Outsiders (ZnT/Pokémon Reverse Summon)
Season 2, Episode 6, Chapter 1
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August 12th, 9:00 AM
Route 13 – Lumiose Badlands, Kalos Region
"You know," Henrietta began as she and the others overlooked the vast, dry expanse of the Lumiose Badlands on a small cliff containing the last patch of green for miles, "the Professor and I drove through here on my way up to you. Didn't think I would be walking through it on my back way."
"Yeah," Louise admitted, her face flat and passive as she pondered the undertaking they were about to go through. "We can always hire a taxi."
"No," Henrietta insisted while shaking her head. "You two have been walking throughout Kalos this entire time. There's no need to take a shortcut on my account."
"…Of course. Thank you," Louise said, fighting back the urge to sigh. If she was being honest to herself, Louise was kind of hoping that Henrietta would accept the offer to take a cab. She was only in the Lumiose Badlands for a few hours, but that was more than enough time to realize just how hot and dry it was going to be. She was not looking forward to hiking through it, a trip that they estimated would take at least a few days assuming nothing went wrong.
But, before they could hike down the cliffside path and into the badlands, they had to get some last minute training in as per Saito's insistence. The way he put it, it was better to get the training done in a relatively comfortable environment close to Coumarine, then they could just focus on getting through the badlands as quickly and safely as possible. Plus, if for whatever reason something went wrong, the Pokémon Center would be nearby. Both Louise and Henrietta found his logic to be sound, so they agreed. That and it kept them out of the blistering, dry heat just a little bit longer, which was a plus.
Nodding to herself, Louise turned around to face Saito, who was already putting his Pokémon through some exercises and katas. Rocks and trees were being broken apart or chopped down with blades, punches, jets of water and more. Tengu was working on her agility and maneuverability by hopping from one tree branch to another, while Tanuki was improving his aura senses by doing the same thing with his eyes shut and covered by a thick cloth. Shogun was grinding rocks to dust in his jaws to increase his bite strength, and Ronin was running a powerful current of water through the rocks to a smooth, shiny sheen without completely eroding them away, thereby improve his control over water. Ōdachi, still too young to do any proper training, was attempting to get Maindo to play with her once again, and surprisingly to Louise the male Kirlia was showing a remarkable amount of restraint in that he was actually letting her catch up to him before teleporting away. Sometimes he'd reappear close to her, other times it would be further back.
"Is it just me, or does Maindo seem to treat Ōdachi different than the other Pokémon?" Henrietta pointed out, and Louise nodded.
"If you mean being less of an as—jerk? Then yes, I've noticed it as well," Louise bitterly admitted, mildly surprising the Princess at how her childhood friend nearly cursed right in front of her, then pulled out her Luxury Balls to release her own Pokémon. Henrietta quickly released Fleur and Mer to join them, creating a floating bubble of water for Mer to float around in.
Louise then turned towards her Pokémon and said, "Brennaraki, you're coming with me. I want to work with that wand of yours while Henrietta and I train our magic. Esprit, you're in charge of everyone's training."
"Mer, you're with me," Henrietta added. "Fleur, I trust you to get along with the others. We'll start practicing our performance routine later."
The Pokémon all nodded in agreement, with Guerrier pressing his fist against his chest in a salute, then Brennaraki walked away with the two mages towards an isolated spot away from the others. As she walked, Henrietta pulled the orb of water forward, extending it like a snake and allowing Mer to swim alongside her.
When they reached the spot where they would be practicing, Henrietta asked, "So, Louise, what are you going to work on? Besides helping Brennaraki master her new wand."
"Seed Bomb," Louise answered. "After watching Ramos use it against me and Saito, I figured I could copy it."
"Oh, that does sound doable!" Henrietta cheerfully replied, already envisioning the spell acting like a lobbed grenade. She then idly waved her wand around and added, "I think I managed to get Water Gun down, so I'm going to move onto Bubble after working with Mer for a bit. To be honest, before coming here, I never would've imagined blowing bubbles could be an effective attack."
"I know exactly what you mean," Louise replied, then giggled at the mental image. Henrietta couldn't help but join in.
Then, once the two calmed down, they turned to their Pokémon and began to work.
A lot had changed for Guerrier during the past month. For one, he had an unique name all to his own now, which was a concept he both understood but also didn't. In the pack, names were meaningless. He was a Bisharp, and everyone else was a Pawniard. There was no need to give everyone an individual name. If you couldn't make it clear who it was that you were talking to or about, that was your fault. But therein lied the other major change in his life. He was no longer the pack alpha. He wasn't even the beta, for that matter. No, instead he was simply the latest addition to a pack led by a human, with Pokémon several years his junior now his superior.
Despite the notable downgrade in his personal status, Guerrier was fine with it. If there was one thing all Bisharp knew, especially those who had the fortune of ruling a pack as its alpha, it was that their position could change at any time. They might get old and tired. Someone new could rise up and overthrow them. Another, stronger pack might absorb them. Guerrier had experience with all three. As far as he was concerned, his current position was only natural. Louise and her 'starter', Brennaraki, had proven their strength in honorable combat. Strength that was worthy of being followed. In time, he hoped that he could prove himself more worthy of a higher standing within the pack, or team as she called it, but that was for later.
Others, he knew, would've been offended by such a concept of being trained by a human. He had met plenty of Pokémon who wanted nothing to do with humans and their civilization, viewing them as strange and alien at best or outright hostility at worst. A few looked down on Pokémon who let themselves be captured and trained by humans, seeing them as traitors seeking shortcuts. Especially the ones who sought out humans for such opportunities. His former beta turned usurper was of such an mindset, going beyond disdain and into outright provocation if he had his way. The way he put it, humans took space and resources that could've gone to them, and even if they didn't have the strength to push them out completely they could carve a territory for themselves that humans wouldn't dare enter.
But Guerrier always made sure to put those notions down. It didn't matter if he and others thought that trained Pokémon had taken shortcuts to get their strength. As his battle against Louise and Brennaraki proved, a properly trained Pokémon was worth more than any of the wild Pokémon in his former pack. They might be able to push around rookie trainers with fresh teams, but against seasoned veterans? That was a completely different story. Moreover, if for whatever reason the pack did decide to purposefully go after humans and their Pokémon, it would only encourage retaliation. Maybe not immediately, but it would come. In his experience, humans tried to get along with the natural world, but if something came out of the natural world and tried to attack them for whatever reason, humans had a tendency to destroy that thing in a way that it could never hurt them again.
Guerrier, of course, knew this. He had seen far too many packs attempt to drive humans off, only to be cut down to size by human trainers sent to eliminate them. One of the reasons why his pack grew so large was because they had accepted former members of packs that dissolved after such raids. But his beta was a different story. He never accepted the truth, and now that he was in charge, Guerrier worried about the state of his old pack.
They were on a different path, now. One that he could no longer direct or control. He hoped that it would be a good one, for their sake. But that was a different life. Now he was a in a new pack, with new purpose and drive.
From what he understood, as strange as it was, his trainer and her female friend named Henrietta were not of this world. Instead, they hailed from another, one that had human civilization but one that was far less advanced than the one he was familiar with. Terms such as feudalism, monarchies, democracy and republics were thrown around, but Guerrier did not care for that. The most important fact was that this other world was called Terre by its people, and while its society was less advanced than that of Earth's, it had magic. Those who had magic ruled absolutely over those who did not.
Guerrier got the sense that Saito, the male trainer traveling with them, didn't agree with that notion, but Guerrier felt that only made logical sense. The strong deserved to rule the weak. It was the law of nature, after all.
In any case, it wasn't hard for Guerrier to believe that his trainer and her friend came from another world. The magic they openly wielded even now as Louise spoke explosions into existence with just a word and Henrietta did the same with water was more than enough proof. Plus the female Kirlia named Esprit and the Riolu named Tanuki were able to vouch for their honesty. More important than where they came from or why they were here is what they planned to do next. His trainer had settled on becoming the Kalos region's Pokémon League Champion, an admirable goal if he understood the objective correctly. He was never one to discourage proving one's strength and determination. Saito had chosen the same goal as well, with the two competing against each other in a friendly rivalry which Guerrier also encouraged. Louise hoped that, by becoming Champion, she would be able to go home, back to her old life.
That, Guerrier felt, was impossible. Even if she managed to get back home, or 'prove her worth' as she put it, the experiences she gained would mean that the life she would return to would inevitably be different than what she had before. That was simply a fact of life and she needed to understand that. But that was for his trainer to figure out. For him and the rest of her team, they needed to work on getting stronger and improving their skills. They were preparing to set off for the Kalos region's capital, where they would face their next Gym Leader in about a week's time, assuming all went to plan. That would be Guerrier's first and perhaps best chance to show everyone that he deserved to be on this team, and he intended to make the most of it.
That being said, despite knowing he was far from the position of pack alpha as one possibly could be, old habits die hard. As he slashed apart a growing number of logs and rocks with his blades, he observed what the others were doing. From what he could tell, Saito ran a tight ship in regards to how his Pokémon trained. They were given an appropriate amount of breaks as needed, but they weren't allowed to slack off in any way, shape or form. He approved. The same went for Louise's team, which was even more impressive because she wasn't directly overseeing them. Instead the responsibility of directing everyone's training fell to Esprit, and she was doing a remarkable job. The Kirlia could've been a bit more forceful in Guerrier's opinion, but he wasn't the one calling the shots.
The same could not be said for the other Kirlia in their group, the one known as Maindo. The others didn't talk about him all that much, other than he wasn't going to be their problem anymore once they got to Lumiose. He got the sense that he was going to be released back into the wild as part of some standing agreement with Saito. That was well and good and not his concern, especially since Maindo was part of Saito's team and not Louise's. But that release hadn't happened yet. He was still there, and all he had done thus far was train with the young Skarmory hatchling in training disguised as play. That had ended some time ago, and now Maindo was laying against a tree branch, juggling small rocks telepathically and appearing to be deep in thought.
In other words, he was slacking off, and Guerrier was having none of it.
Breaking apart one last log, Guerrier marched over to the tree Maindo was resting on and said, "That's enough slacking off."
Maindo continued to juggle and didn't look at him, but he did reply, "I'm not slacking off, old man. I'm thinking."
"Doesn't appear to be that from where I'm standing," Guerrier noted.
"Well then, change where you're standing," Maindo shot back. He then glanced down at the veteran Bisharp and pointedly asked, "And why do you care what I do? You know I'm gone in a week, right?"
"That is then. This is now," Guerrier pointed out. "For now, whether you like it or not, you are still part of this team, and you owe it to yourself to act as such."
Maindo paused his telepathic juggling and narrowed his eyes, then said, "No, I don't. In case you're not aware, old man, the idiot and I—"
"Saito, and he is your trainer. Or did he not capture you in a fair fight?"
"That is unimportant! What is important is that he and I came to an agreement. I may be registered to him for the moment, that is only until he gets me home in Lumiose. For all intents and purposes, I'm not his Pokémon anymore, and I don't have to train like the others do."
"And yet you were training with Ōdachi just minutes ago," Guerrier rebuffed, pointing towards the young Skarmory who was taking a nap. "And don't try to mince your words and say that you were only playing with her to stop her from pestering you about it. We both know what you were actually doing."
Maindo narrowed his eyes and repositioned himself to where he was now sitting upright on the tree branch, his legs dangling over the side. He then admitted, "Okay, fine. I think there's something wrong with Ōdachi's eyes and I've been testing it because everyone else is too blind and stupid to see the problem themselves. There, happy?"
"No, because you're still lying," Guerrier answered. Maindo was about to yell at the Bisharp, then he continued, "From what you said before, you try to make it clear that you don't care about your teammates, yet you've taken it upon yourself to do something as extensive as caring for the youngest member. When I led my pack, such a responsibility was held in the highest regard."
"So I care for the little runt, what's your point?"
"My point, Maindo, is that when you claim to not care about this team and those in it, you are lying. Not just to them, but to yourself," Guerrier claimed. "If you truly did not care, you wouldn't have done anything. At most, you would've raised your concerns then let others handle the responsibility. Instead, you've taken it upon yourself to thoroughly test and prove your concerns regarding Ōdachi's eyesight. Not only that, but from what the others have told me you still readily fight alongside your teammates in battle."
"Yeah, against criminals and psychopaths trying to kill us! I'd be stupid not to work with those idiots!"
"You're still working with them, and more than that you're still here, sharing their resources and living space. We both know that the only reason why Saito didn't release you before is because he was afraid you wouldn't survive the journey. Don't try to deny it. Well, you are much closer now, and you can Teleport. I'd wager that, so long as you pace yourself, you could teleport westward all the way to Lumiose in just a few hours from line of sight alone. But you haven't left yet. You're. Still. Here."
Maindo narrowed his eyes again, then claimed, "Sure, but why put in all that much work?"
"And there it is, the self-delusion," Guerrier declared as he pointed up at him. "You're trying to act aloof and claim that sloth is driving your actions. But I've seen your type before countless times over my life. I know the truth."
Maindo leaned forward, then growled, "And what might that be?"
"The truth is that you don't want to leave, and have been trying to convince yourself this entire time that you do," Guerrier declared. Maindo stared at him for a moment, then began to uproariously laugh.
"Hah-hah-hah! That's the stupidest thing I've ever heard! Hah-hah!" Maindo gasped through the laughter. "I don't know if your old age has made you senile, but trust me when I say that I want to get out of this circus and back to my real family. My dad, brothers and sisters are probably worried sick about me. Why do you think I tried so hard to get that idiot to release me?"
"I do not doubt your motivations, Maindo. Only your conviction. Again, I've seen Pokémon exactly like you, attitude and all, and almost every single one of them that managed to get what they thought they wanted ended up regretting it."
Maindo, still grinning, shook his head and laid back down across the tree branch, then remarked, "Well, I'm not like any Pokémon you've ever met before. So go back to your training, I'm done with this conversation."
As Maindo went back to telepathically juggling the small rocks, Guerrier narrowed his eyes. Without averting his gaze, he picked up a nearby log, hoisted it overhead, then hurled it as hard as he could right towards the Kirlia. Maindo realized what was going on right before the projectile could hit him, and he teleported out of harm's way.
"What the hell?!" Maindo shouted in anger and disbelief. "Are you demented, too?! You could've hit me!"
"Good, you dodged," Guerrier remarked, squaring up opposite Maindo who seethed and breathed heavily.
"You crazy old bat! When I told you to go back to your training I didn't mean hurl a log at my head!"
"No, you didn't."
"Then why the hell did you?!"
"Because you weren't training."
"…Didn't you hear a word of what I just said? I'm not a part of this team anymore!"
Guerrier slowly shook his head and chuckled, then remarked, "Oh, but you are. Whether you like it or not, so long as you are still with us and Saito hasn't formally released you, Maindo, you are still part of this team. I may not be the leader of this pack by any stretch of the imagination, but there is one thing I refuse to allow and that is someone slacking. Seeing as how everyone else is training in pairs, I figured I could kill two Fletchlings with one stone."
"…You're insane," Maindo muttered in disbelief as the veteran Bisharp squared up opposite him.
"No, I'm just not willing to tolerate your excuses," Guerrier correct. "Now then, I'll be sporting and let you make the first move. Go ahead and—"
Before Guerrier could finish his sentence, Maindo shot a Shadow Ball right into his face, putting everything he had into it. A cocky grin spread across his face, but it fell as the smoke dissipated around Guerrier's head, revealing that the Bisharp was completely unharmed. At first Maindo's mind raced to figure out why his attack did nothing, but then he remembered Bisharp's typing. They were a duel-Steel and Dark-type Pokémon, which made him completely immune to Psychic-type moves and resistant to Ghost, Fairy, and Dark. Most of his moves were of those types. In other words, Maindo suddenly found himself squaring off against a highly experienced Pokémon that he couldn't do much, if anything, against.
"Ah, crap," Maindo muttered, and Guerrier grinned.
"That's the spirit," Guerrier said as he slammed his gauntlets together, producing a loud clang and a shower of sparks.
"Should…should we do something?" Esprit asked as she and other Pokémon current taking a much deserved break asked as they watched a terrified Maindo run and teleport away from the ever pursuing Guerrier.
"You're taking more time between teleports," Guerrier pointed out as he rushed towards the male Kirlia, his arm encased in a purple sheen. "We need to work on that."
"STAY AWAY FROM ME, YOU PSYCHOPATH!" Maindo screamed as he tried to trip Guerrier up with Shadow Sneak, but the Bisharp was unphased.
"No," Guerrier simply replied, and swung his arm down right towards Maindo's head. The Kirlia was only barely able to teleport a short distance away, prompting Guerrier to immediately begin tracking him down.
"Nah, they're fine," Tanuki smugly answered through a cheeky grin, sipping some water conjured up by Ronin.
"Indeed," Ronin agreed. "I must say, seeing Maindo in this position is a welcome change of pace."
The other Pokémon nodded, with Ōdachi happily clapping her wings together and laughing hysterically. She cried out, "That looks like fun! I wanna play next!"
"No, Ōdachi. Not until your older," Ronin softly responded, and while the young Skarmory pouted, Shogun tilted his head to the side.
"Why not? She's old enough," Shogun pointed out, only for Aile to shake her head.
"That's your primal instincts talking, Shogun," she said.
A somewhat offended and confused Shogun looked up at her and asked, "What's wrong with following your instincts?"
"When it comes to letting an infant play with a strong Pokémon like him," Aile replied while pointing her wing towards Guerrier, who was still relentlessly chasing down Maindo, "following your instincts is a bad thing. Trust me, I know."
"I play with Mr. Maindo a lot, and he's strong!" Ōdachi cheerfully declared, not noticing the other Pokémon grimace.
"I still don't like you being near him. He's a bad influence, young one," Ronin reminded the youngest member of his team, causing Ōdachi to pout.
"He's not a bad influence! He's nice, and he plays with me!" Ōdachi petulantly rebuked the Dewott, causing him to sigh.
Ronin knew why Ōdachi felt this way, even if he didn't agree with it. Ōdachi was young and hadn't seen Maindo at his worst. At that age and innocence, Pokémon were liable to think the best of anyone. It certainly didn't help that Maindo had surprisingly displayed a remarkable amount of restraint towards her. Might've been because of those brothers and sisters Ronin overheard Maindo telling Guerrier about. Part of him wanted to try and clarify things with the young Skarmory, make her understand that just because Maindo was nice to her didn't mean he was a nice Pokémon. But the rest figured that it was a moot point anyway. Maindo was going to be gone in a week's time. After that, Arceus willing, they'd never see each other again.
That was when Saito walked up to them and called out, "Hey, Ōdachi. You and I are gonna get some training in."
"Yay! Coming, Saito!" Ōdachi replied, fluttering over to her trainer. Stopping beside him, she looked up at Saito with her big, beady eyes, causing him to chuckle and affectionately rub his hand through her feathers.
"Come on, this way," Saito said as he led his Pokémon into the nearby forest. As Ōdachi walked beside him, fluttering through the air every so often, he continued, "I saw some Butterfree while Louise, Henrietta and I were on our morning run. I figured we could find a Caterpie and have you battle it. Would be some good practice. Does that sound fun?"
"Yes! Yes it does!" Ōdachi replied. She knew that Saito could only hear chirps and squawks coming out of her beak, but given how he nodded affirmative she figured she was able to get her attention across regardless of the language barrier.
It didn't take long before they entered a small field of flowers. True to Saito's word, there were swarms of Butterfree flying among them, nuzzling their faces into the flowers to suck out the sweet nectar. Hanging on nearby trees were Metapods, most of which were completely still while others were shaking every so often. Ōdachi figured that meant they were close to evolving soon, or at least it made sense if that was the case. She'd have to ask Esprit later. She was smart like that.
"Ah, there's a Caterpie," Saito whispered as he hunched over, pointing his arm outward towards the flowers. "See him over there, girl?"
Ōdachi followed his arm, but found it difficult to see what he was looking at. After the while, the flowers and trees got all blurry. But, after straining her eyes and leaning forward, she was able to see a blurry, green blob slithering it way through the plants, nibbling on leaves as it went. It reminded her of Fleur, if Fleur was more bulbous than slim.
Realizing that must've been the Caterpie that Saito was talking about, she eagerly nodded and said, "Yes, I see him!"
"Good. Now then, let's go challenge him to a battle. You don't need to beat him, since this is your first battle, but it's just a Caterpie. You should be fine," Saito told her.
Ōdachi looked up at her trainer and nodded, then leaped and fluttered through the air towards her opponent, who finally came into focus.
Maindo was breathing heavily, his back pinned to a tree trunk. Sweat was running down his body, his hand firmly pressed against his chest as it heaved up and down with every breath. Meanwhile, his eyes moved in every direction, trying to find his pursuer. Normally, he'd simply reach out telepathically, but he had quickly learned that such a thing was impossible against a Dark-type. So far, he was having no such luck.
You would think that having a red and silver Pokémon would stand out like a sore thumb in the middle of a green forest, but you'd be wrong.
As Maindo tried to find Guerrier, he suddenly heard someone softly speak beneath him, "Hiding will get you nowhere."
"Ah, shi-!" Maindo started to say, only to be cut off as Guerrier's fist shot up through the branch he was standing on, grabbed his ankle, then dragged him down. He screamed as he was thrown from the tree onto the grassy floor, where he landed with a heap.
"…ow…." Maindo groaned as Guerrier jumped down and stand over him, and the veteran Pokémon grunted.
"That's enough for today. We'll rest, then pick up later," he said, walking away without bothering to help Maindo up.
"Grrgh…," Maindo growled as he rose to one knee. Still breathing heavily, he declared, "You're a sadist."
"No, I'm simply a teacher. You clearly needed a harsh lesson."
"And what 'lesson' was kicking my butt nine ways to Sunday supposed to teach me?!"
"You're limits, for one," Guerrier pointed out as he continued to walk. "For example, your stamina diminishes quickly when you teleport in rapid succession. From my perspective, it looked like you were having a migraine."
"Yeah, well you try keeping your head straight when you stretch your psychic powers to their limits! Oh wait, that's right, you have none since you're a Dark-type!"
"Which brings me to my second observation," Guerrier continued without missing a beat, pausing to allow Maindo to stand up and begin walking after him. "You, Maindo, rely too much on your extrasensory abilities, to the point where your other natural senses have diminished."
"Oh, please. Against any other Pokémon, I would've been able to pick you out easily. Not my fault you have a mental barrier. It's like trying to pinpoint a needle in a haystack."
"You still could've found me with your telepathy if you tried."
"Really, genius? Enlighten me."
"As you said, you can't detect Dark-types like myself. But you can sense everything else, correct?"
"Yes, that's what Psychic-types do."
"You, Maindo, spent so much time trying to find what was there that you didn't bother trying to find what wasn't."
"…Huh?"
"To simplify things, you could've searched for a hole in your senses to try and find me. But because you didn't put in the effort to learn how, you were completely blind to my movements."
Maindo had a biting remark on the tip of his tongue, but he stopped himself. Guerrier's words echoed in his mind, and to his dismay, he found that they were absolutely correct. In fact, the idea was genius, and he hated the fact that he hadn't thought it himself. Even more than Guerrier was the one who did. All he could do was growl in response, which made Guerrier smugly smirk.
Together they walked back to the campsite in silence, neither party willing to say anything. It wasn't long before they returned to the group. The mages were still practicing their magic off in the corner, with Henrietta happily blowing bubbles in every direction while Louise struggled to create an explosion without setting it off, which was causing her no end of trouble. Normally, Maindo would've laughed at her expense, but now he wasn't in the mood so he ignored her.
That being said, he quickly noticed that the group was down by two, and he asked, "Hey, where's the idiot and Ōdachi?"
"Oh, they went off to train. Saito found some Caterpie and was going to have Ōdachi battle one," Esprit answered, causing Maindo's eyes to widen in alarm.
"He did WHAT?!" Maindo shouted, much to everyone's surprise. Before they could respond, he reached out with his mind to mind the two wayward members of their party, then tried to teleport. He only got a few feet for his efforts, so he growled and began to run as fast as he could.
"Start off with Peck!" Saito ordered.
Ōdachi, eager to please, flew down towards her opponent, her beak reared back and ready to strike. The Caterpie turned towards her, his eyes widening in surprise. But Ōdachi was too close and he was too slow to react, so all he could do was flinch. Then, to everyone's shock, Ōdachi struck the dirt, leaving the Caterpie unharmed.
A somewhat embarrassed Ōdachi shook her head and turned towards the Caterpie, only to receive a String Shot right into her face. As she stumbled backward, trying to wipe the silk off with her wing, the Caterpie began scurrying away as fast as he could.
"He's getting away!" Saito called out as Ōdachi finished clearing her eyes of silk. She blinked a few times as she tried to find her opponent while Saito yelled, "Distract him with Sand Attack!"
After a few moments, Ōdachi was able to find the blurry green blob that she knew was the Caterpie. Running in its direction, she kicked the dirt as hard as she could as soon as the blurriness went away. While the sand was able to strike the Caterpie in the eyes and make him stop in his tracks, most of the attack went wide and high.
"Good job, girl! Follow up with Peck!" Saito ordered.
Grinning eagerly, Ōdachi ran towards the Caterpie, striking his side like a spear with her beak. Her attack wasn't very strong compared to her teammates, but the Caterpie was sent onto the dirt regardless. She prepared to strike again, but the Caterpie had already begun to slither away. He became blurry in her eyes, causing her next attack to miss and allowing the diminutive Bug-type to hit her again with a String Shot that pinned her wings to her sides.
"Aah!" Ōdachi yelped as she fell to the ground.
Tilting her head up, she saw the Caterpie glare at her, then turned around in order to tackle her. She struggled, trying to break free of the silk while she saw Saito reach for her Pokéball. But before the Caterpie could attack her, a Shadow Ball suddenly emerged from the tree line, exploding in the dirt right beside the startled Bug-type Pokémon.
'Go! Get out of her, you stupid insect!' Maindo telepathically screamed as he ran between Ōdachi and the Caterpie.
Scared out of his mind, the Caterpie hastily turned around and scurried off, disappearing into the field of flowers. Maindo watched him go, then turned around as Saito ran up to Ōdachi and began pulling the strands of silk off of her body.
"Ōdachi, are you okay?" Saito gently asked as he finished cleaning her off. He gave her a look over, then smiled and said, "I'm not seeing any injuries, just some dirt on your feathers."
Ōdachi was unable to meet Saito's gaze and whimpered, hanging her head, prompting Saito to hastily add, "No, no, don't worry! You're fine, Ōdachi. This was your first battle. You'll do better next time."
Before Ōdachi could say anything, Maindo clenched his fist and repeated, 'Next time?'
Only then did Saito turn his head to look at Maindo, and his eyes widened when he saw just how enraged the Kirlia was. Maindo stomped forward, then yelled, 'Are you DAFT?! You just saw what happened and you want to try again?!"
"It was her first battle, Maindo. You don't need to be so harsh," Saito angrily pointed out.
'I'm not being harsh to her, I'm being harsh to you!' Maindo shouted, thrusting his finger into Saito's chest. 'I know this was her first battle. I don't expect anyone's first battle to go well. But that wasn't a battle. She never got a hit in, despite her opponent being a slow-as-snails Caterpie who often wasn't even moving when she tried to attack him.'
Saito wanted to retort, but stopped. Truth be told, he had noticed that Ōdachi's accuracy had been abysmal. None of her attacks landed even when they should've. Taking his silence as a response, Maindo stood up straight.
'I told you! I told you she couldn't see, and look what you've done!' Maindo declared. 'She's BLIND!'
[~][~]
Hello, everyone! Here is the latest chapter of Outsiders! Special thanks to Darwin Candidate and Yuri Vampire for their help in bringing this chapter to life.
We got to see a lot more about what makes Guerrier tick, and as many of you theorized him and Maindo's interactions make up a key part of it. The others may have learned to just tolerate/ignore Maindo, but Guerrier is not like other Pokemon. He ain't got time for his BS, in other worlds. More importantly, we got confirmation that, as Maindo feared, Odachi is blind, or at the very least has her vision significantly impaired. You can expect next chapter to follow up on that.
To answer your guys' questions:
No, there will not be a rescue party mission situation here in Outsiders akin to what I'm doing in Familiar Evil. The whole class attempting to bring Louise back was this story's equivalent.
Both Guerrier and Odachi are integral to Maindo's character arc in different ways.
I do have plans for Tiffania, but she won't be appearing until the story fully shifts back to Halkegenia.
Sadly, we do not have plans to include Tinkaton in our characters' parties. Remember, we planned to give Louise a Bisharp years ago, well before Scarlet and Violet came out. The fact that Bisharp got renewed focus because of those games was just a happy coincidence. Does that mean we won't have a Tinkaton encounter? No, that's just too much fun to ignore as a Character of the Day.
That's it for this time! Let us know what you all think! If any of you have a TV Tropes account, I would appreciate any assistance in updating the TV Tropes page. We hope you enjoy!
