Appetizer 1.11

Aaron FulanNew Mauville, Hoenn Region

I only had one more day before my first gym battle. Last night, I agonized over what would be the best way to use my time.

Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that Artoria was as ready as she could get. Her swordsmanship was stellar. Mana Burst and Mana Edge were mastered. She was capable of combat teleportation, though with a slight delay between motions. She could even teleport while using Double Team to further sell the illusion. Shadow Sneak was a bit challenging, but usable in combat. And best of all, she was a hair's breadth from evolution.

The ralts line used their quartz-like horns to absorb emotions and amplify their psychic power. A ralts with a broken horn could use psychic attacks, but they would be greatly weakened. Accordingly, the maturity of a ralts could be determined by the size of their horns proportionate to the rest of their body, and Artoria's horns were as large as they'd get so I knew she was ready for evolution. She just needed one good catalyst, which I hoped would either come today or in the battle tomorrow.

The League regulations stated that a gym leader was to test something different at each badge level, though different gyms had different ways of challenging trainers. To earn the first badge, a rookie trainer had to demonstrate the ability to make rudimentary plans prior to the battle. In other words, come in with a strategy in mind. To that end, the team used for the first badge was made publicly available.

Wattson tested his rookies by using one voltorb and one electrike. Always. They were, almost without fail, faster than anything a rookie like me could reasonably have so the implicit test became "Show me how you'd prepare for a team geared around speed."

I had full faith that Artoria could handle either, or possibly both, of them. It'd be hard, but doable given her progress so far.

But I no longer needed her to fight a two versus one like that. I had Jeanne the Mareep now.

The question remained: How could I make a freshly caught mareep capable of contributing to the battle tomorrow?

That was why I found myself in the same clearing as yesterday.

I hooked up my pokéballs to the pokédex and inserted the TM I'd purchased days prior. Protect, the bread and butter of competitive pokémon, both in my past life and in this one. The shield wouldn't be very strong right off the bat. In fact, I'd be impressed if it didn't immediately shatter after the smallest attack. However, they only needed to work once.

I let my team out once the download finished. "Hey, Artoria, Jeanne. How do you feel?"

When the light faded, I found Artoria standing dignified as always. Jeanne on the other hand…

"MA-MAREEP~~~" she bleated. She stood on two legs, both forelegs out in a Y-pose. The yellow bands on her horns and the bulb on her tail were glowing brightly as arcs of electricity danced along her fur. She was practically radiating joy and excitement, so much that I could almost feel her emotions like a physical force.

"Do I want to know what she said?"

'"The radiant beacon of hope has arrived," my lord,' Artoria repeated dutifully.

"Mareep. Ree."

'She says she is practicing her shining ampharos pose.'

I sighed but couldn't suppress a smile. "Why can't I have normal pokémon? Still, at least you're enthusiastic, Jeanne. Maybe I'll introduce you to the contest scene someday…"

'I do not see the value in such a thing.'

"Of course not, Artoria. You're a knight, but Jeanne's just begging to be an idol."

"Reep?"

"Yeah, we'll have to see about that later. Anyway, do either of you know Protect?"

'I know how to condense my aura into a shell. This is the move humans call "Protect," yes?'

"It is. Do you know it too, Jeanne?" My mareep nodded eagerly. "Good, because Protect is one of the most important moves you can learn. It's a move that will be useful even after you've fully evolved. Even if you don't think it's strong now, it'll grow with you."

'I understand, my liege. I will do my utmost to master it completely.'

"Mareep."

"I'm glad. Now, I'm going to scan you both with my pokédex, okay? It'll give us a better idea of what you both can do."

I turned the pokédex to my ralts then mareep.

Ralts, the "feeling pokémon." It is a species uniquely adapted to feed on emotions. In the wild, they live in communes lead by a gardevoir or gallade, though the odd kirlia have been known to lead a commune. Folklore says they only reveal themselves to those with joyful hearts. In reality, they have been shown to react to high concentrations of dopamine.

This ralts is female and knows the moves Growl, Double Team, Protect, Teleport, Shadow Sneak, and Confusion.

Mareep, the "wool pokémon." Its wool never stops growing and must be sheared regularly. Because of this, mareep remain one of the few pokémon species that require the help of others, be it pokémon or humans, to live healthy lives. They generate electricity through the static in their wool and store it in their horns and tail so shearing a mareep completely will leave it defenseless temporarily. They can however regrow their wool manually by stimulating their hair follicles with electricity.

This mareep is female and knows the moves Charge, Cotton Spore, Electric Terrain, Protect, Thunder Wave, Tackle, and Thunder Shock.

"Hmm…"

'It does not list Mana Burst nor Mana Edge, my lord,' Artoria said with a frown.

"Of course not. Those are moves that we came up with after adopting Confusion for a physical weapon. The pokédex only registers moves that are commonly recognized by all trainers."

'I see. It seems like a rather important limitation.'

"It is, but it does give us a place to start. For example, Jeanne knows Electric Terrain, a move that most mareep wouldn't know unless it was inherited from a parent, much like your Shadow Sneak."

"Mareep!" she bleated, posing triumphantly.

"But we won't be using that in tomorrow's battle," I said, causing her to visibly deflate. "Wattson is an electric type master who's been a trainer longer than any of us have been alive. If we use Electric Terrain, I guarantee you he'll use the field against us."

"Maa?"

"Don't worry, I have an idea. Artoria, you're going to table Shadow Sneak for the moment; Teleport will be more useful tomorrow. Instead, focus on blending Teleport, Mana Burst, Mana Edge, and Double Team until you can use them all simultaneously or in quick succession. Tomorrow is almost certainly going to devolve into a giant game of tag so I want you to be ready for that.

"Do that until lunch. And then, you're going to figure out how to transition between Protect and Mana Edge after lunch so you can immediately block then counterattack in one smooth motion. Make sense?"

'Yes, my lord.'

I saw her off and turned to my new pokémon. Truthfully, I wasn't expecting much from her tomorrow. I had zero confidence in my ability to match types against Wattson, especially not with a freshly caught pokémon like Jeanne. She had potential, but that meant little in the here and now. Against any other gym, I would have had her attempt to paralyze her opponents, but that was impossible against Wattson.

That left two options.

I ushered Jeanne off to the side. "Jeanne, how bright can you shine?"

"Ma?"

"Use Charge. Charge as much electricity as you can," I instructed.

"Maaaa…"

I could see the static coalesce into stronger arcs of electricity and gather in her horns and tail. Then, when she began to strain, I turned away and said, "Shine. Shine as bright as you can!"

"Mareep!"

The clearing was filled with a bright light as electricity was converted directly into lumens. Flash. Some people called it a move, especially when they needed to teach it to a pokémon to explore a cave or navigate a dark forest. For the mareep line, it could barely be called a move; they did this on instinct.

Granted, most electric types had eyes that were adapted towards bright lights as a byproduct of their own powers, but there had to be a limit. I planned to abuse Jeanne's natural ability tomorrow.

"Great job, Jeanne," I praised her. "Now, we're going to call that Flash, okay?"

"Reep."

"Good, practice using Flash as quickly as possible. Cut down on charging time."

My two pokémon worked on their assigned tasks until lunch. I shared my own lunch with Artoria, an egg and cheese sandwich with some leftover fries from Café LeMar alongside a side of fruit. Jeanne, being an herbivore, ate a mix of newly sprouted grass shoots, some of the electric type pokéchow I'd bought, and a sprinkle of dried nuts and berries from my stockpile of trail mix. She seemed to really enjoy tart flavors.

Artoria turned back to her training after two hours of rest so I could pay more attention to Jeanne.

"Okay, think you've gotten a handle on Flash?"

"Reep," she nodded.

"Great, now we're going to work on Cotton Spore. Show me what you can do right now."

"Ma, mareep."

And then, my little sheep exploded. She let loose a hail of woolen balls the size of basketballs that stuck to everything within a dozen feet of her, including me. I tried to shake them off, but static electricity kept them attached to my person. One wasn't too debilitating, even for a regular human like me, but a dozen? It wasn't the weight that got me, but the sheer volume of the wool she shed. I'd read that mareep could stimulate their own hair follicles to induce growth, but seeing it was a novel experience.

"Okay… let's do that again… after you roll me out of range…"

"Reep!"

X

Aaron FulanMauville Gym, Hoenn Region

The Mauville Gym loomed over the three of us. It was an institution that had been around since the founding of the city fifty-four years ago. If I remembered right, Wattson, who was the young head of security for the fledgling city, founded the gym to help new trainers become competent battlers. The man would then go on to help found the Greater Mauville Holding Company, the same that would sponsor both the expansion of Slateport into a true city eleven years later as well as the creation of New Mauville and Sea Mauville.

True, both the latter projects got scrapped due to environmental concerns, but their conversion into environmental reserves ended up helping a lot of pokémon anyway.

The point was, Wattson wasn't just a gym leader; he was an icon. If Wallace represented what it meant to be both a stellar coordinator and a type master, Wattson represented the perfect blend of industrialist and type master.

In light of that, the gym was… honestly kind of disappointing.

Oh, it was impressive enough, but it looked like a postmodern art piece, as though some young architect scrunched a ball of paper and modeled a building after the shape. It was a bunch of nonsensical angles and curves that couldn't possibly serve any structural purpose.

'Do you dislike the building, my lord?'

"I was hoping for something with a little more… substance."

'I do not understand.'

"Don't worry, it's not important. Ready?"

'Yes, my liege.'

"Mareep."

"Remember your strategies?"

I got another chirp of affirmation. I thought back to all the gym battles I'd seen. I remembered watching Ash and Pikachu beat Brock's onix with the power of… sprinklers. As Aaron Fulan, I'd seen dozens of gym battles from ringside seats, perks of being the leader's brat, but never had I been on this side of things.

I took a deep breath. I was ready. I had all the information. My starter was unbelievably skilled for our level, even if my second wasn't quite up to par. I grew up on gym battles.

I was still nervous. There was a certain gravitas about the action, my first gym challenge.

"Let's go," I finally said.

The gym lobby was remarkably plain. It looked like it could have fit in with any doctor's office, not the heart and soul of Mauville's training scene. Hell, knowing how eccentric Wattson was in the series, I was surprised to find not a single robot; there certainly wasn't a mechanized raikou around to greet me with sparking fangs or a miniature rollercoaster to take me to the battlefield.

"Hello, are you here for a gym challenge?" came the receptionist's voice. He was a middle-aged man with a receding hairline. He still kept himself in good shape and filled out his Mauville Gym jersey well.

"Yes, sir."

"Do you have an appointment or would you like to schedule one?"

"I have an appointment for ten in the morning. First badge."

"Let me see… Ah, Aaron Fulan is it? Yes, I've got you right here. Go ahead and take a seat. You're a little early but that's a good thing."

"Yes, thank you, sir."

I headed to the corner of the room and sat on a plush loveseat, sheep and knight tucked into my sides. I tuned out the world and picked up a copy of today's Mauville Examiner, the most widely regarded newspaper in the Hoenn Region. I glanced at the clock; I didn't have enough time to actually read an article, but I could give them a quick skim.

"Dr. Kagari of Lilycove Museum of Natural History to Lead Excavation in Mt. Chimney," read the front page headline.

I remembered visiting the museum once. It boasted one of the largest fossil exhibits in the world, with a dozen fossils that didn't feature in the games but lacked the DNA concentration to be resurrected. It also had the largest rare rocks collection in the world, a significant portion purchased and donated to the museum by the Stone family.

Still, it was the doctor who caught my eye. I felt like the name of the doctor should ring some bells, but I couldn't for the life of me remember why…

Shrugging, I flipped the page to the inter-regional affairs section. "Unova-Kalos Relations Cool as Anniversary of War's End Approaches," read the first article.

I vaguely remembered something about that. It was in the backdrop in the Pokémon X and Y games. If I remembered right, there were statues of Reshiram and Zekrom in the Parfum Palace, though I couldn't recall exactly what the context was.

Giving the article a quick glance, I snorted. Apparently, the Unovan ambassador was caught calling the Kalosian ambassador a frog when he thought he wasn't being recorded. I rolled my eyes at that. Sure, Kalos was the France-analog in this world, but did even the slurs need to stay the same?

I scanned further down.

"Pokémon World Tournament Location Announced: Olivine City!" And, right below that, another article shouted, "World Coronation Series Begins! Will Galarian Champion Leon Defend His Throne?"

Now this was interesting. The PWT was started by the International Pokémon League back in 320 AF to encourage collaboration between regions. It was held every five years in a different city, much like the Olympics, making this the fifth inaugural tournament.

In contrast, the WCS was founded in 325 AF by the Galar and Kalos Leagues, who weren't part of the IPL at the time. And of course, because they had to one-up their rivals, they held the WCS every three years instead of five.

Though the IPL now included every region, the two global tournaments remained bitter rivals, with many elite trainers refusing to compete in one in favor of the other. Mom for example, absolutely loathed the WCS, calling it a "useless waste of time with rules that promotes garbage gimmicks and one-off tricks." She competed in the PWT twice.

"Aaron Fulan?" I was drawn out of my readings by the receptionist calling my name. "Please head through the door on your right."

I nodded. It was time.

Author's Note

Shorter chapter today.

As far as I'm concerned, every pokémon move uses aura of some sort. Aura can be typed beyond fighting and the distinction between fighting and normal type aura can be a matter of semantics.

Note that Artoria gave up a lot of moves in exchange for learning Mana Burst and Mana Edge. A ralts that is ready to evolve should know Disarming Voice, Draining Kiss, and Hypnosis. She groomed herself into being a swordmaster, but in exchange delayed the development of her fairy typing by a significant margin.

If you think about it, the World Series that's currently going on in the anime (Ash is in the top 8) is honestly rigged as fuck.