Disclaimer: I don't own or claim to own anything about Pokémon. Pokémon is owned by Nintendo, Game Freak, and Creatures Inc. This fanfiction is only intended for entertainment purposes and will not be monetized in any way.
-0-
Chapter 5: New Moves
Dad woke me up by poking my side. I groaned, "Whyyyyy?" The complaint in my voice was obvious. It felt like I hadn't slept at all, 'It can't be morning already.' I thought. My muscles still ached, my eyes were still heavy, and it was hard to think, my brain felt like it was mush. I snuggled further into Mom's fur, trying to fall asleep again.
Mom said, "Astra, come on! We already told you we had to get up early. If we let you sleep in today like usual we won't get home before it becomes night, which puts you in danger. I will gladly deal with a kit's grumpiness rather than put you in any danger." She got up as she said this, leaving me alone in the nest.
I cried from the sudden lack of fluffiness touching me. I still refused to fully wake up even with the lack of someone to cuddle with. I hurt all over and felt like I couldn't move so I didn't and just curled up tighter. 'Nothing is going to stop me from going to sleep again!' I thought as I was already nodding off.
Mom continued complaining, "Uhh, I can't believe you. Why couldn't we have gotten a kit that is a morning pokemon! Are you seriously sleeping already? Get up you lazy ball of fur, we have to get moving!" She poked me again.
"No!" Was all I said.
"Petal, we should love our kit exactly how she is, whether it be good or bad. That being said, Astra look at me." I opened an eye which he saw. "You know we have to go soon so why are you being so stubborn?"
"I'm tired, it feels like I haven't slept, and my body hurts all over!" Tears filled my eyes as I said this, in a minor temper tantrum. "I just want to sleep, please!"
"It seems like she is just exhausted from all of the activity from yesterday." Dad said to Mom before trying to reason with me. "Listen Astra, if we go later, everyone will already be either at work or in class so we won't be able to say goodbye. Don't you want to at least say goodbye to your friends and family before we go. I promise that you can sleep on my back all the way home and once we get home you can sleep in everyday." Dad said.
I groaned, I knew I had to say goodbye. I slowly got up and looked around. Ruby and Phoenix were in the second nest awake and looking at us. Upon seeing me get up they got up and walked over. Ruby when she got up to me said, "I wondered how long it would take to get you up. From what I heard from over there you are quite the grumpy waker. Anyways we were waiting to say goodbye before we went on with our day. Though I'm quite sad you guys are not staying longer." Ruby came up to me, curled her body around me, and licked my head. "I love you so much! I hope you know you'll always have a place in this burrow." She walked towards Mom and Dad and embraced them as well.
Phoenix didn't embrace me like Ruby did but he said, "I pray that you will stay safe outside of the clan. I didn't get the chance to hang out with you but I still love you all the same. I hope that you get the chance to come back soon so I can get to know you better." He went and embraced Dad but not Mom.
Even with how grumpy I was I decided I should say something back to them before they went, so I said, "Bye Grandma and Grandpa, I love you too. Mom and Dad said we would visit once every full moon, so we will come back."
Ruby laughed and she and Phoenix looked pleased. She said, "You make my heart melt with your love, Astra. Your father already told us about you visiting every once and a while which I will be looking forward to. Silver better not be lying about that or he will regret it." The threat in her voice was very obvious and I saw Dad look a little nervous.
They left the burrow after they said their final goodbyes to us and we were alone. Mom had me feed before we left, she was still angry at me for being so stubborn when I woke up. When we finally left the burrow it was mid-morning and everyone was outside their burrows already. Some ninetales stretched, some were talking, and some were eating.
Dad said, "You know if we lived in the clan we would always have to wake up this early. You would never be able to sleep in." His statement succeeded in making me shudder at the thought of waking up every day at this time. I was beginning to become glad that I wasn't staying in the clan. I did really want to stay with my friends and family but I was starting to see all of the downsides in staying.
Mercy and Red must have seen us because they walked over from wherever their burrow was. Mercy was the one to greet us, "Hello cutie, are you guys going back today?"
Before anyone else could say anything I responded, "Yeah, Mom and Dad are forcing me to leave you. I really wanted to stay with you longer." In the cutest voice I could muster. Mom and Dad's postures straightened immediately and looked nervous.
Mercy looked angrier than I thought she would be and said, "I know you guys are not fond of the clan, but do you seriously need to take Astra from her friends and family so soon? She sounds like she really doesn't want to go!" I turned so Mercy and Red couldn't see me and flashed my parents a devious smile. My parents looked completely shocked at my sudden devious action.
"Why you little…" Mom whispered to me before trying to explain herself. "Um, Mom, I can explain..."
But Mom didn't get any chance to explain before Mercy went into an angry lecture. Mercy went on and on about how selfish Mom was being by forcing me away from the clan, about how she had only just met me, how she wishes to get to know me, and about how they only just found out about me a few days ago. By the end of the lecture my parents looked both guilty and utterly defeated. 'Huh, for some reason I feel less angry about them forcing me awake.' I thought, a little less grumpy than before. After Mercy calmed down and my parents explained why they had to leave. Mercy then went around the clan to gather all the vulpix so I could say my goodbyes to them as well.
While we were waiting for Mercy to gather the vulpix Dad said, "I know you were grumpy about being woken up, but was revenge really necessary?" He still looked defeated and I felt a little guilty for what I did.
That's when Mom whispered to me, "You know when we get home there will be no one to stop me from tickling you until you pass out. I am going to make you regret what you did to me today!" A giant chill went down my spine and I quickly hid behind Dad, who sighed at my antics.
Mercy came back with all of my friends and Rosie immediately asked, "You're already leaving? I thought we had a few days left!"
I nodded sadly at her question and said, "Yeah, we only came for the ceremony. My parents are adamant to get back as soon as possible. We are saying goodbye to everyone then we're off." Rosie started crying at this.
Tana spoke up, "Cheer up Rose, it's not like it's the last time we'll see her."
I nodded in agreement, trying to get Rosie to stop crying, just barely able to stop myself from tearing up. "Yeah, I convinced my parents to let me visit here every once and a while. I swear I'll come back to play and talk with you again!" I said in a forced cheery voice. Rosie just nodded, still crying a little.
We said our goodbyes to my friends. We also met with the elder to notify him that we were leaving. He wished us luck on our journey back. Mom set me on Dad's back and set off back home. I was still tired, my muscles ached, and my head still hurt. I let the rhythm of Dad's walking and the softness of his fur bring me to sleep.
I must've slept on Dad's back for a good while. When I woke up, more refreshed than I was before, the sun was in the center of the sky. I looked around and found that like when we traveled to the clan we were walking along the stream, but it was on the other side of us this time. The maple trees had less leaves on them than when we traveled before, leaving them bare, instead the piles of red leaves on the ground had grown in size. I watched a pile of the leaves rustled as a rattata poked his head out of them and froze when they saw us, terrified. My parents looked at it but just kept on walking, ignoring it.
"Hey, Dad?" I said, getting his attention.
"Oh, you awoke. What is it Astra?" Dad replied back.
"Well you said before that rattata were one of the pokemon that we hunt. I was wondering why you didn't hunt that one? It seemed to be frozen so it would've been easy to hunt." I asked. I was relieved that my parents didn't hurt it but I was also curious as to why they didn't.
"That's an easy thing to answer, we only hunt what we need to survive and neither me or your mother are hungry at the moment. I would usually have this talk with you only when you are ready to hunt for yourself, but since you asked I will explain it now." He paused to make sure I was listening, I could tell Mom was listening in as well. He continued, "When you hunt and kill another pokemon, you have to know what you are taking from them so you can properly respect them. Even though Mew made it necessary for us to hunt and eat other pokemon, taking another's life is never a small thing. Every other pokemon has friends and family just like us. They are living, breathing, thinking, and have feelings just like us. As such there are rules we follow to ensure that no necessary life is taken and no taken life is disrespected. Rule one of course is not to take life unnecessarily, which I have already explained. Rule two is to never play with or abuse the prey that you are hunting. Always end the life of the pokemon you're hunting as quickly as possible to avoid making it suffer. Some disturbed individuals 'play' with their prey, they wound the pokemon and cause pain to it without actually killing it, prolonging it's suffering for their own amusement."
When he stated the second rule and explained it, I was so disgusted that bile rose up from my stomach. I made a weird burping sound, and I threw up on Dad's back.
Dad yelled, "Ew, Astra! Why did you have to throw up on me?" He then sighed and asked, "Are you feeling alright?"
My stomach was rolling and my throat burned from the bile but I said, "Yeah, I'm sorry, it just came up when you said something as horrible as hurting pokemon for amusement. Why does that even have to be a rule? Who would do something like that?"
"Yeah, I guess this subject in particular is for more mature pokemon. To answer your question, there are some truly evil pokemon and humans out there, you always need to avoid individuals like that. Anyways, I will continue explaining after I wash myself in the stream. I hate my fur being dirty as much as every other ninetales and this throwup is a bit more disgusting than regular dirt."
Mom picked me up and set me next to the stream where I drank water to get rid of both the queasy feeling and the burning in my throat. Dad submerged his back in the water to clean himself. When he was done, he picked me up and put me on Mom's back and they continued walking.
"Okay let's continue." Dad said. "The third rule is never waste a life you have taken. This basically means don't waste any food. It's disrespectful to the pokemon you've hunted. Wasting any food is like saying oh I guess I didn't need to take your life after you have already taken their life. The final rule is to never hunt younglings. This rule is self explanatory so I'm not going to talk about it. I really shouldn't have told you about this subject yet but I know how curious and intelligent you are. I was sure you could handle this subject where other kits your age could not. But I maybe should have waited a bit longer. The less you have to think about stuff like death and hunting the better honestly."
I agreed with him, shuddering. 'I never want to hurt another pokemon, I don't know what I'll do when I have to hunt. I'll find another way to live hopefully.' I thought, already knowing that probably wasn't possible.
Silence persisted for a long while as I watched the scenery go by. I observed a pachirisu climb up a tree with it's cheeks filled to the brim with something, it entered a hole near the top and came back out with it's cheeks empty. I saw a floatzel eating a fish pokemon on the other side of the stream. I watched an energetic eevee kit play in a pile of leaves while a vaporeon watched for threats. 'That looks kind of fun, I wonder if I can play with the leaves when I get home. Maybe I could play with the eevee.' I thought as the eevee scattered yet another unsuspecting pile of red leaves. Sadly when I asked my parents they said no and we continued on our way.
As the sun reached the horizon and it started to get darker, we walked through the last few clusters of trees to find a familiar clearing. I felt stress. I did not realize I was feeling melt away. I also felt more secure here then I ever experienced when I was with the clan even though the clan had guards. 'I guess I was missing home more than I realized, maybe it's because it's where I was hatched. I'm kind of glad we got to go back home instead of staying in the clan.' I mused as Dad picked me off of Mom's back and I walked into the cave. We talked for a little while before Mom had me nurse while Dad went to hunt. I still was feeling a little tired even after my nap on Dad's back and resting all the way back. I curled up against Mom and fell asleep.
-000-
Mew flew through the forest she had been inhabiting for the past week as a noctowl. She had been on a mission to watch over a very peculiar kit and her family. Celibi had already told her what is supposed to happen in the next few weeks. The part of this mission she absolutely hated was that Mew couldn't intervene to stop the terrible fate that had been relayed to her, she was to just watch and make sure fate went how it was supposed to. The kit Astra would be very important in the future, so she was here to make sure her destiny is fulfilled.
Mew slowed down as she reached the edge of the forest and landed on a branch. It was in the dead of night as Mew looked down at one of the human routes that they traveled on that split the forest in two. On the side of the route that housed the ninetales reserve there was a very tall chain link fence to keep any outsiders from going into the forest and possibly capturing a ninetales or vulpix. The whole forest was surrounded by this same type of fencing.
On the other side of the route another forest was laid but this forest didn't have fencing. Mew focused on the part of the scene that she was here for. A large truck was parked into the forest without a fence, it was hidden quite well in-between two trees. Two human males who both sported a camouflage outfit were taking equipment out of the truck.
The shorter of the two started talking, "I can't believe what the boss wants us to do, if we get caught we'll spend years in jail. He'll probably even act like we are just regular trappers too and let us rot in jail without raising a finger to help us." His voice was exasperated.
The larger man spoke up with a deeper voice, "That's all the more incentive to succeed and get promoted. When we get promoted we will be too high up the chain for them to risk us in jobs like this. We just need to get the two ninetales the boss ordered for and get out without being caught by the rangers. I say we have a week at most to find the ninetales we are looking for before we get found out." As he said this, they had finished gathering the equipment they needed and were walking towards the chain link fence with a pair of bolt cutters. As they started clipping the fence, the sound of the cutters slicing through the metal caused multiple pokemon that were hiding near her to scurry away.
Mew longed to just stop them right there, it would be so easy to avoid this tragedy, but she couldn't. Mew watched them cut link by link into the fence, making a hole. When they finally finished and both stepped through the hole Mew whispered, "I'm sorry Astra." A tear falling down her cheek.
The next morning…
In Sandgem Port a ship named the Horizon had just docked. It had just arrived in the Sinnoh region from it's long journey from Alola. Tourists, trainers, and businessmen streamed out of the boat from the ramp.
A tanned girl exits the boat last. She had blue eyes, black hair, and was a bit shorter than the average 13 year old, which she was. She was obviously dressed for warm weather, wearing a white sundress that had blue flowers printed on it, flip-flops, and a cap on her head with the image of a pokeball on it. She wore a backpack on her back carrying her pokeballs, a spare set of clothes, a pokegear, a pokedex, and any supplies she needed. If the hat was not enough to mark her as an official trainer, the rowlet, which was currently perched on her right shoulder, did the job pretty well.
She walked onto the dock looking at the scenery in wonder. She had lived on a beach all her life in Alola so the beach wasn't what amazed her, but she had never been to another region before. Her eyes seemed to sparkle as she looked upon all the new sights around her. "We're finally here, isn't that amazing, Soren!"
Responding to its name, the rowlet gave off an excited sounding hoot, seemingly agreeing with her. What Soren actually said was, "Thank Arceus I'm finally off that boat! I'm meant to be in the air, not floating on the sea!" Though the girl had no way of knowing this.
"Professor Kukui told me about how many different climates Sinnoh held, but seeing it is another thing altogether! Look there's a snow capped mountain in the distance!" The girl said all of this as she walked down the dock. "Okay first stop is Professor Rowan's lab in Sandgem town, where I'll start my journey and beat my brother as a pokemon trainer!"
She stepped off the dock and onto the sand. She found a sign that read 'Sandgem Town' and took her time while following the indicated path. What would've been a 15 minute walk from the beach turned into a 45 minute walk with her sightseeing. It took her 15 more minutes to find the lab.
Upon entering the lab she found a waiting room with a secretary sitting at a desk. She told the secretary her name. They told her Rowan was expecting her and to go on through. As she entered the door that the secretary was pointing at she was greeted by a very clinical looking lab. A big man wearing a lab coat had his back turned to her and was working on something she couldn't quite see from where she was standing.
"Um… hello?" She said to the big man.
His body jerked up a bit in surprise. He closed a book and turned around. He had a full head of hair, sported sideburns and a bushy mustache, all white. His eyes were dark brown and his skin was quite pale for living on a beach town. When he saw her he said, "Ah, you must be Kaia. Professor Kukui always told me how great of a research assistant you were. He said that you were always able to bond with any pokemon, even ones he had trouble with."
"Yes, my name's Kaia. I don't think I was that good of an assistant." Kaia said, rubbing the back of her head and looking away.
"Ah, no need to be humble. Kukui was quite sad that you were leaving but he knew you wanted to be a trainer. By the way, if you didn't know, I'm Professor Rowan." Rowan said, smiling and extending his hand forward for a hand shake. Kaia took his hand and shook it.
"It's nice to meet you Professor! Kukui said you would help me start on my journey." Kaia said while releasing the handshake.
"Yes, I will! He wanted you to have the best start you could get, he even convinced me to give you a Sinnoh starter pokemon." Rowan said.
Kaia's eyes lit up and she exclaimed, "Really? You're going to give me another pokemon?"
Rowan replied, "Yeah, it took me a while to scrounge up a starter pokemon since most trainers have already started their journeys quite a bit earlier this year. But I managed to find a female piplup to join you on your journey!" As he said this, he grabbed a pokeball from a counter against the wall and released it.
The pokeball opened showing a ball of white light before quickly transforming into a beam of light that hit the ground and solidified into a piplup. The now free piplup raised its fins and said pip-lup! Soren hooted back at her in greeting.
Kaia crouched down next to the piplup and said, "Hey there piplup! Do you want to travel around with me? I'll look after you and help you get stronger." The piplup looked at the Professor as if asking if it was all right. When Rowan nodded at her, she raised her arms and said pip piplup pip in agreement.
Only heard by the rowlet Soren, what piplup actually said was, "Yeah, I've been stuck in this lab for too long! The professor would never let me go on the beaches I saw outside." The piplup complained to her, knowing she couldn't understand her..
"If you're going to join me you will need a name. Hmm, you're a female water type, so how about Aqua?" Kaia proposed to her new team member. The piplup thought about it for a few moments before giving a nod. "Great! Welcome to the team, Aqua!" Kaia smiled at Aqua, truly happy about her new friend.
Kaia realized while she was talking to her new pokemon that the professor was getting something else from a different counter. When he walked back to her he said, "Okay, now that I set you up with a starter, here's a detailed trainer guide on which routes to take as well as what order is recommended to face the gyms." Kaia took the offered guidebook from Rowan and skipped through parts of it, looking it over as he continued, "It also has tips on battling, strategy, training, how to get the best deals on poke food, general nature survival, among other things that will help you. It's pretty important for any promising beginner trainers. You will want to take the recommended trainer routes, as it will be more likely for you to come upon your fellow trainers. You will want to make sure to challenge every trainer you come across, not only will it give you money if you win, but you and your pokemon will also gain needed battling experience. Can you let me borrow the pokedex you got from Kukui?" Kaia nodded and handed over her pokedex.
While he fiddled with her pokedex and continued to give Kaia tips on being a trainer, Aqua and Soren were making pokemon noises in the background, talking and introducing themselves to each other. Soren saying, "Hello newbie, I'm Soren, I've been with Kaia ever since I hatched. I can vouch for how great a friend Kaia is, so you are in good hands!"
Aqua felt relieved at this, she had been worrying about what type of trainer she would be stuck with. When the other trainers had come by the lab a little while ago, there had been good kind-hearted trainers but she had also spotted trainers who obviously didn't care about the pokemon they picked up, she felt bad for the starters that got stuck with those trainers. Aqua replied to him, "Hello, It's nice to meet someone who isn't another laboratory assistant. I guess my name is Aqua now and I have high hopes for the journey ahead of us."
The pokemon stopped talking to each other when Rowan said, "Okay, I just updated your pokedex to recognise all currently known pokemon. I also exchanged contact information just in case anything comes up, if you ever are in danger or something comes up, call me and I'll help to the best of my abilities. With that you are free to start your journey!"
Excited to get the show on the road, Kaia recalled Aqua, said her goodbyes to the Professor and headed off to the nearest pokecenter. She had already decided to explore the city today and start her journey in the next few days. She deposited her belongings in her complimentary room in the pokecenter you got for being a trainer and started her exploration around town.
-0-
It felt good to finally go to sleep at home again, I was feeling more relaxed than I ever did in my grandparent's burrow. Dad told me about some of the legendary pokemon that were considered to be gods as a bedtime story before I fell asleep. I would say I've had a fairly normal morning after waking up. After sleeping in for what my parents considered was too long, the sun was only past the midpoint of the sky so I think they were over exaggerating. I nursed like usual and stretched. Mom and Dad allowed me outside the cave while they watched from a rock in the center of the clearing. I ran around the rock over and over again for no particular reason, I found it funny how Mom had to keep rotating herself to keep track of me. After a while of running I got bored and spotted a pile of leaves on the outskirts of the clearing. Remembering how much fun the eevee seemed to be having when they played in the leaves I ran over and leapt into the pile. The pile of leaves let me through, as my body completely disappeared into the pile. I enjoyed the feeling of being completely hidden and peaked through the leaves. My parents were looking for any sign of movement from the pile I was hidden in which I giggled at. For some reason I found myself enjoying stepping on the leaves to make the satisfying crunching noises and crumbling them to tiny bits. After a while of stepping on leaves I burst out of the pile, reducing it to nothing. I played in other leaf piles for awhile before, in another leaf pile, I felt a horrible itching in my fur. I looked down at my body to see the tiny bits of leaf sticking to my fur. I harrumphed in disappointment as my fur was dirtied, thinking, 'I had fun but now my fur is a mess!' The leaf bits were now stuck deeper in my fur making it itch even more. I poked my head out of the leaves and my parents started laughing at me. With only my head visible from the red leaves and the obvious look of disappointment stuck on my face, making the whole scene very comedic for anyone other than me.
I walked out of the leaves towards my parents. When I reached the base of the rock they were resting on I asked, "Can you clean me? My fur is so itchy now." Giving my best pleading look at Mom.
She noticed the red bits of leaf strewn throughout my white fur, sighed and said, "Of course dear, let me come get you." She jumped down from the rock, grabbed my scruff and jumped back onto the rock. The rock was big enough to hold all three of us comfortably and was warmer than I thought it would be. I laid down on the warm rock as Mom groomed me. The soothing strokes of her tongue as well as the warmth of the rock nearly lulled me off to sleep before Dad spoke up.
"After we get you all cleaned up, I should start your training on the basic moves." He said, instantly drawing away any sleepiness I felt as I looked at him with excitement on my face.
After that I kept moving around and doing little hops of excitement to the point Mom got frustrated with me and said, "Quit moving around and let me clean you like you asked! I swear I will hold you down if I have to!" She put her paw on my back and used force, it didn't take that much, to push me back into a lying position. Dad chuckled at Mom losing her temper. I stopped moving, allowing Mom to start aggressively grooming me again, spitting out any bits of leaf she came across.
When she was done I awkwardly hopped off the massive boulder, stumbled to the ground, sat, and started expectantly at Dad.
Dad sighed, got up, and mumbled something about patience under his breath before jumping down as well. He smiled at me and said, "I guess it's time to teach you how to defend yourself." My tails started wagging. "You need to take this seriously Astra, you will need this in the future." He put on a more stern face as he said this and I stopped wagging. He continued, "Okay now the first move I want to teach you is called tail whip. It's not an attack, but it will still help in battle. What you want to do is wag your tails cutely, this will cause your opponent to underestimate you and lower their defenses. I will demonstrate." He lowered his front half into a crouch and swooshed his tails around cutely.
I was so confused, it showed when I tilted my head to the side. 'Is Dad messing with me? This has to be a joke, right?' I couldn't help but think. I voiced my thoughts, "You just want me to get me to act cute by doing this. This can't be a real move!" I pouted at the fact he would lie to me like this.
"This is a real move, Astra. I know it sounds silly, even I thought it was stupid when my parents taught me. But that is why it is so effective, no one expects it. Before you say that you're not going to try this move, I will say that I will not teach you another move until you do it correctly." He said with a perfectly serious face.
'You gotta be kidding me! Fine, If he wants me to act cute to start teaching me moves, then I act cute!' Making a hurumphing sound to show how disappointed I was, I copied his pose exactly and wagged my tails. I felt so embarrassed.
"Sorry, but you are doing it wrong. If you have a fierce face and demeanor like you do now your opponent will know you are up to something and not lower their guard at all. Calm your emotions and do it again, if you put on a cute expression it might make the move even more effective. Trust me, Astra, I am not deceiving you, this is an actual tactic."
'Ugh, I guess I should trust him, he is my Dad. If he is deceiving me I could always punish him later.' I thought, thinking of all the evil things I could get back at my Dad with. Feeling a little better, I struck the pose again, but this time I used an innocent expression, made my eyes go super wide, and swung my tails around a little more enthusiastically.
Both Mom, who was still on top of the rock, and Dad seemed to melt at my cute display. They wore the goofiest smiles on their faces, like this was the happiest they've ever been. My mood instantly turned sour as I shouted, "I knew it! You just wanted me to act cute for you! Why don't you just tell me that you don't think I'm ready to learn moves yet instead of lying to me and making me do embarrassing stuff!" I turned around and ran into the cave. I could hear Dad call me and tell me to wait but I didn't even look back. When I got into the cave I went straight to my nest and buried my face into the moss. Tears of frustration leaked out of my eyes. 'Why do I have to be so small? I shouldn't have gotten my hopes up, of course I'm too weak to start training. Why did I think any differently? They must be disappointed they got a child like me after waiting so long.' I continued to think disparaging thoughts until I heard a voice behind me.
"Astra, are you okay?" Dad's voice sounded concerned as he entered the cave. "I swear that that is an actual move, I'm sorry you thought differently. We only looked so happy because you doing a tailwhip worked a little too well on us, you could say it was super effective." He gave an awkward and fake laugh. I continued to stay silent and left my face buried to hide my tears. He came up to me and rubbed my back with his paw. "Astra, I do think you're ready to start learning moves, just not advanced moves. I know you want to rush to the complicated and powerful moves but you have to be patient for your body to mature."
I whispered my doubts into my nest barely audible enough for Dad to hear, "What if my body never matures?" I let out a sob when I spoke letting anyone who heard it know I was crying. Mom walked in and curled up next to me, surrounding me with her tails.
"Why would you think something as silly as that, everyone matures in time, dear. You will grow strong and we will be proud when you do, like every other parent when they see their child grow." Dad chided me gently.
Anger grew in my chest at my fears and doubts being called silly. When I felt like I was about to burst I turned towards Dad with tears still in my eyes and yelled, "You always reassure me that I'm not weak but I know you hate me! You would rather have a normal kit!" Dad's face was horror stricken and he stared speechless. I could feel Mom tense against me. "I am weak and I will always be weak, why do you always throw my fears away like they're unfounded?" I was trembling, 'Did I really say that outloud?' I continued crying watching his face turn from horror to anger before settling on sadness.
It was completely silent for a long while only interrupted by my muffled sobbing as I stuck my head back into the nest. Dad whispered, "That's what you think of us…" sadness mixed with his voice, I wanted to say it wasn't but my sobbing only increased in volume. Dad then got up and I watched him go, his whole body was slumped in defeat, his tails gathering dust and dirt as they dragged on the ground behind him. He exited the cave.
Mom was still trembling. Her sobs were quieter than mine but still present. She still stayed with me even though I caused her to be sad. My gut turned with guilt, 'Why did I do this? I should have just suppressed those feelings!" It was still early evening when I cried myself to sleep.
When I woke up I opened one eye but didn't bother getting up. It was dark and I was alone in the nest. 'Figures, I doubt Mom and Dad ever want to sleep with a horrible daughter like me after how I yelled at them when they only tried to help.' I thought before I heard Mom and Dad speaking to each other.
They seemed to be sitting near the entrance of the cave. Dad said, "To think Astra had been thinking so poorly of herself, her feelings must have been building up until now. I have been such a terrible father not to realize. Our reassurances and compliments must have sounded so hollow if she only thought of herself as a nuisance that we didn't want."
"And I'm a terrible mother, as I could only lay there and comfort her with my body as she cried herself to sleep. I couldn't think of anything to say and my crying couldn't have helped her mood. How could we mess up as parents so much? What can we do if all of our reassurances are thrown away? How can we help her get rid of this false preconception she has of herself?" Mom cried.
There was silence as Dad thought up what to say. "We need to let her show herself how strong she actually is. The stronger she appears to be the more confidence she will gain. If by chance she never gets stronger…" He paused for a moment, "Then we just have to show her how much we love her and that we would never want anyone but her to be our child!" His voice was determined.
'They still love me even after what I did? They don't wish for a normal kit?' It was hard to believe what I was hearing. But this time I believed them because they thought I was asleep so they had no reason to lie for my sake. They actually wanted to help me become stronger. My eyes teared up with relief but I stayed silent. 'Why did I doubt them? They've been nothing but loving towards me.' I thought as I managed to look at them with the corner of my eye, I still felt the same overwhelming love I felt when I first laid my eyes upon them. I would never want anyone else to be my parents. At that point, I had heard enough, they had just started coming up with ways to prove how much they loved me when I tuned them out and fell back asleep. Only good dreams graced me that night.
When I woke both Mom and Dad were with me in the nest, still sleeping. I was completely starving having skipped last night's meal, so I nursed while Mom was asleep attacking her belly. I felt Mom jump at the sensation.
Mom groaned and said, "Astra… Ugh, can't you wait until I'm awake? I haven't even eaten yet."
She sounded a little annoyed and sat up a little but I kept feeding until I was full. "You didn't eat yesterday did you? You know, your body won't grow if you keep skipping meals." She teased. "If you're ever hungry again just poke me awake or tell me and I will stop what I'm doing to come feed you. It's an extremely important job for the mother to keep their young one from being hungry. One day you'll be tasked with feeding your kit and you'll understand." She cooed at me.
I stared at her in disbelief. "I'm sorry for waking you but there's no way I will ever be someone's Mom, that's just weird!" I exclaimed, truly baffled by her statement.
"Hey, I'm a Mom! Are you implying I'm weird?" Mom said in mock offense.
I shifted from paw to paw at the accusation and said, "No you're the best Mom ever! I was saying it was weird for me to be a Mom. I would never do that ever!"
"Oh really? It won't feel like such a impossibility anymore when you find someone you like, like I like your Dad!" Mom said in a heavily teasing tone.
I cringed at the thought and made a disgusted face saying, "Ew, I'll never like someone like that, you can't make me! So I will never be a mother!"
Dad woke up from all of our activity asking, "What are you doing?" He yawned.
"I was just having some fun with Astra after she woke me up." Mom said
"She told me I was going to be a mother one day! Wouldn't that be super weird?" I asked, still weirded out.
"Well it's too soon to be thinking about stuff like that but maybe in the future… it would be nice to have a grandchild." Dad said with a thoughtful look.
"Nooooo, not you too! I thought you would back me up!" I protested.
Dad laughed and said,"Well anyways, good morning my dears! You seem to be in quite a better mood than yesterday!" He smiled at me.
I pressed my ears to the back of my head, feeling guilty about what happened and mumbled, "I'm sorry about what I said to you guys yesterday, I don't know what came over me. I swear I don't actually think that about you. I know you love me and I love you too! Can you ever forgive me for being so horrible?"
"I know you do Astra. We didn't take what you said to heart, we knew you were not feeling the best about yourself. There is nothing to even be forgiven, we're just happy you love us." Dad said in a kind and loving tone, licking my head. "Anyways there is something me and Mom wanted to tell you about." I tilted my head to the side wondering what it was before they continued, "I said that if you perfected tailwhip that I would teach you other moves but the tailwhip you did yesterday before you stormed off was incredible, a little too incredible actually. First me and your Mom thought that it only worked so well for reasons like you being cuter than other vulpix or that we are your parents so it was more effective on us, but we talked some more about it and we think you accidentally performed a combo with another move!" Dad sounded excited about this and I leaned in, incredibly curious about what he was talking about. "There is an extremely rare move that vulpix have a small chance of knowing when they are born. This move that can't be taught, you either are born with it or you never gain it. The move is a fairy type move called baby-doll eyes."
The glare in my eyes when he told me the name could've probably burned a hole through a rock. "Seriously, a move called baby-doll eyes?" The non-belief in my voice was evident. "If I already didn't believe that the move tailwhip was an actual move, why would you think I would believe a move called baby-doll eyes would exist? That sounds completely made up and stupid!"
"Look it's not like I made up the name!" I gave him an incredulous look. "I didn't! Astra I would never lie to you about moves you could do in battle. Think about it, if I lied to you about what moves you could use, it could very well get you killed. I wouldn't be able to live with myself if that happened. So can you please just trust me for once! I truly want to help you get stronger." He pleaded with me.
It did make sense that he wouldn't lie about this, so I felt bad for thinking he was deceiving me. "I'm sorry, those moves just sound so ridiculous. I guess I'll take your word for it."
"Great! Now I need to confirm you have the move, so try it right now. The move doesn't require any movement so we can do it here in the cave. Remember the exact expression you made when doing the tailwhip yesterday and replicate it. Focus on your target and will the move to happen." Dad instructed, moving opposite to me.
Looking at him I changed my expression to a neutral one and made my eyes as large as I possibly could. Trying to look as cute as possible I willed myself to use baby-doll eyes. Strangely, I felt a little energy drain out of me.
"Oh you are sooo cute. I can feel my will to fight you draining, so that means you actually do have the move!" He exclaimed, walking back to me. "The move baby-doll eyes lowers your opponent's attack, if you use it in combination with tailwhip like you did before, you can effectively lower both the attack and defense of your opponent at the same time." He explained. "Now let's have you learn tackle, which is the most basic of attacking moves. Come outside with us, we will need room to practice."
'Finally a move that I can get behind.' I thought as I happily hopped after my parents who were now exiting the cave. When I got outside the sun was fully visible but barely over the horizon meaning it was early morning. The weather was perfectly clear with a few very small clouds dotting the sky. I could tell it was colder than yesterday but it didn't really bother me.
Mom stopped first, Dad walked a little bit farther into the clearing, putting some space in between Mom and him. They had me sit so I could see both of them clearly from the side.
"So first things first, we'll demonstrate how to do the move then we'll have you try. Petal will be the attacker and I will be the defender. Make sure you pay attention to things like how Petal runs, jumps and impacts with me, every detail is important." As he said this he started getting prepared to take the hit. He crouched lower and looked like he was going to attack before saying, "Okay honey I'm ready for you."
When he said this Mom went into an instant dash towards Dad, she traveled at a run that was as fast as I've ever seen her go. When she got into a close enough range she transitioned her run into a leap by launching her front legs the moment they touched the ground. When the front of her body was far enough in the air she used her back legs to propel herself forward and completely off the ground, launching her body towards Dad at an even faster speed than before. While she was fully in the air she positioned her front legs so they would be the first part of her to impact into Dad. When she finally made contact with Dad she hit him hard with her front paws, losing most of her momentum but it wasn't over with that. She then used her head to impact him a second time knocking him off his paws completely and landing perfectly over his body before jumping back to retreat.
After she stepped back I could hear Dad groaning on the ground. "Uhhhh, honey did you really have to use full force? You seriously couldn't have held back a little bit?" He was panting.
Mom giggled and replied, "You didn't tell me to hold back dear, besides we want to give Astra the best possible demonstration if she is going to succeed." She turned to me and said, "I guess I'll explain what I did since your father is busy crying on the ground over there. So with running towards your target you want to run fast enough to impact hard but not fast enough that you can't turn when you need to. The enemy will usually be moving around so you'll want to be able to change direction mid-run. When jumping you want your back legs to push you forward and only jump when you know that you'll hit the enemy as you can't turn mid-jump. Now when you hit the target you want to focus on just hitting with your front paws. What I was doing by using my head was a more complex version of tackle where you first hit with your paws then hit with your head only at the right moment. This version of tackle does more damage. If you do it wrong and you are traveling too fast when you hit your head you could hurt your own head, causing damage to yourself. When you land you have to land on your paws or you leave yourself open for an attack, then quickly retreat. You got it?"
"Yup, I run, jump, hit my target with my front paws, and land on my paws. Can't be that hard, right?" Turns out that was not the case for a tiny undexterous kit. Walking a little ways away I looked at Mom and charged at full speed yelling, "Aaaahhhhhhh… oof." My fierce battle cry was cut short when I tried to jump at Mom, my front legs tripped and I face planted into the rough ground at my full speed. My mouth filled with both dirt and grass. The corner of my eyes tearing up and my whole face stung. "O-ow." I whined in a hurt voice.
"Are you okay Astra?" Mom asked in concern. I hesitantly nodded, feeling distraught as she came over and picked me up by my scruff, setting me back on my paws. "It's okay, no one expected you to perfect the move on your first try, let's try again." Mom said, smiling and attempting to reassure me.
I nodded, still determined to learn my first combat move but more wary than I was before. We both walked a little bit aways from one another and I turned to face her again. I took a deep breath trying to clear my thoughts of doubt before running at Mom again. This time I hadn't failed as spectacularly as I had done on my first try, but I still failed. I jumped successfully this time gaining a tiny bit of air, but it turned out to be just a tiny hop. I landed in front of Mom stumbling into her leg with the little amount of momentum I had managed to gain.
"Make sure you determine how far you can jump, the distance will grow as you get older. For now jump at me when you get all the way up to me." Mom tipped.
'Third times the charm.' I thought, feeling rather hopeful for this time to succeed. I tried again, running at her as fast as I could. This time I took her advice and only jumped when I was a short distance away from her. The jump succeeded and my front paws managed to hit her with all of my force. Even with all of the force I could muster, Mom didn't budge at all. When my paws hit her it was like I was trying to tackle a tree, the momentum of my body made my head reach past my paws and I slammed my head into my tough Mom. I crumpled into a pile on the ground, I swore I could see stars flying past my eyes and I was super dizzy. I tried to get up only to stumble around and keep falling.
"Great job Astra you managed to successfully tackle me!" Mom said while watching me stumble around and fall over every time I tried to get up. "Maybe we should stop for today."
After I felt a little better I asked "How was that a success? That was the best I could do and you didn't move at all or get hurt."
"Well, you don't become a combat master in a day. Me and your Dad have been training and getting stronger for the 50 years that we have been alive, of course you aren't going to hurt us. If any kit could best us we wouldn't be able to protect you very well, now would we?" She reasoned, "Now If you use a tackle on someone on your own skill level you would get better results."
'That makes sense, I guess. Mom did seem really strong when she battled that mightyena and she is way bigger than me.' I thought, feeling a little more confident in myself. "When do I get to learn fire moves?" I asked, hopeful that I would be better at that.
"Patience dear, we will get to that eventually." Dad said, getting up from the spot he was watching us from. "It's not like you are going to have to battle anytime soon. So let's make sure you gain mastery of the moves you have instead of rushing you to learn multiple moves that you only gain a basic understanding of."
'So he's going to make me wait by making me get better at tackle. If that's the case, I'll just have to practice a lot so I can learn fire moves sooner.' I planned, becoming determined to get better faster. "I want to practice more, I'm not even tired yet!"
Dad looked happy seeing the determination on my face. "Sure, this time I want you to use tailwhip on Petal and then tackle her, this way your attack will be more successful."
So that's what I did for the next part of the day. I tailwhiped and tackled Mom over and over again. Some of the tackles still failed for one reason or another but I started to see improvements. I learned things like how to not hit my head into Mom even if she didn't budge and tricks to help keep my speed throughout the attack so I would have more of an impact. Mom even started complaining after a while that the spot I was tackling started to hurt, which I was rather proud of, so Dad switched in for me to practice on him. I started to fail less and less as the day went on, making my tackle more of a reliable move. After I gained enough understanding of the basics of tackle, Dad started moving around while having me try to tackle where he was going to be explaining that a normal opponent won't stand there and let you hit them. This of course was much harder, I had to know where he was going to be before I jumped because I couldn't maneuver myself in midair. I failed most of the time before I became tired, breathing hard.
It was past mid-day before Dad said, "That's enough for today, we don't want to over-tire your muscles. Don't worry, we'll do more tomorrow. You've improved a lot today and did quite a number on us." He chuckled as he said this. "If you keep this amount of progress up, you'll reach my expectations in a few days!"
I was sad that he was going to be making me practice the same move for multiple days more but proud of my progress. I knew his compliment was genuine because I saw my own improvement for myself. My mood having been improved and being completely exhausted, I agreed to stop.
We talked and rested for the rest of the day, generally just enjoying eachothers company. My parents explained more things about the world and told stories about pokemon I had yet to see. Fantastical stories about pokemon that were giant, ferocious, or beautiful. I took in every detail with bated breath. I was so interested in the stories that time flew by and it was dark before I knew it. The moon was out and the stars shone brightly as we looked at them for the second time together. When I could barely hold my eyes open Mom carried me to the den and fed me before we curled up together and fell asleep.
Chapter End
Story Lore
The production and use of TMs:
TMs or Technical Machines are an incredible piece of technology. They allow a pokemon that uses them to instantaneously gain knowledge about anything from moves to techniques. Most TMs are created with the combined efforts of a person, one psychic pokemon, and the pokemon who knows the move. The human activates the machine and starts the initial configuration of the device. Once the machine is prepared the psychic copies the information of how to use the move from the pokemon who knows the move's brain and imprints it to the disk in the machine. The psychic pokemon then imbues the TM with psychic energy so that whatever pokemon that activities it will absorb the information along with the energy. This process cannot be automated causing the price for these to be quite high, the more advanced moves being even more expensive so trainers don't rush their pokemon's development and hurt them with moves that require more energy than their bodies can handle. There are uses for TMs other than learning moves though, such as teaching wild pokemon the human language. Pokemon usually don't understand human speech unless they are taught it. A service that a pokemon center offers to officially registered pokemon trainers is to use a language technical machine on any caught wild pokemon for free, allowing the pokemon to understand their trainer's commands. Before TMs existed trainers had to teach their own pokemon what their commands meant themselves, which increased both the difficulty and the time it took to complete a pokemon journey.