Aaron’s Pokemon
- Artoria (Kirlia)- Jeanne (Flaaffy)- Durvasa (Primeape)- Magellan (Chikorita)- Forbidden Hot Pocket (Larvesta)
Palate Cleanser 6.1
Aaron FulanRoute 113
[Welcome to the PokéNet BBS. You are in the “Family and Friends” chatroom.]
[Lavaridge_Sunburst has been invited.]
Mossdeep_Sun: Hmm? Who’s this?
Sir_Aaron: Flannery Moore. Say hi, Flannery. Also, obligatory [Larvesta tax]. I took pictures of her in a wok, chilling with Magellan, and her saying sorry for burning one of my shirts.
Lavaridge_Sunburst: Yes, gimme all the baby pictures. Lolol, she doesn’t look very sorry.
Lavaridge_Sunburst: Hi, you must be Aaron’s brother. Or sister?
Mossdeep_Sun: Brother.
Mossdeep_Moon: Emphasis on “must be.” We didn’t choose this.
Sir_Aaron: “Moon” is Liza. “Sun” is Tate. They have a lunatone and solrock respectively, hence the screen names. Liza is older by six minutes and won’t let you forget it.
Mossdeep_Moon: Seven! ( ｡ •̀ ᴖ •́ ｡)💢
Mossdeep_Moon: Oh, and we have a whole [gallery] of pictures. Check it out, [Lavaridge_Sunburst].
Lavaridge_Sunburst: Sweet! Aww, Artoria is so cute. And she has a fire sword! But why is there a wet t-shirt?
Sir_Aaron: Ah, lol, that’s when Jeanne and Artoria barfed on my t-shirt. I saved it to immortalize their shame.
Lavaridge_Sunburst: Oof, your poor pokemon. Their trainer is so mean.
[Mayple has logged on.]
[ToTheMAX has logged on.]
[Beauty_in_Power has logged on.]
[XO-CloudDancer-OX has logged on.]
Lavaridge_Sunburst: Huh, you have a lot more friends than I expected.
Sir_Aaron: Ow…?
Mossdeep_Moon: I know, right? He used to be such a loner when he was in trainer school.
Mossdeep_Moon: We’re all very proud of him.
Sir_Aaron: Don’t make me share your embarrassing stories.
Mossdeep_Moon: You’ve got nothing on me.
Sir_Aaron: You’re awfully confident. Shall I tell them about the time you tried to build a telekinetic slingshot to the moon so you could visit dad?
Lavaridge_Sunburst: Context, please?
Sir_Aaron: Dad’s an astronaut. He sometimes goes off to space for months at a time.
Sir_Aaron: Liza once thought she could use telekinesis to launch herself to the moon to visit dad. It failed obviously, but I got some cute pictures out of it. Wanna see?
Mossdeep_Moon: You swore!
Sir_Aaron: I swore not to tell your friends. These are mine.
Beauty_in_Power: Wow, that’s cold, Aaron.
Sir_Aaron: Negotiation is a valuable life skill. I am teaching my siblings as all big brothers ought. A single child like you wouldn’t understand.
Mayple: Truth. Little siblings need to be put in their place. Mwahahaha.
Mayple:But seriously, can we get introductions? Who are you people?
Sir_Aaron: Once again: Mossdeep Sun and Moon are Tate and Liza respectively.
Sir_Aaron: Mayple and ToTheMAX are May and Max Maple, children of Leader Norman in Petalburg City.
Sir_Aaron: Beauty_in_Power is Chaz Rosemund. XO-CloudDancer-OX is Lisia Mikuri. They’re coordinator buddies of mine. Lisia is Leader Wallace’s niece.
Sir_Aaron: Lastly, Lavaridge_Sunburst is Flannery Moore, granddaughter of Leader Marcus in Lavaridge Town.
Sir_Aaron: There, that’s all of you. Get along, kiddies.
Mossdeep_Moon: Okay, I was joking before, but you actually have friends. I’m so proud of you, big brother.
Sir_Aaron: Maybe we should keep that as the nuclear option. Alright, [here] is a picture of Liza, sobbing after I fed her a dumpling filled with cilantro.
Mossdeep_Moon: It tastes like soap!
Mossdeep_Moon: You know I hate cilantro!! And you did it on purpose!!!
Mossdeep_Moon: ( ｡ •̀ ᴖ •́ ｡)💢
Sir_Aaron: Humiliation will continue until behavior improves. You know I’ve got worse.
Mossdeep_Moon: I hate you.
Mossdeep_Sun: Hehehe.
Mossdeep_Moon: Shut up, Tate!
[Mossdeep_Moon has logged off.]
Mossdeep_Sun: Uh-oh.
[Mossdeep_Sun has logged off.]
Beauty_in_Power: Huh? Where did they go?
Mayple: Big sister is teaching little brother a lesson.
Mayple: Go, Liza! Big sisters unite!
XO-CloudDancer-OX: Your siblings are the best, Aaron. They’re always so lively and fun.
XO-CloudDancer-OX: Say, are you still in Lavaridge?
Sir_Aaron: We’re just starting to descend Mount Chimney on the north side. I have my [third ribbon]. Jeanne and I will be competing at the Fallarbor Town super-rank contest.
Sir_Aaron: What are you two up to? Still in Dewford?
XO-CloudDancer-OX: Chaz is. I’m in Slateport right now. I’m going to go up to Mauville for my hyper-rank ribbon soon.
XO-CloudDancer-OX: Praise me! ( • ̀ω•́ )✧
Beauty_in_Power: I stayed behind in Dewford. You were right, Aaron. Macherie and I had a lot to learn from the fighting gym here. We won’t be the same when you see us next.
Sir_Aaron: You’re still shooting for a final normal-rank ribbon, right? Will you be okay there?
Beauty_in_Power: How long do you think it’s been since Rustboro? There’ll be another contest in a few days and I plan to sweep it.
Beauty_in_Power: In fact, I’m going to catch a flight to Fallarbor just so I can compete with you for that super-rank ribbon after this one.
Sir_Aaron: There are flights to Fallarbor from Dewford?
XO-CloudDancer-OX: He means he’ll get his dad’s private plane.
Sir_Aaron: Ah, you’re a rich kid. I forgot. Your family makes cosmetics and contest outfits, right?
Beauty_in_Power: So are you. =__=
Beauty_in_Power: And yes, Rosemund Enterprises. [Here’s] a coupon for a free outfit. Use it to make up for your nonexistent sense of style.
Sir_Aaron: My, someone’s gotten brave. I’ll design a workout plan just for you, taking into account your increased athleticism and resolve, of course. Look forward to it.
Beauty_in_Power: …
Beauty_in_Power: I may have made a mistake…
XO-CloudDancer-OX: You can do it! I believe in you! You were working out so hard in Dewford.
Lavaridge_Sunburst: Huh, coordinators are way more competitive than I thought.
XO-CloudDancer-OX: It’s just these two. They always bicker whenever they’re together. You should’ve seen them in Rustboro. They were so annoying.
I chuckled as Lisia complained about Chaz and I online. It was funny how different the bubbly girl could be once she let her hair down. Still, knowing she was preparing her team for a hyper-rank contest already did make me feel a little left behind.
I supposed that was to be expected. Lavaridge had been good to me. I got Larvesta, tips from Marcus Moore, and both a badge and a ribbon. I also acquired Artoria’s new sword and completed the pokemon center’s first aid seminar with Artoria and Magellan. On top of all this, I checked in on Courtney, though it hadn’t entirely gone the way I would have liked.
Whatever the case, my time in Hoenn’s most central town was over. My team and I followed the mountain trails down to Route 113. As always, we took every opportunity to train. Given how often we moved around, training on the go was the only way to keep pace.
I’d repurposed the stock pot full of dirt and rocks I’d once had Durvasa use. Now, it was tied precariously to the end of Jeanne’s tail. She was to keep it aloft as she did her usual drills to better strengthen her tail muscles. It was crude, and honestly looked pretty dumb, but it was the best way to get her started on Iron Tail.
Jeanne hated it, of course. She hated looking like a mess and spent more time on her appearance than the rest of us put together. Looking dumb wasn’t acceptable. That said, she caved quickly when I had Larvesta tie the stock pot shut with her silk. She couldn’t do a thing against her little sister’s earnest efforts.
Magellan, I sent to learn from Artoria. I wanted him to be the team bruiser. For that, I needed him to master the barrier trio: Protect, Light Screen, and Reflect. He and his elder sister sat on the grass, soaking in the sunlight meditating. While he learned to channel his psychic energy, she had her new sword on her lap. It glowed with an ethereal light that had nothing to do with the sun above.
As I watched, the spoon extended with Reflect, then ignited, cloaked itself in shadows, and glimmered again with a silvery hue. One by one, the elements cycled smoothly without pause. Elemental infusion had been something she’d been working on for a while now, but it was only now that she finally reached a breakthrough.
Meanwhile, Durvasa’s own meditation was considerably noisier. Durvasa’s next project was Focus Blast. This was supposed to be his answer to ranged opponents. Swift was nice, but it just didn’t have the oomph we were looking for.
He too occupied a flat rock. In his hand was a ball of fighting type energy. Well, not quite a ball. It looked like something between a soap bubble and a misshapen potato, fragile and uneven. Unfortunately, it was also explosive.
There was a limit to how much you could condense fighting type aura, and that limit scaled directly with the pokemon’s focus. That was why the move was named “Focus Blast.” Or, so the guide I found online claimed.
Larvesta and I winced as a loud bang filled the air. Durvsasa was blasted clear off his rock. He landed hard and rolled towards us, a bull of ruffled fur and indignant fury.
“You know, I thought you’d have an easier time with this move because you already mastered Focus Energy,” I mused.
“Prime, primeape,” he grunted as he kicked-flipped himself onto his feet.
“Yeah, I suck at external aura manipulation, too.”
“Ape.”
“Want to shelve it for now? We can look into buying the TM for it. We’ll probably have to save up a bit, but that should get you past the initial hurdle.”
He considered it, then shook his head furiously. “Primeape. Prime-primeape.”
“Fine, suit yourself, Durvasa. There is merit in discovery,” I chuckled as he stomped off and planted his ass on that rock again.
Knowing him, he’d blow himself up until the sheer force of his accumulated wrath miraculously manifested a breakthrough. That was just the way he was. “Enlightenment” probably looked very different for a primeape than it did for the average warrior monk.
Which left me with Larvesta. It’d been over a week since her hatching now and she was finally ready to train in earnest. She stared up at me, her big, blue, compound eyes gleaming like faceted gems in the sunlight.
Like with all my pokemon, the very first thing I did was run her through some physical conditioning exercises. Given her size, age, and body type, I had to get creative. I settled on making her climb up and down a silken rope ladder with weights hanging from her abdomen, kinda like Mulan.
Next to her, I also did the exercise. It was a nice way to motivate her, and I’d admittedly allowed my own training to fall by the wayside somewhat. Keeping up with a pokemon was possible for me, if only because my “competition” was a literal toddler.
When she tuckered herself out, we stopped for lunch and a break before switching to target practice. Since she wasn’t too good at manipulating fire yet, I decided to lean into her love of silk. I drew inspiration from Spider-Man; over the course of the comics I grew up with, he developed multiple kinds of webbing to meet just about every need.
Sure, he wasn’t real, but Larvesta was a pokemon. Her silk was already bullshit, with a unique chemical structure that made it both extremely tough and inflammable. I didn’t see why she couldn’t make impact webs, balls of silk that hardened in the air and struck with concussive force akin to rubber bullets.
I forced psychic energy to the soles of my feet. Tactile telekinesis greatly limited my range, but I could at least use it to push myself off the ground. It wasn’t dissimilar to Artoria’s Mana Burst, or any number of “Shunpo” techniques in fiction.
I figured I could present Larvesta a moving target while simultaneously refining my own movement technique. If I got hit, a bit of silk wouldn’t do any real damage. At least, that’s what movies taught me.
I’d been lied to. Rubber bullets were “nonlethal” in only the strictest sense. They hurt like a bitch, even at Larvesta’s questionably low level.
I hastily dodged to the side as a ball of webbing sailed past my head. I’d left my sword on the ground because I wanted to rely solely on movement. After a few painful welts, I was starting to regret the decision.
“Lar?” my littlest sister asked. Her aura flared with a mix of concern and satisfaction.
“Nah, you’re doing great, Larvesta,” I praised. She’d followed my trajectory and intentionally held back a shot, breaking my sense of timing. “Good job leading the target.”
“Larvesta. Vesta.”
“I’ll be fine; it doesn’t hurt that much. Besides, we can give Artoria a reason to practice Life Dew.”
“Vesta?”
“Yup, let’s keep going. You’ll be able to spit through a Cheerio by the time I’m done with you.”
We got to work again. I could already tell; she’d grow up to be quite the crackshot. As her aim improved, I began to get a better grasp of this “Shunpo” business, purely out of a desire to not get hit.
It was often described as a technique that allowed one to “take a hundred steps in a blink,” or something to that effect. I only had anime and novels to go off because superpowers obviously didn’t exist in my old world. That said, I realized very quickly that trying to cover “a hundred steps” was fucking stupid in practice.
In short, it was far too linear. A long, straight line was easy enough to predict that even a literal toddler could lead her shots. The answer was to make my “steps” shorter, but I was finding it difficult to lower the distance traveled without also dropping my speed.
Worse, shorter steps allowed for rapid changes in direction, but that was taxing on the body in its own way. My physical reinforcement was fantastic, for a human. I wasn’t Artoria and I was quickly running into the limits of a human constitution.
I was growing quickly. I knew that in my mind, of course. I doubted there was any human in my generation who could do what I did on the regular. Even so, I couldn’t help feeling a little jealous of my pokemon.
X
That night, we sat around a roaring bonfire, not because I enjoyed murdering trees, but because I had a baby pyromaniac. I tied her to a big ol’ stick and hung her over the fire like a toasting marshmallow before snapping a picture for the chat.
Sir_Aaron: [Larvesta on a stick]. Rare. Needs salt.
Lavaridge_Sunburst: You’re a monster.
Sir_Aaron: I’m not. She’s being punished. See what she did to my [dinner]?
I sighed as I glanced longingly at what had once been a nice cut of tauros steak. It was perfect, an inch and a half thick piece of Castelia strip, which I knew in my old life as a New York strip. Next to it was a small cup of chimichurri that would now go unused.
I’d decided to cook it “caveman-style,” that is, directly on the coals. I’d done it plenty of times; the char was nice and the coals didn’t stick much to the meat once the crust formed. Unfortunately, I’d failed to take into account the rather important fact that I had a very curious larvesta now.
She saw me chucking a hunk of beef onto the coals and decided that she’d be helpful. In her mind, hotter fire obviously equated to a shorter cooking time, which meant I’d get to enjoy my steak sooner. And what she considered “hot” was obviously far more excessive than required.
I turned around for less than a minute. When I turned back, I was presented with “meat” that was better suited for Flannery’s torkoal than human consumption. I couldn’t blame her; she was literally a toddler.
XO-CloudDancer-OX: I’m confused. I’m still trying to figure out what your dinner was supposed to be.
Beauty_in_Power: I think it’s a baked potato?
Sir_Aaron: Steak. It was supposed to be a Castelia strip steak.
Lavaridge_Sunburst: Larvesta looks like she’s having fun. Do you start a bonfire every night?
Sir_Aaron: I don’t. There isn’t that much fuel in the fire to begin with. It’s literally just Larvesta being a larvesta.
Sir_Aaron: I think I’ll stick to stew tomorrow night. Or maybe curry.
Lavaridge_Sunburst: Lol, probably for the best.
Lavaridge_Sunburst: [Here], grandpa says he used to make this a lot back when he was traveling. He still does, in a kettle out back, sometimes. It’s good if you like spicy food.
Sir_Aaron: Thanks, I’ll try that recipe tomorrow. I might have to replace the tamato berries with something else, but I’ll manage.
XO-CloudDancer-OX: Cut it open. I wanna see how much of it actually cooked.
Sir_Aaron: [Sure]. It’s literally a solid chunk of carbon now. I had to reinforce my kitchen knife with aura to avoid dulling the blade. Like, I think I could club someone to death with it.
Beauty_in_Power: Eat it, you coward.
Sir_Aaron: I could probably keep chunks of this in my backpack to use as activated charcoal.
Sir_Aaron: Also, I’m near Ambertown, Chaz. I’ll probably be seeing it tomorrow morning.
Beauty_in_Power: Ooh, nice. I got my first ribbon there. They don’t do super-rank contests, though. Too small. You’ll have to compete with me in Fallarbor for that ribbon.
Sir_Aaron: I know. Any tourist hotspots I should visit?
Beauty_in_Power: Eh, not really. It’s basically the boonies, with the mountain and forest on one side and the plains on the other. They make jewelry from amber that they harvest from nearby trees.
Beauty_in_Power: Oh, they also have ranches. I guess you can get some steak there if you’re still craving it.
Sir_Aaron: Awesome, I might do that.
We chatted for a little while longer about our days. In lieu of steak, I had a can of baked beans for dinner. I couldn’t stay mad at Larvesta, so I gave her some beans as a peace offering. She liked it, though I had a feeling it was the sugar more than the legumes that appealed to her.
X
We started out early the next morning. I made myself a big breakfast of four eggs, from regular chickens. Hammerspace bags truly were the greatest invention Silph Co. ever gave us. Even fragile foodstuffs like this were stable in their pocket space.
Soon, the steep slope of Mount Chimney evened out. Off in the distance, just shy of a valley I forgot the name of, was Ambertown. It was as Chaz said: Ambertown was a rural, farming community that had a minor claim to fame in the form of amber from a nearby forest.
What Chaz forgot to mention was that their ranches were not full of tauros, miltank, and mareep. No, instead, I saw a large herd of bouffalant, the Unovan “bash buffalo” pokemon. They were distinctive thanks to their massive afros and horns that could put a Texas longhorn to shame.
Suddenly, I was a little more excited to visit Ambertown. I had the chance to try bison steak a few times in my old life. I remembered them being a bit gamier than beef, but with a grassy note that complemented the savoriness well.
I let out a jaunty whistle as we climbed down. Tauros was tastier than beef. Tougher, thanks to their more active lifestyle, but also much more savory. I couldn’t wait to see what a magic buffalo tasted like.
‘So long as you don’t eat mareep,’ Artoria said dryly.
‘Of course not. Mareep are off limits, no matter how delicious lamb chops are,’ I agreed wholeheartedly. ‘Now, wooloo on the other hand…’
‘Hunger is the enemy.’
‘Indeed. Hunger is the enemy.’
Author’s Note
Finally, arc six! Aaron has the power of Arceus (lol, no) and anime (maybe) on his side.
Short-ish chapter, mostly meant to get the arc started.
Animal Fact: The Galapagos giant tortoise is what gives the islands the name, not the other way around.
The islands were discovered by Spanish explorers in 1535 and they thought the tortoise shells looked like saddles. So, they called them "galapago," an old Spanish word for "saddle." Ergo, the islands and other species that live on them, such as the Galapagos penguin, Galapagos iguana, and Galapagos sea lion, are all named after the tortoise.
In fact, the shells are so "saddle-like" that tortoise-riding used to be a popular tourist activity. The tortoises withdrew into their shells as people approached, allowing tourists to hop on their backs. People did this in the same way people go and feed giraffes in Africa.
Charles Darwin himself wrote about riding one. He said that it was hard to keep balance once the tortoise got moving. Of course, this practice is cruel and definitely illegal now.