I had already registered as an official Pokémon trainer, so there wasn't that much for me to do after I introduced myself to Rowan and picked up Charmander. The professor gave me a bright pink Pokédex, which I accepted gratefully, though I was grimacing on the inside at the color. He then gave me a demonstration on how to use it, explaining that it was equipped with a camera, that scanned and ran the Pokémon's features through a massive database in a matter of milliseconds, eventually pulling up a veritable treasure trove of information, including a short blurb that Rowan explained was slightly different for each particular region, due to climate differences and differing native Pokémon.
Other nifty features include a list of typical heights and weights, differences based on gender, and a danger meter, which rated Pokémon on a scale based on their dispositions and threat level, ranging from "easily approachable", like Bidoof and Lillipup, to "even experienced trainers should proceed with extreme caution." That list had naturally aggressive Pokémon, like Hydreigon and Gyarados, Pokémon that attacked in swarms, such as Beedrill and Weavile, protective mothers including Nidoqueen and Kanghaskan, and even some disguised ambushed predators, like Victreebel and Carnivine.
I just mentioned a lot of Pokémon, because the Pokédex had information on a lot of Pokémon. There was no quest to "register every single Pokémon in the Pokédex" or anything; I'm starting to become more and more convinced that that was just the game designers trying to include something to do after you became the champion, before they started to get clever and added real postgame content, like the Battle Frontier, rematches with trainers and gym leaders, and new areas to explore. However, there are situations where the Pokédex needs to be updated. For example, if perhaps a Pokémon from space fell to the planet on the back of a meteor, a la Deoxys, or when a deep-sea submersible managed to snap a photo of Relicanth, a Pokémon once thought to be long extinct. But in general, having the Pokédex was like having an encyclopedia as thick as your leg condensed into a device no bigger than a smartphone. It was incredible technology, and it was going to serve me well.
Rowan also provided me with six of the standard red and white Pokéballs, and one of his adult assistants even threw in a couple potions, which was a nice bonus. Him giving me the items also spares me from having to endure the dreaded first-town walkthrough, where someone (probably Lucas) would explain to me what the Pokémon Center was and how to use it, and what the PokéMart looked like and what sort of items I could purchase there. But the best thing that the professor had provided me with was a detailed report on my new Pokémon. The essay was digestible enough, though I still could feel some of the rust shaking off from my past college brain as I read through it.
Charmander was pretty much the typical lab starter, with great potential but little experience, having been bred and selected specifically for this role, and thus not having much in terms of knowledge of the world outside the laboratory. What was far more interesting was the psychological report. Rowan essentially stated that the Charmander line was known for wanting to prove themselves by challenging tough opponents and would push beyond their limits to do so; having been passed on so many times would only increase that desire tenfold. I'd have to be careful in the way I trained Charmander; while I could respect a desire to get stronger, he probably wouldn't say anything if I started to overwork him, and I definitely did not want that.
As such, I decided to hold off training for the moment, and that a better use of all the free time I ended up having in the afternoon was to spend the evening on the beach, relaxing and having a fun time, one because I wanted to, and two in order to help break the ice. Literally, in my case, since my first Pokémon was an Ice-type. Everybody loved the beach, after all, and it was a relatively safe place to let my Pokémon out and enjoy themselves. There were a couple Krabby blowing bubbles where the ocean met the beach, and a few Wingull squawking overhead, but there were no Pokémon that would be threatened by our presence, although I was keeping an eye out for any suspicious possessed sandcastles.
I also made sure that Charmander went nowhere near the ocean and that Glaceon would always steer him away from even getting his feet wet in the waves. The Pokédex blurb on Charmander said that his tail flame was a measure of his health, but I remember that episode where Ash got his Charmander like it was yesterday, and I wasn't risking anything with my new Fire-type. I probably wouldn't even send it out to battle until he had fully evolved, if there was any type of water hazard nearby.
While reading about Charmander, I did notice another neato feature of the Pokédex, that allows you to see the moves of a Pokémon you have captured; as I had suspected, Charmander only knew Scratch and Growl. Good thing I checked beforehand; I don't want to accidentally make him feel discouraged by asking him to use Ember when he doesn't know a fire move or anything yet. There would be plenty of opportunities to get stronger, judging by the strength of the trainers on the route between here and Jubilife.
Training against Glaceon, even with a type-advantage, and me telling her to hold back considerably, would also probably be not very helpful at this point, considering the Ice-type was far more experienced, and had a much more impressive repertoire of moves, including Quick Attack, Icy Wind, Helping Hand, Sand Attack, and the move that I made sure that we learned before starting our journey, Water Pulse.
If you're keeping count, yes, that was five moves. Another game mechanic that I had managed to learn was bogus. Glaceon learned Icy Wind immediately after evolving, but I hadn't exactly told her to replace a move or anything. Did she just naturally forget? I had to wait until we had finally settled in Eterna City before I could test out that hypothesis.
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"All right Glaceon, use Icy Wind!" A slightly younger me called out, pointing at the target, an old, patched beanbag from the local thrift store that had seen much better days.
Glaceon was just as excited as I was to try out her new move, so she put some extra power into this one, breathing out a stream of polar wind that caused some ice crystals to form on the beanbag, and eventually sending it tumbling over.
"Now, Quick Attack!" This time Glaceon glows white, charging into the beanbag at high speed, knocking it back further.
Alright then. I had already tested and confirmed that she could use Helping Hand and Sand Attack, so that only left one move that she had known as an Eevee. "Use Tackle!"
This time, my Ice-type doesn't use it instantly. She runs toward the target again, but it looks like she is trying to purposefully not use Quick Attack, suppressing the increase in speed that the move grants, hitting the beanbag in a relatively unimpressive fashion.
So, what does this all mean? She can still use Tackle, but it just sucks compared to Quick Attack? Why would I even use Tackle when Quick Attack allows her to increase her speed so that Glaceon attacks hit harder, as well as using the improved movement to be able to sidestep attacks? Even if Tackle is already obsolete, I didn't want Helping Hand to be forgotten, since it was such a fantastic move for double battles.
I sighed, rubbing my forehead as I called Glaceon back to my side, looking around for a landmark to try and find our way back to the house provided to my mom by the league, as an official employee of a Pokémon Gym. The people in this town were nice enough, even to foreigners, but that didn't mean it wouldn't be embarrassing to get lost and have to ask for help getting back home.
Before I could try and spot the one main monument that Eterna was known for, the statue of the legendary Pokémon, I heard a familiar voice to my right.
I looked over that way, seeing nothing but trees and their shadows, until my mom emerged like a wraith, casually making her way over. For what felt like the hundredth time, I wondered why she didn't specialize in Dark-types. She certainly looked the part, and she had the persona for it to boot, with her wild black hair that I liked to think I inherited, equally dark bomber jacket, and her penchant for silently sneaking up on me. She named me after the moon, which sounds like something a Dark-type trainer would do. The only thing that reminded me of Grass-types when I was with Mom was her scent. She smelled like freshly mowed grass, but I chalked that one up to her working with Grass Pokémon all day, as opposed to some of the other ladies that worked in the gym, who always wore all kinds of sweet-smelling perfumes that made me want to sneeze.
I blinked as she came to stand next to me, surveying us. "How long have you been there?" I asked, not expecting a straight answer.
"Long enough to see what you were up to." She answers, looking over our handiwork, quirking her lips slightly at the slowly defrosting beanbag. "I thought you guys would be practicing your new move, not rehashing old ones."
I narrowed my eyes slightly, because my mother had adamantly dismissed my request for her to assist me train, saying that I needed to figure out my own training style, rather than copying hers. What right did she have criticizing me if she wasn't planning on helping?
"I didn't want Glaceon to forget anything, that's all." I said defensively, raising my chin and giving my mother a stubborn glare.
She gave me a quizzical look. "But why? I know you can tell Quick Attack is a better move than Tackle, so why even bother practicing it? Glaceon is literally holding herself back to use Tackle, right?" The last statement is directed at the former Eevee that Mom had once given me as a gift, whose eyes were darting between us as we go back and forth. Normally, she was always on my side, but here even Glaceon had to admit my mother was right.
Of course, I couldn't answer properly, considering the truth was that most of my Pokémon knowledge was from games where I only could have four moves at a time. I looked away, not knowing how to respond.
Frowning, Mom pulled her own Pokéball out, expanding it and releasing the Pokémon in one fluid motion. It quickly materialized into a large green snake, who even while coiled up was as tall as I was, with a high collar made of leaves, and proud, scarlet eyes.
The final evolution of Unova's Grass-type starter flicked out a forked tongue, testing the air. Once it had been deemed fresh enough, Serperior looked at my mother for instructions. Glaceon and I watched with wide eyes. It wasn't often that she brought out her first ever Pokémon to do something.
"Serperior, Magical Leaf." Mom ordered, pointing at the line of trees from whence she came. The grass snake started spinning, with the leaves on his tail and back glowing green, before a barrage of glowing green leaves flew in the appropriate direction.
"Watch carefully." She said to us, as if we needed any encouragement. "Now, Leaf Tornado." Serperior did an identical coiling, spinning motion, back and tail leaves glowing green again, as if he was going to use Magical Leaf once more, but instead of launching them immediately, the Grass-type held on to the glowing leaves, letting them form into a funnel shape, before firing the entire funnel off as an attack.
"Leaf Storm." She ordered, with finality. Once again, Serperior did the same motion, as if he was using Magical Leaf, but when he started letting the leaves circle him, as if using Leaf Tornado, the chimney of leaves grew and grew until it was as tall as a house, all swirling around him rapidly, chained by the grass snake's will. Glaceon and I took an involuntary step back at the sheer power of the move, our eyes meeting as the same thought flashed through our heads. Would that be us one day?
Finally, at some point agreed upon nonverbally by Pokémon and trainer, Serperiors's eyes flashed, and the formation was launched, starting with the top, in an attack that was easily twice, or even three times as strong as the previous one.
Mom was looking at me expectantly, so I obliged her. "They were all different levels of the same attack?"
"Not quite." She quipped, though she didn't sound dissatisfied with my answer. "Each of them has unique properties, enough to be recognized as different attacks. But Serperior uses them and attacks with them in a similar fashion."
"So… Quick Attack is a different version of Tackle?
"A better version." She corrected me. "So much better, that Tackle is irrelevant for you and Glaceon, and you shouldn't bother wasting your time practicing it. Just like Leaf Storm is a far better version of Leaf Tornado. Had Glaceon stayed an Eevee, she might have learned Double-Edge, which has properties of both Tackle and Quick Attack. Once you get to that level, then you may need to make choices on which moves to use."
"But for now?" She waves her hand dismissively. "Just focus on Quick Attack. I don't think you'll ever need to use Tackle, and it's not like Glaceon will one day wake up and forget how to run into something.
"Because Double-Edge hurts the user." I thought out loud, starting to understand. "So there might be situations where I want to use something like Quick Attack instead. And Leaf Storm gets weaker each time you use it." I said, gaining more confidence. "So Serperior can't constantly attack with it and needs to be able to use other Grass-type moves."
Her lips curved into a sly smirk, and she chuckled at my last statement. "Well, you're mostly right, anyways."
Before I could ask mom to elaborate, she turned away, walking in the direction of the city center. "Now come on, it's dinner time, and I got a recommendation for a nice sushi restaurant from Angela."
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My fears about having to choose between four moves destroyed, I went ahead and made sure Glaceon learned Water Pulse. She picked up the move fairly quickly, probably helped by the fact that her mother was a Vaporeon, one of my own Mother's Pokémon. When I asked why she had a water type, Mom gave me a look like I was daft, telling me that water was good for plants, and having a Vaporeon helped against Fire-types. Obviously. In any case, Glaceon had way more luck learning from her mom than I did from mine.
My Ice-type also may have been motivated by my insistence that we have this move in our arsenal prior to our departure from Eterna. Partially because Water Pulse was obviously a great move to have against the Oreburgh Gym, and all other trainers who would send out Fire and Rock-types against us, and partially because I wanted to try something out. What other rules created by the games can be shattered? Every generation the designers come out with a bunch of new moves, so why can't I make my own? Am I stuck using the standard moves Pokémon learn, or can I do something more with them?
So, I asked the simple question: can we freeze a water move to turn it into an ice one?
Oh, we sure can. Water Pulse normally comes out as a bowling ball sized orb of water, but it turns into an impressively strong projectile when frozen, one that can seriously put the hurt on an enemy Pokémon. It would probably be most effective in double battles, where a Grass or Dragon-type jumps in the way of an incoming Water Pulse, thinking that they would be taking a resisted attack for their partner, only to receive a nasty super effective surprise. But I had confidence that it would be useful for single battles as well, especially as a strong finishing move, since Glaceon didn't really have one yet. Icy Wind is ranged, has a large area of effect and an extremely useful side effect that slows the opponent's movement, but the move is more geared towards utility than damage, and lacks actual knockout power unless the opponent's Pokémon has already been weakened.
A lot of my training methods have been less than fruitful; the speed and agility training that I first thought of was rendered somewhat useless, considering that we were probably going to use Quick Attack to increase our speed during battles anyways, as was the physical strength training, given that Glaceon was always going to primarily be a ranged attacker. All I could really pencil in as quality training is practicing our moves and battling other Pokémon, but I really feel like I was on to something with this whole freezing Water Pulse thing, in terms of developing our own training and battle style.
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Thoroughly refreshed and feeling fantastic after a terrific day in Sandgem Town, I set out back for Jubilife in the morning. After about an hour of walking, and Charmander getting his first taste of battling against a surprisingly feisty Starly, we run into an unexpected familiar face.
"Hey Lucas?" I greet the assistant, wondering exactly what he was doing here, and at what ungodly hour he must have woken up to be this far ahead of me.
"Good morning, Luna!" He hails me with a chipper smile and a sunny attitude. "I thought you would make the journey back this morning, so I thought I would wait for you here!"
Well, that doesn't explain anything. "And why would you do that…?"
"Well, I realized that you've never caught a Pokémon, right? Allow me to demonstrate how to catch one."
Oh dear. It seems that some things can't be escaped from. There were about a thousand things that I would improve upon in Pokémon games, like actually improving the artificial intelligence of these trainers, so they weren't using useless moves half the time, and actually provided a challenge, or upping the difficulty of gym leaders, and even the Elite Four Members. Why the hell did they give Bruno not one, but two Onix? Surely they could have at least let this man have a Golem or a Primeape or a Poliwrath. There was no reason for gym leaders to only have two or three Pokémon, late into a game, and have unevolved Pokémon at that. But the number one thing on that list that I would delete from a Pokémon game, is the incredibly annoying catching tutorial that one is forced to endure. I get that there are new people who need a demonstration. But just give me an option to say no, I don't need to waste two minutes of my life every time I start a new game. Hoping for the best, I try my best to weasel (Sneasel?) my way out of this. "I'm sure I can figure it out, you know, there's no need to go to all this trouble just for me…"
He shakes his head firmly, cutting off all my whiny attempts. "It's no trouble at all. Just watch me, OK?"
Fine.
It takes us a few minutes to find a suitable target, and of course, this man finds a Shinx. The blue lion cub is adorable, even as it paws at the ground and yells its name as loudly as it can, trying to intimidate the intruders off its territory. How do people get such good Pokémon on these catching tutorials? I mean, Wally got a Ralts, for crying out loud, one of the rarest Pokémon in the entire region, a Pokémon that had two evolutions that one could easily consider some of the strongest in Hoenn. And now Lucas was going to get a baby Luxray, a powerful Electric-type that I almost always included in my Sinnoh playthroughs, and a Pokémon that I would love to have on my team again.
The only thing preventing me from knocking Lucas out of the way and catching it myself is that it might be a bit too early to start filling out my team. Glaceon was in a good spot, but Charmander needs a lot of work, and splitting time between a Charmander and a Shinx right at the beginning of my journey feels like it might be overwhelming. I do want to space out my captures somewhat, so I wasn't totally overwhelmed with caring for and training Pokémon right out of the gates.
Lucas is facing the opposite direction, so he doesn't catch me giving him the stink eye for his good luck. Pulling an ordinary Pokéball from his belt, he summons his partner, the Fire-type starter from this region. Chimchar could pass for a standard, somewhat oddly colored, monkey, except for flame on its bottom, like Charmander's minus the tail. I watch on, slightly interested, as Lucas walks me through what I have done thousands of times before, but never in this life. "First, it helps if you weaken the wild Pokémon. Chimchar, use Scratch attack!" The Fire-type swipes at the wild Electric-type a few times, causing the lion cub Pokémon to whine in pain. Shinx retaliates with a weak Tackle, but it seems that most of its earlier aggression was just posturing, and it looks more nervous now that it's faced with an opponent that is willing to fight back.
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"All right! Once it has been sufficiently weakened, it's time to throw a Pokéball." He pulls out another standard issue ball, tossing it at the blue and black Electric-type, smacking it right on its cute noggin. The Pokéball snaps open like the jaws of a whale, sucking Shinx inside with red light. The ball wobbles for a few seconds, before coming to a stop, causing Lucas to turn around to me triumphantly. I'm still frowning internally though. Shouldn't there be some sort of indication that it worked?
"And that's how you do it. Actually, I could have weakened it a bit more, to be honest; the healthier a Pokémon is, the harder it is to catch. Also, using a status effect, such as paralysis, or especially sleep, makes a Pokémon much easier to catch as well…" He trails off realizing that I'm barely stifling laughter with one hand, as I point behind him with the other. "Huh?" he says in confusion.
Shinx has broken out of the now useless Pokéball, much to Lucas's surprise and consternation, and has its yellow eyes closed, clearly concentrating on doing something, though I wasn't sure what. The only problem I ever had with Shinx is that it didn't learn an electric attack until it had almost evolved, so while I probably should be worried about this adorable little lion charging up for something, I'm not concerned in the slightest.
"Ok, maybe it was too healthy," Lucas grumbles, clearly not liking having his demonstration ruined. "Chimchar, use Scratch again." The fire monkey moves in to repeat the move, but Shinx opens its eyes as Chimchar moves, releasing a brilliant burst of white light, almost like if someone had used the flash on a large camera.
My brain works through my last thought as I blink the colored spots out of my eye. That wasn't like a flash. That was Flash.
When our vision finally does clear, Shinx is nowhere to be seen, having used the time while we were blinded to bolt. I just about manage to plaster on a sympathetic look, though it's taking all my willpower to not to laugh out loud at his dumbfounded expression. Clearly, Lucas has not been blessed with the 100% catch rate given to all tutorial givers that I had the misfortune of watching in every single Pokémon game that I played. While I should feel a bit sorry for the lab assistant, the situation is far too hilarious for me to express my sympathies.
"Maybe it already has a trainer?" I offer, after taking several deep breaths and exhaling loudly a few times to calm myself down, enough to speak without giggling in between words.
His expression doesn't improve at my poor attempt at consoling him. "No, I should have weakened it more. We need to get out of here, in case it runs and gets its parents to confront us."
I easily agree to that, not wanting to meet face to face with an angry momma Luxray. Just because you can't find any evolved Pokémon early in the game doesn't mean that they don't exist at all. This whole route is essentially a wild habitat for Pokémon, and there is way too much forest for it to be only populated by Bidoof, Starly, and Shinx. I'd bet some good money that there was a lake or a pond where you could find some Water-types somewhere around here as well.
We continue down the route, away from Sandgem, which I found a bit surprising, though Lucas didn't seem to be perturbed at all. Despite all my attempts to communicate that I didn't need a demo on catching Pokémon, that I had gotten the gist of it down already, and that I learned better from doing things myself than through observation, he insisted that he properly catch a Pokémon for my understanding. To my unending amusement, Lucas manages to butcher each attempt just as poorly as the first one. The first was what appeared to be a simple Bidoof, which surprisingly turned out to know Water Gun, quickly rendering all Chimchar's attacks, which admittedly were just repeated uses of Scratch, futile. Lucas uses a potion on his Pokémon after it had been battered by the super effective attack, but he did at least let the Fire-type recover before attempting another capture, showing some restraint in his increasingly futile efforts.
His next target was a group of Starly sitting on a tree branch above us, minding their own business. Not wanting to tell his starter to scale the tree and attack the Starly on their home turf, Lucas basically threw all his earlier advice out the window, rolling the dice instead, throwing a Pokéball without battling and weakening the Flying-types at all. Instead of hitting one of the birds with the Pokéball, it smacked into the branch instead, causing them all to scatter in alarm. And finally, when I thought it couldn't get even more pathetic, we went and found a pond, where the Lucas pulled out a collapsible fishing rod from his bag, attaching a lure and throwing it into the water.
If you're thinking that there would be no possible way to mess up catching a Magikarp, you would be correct. Instead of hooking a baby Gyarados, Rowan's assistant manages to snag a very grumpy Goldeen, another Pokémon that Chimchar couldn't weaken at all, and the perfectly healthy goldfish promptly used its tail to smack Lucas's Pokéball down into the cloudy waters when the ball was thrown at it.
Okay, the first time was rather amusing, but this is getting out of hand. We'll be here all day, at this rate. We must have started at eight or nine in the morning, and it was probably close to noon!
"Let's take a break for lunch, yeah?" I say, causing Lucas to pull his fishing pole out of the pond, looking incredibly dejected after a morning of failures. Food was a universal pick-me-up, after all. He gives me a halfhearted smile, but agrees nonetheless, and we begin to set up camp. I've always been a pretty good cook, and Lucas proves to have a knack for the culinary arts as well, and we quickly prepare everything needed for a nice stew. Chimchar watches on in interest, so I summon my own Pokémon to keep the fire monkey company. And so Charmander can light the fire under our pot with his tail. The pot that has no business fitting in the bag that I have, but somehow does, and weighs absolutely nothing on top. Forget flying cars and jetpacks, infinite storage backpacks are what the future should have looked like. Too bad they can't enchant my pockets as well.
Lucas also pulls out a pack of sausages, and another of mushrooms, to add to our stew, once the water has gotten up to temperature. While it is somewhat curious why this man is packed for a long journey, rather than a simple day trip, the far more interesting topic was food, and where the hell it came from in the Pokémon world. Pokémon literally could be anything. Obviously, they could look like normal plants and animals, like Cacnea being a cactus, and Tauros being a bull. There were mushroom Pokémon, like Foongus, and all sorts of Pokémon that looked like normal sea animals, like Octillery or Sharpedo. But they didn't have to be. Most ghost types were spirits, after all. Heck, Voltorb was probably an ordinary Pokéball that became sentient through some higher electric power, like some kind of superhero origin story. Every single plant here wasn't a Grass-type Pokémon; the tree behind me was proof of that. Inference would say that there were animals besides Pokémon that could be consumed by Pokémon and people.
I swat away a fly that had taken an interest in our food. See, there we go. That thing isn't a Pokémon. Hypothesis confirmed.
I couldn't see people consuming Pokémon for food. Well, most Pokémon anyways. I doubt anyone would lose sleep over eating a Magikarp. Neither would I, to be honest. But people and Pokémon were bonded too closely for humans to be okay with eating them, in my opinion. I guess all the meat is synthetic or lab grown, or it comes from some regular old animal that I have yet to see. Pokémon eat other Pokémon all the time; all one needs to do to confirm that is scroll through the Pokédex a little, since there are plenty of entries regarding eating habits of Pokémon. But as to where humans fit in the food chain, I had no idea.
Once we had thrown everything into the pot, and added the appropriate level of seasoning, it was time to sit back, relax, and let the goodness start to happen. Or at least, that's what I would have done, had I been alone. Lucas has another idea.
"Did you want to battle to pass the time? I just got Chimchar from the lab as well, so he'll be an even match for Charmander."
I call Charmander over from where he was staring at the food cook, crouching down so I'm at his level. "What do you say, Charmander? Up for a little spar with Chimchar?"
He agrees far more quickly than I would have expected. I swear it's just a trick of the light, or the fire reflecting in his pupils, but I can almost see his eyes turn golden like there were actual flames in them. He really is looking to prove himself, then. Looks like Professor Rowan's theory is accurate. Ah well, they are starters fresh out of the Lab, anyways, and both Fire-types to boot. The odds of a serious injury has to be like point double zero one percent. Weirdly enough, this was the first ever time that I did one of these starter battles without a type advantage or disadvantage. Not that any of those Pokémon could take advantage, considering none of them knew a super effective move.
We step away a suitable distance from the cooking pot, not wanting to accidently tip over all our hard work and be forced to forage for lunch instead. Glaceon doesn't follow, more entranced by the smell of the food than this upcoming battle, and possibly to keep an eye on the Murkrow that had conveniently perched itself on a branch overlooking our campsite, all of which was fine by me. She had battled plenty of times already and would probably not get much out of watching me order Charmander to use Scratch over and over, while Lucas might spice it up with a Leer or something in between Scratches. Because that's all Charmander knew at this point. Scratch and Growl, and I wasn't planning on using the latter.
We agree that we wouldn't go all the way until one Pokémon had fainted. Once a Pokémon had clearly beaten the other, it was time to throw in the towel before either Fire-type was knocked out cold. We stand a good distance away from each other, I tell Lucas he can have the first move.
"You'll regret that," He says with a cocky grin on his face. Something about battles really brings out the passion in people. Or maybe battling is just way more fun than being stuck in a lab all day running errands for the never smiling professor. "Chimchar, use Leer!" The fire monkey tries to give us the stink-eye, which doesn't work on me, though it startles Charmander a bit.
Right. He's never been in battle before. I'm really starting from the ground up here. "Don't be afraid, Charmander, just listen to what I say, ok?" His body tenses, which is a good sign that he is awaiting my command. "Attack with Scratch!"
"Dodge and use your own Scratch!"
Dodging was probably the battle mechanic that I had to get the most used to. There is no such option to dodge a move in-game; the move hits or it doesn't based on its accuracy. Yeah, there were moves that could increase your evasion, like Double Team or Minimize, and moves that lowered accuracy like Flash and Sand-Attack, but for the most part, your move would hit the opponent, and the opponent would retaliate in kind, or vice versa. Here, where battling was done out in the open, and there was far more room for improvisation and tactics, you almost had to assume that every single move you called for would be answered with a dodge. There were ways to deal with that, of course, like having moves too fast to react in time too, or that have a huge area-of-effect. But that wasn't the case here.
Charmander closes the distance and makes a swipe at its Sinnoh counterpart, but the fire monkey nimbly hops out of the way and scratches at the fire lizard with its sharp nails, who yowls in pain. I cluck my tongue in annoyance. This is no time to be cowering! "Get him back Charmander!"
He does end up returning the favor with his own claws with a flurry of scratch attacks, leaving both Fire-types a bit worse for wear after the exchange of blows. They eventually break away from each other, panting slightly as they await further orders. The problem was, we were both kind of stuck. Neither of our Pokémon knew a ranged attack to press the issue, and whoever attacked first was at a disadvantage, since they had to slowly close the distance to get in range to attack, giving ample time for the opponent to sidestep and counter. I suppose I could have Charmander use Growl, but that still doesn't solve the stalemate at all. Trading Growl for Leer only puts us back at square one.
Time for some unsportsmanlike tricks, then. This one's an old classic, but it should work just fine on a newbie Pokémon and trainer. It isn't like much was being gained here anyways.
"Use Scratch again…" I trail off, looking into the sky as if something had caught my eye, causing me to stop my command halfway. Lucas buys it, hook, line and sinker, staring up into the clouds as if a Staraptor would emerge, coming down to snatch one of our Pokémon in its talons for its dinner.
Chimchar looks back toward his trainer for instructions, instead finding Lucas staring upward with his brows furrowed, scanning every direction for an imaginary threat. It's not long before Chimchar is doing the same.
Charmander gives a similarly confused look to me, but I can't verbally reply, since that would give the whole thing away, so all I can do is slowly wink, and hope he understands that I'm creating a distraction.
I hold the pose for a few seconds longer, just to make sure that they had dropped their guard. Suckers. Time to drop the ruse. "Alright Charmander, get em!"
Lucas makes a very unmanly sound, as my Pokémon charges his unsuspecting Chimchar, tackling his opposite number to the ground like a linebacker. Any instructions that I might have given would fall on deaf ears, as the two Fire-types wrestle happily, rolling around in the dirt and shrieking in glee as if they were human kids.
Being a first stage unevolved Pokémon meant that their mental maturity was similar to that of a young child as well. It only gave me more confidence that I was right to start off slowly with Charmander, and let him grow naturally, rather than force training right from the get-go. Lucas's protests at my dirty tactics die on his lips, which turn into a soft smile as he also watches the two Pokémon playing happily.
"Call it a draw?" I offer. Lucas sighs, but agrees anyways, calling out for his Pokémon to disengage as I do the same. Charmander looks a bit dissatisfied that I had called him away from his fun, but the prospect of food perks his mood instantly.
The stew smells amazing, but is still piping hot, which means I can't normally scarf it down as I usually tend to do. I'm not a glutton or anything, I just like food, and if it tastes good, I want to keep eating, even if it means that I clean my plate in under ten minutes. The temperature isn't a problem for either of the Fire-types, who gobble it up without the slightest hint that their tongue or mouth was burned. Benefits of being able to breathe fire, I guess. Glaceon has a different method, choosing to breath frostily upon the bowl until it is a palatable temperature for her to consume.
I sigh at the spoonful that I am blowing on to make it cooler. I can still see steam rising even in this midday sun, so I put the spoon down and set the whole thing to the side.
Lucas, on the other hand, has tried to power through the heat, and is forced to swallow rapidly in order to get the hot food out of his mouth. I cross my legs on the folded chair and lean in slightly.
"Did you say you were from Twinleaf Town?" I ask, despite already knowing the answer.
He nods. "I lived there all my life, until I went to Sandgem to start working for Professor Rowan."
"How was it?" It couldn't possibly be as lame as the games made it out to be, right?
"Boring." Lucas replies, in a monotone voice. "The most exciting thing that ever happened was when there were reports of a red Gyarados in Johto, so every kid in town went down to Lake Verity to try and find one." Despite his answer, I can sense some nostalgia in both his eyes and his tone of voice, telling me that the lab assistant has some affection for his hometown, regardless of how he tries to deny it. He chuckles softly in amusement. "We never did find a red Gyarados, though some kids insisted that they had seen a legendary Pokémon in the lake."
"Ahahaha…" My chuckle is far weaker than his, in an attempt to hide the fact that I actually know that there is a legendary Pokémon in Lake Verity. Of course, Mesprit doesn't stay there, and makes you chase it all over the region to find it, but that was just semantics.
He twirls his spoon idly before pointing it at me and posing the same question. "You said you emigrated here from Unova, correct? Do you miss it at all?"
I scratch my check as I consider the question. Unova was weird. It was supposedly based on New York City, with all the bridges and tunnels, and Castelia City being equivalent to Manhattan, but I was pretty sure that there was not a giant desert anywhere in the whole state of New York, let alone right next to the city. And to be honest, I never had a giant attachment to the region or anything, probably because I had lived a whole life back on Earth.
I don't think I would ever feel like anything but an outsider here, no matter how much I preferred the Pokémon world to the one that I had previously lived in. It wasn't like I was set on starting my Pokémon journey in Unova, either. I would have been happy starting in any region. My mom had applied to a couple of other Grass-type gyms in regions like Kanto and Kalos as well. Technically, the Striaton Gym could be considered a Grass-type gym as well, but only one-third of the time, and my mom grabbed my arm and dragged me right out of there before they could even bring me my food when she saw those frilly waitress outfits that the female gym trainers had to wear.
"It's just different I guess," I answer, thinking out loud as I work through my thoughts. "We have all sorts of crazy things like a city built totally of skyscrapers, giant buildings that you can see from miles away, and another one with every single form of entertainment you can imagine, battle challenges, sports arenas, roller coasters, Ferris wheels, you name it, it's there. I'd say it's a lot more technologically advanced than Sinnoh, which seems to be far more traditional. Although Unova still takes care to ensure that they are minimizing the effects of modernization on Pokémon, which is true here also."
"Yeah, Sinnoh puts emphasis on maintaining traditions and understanding history. Many of the cities you see today have been established for hundreds of years. Of course, it helps when the Champion of the region hails from the most historical town and has a great interest in the legends of the region."
We both pick up our sufficiently cooled bowls and begin to eat, settling into an easy discussion over lunch, even for someone as conversationally challenged as I can be at times. Lucas has a very friendly disposition, and a fairly mellow personality as well. I get the feeling that he could fit in successfully in any profession in the Pokémon world. I get that there are a lot of complaints about the personality-less trainer avatar that the games have, and that the least Nintendo and Game Freak could do is give them some voice lines, but after spending some time with one of them, it seems that their lack of personality was supposed to be interpreted as a rather normal individual, who could make friends with most people, even the most abrasive of rivals like Silver, or the super energetic go-getters like Barry. The one thing that Lucas is for sure was a huge Pokémon nerd. I don't even think it is a result of him being a lab assistant, dude just loves Pokémon, and probably would study them even if it wasn't his intended profession. But then again, so am I.
We even get into a heated debate about what we think the best type of combination is. He insists that it is Bug/Steel, while I'm partial to Water/Ground. Don't get me wrong Bug/Steel is a fantastic typing as well, but I think its plain weaker. The weakness to fire is even worse than Water/Ground's weakness to grass, considering fire is a typing that all dragons learn, which is something a Steel-type should be able to take on.
In comparison, all the Pokémon that I believe have the best typing in the game learn Ice-moves, which helps against the Grass-types and are found everywhere. You can catch one early on in pretty much every game, starting in Johto, where they were first introduced. I'll admit that I am biased, considering I basically soloed all Pokémon Ruby with just a Swampert, but that only proves my point. Insane typing, you can't go wrong with having one on your team, as long as you don't mind their aesthetics. Swampert and Gastrodon look fine, but the likes of Seismitoad and Quagsire leave much to be desired.
Packing up is much faster than setting up camp, considering everything becomes weightless and fits perfectly into your bag, regardless of size and shape. I swear, this thing is almost as cool as having Pokémon. No wonder you could fit a full-sized bike in there. I recall my Pokémon to their balls and turn to Lucas to say my goodbyes. I'll almost miss him. Pokémon are great companions, but there's always the language barrier that makes conversation difficult, even if their language, expressions and mannerisms are more interpretable than an average pet on Earth. I can't believe Team Rocket's Meowth wastes all his time coming up with hairbrained schemes to try and catch a Pikachu. Dude would have made an absolute fortune by serving as a Pokémon translator. People would be queuing up to learn what their Pokémon were saying.
"I guess I'll see you around then." I lie, knowing that the likelihood of me ever coming back to Sandgem Town was very low. The only time I would pass this way on my expected route for the gym challenge was when I came back around for the Canalave Gym, and unless the Professor specifically requested it, or if they put something like Pal Park on the other side of the ocean, there wasn't really anything else here for me.
"About that…" The lab assistant hedges, looking a bit hesitant, before plowing ahead. "I was going to ask if I could come with you on your gym challenge and journey."
Uhhhh…. "Why?"
He starts listing off the reasons, ticking them off on his fingers. "Well, we can pool our money together to help save some. I know I'm not a trainer, but I get a sizable stipend for working for the lab. Chimchar and Charmander get along really well already and traveling together gives them training partners to grow stronger."
All good reasons, but that wasn't the intent of my question.
I cut him off with a wave of my hand. "No," I interject. "Why would you quit your job to follow me around? I'm just a regular trainer. Surely the professor has more interesting and important things for you to do."
He winces at that, looking a bit sheepish. "Not exactly. Most of my duties involve helping the professor when he is working in the field, and he doesn't plan to venture very far out anymore. The furthest out he would journey would probably be to Canalave City, a trip which he was quite adamant that he did not need a babysitter for. I'm not really going to be useful compared to the more experienced and educated researchers at the lab." He grins slyly. "And besides, this isn't just an adventure for fun. It's an independent research trip!"
"What exactly are you going to be researching?" I'm not exactly a prime research subject, am I?
"You should know, considering you gave me the idea for it."
I furrow my brow as I mentally try and replay whatever conversations we had over the time I had known him, but I'm drawing a blank. What could I have possibly said to inspire him?
He looks positively giddy. "About evolution, remember? All those ways Pokémon evolve?" I swear, his eyes light up when he starts talking about his favorite research topic. "I'm gonna assemble a Pokémon team, where each one evolves in a different way." He fist pumps, striking a dynamic pose. "If there's a Pokémon out there that evolves in a strange way, I'll find it, and uncover its secrets!" He pauses, bravado slightly fading. "With your help, ideally. Hence me wanting to come with you."
Glad I didn't mention any crazier evolutions, or I would have blown this man's mind. One last thing before I say yes. "And Rowan is okay with this?" I didn't need the perpetually stern professor thinking that I poached his assistant.
"Yup. It actually didn't take a lot of convincing. I think the professor was happy to see me get some real-world experience. Does that mean?"
I start walking in the direction of Jubilife, looking back when I realize my new companion is still waiting for a confirmation. I tilt my head, gesturing to the currently empty space next to me. "Yeah. Let's go."