95-Cladogenesis

Sitting in the miniature folding chair she’d pulled from her bag, Kate looks at her two traveling companions who are sitting opposite her in a messy circle.

The worried air caused by Amelia and her partner following Teddiursa into the underbrush has stifled any conversation past a few awkward musings to no on in particular about ‘how it’s going,’ repeated every ten minutes like clockwork.

The worry was both alleviated and heightened when they saw an altaria shoot over their heads, flying low over the treetops in the same direction their friend went.

Whatever problem there is a ranger is the best person around to solve it, but that means there’s a problem to solve.

The silence is broken by a loud crunching noise as Sam breaks open his stash of trail mix, shoveling another handful into his mouth as he offers the bag to the other two.

“W’nt s’me?” He asks, refused by both trainers with a polite shake of the head, and the group lapses back to silence.

Kate twitches as she feels Skitty’s ball shake on her hip, her partner popping out in a flash of light only to immediately hop up onto her partner's lap and make herself comfortable.

The trainer ignores the pinprick pain of claws kneading her legs and reflexively gives Skitty a scratch under the chin just before she lays down, the ‘mon curling up tightly to fit, and even then there’s a fair bit of overhang in every direction.

She’s more than old enough to evolve, but moon stones are expensive and there’s a question on if Skitty would want to evolve with one anyway.

Because delcatty are common as magicarp, and she’s read some fascinating rumors in online forums that using a sun stone under some kind of special condition will let her partner evolve into an entirely new pokemon. The popular theory is something like midday during the summer solstice, but there has to be some other component.

Sure the league hasn't officially confirmed it, but new evolutions and evolution methods are discovered all the time. Just three years ago scientists finally discovered the specific conditions of pangoro evolution and people have been trying for ages to figure out what the conditions are for eevee to evolve with a dusk stone.

Scientists have confirmed something tries to happen whenever a sufficiently strong eevee interacts with one, but no one’s figured out what the missing piece is yet.

So sure, getting a sun stone imported will be even more expensive, but both her and Skitty share a slight vain streak. They bothwant Skitty to be the first confirmed sun stone evolution and all the notoriety that implies. Not to mention the advantage of no one knowing her partner’s natural skills better than her.

Giving her partner a scratch under the chin, Kate smiles as she feels her partner purr, only for her to stop and the ‘mon to crack one eye and level an accusative glare.

“Skit sk itty?” She asks, half question half reprimand as Kate rolls her eyes and continues scratching.

“Alright, fine.” She mutters, to which Skitty gives a pompous, slow blink.

“Skitty.” She trills primly and curls back up.

Sam takes another loud crunch of trail mix and, again like clockwork, it’s Tyler this time who glances at where they’d lost sight of Amelia in the woods.

“...They sure are taking a while.” He says, different words with the exact same intonation and intent.

Everyone nods, but this time Kate breaks the pattern as she speaks after the customary agreeing grunt.

“You all think we should… try and help or something?”

She’s not entirely sure how they’d help, even if the ranger they saw wasn'theaded for Amelia, anything that could have beaten Chansey is not something they can deal with.

It’s clear from the looks on the other’s faces that they’re thinking the exact same thing, but feel saying that out loud would be cowardly.

After a few seconds of silence Sam swallows his mouthful of trail mix and nods.

“Sure. But I don't think we should just wander into the woods and make more problems for the rangers if they have to come and save us. How about this, if Amelia isn't back in another hour we’ll call a ranger here and tell them what we know. But if Swellow gets back before then we’ll ask him to look for them. If he says they need help–”

It’s the faint sound of rhythmic crunching that cuts Sam off, for an instant Kate assumes it’s somehow her friend chewing trail mix again despite the fact she’s looking at him, but quickly realizes the sound is coming from the forest.

Looking over as the crunching gets louder, Kate feels a knot unwind in her chest as she sees flashes of pink through the underbrush. After a few seconds she stands up to greet the duo, Skitty growling a complaint as her lap disappears and she drops to the dirt.

“Finally, we were getting worried! What… happened…”

She trails off as Chansey comes into view, Amelia and a man in a ranger’s uniform walking behind her.

The trainer stares at the teddiursa in the ‘mon’s arms, gently wiggling in her grip while Chansey stares straight ahead like she’s not handling a struggling bundle of fur and claws.

At the sound of her voice the entire party looks at her as they step out of the woods and back onto the path. Amelia steps out from behind her partner with a wave and a ‘hold on’ motion before turning her attention back to the ranger as he looks them over and clears his throat.

“Alright N-Trainer, thank you for your cooperation and assistance. But I remind you that the route restriction is still in effect specifically because of dangers like the one you’d encountered, until the restriction is removed you are not to deviate from the route, under any circumstances.” He says, voice stern.

But instead of making Amelia upset, the reprimand just has her smile widen as she clasps her hands at her waist.

“Yes sir, I apologize sir.” She responds with a bow of the head.

The ranger averts his eyes with an uncomfortable expression that disappears as quickly as it came.

“...This time I’ll just give you a warning. I think the experience is enough to show how dangerous what you did was.” He continues, pulling one of the two pokeballs from his belt, holding out the normal red and white while a dedicated forestry ball remains on his hip.

This story has been taken without authorization. Report any sightings.

Kate’s eyes linger on the piece of controlled equipment for a moment, despite the circumstances.

Forestry balls are extremely rare to see in the wild, restricted to use by people in the forestry service; the ball can store, release, and transfer a ‘mon without ever actually capturing or registering it. Which means the ball will never scan and become bound to one ‘mon, making it reusable.

Poaching and kidnapping isn't as big a problem on Hoenn, but in some other regions the awful practice is almost common. A forestry ball would allow the criminals to avoid the strange purchasing habits that help law enforcement catch them, so they’re kept under close watch.

But right now Kate is barely even thinking about the rare sight, staring at Amelia as she calmly nods –her smile fading slightly– and wonders what in the fudge her new-ish friend did.

Amelia gives no clues, stepping out of Altaria’s personal space when the ‘mon appears in a flash of light, then waves goodbye as the ranger quickly attaches a riding harness and mounts his partner.

“Thank you sir.” She demures with another bow of the head. “It won't happen again.”

“Make sure it won't." He responds immediately, then seems again slightly uncomfortable and continues a few seconds later. “...Ursaring should be fully in the system by tomorrow afternoon, when you get to Fallarbor, call the Union Headquarters and give the incident report code I gave you.”

Amelia nods, but almost before she gets the chance the ranger pats Altaria on the side and the ‘mon shoots into the sky with a small cloud of dust.

The instant the ranger disappears Amelia unclasps her hands and allows them to drop to her sides as she takes a breath, some kind of intangible… Joy-ness fading as she does.

Unfortunately for her, Tyler doesn't even give her enough time to breathe before he walks over with an interrogating gesture.

“Alright spill. What happened out there? Why is he still here?” He points to the increasingly struggling Teddiursa in Chansey’s unmoving grip. “I thought you were going out to heal? Was it a trick? Did you have to fight an Ursaring? Or was… uh…”

He trails off as he realizes the other possible reason Teddiursa wouldn't be with his mother. Thankfully Amelia shakes her head with an alarmed expression.

“No. No she's fine. …Well not fine, she’s going to intensive care for a damaged shoulder, but unless we missed something she’ll make a full recovery. Teddiursa will stay with us while his mother recovers.”

Everyone aside from Chansey and her partner pause for a second as they process that.

Still looking at Teddiursa with slight trepidation, Kate opens her mouth to ask some clarifying questions about how that particular arrangement managed to happen, half pointing at the ‘mon where he’s looking at the humans of the group with equal unease. But before she can get the chance, a high pitched whistling interrupts the thought.

Out the corner of her eye she sees Chansey flinch, eyes locking on to something above but Kate barely pays attention to that as she tries to find the source of the noi–

A blur slams straight into Amelia’s chest, sending her to the ground and sliding almost five metres across the ground before coming to a stop.

By the time Kate manages to look at where Amelia had gone, any worry about that being an attack disappears as Swellow’s familiar screeches are layered over his partner’s laughter and attempted apologies.

“Hey! I’m sorry! I didn't plan on finding an injured ‘mon! And how was I supposed to tell you!?” Amelia shouts over the protesting calls, bundling the agitated pile of bird so he’s perched on one arm and slowly pushing herself off the ground. “You could have just asked the others where I’d gone you know?”

From the look on Swellow’s face, it’s clear he hadn't thought of that.

—--

–_–

—--

With the incident resolved they continue on their way, but with how much daylight they’d spent helping Ursaring they barely made half the distance they otherwise would have to their destination.

They’re well out of the high peaks and ridges of Mt. Chimney, the area they’re hiking on now is a kind of long plateau before dropping off again towards the coast.

Amelia sighs as she sits in the camp site they’d had to hike halfway through the evening to find, meaning they’d had to scramble to set up before dark.

With the help of Chansey she’d gotten her camp up more quickly than the others, leaving her to sit in front of the fire, scanning over their map with a headlamp as her canned dinner heats up.

It’s not quiet, the others struggling to set up their own camp stuff means it’s actually quite loud, but thankfully none of that noise is directed at her. Practically the entire walk after helping Ursaring was her explaining what happened after she’d disappeared off the trail, starting a bit further back for the benefit of Swellow, then answering questions about that retelling.

Which meant her being the center of attention for hours, and as much as Amelia would like to be a social butterfree, she’s just not. Whenever she’s at the front desk she’s not being ‘herself’ really. She’s Nurse Joy, which is a very specific character that she’s been born to play, it’s not actually her, and she can stop the instant there’s no one else around.

But when she’s talking with friends or family she’s got to be 100% Amelia Joy the entire time, and that’s draining.

Fun, but draining.

Amelia folds her map and smiles at Chansey as her partner gives the bare minimum assistance needed for the others to get their camps up before twilight fades to true night, then looks back to the fire and pulls her meal off the heat.

She’s not entirely sure what her dinner is, the label fell off, but it tastes good enough.

As she eats, the Joy sees the two little points of eye shine reflecting the firelight, low to the ground next to Chansey.

Catching Teddiursa’s gaze, Amelia smiles at the vague outline of the ‘mon, motioning for him to come closer.

From the half day together with the ‘mon, it’s clear he’s a bit skittish with anything new, not just humans. In fact he seems more uneasy whenever Swellow looks at him, but as evidenced by his near immediate friendship with Chansey, he’ll get used to everyone else.

Amelia’s smile drops as Teddiursa looks away and she turns back to her food.

Already she’d caught herself several times thinking about Teddiursa like he’s part of the team, planning a training routine and how he’ll fit into battles. She hasn't even captured the ‘mon, let alone him deciding to join.

That reminds her, she’ll need to capture him before they get to Fallarbor, hopefully the next few days will have him warm up to her a bit more.

If he’s still apprehensive Amelia could probably just explain that it’s how he can go to his mother.

…Or perhaps Chansey could just do it.

Amelia huffs a laugh at the thought of a Pokemon catching another pokemon with a ball, shoving more dinner into her mouth.

The idea of Swellow standing in the trainer box, throwing out Chansey’s pokeball…

Then the images flip in her head, of Chansey being in the trainer box instead, and the intuitive sense it makes has Amelia pause to really consider the idea.

The fact that Chansey is a former human really should be harder to forget, but even if her partner wasn't there’s not really any reason a ‘mon couldn't learn how to be a trainer.

Sure in fiction it happens, when she was eight or nine she’d gone to Rentamax and got a VHS where a ralts disguises herself as a human and goes on a journey to save her home from an evil real estate developer. But that’s fiction, and even in fiction they didn't have a pokemon just unabashedly being a trainer.

Amelia tilts her head.

…Is there some kind of law against it?

…Has the ralts thing actually happened and they just didn't get caught? How would anyone know if the ‘mon didn't get found out?

Eventually Amelia manages to drag her attention away from the spirals of increasingly conspiratorial thought and look back at her mystery dinner, taking another bite.

She’s definitely going to need to look into this when she gets to Fallarbor.