No Pressure

Jason stared at the screen mindless as he thought of a solution to their predicament. In front of him was a documentary playing about how farmers in Johto milk Milktanks to get the perfect Moo Moo Milk and how they live their lives on a farm. It would have been really interesting if it wasn't filmed in such a dull way. He didn't want to watch some old man milking a Milktank for a full minute while a man sluggishly narrates the scene.

It had been about a few days since the first visit to the PokeCenter and Jason had slowly gotten accustomed to his situation. There was a nice perk that came with the package of not being in a body in that he didn't need to sleep, eat, or drink. There also came downsides like not being able to enjoy sleeping, eating, or drinking. And the fact that he's forced to watch this documentary Mark was watching. Apparently, it was really informative or something.

On a brighter note, he had figured out how the gym circuit worked in this world. The order in which trainers challenged the Gym Leaders was still the same as in the games. But that's the end to the similarities, in this world, the Gym leaders have rankings, it's why the order is the way it is. This ranking can change depending on if let's say Gym Leader 3 wants to take over Gym Leader 4. If Gym Leader 3 wins the battle between them they will swap. Other than that the status quo stays the same. But what if, let's say gym leader 2 is much stronger than gym leader 3? Well, then we get situations like Johto and Hoenn where the spike in difficulty goes up drastically, causing many trainers to give up on the gym circuit.

There were talks about trying to change the Gym Circuit by forcing Gym Leaders to battle in a tournament at the end of the year to set the order for the next year. This has been implemented in the Galar Region but has been difficult to implement in other regions.

But what Jason noticed was that a majority of trainers specialized in one type of pokemon when competing in the gym circuit. In fact majority of the posts he saw on the forums were from users complaining that their full electric or full water type teams couldn't beat a water or rock gym leader.

This was apparently because of the way battling works. It wasn't like in the games where Flamethrower is always the same base 80 fire type move for every pokemon. Instead, there were extreme variations to the way different pokemon uses the same move like Flamethrower. If you got 2 different trainers, with the same fire-type pokemon and got them to use Flamethrower the result could be totally different. One may have a much bigger flame with less radius. And the other with a longer range, and less firepower but lasts much longer.

The reason why trainers specialize in a type was to ensure they could maximize the moves their pokemon could use. A trainer who knew how to teach their pokemon the perfect Ice Beam would beat a generalist who had a normal regular old Ice Beam most of the time. Then there's the type of training. You weren't going to train a fighting-type Pokemon like Machop the same way you'd train a water type like Psyduck. Unless you wanted a karate-chopping Psyduck which honestly sounds really cool.

Of course, there's also the exception like the Champion of both Sinnoh and Kalos. Both are generalists and have dominated their respective regions. Though most trainers that did this were always either stuck at the first few gyms, or at the pinnacle of their regions.

Moving on to the topic of Legendary pokemon, Jason and Mark checked on both Celebi and Dialga but couldn't find much about them either other than a shrine dedicated to Celebi in some forest in Johto. They decided that the festival in Hoenn was a much better option.

And with the camp starting tomorrow, Jason was formulating a plan on what starter pokemon they should get. Because there really wasn't anything else he could do in the white void he was in, but it was important nonetheless. There were surprisingly more pokemon in the surrounding area than he thought, though whether they could catch any of the rare ones was the issue.

Pokemon such as Growlite were spotted near route 202 but there were only one or two sightings of it in recent history, those might not have been even real. Generally, Growlites were ridiculously difficult to find in Sinnoh due to a trend that caused an influx of trainers trying to catch these Growlites. This resulted in a mass of trainers getting injured or even missing as the Growlites started banding together to form their own territories. The horror stories you could find about people who met a wild Archanine and lived to tell the tale were quite chilling, Jason had to stop reading it halfway due to Mark being so scared. Now because of that, they're considered a protected pokemon by the league, so wild Growlites in Sinnoh would be really difficult to find.

Jason was really hoping for one of these 4 relatively easy-to-find pokemon, Starly, Buizel, a Roselia, or a quite rare Machop. Starly wasn't the most interesting choice since you see them everywhere, heck there were even found flying above the town. But what Jason was aiming for was the long term, a Staraptor. Once he manages to slap a brave bird on it, he'd have what's essentially a tactical nuke. The downside was that they'd struggle at the beginning trying to train up a really weak pokemon. He didn't know how long it'd take to get a Staraptor, but if there really was no other option then it's a pick he'd be OK with.

Buizel would be a hard one to catch but was relatively common in the river near route 202. It's a fairly aggressive pokemon but if they manage to catch one it'd be a great first pokemon. This pick was more about the short-term, getting a pokemon that could outmaneuver most other lower-tier pokemon would boost their chances earlier on. And once it evolves with aqua jet it'd be a mobile tank.

Roselia was Jason's third option. Many because Roselia learns some great moves early on like a magical leaf and stuns spore, both of which could be a deadly combination. And its evolution would have sleep powder and toxic spike, making it a deadly pokemon in any situation. Though the issue with this is that roselias aren't easy to find. you'd mostly see budews roaming around and never a roselia. This is because in the wild they require strict circumstances to evolve such as the correct sunlight, soil, and air.

And lastly, his last choice was Machop. A rare Pokemon to find in the wild as they were frequently caught so they can help in construction sites, it would be a good bulky pick. Having a pokemon that could handle and deal damage at the same time would reduce the cost of mistakes they would make early on as they got used to battling. With how different battling here was to the game, this would be the safest bet out of all the four.

Jason also noticed a forum post talking about spotting Meditites but they were as rare as the Growlites as they were mainly solitary pokemon. Apparently, Meditites were known to go into dark caves to meditate for as long as 3 weeks before coming out to forage as much food as they can and they'd only do that for about 30 mins before heading back into a cave. The fact they'd only train and eat 1 meal a day, fascinated the heck out of Jason but getting one would be extremely difficult so it wasn't included in his list.

Jason looked over to look at Mark from a reflection in the window. Throughout the time they've been working together to prepare for the camp, he noticed Mark trying to distract himself more and more over the past few days.

In the beginning, Mark would pay attention to his ideas on what starter to get during their camp. But as the camp looms ever closer, Mark's replies started to just become nods, and the binge-watching of weird shows began. Mark was spending less time preparing himself for the camp and it was worrying Jason.

"Hey kid, so what did you think about my idea?"

"Yeah, that sounds great.." Mark nodded as he continued to stare at the TV

"You really want to suck on that Milktank's utters don't you?"

"Yeah, that sounds great..." Jason nodded again with his eyes fixed on the screen.

Jason sighed at this, Mark clearly not listening to him. Frustrated with him, Jason decided to use the only other option he had to get Mark's attention. He closed his eyes and imagined himself taking over Mark's body. At first, nothing happened, but as Jason's image of himself in Mark's body grew stronger that irritating feeling enveloped him again.

"H-huh?" Mark muttered as he felt something was off. He tried turning his head but realized he was unable to move it. As though he was entirely paralyzed. "J-Jason? What's going on?!"

"Are you finally gonna listen to me kid?!" Jason replied as he stopped "You've been trying to escape to La La Land for a while now and it's driving me insane. The camp is tomorrow why are you watching a documentary about Milktank farming?!"

"I-I... just want to not think about it..." Mark muttered in response, curling up into a ball on the couch "W-what if we can't catch a pokemon. What if we get laughed at? W-what if I can't help you?!"

Jason rubbed his face as he thought about how to respond. Perhaps all the talk about Legendary pokemon and Gyms was too much for Mark to handle. He had been so focused on figuring out how to get out of his situation that he forgot to stop and realize the boy in front of him was just a 10-year-old kid.

"Mark, look at me," Jason said and Mark looked back at him with tears in his eyes. "We just have to take things slow, I'm not rushing you to get out there and immediately succeed in beating all those 5 gyms in one go."

Jason remembered his childhood back home when his parents had put so much expectation on him. At some point, he became afraid to even look at his test scores, scared that his parents would look at him with the same eyes they'd always look at him after an exam result.

"I've made a lot of mistakes in my life. I'm not a perfect person, and I don't expect you to be either, Mark. We'll get through this, the camp, gym leaders, Legendary pokemon. We'll get through it all, in time, together. Alright?"

"A-alright..." Mark wiped his eyes and smiled "No pressure?"

"Yeah, no pressure. But if you're gonna continue watching the TV, could you at least put on something more interesting?"

"More interesting? Ummm" Mark picked up the remote and searched through the channels, there were Food shows, some kind of kids' show with Pokemon, and even some kind of reality TV show where trainers and their pokemon survive on an island by themselves. But what caught both their eyes was what looked to be a rebroadcast of a pokemon battle.

'Welcome to the Christmas Bash here at Heathstone City!' The announcer on-screen shouted with a large crowd of people cheering him on.

Today it's going to be a clash of giants! A rising star who's looking to take his 7th badge soon, he's a local boy from right here in Hearthstone city it's Victor Ross!

And his opponent, a big-time favorite who won this year's Hearthstone Tournament! You all know her and you can be sure she won't disappoint! It's Julia Hawkins!

This match will be a 1 on 1, the last pokemon standing wins! Are you both ready?! Are you all ready?! Then let's get it started! Its showtime! BEGIN!'

Both trainers threw out their respective Pokeballs and out came their pokemon. On Victor's side was a Scizor that immediately started doing some kind of dance. While on Julia's side a Gigantic Rhyperior came out and started roaring with purple energy enveloping it.

'And here we go people! Victor out with his Scizor and immediately prepares itself with a swords dance! While not his signature pokemon, he must have chosen it to counter Julia's signature which we all know all too well!

On the other side of the field will be the biggest Rhyperior you'll ever see! Standing at a height of 3.3 meters it's almost a full meter taller than most Rhyperiors. It's an astonishing sight to see, and even more astonishing is Rhyperior starting with Curse!'

"Curse?" Mark asked as he watched the show intently "What does that do?"

"Well if it's similar to how I know it, it'll increase its physical attack and defense since it's not a ghost type." Jason replied "Just with that she's reduced the effectiveness of that swords dance. But I can't help but wonder why he'd choose a Scizor other than its steel typing. A special attacker would have done much more against a physical tank like Rhyperior..."

Upon seeing the Rhyperior using curse, Victor immediately ordered his Scizor. In a blink of an eye, the Scizortraveled the entire length of the field, which was half the size of a football field, and smashed the Rhyperior's face in with a claw wrapped in white energy.

'Victor going on the offensive with a bullet punch right into the face! That has got to hurt especially after being amped up with a swords dance!'

The Rhyperior looked hurt from the bullet punch, but Julia didn't seem to be worried in the slightest and a smirk developed. With Scizor fully committed to the bullet punch, Rhyperior charged something in his mouth and opened it revealing it full of fire.

'Oh was it all a trap by Julia?! What a card she hid! Rhyperior seems to have fire fang locked, loaded, and aimed right at a vulnerable Scizor! Just how many moves does this monster have!?'

With the Scizor right in front of its face, the Rhyperior chomped on the Scizor, its mouth almost covering the bug's entire body and engulfing it fully in fire. A scream came out of Scizor as tried to struggle out of the mouth of Rhyperior.

Victor wide-eyed quickly recovered from the shock and shouted another command. The Scizor hearing the command suddenly moved and the Rhyperior 's mouth opened wide. A pained roar came out of the Rhyperior causing it to take a few steps back.

'What a recovery by Victor! Getting out of that fiery situation with the move reversal! A crucial move on every fighting type that deals twice the amount of damage it takes!

That Scizor looks heavily damaged, surely that revenge would have left a dent on Rhyperior too! What will Julia do now to deal with this?!'

Julia shouted something at Rhyperior, after recovering from the blow the giant monster started charging at the Scizor and spun, suddenly turning into a giant drill charging straight at Scizor.

Victor immediately shouted something and a barrier appeared in front of Scizor stopping the giant drill. But the moment Rhyperior hit the barrier, it immediately stopped and shot huge rocks out of the holes in its hands.

'Wow, what a clash! Scizor managing to protect itself in time before the drill run could make Scizor go splat! They must have been training that move for these types of moments!

But oh what's this!? Rhyperior immediately stopped the drill run and shot something out! Oh, it's rock tomb! Huge rocks now trapping Scizor in place! Scizor wasn't able to interrupt its protect in time, it's now entirely at the mercy of Rhyperior!

Oh Julia has given out the command! Rhyperior is doing it! Rhyperior's signature move, Rock Wrecker at point-blank!!!'

With Scizor's protect disappearing, Rhyperior had finished preparing his move, and a huge bolder is launched by Rhyperior point-blank at Scizor crushing it. And after the dust cleared everyone could see the fainted Scizor on the ground.

'And it is all over! Scizor is down and out! Your winner for the Christmas Bash, winning a grand prize of a million Pokedollars! Julia Hawkins!!!'

"Jeez that was intense," Jason said as he played back the battle in his head "So that's a high-level battle... Good to know."

"So cool..." Mark muttered, still glued to the TV.

"We'll get there Mark," Jason said as he looked at Mark and muttered as he thought of Jirachi, "We have to..."