“As wholesome as this is son, we need to get going. Birch lent me his jeep for this errand and I want to get back to my research.” My dad interrupted us while chuckling.
“Alright dad. Absol you probably better take this journey in your Pokeball, I doubt you would like a car ride.”
“Absol.” she shakes her head.
“If you say so, just give me a heads up if you feel uncomfortable.” I say while grabbing my jacket. Absol jumps from the bed and stand ready by my side.
“Lead the way dad.”
After saying goodbye to nurse Joy, we arrive at the jeep. I hold open the door to the backseat for Absol. “Hop in Absol.”
After getting in we where of to Littleroot town, I clearly that Absol was uncomfortable but was pushing through it. After a two hour ride we arrived at the lab, after getting out I turn to Absol.
“You alright there Absol?”
“Ab.” came the answer with a nervous nod.
“Well then let’s meet the Professor and Joshua.” Dad let us into the lab itself and guided us to Professor Birch.
“Hello Prof- eh Nigel. Thank you that I’m allowed to raise Absol.” I thank Professor Birch with a bow.
“No Problem Iruni, I also get to observe an Absol outside of battle. So I do get something out of it.” He said while chuckling. Dad moved back to his desk and was already buried back in his papers.
“Say Nigel, can I start going on Patrol with two Mightyena from now on? I want to interact more with them.” I ask Professor Birch while he was observing Absol, who wasn’t looking like she liked it.
“Yes, that would be better then the two troublemakers I think.”
“Then I will introduce Absol to the other Pokemon, she will be around after all.”
“You do that, please tell me if you observe anything interesting.” said Birch while also moving to his desk. “Oh yeah, you need to feed the Pokemon by the way. Joshua has a free day.”
“No problem, I better get going then.” I chuckle and turn to Absol. “Come along Absol, you can meet the other Pokemon if you are up to it.” She tilts her head and nods after a few moments.
“Please wait outside Absol, this is where we store the food. I’m not allowed to let any Pokemon inside.” I apologised to Absol. She paws my leg and directs a haughty look to me. “Yes, yes you will get the promised treat.” Absol nods and starts grooming herself.
‘Note to self, pay attention to not overindulge her. She knows how to play me already…’ I muse while bustling inside the building. After locking the door back up I turn to Absol. “Come let’s meet the rest.”
The other Pokemon know when we usually feed them and probably heard the door being closed and locked up. “Yeah I know guys, back up a bit ok? I will sort you lot out soon enough, as always Bugs first you know the drill.” I said a bit annoyed.
The order in which the Pokemon are fed usually depends on who feeds them. I start with the few Wurmple that the Lab trainers caught as they wont make a fuss and don’t eat that much. After that comes the rest with the ‘real’ carnivores coming last, as in Pokemon that almost exclusively eat meat. They more often than not start small fight between themselves, thankfully most of those are the pack of Mightyena that the lab owns. Their alpha usually sorts that out by himself. Today Absol is last because I can’t just throw into the pack, that would end badly. They like their food after all.
After setting down Absol’s food I turn to the Mightyena alpha, who is easy to recognise. She is a good bit bigger than the others and has enough scars to prove her strength.
“Mightyena, could we talk for a moment? I have to ask you something.” I ask her and throw a piece of meat to her, bribing never hurts after all. After gobbling her treat she nods to me.
“You see Absol over there?” Another nod, with a slight narrowing of her eyes. “She is my Pokemon at the moment, if that becomes permanent will have to be seen. What I want to ask of you is to show her the ropes of being a dark type and an alpha.” I ask without breaking eye contact, which I noticed to be important with them.
“I want her to be my starter, the cornerstone of my team. She will need three whole years to mature, so she can earn her keep after she has the basics down.” I explain. It’s important to offer an incentive to her as I read and saw that members that don’t contribute are not really tolerated. The Poochyena that was with me during that forest episode is one of those. He is only still here because Birch likes to have him around for some reason, otherwise the alpha would have chased her out. While Absol is a solitary species that’s the best way to explain it to the Mightyena.
Did you know this text is from a different site? Read the official version to support the creator.
She looks from me to Absol and back, clearly thinking the offer over. She tilts her head and slowly nod. “Might. Mightyena.” she barks.
“Ah, if she can’t keep up you won’t bother?” I guess earning a nod in return and a gesture with her head towards where I keep my treats for them. “Yes you will get extra treats.” I chuckle and give her another.
Looking over to Absol I saw her interacting with the other trainer Pokemon and the Linoone family that Birch owns. She seems to be speaking to Brendan’s Eevee. “Absol come over please!” I shout.
She trots over and I start to explain my deal with the alpha to her, but adjusting one thing. You see I got a glimpse of her underlying nature after that jeep ride.
“Oh, I nearly forgot. She clearly doesn’t think that you will be able to keep up. So just do your best ok?” I add to the explanation inwardly smirking as I saw her eyes narrowing. “Do be sure to be respectful! You want something from her!” I add as I saw anger growing in her eyes, can’t have her insulting the alpha and getting beaten up after all.
Absol nods and trots over to the Mightyena pack and begins to talk to them. I watch for a moment longer and sigh in relieve, seeing nothing happened to her.
“I will be back later Absol, I need to work for Birch!” I shout over my shoulder as I walk back into the lab.
“I think I get Absol settled, Nigel. The Mightyena alpha will show her the ropes.” I say to Birch while doing my usual work.
“How did you manage that? Even I have to catch her on a good day if I need a favour.” Birch asks confused. That has me answering confused.
“Ehm I asked her and promised a few extra treats. Oh, and I explained to her what Absol’s would be earning her keep later. I saw how she shuns the troublemakers, so I guessed that the doesn’t accept freeloaders.” I conclude with a shrug.
“We should keep an eye on your interactions with them, they shouldn’t accept something that quickly.” Birch said concerned but turns back to his work. “Oh, those extra treats? Be sure to buy them yourself, it is your Pokemon after all.” He chuckles when I trip over nothing as he said that.
“Stingy…” I mutter while getting back to work.
After being done with work today I asked Absol if she wants to stay here or come home with me to which she decided to follow me. The only surprise that evening came when she didn’t lay down on my rug but jumped on the bed and promptly fell asleep. ‘Guess she won’t be accepting anything else now.’ I thought ruefully and also turned in after that.
The days started to bleed into each other after that. I was busy with my work for Birch and researching dark type. Which was an exercise in frustration, while some of them are documented others are not, I guess I also know why. Pokemon like Crawdaunt and Shiftry are used by many trainers but they mostly use them for their main typing. In battle they of course use dark type moves, but not like a specialist would. They mostly use the damaging moves and almost no utility, at least that’s what I can glean from the forums. I didn’t manage to catch a high level match live so I can only go off on that at the moment but I doubt that nobody would use an incredible move like Taunt.
I mostly got to spend feeding time and the evenings with Absol. Speaking of which, she was hard at work with the Mightyena pack. Learning everything they would teach or could teach her, there are some moves they can learn after all. I swear the alpha was indulging her a bit at times but it was mostly fine.
What wasn’t fine was my financial situation. You remember that 400 Pokedollar price tag on the meat? Yeah that wasn’t because it was ultra high quality or something. Meat is treated as a luxury good here as most Pokemon are fine on normal Pokefood. While I do manage to save a bit here and there, it’s nowhere near as much as I hoped. I don’t see that changing anytime soon, because I have a suspicion that Absol will demand the treats that the alpha gets later.
Something changed after four months, the alpha Mightyena approached me together with Absol after feeding time. She nods one time and walks away. I just stood there for a moment not understanding until Absol nudged me.
“Oh, I see. You completed your training?” I ask Absol.
“Absol. Sol.” she confirms and looks at me with a clear expectation.
“Yes, yes you can have a treat for that. But after that I need to check on your progress so you will need to return to you Pokeball for a few minutes.” I explain to her. That thing where Ash’s Pikachu wants to stay out? Yeah Absol is the same.
I only receive a clearly reluctant nod in return. After handing her her treat we walk back to the lab. At the entrance I return her, boy does that never feel awesome to use a Pokeball, and walk into the lab. “Professor can I use the analytical computer to check on Absol?”
“Sure Iruni, just remember to turn it of later.” came the distracted answer.
After powering the machine on, I place Absol’s Pokeball in the reserved slot and stare at the screen. That can’t be right, can it? I slowly read the text again:
Absol (female)
Stage: 1 / Final, growing
Health: Healthy
Probable Attacks:
- Scratch
- Quick Attack
- Feint Attack
- Taunt
How does she know Feint Attack? I couldn’t remember that her line learns this move on their own, which could only mean an egg move. And the attacks read ‘probable’ so that theory in the books was right that these machines can’t analyse every move that gets passed down. Only those that the Pokemon in question can perform.
After shutting down the machine I let Absol out of her Pokeball. “Well girl, you sure worked hard. You earned that treat earlier and a brushing later today.” I praise her, which gets me a haughty expression before Absol starts grooming herself slowly.
“Yeah I never doubted you, now come along. You can follow me for the rest of the day, you worked enough for now.”
While she has those attacks down, it won’t do much to continue with it. She still is a growing Pokemon and her body will change over time. Real training can only come after she stops growing to not impede said growth.
Dong! ‘That’s the front bell.’
“I will see who it is.” I call to my dad and Birch. Opening the front door I’m presented with a familiar face and a guy wearing a very familiar outfit. As if he jumped straight out of Pokemon Ruby.
“Hey there, I’m Brendan. Is the Professor in?” Brendan greets with a big smile.