Chapter 10: First Pokémon Battle
As Chrom, Robin, and Luke are at the front lines, they notice that the road they have been to before when they departed a few days back now have several differences as they are getting closer to Ylisstol. For example, sprouts of unfamiliar trees growing out of the ground and Pokémon (flocks of Yayakoma, Shikijika, Kemusso, and Caterpie) that weren't around before.
"I've been down this road several times, but all of this wasn't here." Chrom says in a worried tone.
"Lade." Luke also agrees.
"Yeah." Robin agrees. "It's only a matter of time before someone else notices."
Chrom couldn't help but agree. Emmeryn wants to keep the Pokémon a secret for Ryo's safely, but with more and more Pokémon appearing from the woodworks, it will be impossible to cover this up.
"Um, Chrom." Chrom and Robin turns around to see Meena behind them.
"What is it, Meena?" The prince asks and Meena brings her hand towards Chrom before opening them, showing a marble. "What is it?"
"This is a stone specifically for Luke. Erlladnite." Meena explains as Chrom takes the stone.
"And that stone is called Mega Stone." Reina adds.
"Mega Stone?" Robin repeats.
"Stop! Thieves!"
Everyone stops at the edge of the capital and they see three creatures running off.
"Looks like this conversation is going to have to wait." Chrom says as he pockets the Mega Stone.
Meanwhile
Exalt Emmeryn is visiting the townspeople of Ylisstol again as the store owner is preoccupied with her presence when some strange creatures steal some produce. He only notice that one of the creatures knocked over a vase. Luckily the Shepherds arrive and stop in front of the thieves.
"Hold it right there!" Frederick orders causing the three to stop and begin to growl at them.
One of them is a brown lion cub with red fur in its head in a mohawk-style. Another is a dog with a mustache and blue fur on his back, acting as a cloak. And the third is a medium-size cat with its upper half is mostly black, while its lower half is mostly red-orange and hanging from its neck is a yellow and orange bell. All three of them have sacks in their mouths.
"They don't belong to you. Give those back." Chrom tells them.
The three continues to growl at the Shepherds when Reina and Meena notice something about one of the sacks they have.
"Meena." Reina whispers and Meena nods her head before Reina approaches to the thieves.
"Reina!" Robin calls.
Reina continues on and stops in front of the three Pokémon as she kneels down.
"It's fine now." She calmly tells the three and takes out a flute from her bag.
"An instrument?" Chrom questions.
Reina puts the mouthpiece of the flute by her mouth and begins to play it.
(Insert Spirit Away - One Summer's Day Flute Cover)
As she plays a song on her flute, the three Pokémon slowly calm down as their hostility goes away. While the Shepherds minus Meena, Éclair and Lu are surprised at this as some of them are enjoying the song.
"Whoa…" Sully trails off.
"Ah… What a wonderful melody." Virion says.
"Yeah." Lissa agrees.
"Look at them." Robin points out as the three Pokémon are sitting down with the sacks on the floor in between them and Reina. "They calmed down."
"My sister and I…" Meena speaks up. "…we have the ability to calm down any Pokémon who have hostility in them with music and songs. This is one of the songs that my sister can play."
When Reina finished the last note, she moves the flute away from her mouth as Lissa gives her a round of applause.
"That was amazing, Reina!" She exclaims as Reina turns to her.
"Thanks." Reina says and turns back to the three Pokémon. "Can you show me what's in that sack?" She asks, pointing one of the sacks.
The dog Pokémon pushes the sack by its head and Reina opens it before taking out herbs.
"Those are…" Chrom trails off.
"Medical herbs." Meena finishes and Reina puts back the herbs in the sack.
"Can you take us to where your friends are?"
~Later~
As the three Pokémon leads the Shepherds down the path to the woods, Reina gets her Zukan out.
"Shishiko, the Lion Cub Pokémon. Shishiko must leave the pride and fend for itself in order to grow up strong."
"Herderrier, the Loyal Dog Pokémon. Herferrie's hard black fur softens its opponent's attack like armor."
"Nyaheat, the Fire Cat Pokémon. It boasts powerful front legs. With a single punch, it can bend an iron bar over."
"You do realize that either way, we have to bring them in, right?" Miriel asks.
"True as that may be, if we tell the people that their intentions are for good, they will understand and Emmeryn will lighten their punishment." Chrom points out.
"Isn't this why we're following them like this?" Reina finishes.
The three Pokémon stops their tracks, the Shepherds are surprised to see a big tree. At the base of the tree, they could see a dog standing in front of the hallow part of the tree. The dog has bright red-orange fur, black stripes and a tuft of cream fur on its head.
"Reina, is that another Pokémon?" Chrom whispery asks.
"Yeah." Reina replies and holds her Zukan out.
"Gardie, the Puppy Pokémon. While loyal to its master, Gardie will drive away enemies by barking and biting."
Herderrier, Shishiko, and Nyaheat walk up to the Puppy Pokémon and tells it that the humans behind them are good and asks it to allow them to go in. Gardie then looks at the Shepherds for the moment and then allows them to go in.
"Thank you." Meena says and they enter the hollowed tree revealing a pink rabbit-like creature, another is a white and a small, light green fairy holding several flowers taking care of a red and black bird as the bird has a pained look.
"Those are…" Reina trails off using her Zukan.
"Tabunne, the Hearing Pokémon. Tabunne can assess a Pokémon's overall physical condition and mood using its ears."
"Cuwawa, The Posy Pokémon. It releases a relaxing scent from the flower it picks. The scent has a healing effect and can cure status condition."
"Odoridori, Baile Style. The Dancing Pokémon. It beats its wings together to create fire. As it moves in the steps of its beautiful dance. It bathes opponents in intense heat."
"But something is wrong." Sumia points out.
"Yeah." Reina agrees as she and Meena kneel down and approach the Pokémon. The healers stands aside before Reina touches its forehead. "This is bad…"
"What's wrong?" Lissa asks.
"This Pokémon is running on a high fever." Reina says causing the Shepherds to get shocked from this revelation. "Meena, gets the things ready."
"Already on it." Meena says as she has her bag down and already opening her bag, revealing many glass jars with each different herbs inside as Reina gets certain berries out.
Meena then takes out a mortar, pestle, and a glass jar with a herb inside. Then Reina passes the berries to her sister and Meena puts the berries into the mortar and starts to crush them together using the pestle before she pours the mashed up berries into a glass kettle with a long nozzle.
"Reina." Meena calls as she passes the kettle to Reina and she puts the nozzle by Odoridori's beak.
"Here. This will helps get your strength back." Reina tells it as the Dancing Pokémon opens her beak and drinks the mashed berries as Reina helps her.
At the same time, Meena crushes the herb in the mortar and puts the pestle down before moving towards Odoridori as Reina puts the kettle down.
"Odoridori, open your beak." Meena instructs and the Dancing Pokémon opens her beak a bit and then Meena gives the medicine to her.
For the moment, no one move and then Odoridori shots her eyes open and immediately stands up as she chirps aloud, relieving everyone.
"What a relief." Robin says.
"But is that Pokémon okay? Since it got up quickly." Lissa asks.
"It's all right. The medicine we used is the herb from our home that gives a quick recovery." Reina explains as Odoridori dances the flamenco.
Meena then turns to Herderrier, Shishiko, and Nyaheat. "As for you three, all through your intentions are good, you still have to make up for stealing all this stuff." The three lower their heads and nod. Tabunne and Flaette go over to her and seem to asking her to let them off easy since they had good intentions when they stole the things.
"Whatever will happen to them is not up to us." Reina tells them. "It's up to the Exalt. And knowing her, when she hears about why they stole, she will lighten their punishment."
"She's right." Chrom agrees. "Knowing Emm, she'll probably let them off the hook with a pat on the back."
Hearing this ease the wild Pokémon.
"But even so, how are we going to explain to the townspeople about what happened today?" Maribelle brings up.
No one answers the questions since they wanted the rumors about Pokémon to remain as rumors, but what happened today will be difficult.
"I guess we'll have to tell the truth." Reina says to their shock. "At this rate, it won't be long before the whole world has Pokémon."
Later, the Shepherds return to Ylisstol with the Pokémon by their side, both their own and the wild, prepared to reveal the truth about these Magical Creatures.
"These are the rumored Magical Creatures?" The shop keeper asks as he sees Herderrier, Shishiko, and Nyaheat who stole from.
The civilians around them watch as the wild Pokémon bow before the shopkeeper asking for forgiveness.
"That's right. However, they are not called 'Magical Creatures', they're called Pokémon." Reina corrects and then turns to the rest of the civilians. "People of Ylisstol! It's time for you all to know! The creatures that have been appearing in this world, the creatures you all called 'Magical Creatures' are Pokémon! They are all native creatures from the land where my sister and I came from!" Meena stands by her side as she says that. "As you may know, Pokémon comes in all forms and sizes. They all have great and magical powers and are just as smart as us or even smarter. However, that doesn't necessarily make them all extremely dangerous. Pokémon are also quite harmless unless if provoked like wild animals."
"So then… they're friendly?" A child asks.
"Yeah."
"Pikachu." Éclair says as she jumps to the child's shoulder and nuzzles the child's cheek.
The next hour is spend explaining to the people of Ylisstol about Pokémon. During that time, Emmeryn comes with Philia, wondering what the commotion is about and pays for the things the wild Pokémon took in the place of the Shepherds, despite her brother insisting that they would pay instead.
"Hey Chrom." Reina calls.
"What is it?" Chrom asks.
"Let's demonstrate a Pokémon Battle!"
"Right here!?" Robin asks.
"Now that you mention it, having a Pokémon Battle in the streets is too small. We need a bigger space."
"Then you can have one in the training ground at the castle." Emmeryn suggests.
"Is that wise, Emm?" Chrom asks.
"Yes."
"Then let's go!"
A while later, the Shepherds arrive in the training area of the castle with the group of citizens following them. The training soldiers there cease their activities at the sight of so many people in the castle.
"Your majesty, why are you all here?" One of them asks the exalt.
"Reina insisted on demonstrating a Pokémon Battle from her world. To do that, they need a big open space to work with." She calmly answers.
"Clear the area." Philia orders and at once, all the soldiers go to the sidelines where the citizens and the Shepherds are leaving Reina and Meena in the training area.
"This looks big enough." Meena sas.
"It does. It's a perfect place for a Pokémon Battle." Reina agrees and looks over at Chrom. "Chrom! Can you be my opponent?"
"Me? Are you sure?" He asks.
"Yep! And this is a great chance to get some experience from this." Reina replies with a smirk.
"All right." Chrom says and looks at Luke. "Let's go, Luke."
"Lade." Luke nods and both of them walk to one side of the training area with Reina walking to the other side and
Meena looks at both sides seeing the two trainers prepare for the Pokémon battle. "The battle between Reina of the Hiwamaki City and Chrom of the Ylisstol will begin shortly! This will be one-on-one battle. The battle will end when one Pokémon is defeated."
"So there are rules in Pokémon Battle." Sully says.
"And by the sounds of it, this is only one of the rules." Miriel adds taking notes.
"Trainers! Call out your Pokémon!" Meena calls.
Reina reaches into her pocket and takes out a Pokéball. "Go!" The Pokéball snaps open revealing Kuro.
"Luke!" Chrom calls and The Erllade jumps in front of him.
"Let the battle begin!"
"Kuro! Night Slash!" Reina orders and Kuro creates a purple energy on its horn as he charges over to his opponent.
"Luke, use Protect!" Chrom orders and the Erllade holds his hands out in front of him and a turquoise energy shield appears in front of it, protecting from Kuro's attack. "Now use Leaf Blade!"
"Counter it with Psycho Cut!"
As Luke charges at Kuro with one of his arms glowing green, Kuro releases a purple crescent-like blade of energy from his horn at the Erllade causing the two attacks explode in contact as Luke jumps backwards.
"Use Swords Dance then follow it by Night Slash!"
Kuro's body becomes surrounded in a red and pink misty aura, then a red wave of light comes up sharply raising his Attack and then uses the said move at Luke.
"Block it with Slash!" Luke lifts both of his arms as the blade part of his arms begin to glow and manages to block Kuro's move. "Use this chance to use Leaf Blade!"
"Eru!" Luke nods and use the said move, hitting Kuro below, and causing the Absol to skids the ground backwards.
"Are you all right, Kuro!" Reina asks.
"Sol." Kuro turns his head as he nods.
"I thinks it's about time…" She mutters which catches everyone's attention. "Kuro, let's show them your true power! Mega Evolve!" Reina taps on the stone of her pendant.
The stone shines a bright light as the stone on Kuro's collar glows with it. Streams of energy appears from both stones and connect with each other. As they did so, Kuro's starts to glow in rainbow-colored light and changes before their eyes. Once the light dies down, the people on the sidelines are all shock at the sight before them, while the Pokémon are all in awe.
His fur is longer overall as the back his mane stand on end, appearing to have wings. The spikes on its heels and elbows grow larger, and the fur in these areas becomes longer as well. Its sickle-shaped horn widens, while an additional, smaller horn appears on the opposite side of its head. Its tail now has a more saw-like shape, and the oval marking on its forehead is now a rounded triangle.
"What happened to Reina's Pokémon?!" Kellam asks.
"That's Mega Evolution. To put it simply, it's a process a Pokémon can transform into, becoming temporarily stronger than before." Meena explains.
"Dark Pulse!"
Kuroh opens his mouth and a light purple orb surrounded in black and purple circles appears inside it. He then fires a beam of black and purple circles from the orb inside his mouth at Luke.
"Evade it!" Luke jumps up to evade the incoming attack.
"It's useless!" Reina shouts and Kuro lifts his head as the beam follows the motion and successfully hit the Erllade.
"Luke!" Chrom calls out when Luke's body drops to the ground to see the Erllade defeated with swirls in his eyes.
"Luke is unable to battle! Therefore, the winner is Reina!" Meena declares.
"We did it!" Reina exclaims and runs towards Kuro as he reverts to his original form.
Luke sits up from the ground as Chrom walks towards him.
"Are you okay?" He asks with his hand out towards Luke. In response, Luke receives Chrom's hand and the prince helps his partner Pokémon up. "Looks like we got long way ahead of us."
"Eru." Luke nods in agreement.
Then Reina and Kuro walk towards the two and Reina puts her hand out.
"That was a great match." She says and Chrom receives her hand.
"Yeah."
Both trainers let go of each other's hand and looks at the crowd.
"So, what did you all thing of the battle?" Reina asks.
In response to her question, everyone cheers and applauds, stating that they had enjoyed the Pokémon Battle despite Chrom lost the battle.
"This is a Pokémon Battle." Meena begins. "No matter the situation, a trainer and their Pokémon are always one. We can form bonds with the Pokémon if they choose to be our partners. If you form a strong bond, you can do anything together."
Those with a Pokémon in the Shepherds look at their Pokémon partner, who stares at them back.