What the hell? Another chapter a week from the last? Lies. Fabrications. A complete falsehood.
Day 53
Daniel is seated at the camp fire pit watching two fish roast on sticks while some tubers cook under some coals. Wilson dozes off near the cot while Lazuli is curled on Daniel's shoulders, hungrily staring at the roasting fish. It has been two weeks since Lazuli hatched. Daniel's food situation has only worsened. The little dragon has grown somewhat. She was now four feet long and noticeably heavier. This came at the cost at the cost of Daniel's food reserves. Lazuli cried when hungry, thirsty or tired like a real infant. She and Daniel had burned through all the smoked fish, ground through the coconuts, and inhaled most of the berries. Interestingly, Lazuli had shed her skin twice so far, which was translucent and slightly blue when off the little dragon. Her skin becomes tender and wet whenever she sheds the old layer, causing Lazuli to cling much closer to Daniel in her new state.
I wonder if I can use the shed skins? Could I cure them and use them like leather?
An appealing thought, considering Daniel had been going barefoot since he lost one flip-flop to the krabby attack. His feet, once soft thanks to a life of driving a car everywhere, now bore callouses and scrapes. Climbing coconut trees barefoot had toughened his soles somewhat, but it was still annoying.
Especially when the callouses break.
He had to take it slow and watch each step at first. Carefully aiming for soft ground and avoiding standing on burning hot sand during the afternoon.
Yeah, new sandals would be great. But, how do I tan the shed skin? Where do I even start?
Maybe he didn't need to use leather to make sandals. He could weave a pair out of rope.
Yeah, rope sounds much more doable. I've made miles of the stuff by now.
There were many materials in the forest Daniel had turned into rope. The easiest was this thin bark that could be torn into thin strips and then twisted into shape. Or maybe he could carve wooden sandals. Isn't there a tree out there called "sandal wood"? As Daniel thought, Lazuli began inching her mouth towards the roasting fish.
"Hey! Don't touch that!"
Lazuli stopped. She slunk her head down and away from the fish. Cowed by Daniel's stern voice.
Daniel did his best dad voice. "Lazuli, you do not take food from others. One fish will be yours when I'm done cooking it. Do you understand?"
Lazuli turned to meet Daniel's eyes. Clearly ashamed, she noded.
"Good".
Did she really understand me? Can she understand speech already? There's so much I don't know and only so much I can learn on my own.
So far, Daniel had learned to survive. How to fish, make stone tools, build shelter, make rope, weave baskets, start a fire with friction, climb trees, and forage. He has learned less than he would like about pokemon. The creatures are tougher than humans but tend to avoid him anyways. They eat the mundane animals of the world, but he did see a wingull fly off with a krabby once. How pokemon moves work are still beyond him. Whenever he practices with Wilson, he can only get the oddish to use two moves: absorb and acid. He could perform each about 20 times before becoming exhausted. Absorb doesn't seem to affect non-pokemon. Daniel had been the target once, and only felt a slight drop in energy, as if he had jogged a short distance. Acid, on the other hand, could do irreparable damage to the environment. It melts through grass and trees but doesn't affect the ground.
Do type match ups apply to the environment too?
The acid from the attack doesn't stay for long. It evaporates like a thin puddle of water on hot concrete. The only evidence the acid even existed, would be the gooey remains of unlucky plants. On the sand, it's as if it never happened.
What exactly is the acid? I don't know of any substance that turns plants to goop and disappears without killing me for breathing near it.
Plants seem to have no problem growing back where the acid fell. They seem to grow unnaturally fast, using the old plant goo as a fertilizer. In fact, many plants seem to grow much faster than Daniel is used to. Berry bushes, go from fallow to full in about a week and there has been no shortage of coconuts and tubers.
I just hope it stays that way. The food should be ready now.
Lazuli lights up as Daniel retrieved the tubers from under the fire, placing them in coconut shell bowls.
"You can start with one of these, Lazuli," Daniel said as he pointed at one of the bowls.
Lazuli slithered off her trainer's shoulders, less excited about the first food she was offered. Her demeanor plucked at Daniel's heartstrings.
"Okay... here." The words were as drawn out as Daniel slowly gave Lazuli a roasted fish.
Lazuli beamed and proceeded to devour the fish first.
Sevii Island Academy
"Substances created by Pokemon-sourced phenomena do not persist for long. However, their effects on the world remain. A burned tree remains burned. A split rock remains split, but a soaked shirt will dry out very quickly compared to normal water."
Mister Kitegawa advanced the PowerPoint from pictures following a pokemon battle, to a diagram of a pokemon in a box.
"Let's consider a closed system comprised of a pokemon and its immediate environment. If our pokemon uses the move "ember" in the system, what happens to the net energy in the system? Does it increase, decrease or stay the same?"
The teacher looked at his class. Only one student raised her hand. Mister Kitegawa pointed.
"Azalea."
"It increases."
"Why?"
"Pokemon-sourced phenomena draw energy from the source dimension, which is outside of our system. So the energy in the system increases."
"Correct. While energy cannot be created or destroyed, it can and does transform and move between dimensions. The substances created also..." The dismissal bell rang. Students began packing away their things.
"Homework is posted on the board. Please finish chapter 20 before you do it. Have a good weekend everyone."
Azalea left class alone. She didn't have friends in AP pokemon phenomena, but she could find one at the ranch today. The ranch was where the students learned how to raise and care for pokemon. It was also next to the battlegrounds, the park, and the pokemon center. The ranch had a big barn that housed the student's and faculty's pokemon. Azalea had one pokemon, a male ponyta named Smoldering. He was calm and gentle with Azalea, but not so friendly to others. She had learned to ride him when she was little. She used a bridle but no saddle, so she squeezed her knees to stay mounted. Her dad had caught him for her, but grandpa said that her dad had actually bought it from a poacher. That couldn't be true because the pokeball had been 100 percent legit. Azalea hadn't seen her dad for eight years. Not since her mother disappeared. Grandpa would never talk about it. He would aggressively pretend that he was deaf. Which was bullshit because that man was the fittest human on The Sevii Islands. Azalea passed through the halls of chatting students and went through the door to the ranch barn. Once inside, she headed to the stall with Smoldering in it. His head poked out and he looked at Azalea as she pet his head.
"Hey there, Smoldering. It's time to get some exercise."
The ponyta laid his head on her shoulder, a sign of affection. Azalea let him out of his stall and fetched his bridle. Smoldering nudged her back. He really missed her.
"It's only been three days. Has Mister Oshima not been feeding you or something?"
Mister Oshima was a retired pokemon breeder. He had been the caretaker on the ranch for nearly a decade. He specialized in raising pokemon for battling more than battling himself. He was out fetching supplies at the moment. He liked to keep a tight schedule.
So why wasn't he here this morning? He didn't leave any clues on his note.
Azalea bridled and mounted Smoldering.
"Away we go. Hiya!" smoldering went charging out of the barn, causing a ruckus among the other pokemon there. His hoofs slammed into the ground with a wonderful rhythm. Azalea hunched over, keeping her balance and core engaged. They rode up and down the pasture, turning the heads of tourists in the nearby park. Azalea loved this. The wind in her hair, the beating of hoofs, the contest to not get thrown, and the connection between her and Smoldering. The subtle shifts in weight and tugs on the reins steered the ponyta as if the two were one. Soon she pulled up to the fence beside the battleground, where students, locals, and tourists gathered to watch and participate in pokemon battles. Azalea dismounted.
"Are you ready, Smoldering?"
The ponyta nodded. Azalea nodded back and returned Smoldering to his pokeball. A red beam of light shot out and pulled him in. Azalea jumped the fence, it was old and just above waist height. Of the six battlefields, four were occupied. Nothing too exciting so far, although one tourist brought along a Sirfetche'd.
Never seen one of those before. Galar is on the other side of the world.
Azalea made her way to an empty battlefield and waited less than a minute before someone came up to her. It was another student, first-year judging by the uniform. He had blue hair and a slouch.
"Um hey... Azalea right?"
"Yeah. Looking to battle..."
"Timothy."
"Yeah. Looking to battle, Timothy?"
He nodded.
"I only have one pokemon. Is that ok?"
Timothy nodded again.
"Okay. Let's get started!"
The trainers chose a side and then sent out their pokemon.
"You're up, Smoldering!" The ponyta landed and rose it's head confidently.
Timothy said nothing as he sent out a dustox. He didn't seem confident before, now he looked hopeless.
"You alright there, man?"
"Yeah." He then stood up straight and issued a command. "Duster, Confusion!" Waves of psychic energy pulsed from the dustox to the ponyta.
"Smoldering, get moving!" the ponyta obeyed the command, dashing diagonally toward the dustox. The attack clipped Smoldering's rear leg, but he didn't lose stride.
"Smoldering, flame wheel!" He wreathed himself in flame, then jumped at the dustox, flipping into a spinning wheel of fire.
"Protect!" a screen of energy blocked Smoldering just in time.
"Keep up the pressure, Smoldering!" The ponyta bounced off the screen and landed a few yards away. He charged the dustox while still spinning.
"Huh? Protect, Duster! Protect!" a screen of energy once more, barely blocking the charging flame wheel. Again, Smoldering rebounded, this time staying in the air for a few seconds.
He can't keep that up forever, but I can. "Once more, Smoldering!"
He landed once more and charged without hesitation.
"Whirlwind! Knock it away!" the dustox began kicking up a gust, but it was too late. Smoldering crashed into the dustox. Fire searing the face of the unfortunate bug. Smoldering flew right through the dustox and landed with a skid. Amazingly, the dustox remained conscious and airborne.
"Smoldering, st..."
"I concede!"
"Smoldering, halt!"
Timothy returned Duster to it's pokeball. He looked at Azalea with too straight a back.
"Thank you for the battle!" He bowed quickly then ran off.
"Hey, you did pretty well!" Azalea yelled after him.
Smoldering approached Azalea, head held high in triumph. "And you did amazing. All that work these years on flame wheel really paid off."
He put his chin on Azalea's shoulder. She responded by petting his head.
"That ponyta put on quite the show." Azalea turned to look at who was speaking. It was Mister Oshima. He was a balding man in his sixties. His wrinkled face was square and his skin bore the signs of a lifetime working outdoors. He looked completely normal in his overalls and large straw hat. His ryhorn was right behind him, being led by a rope. The pokemon was hitched to a wagon carrying supplies for the ranch. Mostly bags of pokemon feed.
"You'll earn that sponsorship for sure I tell ya what."
"Thanks, Mister Oshima. We worked real hard to be third place."
"Now that just ain't fair to yourself and Smoldering. If it were up to me, meta-whatsits of pokemon wouldn't count for half your class rank. Pokemon rearing would. Even then, you're twice the worker Trent and Hibiki are."
"Well, we can't all be rich." Or have someone complain to the principle on your behalf.
"See, thats why I like scholarship students like you. You had to work just like me. Now help this old man back to the barn."
Wait. He has more pokeballs on him than usual.
"If I do, will you tell me if the sponsorship pokemon have arrived?"
"I got them right here. I got a piplup, a turtwig and a chimchar from the docks this morning. Courtesy of the Sinnoh league."
Sinnoh. I'll be going to Sinnoh. Goodbye beaches. Hello, snow!