Cyndaquil initiated. Unleashed an Ember fireball in Ralts' direction. Despite appearing cute and harmless, Ralts could fight. All animals could. Instincts for survival and combat had been passed down through millions of years of ancestors. Ralts wrapped a hand in pink psychic energy and backhanded Ember away. The fireball flew behind her and sputtered into nothing.
Joe briefly thought. Ordered Cyndaquil to use Ember multiple times. Each fireball was swatted away by glowing pink hands. After a dozen Ember attacks were deflected, Joe changed tactics. Had Cyndaquil use Tackle.
When Cyndaquil was close enough, Ralts lowered a hand. Had it hover above the ground. Raised it above her head. A chunk of dirt rose up in front of her. Cyndaquil rammed into the earthen wall with a shoulder. Ralts had already pulled an arm back in preparation. Wrapped a hand in psychic power. Punched the dirt wall she'd created. It shattered into Cyndaquil and blasted the fire hedgehog back, pummelling him with a psychically charged shotgun.
Joe raised an eyebrow. He was impressed by the versatility of Confusion. The move wasn't doing what he expected. Pokemon moves almost always did one specific thing, but Confusion was just a move that just used psychic powers in general. He'd be sure to come up with strategies and give specific orders when commanding Ralts.
The fight continued. Ralts took after Absol, grabbing a chunk of the ground and throwing it at her foe. Cyndaquil dodged by rolling around and running. Ralts threw more dirt. Cyndaquil jumped over it. Cyndaquil's goal was to run at Ralts. He soon made it. Got within a couple of feet. Ralts summoned dirt walls on either side of Cyndaquil. She was going to crush him by slamming her hands together.
Cyndaquil spammed Ember. Got three fireballs out. Firing with reckless abandon was inaccurate. Only one would hit, but that was all Cyndaquil needed. Ralts had to focus on parrying the attack. She couldn't close the walls. It gave Cyndaquil enough time to keep running. He cleared the crushing attack and got close to Ralts.
Ralts was too slow, her defensive dirt wall couldn't rise fast enough. Cyndaquil got off a point-blank Ember. Knocked Ralts back. She tumbled along the ground. Cyndaquil didn't let up. Charged after his foe. Ralts used her psychic powers to correct herself and stand. She parried ten fireballs with her hands. The gap between each Ember shortened as Cyndaquil approached. Ralts couldn't react fast enough. A fireball hit her arm before she could swing it. She lost focus. Another Ember struck her torso.
Cyndaquil barrelled into Ralts using a Normal-type energy-infused Tackle. They both went down. Cyndaquil toppled over Ralts and kept rolling. Rushed to stand up. Turned to his opponent. Ralts was still on the ground, her eyes spinning.
Joe called it. Jogged up to Ralts to make sure she was okay. He crouched and picked her up. She whined but had no visible injuries. Her energy shield had done its job and protected her from actual harm. She'd simply been knocked out. This was how it went in the sport of Pokemon battling.
Cyndaquil hesitantly approached. Saw Joe smile. Came running in. Poked at Ralts. Heard her reply. She was fine.
Joe ruffled Cyndaquil's head. "Good job, buddy. I told you, didn't I? You have energy to spare. That'll make you a good fighter." In the second half, Joe realised he could use Cyndaquil's immense energy to overwhelm. That appeared to be the fire hedgehog's style. Joe was still a beginner. He should've known to use it from the start.
Joe stroked Ralts' head afterwards too. "And you did good too. Confusion is quite the move, huh?"
Ralts nodded. Looked away bashfully. Squirmed in Joe's arms a little. "I wanted to fight like you."
So that's where the punch came from. Joe's impression of a psychic was that of a ranged fighter. But instead Ralts had been inspired by Joe's fight against Caveman and had thought about other ways to use her powers. That resulted in mimicking Absol too. Having space between herself and her foe was useful for Ralts since she was still weak. Tossing objects would hurt if they landed but in general just gave her foe a problem to deal with.
Joe smiled. Scratched Ralts' cheek. Rose. Put his Pokemon away. Stretched. The sun was sinking. He visited a PokeCenter. Ate dinner. Found a fitness center. Worked out. Went to bed.
The next day, Joe saw the ferry was back in service. He bought a ticket. It'd take just under two days to reach Kanto. He saw the route online. The ferry visited the entire southern coast of Kanto, visiting Vermillion and curving around to hit Fuschia. Joe debated where to go and what to do. Figured the sooner he hit land, the better. So a town named Pallet it was. He would've been in Pallet if he'd descended Mt. Silver, so he was just picking up where he left off.
Joe lounged around the ferry, bored. He couldn't stop his mind from wandering to Raikou. He considered the objective. Was it aiming for New Bark? A town further along the coast? Why? Amelia mentioned how Rocket Syndicate stole paintings. So they were after money. Joe grabbed his phone. Looked into any wealthy people along the coast. He didn't find much. It didn't mean the answer wasn't there. Wealthy people just weren't advertising themselves to the world.
Joe considered Raikou's potential youth. Considered how there were no other sightings of the Beast. So, the mind control took time to get working, and this was the first instance of Raikou being sent out. It was a test run? That was the only explanation Joe could come up with. He looked forward to stopping the enemy and getting a direct answer from them.
Enough thinking of topics he had no control over. Joe figured now was as good a time as any to mess with the PokeDex some more. He made his way to the deck. Leaned on the railing. Opened the PokeDex by tapping an icon. Red background and an entirely white Pokeball silhouette.
The home page was a list of Joe's Pokemon in the order he caught them. This was his personal PokeDex. Three Pokemon per row. Circles with pictures of the Pokemons' heads in them. Names under the pictures. If he tapped one, he'd be taken to a page detailing everything about his member of the species. He had befriended Absol before catching Cyndaquil, but had formally caught Absol after Cyndaquil so the wolf was after the hedgehog.
Joe went to the National PokeDex page. It was a little detail, but he liked that it was smart. At the top of the page was a banner with one name. A big, bold 'JOHTO.' The banner remained until Joe scrolled long enough. Then a new banner appeared and scrolled to the top. It read 'KANTO.' The National PokeDex showed the country someone was currently in at the top. Then it was ordered by countries, closest to furthest. After Kanto would be Sinnoh.
Joe remained in the Johto section. Scrolled until he saw Ampharos. This icon was different. Pictures of Pokemon in the National PokeDex had a big grey ring around them. This said Joe hadn't encountered the species. If the ring turned yellow, then he'd seen it. If it turned green, then he'd caught it. Ampharos had a yellow ring. Rotom had looked at the pictures Joe had taken, one of which was with Jasmine and Amphy. He noticed it after training with Cyndaquil a couple of days ago and had wanted to confirm the situation.
He scrolled around, searching for pictures of other Pokemon he'd seen before Rotom was around. Maybe he was scrolling too fast. He couldn't find them.
"Hey Rotom, what's a small yellow Pokemon with a black head and droopy ears?" Joe asked. Saw Rotom process the request. An entry for a Helioptile appeared. That was it. The one he'd seen resting on Rhyperior's belly back on Mt. Silver. He repeated this for the bee that'd waved at him. Found Ribombee.
Joe went back to his personal PokeDex. Tapped Absol. A picture on the left, details like height, weight, moves, and Ability on the right. Under her simple name was a scientific name that Joe wasn't even going to try to pronounce. At the bottom of the page Joe saw text about how the species could detect natural disasters. Joe's Absol seemed to have honed this further, being able to pick up on general distress or problems.
He was reminded that Absol had an unknown Ability. He needed to pay attention in future battles. A Pokemon could only have one Ability at a time, but they could, through intense training, change it. Sometimes it changed through evolution too. Most species have a core set of Abilities tied to them. Three potential Abilities. But, as evidenced by Absol, Pokemon were not limited to that core trio.
Joe eyed Absol's moves. His curiosity got the better of him. "How do you know what moves a Pokemon has when you scan them?"
"Energy signatures. Every move of every type releases a unique wavelength, completely different from all other moves."
Joe was further curious about all this energy talk. He had Rotom expand on the topic. As Joe knew, Pokemon had offence and defence energy. Offence was deeper than Joe originally thought. Pokemon had different amounts of energy for every type, all clustered into the offence energy category. This was how a Dark-type like Absol could use Ice-type moves or Psychic-type moves. Absol had enough energy of that type.
To make it as simple as possible, Absol had an Ice-type energy wavelength of sixty. Ice Beam had a wavelength of forty-five, meaning Absol could use the move. However, Blizzard had a wavelength of seventy. That meant that Joe's Absol could not use Blizzard.
The amount of energy a Pokemon had for each type was innate. With them from birth. It could not be expanded. Continuing the example, Absol would never learn Blizzard.
The type that Pokemon were born with was called an inherent type. Absol's inherent type was dark. Despite the name, it did not mean a Pokemon was good with that type. It was absurdly rare, but there was a chance that a Pokemon could be born with such a lack of energy for their inherent type that they couldn't use moves from their own type. A Cyndaquil that couldn't use Fire-type moves, or a Ralts that couldn't use Psychic-type moves.
It was once believed that Pokemon could expand their energy, but it was more accurate to say they unlocked their capabilities over time. Young Pokemon had sealed energies. Biology locked it away until the Pokemon was old enough to handle the power. Absol had no more room for growth as she'd been active for years, but Cyndaquil was still young and had plenty of room to grow.
Joe hummed along the entire time, thankful for the explanation. He would pay attention when training. A quick comparison of numbers would determine if his Pokemon could learn a move or not.
Still on Absol's PokeDex entry, Joe tapped a move. Ice Beam. It took him to a page with a video at the top. He played it. It was a demonstration of the move as performed by an Absol. He scrolled. Saw a list of Pokemon that could learn Ice Beam. Tapped one. Another video opened. This time he watched a floating black head covered in ice, Glalie, use the Ice Beam.
Perhaps the PokeDex's most useful feature. A library of visual examples of anything and everything related to Pokemon. Every move on every species. Abilities. Alternate forms. It could get a bit complicated. Links within links within links.
Joe continued to mess around with the PokeDex. Got answers to various questions, even though he didn't need the information right now. Some bits he knew, once again thanks to Jasmine. He was relying on her heavily.
Joe arrived in Kanto. It was a calm trip. The ferry never went too far from land so there were no crazy waves crashing over the deck of the ship. Joe had seen it on television once and had immediately made the decision to never go out to sea. He had no problem admitting he was scared, although it was for a brutish reason. He couldn't fight waves, so he didn't know what to do.
The sun shone brightly but it was still mild. Perfect for Joe as he liked his jackets. He had a bundle of one-tone shirts he cycled through. Today he wore a green shirt and a black jacket. He shouldered his bag and walked down the ramp. Walked through the streets of Pallet. Pallet was compact compared to New Bark. It had an equal population but took up a third of the space.
It was an odd sight to Joe. Back in Johto, small towns were traditional, but in Kanto even a place like Pallet was modern. Brand-new, squeaky-clean concrete and brick homes compared to Johto's wooden homes. It just highlighted the difference in culture. The people on the triangle may all have the same ancestors, but they made their own countries and grew differently.
A thought was prodding the back of Joe's mind. He'd promised to call his mother once he arrived in Pallet. He was a good son. Always visited on the weekend by catching a train from Olivine to Gloriosa. It had been the perfect excuse to get away from the big city. People knew he was on holiday, but that didn't stop him from communicating with friends and family.
Joe pulled out his phone. Looked at it. Raised a thumb. Hesitated. He needed to pull himself together. He'd already been over this. He tapped the call icon. His mother picked up before Joe had time to raise the phone to his ear.
"Hi, sweetie! How are you? Are you enjoying your holiday? Gotten into much trouble yet?" Ariana practically shouted down the phone.
"Hi, mum." A brief pause. "I'm fine. How about you? Not causing too much trouble for challengers at the Gym, are you?"
"You're lying." Ariana's motherly instincts were on fire. "You forget who I am, young man. I'm your mother. I know exactly what you do when you get caught up in trouble and want to hide it. I'm not going to reprimand you. I expected it."
Joe let out a heavy sigh. Decided to tell his mother what had happened with Raikou, Ho-oh, and Absol. Left out the finer details about how he'd started his Pokemon Journey and that he aimed to save Raikou. He knew for a fact that such a declaration would go over poorly with his mother. In the past, Joe thought the best way to help people would be to join the military. That resulted in a lecture about the military being dangerous and how Joe would absolutely, never ever join them. It went on for hours. His mother wouldn't let him join. The world was in relative peace anyway, so Joe accepted his mother's opinion.
"Hm. As long as you're okay. I look forward to meeting this Absol of yours eventually. A shiny? Talk about lucky. I've only seen a few in person. Oh, and give Absol my thanks, will you? If she's willing to protect you then she's family material."
Joe didn't know about thanking his own Pokemon on behalf of his overprotective mother. Talk about awkward.
"What are you going to do in Pallet? I've never been. Didn't seem like there was anything worth seeing."
"Yeah, I'm probably going to go North fast. I'm not seeing anything interesting." Joe was getting the itch to be out in nature. His phone buzzed. He brought his phone forward to look at it. A request notification. "Er, I'm going to have to go, mum. I'll talk to you later. Look after yourself."
"You too, sweetie. Enjoy your holiday. And don't get into too much trouble, okay?"
"Yep. I promise."
Joe hung up. Opened Nomads. Saw a request at a nearby laboratory. Opened the map. No other green pins. He was the only person for the job. He tapped the red pin. Saw a request to find a missing Pokemon. A Sandshrew that had run away from the lab recently. He accepted. It shouldn't take too long.
More details appeared, showing who had issued the job. He read her name as a chat box appeared.
"Oh my gosh, thank ya for takin' the job! I didn' know what else to do!"
"Sure. I'll be there soon."
She replied with a saluting emote. Joe was amused. Her personality came through text strongly. He could imagine her accent based on the text. He looked at her name again. Sonia. No profile picture. That reminded Joe that he needed to upload a picture soon. Put a face to the name so people knew who was coming to help them.
Joe walked until he reached a hill with a white and red building atop it. The structure had a strongly curved roof. A windmill turned, producing renewable power. Joe walked up a stone pathway, bushes on either side. Reached a red door. Knocked on it. Heard clattering and banging on the other side. Seconds later, the door flew open to reveal a woman around Joe's age.
Before he could say anything, the woman tackled him. But given his size and strength, she didn't move him an inch. She started bawling. "Ya gotta help me!"
"That's what I'm here for."
"Please! I'm beggin' ya!"
Clearly she wasn't listening. Joe understood the desperation. There were no other Nomads workers around. Joe grabbed her shoulders. Yanked her off him. Stood her up straight. She looked up with big blue eyes.
"Sonia, I presume?" Joe asked. "I'm here to help so tell me what's going on."
She nodded. Switched immediately to a more cheerful demeanour. "Ya a life saver! I need to find this li'l fella before Oaksy comes back!" Her ginger hair was fashioned into a side ponytail, and she wore a low-cut green sweater that was too short, revealing midriff. "I asked my friend an' she told me 'bout this app! I didn' know what else to do!"
Joe simply nodded in response. Refrained from saying she already said that, albeit through text.
Her accent was taking Joe a moment to decipher as she turned 'y' and 'i' into an 'a,' so 'my' became 'ma' and 'I' became 'A.' Despite the breakdown in communication as she spoke another language, Joe had but one thought. Her accent was sexy. It came from how unique it was. He'd never heard anything like it. On top of that, Sonia was a beautiful woman. She'd won the genes lottery. She was slender, but with a little extra meat in all the right places.
"Run me through everything. It doesn't matter if you think it's a pointless detail. Every little helps. I want to know why Sandshrew ran off and where it might go. Knowing his final moments will be invaluable." Joe had done this before. He knew what he was looking for. A dislike of something to make the Pokemon run off like a spoiled child. They could be found partaking in an activity they liked for comfort.
Sonia's hectic mannerisms drew attention to her sizeable chest. "Ya make it sound like he's dead!"
"…Right. Poor choice of words."
Sonia nodded, proud of herself at correcting the brute. "I'm here on work experience while the Prof is away. Lookin' after the Pokemon an' all that. Gran said it'd do me some good. An' I was lookin' after Sandshrew… The Kantonian one, ya know?"
Joe nodded. Regional forms. Knowing he was looking for the Kantonian form was good. Rotom could give Joe the correct appearance. Avoid a misunderstanding.
He didn't specifically know Sandshrew's other form as he couldn't recall what Sandshrew looked like, but he understood the premise. Jasmine had a few at the Gym like a Steel-type Goodra. A steel snail, as opposed to the regular dragon Goodra.
"An' so, I was carin' for him. Ya should see 'im. Li'l cutie. I like scratchin' his belly. But he got all angry an' ran off. None of the other Pokemon complained, so I don't know why."
Joe was starting to get the picture. Sonia was probably giving too much affection. A growing boy wanted space. "What's Sandshrew like?"
Sonia put a finger to her chin and tapped. "He's like you?"
"…And that means what, exactly?" Joe responded once Sonia didn't continue the thought. He was getting the distinct impression that Sonia was an airhead.
"Like, all gruff and stuff. He likes to fight, but there ain't much of that around here."
As Joe suspected, Sonia was doting on Sandshrew too much. Sandshrew wanted to fight, not be coddled. So he'd run off to get away from the overbearing Sonia and to achieve his goal of enjoying battle. "It sounds like that's the problem. The lab is too relaxing and boring for someone with spare energy. He's a boy. Maybe a child? Children have way too much energy to burn."
Sonia's mouth opened wide as if the thought hadn't crossed her mind. "Are you a genius?!"
Joe stifled a chuckle. Called his assistant. "Rotom, I have a question." Joe's phone flew out of his pocket and hovered in front of the man. Sonia let out a cute yelp as she watched. She tried to tap at Rotom's back, but the Pokemon moved away. "How high can you fly? And can you search for a specific species from range?"
"I can approach the troposphere. And yes, I can pick out a species. Would you like me to search for this Kantonian Sandshrew?"
"Please do." Joe watched Rotom go. He had no clue where the troposphere was. Knowledge he'd cast away at some point. He had another idea. Reached back to his holster. Brought Ralts out onto his shoulder. "You can sense emotions, right?"
"Yes." The young female voice rattled about Joe's mind.
"Great, then can you feel, I don't know, an annoyed Pokemon? It's a Sandshrew that likes fighting. Maybe it's already in a battle."
While Ralts climbed up onto Joe's head and stood on him, Sonia looked between the two of them. "What was that?" She rushed to put a hand up when Joe opened his mouth. She put a finger to the side of her head and focused really hard. Joe was sure he could see steam. Once the information had been processed, Sonia's eyes shot open and she pointed at Joe. "Telepathy!"
There was a brain in there after all. Joe nodded.
"Oh my gosh! I've never met a Pokemon with Telepathy!" Sonia reached her arms out tentatively. "Can I?"
Ralts plopped back down on Joe's shoulder. She had something to say to Joe, but left it for a moment. She nodded at Sonia and Joe gave the okay. Sonia wasted no time swiping Ralts from Joe's shoulder. She spun around, arms stretched out above her. Looked like a mother spinning her child around. Ralts giggled as she spoke to Sonia within the woman's head. Sonia eventually stopped spinning and cradled Ralts in her arms.
Joe's attention was taken by Rotom returning. "I couldn't find anything within Pallet."
"No problem." Joe said. Rotom went into his pocket. That was faster than he expected, although if Rotom could fly so high and it was looking for certain types of energy then maybe it wasn't so crazy.
Joe didn't want to interrupt Sonia and Ralts so he looked down at Absol. She shook her head. She couldn't sense anything. At the very least, Sandshrew hadn't encountered danger.
"Aw, ya such a little cutie." Sonia said, which drew Joe's attention. Sonia was stroking Ralts' head while hugging her tightly.
"I can see why Sandshrew wanted to get away for a bit." Joe commented at the doting Sonia. The excitable woman didn't hear him, which made Joe smirk. The thought crossed his mind about this work experience thing. Sonia was overbearing. Maybe her grandmother sent her away to have some peace and quiet for a week. He looked down at Absol. "Now what do you think of me? Remember, it could always be worse."
Absol grumbled. She didn't know about that. Joe could be pretty overbearing.
A minute later, Sonia stopped hugging Ralts and swinging her around. Let the little Pokemon float back to Joe. Ralts sat on his shoulder. "You two have a fun conversation?" Joe asked.
Ralts smiled and nodded. "Yes. And I found Sandshrew." She relayed this information to Sonia, too.
Sonia perked up. "Then what are we waitin' for? Let's go!"