Route 1 was dry, Route 2 was heavily forested, and Route 3- which connected Neoshine City with Rokkraw City to the east- was much more of a light green field. The grass was a lighter green color, with the occasional rural house every so often. It was very rarely traversed most of the time, as there was a highway built between the bigger cities Neoshine and Arryline. But due to the first Pokémon Gym being off the beaten path in Rokkraw, it saw a lot of traffic whenever the Gym Challenge started up.
"Boldore, use Magnitude!"
"Joltik, use Electroweb!"
And, of course, Pokémon battles.
Almost immediately after stepping out onto Route 3, a trainer with short black hair and a red track jacket challenged him to a battle.
Oliver, as per usual, only used three Pokémon against his opponent's three. However, he didn't even get to see the other two. This trainer's Boldore was an indestructible wall of pain. It had taken out Karrablast with a couple of Rock Throws, and it cleaned Ralts's clock with an Iron Head.
Joltik fared a bit better, as it was small and fast enough to dodge Boldore's Rock Throw, but a huge, wide-ranged move like Magnitude couldn't exactly be dodged, as it created a seismic wave across the ground. Furthermore, Joltik could barely seem to put a dent in the thing.
In the end, Oliver wound up having to pay out a good chunk of money as prize money, and the trainer, satisfied with his victory, pocketed the money, walked over to grab his belongings which he set down prior to the battle.
Which included a small black briefcase.
Scarlet's eyes widened as she saw it. Wasn't that… there's no way…
Oliver, meanwhile, was sulking. "That… that hurt."
Moira patted his back reassuringly. "Dinnae worry, ye'll catch up soon."
Oliver smiled. "Thanks, Moira. But there's something else…" he sat down on a nearby rock. "The moves that Boldore was using… they didn't feel right."
Scarlet raised an eyebrow. "Go on…"
"W-well, I mean, not to sound like a sore loser, but I've never heard of a Boldore use Magnitude before. For that matter, when's the last time you saw a pure Rock type use Iron Head?" Oliver sighed. "I dunno, maybe it's a convoluted breeding chain or something but…"
Scarlet piped up. "Hey, did you notice that trainer had a black briefcase?"
Moira nodded. "Aye. But what's that got tae do with…"
"I need to tell you about something that happened yesterday. While I was getting the pizza. It's like this…"
She told them about the detour she took while chasing Cassandra. About the man in the doctor's uniform selling some sort of illicit substance in the alley. About how it was contained in a black briefcase similar to that one.
"So what you're saying," Oliver said once she finished the story, "is that whatever's in the briefcase…"
"Is somehow connected with that Pokémon using moves it shouldn't, yes."
Oliver hummed to himself. "And you said he sold it to some other trainers. That isn't good. Let's just deal with that as it comes. In the meantime, we've got another problem."
"And what's that?" Moira asked.
"I'm kinda strapped for cash after paying out the prize money for that battle." He stood back up. "And my team isn't in any position to fight any trainers right now. Tryote is the only one who's awake."
"Hey, excuse me?" a man's voice called. The three turned to see an older, graying brown-haired man with a considerable moustache and wearing blue overalls over a plaid shirt. "I couldn't help but overhead you need a way to make some money, is that right?"
Oliver nodded. "I'm sorry, who are you?"
"Allow me to introduce myself. Name's Trevor. I run a small farm just a few minutes' walk north from here. I've got a bit of a problem that I need a trainer to solve."
"What sort of problem?" Moira asked.
"Follow me. I can explain it to you on the way there."
Scarlet was a bit hesitant to just follow this random man who had an odd job for them, but Cassandra seemed to trust him, and she's always been a good judge of character. So she shrugged. "Lead the way, then."
So the group began walking to his place, a farmhouse just a bit north of Route 3. As they walked, he explained his situation.
"I'm a farmer. I make my living growing vegetables and berries, you see. However, lately something's made it past my fence and started stealing crops. It seems like it's a wild Pokémon but I can't tell what kind it is. Now I used to be a trainer myself when I was younger, but those days are gone and I don't exactly have the speed I used to, so I can't catch it. Don't have any Pokémon of my own either. I want you to track it down and capture it before I lose any more of my crops."
"That seems easy enough," Oliver said.
"Aye, we'll show 'em what for!" Moira added enthusiastically.
"Don't worry, we'll be able to find out what's doing this," Scarlet said. Cassandra mewed in affirmation.
They arrived at the place, a cozy-looking beige house beside a considerably large field with all sorts of plants growing in it. Walking into his field, it was as he had said. The vegetables had been plucked and the berries picked, though from a distance the farm was undisturbed.
"Wow… this place is pretty big. You say you don't have any Pokémon? You handle the farm all yourself?" Scarlet asked.
"Yeeeep," Trevor responded. "The rest of the family ain't interested in farming. So it's just me. And I may not have the speed, but I have the endurance. Still though, I'd love having the extra help, but I'm just too slow to catch any."
Oliver looked at him sympathetically. "Sounds kinda lonely, doesn't it?"
"Eh, I'm used to it."
With that the trainers split up to search for clues, Scarlet and Cassandra looking at the empty berry trees and the younger two searching the ground. They noted that though a good chunk of the field had been ransacked, there were still plenty of crops still present.
The search continued for about half an hour before any of them found anything.
"Hey guys, I think I found some tracks!" Oliver said, calling the others to him. "I think a wild Pokémon made 'em!"
Scarlet and Moira joined Oliver. Indeed, there were tracks, though they appeared rather far apart, as though it was hopping through the dirt.
Scarlet pulled up the Pokedex app on her phone. "Lemme scan it and see what it comes up with," she said as she aimed her phone camera at the tracks and waited for it to load.
"Ah, the wonders of technology…" Trevor said wistfully. "I remember when Bill first created the PC system. Made life real easy for a lot of trainers. Before that we-"
Thankfully before his rambling could gain momentum, the app identified what made the tracks, displaying a picture of the offending Pokémon. Its most defining feature was its ears, which were both red and were massive, larger than the rest of its body and trailed behind it like a hood, almost resembling a Snorunt in shape, only without the sharp point on top. The rest of its small round furry body was a lighter red bordering on pink, except for its feet, which were pure white and very rabbit-like. It had a small triangular nose between its two large eyes, and it had two small stubby arms, between which were held what looked like a picnic basket.
HOODLET
Delivery Pokémon
Fairy
It crafts a makeshift basket from twigs and leaves, though if they live closer to humans they do often have real ones. They make a point to fill it with all sorts of berries and other such things and are famously protective over their baskets. In Allanza they are often used to deliver mail locally.
"Looks like it's using the stolen crops to fill its basket," Scarlet said.
"What is it even doing with them, anyway?" Oliver asked.
"Who cares? We need to find it so Trevor can keep growing his crops and we can get paid," Moira said.
Oliver nodded. "Hey Trevor, you mind if we stay the night and look out at the garden?"
"Be my guest," the farmer said.
So as the sun set and Oliver's knocked-out Pokémon rested and regained their strength, the three trainers were observing the untouched parts of the field for any flashes of red, looking through the farmhouse window.
About an hour passed. Ralts and Joltik were well enough to travel in the backpack again, though Karrablast didn't want to be woken up and Oliver didn't want to try. So he left Tryote to watch him and went back to the window.
Trevor had fallen asleep by this point. Scarlet, upon realizing this, made the suggestion that the Hoodlet in question had known the farmer went to bed at this hour and waited until then to raid his farm.
This hypothesis proved correct when Moira noticed a red object hopping towards the fence. "Oi," she whispered to the other two as it drew nearer. "Here comes the wee f***er now."
The Hoodlet, carrying a small brown basket, approached the fence cautiously, looking out for anyone watching. The three trainers backed off from the window in order to stay hidden.
Not seeing them, the wild Hoodlet leaped over the fence and made a beeline for one of the untouched berry trees.
"Bingo," Moira said, grabbing Nidoran's Pokéball and racing for the door.
"Wait, no, Moira! It'll spot you and run away and then-"
But Moira couldn't hear Oliver's warnings over the sound of the door slamming open. Naturally the Hoodlet immediately looked to the source of the sound and saw Moira send Nidoran out. Rather than book it, it hastily shoved as many berries into the basket as it could get and then made a break for it.
"Nidoran! Use Poison Sting!" Nidoran shot a poisoned spine at the fleeing Hoodlet, which struck it in one of the ears, slowing it down. Moira ran after the two. Oliver had just made it out the door with Ralts and Joltik in tow and took off in their direction as well.
Scarlet just stared blankly at the chase until she heard a snort behind her.
"Eh? Wh-what's all the commotion about?" Trevor asked after being roused from his light sleep.
Scarlet simply turned back to the still-open door. "I do believe they've spotted the thief." With that, she gathered Cassandra and followed after the two.
The Hoodlet ran into a cluster of trees north of the farm, basically a small, not-very-dense forest. It was injured and the poison wasn't helping, but still it pressed on. It cleared a downed log, but tripped, dropping the basket. It quickly sprang forward and caught it just in time, but a few berries spilled out. It tried to pick them back up but had to keep fleeing once Nidoran got close. It narrowly dodged another Poison Sting as it hopped away, still weakened by the poison.
Undeterred, Moira recalled Nidoran and sent out Sobble. "Use Water Pulse!" she said, pointing at the fleeing Pokémon, and Sobble did so, firing a ring of water directly at it, still running after the Hoodlet.
The water struck Hoodlet dead-on, the impact sending it into a tree, though the contents of the basket didn't fall out this time. It regained its footing in time to stand up and before Sobble could fire back, it jumped up into the air, then dove down towards Sobble and attacked him with Pluck, striking Sobble off-guard and taking off into the forest once again.
Oliver turned to Joltik. "Hey, follow them and help Moira take it down, we'll catch up." Joltik nodded and leapt into action. Meanwhile, Oliver knelt down to observe the berries that Hoodlet had dropped. He picked one up and examined it.
"Hey Ralts, isn't this a Pecha berry?" he asked, holding it up to Ralts. Ralts took a bite and nodded, smiling at its sweet flavor.
"I figured as much. But aren't these things natural antidotes? Why wouldn't Hoodlet eat one to cure its poisoning? Something's going on here…" he readjusted the backpack on his shoulders and took off after Moira.
The Galarian trainer wasn't having much success in hitting Hoodlet after that first Water Pulse. Hoodlet seemed to adapt and was able to avoid future Water Pulses fairly easily, in spite of the poison taking its toll. It jumped through a cluster of bushes and out of sight.
Moira stopped to catch her breath, Sobble sticking by, looking up at his trainer in concern. This was when Joltik showed up.
"I'll be fine," she said between breaths. "Did the Hoodlet get away?"
Sobble waddled over to the bush and poked its head through. Apparently surprised by what it saw, it beckoned Moira over. Moira, curious, walked over and knelt down, looking through the bushes herself, as did Joltik.
What the…?
The Hoodlet had set its basket down and was passing the berries around to a few Pokémon. This group consisted of a Pichu, an Elekid, a Togepi, an Azuril, a Bonsly… Moira didn't recognize all of them but they clearly all had one thing in common. They're all wee baby Pokémon, Moira realized. They looked like they'd been roughing it for a good long while. They were eagerly chowing down on the berries like it was a gourmet meal. The Togepi looked at the Pecha berry it was about to eat, saw Hoodlet's sickened state, and handed it back to it. Hoodlet, reluctantly, took it and took a bite, the sickness beginning to leave.
Oliver began walking up. "Hey Moira, did you catch it?"
Moira shushed Oliver and beckoned him over to see what was happening. Oliver and Ralts both peered into the bushes.
"These are all… baby Pokémon? What are they doing out here? Maybe they got separated from their parents? Or maybe they were bred, and abandoned…"
Ralts's eyes, hidden by her hair, started to water in sympathy, remembering her own origin.
"That Hoodlet was stealing from the farm to feed these guys," Oliver realized. "That's why it didn't eat the berry that could've cured its poison- it was another Pokémon's next meal!"
It was at that point that one of the Pokémon (Moira didn't recognize it, Oliver identified it as a Magby) suddenly noticed something and started to make a small crying noise. Moira was briefly worried they had been discovered, but the Pokémon all looked the other way, away from them.
Out of the brush on the other side emerged three Pokémon- wild Lycanroc, two of them the light brown Midday form but one of them, the one in the center and clearly the strongest of the three, was the fearsome red Midnight form. The babies crowded behind Hoodlet. The Fairy-type was healed of poison but still clearly injured and winded from the attacks Nidoran and Sobble inflicted on it.
The three Rock-type dogs advanced towards them, growling and snarling. Hoodlet, still clutching its basket, suddenly ran up and jumped into the air, landing behind one of the Midday ones and striking it from behind (using a move Oliver recognized as Thief). This got their attention as they turned away from
Moira's eyes widened. "That Hoodlet wasn't just getting them food- it was the only thing protecting them from predators!" Suddenly she felt a little bad for trying to catch it. She very nearly left those babies without anyone watching out for them.
Oliver looked at the fight, as all three of them attempted to use Bite on Hoodlet. It was able to dodge one of them, but the other two connected. And though Dark was not strong against Fairy, it still weakened Hoodlet quite significantly. "Even if Hoodlet was at 100% it'd still have its hands full with them."
The two Midday Lycanroc continued advancing on Hoodlet. The Midnight Lycanroc, however, turned its attention to the babies, who all cowered in fear as it slowly moved on them, growling. The Magby fired off an Ember, which probably wouldn't have done much even if Lycanroc didn't have a typing that resisted Fire.
Oliver gritted his teeth. "Not if I have anything to say about it! Ralts, use Magical Leaf!" The Psychic-type leapt out and burst through the foliage, emerging with a cluster of leaves swirling around her telekinetically. The leaves flew at the Midnight Lycanroc, slicing it up a little, drawing the attention of the other two Lycanroc as well as Hoodlet.
This did quite a bit more damage, but this was still an unevolved Pokémon facing an evolved Pokémon so the damage wasn't overwhelming. Lycanroc's eyes focused on its new target and charged forward.
"Sobble, use Water Pulse!" Sobble fired another burst of water which burst right in Lycanroc's face. That did the trick- Lycanroc fell to the ground, knocked out.
The two remaining Lycanroc whirled on Sobble and Ralts and began charging as well. Hoodlet, injured and nearing unconscious itself, could only watch.
"Joltik!" Oliver cried. "Try hitting them both with Electroweb!"
Joltik leapt out of the bushes and fired electrified spider silk at the two of them. It wasn't enough to wrap them up but it did slow them down, the electricity shocking them.
"Ralts, use Confusion on the one that got hit by Hoodlet earlier."
"Sobble, keep up with the water!"
The already-injured Lycanroc went down after psychic energy assaulted its mind. The one remaining one took the blast of water, and opened its mouth, ready to use Bite on Sobble, when all of a sudden, Hoodlet let out a small yell- a Disarming Voice attack, Oliver noted- that was weak, but distracted Lycanroc enough for Joltik to finish it off with Bug Bite.
All three Lycanroc were downed and a wave of relief crept over the trainers. Hoodlet got back up to its feet, then saw Moira there and jumped, frightened. It backed away slowly.
"L-look, wee one, I'm sorry fer hurting ye," Moira said placatingly as she waved her hands frantically.
"Let me handle this," Oliver said. "Or rather, let Ralts handle it. Ralts?"
The little Psychic/Fairy nodded and turned to the scared group and began chattering away, getting the Pokémon's attention.
Moira turned to Oliver. "What's she doing?"
"I… think she's explaining what's going on, that we didn't mean to put them in danger, but we wanted them to stop Hoodlet stealing from that farm."
As Ralts negotiated, Scarlet and Cassandra caught up. "...What's going on here?" Scarlet asked. Oliver summed up the situation as Ralts finished whatever she had to say. Hoodlet chattered away in response. Ralts turned back to Oliver, then gestured towards the baby Pokémon.
"...You're asking how Hoodlet is supposed to take care of them without stealing?"
Ralts nodded with its head tilted, which basically meant "More or less."
Oliver began to think. I don't want to leave these baby Pokémon hungry, but Trevor's own livelihood is at stake… Then, he smiled. "I think I have an idea that'll make everyone happy. Ralts, I want you to ask them something..."
"Hey Trevor? We're back," Oliver said as he walked in the door, followed by Moira.
"Welcome back!" Trevor greeted happily, if a little tired. "Did you catch that Pokémon?"
"Well, not exactly…" Oliver admitted. "But we were just wondering. If you had Pokémon of your own, do you think you'd have an easier time working this place?"
"Are you kidding? It would make everything much easier! I've just never been able to catch one. But… what does that have to do with the thief?"
"Because it was stealing food to take care of a group of wee baby Pokémon that had been left on their own," Moira explained. "And it just so happens that those Pokémon would be more than happy to give you a hand or five on the farm if they have food and a place to stay. Isn't that right, guys?"
On cue, the small group of baby Pokémon waddled in, looking around cautiously. Trevor looked down at them in surprise before his eyes focused on Hoodlet, which was shuffling into the house, nervously and somewhat reluctantly.
"What do you say? Wanna take them in? You'd have to give them food, but you'd be able to work faster with some extra hands so that oughta make up the difference, right?"
Trevor considered the idea. Then he walked up to the Hoodlet, looking down at it. The big-eared Fairy-type looked down at the ground in a gesture that would've been a bow if it had actual legs.
"I, uh, think it's trying to apologize," Oliver suggested.
Trevor knelt down, prompting Hoodlet to look up at him.
The farmer smiled, then started to pet it, scratching its ears, making the little Pokémon smile. "I'll take good care of 'em. I'll make sure they grow up strong," he said. Hoodlet looked up at him in relief. The baby Pokémon crowding around him, all clamoring to introduce themselves.
Trevor was incredibly grateful. The stealing would stop and now he had a lot more help around the farm. Not only did he pay the trainers like promised (not a whole lot, mind you, but it was enough) but he even let them stay the night. When they awoke and got ready to head out, Trevor stopped and handed them one last thing.
"It's one of them Technical Machines they use to teach moves," he said. "I found this at a yard sale and got it on impulse, but I've never had a use for it. You'd probably be able to make use of it."
Moira took it. "Th-thanks," she said.
"Don't mention it," he said. "It was just taking up space anyway. Good luck with your Gym Challenge!"
Nodding, Moira pocketed the TM and turned to leave, joining Oliver, Scarlet, and Cassandra as they resumed their hike down Route 3. They had hardly been walking for a minute before they heard a small cry behind them. They turned and the Hoodlet was tailing them.
"Oh, hey little guy!" Oliver said, kneeling down. "What's up? Do you… you wanna come with us?"
Hoodlet pointed at one of the Pokéballs hanging from Oliver's belt, then to itself.
"I'm guessing she does," Scarlet said, having checked whether Hoodlet was male or female the night before.
Oliver took one of his empty Pokéballs, then stopped. "You want to catch her, Moira?"
"Hm? Oh, no," she shook her head. "I almost knocked her out before we found out about the babies, so I don't feel like she's very happy with me."
"Well, she did seem pretty upset when she saw you after the fight," Oliver said. "All right then, guess it's me." He turned to Hoodlet and threw the Pokéball, which opened up and drew Hoodlet inside, basket and all. It didn't even shake, just locking shut almost immediately.
Oliver picked the ball up and pocketed it. "She'll do great. I can tell." Then he looked to the rest of the group. "Shall we then?" Moira and Scarlet nodded, and they proceeded down the road to Rokkraw City- and the first Gym.
So just a heads up, class is starting for me this week so I apologize if the updates slow down. I'll try to keep up my normal rate of 2 posts a week, but I can't guarantee it.
Also, Hoodlet was inspired by Little Red Riding Hood.
