I do not own Pokemon

Now that he had a moment to take a breath and observe the thing, Parker finally noticed some similarities with the corpses in the shit pit. While clearly deformed, the exoskeleton was obviously part fungus, not too far off from what he would expect to find on a Parasect. Did this self-proclaimed scientist actually manage to create a new pokemon? An abomination, for sure, but… were this the kind of experiments team Rocket was performing on a daily basis? Were those Cronenbergian nightmares actually among the schemes Giovanni was pushing? He felt sick. He could get by stealing and robbing. He didn't even have a problem with buying and selling pokemons, it's not like it was that different from what the pokemon professors were doing, but this… This was putting everything in question. Did his cousin know about this? Were all his uncle's claims about how Giovanni was just a misunderstood genius, how the end justifies the means nothing but team Rocket's propaganda? Were all the assurances that Giovanni cared about his underlings and their families nothing but empty platitudes? The man had abandoned over 30 underlings in Viridian city without a second thought, wasn't that already a betrayal? And if he was working on these abominations… He felt sick. He trusted Giovanni. He trusted team Rocket. He believed in their dreams, but in the end he had been played like a fiddle. A fool that Giovanni, his uncle and his cousin had tossed aside at the first sign of danger, a sacrificial lamb to keep the Viridian police occupied, nothing but a distraction to buy themselves some time to escape. And now he was on the run, forced to flee Kanto across a stupidly dangerous path just so he could get back to where he was before all of this mess started. For Arceus's sake, he really was an useless idiot.

He was brought back into reality by Pan licking his fingers and Vike landing on top of his head. In his breakdown, he hadn't even noticed his pokemons approach him.

He smiled at his companions. If there was one good thing about this whole mess, it was him meeting his new partners. They had been together only for a few days, yet he had come to rely on them to the point he couldn't even fathom a life without his two pokemons around.

He got up, body aching from the battle, and searched the kitchen for some paper towel and started to clean the sticky goo from Pan. It was disgusting and once again he thanked Arceus for his evolution into a poison type. He didn't want to know how sick he would have gotten from the thing. Once Pan was mostly cleaned up, He picked up his sword.

"Let's get out of here. Vike, lead the way."

In the aftermath of the fight, failed to realize that the eye on his sword was now open and rolling around, taking in its new surroundings.

Leaving the cave took a while, with Vike guiding the group through a labyrinthic set of twists and turns seemingly designed to hide the Rocket research base into what appeared to be a far more trafficked route, complete with hand rails and even the occasional battery-powered lantern. Apart from a few encounters with a handful of Paras, Geodudes and far too many Zubats for anyone's liking, they finally made it to an opening and, much to Parker's simultaneous relief and worry, a mountain cabin. It was isolated enough that news of him might not have reached yet, but he'd better be careful.

He walked up to the cabin with heavy steps and pushed the door open. He took a sigh of relief when he noticed that there was no one present. He headed toward a large wooden counter and started searching for a rate table: there was no way he could hide his visit, but maybe by paying for everything he needed and only leaving a note, the owner of the cabin wouldn't look too deep into this and not report it to the cop.

He looked at the rate table and left 1850 poke dollars and a simple note:

Sorry for popping in unannounced and without reservation. My pokemons got hurt during the climb and we need to rest. I've taken the liberty to leave here the money for two Lava Cookies, three Fresh Water bottles and two Big Malasada. I plan to buy a few Lumiose Galette tomorrow before leaving, if you could leave 7 on the counter it'll be very much appreciated.

Thank you and sorry again for intruding unannounced.

Nodding in approval, he moved onto one of the clearly empty bedrooms and closed the door behind him. He split the Big Malasada in two, handing both halves to his pokemons, while he ate a Lava Cookie. He then opened up a water bottle, pouring half of it in one of his brand new pots for his companions before he laid on the bed. He only had 750 poke dollars left, and the Lumiose Galette would only leave him with 50, but it was worth it. Mount Moon was tall, but not exactly a difficult climb. He should be able to bypass the mountain range in three days at most, and once on the other side he could once again hunt and cook wild pokemons. The water was a bit of an issue, but the top of mount Moon was covered in snow, filling up the thermos and his bottles would provide him enough water to comfortably look for a river. He wished he had more money, it would certainly help him out once he was away from Kanto, but it was out of his hands right now. He could always make more money, but if he ended up in a difficult situation it wasn't like he could eat poke dollars.

The real problem was finding a tent and a sleeping bag. He would have to think about it tomorrow. He didn't want to resort to stealing, that would 100% leave a trace for the police to follow, especially after his stunt in Pewter City, but if there was no better alternative he would be sure to sweep as many useful items as he could carry. The whole "avoid suspicion" idea was kind of useless if he were to die of cold while trying to cross the mountain, after all, and if he was forced to steal a sleeping bag and a tent, he might as well steal more. Interrupting his musings, he picked up Pan and Vike from the ground, where the two had curled into a ball after their meal, and placed them next to him on the bed.

"Good night."

A soft purr from Pan and a flutter from Vike were his replies. With a smile on his face, he closed his eyes.

Parker woke up the next morning, well rested and surrounded by his pokemons when he noticed his sword laid next to him on the bed. Weird, hadn't he left it on the ground? It took a few seconds to realize something else had changed: Pan had almost doubled in size, her tiny front legs evolved into proper arms with a set of rather noticeable claws, her childish face now hardened with near adulthood. Parker scratched her ears, waking her up.

"Congratulations girl, you have evolved."

Pan blinked a couple of times, observing her own body before squealing in happiness at the change. The sound woke up Vike, who took in the change in his fellow pokemon, fluttering in happiness for the Nidorina who was currently jumping and running around the room. It was at this point that Vike noticed the sword as well as its changes. He stared at the open eye, and when the eye moved, Vike shrieked and jumped away, his noises drawing the attention of his trainer to the sword.

Parker stopped and looked at what had spooked Vike so much, and he saw the eye on the sword moving. He blinked twice and grabbed the sword, observing the eye on the pommel a bit closer. Yes, the eye was moving.

"Are you a pokemon?" he asked, more to himself than to the sword.

The sword started to shake and flew out of his hand, now floating in the air, the eye on the pommel darting between the other three.

Definitely a pokemon.

Parker closed his eyes, trying to think of a pokemon that fit the description. It was a sword, so he was rather sure that it was a steel type. Perhaps steel/fairy? Steel/psychic maybe? Or… wait! A steel/ghost type in the shape of a sword… he remembered seeing something similar at one point or another on TV… There was a guy in the Kalos championship that used a sword and a shield pokemon, what was it called?

"You're an… Aegislash?"

The sword quickly shook in denial, but seemed somewhat flattered by the comment.

"Ok, not an Aegislash… Will you one day evolve into an Aegislash?"

The sword twirled on itself, this time in agreement.

"Well… in that case welcome to the team… Sorry but I can't read the name you have on the hilt. Can I call you Worp?"

Worp twirl again.

"Excellent! So, Worp… what can you do?"

Worp turned serious, demonstrating his own capabilities by swinging itself around in a series of slashes and cuts, showing his best techniques. Parker was certain he had recognized a few of those moves

"Cut, Aerial Ace, Shadow Sneak and… Fury Cutter?"

The sword twirled around, the eye glistening with joy. That was clearly a yes. Parker whistled.

"You're quite versatile, aren't you?"

Worp bounced around in the air at the compliment, before Vike landed on its handle, fluttering at their newfound companion.

Scratching behind Pan's ear, Parker approached the door. He placed his ear on it, listening for any sign of people on the other side. When he heard nothing, he opened the door and left the room with Pan, Vike and Worp following behind. He noticed his note and the money still on the counter and took it as a good sign. He took a better look around the cabin, hoping to find something like a lost and found chest. To his surprise, he actually found one and started to rummage through.

There wasn't anything particularly useful to him: a handful of phone chargers, three umbrellas, headphones, a bunch of keys… he got his hands on a pair of extremely unusual Black Glasses without a frame and oversized lens, most likely made from cheap plastic, in the shape of a five point star. He was about to put them away when Vike swept down and grabbed them.

"You…like them?" He asked incredulously. At Vike's enthusiastic nod, he felt obligated to at least let the Zubat try them out. He looked ridiculous, but Vike looked extremely proud of himself and Parker didn't have the heart to take the glasses away from his pokemon.

Pan was also rummaging through the chest and found a pink silk scarf she seemed to like. It offered absolutely zero protection against the weather, but nevertheless Parker had to admit she did look somewhat cute with it.

After a few more minutes of digging, he found a couple of plastic ponchos, so light as to be practically transparent, but minimal protection against the rain was better than no protection at all.

To his great joy, he also found a small pokemon bag, a bit on the small size for Pan, but still pretty useful and large enough for him to store the cooking gear they gathered in the cave.

Still, no sleeping bag and no tent. Perhaps that was a bit too optimistic of him, but he really needed to find those items in order to cross mount Moon.


Sorry for the late upload, uni got in the way

Notes

A bit of introspection and hints of character growth for Parker

Evolution!

Honedge aquired! How many of you were suspecting that once I described the sword? This is also the first of Parker's Pokemon to not be a poison type. But Worp is a steel type, so he does retain the poison immunity that defines his team

Yes, Vike got himself a pair of Black Glasses (boost Dark type moves) and yes, they look like Simon's glasses from Gurren Lagann

Pan got herself a Pink Scarf (raise cuteness), but I sincerely doubt that'll have any effect in the story apart from giving her a more unique look