Mal gently glided across the surface of the pond without leaving any wake from his passing. From time to time he’d dip down under the water with his head and raise his body giving his tail a wag.

I held up my notebook with a large 6 written on the page.

His feet weren’t even in the water and they weren’t paddling.

A skeptical sounding “Por?” was the response.

As far as duck imitations went he could do better. His next trick was ‘walking’ on water. One foot after the other lightly tapped the surface of the water sending out small ripples. The poliwags looked on with wide eyes.

I sighed and held up an 8.

My duck was abusing gravity again.

I returned to my notebook and lunch.

It was day three, and they had passed rather quietly. The mornings were spent patrolling the nearby area for dunsparce and teddiursa. We had found a few small caves but hadn’t seen the two. The most we had found were a few holes that might have been made by a dunsparce and a few claw marks on a tree. I had used some of the honey on the trees but that hadn’t drawn a teddisura out yet. I had even walked back and forth in tall grass. The only thing that came from that were a few weedles. I was able to hold myself back from kicking them… this time.

During the afternoons we trained and for the evening I made a nice fire and watched the stars. It was calm and peaceful. It felt like a journey.

We were however running into more people every day.

Yesterday it was two and today it had been six. I assumed they came for the geodudes but you never know someone might be after a zubat or something. Crobat was a strong pokemon. They had given me some odd looks when they saw Mal but a friendly nod and some greetings were the extent of our interactions.

The isolated journey through the wilderness with no one else for miles that I had come to expect from the anime and even some of the games wasn’t quite right. A real world meant people, a lot more people.

Cherrygrove City, New Bark, and smaller towns and hamlets all had groups of trainers that had set out. A wave of trainers would crash against Violet city before spreading out and thinning along the other routes in Johoto’s heartland. The group of trainers I was worried about was New Bark.

New Bark was the starting town with Elm’s Lab. It was also where the protagonists lived, Ethan and Lyra. Kris as well if she even existed. She had been replaced by Lyra in the remakes. I was looking at possibly three protagonists headed in my general direction with at most a few days travel between us.

I didn’t want anything to do with them.

I didn’t want anything to do with the plot.

I just wanted my nice normal journey.

I was debating if I should try and stay ahead of the protagonists or try and get behind them. I was leaning towards trying to get behind them and stay there. They’d clear any problems ahead of me and it would be smooth sailing. I wouldn’t have to fight Team Rocket, and any butterflies I caused would be minor stuff that happened behind them. It wouldn’t impact their growth; they'd go on and the big bird would return. They would be happy, the cult would be happy and I’d be happy.

I wasn’t forgetting anyone was I?

…

Mal.

Mal and my future team, they would be happy.

To get behind the plot train I was taking stock of my food reserves again. I still hadn’t caught either of the mons I was looking for and I had about six days worth of food. We could camp out here for another four or five days unless I found a way to stretch it.

Was that long enough?

There was a way to stretch my supplies even more. I could always find more food.

“Mal, we’re going berry hunting.”

Wild berry trees in forests are rather easy to spot from a distance. They tend to have very bright coloration, in part to draw in wild pokemon. The berry trees planted along routes were usually much blander in appearance. They often were grafted trees that had been carefully cultivated. A variety of berries that could cure status conditions grew among their branches. Those trees tended to be planted by either the League itself or by locals. They helped cut down on center visits and acted as a way to have treatment for common issues available along most of the route.

The orange leaves in the distance we were hiking towards were Oran trees. The berries were blue and tasted like oranges. It was common that the name hinted at what the berries had been based off of. A shortened name and a changed color and oranges became Oran berries, plums became Lum berries, and so on.

Berry trees grew year round and bore fruit most of that time. Berries healed, they cured, they even reduced damage from certain types. There was a lot magical berry bullshit could do. It also brought up all sorts of questions about how the hell they actually worked.

The narrative has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.

Closing in on the grove the smell of citrus reached us and a dull thump could be heard.

“Gon?”

Mal rotated his head 360 degrees as he started to scan our surroundings.

“Battle maybe?” I strained my ears trying to hear anything. A battle would probably have some pokemon cries. That would tell me what we could be dealing with.

No pokemon cries just another thumping sound.

Mal nudged my shoulder and motioned with his head. One of the Oran trees deeper in the grove was shaking.

Slowly we crept forward into the grove as another thump rung out. Peeking around a trunk we finally saw a dunsparce. It had brought its tail forward over its head and gripped its drill in its mouth, like an ouroboros. It rolled around the area building up speed before ramming into the Oran tree with a great thump. The tree shook and as its leaves rustled a few oran berries fell to the ground.

Dunsparce let go of its tail and let out a happy cry, “Du du duuuu!”

It was rather hard to tell the difference between members of the same species of pokemon. It could be the same dunsparce that had been ready to bolt as soon as it saw us. The majority of trainers did the whole defeat the pokemon and then catch them thing. Pokemon wanted to get stronger, to grow. Pokemon wanted to be caught, they wanted to form bonds. They wanted to reach their full potential and with a worthy trainer they could do so. Yet, dunsparce had ran away.

Would talking be better here?

I motioned for Mal and slowly stepped out from behind the trunk. “Hey Dunsparce. That was a nice Rollout.”

“Dun…” It turned and regarded me, as it lazily ate a berry.

“I’m putting together a team...”

The drill started humming as Dunsparce quickly gulped down another berry. Opening its eyes wide. They took on a malevolent look and emitted an eerie red glow before flashing.

“Thundershock.” I commanded as the drill grew louder.

Yet nothing came. I turned to Mal. His eyes were narrowed in concentration. The seconds seemed to stretch. Finally a bolt of electricity went flying and impacted the dirt around a fresh hole.

“Damn it.” I sighed. “Glare?”

“Gon.” Mal agreed, still paralyzed from the move.

“Let’s get you taken care of, buddy.”

A few spritz of Paralyze heal and Mal was back to normal. I made it a point to carry around some supplies during our hikes. A Trainer Pack™ was worn around my waist and it could fit the basics. It may or may not have been a fanny pack. We gathered a few Orans before heading back. They would be breakfast the next couple of days.

As we approached camp a rustling sound could be heard.

“What now?”

Mal and I had made a deal with the poliwags to have them watch our stuff. Not having to carry it all around with me meant that we could cover a lot more ground every morning.

Entering camp the ground was wet and muddy. Two poliwags laid nearby and appeared to be knocked out but otherwise uninjured. My tent had a large tear in the side of it. An annoyed sounding “Sa!” came from within.

I could smell wet fur and something sweet as I carefully pulled back the tear revealing the interior. The contents of my pack was scattered all over. Containers of food laid opened or half eaten. Sitting hunched over the jar of honey, its crescent moon glowing softly was a soaking wet teddiursa. It gripped the jar with one paw while the other slowly tried to turn the lid. The jar slipped out of its paws and it let out another cry of frustration.

“Trouble with the lid?”

The little teddy bear pokemon turned and stared at me. Its eyes got big and wide as it held up the jar of honey to me, silently begging for it to be opened. I took it. A worried sounding “Ursa!” followed when I turned from my tent away from those puppy dog eyes and found a dry spot to sit. Mal floated nearby watching.

Teddiursa stepped out through the tear eyes honing in on the jar.

I motioned towards the ground in front of me. “Why don’t you take a seat over there?”

Teddiursa pouted at me. Its eyes went wide and seemed to glisten…

“Porygon!”

Teddiursa quickly sat and started licking one of its forepaws.

Mal had actually sounded a little angry, and that was the most I had ever heard him say at once. How do I handle this? A little bear came in and wrecked my camp. A little bear that I wanted on my team.

Do I try the talk thing?

Wait damn it, I’m already doing the talk thing.

“I got this honey for a pokemon just like you.”

“Eddi?”

“Yep, I really want a Teddiursa on my team.”

It kept licking its forepaw as it watched me.

How the hell do you actually do the talk thing?

“Look, any Teddiursa that ends up on my team is going to end up very strong. Eventually the only thing that is going to compare to them is a snorlax. I'm going to be a Normal type specialist and I know a trick or two.”

Their eyes had grown wide at the mention of snorlax but that seemed to have been the only response. They were still licking their paw. Teddiursa would lick them like a child might suck their thumb. Those paws were usually soaked with honey. My eyes went to the jar.

“You know any teddiursa on my team would have plenty of honey.”

“Eddi?”

“Plenty of honey.” I nodded, with a shrug I continued. “But, well they’d have to be on my team.”

I took the lid off of the jar of honey. Teddiursa’s eyes followed it as I placed it in front of them. The crescent moon glowed brightly as it regarded the golden contents within. It turned to Mal and a brief conversation followed. Then with a nod towards me it took the jar and started to eat the honey. Its paws quickly got covered and the honey started to soak deep into the fur as the jar was quickly emptied. Finally after licking the inside of the jar they let out a little belch and watched me waiting.

I turned to Mal, he nodded. I withdrew a pokeball from my belt. Teddiursa watched it as I leaned forward and tapped it against their head. In a flash of light they disappeared. The ball in my hand shook. Once, twice, three times and then with a click it stopped.

I couldn’t stop smiling.

I had caught another pokemon. I held the pokeball in my hand looking at it like it was my most treasured possession in the world and that’s when it struck me.

“This is going to trigger my balltism.”

“Gon?”

“It’s not a moon ball.”