Today is Wednesday, the day after my gym match.
I had to leave kinda early in the morning for the bus to take me through the commercial route to Celadon, the road not allowing travelers on foot from either city.
I kept Ralts and Char in my lap while I'm sitting in the bus. The rest of my Pokemon either with the group or in Tabitha's case with professor Oak in an attempt to understand why she looks slightly different from a regular version of her species including the moss she grows on her body.
There isn't a whole lot a person can do on the bus except to browse your phone or look outside, aside from Ralts continuing her practice of raw psychic energy, so I made sure to pack a couple Pokemon TCG packs before leaving the bookstore with (you guessed it) a book from Pewter for the ride. All things considered, this book on the history of war in Sinnoh and Kalos is really interesting, especially considering the index stated that there'll be a part where some unidentified Pokemon appears to stop the conflict of Kalos in the later chapters.
By mid afternoon we arrive at a recharge zone for the bus to refill in electricity, since no car company was allowed to use fossils for fuel after researchers brought a Tyrantrum to a public rally. Aside from the charging unit and the buildings next to them, holding memorabilia of tourist stuff that some people on the bus began buying as soon as they got off, there's also a lake nearby with some really cool Pokemon.
A clear expanse of water holding a myriad of fish and fish Pokemon swimming around doing their daily business.
I'm literally just one step away from jumping in and catching one of them except... I almost forget that I can't swim.
It's kinda too bad but, honestly, meh, since I can just look near the lake and chuck a poke ball at whatever catches my fancy. It doesn't bother me.
Inside the lake there's a bunch of Magikarp, a few Goldeen's, some Slowpoke, and even a Shelder. But none catch my eye unlike one Pokemon deep in the crystal clear water.
Almost hidden away is a Clamperl. Usually not a lot trainers catch it due to the terrible move pool, rarity, and the expensive items required to make use of the Pokemon's two evolutions but I feel like using a Pokemon like that will really make me more popular. Plus it has a really hidden move that I'm pretty sure isn't just a rumor. So I gently put down the egg incubator and send out Ralts who was previously in her ball since she tuckered herself out near the end of our stop.
"Ralts, please use your psychic energy to gently move the Clamperl down there so it's above the lake. I wanna catch it."
With a nod she lets her orange horn glow blue before the water of the lake moves slightly as Clamperl was pulled up into the air. Odd. It should have thrashed or resisted with anything it could. Only when it came up did I realize why.
It was asleep.
Like full on snoring like a Grumpig asleep, like dad did. How does a pearl make so much noise?
It honestly doesn't matter so I rap my knuckle on the hard exterior in an attempt to wake up the little water type. After my third attempt it blearily opens its shell to look around only two realize it's now in the air face to face with a human.
It didn't freak out.
It only hit my face with a low powered Water Gun, probably because it thought I was holding it and that using the move would startle me to drop it. Too bad the blue shelled Pokemon is being held hostage by Ralts and not myself.
I just chuckle and then cupped some water from the lake to throw it onto the water type. It chuckling with my antics before we go into a laughter filled water fight, even Ralts joined after lowering the little shell onto the edge of the lake.
After a bunch of playing, one of the tourists' guides came to call me back. I nodded at him before looking back at Clamperl.
Wordlessly I bring out an open poke ball which the pink pearl in the middle tilts its round body to convey confusion. Realizing the poor fellow might be seeing the first poke ball in its life I take out Char's poke ball and send him out before sending him back in, the display impressing the little clamshell. Looking back at the Clamperl, it seems to make the motion of thinking by tilting the pearl in its body one way and then another before nodding with its Pearl, shooting one last spray of water at my face before being lightly booped by a red and white ball.
I keep the ball in my hand while it tries making movement to roll around, the ball stopping its movement in two shakes before giving a light ding sound.
Seriously, if someone asked me about my favorite catches then this and the way I caught Leaf were better than compared to Ralts, Tabs, Bonsly, and Kakuna. No fighting or unawareness between either party, just friends.
Since it isn't really the time to stand around and do nothing I put the ball into my belt and and pick up my egg before heading back into the bus.
There wasn't really a lot I could do except send out my team, since they weren't too big, and play chess on my pokegear which was annoyingly getting messages by some companies hoping to sponsor me early on. Basic sponsor reviewing on forums showed that most first badge sponsored trainers end up getting scammed or they become exclusive to the company that sponsored them, something detrimental to a lab trainer, so I just mute all my messages.
By the time we get to Celadon my gear was at like half its battery and I think I managed to erase at least 70% of my personal hotspot's internet on just baby Pokemon videos, rivaled only by dog and cat videos, and playing a couple games. I'll show my party about songs later once I get settled into a Pokemon center.
Once we did get off the bus it was 8:43 pm and the mall was still open so I got the party to have some dinner in some random restaurant I've never been to.
I then finished up dinner with my party trying spaghetti carbonara before heading to get a room at the Celadon center.
And just like that, I went to sleep in my room with Clamperl in the sink and the other two snuggling close to me.
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It was five AM in Galar.
The research into Galar particles going smoothly.
By the research groups estimation it would only take ten more years before the science of these strange particles is unlocked and the secret on how to create these particles artificially through regular Pokemon might become a reality, instead of having to rely on that monstrosity that was captured thousands of years ago.
The scientist didn't pay attention to the room turning red. Why would he, too used to the particles filling the room and affecting the Pokemon they would study on. By the time he realized there was no sanctioned study it was already too late, the room being filled with a green powder bringing great lethargy to the scientist only solved by closing his eyes and resting.
Ten minutes.
Ten minutes passed as all the data was collected and wiped off the servers.
Years of work gone in ten minutes.
If that was the only issue then it would've been solved with twenty more years of research and studying the captured monstrosity, despite some protests from the scientists as they could barely be in the same room as the captured creature without having a nose bleed through years of acclimatization. However, there is never only just one issue.
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A bomb had gone off, and energy was soon absorbed from the creature in its giant round cage.
Two hours later.
A man with power over the entire Galarian League was overseeing the wreckage desperately trying to find some of the evidence he had stored.
Luckily he anticipated for such events and had some research in private servers that the infiltrators were unable to destroy, however the destruction of his secret base made the man far more anxious about the situation of the future.
"Casualties?" He knows the answer but refuses to listen to reality.
A woman with cream colored hair and a calm disposition gave the rundown right next to him, her eyes unmoving from her tablet with current details and press scheduling even while they were walking through a tower located in Wyndon city. "Thirteen injured and one in a near-death state, security footage shows that one of the scientists are unaccounted for alongside the data wipe." She then tapped a little on her tablet and shifted the topic. "You have a meeting in seven minutes with the executives and police force on your next course of action."
Normally the man would be smiling, his face already marked with lines from years of doing so, but this situation did not call for a smile. His people were injured, his solution to help his region is down to a fifth of what it was, and to make matters worse whomever took that data took one of his people. No, he could not smile even if he wanted to; thus it was a good thing he did not require to have any press meetings today.
"Have the base and creature shifted to below Rose Tower, double our current research staff, and gather some ace trainers. Then get a meeting set-up with the hero's kin." A curt nod from his assistant later the man was heading to an elevator towards his supposed equals.
The man straightened the cuffs of his suit and ensured there were no wrinkles, his left hand rolling the ball of his ace, his mind was still reeling at the audacity of whomever it was that sanctioned this on the peaceful state of Galar but it would go back to one thing.
Why?
If it was destruction of the region then all the thieves needed to do was release the creature captured so long ago, and yet they didn't. So the question on his mind was not 'why did they?' but 'why didn't they?'.
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Thursday early morning is always when I start waking up. I actually woke up late in the morning today.
No matter, I just head over to the bathroom and freshen up. A clamping noise alerts me to my newest catch from yesterday.
"Good morning Pearl." Pearl... a bit corny but it sounds nice.
Clamperl was looking at me like I just gave a box of puppies to her, her gender being revealed when I asked about it on the bus the day before. She nodded her little pearl head and began bobbing her giant shell in the sink. Since I do need to use most of the resources of a bathroom, I temporarily took her out of the bathroom and used everything except the shower since I don't really need one.
Getting out I began making breakfast for my current party before looking closer at the competition about to happen.
Nothing serious since there's no battles, it seems like a marathon where trainers have to run and swim in different sections plus a baton pass for the finalists. Rules are you can't cheat or hit the other participants and their Pokemon with anything ranging from pebbles to moves.
Since I can't swim I'll just leave it to Ralts or Pearl, then Tabitha and Woody will be running in the beginning since they can't hold the baton. Then finally it'll be Leaf, Char, Lupa, and myself. Poor Kakuna can't run long distances really fast and doesn't have any speed buff moves like Rock Polish that Woody has.
Mind made up I enter the competition online and head to a nearby park. Heading left from the center I see just the place with a bunch of space and more then enough water in the park to the point it was somewhere between a pond and a lake. Sending out my team I tell them about my plan, Ralts easily agreed to using her psychic power to glide through the water and learn basic paddling while Pearl was already moving around the water, splashing water onto the three of us who tried to dodge it. Chardon agreed to doing some running with me and we both agreed we'd do a lap of the park pond before handing a stick we'd carry to signify the other has to start.
Maybe half an hour later some trainer came around and asked me for a battle in the middle of waiting for Chardon to finish his run.
"Sorry, I really can't right now m-" "But I need to be in a battle right now." The sentence was whispered but the urgency interrupted my own.
Really there's nothing I can do. "Sorry dude, my teams too busy training. Maybe ask someone else."
With that the guy begins walking away in sadness, but why is there a camera guy nearby?
Meh. Chardon came right about then so I begin doing some stretching before going running myself. Today isn't meant to be based on extreme training, just enough that we have ideas of what our limits are. I've still got a week and a half to train and then I'll battle against Erika afterwards.
We had to take a break after two hours since all of us were too tired to train anymore or, in Pearl's case, too bored to continue. Technically she moved using Water Gun in the lake so she didn't really need to expend energy.
Since she seems willing to do anything else at this point I just carry her on my head and begin heading to the nearest battlegrounds in hopes of testing her moves out. Following that I make sure to send Chardon and Ralts back in.
Taking out my pokedex to see if there's anything that changed from Yesterday, I aim my red pocket device onto my new crown.
Name Clamperl Type Water Ability Shell Armor Nature Docile HP 35 Attack 64 Sp. Attack 74 Defence 85 Sp. Defence 55 Speed 32 Total Stats 345 Moves Clamp, Water Gun, Confuse Ray, Rest, Sleep Talk
Oh. Sleep Talk is new. But honestly it was bound to happen, what with the snores the little princess can make. Though I kinda was hoping for the move Snore.
Messages on the poketch takes my attention away. Seems like Mirielle wants to talk, so I abandon my previous plan and go to the center for a chat.
Heading to one of the phone booths I type in her number and call her, soon after the screen shows her face with the Pewter center waiting room as the background.
Mirielle smiles before openly gushing when she takes a look at my new headwear.
"Aww, its so cute~"
I chuckle at that "Yeah she really is. Anyway, how's it going with training?"
"Its going great, thanks for lending your Pokemon. Um, I was wondering how Celadon is holding up."
I lean back into my chair. "Well other then some random guy asking for a battle and some other person recording them nothing big's happened, I didn't battle him anyway since I'm kinda busy for this 'aquathlon' into relay race event happening here." Aquathlon was paired with air quotes and, judging by Miri using her poketch, she promptly searched up what that meant. "Anyway did you get to look at the Pewter Museum, I was a bit too hasty and came here when I really should've stayed back a day or two."
She looked up from her device to give a serious nod before breaking off into a smile. "Yeah the museum was really informative, I really liked the little tour they gave us, plus we were able to touch a couple of their fossil Pokemon they had. Also I sa- Spewpa not now please." The little bug type had crawled into her lap and was doing a little spin dance much to Mirielle's embarrassment, which was furthered by me spinning on my swivel chair. I really bonded with it and Tabs once we all realized we love spinning. "A-anyways I was gonna say that I saw Professor Oak and he apparently wanted records on different bug and grass types that trainers caught, especially any caught or recorded Pineco. So I went to him and helped him out a little against some wild Beedrill and now I've got this really cute Smoliv that the professor and I saw hatching in Viridian Forest."
Smoliv... isn't a national Pokemon introduced through any nature organizations... shoot some trainer must've abandoned their Smoliv or one of its evolutions inside the forest. No doubt the professor understands the implications.
"Did he leave shortly after you caught Smoliv?" She nods. "Great, that means more time to train your little buddy against Brock alongside the rest of your team. Just don't use him against Brock himself, instead against one of his gym trainers since you already slotted the other four against Brock."
With that whole revelation done with the two of us began talking about some of the fun stuff we plan on doing, I tell her about how I'm thinking of continuing schooling for a regular job after I aim to beat at least one conference while she tells me about how she realized wants to be an explorer studying different habitats of Pokemon and animals alike. A pretty cool aspiration.
After ten minutes of just talking passes we both say our goodbyes so I can focus on testing out how strong Pearl is. An easy task against some of the no badge trainers staying in the Pokemon center waiting to challenge Erika.
Today and the subsequent week before the competition is based on bringing Pearl upto snuff alongside increasing the capabilities of my team, then after beating the grass type gym I just take some me time before running headlong into the rest of the gym challenges. A perfect and planned out journey, I just need to catch something first.