Pokemon RWBY Chapter 7

The Journey Actually Starts

It was actually pretty cool to have Phyllis around everywhere.

It wasn't just the facial expressions, from uncomprehending tolerance whenever Yang decided to work out to embarrassed appreciation whenever Yang figured out she wanted something. Sure, that was both amusing and a possible indication that at least one Pokémon was smarter than the average dog, no offence to Zwei. But it wasn't what elevated her to cool.

It wasn't just the vines that helped Yang with random things, or the way the little girl tried to tell if the help would be appreciated at the moment. That would imply Yang felt that having a nursemaid was anything other than demeaning, even if she was a cute little thing.

Come to think of it there wasn't anything specific that stood out and made her feel..less depressed, really. Sure, she was definitely in a funk compared to what she was like before the attack on Vale, and part of her 'hated' all the changes that involved. She hated being in a place that had never even heard of Grimm. She hated not knowing what happened to her sister, her teammates, or anyone else she knew after she blacked out and went down quicker than one of Junior's grunts. Just one fucking hit and..

Regardless of what made the bulbasaur feel cool, as she gave herself the closest thing to a massage she could after a particularly sweaty, if possibly 'too' strenuous workout and Phyllis tried to help soothe the mildly aching muscles, it was hard not to think the weird lizard was one of the coolest things she'd ever come across. Shame that Ruby wasn't around to have fun with Phyllis..

Before her random thoughts could start going in a legitimately depressing direction, the professor walked in, small notebook in hand. He gave Yang a quick glance, wrote something else down, did a "hmhmm" to himself, then put away the pen and asked, "I don't suppose I could ask you to help me with something long term, could I?"

Well that certainly felt rehearsed, and not very well either. Even Phyllis gave him a look that seemed to say, "Wow, you're about as subtle as a mech in a kindergarten class."

Still, Yang wasn't busy with anything else, and it's not like she had any plans, long or short term. There was no harm in playing along and seeing where he was going with this. "Depends on how long and what it is."

The next part he certainly seemed more comfortable with, putting the notebook on a bookshelf as he said a lot more confidently, "The Indigo League, the organization that officially runs the various Pokémon gyms and numerous tournaments in the region, approached me to do a lecture and comment on some battles. Seeing as how they didn't give me an actual date to come, just 'at your convenience', I figured that would allow the time for something extra on top of what they want."

She could practically see his lab coat replaced by some cheap jacket you'd expect from a sleazy salesman. The kind that just spent the money to paint over the rust on your 'slightly' used car. Though maybe that was an unfair comparison. It's not that his next words were underhanded.. "You see, far too many people just see gym leaders as just another challenge to climb. A mountain in the way of the goal of being labeled as a master, or just someone to measure themselves against if they aren't inclined to be considered an elite among competitive trainers. But it occurred to me that most people don't know much about the eight leaders of Kanto outside of their names and what their gym specializes in."

Now he was really getting into his sales pitch, his hands moving around to emphasize certain points. "These are people who have, for one reason or another, dedicated if not their 'lives' than at least a significant amount of time, money, and who 'knows' what else. All to be one of the eight 'people' who are without a doubt the most 'vital' in the Indigo League. As important as every other position in the League, from accountant to manager to the Elite Four to 'countless' others, I can't help thinking that the gyms and the people running them deserve more 'credit'."

Well it was easy to see why this organization wanted him to do some talking, once he got started he certainly became passionate. "Unfortunately, given my schedule I can't go interview them myself. It would be extremely time consuming to go from gym to gym, sit down, and have a pleasant discussion with all of them. I also wouldn't mind interviewing anyone I might happen to meet on the way to each of them. Unfortunately I probably wouldn't be able to really get trainers, especially the younger ones, to fully open up to me. Victor, while very passionate about what he does, can be at times too focused on whatever catches his interest. And Integra, while supremely intelligent and friendly, is rather shy."

Okay. Somehow Yang was reminded of the numerous times she'd tried to get her sister to socialize more. Of when she had to convince Blake not to work herself into a barely coherent and sluggish ball of righteous fury. Or when she kept trying to get Weiss out of her snippy little shell and actually enjoy herself. Huh. Why didn't she get this feeling of going through an intervention of some sort when the professor had her grabbing the mail? Was it because 'that' had been a short term goal and 'this' sounded like a much bigger, more nebulous project? Or was it just that..feeling she had when she got to Viridian before getting what she needed and leaving? Of somehow being 'more' lonely the more people she saw?

Whatever the case, she tried to play it casual. "So either I'm the only person you've got to do it, or you only thought of it 'because' I don't have anything else to do."

He had an instant of looking like a kid with his hand wrist deep in the cookie jar. Kind of interesting to see that familiar look on a middle aged man. But he recovered admirably fast and shrugged. "Does it really matter? It feels like something worth doing, you have the means.."

Yang cut him off right there. "I'm not really the news reporter type. Hell, I'd probably ask questions for things everyone else possibly already knows and just come across as an idiot!"

The professor gave her a reassuring smile in response. "You could also ask profound out-of-the-box questions that nobody else could think of. And if you're worried about feeling 'like an idiot', you can spend some time before actually going to the gyms with the same man I had you meet at the store. Shingen's got a lot of time to spare, and I can assure you he won't find 'any' question too stupid."

Yang took a moment to think about it. Well, she didn't have anything else to do. She didn't even have anything she 'wanted' to do other than go home, and she didn't know if going home would help solve her problems or just make things look more familiar while she festered in her emotional and physical wounds. Not that going home was an option. Sure, walking to at least eight different cities and towns to talk to eight different people who according to Oak were typically pretty busy..that sounded like quite the project. And it was probably something that would get tougher than she was imagining.

In the end, she couldn't 'completely' say yes, but couldn't think of any excuse to say definitively no. At best she could think of a few things she needed cleared up before even getting started. Pulling out her Pokédex from her pocket, she tried to ignore the pleased look on his face as she opened a file in the notepad section. He was probably happy the device was getting used so casually. She just didn't have the heart to say she was used to using her scroll for stuff like this and more. "Right. Something like this, I'm probably going to need some money to start with. I'm certainly not going to be able to carry supplies for a trip 'this' long in anything less than a truck, and if the road I saw between Pallet and Viridian is any hint than wheels are probably going to be impractical."

"Of course."

Part of her wondered what the point in roads vehicles couldn't travel over were. And that same part wondered why she didn't ask Oak. Maybe it was just the way he answered her previous questions in their other conversations. That he was fascinated at the things she was confused by. "I'm possibly going to need a way to make more money while on the road. It'd be a little ridiculous for me to come back constantly to get resupplied."

"That should be easy enough to arrange."

Great, he didn't say he already had an idea for that. Either the professor didn't plan ahead that well period or this idea was even more spur-of-the-moment than she thought. "And come to think of it, did you write down any questions you outright want asked?"

"Oh I made a few suggestions as I got more comfortable with the idea, but it's best if the questions came from the interviewer and flowed from one to the next. Not that you read from a script."

Taking a quick look at the notebook in his hand, she was already picking and choosing what to write down. The 'what do you look forward to in your week' one was solid, but 'what is your favorite color' seemed too cliche. "Right."

Her third time traveling through what was apparently called Route One. There wasn't too much to pay attention to at the moment. While there was always the chance she could get ambushed by a rat or bird regardless of being in the long grass or not, she didn't feel like she was in any particular hurry.

So, with little else to do she opened the encyclopedia section of her Pokédex and started reading. Technically speaking it was a 'horrible' idea to let yourself be distracted while in the field. Not even Blake, bookworm that she was, would pull something out to read while walking in what amounted to the wilderness. She'd at least wait until they'd set up camp. Still, even the most aggressive of the critters she'd seen so far had been nothing compared to Grimm. And without the potential threat to her life, there didn't feel like any reason 'not' to try passing the time with something other than looking at the peaceful, barely trodden path.

May as well start with the bulbasaur entry, even if she'd skimmed it once or twice already. Nothing wrong with learning more about her partner, right? Thankfully it was the very first entry. Number one.

{Bulbasaur

Grass/Poison Type}

Funny, she didn't 'look' poisonous. But then Yang had somehow managed to not notice cat ears under a bow for several weeks. Should she be worried about getting poisoned? And she should really look into what 'type' meant in this context.

Hm, solitary in the wild, omnivores with a preference for plants. If they're part plant and there are other creatures that are part plant, does that actually count as being carnivorous? Just what 'did' make someone a vegetarian in this context, anyway? And how can something do photosynthesis but still need to eat? She thought those were mutually exclusive things. Huh, so farms like to use them like shepherd dogs. Some nice bits of trivia but nothing that seemed to really make Yang feel all that surprised other than the poison thing. And nothing that felt like it would actually help her work with the little girl.

There was also a list of "moves" that a bulbasaur could learn. Again, probably something she should get some more context for since that choice of word felt off to her. Vine whip sounded kinky..and completely wrong to think about so hopefully it wasn't as perverted as she imagined. And apparently that weird thing Phyllis had done to one bird was called leech seed. Various kinds of powders with varying effects, some rather basic stuff that didn't feel like it needed a description like tackle and bodyslam. What was even the difference between a tackle and a bodyslam for a four legged creature with this kind of build, anyway? What really caught her attention, however, was 'solar beam'.

{Solar Beam: the concentration of energy absorbed from the sun into an energy blast. Plant type move.} How did that even 'work'? What kind of energy? Kinetic? And how was that a "plant type move"?

..okay, so looking at the encyclopedia entry and 'moves' were just raising more questions than answers. How much of that was her being a moron and how much was it that this world was so drastically different from Remnant?

Giving a not very humorous chuckle, she glanced at Phyllis, who was clearly trying to keep an eye out for danger to make up for Yang's distraction. "Why, just why did I say 'yes' to Oak? I've got too 'many' questions, no idea how to ask them..hell, I should have asked him a lot of this crap. When should I have asked, how, just..yeesh, I feel like someone just tossed me in an ocean to learn how to swim! No build-up, no.."

Sucking in a breath, she was tempted to slap herself. Either for saying yes just because she couldn't think of a no, or for her little rant making Phyllis stare at her with concern. "Right. Guess there's not much point in me complaining. I'm kind of committed to the job at this point and it's not like I was thrown without 'any' kind of lifeline. This little brick is supposed to have plenty of information, and the store owner we met last time is a friend of the professor's. Maybe he can fill in the gaps."

And with that, Yang tried to see if there was any description of types in the Pokédex. At best she could see a number of types listed. Normal, fire, fighting, flying, ghost, grass, poison, water, psychic, steel, rock, dark, ice, fairy, dragon, ground..no particular order. No overall description of what a type is. Guess she was going to have to try figuring it out based on context when reading each individual entry. Where was Weiss when you needed her? Oh yeah, in a different world and Yang couldn't even send her a text message..

Yang wasn't that far away from the outskirts of Viridian when she heard it. A very hoarse caw, desperate but tired. A different kind of bird call than the ones she'd heard from the annoying things that occasionally ambushed her and Phyllis on the road.

Phyllis gave her a quick look, one that said she heard it too and didn't know what it meant. Yang though 'did' have a good idea what that meant. Something was hurt. More hurt than anything Yang and Phyllis fought against. Momentarily wishing she still had her one gauntlet, even if the bullets for it were worthless, Yang said, "We've got trouble. Come on."

Yang broke out to a run without thinking. Just sheer instinct. She didn't know what she was expecting to see, or what she was going to do when she got there. Just the need to get to where the danger was.

The first thing she noticed was an indent in a tree. An indent with blood, the approximate size of the bird that suddenly went quiet, as if Yang wasn't the help it was calling for. Its eyes narrowed, and it twisted as if trying to stand. Then its moment of proud resistance gave way to agony, twisting more as it wailed.

It was definitely a different kind of bird than the ones that kept trying to steal her bag on this road. More of a red/brown than a white/brown, the beak was more curved, sharper and hook shaped. The talons were more dangerous looking too, longer, but one of the legs looked pretty gnarled. Yeesh, the dex probably knew what this bird was and if one of its legs was supposed to bend like that but it'd be useless to look through species names and hope to find the right one. Whatever trivia there was on it was probably not going to help anyway.

Blood coming from the beak, and definitely not from anything it bit into. Great. Internal injuries. Never pleasant. It was the instant she noticed the blood that Phyllis caught up, huffing a little but not too out of breath. Well she certainly didn't look built sprinting, but it was nice to know for sure.

The bird looked ready to try and fail to stand again, and Yang felt herself hiss in sympathy. "No, no, don't strain yourself. You're in no condition to try looking tough."

Phyllis made a groan and grimaced just looking at the leg. She made some barking noises mixed with some grows and yawns..huh, almost like she was talking.

When the bird made a series of caws, yips, and a few attempts at screeching, it felt like a full blown conversation. The hell? Now she was even 'more' confused about the whole Pokemon/trainer thing in this place. Was there some kind of translator thing? Because she'd like to know what was being said.

After a few more moments of watching the pair exchange various noises that sounded 'nothing' like a language but seemed to be 'treated' like one, she took another look at the tree. Yang had done her share of smashing people and monsters into and through a fair number of objects over the years, and the way the trunk splintered looked off. Like it wasn't made by one extremely hard impact, but multiple hard hits. Angled upwards, so whatever did it was short. Of course if Pyrrha was here she'd probably be able to create a full picture of what happened based on what little evidence was here.

Yang didn't have enough to know what attacked or why, but at least it didn't look like anything a Grimm would do. Not unless a boarbadusk was having trouble with that signature rolling strike. "Yeah, whatever went after you was just mean for the sake of it. Like either someone set you up to just see how much pain they could dish out, or someone had a grudge. I mean, I can get behind going to a level of brutality in a life or death struggle, but the way you were just left here.."

The bird gave her an unreadable look, though it was going to be a real pain trying to read emotions on a face with a beak instead of a snout or mouth. Still, she gave the twisted leg and blood from its beak another glance before continuing, "..yeah, that just feels unnecessarily cruel in my book. There's a city near here. Probably some people that can help get you back in flying shape..damn, not sure that just 'carrying' you is going to be anything other than agonizing.."

Something occurred to her. The Pokéball that she was given for Phyllis. She hadn't used it for the bulbasaur because the idea of turning a living creature into energy for storage felt weird, potentially painful, and probably other things that itched at her but she couldn't really put words for it. Still, these were serious injuries and maybe being stuffed in a little ball would be 'less' aggravating to those wounds than just straight up carrying.

Pulling the ball out of her pocket, hitting the button to make it larger than a marble, she tried to remember what Victor said about how to "capture" a Pokémon with the device. Then she paused because she didn't like the word 'capture'. Especially since the bird gave the ball a rather intense stare. "Look. I'm not too much of a fan of the idea either, but it's probably the least painful way to get you to some help. After you get healthy, you can choose to go your own way, and you can avoid ever seeing humans and whatever else you don't like. But right now, I want to help. Nod if you're willing to let me."

There was a long, tense moment where the bird glanced at the ball, Yang, and then Phyllis. Phyllis gave a reassuring smile, or an approximation of one. And slowly, the bird nodded.

With that, Yang activated the capture beam and the ball clicked itself shut, just some ruffled grass and blood to show a bird used to be there. Putting the ball in her jacket, Yang said, "Sorry Phyllis but I think we're going to need a lot more speed. Get on the bag, I don't want to leave you in the dust again. Especially if whatever hurt this guy is still around."

There was a moment of hesitation, then the bulbasaur scrambled into place and extended her vines to steady herself. The vines went under her right armpit, acting like the second strap of her bag. Ignoring the feeling of something that made her want to use her nonexistent arm to adjust herself, she broke out into a run, pulling out the dex and looking for the entry of Viridian. Oh please say there was something mentioning some kind of Pokémon hospital. She wasn't asking for a map, just a term to ask someone. Pokémart? No, sounded like a store. Center? Hm..possible but was there anything else? Maybe something with the word hospital?

Katsumi was just taking a quick nap in a Pokémon Centre, or at least trying to. Cap over his eyes, laying down on the couch, he hadn't been on the road for long. Hell, it'd been less than a week since he'd left Pallet Town and started his journey. He'd done some early morning training, Kiryu had certainly seemed to appreciate that, and figured he'd get a few winks while he thought of what to do next.

Of course napping in a Pokémon Centre was a questionable idea. Sure, it was a slow day for them but a place where people go to treat their injured or tired Pokémon was prone to the occasional emergency.

This emergency slammed the door open, heavy footfalls followed by a female voice with a steel behind it. "Got a very serious injury here!"

The sound of the door smashing into the wall made him jump off the couch and he promptly smacked the ground. It was hard to tell what stung more, his head or his knee. Either way, the linoleum won that exchange. The nurse behind the desk sounded just as surprised as he was. "Wh..well, that's what we're here for. Just place the Pokémon in question on the table and-"

The woman cut the nurse off. "Oh we are 'not' talking aura depletion and a skinned knee! We are talking broken leg and internal bleeding! So unless you've got a 'lot' more equipment than I'm seeing in here, prep an emergency room and get a gurney!"

Well that sounded bad. Not that he'd ever heard HP referred to as 'aura' before. Yeah, that 'would' probably need more than the reception desk could deal with in a hurry. Shifting his hat above his eyes, Katsumi..lost all train of thought, and practically lost his hearing. Well, technically his ears still received sound, but his brain couldn't register anything. He was too..distracted.

The woman was 'tall'. He didn't have a measuring tape but she looked twice his height. Sure, he hadn't hit his growth spurt yet but holy crap, she'd definitely tower over his mom. Hell, her 'hair' could probably hide him! It was a wild mane that practically seemed to glow, as if it felt the lights around it didn't highlight its glory nearly enough. Thick, not really blonde, more like a golden blaze. And did he mention long and possibly glowing?

The next thing he noticed were, of course, her breasts. Even with a jacket and loose T-shirt it was obvious that she had a pair that made a number of models look underdeveloped. He couldn't get too much of a sense of the shape but he could imagine, oh god could his hormone addled mind imagine..

..and he could also imagine why her right sleeve looked emptier than the left. That cooled him down enough for a quick shiver and he could start hearing the world around him again. Crap, what could do that to someone? Accident? Criminal assault? An especially vicious and hopefully rare Pokémon?

At this point someone in a medical coat joined the nurse, pushing a table. Was that what a "gurney" was? A few words were exchanged, the woman pulled out a Pokéball, opened it..and a pained screech filled the air.

The first thing Katsumi noticed was it was a spearow. A spearow with blood coming from its beak. The next was the look on the woman's face, a wince of sympathetic pain. "Yeah, that's why I said get an emergency room ready."

The nurse somehow managed to avoid screaming, but her face certainly looked like she wanted to. Mouth wide open, eyes practically bulging out of their sockets, a hand over her heart, she couldn't make a sound. The man in the medical coat just narrowed his eyes and rushed the table out of the reception area. Seems he was at least more experienced with traumatic injuries..which again made Katsumi feel a chill, and he audibly gulped.

That gulp made the woman turn to face him, and what he'd 'thought' was just a decoration on her bag turned to face him too. Okay, so she was carrying a bulbasaur and whatever else was in her pretty large bag without any difficulty at all..so strong and attractive looking, but probably not in any mood for a twelve and a half boy to try flirting with her, so.. "Um..hi."

There was a short, humorous snort before she said, "Hi." back, walking to the couch he'd been laying on, setting down her bag and sitting right next to it. It was a very heavy sit, definitely not from exhaustion or anything similar and more from not caring about any possible pain from just dropping onto the stiff thing. Given the thud the bag made, it was 'definitely' even heavier than he thought, and as he looked at the door she'd slammed open earlier, it was hard not to feel more intimidated than being near an attractive girl should have made him feel. Holy crap, she'd torn the door off one of its hinges. It still had two solid grips to the door frame, but the top end had completely 'splintered', and he didn't want to know what happened to the knob that smacked against the wall. His sense of self-preservation screamed, "don't even try to talk to the sexy lady, she probably won't even 'need' the one hand to crush you".

And predictably, he ignored that part, but at least had the good sense to not gush over how he'd never seen a girl as busty as she was. "So, um..how did your spearow get hurt?"

It was hard to read those violet eyes. She wasn't offended by the question, thankfully, but there was something about them that was pretty absorbing. A cocktail of emotions that kept shifting and churning, and he didn't know what to make of them. "I wouldn't say the little guy's mine. I found him like that on Route One, crying out for help and figured I may as well help him out since I happened to be there."

Something about that sounded off to Katsumi. "Wait, 'alone' and in 'Route One'?! I thought spearows flew in flocks, and, hold on.."

With that he pulled out the device that the professor sent him, turning it on and opened the map, moving the cursor where he wanted it to go. Just before he could start double checking the entry on Route One, the blonde laughed a moment. "So, you got one of those, too?"

She then pulled the same device out of her coat, checked it, and said, "Come to think of it, it couldn't hurt to recharge the thing. You see any handy outlets on the wall?"

Now his confusion was even larger. "Wha..but..I thought this thing was still a prototype?! I got one because I was starting my journey and my mom's a good friend of Professor Oak!"

She shrugged at that, and he 'tried' to keep his eyes on her eyes, not on the empty sleeve, and 'certainly' not on the massive jugs. "Well, I just happened to be around, he has a project he wants me to do, and it's pretty easy to take notes in this thing. Still a lot of room for improvement for the thing, but maybe I'm just nitpicking."

Okay, he was 'officially' talking to her. Sure, about something that he hadn't paid all that much attention to but that was better than nothing. "Well, it's nice to be able to read up on so many Pokemon anytime and anywhere, and I liked reading about Viridian City just before entering it."

She gave an uncommitted nod at that, "Sure, but a lot of that is just kind of interesting trivia. Not anything I'd call useful. No suggested places to eat, for example, and no list of stores. Just a mention that the 'Pokémart' is near the 'Pokécenter', some stuff about the city's history, and mentioning it has a gym. And if you run into something you don't know, there's no way to narrow down the search results, so you're looking through hundreds of species names and hoping to stumble onto whatever you've just seen. Best things I think it does are tell the time, let me write things down, and just help kill some boredom while traveling."

Katsumi tried to remember what he'd read about Viridian just before entering the city. Ground type gym led by Giovanni Acerbi, it was the closest city to the Indigo Plateau so it had frequent tournaments that got plenty of TV coverage, there's a nearby lake that was a nice tourist spot.. "..hm, yeah, I think I see your point. I..kind of took a nap here because it never mentioned any inns or motels, and the centre didn't look all that busy at the time.."

The girl continued making complaints about the Pokédex, definitely having put a good deal more thought into trying out the device and testing it out than he did. No wonder she'd been given one if she could think of so many things wrong with it off the top of her head. "There's also the fact that when I looked up types, it's disorganized and painfully uninformative. Seriously, look here. 'Bug type: a Pokemon that looks like a bug'. Yeah, think I got that from the name of the type. Anything else you want to mention? How many different bug Pokémon there are in the world, maybe some links to the bugs that we've got descriptions of in this thing? Or what about how it fits in with the other, hold on let me double check..fifteen other types. I'm not saying I'm ungrateful to have it, but even with the limits they've got they should have been able to.."

Author's Note: And that does it, the chapter's done. It's a bit longer than usual but I was enjoying myself working on it.

You've got Yang actually being given a job that's more thought out than just "beat the gym leaders and catch however many you can along the way". We'll see how the interviews go, but I'm looking forward to giving the various gym leaders some time to shine outside of just kicking some ass and being an obstacle.

There's Yang's first capture, a spearow. Always felt that pidgeys have overshadowed the other early bird type of the first few games, so giving our hero an angry bird felt like a solid idea. Still working on a nickname for the little guy, so I welcome suggestions. What hurt him, why so brutal? Was it a young trainer with little sense of empathy going through training, or something more dangerous for this world?

There's the various things that occurred to me would be rather annoying about the Pokédex, and the fact that Yang is used to far more capable hardware. Of course she's going to find more things to bitch about in terms of user interface and how little information of substance there is to work with. Seriously, the dex entries in the games are typically so short it reminds me of the "mostly harmless" thing from Hitchhiker's Guide.

And of course there's the meeting between the canon Red, named Katsumi Kojin in this story, and Yang. I'm not too sure how much of a role he's going to have in the story just yet, but at the very least we probably need someone who's more familiar with this world for Yang to bounce off of occasionally, and it'd feel more tempting doing things about the characters traveling from town to city to wherever if there's more than just "our hero and her team were randomly attacked by random creatures on the road who felt for some reason that the protagonist needs some trouble" to go on. I'd hesitate to call them a team just yet, but at the very least they've spoken and Shingen's going to be seeing two people in his store in the next chapter.

That said, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter. We'll see when the next one comes up.