To the first reviewer: I don't mind doing things that way (and I have another story in the works where things happen exactly like that, where the default '10 years' is shortened to 'current plot with less than ~3 months timeskip between events'), but for my first published story, I wanted a bit of structure for the Jumps with events spread out across a ten-year gap. That's a long time for someone to sit around and try to come up with things to keep the SponsorTM entertained.
To the second reviewer: There will be a single comedic reference to something along those lines when I tactfully skip over describing the shitshow that is the Midara region. I'm sorry to say, I'm not prepared to lose my account over something so explicit. Blame it on the website's TOS. If you want that kind of stuff, check out Questionable Questing. And in general, don't expect a lot of shipping between Jason and his Pokemon: I'm of the mind that they're basically a family, or Teacher/Students, and I'm not a fan of the Tale of Genji.
To the third reviewer: If you don't like the introduction, leave an actual explanation of why you don't like it. There are very few 'wrong' ways to write a story, and my Stats (what few of them are working, anyway) seem to indicate that my first twenty slice-of-life chapters are perfectly fine with over a thousand people. Otherwise, you're just signal-boosting my story by padding the review count, and I won't tell you to stop, but I'm not going to condone that or mindless disagreement.
And to the fourth reviewer: You get a little more of that this chapter, mostly because I'm still trying to expand my mind and skills on how to write characters that aren't me, and they are the first 'legitimate' children to be added to his team… not counting Evan, who lived in a shelter for a short-but-indeterminate amount of time, then with Jason for six months, and is generally written as significantly-more-mature after a few years of being evolved (but is ironically probably still younger than Ralts and her brother. Pokemon are Not Human).
Pokemon (Quicksilver): Hoenn; City Life50 (Fortree); Actual Starter: Eevee (Shiny50); Freerunning; Swarmed+100 (100).
Priority: Physical Fitness100; Survival Training100; Master Ball*3100; HM Collection50; Rebreather50; Psionics300; Savant600; Blend In300; Egg Move4 (Flail, Wish, Stored Power, Synchronoise)200; Combat Training100; Aura600; Champ In The Making300; Technician150; Mechanic300 (3250/3650).
Body Mod (Supplement): Athlete100; Strength1^50; Endurance4^200; Speed4^100; Dexterity2; Sense4^200; Flexibility1; Winged150; Metavore100 (900/600).
Cosmic Warehouse (Supplement): Electricity10; Plumbing10; Heat/A.C.10; ForceWall20; GravityLink10; Shelving; Terminal10; Housing20 (Secret Treehouse); Workshop10; Portal30; Link30; Free Space30; Food Supply10 (200/150).
Arena Add-On (Supplement): What-If?40; Video Playback10; Match Modes2^20; Dark Jumper2^20; Terrain Adjustment1^20; Battle Options40 (150/100).
Pokemon Ranger: Rookie; Impeccable Posing; Fresh From The Academy; Capture Styler; Direct Import0 (Evan, Lugia, Marshadow, Zekrom, Ralts); Partner Pokemon (Female!Ralts).
Free Imports: Rockruff (Evan); Sandile (Lugia); Machop (Marshadow); Karrablast (Zekrom); Meditite (Ralts).
Collective Companion Perks: One With Nature200; Years On The Job100 (300).
Pokemon Ecchi Version (Supplement): Fiore; Pokemon Trainer; STD Immunity; Unexpected Genitalia0; Cleaning Up The Fun100; Environmental Protection; Trainer's Stamina100; Wailord On Skitty Action200; Starting Pokeballs; Outfit; Fossil Reviver300; Your Bed; Lucky Egg100; Blank Technical Machines200; PP Up200; Lure Scent100; Companion Import8 (Evan, Lugia, Marshadow, Zekrom, Ralts)200; Starter (Male!Ralts); No Shoes, No Shirt, No Service+100; Power Lockout+200; Warehouse Locked+200 (1500).
Collective Companion Perks: STD Immunity; Cleaning Up The Fun100; Environmental Protection100 (200).
Priority: ? (0/3650)
-Day 11-
"…seriously: the 'Go-Rock Quads'." Looker repeated back to me over the phone, from where I was lounging on my couch.
"Yep. Not… really sure why they were interested in being part of daddy's organised crime syndicate, they were fine enough musicians, but I have a feeling this sort of crazy's going to be following me in regions without Trainers. Not that I think we're inherently-less crazy, but there's a lot more ways for a Trainer to express that nuttiness than mind control. Why do all the idiots seem to think that brainwashing is magically going to work out for them in the long-term? Are the IPF the Spanish Inquisition, so they never expect us?"
"Well, that quartet probably wasn't expecting you to drop a Lugia on them." His smile leaked through his tone. "And they don't know she's yours?"
"Nope, pretended the whole way back to the Ranger Base that she was 'an old friend from Orre who disapproves of these kinds of things', and they were too busy begging to be arrested to care. Cameron certainly seemed to believe that she was 'seriously considering atomizing them anyway', and while he didn't seem especially concerned, I think he must have heard about Cipher from the look on his face." Yeah, Cameron was pissed, and I don't think he would have been otherwise.
"So Gordor's kids were locked up. Then you ran into an Entei?"
"There was at least one distant Grunt who saw Lugia, dumped their captured Wurmple, and bolted deeper. I still had to find Percy's Politoed, so I went straight back in, tracked them by asking their quite-upset captures some questions and getting the answers translated through Evan, and got led all over the island in a wild goose chase that ended with half-a-dozen of these broken 'Power Styler' prototypes confiscated, and myself in front of a set of ruins called 'Jungle Relic'. They hadn't been ransacked, but the Grunt with the Politoed had panicked on hearing that the Quads were behind bars, rushed to inform Gordor, and with both of their Stylus', he then speed-ran through the entire set of challenges while capturing everything in his path, and by capturing a Charizard and completing the 'forbidden fourth challenge', he awoke a petrified Entei that was previously thought to be a statue."
"And then you fought through… the Entei, the Charizard, five Gyarados, two Kingdra, a Flygon, a Salamence, and a Politoed all at once."
"And a Shelgon the annoyingly-competent Grunt lured in after I captured back the Politoed. Fortunately, while they were powerful and experienced, they were also old and out-of-practice at fighting in the 'proper' sense. Zekrom bowled over all the Gyarados in one Bolt Strike, Lugia knocked out the Flygon and Salamence with Ice Beam, and Evan Power Gem'd the Charizard. That left the Kingdra for the former two, Evan helping Marshadow chip down the Entei, and me burying the Shelgon into a wall while Ralts kept Gordor from escaping."
"Quite an accomplishment to bring down the gang, their Legendary, and a small army so quickly. But who took over the rest of the Go-Rock Squad?"
"As far as we could tell, there wasn't any one boss this time. They just picked out a bunch of their 'Commanders', who didn't get promoted because there was some big nepotism issue with the only Admins being Gordor's kids, made them into a quick-and-dirty 'council', and listened to their collective orders instead. Fortunately, we already had the location of a factory they were using on the edge of Falltown, and while they'd grabbed all of their remaining prototype Stylers, they left behind enough intel to determine the location of their hideout in the Sekra Range after a day to sort through it." And a bunch of imprisoned Pikachu-lines left in their generators who could've starved to death. Assholes.
"That delay was probably the reason they'd mostly abandoned that one too by the time Spenser got there. But even without Gordor's Super Styler or a continuous supply of prototype Stylers, they still managed to capture the other Legendary Beasts within a matter of days?"
"At first we were only tipped off to them doing something in Fiore Temple when I tried to join Spenser, and Lunick, Solana and I got ambushed with a literal army of Seedot-line Pokemon. Gotta admit, I wasn't expecting that. Even supplying my own Psychic- and Fighting-type Styler Assists took a good ten minutes to recapture them all without fighting them, but the Grunts admitted on pain of ass-kicking that their bosses were trying to get ahold of Suicune and Raikou using some 'V1' Power Stylers that were based around the Go-Rock Quads' musical instruments. Why they felt those designs were necessary, god only knows, but while I was busy handling all the Grunts along the pyramid, their Commanders at the top successfully charmed Suicune and Raikou using a pair of top-rank members who happened to be guitarists. I wasn't present for what Lunick and Solana did but they clearly won, Entei was somewhere nearby, and she was not amused with them. When the four members tried to flee past me, still carrying their instruments, she dropped a Sacred Fire on us. If Evan hadn't been at my side and trained for emergency shield deployment, I honestly don't know if I could have blocked the whole attack myself… is it wrong that I still feel kinda bad for the criminals, not because I think they deserved a fair trial, but because they were the first non-important members of a gang who were actually semi-competent?"
"Well, not competent enough, clearly. But Entei willingly chose to spare you?"
"It took a bit of angry shouting from Ralts before she realised the Berries and the empty Full Restore bottle she found on waking up were my doing, and she was somewhat contrite in the sense that she was grudgingly-respectful of being defeated by my team, and didn't mean to almost-kill me since I hadn't actually done anything similar to her, but she made it clear that she wanted me out of Fiore as soon as the Go-Rock Squad were gone, and that she and her 'brother and sister' would destroy them if the Rangers didn't. And after her ash-ing of those four goons, I don't think she meant 'destroy' in the metaphorical sense."
"Indeed. They might have been ignorant of what Pokemon are capable of, especially angry Legendaries, but we don't want a reputation of letting our targets die before a fair trial takes place and confirms their guilt. Those were the only casualties during your time there as far as you are aware, yeah?"
"Yes, sir. Once the Safra Sea lighthouse went down due to Staryu going berserk in the basement, Lunick found more groups of Water-types being washed ashore and was dragged down one of the abnormal whirlpools forming nearby with a Lapras, which turned out to contain an injured Kyogre. Sensibly, I suggested Solana check Jungle Relic for reports of an unseasonal heat wave, and she found an injured Groudon whose help she needed to escape after she was blocked in by a rockfall, and a single Go-Rock Grunt who was supposed to be scoping them out for capturing, but changed her mind after all the earthquakes and roaring. I was busy protecting a Celebi from one of the Commanders, who had seemingly just given up on common sense and assumed that chasing them through Lyra Forest with a Drum Styler was a good idea. Then I had to rescue a Manaphy Egg, with the Commander giving the rather disturbing impression that she was going to use the Violin Stylus to 'captivate' them before they were even hatched. Not actually sure that would have worked regardless of the creepy child-grooming subtext, but there was no way in hell I was taking that chance."
"So how did you end up with the Manaphy Egg, again?"
"Basically, convenience. Pokemon Eggs have supposedly never been found in the Fiore region, and I was 'leaving soon to help another region with a similar Go-Rock Squad problem', so Spenser suggested it and all Hastings asked was that I keep in contact with them and update him on Manaphy's hatching and progress."
"What made him think that you were 'leaving soon'?"
"If I had to guess? Part of it was that Spenser was the only one who knew what Entei had told me, and he obviously didn't want to put me in a dangerous situation by keeping me there, but he was also 'not mad, just disappointed' that I fought Gordor's captures like a Trainer rather than catching them. He understood that I was in an impossible situation, and he made it clear that he was equally mad at himself for inadvertently sending me into the impossible situation, but he still had to uphold the Ranger code of conduct which has a provision specifically about what I did. This was the simplest solution: giving me a justification for leaving, and technically telling me to go help another Ranger-controlled Region."
"I suppose that's the least-disruptive way to handle the situation on all fronts. But you had one more assignment?"
"Literally the next day, some mystical date or time caused a Rayquaza to land on top of Fiore Temple. The last Commander had sent the few remaining Grunts to delay us when we inevitably arrived, and set up some kind of 'Pipe Organ' Stylus to control them. Fortunately for us, they apparently didn't have time to finish researching the Super Styler, or put the finishing touches on their Power Styler… or possibly it needed some kind of fine-tuning? Either way, it got a Thunderbolt dropped on it by an unimpressed Legendary, which also triggered the unborn Manaphy to use what I think was Heart Swap? Whatever it was: Lunick and Solana ended up in their partner's bodies and vice versa, as did all my Pokemon, and the shock combined with the subtle (and not-so-subtle) differences made it nigh-impossible for anyone except me to battle or defend themself. On the other hand, before I had to choose between capturing Rayquaza and keeping the Go-Rock shitheads from escaping, Rayquaza passed out for seemingly no reason, which made things a lot easier… only for me to realise when I synchronised with them right afterwards, that Manaphy had swapped themselves with Rayquaza."
"Even though they weren't born yet?"
"Yep. Turned into a real awkward situation for half a minute, but another big Electrical flash from Zekrom-in-Lugia's-body seemingly re-triggered Manaphy to use Heart Swap, and everyone ended up back in their real bodies… including an extremely-confused Rayquaza. Turns out the Temple was used for some kind of big every-decade celebration long ago, where worshippers could pray to the Legendary Beasts and receive 'blessings' of good weather at opportune times, and Rayquaza had assumed from the activity on this specific day that something similar was going on. Well, right up until he realised that the 'scoundrels' were trying to order him around. They got very close to joining Entei's victims after that."
"And I'm sure they appreciate their continued existence from their new accommodations." I heard his grin. "Out of curiosity, is that a known problem with Manaphy eggs?"
"I have, as a matter of fact, woken up in Evan's body twice since that whole thing happened, and Marshadow's once. It's freaky as hell every time, but I looked Heart Swap up after I finally came home, and confirmed that it automatically ends after a few minutes if it's not maintained, so it's not as big a deal as I was first concerned. The only problem is that I don't want to just stick them somewhere isolated until they hatch, but we don't know what'll happen if I'm the only one in close proximity with them, so I have to have an odd number of Pokemon with me when I sleep for the foreseeable future, just to make sure there's an even number of other targets for Heart Swap to pick from. Marshadow was quite enamoured with 'being tall' and the increased reach for the two kata he got through, but Evan mostly just grumps about how hard it is to go back to sleep without the influence of her sunlight-biology-gemstone-thing, and I get to test out some Moves I know the theory of but can't perform when I'm not in a Pokemon body." Or at least, not until I use our free time until the next plot in Almia, to load up some of those Blank Technical Machines. I will master the 'Teleports behind you, fires-mah-Prismatic-layzar' combo. For the memes!
"After only two weeks, that's quite a high rate of recurrence. Still, there's nothing going on anywhere right now that needs attending to, and full-time IPF Agents are entitled to a month's recuperation after handling a situation for every Legendary or Mythical involved, so you've arguably got quite a bit of time to spare if you need it." I heard the tapping of a keyboard for a moment. "There's nothing else going on in Fiore right now anyway, so good job handling that mess with speed, efficiency and minimising casualties. Do you have anything important to attend to in the near future if we do need a volunteer ASAP?"
"Nah, I'm sure I'll have plenty of time to train Ralts and hatch Manaphy, and neither of them are my 'heavy-hitters' so unless I'm literally mid-Heart Swap, I'll be available. Not that I'm all that interested in smaller jobs, but you can always call me and I'll at least discuss anything the IPF needs help with. Unless I'm already involved in an emergency myself, mind you, but the odds are that I'd be involved in the same emergency you'd be calling me about, knowing my luck." And my metaknowledge. "I suppose I'll visit the Almia and Oblivia regions once my vacation's over? I technically agreed with Spenser that I would… I'll probably start with Oblivia, the islands are so small it won't take all that long, but not for a while. My new team member needs a minimum of training first, and I have a hopefully-soon-to-be-hatched Mythical that I want to talk with in peace before anything else happens."
"Fair enough. Talk to you another time, Bourne."
"You too, Looker." Finally, the call ended, and I took a moment to sigh in peace.
[Geez, that was boring.] Ralts reflected as she stared at the phone in vague interest, from her current position on top of my head. [And you have to write out and send in a report, and then go through a whole conversation like that as well, every time you finish an important job?]
"The IPF have their reasons, remember: on top of keeping everyone's stories straight, it's good to have an easy record of 'if we arrest someone and they used to be part of this group, then we know exactly what they were up to and what they should be charged with', and it reminds them that some areas like Fiore need to be checked up on every now and then."
[I guess. Seems like a lotta work. Most Pokemon don't bother with that kinda thing, but sometimes they do lie about stuff, and… I guess it's easier than repeating it out loud every time someone wants to know what happened.] She shivered at the concept as she thought it over. [So are we going now?]
"Yes, we're going now." I noted Lugia busily swimming in the river rapids/falls nearby and recalling Marshadow, now having Blank TM's with 'Aura Vision' and a few other Aura-specific tricks I could pull off imprinted on them, working on Mount Silver to see if he could learn to generate and control his own Aura through training with a combination of those 'Moves'. Then I pushed myself up with a cracking of my spine, and turned to the two Companions I would be taking with us on this trip. "Evan, Zekrom, you ready?"
[Yep.]/"Yes." Both of them had demanded, and I'd accepted without a second thought, that they be present in case Entei showed up or something else happened.
"Alright. Are you ready?" I turned back to double-check with Ralts, who was still visibly uncomfortable.
[…yeah.] Her silence was a little concerning, and she clearly noticed that I noticed. [It's not a huge deal, just… remember that my family's very traditional, and they might not react all that well to know that I'm training under a human Psychic, and they definitely aren't interested in hearing about, everything else.]
"Well, you want this to happen, and your feelings are a lot more important to me than theirs, so they'll have to live with it. And, Kirlia seemed nice enough?"
[Well, my brother's fine, but we only spoke to him for a few seconds 'cause of the Rayquaza thing, and there's no way he hasn't blabbed about us, and…] She trailed off again. Thank god we could just fly over that weighted touch-plates puzzle, there were four different ones I half-suspected instead of the three Eeveelution touch-plates being reused, and that would have been awkward if all those idiots had gotten themselves slaughtered by Rayquaza on top of Entei's casualties, while I had to run around and get ahold of Ralts' family for a puzzle whose logic component could be easily solved by a ten-year-old. [They're not evil or anything… they just, see things differently.]
"I'll keep that in mind." I promptly hefted the crates of Berries we'd grown for the occasion, 'synced' with Evan as Zekrom returned himself, and we Teleported our entire group-
-to Wintown's Ranger Base (specifically the dedicated 'Tele-Port Station' kept clear at all times for this exact purpose. God, I love how the Ranger Bases adapted those from Pokemon Centers: it makes sense within the games' canon, and it's exceedingly useful for Rangers with Psychic-types), then took an enthusiastic walk past half-a-dozen Pokemon who didn't want to fight (and through half-a-dozen that did) on the eastern path to the mountain on which the Fiore Temple lay.
Actually reaching Ralts' home probably would have taken several minutes of trekking through the thick forest to the West, had we not run into her brother and presumable father waiting near the foot of the steps, teleporting out of the trees at a respectable distance.
[Good afternoon.] I bowed slightly, going with the 'traditional respect' approach and setting the crates down for a moment, showing him their contents.
[!-See, dad? I told you he was-!]
[Psychic, yes, you were right.] He cut off his son's excitable rant. [Greetings, Ranger. My son tells us that you want to speak to me and my mate about our daughter?]
[I've been called to travel abroad to the Almia region, to deal with a similar issue to the 'Go-Rock Squad' of criminals we just handled. It won't occur for several months, but Entei has specifically ordered me to leave Fiore, and your daughter wishes to travel with me and train at my residence in Hoenn. I'm aware that Pokemon don't have the same cultural ties to their children, but I felt it would be polite to at least discuss this with you first.]
[…unexpected, in multiple senses, but we very much appreciate your civility.] He took a moment to ponder, glanced at Ralts, and returned to staring me down with consideration and newfound respect. [Our home isn't too far from here. Please follow us, so my mate and I can speak to you about this together.]
He didn't move exceptionally fast, which made sense given the kids that had to keep up with him, but his speed was still high enough that I probably wouldn't have been able to keep up with him without one of my Perks boosting my land speed. The flash of surprise on his face after a few seconds, followed by him slowing down a little bit as he realised his mistake, suggested that it was an honest blunder and not some kind of hazing ritual, though I wouldn't count it out yet.
Their home turned out to be a cave. In hindsight, not that shocking. Most of the local 'housing' consisted of caves that had clearly been carved out at some point. What made this one interesting, along with a few other bushes and burrows I'd noticed along the way, was the conspicuously-door-shaped entrance. "Huh. Everyone knows Secret Power here?"
[The opposite.] He explained as we reached the entrance and he paused for a moment. Probably sending the telepathic equivalent of a knock. [Audino are the only species to naturally learn the Move, and Unovans are an extreme rarity in these lands. The Move was instead bred down to several compatible locals by those released or migrating from other regions, who can then effectively set their own price to maintain a Secret Base for themselves and several tenants. Fortunately, my mate knows it, and we have an alliance with a family of evolved Eevee to fend off any intruders while the other family forages.] Right, yeah, Ralts can't breed down Secret Power-
Wait, is raiding still a thing with Wild Pokemon, even in the Fiore region? […is that, a consistent issue you face?]
[It's unusual. There is more than enough room for everyone to share in the Range, and the community is fairly civil. But old habits exist for a reason, and there have been odd takeovers that aren't immediately forced back out for invading. Better to be safe than sorry.] Then he continued inside. [I've just informed everyone that you've been invited.]
[Probably for the best-ah, right.] I tried not to miss a beat as I entered and noticed our larger-than-anticipated audience I'd just been warned of. "To avoid this turning into a comedy skit, I can send messages but I can't read minds, and I can't understand Pokemon verbal languages. Evan, let me know if anything important comes up, please." I openly added to her as the Vaporeon, Jolteon and Flareon that were inquisitively staring at me quickly switched to her shiny pelt instead as she trotted over to introduce herself.
Then I widened my attention to the rest of the 'front room', and was pleasantly not-surprised to note that they had some civilised comforts: shelving with bottles of water and… I think those are medicines? There were also cupboards (probably holding crockery, kettles and tupperware), a few Move-based electrical adaptors/batteries (probably for Jolteon and Moves like Shock Wave) that could be used to power some lamps and nightlights, and a fire pit with some barbeque grills and hot plates stacked off to the side (requiring Mystical Fire or the Flareon). There were even mattresses and pillows against the walls, and a pile of heavily-patched clothes (for winter conditions, if I had to guess). No sandbags, but I guess flooding isn't that big of a problem at the foot of the biggest mountain range in the region.
Either way, they clearly benefitted from 'living in harmony' with humanity: even if they didn't adopt all of our mannerisms and technology, they'd at least gathered some 'essentials' through either scavenging or bartering.
[Good afternoon.] I cordially greeted Ralts' plain-looking Gardevoir mother. [I bring a gift of Berries, if you desire.] I promptly placed the crates down for her to peruse.
[That would be very helpful, thank you.] She accepted, moving them onto the table, and setting up some basic Ikea-esque folding chairs that were laid against it. [We had to skip our lunch to ensure we'd have time to meet with you. Kirlia, set the table please.]
[Yes, mom.] He dutifully complied, as the four of us sat down and I quickly figured out the etiquette from watching the other three going through their food (basically, just use your ESP to replace speech and cutlery), and Gardevoir transferring some of them to platters for the Eeveelutions. Then she shared a brief hug and quick kiss with her 'husband', and gracefully returned to her seat to sample the impromptu afternoon tea.
Of course, once Kirlia finished laying out the plates, his excitement was visible from his almost-vibrating body language. [Before we move onto my reason for being here,] I waited for a good two minutes of eating before breaking the amicable silence (other than the Eeveelution's quiet chattering). [Kirlia, is there something you're very excited to say to me?]
[…no, not really?] He clearly wanted to say more, but visibly restrained himself for politeness' sake, to his parents' equally-visible approval. [I would like to hear stories of faraway regions, but that's probably going to come up anyway, so don't mind me.]
[Well we aren't on a strict time limit, so you're free to ask questions.] I tried to small-talk. [This kind of meeting is as strange for me as it is for you… I'm already assuming. Have you had visitors like this in the past?]
[Not like this. We've spoken to Rangers once or twice, and invited one of them in to take a lost Eevee back to their owner, but we've never had outsiders over for lunch like this.] Gardevoir calmly noted.
[And I won't be committing a cultural faux pas by inquiring about human-oriented subjects? Like, say, Ralts inheriting Mystical Fire from you, and the implications therein?]
[It's no secret that I was a trainer Pokemon for a time. Unexpectedly, though she did want a Gardevoir, she wanted an all-male team of 'bishonen' Pokemon. One of my brothers was actually interested in being a Gardevoir, and she agreed to release me after she decided that I was strong enough to take care of myself. She wasn't a bad trainer, though in my visits since, my brother has expressed frustration that other Pokemon assume he is female for failing to conform to a perceived gender role.]
[…though I find the idea that Pokemon might have gender stereotypes to be a little strange, I can't say that I don't believe it.] The wonders of living in a world without Pokemon: you realise that people get mad over the weirdest shit if they have too much free time. [Have you had any similar experiences around, gender-based conflicts, with other members of your species? It seems like something a Pokemon Professor might want to perform research on, but I can see it being a sore subject.]
[It is quite a pivotal decision for male Kirlia, outside of the social impact.] Gallade picked up where his 'wife' left off, his exposure to her 'education' seeming to have coloured his vocabulary somewhat, despite him having been born 'wild'. [But most of us tend towards one way of fighting over the other, and that usually decides it.]
[You've experienced no… further problems?] I added a 'tone' that made it clear I wasn't including Ralts in that question.
[Nah, not anymore.] Somewhat-expectedly, it was Kirlia who spoke up. [I wasn't really sure which one I wanted to be for a good few months, because I like having ranged attacks and Gardevoir are… graceful, I guess? But I don't lose any Special Attack if I evolve into Gallade, and I get to learn Moves like Night Slash and Leaf Blade. And, y'know, I don't want to be looked at like a girl just because I'd have a dress.]
[I suppose the reverse is true, too:] I noted out loud. [Gardevoir is roughly twice as strong as Kirlia in all of their stats, even though most never use their Physical Attack.] Then I made a show of noticing Ralts' gradually-increasing conflict and changed the subject. [I'm not surprised by the niceness of your Secret Base, but I am a little shocked to see how many functional human-designed items you've managed to acquire.]
[Bartering is fairly commonplace in our society between species that can afford to offer goods.] Gardevoir gracefully explained, with a hint of amusement. [There are numerous second-hand or charity-based stores with surpluses of discarded or donated goods that can be repaired with little effort, or which are inconvenient to transport to a dumping grounds, and learning to communicate with mental imagery is a fairly straightforward skill to practise. Currency is probably the most difficult concept to grasp when raised without it, but it is fundamentally just a centralised form of bartering.]
...come to think of it, that's basically the same way my first psychic 'word' went to Evan. I could already feel my mind adjusting to ways to learn, improve upon and weaponise that skill, though the latter were obviously few. [Strange to think of it that way, but you're right... are there other Psychic-types around here who deck their homes out like this?]
[A few, though most are also humanoid, which is not necessary but... fairly important to help establish a line of communication. Humans tend to be open-minded, but can also struggle to understand that even if a Pokemon isn't bipedal, they might still want to buy some of their goods, like blankets or airtight food containers. There's also the complication of Pokemon who struggle to, or outright can't, use some or most objects of human design, or who might have difficulties transporting their purchases to their place of residence, especially in the Wild. So the number of prospective buyers is small and growing very slowly, as new innovations lead to designs that more Pokemon can use.]
[Yes, I remember how it took Evan a solid week to master kitchen appliances: plugging them in, turning them on, and moving the processed product to a bowl or dish.] Speaking of which, I turned to face her and noted the interest on all four of their faces. [Evan. Everything going alright on your end?]
[Yeah. Shocker greeted me as 'cuz' and she's pretty chill about us being here, Smoker is interested in seeing our Badges because he's familiar with the League system, and Shower is trying hilariously-hard to hit on me and not having any luck because he doesn't know how high my standards are.] She confirmed with an accepting eye roll.
Of course the Vaporeon would be the stereotypically-horny one, and the self-confident barks attested in good humour that he wasn't giving up yet. [I'm sure you can handle yourself.] I passed over our filled-up Badge Case with unrestrained amusement. [Just call if you need a rolled-up newspaper.]
[We would apologize, but it hasn't progressed past harmless posturing and it's not really our place to intervene.] Both of the humanoid-adults noted simultaneously.
[It's fine, she can break him in half with an errant thought if he pushed her past the point of casual flirting and she wasn't okay with it. Anyway, as much as I'm enjoying this casual meet-and-greet, I have a feeling that Ralts is going to burst if we don't get to the important stuff.] I noted her almost vibrating in impatience. [So. She wants to join my team for an indefinite period of time. All of us are okay with this. And I'm happy to negotiate some check-up meetings and the like, I don't need her to be available every waking hour. But my Pokemon are family, and this should start with her parents' consent. So, before we hammer out any details, are you both willing to accept her choice in principle?]
[Given the politeness that you've already shown, and the fact that you clearly have psychic powers of your own, we are confident that you can 'take care' of our daughter.] Gardevoir started, and Gallade continued. They'd probably make for a terrifying Doubles team with some coverage moves… [However, we want our daughter to become strong, as strong as she can within reason, and there are several milestones we want to discuss in line with that end goal.]
AN: Well, this has been a rough twenty weeks. My mother's knee replacement went off without a hitch, but she needed two weeks of hospitalisation and two months of intensive physiotherapy to properly heal the muscles/nerves, so that was stressful. Then right as I discover Fear & Hunger, my doctor puts me on blood pressure pills, and my first week of daily 15-minute walks around the block ended with a lumbar sprain that's had me out on the couch with a wheaty sack and Dark Souls 2 (the original) for a good two weeks. And last week, our 17-year-old Chihuahua had a fit overnight and was nigh-crippled the morning after (unable to eat/drink without throwing up, slipping on tiles and unable to get up herself due to arthritis, etc) and after a few hours of her looking for a bolthole to curl up in, we all agreed that she needed to be put to sleep, and called someone in to basically give her the last rites. Rest In Peace under the mulberry tree, Honey, this chapter's dedicated to you.
Either way, this has been sitting around too damn long, and I'm trying to do a DS2 No Death caster run, and that's taking up way too much of my focus to write. Especially with the builders needing to replace literally all of our house's fascia because it's about 70 years old and past the point of 'rotting but not too badly', and working five days a week. I'll continue the mostly-written second half of the meeting later, right now, I just want to get this out. Also thinking of making a 'collection' of all the other 5000-word snippets of 'things that could be chapters of new stories but I haven't finished them yet', we'll see.
Also, I had the first half of this chapter written within two weeks. The reason this took eighteen more, was trying to figure out how wild Pokemon would live, how to make the second-half (meeting Ralts' parents) flow, and how to hit all of the points I wanted (the parents' flip-flopping concern for/opinion of their youngest, their reverence for Legendaries, etc). That's also the reason Ralts' brother is a Kirlia, because trying to communicate the differences between two Ralts' in writing would be a pain in the ass, to say the least. I suppose I could have made him Shiny, or given him a subtle-but-noticeable color difference and then work the name of one shade into each of their names, but this is much easier.
Much like I was thinking of substituting Zekrom with the Raikou from the Legend of Thunder special, but ultimately decided against the Ranger games only being part of their 'backstory' because that would be lazy writing (and I found out that Anabel has a Raikou in the Manga), I wasn't planning on Manaphy being a part of the team. Their position was going to be the Magikarp from Pokemon Harem Master/the Dragon-type 'Starter' from Pokemon Anime Jumps, which are the next up. But maybe I'll decide to keep them and work them in? That's mostly because there was an excellent opportunity to have them 'want to be a real dragon', which was the personality trait I was going to assign to the Magikarp. Hmm… My initial reaction was 'no', but now I've seen the Manaphy missions for the other two Ranger games, I have a very different perspective on it…
Date of Chapter 21 Upload/Final Edit: 2023, July 18th.