Author's note:
IMPORTANT
Ch 197.5 is a bonus chapter attached to a main chapter.
So go and read Ch 197.5 first if you haven't yet.
***
Year 9 AT, February 26th.
Have I ever mentioned what AT stands for? It means “After Transmigration”. It’s been 9 years since…
I have always been somewhat obtuse with these journal entries, for fear that someone like Leanette (mom) would be nosy enough to sneak a peak.
I should stop doing that. Leanette is family now, isn’t she? But then, how would I differentiate between Nina’s mom and my Miles’s mom. I don’t want to forget them. I can’t forget.
It’s also for that reason that I write these journal entries in the common tongue as opposed to English.
But recent revelations pertaining to the Unown have made me introspective… And certain, that upon my death, my soul had somehow been tangled up in some sort of dimensional anomaly, one linked to the Unown, and transmigrated here. The details of which I am still unclear of.
Regardless, it was the right decision to go on a little detour to this unnamed village, which Kerry and I have taken to calling Apricorn Village for obvious reasons.
Maizie and Kurt have been extremely helpful in shedding light on the nature of the Unown. The fact that they are interdimensional beings.
After all, Pokeballs ran on dimensional tech. Everybody knew that. So it’s a simple deduction to make, really. And in the primitive age of Hisui where electricity only existed in the form of Electric Type Pokemon, how else would the ancients have been able to create something as miraculous as Pokeballs? It all makes sense now.
Now, whether or not they were Ultra Beast was a different matter. Maybe their uniqueness in being capturable by Pokeballs an effect of their involvement in its creation? I'll have to experiment to find out.
However, it is quite vexing that the Pokeball smiths were unable to provide further elucidation. The way that they spoke about it reminds me somewhat of the traditional medicine that was practiced back on Earth. Entirely reliant on rote memorisation and word of mouth wisdom as opposed to any firm science.
Maizie seems to have taken a more modern and logical approach. But then again, she wasn’t exactly a linguist so it’s hard to fault her. The girl treats her craft more as an art rather than science.
Opening up a commercial Pokeball with help from Maizie’s tools was pointless as well. The inside, like she said, was all just metal and wires. Modern technology had long since moved away from primitive runic inscriptions. The only commonality being the use of Pokecrystals.
Runes… Indeed. The denizens of this world treat the Unown like fantastical runes. Much like how Earthlings treated Egyptian hieroglyphics in a way.
No matter, I’ll continue studying this shell fragment that Maizie gave me. I kinda wish I could take a tour of the Pokecrystal mine as well, but both Mr Pokemon and Kurt have been very firm in their refusal.
I could probably find it on my own. But nah…. I don’t want to risk burning any bridges. Maybe if we can find a wild deposit somewhere during our journey?
***
Year 9 AT, March 2nd.
It’s been a couple of days since we left Apricorn Village.
Kerry has been subtly hinting at her desire to just skip the hassle of travel and Fly direct to Violet City.
That girl, seriously… It’s just been 2 days of camping so far. And here I remember she said she was fine with living it rough for a year.
And besides, if we didn’t go on foot, we wouldn’t have come across that adorable family of Sentret today.
Gosh, baby Sentrets are just so damned CUTE! The way that their bellies are so squishilicious and fuzzy. And their TAIL! God, I wanna just gobble them up.
They were a bit wary at first. The way that their faces go all (: <) when they’re posturing! But gave up soon enough once I got the Berries out. Must’ve been starving after months of hibernation.
But speaking of which, it’s odd that they’ve woken up so early. By my reckoning, they weren’t due until another couple of weeks at least. Did something happen that disturbed their sleep I wonder?
I should get Espy to investigate tomorrow. I would hate to have anything happen to the family of chubby fuzzballs after we leave.
That aside, I should probably jot down some progress notes on my team. Looking at Unown etchings every night has started to mess with my head a little. After a very bad migraine and some scolding from mama Kerry, I’ve learned to restrain myself once I start to feel the haziness.
Starting with Nitey.
His Ice Type moves are starting to come along. At the very least, he’s gotten the hang of Ice Punch just fine.
Blizzard, though, is still lacking. He can form a localized snowstorm just fine, but the scope is limited. At this rate, our goal of being able to form a full fledged Ice domain might be out of reach.
Can’t be helped really, Dragons are inherently weak to Ice after all. It’s just, I have a feeling that we are going to need it to contend with that Alpha Volcarano. Just Water wouldn’t suffice in that stupid volcano. We need to combine it with Ice.
Because Ice Type Energy is the direct control of temperature. A sufficiently powerful Ice Type Pokemon should, in theory, be capable of neutralizing the environmental hazards of the volcano.
But Nitey is still treating the element like an extension of Water and Flying. I can’t really blame him since those two are the elements he’s most familiar with. Then there’s also that lecture I gave him about molecules and the different states of water.
I would prefer that he came to a realization on his own. But maybe I should just be more overt in my instructions? Food for thought…
***
Year 9 AT, March 5th.
Justin called. Said he was on his way to Violet City. Finally!
I suppose I should cancel my plans to explore the caves of Route 31. No matter, we can always commute from the City. Kerry’ll be happier this way.
But on the subject of Kerry. She caught a Noctowl last night.
Not sure if the Noctowl was just brave or naive. Not a lot of Pokemon are willing to approach an active campfire unless they’re desperate or mean to cause harm.
No matter, we had a great time pampering him until Kerry abruptly brought up the subject of capture. Noctowl, at the time, just tilted his head a full hundred degrees in the freaky way that owls do before before hooting in agreement.
The whole process was quite underwhelming really…
Then again, not many Pokemon can resist the charms of a Nurse Joy. I’m still not convinced that the clan isn’t a secret society of Chanseys in disguise.
But more on the Noctowl. They’re taller than I had originally imagined. Hard to determine scale through game sprites after all. But Kerry’s Noctowl was taller than the both of us at over 160 cm.
Honestly, Kerry could probably ride on Noctowl’s back as is. But I still recommended that she get a Fly Basket. Owls, Pokemon or not, despite their chubby appearance are mostly plumage. Their actual body itself is quite skinny.
Anyways, today I spent some time training Poppy since we camped near a river.
His fundamentals are coming along quite nicely. It won’t be too long now until he can use Hydro Pump. Not that we would actually use that move in battle, it’s fairly impractical at her stage given how much Energy it drains.
I still very much prefer technique and attrition over raw power, unlike a certain hot headed Dragon princess. Makes for a more balanced Pokemon.
Additionally, Poppy’s been following along with Nitey’s Ice training and was able to master the element quite handily, much to my surprise. He can already use Ice Spinner and Icy Wind without issue.
It was quite funny to see Nitey floundering at Poppy’s progress. No doubt the lazy oaf’s gonna have a fire lit up his tail after this.
I should also start to think about combination moves for Poppy. Hmm… Ice Spinner and Icy Wind. Maybe if we combine it with Hydro Pump? No, Aqua Jet would be more practical. Depends on the situation, I suppose.
Ice Crasher… Not a bad name. See! Why everyone keeps dogging on my naming sense, I will never know.
***
Year 9 AT, March 9th.
Gastly finally evolved! Yay!
We spent the rest of the day celebrating. But no doubt she’d want to continue in our dreams tonight as well.
I should buy a gift for her as a reward. She worked really hard in the Sprout Tower. 28 consecutive victories was no joke, even if the first dozen or so Bellsprouts barely qualified as warmups.
Gastly was uncharacteristically competitive today. I was seriously considering withdrawing her by the end. Who knew she had such a fire in her.
See, Gastly, or should I say, Haunter, you can do it if you put your mind to it! I wonder when she’ll pick a name though… calling her by her species name feels quite impersonal. But no matter, she can take as much time as she wants. And regardless of what her name is, I’ll love her all the same.
Right, Haunter’s present. I’m thinking a brand new origami set would be nice? I’ll ask her tonight in the dream.
Oh, that reminds me. Hattori said that Ghost Pokemon can store stuff in the shadows. And when they become strong enough, they can even pull in living beings and protect them from the adverse effects of Limbo.
Now that Haunter’s evolved, we should start training that aspect of her ability. It’ll be like having access to another pocket dimension. The possibilities are endless! And who knows, maybe I might be able to use it to cheat the 6 Pokemon carry limit in the future.
I mean, technically, Haunter spends most of her time out of her Pokeball anyway. So I could already cheat the limit. Most people would probably be wary to have a Ghost Type in their shadow without a Pokeball to contain them. But Haunter’s a sweetheart and would never hurt me.
Yeah, I’m thinking an origami set would be good. That way, Haunter would be motivated to learn how to store it so that she could play with it in Limbo. I imagine just shadowing me all day must be very boring.
As for her Evolution to Gengar… That can wait. It’s a Trade Evolution so I can just ask Kerry for help when the time comes. Maybe even evolve Rocky while we’re at it. For now, it’s better for Haunter to get a handle on her expanded arsenal before taking the next step. It’s not good for her development otherwise.
All that aside, Brucey was looking abnormally dour during today’s celebrations. He barely even touched his food. I guess being overtaken by both of his juniors must have been quite the blow.
Should I continue focusing on his emotional development at this point? Or should I just pivot back to a battle oriented regime like I had originally intended?
I feel bad for him. I wish I had a better direction on how to nurture him. But any materials I found about Crobat Evolution are too cryptic to be of any use. Even Hattori doesn’t know for sure, just that they were under a lot of stress at the time. As is the case with most Pokemon Evolutions really.
Gosh, I’m such a failure of a trainer…
I wonder if I can ask Falkner for advice? Golbats are part Flying Type after all. Surely, their clan must keep some records? But that’ll have to wait for after I build more rapport. The guy’s more amicable than I thought, but still a stringent hardass.
***
Author's notes:
What do you guys think of these journal entries? It's an idea that I derived from Fuggman's Borne of Caution.
Can't believe I didn't do this sooner. Because it's an effective way to fill up some holes in the story while keeping a log on the progress of Nina's Pokemon at the same time.
Anyways, you'll be seeing these intermittenly from now on. In addition to the regular bonus chapters that I normally do.