Author's note: Hiya! This chapter is an appreciation chapter for my good friend Bonh releasing the full Colored Artwork of this story. I highly HIGHLY recommend you check out his stuff; check my Profile for more info on him. Other than that, enjoy!
Also, the italicized paragraphs are flashbacks.
"Christ sake Bahamut, get out here already." Ryan was pacing back and forth outside my room, clearly in a hurry. "Just hold a minute man, self-care is important. I may be unhealthy but I promise you I won't be a slob... Not anymore at least." I replied to him through the door. "Besides, what's got you in such a rush anyway" I asked, washing my face and walking out the bathroom.
"A Lot of things, actually. One, I'm here just so I can help you because I felt bad for you, and you're not helping by wasting time like this. Two, I have things to do and my own stuff I have to worry about. And finally, three, and this is big, I care little for what we need to do, and would rather get this over with." Ryan retorted, obviously in the right.
I opened up the door to my room and smirked at him. "Yeah, fair enough I suppose. But I promise you that you're going to have some fun, no need to be so grouchy about it." Ryan decided not to reply, rather he just grunted and moved on.
As we walked outside of the poke center, we continued our path by heading to Cleave Mountain. A lot of things happened since Ryan decided to help me out..
"Alright what do we have to do before this gym thing?" Ryan asked, after having picked me up from the ground. "Well, it's pretty simple Ryan, complicated, but simple. The gym requires that we each have two pokemon for each of us before battling. And, right before our battle you mentioned only having one partner." I said, brushing off the dirt from my pants.
"Yeah? What about it? I don't care about that, I have a pokemon so that should be enough. I also don't want another pokemon, I'm fine just as with Charmander." Ryan huffed, disdain clear in his voice. I frowned, "Don't get so cocky man, your Charmander is powerful, yes, but you are in no way qualified to beat the gym acting like that. I've seen the gym leader in action and she is no joke. Plus, this is a team effort, so you'll just have to go with it. I mean jeez, how can you even not want another pokemon?"
Ryan looked at me, squinting his eyes. "You just wouldn't understand. But whatever, let's just go and catch a pokemon or something. I have no cash though so you'll have to lend me a ball". Once more, I contemplated. "Ryan.. you really expect that I'm going to go searching for a pokemon for you at this time of night? God, it's almost like you don't sleep or something with the way you act. Anyway, no. We need to get some sleep first and do this hunting in the morning. A good majority of the pokemon appear in daylight more often anyway."
Ryan groaned, following along as we headed to the pokemon center. Luckily for him the rooms weren't booked, so he could rent a room for the night for free. I however had to spend a bit of cash, 500 dollars, to be exact. As Ryan headed to his room, I stayed behind to talk to the nurse Joy.
"Uh hey, nurse Joy? I was wondering if my Riolu is ready for release yet?" the nurse Joy looked towards me. "Oh, uh yes he is. Just to make sure what's the name of your Riolu?" I shifted, "His name is Leonidas, that's his nickname anyway. Sometimes I call him Leo for short". The nurse beamed at me. "Ah good, yes he's completely fine. Let me go get him!" The nurse Joy then opened the door behind the counter and walked inside.
A minute or so passes until she comes back with a poke ball in hand. "Sorry for the wait. Our systems seemed to malfunction a bit when we were testing him, so we had to keep him for longer to make sure everything was fine, he's in perfect condition!" She then handed me the ball. Taking it I smiled and said thanks, heading back to my room.
Upon getting to the top of the stairs, I noticed Ryan just sitting outside his room, leaned against the wall. He looked up from his thinking and turned towards. "What took you so long?" "Oh sorry Ryan, I just was retrieving my other pokemon Riolu, or rather Leonidas from the nurse Joy. They were keeping him for longer than my Rockruff because of a system error. But he's good to go now.
Ryan seemed unfazed. "Alright.. Anyway where are we going tomorrow? You never said where exactly we were heading". "Oh that's simple, we're heading to Cleave Mountain West of the city. We're not going to go too far up the mountain but just enough to scout for some good Pokemon." Ryan nodded, understanding the situation.
"Well, if that's all you needed to know, I'm gonna head to bed. Night." I opened up my door, turning away from Ryan and entering the Room that I had previously slept in the night before. Before going to sleep though, I quickly opened up the poke ball with a satisfying click.
Riolu emerged, a bit confused. "Olu?"
"Hey there Leo. Been a minute since we talked." Leonidas looked up at me and smiled, jumping up excitedly to hug me. "Heh.. it's good to see you too bud. I just quickly wanted to tell you something". Leonidas looked up at me, turning his head quizzically "Rio?"
"Sorry about before, putting you in danger like that was a terrible mistake. I should have brought you along with me at the very least, but really I shouldn't have gone out at all."
Leonidas nodded, listening in, I continued. "Anyway, I just wanted to say to you thanks, and that I didn't forget my promise. You and I ARE going to become better, stronger, and Awesome!" Leo nodded once more, replying with a "Riolu!". Then he jumped out of my arms onto the floor, giving me a quick fist bump. "Well, that's all bud, rest well!" I took out his Ball and returned him, calling it a night for myself and going to sleep.
"Hey.. you dead or somethin'?" Ryan waved his hands in front of my face, getting my attention. Whilst I was busy daydreaming for what seemed like minutes now, we had continued walking out of the town into the west, approaching the domain of Cleave Mountain. Ryan didn't bother to bring me out of my stasis because he was probably actually thinking I died standing up.
"Yeah yeah sorry I was just thinking about past stuff." I replied halfheartedly. "Alright, whatever you say.." Ryan mumbled. "Anyway, why exactly are we going to the mountain as opposed to the lake to the east or even to forest?" Ryan questioned, clearly not following. I turned to him "Simple actually-" "No, no. Don't say that. The last time you said that it actually turned out to be complicated." Ryan interrupted. "Yeah, I guess you're right. Anyway, we're heading to the mountain because of the ecosystem".
Ryan looked at me confused, as any sane person would do, so I continued to explain myself. "Essentially, the mountain provides for many different types of species, Right? Therefore Different species can live on the mountain and prosper because of the conditions needed for them to live there. On a mountain, those conditions likely are frequent in number and therefore offer for many different species to host the area. PLUS, the mountain offers a natural version of the food-chain. The weaker a species of pokemon is, the more likely it is to be found on lower elevations, where it has options to many more different types of food, prey, or resources. However, the higher the mountain the less natural resources are found, food included. Therefore if we go up the mountain, as opposed to a forest or lake which are adequate but not nearly as separated in pokemon power, the higher we go the better the chances of finding naturally tougher pokemon, like pseudo-legendaries."
Ryan appeared to have stopped walking a while ago, since when I turned towards him he was quite a bit behind me, but just enough to hear it all. "W-What are you talking about?" Ryan looked absolutely stunned, unsure of what I was talking about. I frowned, realizing only now how it was one of my more complicated ideas.
I turned towards him."Okay I'll just make it a bit easier to relate to then. I chose the mountain because I don't think you're all that crazy about water-type pokemon, and I didn't choose the forest because as much as I know there can be rare and powerful pokemon there, I've already gone that way and figured I'd like to try someplace new."
Ryan looked at me, walking forward and eventually past me. "Oh.. alright, you could have just told me that sooner Bahamut." I shrugged. "Sorry, I just like to speak my mind." Other than that conversation, nothing too much was eventful. As promised we climbed the mountain. Which although named Cleave Mountain was certainly easy enough to trek through. The 'mountain' in question was quite small, but still appeared like a mountain, especially up close.
Nature took its course through the mountain as the grass and land slowly became more and more barren the farther we went up the massive hill. As I "predicted" the farther up the mountain we got, the less common types of pokemon we saw. At first we only saw the common pokemon like caterpie, weedle, Lillipup, etc. Then, halfway up we came across more advanced species like a horde of Trumbeak (accompanied by a Toucannon), a Lilligant, Liepard, and even a Raichu. Raichu was an interesting find though, that dude must have found some thunder stone in the wild or something.
Finally, when reaching the near-most barren areas of land we made it to the area I was expecting to find rare pokemon. And, I was fairly right. Around us weren't many pokemon to begin with, but what did appear were pretty powerful species. To list them off, we saw a tiny horde of Sableye (Where are they taking that Carbink..?) a nest of Rufflet (Let's not go near that one, just in case) and a few others like a Pupitar just sitting there... staring, a Pawniard poking holes into the ground, and OH GOD A BRAVIARY!
I pushed Ryan off the small but beaten path on the mountain, shoving him towards a bush. I soon followed suit, by which I mean I dived head first after him. Just as we both landed the Braviary continued to swoop past us and land on the branch holding up the Rufflet nest. Phew... that was close.
"Yo what the hell man?" Ryan shouted at me, angry and upset. "Oh uh.. Sorry there Ryan, I saw a Braviary head directly at us, I shoved us out of the way so we didn't get hurt.. At least too hurt anyway." Ryan looked behind me, scanning for the nest. He relaxed once he saw the Braviary. "Oh.. alright. Just warn me next time or something."
"Yeah sure sure, let's just hope there's not a next time to begin with". I stood up and helped me back up too.
"So... see anything you're interested in Ryan?" I asked, trying to move along subjects.
Ryan looked around for a bit, looking at all the things we've seen so far. "Hmmm... nah, not really. I'm looking for something more cool and strong." I shrugged, and we moved on. Whilst searching around I finally got a decent look at Ryan. He looked similar to when I first saw him, but his features were obviously more detailed now.
Firstly, Ryan had Emerald green eyes (Different from Amber, who had a lighter shade of green; which I failed to... notice earlier.), He also had a more angular face and features. Apparently when he growled at me last night, he DID have incisors. His teeth are just fang-like enough to look like an animal. His look kinda gave me a Dragon vibe to it. He wore the same outfit as before (Since then washed) but now I could see that it was mostly black with red trimmings on his clothing. The orb, same color green as his eyes, was more defined now and clearly was shown as some kind of just accessory, perhaps something sentimental? Really the only thing different from what I saw yesterday were black and blue headphones, which he wore on our walk. He only took them off after the Braviary talk, and put them on after our conversation. I guess this would explain why he failed to notice the Braviary.
"Hey Bahamut." Ryan said, looking to his right calmly. "Yeah, what's up?" Ryan poked me on the arm, pointing to a small figure to his right. "What's that pokemon?" I looked at his gaze and moved forward, carefully looking at it from far away. "That's uh.. I believe... a BAGON?!" Ryan turned to me, putting his finger to his mouth, essentially telling me to shut up. We both get closer to it, hiding behind a nearby bush for cover. God.. what's with me and bushes man?
The Bagon in question was slamming its head against another Pupitar.. Who was just rolling around, occasionally bashing itself against the Bagons head. I guess this was beneficial for both pokemon. Them fighting will allow the Bagon to release stress for not being able to fly, and this relieves the Pupitar's stress because it wants to evolve. Some would call this a symbiotic relationship. More closely, Mutualism. Not like I'm a Biologist or anything, but I DID take the required year course in school, so I've kept some memory of the lessons.
I looked over at Ryan, who was staring intently at the Bagon, clutching the backside of his right hand palm with his left hand. Perhaps he just wasn't focused on what he was doing, but before turning back to the fight I noticed that his right hand looked like it was glowing a little... odd. I was interrupted in my thoughts when the Pupitar thrashed hard enough that the little dude bounced into the sky and thrashed his way back to the ground, smashing both himself and the surrounding area.
The ground violently shook around us in a decent radius from the impact. Jeez, I know the entries I used to read for Pupitar said that it's still powerful but that's just crazy. "Bahamut, hand me a ball, now." I looked over at Ryan, and then Bagon. The Bagon in question was damaged from the impact. I frowned... "Y'know, usually you're supposed to fight it yourself..." He didn't respond, so I shrugged and took off my backpack, pulling out 3 pokeballs and the ultra ball.
I handed him two pokeballs. "Here, take these. Go on and catch him already." Ryan took the empty pokeballs, looking at them carefully. I could tell he was hesitating. "Well.. I thought you wanted to catch it?" Ryan looked at me, a bit embarrassed."I uh.. Failed to mention this earlier, but I don't actually know how to catch pokemon."
I sighed.. Of course he doesn't. "Alright well, how did you get your Charmander then?" Ryan turned from embarrassed to deadly serious. "I don't want to talk about it. But I didn't catch it in the wild." Yikes, okay touchy subject. I raised my hands in the air, "Alright, alright I get it. If you don't know how to catch something then I'll just show you quickly. Keep in mind both of these pokemon are REALLY hard to catch, so as much as I'm showing you how to do it keep in mind we might not be able to catch these ones." Ryan nodded in understanding.
I stood up from the bush and pulled out Riolu's pokeball, releasing him. "Riolu!" Leonidas cried out, ready to fight. "Alright bud, here's our first real battle. I want you to Use Metal Claw on the Pupitar! But when you strike him make sure to hit his sides!" Leo nodded, concentrating and turning his paws into large gray spikes.
Leonidas dashed forward, raising his arms into the air. He lunged towards the Pupitar who was still in the small crater of chaos. Right before Leo hit the Pupitar, he titled his body mid-air so when he slashed downwards it only got the Pupitars side, who flung itself up into the air from the quick impact.
Whilst all this was happening, I was making sure Ryan was keeping track. "Remember Ryan, you can battle them to make it easier to catch by lowering their guard and weakening them. Here comes the tricky part though.. Leo!" Leonidas turned towards me.
"While the Pupitar is still in the air use Quick attack and send him spinning!" Leo nodded and jumped up onto a tree branch to get closer to the Pupitar. Then Leo sprung off the tree branch and in a burst of speed hit the Pupitar mid-air, who was still falling. Using Quick attack made it difficult for the Pupitar to retaliate, instead being sent spinning, while still falling.
Alright, focus Bahamut this is your first capture attempt. "Alright, here we go!" I took out a pokeball and threw it a little but into the air in front of me, catching it and aiming. For now, I didn't have much of a throw , so I held the pokeball like a football and aimed my other hand to pinpoint the falling Pupitar. Then, I ran forward a bit, arching the pokeball with a huge throw and bending my upper body towards the ground. The pokeball luckily hit the target.
The Pupitar was enveloped in a light before being sucked into the ball, which then landed onto the ground. I turned to Ryan, who was sitting there in interest. "Welp, I doubt I'll be catching this little guy, since their species is super tough to catch with something as simple as that. I hope this helped you understand how to"- Click. Wait.. What?
I turned around and realized that while I was talking to Ryan, I actually CAUGHT IT. "You're kidding.." I said out loud, flabbergasted. I went to pick up the pokeball, and sure enough. I caught it. "Oh well, I guess I caught it. I was just trying to show you the process, but whatever. This is certainly a good find." I pocketed the poke ball, contemplating what to do with it. I also returned Leo, saying "Thanks bud" before he got sucked in.
"Well Ryan, you get all that?" Ryan looked at me, frowning. "No.. not really. But I get the general idea." I shrugged, that's good enough I suppose. "Gon! Bagon!" We both looked over and realized the Bagon had finally recovered from the shock impact. Now it was glaring at both of us, ready to attack.
"Quickly Ryan, do your thing!" Ryan looked at me briefly, nodding and taking out one of the pokeballs. However, he immediately chucked it at the Bagon, with almost no time to spare. The Bagon instantly got out however. "Ryan.. I told you that you need to weaken it first, take out your Charmander and use a move on it." Ryan looked at me and frowned. "Oh.. right."
In a moment, Ryan had Charmander out its ball. "Charmander, use Brick Break!" The Charmander nodded, rushing towards the Bagon and raising a single arm, throwing it down onto the Bagons face. The Bagon toppled backwards in surprise. He quickly shrugged off the attack and ran at the Charmander, slamming it with its body. Charmander flung into the bush we were hiding in. "Charmander, you okay?" Asked Ryan, concerned for a moment.
Charmander flung itself out of the bush, saying "Char! Char!" Ryan smirked. "Now do I throw a pokeball?" I looked at Ryan and Bagon, thinking. "I mean you can try, but it doesn't look weakened enough. We also don't have many pokeballs. Ryan decided to throw one anyway, chucking it once more at the small Blue creature. But, like before, it instantly got out.
"Here Ryan, try using Thunder Punch this time. And use the Ultra ball, this is the last shot you have before it likely runs." I said to Ryan, watching over him. He nodded. "Charmander, do what he says and use Thunder Punch!" Charmander ran forward, jumping into the air and using it's arm once more, enveloping it in a crackling mist of electricity. He landed and thrusted his arm forward, punching the Bagon square in the stomach.
The Bagon keeled over for a moment, stunned. It was about to quickly get up to retaliate, but froze as electricity started to run through his body. He got Paralyzed! "Perfect, I hoped that would happen. He's Paralyzed Ryan, which means it should be a LOT easier to catch him now." Ryan took the Ultra ball in his hands. "HERE WE GO! ULTRA BALL GO!" He yeeted the Ultra Ball towards the Bagon, which bounced off the Bagon and sent the Bagon falling backwards. Before Bagon completely fell the light already took hold of the Bagon and the Ultra Ball landed. One wiggle.. Two wiggles Click. Ryan pumped his fist into the air. "YES! I got it!" He returned his Charmander and rushed towards the Ultra ball, picking it up and storing it away. "That was so awesome!" Ryan said. He quickly got out of his daze and looked at me, realizing I was smirking. "I mean.. That was decent I guess."
The walk down the mountain was peaceful, at least more peaceful then the walk up. Ryan was busy examining the Ultra ball, caught up in excitement for catching something. "By the way Ryan, that's a pretty good catch. Not only did we both catch non-fully evolved Pseudo Legendaries, you also caught a Dragon type, which is a pretty rare find!" Ryan looked over at me, a tad confused. "Dragon type? Isn't that like super mythical and rare?" "Yeah.. I just said that." Ryan turned to look away from me. "Oh right... well, I think I like Dragon types, at least Bagon anyway. It's cool looking and powerful.. Perhaps I should catch more Dragon types?"
I laughed. "I like the enthusiasm, and I'm glad you've learnt to appreciate pokemon a bit more, but keep in mind Dragon types are not only rare, but difficult to catch. Just finding and catching them is a journey on its own. And that's just ignoring even training them. But hey if you think you'd like to do that then go for it." Ryan seemed to relax, smiling just a little at me for my statement.
"Anyway" I continued, "We should head back to the center and heal up. Then we can go ahead and train with our pokemon for the rest of the day, which we'll vitally need if we want to beat the other people.
Ryan nodded. "Yeah, I agree, I don't plan to lose anytime soon, so let's win this thing first try, yeah?" Ryan and I laughed just a bit, before heading back to town with our prizes in tow.