GamerFiction
patreon
Pokemon: Way of Life Chapter 21
🕑 Added 2022-11-22 03:07:53 +0000 UTCHi all,
The day of the practical exam is here, and they will find out if they can get some starter Pokemon.
Has anyone played Pokemon Violet/Scarlet yet? It’s disappointing how buggy the games are, so I’ll wait to see if they are patched before I play any further.
August 1st
The students gathered outside an enclosure surrounded by a chain link fence. It was just past seven, and they had woken up at five to get ready and travel to their current location. Everyone looked half-asleep, and Jason lay on the ground, snoring away without a care in the world.
Inside the fence was a dense forest with a mountain rising above the trees far in the distance. A few trails leading inside the trees broke up the uniformity and immediately disappeared into the forest's gloom.
Above them, there wasn’t a cloud in the sky, and the sun shone harshly down on their shoulders, hinting at scorching temperatures later in the day.
Lucas stood next to Faith, looking ahead of him with curiosity. There were no signs on the gate or any other indication of their location. What was this place? He was sure he had never heard of it before.
“Have you heard of this place before?” Lucas turned to his two friends.
“Nope,” Jason said. “It certainly seems secretive enough, although it may be that they just don't go out of their way to advertise the place.”
“I’m sure we will find out soon enough,” Faith pointed to a car that had just parked next to the buses. Armstrong, Mustang and the two Gym Leaders exited the vehicle and walked up to the waiting group.
Lucas looked at his two Pokemon standing beside him.
“Are you guys ready?”
{Dante} ‘Sure. It’s not like we have to do much ourselves.’
{Max} ‘Are we going to get a new teammate?’
‘That’s what I’m hoping for.’
Armstrong stopped in front of the gate and faced the group, dressed in her usual green and black Rangers uniform. Did she wear anything else? He had seen the other Rangers dress more casually.
Mustang wore a black overcoat over his uniform and a pair of white gloves on his hands. It was an unusual combination, but the man made it work.
However, there was one significant difference. Mustang had fitted a sheath and a one-handed sword on her waist.
“Alright, it’s my favourite part of the entire week. You have to put all you have learned to the test.”
She pointed behind her at the enclosure. “This is the Rangers Pokemon Rehabilitation Center. It is where we usually house injured Rangers Pokemon who require long-time care due to crippling injuries or other debilitating health issues. Think of it as a Reserve for Pokemon with special needs. Today, we have temporarily moved the Pokemon so we can conduct the exam inside. While there should be no wild Pokemon, one may have snuck inside, so take care.”
Armstrong entered a code into a keypad on the gate, and it swung open. “Remember, one of your tests is to set up a camp and stay out overnight. We may test your defences during the night, so stay vigilant.”
Mustang walked up next with a stack of parchments in his hand. “Before we begin, you have to nominate a team leader. You have one minute to decide amongst yourselves.”
“So, who is going to be the team leader?” Lucas asked.
“Naturally, it has to be me,” Jason said seriously. Sandee nodded her head cutely beside him.
“Not going to happen,” Faith said flatly. “Lucas has a lot more experience in dangerous situations, so it should be him.”
Jason deflated but nodded his head in agreement.
Lucas stood with his arms behind his back, his face stern. “It is a heavy responsibility, but it should suit someone with my intelligence, charisma and leadership qualities.”
Jason turned to Faith. “Nope, it has to be you.”
Faith shook her head and poked Lucas in the chest. “Take this seriously.”
“Yes, ma'am.”
Mustang waited a minute before asking the team leaders to step forward. He handed them each a piece of paper. “This is your first clue. Once you solve it, it will lead you to the next. There are five clues to find on the first day. The last clue will give you the location of the campsite. The order in which teams find the last clue will determine when they start the next day. A Ranger will hand you the next clue before you leave the campsite. Also, think carefully about every clue. There is a hidden secret that will give you a huge advantage if you manage to discover it.”
Raising his voice, he called everyone to gather in their teams at the gate. Looking at his watch, Mustang said. “You have one minute before the exam commences. Prepare yourselves.”
Armstrong called to Lucas. “Mr Walker, a quick word.”
Lucas walked over to Armstrong, puzzled as to why she wanted to talk to him at such a time.
“It has been brought to my attention that you can utilise your Aura to create a dimensional pocket,” Armstrong said. “For the exam duration, you are not allowed to use it.”
“That seems a bit unfair,” Lucas protested. “It is my own capability. Isn’t that a little biased?”
“The decision was not up to me,” Armstrong glared. “The orders come from above me, so I have no say in the matter. My superiors feel that the competition should be more even because valuable starters are on the line.”
Lucas raised a sceptical eyebrow. “If they are so valuable, why are they suddenly offering nine starter Pokemon instead of three?”
“It’s all a matter of optics. The government are worried that the previous incident will cause a decline in attendance numbers,” Armstrong grimaced. “So they offered better rewards for this one exam to try and wipe the incident from everyone's thoughts.”
Mustang started to countdown from ten.
“Gotta go,” Lucas said. He walked back to his team, muttering about a stupid grandpa giving away his secrets. Faith was looking over the clue, trying to get a head start over the competition.
Mustang brought his ard down. “And….Get going!”
The teams rushed the gate, almost obstructing it as they squeezed through. Some teams headed for nearby trails and disappeared into the trees, while others stopped to look at their clue. Lucas’s team was part of the latter as they stood next to the tree line.
“So, have you figured out anything from the clue,” Lucas asked.
“No,” Faith shook her head in frustration. “It is merely a sketch of some plants and a tree, which somehow points to the next clue's location.”
Faith handed the parchment over to Lucas, who looked at it closely.
It was separated into two halves, with the top displaying sketches of three plants. On the bottom was an image of a lightning-struck tree with the top half missing.
“The tree is the next clue's location,” Lucas said quietly, looking around to ensure no team was close enough to overhear them. “The three plants at the top must reveal the tree's location.”
“But how are we supposed to find the tree with plants?” Jason asked.
“Which environments do the plants grow in? Maybe that will point us in the right direction?” Faith pointed to the first plant, which had black leaves that resembled a bird's feather. “This is a Ravens Plume, which grows in dark, dank places, usually in caves, burrows and close to a water source.”
“My girlfriend is so clever,” Lucas beamed before looking at the next plant. “The next plant is a Dragon Vine, a creeper plant that is different from other creeper plants in that it doesn’t grow over the ground but finds soil patches close to vertical surfaces to climb. You can commonly find it in areas with rocky terrain.”
“Let me do one,” Jason said eagerly. “The last one is a Water Peony, which grows on the surface of small bodies of water.”
“So we are looking for a place with at least some of these characteristics” Faith frowned in thought.
“But how is that supposed to help us,” Jason gestured to the dense forest. “It’s still a needle in a haystack. We will only find it by sheer luck.”
“You are forgetting the tools at our disposal,” Lucas dropped his pack and opened the top. He retrieved the binoculars and waved at them with a smirk.
“Are you going to climb a tree?” Faith asked, looking at the nearby trees dubiously.
“Yep, I just happen to have amazing eyesight,” Lucas bragged. “The binoculars will enhance it further.”
The other teams had disappeared into the forest by now. Lucas looked around for the tallest tree in the immediate area and spotted a likely candidate a few metres inside the treeline. He walked up to the trunk and examined it to see if it would be an easy climb.
Unfortunately, they were straight vertical trunks with a rough surface and branches only appearing in the top third of the tree. There were no easy handholds either, and the circumference made it hard for Lucas to grip the tree with his legs and shimmy his way to the top.
“That's going to be a problem,” Jason said, standing next to him.
“I will manage,” Lucas said, placing the binocular straps around his neck. “With my Armament, I won’t take any damage, at least.”
Lucas jumped up and wrapped his arms and legs around the trunk. He carefully slid his arms up the trunk, followed by his legs. It was painfully slow, and he was getting bombarded with messages as his Armament took minor damage from the bark scraping against his body. It was painful, but Lucas gritted his teeth and continued.
Finally, he reached the canopy and grabbed onto a sturdy branch. He climbed up until he poked his head into the sky, perched precariously on some thin branches. Lucas used one hand to grab the binoculars and looked further into the forest. Dialling up his Sight, suddenly, he could see further than ever before. It must have been five kilometres of range with the binoculars, and it was initially disorientating, almost causing him to fall out of the tree.
After adjusting, he searched carefully. The forest was dense with trees, but it had large clearings of land scattered around, including some small bodies of water. Of course, the looming mountain was the standout feature, still looking huge despite being at least eight kilometres away.
A few minutes later, he saw a location that looked promising. It was a rocky area about three kilometres to the northwest, with a small water pool near the centre. With his enhanced vision, he searched for the tree, but it was hard to see with trees in the way. He thought maybe he saw part of a blackened stump, but he couldn’t be entirely sure. Still, it was the best option.
Opening his Map, he marked the location as accurately as possible, which took work with the Map obscured. He also placed markers on other distinguishing landmarks in case they were useful later. He made his way down carefully out of the canopy, where there was a straight drop to the ground.
“Did you find anything?” Jason called.
“Potentially,” Lucas replied. He topped up his Armament. “Get out of the way. I’m going to drop down.”
“What?! Don’t be stupid,” Faith shouted.
“Ready or not,” Lucas called. They moved out of the way, and he pushed off the tree, falling quickly before hitting the ground with a scream.
Armament has taken 101 damage [159/260].
Lucas rolled around on the ground, groaning as the pain slowly faded from his legs.
“You idiot,” Faith came over and hugged him. “Why the hell did you do that.”
“Man, you are hardcore,” Jason murmured.
“Because it would have taken too long to climb down,” Lucas said brightly.
{Dante} ‘Your an idiot.’
{Maximus} ‘Such a dummy.’
Lucas ignored them, took a piece of paper and pencil from his backpack, and drew a rough map. It wasn’t necessary when he had something better, but he needed to keep up appearances. Next, he took out a compass and pointed in a northwesterly direction. “Come on; I found a place about three kilometres away that looks ideal.”
They walked for half an hour through a dense carpet of foliage. It was hard going as they had to walk around obstacles and avoid breaking their ankles as the ground was uneven and littered with small invisible indentations. It didn’t help that there was low visibility, with the trees concealing the sunlight, with only small breaks in the canopies to illuminate small patterns of sunlight on the ground. Why did they forget to bring a torch? It was a minor oversight, but it was aggravating nonetheless.
After another ten minutes, Lucas consulted his Map again. “I think we are getting close. Maybe another ten minutes.”
They continued until the trees started thinning out, and they stepped into the clearing, where a small pool of water sat in the centre of the rocky landscape.
Lucas looked around carefully, then pointed in the northeast direction. “Look, there’s the tree.”
“I can’t believe we got it on the first try,” Jason exclaimed. He ran across the uneven ground, almost tripping in his enthusiasm.
The other two followed him more sedately, and they found him standing next to the burnt tree, looking for the clue. They also began searching, and a minute later, Faith called out in giddiness.
A hollow space was in the tree, close to the ground, which was well hidden. Faith pulled out a rolled-up piece of parchment, and the two boys looked over her shoulder as she opened it and read the clue.
“It's a basic treasure map,” Faith said, tracing a finger along the line until it reached a cross inside a valley between two small hills about six kilometres east of this location. It was helpful that it had a scale to help gauge the distance.
Lucas took out his hand-drawn map and marked it down, and discreetly did the same with his Map. Before they decided to leave, Lucas paused as a thought occurred to him.
“Are there any of those plants around here?” Lucas asked.
“Why do you ask?” Faith looked at him in confusion.
“Because Mustang said there was a hidden secret to the clues, and the plants are the only other thing I can think of since they appeared on the clue,” Lucas shrugged. “Maybe they have more meaning than simply pointing out a location? Let’s look for them.”
Ten minutes later, Lucas had found two plants while Jason spotted the Dragon Vine in a deep cavity on the western edge of the clearing.
“Come on, let's go,” Lucas said, not wanting to waste any more time.
As they left the area, a trio appeared just out of the trees, slightly east of their entrance. It was Benjamin Slater and his two teammates, a boy and a girl. They stopped when they spotted Lucas’s group.
A stare-down occurred between the two leaders before Faith nudged his shoulder with exasperation. “Don’t worry about them. We need to go.”
Jason blew the girl a kiss before they left, and she took a step forward in anger. Lucas shook his head at his friend's antics. They entered the treeline, and Lucas paused, looking ahead of him. The ground was a lot more even, with meant they could move faster.
“Let’s pick up the pace,” Lucas said. “We don’t want to lose our advantage.”
They began to jog east, and Lucas led the way, avoiding potential hazards. With their current pace, it shouldn’t take too long to reach the next destination.
{0(((..)))0}
Half an hour later, they broke through the trees into a large valley. Two grassy hills rose on either side, leaving a width of about three hundred metres between them. Lucas spotted a strange sight, an obstacle course that ran the length of the valley. Standing at the beginning point was a Ranger.
Since Jason and Faith looked tired, they decided to walk the final part and soon approached the man.
“Hello,” Lucas said. “I assume the obstacle course is the next challenge?”
The Ranger nodded, speaking in a deep voice. “You must nominate a team member to run the course. You must complete it in under five minutes to receive the next clue. However, there are two more solo challenges, and each team member has to participate in one.”
“What if we can’t do it under five minutes?” Lucas asked.
“Then you have to wait an hour to receive the clue.” The Ranger replied.
Jason fell to the ground. “I’m definitely out of this one. Maybe we shouldn’t have depleted our stamina?”
“It’s okay,” Lucas jumped up and down to show off. “I got this one in the bag.”
Faith sat down and took out a bottle of water. “Knock yourself out.”
Lucas lined up at the starting line and waited. The Ranger held a stopwatch and raised his other arm. As soon as he brought it down, Lucas sprinted ahead.
The first obstacle was a set of monkey bars about ten metres across. Lucas jumped, grabbed the first rung, and moved forward rapidly, swinging his legs to gain momentum.
He jumped off the last rung and sprinted forward, diving face-first into the next obstacle, an army crawl. Lucas moved quickly on his knees and elbows, getting covered in mud as he progressed. He slipped and got a mouthful of mud at one point, but he spit it out and continued. Crawling out the other side, Lucas got to his feet, his clothes covered in mud.
The next obstacle was a rope climb up a massive slanted wall about four metres high. Lucas grabbed the rope and started climbing, his muscles straining with the effort. The mud made it a bit harder, but it was still manageable. At the top of the wall, he dropped down to the other side and continued forward.
A balance beam was up next, and Lucas didn’t slow down as he sprinted up the ramp before slowing down as he balanced carefully across the narrow horizontal beam. Below him was a deep pool of water, and if he weren’t under a time limit, he would have liked to take a dip. As he reached the middle of the beam, his eyes narrowed as he spotted several items in the water. They looked like glass vials. Reminding himself to look for them later, he continued to the other side.
Across the other side, he ran to the final obstacle. Lucas's eyes widened when he saw a line of Pokemon holding huge rubber balls at the end. As he ran closer, they began throwing them at him, and Lucas had to dodge quickly to avoid getting hit. As he ran forward, the rate of fire increased so much that he was going sideways for a period of time, dodging the furious barrage and unable to move forward. Finally, he got within five metres of the Pokemon, and they stopped throwing the balls, stepping aside to let him through.
The final stretch was a three-hundred-metre sprint, and he activated Dash to cross the finish line quickly. As he stopped and put his hands on his knees, he noticed the same Ranger already there with the stopwatch. He must have run down the sideline.
“So, how did I do?” Lucas gasped.
“Three minutes and thirteen seconds,” the Ranger replied. “Impressive. Here is your next clue.” The man handed him a rolled-up parchment.
Lucas turned around and sprinted back to the start line, taking a quick dip in the water on his way there to clean off the mud. He grabbed one of the glass vials as well.
{0(((..)))0}
After a hard day of rushing around the forest and following various clues, the day was over. The last two clues had been a chore, making them walk another twenty kilometres before they reached the campsite. Thankfully, they stayed ahead of the other teams and arrived first at the campsite. They had plenty of time to rest before tomorrow, so after a hearty meal, they decided on an early night.
They had set up a series of traps and an alarm tripwire, expecting an attack during the night. Lucas took the first watch, and Jason would replace him in a few hours. Finally, Faith had the early morning shift before dawn.
Laid out in front of him was a set of objects they had received from the different clue locations. After finding the glass vial, he was confident that collecting the objects were somehow involved with the hidden advantage that Mustang mentioned. He told his teammates to look for items that seemed out of place when it was their turn to tackle the solo challenge. From left to right, there were the three plants, a glass vial, a gold watch, an encrypted note and a bottle of strange liquid.
Lucas theorised that he needed to use the plants and liquid to concoct some potion, and maybe the note revealed the recipe. However, he didn’t know what the gold watch was for; he turned it over in his hands, looking for any clues. Not finding anything, he placed it on the ground and turned his attention to the note.
It was a jumble of seemingly random letters and words. The closest thing it resembled was a substitution cypher, so he needed to figure out which letters had been switched. He started with the most common letters in the English language, such as the vowels. It took some time, but it became much easier once he began recognising some patterns.
An hour later, he looked at the note with satisfaction. He was right that it revealed a recipe, but it was different from what he expected. It was a corrosive potion which could remove some metals from surfaces. Lucas was momentarily confused before he remembered the gold watch. Was there something to be revealed underneath?
Excited, he grabbed a bowl out of his pack and placed the plants inside. He searched the surroundings for a sharp rock and began crushing the plants into a pulp. After he had accomplished that, he opened the bottle of liquid and sniffed. Lucas wrinkled his nose at the foul odour. It smelled like petrol. According to the recipe, this liquid took a few steps to create, but it had been pre-made by the Rangers.
Carefully, he spooned the plant's mixture into the bottle and twisted the cap on tightly. Lucas shook the bottle vigorously, thoroughly mixing the two together. It turned a pale, sickly green colour when he was done.
Putting the watch into the bowl, he poured the bottle of liquid over it and watched quietly as flakes of gold slowly dissolved, revealing a silver surface beneath. Careful not to touch the potion, he lifted the watch with his spoon and laid it face down.
A small inscription on the back of the watch was written in a permanent marker—wit beyond measure.
Was this some secret code? Lucas shook his head in bewilderment, but he couldn’t think of anything else that could be done. Lucas cleaned up the mess and looked around at the other tents set up around the clearing. Did any of the other teams gather all the items? Did they figure out what it meant? If not, then they would have another advantage come morning. His team was guaranteed first place if they didn’t screw it up royally,
{0(((..)))0}
August 2nd
Lucas yawned as he stood beside his teammates as they waited for the Ranger to show. He carried Max in his arms, who was still dead to the world. What a lazy sod. Dante played with the other two Pokemon, energetic after a good night's rest.
“So, what do you think the advantage will be?” Jason asked, his eyes on the same girl from Benjamin Slater's team. The girl noticed him looking and shook her fist at him.
“You're looking for a beating,” Lucas said, amused. “As for the advantage, probably something as simple as more time.” He recalled that he had a bonus objective to finish by noon today, so he was a little anxious.
Mustang stepped into the clearing. “Everyone, gather around.”
The teams converged on the Ranger and waited for him to speak.
“All right, I have your next clue,” Mustang waved a stack of parchments. “Depending on the order you arrived here, each team will get half an hour head start over the next team. The order goes like this: Indomitable Faith, Glorious Ambition, Team Titans….”
“Sounds like villains,” Jason called, making everyone laugh, except for a team on the far side of the group, who looked at him with burning eyes.
“What? Everyone knows that any group with 'Team' in its name are evil,” Jason protested. It caused everyone to laugh harder.
“That's enough,” Mustang said, although a slight smirk appeared. He continued reading the names out until all the teams had been named.
“Indomitable Faith will start in ten minutes, at six thirty am. I mentioned yesterday that you could find a hidden message in the clues. Does anybody know what it is?”
Lucas raised his hand, along with another team. He looked at them and recalled they were in seventh place, so they were not a threat.
“Wit beyond measure,” Lucas said. The other team repeated a different message. So, they weren’t all the same.
“Congratulations,” Mustang said. “For the reward, you skip the first clue and go on to the second. I don’t need to say how big of an advantage this is, right?”
Lucas could feel the gazes of the other teams on him, but he shrugged it off and turned to his teammates. “We are going to hit the ground running. I don’t want to let the other teams have a ghost of a chance of beating us,” Lucas said quietly. They nodded, picked up their Pokemon, and waited until it was time to start. Dante came to stand next to him.
‘Are you going to be able to keep up, Dante?’ Lucas smirked.
Dante rolled his eyes and pointed his nose to the sky.
{Dante} 'Please. I managed to keep up yesterday with no problems.'
A few minutes later, Mustang said. “The first team, come and get your clue. Your time starts in thirty seconds.”
They rushed forward, grabbed the clue, and opened it quickly to read it as time counted down. Maximus woke up in protest at the same time, but Lucas soothed him, and he soon settled down. After a few minutes to figure out the clue, they ran out of the clearing.
After four and a half hours, Lucas’s confidence took a hit. He did not doubt that they would come first, but whether they would finish before noon was still up in the air. It’s not like it would be the end of the world if he didn’t get the bonus reward, but it was like a compulsion to get the best result possible.
One major obstacle stood between them and the finish line—the giant mountain in the middle of the forest. Lucas should have figured that this would be the finish line. They had to scale the vertical rock face within the next hour to finish before the noon deadline.
{Edit: content added}.
Thankfully, they did not have to scale the entire mountain. There was an outcropping that protruded from the main body, about one-third of the way up, with a small grassy plateau.
One of their lessons this week had been how to navigate difficult terrain, with climbing being a feature. So they had some experience. If it weren’t for the bonus objective, he would have told them to take their time. No one was catching them at this point.There were plenty of small ledges where they could rest on the way to the plateau.
{Edit: content end}.
“Did I mention that I hate heights,” Jason whimpered as the Ranger tested their harnesses.
“Don’t freak out in the home stretch,” Lucas said, eyeing the rock face to determine the difficulty. There were plenty of handholds, so it wasn’t a matter of technique but endurance. Thanks to his enhanced physique, he would not have a problem scaling the cliff face without stopping for a rest. However, he was worried for the other two. Although they got a slight boost to their physique from bonding with their Pokemon, it was to a far lesser degree than himself.
“I tell you what,” Lucas said, pointing to the plateau. “If you can reach the finish line within the hour, I will reward you both.”
“Oh, and what will we get?” Jason asked.
“I will get you both a technical machine worth four thousand Pokedollars or less,” Lucas said.
“Oh, yeah? Watch me make this mountain my bitch,” Jason shouted.
Faith frowned at the language but let it go.
“Your all set to go,” the Ranger said.
Lucas turned his oldest partner. 'Dante, look after the other Pokemon.'
{Dante} 'Of Course.'
"Let's do this." Lucas was highly confident, not only because of his physique but because he had gained a skill from the lesson. Other than that, there were a few more skills in the Skill Bank that he may take a look at later, but he wasn’t in any rush.
=====
[Climbing] (Active) [Lv: 1] (Next:54%) [Cost:5/m]
Description: Determines the player’s expertise using his hands, feet or other body parts to ascend steep topographical objects. Can take on more challenging climbs the higher the skill level. It also reveals the most optimal path to climb.
+5% to the number of handholds highlighted on the object being climbed.
-5% to prevent the player from losing his grip or a foothold.
-5% to lactic build-up in the arms and legs.
=====
Lucas grabbed onto the first handhold and began his ascent. Soon after, the other two followed. Lucas quickly outpaced them as he made quick progress up the cliff face. It was another hot day, and he was getting a heavy dose of UV rays up here, where he was exposed. He held some concern for Faith, who was very fair. Hopefully, she was more intelligent than him and put on some sunscreen.
Lucas looked down and noticed that Jason and Faith were taking a break, but they had made good progress. He continued without pause until he crested the edge and pulled himself onto solid ground.
"That was a rush," Lucas wiped the sweat off his brow, laying there for a moment to catch his breath. Looking around, he noticed a group of people waiting for him on a small stage, representing the finish line. Wait a minute? Professor Oak? Why was he here now?
"Hey, old man," Lucas waved. "How's it going."
"I should have known it would be you that would be in first place," Oak chuckled, walking over as Lucas stood.
"Meh, it was nothing," Lucas rubbed his head sheepishly.
"How far away are your teammates?"
"Oh, right," Lucas peered down the cliff and saw that they were just past halfway. "You're doing great, guys. Keep going."
Jason looked up briefly and had enough energy to give him the finger. Faith didn't say anything but kept climbing determinedly.
"They are doing well," Oak approved. "I think the Rangers went too easy on everyone if you can finish this early."
"Nah, it's just that we are that awesome," Lucas boasted before turning serious. "So, what are you doing here?"
"To hand out the prizes, of course," Oak smirked at the look of excitement on the teenager's face. "Looks like you three will have the first choice."
"Can I see them?" Lucas asked eagerly, almost bouncing in anticipation.
"Sure," Oak shrugged. He turned around and retrieved a briefcase from the stage. Opening it up, he revealed nine Pokeballs sitting snuggly inside. One by one, he released the Pokemon until the nine were displayed, standing side by side.
Three Charmanders, three Squirtles and three Bulbasaur. Lucas wiped the drool off his face as he came closer to look at them.
"What are you doing, Oak? You're not supposed to release them until the whole team gets here." Armstrong called.
"It's fine," Oak said. "We already know what team is coming in the first place."
Lucas decided to observe all the Pokemon to see if they had any fundamental differences. Looking at the Squirtles and Bulbasaurs, he noticed some slight differences. Mainly with potential and egg moves. He noted the two best options for his friends and turned his attention to the Charmanders.
When he observed the last Charmander, his eyes widened in amazement.
"Well, hello, precious. You are definitely going to be my choice."
So what do you think? Just what has Lucas excited about the Charmander he chose? See you next time.
Cheers.
Comments
GamerFiction
Made a small change near the end to make the climb a bit more believeable. If you feel something should be changed, feel free to share your thoughts. As patrons, you have the right, Probably should add that to the tiers.
GamerFiction
I thought the cliff part was kind of a stretch, to be honest. Maybe I should specify that it wasn't a big cliff, lol.
Laharl365
Loved the scavenger hunt turned race. I guess pokemon humans are built different. Everyone can climb cliffs. Very cool regardless
GamerFiction
I think they need more development time, but it would cost a lot of profit to delay the anime and merchandise, so they are stuck with the current schedule. When games get more ambitious, it is natural that they will take longer to develop.
FelixStowmwolf99
Solar Power ability. Also beyond the glitches, the new games are great. I like the story and the large map. It just seems like they were more ambitious about the graphics that they didn’t realize they system they were putting it on. I am sure they will patch it soon.
