77 Taming a Tyrant

Though the professors Oak, Birch and Rowen all wanted to talk to us right away, the three of us sent them messages that we'd call them once we returned to the Pokemon Center in Cerulean city. So, we decided to head back as quickly as possible.

Pidgeot was busy with something else though, so I decided to try another method to fly back, Ditto.

By having Ditto transform into Tropius, the four of us were now flying back while Lucario followed on foot below, with May and the terrified Joy on the former's Tropius, and me with Dawn riding on Ditto.

"Are you sure this is safe?" Dawn yelled worriedly over the wind in our ears.

"Not necessarily!" I yelled back, making her more nervous until I hugged her body closer to my front.

But I wasn't really wrong, as we had no idea how long Ditto could maintain its transformation. If it changed back while we were flying, then Dawn and I could end up free falling out of the sky.

Thankfully though the city was already in sight, so we only needed Ditto to hold on for a couple more minutes.

"Almost there." I said soothingly while rubbing its side.

"Troooo..." Ditto lowed in response.

"You can make it." I told it to urge it on.

"..."

""!!!""

Apparently Ditto couldn't in fact make it, as it changed back right above the Pokemon Center and fell to splatter into the pavement.

"KYAAAAAA!"

"PIPLUPUPUPUPUPUP!"

Dawn and Piplup both screamed as we fell too, but I was calm as I sent my aura outwards and threw one arm up while wrapping the other around them.

"QUEN!"

With a cry, Vespiquen appeared as she grabbed my arm, and slowed our descent to the pavement.

"Thank you Vespiquen." I told her gratefully.

"Queeeeeeeen." She trilled happily in response.

She then lowered Dawn, Piplup and I safely down to the pavement, even as dozens of Combee filled the air around us as they watched curiously. Vespiquen HAD been busy the last few days, especially since some of her Combee were always out collecting pollen to bring back and turn into honey.

But the second my feet touched the pavement my mind went to the purple splatter mark a few feet away, even as it began pulling itself back together.

"Ditto! Are you ok?" I asked it urgently.

"Dit....to..." It uttered as it reformed, it's eyes swirling from how tired it was.

"Take a nice long rest." I said while returning it to it's Pokeball, before returning the Pokeball to my belt.

"Is Ditto ok?" Dawn asked once she had calmed down from our sudden free fall.

"Yeah, it's just exhausted." I told her as May and a petrified Joy landed beside us.

"Good work Tropius. Return." May said as she dismounted and returned her Pokemon as well.

We then went into the Pokemon Center and straight to the same private conference room that we'd used before to talk to the League. The Nurses Joy already had it ready for us, so I guess the professor called ahead in order to streamline things. After all, it wasn't everyday that a new Pokemon was discovered.

And sure enough, the second we started up a conference call on the video phone, all three professors immediately answered.

"Ace! Do you know what is it you sent me!?!" The professor demanded immediately as he answered.

"Yeah. They're called Ditto." I replied, which all three of them quickly wrote down before he stated,

"I've never seen a Pokemon like this! Not only are they formless with seemingly no solid structure, but they can also transform into numerous objects around the lab! Even other Pokemon!"

"It's more than that professor." I stated, making all three look at me intently as I detailed our encounter with all of the Ditto.

I explained how we had been surrounded by what appeared to be an entire pack of wild Lucario, and how they had been able to use the same moves Lucario knew, as well as how their aura shifted over time to match that of a typical Lucario. I also told them about how the Ditto I kept with me had copied May's Tropius to allow Dawn and I to fly back on it.

"Amazing..." Professor Rowen uttered in awe as he admired the little Ditto that was beside him on screen.

"But where did they come from?" Professor Birch asked curiously.

"Indeed. I can see them avoiding detection until now thanks to their ability to transform, but it wouldn't have kept them hidden throughout all of human history. SOMEONE would have caught one by now and seen its true form otherwise..." Professor Oak mused.

"I think I have a theory on that." I answered while recalling the lore of Ditto from the games, making all three look to me.

"Yes?" The professor urged me to continue.

"Well professors, think about it for a moment. Ditto are able to completely alter their genetic structure to change into whatever it is they see, right?"

All three nodded in agreement to what I said.

"I mean we're not just talking about mimicking other Pokemon, they're turning into them on such a complete level, that part of me believes they can even breed with the Pokemon they're transforming into." I declared while also adding a bit more of what I knew of Ditto from the games, as they were basically used as Poke-sluts by every player to breed their other Pokemon.

"I think that might be a bit far fetched Ace, but continue." Professor Oak stated, while also ignoring the outburst of hysterical laughter in the background from his Farfetch'd.

"Anyways... We already know that there is a Pokemon that everyone agrees was the genetic ancestor of all Pokemon, right?" I asked them, to which all three nodded in agreement.

"AND, professor Oak and I both know that Team Rocket was working on cloning that Pokemon, right?"

As I said that all three professors had varied, yet drastic, reactions.

Professors Birch and Rowen both displayed looked of interest and horror respectively, one probably from the idea of cloning Mew, and the idea from the idea of the clone in question being under Team Rocket's control. Professor Oak meanwhile had a look of realization as he got where I was going with this.

"It's a reach... But that would explain the peculiar nature of these Ditto, as well as their origin since they've only been discovered now..." He mused to himself.

"Before any of that, we need to properly examine them and understand WHAT they are." Professor Rowen declared, though he still seemed pale from before.

"Very true." Professor Birch added while nodded his head in agreement.

"Shall we work together on this then? We can all perform our own experiments, and check with the others to make sure the results line up." Professor Oak stated, to which the other two nodded in affirmation.

"Wow. I can't wait to read the article made by three of the greatest Pokemon professors of this age. I'm sure it'll be unlike anything else." I said in awe, as this would be the first time the three professors worked together on a single project like this.

"""???"""

"What do you mean Ace?" Professor Oak asked in confusion.

"???"

"I mean the paper you're all going to write when you publish the discovery of Ditto?" I said with even more confusion.

"Oh no no no Ace. WE'RE not going to write that paper. YOU are." Professor Oak said while both professor Birch and Rowen nodded in agreement.

"..."

"You're kidding.... Right?" I asked with a forced smile.

"Not at all. YOU discovered these Ditto, not us. You can just consider us your lowly assistants as we do all the lab work. Speaking of which-"

And without a further word, the professor's image cut out as he ended the call, seemingly to get back to researching the Ditto I'd sent him.

"Well. If there's nothing else, then I'll also be taking my leave." Professor Rowen stated, before he too disappeared.

"I guess I'll get going too. Just remember to be responsible Ace, I'm not ready to be a grandpa just yet."

"DAD!" May shrieked at professor Birch from embarrassment. But he too cut off the call the next second.

"I can't believe them." I said while shaking my head.

"Why? It seems like they're giving you a big chance by claiming sauce a big discovery for yourself!" Joy exclaimed eagerly.

"At a glance yeah. But in actuality they're just doing the work they want to, and then they'll slap my name on it so they don't have to deal with any of the troublesome stuff afterwards." I told her with my brow twitching irritably.

I shook my head wryly at myself while thinking of all the bullshit I was going to go through because of this, when all I wanted to do was travel, catch and train my Pokemon, and bang hot chicks when I wasn't trying to keep the world from being destroyed.

Deciding to worry about the paper I'll have to write, publish, and give a presentation for later, I took out my Pokedex and swapped a couple of my Pokemon around, putting another of my Ditto in my party. I also saw that, counting the Ditto I had registered as a breeder Pokemon, I had caught a grand total of fifteen of them.

With that done, I then dialed a new number on the video phone that almost immediately picked up by the person I originally headed back to Cerulean to call.

"Hello Ace. It's been a while." Brock said in greetings as soon as he appeared.

"Hey Brock. Is my Pokemon ready?" I asked immediately, eager to get my new fossil Pokemon from him.

"Yes, but...." Brock said before trailing off as he frowned slightly.

"Remember Ace, these Pokemon are VERY powerful and dangerous." Brock warned me as he held up a Pokeball.

"Yours is still in the infant stage, but even then they can be powerful and dangerous, to say nothing of their selfishness and violent nature. I've even heard of trainers receiving grievous injuries from trying to play with them, with the worst even losing fingers in the process. Even Lance rarely uses his in battle after it nearly killed his opponent's Pokemon."

The entire time I was nodding slowly in affirmation with each of Brock's warnings, before saying as he finished,

"I understand Brock. I'll be careful with it." Nodding back, Brock prepared to send it to me before I quickly stopped him.

"Hold on Brock. Let's do a trade instead." I told him.

"???"

"Ok? What am I getting then?" He asked curiously.

"Something that I hope you can experiment on wether it'd be useful for any breeding programs in the future. But you'll also have to try and keep it a secret since only us and the professors know about it."

Brock's brows rose along with his curiosity I'm sure, even as I placed the Pokeball with Ditto in the machine to trade.

Brock did the same with my new fossil Pokemon, and then we both activated the trade as both Pokeballs disappeared in a flash of light.

A second later a new Pokeball appeared where Ditto's used to be that was now registered in my name, while Ditto's Pokeball appeared before Brock.

"Thank you Brock." I told him sincerely as I took the Pokeball and scanned it.

~~~

Tyrunt- the Royal Heir Pokemon

Type- rock/dragon

This Pokemon is known for its violent disposition, and it will mercilessly tear apart anything gripped within its jaws. It is also known for being selfish and pampered, and will throw disastrous temper tantrums if it doesn't get its way. This Pokemon possesses the Sturdy and Strong Jaw abilities.

Moves- Tail Whip, Tackle, Bite

~~~

Violent, dangerous, and most of all, powerful.

Tyrunt was exactly what I needed on my team if we were going to keep going against powerful and dangerous opponents. It may not singlehandedly turn the tide against opponents like Mewtwo, but I had no doubt it'll help.

"Uh Ace... What is this?" Brock asked me in a weird voice, making me look up from Tyrunt's Pokeball to see Brock looking down at the Ditto I'd sent him.

"That Brock, is a Ditto." I said.

"Ditto?" Brock asked in confusion.

"Yes, a Ditto." I responded, before explaining,

"We found them just today, though I won't say where. The professors are researching them in depth, but I want to know their potential as breeder Pokemon."

"Breeder Pokemon? I'm not sure these things can breed Ace." Brock said as he looked over Ditto, though I could see through the screen that he was excited at the idea of a newly discovered Pokemon.

"Do you have a Pokemon on you?" I asked him.

"Yeah, some fossil Pokemon that I started training recently." Brock replied.

"Send one out real quick."

"Ok?"

Doing as I said, Brock sent out a Anorith that looked Ditto up and down curiously.

"Ok Ditto. Do your thing." I told it through the screen. And while Ditto didn't really have a reason to listen to me anymore, it quickly transformed into an Anorith as well.

"What the-!?" Brock exclaimed in shock, making me smirk from how humorous his reaction was.

"Right?" I asked him as Brock looked Ditto over to see if it had truly transformed into Anorith.

"We've got several to study, and so far they've shown the ability to transform into other Pokemon. But not only do they look like other Pokemon, they can also use the same moves as he Pokemon they transform in to, and even adopt the same aura and typing as them."

As I talked Brock's attention appeared torn between me and the Ditto, but he focused entirely on me as I said, "and with all of that, I'm wondering if they can be used for breeder programs because of their ability to copy the genetics of other Pokemon. But obviously I'm not gonna just start spreading them out to breeders everywhere, so I'd like to ask you."

Brock was silent as he looked between me and Ditto, before he finally said, "I don't think it'll work just like that, but I can try. After all, if this does work, then this Pokemon will revolutionize breeder programs everywhere. It'd be a lot easier to bring endangered Pokemon species back from the brink of extinction."

I nodded in agreement, and discussed a few more things with Brock before we ended the call, with him promising to give me an update as soon as he had something.

Once that was done we all left the conference room and returned to the arena we'd been using for training, which was empty despite it still being in the afternoon.

Once there I swapped out several members of my team for a specific group, and then laid out a mat before dumping every jar of Soft Sand I'd collected out onto it.

"Ok, come on out everyone!" I declared while releasing my Pokemon, Geodude, Turtwig, Cranidos, Nidoran and Nidorina.

They were almost all of my Pokemon that either had, or will have when they evolved, the rock or ground typing. The only one not currently out with everyone was Tyrunt.

"Alright everyone." I said as Lucario joined the group. "Two things. Firstly, I found a source of Soft Sand that you all can use to strengthen your ground type moves and typing. Starting today, I want all of you to bathe in it every couple days."

As I said that they appeared fairly excited with the exception of Lucario, who stated since he also used ground type moves, "I'll pass with my fur. I can just collect some in a pouch to keep on myself instead."

I nodded in affirmation, understanding how he'd want to avoid that kind of irritation in his fur. But then I moved on to the second piece of news.

"Secondly, we have another new teammate aside from Ditto and Nidoran. Meet Tyrunt!" As I said that I called Tyrunt out for the first time.

Tyrunt was basically a baby t-Rex that was covered in brown rocky scales, with a white frill on the back of its neck and a pair of small orange horns on the top of its head with a matching spike on its tail. It stood only about a foot tall now, but would grow to about three times that high before evolving as it aged.

The baby Tyrunt took a second to look around at all of us curiously before focusing on me.

"Hey buddy." I said to it while simultaneously channeling my aura, hoping to establish a better connection with Tyrunt while it was still a baby.

"Ty?" It cooed while cocking its head to the side curiously.

I reached my hand out towards it slowly, which it watched with growing curiosity. But, right as I was about to pat it on the head...

"Ty!"

With a cry it snapped at my hand with its already mighty jaws.

Thankfully I could feel its intent to do so beforehand, so I avoided losing any fingers. But I could also feel that there had been no malicious intent in its action, only a desire to play.

"Hey! You need to be easy." I told it sternly, like how one would discipline a dog.

"???"

Tyrunt cocked its head confusedly at me as I tried to teach it to be gentle.

As I was doing that Geodude was already rolling around in the Soft Sand energetically, while the rest of my Pokemon were waiting their turn along with May's Baltoy. I ended up making a mental note to go back and collect some more Soft Sand in buckets before we left Cerulean, but put it aside almost immediately as I focused on Tyrunt.

"Here, let's try some of this." I said while pulling a few strips of thawed Tauros meat from my bag, and cutting it into smaller pieces.

"If you can be easy, I'll give you a few pieces of meat." I told Tyrunt while holding it out for him to smell.

"Runt!" Tyrunt exclaimed as he eagerly snapped at the meat, after I quickly pulled it back.

"No. You need to be patient." I told him sternly.

"Ty!"

"Patient." I repeated without giving in.

"Tyrunt!" It roared angrily, tears forming in its eyes as it charged me in a temper tantrum.

"Here we go..." I uttered in exasperation as Tyrunt opened his mouth to try and seize me in his jaws for a Bite attack, which would still be dangerous despite his small size.

Rather than shy away, I coated my arm in a thick layer of aura and allowed Tyrunt to clamp his jaws around it, before lifting the Pokemon up and slamming him back down to the ground to pin him under me.

"That's enough!" I declared while bearing down onto him with all my aura, not holding back in the slightest in order to show him exactly who was in charge.

For a moment neither of us budged as Tyrunt glared at me with teary eyes and I glared back firmly, refusing to back down in the face of his temper tantrum.

We held that position for several more minutes, both of us refusing to even blink as everyone around us watched in awe. Until finally, Tyrunt blinked and looked away.

"..."

With a soft whimper from his filled mouth, I slowly eased up on my aura and strength while getting off of him.

"There you go." I said while pulling my arm from his mouth, grateful my aura held against his jaws. And as I did so Tyrunt slowly got to his feet while keeping his eyes downward, refusing to meet my gaze after our standoff.

"You don't need to act like that, as long as you understand the pecking order." I told him comfortingly, putting my hand atop his head to rub it affectionately.

"Ty?" He cooed while looking up at me questioningly.

"Here." I said while offering him the meat from before, which he looked at cautiously.

"It's ok. Take it gently." I said to encourage him.

"Runt..." He uttered softly, before trying to take the piece of meat from my hand.

"Ah! GENTLY." I said sternly, making him annoyed yet again, but he wasn't about to challenge me all over again.

This time he slowly opened his jaw, and I offered the meat to him as he slowly closed his jaw on it to take it from my hand.

"Good job!" I exclaimed encouragingly,making Tyrunt happy as he quickly gobbled down the meat.

"Ty ty!" He declared once he swallowed it.

"Here have some more." I said while offering another piece of meat, which he was able to eat much faster than the one before as he quickly learned to go easy, or he wouldn't get it.

We repeated that a few more times until the meat I pulled out was gone, and I said, "that's all for now. You'll get some more later."

Though Tyrunt looked dissatisfied with that, a single look from me prevented him from throwing another temper tantrum as we instead approached the others as Nidoran and Nidorina both finished their sand bath, leaving only Turtwig and Tyrunt left.

"Twig?"

"Yep, it's your turn." I told Turtwig as we approached him, though Tyrunt grew excited as he felt the energy of the Soft Sand.

"Not yet." I told him sternly as he was about to leap into it. "Wait your turn."

"Ty!" He cried out in dissatisfaction, though I just ignored him for the moment while focusing on Turtwig.

"Come here buddy." I told him while scooping up some of the sand, before proceeding to rub it into his shell in a therapeutic manner.

The shells of Turtwig were made of soil, which was an early indicator of the ground typing they gained upon evolving into their final form, Torterra. So even though Turtwig didn't have the ground typing yet, we were preparing for when he did now with the Soft Sand.

The entire time Tyrunt was growing increasingly annoyed with having to wait, until I FINALLY finished with Turtwig.

"Alright Tyrunt, it's your turn."

The words were barely out of my mouth when Tyrunt quickly leapt onto the mat and started rolling around in the sand, rubbing it into his scales excitedly.

I shook my head at the little Pokemon wryly, but let him enjoy himself for the moment before we REALLY began training. He was only a baby still, but with the attitude he'd displayed so far, I decided it was best if we could try and instill some discipline into him sooner rather than later.