The next morning, Alec was abruptly shaken awake. He groaned, bringing his hands up to block the rays of the rising sun from burning into his eyes.
He hesitantly sat up, stretching his limbs in an attempt to dissolve the aches he felt from sleeping on the hard dirt all night. His eyes were foggy from his deep sleep, so he dusted off his hands and rubbed his eyes.
His nose was attacked by the harsh scent of a smothered campfire. Opening his eyes, he saw the logs that had been put in the fire last night reduced to skeletons of ash, barely resembling anything arboreal anymore.
He pulled himself to his feet with a grunt and ran his hands along his body to brush off all the leaves that clung to him. Fittingly, his mostly black and gray attire showed almost no signs of damage or staining from the dirt.
Up in the tree, Rowlet slowly began to awaken too. It’s the same type of bird as Noctowl, Alec thought. Does that mean it’s nocturnal? Apparently not, although it definitely wasn’t a morning person. Or early bird, heh.
It tipped forward, eyes still shut, off the branch, before snapping its wings out as it entered freefall. Without looking, it glided straight toward Alec and landed on his shoulder. Alec grinned, knowing he wasn’t alone in being a slow riser.
Beside him, both Rei and Akari moved to pack up their campsite, storing their bedrolls and tossing dirt on the fire.
“What first?” he asked to neither twin in particular.
“Well, there’s not really one specific thing we do,” said Rei. “Although what we do the most is foraging resources. We’ll be showing you how to do that today, plus the other random things we do from time to time.”
Alec nodded, already accepting the fact that today would be just as busy as yesterday. In fact, he likely wouldn’t get a restful day for a long while.
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“See those? The blue-but-nearly-purple color? That means they’re ripe and ready,” said Akari, pointing up at a lush tree sprinkled with oran berries. “I personally like ‘em on the less ripe side, they’re more tart that way, but they go for less at the market.”
Akari was giving Alec one-on-one lessons on how to properly gauge the ripeness of berries in trees. It was a lot deeper of a practice than Alec initially expected.
Rei was currently busy elsewhere. The two had split up and Akari told Alec to follow her. Not being one to argue, Alec went with the flow.
“Yeah, I see ‘em, but how do we get up there?” Alec asked, thinking back to his struggle to harvest a measly two berries upon his arrival.
“You’re not going up there,” Akari said, lowering her hand to her belt. “Come out, Pikachu!” she called, tossing her partner’s ball underhanded up into the air. It sprung open, releasing a white amorphous wave of energy that coalesced into her yellow-furred partner.
Along with the routine, Pikachu dashed toward the tree, before nailing it with a fierce Quick Attack. The force of the impact rattled the entire tree, causing the stems to cleanly snap and fall to the ground.
“Look, the properly ripe ones won’t splatter or dent from the fall,” she said as she jogged over to collect her harvest. Three softball-sized and cobalt blue berries rested on the ground. “You don’t have to worry about the premature ones, the impact isn’t strong enough to break their stems.”
Trying to help, Alec grabbed one berry and tossed it to Akari, who gingerly slipped it into her satchel with a “thanks.”
“You try to find some on those trees over there,” Akari said, gesturing to a small grove of similar-looking trees in the distance. “I’ll be here if you need me.”
He slowly made his way toward the grove. Immediately, he spotted a tree that had four berries on it - oran berries, specifically - each one being the same perfectly indigo-blue color Akari had told him to look for.
Alec glanced toward the bird on his shoulder, and with a shrug, jolted Rowlet to take flight. He awkwardly pointed toward the tree and said, “Rowlet, attack that tree!”
Hovering in the air, he only got a confused stare in response from Rowlet.
“Work with me here,” Alec sighed. “We, mostly I, need to harvest those berries. Y’know, to eat. I’ll let you have one if you can get them.”
He got no response.
“What moves do you know?” Alec asked the bird, watching as it tilted its head to the side in confusion.
“Yeah, I guess you can’t really tell me your move list,” he chuckled.
He returned his gaze to the berries high up in the tree. Like Tantalus, he knew he had the means of getting them down, but they were just out of reach currently. A bead of morning dew made the berry gleam in the sunlight, making it seem all the more appealing.
Suddenly, to his left, he heard a sound like a whirlwind. Snapping his head over, he saw Rowlet, in the air, swirling its wings around and creating white gusts of compressed air.
With a fierce chirp, Rowlet pulled its wings forward, sending a great wave of air toward the tree. Alec reflexively squinted his eyes in response. The leaves on the tree rustled violently, with several being dislodged and fluttering to the ground, but the berries held fast to their stems.
“Row…,” Rowlet said, looking disappointed that it couldn’t be helpful. It had likely tried the move before, to a similar result.
“That attack,” Alec said. “Did you just use Gust?”
Immediately, Rowlet returned from his downtrodden state, chirping happily that Alec appreciated his technique. It didn’t seem too particularly powerful, but it proved that it did at least know some attacking moves.
Alec remembered his encounter with the Buizel they crossed paths with yesterday, while he was exploring after awakening on the beach. He called out for Rowlet to use Tackle, and it happily complied. He knew he couldn’t use Tackle to get the berries, as Rowlet definitely couldn’t output enough force.
After considering it for a moment, Alec came up with a plan of attack.
He turned down to look at Rowlet, who had fluttered to the ground and landed. He pointed again at the tree, and said, “Rowlet, attack that tree again, but don’t use Gust, OK?”
Obediently, Rowlet leaped up into the air again and began to beat its wings fiercely, just like last time. As it charged up the attack, Alec watched the determination in its eyes and expression. Slowly, white wisps of wind began to form, like last time.
He’s using Gust again, Alec thought. Maybe it’s involuntary because he doesn’t know any other attacks?
Rowlet squeezed its eyes shut tighter, and the wind wisps dissipated. It kept flapping its wings in a strong up-down pattern, making loud swooshing sounds with every beat. It seemed to be struggling to not instinctually use Gust with every flap.
“That’s OK, Rowlet, come down here so we can figure this out,” Alec said. He had something he wanted to try.
Hesitantly, Rowlet quit its motions and fluttered down to Alec, landing on his outstretched arm with a “Row?”
Alec pursed his lips and furrowed his brow for a second in deep thought while he pondered how best to explain his thoughts to it. After a second, he said, “Alright, so it seems your only ranged attack right now is Gust. We’ll have to figure out another option to harvest these berries,” he said. "What if you tried to focus your Grass energy into your wings instead of your Flying energy? Instead of focusing on moving air, focus on creating sharp blades from your body. That way, instead of drawing wind energy to your wings, maybe you’ll use leaves instead. They’d be way sharper than just Gust. Wanna give it a shot?”
“Rowlet! Rowlet!” it said excitedly, already shuffling its talons in excitement. It took off and returned to its spot in the sky, where it again started to beat its wings.
Alec watched with bated breath as nothing seemed to happen as it flapped. Not even any remnants of Flying-type energy appeared. He looked back toward the tree, wondering if it would be possible for him to efficiently harvest some other way. For a second longer, it seemed like their plan was a failure, before-
“Rowlet!” it happily cawed, daring to open its eyes and break its concentration. Alec snapped his attention back. His face immediately broke into a massive grin when he saw leaves flowing around Rowlet, tossing and turning in the wind it was creating.
“Great job!” he called out, raising his fists in triumph. “Now let ‘em loose!”
Rowlet happily complied, snapping its wings forward like last time. The leaves shot forward like buckshot from a shotgun. There were about twenty leaves in total, each one about the size of a credit card. With that many, one was bound to strike home on the berry’s stem.
One lucky leaf flew through the air, slicing through the berry’s stem with a satisfying snap sound. The other leaves all dissolved and decomposed in the air, having not been charged with enough Grass energy to linger for too long.
The foremost berry fell toward the ground, where Alec had run over. He caught it smoothly in his hands and held it up like a baseball player holds up the game-winning catch, grinning the whole time.
Rowlet let out a screech in victory and Alec followed, laughing in joy. That attack was Leafage! He remembered it from watching the beginner’s gym circuit on TV a while ago.
He had just taught a Pokemon how to use a move! The thing he had dreamed of doing for his entire life! And he had just done it! The feeling filled his body and soul with levity.
Rowlet flew over to him and perched on his shoulder, and he happily began to stroke the bird’s head. It warbled in pleasure as Alec scratched it.
“This one’s gonna be the first of many,” Alec said. Both the move and the berry.
The two rested for about thirty seconds before Alec looked back up to the tree that still held three more berries.
“You think we can get those other ones?” he asked, already knowing the answer. Riding the confidence high, Rowlet chirped in agreement and flew out a few feet. It readied another Leafage and launched it at the tree. This time, the leaf spread was a bit more favorable, resulting in all three remaining berries being cut.
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“How many did you get?” Akari asked after they reconvened thirty minutes later.
“About eleven, I think,” Alec said, feeling pride in such a high number.
“Nice, for a beginner, I guess,” Akari responded. “You’ll definitely have to step it up, though.”
“Huh,” was all Alec could muster. And here he was, thinking that he was on a good pace! Only to find out that he wasn’t doing good enough.
“Well, how many did you get?” he asked, feeling slightly frustrated.
“Thirty-six, plus seventeen chunks of iron.”
Alec raised his eyebrows. He had a long way to go before he could fit in here. But he had to keep trying.
“I gotta get one of those satchels,” he said, gesturing to the small bag slung around her shoulder. It was deceptively small, although he knew that all fifty-three aforementioned items were safely tucked inside.
“Yeah, it makes this a breeze. They aren’t cheap though, and the lessons cost a fortune.”
“Lessons?” Alec asked incredulously, eliciting a laugh from Akari.
She looked at his current storage solution. “You’ll probably be fine with that for a while, so don’t worry about it.”
Due to the heat and humidity, Alec had taken off his hoodie and tied it around his waist. He had the bright idea to tie the sleeves and hood into a knot and use it as an impromptu sack for storing his haul. It was working so far, as he carried it around slung over his shoulder.
“How’d you end up getting the berries down?” Akari asked him, tilting her head to the side.
“I didn’t; Rowlet helped me.”
Akari raised an eyebrow in confusion. Alec wondered why that was so intriguing.
“How?” she asked incredulously. “You just met it yesterday, I thought? How’d you get it to listen to you?”
“I’m not entirely sure what I did,” Alec said. “I guess we just have common interests. Then again, I did give it a berry when we first met, so maybe it’s grateful. He only knew Tackle and Gust before, so it took some work to teach him Leafage.”
Again, Akari stared, trying to process how that was possible. “You mean to tell me,” she said, raising her hands in a confused gesture, “that on top of getting it to trust you, you taught Rowlet how to use a move? On top of just meeting it less than a day ago?”
“Uh, pretty much,” Alec said, exhaling to try to calm his rising nerves. What he did wasn’t that extraordinary, honestly.
“Show me.”
Simple enough, Alec thought. “Rowlet!” he asked, “Up for one more?”
He looked over to his shoulder and saw Rowlet happily shuffling its talons. Unprompted, it took to their air, flying high to spot another unharvested tree.
After a second of turning and flying in every which direction, it chirped successfully. Alec interpreted it as beckoning him over, so he told Akari to follow him and headed over to where Rowlet waited. It had dove into the foliage of a large tree.
“I already got this area,” Akari said. “There aren’t any left around here.”
“Are you sure?” Alec asked. “Rowlet definitely saw something, and Pokemon typically have really good eyesight.”
“Yeah, I’m sure. It’s probably confused or something.”
“Row!” it called from up in the tree. Alec squinted, trying to see where Rowlet was from within the tree. The leaves rustled back and forth, making it difficult to see into the leaves.
“Where are you?” he called up to the tree, eliciting a “Let! Rowlet!” from up in the tree. The leaves in one area rustled, drawing their attention, before Rowlet burst out of the other side of the tree. Upon closer inspection, a large and perfectly ripe berry hung in the tree.
“Check it out,” Alec said, pointing to the berry. “It’s a hidden one!”
“I guess so,” Akari said, admitting defeat. “Good eye!” she called to Rowlet, who warbled at her praise.
After it got situated in the air, Alec called, “Use Leafage, just like we practiced!”
With a swish of its wings, Rowlet launched another volley of arboreal missiles. They shot toward the tree, with one cleanly slicing the berry’s stem.
The two humans watched in wonder as the berry fell to the ground, with Alec being excited and Akari being shocked.
The tale has been taken without authorization; if you see it on Amazon, report the incident.
But the leaves also had an unintended target. From the tree, a yelp rang out, before an angry brown blur shot from the tree.
“Buneary! Bun!” it shouted angrily. Landing on the ground, it looked around before spotting Alec and Akari. It wore a thin cut along its face, likely from where a leaf accidentally cut it.
It closed its eyes in concentration, as it seemed to charge and gather energy for an attack.
“Get out of the way!” Akari called, raising a hand in front of Alec to protect him.
After a second, the Buneary’s eyes snapped open, and it leaped high into the air. It launched several glowing projectiles toward them.
Swift! Alec immediately thought. Acting on instinct, he tried to move to the side to get out of the way. Unfortunately, Swift was a move that always hit its target as long as the Pokemon that used it maintained its focus.
As he ran to the side, Alec began to wince, bracing his body for the impact, before-
“ROW!” his Pokemon called, swooping in to crash into the Buneary in a dive-bomb maneuver. It wasn’t exactly Tackle, but it was close enough that it still sent the small rabbit tumbling. Immediately, the Swift projectiles vanished, leaving Alec unharmed.
He hesitantly opened his eyes, to see Rowlet hovering in the air, looking back at him. The Buneary slowly pulled itself to its feet, looking even angrier than before. It began to hop in place a few times, seemingly warming up its legs for its next attack.
“Get ready, it’s gonna attack again!” Alec shouted toward Rowlet. “Use Leafage again!”
From up in the air, Rowlet charged up Leafage again. Down on the ground, Buneary finished its warmup and crouched down in anticipation. Its little legs propelled it far higher than Alec thought was physically possible as it leaped straight at Rowlet. Swinging its legs in front of it, it readied its attack.
Double Kick! Alec thought.
“Get out of the way!” he called, wide-eyed in worry.
Rowlet quit its charge, and did a barrel roll to the side, narrowly dodging Buneary by a hair’s width.
“Charge Leafage again!” Alec called, once he saw Rowlet was OK.
With a chirp, Rowlet launched Leafage. The leaves peppered Buneary’s crouched form on the dirt after it landed. Sufficiently damaged, it decided its attack wasn’t worth the energy and hopped off.
“That was amazing!” Alec called toward Rowlet, pumping his fist up in victory. Rowlet trilled joyfully as it glided back to Alec’s shoulder.
He reached into his hoodie-turned-sack and pulled out an oran berry. He held it in front of Rowlet, who happily took a large bite.
Akari chuckled, crossing her arms. “Impressive,” she said, quirking the corner of her mouth in a grin. “Anyways, let’s get going. Now that you know the basics, let’s split up and meet at camp at noon. For now, avoid ore deposits until Rowlet can safely break them with a move.” She immediately turned and dashed away, Pikachu running at her heels.
They weren’t worried about him getting lost, because he had his compass and a good enough sense of direction to find his way back. Worse case, they agreed to meet back at Jubilife at sundown if he got too lost, as the village was too major of a landmark to miss.
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*Thump*
“Did you hear that?” Alec asked, looking at Rowlet. It cocked its head, tilting its head around to try to hear what made the noise. It sounded like
*Thump*
Alec furrowed his brows, cautiously looking around. The source of the noise could be dangerous, after all.
*Thump*
This one rang out especially loudly, giving Alec a general direction. He cautiously crept toward the source of the noise, straining his ears to hear the next one.
But instead of another thump, Alec’s strained ears heard nothing. He looked around, confused, trying to find out what happened.
*Thump*
As he walked closer and closer, this one sounded closest of all. In front of Alec stood an ordinary-looking tree, bearing a few berries that looked to be ripe for picking.
“Huh,” Alec huffed, still confused. “It doesn’t matter,” he said with a hand wave. “Rowlet, here’s another tree, get ready.”
As Rowlet got ready to attack the tree, he heard a small growl coming from the base of the tree, looking down, buried in a pile of leaves, lay a small blue and black Pokemon.
Shinx, Alec recalled. They evolve into Luxray. The small baby lion Pokemon was about as small as a shoebox. This must’ve been what was making the sound; it’s trying to get the berry with Headbutt.
It glared at him, which overall seemed to look more cute than threatening. “Shinx!” it shouted, bending its knees and seemingly charging an attack. Alec heard a faint crackling sound as it began to accumulate static electricity in its body.
Not wanting to battle with it, Alec raised his arms non-threateningly and said, “Hey, we don’t want to fight, we’re just gathering. It looks like you need help getting that berry down. We’ve got plenty here, do you want one?”
Yeah, Alec was immediately pacified by the little kitten. Sue him. Or don’t, as the due process of law hadn’t been invented yet. Anyways, banish and/or execute him.
The territorial Shinx finally finished charging and barreled straight toward Alec with a fierce battle cry. His eyes widened, and he sidestepped out of the way as quickly as he could. Even a baby Electric-type like this could jolt a human with enough electricity to cause muscle spasms or temporary paralysis. Alec didn’t have any heart conditions but he didn’t feel like risking cardiac arrest out here in the past before the defibrillator was invented.
In some cases, luckily excluding the Shinx line, babies were more dangerous than the parents. As they hadn’t developed their muscle memories to modulate their electrical discharges, babies often tended to exhaust their entire internal batteries on a single target, frying them. Elekid and Pichu were notorious for this.
The Shinx zipped past, slowed to a stop, and turned around. It barked frustratedly a few times that its first attack was ineffective, before beginning to charge another one. This time, thin arcs of energy leaped from its small body, leaving tiny smoldering patches on the grass from where they arced. It popped and crackled like those plasma lamps you often find at arcades that cost a small fortune in tickets to buy.
It threw its head back and roared, (as loud as a small kitten can roar) and Alec felt the hairs on his arms raise. His shirt, laden with static electricity, began clinging to his chest. He felt the top of his head, where a few stray hairs stuck straight up. The feeling wasn’t painful, but it was definitely unpleasant.
A loud cry broke him from his current attention, and he turned to look at Rowlet, who was falling from the air. Its wings were locked in place by its sides and small yellow bolts of energy cracked throughout its body.
Paralysis! Alec thought. It must’ve used Thunder Shock. Alec ran toward Rowlet, catching it before it hit the ground. Its body was tense and his breathing was labored.
The Shinx cried out victoriously and charged one final attack.
Then he got an idea. He gingerly set Rowlet down on the ground and reached into his sack. Fumbling around for a second, Alec finally grabbed what he needed. A large oran berry, the same size as the one on the tree.
While they carried out their plan, the little Shinx began its second attack, again charging at Alec. He lightly tossed the berry at the Shinx, not bothering to move out of the way. It landed halfway between him and it, although the distance was closing fast as it ran toward him.
As it approached, it seemed to slow down little by little, and the crackling sound seemed to subside as well. Once it reached the berry, it looked up at Alec with admiration for a second, chirped a happy, “Shi, shinx!” in thanks, and began to eat.
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Back at camp, once the sun reached its zenith, Alec and Akari rested for a minute and had lunch.
“Another one, huh?” Akari asked with a slight laugh, pointing toward Alec’s new companion.
“I guess so,” Alec said. “Like I said, I gave it a berry and it basically quit being hostile. As I turned to leave it followed me, and it kept pace with me since.”
Down on the ground, Shinx purred as it played with Rowlet. After the fight, Alec had grabbed a cheri berry and hand-fed it to Rowlet, curing its status condition. Now that Shinx had been pacified, both Pokemon play-fought as they each used weak versions of moves.
Cries of “Shinx!” and “Rowlet!” could be heard as the two quickly became fast friends. He noticed that, as they played, Shinx liked to play-fight closer to the ground, making careful use of all the tools at its disposal to win the ‘fight.’
“You’re a tricky one,” said Alec. “Very cute, too.”
“Y’know, you’ve really got a knack for training Pokemon,” Akari said. “I didn’t mention it earlier, but the fact that you taught Rowlet a new move is crazy impressive. Basically unheard of, considering how long you’ve known it.”
Alec smiled, looking down at the two Pokemon. “I guess so,” he said with an air of pride. “Thanks.”
Akari turned away from Alec’s eye contact for a second, considering something. After a second of deliberation, she said, “C’mon, we’ve done enough for the day, I think. I’ve got someone you’ve gotta meet.” She stood up, dusted off her skirt and pants, and began to walk off.
“Alright,” Alec said, confused. As he stood up, he looked down at his two Pokemon followers. Noticing his movement, they stopped their spar and looked up at him.
“Shi?” “Let?” they said.
“C’mon, Akari’s taking us somewhere,” Alec said.
Shinx happily ran over to Alec’s feet and put its forepaws on his pant legs. He bent down and picked the kitten up with both hands and gingerly placed it on his left shoulder. Rowlet, having flown over to Alec, landed on his right shoulder.
If you told Alec a few weeks - or even a few days - ago that he would have two Pokemon following him around and being friendly enough to ride on his shoulder, he would’ve called you crazy. Just like in those cheesy trainer movies that his mom and he loved to watch, he had two best friends!
Alec always thought it was ridiculous how ‘fate’ or some mysterious Legendary Pokemon deemed some random kid as the ‘chosen one’ and how he would run into a rare, powerful, and often shiny Pokemon within fifteen minutes of starting their journey. They’d go on to make more partners, grow impossibly strong impossibly quickly, sometimes thwart the local villainous team by making short work of their legions of identical grunts along the way, and save the world.
What he was experiencing wasn’t quite like those movies. He reminded himself of the bandage still tightly wrapped around his leg where the Staravia had cut him open. Now that his mind was back on it, the wound began to passively hurt again. Not badly, but it made him want to stop and itch it.
He let out a deep breath. This was real life, not some movie, and he was in great danger. Even the baby Shinx riding on his shoulder could’ve seriously hurt him if he didn’t get lucky with the berry.
Breaking out of his thread of thought, Alec noticed that Akari was growing farther away rapidly. He bent down to grab his makeshift sack that carried his haul. Curiously, he noticed that it had been shuffled and shifted since he set it down. It seemed lighter than it had been before.
He tilted his head and scanned the surrounding area. It couldn’t have been either his or Akari’s Pokemon, as his were occupied playing and Akari’s were still in their balls.
“Alec! C’mon!” Akari called.
“One sec!” he shouted back. Seeing nothing, he sighed and shook his head. Well, whatever took his berries probably needed it more than he did. He rummaged around in the sack and pulled out an oran berry alongside two leppa berries. He left them on the ground in a neat pile, turned, and followed Akari back to Jubilife.
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Back at the village, Akari led Alec to a building that hadn’t been included in his tour. Walking down the main street, Alec noticed that the curious and reluctant stares of the townspeople had only magnified.
Well, Alec was a rather strange sight. He had two wild Pokemon riding on his shoulders, he carried a bundle of fabric containing who knows what, and to top it off he was an outsider. To anyone, it was reasonable to be distrustful of him, he figured. I’ll have to earn their trust somehow, Alec thought.
“This way, the building at the end.” Akari said, pointing. It was situated in the far northwest corner of the village, far removed from any of the typical foot traffic of the village. The building was clearly newer compared to the rest of the houses and stores on the street, as evidenced by the coat of paint being less chipped and sunbleached.
The sign out front was in a language that Alec didn’t understand but looked oddly familiar. He had definitely seen it before.
“Where are we?” he asked curiously while sizing up the building. It definitely wasn’t a store or shop. Was it a restaurant? He hadn’t seen any of those yet around the village.
“Professor Laventon’s lab!” Akari excitedly replied. “He’s one of the heads of the Survey Corps. He’s an expert on all things Pokemon. He knows tons of advice for training ‘em, too.”
Alec hummed in acknowledgment. For his quest to seek out all Pokemon, whatever that meant, this professor would likely be an invaluable asset.
Although, he was curious about what kind of research this professor did. He had no idea how far the field of Pokezoology had progressed. Plus, couldn’t trainers just look up data in their Pokedex whenever they had questions?
Akari reached the door and knocked with a rhythm of three quick raps and two slow ones. A faint “coming!” could be heard from inside the building.
A second later, the door swung open, revealing a short man with dark hair wearing a beanie and a lab coat. He stood with a considerable slouch, indicating that he spent considerable time sitting at a desk poring over various documents. The man had a warm smile on his face and he had a general air of joy around him.
“Ah, Akari! Good to see you,” Laventon said. “What can I do for you? I just put on some afternoon tea, care for a cup?” He looked over at Alec. “And who is this? Come in, come in.” He turned away and waved for them to enter the lab.
The lab itself wasn’t like any lab Alec had ever seen before. Instead of the clean and orderly nature, papers were strewn about everywhere. A chalkboard stood in a corner, acting as a stalwart mnemonic for notes, numbers, and reminders. There was also a large artist’s easel in the opposing corner, holding a detailed sketch of a Kricketune. In the far wall of the office was a mantle with a kettle of water above it.
“Where did I leave the tea leaves this time?” Alec heard him faintly mutter under his breath, as he glanced around the office. After a second, his face brightened and he grabbed a small clay jar.
“Who might you be?” he asked Alec. “If memory serves, I don’t think I’ve seen you around here before. Although, it often doesn’t, so don’t take offense if we’ve met before,” he said with a wink.
Alec chuckled. “No, we’ve definitely never met. My name’s Alec. I fell out of the rift in the sky and I’ve lost my memory.”
A beat of silence.
“You certainly don’t mince words, a respectable trait indeed,” Laventon said with a chuckle. He turned to Akari. “Is this true?”
At her nod, he returned his attention to Alec, wide-eyed. “And you’re certain you have no memories? Your clothing is rather unusual, I wouldn’t discount the possibility of you coming from somewhere very far away. What’s the first thing you remember? How long have you been here? And have you noticed any unusual things about yourself since?”
Alec blinked, overloaded at the onslaught of questions. Before he could even begin to answer one, the professor hurried to the whiteboard in the corner and swiped a rag across the various notes on it, clearing the chalk. He furiously began refilling the board with his mutterings.
“Come on, professor, don’t scare him,” Akari said, trying and failing to hold back a chuckle at the professor’s antics. “And it’s rude to call someone’s clothes unusual.”
He stopped writing. “You’re quite right, my apologies. I sometimes tend to let my academic side run a little crazy and get the better of me. Now, what can I do for you?”
“I was wondering if you’d be willing to let someone else in on the Pokedex project. Alec’s got a crazy knack for connecting with Pokemon. That Rowlet and Shinx on his shoulders? He tamed them both in two days. He even taught Rowlet a new move!”
“Is that so?” he said, raising his hand to his chin. “We could use an expert at catching Pokemon. Young man, how do you fare on catching Pokemon?”
“Catching? Like in balls? I’ve never used one,” he said, gesturing to the wooden Pokeball on Akari’s belt. This was the truth; even back home he had never actually used a Pokeball.
“Curious…” he muttered. “In that case, there’s no time like the present. Here you go, my boy. A freshly-crafted ball made by yours truly. Go ahead and test it out on your Pokemon.” In his extended hand rested two wooden Pokeballs. They were identical to the ones that Rei and Akari had shown him yesterday.
Alec hesitantly grabbed them, one in each hand, noting how the ball’s weight greatly favored the bottom half. The wooden top half wasn’t rough or coarse like he expected, instead being smooth. On the front, a metal clasp held it shut.
His soul alight with joy, Alec looked at his two Pokemon. If they were willing, they were about to join him on his quest. His childhood dream, now not so far out of reach, was finally coming true.
“Before we do this,” Alec said. “You guys need nicknames.” He had been considering this for a little while, anticipating the moment when the Pokemon made their friendship official.
First and foremost, Rowlet. He raised his hand to his chin and pondered possible names. Back home, he’d heard of several trainers who gave their Pokemon human names. Alec had never really understood it; he’d always felt that there were better names to choose.
Thinking about his home, immediately one particular memory of his mom re-emerged. She had a saying that she frequently repeated, which addressed how to adapt to change.
“The old is swept away, lost to the winds,” she’d said.
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“But Mom, why do we have to leave? I like it here?” Alec whined.
Jennifer sighed. She looked over her shoulder at her pride and joy, her whole world. The nine-year-old boy sat in the backseat of their car with his seatbelt unbuckled. Beside him, occupying the two other backseats, were large cardboard boxes filled with their things.
She didn’t have the heart to tell Alec the truth. That their landlord had raised rent again and they couldn’t afford it anymore. She shook her head, a tear rolling down her cheek.
She took the key out of the ignition and stepped out of the car. Having walked around to Alec’s door, she opened it and buried him in a hug.
“Baby, this is just something that life threw at us. We’ll get by, we always do,” she said, holding him tight. “The old is swept away, lost to the winds. Do you know who controls the winds?”
Alec tilted his head back, thinking. After a second, he said, “Tornadus! We read about him in school. He’s a super strong Pokemon that can create storms and hurricanes!”
Jennifer laughed. “Yeah, that’s him. But what about the people that get hit by those hurricanes?”
“I don’t know,” he sighed. “What happens to them?”
“They can either stand back up and move on, or lay down and drown. There may not be a real hurricane hitting our home, but we can still learn from the stories. We’ll make new memories at our new home and it’ll be just as cozy.”
She grabbed his hands and squeezed them. “We can be strong together. Nothing’s gonna stop us.”
Alec sniffled. “Okay, mom, I trust you.”
Jennifer leaned forward and gave him a kiss on the forehead. She slowly closed his car door and climbed back into the driver’s seat.
As they pulled out of their parking space, she made eye contact with him in the rear-view mirrors.
“You know, when I was your age, we didn’t call him Tornadus. We called him Auster.”
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In a way, Alec’s life had been taken by the winds. He considered a name like Tornado for Rowlet, but it didn’t feel quite right. He liked its significance to him, so he pondered Thundurus’ alternate names.
Suddenly, it came to him like a hurricane. “Rowlet, what do you think about being called Auster?” he said. Rowlet chirped in affirmation. He raised his wings and flew up, clearly overjoyed with his new name.
Once Auster had finished his celebration, Alec turned to Shinx, who looked at him with big eyes, excited and expectant.
He wasn’t sure about another name with personal significance for the little Pokemon. He thought back to how he encountered it, trying to get a berry. Quickly, a name came to him.
“Shinx, what do you think about the name Tricky?” It barked in affirmation, spinning in circles.
“Well, that settles it,” he said. “Welcome to the team, Auster and Tricky.”
But one thing still concerned him. Looking closer at the Pokeball, he was confused by the placement of the metal clasp keeping the lid closed.
“What’s the clasp for?” he asked.
“It’s to keep the Pokemon secured inside, of course,” Laventon said, confused. “After all, you don’t want the ball to just pop open whenever the Pokemon wants to. It’s dangerous, you know.”
Alec furrowed his brow. But wouldn’t that trap the Pokemon inside? No, if he was going to use these Pokeballs, he’d never use the clasp. On the first ball that Laventon handed him, he held the ball firmly with both hands and twisted, snapping it clean off. The second ball quickly followed. The clasps fell to the floor with a quiet metallic clang.
“Tricky,” he said, forcing himself to smile. “Want to be first?”
The little kitten jumped off his shoulder and happily ran in circles. After it finished its excited outburst, it came to a stop at Alec’s feet and bowed its head. Alec knelt down, feeling Auster’s claws shuffle on his shoulder to keep himself balanced.
He tapped the ball’s front to Shinx’s forehead and it vanished quickly, leaving wisps of red energy trailing into the ball. Looking over at his shoulder, he raised his nondominate hand to Auster. It extended a wing and touched the front of the ball, vanishing similarly. They barely even wobbled in Alec’s hands, before the top of the balls launched small sparks upward with a crackling sound.
The crackling gave Alec a sense of completeness. Of tranquility. The feeling that he’d be alright, no matter what the world threw at him because he had a loyal companion by his side.
Without any input from him, the balls popped open. Still kneeling, Tricky put its forepaws on him and began to lick his face. Alec, Akari, and Laventon chuckled at the display of affection. Auster flew joyous circles around them, chirping.
“Very interesting,” Laventon said, holding his hand out again. “Yes, that settles it. You’re officially a part of the Pokedex project.”