Nova had always told himself the odds of Robbin tracking him down were about as slim as hitting the jackpot. But even so, something in the back of his mind refused to let him rest easy. The way she used her Pokémon had left a mark on him that logic alone couldn't erase.
Bomb attacks were not something you just brushed off. In his past life, he had been a compulsive news reader, and the headlines he'd seen were not kind ones. To claim he wasn't scared would have been an outright lie.
It was that buried fear, more than anything else, that had pushed him to rush his plans. He had been scrambling to map out his next steps, trying to stay one move ahead. Then Aresdra had touched his hand, her fingers cool against his skin, and his pulse had lurched so violently it knocked something loose in his head.
He stopped.
Wait. This is the Pokemon world.
The answer had been sitting right in front of him the whole time, and he had nearly missed it by thinking like someone from a completely different world.
Robbin liked to use Self-Destruct. That was her signature, her threat, the thing that made her dangerous. But what if she simply couldn't? What if the explosion just... never came?
Back in Lune Town, he had thought about it, actually. He had made a mental note to eventually get a Pokemon with the Damp ability, specifically to shut down dirty tricks during wild battles. Self-Destruct, Explosion, any move like that, all of it suppressed in an instant. He had shelved the idea and forgotten about it in the chaos that followed Robbin's escape.
And honestly, who could blame him? She had killed several Security Officers. Not injured them. Killed them. And the number of people hurt was even higher. Facing someone like that, anyone would feel the weight of it pressing down on them.
But with a Pokemon that had Damp, it didn't matter how perfectly Robbin set up her strategy. She could line up every explosive move she had, and none of it would fire. All that preparation, all that threat, and she would still end up with nothing to show for it.
That was the answer. Simple, clean, and completely in the spirit of the Pokemon world.
Nova turned to Aresdra. "Hey," he said, "what do you think about adding a third Pokemon to your team?"
Aresdra gave him a curious look. She had no idea what he was working toward, but she thought it over honestly before replying. "The Auditions are coming up soon, so things are going to get busy. But JoJo and Torchic are both pretty easy to handle, nothing like your Archie." She paused, then smiled. "I think I can manage it."
That was all Nova needed to hear. He started making calls immediately, and the moment he had confirmation, he was out the door.
His Corviknight was a reliable partner, but reliable wasn't the same as fast. This time, Nova needed speed. He went to the Harmony City Aviation Station and paid a steep sum, well over twenty thousand Poke Dollars, to rent a Pidgeot for two days. Pidgeot's flight speed was in a class of its own, and he couldn't afford to waste time.
His Corviknight, relieved of duty without much ceremony, seemed perfectly content to stay inside its Poke Ball and sleep.
Two days later, Aresdra was standing at the table, staring at the small yellow duck sitting across from her. Its round eyes were glazed over. One hand was pressed to its forehead in what might have been pain, or might have been nothing at all. It looked, in every possible sense of the word, like it had no idea what was going on.
Aresdra turned to Nova slowly. "This," she said, with remarkable calm, "is the third Pokemon you found for me?"
Nova gave her his best sheepish smile. "Okay, hear me out. Don't judge it yet."
"I told you," she said, "that I wanted something powerful. Something that looked the part."
"You did, and I remember that, and I agree with you completely," Nova said quickly. "But don't count Psyduck out just yet. I know it looks a little... vacant right now. And okay, it kind of is. But its evolved form is Golduck, and Golduck is genuinely impressive. Sleek, powerful, looks great in battle. Trust me on this one."
Aresdra accepted that, if not entirely convincingly. It wasn't that she disliked Psyduck on principle. It was more that she had a certain image in mind. Torchic was adorable, and a Riolu would have had that quiet, sharp look she admired. A Psyduck just didn't quite fit the picture.
Nova privately thought she was missing the point entirely. There was a certain charm in the contrast, a beautiful coordinator walking alongside a Pokemon that was stumbling through an existential headache. In his past life, that combination would have been beloved. But he kept that thought to himself.
What he did not keep to himself, at least not mentally, was how carefully he had actually chosen this particular Psyduck. He pulled up its details in his mind and ran through them again.
Species: Psyduck Level: 38 Ability: Damp Hidden Ability: Swift Swim
Traits:
Hopeless Case - Even by Psyduck standards, this one is exceptionally dim. Its own thoughts cause it constant, genuine pain. It has, at some point, forgotten that evolution is a thing that can happen to it. Whether this represents true stupidity or something stranger is difficult to say. Its Psychic-type moves deal significantly increased damage, and its HP is well above average. Its Speed and Evasion, however, are both sharply reduced. It rarely responds to its Trainer's commands in any timely or reliable fashion, and sometimes uses moves entirely on its own, with no input requested. When its headache peaks and briefly clears, its Psychic-type moves surge to 260% power and the effects of Disable are greatly enhanced.
Note: This Pokemon will not evolve unless it independently remembers that it can.
Dumb Luck - Cannot be struck by critical hits. Its own moves always land as critical hits. When it acts on its own, it will prioritize moves that are super effective against the target.
Landlubber - Has forgotten how to swim. Water-type moves may cause it to panic. In exchange, it takes reduced damage from Ground, Rock, and Fire-type moves.
Flash of Brilliance - Occasionally enters a heightened state where its Psychic-type and Water-type moves are greatly strengthened, and the effects of Status moves are enhanced.
Moves: Psybeam, Hypnosis, Simple Beam, Yawn, Confuse Ray (all Egg Moves), Disable, Zen Headbutt, Confusion, Amnesia, Water Pulse
Nova had originally set out to find any Pokemon with Damp. That had been the entire brief. But through Elder Mort Cotterill's connections at the Thousand Lakes Gym in River Delta City, he had somehow stumbled across this one.
The Gym had been cooperative from the start. Trading and lending trained Pokemon between Gyms was a normal enough thing, and Mort had made it clear that price was no object as long as the Pokemon was right. The staff had prepared a solid lineup: several young Pokemon with strong potential, including a Poliwag that had only recently hatched and already showed the kind of talent that could take a Professional Trainer far.
What no one had expected was that Nova would walk straight past the Poliwag and the Horsea both, and instead point at the most problematic Pokemon in the building.
A Psyduck that refused to evolve, wandered through most of its days in a headache-induced daze, and had managed to become the Gym's longest-running problem was apparently exactly what he was looking for.