Storm Sworn
Aric Fisk's Team:
Tynamo (Vita)
Veluza (Ascalon)
Silver Magikarp
Injured Skrelp
Red Tropius
Nessa's Feebas (Quin/Tessa)
- [ᛊ] -
Tropius could remember her sapling days clearly. She was the only red-leafed amongst her kind for as long as she could recall. Her mother had rejoined the group when her father had perished in a battle against a poacher, fleeing whilst pregnant.
Except when she returned to her jungle flock, they'd been ostracized due to her mother finding love outside the group.
The young Tropius had finally gotten it into her head by Old man Drampa that it wasn't her fault. The Tropius lineage loved the young or small and didn't hold the sapling accountable. They instead had felt betrayed by one of their most sought-after females walking out for greener pastures and returning like nothing ever happened.
She still didn't quite get it, but it no longer mattered. It was just her, Old man Drampa, and the occasional visit from passerby Pokemon to their isolated island on the coast of.. Kalos? She couldn't quite recall the area the pink-eyed white dragon had said. It wasn't too important anyway.
Still, she was satisfied. There was no reason to ever leave. The densely packed greenery, while small, could support two Drampa's of the old man size. She knew because he had told her stories about roosting here with his beloved. The patch of greenery, birds, and fish that did come by were enough to fulfill her protein needs.
She had learned to be a flexible hunter under old man Drampa's tutelage. At first she had only eaten greens and fruits, but she hadn't been growing nearly as much as she should've. And so, the dragon had passed her a fish.
Maybe she should've been ashamed by how much she enjoyed the taste, given she had never seen any of her kind eat another creature. However, her body craved for more. It made her bigger, stronger, more energetic, and all around, just more in general. She didn't understand it, but she didn't need to.
She was already different. She was covered in short, red spiky leaves instead of the thicker, flexy green palm leaves. Her orange spiky fruit tasted much different from her greener brethren. Her wings grew slowly in segments. Even now, it seemed to be only half the size it should be. A lot of her body worked that way. She was thicker and heavier than all her brethren. It also made her neck shorter, wider at the bottom, narrowing more steeply than her cousins at the top. Her feet, feet were the opposite, and grew retractable claws, allowing her to root into the ground. And most damning of all, she knew the move Dragon Dance initially.
Her kind were soft-hearted pacifists, and if not for her mother's timely interventions, Tropius may have revealed that she was more than the appearance changes. Dragon Dance called upon the raging energies that promised strength and swift bodily restitution. Or so, Old Man Drampa said. Her flock detested the dragon side of their kind ever since one had learned both that "dance" and Outrage.
None of her cousins looked, sounded, or felt similar to her. Old man Drampa felt more related to her than her own mother, despite mothers almost always bearing their own species regardless of father.
Her eyes grew blurry as she watched the empty sunset, waiting for the evening fish.
With changes brought forth by the seasons, her flock made to fly away. She couldn't. Her mother had tried to carry her. However, she was denser than even fully grown Tropius, and her mother's stamina wouldn't make the entire trip. If they made stops, they would leave themselves or their flock open to predators that tracked them out specifically, knowing their yearly routine.
So, her mother made the decision to seek out one of her father's friends, Old Man Drampa.
The pink-eyed white dragon had sought isolation following the death of his beloved and having reached the later years of his long life. At first, the young Pokemon had felt remorseful for interrupting his retirement. However, the prideful dragon was also much too prideful to seek help.
After staying on the island for two months, she had perhaps come across a new explanation. It was that, or the dragon simply didn't care anymore. But that didn't make sense to Tropius. She stomped the rocky cliff in frustration. That couldn't be just it.
Why give up?
The young Tropius couldn't wrap her head around it. Was living here not satisfactory? Being old wasn't an excuse, she thought. So what if Old Man Drampa easily exceeded two hundred? Two hundred isn't that big of a deal! She herself was at least 4 months old!
Again, the red Tropius stomped in an effort to alleviate her frustration. She had tried to revive the dragon's passion as she assisted it. Making the sleep cave more spacious. Giving and feeding the dragon piles of fish or fruits like he was the baby, and she wasn't! It wasn't easy taking care of the big ol dragon.
...Which reminded her, where were all the fishies? For the past two days, the ocean has been silent. This was her fourth attempt at waiting around for the fish on this day alone!
"—Mantineeee!"
A shrill cry pierced the ocean into open air, sending Tropius reeling out her thoughts before a surfacing crash gave way to a new presence. It was Old man Drampa's long time friend, a massive Mantine who fixed himself across underwater ocean currents as its protector.
He was one of her favorite visitors! It was this giant Pokemon's will that initially inspired her to reopen her heart. Maybe one day she could travel like the Water-Flying type did, but she couldn't imagine it still..
"Trooopius!" She greeted back.
The Pokemon shifted her way. The water still cascaded down his fins like a flowing cape. However, she spied something across his back. She tilted her head at the three figures. She didn't recognize any of them..
She perked up with a realization. Were these special treats just for her?
Mantine, oblivious to her train of thought, glided forward to meet her face-to-face. "Mineee mine!"
Tropius nodded and trod backwards, making space for the larger-than-life manta ray. She watched in awe as invisible air raised the three figures and set them between the two Flying types. This wasn't the first time she saw Mantine's flying aura mastery, but she couldn't help feeling starstruck each and every time. What broke the spell was Mantine himself. He spoke of two great events taking place, near one another.
The first one referred to the Guardian of the Seas. There came regret to his lack of presence, but she didn't linger on it nor understand the importance. Although, it explained the lack of aquatic life. The oceans were mourning. Again, it wasn't something she understood, but she didn't let it bother her.
There was another story after all!
The second event talked of bloodshed: Rivaling groups exploding out into all out war. The Gyarados' group had gone into a frenzy as one of theirs went missing.
Normally, a group of Gyarados were highly improbable. Touching upon their diminished ties to dragon aura, their original leader had spread its influence all over. The group had dwindled with each successor and as the size of the group was too wide. Eventually, it collapsed outwards. The current King had successfully brought the group back from the brink. Nonetheless, the rise of humankind had made it a much slower process than it was the first time around.
And from it, Mantine had found the most recent Blessed from the late Sea Guardian: an elver who stuck by the side of this human, drawing upon its—the leftover energy from the Lightning Walker's bolt.
- [ᛊ] -
A week went by pretty smoothly, considering how my life here started. In that time, I had figured out my Pokemon actually had more moves than I presumed before moving forward too quickly. Still, it would be hard to blame me, right? There was so much to figure out.
Pokedex' were rather rare. Neither Nessa nor Dr. Osumi had one. Elesa only got one because she was a Gym Leader-to-be but hasn't gotten used to whipping out the useful thing. So, it didn't see much use. I wanted to be annoyed about her lack of foresight, but..
When surrounded by the start of the internet age, full of Pokemon and whatnot, I presume it wasn't as important as I thought it would be. People didn't care to perfectly optimize in a way a researcher would. Specialized tools were rarely so spread out anyway.
Also, if the scan function did exist, wouldn't that be cheating to know the moves beforehand if you hadn't gone out of your way to research your opponent? I don't know. Ash was a kid when he used it all willy nilly, and it helped to teach the audience on top of that, so I guess, the forever ten-year-old got a pass. That, and he got the esteemed Oak's favor.
Even in a place as far as Hoenn or Unova (given Elesa's similar reactions), his name came with whispers and feats of legends. The late Dr. Osumi referenced a lot of his works, as his research had culminated into most of the practices of the present day. It was honestly inspiring. To think that a Legendary figure had made such progress and was still at the lab researching.
A flame that I thought had been forever snuffed relit with a thunderous roar within me.
I was living my childhood dreams. I was in the Pokemon world. I had my 3-stage, baby starter, who stuck by me through murk—no, bloodied waters. My first catch was a young psychic fish who remained stoic in the face of danger, but often caught himself in the zoomies. There was a Tropius who was as caring as she was large and red, but sometimes found herself fed up with everyone's shit.
They had personalities, dreams, and hopes. They were real. And I was there to guide them as much as they guided me. Truthfully, I didn't know what I wanted, but for once, I found solace in that. I was content to ride the waves and see where the horizon led.
At the current moment, I was helping Vita regain the ability to float. Removing a powerful weakness was tantamount to me. However, it seemed that she had completely lost the ability to do so naturally because I'm sure if she could, she would've done it by now by my command. I still don't understand what I did to deserve such a compliant Pokemon, but I sure as hell wasn't complaining.
I learned my guess about my Tynamo knowing Thunder Wave was correct. With that came the realization that Magnet Rise was a move cuz, yknow, magnetic waves. I'm sure Vita used more intuitive knowledge for the ability Levitate, but that was gone now.
Besides, Magnet Rise was more useful as a Tynamo.
A couple of times Elesa had helped Nessa with training her Pokemon. Small, speedy targets that could fly were awesome targets for practice. And vice versa, as Elesa seemed to be focusing on one of her Emolga's.
It had used Magnet Rise constantly and rapidly, quickly shifting out of the way of attacks. The cape was mostly made to glide or horizontal movement after all. There was some capacity to flap to gain some height, but compared to Magnet Rise? It was an utter waste to physically train the arms to flap harder.
I... regret not interjecting on one thing though. It could've saved her from her unconscious fate back when shit hit the deck.
It seemed that her practicing Emolga would turn off and on the move, which was fine given the Flying Type of the little thing. However, as a trained engineer with too many physics side-quests under my belt, wouldn't it serve the Pokemon better to function as a rebounding pole and simply.. change the angle? Of course it would have to be careful to keep the opposite charge away so it wouldn't conflict with the repelling.
Maybe it was because Nessa's Pokemon were still pretty young, but the pattern was fairly obvious in my opinion. Or maybe because I wasn't in the moment but watching from the sides. Elesa's Emolga could only raise itself up and glide or zip away with its new height. Emolga's physiology made the weakness much less of a problem later on with some training, but for Tynamo?
We couldn't afford that if the world kept throwing blood-smeared curveballs our way. And so, I used my previous knowledge to help funnel the new move sooner rather than later. It came rather easily, given how much energy Tynamo had and how docile she was.
"Let's start with Spark. Channel it around you slowly." I ignored the rest of the Pokemon watching on. There wasn't much else for them to focus on, so I didn't mind it. They were nothing like the attention of other people.
In place, Vita sizzled with energy, kept under control by her own han—well, will, surrounded by a consistent flurry of bubbles.
"Perfect!" I cheered. Although it was more muted than usual since I didn't want to get the Pokemon too excitable. "If you can, try to coil—" My starter tilted her body in question, so I quickly amended my words immediately, "wrap the energy around you like this."
I held my hand sideways and twirled my finger in a motion. Without question or further confusion, Vita followed along. It was a little memorizing to watch. Normally, I'd need a conductor to guide the energy to coil around, but Pokemon didn't have that trouble.
Vita on top of that? She had zero problems controlling her electricity. It was too smooth, unnatural compared to the attacks directed by a trained Pokemon like one of Elesa's Emolga. So memorized, I didn't realize she was waiting on the next step. I regathered myself quickly and moved on.
"Keep it that way—" I got hit with another memory of Elesa's Emolga. Magnetic Rise wasn't very flashy. And it was nowhere near as bright as Vita was at this very moment, so I paused.
"...Could you pull the coiled energy into yourself? Like just under your skin or something."
This time, this command seemed to finally give Vita some trouble. She nodded but shut her eyes to concentrate. The serpent energy inched through her skin slowly until it was all glowing beneath the Tynamo's white skin.
After this, I honestly had no clue to.. counteract the poles of the earth. I may have made a mistake. The name Magnet Rise might be misleading completely because it certainly didn't make much sense.
A magnet shouldn't just float off Earth itself without a superconductor. The planetary poles couldn't be it. And there was no wide-reaching collection of magnetic metal undernea—
My rapid thoughts of self-doubt died in a burning train crash as Vita floated out of the water like a ghost. There was no swimming involved. She remained rigid but stared directly at me, gliding closer and closer.
"Ty!" Vita finally cheered, bopping me on the nose with her face; her frills snaked across her entire body.
A swirl of positive emotions filled me. Pride, joy, and awe. Words failed me. My body didn't as I unconsciously managed to raise my hands gingerly to catch the dipping Tynamo.
Her Magnet Rise was beginning to wane. But it was an amazing first attempt! She followed the commands without much issue. Sensing my lack of foresight, she herself figured out the next step.
While I'm sure the experience with her previous ability helped, it must've been like relearning how to walk after forgetting how to do so. For a moment, I was reminded of my own weakness when I awoke in this new world. That was until my starter plopped into my cupped hands. There was a minor zap on contact, but that bothered neither of us.
"Great job, Vita!" I cooed, bringing the Pokemon back to my face. "That was a massive first step- no, leap!" Literally.
She brushed against my aching cheek from all the smiling. I didn't care for the slime her skin left on me. I just couldn't help but twirl around, Pokemon in hand and on my face.
Vita was recovering as much as I was. I have no idea if she would ever regain Levitate but this start hinted at a new frontier. An Eelektross with the potential dexterity and mobility of a Flying Type? I almost couldn't wait.
Zapdos and Thunderus, eat your heart out.
- [ᛊ] -
As for my Veluza, Ascalon, he also had the move Stored Power and Psycho Cut on top of Aqua Jet, Filet thing, Focus Energy, Slash, and the water version of it as well.
Seven moves in total.
It was a little daunting, having grown accustomed to four moves, even compared to Vita's five. Still, I was glad that the limitation didn't actually exist.
By the time it came for Ascalon's turn, his shimmering white skin had completely returned, ballooning from his.. real body? I don't know, and honestly, I kinda really didn't want to. It was kinda interesting as it was morbid to watch it regenerate as if in hastened time.
With it returned, Ascalon lost his voice again. It didn't bring the fish into another depression thankfully, but it still soured the stoic fish. It no longer had fits of excitement and zoomies and returned to the stoic image I had gotten used to.
When I asked if I forgot to check for other moves, he showed just as much hesitancy as he did with Filet. Before I could retract the question in concern, the blades along his body glowed pink, but they quickly faded.
I tried to ask something else, but the next event made me forget what.
Instead of the spikes, Ascalon's face glowed at an increasing intensity. It grew until it was blinding. Without any warning, the white flesh of his body exploded off it, scaring all the watching Pokemon, except Vita, who paused from her practice and shot a wide Thunder Wave to shield me.
I didn't know it could be used like that, so that would be something to return to at a later time.
Nevertheless, I focused on my fish in concern. That couldn't be normal right? If it weren't for the coloration of the energy, I'd guess that it was Explosion. Fish shouldn't explode. That was illegal. Maybe Pokemon was different, but the Pokemon Company couldn't be that morbid, right?
"Veluza!"
My fish didn't sound in pain or any different, which was good. Although, I still wondered if it still has nerves to feel anything. Either way, I didn't know where to begin for the name of that.. attack.
Ascalon swam up to me with returned haste. This time, the blades jutting from his body glowed pink. A swipe of its body, a twirl here and a twirl over there, various blades of pink carved into the water and rock.
For a moment, it was under control.
Suddenly, it wasn't.
"VELUZA!"
The bony fish gave a shrill cry that was unlike anything I've heard from it. His body seized, sparkling with electrified pink energy. The blades glowed brighter and brighter, launching blades with each twitch.
A part of me was glad that I kept the silver Magikarp and the injured coral seahorse in their balls instead of bothering with them first. The small pond would've been too crowded. Instead, the surrounding water only had one fish with Vita in my hands. Nessa's Feebas tried her best to dodge. It was working. However, I knew from watching Nessa train her Pokemon that Quintessa wouldn't last long.
"Troo!"
The grass titan in the making summoned vines. Some materialized from her body. A few broke through the rock to try and wrap around the flailing fish. With the psychic energy going haywire and easily cutting through the vines, Tropius task was impossible.
"F-Fee!" Quintessa cried in shock, seeing an attack that she was unable to dodge. Because her attention was elsewhere, the rock-esc fish did not see the vines coiling around her.
Again, this red Tropius came in clutch. The vines yanked Feebas from the water. However, she took a few psionic blades of her own. "Troopius!" The attacks cut deeply into her neck, oozing sweet smelling blood.
The cry spurred the small Pokemon in my hands.
Vita launched herself from me. Yellow energy sparkled from it all the while, signifying the use of Spark. That allowed the little white eel to bulldoze through two psionic blades at the cost of some of her sudden speed.
It didn't matter.
Vita shot at Ascalon undeterred. Yellow energy pierced the raging pink energy, and all at once, the latter popped like a balloon. The Tynamo seemed wholly unaffected, nudging the sagging fish.
Meanwhile my dumb ass? I was hyperventilating on the floor as my body had failed me, and the memories of sharp knives overloaded my brain.
- [ᛊ] -
I came back to the land of living after various concerned nudging from Pokemon but hadn't become myself until the evening.
By then, I had successfully gotten the Pokemon to leave me alone. I felt a lil bad about it, but I needed the space. I just needed a walk around the mini forest going on. I glanced over my shoulder a few times. Almost each time, red Tropius was there peeking at me, until I was out of sight.
I sighed.
I approached one of the cliffs and sat on the edge. There, I watched the water in the dying sunlight. The Pokemon from down under were back apparently. Surprisingly, the ocean water was more transparent than I remembered from my world.
Schools of fish swam by. Coos and cries of their name in fits of excitement or annoyance. I was reminded of something. Under the film of water, sound was amplified and moved faster, explaining why a lot of aquatics used sharp sounds so commonly.
In the embers of the light, the scales of red Magikarp glittered. I almost confused a bright Corphish for one. This was the second time I've seen a crab swim. The ones in the ward with me were too injured to try. It was still as odd as the first time I had seen it on YouTube. Along the edge of the elevated rock face, I spied some more Feebas' trying to blend in. Honestly, I only noticed because some angry green fish kept harassing them.
It was a Unova fish I think. It was supposed to be fierce looking, but this one was too young. I never used it since it never evolved. They came with red or blue stripes, usually. This one was white. Hopefully, it wasn't a sign of puss buildup or anything. Do Pokemon have to deal with that kind of thing?
It was insistent and constant in its efforts to be a green menace, nipping and tackling at the various rock-like fish. Because of that, it noticed not the impending danger. I only realized because other than the brutish fish, the oncoming Pokemon was a pristine white, rising from the dark depths.
Slinking from the darkness behind it, a long, beautiful serpent rose with narrow eyes and an annoyed visage. A single Feebas trailed behind it. I assume it had gotten big brother or sleeping mama to deal with the fish.
I glanced down to the crate that I carried around just to feel like I wasn't being totally useless.
There was two empty pokeballs left.
I really didn't want to see more violence. I saw more than enough just a few days ago. My urge to lock myself in my bedroom was dying to be fulfilled once again, despite the fantasy world of my dreams.
My nightmares more like..
Still, my body moved on autopilot and hoped for the best. As I slammed one of the dual-colored balls into the water, I yelled, "Tropius!" I tried to ignore the fact that I fell on my front as I did so. It hurt my pride more than my body. Thankfully, it was just Pokemon around...
I wasn't going to catch the pokeball on the way up. The Pokemon with the vines would have to do it for me. I shoved down the sharp feeling of uselessness and watched in slow motion as the pokeball splashed into the water, bounced off the green head of the fish.
The pokeball split open, spilling red energy. As it encompassed the angy fish Pokemon, Milotic recoiled back and cringed with surprise and the thundering steps of a hurried dinosaur grew closer. The white serpent zoomed in on me with shock and a flinch of fear, but I didn't mind it. My focus was on the pokeball shuddering in the air.
It was odd watching it. Just like the time with the poison seahorse, the Pokemon struggled within. However, it was for nothing as the pokeball soon stopped and began to sink.
Before I could prompt Tropius, it recognized the pokeball, stomped, and shot vines from the cliffside.
Milotic froze, eyes widening. It wasn't looking at the red Tropius but rather something over me.
A shadow rose from behind me, darkening the waters further. My heart stopped. I recognized the breathing. The white dragon had left his cave. It was the first time it's been up since I woke up on this island.
Despite myself, I dared to peek back at the fur-covered dragon. Its blank pink eyes only spied the majestic Milotic. The serpent sank deeper slightly but didn't back down. Instead, it flicked a tail out towards quivering Feebas'.
For a moment all was still, except Tropius, who seemed to be oblivious to the stare-off.
The dragon then released a snort and turned away and returned to the cave, gliding inches off the ground. If it held its head up with a sneer, the gesture would've been haughty. Pardon the assumption, but it seemed to allow whatever Milotic wanted for now.
As its presence returned to the cave, everyone released a sigh of relief, with the exception of Tropius. Maybe that was just my imagination. But honestly, I was only glad there wouldn't be any bloodshed. With a nudge of a vine, Tropius reminded me about the pokeball. It also caught Milotic's attention. The long, majestic Pokemon slithered to the surface.
I nearly gasped at what happened next, but refrained in case I broke the spell. If I had thought it was cool to see it in the anime, it was a hundred times better to see it in person.
Water ballooned right above the Pokemon. As Milotic inched through the surface, pulling more water with it. It rose up to me only to glance at Tropius—or rather what else the dino held in vines.
Nessa's Feebas, Quintessa.
In slow motion, my heart sank again, and Milotic's expression grew enraged once more.
"Feee!" Only for Quintessa to yelp a portion of her name, cheerfully, as if recognizing the serpent. The latter tilted its head, pulling closer still. Tropius simply pulled the 'ugly' fish forward to greet the serpent face-to-face. "Fee bas! Fe fe feee..."
My heart began to calm as I watched the two converse. A few times, Quintessa flicked a tail at each of us. I think... she was introducing us to her parent, maybe?
During one of those gestures, Milotic flew towards me. Behind it, Nessa's Pokemon gleefully followed. None of my Pokemon reacted in any particular manner so I decided to play it cool.
I only looked back up to the massive serpent—only for a familiar thought to break my demeanor. Would it be okay to stare them in the eye? The problem was that it was already too late. I couldn't just back down now, could I?
Before I could decide, my little ever-go-lucky Tynamo glided forward, shakily. "Tyy!"
It drew the long Pokemon's attention, just as Feebas caught mine. It took me a moment to understand, but it wanted me to release a Pokemon for some reason. "This one?" I held up the green fish's ball. The fish shook her head. I palmed the sea horse thing's ball, only to get the same response. "You want me to release your friend?"
That got an excited nod from the fish. I'm not sure what a Milotic would want to do with a rivaling species, but who am I to deny a formidable creature. I held the ball forward after a press of a button. A bright red flash released the silver Magikarp.
Immediately, Milotic wrapped itself around the fish with a beautiful trill. I nearly cried out in a panic, thinking the Pokemon was removing a rival from the land of living. Instead, I stopped, noticing the shift in Magikarp's expression. The normally blank fish revealed tears but tried to remain strong still.
W-.. Was Milotic the silver Magikarp's father?
It was the only way any of this made sense. But still, a Gyarados and Milotic mating, who would've thought?
- [ᛊ] -
Aes (A/N): I would've like to write more but more just wouldn't come out of me. I sat at 3k words for over a month. None of my other stories could reach the word count I wanted to either. I wasn't quite satisfied with the Tropius introspective, but the nuance I wanted wouldn't matter too much honestly.
no, I'm not an engineer of sorts or have any real physics practice. I'm a Pokemon fan (as hard as it is to admit with the current state of the games) for crying out loud and a computer major of sorts. So, try not to flame too hard for shoddy or nonsensical explanations, ok?
With that, the next chapter will bring us back to the ongoings of Nessa then bring Aric one last Pokemon before inching closer to civilization.
Words: [5,248]
Edits: didn't feel like it yet but you guys waited long enough
A slight spoiler (a note to my future self really), Basculegion will not be a part of Aric's team. Sorry, but don't worry, you will see it in another's. He'll get another, admittedly less cool Water/Ghost type instead. Hint hint, nudge nudge.