Maybe he isn’t as gross as I remember?

That was Hoshi’s fervent hope as he walked through the Electric Academy’s halls, his girlfriend leading a few steps ahead. It’s natural to exaggerate that sort of thing in hindsight, right? It’s not like he actually did anything; he just has a weirdly-shaped face.

But as much as he repeated the self-assurances, the grunt was still dreading the coming hours.

“Hey Hoshi,” Casca spoke over her shoulder, bringing him back into reality. “You alright? You seem pretty out of it.”

He made a vapid mouth-sound to show he’d heard, then returned to introspection for a long moment. They turned two corners before Hoshi replied, his voice tired. “I’m not really sure, to be honest. I’ve been having this weird nightmare lately, and I got my hand broken over basically nothing, and…” He licked his lips, tasting the slightest hint of sea salt from the breeze coming off the bay on the way over. “I dunno. When I take a step back and look at it big-picture I can see I’m full of shit, but I kind of feel like I’m standing still while stuff just happens to me.”

Casca slowed, and the two walked shoulder-to-shoulder for the length of another hall. Then she spoke quietly into his ear, her tone mixing stormcloud-grey concern with a slightly forced sunlight-yellow cheer. “Hey, everybody gets down sometimes, right? We just finished a really big job, and you don’t know what’s gonna happen next… You’re probably also feeling shitty from getting dunked yesterday, I know I am.” She bumped his hip with her own. “Or you’re having a pre-emptive reaction to the Doc.”

Her comment made him huff out a laugh, and they travelled the rest of the way in comfortable silence.

You know, I’m actually starting to really remember where everything is in this place – horribly confusing architecture and all.

Eventually, after navigating the maze, the two arrived at the standard classroom that they and the other grunts had been using since Hoshi’s induction. The plain, unlabeled door loomed with an air of menace, and his hand slowed in hesitation as he reached for the knob – then the trepidation turned to annoyance.

This is dumb. I’m getting anxious over nothing; he’s going to leer and ogle and talk in his dumb posh accent, but that’s it. I can handle that easy, so what the fuck am I afraid of?

The pulse of anger momentarily washed away his anxiety, and Hoshi pushed forwards. The door opened, he stepped through, took a fraction of a second to pick from among the many empty desks – it seemed only Ryan had arrived before them – and marched forward to sit himself down heavily, all in a rush.

“Mutsu,” Ryan greeted tersely, occupied with arranging several binders on his own desk.

“Sampo,” Hoshi returned, his voice equally flat.

“Meow,” came a richly aged voice from behind the desk, and even after months of lessons Hoshi still had to put effort into not flinching.

The two men turned forward as Casca seated herself to Hoshi’s right, and a moment later the speaker appeared; Meowth the Persian – dressed today in a grey suit and matching bowler-adjacent hat – leapt up onto the desk and sat on his hind paws.

“Meow,” he repeated.

“Good morning, sir,” the three Rocket Grunts replied, voices reasonably in-sync. While Hoshi – and presumably the other grunts, too – had only the vaguest idea of what the Pokémon was actually attempting to communicate, the ritual had gradually evolved into a back-and-forth over the course of the last month. One thing's for sure: he understands what we say, even if the reverse isn’t true.

A minute passed as Hoshi and Casca brought out their own notes, and the very moment he set everything in order Puce and Nerine entered.

“Hello Mister Mutsu, Mister Sampo, Miss Kichi,” the larger woman greeted. “Mister Meowth.”

“Meow.”

“Hey guys,” came Nerine’s more casual greeting. “I heard you got caught up in something, but holy shit, I didn’t think you’d break your arm.”

Her words made Ryan raise his head, and his bright eyes flashed with shock as they took in the cast enclosing Hoshi’s right hand. “What? When could that possibly have happened, we haven’t even received our next assignment!”

Hoshi clenched his jaw silently, leaving it to his girlfriend to relay the disastrous meeting with Dabi to the group. “Oh, Arcus,” she began. “It was this whole thing…”

As she spoke his emotions flip-flopped; phantom twinges in his fist sparking anger, which was quickly replaced by satisfaction as he remembered his subversion of the bipolar asshole’s task, which was further replaced by sick anticipation as he looked ahead to the coming lesson. Gah. I bet half my mood today is being fucking sleep deprived. Fucking cast, fucking dumb nightmare… It wasn’t sensible, was the bit he couldn't wrap his head around; he didn’t even remember the name of the female executive who’d handed him his first loss, so it wasn’t like he was fixated on it or anything. The memories of his Pokémon being blasted with scalding water didn’t elicit any more emotion than he expected, so why did it unsettle his dreams so often? It was dumb.

He tuned back into the conversation as Casca concluded with Kiribo’s teleportation-aided departure, completely skipping their stop at the junkyard.

“A cowboy alakazam?” Nerine commented, raised brows emphasising the subtle bags under her eyes. “I bet that was a trip.”

“Eh,” Hoshi broke in. “It wasn’t actually that interesting? We didn’t even get to see it do anything except teleport away; the guy rushed ahead and did his own thing.”

“Still, that’s a very powerful Pokémon. This Kiribo must be placed highly within the organisation; you would do well to curry his favour.” Ryan’s curls bounced as he gave a sage nod.

Kiss ass with Hypno’s good clone? No way, I’d rather play chicken with a charging tauros. “Tell you what, why don’t you stick around after class, and you can do that.”

The man actually looked like he was considering it. “Hmm, not the worst suggestion, Mutsu. I’ve never met a Rocket Hunter before, and if his surname is any indication-”

He was interrupted as the sixth and final grunt entered the room. Kenny’s steps were wide and animated as he all but flung himself into a chair. “‘Sup.”

“Huh, someone’s in a good mood,” Casca shot his way, and the bald man grinned.

“Why wouldn’t I be? Finally doin’ trainer shit, not all that spy crap.”

Hoshi snorted. “Man, we didn’t do any spying, that was all the girls. You just fought the Gym Leader – and that’s the literal definition of trainer shit.”

“Yeah, well…” Kenny growled. “You wouldn’t know it from how much homework you had us doin’. Wasn’t useful at all, either.”

Hoshi’s nostrils flared, but he managed to release his building rancour with a hiss, rather than a screech. “You’ve gotta plan for failure, Menard. Otherwise you come off as a dumbass.” He turned away, staring at the empty whiteboard as the anger ebbed away. Fuck. You know, maybe if I started treating everything like the job, I wouldn’t do so much dumb shit…

…Nah, I can’t be taking two months to plan out every little thing. Not enough hours in the day.

Puce’s youthful voice cut the tension. “I thought it was useful… I can imagine panicking really bad in a version of that day where I didn’t have the guard schedules mem- uh, mostly memorised.”

Kenny grunted back, neither conceding nor arguing. “Whatever. I’m glad it’s over, anyway.”

Hoshi’s mood lightened again as the banter turned to other topics. Ryan monologued about his dragon’s progress, Casca expressed a desire to take Nerine and Puce to Moonside and pestered Kenny about his bike…

And then he finally rejoined as the talk turned towards their new Pokémon. “Yeah, they all seem to be getting along pretty well.” His free hand traced across his belt, fingers ghosting along the three balls. “Crow doesn’t really like how loud the other two can be, though. I’m not sure if I should get her a separate enclosure, or try and get the more excitable girls to calm things down…”

“A mankey, a slowpoke, a venonat…” Ryan commented with a shake of his head. “Somehow, that is simply too fitting. Perhaps I should acquire a kingambit, and complete the set.”

Hoshi didn’t know the Pokémon the blond was referring to, but he did see the opening. “Really? I think a glameow would be a better comparison.”

Ryan glowered, but his eyes sparkled with a sheen of amusement. “Alas, I have no comeback for that – any other comparison I could make pales before reality.”

That drew a few snorts, but before they could start up again the door opened.

Jesse and James entered the room without a hint of showmanship, and Hoshi’s eyes widened. Wow, I never seen them look tired before. The two split up to dodge through the field of desks, and in the ten or so seconds it took for them to place themselves at the front of the room some of their customary energy had returned.

“Hello, students!” James started.

“Today was going to be a thorough accounting of you magnificent victory last week-”

“And we will be getting to that at some point!”

“-But a few things have piled up on our end.” Jessie’s nose wrinkled. “The odious agents of the Indigo League have already started turning the pressure up now that the Moltres situation is resolved, so we’ll be passing today’s lesson to one of our illustrious Rocket Professors.”

“Yes! Please come in, good Doctor!”

There was a quiet slap from behind the desk, accompanied by a grunt of exertion – hah, I knew there was a trap door back there somewhere! – and the short, bulbous figure of Kim Kimigawa emerged. Having just seen the man’s nephew the other day, the differences between them were stark.

I definitely wasn't mis-remembering the leer. Ugh, I really hope I don’t make a face like that when I look at women… or anything else, for that matter.

The man’s grey-flecked eyes trailed from one grunt to the next, his tongue very nearly lolling. “Hoo, quite the trek up from my laboratories. More strenuous than I remembered!”

“Such is the price of luxury!” Jessie commented.

“And security!” James finished. “Thank you again for volunteering, Doctor. We’re positively swamped.”

“Meow.”

The scientist wiped his brow with a handkerchief. “No trouble, no trouble…” Then he turned to the assembled ‘students,’ his omnipresent smile widening. “Thank my nephew, he suggested it. Now, shall I begin?”

“Yes, we’ll be off,” James said, and the two Senior Executives stepped behind the desk as their persian stood and stretched.

Twin waves. “Please be good for the good Doctor now,” Jessie concluded, and then they – hugged each other and… started to spin?

Hoshi’s face stretched with incredulity as the two descended smoothly, spinning all the while. It’s like they’re damn cartoon characters going down a giant toilet. What even-?

“Meow,” Meowth bid farewell, and then he leapt behind the desk as well.

Hoshi stood. I have to know, he thought. Discarding decorum to whip forward, he stepped around the expansive desk a moment after Meowth’s tail disappeared to see – nothing.

No, I refuse. There’s a sensible answer here. He went down on his knees, pawing the floor. No conspicuous seams, no hollow noise then he rapped it with his fist. “What the fuck? How?” Teleportation? Some high-tech transporter thing? Or is it actually just a trap door, and it’s really well hidden..?

A cleared throat came from above, and Hoshi looked up into Doc Hypno’s pudgy chin. “If I may begin, Senior Grunt?” he asked, tapping the floor with his cane.

Hoshi’s face warmed. He stood, muttering an apology as he made his way back to his desk. “Yeah, sorry…” Theatrical bullshit. There’s a trick there, and I want to know it.

The doctor tapped his cane again. “Wonderful. Let me just get my notes, and… Oh, fiddlesticks.” The rotund man rummaged in his labcoat, then the second, more high-class garment underneath. “Did I leave them..?”

A muffled “Meow,” sounded out from behind the desk, and then a dozen sheets of paper exploded up from the obscured space. Hypno’s face went sour as he watched them drift to the floor, scattering around the front of the room.

“…Thank you, sir.”

Another meow, even more muffled, and the Doctor sighed – and Hoshi suppressed the urge to check behind the desk a second time. It wouldn’t have changed. Maybe if I come in after everyone leaves with some tools..?

…No, forget about it. They’d make me pay for tearing it up, at the very least.

The doctor laboriously gathered up his notes, stacked them neatly, and then cleared his throat a second time. “There we are. Now…” He turned forward. “I am Doctor Hypno, but please call me Doc. Today, I will be speaking about a number of topics. Pokémon breeding, the manner that they are stored within Pokéballs, their elemental affinities and special abilities… But all of these subjects share a common, underlying fact which unites them.

“That fact is this: Pokémon are primarily composed of a special sort of energy, similar but distinct from the matter that makes up most ordinary materials. While they may use these mundane materials – rock, metal, flesh and bone – within their bodies as well, their essence is of something entirely different.”

He began to pace, and Hoshi begrudgingly switched into note-taking mode. Yeah, just ignore him – focus on the words, not the mouth they’re coming from.

“There are other forms of life which use this special energy, most notably the fruiting plants used to produce Potions and other Pokémon-centric medicines, but I’ll leave that matter for a separate lecture. As life begins in the womb, let us also begin there – with the matter of Pokémon breeding, and its practical applications for trainers.”

Hoshi grimaced as the emphasis the man placed on the word slithered through his eardrums, but his pen moved to record it nonetheless.

“Pokémon,” Hypno continued in his smooth voice, “Do not pass on their genes in the form of DNA, as humans and other animals do. Their genes are encoded in what is called EPI; Energetically-Printed Information. The pattern of this information encodes not only the physical structure the Pokémon’s cells need to replicate, as DNA provides for us, but also the moves that said Pokémon will learn naturally as it ages – and, this means that it varies based on a specific specimen’s parentage.”

“Egg moves,” Ryan chimed in, and the doctor pointed with his cane.

“Just so!” His speech began to take on a more manic tone. “A Pokémon with a peculiar father might be born knowing some moves unnatural to its species – and I’m sure you all know that Pokémon may breed outside of their species, something rare in DNA-based life.” Please, stop saying the word breed. “This is also the mechanism that allows the use of Technical Machines; by inserting a specific signature into a Pokémon’s form while it slumbers within a ball, they can be made to instantly learn moves without manual training. One might say that the machine becomes a third parent, inserting the information of a new move the way viruses insert their genetic structure into our own, human essence.”

Unauthorized duplication: this narrative has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

This time, his tongue did loll. “And much like a viral infection, overuse of TMs can result in… damage. Try not to overindulge.”

Hoshi scribbled furiously as the doctor continued, expounding on the way Pokémon used their stores of energy to express moves, how it was diminished and replenished, how it related to evolution… His left hand began to cramp up, not used to writing, and he was forced to record with short snippets that would no doubt become gibberish within a week as his memory failed. Damn it, talk slower..!

Then the scientist dipped into his own personal history with the subject. Studying the breeding habits of ghosts in Lavender, attempting to create something not completely dissimilar to the Pokémon Storage System using radio waves, being recruited onto a military team as the war began… “Yes,” he intoned, “Cinnabar Labs… It seems almost unbelievable in hindsight; Oak, Fuji, Blaine, all the brightest minds in Kanto gathered together into a handful of stuffy rooms. The miracles we created…”

Hypno paused, seemingly enraptured by his mind’s eye, and the spell was only broken when Kenny raised his hand to speak. “Was Bill there?”

Instantly the doctor’s face contorted. “Bill,” he said. “Bill,” he spat.

For a moment Hypno’s expression became rancorous; his teeth clenched and his eyes bugged out so hard Hoshi was afraid they would pop right out of his skull. “Bill was in Johto, Kenny,” he muttered quickly to his subordinate. “He was the enemy.” He looks like he’s having an Arc-damned heart attack. Should somebody..?

Then the strangely-shaped man calmed some, his leering smile returning. “No,” he said, voice once again smooth – though not quite as much as before. “Bill was not there. Hoo hoo hoo, can you even imagine? Adding that perversion to the room…”

Hoshi blinked, pen completely still.

“Ah,” Hypno continued, completely glossing over the absurd sentence he’d just uttered. “But perhaps that would have… Anyway! At Cinnabar Labs I turned my attentions and considerable expertise towards a new field, the intersection of human biology with that of Pokémon.”

…Is he implying..?

Casca spoke for the first time since the man had entered the room. “Is that like..? Those old legends about people marrying Pokémon from up north?”

He dismissed her with a wave of his cane. “No, don’t be silly – though I suppose the comparison is apt in a metaphorical sort of way.” The length of wood spun in his hand in a show of dexterity Hoshi wouldn’t have attributed to the unhealthy-looking man, and he turned on his heel to resume pacing. “Deoxyribonucleic life holds its own unique features that energetic life cannot replicate. On that tiny island, nestled within the bosom of an active volcano, we sought to… yes, hoo hoo, to marry the two. Create a new type of life, with all the strengths and none of the weaknesses.” His voice gradually regained the manic energy that had flowed before the interruption. “If we had succeeded – think of the implications! Instant healing for humanity, as we can already accomplish for Pokémon. Instant travel as energy patterns, the strength and durability of energetic life without the accompanying weakness to opposing types, the ability to pass learned knowledge directly from parent to child, from machine to man and back again…”

His shoes screeched in pain as he spun, leaving black marks on the hardwood. “And we almost did it! No, we did do it! Project Two created a proper hybrid, it was only…” Hypno froze, his hand continuing to idly spin his cane as the rest of him was completely still, and a moment of absolute silence passed before he spoke again. “...Well, the particulars of that are a bit outside the bounds of today’s lesson. Let’s see, where was I…”

He paged through his notes, and the grunts took the opportunity to share uncertain looks. What the fuck was that? they communicated without speaking.

“Here we are… Oohoo, special abilities! Now, I was particularly shocked when my nephew mentioned you grunts weren’t familiar with the concept, but perhaps he was mistaken. Can anyone tell me what that term refers to?”

Ryan raised his hand. “Sir, I believe you’re referring to unique features of certain Pokémon species – for instance the resistance to self-imposed impact damage that many rock and ground types exhibit.”

Hoshi frowned. Is that..? Necessarily a special ability? If they have hard heads, then they won’t take damage from hitting things hard; that’s just common sense.

“Just so!” Hypno exclaimed. “Special abilities are, as you might guess from their inclusion in this lecture, yet another manifestation of EPI – and as such they can vary from one individual to the next, even within species.” He shook his head. “Ah, I’ve been trying to get our version of the Pokédex to detect them, but… Well, moving on. Let me give an example!”

He plucked one paper from the stack and affixed it to the board with adhesive putty. As he stepped away, Hoshi recognised the Pokémon shown on the two different photographs. That’s… azumarill, the evolved form of marill. He searched through his assembled knowledge of the Pokémon. What would its ability be… I’ve seen the pre-evolved form once or twice, but I don’t recall anything worthy of being called special…

“Azumarill,” Doc Hypno confirmed with a tap of his cane, “Is a Pokémon with three very distinct abilities. This one on the left, as you can see, has a svelte physique… while the one on the right more resembles my own self, hoo hoo!” He patted his belly, leering self-deprecatingly. “These are expressions of the special abilities known colloquially as huge power and thick fat. Unfortunately the third, much rarer ability – sap sipper – has no physical expression to be conveniently illustrated.”

He resumed pacing. “The muscular azumarill is capable of expressing physical strength beyond what its body should be capable of; indeed, the difference in appearance is almost entirely aesthetic, only useful as a…” He licked his lips noisily. “Sexual display. The other is similar; though it does indeed have large deposits of subcutaneous fat, its entire body is oddly resistant to extremes of heat and cold, including the effects of fire and ice type moves. The third ability allows the subject to absorb grass type energy, completely negating what would otherwise be a weakness.”

Hoshi’s pen moved across the page, recording every word despite the building cramp. Okay, I take back all the trepidation from earlier; this is worth any amount of creepy looks.

“Pokémon may in rare cases have more than one ability,” the doctor continued, “But this is limited. Though certain azumarill have been observed to pair sap sipper with one of the others, attempts to breed a line possessing both power and fat have completely failed. Now, do I have..? Yes, here they are…”

He drew six additional sheets from the stack, placing them on the desk. “I’ve taken the liberty of compiling a list of abilities shown by the Pokémon you were gifted upon your initiation. Please come forward and collect them.”

Hoshi was standing before he’d consciously processed the man’s words – and yet he was still slower than Ryan, who was already taking a step away from his desk. The grunts, one-by-one, retrieved the printouts with their Pokémon’s species written across the top.

Hand nearly shaking in anticipation, Hoshi reseated himself. How could there be an entire facet of Pokémon training I’ve been ignorant of? That seems- that seems completely absurd! And Ryan knew about it? After a moment to compose himself, Hoshi remained baffled – and decided to voice his question aloud, if in a slightly less self-centred fashion. “Doctor, you said you were surprised we didn’t know about this. Are special abilities common knowledge?” They can’t be – Surge would have said something during all the training sessions I had with him.

The man lifted a finger and opened his mouth, but then closed it as his lips turned down in a frown. His heavy eyelids narrowed further in thought, and he hummed for a moment before replying. “Well, perhaps I’m overestimating the modern educational system…”

“I was taught about abilities over the course of my studies,” Ryan chimed in, and then Puce raised her hand.

“Um, I think I heard about something like that in reform school..? I know enough that koffing is immune to ground, at least, even though it isn’t flying type…”

Hypno tapped his cane. “Ah, that right there – that is perhaps the most salient argument for why abilities are a…” His tongue rolled from cheek to cheek, disgustingly visible under the thin, clammy skin. “Niche area of knowledge. The common man sees a pikachu paralyse an enemy on contact, and assumes they used Thunder Wave. Or that a pidgey’s ability to accurately strike an opponent through a cloud of dust is due to mere experience in creating such conditions. Abilities are easily mistaken for other phenomena – features of a Pokémon’s mundane biology, a learned skill, or the use of an obscure move to name a few. Magnemite hovers with much greater ease than koffing, and yet it is not immune to ground type attacks – but many people believe it is, because such a thing is intuitively persuasive, and ground attacks tend not to reach very high as a rule.”

He moved back to the pinned photographs, gesturing at them. “If you saw the azumarill on the left heft a boulder, would you not think ‘Of course it can do that, look at its muscles!’ before anything else? If you found the other while walking around in a blizzard, would you not point to its blubber as the most reasonable explanation for its seeming comfort?” The doctor tapped his cane again. “Yes, now that I think of it, it’s not surprising that the knowledge hasn’t trickled down too far… I suppose I’ve been around other scientists for too long, and I’ve forgotten what the life of a layman is like, hoo hoo!” Following the laugh came a quiet mutter, and Hoshi strained his ears to hear. “I still can’t believe Oak was the one to crack it… Always the least talented when it came to pure theory and code…”

A third tap, his voice returning to normal. “Well, I’ll give you a moment to peruse those – and to rest my legs! Whoo…”

The scientist picked his own empty desk to sit in, and Hoshi finally – it had been less than a minute since he’d received it, yet the word still seemed appropriate – read the contents of his sheet.

Rattata… Damn, this is actually pretty dense. It was definitely something written by and for an academic; there were whole paragraphs Hoshi could barely understand. But if I’m reading right… Rattata has the special ability to flee from battle?

That didn’t seem very useful, especially since he could just return Guts to her Pokéball for the same effect. Wait, there’s more. Ah, extra power when physiologically distressed? That sounds a lot better. And… another power boost, but with some kind of drawback? He squinted at a long paragraph, nine-tenths of which was jargon about energy patterns.

“Yo, what the fuck even is this?” Kenny said, also squinting at his paper. “Something about the weather? ‘S unreadable, is this even Kantonese?”

Ryan sighed, beckoning the man. “Pass it here.” Kenny did so, and the blond scanned the page for thirty seconds. “Your sandshrew has two potential abilities; either it will be faster in a sandstorm, or more evasive.” He passed it back, and Kenny once again squinted at the dense text.

“Where does it say..? Whatever, I believe ya.” He put the sheet down. “Seems like two ways of sayin’ the same thing, though.”

Hoshi attempted to return to his own paper, but gave up within ten seconds. Bah. I got the gist of it; that’s the important part. His eyes went to Hypno, who was seemingly napping. Can’t even ask him about it. “So, what did the rest of you get?”

Nerine answered first. “Tomato can shed his skin to cure health problems.” She shrugged. “I already knew that without this thing. He’ll get intimidate when he evolves – or maybe unnerve.”

“I don’t believe they would know what those particular abilities do, Nerine,” Ryan commented. “Though I’m surprised you do. I doubt you’ve gone through higher education given your age, so where did you learn such things?”

The girl shrugged again, also turning her attention to Hypno for a moment before digging in her backpack. “I have an uncle who’s really into poison types. I guess you went to a fancy school or something?”

“No – well yes, but my knowledge comes from my own family, rather than any institution. You could say I have been trained to be a trainer.” Then he, too, turned towards the sleeping doctor. “Although it seems our instructor for the day has not been trained to be a teacher. This is highly unprofessional.”

Nerine replied by opening a bag of chips and popping a handful in her mouth. “Whatever. You think we can just go?”

Hoshi glanced at his watch. “Still an hour out from where we usually end. What about the rest of you, any luck puzzling these shitty papers out?”

“Candy can recover from poisons and stuff really fast,” Casca immediately replied. A sly smile crossed her face as she used her sheet to fan herself. “Though I’m cheating a little bit; I’ve seen it in action. She can also glow, but I’m questioning who typed these things out – that doesn’t seem like a special power at all.”

Hoshi turned to Puce, who cringed. “Uh… We already know that Potato can float..?”

Ryan sighed again, repeating his beckoning gesture. A minute later he passed the large woman her sheet back. “Aside from the levitation, your koffing might have the ability to temporarily remove another Pokémon’s own abilities, or create a powerful stench. Honestly, you all need to do a little more reading.”

Fuck off, you fancy-ass prick, Hoshi thought, pushing the fact that they were all currently inside Vermillion’s most prestigious academy to the side. Don’t rub that shit in our faces.

“Hey Hoshi, what about you?” Casca asked. “What can Guts and Crow do?”

Her question made Hoshi aware that he hadn’t even glanced at his second starter’s potential abilities, and he hurriedly skimmed while reading. “Guts can either run away from stuff really well, hit harder when she’s burned or poisoned, or… hit harder but with less accuracy, I think. Crow…” Oh fuck, this is even worse somehow. Energy shit, energy shit… “She can… ignore certain moves.” Which it doesn’t fucking name.

With a third put-upon sigh, Ryan made another grabbing motion, and Hoshi grimaced as he handed his paper over. “Hey, don’t act like you’re above us, ass. I remember you being absolute garbage at construction – almost jackhammered your fucking arms off.”

Ryan’s face coloured. “It was my first day! You’ve been reading since you were a toddler – at least I should hope…”

Rolling his eyes, Hoshi motioned for the man to spit it out.

“Hmm… Ah, this is actually quite technical…” Hah! And right after you said that shit, too! “I believe your zubat can… Ah, she is likely immune to the surprising effect of moves like Bite and Astonish, or able to bypass Light Screen and Reflect.”

“Huh,” Hoshi said, taking the paper back. He skimmed over the text again, completely failing to see how Ryan had parsed it out even now knowing the answer. “That seems useful, if situational. And what about you? What abilities could Jorm have?”

The man crossed his arms, his chin raising as he smirked. “There’s no could to worry about; I negotiated the use of a real Pokédex, and determined Jormungandr’s abilities the very day I obtained him. My Pokémon has two abilities, which protect him from recoil and increase the savagery of certain attacks.”

Kenny groaned, and Hoshi mirrored him in his head. “Come on, that’s bullshit! Why’s your ‘mon gotta always have extra shit going on?”

Ryan’s face emitted smugness like a radioactive cloud, bright green and caustic. “I will repeat myself: I have been trained for this. I’m good at it, I’ve been good at it for a very long time. Leader Archer saw the effort I had put in, and decided to reward that effort – I have, in a way, been a member of Team Rocket for several years already.”

Hoshi and Kenny both grumbled while Puce whined and tried to smooth over the tepid conflict, and a few minutes passed where the grunts talked about nothing important.

Then Nerine finished her chips and balled the empty bag up with a noisy crinkle. “Welp, I’m done. This guy’s not waking up.” She shoved the bag into her oversized backpack and stood. “Shame, too. I wanted to see his hypno. See you later.”

“Wait,” Hoshi said, but any actual reason to stop her failed to appear in his head. We’re obviously not getting a new assignment today, so… Looking to the side, it was obvious Nerine was right; Hypno was dead to the world, quietly snoring as he slumped in his chair. Still a good while before we’re set to meet with Kiribo. “Whatever, you aren’t wrong. But do you not want to stay for a bit, do some training with your new venonat?”

She grunted. “Eh, not today. Sorry. I’m free tomorrow though.” She shrugged again, and as she left Kenny and Ryan stood as well.

“I’ll take you up on that offer, Mutsu,” Ryan challenged. “Fancy a two-on-two, Kaneth with me, Kichi with you?”

“Don’t speak for me, Suit,” Kenny replied. “But sure, I’m in. Savage is pretty strong, but he doesn’t listen too good. Gotta work on that, get ‘im some fighting spirit.”

Hoshi looked to Casca, and received a nod. “Sounds like a plan. Hope you don’t mind if I use Candy though, I haven’t thought to check Quake’s moves or anything.”

He nodded back. “Seems fair enough; two trained Pokémon and two new catches. Puce, you want in on this?”

“Oh, um, sure? I mean- yes! I’d like to train a bit!”

The group of five packed up and made to leave, but as Hoshi passed the sleeping Rocket Professor a spontaneous thought made him consider waking the man. Would it be more polite to wake him up, or let him sleep? If the instructors are stressed, I bet the other high-ranking Rockets are getting it twice as bad…

The sudden stab of empathy bled into his stomach, producing a sick feeling. Ugh. No, I don’t wanna talk to this guy more than necessary. Nature can decide when he wakes up; I’ve got training to do.

Hoshi accelerated past the snoring heap, reaching the door first and pulling it open with none of the hesitation he’d entered with – only to come face-to-face with a very similar figure to the one snoring behind him.

“Senior Grunt!” Kiribo greeted, pulling his hand back from where it had no doubt been reaching for the knob. “What a strange happenstance, that we should meet on the very threshold!” His bulk blocked the door completely; it would have been impossible to squeeze through, even if Hoshi had been willing to do so.

“K- Psychic Hunter. You seem a bit early.”

“Yes, I felt the desire to intrude on my uncle’s lesson – either to demonstrate my partner's own special ability, or simply to observe!” He held his fist in front of his face. “Warriors such as us must keep our minds as sharp as our blades, after all!”

If you could speak at a normal volume, that would be great, Hoshi didn’t say. Instead, he smiled – though it was probably a bit wooden. “Yeah. Sorry, but you missed your chance; the Doc ended the lesson early. We were just leaving, so if you could scoot over a bit…”

“Oh, how unfortunate – or perhaps not!” Hoshi’s face shook with the effort of not grimacing as the man continued to stand right where he was. Don’t you fucking ignore me, you-! “We can begin our hunt a bit early now! I believe I’ve devised a way to keep my partner mentally stimulated even while facing-”

“Actually,” Hoshi interrupted, “Me and my grunts were just about to get some training in. And I…” Do I say it now? Danny wasn’t sure if he could actually make it, and if he doesn’t show up…

“Oi Boss”, Kenny cried from behind. “What’s the holdup? Oh hey, it’s the chestnut guy.”

…Plan for failure, or you’ll look like a dumbass. “I talked to a friend yesterday, a poacher who said he’d be willing to drop off a few abra in exchange for a favour. I’m not sure if he’ll actually show today, but I need to be here if he does. So… sorry, I can’t leave just yet.”

Kiribo blinked, his eyes – an intense shade of orange-brown – losing their sparkle for a moment. Hoshi dared to hope that meant his words had actually penetrated the man’s fat head. “Hmm,” he hummed, drawing the sound out long enough that a film of crimson began to pulse in the corners of Hoshi’s eyes. “Oh hoh, I suppose I’ll simply have to wait for this compatriot of yours! You said something about training? Grand! I shall participate as well!”

He finally stepped aside, and Hoshi bit his tongue to cut off his instinctive response, taking a breath – and a few steps to actually leave the room – first. “Thanks. You can pair with Puce; she’s just caught a psychic type, so I’m sure you’ll get along.”