A/N Can't say I've ever been thanked for writing another chapter to a story before, so that's neat.
Anyways on with the show. Another 3k this time.
Enjoy it if you want.
I silently followed behind the trainer, making sure to not make any noises and jumping behind random trees whenever he looked around. He's talking to the Totodile who he let out of pokeball, probably just going over our fight. I was staying safely out of earshot, and didn't want to risk anything after barely managing to bluff my way into not being captured.
Okay maybe I had a bit of an overblown reaction to possibly being captured. There were multiple instances of pokemon being captured and just completely disobeying or flat out leaving.
I was more afraid of my pride being assassinated and then trampled on if this happened. But on a more technical level I really don't want to be caught for a certain reason.
In the games when you capture a pokemon it is registered to your profile, and you are shown as its Trainer. In the anime, it is shown to also function as a registration of your entire profile if you use it to sign up for a tournament and is essentially an ID.
So, if I get captured, I could possibly be listed as that Trainer's even if I run away or just leave in general. I doubt they'd let someone registered as a Pokemon be a trainer. I mean, I sure as hell wouldn't. It'd be so easily abusable I'd be shocked if no one had used that before.
All you'd have to do is register one of your pokemon as a trainer and you could battle the same Gym more than once, or place yourself in line more than once, or any number of small things. Hedge fund bank accounts. Getting your starter another starter.
Hell, I don't even know if they allow uncaptured pokemon to be a Trainer either. I may have to find someone to sponsor me or take a test to show I'm capable. Have to learn how to not talk in Pokespeech too, can't forget that.
I think myself and my evolution can speak human as well if we take a human form. That'll make life a whole lot easier if that's true. Once I, you know, figure out how to actually transform myself.
I have a whole slew of questions on how that works by the way. Is it just an illusion? Is it a physical illusion? Does it form an area of energy around me that I can manipulate according to my wishes?
My train of questioning was immediately broken as I noticed the Trainer turning around again, lazily scanning the area for pokemon. I immediately move behind a tree again, counting to 10 before moving from behind it again.
You might ask why I am following this random human around after fighting a desperate battle to not be captured?
Easy: He will most likely be going to civilization to heal up his Totodile and especially Growlithe. Totodile was barely hurt but Growlithe was knocked bad by that water gun. If I follow him long enough, I will also reach civilization and I can hopefully also be treated at the Pokecenter.
The neat thing is I learned about pokemon getting injured in a very annoying way, personal experience.
You see, when I was in battle everything seemed clear. While getting hit with moves hurt like a bitch, it didn't really hurt my body that much at the time. I felt absolutely exhausted and there are definite after effects from the fight, notably that my back still aches from that water gun, as a whole my body is only banged and bruised. A far cry from the broken bones and tears I should have in my hide from the engagement.
In exchange, however, it seems like it exhausts me much faster than I reasonably should. Maybe it's natural aura usage? It seems to fit what I know of it, but for all I know pokemon could just have their own form of Adrenaline that activates during a battle that makes them more durable but tire faster.
I hope that the writing style of the world was just English. I don't want to have to study a new language and look into the legality of being a literal Pokemon Trainer. I can already feel the flashbacks from my college days of many sleepless nights and headaches returning at the mere thought of it.
My target returned his Totodile and picked up the pace. I think he is eager to get out of this forest and I certainly don't blame him. I love nature but I'd love to get my back looked at more, so the sooner I can use him as a moving breadcrumb trail to society the happier I am.
The status quo continued on for a few hours. I follow the trainer, trainer looks around for pokemon, I hide behind a tree or bush, trainer stops looking and continues walking, repeat.
Eventually the trees became thinner and thinner, which made me happy as we were obviously leaving the dense center of the forest. However, it also made for a couple of close calls during the occasional check for pokemon due to the lack of cover. At one point I was forced to drop to the ground and hope to Arceus that the Trainer missed me. Thankfully his eyes seemed to glide over me. I couldn't believe my luck, and didn't dare move in case it was just a "Gotcha!" moment and he'd turn around and try to capture me again.
After a minute of watching him walk without even so much as glancing back, I cautiously rose back to my feet and continued following him from an even greater distance this time.
"What the hell? There's no way that he missed me, I have cyan accents in my fur. There's no hiding that in the open. Am I just being punked? Or is he just blind?" I wonder out loud as I follow, sticking closer to trees and moving from tree to tree even if it slows me down a bit and makes me work a tiny bit harder to keep up. Not going to rely on that particular miracle for a second time if I can help it.
Soon enough, I saw the signs of civilization peeking through the trees. Containing my excitement and relief at this, I calmly sat down and waited.
There was literally no reason for me to go full tilt into the town. It was getting to be late evening anyways at this point and I honestly would rather wait for night time when my fur blended in better and less people were around.
Also… at this point I think I've had a day crazier than the top 10 of my old life put together. Died and met God himself, held a conversation where I learned I was sort of a good person by his standards, got reborn as a pokemon of all things, "happened" to be a shiny variant, got into my first battle, had the first pokemon I met captured by a kid that deemed me resisting to be a personal offense of some sort, managed to bluff my way out of being captured, and then tracked said kid to the nearest town so I could get some medical aid.
I had no desire to add onto that list by trying to Mission Impossible my way into the Pokecenter in broad daylight.
What to do while waiting… Oh, well I guess I never got my freak out over dying and being reborn into a fantasy world scheduled into my day. Now seems as good a time as any for that. I immediately let out a groan and bashed my head lightly into a nearby tree.
"Stupid vacation getting me killed, stupid God making me a pokemon, and he's a jackass for making me a shiny on top of it." I mumble into my new therapy tree. Percussive therapy, that is, the best kind. I continue along the same vein for a while then sigh and fall to the ground.
I'm not sure if I want to take a nap and wake up finding out this is all a dream, but then again I'm not in denial of my situation so that's extremely unlikely anyways.
Okay, I'm just going to sit here and mess around with figuring out how attacks work then. First, there is scratch. Already kinda figured this out but let's see how long I can hold it.
Gathering my focus and energy into my right paw, I hold it in front of my face for a little while. Strange, I had almost no problem with using that move even though it's using some sort of energy to create the move. I mean, my claws don't normally glow white/silver and leave a small trail in the air when I move them. Is it governed by intent? Or by focus?
I stop focusing on my claws for a moment, looking up at the canopy for a small while and ignoring my claws. I look down again at them, and to my surprise the silver gleam is still there. It's not as bright or focused looking, but the move stayed active. And the moment I wanted the move to stop, it cancelled and the gleam disappeared.
Huh, neat. Looks like it's mostly about intent and not only focusing on the energy I'm using and manipulating it to form the move. I'd like to not have to test this out in the middle of a battle but losing all focus, say from a large hit, would probably cancel any move I was trying to use.
I wonder what other moves I know how to use? I don't have a pokedex to check and obviously I'm not going to go and get myself captured just so some snot nosed kid can check them for me.
Maybe I can play charades with Nurse Joy later to get her to check for me? I bet she'd be nice enough to do it. In the show they gave check ups to even wild pokemon when they were hurt and that's honestly what I'm banking on right now.
I guess I should just take a nap until nightfall, then I can try and be a pokecenter squatter. Wonder how those things are funded anyways. I should probably look that up actually, that seems like it could be actual important information.
LINE BREAK
I woke up to something surprising but very welcome. I could legitimately see in the dark with no problems. Seemed a bit dimmer than I was used to but perfectly okay. I'm not sure if it's because I have fox eyes or because I'm a dark type, and I'm sure the answer is some combination of those two. Either way, moving around the forest at night just got a lot easier than I thought it was going to be.
Shaking off my drowsiness, I slowly started to make way to the buildings that I could still see through the forest. It's probably my typing this time, but I felt a lot more secure and confident in my surroundings now that it was dark out.
I was currently conveniently ignoring that I have no clue how to use any dark type moves even if I technically "know" them. No STAB or environment bonus for me, if they exist.
It took less time than I thought it would to get to the edge of the forest if I'm honest. I think I may have pulled a DBZ Zenkai or something where getting beat down made me stronger. Or all the walking yesterday gave me plenty of practice to get comfortable with the actions I'm doing, but that seems a lot less cool than the possibility to legitimately get stronger because I took a punch to the face. Or, in my case, a water gun to the back.
I always liked night time before, especially the moon, but now that feeling seems to have been amped up about a magnitude of 100x what it was before. I, yet again, blame my dark typing for this. I also blame the fact that my species is a weird shapeshifting fox/werewolf pokemon, because that's the only reason I should feel like I should be howling at the moon as best as I can until it's day.
I'm not doing that but Arceus is it tempting. Oh, yeah, I've decided that I should probably be praying to Arceus now. First, I'm a pokemon. Second, Arceus is essentially the God of this universe. I'm not sure if it's the same being as the God I talked to or if they are just co-workers but they are obviously contemporary figures.
The lights of the town stood out like a spotlight on my face compared to the comfortable darkness I've been looking at the whole time, and I started looking around to see if there was any sign that would tell me the name of this place. I'm assuming Johto because of the Totodile, but I want to know where exactly I am.
I'm not seeing any signs at all actually, but what does stand out is the Pokecenter that is lit up like the sun compared to its surroundings. Lights are on outside the building that may be easily visible for humans even during the night, probably in case of emergencies.
Slinking low to the ground, I was very grateful that there wasn't anyone going on a midnight stroll. Sticking close to the nearby houses, I snuck my way up to the outside of the Pokecenter.
It was… easier than I thought it would be. The perks of being small and able to see in the dark I guess. I walk up to the front doors of the pokecenter, feeling a bit nervous about being in the bright light of the pokecenter.
"Now, how am I going to get insi-" I was cut off by the doors automatically opening at my approach. Now I just felt silly, I actually forgot that they had automatic doors. Let's not talk about this one.
I slowly walk inside, marveling at actually being in one of these things. It was somehow more surreal than being an actual pokemon, as if this really solidified the implications of my situation.
Eh, whatever. It sure beats doing nothing on a cloud.
The pokecenter was ripped straight from the games, at least the front room was. The front desk was empty but there was a bell there for guests to press. I padded up to the desk, trying not to slip on the clean tile that the floor was comprised of.
Preparing myself, I leap upwards trying to get onto the countertop. It was… a partial success. I had to scramble my back half in order to get all the way on. All in all, I felt like how cats must have whenever they jumped onto a table or something.
At least I could feel tall again for this short while.
Walking over to the bell, I ding it a couple of times with my paw before sitting down to wait. After a few minutes, one of the side doors opened and a Nurse Joy walked in while stretching.
"Hello! Welcome to the Azalea Town Pokecenter, how can I-" Nurse Joy then spots me sitting on the counter patiently, and freezes for a moment before gasping.
...I can't look that bad, right?
"Oh my! You need medical assistance right away! Where is your trainer? I'll give them a stern talking to for overworking you and leaving you here without saying anything." Nurse Joy says sternly, carefully picking me up with both arms and looking me over.
Oh boy, time for Charades.
I shook my head at her and tried my best to mimic the motion of throwing a ball before making an X with my front legs.
"Your trainer abandoned you?" Nurse Joy asks with an upset look, walking me into a back room. I shake my head at her and make another X with my legs. She thinks for a moment and sets me down onto a table.
"Oh! You're not someone's pokemon then? How did you get here then, your species isn't local to this region. And how did you know to come here for help?" Nurse Joy questions me, hooking me up to some weird machine.
She seems very unconcerned with having a random wild pokemon in her Pokecenter. Then again, wasn't Zorua known to be a passive and shy pokemon in the first place? Whatever, don't look at a gift horse in the mouth. Gift Ponyta? Whatever.
And suddenly I felt like passing out. Did all of my exhaustion just hit me back at once..?
"Well, in any case don't worry about anything. I'll have you all fixed up by morning. Also, pokecenters have a strict no-catch rule over wild pokemon so if you were worried about that don't be." Nurse Joy explained, guessing that I didn't want to be caught for some reason. Maybe stumbling in at the dead of night even though I don't have a trainer tipped her off.
I nodded in exhaustion, laying down on the table as I heard the machine click on and begin to run as Nurse Joy applied something that took away the lingering pain I didn't realize I was in.
And all faded to black.
LINE BREAK
Nurse Joy was worried about the Zorua that somehow wandered in. It had multiple fractures, a lot of bruising, and bite marks on it. Pokemon are very tough, but even those kinds of injuries would quickly catch up to a pokemon and cause serious or fatal issues.
She also intended to open an investigation into a possible abandonment or poaching case. The Zoroark line is native to Kalos, which is nowhere near Johto. Not to mention the rare coloration of an already rare pokemon. She tried her best to comfort the poor thing and let it know no one would come and take it by force.
She needed to make a call to a friend in order to help figure this out.
A/N Alright, that it for today folks. I try to respond to all my reviews and also achieve creative sustenance from them. Also if you have any questions on anything I will happily explain my thought process behind things so feel free to ask.
Big McThankies from McSpankies.
Peace
-Taldor