Chapter 9
Blazing Speed
(-¤-)
I stood in the middle of a field, the forest now far behind me and the rage only a slight simmer now. A young boy about seven years old stood across from me with Jack and a shinx standing between us.
My first trainer battle, not as flashy as most would hope but honestly I needed to blow off what little steam I still had. And Jack need to blow off alot of steam. He hadn't taken the news well, none of us had, not even the ever cheerful Luke.
Seriously, fuck Bob.
"Shinx use spark!" The little electric cat pokemon dashed forward from way to far away. Sparks of electricity crackled as it tried to ram jack.
Jack simply stepped out of the way without my prompting.
"Pound" an ear shot out as shinx sailed by smacking it in the ribs and throwing it to the side. It recovered pretty quickly, turning the movement into a roll to get some distance. It was quick, but Jack was quicker.
"Close in and beat on it, don't let it grab you" no sooner said than done. He dashed forward with a quick attack and followed up with a series of pounds. The poor cat was getting battered and I could see the trainer getting frustrated.
"Quick use spark and get it off of you!" Shinx started crackling again and for all the power Jack had he was forced to back up. Doesn't matter how tough you are, electricity hurts when your that small. "Alright shinx its time to bust out our secret move!"
Secret move? This oughta be good. Jack braced himself, he knew to listen to the other trainer as well as me. I had drilled that with him several times. He could react faster than me when needed.
"Use thunder wave!" A dome of thin crackling lightning blasted from the cat, washing over Jack and ending just a few feet away from me. "Alright! Now use spark again!"
The cat dashes forward just like the start of the battle, crackling and buzzing with energy. And just like before Jack stepped out of the way and socked him in the ribs, completely uneffected by the so called secret move.
Once again the cat was thrown, but it didn't roll to its feet this time and after a few moments the trainer admited defeat with a huff and returned it.
It felt good to win my first trainer battle, but it was offset by the fact that I just beat up a seven year olds pet cat with my bunny that has anger management issues. This world is weird.
"Wow miss, your really strong!" He stepped closer to get a look at Jack but backed up when he hissed at him.
I called Jack back to my side and he jumped up to my shoulder, giving this small child the death glare.
"Sorry about him, he's not exactly freindly." I gave him a scrtach behind his ear, one of the few kinds of physical contact he seemed to enjoy. Other than using me as a steed that is.
"How did your buneary not get paralyzed? That always works." Honestly with most bunearys it should have, but during training I saw Jack get hit several times with stun spore by the forest denizens, and never react to it. So I looked it up.
"Good question. See all pokemon have special abilities that can have effects in a battle, Jacks here is limber. That means he can't be paralyzed by anything." I beat up his cat, I might as well give him a few pointers. "Even your shinx has one."
He looked at the ground and kicked at the sirt with his foot. "Didn't help me none, you still beat me." Aww, sad kids are so sad!
"Hey man cheer up, you know with a bit of training and some better strategy I bet you'd make a great trainer." Please stop being sad your making my heart hurt. He looked back up at me, a bit less melancholic.
"Really?"
"Totally! Tell you what, if you point me to the nearst pokemon center I'll give you some tips." He perked up alot at that.
"Ok! Follow me, its this way!" He took off, the bitter sting of defeat forgotten.
We walked for a few minutes, (he made sure to stay close to the opposite shoulder of Jack) all the while we discussed strategy, his shinx was still pretty weak and his move pool wasn't too deep but he could still be a problem to deal with if you know how. I pointed out that thunder wave should be used the first chance he gets and to use his stat effecting moves more. If he ignored those for damaging moves everytime he would just be wide open to counter attacks.
He nodded along the whole time we walked, absorbing every word. It felt good to teach the next generation a bit, maybe we'll meet again when hes older and give me a real battle.
The center turned out to not be too far. We crested a hill and I got a good look at a sleepy little town. A carved wooden sign announced it as Asterton town, I bet the kids had alot of fun saying that name. It looked peaceful, I could see people walking between houses and humble storefronts. Pokemon could be seen everywhere, flocks of starly weighed down powerlines, pokemon rangeing from bidoof to budews walked next to their trainers and helping with tasks, I could even see a machoke carrying some lumber in the distance.
It wasn't a special place, but it was at the perfect spot for travelers to pass through, it was alive. The complete opposite of Dellitown. I took the view in for a few more moments, just basking in how quaint everything looked.
The kid tugged at my hand and asked what the hold up was, I guess if you lived here it wasn't so impressive. I followed him again searching for another topic of discussion.
I asked him about his favorite cartoon knowing that that was always a perfered topic for kids. He immediately started info dumping about a show called Póke Rangers. Its exactly what you think it is. Complete with cheesy effects and giant robot fights, its good to see some things never change.
This pokemon center was a bit bigger than Dellitowns and with a whopping three vistors, including us, was also busier. A girl around my false age sat in the corner, fretting over a very much uninterested glameow. She glanced at us only to turn away at Jacks glare. I turned my attention to the local nurse.
"Welcome to the pokemon center, how can I help you." She surprisingly didn't look exactly like my Joy. Oh don't get me wrong they were close, too close to pass of as mere family resemblance, but I could see her eye brows were a bit thinner and she had a slightly sharper chin. All the differences were very subtle though, and hard to catch if you weren't looking for them.
Also I found that I wasn't very attracted to her. Its not that she wasnt attractive, she was very cute, but she looked too much like my Joy and that just felt... weird. Any attraction I had felt for mine was already dulled by my new body, since my head wasn't swimming in hormones just yet. Also her helicopter parent routine for the first week was a real mood killer.
"Yes, I need you to heal my pokemon." I placed my two from my belt onto a tray and Jack jumped down onto the counter. This would be Bobs first pokemon center visit but we made sure he understood that being mean to a Joy would not be tolerated and would result in me taping him face first to a tree and leaving him for the staraptors. It was the only thing he had agreed to.
"Mine too please." The kid set his one ball up on the counter next to my tray.
"Also can I get a room for the night?" It would be good to have a roof over my head for my stay here.
She started typing on her computer, "Absolutely, I'll just need to see your license for a moment." Ah shit. She stood there with her hand out and that oh so helpful smile.
"Uh, yeah, about that. See I'm on my way to Sandgem Town to get mine, so I don't really have one right now." I confided. This had never been an issue before, but then again I had been living in the only other pokemon center I had even seen due to injuries.
She frowned at my explanation. "Oh, I see. Well we can treat your pokemon without issue" well thats a relief. "But you need a license to use a room." And that sucks.
"You can't make just one little exception?" I pleaded, I really wanted to sleep in a real bed, even if it was one of those extra firm ones they used in centers.
"Im sorry Ma'am, but rules are rules." Damn it. "There is a small motel on the other end of town you can use though. Its not league season yet so they should have plenty of rooms open." Ugh, motels. They were always nasty and just felt surreal, like some kind of liminal space. I hated staying at them, but it was better than a sleeping bag.
"Ok, thank you." I sighed defeated. Well you can't win them all. I really wanted go stay in a center. Despite the cramped quarters they give you for a room it at least feels like it isn't lying to you. Motels rooms always look like a bad knock off of someones bedroom. Also I'm pretty sure people fuck alot less in pokemon centers.
"By the way" I perked back up as she addressed me. "Your name wouldn't happen to be Alice Thorn from Dellitown, would it?
"Uh, yeah?" How did she know that? I hadn't done anything noteworthy enough for a reputation just yet. At least not in front of people.
"You should really call my cousin back in Dellitown. She's been worried sick about you!" Uh oh. "She's been calling all the centers close to Eterna forest for a week now. I get two calls a day!"
"Sure," I don't want to deal with that mess right now. "Wheres your phones?" But I'm going to anyway.
She directed me to the video phone booths to the side of the lobby. They were green and looked like big chunky computers. Dellitowns center had them to but I had never needed to use them. I inserted some change and punched in Joys number. A little icon of a chatot popped up with the word 'Calling' under it. I didn't have to wait long for an answer though.
My Nurse Joy suddenly took up the whole screen, a few strands of hair out of place and an expression of panic plastered across her face.
"DID YOU FIND ALICE!?" Oh man, shes freaking out hard. I guess she was expecting another Joy to answer her.
"I am Alice." It took her just a moment to process who she was seeing before she untensed and sighed with relief. That didn't last too long though, she immediately settled into angry mom mode after a moment seeing as I was perfectly fine.
"Where Have You Been." Uh oh, shes using the 'Mom' tone, thats not good.
"I'm so sorry, really. I was wandering through Eterna Forest and training, and I guess I lost track of the days. I caught a new pokemon though!" I tried to quell her anger with a topic change. Maybe telling her about my newest problem would distract her.
"Mm-hmm" oh geez. I could almost here her foot tapping the ground. "It took you two weeks to catch something?"
"Well, sorta" I can't tell her about the megahive, a discovery like that would be huge and would probably cause alot of academic chaos when I finally let it out. But mostly she didn't need to know that I willingly pissed off hundreds if not thousands of pokemon by stealing their shit.
"See I was tracking down this ralts." They have been known to live in the forest, though I hadn't seen a trace of one. "And I managed to run it down but in the battle it teleported away and the ball I had thrown hit a combee instead." I huffed with frustration. "I couldn't find the ralts trail after that and the combee hates me."
There we go, perfectly believable lie. Of course I ran around the forest for two weeks, I was hot on the heels of a rare pokemon.
She quirked her brow at me in a knowing way. "Well that shouldn't to big a problem for you. You managed to train your buneary and he is the most aggressive pokemon I have ever seen." Bought it hook line and sinker.
I shook my head at that "Jack is mean and violent. But he doesn't hate things, just prefers his space and his trainer. This thing fucking hates me, and honestly I'm not a big fan either. None of the team is."
That was true. As soon as the others found out what had happened it was all I could do to keep them from mauling the dude. I was was pissed off too but we were the aggressors and Bob was (technically) in the right. Doesn't mean I liked him though.
Bob on the other hand was full of fury at all times. He doesn't listen to me and constantly tries to pick fights with the rest of us. He's got a grudge that I am just not willing to fix. Besides hes a MALE combee, basically useless in the battle scene. Hes got four moves and he will never learn more than that, no matter how hard I train him. If he was a she then I would at least try, the females can evolve and learn a decent amount of techniques. But as it was he was less than useless.
"I think I might have to let him go." I was absolutely getting rid of him, little fucker had to get out of my life.
"I see, well you could always trade him." Now theres an idea, but I doubt I could get anything for a male combee. I voiced my concern to Joy who pondered for another moment
"Maybe not in Sinnoh, but you'll be passing through Jubilife on your way back from Sandgem town won't you?" I nodded, not seeing where she was going with this. "Jubilife has a global trade terminal, most regions have at least one. They allow trainers from all over the world to trade pokemon from long distances. No one in Sinnoh might want combee but a person in a different region might." That was a thing? I definitely don't remember that in the anime, but then again Ash didn't have a habit of trading his pokemon very often, and certainly not to people he just met on the pókenet. This could work.
"Nurse Joy your a genius!" Yes! By the time I was at Rowans place I would have half a team of decent pokemon, at least!
"Thank you! But be aware, you need a trainers license to use it, or any trade machine for that matter. So you'll have to do it on your second visit there." Fuck, that meant another week of Bob.
"I can work with that. Thank you Joy!"
"Alice Thorn, your pokemon are ready for pick up"
"Alice Thorn, your pokemon are ready for pick up"
A gentle voice spoke out over the intercom.
"Oh, I gotta go. My pokemon are all healed up." Honestly I hadn't expected it to take long, they were in pretty good shape to begin with.
She nodded, "Remember to call! Bye Alice."
"Bye Nurse Joy" the screen cut out and showed me a three frame gif of a napping chatot and the words 'call ended'.
Global trade terminal huh? That could be real handy, I should do some research on it. And maybe see if theres anything in the area worth catching. If I can trade a combee for something decent, what else could I trade for?
I did some research after my pokemon had been healed on the centers public computers. The trade terminals were a recent addition to the league, but very welcome to the training scene. You basically just put your pokemon up on the web, then you search around for something you would like to trade for and message the other trainer. If you both agree to the trade you pull a lever and after a few minutes the transfers complete. It used artificial teleportation technology, there was no way to intercept the signal transfering them because there was no signal. Just point A and point B, no inbetween. Clean, easy and safe.
After that I jumped on to some forums. Trainers often traded info on these and posted recent pokemon sightings. Entire websites were designed so you could find forums talking about specific areas. I found one talking about a flock of driftloon being seen near the Wind Valley Powerplant. They would be great trading fodder seeing as they had a unique type combo, and the rarity of ghosts. Only problem was that the powerplant was more than a few days walk from here. By the time I arrive they will have been long gone.
But hope was not lost. I had seen an ad for something called a ground surfer, basically a really beefy skateboard and tow rope combo. You ride the board while a pokemon pulls you along. A simple concept that, depending on what pokemon pulls, could be incredibly effective. Not to mention I was tired of walking already, it sucked.
Now I didn't have the money to shell out for one, nor did I have the time to wait for it to be delivered. But some asking around did inform me of a local junk yard, and where theres junk, theres potential.
Which is why I was currently digging through a bunch of rusty trash.
I had got me a nice little pile of parts. A couple of small bicycle wheels one with handle bars attached. Some planks from what might have been a fence. Some steel piping and a big wad of cloth.
I was looking for something to hold the other wheel, perferably another bicycle front peice. I'm not sure the proper terminology, but like, the part that attaches the wheel to the bike. Thats what I need.
The owner was a portly looking fourty something, with a houndoom by his side. It was cool to look at, like a literal hellhound. Him and Jack were having a stareing contest while I searched. I think Jack was winning, he could make a baby cry with that glare.
If this all worked out I could cut my travel time down by a massive amount. I just gotta find that fucking part.
(-¤-)
"WOOOOOHHOOOO!"
It works! It fucking works! My creation was a little rattley and ugly as sin but it works! It was as simple as I could make it, a board to stand on with a wheel centered on both ends, the center of balance was a bit high but some practice and the acceleration made that a non issue. Luke held a pipe that I had wrapped with cloth and tied to a rope, the other end had another pipe which I held. I had restocked on supplies and bought an extra pokeball before I left
Luke was pulling me along a trail at a ridiculous speed, I think we were going around thirty something miles per hour. Not very fast for a car but blistering for someone on a recently built piece of garbage without saftey equipment. Seriously I don't even have a helmet, wiping out at this speed might kill me.
It's fucking awesome.
"WIND VALLEY POWERPLANT PREPARE YOUR ASSHOLE, IM FUCKING COMING FOR YOU, HEEEELLLLLL YEEEEAAAAAHHH!"
Oh fuck me, I just realized I forgot to install brakes.
(-¤-)
Alice Thorn
Apr 10
Team
Jack
Buneary
Moves: Pound, Foresight, Frustration, Sweetkiss, Defense curl, Baby doll eyes, Quick attack, Jumpkick.
Ability Limber
Luke
Golbat
Moves: Absorb, Super sonic, Astonish, Bite, Whirlwind, Wing attack, Confuse ray, Air cutter.
Ability Inner focus
Bob
Combee
Moves: sweetscent, Gust, Bug bite, Struggle bug.
Ability Honey gather
940¥
In Box
N/A
I know I haven't been super clear with it until now, but Alice is a lesbian. Originally she was gonna be straight, and then bi. But now lesbian just feels weirdly right for her.
Not that its gonna matter a whole lot. After all I can't figure out a way to give her a concrete love interest without making one of them a pedo considering shes a 20 something in a 10 year olds body, and honestly I'm not very inclined to give her one anyway.
Also the lopunny line got a major upgrade to its move pool with the new dlc, so that'll be fun.
