Chapter 77: Chapter 77

Most of the Pokemon who hung out so close to the predator free main route were rather timid, and often avoided human contact. Though occasionally, one would encounter Pokemons who were eager to find a competent trainer to go on their own journey as well.

Which was why there was an unspoken rule that trainers only battled Pokemon who proactively challenged them. Assaulting unwilling Pokemon was considered abuse and highly frowned upon. Some may even consider it poaching.

So far in their off route excursion, the trio of kids who were prowling for potential captures have yet to encounter any Pokemon that would willingly approach them.

There were Pokemon all around them of course, Espy would point them out to the group everytime she sensed one nearby. But often, they would simply observe from a distance or run away immediately after perceiving the approaching humans.

Justin was getting a little antsy, but either Nina or Kerry would just shush him every time he made a fuss. Nina wasn’t too bothered, since they haven’t reached the location marked out by the Pokemon Ranger yet.

According to their maps, the place they were looking for was a little secret clearing in the woods where there was an abundance of Pokemon, including the possibility of Geodude sightings.

“You know, Nidoking are quite strong,” said Nina as they passed by a family of Nidorans. But Kerry shook her head, saying that their Poison Typing was prone to causing accidents. Besides, she’ll need to evolve them twice before they’d be of use to her. The apprentice nurse was surprisingly practical in her considerations.

“Azumarills can be trained to be powerful brawlers, and they evolve fairly easily. Oh, how about Poliwags? They’re cute, and both their evolved forms are quite strong as well,” continued Nina.

Kerry nodded in agreement. “You’re right, and having a source of water around would be pretty handy. Let’s head to the river if I don’t find any Geodude.”

And with that, they eventually reached a break in the forest, revealing a sunlit clearing filled with wild flowers and lounging Pokemon. Nina held her companions back and signaled for them to crouch down to avoid startling the Pokemon.

The three children hid behind a bush and just patiently observed the Pokemon that were available. “Do you guys see any Geodudes?” Asked Kerry.

Justin shrugged. “Eh, some rocks here and there but I dunno if any of them are Pokemon.”

Kerry frowned and turned to her two companions, “Do you mind waiting for me here, I’ll try and engage with the Pokemon. I’ll signal you guys if it’s okay to approach.”

Nina frowned but ultimately agreed. “Here, take Tini with you,” said the overbearing girl, as she detached her partner’s Pokeball from her necklace. “Let him out if there’s any indication of danger. I don’t care if you think you’re being paranoid or not.”

Kerry smiled and thanked her friend’s consideration with a hug. She then gently emerged from the bushes, attracting the guarded attention of the wild Pokemon. Some of them ran away immediately, but most of them just stayed and stared curiously at the human girl. It was hard to be hostile towards the friendly little Happiny waving at them after all.

Nina watched anxiously while Justin was yawning in boredom. “So, what made you want to go to trainer school?” the girl whispered, in an effort to blunt her nerves.

“Hmm… I didn’t wanna go, actually. I wanted to go on a journey just like Lucy, but my mom wanted me to do it. So I figured, one year wouldn’t hurt, just to stop the hag from nagging. Then I’ll just run off and do my own thing,” the boy responded.

“Makes sense, most of Professor Oak’s sponsored tend to be more impatient than the rest,” mused Nina. “So how are you finding school so far?”

Surprisingly, Justin was quite positive about it, saying that it was alright and he was enjoying himself. “There’s lots of people to battle here and I’m actually learning quite a lot of stuff,” he said that last part with a blush and quick glance at Nina.

The girl giggled. “You’re welcome, Justin. Feel free to ask if you ever have any questions. I’m not exactly an expert like Professor Oak, but I try my best.”

“Wha?! No!” Justin exclaimed, only to have his voice muffled by Nina who covered his mouth in an attempt to silence him. Luckily, the wild Pokemon were not startled. In fact, Kerry just laughed at the talking bush and called for her two friends to come join her.

They ended up having lunch in the clearing surrounded by all the nearby wild Pokemon, much to Nina’s delight as she fed them with liberal amounts of Berries and had her fill of physical affection.

There were a couple of Geodudes as well, but Kerry failed to convince any of them to join her. Or more like, they didn’t really understand what she wanted, even with Happiny’s help. This was a common problem when interacting with wild Pokemon that aren’t very in tune with civilization. A lot of times, certain concepts are just too alien for them to grasp.

Nina even had Espy help out and showed them some videos on her Pokedex of the city, hoping to pique their curiosity. Only to be looked at like a weirdo as the two Rock Pokemon turned their backs to her and left.

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“Cheer up, Kerr. We’ve still got plenty of daylight left. I’m sure we’ll find something eventually,” assuaged Nina before biting into her Happiny egg sandwich, courtesy of Kerry. The girl had demonstrated her feminine prowess by packing a picnic basket for today.

She nodded with a brittle smile and took a sip of tea. “It’s alright, I’m not in a rush. It’s important to find a Pokemon that I can get along with.”

“Just challenge them to a battle,” said the insensitive Justin, earning him a glare from Kerry.

There are indeed many trainers who believe that such a capture method was valid, and coming from Nina’s experience playing the games, she was inclined to do so as well. But unfortunately, Pokemon captured through such forceful means tend to be very rebellious and require a lot of time and effort to tame.

Nina sighed at the two bickering children and clapped her hands together. “Alright, that’s enough, you two. Let’s wrap up lunch soon, because there’s another area we can check out on the way to the nearest river. After that, I want us to make it back to this clearing before nightfall. It’s the perfect place to set up camp for tonight, provided the local Pokemon don’t mind our presence.”

***

The next hotspot they went to wasn’t much better than that first clearing. Rather, it was worse because a troupe of Mankeys had claimed that area at some point, bullying away most of the local Pokemon.

Nina made a note to report the issue to the local Rangers and even had to send out Tini to fight off a few of them who got too aggressive.

Justin thought it might be a good idea to catch one of them, but Nina dissuaded him against it. In addition to being Fighting Types, Mankeys were also primates with severe anger issues.

To keep one in check, a trainer had to have a competent leader in their team that can give the pig monkey Pokemon a regular beating just to keep them in line. A role that Justin’s Squirtle wasn’t strong enough to play just yet.

“It’s a shame really, Annihilapes are cool but most Primeapes end up dead in pursuit of that pinnacle.” Nina lamented.

Annihilapes were Fighting Ghost Types for a reason. In order to achieve that final evolution, they needed to first experience anger strong enough to push them towards the brink of death, before reeling it back in to achieve a perpetual balance of rage and zen.

“Why don’t you get one then?” Justin asked Nina. “Tini should be strong enough to control one right?”

Nina shook her head. “The school limits us to two Pokemon at this point. I have to do well in the midterms to secure another slot. Not that I would use it on such a pain in the ass Pokemon anyway.” Nina valued harmony and coexistence in her team, not one built on a hierarchy of strength. Which was another reason why she didn’t want to specialize in Dragon Types.

As the trio continued walking, they eventually heard the gurgling of running water as they found themselves in front of a rocky river bank and a shallow river. Nina reckoned that the depth of it was about waist height and the currents weren’t strong enough to carry them away if they attempted to wade across.

Justin cried out in excitement and released his Squirtle as the pair ran over to the river and began splashing water at each other.

“Careful not to get your clothes too wet!” Nina yelled as she also released Tini into the water.

Tini appeared with a spirited cry and looked around curiously before joining Justin and Squirtle in their play.

Nina turned to Kerry and told her that she was heading upstream to check out the area. “Do you wanna come with or stay here with the boys?” Kerry chose to come with, feeling insecure without the reliable Gym Trainer around to protect her.

Visibly, there weren’t many Pokemon to be found in the water. But Nina knew that was just an optical illusion. She remembered how in her past life, Miles had once gone river fishing. It was one of those paid experiences where he got a limited amount of time to catch as many fish as he was able, and the owners of the site will grill up the fish for him after the fact.

She remembered how Miles complained to the owner about there not being any fish, only for the guy to laugh and take his fishing rod from him to show the lousy tourist how it was done. And just like that, rainbow trout started appearing out of thin air on the other end of the fishing line with a few masterful jerks of the rod.

Miles was so fascinated that he read up on it afterwards. Apparently, fish can camouflage themselves through the use of platelets in their skin to reflect polarized light. That’s why it was so hard to spot them swimming through the water.

The master fisher did tell Miles how to spot the presence of fish in the river though. Namely they had to look out for a particular way that the water shines under the sunlight. And as Nina was attentively scanning the water for any signs of life, Kerry called out to her.

“Nina, look over there!”

The girl looked over and saw the distressing image of a crying Poliwag being bitten on by a Carvanha on the opposite bank. The tadpole Pokemon was all bloodied and desperately trying to crawl up the river bank, while its assailant was halfway out of the water and forcefully trying to pull them back into water.

“Go back and get Justin and the others,” said the frowning Nina, before adding on a stern “Now!” to get the frozen Kerry moving.

Meanwhile, Nina grabbed a special whistle that they used to train Pokemon in the Cerulean Gym and blew on it as hard as she could.

The sound was too high pitched to be heard by humans, but in the distance, a certain Dratini perked up at the sound and his happy go lucky face shifted into one of absolute severity. The Dragon cried out in rage at the thought of someone daring to harm his most beloved person, before swimming upstream at maximum speed to reach his partner.

“Tini!” Cried Nina, as she saw the violent stream of water racing her way. “Over there, save that Poliwag!” She pointed.

Tini felt a sense of relief wash over him after seeing that Nina was unharmed, then proceeded to direct his rage at the offending Pokemon who dared to ruin his day. Seeing the fragile state of the Poliwag that his partner asked him to save, he decided to play it safe and shoot a low powered Water Pulse, near the Carvanha to grab its attention.

With a splash of water interrupting its hunt, the Carvanha looked around with starving eyes and saw the dangerous looking Dragon that was hurtling towards it. The Pokemon briefly contemplated the idea of letting go of its prey to defend itself, only to receive another much more powerful blast to the body, causing it to reel in pain and loosen its grip just long enough for the Poliwag to wiggle loose.

Nina let out a sigh of relief. That last Water Pulse came dangerously close to impacting both Pokemon. “Force the Carvanha away and keep it at bay until Justin shows up with Squirtle. Don’t faint it yet,” she instructed, to which Tini responded with an affirmative “Tiin!”

By this point, Nina trusted her Dratini to have enough control over his strength to accomplish such a delicate task. Her Dragon had spent a long time in abstinence after all.

Nina had no doubts that this encounter was due to Justin’s shonen protagonist luck. What were the chances that the two Pokemon their group wanted appeared right at the same time after all.

“Alright, this confirms it. I need to stop hanging out with Justin from now on.” She wasn’t going to outright shun the boy. But if ever there were any more plans for such an excursion, the drama magnet was not going to be included no matter what.

Speaking of the devil, a frantic looking Justin soon showed up with Kerry in tow.

“Jacy, you wanted to catch a Carvanha right?”

“It’s Justin!” The boy exclaimed, before he looked towards Tini’s opponent with an excited grin.

“Tini, pull back and see if you can’t get the Poliwag over to us. Squirtle will take over the battle.” Nina instructed. The Poliwag was looking to be in dire shape as it bled out on the opposite shore.

Tini did as he was told and pushed the Carvanha away with a flick of his tail before rushing over to the injured Pokemon, looking a little bewildered as to how he could even accomplish his tasks given that the little eel did not have hands.

Nina wracked her brain to consider that very same dilemma, when she heard a splash to her side. Looking over, she saw a familiar set of scrubs laying on the ground, and the swimming figure of Kerry trying to make her way over to the other side.

“Shit!” Nina cursed. “Tini, change of plans! Go and escort Kerry to the other side!”

The Dratini followed his partner’s gaze and immediately jumped back into the water.

On the other end, Justin was fervently cheering for his Squirtle to take down the Carvanha. The piranha Pokemon was looking really haggard after its bout with Tini, but remained as tenacious as ever as he glared at its new opponent in defiance.

Nina sighed. Justin was going to have a rough time trying to get that one under control.