Pokemon: The RPG Chapter 4 - How to Tame Your Dragon

Among all the Pokémon I had seen throughout my short time with the franchise, Koraidon and Miraidon both ranked among my favorites. Perhaps not the most favorite, as I had a hard time deciding that kind of thing from the ones that stood out the most to me, but they were definitely in the top ten.

If I had to explain why I liked them so much, I don’t think a single reason would’ve cut it. Those two had a lot going for them like good Stat spreads, good movepool, good enough Type(s), good designs and of course their connection to the main story. I didn’t really know much about the plots of the other Generation Pokémon games, but I was aware thanks to my brother that Scarlet and Violet did the cover Legendaries utterly different from their predecessors and actually made them characters with direct relevance to the stories instead of the more classical JRPG method of bringing them in at the 11th hour as a plot device the villain wants to take control of. Even if Pokémon’s character work wasn’t exactly up to par with my usual gaming catalogue, I had to admit that the two dragons did feel like real companions on your journey, especially since you ride them everywhere.

To be honest, they reminded me of a certain dragon from a Dreamworks franchise in the best way possible.

Of course, telling that to Adam had resulted in him throwing a question at me, a big grin on his face.

“Say Flor, which one’s your favorite?”

It was a rude thing to ask, that was for sure. I knew that the bottom line on whether Koraidon or Miraidon was superior was an extremely heated topic online, at least around the time of the game’s release before people started focusing more on the bugs. Obviously, he’d asked me so he could start arguing about why the opposite Legendary was better - it was an annoying trait of his ever since we were children. Adam seemed to think that by being my twin, he needed to ‘counterbalance’ me and argue against my tastes, irrespective of his own. Not that I minded, because it was genuinely a fun little game I didn’t mind taking part in.

“Honestly, I don’t think I can decide.” I explained back then, holding my chin in thought. “On one hand, I think Koraidon has the better design as a Pokémon - the whole primal look it has going on really suits it perfectly. The problem is that while Miraidon’s Ultimate Mode just sucks, I can’t deny that its ride forms look much better than Koraidon’s. The whole throat-sac tire thing just doesn’t work for it, though he looks like a beast in its Apex Build.”

At that time, the question of which one I’d like to have met in real life never came up, but the answer was definitely Miraidon, even though I was a Scarlet player. I’d been horseback riding before many times, and if Koraidon moved anything like it did in the games over in reality, I probably wouldn’t survive riding him around the region without developing at least half a dozen skeletal problems.

So it was real fortunate that the version of the Pokémon world I’d been sent to happened to correspond to Violet, because I didn’t fancy the thought of developing scoliosis before adulthood.

It took the two of us about 20 minutes by my estimate to make our way down to the area where Miraidon washed up in the games. Unlike in canon, I was not willing to risk my safety and hope the Arc Phone would break my fall like the Rotom Phone did. As far as I could tell, the device that had been gifted to me didn’t have any of the unique features a Rotom Phone did, like being able to float on its own and such. Not to say it wasn’t important of course, because it was the only medium from which I could access my Gamer abilities and was essentially a true blue holy artifact.

Instead, I decided to use the route I used earlier to fill the training coconut, before heading across the beach from there.

It didn’t take me long to see it - the massive cybernetic dragon sprawled out on the beach, the waves lapping against its purple body.

‘Woah, it looks even more majestic in person.’ I couldn’t help but think, my eyes widening in awe.

Probably the pinnacle of irony, considering this was Miraidon at the lowest point of its life, after it’d gotten washed so badly by the other Miraidon in Area Zero that it had not only lost a huge portion of its powers thanks to the injuries it had sustained but also became too traumatized to even battle again until the events of the climax in Area Zero.

I was about to walk forward in order to get a closer look at the downed dragon, but instead nearly tripped as Koromaru ran in front of me to try and block my path, whining pitifully.

“Roo…” he whimpered, turning his head to look at Miraidon and nudging my shin.

‘He’s trying to warn me away.’ I realized, looking down at my partner’s pleading eyes. Maybe he could sense something that I couldn’t, something that made him afraid of the Legendary despite its current state. Personally, I didn’t sense the same pressure from Miraidon that Nemona’s Tauros had, but I wasn’t arrogant enough to think my senses were better than a Pokémon’s, especially when I didn’t have any special extrasensory Skills.

Although, speaking of which…

‘Scan.’ I chanted mentally, triggering the sole ability the System had given me.

Exactly as the Skill Description had indicated, even though Miraidon was pretty far away from me it was still in my field of view and was thus an appropriate target for the single Skill I had the moment I focused on it.

[Miraidon, Lv ???: A mysterious Pokémon of unknown origin. Appears to have sustained extensive injuries.]

Yeah, not much to work off of there. But that was to be expected considering the circumstances. Although the Menu description didn’t really reveal the inner workings of the Skills like some Gamer fics I’d read in the past, it was easy to infer that ‘Scan’ followed the general tropes that were associated with its fictional counterparts, in that it wouldn’t really work well on harder and more mysterious targets at lower levels.

And unfortunately for me, my Scan was still at Rank 1. The way Skill EXP worked was a bit different than I’d originally imagined, with one use of the Skill granting one XP point. Currently, in order to Level up the Skill to Rank 2, I needed 200 XP- meaning that if I were playing the ‘Game’ at normal difficulty, I would only need to use it ten times to level it up. No matter how much I tried to mentally prepare myself for the challenges ahead, it felt like each new reveal of how much of a disadvantage I really had was hitting me like physical blows.

But with no room to complain, the only thing I could do was just spam the Skill whenever I could. The silver lining was that ‘Scan’ didn’t have any actual cost to use, and didn’t even strain my eyes. It was actually relatively simple to train, the only limitation being that scanning the same object twice didn’t yield any EXP.

Despite that, there was still one thing convenient about it.

I squatted down to look closer at Koromaru, patting him on the head as I mentally Scanned him.

[1. Koromaru

Species: Rockruff

Gender: Male

Level: 7 (308/3380)

Friendship Level: Rank 2

Ability: Own Tempo

Stats:

HP - E (10%)

Attack - D (20%)

Defense - E (20%)

Sp. Atk - E (10%)

Sp. Def - E (10%)

Speed - D (30%)

Moves: Tackle, Leer, Sand Attack, Fire Fang (Locked), Mud-Slap, Iron Defense

Traits: Ace Pokémon]

Now, I no longer needed to whip out my phone every time I wanted to check on Koro’s Stat Page. One Scan and I was good to go.

Although…

‘Huh? How did he reach Level 7?’ I thought to myself, suddenly freezing in shock as my brain actually processed what I was looking at.

To my surprise, Koromaru had gone up a Level - and not only that, he was 10% of the way to Level 8 already!

After battling Pawmi, I hadn’t engaged in any other battles, even against Wild Pokémon. So what was the explanation for this phenomenon?

‘Wait, think about it later! Can’t get distracted right now!’

“Don’t worry buddy, I know that Pokémon is really strong and dangerous. But it might need help, and I don’t want to just leave it like that.” I said, shelving my new discovery and trying to convince my partner that we weren’t actually walking into a lion's mouth.

I wasn’t actually lying about that, even if I wasn’t telling the full truth to Koromaru either. Knowing what I did about Miraidon’s past, I didn’t want to abandon it to its fate now that we had actually managed to cross paths. Who knew if it could even activate its Ultimate Mode to fight off any aggressive Pokémon without any energy left in the tank?

Don’t get me wrong though - this wasn’t complete altruism. I did want to bond with it and have it become a companion on my journey. It was friendly, and incredibly useful for the uncertain future ahead even if it wasn’t willing to fight at the moment. That was the reason I’d rushed towards the direction of its crash site the moment I caught sight of it. However, as I made my way down and my brain actually caught up to me, I realized Miraidon was genuinely in danger the way it was now.

Also…

There wasn’t anyone in the world who would miss it if it was gone.

Not Professor Turo, who had long since been killed trying to protect it. Not his AI Counterpart, who was much more focused on a bigger issue and lacked any true attachment to it in the first place. Not Arven, who justifiably resented the dragon as the living embodiment of his father’s neglect. And not even its fellow Paradox Pokémon, who absolutely lacked the sense of kinship common amongst their modern-day counterparts.

It was a creature who had been torn away from its home and tossed into a foreign world, only to find itself facing challenges both physical and emotional as it struggled to find its place.

Sounds awfully familiar, doesn’t it?

I just couldn’t turn back, even if Miraidon ultimately rejected me for not having a sandwich.

“Don’t you worry.” I said, trying to reassure the little canine before me. “If it attacks, we’ll just make a run for it.”

“Roo…” whimpered Koromaru, his ears flattening downwards as his eyes kept flickering between me and Miraidon, but he ultimately seemed to relent and began walking towards the downed Pokémon on the beach.

I couldn’t help but smile.

What a guy. He clearly didn’t like what we were doing, but he still took it upon himself to act as the vanguard. I was aware that Rockruff were known to be loyal Pokémon perfect for beginner Trainers, that being one of the key reasons why I was comfortable enough to try and interact with it, but it was another thing entirely to continuously be reminded of that despite the short time we’d known each other.

Without wasting any more time, I took off after him, taking out the last of my Sitrus Berries from my pocket.

Looking at the two fruits in my hands really made me understand that I’d need an alternative food source. Foraging normally wouldn’t be a problem with only two mouths to feed, but it was already becoming harder to avoid competing with wild Pokémon for the berries and I didn’t want to forcibly eject them from their own feeding grounds by force.

That was another thing I’d have to consider carefully in the future. For now, I put all my attention into trying to make myself look as non-threatening as possible as we drew nearer to Miraidon.

It was then that I actually saw the extent of the damage it had taken, and the sight nearly caused me to stop in my tracks.

In the games, Miraidon hadn’t looked any different from normal except for being in its Low-Power Mode and of course slumped over. The Pokémon before my eyes looked like it had just narrowly escaped a warzone, its metallic purple hide absolutely riddled with dents and scorch marks to the point where it actually looked somewhat misshapen in places. One of the spikes above its eyes was even bent at a 90 degree angle, and the one opposite to it had been broken off entirely.

Now I understood why it had been so traumatized in the games - the savage Miraidon in Area Zero had actually beaten this poor guy within an inch of its life. This was on an entirely different level compared to the damage I’d seen Pokémon take in battles so far; Koromaru had merely received a few scuff marks that faded away with rest during his tough fight against Nemona’s Pawmi, while the wild Pokémon he’d boxed with before had walked off the damage they’d taken from his Tackles. It wasn’t bleeding or anything, but it was still the most terrible state I’d seen a Pokémon in up to this point.

“A-Agias…”

While I’d been gawking at the beating it had taken, Miraidon had noticed our presence. It lifted its head weakly, pixelated yellow-cyan eyes boring into Koromaru and I. A faint electrical current began to emanate from its body, clearly a warning for us to stay, but it was apparent Miraidon’s damage was so extensive that it couldn’t even lift itself up. Even the electricity faded as its head planted back on the sand, though it was still turned towards us.

It really sucked, seeing such a majestic and peaceful Pokémon laid so low.

Cautiously, I walked closer to it with Koromaru, my lips pursed as I prepared to make the call for Mud-Slap the moment Miraidon showed any real trace of aggression. With how much the game had downplayed the beating it’d taken, I didn’t want to take any chances in case the Paradox Pokémon decided to try and use the last of its strength to attack us in self-defense.

Fortunately, it didn’t come to that, and Miraidon didn’t do anything more than stare at us with unblinking digital eyes until we were only mere feet away from it.

“Ruff!” barked Koromaru, visibly relaxing. While he was still somewhat tense, it looked like seeing the state Miraidon was in gave him a bit more courage.

“Hey there, big guy.” I called, kneeling in the sand as I presented the Sitrus Berries to it. “We don’t want to hurt you. Here, have some berries- they’ll help you heal up a bit.”

I’d seen the healing abilities of Sitrus and Oran Berries firsthand now. Almost as soon as a Pokémon ingested them, they would start to work their magic and start healing up the damage they’d taken in battle, though I’d only seen their work on small scratches and impact marks. I couldn’t be sure how much use they would be on a Pokémon that had been mauled as badly as Miraidon, but at the very least they would serve as food that I was pretty sure it desperately needed. If a single sandwich had been able to let it enter its combat mode for a couple of minutes, then a few Sitrus Berries should at least be enough to let it get back on its feet.

For a long moment, Miraidon just stared at me, not making the slightest move to take the offerings. The uncomfortable sensation of being analyzed washed over me, though I tried not to let it affect the comforting smile on my face as I held out the two fruits.

Eventually, satisfied with whatever it had seen, it slowly sniffed at the snack in my hands before eating both berries at once with a single bite.

I watched, fascinated, as Miraidon seemed to chew the food despite not having any teeth and swallowed it moments later.

“Agias!” It cried, sounding a little better than before. To my surprise, some of the scorch marks were starting to visibly become smaller already, but the pace was extremely slow. I guess that two Sitrus Berries held up even less than I thought, because Miraidon still didn’t look like it was able to even get up, much less fight.

As much as it made me frown in consternation, it also made an unfortunate amount of sense. If conventional healing could deal with injuries this serious in a jiffy, Arven’s entire storyline would be invalidated. It was something painfully real, because serious injuries back on Earth couldn’t be treated with ibuprofen and a few bandages no matter what videogames would have you believe- and that held true in this world as well.

However, there was one positive; Miraidon no longer looked at us with any suspicion. Compared to the tension from earlier, it was far more relaxed now, even though it was still staring at us with idle curiosity instead.

‘Looks like I have its trust, which is good, but I’m still not sure how to actually help it. Miraidon’s condition is way worse than it looked in the games, and I don’t even have its Pokéball to be able to move it around while letting it rest. What do I do?’

I racked my brain, trying to come up with a solution, when I suddenly heard Miraidon let out a cry of alarm.

“Gias!”

I whirled around, and saw that the beach had a pair of new visitors- two Houndour, who didn’t look friendly.

My eyes widened, even as Koromaru ran in front of me to bark aggressively at the newcomers.

‘Wait, I forgot about this! Are these the two that were bothering Miraidon in the cutscene where you first meet it?’

When we had reached its location, Miraidon had been alone and I assumed it had already scared off the two stragglers like in the games, which would lead to the confrontation with the who pack later on in Inlet Grotto. Yet, it looked like we’d actually got there earlier.

Miraidon could probably still scare them off, but with the state it was in…

‘Scan!’ I intoned as the two wild Pokémon drew nearer, ignoring Koromaru’s warning call with eyes that gleamed confidently.

[Houndour, Lv 8: A local Pokémon living with its pack in Inlet Grotto. Hostile to outsiders.]

[Houndour, Lv 10: A local Pokémon living with its pack in Inlet Grotto. Hostile to outsiders.]

“We mean you no harm!” I called, trying one last ditch attempt to avoid a fight. “If we’ve trespassed on your territory, then please let us leave!”

While their levels were higher than Koromaru’s, I was still reasonably certain we could take them thanks to having the Type Advantage on our side. Even so, I didn’t want to battle them when even winning would likely bring down the wrath of the whole pack on us. I couldn’t depend on Miraidon being able to bail us out like in canon.

“Houndour!” the one on the right called, and incredibly I could almost hear the scoff in its voice. These two clearly thought themselves king of the hill, and weren’t going to back down. I guess if I had a pack as big as theirs led by a Lv. 40 Houndoom, I’d have a bit of pep in my step as well.

“Charisma Check failed, I guess.” I muttered, before taking a deep breath and locking in. “So we need to strike first! Koromaru, Mud-Slap the one on the left!”

“Ruff!”

A paw slammed down, and a thin stream of mud splattered right into the eyes of his target, causing it to reel as its vision was cut off. And unlike Pawmi, its limbs weren’t flexible enough to wipe the mud off of its face, so it was actually blinded unless it took a dip in the lake or something.

The sudden loss of its senses caused it to panic and attack wildly, and I nearly laughed out loud when I saw it release a cloud of thick black fog from its mouth in what was clearly a Smog attack… right at its own compatriot.

“Dour!” The other one panicked, its earlier arrogance forgotten, as it got a refreshing face full of noxious gas. Despite learning the move early, little bro wasn’t a Poison-Type and thus took the standard amount of damage and was even susceptible to being Poisoned by it.

But whether it received the Status Condition or not didn’t really matter to me because I was already taking full advantage of this bout of friendly fire.

“Koro, Leer and then Tackle the one on the right!”

My partner obliged, the initial move causing a visible glow around the Houndour as its Defense got dropped before it charged straight at it. With the target Houndour trying to recover from the Smog it had just eaten and its compatriot still flailing around blindly, nothing stopped Koromaru from reaching his target and ramming right into it.

To my surprise, it ended up being a one hit knockout, with the dark-colored Pokémon being knocked roughly to the ground by the attack and failing to rise afterward. Maybe a Critical Hit was involved somewhere?

I suppose it didn’t matter, because with one Houndour down and the other one blinded, it became child’s play to mop up the fight. Another two Tackles and a Mud-Slap later, both of the aggressors were down on the ground.

Koromaru ran back towards me, satisfied, and I leaned down to rub his head and offer a few words of praise for a job well done. It was actually somewhat surprising how bad the two Pokémon were at battling despite having a higher Level, but I suppose that their experience boiled down to just bum-rushing lone Pokémon in numbers with their Houndoom leader at their back.

But we couldn’t rest just yet.

I turned back towards Miraidon, who had been watching the whole thing intently.

“Hey buddy, can you walk? Koromaru and I have your back, but Houndour don’t live alone and I don’t think we’re strong enough to fight off the entire pack.”

From what I remembered, there were at least like 20 of them in the games apart from their leader. Koro didn’t have any moves that could hit in a wide area yet, and I doubted the viability of the Mud-Slap strategy we used earlier against so many opponents.

“Agias…” muttered Miraidon lowly, seeming to understand my words, before slowly raising itself to its feet. Its body let out little creaking noises as it did so, clearly a sign of its extensive injuries. Despite that, the dragon managed to stand steadily on its own two feet, though it still remained in Low-Power Mode.

“Good job, big guy.” I praised, slowly putting my hand on its head. To my relief, it didn’t react aggressively too the touch, and even leaned into it somewhat. It felt cool to the touch, though I could feel a faint vibration from somewhere within its body- probably its internal Hadron Engine, really giving me the feel of a motorcycle.

“Now let’s get moving. We need to make it to the Lighthouse, and then we can rest up.”

With Miraidon’s current state being what it was, I needed to get its Pokéball from Arven ASAP so it could rest within for a while without needing to move around or exert itself. Fortunately, from what I knew Arven was more than happy to give it away and I was confident I could beat his Skwovet if it came down to a battle like in the games.

Miraidon slowly began to walk with a slight limp, trudging along in the direction I had pointed out to it.

“Rockruff!” Koromaru barked, trying to emulate a drill sergeant and motivate Miraidon to keep moving. His actions didn’t have the intended effect, and instead gave me the image of a sheepdog managing a flock as he ran circles around the larger Pokémon.

“Gias…” It muttered, clearly annoyed but not willing to show outright hostility to one of the people who helped it.

To our credit, the motley band the three of us made up had almost made across the beach from the unconscious Houndour when the worst case scenario became reality.

“DOOM!” came a ferocious bark from behind us, causing me to nearly jump out of my skin as I whirled around.

The blood drained from my face as I realized that avoiding Inlet Grotto hadn’t done anything to help our situation - because instead of us running into the Houndour Pack, they had come after us instead.

[Houndoom, Lv ???: Leader of the Inlet Grotto pack. Currently enraged.]

‘Yeah, NO SHIT!’

From what I could see, almost the entire squad was out there in full force, and as revealed by my Skill (and you know, common sense), they clearly weren’t happy with us. The Houndoom at the front of the pack looked especially ferocious, and the moment its gaze locked onto us it didn’t waste any time.

It barked a command to its underlings, and as the veritable horde of Houndour surged forth it spat out a trio of fireballs bearing black highlights.

I had no idea what the hell that move even was, but I knew better than to just stand there and gawk, jumping to the side in order to avoid the attack. The searing heat as the flames flew right past me was enough to make my heart pound with terror and my brain kick into high gear from nothing. However, Koromaru hadn’t been as lucky, and got clipped by one of the fireballs as he tried to dodge, blasting him to the side.

“Koromaru!” I called, panic almost overtaking me completely when I saw him take such a devastating hit. I still didn’t know what move Houndoom had used, but with a Level difference that large he could’ve wiped my Rockruff’s health multiple times over with a simple Ember.

We had only two options available to us; we either needed to collapse the cliff somehow, which wouldn’t work because the only one who could release an attack that powerful was Miraidon (who was in no condition to do so), or…

“We need to get to the water right now!” I shouted, before returning the downed Koromaru back to his ball and turning towards Miraidon. “Can you swim?!”

“Agi-YAAA!” Miraidon cried, sensing the severity of the situation, and I had to shield my eyes for a moment as a flash of light erupted from it accompanied by the sound of shifting metal.

When I moved my hand away from my face, I found that Miraidon had shifted forms into its Aquatic Mode, its gular sac and tail transforming into wheel-like rings. Without further preamble, I threw one leg over its side as the legion of Dark-Types closed in, and barely managed to hang on before Miraidon moved, getting us both into the water in the span of a few seconds.

I nearly got thrown off by the sudden motion, but barely managed to hang on to the handlebar-like structures where Miraidon’s shoulders were as it cut through the water at its top speed… which wasn’t really all that fast, probably because of his wounds, but was enough to get us away from the danger zone that was the beach.

However, we weren’t out of the woods yet, because more fireballs began to fly at us- the pack had decided to pepper us with pseudo-artillery fire instead of just letting us get away. The Houndour spat what could only be ember, while Houndoom released the same attack as before. I flattened myself against Miraidon’s back as the Houndoom’s attack soared overhead, while the Houndour and their pitiful Embers didn’t even come close to striking us. Fortunately, my mount kept on swimming ahead despite the barrage without stopping, its internal engine rumbling a little louder with exertion.

A couple of seconds later, a furious howl erupted from the beach as we officially escaped their grasp.

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In our panic, we’d kind of gone in the opposite direction of where we were supposed to go, but I was honestly too rattled to care.

As Miraidon swam ashore at some point on the beach I couldn’t immediately identify, one thought kept ringing through my head with crystal clear clarity.

‘We barely escaped with our lives. If it wasn’t for Miraidon locking in, we would’ve gotten turned into charcoal.’

Koromaru had gotten one-shot by Houndoom without even sustaining a direct hit from the move it had used, which I was tentatively guessing was Incinerate considering it wasn’t a continuous stream like Flamethrower and didn’t have a special shape like Fire blast, and while I couldn’t fault him for it because of the massive Level difference (even if I couldn’t perceive its Level with ‘Scan’, there was no way that thing was below Level 30) it really drove home that we needed to become stronger.

Even running from a Pokémon battle wasn’t as easy as hitting a button in real life. Some, like that Houndoom, weren’t willing to just let you walk away. And something told me that dropping some cash would be the least of my worries if I were to lose…

It was almost like whiplash. I was starting to get a little more confident around Pokémon thanks to my experiences with Koromaru and even Miraidon to a certain degree. Now, I felt like I was back to square one, having seen just how dangerous they could be firsthand.

My heart was still pounding, the terror making my hands shake as I held onto Miraidon.

“Gias…” it muttered wearily, before collapsing on the surf with a metallic groan and transforming back into Low-Power Mode with a flash of light.

Realizing that I might have pushed the big guy to its limits in order to help us escape, I quickly clambered off and landed on my feet in the sand.

Hurriedly, I took out the single Pokéball in my possession and pressed the button, causing Koromaru to erupt out in a flash of white light. To my relief, though he was similarly collapsed on the ground, it didn’t look like he had taken any serious damage barring the visible burn on his side. He was still unconscious of course, but there was no indication that he was in actual danger. The System didn’t tell me the condition my Pokémon were in, so I could only guess based on his appearance.

Gently, I picked him up off the ground and took him into my arms, adjusting to his weight before walking towards the shade of the tree in the distance. While I was nowhere near as physically tired as my companions, I needed a mental recharge to recover from the nasty surprise that Houndoom encounter had been.

“Come on, big guy.” I called, turning to look at Miraidon. “Just take a couple more steps and rest under the trees. It’s better than burning in the sun!”

I felt a little bad asking that of it when it was so tired, but Miraidon wasn’t like its ancient counterpart regarding sunlight affinity. While Koraidon’s Orichalcum Pulse allowed it to take advantage of the sun and even set it on its own if it came down to it, Miraidon would probably just overheat. Sure, it was a Dragon-Type with Fire Resistance, but it was also suffering from crippling injury, and I’d seen what happened to motorcycles that were left in the sun- I couldn’t imagine how that sort of thing would feel from the perspective of the motorcycle itself.

“Gah…” the Paradox Pokémon groaned, though it clearly understood the point I was trying to make, because it slowly got to its feet and shook off the water droplets from the ocean like a dog before making its way towards me, its expression pained as if each step was sapping all of its remaining strength.

The sight was honestly just as heart-wrenching as seeing Koromaru take that hit back there, and as Miraidon finally laid down in the shade a few feet away from me, I couldn’t help but think that I should perhaps shelve the thought of using it as a Ride Pokémon for the time being. At least until I could get an Herba Mystica or two into its system. My eyes then flickered over to the Rockruff in my arms, letting out a sigh.

“We’ve got a ways to go, little buddy.” I said, taking a deep breath. “If a Houndoom was that strong, then the Paradox Pokémon must be actual Gods…”

Yeah, it was a daunting prospect, but I refused to give up. Rattled by the encounter as I was, I still managed to hold onto some degree of composure and rationality. There was no reality in which a Day 1 Trainer could defeat an entire pack of Houndour along with their evolved leader, and I understood that. Hell, even in the Games Koraidon/Miraidon hadn’t been able to fight them directly and had instead grabbed the Player character before making an escape. However, that didn’t mean the encounter failed to effect me at all.

‘Reactionary planning isn’t enough.’ I realized, before gently placing Koro down on the ground next to Miraidon, careful not to put any pressure on his injuries. ‘I need to seriously think of a way to build up power on my own, especially with the easiest way of getting a Trainer ID locked behind Team Star- which means a lot of battles, against reasonably strong people.’

“You two just hang tight for a bit.” I told Miraidon, who opened one pixelated eye to look at me before dipping its head in acknowledgement. “I’m going to go grab some more Berries and come back.”

The mention of food caused the dragon to perk up and let out a small cry, making me smile. If there was one positive thing that came out of this whole situation, it was that our literal Trial by Fire had earned Miraidon’s trust- something more than necessary for the challenges ahead. Taking one last look at Koromaru, I left the beach area and began to forage for berries in the bordering area to help get him back on his feet. It was becoming tougher and tougher to avoid competing with any Pokémon for them, as it was their primary food source, though I was still mindful to do so because I didn’t even have a means of defending myself with my partner down for the count. However, because of this, I only had a handful of Sitrus Berries to show for my efforts after about half an hour, which wasn’t really what I’d been looking for. I mean, they were still helpful mind you, but my objective was to get my hands on some blue strawberries- or Rawst Berries, so that I could treat Koromaru’s burn.

‘I also need a healer ASAP.’ I thought to myself with a frown on my face, combing the clumps of Berries in the bushes and in the trees for the Berry I needed. ‘This ain’t gonna work for long.’

There were a number of reasons why the tried and trusted Pokémon Centers wouldn’t work for me. Currently, it was because I was trying not to fall on the radar while I didn’t have legal documentation (and it was still crazy how one of my biggest problems after coming to the world of Pokémon wasn’t the restrictions of Legendary Mode but rather me being an illegal immigrant) and wasn’t sure if I’d have to pay for the Center’s services in reality, because as an American the concept of completely free and unlimited healthcare was even more alien than the concept of a world where people sent superpowered animals into battle against each other. But even if I got money and a freaking passport, I still couldn’t depend solely on the Pokémon Centers. Why, you may ask? Not because I didn’t trust Nurse Joy with my Pokémon or anything like that, but rather because of how much I needed to battle thanks to Legendary Mode in order to achieve my goals. I’d have to constantly push my team, and it was foolish to assume that I’d be able to get them through those fights without having them take a single hit, meaning I’d have to end up going to the Center much more often than other Trainers- something that might draw suspicion and scrutiny my way. I wasn’t sure if there was a flagging system or anything, but it’s entirely possible that the League would fall on my head if they suspected something. Of course, I wouldn’t push any Pokémon I caught to the point where they would genuinely be suffering, but that didn’t change how bad it would look on paper.

At this point, I’m sure I seemed a little paranoid, but I felt like that was the perfectly natural response in my situation. I had no idea how things worked around here, because there had to be laws and regulations that weren’t mentioned in the Games, ones that I didn’t want to run afoul of because I genuinely didn’t want to run afoul of a government that had superpowered creatures to enforce their will. Although considering the sheer number of world-ending terrorists around these parts, it was entirely possible that I was wrong.

Still, having a pocket healer could only be a good thing, especially if I ever got into trouble while too far out from a Center.

It was for that reason that I made a decision regarding what Pokémon I wanted to catch next. Or rather, using this reasoning I managed to narrow down the number of candidates for Party Member No. 2 down to 4 different species - Ralts, Hatenna, Happiny and Indeedee. All of them could use Heal Pulse, and although Indeedee couldn’t heal Status Conditions (Ralts got Heal Bell, while the latter two could have the Healer Ability) it was still a rather good Pokémon when it came to other parameters, and as such didn’t fall behind the other three. Of course, the most valuable Pokémon out of those four had to be Ralts- it just fulfilled too many functional roles for the team. It was a Psychic Type, meaning it would provide very much necessary defenses against other Psychics and even allow telepathic communication, it possessed the invaluable ability to Teleport, and could heal just like I originally wanted. Add on to this the facts that it was very strong amongst the ranks of normal Pokémon and that loyalty was an inherent trait of its line, and it was practically the perfect choice for me. The best part? It wasn’t some super rare Pokémon either, I’m pretty sure it was literally down the road in the Southern Province. In short, I was gunning for a Ralts; the other three were just backup options.

Of course, there was a slight complication, and I wasn’t talking about the fact that I’d need to go scrounging around for another Pokéball thanks to a lack of cash.

[Capture Slot Expansion: 10 BP]

One of the stipulations of Legendary Mode was that I’d need to buy ‘Capture Slots’ with BP, and because of that I couldn’t just catch Pokémon wily nily. I needed team members who filled multiple roles, as many as possible for the sole reason that the amount of Pokémon I could capture were realistically limited. It was highly likely that the BP required to gain new Capture Slots would go up explosively as I caught more Pokémon, so the odds of me having a big roster of Pokémon I could switch between was extremely limited. That means I needed to get as much type and combat coverage as possible within a small handful of Pokémon, hence why Ralts was such a valuable prospective addition to the team. If anything, Koromaru was probably the odd one out here due to being a solid Rock Type and possessing only a single combat niche, maybe two if you really squinted- but he was my Starter, and probably one of the few Pokémon I could be comfortable with right off the bat, so I was going to ignore that and instead focus on the scope of my team moving forward.

“Aha! There you are!” I cried, my eyes locking onto a pair of small Rawst Berries that were almost completely hidden within a bush. Carefully ensuring I didn’t accidentally damage them, I picked the fruits and gave them a quick Scan for confirmation.

[Rawst Berry: Used for treating Burns.]

‘That’s the one.’ I thought to myself, satisfied. ‘Better head back now, and get this to Koro ASAP.’

Beginning the small trek back to the beach, my mind couldn’t help but wander back to the previous topic.

It was probably best for me to head out Ralts-hunting as soon as possible. After all, I had a training session with Nemona coming up, so it was probably best that I get my new team member to take advantage of that.

That meant I had to do four things beforehand; get Koro back into better shape, find Arven for Miraidon’s Pokéball, find a Pokéball of my own to catch a Pokémon in the first place, and then beat up some wild ‘Mons and Trainers to get the last 7 BP I needed for Capture Slot Number 2. And I needed to get all this done within a few hours since the sun would start to go down and I wasn’t keen on the idea of getting caught lacking after dark.

“No pressure.” I muttered to myself, before letting out a small snicker. Ironically, despite complaining about it mentally, it was nice that I had so much to do. It helped keep me from thinking too much about… other stuff.

Shaking my head, I caught sight of my two companions chilling exactly where I’d left them, though Koro had regained consciousness some time during my absence, letting out a happy bark at my presence. He tried to get up from where he was resting, but I was sure to wave him down as I drew closer.

“Just relax buddy, there’s no need to push yourself! I got some food to fix you right up.”

“Roo…”

“Gias?” Miraidon asked, looking at my empty hands with confusion.

I guess even though it had been hanging out with Professor Turo for a while, it didn’t comprehend that the Humans in this world had apparently broken space over their knee, even for something as simple as clothing.

Kneeling down before Koromaru, I fed him the two Rawst Berries by hand and watched with fascination as the burn on his side began to dissipate at an incredible rate. While I would’ve liked to watch the whole process, there was another hungry Pokémon to deal with as well, so I instead turned to Miraidon and offered up a handful of Sitrus Berries.

The dragon looked up at me for a second, before somehow managing to eat all four of them with a single bite and gulping it down after ‘chewing’ for a few seconds despite its lack of teeth. I gave it a pat on the head, mentally praying that its appetite wouldn’t grow as it got healthier, and was about to turn my attention back to Rockruff when I was rather rudely snapped out of it.

“Hey, what’re you doing out here!” called a furious voice from behind, making me jerk in surprise before whirling around.

Standing at the border of the beach was a tall boy with two-toned hair and a rather distinctive Uva Academy Uniform, his gaze locked onto the resting form of Miraidon. The Pokémon in turn let out a faint cry of recognition at the sight of him, confirming that my eyes were in fact not playing tricks on me and this was the guy I’d been seeking.

But seriously…

I know I was the one who wanted to meet him as soon as possible, but what were the odds that even the second human I met in this world would also be a member of the ‘main cast’?