Don't Own Pokemon or anything else, Only The Oc
'thought'
"Speech"
System Text
"Tvs, Radios, and Text via book or newspaper... when those are around..."
I close my messaging app and stare dead ahead.
'Holy shit... I'm... I'm related to Steven?!'
A pink haired girl peeks her head out of our shelter.
She had been eavesdropping for a while now.
Ever since I revealed that it was the champion of Hoenn wanting to call me.
To be expected... she's the admin of a terrorist organization who operates in Hoenn.
She probably honed in the second she heard me even mention champion Steven Stone.
Man... could I technically be called Xander Stone now?
"You... are related to Champion Steven?" The girl questions.
"Finally caught onto that, eh?" I sarcastically quip. "Took you long enough... it only took me like... sixteen years to figure that out."
There wasn't much to talk about, we were quite awkward. Dying very shortly after he told me that we're related. Barely offering a 'I'm proud that you are doing big things'.
To be expected as we are literally nothing more than strangers at the moment.
I believe I'll refrain from calling myself 'Xander Stone' for now. I don't feel like dealing with whatever that name entails.
"Hn. We could potentially use that." She suggests.
"No. I doubt they'll just hand out money to some random relative. I do not want to be known as a simple beggar. Whatever resources we use will be gathered with my own hands." I frown.
"Hn. The others are up."
"Good." I note as I look around slowly. "Tell them to pack their things. We are leaving soon."
In the far distance I can see a large snow-covered dome with smoke gently trailing out from it, it's fairly clear, all things covered, my night vision being far better than natural human nightvision, not to mention my observation haki which allows me to map out the land for several hundred feet in all directions effortlessly.
"Are you sure that this is a good idea?" The girl questions.
"I can see, so I should be able to lead us without issue. I fear the snow will start again in the day, which is why we shall be moving at night. In addition, it'll allow us to be more or less unseen by any potential threats on this mountain." I explain.
"Alright." She shrugs as she crawls back into the shelter.
I gaze back towards Cynthia's spying location, feeling the Lucario slowly stand and look towards our location, offering a quiet bark to her master.
The girl slowly sits up and blearily looks around, just having woken up. "Huh? They are moving... Now?"
The Lucario offers a nod.
"UGH! NOW?!" I hear a voice snarl from inside the cave behind me.
It takes around five minutes, but eventually the group of three are outside.
I look to the snow white Glaceon stood atop the foot of snow surrounding the entrance to our hideaway, the group looking not very pleased with my decision to travel at night.
"Hey, Loki, if you could, can you compact the snow we are walking on, so we don't have to waste excess energy like that? Plus, I'm the only person here who thought to bring pants apparently, so I'd say that their shins would appreciate the lack of frostbite."
The fox pokemon tilts its head as I continue. "It's either that, or basically pick us all up in a psychic bubble and carry us around that way... or, we could teleport to locations within sight. What would be more energy efficient?"
His eyes stray the night sky as he seems to think on it, the sound of crunching snow reaching my ears as several large circular indents are pressed into the snow with his natural ice-type cryokinesis.
"Alright. Let's move."
"Ugh. I hate the cold." Klara bemoans as Zinnia's red eyes scan the surroundings.
All of them are not so subtly shaking in the cold as I sigh and begin to produce a little more body heat.
The snow underfoot begins to look a little wet as I walk forwards, the group of three following close behind.
Pov: Elsewhere.
A blonde woman smiles to herself as she trails after the group of four, stepping into large divots of slightly slushy snow.
Cynthia is many things.
Archeologist, mythology researcher, enjoyer of sweets, champion, and probably one of the best pokemon trainers alive.
This list of things could be both good and bad, Sweets? Eating too many of those can easily kill someone. Then there's diabetes to worry about.
Luckily her active lifestyle and restraint has allowed her to avoid the downsides of enjoying sweets like that pesky weight gain.
Champion simply gives her tons of work. Fundraisers, approving forms, mock fights, branding, merchandise, she is legitimately considering quitting the position, but... until she finds someone who is at least comparable to her... she is forced to bite her tongue and suffer in silence. She just can't leave the fate of her region in the hands of an incompetent trainer.
An archeologist and myth researcher? It has left her with knowledge she wished she hadn't known... the despicable deeds of numerous heroes from the past, the crimes committed to created one of the pokemon on her sole team, and other things like the fact that the gods of this world simply left them all behind.
And being one of the best pokemon trainers alive?
It has left her... bored...
Nobody can challenge her.
No battles are fun to her anymore.
The joy from her being a pokemon trainer was steadily being erased with each win.
The fun of training pokemon is the chance for loss! To be challenged!
Something that she can comfortably say that she hasn't been in a long time...
Well, except against the other champions in the world coronation series. At least she has to try there.
During her vacation to Unova- which was split up by league business when she heard that a truly titanic Gyarados was threatening a town she was in, thus putting her vacation days on pause for a good four weeks- she had found something which has reignited her excitement.
A trainer... who had only been officially on their journey for a month... yet with pokemon that were able to tangle with the ace of a Gym Leader's personal team.
And not only that... the trainer in question was able to give orders at an almost precognitive rate!
Nobody gives their pokemon a simple 'duck' order. Most assume that their pokemon will be smart enough to dodge on their own- they are- but when said orders come at literally the first showing of an attack at all?
The tensing of a fist, the shift of a stance. Something that even she can't do.
She can call out orders immediately after her opponent does, using her knowledge of how the move usually functions, but with such accuracy? A champion-class trainer has been born... and she can't help but be completely obsessed with his journey.
She MUST protect him until he reaches his full potential.
Due to his pokemon, there will be no shortage of people who want to seek him out and take those unique pokemon, and he doesn't seem like the type to let that happen, thus they will kill him for it.
She cannot allow that to happen! As a Champion, she MUST nurture this talent.
Her Roserade may poke a little fun at her for allowing someone so much younger than her to entangle themselves in her attention so thoroughly... even more so considering the type of literature the blonde champion reads, but regardless, Xander Welsh combines two of her greatest interests.
Unknown knowledge and a potentially- no... an incredibly likely challenging battle in the future.
She can't wait to see what he becomes in the future!
Pov: Returned
I gaze out over a small crag in the rocks, spying group of tents surrounding a sole building.
Barbed wire fences surround the outside of the camp as shadows from lights are cast along the snowy mountain.
I look over my shoulder to Zinnia and hold out a hand. "Alright. Pay up."
The girl lets out a sigh, already fishing through her back pocket for a stack of bills.
She grabs a hundred dollar poke-bill and hands it over causing me to smirk.
"It was a foolhardy bet." Courtney notes as she looks between the two of us. "I do not know why you chose to take him up on that."
"I thought it would have been easy money. What could these fuckers have been doing up here? There's nothing out here!" The Draconid woman hisses under her breath.
Klara continues to shiver.
"If I had to make a guess, they are looking for the legendary pokemon Kyurem." I frown, eyes scanning the camp. 'one... two... five... nine...'
"The legendary pokemon Kyurem..." Courtney repeats. "I see. A likely explanation. That is good for us."
"Query:" The girl continues. "Do we know where the legendary pokemon Kyurem is?"
"I have a vague idea." I nod once. "But we're not strong enough, so I'll refrain from saying anything."
"I see." The girl frowns. "Perhaps a wise decision. What should we do about this?"
"Hn. Good question." I nod. "Honestly? I'm a little unsure. On one hand, it would be incredibly foolish to fight forty eight trainers with just the four of us. On the other, there are only a few pokemon released. I could easily take out a good ninety eight percent of them at this very moment."
"But would it be worth it?" Courtney questions.
"Exactly." I nod once. "What worth is there to an incomplete base like this? They don't even have enough buildings for a simple barracks. There will be no important documents, no useful technology, nor any decent resources or pokemon. Not that I'd want their pokemon to begin with. It's just genuinely not worth the effort of dealing with it."
"We could sleep in the building if we did that, though." Klara points out.
I frown as I gaze into the distance, I can see the slowly brightening horizon. Day is approaching.
Our shadowy advantage will shortly be lost.
"It's becoming dawn." I observe. "Roughly how far away do you think we could get before day breaks?"
Courtney checks her watch.
"Ehhhhh." The black haired draconid girl frowns as she estimates. "It'll be up in about thirty minutes... we might be able to get a quarter of a mile or so?"
"Day will break in roughly twenty two and a half minutes." Courtney supplies. "I predict that if we move at our usual pace, we would get about twelve percent of a mile away."
"Tch. Welp. Better attack now while it's convenient. Cynthia will be passing through here shortly after us and I doubt she'd be as willing to just simply walk past it. She could probably take them all, but I'm not sure. Her ace is quad-weak to ice and they do have a swarm of ice type pokemon at their beck and call... plus... yeaaah I'm getting a little tired. You three haven't warmed up in a while and frostbite is sort of a bitch."
I look down. "Also, I'm feeling something that's making me feel vaguely cautious."
My eyes slowly skim downwards. "Like, say for instance... about one hundred feet down in the ice?"
I turn to look at Courtney.
She stares back at me.
I continue to stare at her.
"…"
"What?" She eventually questions.
"Nothing." I sigh as I look back over the camp. "Anyways, as I was saying, there's something I don't quite feel safe with about one hundred feet down and I'd like to take a look at it. Whatever it is, it feels vaguely strong. Stronger than any of my pokemon right now, at the very least."
"Glace-e-on." Loki pouts towards the side.
Courtney suddenly staggers back, clutching her head with one hand as her eyes frantically gaze around us as a small smile appears on my face. "Wh- what is that?"
'Thank you, vision girl. I'll be sure to make you mine after I get rid of that pesky one-sided crush you have on your 'Darling Maxie'.'
"What is what, Courtney?" I ask, fully abusing her visions to find out what that little pesky ominous feeling is.
"I... don't know... there's some sort of pokemon trapped in the ice, but I've... never seen anything like it." She whispers.
By this point, my eyes are practically glinting.
"What does it look like?"
"I... don't... it is blue and white... but it has a purple mane?"
"Blue and white with a purple mane?" I whisper, eyes widening slightly as I pull out a booklet, rapidly flipping through the pages.
I show Courtney a hand-drawn sketch of a Suicune. "This it?"
She flinches back. "N-No? Yes? Uh... it looks different but also the same?"
"How is it different? This is the legendary dog pokemon of Johto. Suicune." I inform.
"It looks more Bipedal and reptilian?" The pink haired girl weakly replies.
"…" I look from Courtney to Zinnia.
"…" She is equally as silent.
"…" Klara looks confused.
"Good news. We're going to save Unova once more by defeating team plasma for a third time." I grin savagely as I clench my fists. "Get ready friends. I'm about to knock these grunts on their asses. If you see any trainers up and about in there, don't hold back. They won't for you... plus they're more keen on attacking trainers than pokemon."
"Alright. Let's do this shit." I whisper to myself as I narrow my eyes upon the camp.
Pov: Nearby
Walking through the dark is tough.
Luckily, she has a pokemon to help her along.
She has already slipped and nearly fallen numerous times now.
Thankfully Lulu is here, otherwise this could have gotten a little dangerous.
The two freeze in place as a wave of tremendous malice washes over them, the champion's hands twitch slightly as her eyes widen.
What the hell is that?
She looks to her companion. "Lulu! Let's go!"
"Lucario!" The jackal-like pokemon exclaims.
The two rush up the mountainous path as fast as they can in the darkened night.
They crest the hill to see complete anarchy, a camp down below is being destroyed, pokemon of all sort are locked in a tremendous conflict that is dying down.
Flashes of fire and explosion cascade across the camp, an unidentified building sized Grass-dragon type pokemon of bark, moss, and vine swoops around the sky, a powerful flamethrower breath shooting from its mouth as numerous ice-cream cone-like pokemon fall down, being knocked out by the high temperatures and its beating wings.
Down below she can see the target of her most recent obsession... fighting?!
A man in black wielding a weapon dashes around him at high speeds, speeds surpassing what humans are typically able to reach.
An aura user.
The young trainer ducks past a slash from a sword, striking towards the man's center of mass, but hitting nothing but oak as his body is replaced by a wooden log.
The champion's hand falls to her waist as she grabs a pokeball, with a flash a large bipedal shark dragon appears at her side.
It looks around briefly to take note of its surroundings instantly zeroing in on the conflict around them.
"Gretel! Help the- NO!" The woman screams.
Down below the boy shoves the hoodie-wearing pink haired girl back, causing her to fall to the ground as he stands before her, a long slim blade punches cleanly through his torso.
The dragon's teeth pull back into a vicious snarl. She sees the target of her master's new anguish... and she is going to annihilate it.
The pseudo legendary explodes from the snowy earth, clearing the distance in under a second, its large blade like fins on its arms glinting as it glides through the air like a bullet.
It is on the man who stabbed the child in an instant, his bones crunch and snap, as the large dragon type brutalizes his body.
Tears prickle in the champion's eyes as she looks over to the boy.
Another life... Snuffed out before they could- hold on... why isn't he falling.
She watches as he grabs the hilt of the sword and tears it out of his body, clutching his chest as he falls to a knee.
Another wave of malice shoots out, from the boy.
Ice cream cone-like pokemon begin falling from the sky one by one as her Ace Garchomp pauses its brutalization of the man who is already dead and looks over to the boy in confusion.
It looks around to the falling ice types.
Cynthia and her Lucario finally make it into the camp.
The battle is already over.
She slides to a halt beside the seated boy. "Oh my gods! Are you alright?! Lay down! Damn it!"
She fishes in her coat and brings out an entire first aid kit.
Pov: Returned
I stare at Cynthia as she looms over me with a first aid kit, offering her a slow blink.
"So. My stalker has finally showed herself." I blandly frown with a half-lidded stare as I stand up. "Good. At least you can help now."
"L-Lay down! You got stabbed!" The champion shouts.
"Hn? So?" I question as I reach for my shirt and take it off in one swift motion.
Blood drips down from my back and my left pec as I run a hand across my chest, lightly smearing the blood and minute amount of ash. You can't even really tell the exact location where I was stabbed. "No wound. Huh. Anyways, can you go arrest all of those team plasma goons. Instead of simply following along about a thousand feet behind us."
"R-Right." The woman mutters as I turn back to my companion who is still on the ground, her purple eyes wide and straying my body as I crouch down and offer a hand. "Are you alright?"
"I'm... fine." The aloof girl replies quietly. "You... let yourself get stabbed instead of me. Why? Shouldn't you value your life more than someone you met merely a month ago?"
"Well. The thing is," I begin quietly, glancing over my shoulder to see that Cynthia is out of earshot with her pokemon, a Roserade is tying up the grunts collapsed around the camp, frothing at the mouth.
I see Loki in his Espeon form slowly walking over proudly, an old man in a ridiculously oversized coat held up behind him in a T-Pose, practically being crucified with psychic power.
I close my eyes briefly, searching around the camp.
My pokemon are fine. Only Azi is mildly injured. Sort of to be expected as a dragon type with all this ice.
"The thing is." I repeat as I turn my focus back to Courtney as she takes my hand and allows herself to be pulled to her feet, I can tell that she is trying not to look at my bare chest, to stay 'loyal' to her 'Precious Maxxie'. "I don't exactly form any real connections... y'know, having a condition we seem to share. But, much like you, there are exceptions. If this had been the first week of travel? Sure. I probably wouldn't have risked my life like that for you, but in the short time that we have traveled together I find myself actually valuing your opinion and input."
Her eyes widen slightly.
"You share my hobbies, are agreeable, and, well, you also pull your own weight with that psychic mumbo jumbo which I am proud to announce I am abusing the fuck out of every time I sense something vaguely wrong by edging you with information." I continue. "Well, honestly, I'd say we're friends. Not something I'd expected to get on my journey, but I'll accept it, I guess. If that means I'll be forced to put myself in harm's way to prevent you, Zinnia, or to a lesser extent, Klara from dying, that's fine. I can clearly take it."
"I see..." The girl mutters. "I... also find you quite agreeable. We are friends. Yes."
A ghost of a smile appears on her face after I turn away.
Observation haki determines that was...
The truth.
Huh.
Well that's good for me.
There's practically only a single place her obsession will go after I shatter her delusions tonight. Even more so since I showed off my attractive body and have been showing off my 'science side'. Plus the whole 'took a blade for her' thing which I'll never let her know I allowed to happen.
After around an hour Cynthia has secured everyone here. The enemy pokemon returned to their pokeballs and to the victor go the slightly singed building.
Better than sleeping outside.
Now we are simply waiting for the pokemon rangers to show up and arrest all of these goons.
Klara looks quite pleased with herself, lounging on the only bed in this small building, I am sat on the couch alongside Zinnia and Courtney.
Cynthia herself is outside with her team.
It feels good to have a champion who takes care of all of your messes. I'm not sure Klara would have the stomach to help us dig the mass grave we inevitably would have put them all in had the Sinnoh champion not been here.
All in all, a very successful raid.
Only two human casualties total. Luckily none on our side.
Firstly, that ninja guy. Obviously.
Getting hit by a garchomp going close to mach speeds would kill even me.
Then some random mook who fell unconscious and had a large hunk of ice from the battle that was happening overhead land on his head.
Otherwise, Loki proceeded to murder two of the leader's six ice pokemon, teleportation and fire fang in glaceon form is overpowered apparently.
Loki's kill count is startlingly high.
Huh.
Magni's and Azi's kill counts will rise when they evolve probably.
Then there was some of the ice cream cone swarm which was killed by the errant fire breaths of Gaia's summon. Mostly the weaker first stage evolution pokemon though.
The exhaustion of walking through the day is slowly getting to me, but. There is one final thing I need to do.
'just need to make a little purchase annnnd...'
I glance to the side to see Courtney staring at the floor, a contemplating look on her face as she seems to think deeply about something.
As I complete the purchase I feel the girl on my left tense up, eyes growing wide, her hands ball into fists slightly as a hollow gaze stares blankly forwards.
She stands abruptly and quickly rushes into the room's sole bathroom.
My eyes follow her as the door slams.
This place surprisingly has running water.
Leave it to a leader to want a fully operational shower with a boiler powered by an emolga in a cage. The water itself is supplied by type gems, which begs the question 'why not use electric type gems for power?' Perhaps it was more 'cost efficient' to use the flying squirrel pikachu as a battery?
I can quietly hear sobs on the other side of the door as I stand up.
Making my way over to the door, I pause outside and gently rap my knuckles on the wood. "Courtney, you alright? I can hear you crying, y'know."
Not getting a reply I let out a sigh and open the door, spying the girl in the corner, her knees brought up to her chest as tears stream down her face.
She looks away, letting out a choked-up noise.
I slowly walk forwards and take a seat beside her.
"Are you alright?" I question with a 'concerned' expression.
"H-He... Doesn't care about me." She whispers.
"The one you do everything for?" I ask.
"M-My beloved Maxxie... I-I'm just a statistic to him! H-he'd... never... love me." She elaborates, her voice sounds utterly hollow, her shoulders heaving and shaking.
"Then he is a fool." I scoff with a frown.
"Maxxie isnt-" she begins to snap only to lose all energy, her head falling into her palms as she lets out a hushed sob.
"If he does not understand your value, then he does not deserve to be called a leader." I growl, eyes narrowing slightly as I gaze over the girl.
I reach over and pat the top of her head, causing her to flinch at my touch.
"It'll be okay." I note with a small smile.
"What should I do?" She whispers, sounding completely lost.
"Leave." I shrug.
"But... But they still have my pokemon... I-I can't leave them behind!"
I let out a low hum and tilt my head, tapping my chin as I give it a little more thought. "Why not say you need your old pokemon to secure your targets, keep updating, but then one day just simply stop replying. Ghost them. Wait until you are so unfathomably powerful that it would be suicidal and a waste of resources to come after you. Slowly but surely build connections, secure a foolproof alibi for if they decide to try and ruin your life by displaying your connections. Leave them. Join me instead!"
"Join... you?" The girl whispers.
"Of course!" I grin with a bright smile. "We could do science stuff together!"
"Most of the people traveling with me have become fairly important to me. Regretfully. As it was so much easier when I just didn't care about anyone, but I suppose that at the end of the day caring about people does have its benefits. Zinnia shares a tribal heritage, allowing her to understand me, but she's not exactly the most... studious... Her knowledge on dragon types is probably second to none, but she's not really the sort to sit down and read a book."
She stares at the side of my head for a long moment, then looks down, thinking deeply on something.
"Yes... I..."
"I will leave Magma behind. I will join you. But... what are your ambitions?"
"Short term? Not dying from a meteor that makes most life extinct." I smirk. "Long term? Hn... well, probably becoming a pokemon professor. That sounds sort of neat. One for ancient pokemon, as there isn't one for that yet."
"An ambitious goal. Hn. Very well. I... will join you!" The girl declares with a resolute expression.
"I'm glad we were able to come to such an easy understanding... personally, when I saw you have some form of flash of insight about this Maxxie guy a while back in Virbank, I was waiting for the day that you snapped and had this realization or the day I would be forced to step in and do something about it. I'm glad that you're alright. You shouldn't let him hold back your Happiness, Courtney."
"Do... something about it?" Courtney Echoes.
"I am a selfish, violent, greedy and possessive sociopath, Courtney." I scoff with a small eye roll. "What else could I have done if my friend was so lost in her own delusions that she couldn't see what was right in front of her?"
Oh?
Ooooh there it is.
That feeling.
Her eyes lock with my own as she rubs her face. "I see. Yes. I was indeed being quite foolish."
That infatuation.
The obsession.
The lust.
The slightly obscured madness.
That's exactly what I wanted.
She brushes her hair out of her eyes, a smile threatening to split her face.
"I look forwards to working with you, Xander." She whispers, I can feel bubbling excitement work its way through her body as I stand back up.
"Anyways." I blandly call out. "I'm probably going to hit the hay."
"Yes. That is probably wise... we have a long trek down the mountain tomorrow." She agrees. "We should also check out... that thing."
"Hn, nah, I'm planning on putting it off for a little bit. You said it was frozen, and, well, when I compared it to Cynthia's garchomp, the energy from its unconscious frozen body was about on par. I have a theory on what exactly it is, buuuut I don't really like it, so I'll put it off until we're far stronger."
"It can be a plan B if our original plan fails, though I doubt it would be as powerful as the original dragon." I smirk. "Plus, from the sounds of it... an Ancient Suicune would be riiight up the alley of the Pokemon Professor for ancient and extinct pokemon."
Pov: Elsewhere.
An orange haired girl with pale blue skin works walks her way through a cave of rainbow crystal.
She has been here for about a month now, and it is still just as breathtaking as when she first saw it.
The floating purple alien-like poison type follows behind her as she makes her way to her destination.
"Hello, Miss Triad." She waves.
The pinkish form of a shiny Vaporeon glances over to the girl and lets out a small trill. "Vapooor."
It nods to two wooden bowls with berries.
"Oh! We're going to continue my lessons?"
"Vaporeon!" The pokemon nods
The pink pokemon with a fish tail picks up a large oran berry in its teeth by the stem and sits it in the bowl, it promptly shoots a little water into the large wok-sized bowl and begins squishing the berry, adding small minute amounts of crushed rock and mineral then mixing it up.
Ever since Zossie got here, after the first week, at least, Zossie has been learning from the Eeveelution in front of her.
What is she learning exactly?
Alchemy!
She helps the collared pokemon who can swap between three forms at will with creating healing poultices to fix any injuries that typically happen around a group of wild animals.
Sometimes the squabbling of littermates playing causes scratches, perhaps they bite too hard, maybe they slip and fall on a sharp rock.
Triad, as the eldest eeveelution learned this art from the mother of the person she came here to see.
It's calming in a way.
She really likes it here! It's so peaceful. It's a wonderful feeling to be surrounded by pokemon in their natural element like this!
She doesn't want to leave!
But her mission...
Well, technically, it wasn't an official mission, soooo she was probably fired already! Oh well! She can live here. There's no need for money, just living off the land with friends.
She begins copying the water type pokemon, pouring some water from a wooden jug she had brought into the bowl.
Maybe she could even have a pokemon adventure like those humans do!
Who knows!
Hey all! I hope you enjoyed this chapter!
Another L for Team Plasma plus there's an extinct legendary sitting a few dozen feet down below the ice!
Now Cynthia is with the group and she knows that something isn't all too normal with Xander.
Besides the whole 'can feel a gyarados a mile outside of a city accurately' thing, of course.
Guest Reviews:
SomeRandomDude: Mayhaps.
JustAFan123: Just a little thing. He pounded home 'Maxxie doesn't care about you' in an attempt to get her to change her affections... and it looked like he succeeded in that regard.
I hoped you enjoyed~ bye!