CH23, Birthday

It was the day of his birthday and the day that signified the end of his first major maturity phase.

It was the moment Mikail turned from a delicate thing that could easily break, into something much sturdier in the eye of the people of Terra.

Due to the increased gravity and energy on the planet the human body, including those of children after their first maturity, was much sturdier.

Nearly nothing short of a Pokemon's attack or something equivalent would cause a serious injury to them.

Due to this and the existence of potions, which even civilians could afford and keep at hand, humanity was much laxer with their children after their first maturity.

Allowing them to explore their relative surroundings to acclimate them to spending time outside, preparing them for the future.

This meant Mikail would be allowed all-around more freedom after today.

He could already see all the materials he would discover during his future explorations and all the Pokemon he would be pokenapping.

He would finally have an easier time abducting, he meant collecting, wait that didn't sound nice as well, inviting Pokemon.

Yes, inviting Pokemon is what he wanted to say.

Now he should alert his parents of his awakening.

He was curious about what they had prepared for his birthday.

What he did know was that he was going to ride the hell out of that Growlithe.

Maybe he could finally check out the rest of his parent's Pokemon.

He was curious if their potential was as good as that of those he already checked.

In that case, he would try to get them to make some offsprings for him, purely voluntarily on their part of course.

Surprisingly both of Mikail's parents came to his room together and hugged him as soon as he was taken out from his toddler bed.

As soon as they separated, his mother took of the bedding from his bed, and his father put away the bed in one of the Silph Co. bags and took out another bed.

This one was for young kids with short safety measures, which were long enough to prevent him from falling during his sleep and short enough to let him come down on his own.

"This is your first birthday gift.

Now you can get out of your bed on your own and don't need one of us to let you out."

Came from his mother, who was putting on Growlithe bedding on his new bed.

"The new Growlithe bedding is your second gift and the pictures on it are of Agni."

Added his father.

"Daddy has no work?"

Asked Mikail his father.

Today was Mewday, so he knew his father had a workday.

Which was why he was surprised seeing them both coming into his room.

"Daddy took a day off.

It's your second birthday, which is an important event.

Getting permission was easy."

Edward replied to Mikail's question.

They went down afterward and had breakfast.

"Now comes the next gift."

Began his father, before his mother continued.

"Now that you are two years old, we can go to the Hope Pokemon petting zoo.

We know how much you love Pokemon and that's why we decide to make our first trip there today."

"Yaaaaa.

Thank you.

That is great."

Mikail shouted before he turned into a missile and hugged his parents.

'Great I get to check out some Pokemon I haven't seen before.

This will allow me to increase my personal checked-out Pokemon list.'

They got ready and his mother "helped" Mikail put on outdoor clothes.

The petting zoo was near Hope park and it took them about 10 minutes to get there.

Once they arrived there they entered after showing that Mikail was old enough to enter.

The personnel at the entrance congratulated him and gave them a birthday discount, which was nice.

They took a map showing where the different Pokemon areas were.

The petting zoo was surprisingly huge and the areas were named by seasons except for one.

Spring Area had Pidgey, Hoothoot, Natu, Taillow, and Wingull.

Growth Area had Caterpie, Butterfree, Hoppip, Skiploom, Sunkern, and Wurmple, and Beautifly.

Summer Area had Rattata, Pikachu, Sentret, Zigzagoon, Plusle, and Minun

Harvest Area Vulpix, Growlithe, Ponyta, and Numel.

Autumn Area Jigglypuff, Meowth, Mareep, Miltank, Slakoth, and Skitty.

Water Area had Psyduck, Poliwag, Poliwhirl, Slowpoke, Marill, and Lotad.

It was mentioned that the Pokemon here were generally amiable but hitting them or pulling their pelt, limbs, etc forcefully was forbidden, and may compel them to react badly.

Parents were advised to make sure kids complied with that rule and that the petting zoo was not responsible for any injuries that happened in case the rule was broken.

'At least they are warning the parents.

Besides most if not all Pokemon should be used to children's behavior by now, so they should not overreact.

The parents and personnel are there to make sure nothing excessive happens as well.

But still, no wonder they set a minimum age, thank Mew for rapid maturing or the requirement would have been higher.

Let's focus on the variety of Pokemon available.

Even if it is the more common ones, they still have Pokemon from the 3 main regions of the northern continent here.

I would have expected something like this from one of the main cities, but not from Hope Town, so this is a pleasant surprise.'

Thought Mikail while they decided what Area to visit first.

"Let's go to the Spring area first.

We will go to the Harvest area second, then we will walk to the Growth area, and after that, we will visit the Autumn Area.

We can have lunch there and Mikail can have his nap.

He will probably need it to recover his energy."

Arya suggested which Edward promptly affirmed.

"Great idea.

Once we have rested enough in the Autumn area, we can go to the Summer Area and Mikail can play there.

After that, we can cool down in the Water Area and leave once we spent some time there."

So they decided to follow that plan and walked towards the Spring area.

When they arrived Mikail was astonished, there was no giant grid or cage as he expected and the area was completely open.

'I have to avoid mixing old standards into Terra and expecting them to fit here as well.

It makes sense that there is no cage here because even most non-sentient Pokemon are smart enough to learn where they should stay and that living there, being taken care of, is easier than surviving outside, alone.

In short, they get trained before they are let out.

The Pokemon are either fully or semi-domesticated.'

Mikail saw the bird-like Pokemon flying around or resting on the grass and trees.

Pidgey and Taillow were the most numerous, followed by Wingull and Hoothoot, finally, Natu numbered the lowest.

While gazing at the Pokemon on the trees Mikail thought.

'For the Pokemon resting on the trees, I will have to use the increased range of my psionic abilities to check them out.

Thanks to my telekinesis training my activity range increased to 10 meters, this means within that range I can "touch" things with my psionic energy/abilities.

Since I come in "contact" with them through this I can check out any Pokemon that is within 10 meters of me.

They might feel my energy brushing past them, but they should not know from where it came and hopefully attribute it to the wind.

In case they don't, I will act ignorant, denying any connection to the incidents.'

They bought some Pokemon food that bird Pokemon preferred from personnel by the area to feed/bribe some Pokemon if necessary.

With a glance at his parents, Mikail approached a few Taillow resting on the grass.

The Taillow focused its gaze on Mikail but did not react otherwise.

Once Mikail came to its side, he bent down to stroke its feathers and checked its status screen.

'Species: Taillow

Gender: Female

Type: Normal, Flying/Air

Potential: Light Orange

Stage: Stageless

Genetic variation: None

Abilities: Keen Eye, Guts

Talents: None

Affinities: Neutral, Air

Hmm, nothing out of the ordinary, except for its abilities.

In the games, Taillow doesn't have the Keen Eye ability but this one has it.

Still, this makes much more sense because it's a bird-like Pokemon and all of them having this as their first/main ability seems logical because this is something they all should have, like breathing inside water for fish.

Them not having the ability in real life would be weird, not the other way around.

They seem to gain their standard ability from the games as a second one instead.

This is the first time I see 2 abilities in that column from a Pokemon with worse than light green potential.

I don't know for now if those that have it as an ability in the games display 2 abilities as well or if it's just those that don't.

We will know once I check out a Pidgey or a Wingull.'

Mikail left the Taillow alone to check out his next target, a Wingull not far from his position.

Before he could reach the Wingull, a Natu flew over and landed in front of him.

It gazed at him with a puzzled look, seemingly unsure why it felt attracted to him.

Mikail was intrigued by why this Natu focused on him like this as well.

He assumed it could be because of his psychic energy but neither the other Natus nor the Butterfrees of his parents, with their admittedly smaller psychic affinity, had detected anything until now.

He liked to think it was because he kept his psionic energy from leaking any more than it did before he advanced, at least he tried to do so.

He approached the Natu while making sure that it did not react aggressively, not sure if it would get triggered by anything he did.

Thankfully it didn't.

He leaned down, stroke its feathers.

Just before he checked its status, he felt the Natu use its psychic powers to express its curiosity about him feeling different to him.

It seemed to be still non-sentient because it used its feelings to communicate instead of words.

Mikail checked out its status before he replied to the Natus inquiry.

'Species: Natu

Gender: Male

Type: Psychic, Flying/Air

Potential: Yellow

Stage: (low) Iron stage

Genetic variation: None

Abilities: Keen Eye, Synchronize

Talents: Relatively increased energy sensitivity

Affinities: Psionic, Air

Hmm, this one has, including Keen Eye, 2 abilities as well.

The other one is Synchronize and it has a talent.

Wow, this is the first Pokemon with a talent from those that I have checked.

I always thought that they need a higher potential to get one, seeing that the Magikarp with light green potential had none.

It looks like I was wrong.

Either way, I think it is this increased sensitivity combined with its synchronize ability that should be responsible for Natu's interest in me.

The combination probably helps it somewhat allowing it to sense my higher psionic energy pool.'

"I have no clue either.

Maybe we have a destiny together.

That could be why you feel different about me."

Normally, he would not use such sentences in the earshot of his parents, but in this case, he could make an exception.

"Edward, do you hear him.

He is quoting the Arcanine King.

My son is so smart.

He managed to memorize the text despite his age."

His mother could be heard saying to his father in the background.

"You're right, Arya.

We watched that movie months ago.

That he hasn't forgotten the sentences is impressive and I am not saying this because he is my son.

Unfortunately, catching or taking any Pokemon from the zoo is forbidden.

So it doesn't matter if he manages to hoodwink, I mean to impress the Natu, so we can't bring it along."

Came the reply from Edward.

Tuning out the background noise, Mikail focused back on the Natu that had heard his parents as well.

"Like you heard.

You can't come with us.

You are still a great Pokemon.

Bye Bye."

The Natu communicated its acceptance and took off.

Mikail, who considered the case closed, focused back on the Wingull he planned to check out before.

He was surprised when the Natu landed on his head instead of flying away.

"Why?

You can not come with us."

The Natu expressed its understanding but it also transferred that it would accompany him for now.

"He probably wants to follow us around for now.

Just let it stay there for now.

Natu is really light, so you should have no problem with carrying him around while it is on your head."

Mikail heard his mother say.

'Only here 2 kg could be deemed light.

Not to forget a child carrying around 2 kg being considered no problem as well.'

"Okay."

He acknowledged while deciding to not use his psionic abilities in front of the Natu, while the others may not detect their usage the one on his head probably would.

So accepting that he would not be able to check the Pokemon on the trees Mikail resumed his walk to the Wingull, which he promptly checked.

'Species: Wingull

Gender: Male

Type: Water, Flying/Air

Potential: Deep Red

Stage: Stageless

Genetic variation: None

Abilities: Keen Eye

Talents: None

Affinities: Water, Air

Well, its potential is bad but its ability tells me something more important.

This Wingull has only the Keen Eye ability in its ability column.

This, while not outright proving it, tells me that bird-like Pokemon with the Keen Eye ability in the games don't have the second ability in their column, which means that Keen Eye can be considered a racial ability for all bird-like Pokemon.

Other Pokemon can also have this as an ability, but bird-like Pokemon always do.

This should be the reason why they can have a second ability in the ability column despite not having light green or better potential.'

Satisfied with his reasoning Mikail continued petting and checking all Pokemon he could get his hands on, occasionally feeding the Pokemon the pokefood they had bought.

When they continued towards the next area 45 minutes later he had checked more than 30 Pokemon, Pidgey, and Hoothoot included and they had used up all the Pokemon food.

From what he saw his theory fit and until disproven he would assume that he was right.

The Natu that had sat on his head the whole time they were at the Spring Area, left as soon as they arrived at the Harvest Area, which was a large clearing with 1 or 2 mounds.

They bought both food sorts provided at the beginning of the area.

One was apparently liked by Vulpix and Growlithe and the other one by Ponyta and Numel.

Mikail absolutely did not squeal when he saw all those Growlithes, and his parents most definitely were not laughing at his behavior.

Whoever claimed otherwise was a dirty, dirty liar.

He spent the next 90 minutes hugging all Growlithes he could get his hands on.

Naturally, he pet and carresed the other 3 Pokemon types as well but he would be lying if he said that his focus was not on the Growlithes.

Of course, he did not forget to check out their status.

Let's go not off-topic, but deviate a bit.

What he learned, demonstrated once more what his knowledge had told him about the potential distribution of different species.

Here the Base stat from the games once again showed its influence.

Species whose final evolution had a higher BS possessed a better potential distribution.

He had seen the distribution list the day he met his parents Pokemon the first time and all checks until now have confirmed it, even the Magikarp. He had seen 5 light yellow Magikarp until today, despite the terrifying number of Magikarp on the planet.

Back, to the Pokemon from the Harvest area.

There were about 30 Growlithe, 20 Vulpix, 15 Ponyta, and 4 Numel.

Out of 30 Growlithe, 8 had red potential, 12 had light to deep orange potential, 5 had light yellow, 2 yellow, 2 deep yellow potentials, and 1 even had light green potential.

'Species: Growlithe

Gender: Male

Type: Fire

Potential: Light Green

Stage: (low) Iron stage

Genetic variation: None

Abilities: Flash Fire, Intimidate

Talents: None

Affinities: Fire

My father said that this Growlithe was quite young, which explained its stage being low despite its potential.

There was a (high) iron stage Growlithe as well.

Species: Growlithe

Gender: Female

Type: Fire

Potential: Yellow

Stage: (high) Iron stage

Genetic variation: ?

Abilities: ?

Talents: ?

Affinities: ?'

The others were okay as well, the best potential amongst the Vulpix was one with deep yellow potential.

'Species: Vulpix

Gender: Female

Type: Fire

Potential: Deep Yellow

Stage: (mid) Iron stage

Genetic variation: ?

Abilities: ?

Talents: ?

Affinities: ?'

The Ponyta had one yellow potential one and the best Numel had deep orange potential.

The Pokemon only felt warm to his touch, even the Numel, even though he remembered Numel to have magma flowing through its body according to the games.

He had no idea how it did but his father confirmed it.

When he asked why they only felt warm instead of hot he said that they could control the heat they give of to a certain degree.

30 minutes in his father talked with one of the zoo personnel in the Harvest Area and released Agni.

He took out the saddle and harness strapping them on Agni.

While his father was doing that, his mother turned to Mikail and said.

"This saddle and the harness are your fourth present.

You already knew about them and now you can use them for the first time."

His father, who finished making sure everything fastened firmly helped him on the saddle and showed him how he had to position himself and what not to do.

After which Mikail rode around the area on Agni, sometimes alongside the other Growlithe, sometimes on his own.

30 minutes later he dismounted and his father released Agni from the equipment.

"That was great.

Thank you both.

Thank you, Agni."

Mikail, who was extremely happy said to his parents and proceeded to hug them.

After that, he continued to play around with the Pokemon.

They went towards the Growth Area once his parents decided that they stayed for long enough, seeing that Mikail was still going strong despite spending 90 minutes there and running out of Pokemon food during the first 50 minutes.

The Growth area was a field full of grass and flowers, with tree groupings here and there.

They bought Pokemon food here as well and spent around 30 minutes watching/playing with the Pokemon there.

Running after/alongside Pokemon that fluttered or floated in the air.

Checking out the ones he couldn't reach with his psionic ability when they came in range.

Mikail could have sworn he saw a green blur occasionally in the periphery of his vision, but every time he tried to check if there was something there, it turned out empty so he ignored it.

Mikail and his parents would occasionally stroke a Caterpie, Wurmple, or Sunkern.

None of the family members had a problem with bug types, which could be seen by the Butterfrees his parents had.

He also added Skiploom, Wurmple, and Beautifly to his checked-out Pokemon list.

The most notable status from the Pokemon he checked in this area was from one of the Butterfree.

Species: Butterfree

Gender: Male

Type: Bug, Flying/Air

Potential: Green

Stage: (mid) Bronze stage

Genetic variation: ?

Abilities: ?

Talents: ?

Affinities: ?'

He was surprised by how strong it was for a Pokemon at a petting zoo, but conclude that it probably acted as a form of security.

Their last stop for the first part of their trip was the Autumn Area.

Compared to the previous 3 areas this one was more calm and peaceful.

It was a clearing with Pokemon lazing about.

They were mostly lying around (Slakoth and Meowth), grazing (Mareep and Miltank), or casually strolling (Jigglypuff and Skitty).

They used the Pokemon food they bought while switching around sitting/lying locations just cuddling/caressing different Pokemon.

Mikail naturally checked the status of the Pokemon here as well, adding them all to his checked-out list.

He found one surprise this time around, it was the absence of something in the status of all 3 Slakoth.

None of them had an ability.

'Species: Slakoth

Gender: Male

Type: Normal/Neutral

Potential: Light Orange

Stage: Stageless

Genetic variation: None

Abilities: None

Talents: None

Affinities: Neutral

It looks like my observe function does not consider Truant as an ability.

Which is great and makes sense in my opinion.

An ability forcing Slakoth every moment to stop makes no sense.

Here it's a simple case of extreme laziness imprinted on their kind as a whole, but I believe with the necessary patience and incentives it could be trained to at least actively participate in a fight or training.

It can keep lazing around as much as it wants at any other time but if it does seriously fight and train, the species would be worth the effort.'

The best potential he found here was a deep orange Miltank, which was also the strongest Pokemon one among them.

'Species: Miltank

Gender: Female

Type: Normal/Neutral

Potential: Deep Orange

Stage: (low) Bronze stage

Genetic variation: ?

Abilities: ?

Talents: ?

Affinities: ?'

He kept a lookout for a good Mareep but they were all average. They spent 30 minutes just lazing around together with the Pokemon before his parents spread out a blanket, put up a parasol they ate their lunch and Mikail took a nap courtesy of a Jigglypuff. He never fell asleep faster and his sleep was quite refreshing.

After his nap, Mikail made sure he was left unbothered during/due to his sleep.

They left the Autumn towards the Summer area once they had packed up their stuff.

At the beginning of the Summer area, they once more bought Pokemon food. One type is for Pikachu, Plusle, and Minun, and another type is for Rattata, Sentret, and Zigzagoon.

Mikail played tag with the Pokemon for a bit before playing catch with the Pokemon food.

He would throw a pellet of Pokemon food into the air and one of the Pokemon would catch/eat it.

Mikail would still occasionally see the green blur but he kept ignoring it.

He had quite a bit of fun like this until the food ran out.

After that, he played some more tag before he simply went up to the Pokemon to stroke their fur/pelt and/or cuddled them.

When he pet the Pikachu, Plusle, or Minun he would occasionally be hit by weak static electricity.

The first time he was quite stunned by this, as he had not expected it to happen.

Which he should have, but he still didn't.

Despite there being video footage of it, thanks to his parents who seemed to have expected this to happen, and recorded the scene, Mikail will keep denying having ever yelped in surprise.

The current was weak enough that it simply tingled a bit, so apart from being surprised by it nothing happened.

This was simply because of their type in combination with their fur being stroked and had nothing to do with the static ability.

Otherwise, his parents would have stopped him, at least he thought so.

He added all Pokemon, except for Sentret who was already in it, into his status-checked list.

He would have liked to say he saw a legendary Pikachu or something like that but the best one he checked had light yellow potential, which while good was not stunning.

No Ash-Pikachu for him, unfortunately.

'Species: Pikachu

Gender: Female

Type: Electric

Potential: Light Yellow

Stage: (mid) Iron stage

Genetic variation: ?

Abilities: ?

Talents: ?

Affinities: ?'

Around two hours later they left the area towards the Water area.

Mikail was slightly exhausted by all that running and playing around, despite having taken a nap before.

At the Water area, Arya helped her son change into swimming shorts and Mikail ran towards the water types to play with the Pokemon.

His parents relaxed by the water, keeping watch of Mikail and taking some photos or videos of him from time to time.

The first thing he did was observe, literally in this case, a few Slowpoke to determine whether they really reacted as slowly as described in the games and anime.

The result was a yes and no.

From what he could see they did have a delayed reaction but it was not as exaggerated as in the media of his previous life.

After that, he watched the Psyducks because of the same reason.

While they did not seem to have a perpetual headache, their headaches did happen frequently.

He did not forget to add them, the Poliwag, Marill, and Lotad to his ever-growing list of status-checked Pokemon.

Apart, from that he simply played with the Pokemon and got drenched in the process.

The potential here was average as well with some deep oranges and 2 light yellows mixed in, those being a Marill and a Psyduck.

'Species: Psyduck

Gender: Male

Type: Water

Potential: Light Yellow

Stage: (low) Iron stage

Genetic variation: None

Abilities: Damp

Talents: None

Affinities: Water

And

Species: Marill

Gender: Female

Type: Water, Fairy

Potential: Light Yellow

Stage: (mid) Iron stage

Genetic variation: ?

Abilities: ?

Talents: ?

Affinities: ?'

An observation he made once he saw a real-life one, was that the variant Sentret he had seen in Hope park had a slight resemblance to Marill.

While the resemblance was minor, it did exist, which he, personally, attributed to a common ancestor a long, long, long time ago.

They waited for Mikail to dry and about 1 hour after they came to the Water area they left, this time towards the exit of the petting zoo.

They drove home, where they had dinner.

"And how was it, did you have fun?"

Asked his mother after their meal.

"Yes.

It was great.

Today was the best day ever."

Mikail expressed his agreement.

"That's good.

We are happy that you had fun.

We thought it was a great day too."

Said his father.

"We have one last part/gift for your birthday."

Arya went to the kitchen while Edward and Mikail go over to the couch.

His mother returned with, you would have never guessed, a Growlithe cake.

They took photos and his mother recorded a video.

Mikail made a wish before blowing out the candles.

He cut into the cake together with his mother and they all ate a slice.

They spent another 30 minutes just talking, in his case mostly listening to his parents talk, before it was time for Mikail to get ready for sleep.

His mother helped him take a short bath and he put on his pajamas.

After he laid down on his bed, his parents promised to show him their full team at the weekend.

That would be when everyone would be available.

With that little promise, Mikail went to sleep feeling happy after finally having ridden on Growlithe and having an overall great day.

(End of Volume 1, The Beginning)

This chapter is nearly twice as long as one of my normal chapters.