It rained.

Just when I try to make some progress, it has to rain, just my luck.

I was stuck in the middle of nowhere on my way towards Oreburgh City and the nearest Pokémon Center was still too far away.

Unlike the games, you could reach Oreburgh City without going through a cave so I had taken that choice, the idea of going through a cave wasn't very appealing to me.

Also, there was something about a Spiritomb in the depths of that cave that no one had dealt with yet.

But then, the heavens opened up and rain began to pour down.

Luckily the tent I had set up did provide us enough cover and it was big enough for the two of us.

Again there was some bullshit technology going on with the tent, not that I complained about it. It was surprisingly comfy inside and there was no leakage.

Both Ralts and I sat on a pillow and a black laptop was placed between us. I had bought the laptop in Jubilife City, my Pokédex could do most of the things a laptop could do but the bigger screen was a nice advantage.

It took some time to figure out how the operating system and the internet worked but once I got the hang of it, using the laptop became much easier.

A strange difference between my old universe and this universe was the lack of a developed entertainment industry. There was a lack of Hollywood, games and social media. It probably had to do something with gods flying through the sky outside, those things tend to make fiction pale in comparison.

Man do I miss my old games.

I was really tempted to recreate some games from my old universe, for example, the first Zelda should be easy to recreate.

However, I had different ambitions, still a good back up plan if I ever decided to become a lone person living on a mountain top.

Although I think that people in this world would freak out with 4th wall breaking games like Undertale and DDLC because Pokémon like Rotom and Porygon exist.

However, now it was not the time to play.

The rain was no excuse for slacking off and that counts for Ralts too.

We had beaten a few NPCs on our way to Oreburgh City, tried a few new techniques but no new moves appeared.

On my way through the forest I had considered catching a second Pokémon but my time schedule didn't allow me to catch and train a second Pokémon in time for the next Gym battle.

Of course, that was just an excuse for me because I was too much of a pussy to catch a second Pokémon.

I knew it was normal and everyone does it but I really didn't feel like enslaving a wild Pokémon. It was stupid of me but I just couldn't push myself to do it.

I know I'll become best friends with the Pokémon if I caught it, but it still felt unnatural for me, other people doing it were totally cool with me, but trying to catch one myself?

It was a lot harder.

Was it stupid? Yeah, but I couldn't push myself to do it.

Maybe it was just my dislike for strangers, Pokémon were a bit better but still, to just befriend a wild Pokémon and decide that he/she would become my friend was almost impossible.

My final plan was that I would follow the Ash' route and just look out for wild Pokémon to befriend and then politely ask if I could catch them.

You know, the sappy stuff.

And if that doesn't work out, I guess I have to bend my morals but atleast I have some time before that.

Fate would probably give me some OP Pokémon anyway, I mean I was the summoned hero right?

So with no time to spare, I had to design a plan to beat Roark.

Ralts has gotten stronger since we entered Jubilife City and we had one big advantage.

I knew all of Roark's Pokémon, moves and strategies he would deploy. It was a big trump card, almost hacking but I really needed it. Our battle against Roark had to be perfect.

Ralts’ raw power had increased but her defenses were still low, right now she was a glass cannon.

"Okay, Ralts," I clapped my hands, "Time for school."

While traveling, I had put in a lot of hours in trying to figure out how Pokémon battles worked and tried to deconstruct them to their basics. To everyone else in this world they were just a thing they grew up with, for me, it was something brand new.

I had to catch up yeah, but I also wasn’t blinded by preconceptions and traditions.

I downloaded some footage of top ranked matches and watched all of them. After trying to analyze them I came to the following conclusion.

A Pokémon battle consists of three steps.

Step 1. Pokémon A would attack Pokémon B.

Step 2. Pokémon B would either dodge, get hit or use a counter attack.

Step 3. If Pokémon B chooses to get hit or to dodge the game would reset to step 1. If the Pokémon chooses to use a counter-attack a second game comes into play. A pissing contest to see which move/Pokémon is stronger. A combination of Type advantage/raw power and speed decided the outcome and either Pokémon B or A or both of them would get damaged and the game would again reset to step 1 until one Pokémon got knocked out.

It was a very stripped down version and there were exceptions, especially on higher level battles but this was the most common structure in which a Pokémon battle took place.

"Today, I'm going to teach you a new categorization system. You know the entire Type advantage system?”

Ralts nodded.

“I got something that will be more useful." I tapped a key on the laptop and the screen showed 6 words on the screen.

Brute

Mover

Blaster

Shaker

Stranger

Help support creative writers by finding and reading their stories on the original site.

Trump

"Ralllts?" Ralts studied the words on the screen.

"This is what I call the Power Classification System; something I will teach you today. This system only has 6 classes, way less than 18 different typings right?"

Ralts shrugged. I continued nonetheless.

"It may look strange at first, but hear me out. First of all, we have the class: Brute."

I pointed at the first word. "This class contains every move that depends on physical strength and close-range combat."

A video began playing on the screen, various recordings of Pokémon using their special moves were stitched together into one video.

I began to explain. "Strength, Scratch, Fang Attack and Iron Tail are all examples of Brute class moves. Another name for Brute could be melee attacks but if we do that, everyone else knows what we are talking about and they would alter their actions, right?"

Ralts hesitantly nodded.

"So rule of thumb, the Brute designation means close range physical moves. Now, the best counter strategy is to stay away from anyone trying to use a Brute move, outrange them or try to attack from an unexpected angle."

I handed her a playing card I had made. On it had drawn a stick figure with thick arms.

"Second class, Mover."

I dragged the cursor to the next video. "Mover includes all attacks and moves that enhance the Pokémon's movability. Think about Fly, Teleport, Rollout and Quick attack."

The examples were being played on screen.

"Moves that result in Pokémon navigating and moving across the battlefield faster, that's it basically. Agility, Volt Tackle and so forth. However, keep in mind that some of those attacks string into a Brute attack. Volt Tackle, for example, starts as a Mover but ends in a Brute class attack. Now how would you deal with a Mover class attack?"

Ralts grinned and tapped her knees.

I blinked. "Yeah, breaking their kneecaps is an excellent way to deal with most of them."

Damn, who had taught her that? It wasn't me, right?

I went on like she hadn't said something extremely violent. "Another way to deal with Movers is forcing them to change directions, be unpredictable or try to play along with their plan and suddenly strike."

I handed her a playing card with a running stick figure on it.

"Next one is Blaster, can you guess what it is?"

"RaRalts," Ralts eagerly said and she pointed at her horn.

"Indeed, ranged attacks that can be thrown or shot."

A keypress later and a new video began playing on the screen.

"Blaster moves are very basic, Flame Thrower, Poison Needle, AuroraBeam, Gust you can name it."

Ralts tapped her horn.

"Yes, Disarming Voice and Confusion both fall under the Blaster class, very easy right?"

Ralts nodded with a smile.

"Now how would you deal with a Blaster move?"

Ralts made a movement with her tiny hands, I interpreted it as dodging.

"Yes, dodging is a good idea." I pointed at the mover card, "You could try that with a quicker move or you could try to fire your own Blaster Attack and hope to overpower your opponent but it would be a gamble."

Ralts nodded understanding.

I gave her the card with a laser-shooting stick figure.

"Next one is Shaker."

"Ralts?" Ralts asked, confused.

I chuckled, "I know, it sounds like Brute, Mover and Blaster cover almost every attack but not yet."

I pressed a key and a video began playing.

A Golett creating an Earthquake, Lapras creating a Blizzard inside an arena and an Empoleon creating a Whirlpool and leaving it in the middle of the battlefield.

"Shaker, moves that reform the arena, you could call them area of effect moves."

Ralts nodded, she had heard me talking about AoE moves before.

"Shaker moves are very dangerous because they have a big range and they last longer than a Blaster type move but they deal less damage than most Blaster moves because they cover a bigger area. They literally shake the arena."

An Aloan Ninetales sliding over a battlefield covered in ice began playing on the screen.

"Of course not all of them are immediately offensive, but still keep an eye out for them. After all, whoever controls the arena controls the fight."

I gave her a card that showed a stickman raising a mountain from the ground.

"Fifth is Stranger, sounds strange right?"

Ralts chuckled.

"Stranger class moves hide someone."

On the screen, a Staravia created multiple Double Team clones, A Greninja escaped a fire attack by using Substitute and a Charizard used a Smoke Screen to hide himself.

"Very standard if you think about it. Illusions, distractions and covers. Those should be very easy for you to deal with, anything to hide one’s presence."

I tapped her horn.

"After all, you can sense their location."

Ralts grinned at me, also slightly blushing; weird shit.

"Other ways to deal with Stranger moves are Shaker moves since they can attack everywhere at once."

Another card joined Ralts' hand, a stickman clouded in smoke.

"And the final one,"

I pointed at the final word. "Trump moves."

There was no video this time, I had run out of time to mix a new video together and I really wanted to teach Ralts this new system.

"Trump, moves that manipulate other moves."

Ralts scratcher her head, "Raallts?"

I smiled. "Think about Disable, a move that disables an opponent's move. Metronome, a move that randomly chooses another move. Sunny day, a move that boosts certain attacks."

"Raaaallttsss," Ralts murmured. That was her version of saying; Aaaaahhhh.

"The list can go on, counter, endure, lock-on. Basically just fucking with other moves. They’re the most versatile, the most varied and probably the hardest to counter. We can’t really plan against them, until we even know what it does."

I gave her a card with a stick figure doing nothing.

"And that's all of them."

Ralts studied the 6 cards in her hand, each one signifying a certain class.

"And you might wonder what use this system has?"

Ralts patiently waited for me to continue my monologue.

"Well, imagine if an opponent uses a move you have never heard of but you know it's a Steel-type move. What good does knowing that do?"

"Ralts."

"Exactly, but if I told you it's a Brute move, you know you have to keep your distance and try to outzone his move. When all strategies fail these archetypes can offer you a basic fallback strategy."

Ralts nodded eagerly, her eyes were practically shining with excitement.

I opened a bag of chips and Ralts' eyes widened.

I grinned. "And if I tell you to use the Shaker Protocol you know what I mean while our opponents are in the dark. It's a highly versatile system that can be applied without too much explanation."

"It's important to keep in mind that some Pokémon have natural abilities as well. For that reason, Staravia is always a Mover because it has wings. An Onix is a Brute by nature because of its hard body. Keep that in mind."

Ralts was staring at the chips bag, guess I was losing her attention.

I moved the cursor over the screen and a video playlist popped up.

"Now let's play a game. I'll show you a Pokémon move and you guess to which class it belongs to. If you get it right, you can take a potato chip...and eat it!"

Ralts nodded eagerly, was she drooling?

I pressed the spacebar and a video began playing.

An Absol was fighting a Lopunny, the Absol lunged forward and used Bite.

I paused the video.

Ralts showed me the Brute card.

I tossed her a potato chip and she caught it, she put it in her mouth and began chewing on it with a smug smile.

A video of Litten using FlameThrower.

The Blaster card was pushed forward.

Another potato chip was added to Ralts' body mass.

A Diglett using dig.

Ralts gave me the Stranger card.

We went on like this the entire rainy day, I explained her ways to deal with every class and things to look out for.

Being from another world I had a vast amount of otherworldly knowledge.

I had watched all kinds of movies and series, played games and studied the underlying mechanics.

The current system I had taught Ralts was not complete, moves like Destiny Bond had no clear classification for example. The original version was from Worm and had 12 different classes but I managed to narrow it down to a manageable 6 classes.

I had considered using the Fate series servant classes but their archetypes were too broad for this world.

And this was just today's lesson.

My team would become the best in the universe, and not just in raw power.

I want my future team to be able to fight and think for themselves if necessary.

And with my knowledge of thousands of fictional universes;

There is no limit.