Chapter 13: Punching Young Masters

Inherently speaking, Joey was a rather boring person. Most people who were really ambitious were, at the end of the day. Sure, they created fascinating anecdotes, but their lives up until the point where they realised that ambition were mostly just grinding and not much else. Any amazing musician needed to practise 7 hours a day, day in and day out, for several years, before they got any sort of lucky break. It wouldn't be so exciting to read about that, just as it wouldn't be so exciting to read about the specifics of the training that a youngster put his Pokemon through, day in, day out.

There was String Shot training coupled with Detect training for Metapod and Rattata. They also collaborated in Harden and Quick Attack/Hyper Fang. There was getting poisoned for the former, and there was trying out different ways to master fighting energy for the latter.

Punching bricks, doing martial arts katas, meditating under a waterfall, challenging foes, the usual.

Did more than that really need to be said right now, when all avenues forward had already been established, no new moves taught, no technical machines acquired, no magical breakthroughs made?

No, not really.

What is interesting however is when one of heaven's geniuses, aka, one of our protagonists is challenged by someone who cannot distinguish between the heavens and the earth, and who has eyes but does not recognize Taishan. After all, isn't battling just a culmination of training, where all of the achievements can be shown off in one quick burst of passion? If so, then it makes sense why recurring characters like the foolish young master, who does not know the reality of the hidden dragons and crouching tigers, are necessary. They are just a mirror to hold up to the protagonist, to show his awesome prowess in the face of the absolute incompetence that is their so-called rival. A narrative tool to shorten training montages.

Joey stood on an oddly abandoned battling field, facing Hitoshi. The boy looked the same as he had last week, brown hair, karate gi, two Pokeballs at his belt, stupid facial expression.

No, wait, that was just his normal face.

"So where'd you get your first badge?" Joey asked conversationally, as he looked around the desolate trodden ground field. The most private place one could find in the public fields. He wondered why Hitoshi wanted to battle here. Was it not the whole point to gain back the face the fighting gym had lost by losing to a Rattata? How would they do so if their swift and crushing retaliation remained unseen by everyone? Well, if the challenge was official it would show up on both the boys' win-loss record, and it was, so that was probably that. They'd registered on the PokeNav.

"I got it fair and square, winning my battle. Unlike you! Then I got a second and a third one, proving that I'm better than you!" Hitoshi shouted from the other side.

Joey tilted his head. Did the kid not realise that his trainer profile was public? Joey didn't regularly check up on his opponents, but it was useful if you had a match scheduled with someone. Hitoshi had just lied. He only had one badge. The one given to him by his father. Or maybe he'd gotten it in a fair fight, who knew really. It wasn't uncommon for people who became gym trainers to end the circuit on only one badge. After all, they didn't really travel, but sold their services and time to the gym of their choice in return for help with their type specialisation and a sponsorship for the next year's run.

Not feeling like calling the boy out on his lie, Joey just shrugged. "So are we doing this or not?" he asked. "Mankey, Tyrogue, I don't care which." He gripped Rattata's Pokeball. Metapod wasn't quite ready to battle a fighting type yet. Sure, she could delay them with String Shot until she got her hard-on, but in close range, a fighting type would completely outmanoeuvre her. Not saying much considering a Magikarp out of water would also outmanoeuvre her right now, but anyway, she wasn't ready yet.

Hitoshi did something weird then, rather than bringing up a Pokeball from his belt he simply tapped it, releasing the Mankey next to himself. Joey narrowed his eyes as he pulled out Rattata's Pokeball.

"Mankey's just spectating, I have a surprise for you," Hitoshi said with a mean grin, he put up his other Pokeball and released what was inside. A tough-looking Hitmonchan materialised on the field. It looked at Joey, scoffed and glanced at its trainer as if asking.

'Really, this is who you're using me against?'

As Joey released Rattata with a roll of his eyes, he realised why Hitoshi had lied about having two badges.

With only one he wouldn't be allowed to have an evolved Pokemon. So either the boy was exempt in some way, which would make sense. It would be mean of the league to impose the same restrictions on evolved Pokemon on gym trainers, who supposedly received the same amount of expertise in one year as a travelling trainer, but usually remained at one badge.

However, if you tilted your head and squinted your eyes, you could kinda see that the Hitmonchan was old and experienced. Different scars criss-crossed along its tough wiry body and the mean look in its eye could have only been gained from years of battling.

Hitoshi had probably taken one of his father's Pokemon. Either he had blackmail on this particular one, or maybe it was mad at Kong losing to Joey and now wanted some old-fashioned revenge.

Or maybe he did have three badges and Joey was a paranoid idiot, and the trainer profile just hadn't been updated yet. Either way, Joey didn't care. This was as good an opportunity to have Rattata battle a strong opponent as any. He already sought out much more experienced trainers than himself, so how was this any different? He could recall Rattata at any point where it got dangerous anyway, so there wasn't even any risk involved.

"Go, Rattata!" he shouted, unafraid, his rat materialising before him in a battle pose. It remained completely undaunted by the evolved Pokemon it was facing. At this point, completely used to losing and integrating the valuable experience that gave.

"You think you can take me?" Hitoshi shouted as he pointed at his opponent. "Just surrender, you don't stand a chance!"

Had he expected Joey to just give up upon seeing the Hitmonchan? Had he not looked up Joey's trainer profile? It showed many losses against more experienced trainers, some of them with evolved Pokemon as well.

"Let's just do this already," Joey said. "Rattata, Quick Attack into def," he ordered, seeing as the match had officially already started.

His starter blurred forward, a white arrow.

It was then that it became clear how outmatched Joey was.

Hitmonchan did not dodge.

He simply disappeared. Rattata flew, head first, through an after-image that disappeared on impact. Meanwhile, the brown humanoid Pokemon became a blur movement that moved around Rattata's new position with a staccato of violent footsteps. A tornado of footwork that only increased in pace as it went on. It was using agility, Joey noticed, slight streamers of pink energy connecting into a circle around his starter.

He didn't give any orders, Rattata knew exactly what to do in a situation like this. There was only one thing he could do.

"Mach Punch!" Hitoshi shouted, his Mankey cheering on the Hitmonchan as if it were a twelve-year-old girl at a Taylor Swift concert.

Hitmonchan's punch was not as much a punch, as it was a supersonic missile. A missile that Rattata dodged by Quick Attacking out of the way. The Pokemon's fist impacted the ground, creating a crater, and Rattata used the momentum of his Quick Attack to spin in place once its energy ran out to face the now still Hitmonchan who was staring at it curiously, with a tilted head.

"Again!" Hitoshi shouted, but Hitmonchan ignored the order, suddenly seeming more curious than angry.

"Chan," it said as it raised a gloved fist towards Rattata and beckoned him to attack.

"Rattata?" Joey's starter asked, expressing some sort of confusion.

"What are you doing, I said mach punch!" Hitoshi shouted, sounding a lot like his mankey, just angrier.

"I think you just got an invitation to dance, Rattata. Why don't you accept it?" Joey suggested lightly, receiving a serious nod from his starter as he shot forward again.

This time Hitmonchan did not disappear, but just side-stepped the rat missile. Rattata found purchase on the ground and shot off again, starting a speedy chase.

From the outside, it looked like Hitmonchan was encircled by one long line of white energy that blurred into a cage around it. Contrary to the situation it looked rather relaxed about it. It ducked and weaved past every move with closed eyes and seemed to be determining the rhythm of the attacks. Joey didn't know how it could focus at all with the way its trainer was screaming, but props to this particular fighting type, he guessed. It was after about half a minute of the dance that Hitmonchan decided to retaliate. It didn't really punch, as much as it held up a fist in the position it had just left in a quick side-step. Rattata smashed into it, veered off course and tumbled to the ground carried by his own momentum.

"Hitmonchan," the Pokemon said and scratched its chin before he held out his fist again and beckoned Rattata to come. The rat was meanwhile just scrambling to his feet and was starting to look a bit apprehensive. The Quick Attack cage was something that stumped most opponents once they were trapped inside it, but it was obvious that to this particular foe, it was just a particularly bland joke.

"Again, Rattata," Joey ordered. "Detect the counter and retaliate."

Rattata trusted Joey, probably more than anyone else on the planet. The youngster was sure that the Pokemon would jump straight down the mouth of a Gyrados if Joey said it was a good idea.

But here, he hesitated. Only for a second, however. "It's not a winnable match," Joey said. "Just training."

A white blur, a cage, a graceful dance of dodging. It was even more sped up than last time, both Pokemon having found their rhythm. Joey almost felt like he could feel Rattata's heartbeat as it crashed against his starter's insides, churning blood and energy at a never-before-seen speed.

Hitmonchan stayed as cool as a cucumber, just that this time it only needed ten seconds to find the opening again. Joey didn't know how he knew, but he recognized exactly which dodge was going to blossom into a counter. "Detect!" he shouted, and it was only because of their bond that Rattata was able to switch off its normal energy attack, decelerate in the air, flare its Detect, and use the gained knowledge to rebound, rather than crash into the raised fist and Quick Attack again directly at Hitmonchan's slightly surprised face.

An uppercut hit Rattata from below. While it had bounced off and mispositioned one gloved fist, Hitmonchan had two. It wasn't a move, but just a normal punch with no energy. It was still more powerful than Rattata exerting all his strength. The rat was hit right in the stomach and flew up into the air, drawing a graceful arc before crash-landing on the ground. Joey thought he glimpsed one of its paws glowing orange but was too busy deciding if it was time to forfeit, or if another round would do them good.

"One last one, Rattata," he said. "Let's give Hitmonchan a scratch to remember us by."

Hitoshi had been completely forgotten. This Hitmonchan was the focus of Joey's attention now. It bumped its fists together and stretched its neck as Rattata stood up.

A second passed, and after a blink, Rattata was not in his spot anymore, white lines crisscrossed the air around Hitmonchan as it had to dodge again. Joey peeled his eyes, refusing to blink. Rattata needed him to recognize when a counter was coming. Hitmonchan clenched its right fist, which had remained slightly loose in all previous dodges. "Detect!" he shouted urgently as Hitmonchan leaned back, raising a fist in the position previously held by its head. Rattata cut its Quick Attack, felt the counter, and rebounded intentionally off the gloved fist, with no Quick Attack active, just his own muscles.

Hitmonchan performed an uppercut but missed. Rattata hadn't jumped at its face but rather used the fist to rebound to the ground. He dug his feet into the ground in that one second of Hitmonchan being mispositioned and shot forward in a Quick Attack. Both arms out of place and too high up to travel all the way down so quickly, Hitmonchan desperately kicked at Rattata with its right leg.

"Detect!" Rattata stopped, side-hopped, and shot towards the other leg.

Hitmonchan decided that discretion was the better part of valour. It used the last leg still touching the ground to hop in place, Rattata passing right underneath it.

"Rebound up, can't dodge in mid-air!" Joey shouted desperately and Rattata heard, stubbornly changing its direction and digging his claws into the ground in preparation for going straight up.

The fighting-type shot a Mach Punch that sounded like a cannon straight into the air, creating a shockwave and pushing its body back towards the ground. A foot hit Rattata right in the face, striking it to the side, but the rat stayed standing, his fist glowed orange and he punched forward with a strenuous shout. "Ra, tta, ta!"

Hitmonchan hadn't completely gained its bearings yet, having just landed. An orange fist smashed into its leg. The Pokemon buckled and unceremoniously fell backwards, right on its ass.

It sat there, more stunned than hurt as it looked at the rat that had just put it on its butt.

Rattata for his part, looked more tired than a nymphomaniac after a 3 day orgy. He just stood there on its hind legs, arms lowered, panting. As the Hitmonchan slowly stood up the small Pokemon stumbled to the left, to the right, before falling back like a knocked-over plank in a dead faint.

He'd given everything he had and more. Hitmonchan stood up and looked curiously at the fallen rat as the starter dematerialized into red light, flying back into the Pokeball. Joey clipped his starter to his belt and turned around, raising a hand in a goodbye.

"It was a good match, you can find me if you ever want a repeat performance," he said to either Hitoshi or Hitmonchan and left.

The angry boy shouted something after him, but he ignored the sounds. There was too much swirling around in his mind.

He didn't care that the boy had used his father's Hitmonchan, that he'd lost some money in the match. The reason Hitoshi had sent out his ;ankey first was obvious in hindsight, it was so the Pokenav would log it as the Pokemon used by the boy.

He didn't care about any of that.

What he wanted to know was what that orange punching move had been that Rattata had used. Had it been a Rock Smash, one of the moves Rattata could supposedly learn? Or was it something else?

Most importantly, would his starter be able to reproduce it?

-/-

"You're training Rattata to punch now?" Mia asked with a curious expression on her face the next time that she and Joey were training together in the public training facilities. The entire situation with the Arbok had calmed down somewhat, so the fields were once again more free. Joey himself had been planning to transition to spending some of his time training outside the city before the battle with Hitoshi. But Rattata's mysterious punch had caught his interest enough that he was willing to delay going out for another day.

It really was starting to become necessary. Metapod was growing slightly annoyed with her training. Understandable, since now the gruelling schedule also consisted of getting poisoned all the time. If hungry people tended to be more bitchy, then beings that were poisoned were ten times worse.

Metapod had grown strong enough to beat a few select Pokemon in the wild in a battle, and Joey wanted to grant her that win to show her that the training was paying off. Unfortunately, she wasn't strong enough to really take on trained Pokemon so other youngsters and trainers were out of the question for the moment.

Even Mia and Lil Mouse were probably beyond her. If she didn't hit the initial String Shot, she'd be toast.

So, anyway, after this session, he'd take them out in the wild, find an Oddish, a Caterpie or a Pidgey or something for Metapod to fight and show her how far she'd come. But first, he needed to finish testing Rattata.

"He did something weird in a battle recently, something with what I think is fighting-type energy in his fist," Joey mused. "I'm quite curious as to what that was, so I've been trying to force it out."

He looked at the rat who he'd tasked with punching a tree. The stance was good, the punch was good, but the TE just wasn't there.

"Was it in the battle with Hitoshi?" Mia asked curiously, getting a surprised look from Joey. "He's been going around telling everyone he can get to listen to him how he beat you, waving his PokeNav around like a crazy person."

"Sure, I lost," Joey said with a shrug, not really caring what other people thought. What they thought didn't affect his actual strength, and that was all that mattered. He did wonder however why Hitoshi hadn't challenged him once with his actual starter, his Mankey. The only reason Joey had beaten Kong was because of his innovative taunt strategy. But Hitoshi had seen that and could have developed a counter. Why had he immediately jumped to using one of his dad's Pokemon?

It didn't matter. Joey was grateful to Hitoshi for giving him such a high-level Pokemon to battle, but he didn't care about the boy's actual career.

He'd checked and he thought that the Hitmonchan that he'd thought had been the one Kong used in his 8th badge challenge, basically, a member of his personal team. People on the forums were unsure if it was or if it was not on the level of an Elite Four Pokemon. Everyone agreed, however, that it was an absolute beast. 

Kong's 8th badge challenge was quite simple in essence.

You would face his Hitmonchan and Hitmonlee and could use all six of your Pokemon. If you won, you got the badge, if not, then not.

"There's no real shame in losing against a fighting type with a Rattata. Just like it's no real victory to beat a Rattata with a fighting type," Joey said eventually.

Mia shrugged. "Well, Hitoshi is a-" Here she paused and scrunched up her face. "-butthead," she finished. Joey gave her a queer look.

It was true that people in the Pokemon world didn't curse a lot. But that one was a bit pathetic.

"Not the words I would use, but yes, in essence."

"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll beat him next time," she said encouragingly, before leaning in. "By the way, I heard he's coming with us for the bus to Celadon."

Joey blinked. "I thought that was only for youngsters," he said, slightly annoyed. He didn't want to be on the same bus, and presumably in the same hotel as that idiot.

"Technically it's for all holders of a licence who are bound to a city," Mia explained proudly. "I looked it up!"

"Good job," Joey complimented. He didn't want to discourage the good habit of being able to look up regulations and rules like that. There were many adults alive today who were incapable of doing that and went through life with the wrong assumptions about how their government actually worked. "Anyway, are you here to train today? Because I think I'm going to see if Rattata breaking some tiles will help him find that feeling again."

"I already battled today, with Michael. I won!" Mia exclaimed and hopped in excitement.

"Wow, good job!" Joey said and clapped the girl on the shoulder.

"I mean you already did it months ago, and he's not really becoming a bigger threat with how he's failing to teach his Pidgey Gust, but still, it's nice to win every now and again," she said.

Joey nodded but tilted his head curiously. "You don't seem as excited as I'd thought you'd be," he queried.

Mia spun in place, her yellow sundress flying up to make a nice circle. "I don't know if I want to be a trainer, really. I don't like battling that much. Seeing Lil Mouse get hurt. It just sucks," she said with a frown.

"Well, it's a good way to see the region. It's an important cultural journey as well, considering how important bonding with Pokemon is historically," Joey mused. He'd never really not wanted to be a trainer. What else was one supposed to do when reborn in the Pokemon world?

"My parents said it's important to get as many badges as possible. It just looks good on a resume."

"The more you have the better," Joey said with a nod. "In my experience, people successful in one endeavour are more likely to be successful in another as well. Life's unfair. Someone good at tennis will likely be good at basketball too. Even participating in the conference at least once in your life is an achievement that not many can match. It shows perseverance, the ability to work hard, and the empathy to bond with Pokemon." He paused. "Most of all it shows intelligence. After all, if you can successfully devise a strategy to beat each gym, why can't you devise a marketing campaign when given the prerequisite academic knowledge. The process of coming up with the thing is the same, just the fields are different."

Mia gave him a queer look. "You sound like my parents," she complained.

"Well, your parents must be pretty smart if they sound like me, so listen to them. They have more life experience than you. We don't need to reinvent the wheel here if we can just rely on the advice of our elders," Joey said.

"That also sounds like something my parents would say," Mia repeated.

Joey rolled his eyes. "Oh, just scamper off if you're not going to be useful. I actually want to be a trainer, don't have time for slacking like you young whipper-snappers."

"You're one month younger than me," Mia said as she started walking backwards, towards the exit of the training area.

"I was talking about mental age," Joey replied.

Mia, like any proper adult, pulled down her eyelid and stuck out her tongue at him, before running off.

Joey just turned around and went to his backpack. He wondered idly what Mia would end up choosing as a career path, but decided that he would see soon enough. He was old and had experienced enough that a month passed in the blink of an eye when it was filled with enough activities. He pulled out some orange tiles he'd bought from a home supply store. He was trying to save money for the technical machines he was expecting to get in Celadon, but they'd been quite cheap, and absolutely necessary.

After all, he thought as he stacked them up on two pieces of wood, who'd ever heard of a fighting-type move being taught without some stone tiles getting broken?

"Get over here, Rattata," he called to his starter, who quickly scampered over. "It's time to unleash your fury," he said and pointed to the tiles. His starter looked at him sceptically, before going to stand in front of them. "Just try to channel some of that fighting energy you use for Detect into your fist and then scream and punch downwards," Joey encouraged. He went down to his knees and showed the movement that he wanted to see a few times.

Rattata nodded, raised a paw, clenched it into a fist and then struck downwards at the tiles.

A crunch resounded through the clearing, but it wasn't the tiles that made the sound.

Anyway, they had to go to the Pokecentre after that. And their trip to the wilds to find Metapod a worthy opponent was delayed.