Bitter Work 3.9
November 14th, 2022.
The past week had been surprisingly productive, in-between finding stones, gems, and other miscellaneous items, we had been training and battling. Fennekin was getting stronger and more confident as I let her push herself harder.
She was practically overcome with joy when I told her Wish could let her work her way up to Morning Sun, increasing her ability to stay in battle. She was going to make an incredible offensive pokémon with Magician and Magic Bounce, with Blaze providing a boost to her power as a backup. Honestly it sounded like her trainer was using her more to heal other pokémon and not bothering to train her for battle. For example Calm Mind and Stored Power were moves she learned at the Pokémon House. She’d also serve as a good anti-lead, able to steal away items with a little bit of smoke and mirrors and magic.
She’d only just developed Magician though, and it would take her more time to figure out the last basic aspects of her ability. The Ace Trainer was also more than happy to teach me about terrains, all eighteen of them even if she only used Metallic Terrain for her own pokémon. Fennekin had picked up Psychic Terrain somehow…
I had acquired the main moon stone with some help from Jericho and Llayda, he used his control over earth and she used her strength to pull it out, along with eight other stones I was planning to sell through the GST. The big one was in my bag, and the plan was for Jericho to evolve after we earned our fifth badge at least.
An early evolution wasn’t always healthy even if stone-based evolution were a lot safer than normal ones that needed raw accumulation of power and experience. Llayda had figured out Steel Roller as well, a powerful steel-type move that could crush terrain effects.
“You really encountered a Type Royal aggron?” I giggled when I saw that Akari was chatting with Lillian. “Like the one that fought the legendary tyranitar of Kanto?” My laugh became strained as I was reminded that this world was a crazy death world with a rather deep veneer of niceness.
While any pokémon can grow bigger than normal or become a Type Royal through sheer unadulterated power instead… some of them truly lived up to the name. Larvitar tend to evolve in the wild after consuming thirty times their weight in soil, rock and metal, and evolve faster if they ate fifty five times their weight in one season.
But… they can just keep eating, and eating, and eating… the largest larvitar on record ate a small mountain and grew to the size of a large lighthouse. The Tyranitar of legendary fame was so tall even the tallest castles didn’t even reach halfway up it’s knee. So large it was practically a walking landscape, laying waste to everything not out of malice but simply because size made it a weapon unto itself. Thousands of years ago it had faced a gigantic aggron of equal if not greater scale, creating an entire mountain range between Johto and Kanto… and there was a good reason Mt. Silver was so special… It was the body of a long dead steel titan, buried under rock and soil and plant life.
Lillian laughed. “Nowhere near that impressive, it was definitely bigger than a house though… maybe twenty meters tall? It was eating its way through a blast furnace, just swallowing literal tons of iron.” Right, that isn’t nightmare inducing at all, to imagine a three hundred sixty ton monster devouring literal trucks worth of metal. “It took my entire team to take down that monster, and Orthworm was the man… well worm in that battle, taking the hits like a champ and absorbing any ground-type moves that aggron used against us. And he landed the final blow with a combo of Iron Defense and Body Press.”
Oh… that would do it. Body Press scaled based on the physical toughness of a pokémon, and was fighting-type to boot…
After we had prospected the third site, we had moved a few miles to the fourth and final site, which was a flat plain with a massive maw of a cave leading into the underground. The Devon employees had found huge IE deposits to exploit for energy generation, and I could see one talking into their phone with a hushed whisper. Mirko was tilting her ear in his direction with a look of concern.
“Something wrong?” I asked, and she shrugged, as if unsure about whatever she was listening in on.
“Might be she’s hearing some of Devon’s concerns about Cipher and the Pokémon Pinchers, they’ve been stealing tech from a bunch of different companies in the region.” Lillian explained and I could see how that would be a cause of concern.
Why did that feel too simple though?
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November 17th, 2022.
The next several days had been far more eventful as something had caused the local pokémon to become more violent. We had been dealing with regular incursions and attacks, and it had been nerve wracking. The first day it had been a swarm of beedrill and scyther, the second we had faced a herd of angry tauros and a cohort of ghosts that haunted us the entire night before being chased off by the normal types and dark types on our teams. Mirko had done a good bulk of the work around us with Swift and Foresight, and had almost torn a wild misdreavus to bits and ran off a murkrow flock with Thunder Punch.
The third day was far worse, as it involved a swarm battle against a weavile pack. Which was an utter nightmare of a battle, as they had created a snowstorm with a move called Snowscape, a variant of Hail that’s more benign and used to increase their defense. I would have barely avoided getting mauled if it wasn’t for Fennekin using a Calm Mind-enhanced mix of Ember and Fire Spin to blow away as much of the storm as she could. They were terrifyingly fast, in a blink they could leap sixty yards, and Jericho had gotten a light scar from where one had clawed at his left flank.
It had been a nightmare so far, and I was reading up on the ten regions of Nihoh, from top to bottom to distract myself.
Sinnoh was the northernmost region, the closest to the Esklova region, a vast and cold region making up the great north of Asu. The southern peninsula of Almia is its own autonomous prefecture, having split from Sinnoh before the war. Then came Tohoku, which bordered Mohto to the south, some four hundred fifty thousand square kilometers of mountains, coast and plains.
It had connections to Rota… though it would be more accurate to say that Rota sat between its borders and the border of Northern Kanto, a sparse region that was mostly farm-country and only independent by dint of being kinda far away. Below that of course was Kanto and Johto, with the Chuenn region to the west in turn split into Fiore and Oblivia, and the island region of Shoku is directly south. Hoenn was further west and southernly and the region ended with the Sevii Islands.
It was a big world out there.
I glanced over to the table, which Mirko was setting up instead of myself. Apparently she had developed an interest in it after the first bad day where I had barely been able to do anything, so she was learning how to cook and prepare food. And based on… how territorial she was I had a feeling I was going to lose a part of the kitchen for the foreseeable future.
Also interestingly enough she knows how to read, and was apparently pretty invested in my notes on both herself and on her teammates. I questioned how she knew how to read English script, but so far no answer when we don’t share the same language and she’s being stingy in her writings.
Honestly though as a trainer my main duty was evaluating their physical needs, assigning appropriate activities to get them stronger, faster and smarter and tracking their progress, along with research and so on.
I wasn’t a full-on doctor for them, mostly it was just doing a basic health sports physical assessment using the scanner or manual tools, recording their weight and height, checking blood pressure and pulse, testing vision and other senses, heart and lungs and muscles, bones, and joints. I…
I wasn’t going to be stupid and get my pokémon hurt because I was an arrogant asshole. At least before I was sponsored, Laven had put me through rigorous study sessions so I would be able to pass the Trainer Exam, which is what every wannabe trainer needed if they wanted the full license. Sort of a cross between a personal trainer and a physical therapist aide, with their actual doctors being the people working at the Centers.
“Mir… ol?” Mirko gestured to the food dispenser I had bought for easy storage of pellets… to my embarrassment I had bought it because it reminded me of the vending machine-thing from Zoboomafo. You press a button and it drops the food in a bowl. My pokémon sat at the table with me, with the smaller of the two using a high-chair thing.
They all scrambled to press their respective buttons, marked with a cute sticker with an outline of them. Their bowls were filled with the freshly cooked meals, and Mirko threw one of her pellets at my open mouth.
“Bleh, fuck!” My teeth bit right into the mix of hay, a sweet herbaceous taste along with the strong multifaceted flavor of oran, vegetables and an earthy shrimp taste.
Well… I know what bugs taste like, thank you Mirko.
Fennekin let out the funniest vulpine laughter, a breathless ‘hahaha’ that forced me to force down the pellet before I burst out laughing and choked. Jericho looked at his food and my mouth and I glared.
I pointed at him fiercely. “Do not. Her food is mostly edible, yours would probably kill me. Fennekin’s might be edible if not for the wood, and Llayda’s is just not to my taste.” It was basically seafood, but I wasn’t interested.
With a sigh, I pulled out my food from my own food dispenser, which was a single little slot thing because I thought it was cute as fuck, even had a symbol for human. It dropped two burritos I had made myself, with steak beef, pan fried potatoes and some spices and peppers and tamato berries.
“You’re all weirdos, but I love ya.” I felt a faint blush rise at the earnesty in my words, when the hell had I gotten so attached?
Ensure your favorite authors get the support they deserve. Read this novel on Royal Road.
Mirko just preened, and her gaze slid over to something behind me. I followed it to where Akari was lying on Happy, clearly enjoying his warmth. She wiggled her eyebrows.
I growled, and she looked surprised at the reaction, then amused. “Can you stop trying to ship me and Akari, it’s kind of rude.” Also kind of uncomfortable.
Mirko paused with a mild pout, but I could tell she was reading my face. She sighed, and gave a sound that roughly said ‘I’ll tone it down a notch, sorry’ and that let me relax. Fennekin was looking between us, as if trying to measure us out.
“Still trying to figure us out huh?” I asked her directly and her hackles raised. “I’m not surprised… based on what little I know about your previous wielder, he’s clearly a jackass. I’m… I hope I’m a lot better than him, I’m not a complicated person I think. I try to be good with other people even if I don’t understand them, try to learn what I can… even if I can be pretty selfish and self-focused sometimes.”
I wasn’t good at on-the-fly empathy… or sympathy perhaps, it was hard to figure out feelings mattered in the heat of the moment, to think of others while I was in my own space and time. I did have empathy though, when I had enough space to think, to question, to digest information.
I did my best to meet her eyes without feeling uncomfortable, she was the one who looked away first with a huff.
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November 18th, 2022
I woke up at midnight with a splitting headache, and pinched the bridge of my nose to dull the ache with an added click of my tongue. I could hear someone outside, lightly batting at the tent’s entrance.
“Akari?” I whispered, and the zipper was pulled down by a sheepish looking Akari, her blue hair a mess of curls and clearly poorly groomed. “What’s going on?”
“Happy set my tent on fire.” Was her flat answer, the deadpan almost funny but also concerning. “So I’m borrowing your tent.”
I opened and closed my mouth. “Sure, whatever. Just don’t expect cuddles.” I was making a joke but the mirth in her eyes told me that was a mistake.
“I wouldn’t mind cuddles with a cute girl,” her toothy grin was far too wide and scary and yet… intriguing. “But it’s been an interesting week hasn’t it? More even.”
“I think I’m getting a better handle of things, finding a better way to handle moves and how pokémon use them.”
“You mean the stuff you stole from the video game about our world?” She laughed softly at my pout.
“Hey it works doesn’t it? It’s just a subdivision of offensive, defensive and supportive and some of the ways they can be used. Plus learning to better analyze on the fly rather than letting my pokémon do all the work.” I was the trainer, keeping an eye on the field was kind of my whole thing.
“Not wrong. Just remember that in the real world things can work differently, and we’re not limited to four moves.”
“Hmm. Learned that with Hypnosis and Foresight.” I acknowledged.
Hypnosis was not just the ability to put someone to sleep, it was a mental manipulation, reaching into the mind and inputting a range of commands and orders. While full-on psychic domination was generally not a thing, it was a very dangerous move when used beyond just making someone pass out, as it was a hypnotic suggestion.
Foresight didn’t just let Mirko punch ghosts, it let her dispel illusions, invisibility and in some cases let you see through solid objects. Which was how she had seen through the ghosts from a few days ago. She hasn’t figured out the solid objects thing, and invisibility is harder as it’s far more focused. But punching ghosts and dispelling illusions and her immunity to possession made her a good counter against ghost types.
“Mhmm. Combination moves can be a pretty considerable threat.”
I smirked. “Which is why I developed my system, it’s not perfect, but it works well enough. I just need to add some extra commands, keep their focus and all.” I had to look at every angle, every possible direction of attack, subversion or defense. “Coordinate in-battle rather than just pre-battle.”
“Mhmm. How’s that working out?” She asked curiously, and I shrugged.
“I’m doing okay I think? I’ve won a ton of casual battles, I even got Fennekin into a battle that she enjoyed.”
Her eyebrows lifted. “Oh that’s great, did she enjoy herself?”
“She beat two rock-types, and is getting better at directing Ember and Fire Spin. I’m thinking of looking into how it can be reshaped into something interesting. Though I might need help with that.”
“I can definitely help with that, I’ve got some good instincts when it comes to moves and aura… but you… can actually see it.”
To my shock I found her swiftly crawling over to, resting on her knees, and placing hard fidgety hands down on the ground as she loomed over me with her superior height.
Sometimes I forget I’m only 5’2.
I glanced over to her night clothes, a thick blue sweater-coat thing that again reminded me of a certain… distant land and plot, and piplup print sleeping shorts. I glanced at her chest for a second.
She’s also bigger than me..
I ignored that irrational spike of jealousy, and instead decided to take it as Akari being excited to help out.
We spent the next few hours wasting time, comparing notes on training and how we taught our team their moves, abilities and potential combat-multipliers.
But all the while, there was a sense of unease that kept me talking to keep the Silence from creeping in.
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November 21st, 2022.
“Return, Mirko!” I shouted the command, and felt my aura pulse in tandem with my starter as she began to pull on our link, drawing energy from the countless connections tying us together. Multicolored light coiled around her limbs, burning in white, violet, cerise and as blue as the sky.
“Sa-Sa!” The poor wild sandshrew was sent flying after it tried to claw out my eyes, vanishing behind some rock outcroppings as it was thrown for a good hundred meters.
Return had grown in power, I could feel our bond growing stronger, and I had gotten to know my team in general a lot better. For example I glanced down to my phone where I had let her type some words.
You’re a funny trainer, Brandy, kinda a dumbass too.
Her words weren’t the kindest but I could see they had been written with warmth and affection. Which made sense, it was November 21st, and I had chosen her on July 2nd… four months, but those four months felt like both an eternity and no time at all. So I kept reading.
But you’re a good trainer, you didn’t have to pick me after I attacked you… I know I ran off other trainers before with my surly personality. No one wanted me, no one wanted to take me to see the world, whether because I was too cute for them, or because lopunny has a ‘reputation’ or because we’re not the ultimate starter like some others.
And I know you want to study my species… not because it’ll get you a reward, but because it’ll help you understand us better, understand me better. You’re a good human. So I’ll help you like you helped me.
I rubbed my eyes, putting my phone away and painting a too-wide smile on my face. I placed my hand on the sparkling gemstone on my collar, still examining the endless patterns of aura it soaked up, twisting into a kaleidoscope of energies. It was an interesting focus, letting me better differentiate the shape, the frequency and pattern of Type Energy.
I was working on better coverage moves for my team today, Mirko was learning Bounce from Llayda and would let her counter fighting-types and augment her movability. Play Rough was another one to use against fighting types, and I wanted to see if she could learn Shadow Ball to counter ghost types and psychic types. If I ever find a mega stone…
Llayda, I was thinking Bulldoze to counter electric and poison types and slow down her enemies, Ice Spinner to counter grass pokémon and nullify terrains and… well that’s it for now. Jericho needed to work on moves to counter his weaknesses, psychic types meant either bug or dark moves, Sucker Punch and Thief are two or and Megahorn is another when he evolves. Ground types, I was thinking he should learn Ice Beam, and water could be countered with Shock Wave or Thunderbolt in the future. Ice could be countered with Iron Tail.
Fennekin could learn Energy Ball for water, ground and rock types, ghost types she could learn Foul Play and for dark types her species had access to Aura Sphere.
Something to do with one getting taught by a lucario and passing it on as a spell.
Mirko tapped my leg, and I focused back on the present, clutching the gem once more, now uncomfortably warm, the current twisting and folding and unfolding as as something parted the harmonic energies of the world—
Mirko let out a distress call, ears unfolding with a crack of air, and it was loud and high pitched, alerting the entire field of trainers, geologists and Devon employees.
Akari stiffened, and the entire group was put on high alert… and Mirko fired red beams of Foresight from her eyes, collapsing a bubble of see-me-not without me telling her.
And floating in the sky were multiple hovering vehicles, something like a flying treadmill… hoverboard device. There were multiple people onboard along with pokémon, wearing black and gray undershirts, two-tone green vests and hats and— oh no.
There was one rider that was the leader of the formation, with a wrestler type outfit, and long gray hair and wizened robust features. The color of his uniform reminded me… of a skaking for some reason, with strange gauntlets covering his hands, and an embedded gemstone gleaming from his right hand.
He stepped off his platform to fall below.
…!
He landed in a crater, a pokémon landing with him in what seemed like perfect sync. Why did my heart ache, why did it hurt so badly?
The dust was blown back by a wave of the man’s hand as he stepped forward less like a human being and more like a mountain.
Then I saw his partner.
It was an absolutely gigantic slaking, who looked very much like a cross between a gorilla and a ground sloth. Messy matted brown-green fur covered a lengthy, muscular and heavy frame, standing bipedally on four clawed feet that certainly weren’t simian, rising twelve, thirteen, fourteen, fifteen feet in the air, rolling shoulders twice as wide as my torso and supporting arms twice my own height in length, fists big enough to cup Llayda whole uncurled to reveal foot long scythes of keratin, and I could see his head was huge too. A squashed flat thick browed face and a large forehead, a puggy sloth-nose curling in rage and revealing enormous fangs and eyes reflecting silver, blind with hatred.
“Some of you might recognize me from the works of my colleagues in Oblivia, or you might not. But none of you lightweights will be able to hold up against the power I’ve been given. My name is Arley, now prepare to die.”
He posed, and I paled as I felt his aura surge into a screaming vortex, blending violently with the dark tainted aura of his slaking.
His old face twisted into a nasty dark smile.
“Giga Impact!”