“Well let’s not start with dark types but with the areas that are of route.” I started. ”But before we move into that let me introduce myself. I’m Iruni Inei, a lab trainer under Professor Birch. I worked at the lab for three years and I’m an aspiring dark type specialist.” I started.

“As you all probably know trainers starting out are heavily discouraged from going of route. Can someone tell me why?” I ask the class at large. A few timid hands raise into the air and I pick one at random.

“Ehm, because strong Pokemon live there?”

“Well, yes. It’s not the complete answer but the fundamental. During my stay at the lab I patrolled the outlying woods near Littleroot town. Something you can do after a few badges for extra money, depending on the town you are in. In fact, let me introduce you to my starter first. Please stay quiet and do not, under no circumstance try to pet my Pokemon.” I said sternly, receiving confused nods in return. At the side Roxanne and Oak on the screen looked intrigued where I was going with this.

“Come on out girl!” I call when I opened Absol’s Pokeball. As she left the Pokeball she looked around, back to me and started grooming herself. ‘Wow, girl. You are a real ice queen sometimes.’

“Who can tell what Pokemon she is?” I ask. Because why not, it gives me flashbacks to those commercial breaks in the anime. I picked another student this time.

“I think they are called Absol?” the student more asks then states. I chuckle.

“Yes this is an Absol. They are really rare, even here in Hoenn. I found her during one of my patrols. I was patrolling with a Poochyena and a Zigzagoon at the time and it was my first solo patrol. As you can guess it was not the best partner up there is. We heard a lout noise and checked it out and nearly stumbled into a turf war between Seviper and Zangoose.” the class collectively inhaled.

“Yes you understand that this wasn’t the ideal situation. After retreating I found Absol wounded a bit away from the action. As you can see she is fine now, but it was a close call. This anecdote should tell you why going off route can be dangerous and even ‘safe’ routes can be also at times. Because the woods I was patrolling should not have housed those Pokemon.” I finished the story.

“Now we have established that live outside of the safe routes can be dangerous. Some Pokemon need to hunt, this is more often than not true for dark types. Can someone can name me two species who hunt and who don’t hunt respectively? Absol excluded.”

Cue silence. I sigh. “This is important! You need to know which Pokemon hunt, not only which dark types do. If you are travelling you need to know when hunting Pokemon are nearby, they could always wander into the route.” I explain.

“Now the two examples would be the Mightyena and Shiftry line. While you won’t see the Poochyena hunting bigger Pokemon, they usually target lone Zigzagoon. Mightyena on the other hand hunt in packs of both other Mightyena and Poochyena. And that’s the important part. They hunt.” ‘Hm, they don’t get it.’

“In other words they need to eat, so they need to hunt. Rarely you see then killing for the fun of it, that happens more often in areas where other strong Pokemon reside. Think of bullies, they won’t try to bully stronger people only weaker ones. That can happen and it happens more often to dark types. Now where does that leave us?”

“Simple. Dark types are not inherently bad, evil, untrustworthy. They follow their own rules most of the time and are often a product of their environment. For that I have two examples. The first is the Mightyena pack that protects the lab and with which I worked closely for three years. Sure, they hunt from time to time it’s their instinct but they never bullied the Pokemon staying at the ranch and patrolled with us.” I state.

“The other example is from Johto.” Cue raising eyebrows from Professor Oak. “My father found proof that the Sneasel line behaved very different in Ice Path and the forests surrounding Mt. Silver. In the first they are the dominant hunter, while in the second they are not. Around Mt. Silver they often play a bit with their food and defend their territory extremely hard. Thus are deemed aggressive, although to be fair you should never walk into a Pokemon nest.” I said.

“Sadly I only just started my journey and can’t tell you about other species of dark types yet. Important would be the Crawdaunt and Sharpedo line for those to want to explore the open waters. To sum this up. Yes be a bit wary of dark types, no matter what to do ask for permission. So questions?” I finish my impromptu lesson.

Professor Oak clears his throat on the video call. “You wouldn’t happen to be related to Frank Inei? The author of a certain behaviour paper?” I chuckle.

“Yes that is my father, he currently works for Professor Birch.”

“Thank you for the clarification.” to Roxanne he said. “Until next week then, I will have to double check some things about dark types in my lecture.” He chuckles and his screen goes dark. I recall Absol, not wanting to risk it.

“Well you heard Iruni. Questions?” said Roxanne. One guy in the back timidly raises his hand and I gesture to him.

“W-what would y-you recom-commend to consider when adding a d-dark type to y-your team?”

“Hm, that depends on the species. The Shiftry line are proud warriors that are relentless on their foes or invaders. For the carnivore species you NEED to let them hunt, otherwise resentment can build. I heard of Pokemon outright leaving trainers although that is rare. Dark types are not easy to raise.” I explain and the student nods.

The rest of their class goes on with a Q&A about almost everything. I had to restrict some questions, like why the hell is it relevant if I had a girlfriend!? Overall the class ended in a good mood. After they filled out of the room I turned to Roxanne.

“Sorry to just take over your lesson. I originally wanted to watch and ask for a reservation at the end of your class.” I said awkwardly. She just chuckles.

“No problem, the students learnt something. That’s important. You definitely have potential to give lectures in the future though. Now regarding that spot, why did you not just check our website?” She asked confused. I looked back equally confused.

“Nurse Joy told me to come here? I thought it was a bit weird, but didn’t question it further.”

“Ugh, she really needs to stop doing that. Thankfully she only does that sometimes or we wouldn’t be able to hold class.” she sighs.

“Sadly for you the earliest spot is in three weeks I think. I would have to check, but this early in the circuit it’s hectic around here.”

“Three weeks, huh.” I muse while rubbing my chin. “Damn, I would be ready in five days or so. And I really want to avoid backtracking…” I grumble. Roxanne just looked pensive, but came to a decision a few moments later.

“You know what? As thanks for helping out with your lecture we can do the following.” I perked up at that. “My next class with them would be a battle class where they battle with loaned Pokemon. How about we do our match then?”

“How would that work?”

“I will have another teacher take the referee spot and I always have Pokemon on hand, especially for the first tier challenges.”

“Alright, I accept. I don’t know if I can win but if I can skip three weeks worth of wait…” I said. Now I should explain what she meant with first tier challenge. It’s simple gym leader change their Pokemon depending on how many badges or other allocates you have. It is possible to have two badges but be facing a forth tier line up. This is because the matches are meant to be challenging.

When the break was over I found myself standing on a battlefield made up of packed dirt with bleachers a bit away where the students where seated. ‘Hm, I would bet that the one in the gym has boulders in it. Better for me if it’s like this.’ I muse while observing the field. I released Seedot by my side, earning a raised eyebrow from Roxanne.

“Seedot won’t battle, he isn’t cleared by nurse Joy.” I explained to which she nods. I lower my voice to Seedot. “Stay with me in the Trainer box and observe, maybe you can pick some things up. It doesn’t hurt to see a gym battle.” Seedot nods seriously.

This narrative has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. If you see it on Amazon, please report it.

The referee clear his throat. “This will be a standard first tier gym battle. Both trainers will use two Pokemon and only the challenger is allowed one switch. Are both trainers ready?”

We both affirmed. “Release you Pokemon in three! Two! One! Now!”

“Go Geodude.” On Roxanne’ s side of the field a Geodude appeared and shouted out it’s name. Smashing it’s fists together it looked ready for battle.

“It’s time to hunt Poochyena.” Corny? Yes, but it works fine as a coded message.

My Poochyena on the other hand appeared on the field and looked like it is in the zone, with a small smirk on it’s lips, knowing what’s to come.

“START!” came the signal.

My Poochyena directly started snarling and smirking towards the Geodude, which looked up irritated at Poochyena.

“Geodude Defense Curl!” Geodude started making it’s way towards Poochyena with the promise of pain in it’s eyes. Poochyena apparently hit a nerve. Roxanne was confused for a moment, which my Poochyena exploited by howling. In the corner of my eyes I saw a collective shudder running through the students.

Roxanne suddenly widened her eyes. “Fine, Rollout Geodude!”

“Geo.Gedude!” came from the boulder. It smirked back at my Poochyena and rolled up in a ball. It picked up speed, but circled wide to pick up more. That worried my and I saw my Poochyena looked like it didn’t know what to do. To be fair it is the first time it saw the move.

“Wait for it, it will come to you. You will need to time your dodge right and the use your training over the last days!” I called out, now way I would kill the surprise when Poochyena knows what i meant.

Poochyena nodded looked concentrated to the rolling boulder. Tensing it’s legs to be ready to dodge at a moments notice.

“Now Geodude you have enough speed to squash that little dog!” called Roxanne, further motivating her Pokemon. Somehow Geodude got even faster and approached Poochyena like a shot from a professional soccer player. I widened my eyes and looked panicked at my Pokemon.

Poochyena narrowed it’s eyes and lightly jumped up to loosen it’s stance from the vibrations, that Geodude caused. When it landed it immediately jumped to the right with a silver glowing tail and swung it into Geodudes path.

“Poochyena! Pooch!” cried my Pokemon, though the second one was in pain. It didn’t come out unscathed, with Geodude’s velocity.

“Dude!” cried the Geodude at the same time. It was forced out of it’s roll flying with flaying arms towards a collision course with the ground. It proved why it is a gym Pokemon by trying to use Harden before the collision, but our taunt prevented that.

Crash.

A small tremor shook the field. Poochyena stood up on shaky legs, while Geodude stayed down.

“Close in and finish it with Bite!” I called smelling the blood, not literally of course. Poochyena had the same idea and ran towards Geodude with a gleeful expression and dark gleaming fangs at the ready.

Just before Poochyena got to the Geodude, Roxanne called out a move. “Turn 180 and fire a Mudslap Geodude!”

Geodude rammed its right hand into the ground “GEO!” and pulled while rotating, causing a small torrent of mud to fly up. “DUDE!”

Poochyena took the Mudslap directly to the face and spluttered, I quickly called out. “Keep running and charge Iron tail!” Poochyena continued running after the stutter due to Geodude’s attack. His tail gleamed a steady silver, promising pain to whoever took it.

Roxanne just smirked. “Tackle it to finish it off Geodude!” Geodude puffed up and took of towards my Poochyena. Right arm raised, left one cooked back to add a downwards spin to the Tackle.

When they where almost upon each other I called out. “Iron tail from the right flank!”

Poochyena jumped slightly up and turned counter clock wise in the air adding momentum

to the Iron Tail. Which hit Geodude right in its face.

“Geo!” cried Roxanne’s Pokemon surprised. It quickly hit the ground.

“Are you alright Geodude?” asked Roxanne worried.

“Dude…” Geodude clearly wanted to get up but fell back.

“Geodude is unable to battle! Poochyena is the winner!”

My little Poochyena puffed it chest up as if he just won the championship. Which looked a bit funny with mud coating his face.

“Geodude return! You did great out there.” She said to the Pokeball then she looked up and eyed me. I did not like THAT look. Sure enough she did not select the next ball on her belt but reached into her bag and pulled out another Pokeball. Which revealed a Nosepass. Though that one probably was not a tier one Pokemon.

“The Poochyena knocked out Geodude, do not underestimate it!” called Roxanne in preparation for the battle.

Nosepass nodded and spun it’s arms causing a wiring sound to emerge, as if you charge a dynamo.

“Nosepass versus Poochyena! Start!”

“Thunder Wave Nosepass” The spinning arms stopped pointed towards Poochyena, causing an ark of electricity to fly towards my Pokemon.

“Taunt!” But my command came way to late and Poochyena took the full Thunderwave.

“Poooch!” cried Poochyena as his muscles locked up due to the Attack.

Looking at my Poochyena I saw with horror that I forgot that his face had still mud on it and Poochyena would not be able to see. I inspected the Nosepass too long.

“Follow up with Take Down!” Oh shit. Nosepass propelled itself forwards somehow gaining speed on it’s course to Poochyena.

“Poochyena dodge right. NOW!” Poochyena did manage to hop to the right, but one leg locked up. That caused to jump to come short and the landing to be weird. Nosepass just corrected his course and hit Poochyena fully.

“Yena!” cried Poochyena, out like a light after landing.

“Nosepass wins! Please present your next Pokemon challenger!” I returned my Pokemon and spoke lowly to the ball.

“You did well out there Poochyena.” Time to confirm something. “Which tier is that Nosepass, second?” I ask suspecting being upped on the tier. Roxanne just chuckles.

“No, third tier. I felt like you needed the challenge.” I widened my eyes. ‘Son of a b….’ I swore internally. Of course I’m not only taking the gym challenge before my training is complete, I also have to fight two tiers higher than normal.

“Challenger, please present your Pokemon. You have thirty seconds left until you forfeit!”

Nodding to the referee I took Absol’s Pokeball in my hand and spoke to it.

“You will be fighting a really strong one. It already took out Poochyena, so be ready.”

Tossing the ball onto the field I call out. “Shut it down Absol!” I really don’t want to deal with Thunderwave again. Absol appeared on the field and looked over the Nosepass. She was clearly not impressed and harrumphed while turning up her nose. Nosepass just narrowed it’s eyes in response.

“Start!” shouted the referee.

Absol immediately snarled at the Nosepass while still have the look of superiority on her face. The eyes of Nosepass got even narrower but didn’t rush forward like Geodude. ‘Third tier indeed.’

“Quick Attack into Iron Tail!” I started out the match, Roxanne should already know that Absol knows Iron Tail.

Absol focused on the battle and gleamed white. Then she just disappeared for a moment.

“Wait for it and hit with Spark when Absol shows herself!” Roxanne called out. Nosepass started spinning his arms again.

I saw a flash close to Nosepass and hoped that I was in time. “Abort the Iron Tail Absol! Feint Attack!” Absol appeared directly above Nosepass with her tail gleaming silver, she widened her eyes when she saw the sparks flowing along

A nice quirk of Faint attack is that it diverts the attention of the enemy. That caused the spark to hit the ground in behind of Nosepass, letting Absol hitting it cleanly with Feint Attack. Absol hopped back out of Nosepass’s Spark range and readied herself for more offence.

“Now Iron Tail!” I shouted, motivated by Absol’s successful attack.

“Rock Tomb on yourself Nosepass!” Called out Roxanne in response.

Rocks appeared above Nosepass, out of Absol’s field of view. She charged the Nosepass and spun to hit with an Iron Tail. And what an Iron Tail she landed, but before she could back off the rocks came crushing down, hitting Absol and she cried out in pain.

“Absol.Sol!” she shouted, as if to say ‘Do some dumbass!’ I then saw Nosepass rotating it’s arms again and quickly reacted.

“Quick attack out of there!” Absol managed to evade the Spark attack with Quick attack but hobbled a bit afterwards. She grimaced when she finally steadied herself. Roxanne saw that and called out the safe option for her, correctly guessing that Absol doesn’t know any range moves.

“Rock Throw Nosepass!”

“Pass!” With a grunt Nosepass began to fire rock after rock at Absol, though they were thankfully not very fast. Absol started to weave in between the rocks and managed to not get hit. Roxanne saw that and switched tactics.

“Harden into Spark! Get close!” Nosepass shined and electricity crackled along it’s exterior while it charged across the field. The whole time spinning it’s arms to add more electricity to it’s charge. ‘Damn that will be a problem.’

“No matter what, don’t let it hit you Absol!” I shouted in absence of another option, as Iron Tail would fry her and I don’t think she could pull of another Faint Attack with that leg. Absol performed a weird dance with Nosepass, as it could only charge readjust and charge again. It lagged the agility to really hit Absol, it’s earlier Rock Tomb paid dividends however.

Absol landed awkwardly on her injured leg and was clearly not fast enough to evade again. Nosepass charged faster than before, it looked like it was glad the cat and mouse was finally over.

Absol just watched the incoming Nosepass with determination in her eyes. I saw that and just shouted: “Do what you think is best!” Absol pulled herself up at that and focused by closing her eyes.

Nosepass was almost on her, when her eyes snapped open and her paw out. The paw was radiating a black cloud that could only be described as malicious. Absol struck the Nosepass first and flung it away, but not without being zapped hard by the Spark.

Absol and Nosepass both hit the ground and Roxanne and I watched with bated breaths. The referee looked very closely at both Pokemon. Shuddering and clearly in pain, Absol managed to stand up. Nosepass did not. Looking closer I saw something lying on the ground and it clicked. Absol just performed Knock Off and Nosepass lost it’s Magnet. Thus reducing the Spark Attack’s power and letting Absol win the round.

“Nosepass is unable to battle! The challenger wins!”

I ran to Absol and embraced her. “You did amazing Absol! You are the best!” Absol preened and grimaced in pain directly after.

“Take a rest, expect a fine cut of meat when you get back from nurse Joy.” I smile at her, she threw me a look as if that was the lowest she would get. ‘My poor poor wallet.’ I recalled her and Seedot after that I turned to Roxanne.

“You really went hard. Thank you for the amazing battle, that Nosepass sure was strong.”

She just chuckles. “I think I should say that, you Absol was really interesting. What was the attack she performed before the knockout?”

I answer with taking a knee and pick up the magnet. I present it to her. “That was Knock Off. That’s why Nosepass suddenly lost so much power.”

“That makes sense.” She shook her head. “Here I present you with the Stone Badge and the TM for Rock Tomb.”

I shook her hand. “Thank you. I need to get to the Pokemon Center and the mart. My wallet will cry.” I laugh. She joins in and adds. “Well expect your winnings to be there tomorrow.”

With that I took my leave and hurried to the Pokemon Center, dreading nurse Joy and the shopping trip.