After their Pokemon were picked up from the Center, Matt left both Valerie and Stella to continue their shopping spree. He had a video to edit. It was close to Midday now, healing had taken a few hours, and Larry felt like a new Pokemon. So Valerie and Stella once again began to make their way through Pewter City.

  “Alright, let’s go check out a TM Shop and a shop that sells rocks for Pokemon.” His trainer announced as she looked towards Stella, “You got anywhere else you want to go?”

  “I’ll come along.” She spoke resolutely, following closely behind her, “Maybe I’ll find a TM for Mori or something…”

  “He is a Steel-Type.” Valerie mentioned questioningly as they turned a corner, “Some of those also eat rocks, do Skarmory?”

  “My mom said he needs Iron supplements.” Stella answered with a motion towards her backpack, “I still have those.”

  “No issue, maybe that shop will also have some stuff Skarmory will like. They can’t only be selling rocks.” Turning another street corner, Valerie taps at the screen of her phone before pointing in a direction, “The TM Shop should be around that corner.”

  …

  Entering a seedy-looking shop in a back alley, Valerie and Stella passed through a beaded curtain covered with many rainbow colored beads into a very cramped-looking shop. The walls were lined with display cabinets decorated with various colorful TMs, and Larry even spotted a dream catcher hung up on a hook in the ceiling in the middle of the single aisle of the shop.

  “Hey!” The older teenage boy behind the counter called out loudly. He wore a print beanie and long-sleeved sweater and had a scraggly-looking beard, “What can I do for you?”

  ‘Oh god.’ Every second he looked closer at the store, the more things looked out of place. On top of the display case table, which the clerk was leaning on, sat various types of stones. An incense stick burned inside an incense holder beside the boy, ‘Is this one of those scam stores?’

  “We’re looking for a TM for my Xatu, Sybil.” Valerie approached the counter, Stella behind her, wrinkling her nose at the aggressive smell of incense.

  “A Xatu, huh?” The boy stared at her, “Do you have anything in mind?”

  “I was thinking a Status-Move might be useful. Something to protect her during a fight.” She spoke with a finger on her chin, “Reflect or Light Screen would be nice.”

  “We’ve got both, they go for 2000 Pokedollars each.” The boy pointed lazily at one of the display cases with an arm, “If you want something more substantial like Protect, though, it’ll cost ya.”

  “I see…” Somehow, his trainer wasn’t bothered by the boy's nonchalant attitude. Larry would be raising his brows by now at how dismissively he was treating a customer.

  ‘At least he isn’t trying to hawk her stuff, I guess. But why not wear some store uniform or something that looks slightly more professional?’

  “...That should work.” His trainer finally spoke with a nod. She picked Sybil’s ball from her belt, releasing the bird into the room with a flash.

  “Hey, Sybil.” The bird gave a bowing nod in greeting, “If you didn’t watch, we’re in the TM Shop right now. I planned on getting you either Light Screen or Reflect, but I thought it would be better to ask you since you’ll be using it. What do you think?”

  “Xaa…” “I see…” Sybil nodded once again in acknowledgement, “Tuu-Xatu. Xatu.” “I will leave the decision to you.”

  For a second, Valerie seemed to be considering her words, before she suddenly sighed, “Haah…Yeah, I still don’t understand you well enough to know what you said.”

  Stella behind her faltered for a second, “W-What?”

  “Hm?”

  “You understand your Pokemon?” She asked seriously.

  His trainer made a motion of balancing a scale, “Eeeh, sometimes I can get the picture when talking with Larry, but it's still kind of hard to do for Sybil.”

  “How does that work?” Her friend asked, logically.

  “Well, I don’t know. I just sometimes manage to get what Larry is trying to say.” She shrugged, “I know, it's weird.”

  ‘Really?’ Larry had noticed how she sometimes seemed to catch onto his ideas far quicker than anyone else. His mind immediately went to different places, ‘Does this have to do with that thing back in Mt. Silver, when we felt each other's emotions? That emotional bond?’

  The two looked at each other in surprise for a moment before Valerie turned back to Sybil, “So, give me one or two nods. Reflect or Light Screen?”

  In return, Sybil sighed, staring off into the distance for a moment before nodding once.

  “I see.” She nodded back at the Psychic-Type before leaning past her at the store clerk, “We’ll take Reflect!”

  The clerk had meanwhile stopped leaning on the table and had begun staring at the girl and her Pokemon. He stopped when she turned to him, “U-Um, sure thing!”

  He walked out behind the counter, fumbling with a key in hand, and unlocked the display case before quickly returning with the TM in hand, scanning a barcode on its back with an audible BEEP!

  His attitude had done a complete 180 since Valerie had released Sybil, and he seemed far more meek than before right now. He also seemed to be stealing glances at Valerie now, completely the opposite of his previously uncaring and aloof behavior.

  ‘What's up? Did we do something?’

  Only when Valerie went on to pay did the boy speak up again, “Umm, you’re Valerie Riston, right?”

  “Yes?” Valerie looked at him suspiciously, “How’d you know?”

  “W-Well, Xatu aren’t that common.” He argued, a finger pointing at the bird next to Valerie hastily, “And I think my whole family knows who you are because of your Gym Battle. You were in the news, you know?””

  The last sentence seemed to make Valerie realize her own situation, with a series of confused grimaces, “Well…I guess I was. Twice now, actually.”

  “Twice?” He parroted back.

  ‘Oh? So this guy is a fan of ours?’ Larry assumed.

  “Nevermind…Where is that Larvitar of yours?”

  “Oh, he’s just in his Pokeball, relaxing.” She patted her belt for effect, “We just came into town from Viridian City, and Viridian Forest isn’t a place you can easily relax in, y’know?”

  “Right.” The clerk agreed, as he held the TM in his hand, he made a motion to hand it back towards her when he suddenly stopped short, “Look...I wouldn’t normally ask this…But I kind of want to show my family some proof that I met you. Would you mind giving me an autograph?”

  When the word ‘Autograph’ left the boy's mouth, it felt like Valerie momentarily jerked in place, “An auto…graph?”

  “Y-Yeah!” His own suggestion emboldened him, as he suddenly began rattling off things, “How about I give you a discount on another TM in return for an autograph and a picture?!”

  His trainer was entirely overwhelmed by the sudden request, but when the word discount appeared in the jumble of words, she seemed to regain her, “...What kind of a discount are we talking about here?”

  …

  “You’re a genius at haggling!” Stella gushed as they walked out of the dingy back alley the shop was in.

  In the end, Valerie had managed to procure a second move for Sybil, Psychic. Apparently, the shop also sold something called a TR, or Technical Record. They were cheaper, single-use variants of TMs, and Valerie had managed to snag herself the deal of her lifetime using just a bit of her rising stardom.

  A real Psychic TM could go for above ten thousand Pokedollars, much more than the measly eight thousand Pokedollars Valerie had received as prize money from her Gym Battle and something she probably wouldn’t be able to afford for some time. Instead, the boy, whom she had discovered was called Fabian, had made her a deal, in exchange for her autograph and picture, he’d give her a Psychic TR for the lovely price of three thousand Pokedollars.

  Market Price had been five thousand Pokedollars, so she could’ve also purchased it as is, but if the only price for a discount was a picture with someone who liked her, Valerie was more than happy to play along.

  “I like a good deal.” She downplayed with a wave of her hand, “I just got lucky that that guy was a big fan of mine.”

  For a second, she stopped in her tracks, “A big fan of mine…Whew, still doesn’t sound real…”

  Larry also wasn’t quite sure if they’d even gotten that big of a deal, ‘I mean, this means only a single Pokemon of Valerie’s will be able to learn Psychic, for not even that much of a Discount. Although I guess it’ll come in useful for Sybil’s moveset.’

  His trainer pulled the Psychic-Types Pokeball from her belt, “What do you think? Did we get a deal?”

  Her ball twitched twice in response, bringing a smile to Valerie’s face, “Good!”

  “What about you, Stella?” Her friend had also gotten herself a slightly cheaper Technical Machine, going for a TM of Aerial Ace. She explained that Mori hadn’t flown much in recent times and that a move to improve his flying would only serve well when they wanted to show it off during the coming contest.

  Katchak!

  The quiet snap of an artificial shutter sounded out from behind them, and when Valerie turned, she saw a young teenager quickly fumble with his phone, turning the device away from their direction a bit too indiscreetly.

  This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

  “Did that boy just take a photo of us?” She asked nobody in particular as she continued walking, “Why?”

  Stella rolled her eyes, “Well, you ARE the girl who helped stop Team Rocket. I heard about you before, but now people will definitely know you.”

  “Oh, Arceus.” His trainer put a hand ot her face in shock, “I’m gonna have to deal with this for my whole journey, aren’t I?”

  “Just watch out for when you’ll get paparazzi following you around,” Stella spoke warily, “Like with actual huge cameras with flashes, hiding in bushes.”

  “Is that something that actually happens?!” She turned to her in shock.

  “At least for contestants.” Stella kicked a rock down the road glumly at the memory, “My mom used to go crazy about them, almost sicced one of her Pokemon on one once.”

  “Hmm…”

  The two continued to make their way around Pewter City, planning to end up at the north-eastern outskirts of the town, where there was a large hillside with exposed stones. Exactly where one would expect to find a shop that sells stones.

  Just beside it, at the northern edge of the town, there was a museum called the Pewter Museum of Science, which Larry only knew because Valerie mentioned the place on her way through the city, pointing it out when the large structure came into view.

  When they passed by it, though, it unfortunately became clear that the building was currently being renovated, and it would only open on its actual grand opening in a week or so.

  “Should we go check it out when it opens?” Valerie asked Stella as they continued to walk eastward.

  “Aren’t museums just super boring?” She countered.

  “Well, they can be,” His trainer agreed, “but I think it might be nice to do something in Pewter City before going onto the next city. I spent most of my time in Viridian stuck in a trainer school because of my mom. At the start, I kind of hated it, but afterwards I did feel fortunate to have taken the time to learn.”

  “Trainer School? A museum?” Stella squinted at her, “Are you kind of nerdy?”

  “N-No-” She denied before turning introspective, “Well…Actually, the more I learn about Pokemon the more I think I…might be? My dad did say I have a really good head for Pokemon training.”

  In response, Stella huffed, “That doesn’t make you a nerd. That just means you’re smart.”

  After a short moment to digest the answer, she came to a conclusion, “I guess that’s…also good?”

  …

  “Welcome! Welcome!” The gruff older man in an undershirt manning the counter opened his arms wide as the two entered the rock store, the Machoke next to him mimicking his gesture with a growl. He had a big gut, but powerful arms that spoke of experience, coiled muscle was underneath all of his fat, and Larry could tell the man actually worked on the stone he sold, “What can old man Seb do for you girlies?”

  “Hello!” Valeire bowed, with Stella behind her mimicking her, “I’m looking for some rocks for my Rock-Type to eat. Something he could have as a treat, since I don’t want to carry around too many rocks.”

  “I see…I see…” The man nodded knowingly, brushing a hand through his long, greying beard, “I’m permitted to ask, girlie. What Pokemon are we working with here? It’ll make my job a whole lot easier.”

  Following the man's question, she released Larry, who, having listened to their entire exchange, appeared with a theatrical flourish. Twirling once before spreading his arms wide as he stopped, Larry made himself known, “Tadaa!”

  The man and his Machoke both practically recoiled at the sight of him, their eyes shooting wide open in surprise, “Dear Legendaries! You’re that girl I’ve heard about on the news!”

  “That I am.” She nodded once, a smug smile on her face now. She was now confirmed famous. “Now, what stones would you have in stock for a Larvitar?”

  …

  Valerie was left with less money in her pocket, but A LOT more stones and soil. Larry was a happy little Rock-Type now, since he’d actually gotten to taste-test a lot of the stone and soil they'd bought. First up was something called ‘Black Earth’, a type of soil which is especially nutritious. He’d gotten a taste test, and this stuff was the real deal, it felt like he was chowing down on some real high-grade beef, a complete flavor explosion compared to any of the soil he’d eaten before.

  Another surprise was actual, real clay, like the one you’d make pottery out of. It was sticky, dense, and heavy, like peanut butter, or at least the best approximation he could find when it came to soil and rocks. It had been a while since he’d actually had peanut butter after all, so the taste was more of a guess in his eyes.

  There were more crunchy stones as well. Sandstone, which tasted like a crunch bar, Shale, which broke off in layers, giving it a similar mouthfeel to potato chips, and finally Limestone, which was apparently essential to a lot of rock types' shell development, according to both Valerie and the store proprietor.

  That wasn’t the end, though! Granite, Rock Salt, Quartz, and something called Hematite? Whatever it was, it had that same really heavy iron taste Larry loved to bits.

  His biggest gripe was that Valerie only had so much limited bag space. Her backpack might defy physics in its construction, but that didn’t mean that she could just stuff shovels' worth of dirt in there.

  In the end, Larry would have to make do with just a 20kg or a little more than 40-pound bag of most of the materials, except the more rare ones like Quartz and such. They made away with around 150kg or a little more than 300 pounds of dirt, rock, minerals, and soil, all of which fit perfectly into Valerie’s backpack after the lovely store proprietor and his trust Machoke heaved the rocks into it.

  Larry hugged himself close to Valerie’s leg with a wide smile on his face in a show of appreciation, “Thank you!”

  “Aww…No need to thank me, Larry,” She cooed as she pet him on the head, “You’re doing so well, I think a little bit of a reward was in order, don’t you think so? Besides, the money from the Gym is technically also yours, you know?”

  “Bahaha! That little guy is most definitely on his best behavior,” The shopkeep laughed idly with a scratch of his head. “I might not’ve seen any Larvitar in my time, but I heard what a real handful they can be. Gluttonous, Compulsive, Skittish, Irritable, and real crybabies are just a few of the nicer ways I’ve heard them being described over the years. But yours seems to be just the loveliest little Pokemon I’ve ever met!”

  Valerie could only scratch at her cheek with a sheepish grin, “Larry’s always been that way, no clear reason, but he is easy to take care of.” Her grin turned into a frown as his thoughts turned to something else, “Well…Actually, not always…We didn’t have the easiest start…”

  Squeezing her tighter, Larry forced her back out of her memories, “Don’t think too deeply, Valerie! I’m a weirdo!”

  In turn, she once again began petting him on his head with that same fond smile, “You’re not weird, Larry, with you and Sybil, I’ll turn into a real Pokemon Master.”

  “Aren’t you just the sweetest pair of Pokemon and trainer I’ve ever seen?” The man uttered with a loud grin, “That Larvitar of yours is a real biggun’ too! I doubt you’ll have much more time with him as a Larvitar!”

  “Huh?” Larry turned his way, confused, “What?”

  “You haven’t noticed yet?” Valeire asked, noticing his confusion, “Check this out.”

  She rapped her knuckles against his side harshly, eliciting a hard knocking sound, KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

  “Your shell is beginning to harden,” She spoke giddily, “I doubt it’ll be long before you actually evolve.”

  Larry stretched awkwardly, feeling his skin pull like an undershirt stuck under a tight belt, and now the discomfort was nagging on him, “How didn’t I notice this?!”

  “You were so focused back in Virdian Forest, I guess you had bigger things to think about, right?” She guessed, “Whatever the case, this is good in the end, right?”

  “Good?” Larry questioned his trainer, panic sneaking into his tone, “I’ll be stuck in a cocoon for the foreseeable future. What do you mean?!”

  ‘Seriously? I’m gonna evolve?’ Larry was still awestruck and didn’t notice Valerie zipping her backpack back closed and standing up, ‘What am I gonna do? I’ll be a Pupitar, right? All cocooned up and without any arms or legs to do stuff and walk with? How will I get around? Will I need to hop?’

  Behind him, Stella suddenly let out a tone of amazement, “Whoaaaa…What’s this?”

  Everyone turned to the young coordinator as she stared in amazement at a chunk of rock laid out on the counter of the shop.

  “What now?!” Larry whined, “Can’t a Pokemon panic in peace?!”

  Nearing the stone, the gruff old man grinned giddily behind them, “So you finally noticed it? I didn’t think you girlies’d ever see it!”

  He picked the chunk of rock off the counter, and Larry noticed the pearl embedded deep inside it, shining with brilliantly blue light. Inside the pearl, thousands of tiny glowing motes of dust shone brilliantly, like a miniature galaxy had been created inside of it.

  Immediately, his worries about evolution were secondary, ‘Holy…That looks amazing…’

  “Wow…” Valerie was just as awestruck as Stella and Larry.

  “This,” The gruff shopkeeper smiled excitedly, “is a rare stone. I don’t know what kind.”

  Larry turned to him with a squinted glare, “Seriously?”

  “Apparently, it made its way all the way from Johto to our Museum. Once it's been cleaned up by me and looked over by the eggheads over there, they’ll make an exhibit for it.”

  “Ohh…” Stella's eyes were still transfixed on the beautiful universe trapped inside the gigantic pearl. It seemed to move as time passed, “So we can’t buy this one?”

  He shook his head, “Not for sale. The museum staff only allowed me a single day to extract the actual crystal from the surrounding stone.”

  “Aww…” She deflated.

  “But I won’t let you leave empty-handed, girl!” The shopkeeper once again set the stone down gently, “I severely doubt we can’t find something useful for your Pokemon in my shop, even if it isn’t a Rock-Type like hers!”

  “That’s right!” Valerie encouraged the glum girl, “He’s bound to have something for your Skarmory.”

  “A Skarmory?” He repeated, “You girls certainly own some rarer Pokemon…Well, not to fear, I have some products for Steel-Types as well!”

  VRRRT! VRRRT!

  Valerie began to rummage around her pocket before she finally found her phone. Her eyes went wide when she saw who was at the other end of the call, “Oh crap! It’s Maxie!”

  She quickly picked up, “Hello?...”

  “Max-...What? That was today?!” She turned to both Larry and Stella, “Err…Sorry, I completely forgot. We made it safely to Pewter City, yeah.”

  Larry could already guess what was going on, ‘It's been long enough time, my mom is probably breathing down Maxie's neck expecting the video call to begin any moment, right?’

  “Sorry, we’re inside a shop right now.” Valerie apologized, “I’ll call you back in a few minutes, and then we’ll start the video call, ok? Yeah? Sorry…”

  “Ok…I’ll call you in a few minutes, ok? Bye!” She ended the call, breathing a sigh of relief with her phone held to her chest. She turned to the shopkeeper, “Sorry, but could we make it quick? What have you got for Steel-Types?”

  …

  “I can’t believe Steel-Types use Whetstones.” His trainer spoke in a surprised tone as the two humans exited the shop. Larry was back in his Pokeball for now. With Valerie’s newfound fame, they were bound to attract attention if someone spotted them. “It makes sense, but I just never thought of it.”

  Stella seemed happy with her purchase, “Mori loves to slash stuff, this will make it easier.”

  “Alright, we’re already pretty far away from the city,” Valerie decided as she looked around, “Let's find a quiet spot, and you can join in on my call with Maxie.”

  “Sure thing!”

  As the two walked, Larry thought idly to himself, ‘So I’m really gonna evolve, huh? I wonder when it’ll happen…I’ve gotten so used to being a Larvitar. When will it happen? Will I even know how to move anymore?’

  He was slightly terrified of the notion of evolving, given how long the Tyranitar line took to evolve anyway, Larry thought he might have some more time. The obvious signs had been in there in hindsight, his renewed hunger in Viridian City, his plateauing strength, and, most surprisingly, how he’d become less guided by his instincts since his entry into human society.

  Larry had also at least slightly grown. Back in the League Reception town, he could barely reach to Valerie's calves, but by now he had grown enough to reach to her knees using his stubby, little arms.

  ‘I guess it's a positive change…’ He noted idly, ‘How big are Pupitar anyway? Maybe I’ll finally be bigger, I could finally look at what's sitting on counters and tables instead of being forced to climb chairs and the like…’

  If his memory served him right, he wouldn’t be as bad off as he thought back in the stone shop, ‘Don’t they have some sort of jet propulsion or something like that? I remember reading something about that once. How does that work? I can’t imagine myself having too much compressed gas inside my body.’

  Compressed gas…Now that he thought about it, he doesn’t have to defecate, and his body has been eating since birth, digesting all of that soil and rock without an outlet.

  ‘No way…’ He would hardly believe himself, it was too insane a theory just to throw out there, but he had to say it anyway, ‘Is it farts?’

  ‘Nonono…It can’t, Pupitar must have some organ to create the pressurized gas, it could never just be that…’

  ‘It can’t be,’ He reassured himself.

  ‘Please don’t let it be farts.’ He pleaded with himself.

  'What-if' Chapter?