[X] The Golduck might be very new at directly accessing its psychic powers, but it has the instincts of a Pokemon built for telekinesis. It welcomes you to join it in practice. (You get personally tutored in telekinesis by a species of Pokemon renowned for its skills in such.)
"Look, Golduck—I'm pretty sure I'd just hold you back," you say with no little self-consciousness. "I've never been able to pick stuff up with my head on purpose...I'm pretty sure that just by evolving, you're already waaaay ahead of me."
"Golduck, Golduck!" insists the water-type Pokemon that now stands more than a foot over you in terms of height, and you get the message that it's trying to tell you as it waves its arms between you and it—if anything, that just makes the Duck Pokemon want to help you more!
No matter how hard you try, the wild Golduck refuses to budge on this issue—you and Sparkplug have been helping it and its flock out with their psychic problems, so to make things fair, it should get the chance to return the favor. You remain stubborn up to the point that an impatient Coro rolls into you and nearly dunks you right into the lake as everybody else laughs.
"Okay, okay—fine! Just...don't judge me," you mutter—because there is no way that you aren't going to end up embarrassing yourself in front of this Golduck and its friends. "Let me just grab those notes my psychic teacher made for me first and the—oh, huh. I kinda wonder...hang on a second."
You rummage through your backpack underneath the curious gazes of the Golduck and its fellow Psyducks. "Hey, what does this thing smell like to you all?" you ask as you pull out the Odd Incense and present it to the crowd. "This thing boosts psychic moves when a Pokemon holds it, but it also smells different depending if you're a psychic type or not. Since you guys are only a bit psychic, though..."
Most of the Duck Pokemon end up thoughtfully blinking at its scent—Golduck in particular seems intrigued. The resulting answer is a bit hard to parse out from the way that the wild Pokemon explain it to you through acting it out, but the Psyduck thinks it smells mostly like burning plants with a hint of their lake, and the Golduck thinks it smells mostly like its lake with a hint of burning plants.
Neat.
You and Golduck are soon given your privacy by the rest of the Pokemon as the Psyducks lead Sparkplug away—you notice that they seem to be asking the steel-type Pokemon something, but think nothing of it. It was probably just another request for a top-up of Sing, anyway. When they leave, you explain to the newly awakened telekinetic about your problem.
"It's like...Pokemon just mostly know how to use their type energies as moves, right?" you tell the 'mon. "Like, try it right now—I bet you'd be able to grab that rock over there with Confusion if you really want to."
Frowning, the wild Golduck narrows its eyes and slowly and instinctively reaches out with an arm—the gem on its forehead soon begins to glow...
You applaud appreciatively as the evolved Pokemon stares in wonder at the aura keeping a rock afloat in the air, done through its own power. "But the thing that's been explained to me and really hammered in a bunch is that human psychics...uh, we don't. We don't get moves, and we don't evolve to start feeling that psychic energy on our own. I'm pretty much stuck with how you probably felt when you were still a Psyduck just a while ago." You explain the concept of "mental buttons" to the very interested Pokemon as it scratches the top of its head.
"Golduck Gold?" the Duck Pokemon asks as it gestures by slowly spreading its arms out and up.
"Yeah—it's just when I 'explode,' and I never really remember using them after either," you confirm. "My psychic teacher wrote down advice here that's pretty much trying to focus while reaching out. That's why I wasn't too up for this—every time we did that before, it took hours to get done...and that was when he was like, with me. I don't wanna make you want to wait for me before you get to play around with all the cool stuff you can do now, you know?"
The wild Golduck performatively tilts its head in thought in a bit of body language that comes across as much more serious in its current body compared to its form as a Psyduck. "Golduck," it begins to say. "Gold..."
Golduck tells you that it isn't only instinct that's driving its current level of control, it feels. At the moment, the water-type Pokemon was riding a high of triumph and energy from its evolution—it feels like it can do anything right now, and so when it reaches out and expects to happen...stuff happens! However, yes, it can definitely feel its psychic energy when it couldn't before...in fact, it's all concentrated in the gem on its head. Maybe that's why Golducks aren't full psychic types—it's not like the energy goes into its body before the Duck Pokemon uses it.
But yeah—the wild Golduck doesn't exactly feel an urge to meditate right now. It feels like going for a swim with its new body; it feels excited. It feels confident!
In short, it's feeling pretty strong emotions at the moment—and that's what it's using to focus to lift this rock right now, at least as a newly evolved and untested Golduck who just got conscious control over its psychic powers for the first time.
So...you and Psyducks sure sound pretty similar, at least when it comes to how you end up using telekinesis, the wild Golduck reminds you. You and it both used to only be able to use your psychic energy when under a lot of stress, fear, or danger—which is to say, a lot of bad emotions. Maybe, it suggests, the trick is to try that but with something happier. Why don't you try thinking about things that make you feel confident?
You'd be pretty much starting from the opposite point of 'confident' as you are right now, but you do think that the Golduck's idea makes a lot of sense.
Trying to psych yourself up, huh? You think about what normally psychs you up and...quickly dismiss that. You were definitely not ready to mix that side of yourself with your psychic powers, a need for confidence or not.
No, not manic confidence...true confidence. You ponder that for a short time. "...can I pull out something else from my bag?" you politely ask the Golduck, who gives you the go ahead.
You pull out the small and unassuming container, open it, and place it on a nearby boulder. The Golduck stares in curiosity at your shiny Mine Badge—you'd been polishing it before sleeping every single night. "I got that when my team managed to beat a really, really, really strong trainer," you explain to the wild Pokemon. "I...won it. It means a lot to me."
You take a few steps back, staring at the badge as it glints in the afternoon sunlight. You remember the feeling of being handed it by Byron, of the feeling that you've gotten each and every time you've held it since—pride. A rare feeling for a street rat like you had been...though not quite as rare as when you were in your gang.
Pride...a different kind of pride. A less bloody pride, a less freakish pride...something that you could be proud of that wouldn't turn into a horrifying burden and source of guilt later on.
Sitting innocuously on that rock was true and tangible proof that you were worth something. You remember every moment of that battle, every little setback, every twist and turn that you fought for...even the embarassing moments that were still just full of fun at the time.
Right now, that badge was out of your reach—and that feels wrong. You want nothing more than to rush forward and hold it up in the sun, and maybe brag a bit more to Golduck about that whole gym challenge.
You and your team earned that badge fair and square. You trained for it, schemed for it, fought for it...
It's <![if !ie]> yours— <![endif]>
—the badge abruptly knocks against your skull and you stumble onto your ass. The Golduck jumps in surprise.
...success?
---
Hours later, you reach out determinedly with a hand—and your eyes <![if !ie]> glow <![endif]> as the Mine Badge floats directly into your palm.
Success! You're joyous for a moment before you sheepishly recall that you've only been able to do this consistently with your Mine Badge...and only to pull the shiny bit of metal into your grasp. Trying things out with rocks or floating the badge away has unfortunately led to mixed results and maybe a few new bruises on your body.
At least you've figured out the mental button for telekinesis and gotten some good practice in. You stare up at the sky, noticing the approach of dusk before turning back towards the lake.
Golduck was still swimming around the lake at a pace that would give speedboats some level of pause. One of the first things you'd noticed earlier when they'd tried for it was that its gem would start glowing whenever it pushed itself as hard as it could—it was pretty easy for you to figure out that the wild Golduck was somehow instinctively using its telekinesis to move the water around it as it swims. Considering your own troubles with swimming, you wonder if you could somehow do something like that one day...
You also shake your head as you notice that the wild Psyducks were still singing—though it didn't seem to be doing anything like the actual move, the water-type Pokemon had started copying the off-key melody Sparkplug had stumbled into and belting it out wherever they go. It did seem to be helping them stave off their headaches, considering that they were rubbing their heads less...you're not sure what's up with that. You're pretty sure that they hadn't actually learned the Sing move.
(You do not know what the placebo effect is.)
The flock of Psyducks and a singular Golduck happily allow you to camp out by their lake for the night. In the morning, Golduck and a few of its friends helpfully lead you on a shortcut through their side of the forest and back onto the main trail of Route 233, with a fair bit of extra distance made to make up for all the time that you spent at their home. You might not have gone out exploring as you'd originally hoped to, but as the wild Pokemon wave goodbye, you and your friends feel very satisfied with how this small adventure went anyway.
Little did you know that there were more consequences in store for the area—quite a number of which you wouldn't hear of for some time and were not even limited to the span of a single year.
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A few days later...
Senior Ranger Oliver blinks a few times as he takes in the latest update on his terminal.
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Route 233 UB Alert: Psyduck - Kricketot
Psyducks have begun joining in with local Kricketot concerts.
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"The Psyducks are doing what?"
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You have consumed the 1 day's worth of foraged food that you were able to find and 0.5 Jars of Honey over the span of the previous day of travel! Honey and wild berries will always be a winning combination.
For reasons that continue to be obvious, it is mandatory that you vote by plan!
ETA to Floaroma Town: 1 day of travel.
Please set your traveling pace over the course of the current day.
[ ][Pace] Fast: May spend 1 AP on actions. Will be drawn into many forced wild Pokemon battles, which will quickly expend the stamina of your Pokemon. However, you will travel 1.5 days worth of distance.
[ ][Pace] Normal: May spend 2 AP on actions. Will be drawn into a moderate number of forced wild Pokemon battles, which will only somewhat expend the stamina of your Pokemon. However, you will travel 1 day worth of distance.
[ ][Pace] Slow: May spend 3 AP on actions. Will be drawn into a few forced wild Pokemon battles, which will only slightly expend the stamina of your Pokemon. However, you will travel 0.5 days worth of distance.
[ ][Pace] Rest: May spend 3 AP on actions, and their results will be boosted. Will not be drawn into any wild Pokemon battles and will have your team recover a great amount of stamina, but you won't make any progress towards your next destination.
Please select your traveling turn actions. More traveling actions can be unlocked in the future through purchasing new items and equipment or earning certain Traits.
[ ][Action] Train with your Pokemon—Sparkplug, Maynot, and Coro can always improve on something. You might as well get some training in! (Begins additional training vote for learning moves and general experimentation.)
[ ][Action] Train with your Pokemon against the local wild Pokemon—you've got to sharpen your teamwork with your partners, and while you're already going to be drawn into fights, might as well get more practice in! (Begins additional training vote for battling practicals, teamwork, or strategies. Chance for an onscreen wild Pokemon battle of note. NOTE: For quest balance reasons, you cannot capture any of the wild Pokemon that you train against.)
[ ][Action] Well, there's still a lot of trees around—time to practice what you've learned and forage for food in the nearby forest! (Partially nullifies ration consumption of entire party for the day, depending on level of success. Chance of finding common berries. Progress towards upgrading Forest Forager Trait.)
[ ][Action] Explore the wilderness around the road. You won't go too far, but hey—just seeing wild Pokemon that you've never seen before living their lives is amazing in itself. (Roll for a random encounter around Route 233. Low chance for items. Low chance for a trainer encounter. High chance for a special wild Pokemon encounter. May stumble across something of note unique to the route. NOTE: You currently do not have any free slots on your team, so a wild Pokemon encounter is likely to lead into a mere minor encounter or a sidequest at most!)
[ ][Action] Open up your Pokedex and explore the wilderness around the road. This communication within range function will probably come in handy—well, you hope. (Roll for a random encounter around Route 233. Low chance for items. Low chance for a special wild Pokemon encounter. High chance for a trainer encounter. May stumble across something of note unique to the route. NOTE: You currently do not have any free slots on your team, so a wild Pokemon encounter is likely to lead into a mere minor encounter or a sidequest at most!)
[ ][Action] The wilderness is a balm on your mind with how much emptier it is compared to places like towns or cities. This is the time to start getting a better handle on your other psychic abilities. (Practice a particular psychic power.)
-[ ] Time to get a better handle on telepathy! (Subaction currently boosted by prior research!)
-[ ] Time to get a better handle on telekinesis!
[ ][Action] There's something that you want to do on the road that didn't immediately leap to mind. (Write-in option. Subject to QM veto. May or may not be successful or turn out as intended even if allowed.)
You do not possess cooking equipment! Rationing has automatically been set to a mix of typical Traveling Rations and Honey.
Currently, you are expending 1 day's worth of Traveling Rations and half a Jar of Honey each day. Sparkplug will require a day's worth of Electrical Charge from the Heavy-Duty Pokemon Battery (which is full and contains 1 week of charge) in one day.
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There will be a one hour voting moratorium put in place upon the posting of this update. You aren't supposed to vote until after an hour passes from the posting of this update. There's a banner with a countdown at the top and bottom of the thread, so please pay attention.
No random event roll this time, in the sense that there will be an event and it happens to be based on common sense rather than luck.
Don't worry about it. Just think—are Routes supposed to only have wild Pokemon in them? You are getting awfully close to Floaroma...
