Open Let's Fish in Aquacorde Town!

[E.K.A.N.S.]

Jordan

Jordan sat on the bank of the river for which the Kalosian town of Aquacorde was named, a band of water that the intervening stones plucked every which way like string. It was a popular spot with fishermen, and Jordan, whose Trainer Card identified her as a Swimmer, had arrived here, rod in hand, to see what she could catch. Perhaps she'd snag the golden Magikarp that was rumored to inhabit these waters. Maybe the legendary Suicune would trip on her line and engage her in battle. Or perchance her wildest dreams would come true and a handsome merman would whisk her away to an undersea kingdom, like the human version of Princess Ariel.

Her mind entertained the pleasant daydream, as it had so many others. Here, her thoughts ran as the river did, twisting past hard realities like rocks in its path and weaving elaborate fantasies. Maybe they'd be actualized one day. This part of the stream was far from town, and its waters hid all kinds of mysteries.​

 

[GEN1E]

Spencer

Spoiler: Geekazoid

Made with this picrew.

"I'm going to be honest with myself. The more I read this map, the less I understand it." A teenage boy was standing on the bridge, busy fumbling with a massive map of the Kalos region. Despite his trainer card identifying him as a Super Nerd, he was struggling to find where he was supposed to go.

Spencer wasn't into cartography, but he had gotten the map to help him navigate around the region. He had just gotten the opportunity of a lifetime, to be an intern for Professor Sycamore himself.

Shame he had no idea where the professor's lab was.

"Do you understand this Lumiere?" He turned to see the Lampent staring at something on the banks of the river. It was odd, especially since Lampent is a Fire type Pokémon, weak to the waves below the bridge. But, he knew that Lumiere had an eye for mystery and the macabre.

Spencer followed his Pokemon's gaze, which landed on a tan woman with blonde hair, and a long rod, probably to fish up some Pokemon from the vast river that passed through Aquacorde. The breeze was rolling in, blowing through his unkempt hair, but it had an eerie undertone now.

Whatever Lampent was feeling, it was from her.

"She looks like a local. C'mon, let's ask her for directions, and maybe we can pick up a snack on the way." Spencer called as he quickened his pace, the Lamp Pokemon following him in curiosity. This was going to be an adventure of a lifetime.

@E.K.A.N.S. (Jordan)

 

[E.K.A.N.S.]

It was three thousand years in the past, when the great war between Kalos and another country reached its peak. The navies of both nations met each other at the sea into which Aquacorde's river flowed. The battle had ended in the Kalosian fleet's retreat, or the single vessel that was left of it, anyway. The ship had fled by way of the stream, one that bore the name Aquacorde but had yet to be settled. The town would only come into existence decades later. For now, all that bordered the brook for miles in every direction was untamed wilderness.

Untamed. That's what could be said of the situation that played out on the ship's deck. Another vessel had chased it down the river, rammed it from behind, and thrown down a plank between the two. Invaders stampeded from one deck to the other, cutlasses drawn. The crew of the retreating ship rallied, flashing their own swords and meeting them in battle.

Merrick watched the sight unfold from the window of the barque's cabin. He was a 17-year-old swabbie, the lowest-ranked among the Kalosian sailors, and he looked it too. With dirty blond hair, dull, gray eyes, and a soiled, blue army uniform, he was as inconspicuous as a floorboard in the ship's darkest corner. Just as he should have been. He felt pathetic for cowering in the cabin as the rest of his mates fought, but he'd been given an important mission, and it was crucial that he not be noticed.

The young man's fingers tightened on the Adamant Orb that he held, a means to quell his trembling. He regarded the shiny gem for just a moment, the legends surrounding its existence running through his mind. It was said that if light bounced off its surface from the right angle, a vision of the past would manifest. Not only was the inside of the cabin too dark for him to test that theory, but he also couldn't afford to live in any moment other than the present. He dashed down the creaky stairs, making his way below deck to where the cannons were.

Okay... I can do this. Just shove the Adamant Orb down the cannon, and fire! Merrick gathered himself.

The door to the cabin blasted open. Shouts could be heard, accompanied by loud footfalls. The rest of Merrick's crew had fallen one by one, and the enemy had seized the ship. The boy feared for his life. But every dark cloud had a silver lining, and his was that if he could just load the gem into the cannon and blast it overboard, he wouldn't die in vain. His hands clammed up, fumbling with the item as if it weighed a thousand pounds. He didn't have time to hesitate.

Merrick opened the breech and rolled the Adamant Orb into the barrel. He lit the cannon fuse and watched as the spark devoured the little string. So, too, did the thud of descending steps consume the silence that had once pervaded the cabin. In a matter of seconds, his foes would be upon him.

The cannon tipped with the weight of the gem and fired. Not at the enemy vessel, or at any other target. But straight into the waters of Aquacorde. An innocuous plop! was heard, easily lost in the crescendo of all the sounds that spelled Merrick's doom. He'd closed his eyes, because he couldn't bear to witness the last few seconds of his mission in case anything went wrong.

I... did it?

He risked a glance at the river below. He'd been instructed to dispose of the Adamant Orb so that it didn't fall into the wrong hands, and though he approached the realization as tentatively as one dipping his toes in water, he'd succeeded. Then, two powerful arms grabbed him from behind, turned him around, and slammed him against the ship's wall.

"Where is it?!" the enemy soldier yelled, pressing a blade to Merrick's throat. "Where did you hide the treasure?!"

The gem was long lost by now. All that could be found was a smirk on the boy's face, growing wide despite the blood that trailed down his neck as the steel dug deeper.

"Haha... you'll... never find it!" Merrick spat, just before the ruffian slit his throat. As the last member of the Kalosian crew crossed the fateful river Styx, the enemies searched every corner of the ill-fated vessel. But true to Merrick's dying words, they found nothing. Soon, the invaders' scramble on the deck of the captured ship died down and the barque was abandoned, left to the cradle of Aquacorde's current and carried to its final resting place in the Kalos ocean.

~~~

Half an hour must have passed with neither a sign of another person nor the bite of a fish. Jordan sighed. Was it strange for a girl her age to sit by the river bank like an old person and wait on a Pokemon to snag her line? She was only 17 years old, her birthday far away in December. It was nearing the end of August, and she'd dressed down in the heat. Pretty soon, she'd leave her summer home in Aquacorde and return to Lumiose City, where she'd start her first semester of college. By every measure, she was anything but an elderly lady.

Still, if she had to wait any longer for a bite, she'd get a thousand wrinkles.

"Oh! I think I've got something!" Jordan exclaimed. It was when she started to reel that she felt young again. Her hand wheeled about the rod at a pace that surprised even herself. For a second, she thought something would break the stream's surface. But then, it tugged at her line more forcefully and began to pull away. Her reels began to slow, as if her hook had dragged through something viscous.

Jordan gritted her teeth. This was going to be a big one, she was sure. Would it be a Gyarados? Perhaps a Milotic? Whiscash? Maybe the handsome merman about whom she'd fantasized would rear his head and take her to that magical, undersea land!

Suddenly, the line registered a powerful jerk. One that snapped Jordan from her reverie and compromised her balance. The rod was pulling her toward the water now instead of her bringing it to land. She fought to stay standing, the pole bending to an extreme she'd never seen before and drawing her into a crouch. Whatever was caught on her hook, it would more than likely make prey out of her if she tried to fish it up alone.

Jordan whipped her head to the left, then to the right. She glimpsed a teenage boy and a Lampent heading in her direction. Thank Arceus. Someone was here to lend her their strength and help Jordan secure the catch.

"HEEEEEEEEEY!!!" she called, abandoning all decorum. "HURRY AND GRAB THE POLE! I'VE GOT A BIG ONE!!!"

 

[GEN1E]

The quaint town of Aquacorde offered a lot more than Spencer saw at a first glance. From the natural ambience of the river, to the colorful Vivillon that he occasionally saw fly by, it was quite serene and peaceful here. He had decided to check out a bakery on the way down to the edge of the river, after having caught a whiff of freshly baked bread. From macarons to crepes to soufflés, the food he saw on display was all so delectable.

“Man, I could absolutely go for a bite later, don’t you agree Lumiere?” The Lampent had taken to chasing the local Fletchlings, but they always flew away before it could catch them. Spencer walked over and gave Lumiere a pat on his head, raising it's spirit a little, and warming his hand.

“Aw, better luck next time bud. C’mon, maybe that girl reeled in something big.” Spencer chuckled as he walked off, making a mental note in his head to buy some snacks after he asked for directions. Lumiere followed him, eager to see where the journey would take them next. It could still feel that some mysterious was to happen soon.

———

It look them a few minutes, but they finally made it down the river’s edge, having descended down several stairs made of weathered brick. The architecture looked pretty old, maybe a surviving remnant of the Great War that he read about on the plane. He'd definitely need to look into it later, but he had more important things to handle right now.

The girl they had seen on the bridge was screaming for help, as she struggled to reel in her line. Spencer could tell it was a big one, and she was struggling to bring it to shore. Her tone was panicked, the girl slowly being pulled towards the water.

That was something that scared Spencer more than anything, being dragged into the depths...

"I've got you, don't worry!" He called out, running over to her side and grabbing hold of the rod. He pulled with all his might, which unfortunately wasn't much. He arched his back, struggling to maintain his balance as the pole lurched forward once more. Lumiere quickly floated over, gripping at the pole with it's long arms.

It was enough to the hold the line in place, but they still needed to haul it onto the shore. Spencer didn't feel like he had the upper body strength, or strength in general, to pull it off. He was already panting from the sheer effort of holding onto the pole, and his Lampent's flame burned bright from the struggle.

Luckily, he had a smart idea.

"Lumiere, get Roswell! I'm going to need some telekinesis here!" Spencer called out, and Lampent reached one of it's arms into the pocket of Spencer's jacket, grabbing a Pokeball, while the other arm remained on the rod to keep it from dragging the two humans into the river.

With a quick flick, Lumiere threw the ball at the ground next to them, and a bright flash, a Beeheyem revealed itself. It squinted at the bright sunlight, before noticing it's trainer's distress. With a simple motion of it's hands, the Cerebral Pokemon used Psychic to pull on the rod, dragging whatever was on the line to shore. Spencer and the girl fell backwards from the recoil, landing on the ground with a thud.

"Woah, sorry about all that... What's your name?" Spencer panted, as Lumiere floated over and gave him a pat on the head, worried for his safety.


@E.K.A.N.S. (Jordan)

 

[E.K.A.N.S.]

Just how deep into the woods did this river stretch, Marissa and Luke wondered. If this stream unraveled any more before their eyes, they'd be searching its banks for the legendary treasure forever.

It wasn't even something they believed in. That a ship carrying a fabled artifact had wrecked here thousands of years ago was just a folk tale. But for some odd reason, Team Flare's top brass saw fit to send them to retrieve it. They were displeased enough that they'd gotten their clothes wet wading through the water. Worse still, they did it in pursuit of something that probably didn't exist.

"Screw this, Marissa," Luke suggested. "Let's pan for gold instead."

"What do you mean, let's pan for gold?" Marissa replied. "Aquacorde's gold rush ended a hundred years ago!"

"Well, fatter our chances of finding gold than this so-called treasure..." Luke grumbled.

Far from Aquacorde Town, the two resigned themselves to the arduous journey ahead and continued their trudge upstream. If they didn't find what they were looking for, maybe they'd pass the time by messing with a trainer or two.

~~~

"My name?"

After an unceremonious landing, Jordan wasn't ready for the question. The first thing she did was feel for her bikini straps, ensuring that she hadn't suffered any wardrobe malfunctions. Next, her eyes focused on the boy she'd seen only briefly from a distance. He had dark hair slightly longer than the average male's, green eyes a shade lighter than her own, and clothes that certainly weren't made for swimming. More importantly, he appeared smart. The opposite of how Jordan looked now.

"It's Jordan," she answered, redeeming herself with a normal introduction. When she stood up and dusted herself off, though, her characteristic energy came back to her. "Now... what could possibly have taken so much effort to fish up?!"

There it was. The fruit of her toil. Not a Gyarados. Not a Milotic. No, not a Whiscash. Even a handsome merman paled in comparison. For what she and Spencer had brought ashore was a spectacular, fabulous, extraordinary, bodacious... hunk of trash! Jordan gaped at the miscellaneous litter that had congealed into a giant mass, held together by hardened... mud? She couldn't tell. But it was black and the size of her trunk.

"Sigh..." Jordan hung her head. Before Spencer could ask if she was okay, she shook it off and smiled. "Thanks for your help. What I thought was a catch turned out to be a MAJOR disappointment. Litterbugs, am I right?"

She rolled her eyes.

"Anyways, you asked for my name. What's yours?"

 

[GEN1E]

"Oh, I'm Spencer. Nice to meet you, I guess." The boy shrugged as he got himself back on his feet, his eyes roaming over Jordan for a second. With her tan skin and blonde hair, she was conventionally attractive by his standards. While Spencer didn't feel any sort of spark, he had to admit she was pretty.

But his attention was more focused on what they'd fished up. He walked over, dragging a hand across the large mass of sediment. It was rock-solid, harder than a Boldore's backside, and almost as big as one. Spencer's mind wandered as he took a closer look, trying to figure out how exactly it formed.

Whatever it was, it had been sitting at the bottom of the river for a long time.

"It's definitely not litterbugs... At least, unless they were dead by now. This thing goes way, way, way back." He remarked, Lumiere nodding a little. The Lampent wasn't wrong about her, there was definitely a mystery here waiting to be solved. He walked back to Jordan's side, continuing their prior conversation.

"Anyways, I came over to ask if you knew where Professor Sycamore's lab is? Y'know, the guy who discovered Mega Evolution? I'm kinda supposed to be an intern for him, but I got lost." Spencer chuckled, as he scratched the back of his head. It was quite the conundrum, whether he wanted to stay here in Aquacorde for a bit, or head back out to locate the Professor.

Roswell definitely seemed intrigued by the boulder, poking it with it's weird orb-like fingers. It beckoned Lumiere over, who then released a searing Inferno, trying to melt away the layers of muck that formed around the object. They definitely weren't going anywhere for the time being, so maybe Spencer shouldn't either.

This investigation could be great on his resume.


@E.K.A.N.S. (Jordan)

 

[E.K.A.N.S.]

"Professor Sycamore's lab? Who doesn't know where it is?" Jordan giggled. "It's in Lumiose City, where I'm from."

It took her until now to realize that Spencer might've been new to the area. His accent should've given it away, but only a foreigner could have a worse sense of direction than she. Jordan waded back into the water and gazed downstream. With a hand on her forehead looking out onto the river, she plotted a course for Lumiose.

"Lucky for you, I know a shortcut." She assured Spencer with a smile and a wink. "This stream runs by Camphrier Town. From there, you'll be able to get to- Ow!"

Whatever pinched her foot right then, she deserved it. Jordan had just fibbed. She knew that it was quicker to get to the city through Santalune Forest. But that place was full of bugs, so she avoided it like the plague.

"What in the-" Suddenly, Jordan noticed that she was standing right around where she'd cast her line. She raised her foot from the water and found a Crustle attached to it. The girl shrieked. It wasn't uncommon to spot a hermit crab by a river, but for Jordan, who loathed insects, there was no getting used to the sight. Especially with its rock missing, revealing its grossest parts.

Jordan pried at the Crustle, bearing the discomfort of touching it for the sake of removing it as soon as possible. After several hard jerks, it finally released her, and she wasted no time chucking it into the bushes. She glanced at the mass they'd just fished up and put two and two together.

"Ugh... now I know why I was getting dragged in!" she bemoaned. It made sense that the Crustle was fighting to keep the stone submerged, when she was separating it from its home. At least one mystery was solved. She'd puzzled over how a stationary object could draw her in and had damn near gone digging through her mind for facts about fluid dynamics. Though she'd taken high-school physics, Jordan had barely passed the class.

She turned to Spencer, the smarter of the two.

"Guess you were right that it was no ordinary hunk of junk," Jordan said. Lumiere and Roswell regarded it with much more interest than she did, the former trying its hardest to break it open. "Tsk. To smash a rock, you'll need a Fighting move."

She sent out her Golett.

"Golett, uuuuuuuse Hammer Arm!" Jordan commanded, raising her arm toward the sky, then throwing it down to point at the boulder.

 

[GEN1E]

So Spencer was now aware that he was in the completely wrong town. Dang it, he should have known that before leaving the airport for Aquacorde. This was his first time actually going to a different region, with all new possibilities. He was a little unprepared, but he didn't think it would lead him here.

Hey, the food here was good. And it had cultural value. Those were upsides.

Spencer focused his attention back on Jordan, since she seemed to know her way around the local area, and where the Professor was.

Lumiose City sounded urban and futuristic, so it was no surprise that the prestigious Professor Sycamore resided there. It brought to mind lightbulbs, machines, and loads of ideas.

“Lumiose…”He liked the way the name rolled off his tongue. It sounded smart, which he liked. It was a scientific hotbed for innovation, if the Prism Tower on the brochures was anything to believe. It actually reminded Spencer of Nimbasa City, the neon metropolis at the heart of his home region, Unova. While he missed the lights and sounds, he was ready to see all that Kalos could offer.

Luckily, Jordan had a shortcut in mind, which involved head along the river to Camphrier Town, wherever that is. Unfortunately, the conversation was interrupted when a Crustle latched onto her foot.

That must have been why her line was being dragged into the water, it was the Crustle’s home! Spencer felt a pang of regret, but this was a common occurrence in Unova. In fact, he studied their bare backs for a report in middle school, so he knew that they were kinda gross. Their red bodies were soft and mushy, which is why they relied on rocks to make homes out of.

Roswell floated over, snickering as they watched Jordan shriek and tug at the Stone Home Pokemon to get it off. The Beeheyem was amused by her fear of bugs, and wanted to offer its two cents. It raised its hand, its finger emitting a strange light, and suddenly Spender bent over suddenly, slowly rising back up.

“Guess your litterbug was a bug using litter! A literal bug, if you will. Heh! That’s kinda funny…” He chuckled, his eyes now red with pale red irises, his tone much creepier than before. It sounded like Spencer wasn’t entirely there anymore, the lights were on but somebody else was home.

“So yeah, ditzy blonde, nice to meet you. I’m Roswell, at least when I’m speaking through my trainer. Don’t worry, if it’s too traumatic, like your hatred for insects, I can erase your memories for free, no extra charge.” He said with a flourish, like he was giving an introduction. He sounded like a weird blend of a scientist and a salesman.

With a sudden and mighty crash, Golett’s arm slammed into the boulder’s side, causing Spencer to jump back in shock. Roswell’s fingers stopped glowing, and it flinched in mid-air. Spencer’s eyes suddenly returned to normal, and he shook his head vigorously. Both of them were definitely caught off guard by the attack.

“Roswell! You know you can’t just do that without my consent!” Spencer scolded, rubbing his head, but the Beeheyem just shrugged casually, knowing that he wasn’t that mad. It was just their dynamic together, he mused.

With the heat from Lumiere’s earlier Inferno, the mass of mud and junk began to slowly crack open, layer by layer. It got slightly smaller, revealing…

A large black cannonball, one dating back to the war! It was slightly eroded, chips in the massive sphere that once was used as ammunition. His eyes almost bugged out of his sockets at such a discovery.

“Sorry about Roswell, it does that when it’s bored. Still, that’s a sick find! A cannonball like that must go back decades! I have to take some notes on it before we leave.” Spencer said, as Roswell floated him his notebook and a pencil. Lumiere floated over to Golett, attempting to give the golem a hug for its hard work.

“Speaking of which, since you live in the area, you mind helping me get to Cam… Campher… forget it, to Lumiose? It’s probably a long trek, but I have worse sense of direction than a Swoobat with the flu.” He mumbled, jotting down observations on the metal sphere.

What metals was it made from? Was it fired before it ended up here? Could this lead to a deeper mystery?

It was all worth it for what was to come.


@E.K.A.N.S. (Jordan)

 

[E.K.A.N.S.]

"Grunts, give me a status report."

Luke and Marissa had one phone between them, which showed how little Team Flare cared for them. Yet Lysandre himself was on speaker, and he'd given them a direct order.

"We have names, you know..." Luke grouched. In his own eyes, he was brave to speak to his superior this way. In Marissa's, he was stupid.

"Ignore him, boss," Marissa said. "To be honest... we haven't found anything yet."

"And we never will. Because what we're looking for is the stuff of urban legends," Luke clarified.

Lysandre's patience was like the gold mine through which Aquacorde's river passed—thoroughly depleted, save for one, deeply buried lode that only the fortunate few could tap. By virtue of their important mission, Luke and Marissa just so happened to be the lucky prospectors. So despite the way he normally treated grunts, Team Flare's boss couldn't be too mad at them.

"There's nothing urban about this legend," he replied. "That the gem can truly be found at your current location is not common knowledge."

Yet two lowly grunts had been made privy to that information. Marissa had many questions, but she knew that she'd get no answers were she to ask. The one at the top of her mind was the identity of Team Flare's benefactor. Which powerful entity had paid them to locate the item? Moreover, what was the name of the treasure they were seeking? It couldn't just be "the gem."

"As was explained to you during your briefing, you'll know it when you see it," Lysandre continued. "And don't forget. Beware the guardian Pokemon."

Luke sighed. There was yet another thing that had no name. Why couldn't Team Flare's mystery patron tell them exactly what Pokemon presided over these waters? Why did they have to speak in riddles? Marissa understood that the secrecy of their objective precluded them from knowing too much, in the worst-case scenario that they were caught. The moment anyone who didn't work for Professor Sycamore or whose last name wasn't River entered the mines, they were officially trespassing.

That was the whole point, though. The anonymous person who sought the gem had hired Team Flare to do their dirty work. The government classified them as a terrorist organization, so if they broke the law, two grunts could easily take the fall and no one would ever suspect that someone else was pulling the strings.

"Understood, sir," Marissa answered Lysandre, her voice unwavering.

"Do not fail me," commanded the boss.

When the phone hung up, Luke scratched his head in his exasperation. As Marissa had said, Aquacorde's gold rush had ended a hundred years ago. Enough people had flocked to this area and found nothing of the sort they were looking for that Luke had no reason to take this task seriously. "I swear, this whole thing is just some rich girl's fantasy."

---

"Hey, um... Spencer? You all right?" Jordan asked when the boy bent over suddenly.

When he rose, she had her answer. His eyes were red, and he didn't sound like himself. Jordan wasn't scared, just a little confused. She didn't realize that Beheeyem was speaking through his trainer, thinking that Spencer was pranking her. Was he a traveling entertainer? Is that why Sycamore had taken him as an intern? Because he sat at a desk all day and needed someone to lighten the mood?

She understood what was going on only when Spencer introduced himself as Roswell.

"Ditzy blonde? Hey!" Jordan protested. "I'll keep my memories, thank you very much. And I've got a name, y'know..."

Golett's fist connected with the rock and broke not only it, but the flow of their conversation. Spencer was conscious again, the cannonball that dropped to the ground the object of his interest. Jordan wasn't sure what notes there were to take. A cannonball was a cannonball, right?

Sure, she recognized the value of what they'd found, but she'd come here for a different reason.

"If you think that's cool, just wait till I fish up the golden Magikarp!" Jordan waded out of the stream to get her bag, which rested by the riverside. She rummaged inside it, closing her fingers on a wooden shaft and pulling out her Old Rod. She grinned at Spencer. "This one's yours. I'll take you to Lumiose... if you help me catch the shiny Magikarp along the way."

Golett returned Lumiere's hug, savoring the warmth of the embrace. It was an exchange, just like what Jordan was proposing between the two trainers. The journey to Camphrier would be long, and they might as well enjoy it.

---

Jordan wished she could say that she knew Aquacorde like the back of her hand, but it had so many tributaries that there was always something new to be found. Though the blonde herself wasn't confident, there was an unspoken understanding that she had the better sense of direction. Whenever the river forked, she chose which route to take.

It felt like half an hour had passed when they reached a familiar location—Jordan's favorite fishing hole! In other words, one of the stream's many courses had reached a dead end, where the water pooled and deepened. Thankfully, the girl recognized their surroundings well enough to right their path back toward their destination, when it was needed.

For now, she'd made a purposeful stop. She crossed her fingers in the hope that the golden Magikarp could be caught here, then cast her line.

"Alright, you do the same!" Jordan beamed a smile at Spencer.

 

[GEN1E]

“Well, I guess that’s my fare for the journey.” Spencer chuckled as he graciously took the Old Rod from Jordan. He hadn’t fished in a long time, and almost never caught something to begin with. But, he needed a shiny Magikarp to get to Lumiose, so he was going to have to figure it out on the way.

Luckily, he was a fast learner.

“I watched a documentary on shiny Pokémon a while back. The odds of the gene that causes this rare mutation are 1 in 8192, give or take a few generations.” Spencer said as placed the rod in between his fingers, feeling it’s tension. While it was worn down, it would do for now.

He liked saying factoids to others, not because he wanted to brag or boast, but because it made knowing all this stuff feel less useless. It’s partially why he took up the internship, to put his intelligent mind to work. To serve a purpose aside from being a walking encyclopedia.

“Apparently there are ways of making it easier. Some breeder from Galar got a shiny Scorbunny, using something he called ‘The Masuda Method’. It raised the odds to 1 in 4096, but I don’t think it applies to wild Pokémon.” He recounted as they walked, thinking back to when he was watching the documentary on his laptop.

Definitely one of his favorites, aside from that one about Roxie’s rise to musical stardom. She just looked so dreamy…

Ugh, he was getting distracted.

“But it’s probably gonna be a long way to go. Sooner or later, we might come across that shiny Magikarp you’re looking for.” He said, Lumiere waving Golett farewell as it returned to its ball. He could tell the two were bonding, since they were both Ghost-types he knew from Unova.

Roswell stayed behind, mostly to watch over Spencer in case he got in danger. And partially because it wanted to speak through him again another time. Spencer would be keeping a close eye on the Beeheyem.

And so they started their journey to….

Wait, was it Campherier? Campherer? Camphierer? It certainly wasn’t Campher.

That town. The journey to that town Spencer couldn’t pronounce, on the quest to get to Lumiose. With Jordan’s help, they would get there in no time. At least, he hoped.

——

Spencer was panting, as he crouched down for a second to catch his breath. He wasn’t very good at endurance, or most athletic things to begin with, so this was an exhausting endeavor.

“Man, I need to work out more. Can we take five?” He wiped a bead from his brow, as he leaned against a tree.

Luckily, Jordan had stopped at an unassuming dead end, where the water seemed to go much deeper than the river that they had been following. It was calm and serene, the trees above casting a subtle shade on the water. An ideal spot for Pokémon to gather, especially in the water.

He expected Jordan wanting to fish here, as it looked like a prime spot for Water-type Pokémon to be found. What he didn’t expect was Jordan asking him to join her in the activity.

“Oh, uh, I’m not sure. I’m not exactly a professional fisherman. Plus, the water is much deeper here than where you found that Crustle. There could be a couple of Magikarp, maybe a Skrelp or Binacle down there. Even if there was a shiny, you couldn’t see the sparkles.” He mused, as he contemplated casting his line. It could be a massive waste of time, or he could snag the golden Magikarp right here. It would mean he wouldn’t have to worry about it for the rest of their journey.

That’s when he got a brilliant idea. An electrifying one, to be exact.

“Alright, come out Pixel! I got a job for you!” He said, reaching inside his hoodie for a Pokeball. With a flick of his finger, he released a Pokémon that could help in this situation.

A Porygon wearing a brown fedora.

It was quite the odd sight to anyone except Spencer, who knew about its perceptive nature. The youngest Pokémon on the team, the artificial Pokémon behaved like a child, curious of the natural world around it. The fedora had been a ‘spur of the moment’ purchase at a thrift store in Striaton City Gym, but it suited the Normal type well.

Pixel floated closer to the water, staring at it with intrigue. Perhaps it sensed other Pokémon in the fishing hole, or was staring at its own reflection. Spencer snapped his fingers to get its focus.

“Alright, I’ve got a plan bud. On my mark, I need you to use Thunder Shock on the water. 3, 2, 1…” Spencer said as he cast his line into the water, close to Jordan’s but not touching.

“SHOOT!”

By the end of his countdown, Pixel fired the Electric-type attack, at an intensity weak enough not to electrocute anything. Honestly, it looked more like a parlor trick, just a flash of light to show off. Some wasted PP, for what?

Until the water started bubbling, writhing, splashing around in a frenzy. They could see several silhouettes in the water, no doubt several Pokémon in a panic.

“Yep, just as planned! I’ll give you the scientific mumbo jumbo later Jordan, just prepare to reel in your line!” Spencer yelled, as Roswell and him held the line, as if they were expecting a catch.

Something snagged both Jordan’s hook, as well as his own, and the hunt was on.

Hopefully he wasn’t in over his head.



@E.K.A.N.S. (Jordan)

 

[Psycho Monkey]

No one knew how the ancient Kalos War started nor who the other party was. All that was truly known was how the war ended, the firing of the Ultimate Weapon which completely annihilated the other side. Complete annihilation was no exaggeration as they were not only wiped off the map but also from the annals of history. Hardly any evidence remained. Not their name, not their culture, nothing. It was as if their very existence had been completely erased.

But that wasn’t good enough for Marie Atkins. As a history grad student at Opelucid Univerity in Unova, a blank point in recorded history was a mystery that needed to be solved. And so with the blessing of her mentor, Doctor Helena Dawson, Marie decided to take the semester off to do some field research in Kalos in order to write her thesis on the ancient war.

Her investigation eventually led her to a secluded lake in southern Kalos that served as one of the many tributaries to Aquacorde River. Marie had heard that a bloody naval battle took place along the river and so it was worth checking out to see if any evidence of the fighting remained. Dawning a wetsuit and scuba tank, Marie took to the depths of the deep lake to seek out anything she could find, especially if it was manmade and old. And hey, even if she didn’t find any evidence of the battle, apparently there had been a gold rush along the Aquacorde River back in the day. With any luck, this lake would be untapped given how remote it was.

Marie hovered just above the lakebed turning over every rock and sticking her hand in every crevice she could find. Joining her in this endeavor was her Lombre, Loki, who was close by keeping Wild Pokémon at bay while his Trainer worked. The two had been down about half an hour but so far no luck. No surprise really. All water returned to the sea as they say. Anything that might have fallen from a ship 3000 years ago was probably long since deposited off the western coast of Kalos. A flurry of bubbles erupted from Marie’s regulator as she let out a frustrated sigh. A dead end. Oh well. She may be ending her dive empty handed and with no further information about the war, but she had to admit, it was beautiful down here so it wasn’t a completely wasted effort.

She suddenly felt her all of her muscles contract as a jolt ran down her back. It was a similar kind of static shock to petting Thor during a rainstorm. Her wetsuit kept her mostly insulated to the point that she probably wouldn’t have noticed anything was amiss had the aluminum oxygen cylinder on her back not served as a potent conductor. Loki however was not as lucky. The Lombre cried out as he got hit with the full brunt of whatever electrified the water. The two looked up to see the blurry silhouettes of what appeared to be a pair of fishers. At least Marie assumed them to be fishers given the fact that there were now two lines in the water. Two lines that Loki grabbed and snagged the hooks together as payback for zapping him.

Marie gave him a thumbs up gesture, not out of validation, but to indicate they should surface. The Lombe swam up first, quickly jumping from the lake with a loud shout to hopefully startle the pair of fishers. Marie emerged next, though not as bombastically as her partner. At least the lake wasn’t deep enough to warrant a safety stop on the way up.

“So,” she said pulling her regulator from her mouth. “Who’s the dingus that tried electric fishing?” she asked the two cheekily.