Carlos wondered for the tenth time tonight. This was Loki’s 3rd and last fight. Loki was running low on TE but Loki smiled darkly, while stalking the Charmander. The match would start in 3…2…1.
“Double Leer! Stay on the defensive, dodge but stay close!” Carlos had to hand it to Loki, his expression of contempt tinged with subtle TE, almost made you feel sorry for the Charmander.
”Scary face into Flamethrower!”
”Endure!” Carlos Countered Immediately.
Carlos face was tense he knew this Charmander had a massive upper hand in levels and effective typing.
The Massive Gout of fire looked impossible to dodge, Loki dodged perfectly. Jumping up, spinning in the air mitigating a massive amount of the effective type damage through his reflexes, high defense and endure. Still, all of that, removed more than half of his health.
Inner focus and Loki’s high utility defense, lowered the 1.2 second duration of Scary face, down to a measly .24 seconds. It meant by the time both Pokemon had recovered scary face’s effect ran out. Knowing now how strong Flamethrower was, the next double leer In Carlos mind, should be enough.
The Charmanders trainer smirked, thinking he had Loki on the ropes, Carlos simply confirmed his assumption with the command: “Double Leer! again!”
“I will outlast you dude! Scary face and Flamethrower, full blast!” Again Loki dodged perfectly, combined with the lack of speed on the Charmander, inflicting a poor aim, this flame thrower was far less effective and noticeably smaller.
”Fuck that must hurt.”
Carlos thought, while waiting for Scary face timer to run out, timing it perfectly, with the flinch of the Charmander move overuse. “Foul play!”
The Charmander’s trainer was shocked when he registered Loki Survived the second flamethrower. ”Oh fuck, inner focus!” The Trainer exclaimed, hearing the command.
Loki red hot from the Fire TE running havoc, ignored his agony and reacted instantly.
Loki’s footwork was subtle and fast, enhanced by dark TE.
A one, two, three! step pirouette, closed to the distance and Loki delivered a sharp uppercut into the Charmander jaw, his blade hand drew a bit of blood slamming the jawshut while the big gout of fire still came out. The fire TE mixing with the dark TE, began burning the poor lizard on the inside. It was a critical strike, as some of the mixed TE, shot into its brain.
The charmander began squirming and howled in agony as the pain wracked its brain.
“Good to know his impish Nature increases flinch durations” Carlos thought while waiting for Loki’s flinch to run its course.
“Double foul play!” Carlos called, once Loki shook off his own flinch from overuse.
He wasn’t going to underestimate Pokemon, definitely not a higher level Charmander.
“I withdraw!” The trainer returned his Charmander quickly. Carlos nodded in approval. This would Allow the TE to disperse naturally and stem the pain the Charmander was in.
”The crowd that had gathered was disappointed the fight was over so quickly. Some of the more innocent looking trainers got a bit squeamish when Carlos command made it clear he was planning to ruthlessly stomp the Charmander into the ground.
”That’s a tough Charmander.” Carlos commented.
Foul play was an interesting move, it almost never did the same thing and it was a very nasty move when used against opponents with super high atk stats.
”Holy shit dude! I didn’t think that Pawniard’s could hit that hard!” The trainer exclaimed still recovering from his loss.
”Foul play sets the TE of your own Pokemon against it, that’s why it hurt your Charmander so badly, his TE must be strong.” Not completely true but Carlos couldn’t blab about stats and give away his Arceus system.
”Next time you might want to use taunt or Aerial ace instead, steel types seem to struggle a lot with mitigating damage when they are under it’s effects and Aerial ace into flame thrower on the other hand would have given your Charmander a massive speed boost, enough for that flamethrower to 2 hit or most likely one hit my Pawniard.”
Carlos shrugged at Loki’s look of betrayal, “sorry buddy, you kicked absolute butt, but we need to teach you swagger as soon as possible with how you fight.”
The fact that both harden and swagger were known in the steel type community as prerequisites for iron defense made that move a no brainer for Loki. Hell Carlos wanted everyone to know iron defense if he could.
After recovering mentally from his loss the trainer straightened himself up. ”Thanks, yea Charmander doesn’t have taunt or Aerial ace yet but it should be no trouble for him. he’s my starter.” He smiled, Carlos smiled likewise and shook his hand. The young man gave him his winnings. “Thanks for the tip, or should I say confirmation I’m training Crimson right.” He smirked at that.
Carlos pushed the notification away, it explained how the Charmander had done as much damage. Also he didn’t want to reminisce on “what if?” in regards to Gawain. He couldn’t do that to the stout badger.
“What brings you to Vermillion city? You don’t strike me as a local.” Carlos asked, making conversation. The small crowd making bets dispersed.
“I came from Pallet town, I’m here for my 3rd badge.”
”Ah so you are doing the victory road challenge? How do you feel about your chances tomorrow?”
”Pretty good actually! Near Pewter City I got myself a Geodude, while hiking from pewter to Cerulean an exeggcute and a swablu just flew up to me before the caves under mt Moon!”
“So will you use your starter? For Tomorrows match?”
“I don’t know, dark types are fast but electric type specials are even worse. My charmander is currently a wallbreaker not a speed catcher I’m afraid that it will become a slug match with the electric type winning that because they are so damn fast.”
Carlos nodded, already giving him bonus points for tomorrow’s match. The guy knew the limitations and strength of his team quite a bit better than Liam prior.
”So you going for a generalist team?”
”Yes and no?” He had a bit of a pained expression. “I wanted to be a fire type specialist but with the exception of Charmander who I grew close with, I failed in securing a cubone, growlithe or a Ponyta. It seems I’m missing something as a trainer in regards to fire types, which is weird yknow? Ever since I started living together with my Crimson, I feel this, this fire, a small flame growing slowly , so it’s rather frustrating.”
Carlos analyzed the kid while he rambled on, something a lot of people around the age of 18 did. Either an overload of angst or an overload of philosophical thought.
After a few seconds, his Arceus system notified him about 32 points in dragon TE. This was an indication that this kid had an affinity for dragon typing, that had begun to slowly bloom. 32 TE over a period of more than 3 years wasn’t much but it showed some potential. His Normal TE. Had grown from 100 to 170. This was above average for most beginner trainers.
It drove home a big issue for Carlos, his growth, since finding human society had practically stunted. He found himself missing the simple reality of facing life or death. He had come to accept it and now it was gone.
”What about dragons? Have you considered that perhaps your inner fire is perhaps more aligned with your Charmanders latent dragon typing?” Carlos offered.
The young man was flabbergasted, “I didn’t even consider that, dragon affinity with humans is so low.”
Carlos saw the glint, that greed for power, he raised his hands. “Look obviously im just theorizing here ok? So please don’t go and catch yourself a Deino and next thing you know, I read about you getting eaten in the news because you got overexcited and got it to evolve prematurely. If you do have some latent dragon compatiblity you gotta start with the lets say easier dragons, like goomy and dratini.
Hell you could potentially catch yourself a Mareep. Only Arceus knows why such fluffy cuddly Pokemon, have latent dragon typing, considering they are so easy going. Also Swablu is definitely dragon typed and if your Exeggcute has the Alolan gene, he will turn into a dragon as well.”
”oh my ARCEUS!!! that’s it! thanks Sarge!” He was about to run off but Carlos caught him in an iron grip.
”First of what do you mean Sarge? And second of all. The only thing you will catch is a quick case of yamask, going out in the dark you absolute fool. Come with me to the Pokecenter now.”
The young man struggled vainly against Carlos superior strength. “You think I don’t know who you are? Im scheduled to fight you. Seeing you walking around I figured I get a sense of the man I need to beat.”
”Ah so that’s why you were so eager.” Carlos said smirking.
Carlos looked at Pawniard still high on his victories, he noted how he kept a strong front but he was shaking. “And you buddy, will need a quick check up.
“I don’t wana go into the ball, I don’t want to lose this vivid sensation sir, Ive never been so, so close to my limit.”
“If the nurses are fine with it, you don’t have to ok?” Loki nodded at that.
”whats that all about?” The young man asked. “Oh it’s nothing, both my Cetoddle and Pawniard don’t like sitting in their pokeball.” Saying that, Carlos let out gwen who shook off the tension from sitting in the pokeball. She always complained that it felt cramped, stuffy and dark in there.
“Let me guess, basic balls right?”
”what do you mean?” Carlos asked. While walking towards the center. He let go of the trainer.
”Come on man? Don’t you ever look on the pokeball forums? Not a single trainer worth their salt keeps his Pokemon in a regular Pokeball. Why else do you think there are so many variations?
Pokeballs are like a tiny house you sit in and if you hate that house and your trainer makes you, then how do you think your Pokemon are going to feel?
Besides ever since the introduction of the v3 ball I’ve heard nothing but complaints about it on the net.
Every bit or research done, shows barely any difference in learning moves and growing stronger but conveniently, all research is done by shareholders of Silph and Co, so that’s already a conflict of interest.”
The trainer, who introduced himself as Finnley Grayson, had put his tinfoil hat on and kept rambling about everything wrong with the v3 Pokeball, Carlos was amused but also quite curious and kept asking questions, he wanted to know more.
Apparently the OG Pokemon ball. The v1 was a revolutionary discovery and ingenious engineering decades ago, at least according to the traditionalist trainers like Finnley.
The v1 was a technological marvel that tied human and Pokemon TE together, while they were in the Pokeball, allowing the relationship between trainer and Pokemon to grow even while in the Pokeball.
Carlos couldn’t help but think on how his first three descrbed the experience, vs how Gwen and Loki described it.
All pokeballs designs since, were built of the of miracle scientific engineering of the v1. This was all public information.
Finnley lead Carlos down a rabbit hole of conspiracy theories. Most of it was circumstantial, based on experiences tinged with emotions.
Apparently the community was somewhat divided on the subject. Some like Finnley raved and lamented, how production of the v1 ball had been faded out in favor of specialist balls and the v3. Which besides all of its flaws, was shown time and time again, to be not that different from the v1.
The v1 however was about as difficult to produce as an ultra ball but not as profitable, since it’s prices were regulated.
The ultra ball, or the v4 was better in every shape or form but also would cost a years salary for Carlos to Purchase. As such the v1 lost favor in the management and sales department of silph & Co.
“So is there a v2?”
”yea that’s the digit balls the gyms and proffesors use to not bond with the Pokemon they use and raise.“
”So what’s the big deal between the v1 and v3 then? I mean from what I’m reading here, it was a pragmatic decision with the ever rising need for mass quantities of Pokeballs. Say what you will, not everyone has the money to buy specialist balls or ultra balls. Besides you are using v3 balls yourself right?”
The trainer scoffed. He looked around and dragged a somewhat amused at the conspiratorial behavior Carlos, into a small alley.
“No I got my hands on some second hand v1 balls. Don’t let the paintjob fool you, I only make them look like v3, because shady people love to steal them. They can go for quite the price on some of the dark trade. Here let me show you.”
He let out his Geodude of his ball. The Geodude intoned his name rather aloof. He didn’t seem to be all there, he waved, while balancing on one hand. It looked well taken care of with his rocky skin well polished. Before he could properly analyze the mon with his Arceus system, Finnley tapped him on the shoulder.
“Here on the inside you can see the model number and when it was produced.” The trainer pointed out some tiny letters.
“How long have you been on the road and how long have you had that Geodude?”
“About 2 months now? Ive had Rocky for about 3 weeks. He’s a bit off it seems, haven’t checked his nature yet but he’s pretty chill, barely took me any effort to get him to like me.”
”Can my Cetoddle do a mock battle with your Geodude? Say 5 moves? She’s defensively trained so it will be a sponge fight but I don’t want her to feel neglected.”
This wasn’t the truth, the moment the Geodude materialized he saw something. Something he observed in his first three. A bond and relationship that seemed natural. Unlike like the strain he experienced subtly with Gwen and more obviously with Loki.
He looked at Loki and gave him a small smile and nod. Loki nodded back. It was always difficult to gauge his expression with his facial shape.
Finnley called his Geodude. And they walked to another battlefield. They were littered all over the place in the city.
Carlos had to really strain not to have his eyes bug out at the Geodude. It had a nature that was more rare than the “shiny” gene and had an extremely warped stat sheet.
Both Pokemon squared off. After the 4th move, it reminded Carlos of that double metapod battle and both trainers spamming Harden.
With the exception of a bit of TE drain, both Pokemon walked away without a scratch. Two defenders against each other was a boring match and the crowd from earlier was all but gone. But it confirmed something for Carlos. He looked at the insides of Gwen and Loki’s ball. Both v3 models.
He had a dark brown suspicion that his first three Pokeballs were in fact v1 balls.
Sturdy:gain 50% to HP and Defense. Critical hits do not bother you, neither do moves that hurt you to use. Additionally your body is very efficient in using TE to recover from injury.
This content has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
“You know how utterly insane your Geodude is right?”
Finnley laughed. “Yea I know, I could never give up this guy, haven’t gotten a good name for him, he can take so much pain it’s not even funny.”
”Geo pain, abstract, concept. Ignore, it goes away. dude”.
“That’s just you dude.” Carlos smiled at the whacky Geodude. He bent down and fed Gwen some snacks. “Good job girl, you did well.”
“Of course snack man!” Gwen as usual almost chomped Carlos arm along. She liked how he tastes.
“I wonder if that’s part of how she bonds. Tasting the members of her pod, ugh should have asked Carolyn.” He thought, half paying attention to Finnley rambling on about his strategy on training his geodude.”
“Once I teach him Recover he will simply be unstoppable!” Carlos caught the end of Finnley’s rant. “Yea I’m already dreading having to fight your …. Thing when you’re done training him.”
Carlos fed both Loki and Gwen some more as they arrived at the center. The Joy on call looked up.
”The thing..” Finnley muttered. While walking along.
”Hey Carlos! Ah I see your Loki needs some medical attention.” A Chansey already walked up and started using some healing moves. “So what happened to your date?” She asked.
”How do you know about that?” Carlos asked surprised.
“Surge came by to pick something up. I swear I don’t know what it is about that man, that gets him this much game.” She shook his head. “He does look like he would be wel…” she muttered, but Carlos zoned that out. He was not into sausages.
She ran some checks with her medical dex. “Your Loki is now officially not allowed to fight for 2 days, doctor’s orders. Make sure he eats well and recovers his TE.” She said after she was done with her scans, Loki Pouted but Carlos noted how the soreness was affecting his otherwise crisp moves.
Nurse Joy turned to Finnley.
“What about you? Here again to check out your freak of nature?” She smiled warmly at Geodude. “No offense meant with that, ya cutie,” she rubbed its head.
”Geo None taken.”
“Oh yes! My Charmander got hit bad with a nasty foul play from his Pawniard. He kept craddling his head afterwards.” He gave her the Pokeball and she walked towards A TE device and did some scans.
”Hmmm, yea I will keep him here overnight and disperse the foreign TE. Some of it got into his brain. It’s something that would disperse naturally but would cause a lot of pain over the next week. After I’m done with him he will be good as rain. But definitely no more battles for the next 12 hours or so. Was that all for you two?” She looked at them both, a small line of people was building behind them, as people came in to get their Pokemon a check up after the evening birds got their battles done.
”Yes, me and Finnley began to talk about what Pokemon would potentially be compatible with him and he got a bad case of…”
”Catch fever, say no more.” She finished Carlos sentence.
”Id like to place a call to Blackthorne.”
”Ooh you’re such a diligent boyfriend” the nurse cooed. “Sure thing suga bun. Private booth 4 is available. If she ever dumps you give me a call~” she flirted, and began helping whoever was behind Carlos. Carlos smiled and waved a struggling Finnley, carried by a Chansey into a room, goodbye.
Carlos couldn’t help but notice how he got a whole bunch of odd looks from female trainers. “Seems there really is a social faux pass to dating a Joy.” He thought quietly to himself. “Their loss.” He grinned.
He got into the booth and dialed up Blackthorne Center and Corey’s Personal number. It only rang for a second before she picked up. Her face was completely neutral but he saw a glint of surprise and relief? “You are back quick.” She said. Her tone definitely held some surprise.
Carlos raised an eyebrow amused. “So how do you know about me going out on a half assed date, that Surge threw onto me about an hour ago.” He looked at his shadow. “You got a shuppet on your team I’m not aware off?”
”HEY I WOULD…” she snapped but held herself back and composed herself.
”I would never invade your privacy like that.” She had the slightest blush to her face.
“Babe answer the question please, how do you know about this?” Carlos decided to push it a bit. He didn’t mind a bit of Possessiveness, he thought it was hot, a nice spice of life, too much was Yandere. He really didn’t want one of those.
“Carolyn is stationed here, sweety. She talks and it was obvious she took a shine to you, helping her out with her life long dream of owning a Cetoddle.” Corey sighed. “God how are you so perceptive yet so, oblivious?”
I’m certainly not oblivious to any of it and you make perceiving easy darling, now hold up. She told me she’d been working on it for over a year or two. Not her whole life.” Carlos asked.
Cory pinched the bridge of her nose but once she lowered her hand, she revealed her smile. “You are such a smart, cunning and ruthless man. I sometimes forget you don’t know our culture and it makes you look like such a lovable cute, innocent idiot instead.”
”Ok, so what did I do now?” Carlos smirked, shit eating grin on his face.
”Sweety, you vouched for her, to one of the most Powerful Pokemon in this region. Stood with her, fearlessly presenting her case. Cetoddle are incredibly rare, practically unique in the indigo league dear. Unless you dedicate your life, you will never get to have one.”
”yea. I can see how that might have looked from her perspective. But why didn’t you let her know you were my girl?” Carlos raised his eyebrow.
This made the slight blush on Cory’s face get more pronounced.
”Regular women can be possessive of men that aren’t even their boyfriend in the rare case they are dating a Jenny or Joy.”
Carlos was a bit surprised. “So you never let her know directly?”
Cory shook her head. “No I told her you were pretty serious about another woman. Carolyn however got a bit of a catch fever when it came to you, decided she would dazzle you. She even send me a picture of her dress. Asking for good luck.”
”Oh boy, she certainly tried to dazzle me, poor Carolyn.” Carlos smirked. “I might have straight up told her I was dating you.”
”you didn’t!” She beamed a smile. “Here I am making sure to keep our little secret discreet, and you go ahead and set a whole litter of Meowth out.”
”You don’t seem to be too upset about it.” Carlos was trying to get a read on Corey, she was all over the place.
Corey flashed him a proud smile. “Let me have this sweetie, I’m enjoying my brave boyfriend. Many Joy’s have come to accept that their relationship is always on the down low.”
Carlos talked a bit more with Corey but he was tired, she was tired. And they said goodbye. Yearning for the weekend.
He decided to use the pokenet to look around and was kind of flabbergasted at what he found.
The subject on dating Joy’s and Jenny’s was a hotly debated subject. It was a brutal factional warfare of the traditionalist, vs the joy clan, vs the jenny clan, vs the interspecies clan vs the traditionalist, coming full circle. Carlos was really, REALLY surprised and weirded out about some people, basically admitting, through lack of response, or vague answers, that they had a relationship with one of their Pokemon. He did some search and it was estimated that least than 3% of people dated a jenny, Joy or Pokemon. The traditionalist lobbed all 3 of them together. Hence the social stigma attached. They definitely didn’t proclaim it to the world or talk about it in public. Considering the weird looks Carlos got, just from some flirtatious banter with a Joy. He could see why people didn’t openly admit this sort of thing in Public. Carolyn’s earlier response had quite frankly pissed him off.
However he felt the traditionalists, joy and Jenny clan. Made good points about the dangers of interspecies relationships. He vividly remembered bunny town. In this moment, without the cute charm affecting him, the memory of it, made him sick.
He turned the terminal off. “That’s enough internet for today.” He murmured.
He looked back and cracked a smile. Gwen and Loki had fallen asleep. The booth had a small couch and Gwen had splayed her whole body across while Loki used her like a Pillow.
He snapped a picture and sent it to Carolyn, Cory and the other two rangers.
> Wildsarge.
“Nothing like a long day of work to get a little brother and sister bonding.”
>NurseDory.
”awwww! I just can’t get over how cute your Cetoddle is! And your Pawniard cuddled into it. OMA(oh my Arceus)!”
>CareRanger
“You said it sis! I was pissed at dumbass trainer a second ago. This makes it all ok.”
>WildSarge.
”@CareRanger. Yea sorry about that :), your evening ok?”
>Gregorian.
”ah looks like someone is still alive. Good to see your Cetoddle is doing ok. Is that Pawniard doing ok? He looks hurt.”
>WildSarge.
“@Gregorian Tired, proud and Satisfied. He beat a Higher lvl starter Charmander by the skin… steel? of his teeth. He tanked 2 flamethrowers spammed leer then punched the Charmanders lights out.”
>CareRanger.
“Yea it was ok until Surge and his date tried to convince me of a threesome, so i went back to the hotel I’m staying at.
>WildSarge
”Yea I don’t know how he gets away with it. He somehow taps into something with slightly older women, which rules you out ;)”
>NurseDory/CareRanger.
“smooth save there bro ;)”
>WildSarge
“@NurseDory/CareRanger.
Guess you could say im a Smooth criminal.”
>NurseDory/CareRanger.
-_- -_-
>RangerRoar.
”Wow, Thats a scary Pawniard. How did he beat a Charmander? Does he have the Bold nature?”
>WildSarge
“Impish actually, in combination with his inner focus he was able to break through the scary face effect and catch the Charmander and his trainer off guard, during an overuse flinch.”
>Gregorian.
Sounds like a short but decisive match.
>RoryRocks.
“Yo you got one of those fancy new Pokedex, those automatically record or tap into the local video feed whenever you battle, there should be link. upload it for us I wanna see!”
>WildSarge.
“Really? One sec…. Oh! Here it is, link”
>CareRanger.
”Noooo! This the Cetoddle chat! not the creepy Pawniard chat! How can you discuss and review a brutal battle when you have such a gorgeous girl sleeping next to you Sarge?
>NurseDory.
”@CareRanger. You see what I’m working with? Scraps, scraps I tell you!”
>CareRanger.
“I had no idea he was such a battle freak, no wonder he challenged my Cetoddle to battle his.
>NurseDory.
” -_- Why was I ever worried?
>WildSarge.
”@NurseDory. You were never worried because you trust me, right? ?? @RoryRock. Btw did the link work?
>NurseDory.
”Sure babe ;), love and miss you!”
>WildSarge.
”Ugh, the cruel blade to the heart! ;)”
>CareRanger.
”God damn sis, you should have just told me, now I look even more silly for getting dressed up.”
>RoryRocks
“DUDE! That fight was over so fast, that foul play was BRUTAL. That sick cruel smile on your Pawniard when he hits… beautiful, you are an ace in the making!”
>Gregorian.
”That’s a little premature, but you definitely earned that moniker, Sarge ;).”
>WildSarge.
”@CareRanger. Give us a Selfie of your dress and let the judges decide, I will guarantee you, Silly is the last thing on anyone’s mind. @RoryRocks, yes, His charmander is trained as a wallbreaker, which became clear with how strong it’s Flamethrower is. Foul Play and its upgrades, are the Counter Dark types have come up with. @Gregorian. It’s not that hard, to curbstomb noobs with a good set of electric types ;)”
>NurseDory.
”@WildSarge. You keep taking like that, I’m realizing I’m more into bad boys than good boys. I hate to leave but I gotta go gotta do my rounds. Cya this weekend sweety!”
>WildSarge.
“Cya babe!
>NurseDory left the chat.
>RoryRocks.
”So you and nurseDory, are a genuine item huh? Can’t say I blame ya. She’s a total babe.”
>WildSarge.
”She stalked and prowled, my poor poor self down like the ruthless Persian she is. Yes we are a very tight item, I had no chance of Survival. Dude. :)”
>Gregorian.
”Well you are certainly an honest upfront man. Truthfully, the older I get the less I understand this drama around dating Joy’s or Jennies a few of my peers after years of keeping it secret and discreet came out. And it just gets ya thinkin yaknow? What’s the big deal?”
>CareRanger.
”Not this again! There is a reason for the social stigmas! How many links do i need to send you! link, link, link, link, link, link, link, Look at those fools!”
>WildSarge.
“There is actually a reason for that. Men exude testosterone through their sweat, women estrogen. It’s how our bodies know if we are compatible.
Turns out that when a dude like me is compatible with a Joy, they tend to be extremely sensitive to the estrogen a Joy or potentially Jenny exude. If the Joy’s don’t catch it can lead to an overdose or overload. Those guys in those links are suffering from delirium due to hormone poisoning or whatever the medical term is. On the flip side if you’re not compatible a guy’s body would not react with the estrogen at all.”
>Gregorian.
”Well that definitely rules me out, never found them attractive at all, pleasing to look at but i find grass Pokemon pleasing to look at too.”
>RoryRocks.
”Me too i guess? Don’t get me wrong I find them attractive, but im definitely not going gaga for them. *shiver*, like one of those guys.”
>CareRanger.
”You are shitting me right? How is that not common knowledge? If it is im so sorry for how I acted I didn’t know ??”
>WildSarge.
”Dead serious, in fact me only seeing her on the weekends is actually necessary for about 2 more months so my body can acclimate. The reason it’s not common knowledge is because only 3% of men at best are compatible and only 3% of those will have that reaction. And I don’t belong to that last 3%.
>RoryRocks.
”wait that might mean i am compatible?”
>WildSarge.
”Could be but I gtg. Been away from my other three pokemon for a bit too long for my liking. Feels weird. Cya guys.
After all three said their goodbye he put his Dex away. He was about to pick up Loki but he stirred awake a bit groggily then shocked himself into full ready mode
”Wait where am i!?”
”In the phone booth in the Pokemon center. Let’s go back home. Been away too long and I need to get some shut eye.”
Loki nodded, Carlos saw him eyeing his pokeball, and relief settled in, when Carlos didn’t return him.
Carlos got up and picked up Gwen. She had almost doubled in size since he got her. But with his strength it was nothing.
”Seems to me, it stands to reason we should find a better Pokeball for you and Gwen. Tell me, how do you experience it?”
”Like I Told you before. Stuffy, cramped, kinda hard to breathe, even though I know I don’t need to breathe. If you think that’s necessary, it might be uncomfortable but I can handle it.”
They walked out of the booth and waved the Nurse Joy away who cooed seeing him carry his Gwen, onto the streets. The night was bright with lights. Couples walking around and some wild Rattata or trubbish scuttling around. They seemed to prefer the city over the forest.
”Hmm, your sister Gwen describes it the same. I wonder how that works though. Kong, Dianne and Gawain describe it quite differently. I know you can handle it Loki, but if you can’t relax your body can’t absorb the experience properly. For the time being we will keep you and Gwen out of the ball. I used to sleep with the other three for warmth, but you might not want that.”
Loki gave him a look. “Seriously? Even tough-brother?”
“Yup but like i said it wasn’t anything coochy smoochie what you are imagining. It was for warmth. The mountains are cold.”
”Huh, how do you propose we deal with my serrated body parts?” Loki smirked and made a hugging motion and wriggled. Driving the point across.
Carlos Shrugged, “I was thinking back to back. How do Pawniard sleep together then?”
“Alone, if we get too close to each other our blades sometimes chip.”
”A chipped blade is considered a bad thing for pawniard’s and Bisharps right?”
Loki nodded looking around and the dwindling amount of people as the city slowly went to sleep. Pondering.
”Losing your edge. Is considered an unforgivable weakness. Only the strongest of us are able to sharpen their blades to perfection and reach the position of King. My tribe never thought I would be one. I’ve had to resharpen my blades too many times already to become my own king.
I began to wander away hoping perhaps a trainer would catch me. A steel trainer caught me I did ok for a while but he. Relied mostly on me using iron head. I lost a couple of fights that should have been easy wins.”
Loki paused. Carlos had begun to see a somewhat clearer picture of what was going on. Loki suffered from abandonment issues. He sighed.
”I didn’t buy you specifically to be the best. I bought you because I thought we would be compatible. If we come face to face with roadblocks I want to solve them.”
Loki stopped mid track. “We will see. I’m used to resharpening myself at this point.”
Carlos got an idea in his head. “You know what I just thought?”
Loki shook his head. “Obviously I don’t. I don’t get to read your thoughts or feelings.”
”Another thing I never bothered asking.” Carlos palmed the Pokeball of Loki. From the corner of his eyes he could see Loki flinch ever so slightly.
“My my, you really do have trust issues huh? I meant what i said Loki I’m not going to put you back into the ball for the time being.” He smirked but was serious with the latter part.
”For the time being? How long is that? 5 minutes?” Carlos heard him scoff. He raised his eyebrow at that. “Is that your dark typing talking? It’s ok to be honest me and Dianne have it too.” Carlos asked.
Loki shrugged. “Seems like it. Ever since doubt entered my mind. It eats away at me. Ironically it makes me stronger.”
Carlos stepped in front of him. “How so?”
”It’s weakness to rely on others I must rely on myself.” Carlos sighed and looked around and saw a bench.
”Come let me show you something.” He gently put a thoroughly knocked out Gwen who he was still carrying down on the bench and put a snack in her mouth, Cetoddle’s apparently loved to snack in their sleep.
Carlos grabbed his dex and looked up the fight he had against the 3 losers back in Blackthorne. It was on the vermillion gym site and already had 12 million views.
He was getting popular and also some money from those videos but since they weren’t on a public site, most of the money went to the Gym instead. Not that he cared. Surge paid him well, as far as gym trainer salaries went.
He pulled it up and hit play, letting Loki watch the fight from beginning to end. “What l’m trying to show off here, isn’t how awesome we are but how our awesome teamwork defeated superior numbers.” Carlos said.
Loki scoffed.
”Those three trainers were stupid. The fairy guy thought like a fighter, the psychic guy like a fire guy and the poison one was too scared. They should have won.”
“Exactly they should have won but didn’t. They weren’t just stupid. They didn’t help each other, only relied on themselves.
me and my mon’s hunted them down like prey. On your own you won’t make it Loki. You are still prey. Question is. Do you want to be the hunter? The apex predator? Seeing you fight that Charmander I think it’s the latter.”
Loki gave Carlos that indescribable look. The same one the Lopunny gave him, the same one the Gawain’s dying mother gave him. Hell he caught Kong, Dianne and Gawain looking at him like that in their own.
”It’s weird, I know I should feel something, but I’m not.” Loki said after a while.
Carlos sighed. “That’s ok Loki, take your time. Like everyone in your past, I’ve made mistakes with you as well, I didn’t recognize your drive to improve.”
”You aren’t angry I lied?” Carlos shook his head.
“No to be honest I didn’t believe anything you said about that trainer who sold you. It didn’t add up to his profile, the way he described you. There is such a thing as compatibility you know? You gotta find your groove, your edge. Surround yourself with people that sharpen your edge. So far me and my team are the only one who have done that for you from what I can tell. I do apologize if we demand the sharpest edge. You think you are up for the task?”
Loki got that fire in his eyes again and nodded.
“Good let’s head back I’ve done more talking today than in a week. Any more and my reputation of stern stoic drill sergeant is gonna take a hit.”
Loki chuckled at that. “Can’t have that.”
Back at the gym Carlos headed to his Pokemon room and gently put Gwen down on what constituted her bed. The other 3 were fast asleep and Loki bade him goodnight. He closed the door and went to his own room as he opened the door he heard a voice in the Darkness.
”Well you certainly know how to make a lady wait.”
Carlos got a massive grin. “Hey Corey, I thought you had your rounds to do.”
”She whispered. “Absolutely, You are my forever patient.”
Loki POV
As Carlos locked the door, his three officers were wide awake and rushed him. He had to admit it was weird to see a fighting and dark Pokemon so, caring. What was wrong with them?
”You fought.” Kong grumbled, “I knew I should have come along, no fair.” Of course the fighting mon knew he fought.
Loki scoffed.”pfff, the ones I fought were strong but hardly a challenge for you blindfolded, you would have been bored to death.”
“But you won, and you won well.” Dianne purred. “Good you needed a victory.”
Loki agreed but disliked her calculated tone. How she managed to appear like a Yamper to Carlos was beyond him. She really had him wrapped up in her fur.
“Wow you fought one of my kin. A-a p-powerful one at that. I can still smell the fire on you.” Gawain said meekly.
Loki cringed at that. How was a powerful Cyndaquil whom he struggled to even hit or hurt and ran circles around him in a match so…. Insecure? It made no sense.
“How is your progress going with trail blaze?” Loki asked, he disliked Gawain the least. The other two were far too smug for him.
”D-decent.” Gawain said. Loki scoffed. “aka you practically mastered the move, once again proving you are the superior intellect of this group.”
”My my, anything to take a dig at me huh?” Dianne purred but it had a slight sharpness to it.
“Like you need any reminder of your monstrous talent.” Loki scoffed again. “Now if you don’t mind, boss-man ran me ragged all because I showed the slightest bit of interest in fighting.”
”Oooooh you positively enjoyed it, I can tell~” Dianne purred again.
Kong chuckled and yipped at that. “Hue, hue, hue, edgy-bro called boss-mon by his real title.” He slapped Loki on his shoulder pad and went back to his own sleeping spot. Right along the ceiling there was a ridge with some rope.
Dianne smirked and didn’t say anything. She gave him a look. She didn’t need to say anything.
”Uncle really is kind when you get to know him, even with asholes sometimes, so you have nothing to worry about.” Gawain said with a completely straight face and went back to his sleeping spot.
Loki was so dumbfounded at the insult he didn’t even take any offense, as a dark type he respected the burn, Kong yipped again in glee repeating the word.
he looked at Dianne, who shrugged with a smug grin. “He has his moments.” She quipped.
“That’s because you taught me well big-siss” Gawain said sleepily.
“My my what have you done big sis what are you teaching the Valiant hearted?” Loki quipped before he could hold himself back.
”Shush you will wake ice-sis, we don’t want to have to feed you to her just because she woke up hungry. She doesn’t like your metal taste.” Dianne teased.
”Oh I’m sure we can feed her deep-bro. She doesn’t mind his flavor.” He teased back.
”Pffff.” Was Kong’s response.
Dianne chuckled at that. Loki wondered when it was exactly, that he began to tolerate this crazy group of misfits. He really didn’t like it. He hated this sort of vulnerability but since his latest trainer seemed a bit more determined than the last 4 he might as well enjoy it while it lasts.
The Next morning he woke up. He felt different. He felt better. Better than he had felt in a long time. The others were stirring awake he rushed outside through the window and began to run through some of the routine training Carlos had laid out for him.
”How is this possible?” He muttered shocked to himself. He had leveled and not just that. He had gained something, he had stopped dreaming off a long time ago. He had Gained an improvement to his base, his core. He was more fortified. An acknowledgment and blessing of Arceus himself, that he saw him defeat stronger opponents.
”Ah I see those 3 fights back to back paid off and your base defense went up Nice! Congrats Loki!”
He twirled around and there stood a grinning Carlos genuinely happy, Loki smiled while inwardly hating himself how little that smile meant to him it wasn’t right, he should feel more for this guy but he didn’t.
Normal
Fire
Water: Water moves in story have a “knock back” effect, this can only be ignored by water typed abilities. It reduces speed of opponents by 25% on their next attack. Their moves are effectively reduce damage from opponents, furthermore many have latent psychic abilities which grants water Pokemon access to self buffing healing moves that add lots of protection. And most will have access to basic psychic moves.
Grass: Wide variety of moves lots of utility such as weather moves. Has fairy affinity and can use basic fairy moves and has access to solar moves.
Electric: fast moves, high mobility, high critical hit rates. All electric attacks or sp attacks add static, this leads to Paralysis which causes a flinch. In a nutshell, Electric types stack multipliers upon multipliers with their abilities and are hard and fast hitters.
Ice: Ice type moves have frostbite, frostbite completely ignores the effects of abilities and will lower a Pokemon speed stat by 2, this stacks 6 times and will trigger frozen, which reduces speed and atk by 10% Most frost moves heavily reduce reflex of opponents making ice Pokemon good counters for speedy mons that rely on evasion through reflex. Buffing moves leverage their defense stat.
Fighting: Fighting types leverage their own reflex stat to increase their own efficiency. Pretty straightforward. very little utility, in regards to reducing Opponents efficiency but pound for pound, they tend to outlast most in a slug match. Fighting excels at self buffing. they are, like fire types an offensive allrounder, but with more self buffing capabilities. Fire types have AOE.
Rock/steel/Ground: Similar to Water types ground moves will inflict a penalty to speed, many of the sand abilities like sand veil will be a move instead (ground doesn’t have a lot of moves to draw inspiration from but does have cool abilities), allowing Ground types lots of staying power. Basic Ground, steel and rock moves are interchangeable and can be used by any of these three.
Steel will be straight up the tankiest and can use moves such as body slam to leverage their high defense stat unlike Rock, ground and ice, steel is not a speed catcher it’s meant to have a chance against wallbreakers. Rock like ground moves, cover large areas and are good at catching speedsters, their high crit rates usually finish of speedsters in a single move.
Flying. Super fast but fragile. A powerful flying type due to stacking their reflex and speed through the roof, forces people to use a speed catcher like ice or ground or rock.
Psychic/Fairy/Ghost: Harrassers, utility monsters and general douchebags with mindblowing abilities. Fairy, and ghost(because of fade) due to their high innate reflex stat can be incredibly tricky to deal with
Dragon: Dragons will be wall breakers. Many of their moves will reduce their targets defense stats. Dragons also have access to dragon dance and absurd self buff.
Poison/Dark/bug: utility speedster, effective against the bullshit types of fairy, psychic and Ghost. And in general good at shutting things down.
Dark can leverage the stats of opponents. Secure kills enemies and plays dirty. Many Ghost status moves have a high chance of failing against Dark types.
Bug I had no clue what to do with bug types so i ended up putting them together with the utility speedsters. It’s a shame there isn’t really a definitive theme within the games and all the moves I can find are such a potluck of abilities. But they serve a similar role as Dark types. They are completely immune to confuse (biggest bs ability of Psychic and fairy) and can shed skin, which allows them to get rid of status effects and remove debuffs.
Poison: Can poison enemies. Poison reduces atk by 50% which, cripples most opponents when it works. Most higher level well trained Poison types will have the Corrosion ability, punching through poison immunity of steel, rock and ground types. Poison is a speedster type, fast hit and run. Poison types gain access to a basic ghost and dark moves and also shadow sneak.
a basic move. With 1 intensity, and TE consumption of 10%.
Bite: a basic normal move
TE.
Fury strikes is a basic move with intensity 2 and consumption of 30%.
Swift: is an advanced special attack move. 2 intensity with 20% TE consumption.
hard hitters.
Flat or Percentage.
Either a move will reduce or increase one or more stats by a total of 4 flat points, or a total of 20%.
Hone claws. Increases both speed and attack by 2.
Defense Curl, basic move increases defense by 4
Harden increases Defense by 20%
Harden would increase their defense by 6~7 but for someone like Dianne, it would only increase her defense by 1~2. So for Dianne Defense Curl will remain the better move for a long period of time.
Howl is very powerful but cannot stack. And will affect all Pokemon on a team.
Psychic, ghost, fairy will have lots of these sorts of moves in their typing.