Arctic Black Zone - SS Ketchum - Beach

  “Wow, congratulations Jess on catching yet another Rare Pokémon!” The nurse Joy congratulates the girls and gives her Pokéball back to the girl announcing the Amaura is healthy and safe.

  Jess quickly summons the little dino from its battered Pokéball to introduce to the crew, Anna and her current ‘team’ consisting of myself and Sparky.

  Sparky has little interest in the Juvenile and continues to work on training moving her electric type energy around her body. Hoping to gain more skills or levels in existing skills.

  I think I might have made her just a tad jealous from my Explosive Ice Grenade display. If only it were that easy to learn new abilities!

  I go up to console Sparky and try to give her a pat.

  *ZZAAPP*

  DING - Sparky has learnt Thunder Wave.

  You are Paralyzed

  You have gained a trainer level for helping your Pokémon learn a new move.

  Errrr… I look at my murder fish in shock (literally) and fall onto my side as I seize up.

  Jess quickly runs over when she notices my predicament and after having the nurse Joy inspect me, determines that I have been Paralyzed. She quickly feeds me a Cheri berry which she needs to crush and drip into my open mouth.

  Slowly the effect of Paralysis fades and I am able to move again.

  Not to say that I'm not happy with Sparky learning this move but could she at least learn to use it on something other than me for once? And why did it cause me to lock up so suddenly? It’s far stronger than the last time she Paralysed me!

  Sparky for her part looks embarrassed and refuses to meet me eye to eye.

  “Sorry boss, it wasn’t on purpose”

  What can I say, I’m a sucker for a good apology. I’ll write off the traumatic experience from her Paralysing me and be the bigger man… mammal?

  “It’s okay, but let’s try to get you to learn new abilities on, say something that.. Isn’t me, next time?”

  We continue with some practice battles using Jess’s new Amaura and Cynthia works on helping us learn new moves. She is clearly motivated after seeing me learn a completely different move to the powdered snow and decides to give me a reward of yet another ? disc.

  This time it is something a little more mundane. And surprisingly it is NOT an ice type move.

  “Okay, since your Seel is very slow I want him to learn how to evade attacks as I just don’t see him being able to tank many hits.”

  … Bitch speak for yourself, I can take at least…. 0.5 hits from a strong monster!

  Jess seems to not be backing me this time and agrees that it’s the best idea given my low mobility.

  I’m not one to pass up a new move and wait to see what is in store for me.

  “Okay so this isn’t the most flashy move, however I'm sure it will help the little guy in a pinch. The move is called Double Team, at least that’s what this ? disc is ‘supposed’ to teach.”

  With that said the disc is used and breaks. I wait for the magic to happen. Knowledge fills my mind and I focus on the concept. I imagine myself like some Naruto character shimmering and Kage bunshin-ing myself a clone of…. Myself.

  I focus on the energy inside of me. Only problem is I don’t know what type of energy I'm supposed to use since I don’t really know what normal type is supposed to feel like.

  Oh well, let's just use what I’m most familiar with. I focus on the purple glow.. And…. nothing.

  Okay.. let's try to focus on the other energy I felt when I did my ice move. And….. nothing.

  Well…. That was anticlimactic.

  “Maybe if we have a Pokémon show him the move he will better know how to succeed?”

  Cynthia quickly summons her Lapras off the starboard bow and I use Focus Energy to try to appraise her move. She shimmers and then splits into two. However I can easily tell which one is her and which is her fake. The fake has far less glow to it.

  I think this skill is pointless anyway. But I try to emulate her Double Team and instead of using either type of energy I just decide that I might as well use both.

  I focus on trying to make my double team as ‘believable as possible’ and finally, FINALLY something happens.

  My energy forms an identical clone to myself and I feel satisfaction that I pulled it off better than a Gym leader's Pokémon.

  DING - You have learned Double Team. Creates illusionary copies of the user. The copies disorient the enemy, reducing its accuracy. Uses 20 MP per clone.

  Okay so this is pretty neat. But I'm not satisfied yet. I want a Tajuu Kage Bunshin no Jutsu. So whilst Cynthia is busy congratulating me on learning double team. I focus on summoning as many clones of myself as I can. I pool my energy and drain my reserves to nearly zero.

  I try to focus on making my clones as life-like as possible just like I did with my initial attempt. And I imagine them attacking the Lapras all at the same time. What happens next definitely is not the move I was expecting. Or… actually it is exactly what I was expecting.

  Instead of having my images copy my moves they all appear and then rush towards the Lapras. Hell bent on beating the crap out of her.

  Lapras is so shocked that she creates a wall of ice around her to defend herself. As countless clones of myself dive overboard and towards her.

  On impact with the ice wall my clones simply evaporate… ish.

  They make popping sounds as they disappear and although it looks like my move was just a massive waste of energy, I notice that chunks of the ice wall have been destroyed.

  Ding - You have learned Detonating clones. Create realistic images of yourself to carry out your will and once spent the power used to power the clones is released as a small detonation. Uses an additional 10 MP per clone.

  Cynthia is stunned and Lapras looks confused at the lack of attacks against her. She does however quickly recover and looks like she is going to just straight up murder me with an ice beam in retaliation. I’m lucky Cynthia has great situational awareness as she quickly recalls Lapras into her Pokéball as the large water Mammal charges up her ice beam.

  “I have no idea what you are feeding that creature and as much as I'd like to have one for my own, I think we should get Professor Oak to inspect him again for any abnormalities.”

  She looks at me. “Any additional abnormalities”

  So our routine is interrupted yet again for the umpteenth day to go do something different. And this time I don’t think I'm going to have any fun.

  “Girls, I’ve received some unusual reports since the TV show aired showing the capture of your Pokémon. And the fact that he is so unusual for both his original species and his creativity. I’m going to run some tests on him to see exactly what is different from the normal Seel.”

  “This here is a normal Seel and her brain waves look like this on the graph. I spot a familiar looking female Seel sitting on the bench near me patiently allowing the professor to examine her brain waves and electrical activity.”

  Massive red flags right there. I don’t think this is going to end well. I end up being attached with electrodes around my head. Unfortunately I have no real control over my thoughts and as soon as the gear is connected up abnormalities jump all over the place in comparison to the other Seel, I know what that scan looks like, that’s a human brain’s activity!

  The doctor and the girls turn towards the equipment in slow motion.

  “Ooookkkkaaaayyyy iiii’mmmmm ggggooooiiiinnnngggg ttttoooo ssssttttaaaarrrrtttt rrrreeeeccccoooorrrrddddiiiinnnngggg oooouuuurrrr rrrreeeessssuuuullllttttssss nnnnoooowwww”.

  In a panic I summon my purple energy and cover my head with it in the hopes it will block the signals.

  *DING - Mental Reflect learned - can block attempts to probe the mind - uses 1 MP per minute.*

  The screen goes from activity to no activity at all. SHIT this is also very very bad. They will know I'm up to something.

  Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

  I look towards the female Seel, she was my friend once, maybe she will help me. I push out some of my thoughts to her via my purple energy.

  *DING - Communicate learned - Uses 1 MP per minute.*

  She gives me permission to attempt to use her thoughts for the experiment.

  *DING - Imitate learned - Become what you see, your thoughts and actions are a reflection of that which you choose to copy. Uses 1 MP per minute.*

  As the group finished turning to look at the graph all they can see is the same electrical activity as the female from before, however there is more activity this time likely from the interference from the energy being used to imitate.

  The professor takes a few minutes to examine me and the graph. I’m very lucky that nobody is looking at the Female Seel right now. Why do you ask?

  Well, any action she is doing right now is the EXACT same action I am also doing. You could say our movement and behaviour right now is the same.

  “Nothing here girls, he seems as normal as they come. Although he does seem to be able to actively use his energy far more than most Black Zone Pokémon can. He has some sort of persistent casting, however I don’t know what move is being used.”

  Jess looks to me, removes the electrodes and scoops me up in a big hug. “Maybe charm since he is just so damn fluffy and cute all the time?”

  Professor Oak just stares at me intently and then shakes herself out of her thoughts.

  “Go back to training with Foul girls. I need to have a quick chat with Cynthia for now. “

  The girls grumble as they head away. I’m quick to end the connection with the female Seel and send her a heartfelt feeling of gratitude for her assistance. She just gives me a flipper wave in response.

  The doors shut and I feel happy to know that I live another day in freedom without further experimentation.

  ==================

  Cynthia sits across from Kelly “So what do you think, Professor?”

  The Professor calls her Kadabra into the room. The brown, bug-like Pokémon stands across from her, staring silently into her eyes.

  “From what I've gathered just then, there is something very wrong with that Pokémon. His brain waves were apparently erratic for a moment before they went completely blank and then appeared as if normal.”

  Cynthia interrupts “Normal is good no?”

  Kelly clears her throat and continues “Normal that is for a female Seel when he is clearly a he. There is a fierce intelligence in that creature and I suspect that the work of the Legendaries is at play here.”

  Cynthia looks worried “Well shit! What are we supposed to do with him Professor?”

  Kelly takes a deep breath and then slowly exhales. “Nothing right now, just continue to monitor him and try to stay in his good graces. We don’t even know if he is a legendary posing as a ‘regular’ Pokémon.”

  “He seems to not mean harm towards us at this stage, we just need to not give him a reason to change his mind.”

  =================

  Ughhh… I hate this ship and all the people on it.

  WHY, WHY, WHY.

  Since Foul has established that I have the ability to make clones of myself he has decided that the best way for me to train is if he straps weights on me, gets me to split and then gets me to send the clones shuffling around the area. He has instructions for the other Pokémon to chase down my clones and pop them.

  The recruited Pokémon take great joy in getting some payback for all their defeats against me. I then watch as my trusted ally Sparky also takes the opportunity to ZAP one of my clones before giving me a satisfied smile.

  “Sparky, WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK?”

  She just looks at me amusedly “Nah boss this is perfect, I can practise new moves without hurting you now, isn’t that wonderful?!?!”

  Ugh… I didn’t mean for you to learn new moves against things that LOOK LIKE ME. Why can’t you just zap the other damn Pokémon!

  I get nostalgic recalling my favourite childhood anime. This is a training montage for sure.

  STATUS

  TRAINER SEEL: LVL 10

  Slots: 2/3

  AVAILABLE MOVES: CAST 100MP, RECALL 100MP, CAPTURE 0 MP requires spare Pokémon slot and Pokémon to be injured enough to capture, Map, Compass

  Items: 10 x Potion's, 1 x Super Potion, 1 x Repel, Incubator x 1 - occupied

  Caught Pokémon: 2

  Bonded Pokémon: 2

  Egg: 1

  STATUS

  [SEEL - LVL 19]

  [PSYCHIC/???]

  [HP 400/400 MP 100/400]

  STATUS: Normal

  [CARVANHA - BLACK ZONE VARIANT - LVL 19]

  Carvanha's strongly developed jaws and its sharply pointed fangs pack the destructive power to rip out boat hulls. Many boats have been attacked and sunk by this Pokémon.

  [WATER/ELECTRIC]

  HP 310/310 MP 60/310

  Egg

  ????