Disclaimer: this belong to me does not.
As I trudged through the dense jungle, my sweaty shirt was clinging to my skin giving me a mild uncomfortable feeling. The humid heat had stared to become suffocating lately, which was bad news.
More heat meant we lost more water, less water meant more visits to the stream, and more visits to the stream meant higher chances of finding the king of the river, and that wasn't good.
I pushed that train of thoughts to the back of my minds, I could worry about that later, for now I needed to keep my focus on the prey and my surroundings
Ralts and I were making our way stealthily through the dense foliage of the jungle while being careful to not make any noise that could alert the pokemon that we were following of our presence.
We were waiting our time to launch the ambush, specifically the moment there wasn't any other pokemon near that could interrupt our fight, against a single pokemon we could manage, more than one and the situation could rapidly spiral out of control.
About fifty meters in front of us was a bipedal, simian Pokémon with a round body covered in whitish, shaggy fur, it had triangular ears with pink insides, narrow eyes with tiny pupils, and a pink, snout-like nose.
This strange creature was called Primeape, or so Ralts said. Apparently, pokemon were named after the noise they made, each pokemon having a characteristic one, though I still haven't heard Ralts making any sound similar to her name, I tried to imagine how it would sound but nothing came to my mind.
As the pokemon a few meters ahead of us came to a halt and started gathering fruits from a tree nearby, I took my bow from back and knocked an arrow, carefully tensing the delicate natural fiber string as I aimed to its head.
"Ralts search again" I susurrated my order to my companion while keeping the string tensed, she nodded at me, closed her eyes and started looking out for the presence of other creatures in our perimeter.
At the beginning she was only able to extend her senses to an area of about fifty meters, but after a lot of training she was able to reach to about two hundred and fifty meters, almost five times more. And that was only one of the aspects in which she had greatly improved.
In fact, It was incredible how much she changed since we started training two weeks ago, one would think that two weeks were too little of a time to show results, but she had substantially improved since then, and that rate of improvement had only skyrocketed when we started hunting other pokemon just a week ago.
Though, hunting isn't maybe the correct term, seeing as how we haven't killed any pokemon yet. After all, killing them is not necessary to get stronger, the single fact of scoring an attack seemed to do the trick, each time an attack hit, some energy would make its way from the body of the one who received the attack to the one who launched it.
And when enough energy was obtained Ralts presence would grow stronger, as if the energy had become her own. The first time I noticed this phenomenon wasn't during a fight but instead when Ralts was training, though the rate of energy being absorbed by her body was much slower than during fights where great chunks of energy flow to her, making it easier to appreciate.
This probably was what she was referring to when she said that 'pokemon get stronger fighting' though it had some limits, in fact the amount of energy that can be obtained by fighting a single opponent is limited, after the first fight, gaining any extra energy out of them becomes almost impossible.
Another thing we learned was that pokemon "invulnerability" Is limited, in fact it can just take so much damage after it disappears, and once it does the pokemon is left vulnerable. The great majority of pokemon that we fought would just pass out a little before of reaching that point, the reason behind that was still a mystery for me maybe it was an evolutive trait that made them more propense to survive, or the result of some of their physiological traits.
"It is clear" her voice sounded in my mind as it was habitual, giving me the signal that I needed to start our surprise attack.
Releasing my hold on the string I allowed the arrow to shoot out at high speed, letting out a hissing sound as it cut the air all the way to its distracted objective. The stone arrowhead shattered into a thousand of small pieces once it made contact with the Primeape's head, due to the great force of the impact and the high resistance of the objective.
This was something that always happened when fighting against pokemon, making me reconsider if all the work to make them was useful considering that they break at the first use, and weren't able to pierce the pokemon defense to begin with.
At the end I decided to continue using them, the main reason being that having stone arrowheads made the arrow heavier and more aerodynamic, both of them factors that increased the force of impact and the precision of the projectile, something that was really useful.
With a sharp cry, the bipedal fur ball recoiled at the impact, taking three steps back to absorb the force of the hit. Its legs braced against the ground, as it struggled to maintain balance. Once it regained its posture, the creature let out an enraged roar as it turned its gaze towards the source of the attack, its eyes blazing with fury.
Without thinking twice, the irate beast charged in our direction, its massive strides kicked up dirt and debris as it barreled forward, intent on exacting revenge on its attacker. At its current speed it would catch us in a few seconds, that would only give me enough time to launch a second arrow. Carefully tensing the delicate string to not break it in such a crucial moment, I knocked another arrow and aimed at my objective, this time it wasn't its head but his right knee.
Even though the quality of the bow and the arrow let a lot to be desired, the arrow's trajectory was unwavering, striking its objective with exactness and precision, destroying itself in the process. As a result, the pokemon charging towards us lost its footing from the powerful impact on its knee, crashing to the ground with a resounding thud and rolling uncontrollably due to its odd body shape. another thing that made me think that evolution theory didn't apply to this bizarre world.
"Ralts, attack now!"
As soon as I gave the signal, three of the six boulders that had been hovering in the air for a few seconds by now, were propelled towards the hapless pokemon that was still tumbling on the ground. The three rocks impacted fully on its body abruptly altering the momentum of its rolling trajectory from our direction to the opposite making the poor beast let out a heart-wrenching, pained howl.
Without giving the Primeape time to recover, she launched the remaining three rocks against the already beaten pokemon, striking it with immense force. The furry creature was flung away at an alarming speed towards a nearby tree, which it crashed into with a sickening thud.
But even that was not enough to take it down, shrugging out the dizziness of the recent impact it started slowly but surely rising up again.
This development didn't surprise us, it was something that we were aware would happen since before we attacked. this hadn't been the first time that this particular specie of pokemon had been our enemy, and in our previous altercates we had come to learn about its extremely high resistance. While other pokemon, may had been taken down by such attack, this one was able to tank it and continue fighting.
Unlike the other pokemon we had fought whom could use ranged attacks to keep their opponents at bay, this creature was limited to just close-range combat making it impossible for it to attack us while we keep it at distance.
While this may have seemed like a disadvantage, it was precisely this style of fighting that made it such a formidable foe. Despite its lack of ranged abilities, it was able to hold its own in battle, relying only on its incredible strength and agility to overwhelm its opponents provided it was close enough, something that really took us for surprise the first time we fought it.
After weathering a barrage of attacks, the battered simian rose to its feet once again, fixing us with a defiant glare before launching into a frenzied charge towards our position once again. As it closed in, I knew that I wouldn't have enough time to take aim and shoot it down, so I made a split-second decision and tossed my bow and quiver aside, ensuring they wouldn't break on the heat of the battle. My right hand instinctively found its way to the macahuitl I have been carrying, ready to meet the simian head-on.
The macahuitl was an ancient weapon, which was favored by the Azteca and Maya empire in battle. This weapon was normally crafted from wood and was distinguished by its sharp obsidian blades which were incorporated into the sides of the weapon. This created a truly unique hybrid weapon that combined the strengths of both a sword and a club. though I was not able to get obsidian so I improvised one using the flint blades I made before.
The irate primate didn't doubt it a second before launching against me, who it probably thought was the most dangerous opponent. Keeping my right hand on the handle and putting my left one on the flat side of my macahuitl I received Primeape punch, the impact pushed me back a little, but I keep my footing stable as I bled the momentum by sliding on the floor. Once I had absorbed the full force of the attack, I bashed my opponent, making him take a step back.
"Ralts attack again" at my command two hefty rocks were launched at our foe He deftly swatted one away with a powerful punch, but the force of the impact threw him off balance, leaving him exposed to receive the other one in the center of his head-body, delivering a hard blow.
Taking the opportunity, I charged to my ill-prepared opponent. Placing both hands on the handle of my sword, and bringing it behind my head, I leapt towards my enemy while swinging my sword in his direction making use of the gravitational pull to increase the force of my blow.
With a resounding crack, the full force of my blow connected with a bone-jarring impact, little pieces of the stone teethe of the macahuitl were sent everywhere due to the strength of the impact. The resulting cry of pain from my hapless victim echoed through the air, but I wasted no time in following through with my plan. As I took a step back to regain my balance, I shouted out my order without a second thought.
"Ralts, again" at my signal another pair of massive boulders were sent hurtling towards the hapless pokemon. There was no way for it to avoid the crushing impact of the two rocks, and both projectiles slammed into their target with devastating force
To my surprise, however, the round simian was not ready to give up the fight. It rose to its feet with incredible speed and charged towards us once again, but this time it was heading straight for Ralts and not me. The crafty creature had evidently realized that the petite pokemon was the only one capable of causing real damage, and it wasn't about to let Ralts continue throwing stones unchecked.
My eyes widened in shock as the simian suddenly changed targets, lunging towards my partner with fierce determination. For a second, panic almost threatened to overtake me as I realized that my ally was about to be attacked and I wouldn't be able to do anything to stop it. But then a sudden feeling of calm washed over me as I comprehended what was happening. Steeling my nerves, rather than trying to futilely interpose myself between the attack and my partner, I changed my course of action into preparing myself to attack the unprotected back of the ball-shaped monkey.
I had the unexplainable feeling that she wasn't actually there, I could see her but I was sure that was an illusion, on the back of my mind I could feel her presence in a completely different location. And in fact, I was right. Once the attack of the enraged primate reached the figure of Ralts it just phased through, going completely through it as what it thought was its target just vanished into thin air.
That was a trick she had learnt a few days ago by herself, when I asked her the how she just answered that she didn't knew, it was as if she had always known it but hadn't been able to remember until recently.
As its attack continued its trajectory unimpeded through the illusion made by Ralts without any semblance of stopping, causing the ape to be overextended, something that I immediately capitalized that with a left to right slash using both hands. The attack hit hardly on its back with enough force to send the ape once again to the floor.
"Finish him!"
Once again six boulders were thrown to the poor fur ball, this time each one of the rocks came from a different angle, impacting at the objective simultaneously, leading to a devastating final blow. I took notice of the last of the energy protecting its body vanishing after being used to block Ralts' last attack. That was the signal that this fight was over.
Ralts came from behind a tree, where she probably hided herself at some point of the fight. Her breath was a bit ragged but otherwise she seemed okay. She ominously gazed with a tense expression at the Primeape unmoving body, probably making sure it had really passed out.
"Good job Ralts" I congratulated her. When she heard my words, she quickly turned to look at me. The somber expression she was wearing vanished in no time, quickly being replaced by a faint smile.
"Good job you too, Shiro" at her words I gave a smile back to her before facing back the pokemon we defeated. I did a last check to make sure it was unconscious and would continue that way until we were far away. Once I was sure that by the time it woke up, we would be long gone, I offered it a silent apologize, and we started moving again.
After retracing our steps from where we first discovered the Primeape, we continued making our way through the dense foliage of the forest.
Though we had taken some of our time to hunt this Primeape who had isolated itself from its pack. Truth was, that hadn't been our objective for today. The plan we had was instead to explore the surrounding areas at the south of our refuge.
We had already done the same with the other three cardinal points, but outside the river at the east, which we couldn't cross due to it being infected by aquatic pokemon, there wasn't anything more that forest, forest and more forest.
Though the reason of that may also be that we are limited in how far can we can go, after all we must be able do the travel back and forth using the scarce hours of sunlight that we have. Hours of sun lights that must be also used to do all the other task necessary for our survival.
The reasons we were doing this whole research of our surroundings, was in the first place to account for the pokemon habiting the adjacent areas of our place, to study their number, territory, and gather any other important data, that might be useful in the future.
Ralts had done something similar when she first arrived to this area of the forest, after all you couldn't think of surviving if you didn't know what places you shouldn't cross or where you could get food and water from.
But that first reconnaissance done by her through all her time in the forest had been severely limited by her precarious situation. So, the information wasn't as exact as she may have liked and was filled with a lot of blanks from areas where she was unable to access.
Other secondary objectives we had were, to spot probable new shelters we could use in the case of an emergency, and search for some other alternative water source, something we hadn't been able to find in our previous expeditions.
With some luck we will find something useful this time, and if not, we will have to wait until I and Ralts become strong enough to not be limited to the safety of our current refuge.
Wiping out the sweat on my forehead, I raised my head and looked through an opening in the foliage of the trees to the sky, carefully looking at the position of the sun, it seemed that we lost more time than I thought, we only had 2 or 3 hours before having to start our trip back.
-change of pov-
We had been walking for a long time already, if it had been the me from two weeks ago, I would already be too tired to continue, but even though I had been walking for a while and even took the time to fight against other pokemon I wasn't really tired.
These two weeks that had been almost surreal. From finding a partner like in the fairy tales that I was told when I was younger to winning my first battle against other pokemon, and a second phase pokemon at that. Even though I had to heavily rely in my partner to win I knew that I was becoming stronger, it wouldn't be long until I was able to fight them just relying in his commands to win, just as it was meant to be.
It wasn't that I didn't find my partner reliable, quite the opposite, he was strong and very smart. But I didn't want him to have to directly participate in our fights, that was my job, and probably the only thing in which I could be of use to him.
I know it was kind of strange, maybe in a close future it would change, but for now it was pretty obvious which one of us was the stronger one, the one who wasn't sent flying each time it has to take an attack from the enemy.
But for some reason I couldn't help it, but to feel this way, maybe it was the stories I was told when I was a hatchling, maybe it was something rooted in my very being or maybe it was just the way I was.
Anyways, lot of other things changed since we started living together. For example, the place where we slept, or the strange container with which he carries water from the rivers or catch it from the rain or the strange and tasty things he did with the berries. He also started growing some plants around us though I don't understand why he did that, he seemed quite surprised at their rate of growing.
It was also thanks to him the I that I was becoming stronger, the training he taught me really helped me to improve and learn to use my skills better, though it was the fights which really did the difference, once I had got strong enough to be somewhat useful in a fight and Shiro finished creating his "weapons" we started hunting other pokemon.
The excitement of our first successful hunt still remains etched in my memory, well second one if we considered the skirmish, we had against that Nidorino when we first met, but that was different the first time we were fighting for our life, the second time we were no longer the prey but the predator, and that shift of roles awakened a new kind of emotion inside me, one that I could get used to.
A sense of disbelief washed over me as our opponent fell to the ground, vanquished by the impact of my assault on its unguarded form. The invigorating rush of energy that permeated my entire being, infusing my physical form with the strength that I had always desired. It was an extraordinary feeling, one that I could easily become addicted to. Alas, the time I had to savor our triumph was brief, as we quickly leave our prey behind to continue with our quest.
If it was for me, I would have liked we continued our hunt. It's not that I failed to grasp the necessity of our present endeavors, rather, it was just that I wished we had continued with our hunt.
The thrill of tracking our quarry, the heart-pounding moments locked in exhilarating combat, and the surge of energy coursing through my entire self after every triumphant conquest quickly became a concoction so intoxicating that I wasn't able to stop itching for it even in my sleep.
Inhaling deeply, I consciously began to quell the desire for battle surging within me. Succumbing to such base instincts would lead to nothing but becoming just another inhabitant of this cursed forest. However, I couldn't deny the intoxicating rush that came with the thrill of combat, and I wouldn't do it, I'll just savor it without allowing it to dominate me. That's the right of the strong, one that will eventually belong to me…
And I haven't been the only one getting stronger. Shiro had also joined to me in my training sections and I quickly noticed that he has started quickly getting more physically fit since I first met him. But there was something else that I had started to notice, a subtle shift in his presence that I couldn't quite put into words. Although I struggled to define precisely what had changed, there was no denying the transformation that had taken place. And if I had to put it into words, I would say that his presence had gotten more similar to that of a pokemon, even though my instincts told me he wasn't one.
"Ralts search through the area again" his voice cut me from my inner thoughts, bringing me back to reality
"Understood" I didn't need to be ask twice to heed his command. I closed my eyes and started to shut my other senses one by one, this was a technique that Shiro taught me during our training sessions, it was meant to help me to focus better in my intention-sensing.
Utilizing my heightened sensory abilities, I expanded my perception to encompass the surrounding vicinity in search of the presence of other living beings, it wasn't long before I detected a multitude of signals emanating from the left, situated nearly two hundred meters away from our current location. Focusing my sense there, I was able to distinguish and enumerate each individual present. it was a pack of seven Glooms and based on their brain wave activity, it appeared that these pokemon were in a state of slumber.
"A pack of seven glooms is situated at our left, two hundred meters away from us" I quickly informed him. Pointing my hand to the approximate direction they were
"I see, so that was where that smell came from…" at his words I took a moment to sniff the air again. it was true there was certainly a strange smell in the air, though it was so faint that I would have failed to notice it if it hadn't been for Shiro's words.
Without paying it too much attention we continued advancing on our quest through the thick of the forest, taking some stops so I could use my senses to feel the surrounding areas, or for Shiro to analyze some plant or rock he founded, the majority of them were quickly discarded, but sometimes he would save them in the thing hanging at the right side of his waist, it was called "pouch" if I remember correctly. This continued for a while, taking occasional detours every now and then to avoid confrontation with other pokemon
When it appeared that this trip would follow the same pattern as the previous ones, something unexpected happened. The forest started to progressively thin out, while a lot more of rocks than usual could be spotted around. We tentatively walked some more meters into it, but the changes only continued to making themselves more pronounced.
It wasn't long before, we stumbled upon a cavernous opening, its entrance so large that a Snorlax could easily fit in. However, the darkness within was impenetrable, leaving us with no idea of what lay hidden within its depths.
Without allowing me more time to appreciate the lithic construct, Shiro started going in direction of the entrance. I quietly followed him while keeping my senses in alert for any danger that could be lurking there.
Once he reached the entrance of the cave, he put his right hand in one of the walls and closed his eyes a soft mumble could be heard "trace on" he continued like this for a few seconds before abruptly opening his eyes again, a thin smile appearing on his face and I could feel through our bound the satisfaction he was reeking.
"It seems lady luck is on my side" his words only stirred my curiosity even more, making me wonder what has he found that was so important. And I couldn't contain no longer so I decided to just ask.
"What have you found?"
"I have discovered the very material required to propel myself from the stone age to the next era - I have discovered metal" he jubilantly exclaimed, his eyes shined as he contemplated the universe of possibilities that had been opened to him "with it, I will be able to make better tools and weapons"
"I see...," I said, realizing that this metal thingy was really important to him. He truly enjoyed crafting these peculiar tools. Despite my reservations about what I initially considered junk, I couldn't deny their usefulness. Over the past two weeks, these gadgets had proven their value time and again. Besides, I never felt the slightest bit of jealousy over not being able to use them myself... Well, maybe just a tiny bit.
"Ralts, quickly examine if there are pokemon in the cave" closing my eyes and focusing my senses on the cave I started looking out for the presence of pokemon in there.
It didn't take long for me to start getting signals from the cave, there were pokemon and a lot at that. It was something to be expected, after all a cave was an ideal place for pokemon to live, giving them shelter and protection.
Focusing my senses in each individual to get extra information, I found something unexpected, there was a lot of pokemon from different species, some of them I was able to recognize like the Ekans or Nidorino while others were completely new to me.
That was something that really surprised me. I had predicted that there was going to be pokemon living there, I also expected that said group was larger than their forest counterpart. I had even contemplated the possibility of a third phase pokemon being the lone habitant of the cave.
What I hadn't expected was to find a pack conformed by different pokemon inhabiting this cave, other thing I noticed was that their strength was… underwhelming. Their presence was weaker than the ones of the pokemon in the forest. I wouldn't be surprised if the majority of them were just first form pokemon, something that was really rare around here.
Normally packs of pokemon were integrated by second phase pokemon with very few first form pokemon. And it was something understandable after all the these pokemon were liabilities, they needed to be fed, looked after and guarded. That's the reason why the majority of them are abandoned to their luck after being born and only those which showed promise of becoming stronger in the future were nurtured. This world was that horrible after all.
Opening my eyes again I turned to find the expectant look of Shiro, a small smile was plastered in his face a gesture that I had seldom seen since we met each other, "it seems he is really eager to explore"
I couldn't avoid a small dark feeling to start creeping from my chest, I didn't like it, the face that Shiro was making now and the warm feeling pouring out from him because of some stupid junk, wasn't I all that he needed? As I was internally sulking an idea came to me
"The cave is full of pokemon" I told him only a bit of the information I gathered, keeping the rest from him so I could gauge his reaction.
And it was worth it, I could see how his mind quickly abandoned the idea of exploring the cave to get what he wanted, he was worried. he was worried for me, I was after all more important than that stupid piece of junk.
"I see… so if it is that dangerous then it isn't worth the risk" it really wasn't that dangerous, I bet we could probably defeat all the pokemon down there in a single day, as long as we didn't end up fighting a big group of them.
Keeping the focus in our bound I allowed myself to enjoy a few seconds more his emotions before finishing my petty act. At the beginning I had not been able to fully understand his intentions and thoughts, they were completely different from the ones I was used to feel, but as the days went by, I began to comprehend him better and better.
Though I must admit that those dreams where a pivotal point in my understanding about him. From that day a lot of things changed, for example even without fully focusing on him I am always able to feel his presence in the back of my mind.
"You shouldn't worry that much the majority of them are really weak, we should be able to win without much complications against them" at my words he started reassessing his decision, he took an entire minute to think before speaking.
"Even so we must be careful, we should be better prepared before going into the cave, for now let's go back"
apparently Shiro still wanted to keep a cautious approach, not that I would have minded going now. but it was not as if I could not see why he would desire to postpone it for later.
Seeing how there was not much more to do here for today we started making our way back, a little earlier than we normally would.
-scene end-
-change of pov-
By the time we arrive back to our refuge the evening had already settled, and the sun had long since passed its midpoint, slowly approaching the end of its journey.
Ralts and I were already training like we usually did when we arrived from the exploration, we were just doing the warm up at the moment, hogging at a steady peace to get ourselves ready for the more taxing exercise. though if we were seen back on earth, people would probably think that we were running instead of hogging.
It was something that had taken me a while to notice but my body was stronger. Well stronger wasn't exactly the world it was more like an integral bettering in the work of my body, not by an absurd amount, but enough to be clearly noticeable. If I had to estimate how much, it would be around a twenty five percent.
The reason it took me so much to notice it was probably because I was already accustomed to my seventeen-years-old body but the one I had now was just a fifteen-years-old one, so how could it be that my strength hadn't changed that much?
That wasn't all, for some reason I had noticed that the healing of my body had speed up considerably, although this change doesn't have much to do with my body, but with the strange energy that stills keep flowing through it. After two weeks the pain has almost completely disappeared, which is a relief since it was quite bothersome.
The healing wasn't at the level it reached during the grail war, that had been something almost bordering regeneration, and only possible due to the presence of saber and Avalon, both things that weren't with me anymore.
Though to be honest I didn't know how I lost Avalon. I was sure that it was with me during the fight against Gilgamesh. "Maybe Zelretch took it" a shiver coursed through my back as the idea of the depraved vampire in the possession of the shelter passed by my mind. "Yeah, it is better not to think about that"
Even though this level of healing wouldn't save me from mortal wounds it was certainly enough to heal small injuries in a single day, though the most important advantage that it gave me right now was the increased regeneration speed of muscle tissue.
That allowed me to push my body really hard during training every day without having to worry about accumulated damage on it. It didn't matter how hard I pushed myself I would be in pristine condition the next day.
Thanks to that I have been able to quickly get fit during this last week at a speed that would be impossible to attain back at earth. But I wasn't the only one who has been getting stronger at an unbelievable speed.
Looking at my right I couldn't help but be amazed to the strength that Ralts has gained in such a short amount of time. The poor creature that was unable to even keep jogging for more than five minutes was gone, in its place a being that had nothing to envy to the other habitants of this forest was born.
She continued running around the tree at a decent peace, it was the first of the exercise we did in our daily routine. It was obvious that the space wasn't the optimum anymore, but it wasn't as if we could risk to take a stroll around the forest without being assaulted by any pokemon.
As we continued our laps around the tree, I took the time to admire the territory around us. a small circular shelter made of rocks and clays, and with a roof made of wood and dried grass and leaves.
At the side of it there was a small patch of worked dirt, where there were some sprouts growing, it was incredible, the rate at what those plants where growing, it hadn't been a week and they already were almost at 15 centimeters of size.
It seemed that the plants at this world grew a lot faster, though that probably could be explained by the tinny amount of energy being circulated in them.
In this world pants seemed to grow up at an astonishing speed probably in order to counter the rate at which they were destroyed. Just a single fight against a fire-attack-based pokemon was enough to destroy a small patch of the forest, if those were to happen as frequently as I am thinking they happened, then this forest should have long since disappeared.
Specially, considering that there exists monster at the level of the king of the river who could cross paths one with another. Sure, they weren't as strong as servants but that didn't mean they weren't strong enough to destroy the forest.
That mystery could be explained only by the fast growth rate of the vegetation or the active action of a being that made them grow, 'like silvans, Kodama or the green man, a truly troublesome brunch of creatures' I can only expect to not cross paths with them if archer's memories was anything to go by.
"Shiro…" her voice interrupted my thought and brought my attention back to her, she had already stopped running around the tree and was looking at me, her petite frame was shaking slightly as she softly jaded trying to recover her breath.
It seems thirty minutes had already passed by while I was distracted.
Nodding to her while I went to pick two wooden falcons, if they could be called that, to be honest they were just to pieces of wood roughly shaped as the swords I usually used, they didn't even have an edge, being more of a blunt weapon than a slashing one.
Taking my usual position, I sent a glare to Ralts, she didn't even answer before six boulders started levitating and were thrown at me at great speed.
I quickly moved my body to avoid the ones I could and used my falchions to deflects the ones I couldn't being careful to cause the minimal strain possible to my weapon of choice, not wanting to test its poor durability by taking baseball size rocks, at almost sixty kilometers per hour head on.
Every time a stone was thrown at me another one from a pile next to Ralts would be encased in soft pink glow before starting levitating, keeping the constant amount of six boulders always floating at her side ready to be shot.
Sometimes she would shoot more than a single projectile at a time making it more difficult to me, but she was pacing herself making sure to always have at least a boulder ready to follow up with her offensive making me unable to take a breath.
This continued until Ralts couldn't any more finishing our session after ten minutes of continuous fire. At the end she wasn't able to hit me once, though the right falchion was completely destroyed with only its handle being left and the left one no longer looked like anything that could be called a falchion anymore.
Throwing my obliterated wooden swords to the side, I slowly walked next to the tree in the middle and grabbed my bow and a quiver full of wooden arrows, by the time I came back Ralts had already recovered a little and was getting ready for the next part of the exercise.
Taking four arrows from my quiver one in each space between my fingers I pulled the string and released one after another before repeating the motion again and again. I was still holding back and only put more effort when the level was too low for her.
In front of me the petite frame of Ralts quickly jumped from side to side getting out of the way of the arrows shot or used her psychic powers to use a rock as a shield, even so, sometimes an arrow would hit or fully impact her frame throwing her back but, even while hit, she used the force of the impact to continue her evasion. The exercise continued like this until I run out of arrows.
"Good job Ralts, you have improved again" congratulations were in order after this performance, she was only hit a few times by my arrows and the majority of them were just indirect hits.
her wonderous rhythm of improving didn't seem to deter even now, in fact I had to increase the speed of my attacks three times through all the exercise in order to keep the difficulty at a good level for her to improve. And this was not only the result of her raw power increasing, but also her battle sense fine tuning more and more at an unimaginable speed.
It was almost as if she was born to fight, optimized to quickly learn from every experience at disposition, though knowing how hostile this world environment was for its creatures it only seemed natural that most of them were born-fighters.
"Thanks…" her voice started tentatively "… Do you think that I would be able to fight another pokemon on my own now?" she finished with a determined tone.
It wasn't the first time she suggested that, strangely she seems obsessed with being the one fighting our fights, in her own words, it was her role to be the fighter and mine was the commander. She really reminded me of Saber a lot, though not in ways I appreciated.
At the beginning she was really weak so I rejected her immediately, but with the passing of the days I had been a witness of her humongous increase of power. At this rate it wouldn't be long before she surpassed me, especially when I am still unable to fully replicate my magecraft or put together something that could be used as an offensive mean.
I could perceive the prana in the air, or at least whatever energy take its place in this world and circulate it and manipulate it to a certain level, but outside of my structural analysis nothing else was working.
So, even though she still hadn't reached my level in terms of combat, she had something I sorely lacked, an effective way of damaging our enemies.
It would be good for her to star fighting now on her own and start gaining experience in combating while I focused on giving orders at least until I could put my hands in some metal gear.
It wasn't as if I were going to be useless far from that instead. It seemed that pokemon were able to increase their basic abilities greatly when they were being commanded by a human. I still don't understand how that works, but it seems to be similar to a magi aria, but instead of being used by the caster it was used by a third party that had a sort of psychic connection with the caster.
Getting out of my mental rambling I took a look at Ralts, she was expectantly looking at me from behind her bangs. It seemed I have taken too long to answer.
"I will be counting on you from now on, partner" my answer sent Ralts to cloud nine, I could see her almost jumping in her feet with both eyes wide open almost shining. I could even feel her happiness reverbing in my head, somehow. Well that was actually strange. I should look upon that latter.
After that both of us proceeded to finish our own exercises
I proceeded to do some musculation exercises while using archer memories in order to make the most of the session, on the other hand Ralts proceeded to practice her psychic ability doing less taxing activities while focusing on refining her accuracy and control.
-change of pov-
My breathing was ragged, while a deep soreness assaulted every corner of my body. My eyelids were heavy. the desire to simply let myself fall to the floor and close my eyes to finally rest was starting to become unbearable.
In front of me eight pebbles were suspended without apparent movement except the occasional wiggle every now and then.
The objective of this exercise was simple, now that I was too tired to work on raw power, speed or accuracy the last part of my training was control and multitasking.
To use the minimal amount of energy possible to keep as much pebbles as possible the longest amount of time suspended in the air. Not very taxing for the minuscule amount of energy that was left, but for my already tired mind that barely clung to consciousness it was hell.
But I couldn't give up. Not yet, I still got to be stronger. Until the last drop is spent, I can't call this exercise complete.
In front of me Shiro continued with his routine, his frame trembled violently as he continued doing different movements with his body. A mesmerizing dance made up of different movements as he violently swung his two wooden swords under the moon.
Left, right, upward, kick, turn, left again. Each move chained another one and another one, as his breath became visible due to the chill of the night.
the dance continued for a while until the sound of my pebbles hitting the ground, it didn't matter how much I willed them to go up again nothing happened.
As if he had taken that as a signal, his movements stopped.
"That… is enough for… today, let's go… to… rest" his voice was disrupted by the need to take air every now and then.
I couldn't even answer as we both slowly went the ring of rocks Shiro has built. From them I don't know when the memories of that day stopped and the dream started as my mind was too tired to care.
Main story word count: 7526
Omake word count:661 +333
Omake 1 (canon)
Dreams part 1, fire
When I opened my eyes, the first thing I saw was fire. The world around me was engulfed in flames, a landscape of utter destruction. The crackling of the fire sang a violent tune, and the wind fed its insatiable hunger. This power was used greedily to devour everything in its path, for fire is never kind; it only consumes.
People ran, their desperate attempts to escape ending in futility as the inferno overtook and swallowed them. Strange towers of sculpted rock crumbled to the ground. The scene was eerily familiar, yet alien. It overlapped with my memories, resonating as something I had seen before, something I had experienced. But everything was different—there were no trees ablaze, and the bodies scattered around were not like my own.
As I continued to watch, something caught my attention. A young red-headed boy trudged through the hellish landscape, seemingly oblivious to the fire that occasionally licked his skin. His steps were wobbly and slow, but against all odds, he didn't stop. He kept pushing forward.
His expression was blank, conveying nothing but emptiness, yet he didn't waver. It was as if his only mission was to escape this cursed place, but he had lost every reason for it to be worth it. He didn't react to the pain. Even when buildings collapsed and tossed him around, he rose again and continued. When people called for help, hurled curses, or cried out before being consumed by the flames, he didn't move his eyes—he only continued advancing.
His sole objective was to move forward. Why? He had forgotten. But he had to keep moving. It was the only thing left in his life. He had lost everything else, cast everything aside. After all, it wasn't needed to move forward. And if the version of himself that had those things, which briefly echoed in his mind before disappearing into fleeting nostalgia, had decided that moving forward was the only worthwhile pursuit, then he who had nothing else would cling to that until his last breath.
It took a brief moment for me to recognize him. "Shiro…" The man who had become my partner. Instinctively, I tried to run to him, but I couldn't move. I couldn't turn my head or even close my eyes. I could only watch. So, watch I did. "Until the moment for me to act, to take his destiny into my hands and change it, I will keep waiting here, in this hell, by your side."
The next time Shiro fell, he didn't get up again. It was only the timely intervention of a scrawny, black-haired man that saved him. The man smiled through tears as a golden light encased them both, slowly but visibly healing the young boy who watched him blankly.
Once he was healed enough that his life was no longer in danger, the man carefully picked him up and, without any brusque movements, began to carry him away from the fire.
As the scene unfolded, I couldn't help but think that Shiro never truly left this hell. He was still here, burning over and over again. That man may have saved Shiro's body, but his mind remained trapped. And as if to confirm my hunch, the mobility of my neck returned, allowing me to explore the scene again. When I turned my head to the right, two other men appeared at my side, watching the same scene. One was the Shiro I had always known. The other was a dark-skinned, white-haired man wearing a red coat—he was very different from both versions of Shiro I knew. But my senses told me this was also Shiro.
My body could move again, and a little door opened up behind me, inviting me to leave this place and perhaps witness other memories. But I didn't move. My feet remained rooted in place. Waiting. I couldn't leave; as his partner, I had to wait for Shiro. So, wait I did.
Omake 2 (canon) (between chapter 1 and 2)
Training report
Looking at Ralts I analyzed her training regime. Since we had started three days ago there had been already some improvements.
This was solid proof that pokemon were trainable. To be honest I wasn't sure that I could train Ralts to become stronger, after all there was a lot, I didn't know about their physiology. But this was enough evidence that training by repetition was useful for pokemon.
Powerlifting through telekinesis, it helped her to deplete her energy quickly, and was useful for increasing Ralts reserves over time, but truth was that outside of that there were better ways to use said energy than simply quickly depleting it by levitating the heavier rock we could put our hands in. so that was one of the exercises that we should replace.
Levitating small pebbles seemed a better alternative. And the number thing we could practice with them was greater. By levitating more than one and make them move in a pattern she could train her multitask and control. Also, by simply throwing them to a target we were working her precision.
Lastly there was running and other movements training. These were the ones that showed less results, it was as if Ralts´ body simply hadn't been made for these kind of tasks. That didn't mean there wasn't any result to show they were just… lesser.
It would need more time to know if Ralts´ increase of speed and mobility was her muscle or whatever she used for moving, growing stronger, becoming better at using them or simply a result of her base levels of energy having been increased over time. For now, it would be better to keep doing them. As agility was one of the more important abilities a fighter needed.
As for the pushups and other exercise for her arms… well we could probably do without them, as there had been nearly zero improvement except in coordination. Thing that was almost useless seeing how weak and short those appendages were.
I AM NOT DEAD, I am not alive either though.
I am a fraud, I admit it, I said I was going to update in a month at most and then…
Well, we shouldn't dwell to much on the past, should we? Better later than never. I won't excuse myself, as I don't have any excuse.
About the story, I tried to improve a little my writing, you lot tell me if it is okay, same problem with characterization, but as next chapter is going to start bringing trouble to the deuteragonists maybe it will turn a little easier, well that is if there is next chapter, and I will be honest with you if there is it is not coming soon, exams do that to you. I am open to critics, as always. About correcting the mistakes and misspellings of previous chapters, that is not happening soon. I don't feel like writing anything more so I will just update :P
P.D: I didn't forget comments, I am just too lazy to respond to them now. But please leave them. ;-;
Name: Shiro Emiya
Age: 16
level: ?/?
type: ?
Gender: male
Origin: sword
Element: sword
Abilities:
Energy sensibility (locked) ▹▹▹(unlocked)
Enhanced smelling
Enhanced sight
Unlimited blade work (locked)
Eye of the mind (false) B
Status: distorted, PSTD, depressed, strange world energy contamination (27%)▹▹▹ (97%)
Team:
Ralts (Lvl5) ▹▹▹(Lvl28)
Name: none
Specie: Ralts
Evolve to: Kirlia
Evolve from: none
Type: psychic/fairy
Age: 15
Level: 5/100▹▹▹ 28/100
Gender: female
Skills:
Trace
Telepathy
Synchronize
Movements:
Psychic
Double team (New!)
Status: PSTD, tired
Trainer:
Shiro (?)
Don't forget to comment ;)