Inheritors

Part 4

Neoteny is generally thought of as a period of extended childhood, but may be more accurately called a period of extended growth. Species displaying neoteny are generally larger than their original counterparts.

Deus headed into the forest at the base of the dormant volcano, thoughts reaching out tentatively for the minds of pokemon, skirting nervously around the area of the mansion as he did so. There were vulpix not far, a litter probably denning near one of the closer veins of magma that ran through the mountain's base.

As he had guessed, the den was dug into one side of the volcano, heat wafting up through the small opening. He reached out and grabbed the tiny minds, marching them toward him. Within a minute they had assembled at the mouth of the den.

They were young enough to be white in color and single tailed, and their eyes were still closed. He examined them, deciding after a bit of consideration on a slim female that seemed alert and already showing signs of a lithe, speedy body structure. No battle was necessarily. He simply tapped one of his white pokeballs against its side, then directed the rest back into the warm center of the den.

It would be too young to battle for a while. He cast about for the mind of the mother not far off, pulling times from her thoughts. A week or so, probably a bit less than the rest of the kits as pokemon generally developed more quickly apart from their littermates. He calculated and decided that it would likely be ready by the time he reached Pewter.

Should he look for another before trying the gym? It would make it easier. But he wasn't interested in the other pokemon he felt around the area, certainly not the floppy, underwhelming water types, and catching excess was discouraged. Doing that was missing the point entirely, and childish in its own way.

The sandshrew should be able to handle it. If not, he could always try again.

He stretched out his thoughts and oriented to the gym. He almost began toward it when, remembering, he released the sandshrew again to fix its injuries from the past fight so it would be able to last longer against the gym's pokemon. He felt pleased he had needed no reminding in the matter, and bounded in the direction of the gym with a sense of self-satisfaction.

The gym building he came to brought to mind ancient temples, with sweeping expanses carved out of the heavy stone of the volcano itself. That wasn't at all impressive on its own. He knew it had undoubtedly been made before, though he found it hard to imagine how they'd reached to carve away such a high ceiling, and simply how much effort it would have been for them to make such openness in solid rock, and he couldn't help but think of it as something done later, by people like him.

He continued in deeper, the heat growing slowly as he walked, making his unerring way through the twisting hallways toward the still stability of the gym's leader.

The arena room was still a way from the volcano proper, the temperatures hovering at the edge of a hundred degrees. It was enough to give fire types a bit of an edge, or enough to put water types at a slight disadvantage. His sandshrew should have no problem with it.

He greeted the adult, then, seeing his patient waiting, caught himself a moment later and remembered to give his name.

The adult nodded, and Deus felt a burst of happy accomplishment at navigating this first hurdle, which he quickly clamped down again so he didn't embarrass himself before the adult by acting like a child. The adult introduced himself formally as well, then released a growlithe.

Deus sent out the sandshrew.

"Scratch," he ordered it.

The sandshrew was having none of it. It evaluated its surroundings, particularly the growlithe in front of it, and then spun and started to flee from the charging fire type. Deus promptly reached out and grabbed it, spinning it back around and walking it to the growlithe. The growlithe bit. The sandshrew scratched. Deus moved it about the arena like that, the two pokemon trading blows, until at length the growlithe was beaten.

He released his hold on the sandshrew, which slumped down to sit wobbly on the ground, obviously in better condition than the growlithe and just as obviously not by much.

Deus had succeeded. Thrilled, he hopped over to the adult to take his badge, tail waving from side to side in sharp but unnoticed contrast to the stillness of the adult's own tail. He placed the volcano badge onto the first slot of his trainer card, then headed back to the quivering sandshrew, fixing it.

It's late, he thought as he headed out of the gym again, feeling in the small minds of pokemon thoughts of twilight, of sleeping or waking. He was tired, too, the exertion of the trip to Cinnabar and the sheer newness of everything wearing on him.

It wasn't a pokemon center, exactly, not in the old sense, but there was a place set up for pokemon to recuperate and trainers to rest. He headed there as darkness fell across Cinnabar.