PKMNation: May Event: Week 2: Shut Down Everything

“Things aren’t improving guys, are they?” Therru said aloud.
Many of the ranch’s Pokemon were sick, like the day before. Indeed, now all members of the ranch who were non-Poison typed had fallen ill.

The news flickered on the TV as Therru and her well Pokemon, Maja, Isa, Atro, Parse, Heiro, and Ailas all were scrambling about trying to keep up with the sudden workload of caring for the worst off. Smaller Pokemon were suffering more. Therru herself was showing some signs of fatigue as well.

“…water-borne illness…” Ailas heard just out of earshot.

He called to the others, asking if any of the Water Pokemon on the ranch were well. He thought about his own father, but then realized he was only a Water type, while he inherited the Poison typing of the Tentacool species.

Atro and Maja thought for a moment, the two huddling together again.
“Ailas, can’t you control water?”

The group stared at the four trait. Therru said, “Well, I hadn’t thought to teach you any water moves… but if the issue is our water, perhaps you may be able to provide a healthier source for a short time? If we could get your father a bit more well… he’d be a fine help. Askuta is quite strong after all.”  

Ailas sputtered a bit, he didn’t like water in the least.

“We know you are a Fire type, but the rest of us can only learn moves such as Water Pulse through TM usage, Ailas.” Isa calmly said.

“I can’t even do that…” Parse mentioned. “I think maybe Meowth can learn Water Pulse… but it would be hard for me to learn, I think.” Heiro said.

Ailas looked down, and agreed he would attempt to learn Hydro Pump— as it would be the best move to use in this situation. Water Pulse would be too weak, Bubblebeam too uncontrollable, and Brine too, well, salty. Therru looked at him a bit sadly, feeling for her Pokemon, but items were scarce.

“If we can refresh your father, Askuta, things will improve Ailas. Thank you for your help.” Therru said as she petted Ailas’ head.

And so the efforts began—
Moves took some time to learn, after all, and battling was a good chance to force-learn moves.

Things seemed a little unfair for Ailas, but he wanted to learn things as quick as he could, and so asked for an onslaught of moves to dodge and work with.

Maja and Atro came out first, blasting small Embers, as they didn’t know other moves just yet. Ailas dashed through them with ease, considering he himself was a Fire type. He asked for the Pokemon to push harder if they wanted him to learn Hydro Pump.

In a moment of vulnerability, Isa jumped out from the bushes surrounding the battle area with a fierce Dragon Claw move, striking Ailas on the cheek. She grasped him in a Wrap move as he struggled.

Just as Ailas jumped out of her coils, he was snagged again by Parse— who had used Coil and then Wrap. Ailas tried to force out Hydro Pump, but Ember came out instead, singing Parse’s face fur.

“I thought we were using Water moves!” Parse yelled out as he leapt off the four trait.

Hiero had saved himself for last, considering he managed to let out a sneaky Hypnosis before Ailas could react. In a daze, the four trait was shakily standing up as a Dark Pulse headed towards him—

Ailas tried again, reaching his limits, and managed to blast out a shaky Hydro Pump which hit Hiero right in the face.

The ghostly cat cross screeched and ran off, more wet than hurt.

The four trait collapsed then, as Therru ran out for him. Ailas asked that he be given some time to recover, but offered to use his new move to give some cleaner water to his father first.
It wasn’t an immediate solution, but Therru and Ailas discussed how carefully using his new move could give the ranch Pokemon a safer source of water. Water would still be a scarce resource, but allocating it more to some of the Pokemon able to use water-type moves on the ranch would help Therru and the others build up their water source, and hopefully help some of the nearby ranches too.

Therru wondered idly how some of her trainer friends were doing… and hoped they had some Water types. She herself didn’t have many Pokemon that could use Water moves other than Askuta and Ailas. Some of the other Water types on the ranch were too ill to help currently, being much smaller in size.

“We all still have a lot of work on, don’t we?” Atro said softly.
“We’re making progress at least, Atro!” Maja said loudly.

But the source of this problem still eluded the members of the ranch. That needed to be taken care of before any real progress could be made.