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); 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)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 1-
And then, unlike my first insertion, this one blurred past in what felt like… half a minute, maybe? I still felt properly-rested as I woke up on the SteamShip Fiore the Second, taking note of a few new memories-slash-skills floating around in the back of my mind, the Rockruff occupying my legs, the Machop resting the back of his head on my left hip and dangling his legs over the side of the bed, the Sandile laying over my chest on my right side, and the Karrablast curled up in the right corner of the room next to my head.
The homely silence was interrupted about ten seconds later with a knock on the door, to which I sent back a faint [Come in] that clearly didn't get noticed as telepathic rather than said out loud, and a sailor around my age popped his head in and announced that we were due to arrive in Fall City within the hour.
"Thanks mate, I'll be down for breakfast shortly." I politely sent him away (probably to do the rounds with the other occupants) as my four Companions stirred in response to my quiet callout. "Seems it all went smoothly. Welcome to your new bodies, how are you all feeling?"
Karrablast said something in broken 'Aura', using the wrong syllables, then paused and tried again with Karrablast-specific sounds. "Very strange." He clarified as he stared at his 'hands'. "I had considered that Scyther, Scizor and Escavalier don't have fingers, but I hadn't considered having such short arms and legs. My face also doesn't extend outside of my upper body… very odd, indeed."
[Same here.] Sandile 'spoke' up. [My wings aren't just forelegs, they're rotated to a completely-different position for walking. And my Psychic power is a bit lacking, now. Is that because I'm part Dark-type, or just because I'm not part Psychic-type or a Lugia right now?] She mused on the idea as she bent her fingers.
"I'm not noticing much different." Machop, being Marshadow, was already going through various kata exercises. "I guess I'm taller now, and I have a heartbeat and flesh-and-blood body instead of a spiritual body, but I'm pretty similar to how I expected to be."
[Yeah, me too.] Evan paused in her pawing at the pebbles in her 'mane'. [I feel really close to being an Eevee again, but everything's a little off, like my tail, and my ears, and how much my muzzle sticks out compared to Eevee and Espeon.] Then went straight back to fiddling with them.
"Well, while you shouldn't do so right now," I pre-empted any possible 'accidents', "you should all be able to swap back and forth between your current and previous species. Just wait until we're off the boat and somewhere semi-secluded, please. I'd rather not blow the roof off, and reveal I have three Legendaries to the entire Fiore region."
[…why would that be a problem?] Sandile asked the 'obvious' question.
"Because Ranger's aren't supposed to have 'trained' Pokemon, only those they temporarily capture using Stylers to handle obstacles. And I'm sure the Sponsor will give me some leeway in that sense, but the Fiore region in general doesn't have Pokemon Trainers, so I'd rather not make it obvious to all the Teams we'll be fighting that I'm ready for whatever they can throw at us. In the words of Napoleon Bonaparte, 'never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake'."
"…how is their ignorance of something they couldn't reasonably foresee, a 'mistake' on their part?" Marshadow pointed out my flaw in my misspeaking.
"…alright, I mostly just want to see them crap their pants when I pull out a Lugia and a Zekrom." I admitted. "But not showing my team too early is still a tactically-sound idea."
The next few minutes consisted of small talk, checking my belongings (and the Cosmic Warehouse Key I suddenly and conspicuously had dangling around my neck), dressing myself in the provided uniform (and taking a look at my new appearance), clipped on my four in-use Pokeballs, and departed to start the next adventure… which included a solid five minutes of my Pokemon getting used to their new 'sea legs' before we reached the dining room. About half an hour after that, we got our first look at Fall City before I returned them all.
Something I almost immediately noticed in my wandering was the variety of Wild Pokemon living within arms' reach. There was a guy at the docks with a befriended Lapras, Wingull swooping overhead looking for dropped chips, Krabby and Snorlax chilling on the pavement, someone's Charmander inside the information center, and after a little kid asked me to check behind a slightly-moving crate, a Ralts that immediately bolted squeaking [!-oh-crap-crap-crap-!] or something along those lines. Not that I haven't seen plenty of Wild Pokemon before, but seeing them living in harmony with humanity rather than having their own designated living spaces and mostly keeping their distance was somewhat odd.
"Hey! Sorry to keep you waiting." My contact jogged up mid-bridge-crossing. "You're the IPF Agent, right?"
…um, what? "Agent Bourne, yes." I absently answered as I scoured my memories-and quickly found a few key differences from canon in my reason for being here.
"Good to hear. I'm Spenser, Ringtown's Ranger Leader." I shook his offered hand. "I'm glad you could make it here so quickly, we're in a bit of a bind over that robbery."
"Professor Hastings' newest invention, yes? Some 'Go-Rock Squad' stole a 'Super Styler' that's so powerful, it could potentially be a threat to the entire region?" Meaning that crate did hide a Minun at some point, it just ended up with their newest recruit Lunick about a week ago, a few days before I 'set sail' with orders to investigate a new crime syndicate. Kudos, Sponsor, this slight alteration fits in quite smoothly with my previous backstory, though I'm not sure how the crate is still there.
"And we'd like to return it ASAP, so let's fly west to the Ranger Base in Ringtown and get to wo-" And then, as I'd been expecting, our meeting was interrupted by a howl that was… not mindlessly-furious, but clearly upset and 'mature' in the way only a fully-evolved canine Pokemon could be. "On second thought, that sounded violent. Let's look into that first!"
Five seconds later, we'd crossed the bridge and were treated to a Houndoom that had been foraging for crumbs, and probably had an owner given how sleek its fur looked, chasing the same Ralts who came scampering back crying AHHHH-nonononononono-! in fear, and dove behind my leg as the hellhound snarled at her in aggravation. "Ah, I suppose that Ralts must have agitated this Houndoom somehow." Fortunately, the Houndoom didn't seem willing to push its luck and charge us yet. "You've done a course in Almia, correct?"
"Indeed." That was correct according to my memories, though they were severely compressed to the information relevant to Fresh From The Academy, but I was still licensed to operate a Capture Styler, amongst other unimportant Ranger duties. "Don't worry, Ralts, we're not gonna let Houndoom get you." I tried to reassure her. Maybe it helped?
"In that case, here's a good opportunity for you to show how much you've learned!" He promptly tossed me a Capture Styler.
"Fair enough." I promptly pointed the Styler at the Houndoom's feet, got them to pounce at the beam of light, then quickly swapped my aim to behind the Houndoom, and made the loops necessary to transfer my sense of 'calm' to them, using a little Psychic assistance to improve my accuracy. "There, is that a passing grade?" I smirked at his expression.
"…easily." He nodded, regaining his composure. "I was going to ask you to capture the Ralts to calm them while I handled the Houndoom, but you're a lot better at Styling than I expected for such a recent graduate. Then again, you're IPF, so I guess I don't know what I was expecting."
"Competency is the name of the game when you're dealing with Teams Magma, Aqua, Galactic and Plasma." I walked over to give the Houndoom a quick pat, then Released him and watched as he bounded off to my right. "And while the Styler is often necessary, I'd rather not force my state of mind on another living being unless I have good reason to."
"Well, it certainly doesn't seem like that Ralts needs it now." He agreed as I came back to her.
"Yeah. Hey…" I leaned down and gave her a headrub too. "Are you okay to go on your way?"
[…um, yeah, I guess so?] She didn't seem overly thrilled at the prospect. [Thank you for saving me…]
"You're welcome." I straightened up, then added [And if you'd rather follow me for a little longer, walk away a bit, wait until you hear a Fearow cry, and come running back to us] without including Spenser, getting a gobsmacked look from her. "And yes, I can understand Psychic Pokemon, a bit. Comes with the territory." I made a show of levitating my Styler, getting a much more positively-shocked look from her in the process, then turned back to Spenser. "Now, you said we need to head West?"
"Yeah, there's a few documents and a certificate you'll need to sign, proper records and all that." He confirmed, getting a sigh from me as Ralts 'wandered off'. "I know, I know, but it really isn't that bad. We just have to make it clear to the paper-pushers that you're a temporary assistant, you have an exemption to carry your Trainer Pokemon, and all that Jazz."
Yes, I only vaguely knew about the rules concerning that, so… "Fair enough. Shall we?" [Here's your chance, Ralts.] I privately added.
"Yeah, let's get this show on the road." He looked up into the sky, missing Ralts creeping back closer in the extremely-unsubtle way of a child, and picked out a slightly-larger shadow that represented a fully-evolved Pokemon to yell out to. "Sorry I kept you waiting, Fearow, do your stuff!"
If she hadn't been quite as close, the short gap between Fearow crying out and picking us up might not have been enough for her to rush in, shrieking [NOOO-notagain-notagain-notagain-!] in a not-entirely-genuine (but it's not like he'd be able to tell) way, and latch onto my left leg while I grabbed Spenser and we got airlifted.
In hindsight, I probably should have used the short gap between telling her that she could come with me, and her being dragged hundreds of feet into the sky for what would probably be a multi-minute flight, to explain what that entailed. Now I had a terrified child clinging to me in mid-air, keening in shock and mortal terror, and no way to use my Styler to 'calm' her (without using just telekinesis to aim it, and that would be a bit risky with the wind shear and no practice with its shape and size).
So I resorted to something deeper as she whimpered and shuddered against my calf. [Close your eyes.] She jolted in response, trying to look up to me for a moment and sending me a clutter of 'freaking-out' thoughts, and I over-rode them with my own focus. [Close your eyes. You are climbing a mountain, resting against an outcropping. You feel the refreshing chill of the snow, and hear the blustering winds shrieking through the rocky ranges. But you are not afraid. …]
This continued for only a two more minutes as the Fearow made good time to the Ranger Base- [Now, open your eyes.] -and we got deposited gently onto the ground, something she was clearly grateful for as she threw herself off me and collapsed spread-eagled on the grass. "There. Better?"
[Y-yeah. …th-thanks.] She mumbled out after a moment of awkward silence.
"Well, that was unexpected." Spenser broke the silence. "I suppose they must have been startled by Fearow's cries. They seem to have bonded with you, though, to come running straight back rather than away from him. Hmm." He contemplated something. "Have you considered picking a Partner Pokemon yet?"
"I have, and haven't gotten anywhere. I'd rather not show any one member of my team favouritism, and I wasn't very clear on how that would work in this region, so I was going to wait until something came up: either a good reason to pick one of them over the other three, or finding a local Pokemon who wants to come with me after I leave Fiore." I looked down at Ralts, who was trying (and childishly-failing spectacularly) to not make it obvious she was listening in. "I don't know if she'll be the one, it'd be a hell of a coincidence. But either way, I'd like to keep her with me until I know where she lives and what she wants to do. Don't want her running off and getting lost here where she doesn't live." I kneeled down to her level. "How does that sound, Ralts? Do you want to come with me for a while, learn some new tricks and help me deal with this 'Go-Rocket Squad'?"
[!-um, yes please, sir!] She threw me her best salute as she jumped to her feet, which was all kinds of adorable.
"Then I guess I have a Partner Pokemon." And that was that. "Come on, Ralts. I have to sign some forms before we can get to work…"
[Well that was boring.] She remarked from her position on my head, having been a bit overwhelmed by Solana wanting to fuss over her, and then deciding that she didn't mind being a passenger for a change. [That's not gonna happen every time we have to do something about this 'Squad', is it?]
"I'll probably have to write out a quick report if it's something big, but I don't think it's going to take half an hour like this did." Seriously, it couldn't have been ten or fifteen minutes?
[Humans are kinda weird like that.] She took a moment to reflect on the height of Ringtown's buildings around us as we headed north into Lyra Forest. Apparently, while Solana could handle patrolling this area and Lunick was still in Fall City substituting for their Rangers (and currently dealing with a Grimer infestation in the Waterworks, so better him than me!) as they searched for the Go-Rock Squad, someone was needed in Summerland to the south, and since I was expected to Surf there 'within the hour' and Evan could just Teleport us over in a matter of minutes, this seemed like a good time to do a meet-and-greet with our newest team member. [But I guess if there's so many of you, you don't want to have to tell every single person the same thing, over and over again.]
"And if someone tries to lie about something they've done, we can point to a prior written statement as proof that they're changing their story. But it's understandable that it never caught on with Pokemon: too many different body types that would struggle to use a writing implement, let alone find the ink or graphite for it." I briefly reflected, then shook it off. "Back to reality. Evan, can you get us down to Summerland fairly quickly?" No reason not to double-check that.
She popped out of her Luxury Ball, the same kind I'd swapped all of theirs to (and inadvertently regained my two 'used' Master Balls in the process). [Yeah, I have the location from your head. Are we going right now?]
[!-what the-] Ralts startled a bit. [Where did you come from?!]
[An egg?] She cheekily answered with a smirk in her 'voice'.
"I think her confusion comes from the fact that Pokemon Trainers are extremely rare in the Fiore region." I pointed out patiently. "But just so we're all on the same page, most of the other regions' humans don't live as closely with Wild Pokemon as they do in Fiore. If you want to travel, you need a Pokemon for your protection. This is Evan, my 'starter' Espeon, who I took in from a shelter as an Eevee about… ten and a half years ago? Geez, time really flies when you're having fun, doesn't it?" I sat down and gave her a one-armed hug that she leaned/head-rubbed into contentedly, producing a small pulse of 'envy/jealousy' in Ralts' Aura as she tried not to show her annoyance. "Anyway, I thought it would be a good idea to sit down with you and get to know you properly before we run off into our next adventure."
She stayed silent for a few seconds, then grumbled out a quiet […how?]
"By asking each other a few questions, about where we are in our lives right now, and where we want to be in the future. For instance," I let the amusement seep into my voice. "you seem quite annoyed by the fact that Evan's getting affection and not you. Would you like a hug?"
[No…] She quietly groused without any force, followed by a squawk of [Hey!] as she got scooped off the ground by Evan.
[Don't be such a drama queen, kid.] She teased her as she deposited Ralts in my lap. [He's got enough arms for everyone.]
She refused to rise to her bait, but she did silently lean back into my chest when I wrapped an arm around her torso. "Mind you, there's no 'hierarchy' here except for me, so if someone's deliberately annoying you, feel free to tell them to screw off and bring it up with me in private. Here's another good one: do you have a 'nickname', or do you just use a variation of your Species name like most Wilds?"
[No, I'm just 'Ralts'.] She confirmed, a dozen subtle inflections and body cues influencing her pronunciation of what would otherwise be a singular word. Similar to the to-may-to/to-mah-to dilemma, but hundreds of times more complex and opening the door to millions and billions of possible identifications. Thank god I could transfer these meanings through my telepathy, I'd never have a chance if I had to rely solely on the verbal/visual variant.
"Then here's the million-yen question: what do you want out of life?" That got me several moments of silence, followed by the equivalent of […?] in thought-speak. "What do you like doing? What do you want to do? Are you prepared to train to reach those goals, or just to get strong enough that you can't be ordered around?"
[…wouldn't that kinda, defeat the purpose of partnering with a Pokemon Ranger?] She carefully pointed out, something else clearly on her mind.
"Sort of, but not really. We're both Psychic, so we can both do similar things: I don't need to order you to do most of them if I can do them myself, and that's not really what a Ranger is supposed to do to handle their problems," Even if brute-forcing Pokemon to do your bidding with Styler Captures is 90% of the first game, "even if it's an option to keep in mind. The reason I'm asking is that I'm only a temporary Ranger, here to help retrieve that stolen Super Styler and arrest whoever's running this 'Go-Rock Squad' of criminals. My usual profession is a Pokemon Trainer, someone who teaches Pokemon new moves and helps them refine their fighting capabilities."
[…? How does that work?] She asked the obvious question. [Do you get paid to train other Partner Pokemon for Ranger schools, or…?]
"Not quite, no. In most of the rest of the world, even in most of the rest of Japan, the big competitive sport is Pokemon Battles. Most towns have a Gym where you can fight the leader to earn a badge, where the leader uses stronger Pokemon the more badges you have, and once you have at least eight, you can enter a Pokemon League where only the best of the best compete in a tournament, to see who's the strongest Trainer in that region of that year." I went over the basics, then started addressing a few snippets of history. "That's where the Elite Four came from: When people like this Go-Rock Squad realised they could make their Pokemon so strong they could take whatever they wanted from other people, it became necessary to find someone who could bring down these 'Teams' of criminals, where a normal police officer or Ranger might not be strong enough; and the best Trainers have to have the strongest relationships with their Pokemon, which makes them trustworthy enough to police the rest of the Pokemon Trainers in their region."
[…so, Trainers are all about making their Pokemon fight each other.] She tried to sum up, not sounding very happy about that.
"Not really. For starters, Pokemon are indisputably stronger than humans. If a Pokemon doesn't want to fight, it can always just refuse, or leave their Trainer." Not that all of them realised that, there were quite a few Grunts who relied on intimidating their Pokemon to keep them compliant. "And there's lots of other reasons to train a Pokemon: maybe a farmer has a Grass-type he wants to get better using Sunny Day and Rain Dance, to help his crops and Berries grow while keeping out pests. Maybe the Trainer wants to enter Pokemon Contests, which are built around using Moves in flashy and interesting ways in front of a crowd. Maybe they want their Electric- and Water-types to produce a weaker and more consistent flow, either to run streetlights and buildings off of, or to put out fires without destroying the on-fire object. Or maybe they want to teach Pokemon how to use healing Moves like Aromatherapy and Heal Pulse. Pokemon can do lots of different things, and there are lots of different things they might want or need help with to do them."
[Okay, that sounds a lot nicer.] She nodded in faux-understanding. [What did you two do?]
"For most of the last ten years, I went into the traditional Battling part of being a Pokemon Trainer, and coached Evan to a lot of success. We won the Japanese League's in Johto, Hoenn, Sinnoh, and some in other countries like Unova, Kalos, and Alola. And we earned enough money in doing so that… well, we don't really need any more. But a big part of our training was to handle the local gangs in Hoenn, Team Magma and Team Aqua, and then we got caught up in stopping a lot of other bad guys like Team Galactic and Team Plasma, and now we're part of the International Police Force," I recounted slightly-out-of-order, "and we investigate possible threats like this Go-Rock Squad. Better to nip their lunacy in the bud before things get really out of hand, like Cipher and Team Snagem back in the Orre region."
[…do I even wanna know?] She rhetorically lamented.
"Brainwashing. The kind that turned them into super-strong 'Shadow' Pokemon who either followed orders perfectly, or went berserk at the drop of a hat. At least six Legendaries, the local Birds and Beasts, and that's not counting what they did to Lugia. I had to choke a bitch over what she did to Lugia, though she's feeling a lot better now, and we still visit her cave from time to time." I carefully dodged the implication that she was also 'my' Pokemon, recalling my rather-brief interaction with Lovrina. Apparently, she'd mellowed out after her brother Naps was brought on as an assistant, though I remained doubtful a little sociopath like her would accomplish enough good to make up for her evil deeds.
[!-…really?] She visibly doubted my statement. [That sounds kinda Farfetch'd-um, farfetched.]
I passed over her verbal stumble with a good-natured smile. "That's fine. It doesn't impact either of us in the here and now, and we'll probably run into the local Kami if we keep moving forwards. That hasn't changed since we started, I doubt the frequency of our encounters will lessen now. But back to what I was asking earlier: do you know what you want to do with your life? Have you ever given it any thought, or found something that you like doing?"
[Not… really.] She quietly admitted, something eating at her. [I was born and raised in the Sekra Range to the north, and… there are human-made paths everywhere, and plenty of secret shortcuts when you look hard enough, but after a few years… the view starts feeling kinda samey, y'know?]
"Yeah, I get that. That's a big part of why I went travelling so far around the world: Hoenn has variety, especially in my hometown Fortree, but we don't have snow like Sinnoh does, and the rest of the world's a big place. Lots of deep-sea diving, jungles, cities and cultures to experience." I reflected. "But it seems like something's troubling you. Are you prepared to share it with us?"
She visibly slumped a bit. […it's stupid…]
"And so was N, but I'd like to think I helped him realise some perspective on how the world works, and how it can be changed. We're not going to laugh at you or make fun of you, Ralts, but I can't help you understand what you want if you won't tell me what you want." I gently prodded her, knowing from her Aura that it wasn't that big a deal.
[…I wanna be a Gallade.] She finally spoke up, like it was wrong to admit it. [Strong and tough like dad, not girly and frail like mom. But girl Ralts' can't be Gallade's. And it sucks.]
Frankly, I didn't think most gender evolutions made much sense. Vespiquen, I get how hive hierarchies work, and Froslass is somewhat feminine, but Salazzle doesn't seem like a male would be completely out of the question, especially if female Machamp look identical to male Machamp. And blocking female Kirlia from evolving into Gallade is a bit of a yikes in this day and age of 'gender equality'.
Fortunately… "Well… I, might have a solution. Sort of. It's not quite the same, but if you want to be a physical Psychic/Fighting-type, there's always Meditite and Medicham."
[Wha…? I'm not a Ditto.] She growled at me, because in hindsight, that might have sounded a little silly and/or patronising. [I can't just, change my whole species!]
"But what if you could?" That put her indignation on hold. "Or better yet, what if you could be both, and swap back and forth between the two?"
[Well, that would be awesome,] she gave me a Look, [but where are you going with this?]
"I've been… I guess you could say I've been contracted, given a job, and I'm being offered some special benefits in return. My 'Sponsor' has already done something similar for my other Pokemon: Evan's gone from being an Eevee, to being an Espeon or a Rockruff, and the others have all been given new forms too: Sandile, Machop, and Karrablast, and they can still swap back to their old ones whenever they want." Not mentioning that all three are Legendaries just yet. "But, my Sponsor also wants me to do a few things to keep them entertained. Mostly travelling and fighting bad guys. My other Pokemon are pretty strong, so you wouldn't need to help with fights right away, probably not even for a few years. But, you'd have to be willing to fight, and you have to be willing to join my team for a long time."
That left her… confused? […what do you mean, 'my other Pokemon'…?]
…ah, right. "…in hindsight, Fiore doesn't have any local Pokemon Trainers, so I should explain how this works first." I pulled out Marshadow's Pokeball and placed it on the ground between us. "Machop, would you mind helping me explain this to her?"
Without any physical interaction from myself, he promptly opened his Pokeball and emerged with his legs crossed in a casual meditation pose. "Like what?"
"Well, for starters, this is a Pokeball." I waved it vaguely in Ralts' direction, keeping her rapt-yet-bewildered attention. "In the rest of the world, most Trainers catch Pokemon using these to make it easier to travel over long distances when surfing or flying. Machop is someone I met and caught a few years ago, and while they didn't want to be my Pokemon at first and went back to the Wild for a while, they joined me about two years ago to help me fight Team Plasma over in America."
"I also wasn't a Machop back then," He chose now to clarify, swapping back to his 'usual' form, "but I don't think I could've beaten Zekrom if I wasn't a Marshadow at the time."
I couldn't see much of her eyes with her species-usual hair in the way, but I certainly noticed her mouth slightly dropping open. [!-you fought a Legendary and you won?!]
"Not by much, and I needed some help to hit him with two Z-Moves, but I am a Mythical." He responded in a mild tone, his annoyance at not being recognised due to his status shared by me, in the sense that the division between Legendaries and the even-lesser-known 'Mythicals' is a pain in the ass in this Generic world. "And I joined him because I knew what I was getting myself into, and I wanted a decent fight for a change. Do you?"
[Wh-u-um, no?] She stuttered in the face of his commitment to 'fighting'. [I-I mean, I'm not… against fighting other Pokemon, and I can fight if I have to, but I'm not interested in fighting just for the sake of fighting. I just want to grow up big and strong…]
"…eh, I'm not against a little restraint from time to time. As long as you're willing to spar and train like the rest of us, I'm okay with that. Anyone have anything else to say?"
[Something important not to overlook:] Sandile emerged from her Ball. [You shouldn't feel obligated to keep up with Legendaries, just because you're on the same team.]
"Indeed!" Zekrom boomed as he burst out too, not in his less-revealing form, and making her jolt in my lap. "Jason is the ideal Trainer to bring out your true strength, without a doubt, and he will not force you to remain a part of his team if you wish to leave after some time has passed."
"He will also remind you when you're in the wrong form, and tell you to switch back before someone sees you." I hissed at him and he quickly realised his mistake and swapped to Karrablast. "You can just say that you're a Zekrom out loud, and use Thunderbolt or something that isn't learnable by a Karrablast to prove the point." I turned back to Ralts while she stared wide-eyed at now-Karrablast. "But if we're near other humans, please don't give me a heart attack by randomly changing to a Meditite. You won't be in a Pokeball unless you need or want to be, and Kirlia are known to learn some Physical Moves you can openly practice, but as soon as someone realises what you can do, questions are going to be asked. Questions that would be very difficult for me to answer."
[And don't worry about being the only 'normie' on the team.] Evan popped out as Rockruff, then switched to Espeon- [You're not the first, and you won't be the last.] -then returned to her Pokeball with no further comments.
[…you're a Zekrom…? You caught a Zekrom?!] She finally shook her head back into awareness.
"…our current partnership is temporary, but that might change in the future." He quickly stressed. "And I haven't been trained by him yet, this agreement was rather sudden and unexpected. But Lugia has, and she is satisfied with his work, so I look forward to our lessons."
She didn't know how to respond to that either, turning to face Sandile who used Water Pulse and Psybeam in quick succession, creating a load of contest-worthy sparkles in the air. […woah…] I let her take it at her own pace, as she visibly fought down the urge to fangirl in awe at the two of them, and considered something. […can I still see my family?]
"For the first ten years, sure. After that, I'll be sent really far away for a long time, but that's part of a long-winded explanation that will take about an hour, so we'll come back to that if you're okay with everything else, and want to stick with us on a longer-term basis."
[…okay, then. I guess I'm in, for now.] She sheepishly bowed her head.
"Glad to hear it. Welcome aboard, Ralts." Fortunately, she recognised the handshake despite it being a human-culture thing. Perks of living alongside them, I suppose.
[…so, um, now what?] She asked, a bit lost on the next step after such a 'momentous' commitment.
"Well first, we need to head down to Summerland and look into this stolen Politoed situation. That might lead into something more, which means you'll be travelling with us just as a spectator for a while, but as soon as this whole mess has been wrapped up and we have a week or so with no interruptions, we'll find somewhere quiet and show you how Technical Machines work, and you can start practicing some more useful Moves like Zen Headbutt and the Elemental Punches."
[Hey, I know Growl, and Confusion, and I inherited Shadow Sneak from Dad and Mystical Fire from Mom! They just… don't work against Houndour and Houndoom, specifically, and it didn't seem like a good idea to intentionally provoke the fully-evolved Pokemon.]
"I'm sure we can find something that works if a situation with a Fire/Dark-type ever comes up again, even if it's just neutral Fairy-type STAB like Dazzling Gleam. Or maybe Focus Blast or Power Gem, lots of Pokemon can learn a couple of Moves like those, even if they don't make sense to learn them like Empoleon and Grass Knot."
[?-Empoleon can learn a Grass-type Move…? Whatever. And, when we go to the Sekra Range, and meet my family… my parents can be a bit, traditional sometimes, so don't be surprised if they start going off about you being a human, or me not being a Gardevoir yet, like I 'should' be.]
"…is that, something you'd like to be supported in, or something you'd like us to keep out of?"
[I can handle myself, they're not abusive about it or anything, it just… might take them a while to accept it?]
…well, at least it won't be a boring decade, but I think I'd prefer that over having to sit in on domestic disputes.
AN: This chapter was powered by my perception that my previous Chapter, replacing the temporary 'quick update' as #19, seems to have not brought in the usual swell of people. I recall being told that the website still alerts people, but I'm annoyed enough that I'd rather just have another one out already. And since I have the whole month of March to myself, my parents going on a 'honeymoon' in Tasmania (which they've been planning all of last year, but Mum needs a knee replacement so they may as well go while she has the mobility), expect another one soon-ish. These don't take all that long to write, on account of mostly being transcriptions of Game events and some 'usual' character interactions.
Date of Chapter 20 Final Upload/Edit: 2023, February 27th.