Taking their time to scan a large area around their target location, the Builders eventually rendezvous at the center of the plot of land in the west of the grassland not too far from the foothills. It was positioned approximately two hundred meters away from the beach and was the area that Eevee had scouted the day before.
Torchic and Seedot had both reported that the areas they searched either led to dangerous territories or boarded on dangerous territories. This left them with Eevee's area as the most sensible base building locale.
After surveying the land, Asmond began marking an outline of a building. With that done, he then marked off the walls that would divide the rooms and the locations of doors and windows. Stepping back and surveying his work, Asmond nodded and then assigned his three Builders their tasks.
Seedot used his Plant Growth ability to send vines and roots into the ground to loosen up the soil. They then spent the next two days digging out a massive hole five feet deep, using their claws, paws, and abilities, that traced the perimeter of the building that Asmond had drawn.
After spending most of the day searching, they gathered enough small rocks from further west to fill the entire trench about a quarter of the way up. With the rocks in place, they began bringing sand up from the beach and pouring it on the rocks, until the sand filled in all of the gaps and covered the rocks. They then spent the rest of the next day searching for more rocks to fill the hole to the halfway point.
Once they finally finished, it was a bit later than when they usually started their training and so Espiria and Happiny got plenty of sleep. After waking up the Night Guards and telling them to fill the rest of the hole in with the soil, they went directly to sleep. Espiria rushed out of the camp and, using her Psychic Limbs, quickly shoved the piles of soil into the hole and then immediately returned to her guard duties.
The following morning, Asmond had Seedot create the strongest vines he could manage and then interweave them to form a Vine pillar. Starting at the edge of where one of the doors would be, he had Seedot plant his vines there and grow them into an appropriately sized door frame.
Once this was completed and Seedot had been informed on how to finish the rest, Asmond, Torchic, and Eevee began clearing out the inside of the marked off area. They picked up anything that would be a hindrance in creating the floor and then went to retrieve water from the ocean using vine and leaf buckets that Seedot had made.
Upon their return, they began pouring the water over the floor area and then returned for more water. Once the entire inside of the marked off area was soaked in water, they were nearly out of daylight and so chose to save the rest for tomorrow. This task in particular took its toll on Asmond, who didn't want to be seen to be slacking off and used his psychic power and his magic whenever he could to give himself a boost. That being said, they were all completely exhausted by the time they had finished.
The next day the first thing they did was to send Torchic into the walled off space and have him bathe the ground in his hottest flames. After the entire floor was dried up, all four of them entered the walled off space and began stomping on the ground, to force the hard upper layer to compress the softer soil beneath. Some of the dry soil broke up and got mixed with the wet soil below but they just continued stomping, until the floor was even and then let Torchic go at it again.
This went on for the rest of the day and by the end several spots of the vine walls had been burnt fairly badly. This wasn't entirely problematic, however, as the entirety of the walls were vines that Seedot had direct control over. Seedot sent his Grass Type power into the vines and renewed their burnt sections.
With the floor finally having reached a condition that they were comfortable with, they spent less than an hour cleaning up any remaining debris left on the floor. Looking at everything they had accomplished so far and feeling quite proud, the Builders finally woke up the Night Guards and performed their usual rotation.
The next day the Builders put the finishing touches on the Grass House, by completing the roof and installing a vine door. The finished product was a house that was about 2000 sq ft. and had six rooms. One room for them to sleep in, one room for them to meditate and do light training, one room for cooking and eating meals, one room for storage, one room was a kind of laboratory precursor, and the last room was a type of living room/lobby that was immediately accessible via the front door. It was this living room/lobby that was the largest and connected to all of the other rooms.
As much as Asmond wanted to test out their new home tonight, those damned Dragons were still circling around as usual and he had half suspected that they would swoop in and try to burn it down. Now that it was finished, he wanted to wait one more night, beside the forest, just to see if they would come and try to tear it down.
----------
One of the elders spoke up, not being entirely sure about this plan. "Are you certain that this is what you want us to do?"
"Yes, I'm sure. Do you not see that those Pokemon constantly flying over the boy's head are inadvertently providing him with protection that he would normally not have. Also, how much time have those trainers wasted sending their Pokemon all the way down to the coast and back. No matter what we do, as long as it's permissible to send people or Pokemon into that area Gunder will simply continue to match our moves.
"However, if we turn the entire southern border of Forina into a Forbidden Zone, we may not be able to continue tracking the boy but neither can Gunder and the boy would then lose the protection that those Pokemon's presence grants him. Let nature deal with the boy and bring him to the fate he would have already met, if not for both ours and Gunder's meddling."
"Hmmm…Alright, then I'll support you in this"
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Asmond awoke the following day and after a quick assessment of his surroundings he discovered something was missing. 'They're not there. The Dragons, they left.'
He was initially quite ecstatic about this turn of events but eventually realized that this might turn out to be some kind of ploy or trap. They waited for another two days, after the Dragon's had left and they still hadn't returned. Not only that but they were also currently being attacked by a Fearow, fully convincing Asmond that it was safe to move into their base, without having to worry about it being burned down with them inside.
Asmond new this house they had created wasn't really that safe but it was better than nothing. He also figured that since this land wasn't already claimed by some other Pokemon they should just make this their territory. If some stronger Pokemon came to claim it, they could just run away to somewhere else.
At the moment, however, the Fearow was already on top of them. After having rammed into the solid invisible wall of Espiria's psychic power, as it tried to dive bomb them, it was immediately bombarded by all of his other Pokemon. Torchic poured a continuous stream of flames on it from one side as Seedot formed thick and hardened writhing vines that continuously beat him from the other side. Happiny was throwing rocks at him as she had yet to learn any long range offensive moves. Eevee was using her tail to do the same and Asmond was standing there feeling kind of useless. 'I could try to throw rocks but would they even do any damage with my measly strength? No, what am I thinking? I'm a trainer not a fighter. It's my job to look out for my teammates, while they fight, and give them orders when necessary. I should focus on watching their backs and looking for openings in the enemy's attacks, while ignoring the urge to attack this thing.'
The Fearow, who was definitely feeling the pressure at this moment, suddenly burst out with an impressive strength. Throwing out a gust of wind, that blew all of them back and interrupted their attacks, Espiria used her Psychic Limbs to grab hold of each of them, right their positions, and let them down softly. The Fearow, on the other hand, clearly didn't like this situation as it quickly took to the air and retreated.
'Well, that was kind of scary. It's a good thing Espiria evolved when she did or else blocking that dive bomb may very well have completely drained her. She isn't looking so hot at the moment, so she's probably pretty close to being drained right now. Well, it's her turn to sleep anyways, so we'll head to the Grass House and let her get to it.'
"Man, you guys were pretty impressive there. It's obvious that your training is paying off. Let's hurry up and get to the Grass House so that Espiria and Happiny can get their well deserved sleep."
"Torchic"
"Seedot"
"Eevee"
"Espeon"
"Happiny"
They all sounded off in agreement and followed Asmond to the Grass House. Upon arriving at the Grass House, they quickly noticed that several Flying Type Pokemon had made the roof of their house a home. Asmond told them not to say or do anything at the moment and just led them inside.
Once inside, Asmond told Seedot to control the vines on the roof to wrap around the squatters, bind them, and bring them inside. After doing so, there were nearly a dozen cages made of Seedot's vines hanging from the ceiling. Asmond inspected each one to see if there were any worth trying to rope into his team.
Asmond already had plans for most of his eventual full team and so he passed over all of the Pokemon that were flapping their wings about crazily trying to escape. Not all of them were flapping as one or two of them, he realized, were actually non-flying Bug Types but still they weren't ones that he wanted. Turning around to his team he smiled and said, "Breakfast is served."
After eating a freshly caught breakfast, they all took a few minutes to walk around and admire their new home, before Espiria and Happiny went inside the spacious bedroom and drifted off to Pokemon Dreamland.
Asmond knew that this semi-safespace they had created might not last the entire year that he wanted it to and so they needed to make the most of this time to strengthen themselves as much as possible. However, first things were first and he needed to add a couple more Pokemon to his team now that they had built themselves a base.
He had already told Espiria most of the Pokemon he was looking for but the others had not yet been informed. Asmond gathered his three Searchers together and told them that Pichu, Geodude, and Squirtle were next on his list. He also had Magikarp and Onix in his sights but finding an Onix that he could actually convince to join him would not be easy. Magikarp, on the other hand, were all swimming around in the ocean and he would need Espiria's help so that he could locate a shiny one.
The former Builders, now the Searchers, all set off to locate the Pokemon that Asmond was looking for. Needing to improve his own survivability and not just his Pokemon's, Asmond took out the pouch that his Mother had made for him to carry his rocks in. Inside he no longer carried many rocks he only had a handful and the rest were tiny pieces of steel.
Asmond had been continuously exhausting all of his magic in order to increase his maximum capacity and the way he usually did that was to conjure pieces of steel that he could use to create a weapon. He could only create tiny pebble sized pieces but those pieces added up over time and the weight that had been dragging at his hip throughout his entire journey would finally be put to use.
He dumped the pouches contents onto the floor and began separating the rocks from the steel. This didn't take long and, once this was done, he then held the steel pieces in his hands as he thought about how to use them. He had been considering making a dagger or a small sword but the more he considered it the more he felt this just wasn't his style. He was a Psychic, a Wizard, and a Pokemon Trainer. Technically, he might not be a Wizard, since that distinction didn't really exist in this world, but that wasn't going to stop him from calling himself a Wizard.
No, he needed something more creative than a simple blade. "I need something that would synergize with all of my abilities and my role as Trainer. Something adaptable and deadly. Something quick and effective. Hmmm…?'
After a little over a half an hour, Asmond finally came out of his contemplation and an evil smile spread across his face. 'I've got it.'
Taking a few of the pieces in his hand, he summoned his magic and began shaping the steel into the desired shape. This was easier for him than conjuring steel from nothing but it was still incredibly taxing. He then grabbed another few pieces and crafted another. This time he was nearly spent. He wasn't completely out of magic but he was close enough that he wouldn't be able to create another until his magic refilled.
After expending the rest of his energy on conjuring a miniscule spec of steel, he assumed a meditative position and began gathering his magic once more. After an hour, he was topped off and ready to go. He spent the rest of the day like this, until his Pokemon returned from their searches.
When the Searchers returned, he told them to wait for him to finish, before waking Espiria. Nearly three hours later, after the sun had gone down, Asmond finally grasped hold of his completed creation and held it up for them to see.
It was a chain twenty links and twenty four inches long. Each link was shaped in such a way that it was sharpened to an edge on the outside and that edge was slightly angled slightly to form a peak in the middle of the link. It couldn't safely be grasped at any point and, of course, that was half the point.
Asmond would only ever use this with his magic and Psychic Limbs. If he wanted to grasp it he could simply cover his hand in a Psychic Shield so that he was protected. Most of the time, however, he would simply manipulate the entire chain with his Psychic Limbs to send it gliding through the air like an airborne serpent.
It was only twenty four inches at the moment but he was still small and would have time to add more to it in the future. For now this would do just fine. It gave him a real opportunity to be nearly as deadly as his companions and that made him quite happy.