"Hey! You there! Officer Jenny just went that way. If you're fast you can catch up to her!" Shuichi yelled out to Ash and pointed in the direction Jenny just went in as he ran past him.
"Huh!?" Ash exclaimed in surprise, looking back with Aipom and they saw Shuichi and where he was pointing at. "Oh! Thank you!" "Ai!" Ash and Aipom both thanked Shuichi as they ran after Jenny.
Officer Jenny was Ash’s best bet when it came to situations like these, and with someone pointing the way it would make finding her a lot easier.
Shuichi didn’t know if he would join Ash on his journey, there were upsides and downsides to joining Ash; On the upside he would always have people around him, being alone was unnerving for Shuichi because of his past life.
On the downside he would have to fight Team Rocket on a daily basis and Ash would know his team and strategies. Fighting Team Rocket could be decent experience, but Ash would be his competitor in the Lily of the Valley Conference.
Setting aside his thoughts for now Shuichi headed for the beach, he didn’t forget his goal of Clamperl. There was a massive reason for Shuichi to want Clamperl this badly, and that reason was none other than Shell Smash.
Shell Smash was arguably one of the most powerful power-up moves that Pokémon could know, and Clamperl was one such Pokémon. On the downside learning this move was equally as difficult.
Shuichi eventually reached the beach after the many interruptions, upon reaching the beach Shuichi noticed a small crowd forming at one side of the beach. There seemed to be police officers holding back the people as well.
Getting closer to the action revealed to Shuichi that this was indeed where the Clamperl were. Clamperl would usually stay at the bottom of the ocean and reside there, however during breeding season the newborn Clamperl would float to the top of the ocean and wash ashore.
From there they would have to travel and traverse the wild to re-join the pack and those that didn’t make it were never seen again. It was a harrowing thought however that was nature, and nature didn’t hold back even against Pokémon.
There were many people here hoping to either catch a Clamperl for themselves or to obtain a pearl made by a Clamperl. The pearls from a Clamperl would amplify psychic power, in fact, the Spoink species had a pearl atop its head which was actually a pearl from a Clamperl.
However with the police officers holding back the people their hopes were dashed and only those could convince the officers were allowed in. Many tried to bribe the officers however that only landed you with a stern warning and if you tried it again you could even be arrested.
Shuichi’s way of entering was a more direct one, he simply walked up to one of the officers and showed his Pokédex. The Pokédex was uniformly accepted as endorsement from the Professor and as an ID card.
As expected the officer made way seeing Shuichi’s Pokédex, entering the sealed off area revealed to Shuichi that there were a lot of blue clam-like Pokémon with a pink pearl inside of its "mouth" here. On a quick glance Shuichi counted roughly 30 Clamperl here.
"Alright Eevee, time to wake up" Shuichi said as he released Eevee next to him. Eevee came out in a flash of light and took a big stretch. Eevee had taken a nap while in the Pokéball to recover some stamina.
Upon Eevee’s entrance the Clamperl all had shifting emotions ranging from fear to aggression, it was a wide spectrum that gave Shuichi a slight headache as he never stress tested his ability before.
Before the situation got out of hand Shuichi quickly spoke up. "Clamperl! My name is Shuichi Tsuki and I’m aiming to become the greatest trainer! I’m looking for a Clamperl to join me, step forward now if you’re interested in joining me and seeing the world!" Shuichi was passionate to the Clamperl and Eevee even joined in at the end.
The Clamperl emotional spectrum in front of Shuichi changed a lot. Surprise, interest, aggression, disinterest, there were a lot of emotions at play however none seemed to come forward.
As Shuichi was about to throw another piece of bait towards those interested, a Clamperl actually spoke up. It clearly had a lot of interest however there was another emotion mixed in with that interest.
Shuichi understood its emotions and the message it was trying to conceive. It was looking to test Shuichi and Eevee to see if his words could hold water.
Shuichi looked at Eevee who was feeling excited and nodded back, accepting the challenge "Okay, we accept the challenge". Clamperl also nodded and moved a bit further from the group through the water.
Shuichi and Eevee followed until they were a bit away from the group, there was no reason to involve the entire group with their match.
"Okay Eevee get in close and use Tackle!" Shuichi started the battle off with a simple tackle, Eevee didn’t have any ranged moves yet so getting in close was their best bet.
Eevee charged in at Clamperl, running on the sand took out more energy however he really had no ranged moves.
Clamperl quickly retreated in the shell and a faint blue light shone on its entire body, Shuichi quickly recognised this move as Iron Defense.
Eevee reached Clamperl and tackled it with his shoulder, due to Iron Defense the move didn't do much damage and Clamperl didn’t even get knocked back.
Clamperl opened up a slit in its shell and Shuichi could feel Clamperl’s aggression was mounting "Eevee quick retreat!" Shuichi informed Eevee to back off.
Eevee quickly jumped back trusting Shuichi’s instincts and not a moment too soon as a stream of pressurised water slammed into the ground where Eevee was just at.
Clamperl had shot a water gun at Eevee but it was swiftly dodged. Seeing its attack being dodged, Clamperl retreated back into its shell and shone blue once more.
Clamperl’s strategy was simple, defend the incoming attack with Iron Defense and counter with water gun, in essence it was like a turret in that regard.
('If you want to act like a turret then I got the perfect counter for you.') Shuichi thought as he looked at Clamperl’s strategy. "Eevee get in close and use Tail Whip once Clamperl opens up to flip it over".
Tail Whip was also slightly different than the game counterpart, the Pokémon would use its tail if they had one to make the opponent lose balance and to create an opening that way.
Eevee nodded and Clamperl was none the wiser of their plan, once Clamperl’s shell closed it would protect Clamperl and muffle all the outside sounds making it unable to hear Shuichi’s plan.
The battle suddenly got quiet as Clamperl was waiting for the incoming attack, however even after waiting for what seemed an eternity there was no attack. Slowly getting more curious as to what happened it slowly opened its shell to peer out.
"Now Eevee!" Shuichi gave the command and Eevee nodded. Eevee put his tail under Clamperl and pulled upwards hard. Clamperl turned upside down with its shell open.
Although the regular Clamperl species were heavy, this one was clearly a juvenile so it wasn’t too heavy for Eevee.
Clamperl was turned upside down not able to move much, taking advantage of the opening Shuichi told Eevee to use Tackle once more. Eevee ran up once more and landed a hard hit against Clamperl.
The hit made Clamperl land on its base again as it assessed the damage. Noticing it took too much damage for its initial strategy it decided to shift to a different strategy.
Shuichi could feel its shift in emotions as Clamperl shone a bright blue, it was a different shade of blue than Iron Defense. Water started to coagulate above Clamperl as it slowly took the form of an inverted tornado.
('Isn’t that Whirlpool?') Shuichi recognised it as it was a popular move by Dawn’s Piplup in the show. "Sand Attack Eevee! Break its focus" Shuichi could see Clamperl was focusing hard on the move.
Eevee kicked hard with his hind legs and sand was sprayed everywhere at Clamperl, Clamperl almost lost focus however it ignored the sand and focused more on the forming whirlpool above it.
Seeing its focus wasn’t going to be broken that easily Shuichi switched it up. "Eevee the moment it throws that whirlpool try dodge it the best you can!" Eevee would have to dodge at the last second.
Eevee couldn’t afford running around aimlessly with its limited stamina so dodging last second was albeit a risky one, the best course of action.
Once the whirlpool was finished forming Clamperl tried to look at where Eevee was at however with the sand in the way aiming became difficult. It couldn’t sustain the move for long so it had to throw out of necessity.
The whirlpool was launched and flew through the air at Eevee, Eevee jumped with all his might to the side to dodge and he barely managed to dodge it.
Clamperl was a little disgruntled that it failed and was ready for another move when Shuichi called out to it.
"I think that’s enough isn’t it Clamperl?" Shuichi called out to it from across the battlefield, Clamperl was only here to test Eevee and Shuichi and not to go for the knockout. Eevee was breathing hard from running across the sand and Clamperl had sustained a lot of damage.
Clamperl hesitated for a second, had they passed its test? Definitely, however its pride was another matter and it didn’t want to end the fight like this.
Before Clamperl could protest another voice piped up. Eevee shook his head violently and disagreed with Shuichi. It wanted to prove itself and be worthy of Shuichi's ace.
"You two…" he said, a little surprised, he didn't expect Eevee to disagree with him on this front and he felt Clamperl agreeing with Eevee.
"Fine, then we'll go all the way until the first knockout," Shuichi decided and both Pokémon were happy with the decision as they all got ready for the third round.
Clamperl opened up the third round with a new move, a ring of water formed around Clamperl. Shuichi frowned a little and couldn’t quite place the move it was using, however judging from the pleasant emotions he could feel it was clearly a healing type move.
('Wait! Is it Aqua Ring!?') Suichi was internally shocked that it even knew the move, according to his research it shouldn’t normally have access to this move.
It was trying to recover and win the long game which Shuichi wasn’t going to allow. "Eevee don’t let it heal up! Use Tackle once more".
Eevee took a deep breath and ran at Clamperl once more, Shuichi hasn’t been able to train Eevee much yet due to just getting out of the baby phase, however Clamperl was in the same boat and it couldn’t use Whirlpool anymore.
A stream of water was suddenly fired at Eevee who frantically jumped to the side, although Clamperl couldn’t use Whirlpool anymore, using Water Gun was a different story.
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Weaving in between shots to get closer was really taking its toll on Eevee’s body and stamina, however with the earlier practice against the Ariados he was already used to the timing.
Eevee got close and tackled it once more, Clamperl however braced itself once more and didn’t get pushed back. Clamperl however suddenly jumped at Eevee and clamped down hard with Eevee in between its shell.
Eevee screamed in pain, Clamperl really wasn’t going down without a fight! "Bite it Eevee!" Shuichi said frantically, racking his brain for a solution.
Eevee hasn’t officially learned Bite yet so this was just a typeless move that wouldn't do too much damage under normal circumstances, however this was an exception as Clamperl’s inner pearl was very sensitive.
Eevee chomped down hard on Clamperl’s face inside the clam which also caused Clamperl to scream out, now it was really a battle of endurance.
The stalemate seemed to continue for an eternity to Shuichi as he tried to find a different way to help Eevee.
The stalemate eventually ended when Eevee whipped his head and Clamperl was unexpectedly thrown aside. Looking inside the shell, it was clear Clamperl was unconscious.
Eevee stood proud like a warrior who had just returned from war. "Well done Eevee, you can rest now." Shuichi said proudly to Eevee as he returned him to his Pokéball, he knew Eevee well enough by now that its pride wouldn’t allow it to fall.
Shuichi sat by the unconscious Clamperl, normally trainers would throw a Pokéball and capture said Pokémon. Shuichi however intended to do things a little differently.
After a few minutes Clamperl stirred awake and looked around groggily, and soon noticed Shuichi looking at him smiling. "You lost," Shuichi told Clamperl.
Clamperl was a little sad however, it was also glad the battle was completed and not quit halfway through. "So, will you join me?" Shuichi asked the question to Clamperl.
Clamperl nodded intending on joining Eevee and Shuichi. "You want to say goodbye to your friends and family?" Shuichi asked Clamperl as he looked at the group of Clamperl in the distance.
Clamperl also looked over and Shuichi picked it up to move a little closer to the group. "Clam, Clamperl" It said the group and was met with differing sounds. Shuichi could feel the sadness and also happiness in the air as Clamperl went back to Shuichi.
They were clearly sad to see their friend leave, however they were happy for their friend to have found a companion that could help him grow.
"I suppose you know what this is?" Shuichi asked as he pulled out a Pokéball, it was met with a nod from Clamperl.
Tapping the Pokéball on Clamperl’s body it was quickly sucked in, the red light on the ball quickly faded as Clamperl didn’t put up a struggle.
"Yeah! I caught a Clamperl!" Shuichi let out a joyous shout as he succeeded in overcoming his first hurdle. It was a tough battle and Clamperl was definitely talented if that Aqua Ring was an indication.
Shuichi scanned the Pokéball to see Clamperl’s information and to see if it had any other moves that it didn’t use.
Clamperl - Male
Age: 5 months
Ability: Shell Armor
Height: 0’92” / 0,28m
Weight: 81 lbs / 36,75 kg
Moves: Clamp, Water Gun, Whirlpool, Iron Defense, Aqua Ring
('Seems like Eevee and Clamperl are about the same age') Shuichi concluded from the info of the Pokédex. There were no new moves that Shuichi could see and Clamperl was also male.
Shuichi was currently on his way to the Pokémon Center to give first aid to both his Eevee and Clamperl, both had sustained damage and Eevee was run ragged.
The walk to the Center was uneventful except for the crowd wanting to either buy Clamperl or its pearls which were obvious no’s to both those requests. For one he would never sell his Pokémon and two Clamperl could only make one pearl for itself.
During the walk Shuichi thought about the future of his team and the supplies he still needed to buy. Yes there was an economy here in this world as well and one could say it was even more brutal than his old one.
Shuichi was given a one time allowance of ₽3,000 from his parents and with that he could buy medicine and some additional supplies.
Originally Shuichi thought he wouldn’t need medicine until Jubilife yet it seemed like he had severely underestimated the dangers of the trip if a juvenile Clamperl was already giving him trouble.
Soon Shuichi was standing in front of the Pokémon Center and walked in, once inside Shuichi walked up to the counter where Nurse Joy was sitting behind a computer.
Nurse Joy looked like a young woman with pink hair and dressed in a nurse’s outfit, just like Officer Jenny she had a ton of identical sisters.
Nurse Joy noticed Shuichi walking towards her and said with a warm smile. "Hello Shuichi, are you here for another checkup of Eevee?" Shuichi had given Eevee a checkup at the Center a couple of times so she remembered him.
Shuichi shook his head and said, "Yes and no Nurse Joy, I need a checkup for Eevee but I also just now caught a Clamperl from the beach and he also needs a checkup."
Nurse Joy was surprised at the capture but once she saw Shuichi’s Pokédex it made more sense. "Oh! Then you must’ve started your journey today, in that case please leave both Pokémon with me for a checkup."
Shuichi handed off both Pokémon and told Nurse Joy "Is it okay if I come back here in a few hours? I need to procure some items I missed in hindsight."
"That’s fine, I will need to register your data as a safety check. It's a necessary procedure." Nurse Joy took Shuichi’s Pokédex and jotted down some info in the computer and gave the Pokédex back.
"Why do people always have to ruin everything?" Shuichi muttered as he understood the implication behind the procedure, in case people didn’t come back and left their Pokémon there.
"I wish I knew." Nurse Joy agreed and didn’t like the procedure, however past experiences speak for themselves whether people do it willingly or unwillingly.
Would Shuichi ever willingly leave his Pokémon behind? Not a chance in hell. He literally died for a chance to be a trainer, he wasn’t going to throw it away like that.
The penalty one could face if they left their Pokémon was a criminal one where their trainer licence and Pokédex would be confiscated. Furthermore they were never allowed to care for another Pokémon.
Not to mention the emotional damage one would do to the Pokémon in question. Shuichi had become far more emotionally connected to Pokémon and couldn’t bear to see such pain inflicted.
In fact it was due to his connection with a Pokémon’s emotions that he had a different capture style than others. Normal trainers would throw a Pokéball at a Pokémon they wanted and try to catch it that way.
Shuichi however talked to them and tried to convince them to come willingly through reading their emotions. His past life showed that people who really wanted to give it their all would and those who were forced would only perform the bare minimum.
Was the same true for Pokémon? In Shuichi’s mind, yes. Pokémon could feel and emulate emotions, thoughts, wants and needs, in Shuichi’s mind they were no different to people.
Shuichi thanked Nurse Joy for her time and help and was on his way to the Poké Mart. The Poké Mart or the Pokémon supply Markt as it was also called was a much bigger building than in the games and had a lot more variety.
It had normal groceries and Pokémon goods along with TM's for sale and even a wide variety of berries. It even had supplies like camping equipment and kitchen equipment for trainers.
The distance to the Mart from the Center was not far, only a small 15 minute walk. In every town there was one Pokémon Center and Poké Mart, in the bigger cities however there could be as many as three each.
Walking in the Mart there were different sections separating the goods that were available. Shuichi grabbed a shopping cart and first went to the potions aisle and grabbed two regular potions priced at ₽300 each, these could give a pokemon first aid and help it recover some obvious injuries.
Shuichi was off to the berry aisle next, he was going to be making poffins along the way as he had gotten more than enough practice during the past 8 years.
He soon ran into a small problem, he didn’t know what Clamperl liked. Each Pokémon had different tastes and it was up to the trainer to match them.
So instead Shuichi just grabbed one Cheri, Pecha, Rawst, Aspear each and two Oran and Chesto berries and would ask Clamperl later. The berries were ₽60 each.
Going to the vitamins section next there were multiple bottles of different sizes and different prices for each of the supplements pills. Of course the big jars from the games were there and they were expensive as you’d expect for ₽10,000 a jar.
However those jars would last a lot longer than the games, Shuichi wasn’t that rich so he only grabbed two small bottles of calcium pills each priced at ₽150.
He passed the infamous TM section where a separate clerk was actually standing, TM's were known as Technical Machines that stored a move for a Pokémon to learn.
The clerk was there to help customers and to protect the TM's from thieves. It was even rumoured that to be a clerk in this position one needed to have 8 badges.
When Shuichi walked by he could see an advertisement for a sale, checking it out closer revealed that TM17 Protect was on 50% sale priced at ₽1,500 now.
There had to be a catch to a steal like this and Shuichi asked the clerk "Excuse me, is there a reason these TM's are so cheap?"
The clerk smiled slightly at Shuichi and said "You’re pretty sharp, indeed these are actually ‘faulty’ TM's that break after one use. Whenever we get a new batch of TM's some slip through the testing phase so we test them all with a special machine and offer those ‘faulty’ ones up for sale."
That made a lot of sense, automated processes still had faulty products from time to time and TM's were long ago made to last more than once. So the store would host sales and attract customers for future TM's that way, it was a brilliant marketing strategy.
Thinking about the TM made Shuichi realise Eevee didn’t have a defensive move, Clamperl had Iron Defense however Eevee had nothing. It was the perfect move for Eevee.
"Do you still have a ‘faulty’ Protect TM?" Shuichi wanted to buy one for Eevee. "Of course, here you go." The Clerk gave Shuichi the grey disk containing the move.
Shuichi thanked the employee and went to the checkout, ringing up all the products came to a total of ₽2,880 leaving Shuichi with just ₽120. Being a trainer was expensive however all these products would ensure their safety and growth for the time being.
After storing these items in his bag Shuichi went back to the Center to pick up his Pokémon, he was only separated for about an hour from his Pokémon however it felt like an eternity.
Walking back to the Center he walked up to Nurse Joy to check back in with his Pokémon. "Ah! There you are Shuichi, I’ve just checked out your Pokémon. Apart from the exhaustion and fatigue Eevee was practically unscathed with only minor wounds"
Nurse Joy cleared Eevee from any damages and continued to Clamperl. "Clamperl had more damage and needed some more care, it's good you brought him to me right away however in the future I recommend using a potion for a quick first aid."
Shuichi wasn’t sad about being scolded and instead smiled. "Thank you for the advice Nurse Joy, I realised that after the battle and bought some potions from the Mart."
Nurse Joy smiled at Shuichi’s forethought "Good, then lastly do be careful not to run Eevee ragged again." she advised him to not exhaust Eevee like this again.
"No promises Nurse Joy, I’ve realised my Eevee’s much more prideful than I had thought." Shuichi couldn’t promise that Eevee wouldn’t run itself ragged again.
Nurse Joy however was serious."Shuichi, being prideful is fine, however it’s a trainer's job to reign in the pride once it goes overboard. I’ve seen too many cases of pride breaking a Pokémon."
At Nurse Joy’s serious tone he began to think and reflect, and she was correct. In his past life he too had seen too many cases where pride had cometh before the fall.
There had been proud soldiers and even prouder generals who were all geniuses in their own right, however Shuichi had surpassed them all and some took it extremely hard.
So hard in fact that they even killed themselves, Shuichi felt slightly guilty thinking about this point. He cleared his head from these thoughts, now wasn’t the time to address them.
Shuichi sent a serious nod back to Nurse Joy and said "I understand, thank you for the advice Nurse Joy." He really had to be careful with pride.
Nurse Joy smiled once more seeing Shuichi understanding the situation, she knew Shuichi for a while now and it was clear he was a lot smarter than his peers.
"Good! Then there’s nothing else. Here are your Pokémon." Nurse Joy said as she handed Shuichi the premier ball and the ordinary Pokéball.
"Thank you once more Nurse Joy." Shuichi thanked Nurse Joy once more and was on his way to route 202. As he entered route 202 he thought about Dawn and how long it would take her to traverse route 202
Route 202 was a lot longer in the real world than it was in the games, and there were trainers all over the route. They would provide Shuichi some much needed experience.
The walk on the road was uneventful so Shuichi intended to set up a small camp on the side of the road for a quick poffin making session.
After releasing both Eevee and Clamperl to get to know each other better. Shuichi cut off a small piece of each berry and asked Clamperl which one was it’s favourite.
In the end the Cheri berry won which concluded he liked spicy foods more, Eevee on the other hand liked dry foods more.
Once that was settled Shuichi was off to make a batch of poffins for both Eevee and Clamperl, one Cheri and oran berry for Clamperl and one Chesto and oran berry for Eevee.
The Chesto and Cheri Berry were there for the taste and the Oran berry was for the energy recovery, Oran berries could recover some stamina to pokemon and both had just fought each other to a close knockout.
Shuichi also took out something else that he really hadn’t tested yet, the vitamins. He also grabbed a pestle and mortar out of his bag to crush the vitamin pills into a powder.
Crushing the recommended amount of calcium in a fine powder and cutting the first batch of berries into chunks were the first steps, then Shuichi dumped them all in a pot of cold water.
Shuichi brought the mixture up to a boil quickly and began stirring enough not too fast to spill while also not too slow to burn the mixture. Shuichi counted to 10 minutes in his head and poured the mixture into the mould after that.
Preparing the second mixture while the first one was hardening was risky, however it would save so much time. Shuichi decided to trust himself and his judgement that this would work.
Using calcium would increase the Pokémon’s special attack statistic in the games and Shuichi hoped it would do a similar result here. Although Eevee had no special attacks yet it was still necessary for the future building blocks.
One batch of berries could make 12 poffins and Shuichi was intending on only giving them both half of the batch. 6 poffins had more than enough energy in it to fill them up for the day, excluding dinner.
Soon there was a plate of 6 red and blue poffins and a plate of 6 blue poffins. Shuichi gave the red and blue poffins to Clamperl and the blue ones to Eevee.
Eevee dug right in and he showed a loving expression, it seems like the vitamins didn’t alter the taste like Shuichi had thought.
Clamperl was sceptical at first however seeing Eevee dig in like this her tried one and immediately fell in love with the taste of the poffins.
Seeing both his Pokémon loving the poffins made Shuichi happy that his poffin recipe succeeded, now only time would tell if the vitamins also did their work.
With their stamina recovered and belly filled, Shuichi finally set off to Route 202 only to be greeted by a group of three trainers, with all three of them being very familiar to Shuichi. ('Seems like the plot is here.') he concluded by seeing this group of trainers.