For the next three weeks I trained and lived at Sprout Tower.

Sprout Tower was definitely one of the nicest places I'd lived at. The temple back on Mount Takujimi didn't really have a nice view, despite how high up it was, it was too high up. There was no view of the surrounding countryside of the Johto region despite how high up Mount Takujimi was.

From the fourth floor of Sprout Tower, I could see a great deal of Johto, and at night, the city skylines of the entire region lit up the countryside like a very beautiful and expansive set of colorful birthday candle.

Sprout Tower possessed some of the most knowledgeable monks on battling, Pokémon, and all the arts I had to master back when I just became a Novice, I think one could find anywhere.

Karate, calligraphy, kyudo, all of them.

The Initiates of Sprout Tower had a very similar demeanor and degree of experience to those of Mount Takujimi, the only difference was that they were significantly friendlier and more insistent on learning from others.

Back home in Takujimi Shrine, everyone had their own style. Ari insisted only the exact same form of calligraphy he was taught, was the only way to teach, because that was the way of his teacher.

Here it was different, as long as the characters written were clear, and you could effectively read the sentence and could tell if the character was meant to be another, it was fine. Likewise, the rest of the temple had a simple vibe.

You had a bit more freedom, you could be a bit more expressive, the temple had rules, the traditions went back for centuries. But you could more or less start learning more from others and teaching them a bit, even if you weren't the Initiate assigned to teach a class.

Sprout Tower was only five stories tall.

The lowest story was where everyone prayed daily and ate, I went back to wearing my robes like everyone else, and Violet occasionally would pop in to spar with me in the courtyard behind the temple. The second story was for several classrooms, including a prayer room.

The third story was a main meeting for Elder Li's council of Thirteen as well as a hall for writing and everyone's rooms. And the entire fourth story was the library. The fifth I didn't know about, I simply was told, I was not allowed to go near, under any circumstance and couldn't know what was up there.

Stuff like this was just business as usual as a sage at this point.

Guests weren't really all that common at all in Sprout Tower. Contrary to the games, one wasn't allowed to just show up announced and start battling Sages or visit the temple. You had to send a letter, typically by Hoothoot, to the Tower, where an Initiate would approve it and send an exact time when one would be allowed to visit.

Violet was an exception, she was still permitted to visit the temple since she was a friend of a sage, myself and Inoru, but only could battle myself in the courtyard behind the tower for training purposes. And she really couldn't see or do much else.

Inoru dug himself deeply into hours of meditation and raising his own Bellsprout, these were some of the best and most experienced Bellsprout trainers in the world, so I didn't blame him at all for this.

This was the first time in months where I had returned to the same routine I had when I first became a Sage.

However, it was clear I was treated with significantly more respect.

I was given over an hour of free time to pursue whatever art I wanted to perfect that day, or even to relax. I was allowed to pick my class schedule so long as I told the Initiates in charge of being the necessary class instructors ahead of time.

The amount of growth I felt not only in myself, but in both my Pokémon, Teddiursa, and Slakoth, was tremendous.

So much so, that Slakoth's evolution to Vigoroth happened very organically, despite Slakoth still being quite young.

I had known Slakoth was approaching evolution for a while. It had grown much taller and larger, and it had much more mature features in its muscles, face, and even its tail was a bit longer.

While sparring Mino one evening like any other day, Slakoth knocked his Hoothoot clean out.

The two had multiple intense matches over the last few weeks, but this one in particular was the most competitive. Slakoth was in his element, countering, dodging, everything, and he Slashed Hoothoot right as he began to attack.

Witnessing Pokémon evolution for the first time was something surreal.

Slakoth's body seemed to shift and turn in front of me, the accompanying white glow around it softening the drastic and rapid change in his height, weight, and fur.

A few seconds later, my Slakoth had become a Vigoroth.

Vigoroth was still noticeably my Pokémon, despite how it was now in his second evolutionary stage.

He was still clearly quite young, but Vigoroth now had a short but bright plume of red hair around the top of his head. His fur was a clear crystal white, instead of his usual grey that had slowly turned more and more clear over the preceding weeks.

Vigoroth also had a pair of fangs that stuck down from his mouth when closed.

He turned around the sparring circle, confused. His claws had grown much bigger, sharper and longer. I wondered if he was confused if he was still in his old body or not.

"Hey buddy." I asked, as Mino immediately healed his Hoothoot. "You okay?"

Vigoroth cutely shook his head.

I knew this was my same Pokémon for sure, but the moment that sealed it for me was when I looked into Vigoroth's eyes. The same baby Slakoth I had taken across Johto and Elder Toji had placed in my care was still him.

The young Vigoroth then recognized where he was standing, and I could tell he soon realized he was just done with battling at Sprout Tower.

"Yeah that's right. You evolved, it's a perfectly natural part of maturing as a Pokémon." I said.

My voice guided Vigoroth back into his own head.

"It's not completely unheard of for Pokémon to evolve from their youth into their second stage after a few months." Mino said with strong approval. "However I suspect the degree of dedication into teaching him karate and fighting must've greatly helped him grow."

"Thank you." I bowed to him slightly.

Mino was able to revive his Hoothoot with ease.

The Flying type was soon right back into the air again, and Mino spoke. "What better way to test your Pokémon's new evolution than with a battle?"

"Sounds good to me." I smiled.

Vigoroth shared the same sentiment, got into his fighting stance. I could hear a bit of gravel crunch as Vigoroth raised his hands and fixed his feet against the old stone of the courtyard's engraved sparring circle.

It was then when I realized I had probably raised one of the best Normal type Pokémon I could think of.

Vigoroths were known for being a bit too wild. Between the gigantic amount of physical power of a Slaking, and the complete laziness and tiredness of Slakoth, Vigoroth was a perfect balance, but was only known to show it with fury.

My Vigoroth was anything but imprecise and wild though, and I could never have been prouder of him for it.

While Hoothoot was insanely accurate, Vigoroth was untouchable. Which was odd, because as Slakoth, he typically only gave a few more hits than he took.

But now, Vigoroth's Slash was so strong that the air alone coming off his claws sent Hoothoot spinning in a different direction. Its wings offset by the power of the blow alone.

It took a single Counter from Vigoroth to blast Hoothoot and send him flying across the sparring circle.

Vigoroth seemed perfectly comfortable in his new body. He hadn't lost his old timing and technique, if anything, he was simply much more energetic and stronger.

Much more energetic.

While I learned that my Slakoth and likely, when he became a Slaking, lacked the complete boredom and lax with battling that accompanied all of its species. This Vigoroth in particular seemed to possess a degree of energy and potential for battling I doubted most could've ever lacked prior.

A few sages who were watching the spar got interested.

Mino revived his Hoothoot again, but allowed other monks to participate.

The ensuing competition was mostly king of the ring. In which, everyone was trying to get either myself or Vigoroth to capitulate so a new king of the ring could appear. And everyone could challenge them.

We had competitions similar to this back on Takujimi, however they weren't too common.

Now, I could tell what happened:

Vigoroth's new evolution had added explosive and energetic power to his already refined and razor sharp technique.

A few rounds later of knocking out a few simple and simply trained Bellsprouts and Hoothoots, and I turned, seeing Elder Li on the second floor of the pagoda watching. Inoru had even seemed to be inbetween classes with a few other Initiates to watch the match.

I had put Vigoroth to spar with one of the best Initiates Sprout Tower had to offer. Mino was only a bit behind him in experience, but still, this match would be very competitive.

I had seen well trained Bellsprout back in Takujimi beat Sages who knew how to use Aura back in Takujimi, so I didn't underestimate it at all.

When the fight began, Vigoroth, was just doing his thing.

His front hand punch, or kizami zuki, was just a very quick and direct Slash attack that kept catching the Bellsprout on the nose.

The Bellsprout had perfect control over his sharp vines, whipping out multiple across the sparring circle. Vigoroth dodged by rushing forward to avoid them and then kicked Bellsprout in the chest with both claws.

Bellsprout crumpled, and then spun around as his Initiate spoke.

"Bellsprout, Razor Leaf!"

Vigoroth then took one of the hardest hits I'd ever seen him take.

Bellsprout's leaves all grew across its body. Screaming loudly with effort, Bellsprout's leaves all flew forward at high speeds, glowing a bright green. I could even hear them whistling through the air like arrows from the number and speed they had.

Vigoroth crossed his claws to protect his face and chest. But the degree and speed of the leaves all sharply cut right through his fur, his legs took the worst of the damage.

I heard Vigoroth roar, almost dropping to a knee.

"Hands up!"

Vigoroth instantly got back into the fight, even I wasn't expecting him to be able to keep fighting after that.

Then, Vigoroth used Roar. I was even more impressed because I technically never taught him it.

Vigoroth's voice was so powerful that the Initiate facing me protected his face from the amount of wind generated. This was a roar so loudly I'm pretty sure I saw a flock of Pidgeys flutter away from the forest nearby.

The Bellsprout didn't flee, but instead, rooted itself to the ground of the sparring circle through the bits of dirt exposed with its vines.

Bellsprout was about to return to its fighting stance when Vigoroth had already delivered four Fury Swipes right at its face.

The Bellsprout tumbled, used Vine Whip to simultaneously reposition as well as counter attack as Vigoroth proceeded to seriously impress me. I still didn't understand how it could spar this well.

Vigoroth's Slash tore through razor sharp vines I had known had taken years of development to become effective with on the part of the Initiate I was battling. One after another, Vigoroth's claws tore through vine after vine like they were nothing.

Vigoroth again built up speed and then connected with a Slash type reverse punch to Bellsprout's face.

Bellsprout shook it off in seconds and then turned around gliding away with Vine Whip connected roots, fast enough to fire Razor Leaf from mid air.

Vigoroth then blocked while Roaring.

Several of the Razor Leafs shook and waved away, the remaining ones cutting through Vigoroth's strong arms or missing entirely.

"Oro!" bellowed Vigoroth so loudly to the point even I winced at the sound.

Vigoroth didn't waste a second, leaping through the air off its legs throwing a blinding number of Fury Swipes.

Bellsprout evaded and then Vigoroth hit the ground so hard that its right claw dug directly into the stone of the sparring circle.

Turning around, Vigoroth flung the rock embedded into its hand right at Bellsprout, only for multiple Vine Whips to slice through it, right at Vigoroth.

Vigoroth amazed me with perfect use of kata, it turn around using a move from Heian Sandan, sticking its claw out, turning around to slip the vines behind his back before grabbing all of them in one claw.

Vigoroth must've ignored all the pain from the razor sharp vines in his hand before turning his body and using as much of his strength as possible to slam Bellsprout right into the sparring circle.

The blow was so strong the ground actually shook for a second.

When the dust settled, the Bellsprout was somehow still standing, although on very shaky legs. Vigoroth wasn't surprised, still ready to fight.

Both were about to strike again before I heard Bellsprout's Trainer speak.

"Enough." the aged Initiate said. "I'll concede."

His Bellsprout clearly protested but he had none of it. The Initiate beckoned his Pokémon over to his side and cross the sparring circle after I recalled my Vigoroth.

I shook his hand.

And then, the man bowed to me, and I bowed back.

It was the best fight my team had had for quite some time.

…

I tried to finish my dinner early that night.

"Going somewhere?" Mino could tell how quickly I was eating.

"I wanted to catch up on some scrolls." I shrugged, finishing my bowl of rice quickly.

While the Pokémon world had an abundance of food, not to mention one of the largest varieties of food I'd ever seen in my life. I only really ate rice.

It was the staple diet of all sages, and I didn't really mind. Sometimes the rice had cooked vegetables mixed in it, other times it came with some sauce. Other than that, that was the diet I had.

Even as a vegetarian, I really felt like three to four square meals of rice, or sauce and vegetables was more than enough to live.

Inoru shrugged. "I'm just glad you're interested in our histories." he said dryly.

Mino looked around the mess hall of Sprout Tower, people were murmuring about my battle earlier here and there. "I'd say you're ready for Falkner now."

"Just be lucky that Elder Li didn't challenge you himself." said Inoru.

I glanced at him. "Why would he?"

Reading on Amazon or a pirate site? This novel is from Royal Road. Support the author by reading it there.

"Your Slakoth is quite young despite its skill. Evolving into Vigoroth so quickly," Inoru shrugged. "It's not that he disaproves. But sometimes Elders pick very special moments in order to hone their skills."

I had heard of Elder Li's Pokémon. He was the one of the few sages to ever raise a Bellsprout past Weepingbell into Victreebell. I also heard that this Victrebell was so experienced and well trained, in the event of Violet City ever coming under attack, no one called the Pokémon Rangers or Falkner first.

They called Elder Li to defend them.

From what I gathered, Elders had such experience and knowledge of Pokémon that they were essentially very secluded and religious Gym leaders.

"If Vigoroth lasted longer than four seconds in that match I'd consider that a victory." I admitted.

"I personally haven't ever seen him battle anyone despite his years," Mino shook his bald head. "There's no way Master Li would ever challenge anyone. Although."

"What?" I asked.

"Some Trainers who do manage to beat all the Initiates in the temple, as difficult as that may be. Do often earn themselves a proper match with him. It's technically never happened."

"I'm wondering. If we respect peace so much." I said. "Why do we have such a respect for Pokémon battling too?"

"We don't." Mino shrugged, sipping some water from a wooden cup.

Inoru shifted where he sat on the comfort next to me. "You've been part of the Order for months. Why ask this now?"

"Because I get we're supposed to be prepared for a threat like." I never knew if Giratina was technically a name yet in this world. "The one we faced. But in what way is battling spiritual?"

I also really wasn't allowed to ask too many questions until I had spent a while as a sage.

Inoru explained calmly. "Pokémon often don't trust their Trainers unless they can help them battle properly. All Pokémon grow with experience, traveling, training, but battling is something else entirely."

"The scrolls say a battle of spirits is what's truly behind an actual Pokémon battle." added Mino.

"So, a battle of willpower between Trainers."

Inoru sighed, seeming to scratch his chin in thought. "Willpower is actually a good extension of what Pokémon should be. They're our partners and our friends. But it's almost as if we fight through them to express ourselves and grow as people, helping our Pokémon grow in the process."

I looked around the mess hall, starting to get this entirely.

Everyone I had faced today, and Mino too, here in Sprout Tower, were actually very skilled Pokémon Trainers.

Bellsprout weren't particularly strong Pokémon at all. In fact, they were some of the weakest anyone could really train as a main. But I had yet to see a weak Bellsprout trained by a Sage.

There was something there, as if the sages could understand the spirit, or the will of these Grass type Pokémon. As if their gentle and unassuming nature actually had a great degree of strength behind it.

I thought back to my first time ever witnessing how Bellsprout were trained and used in combat.

A Vigoroth from Takujimi, where Pokémon naturally were much stronger than anywhere else their counterparts were in the world, was about to kill me. And it only took about three Bellsprout to almost completely disable it. If it wasn't for the sages wanting to be kind, I think they easily could've knocked the Vigoroth out instead of merely restraining it.

They trained Bellsprout as if they were equals. They did kata alongside them, trying to physically match the gentle, flowing, and swaying bodies and nature Bellsprout had.

Which reminded me.

Instead of shock or some kind of traumatic stress when seeing a Vigoroth since the time I almost died to one, I wasn't scared of today.

I trusted that baby Slakoth even if it was the same species as a rabid ape Pokémon that nearly outright killed me.

Because I connected to it, traveled with it, helped it grow.

I nodded.

"I got it." I stood up from the mess hall.

Even the battling of Pokémon was more spiritual than I imagined.

Mino and Inoru bowed their heads back when I bowed to them. "I'll see you all tomorrow."

…

On Pokémon spirits in particular, was an entire section of the library.

Sprout Tower's library was the entire third floor. Monks and sages who had lived in Johto for thousands of years collected as much knowledge as they could.

Some of it was actually useful, the rest was. Just philosophy I think.

But on Pokémon spirits, there weren't any rituals of any kind, nor much actual history to describe. Many monks seemed to theorize that Pokémon had spirits, possibly connected to their Trainers and humanity by proxy.

However there simply were no facts monks had to support this. All of this was based on counts of the deep trust and friendship Pokémon and humanity had.

One sage was about to drown during a flood over thirteen hundred years ago. A collection of wild Bellsprout recognized the monk, possibly for being part of an Order dedicated to honor them and their nature, and saved his life.

I put that scroll away. The illustration was helpful, but I still largely couldn't wrap my head around the concept of the spirits of Pokémon.

Because the only spirit I'd ever interacted with during my entire life was gone. The last time I'd seen Espeon was during a very short dream in Blackthorn City.

I read as many scrolls as I could. It was well past midnight by the time I found one useful.

Almost all the monks were gone and I was reading by candlelight.

The scroll was one of the oldest I'd seen, which was saying something.

There was a rough drawing of Mew, to it, were three circles connected to it, each containing even rougher drawings of Mespirit, Uxie, and Azelf. I gathered that after the spirits disappeared, all that remained were oral recounts of their physical appearances.

From my knowledge of calligraphy and history, I could discern almost everything on the ancient parchment.

It was written almost two thousand years ago, by Elder Simos of Sprout Tower.

The Great Spirit, Mew, the source of all Pokémon in existence, defeated all forces from the Other Side, around today, nearly two hundred and twenty years ago. With It, were three aspects of Mew and Its connection to humanity that sprouted and helped humanity survive its darkest moment.

Uxie, the birth of knowledge and humanity's physical connection to the world around it. Azelf, the birth of willpower, and humanity's spiritual connections. And Mespirit, the birth of emotions, theorized to be humanity's religious connection, a mixture of both Azelf and Uxie's aspects.

Last seen near the Sinnoh region, these three Pokémon are said to tether all three of these aspects together. And are responsible for maintaining complete balance and harmony between mankind and everything it surrounds itself to.

I put the scroll down, thinking.

Just why in the world did everything here have a rule of threes almost?

Every generation. Three Pokémon on the covers of the games. Three legendaries. A starting trio from every starting village.

Leaf, Red, Blue.

Rayquaza, Groudon, and Kyogre.

And now, Uxie, Azelf, and Mespirit.

Three evolutionary stages. At least in most Pokémon.

Pokémon had spirits for sure then. But where did they go after they passed? Were Ghastly and other Ghost Pokémon reincarnations and different manifestations of other Pokémon who had died?

I looked over my shoulder, around the darkness of the library.

What was this Espeon doing following me around? If it was a spirit, then what was it doing and why?

I dug a bit further into the scrolls, and determined that spirits were of course, extremely rare. Ghost Pokémon were completely different than spirits, but spirits rarely ever appeared to humans.

If they did, counts said they had to do with stories of fate, mystery, and heroism.

In the absurdly rare case spirits appeared, they often led people to their destiny. To found kingdoms and even civilizations in the case of Mew and the three lake guardians. Saving humanity from Giratina is what soon led to the start of the Kanto and Johto regions.

But other scrolls said that from birth, everyone had three aspects. A spiritual, a physical, and a religious mixing the first two.

If spirits were our guides to our fate, at least from a physical side. Then who was my guide from a physical or religious side?

"It's a bit late don't you think?"

I saw Elder Li appear, a Bellsprout following him with a lantern.

"Oh I'm sorry um, I suppose it is."

"Do you usually stay up this late in Takujimi shrine?"

I nodded. "I used to yes."

Li sighed tiredly. "I can see things changed there since I left. Only Initiates assigned to write scripture and histories are allowed to be up this late."

"I'm very sorry Master Li."

"It's alright, you are from a different temple after all."

I still got the impression this person didn't particularly like me.

"Forgive me but, have I done anything to offend you?"

"You've done nothing at all. I just never understood the full context behind your pilgrimage. Did you know what the first pilgrimage ever was?"

I shook my head.

Elder Li explained. "When Mew and the other spirits disappeared. Our Order's first mission was to find them again. When that failed, about, three hundred years of searching later. We assumed it was due to our character and morals."

"The spirits were normally seen after the defeat of the, other side?"

Li nodded. "Not too normally but yes, they were around. Kingdoms arose, and humanity was not too engrossed in the materialism and competitiveness that drove it to where it is today yet. However, the spirits all but vanished nonetheless."

I kept listening.

"Over the past two thousand years, pilgrimages were established to create solidarity and friendship between the different styles and knowledge that grew from the great temples in Johto, Kalos, and Alola. However, the most recent pilgrimage was a very rare one."

I nodded. "To find Red." I said respectfully, understanding what he implied.

"Exactly. For the first time in history, the Order of the Sprout Sages partnered themselves with the Pokémon Rangers in an attempt to find him. And not even a trace of him was found, and we searched all over Mount Silver."

"We?"

"I led the expedition personally, it was only about a decade or so ago. Not even his Pokémon, or traces of his Pokémon were found. It was if Red had disappeared into thin air, all his Pokémon along with him."

"I get he created the Pokémon League because he was so good at battling around the entire world. But what made him so special to the Order?"

Li placed the lantern on the table where I was reading scrolls. "Because he didn't speak, some wondered if he was selectively mute or just mute. And yet, he seemed to train his Pokémon better than anyone ever has."

"He could've been able to interact with his Pokémon in a way we didn't understand yet." I suggested.

Li shrugged and spoke nonchalantly. "Some said he was able to communicate with Pokémon psychically, others said they just trusted him a great deal more than anyone else."

"And what do you say?"

"I say things like this." Li raised a very busy eyebrow picking up the scroll on Mew and the Lake Guardians. "Are not worth your time."

"That's not what Mino said."

"Mino is your battling instructor. Inoru was assigned to advise you on all spiritual or Order matters."

I squinted at Li. "Is this about the incident in the sparring circle today?"

"There was no incident. You keep proving Elder Toji's decision, I've known him since we were boys and it's what convinces me the Order is one the right path despite him doing something so. Odd. However."

Li picked up the scrolls I was reading. "You are much too young to be concerned with matters of spirit and fate. About the myths of Pokémon no one's seen or heard from for centuries."

"They exist though."

"They do, or at least there was a time when people saw them." admitted Li. "I know what you're looking for in these halls. Knowledge, a purpose beyond battling."

I smiled, that was exactly what I was looking for.

Li nodded kindly. "I can give you one, one much simpler than the vague goal of finding Mew or Red someday. Because people have been trying much harder, with far more resources, with far more time to no result."

I looked up at Li from the dusty floor of the library. "What's the purpose?"

"When I was still an Initiate, a young man by the name of Giovanni failed to win the Pokémon League title when it was still in its infancy. His next attempts also failed. He was still skilled enough to eventually become a Gym Leader in Viridian City, and he used the power and prestige that came with it to secretly found an idea."

I watched Elder Li cross his old arms, the folds of his robes lying together.

"That idea, was called Team Rocket. A powerful group of individuals seeking to create a society where Pokémon were little more than slaves to mankind, that there was no purpose to them or anyone else in their way, other than the creation of power and profit. An idea popular enough to appeal to a great number of people."

I knew the truth. "And he was defeated by a kid."

"Yes, Red was younger than you when he defeated Giovanni mostly on his own. However, following Giovanni's defeat, he disappeared. Organized crime groups, pretensiously calling themselves Teams, have spread to other regions since then. And conveniently, Team Rocket's top officers stayed out of custody."

I was curious. "So who was in charge of bringing them to justice?"

I was under the impression a group of identical women called Jenny, were the entire police force of the Pokémon world.

"The Pokémon League is largely responsible for handling such things. The Order of Sages did not have the numbers at the time to make such a difference, even if we had the training."

"Now, even less so." I admitted, remembering I was basically the only new member of our religion in many years.

"Precisely. Rumors have spread, even to our temple, that members of the old Team Rocket are attempting to restore their power. I cannot advise you to after them yourself."

"Why not? I can handle them."

Elder Li appeared to be thinking for a moment.

"Child, you are the most gifted Pokémon Trainer our Order has undoubtedly ever produced. If Elder Toji didn't see this potential I doubt he'd have ever let you leave the Great Mountain. But I will never ask of you to risk your safety or life just because of this gift."

I blinked, confused.

"Giovanni's crimes, and those inspired by them. Did more than just steal Pokémon. Their degree of malice, and thirst for power and control, drove them beyond the average criminal. Into a syndicate of villains with no boundaries or morals of even the slightest kind."

"Then how could Red beat people that dangerous?"

"Because he was just that talented at training Pokémon." said Li very softly.

The look in his eyes, and the look he gave me. Was one of extreme worry and concern, I didn't think Li actually cared this much for me.

I knew Red was good. But he beat Team Rocket, became the World champion of the Pokémon League, and united the globe under a system of battling and high speed rail in under a decade.

In a way, he saved the world. Or at least put off a serious threat to it for a long time.

"When Elder Toji set you on this journey, he knew of Rocket. At least, I know that he knew of the dangers the modern world of Pokémon gave. Kama Valley is beautiful, as poor and rural as it is, no one seeks anything there anymore, but our Order never forgets a thing. Toji offered you a choice Nico."

I was beginning to understand it.

"The ability to do good, and restore the Order to the respect and prestige it once had. To remind the world of Mew's sacrifice to save civilization. Or the ability to do even better, to do your first task, and to find and defeat true evil."

"I thought this whole time, evil didn't exist here."

Li was confused. "You didn't?"

"No."

"Then Toji taught you as little of the world as I suspected."

I should've been right.

Sure Giratina might've tried to burn down everything for some vague, lost to history millenia ago reason, but he's a demon Pokémon from a dimension inbetween my old one and this one. But as similar as this world was to Japan, a place I had visited prior, there was something seriously off about everything I saw here.

As poor as Kama Valley was, and as real as its problems were, it still seemed to lack truly real issues nonetheless.

Crime, extreme violence, conspiracy, and greed. Even war.

My journey through Johto so far taught me that this world was essentially fictional, at least through the eyes of my old reality. There wasn't even graffiti or a hint of trash on the streets, everyone was kind, respectful, and smiled. Everyone had a job, or a purpose of some kind.

Everyone, everywhere, even the Pokémon, at the end of the day, were good natured, even if they could be dangerous like a lot of wild Pokémon.

But I hadn't expected this. For Team Rocket or villains in this world, to be well, criminals who of course didn't play by the rules. When I watched the anime or played the games, at the end of the day, the villains of Pokémon were just Saturday morning cartoon bad guys.

Bad guys, who were actually a threat.

I wanted to ask myself, just how truly bad were Team Rocket and other groups like it in this world?

"You're not ready to face such things yet. Are you?"

"I'm not." I admitted, shaking my head in disappointment.

"The talent you possess, and those of your Pokémon, will only grow. You cannot seek to help the world in ways you can't yet. However, when you're a bit older and more experienced. You can use these gifts of yours to truly do good in the world. To do better than battle for competition."

I smiled at Elder Li. "Thank you."

"You've very welcome."

"How did Team Rocket operate?"

"It's getting late."

"Tell me. Please."

He saw how badly I wanted to know.

Elder Li scooted a chair out around the library table, sitting down next to me.

"Team Rocket operated mostly in the shadows. They didn't try to steal Pokémon unless it was through very subtle means."

"How?"

"Bribes, replacing them with others, or very similar ones. Giovanni's biggest mistake was when he attempted to steal Red's Pokémon. That put him in direct opposition to the Pokémon League because Red was so known, and so talented."

Elder Li continued patiently. "I was only recently elected to become Elder of Sprout Tower when this happened but. Team Rocket attempted to do anything to gain its power, but it was always very strategic about where and what to do. When Red uncovered Giovanni's plans to try to take over the Pokémon League through subterfuge, and strong arming, that was when he defeated him shortly afterward."

Elder Li shook his head. "What you need to know is that Giovanni's main goal was using technology and Pokémon through any means necessary in order to take over everything he could. A very subtle and calculated man, one who was more than clever enough to slip through Red's fingers following his loss to him."

A mafia boss, his power was generated through the false appearance of legitimacy, but grown through lies and force.

Possibly cloning, tactics, and working from the shadows. Team Rocket wasn't as stupid nor nearly as brutal and up front as I was expecting.

"Go to sleep. If you want to find Red, or find Mew? You cannot do so in one day. Even one month, or even a year. It will likely take you the rest of your life."

"And what about Team Rocket?"

"They don't exist anymore, they're only a rumor now Nico."

"Thank you, Master Li."

The Elder and I bowed to one another, and I left.

I went to bed that night thinking of the Order of Sprout Sages. I realized just why I stuck with them so much despite the freedom Elder Toji had gave me.

While I owed Elder Toji my life after he and the sages saved me from that Vigoroth. Gave me a place to stay when I would've otherwise certainly died by starvation or at the hands of a wild Pokémon on Mount Takujimi. He taught me something I respected Elder Li for giving to me to:

Purpose.

I'd learned the world of Pokémon was greatly about the pursuit of glory, respect, and honor.

Everyone I'd battled likely started training hearing about Red. A kid from some small town in Kanto with just a Charmander, who one day became the greatest and most famous battler who ever walked the planet.

He was so famous that those who grew up with him and competed alongside him, like Blue and Leaf were extremely famous.

The Order, like it did tonight, taught me something I'd greatly respect it for.

You didn't win your fame or honor. You earned it for yourself.

You were supposed to train and raise Pokémon to the best of your ability for the sake of raising them. Ironically, all of this publicity I rose for the Order was supposed to teach them about our methods.

Everything, every Pokémon move, every bit of training, every battle, starts with connection. Connection to the Pokémon, its needs, growth, and its uniqueness.

While Teddiursa was a great Pokémon of mine, I don't think it'd ever trust me to the degree Slakoth, or now Vigoroth did.

Because I raised him since he was barely a newborn unfortunately misplaced from his dead mother near the temple. In a way, I was essentially his parent.

The severity of the effort Vigoroth put behind his battling was why he won, and that was only something the Order could teach me to this degree:

Empathy.

…

I spent a lot of time researching things on my PokéNav during my breaks the next morning well outside the temple when I caught up with Violet.

Team Rocket, or crime of any sort, was barely on the news app.

From what I gathered, despite Gold canonically being the one to bring down Team Rocket's second attempt to rise to power, they didn't exist anymore. Or at least, were too small or smart to do anything.

Another thing I checked regularly were the WCPL rankings.

Each tournament, including the yearly World Championships, gave a certain number of points depending where you placed and which tournament.

Ranked first in the entire world was Leaf, this year's world champion, but only behind by a couple tournaments was Blue Oak.

Then there was Cynthia, ranked third by a tiny margin too, who was actually in charge of running the entire Sinnoh region's Pokémon League, followed by a number of other Trainers.

Slakoth's evolution to Vigoroth had gone much smoother than I was expecting, but rather than focus all of my effort towards him and make this tournament a walk in the park, I decided to change my strategy.

I wanted Teddiursa to be my new main for this tournament. Of course, Vigoroth would always be my starter, but Teddiursa was no longer this clueless cutesy teddy bear I found licking honey off a tree in the woods.

In fact, he appeared to settle directly into my objectives for the highest performing Pokémon team I could produce rather quickly.

Teddiursa took training seriously, he rarely stuck his paw in his mouth anymore even if there wasn't any honey on it. He didn't ever look at me in confusion or annoyance during sparring, no. His eyes were on his opponent, he stayed in the fight and fought how I needed, until the moment I said so.

While it did in fact take weeks, I was able to refine Teddiursa's very aggressive and admittedly powerful raw strength, into clean, precise, and effective strikes and techniques, that although they were basic and Normal type moves mostly. Were extremely effective, at least against the veteran Pokémon of the fellow monks I had here at Sprout Tower.

Teddiursa's best attacks were definitely Scratch, Fury Swipes, and the occasional Faint Attack. He had even started to learn a low level Slash, but it still need a whole lot of work to be as effective as Vigoroth's.

Teddiursa didn't pick up Take Down, Thrash, nor Counter as well as I needed, but everything else he used so exceptionally I didn't really mind. These were tools he'd likely perfect after another month or so, maybe more.

Vigoroth, despite his debut in the last tournament, was supposed to be my secret weapon ironically. The entire point of my strategy was for Teddiursa to do so well, that I wouldn't even need to use Vigoroth.

In the unlikely event Teddiursa took enough damage for me to switch him out, Vigoroth would absolutely smash anything left in front of him. The best sages at Sprout Tower, studying and raising Bellsprout for decades, fought very evenly, or in fact lost some matches with Vigoroth even on his worst days.

Teddiursa wasn't that far behind him, in fact, despite Vigoroth possessing a clear edge, Teddiursa was decently close in battling skill and strength to Vigoroth.

I was proud of their growth, and was looking forward to continuing to compete and train with both of them soon.

Because my Pokémon journey was still a very long road ahead, I was just about to challenge my first gym this weekend.

…