Jun stood on the edge of Bridge Fields, a breathtaking vista sprawling before him. The golden hues of dawn painted the sky, illuminating the rugged terrain. It was day seven of their training regimen, and the weight of anticipation pressed down on him. Professor Aria, his mentor, would arrive in just a week, and Jun felt an urgency he couldn't shake. He glanced at Echo, his unwavering companion.
"Let's keep up the good work today," Jun said, setting his determination into motion. Echo nodded in understanding, feelers quivering with enthusiasm.
With Gardevoir standing sentinel nearby and Jun's Toxel lightly snoozing away, its lazy demeanor a stark contrast to Jun's brewing anxiety, they began their daily routine. Echo would use its radar-like abilities to detect all nearby Pokémon in a half kilometer radius, scanning the surroundings as meticulously as a fine toothed comb. Once a Toxel was detected, the party would spring into action. Echo would be the vanguard with Jun following closely, Gardevoir and Toxel bring up the rear. They would move quietly towards the target, once in range, if the target is awake, Echo would engage in a fight, but if they're asleep, Gardevoir would use Hypnosis to keep them that way. To be honest the past two days had clearly displayed the efficiency of this tactic. The first day had been rather lackluster, with the party still getting used to the rhythm of the hunt, only managing to tag 3 Toxels. However, yesterday was much more impressive, encountering a total of 9 Toxel, but only tagging 8, as one was already tagged. This meant 11 tagged Toxel in total over 2 days of searching. Not bad for a species that is presumably rare.
Early this morning, the party packed up their camp and moved to a new area, Bridge Fields, where he hoped that there would be less of a chance that they would encounter already tagged Toxel.
As they ventured through the rolling hills, Echo's carapace hummed with steady energy, releasing his radar to the best of his ability. Jun crouched down, watching as Echo concentrated, the Dottler's mind connecting to the world around them. Seconds turned into minutes, and then…Jun saw a flash of purple in the distance, even though Toxel didn't usually come out into the open when the weather want thundering, he still whipped out his binoculars from the clip he had on his belt.
"There! Just ahead!" Jun pointed as he saw a small purple. Pokémon through his binoculars. Wiggling its tiny body, the Toxel moved daringly between grass patches. Jun smiled, feeling a surge of satisfaction, this was the first time he had beaten Echo to finding a Toxel. Although the Toxel was definitely out of Echo's range.
Echo floated forward quickly, his psychic powers stretching until it locked onto the target
With the skill that only comes from training, Echo launched a psychic wave that knocked the Toxel off balance, causing it to roll into a tumble. Jun felt a hint of pride, Echo had truly began to think through his own battle, Jun had rarely needed to call out in battle anymore, with Echo's telepathy linking their minds.
"Now, let's battle!" Jun shouted, just to let his other companions know.
The battle wasn't very intense, and despite the Toxel spending the majority of the battle trying to escape, this wasn't Echo's first rodeo. Echo dodged all the paralyzing electric attacks the Toxel launched and cornered it with liberal uses of Reflect and Light screen barriers. Utilizing his grasp over both psychic and bug type energy, and the experience of battling Toxel's before, Echo accurately predicted each of Toxel's moves and snuffed out all resistance from the Toxel in a suffocating display. He then quickly knocked it out with a Confusion.
Staring up as Jun approached the fallen pokemon, Echo moved slightly to the side, giving his trainer access to the purple dino. Jun knelt beside his Dottler, rubbing his carapace affectionately. "You did amazing, buddy. That was a textbook takedown."
Quickly tagging the Toxel, Jun sprayed a healthy dose of potion on the Toxel, and waited for it to regain consciousness. Upon its awakening, Jun gave it a berry and watched it scamper off.
Getting up off his knees, Jun and the gang continued this routine, trekking through the Stony Wilderness, Hammerlocke Hills and the Giant's Cap. Each area brought new challenges and fresh Pokémon to battle.
Every evening, after the rigorous training sessions, Jun would set up camp and Echo would begin Psychic training. Gardevoir was not just a protector but had become a wise mentor whose presence soothed Jun's anxious heart.
"Gardevoir," Jun began, "I think Echo's radar is as refined as he can get it for now, could you attempt to teach Echo how to use Hypnotize today?"
Gardevoir nodded, understanding Jun's intent perfectly, she would soon return to her trainers side after all, and the tagging duties would fall to Jun and Echo alone. As dusk painted the sky in shades of purple and orange, they practiced in the fading light. Gardevoir demonstrated the move, its eyes glowing faintly as it lulled imaginary foes to sleep with streams of energy. Jun's Toxel watched on beside the campfire, spellbound by the psychic display.
"Now you try, Echo," encouraged Jun, his voice soft but filled with anticipation.
Echo focused, summoning its mental fortitude, and attempted to replicate Gardevoir's actions. The air grew heavy, and a faint glow started to emanate from its body. For a split second, the Dottler shimmered with potential, but the attempt faltered, and the energy dissipated.
"It's okay," Jun consoled, "I know for a fact that Orbeetle can learn this move, there's no reason why you wouldn't be able to." His voice brimming with pride and encouragement.
The days rolled by, and finally, they reached the second to last day before Professor Aria's arrival. After five day's worth of training, they had used up the remainder of the tracking tags and Echo was right on the cusp of evolution. His page now read:
Pokemon: Dottler
Name: Echo
Ability: Telepathy ()
Gender: Male
Nature: Bold (Defense/-Attack)
Level: 32 ()
Moves: Struggle Bug, Sticky Web, Light Screen, Reflect, Confusion, Recover ()
Stats: [expand]
Items: N/A
Status: Alert, Excited
For their final challenge of the day, Jun decided it was time for Echo to face one of the stronger opponents they had encountered all week, a powerful wandering Pokémon known to linger around Hammerlocke Hills. Jun had chosen this particular pokemon due to its 4x weakness to Echo's typing and in the hopes that this battle could tip Echo over into his evolution.
As they approached the area, Jun could feel the tension in the air. Gardevoir stayed close, radiating reassurance. Echo was nervous but confident, eager to showcase how much they had learned.
The sky was overcast as the powerful opponent appeared, a Malamar. The upside-down pokemon stood tall with a smirk, the standoff was electric, both Pokémon sizing each other up. Jun's heart raced in rhythm with the charge in the air.
"Alright, Echo! Focus on what we practiced!" Jun shouted, his voice almost drowned out by the gale-force winds. The Dottler took a deep breath, and Jun could see the determination etched into his small frame.
The battle began fiercely. Malamar lunged, but Echo was one step ahead, his newly learned Hypnotize sending psychic rings directly into Malamar's body. It was a brave yet flawed attempt. In a moment of sheer idiocy, Jun had forgotten that even though Malamar's typing gave Echo's Bug type moves a 4x effectiveness, it's Dark typing also rendered Echo's Psychic moves useless.
"Don't use Psychic attacks." Jun shouted out loud, while in the telepathy bond, Jun began quickly instructing Echo to set up screens.
The Malamar, sensing weakness, let out a mocking cackle, and sent out a feeder tentacle with Night slash, then the another with Psycho Cut.
Echo barely sent out the screens in time and they shattered as the Malamar's attacks connected, barely slowing the tentacles down. Shifting position slightly, the Dottler let the attacks glance off its carapace, the movement instinctual at this point. The Malamar, seeing the move connect moved in closer, using its extended tentacles to use Wrap. Normal energy began constricting the Bug type.
With a burst of Psychic energy, Echo shattered the wrap, sending out a mist of Bug type energy that made Malamar reel back in disgust, before coalescing that Bug type energy into a Struggle Bug that actually knocked Malamar away.
With a snarl, the Malamar retaliated with a normal typed Slash. Even as Echo moved to deflect it, it left a shallow mark where the tentacle had struck. Jun narrowed his eyes, using his connection with his starter, he reminded Echo to be wary of the slashing type moves, as it had a higher chance to deal critical damage.
Slowly scooting back, the Dottler patiently baited Malamar in before unleashing a torrent of silk and webbing all over the squid like pokemon. Malamar, caught off guard, was left in a mess of sticky threads and tangled web; arming its two longest tentacles with Slash, it began to attempt to cut itself loose.
Echo quickly capitalized on this and began alternating Sticky Webs at the Malamar's free tentacles and liberally showering the opponent with Struggle Bugs. In such a disadvantageous position, it didn't take long before Malamar succumbed to its sticky prison and fainted.
As the battle drew to a close, Jun was prepared, he hastily threw a PokeBall at the Malamar then quickly pocketed it as it returned, containing the downed Pokemon. Then he ran over to where Echo was and started drawing on his own aura, channeling it into their bond. After a few seconds, Echo began to glow gently, the light getting brighter as Jun channeled more and more aura into their bond. Gardevoir came up behind them, pulsing gently with worry, unsure of what Jun was doing.
The atmosphere thickened as Echo absorbed the aura, swirling with light before radiating an explosive form change. The brilliant energy surged, surpassing even Jun's expectations. Echo, now an Orbeetle, hovered in the air with a kaleidoscope of colors, sparkling light reflecting off the new shiny red carapace, a representation of growth, evolution, and shared trust.
Yet, in that moment of exuberance, Jun felt a strange disconnection. The energy flowed too freely, overwhelming him as he experienced a profound hollowness. Panic gripped him; he felt the edges of his vision blur. The world tilted as consciousness wavered, casting him into a whirlpool of darkness.