That night, Isaac told us the plan over dinner.
“Farmer Kurt gave us permission to harvest a few bushels of apricorns for our experiments, but only if we help him with a small infestation problem.” He absentmindedly dropped a bit of rice from his chopsticks as he talked. “A crew of Caterpie and Weedle have taken over the western part of the farm recently. The trouble is that he needs to chase away the smaller majū while leaving the Butterfree and Beedrill to pollinate the trees.”
“Are you sure we’ll be able to handle them?” I asked uneasily. Normally I wouldn’t be squeamish about a few bugs, but I remembered Ilex Forest – the Caterpie and Weedle there had been vicious, at least when it came to my shoes. “We’ve only got Drowzee, and I’m pretty sure he’s weak against bugs.” I glanced over at Drowzee to see if he was annoyed by that comment, but my Pokemon was too busy dozing in the corner of the room to notice.
“Maisy will help too!” Charity chimed in, hoisting her Slowpoke up onto her lap so that she could share the dinner. The Slowpoke lazily thwapped her tail against the side of the table in agreement.
“Drowzee and Maisy will be helpful, I am sure, but we have another solution – quite literally, in fact!” Isaac said with a broad smile. “I’ve been working on a liquid solution for a while to solve the problem of aggressive wild majū. It emits a scent that drives off any majū in the area.” He rubbed the back of his neck sheepishly. “Unfortunately, it is… quite unpleasant for humans as well. That is why it is still in development.”
I grimaced as I ate a spoonful of curry. That probably wouldn’t be fun.
“Still, with the repellent solution we should be able to drive the wild majū away within an hour or two. If we begin work early in the morning we may be able to start on the prototypes as early as tomorrow afternoon.”
Florence kicked me under the table. I glared at her; she glared right back, then raised her eyebrows in Drowzee’s direction. I glanced at my sleeping Pokemon, then sighed.
“Florence and Drowzee and I can’t help in the morning,” I told Isaac dutifully, “we hafta go to training with Smith. We promised we’d meet with him every day.”
Isaac grumbled at that, but he quickly relented. “I suppose I can spend the morning finishing other projects and preparing the workroom. Once we have the needed materials, I can work solo in the mornings while you are busy with your… training.”
I shrugged in response, returning to my food. I wasn’t exactly enjoying spending every morning running in place and falling on the ground, but I still wanted to be a proper trainer; a little pain was worth it if Drowzee and I could really fight like a team later on.
~
The next morning, after about an hour of the usual exercises, Smith decided to switch things up.
“We still have much work to do on your stamina and defense, but you are ready to begin work on offense as well,” he told us. Florence perked up next to me while I rubbed my sore palms on my legs (I thought they might be getting tougher, but falling still hurt). “Most Trainers choose to specialize in either physical or elemental attacks, depending on their majū’s abilities and preferences. Trainer Monroe, as you are bonded to a psychic, I recommend that you focus on elemental attacks.”
I smiled at Smith, pleased in spite of my generally aching body. It sounded like he was talking about physical and special attacks, which I’d learned about in school. I’d focused on learning about special attacks, since most electric Pokemon used them; now that might pay off. “That sounds good to me!”
Smith nodded. “Florence, I cannot give you a recommendation as you have not yet bonded a majū. For now, you may learn about elemental offense with Trainer Monroe. We will cover the basics of physical offense as well at a later date.”
Florence looked surprised (but also pleased) to be addressed directly, and she nodded her agreement. Then, to my surprise, Smith settled down onto the ground to sit cross-legged in the grass.
“Well?” he asked when we both just stood there for a moment, confused. “Go ahead and sit.”
Florence and I looked at each other mutely; then she shrugged and settled down into a sitting position. I followed her, awkwardly crossing my legs, and Drowzee stumped over to sit on the ground next to me. Venomoth fluttered down to perch on Smith’s knees, keeping his wings open wide.
“Physical attacks are rooted in the body, in the strength of a majū’s muscles or the coordination of their limbs,” he began, reciting the lines as if he had them memorized. “Elemental attacks instead come from the core, the soul. A majū must establish a deep connection with their element to summon and control it at will. As Drowzee is a psychic majū, his element is the mind; he will need to deepen his connection to his own mind and the minds of others.”
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Smith turned his head to look from Drowzee to Florence and me. “As humans, we do not have an inherent ability to connect to the elements. But we can build an internal defense against general elemental attacks, psychic attacks in particular. This is best done by deepening our connections to our own souls, our own minds.”
I blinked at Smith, confused. I honestly couldn’t tell if he was being incredibly wise or if he was spouting a bunch of pseudo-science mumbo-jumbo.
“The same technique can be used to strengthen both elemental attack and elemental defense: meditation. Meditating will calm your spirit and help you establish a stronger understanding of yourself.” Smith settled further into his position, looking at each of the three of us in turn. “Close your eyes and time your breathing with my voice. Let us begin.”
Smith closed his own eyes, then began speaking in a slow, rhythmic pace. “Breathe in… breathe out. Breathe in… breathe out. Empty your mind of anything outside of this moment; exist in the here and now. Breathe in… breathe out. We will begin by focusing on each part of the body. Feel your feet at the ends of your limbs; they are your connection to the earth, to the land that gives us strength. Breathe in… breathe out. Move to your legs, leading up from your feet to your body. Your legs carry you across the earth, lead you on journeys and back to home. Breathe in… breathe out…”
He kept talking this way, slowly leading us through each part of the body, then had us delve inside, into the mind and spirit. I felt self-conscious at first and kept peeking an eye open to see if the others were giggling at the oddness of the exercise. But Florence and Drowzee were both breathing evenly, their faces calm.
Eventually I closed my eyes properly and really concentrated on what Smith was saying. It was oddly relaxing to just sit there and breathe in time with the others. I had a hard time emptying my mind; I kept thinking about all the problems I had to deal with, all the ways things could go wrong, and what if by helping make prototype poke balls I really did create a paradox? But taking the time to sit there for a while made me feel a bit better.
Eventually Smith brought us out of the meditation. He then led us through a new series of stretching exercises to finish the training for the day. Some of them reminded me of exercises we’d done in physical education class at school; others were entirely new. I still couldn’t quite touch my toes, but I liked the stretches better than running. Drowzee seemed to enjoy having the opportunity to stretch his arms and trunk as well.
Once the stretches were done we said goodbye to Smith and Venomoth and walked back in the direction of the apricorn grove. I got bored really quickly, so I decided to start bothering Florence.
“Tell me about some of the times you’ve tried to befriend a Pokemon – uh, majū.”
She shot me a sidelong glance and sniffed. “Why are you interested?”
“Well, for one thing, I told Michael that you were going to help me understand the local majū. I want to know more about your ‘experience’.” Florence chuckled at that. “And second, I’m supposed to help you find a partner, right? So I wanna know what you’ve tried so far.”
Florence shook her head with a wry smile. “Listing what I have not tried would take less time. You saw me in the latest attempt, when I tried to befriend a Snubbull; they called for the rest of their pack and they all attempted to growl me into submission. The week before that, I managed to shake a Ledyba out of a tree; they curled up into a ball and ignored me until I moved far enough away for them to fly off.”
“So Snubbull are aggressive and Ledyba are defensive, or at least those two were,” I replied. “You’re looking for something in between?”
“I am looking for any majū who will listen to me,” Florence said simply. “I thought I might have found one when I encountered a wild Psyduck on the beach once. They did not run away; instead, they stood still and watched me as I tried to talk to them.” She made a face. “I thought we were making progress, but then they called a giant wave up onto the beach and we both were drenched with water. The Psyduck did not seem to mind, but I certainly did!”
I laughed and Drowzee snorted, but Florence just shook her head with a smile. “You know,” I told her, “that probably wasn’t your fault. Psyduck are famous for their headaches; that one probably just had a migraine and didn’t know how else to get rid of it.”
Florence shrugged and wrapped her arms around herself as her smile faded. “Perhaps. But not all of my attempts ended with as little damage as a simple dousing of water.” She looked off into the distance, frowning now. “I have been poisoned by a Nidoran; I was sick for three days before it wore off, even with medicine made from pecha berries. I have been bitten by a Rattata and cut by a Krabby. Most of my hair was once burned off by an angry Growlithe.” She ran a hand through her hair; now I understood why she didn’t let it grow long. “Trainer Michael was not wrong when he said I have experience getting into trouble. But I truly feel if I keep trying, I will someday find a majū who will accept me.”
“You’ll get there eventually,” I told her, trying to be encouraging. I wasn’t used to Florence acting vulnerable, so I didn’t know what else to do.
“And you?” she asked, turning to look at me and Drowzee. “How did you and Drowzee meet?”
Oh boy. Well, I supposed I had to tell her eventually. “We met after Drowzee had been caught in his poke ball,” I said, feeling weirdly guilty. “In my time it’s common for a person to get their first Po – majū from someone else, like a parent or a teacher, or an older friend. My dad caught him.” I rubbed the back of my neck awkwardly. “When we met you a few days ago near your village, Drowzee and I had only known each other for a few hours.”
Florence stared at me, eyes wide, as we walked through the gate that led to the Kurt farm. “You are joking.”
I shook my head, and Drowzee shook his trunk next to me as well. “It’s true! Drowzee and I got sucked back in time right after we met.”
She shook her head slowly, her eyes still wide. “Well,” she finally said, “that does explain a great deal, such as how you are so young for a trainer and why you are so bad at battling.”
“Hey!” I protested. “We only just started. We’re getting better.” Drowzee wagged his trunk emphatically in agreement.
Florence looked like she wanted to say something more, but at that point we saw Charity approaching us from the closest part of the orchard. “Trainer Monroe! Florence! Drowzee!” she called out, waving excitedly. “You are just in time to help us begin work on removing the majū from the trees!”