Paldean Knights - Chapter 15 (Patreon)

“This is amazing!” I gushed happily, taking in the chill air and the bracing breeze. Elsewhere in Paldea, it was slowly reaching spring, the cold fading into memory as the seasons changed. Here, though, the world was still blanketed in a pristine layer of soft, powdery white. “Thank you so much, Mom, Dad!”

“It's honestly a shame we can't make it up here more often,” Father hummed, looking out beyond the downward slope of the land. “It really is beautiful.”

“It's also incredibly cold,” Mother grunted from beneath her large coat. “Doesn't the island where Mother came from have a snowy mountain on it?” Lehonor asked as she cheerfully bounced in the snow, her blond hair tucked neatly under a cap.

“Yes, dear, but I didn't like going up to it. And I mostly lived on Mele'mele, anyway,” Mother sighed, her breath forming frost crystals in the air.

“Mrow,” Sprigatito purr-growled irritably from my shoulders as I walked through the snow.

“First time?” I asked, curious. She and I hadn't really spoken all that much about her past yet, though she was fairly young. Pokemon not being the best at tracking time made that difficult to judge, but I guessed between six and eight months, which would put her on the young side even for a starter. Usually breeders preferred to let them pass the one-year mark before assigning them to a trainer.

“Meow,” she replied, nuzzling my neck from where she was hiding in my folded hood.

“First time and you don't like it, noted,” I chuckled. “But fair warning, we're going to be doing a lot of training here once everything settles down.”

The very tips of Sprigatito's immature claws began to come out, prickling the back of my neck. “Mmmmrrroooo~ooooow.”

“Yes, I know you're weak to ice,” I snorted, not threatened by the intimidation tactic. “That's the point.”

“Mrow,” she replied plaintively, the claws receding at my response.

“Well, your options are to suffer in training or lose matches because you take more damage from ice,” I told her firmly. “So you get to choose. Do you want to stay in comfy warm sunbeams all the time or do you want to get stronk?”

Unhappy grumble-purrs were my only reply as she dug in deeper against my neck and the hood of my jacket.

I stopped teasing her for now, she'd have to suffer through it later.

Because, as much of a hot take as it might be... grass types had some serious problems. And meowscarada was – arguably – the weakest final evolution of the three Paldean choices. There were some advantages, don't get me wrong, but unless you knew how to leverage them properly, you were on a one-way ticket to the pain-train by choosing sprigatito.

Like, seriously, grass-dark was a pretty awful type combination. It gave you seven different weaknesses. Seven! And one of those was a double-weakness, to bug even! BUG! Generally regarded as the single weakest type of pokemon out there.

I mean, they were wrong, but that was another story.

But the other weaknesses grass-dark had were... bad. Fire and fighting were some of the most common offensive-focus types. Poison was popular because of the prevalence of fairies in Paldea. Oh, and grass-dark was weak to fairy, too! Because why not?!

All of which meant that unless I was ready to do some crazy shit, I'd likely be burning my teraastalization on my starter during every big battle, handicapping my strategic options.

“Luckily, I aspire to crazy bullshit as a matter of course,” I chuckled ominously.

“Sounds like a plan.”

I gasped, looking behind me. “Grusha!”

“Oof!” The jacket-clad gym leader grunted as I impacted his torso. “There it is. I was wondering what had you so distracted. Usually you come flying at me out of nowhere. Something about tauros excrement?”

I chuckled nervous and flicked a glance to where my mother was occupying herself with trying to stay warm and minding Lehonor. “Oops?”

“Oops,” Grusha agreed, and I could barely see his smile from behind the large red and blue scarf he kept wound around his lower face. His blue eyes tracked the movement behind my neck. “Sprigatito, then? I'm glad you're not so classless to pick fuecoco, at least.”

I snorted, “You're just happy you're going to have a type advantage when I show up for my badge.”

He chuckled softly, turning with a tilt of his head to guide me along beside him. “Ah... there is that too, I suppose.”

“Though I wouldn't celebrate too quickly... I did catch a mankey as well,” I grinned at him.

His fluid steps on the snow hitched slightly, and his voice turned thoughtful. “I see... trying for an Annihilape, then?”

I clicked my tongue at him and looked off to the side as we approached one of the buildings atop the mountain. The other side of the ridge had the public-facing amenities given this was something of a resort and tourist destination on top of housing the gym and more private facilities for Grusha's family and a few nobles who'd invested in the area.

“Why does everyone immediately see through my sinister machinations?” I grumbled.

Grusha chuckled dryly as he brought a gloved hand down on my head. “You do have a reputation, you know? It isn't some great deductive leap to understand your aims and goals.”

I hummed noncommittally. “Everyone thinks I'm just about ghost types then, huh?”

“The simple ones,” Grusha nodded, using the word 'simple' in the same way most would use 'stupid.' “Still, save your ruminations for another day. You're here to be happy.”

“Aznaro!”

This one didn't surprise me, even as I turned to regard the sandy-haired older boy in the purple slacks and white dress-shirt. Unlike his usual appearance, the shirt was clean and starched with a similarly-crisp tie around his neck. He was even wearing the vest and sports coat over them... and, wonder of wonders, someone had managed to find him footwear that wasn't hiking boots.

“Arven!” I grinned, waving as Grusha and I stepped through the door and into the large dining hall that had been obviously prepared for today. The table was set, though the dishes had yet to be brought out. A secondary-spread was off to the side, visibly-apart as three adults stood around one of the tables, having been in deep conversation as we made our way in.

“How are you doing? It's been so long!” Arven stated, coming close and even daring to give me a full hug. He was one of the few outside my immediate family who would.

“Ooof!” I laughed as he squeezed me tightly. “It has been a while, you've gotten bigger!”

“Shouldn't I be the one saying that?” He chuckled, stepping back and looking himself over as he scratched at his long, thick sandy hair. “You have to have grown at least a few inches, haven't you?”

I snorted. “I'm getting there, slowly but surely.”

“Oh, and you've got an egg!” Arven cooed, sweeping around me to look at the incubator eternally tucked under my arm. “What is it?”

“Mystery,” I smiled with a shrug, a move which dislodged sprigatito from her hiding spot.

“Mrow,” she chirped, hopping onto my shoulder and stretching in the comparatively warm air of the indoor space.

“And your starter,” Arven smiled, extending his hand slightly for her to sniff. “May I?”

“As long as she lets you,” I nodded as sprigatito's red eyes pierced his very soul for a moment... then she sniffed and rubbed her head against it. “Where Bossy?”

Arven rolled his eyes. “I wish you wouldn't call him that.”

Nevertheless, he gave a short whistle and a large gray-black dog with a silver stripe of hair running from between his eyes to the end of his tale. He walked slowly, stretching out and limbering up as he rose up from beneath the large table bearing the food.

Yep, classic dog spot. All the droppings from sloppy human children belong to them by ancient rite.

“Hey Bossy,” I smiled as he lumbered over for attention. “You keeping your human out of trouble?”

“Woof,” he proclaimed with great dignity. “Mabosstiff.”

“Oh really?” I asked with great interest, looking over at the older boy with a raised eyebrow. “He did, huh?”

“What?” Arven asked, blinking in surprise as he looked between us. “What'd he tell you?”

“It's more embarrassing if I don't tell you,” I replied solemnly, giving mabosstiff a wink from the eye on the other side of my face.

“Ruff,” Bossy huffed with a raspy dog-laugh.

“Anyway, sprigatito... this is Bossy. He's Arven's partner,” I gave my shoulder a little jostle and the cat peered at the dog suspiciously. “He's very well behaved and an excellent guard dog. He's been minding Arven since they were both pups. He likes to play the old dog big for sympathy, but he's secretly a spry battler pokemon in the low ace-tier.”

“Mow?” Sprigatito chirped, tilting her head.

“Woof,” Bossy confirmed.

“Well, it's nice to see things haven't really changed over a few months,” Arven chuckled, running a hand through his dog's coat. “Between school and my parents... I'm sorry I haven't really been able to keep in touch.”

“Eh, it's fine. I've been busy too. Besides, your parents did keep me updated on everything... including the fact that you're still on the science track,” I stated, crossing my arms.

He blushed, looking away. “Ah... listen, I know we talked about it, but I just don't want to disappoin-”

“Ah, my favorite son and my favorite student.”

“I think you mean my favorite son and student, dear.”

Sada and Turo Sente, parents of Arven Sente. Professors, too. The former, a woman who looked a bit younger than her age, wore a rough set of Unovan-style blue jeans and a tan blouse under her lab coat, a confident air in her stride as she approached, her voluminous hair barely held back by a few orange ties she'd appropriated from dig sites. Or, at least in the same style as those. The woman was a veteran field hand for science and had enjoyed accompanying me on a few of my excursions out into the King's Wood or – rarely – further afield.

Professor Turo, on the other hand, was a stiff and statuesque man who walked with a precision as neat as the crisp suit he wore underneath his own coat. A coat that was noticeably cleaner and less ragged than his wife's. The lean silk suit was on the darker side and cut to emphasize the thin threads of gold and silver that looked like circuitry to a casual observer. Even the man's hair was trimmed and gelled to within an inch of its life.

You know that part where I reassure someone that their parents won't get disappointed or upset that they've chosen a different path in life?

Yeah... about that...

“Hello Professors, I'm glad you could make it to my party,” I smiled, ignoring the stilted friction between the two.

Listen, I'd done what I could, okay? I'm a fucking miracle worker and I could only help them out so much!

Turo and Sada traded awkward smiles, then the man gestured to his wife to go first. “Aznaro, I wanted to say again how impressed we are that you passed your final examinations and gotten your degree in energy studies.”

There was a noticeable pause as Sada nodded at her spouse. Turo cleared his throat and spoke, “Yes, even with our admittedly superb teaching, we had never expected you to attain your diploma at the tender age of eight. To that end, and given this is a celebration of your birth...”

Another nod, Sada removing a shoebox-sized container from behind her back.

“Oh, thank you!” I stated, accepting the box and allowing sprigatito to sniff it curiously. “I, um... hadn't expected a gift, honestly, since neither of you are, ah... my age. It means a lot that you thought of me.”

Both professors smiled, the tension in their bodies easing a bit. Turo replied, rubbing at his chin. “Admittedly, we were not entirely sure it would be appropriate, but decided that, given you are moving on to Uva Academy and are no longer under our formal instruction, this would not look too unseemly.”

“Yeah, consider it our version of a graduation gift, kid,” Sada grinned at me. “All those rocks and crystals you picked up on our trips into the wild are nice and everything, but this way you'll have something more to show for four years learning under us than just a piece of paper.”

I took a breath and nodded, struck by a sudden burst of emotion at the admission.

This... was it, huh? Four years as an office mankey finally coming to an end... I'd enjoyed the time off of the last few months, but... it was an entirely different thing to realize I'd never be returning to the professors' labs in the same capacity I'd been for all that time.

“Thank you,” I repeated, looking down at the glittering purple and gold wrapping paper.

“Arven was put in charge of wrapping it,” Turo coughed awkwardly. “That skillset isn't something I have cultivated.”

“And I'm more used to tearing boxes off whatever comes into the labs rather than putting stuff in them,” Sada chuckled.

Arven gave a tired sigh of confirmation.

Distantly, I realized that each and every birthday gift I'd ever seen the dude get had the look of a professional job with printed tags instead of hand-written ones.

Classy.

“Honestly, I didn't feel like I contributed enough, so I asked to bake your cake, too,” Arven smiled, blushing.

I blinked, “Oooooh, an Arven cake? Now that's a gift! But, let's see what your parents-”

The lid came off easily, having been wrapped separately, likely so that security could screen it. Also, I was a prince and tearing wrapping paper apart was apparently uncouth. For some reason. As the lid came free, though, I beheld the rough shaped stone of a fossil. Not just any fossil, though. This was a... “Dome Fossil.”

“Ah, yes,” Turo cleared his throat dramatically. “My wife and I attended a 'couple's retreat' in Galar recently. A Professor Cerise happened to be touring a nearby university and we engaged him in polite conversation. The topic of fossils naturally came up and-”

“He mentioned he had a few he was holding on to from his work in Kanto,” Sada grinned, then shrugged. “We remembered what you'd said about wanting a dome fossil, so we managed to convince him to part with one. You can get it revived whenever.”

“You will have to go to Ambrette Town, of course,” Turo added, almost as an afterthought.

“Of course,” I nodded, the conclusion equally obvious to me as well.

“Of course,” Sada added, her normally upbeat demeanor shifting momentarily to grave seriousness.

“Oh, right... we don't have a fossil machine in Paldea, yet,” Arven hummed, cocking his head. “Didn't the duke in charge of Alfornada say something about...”

“They're in a bidding war with Porto Marinada,” I nodded, avoiding the complex political machinations behind the scenes. Alfornada was a center of cultural development, but had little in the way of academic, scientific, or industrial influence to flex. A fossil machine would change some of that, and the research center that would inevitably be built nearby would help more.

The problem was, the duke and duchess were aligned against the royal family. Not in a martial way or anything, but there were constant simmering tensions between the ongoing centralization movement of government authority and the persistent attempts to federalize the Paldean government.

No points for guessing which political camp I was chained to.

“Oh, that's a shame. But, I suppose the one in Kalos is closer than the one in Galar...” Arven hummed thoughtfully.

His father's hand came down on his shoulder, his gaze serious. “We do not speak of the Galar fossil center, son.”

Arven blinked, looking between us... likely for someone to start laughing.

No one did.

“T’is a cursed place,” I nodded humorously.

“As long as that woman remains there,” Professor Sada growled.

It was, perhaps, the only thing outside of diplomatic necessity that could drag me into Kalos. For anything else, I'd rather go to Galar. Which, yes, included a meal. Kalosian cuisine might be objectively better, but Galar had curry from Johto and Hoenn. And burgers. And pizza. Kalos, like the France of my old world had... done things to pizza. Horrible things.

And they got offended when you asked for something 'normal.'

But for fossils... no.

If the only other choice was that woman, I would brave the stinky-cheese ridden land of Kalos.

But I wasn't going to be happy about it!

“I'm simultaneously really curious, but feel like I shouldn't ask,” Arven commented, nodding to himself. “Aznaro, if you're playing the host thing, someone just came in and looks like they're heading over.”

“Oh, I should go say hi,” I nodded, then looked at the Professor and opened my mouth to excuse-

“Do not worry, we will be discussing things with Dr. Joy,” Professor Turo waved me off.

“I'm sure we'll see each other again before things wind down,” Sada nodded as they made a mutual turn to leave.

I shrugged and looked at Arven. “So... haven't told them yet, huh?”

He grimaced and his shoulders drooped. “No.”

“Well, either bite the berry and tell them or get on the champion track. As long as you're in the Ace classes, you can pretty much do whatever you want, as much as I understand it, anyway,” I shrugged and turned towards the approaching guest

“Ah... hi?” Penny asked/squeaked, looking between us.

“Hello, Penny. I'm glad you could make it on short notice,” I smiled at her, then waved towards the taller boy. “This is Arven Sente. His parents are the Professors talking with Dr. Joy over there. He'll be one of the more senior students at Uva with us. Arven, this is Penny Cosmos, the niece of Rose Cosmos, the CEO of Macro Cosmos in Galar. She's studying abroad this year at Uva.”

“Nice to meet you,” Arven smiled winsomely and swept some hair out of his eyes before reaching out and shaking Penny's hand.

“Ah... nice to meet you too?” Penny repeated, a blush staining her cheeks.

Thankfully, she'd swapped the maid-dress for something both less formal and more fitting. Thick pants, a thick jacket over a hoodie, and a knit cap with a small brown eevee topped the outfit off. Of course, when she turned, the three stone eevee evolutions – jolteon, flareon, and vaporeon – were visible on her back.

Girl knew what she liked, I could respect that.

“Oh, um – Happy Birthday!” Penny cried, a little too loudly as she pulled out something from the messenger bag at her shoulder. “Um, I didn't know about the security check, but they wrapped it up again pretty well?”

“They do that, it's fine,” I nodded, accepting the gift that was – shockingly – wrapped in eevee-themed paper.

Eevees were one of the great poke-merch industries no matter the world, apparently.

“Do you mind if I open this now or...” I trailed off and tilted my head towards the tables with food and cake.

“Now's fine, I don't mind,” Penny shook her head.

“Cool, thanks,” I smiled, tearing the paper apart and revealing a box of... “Oh, it's a new computer. I've... actually been meaning to upgrade mine, thanks. This will really help while I'm at school.”

Relief flood Penny's frame and she exhaled deeply. “I'm glad you like it. I asked my uncle for advice on gifts. He pulled this from the new top-end line of laptops Macro Cosmos is putting out later this month. It's specially-reinforced to use out in the field and has extra battery life.”

“Well, it's a great gift, thank you so much,” I smiled as I shuffled things around and managed to get the device into my bag as well as my new fossil. “Now, I see the rest of the guests, if you want to say hi?”

“Aznaro! I've come to battle!”

I clinked my tongue as both Arven and Penny jumped.

“Or you could run,” I offered idly as Nemona approached. “It's not too late for that.”

~~~

Okay, done!

Obviously, this chapter is late. Family came in, I had to socialize, and I ended up just being pretty exhausted at the end of the day on Saturday and Sunday. I needed an extra day to get things finished up, but it's ready to print now.

This is the first chapter of the party. Next chapter will continue this and feature some world-building, discussion about Aznaro's future, and (if she's good) a Nemona-battle.

Also, the top-tier poll has closed and... counting my one Awesome-tier voter on Subscribe Star, it's a tie between Entrepreneurial Spirit and The Hand We're Dealt. I'm... thinking I'm probably going to go with ES this time around to shake things up. If I have time, I'll do both.

Hope everyone started out their week on a good note! Next update will be Mind Games!