Episode 33: Growing pains!
The trio's trip to Opelucid City took them out of the Moor of Icirrus and onto route which wasn't much different to them. It was still snowing, and the land was still littered with frozen puddles and lakes, all scattered around the valley in a random fashion.
Along the way, Niko continued his training for his upcoming gym battle in Opelucid City. Still unsure of what type he would be facing, Niko decided to focus more on strategy and evasion, and less on offense. For the most part, his Pokémon were getting better at this. During their practice sessions, each of his six Pokémon were able to evade most of their teammate's moves. The exception here was Solosis, though.
Niko realized quickly that the Cell Pokémon was having difficulty shifting her body around to dodge a variety of attacks. This was odd to him, since Solosis—of all of his Pokémon—would have the easiest time, particularly because she could use her psychic abilities to shift herself away. However, as far as these training sessions were concerned, Solosis wasn't doing as well as either she or Niko wanted her to.
After a couple hours of training, Niko sat down on a rock near their camp and stared into the fire that Litwick and Smeargle lit. Taking a deep breath, he turned to see his Pokémon eating dinner. It had been a long day, and they deserved to have a break.
"How're you?" Charlotte asked, looking up from her book on the Unova region. "Feeling alright?"
"Oh, of course I am. It's just…Solosis…" Niko said, eying the Cell Pokémon. "Something's been up with her lately. Not quite sure what it is, though."
"Maybe she's feeling sick?" Warren suggested. "Servine dealt with it, too. Maybe Solosis is coming down with something, but would prefer to power through it, especially since you've got a big gym battle coming up?"
"It's possible. I didn't think of it from that perspective. Thanks, Warren." Niko said. He eyed Solosis once more, trying to notice any sign of weakness. It wasn't that Solosis was slow—she was plenty fast. But she wasn't using her powers to their full potential. But, Niko thought, it's possible she might be ill. He'd wait until the following day to better understand the problem.
Over the next couple of days, Niko continued training with his team, and each time he failed to notice a problem with Solosis. For whatever reason, her psychic abilities seemed to be dampening, and it caused her to slow down. Occasionally, Niko noticed her wince on occasion, as if she was feeling a pain of some sort.
"Solosis…are you alright?" Niko said just after a particularly difficult training session. Solosis looked up at Niko and nodded, albeit with difficulty. "Let's get you something to eat, then. Will that make it feel better?"
Solosis nodded, and the two sat down on a broken log and rested for a bit, both watching the others practice against one another.
"What's been up with you, recently?" Niko asked, turning to Solosis. "You've seemed off lately. And now, you're in pain."
As soon as he finished answering, Niko suddenly saw a flood of images cross over into his mind. They were a variety of random, scattered, unrelated things, shapes, landscapes, and people. Unlike when Niko first caught Solosis, nothing here made any sense.
"I just saw a bunch of random images, Solosis. What are you trying to tell me?" He continued. Solosis tried again, this time straining herself a little. And once again, Niko just saw scattered, irrelevant pictures in his head. "Okay, something's definitely wrong with you right now. Let's have you rest up—no training for a day or two, alright?"
Solosis nodded, albeit hesitantly. Niko, seeming satisfied with his choice, got back up to help Warren and Charlotte with their dinner.
That evening, Niko was discussing his issues with Solosis, in particular explaining the random images he saw. Both Charlotte and Warren didn't know what to say at first. Eventually, they both piped in.
"It's possible Solosis is simply losing control of her psychic powers. Maybe it's a thing that species goes through?" Warren said. "None of us have ever owned a psychic Pokémon before, could it possibly be that this is a normal thing for them?"
Niko, who has owned a psychic Pokémon, shook his head. "Don't think so. That's the problem, though! I have no idea what she could be going through. And it seems like even she doesn't know—she seemed surprised that I couldn't understand what she was conveying to me." Niko put his hand in his long, messy hair and pulled it up a little in frustration. "Charlotte, does your book say anything about Solosis?"
Charlotte pulled her book out and flipped through it before shaking her head. "Doesn't look like it. It isn't really a pokédex, though. This book shows me where Solosis are commonly found…and it's just where you ended up catching one: on route 4."
"Alright, thanks. I need to think more about this." Niko said, placing his chin on his hand and staring into the fire, watching the flames move wildly and randomly about.
The next day, the trio finally crossed through route 8 and reached the next part of their destination—Tubeline Bridge. Like the Driftveil Bridge, this one connected western Unova to Central Unova where Opelucid, Nimbasa, and Castelia City were located. However, unlike the Driftveil Bridge, this one was wider and uncolored, leaving the gray-silver color of steel instead of the red hue that characterized the bridge south of it.
"This is also a railway…which you might like, Warren." Charlotte said as they stopped at the edge of the bridge before crossing. Niko wanted to get some training done first.
"Oh, really?" Warren said excitedly.
"Yeah, maybe we'll see one on our way." Charlotte added with a smirk this time.
Meanwhile, Niko continued with his training. As usual, only Solosis was having difficulties. However, unlike the previous few days, she wasn't feeling as much pain. At least, she wasn't showing it.
"Hmm…Solosis seems to be doing better, Niko." Warren added.
"She is…I don't understand this."
"Could have just been a headache or something. I can imagine for psychic types a headache is far more difficult to deal with." Charlotte suggested.
"That's true. Solosis, you feeling better?" Niko asked. The Cell Pokémon turned to Niko and nodded before using a rollout on Braviary, who skillfully managed to evade and use the momentum from it to land a successful air cutter. "Great job!" Niko shouted proudly.
Just as he said so, a loud sound came from the other end of the road they had just traveled. Turning, Niko saw three motorcycles riding towards the bridge. As they got closer, Niko recognized them.
"Hey, guys…" Niko said as they were within sight. Warren and Charlotte both looked towards the bridge.
"They're from the Performance Festival!" Charlotte shouted, pointing at them. This seemed to catch their attention, for as soon as they reached the end of route 8, they stopped.
"You." The one in the middle said, pointing to Niko. "You're that kid from a couple months ago, right?"
"Maybe. How do you reckon?" Niko asked, trying to imitate the biker's twangy accent.
"That Solosis of yours." He said, pointing to the Cell Pokémon. "I see it hasn't gotten much stronger since we last met."
"Wanna bet on that?" Niko asked, turning to Solosis.
"Oh, course I do. Boys, I'll take this one." He said, getting off of his bike. "Name's Charles, in case you forgot." He said with a smirk. "One on one battle, whaddya say?"
"Sure. Solosis." Niko said, beckoning his psychic type over. The rest of Niko's team moved over to the sidelines where Warren and Charlotte were. Servine in particular wasn't happy, having been sidelined for most of Niko's battles since getting sick.
In return, Charles threw out a pokéball, this time containing an unfamiliar Pokémon to Niko. It was buffalo-like with a large, dark afro on its head. Two large, curving horns, each with two golden growths resembling rings, protruded from the afro. It had shaggy brown hide that ended at its knees and didn't cover its face.
"Bouffalant, the Bash Buffalo Pokémon. Normal type. They are known to charge so wildly that if a train were to enter their territory, they would send it flying."
"We can do this, right Solosis?" Niko asked. Solosis nodded. When she turned away from Niko, the Cell Pokémon took a deep breath, as if trying to gather up courage to fight. "Use psywave!"
Solosis attempted to use her psychic abilities, but nothing was happening. Instead, she cried out in pain. Unsure of what to do, Niko stood completely still as Bouffalant rammed into his Pokémon with a move called head charge, launching her into a rock fifty feet away.
"Solo—Solosis, use hidden power!" Niko said in a slight state of panic. Solosis nodded, slowly conjuring half of a dozen orange orbs to launch at Bouffalant, who seemed to block them with another head charge, this time breaking the rock behind Solosis and knocking her into the snow behind it. "Solosis!"
"What happened? I thought you beat me with this Pokémon…" Charles said, both excited and confused. "Bouffalant, megahorn!"
"Niko, no!" Charlotte shouted. "Don't let Solosis get hit with that move!"
It was too late; Bouffalant charged into Solosis, who had just gotten off of the ground, and flung the Cell Pokémon high into the air. As soon as Solosis was closing in on the ground, Bouffalant used a horn attack and sent her hurtling towards a tree trunk. Solosis fell face-first into the ground, defeated.
"Looks like I win. Hm." Charles said. "Let's go, guys. Off to Opelucid City." Charles said, returning his Bouffalant and mounting his bike once more, leaving Niko and his friends in the dust.
Niko rushed over to grab Solosis, who was unconscious at this point. He was more confused and sad than angry. "What happened…? Why is she acting like this?"
"Don't know…" Warren said. "C'mon, let's get her fixed up." He said, turning to Leavanny and Litwick, who helped make some string to wrap the Cell Pokémon up and some tea to calm her down.
Later that evening, Solosis was feeling much better, as evidenced by her playing games with Litwick and Tynamo. Niko, on the surface, was perfectly happy with this. But he was nonetheless concerned. Fortunately for his friends, Charlotte managed to see through it.
"Niko, do you want to talk about anything?" She asked her friend. Looking up from their campfire, Niko smiled and shook his head. "Are you sure?"
"Yes, I'm sure. But…what the hell is happening to Solosis? As soon as I commanded her to use psywave, she immediately felt pain. But with hidden power…it was different."
"So…maybe it's just her psychic powers that are out of whack." Warren deduced. "But why is that?"
"It's possible that she might be growing, actually." Charlotte proposed. Niko and Warren both turned their heads at this revelation. "Yeah, maybe it's like when we grow, we feel aching in our legs and back, right? Solosis might be going through a similar process right now."
"And that makes a lot of sense!" Warren. "Considering Solosis is the Cell Pokémon, maybe her cells are trying to split or something, like ours do? It's called mitosis, I think."
"Right. Solosis is going through mitosis right now, Niko." Charlotte explained. "Only, because she is a psychic type, and the cells in her body are more in tune with those abilities, it could be giving her really incredible migraines, just like our legs ache a lot when we grow."
"You two are geniuses." Niko said with a smile. "I love you guys." He said, eliciting smiles from both Warren and Charlotte.
The following day, the trio took off across Tubeline Bridge. From there, Opelucid City was only a couple of days away. The entire time, Niko was thinking about his conversation the previous evening with his friends. Solosis was going through some sort of natural process that is affecting her ability to use psychic moves. If that was the case, then couldn't Solosis just not use psychic attacks until she completed this process?
Niko didn't have to wait long to answer his question, for as they crossed the bridge he, Warren, and Charlotte saw three familiar faces standing on the other end: Charles and his biker gang.
"Oh, would ya look at this, boys." Charles said with a smirk. "Back for a rematch?"
"No, on our way to Opelucid City. But, if you insist…" Niko said, pulling out a pokéball from his pocket.
"Niko, you sure?" Charlotte asked.
"Yep. Warren, can you judge?"
"Of course." He said, standing in between Charles and Niko as the two trainers created distance from one another.
"Bouffalant, I choose you!" Charles shouted, summoning once again the Bash Buffalo Pokémon.
"Solosis, you're up!" Niko called out, also summoning his Pokémon from their previous engagement. This time, Solosis was wearing a bandage around her eye, courtesy of Warren's Leavanny. "You think you can handle this, buddy?" Niko asked. Like with before, Solosis nodded before hesitating. Could she do it? "Use rollout!"
"Megahorn!" Charles commanded. Solosis broke into a roll through the air, dashing towards her opponent, whose horns were glowing a bright green color. Noticing this, Solosis veered to the side, catching part of her bandage on Bouffalant's horn, using the thrust the buffalo was giving to the attack to sling herself around the back of her opponent's head and launch herself to the side. Niko, thoroughly impressed, suddenly got fired up about the fight.
"Hidden power!" Niko commanded.
"Head charge!" Charles shouted out. Solosis, also feeling fired up, conjured half of a dozen orange orbs and threw them at Bouffalant as it began to charge towards her. Small eruptions of fire lit up on Bouffalant's afro as it continued to charge relentlessly towards its opponent, ultimately hitting Solosis and launching her backwards into a tree.
Niko heard a loud cry as Solosis collided with the tree behind her. Suddenly, images swam into his head like a strong current, flooding his mind. Trying to process them, Niko took a moment to understand. Some of those images…there were gaps in them.
That's why they seemed so odd! Niko shouted to himself. They weren't full images! Sure, they were completely random, but they are real, and some of them are incomplete! Solosis! He screamed into his mind. I get it now! I get it!
Suddenly, Solosis began to glow a bright white color, enveloping the edge of the forest that they were in. Bouffalant took a step back as the light was blinding it as well.
Solosis doubled in size, for starters. Inside of her gelatinous surface, she grew out of her small, spherical body into a pale green creature with a large head, stubby arms, and a body that tapered to a point at the bottom. Her eyes were once more ovular, and she retained her diamond-shaped mouth. Her gelatinous surface now bore small, round bumps on the lower sides of her body and over her head. In the bump atop her head, a small, circular piece of matter floated above, suspended in the gel.
"Duosion, the Mitosis Pokémon. Psychic type. When their two divided brains think the same thoughts, their psychic power is maximized." Charlotte's pokédex read.
"Charlotte, you really were right!" Niko shouted, eliciting a smile from his friend. "Duosion! Let's go! Use—okay, you can use that." Niko said as he watched Duosion attack with something very unfamiliar to him.
Duosion crouched her body together as three thick masses of light blue, blue, and purple energy forms around the front of her body. She then fired off each energy mass at Bouffalant, who was pushed backwards. Duosion then rose higher into the air and broke into a rollout, striking Bouffalant quicker than the Bash Buffalo could react, dragging it through the snow underneath them.
"Niko, that was psyshock." Charlotte added in a quieter tone. Niko nodded, indicating that he heard her. Once Duosion was finished with rollout, she turned to Niko and nodded.
"Duosion, finish it off with psyshock!" Niko commanded, thrusting his hand forward. Duosion repeated her first attack, summoning three orbs of energy and firing them off, one after another, at Bouffalant, who in the aftermath of the resulting explosion collapsed onto its side in defeat.
Charles and his gang, all in astonishment, turned to Niko and his friends. "Wow…" He said in shock. "Well done, kid."
"Thanks." Niko said, a little smugly. "But you should be praising Duosion, here. Right, buddy?" Niko said, patting the gelatinous surface of his Mitosis Pokémon. "Good battle, though." He said. "I've never seen that Pokémon before."
"Yeah, it's kinda new, Bouffalant is." Charles said, returning his Pokémon. "This was its first real battle, so I thought I'd give it a test drive, y'know?"
"Totally understand. Anyway, thanks for the battle." Niko said, holding out his hand. Charles, hesitantly, shook it. "Hope to battle you again someday."
"Any day, kid. Any day." Charles said. He then turned to his biker friends. "Alright boys, off to Opelucid City!"
Waving farewell to the biker gang Niko, Duosion, Warren, and Charlotte continued on their own journey to Opelucid City. Only a couple of days now separated Niko from his seventh Unova League gym battle.