CH. 06 - First Encounters

- On Route 1 -

[2:45 PM]

< Alex's POV >

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I walked along the weary path of Route 1 which was sparsely filled with trees but had varying kinds of bushes and shrubs on both sides with Ace perched up on my right shoulder. I talked to him about my ambitions and how I hoped to catch new partners along the way to fulfil them. Along the way, we met a Rattata, who was sitting on a branch of the tree which was some paces away on the side of the path in front of us, nibbling on a berry with its back facing us.

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[Rattata]

[Lv. 4]

[Gender]: Female♀️

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When I saw the notification, I remembered the new function that I had unlocked at the same time when I got Ace.

'Pokémon Status'

*Ding*

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[Pokémon Status]

• You can view the information regarding the Pokémon that you have on on-hand.

1. Pidgey ♂️

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• Pidgey ♂️ | Ace

[Level]: 5 (To next level: 13 Exp.)

[Type]: {Flying}

[Ability]: Keen Eye, Big Pecks(Hidden)

[Nature]: Jolly

[Stats]:

- HP: 20/20

- ATK (Attack): 11

- DEF (Defense): 10

- SP. ATK (Special Attack): 9

- SP. DEF (Special Defence): 10

- SPD (Speed): 13

[Moves]:

- Tackle (Beginner: 46/100%)

- Sand Attack (Beginner: 13/100%)

- Feint Attack (Novice: 7/ 100%)

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Jolly Nature, huh? Not bad. It gives a slight boost to SPD and slightly brings down Ace's SP. ATK.

The coolest thing is, this guy has two abilities with one of them being a hidden one, making it a rare one among the rarest of Pidgeys.

• Keen Eye - Prevents accuracy from being lowered.

• Big Pecks - Protects against Defense drops.

Hmm. Ace knows three moves that he can use right now. But what is this thing written by the side? Novice, Beginner? Are these some kind of levels for Move Mastery or something of the sort? Well, another thing added to my list to investigate regarding this world, I guess.

Let's try battling with that Rattata to get a feel for Pokémon battles and to see how Move Commands are executed.

I pointed at the Rattata who hadn't noticed us yet and whispered to Ace, "Hey buddy, what d'ya say about facing Rattata for your first fight?"

Ace nodded with a determined expression.

"Then, let's surprise it with a Tackle attack."

On my command, Pidgey flew straight onto the Rattata and tackled it. Caught by surprise and the strength of the attack, the Rattata lost its footing and fell head first onto the ground.

Ouch. That's gotta hurt. Ace perched on the branch where the Rattata was earlier. I approached the Rattata and found that it had fainted after hitting its head on the ground. So the environment also plays a role in the damage of an attack.

I took out a Pokéball from the bag and poked the Rattata. It got sucked into the Pokéball. The Pokéball vibrated for a few seconds before it stopped with a click.

*Ding*

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[Pokédex Updated]

Rattata #0019

[Type]: {Normal}

Mouse Pokémon. Will chew on anything with its fangs. If you see one you can be certain that 40 more live in the area.

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*Ding*

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[New Achievement Unlocked]

★ Baby Steps ★

• Win your first ever Pokémon battle. (Wild/Trainer)

Reward: Will obtain once Tutorial Quests are completed.

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*Ding*

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[New Achievement Unlocked]

★ First of Many ★

- Catch your first Pokémon.

Reward: Will obtain once Tutorial Quests are completed.

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One-hit K.O. "Good job Ace!"

Ace came back and perched itself on my shoulder and I started scratching him lightly just below his beak.

We took a small break and had a small snack. I ate the sandwich while I gave Ace some of the Pokémon food packed by Prof. Oak.

While I was eating I stared at the Pokéball containing the Rattata. The middle button had a red colour rather than white as compared to Ace's Pokéball. I tried calling it out, but it didn't work. Hmm. As Prof. Oak said, I gotta get to the Pokémon Centre to get it registered. My expression crumpled thinking I just captured one of the starter Pokémon that was offered to me earlier and cursed my luck inwardly.

I inspected both of our statuses since we were still resting.

'Pokémon Status'

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[Pokémon Status]

• Pidgey ♂️ | Ace

[Level]: 5 (To next level: 1 Exp.)

[Type]: {Flying}

[Ability]: Keen Eye, Big Pecks (Hidden)

[Nature]: Jolly

[Stats]:

- HP: 20/20

- ATK (Attack): 11

- DEF (Defense): 10

- SP. ATK (Special Attack): 9

- SP. DEF (Special Defence): 10

- SPD (Speed): 13

[Moves]:

- Tackle (Beginner: 47/100%)

- Sand Attack (Beginner: 13/100%)

- Feint Attack (Novice: 7/ 100%)

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Ooh. Even though I caught the Rattata, Ace still gained Exp. And that too, is just short of a level-up and slight increase in whatever it is of Tackle.

Now let's check mine.

'Status'

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[Status] (Page 1/4)

[Name]: Alex Riziero

[Age]: 16

[Class]: Fledgling Trainer

[Title]: N/A

[Character Level]: 1

[Exp]: 24/100

(A/N: He gained +2 Exp. for each achievement he unlocked along with the Quests)

[Species]: Human

[Hometown]: (Can be set manually. Once selected, it cannot be changed.)

[Mental State]: Calm

[Pokémon Owned]: 1

[Badges]: 0

[PokéDollars (₽)]: 1500

(Next Page >>)

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[Status] (Page 2/4)

[Stats]

• HP - 100/100

• MP - Nil (Yet to unlock)

• STR - 6

• END - 8

• DEX - 7

• INT - 11

• WIS - 10

• CHA - 9

• LUC - 20

• Stat points: 10

(<< Previous Page/Next Page >>)

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[Status] (Page 3/4)

[Talents]:

1. Observe (Lv 2) (Passive):

• Effect: Provide information on any target. When the level is high enough, more options will be unlocked.

• You can view the name, age, and profession of a fellow human.

• You can view the name, level and gender of the Pokémon you encounter.

(<< Previous Page/Next Page >>)

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[Status] (Page 4/4)

[System]: Poké-Harem System (Version 1.0)

>> [Harem Mode]:

• Unlocked on completing a Tutorial Quest.

>> [Pokédex]

{Kanto Region}

• No. of Pokémon seen: 2

• No. of Pokémon registered: 1

• Last Pokémon registered: Pidgey

(<< Previous Page/Next Page >>)

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Not much changed except for the increase in Character Exp. and the level-up of the Observe Skill.

Speaking of which. This skill could become my 'Ace in The Hole'. Even though the level is currently low right now, I can't wait to see what kind of details would the [Observe] gather from the targets. This skill could come in handy during battles if the future skill upgrades display the 'Level' and 'Moves' the target Pokémon has learned.

I think we have rested enough.

"Let's go, Ace"

"Pidgey~"

***

- Still on Route 1, but much forward -

[3.25 PM]

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On our way, Ace battled with some more Pokémon. Specifically, another Rattata, 2 Pidgeys and a Mankey. Especially, the battle with the Mankey was intense.

(A/N: Shoutout to @Sitting_Duck)

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[Mankey]

[Lv. 7]

[Gender]: Male ♂️

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Lv. 7 Mankey, the highest level Pokémon among the ones that I have seen until now in the wild. It was angered due to the commotion Ace caused during his earlier battle against a Pidgey when it crashed into the tree that the Mankey was on.

Ace had barely reached Lv. 7 after his previous fight and was tired.

Thinking game-wise Ace still has half his HP remaining and a type advantage against Mankey.

But here, what will create a variable is a factor that I never had to consider in-game. That is Ace's Stamina. Even though we took constant breaks after each battle, it should still have a toll on his overall stamina and with the fight against Mankey being instantly thrust onto us, Ace didn't get time to recover his stamina at all. Retreat seems the best option.

"Hey Ace, let's withdraw for now."

"Pidgey!! Pidgey!!", he called while shaking his head from side to side.

"You want to fight him?"

"Pidg...!", he said with a nod and faced Mankey with what looked like a determined face.

***

<Ace vs. Mankey - Narrator's POV>

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Ace facing off against Mankey.

Even though Mankey is a Fighting-type Pokémon, Ace currently hasn't learned any Flying-type moves. Making the battle slightly disadvantageous for Alex.

Ace only knows Physical moves to deal damage for which he needs to close in on his opponent.

Due to its hot temper, Mankey rushes forward to attack Ace.

"Ace fly up and dodge! Keep some distance between you and Mankey. You can't take any more hits!"

Ace follows Alex's command and moves out of Mankey's range of attack.

So, Mankey just chooses the next best target.

"Uh-oh. Shit.", cursed Alex and he starts running in the opposite direction with Mankey hot on his tail.

"Ace, swoop in with Sand Attack and follow it with a Tackle!", yelled Alex.

Meanwhile, Mankey lunges towards Alex ready with a Scratch Attack. It's fast!

Just in time, Ace performs Sand Attack blinding Mankey with the sand.

This gave Alex a split second to narrowly dodge to the side.

Mankey misses Alex while Ace uses Tackle.

It connects. Mankey is thrown off by the impact and rolls on the ground negating some of the fall damage.

"Ace. Quick before he gets up, charge in with a Tackle and then use Feint Attack.", said Alex.

As Ace closed in with Tackle again, Mankey slowly looked up from the ground and used Leer.

Ace flinched and stopped in his tracks intimidated by Mankey's wild stare. Mankey rushed in again at Ace with his fists ready to strike.

"Ace. Lookout! Counter and use Tackle!!", shouted Alex.

At Alex's 'loud' warning, Ace was brought back to his senses and narrowly dodged a mean right swipe by swooping downwards used Tackle on Mankey.

Bam!!

A critical hit.

Mankey fell to the ground on his back and was struggling to get back up. Alex took this chance and threw a Pokéball at Mankey.

Whoosh.

Mankey got sucked into the Pokéball and it dropped onto the ground and started shaking sideways.

*shake-shake*

*shake-shake*

*shake-shake*

*Click!*

Mankey was captured.

*Ding*

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[Pokédex Updated]

Mankey #0056

[Type]: {Fighting}

• Pig Monkey Pokémon. It is extremely quick to anger. It could be docile one moment, then thrashing away the next.

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<Battle & Narrator's POV End>

***

<Alex's POV>

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I gave Ace some potion and Pokémon food and recalled him to his Pokéball to get some well-deserved rest.

After taking a break myself for a short 10 minutes, I resumed my walk towards Viridian City.

There was now a small stream of river along the left side of the path. On walking a brief distance alongside the river I spotted a red-haired girl – whose hair was tied into a side ponytail, wearing a yellow tank top, red suspenders, denim shorts that stopped at her thighs and red high-top sneakers with yellow lining and white laces – fishing at the riverside.

*Ding*

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[Name]: Misty Waterflower

[Age]: 16

[Profession]: Expert Trainer

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*Ding*

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[New Quest]

1. Befriend Misty

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A/N: Hello.

Hope everyone's having a good day.

The issue regarding the status screen updates will be addressed in future chapters by updating it in the Auxiliary chapters as the story progresses and also in the Author's thoughts in some of the chapters where the future readers who may read for the first time would have access to it.

It took some time but I have now caught up with the complete overhaul of all the previous chapters and also added an extra side story kinda chapter which will have implications in the chapters to come in future.

I thought that the previous mention of the battle with Mankey needed to be described a little in detail since he might be regarded in the main Pokemon roster. And this took a little time since imagining the battle in mind and describing it in words is truly complicated. Hats off to various Pokémon content creators like Adamo_Amet (Pokémon: An Unexpected Journey), Azrail93 (Pokémon Alternate Universe Adventures) and alex02373 (Pokémon: Master of tactics). You guys are amazing.

Thank you readers who waited patiently for the chapter release and;

Let those Power Stones keep coming ~

Peace out ~