Chapter 1 New friends, journey start.
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon, I'm simply playing in the universe.
Answers for questions from reviews.
Usameer16: The answer is 3 parts. The 1st part is that pet licenses are restrictive on what Pokemon qualify. No specific Pokemon that are known to be terrifying and/or known to cause mass destruction. Magikarp is seen as harmless, while Gyarados are known as the atrocious Pokemon for a reason. The 2nd borrows a concept from the anime regarding Ash's Pokemon that choose not to evolve, they are not at the point of feeling that evolution is needed. Levi never had to face a truly dire situation, and has felt no pressure from Drugan to evolve, thus felt no need for that extra power boost. The last part is based on the idea that a fully evolved Pokemon grows slower than one who has not evolved. When Levi finds that need to evolve, she will live up to her name of Leviathan.
As far as pairing for the story, that is up in the air for now despite what might seem to happen as the story goes.
Now that the day for Drugan to leave on his journey is upon him, his mother won't stop the waterworks, all the while reminding him which items he should have packed, which he does since he's checked 3 times. For transportation from one region to another, it's actually cheaper to travel by plane than by Pokemon teleportation service. Thankfully Eternia City has its own moderate sized airport. He has a 5 hour flight to Canalave City, a 1 hour layover, then a huge 18 hour flight over the ocean to Lilycove City, where he'll pay for teleportation service to Little Root Port. Not a lot of people are on this particular flight, so he's able to have his backpack in the seat closer to the window.
Even though he slept on the long flight over, jet lag is a common occurrence, so Drugan spends the night in a Lilycove City Pokemon center since he has crossed a total of 8 time zones. He had left Eternia City at about 2am, so a 24hr minus 8 means it's roughly 6pm as he lands. He lets Levi and Queen out after getting a room that was available (perks of being a Trainer), they were copped up for close to 24 hours, and though Levi is happy to be out, the tub is barely big enough for her to just sit there. "Don't worry they have a large pond out back for you to frolic in tomorrow for a bit before we really start our journey." Drugan says to placate Levi. Meanwhile Queen has figured out the heat lamp, and relaxes being nice and toasty.
Morning comes too early it seems like, but things still need to get done as Drugan gets up just as the alarm on his Poke-gear rings at 7am. Levi startles a few Pokemon with her size when she is let out to play in the pond about an hour later, but other than that the rest of the morning goes smoothly. By 10am Drugan is ready to go. It cost 1000 poke to get teleported to Little Root Port, since only one of the available Pokemon have been there before and he gains another 2 hours due to the time. Drugan feels a little nauseous after being teleported, and is glad he didn't have a bigger breakfast at the Pokemon center. According to his map there is a river that he can follow up stream that has its origin just north east of Little Root Town.
After navigating his way through the bustling port, he checks distances again and figures that he can either have a really long day and get to Little Root Town closer to 10pm, or stop about 7pm. Double checking his notes and reminders, he's not scheduled to check-in with professor Birch until 11am tomorrow so he has plenty of time. A trainer has to check-in with the regional professor if their starting region differs from their home region. A shorter day then spending the next day in Little Root Town sounds better especially for the distance he has to travel.
Getting to the river via navigating through medium density foliage doesn't take long. Drugan then releases Levi and Queen. Levi's size discourages most of the Pokemon who would otherwise be aggressive like Poochyena, but there are still a few that need to learn to think before they leap. A screech like chirp heralds the arrive of one that chooses to try their luck. A normal sized Taillow tries a dive bomb to make a meal of Levi after it sounds off, but it's swatted out of the sky with ease by Levi's tail fin smacking it into a tree. A little dazed but very much discouraged and much more wary, the Taillow leaves for easier prey.
A break for lunch is taken about noon, Drugan's feet aching only a little since his dad would take him on hikes, knowing that he'll be walking a lot on his journey. Though Drugan has seen plenty of Pokemon so far today, none catch his interest, or are on the list his parents gave him. The ones closest to his location on the list from his folks, and for known habitats is Petalburg Woods for a good location to find Seedot, Wurple, and Lotad. He's hoping that he might find a Pokemon from a different region over the course of his journey through Hoenn and the ones he has on his want list are uncommon to rare. The list of Pokemon not normally found in
Hoenn Region that are on his list:
Nidoran male
Charmander
Eevee
Skarmory
Dratini
Bulbasaur
While the list for Hoenn Region Pokemon is:
Aron
Bagon
Torkoal
Trapinch
Yes the list is short for Drugan's wants, but it has the potential to grow depending what Pokemon are seen and learned about in his travels. The list that his dad wants is much more extensive with changes going to be made all time, with some Pokemon wanted for research, some to be traded to folks staying at the bed and breakfast, and some just to try to start colonies of in Sinnoh.
Lunch is over quickly, generic water type food and a few berries for Levi, and rock type food for Queen mixed with a few small pieces of limestone or marble for flavor. A simple sandwich and a few berries are Drugan's lunch. They continue moving on afterward, both Levi and Queen investigating things that catch their eye, but never going out of Drugan's sight, both for their safety and his. The river is deep enough for Levi to be beneath the surface, but not by much, with a current that she has no trouble with. Evening eventually arrives and they settle down to make camp for the night. No rain is anticipated according to the weather station on his Poke-gear, so Drugan just takes out his sleeping bag after making sure everyone is fed and sets his back pack up as a pillow. Levi gets returned to her poke-ball for the night, while Queen rests on the left side of Drugan's sleeping bag.
Being the first night outdoors far away from home, some anxiety makes Drugan's sleep a bit restless, but he still gets enough sleep to not want to immediately hit the snooze function on his alarm. That and Queen is laid against his back after he had turned to the right, sometime in the night. A couple of Zigzagoons had curled up with him throughout the night, but Drugan only sees the last bit of their tails as they dart back into the forest, the alarm having scared them off.
Morning absolutions are done quick including a short grooming session for Levi and Queen, and then they are on their way again. About 2 hours later still heading north, they start to see signs of the town to the northwest through the thinning forest. Levi is returned and Drugan with Queen change their walking direction from north to northwest, reaching the outskirts after 15 minutes. Thankfully folks around here are friendly, and Drugan is given specific directions to the lab, since the Poke-gear only gives a general area. Little Root Town while small for population is fairly spread out, thus Drugan and Queen don't get to the research lab until right at 11am. An assistant researcher lets them in after verifying that they are expected, and directs them out back to the corral area.
Professor Birch is easy to spot as he observes some young Pokemon playing around, a Medicham seemingly looking after him from the shade of a nearby tree alerts the professor to their presence. "So you're my appointment. Come on I'm not going to bite." The professor cheerfully greets them. As they get closer his eyes lock on Queen, able to tell from experience that she is well taken care of. With reassurance from Drugan, Queen is patient as Birch does a close physical examination. "Seeing a Larvitar in Hoenn or even most other places is rare, and she's definitely healthier than the few others I've seen, but I was told that you have another Pokemon of unusual size despite being a lot more common. So come on bring them out." Birch says, eyes wide with glee. They move over to the lake on the property at Drugan's insistence. With a call of, "Levi time to show off." Drugan releases her into the lake. As she finishes materializing, Birch's eyes widen at her size and deepening color, which the professor knows is due to her long healthy life compared to your average Magikarp. Birch also agrees that when she evolves, she will be in the upper echelons of size and strength compared to the rest of her species. She immediately attracts the attention of several other water Pokemon, but so long as they are friendly to her, she is friendly back. A Corphish learns this to his detriment when he fires a Bubble-beam attack at her. Levi quickly switches gears from friendly to angry after the attack is launched. She uses Bounce to get to the Corphish while evading the Bubble-beam, who is barely able to stop his attack before she lands. He is not able to dodge the splash from her landing, or the sideswipe of her tail fin that hits with a meaty thwack, sending him ass over teakettle screaming his name the whole way, where he hits a large tree by the lake's edge at about 7 feet from the ground, does a brief slide down the trunk to the ground, but then lays there dazed and muttering his species name. As quick as that happened, Levi is moving back where she started, her pleasant demeanor showing no signs of her previous fury. Birch laughs at the proof that she is not a pushover. After Birch examines Levi a lot closer, he and Drugan settle down by the lake's edge so Birch can learn the history behind Queen and Levi. While that is going on, Levi is having a ball playing with the lab's water Pokemon, while Queen is not left out as an Electrike is the first of many land based Pokemon to get her to play.
A half hour later, the story is finished with only a few questions from Birch to break it up. Birch is satisfied with what he's learned and comes to a decision he had been waffling about for the last few months since he was initially told about Drugan. "For not being an actual trainer for even a week, you've accomplished a lot. You've proven that you have the patience and ability to bond with Pokemon that isn't really seen much, even in older trainers. I'd like you to help this one grown to his full potential. I can't since my work keeps me too busy at times." Birch remarks as the story is finished, a great ball having been pulled out of his pocket, his finger already hitting the release button. A small figure materializes, a dark green lizard with a pale green underbelly and a smooth hide appears, with the odd thing of a flame on it's tail that burns strong, but changes color between blue and yellow every few seconds. As the lizard lets out a cry of "Charmander", Drugan is stunned. Here is one of his wish list Pokemon, and while the coloring may be off compared to normal and even what he has been heard about regarding Shiny Pokemon coloration, he doesn't care about that.
Drugan crouches down to Charmander's level and slowly reaches his hand out, knowing that even captured Pokemon can be skittish. Charmander apparently has no fear as he marches the short distance to put his paw into Drugan's hand. After shaking hands, Drugan moves his hand around to the back of Charmander's head, gently rubbing as he goes. Charmander likes the attention and moves closer to Drugan to the point of hugging his leg. Drugan then calls Levi and Queen over to meet Charmander, with the interaction being very pleasant.
As Birch sees this great interaction going on, he speaks of Charmander's history and after goes into a spiel. "He was hatched in Charicific Valley over in Johto, all of his litter mates were the normal coloring, except for him. Liza the caretaker for the valley noticed the distance that slowly but steadily grew between him and the others. Professor Elm had the request initially made to him from Liza to find a good home for Charmander, and he brought the subject up when I talked to him 4 months ago. I agreed to take custody of Charmander, if only til a good trainer was found. I believe you can be that trainer. You are young enough to not be discouraged by raising a young Pokemon, and you'll be traveling too, which will give Charmander more experience with others, not to mention how quickly he has already taken to you." Drugan is quick to agree, but says that it's Charmander's choice, having sat down during the spiel, watching on as the Pokemon continue to play together. Charmander having heard comes back over and hugs Drugan, affirming his choice. As Drugan gestures to have Charmander go back to playing with the other Pokemon, him and Birch head back into the main lab building to get the needed paperwork taken care of.
Just as they get in, a young woman is escorted into the main part of the lab. Drugan takes one look at her and has a hard time of not having his jaw hit the floor. Mostly she appears a few years older than Drugan, maybe age 16 or so. What really gets his attention and that of a few aids, is how busty she is. Top heavy is an understatement, since even with a few buttons undone, she seems to be straining the collared shirt she is wearing. The rest of her is pleasantly fit, with sneakers adorning her feet, a red skirt with dark blue shorts underneath upon her slim waist, and a red bandanna covering up the top of her shoulder length hair that hangs to either side in 2 big unrestrained bangs. Birch having know her for a while, is basically immune to the charm she naturally has. Drugan on the other hand needs a minute to reboot. By the time he does, Birch has taken May over to a table near the back wall with 3 poke-balls on it. As Birch talks about each of the 3 Hoenn starters, Drugan pulls out his pokedex to look them up. Figuring he can possibly give her more information about the choices, Drugan steps up with his pokedex in hands and except for one time manages to keep his eyes above May's neck. While she had been trying to choose between Treecko and Torchic, the info that the pokedex spouts not really registering in her mind, while the added knowledge of what their final evolutions will look like via pictures tips the scale to Torchic's favor, with Torchic hopping into May's arms with excitement when May verbalizes her choice.
Birch goes to his computer and fills out the necessary forms. May and Drugan talk while Birch does that, with May easily talking about one of her main reasons for becoming a Pokemon trainer, she wants to explore the world outside of Petalburg City where she grew up. But that doesn't tell Drugan why she waited 2 years after the qualifying age to finally become a trainer. Drugan in turn tells of his love for Pokemon and volunteers to introduce May to his 3 that are currently playing in the corral with other Pokemon.
By this time Birch has finished the paperwork. He hands May a standard pokedex, and 5 regular extra poke-balls in addition to Torchic's. He also hands Drugan the great ball for Charmander that he has finished the ownership transfer of. Before they head out back, May admits that she has nowhere near the knowledge that Drugan does and asks to travel with him, to at least back to Petalburg City to show her parents. She isn't going to use a teleportation service to get back, since that would mean that she wasn't working on her main goal of seeing the region. Thankfully she knows how to set up a tent and a few other basic survival skills. Drugan agrees and manages not to make a fool of himself in the process, for managing to score even a few weeks of travel with such a beautiful young woman.
Out back May is surprised by the wide variety of Pokemon interacting with each other. Torchic even struggles in her arms a little, wanting to play. May lets her down, and she quickly makes friends with Queen and Charmander.
An hour later plans have been detailed, lunch had been eaten, and the Pokemon are casually resting but alert. With plenty of daylight still left Drugan explains that they can make it maybe 15% of the way to Oldale town before 8pm so long as they follow the paved route. Drugan does some last minute introductions between May and his Pokemon while informing her that not all Pokemon will be so friendly. He also scans Charmander's poke-ball. Despite the unusual coloration, Charmander is still a only a fire type, but with the really rare ability: Flash Fire. His move pool is great, consisting of Growl, Scratch, Ember, Smokescreen, Tail Whip, with the unusual moves of Sunny Day, and the egg move Solar-beam(locked).
Once on the road, the sounds of Little Root quickly fade. They move 15 minutes walk into the foliage on the east side of the paved road, since they are more likely to encounter other Pokemon away from the road. At Drugan's advice, May begins reading up on Torchic via the pokedex to learn moves and habits, such as Torchic as a species not backing down from pursuing opponents of similar size. May still has it in her head that any Pokemon she is going to catch has to be cute before she will try to capture them.
The next few days pass in relative peace, with only some encounters with aggressive wild Pokemon as they enter the Pokemon's area of claimed territory. Charmander handles a few with moderate difficulty due to his young age, while Queen thrashes her opponents with her superior skill. Training is conducted each night after they stop about 7pm. Queen is teaching Charmander Dig, while he tries to teach her Ember in preparation for Flamethrower later on, and he also tries to teach Torchic Smokescreen. Levi explores any ponds they come across, some of them fairly deep. It's in one of those deep ponds where she discovers some old discarded poke-balls, so old the dex can't scan them to find out if they still work. Pokemon centers have better tech, so they might be able to find out in Oldale.
May has packed a lot of food, evidenced by her big meals, and she doesn't need reminding to feed Torchic, thankfully. May does prove that she is not a morning person, almost beaning Drugan with a pebble when his alarm goes off at 6 am. When asked about how long it took her get to Little Root from Petalburg, she remarks sheepishly that her dad paid for teleportation service for her, so she hadn't left the house til 11am. The topic of who her parents are hasn't been answered, and Drugan figures that he'll learn when they get to Petalburg. Torchic (when not being carried by May), and Charmander have both grown in stamina, due to walking most of the way until they get tired each day, Queen on the other hand does fine all day, the new smells entrancing her.
4 days after they left Little Root Town, Oldale comes into sight about 10am. May immediately runs ahead to the Pokemon center, so eager for a hot shower, Torchic bouncing in her embrace with each step. Drugan returns Queen and Charmander, and is able to catch up before she reaches the main counter in the Pokemon center, his training alongside his Pokemon over the years paying dividends.
They each hand their poke-balls to the Nurse Joy of the center for checkups, and get 2 rooms right across from each other for today through tomorrow morning. After quickly getting cleaned off, Drugan heads back to the lobby to use a video phone, knowing that even with time zone differences, it should only be about 8pm for his parents. Drugan gets called to the front desk before he can get to the video phones, his Pokemon already having been gone over, since they have sustained no major injuries. Going back to the video phones, he plugs in his Poke-gear to sync the number and lets Charmander out, who carefully climbs to his shoulder just as the call connects. His mom answers the phone and upon realizing it's Drugan, calls his father over from out of site. They talk for a bit including how Drugan got Charmander, the site of him having drawn interest from the few trainers in the lobby. After finishing with his parents, he goes back to the main desk to browse both the normal quest board, and the bounty board. The few human bounties available are above his skill level, while the 2 Pokemon bounties don't seem worth it unless he comes across them on accident, so he copies the data to his Poke-gear on the off chance he encounters them. One is of a Wailmer that steals food and other supplies, with a reward of only 3 regular potions. The second Pokemon bounty is a bit disgusting. Apparently a Growlithe has been seen setting piles of crap on fire near various homes with no damage other than the smell, with the reward being 2 great balls. Both bounties required the Pokemon to be captured. The only quest of decent rank for the area is for protection while an archaeologist investigates the ruins about a 1 hour walk from here. It's a C rank meant to only be taken by a trainer with at least a 2 Gym badges, and a reward of 1000 poke plus some not disclosed items. Drugan's advanced trainer test scores mean that he should be allowed to take it. He verifies that with Nurse Joy and she rings the client who will be here in roughly 30 minutes.
While Drugan takes a seat to wait on the client, the other trainers genuinely curious wander over to ask Drugan about Charmander. Drugan doesn't mention exactly how he got Charmander, but all the trainers think that it's cool that Charmander is a unique among Shiny Pokemon. After getting the ok, they all take pictures of Drugan and Charmander. May comes out near the tail end of this, definitely looking a lot more relaxed after her shower, and retrieves Torchic from Nurse Joy. After Drugan relays what he plans on doing, May decides to restock on some supplies, then do more training with Torchic since Drugan has gotten her used to doing some training each day.
It's only a few minutes later when the client Fergus walks in and Nurse Joy points out Drugan. Fergus is wearing tan colored heavy duty work clothes with the exposed flesh being very heavily tanned and Drugan is surprised that he's not sweating in the warm temperature. They talk a fair bit over the next hour on the way to the ruins.
Even though the ruins have seemingly been picked clean of valuable things to the scientific community for several years, Fergus insists that there has to be at least one hidden chamber still to be found. Drugan has out both Queen and Charmander, while the walls are gone over more thoroughly. Fergus points out a couple of indentations, but remarks that there is no hidden switch that they have been able to determine. They go to another corner of the big chamber, but Queen stays put, intrigues by the odd pictures on the wall. She puts her stubby left arm to an indentation, then when she is startled, she pulls right, the stone moving with her until a loud click is heard. The click is loud enough to alert Fergus and Drugan back to Queen's location, only to find a small opening roughly 1 foot by 1 foot with an unknown depth and the section that was moved being a foot thick, and Queen with a grin on her face at her unexpected success. "No wonder nothing else was found, we didn't have a strong enough tool to use in such a small indentation." Fergus comments after Drugan figures out what Queen did. Charmander is the only one small enough to fit through the opening without damaging the ruins and bravely investigates. A few steps into the chamber Charmander finds a lever that he tugs down with ease. A painfully slow grinding sound is heard, with the moment causing Charmander's bravery to abandon him as he frantically gets back out of the small passage way. Shortly after he does an 8 foot tall by 8 foot wide by 2 foot thick panel finishes sliding down from the ceiling in the center of the chamber. Both sides are covered in numerous ancient pictures and words, the sight of which has Fergus drooling at the chance to study them. Another 2 hours are spent carefully cataloging both sides of the panel via the camera Fergus brought. As they go to leave so Fergus can study the new discovery in the safety of his lab, a pond has appeared that was previously covered, and surfacing in that large pond are 3 Relicanth. Despite Drugan wanting a Relicanth, he can't seem to forcibly take one of them. He reconsiders when one seemingly stares him in the face, and then launches a small rock that Drugan has to jump out of the way from, but there is no follow-up attack, the Relicanth simply waiting for a response. The other Relicanth move off to the side out of the way of the coming battle.
"Leviathan, battle ready." Drugan calls out as he releases Levi to fight. Relicanth starts off by making a big rock glow and sends it straight at Levi. "Bounce Strike." Leviathan proceeds to launch herself into the air , dodging the initial Ancient Power, on an arch to hit Relicanth. Though she is targeted by more uses of Ancient Power while in the air, she only takes one hit with the others being deflected. Her momentum still carries her to Relicanth, so she is able to crash her tail-fin into Relicanth and pin him against the pond's edge. Relicanth gets off a Yawn attack due to the close quarters and Leviathan is hit with the move, but Leviathan quickly get her tail under him and with a lot of effort launches him into the air. While Leviathan succumbs to the Yawn and falls asleep, the Relicanth falls far outside the pond in a daze after his sudden meeting with ground. Seeing his chance, Drugan lobs a great ball through the air at Relicanth. His aim is good from the practice he has had and the ball hits Relicanth near his tail. The ball opens up, dematerializing Relicanth. Everything is quiet except for the sounds the ball makes, as it shakes 6 times over the next 20 seconds before finally falling silent and stopping its movements. Drugan is quick to retrieve the great ball, a big grin on his face. He then goes to wake up Levi by calling her name several times. It's a few minutes later where she wakes up thrashing around. She quickly spots her trainer, calm and happy with a great ball in hand, so she relaxes.
With the excitement over with, Levi, Queen, and Charmander are returned, then Drugan and Fergus make their way back to Oldale, both with different things on their minds. They return to the Pokemon center, where Fergus verifies the completion of the quest with Nurse Joy. Drugan has the 1000 poke transferred to his account, then the items are presented: 1 fire stone, 2 water stones, and 1 moon stone. The reward was initially only going to be the fire stone, but with what was discovered, Drugan earned a lot more.
Wondering where May is at, Drugan calls her from his Poke-gear. She replies that she's relaxing after training with Torchic for a bit. Drugan requests her to meet him out back in the center's training area in an hour to show off his newest Pokemon. After she replies in the affirmative, Drugan drops off Levi's and Relicanth's poke-balls with the Nurse for some quick healing, then heads for some food and afterwards tries calling Professor Birch, but an aide says that he's out of the lab for the next few days.
The hour is up and Drugan has retrieved Levi and Relicanth from the Nurse Joy, with the nurse still being shocked about being able to treat such an uncommon Pokemon. Letting out all of his Pokemon, Relicanth is initially disoriented, but quickly presents a pleasant demeanor, helped by the others greeting him. Drugan tries to see how Relicanth likes some softer poke-chow mixed with a berry, and is pleased by the result as while Relicanth is a much slower eater, he consumes all the food presented to him.
With there still being some daylight left, Drugan has his Pokemon do some training, with most notable part being that he has Levi try to teach Bounce to Relicanth. He knows that even this will be hard, there might not be much progress for a few days to weeks to even a month, but hopefully Levi can impart to Relicanth how to access the flying type energy necessary to complete the move, though Relicanth will still have a stronger body and fins from the effort needed to get airborne from a stationary position. Drugan briefly ducks back inside the center to see if Nurse Joy has good enough scanning equipment to see if there anything in the rusted poke-balls that Levi found. No such luck on that avenue. Also no luck on fixing them to be reusable.
Over the course of the next few hours, progress is made all around, only interrupted by the 2 other trainers present wanting a battle. They are 1v1 and Levi demolishes them, her Bounce being the key to taking out a Roselia, and a Gloom. The trainers transfer the winnings with a bit of a shock, but are good sports about their losses.
Night falls and with it the end of training for now. Relicanth and Levi are secured in their poke-balls, while Queen and Charmander are close to each other on the floor, with Charmander's tail on a fireproof blanket between them. Drugan knows he will treasure the soft bed each and every time he gets through traveling areas of the wilderness. Though they leave tomorrow morning, Drugan had told May that she can sleep in til 9am, but to be ready to leave by 10am. Meanwhile Drugan will still get up around 7am, he needs to restock on some food for him and his Pokemon, along with doing a little bit of grooming that they have gotten used to.
Thankfully in the morning, May is waiting in the lobby just after Drugan gets back from grooming Levi and Relicanth in the large pond out back. Turning in their room keys, they depart for route 102 to the west. They make decent progress, but stop earlier then they normally do due to finding a great camping spot that is bordered by the small lake to the north. With there being plenty of daylight left, Drugan lets Levi out to explore the lake, while Queen and Charmander use dig to search for rocks to contain the fire for tonight. May goes off to explore, Torchic at her heels.
30 minutes pass and Drugan is sitting on a log on the lake's edge observing Queen and Charmander's training on Ember and Dig respectively, when he suddenly feels what he believes to be wet scales gently rubbing against his arm. Thinking that Levi is back from her exploring, he raises his arm slightly while reaching back with his hand to rub along her scales, but what he encounters is not what he expected. Instead of a big surface area, denoting Levi's size, his hand slides off to the side when he moves it expecting to encounter more surface area, but doesn't. His curiosity definitely peaked, he turns sideways on the logs, while still trying to get his hand back in contact with the scales he was rubbing. Drugan freezes up at what he sees. Coming about 2.5 feet out of the water is a small serpentine body, big black eyes, a snout of appropriate side for the body, a small jewel in the forehead, and lastly a small pair of wing like fins on either side of the head. Drugan is suitably shocked once he comprehends who this Pokemon is. He never expected to find, let alone see a Dratini so early on in his journey. Just behind the Dratini in the lake is Levi, with what Drugan has learned to be a grin on her face. The Dratini moves out of the water onto Drugan's lap and curls up, still absent mindedly being stroked by Drugan as his brain reboots completely. He has a Dragon, a pseudo legendary on his lap. He voices the words and he hopes this isn't a dream. "Do you want to be my Pokemon." The Dratini looks to Levi, whom gives the little dragon encouragement. Dratini raises themselves up and lightly licks Drugan's cheek with a rough tongue. Taking that as a yes, Drugan reaches into the ball pocket of his nearby backpack, and pulls out a great ball. Presenting the enlarged ball to Dratini, Dratini taps the button with their nose. After the dematerializing process is finished, there is no shaking, just the fading glow from the ball of a successful capture.
Drugan is still in shock 5 minutes later, when May's scream startles him into falling off the log onto the ground. Getting his bearings quickly, he recalls his Pokemon and books it in the direction the scream came from.
He finds May and Torchic very wet up a tree, an Azurill, Marill, and an Azumarill surrounding the tree, with angry looks upon their faces, soot in their fur showing they were hit with a fire attack, and the soaked foliage indicative of several Water Gun attacks having been used. As Drugan comes through the foliage the group of Pokemon turn to him, all looking ready to fire more attacks. He tries to placate them by not making any threatening or aggressive moves. The Pokemon stop preparing attacks, but are still very alert. Calling up to May, Drugan asks what happened. It's only few minutes later that the story has finished coming out. May saw a cute Pokemon and tried to catch them, with Torchic quickly getting in over her head due to type disadvantage and inexperience in battle. When the Azurill ran after dodging a few attacks, Torchic gave chase culminating in Azurill finding their family and striking back. During this tempers become less angry. The Pokemon allow May and Torchic to get down from the tree but are still wary. May with coaxing from Drugan apologizes to all 3 Pokemon, but focusing on Azurill. The last vestiges of anger disappear after some communication between the 3 Pokemon, and Azurill hops over to May lightly rubbing against her cheek. Azurill then backs away about 20 feet with a serious look and gestures to Torchic, wanting a battle. Now more calm May knows that ember won't work at to far a range since Azurill is very agile. The normal/fairy Pokemon leaps forward, tail lightly glowing. A Growl attack slows the approach of Azurill just enough and Torchic succeeds with a Peck attack. The glowing tail still get hits Torchic but with less force due to the Growl. Torchic starts glowing with a red light. "Her ability Blaze has activated, you can finish the battle." Drugan tells May. An Ember attack is used and with Azurill still so close, the Pokemon is unable to evade. Azurill rolls a bit from the force of the attack, definitely damaged by the powered up fire type attack. May since the start has had a poke-ball prepped, and now she throws it. The throw is good and Azurill is dematerialized into the poke-ball. 4 shakes later the glow fades with no more shakes to follow. Despite still being wet May embraces Torchic in victory after retrieving her new Pokemon. Waving to the 2 water Pokemon, May and Drugan head back to their camp, Torchic at their heels.
Once back at their camp, May calls out Azurill. Then using towels and a potion, cleans and heals her Pokemon. Once done with that and having both resting on her lap, May sees a grin on Drugan's face. "I also got myself a new Pokemon, though from my first impression, she is somewhat wary of new people, so no sudden moves please." Drugan remarks as he releases Dratini. Dratini materializes curled up on the ground, sees May and her Pokemon and quickly darts to Drugan, lightly wrapping herself around him with her head hanging down his back. Gently stroking her body, Drugan calms down Dratini enough for her adjust her position to where her head is now facing May on his left shoulder. When asked about how he got Dratini, he simply pats Levi, who Drugan had released, and remarks, "She is really good at making friends."
By the time late evening falls everyone is ready for sleep. Turns out that Dratini was more wary of May then she was of Torchic or Azurill, as the Pokemon after a short greeting period, have tired themselves out with a combination of training and general horse play afterwards. A scan of Dratini during this time reveals some interesting things. While she does have the common ability Shed Skin, her lineage has to be crazy for the moves she knows. The moves Leer, Wrap, Dragon Breath, and Water Gun are not too surprising, but Mud Shot (egg move locked), Iron Tail (egg move unlocked), and Aurora Beam (egg move locked) are the shockers. Who knows what other moves might present themselves after she evolves.
In the morning, it's not the alarm that wakes Drugan up, but a scream from May. As Drugan emerges from his tent, Queen at the ready by his side, they see May gently hugging a small Pokemon with the most distinguishing feature being a green helmet like head with 2 small red horns on opposite sides. Quickly calming down since there is no apparent danger, Drugan tries to figure out what happened. Pulling out his pokedex to scan the Pokemon reveals the species as . Reading a bit more into the entry, are apparently drawn towards big amounts of positive emotions. Figuring that something about May drew the in, Drugan looks up to see the catch themselves in one of May's poke-balls.
As camp is cleared up later on, Ralts doesn't seem to want to walk on the ground, spending all their time either riding May's shoulder or being held by May.
Not long after they get on their way, a wandering trainer challenges Drugan to a battle. With Dratini still so new to the team and not used to battling, Drugan sends out Charmander. After his opponent finishes gawking at Charmander's color, he sends out a Poochyena, and orders a Bite attack. It's clear that Charmander, despite not having been Drugan's Pokemon for long is much better trained than his opponent. This is evident with the opponent's Poochyena not having any higher speed than the wild ones that have been encountered. As a result, Charmander is easily able to dodge and pepper the Poochyena with an Ember attack that almost takes the Poochyena out of the fight. The Poochyena's trainer calls for another Bite attack, but with a small jump from Charmander, a Scratch attack finishes his opponent off. Immediately Poochyena is recalled and a Zigzagoon takes their place. While the Quick Attack performed by Zigzagoon is able to boost their speed temporarily, Charmander has been exposed to faster Pokemon, and thus is able to track the untrained and predictable movements. When Drugan calls out Dig, Charmander is able to perform the technique to great satisfaction, by immediately burrowing down. When the Zigzagoon stops in the middle of the battlefield, being unable to find where Charmander will come out, that is the moment where Charmander strikes, though some work still needs to be done on target location, since instead of striking Zigzagoon in the center of their body, Charmander hits the jaw of his opponent, flipping them onto their back, but knocked out all the same. The trainer recalls his Zigzagoon, and shakes Drugan's hand. Then after giving Drugan his battle winnings, runs off.
The pattern repeats a couple more times by day's end. Charmander takes some damage from a Poliwag's Water Gun towards the end of the day, but is still victorious over his opponents.
Setting up camp for the night after a long day is a welcome chore. Unfortunately there is not a nearby pond for Levi to be let out into. Charmander for the 5 trainer owned Pokemon he beat, has earned a good grooming session, the result of which leaves his blissed out form next to the cooking fire. has reluctantly been made to walk for some of the day, since even psychic Pokemon need some physical stamina on the occasion when their abilities run dry. Dratini who was last let out at their brief lunch break, has energy to burn so Drugan sets her to moving around the campsite to work on her stamina, with the breaks being used to work on Iron Tail, since while the move is unlocked, it's far from being mastered. Charmander is coaxed into joining her before the night is out on the Iron Tail training. Queen is trying something new, working to progress Rock Throw to the advanced move of Ancient Power.
Torchic and Azurill are both start working on Quick Attack, while Ralts works on expanding his energy pool by teleporting around the camp site. All of this is done at May's tentative instruction but following Drugan's lead, since while the encounter with Azurill and her family worked out just fine, later encounters may not be so fortunate in how they turn out.
The next morning gets off to a decent start, no surprises when either May or Drugan wakes up, and camp is broken by 7:30am. There should only be another 2 days til they reach Petalburg, depending on how early they stop each night. For today, Queen and are the ones outside their poke-balls for the start of the day's journey.
A change from yesterday is when the first traveling trainer challenges Drugan, he instead tries to get May to battle instead. She tentatively agrees to a 1v1. Her opponent releases a Taillow, while she chooses Azurill. Her opponent starts off with a Quick Attack to get close. May has Azurill use Water Gun, but Taillow's use of Quick Attack allows them easily evade the attack. Taillow lands the first hit, but a reflexive swing of Azurill's glowing tail manages to knock Taillow back. This continues for several rounds with neither side landing a finishing blow. Drugan has kept silent this whole time, since while he will help May after the battle on learning what was done right or wrong, he refuses to be a backseat trainer. While both Pokemon still have a good amount of energy left, Azurill is getting frustrated so as Taillow comes in for another attack, she bounces up into the air with her tail. As she does, a water veil surrounds her for a a couple of seconds and suddenly adds to her momentum. This allows Azurill to strike with enough force for that knockout blow as Taillow after hitting the ground, reveals their unconscious state. May is ecstatic about her first win against another trainer. After getting her winnings, she scoops up Azurill, who is also pumped about their success. Getting May's attention, Drugan asks if she ever scanned Azurill to find out already known moves. When she replies that she forgot, she rectifies the mistake by pulling out her dex. Azurill has Thick Fat as her ability, and know Charm, Water Gun, Pound, and Aqua Jet (egg move unlocked). "The training from yesterday and the stress of today's battle must have unlocked it. But the veil barely formed, so there is plenty of work to be done until the move is considered mastered. Even without that, unless the Pokemon is very sturdy in defense or otherwise unable to move, using the battlefield to your advantage is key." Drugan remarks as May and Azurill listen with rapt attention.
The next trainers Queen puts herself forward as the one to fight before Drugan can choose another of his Pokemon, eager for battle, or maybe it's the hope of a very thorough grooming session like how Charmander got last night that motivates her. Her first opponent sends out a Lotad to start. At this point against such opponents Queen doesn't needs any commands from Drugan to win. She proves this by first using Mud-slap to blind and distract her opponent as they call for Lotad to use Absorb. This allows her enough time to get close and use Thunderbolt to KO her opponent. Not discouraged by the quick loss, the opposing trainer sends out a Bellsprout, whom they have launch a Vine Whip attack. Their mistake is made when the trainer also tells their Bellsprout to throws Queen. Queen despite only being 3.5 feet tall, weighs about 180lbs. So while she takes some damage from the super effective move, doesn't budge from her spot. A Screech attack causes the Bellsprout to loose concentration, thus the vines to loosen and allows Queen to escape with Dig. From there the battle is over when Queen pops up with a charged up Horn Attack, the difference in strength showing as Queen knocks out her opponent.
The day is definitely slowed down as they encounter 5 more trainers before they make camp, with May taking on one of them and winning with Torchic due to luck of causing a burn status and evading the rest of the battle. Of the remaining 4, Queen tackles 3 of them with ease. The 4th trainer has a Growlithe. There is a pond on the battlefield so Leviathan gets to fights. After her opponent gets over their shock at Levi's size, the battle doesn't last long. Leviathan craters the fire puppy with a Bounce while tanking a strong Ember attack in the process.
As they set up camp for the night Drugan speaks to May about the next couple of days. "We can reach Petalburg by late tomorrow night, or make it an early day tomorrow and have only a few hours left the following morning til we reach the city limits. Your choice, since either way I want to spend a few days in Petalburg doing requests, stocking up on supplies, and doing some heavy training, possibly against a Gym trainer, since I doubt the Gym Leader of Petalburg will fight anyone with less then 3 badges." May's long reply, finally reveals who her folks are and sends Drugan into a bit of a mumbled panic. "Having an early day despite having to camp out another night is fine. I'll try to find another Pokemon for my growing team in the time we'll have tomorrow. Then, when we get to Petalburg, I'm sure my folks won't mind you staying at the house for a few days instead of the Pokemon center. Also I'm sure Dad won't mind you challenging him for the badge, though I'm not sure under what conditions he'll have. My mom will love to meet you too. She helps my dad at the Gym when not taking care of me and my bratty little brother Max." As May finishes her reply, chills shoot straight down Drugan's back that May's father is such a powerful man. And he's been traveling with the man's hot young daughter, for over a week. Pokemon and training Drugan can handle with minimal difficulty. A powerful parent that might be very irate with him for traveling with said daughter, he is no where near prepared for this, especially since Drugan still can't resist checking out May several times a day, damn his hormones. He just hopes his Pokemon are taken care of if the worst case scenario happens, ie he gets buried in a forgotten patch in the forest north of Petalburg.
Finished with setting up camp, they turn to training, though Drugan works alongside his Pokemon as he does his own workout, while May is focused on her Azurill, by trying to help her get the recently learned Aqua Jet to work better. This is done by having Azurill use the move as many times in a row as she can before resting for a bit, then getting back to using the move more. Torchic and Ralts team up for a bit, with Torchic working on accuracy while Ralts tries to minimize the amount of energy she is using when teleporting. Charmander is still working to teach Queen ember, with plenty of progress being made as Queen can fire a few small balls of fire, but they don't survive more than a few feet. Dratini is still focusing on getting more stamina, with the occasional flash of white energy appearing around her body as she races around the camp. This leaves Relicanth and Levi for last. A shallow pond doesn't give them much room to work with, so the focus is on Bounce once again. Relicanth can get a 2 feet off the ponds surface from a stationary position, but there is no white glow around him like Levi has when she performs the move.
End of the night May looks through the pokedex of other Pokemon that are known to habit the area close to Petalburg. None of them are cute except for the Ralts she already has. Remembering that Drugan had showed her the evolved forms of the starter Pokemon before she had made her choice, she does another look and decides to try and find a Shroomish, since the evolved form Breloom looks cool. She'll still keep a lookout in the future for cute Pokemon, but won't hesitate to try for other Pokemon that catch her eye.
May's attention is drawn to Drugan since he is fairly sweaty after his workout. Relicanth uses Water Gun on minimal power to help cool him off. May likes what is seen since Drugan has to take his shirt off to get dry, revealing a runner's build and the water is just running down his body. May quickly turns away to hide the heat in her cheeks. Drugan comes back into sight after having changed clothes to a similar outfit that he previously wore. No other moments happen as they settle in for the night.
The next morning goes good, only 1 trainer finds them for a battle, challenging May to 2v2 that gives her a difficult fight. They are a fighting type trainer evidenced when they release a Machop first. May tries Ralts for a battle, though she definitely needs encouragement. Psychic energy is barely able to grip Machop when used throughout the battle, due to Ralts lack of experience. That combined with her frail physical stats almost has the battle ending in a loss, but is barely turned into a double knockout when a last minute teleport has Machop crash into a tree, though Ralts falls down having used the last of her energy. May next sends out Torchic while her opponent sends out a Makuhita. This battle is more in May's favor since Makuhita is slow while Torchic is fast. But trying to pick Makuhita off from range isn't working, since the Pokemon uses their hands to block the Ember attacks with minimal damage being inflicted. Torchic starts to tire out and Makuhita closes in to use their strength. Torchic is told to use Peck as May starts to panic. That turns out to be the right thing to do. The type advantage of the attack plus no warning, means the attack scores a direct hit. Seeing Makuhita get sent back and showing visible damage, May regains her calm. A few more Peck attacks and the battle is finished, though Torchic is tired from the energy expenditure, and injured from the one punch she took. Congratulating Torchic for the win, May returns her so she can rest.
Things calm down with no more interruptions the rest of the day. By the time they stop for the early night, Torchic and Ralts have recovered somewhat from their energy expenditures. After May helps to make camp, she walks off to start searching around for a Shroomish, using Ralts's ability to sense emotions as a general guide at Drugan's advice. Drugan stays back at the camp to do some heavy training, especially since there is a big enough pond nearby for Relicanth and Levi to join in. Queen by the end of the night has Ember mostly down, only power and accuracy at range that need refining. Charmander with Dig having been finished, starts on strengthening Ember to try and learn Flamethrower with Relicanth acting as fire brigade so a wild fire doesn't break out. Levi works on strengthening her tail even more, hoping to make Iron Tail easier to learn once she evolves. Drugan works in more practice using the metal baton, not knowing when he might need to use it. Dratini has been trying to change how her dragon type energy is directed to try and learn Twister.
It's now 7pm, Drugan and his Pokemon are resting from the training, but still no sign of May. As Drugan reaches into his bag for his Poke-gear to call May, she walks into sight. She looks like she has been put through the ringer, her bandanna is sticking out of a dirt covered pocket, her hair is a mess of twigs and leaves. Last but not least, hers arms and legs are covered in mud. You think that she to had to have failed to be in this condition, but no she holds a poke-ball tight to her chest with a successful look on her face. "Before anything else I need a bath or a shower. I am not going to sleep like this. I'll need to borrow Relicanth, Azurill is too tired to use Water Gun right now." May says in an exasperated tone of voice, barely stopping to grab her backpack before retreating out of site behind the small bunch trees. Drugan knows that no matter how much his hormones might temp him in a situation like this, now is not the time. Instead he makes some more food, since May is probably very hungry from skipping dinner.
Thirty minutes later a scrubbed and much more calm May returns to the camp. Drugan holds out the bowl of food and is patient while she scarfs down the food. "We checked out a fair number of Pokemon that Ralts could detect, none of them were a Shroomish. I had to have Torchic fight a few that wouldn't leave us alone. We probably went 2 miles in a straight line before turning north. Shortly afterwards I saw a cute Pokemon but couldn't get a good scan with the pokedex to identify them. The Pokemon panicked and started running away after they saw me when I was maybe 30 feet away. I returned Ralts and gave chase. After a 10 minute chase, they had just gotten out of sight when they cried out. I got there as the Pokemon was being attacked by 2 Taillow. Torchic and Azurill were able to chase the Taillow off, but I missed a step during the battle and slipped down a small muddy hill. Torchic and Azurill coming over to check on me wasn't a surprise. The Pokemon I had been chasing coming down the hill after them to rub against me was. After that the capture was simple. I held up the poke-ball I pulled from my pocket, a simple click, no shaking or glowing, and I then had a new Pokemon. Now that I'm feeling better, time to treat my Pokemon." As May finishes her tale, she releases her 4 Pokemon. Ralts is still tired but is glad for the hug she receives. Torchic and Azurill greet May and head for the food prepared during her explanation. Her newest Pokemon has a yellow body surrounded by a upturned collar of light green leaves, and a green body with orange feet. Both May and Drugan pull out their respective pokedex to scan the Pokemon, though May's provides more info since the Pokemon is hers.
Sewaddle, the sewing Pokemon.
This Pokémon makes clothes for itself. It chews up leaves and sews them with sticky thread extruded from its mouth.
This Pokemon is male and has the ability Chlorophyll, which increases speed in sunny conditions.
This Pokemon knows the moves: String Shot, Tackle, Bug Bite, Absorb, and Synthesis(egg move locked).
Her newest Pokemon certainly is cute, and it only takes him tentatively taking a bite of the food May is offering, before he is eagerly eating, with May gently rubbing along his back the whole time. Drugan moves to pull out his grooming brushes and hands May some of the softer ones for after she cleans up her Pokemon. Torchic and Azurill help to pull leaves and and other things from each other's fur/feathers before being helped with hard to reach areas by May. Then they get nice comfy after May finds a brush that is soft enough for them. Ralts gets a little brushing before falling asleep in May's lap. Even her newest Pokemon, Sewaddle enjoys the brushing. Deciding to bond with her newest capture, May returns Torchic and Azurill to their poke-balls for the night to rest, but doesn't have the heart to disturb Ralts as she gently sleeps. Sewaddle lays against Ralts and falls asleep in just a few minutes. Being careful not to jostle them too much, May retires to her tent for the night. Levi and Relicanth are good to stay out for the night, while Queen, Charmander, and Dratini debate on who gets to sleep by their trainer tonight. Charmander wins the impromptu contest of shooting an attack up into the sky the highest, so the others agree to sleep in their poke-balls for the night.
Drugan Pokemon List:
Magikarp (Levi)- Moves: Tackle, Splash, Bounce, Tailstrike (will turn into Iron Tail after evolution), and Bounce Strike
Larvitar (Queen)- Moves: Scratch, Screech, Leer, Mud-slap, Horn Attack, Dig, Rock Throw, Iron Head, Iron Defense, Ember, Spike( combo of Dig, Horn Attack, and Iron Head), and Thunderbolt (egg move unlocked).
Charmander- Growl, Scratch, Ember, Smokescreen, Tail Whip, Sunny Day, Dig, and Solar-beam(egg move locked). Relicanth- Yawn, Ancient Power, Water Gun, Tackle, and Harden.
Dratini- Leer, Wrap, Dragon Breath, Water Gun, Mud Shot, Quick Attack (egg move locked), Iron Tail (egg move unlocked), and Aurora Beam (egg move locked).
May Pokemon list:
Torchic- Ember, Peck, Scratch, and Growl.
Azurill- Charm, Water Gun, Pound, and Aqua Jet (egg move unlocked).
Ralts- Teleport, Psychic(10% power due to small pool of energy and lack of experience), Growl
Sewaddle- String Shot, Tackle, Bug Bite, Absorb, and Synthesis(egg move locked).
AN: This chapter brings new things into play. Also, I have been on a streak, so you get this chapter early. I'm not afraid of constructive questions as I had answered up top.