Chapter 3: The Wilds

After staying the night in the Pokemon Centre Magnus left for his next destination, Nacrene City where he'd take on his next gym.

Of course this was after he splurged a fit bit of money on all kinds of personal and pokemon products. Potions, antidotes, burn heal, paralyse heal, ice heal, the full lot. One of the things that was drilled into him by Drayden was to always be prepared for any situation.

While he did have some pokemon healing stuff, it was mostly just the basics. Now that he wouldn't be worried about cash for a while Magnus decided to get a decent bit of gear so that he isn't caught off guard by anything that happens to his pokemon.

Other than that, he bought more pokemon food and rations for himself. Nothing fancy, just the tasteless, hard nutrition bars and some tinned food that lasts age which he could eat if he was feeling fancy.

Since he wasn't in any rush Magnus slowed down their travelling speed while on route 3 so that they could get some proper training in.

Stopping at a small secluded pond, Magnus released Magikarp and Feebas while Rookidee floated down from off his shoulder. Ever since the gym battle Rookidee's been in high spirits, his confidence has been at an all time high and he's been desperate to improve even more.

On the way over here, Rookidee was darting through the trees practising his flying while Magnus was struggling to keep pace with the little rocket.

Now that they found a place to train Magnus told them "Right, now that we've passed the first gym, it's time to get some training in. Although Rookidee had a comfortable win in Striaton, I doubt that'll be the case in the next gym… Striations basically the gym where all the Rookies go to win their first badge"

"The rest of the gyms from now on are only going to get harder, and that's why we're all going to keep getting better" His three pokemon all showed similar expressions as they listened, even Magikarp.

Not letting his surprise show on his face Magnus gave them their training agendas.

"Feebas and Rookidee, you two are going to be working together. Feebas I want you to practice Dragon Breath and Hypnosis, we'll try and get their speed and power up as well as training your accuracy with them. You're goal is to hit Rookidee with those moves while he dodges'' Magnus explained to Feebas

"FEE…"

"That's what I like to hear" Magnus nodded before turning to Rookidee "You heard what I said to Feebas. This time you'll be practising you're evasion skills. You've not evolved yet, so there's not much you can do about your weak defence, that's why it's important - at least for now - that you get good at dodging. If you're opponents can't hit you, then there's no need to worry about your defence"

"And make sure to use Roost if you get hit, this'll be good practice for using it on the move. Alright?" Magnus said, Rookidee just done his cute little salute thing again with his wing and left with Feebas.

Watching for a moment as the two made their way to the middle of the lake, Magnus turned to his last pokemon, who somehow still hadn't wandered off yet. There's really not much to train Magikarp in, his species in general aren't the most trainable kind. Hence the reason why everyone doesn't have Gyarados on their team.

"Magikarp you're with me, we're going to train your movements as well as your muscles. There's really not much else to train until you decide to evolve." Magnus told Magikarp who was absolutely ecstatic to hear about his training.

He flopped around and barked like a dog once he heard this training would be using splash to move, that's only it's favourite thing to do. Magnus dodged side as Magikarp came crashing down on his previous position in excitement.

'This could work' Magnus thought as he came up with a game.

"Magikarp! If you manage to catch me I'll give you a treat!" Magikarp yelled at the giant red fish. It took a few moments for Magikarp's brain to piece together what he was saying but once he did, you bet that he moved quickly.

From then on, the game 'Dodge the fucking Carp' became the main method for improving Magikarps maneuverability.

Everyone trained with their respective tasks for a good few hours, before they took a break and began moving again. After training together Rookidee and Feebas became more comfortable with each other, spending the walk speaking to each other about who knows what.

Magnus on the other hand was far more tired than he could've been, had he not come up with a game for Magikarp. Seriously, who would think a Magikarp could be so energetic out of the water, his pokemon was basically amphibious at this point.

Even though he was tired, the training was good for both of them. Magnus could get a workout in while training and bonding with his pokemon, while Magikarp could have all the fun he wants splashing around on solid ground, building up his already impressive physique.

The schedule of travelling and training continued for another three days, as they edged closer and closer to Lenora's gym. After having a few days to hone their skill, Magnus could see a solid improvement in each of his pokemon.

Feebas is finally able to fire off several Dragon Breath in a row without running out of steam, while also becoming more accurate with each of her attacks. During one of the battles Magnus had accepted while travelling, Feebas managed to shoot a Pidove out of the sky with hypnosis.

Even though Pidove aren't the fastest of pokemon they still have a fair bit of agility to them. A Feebas being able to track a moving flying-type with its bare eyes, and hitting it with a status move on top of that is impressive for her species.

Her training partner, Rookidee has also had his own fair share of improvement. Spending the best part of a few days dodging attacks has made him more agile in general, and has even improved his stamina and flying technique.

As Feebas began to get better, Rookidee was clipped by a few roasting hot Dragon Breaths that burned a good portion of his blue black and yellow feathers. The times that happened, Rookidee had to rapidly use Recover mid air, to prepare for Feebas's follow up attacks. Which proved to be a good threat to bring out the best of Rookidee's abilities.

Magikarp on the other hand was just getting better and better. Even though it has only been three days since he had started to properly train, Magnus could already see growth in the Water-type, both in the size and skill department.

Magikarps manoeuvrability on land was outright phenomenal now, he moved as he was supposed to be there in the first place. After the first day, which was mostly a hit or miss, Magnus found it increasingly harder to avoid his easily excitable Magikarp during their game.

But the real surprise in Magnus came from watching Magikarps powerful body expand with every training session. He even debated whether to call in and get Magikarp checked out, since he shouldn't be putting on muscle mass so quickly.

He was as wide as Magnus's waist now. A fucking tank of a mon' in Magnus not so humble opinion.

Just now they were walking down an off road path a few hours out from Nacrene City. Magnus and his pokemon were loving life, just an hour earlier they trounced a trainer that saw them training and picked up another sum of money.

Everything was swell… at least until Magnus and Rookidee began to hear a low sounding buzzing noise. What started off as a low hum gradually rose to a powerful droning sound that sent shivers down Magnus' spine.

A piece of information he saw at the pokemon centre back in Striation flashed in his head. 'Yanma swarms becoming increasingly aggressive within route 3' something that he put to the back of his mind since Yanma were very uncommon within the route.

They were already closing in so he had to come up with a plan fast.

Returning the two water type into their pokeballs, he yelled at Rookidee "Fly up and find the nearest body of water!" Magnus said this for two reasons.

The first was so he could let Feebas and Magikarp fight in an advantageous territory. The second was so he had somewhere to back into if shit hit the fan. Yanma avoid the water because their wings are extremely fragile and can break easily if wet, not to mention their flying speed would drop significantly. So holding his breath, submerging and having one of his pokemon swim him away is as good an escape as anything.

Rookidee cried repeatedly and flew in the direction of what was hopefully some sort of pond or lake. Magnus put his trust in his starter and started sprinting at full pelt after him, praying that the Yamna swarm wouldn't catch up.

Magnus ran as fast as his legs could take him, skipping over the sticks and rocks that were littered in his path. The large trees that blocked the sunlight surrounded him, hopefully doing a good job at slowing down his pursuers.

A small blue and yellow bird was in front of him, guiding him towards what would hopefully be a body of water where they could both fight and retreat. Rookidee weaved in and out of the dense sea of trees, his training clearing doing his good as they're was yet to be a collision.

The terrifying buzz of the swarm of Yanma's continued to increase in volume, it reverberated around the forest scaring off the wild pokemon who didn't want to fight.

Magnus glanced over his shoulder only to see a few probing Yanma in his field of vision, the bulk of the swarm still hadn't caught up, but that time wasn't far off.

With the added pressure, Magnus somehow managed to run even quicker, his chest heaving as he greedily inhaled the woodland scented air, sending oxygen into his muscles that continued to work on overdrive. But matter how fast he moved the speedy Bug-type continued to gain ground on him.

Sensing the trouble that would occur if he was caught he shout to Rookidee "Peck these guys and get them off our tail!".

Listening to his trainer's command Rookidee barrelled around and shot towards the three Yanma. The air around Rookidee aided him, the currents around his body spiraled around his small body pushing him to move even faster than before.

The Yanma were quick but Rookidee was quicker. Before they could even avoid the threat, Rookidee managed to hammer all three of them with Peck taking them out of the chase.

This display of speed and power was courtesy of the new move Rookidee managed to learn during training - Tailwind. Tailwind is a move that fits Rookidee's current fighting style perfectly, it allows him to control the air currents around him in a beneficial manner, taking his speed, evasion and power up another level.

Once Rookidee was done with his task he jetted back towards the still sprinting Magnnus, catching up and surpassing him in no time. He flew into every glowing light that signified the end of the forest, chirping at his trainer to hurry up in the process.

Bursting from the forest Magnus saw the long flat clearing of grass that lead to a wide blue like, making him feel both relieved and exasperated. It was so close yet so far, and worse in the open those Yanma won't have anything slowing them down.

Still he knuckled up and ran towards the shallow shoreline in hopes to release his other pokemon. When he was around three quarters of the way there some of the Yanma began to break free from the forest, their rapidly beating wings buzzed and carried them towards Magnus and Rookidee even faster than before.

'Shit they're going to catch us' Magnus thought, the synapses his his brain sent information around at full speed as the trainer tried to come up with a solution.

By the time the Yanma had halved the distance between them, Magnus had released Feebas out of her pokeball. Turning around to face the ever increasing number of bugs, he held Feebas like a shoulder mounted cannon.

"Feebas, fry these cunts with dragon breath!" He ordered while slowly backing up towards the water.

Wasting no time at all Feebas began unleashing Dragon Breath after Dragon breath at the flying menaces. The streams of blue flames arced through the air and slammed against whatever unlucky pokemon it was aimed at. The draconic flame didn't just stop at singeing their targets though, the flame spread and consumed the Yanma's husks before setting their wings alight, sending the fliers crashing down to earth.

Feebas's aim was on point, the training done wonders for his accuracy and endurance. Not one of her precisely aimed shots missed, downing at least 9 Yanma which succeeded in giving Magnus the time to reach the lake and at the same time making the Yanma extremely weary.

Magnus's ear's were left ringing from the sound of Feebas's attacks going off at point black range. They were like the roars of a raging fire that had just been doused in petrol.

He released Magikarp from his pokeball and tossed Feebas into the water before giving everyone instructions "Feebas you're ranged support, use everything you've got to keep them away from us. Rookidee run interference, harass anything that gets past Feebas's attacks. Magikarp, smack anything that gets close, and don't stray too far from the water."

With their new orders given they prepared for an intense fight. The atmosphere around the lake was intense, both sides entered a face off. One side with overwhelming numbers, the other with overwhelming guts.

The Yanma buzzed around wearily not committing to an attack just yet, it was like they were waiting for something. Too bad for them, Magnus and his team weren't waiting on nothing.

Feebas breathed out a white fog that travelled towards the Yanma blocking their vision and allowing her to fire off Dragon breath's unimpeded. Flashes of blue and screeching was all they could hear from the mist as the bugs chaotically thrashed about.

Soon Yanma began to exit the fog, their beady eyes burning with anger as they charged at Magnus, but before that could happen they'd be put down with one off Rookidee's Flying-type attacks which did serious damage due to them being super effective.

Things were looking good for Magnus and his team for a while, this sort of pattern continued and they started to wear down the numbers of the swarm in a relatively safe manner.

Then something changed.

A loud, savage screech resound around the entire battlefield, the Yanma screeched in chorus alongside it with renewed vigour, while Magnus frowned at the situation. Moments later the one responsible for the sound burst through Feebas's mind and hurtled towards them.

Its large dark green body glimmered against the sun, as its spherical red eyes fixed themselves onto Magnus. The extra set of wings on its back showed their use as the pokemon flew quicker than any Yanmwa could have and prepped an attack that made all four wings shine a brilliant white.

But due to all of Yanmega's focus being on Magnus, Feebas and Magikarp, he failed to notice Rookidee plunging towards him. Rookidee drilled a Tailwind boosted Pluck into Yanmegas carapace right between its glowing sets of wings, causing it to falter in the air.

It was a strong hit, but all it managed to do was enrage Yanmega further. After falling a few metres Yanmega regained its stability and raced at Rookidee, striking him with Steel Wing.

"Rookidee!" Magnus yelled in worry, not caring about the current situation, he dashed away from the lake towards the falling Rookidee. As tough as Rookidee is, excessive frailty was still his biggest weakness, and taking a raging Yanmegas attack on top of hitting the ground after a one hundred feet drop could leave his friend with permanent damage.

If Rookidee himself was willing to risk his future for his trainer, what kind of trainer would Magnus be if he couldn't risk his own in return.

As Magnus exerted himself and sprinted towards Rookidee's falling figure, his other two pokemon were putting a shift in themselves. Feebas upped the frequency of Dragon Breath, trying her hardest to keep the Yanma at bay, and for the first time since the battle started, Magikarp left the water to splash after his trainer, his hulking figure landing on any pokemon that strayed too close to Magnus.

Magnus had almost reached Rookidee's falling figure, when suddenly his little bird's body was encapsulated in a radiant white light akin to the sun, so bright that Magnus had to slightly avert his eyes and watch what was happening through his peripheral vision.

Rookidee was evolving! His shining body stretched and contorted as Rookidee himself released a loud cry. His entire body began to grow, becoming at least six times bigger than before, then the growth began to define itself. Stubby wings became leaner and gained more breadth, his small beak elongated, going from a small point to a large hook, finally his talons extended from his body, becoming bigger and sharper.

While he was still falling, his new form stabilised and the shine covering his body disappeared. Just as Magnus was about to catch him, - no longer entirely confident in holding his new size - his body vanished.

Magnus's eyes darted all over the place trying to find out what happened, only to be alerted by a new cry, one poles apart from a Rookidee's. He shifted his gaze to the sound and was just in time to see the Yanmega get struck by an attack that sent it hurtling towards the ground.

Its attacker's beak was glowing white in a manner similar to peck, only instead of the glow coating just beak, it extended and sharpened into a jagged point for extra effect.

Roo-Corviknight just learned peck.

Corvisquire domineeringly hovered above the scrambling Yanmega with his glowing beak, giving Magnus a chance to take in his newly evolved body.

During the evolution, Corvisquire lost the yellow feathers on his underbelly, replacing them were navy blue ones that made up the majority of his new colour scheme along with black. His wings were a lot bigger now, they looked like they'd be a lot more useful for flything than his previous ones. Other than that, his neck and talons were stretched out giving him a more aerodynamic body and a better weapon for striking his opponents.

In Magnus's eyes he looked like a true flyer now, compared to before.

With a well timed evolution from Corvisquire, Magnus and the gang regained a foothold on the situation. He commanded Corvisquire to the best of his abilities in order to combat the Yanmega, who showed that it was no easy opponent and deserved to lead the swarm.

While the two flyers duked it out in the sky, Feebas and Magikarp kept up the others from interfering with their duel. They did an excellent job, but the longer the battle lasted the harder it became for them. Magikarp was fine, his strong body led him to defeat many Yanma without even becoming the slightest bit tired… It was with Feebas where the problem lay.

She was tired physically from the constant usage of Dragon Breath, as well as mentally from the strain it took to keep the Haze cloud stable. She was unusually sharp for a feebas, whose species is universally renowned for their dull intelligence, but even with her gift she was beginning to struggle.

Magnus, taking note of Feebas's state, urged Corvisquire to finish the battle swiftly, "Use Power Trip and end it!"

Corvisquires sharp beak and talons positively burned with dark energy, all of her previous uses of Hone Claws were used as fuel to up the attack's potency. He dove toward Yanmega - whose carapace was bruised and cracked from the battle - fully intent on honouring his trainer and putting an end to the fight.

Yanmega buzzed its wings rapidly and tried to avoid the sure knock out, but wasn't able to. Corviknight's evolution gave him much greater manoeuvrability in the air, allowing him to redirect his attack and hit Yanmega square on the head, sending it flipping through the air.

The buzzing from Yanmegas wings rapidly quietened, until the sound stopped completely, signifying its loss of flight. With a final burst of desperation driving it, Yanmega screeched loudly, only this time instead of it being a savage cry of war, the screech was more mellow and repetitive, as if it was trying to call something.

Magnus, noticing the strangeness of the call, shouted to his pokemon "Get back to the water!" Thankfully Magikarp wasn't far off and Corvisquire hadn't changed his attitude towards him after evolution, still acting as dutifully as ever.

The remainder of the Yanma swarm, which still had numbers in the twenties, grouped up. They lost morale due to their leader falling but still surrounded his body and waited for something.

Now long after, what they were waiting for finally showed up, and it did not spell good for Magnus. Joining up with the swarm was another four Yanmegas - slightly smaller in size compared to the last - along with their own bands of Yanma. They all joined up to form some sort of super swarm, with the four evolved pokemon taking their lead.

As soon as Magnus saw that the odd's were highly stacked against him, he made his move.

"Corvisquire, return" bringing his starter back inside his pokeball, he immediately took his cap off and clenched it between his teeth, then taking a final gasp of air he submerged himself in the lake.

The cold water engulfed him, sending a chill through his body that he did his best to ignore. A slight pulse of water pushed against him as Magikarp sank down next to him, grabbing a hold of his pokemon's dorsal fins he allowed Magikarp to pull him deeper into the water.

Mentally praying that the swarm didn't have a way to attack them while they were underwater, he hesitantly opened his eyes to view the world beneath the lake. Brushing off the irritating stink that the clear lake water brought to his eyes, Magnus was momentarily stunned by the thriving ecosystem that the lake housed.

The lakebed was covered in green aquatic plants that small groups of poliwag lay within, several schools of brightly coloured magikarp chaotically swam around, searching for food. The remoraid swam slowly around a large spherical rock covered in moss and the luvdisc moved in pairs lovingly playing with each other. All of which seemed blissfully unaware of the angry swarm of pokemon buzzing around just past the surface.

Quickly he spotted an underwater cave that curved upwards towards a surface somewhere other than the lake that they were currently stuck in. According to physics and shit, the surface it led to should level with the lake, meaning they could get there quickly… Hopefully.

If he could escape through there, it would negate the need to riskily resurface in order to breathe. We can't all be like Magikarp and Feebas and stay underwater indefinitely.

With a destination in mind he pointed out the cave to his pokemon, who both began to quickly swim towards, dragging along Magnus who held onto Magikarp for dear life. His vision began to blur and he temporarily closed his eyes to save him the pain that came with moving this fast through water.

They reopened when he felt that they'd stopped, or more like met an obstruction, several obstructions.

A shoal of basculins were lying in wait just a bit into the pool, preventing Magnus from seeing them during his initial observation. There were at least twenty of them, the red and blue striped basculin trained their eyes on the prey that stumbled upon their resting spot.

Too many of them for Magikarp and Feebas to handle, even if they weren't in a rush. Magnus tried his best to communicate with them, using gestures he attempted to tell them to dash past them and that he was running short on oxygen by wrapping his hands around his neck.

Magikarp had no idea what he was getting at, but Feebas being the little sweetheart that she is, managed to make sense of Magnus's commands. Making bubbling noises at Magikarp, she somehow managed to help him understand the plan.

Wiggling in affirmation, Magikarp was now on board. The basculin had already begun to approach the three of them, their jagged teeth flashing menacingly as they swam forwards in a tightly knit group.

Which was a lot better for Magnus's current situation.

Seeing a chance to get by, Magikarp and Feebas shot away, narrowly passing the basculin while Magnus held on to Magikarp for dear life. The basculin were quick to react, turning around, they started to pursue their prey.

Magnus was starting to get light headed, his lungs begged for relief as they throbbed in his chest. His blurry vision managed to make out the shimmering waves of the surface, which gave Magnus the perseverance to hold on.

They were so close, when suddenly something fast shot out towards Magikarp, hitting his scaled side and bruising Magnus's ribs with the aftershock. Magnus was able to catch a glimpse of its large body before water began to pour into his respiratory system.

A long lean green pokemon, with bloody red stripes that connected to its wispy fin. It warfed the basculin nearby and even had a good couple of pounds on Magikarp. It looped round and accelerated towards him, Magnus's life flashed before his eyes as he wearily stared down the huge gaping maw that was moments away from swallowing him whole.

The last vestiges of consciousness lasted long enough to see the large fish get tackled by an equally large fish that protected him from certain death. Along with an angry spotted fish that began to blow blue flames from her mouth that evaporated the water around them.

His sinking body was suddenly pulled upwards, something wrapped around his neck dragging him to the surface.

Breaking free from the water, the small serpentine pokemon pulled Magnus onto the rocky platform as the person in question began coughing his lungs up.

His chest burned with a fiery pain as Magnus repeatedly coughed to get rid of the water that plagued his insides. The pain was only worsened exponentially as his twitching lungs irritated the huge bruise that was already beginning to form on his ribcage.

You are reading story Pokemon: Black, White and Dodgy at novel35.com

After he finished coughing out the water, he greedily inhaled the musky cave air. It was great, his vision was clearing up again and the headache that was taking form began to dull.

Coming back to his senses, Magnus was greeted with his savior, who was a lot bigger than he initially thought. In front of him was a dratini, coming at it at about two meters long probably on the cusp of evolving into a dragonair if its size was to go by anything.

Seeing the incredibly rare pokemon, made a flash of realization dawn across Magnus's features. His pokemon were fighting tooth and nail for him right now, all the while he was standing on safe ground.

Quickly reaching for their pokeballs which were reassuringly still attached to his belt, he dragged himself to the edge of the rocks and was about to recall them, when an eardrum shattering roar started to shake the walls of the cave.

The ebbing water turned increasingly violent as a humongous shadow approached the surface, the once calm pool turned into a swirling whirlpool and at the center of it all was an explosion of water. Powering through the white rapids and making itself known was the majestic, grand, towering form of a Gyarados… and Feebas who used its teeth to clamp onto one of its spinal spikes.

'Holy fucking moly. That can't be Magikarp… Can it?' Magnus thought as he looked at the colossal blue sea serpent.

Roaring once more Gyarados, angrily lunged into the whirlpool, that tens of fainted basculin span around in. Gyarados's giant serrated teeth shined as he bit down onto the pokemon who dared to try and harm himself and his master. Basculegion struggled and flailed but ultimately couldn't escape the powered jaws of the apex sea predator and was eventually crushed into unconsciousness.

Seeing that Gyarados was well on the road to killing the Basculegion, Magnus hopefully called out to him "Gyarados! Don't kill him, throw it over here!"

Hearing his trainer's voice, Gyarados's rage-filled eyes lost their edge. He debated for a good few seconds on what to do, before deciding to throw the pokemon in its jaws next to his trainer.

The unconscious basculegion clattered against the wall, sending pebbles flying everywhere. Seems like Gyarados wasn't going to let it off easily with the excessive force he put into the toss.

Not like it's going to die from that… Right?

Taking an empty pokeball off his waist, Magnus quickly threw the ball at the three meter long Water-type. The Pokeball hit one of the small non damaged parts of basculegions body and sucked the pokemon inside. There was no fight to escape, not after what Gyarados put him through, and with a small click Basculegion was captured.

Retrieving the ball, he turned around to speak to his team and dratini, but as he did so he was met with a leaping Feebas. Moments away from impact, Magnus had to do some quick thinking to prevent his ribs from being damaged further. Just before the moment of contact, Magnus spun and caught Feebas, twirling her around before settling her down lightly against his chest.

Cradling her wet body, Magnus praised "Hey sweetheart, you were amazing back there, absolutely amazing-" Magnus cut himself off as he saw an utterly terrifying sight, Feebas and even Dratini's eyes widened in horror as they saw the giant Gyarados preparing to leap out the water and onto Magnus.

"No! Stop Gyarados! Please STOP!" Magnus cried in fear, he wasn't the only one terrified, all three of them were inside the strike zone and wouldn't be spared if Gyarados went through with it. Helping out they did the pokemon equivalent of yelling stop.

Thankfully after a fair amount of horror filled screaming, Gyarados realised what a bad idea it was and stopped winding up his leap. That or he just figured he couldn't fit on the rocky platform, Magnus was inclined to believe in the latter. From what he could see, the part of Gyarados out of the water was around 7 metres long and that was already scraping the roof. Add on whatever's hidden underneath and it's no wonder how he can't get on the ledge.

Seems like evolution didn't do much for his common sense.

Heaving a sigh or relief, he held Feebas on his shoulder and used his other hand to release Corvisquire from his pokeball. Upon release, Corviknight was in a battle stance, rotating his head around as he inspected the surroundings preparing for an attack that definitely wasn't coming.

Being impossible to miss, Corviknight caught sight of Gyarados, who upon making eye contact broke into a happy smile… Well he tried to at least, he'd definitely scare quite a few people and pokemon with that look.

On the bright side at least he's not flying into rage, like most Gyarados would do just after evolution. Well, he was pretty pissed at the basculin, but who cares at least he's like a Lilipup with Magnus.

Corvisquires head jumped between the smiling Gyarados and the smirking Magnus for a few seconds before finally settling with a deadpan stare aimed at his trainer. He then used his wings to point at Gyarados and Feebas without breaking eye contact with Magnus.

"Yeah, that's Magikarp now, if that's what you're asking." Magnus sighed at his starter, "Swolicarp really grew up, didn't he" he said emotionally, wiping a fake tear from his eye.

Now that everyone had calmed down a bit, Magnus got to saying his thanks "Lads - and ladies, thanks for everything back there. Shit hit the fan real quick, and I would've been dead meat without your help, but you managed to pull us through, and even got stronger because of it."

"I mean you two are looking fresh, the new evolutions made you even cooler" he praised his two newly evolved pokemon with nothing but the truth. The two of them went from fat fish and tiny bird, to fucking sea serpent and a fly looking Corisquire.

Feeling Feebas gently slap him with her fin, Magnus made sure to tell her "Don't worry girl, you look great as well. Fuck what anyone else says" while clapping her leathery side.

Corvisquire seemed interested in Gyarados's evolution, after flying in circles for a while he rested on top the centre pong on Gyarados's crown.

Now that they both stopped moving, Magnus pulled out his pokedex and scanned the two to check what moves they learned during evolution.

'... This Corvisquire knows the moves: Leer, Peck, Power Trip, Hone Claws, Fury Attack, Roost, Sky Attack, Pluck and Taunt.'

'... This Gyarados knows the moves : Splash, Tackle, Flail, Bite, Whirlpool, Twister, Ice Fang, Brine and Scary Face'

"Two new moves for Corvisquire and six for Gyarados. No wonder Magikarp lose it when they evolve, they probably don't know what to do with themselves after learning so much" Magnus muttered as he quickly skimmed through their pokedex entries.

Once he finished reading up on his pokemon's new evolutions, he turned to face the one who dragged him out of the water, Dratini.

All eyes in the cave turned on Dratini, one of which being gyarados which couldn't look harmells if it tried. This obviously made Dratini a bit skittish, as she curled up on herself and wearily looked at Magnus.

Seeing the Dragon-type's discomfort, Magnus said as gently as possible, "Don't worry we're not going to hurt you. I just wanted to thank you for pulling me out the water back there, if I was under any longer I would've had more problems than just watery lungs"

Listening to his words, Dratini slightly uncoiled and edged towards Magnus, but still shot timid glances at Gyarados.

Nipping the problem in the bud, Magnus called out to his pokemon, "Gyarados", Now with dratini wrapped around his arm he finished the sentence, "Do me a favour and look less scary"

Gyarados didn't quite understand what he meant, tilting his head sideward he confusedly looked at Feebas and Corvisquire for answers. Feebas just shook her head in exasperation and Corvisquire was equalled as confused as Gyarados, he seemed to think Gyarados was more cool than scary.

Which Magnus thought as well, but was smart enough to realise that not everyone would see it that way.

Running his hands down Dratini's slender - slightly malleable - body, he approached the confused Gyarados and said "See, Gyarados is just a big softie"

Gyarados inclined his head to take a closer look at Dratini, which initially frightened Dratini, making her recoil slightly and squeeze Magnus's arms even tighter. But once Dratini realised Gyarados wasn't going to do anything, she began to curiously probe his nose with a few pokes of the tail.

Gyarados blankly allowed it to happen, until a ticklish feeling began to build up in his sinus. The pressure quickly became unbearable and he quickly moved his head away from Magnus and Dratini. Not a moment later Gyarados made a loud sneezing sound and two jets of water that rivalled a water gun in power splashed off the cave's stony wall.

Magnus just deadpanned at the strange scene of Gyarados sneezing and banked it away in his memories in case anyone asked an obscure question about his pokemon's sneezes.

Refusing to let Dratini poke at Gyarados's nose, he curiously questioned "So, how did you end up here?"

Dratini as a species, were rarer than their fully evolved counterparts Dragonite. Mostly because Dragonite occasionally roam the skies, giving people the chance to see them from afar, while Dratini were normally kept hidden away in a secure location and protected by their elders.

So seeing one here is quite a surprise, since there weren't any dragonite sightings nearby - at least to Magnus's knowledge - it had probably been here for a while.

Dratini perked up at the question, forming a string of Dra's and Tini's to compile an answer. Magnus being a human and all, had fucking no fucking clue as to what dratini was saying so he had to call an interperator over to help.

"Corvisquire translate for me" he asked the bird.

Corvisquire landed in front of him and started to periodically squawk and jolt his wings about in a chaotic manner. Even though it was difficult Magnus managed to make a rough estimate on what was trying to be conveyed.

"Big battle, explosion, leave… Separate?" Magnus stuttered out possibilities until he formulated a sentence that appeased the two pokemon.

"So there was a big battle, some sort of attack separated you from your tribe and you've been here ever since" he stated, causing Corisquire to nod and Dratini to wiggle happily on his arm.

Magnus began to wonder what happened to throw Dratini into this situation. The dragonite were probably migrating to a different location - they do that sometimes - and when they were passing here, they ended up fighting someone, or something.

But what could even fight with a group packing that much power? There were definitely, at the very least 2 dragonites backed up by an inestimable number of dragonair. Magnus roughly guessed that it was a group of trainers that got too greedy and attempted to capture the dragons.

Pulling out his Pokedex, Magnus scans Dratini.

'Dratini, the dragon pokemon. Dratini is called the 'Mirage Pokemon' because so few have seen it. This Dratini knows the moves: Leer, Wrap, Twister, Thunder Wave, Dragon Tail, Agility, Slam, Dragon Dance, Dragon Rush and Extreme Speed' the pokedex's voice commented.

Both of Magnus's eyebrows raised at the crazy moves Dratini knows. With attacks like that, he wouldn't be surprised if both of his parents were Dragonite. It also begged the question why he never tried to leave here, Basculegion is fast but he doubts it would keep up with dratini using Extreme Speed.

"Hey girl, is there a reason why you stick around here?" Magnus asked while he clapped here head comfortingly. Corvisquire helped Magnus out again and they found out she was actually waiting for her parents to come and find her.

It's a bit heartbreaking honestly, Dratini's been waiting here for a while and her parents were a no show. Magnus wondered if he should break they news to her, that most likely they aren't coming.

After explaining her reason for waiting, Dratini ended up looking a little downcast. Watching as Dratini huffed a misty sigh and sank her body further into the collar of his wet t-shirt.

Taking a deep breath, Magnus decides to just go for it and rip the bandaid off as quickly and cleanly as possible.

Putting on his gentlest voice possible Magnus breaks the news to Dratini, "Dratini, I… Don't think your parents are coming back… I'm sorry" While it wasn't the best idea to tell her such sensitive information when he's well inside the danger zone if Dratini freaks out and attacks. He still said it anyway, Magnus could somewhat sympathise with Dratini being abandoned, being an orphan himself. So after he said those words, he caressed Dratini lovingly, in hopes she would stay calm.

Dratini's coiling immediately froze, slowly she slid her head out from under Magnus's t-shirt to give view to two cloudy black orbs.

"Dra?.." she deplorably squeezed out, looking up with sad eyes at Magnus. Before the water works could hit, Magnus brought her into a hug and rubbed her spine as Dratini rested her head over his shoulder.

Magnus, Corvisquire, Feebas and even Gyarados could feel the raw, unfettered emotion spewing for Dratini at his moment.

Her pain, her sadness, her loneliness.

It was all released from its self imposed shackles and came out in the form of the pitiful tears of the young dragon. She likely already knew they wouldn't be coming back, but still she held onto hope with her child-like faith and trust in her parents.

Magnus felt something in his heart chip away as he callously watched and heard the grief of dratini. Whatever he went through as a child was nothing compared to what dratini was going through right now.

While he has next to zero memories of his parents, Dratini's mind was full of them, and made the loss hit just that bit harder.

Magnus told himself that what he did was right, that Dratini couldn't just waste away her days waiting for something that might never come. But now, he wasn't so sure.

The tears lasted for a while, each pokemon gave their condolences in hope that Dratini could move on, but something like this couldn't be glossed over in such a short amount of time. It did however pull her out of the slump, for however short a time that may be.

Still coiled around Magnus, the trainer asked Dratini, "Do you want to come with us?" He was aware that it might be insensitive to ask that just now, but he thought that something to keep her mind off it would do her some good.

"We'll explore the cave a bit, If I'm not wrong we should be inside wellspring cave. If we explore, we might be able to find some stuff worth selling, maybe even another pokemon or two." Magnus explained to everyone, and they had no problem with it. All that was left was for Dratini to decide if she'll come or not.

Tightening her grip around Magnus, she let in a small "Dra" and rested her head on his shoulder.

Taking that as a yes, Magnus and the team disappeared into Wellspring Cave, apart from Gyarados who was too big to fit.

Once they moved from the watery entrance they used to enter the cave, they lost the last bits of natural light they needed to see. The tunnel was in absolute darkness, the only one who could accurately see was Feebas, since her eyes were made to see in dark murky water. Corvisquire wasn't that bad off either, but his eyes were meant for seeing at distance and sensing movement.

Magnus and Dratini were completely helpless, the both of them could barely see each other and that was with Dratini wrapped around his neck.

To combat this problem, Magnus pulled some flashlights out of his trusty bag, keeping two from himself and passing one on to Corvisquire to hold in his talons.

The cave was only about three metres in height, so Corvisquire wasn't very comfortable with flying and ended up perched atop Magnus's head, - which he was far too big for now - tearing away at Magnus's caps fabric unintentionally with his sharp talons.

The weight both Dratini and Covisquire pressed down on him was considerable, but at least it practically gave him a miners helmet, and a decent workout to boot while they explored.

Keeping the grind going, he gave Feebas a task. She was to continuously blow small streams of Dragon Breath, in a manner that resembles a torch to help light up the tunnel. This would train both her endurance and finesse with her current strongest attack.

It took Feebas a minute or two to figure out the right amount of breath to use before she could use it while moving. Feebas's use of Dragon Breathe intrigued the other girl in the group, who seemed to want to try the technique as well.

Before Dratini could try breathing dragon fire, Magnus made sure to remove her from his person, not wanting to end up with extreme burns by any stretch of the imagination.

Dratini was hesitant to release him, but after Feebas managed to convince Dratini with her eloquent use of "Fee…Bas", Dratini slithered off Magnus and took her place at the front beside Feebas.

Magnus's curiously watched her first attempts, where she'd go "Dra!" and adorably cough up small blue embers that'd barely travel the length of his arm.

Most trainers would be adverse to letting pokemon use fire moves in an enclosed space with a limited supply of oxygen, and so would Magnus if he never knew that Dragon-based fire moves don't actually use oxygen to burn.

Back in Opelucid City, when he was still at the academy, the topic came up in one of the survival lessons. There was a question about what moves were safe to use inside enclosed spaces or something like that.

Drayden ended up making the class do an experiment to prove that Draconic flames don't need oxygen to stay alight. The flames actually use the dragon-type energy the pokemon produces to sustain itself, as shown when his Altaria used the move in an oxygen free environment.

Not wanting to be the only one slacking off, Corvisquire temporarily left his spot on Magnus' head to retrieve some moderately heavy rocks from the caves floor. Upon return to his perch, he started curling the rock like he was some sort of Machoke building muscle.

Magnus May or may not have told him that he should be able to learn Steel Wing faster if he made his wings stronger. Since then whenever he's had spare time he's been pumping iron… or rocks, wood, basically anything that suits as weights.

A few hours had passed and they'd found a wide open area in the Wellspring Caves, other than having a substantial amount of stoney floor to stand on, there was also a wide underground lake.

Choosing to take a break here, Magnus let the big man out of his pokeball and started to set up shop for the night.

On the way over they seen a few different type of pokemon, there was the odd Poliwag and Poliwhirl that were walking on land to move from water source to water source, but mostly they seen small to medium sized colonies of Woobats and Swoobats, who were happy enough to let them pass by without a fight, while they hung from the ceiling and slept.

The main encounter they had was with a group of Rogenrolla who were having trouble finding a way up a high ledge, their small legs couldn't carry them up it, so Magnus and his Pokemon took it upon themselves to help out.

They were fucking heavy. Magnus was genuinely straining himself to lift one of them up a ledge that was at chin height. So by the time he was done moving the other thirteen his arms were killing him.

But what the Rogenrolla did after as a thanks was enough to make him ignore his numb arms.

Once they were all helped up, they urged Magnus to follow them down. Having nothing better to do at that moment in time, Magnus tailed the slow moving Rock-types down a winding set of tunnels. With them moving so slowly, Magnus never had to rush and had plenty of time to leave markers on the walls in case they had to retrace their steps.

Eventually He was brought to a dusty looking protector that must've been here for years. After wiping the age off it he noticed it was still in great condition and would come in handy if he ever caught a Rhydon that wanted to evolve into a Rhyperior.

Appreciating the Rogenrollas gesture, he bagged the protector and waved goodbye to the stalwart group.

Not long after they arrived here and he was currently handing out pokemon food for everyone including dratini. Compared to the start, Dratinis a lot happier?... The exact word is difficult to pin down but she's looking a lot better now and is currently conversing with Feebas.

Chomping down on some beef jerky, Magnus and his pokemon ate in relative serenity. At least until Magnus saw how Gyarados absolutely demolished his food and begged for more.

He'll have to buy a lot more food to feed Gyarados once he leaves the cave, and that's going to be an absolute money guzzler. The upkeep for something so large that actually requires food is going to be a pain, since it's not like Gyarados can photosynthesize for his nutrients.

When they finished eating, Magnus sat next to Dratini to ask her something. But before he could speak she slithered over and curled up on his lap.

Stroking her for a little while Magnus said "Dratini, how would you like to be one of my pokemon, and you know, stay with us."

Dratini's purring stopped at the question, and she twisted her body to properly face Magnus who was holding a pokeball. She seemed to be deliberating it when Magnus gave her another option, "Or I could send you to someone who might know where your tribe is, he could take you home"

Magnus eventually thought of Drayden, one of the only dragon masters in Unova. If anyone knows where Dratini's family is, it's him.

Her eyes lit up at the second option, but she eventually shook her head. Surprising Magnus she swiftly swiped her tail at the pokeball in his hand, thinking she was going to bat it away, Magnus tried to move his hand, but it was too late.

The tip of Dratinis tail hit the primer of the pokeball and she was promptly sucked inside.

Magnus sat dazed as he watched the red pokeballs shake from side to side, a few shakes later it stopped and clicked, signifying a successful capture. Breaking from his stupor, Magnus grasped the stationary ball and released its contents, out of it came Dratini who promptly slid up his body and wrapped herself around his neck.

Rubbing the white underside of her head Magnus smiled and said "Welcome to the team"

Just in front of them was Corvisquire giving a feathery thumbs up, Feebas clapping her tail against the ground and Gyarados who was sadly licking at his empty bowl.

 

---

 

Remember and leave a review!

You can find story with these keywords: Pokemon: Black, White and Dodgy, Read Pokemon: Black, White and Dodgy, Pokemon: Black, White and Dodgy novel, Pokemon: Black, White and Dodgy book, Pokemon: Black, White and Dodgy story, Pokemon: Black, White and Dodgy full, Pokemon: Black, White and Dodgy Latest Chapter