Well here it is, the seventeenth part of the fourth installment in my 'Heart' series, released when I expected it to be released. I should be able to get two Parts out next week, depending on how the drafting goes, but as I have a habit of being more efficient then I expect there is a good chance I succeed. This is a short filler Part, one of the many that help the smooth transitions in Winning, but there is an interesting event in it so it should be a fun short Part for y'all to enjoy. The only administrative thing I have to add to this note is that there will be a new Supplement released before the next Part and the next chapter in Problems drops tomorrow so stay tuned for that. Also there were no votes in the Furfrou Trim poll so I chose the one I felt most appropriate, I wonder if any of y'all can guess why I chose that Trim. That is all I have on the administrative side, there was a question in a guest review to respond to but the nature of which requires a direct response so I will do it now and please do keep them coming as I love hearing from y'all.
To Reader (guest), thank you for your review and I apologize if I wasn't clear before, but I have answered that question in a fashion in the pre-Part note to Part LXXXVI so not the usual place, but my answer is that I won't answer it. While I try and answer all questions, if I don't then that is because the nature of the question is asking for something that depending on my answer would be considered a spoiler and I don't spoil my work. Hopefully, that clarifies your question in that regard. As for Bea, I don't consider answering a question about her as a spoiler. She will not be appearing in Winning and it is unlikely that she will appear in Hearts 5 beyond a cameo during the final arc of the entire series and that is all I will say on her. Stow-on-Side is one of the many areas that will not be seen in the Hearts series and even if it were, it would be more likely that Allister and not Bea would appear due to Dawn's presence given the fact that she's one of two trainers with a Spiritomb so Allister would likely be interested. I may have plans for Bea in other works but not the main Hearts series. I am sorry I can't be clearer, but I hope you understand and keep enjoying my work.
Now it is time to sit back and enjoy the latest installment in Winning Takes Heart. Part XCVI: A Catch is a Catch.
Disclaimer: I do not own Pokémon.
Part XCVI: A Catch is a Catch
"Alright Furfrou, this is a great test for us and a potential new teammate if we catch it." Dawn said as she looked at the Pokémon just sitting at the edge of a dense forest that was bordered by thick bushes. "Charge Beam."
"Frou." Furfrou barked as she formed the beam of the electricity in her mouth and shot it out at their opponent.
Alas the small, possibly sleeping as it was hard to tell, brown and yellow Pokémon had different ideas in mind. Just before the electric type attack hit it, it vanished. The beam shot past it and into a bush behind it like it had done before and Dawn swore as the Pokémon reappeared a second later as if it were taunting her by teleporting back to the same spot.
"I get the practice with Furfrou because she's new." May said from their small camp they'd made for the evening. "But why not face Ash, me, or Serena in a practice battle, why try and battle that wild Abra. Furthermore, why do you want to catch it? From what I recall all they seem to be able to do is use Teleport until they evolve."
"Because they're a good Pokémon to have." Dawn said as she grit her teeth, she needed to figure out a way to hit it and an idea was already forming in her mind, but it was a little crazy so definitely an Ash strategy. "Sabrina has a Kadabra and an Alakazam that are really good, as does Anabel with the latter even if it couldn't fight Spiritomb, so I figured I'd catch one if I saw one. Plus, I miss having a psychic type on me now that Espeon is back at Professor Sycamore's lab."
"Alright well be quick about it." May said deciding it was best not to question Dawn's decision. "Ash will be done with his own training with his Pokémon soon and he'll want to start making dinner then."
"I will." Dawn said as the idea she had in mind began to solidify. "Alright Furfrou, we have this, I know it."
It was about a week since Dawn had caught Furfrou in Lumiose City and they group was well on their way to Cyllage City and Ash's third gym battle there. They'd spent a few days in Lumiose City for Dawn to recover from the hit she'd taken to protect Furfrou from Team Rocket before it decided that Dawn would be its trainer and allowed Dawn to groom it at Jessica's grooming salon.
They'd also used Dawn's Pokedex to find out the moves that Furfrou knew and found out that it knew Attract. As such they could find out its gender, discovering that it was female when the Attract worked on Pikachu.
In addition to learning her moves, Dawn and Furfrou had begun to deepen their bond as they got to know each other, as well as introducing Furfrou to all of Dawn's Pokémon currently in Kalos. They had all seemed to get on well with Furfrou, though she was clearly surprised by the range of Pokémon Dawn had when they were all introduced at Professor Sycamore's lab, which was a good sign.
That was because Dawn wanted all her Pokémon to get along as many of them would be switched in and out over the course of the year. However, for now she had Piplup, Vulpix, Helioptile, and Furfrou on her for the moment due to experience or in Piplup's case because he was always with her. Until she caught this Abra that is.
They were 3 days out of Lumiose City now and about a day from Camphrier Town which was their next stop. There was a Contest scheduled there in 2 days' time that May would be a judge in as it worked with their schedule and Serena felt she wasn't ready for it after her loss in Odyssey Village as she still needed polish. After that they expected to take about a week or two, depending on how fast they walked and how they dealt with the cave in the way, before they reached Cyllage City.
Things were moving well which was why they'd decided to camp out on this grassy plain for some training and to avoid rushing it to Camphrier Town when they still had time to reach it. It was as they were setting up the camp that Dawn had noticed the wild Abra sitting and watching them from the edge of a copse of trees and large bushes that bordered the plain. Instantly Dawn saw the opportunity for both training and to add a new member to her team.
She already let all her Pokémon out when they made came so all Dawn had to do was call Furfrou to her for the battle. She looked great in her new Diamond Trim, though Dawn had gone for a dark blue and not traditional yellow dye job at Furfrou's insistence, and she was ready for the battle.
At least that was what Dawn had hoped but this Abra was proving to be a nuisance by teleporting to the same spot whenever an attack was about to hit it, so everything missed it. Already it had avoided an Attract and two Charge Beams. Well not anymore, Dawn was going to land a hit with a combo that would weaken it enough to catch it thanks to its type and being a first stage Pokémon.
"Surf." Dawn ordered. "And as soon as you attack, remember where that Abra is and run after the wave. Then use Bite on it as soon as it reappears."
"Frou." Furfrou barked realizing the logic in Dawn's order and sent out the wave of water at it.
As soon as the attack was off, Furfrou trotted after it, her eyes on the spot where Abra would reappear and her jaws glowing with dark type power that would be super effective on it. As expected, Abra teleported the moment the water was about to reach it so that it crashed into the trees and bushes without hurting Abra.
This time it would be different. This time, when Abra reappeared Furfrou was already waiting for it and snapped her jaws around its chest as soon as it had reappeared so it couldn't vanish again. Abra wailed in pain as the super effective attack coursed through it. Furfrou shook the psychic type a few times before tossing it to the ground and backing away to give Dawn the space she needed. Abra was clearly hurt but not out of it yet. Still Dawn knew that this was her chance.
"Here we go." Dawn said pulling out an empty Poke Ball and throwing it at the downed Abra. "Time to catch you. You may be annoying, but you have a lot of potential so please join me."
Dawn grinned as the Poke Ball flew true, she had it, until she suddenly didn't. At the last second Abra used Teleport one last time and Dawn knew that it wouldn't return after taking a hit earlier. She sighed as the wasted Poke Ball flew past it and into the bush behind it.
"Well, you tried Dawn." May said as Dawn went over to Furfrou to apologize for failing and praise Furfrou for doing well in the battle to land that hit so they were doing well with their combo training. "Now come back and…"
May didn't finish her statement before a loud ding was heard from the bushes causing all 3 girls, Ash was still off training and deciding on his team for the upcoming rock type gym he'd be facing, to stare at where the ball had gone in shock. Dawn openly gaped at what had happened. Apparently, she'd managed to hit a Pokémon in or behind the bush with the Poke Ball.
"I, I caught something?" Dawn asked recovering from the shock. "I didn't see anything back there."
"Well get the ball and check what it is." Serena said and Dawn just nodded heading to the bush. "Probably something small given where the catch happened but let's see your newest team member."
It wasn't hard to find. The Poke Ball had gone through the bush and was lying on a patch of earth behind it that separated the bushes from the trees. It was still and showed that it had caught something based on how it rested on the ground. With a shaking hand, Dawn picked up her Poke Ball and took in back to camp.
By now Ash was done with his training and deciding who would be the main focus for the upcoming gym battle so he'd returned to find all Dawn's Pokémon, along with Serena, May, and their Pokémon were staring at the ball in her hands. Dawn was still hesitant to open it but knew she had to in order to find out what she'd caught.
"What happened?" Ash asked confused. "Did Dawn catch something?"
"She tried to catch an Abra." May explained. "But it teleported away at the last second and she missed it. However, she caught something else that was behind the bushes instead."
"What?" Ash asked. "That's new, I've never heard of that happening."
"It's new to me as well and I don't know what it is." Dawn admitted holding the Poke Ball out and pointing it to clear area near them. "But I guess I will find out now."
Dawn then opened the Poke Ball. What she'd expected was something small that had likely been minding its own business behind the bushes given how tall the busses were. What she hadn't expected was the formation to be almost 5 feet tall so only slightly shorter than Dawn herself. Her eyes widened as a Pokémon that she'd never seen before formed and was about to say something when a tentacle thing suddenly slapped her hard across the face and staggered her back a pace.
"Malamar." A very pissed off Malamar said as she folded her arms across her chest and glared at the human before her while 4 Pokémon instantly took attack stances and surrounded her. "Malamar."
Malamar was pissed. Today had been going great for her when it started. She'd woken up from a pleasant dream, enjoyed the small forest she called home, had a good lunch from her favorite berry tree and had decided to take a nice nap in a spot she'd carved out for herself behind the bushes on the edge of the forest that was just for her. Then everything went wrong.
She had been roused from her nap not by it ending or an annoying noise from the forest. No, she'd been woken by being hit in the side by an electric type attack. It hadn't been powerful enough to more than annoy her, but it had woken her and that pissed her off. She was getting up to give the Pokémon responsible for it a piece of her mind, and maybe her Psywave when she was struck by the same electric type attack again and floored by it.
That was when she realized that it was not a Pokémon attacking her but rather missing something and she was behind what was being attacked. Likely it was that pesky Abra that lived in the area and enjoyed taunting humans by teleporting to the same spot to avoid attacks aimed at it. She was going to give it, and whoever was using the electric type attacks, a piece of her Brutal Swing for that.
At least that had been the plan until the sudden water type attack crashed into her as she was preparing to get up. She was still conscious, but she was dazed and lacking strength to get up after taking three attacks thanks to that Abra.
That was why she couldn't resist the Poke Ball that hit her a moment later and caught her. No doubt that Abra had avoided it as well making it responsible for her capture so naturally Malamar swore a blood feud on all Abras and their evolutions for it. Though, if a trainer was using a Poke Ball then that trainer must have injured the Abra which was impressive given its Teleport skills.
Given that, it meant that this girl, the one who she'd slapped and was clearly now her trainer, had some talent because as far as she knew no trainer had hurt that Abra before, let alone enough to try and catch it. That was a good sign, maybe Malamar could learn to respect her new trainer if her trainer kept it up but she'd have to earn it.
It helped that instantly 4 Pokémon were taking attack stances and growling or squawking at her for the slap while showing off a prepared move but were waiting for the order to be given. That showed Malamar two things; firstly, who her new teammates were and secondly that the girl was trusted and liked by her Pokémon for them to instantly defend her. The latter was a good sign so Malamar evaluated the 4 Pokémon.
The loudest, though also the one with a mixed reaction for some reason, was a small blue thing that looked like a flightless bird but Malamar had never seen one before in her life, so it was likely not native to this area. She pegged it as a water and flying type that had the deepest bond with the girl and was strong despite its size. However, it's typing meant that it wasn't the one who attacked, well maybe the third attack but Malamar had feeling all the attacks came from the same Pokémon.
She also ruled out the red and brown canine-like Pokémon that was growling at her. It was small, probably a first stage Pokémon unlike her, and completely alien to Malamar but the flames in its mouth that it was ready to shoot out at Malamar indicated that it was a fire type so unlikely to know electric or water type moves. At least it probably was, Malamar couldn't be certain as she had no idea what it was.
The other two Pokémon were more likely to be responsible and she recognized them as native Pokémon to the region though not this area in particular. Malamar decided that the most likely candidate was the sparking Helioptile. That was an electric type, she knew that much, and it was aggressively barking at her at the moment while clearly charging up for an attack.
Course it could also be the normal type Furfrou that was snarling at her with glowing jaws that were almost certainly imbued with dark type power, Malamar knew the feel of her primary type well. Those Pokémon were pretty versatile so Malamar didn't rule that out especially with a water type attack as well as the electric type attacks.
Helioptile might not be able to use a water move but Furfrou likely could. She'd find out in time and train with it. There was power in the hits so she could learn from it, while teaching it a lesson for hurting her at the same time.
"Is it wrong that I liked the slap?" Serena whispered to May as they slowly recovered from what had just happened and the high level of shock at the Pokémon being a Malamar. "Because I did."
"No, kinda feels like proxy justice for Dawn beating us to Ash's heart, and in battle." May whispered back. "But it would be if we liked anymore attacks. Dawn will have her work cut out for her with this Malamar."
"Yeah but I'm starting to like it." Serena whispered. "It has a lot of character."
"Same." May said.
"Alright, Malamar is it?" Dawn asked not hearing May and Serena's side conversation as Malamar nodded before crossing her tentacle arms across her chest and glared at Dawn. "I'm sorry for accidentally catching you, I don't know how that happened. I was trying to catch an Abra and Furfrou had just landed a Bite, so I had a chance. It teleported away before the Poke Ball hit it though and I didn't know you were there until the ball clicked. I didn't mean to catch you or hurt you if I did with my earlier misses."
This caused Malamar to widen her eyes a little, she didn't have an eyebrow to raise at the statement. Apparently, the human who had caught her had landed an attack on that Abra and not just an attack but a physical one which meant that Furfrou, who was now confirmed to her as her attacker, had to have gotten close enough to land it. If Malamar had to guess the water attack had been a ruse to trick the Abra into being distracted as Furfrou got close to land Bite, a super effective attack on a pure psychic type.
That was impressive to Malamar. This human had brains if she could come up with a ruse like that to fool a tricky Pokémon like that Abra. She could really improve with a human teaching her tactics like that. She'd gotten lucky it seemed and been caught by a sensible human, though one that would need a little training to avoid making mistakes like constantly missing that Abra in the first place.
"It was an accident and if you want, I can release you." Dawn added, she didn't want to, but she didn't feel like she'd earned this Pokémon and if it didn't want to join her then she wouldn't force it to. "I didn't catch you fairly in my opinion, so it is only fair I offer you the chance to reject me."
"Malamar." Malamar said shaking her head in a negative gesture to her new trainer's words and then pointing at the Poke Ball in Dawn's hand, then at Dawn and then at herself. "Malamar."
"You want to stay?" Dawn asked amazed, she wasn't sure how she'd pulled that off as the others now gaped at what was going on. "Really?"
"Malamar." Malamar said with a nod before narrowing her eyes a little and adding in a challenging tone. "Malamar."
"You aren't going to make this easy on me are you." Dawn said realizing what Malamar was saying. "I've done enough to earn a chance, but I have to prove it to you for you to stay I take it."
"Malamar." Malamar said with another nod, her human was getting her which was a good sign. "Malamar."
"I guess I deserved that." Dawn said with a sigh as she pulled out her Pokedex. "But let's find out more about you as you're the first of your kind I've ever seen."
Dawn held up the Pokedex to scan Malamar as she studied it for the first time. Malamar was certainly an intimidating looking Pokémon to Dawn though seeing as she had a Spiritomb and a Banette, Dawn wasn't more than a little startled by Malamar's less than friendly appearance.
Malamar was just shy of 5 feet and looked like a squid, she couldn't think of any other comparison for it. It had 7 head tail things that were a muted purplish color with green on the insides, along with a dark pink beak, black sclera, and yellow irises. Its head seemed to pop out of a dark purple body the had a lilac edge to it and yellow marking on the chest. At the top of the opening, the split formed two lilac tentacles that had white, fin-like tips and dark pink, er, shoulders. Malamar was also standing on two white leg things.
Overall, it was an odd-looking Pokémon, one of the oddest that Dawn had seen in her life and she'd seen many strange and wonderful Pokémon over her years and travels with Ash. Then the Pokedex chimed out it's response and Dawn groaned at what she heard.
"Malamar, the Overturning Pokémon and the evolved form of Inkay." The Pokedex said helpfully. "It wields the most compelling hypnotic powers of any Pokémon, and it forces others to do whatever it wants."
"You can do that?" Dawn asked Malamar. "Your powers are that strong?"
"Malamar." Malamar said with a shrug and what Dawn was certain was a sly smirk. "Malamar."
"Malamars can do that yes." May said finally recovering from the surprise of Malamar staying with Dawn to look at her friend. "We ran into a trio of evil Malamars last year, well that was the second time as we ran into their leader once before that in a separate incident. They tried to do that, even took control of an Officer Jenny at one point but ended up fleeing in some crystal thing from the top of a mountain and we never saw them again."
"Malamar." Malamar growled, she knew of those three and how they gave their kind a bad name with their evil actions. "Malamar."
"I don't think my Malamar approves of them." Dawn said. "And neither would I if they are evil."
"Malamar." Malamar said with a nod of agreement. "Malamar."
"Good they freaked us out but some good Malamar and Inkay did help us out in the end." May said with a shudder at the memory. "It wasn't a good time but an adventure, nonetheless. Malamar is a strong Pokémon Dawn, it will serve you well."
"Malamar." Malamar said confirming her human's friend's assessment.
"Well, I am up for a challenge with a Pokémon." Dawn said glad to have the challenge, it gave her something more to do while she was in Kalos as judging and supporting Ash were great, but she needed more than just that this year. "I haven't had one since Mamoswine evolved, now that was hard."
"Really?" Serena asked. "Spiritomb wasn't a challenge for you?"
"Not really." Dawn said. "It was a surprise really as I was expecting him to be one when I recalled him after the Gardenia Town Contest, but it turns out separating one from its place of binding or formation or whatever that broken tower was called freed it of its hatred and unlocked it's true, albeit mischievous, nature. I can keep him in check though because he loves me for saving him and as such is really loyal. At least that was what Anabel said to me after she talked with him."
"I see." Serena said. "Well, you can add Malamar to your intimidating and unexpected Pokémon list. Put it with your Banette and Spiritomb and no one will underestimate you."
"Oh, I know." Dawn said with a grin. "I'm just waiting for some arrogant ass to challenge me, well another one as Kenny counts on that front but if he shows up again he's Ash's, and just assume I'm some pretty face with cute little Pokémon like Piplup. I can't wait to see their faces when they see my magnificent ghost and dark types."
"Malamar." Malamar agreed, at least with the magnificent part. "Malamar."
"And on that note, I guess I should start training with Malamar and getting it used to the others." Dawn said. "Ok Piplup, Vulpix, Helioptile, Furfrou, meet Malamar your new teammate and it's time for some team bonding."
Dawn's Pokémon, who had finally calmed down, all greeted Malamar with different levels of curiosity and apprehension. Malamar returned them with calm indifference. They would all need to prove themselves to her just as her human would and this training would be a good start.
"Alright come on guys, we have a little time before dinner so let's go train." Dawn said. "Malamar, I want to see what you can do and test something, is there a Pokémon in the team you want to spar with?"
"Malamar." Malamar said with a nod pointing at Furfrou as that had been the one to hurt her so she wanted some payback. "Malamar."
"Frou." Furfrou barked, she could test this squid for Dawn, and it seemed to want to face her in particular, so she was game for a little practice against it. "Furfrou."
"Alright come on let's get down to training." Dawn said as she led her team over to where Ash had been training. "Furfrou, Malamar face each other. Furfrou, use Attract, and Malamar I want you to take it. This is just to confirm your gender, it will help going forward, I think. If you're male, we won't attack until the infatuation is done."
With that Dawn started training as Ash finally recovered and decided that it was best to ask Dawn what the hell just happened in the tent that night as he was totally lost at this point. He had dinner to prepare for them and they had a new Pokémon joining them it seemed.
Dawn was excited for training Malamar and what would come of it. It was going to be interesting and challenging for sure. So far Kalos had been a great adventure and they couldn't wait to see what was next for them as they continued to make their way to Cyllage City.
Well, that is one way to catch a Pokémon, looks like Dawn will have her work cut out for her trying to deal with Malamar's personality but she's had experience with strangely behaved Pokémon before so she can do it. I know it is a bit much to have Dawn catch Pokémon in back-to-back parts and 3 in the last 4 but in Winning, Dawn's catches tend to come pretty close to each other with the exception of the final one I think, and it does make up for Dreams where there was a 32 Part gap between Dawn's 3rd and 4th catches (though the 4th was the surprise Spiritomb capture). I know Malamar is not a typical Pokémon for Dawn but after Spiritomb I think Dawn is used to atypical Pokémon and initially Malamar was caught to give Dawn a dark type for her Pancham to evolve but after scrapping Pancham due to realizing Serena had one I decided to keep Malamar and change her role slightly, but you'll have to wait and see what Malamar does in future Parts. However, that is all I have for now so as always, please favorite (both this story and me in general to be notified of any new content I post), review as I really like hearing what you think of my work and your suggestions that help complete this story (and respond as best I can) and just in general keep enjoying my work. Until next time.
Stringdog