Blazing the Competition - Pokémon SI

Chapter 12 – Show and Tell

“A special someone you say? Now I am intrigued, show me this mysterious stranger of yours Egon.”

I zipped open my bag and tried coaxing Victini out of her safe space.

“It’s okay, Professor Juniper is a really nice person you can trust him. When this is over, we can all go out for ice cream. Castelia City is famous for its frozen desserts.”

Slowly Victini emerged out of the backpack. First her pointy ears and then the rest of her body. Victini’s shyness evident she used her small paws in an attempt to hide her face. Halfway through her reveal the professor started sporting a dead serious expression.

“Young man… do you know what kind of Pokémon this is?”

“Yeah, a Victini. We found her in Liberty Garden she’s been living on that island for like a hundred years. We figured that we could bring her along for our journey to keep her company since her previous trainer isn’t around anymore.”

“Can I go now?”

“Yeah, it’s okay keep listening in though. I am kind of out of my depth, so all your input is appreciated.”

Victini disappeared back into my backpack. Comically her two ears are still sticking out.

“Uhm… so professor I figured her being such a rare Pokémon it might land us in trouble if it became common knowledge that she is traveling with me. You are the only credited Pokémon professor I know personally that can keep a secret. What do you think I should do to minimize the risk?”

The professor had a pondering look on his face before giving me a measured answer.

“A Victini… I’ve heard about such a Pokémon being described in ancient folktales. It is certainly my first time seeing one. You did well by calling me first before making any decisions. Yes, I would say generally it would be better to keep Victini out of the spotlight. There are many unscrupulous people who would prey on novice trainers like you in order to acquire such a valuable Pokémon. The path I would advise you to pursue is getting stronger as a trainer. When you have more experienced Pokémon to call upon in battle the risk of poachers taking her by force is reduced.”

After the professor mentioned the risk of her being taken by poachers the ears sticking out of my backpack started trembling again. ‘The first thing to do is help Victini improve her confidence and self-esteem. Before even considering putting her through any sort of training.’

The professor continued on.

“Now although I can’t help but admit that I would love to study her in my lab. The focus of my research is Pokémon migratory patterns. However, I have someone in mind that is more knowledgeable on Pokémon myths and legends her recent dissertation paper was on the Origin of Pokémon so she should be more informed than an old coot like me.”

“That someone being your daughter professor?”

Professor Juniper gives me this bewildered look.

“Don’t look at me like that sir. I have a subscription to the Rustboro Science Monthly. Aurea Juniper has been making waves with her comments on the feasibility of resurrecting Pokémon fossils.”

“Ahem… in any case, Aurea is currently on an archeological expedition near Route 4’s desert resort as an advisory aide. Given the extenuating circumstances she will probably be willing to leave early to give you a summary overview of things to be mindful of while keeping company with such a unique Pokémon.”

“In regard to keeping Victini’s anonymity. The best thing to do is to catch her with an unregistered poké ball. These are generally illegal to use, but as this region’s professor I am authorized to give you special dispensation for unique cases like this. You see Egon, the league association keeps records of every caught Pokémon by tagging all poké balls sold in Unova. Then when a poke ball Is used the Pokémon caught gets it species, size and other unique traits registered. This is to prevent black market trading and helps identify each Pokémon that is being used for criminal activities. Too many officials have access to these files for me to comfortably let Victini get caught in a poké ball sanctioned for official use. I will inform Aurea to bring an unregistered poké ball with her when she comes to visit you in Castelia.”

“Also, from now on don’t use public communication devices like these to contact me for sensitive matters. Our ruling government body keeps record of all public phone calls and is known to make security blunders now and again.”

“I can’t…”

“What do you mean Egon?”

“I don’t have an Xtransceiver.”

“…”

“…Why didn’t you just say so! I can put the discovery of long-lost Pokémon in your sponsory records and pay you enough pokédollars to afford the newest brand models.”

I started getting this euphoric feeling. ‘Finally… my indiscriminate ways are paying off.’

Shaking off the disparaging side of my consciousness that was telling me this new Xtransceiver was due to me breaking and entering inside private property. I gratefully listened to the professor explaining how to use the cash machine inside the center to print out pokédollars using my lab associate account.

The call concluded with the promise of me meeting up with his daughter tomorrow evening at the same Pokémon center. Victini levitated out of the bag and gave me demanding look. Without anything needing to be said I put my coat back on and we made our way towards Mode Street the birthplace of this city’s famous Castelia cones.

I woke up groggily assessing my situation. All my Pokémon are sharing my bed to sleep. Luckily there aren’t any blanket stealers in my team. Numsy and Rena are out of their balls curled up around a certain rabbit-like Pokémon.

Last night we went out on an ice cream run with Victini. After standing in line for like an hour. ’Seriously what’s up with that? An evening during wintertime and still everyone is lining up to get ice cream?’ We finally got to order some Castelia cones. Asking the staff for their recommendation resulted in some sort of spicy ice cream mix made from yache and razz berries. Rena and Victini couldn’t get enough of the stuff, but Numsy for the first time in his life refused to finish his cone. Naturally the ice cream makers in Unova never had a Numel come to their store before. Numsy was upset with me the whole way back until I promised him that the next time, we went out for treats he would get to have first pick of the available venues.

We went to bed that night and surprisingly Victini couldn’t sleep tossing and turning until the rest of my team decided enough was enough. Creeping up next to her to share their body warmth.

‘The first time away from home is always the hardest. Thankfully I have some amazing Pokémon with me to keep her company.’

I used a trick my sister always used to get me up. Softly blowing inside the ears until their faces scrunched up.

“Pix!”

“Vi Vi Tini!”

“Num num!”

“You ready for the day cuties? Today I get to buy my first ever Xtransceiver.”

I made breakfast as usual but when it came to feeding Victini I was stumped. There were no dietary guidelines to follow at all. So, I plainly asked her what she usually likes to eat. Apparently, she survived by eating wild berries that grow on the island and raiding the sole vending machine near the light house for sugary snacks.

“Hmm okay, it’s important we find a well-balanced diet for you to enjoy. Don’t expect to eat sugary snacks on the regular. Those are best saved for special occasions.”

“Tini Vi Vi!” “No!”

“Don’t worry it’s going to be okay. I am a deft hand at figuring out what flavors a Pokémon likes or dislikes. You won’t even miss the sugar once we picked out a meal plan for you.”

With this new inflow of cash from Professor Juniper I finally have enough dough to experiment with flavors, but for now I asked Numsy to share some of his food with Victini. Just until we can get to the market.

“So, yer saying you need me to come up with a meal plan for psychic/fire type Pokémon?

What do you have there like a delphox?”

The old man at the farmer’s market was being very helpful. He saw me floundering around trying to measure different stuff until he couldn’t take it anymore and stepped in to help me.

‘Yes, that’s a good excuse.’ A braixen actually, my braixen is close to evolving and now I need to account for the Pokémon’s growing psychic abilities.”

“Then what you need is a healthy dose of calcium to be added to her regular diet. For that added brain power. Next every canine Pokémon needs some sort of protein supplementing their regular diet I would recommend you try out our store’s “Mystery meat”.” What flavors does the little fox usually like to eat?”

“She uhm… has an appetite for the sweeter things in life.”

“Well than you want to mix some type of sweet tasting berry to the regular brand. What would you like? We have Pecha, Mago and Magost. I even have some Custap berry in the back if you really want to spoil that Pokémon.”

“Thank you very much for the help. And yes, I would like to order enough of those berries for a month at least. Leave out the mystery meat though since I already have that product. Just ring me up for the extra calcium powder and berries no custap though. We don’t want her getting too spoiled for choice.”

Suddenly I felt an invisible force pinching my cheeks. I was so surprised that I let out a very unmanly sounding yelp. The culprit let out tiny squeaking noises inside my backpack.

“You know what? Leave out the sweet berries and fill my order up with the bitterest and oldest Rawst berries you can find.”

This time the pinching grew more fervent accompanied by little invisible hands pulling on my hair.

“It’s a shame only well-behaved Pokémon get sweet tasting berries.”

The store owner finally noticing what’s going on by the rustling of my hair decides to play along.

“That’s a shame indeed those sweet berries are as fresh as they come just shipped in this morning. The rawst berries you want… you don’t mind if they’re a bit moldy do you?”

The pinching stopped followed up by Victini’s urgent mind linking with my own.

“No moldy berries, yuck!”

When linked like this she could easily read my surface thoughts.

‘Are you going to be good? Those Custap berries are extremely rare and will cost almost triple the amount of a somewhat regular berry. You can have one every other week else my sponsor will start asking questions.’

“Okay hmpfff.”

I give the store owner a wink letting him know he played his part perfectly before handing over the payment for all those extra ingredients. I was glad that Victini was already coming out of her shell bit by bit. My team really bonded with her overnight. Especially Rena was acting like an older sister even though Victini is at least 94 years her senior.

After we were done grocery shopping our next destination is a local hardware store where they sell all sorts of gizmo’s including Xtransceivers. We walked inside Numsy deciding to stay out this time. The counter was manned by a sleepy salesclerk who greeted me on entering and promptly went back into a daze. Upon further inspection of this store, I can see all sorts of interesting items. Bicycles, Camping gear, Explorer kits and I could even see a poké flute. All sorts of key items that can be useful for a trainer’s Journey. The thing I specifically came looking for was all the way in the back Xtransceivers.

The cheapest models were around 20.000 pokédollars. The name brand ones freshly released this year cost upwards to around 60.000. Which is coincidentally the amount the professor awarded me for rediscovering Victini. If I could get a decent model at a mid-price range with all the features, I need on it then I’d be satisfied.

“Excuse me miss. What model would you recommend for a traveling trainer?”

Clearly startled the salesclerk woke up from her daze and rushed to accommodate me and walk me trough all the models.

“Well sir, most of our cheaper models are not water resistant so those won’t last during rainstorms. It also depends on what type of Pokémon you frequently encounter. Shock resistant Xtransceivers are insulated against your typical fare electric shocks. In case sir tends to work with fire types our flame retardant models might work better for you.”

The last part she said while eying Numsy who is still walking beside me.

“Of course, we also have satellite connectivity options for trainers that like to wander off route. For the seafaring trainers we have Xtransceivers that are completely waterproof.”

“Uhm what would you recommend for the average fire type specialist that likes to wander off route and go spelunking every once in a while?”

“For those trainers I’d recommend this model. It has satellite connectivity; a signal booster, is flame retardant and water resistant. It also comes with a one-year warranty. At the reasonable pricing of 39.000 pokédollars.”

"I’ll take it. Does it come in red? And do you also sell torches? I could use a couple of those."

I walked out of the store with three torches that last for one hour each and a brand-new wristwatch phone for only 39.750. ‘I can finally call everyone; Phoebe and Flannery must be angry not hearing from me for over two months.

The last time I talked with Phoebe she was participating in the ace circuit. I know exactly where Flannery is though she had to sit out this circuit because Mr. Moore thinks she is too much of a klutz to travel alone without supervision. In this case I had to agree with him. She can’t prepare meals for her Pokémon without cutting her fingers and her inability to read a map still confounds me. ‘How did she manage to get her license when navigating is part of the curriculum?’ In any case she was betting that her grandfather would let her go if I traveled together with her this year. Naturally she was indignant when I told her of my plans to travel to Unova. ‘I should get her a souvenir when I return.’

With all the important stuff done for the day I take my team to visit the famous battle company. Their building is located just off central plaza, and they let trainers make use of two of their floors to gain some battle experience against their working staff. The worker’s Pokémon get some exercise this way instead of having to sit still while their trainers slaved away doing paperwork. Wager battles aren’t allowed though but with my recent windfall I felt less pressure to earn more money. This would also be an excellent way to show Victini what sportsmanlike battling is like.

“Okay guys the plan is to show Victini how we do battles. No trash talking and hitting under the belt. These Pokémon need all the exercise they can get. So don’t end the fight early when it turns out your opponent is a chump.”

“Chumps…?”

“Uhm yeah… so you have these trainers that treat their circuit journey like a vacation from their parents and school. They tend to hang around in the beginner areas catching multiple wurples and zigzagoon without moving on. Here in Unova they’d probably have a different name for them. Anyway, I tend to to call any trainer that doesn’t put in effort raising his Pokémon the C word.”

“…but don’t emulate me, okay? Calling trainers chumps is bad and I am quitting too if you see me using the word, call me out on it and I’ll owe you a berry.”

“Num num!”

“Pix pix!”

“Okay okay… The same goes for you guys.”

Those two are sporting smug looks as if I already owe them a plate full of berries. ’I can hold my tongue when I want to okay?’

We entered the building, and the receptionist directed us to the 47th floor and the 55th floor. The areas designated for the public to come visit. The battle company manufactured battlefields for the whole of Unova. Pokémon battling being the most popular pastime activity in the whole world. Their clients ranged from gym leaders to eccentric rich folk. This company made a killing from building battlefields for the yearly Ventress conference. Naturally their own battle facilities are top notch.

‘This open battle invitation for all passing trainers might be a great PR move. How can clients trust workers that don’t participate in battle themselves?’

We ascended straight to the 55th floor. Walking inside after the elevator doors opened revealed a high-tech battlefield hooked up to all sorts of measuring instruments. The hall is fairly crowded with employees and trainers alike.

“Greetings young trainer are you here to participate in the open challenge invitation?”

The man who spoke to me is an older fellow sporting an impressive moustache. The way he carried himself belied his humble clothes sporting a patched up janitorial outfit. His station however did not seem to affect his mood having an amused twinkle in his eyes.

“Yes sir, my team and I heard about the open invitation and since there are so few places to have battles in the city, we thought to check it out.”

“That’s just perfect young man. It just so happens that a spot opened up how’s about you and me have ourselves a match?”

“I’m up for a match sir, but could we make a two versus two battle? I don’t have that many Pokémon yet.”

“Great suggestion youngster I only have two myself you see.”

We made our way towards the opposing stands on the battlefield. The current field is a plain one filled to the edges with loose grit. Perfect for your everyday battling.

One of the company employees acted as a referee while his colleagues are busy monitoring the match on their hardware.

“Go Rena!”

“Let’s give em a surprise Trubbish!”

Our opponent revealed his first Pokémon trubbish.

Trubbish, the Trash Bag Pokémon. Trubbish prefer to live in dirty places like garbage dumps. It is said they were born when a chemical reaction occurred between an abandoned trash bag and industrial waste. Wanting more garbage, they follow people who litter. They always belch poison gas.

“Be wary of its toxic attacks Rena start off with Sunny day!”

“Use Acid Spray!”

Trubbish belched out a lump of acid straight towards Rena while she put the sun up. Trubbish’ attack hit singing Rena’s fur with its acid. Meanwhile the field monitors read our move and in anticipation the rooftop of the building opened up and let the sunshine come through.

‘Man, these battlefields are awesome I should really get these guys to do some work for me if I ever get my own place.’

“Rena hit em with Incinerate!”

“Toxic spikes!”

The harsh sunlight upped our firepower so much that incinerate formed 5 balls of fire simultaneously two more than usual. Before Rena could fire off her attack the Trubbish launched poisonous caltrops all over the field which buried themselves deeply ready to set off when the fields combined weight changed. Rena’s move hit causing massive amounts of damage melting off some of trubbish’ outer skin.

The janitor didn’t bother having his trubbish try to dodge our attacks. ‘Being generally a slow-moving species, he is correctly playing to this poison type’s strength.’

“Finish it with ember!”

“Trubbish poison gas!”

The ember hit true finishing off the janitor’s trubbish but not before it could envelop the field with its poison gas. Rena inhaled some of it poisoning her in the process.

“We are on a timer Rena let’s finish off his second Pokémon just as quick!”

“Ho Ho! that’s the spirit youngster but we are not going down that easily.”

He recalled his fainted trubbish and released his second pokemon a Mincinno.

Minccino, the Chinchilla Pokémon. A clean freak that will not allow even the slightest mess, it uses its tail like a mop to thoroughly clean any and all filth. When its tail has gotten dirty from self-cleaning or from cleaning its nest, Minccino spends a whole day washing its tail in clean spring water.

“Rena let’s do this! start off with plan 4!”

“Baby-Doll eyes!”

Plan 4 was hitting our opponent with confuse ray. Confuse ray was an interesting move but if the opponent sees it coming its effectiveness is reduced drastically. They can close their eyes before the flash of light hits them. Them leading off with baby-doll eyes basically guaranteed the confusion would take hold.

And so, it did the flash bang vulpix sent out completely countered their move. Temporarily blinded from the confuse ray Mincinno left itself wide open. ‘Let’s finish this up.’

“Quick attack Rena!”

My vulpix ran with blazing speed giving a full body blow to our opponent’s Pokémon. Quick attack was one of those moves we trained extensively. That kind of speed will always be invaluable in any sort of encounter. What happened next though I didn’t plan for.

“Punish them use tail slap!”

Even though the janitor’s Mincinno is blinded it somehow knew exactly where my vulpix was. Its tail found its target as it barraged Rena with a 4-hit combo. The tail acted like it had a mind of its own instinctually finding all her weak spots.

Rena was laying down weakened from the poison and hurt badly by those tail slaps she received. I made the call to recall her before the poison exacerbated her condition.

“Return!”

“How...!?”

“My Mincinno’s ability is called technician even when blinded she knows exactly where to hit for maximum damage.”

‘They are already this far along with training up their Pokémon’s ability? I guess this man is no chump.’

“Berry!”

‘What are you doing reading my thoughts! Get out of here I am in the middle of a battle.’

“Go Numsy!”

My little yellow camel materialized on my side of the field but was quickly struck by the toxic spikes shooting upwards from the soil. Now poisoned as well, we had to quickly settle this match. Luckily the Janitor’s mincinno was still temporarily blinded.

“Let’s avoid getting close Numsy bulldoze!”

“My Mincinno doesn’t need its sight to hit her target. Use swift!”

There were no obstacles Numsy could use to block those star-shaped rays. Luckily Numsy is a bit hardier than Rena so he should be able to take a hit or three. While under barrage he performed his bulldoze admirably shaking up the field. Mincinno still dazzled complete lost its balance and fell face down into the dirt.

“Perfect finish it with lava plume!”

Numsy erupted dousing the battlefield with scarlet flames. Their intensity magnified by sunny day’s effect. Dazed lying on the ground Mincinno has no chance of dodging.

So, I wasn’t surprised when before the flames could hit Mincinno was recalled into its poké ball by its trainer. Letting your Pokémon sustain unnecessary injury is pointless when the battle is already lost most responsible trainers would do the same. As a result, the flames flooded the field harmlessly.

Withdrawing your Pokémon is a valid strategy but loses you the match when it’s your last one. The employees declared my victory and the field reset itself. The roof closing back up to protect us from the elements.

The man approached me and my struggling Pokémon. Numsy was still afflicted with poison. As was Rena so I determined going to the pokemon center straight away was the prudent thing to do. Before I had a chance to recall Numsy inside his ball the janitor called out to me.

“Ho there young trainer. Let me fix up your pokemon before you leave. It’s the least I could do after such an interesting battle.”

The Janitor brought out a couple of pecha berries. “Here give these to your Pokémon it should help counteract the poison from my Trubbish.”

Grateful for his gift I let out Rena from her ball and had the two of them eat the pecha berries the older gentleman offered me. Numsy was in a well enough state that he could feed himself, but Rena had to be fed by hand. Normally Pokémon can recover somewhat on their own while in their poke balls, but Rena being afflicted by poison didn’t have the chance to do so.

“Vuuuul…”

“It’s okay you did amazing. It’s our first time coming up against a poison type. We’ll work on a way to counter such methods for the next time. That Mincinno also caught me by surprise I will account for Pokémon having developed their abilities in our future battles. Also, great work Numsy you really improved on using lava plume. That move will probably become one of your staples.”

Numsy didn’t respond too enamoured with eating his pecha berry.

“Well young man, thank you for helping us test out our indoor field’s capability in automatically adjusting for the use of weather moves. Not many trainers are willing to spend time in battle adjusting the field for their benefit. Here’s my card if you are ever in need of our services don’t hesitate to call.”

Geoff

Owner and CEO

XXX-XXXXXXX

The Battle Company

Castelia City

‘All old man janitors are secretly big shots I knew it!’

We arrived at the Pokémon center on time for our meeting with Aurea Juniper I left Numsy and Rena in the care of Nurse Joy while I freshened up and answered any of Victini’s questions about what she just witnessed.

“Are my new friends going to be okay?”

“Yeah, they’re fine a half hour with Nurse Joy, and they’ll be right as rain.”

“Do you do that often getting into fights?”

“Well yeah… Pokémon like to get stronger, and we humans love to watch exciting matches between trainers. Pokémon battle against each other in the wild all the time. You know to impress potential mates and protect their territory even just to get some exercise in. So, this sort of sporting event just seems natural to them.”

“Why with human trainers?”

“When a human and a Pokémon form close bonds the Pokémon grows exponentially stronger. It’s why some Pokémon seek out human trainers on their own. The famous professor Oak did a lot of research on this. For me it feels nice having friends that I can always trust be by my side. I can share anything with my trusted partners and in return they do the same.”

“I don’t get it. Can I have my berry please?”

‘This girl…’

A knocking sound is heard from our door, and Victini makes herself scarce before I open the door. The person standing in the center hallway is a young looking brunette in casual wear if I had to guess she should be around 25 years old. She had the prettiest seafoam eyes I’ve ever seen and has a mature atmosphere to her.

‘Oh, there are the hormones. I wondered when puberty would start to rear it’s pimply head.’

“Hello, are you Egon from Lavaridge town?”

“Yes, and you must be Professor Juniper’s daughter please come in.”