Damien stood on his side of the arena, facing Mr. Salt who had already taken his spot and produced a Pokéball from his pocket.
"Well. Usually, the kinds of trainers I test tend to have minimal experience or much weaker Pokémon. Seeing as you have an Elgyem, I'll allow myself to use a personal Pokémon of mine. Nothing absurd, I assure you." James said, smiling with his eyes. An action that did little to reassure Damien.
"Come on out, Drilbur." The ball in James' hand popped open, producing a bright red light following his words.
Materializing out of thin air was a small, black and mole-like creature with navy stripes running across its body. It opened its mouth and produced a small growl, clinking its large claws together as it did. Much like its owner, it had a somewhat intense and confident smirk.
'A Drilbur, huh? If I remember correctly, it should be a plain Ground-Type. Nothing too scary against a Psychic-Type like Elgyem.' Damien thought to himself, analysing the small mole Pokémon.
Without waiting for Damien's instruction, Elgyem stepped forward into the makeshift arena. Unlike its opponent, it remained silent and simply stared forward.
"Hahahaha. An interesting Pokémon you've got there! Though not an unusual attitude for such an intelligent creature." James said with a chuckle, cupping his chin in thought. "Perhaps you're the type to let the Pokémon fight on its own?" He asked.
"Uhh. Not exactly. We're just trying to be as cooperative as possible going forward." Damien said sheepishly.
Elgyem produced a monotonous long hum, seemingly impatient at the two trainer's conversation.
"Indeed, Elgyem. Let us begin with haste!" James declared. "Nurse Joy, would you kindly act as the Referee and count us down?" James asked with a smile, straightening his suit in preparation.
"Certainly! On the count of three!"
"One!"
"Two!"
"Three!"
Nurse Joy swiped her hand down, signalling that the battle had commenced.
"Elgyem! Keep them locked down!" Damien commanded.
"Dig." James said calmly.
Both trainers produced their orders almost simultaneously. Immediately, Elgyem's eyes produced a purple glow and his arms shot forward. A large purple, translucent cube began to form around the Drilbur. However, almost as soon as the cube began to form, Drilbur dove forward with his arms poised. Its whole body span rapidly and it quickly penetrated into the soft dirt: disappearing from sight.
Elgyem's attempt at Imprison failed, and decidedly he allowed the box to fizzle out.
'Off to a bad start. Losing track of our opponent. What to do...' Damien thought to himself. He looked over at James, only to see him maintaining the same confident smile from before.
Elgyem lowered his head slightly, turning it from side to side as he seemed to scan the battlefield. His eyes flashed purple. Suddenly, multiple spots across the arena began to shake and send dust flying into the air.
'What's he doing? Just attacking the arena and hoping for the best? Better than doing nothing I suppose.' Damien thought to himself.
"It would be best for you to start helping your partner, Damien!" James shouted from across the arena, his voice managing to carry itself over the sounds of the invisible force slamming into the ground.
'I would if I could. Shit'
Suddenly, the ground beside Elgyem shook and the dirt exploded upwards as Drilbur appeared from underneath. Its claws were already poised in front of it, allowing it to immediately slam into Elgyem from the side. The speed and force from the hit easily sent Elgyem tumbling to the side, his body skidding through the dirt towards the edge of the arena.
"Elgyem! You ok!?" Damien shouted with concern in his voice.
Drilbur stood up following the dive and produced a bestial chortle. "Dri-dri-dri!" Anyone could tell it was laughing.
"Apologies. My Pokémon has a rather rotten personality when it comes to battling." James said, though still smiling. It seemed he wasn't that apologetic.
Elgyem slowly floated back onto its feet, rising from the ground like a vampire from a coffin.
Vrrrr.
'He's definitely upset. Shit, I need to do better.'
"Brush it off Elgyem! Attack non-stop!" Damien commanded once more.
Immediately, Elgyem's form began to shimmer before it disappeared completely.
From Damien's perspective, he easily spotted Elgyem as he reappeared not far behind Drilbur. Elgyem didn't hesitate to attack, producing a barrage of Confusion.
Drilbur, having lost track of Elgyem, was forced to raise his guard - shielding his form with his massive claws as a flurry of invisible blows assaulted him non-stop. Unfortunately, none of the attacks were able to reproduce the effect they had on the Vigoroth from before with many of them doing little damage to the mole Pokémon's thick claws.
"Drilbur! Rapid spin!"
The Drilbur's body glowed in a faint white light. Not long after, it spun slowly in place. It wasn't long before its speed picked up more and more.
Elgyem's barrage which previously kept it locked in place now seemed to do little to the Drilbur.
"Get moving! Behind you, Drilbur." James commanded.
The spinning mole immediately began moving with perfect precision towards Elgyem, kicking up plumes of dust behind it. From out of the shining white light, Damien could see the Drilbur stick out its claws as it spun - turning into what was essentially an oversized, organic Beyblade.
"Keep moving! Don't let it touch you!" Damien shouted, worried.
Elgyem merely watched as the mole-twister approached it rapidly, seemingly unconcerned at the oncoming danger. His eyes glowed purple once more. Suddenly, the spinning form of Drilbur began to shake and wobble. Damien could see that Elgyem had begun to slam at the Pokémon's claws with psychic force on every rotation - pushing back in the direction of the creature's momentum.
As a result of Elgyem's near-perfect timing and precision, the Drilbur's rapid spin quickly lost speed and momentum but not before managing to reach Elgyem. Once again, Elgyem hit the emergency ejection button. His form shimmered briefly before he reappeared beside Damien far away from Drilbur. Drilbur's rapid spin screeched to a halt, his momentum fully dead. The mole Pokémon breathed heavily, clearly tired from the intense movements.
"Ha! I'm impressed. Your Elgyem truly lives up to its name as the 'Cerebral' Pokémon. If he'd calculated the timing a bit faster, poor Drilbur would have completely screeched to a halt." James said, folding his arms across his chest.
"Yeah... He's pretty smart, huh." Damien said, somewhat dejectedly. 'I'm barely doing anything right now. Sorry buddy.'
Elgyem looked over his shoulder at Damien, producing a small hum. A brief image of a thumbs-up flashed in Damien's head.
'It'd be a lot easier if we just fought using this telepathy stuff we've got going on, but I think it'd probably turn a few heads battling like that from the start of our career.'
"Don't get distracted! Drilbur, Metal Claw!" James said, breaking Damien out of his thoughts.
Drilbur shot forward once more, seemingly recovered from before. Its claws glowed silver as it charged towards Elgyem, swiping at the air furiously.
Damien quickly snapped out of his momentary distraction and focused on the battle at hand. He knew they needed to step up their game if they were going to stand a chance against Drilbur.
"Elgyem, Hypnosis!" Damien commanded.
Elgyem concentrated its energy, producing a pulsating, iridescent wave. The wave quickly moved forward, enveloping the oncoming Drilbur. It wasn't long before Drilbur's eyes glazed over, his movements becoming sluggish. Eventually, the mole Pokémon stopped in its tracks completely and its body wavered sluggishly.
'Shit. It didn't put it to sleep? Fuck it. Good enough!'
"Imprison its foot and then barrage him with confusion!" Damien ordered, his voice now full of confidence.
A transparent purple cube materialized itself around the Drilbur's left foot, before condensing and warping into its shape: completely locking it in place. Immediately after, the Drilbur was knocked out of its daze as a torrent of psychic force pummeled its head and chest.
'Brutal. Sorry bud.' Damien thought, wincing at the sight of the violence.
Looking across the arena, James had finally lost his trademark smirk. Damien couldn't tell whether the man was upset at seeing his Pokémon beaten so brutally or because he was about to lose.
Regardless, the match quickly came to a close as Drilbur stumbled backwards from the onslaught: unable to maintain his balance due to his imprisoned foot. His small body crashed to the floor, unconscious.
"We have a winner! Drilbur has been knocked unconscious and is no longer fit to battle!" Nurse Joy announced, raising her hand in Damien's direction to signal his victory.
"Alriiiight! Good job buddy!" Damien exclaimed before jogging over to Elgyem. He crouched down and presented his hand for a high-five. Elgyem looked at it for a moment before reluctantly slapping his hand against it.
A red beam flashed behind Damien and Drilbur's unconscious form quickly disappeared into his Pokéball. Damien looked up to see James silently walking over to him. Damien stood up as he approached, remaining silent.
"Well. I'm certainly surprised." James said, placing Drilbur's Pokéball into his breast pocket before folding his arms behind his back.
"It seems you found your stride in the second half of the battle. I understand it's easy to rely on the skill and intelligence of powerful Pokémon such as Elgyem, but Pokémon battles are all about the cooperation of the trainer and Pokémon. You did well to display this at the end." James said, his smile resurfacing once more as he presented his hand.
Damien shook his hand, returning the smile. "Cheers. I appreciate the advice."
"Of course, and with it perhaps you'll be conquering the Gym Challenge in no time! Perhaps you'll credit me?" James said, producing a raucous laugh in turn.
"The Gym Challenge? Wait, so did I pass?" Damien asked excitedly.
"Passed? Well of course. I consider myself an experienced judge of character, and your battle skill - whilst in need of some refinement - certainly showed some potential. I see no reason not to allow you to a professional trainer's license. We'll make our way back up to the Pokémon center and get you it all sorted.
"Thank you! Do you hear that bud? Looks like we've got some work to do, huh?" Damien said, looking down at Elgyem with a look of pure joy.
Elgyem merely hummed slightly in response.
Damien stepped outside the Pokémon center, his eyes fixed on the shiny new plastic card in his grip. A league-certified, professional trainer's license. As Nurse Joy had promised, it was all ready to go before the test had even started, so he had managed to acquire it as soon as Mr. Salt had approved it. Elgyem stepped out beside him, looking up in his direction.
"Wondering what's next? Well, let's have a think. If I remember correctly, we should be able to head out the gate on the west side of the town which should take us through Route 2 to Striation City."
"Let's take a stock check real quick and then we could probably get going soon and just camp out on the route when night hits us." Damien said, unhooking his bag from his shoulder.
"Pots and Pans?" "VrUu." "Cutlery?" "VrUu." "Portable, yet still burdensome stove?" "VrUu." "Sleeping bag and food?" "VrUu."
"Alright, looking good then. Oh, and of course we can't forget these new beauties!" Damien said, producing a handful of small, compressed Pokéballs. Five to be exact. James had kindly gifted them to Damien after handing him his license, declaring them to be 'an investment in a promising new talent'. Of course, Damien couldn't say no. Though, he was fairly sure this would come back around somehow: no doubt he'd owe James a favour in the future. Oh well! Future problems are future problems for a reason. Now is the time of the present, and thus the time to finally start exploring this region properly.
Damien closed up his backpack and stuffed the Pokéballs into one of his many pockets and zipped it up. He slung it onto his back and shoved his hands into his pockets before beginning to make his way towards the gate to Route 2. "Off we go, Elgyem."
Elgyem waddled up beside him, maintaining his pace. James had kindly gifted the pair with a sixth Pokéball for Elgyem. After a long and arduous conversation, Damien eventually persuaded the little blue Pokémon to at least register himself with the damned thing but promised he didn't have to stay in it.
Damien didn't really have a problem with it. It's not like it was anything unusual, at least not to him. Ash's Pikachu was always out of his... Speaking of which, where was Ash? Was he even around? It was definitely possible this was a version of Pokémon where he didn't even exist. Honestly, he hadn't seen anyone yet that could give him an idea of what kind of version this world was. So far Accumula Town was the only constant.
'Well hopefully if he does exist, he stays well out of my way! I'm not trying to get into all that bullshit. You know what I'm talking about, right bud?'
An image of the classic Team Rocket duo's faces with a large red cross plastered over them flashed in Damien's head. It seemed Elgyem wasn't a particularly big fan of the two.
'Well, not exactly what I meant but I understand where you're coming from.'
Vrrruunnnn.
"Sure, sure. I'm sure you can blast 'em off into the sky if we do see them around." Damien said, rolling his eyes secretly.
It wasn't long before the two arrived at the gate leading out into Route 2. Unlike the games, there was just a simple iron gate leading onto a long, winding dirt road that disappeared off into the distance. It probably wasn't worth trying to make anything to actually stop Pokémon. If the super-powered creatures really wanted to come into the town, they would. What was familiar to Damien was the route itself. Walking down the road for a few minutes, they were rather quickly surrounded on all sides by tall, verdant trees. Damien managed to find out this world used the same calendar as his own, and it was currently April which most likely meant wonderful sunny weather. Though, he was a bit unfamiliar with the weather patterns of Unova.
Regardless, Damien was thankful he had woken up in a more forgiving part of Unova and not somewhere like the Desert Resort. Damien paid close attention to the tree line and instructed Elgyem to do the same. The last thing they wanted was for a wild Pokémon to get the drop on them, especially when he wasn't exactly sure what could show up. Nurse Joy had informed them that it should be about a two-day walk to get to Striation City, so one could only assume Mr. Salt had flown in on a Pokémon to get to Accumula Town as fast as he did.
Damien was somewhat excited about the journey. It'd give him and Elgyem plenty of time to get to know each other better, train, see some wild Pokémon and, hopefully, catch some. One could only hope it goes the way he intended it to.
XX One Hour Later XX
The pair had stopped briefly for a moment at the side of the road. The road had reached a point where it was going to be winding through a particularly dense part of the forest, meaning they'd be far more likely to run into wild Pokémon. Damien sat on a nearby, conveniently placed tree stump and took a sip of his water. They'd only been walking for an hour but the weight of his backpack on top was definitely something he wasn't used to - he was no hiker. Elgyem on the other hand seemed to be in about the same condition as he was at the start. Damien could only assume that being a little alien with superpowers, he probably had the stamina to go with it. Sighing to himself and regretting his choice to not hit the gym earlier in life, he stood up and slotted his water bottle back into his bag.
"Alright bud, let's keep going yeah? We've still got at least a few hours of sunlight left, so we'll see how far we get and see if we can't find a river to set up camp by."
Elgyem nodded its head curtly, turning on his heel and leading the way forward. Damien was thankful Elgyem was so confident. If he had a more skittish Pokémon it'd probably rub off on him and make it even worse for himself. Even in the battle with James, Elgyem was more than capable of sorting it out himself - only allowing Damien to take the lead to keep up appearances.
The pair continued down the path, though said path quickly turned into a faint line in the grass as the thick brush and numerous tree roots began to take over. Fortunately Elgyem was basically a walking compass or else he'd probably end up getting lost the further they went in. Walking through, hopping over the occasional large tree root, Damien looked around up and up into the trees. He could spot a number of fairly common Pokémon. A group of Pidoves roosted on top of a particularly large and sturdy tree branch, their beady eyes following Damien as he walked beneath them. Thankfully they were fairly passive Pokémon and had little interest in him. A small deer-like Pokémon appeared in front of the pair for but a moment. Damien would have probably mistook it for an actual deer were it not for the bright pink fur and large yellow flower sitting on top of its head.
"A deerling, huh." Damien said.
The deerling quickly sprang forward into the brush and disappeared off into the distance, perhaps in response to Damien speaking so suddenly.
'Seems like the Pokémon around here are pretty chill. Definitely, nothing that Elgyem can't handle. Few more hours of relaxing trekking and then we get to eat. The only thing that'd make this better is if I had some music.'
Damien's headphones had thankfully survived the crash but unfortunately, the Bluetooth had yet to work and his phone didn't have enough battery to last anyway.
"HOOOOAAUUU! OOH-HOO-OOH!"
A sudden and explosive shriek suddenly pierced through the tranquil ambience. Damien could hear a flutter of multiple wings as several bird Pokémon flew through the treetop away from the noise.
"What the hell is that? A monkey?" Damien said, stopping his tracks alongside Elgyem.
"OOH! OO-OO-OO! KREEEE!"
Once again the hollering and shrieking erupted from somewhere in the forest. Closer this time. It seemed Elgyem had pinpointed the sound, however, as he raised an arm - directing Damien's gaze to the right of their current path.
"Well, it doesn't too friendly... But I trust you'll keep me safe. Shall we check it out?"
Elgyem nodded.
Damien, safely behind Elgyem, walked with him towards the direction the noise had come from. Once more the shrieking pierced his ears, though this time he could tell it was two 'voices' rather than just one. It wasn't long before the two of them reached the edge of a clearing in the middle of the trees. Hiding behind a dense thicket, he looked over it to spot a pair of Mankeys. One of them was standing above the over, pressing their foot down onto their chest whilst beating his fists against his own. It seemed that in the time they'd walked over here, the two Pokémon had concluded whatever conflict they had. The victorious Mankey took his foot off his opponent's body, walking about aimlessly with his hands in the air. Steam erupted from its pig-like nostrils as he grunted. It seemed he was holding a small celebration for his victory, albeit without anyone to celebrate it.
'A Mankey... Can't say I'm too surprised after seeing that Vigoroth before, but still. I guess they're pretty common. This might be a golden opportunity for a new team member. I mean, he's gotta be somewhat strong if he beat that other one, and he's already tired so it shouldn't be too hard.' Damien thought to himself. He looked down at Elgyem, nodding to him.
Elgyem understood the signal and made his way through the underbrush. It seemed a surprise attack was below him. Damien, following Elgyem's lead, made his way carefully through the thicket and stood at the edge of the clearing. It didn't take long for the celebrating Pokémon to notice him and took even less time for it to fly into a rage. The steam that had been shooting out nearly doubled in volume. Its eyes almost popped out of their sockets, nearly going red as its blood pumped around its body.
'Shit. That's honestly terrifying. Good luck buddy.' Damien flashed a quick thumbs up to his partner before stepping back further away from the ape-like Pokémon.
Elgyem merely hummed lightly, before shooting his arm forward. His eyes glowed purple before an invisible force struck the Mankey in its forehead, sending his ball-shaped body crashing to the floor, causing it to roll away from where it was standing. The Mankey rolled for an oddly long time before it eventually jumped into the air, slamming its feet into the ground dramatically.
'This guy's definitely something...' Damien thought, staring blankly at the Mankey. He could've sworn he saw it smirk after its landing.
The Mankey sprang forward. Its speed clearly caught Elgyem off-guard, closing the distance in a second.
Elgyem raised his arms. A psychic force struck the Mankey as it charged. It winced but shrugged it off, maintaining its momentum. Its hand glowed a dark purple colour and struck out at Elgyem. A purple blade-like crescent of energy shot out from the Mankey's hand, narrowly missing Elgyem's form as he teleported to safety. The crescent maintained its path before striking into a tree not far from Damien, leaving a sizeable gash in its bark.
'What the fuck was that. That definitely wasn't a fighting-type move.' Damien thought, a bead of sweat rolling down his head. Any closer and that thing looked like it would've taken his head off.
"Careful Elgyem! Don't underestimate it!" Damien shouted whilst retreating further behind a solid-looking tree.
The Mankey turned to face Elgyem, looking even more irritated than before. It charged forwards once more for a few steps before leaping into the air with its arms raised. Elgyem quickly responded, striking his arm forward and producing a pulsating wave of colour in its direction. The Hypnosis successfully enveloped its body, the Mankey unable to dodge anything mid-air.
Damien celebrated internally, confident they'd be able to repeat what they did to the Drilbur.
The Mankey continued forward, screeching, entirely unphased by the attack. Elgyem was too slow to react. The Mankey brought its fists down, slamming Elgyem's head down into the dirt with a combination of gravity and pure strength. Elgyem lay in the dirt unmoving.
"Elgyem! Are you okay!?" Damien shouted. It was the first time he'd seen Elgyem take such a big hit.
The Mankey pounded its chest, screeching out in celebration of its seeming victory. Much like its previous opponent, it raised its leg and placed it on top of Elgyem's body. As soon as its foot neared the body, Elgyem's form quickly vanished. He appeared at the Mankey's side, his arm pointed directly at the ape's temple. Elgyem's eyes began to flash purple repeatedly as a barrage of force assaulted the Mankey's form. Its body shuddered and spasmed from the onslaught of psychic energy, its pig-like face contorted in confusion at where his seemingly broken opponent had gone.
"OOOOKREEEE!" The Mankey screamed. It flailed its arms wildly towards Elgyem, having finally locked onto his form amidst the assault. It was clearly tired, it's breathing now ragged and yet it held on, intent on victory. Elgyem moved its attention to deflecting its attacks using Confusion as he did his best to retreat away from the brutish Pokémon. Amidst the Mankey's swings, its left hand suddenly glowed a familiar dark purple. Its quickly struck down at Elgyem with strange precision despite its earlier wild swings.
Damien quickly noticed the attack from his vantage point and called out to Elgyem. 'Light Screen! Now!'
Elgyem, his mental connection to Damien still strong, immediately reacted: materializing a flat, glass-like pane in front of him. The Mankey's hand arced downwards, producing another sharp crescent of energy. The energy shot forward but uselessly slammed into the Light Screen, dissipating as quickly as it appeared. The Mankey, seeing his attack faltering once again, screamed in rage: now literally frothing at the mouth. Elgyem quickly produced another blast of energy, directing it upwards at its jaw: both successfully sending it reeling and shutting it up.
"Nice! Finish it up! It's almost done for!" Damien shouted in encouragement. 'Though, it's a bit scary how long its kept going despite being at a type disadvantage. Especially, after it had just finished a fight. If I can catch this guy then it'll definitely grow into quite the monster.'
Elgyem didn't delay in his assault, concentrating his energy into one large blast of concussive force. He gathered his arms together before shooting them forward at the Mankey. Its body flew backwards and briefly into the air as it was struck by the final Confusion, its body skidding along the forest floor. Much like before, its round body rolled and rolled until it eventually crashed into one of the many trees and finally stopped. It didn't get up.
"Alright! Nice! Good fucking job bud." Damien shouted in celebration, producing a compressed Pokéball from his pocket as he stepped out from safety.
Elgyem rolled his eyes at Damien, producing a monotonous hum - seemingly unimpressed with its trainer.
"Yes, well we can't all be aliens with psychic powers. Any one of those attacks would've left me in a coma, so you'll have to forgive me for trying to stay alive." Damien said, frowning at Elgyem. He looked over at the Mankey's unconscious body and clicked the button of his Pokéball. Not wanting to risk embarrassing himself with a pathetic throw, Damien walked up to the Mankey very carefully, still worried it might pop back to life. Maintaining a safe but short distance, Damien threw the Poké at the Mankey.
It arced through the air and quietly struck its body. It popped itself open in response and a red beam of energy enveloped the Mankey before sucking inside. The ball landed on the ground, shaking for a moment.
Click.
The ball stopped moving. The catch was a success.
"Alriiiiiiight! New Pokémon acquired. From what I could see, a pretty strong one too - wouldn't you agree buddy?" Damien said, side-eyeing Elgyem with a smirk.
Elgyem merely turned his head to the side, humming with discontent.
"It's fine, I doubt that hit it landed on you shook up your brain cells too badly." Damien said with a small chuckle.
He looked down at the ball in his hand with a smile. It was his first catch and his newest hopeful addition. Of course, it wasn't like the games. There was every chance that the Mankey would just run off or fly into another rage once it was released. Hopefully, though, it'd at least listen to what Damien had to say. From what he saw, it seemed the Mankey prided itself on strength and victory. There was every chance he could persuade it with the promise of tough opponents and the prestige of the Gym Challenge. Mankeys may be hot-headed but they'd still be able to understand such a concept.
'What's really important though is if I do get it, I need to do my best to evolve it into Annihilape. I've got no idea if that evolution has been discovered at this time. if not, I can procure an extremely powerful Pokémon that no one knows how to deal with.' Damien thought to himself, already figuring out some ideas for his possible new teammate.
Damien clicked the ball's button once more and shrunk it back down before slotting it into a different pocket from the rest. He figured it'd best to let the Mankey rest for a while and set up camp before releasing it.
"Alright Elgyem, let's get back on the road again." Damien said, making his way back towards the path they had been taking with Elgyem in tow.
Chapter Three. Sorry for the delay. I couldn't figure out how I wanted to pace the chapter but I think I'm happy with how it went.
Anyways. New member! Mankey. A fighting type pokemon to pair up with a psychic one. What a dream team. As you could see, I made this Mankey pretty tough, but still not tough enough to defeat Elgyem. Maybe if he didn't have the type problem he'd have done better. Oh well! Maybe if he'd landed that super secret awesome slash of his, he'd have won.
I've stuck to using the most recent movepools for all the Pokémon I use with a few exceptions here and there. I really just give them whatever moves I think they'd have at this stage in the story and will eventually give them more as they actually train and practice. I'm going to do my best to avoid giving Damien's Pokémon moves out of nowhere unless I think it'd fit for dramatic moments in the story.
Let me know what you think and I'll hopefully produce the next chapter a little bit faster than this one. See ya.