Chapter 23 - Go Fish

Absol glanced at his phone, reaching over with his Shadow Claw to grab it from the bedside table. He'd received three responses to his ad - and a dozen annoyances from outside Castelia which he swiftly binned. Whilst Absol was more than willing to travel for a worthy prize - such as Doom Desire - he could afford to be much pickier here.

The first response offered a well-bred Shellder for eighty-thousand dollars. Tilting his head, Absol spent half a minute to send him a polite refusal, advising that another client would arrive in three days and be willing to pay ninety-five thousand. The second response was a trade offer - their Shellder for a Diglett that Absol did not have. Absol spent five minutes drawing a crude digital illustration showing exactly where the respondent could insert a Diglett, attaching it to scathing email condemning them for wasting his precious time.

The third offer promised a top-grade Shellder for only fifty-thousand dollars. Absol sent it to Officer Jenny, explaining the numerous professional standards and licensing laws they had broken in securing such a competitive price, before making a call.

"Porygon."

The distorted visage of Porygon-Z appeared from his phone's monitor, despite it not being a model with a front camera.

"Why are you calling me now, meatbag? Wasn't it enough getting us a massive bounty across all of Unova? Do you know how many hack attempts I had to fight off? We had to go restock in Orre of all places! Orre!"

"I had no idea Unova would react so strongly to a documented use of Fusion Bolt, even at such a low intensity," Absol lied to their face. "Besides, you've faced far worse before right? You'll live, and it's all for a good cause."

"…J seems to agree, which is the only reason I'm not flooding your phone with Trubbish. Now what do you want?"

"A Pokémon breeder in Castelia is about to be raided for illegal operations. Edit the digital record of the Shellder so that it belongs to Pokémon Trainer Hilda."

"Really? You called me to commit petty theft for a mere fifty-thousand? Bah, whatever, done. Now sod off."

The line clicked dead.

"Slowpoke? Good news, you'll have your Shellder in twenty-six hours."

"Slowpoke."

"Sure, I could have gotten them immediately, but why pay for what I can get for free, compliments of the state?"

—

"Still nothing?" Koffing checked, as Audino added more coals to the furnace.

"I can feel the heat, but its not painful or anything," Hilda reassured him, sinking deeper into the boiler water filling the cauldron they'd bought from an antique dealer. "It's actually kind of nice, a bit like being wrapped in a warm quilt on a cold winter night."

Instead of heading straight home once their shopping was done, the party had elected to spend a night camping outside, somewhere away from the limelight where they could test Hilda's new physical capabilities in peace. Granted, this should probably have come before jumping down a mineshaft and battling Clay, but such concerns were hard to recall in moment when faced with the excitement of reaching yet another Gym.

Thus far they'd remained undisturbed save for a lone Snorlax who'd wandered up to ask if Hilda was being cooked for dinner, but he'd left happily enough after Audino gave him a container filled with berries. They'd all pretended not to notice the Zorua tail popping out from behind 'Snorlax' as they departed - or at least Koffing pretended, the others might simply not have noticed.

"I think it's safe to say you're highly resistant to heat, and probably cold as well given your reactions thus far," Koffing noted. "Durability has increased drastically, given you shrugged off the ricochet on my Precipice Blades with only a bit of reinforcement, and your manipulation has reached what I'd expect of a fairly young Steel type. I'd say we're on the right track, the next step is to have you fight some Pokémon to gain more combat experience."

"Should we go after that Zorua from earlier? He wanted to eat me!"

"Nah, he's barely a year old, practically a baby really. You won't get any sport out of knocking him around. We'll try to find someone in Castelia for you to fight, and if that doesn't work there's always Protocol Seven."

—

"You can come out now," Absol rolled his eyes, not bothering with the effort of getting up and moving the sleeping Slowpoke off of him.

"Under the sofa," Absol yawned. "Now behind the curtains. On the coffee table. Convinced yet?"

"How are you doing that?" Latias complained. "Even if you're a Dark Type, passive illusions should still fool you, as long as I'm not targeting you directly. Shouldn't I be invisible?"

"They do work," Absol shrugged. "But the thing is, you're not a precognitive, are you?"

"Not really, why?"

"It shows in the way you've constructed the illusion. All five senses are covered, as is the fluctuation of aura that would usually expose a living Pokémon. But what you haven't accounted for is your presence in the future; which makes sense, because you have no experience in what that feels like, to have a discrepancy between what is and what should be. From my perspective? Either someone is messing with my senses, or messing with my power, and the former is far more easily accomplished. So I trust my power, and speak to the paths I see."

"Why is a Dark type better at telling the future than me? It's not fair!" Latias whined.

"That may be the case, but on the bright side you're pretty good with water right?" Absol couldn't resist snarking.

"I guess so, why?"

"Cry me a river."

—

"Latias? Why do you have a black eye?" Nurse Joy frowned as she glanced up at her starter, currently held securely in the grasp of Absol's Shadow Claws as he dragged her into the basement waiting room for VIP guests.

"Just a bit of roughhousing," Absol reassured her. "My apartment is still perfectly intact, no need to worry."

"Your apartment? Latias, you were only supposed to ask for Hilda to come down to the reception."

"I know," Latias pouted. "But everyone's been talking about her recently, ever since our aunt from Kanto called, I just couldn't resist heading in for a peek. I didn't think Absol would spot me!"

"Well, as long as there's no damage…" Nurse Joy trailed off. "Wait, can't you use Recover?"

"Oh yeah!" Latias glowed green, her black eye fading to nothing within seconds. "Oops, I forgot, teehee."

"Sorry about her," Nurse Joy sighed. "She's just a few months old and still getting used to the wider world."

"Its fine," Absol laughed. "Heaven knows I got up to worse when I was a kid. Anyway, what's the occasion?"

"We've been tracking your progress for a while now," Nurse Joy explained. "Ever since the Matriarch put out a notice of Hilda's adoption. Its taken a bit of time, but an informal gathering has been arranged to welcome her into the Clan, and we were hoping to inform her today."

"You missed her by a bit, she'll still be on the way back from Driftveil. I can let her know though, if you have the details?"

"Here you go," Nurse Joy handed Absol an ostentatious envelope, complete with a wax seal bearing the insignia of Clan Joy. "Your invitation. Make sure to bring that with
you to confirm your identity. The meeting is at the top floor of Unity Tower, in the boardroom, five days from now."

"You came here in person to deliver an invitation for a party that's just twenty floors above our home?"

"Its traditional," Nurse Joy sighed. "I raised that objection as well, believe me, but the Matriarch insisted we invite Hilda properly and well, I never could win an argument with my mom."

"Huh. That explains the Latias I guess? Are you related to a Joy who does gym inspections by any chance?"

"Ah, you know my aunt?"
"Only by reputation," Absol grinned. "She's quite the bogeyman amongst under performing Gym Leaders, I hear."

"She can definitely be scary when she's annoyed," Nurse Joy agreed. "Many thought she would be the next Matriarch, but she never contested the position. Preferred to stay out doing fieldwork, I think. No patience for politics unlike mom."

"Sounds like a fun character; she gonna be at the party?"

"I'll let her know you asked for her."

That was hardly a promise, but it was probably as good as Absol was going to get.

—

"I feel like we could have saved a lot of time if we'd remembered that Chansey could Teleport us between Pokémon Centers." Audino mused as the party materialized once more in Unity Tower's private Pokémon clinic; courtesy of the resident Kantonian Chansey who had picked up the move back in her homeland.

"We could have, yes, but without that leisurely ride on Wailord, would Hilda ever have thought of undertaking the ritual?" Koffing retorted. "Everything happens for a reason; and I have good reason to believe we're doing it right. Look at Hilda now, she's well on her way to becoming a proper trainer!"

"Someday you'll have to tell us how old you are," Joseph sighed. "Every time I hear you talk, my world-view gets upended somehow."

A short elevator ride later, they were finally back to their luxurious apartment. Upon opening the door, Joseph was swept down the corridor by a rip current, all the way back to the elevator they'd just come from.

"What was that?" Hilda blinked, drenched but otherwise unmoved.

"Oops." Slowbro replied, rubbing the back of his head sheepishly while Shellder laughed hysterically, somehow managing to keep biting down on the former's tail all the while.

"Welcome home," Absol sighed. "We were practicing fine control just now."

—

AN: This is the last chapter drafted before my laptop died. Future updates will depend on that getting solved.