NOVEL WEB Chapter 8 - Red-hot Comrade
Chapter 8 – Red-hot Comrade
It is truly a wonderous sight, seeing my little sister receive her first Pokémon. She couldn’t contain her happiness, and she was showering Horsea with affection. Nurse Joy was secretly taking photos of this happy moment. We wordlessly communicated with each other, and I knew that I could count on her to save those pictures for my scrapbook collection.
“Calm down Zinnia we still need to go over the details. Since you are not ten years old yet, Horsea will remain registered to me for the time being. Since you are my family member the league won’t make a fuss about it. It’s kind of like I did with Numsy and the gym. When an official asks you about it just tell them you are watching over your big brother’s Pokémon for a while. Once you turn ten, I can officially register Horsea under your name.”
She nodded to let me know she understood. Horsea oddly mimicking her gesture. ’These two already started bonding right away, good.’
‘’Now Horsea is a water type, so you will need to find a big enough area for him to swim in for at least 6 hours a day. Seek out our old master he has much wisdom to share, and being a water type himself he will know all the best spots for swimming around Lavaridge town.”
“…Why did you start talking funny Egon? And no way can the sand baths owner’s dopey Quagsire teach me and Horsea anything useful except for sleeping on the job.”
‘This bratty… no wait calm down she is just ignorant of master’s teachings like any new initiate.’
“Are you sure? Master Quagsire has a lot to teach new disciples like yourself. He is a proficient in the arts of icy wind and water pulse not to mention his ultimate technique the rain dance. Of course, it’s up to yourselves to prove worthy of his teachings.”
My sister seemed conflicted. On one hand learning those moves could be a boon for when she starts her journey. On the other hand, there is a disbelief in my master’s skills. To make her decision easier I decide to sweeten the pot.
“If you follow my master’s training diligently, I will keep an eye open for any dragon scales. I come across during my circuit run.”
“Really!? You are the best big brother!”
Over the course of the past four years or so, I have been teaching Zinnia everything I know about Pokémon that the researchers haven’t discovered or disclosed yet. Including the existence of the fairy type. Set to be rediscovered by professor Sycamore in about 10 years from now. Honestly how a whole new typing flies under the radar for this long is a mystery to me. At least my sister knows all her types by heart unlike the rest of these sheeple.
After going through Horsea’s dietary needs with Zinnia, and the very knowledgeable nurse Joy from Lavaridge, we ended the call.
‘I am sure that she’s not planning to do anything reckless.’
There is a reason why kids that young are usually not allowed to have Pokémon on them. Property damage being a chief concern.
‘No, it’s fine you practically raised Zinnia on your own she is a responsible girl.’
“Vuuuul.”
“I know, I should stop worrying. Let’s get to Striaton City and win us our first badge!”
“Num num!”
Route 2 is like most other early digit routes, extremely safe. The league made sure that novice trainers didn’t have to deal with any dangerous Pokémon while they are still inexperienced. The rangers pulling double shifts to make sure only harmless Pokémon live on these routes. According to the map getting through this route would take about 2 days on foot, and that’s without any flying or riding Pokémon on hand. The wild Pokémon inhabiting this trail are also some of the weaker and common ones. You have your standard variety lillipup and purrloin mixed in with flocks of pidove and scurries of patrat. It is rumored you can also find a colony of wild wynaut and wobuffet on this route. In any case, none of these Pokémon are on my capture list.
What this route lacked in biodiversity it compensated for with inexperienced trainers. This late in the season the trainers that got washed out of the circuit either went back home or remained in the routes to train some more and try again with the gym leaders. This was the perfect route for me to earn some cash on wager battles.
“Numsy Fire spin!”
“Scraggy dodge it! Follow up with a low kick!”
As scraggy was closing in on us trying to punish the lower accuracy move, he suddenly stopped midway and fell asleep on the ground.
“What’s happening!? Are you cheating? No way your fire type learns sleep powder!
“No, but he does learn the sleep-inducing move called yawn. Didn’t you notice the gas Numsy expelled in Scraggy’s direction? Whatever, Numsy use bulldoze!”
“Wait wait! We give up here’s your prize money.”
The battle ended in our favor as usual. The chumps on this route haven’t put much effort into being serious Pokémon trainers. Treating their journey as a vacation from their schoolwork and parents. With that kind of attitude, no wonder they couldn’t hack it.
Wager battles are kind of interesting the amount that goes into a bet usually depends on how many badges each trainer has. There are no obligations to bet more to match a trainer who has more badges than you. However, an accomplished trainer would never waste his time challenging rookies for easy money. At our current level we are only winning around 20 poké dollars per win. A negligible amount for someone trying to expand his team. Even with food and lodging covered my team will need evolutionary items, technical machines not to mention potions and antidotes for when it gets scruffy here in the wild.
Winning 5 matches barely gets me a bargain bin potion from the pokémart. Hence the need to start earning badges and find more skilled opponents.
“Num num”
I got distracted from my rumination by my partner Numsy.
“What is it boy? Something bothering ya?”
Over the years me and Numsy have gotten close, so even though I couldn’t understand pokéspeak it was easy for me to recognize his tells and it was clear something was making him anxious.
“You worried about the lack of real challengers?”
“Num”
Don’t worry we have been together for the last 3 years. We have way more experience than anyone that walks around in this area just you wait till we get to the gym for our real challenge.
Striaton City is the first big city we encountered; the aesthetics are completely different from cities in places like Hoenn. The place was actually built like a metropolitan city, in Hoenn the buildings are all built with interlocking pieces of wood no iron or steel whatsoever, Striaton is all brick and mortar. What is surprising is that the city is way cleaner than any of its counterparts in my old world. No garbage littered the streets and side alleys.
‘When you have native Pokémon like trubbish and garbodor whose staple diet consisted of eating people’s trash your cities will stay sparkling clean. Who knew?’
No Pokémon with an external temperature higher than 50 °C / 122 °F are allowed outside their poké balls.
This sign had the image of a crossed out Slugma.
This sign confused me at first since we have slugma coming and going all around the town of Lavaridge, throw a rock in a random direction and you have a good chance of hitting one. Until I remembered that the streets of Lavaridge are made of mountainous rock and/or crushed up seashells. Striaton’s streets are all made out of asphalt. Asphalt pavement can start to melt just from the sun’s rays alone.
Even in this life I have a bit of a rebellious streak just because of that sign I am letting Numsy out of his ball. His insides are filled with piping hot magma, but that’s all-internal heat. His skin and fur are actually pretty low temperature for a fire-type.
‘Let’s see if any officer Jenny dares to impede on our rights’.
“Num?”
“It’s nothing Numsy I just wanted to show you the city. Look at all these different kinds of people and Pokémon this is not something you can witness in Hoenn that’s for sure.”
“HEY! you kid with the numel!”
Me and Numsy both get startled while a loud red headed blur smashes into Numsy’s side. Upon closer inspection it’s a kid about my own age maybe a year or two younger with a candid pansear on his shoulder.
“Where did you catch this burning competitor stranger?! This Numel is smoldering with potential you’ve gotta share some of your secrets!”
“Pan Pansear!”
As the boy was grappling my Pokémon hints of volcanic ash started floating out of Numsy’s back. He was on the verge of blowing up, and the rambunctious kid had no idea he was about to get sent to the burn ward.
“Uhm… firstly I would advise against spooking my Numel like that. He tends to erupt when people he doesn’t know get all up into his fur.”
“Ah sorry trainer. But seeing a numel is such a rare occasion they are an extremely rare species to find here in Unova.”
“That’s okay, but there are better ways to show your burning passion for fire type Pokémon.”
The crimson red hair and the Pansear on his shoulder gave me a pretty good guess as to this kid’s identity. As a fellow fire-type specialist I completely understand his fervid temper.
As we were talking Numsy seemed to calm down smoke no longer billowing out of his hump.
Deciding to confirm my suspicions I went ahead and asked this excitable fellow for his name.
“And what might your name be fellow fire-type enthusiast?”
“My name is Chili, and this is my partner Pansear.”
“Nice to meet you two. My name’s Egon from Lavaridge town and this is my starter Numsy.”
“Num num!”
“Sear Pansear!”
“Lavaridge!? Have you ever met Elite Moore?”
“That old man? Me and his granddaughter are childhood friends his gym is sponsoring me for my first league circuit.”
“Amazing! So, you have met his ace Blaze the Typhlosion?!”
Chili kept following us on the way to the Pokémon center. I learned a lot about him during our conversation. He is the same age as us but being in Unova he is not allowed to compete until he’s 12. So, he spends most of his days out of school just wandering around and helping his parents run their successful restaurant.
“Yes, it sucks dude. I already obtained my trainer’s license in Hoenn and was planning to come to Unova to catch some new fire types and compete, but Professor Juniper told me about the age restrictions a few days ago. Now I can challenge gyms, but not much else I am not qualified to participate in the grand conference or any other tournament that’s being hosted by the league.”
Chili gives me a puzzled expression. “So why don’t you go back and compete in Hoenn?”
“Because there aren’t enough naturally occurring fire types in Hoenn to form a diverse team. Even Mr. Moore caught most of his team in Johto. It’s whatever, I guess… I’ll just catch me some rad fire-types over here, do some gym challenges and then go back.”
We arrived at the center, and I recalled Numsy back in his ball before handing him and a balled Rena over to the nurse Joy behind the counter. Usually check ups will take about 10 minutes Pokémon centers mostly relied on machines for diagnostics before the personnel performed any medical treatments on the Pokémon. Battling being the favorite past time and being in a big city like this the nurses have almost no time to spare doing it the old-fashioned way.
“By the way do you know the way to the Striaton Gym? I still have to make my appointment for a match.”
“My parents run the gym out of our restaurant. I can introduce you and schedule an express match if you’d like. The season is already half-way done so there will be no scheduling issues.”
‘Arceus bless generational nepotism for making my life easier.’
Gym ownership tended to stay in the family, because being a gym leader is a real cushy job. I’ve gotten a glance at Mr. Moore’s bank statements and his income from being a gym leader is way higher than what he is getting paid by being an elite four member. Winning wager battles against unprepared youths is nothing compared to his league salary. The league association has to since gyms need to constantly replace their older Pokémon to adjust for each badge level.
I turned back to my excitable new friend.
“That’s perfect let’s go after this. We haven’t had anything to eat yet either does your place also sell meals for Pokémon?”
“That’s a given, our tamato berry ratatouille is a fire type Pokémon favorite!
The Striaton gym is this huge posh building with marble pillars on the outside and a glass topped roof. ’Seriously, these people have the strangest sense of aesthetics.’
The outside is a bit gaudy, but the inside was what you would expect from your typical restaurant. The interior is partitioned into three sections with open drapes separating each corridor. In the chamber all the way in the back of the restaurant I could spot a battlefield filled with rocky outcroppings and coarse terrain.
Chili and I separated once we walked into the building, he went in the back to ask his parents about the possibility of me skipping appointment procedures. Whether he is successful or not did not matter to me and my team, and all we could think about is filling our stomachs. We haven’t eaten since this morning and with the number of battles we had on the way over here my team deserved to eat something other than vitamin supplements and food pellets. I signaled a waitress to let her know I was looking for a table and she promptly guided me to an empty table to take a seat.
“Come on out Rena Numsy!”
My partners materialized on the table.
‘Luckily, they’re still smallish right now so it is possible. Once they’ve evolved, I can’t do stuff like this anymore.’
“Chili brought us back to his family restaurant which also doubles as a gym. Before any of that though let’s get something to eat with all the money we’ve earned. You guys deserve it.”
“Vuuul!”
“Num!”
The cute looking waitress came back with the menu and to take our drink orders.
“We’d like to have a whole pitcher of Moomoo milk please.”
Moomoo milk is almost nothing like the regular milk from my previous life. It tasted better, was more nutritious and helps Pokémon recover from fatigue. Naturally it didn’t come cheap, but I was prepared to order as much of it as my team liked this is their special day.
“As for our meal whatever the chef recommends for two very hungry fire-types and I’ll have the basculin chowder with greens on the side.”
Most people in this world are avid vegetarians given the humanlike intelligence of many Pokémon species, but I hold no sympathies for basculin. They are the Unovan equivalent of kanto’s zubat population you can find them in every river or body of water in the region and they have no mercy in their hearts for people or other Pokémon accidentally finding themselves in their territory. They’ve become such a plague that other water types get displaced from their homes if the basculin population in that area reaches critical mass. They also hate each other for some reason getting into fights with schools of the opposite color. Maybe that’s nature’s way of keeping their population down when they become too numerous.
‘It has been a while since I’ve eaten any sort of meat and I kind of missed it. This won’t become any sort of regular thing but if it’s available I won’t deny myself a taste.’
Chili reappeared again this time wearing a snaggy looking butler uniform. Without much fanfare he immediately spots the table I am sitting at and takes a seat opposite to mine.
“No way Egon you also have a vulpix!? You must be the luckiest trainer ever!”
I try my best to douse his enthusiasm. Rena unlike Numsy really can’t deal with energetic fellows like Chili for very long. She was already giving him the evil eyes after his outburst.
“ “Have” is sort of a strong word. We met on top of Mt. Pyre in Hoenn. Rena’s mother after some vetting approved of me catching her for my team. She is kind of prickly towards strangers though especially loud ones.”
“Oops… sorry Rena I was just so excited this is my first time seeing a vulpix outside of a textbook or television. They are extremely rare to see in Unova.”
“Really? Professor Juniper told me Unova has a skulk of them living near route 14. Vulpix and Ninetales usually pick places with high ambient spirituality to make their burrows in. Tell me is there some sort of special shrine there or a cemetery?”
“Ahh! There is. We call that place the abundant shrine. Channelers worship something they call the embodiment of fertility there.”
“That must be it then. If you are looking to add a vulpix to your team, I would begin my search around that shrine. Make sure to ask one of those channelers to guide you through the area. Places like that attract wild ghost types like moths to a flame. Also, if you spot any vulpix alone it would be best to ask for permission from its parent first before attempting to catch it. Wild ninetales tend to be very old and powerful given the rather long lifespan of the species. They are not above cursing someone they feel has disrespected them.”
We continued talking about fire types, methods for raising them and their known locations in Unova. Until the food and drink arrived. The ratatouille was a big hit with Numsy but not so much with Rena. She was a very selective eater and loath to try unfamiliar food. I shared some of my chowder with her and she seems to prefer that over the purely vegetarian dish. The moomoo milk was a big hit with her though. She couldn’t get enough of the stuff it got so bad that at the end she had milk dripping out of her nostrils. I fished out one of the restaurant’s napkins and started wiping clean her face. While we were enjoying our meal Chili seemed content with just watching my Pokémon eat.
“So, what did your parents say about scheduling an early match?”
“They can do it, but it will take place at the tail end of today’s opening hours. You will have to wait for a bit.”
While I was busy with grooming Rena and Numsy, Chili and I talked about all the fire types we were planning on adding to our team. The kid had ambition instead of taking over the family gym and running it with his brothers, he wanted to strike out on his own, and run a gym exclusively for fire types.
“Egon how are planning on dealing with the gym? Striaton gym’s challenge is uniquely difficult for trainers like us that specialize only in one type. My mother will most likely field one of the gym’s panpour against you in this upcoming battle.”
“Don’t worry about how I am going to deal with it. Me and Rena have a strategy in place for water types. If it’s only a 1st badge level Pokémon we can handle it. We just have to make a good showing for ourselves.”
All gym matches are recorded and put on the gym’s website in order to connect sponsors and promising trainers. Battling wasn’t all about how skilled trainer and Pokémon are in battle, looking good in front of the camera was a big bonus towards your marketability value for companies. Seeing as I had two sponsors that didn’t give me any monetary compensation this could be my big break. Naturally I wasn’t expecting anything to come of this, sponsors usually didn’t watch 1st level badge matches, but a guy can hope.
“Let’s stop talking about the match for a second. How are you planning to get closer to your goal Chili? I get that you still have to wait another 2-4 years before you can start your circuit run and make a name for yourself.”
“Uhmm… just that I guess I can’t start catching more Pokémon until I qualify for my trainer’s license. In the meantime, I just help my parents run the gym together with my brothers.”
I decided to help my new buddy out with his predicament I can remember how I was at that age waiting another four years basically doing nothing of note must be really stifling to him.
“That is true, I guess. However, I can put in a good word for you with Mr. Moore. Now that I am no longer working at the Lavaridge gym they’re short-staffed and could use an intern. You would be learning all about taking care of different kinds of fire types.”
“Really!? No wait I still have trainer’s school.”
“Don’t they let you graduate early if you finish all your coursework?”
“Yeah…”
“…”
‘This kid sure is a handful.’
“Okay so, whenever you finish up doing that just let me know and I’ll give Mr. Moore a call.”
We exchanged contact information. I gave him my home number from grandma’s Lava cookie store, and he gave me the number of his Xtransceiver. I told him to use that number only if it is for something important, I can’t have granny acting like my secretary for social calls. Buying an Xtransceiver suddenly rose to the top of my to-do list. The wager money I can win from this gym will help a long way towards that goal.
A mature looking woman walked up to us going by her facial features I could tell she was chili’s mother.
“Egon from Lavaridge?”
“Yes, that’d be me ma’am.”
“We are ready to commence your gym challenge. As per our gym’s traditions you first have to complete our in-house quiz before facing me the gym leader in a Pokémon battle.”
In the games this gym was all about learning the type matchups, so I was expecting this development. I wasn’t worried at all about passing their requirements their standards can’t be too high for rookie trainers. She led me to their examination room unlike in the games this Striaton gym tested new trainers with a quiz machine.
Question 1:
Excadrill is a steel/ground type what move types would be super effective against it?
Question 2:
Elektross is an electric type what move types does it resist or is completely immune to?
A dozen questions later and I was done with their test. As expected, an extremely basic overview about resistances and super effectives attacks, but with a trick question here and there. I walked out of the testing area and was greeted by Chili’s mother.
“Congratulations for passing our test. You scored a 93%.”
“93%!? Wait I am sure that I was supposed to receive full marks.”
“On the tenth question regarding moves which would be super effective against a druddigon, you filled in fairy-type. I didn’t know you were also a fan of professor Sycamore’s work, but his research hasn’t been validated yet by peer review. As such I cannot deem that answer as correct.”
“Still to know about professor Sycamore’s work are you Kalosian by any chance?”
“No, my mother is from Hoenn and my father is Unovan. I just like to keep up to date with scientific research. Say, being a gym leader have you never had a chance to test out professor Sycamore’s research yourself? A generalist gym like this must have an alleged fairy type or two in reserve.”
“No, I haven’t had the pleasure, no native Unovan Pokémon so far has been determined to be of the fairy type by professor Sycamore. Importing nonnative Pokémon isn’t allowed by the gym’s charter since I am not permitted to use those for gym battles. Trainers in the circuit earning their gym badges need to be familiar with the Pokémon they’re facing.”
Feeling like throwing her a bone I pass her a nugget of information.
“Actually, I have heard rumors in the scientific community that cottonee and whimsicott have a good chance to be of the grass/fairy type.”
She gave me an imperceptible nod.
“Now that is something I could investigate. We have two of their line in the gym, and my eldest Cilan likes to play with them from time to time. If I can help professor Sycamore in any way, I’ll be glad to do so. He might even accredit me as a contributor to his research if this pans out. I am Kalosian born you know? Most of this restaurant’s dishes and decorations are based on my home region.”
“I am sure professor Sycamore would be very appreciative of any help offered.”
“You are very mature for your age, unlike my youngest Chili. He could use a good friend like you looking out for him.”
Talking with Chili’s mom was pleasant she was very knowledgeable and had a quick wit. We headed towards the gym’s battlefield I knew my chances to win are pretty good. Most 1st level badge fights revolved around the very basics, and my years observing Lavaridge battles more than prepared me for this match.
“Chili dear why don’t you act as the referee for this battle? It’s your friends very first gym battle you know?”
Chili like a whipped dog took his stand to the side of the field and readied his referee flags.
“Attention for our last battle today in the Striaton gym it’s Egon from Lavaridge facing off against Katarina the gym leader. Only two Pokémon each the challenger may substitute his Pokémon once while the gym leader may not. The match is over if both the leader and/or the challenger’s Pokémon are unable to battle.”
“Let the battle begin!”