12: Time Passes

"Alpha." It was a simple word, really, a word that msant described the dominant animal or human in a particular group. Like in the phrase, "The pack is a tightly knit, highly organized group led by an alpha wolf." The Alpha Wolf is referred to as the leader and more dominant one in that group, which when compared to who he was? Darius wasn't overly dominant nor naturally submissive in nature. Sure, he could be stereotypically dominant if he wanted to, but it's not exactly something he'd do every single day or willy-nilly. That was why he was surprised for a moment when he heard Cerberus call him "Alpha." That and the fact that he understood what the Pokemon wanted to say!

"Wait, Cerberus?" He turned to look at the hound Pokemon, a smile on his lips, and he lowered himself and lifted the Houndour as if he was just a puppy. "You just spoke to me?" He focused for a split second to try and see if he could sense that within him, which allowed their communication: Their bond. "Alpha..." There was that same word again! Darius' lips started to curl into a smile as he laughed, a grin on his face: "Yeah!" He hugged the Pokemon, feeling a sense of happiness from the little dude as he did so. From his shadow, a little gem gremlin also crawled out, and on his shoulder, there was also a shelled friend. Shellder and Sableye also felt slightly different. He could feel them as they both looked at him with happiness - He grinned back at them, happiness in mind.

Yeah, everything's is going to be fine.

-Scene Cut-

Darius: "Who's a good boy?"

Cerberus: "The fact that there are good boys also implies the existence of bad boys, and therefore, I'd reply that the question itself is a trap as I define myself neither and wholly good nor bad."

Darius: "Wanna a treat?"

Cerberus: "Yes, please."

-Scene Cut-

Their lives resumed back to a semi-normal lifestyle. Darius spent some time training his small friends, keeping them fed and making sure they spent a lot of time working on to grow stronger. Cerberus was growing steadily and strongly, making a lot of effort to grow at a reasonable pace! He also decided to give names to the other two Pokemon he had with him! Meet Jasper the timid Sableye and Shelly the Shellder.

Jasper was a little skittish around other Pokemon, preferring to stay on his shadow or play with the little Phantum, who was very playful. He was very attached to the little ghost Pokemon, like a good older brother taking care of his little sister - it truly reminded Darius of the younger kids who tried to be more like him, back at the orphanage. They would try to act tough like him when, in fact, he was just tall! The majority of fights he won were mostly because others were too scared to actually properly punch him, and also because he packed a mean punch, too. Maybe he'll unlock the Fighting Type Affinity? Who knows, really.

Shelly, however, was a really outgoing little Pokemon! Her circle of friends consisted of many Sewaddles and Swadloons, as well as Marils, Azurils, and even a few Magikarps. Talking about them, Cerberus started swimming, much against his own fear of the waters. You see, Fire Pokemon have a natural fear of large bodies of water, or at least some do, because Darius has only truly seen Cerberus show fear of a large body of water... Cerberus and a few Fletchlings, although they are Normal/Flying before becoming Fletchinders, where they become Fire/Flying, but their fear almost might be because of the fucking large Mega Gyarados in the lake too.

Regardless, Darius held onto the hound Pokemon as he began to teach it how to swim, his reasoning being "One day you might find yourself in a situation where you are surrounded by water, then what will you do? Accept defeat?" With that, his loyal dog Pokemon got enough courage to try and touch the water... It didn't really hurt him. He is not a very sensible type of Pokemon like the Ground and Rock types, but he will be training Darius' resistance to Water Types by having it swim every day and have mock battles against his fellow Pokemon. Darius seemed to receive the Mega Gyarados' approval or something, because suddenly all the Pokemon from that lake seemed to just respect him, even more so after they learned of his achievements through the words of his little Shellder apparently, or so he deduced.

And he was right!

She had told them how her new amazing 'Boss' had done the impossible, a mission given to him by the Arceus himself under the authority of Suicine herself to heal and cure the deadly disease that the Leavanny swarm had somehow acquired. All the Water Pokemon instantly respected him, and although Darius may never know why, I shall tell you - The lake in which they reside had been once a place of filth, where even Muk and Grimers would swim in, delighted to be among their home... But that place was never meant to be a filthy place of trash and grease as the Muks loved. It was once a great lake that had been corrupted, tarnished, and trashed.

Suicine then came, and the Mega Gyarados remembered to this very day. At that time, he was but a Magikarp struggling to survive the filthy waters where once his home was, he was one of the few last Pokemon that had been there originally, and due to his resilience and endurance, Suicine blessed him herself. She spoke words, words of wisdom, and words of warning. The lake would be pure, and he was the one who had to make sure it stayed that way, for that was his duty now. She gave him the strength to overcome his form and a gift, for once he felt the age consume his form, he was renewed and given even greater power to protect his home. This was one of the reasons he let that human live. Not only did he feel a small connection to him, seeing as he was not harmful, but also his words...

They spoke of a mission, a mission to heal, just like her.

So he let the human live, and the human succeeded. Although the ones he saved were not exactly of his home, they drank from his home, and they also contributed for his home in a way, for they helped the world around them.

Back to our human protagonist.

Darius had to get used to wearing leaf clothes. They were actually pretty comfortable, even more so when he started helping this small Swadloon, who wanted to make her own clothes in her own special way, so Darius gave her ideas and tidbits that he knew of modern clothing. He even helped her develop her [String Shot] and [Sticky Web] in a way that she could now make clothes out of her own silk! She was clumsy at first, but Darius also started trying knitting using sharpened sticks, and together, they learned how to make their own clothing.

Like that, she evolved into a beautiful Leavanny.

She immediately wished to join his team, and he accepted her because it's not like he's going to try and become the champion! He just... likes this. He likes making friends with Pokemon, learning about them, and moving around helping where he can.

---

| Name: Arachne

| Species: Leavanny

| Type: Bug/Grass

| Held Item:

| Gender: Female

| Level: 30

| Rank: Trained (2)

| Potential: ★★☆☆☆

| Nature: Jolly (+Speed/-Energy Potency)

| Abilities -

Trained Abilities:

Swarm - Powers up Bug attacks.

Chlorophyll - Increases speed when under harsh sunlight.

| Attributes -

0-10: F

11-20: E

21-30: D

31-40: C

41-50: B

51-100: A

101-200: S

201-500: SS

501-1000: SSS

×-×

Strength: 44 [B]

Speed: 65 [A]

Endurance: 39 [C]

Attack Potency: 55 [A]

Vitality: 45 [B]

Energy Control: 44 [B]

Energy Resistance: 22 [D]

Energy Capacity: 34 [C]

Energy Potency: 42 [B]

| Moves - Learned, Trained, Expert, Mastered, Complete Control.

Egg Moves: Agility [T], Screech [T], Camouflage [T]

Moves: Slash [T], Bug Bite [T], Razor Leaf [T], String Shot [E], Sticky Web [E], Grass Whistle [L], Protect [L], Struggle Bug [L], Fell Stinger [L]

TMs:

---------

So, meet Arachne! She was named, obviously, after Arachne. The woman who challenged Athena to a weaving battle and got turned into a spider because either the Goddess was a pretty shitty loser or because of her hubris. Regardless, with Arachne on his team, he had a relatively powerful Pokemon now! Well, Cerberus was growing steadily, in the future he would surely become the very best.

Like that, a whole month passed. Darius kept raising the Caterpies he rescued, and the eggs there also hatched into beautiful color variant Caterpies. The Caterpies turned into Metapods and the Metapods into Butterfrees. Together with the Leavanny, they became a single group, and since they shared the same Egg Group, Darius is pretty sure they can mate and have children amongst themselves... Darius also had a small little surprise meeting with a migrating group of absolutely massive Pokemon.

The Continent Pokemon, Torterra.

The Grove Pokemon, Grotle.

And the cutest little Tiny Leaf Pokemon, Turtwig.

About 6 adult Torterras, 8 Grotles, and 4 little Turtwigs. They didn't look too good. The largest Torterra looked pretty bad, and Darius couldn't help but come forward even though they were large Pokemon.

Well, it went... Good.