~~~ Chapter 54 - Gifts ~~~
The sky was a dark blue, little gold beams peeking out over the trees, the cool morning air rustling their leaves. Art rolled over in his bag, his eyes opening, his vision was blurry. He stretched his arms out, taking a good yawn. He smiled in the light of the early morning sun, before shooting straight up and glancing around.
He wasn't in the gym, and Leah and Fidget were both being quiet. A moment of listening later, rustling alerted Art on their location— behind him, so he whipped around, worried what they'd gotten up to while he wasn't watching— Fidget was wrestling with Kate's scrafty. One moment, they were eyeing each other down, walking in circles, a flash of movement later, scrafty was on the ground.
The girl's skorupi—leaves in a ring around its tail and one glued unceremoniously onto its face with holes cut over it like a domino mask—watched alongside the venipede, who was not at all decorated from Leah's night-time doting. With a whump, Fidget was brought down to the ground. Fidget, undeterred, stood back up.
The two continued to trade blows during their back and forth, the leavanny relying on Leah's leaf-armor coverings to absorb the hits. The last time Art saw the duo wrestle, back in Castelia gym a few days prior, it was, at best, one out of every four times that Fidget could gain a physical advantage—with a chirp, Fidget was back on the ground, this time getting pummeled as Kate's scrafty lost its patience.
Artemus scrambled, reaching for Fidget's pokeball, but was too slow. Leah was already there, batting the pokemon away, forcing the fighter to eat dirt, standing over her fellow. He smiled, letting out a sigh. Leah didn't even glance at Fidget, who just seemed to stare at her as she watched the scrafty get up and run to its waking trainer, giving her a hug as if it had done nothing wrong, and moaning as if it was the one injured. Burgh rolled his eyes at the performance. Leah went back to the trees. Each step of hers was stiff.
The silcoon was resting by his side, not moving at all from where Burgh had let it out the night before, though he smiled, as it too, had a leaf on top. He put his hand on the cocoon pokemon, feeling its prickly, sticky cocoon, the soft body wiggling under the surprise touch. It would be a while before it would evolve and he could really train it. Burgh got up, rolling up his sleeping bag. Leah sat on the ground under a tree, unnatural stillness, as if sitting in a daze. He frowned, pulling out the bottle of elixir and a potion that Lyra had left them with.
Walking over to Leah, he gave her a good spray of the elixir, then, gently pushing the potion into her mouth, gave her a good dose of that as well. It took a moment, but Leah was back in action. He'd have to take her to get checked at the pokecenter in Striaton city. It would be quite the story to tell the nurse he'd had to use a quarter of the bottle of elixir on Virizion.
"Morning, Arty," Kate said, drawing both him and Leah from their thoughts. She sat up, still in her sleeping bag, hugging and patting her scrafty.
"Morning, Kate" he said, pulling up his backpack, opening the zippers, grabbing packs of their dense breakfast meals. Kate does the same, calling her pokemon to her, as Leah and Fidget both gather around to eat.
"Here you go, kids," Kate says, feeding her team, Leah's antennae twitching at each word. Burgh tears open the two bags of berries, dumping Fidget's into his mouth, Leah swiping hers, instead choosing to spear them. He smiled. Their pokemon attended to, the trainers picking up their stuff in silence. Burgh checked his phone. They were an hour hike from the official road, and a three hour bike ride from there to Striaton, with scheduled meetings with one of the gym leaders there for that afternoon and the next morning. Fidget still needed more practice, and he was worried about being stuck in the gym for too long.
Learning that the swadloon had been used for Dawn's psychic practice made his stomach churn in worry. He had to get them back from the professor. He pushed his hair back, feeling the grease. He hadn't had a shower in a while. He would have to see if the gym would let him use theirs, even if he wasn't a member.
"Leah!" Kate called out, drawing his pokemon's attention. Her scrafty ran away as Leah approached, his body conveying a feeling of complete betrayal.
"Stop being so dramatic!", she laughed. Kate held no berry in her hands, but asked: "Oran? Or Pecha?", moving her empty hands up and down, just like he had been doing at Lyra's behest. He raised his brow as Leah chose the oran berry. For a moment of doubt, he wondered if she actually was learning the words, as oran, while full of nutrients, assisting healing and such, were not as sugar-dense as pechas, which helped the body push out and process toxins. Leah saw the dried berry as Kate pulled it out of her bag. She tapped it with her antennae, then speared it with her leafblade, before shoving it into her mouth.
He frowned further. She's still not feeling well? he thought. Then a follow-up thought struck him. She knows what an Oran berry does? No, he shook his head. Of course she knows what an Oran berry was. She had grown and lived in the wild already for years probably. There was nothing strange about a pokemon learning on and relying on their ability to forage. No, she really wasn't feeling well. Which meant that they needed to get to Striaton and have Leah looked over again.
"You know Kate," he said, "I think I'm going to ride the bike through the trails. Leah's definitely not feeling well."
"Because Leah chose the Oran berry?" she asked.
"Yeah," he said, "As peculiar as she is, I've never seen her choose something that wasn't sweet, and I've already dosed her with both a potion and elixir today."
Leah's antennae were twitching with each word. Was she still moving slower than usual? Drowned in anxiety? She felt well enough to bat away Kate's scrafty. He frowned, hoping it wasn't anything critical. Pulling out his bike.
"All right then," Kate said, her grin turning mischievous as she looks at the impatient fighter and her venipede, "I'm going to work with scrafty and veni to see if we can improve their manners, I'll see be up to Striaton tonight," she said. He nods to his friend, before pulling out his bike.
"Pokeball?" he asked, hiding his belt; pokemon were smart, and could tell a lot just from body language—even if they weren't all able to learn what humans were saying. "Or basket?" he asked, motioning with each hand both times. Leah pauses for a moment, and as he was about to repeat his question, she tapped the hand which meant basket. Burgh smiled, recalling Fidget and the silcoon to their respective pokeballs. He picked Leah up, setting her in the bike basket.
Leah, sitting in her basket, stared at him as he popped a piece of the hard candy into his mouth, savoring it, before realizing his mistake, tossing one to her. He only had a couple left. Kicking up the bike stand, they departed to Striaton City Pokecenter, riding over the rough trail which would lead them to the road, every so often ringing the bell to make sure that pokemon on the trail wouldn't be run over.
~~~
Several hours later, under the noon-day sun, we pulled in front of Striaton city's pokecenter. The whole bike lurched as we came to a stop. I wasn't super excited at the prospect of, well, more fluorescent lights and tiled walls.
I reached out my arm, and Lanky grabbed the flat of my blade as he lifted me up and out. I twitched, as the scents finally settled, now that we were sitting still. I could hear humans talking, not just Lanky—or Kate, I had learned her name was. I was right—I was picking up words. But still didn't know what to think about it. I had tried. And failed, mind, to learn languages in my past life.
This didn't feel right. Just a couple words and it would click? No. Was it a gift that all pokemon had? Just learn a few words and all of a sudden you get the whole kit and kaboodle? No. Alakazam never even tried to mind-speak with me. Nor did the professor's alien pokemon, or his daughter's musharna. I had been right. About something. I wasn't sure what it was. Quite yet.
But my mind was slowly filling in details—I was learning pokemon's names and species. They were coming to me, even ones I couldn't remember. For example, combee? We saw a pair of combee on the bike ride. But I didn't remember the honeybee-like pokemon at all from my time playing the games. I had to be doing something right. Right? I decided, standing tall. Or else why would these things happen? Why would I be paired up with Burgh? I was destined… to be… a gym leader's star pokemon… I took a breath.
No, I thought. I have agency. I had agency, right? Did I really? Lanky picked me up, after putting the bike into his backpack, cooing at me, talking about how Striaton lets pokemon off leashes but not out of pokeball range yadda yadda, tapping my head. His light brown hair was getting long, I noted, as he sauntered through the front door.
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No, I concluded. As long as I was with Lanky. As long as I was going to be subject to pokeballs, I had traded my agency away. Or rather, I had made my choice, and now I'd made my commitment. I wanted to be near humans. Pokemon around humans were fighters. I would fight. I was already fighting. In the last night's dreams, I was battling for my life. Thanks, Darkrai.
"Welcome to the Striaton City Pokecenter," the nurse had said, as Lanky set me on the countertop. I twitched, still not used to their sounds actually mapping to words. I had tried learning Spanish, in highschool, as a human. I had given it up, because it was too hard. Yeah, human Leah was a wimp in more ways than just ones related to her breathing issues.
"Leah's been moving slow in the mornings," Lanky began to say, then added, "I think she's sick or might have some parasites hitchhiking in her root structures, stealing her chlorophyll," he said.
That caught my attention. Parasites? Pokemon diseases? I mean, of course, it would make sense. There was PokeRus in the games, and I was vaccinated from something back in the professor's labs. My body didn't shiver, though my human mind was reminded of the thoughts of pesticides. Or herbicides. Poisons! I cried out, begging my pokemon-fear to kick in. There was a dull, mute ignorance, though, the image of several dead leavanny and other bugs managed to kick something into gear.
"Calm down dear, there's no one to fight here," the nurse said, carting me off into the back room. Oh. I thought to myself. I would need to have to hope I never run into bug poison.
"Quick Scans, parasite checks, history checks. Trainer says it's been having issues for about two weeks now," the nurse said, dictating into their microphone/tablet. Internally, I would have groaned if I could have, sitting down on the aluminum-covered countertop that seemed to come standard-issue. I was starting to hate the smell of aluminum as much as the existence of fluorescent lights. A robotic arm came down from the ceiling.
"Leah dear," the nurse said, catching my attention. "Don't panic please, we need your arms held out straight." She approached me before lightly grabbing my leaf blades and pulling them out to the sides.
"That's it, please hold please please please!" The nurse said, practically stuttering in nervousness. I held them in place as much as I could as they pressed a button, the robot swiveling around, taking quick pictures of my stick-thin arms.
"Excellent!" she said, coming closer to me again. I pulled my arms back to their more natural, half open, half-collapsed positions.
"Legs please!" she said, but before I could move, I let out a chirp, as she stuck me on my back. With some adjustments and awkward positions, the camera took their pictures, and the nurse wiped their brow.
"Done," she said, letting out a sigh. "You're the most patient Leavanny we've had!" the nurse said. I didn't know what to say, but I gave them a courteous bow. She just laughed at my demonstration, followed by a cutesie exclamation. "Haven't you been taught well!" she said before pressing a button, and a sweet, sweet smell entered the exam room. She tossed me a candy, and I just couldn't say no. Look, don't get me wrong—having this particular superpower did give me hope for say, talking to other pokemon—but just because I could magically-fucking understand human language doesn't mean I wanted to talk back. Not until I knew for sure just how far out of the norm I was, at least.
The nurse picked me up, setting me upright, the cold surface of the cart making me reshuffle so my leaf battle skirt was in-between myself and the cart's top. All in all, this trip to the pokecenter was short and uneventful for me, which was nice. The nurse wheeled me out, helped me hop down onto the tiled floor, and with only a few slips, did I make my way out in front of the reception counter, where Lanky stood, and I could leverage his pant-leg for balance, as I watched various humans going about. The nurse told Lanky that everything was fine. That I didn't have any parasites, so that was nice. Lanky's face as we left the pokecenter was disappointed.
He stared down at me, setting me on his bike, taking us over to a massive park where pokemon were running around with their trainers, with some benches and fountains. I watched as blurry people thousands of feet away played frisbee with their rockruffs and lillipups. Lanky released Leaf and the silcoon, packing up his bike.
I decided to sit on the bench with him and just soak in the suns, drifting in and out of sleep, every so often being awoken by the stray shout or bark. Leaf had seen the pokemon playing, and well, the number of people either scared him, or overstimulated his vision, because with no goading by either me nor Lanky, Leaf—actually, Lanky was calling him Fidget, and though I wasn't about to switch names for the bugger right away, I wasn't about to try and correct our trainer—Leaf stayed by us, near the benches, instead choosing to stay in Lanky's sight as we relaxed on the pokepark, the drum of a fountain in front of us acting as decent white noise, lulling me in and out of torpor.
Leaf was drawn to the sight of the fountain, shadows of a few fish-types swimming about inside, though I wasn't curious enough to get close for sure, my nest-mate had no such compunctions. After some time soaking in the sun, and Leaf poking and splashing at the water, Lanky put away his phone and pokedex, right as Leaf was sprayed in the face by a soft stream of water, knocking him back.
"Fidget!" Lanky said, his tone a bemused kind of stern. "Don't fall in there, or you're fish food!" I looked at Lanky's face, and was promptly reminded of the ocean dive I had almost taken. Best not to fall into large bodies of water, but surely the fish in the fountain weren't that big? I hopped off the bench, walked forward, and took a look at the various fishes. The fountain was a few feet deep. I probably couldn't touch the bottom, but Leaf, a few inches taller than me, probably could. Small, round blue pokemon with surprisingly large faces were swimming about.
Leaf walked up to me, and a pair of fish, with long top and bottom fins drew close to us, eying us with curiosity. They were the ones that cast the big shadows. They were tall, but their actual bodies and mouths were small, though they were… well, they were quite fat. Someone was overfeeding them, that was for sure. That was in the fountain were tympole and remoraid. I clicked, returning to the bench, satisfied that Lanky was wrong. Nothing in the fountain even registered as a threat!
~~~
Benga, and Alder made their trek across the desert back to base-camp, braviary circling above, scaring away any would-be predators. They could have flown back. And they did for short hops, so they wouldn't wind up camping all night; they hadn't brought enough water for an extended trek, but Benga needed to get a taste of the desert sun, to learn a little bit about what he was signing up for, by becoming a trainer like his grandfather. It also gave Alder enough time to lecture the boy on the basics of training a larva and treating pokemon right.
Larvesta weren't the smartest pokemon of the bugs, and had an extended larva stage. And their bodies were just learning to put out heat, and would need special training to learn to control it. Benga, despite his excitement and to his credit, listened, enrapt as his grandfather parted with as much of the early training knowledge as he could. Wrapped up and protected from the worst of the heat in their summer clothes, their newly-caught larvesta safe in their pokeballs, accelgor protected from the heat, safe in his.
Alder breathed a sigh of relief as they returned to camp, when he saw that druddigon was undisturbed and protecting the dragon egg. Alder released accelgor, leaving the pokemon to forage for its own food. Druddigon passively eyed them as they dropped their bags and pokeballs, preparing to go to the stream to wash off and grab a drink.
"Did your mother or father teach you to swim?" Alder asked the boy.
"Yeah! Mom always said I would need to know how to!" Benga exclaimed with his usual hyper-enthusiasm. The gym leader smiled.
"All right then," Alder had told him, "Sounds like you're ready, Benga!" His grandson beamed at the affirmation.
"Whoo! Ready to learn to train!" Benga said, practically dancing as he ran off to the creek. Alder just smiled, hanging back and letting the kid have some personal time. He threw down a blanket, pulling out of the bag some food he'd packed, munching on it, when he spotted under his druddigon's tail wasn't just a single egg.
Curious and concerned, Alder approached.
Druddigon eyed Alder, and for a split second, the leader thought he would need to use his pokeball, but the fight left the pokemon's eyes, and it let him approach. The egg was warm to the touch, and soft. Like a Larvesta egg. Concerned, Alder looked around his camp for signs of the intruder. Whoever it had been had convinced the dragon they were no threat. Alder looked at the small bag they'd left behind, when druddigon growled. Attached to the pokemon's claw was a piece of paper. A note.
Alder ripped it off the dragons' claw, pulling it to his face.
Dear Alder,
As members of Unova, we wished to express our gratitude for all the years you have been a gym leader and guided the league. We realize there is a dwindling population of volcarona in the region, and so the loss of your famed companion was a large hit to the population of the species. In coordination with scientists from the Aether group, and Unova region's top scientists, we present this gift.
As you are aware, other regions have been known to bring fossils back from the dead. We asked: what about using this technology for the preservation of a species? This is the egg of a volcarona, using the best DNA splicing and genetic technology available. This egg will hatch shortly, and will grow quickly into a formidable ally. Once again, we hope you accept it, and it will be both useful to you and assist in continuing its species' propagation. One day, we hope to use this technology for the restoration of all endangered and threatened pokemon species to their former populations.
- P1 Research Group
Alder frowned, then crumpled the paper up and had druddigon burn it with some light application of dragon breath. Gingerly picking the egg up, feeling the larva squirm inside, his laugh was wry.