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Chapter 16 - [The] Breakfast at Jenny’s
Morning grogginess stuck to Lena like a Grimer’s sludge as she dragged herself to the Pokémon Center lobby with Rina and Arthur, despite only being eight in the morning. They may have stayed up too late at the arcade the night before, and her hubris was coming back to bite her.
‘Though… if Rina didn’t steal the last Chesto Berry that would at least have kept me going…’ She mentally grumbled while glancing over at the Water Type who looked much more awake than her partner.
“The two of you, honestly… I understand that sleep hasn’t been good the last couple nights, but using a Chesto Berry is just as bad as using caffeine as a crutch.” Arthur chided with a shake of his head.
“Flo-Zelloat. Floatzel-El Zel-loatzel.” (Oh, hush Arthur. Like you haven’t had to use a Chesto Berry as a quick pick-me-up.)
“What I’m saying is that we have a younger Trainer, and their Pokémon traveling with us. We shouldn’t encourage bad habits.”
“Ship probably already sailed on that front…” Lena muttered, stepping aside to let another Trainer pass by. “William was eating a Chesto Berry on the subway ride to Nacrene which… now that I think about it probably didn’t even work since the Pecha Berry didn’t, but Ronin was eating one as well while I was speaking to Miguel… and we got Charon into coffee now… which… that’s on me, I suppose…”
“You two are corrupting the youth and elderly with your presence now.” Arthur said with a shake of his head. Lena glared at him while Rina seemed more offended and elbowed the Lucario's side.
“Lo? Zel-Floatzel-Loat ‘Floatzel’-Zeloat?” (Oh yeah? Well, why don’t you join in on Ronin’s training then if you’re so afraid of me ‘corrupting’ the young ones?)
“That is the plan. He’ll need to learn proper dueling stances, which I have more experience in. Remember the time you asked to borrow that Marowak’s bone from the other Ranger? Who won that ‘duel’, if you can recall?”
Before Rina could respond, Lena reached for both of them and teasingly flicked them both with either hand. “No fighting in the Pokémon Center before I’ve had my coffee or breakfast… William already messaged that he’s awake and waiting for us, so let’s see what we’re doing today before you junkies start looking for a training high.” Lena rolled her eyes at their antics. “Can’t go anywhere with you two, I swear…”
Lena vigorously shook her head to dispel the grogginess one last time as they entered the main lobby. William was sitting on the couch with his yellow sweatshirt staring at his Pokédex with Viridi, with Ronin on his lap as well to look at the device.
Maybe it was the lingering sleep, maybe it was the absurdity of the sight. Lena couldn’t tell, because as she approached William she felt herself do a double, then a triple take. Lena stayed silent for a moment as she reached in front of William and continued to stare, as if waiting for her eyes to ‘autocorrect’ what she was seeing.
They didn’t.
“William?”
Looking up slightly from his Pokedex, William's eyes met Lena as he looked up at her. "Yes, Lena?"
"...Why is Viridi on your head?"
William's eyes glanced upwards, clearly meeting Viridi's bug-eye stare back as neither responded for a moment, until he finally spoke with a bit of a lawyer's tone. "Well... I can't have either Ronin or Viridi in my sweatshirt hoodie because of the strain on my shoulder, according to the doctor... but they never said I couldn't have Ronin or Viridi on my head."
"Ven-eneni. Veneven." (Viridi claim head. Head now Comfery Head.)
Lena could only take a deep breath and sigh as she put her head into both of her palms.
“Shaa? Oshawott?” (Rina? Why is Lena covering her face?)
“Floaat-Float. Zellll…. Loatzel. Float, Floatzel.” (Your Trainer is skirting the rules. Following them but… not adhering to what was intended exactly. She’s also tired, so that’s probably too early for her to process that.)
“Asha! Sha-wott! ” (Oh! Like what Charon said!)
“Loa — Zel, Float-Zel?” (Yes — wait, Charon said what?)
Ignoring the conversation lest she go down another mental train of thought, Lena pulled her hand away as she sat down next to William with a sigh and rubbed between her eyes. “I should have kept my mouth shut on Route 2, about you being a good lawyer...”
“Still too much paperwork, and I don’t have a suit. Those are expensive and I’d outgrow them if I got one now. And I’d have to run a nail salon, too.” He responded without missing a beat, scrolling through the Pokédex entry for Oshawott.
Lena couldn’t help but snort at the idea of William in a mini-suit. “At long as it’s not blinding yellow… wait, a nail salon?”
William smiled cheekily. “Reference you wouldn't get. And if you did, you’d have Ms. Clare ground me by now.”
‘Why would she ground you for that but not ground you for going off Route — eh, nevermind…’
Instead, Lena focused on the other priority, turning to Viridi as she tried not to let too much chipper politeness slip into her tone. “Viridi, I know I’m not your ‘Hive Leader’, but can you please get off William’s head? I don’t want him to strain his upper shoulders or neck any more than needed.”
“Nipede. Veni vvvene. Pedevvvene” (Viridi no move. Lena Wini Red not have permission. Hive Leader give permission.)
Sighing in his own exasperation now, William glanced up from his Pokédex again to meet Viridi’s eyes with a gentle, if embarrassed tone. “Viridi, can you please get off my head for now, like Lena requests? I promise that after I get better, you and Ronin will be able to use my shoulder or hoodie or head.”
“Veni-Pe. Ven-veni.” (Viridi move. Hive Leader request.)
At this, Viridi carefully crawled down William’s back and around his stomach until she was sitting on William’s leg even as Ronin took up most of William’s lap space, almost like a divider between Lena and William.
Lena rolled her eyes in amusement, but smiled at William now. “You know, I’m honestly kind of impressed by how well you’re handling a new Pokémon. You’re following all the points for raising a Venipede.”
“I am?”
“Yeah, Venipede hives have a clear hierarchy with a Scolipede at the top, giving direct orders. Sometimes other members of the hive may give advice, but usually the Scolipede makes decisions on their own. Here, you would be the Scolipede, and for a Venipede to be given a name as well signifies importance and the usual role in the hive, which would be your team.”
“Vipede-vvven. Vvveneipede. Vvvene-Pede.” (Viridi job ‘Comfrey Bugg’. Hive Leader give Viridi name Viridi. Viridi protect hive as ‘Comfrey Bugg’.)
William glanced at Viridi, a smile flickering on his face, though his shoulders slumped in relief after Lena’s explanation. “That’s a relief… I’ve been meaning to look into the habits of a Venipede hive once I get a chance to do so, but keep getting distracted…”
“Oshaaawott-’sha’-Osha.’” (Charon says William is ‘overthinking’ things.) Ronin chimed in, prompting William to blush. The lone Poké Ball on his belt containing the Fire Ghost Type shook as well, making William glare at it for another second.
“It’s not overthinking if I’m trying to be the best Trainer I can,” William countered with a warm, if flustered tone, while gently petting both Viridi and Ronin.
Lena smilied and her heart felt warm and fuzzy. Despite all he had already been through, William didn't lose an ounce of his caring heart.
The tender moment was cut short by Lena’s Styler and William’s Xtransceiver flashing with their respective ‘general’ notification sounds. A quick check of her Styler later...
“Ah… seems like I just got the payment for the Mission… same for you?”
William nodded numbly, staring at the screen with a wide-eyed expression. “U-Uh. Yeah… Lena, how much is usually made for volunteer Trainers?”
“That depends on what Pokémon are considered ‘caught’... there were a lot of Beedrill at the end… why?”
William remained silent as he grabbed his Pokédex from his pocket. After he turned it on and pressed a couple buttons, Lena could see his Trainer ID, along with the current money associated with it in his account.
Name: William (LNU)
Trainer ID: 81213
License: Trainer
Money: ₽18,120
Registered Pokémon: 3
“Huh, yeah, that’s a decent lump sum for a starting Trainer honestly, more than I got… they probably counted any burnt Beedrill as ‘yours’.” Lena commented, but William’s shocked face shifted to disbelief as he pulled the Pokédex back and stared at the screen.
“Starting? Lena, you could buy a decent car with this kind of money back home.”
Lena laughed in incredulity. “A car? What in the name of the Twins kind of car would you buy? Something without doors? You cannot buy a car that cheap.”
“Well, a used one at least. My own — my mom used one that was only two thousand, used… family friend but —”
“Two thousand?! You’d be lucky to find a used car for under sixty thousand in Unova, even from a retired grandma.”
“...Sixty thousand is about the price of some mid-level luxury cars at home...” William phrased carefully, making Lena blink.
“...You have to be joking — how could cars be that cheap? No, I refuse — there’s barely enough demand for cars for them to be made that cheaply, only bikes ever get that cheap.”
Silence and a stare from William was his response. Lena realized he wasn’t joking. “W-What, so everyone has a car? If they’re that cheap?”
“...At least near my home, it was basically a requirement… my dad had to drive an hour out each day and back to get to work and home…”
The mental jigsaw puzzle of William’s home started out simple enough. Then William flipped the table and she had to redo it all. Then William cut the pieces with scissors so they didn’t fit anymore. And then he threw in a tub of plastic building bricks with all the little pieces buried at the bottom. And now William had just torched the whole thing into a pile of ashes.
Just where in the world did he live before, where cars were two grand and commuting to work took an hour?
She rubbed her face with both of her hands and dragged them down in light exasperation. “It has to be just… currency differences. Yeah, it has to be,” Lena reasoned aloud… mostly for her own mental sanity. She shook her head. Too early, she still needed breakfast. “Economics aside, today you’re still relaxing, so what else would you want to do?”
William glanced back at his Pokédex, clearly still paralyzed at the amount he received, before he turned the device off and pocketed it… glancing back at Ronin and Viridi, who were looking up at him now. “How about… the park? You mentioned yesterday there was a park with a view? I kinda want to give Ronin and Viridi time to relax and look at the view…”
‘Not exactly for you, but I’ll let it pass…’ Lena nodded, but glanced at Charon’s Poké Ball. “Is Charon okay with that? I know you don’t… really want to have him out in public…”
William glanced at his own belt, falling silent as he had his own conversation with the old Pokémon before looking a tad offended. “He said, and I’m paraphrasing here: ‘get your darn butt outside, you’ve already spent too much time indoors at the boarding home and before, you got less sunlight than a Ghost Type, you…’ no, not gonna say that.” Another pause, followed by the Poké Ball shaking once more with William’s face scrunching up. “Charon, this isn’t Hisui. That analogy doesn’t even work!”
Rina and Lena couldn’t hold back their amused laughter as William glared at the Poké Ball shaking, before he sighed and shook his head. “Alright fine, grandpa, I'll go outside… but we’ll need to get breakfast first…”
‘Oh, right…. Breakfast… actually…’ Opening her Styler for a moment, Lena pulled up the map once again. “How about we actually go out to eat? Eating breakfast at the Pokémon Center is fine, but we just got paid, so how about we get something special?”
William thought for a moment before nodding, though his face hardened as he raised his Pokédex and looked at Lena. “Fine, but I’m gonna pay for my team's food at least.”
“Fine, fine… let me see if I can find a breakfast diner open for Pokémon as well…”
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The diner they eventually found looked a tad out of place, nestled between the modern high-rises and apartments. It was clearly built when Aspertia was growing into the small suburban city it was now, with the outside having worn paint and a weathered sign saying “Jenny’s” in a classic stylized font.
Even with it being early in the morning, the diner appeared to be a hotspot for locals as the inside was packed with the few booths looking recently cleaned. William asked Lena what day it was when they walked in, and she responded it was Sunday. At this, he suggested they order food to-go for a makeshift picnic at the park instead.
Taking one look at how little room there was for their entire team, Lena agreed as she took two menus and they navigated to a small booth that sat across from the main counter. The dinner was busy, the counter alone had a trainer with their Gurdurr, a Gothitelle with someone who looked like they just came out of the Pokémon Musical.
Even with how crowded it was, the servers moved with ease through it all like a dance, one smoothly avoiding a businessman in a suit with a crossword newspaper that moved behind them to an open single seat on the counter as Lena and William moved to their own booth. Even the TV overhead playing a news channel only added to the lively noise of the diner.
After a minute, a waitress came over to them before Lena could get to the next page, chipper smile and notepad in hand. “Welcome to Jenny’s! My name’s Clarissa and I’ll be your server this morning. What can I get for you two?”
“We’re going to be ordering to go for a picnic, but ah, I’m still deciding, so I’ll be a bit, but for now…” Glancing back at the menu, Lena dragged her finger down the list of drinks before stopping. “I’ll take a pot of coffee and a cup of milk for now.”
William was looking at the menu with pinched eyebrows for a moment, before speaking up finally. “Could I please get an Oran Juice, if that’s alright?”
“Of course! I’ll be back with those as quickly as possible!”
Once the waitress had left, William looked back towards Lena with a pointed, if concerned, stare. “A whole pot of coffee? Arthur has no comments about having that much caffeine?”
Lena rolled her eyes. “I’m only having a cup. The rest is for Charon… and I’d be more worried that the old man’s going to die of a heart attack if he drinks the entire thing. I don’t think he realizes that coffee nowadays is a lot stronger than it was 150-something years ago.” Glancing down at the menu again, her eyes shifted between a few different options before finally deciding on some pancakes, eggs, and hash browns. The place didn’t seem to have any good Sinnohian options anyway….
Now feeling a bit more awake, Lena brought up something Ronin mentioned she pushed aside earlier. “Hey, just curious… what was Ronin talking about?”
“Hm?” William looked up from his menu, confusion written on his face.
“You know, ‘skirting the rules’?”
William thought for a moment and looked to the side, clearly trying to recall the morning in his mind before the lightbulb finally went off. “Oh…! Well, I was going over the official battling rules with Charon, and we were talking about how they’ve changed over time. Er... I guess it’s more accurate to say that I was trying to talk about how the rules have changed but he was more focused on grumbling about how ‘it was better back in his day’ and ‘that the kids these days don’t know a real battle where the Trainers had to avoid moves too’ but I think he was just being grumpy.”
“I mean, Pokémon battling as a sport was just starting out, right? Wasn’t there one of the… I can’t remember their name, but one of the Wardens who basically kicked started the first official rule set for battles?”
William nodded, but not without frowning and hiding his hands below the table, probably to make it less obvious he was clenching the ends of his sweater again. “Yeah... you’ll uh, have to talk to Charon about that but uh, one of the Pearl Clan Wardens made a lot of the rules that still stand today. Six Pokémon maximum, no using items like Revives during official battles, he was… is still considered one of the best Trainers. Or Wielders I guess. I think that term came later. According to Charon... that groundwork was all him.”
“What was his name?”
William clearly hesitated. “...Don’t remember, but I think it’s like Nob-something… after translating from Hisuian, at least…”
William shook his head, dispelling whatever thought he had before he continued. “Either way, I was comparing it to the Unova Rules, and Charon started nitpicking every small loophole or exception that could give someone an advantage, with how ‘legalese’ they’re written.”
Lena frowned and looked at him pointedly. “I mean, there’s nothing wrong with seeing flaws in rules, but the regulations are there for a reason, to keep battles safe. Trying to find ways around it could lead to you and your Pokémon getting hurt.”
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“I completely agree, but the issue is that… regulations usually come up as a reaction to something, not because someone explicitly broke them.” William’s expression shifted to something more contemplative. “Laws and rules usually only define what you can’t do, not what you can do. And even when it says what you can’t do, it’s… flexible, malleable, and allows for loopholes, or exceptions. Because someone didn’t…realize they existed, or put them there on purpose.”
Continuing, William’s voice was thoughtful now, distracted. “...Charon’s said… a law or rule will never say something like ‘You cannot take things that don’t belong to you’, no, instead it will define what taking is and what ownership is and then leave deciding where the line between borrowing and stealing is for later… interpreted by… judges who oversee a case, or leave for lawyers to argue… though, that’s not even considering the definition of ‘stealing’ could change over time, as language changes too… I mean…”
Lena’s stomach slowly dropped and a sinking nervousness crept up on her, as the implied idea of battling before rules solidified, compounded with Charon fighting in the conflict with Zdarova hanging over her. “I don’t like where this conversation is going….”
“Huh?” William turned to Lena, with a confused expression, before either coming to the same or different conclusion as Lena as he quickly threw up his hands and waved them back flusteredly. “Oh shit — Nonononono, not like that! What I’m trying to say is that — a battle strategy can still follow the letter of the rules the League sets, but not really the spirit of them. You know, like how there’s a rule about how many switches you can make in a—”
“Here’s a coffee, milk, and Oran Juice,” the waitress cut in while placing the drinks on the table. “Are you two ready to order?”
William looked a little frazzled from being cut off suddenly, so she ordered first. “Yeah, can I get the Pancake Platter with Pecha Syrup, hash browns, and two fried eggs, Sunyshore style for me… and…” Quickly glancing at the menu one more time, she quickly found what Arthur and Rina would like and added those as well.
Clarissa wrote it down without pause before turning to William. “Okay, and for you?”
“U-Uh… I’ll take a stack of plain pancakes and a banana… and — uh…” William quickly looked down at his menu, rattling off three things for his team.
“Alright, I’ll get those ready for you both in to-go trays. Anything else?”
Lena quickly shook her head and said a polite thank you, William echoing similarly with a stutter as he watched the waitress leave before speaking up again. “Hate when that happens… I always lose my train of thought…” William sighed, then shook his head and frustration away. “Dammit, what was I saying?”
“You were suggesting you go steal something, then started talking about switching in battles.”
“Wha — no, it was a comparison! I was using it as an example!” He said with a tad bit of indignation, throwing his right arm up in defeat to the amusement of Lena. Lena blew on her coffee to hide her teasing smirk. It was interesting to see how William could be quite theatrical sometimes…
Still that little voice in the back of her head that told her something fishy was going on was on full volume.
William continued, not seeming to notice Lena’s smirk. “If you want an actual example that doesn’t do any harm to anyone, then look at when I had Viridi on my head earlier. Dr. Yagokoro said neither Ronin nor Viridi could be in my hoodie to cause strain to my shoulder, but that doesn’t count for being on my head.”
“Wouldn’t that still cause strain and harm to you?” Lena made a mental note to question the doctor just in case…
“What I’m trying to get to is that…” William started, clearly ignoring Lena’s question with a faint twitch of a smile. “...There’s usually a limit to how many times you can manually switch in an official League battle, right?”
“Yeah… I can understand why there are limits for official levels, but even in a street battle, I haven’t seen either Trainer switch their Pokémon over six times. It just wouldn’t make sense.” Lena replied, before pausing when William physically hissed at her response. “What?”
“...What if both Trainers conclude that the only optimal play is to switch? Battles can be decided by either Trainer not being able to switch at a good time…”
“I mean… yeah, that is true and I’m sure there’s some non-League affiliated battle out there that’s had over ten or so switches…”
“Okay… I’m gonna paraphrase this story, as Charon told me when I started talking to him about switches, but… there were two… Tra—Wielders, who were in a battle that was ‘official’, for the time at least.” William started, before pausing to look down at the Poké Ball on his belt.
He continued after a second. “Yeah, right. So. They were in a tough battle, they were both down to just two Pokémon each — Charon thinks it was a Shellos and Staravia vs a Geodude and Wormadam — and it was really tense, y’know? Every move counts. Well, Shellos doesn’t want to fight Wormadam but can handle Geodude, and Staravia can’t handle Geodude but can handle Wormadam…”
“And Geodude can take on Staravia but doesn’t want to battle Shellos, while Wormadam can take on Shellos but not Staravia.”
William theatrically raised his hands to halt Lena before she could interject. “So… let's say you have Shellos out in front of Wormadam. What do you do?”
“Alright… I would… switch to Staravia.”
William nodded, taking a quick sip of his drink. “Sorry, dry throat, okay; now I have Wormadam out in front of Staravia, so I need to switch to Geodude.”
Lena picked up on the point quickly. “So then I would switch to Shellos and then you would switch to Wormadam and we’d be right back where we started again.”
“Exactly. It’s like an old movie back home: the only winning move is not to play.” William said in a tone that punctuated the point. Lena blew on her steaming coffee as she thought about the quote… and even as she took a sip, she couldn’t help but feel a shiver run down her back even as William continued.
“Both of them realized this, and then they started switching, on and on… the battle lasted hours with both Wielders too stubborn to actually give in or accept a tie, or give in. There were no rules stating they had a switch limit, so… they just did. The battle only ended when the sun went down and it got so dark nobody could see anymore. They then just declared it as a loss for both of them. People hated it too, and I think the two Wielders got reprimanded.”
Lena looked with an incredulous look. “So… it became just a game of spite? To see who would give in? And people were okay with watching that?”
“Well no, I did say they were reprimanded. But not having a rule for a switch limit in the first place let them do that.” William grumbled under his breath and shook his head to continue. “It was one of the things that Charon picked up on reading the rules, especially with how they define ‘manual’ switching..”
Lena leaned forward a bit, setting her coffee on the table. “... And you’re saying the Unova League has… similar issues? Even though they limit switching?”
“Manual Switching. They don’t limit moves that force switches. I guess the reason is that since using a move like U-Turn still attacks that endless battle I just described wouldn’t happen.”
Lena paused as she thought about it… a frown forming on her face… he asked about moves that switched out before, didn’t he?
“Let me ask a quick follow-up,” William said, leaning back as he moved to drink more of his Oran Juice before responding. “Are there any… social taboos beyond the League’s official rules for how many times a switch move like that can be used?” He pressed, tapping the table slightly as he did.
“No? Moves like that are pretty interesting to watch from a spectator since moves like those don’t initiate a pause by the referee. It just keeps going, and it’s up to the Trainers to adjust to that. It forces the Trainers to, like you said, actually battle.”
“Huh… it doesn’t pause the battle…” William muttered, as if realizing something… he fell silent for a moment, making Lena worry before he started shaking his head. “Sorry, just… still trying to get past what I’ve seen at home or tried on the simulator games… Showdown was what one of them was called and everyone could play it for free, so it was most kids’ or even adults’ only opportunity to ‘battle’, as long as you had an internet connection.”
“That’s… surprisingly forward. Even Kanto Tech doesn’t offer their simulator for free.”
“Really? Hm… I dunno how Kanto Tech’s simulator works, but Showdown was turned based, both Trainers choose their moves and whichever Pokémon is the ‘fastest’ mathematically is the one that uses their move first…” Before Lena could roll her eyes and make the comment, William did it himself. “Granted, Pokémon can’t be broken down into pure numbers and spreadsheets and be 100% accurate, but they needed some way to run the battles on a computer in a way for children to understand.”
Lena snorted while nodding in agreement. “Better you can see that than some kids who only use simulators at least… sorry, continue.”
“Right, anyway… Here's an on-the-fly scenario that highlights the issue I think. Let's say you’re facing a Dudunsparce...”
“…Do you mean Dunsparce?” Lena questioned, her face scrunching up in confusion as William shook his head.
“No, Dudunsparce, the evolution of Dunsparce.” William started with a definitive tone, though his own face shifted into a confused expression as well.
“Dunsparce has an evolution?”
“U-Uh… yes? Evolves after learning… Drill… Ru— no…” He went silent, clearly trying to run through his memory before he tapped the table definitively. “Hyper Drill. That’s it… once it learns that move, it evolves. “
Lena’s been to a lot of Regions, Sinnoh, Almia, Unova, but she’s never even heard of such a Pokémon. At this, she frowned and pulled up her Fine Styler and looked through the Ranger Browser under ‘D’. “What Region was it discovered in?”
William froze for a moment and thought, clearly not expecting the question. “Paldea, I think it would be…?”
“Ah, that would explain why…” Lena said as she closed her Styler, already knowing it wouldn’t be listed with a sigh. “Paldea is one of the few Regions the Ranger Union is entirely barred from operating in, and hasn’t really contributed much Pokédex information. Pokémon from there are not well known among the Ranger community unless you came from Paldea specifically.”
She grunted and crossed her arm, a frown forming as she shook her head. “Champion Geeta has always cited ‘internal factors’ in the Region for the ban and hesitation to release information, and yet in the same breath, she’s always more than willing to send food and medical aid to other Regions when they, or even the Ranger Union request it. It makes no sense to me, and Chairperson Erma has tried to push back but… somehow Geeta seems almost unbothered by whatever magic Erma always works. The same goes for Galar since Chairperson Rose became the chairperson of their League… It’s been something I’ve never quite understood….”
William looked really interested in that, his eyebrows raising. “Huh… a Region can just bar the Ranger Union—?” He cut himself off, shaking his own head as if to dispel the tangent. “Wait, no, we’re getting off-topic, sorry…”
“You have nothing to apologize for…? I’m the one who brought it up…” Lena started, before realizing she had another question to ask later... ‘How do you know about Paldea Pokémon? Did your home have some contact with them?’
William didn’t notice her questioning expression as he clearly tried to refocus. “Where were we…? Ah, right, you’re going against a Dudunsparce, and they’ve been… annoying. They used Stealth Rock in the beginning of the battle, while also using Tailwind to make up for speed or Yawn to give it more time, or maybe instead Coil for survivability…”
“Alright…” Lena nodded, following along so far… she and her team have gone up against others who have tried to set up like that before… nothing unusual there…
“Then, just as you’ve worn them down, Tailwind is about to run out or they’ve just used Coil a couple times after Stealth Rock — maybe some Spikes too if you’ve got the opportunity — it uses Baton Pass to another Pokémon. Let’s say… a Psychic Type, like Espeon, is fresh and ready to attack… and Espeon starts with using Trick Room.”
At the mention of Trick Room, Lena groaned and nearly felt her mind twist just thinking about it. “Oh Arceus, Trick Room… even higher level Trainers barely understand how it even works, and it’s rarely used…” She took a breath and frowned as she thought about Espeon’s natural speed…. “Espeon would be slower than most Pokémon though, because of that. I don’t understand where you’re going with this…”
William winced, but nodded. “That’s true; Espeon was the first one that came to mind off the top of my head… there’s probably a better fit for the Pokémon. The bottom line is that you don't need Espeon to physically move, they just need to use one more move afterwards, Baton Pass.”
Alright, he completely lost her, a confused expression forming on Lena’s face. “Okay… so you’re back to Dunspar—Dudunsparce… But you only get a couple minutes of Trick Room left without Espeon on the field to keep it up.”
“Right… it’s risky,” William conceded with a tilt of his head, his face getting pressed as he tried to find his words. “The main thing is that Dudunsparce can now use Dragon Tail without worry of its own speed.”
“Alright… but then that just forces the opponent’s Pokémon on the field to switch —” At this, it finally hit Lena, her eyes widening. “Oh… into Stealth Rock… and Spikes...”
Nodding, William continued. “Exactly. And they can keep using it, over, and over again… once Trick Room is ended, Baton Pass to Espeon, heal with Wish, and setup with Trick Room again, and even Espeon can keep itself afloat with its own use of Morning Sun… repeating all this while the opponent struggles and their Pokémon keep getting hit with Stealth Rock.”
With a bit of desperation and horror at the idea of facing such a strategy, Lena couldn’t help but shake her head. “B-But… that’s still a bit risky… having to rely on Espeon, if the opponent gets their own field hazard up, you’ll fall for your own strategy.
“Right, and… again, this is on the fly, and there’s probably a way better way to do it—”He paused, humming as he started to think in a bit more detail. “In fact…. if you can train a Dundunsparce to use Sleep Talk after Rest, you wouldn’t even need Trick Room… throw in Toxic on them and you could just force your opponent to watch as their Pokémon slowly fall…”
There had been ‘stalling’ strategies in competitive battling before. Lena vaguely recalled hearing about a Trainer with a Wobbuffet in Kalos doing something similar… but to lock a Trainer into a scenario where they could only watch as their team slowly succumbed to Stealth Rock… It was a little terrifying. Especially coming from a kid. “William… how did you even — why would you even come up with a strategy like that?”
“You think that’s bad? That’s not even my strategy. Even more annoying strategies existed online. They actually had to implement an “Infinite Battle Clause” and a Turn Limit because two guys figured out how to make a battle never end. And those were only two Pokémon on the team I listed, there could be another four waiting still…” William said with a shrug, letting Lena take a moment to realize that giving free access to a battle simulator would allow people to have a lot of time to craft… monstrosities.
“How do you make a battle never end? Your Pokèmon are going to get tired eventually, right?”
“Not on a simulator like Showdown… we didn’t have any Pokémon to actually try these strategies, we had to learn the pitfalls ourselves… for better and worse.”
“Well, okay, how did they make the battle not end on this... ‘Showdown’?
“Um, I think it was two Wobbuffets trapping each other while unable to hurt each other. And a few programming bugs made it so that nobody could do anything. Don’t quote me on that though, I don’t remember the specifics...”
Lena stared for a moment, her mind giving the brief image of two blue statues, staring at each other for all of eternity… the sun rising and falling with the moon day in and out…the mental image enough to prompt a half-snort.
‘Still, the idea of that… I’m not sure I’m glad you don’t want to catch specific Pokémon to see if anything like that will work in the real world, or nervous that you’ll have open availability to do so if you change your mind.’ Lena mused to herself before sitting back in the booth while thinking on the strategy…
It was odd to her, William coming up with a scenario where the opponent couldn’t attack, and kept getting switched into a hazard like Stealth Rock. Repeatedly, and… especially since he’s shown he isn’t used to seeing Pokémon get hurt.
Despite this, Lena frowned as she thought it over again, not wanting to discourage William from opening up. He seemed interested in talking about this on his own accord, a far cry from how he was on Route 2, Lena taking a sip of her coffee, now cool enough to enjoy.
The strategy was a gimmick, clearly… it could be effective, but… “It’s… risky, and it would take a lot of luck, especially if the opponent has a Pokémon resistant to Rock, like Lucario, or if you miss, the opponent could shut you down. Your Pokémon could run out of energy and be unable to use Roar or Dragon Tail… even a Leppa Berry would only be a temporary stop-gap…”
William nodded in agreement, but winced at Lena’s comments. “True… that’s just one example… but the point isn't that the strategy is risky.” William said as he leaned forward while taking a sip to finish the rest of his Oran Juice. “The point is… that the League's Rules allow the strategy to exist. It’s not against the rules whatsoever.”
“Right, but… Trainers and spectators would call it what it is, a gimmick, and once you find out how to break the gimmick, your team falls apart.”
William shrugged, but nodded in agreement. “I don’t disagree, it would annoy people, or people online will hate it, but the League set a limit for manual switches in their match, but gives an exception for moves that automatically switch a Pokémon out. Which means someone can always defend it as a ‘legal’ strategy, even if you disagree with it personally.”
At Lena’s frown, William continued with his own frown while he glanced at the table. “I don’t like stall strategies like that, but I know it could be useful depending on the opponent. Personally, I would want to be more… in control, and not depending on such a narrow strategy gives you more options in the long run…” William glanced out at the window, working his jaw before continuing. “I don’t enjoy seeing Pokémon in pain… it’s a lot different from a screen, but I can acknowledge that Toxic or Stealth Rocks are useful tools in battle…”
Lena couldn’t help but sip her coffee, just nodding. “I think that… thinking about setups and rules like that does help in planning, but it matters more about how you and your team react on the fly. Not everything can be broken down into a string of moves you can use in the same order to ‘win’. Someone will always outsmart you.”
“I know, but… I’d like to be prepared… especially since I need to get Badges without Charon, or try too at least…” William muttered, looking a tad morose with a frown forming before suddenly the ‘clink’ of a server tray made him snap up. Clarissa had returned with seven to-go boxes stacked, a pile of three and four, along with a plastic thermos for the coffee.
“Here’s your order! Is there anything else I can get you today?”
“A-Ah, no, thank you so much…” William said before Lena could. “If you could, can the check be split by our respective orders…?”
“Of course! I’ll be right back with it!” Clarissa said as she headed up to the front, leaving William to glance at the slight tower of food…
“Shouldn’t be too heavy… right?” William said as he glanced at his backpack, most likely trying to figure out if he can put the food inside. Lena rolled her eyes and shook her head.
“Still not letting you carry your bag until tomorrow. Doctor’s orders, you know. I’ll help you put it in and carry both of our bags to the park.”
William sighed, his body language clearly hoping Lena forgot about that as she moved over and helped him organize everything into their bags. She then carefully poured the rest of the coffee into the plastic thermos and sealed it, putting it in the front pocket, closing it up before slinging both her and William’s bags on her shoulders. Turning to the young Trainer, Lena saw he had his Pokédex out, clearly to make sure he could pay and Lena couldn’t try anything. She still rolled her eyes with a smile as Clarissa came back with two pay devices for their bill.
Payment went quickly enough through her Fine Styler and William’s Pokédex, and Clarissa bid them a great day which they returned. Lena then turned to William and made a motion with her head as she headed for the door. “Come on, let’s find a place to eat at the park. Never actually been to Aspertia long enough to visit, so it’ll be nice for some sightseeing.”
William nodded and stayed behind her as they walked out, though Lena’s mind continued to turn a bit about the switch strategy that William suggested…
‘If you weren’t so adamant about not wanting to be eye-catching to others, I would be more worried… good thing is that Viridi is the only one who can learn such a switch move for you, or I’d be more worried than about what evil thing you’d create.’
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The morning continued to wear on, Clarissa took a breath as she walked away from her current table of an elderly couple, her mind running through everyone she had to check in or serve…
As she did so, she noticed the man in the suit at the counter continued to sip his current drink, making Clarissa mentally sigh and walk over to him. “Do you need anything else, sir?“ Clarissa asked from behind the counter, her tone keeping her customer service tone as she watched the business man down the last bit of the current shot of espresso that he had ordered. ‘Twins above, why would you need seven different cups with seven shots of caffeine? What company makes you work on Sunday that you need that much?’
“Ah, no thank you ma'am, I’ve got all I need…” He started as he folded the newspaper neatly on the counter along with the napkin he had been endlessly scribbling on the entire time.
“Of course sir, if I can just have a card for payment?” Clarissa asked, the man nodding as she glanced at the word search the man had been working on for the past half-hour…
...Wow. he was terrible at crosswords.
4 Across: Kantonian Noodle: Laws
12 Down: “Me too”, formally: Dr.Yagokoro
10 Across: Muscular Pokémon: Sheltered?
7 Down: Wood-cutting tools: Showdown
9 Across: “There’s a storm brewing”: BatonPass
11 Across: Not genuine : PaldeaPDex
15 Down: Not serious, appear clever: Knowledgeable
19 Across: Study of the biosphere and the Earth's atmosphere on time scales: NoPokémon
Clarissa wasn’t the best at crosswords, but ‘laws’ isn’t the right answer to a 4-letter Kantonian noodle. It was obviously ‘miso’.
The man pulled out his wallet to fish for his credit card, and Clarissa noticed an Interpol ID card in the clear plastic sleeve in the front.
‘Guess that explains all the coffee. Was probably on night shift… oh, wait…!’
“We have our complementary Jenny’s discount for active-duty officers!” Clarissa said as she suddenly remembered the discount list she could offer.
The man seemed a bit surprised at this, and looked around quickly before setting down again. “No thank you. It’s on the company card anyway.” He said as he pressed the card in, and tapped through the menu to pay. After he did so, he grabbed the newspaper and shoved it under his arm before having a polite smile that seemed… planned, too careful.
What a strange man. At least he tipped well.
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Co-Editors/Beta Readers:
David “TheBlizWiz” R
Garmfild
TopBat
Special Thanks:
Moxie