"Weedle!..." It took me only a single moment to fall in love with the little adorable worm. "Oh, aren't you just the cutest!" I took the seemingly freshly hatched pokémon carefully, placing it between my hands.
As I raised it to eye level, it gave me a curious look before crying out in joy. "Weedle!" Some pokémon cried out their species names all the time, some did it only occassionally while usually communicating with screeches, growls and the like.
Weedle did fit the former category while Zubat was in the latter. I nuzzled my nose to Weedle's and asked. "Are you hungry, young one?" I had some cash on me, so using the shop to feed my second pokémon wasn't an impossible task.
Since it nodded, I used the shop for the first time and bought a small bag of it's food and a nutricapsule. 600 poké. With my limited funds, that was an ouch. I searched for a bowl and found one in the mirrored cabinet.
Weedle sniffed the food curiously and let out another joyous cry before diving in, almost literally.
I considered Weedle my second pokémon, since mine and Zubat's bond came first.
That didn't mean I'd play favourites, though.
Zubat's going to get a small lecture on the responsibilities of an older sibling. With those thoughts in mind, I decided to finally check it's potential with my new ability.
Green would already be pretty awesome. The Weedle line was one with two possible evolutions, those being Kakuna and Beedrill, which made high potential Weedles one of the more sought-after species despite it being a very common pokémon.
Activating my ability, Weedle's stat window appeared in front of me. And I blanked out trying to comprehend what was in front of me.
[Weedle
Bond status:
Minor
Age:
3 days
Stage:
Baby
Gender:
Female
Ability:
Run Away
Potential:
Light Purple
Aberrations:
Colour aberration (Shiny), Ancient aberration (dormant)
Attacks:
Poison Sting String Shot]
(AN: Look, I know mid chapter author notes are a horrible thing, but I felt I had to address this. I created his starter with a friend, who leads DnD groups as a Dungeon Master.
I gave him the parameters and he rolled the dices. Since it rolled shiny, we had to decide how to continue and we decided to nerf the chance for purple potential heavily.
We rolled a d100 and only a 99 or 100 would have meant purple, since we took out deep purple. Well, guess what he rolled? Oh, and hidden ability ancient aberration too, no biggie... I wanna have some Protagonist Luck too. Let's continue, shall we?)
"Well, aren't you a little monster..." I hadn't even noticed her being shiny. Yes, her colour was a tad brighter than usual, but many young pokémon darken in colour over the first month.
But seriously, light purple potential at birth... Did a legendary bleed over her egg or something? I sighed, sleeping after that much excitement would be hard this night.
Suddenly, Weedle called out again, taking my attention. She had finished up her food and was wiggling in place while enjoying the aftertaste. ... Cute.
She snapped out of her reverence for the food's taste and determinedly made her way to me. I was curious about her plans so I just observed her as she dashed with surprising speed.
Once at my feet, she looked up and started climbing. It took her a while, but she managed to scale Mt. Me and reached the top of my head.
Once there, she released a declaration of victory, which was just about the cutest thing ever, coiled up and went to sleep.
... Maybe I should follow her example.
After situating her on my pillow, I went downstairs to wash myself and change into my nightwear, which was just boxers and a washed out shirt. Finding the bathroom wasn't hard since it had a sign on it's door, marking it as such.
I returned to my room, stepping softly to not startle the sleeping temporary guest in my bed. Contrary to my expectations, sleep was coming quickly after I lied down and positioned my Weedle on my chest, it's minuscule presence being soothing and reassuring.
And so, the day, that turned my life upside down in the best way possible, finally came to an end as I fell into a deep and restful sleep, never noticing the slight rattling sound from the escritoire.
The next morning started with staring at a deadpan after being pinched awake by Joan. A raised eyebrow over drowsy eyes was her answer, after which she pointed at the Weedle, soundly sleeping on my chest.
I whispered, since I didn't want to startle my cute little Weedle awake. "Would you believe me if I told you she suddenly appeared in the middle of the room last night?"
Now it was her turn to raise an eyebrow. "No really. One moment, I'm completely alone in the room and the next? Bam, she's there."
It was even the truth. I didn't lie to her at all. I just didn't tell her the whole truth and honestly, that wouldn't ever happen.
I liked her, and I knew, that with the speed I grew attached to her, she'd most likely play an active role in my life from now on, but the system was off limits.
Not just to protect myself, but her and others who I will eventually grow close to, as well.
I definitely wouldn't feel even an iota of guilt for deceiving her over something, that may lead to her being kidnapped or worse, should she be in the know.
Joan sighed and massaged her temple. "Are you planning to set a record for how quickly you can give me a headache at the start of the day? Because let me tell you, you have a shoe in for the runner-up."
I smiled with some amusement as I carefully sat up and relocated Weedle into the still warm indentation on my pillow, that was left there by my head. "Only the runner-up?"
She waved me off. "Was once woken with a punch to the head. Instant headache and the annoyance of having to beat up a guy physically stronger than me.
In the end, I set Zeus on him. Sweetheart went easy on him. He only needed physiotherapy for a month."
My smile grew a bit forced. There was more to the story, was what my gut told me, but it also told me to leave it alone. So I just looked at her seriously and said. "If you ever need to talk, I'll be there. The least I can do is listen."
She smiled a brittle smile for a moment before sighing and changing the topic.
"So, are you going to answer where you found the Weedle? You know it's a Colour Aberrant, right? That means it's potential should at least be light blue. Is she going to be your starter?"
I nodded along. "I am serious with her suddenly appearing, you know? As for her being a shiny, I noticed shortly after feeding her. Thought at first, that her colour was lighter because she's so young. As for her being my starter, officially, yes. Zubat will still be her Big Sis, though."
Joan stared at me for a moment and then sighed, again. She plopped down on my bed and let herself fall backwards.
"You were serious about her suddenly appearing? Well, maybe she got caught up in a fight between psychic types. Clashing psychic energy can do strange stuff sometimes, random teleports are on the minor side of that."
Sweet, a cover story. "So, what's for breakfast?" She snorted. "Dunno, some coffee and a sweep through my fridge? Maybe there's something in there. If not, we'll have to eat in the canteen, the stuff there isn't bad honestly."
Ah, she lived that kind of lifestyle. I patted her shoulder with sympathy in my gaze until she got ticked off and shoved me back into a lying position.
In the end, we both ended up laughing our asses off. Which woke up Weedle, who announced herself to us with a startled String Shot, that sailed past both of us from above.
I turned to her and only saw a bashful little wiggle, before she hid herself under the bedcover. Joan awwed and said. "She's an adorable one, isn't she?"
I nodded sedately while digging the embarrassed little bug out, and started caressing her until she melted against my chest. Then I looked at Joan curiously if a tad playfully. "A girl who likes bug pokémon? Now that's a rarity."
She lightly cuffed me in the head and admonished me fake-imperiously. "Don't stereotype, it's unbecoming."
I smiled a mischievous smile as I answered. "It was meant as a joke. If you can't even stomach that, however will you survive all those dirty jokes I've saved up? Maybe I should start telling them to our coworkers? Oh, and as young as I am, I can only have them from you, after all we live together, you are such a bad influence."
She shook her head with an amused smile. "The bad influence here is you, let's get going before the headache comes back. Do you need a pokéball to catch your Weedle?"
I relocated my Weedle, who dozed off again, to the side and pulled out the camouflaged Luxury Ball from below the mattress, where I'd hidden it the night before. "Already did!" I told her with a bright smile.
She nodded and stood up. "Get ready, we leave for work in an hour." I threw her a surprised look. "Am I seriously starting today?"
She shook her head. "There are a lot of different areas of responsibility, not all of them even need an RTL. Today, you'll undergo a test of aptitude. This way, we'll know where to use you effectively."
I was a bit confused. "Didn't Thomas say, that my only task for now is going to be reaching advanced level?" She snapped her fingers as if remembering something. "He did say something like that, didn't he? Well, if you're up you're up. No use going back to bed."
I didn't check the time since she woke me up, I just knew, that it was still dark outside. I sighed as I took in the time. 04:30 in the morning.
"Was that really necessary?" I asked her with a bit of heat in my voice.
She threw me an amused glance. "I had several reasons actually." She raised her hand and started ticking off her arguments on her fingers.
"One: If you want to seriously train a member of the Zubat evolutionary line, you'll need to get used to training in the night and early mornings, since they train more effectively during that time.
Two: Once you raise your rank and take high rank missions, you'll have to wake up around this time fairly often as well, so why not get used to it early on?
Three: You should actually come to work with me today if you want to make Zubat officially yours. And finally four:.."
"You wanted to mess with me." I interrupted her with a deadpan. She nodded while crossing her arms. "I wanted to mess with you."
I sighed and murmured. "Might as well..." While standing up to shuffle into the bathroom.
Joan followed me and asked in a surprised tone of voice. "You already know where the bathroom is?" I threw her a side-eye. "It wasn't that hard to find. There is a sign and everything."
She nodded. It was true after all. Letting me enter the bathroom alone, she continued her trek downstairs. A quick shower and some time choosing an outfit, dark sneakers, blue jeans and a white hooded sweater, later, I collected my Weedle, bought some food for her from the shop and made my way down.
I had to increase my funds if I wanted to continue using shop food. I had exactly 7.6k Poké left, and at the rate it was drained, it wouldn't last me more than a week.
Thinking, that I may be able to catch a glimpse of her team's potential, I entered the kitchen area and asked Joan if I'd be allowed to greet them when she collected them.
She hummed and nodded. "I don't see why not, they like you after all. Inconceivable as it is."
"I'll ignore that barb. It doesn't even hurt, really. Barely an inconvenience." I wiped the fake tears from my eyes.
"Smartass..." Was her mature answer. "Hey, I resemble that remark!" She looked at me, confused. "That doesn't sound right. Isn't it 'Hey, I resent that remark!'?"
I nodded. "Usually it is but that wouldn't fit, so I changed it."
While telling her that, I looked into her fridge. It was... sad, really. But there were some Softboiled Eggs, Some sparkling mineral water and a bottle of Moomoo Milk.
Seriously? There wasn't much in there, but what was there was top quality.
"Where did you even get Softboiled Eggs? I heard those are so high in demand, that you have to reserve them 2 months in advance."
She blinked, surprised. "Ah, those. I got them from a Blissey. Saved a Happiny from her clan during a landslide on my last mission. I've never seen a pokémon as dangerous and friendly at the same time as that Blissey."
"Oh." I made an intrigued sound. "That strong?" She nodded, obviously lost in the memory. "You have no idea how extreme the pressure of a champion rank pokémon can be. And she didn't even try to pressure me or anything. She was as friendly as can be, her passive aura was nearly too much for me, though. I really don't want to think of what could have happened, had she been angry."
That did put things into perspective. In the games, Blissey was physically weak. You could destroy it with any decent physical attacker. But here, her mere passive aura was enough to make people quake in their boots. Oh well, I never believed that my game knowledge will be any more than a loose suggestion at best.
After preparing the food for Weedle, I turned on the stove and started preparing ingredients, including some cheese and mushrooms, that I bought from the shop.
"Hey, what are you doing?" Joan made her way over, but stopped to watch when she saw me quickly and effectively clean and cut the mushrooms.
"I want to make a Softboiled Omelette. May I use the eggs? Please? Trust me. It will taste amazing." I was really looking forward to eating this, even going as far as using the forbidden technique: Puppy Houndour Eyes.
"Ugh. Don't do that. It's fine, use them. I'm curious about their taste too. Never had them and didn't have time finding someone able to cook."
She had quickly averted her eyes to not fall, but she still gave in since she's weak against food.
Soon, an appetising fragrance began to spread through the room. "Nearly done. Could you get some plates to place them on?" She didn't verbally answer but less than a minute, two plates were waiting for their burden.
After plating the omelettes and garnishing them with the left over cheese and mushrooms, we left the cooking area and went to eat.
"Mmmh~" thanking Arceus, that I hadn't entered puberty yet, I continued to eat in a somewhat subdued manner. I couldn't help it, that moan was really sensual.
If the slight blush and awkwardness from her was any indicator, then she knew too.
"It was good." She told me with a smile after finishing and getting her embarrassment under control. "Mhmmm~" I couldn't resist.
Also: I owed her, like, three pranks? She cleared her throat and said.
"We'll have to go soon if we don't want to arrive late." True. Any longer and we might cut it close. First stop: Backyard. And there they are.
The first visible one to my eyes was a lounging Zoroark.
[Zoroark
Bond status:
Nonexistent
Age:
4 years
Stage:
???
Gender:
Female
Ability:
???
Potential:
Light Blue
Aberrations:
???
Attacks:
???]
I actually got more than expected, since it was indicated, that I'll only be able to see the potential if there was no bond. Age and gender were not things I expected to see.
After greeting Maya, I turned to search for the other ones and soon another of her teammembers left the woods.
[Morpeko
Bond status:
Nonexistent
Age:
2 years
Stage:
???
Gender:
Male
Ability:
???
Potential:
Green
Aberrations:
???
Attacks:
???]
Her teammembers definitely had decent potential. Green and upwards was what competitive trainers used.
Her starter should be above green and Pan, her Shiftry, was in his last evolution too, so he should have managed to increase his potential to green or above.
Speaking of Giratina... Pan came out of the forest with enough momentum to crash into the house, but he managed to control his body before anything of the likes happened.
[Shiftry
Bond status:
Nonexistent
Age:
5 years
Stage:
???
Gender:
Male
Ability:
???
Potential:
Light Blue
Aberrations:
???
Attacks:
???]
He's a fair bit older than the other two. They also managed to raise his potential to light blue, which was already quite good.
Her last member arrived sedately, not at all in a hurry. Zubat was lounging in between his dark grey horns, that marked him as a Minor Type Aberrant.
[Houndoom
Bond status:
Budding
Age:
14 years
Stage:
???
Gender:
Male
Ability:
???
Potential:
Deep Blue
Aberrations:
???
Attacks:
???]
There were several things to address. First of all, why was there a budding bond between me and the starter of someone else?
Secondly, deep blue potential, nice.
Most dark types had life spans, that surpassed those of base humans. 14 years wasn't much if you took that into consideration.
I stepped up to them and started giving them the usual treatment: pats, scratches and caresses. After being satisfied with the treatment, Zeus Swaggered over to Joan, who also gave him some caresses.
Looking content and even a bit smug, he returned himself to his ball, startling Zubat, who gave an indignant screech, caught herself in the air and fluttered over to my shoulder.
"Huh, his mood is pretty good today..." Joan muttered. "Of course it is, he's a darling." I said that matter-of-factly. Joan only threw me a slightly pitying glance and greeted the rest of her team and returned them.
I, in the mean time, turned my attention to Zubat.
[Zubat
Bond status:
Minor
Age:
2 months
Stage:
Late Rookie
Gender:
Female
Ability:
Inner Focus, Infiltrator (dormant)
Potential:
Green
Aberrations:
Minor bonus typing: Ghost
Attacks:
Supersonic Astonish Mean Look Poison Fang Venom Drench.]
I knew it, she's awesome. The bonus typing was a surprise, but it explained why her Astonish seemed somewhat more effective than expected.
Zubat had no idea why she got extra scratches, but she enjoyed them nonetheless. "Today, you'll be officially mine if you want to be. What do you say, wanna be my partner, my team's Big Sis?"
She fluttered about excitedly while screeching. I interpreted that as a yes. "Well then, let me introduce you to your first little sister." She closed in curiously as I held my hand into the hood.
Somewhat reluctantly, Weedle climbed my hand and shyly let herself be presented. "Weedle, this is Zubat. Your Big Sis. She's awesome." Weedle wiggled a bit in my hand and gave a silent, bashful greeting. "Weedle..."
Zubat screeched welcomingly and landed on my shoulder again. Weedle, getting a bit of confidence from the friendly welcome, climbed my arm and positioned herself beside Zubat and threw around some curious calls, with Zubat answering some of them while ignoring others.
Joan watched the interaction curiously and asked. "Do you understand them? It almost seems like you do."
I shrugged. "I can usually understand the intent behind what they are trying to tell me."
She looked thoughtful for a moment.
"If I remember correctly, that usually means you have at least some talent with aura. You might want to talk with Tom about that. He's an Aura Student. His talent in that regard is heavily limited, which means that he most likely won't be able to go past the student stage, but he should be able to get you started."
Well, that was interesting to know. "I'll be sure to talk with him about it. Is there a way to test if you are talented in aura or another type of energy?"
She nodded. "Of course. The usual one is letting a pokémon, that uses those energy types, test your affinity for them. We unintentionally did something like that already. You showed not even an ounce of discomfort while facing Zeus, who used the full weight of his aura to put pressure on you. This means, that your affinity for the dark type is pretty good."
That made sense. I mean, I felt his aura, but it felt more like a blanket than a weight. As if it wanted to wrap around me to keep me safe.
Eh, probably not that important.
As we strolled through the empty streets, it was quite early after all, I continued asking questions and she'd answer most of them, telling me directly if she thought I wasn't ready for something.
I appreciated the straight forward way she did that, since she never tried to avoid a question except if it was too personal. And even then, she usually communicated with a warning glance, that she didn't want to talk about that.
Arriving at the league center, we immediately searched out Thomas, since Joan was his direct subordinate.
We found him already sitting in his office, typing away on his keyboard when we arrived.
While it wasn't a standard cubicle, it was just as impersonal. No photos, no personal possessions, no personal touch at all. Just a simple desk, a PC and a small rubbish bin. Not even an office plant.
He continued typing for some minutes, even though I was sure he noticed us before we even entered the room. Then he turned his attention to us and inspected me in particular.
He looked me in the eyes and said. "I hope you settled in well. Joan can be a handful, but she usually means well." He threw a slight barb at Joan with a side glance.
She just shrugged. "We had fun if you exclude the headaches." Was what she said. At his inquisitive gaze, she gave him an account of what happened after subtly catching my gaze and receiving a just as subtle nod.
I was sure he noticed, but I was thankful, that she asked for permission before spilling all the beans. After her report, he leaned back and asked to see Weedle. Said adorable worm had gone to sleep in my hood again, which was why she took a while and a bit of prodding to climb into my hand.
She looked at me with adorably drowsy eyes, that seemed to hold a slight accusation for not letting her sleep. I smiled apologetically at her and said. "Sorry to wake you, but I wanted to introduce you to my boss."
She instantly seemed more wakeful, as she took in her surroundings. When her eyes fell on Thomas, she returned to her usual bashful appearance, wiggling a bit in my hand.
I really wanted to coo over her, but I had to preserve at least a token amount of masculinity in front of my idol.
I could see him straining a bit and a slight aura appear in his eyes before relaxing again with a baffled expression on his face.
"Well, that's a monster if I've ever seen one..."
Oh, he checked her potential, didn't he? I asked him and he confirmed it with a nod. "I'm the only aura user in the center. I'm not very good at it, though, so even something as simple as checking the potential of a pokémon strains my meagre reserves."
His eyes expressed severity when he turned his attention to me. "Her potential is beyond what's healthy for her or even you. Officially, she's going to be light blue. Which already is a bit too much for an orphan without backing, but with my inofficial support, you shouldn't face any problems."
He looked at me and then at Joan. "She can stay. I trust her enough to not get me intentionally killed." A flash of amusement could be seen in his eyes at the 'intentionally' before he returned to his professional mien.
"Very well. Her actual potential should be light purple. Which is a bit ridiculous to be honest. But you knew that already, didn't you?" It wasn't an accusation, just curiosity, since I didn't really react to the news. Also, Joan already had mentioned a potential talent for aura, which probably reinforced his suspicion.
I nodded. No use in hiding this. Aura users were very rare, but they existed. The man in front of me was living proof for that. "I think I can tell since yesterday, shortly before Weedle appeared. There was some pain, ok, a lot of pain all over my body before I felt as if something within me loosened."
That made him thoughtful. "If she was teleported by the clash of two strong psychic types, then the amount of psychic energy, that would have flooded your room with her arrival might have stimulated your dormant talent for aura.
They must have been real monsters, since the whole house is saturated in ghost- and dark-type energy. A normal Teleport would've never gone through. Especially with such an amount of psychic energy.
Not just strong, but very much in control of their energy too, since nothing leaked into the surroundings. Curious..."
... Sure, let's go with that. I nodded seemingly thoughtfully. He snapped out of his thoughts and asked me with a bit of curiosity. "I have an aura using pokémon with me. Want me to have her look at your potential to see if it's worth developing?"
I had no idea if I had any talent with aura or if what the system awoke in me was the smallest kernel of aura ever and I'd really like to know, so I gave an affirmative. I was also curious about meeting a member of Thomas's team, especially if it was an aura user.
As far as I knew, he didn't have a Lucario, but he may have hidden it away as a trumpcard or something. His next words kinda confirmed my thoughts. "Since you trusted me enough to reveal all that, I'll trust you to keep secret what I'm going to show you. We'll have to relocate, though."
I nodded at his questioning glance and he opened a pokéball, that released his Metagross. "Teleport us to Room 0, please."
As the pseudo-legendary started to collect energy, I returned both, Zubat and Weedle to their respective pokéballs, since poison types had an extremely hard time dealing with teleports. Which was a small loop hole in the Weedle cover story, but if no one else was going to mention it, I definitely won't.
The sensation of being teleported was a strange one. In one moment you were here and in the next, all your surroundings had changed. The human body had a subconscious sense for space called proprioception, and it really didn't like a change of all your surroundings within less than a microsecond.
A mean feeling of vertigo assaulted me for a moment, before I managed to center myself with closed eyes and breathing exercises. After calming down, I opened my eyes and saw Thomas nodding approvingly.
I looked around and saw a strangely steampunk-styled room with lots of clockworks, seemingly unfinished automatons and things, that I couldn't even categorise.
Nearly bursting from curiosity, I asked Thomas. "Where are we? Why are we here? I don't think you built..."
"Please, don't." He interrupted me somewhat amusedly. "We are in a room I've found while I searched through some ruins in a forbidden zone. I've caught the pokémon you are about to meet here.
She feels most at home in this place, so I let Metagross set up a Teleport marker here. Now, let me introduce you to my hidden ace, even my Skarmory acknowledged, that she's on the same level as him."
I was jittery, excited and all kinds of other things when I heard that. What kind of monster could make that beast acknowledge them?!
"Come out, Princess." He said as he threw the pokéball lightly. What appeared from the light was something, that I hadn't even dreamed of meeting this early in life.
[Magearna
Bond status:
Nonexistent
Age:
572 years
Stage:
???
Gender:
Genderless
Ability:
???
Potential:
Iridescent
Aberrations:
???
Attacks:
???]
Ho...ly...shit.