Markus POV
“Come on out, Sunny Side!” I shouted as I tossed the Luxury Ball into the air. It popped open, and light began to coalesce into an oval shape momentarily before dissipating. In its place stood a Blissey with pale pink fur, and a Life Orb necklace.
The first thing Sunny did was stretch, letting out a long “Bliss”, and popping her back. She looked around the room for a moment before her eyes locked onto the Luxury Ball in my grasp, and her smile faltered slightly.
“*Hmm, you aren’t Markus. Who might you be?*” Sunny asked, a slight hint of worry in her voice.
I rubbed the back of my head, only now remembering my first interaction with Phobia, and how he had no recollection of me.
“It’s a long story Sunny, but to make things short, I’m the same Markus that you know, just different.”
I saw her eyes narrow in response, and she started messing with the swirls on her head. We stood there for an almost uncomfortable amount of time, until suddenly, Sunny reached into her front pouch, pulling out the egg, and offered it to me.
I was left dumbfounded as Sunny pushed the egg into my hands. It was warm to the touch, and it left a slight tingly feeling as I held it.
“I’m sorry, I don’t quite understand?” I started, looking back up at Sunny, trying to hand back the egg. She cut me off with a shake of her head as she pushed the egg back towards me.
“*I don’t understand either, but I know you aren’t lying about who you are,*” she stated, her eyes growing more determined. “*Your emotions would have given you away. Speaking of that, you should eat that. Youa€|need it.*”
I simply nodded, bringing the soft boiled egg to my mouth. When I took a bite, I could feel all the muscle pains that had been growing over the week vanish almost immediately, and I felt a calmness wash over me. A sigh escaped me, as I fell back onto my seat. I could feel a smile begin to form, as tears started to fall from my eyes. For the first time in a while, I realized something I had forgotten so long ago.
I could be happy.
‘Fuck me, these eggs are dangerous’ I thought, as my state of bliss began to fade. I contemplated taking another bite, but my stomach cried out in protest against the idea, and I couldn’t disagree with my gut.
“Well now, kid, you’ve got a knack for riling up the Tauros, dontcha?” Watcher eventually said, his eyes never leaving Sunny.
I shot him a glance, tilting my head as I did so. “Is something wrong?” I asked, looking between everyone.
Watcher cracked, shaking his head and sighing. “It’s nothing too bad, Markus,” he started, “the Joys will just be running us ragged for a long while.”
My confusion must have been evident, because when Watcher looked at me, he started chuckling.
“We really need to catch you up on this world if you’re gonna be throwing it into chaos. Long story short, The Joy Clan likes to make sure the Chansey line is protected, so seeing one not dressed in their colors is surprising.”
“So how much trouble am I in?” I asked. To my shock, Watcher simply shook his head, and started chuckling.
“Not as much as you’d think, kid. If any, you’re gonna be a celebrity among the Joys. The mechanics to evolve a Chansey is still unknown, so seeing a Blissey is a pretty rare sight.”
“Why would they be so rare? They’re a friendship evolution after all,” I said, looking at my newest withdrawal. She had started conversing with Green, and strangely, I couldn’t make out anything they were saying.
Watcher had been pretty quiet after my reveal, and glancing over to him, I saw he was deep in thought, muttering to himself. He shot me a look, to which I quirked an eyebrow at him.
“Let me guess, more earth shattering news?” I quipped. My efforts earned me a chuckle from the agent.
“Precisely that. There’s been some theories surrounding the idea of alternate evolution methods, bonds being one. I’d like to disagree with you, but I’m also not the one with Arceus on their side.”
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Watcher let out an exasperated sigh. “Well, since we’re here, how about you tell me what Sunny’s capable of? I see the Life Orb necklace, so I’m guessing they’re a battler.”
I nodded. “In the games at least, yea. There wasn’t much else someone could do, besides some side content. As for her capabilities, it depends. I could easily list off stats and moves, but those were mostly applied to in-game statistics. This world works on an entirely different rule set, one I’m still getting used to.”
The Agent finished writing in his notebook, looking back to me as he did so. With a wave of his hand, he urged me to continue, knowing me well enough to understand I’m only halfway done with my ramblings.
“So the rules I’m used to are that each pokemon can use only four moves, one ability, a set amount of points that can be added to a stat to increase it, usually referred to as Effort Values and Individual Values. How things work here are so much more complex! Rather than just a numbers game, there’s instead strategy and complexity! Pokemon know more than four moves, and each move can be trained to do different things, or work with other moves!”
I paused mid rambling to see both of the agents stare at me with a blank expression, clearly confused about the information overload I just dropped on them. Strangely, I could see Sunny looked at me with stars in their eyes. I felt my face heat up, and I quickly turned away, wishing I could just disappear.
“Aha€| Sorry. I just thought you’d want some background for my information,” I explained, trying in vain to brush off my embarrassment. “Long story short, I trained her to be a bulky setup sweeper.”
As I was looking around for an excuse to leave the conversation, a hand clasped my shoulder, and a certain old ranger started chuckling behind me.
“You’ve definitely got a trainer’s mindset, kid. I knew there was a reason I liked you.”
I just sighed, letting my nervousness go. I looked at the ranger and asked, “So, how much of that did you hear?”
“Enough to know you’re pretty spot on with your assessment,” the ranger said, while taking in my newest member. “What I''d like to know is her moveset, and what she’s got access to.”
I shot Takahashi a knowing smile, understanding just what he wanted to see. “I could,” I started, adding a whimsical tune to my voice. “But wouldn’t you want a live demonstration instead? If Sunny’s ok with it of course.”
I said that last part loud enough to grab Sunny’s attention. She took a minute, mulling over my words before acting a bit bashful.
“*Oh, I don’t know, I guess I could show off a little,*” she demurred, placing a flipper on her cheek as an attempt to appear modest, but I saw through her act. Her eyes told a different story, as I could see how eager she was to do so.
I smiled, seeing Sunny’s poor attempt at subtlety. In truth, it was a relief that she was handling everything so well, but just to be sure, I was going to address that.
“Go on ahead of us, we’ll be right out!” I said to the group. “I was hoping to talk with Sunny for a bit. Oh and if you could, can you send Phobia over?”
Watcher and Takahashi both nodded, making their way towards the training grounds. The silence left in their leaving was palpable, and I could feel a nervousness building in my chest. I played with Sunny’s Luxury Ball idly, trying to find something to say. Thankfully, I didn’t have to, as Sunny broke the silence first.
“*So Markus, did you like the egg?*” she asked cheerfully, breaking the silence. There was a tinge of anticipation in her voice, hoping that I enjoyed it.
The question broke me from my anxiety’s grasp, and a devious smile began to creep across my face. I had been set up perfectly, and I knew exactly what to say now.
“It wasa€| Egg-celent, everything that it was cracked up to be.”
Sunny’s face went blank, her eyes taking on a blue-ish sheen just a moment. Slowly, she stood, and made her way over to loom above me. We sat there for far too long, the tension starting to build, before suddenly, I was bonk on my head.
“*Horrible.*”
The tension immediately broke, and I couldn’t stop myself from cackling like a loon. I saw Sunny sigh in defeat before joining in with my cackles. We were both trying to catch our breaths when the door started to open.
“*Trainer Markus, I was told you were needing my- Oh? Is that you Madam Sunny Side?*”
The Blissey next to me let out a quiet gasp, seeing my big beautiful purple boy make his way into Takahashi’s home. I looked towards my Pokemon, only needing a moment to realize why Sunny was shocked.
Lichtenberg marks ran all across Phobia’s body, the most prominent ones appeared on his front legs.
I let out a sigh, already guessing he had been so marked up. “Please tell me you weren’t doing anti-electric training without supervision.”
Phobia was quiet, looking everywhere except towards me. Eventually, he nodded, but still doing his best attempt at avoiding my gaze.
I didn’t say anything in response. Instead, I stood, placing myself in front of my partner. I watched him squirm slightly as I continued to stare at him, saying nothing. I didn’t want to make Phobia feel any worse, so eventually I pushed my forehead against his water bubble, making sure I didn’t come into contact with any of the lightning marks.
“I know buddy,” I started with a reassuring tone, “losing like that was rough, and I promise you we’ll work to never lose like that again, but we have to be careful about this. I don’t want you to get hurt trying to improve.”
Phobia finally turned to me, and we locked eyes. With just a glance, I could see the fire in his eyes. Understanding passed between us, our determination and desires fully realized. We were going to be terrors, and this world will know our names.
“*Um, sorry to interrupt, but would you like me to help you Phobia? I’m sure I could heal you up right quick!*”
We both turned, remembering that it wasn’t just the two of us in the room. I felt my face heat up, and a wave of embarrassment flowed over me.
“Ah, yea, that would be wonderful! Thanks, and sorry Sunny,” I said, fighting against the awkwardness we caused. Thankfully, Sunny noiriced, chuckling at my expense.
Almost instantly, Sunny had appeared next to Phobia, a newly formed Softboiled egg in her hands. I blinked, looking from where Sunny had been to her current position. Shea€| was fast. Faster than I’d ever imagined Blissey could move. It was then that I remembered the countless hours I’d spent grinding on wild Blissey, and how quickly they’d moved in the games.
‘We can look into that later,’ I thought. I shook my head, returning my attention back to the others. I let out a whistle, impressed with Sunny’s work. Almost immediately, the lichtenberg marks had started to fade with each bite of the egg Phobia took. It still baffles me how effective healing is in this world.
I flopped into a seat, letting out a breath I didn’t realize I was holding. Now that the situation was settled, I was now faced with possibly the hardest challenge I’ve faced in a long while.
A conversation about the future.
“So hey,” I started, cringing slightly at my awkward opening. It seemed to work though, as it grabbed the attention of my two partners. “I wanted to talk with you guys about where we’re going from here. Firstly though, I’d like to introduce, or maybe re-introduce you two.”
At this point, they had joined me, taking a seat while they chatted with each other. I assumed they were greetings, since I still couldn’t understand a word they were saying. Eventually, they turned to me, seemingly waiting for me to continue.
“Right, so about that talk. I wanted to discuss some plans for the future, and I wanted your guys'' thoughts on the matter. I don’t want to rush you into things, so I don’t need an answer yet. Mainly, I wanted to get this out there so you guys can think about it.”
I paused, steeling my resolve. I looked up, seeing Sunny’s and Phobia’s eyes, filled with anticipation and giddiness. I smiled, already knowing their answer, but stating it anyways.
“I plan on going on a journey, and I wanted to ask if you’d join me.”
Thank you for reading!