Expedition 2.9
October 9th, 2022.
Another week had come and gone as Akari and I got down with more training, and for preparation for the Kozukata Gym, home to the water-type Gym Leader Rei. We also explored the city which had a lot to offer with both its size and sheer amount of amenities. There were a ton of retail and local flea markets that were chock full of interesting items, pokémon and products. From special shampoo, to traditional apricorn balls and TMs and TRs both widely available.
I had found someone selling fairy dust, a strange elemental powder that was a natural byproduct of fairy-type energy. It apparently was good for increasing the potential of fairy-types and served as a fuel for magic… supposedly. It was also known as faerie glamour, an illusion-made so real that reality itself is fooled.
It wasn’t dangerous… unless it got into the lungs of a dragon, which would trigger a case of Pixie Dust Cold, the chaotic wild energies causing illness and wreaking havoc on their immune system. Sold samples like the one I had were treated with a coating that would keep them from being dangerous.
There were lots of little illnesses common to certain types of pokémon, and I had read up on the ones my team was susceptible to. Bluemote, Lockbone, and Blooddrip are dangerous for Mirko, Jericho is incredibly toxic and extremely resistant to disease, anything that could make him sick would likely kill us all too.
Llayda as a water-fairy type can get Saline Fever from too much salt and is easily cured with fresh water, and Iron Sickness means a careful regulation of her iron intake.
My water fairy had learned Charm, and I was currently having her work on learning Play Rough and Aqua Jet. For the former she was using Slam as a model with the sadism turned up a notch while Aqua Jet was being built up using her propulsive use of Water Gun.
I breathed in and out, counting motes of dust in the air as a form of mental mantra, of developing a greater awareness of aura. Something about connecting aura to dust in my mind felt right, and I did my best to communicate with my pokémon so I could better understand them.
For example, Mirko was teaching me to dance.
The buneary line were apparently good dancers, often using it in their day-to-day life as a form of communication. Their storytellers used dance in their tales and legends, and they did it for fun of course. They had a lot of hopping, belly dancing, and hip-using dances. Which was good exercise and Mirko seemed happier whenever we did it together, apparently taking interest in another person’s interests was a good thing. We also talked a lot about technology and science, since it seemed to be a particular interest of hers.
Jericho was more interested in learning about space, and I talked about what I knew about space. He also hates realistic fiction, and often coaxed me into makeshift obstacle courses using whatever was laying around. So I was very slowly learning the principles of parkour, just so I could keep up with his games and competitive spirit.
I have fallen off of trees far too many times for his sake.
Llayda was more playful than either of them, and enjoyed playing card games and a good game of Pop the Bubble, basically just creating a bunch of bubbles to pop and whoever pops the most wins.
She cheated at both and I despised her for it. She also threw me into the water to swim far too many times to the point I thought she was trying to drown me and eat my corpse.
Was that morbid?
Yes.
Did I care?
No.
There was a feeling there, whenever I found a connection with my pokémon, something in common, learning together, growing together. I drew on that feeling as I counted dust, very glad I had stocked up on contacts and a pair of backup glasses. One’s eyes were a much more fragile ordeal than a magical second puberty, and I hadn't looked into laser eye surgery recently.
It was getting easier to sense aura, and it made me wonder if that was responsible for how well I could sense the body language of my pokémon. I was never good at that, being on the spectrum and all, but now I could read the emotions of completely different species.
Don't get me started on how I'm speaking the same language, and can read their writing without any issue. Luckily my English couldn't be read by anyone except Laven or people knowledgeable in Unown script.
There was a knock on the door to my room, and I slipped out of my bed to answer the door.
It was Akari, rubbing her eyes and staring me down with a half-lidded gaze. She was wearing her usual outfit along with her coat which made sense as Tohoku was getting colder as winter approached day by day.
“What's up?”
“We’re battling right this instant, no saying no.”
I blinked.
“Okay?”
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We took up one of the many dirt fields at the back of the Pokémon Center, standing on opposite ends with hands on our belt, waiting to throw out our pokémon.
I already know which pokémon I'm going to use as a lead for the battle, but Akari could be… unpredictable, her pignite was powerful and knew how to play his cards right while her munchlax was durable and unrelenting, a mix of his Leftovers, Rest and Curse making him into a brick wall of a mon. Her togepi was another monster of a different sort, with utility moves like Sweet Kiss and Charm disabling her opponent's strength or damaging them with confusion, and Psycho Shift lets her throwback status conditions. Her attack weren't as strong with access to Fairy Wind and Draining Kiss.
“A three-on-three until knockout or forfeit, no switches like usual?” She commented on the rules and I gave her a sunny thumbs up. The both of us reached out and—
Threw.
“I choose you, Kirby!”
“Go, Jericho.”
In two flashing beams of light, a nidorino and a munchlax materialized on the field, Jericho started off with a Hone Claws, and a confident cry while Kirby just smiled hungrily.
“Toxic Spikes.” I started off by setting up an entry hazard in Toxic Spikes, Jericho easily setting them off using his spines as a focus for poison energy. “Double Kick into Poison Jab.”
Jericho used the momentum of Double Kick to throw himself across the twenty-yard field in a third of a second. To my surprise, he blocked the hit with his bare hands, glancing back at Akari.
“Strength.” Pushing giant boulders should have been a clue—
Kirby slugged Jericho right in the face, the full-power attack leaving him in a crater with the sheer amount of force he had launched into the move.
The hit was devastating, and I could tell Jericho was almost down with the one terrifying attack. But…
Kirby let out a gasp, as I saw the signs of poisoning, a flicker of sickly purple across his body, and Akari frowned.
“Jericho finally tapped into his Poison Point ability then?” Jericho’s laughter was almost chilling, his feet stamping into the ground with victory in his voice. “Let's aim for some groundbreaking Kirby.”
“Oh… Get into the air!” I barely reacted in time as the munchlax went on a rampage, stomping down on the ground and striking the entire field at once with geokinetic force.
“Hone Claws into Double Kick, double down on what we talked about!” In mid-air, he focused his mind into silence with Hone Claws, dove down with the weight of Double Kick, and right as Kirby tried to block with another Strength, he retaliated with a shifting flux of Confusion that knocked away his jab and kicked him in the jaw.
Focus Energy was activated seamlessly into his arm turning purple with Poison Jab, chopping Kirby in the throat. The small bear choked and gagged
“Curse and end it.” The esoteric move slammed into existence, strength, and toughness increasing at the cost of speed.
He didn't need it as he unleashed a second Bulldoze, knocking out Jericho with a stomp of his foot.
But he was hurt and poisoned, and Jericho had layered the field four times over throughout the fight. I threw out my next pokémon, and smiled as Llayda landed gracefully on her feet, a sharp look in her eyes as she inspected the sleepy munchlax.
She winked at the munchlax, appearing cute and innocent as without a word said between us her Charm-Tail Whip combo got to work.
“Bruise him with all you've got, and traverse out of there whenever he gets fresh.” Aqua Jet exploded into life, sending her flying into a far too-slow munchlax. Her tail swung into a Slam attack that hit like a truck, all two hundred thirty pounds of bear sent skidding for seven feet. Her Aqua Jet sputtered away and I hid my frown, she still hadn't mastered the move so it was only good in short bursts.
Akari’s eyebrows furrowed, lips pulling into a rather cold grin, her teeth almost exposed in a snarl.
“Facade.”
“Double back!” Llayda avoided Facade with a spurt of Aqua Jet, and I winced as the attack left a huge crater where his arm lit up like gold had torn through the reinforced ground.
Facade was a move that doubled in power when the user was dealing with a status condition, so Kirby had access to a move almost equal to Giga Impact. Her tail swayed from side to side with a hypnotic cuteness, TE focused into Tail Whip and draining his strength.
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“Bubble Beam.” The stream of bubbles cracked more like bullets than water, each popping and impacting against Kirby’s belly. She slammed into a second Aqua Jet into Slam, and he took remarkable damage, two Slams knocking him around and then…
Out.
“She’s a strong pokémon, I’m glad you’re able to put up a better fight, Brandy.” Her grin was savage, steel blue eyes gleaming with excitement and her whole body practically quivering with energy.
Scary.
I had a poor win-lose ratio in our matches, six out of ten matches went to her but I also knew she utterly destroyed every trainer on our level with a smile on her face that scared me shitless. So the fact I survived longer at least meant I wasn’t a bad trainer.
She released her next pokémon, and I flinched when I saw her togepi take the field with a cute smile. She was inflicted with poison and her trainer’s gleeful face was scary.
“Psycho Shift.” Waves and lines of psychic power surrounded her pokémon, and caught Llayda in their grasp. In the blink of an eye my pokémon was inflicted with poison while Ellis was free of it, her grin no less wide.
I’m an idiot.
“Metronome.” Was her next order, and I told Llayda to be ready for anything. Ellis began to form toxic sludge, and I recognized the move as… well Sludge.
Llayda dodged, using her tail to transition into Bounce, going up a hundred feet and coming down with a powerful jetstream surrounding her body.
“Give her some love!” I recognized the command, fuck.
“Disrupt it with Bubble Beam.” The togepi got a face full of subsonic bubbles before she could get use of a Sweet Kiss, a move that muddled the minds of the target through fairy magic. “Go full Bruiser, don’t let her get off any more moves!”
My marill just churred and slammed into Ellis, throwing around the tough fairy egg. Who simply wagged her finger and—
Exploded.
Both pokémon were out of the field as the way too enthusiastic togepi used Explosion, and the point-blank move knocked out Llayda. Akari looked incredibly embarrassed, and I chuckled awkwardly.
The Explosion had damaged a good amount of Toxic Spikes, reducing the potency of the poisoning. If Ellis had been more strategic she could have wiped away the entire field and destroyed my strategy completely.
Akari was definitely going to scold the overzealous fairy baby. We moved on, retrieving our fallen friends with the return function on their pokéballs.
We were both down to our Starters, the second-stage fire pig known as Happy was our opponent, Mirko the normal rabbit pokémon was already set up with Work Up. I had planned out basic roles for each of my pokémon, working with their specialties as a species, and their preferred means of combat.
Mirko was an all-out-attacker, focusing on her speed and wide coverage moves to jeopardize entire team's given the right set up. Nidorino is more of a wall breaker, evolving into a pokémon with excellent offensive typing, along with great coverage moves, pressuring opposing pokémon. He can also play a secondary hazard role with Poison Point, Toxic Spikes… and eventually Stealth Rock.
Llayda was a hyper-offensive monster, the combination of Huge Power and her amazing typing meant she was an amazing fighter with a lot of potential.
I started before my thoughts could cost me the match. “Go for the usual, add some charm where you can.”
Happy started with Bulldoze striking at the entire field, and Mirko jumped in the air. The pignite released a Mud Shot that Mirko blocked with a barrage of Swift stars, and twisted automatically through the air. Her boosted strength and power guaranteed her hits would do devastating damage.
She surged down to the ground with Quick Attack, which immediately transitioned into a Headbutt. We had been practicing how to circulate, direct and generate Type Energy. I wanted to learn how to modify moves, and was learning the basics of the process.
Happy leaned to the right to dodge and was battered by Swift stars changing their course, and keeping him in place. It was a new technique, practicing Swift over and over again, developing visual exercises and better means of controlling and altering Type Energy.
He took a Headbutt right to his dense skull, with a loud crack that made me wince in sympathy, and Mirko unleashed a point-blank Swift and let the laws of physics throw her backward.
“Ember Charge.” To my shock, Happy surrounded himself in a twisting inferno and charged forward with flames exploding out of the mass of fire and catching Mirko off guard.
A true fusion move, fuck.
The Embers were too fast to dodge, and I paled as I realized she had figured out how to apply the speed boost of Flame Charge to fire-type attacks.
“Quick Attack out of there!”
She dove back, but Happy was a stubborn pig, his Flame Charge increasing his speed with every burst of power, and before I could think of a way to get out of there, he slammed full force into Mirko.
I felt my heart clench when Mirko didn't get up, her chest rising in and out as she had fainted, unable to take the Flame Charge and Ember combo.
Damn. Guess I'm not improving my win-lose ratio this day, but it was a close one.
But it also means I'm free to do what I want today, with the Gym Trial tomorrow.
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The Blossoming Castle was far, far more impressive in person than it was in pictures, an enormous fortress of wood and stone that spanned hundreds of feet, and largely taken care of by monks and shrine maidens, of a similar ilk to those of the Bell Tower and the Kimono Girls of Ecruteak, people who still remember the empires that once were.
I had decided to go for a tour, and Akari had tagged along, since while she was a native, living up in the hostile mountains did have its own set of downsides. The castle itself was the very heart of the city, surrounded by a beautiful park and the castle itself is labyrinthine, with rooms going into the ground too, carved out by pokémon and man.
The castle… was a place of great strife and conflict, countless domains had met their end here at this strategic location, clan killing clan and paving rivers of blood across the centuries. The castle was among the last, built during the Industrial Age, even if Nihoh was relatively isolated from the rest of the world at the time.
Warring clans fought their last battle here, as a legendary hero known only as the Blossoming Knight summoned an unknown legendary and destroyed their armies, unifying this area of Tohoku. The history of this set of regions mirrored Japan’s but it wasn't the same, far too different in some ways and far too similar in others. Warring clans, emperors and samurai and ninja and daimyo, great unifiers and all.
The Celestica and other peoples of Nihoh were the original natives of the island chain, and were displaced right around three thousand years ago, with immigrants from Joseon and Pangu displacing them throughout the next thousand years or intermingling with them.
The Waajin and the Ebizu fought over this land for centuries on end and the Blossoming Castle was a piece of that ancient history.
Mirko was riding on my shoulder, which was harder than you think when she's rather large for a rabbit. Having eighteen pounds on my back was at least more manageable than my asshole of a nidoran still acting like he wasn't half my weight.
He and Llayda had decided to sit this one out, instead watching from their balls, since they could see out of them and even move them around somehow.
The apricorn was the original capture device, when people realized they could hide themselves in hollow spheres, with apricorns being their optimal hidden places. A way to hide from dangerous elements or predators, never for long but for long enough. Combined with the mysterious energy of tumblestones they could be held indefinitely with no harm to them
The modern ball was more artificial, made of a special layered composite of apricorn and exotic metal alloys, along with a computer chip and exotic machinery.
The old apricorn balls had their limitations, their space was far from luxurious, and without the modern understanding of the fruit’s dimensional properties, they couldn't provide nearly as much sustenance. The modern ball tapped into the exotic properties of its shell to tap into a sort of… sub-reality, an ever-shifting dimension somewhat like the Dream World, with each ball being a tiny zone in this space.
I had heard about projects of using the PC System as the interface for an interconnected series of Friend Zone sub-realities providing an inexpensive environment for housing pokémon without needing to connect to a physical location. It only caught on in a few regions such as Unova, due to a number of issues facing the system.
A sage approached the line, and I squared my shoulders and focused on the present. That meant the tour was starting, so I flashed my ticket to the sage who offered a bright warm grin.
“We’ll start with a tour of the Blossoming Castle’s interior, and work our way through its many accessible rooms and halls.” He spoke honestly and his voice was easily projected, quieting the entire crowd of people. Even Akari was affected, the pressure the man exuded was…
Striking.
Then I remembered he was a Sage and that in this world it meant more than being a wise man or woman.
We were guided into the castle by the sage, and I took in the sights of the interior, many holding decorations and paintings and ancient works of art maintained through the ages.
He told us about the heritage of the castle belonging to that of the Indigo Plateau, from the period when Ecruteak was the capital of a sickly empire spanning Kanto, Johto, Oblivia, Fiore, and Mohto, the impassable mountainous region that houses the Kingdom of Rota and beyond. The Ecruteak empire had made many attempts to conquer this region and it had taken three warlords to succeed.
It didn't last, the empire breaking at the seams and its leaders paying the price for their greed and pride. This fall of grace led to the rise of Celadon as a center of power and culture throughout Nihoh, the Kantonians overthrowing their Johtonian masters without lifting a finger even as the Wataru continued to rule their home region.
The people of Celadon became the center of a new empire with the Restoration Period, unifying most of Nihoh around 1668 and subsequently modernizing Nihoh to catch up with the industrial western nations while settling Hisui. Their creation of the League and the Gym Circuit ended up creating an independent power structure and led to their downfall around two hundred years ago, with the Blossoming Castle at one point being the center of the Tohoku League.
From what I remember…
The modern structure of the regional government was… looser, operating sort of as a cross between a Domain and a socialist government as a matter of necessity. When literally anyone could rise up to rival the power of the government, giving people a say was important. Delegates started at the village level and sent delegates to town councils, with the Gym towns and cities being near the top of the pyramid, structured much like a confederacy of Domains.
What?
Knowing how the government worked was pretty important when you lived in a foreign country, and this was a strange form of governance. The closest most regions had to a central government was the League, as in the bureaucracy, and not the Elite Four and Champion. They were involved in politics yes but not as rulers… usually.
I glanced at a few paintings from contact with Paldea, and blinked at the two… donphans with a lot of artistic license towards their appearance. One had enormous tusks and spikes along their back while the other looked… mechanical, almost like a living machine.
I wonder…
Akari grabbed me by the shoulder, tugging me back to the group, and I glanced at the odd shadows that twisted and shifted with the odd lighting of the castle.
This place was known for having many ghosts within its walls.
The sage brought us before a set of armor that was clearly of Ebizu origin, with an oval helmet design with flaps on either side and a short tail of feathers at its peak and yellow cloth robes clad in dark armor. A spear covered in strange symbols etched onto its wooden frame seemed to almost glow in the light.
“This is the ancient War Regalia of the Ebizu people most of the citizens of Tohoku have a kinship with, however distant. Armor forged by man and pokémon, and legends say forged with magic and sorceries lost to the ages, able to channel the power of life itself.”
The spear had a strange tassel, and I swore I saw something wink at me from the weapon, but when I blinked it was gone.
We moved along, and I wondered.