Mike has a typical martial artist look, he wore a white sleeveless attire that resembled a karate dress, which didn’t restrict his moments.

“Do you know someone with rare poison Pokemon here?” I asked, envious of his muscles as mine were all but gone.

“Huh! Yes, Ken has a Skorupi. Why do you ask?”

“I wanted to test Oak’s balance law,” I said.

I wanted to do that for quite a time and with Celia saying that only talented trainers gather here, I decided this was a great time.

“Huh! Is that a roundabout way of asking for a battle,” he said, folding his arms.

“No, nothing like that. I just want to compare the basic stats of a commonly found Pokemon poison Pokemon with a rare one.” I said looking around the camp for the said Skorupi.

He thought it over for a second, before grinning.

“Oh! Follow me then,” he said with a grin and started running.

I hastily followed him across the camp, veering away from several trainers on our way.

The camp had many identical cabins, which made for a truly confusing maze of houses.

Only the numbers on the cabins helped us navigate through this maze.

It wasn’t long before we stopped at a cabin.

“Hey! Ken come out,” Mike shouted knocking on the door of the cabin.

A guy stepped out of the cabin, wearing what looked like classic ninja clothes- mesh-type clothes on his hands and legs and even safety guards were present on his limbs.

“Yes,” Ken whispered with an indistinctive voice from his black mask, which covered the lower half of his face.

“Come on, man. I told you; your father isn’t here to punish you if you stop being a ninja,” Mike said exasperatedly.

“That’s what he wants you to think and I always get in trouble whenever I go along with any of your plans,” Ken spoke furiously, his normal voice compared to before, but resuming the oddly indistinctive voice halfway through his tirade.

“Whatever!” Mike lifted his arms into the air showing his exasperation at the situation and gestured towards me.

“He wants your help, we want to test the basic differences between a common poison Pokemon and your rare Skorupi,” he spoke they both have shared past- childhood friends most likely.

“Why would I want to help you? A Ninja doesn’t share his information with others,” Ken said turning towards me, folding his arms across his chest. The way he said the second half of his sentence made me think he was parroting someone.

Seeing him say some half-hearted quote, I gave an answer that would make him agree to my proposal.

“Don’t you want to know the base power of your Skorupi? As they say, knowing and conquering oneself is the first step to defeating others,” I said adding a quote from the half-remembered animes of Earth.

Ken stared at me, making me press on.

“It's your loss. I can find other trainers more willing to know everything about their Pokemon,” I said pretending to back away.

“Oh! Come on Ken. You know we still have to get more badges if we want to know about the stats of the Pokemon through PokeNet, don’t be such a downer.”

Mike said adding his thoughts on the matter.

‘True! I was not able to find exact stats anywhere but there are comparisons of Pokemon in the research papers I read. Still, they all are glossed over quickly without any numerical representation,’ I thought looking at Mike as he gave an interesting tidbit of information about having to gain more badges for seeing stats of Pokemon.

If you find this story on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the infringement.

I thought they were researcher-exclusive or something, I really should spend more time on the PokeNet.

It seems our words got through to Ken as he started walking towards the empty place behind his cabin.

Ken released his Skorupi, and I followed his lead and released Cet.

“A Zubat, Huh!” Mike muttered beside me.

Cet did his customary loop before placing his attention on the new thing present- the Skorupi.

But before he could pester the scorpion Pokemon, I called him to me.

Cet deflated a little before tackling me and started licking my face.

“I trained Scar for battles, do you think your Zubat won’t get hurt,” Ken said looking at the puppy bat doubtfully.

“Don’t worry, he may not look like it. But he is an awakened,” I said eliciting gasps from both.

“Really?” “How?” both guy’s voices overlapped.

“It’s a long story. Why don’t I tell you about it over dinner after our tests,” I said, placating them.

I didn’t want to reveal Cet's awakening this early, but I don’t think I will be able to keep it a secret as some type of competition will be conducted the day after tomorrow. With a barrier that becomes translucent around Cet when something damages him, I decided that keeping it a secret isn’t possible.

‘And I will be damned if l let my irrational fear of people in power hinders my growth- like the case with Gon’s father,’

“Cet touch the Pokemon, Skorupi, and push it slowly,” I said, nodding my head towards Ken.

Cet dashed towards the Skorupi making it raise its claws in defence as they glowed purple.

“Scar, Halt,” Ken called out, making the Skorupi cancel its move, but not before hissing at him.

“Slow down, Cet.”

“Now slowly touch his head and try to push him,” I commanded firmly.

Cet’s barrier flashed as the stingers on either side of the scorpion Pokemon caught Cet as he tried to push it back while touching its head.

The Skorupi didn’t move at all other than a slight movement at the start.

“Push! Cet,” I called out.

Cet flapped his wings faster making dust rise, but the Skorupi didn’t move.

I nodded at Ken, and he nodded back and shouted.

“Push, Scar.”

The Skorupi moved forward with such ease, that you wouldn’t think that a 1-meter bat was not trying its hardest to stop it.

“Come back, Cet.”

“How about a speed test,” I suggested.

Ken nodded.

I corralled Cet to hover beside the Skorupi.

Mike started counting down.

“3…2…1…GO!”

“Touch the tree, Cet.”

“Forward, Scar.” We both shouted making our Pokemon dash across the open field towards a tree.

The Skorupi scuttled across the ground like a mini race car, slowly leaving Cet behind.

As they both reached the tree, Cet dived getting a boost to his speed, touching the tree before the Scorpion Pokemon.

‘It’s faster than Cet, even landlocked as it is,’ I thought looking at the Skorupi rubbing its claws, trying to intimidate Cet.

Cet for his part gave it a huge smooch on its head, drenching it, and manoeuvred around it, barely missing its tail and flew back to me.

“How about we both use a special attack,” I asked Ken to which he nodded again.

“Poison Sting,” we both said at the same, making us grin at each other.

At least, I thought Ken was grinning. His mask does a great job of obscuring his facial expressions.

Skorupi fired at the tree and Cet followed its lead, giving the tree many new holes.

“Oh! Cet is the clear winner,” Mike called out.

“Clearly awakening did him good,” mumbled Ken.

‘Hmm! The Skorupi’s Poison Sting looked somewhat weaker than Cet before awakened, just slightly,’ I thought examining the damage Skorupi’s Poison Stings did.

“Skorupi is supposed to have one of the best physical defences and a better-than-average defence against special moves,” Ken spoke in his strange voice looking at me.

“How will we test that,” I asked rubbing my chin.

“How about letting my Meditite beat them up,” Mike raised his hand and spoke with an excited voice.

I gave him a strange look, before considering what he said, ignoring his excitement at seeing his Pokemon beat something up; it was a great idea.

“Normal type moves then,” I said making Ken nod and Mike nod faster.

The Meditite greeted us as it appeared on the battlefield.

“Curl, Scar,” Ken called out.

The Skorupi curled into a ball protecting its vulnerable parts.

“Take Down” Mike shouted.

The Meditite glowed for a second and smashed into the Skorupi.

“Continue, Meditite.”

Bang! Bang!

The Skorupi took 5 takedowns before slacking on the ground making Ken spray a potion and recall it.

Cet bravely held for two moves but his barrier sputtered after the second.

I sprayed some potion and gave him a treat before recalling him.

“You are right the difference is very great,” I said acknowledging Ken’s earlier statement, making him slightly puff his chest.

“Let’s grab the dinner, don’t you want to hear how Cet became awakened,” I spoke gesturing towards the dinner area.

A great aroma was wafting in the air, making my stomach rumble in protest from the time I smelled it.

Mike and Ken nodded and we made our way to eat dinner.

‘The defence of the Skorupi is too great and it is physically superior to Cet, but also very near to him in special stats like special attack and maybe a little greater in special defence,’ I thought as we took our plates and filled them with the items on the buffet.

‘A rare Scorpion vs a common cave bat. Huh!’ I thought chuckling.

This was the reason I chose a Zubat as my starter. A Crobat is said to have nearly the same number of base stats as a Dragonite.

Greater stats than Pokemon like Pidgeot, or Staraptor.