Keeper
by Cyberchao X

Chapter 2 –Leaving Petalburg City (west)

"So, Max, have you caught any new Pokémon since obtaining Piplup?"

"Yeah. The route between New Bark Town and Oldale is so easy to capture on, I wonder why most trainers don't immediately try to fill their parties and worry about further differentiation later. I caught a Poochyena, a Lillipup, a Wurmple, a Surskit, and a Seedot.

"Wait, you've already got a full team of six? Maybe I should refill my team!"

"…You went back to just Pikachu upon changing regions again?" Max asked.

"No, of course not! I wanted to bring back some of my Hoenn partners, but I also left some room for new Pokémon…and I can't forget about some of the new Pokémon I caught in Kalos! Come on out everyone!" Four fully-evolved Pokémon appeared from Poké Balls—two from Hoenn, two from Kalos.

"Whoa, it's Sceptile and Swellow! And…you've got a Talonflame and a Greninja!"

"Yeah, Froakie was my first new Pokémon in Kalos, and then Fletchling was my first capture. …Froakie was also the first Water-type starter I've owned to evolve. Squirtle, Totodile, and Oshawott all stayed in their base forms."

"What about you, Serena?"

"I don't have very many Pokémon at all. Just three." She released her Pokémon from their Poké Balls.

"Oh, that's an evolution of Eevee, right? May caught one too; she evolved hers into a Glaceon."

"A Glaceon? …Yeah, that was something I considered. But it didn't seem to go well with either Pancham or Delphox. Also…Sylveon loves to dance, and her ribbons trailing behind her while she dances are so beautiful."

CCX: Eevee's dub debut aired shortly after the previous chapter was posted. At the moment, Bulbapedia says that it hasn't evolved yet even in the Japanese airing; I figure Sylveon is the most likely choice of evolution, and if it doesn't evolve at all by the end of the series, it still works because it could've evolved between then and the start of this fic. Of course, there's one other possibility that I can't ignore…the Kalos Mossy Stone is in the forest of Route 20, beyond Snowbelle City; it's a location that hasn't been visited yet, and that's probably the possibility that makes the most sense other than Sylveon to begin with. Flareon, Jolteon, and Vaporeon are unlikely because of how infrequently the protagonists use evolutionary stones (I initially thought it had never happened but then I remembered Ludicolo); we already have major characters with Umbreon (Gary) and Glaceon (May); and Espeon would create a type redundancy with the now fully-evolved Delphox (not that they worry too much about that, especially not with the coordinators/performers).

"Dance? Hmm…"

"So which way are we going, anyway?" Ash asked. "There are so many different paths to take through Hoenn to get to all the gyms."

"Rustboro's the closest. From there, I figure we'll set off for Dewford and come around to Slateport that way, and we'll get to skip the northwest portion of the region entirely."

"Ah. Yeah, that works. I figured we'd set off for Dewford before even reaching Rustboro, since we have to go further north than Mauville to get to Lavaridge anyway, and loop around through Fallarbor up north to get back to Rustboro."

"You'd have me challenge Roxanne fourth?"

"Your team at the moment isn't exactly suited to challenging her anyway, aside from Piplup. Seedot don't learn any Grass-type moves until they're almost ready to evolve, and you've got two Bug-types and a Normal-type."

"Normal-types are weak to Fighting, as are Dark-types. And Surskit is also a Water-type, so it can deal super-effective damage to Rock-types."

Their discussion was interrupted by a Pokémon's cry. "Oh, there's something else that might help against Roxanne!" It was a Wingull. Max sent out his Lillipup to battle it, and he captured it. "Hmm, who should I remove from my party for Wingull?"

"Dunno. Wurmple can evolve pretty quickly, but as is it's not adding much."

"I think you're right, though. Beautifly would be mostly redundant if I evolved Surskit. Dustox, maybe…"

"Why is it always such a big event whenever you get a new Pokémon, Ash?" Serena asked.

"I guess I just don't like to take Pokémon from their natural habitats. Aside from catching a bird in each region, I wait for Pokémon who want to come with me."

"Do you think maybe I should catch a new Pokémon?"

"I guess we could see what we find. The forest has some interesting species."

"The forest!"

"Yeah, the…wait, what was that?"

"Chat! The forest, the forest!"

(Yes, in case you hadn't realized it when I threw in Lillipup, we're working with post-Eon Flute ORAS lists for each route's Pokémon.)

"The forest! Chatot!"

"I…guess a lot of people talk about the forest," Max said. Serena looked it up in her Pokédex. "Chatot. The Music Note Pokémon. It can learn and speak human words. If they gather, they all learn the same saying."

"Music? Sylveon, what do you think? Would you like to have a musical Pokémon to perform with?".

"Sylveon!"

"Okay then. Sylveon, use Swift!"

"Syl!" The Fairy-type attacked.

"CHAAA!"

"What the…was that Boomburst?" Ash covered his ears.

"Pikachuuuu…"

"Ugh…Sylveon, use Charm!"

"That won't do any good…" Max said. "Charm weakens physical moves; Boomburst is a special move."

"Now, Sylveon, use Fairy Wind!"

"Sylveon…"

"…Okay. Poké Ball, go!" The ball wobbled three times, then Chatot escaped. "Oh…"

"Just keep at it, Serena! It came pretty close; you might get it if you throw another one!"

"Chatot's actually a pretty tough Pokémon to capture," Max said.

"Okay… Go, Poké Ball!" This time it was caught. "I did it? I did it! I caught a Chatot!"

"That's great!"

Petalburg Woods

"Wow. All of a sudden it's gotten really dark," Ash remarked. "Kind of reminds me of the Eterna Forest in Sinnoh."

"Doesn't the Eterna Forest have a mansion that's rumored to be haunted?" Max asked.

"The very same."

"You think we'll meet some Ghost-types?"

"I have a suspicion. Could be good for you; Ghosts are immune to Fighting-types, so if you get one, it could really shine in Dewford."

Before any wild Pokémon could show up, however, they heard some yelling. "Wait, is that…?"

Max nodded. "Team Aqua and Team Magma have been active again recently."

"Who are Team Aqua and Team Magma?" Serena asked.

"They're criminals. Really bad ones, too; Team Rocket may steal Pokémon, but these guys actually want to reshape the world. Team Aqua wants to flood the world and increase the size of the oceans, while Team Magma wants to make the oceans smaller and increase the landmass."

"They're eco-terrorists?"

Ash looked at her.

"Yes, Serena, they're eco-terrorists," Max said.

"We've got to stop them!" Ash charged forward. "Give those—whatever it is you stole, give it back!"

"Cute," the Aqua grunt said. "You don't even know what you're fighting for, but you want to challenge me? Go, Mightyena!"

Pikachu made quick work of Mightyena. The Devon researcher retrieved his parts and thanked Ash.

"The Petalburg operation hit a snag. Send more units to intercept at Rustboro." The Aqua Grunt switched off her radio. "Hmm…Ash Ketchum. This could get interesting. Knowing his reputation…if I continue on this path I'm on, I'll run into him soon enough."

CCX: Like I said, this is based heavily on ORAS. Until next time, this is Cyberchao X, signing off. ...Wait I forgot to actually have Max catch a Phantump! Eh, catching scenes are boring anyway; just assume it happens between now and Chapter 3.