Start Game 1.6
July 24th, 2022.
I rubbed my forehead, pouting at the building sweat from the humid heat of Ishigama, a humid subtropical climate that didn't agree with my own habit of living in southern California. We had the heat to match but not the humidity and it fucking sucked.
It didn't help that I had been tasked with a survey of the edge of the city, along the Rikushū coast. The dramatic cliffs and beaches are a valuable refuge for seabirds like wingull and cramorant, which were both species with a near-global range. It wasn't a regional variant for the latter, but it did have a far darker dark blue bordering on black coat, and white feathers extending up their necks.
The umiu were a common partner among fishermen in the region, and I could see one chowing down on a fish, and I cringed at the horrific squishy sounds of wriggling flesh being shoved down its throat. If I was in Sinnoh there'd be a small chance of sighting foreign pokémon like the puffrige line, though it's home domain was on the North Altian continent, specifically the Mezo region, a vast and diverse region below the continental power of the Risland Confederation, the political alliance of regions dominated by Unova.
I could see some sukashi-yuri blooming on the sand, gravel, and cliff sides, blooming orange lilies in the thousands in vast flower fields alongside roses, beach morning glories, daylilies and Japanese(Nihoh) irises.
Lots of deciduous trees and meadows and fields along with steep cliff sides and sandy beaches. I could see eastern shellos, who of course resembled gigantic sea slugs. If a lot less ugly, though their charm was certainly leaning towards ugly cute with their odd faces and wriggling pseudopod appendages.
The shellos line has a complex network of hydraulic cell tissue used to power their legs, and an internalized gladius of non-conductive mineral structures which acts as their skeleton. Which explains why they become ground-type on evolution.
There were a few krabby in the water as well, digging into the sand so they wouldn't be washed away. I could see two fighting over a carcass, both of them using Vise Grip, claws crushing chitin with sheer force, bubbly sounds coming out of them.
The flower fields were home to starly, rattata, budew and shinx. At least close to the city where I had been told to keep an eye on things with Mirko. The cliffs had skiddo and one or two gogoat.
Of course I wasn’t just being a passive actor, part of being a pokémon researcher was interacting with them as a species when you can. That included politely asking for battles, since ambushing pokémon seemed like a dick move if they weren’t being hostile.
Shinx were the most active in challenging us, and sometimes a rattata or two would try to attack and get bodied by Mirko. Drain Punch did a number on them and kept her stamina by draining their energy. She had knocked out about six of each, and had gotten stronger.
I scanned for more pokémon in the area using my dex-phone, the device releasing a pulse, and I blinked at a notification. “The buneary registered to you has learned a new move. Please go to the Team Status feature to learn more.” It intoned and I blinked as I did what it said.
“Foresight? Not a bad move against ghost pokémon, and you’ve got access to Pound, Quick Attack and Drain Punch.” I gestured to Mirko and she puffed up in pride.
Buneary had access to a wide variety of moves given sufficient growth or me spending time teaching her how to channel and manage the energies and techniques. Some easy moves would include Defense Curl, Endure, After You, and Swift.
Their YouTube equivalent had lots of tutorials on teaching moves, and how to optimize their fighting skills.
There was a rumble, and I glanced over to Mirko who had gone still, nose twitching and ears curling up in… embarrassment?
“Are you hungry?”
“Miro!” She answered with a nod, and I sat down on a log, brushing away stray insects, and pulling off my backpack. Akari had taught me how to prepare custom meals for pokémon rather than the opaque generic chow offered by most stores, though she had pointed out a few good brands that offered an actual list of ingredients so I wouldn’t be overwhelmed by needing to feed multiple pokémon.
“So an ideal mix of oats, hay, leafy green lettuce, oran cuttings and bell peppers, along with a small quantity of micro-bugs.” I pulled out the bowl, and placed it down next to me. Mirko hopped up onto the log, dark eyes glimmering with excitement.
I twisted off the top of a thermos bottle full of water, which was kept cool by the container and the natural stasis of Backpack. The whole elementalization and compact storage of items with predictable forms was a bit of a mindfuck, and revolved around generating an altered space where certain rules apply differently.
A lot of their tech was built around the reverse engineering of Infinity Energy, using machinery to replicate certain effects. For example both Growth and Minimize had been used in electronics manufacturing, using the former to maximize working surfaces and the latter to minimize the size of tools and parts.
The electronics in my dex-phone for example was the size of a penny surrounded in a shock-absorbent foam and the composite frame of the electronic device, along with a high energy density capacitor-style battery. And I mean dense, thirty megajoules a kilogram was a rather standard measure for rechargeable power storage units around here.
They had apparently never invented lithium ion batteries, and found my phone interesting if using a volatile and inferior electrochemical battery. They had stuck to capacitors for close to five centuries, with primitive batteries never going past lead acid, nickel cadmium and nickel-iron batteries.
If you stumble upon this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen from Royal Road. Please report it.
So the phone was incredibly tough, even the screen could get slammed into a concrete wall at a hundred meters a second and survive unscathed due to being made out of exotic alloys and composites, as well as the unique empowering effect of being administered by a digital pocket monster. The scanner was pretty powerful and could identify both pokémon and other organisms.
It was a primessential waveform scanner, and rather effective at placing pokémon within the known eighteen major type-based delineations, along with breaking down and analyzing physical substances and energy patterns. It was actually incredibly fascinating technology, and Porygon acting as an optimization and analysis engine was neat.
They were tech support basically, and a very helpful digital assistant.
“Bwaa?” She pointed to my screen, where I was reading over the multiple scans my dex-phone had picked up from our battles. Deep scans of the energy of pokémon, Porygon working double time as an analysis engine.
“Just science, structural analysis of moves so we can better understand them.”
Mirko nodded, and I grinned back.
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July 29th, 2022.
I sat down as one slowpoke approached me without a care in the world, as I was treated as a simple farm-hand by Professor Laven, and given as much information on pokémon in a practical setting.
Slowpoke was scientifically classified as Trichechus tardus, despite having traits in common with reptiles and amphibians, likely due to crossbreeding in the distant past. A bit of an oddball when it comes to mammalian pokémon, able to regenerate like an axolotl with a mesothermic metabolism, and a complex nervous system that produces a slew of neuropeptides alongside serotonin and dopamine.
They were frugivores and piscivores, living off of a diet of fruit and fish, and very simple minded. Their tough, thick but smooth skin, like velvet backed by a dense underlayer. I was taught how to take care of hygiene, grooming and feeding, and given tips on various ways pokémon could be taken care of when it comes to being their trainer or at least their allies.
“Boroup? Slooow…” I sighed when I was pinned under the weight of the land manatee, he was bigger than average, and dealing with one hundred eighty pounds of giant salamander-manatee was kind of painful.
There was a gentle wave of emotional force, and I twitched but let it happen as the psychic pokémon knocked at the palace of my mind. It was hard to describe what psychic powers were like.
It was like a wave of feelings, a mishmash of different emotions, a sense of muted affection and will. The trifecta of the mind. I let my wonder and curiosity surge forward into the connection, my determination to understand them as a species.
Psychic pokémon always have one or two strengths to their mental abilities, some are a level of intelligence matched only by supercomputers and entire halls of knowledge, others feel emotion on an unforeseen level, or have wills so powerful no man or beast or god would stand in their will.
But they never had a perfect balance of those traits, alazakam had Knowledge and Emotion but no Will to enact their calculations. Metagross had the Will but not the Emotion to give it direction.
Slowpokes were dumb as a rock, but their determination was commendable, and their emotions had hidden depths to them. Slowking was amongst the closest to humans when it came to the trifecta of Mind, but their knowledge seeking was purely an affair of deep passion and love, and their willpower didn’t focus on power in the way it did for humans.
“Good boy.” I petted the big old lug, and with a very careful shift pulled the big guy out of my lap so he would cease crushing my bones. I stood up before he could do it again, and sighed when I saw a growlithe playing a rather one sided game of tug of war with a lillipup.
I was going to have to break it up wasn’t I?
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July 30th, 2022
The past two weeks had been a rather productive time when it came to studying, being a sponsored Trainer with a Professor was most similar in how it worked to an apprenticeship program. I worked forty hours a week under the supervision of the Professor, and about eight hours every week in classroom training. And yet I was still being paid an insane amount of money…
A more recent evaluation of the tax rate meant I was earning forty dollars an hour, which sounds like a lot… until you realize a basic researcher’s salary working should be earning between fifty and sixty dollars an hour if they work under another organization. They take a cut for training and access to exams, schooling and so on.
Only the poorer less established regions lacked such programs like Alola and Orre. And both had broken out of their ruts in the last few years, the former with their own League to strengthen their government and regional influence and the latter with the creation of their Battle Frontier, and the Realgem League being rebuilt.
But maybe I should be more focused on the present?
“So most of your lessons from the Trainer School Network are concentrated on the science of Pokémon more than how to train them?” Akari asked with wide eyes, Happy sitting on her lap like a lap dog.
“I'm not much of a fighter, but biology is something I've found fascinating most of my life, and Pokémon are even more intriguing. Most of what I've been picking up has been from working at the lab, research and practice.” Along with my encyclopedic knowledge of pokémon because of the games. Those memories had gotten much clearer, and I thanked myself for reading up on the newer games of Gen 8. “And there are some trainer classes I've been attending.”
Some.
Akari stared at me like I was an alien (which I was) and crossed her arms, which ended up emphasizing her uhh… chest. “Hands-on experience with training is far more useful than sitting it on lessons, because I know you aren't attending the practical classes.”
I laughed awkwardly, rubbing the back of my neck. “Guess I'm messing up a bit there?”
Akari hummed, brushing back ones of her blue bangs. “You’re at least not like the Pokémon Technical Institute, they spend years studying theoretical and practical courses but don't prepare them for the real world. That one of their students turned their simulators into a game doesn't help.” I swore I heard a whisper of ‘Game Freak’ and ignored it to protect my sanity.
“Okay?”
Akari gestured to Mirko who was currently beating the hell out of a dusty punching bag. “You’re doing well enough despite not being familiar with being a trainer directly. You're treating pokémon as their own individuals, with their own wants and needs.”
I frowned. “It’d be wrong not to wouldn't it? They're effectively first contact with sapient life that isn't human. If they're willing to stick with me, I'm willing to accommodate their needs.”
Her gaze turned sad. “Not every pokémon is so lucky to have a trainer willing to treat them well.”
Oh.
“So more training sessions between us?” I rubbed my sore chest, chewing on my lip as I scanned Akari’s face.
She offered me a brilliant smile. “Of course, we’re coworkers after all, and your joy for learning about pokémon is endearing.”
My face turned red.
“Thank you…”
So more training it is.