[Axis Powers Hetalia, America/England: On the Road to Viridian City]
Title: On the Road to Viridian City [FF.net Link]
Fandom: Axis Powers Hetalia (Pokemon universe)
Genre: Romance/Adventure
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairing: America/England
Word Count: 3,436
Summary: It is said that happiness will come to those who see a gathering of Clefairy dancing under a full moon. Arthur doesn't believe this at first, but he soon will. [Pokemon!world AU]
Notes: For the Spring Ficathon at usxuk prompt, America and England as Pokemon Trainers.
It is said that happiness will come to those who see a gathering of Clefairy dancing under a full moon.
Personally, I’d always believed that this old bit of folklore was alluding to the fact that if you were lucky enough to see such a rare event, then you should be quite happy about it. I’d spent a good deal of my life hoping to find some sort of happiness, always being the youngest brother overshadowed by my good-for-nothing brothers. Accompanied by my pokemon, I’d adventured out into the world in hopes to find something to be proud of. That’s why I’d come to Kanto, in hopes that I could one-up my brothers by earning this region’s gym badges on top of the ones I’d earned back home in Sinnoh.
Honestly, just being able to witness such an event at Mount Moon should have used up all my life’s luck in one blow. But after witnessing the Clefairy dance the night before, I found myself reevaluating the lore.
Namely because the very next day… was when I met Alfred.
----------------------
It just figured, Arthur thought to himself, that the Pewter City gym leader wasn’t in. Said he’d have to come back another day. Well, that was just rubbish. He’d go on toward Viridian City and then come back. No time to be wasted.
And so that’s how he found himself in Viridian Forest, hopelessly lost and blundering around in the dim lighting trying to figure out if he’d passed a blasted tree already.
It just bloody figured; all that bollocks about seeing the Clefairy dance bringing happiness was a lie. He’d had nothing but bad luck since then, after all.
“Well, I suppose at least you enjoyed it, right Touchstone? Seeing all your fairy friends dance?”
The small Clefairy strolling at Arthur’s side trilled and smiled up at him. Arthur knelt and patted the pokemon on its head. “Good. Our trip wasn’t in vain then.”
They made a left at the next tree and Arthur frowned. Something seemed different, and he was really hoping that meant they hadn’t come this way already. But the way his Clefairy was hiding behind his leg didn’t reassure him that this was a good path to go down.
“What’s wrong, Touchstone?”
Right as Arthur looked away from the tree to speak to his friend, a loud and ominous buzzing filled his ears. Neither he nor his Clefairy had a chance to defend themselves against the swarm of Beedrill headed right at them.
“Touchstone, sing!”
But the command came too late as the wild swarm struck.
------------------------
He was practically in tears at this point, completely ignoring the injuries he’d sustained himself as he cradled the Clefairy in his lap.
Of all the times to misplace his bloody antidotes!
The poor pokemon was badly poisoned and Arthur was at a loss. He couldn’t find the antidotes, even though he’d literally turned his bag inside out searching for them, and he dreaded to think how far away the nearest city might be given how lost he’d gotten himself in the forest.
He was just about to call out his Rapidash and make a vain attempt at leading them out of the forest when a voice called out.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Arthur looked up to see a blonde trainer with glasses rushing over towards him. He had a Raichu scurrying quickly beside him and he looked to be already digging in his bag for medicines.
“Just a sec and I’ll get you a couple of antidotes. Poor little guy, he looks bad.” He knelt down beside Arthur and handed over one antidote. “Try this, but he might need a second.”
“Thanks,” Arthur said quietly.
He gave Touchstone the antidote and the pokemon wearily opened his eyes. “Touchstone, hang in there!”
The trainer rested a hand on Arthur’s back and reassured him. “I’ll get him another. And some other potions as well.”
He started to dig for more in his bag when an odd little yellow fuzz ball crept up his arm. “Edison, now is not the time!” He reprimanded what Arthur was guessing was a pokemon of some sort. “Sorry about that, little guy seems to think every time I stick my hand in my bag he’s getting a battery to suck the electricity out of.”
As he handed over another antidote and a max potion, he gave a half-smile. “This should do it, okay?”
Sure enough, after administrating the two, Touchstone was looking much better.
“Touchstone, are you all right?”
The Clefairy trilled and cuddled up to Arthur’s knee. As he turned to thank the trainer for his help, Arthur was shocked to see him pulling out gauze from another first aid kit.
“Now it’s your turn. You tried to shield him with yourself, didn’t you?”
Arthur looked down to his heavily swollen and stung hand. He had tried to keep the Beedrill away from Touchstone to the best of his ability.
“Okay, I’m Alfred.” The trainer held out his hand. “And you are?”
“Arthur,” he replied, giving over his injured hand.
Alfred smiled at him and began to gently bandage up his hand. Arthur felt himself flush.
“Beedrill sting?” he asked. “My uncle says they can be pretty nasty.”
Arthur nodded. “Well your uncle is quite right about that. My poor Touchstone…”
“Touchstone’s your Clefairy then?”
“Yes.”
“Weird name.”
“And so is Edison…whatever that thing is.”
At that, Alfred’s eyes lit up excitedly. “Oh that’s right! You’ve probably never seen him in these parts.”
As he tied off the gauze, he put the first aid kit back in his bag and pulled out the small little yellow fuzzball again. He let it scurry around until it settled on his head, absently chewing on a tuft of Alfred’s hair that stuck up through his backwards baseball cap.
“Arthur, this is a Joltik. It’s a small electric spider that’s native to the Unova region.”
Arthur blinked. He’d done quite a bit of reading in his time and he knew Unova was extremely far away. “He’s a long way from home then, isn’t he?”
Alfred chuckled. “Yeah, we all are. Right Abigail?”
His Raichu, who had been curiously smelling Touchstone, perked up at that and let out a squeak.
Seeming a bit perplexed by this, Arthur looked at the Raichu then back to Alfred. He was certain that Raichu were Kanto pokemon.
“You are?”
Alfred nodded. “We’re all from Unova. Even Abigail was born and raised there from an egg I got from my Uncle.”
Arthur’s eyes lit up with curiosity. This trainer was from that far away? He was just about to ask him a question when the buzz of the Beedrill filled the air again.
“Shit, it’s those blasted Beedrill back to have at us again!” He swore, reaching for a pokeball at his belt. This time he was going to fight the bloody things.
But Alfred had already thrown two pokeballs at once and yelled out, “Peck ‘em right out of the sky you two!”
Two flying pokemon that Arthur had never seen before elegantly rose into the air and easily drove the swarm of Beedrill away; the smaller of the two finally feebly dropping back to the ground with a thump while the larger bird regally landed on a nearby branch and trained its eyes on the direction the bug pokemon had come from.
“Adventure, you’re still not big enough to fly, okay?” Alfred said, giving the rainbow-feathered pokemon a scratch under its chin.
It gave out a disgruntled caw and Arthur couldn’t help but quirk a bit of a smile. This trainer was a genuinely nice guy. He just showed up like some bloody hero out of nowhere and he seemed like a good trainer as well.
Arthur finally stood up, standing up next to Alfred and brushing off his pants. “Well, Alfred of Unova. I’m from Sinnoh, so it seems both of us are out of our element here in Kanto.”
Alfred grinned and reached out to gently shake Arthur’s bandaged hand, “Maybe we can help each other out then? This forest is supposed to be pretty nasty to get through.”
He hesitated, glancing over to where his Clefairy was playing with Alfred’s Raichu. Normally he’d stubbornly say no. He was always having his brothers “help” him out when he was younger and it always ended up disastrous. But today everything had been down right rotten until the moment Alfred had showed up.
Touchstone seemed to sense Arthur’s concerns and scurried over to cling to his leg. The sight of his now healthy-again friend looking up at him made his decision for him. Had it not been for Alfred, he might have lost his dear friend- that was reason enough to trust him and accept his help.
“I suppose it would be for the best then,” Arthur replied. “Plus, I’ll admit I’m rather curious about all your strange pokemon.”
Alfred grinned, “I hope you have some I haven’t seen too! I love discovering new ones and I bet Sinnoh has loads I haven’t seen.”
Arthur chuckled at that and watched as Alfred tried to coax the Joltik off his head to little avail.
It was going to be quite the journey; that was for certain.
----------------------------------
Arthur quickly found out loads about Alfred, as the other trainer seemed to be more than excited to tell him his life story.
He was nineteen years old, from the Unova region, and grew up in Mistralton City where his dad was a pilot. He’d lost his mother when he was younger. That’s why he was rather close to his Raichu, which was a gift from his mother’s brother after her death. The pokemon was even named in her memory.
As for the rest of Alfred’s team, the large regal bird with red, white and blue plumage was a Braviary named Freedom. She had been flying slightly ahead of them as they navigated through the forest, keen eyes sharply looking out for any bug pokemon that might attack.
The second flying pokemon was a fossil-type named Adventure, which Alfred recounted in detail how he’d discovered the fossil of the Archen while digging in Relic Castle with Lenora, a gym leader from a town called Nacrene City.
His father piloted a cargo plane from Mistralton to Nacrene, so Alfred had grown up under the tutelage of both those town’s gym leaders. Skyla of Mistralton, leading to his love of flying pokemon, and Lenora allowing him to spend hours reading up on archeology in her library.
The Joltik, Edison, was named after a famous inventor from Unova who Alfred said had been the first in the region to figure out how to capture electric pokemon powers and use them for electricity to power homes. This pokemon didn’t even have a pokeball, Alfred pointed out, because it had stowed away in his bag and he hadn’t discovered it until he’d arrived in Veilstone City.
Russell was a small grey fluffy bundle of energy, a Minccino, who refused to go back in its pokeball once Alfred let it out to show Arthur. It was now scurrying excitedly alongside Touchstone and kept trying to nudge the Clefairy into playing with it.
That left two others- one, Arthur had actually seen before, just not up close. The Wailords he’d seen were often at a distance from where he stood on the beach, the pods of them moving past Sinnoh on their way around the world. Alfred’s was a lively and not-too-bright pokemon who ended up named Whale after it took Alfred’s exclamation of “It’s a whale!” to be its name.
That left the Elgyem, which Arthur had to admit, didn’t seem too fond of him at all. Alfred assured him that Tony (that was the small grayish blue alien-like psychic pokemon’s name) wasn’t glaring at him, but Arthur truly thought the pokemon wasn’t too happy to see his trainer traveling with a human companion.
“So, now it’s your turn!” Alfred had said cheerfully, as if he hadn’t just been babbling on for possibly close to an hour.
Arthur flushed. He wasn’t usually the type to tell his life story to complete strangers, but well…Alfred had been open to him, so it was only polite to return the favor.
“Well, you’ve already met Touchstone,” he began as his Clefairy gave out a trill. He fumbled at his belt and pulled out his other pokeballs. “Since you like flying types, I suppose I’ll show you that one first.”
He released his Drifloon, the purple balloon-looking pokemon letting out a low humming whistle as it floated up into the air a bit.
Alfred blinked, obviously intrigued, and Arthur had to smirk.
“It’s a flying and ghost type and…”
But whatever Arthur had planned to say next was cut off as Alfred unexpectedly exclaimed, “G-Ghost type?!” and attempted (quite lamely) to hide behind his Minccino on the ground.
Arthur blinked, then rolled his eyes. “Oh don’t tell me you’re one of those people who doesn’t like ghost types….”
Alfred, very bravely, tried to reply, “N-No, they’re fine. Just like to play it safe, you know? Keep my distance? I’ve heard some of them can steal your soul…”
“Oh rubbish, Banquo wouldn’t hurt you at all. Right?”
The Drifloon swelled up with air and let out another whistle, then floated over towards Alfred (who had finally shakily stood back up).
“Uh…h-hi?” He meekly said.
Banquo whistled happily and floated over to bob beside Alfred in the air.
“See, he really seems to like you.”
Alfred let an awkward laugh before asking, “S-So what’s your next pokemon?”
And deciding it best to keep his new traveling companion from running off in terror, Arthur recalled his Drifloon (which seemed to deflate a little in sadness as it had to leave its new friend).
After that, Arthur introduced his Leafeon named Imogen. Alfred was apparently familiar with an Eevee, but he’d never seen this evolution of it before and was rather excited by the green pokemon.
His third pokemon, as Arthur had half expected, greeted him with a squirt of water to his face. “Oh Ariel,” he mumbled while wiping off his face with his green jacket sleeve. “This is my Phione, she’s a bit of a prankster.”
He held out the small water-droplet shaped pokemon, and the ribbon-like antenna on its head shook as it let out a little chirrup.
“Found her drifting on the shoreline, think she got separated from the rest of her family and all. But she’s been right friendly towards me ever since, perhaps a bit too friendly considering she loves to greet me that way.”
Alfred gave Arthur a softer smile at that and he gave the small pokemon a pat on its small head. “Sounds pretty heroic, rescuing it like that.”
And Arthur didn’t know why, but he felt himself blush at that. Something about Alfred’s tone just made it seem like this meant a lot to him.
“R-Right then,” he said, calling back Ariel, “You’d best step back a bit, the next one’s much larger.”
He called out his Rapidash, which Alfred had heard of before but had never seen in person.
“She’s so gorgeous, Arthur.”
“Her name is Titania and she’s…well, she’s a right regal one.”
The Rapidash let out a proud whinny at that and even Arthur had to admit, he felt pretty damn proud to be the trainer of a pokemon Alfred thought was “gorgeous.”
And deciding that it might not be best to bring out his last pokemon (Prospero, his Mismagius was not only a ghost type but a rather ominous acting one at times) Arthur hastily changed the subject.
“So yes, I’m from around Pastoria City in Sinnoh. Just south of Lake Valor where the Azelf lives.”
“The Azelf?” Alfred asked.
Arthur paused. He’d never told anyone, outside his brothers, about his encounter as a child with the legendary lake spirit. Namely because, when he had told his brothers, they’d laughed at him and swore he was making it up.
But Alfred looked…so inquisitive, all wide blue eyes and parted lips.
He had told Arthur about Unova’s legendaries, two dragon types who were said to appear only to the hero of Unova (something Alfred swore he was going to be someday), and well…if he desired to meet a legendary and become a hero, then perhaps if anyone was going to believe Arthur’s story- it would be Alfred.
Figuring they were due to a bit of a rest anyway, Arthur walked over to a clear patch of grass and sat down. Alfred followed, his Braviary perching near by and keeping watch over them while their Clefairy and Minccino played.
Abigail the Raichu just curled up against Alfred’s side once he sat down.
“So?” He asked eagerly.
“Well, you see- where I live has a lot of rain in the area. Visibility gets pretty nasty if you don’t have a pokemon able to defog it. So, I’d gone out with my brothers near Lake Valor while it was flooded. It was when I was seven, so that makes it fifteen years ago and…well, I’d fallen into the lake.”
Alfred’s attention was rapt and Arthur cleared his throat a little, his nerves starting to prickle at the back of his neck.
“My brothers, prats that they are, thought I was faking it and left me there. And I was really getting pretty scared when…it appeared. The legendary lake spirit Azelf. It was…breathtaking, just this blue pixie who floated through the fog over the lake and used its psychic powers to lift me to the shoreline.” He paused, then seeing as how Alfred hadn’t started laughing yet, trudged onward with his tale. “Once there, it reached out with its hand and touched me- right here,” Arthur pushed up his scruffy bangs and put his fingertips to the center of his temple. “You might not believe it, but ever since that day- I’ve resolved to become the best I can, better than my brothers. It somehow gave me that willpower and strength in just one touch before it disappeared back into the mist.”
Alfred’s eyes went wide and his mouth gaped open. Arthur just winced, closing his eyes and waiting for the condescending laughter.
Instead, he was met with the very soft touch of Alfred’s fingertips gently touching the center of his forehead.
“Wow Arthur, that’s just…wow.” He gave a lopsided grin and Arthur blushed, realizing now how close they were with Alfred leaning over and well…touching his forehead. “That’s so incredibly awesome! To meet and be blessed by a legendary?” He pulled his hand back at that, but still stayed crouched in front of Arthur.
Putting his hands on Arthur’s shoulders, Alfred asked, “Look, I know we’ve just met and all but…we’re both from other regions and it’d kinda be nice to have someone around to talk to. Because, yeah my pokemon are totally awesome and all but…”
He trailed off and Arthur already knew what he was going to say. Sometimes it got a bit lonely on these journeys.
“So, do you want to travel with me? I’m planning on covering Kanto first, then going to Johto.”
Arthur looked over to where Touchstone was happily trilling and chasing Alfred’s Minccino, his mind going back to that silly old folktale.
It is said that happiness will come to those who see a gathering of Clefairy dancing under a full moon.
He had been lonely, as much as he loved his pokemon friends they weren’t the same as a human companion. And to most people, Azelf and the other two lake spirits were just silly old folktales too. Yet, Alfred believed him and wanted to travel with him.
Perhaps it was time to take another chance. He’d risked telling his story to Alfred and was rewarded by him believing it.
“Are you sure you can handle being around two ghost types?” Arthur teased.
Alfred puffed up his chest and pointed his thumb at himself. “You are looking at the future hero of Unova. Of course two ghost types won’t bother me!”
Arthur chuckled and he held out his hand. “All right then, future hero of Unova, it’s a deal.”
He beamed at that, giving Arthur a one-armed hug around his shoulders before replying. “Awesome! The hero of Unova and Azelf’s chosen one shall take on Kanto by storm!”
And not about to dampen Alfred’s grand titles for both of them, Arthur just nodded.
“First let’s see if we can get out of this blasted forest, okay Alfred?”
Alfred laughed. “Right! On to Viridian City!”
-----------------------------------------
AN: Yes, there is a special backstory as to why America has a female Braviary, even though they don't exist in the games. He just wasn't going to bum his new friend out with a sad story.
Fandom: Axis Powers Hetalia (Pokemon universe)
Genre: Romance/Adventure
Rating: PG
Characters/Pairing: America/England
Word Count: 3,436
Summary: It is said that happiness will come to those who see a gathering of Clefairy dancing under a full moon. Arthur doesn't believe this at first, but he soon will. [Pokemon!world AU]
Notes: For the Spring Ficathon at usxuk prompt, America and England as Pokemon Trainers.
It is said that happiness will come to those who see a gathering of Clefairy dancing under a full moon.
Personally, I’d always believed that this old bit of folklore was alluding to the fact that if you were lucky enough to see such a rare event, then you should be quite happy about it. I’d spent a good deal of my life hoping to find some sort of happiness, always being the youngest brother overshadowed by my good-for-nothing brothers. Accompanied by my pokemon, I’d adventured out into the world in hopes to find something to be proud of. That’s why I’d come to Kanto, in hopes that I could one-up my brothers by earning this region’s gym badges on top of the ones I’d earned back home in Sinnoh.
Honestly, just being able to witness such an event at Mount Moon should have used up all my life’s luck in one blow. But after witnessing the Clefairy dance the night before, I found myself reevaluating the lore.
Namely because the very next day… was when I met Alfred.
----------------------
It just figured, Arthur thought to himself, that the Pewter City gym leader wasn’t in. Said he’d have to come back another day. Well, that was just rubbish. He’d go on toward Viridian City and then come back. No time to be wasted.
And so that’s how he found himself in Viridian Forest, hopelessly lost and blundering around in the dim lighting trying to figure out if he’d passed a blasted tree already.
It just bloody figured; all that bollocks about seeing the Clefairy dance bringing happiness was a lie. He’d had nothing but bad luck since then, after all.
“Well, I suppose at least you enjoyed it, right Touchstone? Seeing all your fairy friends dance?”
The small Clefairy strolling at Arthur’s side trilled and smiled up at him. Arthur knelt and patted the pokemon on its head. “Good. Our trip wasn’t in vain then.”
They made a left at the next tree and Arthur frowned. Something seemed different, and he was really hoping that meant they hadn’t come this way already. But the way his Clefairy was hiding behind his leg didn’t reassure him that this was a good path to go down.
“What’s wrong, Touchstone?”
Right as Arthur looked away from the tree to speak to his friend, a loud and ominous buzzing filled his ears. Neither he nor his Clefairy had a chance to defend themselves against the swarm of Beedrill headed right at them.
“Touchstone, sing!”
But the command came too late as the wild swarm struck.
------------------------
He was practically in tears at this point, completely ignoring the injuries he’d sustained himself as he cradled the Clefairy in his lap.
Of all the times to misplace his bloody antidotes!
The poor pokemon was badly poisoned and Arthur was at a loss. He couldn’t find the antidotes, even though he’d literally turned his bag inside out searching for them, and he dreaded to think how far away the nearest city might be given how lost he’d gotten himself in the forest.
He was just about to call out his Rapidash and make a vain attempt at leading them out of the forest when a voice called out.
“Hey, are you okay?”
Arthur looked up to see a blonde trainer with glasses rushing over towards him. He had a Raichu scurrying quickly beside him and he looked to be already digging in his bag for medicines.
“Just a sec and I’ll get you a couple of antidotes. Poor little guy, he looks bad.” He knelt down beside Arthur and handed over one antidote. “Try this, but he might need a second.”
“Thanks,” Arthur said quietly.
He gave Touchstone the antidote and the pokemon wearily opened his eyes. “Touchstone, hang in there!”
The trainer rested a hand on Arthur’s back and reassured him. “I’ll get him another. And some other potions as well.”
He started to dig for more in his bag when an odd little yellow fuzz ball crept up his arm. “Edison, now is not the time!” He reprimanded what Arthur was guessing was a pokemon of some sort. “Sorry about that, little guy seems to think every time I stick my hand in my bag he’s getting a battery to suck the electricity out of.”
As he handed over another antidote and a max potion, he gave a half-smile. “This should do it, okay?”
Sure enough, after administrating the two, Touchstone was looking much better.
“Touchstone, are you all right?”
The Clefairy trilled and cuddled up to Arthur’s knee. As he turned to thank the trainer for his help, Arthur was shocked to see him pulling out gauze from another first aid kit.
“Now it’s your turn. You tried to shield him with yourself, didn’t you?”
Arthur looked down to his heavily swollen and stung hand. He had tried to keep the Beedrill away from Touchstone to the best of his ability.
“Okay, I’m Alfred.” The trainer held out his hand. “And you are?”
“Arthur,” he replied, giving over his injured hand.
Alfred smiled at him and began to gently bandage up his hand. Arthur felt himself flush.
“Beedrill sting?” he asked. “My uncle says they can be pretty nasty.”
Arthur nodded. “Well your uncle is quite right about that. My poor Touchstone…”
“Touchstone’s your Clefairy then?”
“Yes.”
“Weird name.”
“And so is Edison…whatever that thing is.”
At that, Alfred’s eyes lit up excitedly. “Oh that’s right! You’ve probably never seen him in these parts.”
As he tied off the gauze, he put the first aid kit back in his bag and pulled out the small little yellow fuzzball again. He let it scurry around until it settled on his head, absently chewing on a tuft of Alfred’s hair that stuck up through his backwards baseball cap.
“Arthur, this is a Joltik. It’s a small electric spider that’s native to the Unova region.”
Arthur blinked. He’d done quite a bit of reading in his time and he knew Unova was extremely far away. “He’s a long way from home then, isn’t he?”
Alfred chuckled. “Yeah, we all are. Right Abigail?”
His Raichu, who had been curiously smelling Touchstone, perked up at that and let out a squeak.
Seeming a bit perplexed by this, Arthur looked at the Raichu then back to Alfred. He was certain that Raichu were Kanto pokemon.
“You are?”
Alfred nodded. “We’re all from Unova. Even Abigail was born and raised there from an egg I got from my Uncle.”
Arthur’s eyes lit up with curiosity. This trainer was from that far away? He was just about to ask him a question when the buzz of the Beedrill filled the air again.
“Shit, it’s those blasted Beedrill back to have at us again!” He swore, reaching for a pokeball at his belt. This time he was going to fight the bloody things.
But Alfred had already thrown two pokeballs at once and yelled out, “Peck ‘em right out of the sky you two!”
Two flying pokemon that Arthur had never seen before elegantly rose into the air and easily drove the swarm of Beedrill away; the smaller of the two finally feebly dropping back to the ground with a thump while the larger bird regally landed on a nearby branch and trained its eyes on the direction the bug pokemon had come from.
“Adventure, you’re still not big enough to fly, okay?” Alfred said, giving the rainbow-feathered pokemon a scratch under its chin.
It gave out a disgruntled caw and Arthur couldn’t help but quirk a bit of a smile. This trainer was a genuinely nice guy. He just showed up like some bloody hero out of nowhere and he seemed like a good trainer as well.
Arthur finally stood up, standing up next to Alfred and brushing off his pants. “Well, Alfred of Unova. I’m from Sinnoh, so it seems both of us are out of our element here in Kanto.”
Alfred grinned and reached out to gently shake Arthur’s bandaged hand, “Maybe we can help each other out then? This forest is supposed to be pretty nasty to get through.”
He hesitated, glancing over to where his Clefairy was playing with Alfred’s Raichu. Normally he’d stubbornly say no. He was always having his brothers “help” him out when he was younger and it always ended up disastrous. But today everything had been down right rotten until the moment Alfred had showed up.
Touchstone seemed to sense Arthur’s concerns and scurried over to cling to his leg. The sight of his now healthy-again friend looking up at him made his decision for him. Had it not been for Alfred, he might have lost his dear friend- that was reason enough to trust him and accept his help.
“I suppose it would be for the best then,” Arthur replied. “Plus, I’ll admit I’m rather curious about all your strange pokemon.”
Alfred grinned, “I hope you have some I haven’t seen too! I love discovering new ones and I bet Sinnoh has loads I haven’t seen.”
Arthur chuckled at that and watched as Alfred tried to coax the Joltik off his head to little avail.
It was going to be quite the journey; that was for certain.
----------------------------------
Arthur quickly found out loads about Alfred, as the other trainer seemed to be more than excited to tell him his life story.
He was nineteen years old, from the Unova region, and grew up in Mistralton City where his dad was a pilot. He’d lost his mother when he was younger. That’s why he was rather close to his Raichu, which was a gift from his mother’s brother after her death. The pokemon was even named in her memory.
As for the rest of Alfred’s team, the large regal bird with red, white and blue plumage was a Braviary named Freedom. She had been flying slightly ahead of them as they navigated through the forest, keen eyes sharply looking out for any bug pokemon that might attack.
The second flying pokemon was a fossil-type named Adventure, which Alfred recounted in detail how he’d discovered the fossil of the Archen while digging in Relic Castle with Lenora, a gym leader from a town called Nacrene City.
His father piloted a cargo plane from Mistralton to Nacrene, so Alfred had grown up under the tutelage of both those town’s gym leaders. Skyla of Mistralton, leading to his love of flying pokemon, and Lenora allowing him to spend hours reading up on archeology in her library.
The Joltik, Edison, was named after a famous inventor from Unova who Alfred said had been the first in the region to figure out how to capture electric pokemon powers and use them for electricity to power homes. This pokemon didn’t even have a pokeball, Alfred pointed out, because it had stowed away in his bag and he hadn’t discovered it until he’d arrived in Veilstone City.
Russell was a small grey fluffy bundle of energy, a Minccino, who refused to go back in its pokeball once Alfred let it out to show Arthur. It was now scurrying excitedly alongside Touchstone and kept trying to nudge the Clefairy into playing with it.
That left two others- one, Arthur had actually seen before, just not up close. The Wailords he’d seen were often at a distance from where he stood on the beach, the pods of them moving past Sinnoh on their way around the world. Alfred’s was a lively and not-too-bright pokemon who ended up named Whale after it took Alfred’s exclamation of “It’s a whale!” to be its name.
That left the Elgyem, which Arthur had to admit, didn’t seem too fond of him at all. Alfred assured him that Tony (that was the small grayish blue alien-like psychic pokemon’s name) wasn’t glaring at him, but Arthur truly thought the pokemon wasn’t too happy to see his trainer traveling with a human companion.
“So, now it’s your turn!” Alfred had said cheerfully, as if he hadn’t just been babbling on for possibly close to an hour.
Arthur flushed. He wasn’t usually the type to tell his life story to complete strangers, but well…Alfred had been open to him, so it was only polite to return the favor.
“Well, you’ve already met Touchstone,” he began as his Clefairy gave out a trill. He fumbled at his belt and pulled out his other pokeballs. “Since you like flying types, I suppose I’ll show you that one first.”
He released his Drifloon, the purple balloon-looking pokemon letting out a low humming whistle as it floated up into the air a bit.
Alfred blinked, obviously intrigued, and Arthur had to smirk.
“It’s a flying and ghost type and…”
But whatever Arthur had planned to say next was cut off as Alfred unexpectedly exclaimed, “G-Ghost type?!” and attempted (quite lamely) to hide behind his Minccino on the ground.
Arthur blinked, then rolled his eyes. “Oh don’t tell me you’re one of those people who doesn’t like ghost types….”
Alfred, very bravely, tried to reply, “N-No, they’re fine. Just like to play it safe, you know? Keep my distance? I’ve heard some of them can steal your soul…”
“Oh rubbish, Banquo wouldn’t hurt you at all. Right?”
The Drifloon swelled up with air and let out another whistle, then floated over towards Alfred (who had finally shakily stood back up).
“Uh…h-hi?” He meekly said.
Banquo whistled happily and floated over to bob beside Alfred in the air.
“See, he really seems to like you.”
Alfred let an awkward laugh before asking, “S-So what’s your next pokemon?”
And deciding it best to keep his new traveling companion from running off in terror, Arthur recalled his Drifloon (which seemed to deflate a little in sadness as it had to leave its new friend).
After that, Arthur introduced his Leafeon named Imogen. Alfred was apparently familiar with an Eevee, but he’d never seen this evolution of it before and was rather excited by the green pokemon.
His third pokemon, as Arthur had half expected, greeted him with a squirt of water to his face. “Oh Ariel,” he mumbled while wiping off his face with his green jacket sleeve. “This is my Phione, she’s a bit of a prankster.”
He held out the small water-droplet shaped pokemon, and the ribbon-like antenna on its head shook as it let out a little chirrup.
“Found her drifting on the shoreline, think she got separated from the rest of her family and all. But she’s been right friendly towards me ever since, perhaps a bit too friendly considering she loves to greet me that way.”
Alfred gave Arthur a softer smile at that and he gave the small pokemon a pat on its small head. “Sounds pretty heroic, rescuing it like that.”
And Arthur didn’t know why, but he felt himself blush at that. Something about Alfred’s tone just made it seem like this meant a lot to him.
“R-Right then,” he said, calling back Ariel, “You’d best step back a bit, the next one’s much larger.”
He called out his Rapidash, which Alfred had heard of before but had never seen in person.
“She’s so gorgeous, Arthur.”
“Her name is Titania and she’s…well, she’s a right regal one.”
The Rapidash let out a proud whinny at that and even Arthur had to admit, he felt pretty damn proud to be the trainer of a pokemon Alfred thought was “gorgeous.”
And deciding that it might not be best to bring out his last pokemon (Prospero, his Mismagius was not only a ghost type but a rather ominous acting one at times) Arthur hastily changed the subject.
“So yes, I’m from around Pastoria City in Sinnoh. Just south of Lake Valor where the Azelf lives.”
“The Azelf?” Alfred asked.
Arthur paused. He’d never told anyone, outside his brothers, about his encounter as a child with the legendary lake spirit. Namely because, when he had told his brothers, they’d laughed at him and swore he was making it up.
But Alfred looked…so inquisitive, all wide blue eyes and parted lips.
He had told Arthur about Unova’s legendaries, two dragon types who were said to appear only to the hero of Unova (something Alfred swore he was going to be someday), and well…if he desired to meet a legendary and become a hero, then perhaps if anyone was going to believe Arthur’s story- it would be Alfred.
Figuring they were due to a bit of a rest anyway, Arthur walked over to a clear patch of grass and sat down. Alfred followed, his Braviary perching near by and keeping watch over them while their Clefairy and Minccino played.
Abigail the Raichu just curled up against Alfred’s side once he sat down.
“So?” He asked eagerly.
“Well, you see- where I live has a lot of rain in the area. Visibility gets pretty nasty if you don’t have a pokemon able to defog it. So, I’d gone out with my brothers near Lake Valor while it was flooded. It was when I was seven, so that makes it fifteen years ago and…well, I’d fallen into the lake.”
Alfred’s attention was rapt and Arthur cleared his throat a little, his nerves starting to prickle at the back of his neck.
“My brothers, prats that they are, thought I was faking it and left me there. And I was really getting pretty scared when…it appeared. The legendary lake spirit Azelf. It was…breathtaking, just this blue pixie who floated through the fog over the lake and used its psychic powers to lift me to the shoreline.” He paused, then seeing as how Alfred hadn’t started laughing yet, trudged onward with his tale. “Once there, it reached out with its hand and touched me- right here,” Arthur pushed up his scruffy bangs and put his fingertips to the center of his temple. “You might not believe it, but ever since that day- I’ve resolved to become the best I can, better than my brothers. It somehow gave me that willpower and strength in just one touch before it disappeared back into the mist.”
Alfred’s eyes went wide and his mouth gaped open. Arthur just winced, closing his eyes and waiting for the condescending laughter.
Instead, he was met with the very soft touch of Alfred’s fingertips gently touching the center of his forehead.
“Wow Arthur, that’s just…wow.” He gave a lopsided grin and Arthur blushed, realizing now how close they were with Alfred leaning over and well…touching his forehead. “That’s so incredibly awesome! To meet and be blessed by a legendary?” He pulled his hand back at that, but still stayed crouched in front of Arthur.
Putting his hands on Arthur’s shoulders, Alfred asked, “Look, I know we’ve just met and all but…we’re both from other regions and it’d kinda be nice to have someone around to talk to. Because, yeah my pokemon are totally awesome and all but…”
He trailed off and Arthur already knew what he was going to say. Sometimes it got a bit lonely on these journeys.
“So, do you want to travel with me? I’m planning on covering Kanto first, then going to Johto.”
Arthur looked over to where Touchstone was happily trilling and chasing Alfred’s Minccino, his mind going back to that silly old folktale.
It is said that happiness will come to those who see a gathering of Clefairy dancing under a full moon.
He had been lonely, as much as he loved his pokemon friends they weren’t the same as a human companion. And to most people, Azelf and the other two lake spirits were just silly old folktales too. Yet, Alfred believed him and wanted to travel with him.
Perhaps it was time to take another chance. He’d risked telling his story to Alfred and was rewarded by him believing it.
“Are you sure you can handle being around two ghost types?” Arthur teased.
Alfred puffed up his chest and pointed his thumb at himself. “You are looking at the future hero of Unova. Of course two ghost types won’t bother me!”
Arthur chuckled and he held out his hand. “All right then, future hero of Unova, it’s a deal.”
He beamed at that, giving Arthur a one-armed hug around his shoulders before replying. “Awesome! The hero of Unova and Azelf’s chosen one shall take on Kanto by storm!”
And not about to dampen Alfred’s grand titles for both of them, Arthur just nodded.
“First let’s see if we can get out of this blasted forest, okay Alfred?”
Alfred laughed. “Right! On to Viridian City!”
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AN: Yes, there is a special backstory as to why America has a female Braviary, even though they don't exist in the games. He just wasn't going to bum his new friend out with a sad story.