A Winkle in Reality

[The Radiance's Follower]

Peri is in a very bad place rn. And you know what. Bruno is being very patient with him. Peri doesn't understand this now. But he will. And there is a chance that it will be more than enough for him to turn him around.

We can even say that Peri is Bruno's disciple if this goes for a bit.

 

[ApiLol123123]

Thanks for the chapter, eager to read the next one!!!

 

[HankPankylol]

Thank you for reading. Hopefully you enjoy. If you REALLY like it, I have a P-a-t-r-e-o-n, under the same name, where you can read 5 chapters ahead.
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Koga Fuschia stepped around me. He was light on his feet, but not anywhere near as much as I'd thought the Ninja Pokémon Master would be, the sounds of his boots against the stone audible. Coming to an open spot – a feat considering the amount of Pokémon strewn about – he sank smoothly down into a lotus position and reached up to pull down his scarf. The soft smile on his lips took me by surprise, but even the wrinkles at the corners did nothing for that empty pit that lurked in the back of his eyes.

"You're early," Bruno grunted. The Elite Four was still shoveling food into his mouth at a prodigious pace. Looking between the two men, the difference was staggering. Bruno was a massive specimen of humanity, while Koga was of average height, if obviously in good shape.

And yet, the two sat comfortably, in a way that spoke of long familiarity.

"I managed to make some time," even without the scarf muffling him, Koga was quite soft spoken, voice even and pleasant. "You didn't inform me that we would have company."

"Lance and he had a confrontation. He is growing strong fast, so I hit two Pidgey with one Rock Throw."

"And Grant is fond of him as well." Koga's dark eyes regarded me in a way I imagined was supposed to be kind. "Most people don't get a chance like this, especially not so young. You are a lucky young man, in multiple ways." His gaze darted between members of my team, and I tensed even further. While it was only natural to be impressed by such awesome Pokémon, it rarely ended well when strong Trainers got too curious.

One thing that was becoming more and more clear was that for all of the Pokémon world's advancements, it still operated on a 'might makes right' principle when you really got down to it. That was why Lance was the Champion and not someone not-assholy.

"Yeah, lucky. That's me." Koga chuckled warmly at my sarcastic tone. I didn't buy it for a second.

"Yes, I suppose it doesn't seem like it from your perspective, but there are those who have suffered more than you and have significantly less to show for it. Most who have encounters like yours would be lucky to escape with only a single loss." Leaving me to stew on his words, Koga turned back to Bruno. "Why did you call for me? I doubt it was just to meet your young friend, potential or not."

"You heard my speech. It's the same for you." I started at the words, looking between the two men. What did that mean?

"Is it?" Koga quirked his head, soft smile widening a fraction. "But I am already a member of the League. I hardly need recruitment."

"You might not, but what about the rest of you?"

They looked at each other for a bit before Koga tilted his head towards me.

"Should we be having this conversation here?"

"He's involved with the Clans already," Bruno spoke up for me, "and some transparency will go far in regaining his faith in the League."

Koga chuckled softly while I stared at Bruno. "Truly, you are terrible at this, my friend. I don't know if faith was kind or cruel to make you our dear Champion's moral compass." The Gym Leader studied me for a moment more before shrugging nonchalantly. "I suppose it's not that much of a secret. Tell me, young Periwinkle, how much do you know about the history of Indigo?"

"There was a guy named Indigo who conquered everything?" I replied, thinking back on what I'd learned when researching Giovanni and Viridian. "He was from Viridian?"

"That's correct. I am pleased Professor Oak teaches as much. He is not the biggest fan of our traditions." And Koga did look pleased, even if I didn't believe him.

"He doesn't. In fact, he barely talks about how the League is formed or run." I didn't feel too bad about throwing Oak under the bus after our last encounter.

"Is that so?" That was all the reaction he gave, though his pleased demeanor did fade. "I suppose it is to be expected. Still, you know the general story, and that is all that matters." The Poison-Type Master looked into the fire, while Bruno – having finished his fourth portion – started putting out bowls of food for my team. I thanked him as it would've been a challenge to do it myself, noting that he was adding something from a large bag to the mixes I'd bought.

Seeing my look, he tilted the bag and showed me the small, yellow-green blocks inside. "PokéBlocks." He grunted. "Sitrus, Oran, and a general resistance mix. It's in our food too."

"Thanks. I've been meaning to look into berries more," I said with gratitude.

Waiting for the larger man to sit back down, Koga picked up where he'd left off, accepting a bowl from Bruno with the same smile as always, though he placed it on the ground.

"Indigo made his way through the Clans, debating and battling them all. Some, like Cerulean and Fuschia, had to be beaten into submission. Others were of a similar mind as the Champion, joining voluntarily. As you said, in the end, he returned to Viridian and challenged his brother. It's said that they met in the Silver Mountains and that their Rhydons wrought the very mountains themselves apart, sundering them with their might. After his victory, Indigo chose the place of the battle as the site for his new government, a League of all the Clans, united under one banner."

"So that's why the League headquarters are there." I'd wondered about that, if it had started as a Kanto exclusive thing.

To my surprise, Koga shook his head.

"More likely that it's a fanciful story. The Silver Mountains are a great staging point for future excursions into Johto."

"Indigo was planning on invading from the start?" I didn't know that. In fact, I couldn't remember how Johto ended up in the fold in the first place.

"Why not? He had already conquered one region. How hard could it be to take another with all of Kanto at his back?"

"But that's not how that went." I knew that much, at least.

"Success breeds confidence," Koga nodded, "and confidence can be a scary thing, whether too much or too little. Few things do as much damage as not understanding your capabilities. Even the greatest among us can fall to this, or perhaps especially the greatest. Indigo thought that getting the Clans to join the League was the hard part. Instead, the stories tell that he spent the rest of his life struggling to manage the politics and infighting among the Clans. The single attempted attack on Johto fizzled out when half the Clans just said no."

"Things were different back then," Bruno added.

"They were," Koga agreed. "The Clans had a monopoly on strong Trainers that Indigo simply couldn't match, so in the end, he was forced to bow to many of their whims. It was only after the Acorn Ball – but especially the PokéBall – that the League began to get enough power to actually challenge the Clans. As I imagine you've experienced, few are happy with the increased control."

"Does that include your Clan?" All I got in response was the brightest smile yet.

"Certainly not! The Fuschia Clan's loyalty is beyond question!"

"Uh-huh," my tone was almost as blank as the look Bruno gave me when I shot him a glance.

I was starting to feel a little bad for the guy, if that was what his self-appointed job as peacekeeper was like.

Oh well, better him than me.

"That's enough talking for tonight," the Fighting-Type Master said and stood up alongside his Pokémon. "You were up early," he said to me, "is that normal?"

"Yeah, it is." I tried to stand on my own, only to wobble when my quads gave out. Ah. It might be a night under the stars.

"Good." Bruno nodded, satisfied. "Then we begin training at dawn. If you're smart, you'll convince Koga to help you out as well."

I glanced towards the Gym Leader, only to blink in surprise and look all around when I found him gone, not a single sign he was ever there. Even the dirt was perfectly undisturbed.

How the hell…

—----------

Whoosh!

I exhaled with the motion of my punch, a spray of sweat glinting in the rising sun for a second before the droplets hurled towards the ground. On my left, Hercules did the same, the Electabuzz much fresher than I. My lungs heaved like billows, my knees shaking with the effort of keeping me standing, my arms burning like I'd fisted the sun.

"Left hook."

I bared my teeth and brought my right arm back to my side, a strained grunt escaping me as my other hand shot forwards. 8 others followed, with varying degrees of difficulty. Bruno's dark eyes scanned each of us, tapping my foot with his own to realign my footing, and making some adjustments to the rest of the line. He lingered on Siren for a second longer than the rest, an appreciative glint in his gaze as the Feebas forced herself to spin clockwise, swinging her tail towards an imaginative enemy. Her small body was trembling like a leaf, yet there was no give in her, forcing herself to continue the exercise that definitely wasn't meant for her. She had even managed to outlast Vulpix, though Sol was doing the best of my team by far.

After a moment, the Fighting-Type Master nodded and turned towards his Pokémon standing behind us.

"Level 4."

Chansey hummed happily, giving a little wiggle and raising her hands higher. In response, the air itself shook, the light pink filter that engulfed us intensifying. Rocks embedded deeper into the earth, slowly burrowing their way beneath the surface, dirt covering my bare toes as they sank as well. The sparse amount of grass was flat against the ground, a rogue bush falling apart as all its branches snapped.

I was getting lightheaded, my vision blurry. I had to lock my knees to stay upright. The Gravity Chansey was channeling pressed down on us like the hand of god.

"Right hook."

I couldn't do it. My legs buckled, knees slamming into the ground, and forehead dropping towards a large rock that threatened to crack my skull open. At the last second, a large hand – palm so filled with callouses it felt like a glove – grabbed me by the shoulder and nearly wrenched it out of the socket.

"Enough."

I groaned weakly in relief when the pressure dropped, my heart no longer being pressed against my intestines.

"Good warm up." I wanted to cry at Bruno's words. "You have a minute to rest. Poliwrath, take Feebas, Vulpix, and Electabuzz," the ice fox whined weakly, but didn't struggle when a massive white glove-like hand picked her up by the scruff of her neck.

Poliwrath was a blue, bipedal, amphibious Pokémon with a round, top-heavy body and muscular arms. Bulbous eyes protruded from the top of its head, and a white and black swirl covered its belly.

Vulpix had tried to ignore our temporary teachers the first day and had been punted a hundred feet for the attempt.

She hadn't tried a second time.

"Primeape-"

BAM!

Primeape hoo'd and hollered, smashing the ground with its large hand and breaking it into pieces as Betty sailed off into the distance with a furious screech at the sucker punch. Beating its chest furiously, the tan monkey Pokémon leapt after her, distant crashes and roars of anger filling the air.

"... good." Three days wasn't anywhere near enough to learn how to read Bruno, the most stoic of stoics, but I disagreed nonetheless. Betty had been beaten unconscious the last two days by Primeape and had only barely been able to get up in the mornings, only for it to repeat. Bruno continued. "The rest of you-" he suddenly glanced over his shoulder, nodding with a grunt and letting me go without warning, "-the rest of you are with me. We'll regroup with the stronger Pokémon."

A thin arm curled around my waist to stop me from hitting the ground, the corded muscles easily lifting me and placing me over a slim shoulder like a bag of potatoes.

Forced to watch the narrow hips and ass shake, it was easy to identify Koga.

"Training until you physically cannot move might be taking it a little far, young Periwinkle."

"No, it's not," was the best mumbled reply I could come up with. Koga wasn't wrong, but I didn't know how long I was going to have Bruno around. I had to make the most of it.

Besides, I'd be able to stand and rejoin within a couple of hours.

"Ah, touche. I had not thought of that. What a convincing counterargument." The creepy feeling the Gym Leader gave off hadn't faded, even if he'd revealed a surprisingly snarky sense of humor under his kind and gentle exterior. "Truly, wisdom often comes from the mouth of babes. Keep going like this, and your wit will surpass Bruno's within the week."

"Fuck you, train me." Taking Bruno's advice, I'd been asking him every time the Ninja popped up.

"No." I groaned again as he dumped me on my sleeping bag, though unlike most adults I'd had the displeasure of encountering, he at least did so gently. Eevee shifted and sniffed next to me. The Normal-Type had been moving around more and more, and hopefully, it wouldn't take long for her to wake up.

"Why not?" I questioned, abs and shoulders protesting as I forced myself into a sitting position, accepting the bottle Koga handed me with a grateful nod. I grimaced at the added Sitris and Oran juice, plus whatever supplements Bruno insisted on adding to literally everything.

"Why would I?" He asked, looking towards the back of the cave for a second before turning back to me. "My family has spent generations developing our methods. Hundreds of years of fine-tuning techniques, honing our skills with both Pokémon and our bodies." Moving my bag closer to me for some reason, he turned to leave while saying his last piece. "As I said a few days ago, you've been lucky, in both Pokémon and teachers. Grant showed you Pebble secrets because he is a lonely man, and you filled a hole in his life. Walter was the same, though he was at least smart enough to mostly keep his silence. You have resources and information through your connections with Bill Masaki and Professor Oak. However," he looked over his shoulder, perpetual smile still on his face while his eyes were like holes in reality, dark and empty, "I owe you no such thing. Many have sought the secrets of Fuschia, and many have failed."

"How do you know so much about me? Why?" Even beyond his vaguely threatening words, that was the part that bothered me the most. It wasn't necessarily hard to learn all that, but judging by our first conversation, Koga had known before we even met.

"Oh, that's hardly surprising," he waved off, leaving for real. "You have been the talk of the town amongst the more shady aspects of our society since the S.S. Anne. Anybody who cares to listen has heard of the child who's been causing so much trouble for Team Rocket and getting away with it. I would expect more unscrupulous Trainers to want the reward on your head. 25 million is quite a lot of money."

"25 million!?" I gaped, partly outraged, yet oddly proud.

"For your whole team, plus yourself, yes. Price goes down from there. I wouldn't worry about it too much as long as Bruno is nearby. There are no bounty hunters in Kanto at the moment brave enough to fight him for you. Speaking of your team, though." He pointed to my side and was gone.

I followed his finger just in time to see Eevee's eyelids flutter and slowly open.

"Eevee!"

The fox huffed weakly, trying to lift her head, yet failing. The inability upset her, and she started to struggle.

"Hey, stop, stop. Calm down, I'm right here," I put a hand on her side as gently as I could, feeling her heart hammering against her ribcage. Her brown eyes were wide and unfocused as they rolled around to look up at me. "Shhhh, it's okay."

She stopped moving, but her breath still came in pants, her heart rate sky-high.

"You-" My head darted towards the back part of the cave, eyes scanning the darkness. The tension slowly left me when I saw nothing. Could've sworn I heard something, like the scraping of claws

"I've gone crazy worrying about you," I whispered. "You were injured, remember? During the fight with the bounty hunter. You-" My voice cracked, and I cleared my throat, "you were hurt really badly by a Ninjask and have been unconscious for 5 days. We're with Bruno now. He has a Chansey, let me go get her-" She started struggling again at the mention of me leaving. "Okay, okay, I'm right here, shhhhh. "It's okay."

A shadow fell over us, something blocking the light from outside. I turned my neck to see the egg-shaped Normal-Type that I'd just been talking about waddling into the grotto with a cheerful smile.

You know what, screw his creepy eyes and overly nice facade, Koga wasn't that bad after all.

I was forced to keep a hand on Eevee throughout her checkup as she would start freaking out as soon as I let go. Chansey didn't seem to mind, thankfully, singing a little tune to herself while running glowing hands over my Pokémon.

"Is she okay-MMHH!" I was muffled by Chansey's stubby hand pressing against my mouth, the other continuing her check-up.

Finally satisfied, Chansey moved up to Eevee's forehead. Her eyes fought against it, but there was no winning against the healer, and my fox quickly fell asleep.

I removed the hand from my face and tried to protest. "Hey, she just woke up-!" Quick as a whip, Chansey turned around to point at me, her other hand shushing herself. Despite the smile remaining the same, it suddenly reminded me a lot more of Koga.

I crossed my arms, definitely not pouting as Chansey attended to my sore muscles, chugging down more of my water.

At least she was kind of awake.

—------------------------

"You never answered my question."

"Hmm?" I grunted, turning my head but keeping my eyes fixed in place. "What do you mean?"

"What are your plans for the future?"

I snorted, yet didn't dismiss him out of hand like the last time. Instead, we sat side-by-side for a while in silence – except for the sounds drifting up from beneath us.

Sol snarled, patches of fire flickering and moving along his fur. Crouching low, his whole body tensed, leg muscles quivering and bulging, before he pushed off with an explosion of stone shards. He was little more than a blur, the air shimmering from the heat of his slipstream. He sped up, legs pounding even faster as a cone of air gathered in front of him as he neared his target-

Who stepped to the side with ease, the Arcanine yelping as he tried to stop, sliding along the ground.

The Fighting-Type chirped, amused, as a large yellow fist passed by its face, thanks to a quick tilt, the beige feathers at the back of its head swaying with the motion. Quicker than I could follow, it had turned around and blocked Herc's next punch with a raised, red knee, showing no signs of pain from the weak tongues of fire coating the fist. Instead, its yellow, three-toed foot snapped up and struck the Electabuzz in the chin, sending him flying upwards, one, two, three, four dozen feet into the air.

At the same time, Sol was back for round two, a proper inferno of orange and yellow covering his massive body. He was still slow with his fire, but the ten days of non-stop training and fighting had at least made him able to run and use Flame Wheel without instantly falling – though real Extreme Speed was yet out of reach.

Not that the coat of flames mattered since his opponent was of the same type. Without even turning, the Elite Four Pokémon kicked backwards, catching the dog in the chest. Following through with the motion, it did a standing split and then bent even further, sending Sol flying overhead at the exact moment Herc was coming down from his trip.

Blaziken chirped again with its hooked beak as the two Pokémon rolled away, V-shaped crest shaking. The avian humanoid's featherless, grey arms were crossed over its chest as they had been the whole fight – if the asskicking could be called that.

Looking away as my Pokémon slowly recovered, I answered Bruno's question.

"I'm gathering eight Badges and going to the Indigo Conference."

"A common goal, though no less worthwhile for it," the large man nodded, his quick eyes following each blow as Gallade and Honedge dueled with metallic clangs, "but also an immediate one. If you won't work with the League, what will you do afterwards?" I opened my mouth to give the obvious answer, only for him to beat me to the punch. "Presuming Team Rocket is dealt with."

I went to speak, but found no words. Blinking, I looked down on my Ghost-Type as a greyish-silver energy slowly flowed over his blade. I'd usually been proud of seeing the Metal Claw, but my eyes saw right through the two Pokémon.

That… huh.

Fuck, what was the plan?

If I won the Conference, and the Rockets were gone, then what? I'd always said something along the lines of 'being the strongest' or 'best Trainer' or something like that. But when I really thought about it…

What did that mean, exactly? Was I going to hang out in the woods, training day in and day out? That wasn't necessarily a bad life, but again, it wasn't really an actual plan. The strongest was synonymous with being the Champion in the Pokémon world, but that wrapped all the way back around to joining the League.

"I… I want to travel," I mumbled, looking down at Eevee in my lap as she groomed herself in between glances down below. "AH! No biting!" I put my finger in front of her snout, stopping her from nipping at her wound. She growled softly but relented, reclining in my arms without a hint of apprehension.

If there was any upside to her injury, it was that the last week of babying her had removed the last apprehension she felt towards me touching her. Something that would normally have me jumping with joy, yet, seeing the still red strip of skin parting her fur, I'd take day one Eevee any day.

She was steadily recovering, but it would be a few more days before she was ready to join the others and start training, much to her dismay. The appreciation for being waited on constantly had worn off by day three.

"Another fine idea," Bruno nodded. "I believe you would enjoy Hoenn, and there's always Johto." He looked at the side of my head while I pet Eevee, letting the insistent Vulpix crawl up beside her. "You don't have to answer now. You're young. You can make up your mind and change it a hundred times yet. Just think about it."

His piece said, Bruno stood up and casually stepped off the cliff, dropping 150 feet and landing with a thunderous boom! down below.

I ran my fingers through Vulpix's fur as the man nonchalantly strolled out of the dust cloud, uncaring for the literal crater with a pair of footprints embedded into the stone he left behind. Feeling her flank, I could count each of her ribs with how thin she'd gotten. Despite Eevee waking up, Vulpix wasn't improving as I'd hoped.

'Just think about it'. And yet again, the list of shit I was avoiding grew.

—--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

The cave's rocky ceiling was dark and hidden as I slowly blinked the sleep from my eyes.

Something was wrong.

Lifting my head as well as I could, I looked around with a frown. I was buried under a pile of fur, brown and icy blue covering my chest, bright yellow and black wrapped around us, with Sol's nose resting against my cheek. Hercules was resting against the cave wall opposite Machamp, Betty was smushed between Sol's chest and my side, and Honedge was in my shadow.

But where was Siren?

It took several minutes to slowly shift Vulpix and Eevee down from my chest and onto the sleeping bag, and I probably only managed it thanks to their weakened states. I brushed my hand through Vulpix's bangs, my heart clenching at the grimace on her face. Her deterioration had slowed down since Eevee woke up, but her strange illness persisted to Chansey's frustration.

If she didn't start showing signs of improving soon, I was heading to the nearest PokéCenter, Bruno be damned.

Hercules opened an eye when I passed and refused to stay, though I didn't try too hard, the bounty hunter fresh in my mind. I somewhat hoped Bruno's Machamp would wake as well, but the Master-level Pokémon simply snored obnoxiously.

The night air was cool on my shirtless torso, a refreshing change from the humid day. Looking around the rocky terrain, bathed in ghostly silver light from the crescent moon above, I didn't see Siren anywhere. Before I started getting too worried, a faint noise reached my ear from nearer, where Bruno's stronger Pokémon sparred to keep the rest of us safe.

The stone was even colder beneath my feet, Bruno's disdain for footwear extending to making me take mine off as well. It had taken some getting used to, and the occasional jagged rock still made me wince as we traversed, but it was getting better by the day.

Coming to a large recess in the ground, I looked over the edge and sighed when I spotted the source of the noise. Turning to Hercules, I didn't have to say anything before he nodded and sat down on the edge while I slid down the side.

CR-CR-CRA-CRACK!

"Nice," I said, hands in my pockets while a flurry of frozen Water Bullets shattered against a boulder, each one cracking the tough rock before erupting into a cloud that sparkled in the moonlight. Siren froze where she hovered, recognizing my voice. "Out for a late night stroll?"

She didn't respond, but also didn't move away when I came over and sat down next to her.

"Is this the first time you've done this?" Still not looking at me, she slowly shook her head – or her whole body since she was a fish – making me sigh. It was a testament to Siren's insane dedication that I hadn't even noticed a drop in her performance, despite Bruno forcing us to our limits.

I wasn't sure if he was going to be furious or happy when he found out he could've been pushing the Water-Type even harder than he already had.

"I've told you not to work yourself so hard. Overtraining can do more harm than underdoing it."

Few creatures could deadpan quite like a Feebas, the Water-Type hardcore judging me for my hypocrisy.

"Fair, but I'm only doing it while Bruno's here. You'd rip yourself apart if I didn't keep an eye on you." I argued, and she averted her eyes, embarrassed.

As the self-appointed disciplinarian of the team, she hated it when she was the one causing problems, especially when it was a recurring one.

It was far from the first time we'd talked about her training too hard.

"I know you're frustrated, seeing the others get ahead of you, but you're limited in ways they're not. You'll see, as soon as you evolve, you'll be right up there with the best of them." She still didn't look at me, making me sigh and press a kiss to the top of her scaly head.

Compromise, then.

"How about this?" I started lifting her so she had no choice but to face me. "I've got that TM I've been holding onto." That got her attention. "I'll make you a deal. We all go super hard while we're here, and when we're done training, we'll look for a Milotic scale to evolve you. Shit, worst case we'll get Bill on it." Her eyes sparkled at the thought, "BUT! It might take a bit to get a hold of one. Neither Cerulean nor Celadon had one for sale, and those were my best bets. You need to promise that you'll take care of yourself in the meantime, or at least allow me to do it for you. So, what do you say?" I held out my free, open hand close to her body. "Do we have a deal?"

"Feeeeeeeee." If a fish wheezing could sound determined, then Siren managed it, 'taking' my hand with her little fin and 'shaking' it – so more of a wet slap and wiggle motion.

"Alright, the deal has been struck. The bargain is sealed." I intoned with faux solemness before standing up with a groan as my knees cracked. "Oowww. I can't handle Sol's fat ass jumping on me constantly. My knees feel like they're 80."

Siren gurgled angrily at the thought of the canine. I laughed as Hercules joined us, whirring approvingly at the fish for her work ethic, making me slap the Electric-Type on the shoulder playfully.

"Oh, we'll get him back, don't you worry. For now, though, let's get back before the others wake up, and I have to spend an hour making them go back to bed. Unless Bruno just beats us unconscious. For a guy that insists on getting up with the sun, he's real fucking grumpy in the morning."

—-----------------------------------

And so the training montage begins. It's probably going to be similar to all the way back at Oak's, with smaller scenes that catch us up on what's been going on.

And something's wrong with Vulpix. Hmmmmm.

Thank you for reading. Hopefully you enjoyed. If you REALLY liked it, I have a P-a-t-r-e-o-n, under the same name, where you can read 5 chapters ahead.

 

[The Radiance's Follower]

we'll look for a Milotic scale to evolve you.

Click to shrink...

Is this a known info ? A lot of fics treat it as an undiscovered way to evolve a Freebas into a Miliotic. If it is unknown. Is Koga currently there stalking our guy and he just nabbed the info ?