Chapter 59, everybody! Yes, it LIVES!
Not going to go into details, just know that I had to take a break from my writing to recharge. Did want to update every active piece at least once before the year's out though, and we should be good for updates for the rest of November. Now if only some of the juice came back earlier, because the upcoming bit would have been perfect for October. :\
Saying that, this week is more of an orienting transitional chapter to get us pointed in the right direction. No, Riolu don't learn Tail Whip, but we can pretend this is practice for Iron Tail sometime in the far-flung future. That's a passing reference to Tremors 2 in there, by the way. Hyper-predators are a real thing, and yes you really shouldn't eat something that eats meat it's not healthy. Also, references to Calvin and Hobbes and Saphroneth's fic Master, Pokémon? Good stuff.
Holl0w Dan, Kayuri Igrimakeon Pax, ChangelingRin (it was :D), Dragonkeeper10, thor94, JuptileNamudori253, Cyan Quartz, Urdeadnotbigsurprise, FaolenBookWolf, talesfanjmf, davidtheumbreon, ZaydenBlaze47, Pinkypi, Dragon Halfing (DADRAI), The Mystery Assassin, Heato-kun, GotTheMovesLikeYaegar, hpntheman, justarandomguy1337 (yup, Dadrai is sticking), Guest, Revolver09 (we'll see ;)), LongNightDragon, SSJ3 Kyuubi Gohan (thank you! :D), Gameboyer 1719, drwx, Guest, and Chryssal, thanks for the reviews! I appreciate your patience, and hope to continue providing content until the end. *salutes* Also you guys, congrats on breaking 1,000 reviews. :D
Pokémon © Game Freak; Nintendo
And now, for something completely different:
In other news, the Regional Scientific Committee is discussing the logic behind the patterns of Pokémon such as the Voltorb and Foongus lines. One party suggests that the markings are to scare away Pokémon that may wish to eat these Pokémon. Another party suggests that the markings are to lure prey. The Pokémon League would like to take a moment to remind you to exercise caution when approaching Pokéballs in the wild.
Team rocket was gone the next morning, which wasn't a surprise.
The rest of them, however, were quite happy to take their time at breakfast, especially after taking some thorough baths that access to indoor plumbing provided.
"I do feel sorry for James, though," Misty said, nibbling at her scrambled eggs. "I can't imagine someone else deciding every part of your life for you."
"I can't imagine being married to Jessebelle," Brock said, grimacing.
"I can't imagine living in that house," Ash said. "How do you not get lost in it?"
"Breadcrumbs," Misty said.
"Or a thread."
"Or signs."
"The world may never know," Brock declared sagely.
The road into the next town was mostly made up of chatting, fighting random trainers, and Ash running into every patch of grass he could find in search of wild Pokémon, an activity that stalled around lunchtime when they were more focused on eating and appraising their Pokémon.
Ash was still very much feeling the hole in his team.
"Maybe I could pull Venonat out of storage?" he tried. "It's a Bug type, that would work."
"I am against any plan that involves more bugs in the team," Misty said, coaching Omastar into showing her its moves. And no, Ash was not surprised that the Pokédex was unhelpful in this regard.
By the time lunch was ready, Misty had ascertained that Omastar knew Withdraw, Rollout, Water Gun, Bind, and Sand Attack, and was pretty sure it knew more. It was paired up with Staryu after lunch to practice, with Oddish and Squirtle forming the other team.
Psyduck was the odd one out, unfortunately.
"I need another Pokémon," Misty sighed. "When do we get back to the water routes? I can bring Horsea or Goldeen back."
"He could practice with Lenny," Ash offered. "Lenny's a Water type."
"Lenny's also like twenty feet long—don't give Psyduck a heart event."
"Psai?" Psyduck noised.
"How about Lewis, then? He needs the practice."
"Lewis would be more his speed," Misty agreed, before turning to Psyduck. "Now listen—we're going to start small, okay? Use Tail Whip on Lewis—that lowers his defense."
"Psai?" Psyduck noised, looking at its tail before wiggling it.
"Yeah that works! Go do that."
Psyduck translated that as backing up to Lewis before wagging his tail back and forth. Lewis clapped and giggled though, so they agreed that was probably effective.
"Lewis, you should do something too," Ash suggested. Lewis considered, tried wagging his tail like Psyduck—ended up having a Tail Whip competition with him.
"I guess this is working," Misty said, scratching her head. "I don't want to try any offensive moves when his opponent is a baby, though."
"Probably wise," Brock said, flipping through his travelogue. "I'm thinking if we leave now we should make the next town by lunch tomorrow. Who's interested?"
"Me," Ash and Misty both agreed.
There was some more training that night when they broke for camp, Misty pitching Psyduck against Squirtle to practice his offensive moves while Squirtle practiced his defensive moves.
The final verdict there was that either Psyduck was really terrible at offensive moves, or that Squirtle was really good at defensive moves. Misty was leaning towards the former.
"It just means you have to work with him some more," Brock said, letting Onix out to guard them while they slept.
"Yeah," Misty sighed, returning her Pokémon. "Really wish we could work around that headache, though."
"We'll think of something."
Their rest was interrupted once by some yowling that shied away at Onix growling.
"What was that?" Misty asked.
"I'm thinking a Persian," Brock said—
Everyone started upright at the yowling cutting off abruptly.
"And I'm thinking that was Darkrai having dinner," Brock offered.
"Great," Misty said. "Now I'm never going to sleep again."
"You'll get over it."
She did, although it took most of the night to do so.
"What I don't get is how you can sleep like a baby after that," Misty said to Ash, who looked fresh as a daisy as they returned to the road.
"I mean Darkrai's never actually made it a secret of what he eats," Ash pointed out. "He just doesn't do it in front of me."
"I imagine watching a hyper-predator eat would be cause for concern," Brock said.
"He seems calm to me."
"Ah, no—a hyper-predator is basically the very top of the food chain. Most meat-eating Legendaries qualify."
Ash considered that. "Wait, does that mean humans qualify?"
"Technically, yes—mostly you don't want to eat predators because they have more toxins in their system for eating the meat of other animals."
"Why does this feel like a conversation I don't want to have first thing in the morning?" Misty asked.
"Because no one wants to discuss where food comes from first thing in the morning," Darkrai said, floating by.
"Like my question of why we drink Miltank milk?" Ash asked.
"Yes, and I seem to recall telling you to never revisit that topic."
Misty went quiet for a long moment.
"I second this motion," she said finally.
"It feels like a valid question," Ash said to Brock in an undertone as Misty pulled ahead.
Brock patted Ash on the head. "Some things you just don't want to think about too hard."
They ate lunch on the road, Brock estimating that they were close, made it to the large-ish town late that afternoon.
"Oh thank you," Misty sighed. "Maybe this Pokémon Center will have a laundry room."
"That'd be nice," Brock agreed. "Some of the laundry smells like a Grimer made a nest of it—airing out only does so much."
"Like keep wild Pokémon away," Ash pointed out.
"Well, yes, but that's not the point."
"The point is some of us don't like that Cornn-chip smell," Misty said. "Especially once we got past it and graduated to Grimer-food smell."
"We do not smell like Grimer," Ash protested.
"No but you're getting close," Darkrai said.
"We took baths at the last Pokémon Center."
"Play nice, children," Brock sighed, polishing off his lunch and tucking the napkin he had been using in a pocket.
"See? See that?" Darkrai asked, pointing. "Grimer food."
"Well I'm certainly not going to litter, what do you take me for?"
"Oh look the town!" Misty said loudly upon them cresting the hill and seeing the beginning of the sprawling expanse of civilization—turned to grin at Darkrai. "Bye."
"Fine, be that way," Darkrai huffed.
Their time in the town was spent at laundromats and Poké-marts, and that night at the Pokémon Center after dinner was spent finding out just where in Kanto they were.
"Okay so on the map we're…right here," Brock said, pointing out a spot on the southern end of Route 10. "Our little detour must have taken us north a bit, but the good news is that due south takes us to Lavender Town."
"This is good news how?" Misty asked.
"Well good news for Ash."
"Because Lavender Town is the only place in Kanto to catch a Ghost Pokémon!" Ash said, pumping a fist. "And since someone is against me adding more Bug to my team, Ghost is the only other option. Unless I can get a Dark type, but they're not native to Kanto."
"Ugh why can't Psychic be weak to something less creepy," Misty muttered, sagging.
"Misty might be a Psychic type," Ash said to Brock. "Since she shares the same weaknesses."
"Wouldn't that be something," Brock mused, stance pensive. "If all this time you were travelling with a bunch of Pokémon."
"Does that make me the token human?"
"Hmm, good question—I mean we only have your word that you're a human. You could be a Zorua in disguise or some such."
"And I can't even deny it, because then that confirms it."
"You guys are being weird again," Misty told them.
"Misty's denying it."
"Why would a Pokémon even want to be a Pokémon trainer?"
"Because no one would ever suspect it."
"That's not a good reason."
"Well think about it," Brock said. "No one would suspect a random Pokéball in the wild to be a Voltorb or a Foongus, and yet that happens."
"And no one expects them to hunt people, but that happens."
"On The Distortion Zone, yeah."
"But who else would be attracted by those?"
"Pokémon pretending to be trainers and thus keeping up the sham."
"Ah…."
"I give up," Misty sighed.