The Journal of Arthur Lindt
March 8th, 20XX
I think there may actually be something exceptional about Nova. I mean I was already surprised to see him knowing how to use two different egg moves, but the speed that he learns at is frankly terrifying. What research I could do both before and after meeting Nova clearly states that it takes months of training for the average Pokémon to maximize their potential, and this is with the aid of constant battles of increasing strength pushing them to their limits. It may take days for a Pokémon to learn a new move, and as long to see sizable growth in the strength of an existing move.
While we walked I had Nova continue practicing his balance on my head, with the added difficulty of concentrating on repeated uses of growth. The goal was to get him used to repeated uses of the ability, reducing how long it took for the move to start and then for the boost to be applied. Stat boosts behave a little bit differently here than the games though. In the games you could use a stat boosting move to increase a specific stats effectiveness immediately. You could increase (or decrease) a stats modifiers by up to 6 times already, resulting in a boost equal to four times the original stats effectiveness.
In the games this is very direct. Pokémon is a surprising amount of constant math, so it’s very exact in how the rules work. Here in a place where that world's rules have to get applied to living thinking creatures it’s not so cut and dry. There is still a max effectiveness stat boosting moves will have. A Pokémon cannot just spam the moves over and over until it becomes unstoppable. Eventually repeated uses of the move just don’t have any more effectiveness. This is a gradual process, so how much you can modify your stats before reaching the limit depends on the Pokémon’s existing strength.
For example Nova would probably have to use growth 8 or so times, in order to get twice the strength out of his special and physical attack. Meanwhile a well trained Roserade (like Cynthia’s has been recorded to do) can use it only three times for almost 4 times the effectiveness in its stats. And this was without the benefit of sunny day. This increase is tough to measure exactly, since you know, living creatures with variable power, but I was pretty certain that Sunkern would never get that good with growth, even as an eventual Sunflora.
My emphasis should be on the fact that I was pretty certain. Now, well, not so much. We walked for almost 12 hours to get home, leaving much later yesterday meant a longer walk today. It wasn’t unwelcome, since Nova spent the whole time training. And I do mean the whole time. He was constantly pumping out uses of the move Growth over and over again. It got so excessive he started to wilt and I had to make him take a break, drink some water and absorb nutrients. He was so dedicated to mastering the move that I had simply wanted him to get a feel for practicing.
It was just supposed to be a distraction, a start of something to work on for the walk before I could get his stats properly scanned and figure out an actual training routine. I wasn’t expecting any significant progress. Yet here we are.
By the time we had actually made it home, Nova had cut the time it took for him to get the benefit of growth in half. I couldn’t measure if it’s effectiveness was any stronger, but even reducing it’s time is a big deal. Where before it took him almost 20 seconds of concentration to get the benefit, it only took him 10 now. Still far too long to be of any use in a competitive battle given he had to be perfectly still to use it, but that wasn’t the point.
It took him a day to go from 20 seconds to 10. That is insane, just honestly ridiculous. I’ve tried to search for any precedent for this kind of speed online but I found nothing concrete. Every mention of reducing the time for moves like growth or calm mind, mention it taking weeks of dedicated training to get the time below 6 seconds, and months to get it below 3. 6 seconds was generally where you wanted the move to be during competitive matches, but obviously lower was better. Sub 3 seconds was considered exceptional. It was supposed to take months of dedicated training to hit that, so few did, since it was more effective to just get the time to about 6 seconds and use the rest of your time training other more direct moves.
Given that the league circuits only lasted 8 months of the year, most thought they didn’t have the time to dedicate to reducing the time of using such a move by such a small amount. I didn’t even think so originally, but now I’m not so sure. Originally my hope was for him to be able to use it while hopping so we could make up for the time it took with mobility. Now… well I might have different ideas if we could get it to be that fast that early into the gym challenges.
I should actually write about the gym challenges, since they work a little bit differently here than the games do. The main difference to note is that there are no ‘weak’ gym leaders. Despite in the games the first gym always having weak Pokémon, that’s not how it works here. To become a gym leader you have to be strong, like really really strong. As such they of course can’t use their Elite teams for matches, they would just steamroll every kid that shows up. Given this is the case, they often have many weaker Pokémon prepared for gym battles of varying levels.
This is also evident when you realize that you can challenge the gyms in any order. There is no set route or path, you can gather 8 badges in any order you desire. This is doubly so in the Indigo league, where you actually have 16 badges you can collect 8 of in any order. If the system didn’t work like this the first gyms of each region would be swamped by every circuit, while the 8th would barely receive anyone.
That said, there is still considered to be a ‘traditional’ order to the gyms. This can be based on lots of things, but is based on the historical precedent of the region's own gym challenge. Sometimes it’s the order the gyms were founded in, or from weakest to strongest of the first leaders, or just the best path to cover the whole region quickly. In the case of Johto that order was decided by the strength of the first leaders, and it goes as such.
* Violet City: Flying
* Azalea Town: Bug
* Goldenrod City: Normal
* Ecruteak City: Ghost
* Cianwood City: Fighting
* Olivine City: Steel
* Mahogany Town: Ice
* Blackthorn City: Dragon
The order is mostly predictable given the typing of the gyms, although I would have loved to see the original gym leader for Cianwood, who was somehow considered more powerful than the ghost type gym leader.
That’s the gist of it though, given my position in New Bark Town I planned to follow this traditional route best I could. It put Sunkern and I at disadvantage given his weakness to flying types, but I welcomed the challenge. We need to start this season with a bang, and managing to clear the first gym solo, with a type disadvantage would be exactly what was needed.
That was still nearly 3 months away though, the current circuit was holding its conference in a weeks time, then there would be the world championship held two weeks later and finally there would be the down season for a few months before the next circuit started again. So basically, Nova and I had 3 months to prepare to solo beat a gym with a type disadvantage. Before I was nervous, but after seeing Sunkern’s growth in only a day, I was much much less worried. All I felt was excitement. It would be a hell of an experience that's for sure.
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Arthur Lindt
I woke up slowly. The grogginess was fading as I began to remember where I was. We didn’t get home until late last night. Morganna was already asleep, but Lyra was still awake watching some show on the TV downstairs. We had walked in, Sunkern still balancing on my head to Lyra’s surprise. She was excited to meet Nova, but I think she understood that we were tired. She made me promise to meet up with her tomorrow to do introductions and have a battle, and I gave my phone number so we could message and sort it out tomorrow. She left with a small bow of thanks, as mom actually paid her for the whole week of babysitting, even though we were only gone for 4 days. Well, given the time it was probably closer to 5 but the point stands.
Mom got ready for bed right away, while I took an extra 15 minutes to figure out Nova’s sleeping situation. I got a pail from under the sink and went outside to fill it with dirt. Not wanting it to be too dry for my little buddy I watered the dirt to the point it was damp and then carried the, now rather heavy, pail up the stairs. I placed it next to my bed, set Sunkern down inside of it and collapsed into bed.
That was where I had woken up, still dressed in my travel clothes and a sleeping grass type lying in a dirt filled bucket next to me. I had felt comfy when I passed out, but now that I was awake I could feel how sleeping in my clothes had been a mistake. I felt gross, and definitely knew I had a smell at this point. I would definitely need to bring multiple changes of clothes and different outfits when I went on my Journey, two sets of jeans and shirts was not good enough.
I made my way downstairs, bringing underwear and a towel and managed to steal the shower first. I hated waking up early usually, but I was adjusting since life on the road would be decided by the rise and setting of the sun. The shower was a relief and well needed. I took longer than I probably needed to, but in honesty, I was just enjoying the relaxation showers brought me. Eventually though I was finished, and left the bathroom as dressed as I could be, with the towel around my shoulders. My mom glanced up from the couch, where she had apparently been waiting and got up to use the washroom herself. She didn’t say anything as she went by, just giving me a soft smile before closing the door behind her.
I made my way upstairs, glancing at the clock on the wall as I went. It was only 8:30 in the morning, but after a shower I still managed to feel wide awake. Still knowing how my sister usually preferred to sleep in, I stayed as quiet as I could, making my way to the dresser and picking out some more casual clothes, just shorts and a Pokéball themed t-shirt. Nova was still asleep as well, resting in his little pail of soil. I wasn’t surprised, the little guy would work himself to exhaustion repeatedly if I let him, so I figured I would let him sleep today.
I laid back down on my bed, opening my Pokégear and scrolling on the forums again. The account I had made, Weakest Champion, was simply for browsing and asking questions on the user made Pokénet forms. Battlenet, a different website run by the league specifically for all things Pokémon battle, worked a little differently. For starters it was widely accepted that on Battlenet your account had your actual name attached. I know compared to the cyber security of my old world that sounds like a terrible idea, but consider it sort of like Facebook. Battlenet is all about trainers talking to each other and their fans as they are. Once a trainer earned two badges as well they would become verified, meaning that they would have a forum attached to their name, which they were free to moderate and control to their own leisure.
Pokénet is more about people just messing about and talking about whatever they want. Moderation is a rare thing there, so usernames are more important. I had a Battlenet account as well of course, but I only really used it to watch league matches, interesting gym battles or the occasional public tournament. Once the conference started that could be watched on here as well, but for now I was looking into Falkner. There were a lot of recordings saved for his gym battles at the lower badge levels, 1-3 badges, so those are what I looked into. I was fighting him as a first badge challenge anyway, so they higher levels only really concerned me for getting an idea of how he fought.
I learned two basic things after browsing for the better part of an hour. The first is that Falkner only uses the regional ‘starting’ birds for his low level badge challenges. Pidgey, Taillow, Hoot-hoot, Starly, Rookidee or Pidove for the first Pokémon, followed by one of their evolutions for the second. The exception to this is Fletchling, who will only show up as it's first evolution as the first Pokémon of the match. This is because its evolution Fletchinder gains a fire typing. Fletchinder will only show up on occasion in third badge level challenges or higher, since the additional typing makes it a surprise for most trainers. It was good for me since a fire/flying typing would be probably the worst thing for Nova to go up against right now.
The other flying types were still a concern of course, but I was confident that we would find a plan to deal with them. I concluded my research there. I’m certain a smarter trainer would have researched every possible move combination or threat that any combination of enemy Pokémon could have, but that just wasn’t my style. I hated mind numbing research or overthinking, I preferred actionable plans, and practical training. I wasn’t going to bother trying to out plan or outsmart every gym challenge I went into, mostly because that would be a surefire way to get beaten the moment I run into a smarter trainer or someone who acts unpredictably. Lots of the gym leaders in Johto would fall into either of those categories so I would get burnout and lose eventually.
No, Nova and I would rely on personal training as well as making our own strategies. We would play on the offensive, and make other trainers react to us. People would underestimate Sunkern often, and we would use that to our advantage as long as we possibly could. The first step would be learning how to properly battle, so getting to have a little battle against Lyra later today would be good, even if we wouldn’t be able to go all out.
See, New Bark Town didn’t have a Pokémon center. Its population was considered too small, and because of the research station Professor Elm had access to one of the healing stations found in every Pokémon center. So basically if you got seriously hurt they would need to get a flier or teleporter to take you to Cherrygrove. So most people played it safe around here, and battles that occurred were usually just mock battles meant to lightly practice and simulate a real one. It wouldn’t be ideal, but until I left for the start of the circuit it would be the best battle training we would get.
Speaking of Lyra though, I ended up sending her a text to see when she wanted to meet up for a battle, and she just said that she wanted to check on some things beforehand. She would call when she was ready. Not wanting to rush Nova or have him battle right after waking up, I leaned over the side of the bed and gave him a small poke. He rocked slightly in his little pail of dirt, before the eyes slowly opened.
“Suuuun…. Keeeeern.” Nova closed his eyes as he let out a long, slow yawn, before opening them once more to look around.
“Good morning buddy, how did you sleep?”
“Sunkern.” He spoke absently as he looked around the room, before hopping out if the pot and onto my bed.
“Alright then? I’m going to take that to mean alright. I’m sorry for waking you up so early, but we are supposed to battle Lyra today so I-”
“Sunkern!” Nova cut me off excitedly as he began to hop in a circle. It was cute, but the volume had me shushing him as I glanced at my sister's half of the room, blocked by a large dividing curtain.
“Mmm… Lyra, you promised you wouldn’t watch any shows without headphones in the morning.” Unfortunately it seemed Nova was a little too loud as I watched Morganna peek her head through the curtains to look around. She scanned the room slowly, eyes glazed as they passed over Nova and I, sitting awkwardly on our bed.
“Hmm, Arthur? Be quiet, I'm trying to sleep…” She simply moved back behind the curtain to her half of the room. I shared a look with Nova, who simply tilted his whole head rather confused by the situation.
“Just give her a second, she’ll be back once she processes what she saw. She’s a heavy sleeper so mornings aren’t really her-”
“ARTHUR!” I heard my sister shout as she realized what she had seen in her half asleep state, and her footsteps running towards me, she burst through the dividing curtains, managing to trip herself in the process and go crashing into the floor.
“Oof. I’m okay” She quickly got back to her feet, running towards my bed as quickly as she could.
Nova, brave little Sunkern that he is, quickly hopped over, putting himself between my sister and I. Morganna, for her credit, slowed down, dropping to her knees at the edge of the bed and making eye contact with Nova. She knew better than to just blindly rush or touch a new Pokémon, given the risks involved with how they could react.
“Oh. My. Arceus.” She was staring him down, a look in her eyes I hadn’t seen before.
“They’re so CUTE!” Morganna’s voice rise’s to a shout as she takes in Nova’s very serious and protective stance.
“Sunkern.” He speaks flatly, maintaining eye contact and not backing down, my brave little protector.
“Nova, this is Morganna. She’s my younger sister, and family. Morganna, this is Nova, my new teammate and starter.” Nova glanced back at me, and then relaxed, realizing that there wasn’t actually any danger in this situation.
“Oh wow, Sunkern is so cute. I thought you were getting a gross bug or a Pidgey though?” Morganna turned to look at me before fixing her attention back on Sunkern, who seemed to be enjoying all the attention.
“Well that was the idea. But then I met this little guy, and things sort of changed. Now we’re going to get strong together.”
“Awesome.” Morganna looked just absolutely fascinated by everything about Nova, but she was at that age where every new Pokémon she met would become her new favorite. As long as it wasn’t a bug type at least.
“Yeah they’re pretty cool, but we have to eat breakfast and do some strategizing, we are going to have a battle today.” Sunkern turned around excitedly at the mention of a battle, and Morganna looked equally invigorated at the suggestion.
“Whoa, a battle. Against who? Is it Lyra?!” Morganna’s excitement increased as she stood up leaning over me, raising her voice to match how she felt.
“Yes aha, yes it is Lyra. It will be good practice for Nova to get the feel of a battle where he’s not fully outclassed.”
I definitely was excited as well, a battle that Nova actually had a decent shot of winning. The problem would be that we couldn’t really capitalize on the same type attack bonus, since Nova didn’t actually know any grass type attacking moves. He would probably figure out absorb pretty quickly, but not overnight, and trying to train that while walking wouldn’t have been nearly effective enough to encourage. We would need to make use of the moves we had, it was the best we were going to get.
“Cool… Will I get to watch?!”
“Yes that shouldn’t be a problem, neither Sunkern or Azurill would be strong enough to worry about needing barriers, so as long as you keep your distance it would be fine I think. You’d have to ask Lyra as well though.”
Trainer battles could get pretty intense, especially at the higher levels of battling, so it was common practice for a Psychic type to be used to maintain a barrier that would protect outsiders or the larger environment as a whole. Obviously it wasn’t the most common thing to have psychics capable of these kinds of barriers, so any public battle areas would have Pokémon specifically working for these jobs, and gym’s and tournaments obviously had the funding to afford their own.
Unfortunately New Bark Town didn’t have any public battlefields, given its small size, so we would just have to settle for a smaller battle in one of the empty fields on the edge of town. I wasn’t too worried about it, since I didn’t think we would have to worry about any type attacks at this level. Maybe a bubble but that move was pretty slow, so it wouldn’t pose too much risk to a bystander.
My phone buzzed as I was thinking about it, and I looked to see a message from Lyra.
Hey, I’m totally good to have that battle whenever. I spoke to Ethan too, and he agreed to ref so just let me know when it works for you.
Instant messaging was still in its early days in this world, so most texts and the like were written pretty formally. Shorthand would rise in its popularity as time went on but for now I had to remind myself to avoid certain slang I remembered.
Cool. Give me like an hour or so, we can battle at 10?
Sooner than I had expected a battle to happen, but it was fine. It would give me most of the afternoon to review the battle and make plans though so it was fine.
Works for me, see you then!
Ethan reffing was interesting. Refereeing a Pokémon match wasn’t too tough a thing, since you mostly just said when to start and announced if a Pokémon was unable to battle or not. There were more complicated rules at higher levels of battles, like the number of switches someone was allowed, as well as time limits between Pokémon. Hopefully he wouldn’t get too invested in Nova or I, the protagonist's interest was not something I wanted focused on me, to say the least.
“Alright Morganna, I’m going to go eat breakfast and stuff, Lyra and I will battle at 10 so you better get dressed and eat something.”
“Yes! I’ll be right down.” She ran off to her half of the room before I could say anything else, and I just shook my head with a chuckle. She was excitable to say the least. I’d miss her once my journey started properly.
“Well, come on Nova, let’s get some breakfast and get ready for your battle.” I glanced down at my little friend, holding out my hands for him to jump in, which he did with ease.
“Sunkern!” I could hear the anticipation in his tone, but there was something sharper there. A hint of aggression maybe. He wasn’t just excited, I could tell he wanted to win, no matter what.
“Absolutely buddy. We’re going to do our best, and win or lose we will get stronger. I promise you that.” I’m happy he’s excited to battle, and that he wants to win. But I need him to understand that losing isn’t a bad thing. As long as we worked our hardest we would learn from every battle and get stronger. We wouldn’t be able to win every battle we fought, but as long as we didn’t stop growing there would be nothing to regret.
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Breakfast was quick again. Mom knew the gist of the plans I had, and prepared another hearty breakfast and even had even set aside some food for Nova to enjoy. Most of his nutrients he got from soil and sunshine, but he could still eat for added benefits or taste, and he seemed to enjoy the oatmeal bars.
Morganna wasn’t far behind us, and by the time we finished eating and hyping ourselves up Nova and I were on our way. The field we agreed to meet Lyra at was on the edge of town, by the exit to route 29. Relatively flat and open, with short maintained grass it was the best we’d get in town. Lyra was already waiting there as expected, along with Ethan. The surprise to see however, was an older tall man in a lab coat. Professor Elm.
“Oh Arthur you're here. Perfect. I know it’s a surprise but Ethan brought Professor Elm, he wanted to watch apparently.” Lyra seemed as surprised as I was that Elm was here, but was rolling with it without much trouble.
This narrative has been purloined without the author's approval. Report any appearances on Amazon.
“Ah, Hello young Arthur. I’m sorry for intruding but when Ethan told me that Lyra was battling with her Azurill I couldn’t help but come take a look. We know so little about ‘baby’ Pokémon that it’s an opportunity I couldn’t pass up. Why are their forms so weak compared to their evolutions, why do they only seem to evolve from a forming powerful connection as -” The Professor began rambling on about the many many questions he seemed to have in regards to young Pokémon.
I gave a glance over to Ethan who just looked from the Professor to me before giving an apathetic shrug. Seems that the Professor rambling on like this wasn’t uncommon at the very least.
“- but of course that’s all just theory and conjecture. Getting to see how one performs early in its lifespan will be interesting. As such just carry on with your battle as though I’m not here, I’ll simply be observing.” The Professor finished his rambling explanation, before taking a position at the edge of the field and pulling out a large rectangular device. Its red appearance made it clear to me it was some kind of Pokédex, although it was the size of an iPad and therefore probably more powerful and involved than the ones I was remembering from the games.
“Well, okay then. Are you ready to go Arthur?” Lyra turned towards me and asked the question. I nodded in return.
“Yup, let's get this show on the road.”
“Perfect. Ethan count us in if you please.” She turned towards Ethan who gave a nod as well, before heading to her side of the field. I took mine, recalling Sunkern into his ball in order to properly release him into the battle.
“Alright. This will be a 1 on 1 trainer battle between Arthur Lindt and Lyra Summers. As such there will be no switches, and battles will continue until first knock out or trainer forfeit. Release your Pokémon.” Ethan spoke like a professional, his voice was rather quiet, as he wasn’t the type to speak that often, but it carried across the field without difficulty. It gave the battle a real professional vibe that had my heart racing.
I reached down, pulling Nova’s ball from my belt before tossing it high into the air. It cracked open and a red beam materialized down to the field, revealing Sunkern’s form to the world once more. The ball flew back down towards my hand, and I caught it without difficulty, placing it back on my belt. On the other side of the field Lyra simply gave her Pokéball a light underhand throw that released her Azurill out onto the field as well, who gave a short cry before bouncing lightly on her tail.
We stared at each other across the field, feeling our tension rise as we waited for word to begin.
“Begin!” Ethan spoke the call to begin loudly, at least compared to his earlier volume, and everything started at once.
“Zee, use water gun!” Lyra was the first to shout, her order loud and catching me off guard.
“Shit, Nova, dodge right and use growth.” I gave the order quickly as I could but I flinched, I didn’t expect Azurill to already know water gun, it’s a stronger move than I expected.
Azurill bounced on her own tail, once, twice, before compressing down on landing the third time shooting a stream of pressurized water out of her mouth. The beam wasn’t necessarily thick, or powerful for that matter, but it still crossed the field quickly, and slapped into the grass where Nova had been standing before.
The water gun had cut a small divot into the grass, although it mostly seemed to be light topsoil that got knocked away. Nova had thankfully responded to my order quickly, jumping out of the way of the attack and glowing a faint green yellow as he began to concentrate on growth.
“Don’t let him get it off, water gun again Zee!”
The Azurill bounced once more, compressing another shot of water across the field towards where Sunkern had stopped to focus on growth. He still couldn’t use the move while moving, but I wasn’t concerned.
“It’s only water Nova, tank the hit and maintain growth.”
Nova didn’t even flinch as the water gun slapped into his body, pushing him backwards across the now wet grass. It wasn’t a weak move by any means, but it certainly wasn’t the strongest it could be, and Nova’s grass typing reduced that potential damage even further. While the water gun was still pushing against him Nova’s glow began to reduce, signaling that growth had completed its first boost, but I wasn’t done.
“Give me another growth buddy, I know you got this.”
“Sunkern!” Nova’s cry was the only response, and as the water washed off of him and the attack stopped he was still glowing a light green yellow light as he boosted his special attack and physical attack even further. Lyra wasn’t a fool though and had seen through my plan.
“Water gun isn’t doing enough damage Zee, get close and use your tail to hit him, don't let him stack growth any further.”
Azurill wasn’t fast. In fact, as she bounced on her tail across the field I realized that she was probably slower than Nova was, at least as far as movement was concerned. That being said, focusing on growth kept Sunkern from being able to move or dodge, and left him rather vulnerable. I didn’t love the idea of him taking the hit straight on, but I needed the extra growth charge to keep Azurill from attacking at range with water like she had started.
“Hold onto the growth buddy, if you get it off in time, dodge.”
I kept my fingers crossed as Azurill crossed the field slowly, watching Nova’s glow reach its peak. Right as the glow began to fade Azurill had finished closing the distance and I knew we were going to take another hit before the move was done. I didn’t want to give them the hit for free, and an idea crossed my mind, just because Nova can’t jump around while concentrating on growth doesn’t mean that he can’t move at all.
“Roll backwards with the hit and finish growth!” I shouted my command just as Azurill reached Nova and I prayed that he understood what I meant.
Azurill spun around on the spot, swinging her tail into Nova’s body but instead of gritting the hit and trying to maintain their position, Nova relaxed and let himself move with the hit. He rolled across the field away from Azurill before coming to a stop, the glow of growth finally fading as it finished.
“YES! Now tackle her back.”
“No Zee, back off and use water gun, don’t let him close.” Lyra’s voice raised in a panic as she realized that attack didn’t do nearly as much damage as she had wanted.It's not her fault, it wasn't an actual move after all, since Azurill didn't even learn tackle to begin with.
Azurill had to readjust and get her tail below herself in order to start bouncing away and to use water gun, and Nova used the time that took to right his position and begin closing the distance. Small little hops that propelled him forward with the most speed was enough to get him within a couple meters of Azurill before she let off a water gun directly at Nova’s body.
Unfortunately for her, Sunkern's grass typing meant they barely felt the attack and simply dived through it, slamming his body directly into Azurill’s face and sending her stumbling backwards. It was not a controlled roll, and I can tell the impact was felt at the very least.
“Tackle her again Nova, don’t let up.”
Nova let out a cry as he hadn’t even stopped moving towards Azurill, eyes focused on the prize of victory. Azurill barely got to her feet before Nova slammed into her again, knocking her away once more. Azurill was slower to her feet this time, but definitely wasn’t down yet as even from here I could see the focus on their gaze as they stood once more.
“Okay new plan, Zee. Use your tail to knock Sunkern away before he can hit. He have to use their body to attack so don’t let him reach you without taking a hit.”
I had to give Lyra credit, it was a good call in the situation. Just as Nova reached Azurill once more she swung their body in a circle, swinging her tail into Nova stopping his tackles forward movement. They seemed about equal in strength, as the recoil from their joint impact, knocked Azurill in a circle by her tail away from the impact, while sending Nova backwards and forcing him to recover before tackling again.
They traded blows like this a few more times before I knew I needed to change things up. While Azurill wasn’t actually doing much damage, since this move wasn’t actually a tackle, she was still negating a decent chunk of Sunkerns damage. The bigger concern however was I could see Nova visibly exhausting from the repeated attacks, and Azurill’s impacts were slowly but surely doing more damage with each executive trade off. It was likely this was some modified version of tail whip. Not strong on its own but it was inconvenient, and had the potential to be a scary custom move at some point. I didn’t want to reveal Nova’s egg moves this early, since they would be useful for surprising opponents later, but I suddenly felt as though I needed to win here, and at this rate we would lose the battle of attrition.
“Nova, tackle once more, but leave your seeds.” I had hoped that the indirect nature of my phrasing would be enough to surprise Lyra. Leech seed was only a move I saw Nova try once, and it didn’t come very quickly. If she knew it was coming Azurill would probably be able to dodge.
“Just keep knocking him away Zee, he can’t beat your endurance.” Lyra seemed excited, but she had made a mistake in not being more cautious of a new order.
They collided once more, Nova’s body with Zee’s tail. However this time as they made impact, a set of green seeds was launched from Nova's head, sailing through the air slowly and colliding against Azurills body. They burst open, and their little roots and stems grew quickly and aggressively, across Azurill's skin and body and the ground around her. She let out a small cry as she stumbled back from the impact, and began to shake and bounce to try and get the seeds off, to no avail.
Nova in return, looked in better shape, righting himself quicker and with more bounce in his step than before. Leech seed had already begun slowly restoring his health, and sapping away Azurills. This battle was almost guaranteed in our favor now.
“What, Zee um. I..” Lyra was floundering now, she didn’t know how to handle the unexpected move or get the seeds off of her Pokémon. I felt bad but I wasn’t going to let up.
“Nova, finish it with a tackle.” I gave the order with a small pang of guilt. It’s a part of battle but it feels bad to end it when the opposing trainer doesn’t even know how to handle it.
“No, Zee. We can’t win the long game anymore, attack with everything you have. Take him down.”
My opponent snapped out of her daze at hearing my command, and gave a new order of her own. I could tell she was feeling the same way I was. This wasn't a weak mock battle anymore, we both wanted to do everything we could to win this battle, injuries aside.
Azurill, instead of swinging her tail to attack, placed it against the ground behind her, facing Nova as he charged. She jumped backwards, and bounced off of her tail sending her flying much faster forwards into a very surprised Sunkerns face. The attack hit with much more force than the tackle, and sent Nova flying back with the impact. He rolled off the ground several times, before righting himself back up. The impact looked like it had caused more damage than the tackle had done, or he had healed from leech seed at that time.
“Yes, exactly like that, don’t let up on him. Slam!” Lyra called again and I realized I was dealing with a different move than just a stronger tackle.
This was bad, given that the repeated effects of tail whip, or whatever Azurill had been doing left us unable to defend nearly as well. It was unfortunate but I would need to resort to the backup strategy.
“Nova, Ingrain. Our only hope is to stall her out. Focus on healing everything you take.” I hated stall strategies in Pokémon games, but sometimes it was the best thing you can do. Leech seed and Ingrain would heal a scary amount of health over time, I just hoped it was enough for leech seed to tire out Azurill.
It took 3 more minutes for the battle to end. Azurill did her best, bounding off her tail and slamming into Sunkern over and over again. It got close at one point, almost knocking Sunkern loose and out of the ground, which would have caused him to lose the benefits of ingrain. However Lyra either didn’t notice my panic at that moment, or didn’t understand how the move worked, as she continued trying to simply brute force past Nova’s healing.
Eventually however, Zee tired, to the point of barely being able to attack, and Lyra called it.
“I forfeit. We won’t be able to do enough damage to Sunkern. Sorry Zee.” She looked upset at the loss, but tried to keep a positive attitude.
“Lyra has forfeited the match, Arthur is the winner.” Ethan announced from the edge of the field, and breathed a sigh of relief I didn’t realize I had been holding in.
I walked over to where Nova was on the field. At the announcement of our victory he had released his ingrain and hopped out of the hole. He was jumping around excitedly and leaped at me once I got close. I caught him in my arms as he called out his species name loudly.
“Aha, yeah buddy I’m happy we won too. Still we got a lot to work on, you need a way to attack at range. If we didn’t have growth and the type advantage against her ranged attacks you would be a sitting ducklett once we use ingrain.” I spoke clearly and Nova hung off every word, nodding along and whispering his name contemplatively. At the very least he seemed interested in learning how to improve, even after we won. It was a good trait to have.
I walked across the field towards where Lyra was kneeling, talking to an exhausted Azurill.
“Hey that was a good battle. Azurill is strong, that thing you did with tail whip there was a genuinely scary move. I didn’t even realize it was lowering Nova’s defense until well after it had done so.” I wanted to complement where she had done really well. She really did put up a good battle, and she deserved to know it.
“Oh. Um. Thanks. It honestly wasn’t even an actual order or move we had practiced. I only noticed the effect after the fact like you did, so we will have to practice it more. An attack that lowers the defense of our opponent when we hit would be pretty good.” She really had no idea what she had discovered.
In Pokémon there were of course moves that did damage and had the chance to affect an opponents stats, or moves that did damage and modified your own. But they were always balanced in some minor ways, for example the stat increases or decreases only having a chance to take effect, or that certain stats would decrease to counter the increase to others. A move that did physical damage, even minor, and guaranteed a decrease in physical defense? That was a very dangerous ability.
“Arthur is quite right, young Lyra, It’s one of the more creative uses of tail whip I’ve seen. An excellent battle to both of you. In exchange for allowing me to watch you both are welcome to the lab and to use my first aid machine. Make sure both of your partners are in tip top shape before you head home.” Professor Elm had approached with a gentle smile, but a deeper look of concentration has he looked at both of us and our Pokémon. Ethan had approached with him, and he was staring at me with a complete focus and intensity.
“Arthur. I want to have a battle with you once I receive my starter from Elm. You’re strong.” He wasn’t asking a question, or making a request. He was simply informing me of what he wanted, what he thought he needed.
“Um, sure. Whenever you get your partner let me know. Nova and I will give you a battle to remember.” He smiled at that and nodded his head at me in thanks.
“Whooa. Your guys’ battle was so cool. I can’t believe Sunkern won, I thought Zee would win for sure.” Morganna was to the side of the group, looking a little shy around the Professor, but equally enraptured by the Pokémon she had just seen finish battling.
“Thanks sis. Glad you had such faith in us. Why don’t you run home to let mom know Lyra and I are going to the lab to get our Pokémon checked up. We’ll be home later.” I spoke to my sister softly, trying to encourage her to go. That kind of research lab wasn’t the best place for a kid her age. She had a habit of touching everything she thought was interesting.
“Whaaat? But I want to see the lab too.” She started to whine but Lyra leaned down, putting a hand on Morganna’s shoulder.
“Now now Morgan. The lab is a small place, and looking after Pokémon is very boring. Lot’s of just sitting around. We can come by and you can play with Zee after okay?” Morganna looked sad still, but nodded in understanding and the words she was being told.
“Okay… Don’t take too long though. I’ll tell mom all about the battle too.” Her smile returned as she thought about the battle and took off running back towards town. Her excitement with my team and Pokémon in general was contagious.
“You’re good with her. Thanks for that.” I thanked Lyra for her help with my sister, and she just smiled in return.
“It’s no problem, she’s a cute kid. We had fun hanging out while I was babysitting.” She smiled softly, before scooping Azurill up into her arms.
“Let’s get going then. To your lab Professor?” She asked Elm directly who didn’t hesitate to respond.
“Ah yes of course please follow me.” And he began to walk off.
The Professor had a thin frame, with a slightly receding hairline and large, thin glasses. He definitely didn’t ooze any confidence as he led the way, but he was still considered to be one of the smartest people in the region. He honestly felt more eccentric, like his fame as a Pokémon Professor was just a consequence of his interest in research, not any long term goals.
Being invited back to his lab made me feel like he had a greater objective than just patching up our partners, but I wasn’t one to turn away the chance to get into his lab. I’m sure even visiting I could get information that wasn’t readily accessible to most people. And you know what people say, knowledge is power.
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After being in the lab for 30 minutes I had begun to suspect I was overthinking things. The Professor quickly brought us to the back of the Lab, and had us place our balled Pokémon onto the first aid machine. While not being as fast as the games, it still didn’t take long to fully heal a Pokémon on one of these things. Unless the Pokémon in question had serious internal or long term injuries the machine could patch up nearly anything.
While our Pokémon healed we sat around and visited a little bit. Professor Elm would start droning on about whatever research he was looking into, before catching himself and summarizing the thought he had run off on a tangent about. Ethan just sat quietly alongside the Professor, listening to everything and not saying much.
In the end however, our Pokémon were good to go and Elm handed them back over. Lyra and I both immediately released our partners, as we both had the habit of carrying them around with us. Elm smiled lightly as he saw this, before taking a step towards his desk.
“You two are both very interesting trainers. While plenty of casual Pokémon owners will leave their partners out while they live day to day, most trainers keep them locked up in the balls except for while training or battling. I wasn’t completely honest when I said I just wanted to give you the chance to patch up your Pokémon. The truth is I would like your help.”
The Professor opened a drawer in the desk, pulling out two packages wrapped in brown shipping paper. He walked back over, handing one to both Lyra and I.
“I believe that Pokémon that are raised from youth, and allowed to grow and live alongside their partners fully, will be stronger and grow faster than others. I wanted to test this theory for some time, but without having any baby Pokémon, or much experience as a trainer there was never any real opportunity. Did you know we still don’t understand fully how Pokémon reproduce. They are all different species, and yet Pokémon of radically different types can produce an egg together.”
This was actually interesting to hear. I had looked into this when I arrived here, since in the games it was always mentioned no one knew how Pokémon reproduced, but I had always assumed that was just censoring for a younger audience. When I arrived in this world I realized that while we knew certain Pokémon could mate to produce an egg, and that species would be the same as the mother, that was all scientists knew. We didn’t understand why Pokémon of certain egg groups fit together, or how despite any apparent method of compatibility and egg would always be produced. It was just one of the mysteries of Pokémon. One the Professor seemed very interested in to say the least.
“After seeing you both battle, I know your help can be exactly what I need. Both of you have remarkably young Pokémon, and seem to have a vested interest in letting them live and travel alongside you, while striving to become stronger. While I have no more room for another sponsor trainer for the lab, I can still get your help with these.”
The professor gestured to the package and my heart rate accelerated. I tore off the wrapping paper to find a red rectangular device. An actual, real life Pokédex. Held in my hands. Lyra opened hers to find the same, glancing between it and the Professor.
“All I ask of you two is to record your partners throughout your journey, their growth, the rate they acquire EV’s. Everything. I’ll be comparing the rates to Oak’s Lab trainers during their circuits. To see if there is any significant difference or not. Can you two manage that for me.”
“YES!” Lyra and I both responded immediately.
While you could check information on Pokémon online with a general search, it was nothing compared to the information a Pokédex would give you. A Pokédex could be used to see a Pokémon’s IV’s, EV’s as well as the list of moves they currently know. It was a crazy advantage to anyone who possessed one, and was the reason they were banned from use in tournaments or gym battles. You were welcome to scan all you wanted after a battle, but taking information of your opponents Pokémon before or during was considered taboo. Not that it mattered. Its use for tracking your own team's information for training was much more interesting to me.
“Perfect. If that’s the case, would you mind excusing us Lyra? Ethan can show you how to work the Pokédex and go through everything, I need to speak with Arthur about something before anything else.” I glanced over at Lyra who gave me a look, and then looked back to the Professor.
“Um, okay. Sure. I’ll take a look at this then. Thank you Professor Elm.” She gave a bow as she turned to follow Ethan who was already headed towards the exit of the lab.
“Thank you dear, we will only be a moment.” He watched Lyra leave, before turning to face me. Only once the front door was closed and we were alone in the lab did he begin to move. He walked over to his desk and gestured for me to follow, speaking as we went.
“Arthur. I would like you to be honest with me when I ask. Where did you collect that Sunkern? How did you two come across each other?” He asked the question with such a serious and grave tone that I couldn’t help but flinch. Sunkern also squirmed lightly in my arms, glancing from me to the strange man that now appeared very serious.
“Um, well we ran into each other on Route 30. He was in the forest alone, and apparently some local kids had been battling him whenever they came across him for EV’s. I took offense to that and stopped them, we’ve been partners since then. Why do you ask Professor?” I was nervous now. Why was he so concerned about my partner?
“Hmm. Arthur, I believe your story, but it is still a cause for concern for me. What do you know about Pokémon breeding laws?” Laws? There were laws about Pokémon breeding?
“Judging from the look on your face nothing then. In general Pokémon breeding is a thing that occurs naturally. Wherever Pokémon gather together for long periods, eggs can be found. These eggs are perfectly fine to hatch, raise or sell for no abject issues. Since after all they occurred naturally wherever Pokémon gather. The problem occurs, and the law steps in when places specifically force particular Pokémon to breed with the goal of creating Pokémon with specific attributes. It’s considered immoral, and as such the only breeding permitted is that which occurs naturally.”
This was.. Interesting. I’m not sure why I was being told this though, what did it have to do with Sunkern.
“These artificial breeding schemes are often used to create either more rare Pokémon, or to attempt to create Pokémon with stronger IV’s than normal. It’s a disgusting practice and one the league stands against, the sole exception being ancient or endangered Pokémon in the need of preservation.”
“Okay.. I understand that, it makes sense, but what does that have to do with me and Nova.” I really wanted him to get to the point, the seriousness with which he was speaking had me worried.
“This has to do with you because this Sunkern is likely the result of such illegal breeding schemes.”
“What? What do you mean, how would you even know that?”
“Kern!?” Nova was equally shocked by what the Professor was saying.
“In your battle you showed Sunkern knowing not one, but two egg moves. This is rare enough as it is, and simply led me to form some suspicions. The stronger evidence came when I scanned your Sunkern while he was on the first aid machine. Arthur, Nova has perfect IV’s.” The Professor was still serious, but seemed to relax when he saw Nova and I’s reaction to his words. We were both slack jawed and glancing between each other.
“While I doubt you were responsible or could afford a Pokémon with perfect IV’s, I had to see if you knew or remembered anything about where Sunkern came from or was found. Looking into illegal breeding operations is a responsibility I have to the League. There will be an investigation around Cherrygrove, but I find it unlikely we will find such an operation there. If you remember anything at all, or Sunkern does as you travel, please don’t hesitate to give me a call.” Professor Elm pulled a business card out of his lab coat and handed it over, it simply had his name, and a contact phone number.
“Um. Yeah I’ll let you know if he remembers anything. I… I’m sorry I’m still processing this you said Nova’s IV’s are perfect!?” I couldn’t help but focus on the information I was given. I never was into the competitive scene of Pokémon, so I had never battled or seen what a Pokémon with perfect IV’s was capable of or how it compared. I knew it wasn’t a small change though. Max IV’s carried weight.
“Haha, yes I can imagine that would be your focus as a trainer. Owning a Pokémon the was bred illegally is not a crime, as long as the owner was not aware when capturing or purchasing them. Given your story I know that you had no idea, so you’re fine. Yes Nova is going to be very very strong for Sunkern. Frankly if my theory about Pokémon growth being tied to involvement and happiness, if you keep training him as you do, well, I suspect Nova’s limits are far beyond what an average Sunkern could expect. Train him well. If you have any questions you can contact me. Is there anything else you need?”
Professor Elm was kind, but honestly, as big of an information drop as the perfect IV’s were, it isn’t anything I could really act on directly. It doesn’t change my plan to make Nova the strongest, or how we were going to train. It just tells me that I was right to assume my little guy was special in some way.
“No, I’m alright I think. Thank you though. For telling me and for giving me a Pokédex. I’ll do what I can to help with your research.” I give a small bow to Elm, genuinely thankful for both of the boons he’s given me.
That was all for our conversation. I left the lab and began making my way home. Halfway there however I stop, much to Nova’s surprise.
“Sunkern?” He asked, his voice brimming with confusion, curious as to why we had stopped all of a sudden.
“Sorry buddy. I was just thinking that instead of going home maybe we should go do some training instead.” Sunkern jumped out of my arms immediately, and began hopping along the grass towards the edge of town where we had our battle. I knew immediately what it was he wanted to do, and who was I to deny him.
“Alright, let's do some training then. First thing first is we gotta have you learn absorb, we need something that can hit at range. After that we will focus on mastering the moves you know.”
“Sunkern!” He had no questions about my plan, just complete trust and a determination to start.
Somehow, even back then I knew it wasn’t his ‘perfect IV’s’ that were going to make Nova into a monster. It was his drive to grow. He wanted to be strong, more than any other Pokémon I had encountered. My dad, my old one, used to say that all a person needed to succeed was potential and the drive to capitalize on it. Nova had both, and with it we were going to take the region by storm. We had 3 months to train. I was excited to see what we could become in that time.