Eevee paced back and forth at the base of the cliff, and I gripped the railing at the edge of the viewing platform even tighter. Around me, about a dozen different trainers shouted out commands and short yells of encouragement while their own Pokémon climbed a rocky wall.
"At least one of them will figure it out, right?" I mumbled.
And then, light.
A massive beam of pure energy shot out straight upwards before being pulled down over the horizon. Its presence seemed to stretch out for miles, and its power was so strong, it was palpable from here.
The audience was plunged into silence. Half of the climbing Pokémon froze where they were.
The beam faded away, and Togepi let out a burp that released a puff of smoke. Tinkatink, essentially stuck in place by the weight of her own hammer, blinked.
"Ah," I said. "Sorry about that Hyper Beam. Metronome can be a bit random sometimes."
The silence continued for only a few more seconds before the judge of this competition blew a whistle.
"Aaand time!" he shouted.
Those words made my stomach churn as a Rowlet hopped up over the edge of the cliff. Its wings were pinned down to prevent flying—as that would defeat the purpose of this competition—but it seemed to have used Leafage to cut grooves in the stone to grant it footholds for its talons. Behind it, a grey-tinted Alolan Meowth got to the top, panting, its claws digging into the stone, but its low stamina meant it was only in second.
Only the first place winner mattered for this competition.
"The winner is Kelton and his Rowlett!"
A blonde-haired kid cheered and ran around the edge of this platform to go hug his Pokémon. I sighed and moved around the side down a small slope while the other trainers let out groans and left to retrieve their team members as well.
Thus ended another day of competition for a "King of the Route" battle. It was located on the rocky Route 3 cliffsides, where vegetation was sparse. The idea was that the first place winner would get to challenge the current King of Route 3 to a battle, and whoever won that fight would either gain or keep the title.
To my understanding, on Route 3, there'd been five Route Kings who had successfully maintained their role for an entire week. The reason for so many wasn't due to any significant time passing, but it was because there was actually more than just one Route King.
Essentially, challenges were divided up into tiers of play to give different levels of trainers a chance. Teams of one to three stars competed with one another, teams of four to six stars made up a second tier, and anyone with a seven star team or higher was grouped together in an incredibly competitive, final tier.
While I was confident in my team's ability to win, I was instead working on trying to win the lowest tier challenge with Togepi, Eevee, and Tinkatink instead of the highest tier with the rest of my team. Hope had already taken on the climbing competition and easily won yesterday, having plenty of experience ascending rock walls due to current fads in Kalos. From there, her team had swept through the previous Route King’s team, granting her her current role.
That was last night, and based on today, there were less trainers overall preparing to take her on. It seemed that her reputation preceded her, and most people were taking the week off to train rather than challenging someone of her skill. I refused to usurp the role from her as it didn’t make sense when we were traveling together.
"You know, we could just take the full two weeks for both of us," Hope offered. “Just become the next Route King after me.”
"Yeah, I know, but I want to give the lower tier a chance,” I replied. “We might not be pressed for time, but sitting around and waiting for both of us to earn Kahuna challenge rights feels like a waste. This way, I’m training my team at the same time."
As I finished saying that, we arrived at the base of the cliff. A few other trainers had run down the trail before us to recall their Pokémon, half of those Pokémon having climbed back down, with the other half pushing to reach the top anyway. There were only a small handful that were still at its base.
My team hadn’t even got a foot up the wall. Togepi was comforting Eevee, whose ears were down and tail was pushed between his legs. Tinkatink, meanwhile, was acting like the loss didn't bother her, but I noticed she was refusing to look anyone in the eye.
"Don't worry about it. We still have a few more days worth of challenges."
My Pokémon grunted their names in acknowledgement, but it felt rather unenthused. Togepi was the only one who was still upbeat.
"Hope won her role just last night, so we have five more days after today before I try to step in after her. That means five days of training and five days of attempts. Given that time, I intend to use that time to train. I noticed some key improvements we need to work on,” I said.
Eevee got up to walk towards me, still slumped down, and Togepi followed. Tinkatink didn't have a reaction; she just started to drag her hammer in a sullen march behind the rest.
I waved my hand to encourage them to keep moving.
"Come on, let's get some space. Let’s work on increasing your available moves."
At my lead, we walked down a small slope that led to a grassy outcropping. A few other trainers were here with their Pokémon, but it was wide enough that there was room to spare. Above us, the same viewing platform faced the ocean, and the competition for trainers with four to six star teams was in the process of being set up.
"So, we have the basics down, but we need to get you more options," I said. "Tinkatink, your offense is incredibly powerful, but your hammer is currently too large for you to really make use of that. Togepi, you have too few options in combat, and we're relying on Metronome too much. And as for you, Eevee, you just don't have that many attacks. Swift will be good for when you evolve into a Sylveon, but I think expanding your range of available Types will help."
If Eevee could learn any offensive Fairy Type moves, I'd have taught him them. Instead, I planned to teach him a different ranged move.
Hope spoke up, and her words made me rub my head.
"How does that help them climb, Alex?"
I sighed.
"Yeah, I know. Learning new moves doesn't seem like they directly help, but they do. We're going to rely more on teamwork rather than speed. Eevee, Togepi, I want you two to support, and Tinkatink, I want you to be the one to reach the top."
Tinkatink looked up at me, blinking, not really understanding. She wasn’t the fastest of Pokémon, so saying she was going to be the one to climb didn’t make much sense. However, rather than directly explain my reasoning, I simply pointed to her hammer, which had been added to and improved enough that she could barely lift it.
“You have the perfect tool for the job, but your body is too small to wield it.” Tinkatink scowled at my words. “Now hold on, I didn’t mean it’s impossible. You’re a Pokémon! You can basically do anything! What I mean is, with the right infusion of Type energy, you can definitely lift that hammer up; all you need is a move that enhances a swing.”
I rubbed my chin, purposefully drawing this moment out. Togepi giggled, and Tinkatink stomped her feet in annoyance.
“Alright, alright. The answer is Brutal Swing. It’s a basic move your species can learn, and the power it grants should help you lift your hammer. We’ll work on it after this.
“As for the rest of you... Togepi, you have two moves you can learn: Ancient Power and Psychic, though I’m only saying Psychic because I know Rapidash can help. For you, Eevee, we’re actually going to give you a ranged attack that isn’t just Swift. How do you feel about learning Shadow Ball?”
That depression Eevee felt after losing today’s challenge? Practically gone. Mentioning the move made his entire body perk up, and his tail wagged at the mention of the attack.
I clapped my hands, signaling the start of our training.
“We have five days to get through this, like I said. I think it’s time that we properly begin.”
My Pokémon cheered in front of me.
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A hallmark of being a good trainer was how quickly Pokémon could learn new moves. It wasn’t a perfect measurement of skill, as every Pokémon had its own rate of growth and ability to learn, but I did feel a bit of pride when my Pokémon started to pick up the basics within only two short days.
Togepi passed up on Ancient Power for now to work more closely with Rapidash. His Psychic was remarkably well-perfected, and he was able to give her tips and tricks on how to expand her Extrasensory into proper telekinesis. Psychic would both help Togepi grab things larger than her, and it would help her deal with any significant differences in size in combat.
As she already knew Extrasensory, she was quick to pick up on the “grabbing” aspect of the move, but when it came to actually damaging someone with it, she had a long way to go. For our purposes, it was good enough, as the grabbing was what we needed to help with the climb.
Meanwhile, I brought back Mawile to the team to help Tinkatink with Dark Type energy. Mawile was a bit uncomfortable with Tinkatink, especially with that horrid first impression, but I told Mawile that she had full authority of how she wanted to help train Tinkatink in her moves.
Her eyes literally glimmered at that notice. She turned to Tinkatink with a dual-mouthed smirk. Tinkatink shivered.
(She didn’t actually do anything to abuse the authority I gave her, but the threat of it seemed to keep Tinkatink in line. By the end of it, the encouragement actually helped Tinkatink pick up Dark Type energy, and she was able to channel the energy through her arms to allow for a swing of her hammer that didn’t look physically possible.)
Finally, for Eevee, we had to visit the local Pokémon Center. I had a reusable TM for Shadow Ball from Sinnoh, so I taught him the move and gave him some time to practice. Swift homed in on its target while Shadow Ball needed to be aimed. It took a bit of energy to use, so while he couldn’t practice it constantly, I had him work with Ninetales on Quick Attack in between attempts.
A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.
The idea was that Eevee needed control over his balance to let him better jump around at the base of the wall. Quick Attack let him gain bursts of speed, and the general energy infusion would help him better manage his stamina. Ninetales threw herself into the practice with Eevee, basically showing off how she could balance on the smallest of outcroppings while looking extremely smug at the same time.
Eevee was motivated by his need to prove himself, and he pushed himself hard to be able to stand on any rock. His smaller body gave him an advantage, but his lack of experience meant he would slip occasionally.
He looked upset that his progress was slower than the others, but that was when Togepi stepped in. Without me bringing it up, she started to use Psychic to support Eevee and help him learn how he was supposed to stand without falling. These attempts were also a way to practice her own move, and then Tinkatink stepped in as well, practicing Brutal Swing by smashing the wall and creating more rough sections Eevee could jump through.
Somehow, independent training turned into a team effort of development, and I couldn’t be prouder.
In the end, it took a few days to get them all in decent shape, and while my Pokémon didn’t have the mastery over their moves to really use them in combat, they were good enough to climb. I judged them ready for their next attempt, except when we got to the wall—
“No freakin’ way,” Hope whispered.
I had to agree.
Rather than join in at this lowest level, I saw who was competing and immediately hung back. The “King of the Route” challengers weren’t limited to those taking the Alola Circuit—trainers competing in the Island Challenge could compete, too. It didn’t replace any trials or let trainers skip ahead, it was just an added challenge to let newbies prove their stuff.
For that reason, it seemed that Elio and Hau had joined in.
Most of the trainers around me were shouting, but Hope and I were silent as we watched. Elio was similarly quiet as he watched his ascending Litten, but Hau was screaming commands at his Pikachu. Their Pokémon were about twice as far up the as the rest of the competitors in this lower bracket, and it was clear the winner would be between the two of them.
“Pikachu! You gotta use Quick Attack!” Hau practically screeched.
Pikachu’s legs blurred, and it climbed the rocks as easily as it would climb a set of stairs. Rock after rock supported its move, and its speed made it seem like it would reach the top first. When the move ended, it slowed, panting, but somehow Litten was ascending just as quickly without using any moves.
Then, Elio whispered a command under his breath.
“Fake Out.”
Litten leaped forward and screeched its name. Its cry alerted Pikachu, and, for a moment, it seemed like it was about to crash into the Electric Type. Pikachu froze in surprise.
But, with that flinch, Litten landed right in front of its target, smirked, then it hopped up the last rocky outcrop to reach it to the top. The Alolan official who was helping with this King of the Route Challenge called out to mark the end of this round.
“And time!”
Trainers around me groaned once more.
“The winner is Elio and his Litten!”
Elio smiled as Hau’s mouth dropped open. Hau looked momentarily upset, but then he turned to Elio and started to rant at him about how “cool” that last Fake Out had been. Both of them moved to retrieve their Pokémon. Meanwhile, Hope and I watched them leave.
“I feel like you would have had a decent chance to win, Alex,” she commented.
“I know, I know. I just... I don’t want to get involved with them.”
She frowned as the pair of supposed protagonists moved off for Elio’s challenge against the current King of the Route. As they weren’t part of the official Alolan Circuit, even if the current King lost, he’d keep his role. They still served as an added battle for practice.
“So are you waiting until tomorrow, then?” Hope asked.
“No, we’ll still compete today.”
“Alex!” Hope hissed as her eyes went wide. “In the four to six star team tier?”
“Yeah. We don’t have a choice, really. I’m registering Togepi and the rest into that tier and the added challenge it brings.”
Hope’s lips pressed into a smooth line, but I kept my expression level. The second tier was unlike the first—it wasn’t just climbing, Pokémon could attack one another, and it acted more like a free-for-all rather than a race. There would be a few Flying Type and Psychic Type Pokémon around to catch anyone who fell, but Pokémon were inherently sturdy enough to survive any falls.
My three Pokémon were weak in comparison, but they had been training with Elite Pokémon stronger than the rest. They would have an advantage in that manner, and while our chances to win were low, I still trusted them to give it a good attempt.
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When the tier two level of the challenge came around shortly after, Tinaktink and the rest looked ridiculous between all of the evolved and inherently stronger Pokémon. A Rhydon sat unflinching next to them, its bulk heaving up and down with every breath. To their left, a pair of identical Swoobat sat on the ground, their wings taped down to prevent them from cheating. On the farthest side, a single Greninja braced itself to leap upwards, and its exposed tongue hung loosely around its neck.
All-in-all, it was mildly ridiculous to even place them in this level of competition, yet I knew they could do it.
"I believe in you!" I called out.
Togepi ended up waving at me, but the other two didn't reply. Eevee was stuck looking around at his competition, ears back and looking the same as when he lost. As for Tinkatink, she was hardly acting as if she had a care in the world. She was at the front, balancing her hammer straight up, and giving the group a small bit of added height to better compare with the rest.
"We'll start in three," the local Route King said at the top.
"Three minutes?" someone asked.
"Two."
"Two minutes?"
"One."
Oh shit.
"And... begin."
Unlike the previous rounds, this group had further to climb. Not only that, but the wall was smoother and completely vertical instead of having a small slope to ease in beginners.
The same moment when all the other Pokémon started to heave themselves upwards or use their moves to climb, Tinkatink let her hammer fall and smash into the rock with Brutal Swing to give her a handhold. She climbed up.
"Flamethrower!" someone yelled.
Above, a line of rock was melted into liquid stone. A Salazzle gripped tightly to one outcropping hung there with a pleased smile on its face as so many others were forced to go around.
Another person reacted with a Vine Whip, but it was aimed at the Salazzle instead of the rock. The move wasn't effective against a Fire and Poison Type, but it succeeded in grabbing Salazzle's leg and pulling it down. The bipedal lizard was then smashed into an unfamiliar Alolan Ninetales, funnily enough, which had been hopping from rock to rock upwards in the same way Ninetales had been training Eevee.
The pair fell, but the pair of Swoobat caught the Ninetales in their psychic grip. It was returned to the wall while Salazzle was forced to flail around in the air to latch on once more, and scenes like that were happening all over the wall.
My Pokémon went unaffected. Tinkatink was simply too slow and too weak to bother.
She climbed slowly and steadily. Togepi used her Psychic to support her weight, and Eevee used both Swift and Shadow Ball to chunk out rocks and harry foes. He had a different role—acting as a distraction. While his attacks were too weak to actually bother anyone else, a well timed star could make a Pokémon lose its grip and fall a few paces on the wall.
He leaped around the lowest levels, where all the Pokémon had already left, and he attacked them from below.
"Deal with that Eevee! Focus Blast!" someone yelled out next to me.
"Quick Attack!"
I held back a laugh as the famously inaccurate move (more like Focus Miss, am I right?) failed to hit its target, and Eevee dodged to the side. He let loose another Swift as Tinkatink pushed farther off the ground, and then someone cried out.
"That Greninja is almost at the top!"
That Kalosian starter from before truly lived up to the "ninja" portion of its name in the way it climbed higher without anyone noticing. It stuck close to the rock, didn't attack, and it focused on speed and stealth to reach the top.
However, with it now being noticed, practically every Pokémon unleashed an attack its way. Greninja was forced to let go of the wall, and it pressed its hands together as if it were using a ninja technique.
A loose rock appeared in its place. Countless attacks crashed into the boulder, completely obliterating it. People around let out a sigh of relief, but I tensed.
When Greninja shifted out from the Substitute, it appeared right next to my team.
"Watch out!"
My voice alerted my Pokémon to the unexpected companion, who barely spared them a look. Tinkatink only got a glance up before a casual kick knocked her through the air, and she found herself slamming into the ground.
Greninja paused, eyed the wall where she just was, then grabbed her hammer, still lodged into the rock. Her head curved upwards in one last glance as tears formed in her eyes, and the Greninja climbed away, her most prized possession in hand.
"Tinkatink," I whispered, my heart breaking at her reaction.
My other Pokémon were already on the case. Eevee rushed down from his position on the rocks with Quick Attack, and Togepi ran as fast as she could to get to Tinkatink's side.
For all Tinkatink tried to act tough, she was outright bawling in the current moment. Greninja was using her hammer as a weapon, giving itself improved leverage to climb and unleash attacks while it aimed to regain its position at the front.
I steeled my heart. We weren't winning today. Instead, we had something more important to do.
"New objective!" I yelled. "Everything you got! Get back that hammer!"
Eevee's face hardened with determination, and Togepi just smiled as if she was already planning on doing this. Eevee then stepped back and lowered himself to the ground, and he gave out a bark of encouragement, as if to say they were a team.
Tinkatink, still sniffling, wiped her eyes and stared Eevee’s way. He gave her a nod, Togepi gave her a nod, then Tinkatink sucked in one last breath, and gave a confident nod as well.
No more words were shared, just comforting smiles. Togepi's expression said it all: they were friends, and they promised to get Tinkatink's hammer back.
The reaction was immediate. Tinkatink clasped an offered hand from Togepi as both their muscles bulged. Then, Tinaktink was heaved onto Eevee's back, who darted away with Quick Attack back up the wall.
"Togepi, support! Tinkatink, get ready to grab!"
I didn't need to give any more orders; my team already knew what to do. Eevee shifted away from a role of harassment into a role of transportation, and Togepi sat on the ground to support the pair with Psychic.
However, somehow, from somewhere, a rock was launched their way. Eevee hopped along extrusions and indents to try to avoid it, but it was the size of a boulder, and it seemed like it was going to hit. Togepi, realizing this was out of her reach, wagged her arms (to my horror), and used Metronome to pull off an incredible... Lucky Chant?
I would have expected a utility move to not have been useful here, but that randomly called up rhythmic chanting enhanced and supported the team. Through sheer coincidence, though likely enhanced by the Lucky Chant Togepi just performed, a spare Fire Blast impacted the boulder and knocked it aside, completely missing where Eevee and Tinkatink were cowering on the smallest of ledges.
Even more, whenever a new attack came their way, there was always another to knock it aside. The climb became even easier, and Eevee had to put far less effort into bringing the pair higher.
Then, soon enough, their target was only feet away.
"There! There's Greninja!"
I pointed forward, though my team was too focused to hear either my voice or see my hand. Greninja was right in the middle of the pack, fighting off that Salazzle from earlier. The Salazzle shot globs of poison out of its mouth, and Greninja batted that poison away with Tinkatink's hammer. Each time the poison hit, Salazzle’s ability kicked in and the Corrosion ate away at the metal, putting a timer on the team’s recovery.
Unfortunately, other Pokémon were blocking Eevee and Tinkatink's way, and I was unsure how they were going to get through. With the level of attacks being exchanged, any spare hit could knock them out, then I saw a strange glimmer in Eevee's eye.
I couldn't hear what was being said, nor could I properly interpret it, but I didn't like what was going on. After whispering a few words to Tinkatink, Eevee turned, twisted, then Tinkatink jumped out as he snapped his tail forward for a Tail Whip.
"No!" I yelled.
Eevee was the batter, and Tinkatink was the baseball. Sailing perfectly through the barrage of ranged moves, she sailed through the air in what felt like slow motion, with her arms stretched out wide.
"TIIIIINKAAAATIIIIIINK!"
With her scream, Greninja turned, saw her, then swung the mace. Instead of knocking her back, Tinkatink grabbed on and latched to her weapon.
I saw Greninja's face curl up in disgust as it tried to shake her off. Then, she started to glow.
Hope snorted.
"I mean, I saw that coming a mile away. You've been talking about getting Tinkatink to evolve soon for days. Did you purposefully enter this higher tier to push her through that last little amount?"
"Of course!"
I coughed into my hand as Hope gave me a pointed stare.
Regardless, while that was going on, Tinkatink's form was shifted. She'd been so small for so long, and now her body was growing. Where she used to be smaller than Togepi, she was now at least a full head above. Her mop of white hair changed into a tied up ponytail, and her mouth became bigger. Her eyes shifted from worried to angry, and her limbs became long enough to properly wield her long-improved hammer.
Tinkatink, now Tinkatuff, growled, but she didn't use her hammer to attack. Her fist glowed for a Rock Smash that smashed right into Greninja's face, and an opportunistic Sludge Bomb hit it from behind.
Greninja dropped her. She had dozens of yards to fall from this far up. Eevee just didn't have the speed to catch her as gravity had its own acceleration, and I knew she would hit the ground.
Then Togepi caught her. We had practiced Psychic for a reason.
"Oh yeah," I mumbled.
That was when all the climbing Pokémon stopped.
"Time!"
Looking to the top, a lone Pokémon stood far above the rest. It was unblemished, perfectly untouched by the furious exchange of attacks that had gone on below. Its lower half shifted away from being invisible to visible, and a green chameleon with a jagged stripe of red across its stomach appeared at the very edge of the ground.
"The winner is Elle and her Kecleon!"
Everyone had been outplayed, though I half expected something like this to happen. It hadn't moved especially fast, but Kecleon’s camouflage was far greater than Greninja's. With that, it had been able to carefully avoid the attacks and reach the top in a win.
On its trainer's behalf, it had won today's right to challenge the mid-tier Route King.
"Yes! Kecleon, I love you!"
A brown haired woman swept Kecleon up into a hug, and the people on the viewing platform groaned. As for me, I was already hurrying down the stairs to reach my team.
"Are all you okay? No one is too injured, right?"
Eevee hopped down, and the ground shook on impact. He briefly turned around to freeze at the sight of the Rhydon landing behind, but it merely snorted and nodded in respect.
Togepi was laughing, clearly having had a great time. As for Tinkatuff—
She didn't look up at me. She was too focused on her hammer. It was still in decent shape, though parts of it had been warped, and she was going over every single detail to check to see if any other bolts were out of place.
But, she still froze when I put a hand on her head. Because of her evolved form, I didn't need to kneel to do that.
"Tinkatuff. Great job today. I'm proud of you."
Her pink face turned neon with a blush as her head lowered and focused more intently on her own work. Eevee walked over and collapsed as Togepi laughed even more merrily, and I shook my head, satisfied.
"We didn’t win, but you managed to do well even with a disadvantage. Though, with Tinkatuff’s evolution, you two know you’ll need to win the lower round on your own now, right?" I said to Togepi and Eevee.
Eevee froze and looked to Togepi, but Togepi didn’t even blink. Instead, her smile continued, making it seem like Togepi already had a plan.
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Turns out, Psychic is a bit broken when you can make the Pokémon you’re riding jump five times as high.