Chapter 5- An Angry Seahorse
It was honestly a rather comical sight that Torrent and I came to witness once we entered the clearing that surrounded the cave.
An enraged two-foot tall seahorse growled and shot out powerful water guns and an Alakazam used his superior speed as well as his teleport to avoid everything. Annoying the water Pokemon as the apparent growl begins to grow deeper at its continued failure to hit him, Minato's taunting didn't help much in that regard either.
'It is rather large… I remember Misty's Horsea being a lot smaller. He's probably a larger variant among his species, usually meaning it's very talented' I observed as I watched the Horsea continue to fail in landing an attack.
Well, it seems like I'm going to have to catch this one the old-fashioned way. 'Well, maybe not….' As I remember what a normal Stantler's moveset entailed.
"Torrent, use hypnosis," I said in a slightly lower pitch. He nodded quickly as lit up with pink energy and a small ball of energy was set towards the distracted pokemon.
It seemed the Horsea was used to dealing with sneak attacks, it effortlessly did a flip over the ball of psychic energy. It seemed it took that attempt personally as Minato was forgotten and it turned to us.
"Well, it was worth a shot, ready for your first battle Torrent?" I asked curiously, but before I even finished the deer walked in front of me protectively as the sea horse stared us down. A second later Minato appeared next to me.
"Link us up Minato," I said as I figured this would be a perfect chance to practice telepathic assisted battling.
'Start strong Torrent. Use tackle as a distraction, be ready to sidestep the water gun' I ordered as I stepped back and watched Torrent bolt forward at a respectable speed.
The baby dragon didn't appreciate a two-hundred-pound bullet heading towards it, not wanting to bring this to a melee battle it used a water gun to try and keep its ranged superiority. With my earlier warning Torrent easily sidestepped the attack and continued charging forward.
'Once you're in range hit it with a stomp, if it dodges use hypnosis. Continue that pattern until it's unconscious. Under no circumstances do you let it return to range' I ordered as I continued to observe his charge into melee. Unluckily for the seahorse, it took too long to fire its next water gun, it managed to jump away from a stomp that left a crater in the ground but it was left airborne as a ball of psychic energy hit it.
It seemed it wasn't completely effective as it shook its head a few times to remove the drowsiness. However, it did give Torrent enough time to reenter melee range and hit a stab tackle.
"I never thought to use hypnosis in that way, using a physical attack to force a dodge when it was really a ploy to land hypnosis. Either it works and the Pokemon falls asleep or it is stunned long enough to repeat the process" Minato observed as we watched Torrent begin to dismantle the water type.
"You know hypnosis as well? And it's not that impressive, a low-level strategy for an admittedly low-level battle" I said slightly irritably as it would have been very useful against the Raichu that was buried behind our base. He just nodded, confirming he thought I already knew. 'I need a damn Pokedex!'
After being hit head-on with a tackle the horsea was sent reeling back, it fought through the pain and immediately rose to get a hypnosis to the face. The pain from the hit helped the Pokemon fight off the sleep but it wasn't ready to get stomped into the ground. With a deep growl, Torrent blasted it into the dirt as its front hoove lit up with energy.
Unsurprisingly the Horsea lost against the Stantler's better attack and defensive stats, without even hitting an attack.
"Well, that was an impressive showing Torrent. Good job" I said as I both called him off and praised him for his battle.
"I used to fight off Ursarings from the herd, a little water horse is no trouble, trainer." Torrent said as he smiled and waited for me to arrive at the sight of their battle.
Looking over the little seahorse I felt kind of bad about it, given that it was in a small crater with wounds all over it. Sighing I took out a potion and began spraying the worst areas. After a minute of use, the Horsea's breathing seemed to settle into a relaxing sleep as I dropped a great ball onto it.
Three jiggles later the third member of the team was caught. More interesting was the fact that the Dragon Scale went into the ball with it.
A dragon scale is an item needed to evolve certain species of dragon Pokemon. Seadra into Kingdra being one of them, though in the game it had to be traded holding the scale to evolve. Though I very much doubt that is the case in this world.
"Alright, mission accomplished boys. Let's head back home" I said with a smile as I picked up Horsea's ball and returned the very joyous Torrent.
"What do you think Minato, we got two instead of one ," I said with a smirk as I put my arm on his shoulder and awaited his instant transmission.
"Your battle tactics are more impressive than I expected. I guess grandfather was right about Pokemon supported by a trainer being infinitely stronger" He praised as we teleported back to the front door of the research facility.
"Yes, my battle strategies are pretty effective when my Pokemon listens to them," I said with sarcasm as I heard Minato bang his arm against the doorway.
"I said I was sorr,y" Minato said embarrassed as he referred to our first battle against the electric rodent.
"I was just joking. Come on, we've gotta get dinner for everyone and maybe try to make peace with the angry sea horse" I said with a smirk as we headed toward the kitchen.
Soon I set up six bowls, three filled with Pokemon food while the others had a bottle of water each. I ended up putting both Stantler's and Kadabra's food on the table while I moved Horseas off to the side. Give it a little privacy while it eats.
With that, I released Torrent as he walked over to the table. Luckily he was tall enough to reach his food and Minato just floated and ate his chow with his spoon.
"Ok, guys I'm gonna release the new one. Just make sure I don't get a water gun in the back while I'm cooking please" I said as I tossed Horseas ball near its food I set out.
I kept one eye on my fried rice while I kept the other on my newest Pokemon. It released right next to its bowl as it let out a cute-sounding yawn. It began sniffing around before it started chomping down on the Pokemon food. It seemed to realize after a few bites that it wasn't in its lake anymore as its eyes popped open and began looking at all of us like we were predators and it was stuck in our lair.
"Feel like doing your thing Minato" I asked as I added a few seasonings and a can of corn into my rice. I received a grunt in return as I felt a connection between myself and the Pokemon hiding in the corner drinking the water with a small scowl.
"Hello there," I said, doing my best Obi-Wan impression.
"Greetings kidnapper," A childish female voice said with a minor amount of scorn. I almost dropped my bowl of fried rice inches from the table.
"Well, that's a little harsh girly," I said jokingly as I took a seat next to Minato and began eating my food. However, I still kept eye contact with the angry Horsea, making sure the conversation didn't end.
"But not untrue, what do you even want me for? I wasn't the only Horsea near the waterfall." She said irritable as she broke the eye contact and began munching down the pokefood at a decent speed. 'Hmm, thought that stuff was just low-quality mass-produced food. I guess anything is better than eating Magikarps and Rattata.' I thought as I watched the little dragon eat the kibble like I'd take it away.
"It is not often that a Pokemon has the item they need to evolve already with them. Plus you were twice the size of any other Horsea in the river. Figured that meant you were most talented and probably had a Kingdra for a parent if I had to guess" I said as I threw out pebbles of knowledge in hopes of getting the Pokemon's interest.
"You know what this is? What does it do, kidnapper?" The Horsea asked as it seemed to forget its earlier anger and jumped on the table. Causing both my other Pokemon to jump in surprise, though realizing she wasn't attacking me they both relaxed
"Yep, it's called a Dragon Scale," I answered as I continued to eat my fried rice. The Pokemon cutely jumped up and down on its tail in excitement.
"My mother just tied it to me before she left and headed towards the Ocean. I asked her what it was but she swam too fast and I knew I couldn't make it in the ocean by myself" She said kind've sadly as she looked down at the scale tied to her chest.
"Well, at least she left you something, without that item you couldn't hope to reach your final evolution. Good thing I'll help you, you'll be Kingdra if you stick with us. But there's one no two conditions" I said as I held my spoon towards the water Pokemon as I was making a deal.
"What conditions?" She asked as she returned to her skeptical self while her eyes turned slit.
"Listen to me and battle with us. Stop calling me a kidnapper. My name is Elijah." I said the terms of the deal as the Pokemon began to think it over. She looked over at Torrent who easily defeated her before she nodded her head.
"That doesn't seem so bad, plus you have decent food" She admitted as she agreed to join the party.
"So how about a name? These two are Minato and Torrent." I asked as I pointed out that both of my Pokemon had names, no reason to be an outlier. She nodded her consent as I began racking my brain for a name that would fit a sea dragon.
"I can't decide so I'll let you pick from three. Katara, Noel or Diana" I asked curiously, all the names were from characters I liked a lot from Earth.
"I like Noel, short but simple" My Horsea now named Noel agreed.
"How come she got choices…" Minato said with a pout as he used a rag to clean his face off from his meal.
"Ok, henceforth you shall be known as Crack Spoon," I said with a smile as I went to my rice and continued eating.
"No thank you, I'm actually rather attached to my name. Forget I said anything" Minato said as it seemed he didn't like his backup name.
"So what do we do? As trainer Pokemon I mean" Little Noel asked as Minato used his psychic powers to move her food to the table.
"Usually we would travel, collect gym badges, and try to challenge the league. A gym leader gives badges to those they deem strong enough to challenge the league, you need eight to do that." I explained to her and Torrent that I haven't had a chance to go over the plan with them yet.
"I assume you plan on doing something different from your tone?" Torrent asked.
"Well that's a loaded question, little one, I'm not really a part of society right now. No identification, history, hell not even a single electric bill to my name. So my options are kind of limited as of now." I hummed as I got up and placed my empty dish in the sink.
"I have no idea what any of that means" she cutely huffed in confusion.
"It means we have a defective trainer, we won't be going on a true journey for a while it seems like. So for the foreseeable future, we will probably be hunkering down in this abandoned base until our trainer figures out a way to re-enter society." Minato dissed me and explained to our newest member.
"Hey now, it won't be so bad. And don't think I haven't already thought of a plan." I said with a put-off expression, I was beginning to think Minato was bipolar. One minute he's grateful that I showed skill in battle and the next moment he's dissing me about being an illegal alien.
All of my Pokémon perked up at that and looked towards me to explain my master plan.
And what was my plan, well in the week I've been in the Pokémon world I weighed my knowledge and debated on the best way to use it.
I would become a researcher, a traveling one. Focused on evolution and the theories behind it. Surely there were research grants in the Pokémon world that would fund my research as well as my journey as a trainer.
How would this help me? I'd buy my way into the league, metaphorically speaking that is, they'd be bending over backward for my services.
My first piece of research and my ticket back to society? Project: Magnificent Steed.
A research report showing my prowess and ingenuity in reviving lost evolutions. Freely given to the league and its associates in place of a job application and a possible grant to continue my research and fund my team.
It wasn't a foolproof plan but it's the best I could come up with that matched my goals and that of my Pokemon. They wanted to battle and I honestly found it fun and exhilarating. But I also found an interest in becoming a researcher, using my future knowledge as a crutch until I began making discoveries from my own merit and studies.
I would undoubtedly learn a lot from recreating evolutions I knew existed. But those processes I learn could carry over when I decide to go for a true discovery on my own merits.
But that was a dream unless I could perform right here and now.
"You want my grand plan? Well, it's all up to Torrent whether this idea works or not" I said with genuine pride as I patted my surprised and embarrassed mount.
-Current Party—-
Name: Minato
Species: Kadabra
Type: Psychic
Level: 18
Ability: Inner Focus (Prevents Pokemon from flinching)
Moves: Psybeam, Confusion, Teleport, Reflect, Hypnosis, Calm Mind.
Name: Torrent
Species: Stantler
Type: Normal
Level: 19
Ability: Intimidate (Cause a Pokemon to slightly flinch in the presence of this Pokemon during battle. Lowering the opposing Pokemon's physical attack)
Moves: Tackle, Hypnosis, Stomp, Sand Attack, Bite (egg move), Double Kick (egg move)
Name: Noel
Species: Horsea
Type: Water
Level: 21
Ability: Swift Swim
Moves: Leer, Water Gun, Smokescreen, Twister, Dragon Breath, Aurora Beam (Egg Move)