Arc 3: Red like Roses

In the end, the name Fay was ironic in all the wrong ways.

It derived from the word faith, which again derives from fate.I thought I could maybe change her fate, try to do something right.

The sentiment might have been arrogant, but I'm only human. But as Fate proved to me time and time again, we can't have nice things in life.

I discovered that again the first morning I ever spent with both my new Pokémon.

"Alright, I think we're far enough to not bother people," I spoke out loud.

The Riolu who I had only named Fay yesterday sat down on a boulder with a clear lack of interest, she did that a lot.

The Ralts, who I had named Luna after carefully thinking it over, waited in front of me, patiently and with an expectant smile.

She had managed not to pass out this time after teleporting which was a whole level up of her powers. Of course, we had crossed a smaller distance but this time we had the additional Riolu to teleport with us.

The limits of Luna's teleport had to be tested, for science!

Also, since Teleport is OP, if we could manage to make Luna push the limits, that could help us survive in this world

"So Fay," I turned to face her, "Do you want to battle?"

She raised an eyebrow, "I have a choice?"

"Of course, it's not like I'm gonna force someone. If you don't want to fight you just hang around."

"No. I want to learn how to fight as well," Fay decided to my surprise. "Though I don't have any prior experience."

I raised an eyebrow, this was a rather sudden shift in behavior and it was pretty concerning.

It was easy to guess her motivation and said motivation was really concerning. Still, at least it was something.

I was honest when I told her that she had a choice.

Of course, I had hoped that she would say yes but besides that, I'm still a human. Perhaps a bit sociopathic or pragmatic, but I believe in freedom of choice. I still stood with my point that Fay needed a psychiatrist instead of a trainer, but if she wanted to fight, then I wouldn’t complain.

"Okay," I finally said, "If you are part of my team I want you to know that I have my own fighting style."

{Determination} Luna nodded seriously.

"So?" Fay said arrogantly.

"Well, my training might be a bit unorthodox."

Rather than telling her about it, I decided to show her my way of teaching instead. I turned to Luna who had taken the liberty to sit down on the grass.

"Ready to learn, Luna? I sat down in front of her and opened my backpack.

Luna's eyes widened as she saw what I took out of my backpack.

Cueing the Zelda soundtrack in my mind I revealed a puzzle.

Or better yet, a 3d puzzle.

I bought it in Jubilife City in a tourist shop. It was a cardboard remake of the Global Trade Station which was a hotspot for tourists because of its amazing architecture, something about the building being able to resist a level 9 Earthquake on the Groudon scale.

The puzzle itself was not that sturdy, it was made of cardboard pieces that fitted into a 3d frame you had to set up.

"Here's a puzzle Luna," her eyes gleamed with excitement and she grabbed one of the pieces but before she could place it I interrupted her.

"Do it without using your hands." I finally added.

{Question?} a telepathic message came through.

From the corner of my eyes, I saw Fay being interested, though she tried to pretend she wasn't.

"I want you to teleport the pieces into place."

I grabbed one of the pieces and placed it against the frame.

The pieces were pretty big, probably because this was meant for kids and it wasn't a full-scale model. There was no Lego in this world, otherwise, I would use that.

"It may sound hard but I know it's possible," I lied, "I have full trust you can do it, right?"

Luna nodded eagerly and a puzzle piece began to glow.

It appeared atop of the framework and began falling, but before it could hit the grass, it disappeared again.

This time it appeared closer to the previously placed puzzle piece, brushing against it before that attempt failed too.

Luna narrowed her eyes and leaned forward, almost as if she was willing the piece to fit.

Considering that Teleport is a will based move and not a physical one it makes some sense.

It did require some research in the future, for example, did she move the particles that made up the original object or did she move the whole thing into a different dimension and then pull it out somewhere else? If said dimension was smaller than this dimension then it would certainly be usable as a teleporting tool, like the Nether in Minecraft, giving off the illusion of teleporting.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

And if you're thinking that alternate dimensions are bullshit? Have you ever read the Pokédex?

I am like 99,9% sure they exist and that some Pokémon could access them and not only Legendaries.

The existence of Teleport jammers heavily implied that someone in this world had already researched it. I wanted to know more about teleporting as a whole, but after someone had used Teleport jammers to turn Pokémon into psychic teleportation bombs, they decided that the information and details about the research were a classified secret that only special people could access.

So now I had to start from scratch.

The piece flashed white and reappeared on the cardboard frame, this time it neatly fitted the bump on the first piece, making a perfect connection.

I grinned, "Awesome, keep this up, Luna."

She smiled at me and I got up. A third piece already tumbled off the frame; this would at least keep her busy a good hour.

I turned to Fay who sat on the boulder, still not looking convinced.

"So, what's the point of her solving a puzzle?" Fay said coldly, "Seems really useless."

A smug smile crept on my face, "Simple, I want Luna to have fine control over the position she teleports things into or away from, you could call it hand eye coordination but without the hand part."

Fay raised an eyebrow, effectively stealing my shtick and looking annoyed at the same time.

"Imagine her being able to teleport incoming projectiles out of her way, teleporting the soil underneath her opponent's feet away, teleporting a wall in front of her to block an attack."

"Why don't you have her do that instead?" She pointed out, it was still weird to talk to a Pokémon. Especially since I was bigger, yet she talked like she was an adult and actually scolded me.

She stood on her two back paws like a human, which made me think of her as a child, which she was, but the way she talked was not at all childish.

It was rather disturbing, though that word has gotten meaningless in this world.

"Because I want her to understand the move fully before moving to new territories," I explained.

Fay scowled, "I don't want that. I need to get stronger faster."

"Oh, and why is that?" I knelt down so I met her on eye level.

Fay looked away. She wasn't really subtle about it.

"Let me guess," I said, "You want to kill Hunter J." The red eyes surrounded by the black mask widened with shock.

"H-how?" She muttered.

I resisted the urge to roll my eyes, honestly, it wasn't that much of a stretch.

But the problem remained, how to deal with this stuff?

I let out a sigh, "You know that it's a stupid idea right? Revenge won't solve anything."

It felt lame even to my own ears, I had heard it so many times in movies and books but saying it for real...no it doesn't even sound remotely true.

Fay's eyes narrowed, her voice dropped."I will kill Hunter J."

How should I control this conversation? Logical arguments or moral arguments?

Counseling was really not my forte, especially since I had the urge to freak out myself. Luckily I had the skill to keep moving and pretend everything was alright, but Fay didn't.

Was it weird that I wanted to tell the little Pokémon that she could suck it and that I had lost my entire world? I really wasn’t fit for this job.

I rubbed my temples, I really don't want to mess this up but this shit was way above my level. How do I explain that killing someone isn't alright? Was I supposed to make her cope with her parents' loss or to get over it?

"Look I get it, Hunter J's a bitch but you have to realize that killing someone like her isn't a walk in the park," I let a brief silence set in before continuing, "She's an A class threat, you know what that means?"

Fay shook her head.

"She has multiple regions trying to hunt her down already and they even failed to do more than just driving her away. Hunter J protects herself with a massive fleet that can turn invisible." I decided to turn the conversation, "It isn't that I don't want Hunter J dead, myself." I actually cared very little about her. But she was a problem, and I preferred if someone else but me dealt with it.

"But you shouldn't waste your time and effort chasing a…" I was about to say dream but that would be a bit morbid, "Vendetta that's likely to get you killed."

She folded her paws in front of her chest, "Then so be it." Her eyes flared a bit blue, "So are you going to teach me something? The old man told me that's what you do. So teach me how to get stronger."

Fay stared at me with an expecting look, like I was some wizard that could make her level up instantly.

"Is that all you want?" I asked.

"There's nothing else left," Fay muttered, her eyes down and her posture faltered.

"You could make something new."

She scoffed indignantly. "No, I'm going to kill Hunter J, you can either help me get stronger or I'll find another trainer."

I sighed, it seemed like I had to play the long game and try to change her view.

I really don't want Fay to become a murderer, especially with how young she was. It wasn't illegal per se, almost every person and non legendary Pokémon that creates or perpetuates a B or above level threat had a kill order, but even if it was legal, I wouldn't let my own Pokemon become murderers.

Wow, I already started considering Fay as my own.

I leveled at Fay, "You know what, I'll help you get stronger and maybe you'll learn that there's more to life." I gave her a smile, "Remember, you're not alone."

"I will keep that in mind," She clearly lied, not that I could do anything with that right now. "Now, can we move on with the real part?"

Behind us, the tower of pieces collapsed.

When I looked around Ra...Luna shot me an apologetic smile and gave me a thumbs up.

"Don't worry about it," I reassured her, "You'll get the hang of it."

She nodded and waved her hand, a few pieces teleported into places but an equal amount of pieces fell to the ground.

I turned back to Fay.

"Okay, before we start I need to know one thing." I began, "And it's about aura."

She tilted her head, "What's about it?"

"I want to know why we can talk like this." I said, "It is important, not only for your future but also mine."

Was this my secret power? Aura?

Honestly, it was a little bit underwhelming, Aura was not that powerful, especially not in a world like this where gods roam the land and can blow off mountain tops.

"I don't know," Fay said, "I already told you yesterday."

"It's either you who does this, perhaps subconsciously or it could be me who's doing it somehow or it could be a third party."

"A third party?" Fay asked skeptically.

"Story for later, but do you have any clue? Maybe I have a weird aura power?" I theorized, after all, I was the summoned hero.

Fay raised an eyebrow. "I am pretty sure you don't."

"Oh, and why do you think that?"

She scoffed, "Have you ever seen your own aura?"

"What's wrong with my aura?"

No answer came, instead she avoided looking me in the eyes.

"What's wrong with my aura?" I asked again, this time more urging.

"It's broken," Fay nodded, "Your aura is the worst I've ever seen."

I felt a pit in my stomach.

"I've seen trees with better aura," Fay continued relentlessly, "Yours is like someone took it and tried to shred it to parts. Put it into a meat grinder or tore it into two pieces. "

She shook her head, "Maybe the lack of a healthy aura is the reason you can communicate with me."

I stayed silent.

Fay slammed down the final nail in the coffin. "You, by all rights, should be dead."