Chapter 1
Johto Region, Goldenrod City
Snowboarder Brad.
What a fucking joke.
Of all...
Johto Region, Goldenrod City
Snowboarder Brad.
What a fucking joke.
Of all...
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Feel The Ground Shake (Pokemon - Ground-type specialist)
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Chapter 1
LordVishnu
Not too sore, are you?
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Chapter 1
Johto Region, Goldenrod City
Snowboarder Brad.
What a fucking joke.
Of all the NPC's in the wide open infinite universe for me to be unceremoniously isekai'd into...I got Snowboarder Brad. An absolute nobody Gym Trainer from the Generation II Pokémon games. Place of birth? Mahogany Town. Age? 25. Height? 6' even. Total Pokémon to his name? One. A Swinub he'd named 'Bubbles' when he was four.
More than two decades of life..squandered. Day after day spent lounging about. Eating chips on couches. Sleeping in until noon. Getting consistently dunked on by challengers to the Gym because Brad was -on top of being just plain unremarkable as a battler- too stupid to realize his aura was naturally aligned to Ground, not Ice.
Can you imagine that? To be a natural born aura user, to win that kind of lottery at birth…and then spend your days focusing on a type-energy that was nearly in direct opposition to it.
If there's only one thing I can praise him for in this head full of memories, it's the fumbles in the sheets he had with Lorelei when the two were teenagers. Of course - by way of being a teenage boy - he went and fucked that up too.
Truly, he was a moron in every way that mattered.
The good news..is that it's been sixteen months since Brad busted his head open on the icy slopes and I stepped in.
The ref raises his flag. "Aipom is unable to battle! The score is now 2-0! Gym Leader Whitney has one Pokémon remaining!"
Sandile's tail wiggles back and forth as he almost snickers at the downed foe. Shining white light begins to build over his form and with a massive burst a new reptile now stands in the ring. "Krok! Krokorok!"
Krokorok: Lv. 27
Nature: Impish
Potential: A-
'Hmm. Up one rank from B+. Expected, though I had hoped for better.' I was given one gift and one gift alone when I was so rudely pulled from my world and dropped into this one. The power to see potential. To look at a 'mon and instantly know how far it could push itself. To see what physical limits were imposed on it by its biology, by its genetics. To see a group of near identical Pokémon and instantly know which ones will never come close to Lv. 100 and which ones have the stuff to make it as an Elite.
It's not a perfect cheat. It can't see a Pokémon's Ability for one thing, and there's no instruction manual on the specifics of what the 'ranks' actually mean. In that avenue all I've got is data points. I've been in the crowd at enough tournaments to deduce the 'E' ranks level cap somewhere in the high 40's. C+ can at least go as high as 63. Last year's conference winner had an Electabuzz as their team's ace that showed me that.
I'm also fairly certain the rank at least somewhat affects growth speed but I've got no hard numbers to prove it.
As best I've been able to tell, the only way to increase a 'mon's rank, to 'raise the level cap' as it were from whatever it was born with, is via the process of evolution. One or -sometimes two- ranks is what I've found to be most typical, though I did once witness as high as four from a Kakuna.
Of course, an extreme on one end of the spectrum often implies an extreme on the other. Five months ago I had the privilege to view a Scyther become a Scizor and its potential didn't even budge from B-. Though admittedly, since that particular evolution is just a reshuffling of base stats perhaps I shouldn't count it.
The red light finishes sucking Aipom into the Pokéball and Whitney seems considerably annoyed. Her brow is furrowed while a thin frown is playing over her lips. I was warned ahead of time that she sometimes lets her emotions get the best of her during matches and my fielding of a foreign 'mon she wasn't familiar with probably didn't help things much.
She reaches behind her back, grabbing a Great Ball she hadn't intended for this match, and chucks it out with a wild spin. "We're down by two Bluebell! Let's show him what we're made of!"
From the amorphous white light a healthy pink bovine plops down to shake the stadium floor, bellowing out a thunderous "Moooooo!" as it stands to its full height.
I feel the urge to use the word 'bovine' because 'cow' doesn't quite emulate the feeling of how jacked this thing is. Truthfully I want to use the term 'bull' but since Miltank as a species is 100% female, that's not quite applicable either.
Miltank: Lv. 40
Nature: Hardy
Potential: D+
I feel my eyebrows knit together as I assess the new threat. My gut tells me this isn't the iconic 'Whitney's Miltank' that everyone who's familiar with Gen II knows about. Based on its age -and the few faded scars I can see- I'm more willing to bet this is an old family Pokémon. Perhaps one that once belonged to her father.
Regardless, what's got my focus is that this thing is way too high a level for a simple 'third-badge challenge'. This is more of a sixth or possibly even seventh-badge contender. Is this a test maybe? A challenge she wants to see me overcome? Or are the unkind rumors really true and she actually is just a poor loser? If it's the latter, then that's just unprofessional.
Down below my freshly evolved Krokorok openly scoffs at the opposition, folding his arms to himself and pointedly looking away. His nature has always made him a bit dismissive of others and right now he's riding the high of evolution plus two separate Moxie boosts. 'But that's not gonna be enough to bridge the gap here.'
The flag drops and Whitney's order is immediate. "Brick Break!"
'Tch. She's realized the Krookodile line is Dark-type'. "Protect!" I demand, no room for any of my 'mon's nonsense right now.
The hexagonal dome cracks under Miltank's glowing fist and I can feel Krokorok physically balk through our connection.
"Hit it again Miltank! One more shot!"
"Poison it!"
Thick nasty sludge expels from Krokorok's snout just as Miltank's arm comes sailing through the barrier. The Normal-type cries out as it takes the Toxic directly to its face but it's my boy who ends up far the worse off. The Super-effective Brick Break strikes him perfectly center mass and with that single blow he's sliding across the field completely down for the count.
"Krokorok is unable to battle! The score is now 2-1! Challenger Brad, please select your next Pokémon!"
I take a few seconds more than strictly necessary to draw Krokorok back into his Level Ball. I'm not overly dragging my feet about it but I'm not so honorable that I would miss the chance to let the Toxic soak into my opponent nice and proper.
"Good showing K.Rool." I mutter to the ball. "Though I hope you realize now that you've evolved, the kiddie gloves are coming off in training."
'I wonder if it was the evolution that tipped the scales and convinced Whitney to pull out this bruiser.' If so, then that's rather unlucky timing on Sandile's part. Going by canonical 'levels', 27 is a bit early for his species to make the change. In the Unovan games you can't even encounter any Krokorok below 29. Though of course -as this new world constantly reminds me- things are not so hard locked in their requirements here.
Not every Caterpie evolves at Lv. 7, not every Pidgey at 18. It is usually close to there though. I'd say a good rule of thumb is a plus or minus three type of deal. That covers at least 90% of the cases I've witnessed. If a 'mon gets farther than that past its evolution level and still hasn't undergone the process it's almost certainly because the Pokémon is deliberately choosing not to.
For a moment I'm tempted to reach for the second foreign Pokémon on my belt..though eventually I decide not to. Type-advantage by being a Ghost or not, he's a bit of a timid soul. Haven't really gotten him ready for competitive battling yet. Plus there's a chance this Miltank's ability is Scrappy which could end up spelling disaster. Instead I turn my head to the 'mon who's been hanging off my shoulder this entire time. A nasty little bugger who hates being in Pokéballs almost as much as Ash's Pikachu does. "You want in?"
Gligar: Lv. 52
Nature: Adamant
Potential: A
"Gligar!"
"Well get in there then. Let's demonstrate why you don't escalate against us."
"Gli! Gli!" My little scorpion-bat swoops into the arena just as the referee starts to look impatient. He darts his eyes between both contenders, raising the flag high...and then drops it!
"Taunt!/Heal Bell!" The two commands are simultaneous. An ethereal golden bell appears above Miltank, only for the cow to suddenly reel back as a thin layer of Dark shatters the device, dispersing the technique.
"Tut tut tut," I wiggle my finger at Whitney much in the same manner Gligar did to Miltank a moment ago. "None of that now. The Toxic stays." I chide at the girl, deliberately trying to needle her.
The young woman stomps her foot at being predicted. "How did-!"
"Agility." Truthfully the command is unnecessary. Vlad is well trained enough to spot opportunities to set up all on his own. He'd already been building the Psychic energy before I even got the word out.
Whitney sweeps her arm forward. "Lean into the aggression Miltank! Go for Body Slam!"
The Taunted animal takes two steps forward before launching itself into the air with an angry 'Mooo!', sailing across the field with far more speed than one would expect for something of its size. Momentum is mass times velocity and if that much weight were to crash into me..well it's easy to understand how the move can Paralyze.
The blue sheen of Agility around Gligar finishes its job and with that I now know the fight is effectively over.
'Speed is Miltank's second-best stat.'
The heifer attempts to body-check my flier only to sink through the afterimage of a Double Team.
'But it is also Gligar's.'
"Blind it! Then set the storm!"
The power behind the Mud-Slap is minuscule, but damage has never been the goal of that move. In fact, Vlad and I have worked on making the move actually weaker so long as it hits quick and goes exactly where we want it to go.
To its credit, the Miltank does try to block it -as does any living creature when something comes for its face- but the Normal-type only experiences partial success. Brown still slathers over its eyes and it cries out with a distressed 'Mooooo!'.
"Scrape it off Miltank!"
The Normal-type tries to, it even half-succeeds, but by that point Gligar has already thrown his claws out and the sand is starting to roil.
A proper Sandstorm, one worthy of a Tyranitar, takes over the field and Whitney starts to panic. "Water Pulse!"
'Oh?' That's not something I expected. On top of being good type coverage, it's a long-range option when Miltank as a species typically doesn't have any. Plus, if I recall correctly, in some of the video games Water Pulse can never miss, so sight isn't really needed. Not bad Whitney.
The only hiccup is..well, a Special Attacker Miltank is not.
"Water for Water Vlad. Let's win with some style."
Gligar sails through the dust cloud, his pincer shining with the bright blue of Crabhammer, and with it carves straight through the anemic Water attack.
"What!?" Whitney nearly screams. "Since when can Gligar learn-!"
Vlad finishes his journey down and swoops behind Miltank. With a devastating hammerblow to the back of the head the 100 base-power high critical-chance move slams the enemy ace straight into the dirt!
Immediately I can feel Gligar begin to shift gears, building up Ground energy within himself that rumbles and shakes along the aura connection we share, but I hold off on the order to unleash the 'quake. The most iconic of all Ground moves would end this right now...but I don't think it's needed.
Miltank struggles to push itself up as both the Toxic and Sandstorm chip it down. One buffeting from the outside while the other ravages from within. In the end...it just can't.
"That's enough Vlad." The sandstorm disperses and almost immediately the final flag of the match goes up.
"Miltank is unable to battle! Challenger Brad is the winner!"
There's a small smattering of applause. A few 'Boo!'s as well from Whitney's local fan club, but overall the match ends without any real ceremony. Not that much of a crowd is really expected at 2pm on a Tuesday. In both this life and the previous, I've never much liked events that have stadiums packed to the brim.
Whitney pouts a little as we reach the center of the arena and shake hands. "Mou! Your team's got some tough cookies. Nice read on the Heal Bell. Many trainers don't know about that move since Miltank's the only Pokémon in Johto who learns it." Whitney sighs. "Darn it, and I really thought Bluebell would be tough enough to see your secret Pokémon."
My head cocks. "Secret?"
Whitney smiles unashamedly. "Pryce let slip a complaint about you in our monthly Gym Leader call last week. Something about a new evolution you won't tell him about."
Ah. She's referring to Mamoswine. Bubbles the Mamoswine.
"Sorry, but he's not actually with me right now. He's up at a breeding reserve in Mahogany." And wasn't that a prank in and of itself? Pryce was determined to wring the secret to Piloswine's evolution from me..and I agreed to give it to him. For a price of course. No pun intended.
All the old man had to do was set up Bubbles in his Swinub breeding program and offer me my pick of the litter. As soon as I select a Swinub to take, he gets the secret. Pretty easy.
Of course, right after that deal was finalized I got on a boat and fucked off to a foreign region for about three months so I imagine he's a bit miffed at me. Now that I'm back in Johto though, I really should make the detour to stop by and see what new piglets he's got in stock. Brad's original Pokémon 'Bubbles' was a loyal enough creature, but even as a Mamoswine his potential doesn't seem to let him rise above Lv. 58 which just doesn't suit my long term purposes.
Plus the 'mon was nearly three decades old at this point and it's probably better just to start fresh.
The 'prank' part of the deal was that I had technically already given Pryce exactly what he asked for. Ancient Power was an Egg Move and as such all of Bubbles' progeny will be able to make the change. Now as to how Bubbles himself knew the move as a Swinub...well I don't rightly know. Brad's father caught the piglet in the wild so who knows what its family line was like.
"Aww, phooey." Whitney playfully whines at the info. "I guess I still got to see a new Pokémon though! And I even watched it evolve too! Which region is he from? Hoenn? I know it can't be Sinnoh with their borders closed."
"Unova actually."
Whitney gapes."Unov-Wait really?! How did you even get approved to go in? Isn't their immigration policy like suuuper strict?"
I let a small smile creep up. "I've always found that, if you grease the right palms, there's not a lot of places one can't get to in this world."
"Huh." Whitney mutters. "Well regardless, you've more than demonstrated enough to earn this." She brings her arm up and offers a small diamond shaped pin. "The Plain Badge!"
From there it seems the practiced ritual is just about over. I tuck the pin next to the other two inside my jacket, a few more small words are exchanged, and a commemorative photo is taken of me shaking Whitney's hand if I want to purchase it. After just a few minutes the next challenger is announced and I find myself checking out with a receptionist who hands over the modest bit of prize money my successful challenge has earned.
Stepping out of the Gym, I feel a restless shaking from my belt. A low grumbling emanating from the Moon Ball just above my right pocket. "Easy there Grundy," I soothe gently, brushing my fingers over the ball. "Easy there. That Miltank roused you from your nap didn't it?"
The Moon Ball vibrates.
"Relax. It was only Lv. 40." I continue under my breath. "Wouldn't even have been a warm-up for you. Besides, the goal right now is to earn badges, not kill our opponent in the ring. We're in the city right now. Have to act civilized."
There's another low grumble but eventually the ball does go still, choosing to accept that answer.
"Mt. Mortar's not terribly far." I offer as a compromise. "We can swing by there after Ecruteak. Maybe find something down in the lower levels for you and Ma Ma to let loose against."
With that promise made, I find it's time to continue exploring the city proper. Goldenrod is the center of Johto and wow does it show that. Restaurants, railways, businesses large and small, not to mention the iconic Radio Tower that scrapes up into the clouds. Bike shops, flower shops, Poké shops, and Casinos. Oh boy, the casinos.
In my past life I wasn't much of a drinker. I had no issues with drugs or women. But woah nelly was my Vice the Dice let me tell ya.
Fortunately -or unfortunately depending on your viewpoint- my priorities have shifted somewhat since then.
My feet take me past a crowd huddled around a store window where the day's news plays on multiple screens.'...and as such authorities are still searching for the missing ship. In other news, tensions continue to rise with the region of Kalos as ambassadors were seen walking out...'
This world is a death trap with a polite candy coating over the top. The moment I forget that and start confusing it for a children's cartoon is the day I end up in an early grave.
~I'm on the road to Viridian City!~ My ringtone sounds, getting me to fish the smartphone out and glance at the caller ID. ~We're on the road to Viridian Ci-click. "Hey Lori!" I smile into the phone. "That was fast. What's up?"
"Bradley," There's exasperation in her tone. "What is this video file you've sent me?"
"Aww, you didn't even watch it? I'm hurt Lori. It's obviously my match against Whitney. Score 3-1 in my favor by the way. She pulled out this older Miltank at the end that I'm pretty sure was her dad's. Took out poor K.Rool with a single hit. And my boy had just evolved too. He's gonna be in such a foul mood when he wakes up."
"That's wonderful Bradley, I'm glad you're finally taking things seriously," she sounds tired. Low on sleep. Poor girl. "But again, why did you send it to me?"
"Ooph. So cold. Am I not allowed to keep one of my oldest friends updated on my journey? Tsk tsk Lori. Being an Elite Four has really changed you."
"I wouldn't say we've really been friends since I left Mahogany Brad." There's a sigh from the other side. "Do you remember what we talked about last time you did this?"
I hummed, pretending to think about it. "Let's see, you wanted the secret to evolving Piloswine just like your grandpa Pryce did."
"Wha-No! That was an offhand- I meant right after that!" Aww. She still gets flustered. Cute.
"Ehh, something about inter-regional politics and being super busy with this Kalos situation and not to bother you during work and..I just kinda zoned out after that to be honest. Didn't seem that important." I say the words but it's all in a light and joking tone. Truthfully, I track Indigo's relations with the other regions very carefully. I just like hearing her get frustrated.
A breath through her nose. "And how about the time before 'that'?"
"Time before that," I rubbed my chin. "I asked you to dinner and you said 'Make it to the Silver Conference and we'll talk'."
"So if you remember that, then why do you keep blowing up my work number after every Gym Badge!"
I smirk into the phone. "Why do you keep calling?"
"I-! You-! It doesn't- That is-...I'm going back to work now."
"Bye Lori! Talk to you after I thrash Morty!"
After the empty dial tone 'beeps' twice in my ear I slip the phone away and chuckle warmly in my throat. Brad let an amazing woman slip away, but I'm willing to gamble I can reel her back in.
With pleasure now over with though...it does unfortunately mean it's time for business.
Schooling my features, I pull a second phone from my bag. This one considerably cheaper and much easier for me to toss if needs arise. Speed dial rings the single number programmed into it and with a 'click' I hear the other side pick up. "Third badge obtained. I'm available now. What's the job?"
"Well well, let me be the first to congratulate you then." Admin Petrel chuckles from the other side. "We've a lead on one of the items you've requested. Be at the Game Corner 1PM tomorrow for the details on how you can 'earn' it." With that the number disconnects and I slide the phone away.
Oh, and I'm doing a little contract work with Team Rocket on the side.
Did I not mention that earlier?
Johto Region, Goldenrod City
Snowboarder Brad.
What a fucking joke.
Of all the NPC's in the wide open infinite universe for me to be unceremoniously isekai'd into...I got Snowboarder Brad. An absolute nobody Gym Trainer from the Generation II Pokémon games. Place of birth? Mahogany Town. Age? 25. Height? 6' even. Total Pokémon to his name? One. A Swinub he'd named 'Bubbles' when he was four.
More than two decades of life..squandered. Day after day spent lounging about. Eating chips on couches. Sleeping in until noon. Getting consistently dunked on by challengers to the Gym because Brad was -on top of being just plain unremarkable as a battler- too stupid to realize his aura was naturally aligned to Ground, not Ice.
Can you imagine that? To be a natural born aura user, to win that kind of lottery at birth…and then spend your days focusing on a type-energy that was nearly in direct opposition to it.
If there's only one thing I can praise him for in this head full of memories, it's the fumbles in the sheets he had with Lorelei when the two were teenagers. Of course - by way of being a teenage boy - he went and fucked that up too.
Truly, he was a moron in every way that mattered.
The good news..is that it's been sixteen months since Brad busted his head open on the icy slopes and I stepped in.
The ref raises his flag. "Aipom is unable to battle! The score is now 2-0! Gym Leader Whitney has one Pokémon remaining!"
Sandile's tail wiggles back and forth as he almost snickers at the downed foe. Shining white light begins to build over his form and with a massive burst a new reptile now stands in the ring. "Krok! Krokorok!"
Krokorok: Lv. 27
Nature: Impish
Potential: A-
'Hmm. Up one rank from B+. Expected, though I had hoped for better.' I was given one gift and one gift alone when I was so rudely pulled from my world and dropped into this one. The power to see potential. To look at a 'mon and instantly know how far it could push itself. To see what physical limits were imposed on it by its biology, by its genetics. To see a group of near identical Pokémon and instantly know which ones will never come close to Lv. 100 and which ones have the stuff to make it as an Elite.
It's not a perfect cheat. It can't see a Pokémon's Ability for one thing, and there's no instruction manual on the specifics of what the 'ranks' actually mean. In that avenue all I've got is data points. I've been in the crowd at enough tournaments to deduce the 'E' ranks level cap somewhere in the high 40's. C+ can at least go as high as 63. Last year's conference winner had an Electabuzz as their team's ace that showed me that.
I'm also fairly certain the rank at least somewhat affects growth speed but I've got no hard numbers to prove it.
As best I've been able to tell, the only way to increase a 'mon's rank, to 'raise the level cap' as it were from whatever it was born with, is via the process of evolution. One or -sometimes two- ranks is what I've found to be most typical, though I did once witness as high as four from a Kakuna.
Of course, an extreme on one end of the spectrum often implies an extreme on the other. Five months ago I had the privilege to view a Scyther become a Scizor and its potential didn't even budge from B-. Though admittedly, since that particular evolution is just a reshuffling of base stats perhaps I shouldn't count it.
The red light finishes sucking Aipom into the Pokéball and Whitney seems considerably annoyed. Her brow is furrowed while a thin frown is playing over her lips. I was warned ahead of time that she sometimes lets her emotions get the best of her during matches and my fielding of a foreign 'mon she wasn't familiar with probably didn't help things much.
She reaches behind her back, grabbing a Great Ball she hadn't intended for this match, and chucks it out with a wild spin. "We're down by two Bluebell! Let's show him what we're made of!"
From the amorphous white light a healthy pink bovine plops down to shake the stadium floor, bellowing out a thunderous "Moooooo!" as it stands to its full height.
I feel the urge to use the word 'bovine' because 'cow' doesn't quite emulate the feeling of how jacked this thing is. Truthfully I want to use the term 'bull' but since Miltank as a species is 100% female, that's not quite applicable either.
Miltank: Lv. 40
Nature: Hardy
Potential: D+
I feel my eyebrows knit together as I assess the new threat. My gut tells me this isn't the iconic 'Whitney's Miltank' that everyone who's familiar with Gen II knows about. Based on its age -and the few faded scars I can see- I'm more willing to bet this is an old family Pokémon. Perhaps one that once belonged to her father.
Regardless, what's got my focus is that this thing is way too high a level for a simple 'third-badge challenge'. This is more of a sixth or possibly even seventh-badge contender. Is this a test maybe? A challenge she wants to see me overcome? Or are the unkind rumors really true and she actually is just a poor loser? If it's the latter, then that's just unprofessional.
Down below my freshly evolved Krokorok openly scoffs at the opposition, folding his arms to himself and pointedly looking away. His nature has always made him a bit dismissive of others and right now he's riding the high of evolution plus two separate Moxie boosts. 'But that's not gonna be enough to bridge the gap here.'
The flag drops and Whitney's order is immediate. "Brick Break!"
'Tch. She's realized the Krookodile line is Dark-type'. "Protect!" I demand, no room for any of my 'mon's nonsense right now.
The hexagonal dome cracks under Miltank's glowing fist and I can feel Krokorok physically balk through our connection.
"Hit it again Miltank! One more shot!"
"Poison it!"
Thick nasty sludge expels from Krokorok's snout just as Miltank's arm comes sailing through the barrier. The Normal-type cries out as it takes the Toxic directly to its face but it's my boy who ends up far the worse off. The Super-effective Brick Break strikes him perfectly center mass and with that single blow he's sliding across the field completely down for the count.
"Krokorok is unable to battle! The score is now 2-1! Challenger Brad, please select your next Pokémon!"
I take a few seconds more than strictly necessary to draw Krokorok back into his Level Ball. I'm not overly dragging my feet about it but I'm not so honorable that I would miss the chance to let the Toxic soak into my opponent nice and proper.
"Good showing K.Rool." I mutter to the ball. "Though I hope you realize now that you've evolved, the kiddie gloves are coming off in training."
'I wonder if it was the evolution that tipped the scales and convinced Whitney to pull out this bruiser.' If so, then that's rather unlucky timing on Sandile's part. Going by canonical 'levels', 27 is a bit early for his species to make the change. In the Unovan games you can't even encounter any Krokorok below 29. Though of course -as this new world constantly reminds me- things are not so hard locked in their requirements here.
Not every Caterpie evolves at Lv. 7, not every Pidgey at 18. It is usually close to there though. I'd say a good rule of thumb is a plus or minus three type of deal. That covers at least 90% of the cases I've witnessed. If a 'mon gets farther than that past its evolution level and still hasn't undergone the process it's almost certainly because the Pokémon is deliberately choosing not to.
For a moment I'm tempted to reach for the second foreign Pokémon on my belt..though eventually I decide not to. Type-advantage by being a Ghost or not, he's a bit of a timid soul. Haven't really gotten him ready for competitive battling yet. Plus there's a chance this Miltank's ability is Scrappy which could end up spelling disaster. Instead I turn my head to the 'mon who's been hanging off my shoulder this entire time. A nasty little bugger who hates being in Pokéballs almost as much as Ash's Pikachu does. "You want in?"
Gligar: Lv. 52
Nature: Adamant
Potential: A
"Gligar!"
"Well get in there then. Let's demonstrate why you don't escalate against us."
"Gli! Gli!" My little scorpion-bat swoops into the arena just as the referee starts to look impatient. He darts his eyes between both contenders, raising the flag high...and then drops it!
"Taunt!/Heal Bell!" The two commands are simultaneous. An ethereal golden bell appears above Miltank, only for the cow to suddenly reel back as a thin layer of Dark shatters the device, dispersing the technique.
"Tut tut tut," I wiggle my finger at Whitney much in the same manner Gligar did to Miltank a moment ago. "None of that now. The Toxic stays." I chide at the girl, deliberately trying to needle her.
The young woman stomps her foot at being predicted. "How did-!"
"Agility." Truthfully the command is unnecessary. Vlad is well trained enough to spot opportunities to set up all on his own. He'd already been building the Psychic energy before I even got the word out.
Whitney sweeps her arm forward. "Lean into the aggression Miltank! Go for Body Slam!"
The Taunted animal takes two steps forward before launching itself into the air with an angry 'Mooo!', sailing across the field with far more speed than one would expect for something of its size. Momentum is mass times velocity and if that much weight were to crash into me..well it's easy to understand how the move can Paralyze.
The blue sheen of Agility around Gligar finishes its job and with that I now know the fight is effectively over.
'Speed is Miltank's second-best stat.'
The heifer attempts to body-check my flier only to sink through the afterimage of a Double Team.
'But it is also Gligar's.'
"Blind it! Then set the storm!"
The power behind the Mud-Slap is minuscule, but damage has never been the goal of that move. In fact, Vlad and I have worked on making the move actually weaker so long as it hits quick and goes exactly where we want it to go.
To its credit, the Miltank does try to block it -as does any living creature when something comes for its face- but the Normal-type only experiences partial success. Brown still slathers over its eyes and it cries out with a distressed 'Mooooo!'.
"Scrape it off Miltank!"
The Normal-type tries to, it even half-succeeds, but by that point Gligar has already thrown his claws out and the sand is starting to roil.
A proper Sandstorm, one worthy of a Tyranitar, takes over the field and Whitney starts to panic. "Water Pulse!"
'Oh?' That's not something I expected. On top of being good type coverage, it's a long-range option when Miltank as a species typically doesn't have any. Plus, if I recall correctly, in some of the video games Water Pulse can never miss, so sight isn't really needed. Not bad Whitney.
The only hiccup is..well, a Special Attacker Miltank is not.
"Water for Water Vlad. Let's win with some style."
Gligar sails through the dust cloud, his pincer shining with the bright blue of Crabhammer, and with it carves straight through the anemic Water attack.
"What!?" Whitney nearly screams. "Since when can Gligar learn-!"
Vlad finishes his journey down and swoops behind Miltank. With a devastating hammerblow to the back of the head the 100 base-power high critical-chance move slams the enemy ace straight into the dirt!
Immediately I can feel Gligar begin to shift gears, building up Ground energy within himself that rumbles and shakes along the aura connection we share, but I hold off on the order to unleash the 'quake. The most iconic of all Ground moves would end this right now...but I don't think it's needed.
Miltank struggles to push itself up as both the Toxic and Sandstorm chip it down. One buffeting from the outside while the other ravages from within. In the end...it just can't.
"That's enough Vlad." The sandstorm disperses and almost immediately the final flag of the match goes up.
"Miltank is unable to battle! Challenger Brad is the winner!"
There's a small smattering of applause. A few 'Boo!'s as well from Whitney's local fan club, but overall the match ends without any real ceremony. Not that much of a crowd is really expected at 2pm on a Tuesday. In both this life and the previous, I've never much liked events that have stadiums packed to the brim.
Whitney pouts a little as we reach the center of the arena and shake hands. "Mou! Your team's got some tough cookies. Nice read on the Heal Bell. Many trainers don't know about that move since Miltank's the only Pokémon in Johto who learns it." Whitney sighs. "Darn it, and I really thought Bluebell would be tough enough to see your secret Pokémon."
My head cocks. "Secret?"
Whitney smiles unashamedly. "Pryce let slip a complaint about you in our monthly Gym Leader call last week. Something about a new evolution you won't tell him about."
Ah. She's referring to Mamoswine. Bubbles the Mamoswine.
"Sorry, but he's not actually with me right now. He's up at a breeding reserve in Mahogany." And wasn't that a prank in and of itself? Pryce was determined to wring the secret to Piloswine's evolution from me..and I agreed to give it to him. For a price of course. No pun intended.
All the old man had to do was set up Bubbles in his Swinub breeding program and offer me my pick of the litter. As soon as I select a Swinub to take, he gets the secret. Pretty easy.
Of course, right after that deal was finalized I got on a boat and fucked off to a foreign region for about three months so I imagine he's a bit miffed at me. Now that I'm back in Johto though, I really should make the detour to stop by and see what new piglets he's got in stock. Brad's original Pokémon 'Bubbles' was a loyal enough creature, but even as a Mamoswine his potential doesn't seem to let him rise above Lv. 58 which just doesn't suit my long term purposes.
Plus the 'mon was nearly three decades old at this point and it's probably better just to start fresh.
The 'prank' part of the deal was that I had technically already given Pryce exactly what he asked for. Ancient Power was an Egg Move and as such all of Bubbles' progeny will be able to make the change. Now as to how Bubbles himself knew the move as a Swinub...well I don't rightly know. Brad's father caught the piglet in the wild so who knows what its family line was like.
"Aww, phooey." Whitney playfully whines at the info. "I guess I still got to see a new Pokémon though! And I even watched it evolve too! Which region is he from? Hoenn? I know it can't be Sinnoh with their borders closed."
"Unova actually."
Whitney gapes."Unov-Wait really?! How did you even get approved to go in? Isn't their immigration policy like suuuper strict?"
I let a small smile creep up. "I've always found that, if you grease the right palms, there's not a lot of places one can't get to in this world."
"Huh." Whitney mutters. "Well regardless, you've more than demonstrated enough to earn this." She brings her arm up and offers a small diamond shaped pin. "The Plain Badge!"
From there it seems the practiced ritual is just about over. I tuck the pin next to the other two inside my jacket, a few more small words are exchanged, and a commemorative photo is taken of me shaking Whitney's hand if I want to purchase it. After just a few minutes the next challenger is announced and I find myself checking out with a receptionist who hands over the modest bit of prize money my successful challenge has earned.
Stepping out of the Gym, I feel a restless shaking from my belt. A low grumbling emanating from the Moon Ball just above my right pocket. "Easy there Grundy," I soothe gently, brushing my fingers over the ball. "Easy there. That Miltank roused you from your nap didn't it?"
The Moon Ball vibrates.
"Relax. It was only Lv. 40." I continue under my breath. "Wouldn't even have been a warm-up for you. Besides, the goal right now is to earn badges, not kill our opponent in the ring. We're in the city right now. Have to act civilized."
There's another low grumble but eventually the ball does go still, choosing to accept that answer.
"Mt. Mortar's not terribly far." I offer as a compromise. "We can swing by there after Ecruteak. Maybe find something down in the lower levels for you and Ma Ma to let loose against."
With that promise made, I find it's time to continue exploring the city proper. Goldenrod is the center of Johto and wow does it show that. Restaurants, railways, businesses large and small, not to mention the iconic Radio Tower that scrapes up into the clouds. Bike shops, flower shops, Poké shops, and Casinos. Oh boy, the casinos.
In my past life I wasn't much of a drinker. I had no issues with drugs or women. But woah nelly was my Vice the Dice let me tell ya.
Fortunately -or unfortunately depending on your viewpoint- my priorities have shifted somewhat since then.
My feet take me past a crowd huddled around a store window where the day's news plays on multiple screens.'...and as such authorities are still searching for the missing ship. In other news, tensions continue to rise with the region of Kalos as ambassadors were seen walking out...'
This world is a death trap with a polite candy coating over the top. The moment I forget that and start confusing it for a children's cartoon is the day I end up in an early grave.
~I'm on the road to Viridian City!~ My ringtone sounds, getting me to fish the smartphone out and glance at the caller ID. ~We're on the road to Viridian Ci-click. "Hey Lori!" I smile into the phone. "That was fast. What's up?"
"Bradley," There's exasperation in her tone. "What is this video file you've sent me?"
"Aww, you didn't even watch it? I'm hurt Lori. It's obviously my match against Whitney. Score 3-1 in my favor by the way. She pulled out this older Miltank at the end that I'm pretty sure was her dad's. Took out poor K.Rool with a single hit. And my boy had just evolved too. He's gonna be in such a foul mood when he wakes up."
"That's wonderful Bradley, I'm glad you're finally taking things seriously," she sounds tired. Low on sleep. Poor girl. "But again, why did you send it to me?"
"Ooph. So cold. Am I not allowed to keep one of my oldest friends updated on my journey? Tsk tsk Lori. Being an Elite Four has really changed you."
"I wouldn't say we've really been friends since I left Mahogany Brad." There's a sigh from the other side. "Do you remember what we talked about last time you did this?"
I hummed, pretending to think about it. "Let's see, you wanted the secret to evolving Piloswine just like your grandpa Pryce did."
"Wha-No! That was an offhand- I meant right after that!" Aww. She still gets flustered. Cute.
"Ehh, something about inter-regional politics and being super busy with this Kalos situation and not to bother you during work and..I just kinda zoned out after that to be honest. Didn't seem that important." I say the words but it's all in a light and joking tone. Truthfully, I track Indigo's relations with the other regions very carefully. I just like hearing her get frustrated.
A breath through her nose. "And how about the time before 'that'?"
"Time before that," I rubbed my chin. "I asked you to dinner and you said 'Make it to the Silver Conference and we'll talk'."
"So if you remember that, then why do you keep blowing up my work number after every Gym Badge!"
I smirk into the phone. "Why do you keep calling?"
"I-! You-! It doesn't- That is-...I'm going back to work now."
"Bye Lori! Talk to you after I thrash Morty!"
After the empty dial tone 'beeps' twice in my ear I slip the phone away and chuckle warmly in my throat. Brad let an amazing woman slip away, but I'm willing to gamble I can reel her back in.
With pleasure now over with though...it does unfortunately mean it's time for business.
Schooling my features, I pull a second phone from my bag. This one considerably cheaper and much easier for me to toss if needs arise. Speed dial rings the single number programmed into it and with a 'click' I hear the other side pick up. "Third badge obtained. I'm available now. What's the job?"
"Well well, let me be the first to congratulate you then." Admin Petrel chuckles from the other side. "We've a lead on one of the items you've requested. Be at the Game Corner 1PM tomorrow for the details on how you can 'earn' it." With that the number disconnects and I slide the phone away.
Oh, and I'm doing a little contract work with Team Rocket on the side.
Did I not mention that earlier?
Last edited:
Chapter 2
LordVishnu
Not too sore, are you?
- Joined
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Chapter 2
Goldenrod Game Corner, Underground
Held Items are a bit of a controversial topic in this world I've found. While one crowd whines and cries about good items leading to battles being 'pay-to-win', others cheer and sing praises at a Trainer who can use one to swing things around at a pivotal moment and seize a hard-earned victory.
Personally, I don't have terribly strong feelings about their legality one way or the other, but something that does frustrate me is how much more limited they seem to be here as compared to the game series.
Fan favorites such as Eviolite, Weakness Policy, Rocky Helmet, none of them seem to exist. At least not in Kanto or Johto. Didn't catch a whiff of them during my brief stint in Unova either. Leftovers is obviously gone, though oddly enough Black Sludge isn't. So if there's someone out there in Indigo who wants to set up a stall strategy using Muk or Tentacruel then more power to them I guess.
Focus Band exists, but not its far more useful cousin Focus Sash. I've seen a video of a Hoenn Trainer employing a Burn Orb on his Swellow but searching for Toxic Orb leads to zero results.
Assault Vest is real, which caught my interest for a little bit, but unfortunately they're rather prohibitively expensive. Not only that, at truly high levels of tournament play, you can't expect them to have a long shelf life. Even the high quality ones can only absorb so much Special Damage before they start getting reduced to rags.
If there is a singular item for the criers and whiners to point at as being 'pay-to-win', it's probably that one.
When I first started digging into the topic, I thought the most-common Held Item to appear at big events might be the humble Sitrus Berry. It's small, effective, and accessible to just about every class of Trainer. Seemed like a well-reasoned bet. Though to my surprise, Sitrus actually only came in at fourth place. The true gold medalist turned out to be -of all unexpected things- Normal Gem.
A one-time consumable that is typically used to turn a Hyper Beam into Hyper Beam if you catch my drift.
It's actually an impressive racket on the Pokémon League's part. Gems get manufactured en masse at government owned facilities and sold for healthy profit at basically every major tournament the League sponsors. Water Gems for Hydro Pump, Fire Gems for Fire Blast, Trainers will empty their wallets to make sure they have a fresh Gem to supply between rounds and hopefully keep their winning streak going.
Which leads me into what I think is the most important fact one needs to understand about Held Items in tournament play. According to current Indigo League rules, you are allowed one. The replenishment of single-use consumables is the only exception.
It's something you register when you're filling in the initial paperwork. 'My Blastoise is equipped with an Assault Vest' or 'I'm going to have my Clefairy hold a Sitrus Berry every round'. While audiences love a good surprise, tournament organizers don't. If you don't want to adhere to their rules, then they'll immediately clap back with 'Well you don't have to play in our tournament then either'.
A piece of me finds all that regulation restrictive. Stifling. You can't even do an item switch-up between rounds. Though another part of my brain -the strategic tryhard part- is excited by it. Knowing you only get one item means selecting the right one for the right Pokémon is all the more critical.
Which brings me to here.
I run my fingers along the tunnel wall, tracing the feel of it until I'm back at the entryway. "Well it's not the shoddiest work I've ever seen. How long did it take you to get this far? Three, four days?"
The head Rocket Grunt glowers. "Nine.'' He speaks behind gritted teeth, shooting a particularly nasty glare at a lower Grunt who wilts at the criticism. A Sandshrew whines piteously behind the man's leg while an angry Graveler moves to stand between the two, seemingly protecting the smaller man from the larger.
At the Head Grunt's side a Gloom cracks one malicious eye open causing the Graveler to stiffen..before it clutches its stone fists painfully tight.
I turn away from the byplay and go back to my inspection. 'Workplace politics have never interested me.' "Well regardless, I can understand why your bosses wanted an expert pulled in. All the starting work is done at least. Where does the tunnel need to go?"
The lead Grunt focuses up again. "There's a connecting basement underneath the Miracle Cycle Bike Shop. That's just about three blocks from here. Precautions have already been taken so no overly curious Psychic-types detect us underground. How long will it take you? End of the week?"
I resist the urge to scoff. "Please," I snap two balls off my belt and toss them out. "Who do you think your bosses hired? An amateur? Give me ten hours."
From the first beam of light comes K.Rool, my newly evolved Krokorok, named in reference to the infamous Donkey Kong villain and personal bane of my childhood gaming years. As a foreign 'mon he's regarded with some wariness by the four Rocket members in the room. Unfamiliar Pokémon always are.
Next to him though, the actual threat appears. Ma Ma. The queen mother bitch grizzly herself.
Ursaring: Lv. 58
Nature: Serious
Potential: A
The small cavern seems to shake as the mother bear roars upon her summoning. Two of the Rocket Grunts stumble backwards while the previously mentioned Gloom suddenly looks much less sure of its spot on the local totem pole.
Ursaring as a species has always been a long time favorite of mine. In one of the 'Shadow Pokémon' games I once did a playthrough exclusively using the two 'mons your character has at the start. Eevee and Teddiursa. So when a new evolution dropped in the spin-off Legends game, it suffices to say I was pretty stoked about it.
Recreating that evolution though…has been more challenging than once anticipated.
It's not even the full moon on a cloudless sky nonsense that's the issue. The lunar cycle is a pretty easy thing to chart. It's the item that's been the problem. The 'Peat Block'.
Defined as a brown deposit of organic soil, 'Peat' is formed by the partial decomposition of plant matter in the wet acidic conditions of a bog, fen or mire.
And that's really the kicker of it all isn't it? Bogs or Fens. Marshes or mires. Something Johto -Indigo as a whole really- just doesn't have. Our climate isn't right for it. There's a small swamp-like area in Kanto's Safari Zone but that's about as close as we get.
Every experiment to evolve so far has been a failure. Every pile of wet dirt inert as the next. My new theory is that there's something about the soil in Sinnoh, some organic compound or perhaps elemental mixture, that is necessary for jumpstarting the process.
Some time ago I had a fear, a niggling worry that -if Pokémon could evolve an evolution over time- then what is to say they can't lose an evolution in the same manner.
Hell, how can one be sure, I mean really really sure, that a Johtonian Ursaring can even evolve in the first place? What if there was a genetic component to the population that lived in ancient Sinnoh? What if the Ursaluna evolution itself is a regional variant. The Hoenn Linoone can't evolve into a pure-Normal brand of Obstagoon. At least not to anyone's knowledge.
The one hope that keeps the dream going, is that I think Ma Ma can feel it. Somewhere inside she can tell that the evolution is there. Dormantly lurking. Hibernating. Just waiting for the right conditions, the right catalyst, to rouse it from its long sleep.
With a snap of my fingers and a thrum of aura the two Pokémon jump into work, Ma Ma tearing into the rock wall with furious angry swipes, while K.Rool works as her assistant, focusing on keeping the entire endeavor stable.
The Grunt with the Sandshrew seems panicked at my approach. As though I'm going to bring everything down on our heads like this. 'Hmph. As if. Only amateurs cause cave-ins.'
From beneath my feet a sort of..pulse..travels along the walls of the bedrock as my Ground alignment gives me a snapshot of the earth around us. It's nothing as impressive as the advanced seismic sense of fictional characters like Toph Beifong, but it is a handy trick that I've spent months just getting to this level.
"I am of the earth..." I mutter as my eyes close, my focus on that acorn of a super power growing. "For the earth is all things..."
"My payment."
The Head Grunt looks as though he's sucking a lemon with how thin his lips are. He strikes me as the slimy type who would love to renege on any deal he can but even he can't deny results.
I promised him ten hours.
We got it done in eight and a half.
Granted, the passageway looks…well unfun is a way to put it. Not uniform or friendly to traverse if one needs to move large equipment about. That's why Vlad and K.Rool are currently going through it again, smoothing out the edges and making it more conducive for my employers. But as of right now it is functional. You can travel from the Game Corner to the Bike Shop in just a few minutes following this path.
"Tch," With a head jerk the Rocket member gestures for one of his lackeys to hand a box over to me and a satisfied smile takes over my lips as I crack it open.
Do you suppose it's an illusion that the inside seems to 'pulse' sometimes? A trick of the light? Staring directly at it, you can be sure it's a still object. No mysterious swirling energies to be seen. But then you move it out to your periphery and sure enough a flicker of something catches your attention, bringing your gaze directly back to it.
A Life Orb.
If normal Held Items are 'controversial' in the current climate then this one is damn near 'blacklisted'. It's not against regulations to use one. Nor to buy one from a private collector. What is illegal though, is to in any way be part of their manufacturing or to sell them retail to the public.
In-game, Life Orb's ability is as follows. When this item is held by a Pokémon, the damage from moves used by the holder is increased by 30%. However, the user loses 10% of their maximum HP every turn.
In this world...well I don't know if those numbers translate the same. I doubt it's such clean percentages. But the basic principle remains unchanged. Every attack the holder uses will be supercharged...at the low low cost of a physical backlash that can be dangerous if not treated with respect.
It is for that very reason that they are so heavily restricted in the first place. In the first major tournament after they had hit the market, an incident occurred in the quarter-finals. A Life Orb equipped Gyarados fought and fought and fought...until it dropped dead right there in the arena. Its Held Item having stolen its very heartbeat from it.
Less than 200 Life Orbs had been produced in Indigo before they were hurriedly pulled from the shelves. Only about three dozen had managed to be picked up by registered trainers before the recall. A few more were earmarked for use by the Rangers Association, and of course more than one or two managed to 'fall off a truck' and later reappear as part of high society auctions.
As for all the rest? Who knows? A PR statement from the League right after the incident states they were "being remanded back to the laboratory for 'further study'" or some such. And while I think there's a chance that was initially true, I've no doubt that a few more have managed to 'slip out the back' over the years.
In the end it doesn't really matter where Petrel got one. All that matters is a deal's a deal. It's mine now.
When I first played the Generation IV games, I didn't really care for this item. I was a little kid and having my Pokémon start dying to their own moves was more than a bit of a turn off. It was lame. Why should I equip this thing when I could just be healing with Leftovers instead?
A sigh passes in my throat. 'I almost miss being so naive. That innocent mindset of a 'casual' player. You just can't ever get it back once it's lost.'
What eventually brought me around to a love affair with this item is a certain Pokémon Ability. It's a rather uncommon one. Hidden you might even say. The only Pokémon in Kanto/Johto who even have a chance of possessing the skill are Tauros, Steelix, Krabby/Kingler, the Feraligator-line, and of course...Nidoking and Nidoqueen.
From within his Moon Ball, I can feel Grundy grumble in satisfaction.
That Abilities name is Sheer Force.
Much like Life Orb's effect in-game, Sheer Force also provides a 30% boost in power. Its negative trade-off is that it removes all secondary effects of the user's attacks. Fire moves can no longer Burn. Electric moves can no longer Paralyze. Chance to lower the opponent's stats? Sorry, it's zero percent now. And most importantly, Life Orb's downside of self-harming the wielder is completely, and utterly, neutralized.
And for those of you wondering? Yes. Those multipliers stack. A Sheer Force, Life Orb equipped Pokémon enters a battle with a 1.69x to his offense for doing nothing but stepping onto the field.
My ace's Moon Ball begins to vibrate even more intensely.
"Soon buddy." I soothe. "We'll find you a good fight. Just be patient."
Goldenrod Game Corner, Underground
Held Items are a bit of a controversial topic in this world I've found. While one crowd whines and cries about good items leading to battles being 'pay-to-win', others cheer and sing praises at a Trainer who can use one to swing things around at a pivotal moment and seize a hard-earned victory.
Personally, I don't have terribly strong feelings about their legality one way or the other, but something that does frustrate me is how much more limited they seem to be here as compared to the game series.
Fan favorites such as Eviolite, Weakness Policy, Rocky Helmet, none of them seem to exist. At least not in Kanto or Johto. Didn't catch a whiff of them during my brief stint in Unova either. Leftovers is obviously gone, though oddly enough Black Sludge isn't. So if there's someone out there in Indigo who wants to set up a stall strategy using Muk or Tentacruel then more power to them I guess.
Focus Band exists, but not its far more useful cousin Focus Sash. I've seen a video of a Hoenn Trainer employing a Burn Orb on his Swellow but searching for Toxic Orb leads to zero results.
Assault Vest is real, which caught my interest for a little bit, but unfortunately they're rather prohibitively expensive. Not only that, at truly high levels of tournament play, you can't expect them to have a long shelf life. Even the high quality ones can only absorb so much Special Damage before they start getting reduced to rags.
If there is a singular item for the criers and whiners to point at as being 'pay-to-win', it's probably that one.
When I first started digging into the topic, I thought the most-common Held Item to appear at big events might be the humble Sitrus Berry. It's small, effective, and accessible to just about every class of Trainer. Seemed like a well-reasoned bet. Though to my surprise, Sitrus actually only came in at fourth place. The true gold medalist turned out to be -of all unexpected things- Normal Gem.
A one-time consumable that is typically used to turn a Hyper Beam into Hyper Beam if you catch my drift.
It's actually an impressive racket on the Pokémon League's part. Gems get manufactured en masse at government owned facilities and sold for healthy profit at basically every major tournament the League sponsors. Water Gems for Hydro Pump, Fire Gems for Fire Blast, Trainers will empty their wallets to make sure they have a fresh Gem to supply between rounds and hopefully keep their winning streak going.
Which leads me into what I think is the most important fact one needs to understand about Held Items in tournament play. According to current Indigo League rules, you are allowed one. The replenishment of single-use consumables is the only exception.
It's something you register when you're filling in the initial paperwork. 'My Blastoise is equipped with an Assault Vest' or 'I'm going to have my Clefairy hold a Sitrus Berry every round'. While audiences love a good surprise, tournament organizers don't. If you don't want to adhere to their rules, then they'll immediately clap back with 'Well you don't have to play in our tournament then either'.
A piece of me finds all that regulation restrictive. Stifling. You can't even do an item switch-up between rounds. Though another part of my brain -the strategic tryhard part- is excited by it. Knowing you only get one item means selecting the right one for the right Pokémon is all the more critical.
Which brings me to here.
I run my fingers along the tunnel wall, tracing the feel of it until I'm back at the entryway. "Well it's not the shoddiest work I've ever seen. How long did it take you to get this far? Three, four days?"
The head Rocket Grunt glowers. "Nine.'' He speaks behind gritted teeth, shooting a particularly nasty glare at a lower Grunt who wilts at the criticism. A Sandshrew whines piteously behind the man's leg while an angry Graveler moves to stand between the two, seemingly protecting the smaller man from the larger.
At the Head Grunt's side a Gloom cracks one malicious eye open causing the Graveler to stiffen..before it clutches its stone fists painfully tight.
I turn away from the byplay and go back to my inspection. 'Workplace politics have never interested me.' "Well regardless, I can understand why your bosses wanted an expert pulled in. All the starting work is done at least. Where does the tunnel need to go?"
The lead Grunt focuses up again. "There's a connecting basement underneath the Miracle Cycle Bike Shop. That's just about three blocks from here. Precautions have already been taken so no overly curious Psychic-types detect us underground. How long will it take you? End of the week?"
I resist the urge to scoff. "Please," I snap two balls off my belt and toss them out. "Who do you think your bosses hired? An amateur? Give me ten hours."
From the first beam of light comes K.Rool, my newly evolved Krokorok, named in reference to the infamous Donkey Kong villain and personal bane of my childhood gaming years. As a foreign 'mon he's regarded with some wariness by the four Rocket members in the room. Unfamiliar Pokémon always are.
Next to him though, the actual threat appears. Ma Ma. The queen mother bitch grizzly herself.
Ursaring: Lv. 58
Nature: Serious
Potential: A
The small cavern seems to shake as the mother bear roars upon her summoning. Two of the Rocket Grunts stumble backwards while the previously mentioned Gloom suddenly looks much less sure of its spot on the local totem pole.
Ursaring as a species has always been a long time favorite of mine. In one of the 'Shadow Pokémon' games I once did a playthrough exclusively using the two 'mons your character has at the start. Eevee and Teddiursa. So when a new evolution dropped in the spin-off Legends game, it suffices to say I was pretty stoked about it.
Recreating that evolution though…has been more challenging than once anticipated.
It's not even the full moon on a cloudless sky nonsense that's the issue. The lunar cycle is a pretty easy thing to chart. It's the item that's been the problem. The 'Peat Block'.
Defined as a brown deposit of organic soil, 'Peat' is formed by the partial decomposition of plant matter in the wet acidic conditions of a bog, fen or mire.
And that's really the kicker of it all isn't it? Bogs or Fens. Marshes or mires. Something Johto -Indigo as a whole really- just doesn't have. Our climate isn't right for it. There's a small swamp-like area in Kanto's Safari Zone but that's about as close as we get.
Every experiment to evolve so far has been a failure. Every pile of wet dirt inert as the next. My new theory is that there's something about the soil in Sinnoh, some organic compound or perhaps elemental mixture, that is necessary for jumpstarting the process.
Some time ago I had a fear, a niggling worry that -if Pokémon could evolve an evolution over time- then what is to say they can't lose an evolution in the same manner.
Hell, how can one be sure, I mean really really sure, that a Johtonian Ursaring can even evolve in the first place? What if there was a genetic component to the population that lived in ancient Sinnoh? What if the Ursaluna evolution itself is a regional variant. The Hoenn Linoone can't evolve into a pure-Normal brand of Obstagoon. At least not to anyone's knowledge.
The one hope that keeps the dream going, is that I think Ma Ma can feel it. Somewhere inside she can tell that the evolution is there. Dormantly lurking. Hibernating. Just waiting for the right conditions, the right catalyst, to rouse it from its long sleep.
With a snap of my fingers and a thrum of aura the two Pokémon jump into work, Ma Ma tearing into the rock wall with furious angry swipes, while K.Rool works as her assistant, focusing on keeping the entire endeavor stable.
The Grunt with the Sandshrew seems panicked at my approach. As though I'm going to bring everything down on our heads like this. 'Hmph. As if. Only amateurs cause cave-ins.'
From beneath my feet a sort of..pulse..travels along the walls of the bedrock as my Ground alignment gives me a snapshot of the earth around us. It's nothing as impressive as the advanced seismic sense of fictional characters like Toph Beifong, but it is a handy trick that I've spent months just getting to this level.
"I am of the earth..." I mutter as my eyes close, my focus on that acorn of a super power growing. "For the earth is all things..."
"My payment."
The Head Grunt looks as though he's sucking a lemon with how thin his lips are. He strikes me as the slimy type who would love to renege on any deal he can but even he can't deny results.
I promised him ten hours.
We got it done in eight and a half.
Granted, the passageway looks…well unfun is a way to put it. Not uniform or friendly to traverse if one needs to move large equipment about. That's why Vlad and K.Rool are currently going through it again, smoothing out the edges and making it more conducive for my employers. But as of right now it is functional. You can travel from the Game Corner to the Bike Shop in just a few minutes following this path.
"Tch," With a head jerk the Rocket member gestures for one of his lackeys to hand a box over to me and a satisfied smile takes over my lips as I crack it open.
Do you suppose it's an illusion that the inside seems to 'pulse' sometimes? A trick of the light? Staring directly at it, you can be sure it's a still object. No mysterious swirling energies to be seen. But then you move it out to your periphery and sure enough a flicker of something catches your attention, bringing your gaze directly back to it.
A Life Orb.
If normal Held Items are 'controversial' in the current climate then this one is damn near 'blacklisted'. It's not against regulations to use one. Nor to buy one from a private collector. What is illegal though, is to in any way be part of their manufacturing or to sell them retail to the public.
In-game, Life Orb's ability is as follows. When this item is held by a Pokémon, the damage from moves used by the holder is increased by 30%. However, the user loses 10% of their maximum HP every turn.
In this world...well I don't know if those numbers translate the same. I doubt it's such clean percentages. But the basic principle remains unchanged. Every attack the holder uses will be supercharged...at the low low cost of a physical backlash that can be dangerous if not treated with respect.
It is for that very reason that they are so heavily restricted in the first place. In the first major tournament after they had hit the market, an incident occurred in the quarter-finals. A Life Orb equipped Gyarados fought and fought and fought...until it dropped dead right there in the arena. Its Held Item having stolen its very heartbeat from it.
Less than 200 Life Orbs had been produced in Indigo before they were hurriedly pulled from the shelves. Only about three dozen had managed to be picked up by registered trainers before the recall. A few more were earmarked for use by the Rangers Association, and of course more than one or two managed to 'fall off a truck' and later reappear as part of high society auctions.
As for all the rest? Who knows? A PR statement from the League right after the incident states they were "being remanded back to the laboratory for 'further study'" or some such. And while I think there's a chance that was initially true, I've no doubt that a few more have managed to 'slip out the back' over the years.
In the end it doesn't really matter where Petrel got one. All that matters is a deal's a deal. It's mine now.
When I first played the Generation IV games, I didn't really care for this item. I was a little kid and having my Pokémon start dying to their own moves was more than a bit of a turn off. It was lame. Why should I equip this thing when I could just be healing with Leftovers instead?
A sigh passes in my throat. 'I almost miss being so naive. That innocent mindset of a 'casual' player. You just can't ever get it back once it's lost.'
What eventually brought me around to a love affair with this item is a certain Pokémon Ability. It's a rather uncommon one. Hidden you might even say. The only Pokémon in Kanto/Johto who even have a chance of possessing the skill are Tauros, Steelix, Krabby/Kingler, the Feraligator-line, and of course...Nidoking and Nidoqueen.
From within his Moon Ball, I can feel Grundy grumble in satisfaction.
That Abilities name is Sheer Force.
Much like Life Orb's effect in-game, Sheer Force also provides a 30% boost in power. Its negative trade-off is that it removes all secondary effects of the user's attacks. Fire moves can no longer Burn. Electric moves can no longer Paralyze. Chance to lower the opponent's stats? Sorry, it's zero percent now. And most importantly, Life Orb's downside of self-harming the wielder is completely, and utterly, neutralized.
And for those of you wondering? Yes. Those multipliers stack. A Sheer Force, Life Orb equipped Pokémon enters a battle with a 1.69x to his offense for doing nothing but stepping onto the field.
My ace's Moon Ball begins to vibrate even more intensely.
"Soon buddy." I soothe. "We'll find you a good fight. Just be patient."
Last edited:
Chapter 3
LordVishnu
Not too sore, are you?
- Joined
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Chapter 3
Route 35, North of Goldenrod City
"Come on Marill! Get up and let's hit him with Bubblebeam!"
Marill: Lv. 18
Nature: Hasty
Potential: C-
The blue mouse Pokémon forces itself to rise, fighting past the scuff and dirt mark injuries on its belly that really indicate it should be staying down. "Mar! Marill!" He puffs himself up, "Mar!" The stream of cerulean bubbles that jet forth from the creature are impressive for a 'mon of its stature, but unlike the pressurized blasts you see from truly high-level Water moves, these just don't have the speed behind them to matter.
I sigh. "Dig, K.Rool." The desert croc is gone in a flash, only his tail and hind legs being seen for a second through the dust cloud. "And setup twice once you're down there!" I yell after the hole in the ground. "..this trainer has no tools to counter it." I mutter a bit morosely.
'Maybe if he hadn't wasted his Diglett earlier, but the kid didn't swap it out even when it was clearly fighting above its weight class.'
You know... in the games, there's enjoyment to be had in steamrolling over junior trainers. They're Exp bags. Yeah, sure, it can sometimes be annoying if you get caught in a Picknicker's or Bug Catcher's line of sight and they just "Have to battle you now!" when really you're just trying to get to the next route over, but there was still satisfaction in crushing a foe so completely.
I can feel K.Rool's anticipation as the Hone Claws sharpens his stats. His Dark nature instinctively pleased at the notion of subjugating yet another opponent.
'Now though, it's just boring. Where's the fun to be had in fights like this? Where's the challenge?'
The young man's eyes dart around the practice field, as though every patch of dirt could be a trap, before coming to a decision and throwing his hand out. "Defense Curl, Marill! We'll take the hit and then counter point blank with a Water Gun!"
"Power Trip."
The earth splits open behind the blue mouse as a snarling K.Rool emerges with an arm shining both white and violet. A protective sheen covers the Water-type as its Defense move activates but anyone with even loose knowledge of Pokémon math could tell you it won't be enough.
Power Trip. Move: Physical. Type: Dark. Base Power: 20. Effect: This move's base power increases for every boosted stat/stage the user possesses.
One Moxie boost for KO'ing the Diglett. Two Hone Claws, each upping both Attack and Accuracy.
Five increases to base power, combined with three stages up in Attack.
Even if one assumes half damage due to Marill's secret Fairy-typing, that's rather negated by the Pokémon being so deep in the 'yellow' already.
Plus, on top of it all, there's a 50% difference in their level versus ours.
In short?
The mouse never stood a chance.
"Marill!" It cries in distress, kicking up dirt and dust as it ragdolls across the field, tumbling over itself again and again, until it lands -firmly unconscious- at its trainer's feet.
"I…I lost?" The camper mutters in disbelief. His eyes wide and unseeing, as if unable to process that his starter was handled so thoroughly. "But..but we solo'd Falkner. I…I have a Gym Badge.."
"Gli! Gli! Gli! Gli!" Vlad snickers loudly from my shoulder. "Gli! Gli! Gli! Gli!"
K.Rool stands at centerfield, a smug grin firmly plastered on his face, taunting that he wants another challenger despite everyone present knowing this match was only a 2v2.
"Well that's that then I suppose." I announce, ordering Krokorok back to my side with a gesture. "What was the agreed amount? 240?" A fairly meager sum as far as Poké Dollars goes, it's not even enough to buy a Potion, but I suppose every bit matters.
"I..I haven't.." The young man begins to say, only for a third party to suddenly burst onto the scene.
"Ha Ha!" the newcomer -dressed as someone who works in a circus- heartily laughs with a swish of his cape. "I'll take on that debt! Double or nothing!" the performer takes a moment to juggle four Poké Balls about in his hands. "And on the subject of double," he launches two of the four balls out, letting a Voltorb and Magmar take to the field. "How about a proper doubles match while we're at it? Unless you don't think you have the coordination for it?"
Magmar: Lv. 24
Nature: Lax
Potential: B-
Voltorb: Lv. 19
Nature: Serious
Potential: D
I grunt a 'hmph' in my throat, trying to keep the smirk down. "Alright then. Back on the field K.Rool. It seems we're not done here yet."
North of Route 35 lies the Johto region's National Park. A lush, yet carefully groomed, municipal park that is...well, it's fine I suppose.
If flower beds and the sounds of chirping Sunkern in the morning are what relaxes you then I'm not gonna judge your journey, but it's just not quite my cup of tea.
The most exciting thing that goes on is three times a week, -Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday more specifically- the park is home to the Goldenrod City sponsored National Park Bug-Catching Contest.
Despite all the capitalized letters in its title though, it's really not as big a deal as it sounds.. Unofficially Saturdays have apparently become a 'kiddie league' where parents come out to let their six year olds catch Caterpies and Tuesdays get so little foot traffic that the prizes are never anything better than an Everstone or perhaps a three pack of Great Balls.
That leaves Thursday -which coincidentally happens to be today- as the one competition a week with real prize support behind it and enough competitors for the organizers to let Pokémon like Pinsir or Scyther out into the field.
Entry fee is admittedly pretty low at 500 Poké Dollars but…eh I'm just gonna pass. There's nothing really for me to gain from it.
What's the best scenario? I miraculously come in 1st against all these long-time regulars and get to walk away with this week's Grand Prize of a Sun Stone?
A Sun Stone of all things. How many Pokémon across all regions can that even be used on? Like five? Not to mention that the only two Indigo even has access to are Bellossom and Sunflora.
'If one had to make a list of fully evolved 'mon's who've never offered anything to the competitive scene, it'd be difficult to imagine something even lower than the Sunflower Pokémon.'
A slight digging in the earth attracts my notice and I smile at a Nincada that pokes its head out at me, vibrating its whisker-like antennas curiously at what it no doubt thought was the feeling of a fellow Ground-type.
"Sorry little guy," I kneel down to scratch under his chin with one finger. "No new Pokémon here. Just little old me."
Relations with Kalos may be shaky -which is putting things kindly-, and Sinnoh is hardcore xenophobic isolationist, but Hoenn is a long standing ally. Trade is regular. Inter-region passports are easy to get, and our respective Elite Four's regularly travel to the other for exhibition matches. It doesn't surprise me that some Gen III Bug's may have found their way here. I doubt any imported Volbeat or Illumise will ever make the leaderboard of this weekly contest but it doesn't change the fact that they are out here.
'That does remind me. We need to find time to detour to Hoenn at some point. Just a trip long enough to pick up a decent Baltoy. A teleporting Claydol would round out the team nicely. Numel also exists I suppose, but without access to its Mega, the idea of Camerupt just doesn't excite me. Swampert would be good…heh who am I kidding? It'd be amazing. But friendly relations or not, every region's pretty protective of their 'starter trios'. It'd never happen.'
"Hey you!"
I turn my head towards the shout and spot a young girl, perhaps fourteen or fifteen in years of age, jogging her way up to me. "Yes?"
She finishes her sort of half-sprint and adopts a battle pose. "Are you the guy who beat that pompous idiot Irwin? The one that's always juggling and swishing around a big stupid blue cape?"
I stand, letting the Nincada bury away. "And if I am?"
A fire burns in her eyes. "I knew it! I was training for my rematch, but if you're the guy who thrashed him then that makes you my new goal post! What say you to a match, right here, right now? No items. No swaps. First to three knockouts is the winner!"
I smile. "Sure, I'm game."
"Yes!" she pumps her fist. "Let's show him what we got! Go Cubone!"
Route 36
I scowl at the back of my youngest team member.
I thought we were passed this.
He'd been doing well in our team exercises. His confidence was rising. Vlad wasn't a kind taskmaster by any measure, but I really thought that Gligar's tough love of putting him through the paces was succeeding in getting him to come out of his shell.
He'd leveled up more than a few times. He even had the courage to speak up and admonish K.Rool when he felt the Dark-type was being a little too aggressive in his dealing with opponents.
As I said, I thought we were past this.
"Shadow Punch." I ordered again.
The diminutive Ghost wavers in indecision. His hands wringing together nervously while his knob-like knees seem to almost shake beneath him. Meanwhile the wild Yanma across from us buzzes threateningly, warning violence should we come any closer.
"Simon!" I snap, shouting his name out as 'sea-moan', an homage to the man he's named after. "I said! Shadow Punch!"
The blue golem-like Pokémon glances back at me, his entire being radiating uncertainty, anxiety, though when he turns back to the Bug, his fist does flare with the purple smoke of Ghost energy.
Yanma snaps forward with a Quick Attack! "Gol! Gol!" Simon yelps in a panic, losing his grasp on the attack and kneeling into a ball with his head in his hands. The white streak slams into him center-mass…and then simply passes through as though it were empty space.
"Ya?" The Bug tilts its head, a bit confused as to what just happened. It doesn't let the feeling last though, choosing instead to reorient itself and simply switch targets. That is, focusing on me rather than the Ghost it missed.. "Yanma!"
I raise an unimpressed eyebrow at the dragonfly Pokémon zooming my way with harmful intent. It's certainly an aggressive little bugger. Pun somewhat intended. With an almost casualness to the action, Vlad drops down from my shoulder to intercept and KO's the Lv.12 Bug with a single bonk to its head.
"Ya.." Its eyes turn to swirls. "Yan..ma.." it exclaims weakly before drifting slightly to the left and passing out in the long grass.
I sigh. "Simon, come here."
The Golett doesn't move. He's standing in the center of the path with his head hanging low. He knows he's disappointed me, but more than that I think he's disappointed himself.
My voice softens. "Simon, it's okay buddy. Just come here." With slow trudging footsteps the Ghost/Ground type shuffles his way over to my legs, his face downcast the entire time. "Gol.." he whines, pressing up against my side once he gets there.
"It's alright buddy. You did fine." I whisper to the saddened Pokémon, rubbing my hand comfortingly along his head. "We'll keep working on it. You'll get 'em next time, okay?"
"Gol.." he nods along sadly.
Golett: Lv. 33
Nature: Timid
Potential: S
I've witnessed over a dozen tournaments. I've been in the crowd for expedition fights between real Elites. I've had at least two hundred trainer battles myself, and I must have seen thousands of Pokémon in the wild.
Out of every single one of them, Simon alone has had S rank potential. Until I encountered him, I legitimately thought 'A' was the top of the pyramid. 'S' was only something I playfully mused to myself about existing among the Legendaries. Even Lance's strongest Dragonite, whom I briefly put eyes on during a publicity stunt at last year's Silver Conference, doesn't crest beyond A+ territory.
'Level 33 already. He's outpacing K.Rool despite not even battling. I know I've theorized rank affects growth speed but that's more than a little outrageous.'
"Gli! Gli!" Vlad's call brings me out of my thoughts. I follow his gestured claw and see a veritable horde of Yanma buzzing from the treeline. Dozens if not hundreds of them.
They do not look pleased.
'Tch. And I thought Yanma were supposed to be rare around here… it must be a swarm. Damn it! Aren't they supposed to issue public warnings when stuff like this happens!'
"Vlad, go nuts! Sow chaos in their ranks until they back off!" I bark, something which my little hellbat throws himself into with devious glee. "Everyone else, we're on defense!" Three Pokéballs snap open from my belt. "Take down anything that gets close. Maximum prejudice!"
Route 37, Just South of Ecruteak City
Okay, surely there's a joke in here somewhere. There has to be.
This is essentially the only place in Johto where one can regularly find herds of Stantler. Sure, occasionally you'll see a lone male who has wandered away, striking out on its own in some other part of the region, but for the most part this is the place.
The only person currently here besides myself, is a lone psychic by the name of 'Nathan' who's doing some one on one training with his only Pokémon, a Girafarig.
Girafarig is a Normal/Psychic type, and until I think Gen VI with the introduction of Oranguru, it was the Normal/Psychic type. The only one in the Pokédex.
What is unknown to Nathan -who I want to say as an aside keeps trying to smugly impress me with his ability to levitate pebbles- is that not only do both Girafarig and Stantler have secret evolutions that the people of Johto are ignorant of, but Stantler even evolves into a Normal/Psychic type!
I'm watching this unevolved giraffe take down Stantler after Stantler, its trainer boasting about his "amazing" psychic talent all the while, and I just. Can't. Think. Of. A. Joke.
A sharp rustling at the forest's edge whirls me around, 'And that damn Sudowoodo is still stalking me!'. It's not even doing a good job of it! It's playing by red light/green light rules and just freezes in place whenever I put eyes on it.
"What! What do you want!" I shout at the Rock-type for what has to be the fourth time. "A battle? Do you want to be captured? Are you looking for a Berry handout, what!"
The 'mon stays perfectly silent. A devoted actor to its craft. Posing among the brush as if saying 'Silly human. There is no Pokémon here. I am a tree. Trees cannot answer you. Trees cannot even speak. And that is what I am. A tree. Perhaps were I not a tree, we might converse, maybe even share a dialogue. But alas, tis not to be. For I am now, and unfortunately always have been, just a tree.'
A hand runs over my face in exasperation. "...I swear to that damn llama god if you come into my tent while I'm sleeping then I'm gonna have Grundy chuck you across the nearest mountain."
The tree does not respond.
For it is a tree.
And trees cannot speak.
Route 35, North of Goldenrod City
"Come on Marill! Get up and let's hit him with Bubblebeam!"
Marill: Lv. 18
Nature: Hasty
Potential: C-
The blue mouse Pokémon forces itself to rise, fighting past the scuff and dirt mark injuries on its belly that really indicate it should be staying down. "Mar! Marill!" He puffs himself up, "Mar!" The stream of cerulean bubbles that jet forth from the creature are impressive for a 'mon of its stature, but unlike the pressurized blasts you see from truly high-level Water moves, these just don't have the speed behind them to matter.
I sigh. "Dig, K.Rool." The desert croc is gone in a flash, only his tail and hind legs being seen for a second through the dust cloud. "And setup twice once you're down there!" I yell after the hole in the ground. "..this trainer has no tools to counter it." I mutter a bit morosely.
'Maybe if he hadn't wasted his Diglett earlier, but the kid didn't swap it out even when it was clearly fighting above its weight class.'
You know... in the games, there's enjoyment to be had in steamrolling over junior trainers. They're Exp bags. Yeah, sure, it can sometimes be annoying if you get caught in a Picknicker's or Bug Catcher's line of sight and they just "Have to battle you now!" when really you're just trying to get to the next route over, but there was still satisfaction in crushing a foe so completely.
I can feel K.Rool's anticipation as the Hone Claws sharpens his stats. His Dark nature instinctively pleased at the notion of subjugating yet another opponent.
'Now though, it's just boring. Where's the fun to be had in fights like this? Where's the challenge?'
The young man's eyes dart around the practice field, as though every patch of dirt could be a trap, before coming to a decision and throwing his hand out. "Defense Curl, Marill! We'll take the hit and then counter point blank with a Water Gun!"
"Power Trip."
The earth splits open behind the blue mouse as a snarling K.Rool emerges with an arm shining both white and violet. A protective sheen covers the Water-type as its Defense move activates but anyone with even loose knowledge of Pokémon math could tell you it won't be enough.
Power Trip. Move: Physical. Type: Dark. Base Power: 20. Effect: This move's base power increases for every boosted stat/stage the user possesses.
One Moxie boost for KO'ing the Diglett. Two Hone Claws, each upping both Attack and Accuracy.
Five increases to base power, combined with three stages up in Attack.
Even if one assumes half damage due to Marill's secret Fairy-typing, that's rather negated by the Pokémon being so deep in the 'yellow' already.
Plus, on top of it all, there's a 50% difference in their level versus ours.
In short?
The mouse never stood a chance.
"Marill!" It cries in distress, kicking up dirt and dust as it ragdolls across the field, tumbling over itself again and again, until it lands -firmly unconscious- at its trainer's feet.
"I…I lost?" The camper mutters in disbelief. His eyes wide and unseeing, as if unable to process that his starter was handled so thoroughly. "But..but we solo'd Falkner. I…I have a Gym Badge.."
"Gli! Gli! Gli! Gli!" Vlad snickers loudly from my shoulder. "Gli! Gli! Gli! Gli!"
K.Rool stands at centerfield, a smug grin firmly plastered on his face, taunting that he wants another challenger despite everyone present knowing this match was only a 2v2.
"Well that's that then I suppose." I announce, ordering Krokorok back to my side with a gesture. "What was the agreed amount? 240?" A fairly meager sum as far as Poké Dollars goes, it's not even enough to buy a Potion, but I suppose every bit matters.
"I..I haven't.." The young man begins to say, only for a third party to suddenly burst onto the scene.
"Ha Ha!" the newcomer -dressed as someone who works in a circus- heartily laughs with a swish of his cape. "I'll take on that debt! Double or nothing!" the performer takes a moment to juggle four Poké Balls about in his hands. "And on the subject of double," he launches two of the four balls out, letting a Voltorb and Magmar take to the field. "How about a proper doubles match while we're at it? Unless you don't think you have the coordination for it?"
Magmar: Lv. 24
Nature: Lax
Potential: B-
Voltorb: Lv. 19
Nature: Serious
Potential: D
I grunt a 'hmph' in my throat, trying to keep the smirk down. "Alright then. Back on the field K.Rool. It seems we're not done here yet."
North of Route 35 lies the Johto region's National Park. A lush, yet carefully groomed, municipal park that is...well, it's fine I suppose.
If flower beds and the sounds of chirping Sunkern in the morning are what relaxes you then I'm not gonna judge your journey, but it's just not quite my cup of tea.
The most exciting thing that goes on is three times a week, -Tuesday, Thursday, and Saturday more specifically- the park is home to the Goldenrod City sponsored National Park Bug-Catching Contest.
Despite all the capitalized letters in its title though, it's really not as big a deal as it sounds.. Unofficially Saturdays have apparently become a 'kiddie league' where parents come out to let their six year olds catch Caterpies and Tuesdays get so little foot traffic that the prizes are never anything better than an Everstone or perhaps a three pack of Great Balls.
That leaves Thursday -which coincidentally happens to be today- as the one competition a week with real prize support behind it and enough competitors for the organizers to let Pokémon like Pinsir or Scyther out into the field.
Entry fee is admittedly pretty low at 500 Poké Dollars but…eh I'm just gonna pass. There's nothing really for me to gain from it.
What's the best scenario? I miraculously come in 1st against all these long-time regulars and get to walk away with this week's Grand Prize of a Sun Stone?
A Sun Stone of all things. How many Pokémon across all regions can that even be used on? Like five? Not to mention that the only two Indigo even has access to are Bellossom and Sunflora.
'If one had to make a list of fully evolved 'mon's who've never offered anything to the competitive scene, it'd be difficult to imagine something even lower than the Sunflower Pokémon.'
A slight digging in the earth attracts my notice and I smile at a Nincada that pokes its head out at me, vibrating its whisker-like antennas curiously at what it no doubt thought was the feeling of a fellow Ground-type.
"Sorry little guy," I kneel down to scratch under his chin with one finger. "No new Pokémon here. Just little old me."
Relations with Kalos may be shaky -which is putting things kindly-, and Sinnoh is hardcore xenophobic isolationist, but Hoenn is a long standing ally. Trade is regular. Inter-region passports are easy to get, and our respective Elite Four's regularly travel to the other for exhibition matches. It doesn't surprise me that some Gen III Bug's may have found their way here. I doubt any imported Volbeat or Illumise will ever make the leaderboard of this weekly contest but it doesn't change the fact that they are out here.
'That does remind me. We need to find time to detour to Hoenn at some point. Just a trip long enough to pick up a decent Baltoy. A teleporting Claydol would round out the team nicely. Numel also exists I suppose, but without access to its Mega, the idea of Camerupt just doesn't excite me. Swampert would be good…heh who am I kidding? It'd be amazing. But friendly relations or not, every region's pretty protective of their 'starter trios'. It'd never happen.'
"Hey you!"
I turn my head towards the shout and spot a young girl, perhaps fourteen or fifteen in years of age, jogging her way up to me. "Yes?"
She finishes her sort of half-sprint and adopts a battle pose. "Are you the guy who beat that pompous idiot Irwin? The one that's always juggling and swishing around a big stupid blue cape?"
I stand, letting the Nincada bury away. "And if I am?"
A fire burns in her eyes. "I knew it! I was training for my rematch, but if you're the guy who thrashed him then that makes you my new goal post! What say you to a match, right here, right now? No items. No swaps. First to three knockouts is the winner!"
I smile. "Sure, I'm game."
"Yes!" she pumps her fist. "Let's show him what we got! Go Cubone!"
Route 36
I scowl at the back of my youngest team member.
I thought we were passed this.
He'd been doing well in our team exercises. His confidence was rising. Vlad wasn't a kind taskmaster by any measure, but I really thought that Gligar's tough love of putting him through the paces was succeeding in getting him to come out of his shell.
He'd leveled up more than a few times. He even had the courage to speak up and admonish K.Rool when he felt the Dark-type was being a little too aggressive in his dealing with opponents.
As I said, I thought we were past this.
"Shadow Punch." I ordered again.
The diminutive Ghost wavers in indecision. His hands wringing together nervously while his knob-like knees seem to almost shake beneath him. Meanwhile the wild Yanma across from us buzzes threateningly, warning violence should we come any closer.
"Simon!" I snap, shouting his name out as 'sea-moan', an homage to the man he's named after. "I said! Shadow Punch!"
The blue golem-like Pokémon glances back at me, his entire being radiating uncertainty, anxiety, though when he turns back to the Bug, his fist does flare with the purple smoke of Ghost energy.
Yanma snaps forward with a Quick Attack! "Gol! Gol!" Simon yelps in a panic, losing his grasp on the attack and kneeling into a ball with his head in his hands. The white streak slams into him center-mass…and then simply passes through as though it were empty space.
"Ya?" The Bug tilts its head, a bit confused as to what just happened. It doesn't let the feeling last though, choosing instead to reorient itself and simply switch targets. That is, focusing on me rather than the Ghost it missed.. "Yanma!"
I raise an unimpressed eyebrow at the dragonfly Pokémon zooming my way with harmful intent. It's certainly an aggressive little bugger. Pun somewhat intended. With an almost casualness to the action, Vlad drops down from my shoulder to intercept and KO's the Lv.12 Bug with a single bonk to its head.
"Ya.." Its eyes turn to swirls. "Yan..ma.." it exclaims weakly before drifting slightly to the left and passing out in the long grass.
I sigh. "Simon, come here."
The Golett doesn't move. He's standing in the center of the path with his head hanging low. He knows he's disappointed me, but more than that I think he's disappointed himself.
My voice softens. "Simon, it's okay buddy. Just come here." With slow trudging footsteps the Ghost/Ground type shuffles his way over to my legs, his face downcast the entire time. "Gol.." he whines, pressing up against my side once he gets there.
"It's alright buddy. You did fine." I whisper to the saddened Pokémon, rubbing my hand comfortingly along his head. "We'll keep working on it. You'll get 'em next time, okay?"
"Gol.." he nods along sadly.
Golett: Lv. 33
Nature: Timid
Potential: S
I've witnessed over a dozen tournaments. I've been in the crowd for expedition fights between real Elites. I've had at least two hundred trainer battles myself, and I must have seen thousands of Pokémon in the wild.
Out of every single one of them, Simon alone has had S rank potential. Until I encountered him, I legitimately thought 'A' was the top of the pyramid. 'S' was only something I playfully mused to myself about existing among the Legendaries. Even Lance's strongest Dragonite, whom I briefly put eyes on during a publicity stunt at last year's Silver Conference, doesn't crest beyond A+ territory.
'Level 33 already. He's outpacing K.Rool despite not even battling. I know I've theorized rank affects growth speed but that's more than a little outrageous.'
"Gli! Gli!" Vlad's call brings me out of my thoughts. I follow his gestured claw and see a veritable horde of Yanma buzzing from the treeline. Dozens if not hundreds of them.
They do not look pleased.
'Tch. And I thought Yanma were supposed to be rare around here… it must be a swarm. Damn it! Aren't they supposed to issue public warnings when stuff like this happens!'
"Vlad, go nuts! Sow chaos in their ranks until they back off!" I bark, something which my little hellbat throws himself into with devious glee. "Everyone else, we're on defense!" Three Pokéballs snap open from my belt. "Take down anything that gets close. Maximum prejudice!"
Route 37, Just South of Ecruteak City
Okay, surely there's a joke in here somewhere. There has to be.
This is essentially the only place in Johto where one can regularly find herds of Stantler. Sure, occasionally you'll see a lone male who has wandered away, striking out on its own in some other part of the region, but for the most part this is the place.
The only person currently here besides myself, is a lone psychic by the name of 'Nathan' who's doing some one on one training with his only Pokémon, a Girafarig.
Girafarig is a Normal/Psychic type, and until I think Gen VI with the introduction of Oranguru, it was the Normal/Psychic type. The only one in the Pokédex.
What is unknown to Nathan -who I want to say as an aside keeps trying to smugly impress me with his ability to levitate pebbles- is that not only do both Girafarig and Stantler have secret evolutions that the people of Johto are ignorant of, but Stantler even evolves into a Normal/Psychic type!
I'm watching this unevolved giraffe take down Stantler after Stantler, its trainer boasting about his "amazing" psychic talent all the while, and I just. Can't. Think. Of. A. Joke.
A sharp rustling at the forest's edge whirls me around, 'And that damn Sudowoodo is still stalking me!'. It's not even doing a good job of it! It's playing by red light/green light rules and just freezes in place whenever I put eyes on it.
"What! What do you want!" I shout at the Rock-type for what has to be the fourth time. "A battle? Do you want to be captured? Are you looking for a Berry handout, what!"
The 'mon stays perfectly silent. A devoted actor to its craft. Posing among the brush as if saying 'Silly human. There is no Pokémon here. I am a tree. Trees cannot answer you. Trees cannot even speak. And that is what I am. A tree. Perhaps were I not a tree, we might converse, maybe even share a dialogue. But alas, tis not to be. For I am now, and unfortunately always have been, just a tree.'
A hand runs over my face in exasperation. "...I swear to that damn llama god if you come into my tent while I'm sleeping then I'm gonna have Grundy chuck you across the nearest mountain."
The tree does not respond.
For it is a tree.
And trees cannot speak.
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Chapter 4
LordVishnu
Not too sore, are you?
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Chapter 4
Ecruteak City Gym
There are surprisingly few rules that Gyms have to abide by when it comes to accepting challengers and the issuing of Badges. Essentially, as long as one can submit a plan to the Pokémon League about what you wanna do, how you're going to do it, and you can convince the big wigs to sign off on it, then you're basically allowed carte blanche on running your own house.
Of course, that last requirement can sometimes be a little hard to get. If you submit plans that are a bit too out there as far as the norm goes, then you won't get that magical red stamp of approval and the League starts digging into your business in a way that no one really wants to deal with.
Gym Leader Morty is a bit more hands-off than most. He's somehow convinced the League to buy off that he doesn't actually have to be present for the first and second level Badge challenges, instead delegating that responsibility to one of his Gym Trainers, an old woman in her seventies named Edith. 'Whom might I say is very entertaining to watch.'
"Oooooo spirits be with me," the grandma chants, waving two candles about in an intricate display while her white cloak flutters from an invisible wind. "Ooooo spirits, Gastly I summon thee!"
A Lv. 13 Ghost floats up through the floor, smiling mischievously from center stage. "Gaaaas! Gaaaas!" The 'mon laughs outwardly, its ethereal voice stretching across the room.
The junior trainer at the other end of the arena audibly gulps. "Y-you're not gonna scare me!" the ten year old spouts with a false bluster. "W-we got this Natu! Start off with a Leer! Just like we practiced!"
"Ooooo a curse, a curse, a Curse upon thee!" Edith intones with a spindly finger outstretched, really diving into this channeler 'character' of hers. It's easy to see that the woman just loves this part of her job.
Gastly seems to get almost struck by the command, withering into something lesser. No doubt that'd be the cutting of his own HP. Meanwhile though, something about the Natu's shadow just changed. It's difficult to put into words. It's darker somehow. More foreboding. Ominous.
At my side, Simon watches the fight with rapt attention, even if he does seem to be fretting with worry over the challenger Natu's well-being. Other than the fellow members of his own species back in Unova, today will be the first time he'll be witnessing other Ghost-types in action. There are some abilities, such as the Curse we just saw, that I doubt he'll ever be able to use 'His temperament is just too kind for it. He doesn't have a malicious bone in his body.' , but I'm holding out hope he'll at least pick up something or other about his innate type-energy.
After a few minutes a Night Shade from the small bird manages to put the Gastly down, but when Edith pulls out her next 'mon -coincidentally a second Lv. 13 Gastly- it's the Psychic type who can no longer hold on. The Curse having finally taxed it too much.
A Lv. 11 Spearow is thrown out by the junior birdkeeper to close but… it just can't get there. Smog scores an early Poison against the Normal-type and from there the Ghost just plays keep away until the fight simply ends.
"Ooooo do not cry young one," Edith plays up her character as she comforts the child, moaning and intoning as she seemingly 'attunes' with the spirit realm. "I sense much potential in you! Yes..yeeesss. You will train. Traaaaain and overcome! Ooooooo!"
The boy stifles his tears. "Do you.." he wipes his eyes with his sleeve. "Do you really think I can? That I can get a Gym Badge?"
A tap on my shoulder has me turn my head to one of the staff, a bald man dressed as a purple-clad monk clutching a set of prayer beads. "Your match is up next sir. As a reminder, at the fourth badge level you will be facing three Gym trainers back to back, each of whom will be limited to one Pokémon. Only if you surpass all three challenges will you reserve a slot to face Leader Morty."
I pop my back as I stand up. "Yeah yeah, I read the rules." Simon instinctively reaches for my hand as it hangs by my side -much like a child would his parent- and I let him grasp it. "I don't suppose Morty's in house right now is he?"
The monk nods minutely. "He is not sir. He's continuing some personal research at the Burned Tower. However, our rules do allow for you to attempt this part of the challenge without him present."
"Very well. Let's get this show on the road."
Hahaha!
Oh my god. That's hilarious!
I approve! Yes! That's how you can weed out some scrubs!
The first Gym Trainer came at me with a Misdreavus. It was a perfectly fine 'mon for a fourth level challenge and we felled it without too much difficulty. It did attempt a little trap with Destiny Bond right at the end there but a trap's not a trap if you can see it coming.
The second Gym Trainer however, strolled straight up to the podium, didn't even offer a greeting, and with all the confidence in the world…tossed out a Shedinja.
A Shedinja wearing Safety Goggles.
'And now he's just standing there. Arms crossed and offering me the first move.'
For those not in the know, let me provide the briefest explanation. Shedinja is a Bug/Ghost Pokémon who just so happens to have the lowest HP stat in existence. To compensate for this, it was gifted the most overpowered, hax, busted, 'devs pls nerf this', ability to ever grace a 'mon on the face of the planet.
Wonder Guard.
An ability that states that all moves used on this Pokémon that aren't Super-Effective shall have no effect.
If you face a Shedinja and your roster just doesn't have a way to counter it…then you lose. It'll probably boost its stats with a few setup moves like Swords Dance and then proceed to sweep you. You'll be powerless to do anything about it.
As for the Safety Goggles, well that's just this man being a little cheeky. It's a Held Item that gives the wearer immunity to weather effects. I employed Sandstorm in the first fight and this trainer wants to see if I can get past him without using that little loophole in Shedinja's vulnerability.
'I appreciate that Morty's put an obstacle like this in his Gym's lineup. It's important that less experienced trainers learn that they have to be knowledgeable about all Pokémon, not just the ones on their own teams.'
Unfortunately for Mr. Gym Trainer over there, he has chosen the absolute worst opponent to try this tactic on.
You see, most Pokémon... don't actually have a lot of type coverage in their arsenals. Water Pokémon mostly learn Water moves. They might have an Ice move mixed in. Or maybe a Dark or a Fighting one. And of course just about everything has access to some of the more basic Normal attacks.
But for the most part? For the most part they just learn attacks belonging to their intrinsic types. You can reasonably expect a Grass/Poison type that you're facing off against to stick to Grass and Poison moves.
In this aspect, the Gligar/Gliscor family are freaks. Preternatural experts of type-energy manipulation. So long as it comes with the caveat of the move being used to bite or smash an opponent's face in, there's almost nothing they can't do.
You want Fighting? There's both Brick Break and Sky Uppercut in their pool. Poison more your speed? Would you prefer it in Sting, Tail, Jab, or Cross Poison variety? Steel? How does Metal Claw sound? You might even raise your Attack stat while you're at it.
Night Slash. X-Scissor. Crabhammer. All the elemental Fang attacks including the Psychic one. The list just goes on. The Gligar family has access to heavy damage dealing moves of every single Type on the chart with the three notable exceptions of Grass, Ghost, and Fairy. And frankly, I'm in the camp that believes that those are only still outstanding because no one's tried to teach any to a Gligar yet.
Speaking of which, if you can keep a secret, just between you and me?
We've been working on Power Whip.
Don't tell Prof. Oak.
"Up to you Vlad." I say with a grin. "Though I'd say pen it in with Rock Tomb and then an Acrobatics or Fire Fang if it tries to escape."
"Gligar!"
Ecruteak Dance Theater, Nighttime
I bring the small saucer to my lips and sip at the…well it's not sake, but it's definitely some type of rice-based alcohol. Either way, the warmth it puts in my throat is a welcome way to end the evening.
The third match had been a rather straightforward one. Haunter Vs Krokorok. The ability Levitate protected from a lot of our long distance options, though honestly on this particular matchup, up close and personal was the preferred method anyway. 'The physical Defense of the Gengar-line is one of the worst in the region. Their immunity to Normal and Fighting often leads to overconfidence.'
Even so though, there had been a chance right at the end there for it all to go sour.. Paralysis was inflicted by a Lick -which also happened to be a crit- and for a second I thought I was about to be the victim of good ol' classic RNG. Luckily though, K.Rool managed to push through and land a doubled base power Payback right after that managed to close things out.
I swirl my drink around in the dish. 'Sometimes, this stuff really does just come down to luck.'
Up on the stage the iconic 'Five Kimono Girls' are going through one of their routines. I haven't been paying too much attention to the plot but I believe the play's a tragedy. A classic 'doomed lovers never to be' type thing. There's some practical stage effects that I'd conservatively label as 'impressive' but the real work is coming from the girls' 'Eeveelutions' off screen.
Jolteon's Pin Missile combined with Flareon's Ember to indicate a manor being attacked by flaming arrows.
Umbreon's Moonlight and Vaporeon's Aurora Beam to create a winter night for the protagonist to weep at her window from.
Espeon doing the heavy work by psychically shifting one item here or another over there.
I smile into my drink. 'And those Hoenn Contest kiddies think they're all hot shit. I'd like to see them try and pull that 'grace and beauty' nonsense against competition like this.'
"Mind if I join you?"
I tilt my head back to see the local big boss himself gesturing at the cushion next to me. Morty is a blond man dressed in black and purples with an admittedly pretty sick scarf draped down over one side of his chest. His eyes are half-lidded, and while that's usually meant to represent desire or perhaps exhaustion, on the Ghost specialist it is more a sign that the man is supremely relaxed.
Just totally at zen with the world around him.
"Please, go ahead." I offer, pouring him a small drink myself from one of the spare dishes. "Come to scope out your next challenger?"
The man hums mildly. "Not really the words I'd use. Just wanted to pop my head in." The Gym Leader takes a seat and leans back on his hands. From within his shirt an unusually small Shuppet pokes its head out, "Shu? Shup shu?" The newborn Ghost peers my way, staring at me with wide innocent eyes…and then proceeds to blow a raspberry right at my face.
"Gah!" My arm goes up to shield and the Gym Leaders laughs in a manner too carefree. "Be nice," he gently chides to the 'mon, scratching the top of it's head with one finger and pushing it back down. "Miki seems to like you."
"Is that so?" I snark, wiping a few bits of spittle away from my cheek. "Could've fooled me."
The Gym Leader laughs again. "No, not Shuppet." His head gestures to the stage. "Up there. The one in the red."
Turning my head I look more closely at the Kimono Girl in question, the owner of Flareon if I'm not mistaken. It's pretty subtle…but yes. I suppose she does keep glancing this way. Inspecting the audience right where I'm sitting.
'Nice.' "Think I should do anything about it?"
"Up to you." Morty shrugs. "She burns pretty hot so don't expect anything to last. Goes through men like she's changing clothes. Some fellas like that level of passion though. Something about how a flame's only beautiful because it's fleeting."
'Hm.' I mull over the idea. "Nah. I prefer my women a bit more cold. It's so much more satisfying when you finally thaw them out, make your way past that stern veneer and see a side that's only reserved for you, wouldn't you say?"
For a while there's a bit of companionable silence. Just two dudes sitting comfortably in a dim room, watching pretty girls dance on stage while accompanying music plays in the background.
It was definitely a lot classier now than the times where that had happened back in my first world.
"I'm a little worried about our match tomorrow." I eventually admit after some time.
Morty doesn't outwardly react. "Don't think your team can cut it? My people said you did rather well today."
I shake my head. "It's not that. I'm more afraid -and I'm really sorry as this is about to sound pompous and arrogant as hell- I'm more afraid for the Gym's Pokémon." When Morty's eyebrows screw up I rush to continue, "My greatest weakness as a trainer right now is that my team is atrociously unbalanced. K.Rool, my Krokorok, is really the only one of my five right now who you'd label at about a 'fourth level' contender. And while he's great, -really he is- I'm pretty doubtful he could take on the entire team you'll be fielding."
My hand comes down to rest over Gligar's Pokéball, a home he only ever resides in while he's sleeping. "If K.Rool falls then I've got to go to Vlad. He's the only one I could say has my 100% trust for something like this. He's got all the control he'll ever need and in regards to power he's a 'mon I'd be comfortable taking to the Silver Conference right now. If I had to make a prediction for our match tomorrow, I'd say K.Rool takes it as far as he can and then Vlad brings it home."
Fingers move from Pokéball to Great Ball. "The problem begins if for some reason Vlad falters. Ma Ma, my Ursaring… she listens to me most of the time. She always listens when she's calm. But there have been moments. Times where her blood gets up or Guts activates when we weren't expecting it and.. And if that happens I'll be forced to withdraw her. If not it would only take one critical hit Night Slash to… to do something a trip to the Poké Center can't undo. Then finally there's my ace, Grundy. And no. Just no. He can't come out when you'll only be fielding fourth badge Pokémon. I can't allow that to happen. Ma Ma's got a temper issue, but Grundy, he likes violence. He loves it."
"Grundy?" He questions the name.
I grunt under my breath. "A little joke to myself. First saw him on a Monday. Caught him on a Tuesday. It..it would take too long to explain, don't worry about it."
The Gym Leader hums thoughtfully, digesting the information. "Has he always been that way? Outside of Dragon-types or certain species like Gyarados, that type of aggression is pretty uncommon."
"When I first encountered him a year ago he was goring a rival Nidorino. Used his heavier weight to get the belly exposed, pinned him down and then…" I trail off as the mental image paints itself.
Morty frowns, finally taking a sip of his own drink that I poured earlier. "Was it mating season? When Nidorino's enter their yearly rut, their hormone levels can sometimes-"
"He was only a Nidoran at the time." I cut him off, letting the implications of that statement hang in the air.
'I sometimes wonder if I bit off more than I could chew with him. It was just so shocking to see a real 'Alpha Pokémon'. They're more rare than shinies here. I had to catch it.'
"That's only four." Morty eventually notes. "Earlier you mentioned five. And on your belt I count six. Does that Net Ball not have anything in it?"
"No, that's.." I grimace, swallowing uncomfortably. "That's a Quagsire. I don't…I don't really want to talk about him right now. Suffice to say he can't be used for battling."
Morty raises an eyebrow. "Just 'a Quagsire'? No nickname like the others?"
"Just Quagsire." I confirm. "If you have to know, I'm sure you can find the incident in the League's database somewhere." I sigh tiredly. "Your Gym Leader permissions should have access to it."
The man thankfully lets the subject drop. "So then that just leaves your Golett then. The one I heard watched with you in the audience today. Why does he not count?"
"You know his species?" I ask.
"I share an online correspondence with Shauntal, one of the Elite Four over in Unova." Morty admits. "There's not many of us Ghost specialists out there. It's nice to speak to someone that.." he searches for the right words. "..isn't Agatha."
I lower my head to hide my smirk. 'You go Morty. Go for the 'qt goth gf'. I believe in you.' "Well regardless of how you know, using Simon is a non-starter. He's even stronger than K.Rool, but he has no confidence. I couldn't even get him to battle a wild Yanma a few days ago. He just tucked his head in and hid. I'm..honestly at a bit of a loss at what to do with him. He does fine when we team train. It's just when he's against someone unfamiliar that he…" I end the sentence short, going back to sipping at my drink.
Morty turns his head up toward the ceiling, seemingly looking at something no one else can see, and then chuckles just once. "You know, most trainers we see going through the Gym circuit have 'maybe one, sometimes two' issues that they need to work on with their teams. More so, that friction is usually caused by certain types not getting along. Fire and Water as a basic example. It's an odd thing to see a type specialist with a full roster of problems."
"Well gee," I snort, "Thanks for the words of confidence." I side-eye a mild glare at the man. "And it's not the full roster. I have no issues with Vlad and K.Rool." A single errant drop of alcohol hits the table as I empty the last of the tokkuri bottle into my dish. "..overly arrogant little shithead that the latter may be sometimes." I add under my breath.
Morty smiles at that, and chooses to climb back to his feet. "Don't worry about any of my team members tomorrow." his hand clasps my shoulder. "I use the same general group for both the fourth and fifth challenge level so they're likely a little tougher than you're imagining. We can handle an opponent getting a little rowdy if need be." His fingers tighten just slightly. "And use that Golett against my last Pokémon tomorrow." he almost orders. "I bet I can get the little guy what he needs."
Ecruteak City Gym
There are surprisingly few rules that Gyms have to abide by when it comes to accepting challengers and the issuing of Badges. Essentially, as long as one can submit a plan to the Pokémon League about what you wanna do, how you're going to do it, and you can convince the big wigs to sign off on it, then you're basically allowed carte blanche on running your own house.
Of course, that last requirement can sometimes be a little hard to get. If you submit plans that are a bit too out there as far as the norm goes, then you won't get that magical red stamp of approval and the League starts digging into your business in a way that no one really wants to deal with.
Gym Leader Morty is a bit more hands-off than most. He's somehow convinced the League to buy off that he doesn't actually have to be present for the first and second level Badge challenges, instead delegating that responsibility to one of his Gym Trainers, an old woman in her seventies named Edith. 'Whom might I say is very entertaining to watch.'
"Oooooo spirits be with me," the grandma chants, waving two candles about in an intricate display while her white cloak flutters from an invisible wind. "Ooooo spirits, Gastly I summon thee!"
A Lv. 13 Ghost floats up through the floor, smiling mischievously from center stage. "Gaaaas! Gaaaas!" The 'mon laughs outwardly, its ethereal voice stretching across the room.
The junior trainer at the other end of the arena audibly gulps. "Y-you're not gonna scare me!" the ten year old spouts with a false bluster. "W-we got this Natu! Start off with a Leer! Just like we practiced!"
"Ooooo a curse, a curse, a Curse upon thee!" Edith intones with a spindly finger outstretched, really diving into this channeler 'character' of hers. It's easy to see that the woman just loves this part of her job.
Gastly seems to get almost struck by the command, withering into something lesser. No doubt that'd be the cutting of his own HP. Meanwhile though, something about the Natu's shadow just changed. It's difficult to put into words. It's darker somehow. More foreboding. Ominous.
At my side, Simon watches the fight with rapt attention, even if he does seem to be fretting with worry over the challenger Natu's well-being. Other than the fellow members of his own species back in Unova, today will be the first time he'll be witnessing other Ghost-types in action. There are some abilities, such as the Curse we just saw, that I doubt he'll ever be able to use 'His temperament is just too kind for it. He doesn't have a malicious bone in his body.' , but I'm holding out hope he'll at least pick up something or other about his innate type-energy.
After a few minutes a Night Shade from the small bird manages to put the Gastly down, but when Edith pulls out her next 'mon -coincidentally a second Lv. 13 Gastly- it's the Psychic type who can no longer hold on. The Curse having finally taxed it too much.
A Lv. 11 Spearow is thrown out by the junior birdkeeper to close but… it just can't get there. Smog scores an early Poison against the Normal-type and from there the Ghost just plays keep away until the fight simply ends.
"Ooooo do not cry young one," Edith plays up her character as she comforts the child, moaning and intoning as she seemingly 'attunes' with the spirit realm. "I sense much potential in you! Yes..yeeesss. You will train. Traaaaain and overcome! Ooooooo!"
The boy stifles his tears. "Do you.." he wipes his eyes with his sleeve. "Do you really think I can? That I can get a Gym Badge?"
A tap on my shoulder has me turn my head to one of the staff, a bald man dressed as a purple-clad monk clutching a set of prayer beads. "Your match is up next sir. As a reminder, at the fourth badge level you will be facing three Gym trainers back to back, each of whom will be limited to one Pokémon. Only if you surpass all three challenges will you reserve a slot to face Leader Morty."
I pop my back as I stand up. "Yeah yeah, I read the rules." Simon instinctively reaches for my hand as it hangs by my side -much like a child would his parent- and I let him grasp it. "I don't suppose Morty's in house right now is he?"
The monk nods minutely. "He is not sir. He's continuing some personal research at the Burned Tower. However, our rules do allow for you to attempt this part of the challenge without him present."
"Very well. Let's get this show on the road."
Hahaha!
Oh my god. That's hilarious!
I approve! Yes! That's how you can weed out some scrubs!
The first Gym Trainer came at me with a Misdreavus. It was a perfectly fine 'mon for a fourth level challenge and we felled it without too much difficulty. It did attempt a little trap with Destiny Bond right at the end there but a trap's not a trap if you can see it coming.
The second Gym Trainer however, strolled straight up to the podium, didn't even offer a greeting, and with all the confidence in the world…tossed out a Shedinja.
A Shedinja wearing Safety Goggles.
'And now he's just standing there. Arms crossed and offering me the first move.'
For those not in the know, let me provide the briefest explanation. Shedinja is a Bug/Ghost Pokémon who just so happens to have the lowest HP stat in existence. To compensate for this, it was gifted the most overpowered, hax, busted, 'devs pls nerf this', ability to ever grace a 'mon on the face of the planet.
Wonder Guard.
An ability that states that all moves used on this Pokémon that aren't Super-Effective shall have no effect.
If you face a Shedinja and your roster just doesn't have a way to counter it…then you lose. It'll probably boost its stats with a few setup moves like Swords Dance and then proceed to sweep you. You'll be powerless to do anything about it.
As for the Safety Goggles, well that's just this man being a little cheeky. It's a Held Item that gives the wearer immunity to weather effects. I employed Sandstorm in the first fight and this trainer wants to see if I can get past him without using that little loophole in Shedinja's vulnerability.
'I appreciate that Morty's put an obstacle like this in his Gym's lineup. It's important that less experienced trainers learn that they have to be knowledgeable about all Pokémon, not just the ones on their own teams.'
Unfortunately for Mr. Gym Trainer over there, he has chosen the absolute worst opponent to try this tactic on.
You see, most Pokémon... don't actually have a lot of type coverage in their arsenals. Water Pokémon mostly learn Water moves. They might have an Ice move mixed in. Or maybe a Dark or a Fighting one. And of course just about everything has access to some of the more basic Normal attacks.
But for the most part? For the most part they just learn attacks belonging to their intrinsic types. You can reasonably expect a Grass/Poison type that you're facing off against to stick to Grass and Poison moves.
In this aspect, the Gligar/Gliscor family are freaks. Preternatural experts of type-energy manipulation. So long as it comes with the caveat of the move being used to bite or smash an opponent's face in, there's almost nothing they can't do.
You want Fighting? There's both Brick Break and Sky Uppercut in their pool. Poison more your speed? Would you prefer it in Sting, Tail, Jab, or Cross Poison variety? Steel? How does Metal Claw sound? You might even raise your Attack stat while you're at it.
Night Slash. X-Scissor. Crabhammer. All the elemental Fang attacks including the Psychic one. The list just goes on. The Gligar family has access to heavy damage dealing moves of every single Type on the chart with the three notable exceptions of Grass, Ghost, and Fairy. And frankly, I'm in the camp that believes that those are only still outstanding because no one's tried to teach any to a Gligar yet.
Speaking of which, if you can keep a secret, just between you and me?
We've been working on Power Whip.
Don't tell Prof. Oak.
"Up to you Vlad." I say with a grin. "Though I'd say pen it in with Rock Tomb and then an Acrobatics or Fire Fang if it tries to escape."
"Gligar!"
Ecruteak Dance Theater, Nighttime
I bring the small saucer to my lips and sip at the…well it's not sake, but it's definitely some type of rice-based alcohol. Either way, the warmth it puts in my throat is a welcome way to end the evening.
The third match had been a rather straightforward one. Haunter Vs Krokorok. The ability Levitate protected from a lot of our long distance options, though honestly on this particular matchup, up close and personal was the preferred method anyway. 'The physical Defense of the Gengar-line is one of the worst in the region. Their immunity to Normal and Fighting often leads to overconfidence.'
Even so though, there had been a chance right at the end there for it all to go sour.. Paralysis was inflicted by a Lick -which also happened to be a crit- and for a second I thought I was about to be the victim of good ol' classic RNG. Luckily though, K.Rool managed to push through and land a doubled base power Payback right after that managed to close things out.
I swirl my drink around in the dish. 'Sometimes, this stuff really does just come down to luck.'
Up on the stage the iconic 'Five Kimono Girls' are going through one of their routines. I haven't been paying too much attention to the plot but I believe the play's a tragedy. A classic 'doomed lovers never to be' type thing. There's some practical stage effects that I'd conservatively label as 'impressive' but the real work is coming from the girls' 'Eeveelutions' off screen.
Jolteon's Pin Missile combined with Flareon's Ember to indicate a manor being attacked by flaming arrows.
Umbreon's Moonlight and Vaporeon's Aurora Beam to create a winter night for the protagonist to weep at her window from.
Espeon doing the heavy work by psychically shifting one item here or another over there.
I smile into my drink. 'And those Hoenn Contest kiddies think they're all hot shit. I'd like to see them try and pull that 'grace and beauty' nonsense against competition like this.'
"Mind if I join you?"
I tilt my head back to see the local big boss himself gesturing at the cushion next to me. Morty is a blond man dressed in black and purples with an admittedly pretty sick scarf draped down over one side of his chest. His eyes are half-lidded, and while that's usually meant to represent desire or perhaps exhaustion, on the Ghost specialist it is more a sign that the man is supremely relaxed.
Just totally at zen with the world around him.
"Please, go ahead." I offer, pouring him a small drink myself from one of the spare dishes. "Come to scope out your next challenger?"
The man hums mildly. "Not really the words I'd use. Just wanted to pop my head in." The Gym Leader takes a seat and leans back on his hands. From within his shirt an unusually small Shuppet pokes its head out, "Shu? Shup shu?" The newborn Ghost peers my way, staring at me with wide innocent eyes…and then proceeds to blow a raspberry right at my face.
"Gah!" My arm goes up to shield and the Gym Leaders laughs in a manner too carefree. "Be nice," he gently chides to the 'mon, scratching the top of it's head with one finger and pushing it back down. "Miki seems to like you."
"Is that so?" I snark, wiping a few bits of spittle away from my cheek. "Could've fooled me."
The Gym Leader laughs again. "No, not Shuppet." His head gestures to the stage. "Up there. The one in the red."
Turning my head I look more closely at the Kimono Girl in question, the owner of Flareon if I'm not mistaken. It's pretty subtle…but yes. I suppose she does keep glancing this way. Inspecting the audience right where I'm sitting.
'Nice.' "Think I should do anything about it?"
"Up to you." Morty shrugs. "She burns pretty hot so don't expect anything to last. Goes through men like she's changing clothes. Some fellas like that level of passion though. Something about how a flame's only beautiful because it's fleeting."
'Hm.' I mull over the idea. "Nah. I prefer my women a bit more cold. It's so much more satisfying when you finally thaw them out, make your way past that stern veneer and see a side that's only reserved for you, wouldn't you say?"
For a while there's a bit of companionable silence. Just two dudes sitting comfortably in a dim room, watching pretty girls dance on stage while accompanying music plays in the background.
It was definitely a lot classier now than the times where that had happened back in my first world.
"I'm a little worried about our match tomorrow." I eventually admit after some time.
Morty doesn't outwardly react. "Don't think your team can cut it? My people said you did rather well today."
I shake my head. "It's not that. I'm more afraid -and I'm really sorry as this is about to sound pompous and arrogant as hell- I'm more afraid for the Gym's Pokémon." When Morty's eyebrows screw up I rush to continue, "My greatest weakness as a trainer right now is that my team is atrociously unbalanced. K.Rool, my Krokorok, is really the only one of my five right now who you'd label at about a 'fourth level' contender. And while he's great, -really he is- I'm pretty doubtful he could take on the entire team you'll be fielding."
My hand comes down to rest over Gligar's Pokéball, a home he only ever resides in while he's sleeping. "If K.Rool falls then I've got to go to Vlad. He's the only one I could say has my 100% trust for something like this. He's got all the control he'll ever need and in regards to power he's a 'mon I'd be comfortable taking to the Silver Conference right now. If I had to make a prediction for our match tomorrow, I'd say K.Rool takes it as far as he can and then Vlad brings it home."
Fingers move from Pokéball to Great Ball. "The problem begins if for some reason Vlad falters. Ma Ma, my Ursaring… she listens to me most of the time. She always listens when she's calm. But there have been moments. Times where her blood gets up or Guts activates when we weren't expecting it and.. And if that happens I'll be forced to withdraw her. If not it would only take one critical hit Night Slash to… to do something a trip to the Poké Center can't undo. Then finally there's my ace, Grundy. And no. Just no. He can't come out when you'll only be fielding fourth badge Pokémon. I can't allow that to happen. Ma Ma's got a temper issue, but Grundy, he likes violence. He loves it."
"Grundy?" He questions the name.
I grunt under my breath. "A little joke to myself. First saw him on a Monday. Caught him on a Tuesday. It..it would take too long to explain, don't worry about it."
The Gym Leader hums thoughtfully, digesting the information. "Has he always been that way? Outside of Dragon-types or certain species like Gyarados, that type of aggression is pretty uncommon."
"When I first encountered him a year ago he was goring a rival Nidorino. Used his heavier weight to get the belly exposed, pinned him down and then…" I trail off as the mental image paints itself.
Morty frowns, finally taking a sip of his own drink that I poured earlier. "Was it mating season? When Nidorino's enter their yearly rut, their hormone levels can sometimes-"
"He was only a Nidoran at the time." I cut him off, letting the implications of that statement hang in the air.
'I sometimes wonder if I bit off more than I could chew with him. It was just so shocking to see a real 'Alpha Pokémon'. They're more rare than shinies here. I had to catch it.'
"That's only four." Morty eventually notes. "Earlier you mentioned five. And on your belt I count six. Does that Net Ball not have anything in it?"
"No, that's.." I grimace, swallowing uncomfortably. "That's a Quagsire. I don't…I don't really want to talk about him right now. Suffice to say he can't be used for battling."
Morty raises an eyebrow. "Just 'a Quagsire'? No nickname like the others?"
"Just Quagsire." I confirm. "If you have to know, I'm sure you can find the incident in the League's database somewhere." I sigh tiredly. "Your Gym Leader permissions should have access to it."
The man thankfully lets the subject drop. "So then that just leaves your Golett then. The one I heard watched with you in the audience today. Why does he not count?"
"You know his species?" I ask.
"I share an online correspondence with Shauntal, one of the Elite Four over in Unova." Morty admits. "There's not many of us Ghost specialists out there. It's nice to speak to someone that.." he searches for the right words. "..isn't Agatha."
I lower my head to hide my smirk. 'You go Morty. Go for the 'qt goth gf'. I believe in you.' "Well regardless of how you know, using Simon is a non-starter. He's even stronger than K.Rool, but he has no confidence. I couldn't even get him to battle a wild Yanma a few days ago. He just tucked his head in and hid. I'm..honestly at a bit of a loss at what to do with him. He does fine when we team train. It's just when he's against someone unfamiliar that he…" I end the sentence short, going back to sipping at my drink.
Morty turns his head up toward the ceiling, seemingly looking at something no one else can see, and then chuckles just once. "You know, most trainers we see going through the Gym circuit have 'maybe one, sometimes two' issues that they need to work on with their teams. More so, that friction is usually caused by certain types not getting along. Fire and Water as a basic example. It's an odd thing to see a type specialist with a full roster of problems."
"Well gee," I snort, "Thanks for the words of confidence." I side-eye a mild glare at the man. "And it's not the full roster. I have no issues with Vlad and K.Rool." A single errant drop of alcohol hits the table as I empty the last of the tokkuri bottle into my dish. "..overly arrogant little shithead that the latter may be sometimes." I add under my breath.
Morty smiles at that, and chooses to climb back to his feet. "Don't worry about any of my team members tomorrow." his hand clasps my shoulder. "I use the same general group for both the fourth and fifth challenge level so they're likely a little tougher than you're imagining. We can handle an opponent getting a little rowdy if need be." His fingers tighten just slightly. "And use that Golett against my last Pokémon tomorrow." he almost orders. "I bet I can get the little guy what he needs."
Dberserker
Making the rounds.
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Nice
TMTMTM
Directed by Dick Wolf
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Really excellent writing as always, it might be a fairly simple premise but it's always really nice to see different people's takes on it. Pokemon really is just an evergreen setting for any number of stories and narratives.
ThunderBasilisk
Well Worn Bastion
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Oh my god ive been waiting for this! A Ground Specialist! My favorite Type! And you have one of the Sandile line! Also love the direction you taking the Peat Block. And speaking of given Ma Mas temperament does that mean we might see her evolve into the BM variant? Normally id say let her become the regular form and catch the BM in Kitakami but given the tone of this story I dont think keep two of that line on the same teams a good idea. Also any plans to head to Sunburst Island to catch the Crystal Onix? Would probably make for a powerful and unique Steelix.
LordVishnu
Not too sore, are you?
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I did briefly consider it but overall I doubt I'll go in that direction. The BM variant strikes me as something too unique. A random mutation. It would stretch disbelief for MC to recreate it.
My knowledge of anime-only things is really quite limited. Just half-remembered episodes of the original season from my childhood. And while yes, I do remember Crystal Onix, I think I'm going to try and stick to - and expand - the game universe rather than introduce events/locales from the show. I just don't know enough to want to open that genie's bottle.
ThunderBasilisk
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I mean id only consider it unique cause nobody else has ever evolved an Ursaring during a Blood Moon(Total Lunar Eclipse) since im pretty sure thats the only requirement. It seems to be so rare cause of three things. That being its a lost evolution, it requires a special item(Peat Block), and people just never tried to evolve one during a Blood Moon. Likely thinking it wouldnt work. Still though does that mean you might swing by Kitakami and grab the BM thats there?
LordVishnu
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Doubtful. While I've kept 'loosely' in touch with what's competitive, I haven't actually played the Gen 8 or 9 games. (Except Legends Arceus, but that hardly counts.) So I probably won't use them much.
I picked Indigo as the setting because it's obviously the one with which most people are familiar. More than that, I feel I've already played the "character going to foreign region" card by having the Unova trip built into his background. If we start bouncing around the world map willy-nilly then I feel like the story will lose itself. Travel to other regions will be treated as a big deal, not a sidequest to pick up one or two Pokemon.
ThunderBasilisk
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He wouldnt be going to a new region since Kitakami is considered to be right next to Johto. North of Ecreteak of we take its IRL counterpart into consideration. Also im pretty sure Gible are found there to.
Zeroguard
Eater of M&M's
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Actually a bit surprised he didn't pick up a mon' from the Seismitoad-line considering he went to Unova and his Quagsire is apparently such an issue, maybe he's still working and thinks he can make it cooperative at some point?
Pretty cool so far and looking forward to more chapters, really curious what he decides his end 'goal' is. Right now its obviously just that he's working on taking the mediocre life he was handed with lots of potential and actually realizing that potential. Only real stated goal is to win the Silver conference and get back into Lorelei's bed sheets which are nice but I'd like to see whats actually driving him. For now though there's a lot of groundwork being laid.
Pretty cool so far and looking forward to more chapters, really curious what he decides his end 'goal' is. Right now its obviously just that he's working on taking the mediocre life he was handed with lots of potential and actually realizing that potential. Only real stated goal is to win the Silver conference and get back into Lorelei's bed sheets which are nice but I'd like to see whats actually driving him. For now though there's a lot of groundwork being laid.
Go_Magikarp
Hungry
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What an ominous quagsire.
ThunderBasilisk
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Might not have been able to reach their area in time or didnt find one with a potential that was good enough.
The8BitzySpider
Not too sore, are you?
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This is really good!
The-Anti-Akuma
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Hype! Sad that the James SI never went anywhere, glad to see another Pokemon story from you.
Arkon
Arkon
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Nice, was expecting the guy that was dropped off in Pallet when you first said you are writing a Pokemon fic.
I think this is a mistake.
I think this is a mistake.
Artful Lounger
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He clearly got better.
That said, looking forward to more of this. Will canon characters like Ash be showing up or no?
That said, looking forward to more of this. Will canon characters like Ash be showing up or no?
Zeroguard
Eater of M&M's
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Vishnu said he was planning to focus on game lore rather than anime lore, it can happen but seems unlikely atm.
LordVishnu
Not too sore, are you?
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Oh snap. You right. My first revision had MC see abilities instead of natures. I need to go fix that.
LordVishnu
Not too sore, are you?
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I've decided to repurpose a lot of the idea's I had for that fic to use in this one instead.
Chapter 5
LordVishnu
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A/N: Meant to go back to my One Piece story after getting the first four chapters of this out, but for some reason this story is the only thing my fingers want to type right now.
Chapter 5
Ecruteak City Gym
"This will be a fourth Badge level challenge! Each Trainer will be limited to two switch outs and no Held Items are allowed. The challenger is permitted his full roster while Leader Morty will be restricted to four Pokémon!" The ref is going through his usual song and dance spiel but there's hardly a need for it. This match isn't happening in the main stadium room so we don't actually have any spectators. If I had to make a guess at the reason for the last second change-up, it's likely to do with whatever Morty's planning for Simon. 'Which I appreciate - really I do - but I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me nervous.'
"Report if there are any questions!" The ref darts his eyes between us, pausing to see if either party speaks up. "Begin!"
"Haunter./ K.Rool!"
The two Pokémon hit the field at roughly the same time and I'm a bit surprised to see a near identical matchup to the one we ended with yesterday. This new Haunter I suppose is a little stronger at Lv. 28, vice the other day's 27, but that's basically a difference of semantics. Especially since that last fight was what pushed K.Rool over the line from 29 to 30. It's a two level difference in our favor either way.
Morty throws his hand out. "Icy Wind!"
'But that's certainly new!' "Get underground! Dig into Hone Claws!"
A deathly chill sweeps over the battlefield as the Haunter seems to tap into the cold energies of the very underworld itself. Blue streaks of energy converge on K.Rool and it is by the narrowest margins that they avoid clipping his tail as he burrows to avoid. 'A Speed drop this early would be devastating. We can't get hit by that!'
"Rain Dance."
Morty's call gets me to do a double take, even as the Ghost rapidly throws her hands up and begins to manipulate the very weather inside the room. A tiny sprinkle rapidly develops into a horrific deluge that -when combined with the lingering Icy Wind- starts coating the floor with a thin sheet of frost. 'What the- What the fuck kind of Haunter set is this?'
A thrum along our bond tells me K.Rool's done boosting and is moving towards the surface to pop out. 'The ice will slow his entrance too much!' "Snarl!" I order instead of my planned Crunch. It won't benefit from the Hone Claws Attack boost, but at least the bump in Accuracy will ensure it lands! Some damage is better than a complete whiff!
Krokorok's snout emerges from the earth and immediately as expected he hits resistance as he has to break through an ice layer. True to form though, he doesn't let it stop him from opening wide and spitting a glob of glowing Dark energy right at his opponent.
"Haze." Haunter makes no move to dodge as it fulfills the command, choosing to accept the Super-effective blow as the price it'll cost. The Ghost-type is struck back somewhat, though swoops into an aerial recovery a moment later without being too much worse for wear. 'Probably due to the Krookadile family's Special stats being rather meh. Not to mention Haunter's Special Defense is better than its Physical one.' Meanwhile, one more move that is rather atypical of a Ghost's wheelhouse comes into play as a dark fog spreads throughout the lower parts of the battlefield.
A fog that resets all stat changes to zero.
The Hone Claws boost is gone. The Special Attack drop that is free with every use of Snarl vanishes as well. And since the icy terrain is causing the Haze to linger…there's no point to setting up again.
'Shit. Even if we score a KO, this will still deny us our Moxie activation. It'll be gone as soon as we get it.' My brain runs at lightspeed, sorting through options for our next move. I need to end this quickly before Morty has this Haunter pull out any more shenanigans from its bag of tricks. Scary Face to drop its speed and then get in close? Wait, crap! The Haze negates that. Sandstorm? 'No. Would barely do anything with the ice coating the ground. What does Krokorok know that can-' "Swagger!" I nearly shout as the idea hits.
Haunter stumbles in the air as the confusion status overtakes it. Its Attack rises by two stages…and then subsequently falls back to normal as its own terrain setup takes away Swagger's downside. "Haunter! Focus up!" Morty barks. "Trap it in an Encore!"
"Now K.Rool! Get the Crunch!"
Confusion works a little differently here than it does in the games. It's a lot more straightforward of a thing. There's no 'dice roll' to see if a confused Pokémon will hurt itself -even if such things have happened in the past-, rather the status effect is just..disorientation. A temporary state where a Pokémon is..well..disoriented. There's really no better way to put it.
As such, Haunter here is just a bit too slow in responding to the Gym Leader's newest order. It takes a second to shake it's head clear and by then K.Rool's already cleared most of the jump with his teeth shining violet!
"Astonish!" Morty pivots at the last second.
A minor blow smacks K.Rool in the shoulder but it's nothing close enough to stopping the jaws closing around the Ghost's left side. The desert Pokémon drags his foe down to ground level and -still without a loosening of his grip– begins to thrash.
There will be no recovering off that one.
The first flag goes up. "Haunter is unable to battle! The first point goes to challenger Brad!"
A satisfied Morty beams his 'mon back into its Pokéball with a smile. "That was well thought with the Swagger. Many trainers don't bother with Normal moves against Ghost-types. They write them off wholesale."
I grin back, showing some teeth. "Type immunities mostly just apply to damaging moves. Status affect ones can still connect." I explain. "It's why Confuse Ray can still hit Normal types." My expression turns pondering. "Still though, that's quite the unusual Haunter you have there. It made me a bit nervous about what she was working towards."
Morty chuckles once. A self-deprecating little laugh. "She's what happens when you forget to Ghost-proof your TM Case. I admit, it's led to some unusual combinations. Though I can't help but think in hindsight we should've kept it more simple and just gone for Will-O-Wisp."
In a normal Gym match you typically wouldn't see this level of back and forth between rounds. Common practice dictates you save all the comments and feedback until after the post-fight handshake. It just 'makes for a better show' if you do it that way. No great pauses in the action.
'Mark it as another point in Morty's favor for him changing locations.' Private matches are a lot more enjoyable than having a crowd roaring and cheering in your ear the whole time.
The Gym Leader lightly tosses his second Pokéball up and down in his hand. "By the way, I confess I wasn't entirely forthcoming yesterday when we spoke of Unova." His face gains a little smirk. "Truth is, I've actually traveled there myself. It was only for a week's vacation a few months back but I still managed to come away with a souvenir."
With a casual lob his next Pokémon is deposited onto the field with a small burst of light and immediately my eyes narrow. It's male, that's obvious from its coloring, and its regal accoutrements do give it the look of a little princeling, but it's the eyes that have my focus. The empty eyes and soulless frown that tell me this isn't a 'mischievous' type of Ghost like the ones you can find in Johto. This is a drag you down into the cold dark depths type of spirit.
Frillish: Lv. 29
Nature: Quiet
Potential: C
"Lock it down with Sand Tomb!"
"Double Team, Frillish!"
A swirling vortex tries to build beneath the floating jellyfish, but due to the state of the floor that Haunter left behind, it's a bit too anemic to get the job done. Afterimages of the hadal Pokémon spread in a ring around the room that leaves K.Rool turning his head left and right looking for the real one.
By now the black Haze has at least started to die away and Morty's the first to capitalize on it. "Frillish, Acid Armor while he's still searching for you!"
While the Ghost and its duplicates all begin to shine with a silvery coat, I begin working on a different plan. 'Quite a lot of Ghosts have the ability Levitate.' Krokorok's brow raises as he feels me start funneling energy into our bond. 'Frillish isn't one of them.'
"K.Rool! Do the thing!"
With an almost devious glee to the gesture, Korokorok brings one foot up….and then slams it down.
Great chunks of stone are upended as the Earthquake tears the ground apart. The majority of the faux-Frillish fade away as their illusions collapse and the real one hiding among is flung skyward with a silent cry.
Morty leans forward at his railing, not having expected the move to have quite that much power behind it. "Recover!"
For a moment I doubt the Water/Ghost is even conscious enough to hear him..but I suppose that Acid Armor raised its Defenses juuuust enough to not get insta KO'd. A restorative glow takes over the Pokémon still falling to the earth and when it lands it's back to looking healthy.
Exhausted. But healthy.
A purple energy seems to snake along the ground to Krokorok's feet and I can feel my boy's confusion as it 'infects him', coming up through the earth and into his soles. 'Tch. Cursed Body. No more 'quakes until the Disable lifts. I suppose that's the risks we take though.' Still, it's not all bad. Now all of the ice has gone and the terrain is effectively back to what we started the match with.
"Let's set up the Sandstorm K.Rool! Now it's our turn to control the field!"
"Water Pulse!"
'Heh. Now this seems familiar.' I chuckle to myself, thinking how a nearly identical scenario appeared against Whitney. The major differences this time being -besides the Pokémon themselves- the upturned earth allows the weather move to take effect much more quickly, and the Water Pulse while much stronger due to STAB and stat factors, just isn't launched fast enough for me to be concerned.
"Protect, K.Rool!"
I can't actually see the croc clearly through all the sand, but I can feel him. And I can feel his smugness as the rings of dirtied sand-filled Water splash harmlessly against his protective dome.
"I withdraw Frillish." The Gym Leader suddenly intones, sucking the little blue 'mon back in with a red beam. "I see no reason to keep him out. That Earthquake swung the balance in your favor too much for us to continue."
I smirk. "And by withdrawing him you deny us our Moxie boost again don't you?"
Morty smiles back. "Well, I'm not supposed to make things too easy on you am I?" He launches his next Pokéball, putting a wild spin on it this time as opposed to the casual toss in of his other two. "Time to get serious. This will be your real test. Up and at 'em Gengar!"
One of the most iconic of Gen I Pokémon lands with a massive grin and for a moment I'm put off by just how big its mouth is. I mean…you see the pictures but it's another thing entirely to really be presented with something that's not only shorter than you but can also swallow you whole. "Gen! Gen!" The 'mon squints its eyes a little from all the blowing sand but eagerly hops back forth between its feet. "Gen! Gen!"
Gengar: Lv. 34
Nature: Rash
Potential: A
"Shadow Ball!" The Gengar hops up and a truly massive sphere of energy begins to coalesce before it.
'Don't gamble on the double Protect! Not sure if there's enough time for Dig!' "Shoot it down with Dark Pulse!"
Two spheres of energy, one purple, one black, both with reddish highlights, slam into each other in the middle and I brace myself for a mid-field explosion. Dark counters Ghost incredibly effectively but Gengar's Special Attack positively dwarfs Krokorok's.
Most of the Sandstorm is blown apart as artificial winds whip across the battlefield from the two attacks detonating against each other. My arm comes up to shield, but my eyes remain peeled, keeping focused through all the noise and clamor to try and track the.. 'It's already behind him!'
"K.Rool, Scary Face behind you now!"
"Sludge Bomb."
It's a trade-off of a much different kind this time, and I'm not so sure it was worth it. Gengar's monstrous Speed is now effectively cut in half -which is good, we needed that taken care of- but K.Rool's now ragdolling over the floor. The high-powered Poison move having so much momentum behind it that I can already tell is going to be a nasty bruise come morning.
'If that had managed to Poison him too then I'd be recalling him to his ball right now. God. And that was with his Ground type resist kicking in. No wonder Gengar's have stayed competitive for so long. They're absolute monsters.'
"Shadow Ball again Gengar! He's almost down!"
"Dig to avoid!" 'With the Speed drop we should be able to make it!'
My prediction proves true but I find myself biting my thumb as I think. K.Rool got away that time but it's obvious he's running out of gas. He's getting sluggish. If the ground hadn't already been busted up by the Earthquake I don't think it would have been possible.
I consider Vlad or perhaps Ma Ma to finish this out…and feel Krokorok's violent objection in my mind. He wants to go till he drops. His pride demands nothing less. "Assurance." I command. It won't get its power doubled from its effect but it's at least a move that's easier to land than Bite or Crunch.
"Sucker Punch it the moment it emerges Gengar."
"Gen! Gen!" it accedes, its fist glowing Dark as it watches the ground around it eagerly. There's a slight crumble in the rocks directly to the right of it and both Pokémon spring their attacks out. Gengar's hits first, his small hand smashing directly into Krokorok's cheek, sending the Ground-type skidding away while only getting a tiny nick from the Assurance for its trouble.
'Damn it K.Rool. Don't be prideful like this. You've already won two.' A feeling of 'No!' resounds along my psyche as the croc stubbornly gets back to his feet once more. He's limping, with one hand on his knee and breathing heavily, but he's still technically in this.
A purple energy snakes along the ground a second time to Disable the Assurance move K.Rool barely landed and this time I'm the one who's confused between the two of us. 'Cursed Body again? But that's not right, Gengar has..' The realization slams into me like a sledgehammer.
'Gengar only has Levitate in the early Generations! It was changed in the latter ones! And if it's triggering again then that means the first one has-' This time I don't just add my two cents of energy into the connection. I flood it with as much aura that I can push forth. "Earthquake!"
"KrokoROK!!" K.Rool shouts as he becomes the epicenter of a disaster area. The foundations themselves shake as Ground energy explodes outward in a seismic ring of power around the Pokémon. Both Morty and myself grip our respective railings as we struggle to stay upright and Gengar is..
Gengar is..
Gengar is out cold.
From basically full health to nothing in a single blow.
"Krok!" K.Rool disses to his opponent as he himself struggles to stay conscious. "Krok! Krok! Korkorok!" he asserts which is basically desert reptilian for 'Yeah! Get some! You think you hot shit?! You ain't hot shit! How you like that one!'
"Krokorok!" he calls one final time before closing his eyes and collapsing into the dirt right then and there.
Chapter 5
Ecruteak City Gym
"This will be a fourth Badge level challenge! Each Trainer will be limited to two switch outs and no Held Items are allowed. The challenger is permitted his full roster while Leader Morty will be restricted to four Pokémon!" The ref is going through his usual song and dance spiel but there's hardly a need for it. This match isn't happening in the main stadium room so we don't actually have any spectators. If I had to make a guess at the reason for the last second change-up, it's likely to do with whatever Morty's planning for Simon. 'Which I appreciate - really I do - but I'd be lying if I said it didn't make me nervous.'
"Report if there are any questions!" The ref darts his eyes between us, pausing to see if either party speaks up. "Begin!"
"Haunter./ K.Rool!"
The two Pokémon hit the field at roughly the same time and I'm a bit surprised to see a near identical matchup to the one we ended with yesterday. This new Haunter I suppose is a little stronger at Lv. 28, vice the other day's 27, but that's basically a difference of semantics. Especially since that last fight was what pushed K.Rool over the line from 29 to 30. It's a two level difference in our favor either way.
Morty throws his hand out. "Icy Wind!"
'But that's certainly new!' "Get underground! Dig into Hone Claws!"
A deathly chill sweeps over the battlefield as the Haunter seems to tap into the cold energies of the very underworld itself. Blue streaks of energy converge on K.Rool and it is by the narrowest margins that they avoid clipping his tail as he burrows to avoid. 'A Speed drop this early would be devastating. We can't get hit by that!'
"Rain Dance."
Morty's call gets me to do a double take, even as the Ghost rapidly throws her hands up and begins to manipulate the very weather inside the room. A tiny sprinkle rapidly develops into a horrific deluge that -when combined with the lingering Icy Wind- starts coating the floor with a thin sheet of frost. 'What the- What the fuck kind of Haunter set is this?'
A thrum along our bond tells me K.Rool's done boosting and is moving towards the surface to pop out. 'The ice will slow his entrance too much!' "Snarl!" I order instead of my planned Crunch. It won't benefit from the Hone Claws Attack boost, but at least the bump in Accuracy will ensure it lands! Some damage is better than a complete whiff!
Krokorok's snout emerges from the earth and immediately as expected he hits resistance as he has to break through an ice layer. True to form though, he doesn't let it stop him from opening wide and spitting a glob of glowing Dark energy right at his opponent.
"Haze." Haunter makes no move to dodge as it fulfills the command, choosing to accept the Super-effective blow as the price it'll cost. The Ghost-type is struck back somewhat, though swoops into an aerial recovery a moment later without being too much worse for wear. 'Probably due to the Krookadile family's Special stats being rather meh. Not to mention Haunter's Special Defense is better than its Physical one.' Meanwhile, one more move that is rather atypical of a Ghost's wheelhouse comes into play as a dark fog spreads throughout the lower parts of the battlefield.
A fog that resets all stat changes to zero.
The Hone Claws boost is gone. The Special Attack drop that is free with every use of Snarl vanishes as well. And since the icy terrain is causing the Haze to linger…there's no point to setting up again.
'Shit. Even if we score a KO, this will still deny us our Moxie activation. It'll be gone as soon as we get it.' My brain runs at lightspeed, sorting through options for our next move. I need to end this quickly before Morty has this Haunter pull out any more shenanigans from its bag of tricks. Scary Face to drop its speed and then get in close? Wait, crap! The Haze negates that. Sandstorm? 'No. Would barely do anything with the ice coating the ground. What does Krokorok know that can-' "Swagger!" I nearly shout as the idea hits.
Haunter stumbles in the air as the confusion status overtakes it. Its Attack rises by two stages…and then subsequently falls back to normal as its own terrain setup takes away Swagger's downside. "Haunter! Focus up!" Morty barks. "Trap it in an Encore!"
"Now K.Rool! Get the Crunch!"
Confusion works a little differently here than it does in the games. It's a lot more straightforward of a thing. There's no 'dice roll' to see if a confused Pokémon will hurt itself -even if such things have happened in the past-, rather the status effect is just..disorientation. A temporary state where a Pokémon is..well..disoriented. There's really no better way to put it.
As such, Haunter here is just a bit too slow in responding to the Gym Leader's newest order. It takes a second to shake it's head clear and by then K.Rool's already cleared most of the jump with his teeth shining violet!
"Astonish!" Morty pivots at the last second.
A minor blow smacks K.Rool in the shoulder but it's nothing close enough to stopping the jaws closing around the Ghost's left side. The desert Pokémon drags his foe down to ground level and -still without a loosening of his grip– begins to thrash.
There will be no recovering off that one.
The first flag goes up. "Haunter is unable to battle! The first point goes to challenger Brad!"
A satisfied Morty beams his 'mon back into its Pokéball with a smile. "That was well thought with the Swagger. Many trainers don't bother with Normal moves against Ghost-types. They write them off wholesale."
I grin back, showing some teeth. "Type immunities mostly just apply to damaging moves. Status affect ones can still connect." I explain. "It's why Confuse Ray can still hit Normal types." My expression turns pondering. "Still though, that's quite the unusual Haunter you have there. It made me a bit nervous about what she was working towards."
Morty chuckles once. A self-deprecating little laugh. "She's what happens when you forget to Ghost-proof your TM Case. I admit, it's led to some unusual combinations. Though I can't help but think in hindsight we should've kept it more simple and just gone for Will-O-Wisp."
In a normal Gym match you typically wouldn't see this level of back and forth between rounds. Common practice dictates you save all the comments and feedback until after the post-fight handshake. It just 'makes for a better show' if you do it that way. No great pauses in the action.
'Mark it as another point in Morty's favor for him changing locations.' Private matches are a lot more enjoyable than having a crowd roaring and cheering in your ear the whole time.
The Gym Leader lightly tosses his second Pokéball up and down in his hand. "By the way, I confess I wasn't entirely forthcoming yesterday when we spoke of Unova." His face gains a little smirk. "Truth is, I've actually traveled there myself. It was only for a week's vacation a few months back but I still managed to come away with a souvenir."
With a casual lob his next Pokémon is deposited onto the field with a small burst of light and immediately my eyes narrow. It's male, that's obvious from its coloring, and its regal accoutrements do give it the look of a little princeling, but it's the eyes that have my focus. The empty eyes and soulless frown that tell me this isn't a 'mischievous' type of Ghost like the ones you can find in Johto. This is a drag you down into the cold dark depths type of spirit.
Frillish: Lv. 29
Nature: Quiet
Potential: C
"Lock it down with Sand Tomb!"
"Double Team, Frillish!"
A swirling vortex tries to build beneath the floating jellyfish, but due to the state of the floor that Haunter left behind, it's a bit too anemic to get the job done. Afterimages of the hadal Pokémon spread in a ring around the room that leaves K.Rool turning his head left and right looking for the real one.
By now the black Haze has at least started to die away and Morty's the first to capitalize on it. "Frillish, Acid Armor while he's still searching for you!"
While the Ghost and its duplicates all begin to shine with a silvery coat, I begin working on a different plan. 'Quite a lot of Ghosts have the ability Levitate.' Krokorok's brow raises as he feels me start funneling energy into our bond. 'Frillish isn't one of them.'
"K.Rool! Do the thing!"
With an almost devious glee to the gesture, Korokorok brings one foot up….and then slams it down.
Great chunks of stone are upended as the Earthquake tears the ground apart. The majority of the faux-Frillish fade away as their illusions collapse and the real one hiding among is flung skyward with a silent cry.
Morty leans forward at his railing, not having expected the move to have quite that much power behind it. "Recover!"
For a moment I doubt the Water/Ghost is even conscious enough to hear him..but I suppose that Acid Armor raised its Defenses juuuust enough to not get insta KO'd. A restorative glow takes over the Pokémon still falling to the earth and when it lands it's back to looking healthy.
Exhausted. But healthy.
A purple energy seems to snake along the ground to Krokorok's feet and I can feel my boy's confusion as it 'infects him', coming up through the earth and into his soles. 'Tch. Cursed Body. No more 'quakes until the Disable lifts. I suppose that's the risks we take though.' Still, it's not all bad. Now all of the ice has gone and the terrain is effectively back to what we started the match with.
"Let's set up the Sandstorm K.Rool! Now it's our turn to control the field!"
"Water Pulse!"
'Heh. Now this seems familiar.' I chuckle to myself, thinking how a nearly identical scenario appeared against Whitney. The major differences this time being -besides the Pokémon themselves- the upturned earth allows the weather move to take effect much more quickly, and the Water Pulse while much stronger due to STAB and stat factors, just isn't launched fast enough for me to be concerned.
"Protect, K.Rool!"
I can't actually see the croc clearly through all the sand, but I can feel him. And I can feel his smugness as the rings of dirtied sand-filled Water splash harmlessly against his protective dome.
"I withdraw Frillish." The Gym Leader suddenly intones, sucking the little blue 'mon back in with a red beam. "I see no reason to keep him out. That Earthquake swung the balance in your favor too much for us to continue."
I smirk. "And by withdrawing him you deny us our Moxie boost again don't you?"
Morty smiles back. "Well, I'm not supposed to make things too easy on you am I?" He launches his next Pokéball, putting a wild spin on it this time as opposed to the casual toss in of his other two. "Time to get serious. This will be your real test. Up and at 'em Gengar!"
One of the most iconic of Gen I Pokémon lands with a massive grin and for a moment I'm put off by just how big its mouth is. I mean…you see the pictures but it's another thing entirely to really be presented with something that's not only shorter than you but can also swallow you whole. "Gen! Gen!" The 'mon squints its eyes a little from all the blowing sand but eagerly hops back forth between its feet. "Gen! Gen!"
Gengar: Lv. 34
Nature: Rash
Potential: A
"Shadow Ball!" The Gengar hops up and a truly massive sphere of energy begins to coalesce before it.
'Don't gamble on the double Protect! Not sure if there's enough time for Dig!' "Shoot it down with Dark Pulse!"
Two spheres of energy, one purple, one black, both with reddish highlights, slam into each other in the middle and I brace myself for a mid-field explosion. Dark counters Ghost incredibly effectively but Gengar's Special Attack positively dwarfs Krokorok's.
Most of the Sandstorm is blown apart as artificial winds whip across the battlefield from the two attacks detonating against each other. My arm comes up to shield, but my eyes remain peeled, keeping focused through all the noise and clamor to try and track the.. 'It's already behind him!'
"K.Rool, Scary Face behind you now!"
"Sludge Bomb."
It's a trade-off of a much different kind this time, and I'm not so sure it was worth it. Gengar's monstrous Speed is now effectively cut in half -which is good, we needed that taken care of- but K.Rool's now ragdolling over the floor. The high-powered Poison move having so much momentum behind it that I can already tell is going to be a nasty bruise come morning.
'If that had managed to Poison him too then I'd be recalling him to his ball right now. God. And that was with his Ground type resist kicking in. No wonder Gengar's have stayed competitive for so long. They're absolute monsters.'
"Shadow Ball again Gengar! He's almost down!"
"Dig to avoid!" 'With the Speed drop we should be able to make it!'
My prediction proves true but I find myself biting my thumb as I think. K.Rool got away that time but it's obvious he's running out of gas. He's getting sluggish. If the ground hadn't already been busted up by the Earthquake I don't think it would have been possible.
I consider Vlad or perhaps Ma Ma to finish this out…and feel Krokorok's violent objection in my mind. He wants to go till he drops. His pride demands nothing less. "Assurance." I command. It won't get its power doubled from its effect but it's at least a move that's easier to land than Bite or Crunch.
"Sucker Punch it the moment it emerges Gengar."
"Gen! Gen!" it accedes, its fist glowing Dark as it watches the ground around it eagerly. There's a slight crumble in the rocks directly to the right of it and both Pokémon spring their attacks out. Gengar's hits first, his small hand smashing directly into Krokorok's cheek, sending the Ground-type skidding away while only getting a tiny nick from the Assurance for its trouble.
'Damn it K.Rool. Don't be prideful like this. You've already won two.' A feeling of 'No!' resounds along my psyche as the croc stubbornly gets back to his feet once more. He's limping, with one hand on his knee and breathing heavily, but he's still technically in this.
A purple energy snakes along the ground a second time to Disable the Assurance move K.Rool barely landed and this time I'm the one who's confused between the two of us. 'Cursed Body again? But that's not right, Gengar has..' The realization slams into me like a sledgehammer.
'Gengar only has Levitate in the early Generations! It was changed in the latter ones! And if it's triggering again then that means the first one has-' This time I don't just add my two cents of energy into the connection. I flood it with as much aura that I can push forth. "Earthquake!"
"KrokoROK!!" K.Rool shouts as he becomes the epicenter of a disaster area. The foundations themselves shake as Ground energy explodes outward in a seismic ring of power around the Pokémon. Both Morty and myself grip our respective railings as we struggle to stay upright and Gengar is..
Gengar is..
Gengar is out cold.
From basically full health to nothing in a single blow.
"Krok!" K.Rool disses to his opponent as he himself struggles to stay conscious. "Krok! Krok! Korkorok!" he asserts which is basically desert reptilian for 'Yeah! Get some! You think you hot shit?! You ain't hot shit! How you like that one!'
"Krokorok!" he calls one final time before closing his eyes and collapsing into the dirt right then and there.
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Chapter 6
LordVishnu
Not too sore, are you?
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Chapter 6
A lull has taken over the room. The ref is a little stunned -shellshocked more like- and Morty…Morty is staring at me. It's not a glare of accusation or anything like that but he suspects. Suspects that I did something. Something to let K.Rool perform well beyond the 'fourth level' Pokémon I openly described him as last night. I've no idea if he has any knowledge of aura, true, rumor, or otherwise. Heck, I doubt I could recognize another user if they were right in front of my face. Ground has many applications but sensing -outside of things actually buried in the earth- really can not be counted among them.
'Ugh' I start to feel a little wooziness in my gut. 'And there's the backlash.' My fingers tighten over the metal railing. I can't guarantee I won't fall on my ass should I let go. 'My spiritual muscle has grown by leaps and bounds over the past year..' Blrgh. Oh boy. There's the nausea. '..but damn there's nothing quite like the feeling of pushing it too hard.'
"G-Gengar and Krokorok are both unable to battle!" The ref finally gets his head straight. "The score is 3-1! Both trainers must now select their next Pokémon!"
"No." Morty calls, getting the referee to glance at him. "I've seen enough. He's demonstrated plenty for the Fog Badge already." The Gym leader inclines his head. "For the purposes of scorekeeping I've decided this match is already concluded. However," he raises his eyes to meet mine. "There's still something we need to take care of isn't there?"
I nod silently, fingers gliding over Simon's Pokéball on my belt.
"Thank you for refereeing Sam," Morty calls to his confused employee. "You can return to your desk. We won't require a ref for this next part."
The man seems puzzled...but also doesn't strike me as the type to question. With a simple incline of his head he bows out, leaving his central podium and exiting through a door on the room's far-side. "This is a 'mon I've been training up for my Elites." Morty gets my eyes back on him as he holds up a Dusk Ball. "She's not quite there yet, but she's definitely beyond the other Ghosts you've seen today. She's also a bit of a mother hen and probably the best choice I have for helping with your Golett's problem." His serious tone dips to something a little softer. "Don't worry," he speaks assuringly. "She won't hurt him for real."
I nod once more. "Let's go Simon!" My arm winds back. "It's all you on this one!"
"Amalia," Morty calls, lobbing the ball out. "Just like we discussed."
Simon emerges onto the half-destroyed field and it's immediately obvious his first thought is confusion as to what's going on. One of the most basic tricks of aura -so basic that many ordinary trainers do it subconsciously- is to project what's going on in the real world to your team members while they rest or reside in their Pokéballs. It's a fairly simple connection…which means it's fairly simple to blind it if an aura user who knows what they're doing wishes to do so.
Not that you would ever really want to do that most of the time but…needs must. I didn't want Golett getting a heads up about what's happening today.
On Morty's half of the field a Ghost made entirely of gray wrappings sways from side to side. Two large hands open and close in a slow rhythmic pattern and a single red eye glows ominously in the center of its head.
Dusclops: Lv. 49
Nature: Hardy
Potential: B-
"Gol! Gol!" Simon's used the context clues of his surroundings to figure out what's going and the panic is already setting in. He swivels in my direction, sees how far away I am up on a ledge, and then begins wildly looking around for other places to hide.
"Shadow Sneak." With a base Speed of 25, Dusclops is one of the slowest Pokémon out there except for babies fresh out of their eggs. That number means basically nothing though when dealing with the subject of Priority Moves. Dusclops sinks into a shadow on the floor and in all of a blink is already rising up at Golett's backside to tower over him.
"GOL!" Simon yelps and it is only then that Dusclops strikes. Having waited until she was seen first. It's a deliberately light hit, a Lv. 49 'mon could easily have struck way harder, but it's still enough to blow Simon ass over teakettle and have him go rolling in the dirt.
"Simon! Protect yourself! Iron Defense!" The Golett pushes himself up on shaky arms and hurriedly tries to obey the order. Boosting his shields with Defense Curl or Iron D are basically the only commands I can trust him to actually follow through with.
Morty doesn't seem impressed. "Spite."
Golett sags as his ability to further use defensive moves is drained away from him. Normally in the games, Spite is a relatively weak technique that only takes 2-5 PP of the last move used. Here, it's a little more powerful. Sucking away not just Iron Defense but also boosting moves similar to it. And thanks to the egregious level difference with this Dusclops, Spite takes it all.
"Simon!" I shout. "You can do this! Fight back with Shadow Punch!"
The Ground/Ghost type is now in full panic mode. Dipping into his ethereal side, he tries to become weightless and float away-
"Gravity"
-only to be forcibly brought low back onto the earth! He pushes himself back up, barely managing to overcome the oppressing energy, when a Future Sight slams home and knocks him across the field again.
My own personal worry starts to rise. 'I didn't even see when the Dusclops set that up.' "Simon! You can't run from this one! You have to fight!"
"Amalia, advance." The Dusclops makes slow lumbering footsteps towards its Unovan cousin, making grasping motions with those large hands as it gets closer. One of the two limbs begins to glow with the shadowy aura of Shadow Punch and I bite at my thumb nervously.
"Gol! Gol!" Simon continues to retreat, crawling backwards like a cornered animal until his back hits an upturned rock, courtesy of the jagged field.
"Dus…Dus…clops." The Ghost hovers over him, raising its fist high.
"Simon!"
"Gol!" The golem averts his eyes and throws his hands in front of him, building up a large swath of Ghost energy in a pattern I've never seen him use before. 'Wait a sec, that's Night Shade! When did he- he picked it up after just seeing one Natu use it yesterday?!'
Morty's made the realization too and he leans forward sharply. "Amalia! Dodge that!" There's urgency in his voice and to understand why you need only look at Dusclops' stat distribution. Absolutely monstrous Defenses with an itty bitty HP pool to make it balanced. Night Shade however ignores Defenses. It does true neutral damage equal to the caster's level. Never one point more, never one point less.
One could almost say that Night Shade was Super-effective against the Dusclops-line as a species.
"CLOPS!" Morty's Pokémon cries in alarm as it gets blasted back several feet, briefly sailing through the air before eventually skidding to a stop a good deal worse for wear.
"Gol..?" Simon mutters a little confused, a bit in disbelief that…that it worked. He climbs to his feet and stares at his open palms in..well I can't quite see the expression from this distance..but it might be in wonderment.
"Amalia." The Gym leader calls as his next move becomes obvious. "Imprison!" A Psychic thread connects the two combatants and with one clutching of the larger Ghost's hand a sort of lock slams into place., weighing down Golett for not the first time in the match.
Golett may now no longer use any moves that Dusclops herself knows. That list including, but not limited to: Astonish, Shadow Punch, Shadow Ball, Confuse Ray, and of course..Night Shade.
"Amalia, advance again!" Morty orders. "Leech Life."
The grasping hands begin to approach once more, now glowing with the sickly parasitic glow of Bug-type energy. "Gol!" Simon thrusts his hands out, trying in vain to summon up Night Shade again. "Gol! Gol!" he cries as it refuses to work.
"Simon, you have other moves! Use Magnitude!"
His foot comes stomping down but it's a weak little thing. Magnitude 5 at best. The Dusclops with its Defense stats doesn't even stumble. "Hit it again Simon! You can do this!"
Golett scrunches his face up and stamps down harder. 'Magnitude 7!' This time Dusclops does stumble, just a little, and it lets the Leech Life drop from one hand so it can cast Disable instead.
Simon seems on the verge of tears as yet another ability is robbed from him. They're not tears of despair though! They're ones of frustration! "You still have options Simon! Your fists are as hard as iron remember!"
Dusclops is only a few seconds from him now.
"Even if you don't believe in yourself! You just have to believe in me! And I believe in you!"
With eyes screwed tightly shut, the little golem breaks into a dead sprint at his encroaching foe. "Goleeeeett!" His left fist glows with the crackling yellow of Thunderpunch while his right is enshrouded in the white-blue of Ice. "Golett! Gol!" His punches are wild, uncoordinated and sloppy. The Dusclops drops the Leech Life to block and does so as easily as a boxing coach wearing punch mitts. Just accepting and rebounding the blows with its oversized hands until the smaller Pokémon stops.
Only he doesn't stop.
He keeps punching.
Faster.
Small rings of air are erupting now from where fist meets palm and the Dusclops actually takes a step back.
Morty frowns. "Amalia? What are you doing?"
"Dus! Dusclops!" the Pokémon objects as it starts backpedaling for real. No longer putting on a show of blocking but truly legitimately defending itself from the onslaught.
"GOL-!" Simon's right pulls back wide for a haymaker and the Ice spreads up over his entire forearm! 'That's not Ice Punch!' My eyes go wide. 'That looks more like Hammer Arm! But his species can't learn Ice Ha-' "-ETT!" Simon swings his last blow forward, fully boosted by the Ability of his species-line, and shatters through the Dusclops' guard, not through a cheap trick of Night Shade math but with his own physical power.
While Morty's Ghost is unexpectedly knocked away for the second time of the fight, Golett sinks to his hands and knees, absolutely spent from exhaustion. His neck weakly cranes up to me.. and with a shaking, throbbing arm… gives me a thumbs up. "Golett.."
….
….
….
"Ha ha!" My hands shoot to my hair! "Simon!" Without even thinking about it I hop down into the field, race straight past the Dusclops casually dusting itself off, and scoop my boy up beneath his arms. "You did it Simon!"
"Gol! Gol!" he frets embarrassedly, clearly wanting to be put back down, but I'm not letting him have any of it! Instead I pull him tightly into a hug and swing him around like a kid, proud as I've ever been. "You did it!"
Off to the side, Morty inspects his own Pokémon, noting the unexpectedly high amounts of electrical and freeze burns on her hands. "Thanks for your hard work girl. Sorry it got a little rough at the end there."
The single glowing red orb folds into a happy eye-smile. "Dusclops!"
A lull has taken over the room. The ref is a little stunned -shellshocked more like- and Morty…Morty is staring at me. It's not a glare of accusation or anything like that but he suspects. Suspects that I did something. Something to let K.Rool perform well beyond the 'fourth level' Pokémon I openly described him as last night. I've no idea if he has any knowledge of aura, true, rumor, or otherwise. Heck, I doubt I could recognize another user if they were right in front of my face. Ground has many applications but sensing -outside of things actually buried in the earth- really can not be counted among them.
'Ugh' I start to feel a little wooziness in my gut. 'And there's the backlash.' My fingers tighten over the metal railing. I can't guarantee I won't fall on my ass should I let go. 'My spiritual muscle has grown by leaps and bounds over the past year..' Blrgh. Oh boy. There's the nausea. '..but damn there's nothing quite like the feeling of pushing it too hard.'
"G-Gengar and Krokorok are both unable to battle!" The ref finally gets his head straight. "The score is 3-1! Both trainers must now select their next Pokémon!"
"No." Morty calls, getting the referee to glance at him. "I've seen enough. He's demonstrated plenty for the Fog Badge already." The Gym leader inclines his head. "For the purposes of scorekeeping I've decided this match is already concluded. However," he raises his eyes to meet mine. "There's still something we need to take care of isn't there?"
I nod silently, fingers gliding over Simon's Pokéball on my belt.
"Thank you for refereeing Sam," Morty calls to his confused employee. "You can return to your desk. We won't require a ref for this next part."
The man seems puzzled...but also doesn't strike me as the type to question. With a simple incline of his head he bows out, leaving his central podium and exiting through a door on the room's far-side. "This is a 'mon I've been training up for my Elites." Morty gets my eyes back on him as he holds up a Dusk Ball. "She's not quite there yet, but she's definitely beyond the other Ghosts you've seen today. She's also a bit of a mother hen and probably the best choice I have for helping with your Golett's problem." His serious tone dips to something a little softer. "Don't worry," he speaks assuringly. "She won't hurt him for real."
I nod once more. "Let's go Simon!" My arm winds back. "It's all you on this one!"
"Amalia," Morty calls, lobbing the ball out. "Just like we discussed."
Simon emerges onto the half-destroyed field and it's immediately obvious his first thought is confusion as to what's going on. One of the most basic tricks of aura -so basic that many ordinary trainers do it subconsciously- is to project what's going on in the real world to your team members while they rest or reside in their Pokéballs. It's a fairly simple connection…which means it's fairly simple to blind it if an aura user who knows what they're doing wishes to do so.
Not that you would ever really want to do that most of the time but…needs must. I didn't want Golett getting a heads up about what's happening today.
On Morty's half of the field a Ghost made entirely of gray wrappings sways from side to side. Two large hands open and close in a slow rhythmic pattern and a single red eye glows ominously in the center of its head.
Dusclops: Lv. 49
Nature: Hardy
Potential: B-
"Gol! Gol!" Simon's used the context clues of his surroundings to figure out what's going and the panic is already setting in. He swivels in my direction, sees how far away I am up on a ledge, and then begins wildly looking around for other places to hide.
"Shadow Sneak." With a base Speed of 25, Dusclops is one of the slowest Pokémon out there except for babies fresh out of their eggs. That number means basically nothing though when dealing with the subject of Priority Moves. Dusclops sinks into a shadow on the floor and in all of a blink is already rising up at Golett's backside to tower over him.
"GOL!" Simon yelps and it is only then that Dusclops strikes. Having waited until she was seen first. It's a deliberately light hit, a Lv. 49 'mon could easily have struck way harder, but it's still enough to blow Simon ass over teakettle and have him go rolling in the dirt.
"Simon! Protect yourself! Iron Defense!" The Golett pushes himself up on shaky arms and hurriedly tries to obey the order. Boosting his shields with Defense Curl or Iron D are basically the only commands I can trust him to actually follow through with.
Morty doesn't seem impressed. "Spite."
Golett sags as his ability to further use defensive moves is drained away from him. Normally in the games, Spite is a relatively weak technique that only takes 2-5 PP of the last move used. Here, it's a little more powerful. Sucking away not just Iron Defense but also boosting moves similar to it. And thanks to the egregious level difference with this Dusclops, Spite takes it all.
"Simon!" I shout. "You can do this! Fight back with Shadow Punch!"
The Ground/Ghost type is now in full panic mode. Dipping into his ethereal side, he tries to become weightless and float away-
"Gravity"
-only to be forcibly brought low back onto the earth! He pushes himself back up, barely managing to overcome the oppressing energy, when a Future Sight slams home and knocks him across the field again.
My own personal worry starts to rise. 'I didn't even see when the Dusclops set that up.' "Simon! You can't run from this one! You have to fight!"
"Amalia, advance." The Dusclops makes slow lumbering footsteps towards its Unovan cousin, making grasping motions with those large hands as it gets closer. One of the two limbs begins to glow with the shadowy aura of Shadow Punch and I bite at my thumb nervously.
"Gol! Gol!" Simon continues to retreat, crawling backwards like a cornered animal until his back hits an upturned rock, courtesy of the jagged field.
"Dus…Dus…clops." The Ghost hovers over him, raising its fist high.
"Simon!"
"Gol!" The golem averts his eyes and throws his hands in front of him, building up a large swath of Ghost energy in a pattern I've never seen him use before. 'Wait a sec, that's Night Shade! When did he- he picked it up after just seeing one Natu use it yesterday?!'
Morty's made the realization too and he leans forward sharply. "Amalia! Dodge that!" There's urgency in his voice and to understand why you need only look at Dusclops' stat distribution. Absolutely monstrous Defenses with an itty bitty HP pool to make it balanced. Night Shade however ignores Defenses. It does true neutral damage equal to the caster's level. Never one point more, never one point less.
One could almost say that Night Shade was Super-effective against the Dusclops-line as a species.
"CLOPS!" Morty's Pokémon cries in alarm as it gets blasted back several feet, briefly sailing through the air before eventually skidding to a stop a good deal worse for wear.
"Gol..?" Simon mutters a little confused, a bit in disbelief that…that it worked. He climbs to his feet and stares at his open palms in..well I can't quite see the expression from this distance..but it might be in wonderment.
"Amalia." The Gym leader calls as his next move becomes obvious. "Imprison!" A Psychic thread connects the two combatants and with one clutching of the larger Ghost's hand a sort of lock slams into place., weighing down Golett for not the first time in the match.
Golett may now no longer use any moves that Dusclops herself knows. That list including, but not limited to: Astonish, Shadow Punch, Shadow Ball, Confuse Ray, and of course..Night Shade.
"Amalia, advance again!" Morty orders. "Leech Life."
The grasping hands begin to approach once more, now glowing with the sickly parasitic glow of Bug-type energy. "Gol!" Simon thrusts his hands out, trying in vain to summon up Night Shade again. "Gol! Gol!" he cries as it refuses to work.
"Simon, you have other moves! Use Magnitude!"
His foot comes stomping down but it's a weak little thing. Magnitude 5 at best. The Dusclops with its Defense stats doesn't even stumble. "Hit it again Simon! You can do this!"
Golett scrunches his face up and stamps down harder. 'Magnitude 7!' This time Dusclops does stumble, just a little, and it lets the Leech Life drop from one hand so it can cast Disable instead.
Simon seems on the verge of tears as yet another ability is robbed from him. They're not tears of despair though! They're ones of frustration! "You still have options Simon! Your fists are as hard as iron remember!"
Dusclops is only a few seconds from him now.
"Even if you don't believe in yourself! You just have to believe in me! And I believe in you!"
With eyes screwed tightly shut, the little golem breaks into a dead sprint at his encroaching foe. "Goleeeeett!" His left fist glows with the crackling yellow of Thunderpunch while his right is enshrouded in the white-blue of Ice. "Golett! Gol!" His punches are wild, uncoordinated and sloppy. The Dusclops drops the Leech Life to block and does so as easily as a boxing coach wearing punch mitts. Just accepting and rebounding the blows with its oversized hands until the smaller Pokémon stops.
Only he doesn't stop.
He keeps punching.
Faster.
Small rings of air are erupting now from where fist meets palm and the Dusclops actually takes a step back.
Morty frowns. "Amalia? What are you doing?"
"Dus! Dusclops!" the Pokémon objects as it starts backpedaling for real. No longer putting on a show of blocking but truly legitimately defending itself from the onslaught.
"GOL-!" Simon's right pulls back wide for a haymaker and the Ice spreads up over his entire forearm! 'That's not Ice Punch!' My eyes go wide. 'That looks more like Hammer Arm! But his species can't learn Ice Ha-' "-ETT!" Simon swings his last blow forward, fully boosted by the Ability of his species-line, and shatters through the Dusclops' guard, not through a cheap trick of Night Shade math but with his own physical power.
While Morty's Ghost is unexpectedly knocked away for the second time of the fight, Golett sinks to his hands and knees, absolutely spent from exhaustion. His neck weakly cranes up to me.. and with a shaking, throbbing arm… gives me a thumbs up. "Golett.."
….
….
….
"Ha ha!" My hands shoot to my hair! "Simon!" Without even thinking about it I hop down into the field, race straight past the Dusclops casually dusting itself off, and scoop my boy up beneath his arms. "You did it Simon!"
"Gol! Gol!" he frets embarrassedly, clearly wanting to be put back down, but I'm not letting him have any of it! Instead I pull him tightly into a hug and swing him around like a kid, proud as I've ever been. "You did it!"
Off to the side, Morty inspects his own Pokémon, noting the unexpectedly high amounts of electrical and freeze burns on her hands. "Thanks for your hard work girl. Sorry it got a little rough at the end there."
The single glowing red orb folds into a happy eye-smile. "Dusclops!"
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The8BitzySpider
Not too sore, are you?
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The golett is so cute. Big fan of the way you've characterized each mon
Gilgemash
Getting sticky.
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It's a fact of QQ that SFW is dead in comparison to NSFW. That's usually not a problem though with SFW stories because you can spread them far and wide over half a dozen platforms.