Chapter 3 The First Expedition
"Come on Minato your two sets behind, you really gonna lose to a weak ass human?" I said with a smirk as I barely managed to put the barbell back onto the rack after my tenth rep.
"I am doing three times your weight, while dumbly sitting under it per your insistence" My Kadabra retorted as he was laid back on the bench with about six hundred pounds of weight shakily floating up and down over its chest.
"Dumbly? I highly doubt you'd be working so hard to perfectly control the weight if you weren't right under it" I said as I headed towards the rack of jump ropes.
"Surely, do you even think this is going to increase my psychic powers?" He asked with a less pronounced tick mark above his brow.
"Well since I've been distracting you you've destroyed your old record of 6 reps at 600 pounds to 12. However, the idea that this is going to strengthen your moves is questionable without further research. Though it has to be doing something, most likely improving your control" I said in my best 'Professor Elijah Connors' voice.
With my point made, we finished our workout in silence, today would end up marking my first week here in the Pokemon world. In the last few days, I finished exploring the facility and discovered a whole lot of nothing.
It seems Fuji's research team left in a hurry and grabbed everything of high value they could. The labs looked more like a warehouse than a place of science now.
The entire second floor of the building was in fact empty besides metal desks and chairs.
The rest of the time I decided to dedicate to our conditioning, making good use of the facilities that were left behind. My reasoning? Before this I could probably sprint for a mile or two, not going to outrun anything but a Caterpee with that.
"I still don't understand why we can't just go out and battle the wild Pokemon, I was under the impression that was the main way Trainer Pokémon get stronger" Minato asked. 'Huh, this is a new side of him. But maybe all Pokémon have a primal urge to battle and improve'
"Because it makes no sense at this time, we're outgunned by thousands out there. Sure some of them will be just rodents and baby birds but you never know what we'll run into." I answered him honestly as he seemed to not show a great fear for the outside world.
'Well, he probably spent his whole life as an Abra running from anything that was even slightly stronger than him. He most likely doesn't realize how much more dangerous it is when he has a trainer to protect'
"Well if you feel that way wouldn't it be prudent to at least catch another Pokémon now so we could be ready faster? Otherwise, we'd have to slow down our pace again to give you time to train the next one you'll inevitably have to catch" Minato stated, which brought up a very valid point… that I sadly couldn't argue. 'Two guns are better than one after all'
"How well do you know this forest? How long have you spent here?" I asked as I took out a notepad.
"About a year give or take, I came here after my grandfather told me to leave on a journey," He said as he seemed to get more saddened at the mention of his mysterious grandfather.
"Well here's a list of Pokémon I'm interested in from this region, if there are any that you have seen close by I wouldn't mind making the trip and pausing our training. On another note, would you like to tell me about him? He seems like the old wise hermit type, I'm most curious if he was an Alakazam or not" I said as I handed him a slip of paper. He grabbed it and began looking it over.
"Yes, he was a powerful Pokémon. He could teleport from one side of the continent to another without breaking a sweat. I've once seen him defeat an enraged Tyranitar in the Mountains of Silver. Which sounds impressive if he wasn't part of a Champions team in his youth.
"Woah, that's pretty awesome. Who was his trainer?" I asked with curiosity.
"He spoke very rarely of him, I'm sure it pained him to do so. After all, he is almost 200 years old. Which would put it during the time of the war, a dark period in both regions' history." My Kadabra said as a new series of questions were soon added to my list. 'The Johto vs Kanto wars that were hinted at in the games? Most likely'
"I'm sure we have more time to talk while we go towards the Stantler herd, luckily there is one on the eastern edge of the forest. Though it's right on the edge of territory it is still relatively tame in comparison." Minato said as put the list on the table and pointed towards one of the six choices I laid out.
"Though they are not known for being expert battlers, most of the carnivorous Pokemon view them as food. Why you decided on one of them is a mystery to me."
"Food? I'd love to see those bastards try eating my ultimate steed!" I said with passion. 'Let's be honest here, Legends Arceus is probably my favorite game in the franchise. Not only did it introduce 'lost' evolutions but it also added plenty of regional variants. Changed the way the entire game was played, honestly thought some rom hackers infiltrated Nintendo'
"But seriously it's going to be all part of the plan. Well the plans are mostly going to depend on you, hell it'll be hard to discover a lost evolution all on my own." I said as we left the gym to head towards our living area and prepare for travel.
"Stantler does not evolve….. at least I've never heard of such a Pokemon. And how am I supposed to help you do it? '' Minato asked in a disbelieving tone. 'What happened to sire this, sire that? My Pokémon are already doubting me.'
"Well we're going to need your sensing ability," I said as I began packing a small bag of supplies, five great balls, a potion, and an antidote. Not to mention a few bottles of water and a few packets of semi-stale crackers as a snack.
"So how close you can teleport us?" I asked as I finished readying myself, but my question was returned with silence as I looked over to my contemplating Pokemon.
"I've never teleported with anything bigger than a berry when I was an Abra, I'm unsure how far I can go with a person with me," Minato admitted.
"We'll need to figure that out soon, currently your ability to teleport is highly important for our survival as well as our journey. But like you said, we'll never get anywhere without taking risks. So let's wing it just this once" I said with a smirk as I placed my hand on his shoulder.
"I understand, I'll fully explain how the ability works later. But I'll just give you a basic rundown, there are three conditions to teleport long distances. I have to have been there before, I have enough stamina to make the journey, and lastly that there isn't another psychic blocking my path." Minato listed off to which I nodded. 'Not too many conditions, the only worrying part is that another psychic could stop you. But I'm sure there are ways around that though. Nothing is absolute, besides butts being superior to breasts of course'
(A/N: I said what I said {shrugs unremorsefully})
"Ok, just do it" I said as I readied myself.
"Alright, I'm going to try going to a lake I slept at a few months ago. It should be around a kilometer away from the herd if they haven't migrated too far. The distance is about twenty kilometers away." Minato said as he began to radiate psychic power.
"Alright, teleportation test one is a go!" I said with mild excitement as I felt and heard a popping sound. Before I knew it we were near a roaring waterfall.
"Well, that worked out better than I expected… Minato? You ok?" I asked slightly worriedly as I looked down at my kneeling Pokémon. He seemed to build up a lot more fatigue than I expected though we barely moved more than twelve miles.
"Yes actually. That marked twice as far as I could travel as an Abra and I even had a passenger with me." He said with a renewed vigor as he rose to his feet, though he did slightly stagger.
"Good job. It looked like it only took you around ten seconds to charge it up as well. That's not bad, I'm sure we can make up something to distract an enemy for ten seconds if we ever need to make a quick getaway" I said as I began strategizing ways to make up for ten seconds
"Thank you, I believe the herd was directly north of us where it is in a slightly cooler part of the forest," Minato said as I nodded and we began heading North at a relaxing pace.
"I wonder what kind of species live near that waterfall…. Another time I guess, just make sure you keep your sensing bubble up constantly Minato. I'd like to have at least a few seconds to make a plan" I said as my paranoia began acting up again as I realized again that humans aren't the top species on the planet anymore.
"I understand, I will let you know when I have a lock on a Stantler. Do you feel like explaining now how we'll discover a 'lost evolution'?" Minato asked curiously as we hopped over a few fallen trees and greeted a few peaceful Pidgeys who chose not to bother us.
"Well, to put it simply, we're looking for a Stantler gifted in psychic energy. Its evolution is a powerful physical and special attacking psychic Pokémon believe it or not" I explained to my still doubtful partner.
"Oh, so you intend to use my sensing ability to search for the one that has the best affinity to its 'evolutionary' typing," Minato said as even I heard the quotation marks in his reply.
"Yes, be doubtful all you want but I bet after a little training he'll be your rival. After all his typing is one of the best there could be" I said which caused Minato to pause in his floating travel.
"It would be a normal/psychic type, right? That does sound powerful" Minato admitted as he continued.
"Yep, its psychic typing removes its fighting weakness while its normal typing eliminates the ghost type that counters most psychics. With only two regular weaknesses and above average HP or Vigor, it makes a powerful tank." I described as I let a little slip on how I would train a Stantler if we managed to find one.
"I don't understand how a species could lose an evolution though. Especially when there are Pokémon like Eevve with three evolutions?" Minato said as he put his hand on his chin and began contemplating his question. 'Three! Well, Minato isn't a professor so it's possible he just hasn't seen an Espeon or an Umbreon before… Smells like money.'
"I have an idea but it's just a guess, humans consider Stantlers antlers a work of art. At one point in history, they were almost brought to extinction by hunters seeking to sell their antlers. Going from a thriving species to almost extinct? I'm sure a lot more was lost besides an evolution before they were able to bring their numbers back." I said as described the little I remembered from Stantler's multiple Pokédex entries. Still, I felt it was a viable explanation of how a Pokémon could 'forget' its evolutionary path.
"That is rather sad, though I'd have to agree on that probably being the cause. I have to admit I am very interested in this process. Luckily I just got a feel for one, at the edge of my senses with a few others." Minato said, causing me to jump in surprise and mild excitement.
"It seems their numbers are rather large, about three hundred. A good stratagem considering they are hunted by the more carnivorous Pokemon" Minato noted off-handedly.
'Hmmm, what would be the best way to approach this… It'd be a little worrying to just walk up and disturb the herd, but it's possible they wouldn't care. Minato did describe them as docile creatures.' I began thinking as I signaled for us to stop near a rather open field. 'I could send Minato ahead to scout it out… The only Pokémon I've seen so far are a few pidgeys.'
"Ok, I'm gonna send you ahead. Observe the herd and possibly talk with them to see how they react. I'll wait here, if you sense me coming towards you it means I'm being chased so teleport to me in that event" I ordered as I sat down on the grass.
"Why? There's no reason to wait here" Minato asked in confusion, adorably against leaving me alone.
"It's respectful. It would be rude for a random human like me to just go and disturb their herd. Or they prove less docile than you initially believe and mistake me for a hunter. Leading to us running for our lives while we wait for your teleport." I said with a smile as I began shooing him off.
"A…..valid point. Fine, I'll go talk to them and make sure they don't mind the oh-so-dangerous human entering their blades of grass" Minato said with an eye roll as he began floating north towards the sounds of hooves and grass munching.
'He's gonna thank me one day when my paranoia pays off' I thought with a smirk as I took out my new diary and began to make a section about Stantler and their herds.
'From what I've gathered, I've deduced that after their culling they began to greatly mirror deer from my world. Surely they acted differently in legends Arceus and were just as territorial as any other mon'. It is possible that there could still be Wyrdeer today if it weren't for the increased interest of their antlers. I believe that in multiple decades their numbers could reach a point where they are forced to battle for territory against much more combat-focused Pokémon. During this time I believe it is almost guaranteed that their evolution Wyrdeer would've made a reappearance without my interference now. It is mere speculation but from what I'm seeing from this one herd their numbers could already be in the thousands just here in Johto. End report 'The Ultimate Steed' by Elijah Connors.
Sure I'd have to redact some parts, fill them with fluff and speculation. But for the first report on my journey to evolving Stanler, I felt it was professional enough.