"So, I've seen you use a Blaster power - those glowing rocks that you attacked the Heracross with. Is that your only power, or are there others you can do?" I pop an Oran berry into my mouth. Berries are on the menu for breakfast once again.
"Blaster power? Oh - you mean Power Gem. Yeah - that's only one of my moves. I know how to do a few more, but that's the one I'm best at."
She has more than one power? It's probably safe to assume that other Pokemon do too. That… ups their threat level quite a bit - I don't know enough to call them Trumps, but Grab-bags might not be far off. "What else can you do?"
"Well…" she shifts, angling the bottom of her abdomen off of the ground "I can call out my inner swarm to provide a layer of protection. That one's called Defend Order." She demonstrates, the bees that live inside of her coming out for the first time. The swarm exits from between the hexagonal plates on her underside before flying up and covering her completely in a bustling layer of bees.
My brows jumps up - she can control them!
Then, something seems to pulse, and the swarm freezes in place, disappearing from the view of my power. The bees seem to melt, forming into a strange, hazy shield about a finger's width off of her body. A forcefield? I stand up, moving over to her.
Reaching out a hand, I tap on the shield. It isn't solid - my finger passes right through, but there's a weird sort of resistance to it. It reminds me of what it felt like to move inside of Grue's power - do they have similar effects? Both obviously dampened kinetic energy somehow, but how does Vespiquen's power handle other types of energy?
I sit back down, and Vespiquen dissipates the shield. The field melts back into a swarm of bees, which fly back inside her. "How well can you control your swarm? Can you only control your bees, or can you control other insects too?" At least one of Vespiquen's powers have some pretty stark parallels to mine - will I be able to pass on some of my own techniques to her?
She shakes her head "More experienced Vespiquen can command their swarm better - I can only barely manage that move at this point. I know that some other Bugs have techniques to command insects, but none of the other Vespiquen did. I might be able to learn though - trained Pokemon usually learn more moves than the ones that live in the wild."
That's interesting - trained Pokemon learning more powers than wild ones suggests that their techniques can be taught. The powers that Pokemon have are obviously different to the ones from my world - just how many powers could one Pokemon learn? Is there even a limit beyond the time spent to learn them?
It seems that the more I learn about Pokemon, the more I learn just how dangerous they are - being able to learn more powers is definitely worthy of a Trump rating. But an entire animal population of Trumps? My system for classifying powers has pretty much fallen apart at the seams when it comes to Pokemon. I shake the thoughts from my head - I can think up a new system later. "What else can you do?"
She puts her unfinished berry down, lifting off of the ground. "I can kick up a pretty strong Gust." she turns to a fallen tree on the edge of the clearing we were camping in. It's fairly freshly felled - decay hadn't set in yet. Her wings begin beating faster - more purposefully. True to her words, strong winds blow from her wings, buffeting the tree.
The gale strips pieces of bark from the tree, the debris flying off into the air. The winds begin to kick up dust and I have to squint my eyes to keep from being blinded.
She stops, the wind abruptly cutting off.
Useful - probably not as much as her other two powers, but the winds are definitely strong enough to bowl someone over - or maybe even to sandblast them, in the right environment. She doesn't seem to have a terrible amount of control over the winds, so cribbing off of Stormtiger likely isn't an option. An option to look into, maybe.
She continues, "Depending on how I do it, I can empower attacks with my claws-" she flexes them, curling both of the short talons on each of her arms inwards. "-I can make my attacks faster with Fury Swipes-" she flies forward, her talons glowing with a white energy. Their form lengthens about twice over before she begins slashing at the air with an unnatural swiftness
"Or, I can make them more powerful with Slash-" she flits over to the same log she had demonstrated with before and raises a claw to the sky. She activates her power and her claws go through a similar transformation to before. She brings her arm down in a diagonal slash, striking the log.
The log splits, hewn clean in half along the path of her attack.
My eyes widen - that'd go right through a person; armour or no. Why didn't she use that against the Heracross? Was it's carapace tougher than I thought? "What would that move have done to the Heracross?"
She lowers her arm, the glow dissipating and her claws returning to their normal size. "Knock it around a bit, I suppose. I doubt it would do more than scratch its shell, though."
Shit - Heracross was a pretty serious brute, then. If her Power Gem managed to score it's shell, I can only imagine what it'd do to a person. Unusual names aside, all five of her abilities were powerful - if all Pokemon were on a similar level, I definitely want more of them on my team.
Power demonstration and breakfast finished, we continued on our way south. The ground became increasingly difficult as the day wore on - going from mostly flat to rocky crags and gullies. The tree cover remained thick despite the unfavourable ground.
We kept alert and watched each other's backs - any shadow could hide a Liepard ready to jump out at us.
It's around midday when I notice something strange. We're walking beside the face of a cliff - it looks to be sheer, reaching up about the height of two people, mostly flat.
My power disagrees.
I tense - a Stranger? I could clearly sense insects in the shape of an entrance to a cave in the wall next to me. Or worse - is it a Master? I leap away from the cliff - whatever it is, I don't want to be near it.
The insects leave my range. Vespiquen notices that something is up and quickly uses a Defend Order. She whips her head about, scanning the forest. "What is it?" she asks.
"The cliff - I can sense a cave entrance, but can't see one." I draw my knife, gripping it at the ready. "Is this the work of an enemy Pokemon?"
She snaps her head towards the rock face, moving the length of a few paces backwards. "An illusion? It couldn't be… could it?" Her posture is ready, but she's not alarmed.
"You know what's behind this?" She hadn't mentioned that we might come across a Stranger - she clearly hadn't anticipated whatever this is.
"Yeah - maybe. When I was a young Combee there was a Pokemon called Zoroark that lived around these parts. But they disappeared a year or so back - no-one's seen them since. Their entire deal was that they used illusions to disorient their prey and protect their homes. Everyone just assumed that they migrated somewhere else - I guess they've decided to come back."
"Are they hosti-"
The illusion snapping out of existence interrupts what I was going to say. Standing in the mouth of the cave is a bipedal Pokemon with dark fur, wolfish features and a mane of thick, red hair trailing behind it. The Zoroark? It's stance is loose, but low to the ground - it doesn't seem hostile, but I couldn't count on it staying that way.
I pay attention to my power. It doesn't seem to be able to fool it with it's illusions - if it attacks me, that may be my only warning. I'll just have to hope it has something I can sense on it.
It makes an unintelligible trilling noise, speaking to Vespiquen. She replies, her voice even - not unfriendly, but not warm either. "Is my trainer strong?" Her posture hardens. "Of course she is - why do you want to know?"
It turns to face me, ignoring Vespiquen's question. It begins to talk, mouth not moving. The voice clearly came from it, though - an auditory illusion? "Trainer. Who are you that sees through my illusions so easily? Your companion thinks you strong - yet I see naught but a mewling pup dressed in the clothes of an insect."
His speech is dramatic - archaic, even. It sounds strong - male, late thirties. I couldn't place the accent. I ignore how strange the entire situation is for now - I could ponder it later. "I am Weaver." I subtly shift my grip on my knife to be more suitable to deal with a surprise attack. "What do you want?"
He leaves the cave, starting to circle around us. On his way, he steps into my range for a moment - he's absolutely flea-ridden! I move, circling it in turn. Vespiquen took the opportunity to get some distance. "What do I want? I want to know." It pauses, eyes narrowing. "Whether you are worthy."
The circling continues. "What do you mean?"
"My former trainer was weak. Unworthy. He paid for strength with coin rather than sweat, and when the journey became difficult, he crumpled - like a tin before a titan. He lacked conviction." He strongly emphasises the last word, as if it holds particular importance to him. He stops walking. We had made three-quarters of the way around a full revolution - the cliff is to my left, and the forest is to my right. "So I escaped, seeking more of my kind - a pack leader worth following."
I nod, understanding the situation more now. "But you couldn't find anyone, could you? You think I could be your leader?" This is an opportunity - a dangerous one, but so were most ones that were worth taking. I don't know the extent of Zoroark's illusions, but from the sound of things, he's a fairly potent Shaker-Stranger: a valuable addition to any team.
He breaks into a grin, his wickedly pointed teeth showing. "Only if you can prove yourself." Immediately, the forest and cliffside drop away, giving way to a escheresque vista of twisting concrete pillars and slate rooftops. Despite the appearance, my power tells me that the scenery hasn't truly changed. Zoroark is nowhere to be seen, but in his place is another Vespiquen.
I close my eyes. I couldn't trust them - even paying the smallest amount of attention will give the Zoroark opportunity to deceive me. I stand ready, waiting for it's attack.
I call out "Vespiquen - be careful! It might trick you into using your Blaster attacks on me! Don't listen to any more of my commands until this is over!" It's a classic Stranger strategy. I don't know whether it's able to block out my voice with its illusions, but I suppose there is no harm in trying.
There - from the side! I jump backwards, my kick lashing out at where I think his legs are. It connects, and the Zoroark is sent sprawling. I move, aiming to force a surrender quickly, but he recovers and darts away.
Zoroark speaks, his voice coming from behind me. "You're good - I don't know how you're managing it, but nobody has simply ignored my illusions before!"
I ignore him - it could be misdirection.
He charges again, attempting another swipe. It's wild, uncoordinated - untrained, I realise. I step to the side and reach out with my offhand, aiming to grab his long mane - the most flea-ridden part of him. I catch a handful of fur and tug sharply, yanking his head backwards.
I step in, my foot slamming into the behind of one of his knees, my hand keeping the tension up on his mane. He crumples to the side, unprepared for my attack and unable to do much more than flail about. My knife moves in, the blade coming to a rest at his throat.
"It's over. Surrender."
I can see the tension bleed out of him. He stops struggling, accepting the defeat.