Latios and Loudred

A lot of people spoke of having a dream that guided their way through life. Maybe it was to become a Pokemon Master, maybe it was to become famous, maybe it was to help a certain Pokemon gain popularity. His dream started when he was a young child, at an outdoors production of A Midsummer's Night Dream. At first, he'd been interested in all the costumes and the fighting that was supposed to happen. But he didn't fully understand the Elizabethan speech at the time and so the play eventually lost his interest.

While his eyes were wandering around the dressed up crowd and the trees surrounding them, he spotted a glint of white in the trees, something that didn't quite belong. He made sure that his parents weren't paying attention to him, then slipped out of the row to see what that was. The people he had to pass were engrossed in the play, so the small boy going by didn't get much heed. He passed under the raised boxes where people could pay more money for a better seat, and got into the trees. Then, he looked up and searched for what he had seen.

And it didn't take long for him to spot it. It was a Pokemon, but such a strange one. About the size of his father, the white and blue dragon was perched in a sturdy tree, also watching the play. It wasn't like any Pokemon he had seen before, in person or in picture books. Fascinated by it, he climbed up the tree the Pokemon was in and came out to him.

The dragon noticed him and gave a soft coo, as if warning him to be careful. The boy got onto a branch next to the Pokemon's and smiled at it. "Whatcha doing?"

For an answer, it looked back to the stage. They had a good view of the play from here; the actors' voices also carried even up to here. The boy went back to watching the play, but this time, the dragon spoke to him without speaking, just words that came into his head. In this way, it interpreted the strange speech and told him what was going on.

When the play was over, the dragon waited until the boy was safely back on the ground, then took off into the air and flew away. And thus a dream was born in the boy's heart, to see that dragon once again.

It was many years after that play and the boy was a young man. Adrian was in college now, studying Shakespeare and stage productions. Although he knew the language enough that he could speak it well himself, he didn't have an interest in acting. Some of his friends and professors thought he could do well, but that wasn't the point. If he was acting in a play, then he wouldn't get to see if that dragon came by to watch again. Instead, he wanted to direct. Be on a stage crew at the very least, he thought, so that he could help make a good show while keeping an eye out for his dream.

But right now, he was dealing with a different problem. His acting club was getting into a competition with other school organizations, a test to see how well they could work with their Pokemon to get through a forest hike and obstacle course. For that event, he needed to do some more training with his team to help out the club.

Especially with his Loudred. "Okay buddy, Roar."

The stocky blue Pokemon looked up at him and blinked.

"Use Roar," Adrian repeated. It was a move he knew Loudred could use, but they hadn't quite worked out the command for it.

Smiling at that, Loudred turned to his current foe, a Linoone, and began stamping his feet. The Trainer put his hands over his ears as the Pokemon took a deep breath. Then Loudred opened his mouth to about half of his own size and let loose a high-pitched high-volume Screech. After shuddering, the Linoone tackled him.

"Not Screech," Adrian said, dropping his hands.

Loudred didn't even look at him. Oh right, he had trouble hearing after one of his louder moves (and everything else in the immediate vicinity also had trouble hearing). Loudred just shoved the Linoone onto the ground.

"Not Screech," he said when he felt Loudred could hear again. "Use Roar. You know, when you bellowed earlier today and every other Pokemon bolted from the area." That would be very useful in the competition.

But while the white dragon had understood humans, he had learned that other Pokemon didn't understand as well. They could understand spoken commands, but only a few. Such commands. It was estimated that most Pokemon could learn three to five command words at a time, and that they could learn their particular name as well as a few other commonly used words like 'food' or 'bed'. Because of this, he had seen Loudred use the move Roar several times previously, but getting him to learn the command was important. Once he'd gotten that, Adrian would then have to review the commands for the other moves he wanted Loudred to remember.

After thinking about it, Loudred began stomping his feet on the ground again, taking a deep breath. But this time, he just bellowed at the Linoone, putting no power behind the sound. The wild Pokemon tackled him again, causing Adrian to get out a Super Potion to keep Loudred from fainting.

But as he was spraying the potion over Loudred's body, something was flushed out of the bushes. All three of them, Loudred, the Linoone, and Adrian, paused as a magnificent white dragon came into the forest opening. Although it didn't seem as large as he remembered (probably as he wasn't as small as before), Adrian knew immediately that it was his dream Pokemon once again. But, here? Not at a play, just out in a forest? At random?

Although unexpected, he now knew what to call it. "Latios," he said, feeling his heart beat strongly in awe. "I hoped I could see you again. Do you remember me?"

Latios gave a cheerful call and an image came to Adrian's mind. He didn't recognize it at first, the boy dressed up nicely but sitting on a branch in a tree. Before long, he knew it was because of perception again; it was himself, back at that play. Adrian smiled. Of course a Pokemon that could interpret Shakespeare would be able to remember something like that.

Then he got another image in his mind, but this time it was like text in a book. "Third time's the charm." Then Latios gave another call.

At that, Loudred came alert, then grinned widely and stamped his feet. Adrian noticed the thumping in time to get his hands over his ears just before his Pokemon let loose a powerful bellow that was the true Roar. The Linoone got spooked and fled, along with all its neighbors in the forest opening. Along with Latios, who flew off into the sky like a shooting star in reverse.

Still, he had seen the dragon again. His heart was pounding, although he didn't know if it was from the unexpected sighting or from the force of the sound waves of Loudred's attack. And, did that phrase hint at a possible third meeting with Latios, where he might be able to capture his dream Pokemon.

Or did it have to do with Loudred? Adrian looked down at his Pokemon, who looked immensely pleased with himself. He snapped his fingers until Loudred's hearing was back enough to notice. "That is what I mean when I say to use Roar. Good job."

Loudred began stamping his feet and used Roar once again. Well, he did know the command now...

…

Ruby entry: Latios has the ability to make its foe see an image of what it has seen or imagines in its head. This Pokemon is intelligent and understands human speech.

Sapphire entry: Loudred shouts while stamping its feet. After it finishing shouting, this Pokemon becomes incapable of hearing anything for a while. This is considered to be a weak point.

Latios works nicely as a cultured Pokemon. This one also let me explore how much Pokemon understand humans, since Latios' entry isn't the only one that mentions a Pokemon able to understand human languages as an unusual ability. Also, if Shakespeare was in the Pokemon world, I'd like to see what he would have written with Pokemon...

I'm at 475 Pokemon covered now!