Chapter 5: Start
"Nikko, believe it or not, but I am starting to get a little sick of this Forest."
"Vee?"
"Yeah… pretty much."
All in all, it had only been a few days since I fled Pallet town with my ill begotten loot, but boy if it didn't feel longer. The wild highs and lows had warped my time in the woods into something deeply, deeply exhausting.
I wasn't some sheltered city kid, but enough is enough. At this point, even a passing glimpse of civilization would be as sweet as honey. Heck, I'd take a dinky old town as long as they had bathroom.
God I need a shower.
I let out a truly massive sigh at that last thought.
"You know what?" I stop walking and sit myself onto the ground. Nikko hops away at my sudden movement, her head cocked to the side in confusion.
"I'm done. Checked out. This is our life now apparently. Best get used to it."
I bonelessly flop down the rest of the way, a root sticking into the small of my back.
"Ow."
My furry partner in crime pads over to me, her big brown eyes full of compassion and light.
"Guh!"
The audacious girl wastes no time jumping onto my chest and circling around a few times before she plops herself down for a nap.
I guess this truly is my life now.
At least I made some decent progress in the last few hours.
[Running] has leveled up! (10/100)
[Running] has leveled up! (11/100)
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[Thief's Eye] has leveled up! (4/100)
In hindsight, my utter exhaustion wasn't too surprising.
[Running].
Not even once.
Why did I make it one of my skills again?
I reach up and thread my fingers into Nikko's fur, the contact immediately relaxing me.
I don't regret it though. Nikko is objectively too adorable when she runs and hops about. How exactly does anyone - least of all myself - expect me to not scamper around the woods with such a playful girl?
And the results do speak for themselves. A level is a level is a level. And It only makes sense to grab any opportunity to grind up my skills while I still have the time. Who knows what the future holds?
Well, I'm staying away from the woods for a good long time, but beyond that I'm at a loss.
Surprise, surprise - anime and video games haven't prepared me for the world as thoroughly as one might hope. Case and point, if my last few days are any indication, Kanto is much bigger than I had previously assumed and I have no idea where I am.
Which is totally my fault, no doubt about it, but still annoying as all heck.
When I popped the lock on the incubator and finally laid my hands on Nikko's egg, I was instantly blindsided by a swarm of Dings and Level Up notifications. In my resulting surprise, I may have made more noise than any self respecting thief should. Not my proudest moment, but it is what it is.
From there, it was a blur of sprinting through the Lab - doing my best to avoid the throngs of confused Assistants - before eventually crawling my way out of an open window. By the time I left the Research Compound and crossed into Pallet town, I was stuck between trying to get out of there as fast as possible and utilizing [Sneak] to throw off some of the attention I was surely drawing my way.
At one point I had to talk down a concerned old lady that I was indeed fine and just had to get home for dinner before my Mom got too upset.
I don't know which direction I ultimately left in, only that I never did hit the Ocean nor Route 1.
Which leaves me with no clue if I'm actually heading in the right direction or not since I have no idea where I started from.
Wow, I'm really bumming myself out here.
I dig my unoccupied hand into my pocket and pick out two Oren Berries, one of which should take the edge off the worst of my bone deep malaise.
The other is set aside for the Eevee snoring on my chest. Obviously.
In better news, the level in [Thief's Eye] was an unexpected surprise. I made sure not to repeat my mistake from earlier and kept it on a low simmer while the two of us ran about. It eventually drew my attention to a small gold hued coin lodged halfway into the dirt. I'm confident I would have walked right on by it without the skill.
I'm not sure what kind of currency it belongs to - the only hint an embossed 7 on either side.
I retrieve the offending coin and raise it in the air, letting an errant sunbeam reflect off of its burnished surface.
It doesn't take any real flex of brain power to deduce that it's probably not a cash denomination. Who ever heard of a seven dollar bill or seven cent coin?
Not this guy.
So what is it?
I shrug as much as I can without waking Nikko up.
I'm sure it'll come to me eventually.
It wasn't my intention to fall asleep on the ground. I swear, it was supposed to be a quick rest - no more than half an hour. Forty five minutes at most.
Now, not to blame Nikko unduly, but the fault does sort of lie with her.
Sorry sunshine, but you lulled me to sleep with your disarming - well - everything. It's hard to keep your eyes open with a baby Eevee snuggled up onto your chest.
That being said, as the adult in this situation, I have decided to magnanimously shoulder half the blame. For are her mistakes not mine as well?
Gosh I'm cool.
Finding Nikko staring back at me from atop my chest, I smile her way and voice the possibility for some relaxed training. I'm in no mood to aimlessly hike at the moment.
"To be honest, I'm not really happy with the idea of you battling quite yet," she turns away and huffs in disagreement, "but I do think it's worth getting you more familiar with the rest of your move-set."
"For now, how about we play around with [Sand Attack]." Nikko turns back my way, her prior displeasure immediately forgotten. "Unlike [Tackle] and [Tail Whip], you can practice it more or less on your own. No opponent neccesary."
I lift up the now excited girl and move her to the side.
"Time to see what we're working with." I get up to my feet and walk over to a relatively open clearing. "Are you familiar with how the move works?"
Nikko hops up in agreement with a small "Eevee!"
It's interesting that she understands how to perform the move, despite never having actually done so before. It could be the influence of the System, or just how Pokemon work. I honestly have no idea. Probably somewhere in-between if I had to put money on it.
"Great!" I clap my hands and point to the side.
"See that big stupid rock over there?"
At her confirmation I continue on.
"That'll be your target for now. Whenever you're ready sunshine."
"Vee!"
I watch as Nikko runs about halfway to the designated target, before she spins around and kicks out her hind legs in a flurry of movement.
A surprisingly large amount of dirt - interspersed with fallen leaves - gets flung out towards the rock, showering it in a wave of brown. It doesn't do any damage of course, but I can see a good deal of potential in the move.
Blinding and disorienting the opponent. Throwing up a screen to cover your movements. Even potentially interfering with weaker attacks. I wouldn't be surprised if a strong enough [Sand Attack] could slow down or disrupt something on the level of a Bubble, String Attack or Leech Seed.
I walk over and deliver a couple of congratulatory head pats.
"Fantastic job Nikko. Mind doing it once again, but farther away this time?"
Her face says it all and she wastes no time scampering back another five feet.
This continues for a short while as the two of us test the limits, strengths and weaknesses of the move. We check the maximum distance [Sand Attack] can be used before it begins to lose cohesion. And after some trial and error, we work out the range to the left and right the move can reach from a set position. With a little flexibility, Nikko can angle the spray a surprising amount to either side. Satisfied with our progress I decide to get more physically involved in the training.
"Don't worry about hurting me, just focus on hitting me at all, Okay?" I softly ask as I work through a series of stretches.
Nikko looks hesitant, but eventually nods.
"I'll be running around the clearing. Your goal is to simply tag me with a [Sand Attack]. Think you can do that?"
She nods again, with more confidence this time around.
I grin and send a wink her way.
"On my mark. Ready... set... go!"
Ding!
[Running] has leveled up! (12/100)
At the now familiar ding, I stop and bend over, taking in large gulping breaths. I idly brush a stubborn clump of dirt off my pants leg.
At the same time, Nikko takes a stumbling step towards me before giving up and dropping to the ground. She looks absolutely wiped after our impromptu training session.
Poor girl. I hope I didn't push her too hard, her VIT is only 1 after all.
I'll have to make it up to her somehow. At least she seemed like she was having fun.
For now, I walk over and scoop her up into my arms, the already half asleep Eevee nuzzling into my embrace.
I look up and try to pinpoint the location of the sun. With a scowl I note that it's farther along its way to the horizon then I'd like. I let loose a sigh and start making my way to the stream we've been following most of the day. I really thought we'd be out of the woods by now, but it looks like it very well might be another night of roughing it.
At least I'll have a cuddle buddy this time.
Ding!
[Rest] has leveled up! (4/100)
Bwuh?
…
It's times like these that I most strongly feel the absence of a settings tab on this damn thing. Hopefully they'll become less frequent as the skill levels up. I don't think I can handle being forced awake due to [Rest] leveling up every day.
With a string of half coherent grumbling I turn over and try to go back to sleep - a mouthful of fur is my reward.
Bleh.
Turns out Nikko feels much better than she tastes.
With my prospects of sleep dashed, I'm eventually able to get myself into a semblance of wakefulness. By the time I splash my face with a handful of cool water I feel somewhat ready for the day.
Only somewhat mind you.
"Okay. Here's our game plan Nikko."
"Vee?"
I clench my fist and gaze up at the rising sun.
"We're getting out of this forest today. I don't care how or when, but we will. Are you with me?"
"Vee!"
I grab the munchkin and lift her into the air Lion King style. Thankfully she goes limp and lets me do my thing.
"Tonight, we shower!"
Name: Grey
Race: Human
Age: 13
Class: Thief [+]
Title: Pokemon Trainer [+]
Level: 5
Exp: 0/1600
Money: p 670
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HP: 150/150
MP: 100/100
–––
STR: 10
VIT: 15
DEX: 40
INT: 10
PER: 25
CHA: 20
LUK: 10
Available points: 0
–––
[Skills] (6/6) [-]
[Thief's Eye] (4/100) [+]
[Persuasion] (12/100) [+]
[Sneak] (18/100) [+]
[Lockpicking] (3/100) [+]
[Running] (12/100) [+]
[Rest] (4/100) [+]
–––
[Traits] (1) [+]
[Perks] (0) [+]
–––
[Key Items] (2) [+]
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[Pokemon] (1) [+]
I'm really glad y'all seem to be enjoying Nikko as a character. Writing the interactions between her and Grey has been a treat for me as well. And I do plan on her being in it for the long haul.
At the moment, she doesn't have too much of a personality beyond being adorable and romping around in curiosity. She is a baby though so it's expected. She'll develop more as time moves on.
Overall, this chapter fought me a lot more than the others had and I ended up scraping like half of my very loose outline. And by loose, I mean a handful of sentences. As I've mentioned before, I have some general ideas and I get more every day, but I'm mostly winging it as I write.
I had originally planned some kind of fight to go down, but I decided that Nikko was still too young and weak to justify it.
How are people feeling about the pacing so far? Not saying I'm going to bend to the whims of the masses, but it would be nice to know so I can keep it in mind going forward.
Hope you enjoyed the chapter.