Today had so far been like every other day. I woke up, read the newspaper, and took Lillipup to the park for a walk. I specifically enjoyed doing this during summer, as the heat and sunlight would help with my back pain.
After walking around the park for a while, I sat down on a bench and started feeding the nearby Pidoves with some bread I'd brought from home.
Soon after, I witnessed a pretty strange sight.
A backpack being carried by a bipedal black and red pokemon, some parts of its body shone as if sunlight was reflecting on metal.
After blinking for a few seconds, I looked as the pokemon continued walking ahead.
I stared at it until the creature and the backpack disappeared by taking a left turn. I glanced down at my dear Lillipup, who was looking at me ready to continue our daily walk as if nothing had happened.
It was probably a good idea to ignore what we'd just seen, so we continued our walk, going in the opposite direction to the one in which the pokemon had gone.
Not long after, I saw a young man with brown hair wearing pretty ordinary clothes. The only notable piece of clothing he was wearing was a pair of black boots with pink laces and soles.
He was being followed by a quadrupedal pokemon with light brown skin and black stripes... wearing red sunglasses? A bit strange, but I enjoyed dressing up Lillipup with cute sweaters from time to time, so I couldn't judge.
The man seemed to be exercising with his pokemon, running along the park road at an impressive pace, as his pokemon seemed to be falling behind.
The brunette soon noticed me, his brown eyes locked onto me like an apex predator as he ran towards me with what appeared to be the intention of tackling me.
I quickly assumed the worst, thinking this man must have been on drugs or something, probably that new one that was said to be made from a Poison type's bodily fluids which had recently become popular.
He thankfully stopped before crashing with me. His chest was rising and falling quickly.
"You saw a yellow backpack around here?" the man asked, putting his hands on his knees in an attempt to get his breath back.
"Oh ah, yes, I saw one being carried by a pokemon. It seemed to be walking towards the east side exit of the park."
The man started running once again without another word.
I looked at him as he ran away, the pokemon I now recognized as a Sandile following closely behind him.
-(=0=)-
His legs hurt.
He felt out of breath.
But he kept going, motivated by the 1400 dollars inside his backpack and the two badges also in it, as well as the need to dish revenge on the pokemon that had stolen it.
It didn't take long for Alexis to spot it. It was far, but he could see his backpack once again.
"GET BACK HERE!" Alexis growled/screamed.
This adrenaline-infused growl might not have been the brightest of ideas, as the pokemon carrying the stolen backpack was now aware that someone was on his trail, so it picked up the pace.
Alexis ran after the small creature for what must have been 3 minutes but felt like an eternity. The small pokemon finally came to stop right next to a circular sewer grate, kneeled, and moved it aside so he could jump inside.
"Oh no you don't!" Alexis ran even faster, so fast in fact he couldn't stop himself from colliding with a jogging woman that came from his right, making them both go down.
Alexis quickly got up again, the pain in his now bloody knee forgotten thanks to the adrenaline pumping through his body.
He was not letting this little bastard escape no matter what.
Alexis almost managed to catch the damn thing before it jumped down and closed the grate behind him.
He got into a squat position, put his hands between the bars of the sewer grate, and tried to lift it without success, not even managing to move it a little.
He looked to where he'd come from, trying to see how far Sandile was.
Thankfully not very, as Sandile reached him in a couple of seconds. While Alexis was faster than Sandile when going all out, Sandile completely outclassed him when it came to stamina, judging by Sandile's relaxed breathing compared to Alexis's huffing and puffing.
"Move this out of the way! I don't care if you have to crush it!"
Sandile did as told, he put his jaw between two of the bars and closed them. The metal never stood a chance, as it bent. Sandile then lifted the entire thing and threw it aside.
The impressive display of raw strength and power made Alexis realize that Sandile was way stronger than Alexis gave him credit for.
Alexis looked down the hole, it was almost pitch black and he was unable to see the bottom. Alexis sighed and positioned himself. He placed Sandile on his head and used the rusted stairs sticking out of the wall to climb down.
He stopped when he couldn't feel any more stairs below, so he took a deep breath and jumped down.
Water splashed all over his body, and Alexis had to make an active effort to not vomit, even then, a retching still managed to come out of his mouth.
God! This place reeked!
"Sandile, use Fire Fang. Try to maintain it so we can see," soon, darkness was chased away by a small orange light, "thanks buddy."
Alexis looked around, the air felt damp and the walls were covered in moss. The underground sewer system was filled with water that came up to his knees. "Oh no… that's gonna be so expensive to clean," Alexis thought about his boots.
He waded to a nearby platform and climbed up, noticing a series of small footprints. With no other clue, Alexis followed them.
After walking for around five minutes, the footprints turned right and kept going inside a hole in the wall. Alexis kneeled and looked inside, it was a tunnel, just barely big enough for someone of his stature and build to crawl into and move.
At the end of it, he managed to discern some source of light, so he decided to send Sandile first and then slowly crept in himself.
"What I would give right now to be a spoiled brat with rich parents," Alexis thought as he crawled through the cold floor made of concrete, controlling his breathing so as to not get stuck. The scraped skin on his knee was now starting to hurt and itch.
He only now realized that he had gone inside a sewer and gotten splashed with sewage after opening a wound.
The perfect recipe for a massive infection.
After getting his backpack back, he was going straight to the Pokemon Center, he said to himself in silence.
With that thought in mind, Alexis looked forward. Sandile seemed to have reached the end of the tunnel, as Alexis could no longer see him, and judging by the sounds he heard, Sandile had started fighting the thief pokemon when he'd reached the end of the tunnel.
Finally, Alexis managed to crawl out of the tunnel and stand up, although he couldn't fully do that as the room he was now in was a bit smaller than himself.
Sandile and the red and black pokemon were indeed fighting, small cuts were visible on Sandile's body, as his opponent used the blades it had for hands to slash at him.
Only now that Alexis managed to get a good look at the creature that'd stolen from him, he recognized what species it was.
Jackpot! It was a Pawniard!
Pawnirds were Dark/Steel type, so the next move was quite obvious.
"Sandile, Fire Fang!" Alexis screamed, unable to contain the excitement in his voice at the prospect of getting a new pokemon.
Sandile dashed forward, his mouth full of flames as he bit into Pawniard with full force. Pawniard didn't let on, however, stabbing Sandile with one of its knife-like blades at the end of his arms, drawing blood.
Alexis grimaced, this was the first time a pokemon had made Sandile bleed, as his skin was usually thick enough to withstand any attack from most pokemon his size.
"Another one Sandile, don't let up!" Alexis became angry as he looked down.
Dig would have also been an incredibly effective move against the Steel type, but the floor below them was made of concrete, so Sandile wouldn't be able to dig through it.
Sandile ran at his opponent once again, fire imbuing his fangs. This time, however, Pawniard was prepared, managing to sidestep Sandile's attack and striking a powerful Fury Cutter on the left side of Sandile's body, drawing even more blood and making him go skidding across the floor toward Alexis.
"Fuck, super effective," one more hit like that, and Pawniard might knock Sandile out, leaving nothing between Alexis and an angry Pawniard.
Alexis swallowed hard, he would have to risk it all on Pawniard acting like he assumed it would.
Pawniard rushed towards his opponent, making an X symbol with its arms.
Yet, the blades did not turn green, meaning there was no Bug Type energy imbued in them, so Sandile should be abl-
Pawniard slashed Sandile across his nostrils. This was where Sandile's skin was thickest, however, so not a lot of damage was done.
"SANDILE FIRE FANG!" Sandile's mouth opened in a flash as he jumped forward, snapping his fangs into Pawniard's midsection, the Dark/Steel type tried to stab his opponent once again but Sandile was not letting off this time.
He shook the pokemon from left to right wildly, growls full of vicious rage filling the room as Pawniard kept struggling in a futile attempt to free itself. After thirty seconds or so, Sandile threw Pawniard against the wall, hard.
Pawniard dropped to the ground, unmoving and unconscious.
The sight made Alexis let out a breath, he then sat down, exhausted from the chase through the park and across the sewers. He put his back against the wall as he took a few deep breaths.
He looked at Sandile, looking at him with a tired expression. Alexis smiled at him as he picked up his pokeball and returned him, "awesome job Sandile, thank you..." Alexis said to the sphere before shrinking it and putting it in his pocket.
Now that he had time to look around the small room, he noticed it looked eerily similar to one of those post-apocalyptic bunkers one could see in popular video games and TV shows.
A small lightbulb hung from the roof, how electricity managed to reach down here, Alexis had no idea, but he was thankful that it did, or he would be in the dark right now.
The room was full of empty cans, and resting against the wall, was his trusty yellow backpack.
A sense of relief washed over him as he examined it, noticing that it was dry and everything was still inside, undamaged.
He grabbed one of the two empty Pokeballs inside, closed the zipper, and put it on.
Pokeball in hand, he approached the KO'd Pawniard and tapped the ball on its forehead. The sphere opened, enveloping the pokemon in a red light before absorbing it. The pokeball did not even shake.
Alexis got ready to crawl through the tunnel again and make his way to the surface before remembering that, outside this room, the sewers were pitch black.
Alexis thought about releasing Sandile again but did not like the idea, Sandile had battled fiercely and deserved some rest, so Alexis went ahead and decided to find the exit by himself.
He ended up spending thirty minutes walking in complete darkness before finding the way out.
The things a man has to do for his dream...
-(=0=)-
"Both Sandile and Pawniard suffered only minor and external injuries, they'll be ready to battle again tomorrow. We'll also bathe them while they're still unconscious. Free of charge," Nurse Joy said with a comforting smile as she looked at her clipboard.
"You on the other hand were incredibly reckless. I don't think I have to explain why, but if you hadn't come here today, you would have gotten a really nasty infection. Maybe even an amputation would have been necessary!" Alexis swallowed, hoping that Nurse Joy was just trying to scare him into not doing something like that ever again. He was sitting on a medical bed with a bandage wrapped around his knee.
"Now, your clothes…" Alexis cringed at that. He probably smelled worse than a Garbodor.
"We have industrial washing machines here, but I don't think they're gonna be able to remove some of... that, from your clothes and shoes, so I would recommend you to just throw them away."
An uncomfortable silence fell between the two before Nurse Joy spoke again, "you told me you don't have anything else to wear, right? There's a clothing store right next to the center, so I'll ask one of our interns to buy you similar clothes to the ones you already have."
"...The boots have a lot of sentimental value... Is there a cobbler shop where they could be taken?" Alexis asked.
Nurse Joy sighed, "I'll see what I can do dear," Alexis nodded, "thank you."
"Now," Joy grabbed a bin bag and handed it to Alexis, "go to your room, put all your clothes in this, seal it as tightly as you can, take three showers -at the very least- and get some rest. Tomorrow, someone will bring you new clothes," Nurse Joy said.
Alexis nodded and took off his boots, leaving them on the table before heading to his room.
-(=0=)-
Alexis was rudely awakened by someone knocking on his door. He slowly got up to answer.
"Finally! Here you go," a man in his twenties said as he threw a plastic bag at his arms, "also this," Alexis put the bag down to grab a cardboard box, his boots were probably inside.
"That I'll be 10 for the t-shirt, 15 for the shorts, 10 for the socks and underwear, and 20 for the boots. With my services coming in at 30. Making it 75 in total."
Alexis was still not fully awake, so he didn't even argue. He reached into his backpack and gave the man the money he was asking for.
As soon as the intern grabbed the cash he slammed the door in Alexis' face, not even commenting on the fact he'd been naked the whole time.
Alexis dropped back onto his bed and as he fell asleep again, the only thought in his mind was but one.
He was never getting that Pokedex.
-(=0=)-
Alexis was jolted awake once again by someone knocking on his door.
He groaned as he slowly got up. Whoever was knocking on it must have been in a rush because they kept knocking like they were being pursued or something.
"Alright alright, I'm going! Arceus..."
Alexis opened the door to two men in blue uniforms standing on the other side.
Police Uniforms, to be more specific.
"Hello, Sir. Would you mind coming with us to the Police station? We'd like to ask you a couple of questions."
Alexis just stared at the two officers for a bit. Why did he have to be so unlucky?
"Do I have to?" Alexis asked after a couple of seconds.
"Sir, we have you at the place of the crime and multiple eyewitnesses place you there. We just want to clear some stuff up, nothing serious," the shorter of the two explained.
Alexis sighed, "alright, give me five," Alexis said as he closed the door. He needed to get dressed.
He was still naked after all.
-(=0=)-
I just couldn't catch a break, could I?
First the sewers, then the clothes, and now this. At least their coffee was good, I thought to myself as I took a sip.
I could have said no to their request, but I ultimately decided against it, as I didn't want this to take longer than necessary.
The two policemen led me inside the station and into one of their offices. "Let's begin. Where were you yesterday?"
Oh, so that's what this was about.
"I spent the morning on Route 4 then at the Castelia City National Park."
"Alright, anything happened at the park?"
This was just annoying. I hated when people beat around the bush.
"I chased a pokemon that had stolen my backpack across the park and into the sewers," I said in a flat tone.
The two officers shared a glance, "so, did one of your pokemon do this?" the bigger of the two said, putting a photo on the table. I grabbed the image with both hands to get a better look at it. It was a photograph of a circular sewer grate bent in half.
"Yes, my Sandile did this so we could continue to chase the thief," I explained.
I was about to get hit with a fine, wasn't I?
"Very well then," the man said, grabbing the picture from my hands and putting it away, "we looked through your trainer data and your Pawniard was registered yesterday. Was he the pokemon that stole your backpack?" the shorter one now asked.
I now realized they were asking questions that they already knew the answers to, most likely just trying to corroborate information, "yes, Pawniard was the thief. It seemed like he lived in the sewers," the two officers nodded at this.
"Correct. You see, the Pawniard you now own has been stealing food from people having picnics at the park for about six months now. It got so bad we even put a 500$ reward for anyone who managed to capture it."
Oh Arceus, could it be?..
"So we thank you for your service to the community," a small smile appeared on my face.
"Now, let's talk about what you did while chasing him down. Damage to public property, as well as crashing with another person," one of the police officers stated.
"Miss Ingrid didn't care about you crashing with her as she was also running."
Ok good, maybe I could get away with this with a slap on the wrist. How much was that stupid grate going to be?
"The damage did not exceed 100$, coupled with the fact that you have a clean record, it has been decided that this time there will be no punishment, but the bounty for the Pawniard will be reduced to 400$."
Yes! I simply smiled and nodded.
"Alright, if you want to claim the bounty we'll need you to sign this-" the cop said as he pulled a paper from his clipboard, "-and give it to the receptionist at the entrance. Thank you for your cooperation."
-(=0=)-
An hour later, after receiving the money for the bounty on Pawniard and returning to the Pokemon Center to get his pokemon back from Nurse Joy, Alexis made his way back once again to Route 4 for what Alexis really hoped would be the last time in a while, as he now wanted to keep going north to Nimbasa City and then west towards Route 5.
Alexis walked along with Sandile for the rest of the day, reading the card he'd been given at the Pokemon Center with Pawniard's information.
Pawniard. Nickname: _
Gender: Male
Moves: Scratch, Fury Cutter, Torment, Feint Attack, Metal Claw, Assurance.
Ability: Defiant
A pretty standard Pawniard, no rare moves that came from an uncommon ancestor or a rare ability. Something that had caught Alexis's attention was Assurance, the move Sandile had been trying to learn for a couple of days now. He wondered if he could get Pawniard to help Sandile learn the attack.
Before Alexis realized it, the sun had set, and night arrived, The moonlight illuminating them. He and Sandile stopped to set up their camp, which just meant putting Alexis' sleeping bag on the ground, as the summer and the heat of Route 4 were more than enough to keep anyone warm during the night.
"Look Sandile, I'm gonna release Pawniard and talk with him, be ready to attack if he makes any sudden movements toward me, okay?" Alexis said to Sandile with Pawniard's pokeball in his hand.
Sandile nodded and with a flick from Alexis' wrist, Pawniard was released with a white flash to the outside world.
"Hello, Pawniard. My name is Alexis," he said with a calm voice.
Pawniard looked around at the scenery, amazed. He'd never seen anything other than the park in Castelia or its sewers.
"You stole my backpack and I chased you, remember? After you were knocked out I captured you, that means you're my pokemon now. You see, I plan on becoming one of the strongest Dark-type specialists ever, so if you join me in my adventure as my pokemon, I will help you become a really strong Bisharp."
Pawniard seemed to be valuing its options, so Alexis talked again, "they ran an analysis on you at the Pokemon Center and they told me that you're slightly malnourished. I, unlike many trainers out there, allow my pokemon to hunt for food and eat whatever they want unless it's someone else's pokemon. What do you think about going on a hunt with Sandile tonight? You're hungry, right?" Alexis asked.
He was appealing to what he assumed were Pawniard's desires and needs. From his desire to become stronger -which almost every pokemon had deep inside them- to the most basic of needs any creature could have: food and water.
Out of all the responses Alexis had anticipated, having Pawniard walk up to him and then kneel at his feet had been the last thing he expected, yet that's exactly what happened next.
"You may rise now, soldier," Alexis said with a dignified tone, actively trying to indulge in Pawniard's fantasy to make him happier and more comfortable, he then looked at Sandile. "Well? Come here and meet your new partner buddy," Sandile approached the already standing Pawniard and gave him a happy bark that Pawniard responded with a nod and a high-pitched, stoic growl.
"Alright, you two can go hunt for dinner now. Don't take more than two hours!"
And with that, they were officially back on the road.