Tuesday, September 5th, 2017
Waking up to the sounds of birds chirping wasn't an unfamiliar experience for me, though it admittedly wasn't one that I would have expected. It had been years since I'd gone camping and the noise from the nearby roads meant that I couldn't sleep with the windows open at my apartment. Nevertheless, I was slowly brought to a waking state by the loud chirping of birds who, judging by their volume, were only scant yards away from me. I did my best to ignore the noise and return to the comfort of sleep, but one particular birdcall made me instantly open my eyes and sit up.
"Pi Pi Pidgey!"
I grunted in annoyance when the sudden movement made me smack my face into something that thankfully had very little resistance when I pushed against it. I quickly scooted back to see what I had headbutted and blinked owlishly as I examined my surroundings and tried to finish waking up. I was clearly in a tent which was odd in of itself, but the most unexpected thing was the tan and green fawn that was curled up next to me. My movements must have roused it because it slowly raised its head and gave me a questioning look.
Ah. So it hadn't been a dream.
"Morning," I offered the Pokemon in front of me. "Sorry I woke you up."
I never thought that I'd see a deer shrug, but Deerling moved his shoulders in a way that couldn't mean anything else. He then slowly brought himself to his feet and stretched in a very cat-like manner before exiting the tent. Since I clearly wasn't going to get any more sleep, I followed his example by putting on my shoes and joining him outside. I was immediately greeted with the smell of damp soil and a glance confirmed that all of our surroundings were wet, including the tent's tarps. With a small frown, I realized that we must have gotten some rain at some point the previous night, which would delay today's start. It wasn't as if we were in a rush, but it was still annoying to have to wait for everything to dry off before we could leave.
Several minutes later I had the tent repacked, not counting the two tarps that I'd hung from nearby tree branches to dry. I had tried to shake some of the water off but ended up sitting on a log to wait when that only made a minor difference. Luckily, there weren't any clouds in the sky so I didn't think it would take too long for the sun to dry them off. While we waited, Deerling started nibbling on some grass and it occurred to me that I hadn't told him the plan that I had determined the previous night.
I cleared my throat lightly to get his attention and explained when he looked up at me, "So I think we should take Cait's advice and head up to St. Cloud and Brainerd. We might have issues with the flying gym, but I think you'll be able to handle a water gym without any problems." Deerling nodded at my plan, though I doubted that he knew where either of the two cities were located. My mention of the Brainerd gym did remind me of a rather important gap in my knowledge from yesterday's battle, "Speaking of, do you know any grass moves?"
When Deerling shook his head dejectedly, I quickly attempted to reassure him, "That's alright. You'll get there soon I'm sure. At any rate, even if you did know some grass moves, I think it would be a good idea to catch an electric type. It would help with both gyms after all," I mused. Generally speaking, electric types were caught at power plants in the Pokemon games but I couldn't think of any such locations in the cities. Besides, even if there was a large power complex nearby, I doubted that the building would let either wild Pokemon or trainers near the presumably sensitive equipment. With a sigh, I decided that I would just have to hope to come across an electric type on my way north as I followed the river up towards-
A sudden thought came to me about a spot where I should be able to find electric types and I pulled out the Poryphone to see what the best route to get there was. As I'd accidentally discussed with Cait yesterday, Coon Rapids was right next to Blaine which meant that the Coon Rapids Dam was likely close to our current location. Even back home, I had never been to the park that the hydroelectric dam was in, but it seemed to me that it was likely that electric types would be drawn there in this world. As an added bonus, we wouldn't be going out of our way at all since the dam was on the Mississippi. According to the Poryphone, it was only an hour and a half away from where we had camped, which was a welcome change after yesterday's long hike. I knew that my near future was going to involve weeks of walking, but it would still be nice to have a slower start.
After about a half-hour, my planning was complete and the tarps had dried off enough that I wasn't afraid of them getting moldy. Now that I thought about it some more, there wasn't any real danger of that happening considering I would likely use them again tonight but figured it was still good to save myself from carrying the extra water weight. Once the tarps had been repacked, Deerling and I set off on my planned route towards the dam by exiting the small forest that we had camped in and heading back south to reach the road that would take us most of the way to the dam.
As soon as we turned onto the eastern running road, I realized that our path would take us directly past the neighborhood that I had convinced myself that my parents would be. Desperate to think about anything other than yesterday's breakdown, I looked down at my partner and started speaking without knowing what I was going to say, "So, uh, Deerling." The grass type looked up at me inquisitively as we continued to walk down the sidewalk and I struggled to come up with something to talk about. After a few pained seconds of silence, I finally asked the first thing that came to mind, "Do you want a nickname? It's not a very good one if you ask me, but Cait did give Houndy one so…"
Deerling took several seconds to consider my question before nodding hesitantly. I eagerly began brainstorming what would be a fitting name, though I quickly ran into a problem. My instinct was to have some plant-related name because of his typing but most of the names that came to mind were decidedly feminine names while the rest simply didn't fit. Ivy, Rose, Peony, Maple, and Daisy were all discarded for the former reason while Thorn firmly fit in the latter category. Switching tracks slightly, I tried to think what was special about Deerling as a species rather than grass types as a whole. The most obvious thing that was unique about the Sawsbuck line was their seasonal changes, and when I put that together with plants, I had an idea that I was reasonably pleased with.
"How about Peren?" I asked the small deer, forcing him to return his attention to me after it had wandered while I had been thinking. At his curious gaze, I explained, "As in short for perennial. A plant that survives the winter and grows back stronger in the spring."
This time Deerling took almost a full minute to consider my question, which I found completely fair; choosing your own name was a pretty big decision. When he finally did respond, it was with a firm nod accompanied by a loud, "Deee!"
"Well alright then," I said while smiling down at the newly christened Pokemon. "By the way, just let me know when you want to stop for food." Between sleeping in and waiting for the camping equipment to try, we had gotten a fairly late start. It still wasn't all that close to lunchtime, but we also hadn't eaten breakfast. While I normally skipped the day's first meal, I wasn't yet sure what Peren's eating habits were. Besides, I figured that he likely used up more energy than me yesterday because of having to recover from his injuries. We could eat some of the food supplies that I had purchased yesterday, but it made more sense to save that for when we didn't have access to ready-made food.
It was about an hour later when Peren nudged up against me and used his nose to point at a deli that we were about to walk past. I nodded at him and once again he waited outside while I went to get our food. The deli had premade sandwiches for sale, so the decision for my food was pretty straightforward, but I was less certain about what to get Peren. Unlike Combusken's, this place didn't offer a mix of poffin flavors and instead had larger ones of a single flavor. Not wanting to gamble on getting something that he wouldn't like, I ended up buying a large green poffin along with a BLT for myself.
With our lunch in hand, I exited the deli and asked the waiting Pokemon, "Do you want to eat somewhere nearby or wait till we get to the dam? I'm pretty sure there's some park benches there." Peren took a moment to consider the question and then resumed walking down the road, which I took to mean that he was fine waiting to eat. I made a mental note to stick to yes or no questions in the future before jogging to catch up with him.
Less than fifteen minutes after getting our lunch, we arrived at the park that hosted the dam and Peren immediately made a beeline towards the nearest picnic table. I followed him with a bit of regret since now that we were here I wanted to start searching for an electric type right away. I still wasn't pleased about my situation by any means, but at the same time, I couldn't help but be excited by the prospect of catching a Pokemon. Regardless, I knew that it would be a good idea to eat first so I once again helped Peren into his seat before unpacking our meals. Peren's eyes went wide when he saw the large green poffin that I placed on the table in front of him before turning to give me an unsure look.
"It's all yours. You definitely earned it after yesterday," I said as I unwrapped my sandwich. Both of us dug into our lunches and for the second time, I found that I didn't enjoy my meal nearly as much as Peren appeared to like his. The BLT was fine but it was almost as bland as yesterday's sandwich had been. Even the granola bar I'd eaten last night had been mediocre and I was starting to wonder if this world knew what salt was. Despite my distaste, I ate quickly since I was still eager to start searching for a new Pokemon. Peren was either ravenous or noticed my impatience since he finished his meal at about the same time as I finished scarfing down mine.
Once our garbage had been taken care of, we started walking farther into the park as we began our search. I admittedly had no idea how hydroelectric dams worked but figured that there had to be somewhere where they stored the gathered electricity and that's where we would find the Pokemon we were looking for. Since the only building that I saw on this side of the river was a visitor's center, we started making our way over to the pedestrian bridge that crossed the river over the dam to check out what was on the other side.
A few feet before the bridge began, I noticed a plaque with a black and white photo that was detailing the history of the dam. I was always a sucker for finding out random tidbits about a landmark so I moved closer to check it out. I'd skipped reading the ones on the Stone Arch bridge because of how disoriented I'd been at the time, but now my curiosity had free reign. For Peren's benefit, I began reading the plaque's inscription out loud.
"Coon Rapids Dam pictured above during construction during 1913. Near here, a small village sprang up during the construction of the dam. At peak construction, the site became a community that hosted all aspects of city life including schools, hospitals, social events, and Pokemon battles. Approximately 300 residents of the village and their Pokemon worked in around-the-clock shifts to build the dam.
The spot known as Coon Creek Rapids (later shortened to Coon Rapids) was chosen since it is one of the shallowest points in the river. The nearby forest was home to unusually large populations of Silcoon and Cascoon.
The dam required 42,000 cubic feet of concrete and 800 boxcar loads of crushed rock. It elevated the water north of the dam by 15 feet and generated electricity from 1919 to 1960. The orig-"
I stopped to go back and silently reread the previous sentence, then loudly groaned once I'd confirmed that I'd read it correctly. The dam had been shut down for over fifty years now. I had thought my odds of finding an electric Pokemon here would be high but now suspected the odds wouldn't be any different than any other location. I looked down to see Peren's reaction and saw that he was staring back up at me with wide eyes. I nodded with a grimace, "Yeah, so much for those plans. I guess we can still look around, but I'm not expecting much now." With a sigh, I finished reading the rest of the plaque which simply stated that the area had been turned into a park and designated Pokemon habitat after the dam's shutdown, which didn't give me much hope.
Regardless, I decided it still made sense to walk across the bridge as I'd planned earlier in the hopes of being able to spot something without being surrounded by trees. Peren confidently walked beside me as we started making our way across the river, making me think that he'd been unnerved yesterday by the heights and not the water. I halted after we had gotten about halfway across the river and looked around to see if there was anything of interest. There was a decent amount of rustling in the trees on both sides of the river, though I couldn't spot whatever was causing the disturbances. I could see several Pokemon in the water, including Froakie, Magikarp, and Tympole, but didn't give them much consideration since we had no way of reaching them.
We finished crossing the bridge and then spent the next couple of hours leisurely strolling around the park in our ultimately fruitless attempt to find an electric type. When we didn't find anything noteworthy on the western side of the river, we crossed back to the eastern side but didn't have any better luck there. It was impossible to miss that there was one thing that clearly hadn't changed in the hundred years since the dam's construction: almost every tree that we passed had either a Silcoon or a Cascoon in it. Despite their abundance, we walked past the cocoon Pokemon without giving them much notice as we explored the park. I wasn't really interested in catching an immobile Pokemon, especially since I figured that it would be impossible to get a read on their personality in their current evolutionary state.
Our meandering walk through the park was interrupted by a rush of air when something flew past my head while we were crossing a clearing. Startled by the noise, I stopped in my tracks and watched as a small red and white bird landed directly in front of us on the path. The Fletchling loudly chirped at us while spreading its wings, making me take a cautious step backward. I'd been divebombed by birds for getting too closer to nest a few times in the past and I had no desire to similarly upset one that could also potentially breathe fire.
"Let's go back. No reason to disturb it," I said to Peren and turned to go back the way we'd come. Peren hesitated a moment before following my lead and turning his back on the Fletchling. We had only taken a couple of steps when there was another whoosh of air and the flying type landed on the path ahead of us. Once again, the Pokemon began flapping its wings and loudly chirped at us, but made no other move beyond blocking our path. This time, Peren stepped in front of me and tensed as if he was ready to break out into a sprint at a moment's notice.
"Does it… want a battle?" I asked Peren hesitantly and was immediately answered by a firm nod from my Pokemon and a loud 'Fle!' from the wild one. I frowned slightly as I remembered Peren's previous and only battle against a Pokemon that had a type advantage over him. Still hesitant, I said, "I guess we can if you're sure that you're up for it." Peren nodded again and the Fletchling pulled its wings in but maintained its position on the ground rather than returning to the air.
After a couple more seconds of inaction from both Pokemon, I decided that it must be waiting for us to make the first move. After taking another moment to think, I ordered, "Alright Peren, use Growl and then Tackle it!" I hadn't actually confirmed that Peren knew Growl, but it seemed like it would be a safe bet like Tackle had been. Besides, even if I was wrong about Peren knowing the move, the only one who'd be aware of my blunder would be a wild Pokemon. Thankfully, it turned out that I was correct as Peren made a soft mewling noise before taking off in a charge towards the grounded flying type.
Fletchling continued to stay still as Peren approached, seemingly unconcerned by the swiftly approaching deer. At the last moment, the flying type took off and flew directly up with the same inexplicable speed that it had used when blocking our exit from the clearing. Fletchling hovered in place for a moment before angling its beak towards the ground and darting down towards Peren, who was trying to skid to a halt after his target had escaped.
"Dodge!" I shouted, "It's coming from above!"
Peren tried to move out of the way of Fletchling's attack, but he was still off-balance and stumbled, leaving him wide open to the other Pokemon's attack. Right before the blow connected, Peren's entire body flashed with a bright white light, making me blink and Fletchling bank off its charge in surprise. When the light faded, I saw that Peren's coloring had changed and he had become entirely green rather than his normal mix of green and beige.
All three of us seemed surprised by the unexpected color change, though Peren was the first to recover and easied back into a ready stance. I still wasn't sure what had happened but decided that it ultimately didn't matter for the time being. Nothing seemed wrong with Peren after the change and it had prevented Fletchling's attack from connecting, so I decided to chalk it up as a positive turn of events. Another benefit was that the color change appeared to have made Fletchling a bit more cautious since this time it hesitated for a few more seconds before starting another divebomb.
This time Peren was watching the quickly approaching bird so I decided a warning was unnecessary. Instead, I called out, "Don't try to dodge! Counter with Tackle!" Without any ranged capabilities, I couldn't think of an alternative to meeting the wild Pokemon's attacks head-on and just trying to inflict more damage in the trade of blows. Fletchling's ability to fly and its agility meant that it had full control over when a conflict would occur, but Peren had the weight and strength advantage over the small bird. As long as Fletchling continued to attack with what I was fairly certain was Quick Attack, I was confident that we would come out on top.
My theory got some points in its favor when Fletching reached Peren and was sent careening backward from the force of the grass type's retaliatory Tackle. Peren had taken some damage as well judging from the way he winced, but overall it appeared that the Deerling had definitely come out on top of the exchange. My preoccupation with checking how Peren was doing meant that I completely missed Fletchling's recovery and I suddenly realized that he was coming in for another Quick Attack on Peren's far side. I tried to shout out a warning but I was too late and the wild Pokemon managed to land a clean hit on the Peren's haunch.
I winced as Peren grunted at the hit and I worriedly called out, "You alright?" He didn't even turn to glance back and me and instead curtly nodded while keeping his full attention on the hovering Fletchling. "Okay then. Growl again and get ready to Tackle when it comes back down."
The pitiful sound that came out of Peren's mouth almost made me immediately return him until I forced myself to remember that he had just informed me that he was fine. Despite being his opponent, Fletchling seemed similarly affected by the noise and hesitated for a few more seconds before beginning another one of its divebombs. This time, Fletchling tried to adjust the path of its Quick Attack at the last moment to avoid being hit, but in the end, the two Pokemon missed each other.
Both Pokemon were wary of the other now and they fell into a pattern of attacks that resulted in neither making contact with the other at all for several passes. Fletchling would divebomb Peren, who would either dodge out of the way or try to Tackle the small bird. Whenever the latter occurred, Fletchling would use a burst of speed to change directions and try to attack Peren from a different angle. Peren had learned his lesson from the first hit though, so he made sure that he was never off-balance after attempting one of his own attacks.
I stayed mostly silent on the sidelines while trying to think of what could be done to negate the stalemate. Additional Growls wouldn't help the situation because we were already fine with being hit so long as Fletchling was injured at the same time. I briefly considered telling Peren to try repeating whatever had caused that mysterious flash but discarded that idea. Ordering something with the goal of surprising our opponent wouldn't accomplish anything when that same opponent could hear anything that I said. With no other tricks up our sleeve, I resigned myself to having to wait for one of the two Pokemon to trip up in their movements.
Fletchling ended up being the one that made the first mistake after it misread one of Peren's counters. As usual, Fletchling had swooped down towards Peren and maintained its approach until it saw how Peren reacted. Closely watching the approaching flying type, Peren pivoted slightly and in a split-second decision, Fletchling altered its course to try to hit the spot that Peren would be moving into. Except this time Peren didn't dodge. Fletchling must have realized its mistake since it tried to adjust its course again, but it was too late and Peren hit Fletchling full-on with a Tackle as it passed in front of him.
The small bird was once again knocked back from the force of the blow and ungracefully landed in a bush that was on the edge of the clearing. Fletchling didn't move for several seconds and I started to wonder if it had been knocked out. I didn't think Peren would have done enough damage for a ko, but that attack certainly had looked like a critical hit. My unspoken question was answered when Fletchling shook its head and slowly readjusted itself so that it was sitting on the bush rather than sprawled atop of it.
Peren and I silently watched Fletching expectantly for several more seconds, but the wild Pokemon didn't make any more aggressive moves and seemed content to just watch us back. I wasn't sure what the protocol was after beating a wild Pokemon in a battle, though I felt I should say something. "Good battle," I offered and softly smiled when Peren nodded at my statement. When Fletchling didn't react, I hesitantly continued, "Right. Well, uh, bye."
The moment that I turned to leave, the wild Pokemon loudly squawked, "Liing!"
I frowned at the noise and looked back at Fletchling, half expecting to find it swooping in for another attack. Instead, the Pokemon hadn't moved and was still sitting atop his bush staring at us. I sighed and asked, "Did you want something else?"
Fletchling once again squawked at my question, but this time it was a loud, "Fleet!" It slowly opened its wings and flew towards us so that it could land only a couple of feet away from us. Upon landing, it deliberately strutted back and forth while I watched its display in confusion. When the short performance had finished, the Pokemon stared up at me expectantly but I was still at a loss for what it wanted. Peren gently pushed against me and when I turned my attention to him, I saw that he was using his nose to point at his Pokeball that was still attached to my shirt.
Returning my attention to the flying type, I incredulously asked, "You… want me to catch you?" When both Pokemon nodded at my question, I slipped my backpack to the ground and felt slightly dazed while I rummaged around trying to find one of the empty Pokeballs that Tammy had given me. While I had hoped to catch a Pokemon while we were here, I certainly hadn't expected a Pokemon to demand that I catch it. I stood back up once I'd finally retrieved one from the bottom of the bag, but for some reason felt it necessary to double-check before using it. "Are you sure?"
When Fletching squawked another impatient, "Fleet," I shrugged and threw the Pokeball with an underhand toss. I grimaced when it looked like my throw was off, but to my surprise, the Pokeball corrected its own course so that it lightly landed on Fletchling's head. The Pokemon disappeared in a flash of red light that was followed a second later by a single loud ding. I slowly walked over to the Pokeball and when I leaned down to pick it up, I could clearly see Fletchling staring back at me from within the ball.
I tapped the button on the Pokeball with my thumb and after another flash of red light, my new Pokemon was sitting on the ground in front of me. It looked around for a second and then flapped its wings to get some height before landing on Peren's back. Peren craned his head to stare flatly at the other Pokemon for a second before he once again flashed white. Fletchling squawked in surprise and flew off to land on the bush that he had been knocked into earlier. Interestingly, Peren had returned to his normal coloring after this flash of light and I smiled softly when I saw that the Deerling looked quite pleased with himself.
"So Fletchling, our plan is to follow the river north to St. Cloud and Brainerd and check out the gyms there. Does that sound good to you?" I realized that I probably should have revealed my plans to the Pokemon before I caught it, but it was better late than never. Fletchling cocked its head slightly at my question and then turned towards Peren while making a series of various noises that I had no hopes of deciphering. Peren responded in kind and I was left awkwardly standing there as the two Pokemon conversed. With nothing better to do, I grabbed my Poryphone and opened up the Pokemon app. Though the app hadn't been particularly helpful before, I figured that I should at least use it to find out what gender my new Pokemon was. To my surprise, the information within the app had been expanded slightly since I had first looked at it.
Peren [Deerling, Normal/Grass]
Male
Dislikes: Sweet
Moves: Tackle, Growl, Camouflage
Fletchling [Normal/Flying]
Male
Moves: Quick Attack
While the app still didn't include nearly as much information as I would have liked, I was glad to see that it wasn't entirely worthless. Camouflage certainly made sense for whatever Peren had done in the battle with Fletchling, and while it had only been used to surprise in that case, I could definitely see it having more practical uses down the road. With that mystery solved and armed with the knowledge of Fletchling's gender, I returned the Poryphone to my pocket and waited for the Pokemon's discussion to end.
It was another few minutes before the Pokemon ended their various noises and both of them returned their attention to me. "So we're good to go?" I asked and got nods from both of my Pokemon. "Alright. Well, I'm sure you two want to rest after that battle and I know there's some campgrounds around here. It's a little early, but why don't we set up camp and just relax the rest of the day?" Peren nodded immediately again at the suggestion and Fletchling did the same after a moment's hesitation. My legs were still a little sore after my forced march yesterday so I was more than happy to give the Pokemon time to recover.
The three of us wandered around aimlessly for a few minutes until Fletchling took charge and lead us to another small clearing with a fire pit. Fletchling wasn't any more suited to the task of setting up the tent than Peren had been, so I once again worked on putting that up by myself while the two Pokemon gathered sticks for a campfire. Once the tent had been set up and I'd started the fire, I rolled over a log and sat down with a contented sigh. There was something incredibly relaxing about sitting at a campfire and when I closed my eyes I could almost believe that I was staying at a friend's cabin back home.
When I opened my eyes, I saw that Peren and Fletchling appeared to be enjoying the campfire almost as much as I was. Peren was sitting a couple of feet away from the fire and had used Camouflage again since his coloring had turned a dark brown. Meanwhile, Fletching was intently watching the campfire from a spot that was even closer than Peren's. I was slightly concerned about Fletchling's proximity to the flames but decided that he would know his own heat tolerance better than I did.
The three of us spent the next hour quietly enjoying the fire until I let the flames start to die down so that I could cook my dinner of instant ramen. While my meal wasn't exactly glamorous, I did feel slightly bad about what I was having compared to the Pokemon. Poffins were only good fresh, so I had purchased some Pokemon travel food which looked indistinguishable from the dry pet food I was used to back home. My guilt about their substandard meal was assuaged when both Pokemon devoured their food with Fletchling eating with a particular amount of gusto. I made a mental note that I would need to restock on Pokemon food earlier than I had expected before returning my attention to my own meal.
Once we'd finished eating, I washed the dishes courtesy of some water from a nearby water fountain and then restocked the fire. The rest of the evening was quiet with my only complaint being that I hadn't purchased a book to read on the journey. Though once I gave it some more thought I decided that it was probably for the best. After purchasing the supplies yesterday, my wallet barely contained over a hundred dollars and I didn't want to push my luck. Even with the extra expenses that a second Pokemon would bring, I was still confident that I had enough to make it all the way to Brainerd as long as I didn't spend it frivolously. After all, if I ever ran out of money then I'd really be up a creek.
A/N: Hope everyone is staying safe out there.
It was actually supposed to rain at the end of the last chapter, but that's what I get for not double-checking my outline before posting. As I'm writing this, I realize that I didn't recheck my outline for this one... Okay, we're good. Speaking of outlines, the next chapter is going to be a chunky one. My outline of chapter 5 is just shy of 2k words, while this one was barely 1k.
As usual, thanks to krazykz for betaing. Next up is Chapter 5: Up the River.
