18 Chapter 17 : Pokemon Food

Orion and the rest finally entered the ward and saw Rhyhorn resting on the floor. He opened his eyes and saw the three of them walking towards him. He was still quite weak, but Orion was surprised to see that he wasn't aggressive. He had half expected the Rhyhorn to begin charging.

He thought, 'He was very injured when I found him. Though he is still very weak, I guess he is happy that he was healed. That's probably why he doesn't consider us a threat anymore.'

Under the watchful eyes of Cedric and Nurse Joy, Orion approached the Rhyhorn and began rubbing his head. He asked with a smile on his face, "How are you doing, buddy?"

Cedric looked at Orion and chuckled as he noticed, 'This boy… He is acting brave, but he is so scared. He is already prepared to jump back in case the Rhyhorn makes a weird move. I guess going out in the wild just by himself was a good thing for him. Even some old Trainers don't have this level of alertness.'

Rhyhorn looked at Orion with some confusion. After 15 seconds, he recalled that Orion was the one who captured him and brought him to the Pokemon Center to heal. Enjoying the head rub, Rhyhorn nodded his head slightly while saying, "Rhy rhy"

Orion was confused. He wondered, 'How the heck do I translate his words?'

Standing behind Orion, Nurse Joy smiled and said, "He is thanking you for bringing him here and saving his life."

Orion looked back and wondered, 'How could she tell?'

As if reading Orion's mind, Cedric added, "Pokemons don't speak our language. You'll need to understand what they are saying from their tone and body language. It takes some time to learn.

Of course, if your Psychic abilities develop beyond a stage, then you might be able to develop a Psychic link between you and your Pokemons. If that happens, then you can directly understand their thoughts. It's even better than two humans communicating."

Orion nodded and said, "Alright, thank you."

He looked at Rhyhorn and asked, "Rhyhorn, will you go on a journey around the world with me?"

Rhyhorn said in a confused tone, "Rhy?"

Orion smiled and said, "I will be journeying and seeing this entire world, Rhyhorn. To do so, I'll need help from strong Pokemons like you. I'll raise you to become the strongest Rhyperior ever. Will you follow me?"

While Rhyhorn couldn't completely understand Orion, he understood 'the strongest Rhyperior'. He immediately nodded and cheerfully said, "Rhy Rhyhorn!"

Unlike Rhyhorn, the two others in the room didn't have the same reaction. Nurse Joy shook her head in disappointment and thought, 'Strongest Rhyperior? That's impossible.'

Meanwhile, Cedric wondered, 'Did he say it for the sake of saying it, or does he know? They did say that he spent a lot of time in the library. If he is saying it despite knowing that information, then his ambition is admirable. Still, it won't be easy in any way. It's been such a long time and no one has been able to reach the level of the Former Champion Fujitora.'

Orion obviously knew it. The strongest recorded Rhyperior was a Guardian tier Pokemon! It wasn't going to be an easy task. Even the current Champions weren't known to have a Guardian tier Pokemon. While there were speculations of a few other trainers having reached that level as well, none of them had a similar level of impact as Fujitora, at least openly. Had Orion said it about any other Pokemon, the two of them wouldn't have reacted in this manner.

Orion didn't notice their reactions. He smiled and grabbed his Pokeball. He gently touched it to Rhyhorn's forehead. Immediately, the Rhyhorn went into the Pokeball.

Orion looked at the Pokeball in his hand. A smile could be seen on his face along with relief. It was his first Pokemon! Unlike the kids from the Pokemon World, Orion dreamt about getting his own Pokemon for decades. To finally have one was like an old dream come true.

However, despite being happy, Orion noticed a few suspicious points. He thought, 'Rhyhorn was too docile and subservient. It is very different from the one who tried to attack me. Such a change in attitude shouldn't just be due to him being grateful for being healed. Though Nurse Joy said that she helped out a bit, it shouldn't create such a huge change. The real reason should be…'

Orion stared at the Pokeball. He strongly suspected that the Pokeball had some features that made the Pokemon inside subservient to the trainer who caught it.

Though he hadn't ever read about it, Orion felt that his speculation was very accurate. Otherwise, getting Wild Pokemons to follow you would be an extremely difficult task! He would have asked Cedric, but Pokemon could hear from inside the Pokeball, so Orion decided against it as it might cause Rhyhorn as well as Cedric's Pokemons to question their relationship with their trainers.

He looked at Nurse Joy and thanked her for healing Rhyhorn before leaving with Cedric. On reaching the Gym, Cedric said, "I won't be able to help you as much as I could if you had caught a Psychic Pokemon. Fortunately for you, I have experience in raising an Onix who has the same types as Rhyhorn. So, I'll be able to guide you a bit."

Orion quickly thanked Cedric. Cedric spent the remaining day guiding Orion in creating a stronger bond with Rhyhorn. He also taught Orion about how to clean Rhyhorn and recognize the signs he was displaying and how to interpret them.

While Cedric was guiding, Orion recognized that Rhyhorn was hungry. He asked, "I didn't think about this earlier, but could you help me out with Rhyhorn's food until I am ready to go out on the journey?"

Cedric looked at Orion with a penetrating gaze. However, Orion maintained an innocent but confused expression due to the gaze. Cedric wondered, 'He hadn't thought about it? Why do I feel like that is a lie?'

Cedric's intuition wasn't wrong. Orion had long thought about the food issue. In the world of Pokemons, there are three types of Pokemon food.

The first was the common Pokemon food. It was something every Pokemon could consume, though the amount they consumed would depend on their size and eating capacity. However, this food was only good enough for Pokemons who didn't usually battle. The caretakers in the orphanage fed such food to their Pokemons. As of the moment, this was the only food Orion could afford.

The second type of food was Type wise food. It was Pokemon food that provided a lot of energy to the Pokemon if they were of the same type. A vast majority of the trainers provide this food to their Pokemons. If you battled with your Pokemon regularly, then this was the minimum quality of food you needed to provide to your Pokemon. It generally cost tens of thousands of Pokecoins, something Orion couldn't afford at that moment.

The last type of food was Pokemon wise food. It was food that would be specifically made with a particular Pokemon in mind. It was extremely beneficial for a Pokemon's growth and could even help raise its talent by a small degree over a long period of time.

Needless to say, such high-quality food was ridiculously expensive and typically cost over a million Pokecoins. It was something only Elite Pokemon Trainers could afford to spend regularly.

Orion didn't have any expectations of getting the highest quality of Pokemon food, but he hoped that Cedric could help him out with Type wise food for Rhyhorn. After all, for an Elite Trainer like Cedric, that much amount was less than pocket change. Orion felt no shame in asking that from Cedric considering the dangerous world they were living in.

[A/N: Thoughts on Nicknaming - I won't be nicknaming Pokemons in my fic (at least not for Orion's Pokemons). The reason is that when I read some of the other fanfics that nicknamed their Pokemons, it got super confusing for me, especially if I am reading that fanfic after some time or if the release rate is slow or inconsistent. I don't want to put my readers through the same as it is annoying having to go back and check which nickname is for which mon. I could circumvent that by using simpler nicknames, like say Rhy for Rhyhorn and its evolutions, but honestly, there isn't much difference. So for simplicity, nicknames won't be used at least by Orion.]