Thomas: Peren (Deerling), Blitz (Fletchinder), Scout (Pachirisu), Nin (Minnesotan Arbok), Shadow (Galarian Ponyta), Winter (Minnesotan Mightyena)
Wednesday, May 16th, 2018
I'd been glad the previous day when our route turned so that we were heading west toward Hibbing instead of retracing our route from the previous week. Less than a day later, I was already missing Lake Superior. While it had been a bit chilly in the mornings, the fresh air coming off of the lake ensured that I was always nice and cool. Now that I was away from the lake, the temperature had jumped up about twenty degrees and the thick forest that surrounded me on all sides ensured that breezes were few and far between.
In addition to the temperature differential, there was also a complete lack of interesting landmarks. There just wasn't much to look at except more trees, which made for a much more boring trip. There weren't even other people to break up the monotony, since the road was pretty much only used by people taking the gym challenge. There was the occasional wild Pokemon sighting, but I got the sense that they mostly stayed away from the only spot for miles where humans made themselves known. Most of my Pokemon seemed to agree with my attitude about this leg of our trip since almost all of them didn't want to stay out of their Pokeballs after lunch, leaving me with just Blitz and Shadow at my side.
Partially to have something to occupy us, Shadow and I had started practicing our mental communications while we traveled. I wanted to work on expanding our communications between simple concepts and symbols, so I would do my best to send her the name of a Pokemon that she'd seen and she would send me back an image of it. I couldn't really tell what I was or wasn't doing right since sometimes she would give the right response immediately, but sometimes her answer didn't make any sense, like the time I mentally told her Poliwag and she answered with a fuzzy picture of a Tynamo.
In addition to those tests, I also had her mentally point out the wild Pokemon that we passed, though that was mostly so I would have something to look at other than trees. Some of them I didn't need Shadow's help to notice, like the Rufflet that Blitz got into a screeching match with. Regardless, it was cool to be able to spot the occasional Pokemon living in their natural habitat, even if it was only for a few seconds.
It was still early in the afternoon when Shadow sent me a mental image of a Bellsprout. I instinctively glanced around for the Pokemon, but then frowned when I realized what exactly she had pointed out. I slowly braked, coming to a halt as I looked for any sign of the invasive Pokemon. With how infrequently this path was traveled, I wanted to make sure that I did what I'd failed to last time I'd found an invasive Pokemon. Left undealt with, it was entirely possible that any Bellsprout would start spreading around the area completely unchecked. Sudden movement in the forest caught my attention and I finally spotted a Bellsprout waddling to a different spot. Checking the area around it revealed two more of the grass types standing completely still.
"Keep an eye on them," I said, glancing up at Blitz who'd landed on a branch near where I'd stopped. He cocked his head at me curiously, but nodded and turned directly at the Bellsprout, having been able to spot them immediately. Remembering what Erin had told me months ago, I pulled up the DNR website on my Poryphone and quickly found the number for their tipline.
The line rang three times before a gruff-sounding man answered shortly, "Ranger services."
"Uh, hi. I found some Bellsprout out here and was wondering what I should do about them."
"Location?"
"Oh, right, sorry." I paused for a second to try to think how far I'd traveled since leaving the lake behind. "We're about thirty miles west of Superior, heading toward Hibbing."
The man on the other end of the call grunted. "We don't have any rangers around that area right now. Do you have any Sportballs?"
"No," I said hesitantly, not having even heard of that Pokeball type before.
"I can coordinate a drop-off if you think that you can deal with them yourself and have the availability to do so. You're under no requirement to do so and the DNR thanks you for your report should you choose not to," he said, suddenly sounding like he was reading from a script.
"Uh, no, I've got the time. And it's just three Bellsprout, I'm pretty sure I can handle them."
The sudden snort of derision across the line was especially jarring given his previous monotonous tone. "Kid, there's always more than just three Bellsprout. Especially in that neck of the woods. Anyway, any landmarks around you that we can send the drop-off to?"
"Uh, one second," I say, doing my best not to bristle about being called a kid. There hadn't been any landmarks that I'd passed recently so I had to switch to the maps app to look ahead on my route. The road was going to cross a river fairly soon, but I wasn't sure if that was the best meetup spot given how tiny it looked on my map. Looking a bit further along the road I found a small lake that looked like it might work. Returning the Poryphone to my ear, I said, "Uh, looks like I'm pretty close to Sullivan Lake. I should be able to get there in an hour or so."
"Sullivan Lake. Got it. Your Sportball delivery will be there by tomorrow morning at the latest. Thank you for your report."
I didn't have a chance to say anything else before the call ended, leaving me listening to a dial tone. With a slight frown, I returned the device to my pocket and turned back to the Bellsprout, wondering what I should do about them in the meantime. It didn't seem right to just leave them be, but I also didn't want to use up my own Pokeballs capturing them. Knocking them out and leaving them there was an option, but it wasn't one that I was terribly comfortable with, which is why I had generally avoided getting into fights with wild Pokemon up to this point.
Eventually, I decided to just get back on my bike and resume heading west. The ranger that I'd spoken to hadn't made it sound like it was at all urgent for them to be dealt with and I planned on going back to look for them the next day anyway. As expected, it only took us just over an hour to reach the long, thin lake that I'd seen on my map. We quickly set up our secret base with practiced efficiency, leaving me wondering what to do for the rest of the day. I didn't want everyone to wear themselves out training so we just made a campfire and enjoyed a relaxing afternoon.
Thursday, May 17th, 2018
I made sure to wake up earlier than usual to ensure that I wouldn't miss the delivery. I'd had enough experience with packages not being delivered back at home where I didn't want to risk it. As it turned out, those fears were unfounded since it was almost eleven in the morning before there was any sign of the delivery, which came in the form of a text announcing its imminent arrival. I wished that they'd given me an estimated time from the start but it ultimately didn't matter.
Not long after the text, I heard a loud screech from the sky from Blitz, and when I looked up I saw him leading a Pelliper down to the ground. The delivery Pokemon didn't appear to be carrying any packages, but upon landing, it tipped down its head and dumped a small bag on the ground next to me. When the Pelliper took a step back and gave me an expectant look, I approached the bag, doing my best not to think about the fact that it had just been in the Pokemon's mouth. Pinned to the outside of the bag was a note that I quickly scanned.
Dear trainer,
The Minnesotan Department of Natural Resources thanks you for volunteering to help combat the invasive Pokemon that threaten the well-being of our wetlands, prairies, forests, lakes, and rivers. Contained within this bag are Sportballs, which have been engineered to exclusively function on Pokemon that the DNR has classified as invasive. Pokemon caught by a Sportball will be automatically transferred to a DNR office from where they will be relocated to another region where they can be natively found. If you wish to keep a Pokemon that you catch, it's essential to use one of your own Pokeballs rather than a Sportball.
-Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
P.S. If you have the storage capacity for the Sportballs, we would appreciate the return of this bag.
Given that my backpack essentially had infinite storage, I didn't think the last piece would be an issue. Wanting to let the Pelliper get along with any other deliveries it had lined up, I opened the small bag and found a pile of at least a dozen Pokeballs with a large S printed on the top half. I started pulling the balls out of the bag, but I eventually tipped it upside down when I didn't appear to be making any progress after retrieving five of the balls. A veritable torrent of Sportballs fell out of the bag, rolling in every direction around our campsite. Shadow used Confusion to stop several of the balls from rolling away and Scout immediately began chasing after the ones that she missed.
I stared at the massive number of Sportballs for a few seconds, then turned to the Pelliper to give it a look of disbelief. "Are all of these for me?" The Pokemon made a weird croaking noise and nodded its massive bill. I gave the mess of balls a sideways glance, then shrugged. "Well thanks," I said, holding the bag back out to Pelliper, who promptly scooped it up into its bill and took off.
We spent the next few minutes gathering up all of the Sportballs and getting them into my backpack, making it even more of a disorganized mess. I ended up counting out sixty of the balls, making me somewhat concerned about how bad the invasive Pokemon situation was in this part of the state. The ranger that I'd spoken to had said that there were more than just the Bellsprout that I'd seen, but sending twenty Sportballs for each of the Pokemon that I'd reported seemed excessive.
Now slightly apprehensive about the task that I'd volunteered for, I decided to stay at our camp until we'd eaten an early lunch before packing up and hitting the road again with Blitz and Shadow. I'd thankfully thought to leave a marker on my map where I'd seen the Bellsprout the previous day, which made it easy to relocate the completely unremarkable location. That said, I hadn't expected to stay in one spot for almost a full day so I was a bit surprised when I arrived at the spot and found two Bellsprout still standing next to the same tree. We stared at each other for a few seconds before the two Pokemon started to move, beginning to uproot themselves from the ground.
"Confusion and Acrobatics," I quickly said, not wanting to give them the opportunity to get away. The Bellsprout had barely freed one of their feet when a light purple aura surrounded them, making them abruptly stop moving. A blast of wind went past my shoulders as Blitz darted into the treeline, swooping up and down as he easily avoided the branches in his way. He quickly reached the Bellsprout and raked one of them with his talons, making it crumple back to the ground. The other one soon joined it on the ground since Shadow was able to focus all of her efforts into it.
Even with our type advantages, I was a bit surprised by how quickly the two had gone down. Only battling against other trainers' Pokemon must have raised my expectations of a normal battle to a point where wild Pokemon were surprisingly easy to deal with. I took off my backpack and pulled out two of the Sportballs I'd been given, feeling like my self-appointed task would be easier than I thought if all of them were going to go down this easily.
I stepped off of the road with Shadow a couple of steps behind me and approached the two knocked out Bellsprout. I was about to toss the balls at them but hesitated when I suddenly got an idea. Instead, I tapped another one of the Pokeballs at my waist and a few seconds later Winter appeared in front of me. She looked around the woods and tensed when she spotted the Bellsprout, only to relax again when she realized that they were already knocked out.
"Hey Winter, would you be able to track down more Bellsprout?" I was pretty sure I remembered reading that they had a distinctive smell, but I wasn't particularly interested in sniffing the poisonous Pokemon to find out. Winter padded up next to one of the Bellsprout and sniffed, only to prove my memory correct when she recoiled with a grimace. Her reaction made me feel a bit guilty, but when she turned back to me, I got a surprisingly eager nod instead of the reproachful look I was expecting. Still, I didn't want to subject Winter's nose to the smell of Bellsprout for longer than necessary and tossed the Sportballs I was holding at the two Pokemon. The capture looked just like any other, except after the usual click noise, the Sportballs began to glow white and then disappeared after a few seconds.
"Well alright, that's two down. Winter, are there any other ones nearby, or should we go back to the road for now?" She leaned forward and spent a few seconds sniffing in a few different directions deeper into the woods. Eventually, she stopped and pointed straight ahead, perpendicular to the road. I didn't love the idea of abandoning the road and going deep into the woods but figured that with my Poryphone's map, we would probably be fine. I spent a minute going back and storing my bike, then sent out the rest of my Pokemon except Nin, and we followed Winter in the search for Bellsprout.
As we stalked through the forest, I began to understand why Bellsprout had taken such a liking to the area. Northern Minnesota was a far cry from the jungles that the species originally hailed from, but with the dense foliage and humidity, it almost seemed like it could be one. While the latter certainly wasn't uncommon in Minnesota, the thickness of the air felt distinctly unnatural, making me suspect that the invasive Pokemon were doing something to artificially raise it. If nothing else, that would explain why they had earned the ire of the DNR.
Winter had started panting in the heat during our trek and I was about to suggest we turn around when she suddenly stopped and softly growled. I scanned the ground for more Bellsprout but didn't see any. With a slight frown, I expanded my gaze, spotting three Weepinbell hanging from branches in nearby trees. One of them started to make an odd gurgling noise, which seemed like a very bad sign to me. "Back up!" I shouted just before the Weepinbell fired a large purple mass of poison. Winter's ears cocked at my command, but she hesitated instead of retreating, meaning that the Sludge Bomb hit her directly in the face.
"Acrobatics, Confusion, Electric Terrain, Secret Power!" I quickly rattled off as I knelt next to Winter, whipping my backpack off and trying to find one of the Potions that I still had. The obscene number of Sportballs in my pack made the task harder than usual, meaning that I was still searching when I felt a slight jolt as the ground became lightly electrified courtesy of Scout. When I finally found one of the Potions and looked up, I found that Winter had moved off to the side so that the poisonous substance wouldn't hit anyone else while she shook it off. Even that action was unexpectedly slow, making me curse myself for bringing an ice-type into what had become a Pokemon-made hot and humid jungle. The only silver lining was that I knew she hadn't been poisoned thanks to the shimmering pink aurora that surrounded her.
While the rest of my Pokemon fought the Weepinbell, I used the Potion to tend to Winter. I knew that it wouldn't help with any issues she was having with the weather, but it would at least take care of the poisonous sludge on her that I was careful not to touch. She whined softly under my ministrations, which I thought was in pain until I realized that she was watching the fight. She tensed as another Sludge Bomb narrowly missed Peren, with some of the poisonous liquid splashing on him.
The sight of Peren's yellow coat assuaged my own concern, allowing me to return my attention to Winter. "They'll be fine," I assured her as I used the last of the Potion. "Let's get you some rest and I'll help them clean things up here." Winter reluctantly nodded and with a quick tap of her Pokeball, she was safe once again.
As I stood back up, I was able to fully reassess the battle in front of me. Unsurprisingly, my team was having relatively few issues taking down the wild Weepinbell all by themselves. Blitz was darting in and out of the trees, taking full advantage of any disorientation that Shadow's Confusions were causing. Given their usual moves, Peren and Scout weren't as effective when it came to damage output, but they still helped keep pressure off of the other pair with their own attacks.
Watching them in action cemented my growing suspicion that I'd been neglecting Winter's training. Between her quick evolution and the surprising speed that she'd integrated with the rest of my team, I'd been thinking of her as having the same combat ability as everyone else. However, she hadn't gone through the same four months of training and weekly battles that the others had during the Brawl. I was sure that she'd done plenty of fighting in the wild, but the experience just wasn't comparable. That said, our current location was basically the perfect training setting for her. I just needed to make sure we approached it the right way.
I realized I was getting a bit too far ahead of myself and returned my full attention to the battle at hand. After two minutes and some minor directions from me, the three Weepinbell were laying on the ground knocked out. The moment that the last one hit the ground, I got a questioning ping from Shadow followed by a mental image of Winter. Before I got a chance to answer, Peren and Scout ran up to me with worried looks in their eyes.
"She's fine you guys," I answered with a small smile which grew when they all relaxed. "Let's get these three taken care of and then head back to camp. I know it's still early, but I have some ideas I want to run past everyone." Even Blitz didn't seem disappointed by the news, and after using Sportballs to send the Weepinbell to the rangers, we made our way back through the woods and then to our camp by the lake.
Friday, May 18th, 2018
"Frost Breath and watch out for its vines!" I called, and Winter jumped into action. Swirls of cold, hazy air came out of her mouth, hitting the Bellsprout and making it recoil. The efficacy of the move was slightly reduced by the muggy air, allowing the grass Pokemon to recover quickly. A vine erupted from the ground directly in front of Winter, but she was able to lithely jump out of the way. The next vine that tried to stop her wilted when it took the full brunt of another Frost Breath. "Get in close and Ice Fang!"
With her fight well in hand, I spared a few seconds to see how the rest of my Pokemon were doing at their jobs. Taking care of the invasive Pokemon had been downgraded to our secondary objective, with the main one changing to getting Winter more battle experience. As such, everyone else was working on preventing the escape of the Bellsprout while also stopping them from interfering in Winter's battles. Blitz was in charge of stopping any from escaping while Scout, Nin, and Shadow disabled them with paralysis or confusion. When Winter was ready for her next opponent, Peren would cure them with Aromatherapy and it continued from there.
I felt another small pang of guilt over the system that I had come up with as I returned to watch Winter's current battle. It didn't feel right to essentially corral up the Bellsprout and force them to fight against a Pokemon they had a disadvantage against. Then again, the almost complete lack of other Pokemon in the area and the changes they had made to the forest made it a bit hard to feel sorry for them.
Returning my full attention to the match, I saw that Winter still hadn't managed to close the distance to land the finishing blow. She'd already gotten better with it, but it had been a bit of a struggle to get her to attack her opponent head on. My best guess was that in the wild she was used to flanking unsuspecting prey rather than charging in, which was far from ideal in a one on one fight. The habit did make her the perfect doubles partner for Peren though, so I had already jotted down some notes along those lines.
While I still wasn't sure if the new tactics would stick, the amount of experience that Winter had gotten from fighting Bellsprout had brought marked improvements. She barely slowed as she dodged just enough to avoid another Vine Whip, getting her within lunging distance of the Bellsprout. The invasive grass type didn't even flinch and instead spewed out a mass of yellow spores directly in Winter's face. After having already taken a Stun Spore to the face earlier, she was ready for the attack and blasted the spores back into Bellsprout with a quick Frost Breath. While the Bellsprout was reeling from the abrupt turn of events, Winter darted forward and bit down on one of its leaves, which quickly started to become covered in frost.
Deciding that this particular Bellsprout had been through enough, I lobbed a Sportball over to it and the ball dinged almost the exact same time that the Pokemon had been sucked inside. Winter stared at the Sportball until it teleported away, then turned to face one of the other two Bellsprout that had been paralyzed. I took a few seconds to look at her, then threw two more Sportballs at the Bellsprout when I decided that she was panting too heavily.
"It's time for a break," I explained when Winter looked at me with her head tilted in confusion. "It's not like you were going to tell me that you're tired," I added with a hint of exasperation and she at least looked somewhat chagrined. With their own jobs finished, the rest of my Pokemon relaxed, and the usual suspects moved to congratulate Winter on her latest battle. I took advantage of the break to check my map again. We were slowly making our way west toward Hibbing, but it would still be a while before we got there at our current rate.
After giving everyone some time to cool down and eat some snacks, I returned Nin since I still hadn't figured out a good way to carry a large snake long distances. Everyone else stayed out of their balls as we resumed traveling through the woods, staying parallel to the road. After our first foray, I wasn't interested in getting deep into the jungle where we didn't have an easy escape route.
Thankfully, the Bellsprout were plentiful enough that we were never really tempted to go any further. I was almost always the last one to notice a group of the invasive Pokemon, but we seemed to stumble on a new group every twenty minutes or so. The only real downside was the stifling heat that we had to deal with, which in addition to just being unpleasant, also made for a setting where it was impossible for Winter to get started on learning the next move that I wanted her to learn.
Monday, May 21st, 2018
"I'm still not sure this is a good idea," I grumbled as I ducked beneath yet another vine. We had long since abandoned the road and were deep in the woods, which is exactly what I had wanted to avoid. As we continued moving west, it had been impossible not to notice that the forest was growing increasingly jungle-like with vines becoming an incredibly common sight and the humidity ramping up to stifling levels. The more favorable conditions for her opponents meant that it was a better training ground for Winter, so we pressed onward despite my reservations.
I didn't see any sight or sound of Pokemon other than the Bellsprout line as we continued moving through the woods, though the invasive Pokemon themselves were plentiful. There were enough of them that the impromptu training session had expanded beyond Winter to the rest of my team purely because there were too many for one Pokemon to consistently deal with. Blitz and Shadow were doing most of the work, though Nin was surprisingly effective as the Bellsprout turned out to be oddly easy for him to sneak up on.
We started to see more and more Weepinbell as we continued making our way through the forest, though they were dealt with without much more difficulty than their unevolved versions. Our somewhat monotonous progress through the woods was suddenly interrupted by a loud and angry cry that was particularly out of place since the Bellsprout and Weepinbell were almost entirely silent. I didn't have to spend long looking for the source since a large Victreebel slowly lowered itself from a tree directly in front of us, landing on the ground with a soft thump.
From the way he tensed, I could tell that Blitz was about to charge directly at the new arrival, but held off when Winter quietly snarled. With a curt nod, Blitz landed on a nearby branch and stared directly at the Victreebel while Winter slowly stalked forward.
"If you're sure…" I slowly said when Winter turned to give me an expectant look. When her expression didn't change, I sighed softly. "Alright, Howl, and then get a feel for it with Frost Breath." Winter turned her head to the sky and Howled loud enough that it made leaves rustle in the nearby trees. As soon as the noise had stopped, I quickly looked at the rest of my team and added, "Same as before. Keep everything else off of her."
I hadn't finished speaking when Winter darted forward but had to skid to a stop almost immediately when a massive number of leaves flew out of Victreebel's pitcher. Most of the leaves were blasted to the side as a quick Frost Breath caused them to scatter, but several of them broke through and sliced into Winter. She was only able to take another couple of steps forward before another mass of leaves began to fly her way. This time, Winter only blew away the leaves to her left and jumped into the gap she created, completely avoiding the rest of the attack.
With most of the move undisturbed, I was able to take a closer look at it and something about it struck me as unusual. The leaves on the outside edges were packed together much more densely while the ones in the center moved significantly quicker. The sudden realization that it was using both Leaf Tornado and Razor Leaf at the same time made me much more nervous about Winter's odds. "Try to throw it off with a Roar!"
I knew the call was a bit of a longshot but was still surprised when the Victreebel didn't so much as flinch at Winter's practically deafening bark. The move did have the convenient side-effect of making one of the nearby Bellsprout run away, making it an easy target for a Confusion from Shadow. I absently tossed a ball at the unfortunate Pokemon while keeping most of my attention on Winter and the Victreebel.
While I was trying to think if there was a better approach, Winter seemed perfectly fine with my first call. As soon as she finished her Roar, she resumed her charge toward Victreebel. She wasn't able to dodge all of the leaves that it sent her way, but her resistance to grass moves was going a long way. Victreebel seemed to realize its attacks weren't having the desired effect since it abruptly stopped shooting out leaves and began to make a gurgling sound that had become very familiar.
Winter paused her charge in order to better be able to dodge the attack while also using the few seconds of freedom to hit Victreebel with a Frost Breath. The grass Pokemon shuddered as the freezing air washed over it, then tilted its head toward Winter. However, instead of the singular mass of a Sludge Bomb that I'd expected, a wide wave of purple ooze erupted from the pitcher, leaving Winter with no chance of dodging. Winter recoiled as the Sludge Wave washed over her, though she was once again saved from the worst of it by the Pastel Veil that shimmered around her courtesy of Shadow. Victreebel made another loud screeching noise and then whipped its long vine over its head toward Winter.
I tried to yell for Winter to dodge, but the Power Whip attack moved so fast that it had reached her by the time I'd opened my mouth. It turned out that she had a different idea in mind anyway since instead of jumping out of the way, Winter opted to snatch the vine out of the air with her teeth. The force of the Power Whip practically slammed her to the ground, but somehow she was able to maintain her hold on the vine. Victreebel Screeched in annoyance as it tried to free its appendage, but the noise began to turn pained as ice slowly started to creep up the vine toward its body.
Victreebel tugged on its vine, making Winter skid closer to it as she desperately tried to maintain her grip. While the continuous Ice Fang was certainly doing a lot to damage Victreebel, I couldn't help but see Winter getting dragged closer and closer to the deadly acid in Victreebel's pitcher. A Hoenn Mightyena might have been able to win the tug of war contest, but with Winter being built for speed rather than strength, I definitely wasn't going to risk it.
"Let go and Frost Breath!" I called, and Winter immediately dropped the vine. The pull that Victreebel was putting on the vine suddenly didn't have any resistance, making it snap back and hit the tree behind the Pokemon with a loud thump. With Victreebel off balance, Winter had a moment of breathing room for the first time in the fight, which she used literally. After taking a deep breath, Winter exhaled sharply and a swirling wind of freezing air blasted Victreebel. The wild Pokemon recovered enough to swing its vine at Winter again, but this time she was easily able to jump out of the way of the much slower attack.
Finally feeling that the battle was in our control, I reached into my backpack to get a Sportball but hesitated when I blindly picked out a regular Pokeball instead. I briefly considered using it to catch Victreebel but decided against it. It was clearly a strong Pokemon, but given its aggressiveness, I wasn't particularly interested in trying to integrate it into the rest of my team.
I swapped the Pokeball with one of my remaining Sportballs and looked back up just in time to see Winter blast Victreebel with another Frost Breath. While the Pokemon was still reeling, I tossed the Sportball and the ball made a satisfying thump as it made contact. Victreebel was sucked into the Sportball, which slowly shook three times before loudly dinging.
Winter lifted her head up to the sky and loudly Howled in triumph, a sound that was joined by various noises from my Pokemon. I also called out my own congratulations as I got out enough Sportballs to capture all of the Bellsprout and Weepinbell that my team had taken care of during the main battle. As soon as the last Sportball had been transported away, I announced that we were going to head back to the road and continue onto Hibbing.
I'd had more than enough of Bellsprout for one week.
A/N: Victreebel was actually on the very first iteration of Thomas' final team, but it got cut fairly early on.
Thanks to Star (quarknova on this site) for betaing. Next up is Chapter 37: Yours and Mine
