86 CH24 (85), Aaron Varon
We sat down on one of the benches that no one was around and resumed our talk. "Where was I? Ah, yes, fighting-type specialist. I stopped at this place because I wanted to resupply, before entering the Viridian Forest." Aaron said, and I tilted my head. "Viridian Forest? Why?" I asked him.
I could actually guess the reason, but I was not sure if I was right. "Well, as I said I want to specialize in fighting types, and I plan to have a rather large team because I will need one for my future plans. Viridian Forest has 3, maybe 4 Pokemon that either have or will gain the fighting type upon evolution." Aaron responded to my question.
'So, I was right after all.' I nodded to myself. 'As expected of me. Anyway, narcissistic self-praise aside, 4? ' I thought to myself, before directing that question to Aaron. "4? I can only think of 3 of the top of my head, and two of them are going to be hard to find."
Aaron chuckled at that. "Heh, not bad. You could directly think of 3, that's not too bad. Seems you are quite knowledgeable. Why don't you tell me who you think I mean and I will tell you who you are missing." He told me, and I had to smile at his move.
The way he said that he gains information first before he has to give out some himself, and in case I list Pokemon he had not thought of at all, he does not come across as uninformed for overlooking them. He probably had not thought of that when he said it but doing it subconsciously is even more impressive.
"Well, let's see, there is Mankey. I just saw a troop of them yesterday and I know that they live in and around Viridian Forest." I started, and Aaron nodded at my first choice. He indicated for me to continue, which I did. "Then there is Heracross. It is well known that they live in Viridian Forest, but they are pretty hard to come by." He nodded once more.
"And then there is Breloom, the evolution of Shroomish, but like Heracross, Shroomish are relatively hard to come by in Viridian Forest. At least outside of the inner and core areas." I finished, and he nodded once again.
"You're absolutely right. Still, you overlooked the fourth one, most likely, because of its simplicity, and the fact that it is situation depended. The fourth one is Poliwrath, or more like Poliwag. They can be found in ponds and I am sure there are a few in the forest. I mean I don't necessarily have to catch one in Viridian Forest, but if the opportunity comes up, I'll take it." He answered, and I had to agree.
I had overlooked Poliwag because it could be found nearly in all areas of Kanto with a large water source. So, there was no need to visit Viridian Forest to catch one, but as he said if it turns up, why not? "True, I ignored that one." I acknowledged, before asking him what he has plans to do now.
"I will try to catch a Mankey first, before focusing on Heracross and Shroomish. As you said, they are much rarer and I think I will need to camp inside the forest for a while to get one. So, I plan to get the easy one out of the way first. As for Poliwag, I'll need to find a water source inside the forest anyway, so I'll hopefully find one there." He answered.
He looked a bit thoughtful before he asked me a question. "You said you saw a troop of Mankey yesterday, right? Could you show me where? That would make it much easier for me to find one." He asked and I agreed. My help would make him feel grateful, and since I wanted to befriend him, that fit my plans as well.
'Besides, I am a good guy, so helping people is no problem, at all.' I thought to myself. Still, I was curious about something. "If you manage to catch all 4 of your targets, won't you have 7 Pokemon together with your previous 3? You know that Rookie-class trainers have a carry limit of 6 Pokemon, right?" I asked him and he nodded.
"Yeah, I do. I am going to send one to my grandparents. They will take care of it for me until I need it." I had to nod at that. "Makes sense," I told him. As for why he said grandparents and not parents? I could guess that they probably died, but that's not something that one asks someone they just got to know.
"Are you done with your preparation, or is there still something you need to do?" I asked him. "Nope, I finished everything before coming here. I just need to make a quick trip to the PokeCenter. I want them to take a last look at my Pokemon before I set off." I agreed with him.
"Then let's meet in 20 minutes in front of the PokeCenter entrance," I suggested and Aaron agreed. A bit more than 20 minutes later, he came out of the center. "Sorry, there was a bit of a line, so it took some more time." He apologized, and I waved him off.
"No problem. It's just a few minutes. I have a Xatu, and he is going to Teleport us there. So, we won't have to waste time walking there." I told him, and he smiled.
"That's great. I was feeling a bit bad for taking up so much of your time, but this takes care of that." He admitted, and I had to smile at him. 'What a nice guy." I thought to myself. I called out Xatu and told him where to Teleport us. Once there I called out Nyx as well, and Aaron called out his Lucario.
Seeing it, I asked Aaron if I could touch his Pokemon, and he said he had no problem with it as long as they agreed. So, I asked Lucario for permission and after receiving an okay, I touched the nail on the back of his hand. It was really hard, and I naturally used the chance to check out its potential.
'Species: Lucario
Gender: Male
Type: Fighting, Steel
Potential: Light Blue
Stage: Bronze-stage (mid)
Genetic variation: None
Abilities: Steadfast, Inner Focus
Talents: Combat Instinct
Affinities: Aura, Steel'
I was impressed with what I saw. Lucario had light blue potential, which was pretty good. I had guessed that he would be at the (mid) bronze stage and I have been proven right, as always. That he has a talent is surprising, that said talent is combat-oriented is just plain unfair.
The fact that Lucario's affinity is aura instead of the personalized sub-branch is less impressive compared to that, but still cool to know. I gave out some heartfelt compliments and my genuineness made the two smile.
Aaron called out his two other Pokemon as well and after checking out their status as well, I was more than impressed.
'Species: Chimchar
Gender: Female
Type: Fire
Potential: Deep Green
Stage: Iron-stage (high)
Genetic variation: None
Abilities: Blaze, Iron Fist
Talents: None
Affinities: Fire'
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'Species: Ralts
Gender: Male
Type: Psychic, Fairy
Potential: Green
Stage: Iron-stage (mid)
Genetic variation: None
Abilities: Synchronize, Trace
Talents: None
Affinities: Psionic, Fairy/Positivity'
After seeing the potential of the two, I categorized Aaron as a cast member. You know MCs, SCs, and so on. With Pokemon like that, plus his aura Aaron practically screamed 'I am going to be someone really strong in the future.' My decision to become friends with him only strengthened.
I need to surround myself with friends that may be able to keep at least somewhat up with me, or I am going to leave them behind, which would be sad. It's better to save everyone from that kind of disappointment. Afterward, I told him in which direction the Mankey moved and Aaron thanked me.
"Thank you, Mikail. I am going to follow their tracks. Before we separate, do you want to exchange contact details?" He asked me. "I would be happy to, but I currently don't have a number, so could you give me yours and I will contact you with it. Once I have one as well, I'll tell you about it." I told him, and he gained a weird look on his face for a moment, probably asking himself why I had no number before he shrugged and agreed.
"Sure!" He said and took out a piece of paper, on which he wrote his number. He then gave it to me and I thanked him. "Do you mind if I accompany you for a bit? I have nothing else to do at the moment, and I might catch a Mankey as well if I find one that I like. Naturally, only after you caught yours." I told him and he agreed.
This guy is really too nice. Most people would have hesitated, thinking that there may be some disagreements if both of us get interested in the same Mankey or something along those lines. Yet this Bro didn't hesitate a single second before he agreed.
"Alright let's go." He said after recalling his Chimchar and Ralts. We followed the tracks for around 1.5 hours before we found the whole troop just chilling around 3 trees. There were 14 Mankey in total, and I think I saw the Mankey I checked out yesterday among them. I was not sure, because they resembled each other a lot.
"So, we found them. What now?" I asked him, because of their high number. "Leave it to me." He answered me before he simply approached them with his Lucario in tow. I felt him using his aura to send out the feeling that he came in peace.
The Mankey looked a bit agitated at his approach, but his aura trick seemed to work because they did not outright attack him. Aaron stopped at a small distance from the Mankey and addressed them.
"I am here to ask if one of you would be willing to follow me. I promise that the one that does will never have to go hungry and that I will help him or her to get as strong as possible." He proclaimed and I could feel him using his aura to prove that he meant what he said. Because he openly broadcasted his feeling on the topic while speaking.
I could see that it was working as well. Some of the Mankey looked as if they were considering his offer, and they started to talk among themselves, ignoring us. I used that chance to check out all their statuses, using my telekinesis.
As long as I did not target him or his Pokemon, Aaron could not detect my use of psionic energy. Of the 14 Mankey, 3 turned out to be not bad.
'Species: Mankey
Gender: Female
Type: Fighting
Potential: Green
Stage: Iron-stage (high)
Genetic variation: None
Abilities: Vital Spirit, Anger Point
Talents: None
Affinities: Fighting/(weap./pers.)Aura'
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'Species: Mankey
Gender: Male
Type: Fighting
Potential: Light Green
Stage: Iron-stage (high)
Genetic variation: None
Abilities: Vital Spirit, Anger Point
Talents: None
Affinities: Fighting/(weap./pers.)Aura'
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'Species: Mankey
Gender: Male
Type: Fighting
Potential: Deep Yellow
Stage: Bronze-stage (low)
Genetic variation: None
Abilities: Defiant
Talents: None
Affinities: Fighting/(weap./pers.)Aura'
The one at the bronze stage seemed to be the leader, and he had a hidden ability, so that was nice. Yet, he was not good enough in my opinion. The first and second ones were more impressive as far as their potential was concerned.
I was impressed by our luck to find a group with not one, but two Mankey with light-/green potential. On a side note, I am really happy that the effect of Vital Spirit is slightly different here than in the games. No one deserves to be sleep-deprived, even if it is useful in battle.
So, after finding out that it only activated after some triggers are fulfilled, like an elevated pulse or a certain amount of adrenaline, I was relieved. This meant as long as they are relaxing the ability is deactivated and they can sleep.
Anyway, after checking them all out I got curious which one Aaron was going to choose. Was it going to be one of the good ones or a dud? In the end, everyone except for the leader was willing, and Aaron approach every single one of them, one by one. He stopped longer in front of a few, including the two with green potential, and in the end, he chose the male with light green potential.
I was a bit surprised at his choice. He managed to choose one of the two good ones, even if it was not the best one. I know it was not because of his stage, because all Mankey except for 2 were at the (high) iron stage.
So, after Aaron fought against and caught the Mankey of his choice because apparently the Mankey still wanted a fight, I asked him why he had chosen that one.
"My uncle Riley always tells me to check if I feel comfortable/compatible with a Pokemon before or after catching it. Otherwise, it will be much harder to get along in the future and it helps with bonding as well as training if we are. I believe him, so that is what I did. This one simply gave me the feeling that we would get along the best among them." Aaron told me, without openly mentioning his aura.
"Hm, good to know. Thank you for telling me. I think that getting along with one's Pokemon is important as well." I told him while thinking, 'so, it's some aura bullshit'. Still, it was a useful ability, if it always guaranteed that the potential of the chosen Pokemon was good. Not as accurate, and useful as mine, but not bad.
Besides, the potential of the Pokemon was not the condition, the compatibility was. So, it could have been a fluke for all I know, even if that was unlikely. Anyway, I was uninterested in any of the Mankey for now and told Aaron as much, so we left after saying goodbye.
I had Xatu bring us to the PokeCenter in Leaf City since Aaron wanted Mankey to go through a check-up. So, after I agreed to contact him once in a while, we said our farewells and went our separate ways from there.
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