Disclaimer: Pokemon is owned by the Nintendo, Hakunon/Fate is owned by the all-powerful Mushroom(Nasu), and all that stuff.
She discovered telling time in the forest was slightly more difficult than she thought, more so when her Portable Terminal was downloading something and refused to go past a downloading screen.
She wasn't too concerned about it as it was just receiving some sort of information… she had no clue what it could be or where it could be coming from. Still, she couldn't do anything about it until- well, she couldn't do anything, unless they had a way of digitizing someone into it.
But she wouldn't do something so reckless. And she… liked being human.
"Tinkatink." Hakuno glanced down at Nomia who was pointing at a particularly strange-looking tree. "Tinka?"
Hakuno frowned, her eyes looking up and down the strange plant-like tree, she couldn't pinpoint exactly what was strange about it, other than it looking slightly more plant-like than a typical tree.
"Is it an Apricorn? No… not a Berry tree either." Hakuno frowned as she took out Maizie's notes, it had a small section of the trees of Ilex in it… and they didn't match any of them. Not even the strange Rock-Type that pretended to be a tree. "Maybe we should leave it alone?" For all they knew it was a tree that would explode when touched.
Nomia looked back at the tree, her hammer still pointing at it before the little gnome shrugged, slinging her hammer onto her shoulder, and continued to march alongside her.
She glanced up at Boss, for a young(?) girl she was taking the uneven terrain better than she was! And she grew up on the streets! From what Boss told her, she grew up in a school.
Whatever that was.
It sounded offly building-like.
And from the video showing off 'Nero', a legendary that she knew nothing of other than being her 'Servant', the school looked like it was a building of sorts.
She huffed as another trickle of Fairy Energy came from the palms of her hands, she was practicing while walking, something she had gotten used to a long time ago. But, it wasn't working out as well as she had hoped, it did flow easier when she listened to Boss's ideas.
But, it still felt like it slipped out of her grasp, she could guide it but couldn't force it like the Steel could be. Steel liked to be precise, accurate, and stiff. It liked being structured, and… the Energy she was born with was floaty at best.
She had snuck a look and tried to figure out how to work Hakuno's machine but couldn't make heads or tails of it so she just pressed a random few buttons that appeared on the screen in annoyance before it went black.
She really hoped she didn't break it, but Boss didn't look worried about it.
She dug her hammer into the ground and sent the dirt and a trickle of Fairy Wind at a Caterpie that was approaching them. She huffed watching it scoot itself into the nearby bushes, if all she was going to do was be bored and scare off a few small Bugs then this trip would just be boring.
Although she couldn't wait to see that Silver Rock Island. She had a really good feeling about it!
They didn't have much of a problem the first day, a few small Caterpies got close and were scared away, but it felt new to be without human contact, while she enjoyed the time she spent with those in Azalea, she did want to see the world... And she did enjoy how quiet things were in the forest, the background noise of Pokemon in the distance was calming.
Setting up camp was novel, and it was easy to decide the watching order, Hakuno waking up early meant an earlier breakfast for the little troublemaker who was wrapped up in Hakuno's scarf.
The only slightly unnerving event that happened in the early morning hours was a small Budew glaring at them, and hissing at her when she motioned it to join them and their dimming fire.
The attacks did pick up on the second day.
"Nomia! Claw!" Hakuno chucked the little Tinkatink as her hammer's twisted edges glinted silver and slammed into another of those dastardly trees. The Flytrap's mouth was slammed closed and its mouth oozed purple liquid.
"Carnivine!" The other one shouts as the first one coughs up purple sludge that rots the grass and flowers while it kneels momentarily as its other friend sends out a vine that wraps around her leg causing her to fall to the floor. Nomia quickly totters to it and smashes the tendril into a paste. Hakuno grimaced as she wretched the remaining vine fragment off her leg.
Hakuno frowned as the two Pokemon glanced at each other before slinking off, deep into the woods. Their leader was already long hidden after Nomia managed to send a gust of Fairy Wind down its gullet.
That was the second time those three particular Carnivines had assaulted them, they only seemed to want to attack them once a day, and while they weren't strong they were smart and stealthy. She had full assurance that a one-on-one Nomia would win hands down but they never bothered to fight them like that, always when one of them wasn't paying attention they would set up a trap.
Hakuno sighed, at least they only had to spend another night in this forest they should exit Ilex at… noonish? It was hard to tell without direct sunlight, but she was fairly confident she was making decent time. Her PT still wasn't available, downloading whatever it was, although the progress bar was almost full.
"Tinkatink." Hakuno glanced down at her Starter, the little Gnome was slightly panting as she pointed with her hammer.
"Oh?" Hakuno squinted her eyes as she finally noticed someone approaching. The man was slightly portly, he was wearing a teal suit while also dragging a small baton with him and had a dull look in his eye. He was wearing the most garish top hat she had ever seen, it vaguely looked like something Maizie had tried and failed to get her to wear.
"Oh?" His eyes focused on her. She didn't know why but she took a step back, maybe it was the strange look in his eyes or the fact that the man who appeared so desperate now had a glimmer of hope in his eyes. "Well! Hello there! Are you a Trainer from Azalea Town?"
Hakuno gave him a nod, motioning for Nomia to be prepared, she has seen mostly good things from the people of this world but… It was better to be safe.
"Ah, that's wonderful, just wonderful, The name is Melvin, just a traveler from Kanto. I'm a bit lost, I was told that Azalea Town was a straight shot through these woods but… I've been stuck here for a few days." He didn't even look afraid which… was strange, "Do you have any food I can have? And some directions?"
She set up camp early, she should still be roughly on time, and the older man was seemingly genuinely lost and thankful for her assistance. He didn't even have a pack, and when she was wondering if the man was going to sleep on the ground all three of his Exeggutor's heads flashed different colors as they formed a hammock for him.
She made sure to keep a suitable distance from him, as he still unnerved her maybe it was because she hadn't seen another Trainer traversing through and was uneasy because of that. Or was it due to the fact he had a Psychic type? The Pokemon in a way scared her, they would be able to figure out anything they wanted if the Pokemon pushed hard enough…
Although his Exeggutor didn't seem malicious, it was most definitely the loudest Pokemon she had come across, each head was talking over itself but Melvin seemed to fully understand it. Or perhaps he was linked to it via telepathy, she had no real idea.
"Bahh! So goooood!" Hakuno grimaced as the man easily ate twice the amount of food she had, it was a simple stew, with the Oran and Leppa Berries she had found on the way. Hakuno had diced some of it to Nomia's food and the little Tinkatink was glaring daggers at the Exeggutor. "Well, that was delicious! Have you ever thought of opening a stall in these woods? I can see an easy money opportunity here!"
Hakuno shook her head, "No, I'm just passing through, trying to reach Palmpona I have a ferry to catch to meet with someone." It wasn't a lie, she did have a ferry but no single person was waiting for her to her knowledge.
His face dropped, "Ah darn, I just left there the Pokemon Swap Meet is in full swing for the next few weeks and too many people kept begging to trade for Exe," A rock smacked him in the face and he was fully unphased, "You know I would never trade you!" He rubbed his face against the Palm Tree-like Pokemon.
She gave him a stilted nod as he kept devouring the food she intended to last a few weeks, and motioned for Nomia to join her a bit of distance further, "Alright, Nomia let's get some practice in before it gets too dark." Nomia nodded, jumping off her little rock stool and swinging her hammer, a small tuff of wind blew in the direction she was pointing.
She kept focusing forcing the wind to get tighter and tighter, and with a stilted breath a faint sil-
The wind dissipated into nothingness. Again and again, the little Fae tried, but all attempts to combine the two moves had failed. The little Fae was panting at the end and clicked her tongue.
At least the winds were coming out harsher and thinner compared to when they first met.
"Tinka…" She had wanted to combine the idea they had to emulate Trés Fontaine Tempestes and bolster her attack with Metal Claw but maybe they should wait until she had a stronger grasp on the initial technique she hadn't even been able to conjure yet…
"Maybe we should shelve this until later…" Nomia slowly nodded, glaring a hole in her hammer before huffing at it. Hakuno could tell she was disappointed and knew what to do next. "Here you go." She handed the Tinkatink a few hammerheads and a piton letting her get to work.
Steel and Fairy energy coalesced and only did when she was making a new hammer she couldn't mix the two at any other point and neither of them could figure out why.
"Oh? So this little thing is a Fairy-Steel type?" She didn't even hear his approach, his dull smile on his face gave her the creeps. "Trying your hand at handling multiple types at the same time already? Kids these days are ambitious."
Hakuno gave him a half-hearted shrug, "Nomia is a hard worker, once we have more practice she can do it." Eventually, maybe after Evolution? Maybe it was because Nomia believed that her current Hammers were disposable and not the core she would use for her evolved forms.
"Sure sure, I believe ya kid, so… anything exciting happening down in Azalea?" Hakuno tilted her head, slightly confused before shrugging, "Nothing at all?" He was getting slightly too close, and Nomia's hammering stopped.
"Nothing I know of… There are a lot of Slowpoke?" She stepped back slightly, "School ended?" That's really all she knew of, other than her appearance due to Celebi aiding her escape.
But, while she was naive in things, she wasn't an idiot.
He blinked, then for a split second his smile was a frown before changing back, "Alright! Well, Hopefully, the Mayor and Gym Leader won't mind me setting up for my act!" Hakuno tilted her head, taking a moment to look at the man closer.
"You're a… clown right?"
He slumped, "No… a Magician…"
Ah.
"Sorry."
He grumbled, before walking over to his hammock while his Exeggutor laughed at him. Or at least she thought it was laughing, honestly, the multiple heads were all facing different things so she couldn't be too sure. But it certainly sounded like laughter.
"Tinka?"
Hakuno gave Nomia a shrug, who nodded in response and returned to hammering and trying to create a new hammer.
Hakuno sighed as she made a larger breakfast than normal, Melvin was practically salivating at the smell of Fish. She had no clue how he survived this long without eating, so she decided to pay it forward a bit and gave him some of the granola packs that Maizie made her.
Nomia looked heartbroken when she gave his Exeggutor a slightly larger Apricorn smoothie, she didn't know what flavor it enjoyed so she made sure to give it a more neutral taste at the cost of one of Nomia's Yellow Apricorns. She didn't have any extra glasses but the Exeggutor's eyes flashed and three stone bowls emerged from the ground.
"Ah, thank you so much for the food! I'm sorry that I don't have anything to give you, but if we are ever in the same town I will surely give you a free pass to my shows… as long as you bring a few friends of course!" Hakuno gave a stilted nod, she doubted she would ever see him again, and she didn't… well have any friends that didn't live in Azalea town.
But she was mildly interested to see if this world had 'Magic'. Perhaps she will ask Maizie to film it? She couldn't sense anything strange about him at the moment, so she had a growing feeling he wasn't using real magic.
He flashed a strange smile, and twirled his Wand in a way so that she could faintly smell a sort of chemical on it, "Well this is goodbye! When I get to Azalea Town I'll use your name to promote ok!?" Hakuno blinked as the man speed-walked down the path.
That… was the weirdest interaction she has had with someone in this world.
Hakuno sighed, realizing the mess the man had left her to clean up after him. She hated the concept of cleaning, but… leaving a mess would be foolish in these woods.
A nearby bush rustled, "Pi?" Hakuno turned her head, and a small yellow mouse emerged it had adorable spiked twitching ears. "Pichu!" It sniffed the Apriblender as she was making Nomia's smoothie.
"Want some?" Hakuno ignored Nomia's grumble as the little Pichu nodded rapidly. She heard a faint chirping as she poured a small amount of Nomia's smoothie into one of the Execuggtor's bowls.
The little Pichu sniffed it and gave it a small lick. Its face scrunched before spitting it out and dashing back into the undergrowth.
Hakuno sighed while Nomia laughed.
She froze when she heard an electrical beep.
She glanced at her tent and heard another beep.
Strange.
She tilted her head, and opening the tent found her Portable Terminal flashing a bright green…
"Hey! Listen!"
She stared as the Terminal shook and a hologram of a small Green Fairy appeared above it. It had an overly large head, its small wings fluttered behind it and its hands ended in thee nub-like fingers.
It reminded her of something she saw recently… oh, the picture of Celebi in the Johtonian Legends book…
Oh.
"Your darn machine was such a pain! I thought the big thing was annoying this one was worse! It made me fill out forms! While it was a novel experience I do not want to fill out more!"
Hakuno blinked, and she could hear Nomia's hammer fall to the floor.
"Can you hear me? Uhhhhh, this thing is working, right? I didn't forget one of the stupid forms right?!" The Little Green Fairy looked around, "I can't see anything! I better not have wasted all that energy for nothing!"
"Victor Hakuno Kishinami, Pseudo-Divinity Celebi requested a connection and was granted it. The connection was granted due to a lack of malice and known Entity's favor to Victor. If you wish to block incoming transmissions of this quality please assign an AI Personality that would include a Blocking Feature."
"Shut up you stupid machine! I wanna talk to my tiny child! And I'm a Mythical not some sort of divine! I am not one of those boring Legendaries! I like to have fun!"
Huh… guess this is a now problem and not something she could put off any longer.
Author's note: Well! Mostly out of Ilex and nothing strange happening! Nope, nothing at all. I am unsure how to take on Route exploration, I think with some of these routes possibly taking days to complete, I won't go into the description of everyday travel if all the day is training and walking. Cause, sometimes that's just how it is, some days are repetitive unless something happens.
Well, other than Hakuno being jumped by a trio of Carnivines, cause I found out they could be found in Ilex and I think they are neat. Not neat enough for Hakuno to catch one though. I do indeed have the next two Pokemon planned out, although the last three are completely in the air… I might do a poll to see what people would like? Would have to be after her third Pokemon to not spoil the surprise though.
Anyways! See ya next time!