"Well this sure wasn't how I'd imagined my journey to start out," Caley remarked to his Psybab as they wandered from Pyra City's north gate and down the seemingly endless path through the hillside. "Almost killed by some psycho girl, seeing a whole bunch of Pokémon that, according to my Pokédex, shouldn't even exist. And now, I'm on my way to try and find the headquarters of the most dangerous criminal organization in the world...how do I get myself into things like this?”
Kota tilted his head to one side with a curious expression as his trainer uttered a sigh which indicated his personal fears were in a fearsome conflict with what he'd previously decided to do.
"I don't even know where this place is! And even if I do find it, what am I going to do then? I mean, it's just you and me against all those criminals - and we haven't had a proper chance to train together yet."
Caley's words sputtered into silence as a harsh, grating snore
reverberated into the air from somewhere nearby. Glancing up, the trainer and
his Pokémon found themselves looking upon a small, dark blue six-legged dog,
sleeping upon the
grass.
Pedien, the Urudex screen read. These Pokémon easily tire as their disproportionate heads weigh heavy upon their shoulders.
"A Pedien, eh?" Caley pondered. He recalled it being one of the other starter Pokémon that Professor Amber offered me at the lab. "Maybe if we recruited more members for our 'fighting force', we'd stand a better chance."
Kota nodded vigorously as he followed Caley toward their intended subject of conversation. Pedien opened one beady eye as its powerful hearing detected the approach between the two figures standing a short distance away. Before Caley had a chance to open his mouth and ask if the Pokémon would be interested in training with him, it had scrambled to its feet and charged straight into the unsuspecting young man, throwing him across the grass. Witnessing this impulsive action, Kota leapt forward with an aggressive expression that looked most disturbing on such a youthful Pokémon.
"Ow..." Caley groaned slightly, rubbing at his stomach. "Guess this guy needs to burn off some steam before we try and reason with 'em. Just remember what we're up against here, psybuddy. This is a dark type, so no confusion attack is going to work."
"Psy-ba," Kota acknowledged, before levitating into the air. Caley pointed a finger forward as the Pedien .
"Body slam, Kota!"
As the Psybab propelled itself forward with the force of its telekinesis, the Pedien dived towards him at the same time, all six legs pounding against the floor in an ominous drumming motion. Both Pokémon made impact with a sickening crunch, but while Kota reeled with the force of the assault, Pedien stood its ground, shifting only a few back a few inches from the blow.
"Either that's a high level Pedien, or that's one thick skull it's got," Caley exclaimed in amazement. "Okay, Kota...let's try this from another angle. Teleport!"
Kota nodded and disappeared. A second later it materialised directly behind Pedien and did a mocking little dance. Pedien growled in annoyance and charged again, this time with its jaws wide open. Just as it seemed the canine Pokémon was about to sink its fangs into the little psychic dragon, it vanished from sight, leaving Pedien to bite firmly into a rock that had been concealed behind Kota's body.
"Nice move, Kota!" Caley cheered, while Pedien struggled and whined in its feeble attempts to pull its muzzle from the rock. Keeping low to the ground, the trainer approached the dark type Pokémon so it could see him more clearly. "You know, I wouldn't have had to do that if you'd just listened to what I had to say," he explained.
The Pedien growled distrustfully, but the utterance petered out as the Pokémon took note of the sincere look in Caley's eyes. It resorted to whining instead, partly out of apology, but mostly because of the pain of the sizable rock in its mouth.
"Alright, I'll get you free," Caley said patiently. "Just so long as you hear me out this time." He carefully grasped the upper and lower halves of Pedien's jaw and nodded for Kota to take hold of the rock that was lodged between them. One swift tug later, Pedien was sitting waiting expectantly for Caley's next sentence.
"We kinda got off on a sour note the first time, so let's try again," the trainer scratched the back of his head with one hand, while cheerfully offering the other. "My name's Caley. Kota and I, we're on a mission of sorts. We wondered if you might be interested in joining us on our journey to find the Team Rocket HQ."
Pedien thought this matter over for a few moments. It was clear it hadn't ever heard of Team Rocket, but something told Caley the Pokémon was quite the adventurer. The assumption was confirmed when the canine placed one of its front paws in Caley's hand for him to shake. The trainer grinned triumphantly.
"That's settled, then," he said. "Now...we gotta give you a name. But are you male or female? Bark once for the first, twice for the second."
"Peh!" came the excited response.
"Male, hm?" Caley deduced. "How does the name 'Stian' sound to you?"
The Pedien nodded in favour, and with that, Caley allocated him to his own personal Pokéball. Recruitment over, the trainer and his Psybab continued their walk northward.
“Better get a move on,”
Caley remarked, watching as the sun
began to lower itself from the topmost point in the sky. “I’d like to reach the next
location before nightfall. Come to think about it, I'd better look and see what
that is.”
"Hey mum," he greeted, once he'd pressed the connection button.
“Oh Caley!” came Pat's anxious voice
from the other end. “I'm so glad to hear your voice again. How are you darling?”
“Just great,” Caley smiled, thinking of the new Pokémon he had just caught. "I've passed through Pyra City and was just heading north."
"How wonderful!" Pat exclaimed, sounding more relaxed. "You must be walking towards Coyna City then. Such an interesting place, I have friends that live there. Anyway, it's good to know you're alright."
"What made you think I wasn't?" Caley blinked, as Kota floated alongside trying to pick up on what the trainer's mother was saying.
"Well you hadn't called since you left," Pat insisted. "And there was also this terrible thing that happened in Prela Tunnel. Police think a fight may have broken out and it must have been a bad one, judging from the scale of the damage. I just needed to make sure you hadn't been the one caught up in it."
“Uh, thanks mum,” Caley murmured, suddenly feeling very uncomfortable. He wasn't at all willing to tell Pat it was indeed him that had been the victim in that assault. But to his relief, his mother hadn't picked up on her son's awkwardness.
“Now I'd better go,” Pat said cheerily. "These phone bills certainly don't pay themselves! Good luck on your travels, Caley. I know you'll make me proud." The phone then cut off. Caley looked at the floor.
"I'm not so sure she'd be proud of me if she knew what I was about to try and
do," he sighed. "More likely she'd think I was reckless. But a decision is a
decision."
Kota suddenly froze in mid air, ears twitching. A movement in the bushes nearby had caught the psypokemon's attention.
“What is it?” asked Caley, whose
senses were nowhere near as acute. A split second later a small, brown
Pokémon with a golden head crest leapt out from amongst the foliage, straight
toward Kota, who dodged, and began to pummel at
Caley’s leg desperately.
“Nin! Nih-ninchuk!”
It then disappeared back through the bush before Caley could identify it. Kota followed, motioning for Caley to do the same. As the trio reached the other side, Caley saw a small boy, wearing a t-shirt, shorts and a baseball cap on backwards. He was slumped forwards on the grass, moaning softly.
"What happened?" Caley asked worriedly.
"I was picking berries up in that tree, when some nasty Spearow knocked me off the branch," the boy mumbled in pained tones. I think I broke my arm…”
"We'd better get you back home then and let your parents know what happened," Caley nodded,
looking in his satchel for anything he could use as a makeshift splint.
"I'm Nathan," came the reply. "And I live in Kehera Village. But I don't want to go back there. That horrible place is why Sinu and I ran away! We were going to live out here on berries and stuff until things got better."
"Whoa, things must be really bad if you're willing to resort to that," Caley bit his lip. "What is it, exactly? Family problems? School getting you down?"
"Nah..." Nathan shook his head. "It's these four kids."
"Four kids?" Caley decided to sit down, he had the feeling this was going to take a while. "So it's bullies you've been having trouble with?"
"Kinda," Nathan said. "But its not just me they're picking on. It's pretty much everyone in the whole village! They dress up in really weird clothes and go around doing all sorts of messed up stuff and getting us other kids in trouble!"
"What kind of stuff?" Caley inquired, his curiosity growing. He didn't feel this kind of behaviour was Team Rocket's thing, but regardless it was certainly something he felt impelled to investigate. "Maybe I should go and take a look for myself, huh?"
"I wouldn't do that if I were you," Nathan shook at the very thought. "They don't care whether you've lived in the village all your life or whether you're a newcomer, they'll target you all the same."
"All the more reason I should go and visit," Caley stated firmly. "Someone needs to teach those kids some manners."
"Oh, they've tried, believe me," Nathan exclaimed. "I should know. My dad's the guy who runs official village business. But these guys don't care - they have no respect for anyone, other kids or grown ups,"
"Well maybe I could offer up some ideas your dad might not have thought of yet," Caley insisted optimistically. "Come back to Kehera with me, Nathan. You need to get that arm looked at and besides, your parents will be worried about you."
"Okay..." Nathan sighed, allowing Caley to help him to his feet using the boy's uninjured arm. "The village isn't too far from here, about half an hour's walk. I should get back in time for dinner." He started to sound more agreeable towards the idea at this point. "It's Finneon and Chips tonight, my favourite."
***~~***~~***~~***~~***
Mayor Dominic Baker and his wife Carla were deeply overjoyed to have their son returned to them safe and mostly unscathed later that afternoon. It soon became apparent just how worried they had been when an Officer Jenny and her two male officer counterparts arrived during the family's reunion. Discovering that Nathan was back home once again and medically attended to, the Police resumed their original duties, leaving Nathan's father to reward Caley accordingly. No sooner had the trainer blinked than he had been offered to stay for dinner.
Sitting upon a padded, varnished oak chair in a lavishly-decorated dining room, Caley started to feel somewhat out of his league. Nathan's family were unmistakably wealthy, yet despite this, the boy had been willing to give up everything and live off the land because of the threat overshadowing him. Caley shuffled uncomfortably - maybe these kids were more troublesome than he had first thought.
"Here comes the starter!" Carla announced happily, walking into the room with a covered tray. Carefully placing the tray upon the table in front of her three recipients, the woman whisked away the lid to reveal a selection of steaming white food items. "Today I decided to mix good old fashioned Tatto cuisine with something more 'far southern'. Help yourselves, my good men!"
"What are they?" Dominic asked, while Nathan leant forward and prodded tentatively at the seaweed that one of the balls of rice was wrapped in.
"Onigiri," Carla explained, tapping Nathan's fingers with the end of her spatula. "A traditional Hoennian snack food that I've heard is quite good for you."
"Ewie," commented Nathan, wrinkling up his nose. "Can't we just have soup like we normally do?"
"Trying something different for one night won't hurt you, Nathan," his mother insisted with some irritation at the way her son was behaving in front of their guest. "Would you like one or two, Caley?"
"One would be great, thank you," the trainer replied politely, picking up a folded cloth and tucking it into the collar of his zip-up sweater to use as a napkin. He was willing to try out some Hoenn style food and the enthusiastic grin upon his face said that all too well. As Carla made a move to serve the Onigiri, however, there was a loud crackle of electricity and the room was plunged into darkness for a split second.
"Not again!" Dominic exclaimed, staring aghast at the tray once the light returned. Curiously enough, the Onigiri had vanished and in its place were now arranged a row of bread rolls filled with salad and Tauros meat. Before Caley could even react, Nathan had snatched up one of the rolls and held it in front of his gaping mouth.
"Awesome!" he cried. "Much better than some rice thingies wrapped in leaves."
"Nathan-Ray Baker!" Carla snapped. "Don't you dare take a bite, you know these doesn't belong to us."
"Wh-what's going on?" Caley spluttered, looking a little flustered at this absurd occurrence. As if in reply, a gruff man's voice was heard yelling from an open window of the house across the street:
"Hey! What d'ya call this crap? Rice gives me a rash, where're me rolls?"
"Sorry, Mr. Larkin!" Carla called from the dining room window, grabbing the tray and heading for the front door. Both Dominic and Nathan uttered deep sighs at this point, for varying reasons.
"I must apologise for this, Caley," Dominic spoke up. "I'm afraid what you just saw there was the work of some very meddlesome children that have been pestering our village for some time now."
"Those four kids Nathan told me about earlier?" the trainer exclaimed. "How'd they manage to switch our food with the stuff belonging to the guy over the road like that?"
"We don't really know," Dominic replied. "This is just one of the many unexplained yet frustrating tricks they play on Kehera Village citizens."
"And most of the time they don't work in my favour," Nathan pouted, wishing they could have kept Mr. Larkin's rolls. Caley looked thoughtful - no doubt the children responsible would stay out of sight to prevent their parents from knowing of their actions. If anyone was going to get anywhere with this investigation, somebody would need to unmask the pranksters.
"Mr. Baker?" he began. "Would you be interested in any help stopping those four kids from making the lives of your villagers miserable?"
"You're welcome to," Dominic nodded. "Come tomorrow morning I'll be busy dealing with a mountain of complaints. But I warn you this won't be like catching Pokémon, Caley. Those children are quite skilled at keeping themselves hidden."
"I'll keep that in mind, sir," Caley bowed his head slightly. It wasn't like he hadn't had more than his share of weird circumstances already.
***~~***~~***~~***~~***
Following a refreshing sleep in a comfortable bed provided by Nathan's parents, Caley set out on yet another self-imposed mission. Nathan followed with Sinu in tow, partly to see what Caley intended to do, but mostly because the multitudes of ringing telephones in his father's office were driving him crazy.
"To unmask a thief, one needs to catch them in the act," the trainer mused. "Same goes for any kind of troublemaker. But to catch these kids in the act, I need to know what it is they get up to." He turned to Nathan expectantly. "What kind of pranks do they pull?"
Nathan said nothing, but instead redirected Caley's attentions to a signpost above their heads. Its size and proximity to the entrance gates were more than a passing hint that this was Kehera Village's name plaque. Or at least it had been - the words that were once there proved to be illegible now, blotted out by globs of bright yellow paint. Caley scratched his chin.
"So they're into vandalism, huh?" he remarked.
"Yeah, that's what they're best known for," Nathan replied. "And its not just road signs - shops along the main street had to put up new signs several times this month because those four kids keep painting 'em out. Books and people's letters, too! Nothing with writing on is safe."
"That's kooky," Caley pulled a face. "Not to mention leaves things pretty open as to where they'll appear next. Do they do anything else?"
Right on cue, there was heard a child's wailing from somewhere around the corner. Picking up speed, Caley and Nathan dashed down a side passage to be confronted with a boy who looked about Nathan's age, sitting on the floor cradling something in both hands.
"What happened now, Will?" Nathan gasped.
"I was muh-minding my own business playing with my SOL Capture gun when one of those horrible kids, the fat one, he came and buh-broke it!" Will held out the lump of crushed plastic to back his tale, lip quivering. "Now it just looks like a basebaaall!"
Nathan turned to Caley with an almost pleading expression. It was clear he was unhappy over his friend's misfortune. Caley began to frown deeply - painting on signs was bad enough, but this? It seemed the four kids would stop at nothing to ruin the enjoyment of others who only wanted to live peaceably with them. Something had to be done fast, before things really got out of hand.
An ominous rumble was heard, causing the trio of figures in the alley to glance up instinctively. They expected to see the familiar dark grey clouds that so often signalled the presence of the wet weather Tatto was best known for. However, they found themselves looking at nothing but a clear summer sky.
"This just keeps getting weirder," Caley shook his head. "First thunder, now I swear I can hear rain falling even though there's none there."
"Actually..." Nathan trailed off as he pointed over his older companion's shoulder. It seemed that a cloud (if but a very small one) was indeed hanging over Kehera Village, and was raining in an isolated spot. Angry cries could now be heard under the rush of water, prompting Caley and Nathan to run off in the direction of this anomaly. However, they arrived a little too late.
"Blasted kids!" complained an elderly man bitterly from the sodden bench he was sitting on. "Can't a guy read his newspaper in peace?" He brought the waterlogged wad of reading material back up to eye level, but the watching youths could clearly see the writing upon it was far from legible.
"But how?" Caley spluttered. "If that was a rain cloud I just saw, how did they-"
"Rain Dance, o' course!" the man snapped. "Don't you know your Pokémon techniques, boy?"
"Those kids have Pokémon?" Caley exclaimed, more to Nathan this time. He shrugged in response - it appeared he was as aware of this fact as Caley had been.
"Well of course they do, you uneducated blimmith!" came the abusive reply. "Y'don't expect they leapt around and did it themselves, do you?"
Caley fidgeted uncomfortably, unsure of what to say to the pensioner and just wishing he could leave. He was about to get his wish granted - seconds later, Nathan yanked hard on the sleeve of the trainer's jacket.
"I just saw another one!" he hissed.
"They ran off 'round the corner, c'mon!"
This time, the pair were more successful in their findings. The target in question was so engrossed in sizing up the location for their next piece of handiwork that they had failed to realise someone was watching them. Such an absence of awareness gave Caley a chance to examine matters more closely.
Standing a little over four feet tall, the figure was clad from head to toe in black fabric which left nothing but a length of brown, cream-tipped hair visible. This hair was tied up in a ridiculously large bow with pink ribbon, giving the overall appearance of a ninja with bizarre fashion sense.
"You were right about weird clothes," Caley murmured to Nathan, who couldn't help but snicker at this point. "But judging by the hair, I'd say this one's a girl. What's she staring at?"
"I bet its the billboard over there," Nathan pointed. "That's the kid who paints all over everything."
Caley blinked, wondering just how she was intending to paint on anything without any paint to hand. As he pondered this, the figure leapt up into the air, flicking her head round in one sudden movement. A bright blue substance spattered against the billboard, seemingly from nowhere, before the figure returned her thin boot-clad feet to solid ground once more. Noting her decision to escape, Sinu uttered an angry cry.
"Nih! Nin-chuh-kuu!"
The figure swung round upon hearing the noise, her oddly-shaped crimson eyes full of unmistakable panic. As Sinu dived forward, his target bounded instinctively in reverse to avoid the Ninchuk's flailing arms. Her hair was thrown to one side with the momentum, causing Caley's mouth to drop open slightly upon sight of it. Absurd as the concept was, the trainer knew what he saw couldn't be a figment of his imagination - the ends of the figure's hair were indeed dripping with blue paint!
Or at least he thought it was paint. With the absence of any paint tins, Caley wasn't entirely sure. However, Nathan was determined to find out, once and for all.
"Sinu! Unmask that girl!" he commanded in a manner that was surprisingly powerful for someone his age. The figure let out a squeal of alarm and turned to run, but her decision had been made too late. Sinu ended up grabbing hold of her sodden hair, pulling the figure onto her back in the process. Seizing the opportunity, Nathan ran over and snatched at the cloth that was covering the figure's head. It came away easily, but the vision that resulted was far from what the two boys had bargained for.
Staring fearfully back up at them with tear-stricken eyes, was the brown, furred face of a Lopunny.
Before Nathan had a chance to utter a word, he was thrown backwards onto the ground by the force of one of the Lopunny's tied up ears before the distraught Pokémon scampered off amongst the buildings and out of sight.
"Well, I sure wasn't expecting that," Caley murmured, as Sinu tried to assist Nathan with wiping the blue goop from his face. "But at least the kooky outfit makes a bit more sense now. Still, why would a Pokémon with an obvious artistic talent go to such lengths to use the talent to wipe out writing?"
"Artistic talent..." Nathan ran these words over in his mind. "Hey, that reminds me! There's an artist guy who lives in the corner of the village, maybe he'd know something about this."
"It's a bit of a long shot, but what have we got to lose?" Caley nodded. "Show me the way."
***~~***~~***~~***~~***
"This is dreadful," the man at the table sighed heavily, fiddling with his coffee mug. "I was hoping it would get better before it got worse."
"You mean, you knew this was happening?" Nathan spluttered, looking annoyed. There was an uncomfortable silence - Caley's puzzled gaze met with that of the aged artist, who nodded slowly.
"I wasn't entirely certain, but I had the feeling they were up to something when they kept disappearing more frequently," he said. "The children you mention are not human, but Pokémon. I recruited them during my travels, astounded by their wonderful artistic skill. Here I began to teach them as my students, and while it seemed things were working out as I had hoped, something must have been amiss."
"Of course!" Nathan exclaimed. "Pokémon are meant to fight, not make silly models and paint stuff!"
"That's not entirely true," Caley told him calmly. "Pokémon are like us. They have their strengths and weaknesses, and not all of them have a desire to battle." He turned his attentions back toward the man. "Archie...we're not blaming you for what's happened. We're just confused as to the weird behaviour of your Pokémon."
"Me too, Caley. Me too," Archie placed his head in one hand. "Russ, Freda and Taycee seemed so enthusiastic to learn how to improve their personal talents, why would they suddenly turn to mindless troublemaking?" He flinched, noticing Nathan's injured arm which was now wrapped in a sling. "Oh please, don't tell me they did that to you."
"Nono, this was my fault," Nathan grinned sheepishly, before Caley sat up in realisation.
"Wait, you only mentioned three Pokémon names," he began. "What about the fourth?"
"Fourth?" Archie blinked. "I only teach three."
"And yet, villagers all over Kehera are complaining about four kids..." Caley mulled this over. "Archie, I think I've figured out what could be causing your students to act this way. They've got themselves another teacher."
"If that's the case, this teacher needs to be stopped," Archie frowned. "They're a bad influence on my protégés."
"Glad we agree on that," Caley nodded. "And I know just how we can do it, too."
***~~***~~***~~***~~***
From a treetop somewhere in Kehera, a small boy stood vigilantly surveying the territory. Everything had gone according to plan that day - Russ and Freda had kept the villagers distracted with their own personal brand of mischief making while his favourite accomplice Taycee worked in the background, using the Smeargle traits she had inherited to blot out every instance of the written word she could find.
The boy smiled pleasurably to himself, though the expression was only visible through his golden eyes since a bright red scarf covered the majority of his head. However, this satisfaction wasn't to last long. As he continued to glance westwards, the boy caught sight of a middle aged man dressed in tatty overalls, sitting at a picnic table and scribbling furiously on a pad of paper. The boy's eyes narrowed - writing? In his village? This man had to be asking for trouble!
Without hesitation, the boy leapt from the tree branch and darted his target's direction, his tiny brown shoes barely brushing against the blades of grass as he ran over them. A few moments later, he was within striking distance. Concealing himself behind a nearby litter bin, the boy raised his hands, stubby fingers outstretched. As he waved his arms from left to right, a small dark rain cloud began to form over the man's head. The boy snickered under his breath - no one was about to read anything if he could help it.
"Now!" a voice exclaimed from somewhere nearby. Assuming the instruction to be directed at him, the boy hurriedly dropped his arms and went to make his escape. But to his horror, he found his limbs frozen to the spot. Upon closer inspection, the boy realised he was surrounded in an unmistakable blue aura, the kind emitted from a psychic Pokémon's telekinesis.
"Great work, Kota! We got him!" Caley grinned, leaping out from a nearby bush with his Psybab following behind, its large eyes glowing. Archie glanced up from the picnic bench where he had been pretending to work and smiled at the trainer. Caley's plan had worked flawlessly and the one responsible for misleading his promising students had been finally caught. Now it was time to uncover the motive for their actions. The boy didn't look ready to talk, however - he was too busy trying to free himself from Kota's psychic grasp.
"Listen," Caley began firmly. "We're not going to let you go until you tell us why you've been causing all this trouble, so you might as well stop struggling." This statement achieved quite the opposite effect as the boy started to writhe and twitch all the more. It was obvious these attempts, though seemingly futile, were starting to take their toll on Kota who was struggling to keep his captive under control. Caley hurriedly tried again. "What do you have against words, huh? Why did you persuade Archie's students to help you mess things up?"
At this point the boy broke free of Kota's telekinesis with a loud cry of anguish. But instead of running away, he dived for the pen that had previously been in Archie's hand and was now lying on the picnic table, shoving it a few inches from Caley's face. The trainer staggered back in alarm, only to realise the boy had no intentions of attacking him. Instead he stood there, his large golden eyes filling with tears and the pen shaking in his somewhat deformed pinkish hand.
"Roh roh..." he whimpered. "Tye, roh... tye roh tye."
"Hey..." Nathan blinked, while Kota nodded like he knew what been going on all along. "You're a Pokemon too, aren't you?"
The small figure nodded slowly, before pulling the red scarf away from his face. As it fluttered to the ground, Caley, Archie, Nathan, Sinu and Kota were met with a miserable-looking Tyrogue in a human child's clothing. A few minutes later, Russ, Freda and Taycee appeared - each unmasking themselves and revealing their identities as a Makuhita, Medicham and Lopunny respectively.
"This is most disappointing," Archie sighed, eyeing the Pokémon sadly. "I expected better of you three. You're all artists! You're above this mindless graffiti."
"Medih! Meh-kah!" Freda insisted, taking the pen from the Tyrogue's hand and waving it at Archie. "Kahm meh medih!"
"This would be so much easier if we could understand what they were saying," Nathan commented, scratching his head. This thought only served to make matters worse - uttering another screech, the Tyrogue snatched the wad of paper from the picnic table and tore it into many pieces before breaking down in sobs upon Russ' shoulder.
"Wait...I think that's it," Caley snapped his fingers. "Maybe the whole reason this Tyrogue has been trying to get rid of all the writing in Kehera Village is because he can't understand it. That would sure be frustrating...."
The trio of Pokémon began to nod furiously while their sniffling accomplice stood to attention, his face now alight with a renewed hope.
"That certainly seems to be the case," Archie smiled, before turning to the Tyrogue. "But there are better ways of dealing with your frustration, lad. What would you think to joining my art school? Not only could the others teach you how to express yourself creatively, I could teach you to read and write human languages too."
"Tye! Tye roh!" the Tyrogue exclaimed with great enthusiasm.
***~~***~~***~~***~~***
With these matters of miscommunication worked out, normality resumed in Kehera village. While the Mayor and Police were fairly understanding of the young Tyrogue's issues, they also insisted that Archie and his students cleaned up the mess they had made and replace any signs or literature beyond repair. As these duties got underway, Caley was summoned back to Dominic's office for a thorough commendation of his efforts and a consequential thank you gift in the form of some of Carla's home cooking.
"At least the fact the leader of your Pokémon artists was a Pokémon too explains the whole 'making it rain' thing," Nathan remarked when he and Caley had returned to Archie's side a short while later. "No human kid could have done that."
"Oh I don't know..." Archie smiled knowingly as he stood atop a pair of stepladders, rubbing the purple marks off a fruit shop sign. "I've read things about ancient peoples who were able to control all kinds of elements, just like Pokémon."
"Wow..." Nathan's eyes widened as Taycee held a bucket of soapy water and listened with deep interest. "Having Pokémon powers...I bet that would be awesome."
"And a lot of hard work, no doubt," Caley reminded him. "Powers like that sure wouldn't come without their responsibilities."
"Phooey," Nathan folded his arms and pouted. Why did adult thinking have to ruin all the fun? Caley couldn't help but chuckle at this reaction - he felt human life was complicated enough without the addition of unexplained powers to keep control over. The trainer glanced down at Kota, who smiled back at him. Understanding his Pokémon better was one thing, but he was more than happy for them to be the only ones with elemental abilities.
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