Travelling on route 104 wasn’t that different from route 102. The big difference were the Pokemon that were up and about. I saw Taillow flying through the air or roosting on branches in the trees. Zigzagoon and Poochyena were running trough the tallish grass in small packs or sometimes alone. I think I even saw some Marill at a small pond to the side of the route. One Zigzagoon was adventurous and came closer and closer to us until it nearly tripped me, that’s when I had enough.

“Absol Quick Attack! Poochyena Bite!” I called out while trying not to fall. Absol quickly barrelled into the Zigzagoon and just when it started to get up Poochyena arrived and fainted it with his Bite. I needed to step in, when Poochyena took a step closer to the Zigzagoon.

“No, leave it Poochyena. The route here is travelled quite heavily and I really don’t want some random kid finding a dead Pokemon on the route.” Poochyena whined a bit but nodded. Along the way I let my Pokemon try to use their Iron Tail on small boulders along the road, they didn’t got it but we had time. In the evening we made camp in a small clearing to the side of the road. After setting out their food and warming up some stew I explained the route we would take the following days.

“Alright, listen up. We will probably reach the beach tomorrow and Petalburg Woods the day after. When we are in the woods you need to stay close as I don’t know how it is in there. And no matter what you do, don’t start fights with the local bugs. I don’t want to deal with a swarm of angry Dustox.” Both nodded.

“Good now show me your Iron Tail attack one after the other. Remember to think your tail to be unyielding and strong.” I encouraged my Pokemon. They did manage to achieve a minor silver shine on their tails, which I counted as a win in my book.

“You are coming along nicely. You won’t be only using this move for rock type Pokemon though, it will be more of a defensive tool later on. Since both of you usually face the enemy to attack, you can use Iron Tail to deflect flanks and surprise attacks. It is also useful to divert projectiles like stones.” I explain the possible uses to them. They both nod and got a treat afterwards.

“Now I will turn in and you will keep watch.” I said while opening my tent. I heard two yips that confirmed that they heard me and I turned in.

The next day came and went. We did manage to reach the beach, there were some people here. Mostly families with their kids and some fishermen further down the beach. I guess the weather is nice and it is a good spot for the children to play. I walked along the beach and kept an eye out where we could set up camp. The families were all packed up and gone when we finally found a spot with more rock than sand as a surface. Sadly there was no wood to be found, so I had to eat some ration bars.

The next day saw me walking with Poochyena under the morning sun, Absol really didn’t like the sand getting into her fur and wanted to be recalled. We just passed a house that could only be the house of that Wingull guy when we reached a small port town. I mean it does make sense that the guy isn’t living out here alone after all.

“Oh, is that cutie yours?” came a female voice from behind me. I turned somewhat confused, Poochyena and cute? I saw a woman in a sundress with an umbrella to block the sun.

“This guy? Yeah he is mine, he prefers menacing though.” I said with some sarcasm, which was lost on my Poochyena as he puffed out his chest.

“I don’t think that works out for him.” came the laughing answer and Poochyena deflated. “Would you care for a quick battle?” the woman continued.

“Sure.” I shrugged. “I will use Poochyena.”

“Alright. Come out darling!” She said and threw he Pokeball with flourish, out came a Zigzagoon.

“On three?” I ask.

“Ok. One.”

“Two.”

“Three.”

“Poochyena Taunt into Howl!” Don’t fix what isn’t broken, while I doubt the Zigzagoon knows any useful tools a Tail swipe can trip you up.

“Sand Attack darling!” Don’t these people know how taunt works? The Zigzagoon didn’t listen and started sprinting towards Poochyena.

“Meet it’s Tackle head on Poochyena!” Both crashed into each other and there wasn’t a big distance between them. Poochyena came out better though.

“Bite!”

“Quick Attack darling.”

This time Poochyena clearly took the hit and didn’t connect its Bite. That’s the problem with Bite and similar attacks, not enough kinetic force behind them.

“Get up and be ready Poochyena!”

“Quick attack again!”

“Wait for it. Iron Tail now!”

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While it wasn’t a complete Iron Tail attack it did succeed in hitting the Zigzagoon and tripping it up causing a face plant.

“Now, Bite!” Poochyena grinned and sprinted after the Zigzagoon with dark glowing fangs.

“Get up darling!”

The Zigzagoon was not fast enough to get up and ended up getting the full brunt of the Bite attack. That was the battle over with and Zigzagoon fainted, the woman recalled her Pokemon and handed me 200 Pokedollar price money. It’s the standard for trainers without a badge.

“That was a nice fight, your Poochyena is trained well.” she complimented me.

“Thank you, your Zigzagoon was no slouch either.” I responded back and recalled Poochyena, he did deserve his rest after all. “See you around.” I called waving over my shoulder and continuing the path to the woods. I still had enough supplies so I didn't need to stock up in the town.

I released Absol on the way and told her about the battle. I did have to promise her that she could have the next one, which was fair to be honest. We made good time and arrived at the outskirts of the forest in the early afternoon. Since I didn’t really fancied walking into the forest at this time, I set up camp instead and we had another Iron Tail session. The move was coming along nicely, Poochyena was a bit ahead which was probably because of the battle.

The next morning we set out into the woods.

“Keep your eyes peeled for Seedot, this is what they look like.” I showed my Pokemon an image of one on the PokeDex. That’s my next team member, if I can find one with the right attitude. No use in catching a lazy Pokemon or one who doesn’t want to grow stronger after all.

For some reason all bug catchers I found along the way did not want to battle, after some thought I realised that having Absol out was the cause. Which could also explain why we saw so few other Pokemon, she was developing her Pressure ability. That one is not really useful in battle I found out while at the lab. Since there are no PP, those can’t be reduced and what I found was that only high level Pokemon would be able to make use of some of that effect. Forcing the enemy to expand slightly more energy for his attacks, but really at that level I doubt it would be useful.

Now her other ability ‘Super Luck’ is related to her danger sense I think. It would explain how she would be able to sense impending danger. I had no clue how far she was with that as we didn’t come across a situation were the sense activated.

“Absol I will need to return you, you are scaring of the wild Pokemon.”

“Absol. Sol! Ab!” she looked defiantly to me.

“You mean a Pokemon that is scared of your presence won’t be a worthy teammate anyway?” I wager a guess. Absol nods.

“Hm you could be right, alright keep your eyes out. It is only the first day after all.” I concede to her. Not that she was wrong really. While we continued our trek I attempted to catch a glimpse the old gnarled tree where Ash got his Treeko. Gonna stay clear of that one.

We did not find any Seedot on our first day, so he set up camp and did our routines. I was roused from sleep in the middle of the night by Absol when she nudged my foot.

“Huh? Absol what’s wrong?” I grumble half asleep.

“Absol.Sol.” she replied in a low voice. I couldn’t decipher her message as I didn’t saw a thing. Grabbing my belt and my flash light I crept out of the tend. I saw a figure standing were I deposited my teams food bowls. I usually washed them when I found a stream along the way. Using my flash light revealed a Seedot that was licking out the food bowls, but that Seedot did not look healthy. It had mottled spots all over it’s body and it looked way to thin. The Pokemon jumped up scared when I used my flash light on it.

“Hey, there don’t panic. My Pokemon and me won’t hurt you. Are you hungry?” I ask in a low voice. The Seedot nodded shyly. “Ok, wait a second I think I got your food type in my bag.” I reply to it and start searching in my bad. After I set out the food for the wild Seedot, I chuckling to myself. ‘Yeah searching the whole day only to have one wander into my camp. What are the odds?’

After cleaning out the bowl the Seedot looked at me with shining eyes, clearly wanting more.

“Now, that would be a bad idea. You probably had to survive with almost no food for a while right?” I ask it. The Seedot nodded, but I could see it didn’t understand why that would matter.

“It is not healthy to eat more than what you got in one sitting after getting so little food for a long time. It could make you ill.” I explain kindly to the Seedot, which slumped down. Ugh don’t pluck my heartstrings that much please. I look to Absol and ask.

“What do you think girl? This Seedot at least knows how harsh life can be.” Absol nodded twice. After getting her ok I turn back to the Seedot.

“So Seedot, do you want to come with us? You will need to battle after you are healthy again and I will do my best to unlock your full potential.” I gave it my pitch.

The Seedot didn’t wait for long and rapidly starts nodding. Not that I would have thought otherwise, I mean it’s starved after all.

“Alright I need to catch you in a Pokeball, so please don’t fight the Pokeball. I will also leave you in it for the night so that you can get a nice rest without worry.” after receiving a nod from the Seedot I tap it with an empty Pokeball. The capture is very quick, no fighting what so ever.

“Well girl there is our new member. Let’s see what we are dealing with shall we?” I said to Absol while holding the Pokeball to the lens of my PokeDex.

Seedot (male) Stage 1

Health: Starved, please visit a PokeCenter

Probable Attacks:

- Tackle

- Harden

- Growth

- Leech Seed

- Bullet Seed

‘Would you look at that, this little starved Seedot knows Bullet Seed. Nice.’

“We got ourselves a competent member girl. Now let me turn in again, we got distance to cover.”

The next morning went more or less without a hinch. While I was running low on plant based food, the introduction between the Pokemon went good. Though Seedot did look a bit overwhelmed by Poochyena, he was just to high energy.

We walked through the woods while I carried Seedot in my arms, he just wasn’t fast enough while walking. The day was spend in the tranquil sounds of the forest, at least until a deafening crash disrupted it.

“Let’s check it out, we need to see if I need to call the rangers.” I told my Pokemon.

When we finally arrived at the scene I almost facepalmed myself. Standing at the base of an old toppled tree was a colony of Treeko. Opposite of them stood the quartet of Rocko, May, Max and Ash, who was watching his Treeko saying goodbye to the others.

“Well, well ,well would someone please tell me what the hell happened here.” I spoke into the clearing when I passed the bushes.

“Oh it's the dude from the lab!” exclaimed Ash only to receive a deadpan from me.

“Name still is Iruni. Now do I need to call the rangers or will you explain why an ancient tree that apparently housed a Treeko colony is lying toppled in the clearing?”

“Ah, yes funny story that.” Ash said while scratching his head, Pikachu mirroring his mannerisms. I could already feel a headache coming.