A/N: If you want to know what the 'more realistic' Pokémon in Truth and Lies look like, a good place to start would be Joshua Dunlop's art. You can find it at "joshuadunlop (d0t) art stat ion (d0t) c0m." ... Ffnet is getting more annoying with their filters. He's done most of the first 151, and a couple extras (Espeon and Umbreon come to mind), plus his art is amazing in general. Worth a look.
Finally, if you like this story or any of my other stories, please consider supporting me on Pa Tree On. You can find it by going to www. Pa tree / KajaWilder (you must have NSFW filter turned off to find my page). I can only continue my current (or faster) pace of updates if I can pay my bills. I'm not there yet, but I'm definitely getting closer. If you think about how much enjoyment you get out of a movie- about two hours worth of fun- for $10-20- you are getting far greater value by supporting a writer like myself. If even one in twenty people that read this supported me on Pa Tree On at any level, I would be able to easily continue focusing on writing more... and you could read more. I'm going to keep writing anyway. But the pace would be and will be a lot faster if you can spare a few dollars monthly. My lowest tier isn't even a small drink at a theater, any more. Is it worth it? Is it worth it to you? If so, then please support me.
Of course, you can ALSO find more of the same stories there. I post everything on this site at least a week after it's posted on , so if you want more and don't want to wait, well... there you go.
That's enough out of me, though. Enjoy!
EDIT: I apologize, I uploaded the unedited chapter by mistake a bit ago. This one should be cleaner. And thanks to P:TaL's new Beta Editor (honestly I forgot which of the two just put up the bit that reminded me... I can edit again if you want credit, my friend!).
Chapter 7: New Players
Alex thought it would take him forever to fall asleep like that, half-reclined on a rocky floor with a beautiful example of humanity shivering next to him, but he could remember only two or three minutes before he was startled awake by Elle shifting, driving a hand into his solar-plexus. "Sorry," she whispered, "I gotta pee, and my arm was caught. You okay?"
"Fine," he wheezed, and was grateful that she hurried from the area behind the blankets to relieve herself, the sound hidden by the steady hiss of heavy rain, but without much in the way of thunder any longer. It gave him time to catch his breath again, she'd landed pretty hard right on his chest.
The tents rustled, "Fucking weird sticking my pussy out there for everyone to see and peeing off the side, but... it worked."
"Anyone see it?" he mumbled as she lifted the blankets and stepped in again, her socks now wet and a bit cold. "Sorry... filter not on. Not all the way awake."
"I don't think anyone did," she chuckled, sitting down to pull off her socks and unroll them, tossing both near the fire. The second draped over Cock's right ear, and it twitched it a few times until it fell off the spiny protrusion. "Why? Do you want a turn? There's still a little fire going."
"Filter back on... jerk."
Beside him, Elle leaned in again, but she didn't rest her head on his shoulder. Instead, he felt her lips moving against his hair, then tickling his ear in the darkness as she whispered, "If I was a jerk, I wouldn't do this..."
He couldn't see what she was doing, but he felt the sleeping bag lift again as her body rose and moved over, crab-like, to settle between his own legs, and heard the girl sigh as her rump shifted back against his groin with a little wiggle. Then she reached around and picked up both of his thicker arms at the wrist, and pulled them to the side, then leaned back into his chest, before folding both of their upper limbs around her chest.
She sighed, snuggling against him, and twisted her head to give a soft kiss to his jawline. "See? I'm nice, letting you cuddle with a hot girl like me."
"You just want me for my body... heat," he muttered.
"Fuck yeah, I do," she giggled right back, "your body's hot too. In more ways than one."
Fuck, he thought to himself, This isn't good... I mean, it's great, but not good at all. If she keeps wiggling, even laughing, I'm gonna get a hard-on. It's all I can do to-"
"Mm... maybe it's not nice enough. How's... this?"
Her arm on his left tightened again, and she raised it higher on her body, loosely settling his hand over her small, firm right breast. "I- It's nice," he murmured, and tried- not very hard- to pull it away.
"Feel it," Elle urged, pushing his hand into herself harder, "I'm being nice."
"You're being naughty."
She kissed his jawbone again, "Nice and naughty aren't mutually exclusive unless your name is Santa Claus."
"Funny..." But the temptation was too much. No girl should look this good and be witty too. Shit... Slowly, he let his thumb, then pinky, drift out, the former gliding in a concave path along the upper side of her tit, the latter in a sharper convex one downward, just an inch and a half, maybe even less, before it met her ribs. He could feel her heart thudding beneath his wrist, felt it speed up even as her nipple puckered beneath his palm.
And of course, his erection appeared almost instantly as his mind kicked into overdrive, imagining the color of her skin, a bit paler where it got less sun, and the perfect curvature of her perky, young breast beneath his hand as he started mapping it almost casually.
Elle kept his hand there with her left arm while she leaned forward a bit, then pushed her other between them, and he gasped as it went beneath his shorts, feeling out and wrapping thin, cool fingers around his dick. She didn't pump, though. Instead, Elle merely pulled it upright, then guided it into position as she leaned back again, pressing it between them. "That's nice..."
He could feel the top of her ass pressing against both sides of him, and it was driving Alex wild with desire, not to mention his hand on her chest, his other holding her tightly against him at the waist, aching to slip down between her own legs, to...
What? She's fifteen, Alex! She's a kid!
But another voice, equally his own, answered that one at once: She's old enough to reason for herself, to go through the work to get herself selected. She knows what she's doing. She wants you to do...
… What?
It was a question he didn't have an answer for.
So he did what any reasonable adult male would. "What do you want, Elle?"
"Hmm?"
Her voice was sleepy, but he knew she wasn't sleeping, for her fingers traced over the back of his hand while he worked her gently, and every so often her hips shifted against his thighs and dick. "What... do you want from me? From... this? Us? What do you want me to... do?"
She was quiet for a bit, and he thought she might've fallen asleep, but after a while she murmured softly, "Just this... for now. I'm not planning to own you, Alex. I won't be owned by you, or anyone. But you're a nice guy, and pretty hot, and smart, and I like having you around. I don't see why it should be more complicated than that."
"So... if I hiked you up and pushed your pyjamas down...?"
"I'd let you," she murmured, "And enjoy myself as much as I could. I bet it'd be great. But it's not what I want. Not yet."
He groaned, "You're gonna kill me..."
"Maybe the 'little death'," she whispered, sounding amused, "but I'm tired. I just want to feel good while I go back to sleep. Don't worry about getting me off or anything... just this is fine."
"Right..."
"Oh... and Alex?"
"Yeah?"
"Thanks. For this, for helping me up, for setting things up... everything."
His hand fell still. "So... this is a pity thing? You're feeling bad?"
"No," she laughed, fingers pushing his, to urge him to move again, "You got laid yesterday, remember? Or last night? I didn't, if you recall. I'm just tired, and you feel and smell good, that's all. If you want to stop you can, but I figured... why not let you have some fun while you put me to sleep?"
For that, he didn't have an answer, so he kept exploring her chest gently, eventually moving over to the other side, feeling beneath and around the edges, and then worked on both for a few minutes more as her arms relaxed and fell limp, releasing him at last.
That, though, was all he did that night, no matter how much his dick and aching, purple balls hated him for it the next day.
"Miss Adisa... Chuke? Did I say that right?"
"It's like Chew-kay, without the double-you sound," the tall, dark-skinned woman said, flashing bright white teeth as she stood up from the six dozen or so applicants for Wave Two of the Beta Test.
"If you'll follow me, your interview will be with Mrs. Maline Greengrass."
"Of course, lead the way."
Adisa followed the shorter, asian man dressed in a crisp suit of his own- every single employee of Game Freak was well dressed, at least everyone she'd seen in her two hours in the large waiting room, down to the wait-staff or caterers that had brought them lunch and carafes of water at the edge of the massive chamber.
She followed the man out of the room as many had before, and turned right along a marble-floored hall on the second floor of the corporate office, then stepped into an elevator. "So... any tips for me? Do you know Mrs. Greengrass?"
"I don't personally," the messenger said, shooting an apologetic smile up at her, and seeming to relax a little from his overly-professional posture. "I mean, I've seen her around, you're the fourteenth person I've taken to her office today alone, but I've never really had any social conversation. The big-wigs like to keep to themselves, behind closed doors and all that. We just do what we're told, like everyone else."
"Seems like the same way everywhere, no?"
He smiled, the older man's teeth a little more coffee-yellow than hers, but still clean, "Wouldn't you know it. Sorry I can't give you more advice. It's not hard, though, most people Mrs. Greegrass talks to seem to be accepted into the program."
"Good, that's a good sign. Not that I think I'm under-qualified."
"Of course not," he laughed, "Hey, so... I hope you don't think this is a bit too forward, but... are you from Safrikaans City?"
"No," Adisa laughed, "But I can see why you'd assume that. My parents were, I was born here in Pacific, in Francisco District."
"Ah, my apologies. Forget about it, I just had a friend there from my childhood I hadn't heard from in a few years, thought I'd ask."
"In a city of two billion, the odds aren't good, but you may as well. My parents told me many stories of growing up there."
He smiled, "Her name was Indra Balukkō. I'm sure I'm pronouncing it badly."
Adisa actually missed a step, but catching up was only a matter of one or two faster strides, "Indra is my mother's name, and her birth family's name was Balukkō, before she got married to my father."
The man, too, paused mid-step, but she waited for him as he caught up, wide-eyed, "Truth? You don't try to lie?"
His diction suffered enough in his excitement that Adisa was sure he wasn't born in Pacific, either, but she was well used to the differences in speech patterns between her own native city and that of her parents. "I can tell her you mentioned her if you would like. What is your name?"
"Ah," the short asian said with a laugh, unable to believe his luck, "I am Kawasaki Niwa. Please, if you would do that for me, I would be forever in your debt. And, if you are hired, you can use the company servers to message me, yes?"
"I will do it," Adisa said with a grin, feeling very light-hearted. It's good to help people. And what a small world!
The elevator dinged, and she stepped into the woman's office a few seconds later, still beaming and feeling like all was right with the world.
That lasted about two seconds.
"I'm sorry," the tall, dark-haired, bespectacled woman said furiously from the other side of a massive, dark wood desk, glaring down into a holo-screen that showed the reverse side of a balding caucasian man's head, "you were hired to do a job, so do that job! I don't care about your opinions, Samson. I have work to do, sorting out your mess. Send Jones in here to do this interview."
She cut the conversation before the older man could form a rebuttal, and the screen winked out before the other woman took a long, slow breath, then looked up at Adisa with a tight smile, "I'm sorry you had to hear that, but we've had a- a supply issue crop up and it looks like I'm going to need to do a bit more shouting to get the way cleared. You're Adisa Chuke, right?"
The taller woman smiled a bit nervously, "I am, Mrs... Greengrass?"
"That's me," the other said, smiling a bit more naturally now, though she still bore signs of stress and strain all over her body language and expression. "I'm sorry, I do need to go. Please, help yourself to refreshments from the cabinet there. Robert Jones is a good man, my boss actually, even if it seems like I do more ordering around than he does. Anyway, just... relax, make yourself at home. He should be in here fairly quick, he's not doing interviews today. I'll try and get back before your own interview is done so I can accompany you on your little tour."
Adisa smiled, "That should be fine, Mrs. Greengrass. Good luck with your issue."
"I don't need luck," she half-growled, though she gave Adisa a wink along with a fierce grin while stepping around the desk and past her, "I need competent help. But... you know what? Stick around after Jones gets done with you, tell him I said to wait if he protests. I need another word, if you don't mind."
"Not at all."
Then she was gone in a whirl of smoldering eyes and swishing, tight skirt accompanied by the clack clack of low, comfortable heels on gray marble floors, leaving the taller woman to look around the sumptuous, but understated office.
There were many books, actual books, along with an entire shelf covered in data-pads, along one wall, while a larger holo-screen sat against the opposite one, with a few objects in display cases either on the shelves or free-standing in the corners.
One, in particular, caught her eye, and she stepped toward it, mesmerized by the blue, short tentacles, wide aquan eyes, and spiked spiral shell.
The door opened, and she jumped, "Ah, Mrs... Chuka, is it? You've found Mrs. Greengrass' Omanyte. Her Omanyte replica. Yes... so, I'm sorry, I haven't introduced myself. I'm Robert Jones, the President of Research and Development here at Game Freak."
She gave the older, salt-and-pepper gray man a good look. He was handsome, brown skin and deep but not quite as dark as hers, and the whitening of his hair made him look even more distinguished in a gentlemanly sort of way, but it was his demeanor that both worried her and put Adisa at ease. He was powerfully built, though it seemed much of that had gone to seed in his age, but he also had either a glass- or a lazy-eye, and the overall sense she got from him was an air of confusion. "It's Miss Chuke," she corrected softly, offering a hand for him to shake, which he did quickly with both hands covering hers.
"My apologies, Miss," he said with a chuckle, releasing her quickly to step around the desk himself and take a seat, "Now, what was her password... it'd take forever to find my own copy of your file... Oh, she has it on this pad. That'll work."
She waited patiently while he skimmed through her own application, resume, and whatever biographical information- likely a lifetime of it, given her birth and residence in the same Mega-City- that Game Freak had farmed from all the other social media platforms and spyware that permeated society. All in all, it took a surprisingly short amount of time. Jones muttered to himself rapidly under his breath, seeming to utter just one or two key phrases out of each paragraph, or things that stood out to him in lists of bullet points, before he shut it down and folded his hands on the desk.
"So, you wish to join Wave Two of the Open Beta for Truth and Lies."
Adisa nodded, "Yes, sir."
"Hm. Why should we pick you?"
Her answer was quick and decisive, and more than a little practiced, "I grew up playing the Pokémon games. I love them, the entire franchise, and even watched some of the earlier generations' cartoons when I was a child, left by my grandfather. I know a great deal about the world and Pokémon in general, and would be well-suited for spotting any errors or continuity mistakes."
Adisa was proud of her reply.
Jones seemed less so, for he frowned and sighed. "There are, in this building right now, no fewer than seven thousand people who fit that description, from applicants like yourself, to playtesters we've already hired, to employees of the company that have been here for their entire lives, like myself. What makes you special? Or to rephrase, what makes you special?"
She didn't have an answer for that, it was completely off-script. This was supposed to be an easy interview for a position she was almost assured for, not... not the third-degree from a scatterbrained old man who took orders from his own underlings. "I..."
Jones sighed, and picked up a stylus to twirl it between his fingers while he leaned back in Greengrass' comfortable chair. "Let me be frank with you, Miss Chuke. We're in need, and you will almost certainly get a position based on your qualifications, especially similar work you've done in the past- your time developing the SoNinten system in particular was of note to us. But what sets you apart from everyone else?"
"W- Well, I do know the system very well," Adisa said quietly, much less assured than she'd felt after meeting Mr. Kawasaki, "But, um... I mean, I don't really have much more to say. I expected..."
"You expected it would be easy? That you would be able to get into our game and take the technical data back to your original employer?"
Adisa blinked, "What? No... I left SoNinten four years ago, I don't want to go back."
Jones' eyes narrowed. "Then what are you here for, Miss Chuke? You would be taking a significant pay cut in testing this game as opposed to being a technical engineer and researcher."
"Maybe that's true," she said firmly, "but money isn't really an issue for me. My parents are fine, I have no siblings to care for, they have work of their own. I have no- no companion, no children. There is no reason for me not to. I don't need the money. I want the job."
"And that's what I wanted to hear," Jones said gently, "so- you're hired. When would you like to start?"
Adisa looked confused, she knew she did. "Er... I'm a bit confused. I thought...?"
Jones waved her off with a broad smile, "It's an act, Miss Chuke. I'm not a moron. It's disarming- psychology. Something I'm good at. My Master's degree, actually. So- when would you like to start?"
"I... suppose sooner rather than later."
"Excellent. You arrived by auto?"
She nodded.
"Excellent," he repeated, "We'll have it driven back if you'd like to start today, along with any message for neighbors, et cetera. You can begin within the hour after your health screen."
"Health...?"
"Of course," he smiled, standing up and gesturing for her to do the same before walking around the desk, "Don't want previously unknown issues cropping up while our testers and players are 'out of body', so to speak, do we? It's nothing intrusive, of course, just a quick scan with a BioMad Lab. Takes..."
"Thirty seconds," she smiled, "I'm familiar. Last I heard, SoNinten was working on implementing the hardware into their own system so it would scan daily in-home."
Jones nodded, grinning, "Our current systems can't do that, but I also heard that- we expect to have them next year. Still, for the time being, I assume it's no problem? If you have a need, of course, you're welcome to return later."
"No, it's fine," Adisa said, but glanced down at her own suit-coat and skirt, "but I haven't got anything more comfortable to wear."
"That," Jones said with another smile, "Is no concern at all, we can find you something, I'm sure. Anyway, if you'd like, we can-"
The door opened, and a still very angry-looking woman stormed in. She immediately walked up to Jones and poked a finger in his chest hard enough to push him back, "Your fault! It's your fault half the playtesters aren't even accessing the core system! How are we supposed to get the testing done at half speed in time? Huh?"
"My fault...?"
Maline scowled, "Yes, your fault! Apparently, you've been telling people 'just go at your own pace'! People are taking their time, getting to know the system, not just jumping in with anyone and everything they can! How're we supposed to meet the deadline, Robert?"
He blinked, "Uh..."
"Just... just go, boss," Maline sighed, pointing over her shoulder, "I've done what I can to clean up the mess. We'll probably have to expand the Core pool to six hundred to make it in time, though, and even then our data might not be as reliable."
"Sorry," Robert said meekly, making his way out the door. As he went, though, he caught Adisa's eye and gave her a subtle wink and a smile, then mouthed, "Psychology."
"Is... there anything I can help with?" she asked.
Maline shook her head, "No, and again, I'm sorry to hear that. Actually... yes, there is, but not in the way you might expect. Have you heard any rumors about the project? Anything about the Core project in particular?"
The black woman shook her head, "Not that I know of, aside from the briefs I received from the company. People are pretty tight-lipped around here."
"Good," Maline scowled, though she seemed pleased to hear it anyway, "So it's like this. It's an open game. The AI is the most advanced in the world, better than any military hyper-computer, anything. It's decades ahead of everything else, thanks to some of our more genius employees. It can handle anything. You have an idea, the game is programmed to handle it. Even if it's caught by surprise, it will adapt and learn on the fly, making the best judgment it can and going from there. It's truly polymorphic, and honestly, the most stable AI I've ever seen. It seems to have no issues at all."
"Which means it's good at hiding them," Adisa pointed out. It was a well-known axiom among developers of either hardware or software that focused on Artificial Intelligence.
"Or," Maline raised a finger, "It actually is stable. Not my point, though. See, anything you can think of to do in the real world, the game can handle."
"Anything... like build a nuclear weapon?"
It was a bit extreme, so Adisa was shocked when Maline nodded, "Day seven of our first Alpha group when that happened. Didn't do much- the Pokémon higher-ups figured it out and stopped the damage before it got too far. A thousand megaton warhead blown up in Olivine City, and it only killed sixteen NPCs. Took a little while to reset, but not too bad. The tech, as you know, in the Pokémon World is more advanced than ours- in theory. Wasn't hard for the man to make it, and yes it was under instructions from higher up the food chain than me. Jones, in fact.
"But there's more to it. The NPCs seem real. The Pokémon seem real. The world seems real, thanks to the power of the system and the money we've put into programming the algorithms that built it. And thank whatever computer gods there are that we figured out it was easier to let the systems build their own worlds than do it pixel by pixel before we had Holos."
Adisa chuckled along with what was probably her new boss. Not just because it seemed like the thing to do, but because she'd heard horror stories of those days before the revolution in programming that led to humanity's first AI computers that were self-aware, even if most had become psychotic wrecks within a few weeks.
They'd come a long way since then, but hearing about a system this big that seemed perfectly stable was impressive, to say the least.
And I get to play in it!
Maline shook her head, "Of course, that means other things. Humanity, as always, is the problem. You can do anything. And not everything everyone does is nice."
Adisa felt her breath catching in her throat before her conscious mind realized what Maline had said. "You mean..."
The shorter woman nodded, "In theory. The hope is that the culture of the world- in general more kind, caring, compassionate, and group-oriented in general- will rub off on people, and we'll have fewer criminals, or at least criminal acts, in that world. But yes, there is a police force in-game, adjudicated by the AI, with similar laws to the real world a hundred years earlier."
"So, right at the advent of the Mega-Cities?"
"A bit earlier than that, but yes. Of course, we can always 'pull the plug' so to speak, but we have no way of watching everything that would go on outside of the Core group, which is still mostly AI-monitored by an independent copy of the system. Buying two of those ServeFrames was expensive, I'll tell you, but worth every chit."
"Still," Adisa said quietly, "That means you'd have muggings, assaults, murders, rapes..."
"Not yet, and we hope not ever," Maline assured her, "but yes, that is a possibility. Anything that could happen here could happen there, but, there are a few key elements to take note of. The first is that the AI controls the Pokémon, all of them. So, while a Trainer- a Player- can influence a Pokémon, 'turn them bad' over time, most Pokémon, the vast majority, want to get along with humans, and the human NPCs want to get along with humans and Pokémon too. So we're hoping the 'bad actors' will be crushed early on and people will learn their lessons. That's element one.
"The second is this: Pokémon are dangerous weapons in a way- and everyone will have one. Of course, not all NPCs have Pokémon, just the vast majority with at least something basic, but there are enough out there that they outnumber the potential human population fifty to one at max capacity of the server. And if there's one thing we learned the hard way from the more conservative days of yore, it's that the best match for a weapon is a weapon."
"If everyone has a flamethrower," Adisa nodded solemnly, "it makes it a bit scary for anyone to do anything too bad."
"Exactly our reasoning," Maline said quietly, "Element three is this: it's real enough. Yes, a Pokémon could be used to murder- and a player's avatar can do the same things with their hands. And yes, absolutely, you should be forcibly ejected from the game if your avatar 'dies', and we could reset it to an earlier time. But... that sort of thing tends to be pretty traumatizing, and we aren't sure people will want to log back in after a horrible death in-game that they have experienced first-hand. It's why people stopped buying war-games and shooters in any large degree after Augmented- and Virtual-Reality games became more popular."
Adisa nodded, she remembered that from her own youth, just fifteen years ago was the last time her own brother had played Call of War 23, and he still had flashbacks to battles that had never happened.
"Which brings me to element four... it's not all bad."
"Come again? That all sounds pretty bad."
"Oh, it is, and I'm not trying to minimize the pain. I died myself in early testing, got run over by a Tauros, and it was the most painful thing I'd ever had happen to me before I was logged out. I wouldn't recommend it. But there's more. Along with the bad, is the good. It looks and feels real... and because the people do, so do the relationships. So does the... tactile element."
"So you can feel things? I already knew that, I worked at SoNinten when they were developing the system hardware."
"I remember from your file," Mrs. Greengrass nodded, seeming much more relaxed, and she turned to gesture for Adisa to follow while she made her way back to the door, "Come on, let's start your tour. Before we get off the Executive Halls, though, let me get to my point on element four- opposite pain and suffering is joy and pleasure. And that, this game offers in abundance."
"Pleasure, huh...?"
Maline shot Adisa a side-glance, "So... I caught your interest, huh?"
The taller woman gave an almost embarrassed grin.
Two hours later, Adisa stumbled just briefly as she appeared on a mountain path, one inhabited only by her, with a seemingly gentle slope that switch-backed frequently downward toward a city surrounded by dense forests a mile or two away. Ahead of her, just past the apparent dead-end behind, was a sign. Viridian City: 1.3 Miles.
"Greetings, Adisa, and welcome to the world of Pokémon. It is a world much like your own, but inhabited by strange and fascinating beings you might not be familiar with in your native world. I am known as Professor Yggdrassil, though most simply refer to me as Professor. I am considered, in this day and age, the foremost expert on all things Pokémon, and it behooves me, as a world-spanning AI, to assist newcomers to our world in their orientation and their journeys. Tell me, Adisa... are you satisfied with the way you appear?"
She looked down at herself, clad not in the business suit she'd worn until recently in the real world but red running shorts, a white tank-top that contrasted beautifully with her skin, and deep crimson and black running shoes. Her long hair was still in traditional braids, which were now collected in a ponytail behind her head. "Yes, I'm quite satisfied."
"Very well, appearance confirmed. Age: Twenty-one, Human Female, 78% sub-Saharan African, 9% Middle-Eastern, 6% Sino-Mongolian, 7% trace lineage. Nature: Brave. Your starting Pokémon will be selected randomly from a pool generated by your nature, beginning with the first one-hundred and fifty Pokémon. Currently, Pokémon from generations one and two exist within the world. More will be discovered at a later time."
"Sounds good," Adisa grinned.
"The Brave Nature lends itself to Fire, Electric, Dragon, Fighting, and Dark Types."
"Okay, so how does that happen? I mean, why does the Brave Nature, I suppose I have, leave me with those options?"
The AI responded at once, just as she'd expected from her conversation with Maline Greengrass, "The Brave Nature implies a generally bold approach to life and combat, favoring decisive action and a quick reduction in an opponent's strength and ability to fight back, if not an equally quick defeat. It generally favors more offensive-style Pokémon, and are often straightforward in battle, leading with powerful attacks and holding nothing back."
She laughed, "That does sound like me, I suppose. I do love my Sweepers. Okay, then."
"From those Types: Fire, Electric, Dragon, Fighting, and Dark, choose one to eliminate from contention as your starter, which will also remove Pokémon that gain that type by Evolution."
"So... this is picking what I don't have?"
"That is correct."
"Ah... well, I suppose I'll knock out the Dark Type. I do like it, but it seems a bit too on-the-nose given my skin color."
"I see what you mean," the AI seemed to say with an amused tone itself, "which leaves us with Fire, Electric, Dragon, and Fighting from the first one hundred and fifty Pokémon. Chosen at random, your new Starter will be..."
Her eyes lit up as a beam of light descended from the sky almost like a blast from an orbital laser, but it didn't do any damage. Instead, in its place, was a shadow of a creature, just visible in the noon sun. She had to squint to make it out as the light faded, revealing a squat humanoid shape. As her eyes cleared, she could make out had a trio of bony ridges that moved across its head from the front to the back, human-like hands and rather short feet, and an almost reptilian, squat face with barely any nose, deep ruby red eyes, a wide, more frog-like mouth, and a short tail visible behind it.
"Machop," Yggdrassil commented, "Number sixty-six in the Pokédex, it is known as the Superpower Pokémon. It is said to train by lifting Graveler, and can throw a hundred adult humans before becoming the slightest bit fatigued. This Pokémon is male, and knows the moves Leer and Low Kick."
"Thank you, Yggdrassil," Adisa said with a soft smile, putting her hands on her knees to look at the child-sized creature that peered up at her.
"Hello, little guy. You and I are going to get along great, I can tell. First, though, let me see your stats..."
Having been given a better brief that she'd actually listened to for once, Adisa had no issues opening up her menu and turning on the scanner.
"Male, preference for females, will not mate with males. So no Yaoi Fangirling, but that's okay with me. 99% bond with me already? That's impressive. Prowess: 10, and it knows the Prowess Move: Pound. That's not very subtle, Game Freak. Still... maybe one of these days I'll give it a go. Maline did sort of say she wanted me to, and it's intriguing as an idea at least. High attack, high speed, moderate HP, low Special and Special Defense. I'll have to work on those, but you do look like you're just my style. Let's get on the move... Machop. No nickname for now."
"Chop!"
It followed her down the path at a brisk pace, Viridian City waiting for her to pick up her Pokégear and 'Dex, and the rest of her waiting items and budget. There was a whole world to explore out there, and she loved it. Everything from the fresh air, untainted by hundreds of years of careless pollution, and clean roads, trees... even the distant buildings looked clean!
A/N: A final note before you click away.
I am now opening COMISSIONS.
I will write anything LEGAL (as in, not violating age legalities) that is within a fandom I know anything about, if your idea sparks even a little interest for these amounts (via or Venmo).
I will not be comfortable writing abuse toward or from the central characters, or 'grooming'.
You can also get One-Shots (or a series of them) by becoming an $8 Patron. That's far cheaper overall, but the length of the work will be decided by me in that case (based on your idea and how many words it takes to get it 'done' to a publishable place).
And if you've ever been interested in creating an OC, or even an SI, and putting it into the FwB verse (or others) to have some fun with the characters, well... I also do that for the higher two tiers of Patrons. In case that's added incentive. ;)
All amounts should be in U.S. currency (as that is where I am located and pay my taxes).
5000~ words (/- 500) = $15.00
6000-12000 words (/- 1000) = $25.00
13000-20000 words (/- 2500) = $35.00
22000-50000~ = $50.00
Longer on request, but expect $75.00-$100.00.
Contacting me via PM is probably the fastest way without joining my Pat]r[ }e{on (which also allows access to my semi-exclusive Discord).