CHAPTER 227

After Jasmine finished up her beer, she took me to the isolated part of the beach we liked, but we were surprised to see some kids there. Not trainers, even, just eight civilians that had found the place and were using it to hang out. At first, I thought we were going to find another spot to Teleport from since she didn't want Volkner to realize she was training me, but Jasmine didn't seem to care. She tapped one of her eleven Pokeballs and released Metagross. The hulking steel type's clawed feet dug into the ground as they creaked with every movement. Their deep red eyes settled on mine and stared for a single instant, as if that was what they needed to assess me. The waves gently crashed against the steel type's feet for a split second until an invisible barrier started blocking the water.

Needless to say, the teenagers left pretty quickly. Jasmine hadn't even told them to leave, just pressured them with Metagross' presence. I couldn't lie, they even made me nervous.

"Thank you, Metagross," Jasmine said.

"Was that alright?" I asked. "I mean, it's not like us Teleporting together's a big giveaway for anything."

"What's the point of power if we don't use it?" She asked before placing a hand on Metagross' cold steel skin. "They'll be fine. Metagross, why don't you greet Grace for a little bit? Get to know her?"

"Uh. Hello," I hesitantly waved. "You can talk to me via telepathy, by the way. I'm used to it."

We salute you, Grace Pastel. It is our understanding that Jasmine has taken an interest in you, but we will refrain from wasting any time. Let us pretend that we had a wonderful, full conversation so we can finally get going. Say 'thank you for the compliment,' and 'I'm sure Jasmine will be a great teacher.' We have calculated that the conversation will end right away if you say those exact words.

Their voice was loud, but I was surprised to see it was actually only one. Reneucleus had two brains and two voices, but Metagross didn't share that trait despite having four. It also took me a few seconds to understand that they were only speaking into my mind and not Jasmine's.

"Thank you for the compliment. I'm sure Jasmine will be a great teacher," I repeated.

The Gym Leader beamed. "What did they say? Did they compliment me too?"

We said she was in good hands, Metagross said.

Jasmine crossed her arms as a smug expression stretched across her face. "Right. We should get started before someone else comes. Metagross, could you take us to…"

The location we battled Craig Goodwill in seems appropriate, Metagross said. What do you think?

She nodded. "Well, you're never wrong. We haven't exactly been to most of the Sinnoh routes, so that'll have to do."

"If Metagross can Teleport, why didn't they use it during the battle?" I asked.

The psychic type answered before Jasmine could.

It would have only delayed the inevitable. Eelektross was going to catch up to us regardless of where we Teleported and was continuously speeding up with a constant Agility. We figured it was better to cut the confrontation short in order not to waste any time. From the start of the battle, we had calculated that the odds were not in our favor. Fifty-six percent chance of losing if we stayed in place, but a sixty percent chance if we spent energy Teleporting around and being chased around the arena until Eelektross landed a Crunch on us. None of the attacks we could have sent would have worked for long. It would have been a battle of attrition that we would have lost regardless. Craig Goodwill's Pokemon are too powerful. The draw we obtained was the most favorable scenario. The chances of victory were under six percent.

Midway through his sentence, Metagross whisked us away to the mountains Jasmine and Craig had battled in.

"Are you done?" Jasmine asked. "See how unfun battling is with them? All of the mystery, the chaos of it all, it's gone. Replaced with a percentage."

You ask us never to tell you anything regardless. Perhaps we appreciate someone finally being willing to listen to us.

"Come on," she rolled her eyes. "You love when I don't listen to you."

I would not constitute that feeling as love. More like a fondness of how stupid you can be at times while being extremely smart in others. I would even call it endearing. Cute, perhaps. Like how you humans find babies cute.

"See? They love me," Jasmine smiled. "I'll recall you for now, or you'll ruin the fun.'

If you must.

The Pokeball absorbed the steel type and Jasmine coughed into her fist.

"They're a lot of fun, even if they pretend not to be," she said. "One of my oldest Pokemon."

"Not your oldest?" I asked.

She laughed. "Oh no, my oldest is Magnezone. Steelix is my second oldest and also my ace. The tip of my sword. Metagross was picked up in one of the few colonies they have in Johto when they were just a Beldum. My father thought it'd be a nice gift, and it cemented me as his successor."

"Did you ever go on a journey?" I asked, shivering from the harsh winds. Jasmine was in her usual sundress, but she didn't seem to care one bit.

"I did. No one in Kanto-Johto can become a Gym Leader without going on a journey at least once. You'd be ridiculed and branded a coward. No one would respect you," she said before pausing. "Let's get started."

The Gym Leader released an Electrode and Magnezone out of her Pokeball while I sent out Honey, who was very confused about being on the same mountain as before.

"Sorry to spring this on you Hon, but Jasmine and her electric types are going to tutor you about your electric type attacks. Is that alright with you?"

He flashed a toothy grin and agreed without a moment's hesitation. When he waved at Electrode, the electric type slowly rolled back behind Jasmine while Magnezone screeched in annoyance.

"Electrode's a shy fellow," she explained. "But he's one of my best fighters. If I ask him to Explode, he will get you, and it'll be a clean kill. It was a very good tactic against the Rockets."

I hummed as I nodded. The smile the electric type was famous for wasn't there. Instead, his mouth was flat and unopened as he silently stared at me. It was hard to imagine that this meek Pokemon was as powerful as Jasmine made it sound, but I knew she wasn't lying. Magnezone was a lot more social, and his magnets twirled around as he greeted Honey. He was smaller than Mira's, but I could still vividly remember the all-powerful Zap Cannons that he could repeatedly use.

"Thank the Legendaries, I can tell you'll be very good at this," she sighed in relief. "You're even better than my Gym Trainers."

"Huh?" I frowned.

"It's about attitude. You've got the right amount of crazy in you. I tried training some of Volkner's Gym Trainers when he asked me, you know? They all get squeamish when I talk about killing, it's honestly sickening. I heard western Sinnoh was a lot better in that regard, but I couldn't handle how soft they were and I stopped pretty quickly."

"I don't think that warrants calling me crazy," I sighed.

"Come on, Grace. Like I told you, you need the crazy if you want to be any good," Jasmine gently said. "You haven't realized how you look to people on the outside, haven't you?"

"What do you mean?"

"Arceus, you're the perfect student. Kanto-Johto would fit you like a glove."

"Well, my intention is to go to Unova…" I trailed off when her face fell.

"Goodness," she said. "Sorry, I just thought it was a waste of opportunity, that's all. You'd grow faster there. Unova's Gym Leaders, well— never mind. This isn't what this is about."

I knew her biases against safer regions. That was where we mainly differed. While she thought I might be able to fit in with her clique, I actually didn't mind safer regions. In fact, I'd probably prefer them depending on what they did to the wild Pokemon to reach that point. If it was a set of deals like what Cynthia had done to Hatterene, it would be preferable to just paving a road in the middle of a route.

To my surprise, Jasmine released Ampharos as well.

"Amphy can't create railguns, but she's there for moral support. She's the most positive Pokemon I know," she fondly said. "Also my newest member of the team."

The electric type affectionately bleated, lowering her head so Jasmine could pet her. Electrode seemed a lot more comfortable with Ampharos around and he muttered a greeting to Honey.

"So, Grace," Jasmine started. "Most rocks don't contain enough magnetic materials to be moved using a magnetic field, but Pokemon can break the rules a little bit, just like when Magnezone over here stopped Craig's Gyarados. Do you know why?"

"Type energy," I immediately answered.

"Yes! Most rocks will contain at least traces of magnetite, hematite, maghemite or other magnetic materials. Ordinarily, this isn't enough to be moved by anything created by humans, but it is enough for Pokemon. Granted, most arenas do have a high content of iron, and Volkner's even more so, but when Electabuzz gets good enough, he'll be able to move most rocks."

Honey and I nodded, listening to her attentively.

"Let's start with a little demonstration. Electrode, if you will?"

The electric type grunted as he rolled forward and Jasmine motioned us to stand back. Sparks of electricity more powerful than Honey's Thunderbolt erupted around Electrode, breaking up the ground into chunks, but the rocks that flew up never fell down. Instead, they levitated around him as electric currents flashed to life and danced around Electrode and the rocks.

Then, there was a low hum and I heard a boom, feeling a shockwave pass through my body. All of the rocks flew forward so quickly that by the time I actually realized what had happened, they had flown off the mountain's peak and fallen toward the steep slopes. Honey stood in awe at the move's speed, and he could barely sit still.

You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.

"That was a lot quieter than I expected," I muttered. "Well, except for the shockwave bit."

"It's magnetism, not an explosion," she said.

"So the electricity moves the rocks?" I asked, tilting my head.

"No. The more powerful an electric current is, the stronger the magnetic field that forms around it will be. Electrode uses those magnetic fields to control the rocks. The electricity is just a byproduct of that. Now, Electabuzz, I'm going to need you to pay attention. You have to know how this works to start training."

The electric type hurriedly nodded and leaned forward.

"When you use electric type moves, rocks fly everywhere, both from the force of the attack and the magnetic fields themselves," Jasmine said. "The first step in your training is stabilizing the forces of the fields. Normally, it's proportional to the force of the current, but again, Pokemon cheat. When you can keep rocks floating around you like your teammate Togetic—"

"Sister," I interrupted.

"Sister Togetic," Jasmine corrected, not missing a beat. "We can move on to the next step, which is electrifying the rocks."

"You can do that?" I scoffed.

"Of course. You can inject electric TE into the minerals and give them magnetic fields of their own. Then it's all about pushing and pulling to get what you want. You know how magnets work, right?"

We both nodded.

"For the Railgun technique, you essentially want to push as quickly as you can. You know how sometimes, two magnets come together but others they're repelled? That's essentially what we're doing here. You put two same poles together and they repel—"

"By pole, you mean like, north and south pole?"

"Yes. Every magnetic field has a pole," she added. "In the third and final steps, you need to push on rocks by using the same poles on each other. Eventually, when you get really good at it, it'll be like breathing to you, but right now it'll seem impossible. Give it a try, will you? Magnezone and Electrode will observe and give you some pointers."

Honey took a deep breath as electricity crackled through his fur. Unlike Electrode, that simple display wouldn't already rip up rocks from the earth. Instead, he shone bright, using Thunderbolt on the ground around him. Rocks erupted from the ground, and then he grunted in a desperate attempt to at least keep them floating.

Instead, they barely levitated at all and quickly fell to the ground. Some were even ground to dust as he desperately tried to force them upward with a more powerful current. Electabuzz didn't even sigh. He immediately got started on another attempt as Magnezone advised him and Electrode whispered something barely audible. Amphy added a cheerful bleat as her tail swayed from side to side, lighting up at different intervals.

"This technique essentially requires an incredible amount of multitasking. Every single rock has to be micromanaged to perfection. It'll take a while for Electabuzz to master the technique, but its uses are virtually limitless, and if he can do that he can basically create any electric technique he wants due to the amount of minute control he'll have over electricity," Jasmine muttered with her arms crossed. "Our goal is to at least make it usable for your fight with Volkner. I know it seems tough now, but don't forget his arena has a higher concentration of metal, so it'll be easier. I can bring you there in a few days after the Gym closes so Electabuzz can feel what it'll be like. It'll be our secret— I'll break you in!"

"Don't get me in trouble, please," I hesitantly shifted.

"Oh please, live a little! Even after that, it'll be another tool for you to use. Variety is important. We'll move on to your other electric type moves in a few hours."

"Thank you, Jasmine," I said. "I appreciate the help."

"Teaching people like you is fun, so I don't mind," she shrugged. "You don't play the game."

"The game?"

"You don't harass me when I try to teach you lethal techniques," Jasmine explained. "You don't pretend that this is all a game where you have to play nice. If I want to shoot rocks at my opponent at the speed of sound, I should be able to, damn it."

"I feel like you have some very strong views about safety concerns," I muttered.

"Oh, how did you guess?" She joked. "It's a lethal technique I'm teaching you, Grace. You won't be able to use it to its full potential unless you fight some truly formidable Pokemon. Even at the Conference, it'll be too lethal to use until you reach opponents like Craig or someone with Pokemon with extremely tough hides. Or ghosts. These kinds of things are heavily regulated here."

"And it isn't in Kanto-Johto?" I asked.

She grinned, and suddenly the quiet, thin girl was no more. Instead, the monster that dwelled within revealed itself for an instant. It thirsted for adversity, for struggle, and for a second, it felt like a sword was pressing against my neck and I could barely breathe.

"Iron sharpens iron," she simply said.

We paused for a few minutes as we observed Honey struggle over and over. I wasn't worried, of course. These last few weeks had given Honey the boost in confidence he sorely needed and it had all culminated during my battle with Denzel. I knew he'd be able to get back up over and over now.

"Since the rocks are infused with electric TE, does that make it an electric type move?" I asked.

"Well, yes. It's actually an electric type move, not a rock type move," Jasmine explained. "Even with moves like Rock Throw or Slide, the rocks are infused with TE. Moves with no TE are like a cannon without gunpowder."

"Cool," I grinned. I figured I could trick a lot of people with that.

I heard Jasmine absent-mindedly laugh while she stared at Ampharos teasing Electrode.

"Why can't Amphy use Railgun?" I curiously asked as I stared at the tall electric type.

"She's quite scatterbrained," Jasmine said. "She doesn't have the focus needed for it."

"She's cute, though," I said.

"The cutest."

Jasmine placed her hands behind her back and smiled at her Ampharos. The electric type had joined in and tried to lift some rocks for fun too, although her results were even worse than Honey somehow. We both laughed at that pitiful display, but she was having fun.

"I'm glad she can do things like this now," she quietly spoke. "Amphy used to be quite sickly."

"Really?"

"Hmhm. She wasn't mine originally. She was the lighthouse keeper's, and she worked at the top of Olivine's lighthouse. It was a few years after I started my tenure and things with Team Rocket really started ramping up in Johto that she got sick. So sick even the Nurse Joys couldn't do anything. She was so weak she couldn't even move. I stayed up there with her for hours and even forwent my Gym Leader duties for a little bit. Lance got extremely angry at me," she muttered before pausing. "He said that the Indigo League couldn't appear weak in such an important moment. I let him trample all over me back then."

"Really? I can't even imagine you like that," I said.

"Oh, I was quite meek and quiet at your age. I was a shy little girl that mostly kept to myself until Team Rocket sharpened me," Jasmine said. "It was hard not to listen to Lance himself, especially with his forceful attitude. The man can't even entertain 'no' for an answer.'

"And yet you respect him," I said.

"Yes."

The conversation stopped again, and I observed the mountain's surroundings. Maybe the fact that she'd been bullied by Lance was why she wanted me to not to be pushed around by stronger people. A powerful gust of wind caused me to shiver.

"I should have worn something warmer for this," I sighed. "How did Amphy get better?"

"Well, I was waiting for a special remedy to be made for her in Cianwood. It's this little town by the sea on an island," she explained. "I couldn't go get it myself because of Lance's orders, so I asked a particularly talented trainer to go get it for me. That Gold person I briefly spoke to you about."

"That was nice of him," I said. "I'm glad Amphy's all better now."

Jasmine nodded. "She was blessed. The nurses gave her a month to live, and yet she pushed on until the remedy came. She got better over the course of a few days and started up her job again and I visited her every week or so, but she decided to come with me after Eichi— the lightkeeper— died at sixty-eight. She still misses him."

I stayed silent, not knowing what to say. She'd been quite saddened when I had explained that Sunshine's trainer had died before he joined me, but I had thought it was just a normal reaction to have. I knew now that it was because she empathized with us and she knew exactly how it felt. The only difference was that Eichi died of old age while Kamaile was taken early. I clenched a fist and my nails dug into my palm as I struggled to keep my breathing still.

"So there is a blade in you," Jasmine noticed. "It's just sheathed the majority of the time."

"Huh?"

"I've never seen you angry. It was interesting," she said. "Sorry to bring back bad memories."

"It's alright," I said. "My fault."

"No, no, Grace. It isn't your fault."

"Right. But I did mean it when I said it was alright," I said.

"How did you meet Electabuzz, if you don't mind me asking?"

"He came up to me," I explained. "He yelled and demanded to be caught. I was very confused at the time, but I'm happy he did it. We definitely wouldn't have met otherwise."

Jasmine nodded as I spoke. "Not many trainers like to catch them, even in my region. It's the same for Magmar."

"Because they don't know how to evolve them," I guessed before recalling that Denzel had told me the exact same thing when I'd shown him Honey for the first time.

"Yes. It's incredibly shortsighted, but it's unfortunately how it works. Even when they're in their second stage, Electabuzz and Magmar can fight at the elite level. It just takes more work to get them there," Jasmine said. "Volkner respects you, you know?"

I excitedly blinked. "He does?!"

"He was in the same boat as you are right now. An Electabuzz for an ace until he became Gym Leader and the higher-ups at the League that hoard the knowledge like dragons told him how to evolve him. He's rambled to me for hours about how he was doubted and underestimated for having an Electabuzz."

"I've never had that," I said.

"Why do you think?" She smiled. "Volkner proved them wrong and made it to the Conference finals that year, although he lost to Flint. The stigma's died down here thanks to his influence, but it's still well-alive everywhere else. Few people own Electivire and Magmortar. Blaine owned a Magmortar, but no one remembers what he was like as a Magmar. Plus, he fucked off into a volcano after he died. Hasn't been sighted in three years."

My eyes widened slightly at the quick change in tone and cursing, but I paid it no mind. Jasmine and I spoke about my travels and how they differed with hers. She only went on the Circuit in Johto once and didn't even make it out of the group stages there, but what she told me about the routes and caves in Johto didn't leave anything to be desired. Kamaile had Oranguru to keep him and his team protected and Jasmine had Metagross— who had only been a Metang at the time, but trainers without barriers were in extreme danger most of the time outside a few safezones. Of course, not every route was as intense as Eterna Forest, but some were. Multiple. And of course, they had forests of their own as well, like Ilex.

Around an hour later, Jasmine called Electabuzz again and asked him to show her his custom moves. He started with Radiant Leap, which was his favorite since he'd named it and Static Shield was still only a concept that we had very little idea of how to implement. The electric type surged forward, leaving behind only a trail of electricity as he pushed himself as fast as he could. Jasmine looked very pleased.

"That was great, although it could obviously use some work. Volkner has a similar move with his Electivire— although there are a few different quirks. He calls it Quick Step."

"Quick Step? Why is he so bad at naming things?" I asked. Honey, even through his panting from all the training asked the same question. I had noticed that Jasmine was intrigued by my ability to talk to my team, and she had been ever since I had Sunshine speak with her, but she hadn't asked anything about it yet.

Jasmine rolled her eyes. "I know right? I like Radiant Leap," she smiled. "You're essentially using magnetism to push yourself subconsciously while Volkner's Electivire uses electricity like a motor to speed himself up."

"His own electricity?" I scoffed.

"Yes. It seems quite unfair, doesn't it? The longer a battle goes on for, the more of a threat Electivire becomes, but there is a bottleneck you can reach to exhaust him. Most trainers never see that moment, though. If you want to beat him, it's better to do it quickly before he can ramp up."

"Arceus… that's so awesome."

"His Jolteon can do something similar as well by turning himself into electricity instead. Now obviously that is beyond even my capabilities to teach. I'm no electric type master, just a hobbyist."

"If you're a hobbyist, then what am I?" I asked half-jokingly.

"You're a child learning how to crawl," she answered. "We'll go step by step. What was the second move you spoke to me about?"

"Static Shield," I said. "It's like what Volkner does… that thing he calls Electric Terrain Two, but only around Honey and not the entire field. We've been looking to improve his melee capabilities, and I think we can use his ability Static to help."

"Using Static is the right approach, little thief," Jasmine said with a nod. She was proud I was taking her advice to heart. "You know abilities can be trained, correct?"

"Well yes, but I haven't gotten into that at all yet."

"It's time to start, then," she said. "To practice Static, you'll have Amphy. She has the same ability."

The electric type let out a happy cry and her tail thrashed around excitedly. Electrode had already rolled out of the way, as if he had known what was coming, but Honey got caught in the crossfire and tripped. Ampharos bleated, ignoring what she had done while Electrode and Magnezone profusely apologized in her behalf and Honey kept reassuring them that it was okay.

I hadn't known that her tail was that powerful.

Training continued until Electabuzz was too exhausted to continue, which took hours. Before that, though, Jasmine had him practice Thunder in order to keep the move under control. His problem was that since he needed a crap ton of energy to actually use the move, he mostly focused on actually getting it out and not actually controlling it. For Thunderbolt, it was just about habits and cleaning up deficiencies. If we managed to make his moves as efficient as possible, he'd last even longer in battle and our current limit of three Thunders would turn into five. It would also basically catapult him as one of my Pokemon with the most stamina and he'd be tied with Angel.

Of course, it'd help with his two custom moves too.

So much knowledge acquired and progress made, and this was only the first day. There were so many facets of Pokemon battling I hadn't even scratched the surface of, but today did make me realize something that had been at the back of my mind since Princess trained with Hatterene.

Having a teacher a lot better than you made all of the progress we'd made beforehand look so small. I'd need to seek those out a lot more if I wanted to speed things up.