GamerFiction

Pokemon: Way of Life Chapter 42

Added 2023-01-31 05:16:08 +0000 UTC

Hi all,

Here's the next chapter. I gotta be honest; there was a question if this chapter would be able to come out on time. A reviewer on fanfiction upset me so much that I took a break from writing for a day. I pulled up my big boy pants and got over it, but the HP chapter might be delayed by a few hours tomorrow. Why do I let stupid people get to me? 🤔

"Alright, Duke, you're up," Lucas said.

Duke floated forward and faced the Pokemon. The Caterpie sensed something and turned its head in alarm. As the human and the other two Pokemon stayed back, the Pokemon relaxed and focused on Duke.

'This fight has already been decided.' Duke spoke with a conceited expression.

'Focus on the fight. No underestimating the opponent.' Lucas ordered.

The Caterpie rushed forward, aiming to strike Duke.

'Water Gun.'

Duke fired a jet of water at the approaching Caterpie. However, the Pokemon fired off a string shot at a nearby tree, and it stuck to a low-hanging branch. It pulled itself through the air, avoiding the attack and swinging on top of the branch with ease.

Lucas was stunned. Caterpie showed off an amazing display of athletic ability. He was almost tempted to capture him based on that impressive feat alone. He was a huge Spider-Man fan, after all.

In preparation for catching Scyther, he had visited PokeLodge, a huge sprawling area located just outside Viridian City's western gate, similar to a Pokemon Reserve. It contained a variety of habitats to house trainers' Pokemon. Not only that, but they also had a service where they looked after wild Pokemon that had been captured but could not yet bond with the trainer. He rented out a small forested section where the Scyther would stay until he got the gym badge, which cost him quite a bit. However, he was not going to lose out on the chance to capture a Scyther if he got lucky and came across one.

Wait a minute. Is his luck attribute likely to increase his chance of finding a Scyther? Maybe he should look at a way to level the skill and then add some points on top of it. He wondered if there was a Game Corner in the city, like the one in Celadon City in the games. If not, then that would be one of the first things he did when he reached Celadon.

It was true that luck also had a negative aspect in that it increased the chances of him encountering danger, but he had already encountered many instances of danger. It was going to happen regardless, so why not reap the benefits at the same time?

Lucas returned his attention back to the battle. Up in the tree, Caterpie shook his rear at Duke, taunting him. Needless to say, Duke was enraged.

'Break the branch by hitting it with Water Gun.'

Duke shot another torrent of water, and it struck the branch Caterpie was perched on, snapping it in half. However, the Caterpie had already fired off another string shot at another tree, securing itself on another branch. Since there were several trees surrounding the clearing, this fight could continue for a while if the Caterpie decided to keep toying with Duke. The only way he could see this working was if he anticipated where the Pokemon would swing next.

'Fire off another Water Gun but be prepared to shift in the direction I point out.'

Despite the fact that he predicted incorrectly the next two attacks, the third time was a charm. As soon as the Caterpie landed, it was struck with the Water Gun and knocked off the branch.

41 damage dealt to Caterpie.

HP: 59/100

'Octazooka.' Lucas commanded.

Duke fired off a round ball of ink at the Caterpies as it rose, which was unable to dodge the attack.

67 damage dealt to the Caterpie.

Caterpie has fainted.

'Yes. Take that, loser. You should be honoured that you are the first stepping stone on my glorious ascension.'

Duke floated above the fainted Caterpie and did a strange twirling dance, taunting his opponent.

'Nice to win our first fight, Duke. However, royalty does not act with such vulgarity. Besides, it loses any meaning when the Pokemon is not even awake to see you taunting it.'

Duke stopped dancing and retreated back to his side, his head hanging low. 'I forgot myself for a moment. Showing such a lack of decorum is disgraceful.

'That fight was awful.' Surprisingly, it was Maximus who made the comment, causing Imara to roll over laughing.

'Shut it, minion.' Duke cried.

"No shaming your teammates," Lucas said firmly. "This was his first fight, and the Caterpie showed surprising intelligence to use the environment as he did."

The Pokemon was certainly impressive in its inventiveness, but it was still a glass cannon. He felt that it would be a shame not to capture him, even if he didn't bond with him. He could always gift it to someone. Lucas retrieved a neutral ball and touched it to the Pokemon, and it was sent away to the PokeLodge. He made a mental note to have the workers separate his area into two, so Scyther could not kill Caterpie in the future.

As he stood up, Lucas noticed someone watching them even before they started clapping. The person emerged from behind a tree and approached him. He looked to be a few years older than himself, and there was a Pinsir at his side. In an attempt to be more stylish, he wore a ridiculously oversized

pompadour. It did not make up for his unfortunate set of features and his extremely obese body. As far as Lucas was concerned, appearances were not all that significant, but it was obvious from the expression on his face that he had an unpleasant personality.

"Well, that was an impressive fight," he said. "Why don't you test your Horsea against a tougher opponent?"

"Are you asking me to face you here?" Lucas looked around in bewilderment. "Why would I do that? Fighting in an unsanctioned match is too risky."

"An unsanctioned fight? No, you are mistaken. Call it a tutoring exercise, which means that you will have to pay me some Pokedollars for offering my expertise. Nothing is free after all."

"Are you seriously trying to rob me? Sorry, I will pass," Lucas said.

Although he wasn't that concerned, Lucas could see that the Pinsir beside Mr Pompadour looked dangerous. The large pair of pincers on its head looked like it could do a lot of damage. In order to determine how strong the Pokemon was, he examined it.

=====

Second Stage: The Pokemon has gone through its second growth.

Description: If it fails to crush the victim in its pincers, it will swing it around and toss it hard.

Stats

Level: 15 | Next: 17% | HP: 290 | Aura: 390 |

Special Ability

Hyper Cutter - It prevents the bearer's Attack stat from being lowered by other Pokémon through moves such as Growl or abilities such as Intimidate.

=====

This was just plain bullying, wasn't it? It seems that he was trying to take advantage of novice trainers in order to be able to make a few easy Pokedollars. Shouldn't it be considered a crime?

'Let me flame his fat ass.' Fire burst out of Imara's mouth.

'The Pinsir is way too strong for you. It looks like it will be very difficult to beat him.'

Even with the type advantage, Lucas wasn't confident about winning. At higher levels, it became increasingly difficult to bridge the gap between levels, especially when potential also had to be taken into account. Due to the disparity between Imara's defence and Pinisir's attack, if it were able to grab hold of her with those pincers, then it would be game over for her.

'A supersized baddie has appeared.' Maximus spread his arms out for emphasis, and the meaning was pretty obvious, and Mr Pompadour flushed in anger. Sometimes Max can be savage.

Lucas heard a faint giggle from the trees and realised that they were not alone. Did Mr Pompodour have any friends here as well? He activated his omniscient eyes and looked around, and he spotted a group of five people about a dozen metres away, hiding behind a tree, observing the interaction. Well, this got more interesting.

"Refusing is not an option. Now battle me, and set the wager at ten thousand Pokedollars, or you could just hand over the Pokedollars right now, you craven piece of shit."

'I will fight him!' Duke was extremely confident after his win over Caterpie.

'Sorry, Duke. He is far too strong for you.'

"I sense some anger issues," Lucas mused. "Ten thousand Pokedollars is a lot. What do you need that much money for? Are you using it to buy hair gel for that ridiculous hairstyle, Mr Pompadour?"

"Bastard," Mr Pompadour roared. "Pinsir, attack and destroy his Pokemon."

"Stop," a male voice called, and Mr Pompadour obeyed, calling back his Pinsir as it was about to strike. The group of five stepped out of the trees and into the clearing. The new arrivals consisted of three males and two females, with one being the obvious leader. The young man had short, dark and intense black eyes and a nasty scar running down his face. They were all wearing camouflage clothing that blended in well with the forest setting. Who were they?

"Hello. I was wondering when you were planning to join the fun," Lucas said, placing a hand on Imara to calm her down. As a consequence of almost being attacked by the Pinsir, she was still pumped with adrenaline.

"Why did you stop me?" Mr Pompadour complained.

"He is not someone we should mess with," the leader said. "Lucas Walker is too high profile. If we rob him, it's probably to bring a lot of trouble on our backs."

Lucas put his hand on his heart and said, "Gosh, I'm flattered. To be so high profile that it prevents juveniles from robbing me."

"Hey, we are not juveniles," a tall blonde-haired girl yelled.

"Oh, right, you are adults. In other words, you are just plain criminals."

"Enough," the leader said. "We are leaving."

They disappeared into the forest, and Lucas kept watch for a time to make sure that they were really left. Should he have Giro follow them? Lucas was curious about them and why they were resorting to crime. In the end, he decided to let them be. He was not able to solve every problem.

Lucas returned to battling Pokemon and exploring the forest. However, they didn't find anything of interest since it was still on the outskirts of the forest. Its secrets had already been discovered by so many explorers that came before him.

As he watched Duke fight, he realized how useful it was to be able to use water manipulation to move around in the air. It wasn't as effective as a flying-type Pokemon, but it still had its strong points. It was similar to Pokemon with the levitate ability like Koffing. Attacks targeting the ground, for example, wouldn't work on Duke or would be easier to avoid.

Another thing he noticed as he became more experienced was that Duke had learned how to turn quickly by using his fin like a rudder. This meant that he would be more effective at tracking his opponents on the battlefield, even if he were bested by speed. It was a useful skill that he would encourage Duke to practice in the future.

Duke's attacks would predominantly be water and dragon type, mixed with some ice type as well, so he already knew the direction Duke would take. His main stats will be special attack and speed. Like Dante, he would be a long-range special attacker.

Lucas was beginning to realise that he would have to pay more attention to his team balance in the future. Three of his partners were primarily special attackers, with only Max being more inclined to physical attacks. Imara could fight up close if she needed to, but with her special ability, it was better to focus on fire-type moves in the future. So, in the end, he only had one hybrid physical attacker out of four. Although, if he were lucky, his next Pokemon would be a Scyther, who was undoubtedly a melee fighter.

Another weakness was that his Pokemon's defences were all low. While he could spend a lot of AP to increase them, he questioned if that was the right move. He was primarily an attacking trainer who relied on overwhelming offence to finish the fight as quickly as possible. Maybe having a Pokemon that could serve as a tank would be a worthwhile addition to his team.

Lucas spent the experience in Duke's cache as soon as he had enough to reach level six. He ventured further into the forest to see if he could find any Pokemon with higher levels so it could help increase both Max's and Imara's levels to ten. It wasn't until later in the afternoon that he managed to succeed, and he got a very pleasant surprise as well.

=====

Imara has entered the pre-evolution stage.

[Pre-Evolution Stage] (Duration: One month) [Potential Unlocked: 0%] Energy Capacity: (0/10000)

Effective Evolution Items: Fire Stone (energy); Charcoal (increases Special Attack during evolution when held); Dragon Fang (increases Dragon type affinity when held).

=====

This meant that he would have two evolved Pokemon in a month's time. To say he was excited about the prospect would be a massive understatement. Fortunately, he already had some items prepared for Imara, so she would get off to a flying start. It just occurred to him that he had not heard of any information about held items increasing a Pokemon's parameters. Was it exclusive to him?

"Hm, I wonder if you were able to pull it off since Dante was the first to succeed in doing so and were jealous." Lucas looked at Imara with raised eyebrows.

Imara growled and looked away, ignoring the smirk on his partner's face. Lucas wasn't unhappy with the situation, as the two of them being so competitive would only further push them to become stronger. That determination would also trickle down to their teammates as well.

'I want to enter the pre-evolution stage too.' Max complained. Case in point.

'Wait till you grow up.' Imara said snidely.

'Oh, yeah? Who is taller? Max struck a pose.

"That's enough. Let's return to the city."

They retraced their steps back through the forest and made good time as they made it to the city. As he approached the gate, he got a phone call.

"Lucas, it's Alicia Hall."

"Hi Alicia," Lucas replied. "How's the company coming along?"

Alicia Cook was the CEO of his mother's company, Premier Pokefoods. He had talked with her on a few occasions, primarily when it came to negotiating the licensing of his incense. She seemed amiable enough, at least when you were not talking business.

"Great. We are all set to launch your product in a week. But that's not why I'm calling."

"Oh?

"I have been able to secure a steady supply of ingredients from the Johto and Sinnoh regions at the same cost that we purchase the Kanto ingredients."

"That's amazing," Lucas said, excited that he now had access to some new ingredients so he could continue creating his own incense. "Wait, you didn't promise them anything, did you?"

"Please," Alicia scoffed. "Do I look that stupid to you? They were eager to make a deal. If you produce more incense from their ingredients, then they will be able to make a killing from the amount that we will be buying from them in the future."

"That makes sense," Lucas said. "So, when can I get my hands on some ingredients?"

"The first supply will arrive in a few days," Alica said. "Where are you at the moment?"

"In Viridian City," Lucas reached the gate and passed through after a brief inspection. "I will be here for a while."

"Then I will deliver them to you as soon as possible. Make sure to start creating some new incense."

Lucas rolled his eyes, "Sure. Have them delivered to my hotel." He gave her the address, and she hung up without even saying goodbye. Is she rude or just too busy for polite chit-chat?

Later that night, Lucas lay in bed after another satisfying tumble with Faith, who was tucked under his arm, gloriously naked. He was having a hard time sleeping as something was bothering him. It wasn't until now that he remembered the strange voice that spoke in his mind, as he had been preoccupied with the emergency. So, who had it been? It was definitely not any of his Pokemon or the Narrator.

Lucas had a suspicion that he had made contact with the elusive legendary Pokemon, Mew. Could the Pokemon have been close by or was it watching him from a distance somehow? What was the reason for contacting him in the first place? Could there be some kind of strange link between them that allowed them to be able to communicate with each other? Lucas thought of one thing that might help him find the answer.

After closing his eyes, he began to meditate. He accessed the portion of his mind that held the physical representation of his bond with his Pokemon. It had been some time since he last visited the place.

As expected, he saw that he was placed prominently in the centre of the space, represented by a large sphere of purple aura. There were four strands that connected him to his Pokemon, which was represented by a mixture of their type and his purple aura.

It was the fifth strand that was the odd one out. This led off further into the distance, where a humongous aura was visible. It dwarfed his by several magnitudes and his Pokemon even more. The connection was fuzzy as if it had not yet fully formed, but it was there nonetheless. Was this really the legendary Pokemon Mew? And how did he become semi-bonded to the Pokemon? Was it the result of the serum containing its DNA?

Is it possible for him to communicate with it? However, he didn't want to wake up his Pokemon, so could he speak directly with Mew without them being able to hear him? Lucas wondered how interactive this space was; could he tap into the connection so they could hold separate conversations with each other? It was worth a try.

Lucas focused on the fuzzy strand connecting him to Mew. He visualised himself grasping onto it like it was a tangible thing that had a weight and feel to it. It was only an hour later that he began to feel something inside his mind. However, he had a hard time grasping it as it was slippery and kept escaping his grasp. For the next couple of hours, he worked on grabbing onto the strand and trying to keep a grip on it. It was slow progress, but he was making headway. Despite the fact that it was already late and he was tired, he did not want to stop until he had succeeded.

Finally, he was able to hold onto the connection for longer than a minute. At that moment, he became aware of a huge, alien presence in his mind, which shocked him so much that he almost let go of the strand.

'Is that you, Mew?'

'????'

'Was it you who told me to use Mewtwo's arms as a way to enhance the effectiveness of Telekinesis?''

'????'

'Hello?'

The presence disappeared. The abruptness of his disconnection caused Lucas to gasp as he was roughly pulled out of meditation. Although Mew didn't want to talk, he had chosen to communicate when Lucas needed help saving the family. This gave him some hope that he would succeed in the future. It just may take some time.

Lucas sighed and held Faith tighter to him as he drifted off to sleep.

{0(((..)))0}

29th October

The next morning, the four of them sat down for breakfast in the hotel dining room. Lucas noticed that Jason seemed to be distracted, looking at his phone frequently. Now that wasn't anything strange, as the teenager was very attached to his phone, but Lucas had spent enough time with him to tell when something was up.

"Is everything okay?" Lucas asked his friend.

Jason grimaced, "I have to meet my deadbeat of a father today. I promised my mother that I would try and talk with him."

"Wow, that's awful," Lucas said sympathetically. "At least you have your partners at your side. They can smack him down if he tries anything."

Bane, who was eating nearby, raised his hand as if volunteering for the job.

"Lucas!" Faith nudged his shoulder before turning to Jason. "If you need any help, you only have to ask."

"Ditto," Misty mumbled around a bit of toast.

"Thanks," Jason smiled briefly before he changed the subject. "Lucas, I had an idea about doing some live streams while we are travelling outside."

"Didn't we agree to wait until we gained some experience before we tried anything like that? There are so many dead streamers that tell us a cautionary tale about the importance of being careful."

"We did, but what if we used Giro? Can we attach a camera to him? Since he follows us around all the time anyway, he would be a safe way for us to stream. There will be less interaction with the audience, but I don't think they would care."

"Actually, I haven't checked to see if he has a camera function," Lucas said. "He only has one eye, but it could act as a camera lens."

Instead of summoning Giro, he decided to go to the source and dial Sonya Love's number.

"Well, hello, cutie. Why are you calling little old me?"

"Hi, Sonya. How are you doing?"

"Uh, don't ask. But it's better now that you called."

"Right. Is Charlie still causing trouble?"

"Do Tepig's fly?"

"Right, stupid question. By the way, Giro is amazing. He had already helped in a variety of situations."

"That's terrific. Wait, you haven't used the knockout gas yet, have you?"

"Nope," Lucas said. It was not possible to use the function with the restrictions in place. Although he would be able to use it within the confines of a city or a town. Which was a terrifying thought. "But he does make a great sentry for when we sleep, as he obviously doesn't need to rest."

"Clever," Sonya approved. "Is there any particular reason why you called me?"

"It has to do with Giro, actually. Is he equipped with a camera? It would be convenient if I could use it to do some live streams while we are travelling."

"Don't you have the app on the phone to control Giro?" Sonya asked with bemusement. "It is a standard feature."

Lucas dropped his head on the table and groaned. How could he forget that he had the phone that his dad had given him? In his defence, he had put it out of his mind as soon as Giro's defence became obsolete. "Right, I forgot about that. But he takes instructions so well that I haven't really needed to use it."

"Of course, he is my creation after all," she boasted. "However, he is still lacking plenty of features. I had to do a rush job because your dad was on my back to get it done before you left Pallet Town."

"That's cool," Lucas nodded. "Is he going to be able to speak in the future?"

"Do you really want him to speak? That's part of his charm, and he was designed to be cheeky, so if you gave him a voice, he would drive you crazy. It would be a mistake to give him a voice.'"

"On second thought, I don't want a Giro that could speak."

"I thought so," she said smugly.

"You're doing such an amazing job. I feel as if I should be paying for the work you do."

"Don't worry about it. Your dad has already compensated me, and it is not a small amount."

They talked for a few more minutes before Lucas hung up.

"So, we are good to go?" Jason bounced in his seat in excitement.

Lucas nodded before taking the phone from his inventory and accessing the app to examine it closer. "Let's do a test run in Viridian Forest tomorrow and try out the team of moderators that I hired."

Last night, he met with Valerie and Alfred for dinner to discuss the details of their cooperation. It was a successful meeting, and in the end, they signed a contract to protect both of their interests. Since Alfred insisted on it, Lucas listened to him since the man had a lot of experience. Lucas had decided to hire four people from the fan club as moderators, and they would be paid out of the revenue made from Tweak.

"Are you not returning to the forest today?" Faith asked.

"No, we are training today to give them a break from yesterday." He had used up quite a few ethers so his team could keep grinding experience, but it was not wise to overuse them in a short amount of time. Not because of the cost but because it could lead to aura strain. This is a condition that occurs when a Pokemon overworks its aura. They may be powerful entities with amazing abilities, but there was a limit to how many times they could use their aura continuously. Aura strain could knock out a Pokemon for days and may do permanent damage to their aura in the worst-case scenario.

"What about the rest of you?"

"Training," they all said at the same time, causing them to laugh.

Half an hour later, Lucas and his team were back in the training room with his team standing in front of him. He was giving Dante a break from his physical training today, and only Duke would suffer under the tyranny of Poliwrath.

"Okay, team," Lucas said. "Max and Imara will work on their affinities. Max, I want you to focus on your fighting-type affinity. Your electric affinity is fine for now. Imara-"

'I know, work on my dragon-type affinity.' Imara said.

"Right," Lucas said, turning to Dante. "As I promised, we will work on teaching you Teleport. We are going to be working blind as there is not much information out there."

It had occurred to him to ask his mother since her Mr Mime was well-versed in the move. However, he wanted to teach Dante Teleport himself and not rely on anyone else. Between the two of them, they should be able to figure it out.

Lucas was surprised to find that his mother had not taken advantage of Teleport to visit him on every occasion in order to make sure he was okay. Maybe it was because she could not take the rest of the family along with her that she restrained herself. But he expected her to become impatient and to show up without warning someday.

Lucas and Dante found some space away from the others and began to discuss how to learn the move. "Let me have a look online to see the scientific explanation for Teleportation."

Lucas came across a fascinating excerpt, so he read it out loud. "Teleportation can be defined as the transfer of matter and/or energy from one point to another without traversing any physical space between them."

'How does that help?' Dante asked sceptically.

"In order to learn a move, you need three things. Visualisation, intent, and knowledge of the move you are trying to learn. The more you know about something, the easier it is to grasp the mechanics and successfully learn the move instinctively. Additionally, since the move is part of your inherent move pool, it should be easier to achieve in theory."

Every Pokemon had an inherent set of moves that were hard-wired into their biology. It was a combination of their species and their genetics passed down from their parents. Since the knowledge was already there, just buried within their psyche, they merely had to access that knowledge rather than trying to learn a move from nothing. The technical machine worked in a similar way in that it was an imprint of a Pokemon's memory about its experience utilising the move. However, there may be some variations in the moves themselves, depending on the Pokemon that created the crystal.

"Okay, we are aiming to start small," Lucas said as he drew a circle on the floor. "This circle is about a metre away. I want you to visualise yourself appearing inside it without moving your body. Activate your energy as you do so, and remember to keep in mind that you are essentially breaking down your body into energy to make the jump."

'What?!'

"Don't worry. I'm sure nothing will happen," Lucas looked away as he said so.

'Why are you turning your head?"

"I'm kidding," Lucas said as he waved his hands. "I was trying to be funny to get you to relax. Obviously, that was a mistake."

'You think?'

"Enough talk. Let's get started." Lucas stepped back and watched as Dante activated his energy and stared at the circle in front of him. A minute passed, and nothing happened. Another five minutes passed before Dante groaned and slumped to the floor.

'Nothing's happening. It's too difficult.'

"You didn't think it would be easy, did you? Teleport must be one of the most challenging moves to learn due to the fact that it involves complex concepts. You're not Palkia, after all, who can do it effortlessly."

'Who?'

"Nevermind," Lucas said. "Keep trying."

After a few hours, Lucas became bored and retrieved a book on Aura Guardian history. It occurred to him that he had been neglecting his studies lately, so he took the opportunity to finish the first book in the series. Faith had been bragging that she had finished reading four of them, so he didn't want to get too far behind.

'I did it!' Dante exclaimed.

Lucas looked up from reading to see him standing in the circle with his arms folded and a smug expression on his face.

"Well done, buddy." Lucas lifted Dante and spun him around. It was only the first step, as Dante hadn’t learned the move completely, but he had done the hardest part, so it will be much easier from now on.

Teleport would open up some new possibilities and make his life easier in the future. He was almost unable to bear the anticipation.

So, what do you think? Is anyone interested in writing fanfiction? Never read reviews in the middle of writing a chapter. It's a motivation killer. Especially when you have extremely toxic reviewers, lol.

Thanks for reading.