NOVEL WEB Chapter 28: A smooth Criminal
When the battle recommenced Lance revealed his second Dragonite, but people were numb to it. The large dragon managed to score a win on Bruno's Hitmontop. A much more impressive monster than Kong’s had been. It still lost miserably.
Then the Dragonite got knocked out, surprisingly enough, by a Heracross.
A third Dragonite was sent out against the Heracross. The live commentator wasn't even speaking anymore.
No matter how good Heracross was at combining Rest and Sleep Talk, it lost.
Bruno’s last Pokemon was an Onix that managed to dodge Dragonite for a certain amount of time but never dealt any real damage. Dragonite was simply too fast. A surprising reversal managed to transform the miserable loss into a double knockout, but that just meant that Lance had won.
Five to six, without even revealing his sixth Pokemon, and not using a single substitution.
The press conference after the battle was a mess. Lance announced his intent to go into secret training before challenging the next member of the Elite Four which in this case would be Blaine.
A surprise came however when it was revealed that Bruno had challenged Blaine for the second to last position in the Elite Four himself before the battle. Charles Goodshow, the president of the League who was also present revealed that meant if Bruno won his match which was set in six months. Lance would automatically advance to Agatha, having skipped Blaine entirely.
Lance put on a contemplative face. This wasn't necessarily good news for him because, until six months in the future, he wouldn't know what to prepare against. Fire or ghost? It was an interesting conundrum.
The press conference ended in a clamour of questions for the young red-haired man, asking him how he had managed to evolve three Dragonite, at which he simply smiled and left. there was no clan or trainer in the world who was going to reveal such information without first being compensated for it.
Also, there was no secret to reveal. Dragonite evolved just like any other Pokemon. Training, battling, and experience. There was no secret recipe.
Lance was just that good.
-/-
Joey didn't so much ride a bus to Saffron, so much as he flew back. On a cloud of victory. And, most importantly, a gigantic bag of money. Sure, in the past he’d said that the victory against Surge was more important than his bet because in the Pokemon world power eventually equated wealth.
However, when he turned on his Pokenav after the fateful match and checked his bank account to see a nice fat 700,000 Pokedollars waiting for him there, well, there really wasn't any comparison to the dopamine injection he got right then and there in his motel room.
He wasn't at a million yet, which would definitely require a celebration when it occurred, but he was definitely close. It was probably the next checkpoint.
He planned on spending a bit of the money now, perhaps getting a few more Technical Machines, and making an anonymous donation to the orphanage he still resided in. But, the majority of his winnings would be reinvested straight back into betting when Lance challenged the next member of the Elite Four. Be it at Blaine, or Agatha.
Of course, the odds wouldn't be that good anymore. Lance had quite decisively defeated Bruno and revealed that he had three Dragonite on his team, which was something unheard of previously. The odds for him winning against Blaine were currently expected to be four to one, while Agatha rested at a respectable six to one.
It would depend on Bruno who Lance ended up facing. If the buff fighting-type master beat Blaine, then it would be Agatha, if not, then it would be the fire-type master.
Joey would follow the developments very carefully. Not just because he had money riding on it, but also because he’d quite enjoyed Lance's victory. The unexpected underdog that no one thought could win. Was this how it felt to be a Leicester fan back in 2016?
Even if his knowledge had been very prophetic in nature, not by any of his merit, he still felt superior that he was the only one not surprised by the outcome of the match.
Additionally, Lance was only 17. He was now officially the youngest member of any Elite Four anywhere. He wouldn’t be inaugurated into his position until he lost or won it all, thus fixing his rank, but still. Someone managing to accomplish so much at such a young age showed Joey that he was on the right path and that he wasn't delusional in thinking that he could win it all at some point. After all, while Lance might have the backing of an entire clan of dragon masters, Joey had knowledge of the future and an adult work ethic and rationality.
He was only 12 and had just beaten Lt. Surge with just a Metapod and a Rattata for fuck’s sake. He would definitely be battling on Lance’s level in five years, if not earlier.
“I still can't believe you beat Surge with two Pokemon. My parents almost fell out of their seats when we watched the match back home,” Mia once again said from her position of sitting on the rock occupying the middle of their booked training ground. They’d texted to meet up here after Joey's bus was set to return because they wanted to introduce each other to their new team members. Joey had been very busy so he hadn't taken the opportunity to meet Mia's Oddish, and she obviously had not yet met Diglett. The thinking was that they could train together to catch up and maybe have a friendly match with no stakes to introduce their new acquisitions to battling.
Joey's nose pointed directly upwards towards the sun as he answered Mia’s unspoken question of how he’d done it. “My victory was never up for debate, obviously a tactical genius such as myself would have no difficulty battling someone who relies on brute force. That is the fate of all who face me, inevitable loss and defeat, and giving me their money, can't forget that,” he added.
“I clearly remember you stressing out to the point of tears before you left, crying about how you didn't have a third team member,” Mia commented with a roll of her eyes. It was slowly starting to get a bit colder outside again, so she was wearing a jeans jacket over her yellow sundress, and tights underneath.
Joey waved her off. “Never happened, trust me. I would have remembered.”
“So what are your plans now?” she asked.
Joey crossed his arms at the question. His plans for the future were a bit difficult to decide on. Monetarily he already knew what he was going to buy, which or what cause he was going to donate to and who he would place his bets on. But, in terms of his youngster career, developing as it was?
He’d just gotten the capacity to train tier-two Pokemon. This meant that if both parties wanted to, Rattata could evolve. Diglett couldn't yet, because Dugtrio were considered tier three. The three heads and distinct personalities meant that they were much more difficult to train than normal Pokemon. Metapod of course, he’d evolve in a heartbeat. If he could…
First, he'd have to discuss with Rattata what their plans for evolution were. He couldn't catch a fourth Pokemon, so it was good that he could focus exclusively on that at the moment.
“The next gym, it's problematic,” he admitted to Mia after some thinking.
“King has challengers fight on floating platforms. This means that Metapod can't realistically accomplish much. All of King’s fourth badge Pokemon can go under to dodge String Shot. The pool is a perfect barrier since String Shot loses all its momentum... Rattata similarly, his greatest strengths are getting up close, or digging. But we can't Dig on those floats so his mobility is completely restricted. Diglett?” He shook his head. “I don't think he can even battle there, it's just not possible.”
Youngsters from Saffron could get four badges if they didn’t want to spend any money on arranging travels on their own. They could get the first badge locally, from their city’s gym. Then, every 3 months from the start of the season onwards there would be organised buses and tours going to the neighbouring cities. There were three cities around Saffron which had notable gyms, Vermilion which he had just been to, Celadon which he had beaten, and Cerulean which he didn't think he had a chance of winning. Hardly any youngster had ever managed to get four badges before they set off on their journey. In fact, Joey didn’t know if a single one had ever done it. His doing so would inscribe him into the history books. But… He was lazy and didn’t want to schedule his own trips.
“Honestly,” Joey admitted. “I might just focus on the youngster tournament.”
The youngster tournament would actually occur in Saffron, the justification being that the city had the highest number of youngsters in the region, while also neighbouring very close to three other very large cities. This would make travelling to the location of the tournament easier for most, while also making sure that the least people have to actually travel to get there.
A league season lasted 10 months.
After the 10th month, the Indigo Conference would start and would take two weeks to properly finish. The youngster tournament would happen one week before the Indigo Conference. This meant that it would happen three weeks after Joey would have had the opportunity to challenge King in Cerulean. In a way, he was being forced to choose. Trying to win both was a harsh task considering that Sabrina would be right there to challenge him in the finals if his guess was right.
Mia seemed to be of the opposite opinion. “I think I'll pick the gym battle, to be honest. I think I have a good chance against King for the second badge challenge. I can have Oddish poison the water, and Lil Mouse has been learning thundershock. It’s been going very slowly, but another three months should do it.”
“Just because you prepare for the gym challenge doesn't mean you can't participate in the tournament, I think it would be a great opportunity,” Joey argued while he thought of himself. It would technically also be a great opportunity to go to Cerulean for free and to have a fight with the gym leader, even if he lost. Wasn't his whole training philosophy based on the fact that he often lost but learned from his defeats? However, going into a battle he didn’t even think he had a chance in was just pathetic and having to do it on live TV...
He didn't quite know if he felt up to it.
Mia shook her head. “It’s not something I can win. Best case I'll have two badges by then. I bet Sabrina will beat King, she's a monster. You didn't see the way she beat Surge, but I did and I didn't like it. Then there's you, and I'm sure there are some other youngsters from the region or just as good.” She hesitated. “You’re my friend, right?” she asked.
“Of course,” Joey nodded confusedly. Had that ever been in question?
“Then I can be honest with you,” Mia said with a pale face. “Sabrina may be a monster, but she’s just working with advantages that I’ve never seen anyone have. Despite her strength right now, I’m much more scared of facing you in a tournament setting. I’d probably just forfeit,” she said with a shake of her head. She didn’t seem to feel any shame at that statement, so Joey just took it for what it was.
He shrugged. What did it mean to be more than a monster? “It's your choice, but it is kind of a mini Indigo Conference. It would be great practice even if you lose,” Joey encouraged, but the girl just shook her head.
“Let's start training. Unlike you I actually have a chance at the next gym,” she taunted and hopped down from her rock to pull two Pokeballs from her belt.
A Rattata and an Oddish materialised in front of her and she kneeled down to start giving them instructions.
Joey shrugged and turned to his half of the field that they’d booked together for the training session. Usually, he liked training outside the city, but he only had half a day left after returning with the bus in the morning. He would have usually waited for longer after a gym battle, giving himself a break, but he had just gotten a new team member and he needed to start on their training sooner rather than later. Diglett had been very confused when Joey had summoned him yesterday evening, after Lance’s match finished, to find out that he hadn't even been needed for the gym battle in the end.
Tears had been shed and snot had been applied to Joey's shorts. Then he’d managed to calm the little Pokemon down with promises of future battles and that he did need him to win those.
Three forms materialised on the ground in front of him as he sequentially tapped the buttons of his Pokeballs.
“All right team,” Joey addressed his squad as they oriented themselves to the realisation that they were back in Saffron. “Good job on the gym battle. Amazing perseverance Metapod, great tactical discipline Rattata, and Diglett,” he turned to the mole Pokemon who still looked somewhat downcast. “Thanks a lot for being there. Without you as an option, we would have been too stressed to bring out our full potential. You were the clinching point of our mental health,” he praised causing the Pokemon to blush and look away.
“We've won three gym badges this season, which means that we only need five more next year to qualify for the Indigo Conference. However, rather than challenging our fourth gym badge against the water-type gym leader King, I've decided to focus instead on the youngster tournament. It's essentially a mini version of the Indigo Conference with only youngsters. Fighting in it will be great practice, while also offering good rewards the higher we place. I think we should have pretty good chances and in fact, there's only one trainer who I'm even slightly worried about,” Joey said thinking of Sabrina with her three Abra. Also, now she could very well evolve them into Kadabra if she wanted.
“Our schedule is thus as follows. In three months and three weeks, we will be fighting in the youngster tournament. After the youngster tournament, the league will go on break for two months as the Indigo Conference lasts two weeks and the winter break lasts 4 weeks. Afterwards, we will travel to Pallet Town where we will start our journey towards Pewter,” he accompanied his words with some crude finger drawings on the ground, making a very rudimentary map of Kanto. For all that, it helped considering his Pokemon had likely never travelled enough to have a reference point.
“Pewter has a rock-type gym. We will be facing Onix, Graveler, Rhyhorn, and maybe a Geodude thrown in there in the middle. Now, this is a bit problematic at the moment, because rock-type Pokemon are one of our biggest weaknesses. Diglett, Rattata, you both have Dig which is actually super effective against rock types. The only issue is that rock-type Pokemon also tend to sometimes learn Magnitude, or Earthquake, which makes the move dangerous to use. Because of this and also because of the tournament I have decided to teach you, Rattata,” Joey said, turning to his starter who was excitedly sitting on his haunches and looking up at him. “Rock Smash. You've done a great job with Detect, and I think you can continue the trend with more fighting-type moves. Rock Smash would be an amazing addition because not only would it be super effective against rock-type Pokemon, but also against normal types which we can expect to see a lot of in the youngster tournament. We’ll focus on this for now, and if we have time after the youngster tournament we will also try to learn Iron Tail to give you more options. The reason I'm prioritising Rock Smash is because Iron Tail has fewer Pokemon types which it is super effective against.”
Rattata nodded and turned around to run towards the centre-piece rock that was taller than Joey and that Mia had previously been sitting on. He reeled his fist back and punched at it. Paw met rock. The rat paused and the rock didn't budge. Rattata, slowly, lowered his paw and sank to his knees, looking back at Joey over his shoulder as tears welled in his eyes.
“I have a Technical Machine for that move. Let's teach you that first and maybe start on a wooden plank or something,” Joey said quietly. Rattata crawled back to his trainer holding its paw in the other as he awkwardly stumbled along and pushed himself forward with his hind legs. Joey sprayed a bit of potion on the hurt knuckles and kissed the booboo. He then booped the little rat on his head. “I see that the win over Surge has already gotten to your head, huh? I’ll remind you that you won because of tactics, not because you can just force issues, okay?” he asked and recalled the rat to apply the technical machine.
He turned towards Metapod as he waited for the machine to finish its work.
“Metapod, amazing work on the Raichu. Without that poisoning, we would have been really screwed. Did you notice how those little bullet-like String Shots kept it on its toes and prevented it from attacking you as often as it wanted? I think we should continue working on that. Poison isn't that effective against rock types so we'll have to focus on some other moves. I'll also try to get us a Technical Machine for Iron Defence, which will be more useful than Harden. We can abandon it for the moment until we get that move.”
The bug type blinked slowly once as if to agree.
Joey turned to Diglett. “Honestly you're pretty amazing at digging and I don't think we have to train it much more than that. It's a great defensive option for dodging and it's a great attack as well. What I'd like to learn next is Sandstorm. You may not know this, but basically, all Diglett have the ability Sandforce. Sandforce means that the user becomes more powerful when there's a sandstorm raging.” Diglett started vibrating in place with what seemed to be anxiety, likely because he didn't know Sandstorm.
Joey placatingly raised his hands. “Of course, you don't know it yet. But, you do know one move which is the prerequisite. You see, Sand Attack is actually a great training tool to let you familiarise yourself with the manipulation of sand. Not only that, but sand attack once mastered to a higher extent also turns into Mud-Slap, which would give you a good range alternative against enemies who you don't want to get close to.”
Diglett stopped with the nervous breakdown and nodded cautiously.
“What I want you to do is simple. You'll pair up with Metapod and you'll take turns hitting each other with your respective attacks. First, you'll send the Sand Attack at Metapod, she will block it with a String Shot shield. Then she'll send a bullet string at you and you will block it with a Sand Attack. It's a simple game but it should be quite effective for familiarising yourself with the move to a higher degree. Don't worry if you get tired and just tell me, fatigue is a normal part of training.” Of course, Joey would also keep track himself, not trusting the Pokemon to not work itself into exhaustion yet. “After a few rounds of training and rest, we will start talking about general tactics and maybe discuss more possibilities.”
Diglett was also supposed to know Scratch, but that was simply a game thing which didn't really translate into reality. After all, Diglett didn't have any appendages to scratch with in the first place. Similarly in that sense, Diglett would not be able to learn Sucker Punch.
Joey turned to Metapod. “So, Metapod. Take care of your Junior, okay? Play nicely with each other and whenever Diglett needs a break you can focus on your poison production. It's integral that we keep working on it every day,” he said, receiving a resolute nod in return.
Taking a step back, the now three-badge trainer looked on as Diglett sent a very weak Sand Attack at Metapod, which the latter blocked with a wide blanket of String Shot. She then carefully took aim and spat out a single bullet. Diglett instinctually went underground to dodge it, but in the middle remembered that he was supposed to block the move instead. He resurfaced sheepishly and asked his training partner to do it again.
Metapod sent out another bullet string, which was successfully blocked with a small spray of sand which Diglett produced by wiggling his body in the ground.
Joey nodded in satisfaction, pulled out the Technical Machine for Rock Smash and turned his attention to his starter.
He got the feeling that today was going to be a productive training day.
-/-
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Kanto → Trainers → Jonathan_Joestar → Megathread
Topic: A place to follow the career path of promising young trainer Jonathan Joestar
Original Poster: AverageRaticateEnjoyer
I’ve never really felt the need to single out a trainer from the general circuit discussion thread before, but Jonathan’s third badge battle was just too good.
Bit of a time-line dump
Day 0 of season: Jonathan passes the youngster exam as the second highest scorer of the year (3rd highest scorer of all time) and picks a Rattata as a starter. Loses his first match against some kid with a Pidgey on the very same day.
Month 1 1/2: Somehow goes from losing to a Pidgey on day 0 of the circuit to winning his first gym badge from Kong as one of the fastest youngsters to ever win a badge. Wins with a Rattata vs. a mankey? Amazing battle, somehow there’s no recording but I watched it live.
Month 2: Battles won with a Metapod start appearing on his trainer profile??????????
Month 3: Beats Celadon for second badge. The Gym-leader goes really hard on him for some reason. Beats oddish with a Metapod (Watching it makes perfect sense, but hearing about it is probably confusing, watch the battle here). Rattata draws with bellsprout. Metapod didn’t fall unconscious, but was withdrawn after victory. I researched this and it's called a technical victory.
Don’t know what he was doing for three months, but considering he only needed a month and a half between first and second badge the next result was a bit fore-shadowed.
Month 6: Shows up in Vermillion to face Surge and swaggers up to the battlefield with three pokeballs. Doesn’t even need his third team-member. Metapod exhausts and somehow poisons the raichu, Rattata digs and harrasses it till it makes a mistake and goes for a double-knockout. Cleanest victory I’ve ever seen from someone of that level. Goes in, gets the badge, goes out, no moment of suspense, no hiccups, just sheer style.
There are only two youngsters in the region with three badges at the moment. Jonathan and Sabrina, who has her own thread here, beware of psychic enthusiasts and don’t mention anything about ghost or dark types even existing, otherwise you’ll get railed by a bunch of fanboys.
Other infos:
-His trainer profile is fucking odd, victory/draw/loss ratio: 28/5/87
-Scrolled through some of the people he battled out of sheer curiosity. No way he’s losing to youngsters, right? Well, turns out that MORE THAN 66% OF THE PEOPLE HE BATTLES HAVE MORE THAN 5 BADGES. ONE OF THE HAS WON A CONFERENCE AND 11 HAVE PARTICIPATED IN A CONFERENCE. WHERE THE FUCK IS HE FINDING THESE TRAINERS???
Pokemon team info:
Rattata: Quick attack, hyper fang, tail whip, dig (somehow it seems to have almost a sixth sense for dodging attacks, don’t know how)
Metapod: String shot, harden, bug bite, some sort of poison (I don’t know how)
Third member: ???
(Showing page 1/1)
►Metapod master race (Verified Trainer)
I raised that boy. Metapod op confirmed.
►King rock magikarp
Winning against Kong is hardly an accomplishment, but I agree, the battle against Surge was well-fought. Followed.
►Dissmypokeanddie (Verified Ace-Trainer)
He won Kong by having the Rattata taunt it, not like move taunt it, but like calling it a shithead. Made it lose its temper. I kinda chuckled there tbh.
►Hitorhit (Verified Trainer)
The taunting was definitely cheating. Confirmed when he lost to Kong’s handsome son. He literally cried and tried to have the result rescinded.
(User received an infraction for this post)(A real case of cheating would be posted in the trainer profile of the perpetrator, don’t spread disinformation or reveal the details of what might be an ongoing investigation)
►Lil_Mouse (Verified Youngster)
@Hitorhit Stfu dumbass, or I’ll tell Joey that you’re asking for a rematch.
(User received an infraction for this post) (No personal attacks)
►NOPEISNOPE (Verified Trainer)
I see that things are getting heated in the Kanto prepubescent Youngster scene. Don’t know if I can handle the heat…
►Hesss (Verified Trainer)
Dem Rattata dodges wtf… Comparing the vid to some fighting types I studied for my match with Kong it seems to be using detect? But that can’t be, right?
►Grass that bends in the wind (Verified non-Gym.Leader)
The name of the gym-leader for Celadon is Tadghsiobhan, please update the original post. Thank you.
►King of the skies (Verified Youngster)
This kid is old news. Michael Scott is where it’s at, already on his first badge. He’s gonna smash King in Cerulean in three months.
►Hesss (Verified Trainer)
@King of the skies Do you have a source for that prediction?
►King of the skies (Verified Youngster)
Trust me bro
►+Webb
Who gives a shit about some youngster? “Yawn,” call me back when he wins a conference like Cynthai. Also, why do you have time to care about random kid’s career when Lance is pulling the upset of the century. Are you a pedophile?
►Friendly Ghost (Verified Youngster)
@+Webb Takes one to know one. Also can we put down this thread, don’t you know that putting up someone’s information for easy access like that harms their competitive advantage over other random unknowns?
► Saffroncitygentleman (verified retiree)
His third Pokemon is a diglett, if anyone cares… Just had the most frustrating match… Thing ran away from my growlithe for 30 minutes and pelted it with sand-attack from afar… Then it went in for one dig and it was over… If it’s that easy why not use it as the first move…
-/-
It was later in the day when Diglett had been taught, Metapod had been exhausted and Rock Smash had been inscribed into Rattata's tiny brain that Joey got to sit down on his lonesome on the roof of the orphanage.
His room was on the second floor, and considering the fact that his window opened onto the roof, this allowed him to go out in the night when no one was there to see and call the police, the fire department, or worse, his orphanage caretaker.
It was a perfectly clear sky. Even if the light pollution of the city hid some of the stars, the sky was still spangled and bright and shining. Partially that had to do with the full moon and the sunlight reflected down onto him from the other side of this mysterious mostly unexplored planet.
Joey breathed in and out deeply as he considered the conversation that he had to have now that he had three gym badges.
He was now technically allowed to train tier-two Pokemon. Raticate was a tier-two Pokemon. He could evolve his starter. Would this perhaps be the advantage he’d need to make a win in Cerulean possible?
Would it be better to leave the Everstone on for now so as to eek out the last bits of potential that he could out of Rattata’s first form?
Did his opinion matter at all when one considered it was his starter's body and he could do with it what he wanted?
He gently rolled the minimised red and white basic Pokeball between his fingers as he considered these questions. In a perfect world evolving Rattata would 100% win them the Cerulean badge. This would mean that in the next season, Joey would only need to get four more badges. It would allow him to focus much more on training than travelling, and they would likely step up to the conference more prepared, and more unknown.
However, while evolving Rattata would make the gym battle perhaps 10% more likely to end in a victory, it most certainly wouldn't assure victory.
Joey’s training philosophy relied a lot on momentum. Those who started winning early continued winning longer. Winning early meant that advantages would have to stack up longer, just like investments. Psychological, physical, financial, all these things would be on a better trajectory.
But, in this case, it wouldn't make sense when one considered the long-term benefits of non-evolution.
He wasn't planning on winning the first Indigo conference, it was impossible, and not evolving Rattata would potentially help them out long-term. But, it wasn’t like it was in his hands anyway. Even if the answer was in his hands. He enlarged the Pokeball he had been idly playing with and pressed the release button with a by now calloused thumb.
The form of his starter materialised on the roof in a beam of red light. Small claws quickly found purchase on the red-clay tiles and his starter looked around cutely in confusion. Joey didn't think that he'd ever released any of his team on a sloping roof before, so this must have been new.
It must have been weird being a Pokemon, Joey mused. Just randomly finding yourself in different places every now and again with no knowledge of your surroundings.
“Rattata, tatta,” his starter chirped as he settled down into a sitting position to look curiously at Joey.
“I don't know if you remember, but that gym badge we won yesterday.” Joey paused. “That you won yesterday. It technically allows me to remove the Everstone necklace so that you can evolve when you’re ready. What do you think? Would you rather become Raticate sooner, later, or never?”
A lot of things were changing. New team members. New gym badges. In a way, it would be nice if some things would stay the same. At least for a little while.
The rat stilled and tilted his head to consider. Joey could almost see smoke come out of the large purple ears as minutes passed. The Everstone reflected the moonlight and glimmered.
Would it stay, or would it go?
Rattata righted himself onto his hind legs after what felt like forever. He looked up at Joey who was leaning on the slope to the roof in a higher position than him and gave the most surprising answer that he could have given.
Joey would have expected a yes or no answer.
But the shrug that the starter gave him indicated that he didn't care?
The boy raised an eyebrow. “Are you trying to tell me that you don't care?” he asked curiously.
His starter nodded seriously.
“How come? I always thought that Pokemon would have strong opinions about their evolutions. Some never want to evolve while some want to do it as soon as possible.”
To be fair though, where some Pokemon gained the ability to fly, Rattata would just gain some size and muscle and not much else. It wasn't really that much of a qualitative change.
As an answer to Joey's question, the Pokemon put up its two forearms into the air and flexed them. Small, but tight muscles glistened under the moonlight. Rattata leaned down to kiss each one of his biceps with his incisors. Then he pointed at Joey and tapped his head.
The youngster chuckled. “Are you telling me that you're the brawn and I'm the brain?” he asked and received a nod.
“Well, jokes on me, I guess. And here I always thought it was the opposite,” he mused. “You want me to choose then?”
Rattata nodded.
“All right, I'll tell you what you can get and what you can miss out on depending on what happens. Maybe you'll change your mind.
“Evolving means an immediate strengthening of most physical attributes. You'll be bigger, tougher and stronger. Your moves will become more dangerous, and you'll be able to endure more of them. All in all, you'll just be a better version of yourself. The only thing you'll lose out on is the size. Being so small as you are makes dodging easier than it otherwise would be. Evolving will change that.”
By the glint in Rattata’s Joey could tell that he was clearly interested. But, his starter didn’t make a single gesture to indicate that he’d changed his mind as his trainer continued.
“Not evolving is more of a long-term strategy. It is proven that Pokemon that are unevolved develop faster. It is when you start encountering diminishing returns in your training that evolution becomes beneficial because it once again makes progress easy to come by. I don't think you have reached your full potential as a Rattata yet. There’s been no lag in your progress, in the training of the moves and of your physical attributes. If we push back your evolution you could become a bigger threat later on, but until then you lose more than if you simply evolve now. It's a very classic dilemma. The eternal fight between wanting things now and waiting and getting more of them in the future. “
Rattata once again seemed to seriously consider Joey’s words, which was good. In a way becoming stronger immediately would also bring long-term benefits because one's momentum would be higher.
It was actually a very complex question.
The small Pokemon eventually pointed at himself and Joey while chittering. “Rattata, ra, Rattata.” One paw went down to show something small before eventually it started rising up. It took a while.
“You're trying to say we still have a lot of time and there's no need to rush?” Joey wondered. A bit of an odd opinion for his starter to have. From what he'd profiled Rattata always loved rushing into things.
Rattata nodded, pointed to its head and then at Joey.
“Well, I guess we're not in a rush. That is true. The Indigo Conference will be in more than a year. We won’t stand a chance at winning regardless, so it doesn’t necessarily matter if you evolve by then. I think we could win the conference we participate in after. After we switch regions. Then I would say evolution would become important.”
Rattata shrugged.
“No evolution then?” Joey asked.
Rattata nodded.
“All right. That conversation was certainly easier than I thought it would be," Joey admitted out loud.
He didn't feel like rushing anything and evolving right now would definitely be rushing.
He’d only had Rattata for half a year. Most Pokemon needed at least a year to eke out the last bit of their potential from any stage. That was for those that developed quickly as well. Dragon types could take up to a decade to take in every benefit that they could. Which was what made Lance all the more impressive.
Warmth appeared next to Joey while he was lost in his thoughts. He looked down to see that Rattata had come over and lay down next to him. His warm body was touching his thigh.
Joey lay down on his back, putting his head on the rough brick. It was a warm summer night. One of the last. Soon it would be autumn and then winter.
“We're not sleeping here, you little idiot,” he muttered to himself as the rat beside him started snoring.
He closed his eyes, not wanting to lose the moment and promptly fell asleep himself.