I wake up all refreshed with the clock on my right showing that it's '6:30' at least that's what I think it says since Ralts seems to be in the way. No matter, I just gently get out of my sleeping bag without waking everyone up and head out of the tent to start gathering freshen up; there's even a river about a 10 minute walk away so I'll be able get back in 25 to 30 minutes.
When I start changing Tabs comes out of the tent as quietly as possible by gently rotating herself from her bottom stump, seems she regrew her moss so its either a biological function or I didn't scrub her good enough. Actually, the fact that she could rotate with her stump could be beneficial with learning a certain normal type physical attack.
"Hey Tabitha," the Pokemon in question quietly trill something that sounds like an ok, judging by the tone. "Maybe you could spin to destinations instead. You know. To learn moves like Rapid Spin."
She stops moving altogether for a few seconds and I really hope I haven't brought up a sore topic when...
'Pi Pineco co neco Pine' seems she's crying happy tears again, almost like what I said is something incredibly ground breaking, before she starts rotating on her bottom stump and trying to spin to where I am.
Judging by the fact that she's emitting slight traces of normal type energy we might be on the right track, plus if her rotation skills develop she might be able to dodge attacks or initiate moves without stopping at all.
For now though Tabs will have to deal with dizziness and actually moving forwards (right now she's really having trouble) when rotating but give or take a few more training sessions she might just learn her first physical move that won't damage her.
After going a little further we reach the stream and I start using the fresh water to clean my face & teeth while Tabs begins drinking the water. To our right there's a family of the Sandshrew line and to our left a couple Slowpoke are fishing for food using their tails. Even further apart there are the average Rattata, Raticate, Pidgey, Pidgeotto, with a cascade of local bug & bug types from Kanto and Johto at the river as well. The unwritten rule of nature is that streams are natural safe zones for creatures above the water, while it is a danger for the fish and not most fish Pokemon.
After using the water for myself I end up putting some of the water in a couple flasks for use in the future because there won't always be a stream nearby. Tabitha seems to be finished and is waiting for me, when I signal I'm done with a nod she seems to wriggle a little before rotating with gusto aiming for our camp.
I follow with a light jog and keep an eye out on nearby Pokemon in case they might turn aggressive against us, usually this would only be the Spearow of Route 1 but you never really know. We make it back to camp and by now all the others sans Leaf have woken up... *Sigh* just like always she's only gonna wake up when I start cooking. Jokes on her I'm gonna just take out the store bought food. When I bring out the bowls Chardon does the unthinkable and wakes up Leaf. RIP bud.
Halfway through filling the four bowls I pause due to hearing an angry 'Vee' ring out and sounds of a scuffle before Char ends up booted out the tent. Moments after Leaf comes out looking chipper as if nothing happened. I just finish placing the food and start looking at Chardon to see how he's doing. He's looking fine but I think he shouldn't train too hard physically for now, dang. If we have to battle any Pokemon right now I'll have to use Tabs and Leaf first. Well I'll just have a fruit and a jerky strip while looking at the pokedex for nearby Pokemon to prep for any moves I need to keep an eye out.
Oh. Ralts took the league book out and is reading it again.
After finishing all our food and me cleaning up the bowls used, I pack up the tent and start moving towards the grove Ralts lived in previously. It took 20 minutes to go back to the bamboo forest. There I took Tabs back in her poke ball to help with her dizziness from rotating for 20 minutes straight.
"Well. Lets just get this over with ok Ralts." An affirmative 'Ral' is enough to know that if we don't do this now then she might never come here again.
I take a step. Then another. Then enough that the bamboo thin enough that we're now in the middle of her home. I didn't think a bamboo forest could look so beautiful but I'm happy to be proven wrong.
Ralts seems to be scared and a second of looking around shows just why. Cuts. Tons of Cuts. Something really sharp or really strong lives here now and easily cuts down whatever is in its way. That also helps validate why Ralts had a cut on her body.
Before I could even think of leaving or formulating a plan a rustle sound comes out to our right. Instantly Leaf and Char understand to be on guard and their respective tails stand up while Ralts seems to be shaking like a leaf.
Standing in front of us is a Scyther. The bug flying Pokemon. Shoot, Chardon will have to start the fight. I open my pokedex and the information blurbs out.
Name Scyther Type Bug Flying Nature Adamant Health 70 Attack 110 Sp. Attack 80 Defense 55 Sp. Defense 80 Speed 105 Total stats 500 Moves Wing Attack, Fury Cutter, Quick Attack, Night Slash, Counter, Brick Break, Steel Wing, Agility, Double Team, Leer
Thankfully it doesn't know Rain Dance but Agility is gonna be a problem. This one is obviously one of the stronger Pokemon playing for more territory and if we manage to get out of this I'll have to inform the rangers to ensure stability.
Enough about that, we have to battle now.
"Char Dragon Dance then Ember. Leaf use Swift but stay back." both eagerly use their moves but the Scyther doesn't take this lying down.
It uses Double Team before realizing Swift is an always hitting move and used Fury Cutter instead. By this time Char had stacked one up and used Ember at Scyther which barely managed to get away from the fire attack, Leaf then came to my side and positioned herself in front of Ralts and myself but did nothing else.
"Ember one more time, aim wide" I also snapped my fingers. That got Scyther to notice me.
Scyther had to dodge the attack by retreating further backwards since it only knew physical attacks and using Double Team again would only be useless as they would dissipate immediately. This gave Char enough time to stack up again and his running speed was only barely lagging behind the Scyther. After Scyther moved back it decided to stack speed with Agility before attempting another attack, not good. Have to make sure we're on the offensive.
"Chardon use Growl then Ember one more time," the normal type move flinches Scyther only momentarily but that was all that was needed for an Ember piece to hit. Then another. Then the last.
See, if all Ember strikes hit then it would be classified as a critical hit. Mainly because the fire pieces would have a brighter glow than normal and cuz most times at least some bits would fizzle out regardless of the skill of a fire type. So having Chardon land all pieces is actually something major and helping tremendously.
After a few seconds Scyther comes back into view, slightly singed and even closer than before, since this Pokemon is usually skilled with stealth attacks I can't use Smokescreen despite an accuracy decrease on it. Dang this takes down a few strats I could use against it.
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"Char one more Growl then fend off with Scratch" have to look panicked for Scyther to engage, can't let it know about Beat Up otherwise our only way to win is shot.
Scyther seems too pick up on my voice and facial features to think it has us cornered, I mean Charmander's would usually be special attackers so it probably has us beat. This thing is pretty skilled because it managed to use its Wing Attack, Night Slash, and Brick Break at the same time using its blades alongside the skin bit above the blades and its wings.
"Ralts I need to catch you to win ok," this got the Ralts to look curiously at me before nodding "ok wait one sec."
I toss one of my backup poke balls on her and she gets sucked into the device with stars. Good to see she's eager but I may not need her to be in the fight at all.
A sound of blades clanging zones me back into the fight. Char has a few scratches here or there but nothing worthwhile to report, specially due to Growl taking effect earlier, while Scyther doesn't look like it got even a nick during this time. The opponent however seems to have the most damage right now but that might not last for long.
Right when Char looks like he's gonna deflect an attack is when I yell out to him.
"Beat Up bud, all out!" Char immediately cycled the dark type attack, with the speed boost from dual Dragon Dance, and tanks the Wing Attack Scyther was using just to aim his own attack at Scyther which couldn't dodge now.
With three Pokemon on my team now, Chardon would have a stronger Beat Up compared to using Scratch right now. Using Ember would have a big enough delay that the attack wouldn't come out fast enough so this is the best I could do. The move connects and all four hits take place, damaging the Scyther even more. Beat Up also has an added knock back effect which Char capitalized on by using Ember one more time. Just when I think we might have won Scyther gets back up and charges another Agility. This is bad. Real bad.
"Char use Growl, lower attack as much as possible." Char can't win. This was obvious. But to think the gap was this big... *GASP* I know.
I send back out Ralts and bring Tabs into the fray. Ralts was looking scared and Tabs was determined to fight, meanwhile Leaf looked sad to see Chardon get injured.
Just as Char hit another cutesy Growl I immediately talk to Ralts.
"Ralts use Calm Mind while we wait ok." An affirmative 'Ra' is all I hear before a 'Scy Er Cy' and a wham which blows my partner into a bamboo shoot. The force was enough to actually break the shoot and he moved even further back.
"Tabs switch in and use Swift," Have to control the pace "Roll when Scyther gets close."
The battle immediately starts with Scyther trying to retreat but unfortunately for it Tabs has amazing control on her Swift. The attack does some damage but clearly it was weaker than anything Char put up and the flying bug realizes this and immediately lunges to Tabs. The sweetheart immediately rolls away and manages to dodge a Wing Attack before spewing out Swift whilst rolling; this actually ends up being perfect due to the homing system of Swift and Scyther has to not only catch my own bug but also make sure it doesn't take too much chip damage.
During this time I get Chardon into his ball for him to recover but I have to pay attention to the battlefield as well otherwise I might not be able to see Scyther aim at me instead.
Thankfully Tabitha's opponent is only looking at her and is now aiming to use Night Slash instead of Wing Attack. The dark attack is faster and is aiming to hit Tabs from behind when suddenly she stops using Swift and rotates to the left just enough to dodge the hit before tackling into Scyther and disengaging immediately. YES YES YES! She just learnt Rapid Spin during the battle and her quick thinking hit hard at Scyther. She seems to have gotten dizzy though and that was all the opposing bug needed to hit a Wing Attack at Tabitha. The only reason she's even standing now is because Sturdy activated.
"Tabitha get close with Rapid Spin and hit the big S"
Tabitha the blessed soul looks at me in a determined way and nods her head before spinning again. This time she uses both Swift and Rapid Spin in tandem and getting close to Scyther who seems to have used Leer on Leaf and Ralts while I wasn't looking and used Self-Destruct right as Scyther was about to use Brick Break on my bagworm Pokemon.
Tabs begins lighting up even further with normal type energy before an explosion occurs and Scyther was blown away 10 meters from where he was previously. Tabitha meanwhile is in the epicenter of the explosion and when the dust fades I see she's knocked out on the ground, I then beam her into her poke ball giving praise to her feat and telling her to take a long rest.
I then wait for the inevitable.
Scyther gets back up.
Kinda obvious since no matter how many hits Chardon or Tabitha did they haven't been able to take down this bug so of course it would get back up.
Good. This is Ralts' moment.
"Ralts you ready?" An affirmative yip from her shows that she's fully stacked up. "Then enter and use Disarming Voice." Scyther will try to dodge since it took more damage than what Ralts could have dished out by herself but since this is a perfect accuracy move it won't be possible.
Just as suspected Scyther tried to dodge but got hit by Ralts and took a large amount of damage, a plus six special attack will do that.
The bug decided to screw all that and aimed at Ralts with a Steel Wing, so it knows type advantage, too bad that my fairy knows Teleport and and vanished to the other side of the battlefield and hit another Disarming Voice. Scyther to its credit grit its teeth and ran through the move and tried to hit Ralts.
Ralts dodged the attack but seeing it now I can tell she won't move as fast as she did previously, either due to it reading to train its psychic power or it always had an abysmal energy reserve. Already it's taking longer to charge up another attack and Scyther capitalized on this by using Agility again and zipping to Ralts who used her fairy move after Scyther was running.
"Leaf use Quick Attack and move Ralts away." I said hurriedly
Leaf only just barely got to Ralts and moved her away after Disarming Voice ended but in return took a Steel Wing to the face. Before she even moved too far I already had a poke ball ready to send her back in and the beam touched her only a moment after the attack hit.
Ralts looks pissed. Maybe at me. Definitely at Scyther.
She used Disarming Voice once more but also used another move.
Ralts used Confusion. It was a critical hit.
Only now. Only now does the Scyther hit the floor, stars in its eyes signifying that it is knocked out.
I picked out an unused poke ball and held the button for three seconds then tapped the button twice to signify that this is a dual type I'm catching. Tap once for bug then wait two seconds. Tap six times for flying. Toss onto the aforementioned Pokemon. And now the poke ball is teleported to the nearest ranger base for evaluation and analysis.
Maybe I could've kept it, but I know that my team only barely managed to knock it out and having a stronger Pokemon that's hostile to the entire team just because its strong doesn't really seem like the smart thing to do.
It'll take a couple minutes for a confirmation so I go and pick up Ralts using one hand and send out all my Pokemon in my free hand. They all look hurt but judging by the way they look around and perking up when Ralts says something they must have been looking around for Scyther. I take out a couple bottles of potion to heal the scratches and physical damage on my three hurt ones while the fourth is just laying down on the ground in exhaustion. After that's done I get out a few energy treats which help Pokemon with recovering a low amount of energy that they would have used.
A few minutes of them all resting and me tending to them and a poke ball appears on the spot that Scyther's ball was previously. Ralts was on edge for a few seconds but me informing her that the ball was empty set her at ease. A ding on my pokedex informed me that the rangers agree with the Scyther being too high level for this area of the forest and are sending it to a new location right now.
We all agree to just spend an hour lounging in the bamboo grove before I beam up Chardon and Tabs before I start walking to the outskirt and follow the Route 1 path with Leaf on my shoulder and Ralts on my bag. A few hours of just walking and looking at everything excitedly before it becomes around 11:47ish and I start thinking on the battle. I caught Ralts and both she and Tabs learnt a new attacking move that they can use. Tabitha probably hasn't noticed yet but Ralts definitely realizes she has a new move under her disposal with how she uses it every few minutes to crack a rock or boulder that's near us. Chardon dealt a critical hit and only a day into catching Tabs did I tell her to use Self-Destruct. Ralts got tired doing six stacks and three moves and would've gotten hit if Leaf hadn't saved her. Overall this was a very sloppy fight for any beginner level and higher trainer. I'll have to train really hard to make sure my team is strong enough for the gym.
Oh right.
"Hey, hehe, uh Tabs." The Pineco looks at me "I guess Rapid Spin means that three quarters of your moves are normal type." I don't know why I find that funny, I just do. 'Something, something, you sure you're not a normal type' typa joke.
Tabs looks at me quizzically but Leaf probably says something to explain her trainers weirdness.
The day is just uneventful walking and admiring nature with me stopping. just once to do a landscape drawing that accidentally took an hour to finish. The night came and only then did I set things up and place all my Pokemon out. Should probably talk to Ralts too but honestly I'm too tired to do that so after taking everyones dinner bowls and cleaning them I head for bed and enjoy the embrace of night with my Pokemon snuggling to me.
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Being a trainer Pokemon now is... surreal.
Talking with the Eevee 'Leaf' has shown that this trainer can be trusted but I have reservations on this.
Still... he did save my life and helped me protect what was once my home.
I know that I'm not native to this Route and also know that the boy is taking me to register my presence, I just wish to go home but father says I must evolve into a Kirlia before I was to return.
So I will stay with this group if only to grow stronger.
The Pineco is shivering... it would be ill fitting if one of my allies were to be weakened so I guess I might give her a closer spot to the 'Leaf' to stay warm. The Ralts line can handle the cold at this level with ease. I used to live on a mountain after all.