Episode 6: Reach for the sky!
The last couple of weeks have seemed like a whirlwind for Niko. The last thing he ever expected to be doing was going on another adventure with his friends. Only this time, it was with his roommate, Warren, and his new friend, Charlotte. The three of them were en route to Aspertia City, the first point in their destination, as it was suggested to them by Professor Juniper.
Like with their previous boat ride from Nuvema Town to Castelia City, Niko held out his snivy so she could see the ocean they were travelling on. He looked above him and saw a flock of unfamiliar eagle-like pokémon. In the sea, he and snivy noticed small green piranha-like pokémon.
"What do you think those are?" Niko asked Snivy, who watched them nervously.
"Those are Basculin." Charlotte said. "They're water type pokémon, and very common here in Unova."
"Kind of like Magikarp…" Niko said, pulling out his pokédex:
"Basculin, the hostile pokémon. Water type. Red-and blue-striped Basculin are very violent and always fighting. They are also remarkably tasty."
"Well, guess we'd have to try 'Basculin' sometime…" Niko said, contorting his face a little at the thought of knowingly eating a pokémon." Charlotte laughed a little at the comment—and the facial expression.
"It isn't too bad, actually. Castelia City has a great restaurant that sells it."
"Well, it's certainly not the restaurant I worked for, then." He admitted. "And what about those birds up there?" Niko asked, pointing to the eagles, hoping they weren't edible, as they looked kind of adorable.
"I…I think those are Rufflet. But I could be wrong." She said, less certain of herself. Suddenly, she noticed Niko's face turn slightly pale. "You alright?"
"I…yes. I get seasick. I completely forgot that." Niko said, putting down Snivy and running off to somewhere that doesn't trigger his nausea as easily, leaving Charlotte with Snivy and her own smeargle. Warren was laying down on one of the lounge chairs reading a book while Poliwag and Sewaddle took naps.
The trip to Aspertia City took roughly half a day, with the group reaching the city by nightfall. On their way, they noticed a lighthouse far off of the coast of Castelia City. They also noticed a massive tower far off to the south. It looked imposing enough for Charlotte to give it a nervous glance, but she was nevertheless sure it wasn't used with malicious intent.
Meanwhile, on the boat, Niko lay down on a couch in the lower deck of the ship. He hoped that this journey would be over with quickly so he could get back to his life. Well, I'll come back to Castelia City without a job, so I have that to think about. But I'll have satiated both Warren's and Charlotte's desires to take a trip and see new places. Even if we haven't seen much, it'll have been something, I guess.
But doesn't Aspertia City have a gym? I think Warren's going to try and persuade me to go give it a try. I don't want to. I hardly remember the last time I won a gym battle, much less a battle in general. To be fair, Snivy is a strong pokémon, but not strong enough to win a battle. If I have to challenge a gym, I'd be tempted to win it, and so would Snivy. But whether or not my desire is to win, if I don't then none of it matters. If I don't win, then that should be enough to convince myself that I'm truly not cut out for it. And I think that would convince Warren enough that he will not bother me about travelling any more.
"Hey, Niko, we've arrived." Niko looked up to see Charlotte looking down at him, her hazel eyes glaring at him. He must've fallen asleep, as he felt groggy.
"Oh, right." He said, sitting up. "Sorry, I just wasn't feeling myself."
"Yeah, you get seasick. That's fine! Snivy just hung out with me and smeargle. She really likes looking at the sea."
"I've noticed." Niko stood up, towering over Charlotte. "Well, let's check out Aspertia City, then."
Niko, Warren, and Charlotte got off of the boat and walked through the port of Aspertia City. Not sure where to start, they headed to the Pokémon Center first. Sitting in a booth—like usual—the three just made small talk for the remainder of the night.
"So Charlotte," Warren said, leaning forward. "Niko hasn't mentioned much of you. Where're you from?"
"Castelia City. I've lived there my whole life. What about you."
"I've lived in Castelia for most of my life as well." Warren said. "And do you currently work?"
"No, I just graduated a couple months ago, and just been looking for a job while living with my mom."
"Oh? Where'd you go to school?"
"Castelia University."
"Same here! I graduated a year before you, then. What'd you study?"
"Art. I also took enough classes in Pokémon History to get a degree in that as well." Charlotte responded, motioning for Warren to answer the same question.
"Literature and education. I want to teach and write. What about you?"
"Ideally, become an artist. That's incidentally how I met my Smeargle." She said, looking down at the Painter Pokémon. "So, you two when on a trip before this?"
"Yeah, Niko and I went to Nuvema Town with the intent of taking Snivy back to her home."
"And you ended up catching Snivy instead?" Charlotte asked, turning to Niko, who simply nodded. "That's cool. What made you do it?"
"We got closer and human and Pokémon, I guess. Professor Juniper and Warren both thought I'd be the best trainer for her, even though I'm not much of a battler."
"Well, you will be, Niko!" Warren said excitedly. "There's a gym here in Aspertia City, and I think you should take it on!" Niko sighed heavily. He was hoping to avoid this conversation. "You should have seen him take on the former gym leader of Striaton City, Charlotte. It was amazing to see."
"Warren! That was literally the only battle you've ever seen me in, and it's all you talk about." Niko said, raising his voice a little. "Please, just stop."
"But, Niko…I saw a passion in your eyes. You were in the zone there!" Warren protested.
"I lost, though. And I had the advantage."
"So?" Warren asked. "Who cares if you lost! Snivy is new to battling, and you had no idea that Panpour would be as strong as it was. Plus, you didn't even know the kinds of moves Snivy can learn!
"I'd actually like to watch that, if it's as impressive as Warren says." Charlotte finally commented. Niko shot her a glare, and calmed down a little. "But hey, if you don't like battling, then you don't have to. I just think that it might be fun for you, and fun for all of us. Plus, Snivy seems like the type of Pokémon that would genuinely enjoy it too!"
"I don't like battling, you're right." Niko huffed. "But Snivy does. And if you two insist, then sure. I'll try it. But if I lose, then I'm not going to try again, and we'll be on our way. Got it?"
Warren and Charlotte both nodded in agreement, settling the matter. Niko sat back in his chair, slightly content. The three continued talking about miscellaneous things for another couple of hours before heading off to bed in one of the rental rooms in the Pokémon Center. Warren was the first to fall asleep, with Niko and Charlotte staying up a little longer, both silently reading for a bit before sleeping.
Niko woke up the following morning to notice that he was alone in the room. Warren and Charlotte were both out, leaving only himself and Snivy. Stepping out of bed and getting dressed, Niko and his pokémon joined their friends, who were sitting in the same booth from the previous night talking.
"Morning, Niko!" Warren said.
"Morning." Charlotte said with a warm smile. "Sleep well?"
"Yeah, like a baby." Niko muttered as he sat down next to the brunette. "You?" Charlotte nodded in response, sipping coffee as she did so. "Good."
"So Niko, ready for your gym battle today?" Warren asked.
"Does it have to be today?" Niko asked exhaustedly. "I'd prefer to train with Snivy for a bit before we go there."
"That's fine. Do you want us around when you train?" He asked.
"If you want to be, but it doesn't matter. I don't even know where to start." Niko replied. This was a lie, as he did know how to train pokémon. Just not train them well.
"You might need a sparring partner, so we should stay." Charlotte said in a nod to Warren, who quickly agreed. "Pokémon Centers often have practice battlefields that we can use. Maybe you can try using one of those?"
"I was thinking about that, actually." Niko said cordially. "And sure, if you guys want to battle against me, that'd be alright."
On the battlefield, Snivy looked up at Niko curiously, unsure of exactly what they were about to do. Charlotte, Warren, and their Pokémon all sat on a nearby bench and watched the two begin their training.
"Snivy, the others want us to try and beat the Aspertia City Gym. And since you want to get stronger, I think this would be a good place to start." Niko said, kneeling down. "Bear with me, because it's been a while since I've trained anyone." He said softly, since Snivy knew that he used to be a Pokémon trainer. Standing back up, he thought of where he might want to start. "Alright, Snivy I want you to jump left and right, like this." Niko said, demonstrating what he meant. "This is something a friend of mine tried once. It's a beginning exercise to help you evade attacks. After a while, try jumping back and forth, like so." Niko then repeated the motion, only moving forwards and backwards. Snivy then began trying it on her own, successfully getting the hang of it. "Great job! You nailed it. Now, let's do that for a couple more minutes with some breaks, and then we can move on to using your moves, alright?"
Snivy nodded and continued jumping around. Warren and Charlotte watched with interest, noting that Niko seemed more adept at training than he had previously shown. He then moved on to working on Snivy's moves, checking in his pokédex that the Grass Snake Pokémon knew tackle, leer, and vine whip.
"So…I guess with vine whip you just want to start by working on the release. For a fast pokémon like you, release is very important, Snivy. If you can land your attack first, it makes it easier to land successive attacks. Make sense?" Snivy nodded. "Alright. Let's try it. Just focus on snapping the vines out. Try it."
Snivy released her vines, albeit it was slower than Niko had noticed during her battles with Cress' Panpour. Frowning slightly, Niko asked her to try it again. Snivy did so, and repeated this for several more minutes until she began to express exhaustion.
"Being tired is a good thing, Snivy. You can do this." He said. "Hey, Warren, care to battle us with poliwag?"
"Of course. C'mon, poliwag!" Warren said, jogging over to one end of the field opposite his roommate. "Let's go! Use water gun!"
"Snivy, dodge and use vine whip!" Niko shouted. As soon as he saw Snivy began charging forward, he saw a blur shoot down from the sky and tackle Snivy. "What the—Snivy! Are you alright?" Niko watched as the dust cloud that had formed from the impact cleared, leaving a small eaglelike Pokémon butting heads with Snivy. "Hey! Get away!" He shouted, waving his arms as he ran towards the Pokémon, who glared at him and charged towards Niko instead.
"Poliwag, water gun!" Warren commanded. The water hit the bird in the back, forcing it to lose control of its wings and crash into the ground. Snivy then lunged forward and quickly released her vine whips. The bird flipped back over and swatted at the green vines with its wings, allowing Niko to get a better look at the small bird.
It was a blue avian pokémon, to be sure, with a large white plume of feathers covering its head and three tail feathers extending from its lower back. The feathery plume extended down past its neck and covered the upper third of its body. Its face was blue with five pointed tips that resembled a mask, and extending from its forehead was a large red and white feather. Lastly, it had a short yellow beak, short yellow legs and talons, and large white and black eyes. From the bench, Charlotte pulled out her pokédex:
"Rufflet, the Eaglet Pokémon. Normal and flying type. It stands up to massive opponents, not out of courage, but out of recklessness. But that is how it gets stronger."
"Niko! I was right! These are Rufflets!" Charlotte shouted, evidently proud of herself for being correct. "But…I think this is why it's attacking Snivy. Snivy is bigger than it!"
Charlotte was correct—the Rufflet was quite small. Niko would later learn that normally, Rufflets are taller than the average Snivy. In this case, however, Rufflet was barely a foot in height. It was far below the average height for its species. But Niko didn't consider that in the moment.
"It wants to prove itself…" Niko muttered to himself. "Alright Rufflet. Let's go. Snivy, use leer!"
Snivy glared at Rufflet, which seemed to only anger the Eaglet Pokémon more. The flying type charged at the Grass Snake Pokémon who, using her training, evaded the peck attack and slapped Rufflet in the back of the head with the vines. Rufflet charged a second time, to which Snivy jumped over Rufflet and spun back around, whipping the Eaglet Pokémon in the back with her vines, and knocking it over.
"Niko! You should catch it!" Warren shouted. "It wants to get stronger, too!"
Niko sighed. Why does Warren have to keep making these kinds of suggestions? He asked himself. "I don't think I have a pokéball on me, though!"
"Here!" Charlotte said, tossing one over a spare pokéball. "I brought some with me, just in case!"
"Err, thanks." Niko said picking up the pokéball that eventually rolled up to him. He picked it up, pointed it to Rufflet, and threw it down towards the Eaglet Pokémon, who turned a bright red color and went inside the pokéball. It fell to the ground, wiggled around a few times before ultimately settling with a "click" sound. "Well then…" Niko crouched down to pick up the capture Rufflet. "Guess we have a new partner, Snivy."
"Sni!" Snivy said cheerfully.
"And you did great in that battle. I'm really proud of you." Niko said warmly, which reflected his mood in that moment. Snivy smiled back, feeling more confident in her ability to fight after training with Niko.
Charlotte and Warren walked over to Snivy and Niko, who now stood back up with his new pokéball in hand. "Congrats, Niko." Charlotte said kindly. "That Rufflet looks strong."
"It sure was, right Snivy?" Niko asked, looking down at his pokémon. An exhausted Snivy nodded. "I look forward to getting to know it, too. Rufflet looks pretty adorable. But anyways, Snivy is pretty exhausted. We should wait until later to challenge the Aspertia Gym, alright?"
"Sounds good. Let's go find a place to grab lunch soon!" Warren said. He then led the other two into the Pokémon Center. Niko looked down at his new pokéball containing the Rufflet. It reminded him of how he happened to catch every other bird pokémon that he owned. He had hoped that he could fulfill the Eaglet Pokémon's ambitions.