I woke up to Tetsu hungrily absorbing the Leaf Stone I ordered for her, draining the remaining energy from it within seconds.
'Dad, that was delicious! Can I have another one?' she exclaimed exuberantly. I deadpanned as I realized the 12,000$ gift was gone before I could officially give it to Tetsu.
"Umm, that was a very expensive gift I got for you, sweetie. Let's wait for the next gift, alright?" I answered her. "Besides, you have to wait for me to give it to you. You did a great job in the gym, but please don't go eating stuff without permission. Okay?"
Tetsu looked down and softly apologized before pouting and going back to the bed. She sulked there for several minutes. Once Kippie woke up, her mood brightened and she was back to her chipper self.
"Nautilus?"
'Yes?'
"Remind me to be careful with gifts for Tetsu. I don't want to go broke while rewarding her," I said.
'Don't you mean spoiling her?'
"I spoil all of you."
'Liar.'
"What about all those delicious ingredients I buy to make your lunches?"
'...'
"Exactly. Now, let's get ready for our warm-up," I retorted before addressing Kippie and Tetsu. "Okay, ladies, it's time for our work-out. Let's go."
We began our run, finishing it without turning it into a race. Once we got to the training hall, we all got into our own rhythms. I spent some time with Kippie since this was her first time really getting into one of our workouts under Gravity. Tetsu was able to manipulate Gravity so well, she was able to change the gravity for all of us individually. This really helped with making sure Kippie was not getting hurt by it.
I had Kippie focus on her speed and strength, telling her to switch between running/jumping around the entire hall and pushing objects around. After an hour of that, we switched to our brawl. I let Kippe rest for a few minutes before having her join us.
I knew she was definitely not going to be on our level, but I wanted her to taste the difference in power between her and the rest of us. I meant that literally. I had to let her rest for a while after three minutes. She got caught in the crossfire several times and after a punch that missed Nautilus, and hit her face, she couldn't handle it.
While she rested, we kept the brawl going. After 20 minutes, Tetsu and I were still duking it out, much to Kippie's awe and Nautilus' annoyance. Eventually though, after a grand total of 45 minutes, Tetsu caught me slippin and used a nasty Vine Whip to lash out at my back and face.
That led to us making a quick stop with Nurse Joy, who was getting annoyed with me at this point, before breakfast. We all helped ourselves to a few breakfast bowls before continuing with training. Now that we were doing our move training, I took the time to adjust which moves to focus on.
Nautilus had learned Topsy-Turvy, Foul Play, and Retaliate, as well as finally got Protect down. He was going to focus on Topsy-Turvy, Foul Play, and Protect. Tetsu had also gotten Protect down, and learned Metal Claw, Revenge, and Power Whip. I was pleasantly surprised with Revenge, while Power Whip explained the really strong hits I took from her at the end of the brawl. I was definitely going to have her focus on Revenge, Power Whip, and Protect.
Mudkip, on the other hand, learned Protect, Double Team, and fucking Blizzard. Of all the moves she could've learned, it was Blizzard. Not that I was upset. She already knew Hail, so Blizzard was going to make a killer addition. I still wanted her to get her accuracy for Water Gun and Rock Throw trained up, as well as Protect, but after that, Hail and Blizzard were going to be her focus.
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With that, they lost themselves in their move training while I devised a more efficient training plan for Kippie. She had a lot of catching up to do. I was definitely going to have her battle wild Pokémon, but that was the plan for Tetsu and Nautilus as well. No, she needed something more stimulating.
Augustine did say that facing stronger opponents really helped increase a Pokémon's strength. Tetsu and Nautilus are both pretty powerful. They also have different fighting styles, which would be good for training Kippie's battle instincts outside of the morning brawl, which she can't handle yet. Oh man, Kippie's going to hate me for this.
After our meditation session, we went back to the room and cleaned ourselves. Well, more like I scrubbed down Tetsu, washed Kippie, sprayed down Nautilus, and then showered. After that, we were ready for another day of earning money. I told Nautilus he had free reign over his day, as long as he stayed close enough to establish a psychic link for any surprises.
He happily floated off into the forest, the sounds of fighting almost immediately reaching my ears and then faded just as quickly. Tetsu, Kippie, and I walked around in the forest. I soon told Tetsu she could also go and do whatever she wanted, so long as she stayed within earshot. She happily bounced away and began searching. For what, I had no idea.
That left Kippie and I. We continued walking while I searched for some tasks to do. I found a few where I had to catch some Pokémon. Perfect; Kippie gets to battle and I finish some tasks.
"Alright, Kippie. We're doing some more training," I said with a smile. I saw her gulp in fear, probably thinking I was going to brawl with her. "Haha, don't worry girl. We're just gonna battle some Pokémon and I'll catch them. The difficult battles will start tomorrow, against Nautilus and Tetsu."
I continued walking and noticed Kippie was stuck in place. She's probably not looking forward to those battles. Compared to other trainers "at my level," my Pokémon are monsters. I'm kinda glad Kippie is weaker since I can actually accept the battle requests I get from trainers and not have her hold back.
I was currently looking for a few Tauros, Miltank, and a Heracross for the Baa de Mer Ranch, as well as a few Mareep or Pachirisu for the city's power grid. I found out most cities have Pokémon as their main power source. I thought it was unethical at first, until Augustine told me they are treated and compensated as regular workers.
Coumarine City recently had a disease run through some of their Electric-type Pokémon, one that Nurse Joy couldn't stop in time. It took out quite a few of their workers and has put a strain on the rest. So far, they've rolled out timed blackouts to not overwork the Pokémon, but need more in order to get the city's needs met.
I'm glad they were willing to post this on the Jobs app; 2000$ per Pokémon is a sweet sum that I don't wanna miss out on. I quickly encountered a horde of Mareep, with the six of them being led by a Flaaffy. I told Kippie to use Rock Throw to separate the group from the Flaaffy, which I would deal with.
As soon as the rocks were flying, I moved. The rocks surprised the group, splintering them into three: a group of 3 on the left, two in the middle, and one with the Flaaffy. Before they could register anything else, I smacked the Mareep down into the floor, knocking it out. Flaaffy's left fist crackled with electricity, homing in on my chest.
I kicked up some dirt into Flaaffy's eyes, causing it to flinch slightly. I then kicked it back, sending it tumbling towards the two Mareep in the middle. This caused a slight distraction for the other three Mareep. Kippie used it to her advantage, switching from Tackles and Counters to a Rock Throw that hit all three. She knocked two of the Mareep out, leaving the last three for her to deal with.
"Water Gun at the rocks!" I shouted, which she immediately heeded. The rocks had created some holes in the ground with lots of loose dirt for mud. As soon as the mud was made, I told Kippie to go into the muddy area. Each Thundershock was negated by the mud and Kippie used her tail to slap some mud at each of the Mareep.
The last few she hurled out contained a bit of energy in them, telling me she was starting to learn Mud-Slap. These were enough to knock out the last three.
"Kiiiipppp!" she roared out. She looked around for the next opponent, but was disappointed to only find me. "Mudkip?"
Without Nautilus, I couldn't have the psychic conversations I had gotten used to. I was still able to understand what she wanted to say.
"Don't worry, we'll find some more for you to fight. Let me just catch these Mareep and Flaaffy first."
I caught the seven Pokémon before searching for the others. We came across two Miltanks walking with a Tauros. The Tauros immediately charged us and the two Miltanks we covered in Normal-type energy, not even waiting a single second to pass before attacking. I caught the Tauros by its horns, lifting it up and slamming it onto the ground.
Kippie used Water Gun to make the area slippery, a perfect counter to the Rollouts the Miltanks started. They kept slipping as they rolled, making it easier for Mudkip to dodge the double-damage from the Defense Curl and Rollout combo.
With several more Water Guns, and a well-timed Rock Throw, Kippie took down the Miltanks. I quickly caught them and the Tauros after a punch to the face that prevented it from fully getting up. Kippie was panting, not quite used to battling like this.
"Great job, Kippie!" I praised her. I scratched the top of her head, about an inch from her fin. She thoroughly enjoyed that, giving out a blissful, "Mahhhh" and melting into the scratch. I gave her a cookie made with Leppa and Oran berries. It served as both a treat and an energy bar.
I had several types of these cookies: some for healing wounds, others for reenergizing, and still others for status conditions. I also made two different cookies for relaxing and focusing. These were made with Balm Mushrooms and Direshrooms, respectively.
After Kippie had her cookies, we went off to fight more wild Pokémon. In doing so, Kippie quickly became more accurate with Water Gun and Rock Throw. Accuracy was pretty weird in the real world. The moves that had lower accuracy in the games tended to be slower or charging moves, meaning the opponent had more time to dodge. Once the move was trained, and the Pokémon using it had great instincts and reflexes, there was no real accuracy detriment.
The more she used Water Gun, the stronger it became. We spent several hours fighting wild Pokémon. I asked Kippie if she could force more water out, hoping it would lead to her learning Hydro Pump. She nodded and tried it out. The water blasted out and tore down a small tree, but it stopped after three seconds. Kippie looked exhausted from that one attempt.
I guess it made sense. She was still rather young and weak. Her experience with converting the surrounding energy into Water-energy wasn't very efficient yet and required a lot of focus and her own energy in order to do so. This was definitely something she could train up though. If she could change the temperature of her Water Gun, she could also learn Scald and its opposite.
After another cookie, we continued our search for the last Pokémon: Heracross. It took us a while, but we eventually found one who came willingly after a gift of honey was given. In total, I earned another $33,000 today.