"Scatter!"
The Scatterbug whimpered on the ground as Bunnelby hit it with its ears and Fletchling pecked it as well.
I wiped a few tears from my eyes.
"They grow up so quickly." I let out a sigh of pride as I threw a Pokéball at the Scatterbug, watching it bounce off the Pokémon and seal shut with a click.
Another notification popped up on my Rotomphone.
[No. 664 - SCATTERBUG, The Scatterdust Pokémon]
[Type: Bug]
[Level: 7]
[Moves: Tackle · String Shot · Stun Spore]
[The powder that covers its body regulates its temperature, allowing it to live in any region or climate. When attacked by a bird Pokémon, it scatters a poisonous black powder to protect itself.]
"Nice nice." I raised up Bunnelby's minimized Pokéball and tapped the button in the center. "Return."
A red light shot out and hit Bunnelby, sucking it back into the Pokéball before I stuffed it in my pocket.
Bunnelby was a good Pokémon but honestly, I didn't really want to train one… It's not like I wasn't interested but Fletchling was a much better addition to the main team.
Fletchling herself puffed out her chest while standing where Scatterbug was.
"Stop aura-farming, we see the fit." I quipped without thinking and Fletchling flapped her wings, returning to my side while Ralts remained on my head. "So that leaves one more Pokémon before we can head to the research lab…"
We actually encountered a Mareep before Scatterbug and well, Fletchling got one-shotted by a Thundershock and Ralts had to handle it but I'm guessing this bird is here trying to make back all the swag she lost.
We walked forward for a bit, crossing through the grass and honestly, I'm not sure I really understood the concept of Wild Zones.
Sure it was nice to dedicate a place for Pokémon to stay within the city and prevent trainers from going out into the wilderness to do so but then again, one could never understand what was going through the minds of rich people.
"Rotom, what other Pokémon can be found here which I haven't caug—" The question died in my mouth as in a large patch of grass in front of me was a big bug-like Pokémon hanging upside down off a big sign by some strings with its eyes closed.
The Pokémon seemed to be sleeping. Immediately I crouched down and Fletchling came down to the grass as well.
"Shhh." I raised a finger to my lip at the bird and she gave me a nod. Next I raised up my Rotomphone and scanned it with the Pokédex.
[No. 013 - WEEDLE, The Hairy Bug Pokémon]
[Type: Bug / Poison]
[It is often found in forests, eating leaves. It has a two-inch poison barb on top of its head and a small stinger on its tail.]
[Catch this Pokémon to unlock full details.]
Directly beneath it, a second tab glowed red.
[⚠ ALPHA VARIANT DETECTED]
"Alpha… The hell is that supposed to mean?" I blinked. That didn't come with the research I had done yesterday for some reason. "Rotom, this is the part where you answer."
"Alpha Pokémon are rare, super-powered variants of regular wild Pokémon! They're bigger, stronger, and have significantly higher stats than their standard counterparts… plus they sometimes know moves that normal members of their species can't learn at all! Estimated encounter rate? Less than one percent in any given Wild Zone or even the wilderness! You've hit the jackpot, Paxton~!"
My eyes widened.
Not only were they a bigger version of the original Pokémon but they also learned moves that they didn't usually have… It was a score.
I looked around to make sure nobody had eyes on MY Weedle and once I was sure, I brought out a Pokéball.
"Alright, Fletchling. You'll do the usual and we catch that Weedle." I said and Fletchling nodded, taking off in Weedle's direction, the Pokémon had turned the other way in it's sleep so it didn't notice. "Ralts, prepare a Confusion to assist."
Ralts's horns began glowing in violet as usual and as we were about to attack, a white shot of silk came slicing through the air headed straight at Fletchling, causing the bird Pokémon to pull up hard and drop back down before it could reach Weedle but that attack wasn't from Weedle.
It came from the bush on the opposite side of ours.
"The fuck are you doing?" A woman wearing a straw hat emerged from the grass with a green bug Pokémon on her head which Rotom identified as Caterpie.
The Caterpie withdrew its String Shot back into its mouth as she walked toward me with an annoyed look on her face.
"Capturing a wild Pokémon, what else?" I asked as Fletchling returned to my side.
"That isn't a wild Pokémon… it's my Weedle… though I haven't caught it yet." She said while looking at the ground then turning to me with adamant eyes. "But that doesn't matter, you see that Alpha Weedle? I've been watching it for the last two days so—"
"As long as a wild Pokémon hasn't been caught, it belongs in the wild." I said while taking an empty Pokéball from my pocket and giving Fletchling a glance and shaking the Pokéball.
The bird was smart… so it would get what I was trying to communicate.
"Fletch?"
I let out an exasperated sigh.
"But… It's my only ticket to win in the Z-A Royale. Everyone carries Flying Pokémon and my bugs get destroyed every night." She said. "If I have an Alpha Weedle, then there's a chance I'll win."
This really made me question what kind of trainers were in the Z-A Royale.
If your Pokémon kept losing then you needed to train them… just having an Alpha Weedle didn't mean you were going to automatically win the Z-A Royale or did it?
"How about this?" I kept the empty Pokéball back. "Since I want the Weedle and you want it as well, then let's battle for it."
This way I could measure my opponents tonight using her as the base and even if I lost, I didn't really need the Alpha like that anyway. I was more intrigued than needy. "Though you'll have to give a lot of prize money."
"Alright then." She skidded backward on the ground, creating distance between us immediately. "The winner gets 4K. Let's make it an official match too."
She typed into her Rotomphone and it flew into the air with mine following as well as they met mid-air, generating a crackling sound.
"Pokémon Trainer Stacy has challenged Pokémon Trainer Paxton to a two-on-two official battle with 4,000 Pokédollars on the line. Do both parties accept?"
4K was a bit small but any amount of income mattered in this line of work.
Since I planned to keep Fletchling on the main team for now, I also needed to buy her food and at the same time, I wanted to befriend Floette so I wondered if there was any Floette food.
"Accept." Both of us said at the same time.
"Send out your Pokémon!"
Instantly, Fletchling dropped from my shoulder and landed on the ground in front of me with her wings spread wide.
For something so small she had a way of taking up exactly as much space as she needed.
"Fletch!"
"So you're one of them, huh?" She muttered while grabbing Caterpie from her head and throwing it into the air. "Let me show you the might of a Bug Catcher!"
Is it just me or is that line very cringe…?
Caterpie shot a String Shot at one of the stop signs nearby and swung there, landing on the side of the sign with its legs gripping the surface.
"Creeee!"
"Fletchling, you know what to do." I said and the bird shot off the ground.
She climbed fast with each flap of her wings snapping like she was angry at the air between her and Caterpie.
She closed the distance to the sign in seconds and arrived right as…
"Caterpie, String Shot!"
Caterpie fired a line of silk at the side of a building across the road and launched itself off the sign, swinging out in a wide arc through the open air.
The silk stretched taut making Caterpie hit the peak of the first swing and fired again immediately using each arc to build momentum, it was going higher and wider with every swing like it was trying to get out of Fletchling's reach entirely.
Fletchling banked hard and followed.
Her wings folded on the turns matching Caterpie's swing path from above and I watched from below as that feeling was already bubbling in my chest.
"Alright, Fletchling. Stop playing with your food and peck the String Shot." I said with a sigh.
Fletchling was already moving before I finished the sentence.
She used her speed and closed the gap while Caterpie was mid-swing between buildings since it was committed to that string shot.
Her beak snapped shut around the silk and she held it making all that momentum Caterpie had built stopping dead in an instant.
Caterpie hung from Fletchling's beak, swinging uselessly and though Fletchling was straining slightly since she was not a large bird, her grip held.
"Throw it then use Peck again!"
Fletchling let out a muffled cry and released using the last of the swing to fling Caterpie downward.
It hit the road and rolled badly, skidding across the pavement before it could get its legs under it and Fletchling was already descending, tucking her wings into a dive and the Peck she followed was clean.
It hit Caterpie and sent the bug Pokémon flying before it went still with swirling eyes.
"Caterpie has fainted. Please return and send out your next Pokémon." The two Rotomphones said at the same time and Fletchling returned to standing in front of me with a proud look.
Stacy gritted her teeth and returned Caterpie to its Pokéball.
"I… I won't lose here." She said while bringing out a black and yellow Pokéball. The ball was a glossy black with yellow trim running along the center seam with a small golden star embossed on the button.
The design looked really cool. "I'll use my secret weapon."
"Secret weapon… How old are you exactly? What's with all this cringe dialogue?" I asked with a twitching eye and she stuck out her tongue.
"I'm 16, go fuck yourself…"
Woah… woah… woah… Were 16 year olds allowed to talk like that?
"Now go, Sewaddle!" She threw out the ball and in a flash of light, a Pokémon came out and landed on the ground.
It was a small caterpillar-like Pokémon with a broad, chewed-up leaf folded over its head like a hood.
Its round body was a warm green and had three segments each with a pair of stubby orange legs gripping the pavement with surprising steadiness.
Its face peeked from beneath the leaf and it had big black eyes, a little orange snout, and an expression that was remarkably serious for something this small.
Sewaddle looked across the makeshift arena at Fletchling and didn't flinch.
"Quick, String Shot and swing around!" She yelled and Sewaddle fired a line of silk at a nearby road sign with its legs pushing off the moment the silk went taut, swinging out in a low arc just above the pavement.
Fletchling didn't give it time to finish the first swing.
She was already moving before I said a word and her beak severed the silk line cleanly before Sewaddle had covered even half the arc.
The Bug Pokémon dropped and hit the pavement with a grunt, catching itself on those stubby legs.
"Aw fuck…"
It made me wince again. How many curses was she going to spill?
"Fletchling, let go and try out that move." I said and Fletchling released… pushing off immediately and climbing.
She went up like she had somewhere to be with her wings hammering in tight rapid beats as she ascended above the stop signs, above the first floor windows, and even above the roofline of the low building beside us.
Stacy looked up, shielding her eyes with her hand.
"Huh? Why's it flying so high…?"
Naturally this move wouldn't work much in official battles… especially in stadiums since there was a ceiling barrier but that wasn't the point of the Z-A Royale.
We were battling amongst buildings on open streets and the environment was as much a part of the fight as anything else.
Fletchling reached the peak of her climb and stopped beating her wings and then she dropped with her wings tucked tight against her body and angled downward like a dart aimed straight down.
The gravity and momentum pulling her into a fall that built speed with every meter and from below she was nearly invisible against the sky until she turned into a dark streak accelerating toward Sewaddle with everything she had.
"String Shot to dodge!"
Sewaddle reacted fast with the silk firing toward the nearest sign but it wasn't fast wasn't fast enough.
Fletchling was already at the bottom of the drop with her wings snapping open just enough to direct herself, correcting her angle mid-fall with effort and then she slammed into Sewaddle dead center with enough force to send the Pokémon flying with a sharp cry of pain.
It hit the ground and dragged along it before collapsing and I gave Fletchling a nod as she flapped and went back up into the air.
"Pokémon Trainer Paxton wins!"
My Rotomphone came back to me and the girl returned Sewaddle to its Pokéball before stomping. As a child she was… Naturally she was throwing a tantrum.
"Are you going to pay me or not?" I asked, placing a hand on my waist and she pulled out her wallet which only had four 1,000 Pokédollar bills and handed them to me with a pout.
I took it from Stacy and counted it before putting it in my pocket.
"So I'm guessing you're planning to become one of those Trainers that dedicates their life to training Bug Pokémon?" I asked while looking at her and she nodded. "Honestly it's not bad."
It really was… Bug types could easily be wiped by Fire Pokémon and while type advantages didn't matter too much in how a battle could go, it did matter a lot in their scenario since they had so many weaknesses but I was many things… and a liar was among them.
"So you needed that Weedle, huh?"
"Yes… I wanted to train it into a big strong Beedrill. If you see it now, it's almost ready for evolution to Kakuna." Stacy said. "I didn't think an Alpha Weedle would be here in Wild Zone 1 but I want to catch it for my team so… will you let me have it?"
She puckered her lips and tried giving a cute face which was very weird for someone who had been spamming curses at me throughout the entire battle.
"No." I replied and Fletchling came down from the air, slamming Weedle off the sign with a powerful Peck packed with all that momentum… it was blasted off and rolled over in the grass.
I didn't need to tell Ralts as her horns began glowing violet and she used Confusion which made Weedle recoil backward and cry out.
I retrieved two more Pokéballs which were Mareep and Bunnelby and sent them out.
"Alright, Mareep, Thundershock! Bunnelby, go over there and give it a taste of your ears! Jump him!"
Mareep let out a cry and blasted the Alpha Weedle with a Thundershock while Bunnelby used its ears to attack it and I made some punching signs.
Maybe it could have fainted by now but we had to add a little off the top as well… What if it woke up and poisoned one of my Pokémon with its barbs?
"It's just a Weedle… You don't need to do all this! It has a high catch rate in a Pokéball regardless." She yelled out and I blinked.
"Oh." I returned Bunnelby and Mareep. I might have overreacted a little bit.
I tossed the Pokéball and it hit the Alpha Weedle, bounced off its body and the ball opened as a red beam swallowed it whole and the ball landed in the grass.
It wobbled once… twice… three times.
Click.
[No. 013 - WEEDLE, The Hairy Bug Pokémon]
[Type: Bug / Poison]
[Level: 14 ⚠ ALPHA]
[Moves: Poison Sting · String Shot · Bug Bite · Electroweb]
[Often found in lush forests eating leaves. The barb on its head secretes a powerful poison. Even the gentlest touch from its needle can cause numbness in an instant.]
[⚠ ALPHA — This Weedle's combat instincts and physical capability exceed standard specimens significantly.]
[Weedle has been registered to your Pokédex!]
Now it was time to get to the lab.
…
I whistled as I soon stood in front of the large Pokémon Research Center building.
It was just a little bit smaller than the Vert General Store but there was something like a dome-like construct covering the back and I entered the building through the front doors.
The ground floor was actually pretty empty.
The ceiling was high and the walls were lined with shelving units holding specimen jars, reference books and stacked binders.
A few staff members in white coats moved between workstations with one carrying a tower of folders nearly taller than her own head and another hunched over a monitor and a third doing absolutely nothing and trying to look like she wasn't.
They all glanced at me when I walked in and then their eyes moved to Ralts sitting on my head with small smiles.
The Receptionist looked up from her table and I walked over to her.
"Excuse me… I came here to submit for the new event that required trainers to go to Wild Zone 1 and catch five new Pokémon." I said and the Receptionist smiled before nodding.
"Congratulations, you're the first trainer that completed the challenge." She said while placing both hands together. "Let's go meet the Professor on the third floor."
She led me to the elevator and we entered as she clicked Button 3 and the elevator shut as we began moving up.
"So… how did I manage to be the first person?" I asked. I was honestly expecting more people… It made me feel a bit dumb.
"Well…" The receptionist hesitated with a slightly apologetic look. "The event only went live this morning and it was designed for brand new trainers who haven't caught a Pokémon before. Most people haven't seen the announcement yet and the ones who have are… taking their time."
In the end it was just a skill issue on the part of everyone else but I didn't care about them that much… All I wanted to do now was collect the rewards for this.
The elevator stopped and we crossed through a small hallway to get to the door at the end of the hallway and the receptionist turned to me.
"I have something to ask of you. You see, Professor Mable has a bit of her screws loose so don't get her riled up and also she rants a lot." She said and then opened the door.
The room was wide and well-lit with long shelves of color-coded research binders lining the walls and a large desktop terminal with multiple windows open sitting beside the window that overlooked the dome below.
In the center was a dark wood desk that was clean except for a single open book, two half-drunk cups of coffee and a stack of documents pushed deliberately to the side.
Professor Mable sat behind the desk.
She was wearing a lab coat over a black dress patterned with small simplified Pokéball designs and visor glasses sitting low on her nose in a way that made it look like she was perpetually looking over them at something that had disappointed her.
Her hair was in two ponytails resting on her shoulders and she wore blue and white pumps that matched the tie at her collar and her thighs were crossed beneath the desk but she did have a book in her hand and it was titled:
*How to Get Away With Murdering A Political Figure.*
…She was hot. Really hot.
Professor Mable looked up from the book she was reading and then at us.
"Is he… one of them?" She asked with a scowl and the receptionist nodded with an exasperated sigh.
"Alright, come here young man." She said, motioning to the chair opposite her seat and I sat down as well.
I looked at her face even close up and though she looked grumpy… I couldn't help it.
"Cute."
The words left my lips and it was as if the room had frozen several times over and even Ralts paused her assault on my hair in shock however Mable let out a sigh.
"Horny teenagers…" She let out. "Flattery will get you nowhere. If you're looking for someone to have sex with, then you should go pick up some prostitute from the Rouge District."
She looked at her nails like that was the end of that.
How did calling her cute translate to sex…? I glanced over at the Receptionist and even she looked exasperated.
"Anyway, since you got here, I'd like to tell you the whole event was a ruse and even the rewards were fake as well…" She looked at her nails. "That stupid mayor's poured even MORE money into this ridiculous urban redevelopment plan?! Sure, great… more Pokémon! Love it! But you can't just throw them in a wild zone and call it a day! No no no… you've got to have scientists SURVEY and STUDY these things to figure out what's actually safe! But who can keep up with all the work when they keep adding Wild Zones every time I turn around?! And then he tries to make me gather some hopeless kids to advertise how safe it is and have me pay them as well!"
She continued ranting and I blinked, turning to the Receptionist again… Mable didn't even look at us, she was just talking.
Suddenly, she placed a hand on my shoulder.
"So now you…" She finished. "Will become my lackey for Field Research and complete the Pokédex."