PokeWild

“Looking for a battle against zero badge, one Pokemon,” David shouted, diving into the crowd.

Several confused faces, some of which had been bobbing their way through the crowd towards him, scrunched up in confusion. The reaction wasn’t much of a surprise. For one, it was very early in the morning. People were tired. And then there was the fact that he’d been in Fuchsia for two weeks now. His team and he had fought and trained right here nearly every day of that two weeks. He was recognized. They were recognized. Those that knew him were wondering why he was changing things up.

Repeating the call once more, he retreated a little from the crowd, making space for a waiting trainer to approach him. None did at first - again not much of a surprise. Most trainers here knew him as a one-badger and were all wary of the scams and schemes he’d seen in Celadon. On top of that, today was day forty-nine of the season. Over the last two weeks, he’d noticed a drop in the number of trainers with zero badges in the matchmaking. It made sense. With a month and a half of training time, the people of this world should have been well capable of earning a badge that had taken him less than a month to win. He didn’t know if the zero badgers were advancing up the ranks or giving up, but the reduced number made his request difficult.

Eventually though, a woman with long raspberry hair hidden under a red and white baseball cap stepped out of the crowd and made her way towards him. She had a suspicious set to her face, recognizing him, or reading the shift in the crowd correctly. Suspicious, but the reduced number of zero badgers around meant that any trainer without one was verging on desperate for whatever fights they could find.

“You’ve one badge right? Why you looking for a zero fight?”

“New Pokemon,” David explained simply. “This’ll be their first battle.”

As he spoke he studied the woman, and she studied him in turn. Like most of the trainers on the field she was wearing a mix of sportswear and hiking gear. It was all unbranded aside from the red and white cap which had the White Pokeball’s logo at the front. There was little to gain from what she wore. It was all nondescript, and even the cap was a common enough sight. He had seen many like it on the streets and in markets around Kanto. The only thing that made it clear she was a Fuchsia native was her impossibly colored hair.

The suspicion fell from her face and she reverted to a sour look which looked more comfortable for her. Her mouth scrunched, lower lip jutting out. “... ’lright. Hundred? Till knockout or withdraw?”

“Sure,” He agreed easily.

They showed each other their trainer’s licenses, David’s having a flower like shaped imprint and the woman’s blank. From there it was a short walk to the only available pitch. Unfortunately that pitch was located at the center of the training grounds. It was an awkward spot, surrounded on all sides by other pitches and the distractions that were the battles being fought on them.

He would have to stay aware of all his surroundings while they fought. Stray Moves were rare, but they did happen.

“David,” he said as they parted, stepping towards their respective sides. All he got in return was a ‘hmmph’.

A friendly spectator stepped forward when they turned to face each other. David gave them a thumbs up, and his opponent a terse nod.

“Battle starting,” The spectator roared even though the pitch was already empty. “Keep clear.”

They started counting afterwards.

David gripped the shiny, undamaged metal. His hand was clammy. It made the cool metal feel sticky. It was odd, feeling this tension again. He’d- They’d fought so many battles now that what was one more? Every battle held risk, every battle was a bet that would hurt to lose. Every battle put him on the edge until none of them did. That wasn’t to say that the battles became tedious, but they were routine. This battle though, this was right back to the edge.

“2.”

Venonat’s first battle outside of the mock ones against Pidgey. Weeks of training had led to this moment. It would be a good measurement of how far they had come and how far they had left to go.

“1.”

His finger twitched.

“Go!”

A bright flash brought a fuzzy purple ball into the world. Venonat hunched, dipping down to stare at the ground and shield their all too large red eyes from the light as best they could. It wasn’t a great start to a battle, but it was less of a reaction to the morning sun than they’d had fifteen minutes prior when David had released them to confirm the plan. It was too early in the day, too late in the morning for the nocturnal Pokemon to be awake. Not that they had much choice. Few looked for a battle when the sun was down.

Venonat straightened after a few seconds, white antennae twitching violently as they tried to rely less on its vision and more on their other senses.

Distracted by his Pokemon’s reaction, David lost precious time to appraise his opponent. Time he needed.

Standing across the pitch from him was a small, pink little thing. It was taller than Pidgey but only barely, and mostly because of a long, ponytail-like tuff that sprung from its head vertically into the air. The Pokemon had small beady black eyes, and reddy-pink cheeks that pulled apart in a wide smile that should have looked fake, but instead filled David with the belief that the emotion behind the expression was completely genuine and content. It had two stubby little arms that tightly clutched a white stone, holding it tight against where a band of white fur separated the Pokemon’s upper body from its lower. The pink skin was darker beneath the band of white. It oddly reminded David of the lower half of a Santa suit.

As he stared, one stubby arm left the stone to give a short bob in his direction. A wave? The arm swung back to the white stone before he could be sure.

It seemed his opponent’s choice of headgear might have been a clue after all. He didn’t recognize the Pokemon, but it was as pink as any Jigglypuff. He was bewildered by the thing. The Pokemon looked like someone tried to cross a Tamogotchi with Mrs. Claus.

“Disarming Voice!”

‘Fuck.’ What the hell was that Move? What the hell was that Pokemon? What type were they both? Frantic thoughts filled his head as he tried to come up with a strategy. On the pitch, one Pokemon moved. Another remained still, twitching slightly.

The small pink Pokemon opened its mouth wide, smile falling away as it toddled towards David and Venonat. No teeth were revealed, only darker pink skin. The mouth opened and closed, moving as if to speak, but to his surprise he heard nothing.

Obviously, the best plan was to hang back until he knew more, flying high out of sight until this new Pokemon revealed their secrets. It wasn’t an option here. Venonat knew only one ranged Move, and it wasn’t an attack. Should he Nope, this voice Move or was it best to-Venonat was still not moving. Why weren't they moving?

“Venonat! Dodge!”

His shout pushed the Pokemon to action, but it was too late. Without any sound, purple fur pressed back against his Pokemon’s body, and their antennae spasmed.

“Again!” The woman roared.

“Close in,” David shouted. That Move had range. All of Venonat’s damaging Moves were close contact. They didn’t have the luxury to hang back and wait. They needed to win this fight quickly. “Keep moving, Cloud in the sky!”

It wasn’t a Move as such, just a reminder of how Venonat trained their evasion with Cloudburst. The prompt worked. Venonat shot forward, duking side to side in erratic motion as they narrowed the gap. David smiled as he watched his Pokemon move. He was confident they wouldn’t be hit, not until they were close enough to touch. It seemed to be an ingrained skill of the Bug type Pokemon. There was no way to predict its movements.

The Pokemon across the field toddled on unhindered. It opened its mouth once more, smile disappearing once again.

David used the few seconds remaining as the two Pokemon closed to decide what to do from here. Tackle or Bug Bite. Bug Bite was stronger, but it came with drawbacks for Venonat, and he didn’t know this Pokemon’s type. Normal type Moves like Tackle would be somewhat effective against pretty much anything that wasn’t Ghost type. It would be a safer play, bu-

Venonat’s fur was pressed back against their body again. This time they let out a pained rattle as their antennae spasmed.

David grit his teeth and scowled. How had that hit? Cloudburst could barely hit Venonat with ranged attacks, and that was with a lot of practice. Two hits was too many to let through though. They could allow no more.

“Nope!”

As usual there was no outward sign of the Move. Venonat paused its evasive movement for an instant before continuing forward.

The evidence showed when David’s opponent called the next order.

“Voice again, keep your distance,”

The small Pokemon began to retreat instead of stepping forward. It opened its mouth again, but froze after making a few shapes. It turned back to its trainer. The woman’s eyes widened.

“Copycat Happiny.”

David began to chew his lip. That was an obvious enough name for a Move that he could guess its function. It was a ridiculous, over powered function that defied all he understood about Moves and Type energy, but now wasn’t the time to rage over that. Venonat and he had enough trouble fighting this ‘Happiny’ Pokemon already. The ranged Moves were out for both Pokemon.

“Tackle!” He ordered as Venonat closed the distance.

The woman shouted to match him. “Pound.”

Venonat bounded forward, turning to strike the Happiny with their side instead of their more sensitive antennae or face. Beige shimmered around them.

The Happiny reared back, lifting its white stone up before bowing down. Their long ponytail-like tuff shone beige.

Both Pokemon bounced back with a rattle and a whimper.

The Tackle had hurt the Happiny, but the Pound had hurt Venonat. For all that Venonat was bigger, these creatures were not fighting with just the physical and Venonat had already suffered from two hits. This was not a fight they would win by trading hits.

David reluctantly opened his mouth to change Venonat’s order, regretting the pain he was going to cause. Before he could speak, his opponent acted.

“Sweet Kiss!”

He lost another second as his brain registered and tried to process the Move. “Bug Bite!”

The Happiny’s mouth puckered. It blew light puffy clouds out before the first hint of vibration filled the air. Lime sparks were just starting to form when the clouds reached Venonat.

David bit the inside of his cheek as Venonat made no attempt to dodge. That was another thing they needed to work on. Venonat needed to be able to use Bug Bite while moving.

When the clouds soaked into Venonat without any sound from his Pokemon, David was suspicious. Then a deep vibration filled the air and small fireworks leapt from Venonat’s snout. He had Sweet Kiss down as a status Move, something that reduced defense maybe, until Venonat moved. His Pokemon leapt forward at full speed, driving their mouth down and letting sparks fly - as they struck the ground a good two meters away and in the wrong direction from where the Happiny stood.

“Venonat, Tackle!” David shouted, at first not understanding what was happening, but worried that the vibrations had affected his Pokemon’s senses while their sight was less useful in the daytime light. When Venonat began preparing another Bug Bite he knew it wasn’t so.

He tried to give more orders, but another two unhindered Pounds later, gave in and recalled Venonat. He forfeited the match. It took only a minute to pay the wager to the raspberry headed woman, who had yet to give him her name. He left the training grounds and quickly made for the Pokecenter.

-.-

After that disaster of a battle, David wanted nothing more but to retreat to the city outskirts, or his tent for some time to think. He couldn’t. The loss had been to more than just his pride and confidence. One hundred Poke was still a significant number to his savings, and spending the day moping would only worsen his problems.

Even the news from Pokecenter didn’t cheer him up. Venonat would be fine after a day- or night's rest. The confusion - a status condition that messed with all the senses by swapping, inverting and blurring was temporary, but too much for his already sensory strained Pokemon. What was more interesting was that he got an answer to something that had been bugging him. Venonat was male.

The gender reveal changed nothing, but it did make it easier on David’s mind knowing how to refer to him, even if it was only in his head.

Instead of giving up on the day, he headed to the market to resume his low paid laborer job instead. It was cleaning again today.

Swish.

The fight had started poorly. Venonat was tired after a long night awake, and the Happiny fresh and warmed up.

Swish.

His actions hadn’t helped. He’d spent too long trying to identify the Pokemon, while Venonat floundered.

Swish.

Cloudburst wouldn’t have floundered. She would have acted without him, both dodging attacks and dealing blows of her own.

Swish.

It wasn’t a fair comparison. Cloudburst was experienced now. She knew what to do, she knew strategies and most importantly, she knew enough to make a choice between them. Gone were the days when she would sit with a defensive Tackle prepared while a Bellsprout would charge up Growths unhindered. This was Venonat’s first proper battle. They relied on their instincts. They didn’t know any better. They'd only just learned Bug Bite. It wasn’t their- his fault.

Swish.

It was David’s. Both for messing up the start of the battle, and for not dealing with his own expectations properly.

Swish.

‘Crap.‘ Knowing that he was angry with himself didn’t make it any easier.

Swish.

“I see your emotional control has yet to be improved.”

The dry drawl, now familiar, was enough to break his concentration. Part of that was the surprise, not at the voice per se, but more about its location. David was on the other side of the market, near one of the entrances and not the quieter part where Marie’s stall was. Or used to be, judging by the way Marie was haughtily sitting behind the counter of the stall before him.

“Marie?” He asked in surprise more than a need to confirm her identity.

With a slow blink, but no other expression, Marie rolled her hand towards herself as if to say ‘Well duh’, but in posh. She wore a heavily embroidered robe today, light green like spring grass and with half as many layers as her usual fare. It still had long sleeves and the density of the embroidery made the cloth seem just as thick.

“New stall?”

It wasn’t only the stall’s location that had been upgraded. Two larger posters hung at the back of the stall, showing the various stages of tying a centise. Marie’s previously rickety table and chair had been replaced with larger furniture which appeared to be antiques. A white table cloth that seemed to be made from silk draped across the table. It prevented too much attention being drawn away from Marie’s creations which had also been moved. Instead of laying haphazardly on the table, all the centise hung from purpose made frames of bone-white wood. There were still many dark purple belts which stood out from the wood like wet ink on paper, but the selection had diversified and dark purple was no longer the most common color.

Marie’s surname, Olympe, was stitched in swirling letters into the white table cloth.

Now he got a reaction from her. Two obvious statements in a row was too much for her to ignore. One manicured eyebrow rose, and her head tilted, square hair bun wobbling, as she fixed him with a pitying expression. Sitting so still with the extravagant background she was the image of a noble or queen.

“And you got the pamphlets printed!” He reached forward and grabbed one of the slips of filmy paper from another custom-made box.

Marie dropped her current weaving project on the table hurriedly. A project that had been hidden behind the table to preserve the image of stillness and nobility. Some things didn’t change. She snapped forward in a vain attempt to snatch the pamphlet off of him.

“Those are for paying customers!” Marie half hissed half pleaded.

“I’m just taking a look,” David said, raising an eyebrow himself at her and her odd actions. So much for emotional control.

The pamphlet wasn’t all that different from Marie’s first versions, but it seemed she had taken his suggestions on board and made some changes. It looked like wherever she got it printed had improved things too. The pamphlet in his hands was sharp and professional. The first page was now dedicated to the steps of tying the centise and the second to the history. It was smart. Anyone who didn’t want to bother with the history and story would skip those sections anyway. Better to let people focus on the skill, and then read up on the background if they were interested.

“Hey, those posters are blown up versions of the pamphlet. Nice touch.”

“David,” Marie began, pulling back and attempting to regain her bearing. “There is something we must discuss.”

“Sure,” David said, dipping the pamphlet down and pointing at his idle broom. He continued reading as he did. “I have some time. This is really nice work by the way. And the stall looks great - have the centise been selling that well?”

“No, the junta inquired about the pamphlet while I was getting it printed. They have pledged support- David, stop reading. I need to tell-”

'Junta? As in military?' Before he could go down that rabbit hole, something else grabbed his attention. His eyes found what she was talking about before she could bring it up. It was written down at the bottom of the last page in small print. The short piece of text was an afterword, most readers would never pay any attention to it. Some would.

‘Compiled and Written by Marie Olympe and David Smith.’

His brain stuttered.

“-you about... Oh, you have found it. I must apologize David. I wanted to ask your permission, but I have been unable to find you, and the support from the junta came with pressure to distribute. I decided it was best to give you credit than not.”

“Distribute?”

Marie was unable to fully hide her wince. “Yes, these pamphlets are to be given to every child in Fuchsia tomorrow. It has been deemed an important part of our culture. There is a small award for you.”

“Every child?” He asked faintly.

“Yes. Are you alright?”

It wasn’t a big issue. It was only his name. There was no photo. This wasn’t some huge story or a piece of famous art. Most people would never pay attention to the afterword. He wasn’t about to become a household name, or be recognized on the streets. It wasn’t a big issue. It wasn’t for anyone else. For him, it was proof that he was in the city. Proof that if Finn was paying attention, would bring more Voyants to Fuchsia to search for David. All it would take was one discarded leaflet.

“David?”

“Ye- yeah. I’m alright.” He rubbed his face. “It just took me by surprise.”

At the end of the day, it was done. The pamphlets had already been printed, and were waiting to be distributed. Marie didn’t know he was hiding. He hadn’t told her. She was just trying to thank him for his help. She wasn’t who he was angry at.

“I’m sorry for the timing. You didn’t seem to be in the best of moods.”

His hand moved to rubbing his temple. “Venonat lost his first battle.”

Marie’s brows fell in sympathy. “Tell me about it?”

It didn’t take long to tell. It was a short battle after all.

“And that’s it. Venonat fell, I visited the pokecenter, and now I’m here.”

Marie set her weaving down, having picked it back up again as they spoke about the battle.

David set his own belt down, having practiced retying a centise himself. It was an absurd situation, and he couldn’t help but laugh. Here he was gossiping about his latest Pokemon battle with what was basically a knitting partner in a city controlled by a ‘junta’ on a different planet. It was a tired, disbelieving laugh.

“You did mess up.”

He lent back in surprise. For some reason he’d expected platitudes. He wasn’t sure why. In hindsight, that was not how Marie was. She was exacting and prim. No blows would be pulled.

“You should have trained Bug Bite more. Your Venonat was not ready to use it in battle.”

David shook his head. “No, Venonat shouldn’t suffer for an easy battle. If I didn't freeze at the start-”

“All Pokemon suffer in training and battle. Do you think being hit by a Move is fun?” Marie stared him down, daring him to argue. “Your failing was shying back and making your Pokemon weaker for it, not delaying in the face of a new foe. A bad order is worse than no orders.”

David frowned at her. “There’s pain from training and there’s torture. Venonat doesn’t need to live in pain to learn Bug Bite.”

Marie shook her head and reached for her sleeve. “Venonat can do what Venonat wants. He’s a new catch. There is very little chance he would hurt himself at your request. By holding back you have only made them weaker. Training is not a game. There are stakes for everyone.”

She began to roll back the heavily embroidered sleeve, scrunching the fabric together. Tanned skin faded, then paled. As she rolled it became bleached and sickly. Then came the purple veins, shifting scars that tore vitality from her skin. With each roll of her sleeve, more damage was exposed until her skin looked like marbled stone.

“This was done by my Arbok, Veil. It was a brutal battle, and if they hadn’t used that Move we would have lost, and I wouldn’t be alive. It’ll take months to heal the damage, and that’s with the help of Fuchsia’s Poison specialists. I taught Veil that Move. It’s dangerous, and one that Veil has since refused to use. I push her to use it every training session. It could prevent her or my death again in future.”

David’s eyes were wide, and his hands were half outstretched. He was fighting the urge to reach forward and cradle the wound, to try and wash off the poison or rush her to the pokecenter. “Christ, your arm.”

The purple veins led further up her arm and seemed to only be growing in intensity rather than weakening. A spasm through the muscle loosened Marie’s grip on her sleeve.

“Learn from it. Don’t be an idiot. Work with your Pokemon, not against or above them.”

-.-

Finn wasn’t interested in hearing about Venonat’s first battle at all, dismissing the subject quickly with a grimace. It was a strange change from his usual fan-like behavior around the fuzzy Pokemon.

Without Venonat there to distract them whenever there was a lull in the conversation, their nightly meeting felt stilted. Still, after an hour of small talk, David had come to grips with the earlier battle, and his talk with Marie. He decided to take her advice, but perhaps not in the way she expected. To his surprise, what he had decided to bring up was much easier to ask Finn than he’d expected.

“Can you tell me how to teach Venonat to use his mind?”