Chapter 04: The First Star.
Few minutes earlier -
The first thing I saw after waking up was a sleeping Akari. Her Yukata slipped in her sleep, clearly exposing her breasts and white panties.
*Akari used Flash, its super effective*
Akari had a pair of firm B-cup breasts with small dark nipples. She had long toned creamy legs, a flat stomach, and surprisingly, no body hair at all considering the time period.
Akari was already quite cute normally, but seeing her like that took my breath. Calling her stunning wouldn't do her justice. I couldn't take of my eyes for several minutes.
'Yawn'" good morning Dave. Hope you slept well." She asked me, stretching her arms, still not realizing the view she is giving me.
"Umm… Akari, you might need to close up your Yukata." I told her looking away.
"hmm…No! Don't look!" She yelled as soon as she realized.
She hastily put her clothes back on. Her face red as a tomatoe.
"Never speak a word on what happened… Or else." She warned me, looking straight into my eyes.
"My lips are sealed." I placated her surrendering to her gaze.
*Too bad, I could have looked all day at her*
"Let's get ready and get out. You need to get your new uniform and report to the Captain."
We left Akari's house and walked towards Anthe's tailor shop.
"Oh my, you're already here? Looks like I finished the Uniform just in time." Said Anthe
"Good morning Anthe, don't tell me you were working the whole night again. Didn't the doctor say to avoid that?" Asked Akari sternly.
"I know Akari, but once I start working on clothes, I can't stop. Aren't you the same?" Asked Anthe holding her face with her left hand.
"It's different you and you know it! We can't just leave the camp without someone on night watch." Said Akari.
"But don't you always volunteer for it, even if there are other people available?" Asked Anthe.
"hmpf. That doesn't matter at all." Akari pouted.
'chuckles' "Alright, alright. You win dear. Now as for you Dave. Come inside and try out your uniform." She told me before walking inside the shop.
After got out a few minutes later wearing my new Galaxy Survey Corp. Uniform.
"Wow you look great Dave, like a real Survey corp. member" Said Akari peeking inside.
"Thanks Akari."
"So should we move on? I'm sure the Captain is waiting for us." I told her.
We entered Captain Cyllene's office soon after.
"It seems you are ready. You are now an official member of the survey corps. As a new member you will have zero star rank. Your rank will rise as you progress in your Pokedex." Said Captain Cyllene.
"Understood Captain. I have a question if you don't mind." I asked.
"Proceed." She simply ordered.
"Where should I stay in the meantime?" I asked.
"You can stay in the house since it's not being used." She simply answered.
"Yes Captain. I would like to start working on the Pokedex if it's alright with you." I asked.
"Not yet. Akari, go show him how to craft his own Pokeball's. You will be his partner for the time being. I expect you to show him the ropes. Understood?" Commanded Cyllene.
"Yes, Captain Cyllene. I will do my best" Confirmed Akari.
"Very well. Dismissed." Said Cyllene.
"Follow me Dave. We're going to the Smith. I will show you how to make pokeballs." Said Akari
I simply followed behind her.
"Hey Akari, how many pokeballs exist here?"
I know of the 9 Pokeball types available ingame. But there were other kinds of Apricorn balls in Johto. I'm hoping to replicate other kinds of pokeballs if possible.
"Well, we can technically make 3 kinds of Pokeballs. Normal Poke Balls, Wing Balls and Heavy Balls. Each ball can be separated into 3 grades. So 9 in total." She explained.
"Johto used different kinds of Apricorn balls in the past. Did you hear anything about that?" I continued to ask.
"Pokeballs were invented in Johto, but I never heard of any other kinds." She told me.
"I might try to research making new Pokeballs then."
"Alright. But don't ignore your other responsibilities. You're a member of the Survey Corps now after all. Well let me show you how to make a standard Pokeball."
We reached the Crafting stations. Unlike in the game where only 1 crafting station existed. Here are several on display. Each one far more detailed than in game. Each connected to a Furnace and cupboard.
"You will need to put some Red Tumblestone into the furnace. The Tumblestone will melt within the next 30 minutes. Let's prepare the Apricorns until then." She said.
She put around 2 Kg of Tumblestone into the crucible. The Crucible was placed inside the furnace.
"You have to split the apricorns in the middle. Remove the stem and clean out the inside. You will get two wooden halves with a hole in the middle of the cut." She gave me one.
The apricorn I received was quite hard. It felt like a big walnut shell.
"Here are 30 Apricorns. You can start working on them until the Tumblestone is ready."
Akari handed me a sack with Apricons she took from one of the cupboards around.
It took quite some work to prepare every Apricorn. The first few were unusable since I wasn't able to split them right.
"You might need to work on it. Not perfect, but usable." She judged my work.
"The tumblestone is ready. Let me show you the next step."
She took out some stone molds from the cupboard.
"Take the molten Tumble stone cast them into the molds. Be careful or you might get burned."
Akari scooped some of the molten tumblestone and carefully put it in the molds.
"Once it's cooled off, I can show you how to put them together. Try to fill up the rest."
This part was easier and harder at the same time. The process itself was quite easy. Just pour the tumble stone into the mold. But you were constantly hit by the heat. I was already sweating after a few minutes from the heat. After filling all the molds I we let it cool off.
"That's quite the hard work." I said.
"True, but it's cheaper to make your own pokeballs. It's hard to make ends meet if you always buy the Pokeballs." Akari shrugged.
"The first batch is already cool enough. I will show you the next step. We will first make the inside of the pokeballs. Take out two tumblestone hemispheres. You need to process the inside with a round whetstone. Just firmly secure the hemispheres to the whetstone and use handle to make it spin. You need to do it until the inside looks like a mirror."
The process took around 5 minutes, Akari checked the tumblestone hemisphere several times. Using water to cool and clean it.
"Done, let's put it somewhere safe. Tumblestone is quite brittle, so make sure they don't break." She told me.
"Now we move to the closing mechanism. Just take them out of the mold, clean the edges with a whetstone and assemble them."
Once again Akari showed me how it's done. The closing mechanism had five parts in total. Two half rings, a button, a small spring and a bolt. The bolt clicks as soon as the two ring halves are in place and jumps open as soon as you press the button.
"The hinges are easy to assemble. Just take the hinge plate and a spring in the middle and connect everything with a pin. As you can see the hinges will force the pokeball to close." She demonstrated how it closes.
"The last part is optional. The capture signal shows a successful capture. Just connect a fuse to the closing mechanism. A successful capture will light the fuse, the fuse will then light the black powder in the chamber. It will be easier to find your pokeballs. Especially at night."
She told me. Which explains the fireworks that happen every time a Pokemon is caught.
"Now simply glue them together and we're done."
Akari started putting the parts together. The tumblestone hemispheres were glued inside the apricorns. The closing mechanism was glued on each half. The hinges were next. Lastly the capture signal, it was put on top and connected to the closing mechanism with a fuse.
"That's about it. Let's finish the rest and move out." She said, already taking the next set of molds.
It took a bit more than two hours to process and assemble the rest of the pokeballs. We packed them all inside our satchels and moved.
On the way we were stopped by one of the Guards. He asked us to get him a Wurmple.
"So, where do you want to start?" She asked me.
"I might catch a few Wurmple first. The Floara Gardens to the west might be a good start." I told her.
"Good idea, just make sure to find some Pecha berries on the way. I don't won't you to get hurt from Poison needle." She told me.
I agreed to it. In game status effects were gone after a fight. But now they might linger.
We made our way towards our target. On the way I was able to catch 4 Wurmple without issue. I simply sneaked behind them and caught them. They weren't able to break out.
"Hey Dave, you already caught four more Pokemon. Let me bring some back to the base camp. Please wait here and don't do anything stupid." She said.
"Alright, please be safe. I'm going to train a bit around here until you are back." I told Akari.
I gave her two Wurmple before left.
"Alright. Let's check out the Arc phone."
It might be a bit late. But I decided to check out the Arc phone I got. It looked like a White smartphone with Arceus motive. It had Several apps inside, a messenger, PokeScanner, Camera, Map, Reminder.
The messenger wasn't able to send anything. But it could receive messages.
'seek out all Pokemon'
That was about it. The PokeScanner allowed me to see the details about scanned Pokemon like attacks, gender, nature. The map function showed a detailed map and current position on it. Reminder was a simple diary with alarm function.
After checking out the Arc phone, I started challenging different Pokemon around me. I fought several wild Pokemon on rotation. My two Wurmple soon evolved into a Cascoon and Silcoon.
I had to use quite a number of berries to heal up my pokemon after each battle. Some of them were either Poisoned by fighting Wurmple or paralyzed by the random Shinx.
"Nice, I got lucky getting both variants without much issue."
As I said that I was thrown through the air.
"Arggh!" I hit the ground after flying few meters.
"What happened?" I asked, holding my head.
There were two Beautifly in front of me.
*Damn, how could I have missed them.*
"I'm not just going to run away from some overgrown butterflies. Come out Starly, Rowlet!"
Both Pokemon appeared.
"Star!" "Let" they cried out.
"Both use Gust on the right Beautifly!" They started flapping their wings, hitting the one of the Beautifly.
"Fly!" Both cried out.
The damaged beautifly has fallen to the ground, but didn't faint yet. Both Beautifly started firing Silver air blades as it flapped its wings.
"Dodge!" I yelled.
Starly was able to dodge with a usage of quick attack. Rowlet wasn't as lucky. He tried to get away, but was hit by most of the blades, fainting immediately.
"Damn, Rowlet come back. Starly finish it off with Quick attacks." I called out.
As Starly was attacking, I called out Shinx.
"Shinx, Attack the left beautifly with Thundershock before it can attack!"
Shinx immediately charged and shoot at the unsuspecting Beautifly who was focused on the Starly.
"Beau!" it cried out, falling to the ground and unable to move from a paralysis.
The other Beautifly was hit by a Quick attack barrage from Starly. It soon lost his strength, fainting from its wounds.
"Now! Finish the other one! Starly use Gust, Shinx use Thundershock until it faints" I yelled.
Both pokemon started to attack the last Beautifly. With paralysis still being active, it wasn't able to move away got hit with a barrage of super effective moves. As soon as it fainted both Starly and Shinx started to glow, indicating an evolution.
Soon a Staravia and Luxio stood in front of me.
"You guys are awesome!" I said hugging both of them.
"Lux!"
Luxio hit me with his tail. It didn't hurt, it was merely to make a point that he does not like being randomly hugged.
I started walking back to the base camp, meeting Akari halfway back.
"Akari!" I called out.
"DAVE! What happened? You're a mess!"
Akari got quite agitated. I was still dirty and scratched from flying with Air Beautifly. She run towards me, checking me for injuries.
"Don't worry, just got hit by a Gust from one of the roaming Beautifly. I paid back every scratch I got tenfold" I said bragging.
"You Idiot! Didn't I tell you not to do anything stupid?" She yelled at me, quite angry with my behavior.
"Sorry, sorry. I tried, really. I was checking out my new Pokemon when I got hit from behind." I said, hoping to get her to calm down.
"That's it. I will not leave you out of my sight. Now let's got back and patch you up." She grabbed my ear and dragged me the whole way to the base camp.
"Ouch ouch ouch! Please forgive me!" I begged the whole way.
At the base camp Akari made some Potions and a revive for Rowlet. She was astounded seeing my current Pokemon.
"How? You just caught them and they already evolved? I could understand Cascoon and Silcoon. They don't take much to evolve. But Staravia and Luxio? They take far longer!"
Akari was perplexed seeing them.
"Well, Cascoon and Silcoon evolved after a few fights. Staravia and Luxio required the fight against the Beautifly. They were quite a bit stronger than the rest of the pokemon around." I explained.
"Really, most people would avoid fighting with random Pokemon, but not you. You don't just refuse to avoid it, you intentionally seek them out" sighed Akari, her shoulders dropping.
"Should we go back? You already archived quite a lot today." She asked, visibly exhausted with me.
"If it's Ok, I like to try catch two more Pokemon. The Buizel and Ponyta." I told her.
"Alright, but you're not allowed to leave my sight." She told me.
We left towards the River south of the base camp. Walking along I saw a Buizel family. The smaller Pokemon run away as a approached, but the larger ones started to attack us. I called Rowlet and with a few Leafage attacks, they were knocked out. I caught one of them. Both while being bigger, were not much different from the others.
We continued the walk towards the Horseshoe fields. I saw the Ponyta from quite far away. The Flames being quite visible. We hid in the grass and sneaked near one of them. I was able throw a Pokeball. It was able to break out from the first ball, but got caught by the second one.
"Well, we are done. How about going back to the village?" I asked her.
"Finally. You know, it's quite the adventure with you around." She told me.
"I might have a minor case of serious brain damage." I joked around.
She didn't answer. But after a bit, she looked like everything made sense. It kinda worries me.
As we were walking back, avoiding any aggressive pokemon I come across a special Pokemon.
In the grass, lying on top of a Bidoof was a small Eevee.
"Wait here please. I need to catch that Eevee." I told Akari.
I was sneaking towards the Eevee that was sleeping on the Bidoof. Instead of Throwing it, I simply tapped the Eevee with the Pokeball. It didn't even wiggle once before the firework on top indicated a successful capture. It scared the Bidoof who run away immediately.
"Hey Akari. Look I caught an Eevee!" I told her proudly.
"How? I never saw that Pokemon around here?" She said.
It seems that Eevee was even rarer here than ingame. Eevee's were a rare spawn that could replace two Bidoof spawns in the region.
"No idea, just got lucky." I said.
We soon reached the basecamp, I approached Professor Laventon that was waiting there.
"Hey professor. How are you doing?"
"Oh Dave. Just recording the findings. Not much to do really. We already learned as much as we can around here." He said saddened.
"Well, I might just make your day." I told him calling out all my caught Pokemon.
"Incredible! Just a single day and you already caught so many pokemon! This will be a huge step to fill the Pokedex!"
His mood changed immediately like someone just told him that today is both his birthday and Christmas.
"Come on! We need to report this to the Captain immediately!" He shouted before running towards the village.
"Is that normal for him?" I asked Akari, pointing towards the dust cloud made by the professor.
"Yes, it sadly is…" She deadpanned.
"Let's… just follow him…" I said starting to walk towards the village.
We meet up with Captain Cyllene as soon as we entered. We could hear the professor giving his report.
"Captain, may we enter?" Asked Akari.
"Come in, I was expecting you both." Said Cyllene.
We entered and stood ready in front of her desk.
"I already heard about your success today from Professor Laventon. I was expecting a lot from you but it seems I was still underestimating you. Not only did you catch 7 new Pokemon, but you evolved several of them." She said.
"Considering your success today. It's just fair to increase your star rank. Well congratulation, now you are a rank 1 member. Come tomorrow for your rewards. Dismissed." Said Cyllene.
We gave our goodbyes and left.
-End of chapter
