I recall that squid-like pokémon I saw back at the battle park, and I figure I might as well look into it. But I don’t know the first thing about it. I figure I could start with it’s coloration.
I filter it out to only show Pokémon with a mainly purple color, and I get the usual stuff. Koffing, Weezing... yeah yeah. Exploud, Swalot, keep scrolling... Jeez, how many of these things are purple anyway? Guess I never thought about it before.
Alright, here we go. Maskary... huh. Weird. I poke the ‘more info’ button and get a look at the general info. Ghost type, okay. Secondary type is... Normal? That’s really weird. Not a bad combo but... weird. I pull up the data entries on the species.
- These pokémon inhabit old theaters and other places where acting was once common.-
That’s it? They’re just... actors? Wow, that’s pretty lame. Known moves are just a bunch of status afflictors. Eh, it has Shadow Punch, so that’s something I guess. Metronome? Weird, but... whatever. Oh well, I guess I’ve seen dumber. What else is there?
It evolves? Eh, pass. What about that Pyrdendron thing. Now that was cool. Where can I get one of those... Hey, a basic form.
- These pokémon are very weak, and rely on their protective parents to survive. They live in large clearings burned to ash for them to grow on.-
- Almost totally incapable of movement, they simply soak up the nutrients left from forest fires on the jungle floor.-
- These pokémon resemble inanimate plants, though they are capable of scorching unwary insects that try to eat them.-
Wow, do they all suck before they evolve? This is just ridiculous. Maybe there’s a good ice type native to here. Lemme see, sort by type ‘Ice’ and by region to only found here... hmm. ‘Amebost’? sounds... unimaginative, actually. Still, maybe it’s worthwhile, it is an Ice/Poison combo, which I’ve never seen done before.
- These pokémon keep their single-celled bodies coated in a layer of ice to keep themselves intact.-
- The powerful toxins these pokémon brew are kept safely locked away in their icy bodies.-
- These pokémon cause virulent pandemics when they're thawed out. In spite of this, they're actually quite friendly and caring.-
Well now, that sounds like a pokémon. Guess you have to have a few duds here and there though. Besides, in this world they weren’t designed by some Japanese guy, these are all actual creatures... I guess it’s acceptable to have some that’re just ‘okay’
Wait, this thing... holy shit! I take another look at the data for Amebost and pay closer attention, making a few realizations. This thing is like a plague bomb! Melt the thing and you could wipe out the planet! What the hell!?
That’s just begging for some noob to hit it with a Flamethrower and doom everything in existence!
- In spite of the virulent nature of their toxins, the poison denatures after less than a day.-
Breathing a terrific sigh of relief, I feel a little better. At least it’d only wipe out... wait, they live on mountaintops, which means any toxins released would go straight into the tradewinds and go all over the plane- aw crap!
Fuck this, I’m going to bed. Pokémon, man. If they aren’t dopey and weird, they’re catalysts of impending doom!
Throwing myself back on the hammock, I swing gently back and forth until the sun is below the horizon. I can’t sleep, though. There was mention that Amebost evolves. I have to know... does it get worse? Better? Just as bad but different? I don’t want to look, but I can’t not look either! It doesn’t help that the girls are sleeping perfectly fine.
I finally passed out sometime in the later morning, and get up to the smell of breakfast. Twilight’s making what looks like flower sandwiches, and Rarity is preparing some vegetarian trail mix or something. Someone is cooking something, and I’m a little startled to see that it’s just a few pancakes left near my hammock.
Oh well, breakfast could be worse. These ponies would probably urge me to eat a bunch of weeds, so pancakes are nice. And they are. Apparently Rarity is a cook as well, and not half bad either. Guess you learn something new every day. Sighing, I reopen the pokedex app. Guess it’s time for more learning... let’s check out that crazy gas-bomb thing. It evolves so...
-These towering monstrosities are permanently frozen in a thick layer of ice that keeps them insulated.-
...That’s about as generic as you can get. You could just say “It’s an Ice-Type”, but no, we gotta make it sound cool. Next.
-Through an unknown mutation in their bodies, they've begun producing a wide variety of extremely virulent toxins capable of spreading through the air. To protect others, they form hard shells of ice to isolate themselves.-
So now they tell us that they are super hazardous and have no idea why. How informative...
-One of the primary symptoms of becoming infected by these pokemon is an intense fever followed by 'the Chills', in which the victim has such an intense fever that they feel as if they are being frozen to death.-
So now it’s not a poison, it’s a sickness. God, maybe I should catch one simply so I can do some real research. Oh well, I guess there are other pokemon with some lackluster entries. I think over what the little map on my etech said. The GPS said it would take about two to three days, so I guess today is just going to be... walking.
Cross-country travel isn’t all landmarks and wondrous discoveries I suppose.
Bored out of my mind, I walk along with my head back. After a few minutes, I see a shimmering shape, far away and high in the sky. For a moment, I’m ready to discount it as just another pokemon when I see that it’s trailing a rainbow... and it’s at least two miles up.
No fucking way... I rub my eyes and look back. It couldn’t have been Ho-Oh, this region is nowhere near Johto!
Racking my brain for answers, I remember something from the first episode of the show that talks about Ho-Oh, and the pokedex data that was used later, which states it ‘flies around the world’ on seven-color wings...
I don’t know whether to dance with joy because I just saw my first legendary, or cry, because it’s two miles straight up from here. Wait... Photo evidence! I may not be able to catch it, but I can get a picture!
I hold up my éTech and snap a photo of the giant bird as it flies by. I look at the screen and see that Ho-Oh ended up looking like a red and orange blur. That could be anything! I go to take another picture, but unfortunately I seem to have forgotten that Ho-Oh was moving. It’s long gone by now, shit!
“Uhm, Anthony, what are you doing?” Twilight asks, sounding concerned.
“Oh nothing, I just saw one of the most incredible, rarest pokemon possible and I only got a crappy photo of it.” I hold up the picture for the girls to see. It looks like it has wings for sure, but other than that, it’s just a reddish-orangey smudge.
“Really? Uhm... it looks like your camera didn’t get a good picture. I’m sorry, Anthony.” Twilight says, sounding unsure. “Uh, what pokemon was it?”
“Ho-Oh. Legend has it that seeing Ho-Oh will... uh... something about eternal happiness? Or was that good luck? I haven’t read up on it in a long time. Either way, it’s supposed to be good.”
“Oh! That’s pretty neat. Er, not to ruin the moment, but maybe we should keep going, then? Maybe it’ll bring good luck in your next gym fight, right?”
“Yeah, maybe. Though if I had a legendary on my team, I wouldn’t need luck.” I shrug, readjusting my bag on my shoulder and continue on. “I mean, truth be told, what we have compared to what we could have... Well, let me put it this way. Most trainers have at least six pokemon before their first Gym battle.”
Rarity and Twilight look unsure of themselves. Twilight speaks up first, saying, “Are we supposed to have that many? Because it didn’t seem like a requirement.” She sounds worried, though, and her eyes start flicking back towards Autumnwash town.
“Nah, it’s not a requirement. It’s just that, well, competitively it’s more favorable. I mean, more pokemon means you can last longer and you have more options available, right?”
“Yeah, I suppose you’re right. Maybe we should try catching more pokemon? We’ve had good luck so far, but I read that there’s always a chance it won’t work as often as we’ve seen so far.”
“Yeah, there are hundreds of variables, most of which can’t be controlled. Even in the most promising situation possible, there’s still a chance to mess up. There’s no clear way to tell the way something will turn out. That’s the chaotic nature of... nature, I guess.”
The girls don’t look reassured, but they seem to accept it. We begin to walk again.
“Although it can work the other way, making an easy capture out of a situation wherein, by all accounts, you had practically no chance of success, like when I caught Geodude. Any pokemon, no matter how strong or weak, can be caught, but there’s still that element of randomness.”
I go back to watching the sky. Maybe Ho-Oh will pass by again. Maybe...
As expected, nothing of interest really goes on during our trek. Aside from seeing Ho-Oh, this is just slogging through the wilderness with just a trail, worn in by the countless people before us... yeah there are some wild Pokemon, but they aren’t interesting since they’re so much weaker than what we have. Not worth the effort to catch them either, as we’d have to spend a while raising them up to match our current team. Or worse, just let them lag behind and barely use them.
The few trainers we come across are either passing us towards Autumnwash, though still up for a fight, or are just waiting for travelers. We make a fair amount of money fighting these trainers and improving our double-battle skills, or our single-battle skills, depending on who we fought. The only thing of real note is when the wild pokemon were suddenly around level 15 or so. It was a sudden, jarring change and I nearly lost a couple pokemon to surprise attacks and wild pokemon ambushes. we quickly learned not to leave the road, as narrow as it was becoming, except to make camp.
That said, my team is getting a workout. I would like a Fighting type to help round out my team though. Maybe a Ghost type would be a good trick to have up my sleeve, but I doubt we’ll find any wandering the plains.
I make a mental note to head back to Krosa forest at some point. The Pokemon there definitely show promise, and according to the map, we barely got a glimpse of the massive forest that practically bisects the entire region.
When we finally find a place to lay down for the night, I find myself bored again. I’m kind of dreading another species binge... well, actually, I remember that the Gardevoir that one guy had looked quite a bit different than what I’m used to. Almost like it was wearing a tabard instead of a dress.
Maybe he just had her wear that instead. Is that dress removable? I doubt it, but... I take out my éTech and, sure enough, the entry on Gardevoir mentions that it is a ‘region-specific variant’, and that them having that tunic sort of thing is normal.
I wonder if there’s a variety of Jynx that doesn’t look like a racist drag queen... Nope, that hasn’t changed. Oh well.
However it brings up a few others as ‘Otaria-specific variations’, including Salamence, Sableye, Vespiquen, and Roserade, among others.
I end up staying awake scrolling through the list of pokemon I’m interested in, especially the ones that look different here. Salamence looks much more territorial, and Vespiquen, though not that huge a difference, is certainly nice to look at... but of course none of them or others in their evolutionary tree are around here. If I wanted a Combee, I’d have to walk all the way back to the first forest we came through, dang. It lists there being a chance to find one further into the fields, but that’s something like twenty miles away and in the middle of nowhere, for a couple percentage points of chance. No thanks.
Wait, it lists pokemon by location. I wonder... I use the GPS to pinpoint my location, and call up wild pokemon confirmed to be around here. I try to look for a Fighting type among them, but no such luck. I suppose that makes sense, but I would really like a bit more pokemon. My team is pretty diverse as it is, but not that diverse...
Oh well, I guess I’m happy with my team for now. Okay, now I should be asleep. The girls nodded off a while ago...