Morning came quickly as I had another night of restless sleep, waking up at any slight noise. It felt like I had become hypersensitive, during the night I raced out of my tent because I thought I heard wings flapping near me. It turned out there was nothing there and I just interrupted me and the team’s rest.
Suffice enough to say, I’m not sure I’m in tip-top shape to be doing these trials. I added extra Chesto berries to my team's food to energize them and attempt to make myself some instant coffee. I have a small kettle buried deep into my bag, I take it out and prepare to set up a small fire. I walk towards a somewhat flat rock, piling some dry grass and sticks on top of it, I use a lighter to start it up and I fill the kettle with some of the water in my water bottle.
A few minutes pass of me feeding this small fire until the kettle finally starts to whistle. I pour the boiling water into a small cup and break open the small packet of instant coffee. I dump the powder into the boiling water and mix it up. I wait a bit before taking very small sips, to avoid burning my tongue. I watch my two team members talk to one another, or at least I think they’re talking, it’s just a bunch of variations of their names. Pokemon speech is weird, I wonder if they formulate sentences or if it’s just broken concepts, like caveman speech.
I check on my phone’s update, and the bar is about 15% filled. It might take this whole day and may even take till tomorrow until it’s finished. I look over towards Min and mutter “Status.”
I wait for a screen to pop up, but it never does ‘Damn, guess that’s down too…’ I sigh and go back to pondering. What should I do now that two of my advantages are down…Can I do this? I tap my mug in a slow rhythm ‘Well, I kinda have to do this. Do I have to do this? I could try opting out…’ I shake my head and down the rest of the coffee in one gulp. I place the mug upside down on the same rock I used to light the fire and steady my breathing.
‘You can do this, while the system and “Edit” might be good tools they’re still just that, tools. I can do this!’ Building up all the confidence I got from my recent gym battle win I walk over toward my team.
“Hey guys, now normally I would try to strategize, but we have no idea what these trials are.” Roselia’s reaction tells me she’s a bit concerned, Min is just idly smiling not affected at all by my words. “So I say that we’ll just have to improvise a lot of this since we don’t know what we’ll be doing.” I continue and state some simple ideas to keep in mind, like how one of the trials will certainly be a fight. I rattle off a few ideas about what other challenges we may face, like possibly one of those coordinator contests. That seemed to have garnered Roselia's attention, only for her to then pretend like she wasn’t interested. I take a mental note about that.
After that, all we do is wait for Kadabra to show up and announce the trial. Which takes an hour, when he does show up I notice that he seems to have bloodshot eyes, like he didn’t rest at all last night. If he wasn’t some weird lizard thing he probably would have had bags under his eyes.
‘Come now, challengers. We will announce your trials soon.’ He sticks out his hand. Min climbs onto my shoulder and Roselia jumps into my hood, and I grab Kadabra’s hand. I wasn’t sure why he wanted me to grab his hand until a pink light enveloped all four of us. Reeling back I realize I am now on a stage. ‘Ugh, was that teleport? He could’ve warned us…but then again why else would he offer me his hand?’ As I shake off the headache caused by the teleport, I realize how many eyes are now on me.
I look towards the crowd of pokemon and gulp a bit. In front of me is a sea of at least a hundred pokemon, there are Caterpies, Beedrill, a Turtwig sitting on a Torterra’s head, a terrifying, I mean a happy-looking Noctowl, and a whole bunch more. I fidget with my hands in my jacket pocket as I look at the hundred creatures that could easily kill me. I try my best to hold onto my self-confidence.
Armarouge, who I now realize was on the stage with me the whole time, begins to say something in pokemon talk. ‘Allow me to translate.’ Says the torn voice of Kadabra. ‘We are gathered here to announce the trials of the trainer Elliot Walker, who wishes to take the young Charcadet as his teammate!’
‘There will be three trials, you are free to spectate them, but do not interfere unless asked.’ The voice of the actual Armarouge sounded a lot more demanding than Kadabra’s translation. ‘Now then let us announce the first trial, I believe humans commonly call this “Capture the Flag.” Elliot Walker will have to work with a team of three random pokemon and attempt to capture the opposing team’s leader.’ A cold sweat forms. ‘Wait…is my team not a part of this?’ Armarouge’s translated speech continues ‘Elliot Walker shall be the leader of his team, as such if he is captured and brought back to the base of the opposing team he will lose.’
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The rules of this trial are simple, but the game itself will be a challenge. I stand next to a cracked boulder which will act as our base. I now wear a small red cloth wrapped around my bicep showing I am the leader and capture target. I look toward my temporary team, among the four members of this team three of them are pokemon. Now I would be fine with that, if the other team saw me as a trainer and not as a pokemon, basically they’re allowed to use moves on me and knock me out. I feel my worries pile up.
I sigh and start to think of a strategy with my new team, as soon as I was about to say “Status” I caught myself. ‘This update better be good…’
My team’s three pokemon are a Drilbur, Zorua, and that Noctowl that I saw in the crowd. ‘I guess they took volunteers for this.’ I think of our current strengths and weaknesses. Luckily all of my team has unique yet useful ways of helping. The biggest weakness is that they can’t talk to…Ah!
An idea zooms into my mind and I begin to say my plan. “Noctowl, you're a stealthy flier, right?” It just stares at me… “I’ll take that as a yes. I want you to fly up real high then scope out the opposing team then I want you to -” Before I can finish the bird pokemon already left, vanished like Batman. “I guess I’ll tell you when you get back…” I turn to my other two teammates “Okay, while Noctowl scopes out our opponents let me tell you my plan.”
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Finally, Noctowl returns, “Alright, get a good look at them?” The bird says nothing and doesn’t even nod. “...Okay then…Uh, can you draw what the opposing team’s pokemon looked like?” Noctowl begins to do so. He scratches the dirt with his talons creating four surprisingly good portraits of a Volcarona, Seviper, Torterra, and a Bunnelby with a cloth wrapped around its ear signifying it is the leader.
I tap my chin, luckily my plan should work…Volcarona may be a problem though. “Alright, Noctowl I want you to observe them as stealthily as you can. Once they’re on the move I want you to snatch one and tie them up or knock them out, ah and also make sure to tell us who you took out. Remember to take one out if it’s alone, with no one else noticing.” Noctowl flaps its huge wingspan, without making a sound or even whipping up wind and disappears into the sky.
“Drillbur, the plan is the same for you and Zorua. Drilbur, go underground and Zorua waits for Noctowl to return.” I sigh a bit at what I must do next, but it is probably the best way. “I’m going to climb up a tree and try to stay out of sight for now.” The two nod and begin their tasks.
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Climbing up a tree was way easier this time, even without Metapod footholds. Guess I’ve gotten stronger, or maybe just better at climbing for some reason. This tree seems to be the tallest one around our base, I squint towards where the opposing team should be coming. And I soon see them, they were crowding together now but as I was climbing I managed to see that they heard something and did disperse a few seconds before to check it out.
They’re closer than I thought, the leader, Bunnelby, seems to be on top of Volacrona’s head. Seems they’re going more offensive than us. Which is fair, our team is definitely a bit weaker, aside for Noctowl who gives off some weird vibes. Anyways, Torterra is on Bunnelby’s left while Seviper is on the right. I suspect they’re going to go guns blazing as soon as they see my team members.
Though they won’t for now since my plan is basically wrapped around that. I’m lucky that they decided to go offensive, or I might’ve had to do it and that wouldn’t turn out well.
Seviper races toward the cracked boulder, shocked to see no one there. The snake reports back, and the group seems to have a conversation.
Suddenly as they’re talking the ground crumbles from under them. A pitfall trap made by Dilbur ensnares Torterra and Seviper. Unfortunately, Volcarona is always flying and was unaffected by the surprise. But I expected that now the next part happens. Drilbur jumps out from the ground, coating his claw in Steel Aura as he attempts to hit Bunnelby with Metal Claw.
Volcarona reacts first, turning its body away from the attack and retaliating with a blast of fire. Drilbur gets hit point blank from the attack and falls limp on the ground. ‘That looked like it hurt.’
Now everything is going okay, while I didn’t expect Drilbur to get one shot, we still have the next move. The Volcarona looks directly at me. Its compounded eyes cause shivers to run down my spine as a burst of fire gets thrown at me. Like a deer in headlights, my body refused to move, but luckily the branch I was sitting on snapped. Okay maybe luckily isn’t the right word, instead of getting burned I fell through multiple branches. Miraculously I didn’t break any bones…I think. I groan on the dirt as the rider duo suddenly appears in front of me. ‘Are Volcaronas always this fast?’
I attempt to limp away, but Bunnelby stomps down onto my back. I try my best not to scream when he does, the Bunnelby, with strength not matching its small physique, throws me on top of the Volcarona. Right in between its two large antennas atop its head. Seviper and Torterra manage to get out of the hole. Seviper climbs over Torterra and Torterra uses Earthquake to cause one side of the hole to fall making a rough slope.
The four talk to each other, and Seviper seems to be leading the conversation. Volcarona dips its head causing me to fall onto the back of Torterra. As this happens I mutter “Now!” As quick as a bullet, Seviper leaps to Bunnelby. Seviper grabs Bunnelby with its jaw and throws it up into the sky, while in the air a brown blur swoops down and captures the bunny. And in less than a second a horn sounds inside of my head. Kadabra telepathically says ‘Elliot’s team wins!’
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I sigh out in relief and limp my way off of Torterra, the large turtle helps me out offering his back to support me. I look towards Seviper as the snake erupts into a puff of smoke and Zorua reforms in his place.
Noctowl comes back with both Seviper and Bunnelby in its talons. While I’m happy that my plan worked, I don’t really show it. Now that I’m walking around, I think I definitely broke something in that fall. When I try to put weight on my leg a sharp pain shoots through my body. ‘Volcarona took this really seriously, huh.’ I’m not particularly angry so I decided to just forgive the bug pokemon. The posse of Pokémon makes their way back toward the village.
=====
After a half hour of walking, we finally managed to meet back up with Armarouge. ‘Welcome back.’ Says Kadabra who soon pops in next to Armarouge. ‘Good job on your victory…’ Kadabra’s voice fades away. His expression changes, ‘Is he…Scared.’ In a fraction of a second, psychic energy moves my body. A column of fire erupts where I was, I turn around to see the cause of the fire: Volcarona.
Noctowl, still holding two unconscious Pokémon, snaps its talons. Blood spurts from the two Pokémon I watch in fear as the Bunnelby and Seviper’s lives are snuffed before my eyes. As I look towards the two, something in the back of my mind tells me to run. Armarouge fires a cannon of flame as soon as his two pauldrons combine making a Mega-Man-looking cannon. The two Pokémon easily dodge it, and perfectly in sync they turn their attention towards the village.
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Min and Roselia watch as their trainer goes off stage and into the forest, three strangers with him. Min resists the urge to follow him. He always feels like this when Elliot leaves, he’s afraid he might not come back. “Now then for trial two.” The boss’s commanding voice snaps Min back to the present. “You two will need to collect these.” He pulls out a small black stone from inside one of his pauldrons. “There are a total of six, and each one has a guardian assigned to it. Your job is to defeat or trick the guardian and claim the stone.”
Min nods and looks over to Roselia. To the untrained eye, she may look neutral or even a bit angry, but Min can tell that she’s very excited about this trial. For some reason Roselia is always excited to fight or do some sort of trial, he’s asked why before but she never answered. A horn rings in their head and they both race off. The two decide it would be better to split up and that’s what they do.
A fair amount has passed, and Min has managed to find three stones so far. With his small size and agility, he’s managed to steal all but one of his stones. For that one, he had to answer a Greedent’s riddle to get the stone that he stowed away in his mouth.
“What is always coming, but never arrives.” Min has to sit down and really rack his brain for this one. But, he managed to figure out the answer. “Tomorrow.” And that’s how he obtained his third stone.
Rosella on the other hand has found two stones so far. One was being held by a sleeping Slaking, so she was able to easily take it. Though the constant danger of the powerful pokemon waking up made her flowers shiver a bit. The second was with a very quick Mankey, she managed to get that one after focusing a 2-minute-long stream of Absorb on that fighting type. A new record for her.
And now they both are frantically looking for the last stone. Min starts barging into the various tents and shacks that make up the town. After he barges into a somewhat spicy scene he decides that the last stone must not be in any of the houses and he starts to retrace his steps.
Roselia observes Min as he barges into almost every building in this town, she finds it comedic but also not very helpful. She turns her gaze toward the tower that screams “Quest Item here!” and decides that’s probably the spot to check out. She makes her way there and finds that the door is surprisingly unlocked, Roselia can’t help but be disappointed. She was hoping that maybe a princess would let down her hair for her to climb up.
She enters the dimly lit towers, a spiral staircase leading towards the top. She has to hop up the stairs as they’re clearly made for pokemon much taller than her. She finally reaches the top and finds a barren room, just what looks like a blanket on the ground. She glances around the room and her eyes land on the Charcadet, just sitting still, like a doll against the wall. His eyes seem to have wandered into some far-off space.
She looks over the fire-type, his dead eyes unsettle her. She can tell he’s alive but rather than living, he’s just…alive. It’s unnerving, to say the least. She decides to try and just ignore him, he doesn’t seem like he’ll stop her from looking around.
Five minutes have passed and there’s not a single trace of any stone. Which leaves only one spot she hasn’t checked, Roselia sighs as she takes another glance at the pokemon lying against the wall. “Hey! Do you have that stone?” She asks as she walks closer to him. No response.
“Hey, did you hear me? Do you have a stone?” No response still. She knows he can talk, she can faintly recall him saving something while she was in her pokeball. She can only assume that this is part of whatever challenges the Charcadet has set up. Is it a riddle of some kind? In games, there’s usually some sort of clue in the room. But, she had searched through the whole tower and found nothing interesting. Just his room and a staircase.
With no other ideas, Roselia decides to take a seat next to Charcadet, giving enough space between them so her petals don’t wilt from his heat. “So…We’re just…Staring at this wall?” She’s not very good at small talk. Half a minute passes by and she starts to notice something, there is no heat coming from Charcadet. The fire that should be streaming from his eyes, is nowhere to be seen and even the flame atop his head is much smaller than it should be.
It’s cold and passionless. Roselia can’t help but feel pity. “Do you have any dreams?” Charcadet finally answers. “Hopes or wants, what are they? What does it mean to live?” He continues his first existential question with two more. Roselia thinks about her answer for less than a second.
“You’re asking me because you want to know. You’re most likely hoping I’ll give you an answer, yes?” The fire type shows no emotion when one of his questions is answered right away. What he wants is, after all, ever-present. The desire to eat, drink, sleep, and perform other essential functions. Hopes are just as common, though they vary, she supposes.
“Dreams are just whatever you want to do, I want to beat up a dragon, that would be considered a dream.” Her long-term goal in life is fairly simple, beat up a bunch of strong people and become super strong. Heroes are people who fight strong opponents and gain riches for doing so, just like in Leavanny’s stories. So, she speculates, that is her main goal.
“And for the life question…I dunno, no real point in thinking about stuff like that. My best guess though? Dialga’s clock stops for no one, time will move and life will pass. So just do whatever.” It’s as simple as that, well at least to her it is. Dealing with this philosophy stuff is probably the challenge…She thinks. Unless he just started venting to her for some reason.
“Okay.” He responds blankly. After her whole spiel his fire did not burn any bright nor did she feel any ember ignite the piece of charcoal. He reaches towards his back and pulls out the small black stone, he gets up walks one step towards her, and places it into her petals. He then slides back down the wall and resumes his doll-like pose.
Suddenly, an explosion booms its way into her head. The smell of spoke pierces through the cobblestone tower. She jumps up in shock, but Charcadet seems to barely care. Another blast can be heard, this time it’s closer. And by closer, she means right at the tower. The stone walls shake. Is the room tilting? No, it’s falling.
=====
I watch as pure rage contorts Armarouge’s face, he slams his pauldrons together and fires a laser. And by laser I mean, laser. The flames burst out like usual only to rapidly form and gather making a laser of red-hot flames. The pair of enemy pokemon dodges the attack by nimbly flying, the pair soar up into the sky and continue their havoc. Kadabra pulls out the spoon that was in his holster, and the twisted spoon shoots out a pink beam of psychic aura.
After processing what just happened a chilling revelation dawned on me “Where’s Min? Where’s Roselia?” I look towards the village, which is now getting increasingly more enveloped in flames. Without thinking I start to race into town, trying my best to ignore the flames whirling around me and the sharp pain in my leg.
“Min! Roselia! Are you there!” I yell, my hands cupping my mouth. I frantically look around, I see pokemon helping out each other, pulling off debris, or dowsing fire. In the sky I can see the blue streak of flame zip past what I think is Noctowl, I can barely make out the blue streak as Ceruledge. I ignore them for now, just keeping an ear out enough to know how close the fighting is towards me.
I call for my team a few more times until I see a familiar gray pokemon, Min hops onto my shoulder. His relief is very prominent as he rubs his chin against my cheek, much like a cat. “Min, any idea where Roselia is?” He spouts out “Min, Min!” while pointing towards the, once prominent tower. ‘Oh no.’ I race towards the rubble.
The stone tower seems to have crumbled in on itself, the tower was hit directly in the middle. Most likely hitting something loadbearing as it crumpled under its weight. I scream once more for Roselia. I feel sick to my stomach, as though I swallowed a chunk of lead. I yell again.
This time though I get a response, a small rustle from under the rubble. As fast as I can I began to excavate the loose cobble. After two big stones, I finally see a speck of green. I move a few more and feel all that lead in my stomach melt away. Roselia pops her head up. She looked to be almost doing a plank, for some reason. As she gets up I see why, with a vacant stare Charcadet just lays on the ground, before casually getting up.
Roselia seemed to have protected Charcadet from the rubble, he seems uninjured but Roselia is banged up really badly. I reach towards my backpack only to remember I left it back at my tent, ‘Shit.’ I return Roselia to her pokeball and look at Charcadet. I sigh and grab him and hold him under my arm like a football. As I run, like a football player as well.
I ignore the blast of fire that exploded another building and I ignore my leg that feels like it’s getting seared. My sole goal right now is to get to my tent and heal up Roselia, after that I’m going to have and choose a course of action. Fight or Flight.
I ran until I felt like my lungs were burning off after dodging falling debris, and various ricocheted attacks, I finally made it back to my tent. I quickly let Roselia back out and started looking through my bag, it didn’t take long until I found a potion. I start to apply it on Roselia, first spraying the wounds and then bandaging them up.
Once I was certain Roselia was totally patched up, I decided to make my choice. Or well, it was made for me it seems. A raspy voice entered my brain, Kadabra’s. “Elliot, listen to me carefully. I need you to go back to Ashen Pond, once there you will need to dive under the water. There will be an opening to a cave. Capture the young lord and take him with you, I can sense he is with you.”
I would respond, but I remember the fact that the psychic type wouldn’t be able to hear me. He continues, “I am sending you there for two reasons. One to protect the young lord and two to check up on a very important item. Make sure it is safe. Goodbye.” And like ending a call on a walkie-talkie, his voice cut off. That’s probably the safest place to hide for now…I could run into the forest, but with my phone down and the attack, I’m not sure if it would be safe. There could be more attackers or even just confused Pokémon stampeding in the woods.
I’m about to stand up when I feel my leg scream in agony. ‘Right…What to do for that.’ I decide to use the remnants of the potion, and bandage up my leg, eating an Oran Berry in hopes it will help. I stand up, my leg feeling marginally better. I put both Min and Roselia into their Pokeballs and then look at Charcadet. “Sorry about this, but please just comply.” I grab a pokeball from my bag and tap it against his head.
The ball doesn’t even wiggle, it just clicks. I give out a deep sigh and swing my bag onto my back, I click a button on the tent making it fold up, and throw it into my bag. And as I look toward Ashen Pond, I begin to sprint.