Chapter 4: Enter Cyberduck
Naga was determined to catch up with Kappa and show him what for! He turned on the route tracking on his Frontier Tracker and continued on. Again going back and forth between walking and jogging, with Cubone on his shoulders and Jynx in her pokeball. Considering he was basically as far west as his home town at the start of the day, this would be the first day of his frontier journey!
He continued onwards through the chaparral. He noticed that there was a path, presumably leading towards the next town. The area wasn't completely mapped out but some settlers had already made it to the midwest. Naga decided to go further north, hoping to find a better route there. While he did have to climb a sizable rocky hill, he found about two miles north of the beaten path, a sizable river, flowing west, that could be used for transport. He took the time to analyze it with the Frontier tracker and got a reward of 10,000 Pokedollars. It seemed his frontier tracker had an account that it could print debt-slips from at any given time. He continued west, following the river for two days. He was lucky to have Jynx with him, as he tended to get lonely on the long trek. They talked about the human experience, what Naga wanted to get out of his journey, and if other people had similar goals.
"I think you have two kinds of people," Naga would say,"Some people are fine with simply getting along, and some want to do something great, like me. But I think our world has been set up by the boring people and it holds back the adventurers like me!"
Eventually, Naga got an alert on his Frontier Tracker saying that an established town was nearby. Due south 4 miles. He continued to track the path he took, marking out a trail to connect the town to the river bank.
The sun was just starting to wind down as he entered the town,"Crowlerville", from the north. It was a small town, no more than 30 or 40 houses, with a mayor's office/jail, a single general store, a bar, and houses of what were mostly subsistence farmers. He made his way into the general store, and was met by an older man with a happy face. "Well hey there little feller, we don't get many new faces around these parts!"
"I'm a frontiersman-"
"Yep, I figured. What'cha lookin' for? A tinderbox? Water? Maybe a good tail knife?"
"No, Actually I was looking to buy some clothes."
The older man let out a hearty laugh,"Sorry to say fella, but everyone in this town makes their own clothes by hand. I suppose you could probably talk to some of the people who live here to have something made, I'm sure you can sort something out. Crowlerville has some kind folks, so long as ya don't do nothin' rude."
"I see, thank you sir," Naga said, walking away. Just before he was about to leave he stopped. "Say, did you happen to see another frontiersman come through here with bright green hair?"
"No, sir, I can't say I have. I'll be sure to let you know if I do if you're still around." It seemed Kappa hadn't made it there yet. He got a head start, was he really behind Naga at this point?
Naga stepped outside and surveyed the town, he noticed a woman carrying buckets of water over her shoulder, in what looked like a well-made modest dress. 'This will do' he thought.
"Excuse me, ma'am. I was just passing through but I was interested in your dress."
"Boy, you best back off. I am a married woman," she responded. She didn't seem so much upset, more like a parent talking to a misbehaving child.
"No, you misunderstand! I was just wondering if you could help me get a set of clothes. The general store doesn't sell them and I heard that everyone here makes their own clothes and I was wondering if I could buy a set off of you."
"Well," She said, setting down her water,"Let me get a look at ya. Yeah I think one of my sons is about your size, I could get you a set of his clothes."
"Actually, they aren't for me. They're for…" Naga said as he pulled out Jynx's pokeball and released her,"her!"
The woman looked partially confused and partially disgusted. "Well, I don't think I have anything your 'friend's' uh….size. I could make it for you but you'd have to work for it." Jynx was on the heavy side, with oddly long arms and short legs compared to a person, it seemed clear the woman's issue wasn't with her size, but with how Naga was treating a pokemon like a person, and trying to buy her clothes. Naga worried if every frontier town would have such rude and prude people, or it was just Crowlerville.
"I have 11,500 pokedollars, I'm sure we can negotiate a price."
"No, sir, you gotta work for it. It'll take me a few days to make, you can help out on the farm while I work on it."
Naga was frustrated. He had left home because he wanted to get out of being a farmer, it was only temporary, but agreeing to something like this felt like it would be admitting defeat. He knew that having a good wardrobe for Jynx would be helpful in the future, especially since the dress she had now was so crappy. He looked over to Jynx who had her hands together, with big baby-doll eyes begging, and he just couldn't say no.
"You have a deal mrs…?"
"Rand, Mrs Ayanne Rand."
The next few days were hell for Naga. He tilled the fields and carried bales of crops back and forth to and from places, because that's all they trusted him to do. Cubone helped him work, while Jynx helped Ayanne with her house duties. Cubone seemed to be quite adept at tilling the fields, showing he had a clear connection with the earth. 'Charmanders are supposed to be fire types, is he a ground type pokemon?,' Naga wondered to himself as he worked. They didn't have any guest rooms, and so Naga was made to stay in their cellar. On one of the nights, Jynx noticed that they had a rack with some bottles in it in their cellar.
"That's probably wine, or the like," Naga explained.
"Wine, that's a human drink right?"
"Yeah, but it's got alcohol in it. I never liked the stuff. My parents let me have a sip for new years once and I hated it!"
"I see."
"These guys are big jerks, I tell ya what,"Naga exclaimed,"I wouldn't mind stealin' a bottle off of 'em if I liked it, though."
After five days of work, the dress was finished, and Naga could finally move on. He was reminded of the life he left and never wanted to get back into. The dress was a modest one, down to the ankles with long sleeves. It was blue with a flower pattern on it,and a white apron over the front.
"Thank you so much, Naga!" Jynx said, hugging him after changing into her new dress. "This is very plain-jane, but it's better than that raggedy old thing I had before! I'm sure with this I could invoke the power of the common woman, a Psychic-Normal type pokemon!" She said, confident in her new abilities.
As Naga started making his way west out of town, he heard the shuffling of gravel, and looked over to see Kappa, pulling a cart into town. It looked like he had alot of provisions, enough that he couldn't carry it with just a backpack.
"KAPPA!" Naga yelled furiously.
"Uh, hi Naga," Kappa responded, unsure of how the situation was going to go, trying to keep a confident calm demeanor.
"You rotten," Naga started as he walked towards Kappa, wagging his finger,"No good, two-timing, backstabbing snake!"
"Who you callin' a snake, huh?"
"YOU that's who! You found out about my goal and sent me off walking to Vespa city while you probably took a car to get there first and get a head start to beat me at my own dream! For what? YOU HAVE EVERYTHING!"
"No I don't! You don't know me!" Kappa said, dropping his cart and clenching his fist.
"Oh, I know you Kappa. You're a spoiled rich brat who can't let anyone have something you can't! You ALWAYS had to prove you were better than me. But you know what, there is something I have that you'll never have Kappa; HONOR!"
"Say that again, I dare you!"
"You have no honor! You are a scoundrel!"
"That's it, I'm not gonna stand for you talking like this to the guy who helped you get all your supplies and your first pokemon!"
"Then how about you fight to defend that honor, huh? Or are you too much of a chicken!?"
"Fine! A pokemon duel to prove my honor! My pokemon have gotten stronger since we last met! Your orphan Charmander doesn't stand a chance!" Kappa grabbed a pokeball and threw it, "LIL'DUCK, GO!"
"Too bad I have more than just Cubone now, then, huh? JYNX, GO!" Naga pointed, as Jynx sashayed into position."
"Lil'duck, show them your new technique! Triple axel!" Lil'duck shot water at the ground in front of it that froze into ice, as it slid across the pathway it made, swishing back and forth towards Jynx. It leaped forward and pecked at Jynx, landing it's first hit, and sliding around behind her to come for a second peck. But, as it jumped for it's second attack, Jynx was able to dodge out of the way and slap Lil'duck.
As Lil'duck pulled itself back up, Naga yelled,"Jynx, this is your time! Use your psywave!"
Jynx put her fingers to her temples and let out the psychic wave. This time, it seemed to go full force, letting out all the energy she had in her at the moment, which proved to be overkill. Lil'duck fell back to the ground, screaming in agony! It felt like every nerve in Lil'duck's body was on fire, and it's head had so much pressure purshing from inside that it felt like it was going to explode. It was so small, and in so much pain, Jynx gasped and covered her mouth in shock! What had she done? Would it be okay?
But Kappa took advantage of Jynx's momentary distraction, as a beam of bright white light shot at her, wounding her and sending her stumbling back. As Kappa returned Lil'duck to his pokeball, Naga took in the pokemon that shot the white beam. It looked like a red and blue duck, with a body and legs made of 3D oval shapes, floating slightly above the ground.
"You like it, Naga? You mentioned Porygon and it gave me the great idea to stop by the Silph Megaplex and buy a Porygon with an HD upgrade. Say hello to Porygon 2!"
"SEE, THAT'S WHAT I MEAN, YOU RICH BRAT! I GOT MY POKEMON FRIEND THROUGH GENUINE BONDING AND AVENTURE, AND YOU THINK YOU CAN JUST BUY THEM!"
"Naga, Porygon was made by humans, it has to be bought. And it's not like it minds it, isn't that right Porygon 2?" Kappa asked, scratching Porygon 2's chin. "Por̃r̃y!" it chirped. "So," Kappa said, confident and smug,"What type is that pokemon, Jynx? Psychic right? Allright, Porygon! Conversion: Ghost type!"
Naga watched as Porygon's body shifted and changed texture and makeup, turning dark purple, translucent, and it's body seemed to turn to almost a mist.
"That move Porygon used earlier, it was called hidden power. For most pokemon, what hidden power actually is or does varies wildly. It depends on the nature of the pokemon's soul, the power hidden within them, but porygon's soul is artificial. The entire pokemon is computer code given form. Porygon can use it's signature conversion to change it's type, which is always in line with it's soul, and it can trace the physical properties of another pokemon onto itself. So, if you have a psychic type pokemon for example, Porygon can just become a ghost and use his HIDDEN POWER GHOST!"
Porygon 2 shot a writhing purple smokey blast at Jynx, who held her arms out wide, as the blast simply passed through her.
"Ha, take THAT kappa, you smart alec! My Jynx can change her type too! By invoking, uh, architects! She's a psychic with the powers of a normal type pokemon, meaning ghosts can't touch her!"
"Architects?"
"YEAH! IT MEANS WHEN SHE PLAYS DRESS UP SHE CAN USE POWERS LIKE THE PEOPLE SHE DRESSES LIKE!"
Kappa was confused and annoyed. "Whatever. Porygon 2, conversion dark! And, fly high!" Porygon followed his orders, converting its body to a black and grey color scheme, with what looked like a spiked metal collar around its neck, white glowing eyes, and a sinister smile. "There. Even if I can't hit your Jynx with a ghost type move cause her plain-jane clothes make her a normal type, all that she has that can hit Porygon all the way up there is her psychic wave, which dark types are immune to. Now, Porgyon, rapid fire hidden power dark!"
"Kappa…you!" Naga said, clenching his fist,"No honor! Cheating the system in a battle like this!"
"It's not cheating just cause I know what I'm doing." Kappa said with a smirk.
"Why I oughta-"
"You oughta what?" Kappa asked, as Jynx was riddled with dark blasts, knocking her out.
"I oughta deck you in the face you snake!"
"This is a pokemon bat-"
POP! Right in the nose! Kappa went falling to the ground with a bloody nose. Naga tackled Kappa, pounding on him more, before Kappa was able to roll and get on top of Naga and do the same. They tumbled back and forth, both of them thinking 'he's had this a long time coming'. Eventually, however, this glorified schoolyard fight was pulled apart.
A strong gentleman with a thick moustache held both the boys by the collar. "What in tarnation?! You boys both got no honor! You young man," He said, looking at Kappa,"You oughta take on your enemies head on, especially in a fight like this! What you did was slimy. But YOU," he said, looking at Naga,"Are even worse! You agreed to a pokemon battle! This ain't the wild, it was a gentleman's duel. A man who can't stick by his word is less than nothing!" He tossed them both to the ground. "Now, I'm the mayor here and we don't need fights like this in the street. Both of you got 5 minutes to get out of here before I have you both thrown in the slammer!"
Naga immediately went running off, while Kappa followed close behind, slower because of his cart. As they reached the edge of town, they split paths, Naga going south-west and Kappa going north-west. As they split up, Naga yelled to Kappa. "This ain't over! I'm gonna get there before you and I'll make you kiss my boots! I'll prove that I'm better than you!"
"Yeah right!" Kappa yelled back,"I've always been better than you and I always will be!"
