It was not as if Starmie was faultless since its advanced stage combined with its current potential meant that it would be behind potential-wise if it joined my main team. In a best-case scenario, Starmie would need to reach Stage 9 while limit breaking to boost its potential to light aurora, and in the worst case, even that would not be enough.
Not to mention that its lower potential meant that it would be lagging behind the others once limit-breaking was involved, making it hard to keep up at some point. I obviously knew what kind of overprivileged line of thought this was, but as someone who has been seriously planning to reach the peak of this world since the very beginning, this was something I had to consider when adding Pokémon to the main roster and even the reserve roster.
It was why I had such a fixation on potential since the very start, and while I had slowly loosened up on that front once I realized how much we (Utopia/I) could help if the Pokémon was young/weak enough, it still persisted. If I captured Starmie, it would probably manage to keep up with the main group before Stage 7, which, honestly was not bad.
Given our experience so far, that likely translated to one or two decades, probably more for some members of our group. Considering my current age, 10 to 20 years was not a short period of time. I knew that given how old all of us could get, that might change in the long run, but right now, to us, it wasn't short by any means. Yet, after considering all those points, I still could not help but want to capture Starmie.
The impulse to capture Pokémon I deemed interesting and/or impressive was prodding me from behind. It was a collector's habit buried in me that drew its energy from Utopia's presence and the confidence Utopia gave me to provide a great life to any Pokémon I decided to capture. It lurked in me, appearing anytime I met a Pokémon, alone or in a group, that caught my interest regardless of whether adding it/them to the team made sense or not.
Sometimes reason won the silent internal struggle, but other times when I had appropriate justifications/excuses I lost, like during my capturing spree in the desert. This time the two sides drew, so I ultimately decided to make Starmie an offer and earmark it as a Pokémon to recommend to my circle if it declined. Even if Starmie did not join me, others from my group could come to try their luck to see if they could get Starmie to join, if they were interested obviously.
Anyway, I first told Starmie the initial purpose of our visit, which was to examine its home zone as part of our exploration of the water channel. Unsurprisingly, given their innate tolerant nature, Starmie did not mind letting us enter provided that we vowed not to cause any problems. I promised it using my psychic energy that we wouldn't since I felt that Starmie would appreciate that more than me using aura.
Starmie followed/accompanied us as we studied the formation of the home zone, and while I kept mum on the recruitment front for now, I did ask Starmie when and how it became the way it was now since I was wondering if its Lustrousness was natural or if it was related to the fortunate occasions we had heard about. Starmie did not seem to mind answering and told us that it used to be a regular Staryu, but that things changed when it came across a scale that triggered its evolution.
Starmie shared that it had no idea who the scale belonged to, just that the scale got dragged along the current, and ended up hitting it, who was still a Staryu at the time. Starmie said that it did not expect to evolve, and that it had just not bothered dodging since it did not think the palm-sized scale could harm it, who was at the (high) silver stage, even if it crashed into its gem.
Apparently, that was not true since the scale was so hard that even the momentum provided by the current was enough to cause a crack in its gem, which had caused Staryu/Starmie quite a bit of shock and panic at that moment, though not as much as the sudden evolution that then got triggered. The evolution that followed not only ended up healing the crack but also caused its color to become what it is today.
Starmie added that it took a few decades, but it later learned that its gem could now easily recover from things like scratches and cracks, which allowed it to be more reckless while fighting and training. It was what allowed Starmie to secure the home zone for its kind. I could not help but glance at the Shellder when it said that; Starmie noticed that, and explained that they were allowed in because they were rather compatible with their kind since they just lay around in their spot all day without bothering anyone else.
It was pretty much as I had expected it to be like, but I could not help but wonder why Starmie was so forthcoming with its expanded healing ability/talent. Unlike the color thing, that was not something that could be noticed right away. Stuff like this was usually kept to oneself. I did not believe that Starmie was naive enough to not know that, so there had to be a reason for its forthrightness. I decided to address that when I pitched my recruitment offer.
My full attention was drawn back to Starmie when it finished its story with the fact that it had always kept an eye out for more of those scales, but that it only managed to capture another scale looking similar to the one that caused its evolution 30 or so years ago. Unfortunately, according to Starmie, the Staryu that evolved through it did not undergo the same changes as it did, though that did not reduce my interest in the scales.
It was just that the scales seemed extremely rare if we went by Starmie's story which had me a bit disappointed. I was just not sure if that was truly the case or if Starmie was trying to make us lose interest in the scales, or just plain unlucky. Either way, I finally made my offer to Starmie, with Mothra throwing in affirming comments like "yup", "very big", "super tasty", and "as much as you want".
Starmie listened to my whole pitch without interrupting me, though I could feel some amusement through emotion sensing, which I suspected was due to Mothra. It even released a thoughtful hum, showing that it was considering the idea, when I mentioned that I would be willing to take in its fellows as well. I had a feeling Starmie was going to agree, but we still patiently waited for it to come to a decision.
While we waited, Mothra patted my head twice before quickly tapping it thrice more, signaling for me to open the portal so that she could take another breath. Understanding that she had run out of air again, I opened a small portal, close to her face, that was half the size of her chibi head. The suction that followed drew Mothra's face close, and her mouth/face closed off the portal, stopping any water from entering Utopia through it.
I could have obviously prevented the water from entering in the first place, but that would have stopped the suction effect as well, and it was funnier this way. I could have just as well simply moved Mothra to Utopia for a breathtaking moment, but I didn't because it was more interesting this way; Mothra's words not mine, but I agreed with them. I felt Starmie's attention shift to Mothra when her face was drawn forward, but I made no attempt to explain what was happening.
Regardless, I closed the portal once Mothra pulled her face back, indicating that she was full of air again, at least for the next 40-80 minutes depending on how much she chose to move this time around. The more she lazed about on my head, the longer she could work with the air she had just inhaled. Meanwhile, Starmie released another hum, and I had a feeling that the little episode might have made it more interesting in us/our means, serving as a sort of proof that I was not just full of hot air.
We ended up waiting for another full minute before Starmie gave its reply. I could not help but blow some bubbles while sighing when it actually declined my invitation. I briefly considered challenging it the old-fashioned way, but I popped that thought bubble the moment it emerged since I had decided to leave the decision to Starmie, so now I had to respect its choice. Yet, I still felt a tad bit disappointed that I had not just taken Starmie down and captured it the old school way instead of trying it diplomatically.
Well, nothing I could do now. It seemed I would have to go with plan B after all. I would have offered the chance to Mom or Dad, but Mom already had a Starmie, and Dad usually avoided getting a species if Mom already had it unless they could be paired up, which I did not think could happen here. Rose and Jessie were out for obvious reasons. I guess I would have to see if Ace was interested, though I was not sure if he could manage to take it down right now even if he wanted to.
I was pretty sure that even if all of Ace's Pokémon ganged up on Starmie, chances were that Starmie would win, so if Ace was interested, then he would likely have to wait a few years until his Pokémon were strong enough to take Starmie down. The only way he could catch it otherwise would be by cheating, but knowing Ace, I seriously doubted that he would be willing to borrow a Pokémon from his parents, especially since that was a surefire way to earn the disrespect of the Pokémon one caught.
A disobedient and possibly confrontational Pokémon was often worse than no Pokémon at all, especially if the Pokémon in question had the psychic or ghost type. Even dragons were less dangerous to an unsuspecting human, trainer or not, than malicious psychic or ghost types. In fact, the gap between them was so big that it wasn't even funny. I had seen the type/threat ranking, and I fully approved of the alliance placing psychics at the top and ghosts in second place.
I was a bit skeptical when it came to placing dark types in third place and poison types in fourth place since I personally felt that those positions should be swapped, though I could understand why they chose to rank dark types above poison ones. It was a difference in focus. I believed that poison types could cause more damage in general, but the alliance probably focused more on the damage they could pose to trainers.
In fact, I thought that if it came down to the general damage they could cause before they got noticed/stopped, poison types could probably match or even surpass ghost types. That was probably why Gengar and its line had such a fearsome reputation across all nations/cultures in (ancient) history. None of the dragons were as feared as ghosts, particularly the Gengar line, probably because they were much rarer and a lot more direct in the way they attacked.
History books show that dragons were more revered than feared, despite the documented instances of destruction they caused, but dragons had that effect across all (omni)verses I guess. I noticed that I actually ended up going off topic while going off topic, so I told Starmie that its refusal was fine before shifting the focus to our exploration of the rest of the home zone. As for Ace capturing Starmie or who to choose if he declined, I would deal with it once or right before I left the Meteor Falls.
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