Once again I have kept my readers waiting for a ridiculously long time. I apologize but it's kinda hard to keep up when you keep getting grounded from the computer and going through writer's block. I'm almost done with the fourth chapter of this which you can expect soon, but for "Twist in Time" readers I'm afraid that the next chapter of that story is going to take a bit longer! Sorry!
In the meantime, enjoy the third chapter of "MMX: Of Creatures and Reploids!"
Disclaimer: I don't own Pokemon or Megaman.
--
When Keisha said they had a situation, she meant it. After all, only one robot had come even close to being able to properly interact with Pokemon. But X had transcended so many expectations plus some.
Minun refused to leave X's side, even for a moment. It followed X all around the camp like a loyal Growlithe. Every time someone would try to properly approach it, it would immediately hide behind X and had a few times sent out warning sparks. It was clear that the only one it trusted was X.
At one point Daekar approached X while Minun retreated in its usual way. All around them, people were packing up camp. Everyone would be leaving soon and Keisha and Daekar had every intention of hitting the road again once the camp left.
Daekar looked at Minun, "I'm not going to hurt you y'know." Minun just pushed itself against X as if trying to make itself disappear.
X sighed, "It's been like that all day."
Daekar nodded, "Yeah I know. Hey X," X looked at him and blinked, "Cain said that you saw a Pokemon last night," Daekar continued, "Do you remember what it looked like?" He took out his Pokedex, "If you tell me what it looked like, I may be able to identify what Pokemon it was." X then nodded in understanding and told him what he had seen last night. Daekar flipped through his Pokedex until, "Was it this Pokemon?" He asked, showing X the Pokedex.
"Yeah! That's it!" X exclaimed.
"Huh. Interesting." Daekar looked at his Pokedex again.
Ninetales, The Fox Pokemon
Its nine tales are said to be imbued with a mystic power. It can live for a thousand years.
Daekar knew for a fact that Ninetales were very rare in the wild. And they certainly weren't found in the area they were currently in. So then, what was it doing here?
n/n/n/n/
"X saw a Ninetales last night?" Keisha asked, "Why would there be Ninetales in this area?"
"There aren't Ninetales in this area. I just checked. They build their nests in an area so far from here that it would be impossible for a wild one to be here." Daekar and Keisha were walking around camp, occasionally helping with packing up.
"Maybe it belongs to someone in camp?" She suggested.
"No. I checked around camp. No one here has a Ninetales."
Keisha now looked irritated, "Then what was it doing here?" Before Daekar could respond, a familiar person walked up, accompanied by a Sandslash.
"Hey, Daekar?" Carlos stopped in front of him, looking a bit restless.
"What do you want?" Daekar asked.
"Well I was thinking," Carlos began, "Since we're going to be leaving soon and all and since I know that you already have six badges, I thought that maybe you would like a quick workout."
Daekar smiled in a knowing way, "Is that a challenge?"
"Maaaybe."
"Well then I accept! I didn't battle at all yesterday and I need to pick up the slack!"
n/n/n/n/
"What's going on?" X asked. He and Cain were in another part of the camp when they noticed a small crowd forming just outside the camp. Minun and Zigzagoon were with them as well. Minun was clearly trying to keep it's distance from Cain while trying to stick close to X at the same time.
Cain looked puzzled, "I truly don't know. Let's go see, shall we?"
When they reached the crowd, the first thing they saw was Keisha, who looked a tad bit awkward. Tealsy was sitting loyally next to her. Keisha turned when she noticed them, "Oh! Dr. Cain! X!" She looked down, "And hello to you two too!"
"Zigzagoon!" Minun said nothing, just pushed itself against X, clearly uncomfortable.
"What's going on here?" Cain asked. Keisha sighed,
"Let's just say that Daekar's competitive instinct when it comes to Pokemon has just gotten the better of him once again." It was then that they noticed that Daekar and Carlos were in the center of a clearing in the crowd, at opposite ends.
"Go! Rhyhorn!" Carlos tossed out a small red and white ball into the center of the field. The ball opened up to release a large light that formed into a large Pokemon that looked a lot like a rhino made of stone.
"Go! Hitmontop!" Daekar tossed out his Pokeball into the field. It opened up and the light formed a Hitmontop, a Fighting type Pokemon.
"Rhyhorn, use Take Down!" Carlos commanded.
The Rhyhorn charged forward, smashing right into Hitmontop. The fighting type Pokemon was prompt blown back.
"Hitmontop, use Rapid Spin!" At Daekar's command the Pokemon began to spin on its head like a top.
"I don't get it, what's going on?" X asked confused.
"It's a Pokemon battle," said Cain simply.
"Huh?"
"It's when two Pokemon trainers pit their Pokemon against each other in a competition; a battle in other words," explained Keisha, "The trainer commands his Pokemon by telling it what techniques and attacks to use. The battle normally ends when a trainer has knocked out either all of the opposing trainer's Pokemon or a predetermined number of the other trainer's Pokemon." She paused for a moment, taking note of how X still looked slightly confused, "Why don't you just watch? I'm sure you'll get it."
"Rhyhorn use Horn Attack!" Rhyhorn pawed at the ground and charged forward again.
"Dodge and use Triple Kick!" Daekar commanded.
As Rhyhorn charged forward, Hitmontop, still spinning, managed to spin one direction out of the path of Rhyhorn's charge. Rhyhorn quickly turned around in preparation for another charge when it was met with a flurry of kicks from the Hitmontop. The Rhyhorn was blown back and skirted a ways along the ground on its side. It attempted to get up, staggered, only to collapse again, clearly out of commission.
"Think it's okay?" X asked, a bit concerned.
"It'll be fine. This is typical for a battle," replied Keisha.
Minun, meanwhile, had at this point climbed up to X's shoulder and had been watching the whole battle intensely. Something inside it was racing and a familiar instinct was rising up within it.
"Great job Hitmontop!" Daekar called as the Fighting-type Pokemon stopped spinning and looked at its Trainer.
"Return Ryhorn!" The Rhyhorn vanished in a red light as Carlos returned it to its Pokeball. Daekar did the same thing with Hitmoptop.
Carlos put the Pokeball away in one of his pockets and took out another one, "Come on out, Gligar!"Carlos tossed the Pokeball. Out of it, in a flash of white light, came a Pokemon that looked like a cross between a bat and a scorpion.
"Go! Sneasal!" Daekar sent out another Pokeball. Sneasal appeared in a flash of white light.
"Gligar, use Arieal Ace!" The Gligar rose into the air, and then swooped at the Sneasal, smashing into it before rising into the air again. Sneasal shook itself, trying to shake off the hit.
"Sneasal, use Ice Beam!" Sneasal let out a blue bolt from its mouth, aimed at the Gligar. The Gligar dodged it in midair.
"Gligar, use Arieal Ace again!" Gligar dove at Sneasal again. This time, it scored a direct hit. As Sneasal was blown back, Gligar rose into the air again. "Now use Poison Sting!" Gligar aimed its tail at Sneasal. The tail glowed and a series of needles flew from it towards Sneasal.
"Counter with Fury Swipes!" Sneasal understood, and began to slash at the needles multiple times with its claws. The needles fell to the ground, having been blocked by Sneasal's own claws."Now use Ice Beam!" Sneasal unleased a blue bolt from its mouth again. The bolt slammed into Gligar, hard. Gligar came crashing down to the ground and landed hard. It than lay on the ground, knocked clean out.
"Return Gligar!" Gligar vanished in a red light back into its Pokeball.
"Return Sneasal!" Daekar called out, returning the Sharp Claw Pokemon to its Pokeball. He looked at the ball, affectionately, "Nice effort, take a break," he spoke to it. Putting the ball back on his belt, he took out another one. Enlarging it, he called out, "Go, Charmeleon!" He tossed the ball.
The ball opened up and Daekar's loyal Charmeleon appeared on the field in a white light.
"Char." It growled, ready for battle.
"Charmeleon, huh? That'll certainly do it." Keisha commented.
"What do you mean?" X asked.
"Charmeleon is really strong, even against water-type Pokemon which it would normally be weak against. I should know. I've watched it in battle multiple times. If Carlos wants to score a win, he better have something good to counter it."
Carlos nodded to his Sandslash that was standing nearby. Sandslash returned the nod in understanding. It had just started to walk out when suddenly...
"Minun! Min!" Minun had leapt from X's shoulder and had ran out into the middle of the battlefield. It stood before Daekar and Charmeleon, sparks flying from its cheeks.
"What? You want a battle?" Daekar asked it.
"Minun!" It spoke, nodding its head. It then turned towards X, chirping "Minun! Minun!"
Everyone became stone silent. A few whispers flew around here and there. Was Minun asking X to command it?
Keisha nudged X slightly, who was looking very confused, "Go on out there," she whispered.
"Why? I don't get what's-oh!" Minun ran over; spoke a few times than ran back. X slowly followed it out on to the battle field. Carlos took a few good steps backward to make way for X. He, like many others, was nervous about what was coming next.
Daekar took out his Pokedex and opened it. He began to scan Minun with it, "It looks like it knows Quick Attack, Thunderbolt, Spark, and Iron Tail." He put the Pokedex away, "Try telling it to do one of those attacks X." He knew what he was doing but why avoid what was at this point, inevitable?
Although everyone knew what was going to happen, that did not lessen the impact of the event.
"Alright, I'll try," X paused for a moment before calling out..."Minun use Quick Attack!"
Minun charged at Charmeleon and slammed into it hard in what was clearly a Quick Attack. With that single moment, history had been made. A Pokemon had actually obeyed a robot's command to attack!
The intensity of the event was soon quickly lost in the ensuring events.
Daekar's insticts as a Trainer kicked in the moment Minun attacked, "Charmeleon, use Headbutt!"
Charmeleon, who had been reeling from Minun's attack, quickly regained its composure and slammed into Minun with its head. Minun cried out it pain. For a fleeting moment, there was a look of panic on X's face. That quickly faded as Minun quickly stood, smiling and sparks flying from its cheeks.
It hit Daekar at that moment. One of a Pokemon's strongest instincts was that of battle. Had Minun leapt in because it hadn't fought in an unusually long time? Had that instict of battle been triggered by watching him and Carlos fight?
It wasn't something he could dwell on for very long though.
"Minun, use Iron Tail!" Minun's tail glowed as it charged forward. It leapt up into the air and brought its tail down on Charmeleon.
Daekar took a brief moment to contemplate how X sounded a bit awkward. But then again, he was new at this. "Charmeleon, use Flamethrower!"
"Minun, use Spark!" Minun charged forward as it crackled with electricity as Charmeleon unleashed a stream of flame from it mouth. What happened then was incredible. Minun cut right through the Flamethrower! Daekar was startled. The combination of its speed and amount of electricity was enough to divert the fire around it! It tackled a clearly taken-off guard Charmeleon. "Now try Thunderbolt!" Now Daekar got it. X was just trying out its attacks! What after that though?
"Mi," Sparks flew from Minun's cheeks, "nun!" It cried as it unleashed it Thunderbolt!
"C'mon Charmeleon! Get moving!" Daekar called out! It had to dodge that! Charmeleon was still cringing from the blow. It didn't seem to want to move though. No, it was more like it couldn't move! It was then that Daekar noticed that electricity was still sparking around it. Then it dawned on him. That Spark attack had paralyzed Charmeleon!
Daekar knew he had lost the second the Thunderbolt hit Charmeleon. The Thunderbolt had so much power behind it! How could a Minun that strong come from the wild? His wonder was quickly replaced by concern as the attack ceased. Charmeleon fell on the ground, badly injured and smoking. "Charmeleon!" He ran over to his Pokemon's side. Charmeleon looked up at its Trainer.
"Char," It spoke, sounding ashamed.
"Its alright, you did a great job. Now return," Charmeleon vanished into its Pokeball. Daekar looked up and saw that Minun had leapt into X's arms, and was now affectionately licking him.
The crowd, including Cain and Keisha, was stone silent.
n/n/n/n/
X wasn't too sure what was going on. Everywhere he went in the camp, everyone seemed to treat him differently. They seemed to be more respectful but slightly fearful as well. It all seemed to stem from what happened during the Pokemon battle. He wasn't too sure what the big deal was.
Minun, on the other hand, had suddenly become more cheerful and energetic since the battle. It now walked happily beside him. Although it still hid behind him every time someone besides himself approached it, it came out as soon as it whoever it was departed.
X continued to search around the camp, until he finally found who he was looking for.
"Daekar! Keisha!" He called out.
"Hm?" Both trainers looked up from their lunch of sandwiches. They were at the edge of the camp, with their Pokemon eating as well.
"Oh X!" Keisha exclaimed, "Hey be sure to watch your-"
"Minun!"
"-step."
X looked down into the hole that Minun had apparently fallen into. Tealsy, having heard it fall in, promptly looked up from it's food, ran over, and peeked into the hole. Keisha came over as well.
Tealsy began chortling as Minun pitifully cried out for help. Keisha gave Tealsy a scolding look, "That's not funny and you know it!"
"What does Tealsy have to do with it?" X asked.
"She was the one who dug this hole. It's one of her pranks. I try to discourage her, but it's just no use," She sighed, "Mothim! See if you can't get this poor thing out of there!"
Mothim looked up from eating. With a call, it lifted up and flapped over to Keisha. She pointed down towards the hole. With another call and an annoyed glance at Tealsy, it dove into the hole and landed gracefully on the bottom. Minun looked at it for a moment, confused. Mothim fluttered its wings slightly, indicating that Minun should climb on. Minun perked up in realization, ran over, and climbed on Mothim's back. Mothim flapped its wings, and rose out of the pit.
The moment Mothim cleared the top of the pit, Minun jumped off and landed next to X. Keisha looked at Tealsy, "You should apologize!" She scolded. Tealsy looked at Minun,
"Jolte." It said, clearly doing what Keisha asked.
Keisha shook her head. Daekar, who had been watching the whole time, chuckled. Tealsy would do it again. It always did.
n/n/n/n/
"Here you go." Daekar placed a bowl of food in front of Minun. He knew for a fact that it hadn't eaten since last night, so it was probably a good idea for it to fill up.
Minun looked down at the food bowl, a bit unsure of itself. X was sitting nearby, talking with Keisha and Daekar, so at least he could protect it if anything happened. But still…
It became aware of its stomach growling. It hadn't eaten anything in so long…
Finally, Minun gave in to its hunger pangs. It picked up a food pellet and chomped it down. Then it perked up. This actually tasted good! It ate another pellet. Pretty soon, it heard the girl, Keisha, talk to it, "Don't eat so fast! You're going to give yourself a stomach ache!" It slowed down on its eating. It heard the other Pokemon talking amongst themselves, but it paid little attention to them.
It soon became aware of Keisha approaching it. Panicking, it quickly ran over to X, "Minun! Minun!" It spoke fearfully.
Keisha sighed, "I'm not going to hurt you, I just want to brush your fur. It's a matted mess. X, can you get it to stand still for a few minutes?"
Minun leapt into X's arms, much to his surprise. He began to pet it reassuringly, noting how it seemed to cast nervous glances every so often at both Keisha and Daekar. "...I don't really think its going to be still for you Keisha. It's scared of you for some reason."
Keisha looked thoughtful for a moment, and then a lightbulb went off in her head, "I know! Here..." She walked over and gave X the brush. X looked at her questioningly as she took his hand with the brush in it, "If things continue going the way we suspect it will...then you need to learn how to take care of this nervous wreck." She said, winking at a shuddering Minun, "Now.." She gently guided X's hand until the brush was on Minun's head.
Minun was unsure of whether it should be scared or not. The girl was there and so was X…Oh! It felt the brush run through its fur. It felt wonderful! It heard the girl speak, "You want to do it gently enough so it doesn't pull at its fur but strong enough so that it actually does something. Brushing it especially important for electric Pokemon because it helps discharge excess electricity. Just don't use a metal brush! And there! I think you got it." Keisha drew her hand away from X's, which she had been guiding and backed off.
Daekar watched as X continued to brush a content Minun, which had curled up on his lap enjoying every moment of the grooming. Daekar still found the whole thing at the same time frightening and exciting. The only question was, what now?
n/n/n/n/
"You two want to what?"
"Come with Dr. Cain. It's on the way to Vulgen City. And besides, I heard from someone that the mountain pass is blocked. Some sort of avalanche."
Cain sighed. He wasn't sure whether or not to grant Daekar's request. The two trainers had done a lot already and he wanted to keep X's discovery as low as possible as well until the time was right.
Daekar seemed to sense his conflict. He smiled, albeit, sadly, "I know it's a lot to ask Dr. Cain. But me and Keisha want to see how things are going to play out from here. At the very least let us stay until the pass is clear."
Cain sighed, "Very well then. But I can tell there's another reason. What is it?"
Daekar chuckled, "It's that Minun actually. We still have to figure out what the heck to do about it."
--
In the Pokemon anime, one of the characters reveals that one can use their Pokedex to find out what moves a Pokemon has. Just in case anyone didn't know.
What a battle(Although I get the feeling it wasn't written too well)! I'm finally going to introduce some more MMX characters in the next chapter including a certain red one! I'm having a lot of fun writing this and I hope that you all stick around through my sporadic updates to read what happens. Players of the first MMX game know how everything turns out but as I've said before, the Pokemon are going to put some special twists on the story.
I went through many different versions of the battle before settling on this one. It was originally supposed to be a songfic section with the opening theme from the first Pokemon movie. But unfortunately, song lyrics aren't allowed on so I had to write it another way. Another thing that changed was the timing. One option I considered was having it take place before Keisha and Daekar even reached the camp. But that's not the way my typing went! All things considered, I like the way it turned out.
As I was going over this, I was thinking that maybe I should have made the Pokemon X encountered in the previous chapter a legendary one. But not only did that seem a bit cliche, but that Ninetales has a very special significance that will come into play later in the story. It was the best way to introduce it into the story.
Sincere thanks to all my reviewers and my readers!
R&R!