El-Ahrairah 4.9
January 17th, 2023
The city of Taisen was far larger than my expectations had conjured in my mind, with a population of over one point four million was comparable to my old home of San Diego, but I hadn’t seen any major city this big in half a year, and I was suitably impressed by the settlement.
It was divided into five districts, one of them being the Pokémon Center district which was connected to the main shopping street, heavily pedestrianized and covered much like a gigantic outdoor mall. The city as a whole had wide avenues and sensible design, lined with diverse trees, some bearing fruits and berries. It was of course connected by a combination of subways, bus systems, bicycle and foot paths as the Pokémon Center and general area as a whole was built for easy transportation.
Our time in Akari’s hometown had offered us weeks of training in both battling and aura. For example with aura, one could share their power to fuel their pokémon to reach new heights of power. He had also given us some detailed instructions on how to use the basic ‘safe’ aspects of a burst heart, as he had mentioned he there were rumors that the League had obtained Burst through a combination of finding old untainted gems, and the years of studying mega stones, keystones and z-crystals had allowed them to synthesize it, all of it culminating from some research island called Pasio.
It was apparently the ‘next stage’ in the development of the Tohoku League, a way to make them stand out, and a way to spite the use of Burst pre-war by returning to the old ways before they had been turned into implements of domination.
I remember seeing Akari’s face at his words, like he had personally stomped on puppies in front of her eyes. The ‘plan’ from the looks of things was that numerous qualified trainers were allowed to apply for or earn the right to use Burst. There were numerous tournaments that were advertising access to a new and special tool to ‘enhance one’s bond and involve a trainer in the battle’. Which had brought a lot of attention because the people of this country remembered the Burst Warriors, even if it’s been almost two generations since the collapse of the old government.
From what I could tell, Aterui recommended we apply to one of the sites being prepared to train people in using Burst, as our training would make those places way more useful when it came down to it.
Anyways, I had decided to opt for training with my pokémon since I had three days before the Gym Trial and potentially Battle, depending on the result, which seemed to be almost random on whether or not we got to challenge the Gym Leader. Guy was supposedly a real prick from what I knew, often leaving his gym to be run by his second in command Gym Trainer, and having incredibly difficult challenges. He still had less of an attitude problem than Mikron, but unlike him, it seems like he was planning on leaving his post for a more worthy successor.
But three days was three days, and I had time to mold our team towards a potential strategy to face the Gym Leader of Taisen. So using one of the Center battlefields was helpful.
“Alright, let’s work on practicing! Jericho have you figured out how to create stronger psychic moves from Fleur?”
“Yah man.” Jericho snorted in his grumbling voice, lightly scratching his ear with a toothy grin. “Managed to focus Confusion into a focused blast, seems to be hitting harder.” He demonstrated with an unstable bolt of psychic energy and I beamed.
“We’re on our way to working up a strong psychic move that can benefit from Sheer Force once your Hustle converts into it!” I stood on the tip of my toes, practically bouncing in happiness. “Psychic isn’t really in your natural movepool, but with your psychic affinity I think we can manage it.”
Psychic was to Confusion what Flamethrower was to Ember, a combination of a more efficient technique and greater power to create a stronger variant. With Sheer Force reinforcing it, a Psychic from Jericho would have the same force as Future Sight, along with a minor STAB bonus from his affinity.
Elemental affinities were an interesting phenomena, as pokémon increased their potential and trained, they gained a boost to one of their off-Types, not quite as strong a boost as the Same-type Attack Bonus, but it was notable. So far Mirko had an affinity towards fighting and ghost type energies, and I didn’t expect it to change until her potential increased or a whole lot of training.
Jericho had a psychic affinity which meant he had a much better chance of learning and developing psychic moves, and they did a bit more damage. Llayda had an affinity for fighting energies, and Fleur had yet to develop anything outside fire and psychic energies. Which was the type she was and the type she’d become upon evolving into delphox.
I clapped my hands together. “Alright team, we have a few days before we’ll face the Gym Leader, which means it’s time to practice our moves, to make them more flexible and powerful, as well as working on increasing your potential. Definitely more than I’ll ever have.” I shook my head, lips lifting into a smile.
Mirko paused with a frown at me before nodding. “Good, I’ve been meaning to make adjustments to my Shadow Ball technique.” I nodded at her and she let out a happy purr, forming a black-violet sphere of necromantic energy.
“As for potential… I’ve got something for you Jericho,” I pulled out an orb emitting a strange miasma, and I shielded myself in Poison to protect myself. “A Toxic Orb, it should serve as a potent source of Poison energy that’s more renewable than gems.” A Toxic Orb could be used to increase the potential of a poison-type, they would absorb the energy, wait for it to refill and do it again.
I threw it at him, and he caught up with a look of reverence. “Where’d you find this?”
“Fell on it,” I replied honestly. I had stumbled on an abandoned nest that contained the dense crystal orb of Type Energy. “The training here is obvious, digest the energy from the Orb, and practice controlling the flow of your own energies.”
Most of the process of increasing a pokémon’s potential involved a combination of improving the condition of their body, allowing more power to flow through their body, sort of like refining copper into silver in terms of conductivity. That was the physical side of things, the mental side was self-care, doing favorite activities, flexing their minds in the way they prefer, even a good meal quite literally nourished the soul.
It’s basically keeping their connections strong, which explains why so many evil teams lose to literal children. Failing to do friendship literally has a detrimental effect on your power. The spiritual side was of course relating to increasing their output of aura directly, usually by using resonances relating to their own Type, and increasing their control and mastery of their own energies, and improving the bond, again friendship is a very real power in this world.
“Now,” I smiled at their wary expressions. “Every single one of you is going to learn how to breathe. Got that?”
Their collective groans were music to my ears.
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January 19th, 2023.
What the hell are they doing?
I had gone out to buy some snacks, soda, and chips and had come back to my pokémon and Akari’s having finished what had to be a very intense game of tag. Which was good for them since I didn't want them to be training all the time.
Well, the entire battlefield had been covered in craters, lit on fire, flooded, cracked, overturned, battered, washed, blown up, etc, etc and I just stared at the damage and felt so thankful for the power of pokémon when it came down to fixing things up.
“It's the law of the jungle!” Happy roared happily, his deep resounding voice seamlessly cutting through the air. “And it seems like you rabbits know that well!”
Stolen story; please report.
“I’m a fox.” was Fleur’s droll reply.
“Foxes fight rabbits!” Kirby cheerily added his own commentary, munching on a rolled-up ball of berries. He sniffed out some smoke, and gasped. “My spinach puffs!” He ran away at the speed of sound and I was startled by the non-sequitur.
The lava pig snorted.“Indeed, we all see the trend your trainer is following. They’ll be rabbits, rabbit-like, or rabbit-adjacent, maybe an owl or a tortoise or some other pokémon.”
“Referring to the enemies of rabbits, Happy?” Mirko just shrugged her shoulders. “You would be among the Thousand you know, being a boar.”
“I'm sorry to say the human that commands me wouldn't like me being poached for another’s team.” Happy was clearly joking around, but his voice lent a certain gravitas to his words. It was very rumbly and deep, the kinda voice you could listen to all day. “What do you two think?” He gestured to his teammates, Elise and Rosetta both shared knowing looks. One more innocent, the other more devious.
Elise fluttered around with her wings. “I think the theme is cute, very fitting for someone so nice.”
“Nice?” I was called many things by many people but nice wasn't one of them.
Rosetta just giggled, placing one of her roses against her lip. “Ohoho, personally I just think our Akari’s darling companion has a type that really catches her eye. Two pretty rabbits and a lovely fox, a handsome and dashing beast of a soon-to-be rabbit king. Dare I say it's quite an aesthetic?” she shrugged daintily. Llayda seemed confused at her mentioning.
An embarrassed scowl and a red blush spread across my face. “I can hear you!” I squeaked.
“But your reaction is quite telling… ” I noted the faint accent, ambiguously Scottish. “It's honestly rather endearing.”
“Watch yourself, flower girl, I ain't above punching you out,” Jericho growled, teeth grinding against each other. “So don't test me.”
Rosetta just smirked.
Oh, coming here was such a mistake.
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January 20th, 2023.
“Leave your team here.” I blinked multiple times at the order from the Gym Trainer who had met the front entrance of the Fairy Gym, and guided me through the oddly labyrinthine stadium-like building, shaped like a cross between a hill, a garden and a castle, where we had stopped in front of an open door covered in mist.
“Huh, so that really is how the trial works then?” I asked, more curious than worried.
The Gym Trainer simply smiled. “Why of course, this test is for the trainer, not their team. Fairy are one part of the trifecta of madness, and we take that seriously despite appearances.” She was dressed in beautiful cloth, shining in all the colors of a cerise sky, pinks and reds and oranges and gold, and her red eyes lacked pupils, changed by the glamour radiating from her soul, blonde hair seeming to flicker oddly in the light. “I’ll keep them safe,” she posted to a box. “That’s a promise I intend to keep.” Left unsaid was what she would do to anyone who attempted to take them.
Fairy trainers are a lot creepier than I imagined, and it made me wonder about Akari.
I nodded, I knew she was sincere, her gleeful aura ringing like a bell at her declaration. The Gym Trainer gestured towards the misty entrance, and I stepped through, not knowing exactly what I was getting into. The trial was supposedly different every time, shaped by the challenger as much as it shaped them back.
I looked back and stared at where the entrance had been, which had vanished without a trace, showing only a smooth featureless wall. I could feel my senses go into overdrive, and with trepidation I used my Sight, and blanched.
Aterui had told me about places like this, it wasn’t an illusion, it was one of the Reaches, one of the far places. They were a collection of realms detached and untethered from pretty much everything, not even falling into the abyssal layers, those realities that had collapsed into the Nothing, simply stray bubbles of existence. Dreamlike in nature, with fluid reality and passage in time, and filled with wonders not usually present in normal reality.
Once upon a time they may have been part of the abyssal realities, ordinary reality or even the collective unconscious, before simply… falling away. They were often commandeered by the more ethereal Types, ghosts, fairies, psychics, and dark fey like zoroark. They were dangerous places, and many a trainer had vanished into them never to return.
This path had to have been made safe for generations then.
Safe but not completely, it was a trial after all.
I breathed, in and out, taking in the exotic air of this place, like spring and summer in a single breath. I looked in front of me, and found myself watching a river of stars reflecting a familiar night sky, the Milky Way in its full glory painted across the waters, a single boat beckoning for me to ride it, oars lightly batting at the water.
I stepped into the solar barque, and it started to move under its own power, and the starscape under the boat began to shift and warp, waves building and settling like liquid wind. Then they grew and grew, ten feet, a hundred, a thousand feet high, and I breathed in and out, and gently checked my pockets, where I had stuffed a loaf of bread.
I stared at the wave of the ocean, and saw that it was lies given shape, and lifted my serendipitous loaf of bread to the wave. The wave leaned forward, eyes upon eyes blinking rapidly, a massive hand of water unfolded from the wave, and plucked the loaf from my hand, before receding back into the stellar sea, and my eyes caught a glimpse of a blue orbed tail before it vanished into the dark.
The trial was never consistent but I knew enough about faeries from home and speaking with Llayda to know what fairytales are. They were trials so trainers could learn how to protect themselves from the Fey, in a world where they held all the keys.
This trial was about teaching someone to respect fairies before it was far too late, to keep idiots from thinking them cute and harmless instead of cute and dangerous. Many wouldn’t hurt someone, but curse them, play with them, yes they would. It was in their nature, even if they were nowhere as dangerous as those who still lived in Ildathach.
The boat stopped rowing itself, and with a sigh I grabbed the oars, and pushed my aura to strengthen my muscles and started to row, as the stellar sea became murky as the mist in front of me parted to reveal a swamp, with impossibly beautiful trees flecked with starlight, the swamp waters reflecting a dirty milky night sky.
There was a whisper, and I narrowed my eyes at a flickering lantern, dancing in the wind, and my mind saw it as safety, hope, a path—
I used the Sight, and the lantern was suddenly being held by a green skinned creature covered in dark purple hair, eyes gleaming with malice, and face pulled taut by a smile with far too many teeth.
Grimmsnarl, no.
I continued rowing with a huff as the path was used like a playground by the fairy, shifting the dream-like realm to their wishes and desires.
I rowed, rowed, rowed my boat down the stream, the barge pushing onwards as the mist covered the field again, and a handful of minutes later.
I arrived on land, and stepped onto the shore, and started to walk, never looking back for even a moment. I was going to beat this trial.
I found myself looking at an open house, with a straight path leading directly to the exit of the house. I stepped into the house, which seemed to extend endlessly, like an infinite hallway.
One room, two rooms, ten rooms, and I turned my face to face the fairy hiding with illusions and mirrors and walls, hello Mr. Mime. He clasped his hands together, flexing and shifting his strange jointed limbs, eyes blinking one at a time in a wink.
I thought of brownies, and checked my left pocket, and offered a high quality pair of socks with a sharp grin. He took the sock, and he waved his arm, and reality shattered like glass, twisting into a vortex of glamour, illusion, lies and magic.
I could feel a presence pressing down on me, and I struggled within the lost path, as it watched with an imperious judging gaze. Fairy energy rolled in waves and waves and particles and particles, and I looked back to see the starry sea again, the Milky Way dancing with the stars of this world’s galaxy.
You who are not of this world understand what we truly are, lies and glamour wrapped in Bargains and Promises.
I just formed a toothless smile. “I like to learn.”
We judge you worthy, little human. Now walk and See.
I opened my eyes to the end of the path, stepping into the other side and back into material reality, and stared into the eyes of a worried-looking Gym Leader.