"Pinsirrrr...snapsnap..."
'Mmn...this isn't good...' recognized Jason, calmly reaching up to touch his chest with his left hand, prompting his subspace orb to emerge as he held the Pinsir's predatory gaze. He suspected that if he turned and attempted to flee, it would easily overtake and break him in two with its gore-stained pincers, so the only solution he could think of was fleeing to Sanctum and hoping it didn't eat the orb.
Ding!
Just as Jason was preparing to follow through on his plan, a rectangular, dark blue, semitransparent display appeared before him, obfuscating his vision and, as far as he could tell, reducing the flow of time to a crawl as the world dimmed with a blue hue and he could barely move just his eyes.
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Quest: [A Pinchy Situation]
Rank: F~C [Linked]
Description: You've encountered an opponent far beyond your current abilities, but so long as you are alive, there is hope.
Objective(s): Survive your wild encounter with The Stagbeetle Pokémon, Pinsir(0/1)
Optional Objective(s): Incapacitate your Target(0/1), Kill your Target(0/1), Consume your Target(0/1)
Base Rewards: 1,000 AP
Optional Rewards: 3,700 AP, 1,000 AP, 800 AP
Notice: Upon acceptance of this Quest, you will not be able to access your Subspace for 5 minutes.
[Would you like to accept this Quest?]
[Yes]/[No]
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'So Quests can be triggered by random encounters...' noted Jason, his eyes narrowing as he contemplated his options. He doubted he would trigger a Quest each time he encountered a monster, so if he refused to accept those that appeared, he could be denying himself much-needed AP. His life was arguably more important, but if he ran from every foe he wasn't certain he could defeat, he would never possess the strength to protect those whose lives he valued more than his own.
With such thoughts in his mind, Jason resolved himself and focused on accepting the Quest. The moment he did, the window changed to wish him luck, accompanied by a countdown from three.
Though he couldn't move, Jason could feel his body and muscles very slowly tensing before the flow of time suddenly resumed. To the Pinsir's surprise, he ran directly at it, causing the chitin-covered creature to leap back and unfurl a pair of beetle-like wings, allowing it to create several meters of distance between them in less than a second.
'Yeah, there's no way I could have outrun this thing...' recognized Jason, sliding a short distance across the compacted dirt path he and the Pinsir were on, flanked on both sides by dense forest. Then, with all the force he could muster, he flung his subspace orb at the fleeing Pokémon, hoping to keep it on the back foot or possibly scare it away.
Instead of fleeing, the Pinsir appeared to interpret Jason's actions as a threat to its territory, its ten finger-like mandibles chittering loudly as it surged forward and headbutted the subspace orb. A loud crack echoed as the two made contact, but like a stone against a round metal surface, the subspace orb bounced off the Pinsir's glossy brown carapace without so much as slowing its momentum.
'I can't let it catch me...!' Jason shouted internally, performing the second combat roll of his life, this time even smoother than the last as he leaped out of the Pinsir's way and toward the tree line. Thankfully, it wasn't able to change directions quickly after accelerating, so it continued past him a considerable distance before rising in the air and turning to face where he had fled.
Seeing how long the Pinsir was able to stay airborne, Jason, using a tree as cover, couldn't help but frown as he thought, 'I thought this thing only became Flying Type when it Mega Evolved...'
Realizing that his knowledge from the Pokémon anime and games wasn't going to be reliable, Jason resolved to learn more about him while darting to his right, his body tensing slightly as the Pinsir smashed clean through the tree he had been hiding behind. It thankfully didn't fall in his direction, but the realization that the Pinsir was powerful enough to smash through a tree whose trunk was nearly as broad as the circumference of his arms was concerning, to say the least.
'I'm clearly no longer dealing with conventional Physics...' acknowledged Jason, as even a creature as large and powerful as an elephant wouldn't have been able to smash a tree as thick as the one the Pinsir had felled in his previous world. The Pinsir itself barely came up to his chest, and while there was a chance its body was incredibly dense, even a car would have been totaled colliding with a tree as it had.
Showing no visible signs of damage, the Pinsir aggressively clicked its pincers as it swooped high above the tree line and began circling above Jason's position. This made it clear to the latter that he had no means of realistically harming it, so he set aside all thoughts of incapacitating it to focus on dodging and surviving.
"Lucario! Use Aura Sphere...!" shouted a distinctly female voice, causing Jason to tense slightly but keep his attention focused on the Pinsir as a sphere of blue and violet energy moved fast enough to leave behind a purple trail as it sniped the circling Pokémon mid-air, causing a sizeable explosion of cerulean-blue flames.
"KRRWAAAAAAAAH—!!!"
Demonstrating its absurd durability and the fact that it had been holding back a great deal, the Pinsir unleashed a high-pitched cry and a burst of powerful wind that scattered the explosion. Even from afar, Jason could see that it had sustained damage. However, that didn't appear to impair it as it swooped down—this time aiming for a fairly tall, fair-skinned girl who seemed to be in her late teens or early twenties. She had long blonde hair fixed into a broad and spiky ponytail that extended past her waist, a sharp clump of bangs that fell over her face, and wavy, outwardly hooking fringe bangs that, were it not for the cartoonish, cel-shaded quality of the world, would have looked absurd.
'She's beautiful...' noted Jason, his eyes wide, unblinking as he observed the woman and her Lucario battle the Pinsir together. Her lean yet toned body was garbed in a yellow and black-tripped crop top with a grey metal spike sticking out of the chest above modest but shapely breasts, clearly inspired by the Lucario fighting with her. Reinforcing this, she had on dark blue arm warmers, black gloves with spikes on the back, blue shorts that hugged her waist, a blue and black hoodie wrapped around the latter like a belt, and, most notably, sleek, blue and black, two-wheeled rollerskates with yellow, black-trimmed, multi-terrain wheels.
As Jason found himself genuinely awed by the sight, the woman and her Lucario worked together to attack the Pinsir each time it shifted its focus to the other. The uncannily familiar blonde couldn't have weighed more than fifty kilograms. But as she flexed the muscles in her thighs, they swelled to nearly twice their usual thickness before she spontaneously accelerated several times faster than Jason had seen anyone move. Then, spinning through the air in a swift yet graceful arc, her left foot traveled in a nearly 270° arc as she struck the Pinsir's crown with an axe kick, producing a sound comparable to a thunderclap, denting its steel-like carapace, and causing green liquid to burst forth from the fragmented wound.
Working in perfect harmony with the woman, the Lucario took advantage of the Pinsir's stunned state to move forward like a blue, yellow, and black phantom—loudly humming, bright blue energy swelling between its paw-like hands, drawn back near the right side of its waist. Then, twisting its body and thrusting its hands forward, it discharged the gathered energy into the Pinsir's mouth, producing a large explosion that erupted from the once fearsome Bug Pokémon's back as a column of cerulean blue flames that stretched nearly twenty meters before dispersing.
'This is not a kid-friendly version of Pokémon...' thought Jason, his throat tight and his body covered in a cold sweat. He was almost certain that the blonde-haired woman was a Gym Leader—Korrina—further evidence that he was in the Pokémon world. However, as the anime and games he was familiar with were intended for all age groups, there was little to no blood, gore, or graphic depictions of violence. And Trainers most certainly didn't fight alongside their Pokémon...
"Phew...that was a tough one..." remarked the woman Jason believed to be Korrina, wiping a bit of sweat from her brow with her right forearm. At the same time, her Lucario eyed Jason with its angular red eyes, causing the latter to tense like a deer in headlights. He couldn't help noticing that the Lucario was taller, stalkier, and more humanoid than the version in his memories, its body tapered and faintly muscular instead of its waist being a similar thickness to its arms. This made sense in a more realistic setting, but Jason couldn't help feeling a sense of incongruence as more realistic proportions meant greater anatomical fidelity. It wasn't too conspicuous, but the Lucario before him was very clearly male...
Turning her attention to Jason, the sun-kissed blonde, possessing large, bright blue eyes that appeared to reflect light, adopted a broad, friendly smile as she skated over to him, gliding smoothly across the dirt terrain before stopping in front of him and remarking, "I'm glad I happened to be passing through this area on my way back to Shalour City. You're not hurt, are you?"
Nodding slowly, Jason offered a curt, "I'm fine..." before avoiding looking directly at the woman's face as he offered a sheepish, "And thank you for saving me..."
"You're very welcome~" chimed the blonde, her smile briefly broadening before she adopted a stern but earnest look as she leaned forward in a manner that made Jason want to step back as she held up her right index finger and scolded, "But you really shouldn't be traveling this route alone! Where's your Pokémon?"
Sizing Jason up and noticing the condition of his clothing, a slight frown marred the woman's face as she asked, "Were you attacked and robbed? And if you were, could you describe the culprits? I may not look it, but I'm the Shalour City Gym Leader, Korrina Masters. If thieves are operating in the area, I need to know."
Noticing the determination and slight fury in Korrina's eyes, Jason wasn't quite sure how to respond. He knew Lucarios could sense Aura, allowing them to ascertain if someone was good, bad, or possibly lying. And since it wasn't an exaggeration to say that Korrina had saved his life, he felt that lying to her would be wrong.
Shaking his head, Jason revealed, "I haven't been attacked by thieves or anything. As for how I ended up in this forest...I truthfully don't know how it's possible. But I can say with relative certainty that this isn't the world I originate..."
Blinking in surprise and tilting her head slightly to the side, Korrina stared at Jason as if he had just revealed to her that he was a Magikarp that had been turned into a human. Then it was Jason's turn to be surprised as her Lucario, speaking in a husky, distinctly masculine voice that echoed in his head, crossed its arms and asserted, 'He speaks the truth. This person is not from our world. His Aura is completely different, and he's weaker than most children.'
"Oh, wow...if Luca says you're telling the truth, you must be..." muttered Korrina, her eyes widening and glistening slightly as she observed Jason with undisguised fascination and her hands positioned confidently on her wide, tanned hips. Jason, on the other hand, found it nearly impossible to look directly at her; her faint but visible abs, defined shoulders, and well-trained physique all but assuring that his gaze would wander if he did so.
"Do you have a name, otherworlder...?" asked Korrina, her smile gaining a hint of playfulness as she found Jason's behavior cute. He gave off a very innocent vibe, and if he was really as weak as her Lucario suggested, she was half-tempted to take him in and care for him.
"Jason...Jason Springfield..." responded Jason, his face warming slightly as Korrina's unwavering gaze bore holes into him. They were around the same height due to her skates, but he felt like she towered over him with her confidence and the power she had displayed.
"Welcome to the world of Pokémon, Jason. Once again, my name is Korrina Masters~" chimed Korrina, extending her right hand and beaming to the point her eyes briefly closed. Jason stared at it from the corner of his eyes, hesitant. However, as it was better to have powerful allies than attempt to tackle a hostile world alone, he ultimately extended his own for a handshake.
"Oh, wow...you have really soft hands..." remarked Korrina, exhaling a soft chuckle that caused the heat in Jason's face to intensify. Fortunately, the handshake didn't last for too long before Korrina released his hand, pulled out what looked like a Lucario-themed phone, and opened it to reveal that it was a kind of crystalline tablet.
"I'm going to call a carrier service to come pick us up," revealed Korrina, catching Jason staring at her from the edge of his vision, causing him to avert his gaze with a wink before teasing, "I could give you a piggyback ride, but something tells me that might be a bit much for you."
"Yeah...sounds good..." muttered Jason, not sure how else to respond. He might have been able to if he were fully attentive, but his attention was split between her, her Lucario, and the notification that had appeared as they shook hands...
[You have become [Acquainted] with the 1-Star entity [Korrina Masters]. Initial Bond Level: 33]
...
..
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