3 Chapter 03

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Since Eevee had agreed to try to evolve into Umbreon, Silver had begun to work on his moves. Specifically Swift, Protect, Detect, and Quick Attack.

These moves were the ones with the most potential.

"Protect!" responding to Silver's command, a shield appeared on Eevee's front.

"Push it forward away from yourself, Eevee."

"Vee!" Eevee shouted as the shield slowly moved forward. It was at a sluggish pace really but with practice, Silver thought that it could be moved fast enough to act as both a battering ram and move away the attack's impact from Eevee itself so that even if the Protect breaks due to lack of stamina or overwhelming strength, it would buy Eevee precious time to move away.

This was one of the few things that Silver had come up with as he had looked at the move.

*DING*

A robotic voice came from his watch, "The energy construct's top speed has increased by 0.2 m/s."

Silver nodded as he looked at Eevee who was breathing a bit more harshly than normal and said, "Three days of training and you already are showing improvements. Have a treat."

Eevee jumped high to catch the treat Silver had tossed it as Silver used his watch to check the message logs on the LANBOS.

"So they accepted it huh?" Silver had decided that since he could not begin his journey before the age of 15, he would join the Rustboro City Gym's Survival Training Program.

He could help Eevee collect the battle experience for evolution while he worked on integrating LANBOS into other pieces of tech as he tinkered with other technologies and items.

He was currently working on a release and capture program that could be used to release several pokemon at the press of a button. Why was such a thing necessary? During a fight, the few seconds required to find the appropriate pokeball and release a pokemon could be a deciding factor between life and death.

He planned on calling it the SilverCaster. A program which could be used to capture and release multiple pokemon from their Pokeballs without using the pokeball itself but either a phone, watch or pokeball.

He planned on making a harness for an Umbreon that could be used to detect vitals and connect Umbreon to LANBOS' communication array allowing for communication between himself and Umbreon even if they were unable to see each other.

Silver shook his head to clear his thoughts of making things before he started training Eevee again.

[Rustboro Gym, A Few Days Later.]

As Silver entered the gym, trainers mingled around, conversing with the receptionist or chatting among themselves.

"She will be available three days from now. In the morning," stated the woman behind the desk.

One of the trainers, visibly displeased, handed over his trainer card. "That will do for me," he grumbled.

Swiftly, the receptionist typed on her keyboard, examined the card, and returned it. "Ace Level Trainer Gym Challenge, Standard fee: 5000 Pokedollars, League Standard - 3 vs 3, knockout match. Your match is scheduled for three days from now, 0900 hours. Failure to report results in automatic loss," she informed him.

Silver was surprised because of the trainer's level, 'An Advanced level trainer is considered just below the Ace, Elite and Champion levels and is one of the minimum requirements for many professions like Rangers, Detectives, etc. As an Ace, this guy was one of the strongest people around in the city other than Silver's family's security team.'

The trainer thanked her, returned the card to his wallet, and accepted a receipt.

Approaching the desk, Silver was preempted by the receptionist. "Are you here for the Survival Training Program, Mr. Stone?" she asked, her voice far less clipped than when she was talking to the ACE trainer.

"U-uh, yes, I am," Silver replied, his nerves prickling. Being a Stone might not carry the same weight as Wataru or Oak carry with most people but the people of Rustboro recognised who the Stones were.

"Roxxane awaits you in the battle arena," the receptionist pointed towards a door that read 'Battle arena'.

Silver nodded before walking towards the large door.

As Silver pushed the door open and peaked into the area, he found himself looking at a woman whose long, chestnut-brown hair cascaded down her back in gentle waves, complementing her fair complexion. Her piercing, intelligent eyes, a striking shade of hazel, glimmered with a mix of determination and wisdom.

Dressed in her signature gym leader attire, Roxanne donned a tailored earth-toned outfit. A high-collared blouse, the colour reminiscent of polished granite, accentuated her slender figure. Paired with it was a knee-length skirt, its hue resembling the rich brown of fertile soil. The ensemble conveyed both her grounded nature and unwavering commitment to her role as a gym leader.

'An Ace Level Rock Type Specialist,' Roxanne was not alone however and was accompanied by three pokemon.

A Probopass was standing there as sparks of current ran around its body, its body was solid and rectangular, resembling a stone face with a mustache that was standing upright. The surface of its rocky exterior was rugged and weathered, bearing the telltale markings of time and natural erosion.

'Is that charge?' Silver was not sure whether he was correct in what move Probopass was using but he had a fairly good guess.

A Steelix was a fair distance away, practising a move that Silver recognised as Iron Tail. Silver whistled at its impressively massive size.

And finally the most eye-catching pokemon among the three despite the Probopass's unusual move and Steelix's mass was the Rock-Water Type Fossil Pokemon Kabutops stood in the middle of the arena, it possessed a sleek, arthropod-like body with a dark, bluish-grey exoskeleton. Its sharp, scythe-like claws were displayed on its forelimbs.

Why was it the most eye-catching among the three? Because the move it was using was Sword Dance, a move that boosts the strength behind a Pokemon's attack. Silver watched in fascination as the Pokemon was surrounded by swords made up of light that revolved around it once before disappearing and being replaced by a red aura that surrounded Kabutops who then leaned forward and vanished...

'Huh,' Silver walked forward into the arena as his eyes searched the arena to look for the pokemon when he heard a voice from his right which said, "Buto," making him stiffen.

'F-fast,' the pokemon had moved from the center of the area to the challenger entrance without producing any whiplash as it moved at least a hundred meters within a few seconds without detection while also detecting Silver who had been looking at the pokemon.

Silver turned slowly and looked at the pokemon who was looking at him with pride and amusement. Silver realized that the pokemon was showing off and found his reactions funny making his cheeks go red in embarrassment as he said, "Sorry I was just fascinated by your sword dance," the pokemon snorted before looking at him expectantly and Silver continued, "The woman at the reception told me that Roxanne was waiting for me, and when I looked in and found you all practising, I started watching, it was awesome, you are fast Kabutops."

The pokemon looked flattered as it pointed towards Roxanne and nodded towards its trainer showing that Silver shouldn't delay any further. Silver took its advice and slowly jogged to the gym leader who looked at him and gave him a wave before saying, "Mr. Stone, always a pleasure to meet a member of the Stone Family."

Silver was not surprised by her recognition because he suspected that she had only allowed him in because he was a Stone since currently his nett achievements in the larger world were nil.

"Leader Roxanne, I am really happy that you allowed me into the survival training program of your gym."

"You should be Mr. Stone, normally you would have to undertake the Hoenn Trainer Standard Exam before I allowed you here but since you are three years early, I have waived the requirement but know this…. If you don't clear the exam in three years' time, you will not get your license and this training we will be doing will have been a waste of my time."

Silver nodded, knowing that he would qualify for the exam if he gave it right that moment due to its low difficulty. The exam wasn't there to remove candidates but to test for the bare minimum standard of knowledge that the Hoenn league considered basic information like Pokemon types, moves and the standard pokemon that a trainer should avoid at various strength levels.

"I understand Leader Roxanne," Silver nodded in agreement.

"Just Roxanne is fine, Silver," she smiled a little before she asked, "Your father has informed me about the Eevee your mother gifted you, do you have his pokeball with you?"

"Yes," Silver nodded and pressed a button on his watch. A ray of blue plasma burst out from his watch releasing his shiny Eevee which had a grey harness similar to a dog harness from Earth.

Roxanne on seeing the unusual release method couldn't help but ask, "A new type of pokeball?"

Silver smiled, his expression not too unfamiliar and began explaining about his special program and tinkering, "It is a nifty piece of programming and tinkering in which the program keeps track of your pokemon in real-time using a physical location tag which in this case is within eevee's harness, now what the program's main function is not to act as a tracking device but to use the knowledge of said tracking to capture and release pokemon registered from their pokeballs without using either the pokeball or the button.

I am planning to sell it to my own company once I have got all the kinks out, it will allow trainers to rapidly deploy multiple pokemon from their watch or their Pokedex without having to fumble with their pokeballs which can rest securely within their bags while also allowing for pokemon to be returned to their poke balls even if the trainer has no visual contact with them, for example under moves like Sandstorm, Blizzard, Hail, etc."

Roxanne looked impressed as she asked, "And how much will it cost to get this piece of tech?"

"Three Hundred Pokedollars each for the watch version, though I might sell it to the regional professor if the league is willing to avail me a monthly stipend for its use," Roxanne nodded at Silver's reply slowly before she said, "Well, how much are you willing to provide me a personal prototype for?"

"Four Hundred Pokedollars for the watch version, and Six Hundred Pokedollars for the Pokedex. The technology still is not perfected, and I can't really promise delivery. "

"Do both of them, and I will pay you Nine hundred Pokedollars," Silver agreed immediately, thanking his lucky stars.

Most people would think his eagerness to make money was a bit weird since he was the second son of the owner of Devon Corp. but Silver knew that by the time of his journey, his father won't be as happy with him leaving in comparison to now. Why? Because by the time Silver would be about to leave for his journey, Steven would already be the Hoenn Champion. His father who wanted his brother to be the president would be quite upset with his brother's choices just like now since being the regional champion Steven wouldn't be able to pay attention to Devon and would deepen the rift between his father and brother, which would definitely lead to Silver being slaughtered as a spare for the President's position.

'And while I think that Devon is a good thing for our family and will try to help Mother and Father as much as I can, I will not be tied down to an organisation like Devon until my late twenties.'

Silver knew it was mere conjecture and speculation, but having his own personal funds outside anybody's control was a good idea regardless of his father's position on Steven's choices. Going to his family for his every need during his journey would not sit well with Silver anyways.

He shook his head as Roxanne began speaking again, "So how are you going to do this with non-physical pokemon like Gengar or pokemon with abilities like Flame body?"

"By using the Pokeball's own general targeting system along with the location tagging methods used by Pokemon Rangers, and honestly it won't be perfect for quite a few pokemon but most trainers will manage just fine even if they only have only the mass release option."

Roxanne nodded, the mass release allowing trainers to choose the pokemon they wanted by calling the name out would be enough of an advantage in fast pace situations for many trainers especially ACE and Elite Trainers to go for it.

She said, "You are going to be a very rich young man soon Silver, and since you need to protect all that money in the future, let's train."

AN:

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Ages:

Cynthia: 15

Ash:17(Post-Kanto, Post-Orange Islands)

Silver:12

Pokemon:

Eevee(Male)