The gentle light of dawn spilled through the window, casting warm golden rays across Ken’s small room. He rubbed sleep from his eyes and recollected the thrilling news his mom had shared the night before: he had been accepted as an intern to Professor Kukui, at his new Pokémon lab. Although he may have only started his career a few years ago, Ken knew that Professor Kukui would one day become the representative professor of the Alola Region.
His gaze shifted to Koa, his Mankey, who was perched on his bed, grooming his fur with meticulous care. Koa was no ordinary Mankey, towering over others of his species. Ken had chosen the fighting-type Pokémon not only for his physical potential but for his steady mind as well, which kept the fiery anger burning underneath the surface of his kind tightly leashed. He couldn’t wait for them to begin their training at the lab.
With breakfast hurriedly eaten, and Koa impatiently swinging from the stairs, Ken bid his mom goodbye, her smiling face a beacon of encouragement, before racing toward the lab, anticipation coursing through his veins.
The lab loomed ahead, a practical structure constructed off the beach of Melemele Island, Flowers swayed gently in the salty sea breeze, and the sound of Pokémon calling harmonized with the rhythm of oncoming waves. Ken pushed open the door, the scent of polished wood and new equipment welcoming him.
Professor Kukui was a formidable figure. He stood with an air of enthusiasm mingled with a hint of anxiety, surrounded by stacks of research papers and various TMs lined up meticulously on the shelves. His eyes lit up as Ken entered, a broad smile breaking across his face, instantly lifting the atmosphere.
“Welcome, Ken! It’s great to finally meet you in person,” he said, his voice booming with a warmth that radiated throughout the lab.
“I’ve heard so much about you from your mother. She speaks very highly of your passion for Pokemon.”
Then, his gaze shifted to Koa. “And this must be your Mankey. What a great choice for a partner, Mankeys have such wide move pools for a fighting type!”
Ken’s smile widened, feeling a wave of pride for Koa. “Nice to meet you professor! My mom said the exact same thing last night when I brought him home.”
“Haha, Laila has been my assistant for the past 5 years, I must have rubbed off on her. I’ll miss her now that I’ve moved to my own lab. Speaking of my new lab, my current focus is on maximizing the learning potential of Pokémon. I think we can do something special here,” Kukui said, rubbing his chin and glancing at Koa thoughtfully.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
Kukui explained his vision—he wanted to explore various methods of training for Pokémon to learn moves of multiple types.
“We have the full set of standard TMs here, but I wonder if there are ways to teach Koa moves without them. It could provide richer data for our research,” he said, excitement sparkling in his eyes.
“Sounds great! I can document Koa’s progress,” Ken replied, his heart racing at the opportunity to have access to such a wide range of moves. His internship was already paying off massively.
“Perfect! I’ll provide you with access to all the TMs we have, let’s start off with one TM of each type Koa can learn. I will need detailed notes on the difficulty of learning each move. Remember Ken, the only difference between screwing around and science is writing it down,” Kukui instructed, eyes serious yet warm with encouragement.
Ken nodded eagerly, his mind teeming with ideas as he promised to keep track of everything. It felt like a dream come true.
“Now off you go!” Kukui said, waving his hand dismissively yet affectionately. “Return to me every week with your findings, and don’t forget, the key to success is hard work and dedication!”
As the days turned into weeks, Ken and Koa threw themselves into training. They experimented with various TMs, allowing Koa to learn moves like Drain Punch, the elemental punches and Body Slam with ease, barely spending a week on each before mastering those moves to perfection.
Yet, the challenges of learning TMs of ranged type moves proved more daunting. Koa struggled greatly with moves like Seed Bomb and Rock Tomb, spending weeks practicing, as well as multiple applications of TMs to refresh his memory. Showing off his tenacity but also revealing the deeper complexities beyond type dynamics. Each evening, as Ken meticulously documented every success and failure, he slowly came to understand the intricate weavings of Pokémon moves.
With every week that passed, Ken learned to appreciate the bond forming between him and Koa; it wasn’t just about research, it was also about trust. Koa’s confidence grew along with the number of moves he had mastered, and Ken found heartwarming joy in both his Pokémon’s victories and the valuable lessons learned from their trials. Any move that only required internal changes of type energy had their difficulty reduced, such as stat boosting moves or close ranged moves. While Koa had much more difficulty in releasing type energy far away from his body, meaning both Rock Slide, Thunderbolt and all the weather effects remained temporarily outside of his ability to release.
Weeks turned into months, and in a flash, a year had passed. Ken had now turned 13 and had become much more familiar with Kukui’s lab, and their bonds had deepened, transcending the roles of simply mentor and student.