Chapter 01 - Learning About The World

Act 04 - New Discoveries

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Ezekiel woke up with the voice of his mother coming from the bathroom of their shared room, "Oliver! Can you bring me my towel, I forgot it in the bag." His father grumbled something about the room having their own towels but got up from the bed and picked them up anyway. At this point they both know that it was one of his mother many quirks to only use her own towel and no one else can use that particular towel, else she would complain about it for the whole day after that. She was so territorial over it that she had her own name knitted on the border.

Already awake because of his mother's voice, the little blond decided to awake up and start his day as well. He changed from his yellow Rhyhorn pattern pajamas and into a plain brown shirt and child sized yellow shorts, before wandering into the bathroom with his father and mother.

A few minutes later they are all clean, clothed and only lacking a breakfast before getting ready for the road once again.

"Good morning people, are you ready for breakfast? I know a place that sell some really good good chesto berry shakes that get you ready for a the day." Asked a somewhat enthusiastic Natalie, even though that she herself was not looking very good this morning.

"Do they have something else? Zek get really hyped when he eat chesto berries." Answered Cassandra with a small smile on her face.

"I do not!" Refuted the little boy with a frown on his face and crossed arms, "You get hyper with chest berries." He returned, even if he knew that it was a poor argument but not having time to thing something better.

Much to his dismay, all the three adults around him let out a chuckle, with Cassandra returning, "Sure thing, Zek, sure thing. Now, you said you have shakes for us?" With the last part of her words already been directed to the brunette that was going to be their guide for the last leg of their journey.

But before she could give them any real answer Oliver interrupted her and spoke, "You three can go ahead, I still have to pick Luke and Linda with the nurse." Referring to his two pokemon that he left for a check up with the nurse yesterday. They had not gotten any injuries from protecting them yesterday during the journey but he still had the habit of taking them to a pokemon center weekly.

"Okay, we'll go ahead. Don't delay too much thought, else we'll eat all without you." Answered Natalia as she once again took the lead by walking ahead of everyone, Cassandra just shook her head but still trailed behind her after giving her husband a parting kiss.

A hour later everyone had already eaten their breakfast, Oliver already had his pokemon back with him and they all walked back to the pokemon center to take the last bags that they left there. Oliver was just about to put the harnesses back into his pokemon, to make easier for them to carry the bags,  when Natalie spoke, "No, wait, I have something better." As she pulled out a pokeball from her belt and tossed it out in the air.

What came out as a two meter tall camel with two volcanoes on it's back, it also have three blue circle patterns in the side of it's orange furred belly. It was a Camerupt.

The beast was very intimidating to the casual observers since it had a mean look in these eyes and a permanent scowl on its face but the worst of all was the heavy aura that a creature that strong have around. It also was very much disinterested in whomever wanted to talk with it so it just let out a loud cry of his own name and seated itself on its hind legs.

"Wow, it's so cool." Spoke young Ezekiel, not a single bit intimidated by the beast more than three times his size.

"Can I pet it? Can I?" He spoke, sheer enthusiasm raiding in his face. How could he not? This was the first time that he had a chance to touch a pokemon from so close, the pokemon of his father notwithstanding since he grew up around them and they had long since loose the novelty of the first meeting.

Natalie for once appeared unsure of what to respond and had a somewhat uneasy look in her face, something shared by his parents since they are very much intimidated by the pokemon. Seeing that no one answered his question, Ezekiel decided to take the matters on his own hands and rushed to the creatures by himself and pet the five bundles of hair sticking out of the head of the eruption pokemon.

Unexpected, when he approached the head of the pokemon it huffed a small amount of steam from its nose holes and that pushed the small child a few steps behind, a small window of time that it used to make eye contact with the blond boy. They continued glaring into each other eyes for a few more seconds just like that, the boy looking affronted by the clear refusal of its desire, the pokemon in defiance and unwillingness to be petted by a stranger.

At same time, the adults are more than tense by this sudden situation that they all had been put into. Cassandra and Oliver feared that their son had provoked a high level pokemon and putt himself in needless danger, Natalie because she knew that while the Camerupt would never kill a child it surely could give it a few scrapes if Ezekiel provoked it for longer. That Camerupt in particular had been with her for a long time so she knew that it was not a particularly friendly one but it was the strongest amount her pokemon and definitely the one she used when it was needed to transport things in the long or shot range like this, so she knew there was a chance of him loosing his temper but she did not counted with Ezekiel purposefully challenging the beast.

A few more seconds passed with everyone frozen in their places when suddenly Ezekiel decided that there was no danger and continued walking to the beast five times his weight. "Ezekiel, No!" Spoke Cassandra, clearly aware that even if a pokemon was tamed it was still a dangerous beast that should not be provoked. But much to their dismay, the creature just gave out what could be identified as a sigh of resignation and lowered its head, leaving it in the touching range of his little hands and allowing the kid to touch it's messy locks of fur, which the boy did much to his own pleasure.

He just continued there for a few more minutes, first petting each of the five locks individually, then messing with all of them at once. When he was just  about to leave the small locks and into the rest of the orange fur, Natalie finally broke the awkward silence that remained since Cassandra spoke with a small comment, "Well, that's a first. Never saw Lumpy be so friendly to someone before, you must have a crazy high affinity with either Fire or Ground types. You'll be a fine gym leader some day."

For once, that comment broke Ezekiel's concentration from the orange furred creature and into her words as they  remembered him a term that he keep hearing about but never truly learned wait it means, "What's a affinity? I always heard someone talking about it but never learned what it was." He spoke as he turned around to look to her while still having a hand touching the camel pokemon.

"Huh? Not even once?" She spoke, the questions being directed to his mother instead of to himself. Cassandra, to her embarrassment, could only blush slightly and answer with a small voice, "I always forget..." Which made the older woman chuckle and give him a smile.

"Alright Zek, can I call you Zek?" He nodded 'yes', " Good. When we use the word affinity we're actually speaking about a bunch of things but in the end it all revolves around how well you get along with certain pokemon and how well you can train them. It may not seen anything much but it was very important since you only have a real chance to make a Battle Bond if you have a high affinity with that pokemom. Also, most Gym Leaders have a high affinity with a type instead of a pokemon in special. Understood?" She finished.

At end of her small lecture Ezekiel had a thoughtful face while slightly hugging the Camerupt with one hand, in the end he spoke out what he got from her explanation, "So you're saying that I can get along with Ground type, or Fire type, pokemon easier, right?" He asked with a slightly stuttering when he spoke the second type, she only nodded in confirmation as he continued, "...And also that if I train these types, they grow faster?" He continued with a small tilt of his head as if to ask confirmation, when he was already sure that he understood in the first try.

In response to his question disguised as a confirmation, the brunette only smiled to him and said with enthusiasm, "Yes, that's right. We'll need to discover which one it is thought. Because if you have a affinity that strong then you surely will be very strong trainer in the future."

Hearing her words Ezekiel eyes burned with no small amount of ambition. If before he was already aspiring to get a spot as a Elite Four, now that he discovered that he already had a advantage over everyone else when using a single type he at least narrowed the options to his specialty.

He just need to discover which one it is.
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