Appetizer 1.8

Aaron FulanRoute 110, Hoenn Region

After receiving a few more tips and adding Wanda to my contact list, it wasn't long before we went our separate ways. Wanda intended to make another seventy or eighty miles today while I made my way towards Mauville at a more leisurely pace.

We continued on the lower path for several minutes before Artoria spoke.

'I failed,' she said morosely, ever serious.

"We failed," I corrected her, "and not because of anything we did. Sometimes, the odds are too stacked against us."

'That-'

"Sounds cowardly? It's okay to criticize, Artoria. I'm not going to get mad."

'… Yes…'

"And what if I told you that I expected this outcome? I didn't truly expect to win against Wanda and her doduo."

Then why did you have me battle?'

"Let me ask you a question with another: What did you lose?"

'My lord?'

"We lost the battle, sure, but what did we lose?"

'…'

"We lost nothing," I informed her gently. I stepped around a particularly large rock. "We lost nothing but gained valuable experience. Did you know Supersonic could be so dangerous outside of a gym battle?"

'No…'

"And neither did I. And now we know. We lost, but if a bruised ego is all it cost us, then that's a price I'll pay every time."

'She was not as imposing as father,' Artoria said mulishly.

"Of course not. Your dad's a gallade who mom keeps in reserve for trainers looking for their eighth badge. Even then, he's the team anchor that shows up to murder-blend his way through whatever poor sucker happens to show. Take this as proof of just how far we need to go."

'Yes, my lord. It's just… I won against the hound and the fighter so I…'

"Humbling, isn't it?"

'Yes…'

"Well, how about we train as we move? Wanda made a lot of sense, you know."

'I am too old to be baited with snacks!'

"Liar. You'd do anything for a pecha poffin straight out of the oven," I teased. "Admit it."

'Hauu… Hunger is the enemy…'

She sounded so adorable when she was pouting that I couldn't help myself. I swept her off my shoulder and into my hands before giving her a good scratch behind the horns. "You're way too cute, Artoria."

'M-My lord! This isn't proper,' she flailed, though still mindful to not resort to telekinesis.

I decided to spare her after a moment's humiliation and returned her to my shoulder. "I was thinking. When you've recovered from your battle, you're going to run alongside me using Mana Burst. I'm not moving very fast, but I think it'd be a good way to train your stamina."

'I can do that right now,' she said as she made to hop off.

I held out my hand and caught her. "Nope. After lunch. Let the potion fully take effect. Even if you don't feel tired, there could be long-lasting effects if you strain yourself."

'Very well, my lord. Shall I look for another electric hound?'

"No, not right now. I don't want you battling at the moment anyway. We'll play a game instead."

'A game?'

"Yup. I'm going to look at something and then count to five. At the end of the count, you're going to try to peak in my mind as quickly as possible to tell me what my vision is focused on."

'I see. Is this meant to improve our bond?'

"Right. Do you remember back when you battled that poochyena and you were able to see even through the Sand Attack by using my eyes?"

'Yes, I… I'm not sure how I did it.'

"Psychic energy is influenced heavily by our emotions," I explained. This was one of the things I'd made sure to look into after that incident. One of the articles in the Mossdeep Archive held the answers. "You're a ralts, which means you use your horns to receive emotional signals constantly. I'm sure you've used psychic signals to communicate with your parents in the past as well. I think that because we were emotionally synched, you were able to subconsciously latch onto that and reinforce our connection to use my senses as if they were your own."

'Ah, I understand. If we practice, we should be able to do this instantly to never be caught unawares. Brilliant. As expected of my lord.'

"I wouldn't say never," I replied sheepishly. Even a month later, her utter faith in me was sometimes a little uncomfortable. "But that's the idea. Ready?"

'Yes!'

"Okay, count to five."

'Five… Four… Three…'

X

Another day passed in this manner. We divided our trekking time between working on Mana Burst, playing an increasingly elaborate game of I Spy, and battling the occasional wild pokémon or trainer.

Although most wild pokémon stayed out of our way, there were a few reasons some would let themselves encounter trainers. A few were just waking up or just turning in, depending on their circadian rhythm and our meetings were purely accidental. Others wished to scope us out as prospective challenges for one reason or another, most commonly for food or to test themselves. Still others were defending their territory, much like any wild animal back on earth, and happened to view humans as rivals for food or causes of unacceptable disturbance.

But most commonly, they just didn't care one way or another and allowed themselves to be stumbled upon, neither moving out of the way nor seeking out human contact.

Like the marill Artoria was facing right this moment.

It was strong, remarkably so. Not to such a degree that I suspected a Huge Power mutation, which was just myofibrillar hypertrophy enhanced by your average pokémon fuckery and aura, but strong enough that I suspected it was close to evolving. It knew an incredibly diverse array of moves, from Rollout and Tackle to Water Gun, Charm, Bubble Beam, and even Bounce. Most wild pokémon knew maybe three or four.

A hail of compressed bubbles spread form the marill's mouth at speeds comparable to an amateur baseball. Artoria slashed her sword from the bottom up in a textbook suri-age, the glowing light of Mana Edge leaving a trail behind her swing.

The head of her spoon made contact with the first bubble, cleaving it in half. At the same time, the psychic energy stored in Mana Edge exploded outward, causing a chain reaction that cascaded back towards the marill. Every bubble in its Bubble Beam was deflected or detonated prematurely.

"M-Marill?" It had time to cry out in dismay before Artoria closed the gap with a series of Mana Bursts in a zigzag pattern, nailing it in the head and sending sailing into the reservoir beyond.

"That was amazing," I complimented her. "Your suri-age was clean and you released your control over Mana Edge at just the right time. Well done."

'It wasn't much, my lord,' she demurred. 'I only carried out your instructions to the best of my ability.'

"That alone is good. You took the image I had from my mind without me telling you anything. Our bond is growing."

'It is, isn't it?'

I smiled and handed her another oran berry. I was starting to run out after five days of traveling but that was a minor problem in the face of her overwhelming improvement. She wouldn't have been able to time a perfect counter like that a mere week ago.

"Are you up for another battle?"

'Yes, I was not harmed at all.'

"In that case, let's let out some bait for an electrike. If we can't catch one, we should make one come to us."

'Very well, my lord.'

We stopped for lunch and did as I'd read. There were hundreds of stories online and in historical records of how pokémon were tamed using a bribe to initiate a conversation. After all, though some may be feral, there were just as many so called "wild" pokémon that had human-like intelligences. At the bare minimum, they were capable of conversing with one another, even if the contents of said conversation in the wild tended to begin and end with "Please don't eat me."

Thinking about it, the wilds of the pokémon world were almost as cutthroat as the deserts of Hueco Mundo from Bleach. Luckily, the routes designated by the League was not truly wild, not with the number of travelers and rangers patrolling the area.

This time, when Artoria and I settled down for lunch, I prepared three plates of curry rice, though Artoria's share was admittedly more like an extra-small rice ball. Taking the third, I placed it off to the side a little ways so a wild pokémon wouldn't feel like all the attention was on them should they feel skittish.

As with most animals, the goal was to leave the initiative in their corner.

"Alright, we don't know that this will bring in an electrike," I told her, "but that's fine. I want you to talk with whichever pokémon shows up and see if there are any powerful electrike around looking for a trainer."

'I will convey your words, my lord,' Artoria said, as serious as someone reading a will.

We waited and had lunch. I had my pokédex opened to one side, an article on the intricacies of the move Teleport, but kept one eye open for anyone going for the free food.

Half an hour in, the bush stirred and a grayish-green blob with a yellow, feathery ornament on its head slowly shuffled into the rest stop.

The gulpin was literally called the "stomach pokémon" because most of its spherical body by volume was taken up by its stomach. I didn't have anything against poison types, but it was about as far from my list of desired teammates as possible.

Its blob-like body made it very slow and though it did sport some decent defenses against blunt trauma, its primary defense against predators was simply being as unappetizing as possible. It constructed a unique, smelly poison that it excreted from its pores to turn away attackers.

Worst of all, it was as dumb as a brick. Most pokémon were capable of some level of intelligence but gulpin were about as far left of the bell curve as you could get and still technically qualify as sapient. Because most of their bodies were taken up by their stomachs, they had comparatively small brains and hearts, which made for both lacking smarts and stamina.

I sighed and weighed my options. "Artoria, stop it. Make sure you stop breathing and get back when you see it excreting gases."

'Yes, my lord.' She brandished her sword and stood between it and the food. 'Halt, round creature!'

"Guul?" it moaned.

"Artoria, mind translating for me?"

'It desires sustenance.'

"Tell it that if it can tell me where to find an electrike, you'll move aside." There was some back and forth in pokéspeak that just sounded like repeated names to me. "What now?"

'The round creature says the lightning hounds are here.'

"Can it be more specific?"

She shook her head. 'Here. Run fast. Hurry much.'

"Okay, that must mean they have a range and it covers the entire path. I was hoping it would know where a den was."

'Shall I move?'

"Yeah, sure, why not?"

We watched as the gulpin slowly crawled over to the plate of curry. When it reached the food, it opened its mouth in a boneless yawn and proceeded to drape itself over the meal. Everything, plate and all, vanished into its stomach and I knew I wouldn't be getting that back. I saw Artoria shudder in disgust at the sight.

"Well, that idea's a bust," I said. "Let's pack up and try again in the evening."

'Yes, my lord.'

X

Aaron FulanMauville City, Hoenn Region

Not one. Not one fucking electrike!

Oh, Artoria regularly caught glimpses of the damn mutts thanks to her expanding psychic awareness, but nooo, not a single one took an interest in the food laid out for them. I tried curry, berries, poffins, jerky, and even random bits of trail mix.

Artoria battled six marill, two wingull, four gulpin, and even the odd taillow, but not a single electrike.

Not. A. One.

Sour grapes? Salty?

YES. Yes I was. What gave it away?

After my frustration boiled over, I took a ramp up to the SCR and cycled for a day to burn off stress. This experience thoroughly poisoned the electrike line for me. I still wanted an electric type at some point, but I decided after eight days of travel in Route 110 that it wouldn't be an electrike.

On the plus side, Artoria moved on from Double Team to Teleport. The move took her several seconds to charge, but I was happy to see her making visible progress. She could warp to anywhere in her line of sight or to myself as I acted as something of a psychic anchor for her abilities.

We continued playing our game of I Spy and I hoped that we could soon further complicate the exercise by having her teleport to whatever I was thinking of.

Once she got the hang of that, I'd start her on Shadow Sneak.

Shadow Sneak was the egg move she'd inherited from her father. By definition, it was the move she'd known longest, but also the move she held the least control over. Psychics didn't mix well with ghost types and mastering ghost type moves was always a difficult proposition. I kept pushing it back because despite the utility, I felt that the time it took to master Shadow Sneak could be better spent on reinforcing her foundations.

The two of us trudged towards the city, relieved to see signs of civilization again. Sure there were ranger stations and campsites along the lower path, but they couldn't measure up to a good bed and a warm meal I didn't have to cook myself.

Mauville City was the Hoenn region's equivalent of New York. It was happening, the center of culture and economy. Just about every major corporation to call the region home had its headquarters here, with the only three exceptions I could think of being Devon Corp in Rustboro, Star Signs Astronomical Research Corporation in Mossdeep, and a handful of shipping conglomerates in Lilycove and Slateport.

It boasted a major international airport and two smaller airfields as well as a power plant that provided electricity to most of the surrounding towns, including Verdanturf and Slateport. It also had a thriving entertainment district that boasted the biggest casino in the region.

The two of us made a beeline for the pokémon center, where I entrusted Artoria to the nurse and gave my family a call to let them know I hadn't fallen off the path and drowned in the reservoir or something. I hadn't called them since Slateport due to connectivity issues. At least Tate and Liza got to have a laugh at my abject failure to find an electrike.

X

We felt much more like ourselves following a hot meal and a comfy bed. By now, the two of us were used to rising with the sun and so were among the first to step into the pokémon center canteen. We ignored the handful of people already breaking fast and made our way to the serving line.

There was a cafeteria lady there with a buffet tray of eggs, sausages, fruits, berries, yogurt, and potatoes. She was a squat, corpulent woman with curly blonde hair held behind a hair net. Her genial smile reminded me of high school cafeterias, though the food looked significantly better.

"Good morning, dear. What'll it be?" she greeted me.

"Hello, ma'am. Can I have a plate with a half-serving of everything? I'd like to try at least a bite of all of it," I said. I usually wasn't much for heavy breakfasts, the Fulan family typically settled for rice, congee, or the like, but the spread smelled heavenly.

"Of course dear. And for your lovely ralts?"

"We'll share a plate then come back if we want like something specific."

Nodding, she loaded me up and waved me away with a small carton of orange juice. The whole interaction was remarkably homey, mundane in a nice, comforting way.

The two of us sat in the far corner, away from other trainers.

Before I began to dig in, I cut small portions of each dish and held them out to Artoria to try. Being very human-like, the ralts line was perfectly happy to eat human food. This also meant they had a wide array of likes and dislikes unique to each individual.

Artoria and I had a tradition of sorts: Every time we encountered a dish she had not tried yet, I would proffer a morsel for her to try. She would protest that it was "unknightly" to have the lord feed his knight, and I would poke and prod until she gave in and took a bite.

It was a familiar ritual between us.

"Say aah," I said with a grin, holding out a forkful of scrambled eggs, this one mixed with something akin to feta cheese and spinach.

'I will not, my liege,' she said stiffly. 'I refuse to be hand-fed like a newborn.'

"You haven't tried scrambled eggs before. You promised you'd try anything at least once."

'I know what eggs taste like.'

"Eggs are such a versatile ingredient that they can taste like anything. Besides, these are a little different, I promise. The cheese and spinach really adds to the flavor."

'Then give me the fork and I shall feed myself.'

"Nope. Come on, Artoria, my hand's getting tired."

'Then please enjoy your meal and cease pestering your knight,' she sniffed.

I continued to proffer it, holding the gently steaming eggs an inch from her nose. "People are going to stare, you know."

'Uuuu…'

"Just a bite, Artoria."

'I am happy with my pecha berry.'

"A bite. Your sweet tooth isn't doing you any favors. You need to eat healthier."

'Pecha berries are healthy!'

"They are, but diversity is the best way to maintain good nutrition."

'You read that in an online pamphlet, didn't you, my lord?'

"Guilty~ But it's still true. Now eat your egg. If you do, I promise I'll let you have your pecha too."

She let out a tired sigh and leaned forward to nibble a little on my fork. Being a foot tall, even that small forkful looked like one of those face-sized cotton candies found in carnivals. Gingerly, she gave it a chew. 'So soft…'

"Right?" I flipped the fork and popped the rest into my mouth. "These are excellent scrambled eggs. Creamy, soft, and not too salty. A good bit of pepper, too. Good scrambled eggs should have enough salt to be flavorful without drowning out the flavor of the eggs and these are perfect."

'I see…'

"You can have more, you know."

'I… Yes, my liege.'

After an adorably awkward breakfast in which I convinced Artoria to eat less sweets, the two of us went through her kendo kata in an isolated corner of the yard. Normally, I would be the uchidachi, the teacher, while she would be the shidachi, the student, but because of our height difference, she had to learn both sides of every kata.

It represented a bit of a hurdle early on, but now that she'd had the time to test these forms in combat, I thought it worked out better for her. She flowed from form strike to strike, alternating between teacher and student roles as though in a trance. It was beautiful to watch and I couldn't help the stirrings of pride in my chest as I went through my own workout.

This was my student, my partner.

Author's Note

A group of mice is called a mischief. A group of rabbits is called a fluffle. Marill are called "aqua mouse" pokémon while azumarill are called "aqua rabbit pokémon." In an ideal scenario, a group of marill is led by an azumarill, which is why they are collectively still called a fluffle.

Myofibrillar hypertrophy is a real-life genetic mutation in which your muscles are denser than they should be, making you much stronger than normal. It's the closest real-world equivalent to anime physiques like Goku's where a character needs to eat a ton but is super strong.

Electrike encounter rolls? Yeah, I'm paying for that alakazite right now. Nothing. Not a fucking thing. I even gave myself an easy DC10 since it's a common pokémon. Didn't roll 10 or above even once.

Oh, the general roll for remembering anything in Mauville was… a 2!