A Journey
Summary: Ash's daughter has NO interest in Pokemon training. So, Ash, being the enterprising young Master that he is, puts her into the middle of the woods in the night while she's asleep with a pack, no map, a Pokedex, and a VERY angry Pichu.
"I might go down sometime soon, guys," I said, the overcast day outside suddenly seeming all the more foreboding, since I didn't know when and if it would be replaced by the horizonless sky of my dreams.
Maestro cheeped, and stood up close next to me for protection. I smiled, as Chopin neared me as well. Even Pichu hopped onto my foot, hugging onto my leg for balance as I shifted. Okay, so it was finally getting cute, now that it stopped trying to kill me (for the most part, at least).
My anger passed. I had these three amazing Pokémon, all as different as possible, even if my three human travel companions were less than amazing. I felt in my backpack for the egg, hoping I was doing a good job of taking care of it. I didn't feel it move ever, and I didn't do anything crazy like my friend Jacqueline, May's daughter, would have done. I didn't polish it, or sing to it, I just tried not to break it. Kind of like my friendships, I thought morosely.
I just hoped that I didn't screw it up with Peter. What had I been doing anyways, fighting with him like a squabbling Spearow? What was the point? I should go and apologize to him, I realized. Of course, my stubbornness spoke to me, asking me why in the world I should apologize to him. Is it really right for me to apologize just to stay in his good graces? I was right, wasn't I? He shouldn't just focus of all his strength and training and time into one Pokémon. I at least liked to hope that I wasn't doing the same.
I paused, thinking for a moment. How could I train my Pokémon up to beat Roxanne?
"Guys, we really need to think of a plan to beat Roxanne." I said to myself. "If you want to you know…"
All of them but Chopin nodded. I was using Colin's method to prepare them, as I had promised myself, even if that whole conversation with him and Lyall had just been a hypnogogic illusion, I still would follow it. I would, therefore, according to Colin's trainings, be very nice to my Pokémon.
"You shouldn't be left alone for long periods of time," the tall kid, who leaned comfortably against the wall of the house next to me.
"Where did you come from?" I looked around. No sign of the flying dinosaur he had used last time. Crap. Did he recall the Pokémon, or was this…
"Oh, I'm a figment of your imagination, of course," he said with a scoff. I frowned.
"Maestro, am I dreaming?" I asked worriedly. Maestro shook his head. The kid clearly confirmed that I was dreaming, but Maestro shook his head. Then again, wouldn't Maestro have shaken his head if I dreamed him up too?
"Crap, I really need a Psychic Pokémon." I muttered. A Psychic Pokémon could enter my dreams and talk to me. Maybe Dark Pokémon did it too, as they did appear to specialize in dreams. Then again, so did Ghost Pokémon…
"No, you need to learn how to beat Roxanne, no?" The tall kid asked.
"Yeah, that would be nice," I said casually. Pichu nodded and prodded me with its tail.
"You don't trust him?" I asked. I know Pichu hated Lavender, and this kid was even more suspicious-looking . He had a fault, at lest, but unlike the others, it wasn't specific. He didn't have Peter's conceit, Brett's immaturity, Lavender's stupidity, or my total ineptitude at battling, but worse, he was just a loose cannon. He was just generally weird and creepy.
Pichu nodded a bit, put its fingers to its chin, thought, and shook its head.
"Really? He's kinda weird," I replied conversationally."
"Good hearing, human, remember?" He asked, amused.
"Thanks for the offer and all, but I should get going," I said, the corners of my mouth twitching themselves into an awkward smile.
"Awww," he said, with real disappointment, although the amusement was still there.
"I'm sorry. Look. Don't you have better things to do than advise a thirteen year old 'noob' as you call it?"
"Nah. I've kind of finished my real training."
"How so?"
"I placed sixth in the Johto leagues. I'm actually just trying to get all the kickass Pokemon there are."
"Kickass? You're into fighting types?" I asked, confused.
"No," he laughed. Like, cool Pokemon. All the Kanto starters, for instance, they're ridiculously cool."
"I know, I'm from there." I said smugly.
"Duh. Is there any reason why you don't want people to know that you're a little dynastic celebrity?" He asked casually, appraising me sharply.
"Umm…" I paused. "Look, don't tell." Leave it to him to figure out who I really was.
"I didn't say I would, did I?" He asked. "I just want to know, that's all."
"I just… it's embarrassing. I don't want people to think I'm better than I am because of my dad being so good." I said, feeling lamer by the second.
"Ah. So it's not out of any 'I want to carve my own road' kind of thing. More like 'I don't want to have my ass handed to me." The boy said, staring at me like he was calculating something. At this, I couldn't help but bristle a little.
"That's definitely not it!" I said angrily.
"Mmm-hmm. Look, being a coward is really bad. But a coward who doesn't know that they're a coward is much worse," he said.
"I don't want my Pokemon to get eaten!" I squeaked out, realizing only afterwards how stupid that sounded.
"Mmm-hmm. Look, do you want to travel with me? I'll show you the ropes, train you out of your coward-ism-ness, and you will become a great trainer." He said, seriously. "I like adopting little freshies such as yourself."
"No thank you," I said. "I don't want to get great, I want to get home." I emphasized, hoping I could somehow make the boy understand. "I can't get any tickets home on a boat, so I need to do is cross the ocean to Johto. Are you going there soon? I'll go with you then," I thought, wheedling.
"Nope. You need to stay here until you've learned shit." He said.
"Look, could I buy it from you?"
"Do you have any money?"
"No," I said sadly.
"How's this, okay? Let's have a three on three battle. If you win, I'll give you a thousand five hundred dollars."
"What can I buy with that? That's not even enough for a night at an inn!"
"It's enough for five Potions, or seven Pokeballs. You could buy an antidote, or a burn heal, or an awakening."
"What's in it for you?" I asked. Was I really going to trust a kid who wanted to be called Ragnorok of the (Bloody) Abyss?
"If you lose, then you're traveling with me," the boy said smugly.
I winced.
"Could I get Brett and Peter over here?" I asked, frowning. Maybe that we if he attempted to kidnap me when I lost, then they could stop him?
"What about the purple girl?" He asked.
"Ahh, Lavender. Her too," I said, perhaps not entirely sincerely.
"Okay. Can I bring Camille here to ref?" He asked.
"Sure." I muttered. Obviously, I was still worried. Did I really want to leave Peter for someone whose name I didn't even know? I laughed a bit at the irony in that, as Peter didn't even know my name! I still promised to protect Lavender. I passed up a medical internship for that, why back out now?
"Nice egg, by the way." The kid said, staring at my backpack, seeing the bulge.
"Thanks."
"What is it?" He asked.
"I don't know."
"How'd you get it?"
"A 'please don't sue gift,'" I deadpanned, quoting the captain himself.
"Ah. How long have you had it for?"
"What's it been, two or three days?" I asked, realizing how easy it was to lose track of time.
"Oh, so not anytime soon," he said with disappointment. "Now that I'm done doing normal battling, I'm really just exploring, collecting cool Pokemon, and some breeding. My Arcanine is picky as hell when it comes to finding a mate."
"You've got an Arcanine?" I asked eagerly.
"You like them? So does everyone. Kind of like Charizard. What I like are Pokemon that are really kickass but that not everyone loves." He said with mild interest.
"Except for Arcanine?" I asked.
"Yeah, and Charizard. Most kids take four years to get to the Leagues. I took an extra year to go around Kanto, and so I got some Kanto Pokemon. It's why I got so far in the leagues."
"So what's a kickass Pokemon that no one likes?"
"Travel with me," he said, "and I'll tell you. It'll be like a 'Pokemon of the Week' feature." He chortled. It was a very strange sound.
"Let me go get your friends. Talk to your Pokemon. Plan your strategy." He said, and then ran off incredibly quickly, propelled by incredibly long legs.
"Okay guys," I said nervously, "time for another battle." They nodded.
"Pichu, if you Thundershock, will it help you warm up, or deplete your energy? Will it help you to warm up?"
"Pii!" Pichu nodded and shocked me lightly.
"Ouch. Thanks, I guess."
"Maestro. Start running laps to get warmed up, get the adrenaline pumping." Maestro did his usual act, pretending to wheeze, but then did what I said. I loped after him, hoping to get my adrenaline pumping as well. If adrenaline made you go faster, then it probably made your brain go faster, too, I figured. I needed to command them quickly.
"Maestro, jump over Pichu!" I barked, hoping I could give him some training without tiring him out. He easily sailed over Pichu's head. Then again, Pichu was only one foot tall.
"Maestro, change direction NOW!" I yelled. Maestro screeched to a halt, then turned around.
"Try making a wide turn when you do that," I offered. I took a closer look, and then saw that Maestro had been right; to stay at top speed and reverse his direction gradually, he would have to make a loop that was easily bigger than the battle pitch Roxanne had.
"We'll work on your turn-changing later," I said. Maestro nodded, and rolled his eyes. He wasn't as pacifistic as Chopin, but he didn't like me pointing out his flaws. Of course, I loved the little rat so much that I couldn't even see any other flaws.
"Pichu, try jumping onto Maestro's back." Pichu, being bipedal, had a harder time than Maestro did, having shorter, tottery legs, but it finally leaped on top of Maestro. Maestro and Pichu were exactly the same height, and Pichu's weight was clearly hard on Maestro, but he just heaved a sigh and sank his haunches into the ground.
"One thing that you should try to do when you're fighting larger enemies is jump on top of them, hold on for dear life, poke your tail into them, and shock the hell out of them." I explained. "Your ability is that any moves requiring physical contact have a 30% chance of paralyzing your opponent, right?" I wondered how I remembered that, but I figured I had seen it on Brett's Calcudex at some point in time.
"Pii," Pichu said with a shake of his head.
It would shock Pichu back because of the extended contact. That is why most electric moves ideally do not have any contact, Camille's Abra said. Camille just arrived. I smiled at her; I did like her a lot.
"Any advice for dealing with your friend?" I asked wryly. "If I lose this match, I have to quit my travel group and go with yours."
"Oh, that again?" She laughed. It was a nice sound. "He might go easy on you, unless he really wants you along. My advice is that you expect the unexpected. His Pokemon aren't too strong, because that anyone who knows him won't battle with him. They're too scared." She said. She stopped, wondering if she had said too much.
"Oh, crap," I said dully.
"You can win!" Lavender shouted to me from the direction of the Pokemon Center. The kid had held his word and brought my friends along.
"Let's go to a nice clearing, not that shitty one outside the Pokemon Center," Camille said. "Let's try Route 116. I think they might have a battling pitch carved in already. Saves me some chalk." She started walking, and I paused only to wait up for Lavender, Peter, Brett, and my opponent before I followed her.
We walked through a few blocks of the sprawl in Rustboro. We noticed we were getting close when we rediscovered grass growing at the boundary. The steady regreening of the rocky brown of surroundings was very pretty, something Lavender couldn't stop noticing.
"Oooh, look at that vine!" Lavender said, clapping her hands in girly, squeaky delight.
"When's someone gonna have a gym battle?" Brett whined. "This is boring. No betting!"
"I can't believe you're fighting this jerk," Peter said to me. "Kick his ass, okay?" I glowed with pride at that. Peter thought I could kick the kid's ass! "…And if you don't, I will later," he concluded. I rolled my eyes. But honestly, what was it about Peter? Just him talking to me was like a cool breeze. Why did I like Peter so much to the point of exclusion of his faults? This didn't really seem healthy. And yet, every word that came out of that conceited little mouth of his was gold-plated and shining and perfect.
"Let's get started, Camille," my opponent said, raising himself up to his admittedly impressive full height, pumping a fist into the air melodramatically.
"Are you sure this is a good-" Camille said.
"Of course it is!" The tall kid interjected.
"You're kind of forcing her into battle…"
"And I'm kind of forcing you to ref!" The tall kid smiled smugly. "What now, huh?"
I think this is what I would call flirting, the Abra said, its eyes flashing purple as it did so. I looked around, and saw Chopin pointing at the two. The Abra had presumably translated Chopin, I guessed.
"Like what I would do with Peter?" Lavender whispered to me, staring at Peter obviously to make sure he wasn't listening. Were Peter not so self-absorbed, that would actually serve to attract his attention. Gee, Lavender was stupid! I guessed that this was more of a public psychic broadcast from Chopin/the Abra, if Lavender could hear it.
I stared at the pitch. It was dirt, with a few scattered rocks here and there. It was half shaded by a tree on one border edge.
"Official rules," Camille said with her quick, crisp practicality. "This will be a two-on-two match. Switches will," she stared meaningfully at my tall opponent, "NOT be allowed." He slumped an inch of his enormous height, and gave her the finger. Camille fixed him with a glare I would have found terrifying were I on the receiving end.
"Potions will not be allowed in this battle. Your Pokémon cannot leave the battle pitch, although they can fly above or dig below it. You are not allowed to go into the pitch…"
"The pitch is not allowed to go into you," the tall kid interrupted with mock solemnity.
"Sarcasm is banned," Camille deadpanned.
"Good thing I'm not sarcastic, right?" The tall kid riffed. I could tell the two were really close friends who had known each other for a while. It almost seemed like they were reading from a script.
"The challenger releases his Pokémon first." Camille concluded with a roll of her eyes.
"Go, Wrolf!" He yelled, pulling out a PokeBall from his pocket.