Chương 27: 27-Zigzag

Tossing back a large mouthful of pokechow as her eyes glow a steady purple, Tanya telepathically shakes out her blanket as the larger ground pad is folded, rolled, and repacked into her bag. Their first night on the trail went as well as expected, Amelia was exhausted from the trip and with just the two of them Tanya didn't bother trying to set up a watch rotation with someone who is certainly going to fall asleep.

Trying to do it herself meant calling on old watch training and sort of dozing through the night, coming to full awareness at every rustle of leaves and noise of the forest. Unfortunately she's never had to do it in this body and she was more tired than she realized, so sometime in the night she went to sleep for real. Thankfully nothing took advantage of the slip, and her research has given her a pretty good idea of what the professionals believe to be genuine dangers by the safety guidelines they provide.

Demonstrated aptly by Dexter and Torchic, there is the chance of being attacked in a camp, but not for encroaching on a 'mons territory. The dustox was almost certainly attracted to their fire and most safety guidelines just say to avoid leaving food unsecured to discourage theft. If she had to guess she'd say it has something to do with the increased average intelligence and the regular nature of the travelers. She glances at her partner as she tends a cleverly designed foldable gas powered cooktop.

Speaking of food… Amelia doesn't look up as she gently shakes her skillet"Next question?" Tanya glances down at the pokecare machine certification prep guide.

"You attempt to load a test ball, the power cycles, but the ball does not retract into the reaction chamber." Amelia pauses for a moment in thought.

"Plug in the error code reader, what does it say?"

"Error five zero nine; indeterminate asynchronous load inbalance." Tanya continues munching at her absurdly calorie dense food as she waits for her partner to respond, eventually the human adds some salt to her pan and continues.

"I know this… uh…" She mutters.

"It's either worn contacts on one of the emitters or the computer overcompensating for a deeper issue… hm. Is the heal pulse move template correctly slotted?"

"It is." Tanya nods.

"Wear on the emitter contacts?"

"None." Amelia pauses for a long moment as she pulls her skillet from the heat and slides breakfast onto two plastic plates and turns off the burners. Getting up, she gets about halfway across the campsite to her partner before asking another question.

"... bad sensor? Current sensor for the regulator? If it's not that, I give up." Tanya shakes her head one final time.

"No, simpler. The electromotor for the ball pedestal shorted out." Amelia groans with a mutter of ' that doesn't seem fair' as she places a heaping plate of scrambled egg in front of her partner and prepares to dig into her own. Egg that Tanya had… made in the night. Which was a bit of a surprise come morning. Tanya had set the two oblong shapes aside in the process of packing up camp, and when Amelia woke up she asked if she could have them.

The 'mon wasn't really sure what she thought was going to happen to the eggs, she's not really upset about the loss, and preventing the waste of protein makes the efficient part of her mind quite happy. Even still, she can't shake an odd feeling as she looks over at her partner just as the human stuffs a fork full of scrambled egg into her mouth.

"... Does this seem strange to you?" Amelia looks back as she starts chewing, then grimaces.

"…strange? The eggs?" She says as if half guessing, lightly wrinkling her nose and chewing faster.

"Yeah, but I think it's just because I messed up cooking them, you're perfectly healthy." She says with a swallow before quickly shoving more egg in her mouth.

"I didn't know it was possible to mess up cooking eggs." Tanya considers clarifying her question, then realizes her partner's answer inadvertently answered it already, glancing back down at the plate of egg. Then shoves a fork full into her mouth. Waste not want not, or so the saying goes. Then the flavor slides across her tongue and Tanya is assaulted with the vague impressions of a memory, a sulfurous and oniony smell in a college dorm room, trying her hand at cooking for the first real time.

It's a unique flavor, as even when the rations on the front line straddled edibility one could always tell there was intention behind them. For these eggs the lack of understanding for any of the rules of cooking are on full display. With that frame of reference does she quickly swallow and shove more rubbery-yet-wet egg into her mouth. Yes, the first twenty four hours have revealed a few areas needing improvement.

—-- –_– —-- Packing up their camp as they continue to quiz each other on every aspect of their new curriculum they quickly run though large swaths of the material as stuff they'd already studied. Soon enough they're on the trail again with the early morning sun melting away a light dew that sparkles even as it quickly fades. Pausing only to check the map, drink water, and check their prepared study notes with the textbooks in their bags, they make good time.

Only slowed slightly by Amelia slowing at the tops of some hills to catch her breath. It's after one of those rest stops that they complete their studying and the next topic of conversation is quickly picked up upon by the human of the duo after a few moments of silence.

"Ok, I didn't want to pile more stuff on until we were underway, but we need to figure out a strategy to beat Gym Leader Wattson and what moves we need you to learn to be as strong as you can be." Tanya nods, putting her water bottle back in her bag, wrapped in telekinetic purple.

"Right. I did some research into the same, but without Wattson's exact team composition I could only make educated guesses and learn from previous years how he trains and commands his subordinates. Working though direct counters to this year's strategies was impossible." Amelia grunts in affirmation as she pulls out a well worn notebook and flips though the pages, coming to a stop near the middle.

"I studied his most common 'mon at every badge level and put together the best team I could think of, restricting myself to a first badge strength." She says, handing over the book and tapping out a spreadsheet of 'mon with their heaviest trained moves, their combat affinities, and roles in the team.

"The best I could come up with is built around a core of voltorb using explode to counter ground type counterpicks before they can–""He wouldn't do this." Tanya interrupts, flipping back a page to look at a similar electric type composition. It's somewhat similar to the battle they'd seen on the exhibition match, but from her partners notes her plans for commanding them focus on overwhelming power directed in precise strikes. Pushing for a direct confrontation by testing skill and strength equally. A good strategy.

Amelia yelps, snatching back her work.

"Hey, rude! What do you mean? It's a strong team!" Tanya nods. But it's not what Wattson would do.

"It is." She says, trusting her partner's skill in teambuilding and the technical knowledge of battle strategy.

"But, from my research, Wattson seems to prefer tricks and paralysis over raw power. Even his higher level teams focus around subverting the strength of his opponent rather than facing it head on." A man after her own heart. Amelia starts a few indignant half words before falling silent, a considering expression seen out the corner of her partner's eye as they walk in silence for a few minutes.

Whatever is running though the trainer's mind is clearly forcing her down paths of inquiry that she finds both unfamiliar and agitating. But with a few aggrieved sighs and grunts, Amelia finally opens her notebook again.

"... I built the team… I would have wanted." She says hesitantly, squinting into the middle distance as her fingers twitch absentmindedly.

"No, I don't really want it either. I built a team I knew how to beat." The trainer gives a long, drawn out, groan before flipping her notebook to a new page and clicking her pen a few times.

"Ok. Well that's six hours of work down the drain, let's start from scratch." She says, pen scratching out a new team.

"Assume he's using last year's team; what strategy is he going to be using? How do we beat that? And what gaps can we fill with someone else?" Tanya smiles at the work ethic on display and the minor thrill of anticipation at a new challenge to surmount.

"Good idea. I am of the opinion that paralysis is our most persistent threat considering our small team size. Now, to counter it, I'd suggest considering a paralyzed teammate the same as dead…" —-- –_– —-- The duo are standing in the middle of the trail, Tanya waiting patiently as her partner glances from the map, to the unmarked split in the trail, then to her compass and back at the split again.

"... Surely the split between 111 and 122 is signposted somehow, this just looks like another access trail." She says eventually, looking around once again.

"I think it's further down the way." Tanya nods agreeably with a neutral expression. This is near certainly the split, but it will do no Amelia no good if she gets the answer without figuring it out herself. What if they get separated and she gets lost? Tanya's eyes flicker across the human's physique. On that note, she really needs to get her partner's physical aptitude up to snuff. Humans –asside from a few rare exceptions– are physically incapable of training themselves to match a 'mon.

But training reaction times, endurance, and running speed seem both useful and eminently feasible.

"Did you get a bearing?" She asks politely." Yes I got a bearing Chansey. But it's a lot easier in a book!" She snaps back, gesturing at the soaring cliffs of volcanic stone that create the natural wall to their right that they've been following.

"Can you point out the local maximum of these terrain features?" She asks, forcefully offering the map and compass. Tanya takes the offered items and looks down, waiting for the needle to settle. From there she checks the map for two distinct peaks of stone, assuming they're at the intersection. Finding them, she estimates their bearing if they are at the trail split. Cliff, marker 4668. Bearing 41° west. Peak, marker 4531. Bearing 3° east.

She orients herself to magnetic north and looks left, then right, seeing both terrain features just where she expects through the leaves and branches. Turning back to her partner, having demonstrated the proper procedure, she hands back the map and points out the two markers she just used.

"I believe I did it, but you should check my work, try with these markers here." Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel. Amelia squints her eyes suspiciously, then takes the navigation equipment back with a competitive fire in her eyes. A few more minutes pass, Amelia still trying to confirm her partner's reading, and just as Tanya walks over to the edge of the trail and is just about to sit on a rock a zigzagoon waddles out of the underbrush.

Immediately on high alert, Tanya's suspicion only fades slightly as the foreign 'mon rears up on his hind legs and gives a wave before flopping back down to all fours.

"Hey, Chansey, are you busy? I got in a bit of a scuffle a few days ago and one of my hard quills was yanked out, but now it's itching something fierce, would you mind–" Amelia looks up with a start and hastily struggles to fold her map, dropping her compass into the dirt in a mad scramble to grab a pokeball from her belt.

"A Zigzagoon! Get ready to battle!" Zigzagoon pauses in his approach, surprised eyes glancing between the two of them.

"You– you're a battler?

"He asks incredulously, blinking slowly as Amelia finally pulls out a ball."... Are you sure?" Tanya nods, stepping between her partner and the foreign 'mon.

"Correct, I apologize for the misunderstanding. Do you wish to continue?" Zigzagoon takes a second, then fluffs himself up with a rattling shake as coarse fur interspersed with hard quills flares to the ready and he gets into a crouch.

"Of course! Let's do this!" Getting into her own ready stance, she's distracted slightly by Amelia's questioning hum from behind.

"Misunderstanding? What misunderstanding?" Tanya looks back at her partner while shrugging off her pack.

"Zigzagoon approached seeking medical attention for an issue with one of his defensive quills, but he's willing to fight." Disappointment flashes across the human's face for a moment, then she reclips her pokeball with a nod.

"Alright then, we'll give it a look after– Dodge!" Tanya hesitates for a fraction of a second before flinging herself to the side, only to hear innumerable quills whistle by where she just was then several sharp pains flare across half her body as a few embed into her. Zigzagoon gives a chattering laugh as he flicks his tail again and more quills appear in the gaps in his fur.

"Come on! We're in a fight! Don't make this too easy on m– yip!" He's cut off as he's forced to jump to the side, avoiding a charging Tanya. Yanking the quills from her body in a burst of psychic energy, Tanya rotates the missiles in the air to track her opponent before shooting them back faster than they'd been launched. Zigzagoon dances around the projectiles, abruptly changing directions seemingly at random to throw off her aim as he charges in." Steady on girlie!"

He chitters as he stutters his step, allowing a quill to bury itself completely in the trail's packed dirt in front of him.

"Easy with the quills!" Tanya's eyes flick to the result of the dangerously fast projectiles and mentally adjusts her allowed level of force, flinging the last one at a less lethal speed. Without any more projectiles immediately available, she readies her arms as he gets in close and leaps at her with jaws ready to bite.

In that fraction of a moment to make a decision, Tanya estimates the damage of his jaws and compares it to potential combat advantages of the hypothetical position, coming to a plan that will end the fight quickly. Stepping into the attack, she practically shoves her arm into Zigzagoon's waiting jaws and reaches with her other to grapple. Seeing this, her opponent reflexively chomps down but releases just as quickly and uses both forelegs to shove away from the approaching arm.

But he's too late and Tanya gets a firm grip where the foreleg meets the body. Before she can take advantage of her grapple Amelia's voice cuts through the air.

"Toss him away!" The instruction is at first ignored in the heat of the moment, but after a fraction's delay Tanya's mind begins working to determine why the order was given. Though she does not attempt to obey and continues her plan to slam her opponent into the ground. Before she can figure out the reason for herself, Zigzagoon's tail puffs out once again and sends five quills straight into her gut with another flick.

At the same time the fur around where she's gripping begins to loosen and fall out as his struggles to break free intensify. That pain, loss of grip, and element of surprise almost breaks Tanya's grapple, but she powers through. Using her other arm to retake control she slams her opponent into the ground. The force of the blow tears the loosely held fur off completely and leaves Tanya with nothing but dual handfuls of straw-like strands as Zigzagoon tumbles away.

Before he can stabilize himself she drops the fur and charges after, telekinetically pulling the quills from her once again and they lock into their target just as he finds his feet. Off balance, Zigzagoon uses his tail as a shield to deflect and sweep away returning quills, crying out as one makes it through and embeds itself into his side.

"Grab his tail!" Amelia calls out again and this time there's no hesitation as their thoughts align on the proper course of action. Dropping the remaining unthrown quill for complete focus, Tanya thunders across the final distance between them, using telekinetic wind to blow aside a cloud of dusty sand thrown by her opponent's swirling tail. Her first attempt at a grapple misses my a hair's breadth, Zigzagoon leaping to the side just in time, but the maneuver left him in a position where she's certain to–"I give!

You win!" The 'mon cries out, stumbling a few steps away from his opponent as she freezes where she stands, arm gently brushing against the fur of his tail. Tanya holds still as a statue for a long moment, carefully observing to ensure this isn't some kind of trick before straightening and calling to her partner without looking away from the 'mon.

"He's given up." Zigzagoon pants heavily, flopping into his side and sweeps his tail across the dirt away from where his opponent's arm was a moment ago.

"... I'm getting… too old for this…" He says between breaths, then waves vaguely at Tanya.

"Good going there, you're… tough." Tanya, unfamiliar with the etiquette of what to say in this situation, simply nods and steps away as Amelia walks over, rummaging around in her bag for medical supplies and pulling out a pair of heavy duty gloves. The nurse in training removes her backpack and kneels down to the injured 'mon.

"Good fight Zigzagoon. Now hold still for me and point out the damaged quill please." The 'mon nods, but is still glancing at Tanya as if expecting her to say something in return for his compliment. Which she still has no idea what to say. Good job for losing? You did good? He lost, by definition he didn't do good. Abruptly turning around, the pink blob looks at the quills scattered and embedded in the dirt path.

"I'll heal him once you diagnose the issue, but first I'm going to clean up the mess. Amelia gives an agreeing hum at the statement, and Tanya gets to work. Delaying the process slightly to align with the diagnosis's conclusion, she overhears her partner's conclusion that the follicle healed wrong and just needs the malgrown hair removed before getting a heal pulse. She tosses the last of the quills into the woods and returns just after Amelia gets a grip on the malgrown quill.

"So, after the fight, you feel like joining up?" She says in a tone that's obviously just trying to distract from the oncoming pain. Zigzagoon gives a nervous laugh.

"You don't need to stall on my account, I got an ingrown quill removed before." He says, then pauses for a second to consciously look away from the human's hands as the press lightly just above the base of his tail.

"But… uhh… sorry girlie, I'm too old to be running around like that, and I already partnered with a trainer to their third badge anywa– ghnn" He says with a shake of the head, then cries out in pain as Amelia suddenly yanks the malformed quill from the damaged follicle." Damn that stings!" He says with a hiss, battling against his instincts to not writhe against Amelia's grip.

Immediately, Tanya reaches out and carefully pulls on the ever strengthening bonfire of love in her chest, trying to pull on the absolutely smallest fraction of power as she can. Unfortunately any fraction of infinity is still infinity. After the green sparkles clear away, Zigzagoon blinks in surprise, looking down at himself as his body seems to ripple, quills gently rattling as he shakes off a thin film of dirt and tests each of his legs in turn.

"Well, ain't that something." He mutters with a grin as he settles, then looks up at the two of them.

"Thank ya both, but I've spent enough time dawdling." He says, backing up and half turning toward the treeline before pausing as he seems to remember something.

"Also, when you're in Mauville, if you see a sour faced… er…

'AC technician' named Ken, tell him Ziggy says to get his ass back over here to visit before I–" He's cut off as an enraged chattering echoes through the forest, lacking any message other than indignation. Zigzagoon freezes." Broken quills I'm supposed to be finding roots." He mutters, then turns and runs into the treeline as he shouts a return call.

"Coming dear!" Amelia is left slightly confused and holding a large quill that's unsettlingly floppy at the end.

"Well… he certainly left in a hurry." She says eventually, tossing the quill into the forest. Tanya picks up her backpack and rebuckles it as she answers the implied question.

"Someone was quite mad, he was supposed to be gathering roots for… someone he called 'dear.'" The trainer pauses at the information, squinting her eyes a bit as if straining to hear, then giggles softly.

"Aw, he's married." Tanya pauses, pondering the use of the word 'married.' Obviously there's no reason a wild 'mon couldn't marry someone. But the lack of anyone to officiate the marriage makes the definition slightly nebulous. Unless there is a forestry records department they had to go to to inform some kind of forest government of their union… Or a priest? She's not seen almost any religion in this world, is it hiding in the wilds with the'mon?

With that concerning line of thought, she slowly finishes buckling her bag and looks up to the native human.

"... Is that the correct term?" Amelia looks down, equally confused.

"Yes? What else would it be?" Tanya pauses, but can't come up with a term other than 'mate' and even to her ears that seems… reductive. Eventually the trainer shakes her head and walks down the trail.

"Whatever, walk and talk. You say this is the right way? I believe you, and we need to get to the waterfall before sundown if we want to set up camp."