Day 72:
Vermillion was a port city, with several ships moored by the pier. The city was abuzz with activity even late in the evening, trainers entering and leaving all around us. Some going the way we were coming, others entering similar to us.
Yeller and I had been training heavily along the way, and as a result, the system now recognised Yeller as level 14.
[Yeller
Rattata* (Level 14)
Hp: 34/34
Atk: 26
Def: 17
Sp. Atk: 11
Sp. Def: 17
Spd: 28
Status Points (2)
Skills:
-Empty-
Moves:
Tackle
Tail Whip
Quick Attack
Focus Energy
Bite
Pursuit]
The progress was slow, but satisfying. The numbers would increase slightly each time, and Yeller's strengths were only growing. The same could be said for my own.
[Cyan Hughs
Status:
HP: 34/34
Atk: 17
Sp. Atk: 1
Def: 21
Sp. Def: 10
Spd: 20
Stat Points (0)
Skills:
Eye to Eye
Regression System
Pokemon Status Lv 2
Bonds System
S.T.A.B.
Noctowl Vision (Lv 2)
Type Proficiency 43% {Tap to Expand} ]
By exercising regularly, I had eventually earned a single point of HP. It wasn't much, but every little bit helped. Type proficiency was also doing better.
[Normal Proficiency: 343% {VIEW REWARDS}
Fighting Proficiency: 0%
Flying Proficiency: 5%
Poison Proficiency: 0%
Ground Proficiency: 0%
Rock Proficiency: 0%
Bug Proficiency: 0%
Ghost Proficiency: 0%
Steel Proficiency: 0%
Fire Proficiency: 0%
Water Proficiency: 3%
Grass Proficiency: 111% {VIEW REWARDS}
Electric Proficiency: 5%
Psychic Proficiency: 0%
Ice Proficiency: 0%
Dragon Proficiency: 0%
Dark Proficiency: 311% {VIEW REWARDS}
Fairy Proficiency: 0%]
I still definitely wanted to earn more proficiencies of different kinds. Despite Yeller and I engaging in plenty of battles, the rate at which the percentages were increasing was getting notably slower. It could easily be weeks before we hit 400% Normal Proficiency, and I suspected it could be months before the same could be said for Dark.
Unfortunately, Yeller was unlikely to learn any moves of another type any time soon. Unless I could figure out more ways to earn proficiency outside of battle, it wasn't worth thinking about too deeply.
"Well… Here we are."
Blue gestured to the Pokemon centre offhandedly as we walked towards the desk. Although in many ways it looked just like every other centre, there were a few details that stood apart. A stripe of yellow in the carpet that let to the desk, the thunder-bolt earrings of the receptionist, and… The statue.
By the entrance, there was a bronze statue of a muscular man standing proudly atop a rock, the chisel work implied a torn shirt, with a hint of abs poking beneath the destroyed section. He held a flag up in the air with his right arm, the visage of a familiar mouse-like Pokemon sitting on his left shoulder-A Pikachu, with it's roundish shape and zig-zag tail prominently displayed.
"Oh not again-Girl, please get off the statue!" An exasperated noise called out, as Chee rapidly scampered up to the shoulder the Pikachu statue adorned, eyes glittering with excitement.
A member of staff tried fruitlessly to get the young girl off the statue, pulling at her waist with little success.
"Is that…?"
Before I could even truly ask my question, Blue winced and answered me.
"Yeah. That's Lt. Surge. He's a bit of a hero around her apparently."
I wandered over to the statue, ignoring the strained grunts of the embarrassed staff trying to pry Chee off of the shoulder. There was a plaque at the base of the statue.
["Never again will oppressors set foot on Vermilion Soil! Be it land or sea, anybody that wishes to control the people of this city will have to go over my dead body! I will protect them all!"
Surge the Hero,
Declaring Freedom for Vermillion City from the oppressing army. His victory speech will be immortalised here.]
I see. He appears to be something of a war hero, then. I hadn't heard of him in my last life-Although I had a vague feeling something very large had happened in Vermillion City in my last life… What was it again?
I turned my attention to the pair of young aids, trying in vain to pull Chee's arms away from the statue she admired.
"Chee, be careful, you might break it."
The black-haired girl's silver eyes widened, and she immediately relinquished her grip, knocking over the men trying to pull her off. She slipped from their grasp and gracefully landed on her feet as they fell to the ground with a grunt.
"…So, can we go sign in?"
Blue's gaze was averted, and his grumbling was a little quieter than usual.
"Yeah, sure."
Following Blue, we signed in and all went to our own rooms within the building to sleep-Though Chee insisted on being in the room next to mine.
…
Day 73:
I checked the number a few times, then knocked on the door to room 205-The Room Blue was supposed to be staying in. Even though it was almost the middle of the day, he hadn't come to get us. When we asked the nurse, she let us know he hadn't even left the room.
"Blue? You in there?"
There was no response, and I turned to look at the black-haired girl by my side with a frown of confusion. She tilted her head at me in turn.
Maybe he's sleeping in?
"Maybe, just seems a little unusual for him…"
Chee and I shared a concerned look for a moment, then the door opened a crack. A brown-haired face poked out, silver eyes seeming slightly more dull than usual. But he did not speak, and a moment later the door slammed shut again.
Chee and I shared another glance, but then I shrugged.
"If he wants to be left alone, so be it I suppose."
He must've had a rough night. Her eyes twinkled back at me.
Seeing as there was little else to be done, we left Blue to his own devices and left to explore the town on our own.
The sun reflecting over the open ocean in the middle of the day was a wondrous sight to behold, many of the ships I had seen last night coming and going from their docks. This location had been an important one to defend in the previous wars, since it was a prime target for any naval armies to take a foothold on our region.
Given that, the fact that I had no memory of Lt. Surge nor was there anything written about him in my notes… Well, it concerned me. Perhaps it was just chance that I'd never heard about him, or perhaps I simply never paid attention, but still…
Chee licked happily away at the chocolate ice-cream I'd bought for her, and I tucked away my wallet in one of the pockets of my shorts, tapping it to make sure it was safe.
I shook the thoughts of my past life from my head and refocussed instead on the salty air and scenic attractions. On the streets there were several promoters catching tourists and other trainers to advertise their stores or services.
"Ever wanted a luxury Cruise? Try out a weekend on the S.S. Anne. We have an onboard swimming pool, meals cooked by a 4-star chef…"
"Vermillion Butterfree Threads has the best swimwear any self-respecting…"
"…Group deal on our expeditions into Diglet cave! Save 40% on trips with more than six…"
Most of it was meaningless, and many of the promoters didn't even approach us due to our age, but I still habitually kept tabs on the various different conversations as they came into earshot.
"Thief!"
I spun immediately as I heard the cry, just barely catching sight of a hooded figure almost the same height as myself skating past me with unusual speed.
Although the dark-hooded figure had started at a clear run, each twist of their feet now seemed to glide straight across the ground like the legs of a sneasel skating across an ice lake.
I tapped my shorts pocket. My wallet was gone.
"Yeller! Quick Attack!" Chee and I charged after the figure immediately, bursting into a sprint myself. The yellow rattata leapt from my shoulder, white energy trailing behind him as he quickly overtook me in speed and followed the figure down the main road.
Their black cloak fluttered in the draft of their own momentum, and I could barely keep pace despite my relative level of athleticism.
"Who dares steal in my territory!?"
Up ahead a burst of blue lightning shot through the air and spiked the ground in front of the thief, who ducked to the side as the pavement shattered, barely missing the blow. This gave me exactly the opening I needed.
"Focus-3!"
Yeller fell back and landed in my grasp, focussing and drawing blue energy around himself. I shifted him into one hand, then swung with all my might and hurled the Rattata towards my target.
"Quick Tackle!"
A flash of white shot from Yeller and he burst off a wall directly towards our thief. But the figure ducked suddenly and evaded the attack with a tilted pirouette, sliding across the ground as if without friction. The spin's momentum caused their cloak to flutter in front of their face, which would obscure their face within moments. The manoeuvre meant it would be practically impossible to identify their facial features from this distance.
Like I'll let you get away with that. Noctowl Vision!
My vision zoomed in like a magnifying lens, my eyes immediately flaring with pain as I focussed my gaze on the sliver beyond the hood that was still technically visible from where I stood. My pupils flared with sudden pain as I magnified far further than I had before.
In the half second before the tail of their cloak covered their face, I caught a glimpse of the criminal's face. A lock of red hair hovered just within view, alongside a pair of eyes, pupils in two colours. The outer edge glowed a soft silver, but the body of the pupils were glowing a frosty teal that almost seemed to glitter like ice.
The eyes were ornate, like an ice crystal formed with such natural beauty that it was almost a shame the sun would come to melt it. Our eyes locked in that instant, our gazes holding firm.
And the cloak covered the face before I could log any more information about them.
A large man leapt from atop the buildings and landed in front of the thief just as Chee caught up with yeller. The man had spiked yellow hair and appeared to be in his late 20s, with a bulky muscular body and an orange mouse-like Pokemon with jagged black ears resting upon his shoulder.
"Rai, Shockwave!"
The orange pokemon lifted it's long wire-like tail and a few blue sparks shot from it's cheeks, forming a trio of blue spheres that seemed to almost pulsate with power. It squeezed it's paws together and the balls condensed, then fired beams of blue electricity at the smoothly evading figure, who drew an object from cloak and bit into it suddenly. They leapt over a blast, spinning sideways through the air before throwing their object into the ground.
The object burst into smoke, obscuring the entire street in an instant. As I kept my gaze locked on the last position I'd sighted the cloaked figure, I barely caught sight of my wallet whizzing past my head, and I instinctively spun and stretched myself to catch it with the tips of my fingers.
I felt a small relief, then realised that simple action had cost me my orientation in the smog.
"Damn…"
There was a flicker, then a pillar of twisted yellow illuminated the fog, followed mere moments after by an enormous crack and a blast of wind that dismissed the smoke entirely, making the city visible yet again.
I reeled from the flash, my eyes taking a moment to adjust to regular light levels after the power, and once they did I noticed two things.
The first was the hooded figure had vanished entirely. The second was a very confused looking Miltank.
"Moo?"
Built like a huge pink ball of fat with udders, Miltanks were large and sturdy, and they were a very dangerous Pokemon outside of their natural habitats. They had a bad habit of going into a rolling tackle when frightened, and their momentum would accumulate with every few feet they travelled, making them more dangerous the longer they'd been rolling.
And I recognised the look in that Miltank's eyes. I'd seen it far too many times in my last life. A partner Pokemon who had been suddenly summoned, away from it's partner, it would be confused and frightened… And just like Chee's Bulbasaur when I tried to use it in Mt. Moon, it would lash out at everyone nearby.
That damn thief left us a bomb!
I recoiled immediately, tucking my wallet back into my pocket. "Yeller! To me! Chee, get behind me!"
The black-haired girl looked confused but trotted back towards me, as my faithful Rattata leapt to my arms. The Miltank snorted a puff of white steam, then curled into a ball with rage in it's eyes. It started to spin on the spot, crushing rocks beneath it's weight and barreling towards us.
"Bite Shield!"
I doubted it would be enough to stop the creature, but I didn't have time to make a different choice. The ball of death charged towards us-
"Rai! Focus Mace!"
With a thunderous crunch, the muscular blonde man landed in front of me, just to my left. In his hand he held the bolt-like end of his Raichu's tail, and the creature stiffened with a grin, holding it's right hand on an angle to the side as it began to glow blue. The man spun his partner by their tail, then he spun a full 180 degrees away from me and slammed the mouse Pokemon directly into the approaching Miltank with incredible centrifugal force.
Pokemon and trainer struck in unison, the blow landed with a resounding crash, and the rolling Pokemon was flipped backwards and onto it's back unconscious with a single blow.
"Like I'd let anyone hurt kids in MY city!" The man bellowed, draping his dizzy giggling partner over his shoulder softly. He turned and flashed us both a smile, his pearly white teeth almost seeming to shimmer in the sunlight. That was when I realised.
It was Lt. Surge.
And he fights just like me.
Kept you waiting huh.
I have been waiting to get to Vermillion City for ages, I have a lot of exciting ideas I want to hit upon here. No spoilers yet, and I'm still trying to pick up the pace a bit, don't worry.
You may have noticed that after a nice long period of frequent updates, I became very sluggish to release updates for months. Well, that was because I got a job during that time! And I found it quite difficult to balance doing that work as well as writing this, so where I'd previously been writing all the time I was suddenly struggling to find the energy.
Which is pathetic. I'm not saying this as an excuse, I like writing this story and I want to write it more, so I was also frustrated with my own pace.
Well, that's been the case for a while, but just recently, I fractured my foot.
Suddenly I can't do much but sit around and write again. It took me a little to get back into the swing of it, but while I don't want to make any promises, I suddenly feel like I'm writing like mad again!
We'll see how many chapters that translates to~
~J3