AN: We're back! As for Tenno's new size: I was surprised to learn Fletchinder stands 70cm (little more than 2ft) tall which is about the same size as a male bald eagle (females are larger, almost a full meter). That should give him a wingspan of 2m or more (6ft-ish) and that blew my mind xD anyway I take the Pokédex entries as the average height/weight for the Pokémon and like with all creatures this can vary. You should consider Yun's Aron on the small side, but not abnormally so.
Also thanks to everyone who reviewed! I love that you're all so positive and I never thought anybody but myself would enjoy this little story xD I'm psyched about it and super motivated to keep writing. Also a big thanks to anyone who followed/favorite-ed.
With a new shiny badge in her case and enough prize money to make her giddy, she left Oreburg the very next day. But not before properly saying goodbye to Chihiro. After her match against Roark she had treated her ranger friend to celebratory diner and they spend the entire evening analyzing the battle.
It didn't feel like it was enough to fully repay the older girl for all her help but Chihiro had assured her, after they exchanged numbers, that a few more badges would do the trick. Yun decided to take that serious and would let the girl know whenever she managed to win another one. She also hadn't neglected to call her parent, whom were very excited for her and to celebrate purchased her brand new guarded gloves after seeing in what state the remaining one was. They would be waiting for her in the Pokémart of Eterna city.
All in all, her admittedly wobbly victory finally managed to chase away the last remnants of her earlier misadventure and she felt excited for her journey all over again. She decided to rent a bike so she could use the cycling road to Eterna and learned that Reign really loved riding along. He would extend his claws to try and catch the wind while his tail was fully unfurled and happily trailing behind him. Perhaps it felt a little bit like flying to him but whatever the reason, it looked cute enough that Yun considered buying a bike if she ever managed to win enough money. It also pushed her to cycle as fast as she could, which left her quite winded after little less than an hour.
"O-okay, I... need a break." She breathlessly told her starter, who's claws had immediately drooped after they stopped.
After she offered him her arm to climb on, she gave him an amused apology. "Sorry buddy, your trainer is not very athletically gifted."
Setting up her bike against the side of the road she plopped down next to it and took out her water bottle.
There were some other cyclists resting along the side of the road, a bit further down some of them were even battling. That didn't scare Yun as much anymore. Even if they lost, it was unlikely that anyone within the same badge-grade as her would face her with the type of overwhelming power than that dark Pokémon had possessed. As long as Tenno didn't go around challenging highly experienced trainers again, they should be fine.
Tenno- she frowned when her bird crossed her mind. She hadn't been able to interact with him since the battle with Roark. After he was healed, she had released him but he had been fast asleep, still recovering from his unexpected evolution. At that moment Roark had come to hand her the finished badge and she had taken the opportunity to express her worry. He had assured her that it was normal and he would need some time to recover from such a huge exertion.
Yun fiddled with his minimized Pokéball, wondering whether she should try again or leave him to his rest. Putting his ball back on her belt, she opted to wait until lunch time and hoped he would be awake enough to eat. Then she satisfied her curiosity by reading his new Pokédex entry.
He had lost the normal type and it was replaced by fire type, which in hindsight explained a lot, and gained a new ability called flame body. Apparently during a fight Fletchinder could raise it's body temperature so high, it would physically hurt his opponent if they managed to touch him. Considering Tenno's still non existent defenses, Yun found this a least a little helpful on that department. Though ideally, with his speed, other's should not be able to touch him at all.
Taking another sip of her bottle she turned her thought to her newest team member, whom she had introduced briefly to Reign when she fed had them before. Unlike with Tenno there had been no reaction towards the Aron, at all. Reign had poked the steel type's armor experimentally, the Aron had blinked at him and then they had simply eaten alongside each other like they had done so a hundred times before.
Yun wasn't sure what to make of that and still hadn't decided on a name.
"Kotetsu? No, too masculine." Not to mention lacking in creativity. How many steel types had been named that?
Mentally she was running through the list of names she had initially made for her starter but found none of them fit. As her only female Pokémon, she wanted something appropriate that wouldn't cause confusion yet she kept thinking of her fearsome final evolution. You couldn't exactly call an Aggron twinkle...
"How about Victoria?" She said it slowly and deliberately and it still sounded terrible. It was the name of Cynthia's Milotic which had been her dream Pokémon, rare as they were, ever since she could remember. "Ugh, what's the point of giving her a name I can't even pronounce."
Reign just gave her a puzzled look, the importance of naming their new teammate completely lost on him.
"Silver?" She kind of liked silver but found it lacking... something she couldn't put her finger on. Personality perhaps?
"Pfff, never mind. I'm sure something will come up eventually." Promptly she stood up and brushed imaginary dirt of her pants. "Let's go Reign."
In his enthusiasm to get back on the road he jumped from her arm onto the bicycle and gave her an impatient look.
"Alright, alright." She laughed while swinging her leg over the bike. This time she kept a more moderate pace to spare herself and Reign didn't seem to mind at all. It made all the difference and this time she cycled for nearly two hours before getting hungry.
She set out three bowls before taking out her own prepacked lunch. First she released her unnamed Aron, who looked around noticed her food and dug in without fanfare, then she hesitated with Tenno, almost nervous to release him.
Shaking her head at her own hesitance she clicked the button and he appeared before her. Awake but with bleary eyes.
"Tenno?" She asked.
He chirped a subdued response in recognition.
"We won that badge by the way. You did great."
The now large bird simply shook his wings a couple of time, seemingly examining them, before taking a few careful steps forward. Disappointed by his lack of response she plopped down to the ground with a frown and started eating her lunch. Evolution could change Pokémon, occasionally even leading to a completely different personality. She knew that but Yun hoped he was simply still tired.
Then Tenno seemed to notice his own food and attacked it with a vigor that startled Yun and his new teammate, who carefully edged away from her own bowl.
Abandoning her food she started rummaging in her bag for the pellets she had bought.
"It's okay Tenno, you can have as much as you want."
She had brought more than enough, for Eterna was only a single day trip if you used the cycling road. However she would need to revalue how much her team ate before setting out on a longer trip. Now she had only been able to guess at what the Aron and evolved bird would consume.
Tenno chirped happily when she refilled his bowl and he seemed to be regaining some energy after his third portion then became decidedly drowsy after his fourth. Her newest addition ate slower but still ate through thee full portions, which was impressive for her size, leaving only a measly bottom of pellets in the previously full bag.
Suddenly it dawned on her why usually only the most advanced of trainers kept a full team of six. "We're going to have to win a lot of battles, guys..."
"Skorupi!"
Only Reign offered her an enthusiastic response, Tenno pushed his head back into his feathers to sleep and the Aron simply stared blankly at her.
"Okay..."
She withdrew Tenno with a sigh and considered her passive new member with a critical eye. The sun was shining, hitting the reflective armor of the small steel type and making her glint brightly enough so it was almost painful to look at her.
"Silver?" She tried again. By now she was anticipating the lack of response from the Aron, yet she was still lightly disappointing to be right.
Yun reasoned she should spend more time with her, get to know her properly, perhaps even battle with her and then a name should come naturally. But, she glanced at her bicycle, even if she could somehow lift her on to the carrier, there was no way she would get very far lugging the heavy steel type around. She dismissed the idea, after all, she had planned on making it to Eterna today. There would be plenty of time later, for now she would let Reign accompany her who enjoyed it enough for the entire team.
They got moving again, the Aron securely in her Pokéball and Reign seated contently between the handlebars.
With lunch fueling her and setting a sensible, manageable pace she managed to last until the gates of Eterna greeted her in a distance. While Reign's enthusiasm hadn't wavered, her own had dissipated hours ago when she started feeling stiff and uncomfortable by sitting in the same position for so long. By now she was sure the saddle would have left a permanent dent in her behind, or at least it felt that way.
"Oh, a sight for sore eyes." She mumbled while dismounting her bike a bit before they actually reached the exit, opting to walk the rest of the way.
"You said it."
There were a few young people, possibly trainers, hanging around the gate. Though some were in conversations most of them seemed to be on their own, resting or perhaps preparing before going the other way. One of them, a girl with a straw hat who could be around the same age as her had approached her with a smile.
"I had forgotten how long the cycling road is." She commented humorously.
"Yeah..." Not really made for small talk, Yun could hit herself on the head for how awkward she immediately sounded.
In response her smile wavered a bit as she continued. "Do you want a battle? My Pokémon tend to get a bit stir crazy after being cooped up in their balls for so long."
Yun eyed her belt, which had two Pokéballs on it and considered her challenge while wondering what had made her single her out. She seemed to take that as a sign of sorts because she then held up her hands. "It's cool if you don't want to, I don't want to bother you."
It was such a strong contrast compared to the last time she had been challenged to a battle, Yun finally smiled back. "I think my Pokémon would love that. Two on two?"
It was more fair that way, though others hadn't given her that consideration since she started, but more importantly it would give Tenno more time to rest.
"Sounds good to me."
The cleared some space between them more to the side of the vast road and some other people gathered around to watch, much to Yun's dismay. Her challenger didn't seem bothered at all by the attention and send out her first Pokémon.
An Illumise. It's appearance made Yun smile because she suddenly understood why the girl had approached her. They both had bugs, an unpopular choice, perhaps she was even a bug trainer.
"Come on, Reign." Her starter was still clinging to the bicycle, now cast to the side, and gave her a reluctant but resigned look. Funny considering he was the only one enthusiastic about battling before.
After he jumped off, his posture changed as he started sizing up his opponent.
"Bug type." She informed him. He had some experience fighting his own kind from the earlier routes they traveled but never a trained foe. However it would have to do, aside from it's type and that they were exclusively female, Yun herself knew nearly nothing of Illumise.
Their opponent was rather fast, faster than Reign, but didn't seem to have any other method of attacking other than tackle and that was something he could handle on repeat. Whenever the other bug got close enough Reign attempted to poison her or occasionally even smacking her off course with an iron tail.
Moonlight was the other bug's one saving grace, as the move gave her the endurance needed to really drag out a fight. Which was necessary if you wanted to win by just using tackle, but Yun supposed she was spoiled for choice with Reign knowing four offensive moves, all different types. Most trainers starting out could not easily gather enough money for a good TM to expand their young Pokémons move sets, unless they had rich parents.
In the end, Reign hit harder and moonlight was draining the Illumise's energy fast, that ended up deciding the fight in his favor. The girl that challenged her ended up looking a tad frustrated by the outcome but recovered soon enough to send out her next Pokémon.
A Paras. She is definitely a bug trainer, Yun concluded.
Reign was a bit winded but still in fighting shape, however she chose to recall him. This mostly because she wanted a chance to battle with her newest member.
The girl before her had a slightly disappointing look in her eyes when Aron appeared, once again sparkling in the sun, passively appraising her opponent.
"Absorb."
Yun narrowed her eyes. It was unusual to use a recovery move like Absorb before any damage was even taken but she supposed it might be the one move in the bug's arsenal that could get past the steel type's defenses. Her Aron even seemed to flinch when it connected but made no attempt to get out of the way or retaliate.
"Again!" The challenger commanded.
When the same thing happened Yun was starting to worry about her newest Pokémon. Did she not want to battle? Then she was reminded of the Geodude in her battle against Roark and how they also idly waited for incoming attacks unless Roark intervened.
But she had attacked the Cranidos on her own... after Yun had asked.
"Flank it and use Iron head." The steel type turned to her to give her a confused look.
"Absorb."
"Go for it's side!" She shouted hurriedly. That spurred the little Aron to action and Yun was surprised to notice that she was actually faster than the Paras, who despite being a six-legged arthropod, seemed to move almost in slow motion.
Iron head hit it's mark and knocked the little bug right of it's feet, skidding to a halt further away.
The Paras started struggling upright and Yun decided to not wait for what it's trainer could come up with and simply finish it.
"Tackle it while it's still down." Because iron head seemed to have hurt and there was no need for excessive force. Just like Yun thought the Paras stayed down after her Aron had body checked it.
The girl with the straw head approached her with resignation as she handed over her victory money. "Good fight, I was completely outclassed."
There was a niggling suspicion budding in Yun's mind. "How many badges do you have?" She asked.
The girl looked surprised. "Oh, none!"
It turned out she was only eleven years old but wanted to become a bug trainer so she had decided to use the summer vacation to get an early start since training bugs wasn't always easy. Feeling sympathetic towards the younger girl Yun advised her to use more of Paras' status moves. While her Aron was immune to poison, she could still get paralyzed and that could have been the turning point of the battle.
After a brief but pleasant conversation, the younger girl thanked her for the battle, placated by the fact that she lost to a real trainer with a badge, and made for the Pokécenter to heal her team back up.
That left Yun with her Aron.
"Come on, let's go see the city." Yun offered.
But the steel type didn't move, instead she stayed stationary while lifting her eyes to meet Yun's. Her gaze held something that Yun thought to be expectant.
"Uhm, you don't want to?"
The Aron pointedly looked back towards the battle field and then to Yun again. She was waiting for something, wanted something and Yun squinted her eyes at the armored Pokémon who was once again shining in the sunlight.
It dawned on her then. "Oh, sorry."
She knelt down like she had after the battle with Roark and as she had expected her newest member hoped over to her, glimmering as she moved. Then Yun resigned herself, finally giving in to the name she had been attached to since it first passed her mind. It would never suit an Aggron, but it definitely suited her cute little Aron.
"Well done, Twinkle."
It helped that Twinkle actually seemed happy with her given name.
AN: I'm sorry... but I'm also not xD Twinkle it is. I really liked the idea of a tough, scary looking Pokémon with a silly name.
What do you guys think of her? So far she's a bit of an enigma, I guess. As for the names, you have to imagine Reign and Twinkle as their japanese variants when Yun says them while Tenno means emperor but I thought the japanese version fits/writes better. Technically it's whatever floats my boat in the moment I name them, there's no logic here xD just remember Yun only speaks and understands one language.