The powers of Plates are shared among Pokémon.
"Almost!" Akari comforted Ash as he looked at his most recent failure. "It's definitely the right shape and size this time!"
Ash pointedly ignored Pikachu's snickering as he sullenly inspected his latest attempt at a Poké Ball. There was much more to the Survey Corps than just adventuring around Hisui, catching and researching Pokémon.
After Kamado had thrown around him, he'd reported back to Captain Cyllene and found out a few things. Firstly, he was currently No Star, which meant he was technically rankless in the hierarchy of the Survey Corps, and progress on the Pokédex would allow him to gain better standing.
So that was his next step, start ranking up in the Survey Corps and filling out the Pokédex. He was eager to get started!
But Akari had other ideas for what they should do before heading back out into the wilds of Hisui.
Particularly, she wanted to show him around Jubilife Village and introduce him to the different things that would be practical for his life there. This included the basics, like the general store, the clothing store, and the workshop.
Captain Cyllene had given him a bit of money, old-looking coins, and bills. Enough to get him started with some of the basic essentials. He had been tempted to look around the store a bit for tastier snacks than the rations he'd been introduced to earlier but Akari had pulled him away toward the workshop.
Akari decided to put him to work and test his craftsmanship. So she used some of her own savings to get some materials and showed him how to get started.
While there were people responsible for creating Poké Balls and other tools that the different corps of the Galaxy Team needed, it was still expected that members would have a basic understanding of how to make or repair them. Especially the Survey Corps who could be far away from Jubilife Village and might need to use whatever they had available to them to get by.
Ash was beginning to become frustrated though.
Afternoon was beginning to pass into evening, which took him by surprise. Everything happening today had skewed his perception of time. But despite the time, and Akari's encouraging words, he felt no closer to actually succeeding in making his own Poké Ball.
Not even from lack of trying! He'd been concentrating and doing his best to repeat Akari's steps. The man running the workshop, Anvin, who was a master craftsman in his own right, had walked him through too! But no matter what he did it felt like his attempts weren't amounting to anything.
He set down his latest failure and grabbed for more materials. "I'll get it this time." He insisted, but Akari stopped him.
"I think you need a break." She insisted instead. It stung, maybe she was just trying to be nice, but it felt like she was cutting him some extra slack because he wasn't good enough.
"I don't need a break." He insisted.
"Well, I do." She dragged him away. "Come on, aren't you hungry?"
Ash was about to fight against her pull but the sudden rumbling from his gut stopped him. He was actually very hungry, he had barely eaten anything all day. "Maybe a little."
"Exactly, you can try again after we have something to eat. It'll probably help."
The Wallflower was the only place to eat in the village, assuming you didn't make something at home that is. Ash had relied on Brock's cooking skills for so long that he had been spoiled. He knew some of the basics, he and Misty had traveled for a few days without Brock so long ago. But it was nothing compared to the Pewter native's cooking.
The pair sat down, Pikachu still perched on Ash, and Akari ordered for them. Thankfully Beni hadn't made any disparaging comments when he saw Ash's new uniform. He was a full Galaxy Team member now so the mochi maker couldn't complain! Ha!
"Can we get something for Pikachu too?" Ash asked Akari, not sure what the menu was, he'd never been shown one at least.
"Pokémon food at a cantina?" The older girl was confused by his question. "I mean, maybe some of the berries that come as sides could work? But we have places that distribute food for the Pokémon."
"Like Pokémon Chow?" Ash checked and glanced at Pikachu. His partner just gave a tiny shrug, he didn't seem to mind much.
"I've never heard it called that before." Akari admitted, "But I guess it fits. It's food for Pokémon to chow down on. Pokémon Chow."
He rubbed the back of his neck. "Oops, I guess I need to watch what I call stuff." That could be a problem, what if he called something a word he'd learned in the future, and that was why it was called that? But then the reason he knew it was that was that he'd heard it called that. But if he was the one who named it in the first place…
Why did he smell toast?
"Mmm." Akari settled a piercing stare at him. "Alright, you're part of the Survey Corps now and we probably won't be setting out again until tomorrow. I'm sure Professor Laventon will want to get you started anyway and he's asleep. So I have time to ask my questions!"
"Can I ask questions too?" Ash was a bit curious about Akari, Captain Cylene had said that before him she was the youngest member of the Survey Corps.
"I'm going first." She insisted. "Alright, who are you really?"
He blinked, "Didn't I already tell you that?"
"You said that you're Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town! But is that really who you are? How did you get here, was it really the Time-Space Rift?" Akari seemed doubtful of Ash's explanations from yesterday.
"I am Ash Ketchum from Pallet Town." He repeated himself. "I told the truth about where I came from. And I really don't know how I got here! Professor Laventon is the one who said I came through the Time-Space thing, I don't remember any of it. Just lunch with my friends and then this void and weird Pokémon and the next thing I knew I woke up on the beach!"
That piqued her interest a bit. "I don't remember you mentioning that."
"I told Professor Laventon and Commander Kamado. But if you want…" He explained the specifics of his arrival, from stopping with Misty and Brock for lunch to arriving in Jubilife Village and meeting her.
She listened with rapt attention to his words. When he finished she stared at him and put her hands together. Their food had arrived mid explanation but Beni hadn't stuck around to listen.
"That's everything?"
"That's everything." Ash nodded and fed one of the berries on the side of his mochi to Pikachu. "Any other questions?"
"Promise not to laugh if I'm wrong?" She requested.
"I'll try." Ash shrugged, not wanting to make a firm promise. It could be really hard to keep a promise like that.
Her eyes drilled into him. "Are you from the future?"
Now he was just confused. Why would he laugh at her for that question? It was a little hard to believe but she should be the one laughing, not him! "Did Professor Laventon tell you?" He wondered.
Silence. She just stared at him.
He glanced at Pikachu, and then back to Akari, she still was staring. "Is there something on my face?"
"The future." She finally said.
"I mean, I think?" Ash scratched his cheek. "It makes the most sense to me at least."
"How does that make sense?" She demanded, slamming her hands on the table and standing, for a moment he was reminded of Misty.
"Well all the stuff around here is super old-fashioned and Laventon got confused by a bunch of stuff and everyone acts kind of weird about stuff that's pretty normal." He listed a few reasons. "And besides, I've seen it happen. But this is kind of the reverse, Sammy went to the future, or well he went from his future to my future and then went back to the past, except that was still the future from here. I think"
He stared at his food as he once again tried and failed to properly line up the correct terminology in his head. He knew what he meant he just didn't know how to say it right. "Can I ask my questions now?"
Ash did not get to start asking his questions just yet.
Instead, Akari lay down a barrage of questions about the future, and was the time travel thing just normal in the future, and if he knew about the Galaxy Team and Hisui in the future, lots of stuff he didn't have good answers to.
Wasn't eating supposed to make him feel better? He was just getting more frustrated now. How was he supposed to know how to make normal Poké Balls when he couldn't even figure out how to make the ones they used here?
"It's just, unbelievable." Akari held her head in her hands. "Do you not see it? You're exposed to all that amazing technology and you don't understand any of it."
"I just never thought of it much," Ash admitted, squirming a little in his seat. "I always figured I'd learn more about it when I got older or if it became important."
"That…" the answer seemed to placate her, somewhat at least. "No, I think I understand that. There's plenty of stuff I'm only just now figuring out that I wish someone had explained to me when I was younger. And stuff that I still don't understand. The camera makes no sense to me."
"I think it has something to do with light?" Ash knew that much. "That's why there's a flash!"
He was done eating now, but Akari wasn't. He wanted to get back to his quarters and check on his Pokémon. There probably wasn't anything to worry about but Rowlet was a new team member and he wanted to make sure everyone was getting along.
But, he still had some questions for Akari. And after she'd put him through the wringer he was determined to squeeze some interesting stuff out of her too!
Was it petty? Maybe a little, but it evened out since it was what she'd done to him but in reverse.
"I think it's my turn for some answers." He announced, maybe a bit louder than he'd intended. "How did you get here?"
"I took the ship." Oh, right, the normal boring answer.
He grumbled and crossed his arms. "Alright, why did you come here then?" That would probably be more interesting.
There was some satisfaction in watching Akari squirm a bit as she mulled the question over. "It's a little complicated."
"More complicated than time travel?" Ash's grin was a little too wide to be called a smirk, but the spirit was there.
Akari rolled her eyes. "Fair enough you smart aleck. But I need to explain Hisui and the Galaxy Team a bit more in order to answer."
The wooden seats weren't the most comfortable but Ash did his best to settle in as she began to explain. "Hisui is probably one of the least studied regions. We know people live here and there are stories and legends about people living here in ancient times before fleeing some catastrophe. Some of the stories say a volcano, others say it was a draught or a small ice age."
"Regardless, there aren't many people still living here. The Galaxy Expedition Team," she used the full name, "are here with the official mission goal of exploring and researching the Hisui region. It has people from all over the world. Professor Laventon is from Galar for instance. But beyond just offering an exciting adventure or learning experience, coming here represents something else… a new start."
She sighed. "This feels a little bit awkward to say out loud. But that's why I'm here. I don't have much left back home so when I started hearing about recruitment for the team I signed up. Some people questioned it since I'm still pretty young but they gave me a chance and I've done my best to carry my weight."
Akari sagged when she finished. "Not that I've been doing a great job of that recently."
Ash frowned at her self-critical words. "You got injured right?" He remembered. "Weren't you attacked by a wild Pokémon?"
"Yeah, not setting the best standard for the Survey Corps am I?" She mused, "I know I need to get a partner Pokémon… but it's hard to find one that I feel like I can trust. All of the Pokémon I've caught so far felt distant and defensive."
"That's because you need to build up trust." Ash pointed out. He'd had that lesson drilled into him multiple times. "I mean, sometimes you and a Pokémon hit it off from the start, but it doesn't always go like that. Take me and Pikachu for example!" He gestured at his friend.
"You two?" Akari seemed surprised. "But you trust it so much! You even let it ride on your shoulder!"
"We didn't start off that great though," Ash admitted with a blush. How'd he wind up in the interrogation chair again? Somehow he didn't mind too much this time. "Pikachu really didn't like me much at first. I mean, I thought he was great from the start!" It was true, he may have wanted Squirtle at first but as soon as he saw Pikachu something felt right.
"But yeah, he shocked me a bit and I dragged him out of town with some clothesline." Both he and Pikachu grimaced at the embarrassing memory.
He explained that first day of their journey, his embarrassing attempts at commanding Pikachu and catching Pokémon. Then the Spearow flock attacking and Pikachu getting hurt, falling into the river, and meeting Misty. And of course, him standing between Pikachu and the flock when their friendship properly began.
"That's…" Akari stared at him. "I want to call you a reckless idiot for some of that but I'm more amazed that you're still alive!"
"Hey!" Ash pouted and crossed his arms. "Sure it was a bit messy but it worked out in the end! Besides, that's kind of the extreme. A lot of people don't have to go through all that when they first meet their partner."
"So why'd you tell me about it then?" Akari raised an eyebrow.
"You were the one who asked about it." Ash pointed out. "I was just saying that you won't get along with every Pokémon right from the start. But if you're serious about it, and really try, things have a way of working out." He scratched a grateful Pikachu behind the ear.
"That's a good point I guess." She admitted. "I'll have to give it another go, I need one. It's pretty dangerous out in the field."
"I'll help you find one!" Ash decided. It seemed like the right thing to do. "We'll look for a partner for you!"
"It might have to wait until tomorrow." Akari looked at the sky and Ash was a little shocked to see stars appearing as the sun dipped behind the horizon. "It's pretty late."
"Already?" Where had the time gone today?
"How about we meet at Galaxy Hall tomorrow morning?" She suggested. "I'm willing to bet Professor Laventon will have some ideas for what he wants us to do."
"Hopefully he won't stay up again all night." Ash agreed and they parted ways to return to their quarters, but he did make a quick stop before he went back.
The workshop was closed but the trunk full of materials was still there and they were still the ones he'd been given. He remembered that there were some tools and stuff back at his quarters, so he grabbed as much as he could carry before returning.
"Everything okay here?" He asked his Pokémon when they arrived.
Noctowl hooted from a perch he'd made on one of the shelves. Some boxes littered the floor below–casualties of his conquest.
"Think it'll be alright if I leave those?" Ash wondered out loud and checked the rest of his Pokémon. Everyone seemed alright and had made attempts to get comfortable in their new environment.
Cyndaquil had dug a small den into the dirt floor portion of the living area, and Totodile had filled the water basin and was relaxing in it, although the nearby puddles made it clear this was a recent development.
Phanpy and Bayleef had dragged additional bedding out of some storage somewhere and made themselves comfortable. Rowlet had taken to a lower shelf near Noctowl and while the two had peace for now Ash was a bit worried about territory disputes, the two flying-types seemed to have similar personalities.
He had been a bit worried about the space being too cramped for seven Pokémon and one human but there seemed to be plenty of room. As long as there wasn't too much roughhousing at least.
The boy took off his new uniform and put on his pajamas for the first time since arriving. He'd almost thrown his new apparel on the floor in a pile but thought better of it, instead folding them nicely. More than he usually did unless Misty or his Mom were watching.
But it wasn't time for bed yet! First, he was going to make a proper working Poké Ball!
With this goal in mind, he sat cross-legged on the floor near the counter and got to work.
Ash was a bit tired the next morning, but it was worth it. He arrived at Galaxy Hall as the sun began to climb. He didn't exactly have a clock but he was willing to bet it was somewhere between eight and nine o'clock.
"Did you sleep alright?" Akari met him just inside and he realized he wasn't hiding it as well as he thought.
"Fine! I just didn't head to bed for a bit." He waved off her worry. "I'll be fine. Besides! Look at this!" He reached into his satchel and proudly pulled out his achievement.
Akari stared at the Poké Ball for a moment before it dawned on her. "Oh! You stayed up practicing?"
"Yeah." He put it away again. "It took me a while but you were right about taking a break I think. It only took me three more tries to get one that looked good, and then I did a few more just to make sure I knew what I was doing."
She smiled, "Well, good work! I'm glad it paid off. Now come on, Professor Laventon is here, and awake! Or awake enough at least."
The man was in his office, and he looked much better than he had the previous morning. "Ah, Ash! Good to see you, my boy! I'm sorry I missed out on your trial. I meant to go but Captain Cylene sent me to bed. Said I would be more of a hazard than a help in my state."
"How are you feeling now?" Ash asked.
"Better! I have been up for a few hours, but then again I slept far longer than I normally would so I think it all evens out! And it bears saying out loud, congratulations! I didn't doubt you for a moment!" Laventon's words were encouraging.
"Hmm." Akari's lidded gaze put some doubt to that encouragement but she didn't comment on them.
"Anywho!" He clapped his hands together. "It's a fresh day and time to get started on filling out that Pokédex! The Pokémon aren't going to catch themselves after all! Are you two ready to get started?"
"Restarted might be more accurate for me," Akari admitted. "But it'll be nice to properly be back out in the field."
"Then we'll be on our way! Make sure you have everything you need and we'll head to the field camp in the Obsidian Fieldlands." Laventon nodded. "I have plenty of research tasks that need to be done to help fill out the Pokédex!"
"I think I'm just about ready." Ash did a quick check. Pikachu? On his shoulder. Poké Balls? His team was on his belt and the empty ones are in his bag. Rowlet? In his now emptied backpack.
As the group headed out they were stopped unexpectedly by one of the men guarding the door to Galaxy Hall.
"Hey, you're that new kid who joined the Survey Corps right?" He spotted Ash first but when Laventon and Akari came out behind he stood just a bit straighter.
"Unless there's someone else who joined today." Ash snarked just a little.
"Right," He shook his head. "I was wondering if I could make a request?"
"Uhh," was the boy's eloquent response. "I think so? I'm not sure if you need to go to Captain Cyllene or anything, I'm still kind of new to this."
"I don't see the harm in it." The Professor decided. "As long as it's reasonable we might be able to help, what's your request?"
"Well, my name is Beauregard." The guard introduced himself, "And you may not remember Professor but we talked a few days ago and you described how Pokémon evolution works to me."
"Beauregard…" The man rubbed his chin, the pom pom on his hat bobbing as he did so. "Ah, yes I recall."
"I was wondering," he seemed a little bit awkward. "If it's not too much trouble could you bring me a Wurmple? I'd like to raise it and evolve it myself."
"Wurmple?" Ash was unfamiliar with the Pokémon and glanced at Akari.
"It's a bug-type." She explained. "They're not too hard to find or too challenging to capture. Maybe a little bit skittish but not like Starly."
"Oh, in that case sure! I'll bring you a Wurmple!" Ash agreed easily.
"Thank you!" Beauregard seemed a bit taken aback by the ease to which Ash agreed with his request. "I'll see if I can scrape together a reward for you when you come back!"
The reward wasn't expected but Ash wasn't going to refuse it. That was the only stop they made on their way out of the village but it did lead to some conversation.
"Do people do that a lot?" He asked the two more experienced team members. "Just make requests for you to catch Pokémon for them?"
"Not often," Akari admitted. "Although a few of the other guards have done that before. Usually, it's something ridiculous but if it's not too much trouble we'll try to accommodate."
Ash wondered what counted as "ridiculous" given the general aversion many in the Galaxy Team seemed to have toward Pokémon. He would probably find out for himself at some point considering he was now a part of the Survey Corps.
"Most of the official requests come from me or Captain Cyllene." Professor Laventon explained. "Although they're hardly as specific as catching a single Pokémon to act as a partner. I'll explain a bit more on the way to the Fieldlands Camp.
There was no sign of Volo today but he did spot a few other members of the Ginkgo Guild who had set up with a cart near the side of the road. He resolved to check it out later. Maybe they had some interesting old stuff!
Interestingly, after their first request from Beauregard a few other citizens asked about it. Maybe they had seen him talking to them or had been planning on their own and this was just the first chance they saw to bring it up.
A woman named Marli had a fascination with Starly, even though she called Pokémon "terrifying creatures." She asked that they tell her all about Starly, Ash offered to bring her one but she seemed horrified by the suggestion.
"I don't have the desire to actually touch one mind you!" She insisted. "Just, when you fill out that Pokédex entry thing, could you show it to me? Please."
"The Pokédex is hardly confidential knowledge." Laventon agreed easily. "Whenever we have the entry properly compiled Ash or Akari can stop by and show it to you."
After Marli was a man named Toshi who simply wanted to see a Shinx. Apparently, he'd seen one before and felt compelled to draw it but he kept messing up the details so he wanted another look at one.
Ash apologized since he had caught a Shinx yesterday for his trial but he'd turned it over to Captain Cyllene and wasn't sure what had become of it since.
"We have a corral we keep the Pokémon we're studying," Akari mentioned and pointed over the river to a fenced area set aside from the village proper. "The more aggressive ones are released pretty quickly and some make daring escapes but you're welcome to check if the Shinx Ash caught yesterday is still there."
Toshi thanked them and there was no one else to disrupt them on their way out.
They let the gate guards know where they were heading and Ash felt a skip come back into his step as he was back on the road again.
It was only a couple of hours between Jubilife Village and the camp at the edge of the Obisidan Fieldlands. But that was still plenty of time for Professor Laventon to explain a few things to Ash.
As Captain Cyllene had told him the day before, he started as a No Star, technically rankless in the organization. Completing research tasks would allow him to increase his rank, somehow. He didn't quite understand how it worked but the more tasks he completed the higher his ranking would go.
There was probably some correlation between the number of tasks completed and his ranking but it didn't matter too much to him.
He certainly wanted to be a higher rank but that was more for his own satisfaction. Sure he'd have more leeway and permissions in the Jubilife Village at higher ranks but he was fine with what he had for the moment. Then again, that might change if he found he didn't have access to certain things.
It hadn't come up quite yet but he was starting to wonder about bathing. He filed it away as a problem for later.
"What good timing!" Professor Laventon seemed pleased as the camp came into sight. "I've just about run out of things to tell you about. Are you ready to head out there?"
"Yep!" Ash was excited to finally get started but Akari seemed slightly more concerned.
"I hate to rain on the parade, but Ash, there's something we need to go over first."
"What's that?"
"Wild Pokémon." Akari's face took on a severe edge. "There are times when they will attack you, almost without warning. Sometimes you will see it coming. Either way, you need to be ready to dodge and jump out of the way in an instant."
He was a bit annoyed by how much caution everyone was using around Pokémon. "Don't worry so much, I can take an attack or two."
This was not the right thing to say, as Akari dove into a lecture about how dangerous it was to get hit by an attack. Then she demonstrated a few dodging techniques like jumping and rolling out of the way. She made Ash practice them a few times until she was satisfied with his range of movement.
"That was quite fluid Akari," Laventon noted when they finished.
"Thank you, that flowing bit of gymnastics takes practice though." She frowned. "You need to always be aware if you don't want to black out in the field like I did when those Shinx got me with Thunder Shock. If the Security Corps hadn't found me…" She trailed off unwilling to voice her what-if scenario.
One of her words struck a chord for Ash though. "Those Shinx?" He repeated, "You mean you got hit with more than one?"
"A whole group of them." She rubbed her arm uncomfortably. He felt a little bad making her dredge up the painful memory, but it explained why she'd been so hurt. Pikachu's shocks hurt but never to the point of needing an extended recovery. But if he got hit with a bunch at once…
It was probably best not to dwell on that.
Laventon gave them some notebooks with both a list of Pokémon and some research tasks for each one listed. Then at last they started down the road.
"There's some stuff listed for Bidoof here." Ash noted, "Starly and Shinx too. We could start with them since they're all around here right?"
"I guess that makes sense. I'm not sure how far we should go out today. We're still close enough to camp to grab some camping supplies of our own. Then we would have a bit more freedom on how much we can explore."
Ash thought about it. "Nah, not today. We want to get Wurmple back to Beauregard right? We'll just start heading back when it gets dark."
Akari agreed to that but worried about going too far. Still, they made pretty good time and it wasn't long before they found a whole herd of Bidoof near where Ash had made his catch the day prior.
"Doof." One of them walked right up to Ash and started sniffing at him.
"Hey there Bidoof." he knelt down to greet the Pokémon. "How are you?"
"You're just talking to it?" Akari's confusion laced her voice.
"Why wouldn't I?" Now it was Ash's turn to get confused. "We can't understand most Pokémon's words but they can understand us."
She remained doubtful but started flipping through her Pokédex. "Let's see… Bidoof. What do we need to complete?"
Pikachu had taken the initiative and climbed down from Ash's shoulder to interact with the other Pokémon. They all seemed very curious about the strangers, if a bit cautious. Only a few were brave enough to come right up to them.
"Let's see, we could always use some more to study in the village of course," Akari noted. "Catching both males and females to observe the differences. And there's also a task for trying to get "heavy" ones. That just means the larger ones. Oh and trying to battle some."
"Anything else?" Ash wondered.
"They're supposed to evolve into a Pokémon named Bibarel." Akari frowned. "You know I think I've seen some of those closer to the rivers further into the Fieldlands."
"Evolving can take a while," Ash remembered. "Alright then! Who wants to battle or get caught? Taking all challengers!" The boy declared to the Bidoof.
His human companion sighed. "I don't think that's going to- are you kidding me?"
A trio of Bidoof had already squared up against Pikachu and a couple more lined up next to Ash. The others wandered away, clearly uninterested.
"Pikachu and I can handle the battle," Ash told the bewildered Akari. "Do you mind catching these guys?" One made a honking noise. "Oh sorry, these gals?" Neither protested now.
The trio of Bidoof that fought Pikachu had just wanted a fight, they weren't interested in getting caught. But they made some progress on the research tasks all the same, one of the ones they had caught was certainly large enough to be called "heavy."
This first encounter set the stage for the rest of the day. Starly had some similar tasks to Bidoof but due to how skittish and wary they were it was a bit harder to interact with them so Ash's more direct approach was off the table.
There were more Starly in the area today, some grouped together while others were off on their own. Rather than move together and risk startling the lot of them, Ash and Akari carefully split up and move toward different spots.
Ash was pleased with himself when the Poké Ball (one that he had made) clicked shut with a completely unaware Starly inside. A perfect catch!
His celebration was short-lived as a dark shape shot down toward him as he retrieved the ball.
"Woah!" He gasped and tumbled backward. Another Starly, this one bearing some battle scars glared down at him. It squawked loudly.
"Do you just want your friend back?" Ash suggested, feeling a bit put out at the idea of releasing the catch he'd just made but willing to do it. He wasn't trying to upset the Pokémon so if they preferred to be uncaught so be it.
His question was met with another dive bomb and Ash had another fight on his hands. He was feeling a bit more grateful to Akari for all the dodging she'd had him doing. "Alright then, Pikachu Thunder Bolt!"
It was a brief but explosive battle. The Starly he was fighting clearly had battling experience. Whether that came from battling other Pokémon or humans was unclear. Regardless, they knew how to fight.
Too bad for Starly, so did Ash and Pikachu.
It wore itself out trying to keep up with Pikachu using Quick Attack to stay ahead. When it began becoming weary Ash had Pikachu pull out the stops on his electric-type attacks and Starly was down for the count.
"Well, what do you want?" Ash glared down at the defeated Starly.
"Staaaa." The Pokémon glared at him.
"I'm not gonna catch you if you don't want to be caught but I don't want to just leave you here to attack other people!" Ash explained. "So what's the decision? Are you going to stay and play nice or come along?"
Ash tossed Starly's ball from hand to hand, lost in his own thoughts as they kept going down the path.
"Are you sure it was a good idea to catch that one?" Akari asked him. "It seemed kinda aggressive."
"Yeah." Ash remained resolute in his decision. "Starly seems like the kind of prideful that wasn't going to back down. He probably would have gotten worse if I hadn't caught him. Maybe I can show him how to focus his aggression. I don't think I'll be sending him to the corral though."
"Good call." She agreed, looking ahead when her breath hitched. "Get out of sight."
Trusting her judgment Ash followed as she dove behind some of the boulders near the road. "What's up?"
"Look ahead and off the road a bit." She gestured and Ash took a peak.
It took a second for him to notice but he spotted a hint of black in the grass. "Shinx?" He guessed based on the area.
"Yep. They're hunting. And we'll be the prey if we're not careful." She warned. "This is what happened to me. I thought I was only facing one when the others joined in."
Ash looked at the research tasks for Shinx. More of the same with a few caveats. There were specific tasks for battling Shinx, documenting it using certain moves and defeating it with a ground-type move. "Looks like we'll be battling them." He decided it would be the best course. "Do you want to borrow any of my Pokémon?"
"What?" Akari shot him a look. "You mean to command in a battle?"
"Yeah, you don't have any apart from the ones you caught for the Pokédex right?"
"No…" She seemed reluctant but didn't see another course. "Who would I be using?"
"Anyone, except Starly that is." Ash decided. "There's Pikachu obviously. Rowlet's in my bag, and you've seen Bayleef. But I also have Cyndaquil, Totodile, Phanpy, and Noctowl with me.
"That's a lot of Pokémon to bring into the field with you." Akari pointed out. "How are you going to keep track of them all and take care of them?"
"Normally I only have six with me." He admitted. "But with everything going on it's been kind of hard. I guess I could leave some more back in Jubilife but I feel bad leaving them by themselves."
She shook her head. "We'll talk about it later, it's not important right now. Give me Phanpy I guess. I think I know which one that is."
They were cautious as they moved ahead. Knowing there was a pack of Shinx waiting to leap out at them was enough to slow them down.
A cry came from the grass up ahead and the two humans nodded at each other. "Ready?"
"Ready." She agreed.
The Shinx decided to attack first and began leaping out of the grass but their opponents were waiting for them.
"Phanpy!"
"Cyndaquil!"
The two Pokémon gave triumphant cries and the opposing Shinx seemed startled by the sudden reveal of more enemies. There were five Shinx in total, one at the head of the pack was larger than the others.
It hadn't been an intentional decision on their part but Ash and Cyndaquil ended up battling the majority of the Shinx while Akari and Phanpy battled the leader.
This was achieved by Phanpy using Rollout and colliding directly into the largest Shinx and separating them from the rest of the group. The followers seemed momentarily confused by this sudden change of plans and were quickly set upon by Cyndaquil.
Quickly it became apparent that the Shinx were overly reliant on their superior numbers. They immediately tried dogpiling Cyndaquil but the rowdy fire-type burst into flames and sent them scampering back. They circled, trying to look for an opening, but their focus on Cyndaquil let Ash strategize.
Just as he started picking out which Shinx to target first, two of them struck and the other two tensed to join. "Use Flame Wheel!" He called quickly.
Fire wrapped around his Pokémon and drove the Shinx off of her. One got burned a bit too hard and decided to cut their losses and run for it. This left the other three a bit more nervous.
Cyndaquil was a lot stronger than any of the Shinx were individually, but their numbers still posed a risk. "Use Smokescreen and Swift!" Ash ordered, time to make sure their advantage couldn't be used properly.
The unfortunate Shinx who got hit with Swift decided to bolt as well leaving only two remaining. To their credit, they put up a decent fight. Trying to Bite Cyndaquil who used the Smokescreen to lure them into attacks.
But before too long they both decided that this was a fight they couldn't win and followed their comrades. Cyndaquil had barely taken any damage and Ash congratulated her. They normally didn't battle opponents that couldn't keep up with them like this so it was a real eye-opener for how far they'd come.
With their battle won Ash watched Akari battle the remaining Shinx, ready to step in if he needed to.
While it was obvious Akari wasn't experienced in battling, it was still interesting to watch her. Perhaps because of her lack of formal matches.
Instead of calling out attacks and warning to dodge, she instead gave positioning orders. Such as "Go left and back!" Or, "Lead it to the rocks and face Shinx!" With this in mind, she'd just call out for Phanpy to attack instead of naming a specific one. That was probably the biggest flaw to her current style, since if she didn't specify a certain attack Phanpy would just have to guess.
Still, she was holding her own pretty well and Ash sat back and watched.
The lead Shinx was clearly a better fighter than the others as well. Which was probably why they were the one in charge. But they were getting frustrated. Phanpy was faster and a ground-type so no electric-type moves worked.
"Your pack is gone!" Akari shouted at the Shinx. "And you can't win! Get out of here."
Ash was a bit surprised at her, considering how she'd reacted to him addressing the Bidoof earlier. But maybe that was why she was trying this.
Shinx looked around and growled, displeased at the apparent cowardice of their allies. But they charged Phanpy again with Quick Attack instead of fleeing.
The trainer had to bite his tongue to keep from shouting out an order to Phanpy on instinct. This wasn't his battle, even if it was his Pokémon.
"Stand your ground and hit him back!" Akari ordered Phanpy, relying on the ground-type's toughness. Phanpy may have been young but he was scrappy in a fight. Ash recognized as he used Defense Curl to help take the hit before striking back.
The rest of the battle was a bit of a slugfest but the outcome was still pretty good. Ash felt like he should give Akari some pointers before she next had a battle. She seemed like she could use some tips.
Phanpy was a bit roughed up but trumpeted his victory and marched back to his trainer and Akari. "You did great! Both of you." Ash told them and Akari glanced at him with a slight smile and then back at Shinx.
The electric-type refused to run, even though the battle was over. Instead, it gazed intently at Akari as though waiting for something.
Something Ash couldn't put his finger on struck him in this moment. A certain feeling in the air. Akari's fist clenched for a moment and then she sprung into movement. A hand went to her pack and a Poké Ball flew through the air toward the downed Shinx.
There was a tense moment as the ball rocked. Shinx may have been down and injured but it might still refuse to allow the capture. The ball rocked violently a few times before stopping and the column of smoke popped out.
Akari sighed and retrieved the ball, there was a slight bit of hesitation as she reached for it but when her hand closed around it she smiled.
Ash didn't entirely understand what was going through Akari's head right then, but he had a pretty good guess. "So I take it you just found your partner Pokémon?"
Maybe he was reaching but at that moment when the two were looking at each other, there had been a certain light in their eyes. A hint of respect from both of them. Akari toward a Pokémon that stood their ground to the end and Shinx toward a human who managed to outsmart and outmaneuver them.
That's what he thought at least.
"Yeah," Akari stared at the ball. "I think I did."
They ended up climbing back to camp, the sun was still in the sky and they had plenty of daylight left. So they just dropped off most of the catches and applied some potions to the wounded Pokémon.
Ash's new Starly was a bit standoffish but when he realized that the medicine was helpful he allowed some to be put on his injuries.
Akari's Shinx was a bit more willing. She stood patiently as the healing ointment was applied and gave it a quick sniff before deciding that this was a good thing.
Professor Laventon was gone, he'd probably gone back to Jubilife Village, so they ate some of the rations at the camp and talked about their next move.
"Do Wurmple live around here too?" Ash asked thinking of options.
"They shouldn't be too far. It's worth a look at least." Akari agreed and helped him to his feet. "We'll go searching and then head back, sound like a plan?"
They had to travel off the beaten path for their Wurmple search. When the Galaxy Team had first started exploring some initial surveys were done, not to catch or research the Pokémon themselves, but more to get the lay of the land.
Thanks to this and those Survey Corps members who had done that scouting, they had a rough idea of where they could look for Wurmple.
Their hunt led them southwest of Aspiration Hill (as Ash found out the hill he'd spent the past two days exploring was called). They had to climb over a bit of a ridge but that didn't give them too much trouble, there were plenty of handholds and no steep cliffs.
"Let's see." Akari scanned the area, it could tentatively be called a forest with all the trees around. "Ah! I see some!" She pointed.
"Where?" Ash followed her finger and blinked. Crawling around, both on the ground and in the trees were little pink bug-types that had a passing resemblance to Caterpie. "Huh." he blinked as memories of his first catch came back to him.
"Yeah, not that impressive are they? On the bright side, they shouldn't give us too much trouble either." Despite her words she frowned. "There do seem to be a lot of them though. More there than should be at least."
"Anything to worry about?" Ash checked his copy of the Pokédex. There was a name and a sketch of Wurmple but no other information. "No research tasks yet?"
"We've only caught a few, the Professor probably hasn't compiled what we know just yet. Let's start fixing that shall we?" She grinned at him.
The pair moved in, Akari a bit more cautiously than Ash. They were just bug-types though so he wasn't too worried.
Akari motioned for him to go one way while she would take a wider path. He followed gestures and nodded. He would be going closer to the middle of the group while she would be picking up the outliers.
None of the Wurmple paid him much attention at first until one looked up and suddenly made an alarmed trilling noise. A String Shot soon followed and Ash let himself feel just a little worried.
He owed some extra thanks to Akari. If it weren't for her drilling him earlier he wouldn't have jumped out of the way in time to avoid the attack. His movement disrupted both Pikachu and Rowlet who made an annoyed sound and climbed out of his bag.
"Look out!" Ash warned the Pokémon who avoided similar String Shots from other Wurmple.
Unfortunately for Ash, he found himself caught between a rock and, well, a tree. He may have dodged the first String Shot but his dodge had placed him between a pair of trees and when he started moving to get out of the way of another String Shot he barely stopped himself from jumping face-first into one of them.
His alarm only grew when after the first silk bindings began to wrap around him another shot from a Wurmple on a branch joined the first. Very quickly he found himself tied up and unable to move his arms. He still had legs though!
Ash kicked off the dirt and started running away from the Wurmple binding him. He may not have been strong enough to break through their silk, but he was strong enough to take them for a ride.
"Rowlet!" the grass-type squawked and fired a Leafage at one of the Wurmple. The attack easily severed the line and sent it crashing to the ground.
Pikachu came in to get the other off him, easily taking it out with Thunder Shock. The Pokémon were gone but he was still tied up.
"Come on!" He struggled against the silk. It didn't seem that strong as individual lines but wrapping him like it was there was enough that he couldn't just break free. "Pikachu could you give me a hand here?"
Pikachu climbed up his trainer with ease thanks to years of practice. With some sharp nibbles, the string began to fray and Ash was finally able to start breaking free.
"Phew!" He breathed a sigh of relief. "Thanks, buddy! I don't know why the Wurmples wanted to cocoon me but I don't think I want to find out!"
"Pika pika." The electric-type agreed with him while Rowlet watched for any more attacking bug-types.
"Ash!" Akari called and came over. "Are you alright? I heard you shout."
"Yeah, I'm alright." He pulled off the last of the silk. "A couple of Wurmple managed to use String Shot on me."
"They attacked you?" She seemed unreasonably alarmed by that despite all her previously explained fears. "Wurmple aren't supposed to be aggressive."
"I mean, they weren't hurting me?" Ash shrugged. "Just tying me up, I wish they hadn't but it wasn't really bad."
"Ugh." Akari held her forehead. "You don't understand, Wurmple are supposed to be tame and nonviolent bug-types. The fact they started using moves on you either means we were wrong in our initial studies, or something is making them act up."
That caught Ash's attention. "That could be it. Maybe they're trying to protect themselves?"
"Could be." She looked around. "I don't see anything threatening though. I managed to catch one of the Wurmple though, so that should be enough for Beauregard."
That didn't sit right with Ash. He looked uphill past the trees. For a second he thought he caught sight of some black and blue. Maybe some Shinx were up here and bothering the Wurmple? "Come on." He beckoned and proceed forward.
"What are you doing?" Akari hissed with alarm and frustration marring her tone.
"We're supposed to be the Survey Corps right?" Ash asked a little coyly. "So let's do some surveying."
His companion glared at him. "I am going to thrash you if we make it back to the village."
The younger boy ignored her threat with a slight smile. Akari was pretty nice most of the time but it didn't take too much prodding to bring out a bit of an edge to her. It was kind of funny to see her switch between the two modes.
It took Ash a second to notice but the further into the woods they traveled, the quieter it got. Almost as though there was no life here except for the plants. The wind still rustled leaves but there were no sounds of Pokémon.
He frowned and glanced at Pikachu and Rowlet. The two Pokémon were keeping up the rear and seemed oddly tense. Something didn't feel right about this.
Akari had similar feelings it seemed. "I have a bad feeling about this." She whispered to him.
Ash nodded but didn't answer verbally. That was when they heard it.
"LUX!" A cry like thunder shook the trees.
"What was that?" Ash hissed, coming out of an automatic crouch.
"It came from just ahead, we should go back and get the Security Corps to- ASH!" Her voice rose several decibels when she saw that he had kept moving forward, at a faster speed.
He kept low to the ground and spotted a clearing up ahead and something moving in it. Remembering some of his new lessons he crouched behind a bush instead of running directly ahead toward whatever it was.
Peeking through the branches the trainer looked around the clearing. He quickly made several discoveries.
This clearing had been recently created.
And the thing that made it was still here.
The air seemed to hum with electricity the way it did whenever Pikachu unleashed a powerful electric-type attack. Throughout the clearing were broken trees and scorch marks. Wisps of smoke spiraled over some of the black ashes.
Patroling the area was a blue and black Pokémon that bore some resemblance to Shinx, probably the evolved form if Ash had to guess. But it was huge. Taller than him even! He knew Pokémon got bigger when they evolved but going from a Pokémon the size of Pikachu to one the size of his bedroom was a pretty big change right?
That was like Magikarp to Gyrados big!
He heard someone come up next to him and a sharp intake of breath. Akari's hand grabbed the back of his uniform. "We need to go. Right now." She hissed.
"What is it?" Ash asked but Akari didn't answer. Her eyes were locked on the Pokémon in front of them. She just yanked more urgently on his outfit and actually started trying to drag him away.
Reluctantly he allowed himself to be pulled back. Pikachu and Rowlet had kept their distance. He was a little surprised by that himself but he was more distracted by Akari's alarmed reaction. The boy glanced back one last time and thought he caught a glint of glowing red eyes from the giant Pokémon.
Akari didn't relax until they got back to the camp. At this point, she immediately grabbed Ash by the shoulders and started shaking him.
"What were you thinking!?" She demanded anger and fear clear in her voice. "Do you have any idea how dangerous that was?"
"No!" Ash shook her off and Pikachu moved in between them, giving Akari a scathing look. She took a couple of steps back but when it was clear Pikachu wasn't going to attack her, returned her attention to Ash.
"I don't know how dangerous that was because I don't know what that was!" Ash pointed out, arms crossed. Why was she acting like this was his fault somehow?
"That was a Luxio. Specifically, that was an Alpha Luxio." Akari explained. "And we are very lucky to be alive right now."
She now had Ash's undivided attention as she explained.
"The first survey didn't mention any Alphas at all but once we started sending more scouts out some of them stopped coming back. Some of the ones that did reported huge Pokémon that were highly aggressive even if others of their type were passive. Those are Alphas and we just had an encounter with one." She explained.
Ash had trouble forming words for a minute. That was a level of danger he hadn't really realized was a possibility. "Why didn't anyone mention those before?" He managed to ask.
"I don't know but we should have." She seemed to have calmed down a bit. "Just, be careful okay? It did work out a bit, since now we know there's an Alpha there and that it's disrupting the local Pokémon. That explains why the Wurmple reacted the way they did. They're probably panicking."
"Yeah." Ash frowned and nodded. "We need to go stop it." He decided and Akari gaped.
"Were you not listening at all?" Her anger was back now. "I just said you needed to be careful!"
"I will be!" He insisted. "But now that I know what to look out for I know not to run headfirst at them! I bet my Pokémon and I could have handled it!"
"I… maybe." Akari accepted. "I think the Security Corps would be the better option though."
"But we might find more out there!" Ash reminded her. "You said we would be going farther out soon right? What if we run into one out there?"
"Then we should run away." Akari asserted. "Look, I'm probably not the best at explaining this so maybe we can talk to Captain Cyllene and Professor Laventon about it. But Alpha Pokémon are dangerous!" She repeated herself.
"I heard you the first time," Ash grumbled.
"Please promise me you won't fight one alone?" She got more grumbling. "Promise me!" She insisted.
"Fine, I promise." Having his Pokémon with him didn't count as being alone did it? He didn't mention that thought out loud though.
"Good." She was placated by his agreement. The teenager looked at the sky. "It's starting to get a bit late. We should still have some sunlight left if we start heading back now. Does that sound good?"
"I think so." He agreed. All in all, today had been a pretty good day. They got some research tasks done, he caught a new Pokémon and Akari had a partner of her own. He hoped they got along, he was kind of worried about Starly. Hopefully, they could sort out any teething issues.
With one last glance behind him at the Obsidian Fieldlands, the two Survey Corps members started along the road back to Jubilife Village.
Wasn't that a fun and exciting ride?
Well, mostly. This chapter was interesting and it fought me just a bit as I was writing it but I think it came out pretty well.
Part of that was getting Ash and Akari's dynamic down. Both of them have skills that the other needs to learn so it's kind of like a two-way mentorship even if neither of them quite understand it. Akari needs to learn more about interacting with Pokémon and how to battle while Ash needs to learn better survival skills and about this time in general.
It's interesting trying to fit some of the game's logic into this story without disrupting it too much. Like, in Legends the only Survey Corp members we see are Cyllene, Laventon, Rei/Akari, and the PC. It explains the lack of progress on the Pokédex but someone had to explore the region.
One final note, I've thought about it and bumped up the rating on this just a bit. Mostly because it occurs to me that I'm going to be covering some more serious topics and events. It'll still be fairly light-hearted but well, the story has got to have stakes after all! But yeah, I'd rather err on the side of caution.
Not sure what else to say, so let's get started on the reviews!
Reader: It's not a bad idea but I wanted Akari's first teammate to be a little different than that. Her getting Cyndaquil isn't off the table though.
LEGOBRICK13: Adaman and Irida are going to be an interesting meeting. As for Ash's reaction to wild Pokémon, well he has dealt with dangerous ones but they aren't exactly what he goes out expecting to meet. Ash seems the kind of kid who takes the punches as they come instead of prepping himself beforehand. This is both a quirk and a flaw in my opinion.
Fangs of death: A little early for that to happen isn't it?
Eagle10000: Six Pokémon limit is a bit complicated in this setting but as I included in Zorua Trainer there is a reason for that limit. Even if Ash doesn't completely see that here yet. But yes! I am the same author who wrote that story, a quick tip I've learned is to check out all an author's stories, if you like one odds are you might like others, and if they don't have others they might have a favorites list.
Phaleon: Glad to hear it!
Blue Bolt000: Ah yes those Riolu. That's a bit of a ways off but it will be interesting to see how that goes. Ash's aura connection isn't gonna be too obvious for most of the story but we are in Hisui/Sinnoh so it will come up eventually.
Butterflypus: Indubitably. (I never get a chance to use that word!)
Pecan Crisp: It is something I've been thinking about. Because if I remember correctly Laventon's Cyndaquil isn't native to Hisui either and we still get a Hisuian Typhlosion when they evolve. I'm not 100% sure how that works since in previous games sending a Pokémon to another region doesn't mean they'll evolve into the regional variant, like Pikachu and Raichu with Alola and Kanto.
Hoguie: It's an interesting experiment since Ash knows his way around Pokémon and adventuring at this point but is unfamiliar with this region and the Pokémon in it.
Talesfanjmf: Ash has very little filter so he doesn't even consider the dangers of spewing future knowledge. It's fun actually.
Pokémonever1994: Yeah transferring Pokémon doesn't really make sense in this time period. Everything has to be done the old-fashioned way, since they are in the past. How far in the past remains unclear.
That's all for now folks! Thanks for reading. My update next week will be on one of old DP fanfics, Gone Ghost. It's an older one though so it's not quite up to my current standards. I won't bore you with the details now though. But I'll be hopping back to Zorua Trainer the week after that and then we'll see what next.
I want to update this one more at least. I have some plans I really want to start getting into and I think this chapter wraps up the introduction pretty well. Next chapter might be a couple days into the future once Ash gets more settled. I don't want to say that for sure though because I have a habit of changing things once I start writing.
Anyway! Have a good one!
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~FriTik
R&R