10 Teenage Mutant Squirtin' Turtle
After creating his personal weapon, Asmond asked Seedot to create a sort of vine vambrace that would allow him to safely wrap his chain around his forearm. While observing his chain that was securely wrapped around his forearm, he thought that the look it gave him was pretty metal and decided that his new weapon should be named "Death Metal".
Asmond was thoroughly exhausted by the time he finished and just wanted to go to bed. However, he had yet to do his evening training and he still needed to train his Pokemon. After receiving the Searchers reports, it turned out that they had no luck in their search but then he hadn't expected everything to fall into place so soon. Calling over Seedot, he began explaining new ways for him to increase his mobility.
All of this base building had made Asmond realize that controlling Seedot's center of gravity was really only the most basic way for him to mobilize himself. Asmond had been completely overlooking the utility of those vines.
Once he was certain Seedot understood what he wanted him to do, he stood back and watched as Seedot tried to create what Asmond had requested. It was similar to what he was hoping for but wouldn't really be functional and so Asmond pointed out the defects in the design and had him try it again.
After four more failures, Seedot finally managed to create a perfect sphere around his body, with a support system that would keep him positioned in the center as it rolled.
Giving Seedot the go ahead, the others watched as he began rolling around the room using not only his center of gravity but also thorns that he made grow from his vines to push off of the ground. Now that Asmond had confirmed that this was a viable way for Seedot to move about, his eyes shined with a mischievous glint as he imagined the possibilities once Seedot gained more control over his abilities.
This was indeed a promising development and he hoped to develop this type of application even further in the future but, for now, Seedot needed to familiarize himself with this new application of his abilities, before moving on to something else.
Asmond had instructed Espiria, during her training earlier, to try and propel objects as far and as fast as possible with her Psychic Limbs. He told her to focus on smaller pebble sized objects and try to make it travel fast enough that it could tear a decent chunk out of a tree upon impact. With Espiria's powers having been boosted by her recent evolution this was something she could easily practice casually during her guard duties.
With this new training now on her to do list, she and Happiny began their patrols as the others fell asleep.
The following evening, Asmond was satisfied with Seedot's control over his new Vine Drive and decided it was time to see if he could engender his Dark Type power to manifest early. He spent much of the evening's training wrapping Seedot in shadows, throwing tiny shadow balls at him, and then refilling his magic for another round. Seedot's job during this ordeal was to simply try and discern the nature and behavior of this energy.
Asmond assumed that, if Seedot's evolved form had an affinity with Dark Type powers, perhaps there was something in his biological makeup that could be activated before his evolution. This would, of course, depend entirely upon whether Seedot could make it happen, assuming that such a thing was possible.
After several days of going to the ocean with Espiria, Asmond was finally able to find himself a shiny Magikarp by relying on Espiria's ESP and Seedot's vines. Before catching the Magikarp, they had already dug out a sizable hole to fill it with water. Filling the hole with water, without breaking their backs again with the water bucket routine, was a task that they had relied on some dirty tactics to solve.
They methodically went out and captured as many small fry Water Type Pokemon as they could carry and forced them to use their abilities to fill up the hole. They had promised to let them go if they complied and so they were released. That incident, however, wouldn't afford them any protection, if they were caught again.
They all continued to train diligently, for the next three weeks, at which point Torchic finally reported, during their evening training, that he had spotted a Squirtle. After confirming that Torchic remembered the exact location where he saw it, Asmond readied the others and they set off immediately in that direction. Arriving at a section of beach just a little south east of the Grass House, they could see the Squirtle walking on the beach looking at the ground less than a hundred meters from where Torchic had spotted it.
Asmond sent Seedot out to confront it, while Espiria stealthily made her way a little further east to sneak up behind him. Seedot slowly rolled his way down the beach, without his vines, and came to a stop as soon as Squirtle turned around and spotted him.
Seedot had made sure to make his approach slightly closer to the ocean and, when he used his Vine Manipulation to attack Squirtle, he forced it back instead of letting it escape into the water. There were a few other Pokemon that were within the visual range of they're location but, despite being a good distance away, they all decided to scamper off, after seeing such a conflict about to unfold.
After dodging Seedot's vines, Squirtle immediately fired a Water Gun attack at him. Rolling adeptly out of the way and causing Squirtle to look confused at this strange movement, Seedot used Quick Attack to give his vines a speed boost and just narrowly missed grabbing Squirtle who was more agile than he appeared.
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Squirtle was walking along the beach looking for Water Stones. His parents had told him that it was harder to find them on the beach but it was safer, since he could simply retreat to the water if there was danger. The only other option were the deeps and it was simply too dangerous there for a youngster like him.
He had thought that he was being careful but he clearly hadn't been careful enough. At this very moment, there was a Seedot of all things that had crept up behind him and attacked without warning. When he first spotted him he could have sworn that he had been rolling but immediately dismissed this notion.
After the Seedot had attacked, however, he immediately countered only to find the normally slow and sluggish Pokemon rolling skillfully out of the way. 'So he really was rolling! What the crap? I haven't seen many Seedots but the ones I have seen never rolled. Hell, they barely could even be described as capable of walking.' Just as he thought this, that damned freakish Seedot sent his vines out again, only this time they were much faster. 'Damn, this guy's really getting on my nerves! He almost got me with that! Fine, let's see how you handle this.'
Squirtle was ready to issue his counter attack but his body, for reasons he couldn't discern, wouldn't listen to any of his commands. He seemed to be completely frozen despite not feeling the least bit cold. As he was beginning to imagine the horrible ways in which he might be about to die in his panic, he saw something that he had never seen before.
He had heard tales from his parents, about Humans who apparently had long arms and legs and a pale to brown hairless appearance, but this was the first time he'd ever actually seen one and it was hardly taller than he was. His parents had told him that Humans would be at least three times taller than him, unless they were juveniles. 'What on Earth is a baby Human doing out here on the beach by himself?' This shocking sight had caused him to nearly forget that he was in mortal danger.
He suddenly seemed to remember the situation he was in and resumed his panicking. The Human was walking towards him and so was the Seedot he had been fighting. Neither one of them, however, seemed to be attacking him. As a matter of fact, if he remembered correctly, Seedot had retracted his vines the moment he had become frozen. 'What in the world is going on here? What are these guys up to?'
Suddenly a shadow rushed past him making him nearly jump out of his shell. He looked at the Human who was now only six feet away from him and saw that the shadow had been an Espeon and it was now walking beside the small Human. 'No wonder I can't move! This has to be that damned Espeon's work. Shit, I'm done for! But, why aren't they attacking? Dammit, I don't understand what's going on!'
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With Squirtle firmly secured within Espiria's ability, Asmond slowly approached the captured Pokemon and spoke to it softly.
"Squirtle, I know you may not feel very safe at this moment but I can assure you that we mean you no harm. I'm here for the purpose of recruiting you to my team. All of the Pokemon you see here have seen the benefits that my training can bring and just the fact that we work and live together, already gives us a huge advantage. If you wish to become truly strong and to continue to survive in this harsh world, I can assure you that your best option is to join us. Ask any of my teammates here and they will attest to the effectiveness of my ways. I don't know if I'm the most talented Pokemon Trainer but I know that all of the Pokemon that currently follow me are a step above similar Pokemon of a similar age. So what do say, Squirtle, will you join us?"
Squirtle didn't respond for several seconds, as he was a bit stunned at the Human's words. He could see that there was now a Torchic, Happiny, and an Eevee also in attendance. They were all standing behind the Human watching for danger, while Espeon and Seedot stood at the Human's side waiting for his response.
'Wait a minute, I think that mom and dad actually mentioned something about this. Something about Humans capturing Pokemon and making them work for them. Yeah, he just said Pokemon Trainer didn't he? He must be one of them then. Hmmm…well, if they really don't mean me any harm, let's get some answers then.'
"Squirtle, Squir- Squir- Squirtle"
Espiria took this opportunity to allay his concerns. *No, we aren't being forced to work for him. He is weaker than each one of us individually and wouldn't stand a chance in the wilds by himself. I've actually been with him, since I was born, but every other Pokemon here has chosen to follow him, because they recognize his worth. You could even say that they protect him because he protects them, by showing them the path to greater power.
*Ask any of the others and they'll tell you how little progress they had made, before deciding to give Asmond a chance. Also, he isn't trying to force you into anything. You're more than welcome to join us and see the results for yourself. If you aren't satisfied, then you can leave.*
Squirtle took a moment to digest all of this as he really wasn't sure what to make of all of this. "Squirtle, Squirtle"
*The only reason we've detained you is so that we can speak with you and get your answer. No matter your answer you're free to go at anytime, once we receive it. If you decline, then we'll let you go and won't stop you. However, you should know how the world works. You won't get any special protections or considerations from us should our interests end up conflicting in the future. So, while you'll be free to go today, we've made that area just over there our territory and, including Asmond, we have six hungry mouths to feed.*
This Espeon certainly was good at putting things into perspective. The more he thought about it the more he began to feel like he had very little to lose by giving it a shot. They clearly outnumbered and overpowered him by a large margin. If they had really meant him any harm, surely there would be nothing stopping them from simply doing so. As hard as this Espeon's words were to believe, he simply couldn't find a reason to deny them.
"Squirtle" As soon as he said this, Espiria released her hold on him.
Espiria spoke to Asmond's mind. *He says that he'll come with us, for now.*
*Nice! Good job, Espiria!*
"Well, Squirtle, since you seem to still be a bit unsure about all this, follow us to our territory and we'll get you started on some good ol' fashioned Poketraining."
*Oh yeah, I forgot to mention that he has a habit of unnecessarily adding Poke- to the beginnings of words. Also, my name is Espiria.* Espiria informed Squirtle.
Squirtle thought that this was a bit odd but then again pretty much everything about this night had been odd ever since that Seedot showed up. He pushed this to the back of his mind for now and began wondering what could be so special about this guy's training.
Once they arrived at the Grass House, Squirtle was once again stunned at what he was seeing. Some ridiculously organized arrangement of vines that served as a shelter, for these Pokemon and their Trainer. He couldn't help to wonder how they had constructed such a thing.
Of course, it wasn't too long, before he found out. After explaining a few basic details about their base and their routines, Asmond didn't give Squirtle any time to be amazed that this entire house was basically one giant Pokemon ability. Asmond jumped right into the training that he had promised. After spending nearly an hour detailing all of the training that Squirtle would be doing, Asmond assigned Squirtle to the Night Guard and went directly to bed, as it was well past their bedtimes.
Asmond had informed them all that tomorrow night they would be swapping roles. The Night Guards would become the Searchers and the Searchers would become the Night Guards. For this reason the Searchers would be allowed to sleep late in the morning and the same would go for the Night Guard.
Once they swapped roles, however, he would only have two Searchers, since Squirtle was behind on his training and needed to catch up. Not to mention that he wasn't officially part of the team yet. Of course, he had missed having Espiria by his side and was glad that once their Pokemon hunt was over they'd be able to train together once more.
Another two weeks passed, as they continued their hunt for Geodude and Pichu. Asmond was a bit disappointed at not having found a Geodude yet. They were supposed to be really common but, of course, that was only in rocky environments. Their territory was too far away from the mountains to safely send a single Pokemon out there by themselves. He suspected they would have to make a special trip over there just to get one.
One morning, not too long before the Searchers would've normally woken up, Eevee spotted two large cat looking Pokemon silhouettes entering their territory and heading towards the Grass House.
