variable." cheren explained.
That made sence to me, so I reached down to my belt to choose my first Pokémon.
Sarah's ball was shaking, so I grabbed it.
I thought about choosing Hope for a few seconds instead, but came to the conclusion that the strategies Robin and Trey helped me to develop wouldn't be changed all that much if Sarah whent first or not.
"What's wrong?" Robin asked softly.
"Just thinking about who to send out." I answered truthfully.
"You don't have that long." Robin said.
I knew that a trainer only had a set amount of time to choose his or her Pokémon, or risc being disquolified from a battle.
I didn't have to worry about that as I held Sarah's Pokéball in my hand.
Robin guided my hand; showing in which direction to lob the ball with a quiet, "That way." as he did so.
I thanked him, then called out sarah's name as I released the ball in the direction Robin had indicated.
She came out in a state of surprise, but I knew what was causing her state and explained that we had to choose our first Pokémon before Cheren.
That calmed her down just in time for Cheren to call out, "Pidove, I choose you!"
I'd been counting on Cheren not using his flying type and focusing instead on just using his two ground runners.
Being confronted with the little bird gave me a little bit of pause, but Robin was their and knew just what to do.
He shuvved his beak as far as it would go into my ear and whispered a simple message that made me extremely glad I'd chosen him as my support partner for this match.
He reminded me how wind was effected by height, and that; cuppled with the new hight restriction placed on flying types for this match; gave me a plan.
"Sarah, take off, but stay only about this high off the ground." I said; holding my arms level with my elbos; indicating a height of about three feet or so.
In this way; I hoped; any wind generated by Pidove's gust attack wouldn't be enough to blow Sarah to the ground.
sarah took off, and; due in part to her vary low height; was able to fly vary well for her limited flight experience.
"Now shoot Pidove!" I commanded.
Sarah did as she was told; the shot and resultant hit drawing gasps from everyone in the room.
Pidove seemed just a little bit put off by the attack, and sarah pressed her advantage by shooting even more of her water bullets; really just hyper compressed miniature bubble beams; at the other bird.
"Pidove, Workup and dispatch." Cheren commanded in an oddly calm voice.
The workup part, I understood well enough, and so did sarah.
As we'd practiced, she doubled her efforts to attack Pidove during the workup phase, but Pidove was really; and I mean really really; fast, and mannaged to avoid almost all of Sarah's well-placed attacks.
I wasn't sure what the dispatch command referred to, as their was no attack with that name to my knoledge.
as it turned out, it was an instruction to combined Pidove's gust and quick attacks together.
The beafed up quick attack portion knocked Sarah out of her practiced flight routine, while the gust part sent her flying out of the battle arena.
She tried to recover herself and get her bearings, but that only sent her spinning even more out of control.
"Sarah this way!" I called, but she couldn't manage to get herself oriented in time and crashed into one of the gym's walls; falling to the ground with a moan.
"Ringout!" the judge called.
"What's" I began.
"Sarah's out for 100 seconds. Hurry and switch Hope in." robin explained.
"I knew their was some practical reason for the ringout condission, but I also didn't have time to figure it out just now.
I grabbed Hope's ball and summoned her into battle a little quicker than I'd prefered to; and defanatly quicker than we practiced.
"Fair! clefairy!" she screamed before getting her barings.
"Sarah got a ringout when that Pidove used a quick attack and gust combo. Can you use your moonlight wings to keep that bird busy for two minutes?" I asked; praying Hope would say yes.
"We're outside instead of inside, but I'll do what I can." Hope replied before lifting into the air.
Pidove tried the same trick he'd used on Sarah, but Hope's figure made it more difficult for the bird to nock her into a spinnout.
"Hope, give Pidove some technical difficulties." I said calmly.
Hope was shrewd enough to parse my command, because she began using her razer leaf attack to mess up Pidove's wings.
while the vird was trying to get the leaves out of its wings, Hope used hers to get close enough to use pound attack.
As we'd practiced; and correctly predicted, Hope's speed enabled her attacks to do much more damage than they would have on the ground.
cheron simply told Pidove to "Get better."
I didn't think Pidove had the mental capacitty to parse abstract commands, but boy was I wrong.
The bird; somehow; mannaged to shake the leaves out of its wings while still staying airborn.
As it came for Hope once more, I heard her let out a small exclaimation then apologize.
I could tell by the placement of her voice within the vertical space that her moon energy had not lasted as long as we'd planned.
As she landed, Cheron simply said, "Up!"
Pidove flew as high as it could, then simply hovered their; probably awaiting more orders.
"Pidove can't stay up their for vary long." robin said helpfully.
"No he can't, however it's long enough for you to be disqualified from this battle seeing as you have no other Pokémon that can battle for fifty more seconds, and Hope has no moves that can hit Pidove from his current height." cheron taunted.
He was almost right, but I knew of at least one move that Hope was able to use that could hit Pidove if luck was on our side.
If it wasn't, it would at least take up the required fifty seconds for sarah to get back in the fight and finish off Pidove.
"Hope, please use Metronome." I said loud enough for all to hear, but quietly enough to convey the fact that I knew the wrisks involved.
"You sure?" she asked in the same voice.
"We don't have any other options given the circumstances." I told her.
Hope blew out air as she walked a few steps forward.
"If this ends up being a dud, plese don't be mad at me." she said in a quavering voice.
"No worries. Just give it your all okay?" I asked.
I heard Sarah moaning as she started to come to, and knew that even if this did end up calling out something like the Splash technique that did absolutely nothing; as far as I was aware, we'd be back in the game.
"All right." Hope said nervously.
She then began to chant "Fairy, fairy..." over and over in a sing-song voice, and I imagined her waving one of her arms back and forth; left to right; in front of her.
I didn't have any idea how long the summoning would take, though I figured at least thirty seconds was about average based on how long it took in the anime.
Sarah came to about fifteen seconds in, and ran onto the battle field yelling something that wasn't translated by whatever was in my head; either due to the content of what was being said or the fact that Hope was still chanting in the background.
Robin; somehow; scooped Sarah up in his wings and began whispering words of encouragement to her.
Once she calmed down, we both explained the situation, but that only made Sarah even more agitated.
at that time, Hope stopped chanting with a startled, "Huh?" then began a low "claaaaaah" that rose in pitch and vary slightly in volume.
"Pidove, be ready to dodge!" Cheron commanded.
"Hopes call; or what ever it was; stopped rather suddenly, and all of us must have held our breath waiting to see what attack or technique Hope would use.
"After a three second pause, Hope coughed twice, then began to gurgle as if trying to shoot a liquid out of her mouth.
I understood that the technique she'd used was capable of letting her use any other Pokémon technique; including those that made the user shoot water, inc, draconic energy or even chemically induced fire from the mouth, so I told Hope to open her mouth and let out whatever was in their.
Instead of shooting something, she actually spat something onto the gym's dirt floor before coughing again.
Rotom said a four-letter word; that was no doubt being bleeped out of the TV version at that vary moment; before shouting, "Hope just metronomed transform!"
Several things happend vary fast.
Robin; somehow; mannaged to restrain Sarah, Crystal scooped Hope into her arms and began running out of the gym, Rotom jumped off my shoulder while siting some kind of trainer rule to the judge while Liz put her arms around me and teleported the both of us somewhere.
"A clefairy just metronomed transform!" Liz said as soon as we were corporeal again.
"we saw it and are already prepping the isolator unit." a man vary close to us replied.
"Crystal's on her way with" Liz began, but crystal burst through the door at that moment.
She started to say what Liz had regarding Hope's status, but someone was already taking Hope off Crystal's hands.
as the person appeared to lock Hope inside what sounded like a refrigerator, Liz was already moving to sit at a work desc or something and type on a keyboard.
crystal gently moved her out of the way saying, "I know what you have in mind but I can do it faster."
she wasn't trying to show off or anything, just stating facts.
Being a blind computer user, I understood; probably better than most people; how much valuable time could be saved by using keyboard shortcuts; something most sighted people who used computer mice didn't even know existed.
Liz started to move out of the chair, but crystal simply leaned over her long enough to input several vary fast commands and unceremoniously shove a USB thumb drive into a slot.
as Crystal finished her task, Liz picked up some kind of phone and said, "Hope? can you hear me? It's Liz."
"Liz? where are you? where am I?" Hope asked, though her voice kept changing tonality and even gender.
"I'm in a pokémon center, and you're in an isolation machine, somewhere between forms." Liz said calmly.
as she spoke, she drew me into her cubical and pressed a control that raised some kind of baffle that blocked out sound.
"Michael's here with me, and crystal's also here working to see that you don't transform into something other than a clefairy." Liz continued.
"Where's sarah?" Hope asked; now sounding like a gruff middle-aged man.
"still at the gym, holding your place with Robin." Liz said as she pressed a control.
"Hope, can you see yourself?" Liz asked.
"My self?" Hope wondered; now sounding like a little kid; maybe a girl.
"crystal's projecting a picture of you from today's gym battle on the screen in your unit. can you see it?" Liz asked.
"Kinda." Hope responded; now sounding like a Pikachu from the anime.
crystal's voice came through the same speaker Hope's had come from.
"You still want to be a healing clefairy right?"
"I do." Hope confirmed; now sounding like herself again; if vary slightly older.
"Keep do ing whatever you're doing you two. Hope's patterns now look like a Clefairy again." Another voice cut in.
"doesn't transform just let a Pokémon copy what's in front of them?" I asked softly.
"Normally yes, though with Metronome involved, things get, tricky." Liz explained.
"Liz!" crystal's panicked voice called over the speaker.
"Hope just teleported fragments of moon stone into the isolator with her. Can you remove them?"
Liz slapped a control.
"Hope? You don't want to evolve do you?" she asked.
"Of course not." Hope said in the same voice she'd used earlier.
"What's this? It isn't a moon stone is it?" Hope asked.
"It's part of one. You want me to remove it?" liz asked.
"It's not active, so yes please." Hope confirmed.
I felt Liz tense for just a second, then she said, "Okay it's gone. are you still feeling all right Hope?"
"We're almost their." the unknown person said over the speaker.
"Transform energy output at seventeen percent and falling. ETA if zero is within twenty seconds." crystal apprized.
So we all waited twenty seconds.
"Zero percent." crystal said in an unusually somber tone.
"Is Hope okay?" I asked.
"We're about to find out." Liz said into my ear as the isolator unit opened.
"Huh?" Hope exclaimed as she fell onto the flor and picked herself up. Then she screamed.
"It's okay!" i and several other people; including Liz and Crystal; said as we all rushed to Hope's side.
"No it's not. I'm to big to finished the battle." Hope said in a sort of resolved wine.
"That's what you're worried about?" Liz laughed.
"Of course it is! my size isn't really a big deal aside from that factor." Hope explained.
I could tell that her voice now came from about where Liz's did; as far as height was concerned.
"Hope? How do you feel?" Crystal asked.
"I feel fine, if not just the slightest bit warn out." Hope supplied.
"After what you just went through, i'm surprised you're not bone tired." someone; most likely the person in charge of the operation; said; in shock.
I went to give Hope a hug, and realized that; aside from her new height; she was still the same Clefairy I'd already looked at before.
"We'll have to get her tested for battle compatibility." liz said gently.
"I'll get that started right now if you two get back to Sarah's side and finished that gym battle." crystal said.
A gental knock on the door stopped my reply.
Someone answered it, exchanged words with the person outside, then came rushing over to me.
"Are you trainer Michael?" They asked.
"I am." I replied; wondering what had happened to cause a total stranger to seak me out.
"You might want to check in on your gym battle." the person suggested before going back to what they were doing.
"Is their a TV with the gym battle in here?" I called.
"all ready on it." the leader said as a TV came on.
"...Pidgeot really knows his stuf!" a commentator was saying.
"Robin?" I asked in disbelief.
Liz gasped and took my hand as crystal said something unusually colorful; for her at any rate.
Liz pushed me out the door, then did, something, that made me move in tripletime; cane and all; back toward the gym.
In about a minute or so, I was pushing through the gym's doors just in time to here robin say, "...at the ground
sarah screamed something through a mouth of water before Robin shouted "Good girl sarah!"
"What's going" I began.
"They were going to give the match to Cheron so Robin stepped in for you." Rotom explained in a hurry.
In the background, I heard Sarah somehow soaking the battle field in water.
"sarah's trying to make it harder for that Patrat to hit her with it's powered-up moves." Robin explained before adding, "Hope?"
"Fine. May I take over?" I asked as I moved to switch places with him.
Robin pushed me back with his wing as he gave Sarah a command to "Stay out of Patrat's range!"
"It'd take to long to fill you in." rotomn said as Liz slid in beside me.
"We didn't plan this." she said; making a jesture that was supposed to indicate the battle field in front of me.
"Robin made Sarah turn this field into a bog." Liz explained in amazement.
"I get that." I said as Sarah took a hard hit that made her cry out in frustration more than pain.
"I know it doesn't seem like that potion helped, but it's Bethany's brand of magic, you're still good for a short time." robin encouraged.
"No she's not. One more hit like that and Cheron's got this in the bag." Rotom said quietly enough so only myself and Robin hurd him.
"We've got her now. End this battle!" cheron commanded.
Patrat tried to attack Sarah, but she jumped straight up into the air shouting "Hope?" as she did so.
"In testing." I replied without thinking.
The news must have given Sarah even more determination to win the battle, because she tried; really really hard; to attack Patrat this time.
"Go!" Cheron commanded.
Both Pokémon hit each other head on and fell to the ground.
As Patrat got to its feet, Sarah moaned and got to hers as well.
"Careful sarah!" Robin, Rotom Liz and I all shouted.
sarah put all her energy into one last mighty attack that combined her physical and water attacks into one.
Patrat did the same, and both Pokémon were sent to the bog; flor.
we all screamed Sarah's name; fearing the worst.
She surfaced, spit out mud, but didn't get to her feet.
Patrat; on the other hand; did.
"Battle over. Sarah is unable to battle. therefor I hereby declare Cheron" the judge stopped as patrat let out a; really high; weezy squeak and fell into the bog; not to rise for some time.
"both Pokémon are unable to continue. Therefor I declare this match a draw!" the judge announced.
Sarah got weakly to her feet moaning, "At least it's not a loss."
Liz lifted Sarah out of the bog with her powers, cleaned sarah off, appeared to heal her, then dropped her into my arms.
"I'll take a gym loss over the loss of a friend any day." I said; holding her to me.
Liz gave Cheron's Patrat the same cleaning and healing before he returned his pokémon to its ball.
"Good match! And sportsmanship." cheron complimented.
He then vanished into a building on the other side of the gym.
sarah tried to say something else, but fell asleep in my arms instead.'
"She's warn out. Let's get out of here." I said as Crystal showed up.
"You get enough data?" I asked Crystal.
"I did, but that's secondary at the moment." She replied.
"I know. Did you get Hope's testing started?" I asked.
"Yes, and not just the paperwork either." crystal answered with just the tinyest bit of pride in her voice.
"So how long until she's done?" Robin asked as he directed me toward a path that surrounded the gym's battle area.
Hope chose that moment to ender the gym and head for the same path I was headed toward.
"That didn't take long." she said in a happy voice.
"I didn't think it would given your limited move set." Crystal said as Hope took Sarah from me.
My hands once again free, I began using my cane.
"Where are we headed anyway?" I asked.
"Out the gym's back exit." Robin explained.
"And you know this how?" I asked as we reached said exit.
"Cheron told me during a commercial brake when the cameras whern't roling." Robin said just as we entered a rather small room.
"Ah good." cheron said as he slapped something on my shirt.
"That's a temp gym badge for your Piplup's bravery and the extenuating circumstances with Hope. How is, are you anyway?" cheron asked.
"I'm quite fine, thank you." Hope replied in kind.
"Glad to hear that. Anyway that temp badge will act like a regular gym badge for one hundred hours from now, so you have that long to earn another one." Cheron explained.
"What about the effect of this gym's badge?" I asked; refering to the badge's in-game functions that let trainers control traded Pokemon and use moves outside of battle.
"Oh. We dropped that system at the same time we destroied the obedience badges, and that was years ago." Cheron laughed.
"So it's just the number of badges now?" I asked as we exited the first small room and entered another larger room where; surprisingly; Crystal's car was waiting.
"You got it." Cheron confirmed as he headed for yet another door; this one off to the side.
"Good luck." He said as he left us.
His hurried departure wasn't an issue for me, as I knew he had to make it to the PWT.
My issue; at the moment; was how Sarah felt about the results of today's battle, and how she'd deal with the fact that; at least in her eyes; she'd faild us all.
"Hope was another worrie, as she'd somehow gone from a cute pink fluffy little puffball with strange healing powers to a furry rounded human-like creature with strange healing powers and who knew what else.
Crystal held the car door for Hope as she got in the front seat, then gently placed sarah in Hope's lap.
"Liz?" I asked.
"Yes dear?" Liz answered in kind.
"I know you've always liked to be near me, but can I sit with Hope for a change?" I asked.
"Sit with who you want." Liz laughed as she got in the back and proceeded to hold the door for robin and Rotom.
"Rotom sat himself in Liz's lap without delay, but as Robin made to approach the car, I stuck out my hand and caught his wing.
"Hay. That was a vary brave thing you did today." I said quietly as I moved to feel his face.
"I should have asked you first though." robin said in a vary soft voice.
I felt that his head was down, and raised it so we were looking at each other.
"You couldn't have, seeing as I was elsewhere." I explained.
"Besides that, it was either you step in, or we all forfit the match." I said.
"But if a trainer has to have someone step in for him, that other person should be able to act on the trainer's behalf and make the same choices as the trainer." robin explained before blowing out a soft breath.
"And, I can't really say I did that." he finished.
Crystal had been ready to get behind the wheel, but she changed course and came to stand next to us.
"Robin, I didn't see all the prepping and planning you did with him, but from where I stand, you acted on Michael's behalf as closely as anyone could in that situation." she said.
"We never talked about turning the gym into a bog." robin countered.
"but I would have done it." I said as I gave him a hug; knowing he couldn't return it.
"So, stop beating yourself up and except my thanks." I said as I playfully ruffled his head plumage.
"Besides, your bravery is bound to score you some points with Feara." I joked.
This, mannaged to make robin make a sound that was most likely the Pidgeot equivalent of a snicker.
"Okay, feara asks me out, and I'll drop my arguments regarding my behavior at the gym today." Robin said as he climbed in next to Liz.
"deal." I agreed as two things happend.
The most unremarkable of them was that crystal moved away from us to continue her previous task.
The remarkable one; on the other hand; was that sarah chose that moment to wake up and start dancing on Hope's lap.
"We did it, we did it." she sang.
"Did it?" crystal asked.
"Yeah we almost wun!" sarah crowed.
"That's one way of looking at it." Hope agreed as we pulled around the building.
I noticed that nobody was coming after us; screaming for interviews or anything reporter-like.
Crystal must have seen something in my face, because she said, "No person should have to deal with 'other people' digging into their losses."
I didn't know if their was some rule that forbade reporters from questioning challengers after a loss or if Crystal had done something, but I was greatful all the same.
"That's good, because when we get to your place, we need to start putting together a plan for Roxie's gym." I said."
"Already?" Sarah complained.
"Today was, not in anyones favor, but as long as Hope's okay with her, situation, we need to start focusing on how to deal with Roxie and her Pokémon tomorrow." I explained.
"I'm fine with my situation as you put it, especially as it could have been much worse, but we need to see what really happend in my absence before we start making plans." Hope said.
"No we don't. roxie's gym is like other gyms, in-doors and concrete instead of dirt." Rotom supplied.
"What else you got on her?" Robin asked.
I couldn't help that Robin and Rotom were seeming to get along really well despite only being around each other less than a day.
"Two questions." rotom prefaced.
"Michael? Out of the Pokémon you have on your team, Liz and Trey excluded, what Pokémon can stand up to both Poison and, vary loud music?"
"Loud music?" I asked; perplexed by the combination.
"Rock band leader. As well as gym leader." Rotom replied.
That automatically took Christina out of the running; as her ears were more sensitive to loud rock music than anyone elses; myself included.
"How many Pokémon?" I asked.
"Three, but she'll most likely only use two." was Rotom's response.
"Okay just like today." I said.
"Can I fight?" Sarah asked.
"I was kind of wanting you to." I said.
"Why's that?" Crystal asked.
"Two reasons. First, I'd like her to have another chance to help us out, given what happened today. secondly, and I'm really hoping this doesn't come off the wrong way, but she's got the potential to become part steal type upon evolution."
Sarah took a breath as if to say something, but I continued anyway.
"Now I realise you don't want to evolve, and that's fine. I wasn't planning on making you, but seeing as you can become part steal type, I'm thinking that might make you more resistant to poison, as steal types nullify it." I finished.
"Your logic is well founded, but it's still Sarah's decision." crystal said.
"I'll do it! But exactly how and with whom..." Sarah said.
"we'll deal with that a little later." I said before turning to speak to my friends in the back.
"I still haven't thanked you three properly." I began.
"don't worry about it. We know you meant to." Liz said.
"I know you know that, but do the others?" I challenged.
"Sure we do." rotom piped up.
I decided; then and their; that I was going to find time to get to know all these people; um, Pokémon; I'd found myself in the company of.
In my mind I knew they were technically animals, but so was I when you got down to it, so the term Pokémon never entered my mind when I thought of them.
"When this hole time crunch situation is over, I need to make time to figure you all out." I said.
"You'll have it." everyone except crystal said.
She did make to speak some time later.
"I'm sure Christina will have lots to say about me, so You can feel free to ask her anything you want about me." she said.
"Can't I get to know you tonight and tomorrow?" I asked.
"You can try tonight, however I feel the need to point out that tomorrow I have to catch up on my work load, so Bella will be accompanying you to Virbank." crystal informed me.
I considered Crystal's words, then said, "Hay Rotom? what Pokémon are between Aspertia and Virbank?"
He rattled off a list that was vary unremarkable.
"So you won't mind if Bella takes the car?" I asked crystal.
"It'd be best if she does. Not many people know she can drive, so they'll think I've gone out again." crystal explained.
"No visiters." Liz asked.
"Correct." crystal confirmed.
"Wait we aren't walking?" Sarah asked.
"Virbank's a big place, so you'll still be doing some walking, and if you want to fight some wild Pokémon, that can be aranged." Robin replied.
"You've been there before?" Hope asked.
"Yes I have. Actually my previous master lives there."
"We aren't going to have any problems are we?" I asked.
"No, He gave me up willingly after all." Robin explained.
Just then, we arived back at crystal's, and as she made to disembark, my door was yanked open and Bethany flew into the car shouting, "Sarah are you okay? Did my potion help?"
As Sarah asured Bethany of the facts that the potion did help and that all was well, bella held her hand out to me.
Just then, Liz climbed out laughing, "I believe that's my role." in bella's direction.
"I understand Liz, but just this once, may I?" bella asked.
"I don't mind." Liz replied as Rotom regained his place on my shoulder.
"Actually it should be me helping the two of you out, seeing as I'm the gentalman in this arangement." I said.
"We aren't dating!" Liz laughed.
"Oh, then I could step in?" bella asked in a joking manner.
"No he's still mine." Liz replied in the same manner.
Robin extricated himself from the car only to be 'attacked' by feara who said something terse before flying off.
Robin let out a breath as chris said. "Speaking of dates, someone's got one."
"It would appear so young man." Robin replied as everyone else headed for the house.
bella helped me out of the car and was about to close the door when Robin put a wing on my shoulder.
"can you hold off on the strategy meeting for a few? I need to give feara an honest reply." he explained.
"Good luck." I said by way of an answer.
As Robin flew off in his own way, Bella took my hand again but held me back to let the others pass.
"Hay Liz? I think Bella wants to talk to me, so can you give us a few?" I asked.
"See you inside, but don't take to long okay?" Liz said before entering Crystal's house with the others.
bella surprised me by getting back into the car and sliding over to make room for me.
I had no idea what this was about, but I senced that she wanted some form of privacy; not from my friends so much as the outside world.
So I got in the car and closed the door.
No sooner had I done so then Bella said; without any sort of preamble, "Hope's scared of herself."
"I don't doubt it, given what she's just gone through, but what gives you the right to say such things." I replied.
Bella took her time answering.
"All right, this is probably not going to come across the way I mean it to, but I can sence fear in other beings." Bella finally said.
I thought about what she'd said and deduced that it was probably one of her 'powers' given to her to help point out her targets after she'd scared them in to fleeing her sight.
I said as much, and could tell by bella's rather noisy intake of breath that I'd guessed correctly.
Bella suddenly move to take me in her arms and hug me.
"Noone's ever understood me like you do." she said.
Just then, Hope opened the door and slid behind the wheel.
"And what might you two love birds be doing out here when their's work to be done inside?" she asked.
"Being concerned about you, and forming a bond with a new friend at the same time." I replied.
Hope tried mesing around with a few controls before sighing.
"You need the keys to listen to the radio." Bella said helpfully.
"I don't want to listen to it, but it could keep little ears from hearing us talking about private things they shouldn't." Hope explained.
"You think Christina might rat us out?" I asked.
"I doubt it, but for the right reasons, I think she might. My biggest concern is what she'd say to Sarah and how she'd interpret things." Hope replied.
"That's not a problem!" Rotom exclaimed.
He never moved from my shoulder, but the air suddenly gained an otherworldly quality to it.
"Their. Now no ears can hear us without the owner of said ears braking out in goosebumps and passing out for a few minutes." Rotom explained.
I thanked Rotom for his; effect, then turned my head back in Hope's direction again.
"Bella was just telling me about how afraid you are." I said.
Bella was still hugging me and showed no signs of letting go any time soon.
"I can deal with what has befallen me just fine, however I've become increasingly concerned about sarah." Hope admitted.
"How so?" I asked.
"She's hell-bent on following me any and everywhere I go, even onto that ship where my healing powers may not always be successful." Hope explained.
I wasn't sure how to respond. On one hand, I knew that the friendship Hope and Sarah had was one of those that could transcend almost anything life could throw at it, but on the other hand, I knew that at its current stage anything could just as easily shatter it into oblivion.
"You're worried about what seeing death will do to her, aren't you." Bella asked.
"That's right, but she doesn't understand death the way I do." Hope explained.
"I could talk to her, being one who's seen plenty of it, and unfortunately caused lots of it to." bella offered in a vary soft voice.
"I doubt it'd do any good. If she's like most kids, she probably only conceives death as something that happens to old people." I explained.
Hope sighed. "No that's not it. she's convinced herself that nothing bad can happen as long as i'm there to make it all better." she finished.
Bella let go of me at that point, but I staied in the same position, as I could use it to demonstrate something.
I reached up and cupped Bella's 'face' in my hands.
"Back when we first met, were you doing this in order to check if your powers could fix my blindness?" I asked.
"More or less." Hope confirmed.
"Could you do it again?" Bella asked; taking my hands off her face and turning me to sort of face Hope at the same time.
"Sure but why?" Hope asked, though she made to reach for my face at the same time.
This time, she actually did cup my entire face in her hand; given that she could now that her hands were bigger.
"Wow." she said softly.
"What!" all three of us asked.
"My powers..." Hope said.
"Can you fix him now?" Rotom asked excitedly.
"Still no, sorry, but my powers have more than doubled in strength." Hope explained.
She took her hands off my face and turned back to face front as I did the same.
"Was Sarah their when you first tried this?" Bella asked.
"Yes she was, but... Oh. You want me to use that as an example of my powers not working and try to get Sarah to understand that I'm not some kind of super Clefairy right?" Hope asked.
"That's correct." Bella confirmed.
"We have to be vary careful about how we do this. If she's made her mind up, even after we explain things to her, all of us are just going to have to except that this is her chosen path and help her through the rough spots as best we can." I explained.
Hope took, a long time, to process that information, but she finally sighed her exceptence before opening the door and disembarking.
The rest of us followed her lead, and Hope offered me her arm; which I took.
"I know this isn't what you wanted to hear, but Michael's right. All we can do is try to help Sarah understand what she's getting into and let her make an informed choice." Bella said as we made our way to Crystal's front door.
"Like you did?" Hope challenged.
"Yes." bella replied, but didn't add anything else.
We were just about to enter the house when Liz opened the door for us.
"Ah their you are. Sarah's chomping at the bit to get the strategy meating started." she said.
I could hear Sarah in the other room talking excitedly, but about what, I could only guess.
Liz closed the door as we entered and proceeded to lead us toward sarah's voice, but as she did, Hope let go of my arm, stepped in front of me, grabbed my hands, put them on her face, and pantomimed speaking to someone, then took my hands off her face, took my left in her right and proceeded to run one of her fingers in a circle around my palm.
I guessed that she was telling me that she'd talk to Sarah later, but didn't say anything out loud.
Liz doubled back, took one of my hands, put it on her head and nodded before leading us all the way into the next room where the battle meating was to take place.
To my surprise, crystal was their along with Christina, sarah and Chris.
I chose to sit next to Chrystal this time, and she gladly guided me to the proper chair with verbal cues as Bella took a seat next to Liz.
Rotom leaped off my shoulder but decided to; somehow; float directly in the middle of the table we were all sitting at.
"All right." he began before the front door opened again and robin soon graced us with his presence; taking the seat directly across from me.
Before Rotom could begin again, Crystal cleared her throat.
"We had a bit of a bad day, but we all learned stuff in the process so it's time to move on. Rotom? I presume you've already obtained the stats on Roxie?" Crystal asked; at the same time handing me what looked like a wireless braille display.
"You better believe it." rotom afirmed.
At almost the same time, information about Roxie's team appeared on my braille display.
"What do you make of that?" Crystal asked in my direction.
"after looking the information over, I knew the first member of my team for tomorrow.
"Sarah? You're still wanting another chance to help out right?" I asked.
"Sure I am, but am I going to have to fly again?" Sarah asked.
"Koffing is the only one of roxie's Pokémon that can float, but I don't think it'll be as bad as Pidove's flying, so you should be okay." I explained.
"And how do you know you're actually going to be dealing with Koffing in the first place?" Crystal asked.
"Oh that's easy. according to the stats that rotom has provided, Koffing has a history of using an Oran Berry, and given how frale poison types can be, it makes since that Roxie would use items to bolster the health of the Pokémon she's going to use." I explained.
"Liz made an impressed sound, but didn't say more than that.
Chris made to speak next.
"What are you baseing your strenth judgements on anyway?"
"all I have at the moment are my game experiences, but with the right team, poison types can be bested quite easily." I explained.
As I was speaking, a thought crossed my mind.
"Come to think of it, Sarah, have you ever been hit with either poison-based or explosion attacks before?"
"No I haven't. Why would you ask such a question anyway." sarah asked.
"because Koffing have the anoying habbits of poisoning opponents as well as exploding." I replied.
"Not unless they have either attacks that cause the poison status and or explosion or Self Destruct attacks, and this Koffing only has attacks that cause poisoning." Rotom chimed in.
"Okay that's helpful, but we need to know Roxie's special move to." Hope said.
"It's Venoshock." Rotom said matter-of-factly.
"For that to work effectively, roxie needs a reliable way to inflict her challenger's Pokémon with the poisoned status." I explained.
"She's got that covered all right. Koffing and Grimer have Poison Gas, and Whirlipede's got both Poison Sting and Poison Tail." Rotom said; just a little to cheerfully for my taste.
All this information was on my braille display, but I also knew that the others didn't have access to this info, so I let Rotom have the honor of keeping the others, well, informed.
"Poison poison poison. I hope I don't swallow any of it." sarah said, but she was only half joking.
bella actually laughed. "Take it from one who's tasted poison before. You won't have any problem spitting that vial stuff right out."
"Though I do wonder if bethany's got some kind of medison that can help heal poison. I have a few antidotes, but she might have something better." I said.
"I do." Bethany piped up from Crystal's lap, and; while hiding my surprise that she was their; turned toward her and asked if she had any ready to give out.
"We'll have to make some, but it shouldn't take to long." bella said.
"A few hours?" I asked.
"Most likely, why?" bethany asked.
"because I think we need to train some so I can figure out who best to use against roxie." I explained.
Twenty or so minutes later found all of us; Bella and Bethany included; heading through Floccesy town so my Pokémon and I could train against the wild Pokémon that lived at a ranch just north of there while bethany procured the extra baries she'd need to make her special antidotes from said ranch.
"We should start seeing them any time now." Crystal said just as something ran past us.
Before I could ask what it was, robin had taken flight in pursuit of the creature.
"That Sunflora looked like it was carying some kind of bag." Rotom said just as Robin made contact with; his beak I guess, but the Sunflora made no sound.
Robin deposited the bag at my feet saying, "Looks like he's trying to steal some baries." before flying off again.
"He better not be taking my antidote baries." bethany said.
Bella pulled the bag open, and Bethany screamed, "So much disrespect for natures gifts!"
At about that point, a man came running up to us just as Robin came flying back and deposited something at my feet.
"One sunflora sir." robin said as he landed.
"It's about time someone caught that little thief." the man; probably the owner of the ranch; said.
"This Sunflora stealing all your fruit?" I asked.
"That's correct young man." the farmer confirmed before introducing himself as Henry.
bethany was done inspecting the bag and had Crystal give it back to Henry.
"Looks like you can salvage most if not all that's in their." bethany said.
At that time, a creature ran up behind Henry and cooed softly.
"Yes Ampharos, this young man and his Pokémon just recovered the stolen baries for us." Henry said to the creature as he handed ampharos the bag.
"You go ahead and take that back. I'll catch up shortly."
And with that, ampharos departed back the way it had come.
"can you take care of this Sunflora thief?" Henry asked me.
I pulled a Poké ball off my belt and made like I was going to throw it.
The Sunflora got vary angry at this and started to, kind of scream slash growl.
"I'll take that as a yes." Henry said before following Ampharos; shouting a heart-felt thank you over his shoulder.
"You're actually going to attempt a capture?" Liz asked; tapping the Poké ball in my hand.
"Well I am a Pokémon trainer after all." I said somewhat smugly.
"Crystal?" I asked.
"No I'm not battling that thing." she replied finitely.
"I know. I was just wondering if I could use Hope, or if I was still stuck with sarah for this battle." I clarified.
I could tell that Hope, Robin, Bella and Crystal had moved to form a kind of make-shift wall to keep the wild Sunflora from fleeing.
"The league hasn't sent either me or Crystal any kind of e-mail saying that hope's qualified to battle yet." Rotom said.
"Crystal or I." Robin and I corrected.
"Right. So who's battling?" Rotom asked.
"sarah? I know you're at a type disadvantage in this battle, but would you like to battle this Sunflora anyway?" I asked gently.
Sarah was so glad to battle again that she almost ran at the Sunflora before stopping short and reversing course slightly.
Unfortunately she didn't reverse cource fast enough, because the Sunflora still mannaged to land a Grass Knot attack.
I only knew this because sarah tripped on whatever Sunflora had used to attack her.
As sarah got to her feet, the Sunflora used Mega Drain.
I never thought to wonder how this attack worked in the games, but apparently it involved; in this case; the Sunflora attaching its leaves to Sarah and; somehow; draining her energy away.
"I'm getting weeker." Sarah said in a combination of confusion and surprise.
Sunflora laughed at that point before seeming to launch something out of her; um, person; directly at Sarah.
"Look out!" bethany screamed.
Sarah almost moved out of the way, but still got hit with; whatever that thing was.
sarah gained her footing quickly, but then began to cough violently.
"She's poisoned." Bella and Rotom said together.
"sludge bomb maybe? But how?" I asked; not understanding how something so week to poison attacks could actually use one without herting itself.
"I need" I began, but rotom shoved a bottle into my hands saying, "Here!" before jumping onto my shoulder.
"sarah!" I called.
She gave me a cue, and I tossed the antidote in her direction; knowing she'd have no problem using it.
I was correct, and once healed, I told Sarah to try and get in close enough to use her peck on the Sunflora.
Sarah did as instructed, but didn't even make it half way to her target before the Sunflora attacked again.
It didn't matter what attack was used, because Sarah mannaged to move around it.
"Good job! Don't worry about defeating Sunflora, just weeken it so I can throw this." I said as I held up the Poké ball.
Sarah finally mannaged to get into attack range, but the sunflora got its leaves around sarah and started draining her life away.
I reached for Sarah's Poké ball; thinking to return her and let the Sunflora go so as not to wrisk losing sarah, but Rotom told me that it wouldn't work unless Sarah was in the open.
Liz started making a noise in her throat, and I knew she was about to unleash an attack that would bring the Sunflora down that would also make me unable to capture it; given the rules this world placed on trainers and how they had to capture Pokémon.
sunflora chose that moment to start, screaming; vary loudly.
I was at a loss for what to do, and I wasn't alone either.
Had Sarah mannaged to do something, or had Liz's attack actually connected even though it wasn't ready yet?
"Now little Piplup! don't waste your chance!" called an unfamiliar voice from behind the sunflora.
And Sarah didn't, though she didn't exactly follow the rules of Pokémon battling either as she used her peck attack to tare her way out of the sunflora's leaves.
The sunflora's screams of pain gave me all the sound info I needed to aim and throw the Poké ball at it.
Sarah came running back to me as the ball landed on the ground.
Rotom must have done a quick scan, because he asured me she was okay as the ball began to shake.
I took sarah into my arms and hugged her; letting her know she done good.
"I wasn't sure where bethany mannaged to keep it, but she handed Sarah a potion which Sarah drank greedilly.
The Poké ball on the ground was still shaking, and I started to wonder how a poké ball worked in this world.
"Where do you keep those?" I asked in bethany's direction.
"bella keeps them, and I just signal her when I need one." Bethany explained.
Just then, the Poké ball on the ground made a lout clicking sound and stopped shaking.
"It's green. Now what?" Robin asked.
"Now I figure out just how to keep that Sunflora from running off." I said as I claimed my vary first 'properly captured' Pokémon.
Rotom took that time to demonstrate his encyclopedic knowledge; of all things Pokémon; by walking me through the process of restricting sunflora's range to about ten square feet from my position at all times.
He also explained that the restriction wheel on the bottom of any Poké ball could keep the Pokémon inside restricted to distances ranging from one foot to several miles depending on several factors from personal preference all the way down to control of a Pokémon's more; shal we say, more animalistic erges.
It could also restrict a Pokémon from using it's attacks, so I set Sunflora's Poké ball to restrict all powder-based attacks, as well as anything spore-based.
Rotom also made vary sure to point out that the setting farthest to the left on the wheel represented a Pokémon's complete freedom, and let them go anywhere they wanted; even across regions, and kept other trainers from being able to capture them, in essence a free pass for life.
I made a mental note of these facts, and decided to check the settings for Sarah and Hope's Poké balls to insure they were allowed maximum freedom at all times until they proved undeserving of the privilege.
"Robin?" I asked.
He was by my side in an instant.
"I need you to stand gard over Sunflora when I release him so we can educate him on his new position, and hopefully, find out why he's been stealing fruit from farmers." I said.
Robin didn't say anything, but I could tell; by how he positioned himself; that he was ready for the task at hand.
Liz also came to stand next to him saying, "Just in case."
so, I nelt down, released sunflora, and let him fume for a minute or so.
After he had time to calm down, I; vary slowly; reached my hand out to touch him.
"Frlora." he said vary slowly.
"Look, I'm a little late to the party, but from where I'm standing, you just tried to steal a lot of fruit from someone who worked vary hard to grow it, and who needs it to make a living. What were your reasons for doing that?" I asked.
I sat all the way down as I was talking so Sunflora could tell that I was trying to be on equal terms with him.
He walked up to me and grabbed my hands with his leaves.
"Frora flora?" he ask before placing something into my palms.
"For me?" I asked as I identified the item as a peach.
"Sun flora sun." he responded in a tone that said "for me. are you stupid?"
Then he took the peach from me and held it up in his leaves.
Suddently I received a small electric shock.
"flor aflor." Sunflora explained.
"You want to protect yourself with natural gift?" I asked; recalling the attack from the games that used baries as both its ammo and attribute determinant.
"You'd need," Bella began before pausing sevel seconds.
"Let's see, Cheri, Occa, Bluck, Watmel, Pecha, Wacan, Wepear, Belue, Aspear, Yache, Pomeg, Ganlon, Iapapa, Colbur, Spelon and Rowap Berries right bethany?" she finally finished.
"vary good Bella! You've been studying huh?" bethany exclaimed.
"Not really, but with as many potions as we make, you kind of just get it down." Bella said modestly.
"That be for fighting off, water, dark, fire and flying types." I said; recalling all the weeknesses grass Pokémon faced in the wild; as well as in trainer battles.
"Vary good. I guess those games did help you out somewhat." Robin said; obviously impressed.
"and all of you can help fill in the gaps so I can make it back home eventually." I replied.
"Sor?" Sunflora asked.
"I'm not from this region, but getting back to the topic at hand, Sunflora, the first thing we need to do is explain your problem to Henry so he'll properly understand your reasons for steeling from him, as well as let him know that I'll be teaching you how to defend yourself on your own using the gifts nature has already bestowed on you so you can then start your own journey if you don't want to stay with me." I responded.
I reached out to the Sunflora, and he took my hand with one of his leaves.
"First things first though, seeing as you're going to be traveling with me for a time at least, what should I call you? I'm Michael, but i'm not sure if you can say that. I'd rather not call you Sunflora, as that's what you are, though I can call you that if you wish. I can also give you a name." I offered.
"Sora." the sunflora said immediately.
"You want to be called Sora?" I confirmed.
Sunflora made a somewhat happy sound; though I suspected that was more for the benefit of my disability than how he actually felt, so; then and there, I had a Sunflora named Sora.
"I guess we can leave our positions now?" Liz asked.
"Looks like it." I said as I raised Sora's Poké ball.
"return?" I asked; checking to see if Sora wanted to stay out with us or in his ball.
He elected to stay in his ball for now, and I chose not to push things just yet.
As I returned his ball to my belt, I got Liz's attention, then thought, (How come I couldn't understand a word Sora said?)
(I have no idea. Maybe because he can speak english, just not to you?) Liz offered.
"What's up?" bella asked.
"don't think for a second I didn't notice you two trading thoughts." She added.
"How can you tell?" I asked; dumfounded.
"Your eyes. They move around in a particular way." Bella confirmed.
So on the way to train at the ranch, Liz and I explained about the strange power that let me sometimes understand Pokémon when they were speaking in they're own language. Rotom also brought up the issue of the mysterious Pokémon that had helped Sarah and I capture sora, and explained that he'd recorded it as a Smoochum that had somehow grown up without evolving into a Jynx.
I thought about asking how that was even possible, but decided that; this being a rather different version of the Pokémon world; anything was possible.
Crystal told us that it was actually a vary famous Smoochum named Maria, who'd erned her fame do to the fact that she'd been the first Pokémon to have a capture attempted on her during evolution.
Rotom let me know that my trainer documentation pointed out that I shouldn't ever try and capture a Pokémon during evolution, as it would most likely have vary devastating consequences on the Pokémon's natural groath cycle.
I put two and two together and surmised that Maria was one of the reasons that rule was put in place.
Crystal asked if I wanted to attempt to find Maria and befriend her, and I told her that it wouldn't be polite of me to return a favor with enslavement.
I did add; however; that if Maria sought me out, I'd thank her for her help and extend an offer of friendship, but that was as far as I was willing to push it.
I then asked Rotom how much damage he'd recorded from Maria, and he told me; in a rather surprised voice; that she'd dealt no dammage at all, just startled Sora long enough for sarah to get in the damage she'd needed for a successful capture.
With that out of the way, I turned my attention to the training regimen I'd use once we reached the ranch.