Chapter 65 – Sitting for Battle

  “So, this is the Mossdeep City gym? Kind of swanky that they turned an old observatory into a battling facility.”

  “Wy!”

  After our shopping spree, where I managed to restock most of our dwindling supplies, we got to reserving a bunk room at a local Pokémon center. While there Victini and Wynaut managed to link up with the rest of our party. The little blue blob excited at the prospect of finding a partner of his own. I already knew it would be a challenge to prevent Wynaut from wandering off. The little Pokémon’s mercurial attention shifted from one target to the next. With some effort we managed to get to the gym without him wandering off too many times.

  “Now make sure you are on your best behavior, Wynaut. There’s a good chance your future trainer is currently working inside this building.”

  “Can I come with you?”

  ‘It should be fine, trainer-owned psychic types tend to avoid snooping around others’ minds without good reason.’

  The three of us went inside. Me holding onto one of Wynaut’s ear like appendages while Victini floated silently behind us whilst invisible. I had learned my lesson from walking all the way over from the nearest Pokémon center that I couldn’t trust Wynaut to not wander off. That's why I made sure to never let him wander out of sight. The lobby room wasn’t as bustling as I would have expected from one of the major gyms. There was only one other person other than me in the room and that was the gym staff member sitting behind the reception desk.

  “Excuse me, I'd like to schedule a battle appointment.”

  “ID and License please.”

  While handing over the documents I decided to expedite the adoption process by highlighting the many positive qualities Wynaut possessed. Doing so by lifting him up and placing him on top of the counter.

  “See this Wynaut here?”

  “Yes…?”

  “He came over from mirage island all the way to the mainland by himself with nothing but grit and a wooden raft he built out of scrap wood. I’d say that would make him a valuable asset to any psychic type specialist’s team.”

  “Wy! Wy!”

  Wynaut, as if sensing my intentions, made himself appear extra cute by giving the lady behind the counter a small salute. It obviously worked since the nice office lady started petting his head.

  “You are a brave explorer then; we don’t often see a mirage island Wynaut making it over to the other side.”

  “Wyyy!”

  The nice lady obviously caught on to what we were implying shifting into a more businesslike demeanor at the drop of a hattenna.

  “The gym has a no questions asked adoption program for psychic types. I could admit little Wynaut immediately without too much hassle.”

  “No questions asked?”

  “Psychic types are rare enough that we never had any problems following this policy. Unlike what one would expect from other gyms, especially those specializing in the more common types.”

  “What do you think?”

  “Wy… Wy?”

  “He wants to know if gym trainers travel a lot. Wynaut’s dream is to become a renowned explorer.”

  “Wynaut here has dreams of exploration. Isn’t there an intern here who is set to start their own journey?”

  “Hmm not that I know of. To be honest with you, our gym leader has been delegating her leader duties in favor of supporting her husband’s career. I can’t even recall the last time that we actually had prospective trainers interning with us.”

  ‘Skimming on your duties while there are a thousand trainers eager to have your job. No doubt she’s planning to leave the gym to her kids once they’ve aged up a bit.’

  My mental image of the gym leader took a dive. Lavaridge gym also doesn’t actively recruit interns, but Mr. Moore has two league association jobs spending all the free time he did have with his granddaughter. Flannery had already started involving herself with the day to day running of the gym and with his nearing retirement I was sure Lavaridge gym’s popularity would surge once more.

  “How about I call the leader? Her twins are starting to near that age where it’s expected of them to begin rearing Pokémon. Wynaut are known to be fun loving and harmless, perfect for having around kids.”

  I exchanged looks with Wynaut silently questioning if that sounded like a good idea to him.

  “Naut…”

  “Not ideal… but you are willing to give it a go?”

  “Wy!”

  Seeing the blue blob confirm my guess was enough for the receptionist to pull out her pokégear and tap in the number of her employer. It took a while but eventually the call connected, possibly indicating the one on the other end of the line was busy.

  “Hey Rachel, there’s this challenger who is looking to pair up… oh! Hold on a minute. Did you catch this Wynaut or is it wild?”

  “Wild.”

  “A wild Wynaut who wishes to pair up with a trainer. I figure since he’s such a cutie it would make for a perfect first time Pokémon for the twins. Yes, they are in the lobby. Yes, Okay.”

  The call ended after which the receptionist addressed the two of us once more.

  “She’s coming back from her other job at the Mossdeep Space Center. Do the two of you want some refreshments from the machine while waiting? The name’s Samantha by the way.”

  “Wy!”

  “Wynaut wants hot coco I do too.”

  “Two hot coco’s please.”

  “Coming right up!”

  30 minutes later*

  While I was waiting for the gym leader to show up. Samantha was kind enough to put my battle appointment into the computer. As I feared the closest open slot she could put me in was ten days from now. Meaning that unless I managed to convince the gym leader Rachel to bend the rules for me, I would miss out on the free trip to Sootopolis City. While we were off on the side drinking coco only a single trainer came by to schedule for a battle. The foot traffic coming through the gym wasn’t as bad as the one I experienced at the Lilycove gym, but it could stand to improve certainly.

  Eventually the leader made her appearance. A bespectacled woman wearing a cyan colored dress Rachel seemed to be the motherly type, not surprising seeing as she was an actual mother of two.

  “You are Egon? So, this must be the little guy who is looking for a trainer.”

  “Wy Wy!”

  The little Wynaut cheerfully greeted her, as he was wont to do when meeting unknown strangers. A habit that I had to deal with on the way over here. At least his cheerful demeanor meant that people always looked upon him favorably.

  “A perfect fit! And no chance of any accidents happening either. Say little Wynaut, would you like to become my children’s playmate?”

  “Wy…”

  It was at this point that I felt the need to step in. The little Pokémon was easily distracted, and social pressure might have him give up on his ultimate goal.

  “…Leader Rachel? Wynaut has actually been looking to pair up with a traveling trainer. Are any of your children planning to start their circuit run soon?”

  Rachel took her time to answer the question, eventually giving a long exasperated sigh.

  “That’s too bad… My children have only just turned seven years old. They are too young to leave home.”

  “Maybe one of your gym trainers?”

  “Every single staff member that is currently under my employ are permanent residents of Mossdeep City. If you truly want to find a traveling trainer that can take care of Wynaut you’ll have to look elsewhere.”

  “Wy…”

  The blue merrymaker was close to tears, the both of us had been counting on the Mossdeep gym to find him a good trainer. Both of us knew that I would be too busy training my team to chaperone him going to the local trainer school and praying that we found a responsible trainer.

  “How about this? I’ll take the both of you to meet my children. If Wynaut likes them then that’s that. If it doesn’t work out the gym will be responsible for finding a traveling trainer willing to take him on.”

  ‘An empty guarantee, not many trainers are willing to put in the effort of raising a Wynaut. The species is well known for being unable to attack. Only a well-read specialist would see the value of training these psychic types. No doubt she’s planning to win Wynaut over with treats and affection.’

  “…Can we do anything?”

  ‘The gym is still our best shot, if nothing else works out Wynaut will just have to wait until one of the twins is ready to start their journey. Besides, you can always take him along on one of your adventures across Hoenn.’

  “We’ll come with you but ultimately it’s up to Wynaut to make the decision.”

  Picking up Wynaut into my arms we gave a quick goodbye to Samantha the desk lady before being led off by Rachel to the back of the gym. While on our way I got a good look at the available facilities. The battlefields housed inside the gym were unique in the fact that they doubled as planetariums, each of them giving spectators a panoramic view of our solar system. I’ve watched videos where the Pokémon used the fake planets as shields against powerful attacks. Basically, any ground bound Pokémon that did battle in here had a distinct disadvantage.

  ‘Now I just have to somehow convince leader Rachel to move me up on her schedule. Any proper gym leader would never go for that, but I feel like there’s some wiggle room here.’

  “You must have a very busy schedule being a mother, a gym leader and working at the space center.”

  “Yes, If I was left to decide for myself, I probably wouldn’t have chosen to become a gym leader. However, my mother insisted that I carry on the family’s legacy despite not having the talent.”

  “Talent?”

  “I wasn’t born with psychic abilities, the first one in my family that lacks the gift. With the help of my psychic type Pokémon I’ve managed to train up to what others in the profession would call “parlor tricks”. My children are the exact opposite, both of them being equally talented in the mental arts. That’s why I want them to inherit my position as soon as they’re able to.”

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  “That must be a bummer being the only one in the family not being able to.”

  “Not really, anything I can’t do myself my Pokémon are able to do for me. It’s just that my fellow psychic type specialists firmly believe that trainers who have these abilities are able to connect to psychic type Pokémon on a deeper level.”

  ‘Is that true?’

  “I’ve never had another trainer!”

  ‘Sorry was starting to feel a little bit self-conscious there. It would probably be more like connecting with another psychic type Pokémon. Being alike does help breed that initial closeness.’

  Rachel not being psychic also reassured me that she wouldn’t be finding out about Victini anytime soon. Our conversation quieted down and so as to fill the gap I started asking her about the gym’s scheduling.

  “Samantha told me that I had to wait ten days for my gym battle. Your schedule must be filled with challengers.”

  “Since the gym’s situated on an island away from the mainland we get about half as many challengers as the other major gyms. Which is enough to keep our operations going, and my staff paid but not much else.”

  “Is there any way to earn that badge a bit sooner? I’ve been offered a free voyage to Sootopolis on the S.S. Tidal but the ship leaves within the next two days.”

  “Hmmm, you know, me and my husband could use a babysitter. It's been a while since we had a night off. You seem like a responsible trainer, how about you watch after the twins for the entire evening and come tomorrow I’ll reschedule you for a quick battle?”

  “Thank you!”

  ‘No doubt she could have asked one of her Pokémon to do it for her. This is amazing! We’ll show those kids the best time ever!’

  “We can teach them how to play Timburr’s Tower!”

  “Just make sure not to tell any other trainers about this. We can’t make exceptions for every challenger who wants to move up the schedule. You know our gym’s special rule?”

  “A double battle, right?”

  “Yes, the both of us will be using only two Pokémon each.”

  Double battles was an emerging fad within the Hoenn region. It had always been something that trainers messed around with for fun in non-official battles. Or more grimly, what the official military forces of a region used to train their soldiers in parallel thinking. With the demilitarization of the regions after the great war, double battles had fallen out of favor. Now that it seemed like wars had finally become a thing of the past the practice had seemingly reverted back to its roots.

  In preparation for my journey, I had watched a good number of informative double battle videos. Psychic type Pokémon being able to link with their trainer’s mind allowed them to sense their trainer’s intention making verbal commands unnecessary. However, most trainers still did so to maintain a veneer of fairness. Thus psychic types had a small advantage in the hectic field of double battles where every second counts they could perform their moves before their trainers even had a chance to utter the command.

  We exited the gym through a side door where a tiled path led to an adjacent medium sized house most likely Rachel’s family home. After entering inside I couldn’t help but notice the sound of two children in the middle of having a heated argument with each other.

  “Lunatone is obviously the superior Pokémon!”

  “Solrock can use fire moves and is stronger during the day!”

  Puzzled by the bickering I gave Rachel a questioning look. Which the gym leader quickly noticed and responded to.

  “Tate and Liza are a bit of a handful but they’re such sweethearts once you get to know them. And best of all you won’t have to dumb down any conversation you have with them. Due to their budding psychic powers my babies have the intelligence of your average ten-year-old.”

  ‘I am already taking care of six rowdy Pokémon. Looking after these two in addition to that won’t be that difficult.’

  “Six?”

  ‘Well… Glove is already so patient and dutiful. I probably wouldn’t be able to handle him were he a hotblooded younger member of his species.’

  Not looking to get into a further discussion over who the most well-adjusted individual in our group is, I readdressed Rachel who was looking at me as if she had me all figured out.

  “No worries, ma’am I am used to watching over my sister.”

  Having received my reassurance Rachel opened the door leading into the living room where I saw the rambunctious twins fight while a documentary on the ecology of Meteor Falls was playing in the background. The documentary displayed the large impact crater where an ancient meteor had caved in the large mountain range allowing natural light to fall in from above. No doubt the show had been discussing the pair of Meteorite Pokémon who are most commonly seen around craters like those shown.

  The twins turned around their eyes widening at the sight of an unfamiliar stranger in their house

  “Mom! Who is this? Wow! a Wynaut!” “Mom! Who is this? Wow! a Wynaut!”

  Their synchronicity was impressive but what was even more so was this sense of maturity which I had not come to expect from children this age myself being a notable exception of course.

  “This is Egon, a traveling trainer. He’s promised to look after the two of you for the entire evening. You can ask him all about what life is like living on the road. More importantly, look at the little friend he brought with him! I want the two of you to be nice to the little Wynaut okay?”

  “Wy!”

  Wynaut jumped out of my arms and onto the coffee table. He seemed to like the twins well enough and was no doubt eager to explore the rest of the house. Wynaut ever the social butterfly grabbed hold of the television remote increasing the volume. Which had previously been reduced when the three of us came inside. Rachel, who had seen about enough, decided now would be a good time to go back to her other job.

  “I’ll go back to the space center now, but you can expect to see both me and my husband back at around ten. Our emergency number is on the fridge, dinner has already been made, you just have to warm it up, the kids need to be in bed at seven sharp and no liquids past six. Okay, love you two bye bye!”

  ‘Geez, that woman needs a vacation.’

  “Can I come out now?”

  ‘Just hold on for a bit, we have to be certain that Tate and Liza can keep a secret.’

  When their mother left the two twins immediately got to playing with Wynaut. The psychic type being peppy, small and cute this was the most logical progression of events.

  “You think Solrock are cooler, right Wynaut?”

  “Stop trying to put words in Wynaut’s mouth!”

  “Wy… Wy….”

  “Now hold on there you two! Let’s just agree both Solrock and Lunatone are interesting Pokémon and leave it at that.”

  “No waay!” “No waay!”

  “Fine if the two of you insist! Let’s make an objective comparison. Do the two of you know where your mother keeps a whiteboard or maybe a screen projector?”

  20 minutes later*

  It turned out that the household did have a whiteboard and because I recognized that the twins wouldn’t stop having this same argument without outside intervention. I opted to act as an impartial referee making sure to impress upon them that both Pokémon were about equal in terms of their inherent strength.

  “So, you see if we look at the potential moves both of the two Meteorite Pokémon can learn. You’ll find that each of them has particular advantages and or weaknesses.”

  Tate and Liza were surprisingly docile once I started my pseudo-scientific session. The twins proved to be eager learners. Tate seemed extra smug because it seemed like Solrock had the upper hand according to my move chart. That was until I wrote down the unique moves Lunatone could learn.

  “Egon, why did you write down Moonblast? What kind of move is that?”

  “Wy?”

  “An excellent question! While preparing for my own journey I’ve been following the work of Professor Sycamore of the Kalos region. I expect the Professor might be close to conclusively proving the existence of a new type of Pokémon called the Fairy type. This will lead to the reclassification of a good number of Pokémon who had previously been thought to be only psychic or normal types. Which of course will eventually lead to the reclassification or discovery of moves.”

  “So, Moonlight is a fairy move and Lunatone is able to learn this new move called Moonblast?”

  “Indeed, although Lunatone is not a fairy type Pokémon but being of a species that is intrinsically linked to the moon it is of no surprise that Lunatone learns these two techniques. Just like how Solrock is not a fire type but learns moves that gain power under harsh sunlight.”

  “So which one do you think is better?!” “So which one do you think is better?!”

  “Hmm… I think both of them have their own unique strengths and weaknesses but if one would ask which one I would prefer to catch for myself I’d have to go with Solrock.”

  “Yes!” “Noo!”

  “A Solrock would fit in better with my team. You see, I specialize in fire types. Now how about the two of you keep Wynaut company to make sure he doesn’t wander off while I go make dinner?”

  “Okay!” “Okay!”

  “Wy!”

  The two of them held onto Wynaut’s arms eager to drag off the blue explorer to their room. Now that I had some time for myself I released most of my Pokémon inside the living room and cranked open a window so that Numsy could spend some time in the garden while he was waiting for his meal. The last time I weighed the big lug he clocked in at around 550 lbs. That put him into floorboard cracking territory which prevented me from releasing him inside buildings that were not up to league association code.

  “You are on perimeter control just until I’ve finished making dinner.”

  “Came?”

  “I don’t want Wynaut wandering off. Even with their increased intelligence the twins are still six years old so it’s our job to make sure the three of them stay inside the house. Just make sure to use a light hand when they do try to escape. Hit them with a good old yawn, okay?”

  “Rupt!”

  I wasn’t expecting the three of them to run away but a bit of caution never hurt anyone. Glove was already in the kitchen ready to prepare today’s dinner using the new ingredients I had acquired. While the rest of my crew were content to just lay on and around the couch catching the last bits of the documentary the twins were watching moments ago.

  ‘How about you giving those two a surprise?’

  “On it!”

  I calmly went back to cutting berries just knowing Victini would make this day very special for the two six-year-olds. The food prepping wouldn’t take too long since I just had to reheat the children’s meal.

  “Dar?”

  “That’s a microwave, lazy people use them to evenly heat precooked meals.”

  ‘Hmm that’s the first time I completely understood Glove without Victini’s assistance. Having a translator with me all the time must be paying off already.’

  “WOOOOOW!!!”

  ‘And there it is.’

  The commotion upstairs didn’t just stop there, I was hearing multiple different kinds of noises. Furniture being moved, running and the swishing of bed sheets. I was quite sure Victini was leading them on a wild goose chase. I just hoped they wouldn’t start using their own psychic powers to get a hold of her. It was at this moment that my Xtransceiver suddenly decided to go off. Looking at the screen of my fancy phone watch I could see that it was an unknown number. Growing curious I decided to just accept the call and see who it was.

  “Hello?”

  “This is Joshua, assistant to Professor Birch. Is this Egon from Lavaridge town I am speaking to?”

  “Yes…?”

  “We would like to thank you for the report you sent to us about your Vulpix developing the drought ability. It has been a riveting read on how you came upon your initial hypothesis.”

  ‘What lie did I use to explain my foreknowledge again?’

  “In any event, Professor Birch would like to meet and thank you personally. His research focuses on Pokémon habitat and distribution. Abilities that can influence weather are of great interest to him. Naturally we would like to meet the subject of your report and run some non-invasive tests on Rena the Vulpix.”

  “Can’t professor Birch request a Torkoal from the league association for that? Or catch a Vulpix and test my training methods himself?”

  “We do in fact plan to do both of these things, but the Professor is a busy man so I as his assistant have been asked to facilitate the whole experiment to confirm your theory. So far finding trainers who have untrained Vulpix partners has been difficult, as is the possibility for the lab to request one of our sponsored trainers to go out of their way to catch one. Still… would you be amenable to my previous request?”

  ‘Litteroot Town… getting there will be a pain. At this level I can no longer guarantee a win against gym leaders and in case I do earn those badges it’ll still be several weeks before I come anywhere close to Littleroot.’

  “Sorry, I am currently in Mossdeep City and we are in a time crunch to qualify in time for the Ever Grande Conference.”

  “That’s understandable and you have already helped us a bunch… Still, I will send you Professor Birch’s office phone number. He’ll be happy just to hear from you. Sorry for taking up your time.”

  I started feeling bad after hearing the obvious disappointment in Joshua’s voice. Which led me to

  “Wait… I can’t get to Littleroot right away, but I’ll make sure to pay you a visit once I’ve earned my sixth gym badge.”

  “That’s great news! Thanks a lot, we’ll hope to see the two of you soon. Have a nice evening!”

  Joseph ended the call right away probably in fear of me changing my mind. I looked around the kitchen and saw the rest of my team eying me as if I just got scammed out of money even Orin gave me a pitying glance.

  “It’s not what it looks like! Building up connections is important!”

  “Ninee!”

  “Professor Birch is the most esteemed academic in all of Hoenn! We are not just being used by his assistant for easy discovery credit.”

  The only one in the room with any sort of common sense was Glove who had by now finished prepping all the food and was just waiting for me to cut up the available berries. At the same time, I could hear the noises upstairs quieting down, Victini finally managing to run those two kids ragged.

  I heard the footfall of someone walking down the stairs in a hurry opening the living room door and presumably walking inside. That person turned out to be Liza who was surprised by the gathering of unknown Pokémon making themselves comfortable on the couch and kitchen floor. The girl gave my team a quick look, her eyes lingering on Ninetales for a spell before she snapped out of it and started addressing me.

  “Excuse me! Is the Pokémon who's been playing with us upstairs yours?”

  “You mean Victini? Fluffy eared, small wings on her back?”

  “…Yes.”

  “Yeah, Victini likes testing people during first time meetings. The two of you haven’t been making a mess upstairs chasing her down right?”

  “Maybe…”

  “Well, if you want to catch her the best way to do so is with food. Lucky for the two of you, dinner's almost done. Do you perchance know where the plates are kept?”

  Liza pointed upwards at the upper cabinet which sadly I wasn’t tall enough to reach. Thankfully as I was looking for a stool, Glove decided to help me out by opening that piece of kitchen furniture, pulling out two clean plates and placing them down on the nearby dinner table. To show my appreciation I rubbed his back for a bit combing my hands through his short, matted coat.

  “Oh, thanks Glove. You can join the rest now I am almost done with dicing up the berries. Liza, this is Glove, a Darmanitan from the Unova region.”

  “Dar!”

  “It’s nice to meet you too!”

  “Can you get your brother and Wynaut to come join us for dinner? I can share some of my experiences as a trainer while we are eating If you’d like?”

  “Yes!”

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