Appetizer 1.6

Aaron FulanSlateport City, Hoenn Region

I had Artoria checked out at the pokémon center. Once again, I was amazed by the natural durability of pokémon. Even after going three rounds with a machop, the worst of her injuries were bruises that swiftly faded under the ministrations of the local chansey.

An hour. Sure, machop was pulling his punches for the sake of coaching her, but the kind of exercise that would have laid me out for at least a day or two even in my prime was healed in an hour.

Truly, both pokémon and the medicines of this world astounded me.

That was great news for me though. It allowed me to do one last thing before sundown: visit the contest hall. I left the pokémon center with my gallant knight perched on my shoulder, spoon-sword slung over her back and attached using minor telekinesis. It reminded me that I should go pick up a bokken for my own use at some point. I couldn't keep swinging around a repurposed broomstick if I wanted to whip this body into shape after all.

I didn't know if Slateport was trying to make up for its lack of a major gym by having the biggest contest hall in the region, but nonetheless, the hall was something to look at.

It was positively massive, so massive in fact that it was more like a compound surrounding a great stage or stadium type of setup. Made sense for something that hosted the grand festival every year. It loomed in the distance. Distance, because I never actually stepped foot into the main competition area myself. Instead, the hall had several auxiliary buildings meant to handle lesser contests, administrative tasks, and other such duties. The two of us admired the stage form the fence on the outside.

Just as the gym challenge wasn't quite the same as in the games or anime, being the "eighth gym" didn't necessarily mean it had to be the last to be challenged, contests worked a bit differently in this world as well.

Normal-rank contests with normal ribbons were held once a month or so in every major city, though with staggered dates to allow for coordinators to travel and enter several a month should they so choose. Three normal ribbons got you into the super-rank, though only one super, hyper, and master-rank ribbons were required from then on to enter the next level of contests.

Those with at least one master ribbon could compete in the grand festival at the end of the year, with each master ribbon being viable entrance qualification for two years. Like badge-collecting, it was a race against time to qualify for enough contests and work up to the final stage.

And, in much the same way as the champion, the grand coordinator of any region was a figure of envy and admiration. A grand coordinator didn't have quite the same political pull, but they often sported mega stones of their own.

'It's big, my lord.'

"Yeah, that's where the grand festival is held."

'I thought the conference was held in Ever Grande City?'

"It is," I nodded, correcting the slight mistranslation in telepathy. "A grand festival is different from the general League conference. A conference is about battles, seeing who's the strongest. A pokémon contest is a little different."

'How so, my lord?'

"Well, to start, beating the opponent isn't really the goal. The goal is to be the most impressive, to wow the judges. There are a lot of ways you can do that so it's a little hard to describe, but control over a move is usually more important than just knowing powerful moves. When we get back, we'll watch a few contest battles so you can see how they're different from the gym battles you're used to seeing."

'Very well, my lord. And this is where the best contest battles take place?'

"That's right. We're going to pick up a season pass so we can watch any of them in person. Hopefully, we'll be around to watch the grand festival at the end of the year."

"No interest in competing, young man?"

I turned towards the voice. I was so caught up in admiring the main stage and talking to Artoria that I didn't even notice that we had company. It wasn't just anyone.

The man had seafoam-green hair and eyes and wore an ensemble of mostly whites, blues, and greens. He was missing the weird quasi-topless outfit he wore for contests, but even without, his handsome mug was unmistakable. I'd known more than one girl back in trainer school who swore they'd marry him.

Next to him was a young girl about my age with the same green hair and large, expressive eyes. She wore a big, floofy hat and a white sundress. Judging by her associate, there was no doubt as to her name either.

"Wallace Mikuri," I gasped. I couldn't help it. This was the Wallace Mikuri, six-time winner of the Hoenn Grand Festival and gym leader of Sootopolis City. He was the man who broke the mold, shattering every expectation of a coordinator being unsuited for "real" battles. When people ranked gym leaders, he was always neck and neck with mom and Leader Moore for that coveted "eighth gym" title, the dark horse who hadn't started out with any interest in battling yet somehow came to stand atop the trainer scene nonetheless.

He smiled genially. "I see my fame precedes me. I'm afraid I don't know you though, Mr…?"

"Fulan. Aaron Fulan, sir."

A spark of recognition lit up his face. "My, this is a fortuitous moment then. It has been a while since I last spoke with Sharon. How is she?"

"She was well when we last spoke. Mother is… as stern as always."

"Haha, you're certainly not the first to say so. So, do you have no interest in contests?"

I shrugged and gestured to my partner. "That depends on Artoria. Truth is, I think she can do well in them, control is a big focus of her psychic training and I think her technique is excellent, but I also don't think she would enjoy performing for the approval of judges."

"Uncle Wall? Who's this?"

"Oh, where are my manners. This is my niece, Lisia," he said as he nudged the girl forward. "She wants to compete in the upcoming grand festival like me."

"Yeah! I'm going to win with Ali here," Lisia said energetically. If she was starting out, that meant she was thirteen like me. Even now, some of that pop idol energy from canon was already shining through. On her head, the floofy cloud I thought was a hat spread his wings proudly.

"Swa, swablu!" he cried.

"Heh, she's got the makings of a star," the proud uncle said. "Lisia, this is Aaron, the son of Sharon Fulan, the Mossdeep gym leader."

"Ooh, cool, are you going for the Ever Grande Conference?"

I shrugged. "Probably?"

"That wasn't very enthusiastic."

"That's because I'm not an enthusiastic person," I smiled. "To be honest, badges don't really mean much to me. I don't want to dethrone Champion Steven or anything. It's more about becoming a powerful psychic and letting my pokémon reach their full potential. Badges are a means to an end, proof that we're moving forward, but I don't want to confuse them for the real prize."

"Yeah, I can see that. I'm not too hot in battles so I decided to follow Uncle Wall and become the Grand Coordinator. I hope to see you in a contest someday."

"Oh? Are we rivals?"

She frowned, her nose scrunching up cutely. "I don't think contests should be about rivalries. I know only one can win and all, but it should be about making people smile, you know? I just want to show everyone that being a trainer isn't all about being the strongest."

"That's as good a goal as any. You must have learned a lot from your uncle."

"Mhmm! Uncle Wall's been showing me and Ali how to do all sorts of tricks. Not everything he says applies because Ali's not a water type, but he's been super helpful."

I nodded along as she told me about some of Wallace's training regimens. Whitney Mikuri, now Lutia, married and moved out of Sootopolis alongside her husband so Lisia didn't live on the island city despite being able to trace her roots to its founders. Because her "Uncle Wall" was so busy running a gym and being the best coordinator in Hoenn, he didn't get much time to visit for face-to-face instruction. Nor was Ali compatible with many of the strategies Wallace favored. That left him with little choice but to leave behind videos of his own team training and some notes on how a new pokémon could improve.

Not that that was a small thing. Training regimens could be closely guarded secrets at higher levels and plenty of trainers would kill to know how Wallace trained that elegant monster of a milotic of his.

I did notice that she was missing her "mega tiara," the hair clip she wore that housed her key stone in canon. Made sense: she hadn't won it yet from the grand festival. I didn't know if she would be one of those miracle children who win on their first attempt, but I knew she would one day take the world by storm, probably within the next three years since Tate and Liza were gym leaders when she was the grand coordinator.

"Say, Aaron?" Lisia asked as we headed inside, her to register for contests and me to buy a spectator pass.

"Hmm?"

"Are you a psychic? Like Leader Sharon."

"I am, but not a very powerful one. I can see emotional auras around people so I know how they feel. Sometimes it means I can make a good guess about what they're thinking, but that's just me thinking, not an actual power. I'm damn good at poker though."

"Woah, that's awesome! I bet you'd be amazing in contests! You can always tell what the judges or the crowd likes most!"

"True, but I'm hoping to become a stronger psychic. You know, telepathy. Telekinesis. Teleportation. That sort of thing."

"Cool, is there like a psychic school or something? I heard Leader Sharon is super-powerful."

"She is," I nodded and swallowed the tang of bitterness on my tongue. It was hard to be resentful with so much bright-eyed happiness radiating from her. Instead, I grinned and pulled out my PokéNav, showing her a picture of the twins. "So are my little siblings. Tate and Liza are the strongest psychics born in our family in like twelve generations or something. Or at least, the ones with the most potential for their age."

"Ooh, they're so cute! They kind of look alike though. Which one is Tate and which one is Liza?"

"Heh, they'd get really mad if they heard you say that. But between you and me? They do look alike," I snickered. "The one with longer sideburns is Liza."

"Lucky. I'm an only child," she pouted adorably. "I want a little brother."

"If you win the grand festival, you can have Tate."

"Hah! Yes! I'm definitely going to win now, right, Ali?"

"Swablu!" the fluffball crooned alongside his trainer.

"She's going to hold you to that," Wallace drawled. "Whitney tells me she spoils the neighborhood kids as it is."

"I'd be happy to introduce her to my siblings when she wins."

"When? Not if? You have a lot of confidence in a girl you just met. I'll be competing too, you know."

"She'll win," I said with all the certainty of an oracle. "She'll win and she'll trounce you so badly that you'll have no choice but to focus more on your gym."

That took the gym leader back. "Hmm… You didn't say you had the Sight. Or is this one of Sharon's predictions? No, she wouldn't bother… But she might, just to mess with me… She's got a mischievous side under all that stiffness."

"Hey! I didn't need to hear that," Lisia complained. "I want to win because Ali and I worked hard, not because there's a prophecy or something!"

"That's not how the Sight works," I said with a chuckle. "Just because something is foretold to happen doesn't mean it will. In fact, you're almost better off just flipping a coin a lot of the time. Besides, I told you, I don't have any power except seeing emotions."

"Then… Why'd you say all that?"

"Why else? Because I believe you'll make it."

"Th-That's… That makes no sense."

I shrugged and gave her an enigmatic smile. "Maybe not, but I like to think I have an eye for talent."

"Thank you, I won't let you down," she said, a little pink coloring her cheeks.

"Hah, well she will have to beat me and Macherie," said a blonde boy. Behind him, a machop flexed her impressive muscles.

"I'm sorry, you are?"

He looked familiar. He was a blonde boy our age with long-ish hair swept to the right. He was traditionally handsome in that pretty boy way and wore a fitted blue suit over a thin turtleneck. Everything about him screamed trust fund baby, but then again, I was one too.

The machop, "Macherie" if I had to hazard a guess, was a younger member of her species. She was a little smaller than that sailor's machop I saw the other day and lacked his expert physique. She was toned, as all machop were, but not in a way that spoke of rigorous training and experience. And all of that was undercut by the massive pink bow on her head. It was distracting and clashed terribly with the musclebound pokémon, though I supposed it was cute… maybe…?

'There's no accounting for taste…'

Blondie swung his head to the side, flipping his bangs like he was auditioning for a Pantene commercial. "I'm Chaz, you are?"

"Umm… I'm Lisia, nice to meet you!" Lisia said, her usual pep overtaking her surprise by the end.

"Aaron," I gave him a nod, still trying to remember where I recognized him from. "And if you mean the next normal-rank contest, I won't be here. I'm headed to Mauville for my first badge."

"Hmph, I see, just another boor obsessed with power. Well, I suppose you're here so I should give you a little credit. Be sure to watch my rise through the contest circuit. Perhaps you'll learn a thing or two about elegance."

'Why you cur-' I snatched Artoria off my shoulder before she could club the idiot half to death with a spoon defending my honor. As tempting as that was, I didn't want the hassle.

"Nope. You can't beat up every idiot with a big mouth, Artoria."

"A brutish pokémon. And here I thought the ralts line were known for their elegance."

"There is nothing more elegant than following your oaths and fighting to defend another. But I don't suppose you'd know anything about that." I gently bopped Artoria's head with a finger. "And I keep telling you to keep that temper in check."

'My apologies, my lord.'

"Now, now, that's enough of that. It's good to be fired up but not if you start picking fights outside the stage," Wallace cut in.

"Yeah, contests should be about making people smile, not petty rivalries," Lisia said with a frown.

"I will take your advice into consideration, grand coordinator," Chaz said, bowing to Wallace. Turning to Lisia, he said, "I hope to see you in a week, my rival."

"I just sai-"

He strutted off before she could finish. It was then I finally remembered who this fop was.

He was the boy who gave the player character a lucarionite when Lisia is beaten for the first time in a master rank contest in the ORAS games. He had this weird one-sided rivalry-crush thing going on with Lisia, though whether she even knew about it was anyone's guess.

'Guess he's young enough that he has no idea how to talk to girls. Was that his awkward attempt at flirting?' I wondered.

And then I remembered the other big thing about him: He gave the player a lucarionite when the player finally defeated Lisia in a contest.

A lucarionite… That was extremely valuable for more than just the mega evolution itself, and not just because lucario were such rare pokémon. Because Kalos insisted that a lucario was the first to mega evolve, it held enormous historical significance in the region, with only the guardian family of the Tower of Mastery in Shalour possessing one. I couldn't imagine how one ended up in Chaz's hands.

I was tempted, so very tempted to participate in contests with the hope of acquiring one. If Chaz wanted a rival, surely I could give it to him? And then I glanced at my partner and quelled my greed. If it happened, it happened, but chasing shiny items like a magpie wasn't worth it, especially for a pokémon I didn't even have in the first place.

I was broken from my musings by the receptionist who took 750 LC and gave me a season pass, leaving me with 4,325 LC. All told, the equivalent of $75 for a season pass was excellent, a heavily discounted rate thanks to my sponsor.

Now that I received my pass, I left the uncle and niece pair to talk about Lisia's journey. Wallace would be teleporting to each city's master-rank contest whenever he had time with the help of his slowking. From what it sounded like, Lisia was on a trip of her own, starting with Slateport and headed by ship to Lilycove.

X

Aaron FulanRoute 110, Hoenn Region

The next morning saw Artoria and I at the northernmost end of Slateport, ready to head out into Route 110.

Route 110 was pretty to look at, though there wasn't too much special about it. Its standout feature was of course the Seaside Cycling Road, a collaborative project between Mauville and Slateport.

Originally, there was a land bridge built between the two cities with the help of several aggron to transport slate back when Slateport was first being built. After construction finished, it got overrun with wildlife and was cordoned off to preserve the local ecology. The SCR was then built above it for trainers who were in a hurry.

The SCR was a massive two hundred thirty miles long, a winding serpent of cement that cut through the bay. It was a construction project only possible with the aid of countless pokémon, not a few of which could literally hold back the tide for hours at a time. Every fifty miles or so, a ramp led down to the lower path so trainers and cyclists could take a rest or camp out.

Where the SCR was built for speed, the lower path was the scenic route. It was a full mile wide at the widest point and nothing but your own two feet were permitted there. Trainers, wildlife, fishermen, and more walked this road if they weren't in a rush.

The crazy part was that triathletes were known to cycle the whole of the SCR in less than a day. The unathletic normies like myself could usually cross it in three to four days of hard cycling, not that this was my intent. I did have a bike in my backpack, the wonders of hammerspace, but the lower path held more appeal to me, mostly because I planned to find myself the very first addition to the party.

I had three possibilities in mind but as promised to Artoria, the first two would be scrapped. I wouldn't be adding another psychic for a while, even if a slowpoke or staryu of my own appealed to me. Sure, staryu weren't officially psychics until they evolved, but that sounded like technical rules-lawyering to me.

That left an electrike.

In the games, a manectric wasn't anything special, just a raikou downgrade. Hell, thanks to the bullshit that was Light Ball, you could even argue that a pikachu was better. The mascot rat was a bit slower, but got access to Extreme Speed, Nasty Plot, Fake Out, and a host of other useful moves that let it play both physical and special roles while a manectric's only standout coverage moves were Overheat and Flamethrower.

That was far from the case here.

In reality, these lightning-wolves were known be one of the fastest things on land in a world where even rats and tadpoles got superpowers. They used the electricity generated by their fur to stimulate their nervous systems, effectively mimicking Ai's Lightning Armor form Naruto. They were functionally constantly in a state of heightened awareness and generated so much electrical charge that they summoned stormclouds around them as they entered battle. Sure, they weren't as beefy as arcanine, but good fucking luck catching up to one in a battle.

And best of all, electrike weren't particularly hard to train so long as you could cope with their hyperactive personalities.

"Ready, Artoria?"

'Always, my lord.'

With that, we were off, our first step into the wilderness.

Author's Note

"Leader Moore" is Marcus Moore, Flannery's grandfather and former member of the Hoenn Elite Four. He is one of the few side characters who were given a full name in canon so I'm using it. Flannery is Flannery Moore. At this time, this being pre-canon by a few years, she has yet to become a gym leader and so Lavaridge is run by her grandfather. Her terrifying, former-E4 grandfather with a master-tier typhlosion.

So when you ask someone who's the "strongest gym leader" in the current time, the three names that come up are Aaron's mom, the former E4, and the current grand coordinator. Of these, everyone knows Sharon Fulan could have been an E4 but turned down the title. Only Wallace has never held such a title, and so he's seen as a dark horse, and all the more amazing for it.

Norman Maple hasn't been tapped for E4 status yet.

Waifu encountered!

Except not really. Aaron's very much still in the "OMG I'm old enough to be her grandfather" phase of reincarnation. If there are any pairings, that'll come later when he physically matures and mentally adjusts to the idea that he's young again.

I'm tabling the idea of romance for this story partially because grooming as a topic disturbs me and also partly because I'm not very good at writing feelings in general. See the numerous terrible examples in Legendary Tinker for evidence.

And yes, Ali the Altaria is male.

Mikuri is Wallace's Japanese name. Lutia is Lisia's. It's what a 16 on an encounter roll gets you I guess…

Chaz and Lisia actually met in Lilycove during their first contest in canon but I decided to change it up because that doesn't actually matter much. They spent "all night" talking at the lighthouse according to Chaz, which presumably is where his crush started.