It was about time for a training montage.
“Wait a minute…” Felis muttered, as he trudged through Route 215 in his new boots, “Aken, do you think it counts as a training montage if it only happens over the course of a day?”
“What’s a training montage?” His friend asked, hovering just in front of him.
“In movies it's basically a period of time where we train and grow stronger. Usually it's like…over the course of a few weeks or months, you know?”
“And we shall only need a day to achieve their level of success!” Aken declared boldly.
Felis let out a whoop. He’d pump his fist into the air but as he was currently holding books that would’ve been a bad idea.
Hold on, back track for a second. Felis had to set the scene. As promised, the weekend would be training day, and Scott was already at his designated spot outside Galactic headquarters 2 hours before they were even supposed to meet. After making fun of him for being so nervous they met with Hazel and the others, heading over to their “Secret training spot”.
The goal today was to get used to battling some more, as well as understanding the finer details of raising Pokémon and all the very “intricate details of Pokémon battles” as Elys put it. It’d be welcome to learn, all of their current “battling” was just throwing out moves and then jumping their opponent when their guard was down.
Effective…but Felis doubted he’d be allowed to beat up little Timmy and his Rattata in an actual match.
“Shit…that’d be kind of funny.”
“What?”
“Don’t worry about it, just thinking.”
Aken scoffed, “You are strange.”
The group was going towards Route 215 when Felis spotted something he liked. A library, complete with Hoothoots fluttering about the entrance either flying in or out the building with sacks of books in their beaks. Entranced by the prospect of learning a few things about Sinnoh culture he waved the others to keep going without him, before walking inside to take a quick look around.
The books he took out were “Sinnoh & The League, Toxic Lovers, Unlikely Allies?”, “Pokemon, Raising & Battling, a Must Have for New Trainers”, “Galactic’s Prosperous History”, “Sinnoh’s Dark Dealings”, “Meet the Leaders!” and “A Complete Breakdown of Cynthia’s Journey to Champion, Battles, Histories, and More!”
Some choices were pretty obvious, there was a big war a while back between Sinnoh and the League, but Felis wanted to know the fine details, what happened? How did they lose? Was it all settled in one battle or was it open warfare?
Raising Pokémon, of course, necessary. Felis didn’t really know how to cook or make food, but if he could save some money instead of constantly buying then hey, may as well, right? Of course there were also the battle tips and breakdowns, the summary said they’d look at some beginner battles from earlier circuits and talk about what was right and what could be better.
“Dark Dealings” talked about Sinnoh’s rich history with crime families, from the founding of Sinnoh to the current age. Apparently the guy who wrote and published the book was found dead in his apartment a few weeks later, so this was probably legit.
History, Politics, Pokémon raising and battling. If Felis wanted to be a “player” in this world, these were the disciplines he needed to understand the most. All trainers respected strength, and all people respected trainers, being strong was just a given. But he also needed to understand what the people thought about. What were their philosophies? Their core beliefs?
He doubted he could finish all the books today, but he’d skim through them at his leisure until the Hoothoots tracked him down and forced him to give them all up. If he didn't, those little bastards were legally allowed to induce nightmares onto any motherfucker that tried to steal books.
Kind of ingenious when he thought about it.
Back to the present, Felis heard the sound of familiar shouts and the clashing of Pokémon as he trudged up a hill. He stepped into a clearing, one of thousands in Route 215, seeing his brother and the rest of the group beginning with their practice.
Hazel and Jaxon were going at it against one another, Skorupi and Snowrunt dancing a duel of combat to try and outmanoeuvre the other. It was interesting to see Jaxon’s Skorupi try to drag Snowrunt into a melee match while Snowrunt did the exact opposite, doing everything it could to keep the little monster at bay.
Emily sat by a stump with her Grimer, the ugly little thing looked like it had taken a beating earlier, and was pouting as it snuggled into her lap. Felis didn’t know how the woman could handle Grimer like that, it looked too wet and gross for his tastes. Still cool to see a living mud pile though.
Elys stood a little ways away judging the match with a Cacnea staring eagerly at the fighting, raring to go. Arun stood next to her, and from time to time she’d point out moves and manoeuvres one or the other did. He nodded diligently, both Valor and his new Zubat watched nearby, though Valor looked a little surprised and annoyed at his new comrade’s insistence on perching atop his leaf.
Finally there was Scott. Starly was on his shoulder and a notepad in his hands as he scribbled away at something, his eyes hungrily going back and forth between the battle in front of him and the notebook.
“You made it!” Emily waved from her spot, and Felis meandered over, plopping his books in the grass, “You reading all of that today?”
“Na, just in-between breaks. How’s Jaxon doing?”
“Really good! His Skorupi is at the same level as Snowrunt, maybe even better. He might actually win this fight.”
It was an unspoken saying that Hazel was the best of the little group. Obviously they didn’t place rankings upon friends, but Hazel was surprisingly up there within the ranks of the Grunts. Felis heard rumors of him being considered for a big promotion, but he’d “lost control” of his ace, and hadn’t been able to get it to listen to him since, so he was stuck.
“Wonder what would happen if Aken suddenly started rebelling against me.” Felis thought, glancing at his partner. Just the idea alone brought a surge of anger to him, and he banished the thought, it wouldn’t be a problem.
“Match!” Elys called, “Jaxon & Skorupi victory!”
The “battlefield” was a mess of icy grass and upturned dirt. Skorupi held Snowrunt in its pincers, its tail arched dangerously close to the little Snow Hat Pokémon. It seemed Snowrunt couldn’t get away fast enough, losing almost instantly in a melee battle.
Jaxon let out a whoop as Skorupi released its opponent and ran back to him with glee. Felis noted with interest that a flash of frustration danced across Hazel’s eyes, before a warm smile took its place.
“You two are getting better.” Hazel grinned, gingerly kneeling to his Snowrunt, who looked like it was about to cry at any given moment, “You too girl, you did amazing.”
Sorry, she looked like she was going to cry at any given moment.
“What’s the score now, 1 to 50? I’m catching up.” Jaxon said.
“Pft. Barely.” Elys snorted, “I counted a dozen mistakes in that battle, Hazel could have turned the tide at any given moment.”
“Aw no way! Hazel, were you going easy on us!?”
“Uh…yeah? Sure. Totally.”
He looked just as surprised as Jaxon.
Elys rolled her eyes, before turning to Felis, “You finally made it! Ready to go?”
“What, like start a battle right now?”
“Yup. You and Sirius, right now. I want to see where you’re at.”
Felis grinned, stretching as he stood, “Wow, you’re really interested in that Galactic trainer sponsorship, huh?”
There was a fire in her eyes, one Felis found quite charming as she said, “You two are the ones that brought up the idea, I’m here to make sure it isn’t just a dream. Now go! We don’t have all day!”
Arun and Felis looked at each other and shrugged, walking to opposite ends of the “field” that had been set apart for them.
“So you’ll notice we’re just using open grass for our battlefield today.” Elys lectured, “Today is all about basics, you’ll battle with everything you know and from time to time the rest of us will shout advice. I don’t want to see any status attacks, we’re going to be here for a while, and long-term damage isn’t what we want. Am I clear?”
“Yes ma’am.” Both brothers echoed.
“Alright! Select your Pokémon!”
“Aken, return.” Felis grinned, pulling the Pokémon back into his ball.
“Dude…what are you doing?” Arun asked.
“I was thinking about it all week, the way I wanted to send out my Pokémon as a trainer. Watch this.”
Felis cleared his throat and schooled his expression. One hand lazily hung in his pocket while the other tossed the ball up in the air. He snatched it out of the air, before presenting it and clicking the button in the center, Aken arriving in a flash of light looking unimpressed.
Arun looked like he was going to say something extremely sarcastic, only to be interrupted by the polite clapping of everyone else. Felis took the opportunity to bow.
“Is that really necessary?” Arun sighed.
“You know, it might be.” Jaxon said, pondering a bit, “We’re going to be trainers, may as well show off a little, have a ‘style’, right?”
Elys folded hers arms, nodding in agreement, “How a trainer sends out their Pokémon says a lot about them too. Felis is nonchalant, confident, it shows he believes this battle to be an easy one.”
To be honest, he just thought it looked kinda cool. But he nodded along anyway because Elys’s explanation made him look smart.
“Shit. Guess I better figure mine out then, Valor, return.” Arun thought for a moment, chewing his lip before his face hardened into one of determination, throwing out Valor’s ball like he was skipping a rock.
More cheers and a scowl from Felis, his entrance took a week!
“Okay! Both combatants ready?”
“You good to kick some ass Aken?”
“Always.” His partner grinned.
“Go time, Valor.”
Valor took a stance, lowering himself and bracing to jump.
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“BEGIN!”
“[Night Shade!]”
“[Growth!]”
Valor burst forward, expertly ducking underneath the ghoul Aken sent his way. The first growth went through, motes of sunlight absorbed into Valor’s skin as his muscles tensed and swelled just a tad.
Hm. Not good. Felis could already see the game play out against him. Valor stacked buffs until he was unstoppable, and Aken wouldn’t be able to jack shit, falling behind in power. Yeah, he wasn’t going to play Arun’s game.
“Pull back and use [Confuse Ray!]”
“[Rollout!] Get away!”
A mote of ghost energy shot towards Valor, who immediately rolled away. Aken snarled, shooting out more and more, but Valor’s control over Rollout was surprisingly good, and the Pokemon weaved between shots, gaining more and more speed.
“Now!” Arun shouted, a smirk on his face.
Valor shot upwards and Felis grimaced. No way Aken was dodging that shit.
“[Screech!]”
Aken let loose a shattering wail that promptly turned into a wheeze as Valor cracked against the little ghost’s face. The move did its work though, with the Grass type stumbling and sagging a bit. Both Pokemon continued to trade blows, Razor Leafs and Night Shades bursting against one another as Felis’s mind worked furiously to find a solution. Valor was fast, and with Rollout he was even faster. Coupled with the fact that he had long range abilities like Bullet Seed and Razor Leaf…
The victor was obvious, and that burned.
Felis didn’t mind Aken being weaker than Valor, but he did care about holding them back, again. He thought their time in the old temple would have made them a lot stronger, but here, seeing the power gap? He wanted more, to see Arun and Valor struggle for their victory, to make him earn it instead of just handing it off.
He wasn’t Cursing Valor though, that’d be stupid.
“[Bullet Seed!]” Arun commanded, “Sharpen it up Valor!”
“[Shadow Sneak!]” Felis countered, “Follow it with [Confuse Ray!]”
He needed to stop Valor from moving too much, Shadow Sneak would see to that, Valor stumbled as a spike of shadow stabbed through his knee, stopping the Bullet Seeds from manifesting. Screech must’ve amplified the attack, for Shadow Sneak was never so potent. Confuse Ray finally hit, Valor’s eyes taking a strange red hue as he swayed on his feet.
“Shit, you caught us.” Arun grimaced.
“Time for a counterattack.” Felis grinned back, “[Screech!] Stack it Aken!”
One ear piercing wail after another, Valor looked shaken, heaving breaths as Arun’s eyes narrowed at his younger brother. If Arun was going easy on him it was his loss, Felis played for keeps.
“[Shadow Sneak] Keep it going.”
Two more shadows pierced the sides of Valor, who groaned falling to his knees. Felis had Aken keep as much distance as possible. It was strange, even with the Screech Valor looked like he was taking no damage from the attacks.
But did that matter? He was on his last legs, they could win this. The burning desire to win, to prove to himself that he was strong overtook reason, and he called for Aken to redouble his efforts.
More and more Shadows began to prod and stab into Valor. Arun said nothing, simply watching with hardened eyes as he was waiting for…something.
Was it for the Confuse effects to end? Like he’d let that happen.
“[Confuse Ray!]”
“[Razor Leaf!]”
In a burst of speed Valor dashed forward, and Felis realized his mistake. Confusion had already ended, Valor simply took the hits and used Harden until Shadow Sneak did nothing. Did Arun use his empath to impart the commands? Whatever it was, Felis realized it too late as Valor raced forward, dodging the Confuse Ray and sending a burst of weaponized foliage.
Aken howled as the leaves cut at his silk, but Valor wasn’t done. Without a verbal command from Arun, Valor rolled up into Rollout, knocking Aken out of the air and sending him spiralling into the dirt below.
Felis’s partner didn’t have the chance to stand as Valor stood dangerously over him, fingers curled to guns as green energy began to gather at the tip.
“Match!” Elys called, “Sirius and Valor are the winner!”
Claps and cheers from all around as the match came to a close. Felis let out a relieved sigh when he saw the condition Valor was in, hurt, ragged. He’d had to earn that victory, good.
“You alright, bud?” Felis asked, gently cradling his partner, “Took some nasty hits there.”
“Superficial.” Aken spat, “I shall be fine in an hour. But I lost Pranav. I have lost.”
“Mhm. But tomorrow we might win, don’t beat yourself up too much.” The words were for himself as much as they were for Aken, but they did do well, if Valor’s condition was anything to go by.
“Good match, Felis.” Arun smiled, there was real joy in his eyes, joy that made Felis completely forget about the bitterness of defeat.
“Same to you dude, same to you.” He grinned back, before looking confused as Arun’s outstretched hand, “What?”
“My earnings.”
“Your…wait…are you charging me?”
Arun’s grin was a shit-eating one, “You know the rules baby bro, loser pays the winner.”
“Fuck off!” Felis scowled, earning a burst of laughter from Arun and the rest of the group.
“Go get your Pokémon healed up.” Elys called, turning their attention to her, “Then come sit by the grass while I tell you guys all the ways you fucked up the match.”
Scott and Hazel took their place just out of earshot as Elys explained the basis of healing. There was more to healing than just popping berries, which they did also go over, what each type did and how best to apply them.
There were also lessons on the best way to heal types of Pokémon. Grass types benefitted the most from berries, being able to absorb healing properties directly into their bloodstream. Ghosts required negativity to start up their healing process, which was pretty easy to supply given the recent loss.
“Okay boys, I’ll give it to you straight.” Elys said, pacing in a line as the two of them relaxed before her, “You’re both pretty shit at this.”
A series of protests went up from both of them, ones she bore with a glare that silenced the two of them after a few moments. Elys had those sharp eyes that reminded both brothers of their Mom, and the glare didn’t do any favors.
“First off we start with you, Felis.”
“Elys,” Felis said, in his most ‘genuine’ voice, “has anyone ever told you your eyes sparkle in the sunlight? And that outfit, wow.”
“...You know, I did put thought into my outfit today.” Elys said after a while, twirling to show off her casual yellow puffer vest, white sweater, and black leggings, “Just for that I’m going easier on you.”
“Did I mention–” Arun tried to add.
“Nope. Too late. Anyways, you made zero use of the environment or Aken’s natural abilities. Your ghost can phase through matter for crying out loud, literally every ghost type trainer uses that to their advantage to dodge.”
“Wait…are you saying Aken can phase through attacks?”
“No, dummy, type energy stops that.” Elys said, folding her arms. “Type energy is a power on its own, and it bypasses a lot of ‘natural’ rules. So if Type Energy can still hit, where does Aken go?”
Felis thought for a second leaning back and feeling the cool grass on his fingertips. A second later his eyes widened, and he let out a groan, “I should have taken him underground.”
“Exactly. On top of that you need to pay more attention to your opponent instead of your own strategies, you didn’t even notice Valor had offset Screech with Harden until it was too late.”
“Shit. That’s…damn, yeah, alright.”
“And keep the pressure with Shadow Sneak next time, Aken has crazy good control over the move, I’d put it to better use instead of relying on Night Shade. Now for you.” Elys said, turning to Arun.
“Spare me miss, I almost died a few weeks ago.”
Elys rolled her eyes, “This should have been an easy match for you–”
“Hey!” Felis protested.
“Lies and slander!” Aken cried out.
“Woops. Anyways, you have an evolved Nuzleaf, you have access to a wider variety of moves and buffs, use them more. You started using harden to retaliate against Screech, when it should have been prepared earlier on or subbed out for Growth to maximize on damage. If you could stack your Special Attack then all you’d have to do to win would be to keep away and blast Aken with Razor Leaf or Bullet Seed.”
“....Damn. Yeah, alright that’s fair.”
“Now tell them what they did well!” Emily called, grinning at them.
“Yeah, yeah.” Elys waved, “In terms of battling, you guys have the basics mastered. But if we’re going to hit the league we need more than just basics.”
“That was barely a compliment.” Felis complained.
“Just feels like you want to hurt us at this point.” Arun sighed, hanging his head low.
“If you have time to complain you have time to learn, now Felis bring out those books while your Pokémon rest, and let’s talk about stats.”
So that was an interesting discussion. Pokémon abilities were categorised as “stats” similar to the game, which was a nice little surprise. Unfortunately there wasn’t any way to place a hard number on stats, they were just used to understand what a Pokémon was great at, and what they lacked in. Aken, as an example, was a bit of a glass cannon with higher attack and special attack compared to everything else.
And then they brought up EVs and IVs, which had Felis groaning internally. He hated EVs and IVs, as well as every sweat that hard grinded their Pokémon to be a genetic freak in battles. It was a little interesting to hear the explanation behind EVs though.
“Pokémon are naturally inclined to battle.” Elys lectured, now sitting down with her Cacturn as her hands found comfort between its thorns. “What’s interesting is that Pokémon take from the other after a battle is won. Battling is in their genetics, and it's a surefire way to strength.”
“But what exactly are they taking?” Felis asked, frowning as he stared at Aken in worry.
“That’s the thing, we don’t actually know.” Jaxon piped up, lounging a few ways away with Skorupi sleeping on his chest, “There are so many mysteries to Pokémon despite being their partners for so long. There haven’t been any recorded long term side effects though.”
And then they switched to Politics. Felis noticed with amusement it was really only Elys talking when it came to teaching them new things. Maybe she just enjoyed it? She did the same back at the newbie arena all that time ago.
Sinnoh, surprisingly, did away with clans and monarchies a long time ago. Probably one of the first regions to do so if the records were accurate. Families still had influence though, but for the most part influential figures were decided by two things, power and merit.
“Is there anything like a democracy in Sinnoh?” Arun asked, using a finger to scratch an appreciative Zubat.
“We have maybe two cities big enough for a Mayor as well.” Elys said, thinking, “Jubilife and Hearthome.”
“Pastoria has one too.” Emily called out, “Don’t think she does much though, everyone knows Astrai controls Pastoria.”
“Emily, I’m the one teaching! Go back to your battle.”
“Yeah, yeah, Grimer [Mud Shot!]”
“Oh shit, Skorupi dodge!”
Felis waited for Elys to finish rolling her eyes before he asked his question, “Run me through this, so we got basically City States controlled by a Gym Leader and their team. Mayors exist for day to day affairs, taxes, all that boring stuff. What about the Teams? Galactic, Chronos, Astrai, how do they go about controlling entire cities while also going under the law?”
“There are a number of reasons, most of them tying into Kamu’s era.”
“Kamu?”
“Champion before Cynthia.” Arun said.
Elys nodded, huh. Guess he’d have to read up some history too.
“Yep. They were influential before the League started throwing their weight around, since you know, all three helped with the founding of Sinnoh and all that. But during that whole mini-war it was Chronos, Astrai, and Galactic that formed the forefront of the defense against the League. After Kamu’s death they basically took care of Sinnoh.”
“So is it patriotism?” Felis asked, “A sense of ‘we owe you’?”
“Well…more like nobody could really do anything about it.” Elys grinned, “Kind of hard to disagree with the people who hold all the power, right?”
“Damn. True.”
“Cynthia cracked down on everything though, her rise to champion hood was backed by Galactic, city by city she’d push and break their hold. Now Astrai and Chronos hold a fraction of their power, enough to maintain a powerbase, but not enough to cause too much trouble.”
Guess that made sense, organized crime would squash smaller powers that would make crime more disorganized. But grow too big and they’d be able to influence more than what Sinnoh would be able to control.
“Wait.” Arun said, frowning, “If they were reduced to a ‘fraction’ of their power, why can they fund an entire war with foreign mercenaries?”
Elys grimaced, “Yeah…Chronos might have deeper ties than we thought. To be honest, the higher ups don’t know how Chronos has managed to acquire the funds or personnel to act this way, or if they do, they aren’t telling us. They’ve always been a smaller power, you know?”
The rest of the day was much the same. Felis and Arun would battle with the rest of the group, the match would stop before they took too much damage, and then they’d read up on whatever books Felis brought until Zubat, Aken or Valor was good to go for another round. If their Pokémon wanted breaks they just worked on control over moves.
Elys was right, Aken’s usage of Shadow Sneak was very good, Felis was going to find a way to abuse that soon enough, but he wanted his basics mastered before moving onto any cool shit.
“What you reading?” Arun asked, walking over to him after a match with Scott.
“Meet the Leaders!” Felis said. He was currently lying down on a picnic blanket, handing Arun a sandwich the group had packed for lunch, “Nice match by the way.”
Valor had gone toe to toe with Elys’s Cacnea. A loss, but still a good fight that got him another semi-compliment. Both brothers learned that was as much praise they could wrestle from the blonde haired woman, and did their best to earn it.
“She kicked my ass.” Arun scoffed, before waving at Scott who was taking his turn against her as well. “Anyways, anything interesting?”
“Hey, what do you think about being a gym leader?” Felis asked, not looking up from his book.
“That’d be cool. You’d basically be a king right?”
“Not me dude, you.”
“Oh.” Arun blinked, “...I dunno, it sounds cool I guess.”
“I think you could do it.” Felis said, sitting up and pointing to a page. “To be a Gym Leader, one must hold the following accomplishments. 4 Gym badges under their belt, or any accomplishment similar, a settlement and population that both requests a gym, and approval from the Champion. For a settlement to require a Gym, it must fulfil the following properties: Holds significant value to Sinnoh outside of Pokémon battles, requires a Gym Leader for protection and governance.”
“That’s…that’s actually not that complicated.” Arun mused.
“Right? You could totally do it.”
Arun plucked at the grass, his brows furrowed in thought. Felis let him think, it’d be good to have an end goal after Galactic, something to aspire for outside of running the circuit.
“What are you two talking about?” Hazel asked, walking over.
Felis tossed him his water bottle, seeing the brown haired man looking a little parched, “Sirius’s future career as a Gym Leader.”
“Woah, big goals.” Hazel nodded appreciatively.
“Relax.” Arun said, “I’ll think about it. I don’t know if I’m into the idea yet.”
Hazel shrugged, taking a seat beside the two boys to eagerly drink from his water bottle.
“Yo, Hazel.” Felis said, getting a grunt in response, “Your starter’s a Duskull right?”
“Yep.”
“Got any advice for upping Aken’s strength? My boy’s got heart but I can tell the losses are getting to him.”
Aken was currently hacking away at a log with Shadow Sneak, snarling with every hit. He’d taken loss after loss, the only real big victories were against their Zubats, which to Aken was not a very good thing.
Hazel chewed his lip for a moment, before letting out a sigh, “I do but…I don’t think it’s a good idea.”
Both brothers shared a glance, before Felis sighed, “Alright I’ll bite. What happened?”
‘Wh-huh?”
“Something happened, Duskull hates you for some reason, why?”
“I told you, she’s gotten too strong, she doesn’t respect me.”
“And you also said all it would take was some quality time. Is that wrong?”
Hazel hung his head, “Listen…today’s a good day. Let’s just enjoy it and have some fun, alright?”
Felis raised his hands in surrender, “Hey no pressure dude. I’m just saying it looks like it’s bothering you, and we like you man, don’t want to see you stressing out.”
“Hazel!” Scott shouted from the field, “We’re ready for a rematch!”
Hazel stood, giving both brothers a wan smile, “Thanks guys, seriously but I’ll handle it, just not right now” He took a few steps before stopping, “But to answer your question…Graveyards. Late nights with just you and your Pokemon. Bring potions, your Pokemon won’t be the only one fighting.”
With that he left, leaving the two brothers to enjoy the sunlight and sandwiches on their own.
“I like him.” Felis said.
“Yeah.” Arun replied, “Cheery guy.”