"That is quite the accomplishment, and on your first try to." Professor Sycamore praised.
Harry had finally made it to Jubilife City and, like he told Professor Rowan he would, he had called Professor Sycamore upon arriving. The man had been happy to hear from the green-eyed psychic and had asked him to elaborate on what he'd done since leaving on his journey. Harry had told the man all about the Pokemon he had seen on his way to Enlightenment Town, his first ever battle against another trainer, his first time catching a wild Pokemon, and was now telling him about his debut in his first-ever contest and winning said contest. He had just shown the Professor his newly acquired ribbon.
"Th-thanks Professor but I'm pretty sure I only won because none of them have ever seen or even heard of a fairy-type let alone battled one before," Harry said, a little embarrassed at the complement but still feeling a ting of pride at the praise of his accomplishment.
"You shouldn't sell yourself short Harry," came a different voice.
Professor Sycamore turned and smiled at somebody off screen before a tall teenager, a bit older than Harry with blue eyes and black hair done up in a voluptuous faux hawk came into view. "You made it through the first round of the contest and all three of the battles, it shouldn't matter if they aren't used to battling fairy-types, you earned that ribbon, so be proud of it." He stated in a calm steady voice.
"Well said Alain," Professor Sycamore said to his assistant before looking back to Harry" You've made an important first step on your journey as a Pokemon trainer, not just in winning your first contest, but now you actually have a set goal in mind, as well as having made a large stride towards getting there."
"Professor Rowan sent a copy of the contest footage, you really did an amazing job." The blue-eyed teen commented.
"He did? I'll have to watch that." The professor said to himself thoughtfully.
"Yeah I guess," Harry said a little hesitantly, then smiled at the other boy. "Thanks, Alain."
Harry had spoken to Alain on occasion when he would call to talk with Professor Sycamore, some days when the professor was a bit too busy he would have Alain talked with Harry about the Kalos region and various other things in his place. The other boy was very insightful and willing to talk to Harry about anything he might have questions on. However he was a bit distant, though he never showed any annoyance or upset whenever he was speaking with Harry and would often offer words of encouragement, he always seemed like he was indifferent to the other boy. Alain had been given the fake story of Harry being amnesiac and not knowing how he ended up in Sinnoh. Even though he normally acted a bit aloof he had no problem talking with Harry about various things in the Kalos region, normally recent history and pop culture. There had even been times when Alain himself would call Harry to inform him about things that were going on in the mainstream of Kalos news, like when an up-and-coming pop star, Aria, put out a new pokevision video, or to send him popular Kalosian movies, most of which starred, if not had a part played, by Kalos champion and actress Diantha. Harry had actually enjoyed 'Brunch At Tatiana's' and enjoyed the musical numbers of 'My Sweet Sweet Lady'(1) Normally the only time Harry would see Alain get excited or happy was whenever the two would talk about Pokemon, but most of the time his most enthusiastic was a bland but genuine smile and a few kind words.
"I'm glad to hear that your journey is going so well Harry. You've already found a goal you want to achieve, you've made your first steps in in achieving that goal and now have your first Pokemon under your belt."
" Umm actually professor a few days before I got here I-"
Just before Harry could finish his sentence a flash of black coming towards him out of the corner of his eye had his Seeker reflexes kicking in and had him leaning back to avoid being hit by a squawking mass of black feathers that came flapping infront of the video phone.
"MurKrowMurkrow!"
"Ark St-stop it! Get off you barmy bird!" Harry grunted as he tried shooing a Murkrow away as it kept trying to grab ahold of his glasses with its beak. He could feel the hopeful and devious determination coming from the avian creature and was sure he knew why it was acting like this.
Fending off the Murkrow with one hand he reached into his waist pouch and pulled out a basket. When the basket came into view the Murkrow stopped it's efforts to grab Harry's glasses and perched itself on the table in front of the phone screen with eager anticipation. From the basket Harry pulled out a pokepuff, and let out a put upon huff as he felt the Murkrow's satisfaction. Harry held the treat out to the Pokemon before taking it back again, mutch to the annoyance of the dark/flying-type.
"If you wanted a treat you could ask, you don't need to try and take my eye out." He scolded, to which the murkrow just look to the side and let out a caw in uninterest, though Harry could feel the embarrassment it was actually feeling then.
Finally handing over the pokepuff, Murkrow took it as it flew a few feet away before it began happily pecking away at the treat.
"I really shouldn't be rewarding that kind of behavior" He said to himself on an exhale.
"Well," Harry jumped a bit when he heard professor Sycamore start speaking. "That's certainly one driven Pokemon you got there, when did you catch it?"
"A few days ago," Harry started "I was finished setting up camp so my other Pokemon and I were out playing. I guess Murkrow seen the shine from my glasses and tried making off with them. But Ralts was able to get them back with Confusion which only seem to make Murkrow mad."
Flash Back
Harry stood in front of a glaring Murkrow, Ralts out in front ready to battle. Harry adjusted his glasses that had just floated over to him via Ralts' Confusion, and looked at the disgruntled avient, feeling the rush of irritation from it right before it attacked.
"Krow!" Opening its beak it shot out a plume of thick black smoke, as it flapped its wings to guide it. The smoke enveloped Ralts leaving the shiney Pokemon blinded and coughing.
"Ralts quick, get outt'a there."
Unfortunately, not being able to see or breathe properly had Ralts to panicked to follow Harry's order. Harry could feel the panic coming off of the psychic-type as it struggle to get out of the Haze.
The wild Murkrow however didn't seem to plan on letting Ralts regain its bearings.
From outside the Haze, Harry seen the Murkrow as it flew up and looked down at the slightly thinning smoke, "MuurKroooow~" It's eyes started to glow bright pink and its body glowed a pale purple as it let out a long trilling note and released waves of red rings straight into the smoke, dispersing it and knocking Ralts back with a pain-filled cry.
"Ralts, are you alright, can you get up?" Harry called in concern as Ralts got shakily to her feet.
'That was Night Shade, Ralts must've taken a lot of damage,' Harry thought to himself.
" Ralts, use Shock Wave" Harry called as he seen Murkrow heading fast at Ralts.
"Ral!" Taking a breath to steady herself, Ralts quickly formed a ball of blue electricity infront of her and fired a bolt of light blue electricity from it, hitting the shocked, now literally, Murkrow as it let out a pained squawk.
Murkrow shook off the sparks of static from its body before looking back to Ralts with an narrow eyed stare. Murkrow once again started flying towards Ralts one of its wings glowing purple.
"Quick, dodge it," Ralts lunged to the right trying to avoid the on comeing attack, then in an instant Murkrow disappeared and reappeared on Ralts other side and slammed it's glowing wing hard into the side of the psychic-types head.
"Ralts!?" Harry shouted, alarmed at the damage of the attack inflicted, and regretting having chosen to battle with Ralts. Being a dark and flying type Murkrow had the advantage over a psychic-type , he would have been better off using Sylveon , but he had used Ralts wanting to get some experience battling with the Feeling Pokemon.
The mis-colored Pokemon was sent tumbling across the ground, and was now covered in scratches and dirt, but was still conscious from the emotions Harry was sensing from it. Above them Harry could feel slightly ruthless pleasure coming from the Murkrow, who was leting out a low cawing laugh.
The malicious joy Harry felt from the Murkrow immediately stopped and was then replaced with shock and displeasure as it seen Ralts slowly and painfully start pushing herself back up. The Murkrow started flapping its wings flying higher up into the air before it came diving down like a missile in a very familiar position that caused Harry's eyes to widen in shock. Not believing that Murkrow was going to use the attack he thought it was.
'No that cant be. Can Murkrow even learn that move?'
Suddenly the rapidly descending Murkrow's body burst into flames and Harry knew that it really was the move was thinking of.
"Ralts, return!" Harry said in a panic, quickly calling back Ralts into its Pokeball, just before the Murkrow spread its wings, dispersing the fire and its body becoming surrounded by a blue aura and slamming into the ground where the psychic-type had been before kicking up a large dust cloud.
Harry was looking at the black pokemon in shock. He knew what that move was, Yuzo's Staraptor could use it to. It was Brave Bird, one of the strongest flying-type moves, but Harry hadn't known that Murkrow could learn it.
Harry was brought out of his mind when the Murkrow flew up out if the dust cloud, its feathers were disheveled and its breathing seemed a bit labored. Harry wasn't sure if it was dude to the normal recoil damage done by Brave Bird, or it it was because of the fact that it had slammed straight into the ground.
Taking out a pokeball, Harry quickly released Sylveon, wanting to launch a counter-attack while it was still dazed.
"Sylveon, use Disarming Voice quick!"
Immediately upon appearing from its pokeball Sylveon followed Harry's command.
"Syl-Ve-Oooon~"
With a high-pitched cry, Sylveon let lose a beam of purple heart shaped sound waves, slamming into the Murkrow and causing it to fall out of the air. Just as it was about to hit the ground it tried spreading its wings and flying back up, but only managed to slow and soften its impact.
"Mur-Murkrow" It panted out as it tried pushing itself back off the ground and back onto his feet with its wings. The moment it managed to get its feet back underneath it a Pokeball hit it in the center of the hat-shaped feathers on its head, pulling it inside.
The ball only shook once before becoming completely still.
"Murkrow wasn't exactly thrilled about becoming a part of my team after it woke up in the Pokemon Center. But after a few pokepuffs, it was a lot more open to it," Harry finished explaining with a laugh."Now if only I could get it to ask for a snack instead of acting like a nuisance to get one." He then said with a sigh.
"Well you know what they say; the quickest way to a Pokemon's heart is through its stomach." Professor Sycamore said with a laugh.
"You found a Murkrow that knew how to use Brave Bird?" Alain said his eyebrows raised in surprise and ignoring the Professors statement. "I didn't know they could learn that move."
"Well, actually they can't," Professor Sycamore interjected, before explaining. " For Murkrow, Brave Bird is an egg move, a move learned through breeding or in other words it's a move that has to be inherited from its parent. Though sometimes this can occur naturally in the wild it's more likely that you're Murkrow was the result of breeding."
Harry nodded his head at the professor's explanation. "Yeah, that's what Professor Rowan told me when I called him about it,"
"Well that's pretty much all the exciting things that have happened to me till now. The last few days before reaching Jubilife City, I've been trying to get to know Murkrow a bit, but that's been going a bit slow."
"I'm sure you'll get there in no time, Professor Rowan has told me about what a big help you are when it comes to helping settle the Pokemon he's researching. Just give it a little bit more time and I'm sure you and your murkrow will be thick as thieves." Professor Sycamore encouraged.
"Thank you, sir. Well I just wanted to call and check in with you, now that I'm on the road. I'll not keep you from your work longer."
The gray-eyed man smiled at the youth over the phone. "Don't worry about it Harry, I was happy to hear from you. it's nice to know that things have been going so well for you. But remember if you ever need help or want to double-check something, then don't hesitate to call. I mean it." He told the teen earnestly.
"Yes, Professor, I know that" Harry insisted with fond exasperation. This was how the end of most of his conversations with the Professor's went, with them insisting that Harry seek help if he was ever struggling. At first it had been unusual and a bit disconcerting to him but now the interactions left a small warm feeling in his stomach, because he knew it was because they actually did care.
"Are you sure? We really don't want to hear about a repeat of the Vileplume incident." Alain cut in, one eyebrow raised mockingly.
A blush colored Harry's cheeks at the reminder, before he sputtered out a response.
"Th-thats not- I didn't know that-, errr Are you ever going to let that go!"
His blush deepen at the sound of Professor Sycamore's laughing and the smirk Alain was sporting.
"I-I have things to do, goodbye." He said getting ready to cut the video feed.
"Relax Harry, we trust you ,we trust you. Alain's only teasing." Professor Sycamore said placating. "We'll let you get back to it, good luck in your gym battle, À la prochaine."
"Au revoir." Harry said with a small smile, ending the call.
Turning around he called out to Sylveon, Murkrow and Ralts who were a few feet away from the phones in the lobby of the Pokemon Center.
"Come on you lot, we're going to see some of the sights before we get back on the road."
A/N:(1) My own parody of the movie titles 'Breakfast at Tiffany'sc and 'My Fair Lady', two films Audrey Hepburn starred in, and whom seems to be who Diantha was modeled after.
And there done, a bit shorter than my other chapters but aside from Harry's new Pokemon not much really happens. And just like Sylveon in Tyrone murkrow has her own little backstory which will be revealed later on in Sinnoh.
Please leave a review if you can. As always thank you so much for all the favorites and follows this story has been getting.
Info on Harry's Murkrow
Gender: Female
Moves: Payback, Feint Attack, Brave Bird, Haze
Ability: Insomnia