Traversal between regions has been a constant back and forth between Kanto and Johto ever since the Indigo League’s conception. Ordinary citizens or trainers seeking to traverse to Johto as ordinary tourists were frankly allowed to fly and drive between the nations with no worries. Although they did have to be inspected at checkpoints for obvious safety precautions. Now for actual trainers participating in the Gym Circuits, well, you’re required to check into through the Pokémon League’s Border for your first cross-regional trip.
The government has to have proof that you’re eligible to travel between the two regions.
This saves everyone a headache because, yeah, you could simply fly over to Johto, but if you get in trouble over with the foreign region’s authorities and Pokémon Rangers, and you aren’t written in the system to have permission to be in said region then you’re automatically blackmarked. For this huge penalty, you can’t participate in the region’s Gym Circuit, be free to travel the region without an assigned representative from the League to watch your every move, and you were just flat out banned from catching that region’s pokémon.
Kanto and Johto are VERY sensitive about this law in regard to foreign elements especially after the wars. Makes me wonder how mixed the public felt about Reggie; he had to have been given permission from the Indigo League to even come participate in the conference, but his presence was kept a secret to the greater public until the end point of last year’s circuit.
Anyways, this way the League can at least know that if something turns up and you were in the middle of some deep shit and you’re allowed to be in the region when said shit hits the fan then you’re less likely to be in massive trouble, only big trouble. Now of course, this was the cynical adult way to view the law, but it also helps to weed out trainers who are strong or capable enough to be allowed entry to cross the regions.
The Indigo League was meant to unify the regions together and so should something tragic occur to a trainer born in a region that was not their own, then fingers will point and blame the region that “allowed” it to happen.
So, to avoid regional disputes, the League implemented the Badge Verification Procedure to shift out trainers who were strong and competent enough to hopefully not die and stir up trouble in different regions.
For this year, the law states that you’d need a total of 5 Major Gym badges or 8 Minor Gym badges to be eligible to cross the regions. The big wigs in our League are constantly arguing about what a solid minimum of badges are required for a trainer to gain permission since last year required 4 Major Gym badges or 6 Minor Gym badges.
This current year has made the League stricter on trainers, but I wasn’t too shocked to be honest. A good chunk of the trainers who are my age tend to be reckless, poorly taught and informed, or simply too childish that they’d bring trouble onto themselves and unfortunately can’t be pulled out of them.
Anyways, back to badges, and there is of course a combination of ways to pass if you have both Major and Minor Gym badges. I won’t go over them at all because I already have 8 major ones and won’t ever have to sweat the details.
Entering into the air-conditioned lobby of the border, I walked past the imposing guards blocking the doors and took a ticket from the ticket machine before sitting down on one of the torn cushioned chairs of the waiting room. Sadly, I had to be deprived of my starter’s presence since the guard’s heavily “suggested” that pokémon weren’t allowed out of their pokéballs on League property. I didn’t fault the guards for trying to intimidate me due to how stressful their jobs are and complied with their “suggestions”.
And so, I did the normal thing and sucked myself into my cellphone to check all of my messages or read through any internet posts. My phone blew up the moment I flew out of Pallet Town after saying my goodbyes to Mom, Ash, Prof. Oak, Daisy, her family and Mr. Grouse. Word really got around fast in such a small town, so responding to each and every person’s message was the perfect pass time to wait to be called up.
It also allowed me the chance to mentally go over everything that had happened these following three days.
Prof. Oak declaring war against his smug Alakazam was just hilarious after hearing the true story from the grandfatherly old man. Still, I was glad to see Daisy all cheery despite Gary being freaked out by it. It may have been a spur of the moment act that drove me to kiss her cheek, but I definitely don’t regret doing it because it only felt appropriate after acquiring a Gible.
Yes, you heard right, I finally got myself a freaking GIBLE. I never thought the day would come so early. I’d made peace with myself that I’d probably have to wait a couple of years until regions like Sinnoh or Kalos opened their borders to us. The grin I kept on my face throughout the three days of preparation for this quick journey made my face hurt.
Professor Oak filled me in about one of the regions that I wanted to visit replying back to his “requests” and that Gible would act as a confirmation and “apology” from the regional professor who vouched for me to their League in order for me to join their Gym Circuit. Although I had no way to pinpoint which region this was just from getting Gible alone, I had to agree that the land shark pokémon served as a suffice apology gift for the lack of time I’ll have to stay in their region.
Four months. It was already tough that Prof. Oak wouldn’t share the region’s identity, but now I’m expected to tackle their Gym Challenge, train up my pokémon, see if I can catch new pokémon, and enjoy the sights of new lands in such a short time span.
I literally killed myself just to get my team ready for our first conference in just nine months so now I’ll have that much stress on myself when the time comes. When that time comes, I have no clue since Prof. Oak will tell me more about my future plans when I’m done with my business with Clair.
Ah, yeah, news of my battle with Clair spread like wildfire amongst Pallet Town. It was such a headache and the cause of it was because of my brother. Even though things were a little awkward with mom (it was mostly me, but she was smart enough to notice), she still promised not to spread the news around. Ash on the other hand did promise not to tell everyone, but he mentioned that Gary and Blossom weren’t everyone, so he blabbed about it to his best friends.
Then his best friends began to spread the rumors to their friends, then those friends told the rumors to their families, then their families spread the rumors around town just to hammer in that last nail in the coffin. Now, everyone knows about my match with Clair and apparently, they were already preparing an event surrounding the battle.
Ugh, once I heard that Granny Masae was going to be our DJ/Announcer, I just gave up any hope that this match would ever be a private arrangement.
And it was because of Ash’s big mouth and the atrocity that he exacted upon my new Gible that I shed no tears and happily laughed as I tossed a mysterious stuffed duffel bag next to my backpack down the house’s hall and shook off his attempts to join me on my journey. I promised myself to at least bring him back a souvenir since I have the right to tease my brother and spoil him afterward.
Also, I left Sparrow and Kamina to resume watching over him and mom. If I ever needed either of them, I’ll just leave the other to remain in Pallet Town.
Yep, I gave my farewells to everyone and visited...dad’s grave one more time before departing. Putting my backpack on my lap, I pulled out a hard, faded leather journal. The clasp keeping the stuffed booklet together seemed so flimsy and easy to pull apart yet each time I tried my hands could never dredge up the strength to go through with it.
I don’t know what compelled me to ask mom for it, but now I feel like a dumbass for carrying a good part of my stress with me. Shaking my head, I stuffed it back in and focused on replying to each text just to get my mind off of it.
Not yet.
J-Just not yet.
Right now, I needed to just focus on me, training up my group of 4 beginner tier pokémon, challenge Asch and myself at Charicific Valley, and prepare for my duel with the Dragon Tamer.
Currently, my team composition only has room for two of my experienced pokémon. I wasn’t going to be like Ash from the cartoons/anime where I’d just go to a new region with only one pokémon to defend myself. The world, despite being wonderful, isn’t kind to the weak and unprepared. Paranoia was my friend and I’d rather it stuck around than be blindsided by something I could have been ready for.
Today was March 24, and I had 38 days until April 30th to prepare my team of experienced pokémon for the battle. Thrill and dread warred in my being as I could only imagine what Clair was cooking up for our battle. Facing a Dragon Tamer like her who was arrogantly assured of her victory made for an easy battle to plan for. Now though? I’ll have to be super careful not to grow lax since she’s actively planning to tear me apart and will refuse to ever underestimate me again.
It’s going to be such a blast to see what she’ll throw at me!
“O-Ouch…” I tried to pinch my lips downwards to avoid further straining my face with a stupid smile that kept refusing to go down.
Suddenly, an intercom echoed the yawn of a woman’s voice throughout the waiting room. [“Calling number 47 to Desk 4. Again, calling number 47 to Desk 4.”]
Double checking my number, I nodded. “That’s me.” Grabbing the handle of my backpack off of the seat next to me, I strode over and passed 3 out of the other 15 desks who were attending to various trainers like me. Some of the League Workers were human and others were Kadabra and a single Metagross which conducted business for Desks 12 through 15 all at the same time.
The League Worker who I was assigned to was just your average human. Like the drab and dreary atmosphere of the border, the work seemed like the kind of like those over worked office workers from my old life. She was quick and, on the dot, when I strode over to her desk and informed her of my intent to travel through Johto.
She requested my Trainer’s license, my badges, and asked some personal questions to verify if I really am who I was.
“A-Actually, I just go by Luke Ketchum.” I coughed in my hand.
“I’m not asking for what you go by, sir. Now is your legal name Lucas Delilah Ketchum or not?” She bluntly groaned and tiredly blinked before holding up some files with my License.
“*SIGH!* It is…” I dropped my head, unwilling to argue about it much to the amusement of the trainer at the desk beside me.
The process to be given permission took exactly 15 minutes to complete. It was awkward just standing around as the worker quietly worked, but it all became worth it once she gave me verbal confirmation that I was permitted to go. Although I was distressed then confused once she shredded my old Trainer’s license in favor of a new one.
“What’s this about?” I blinked, observing my now Silver Star License.
“Our records state that you haven’t been to a League site…ever.” The worker narrowed her eyes at her computer screen and read out the content on it. “We’ve been sending messages to your emails to remind you that you eligible to a promotion to the Intermediate tier after you earned the Rainbow badge and a promotion to the Advanced tier after you earned the Earth badge.” I nearly scowled at the mention of that badge. When I was recovering after the fiasco at Viridian Gym, the League workers who brought it over had stated that Giovanni requested that I be given it.
At first, I thought it was a sign that the bastard knew where we stood after Mewtwo gave him that mental warning before blowing the Gym up.
But now knowing the context of everything…
Nope. This is me time. I’m not about to let the thought of that bastard ruin my good mood.
“Was there an excuse for your refusal to visit one of our sites?” The lady asked and for once I was glad to be sheepish and forget my dark thoughts.
“Uh…I was too caught up in training for the Conference to check.” Which was the truth. I mostly ignored the League’s emails that weren’t important due to all of the political messages and campaigns for the regional government and the Kantonian local governments.
With an exaggerated eye roll, the League worker shook her head. “…Kids.” She tiredly huffed then pointed at my License. “Well, congratulations. You can walk proudly and state that you’re officially an Expert tier trainer.”
“Wait, expert? But I thought that-?” Ah, her hand was now in my face.
“Our records report that you participated and entered the Finals in last year’s conference. Any who reach that far are considered for a pending promotion until a League Official has inspected and verified the strength of your overall team.” I blinked, wondering when that had happened, but her hand still remained in my face. “Professors acknowledged by the League can take the place of authorized League Officials when inspecting the pokémon of their sponsored trainers.”
Huh, that makes a lot of sense. Also, I’ll have to figure out a way to thank the professor for this, my future circuit in another region, and Gible. Hm, I already have that Aerodactyl egg from the Blackthorns coming soon along with the other three, but even that seemed insufficient as a proper gift of gratitude.
Hm, maybe I’ll cash in that favor from Flint and see if I can get one of the prehistoric pokémon from him since I technically still lacked a rock type pokémon on my team. Still, that was going to be a far-off objective since I’m barely starting a training regimen for 4 beginner tier pokémon.
Once my paperwork was sorted out and I had to sign a few documents to confirm that I was me, the League worker shooed me away and called up the next person in the que.
With nothing to hold me back, I excitedly ran for the opposite exit/entrance of the border and emerged outside onto Route 26. Walking past the air-conditioned doors of the building, I took in the road ahead with a deep breath and marveled at the mountainous walls that framed the rough wilderness in betwixt it all. The border’s building was built on an incline, so the descending trail ahead allowed me a perfect view of the land, bridges, and even the ocean past it.
“Asch, I choose you!” I said, releasing my Charizard by my side. Asch emerged with a light snort and curiously scanned our surroundings before happily growling at me. I smiled at him. “Sorry for the wait.” I said while delicately rubbing my hand along the other five pokéballs on my belt.
“Alright, let’s start with…Aurion!” My new Riolu popped out of his pokéball on one knee with his head bowed deferentially to me, much to my exasperation. I clicked my tongue and wagged my finger while Asch chuffed at us.
“Aurion, for the last time. Please don’t prostrate yourself to me…” I groaned. Then I groaned even louder once the steadfast Riolu stubbornly shook his head. “Ugh, I…” I covered my face with one hand and shook my head. “Okay, as of today, we’re going to begin you and the other three’s training through Route 26 and 27. These next day or two will be spent giving you all a feel for battle before using the remaining five days to move to other locales in Johto where I can find other suitable areas for you all to train and battle in.” Then after that was Charicific Valley. “However, I think I already have a good idea of what style fits you best.”
Riolu quickly stood up, pointed at me, and resolutely nodded.
“What?” I blinked then turned to Asch who shrugged. I then concluded after contextualizing my past interactions with my newest pokémon. “Riolu, I have an idea but I’m fine if you come across any others that you like or if you find my hypothetical battle style not to your-.” And he’s shaking his head again. Nice.
I just chose to give up on convincing the little thing.
On the night when I received him and he popped out of that pokéball, I was surprised and very suspicious of what Giovanni’s intentions were. Then the next day, I realized just how clingy and loyal the pokémon was. He wasn’t emaciated, going through trauma, or lashing at any humans which were the typical signs of abuse that rescued Team Rocket pokémon usually exhibited.
Aurion was a well-cared for and trained pokémon albeit trained a little too well in his behavior over anything physical.
He was just too dutiful and quick to defer all judgement to me. It was a little unnerving for me to have a pokémon so young act this way.
“…Fine. For now, let’s just walk down the route and see if we can find some wild pokémon to battle.” I chuckled as Riolu excitedly pounded a fist into their paw. There were a couple of trainers that we passed by, but I decided not to even bother them.
Route 26 was already a rough path where only Advanced and Intermediate trainers could train before heading for either the Indigo Plateau, the border to cross over to Kanto, or traverse up the treacherous Mt. Silver Range. This place was like a watered-down pre-victory road, so the trainers and wild pokémon had to be quite strong but not too outrageously powerful.
I wanted my newbies to at least have a chance when fighting upwards and just as luck would have it, a stray Sandshrew burst through the field of sandy tall grass that framed the trail.
It blocked our path and began to rub its claws together as it took Aurion and I in.
“S-Shrew!?” Then it froze in fright upon noticing Asch but before it could flee my Charizard stepped back and happily waved his claws at Aurion in a polite “go on” manner.
It seemed skeptical at first but as it felt no hostility from the larger pokémon, it immediately curled itself up into a ball and came barreling right after Aurion.
“Endure then try to catch it!” Riolu hardened every muscle in their body to guard the oncoming Rollout, but Sandshrew surprisingly bounced midroll, uncurled itself in the air and lunged their sharpened claws to thrust into Riolu. “Counter!”
Startled, Riolu barely had time to change moves before getting assailed by a combo of scratches. Tch, he’s still new and hasn’t been trained for that yet, I should have told him to dodge! “Meet its Fury Swipes back with Metal Claw!”
Riolu growled and hissed through the cuts to counter back with his own steel type enhanced claws. The two pokémon kept swiping at each other, either dodging or taking a hit until one of them pulled away. I worried once Riolu started flagging but luck was on his side once he landed a nasty Metal Claw to the Sandshrew’s face.
The ground type staggered backwards in retreat, giving us an opening. “Quick Attack!” Riolu forced the Sandshrew further backwards with an accelerated full body tackle. Despite recoiling from the damage, the Sandshrew uses the momentum of its fall to curl back up into a ball, spin about in place, and use Rollout to slam its body across Riolu’s face.
“Darn it! Are you okay, Riolu!?” My pokémon staggered back and on shaky legs tried to nod, but unfortunately the wild Sandshrew behind him did not waste time to circle back and try for another Rollout.
“Then I’m going to need you to use Quick Attack backwards and use Metal Claw to latch onto Sandshrew!” And without missing a beat or getting befuddled by the specific command, Riolu threw himself into executing a backwards Quick Attack albeit with a slight stumble.
Meeting Sandshrew’s Rollout halfway, the opposing pokémon bounced up and began to pounce the Riolu, but thanks to Riolu either reading my command’s hidden intention or his creeping exhaustion kicking in, his body fell back with the Sandshrew sailing over his head.
The Mouse Pokémon’s eyes widened before they pinched themselves closed once Riolu’s Metal Claws dug into his exposed, soft underbelly in mid-air. Now we had him right where we wanted him.
“Don’t let go! Keep slamming it to the ground until it’s too tired to move!” Riolu complied and dug his claws deeper into the Sandshrew’s sides, getting a pained whine from it before haphazardly body slamming the pokémon in front of him as many times as he could before exhaustion hit.
Luckily by the time Aurion’s arms tired, the Sandshrew had already fainted.
“SLAAASH!”
Unfortunately, before we could celebrate a big scarred Sandslash, it’s mother, popped out of the tall grass to assail Aurion. The Riolu did it’s best to employ a last second endure to tank the mature pokémon’s surprise Slash attack but now he was on his last leg and couldn’t dredge up the strength to dodge the other Slash.
“S-Slash?” The wild pokémon’s claw doesn’t move further as its claws were a mere inch from skewering Riolu’s chest. That was because my Starter chose now to step in. The Sandslash hissed and tried to use her free arm to scratch at Asch, but again, the Charizard caught it with ease. Struggling and flailing to be released, the Sandslash looked for any form of escape it could just to escape Asch’s grip.
Leaning in, Asch intensely stared off with the Sandslash who’s defiance slowly began to crack once faced with Asch’s “Mean Look”. It froze when Asch quickly snapped his claws back to the end of one of his wings that was curled upwards and pulled it right back to thrust into the face of the Sandslash…a clawful of Sitrus berries.
Heh, he must have snuck some out of my bag.
“S-Slash?” The wild pokémon was befuddled as my Charizard gave her a wide smile and urged the Sandslash to take them much to the mother pokémon’s confusion.
Walking up to join them as I knelt down to spray a bottle of Hyper Potion onto Riolu’s wounds. “Sorry about hurting your child, Sandslash. We’re just out here training, so please take these berries as an apology on our behalf.” I deeply bowed my head with Asch. Aurion tiredly tried to copy me, but I tapped him on the nose and gestured for him to lay down and rest.
Thankfully the Sandslash was happy to comply than to face my fully grown starter. They stashed their berries away, plopped their unconscious spawn onto their spiked back (Sandshrew are tough so the spikes wouldn’t hurt it), then vanished into the tall grass’s brush.
I whistled then turned to smile at Asch. “Jolly good diplomacy, my good man.” Asch mock saluted which earned a good laugh from me and Aurion. Turning to my newer pokémon, I plopped him onto my upraised knee and nodded. “Good work. For your first battle, you performed better than expected.”
“Ri…” Riolu frowned and looked to the ground.
“Nope. None of that, fella.” I patted the small guy’s back. “You defeated an admittedly strong Sandshrew. This road is filled with strong pokémon that test stronger trainers on their way to the Big Leagues of the region, so even a baby pokémon like that is quite strong especially for a Beginner tier like you.”
I’d have to rate that Sandshrew as a low Intermediate tier pokémon while mother Sandslash was definitely an Advanced tier pokémon. “However, the Sandslash was already out of your league so don’t beat yourself up over it.”
My smile fell. “But I hope this gives you an idea of how powerful the pokémon on this route really are. You and the others will be battling more pokémon like that and I don’t expect you to win every time. This is meant to give you experience and help you grow. Remember: Pursue growth, not victory.”
Riolu barked and quickly nodded his head before wincing in pain.
“Welp, I guess that first battle was a little much for you, bud. Back in the ball you go.” I chuckled and ignored the small pokémon’s whining to return him back into his pokéball. “That’s the first one down.” I patted my legs and turned to Asch. “The second one is…going to be a lot of work. Get ready.”
Asch nodded with some exasperation to match my own.
“Yogi, I choose you!”
As a former wild pokémon, it was super apparent to see the signs from Yogi’s behavior. The little cub just loved to eat and hoard any food that he could get his grubby little paws on. When I introduced the new pokémon to my old team at the Sanctuary, he was quick to behave and defer himself to the bigger and stronger pokémon. His cute looks made it easy to Charm others into letting their guard down before he pounced to suck their food supplies down.
So, after giving Yogi the same rundown that I presented to Aurion, I was immediately hit with the Baby Doll Eyes + Charm combo from the baby pokémon. It was still ineffective, but I rated it a measly 4 out of ten for effort much to Yogi’s annoyance.
He behaved when under Asch’s vigil watch and had even tried to schmooze up to my starter with lack luster results. Asch was already in the know about Yogi’s antics through observing him at, so Yogi’s Charm was basically worthless.
Still, he wasn’t too disobedient since he listened well enough to my commands and was enthused to enter a battle when a Raticate appeared. It’s just that he’d choose satisfying his hunger overpaying attention to me when in the midst of a battle.
Breaking off a charge, Yogi stops in his tracks and narrowly avoids a Hyper Fang just to sniff at the air. “Huh, Yogi?” I watched anxiously as the Teddiursa stiffened and smirked to himself before abandoning the battle altogether to run through the tall grass.
Asch, the wild Raticate, and I were floored by this. “Yogi? Yogi! Where are you going!? Your opponent was right in front of you!” It was an awkward 30 seconds with the Raticate debating whether or not to try and start a fight with Asch (it seemed super reluctant to try) or run away. Then Yogi popped out of the bushes with his arms full of berries and pilfered half-eaten snacks.
The little cub snickered and rushed over to us to hide behind Asch who was just as floored by the Teddiursa’s behavior as me. The Wild Raticate froze before angrily screeching to the sky. Ah, now there was a whole pack of Rattata and Raticate pursuing us from the tall grass.
Welp that’s just great, and a happy coincidence that the Raticate we were battling was foraging for their nest.
I chucked a pokéball at the incoming stampede. “Rain Dance into Surf!” Popping out, Leonardo followed my command immediately and materialized a slapdash black raincloud onto the angered wild pokémon before washing them all away with a tidal wave of water.
The attack did enough damage that it wiped out a good chunk of the enemy, but most were starting to catch their second wind, hissing defiantly at us. My eyes widened as I detected faint signs of electricity starting to build up around a few of the Raticate in question.
“Thunderbolt, seriously!?” I’d be impressed with how these wild pokémon were able to grow and learn from the trainers that pass through here, but I certainly didn’t want to get blasted with a Rain Dance enhanced electric type move. “Freeze them!”
“Squirt-Squirtle!” With a concentrated beam of ice type energy, Leonardo flicked their heads across the entire row of washed up pokémon. The process of freezing them came easier with Surf and Rain Dance drenching each rat pokémon.
Admiring the multiple Rattata and Raticate popsicles, I knelt down to rub Leo’s head and congratulate his good work before rounding on Yogi. In sync with me, Asch had already plucked the little cub pokémon by the scruff of their neck and held him out to my face.
“U-Ursa?” Yogi nervously laughed before limply dropping their stolen berries to the ground in defeat.
“So much trouble.” I didn’t need to speak pokémon to know what he just asked.
To apologize to the Raticate and Rattata, we left them their stolen food and I happily gave them half of Yogi’s portioned meal for tonight as his punishment for running off in the middle of the battle and knowingly bringing danger to us just to sate his hunger. I ignored the little cub’s whining and Totodile tears before returning him to his pokéball.
“We’ll be upping his training when it’s time to set up camp.” Asch nodded while Leo awkwardly laughed and rubbed his smooth his head. Traversing down the route for over 5 hours, I used Leonardo to battle any wild pokémon that challenged us. He was more than sufficient with dispatching a majority of them albeit with only one standing out being a tenacious Dodrio.
Just as the sun began to set, we were almost near the halfway point of reaching Route 27 near the seaside. We had just needed to cross the two bridges, but I had wanted us to slow down and make camp before we continued.
Also, I wanted to do battle with my newest pokémon just as an Arbok tried and failed to snap their jaws at a vigilant Leonardo from the tall bushes that littered the route’s tough forestry.
“Typhon, I choose you!” My Gible (dear god it feels wonderful to say that) popped out with a curious blink of their eyes. They looked around at the darkening forest before raising their gaze upon the encroaching large Arbok trying to intimidate him.
“Gib?” Confused, he tilted his at the wild pokémon.
“Alright, Typhon, it’s time to show what your made of!”
“Gible?” Gible looked back over their shoulder and looked me in the eye to point at himself as if to say “who, me?”. My earlier excitement began to dwindle as dread soon crept up into my heart.
“Y-Yeah, Typhon. I’m talking t-to you!” I stuttered.
“Gib-Gible.” He blankly shook his head.
O-Okay, so he doesn’t like the name Typhon, I can work with that. “Then how about Toothless?”
“Gib-Gible.” He blankly shook his head again. Gah, okay then how about…?
“Jaws?”
“Gib-Gible.” Shit.
“Orion?”
“Gib-Gible.” Gagh!
“D-Draco?”
“Gib-Gible.”
…
I took a deep breath and felt myself die a little inside.
I really had no choice but to use the name that Ash gave him, huh? That one night I brought him over after my day out with Daisy, and Ash just had to ruin everything. Mom made us some of her famous desserts that Gible absolutely adored and Ash being the stupid goober that he was, took it upon himself to name Gible after said dessert.
I-It was just…ugh…!
“Custard…” I bit out and Gible listened raptly. Once Ash suggested it, it was near impossible to convince a name change to Gible after that. The little guy loved it more than any other name that I can think of. “Let’s show off what your made of.” I said, lacking the upbeat energy that I had earlier.
“Gible!” And with pride, Gible roared (well it was a cute growl) and dug into the ground to dodge the Arbok silently inching toward him to execute a Crunch.
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
The land shark pokémon lived up to his species’ name and burrowed through the ground around the surprised Arbok’s form, only to pop up just beneath it and throw its entire body up into a devastating Rock Smash.
My jaw nearly hit the floor. The moment I heard that loud *Crack!* of Gible’s fist against the Arbok’s jaw, I knew that the battle was already over. Landing, Gib-Custard took in his fallen foe, nodded, then opened his jaws to perform a Dragon breath. “Wait, Custard, no! You won!” I snapped my hand to return the little guy before he did too much damage to the fainted pokémon.
Releasing him, I congratulated him for winning his first battle but told him off about learning when enough was enough when a foe has fallen. Didn’t want him accidentally fatally wounding or killing a trainer’s pokémon if he’s already packing this much raw power to topple an Intermediate tier pokémon like Arbok. The Gible all but blinked and nodded at me with that self-same blank expression of his.
Whether he was actually listening or was just nodding along like my simple-minded Tangrowth, I had no clue. All I knew was that he was going to be working with Asch to extensively train his move set and learn proper control.
With that last battle over, I decided to give the fallen Arbok some treatment with a potion to ease the pain of their swollen jaw and left them some berries as thanks.
We moved a bit further from the fallen pokémon’s location to ensure it would track us and found ourselves the perfect forest clearing to set up camp. One nod to Asch and Leonardo was all it took to have them separate our 4 new party members into two separate groups to train while I prepared their dinner.
Teddiursa tried to be slick by sticking close to me as bring out the food, but Asch immediately snagged the scruff of the cub’s neck in his jaw before picking up an unphased Gible and curious Fafnir in his arms to take to their end of the clearing.
On the other end of the clearing was Leonardo who was gladly leading Riolu in one direction while putting effort in puffing out his chest and looking as serious as Kamina to the party member. I chuckled at the display since it clearly was confusing Aurion with how to interact with the small Squirtle.
Asch was tasked with supervising and instructing Fafnir, Yogi, and Custard while Leonardo was to focus on mentoring Aurion. My Starter could bear the load of three newbies while Leonardo couldn’t, which isn’t a bad thing since he’s still quite inexperienced compared to my more experienced team. Asch had the strength, bulk, and patience to deal with Yogi and Custard while Leo was a work in progress.
Kamina was my initial pick to bring along after I revealed the direction that I wanted to take with Aurion’s training, but the Scizor had recommended Leonardo in his place. I happen to guess that he wanted to push the Squirtle into a teaching role to better his growth and training.
So far it seems to be working. The Squirtle was already heeding my general training plan by practicing Move Shifts with Riolu. He demonstrated with a quick change from a standard Withdraw and Aqua Jet, making himself a propelled projectile that decimated a tree. Riolu was in awe and eagerly and quickly fell into doing his Endure to Counter with the help of Leonardo using Aqua Tail to make it more challenging.
Right now, Riolu current move set was: Quick Attack, Endure, Metal Claw, and Counter. It was a pretty standard set of four moves, but right now I just wanted to build up a nice solid base for him to work off of. He needs proper conditioning, strength training, and battle experience before I can use a couple of my TMs to expand his arsenal. Also, I had plans for when he learns Vacuum Wave and since Macaque’s in too much of a hissy fit to test it out with me, I chose to focus on Aurion and see what comes of it.
But until then, Aurion would learn to his hone himself with the help of a Squirtle that was efficiently trained by an overly strict Scizor.
Now on the end of the clearing, Asch was already putting three pokémon under his watch through their paces. He had used Rock Tomb to make obstacles for Fafnir to try to run around with Extreme Speed. We were still waiting for him to shed his old scales before letting him participate in a real battle. I checked in with Mrs. Verdant before leaving and was told to expect his shedding to happen any day from now. Apparently, all of his eating has hastened his stockpiling of life energy to commence the process.
Until then, Fafnir would stick to more lighter training, and he was in desperate need of it too since his steering with Extreme Speed sucked.
*SPLAT!*
I held in a wince as Asch peeled off the discombobulated Dratini from another big boulder.
He may run away fast but moving in a straight line isn’t conductive toward fleeing a smarter and mobile opponent. His move pool consisted of: Wrap, Leer, Extreme Speed. It was sparse but expected considering Clair initially gave him to me out of spite. I’ll just have to work him from the ground up until he’s a respectable battler, then make him a force of fucking nature.
Yogi’s moves were Scratch, Baby-Doll Eyes, Fake Tears, Fury Swipes, Covet, and Charm. He held the second highest amount of moves among the rest of my new pokémon. Up front combat won’t be his style of battle until he’s learnt enough offensive moves and built up enough experience. Luckily, his disposition made him the perfect debuffer to lower a pokémon’s guard and strike them at their most vulnerable. Training Sylvie gave a good enough idea on how to go about accentuating a pokémon’s looks to their advantage.
But for his lacking offensive capabilities, I’ll talk with Asch to see if he can begin teaching the runt Slash, Metal Claw, Mega Punch, Thunder Punch or Fire Punch to give him more options.
And last but not least was…Custard (I’m never going to get over that nickname…dammit Ash).
Right now, the land shark pokémon was joined by Yogi to try and damage my Starter. Yogi’s fury swipes barely even scratched the scales on Asch’s belly and Gible’s Rock Smash haymaker didn’t even make the Charizard’s chin move half an inch. They were fighting upward against an opponent that outclassed them and would need to use everything they have to even get a sliver of an advantage (i.e. impress Asch) before my starter would tire of their efforts and lay them out flat.
I was ecstatic to have Custard on board with my team. In fact, it was sort of like a dream come true since I’d basically given up all hope of getting a Gible until Sinnoh would open their borders to us after who knows how many years to make it happen. Plus, he was quite strong and with a versatile and long move set of Tackle, Bite, Dig, Dragon Breath, Take Down, Rock Smash, and flipping Twister. If I recalled, that wasn’t a moved that Gible learned naturally. So that meant whoever gave Custard to Prof. Oak was completely serious about making it up to me for the limited amount of time that I’ll legally be allowed to participate in their region’s Gym Challenge.
Because unlike Fafnir, Gible seemed to be well cared for and wasn’t deprived of any food or strength. This meant that he had the power to back up his small frame and then some. However, he still was pretty juvenile and required some polishing. Custard was simple-minded, a little like Lenny, but still sensible and very adamant about how he handles things. You didn’t need to think about what he’ll do because he’ll just act on his thoughts right off the bat.
So, I have to steadily teach him how to be mindful of his own strength before each otherwise he’ll critically hurt a pokémon or keep attacking them when they’re down.
By the end of this month, I expected these four to at least be high Beginner tier pokémon or a very low Intermediate tier if we’re lucky.
“Break time! I’ve got lunch prepared guys!” A joyous cacophony of grunts and growls filled the clearing as my pokémon, especially Yogi and Fafnir rushed to the set-up table to be given their meals.
I happily ate alongside my experienced pokémon while watching the newbies interact with each other. Yogi tried to charm his way into getting either Custard or Fafnir’s bowls of food once he ate through his own lessened amount. Gible only spared a glanced at the cub before returning to chow down on his meal while Fafnir didn’t even acknowledge the attempt as he kept inhaling his meal with gusto.
Watching this, Aurion barked up a speech that was no doubt about Teddiursa’s trickery while the cub pokémon clicked their tongue and glanced at the barking pokémon’s meal. Their little paws inched over to the bowl while Aurion was preoccupied with his speech before they were swiftly batted away by the now miffed Emanation pokémon. Their game of keep away just going after that and made for an entertaining show for Asch, Leonardo and I to laugh at.
We did have to step in when they started to wrestle each other which made Gible join in because…reasons? Then we had to stop all three of them from rounding on Fafnir who kept eating anything in sight, which included their unattended food bowls.
THEN, we had to spend the next 45 minutes searching Fafnir who was scared off and used Extreme Speed to run off into the woods and nearly get attacked by another wild Arbok. Asch cleaned their clock and released a deafening roar that scared it off and any curious pokémon who were now aware of his presence.
After that hectic experience, I had everyone apologize to each other to clear up the bad vibes, and just to lighten the mood, I decided to join in on their apologizing by saying sorry for a couple of minor wrongs I did to them.
“Leonardo, I just want to get this off my chest.” I breathed in and looked my Squirtle in the eye. “I’m sorry that I accidentally bumped into your shell that one time and kicked you down our house steps that. I should have really been careful.”
“S-Squirt…” Leonardo bashfully rubbed his neck and accepted my apology.
Turning to Asch, I met his inquisitive stare with a sorrowful smile, “And to you, pal, I just want to apologize for…taking pictures of you napping and covered in those silly drawings. Its been set up as my BattleNet profile avatar for weeks now and it’s been getting a lot of attention. I hope you’ll find in yourself to forgive m-hegh!”
Okay, so perhaps Asch took that last apology a bit too seriously. Anyways, after clearing the Smokescreen soot off of my face and setting up a Night Watch schedule with my team, we settled in for the night and allowed ourselves to get swept into the sweet embrace of slumber.
Tomorrow will be another day of hard work and adversity.
----------------------------------------
Even though there’s a border all the way up near the Indigo League, Route 26 was still officially chartered as a Kantonian territory. To this day, the regions are still in a heated debate about claiming ownership of the land. Johto argues that since the Indigo League Headquarters was stationed closer to Kanto, they had the right to the Route while Kanto staked its claim by countering that it already held lesser land than Johto.
There’s always talk of politicians from Johto seeking to move up in the political scene and earn support by promising to push for Johto to claim Route 26. In recent years, you’d be laughed at for making such a promise since many ambitious mayors or public figures failed to live up to it.
Politics aside, I mainly bring this point up because after waking up early in the morning, my team and I finished the latter half of Route 26 to enter Route 27, the actual Route where Kanto and Johto officially met in the middle. We marveled at the numerous waterfalls of Tohjo Falls that came out bursting from the mountainside, which faced the ocean.
Watching the Magikarp, Goldeen, and Seakings swim up the waterfalls was just breathtaking when you considered how powerful the down stream’s pressure of water was.
Unfortunately, the Tohjo Falls were the only marvel of Route 27 because the rest of it was a complete mess. Route 27 acts as the Route where Kanto and Johto officially met and that meant it held history. A bloody and violent history since this was the Route where a majority of the two regions fought each other during both the First and Second war. The number of times that either side pushed the other back to the invade the opposing region was far too numerous that there was a literal bullet list of these summarized events written in old history books and forums.
Route 27 was 75% water and 25% land. The pokémon battles that waged through the land literally changed the geography. The land’s stability crumbled underneath the constant conflict and third-party attacks from other regions who sailed up from the oceans to attack both sides. The other regions that may have joined the fight here have been redacted with no mention of them, but for one of them…
If I could make a guess from the abundance of water…it had to be Hoenn.
Hoenn was literally the first region to reach out to the Indigo League and lower its borders. As a region, Hoenn wasn’t a slouch in its surplus of elite trainers like its current Champion Drake Hudson being the prime example. Hoenn was in touch with the nature side of its region more so than Kanto and Johto combined, which left it severely lagging in technology and other materials. So, adding their natural goods and resources to the Indigo League’s markets had allowed them to create the building blocks to be seen as a competent ally to our two regions.
It would leave a bad taste in everyone’s mouth if Hoenn was openly revealed to be the cause for so many lives lost and the destroyed land that both regions would have wanted. Thankfully, the animosity shared between Kanto and Johto stayed amongst each other.
But I’m getting ahead of myself here. First politics and now a history lesson? I’m here to train my pokémon and given them the experience they need. Thankfully there were more trainers here and since a majority of the wild pokémon here were water pokémon, I had to take my chances with them.
Little islands littered the water filled route in between the land where I’m standing on and the land on the other end leading to Johto itself. There was a ferry that carried passengers to and from both ends of the estuary. I was glad I had Asch as an option to fly over it because their prices were outrageously high. A high ratio of trainers in demand for crossing the estuary over venturing Tohjo Falls to get to the other side must have contributed to the decision.
Still, this meant I had all the time in the world to search for trainers to do battle with. I made sure to lay some requirements for the battle before approaching the first set of trainers that I locked eyes with.
1) Their pokémon must either be a Beginning tier pokémon or at maximum an Intermediate tier pokémon.
2) The battle must be 3 on 3
3) No substitutions were allowed
Unless they could follow these rules, then there wasn’t going to be a battle and as I expected almost everyone that I approached chose not to indulge my requests.
“Yeah, no. You came to the wrong place if you’re here to train such weak pokémon, kid.”
“Hey, aren’t you that kid who made it to the Finals last year? Sorry, I-I can’t risk losing. I barely have enough cash for the ferry ride back across the route.”
“I’m down to battle that Charizard you have there but I’m not really in the mood to hold myself back for your benefit. Here’s my pokégear number. Hit me up if you want to meet up later for a battle, I’m working on entering the Ace trainer scene and really need to work on some strategies in a real 6 on 6 match.”
“Look elsewhere, Kantonian. I have no business dealing with the likes of you.”
The trainers here were super deep toward training their pokémon, preparing to enter the Ace Trainer circuit, intimidated by my track record and refusal to lose their cash, and lastly a good chunk of them were Johtonians who refused me off the jump due to hailing from Kanto.
I wasted a whole hour searching for an opponent and once noon struck, I was just tempted to head into the caverns of Tohjo Falls and see about challenging their wild pokémon instead.
That is until a true hero crossed paths with me.
“Sure. None of the other trainers want to give me the time of day so I’d gladly take you on if it means I can battle more than just the wild Tentacool and Shellder.”
Salvaging my day was Mark Stillwell and he happily agreed to my set conditions with nary a complaint!
When trading the specific of our individual party member’s strength tiers, he revealed that only had 3 Intermediate tier pokémon and 3 Beginner tier pokémon. He was a bit wary to reveal this to me, but I actually found myself glad that there was a trainer with the perfect criteria to help bolster my newer pokémon’s experience. Unlike the other trainers on the route, I reassured him that I didn’t care about his pokémon’s lower levels.
This thankfully earned me some brownie points since his mood seemed to lighten as we further discussed the terms of the match before preparing ourselves on a grassy patch of land beside the seaside of the route. We stood a good distance away from each other and locked our eyes.
The rules were set and our pokémon already chosen. On the count of three, we picked our combatant and released onto the field.
“Go, Aurion!” / “Wash them out, Quagsire!”
Aurion appeared on the field with the derpy looking water pokémon as his foe. He barked and balled up his paws at the Water Fish pokémon but instead of getting goaded, the Quagsire just blinked at him then loudly yawned making my Riolu momentarily break his serious composure.
I narrowed my eyes to Mark, who just smirked at me. Hm…that was meant to be a subtle set-up, wasn’t it?
Snapping my fingers, I pointed directly ahead at the opponent. “Quick Attack!” Blurring, Riolu tackled into the unassuming Quagsire’s belly with a loud thud. Quagsire did initially stumble back from the force before righting their footing and turning their body just enough for Aurion to slip and slide along their slime covered body.
Riolu tumbled on the ground before quickly picking himself to wipe the slime off of his fur and glare at his opponent, who dusted their wide undercarriage off and looked back at the Emanation pokémon with its self-same vacant expression. “Quaaagsire…” Riolu’s brow twitched at its nonchalance but kept waiting for my command.
Mark still hadn’t given a command and seeing the current match-up, I couldn’t blame him. “Okay, Aurion! Listen up, they’re trying to wear you down with Quagsire’s natural bulk and Yawn. If they’re literally giving us the go ahead to attack, then just go all out from the start! Use Quick Attack to close in then use Metal Claw to whittle them down!”
Mark broke his silence with a click of his tongue. “Tch! Figures they’d catch on, use Water Gun to keep them at a distance!” he said and his Quagsire happily complied with nearly washing away Aurion, who ducked the move and dashed after the lethargic pokémon with blinding speed.
He shortened the distance and struck Quagsire with Metal Claw, the larger pokémon winced from the slight pain and used the very hit’s motion to spin its body and swing their tail to batter Aurion.
“Aqua Tail!” Mark commanded while I hurried screamed. “Endure!”
*THWAACK~!*
Thank Arceus that Riolu managed to heed my command much faster this time than yesterday. The blow from the Intermediate tier pokémon sent Riolu skidding away and barely keeping it together from the glancing blow. I winced as Riolu panted and struggled to remain on his feet. His eyes began to droop before he quickly shook them off to concentrate on the fight.
Yawn would soon claim him.
“Shit, I could not have chosen a worse battle for you to punch up in, bud.” I sharply inhaled. “Can you keep going, Aurion?” He grunted and nearly fell to a knee. Y-Yeah, I can tell he was just barely on his last legs already.
Sighing to myself, I had his pokéball in my hand at the ready. “Do you remember what I said last night?” He shakily nodded and resumed his fighting stance when faced with the lackadaisical Quagsire who was happily swaying to and from. “Good. One more hit and I’m pulling you out. Keep whitling them down with Metal Claw and use Quick Attack to dodge!”
“Are you sure that they can still-?” Mark frowned and I smiled, happy that he was at least considerate to the health of his opponent’s pokémon.
“You just focus on besting my little bud. Don’t think that he’ll be an easier target after that first hit.” I grinned.
Glancing between me and my pokémon, Mark deeply exhaled and shrugged. “Fine. Quagsire use Water Gun to hold them off and strike them with either Aqua Tail or Mud Slap when they get too close.”
I shot Mark a thankful nod and watched as our two pokémon got back to scrapping. This time Riolu focused more on being agile in keeping his distance and only striking at Quagsire’s blind spots that would allow for another chance encounter of their tail smacking the daylights out of him. His hits started to show some effect on the enemy once I informed him to strike at it limbs, preferably their heels.
Throughout the exchange, Riolu never got hit once with a Water Gun or another physical move. His stamina was a bit tested, but he maintained a good stride with Quick Attack until finally the effects of Yawn caught up to him.
I returned him to his ball and whispered praise to it. “Good job, bud. You did fantastic…also, sorry.” I didn’t want his first battle to be a loss, but I kind of shot myself in the foot for requesting a no-substitutions battle. I just wanted to see each of my new party members’ first battles to their natural conclusions.
But on the bright side, he did make Quagsire nearly topple over in the end from its bruised ankle despite it being resistant to Steel type moves. So that had to be considered some sort of achievement.
Still, this was just to be a learning experience for them, so any losses experienced will make their zeal for growth much stronger.
“Thanks for indulging me like this.” I exclaimed to Max, who balled back his Quagsire after petting it.
“Don’t mention it. I’m just glad your pokémon wasn’t too hurt.” Mark unclipped another pokéball from his belt and pointed it at me. “Now then…onto the next two?”
I grinned. “You betcha!”
“Yogi, I choose you!” “Clobber them, Poliwhirl!”
I inhaled sharply at another potential bad match-up as Yogi faced the much bigger Poliwhirl with a shaky smile. Ah, yeah, this wasn’t going to be much fun for the little guy, was it?
Still, I did have to salvage this situation. Thankfully, Mark wasn’t making the first move (probably out of pity for the beginner tier pokémon). I punched my fist ahead. “Don’t panic and use Baby Doll Eyes!” I shouted and doing his best to compose himself, the Teddiursa listened and after deeply closing their eyes, he opened them to reveal a pair of glossy and beautiful pair of innocent globes that “dared” Poliwhirl to hit him.
“P-Poli-!” Staggering back with a hand on their expansive chest, Poliwhirl was completely struck from the cute display much to Mark’s exasperation.
“D-Don’t tell me your-! Poliwhirl just focus!” Mark groaned. “Use Brick Break!”
“Don’t let up, Yogi! Use Charm!” I didn’t want to risk attacking and having Yogi take even a debuffed fighting type move.
Moving closer to the Poliwhirl, Yogi hugged their leg and surprisingly combined Baby Doll Eyes with Charm. “T-Teddi…ursa~!” Now he was nuzzling against Poliwhirl and laying it on super thick with his cute innocence schtick, which was surprisingly working on the enemy. Poliwhirl’s will to fight kept dwindling with each excessive bat of Yogi’s eyes.
“P-Poli-!” Poliwhirl’s shaky fist began to lower.
“Nope, don’t fall for it, Poliwhirl! Go through with Brick Break and you’ll literally win this!” Mark cried out and for a second Poliwhirl seemed to snap back to normal to go through with landing a super effective hit.
*SNIFF!* “Teddi?” *SNIFF!*
Until Teddiursa decided to lay it on thicker with Fake Tears. That got Poliwhirl to its knees and unresponsively croaked their name in complete dejection. They just kept pounding the ground in disbelief that they’d almost clocked such a cute creature.
“Wow, this is actually happening.” Mark pinched the bridge of his nose and returned his pokémon.
“Whoa…so that’s what it’s like against those who aren’t immune.” I muttered in faux awe before laughing it off. “I’ve never thought to win that way with anyone who wasn’t Sylvie, but you sure surprised me, Yogi.” The Teddiursa then turned to attempt to lure me with his deadly cuteness. “Heh, nice try.” I raised up his pokéball. “Though do expect more berries in your dinner tonight.”
I ignored the cub pokémon’s snickering and returned him to his pokéball. Noticing how dead Mark looked, I sweatdropped, “Uh, are you good?”
“I-I…” Mark was just shellshocked from that experience. He shook it off in order to snag the sole Lure Ball on his hip and narrow his eyes. “You know what? I’ll have a long chat with Poliwhirl later. For now, I’ll just settle on making this last battle wash the bad taste of the previous one out my mouth!”
Nodding along, I grabbed Custard’s pokéball and shouted, “Good! This last one is a bit rough around the edges compared to the others so don’t be afraid to take him a little seriously!”
“Put dirt in their eye, Custard!” “Rip and tear, Croconaw!”
Huh, how ironic that we’d both end up having pokémon with immense jaw strength to face one another. Croconaw snarled and slammed its tail to the ground and broke away most of the soft soil. Its powerful jaws snapped together loudly in a threatening display to intimidate Custard.
Custard just blinked at the Croconaw then blankly nodded. “Gib-Gible.” He spoke and this had caused Croconaw to momentarily flinch back before they resumed their glare.
Sometimes I just want to know what goes on in a conversation between two pokémon. The amount of crazy shit that’s probably being said would be hilarious.
“W-What kind of pokémon is that?” Mark gaped.
I rubbed my chin and chuckled, “Hm, I dunno. He resembles a Sharpedo, so probably a water type?”
“A rare water type pokémon…?” Mark narrowed his eyes at Gible who shifted his focus from Croconaw then to him. The two stared at each other for an uncomfortable minute before Mark broke the staredown with a shudder. “Urgh, it’s like its staring into my soul.”
“Nah, he’s just being an airhead.” I shrugged.
“Gib?” Gible questionably turned around to face me with a tilt of his head.
“Nothing, buddy. Just focus on your opponent like I told you to, okay?”
“Gib-Gible!” Nodding, he swiftly changed gears to bare his rows of sharp teeth back Croconaw who was taken aback by sharp teeth Gible’s teeth were. Even Mark was weirded out by the display with how far he was tilting his head just to see up in there.
“It’s even sharper than–No, we’re winning this, right, girl?”
Croconaw spun around to chuck their trainer the peace sign. “Croco-croconaw!” Huh, so it’s female? That’s rare, the male to female ratio for Totodile were heavily skewed toward the male gender.
“You go first!” I nudged my chin up at Mark, who inquisitively arched an eyebrow.
“You sure about that?” My grin answered his question. Mark shrugged; he certainly didn’t see fit to deny getting the first move. “Aqua Jet!”
“Evade with a dipping Dig.”
Custard dug so fast that by the time he’d buried himself underground, only his lone fin was grazed by Croconaw’s water-enshrouded body tackle.
“Use Hydro Pump to flush it out of its hole!” At Mark’s order, Croconaw reoriented itself and reared its head back to unleash its move. I grinned, happy to still see that Gible’s fin was still visible from underground.
“Run, Custard, run!” Like the sand shark that he was, Gible tunneled through the ground like a real shark through water. Mark’s eyes bugged out as Croconaw’s Hydro Pump missed its mark from the surprisingly agile form of Gible. As a ground type, he was in his element when traveling beneath the earth.
Still though, Gible being a fairly new/rare pokémon did give us quite the advantage. Information was key to battling by the way.
“Keep using Hydro Pump, Croconaw! It’s not too deep underground to wash out!” Croconaw’s Hydro Pump gouged the ground apart. I had to cover my face as Custard had dug his way over to my corner, thus Croconaw’s Hydro Pump sent flying some dirt and grass right in my direction.
Yeah, having battling in the wild with no psychic barriers came with the heavy downside of trainer friendly fire if you weren’t observant or careful.
“Sorry!” Mark called out.
“I’m okay!” I shouted back then realized how much faster Croconaw was to reach Custard. I mentally commended the croc’s ability to keep spewing huge gouts of water without facing any fatigue yet. I rubbed my chin and observed the advantageous position the Croconaw was in. It sure was easy for it to be on Custard’s tail while it was above ground to see where he’ll be.
He’ll have to go deeper underground, but I didn’t feel comfortable about it. Custard wasn’t coordinated with my style of training yet to know where he should dig and Croconaw would obviously just flush him out with Hydro Pump.
…Welp, guess taking the high ground by winging it will just have to do.
“Dig deep and descend, Custard!”
“Gible!” Custard’s fin vanished underground a mere second before Croconaw’s Hydro Pump nearly caught up to him. I breathed out in relief. That was a little too close for comfort…
Mark pointed at Gible’s hole. “Get over there and flood the hole!”
I bit my lip and counted to ten as I watched Croconaw hustle to the deep hole that Custard was no doubt happily burrowing through. Once Croconaw began to rear its head back, I quickly counted through 5 seconds to scream out, “Dragon breath below you at full power!”
I really hoped that Custard hadn’t have dug too deep not to hear me, but my prayers were answered as the ground rumbled and just before Croconaw could spit another Hydro Pump, Custard came flying out of in a trail of blue and green thick beams that propelled him into the sky.
“Whoa!” Mark gaped in awe then shook himself off to point into the air. “Aqua Jet! Don’t let it get away!”
“Crooooooooocooonaw!” Tensing their legs, Croconaw put all their strength into jumping as high into the air as they could before rocketing after my ascending pokémon. Custard’s ascent was cut short as the full blast of Dragon Breath left him a little winded to continue using it. Now gravity was against him as he was basically falling toward Croconaw who was now his tail.
The momentum of his fall can at least be put to good use. “Use Rock Smash!”
“Stop using Aqua Jet and fire a quick Hydro Pump!” Croconaw stopped one move to execute the other as it sent Custard momentarily reeling from the powerful attack. This made it the benefit of having Custard flail about as he fell to it faster and way more helpless.
“Crunch!” Mark smirked and a loud *SNAP!* filled the field as I winced in sympathy for my yelping pokémon. Oough, and it was bite near the crest of his fin too…
“Fine, if she wants to bite you then Bite her back twice as hard, Custard!” I bellowed so he could hear me up there, and he gladly did by snatching up Croconaw’s tail and sinking his teeth into it. Croconaw yelped before biting down harder on Custard’s head.
The two pokémon were hurtling to the ground in a tangle of incessant biting and cries. Either one would give up and release the other, or they’d sustain damage from the fall!
“Use Dragon Breath while you sink your teeth in them!” I exclaimed and smiled as Croconaw growled in agony as Gible’s beam washed over their form.
“Croconaw, no!” Mark yelled in distress. Good, I had no clue if the damage from Crunch took too much out of Custard, but this should get Croconaw down just enough to give him a fighting chance.
That is unless Mark had a trick up his sleeve…
“Keep using Crunch until it lets you go! You can do this, Croconaw, I believe in you!” Nah, he seems to be about as locked in as we are. Using Hydro Pump would just unhinge Croconaw’s jaw and release Gible in order to execute the move.
I really wish I could do more besides watching them fall but I had to remind myself that most of my current team were beginners, so I can’t fall back to the same mentality I had for Asch and the others. That leads to more mistakes that can cost me the match.
“C’mon! Use Crunch harder! It’ll let go if you bite down hard enough…Um…uh…” Mark’s eyes flitted about, searching for anything to solve this predicament. “Use Ice Fang?”
My jaw dropped. “Shit…” I silently hissed and slipped back to my old mentality. “Rock Smash, Custard! Use Rock Smash on its jaw then get away!” But it was already too much for the young Gible as he was pushing himself to do two moves at once while enduring the pain of the Crunch, which was tearing Ice Type energy into his head.
Please don’t freeze him! Please don’t freeze him! Please don’t freeze h-and he’s frozen…
It was a 4x super effective hit and the damage from earlier only compounded it.
Sighing, I watched Custard’s frozen, brittle body silently fall to the ground. “You fought well, Custard. You fought well.” Especially against an intermediate tier pokémon and was no doubt this guy’s Starter.
Taking a cue not to let his Croconaw hit the hard ground, Mark returned it and whispered his own praises to his pokémon.
Welp, I lost 2 out of 3 of my rounds. Wait does Yogi’s battle count…meh, I’ll just leave it as undecided.
“Good match.” I shook Mark’s hand in a firm handshake after we’d fully healed our injured pokémon. Well, everyone except for Yogi and Poliwhirl was injured. Poliwhirl’s damage was more…emotional it would seem.
“It certainly was…a different battle than what I’m used to.” Mark awkwardly laughed. “Never really thought my team and I would be used as an uphill battle to train your pokémon, but it was a nice change of pace.”
Pulling out my phone, I flicked a few icons on the screen and sent the victor of our match his reward money. It’s heavily frowned upon as poor sportsmanship to not pay the winner their dues. Refusing to do so can get you reported and if you get enough strikes, you’ll automatically be blocked from being able to get reward money transferred to your own trainer account. So, you’d have to go through the arduous task of requesting the trainer that you beat to reward you with Cash and that’s the least likely thing to happen with kids who are always impatiently on the go.
“Buuut…” Mark’s grin widened. “The payout for it sure is nice. Are you sure about the amount though, I’m not complaining but isn’t this too much?” I bitterly laughed as he kept being considerate while holding his old, cracked phone away from me as if I would change my mind and snatch it from his hands.
“You helped my team out…” I rolled my eyes, thinking about Yogi’s match. “Some more than others but battling you has certainly showed me where to counter some of their glaring flaws so that I can buff them out with training.” I bowed my head. “Thank you, Mark.”
“W-Wow, I’m sure that if another Johtonian was taking my spot, they’d be dumbfounded to have a Kantonian bow to them like this.” Mark sheepishly scratched his cheek.
Y-Yeah, Kanto did have a rep for being blunt and straight forward amongst its populace. Though in contrast, Johto was sort of like Japan in a way with how their population tended to be more subtle and quiet with getting their thoughts across to others. Passive Aggressive is the term that I’d like to use for it.
If I had to picture what most of Johto considered a brash Kantonian then it would have to be Lt. Surge. Even I can’t deny the guy was a total loudmouth and difficult dude to deal with.
“Well, I hoped I made a good impression to change how you see us.” I shrugged, uncaring if I had indirectly succeeded in doing so.
“Nah, I don’t give much of a pidgey’s crap about that. I had a fun battle and that’s all that matters, yeah?” He smiled, widely.
“Yeah.” I grinned back.
“So…” Mark trailed off before covering his mouth with the back of his hand to whisper to me. “What’s the deal with that new pokémon…Gible was it? I’ve never seen it before. What’s that all about?”
I snickered. “Secret~.”
Mark groaned. “Ugh, fine keep your secrets.” A devious grin etched itself across his face. “At least I know that its weak is Ice, so next time I run across one I’ll be ready to take it down.”
I groaned and facepalmed. “I can’t believe I lost because you got desperate to randomly use that move at the last minute.” Mark’s laughing did not better my mood.
And instead of us parting ways, I just kept chatting with Mark. He was kind of an interesting case of being an older trainer than me with a less strong team than my experienced ones like Asch and Leonardo. He was a trainer from Cianwood City, who became a trainer with nothing but the League’s stipend for orphaned children and a Totodile that he lucked into catching after nearly drowning in a nearby lake to search for a Starter.
He started his pokémon journey three years before mine and had to struggle to juggle with feeding his pokémon, planning/strategizing against gyms, and catching more pokémon that he’ll have to adjust his funds to train, care for, and feed, and earning money to support himself in general. He was 12 when he set off to become a trainer, a whole year behind the traditional 11 years, and now was just barely reaching Intermediate tier with at best 3 of his pokémon.
Although I derive no pleasure from his struggles, this did make me appreciate my arrangement with Prof. Oak alongside the fact that Joey didn’t have to go through what Mark does due to their similarities in being…parentless.
Still, I chose to help Mark out a little bit by analyzing his pokémon and showing him the possible moves and directions that he could take to train up their abilities and fix their diets whenever he’s financially stable.
“So, you want to be a Water type specialist, huh?” I asked as we’d finally reached the cavern.
“Yup. It’s been a dream of mine to participate in the Whirl Cup at the Whirl Islands since I was a kid. Only the best water type trainers go there to compete, and I want to be one of them…” He then sighed and slumped over. “I mean, I do but that’s easier said than done…”
“You’ll make it, Mark. You’re hard work will pay off in no time. Trust me.” I chuckled.
“T-Thanks, Luke.” Mark gratefully smiled. “Still, I want to at least get up to 6 badges before going next year. I’m sure that by then I can get Croconaw to evolve and save enough money to buy a Water stone to evolve Poliwhirl.”
“Water stone?” I muttered then pulled off my backpack to dig inside of it, pulled one out, and held it out for Mark to take. “Here.”
“What the fu-?” Mark shook his head. “You just have one of those lying around in your bag?”
I shrugged. “A good friend of mine has a dad who’s into rocks for some reason…and my mother…” I darkly added that last part. Unfortunately, Mark caught that.
“Huh?”
“Nothing!” I coughed. “Take it.”
“A-Are you sure?” Mark gulped, eyeing the thing with obvious interest.
“Of course.” I tossed it to him and laughed as he fumbled to catch the delicate stone.
“Careful, you could have broken it!” Mark huffed.
“Meh, even if its snapped in two, it still would work.” I smirked then began to walk into the cave while waving goodbye. “Thanks for the battle and I hope to see you again!”
“Y-Yeah, you too, Luke…” Mark spoke with uncertainty before screaming, “Wait!”
I stopped as I was one foot away from entering the dark interior of Tohjo Falls. “Yeah?”
“Oh, you know, I just wanted to…” Mark coughed and scrounged up what must have been the courage to say what came to his mind. “I just wanted to say that…you should visit Cianwood City.”
“I should?” I tilted my head.
“Yeah.” Mark resolutely nodded. “I mean, you don’t have to do it. It’s just a suggestion, I heard from the grapevine that our city’s Gym Leader Chuck is setting up a tournament on March 30 and 31. Beginner to Intermediate tier pokémon only, so it’s something that you might want to look into if you’re interested in training your team.”
I blinked and rubbed my chin. “Yeah…” Head slowly nodding, I felt a smile creep up on my face. “Yeah!” That actually sounds like a great opportunity. “That could be what I need to test everyone’s growth before I go off to train my Starter and other experienced pokémon.” I bowed my head to Mark. “Thanks for telling me, Mark!”
“Thanks for the battle and water stone, Luke!” Mark laughed, waving his new precious water stone at me. Then he paused, a brief look of exhaustion hitting him as he groaned. “Also, heads up, if you come across a trainer called Greta…hide.”
“Wha-?”
“Don’t make eye contact and DO. NOT. RUN.” Mark stressed each word out. “She’ll take that as a challenge. Trust me.”
Blinking, I slightly tilted my head and chuckled. Ah, he must be overexaggerating or something. Still, I appreciated the warning. “Don’t worry, I’ll keep an eye out for her.”
“Ah!” He pointed at me. Right, he just told me not to do that.
“I’ll be aware of my surroundings.” I sheepishly laughed.
We both finally parted ways from each other on very good terms. By the time he was gone, I had forgotten that I wanted to exchange numbers with him, but I decided to hope that we’d meet again someday. He was a pleasant guy who was working hard for his dream, and I’m sure that the fruits of his labor will kick in soon. Heck, maybe he’ll come up on top and get the full 8 badges to compete in this year’s Conference. A shame that I wouldn’t be competing in the Indigo to see if that happens, but I wish Mark the best.
As for that tournament, I’m definitely going to enter my team for that, especially Riolu. Being amongst the same typing would really boost his growth, and having Yogi to combat the stronger typing could work wonders for building his defenses for the future.
Gible was for sure going to participate and if Fafnir sheds his skin by the time the tournament starts then maybe I can use him if his progress with using the moves that he knows are suffice.
Although that meant I had to shorten my exploration through Toho Falls, I was on a time table and had to plan out what I’ll do accordingly before April 1st.
Nodding to myself, a plan had begun to formulate using what I knew of Johto’s locales which could better expedite the training of my pokémon. With a wide smile, I released my Starter and met his expectant gaze with a face splitting grin, “Say Asch, how about after this we fly over to–”
Our destination was set before an admittedly fun trip spelunking the caverns of Tohjo Falls and battling some of their Raticates, Rattata, and surprisingly a stray Makuhita. Emerging from the cave, I prepped Asch up for flight, hopped onto his saddle, attached my to the strapped phone carrier on the back of my wrist to display the map, and we took off into the evening sky.
I really wanted to explore more of the route, but prepping for a good battle took precedent. It was kind of funny in a way, before I would have just slumped around in bed than get so worked up about anything just to process everything that happened last circuit. Now here I am doing the opposite to clear my head as I happily pushed Asch to fly us to the next city so we can sightsee and train to our hearts content before moving on to the next location.
This…
This was nice.
Although it wasn’t by much, suddenly the weight of dad’s journal began to lighten in my backpack.
But only by just a little bit.
Instead of lingering on it, for now my mind raced with what kind of experience I’ll have when reaching our next destination.
Something fun and exciting, I hope.
----------------------------------------
“Mmmm~! These dango are amazing! The people here may have tried to cheat us out of buying from their real menu, but they sure know how to make their treats. You think Paul would like them?”
“Infernape!”
“Heh, yeah, you’re right. He doesn’t have much of a craving for anything nice and sweet.”