Chapter 21: The poison master's teachings

"All right Rattata, show me how far you've gotten with Dig," Joey said.

After having gotten their asses kicked by Lorelei last week, and hadn't that been a blast, they had quickly fallen into a routine that they were growing increasingly familiar with as they grew as a team. They trained in the mornings, did missions when good ones were posted on the board and challenged trainers in the afternoon.

Generally, the training occurred outside of town. Joey wanted to give himself at least the opportunity of meeting a Pokemon who could have the potential to become their third team member. That hadn't happened yet, but he was open to the idea.

Today they were in the training fields of the city for once. The large and closed boxes with minimalistic environments enclosed them in a tomb of productivity, symbolic of office work in modern society. The one they were in right now had a single tree and a big boulder in the middle. There wasn't even any grass growing, which was good because they would have destroyed any vegetation with their Dig practice.

Joey's starter slipped underground and reappeared a second later in an enthusiastic upward jump five metres away. The youngster nodded.

"Metapod, pod, pod, pod!" the bug-type complained from the side about not having any specific task to do. Joey had left her in the shade of the boulder to wait and rest. After all, he didn't know how hard Koga would go on her in the upcoming training session.

And wasn't that something? Just a week ago they got their ass beat by one future member of the Elite Four, and today they'd be getting specialised training from another. This one was a gym leader right now as well, probably even further along the path than Lorelei, despite the switched timelines of their Elite Four ascension.

Metapod had been incredibly fired up after her very quick and decisive loss to Lorelei's Slowpoke. However, that didn't necessarily mean that Joey had been able to devise a specific training regimen for her. She was only capable of learning so many moves after all.

They've been working, just as they had been right before the Celadon gym, on String Shot, which was encountering diminishing returns in its improvement and its bullet variation; Harden, which still had some upward mobility and Bug Bite, which was worth eeking out every single iota of potential out of, due to its existence as the only damaging move Metapod knew.

Joey had also tried to train String Shot tree manoeuvring, in addition to reeling in Metapod could already do too lighter Pokemon, but it was proving to be a frustrating endeavour. Girl was big and heavy and the internal mechanism of String Shot which allowed it to be used as a rope did not provide a significant amount of speed with which to do so. Sure, Metapod could rappel up a tree and swing down into a given direction, but the whole thing took way too long to be useful in a battle. They would work on it, of course. They had all the time in the world to master her limited move set.

It was clear however that Metapod was getting frustrated with the training. Rattata was making such steep progress every day with his new move, while she had nothing new to learn that she could improve on quickly due to its novelty.

The rat had gone from fainting underground due to running out of energy, to quite reliably using the move to, if not attack, then at least reposition. Thankfully, rather than sulking about it, Metapod used her frustration as fuel to make the lives of the youngsters and trainers inhabiting or visiting Saffron a living nightmare. She didn't have a particularly high win rate against anyone with a ranged attack that moved faster than a thrown stone, but her ability to lock down and destroy physical threats was becoming impressive. Also, there was something incredibly satisfying about winning a two-badge-level battle with a Metapod.

"Come on girl," Joey said. "I hardly think the poison Master is going to be late, so just conserve your energy and take the rest you can get. I doubt you're going to get much of it in the future. Once you start being able to practise poison TE you're probably going to want to do that at least several hours a day. Don't think I'll let you slack on your other training either."

His words mollified the Pokemon somewhat and she closed her eyes to signal that she would wait. It must have been frustrating to be unable to move for the most part. She was as reliant on Joey, as a quadriplegic in a wheelchair would have been. A bit less perhaps, due to the String Shot, but still. Hopefully, the reward of evolution would make up for the suffering of the second stage. She'd get wings and achieve three-dimensional mobility.

"I see you Rattata," Joey muttered at the purple rat which had come to chitter at his feet at the fact that he'd taken his attention off the training. He bent down and went on his knees to talk to his starter on a more even level, handing him a small pebble which his starter started idly rolling around in his tiny front paws, crumbling it with an application of ground TE.

He'd developed a variety of training methods in the past week, which, when all put together at the end, progressed the proficiency of Dig quite efficiently. He'd gathered some of the methods from the forums, some from books and others from his own mind and imagination.

Dig was a move essentially comprised of three parts. First, the Pokemon had to channel ground-type energy into the appendages they were using to Dig to soften up the ground. In other words, they reduced the density of the earth. Joey theorised that at some level of mastery of the move, a Pokemon would be able to Dig, without moving their body at all.

The second part of Dig was the fluid movement once underground. Dig caused a Pokemon to move faster than they would have otherwise been able to Dig with no move assistance. It was essentially a ground-type version of a Quick Attack enhancing the limbs in the ground environment while manipulating the earth to allow faster passage.

Unlike the exercise that Rattata was doing right now, with the crumbling of the stone, Joey had not found a specific exercise for this part. He'd just started timing the rat at how fast he traversed the distance underground and rewarded beating previous records.

The third part of Dig was the coming out of the ground. An explosive attack stacked with ground-type energy. Rattata generally trained that with Metapod. It was a physical attack so it could help the bug master Harden. Rattata's success was determined by how high into the air he could knock his teammate.

There was technically a fourth aspect, namely the fact that Pokemon gained a very rudimentary ability to sense what was going on above ground while using the move, but there was nothing Joey could do about that right now. It was probably in this aspect of the move, that it helped being an actual ground type. They likely had a way, or a predisposition, to being able to sense things in regards to their element. He couldn't imagine that they didn't know exactly what was happening around them and above them.

"All right, Rattata," Joey eventually decided. "How about we do a little bit of the first two steps today since Metapod has to rest."

He pulled out a bag of pebbles from his pocket, took out the fistful and showed it to his attentive starter who had worked his way through the previous little stone. Then, Joey stood up, threw his hand in the air and released the ammunition. From one moment to the next the training ground was absolutely covered in rocks.

"This is going to be a training in three parts. You're going to identify two stones decently far enough from each other, then you will disintegrate one pebble, go underground to try and get to the other one as quickly as possible, before disintegrating that one as well, before going to the next one. This should train your disintegration ability, your underground travel speed, and your control over your ascent. After all, if you exit too violently, you may throw the pebble out of the way meaning you would have to go search for another one, thus affecting your speed. I think we can do this a few times today, if you manage to get faster in your destruction of all the pebbles throughout the training session, then you're going to get an oran berry feast. Simple, right?" he asked.

Rather than nodding the rat simply sprinted off faster than Joey could have said his name. The youngster activated a timer on his Pokenav. The trick in keeping the rat motivated was of course that he would throw more pebbles up every time to make it more and more difficult to beat the previous record. Sometimes you just had to be an ass to get maximum efficiency from one's surroundings.

"An interesting training method," a voice suddenly commented from behind Joey, who definitely did not flinch. The youngster rather gracefully turned around to look at the ninja who had managed to sneak up on him.

"I recently learned that moves are best trained by doing them in a multifaceted and diverse manner," he replied. "Also, Rattata is not too much for theory."

Koga nodded. "It's good to see that you know some of the idiosyncrasies of your Pokemon, however, as fascinating as the subject may be, I came here to check up on the progress of your Metapod," the man said in a rough voice with crossed arms. The combination made him look displeased, but from Joey's research, that was just how he usually looked and sounded.

"Before we continue the conversation," Joey said suspiciously. "Perhaps you could tell me under which face you were hiding when we first met."

Koga cracked a small grin at that, which for him was likely the equivalent of a loud laugh. He didn't have his scarf on today. "Nurse Joy. I'm glad you're taking your safety a bit more seriously."

Joey was tempted to continue the line of questioning ad absurdum, however, he wanted to stay in the man's good graces and didn't want to risk the help he was getting. "As for Metapod," he started. "She's been getting incredibly resistant to poison, to the point where the Toxic Orb is doing minuscule amounts of damage which can be stacked up for around half an hour before it becomes smart to remove the object."

Koga looked over Joey's head, at the Pokemon in question. "It sounds to me that you've reached the limit of poison resistance training. Poison will never not be damaging, it can only be non-damaging if it is Metapod herself who creates it. The best that one can hope for, is a situation where prolonged exposure can be suffered with minimal damage. I guess it is now time for the next step," he concluded.

"I have a question," Joey suddenly said. Several thoughts had fluttered through his mind as he'd watched Metapod go through her toxic orb training. He'd written some of them down, knowing that he would soon have a short period of access to someone who specialised in poison types. It would have been foolish to not use the opportunity to pose some of his questions. "What is it exactly that Metapod has built a resistance to? Poisons exist in many different flavours, and I hardly believe that the Toxic Orb cycles through all of them. Toxins to venoms to chemicals and plant extracts. In essence, the question is, what kind of poison is inflicted in a poison-type move?"

The gym leader seemed slightly taken aback at the question but had a response ready. "It's an interesting conundrum, the interaction between the actual chemical composition of a poison with the poison-type energy that is then afflicted onto it when the move or the status is produced. The answer is either simple or impossible. The simple answer is that any and all poisons, were they not inflicted with type energy, would have no effect whatsoever on a Pokemon. It is rather humans, who are vulnerable to such things. The aura of a Pokemon is simply too strong and their bodies too resilient. However, there are to this extent no such different poisons, because upon being mixed with the type energy, the poison changes in its chemical constitution to a sort of prototypical neurotoxin/acid. Thus, any poison in essence simply becomes poison of the most basic variety. Naturally, the more complicated version is that different chemical solutions react differently to the insertion of type energy, however, the difference is minuscule and the field is completely under-researched. Your Metapod has been building up resistance to poison-type energy, and not to any specific molecule, because it never had to do that in the first place, its powerful biology simply rejected those aspects from the get-go."

"And Toxic?" Joey asked. "I assume that there's then no chemical difference between Toxic and other poison-type moves, and it is only more powerful because of a heftier dose of poison TE?"

"Exactly. All improvements of poisonous efficacy in a Pokemon come from higher level mastery of poison-type energy, or of an insertion of more of that energy into the move. Technically one could also insert more type energy into a Poison Powder, however, most of it would go to waste since only the smallest part of Poison Powder actually reaches its target."

"I see. I only have one more question, and that is if Rattata or any of my other Pokemon can build a similar resistance through the same method."

Koga hummed thoughtfully. "Poison resistance is built by poison exposure. Just like how a Pokemon's energy has to develop the efficacy at which it strengthens the biological structure, it also has to develop how efficiently it degrades and expels poison-type energy from the body. While any other Pokemon you have will certainly benefit from building resistance with a Toxic Orb, it will be a question of priority, since it will take much longer than Metapod, who has Shed Skin to protect herself and a future ability to learn poison type moves to help habituation. Whereas Metapod seemingly took three months in which her other training endeavours were likely affected by a general lethargy and moodiness, a normal type such as a Rattata which does not naturally learn any poison-type moves, would likely require a year. The risk also would be much higher." He waved his hand in the air. "Regardless, while this topic is interesting and you can keep the Toxic Orb if you are so inclined, it is perhaps time to get to the point."

"To verify if Metapod's poison resistance is actually up to par?" Joey asked.

"You're her trainer are you not?" Koga responded impatiently. "There is no easy way to measure how efficient the poison resistance of a Pokemon is. You are the most qualified to tell me if you're ready or not. So are you?"

The youngster nodded with a sigh. "Yeah, it's about time," he said.

The ninja stepped forward, a technical machine with a glint of purple suddenly in his hands. Both of them turned towards the bug type which had been curiously listening in on their conversation.

"The Type Energy usage inherent to this technical machine comes from a Butterfree who knows Poison Powder," Koga said. "As you might remember we were considering using as low-level a Pokemon as possible, a Weedle likely in this case. In the end, we decided that the best way forward was to go by taking the move from the same evolution line and from a Pokemon that knows the move Metapod would learn upon evolution. Poison Sting and Poison Powder are very similar, but they're not the same."

The youngster recalled Metapod into her Pokeball and held it up in front of him. "Well, let's do this," he said.

Koga took the Pokeball and promptly inserted it into the appropriate slot in the technical machine. The two of them watched curiously as, with a press of a button, the machine glowed an ominous purple, before ejecting its disc.

Koga handed the Pokeball back to Joey and prompted him to release the bug type. Joey did so and the large Metapod materialised on the ground.

"Now, I would urge you not to try anything for the moment," the poison master said seriously, referring to the Pokemon. "We simply did that first so that you could first acclimatise to the energy: Before trying anything, we have to first discuss the methodology of training up poison-type energy proficiency."

"Meta, meta," the Pokemon answered. Likely saying something along the lines of: 'I'm not as stupid as my teammate, please.'

The ninja turned to Joey. "What do you know about training Type Energy?"

The youngster sighed. It was a tough topic to research. "I know that training mastery of TE independently of any move can improve the control of moves of the same type. I also know that every person's understanding of TE can be treated in a way as an individual guideline. This is why type specialists are rewarded for their narrow focus. They can pick out the similarities that come with training Pokemon of a similar typing, without learning and appropriating irrelevant information. There are commonalities among Pokemon of the same type, such as fighting types preferring to, well, fight to train themselves in the usage of their energy. Poison, however… that seems to me a bit more abstract than that."

"There are two main ways to train type energy mastery specifically. The first is to master a move of the typing until one can start introducing variables into its use. For example, Dig can be divided into separate aspects. When all of these have been mastered, one can remove the structure of the move from the equation, and one is left with the ability to channel the appropriate Type Energy," Koga explained.

Joey couldn't help but interrupt with an exclamation. "It makes sense now! Damn. Why didn't I come up with that? Why doesn't any book mention it?"

The gym leader shook his head. "These are all incredibly advanced topics. Rather than focusing on type energy mastery, it is easier and more effective at the start of one's career, perhaps even for the first 5 years of it, to focus simply on mastering to a decent extent as many moves as possible to shore up issues of inflexibility. Similarly, it is more likely that after one has mastered several moves of a type, that one will be able to get down to the essence of the issue."

"I see," Joey said, already wondering how he could implement this knowledge to improve his team. They weren't really walking the traditional path of training, so all things that were generally inadvisable deserved serious consideration. "And what's the second type?" he asked.

"The second type of training is more difficult and suited for specialists. It is also the type of training that Metapod will be forced to undergo by default of not knowing or being able to know a poison-type move. It is essentially strapping a cart in front of the Ponyta. A master of the type can induce in a pupil a higher understanding of the energy, by foreign injection, and by discussing the symbolics of the matter. You need to consider for a moment that type energy, or, in other words, aura, is an abstract concept, however, there are some similarities and realities that stay true across the board. If these can be communicated to a Pokemon, this understanding may help them come to a point where they can manipulate the energy sooner. Suffice it to say, this method works better on Pokemon who are more intelligent. That is why psychics generally learn type energy first, and then the moves while fighting types prefer simpler methods, first learn the moves and then the Type Energy.

"Well, out of the three of us, Metapod is probably the smartest," Joey admitted bashfully and got a chuckle from the gym leader.

"That remains to be seen," Koga said. "Regardless, the technical machine has done its job, Metapod should have in her the ability to access three types of energy. The normal type, through her ability to use the moves Tackle and Harden. The bug type, which is her natural typing and thus the predominant energy and poison type. The issue comes when one considers how to tap into these different energies. After all, the predominant typing of the Pokemon overshadows all other sensations, while in a similar vein, it is difficult to sense these things at all before one has achieved sufficient mastery of the ability to manipulate the energy. Contradictory, since to master one must first sense."

"Wouldn't the Toxic Orb have helped with her ability to detect poison TE within her?" Joey asked.

"One could certainly hope so. However, reality is seldom so nice as to form itself after our desires," Koga said coldly. He turned to Metapod. "An explanation of what the poison type is, to start."

Joey pulled out the notebook that he had been keeping since the beginning of this treatment, into which he had also noted Koga's previous words about the training of type energy and the way poison energy actually interacted with the chemical components poison.

"The easiest way to explain poison-type energy is that it is purple. A colour in nature, that generally signifies that whatever it blesses is dangerous to the touch." Koga began, Metapod listening attentively, as she better. "However, simply saying that poison is dangerous is an oversimplification. Many poisons, in the correct dosage, are used as medicine, in this case, to destroy something within you that you want to get rid of. If I had to compare it to any other typing, it would be ground," the man concluded.

Joey tilted his head in the background. He wouldn't have thought of that. After all, at least in terms of temperament, poison types were generally put in the same category as dark and ghost types.

"The reason for this is that ground-type moves often rely on dissolving, decomposing, and deconstructing the ground. However, in comparison to poison, this is a very simple usage generally applied to any earthen substance. Poison is similar only in that it is essentially also a thing that at its core destroys molecular bonds. In other words, just like how ground types first dissolve the ground and then restructure it to their needs to fight, poison types are focused on dissolving in a specific manner the composition of their opponents. It is not a general attack that tries to destroy everything like fire, but a precise dagger which attacks the places which are most vulnerable. The ability of blood to congeal or not, the nerves which are required to feel and thus react to one's surroundings, the hormones regulating pain. It makes sense, really, that ground types can affect so much, but poison types so little. After all, the ground is inert. Poison, by default, is functioning inside enemy territory, fighting against biology that has the concept of self-defence and against an aura which instinctually rejects the intrusive substance. That is why poison must make every single bit of damage count because it is not allowed to rampage uncontrollably but rather exists in a perpetual state of war with the enemy's defence mechanisms." Koga paused to let the words sink in. "It is this power that you will soon wield. To affect little, but to make the effect count.

"A single drop of poison can harm the equilibrium of an entire body, no matter how large. It is the tool that, rather than strengthening itself, depends on bringing the enemy down to one's level. In my experience, the ability to use it feels like having a burning star of purple inside oneself which one can with the lightest touch inflict on one's enemies who it shall destroy from within."

Joey was really starting to doubt his willingness to challenge the man for a badge later on in his journey. This did not sound very nice. Metapod however seemed to be taking in the words like a sponge. Her eyes were wide and spiritually at least she was nodding along as if it all made perfect sense. Which it did. Poison was an inert substance which killed when it was shared with someone who wasn't immune.

"Now," Koga began anew. "I want you to close your eyes."

Metapod followed the instructions.

"I want you to blend out all sensory inputs except for my own voice. I want you to forget about the grass tickling your shell, forget about the feeling of gravity weighing you down, forget the wind, forget the earth pressing up against you, forget the sounds of the birds in the background."

He let a small silence enter the clearing. "Now go within yourself. There you will find an energy that is light green, slightly yellowish. It is your being, but, for now, ignore it. There's also a little white dot, representing the normal type energy present in you, ignore it as well. Do not consider these two, and then by default the only energy left is the memory transmitted to you about poison by the technical machine. Focus on that memory, you are a Butterfree spewing Poison Powder everywhere. You feel the build-up of that move, the injection of the poison energy into the spores produced through your wings. You feel the purple, it is undulating inside of you. It is rising inside of your throat, tainting the contents of yourself and being slowly with your entire focus, spat out!" the last word Koga shouted. And with that shout, Metapod jerked in place and spat onto the ground a disgusting, but small glob of purple acid which sizzled away at the grass.

The ninja paused, as did everyone else in the clearing. Even Rattata, mostly forgotten as he'd been, stopped in his Dig-fueled pebble run and looked over as the purple blob slowly lost its acidity and stopped eating into the ground.

"Metapod!"

"Calm yourself," Koga warned. "Return to your centre, close your eyes, turn your senses inwards. Explore what you have just done. You have created something which has the potential to harm yourself and your loved ones, but can also save them by being applied to your enemies. Bring out the energy again, grasp it as you grasp the other energies when you need them. It will come to your aid. Now let it slowly trickle up your throat and dribble to the ground to which you're bound!" he said again, focusing a certain animosity onto the ground which Metapod ultimately wanted to get away from through evolution.

A few droplets of purple were once again ejected from Metapod's mouth, more concentrated they landed on the floor and blackened the earth. Metapod was left breathing heavily and her eyes which had previously been closed voluntarily now simply closed.

"I would recommend recalling her," Koga said to Joey who did just that. "She's probably tired, using any type energy for the first time can be very exhausting."

The youngster nodded along. "I've never considered using guided meditation to help bring out type energy," he mused.

Koga nodded. "It was best to do it now when the memory of the technical machine was still fresh," he said. "I would recommend not practising that particular expression for the rest of the day, though. It likely burned the throat. With how inexperienced she is, there's no point in practising when exhausted."

"Thank you for your help," Joey said.

The gym leader just shook his head. "It's an interesting project, I've also learned something from it. After all, I've never really gone so in-depth in teaching a non-poison-type Pokemon the energy. Regardless, I don't have enough time to help you further, so I will rather give you a time point after which you should call me again."

Joey sighed internally at the fact that the man was already leaving, but as a gym leader, and as a father he really didn't have that much time, and already the one hour that Joey had gotten had been more worthwhile than entire weeks have been in the past. "All right, same deal as last time. What's the benchmark?"

"The poison-type energy produced right now has already likely harmed the Everstone. The goal is, that whenever it dissolves some of it, the next String Shot will inject the remains, which is the inevitable end for all materials that Metapod consumes. To this purpose, I would suggest that you train by having her try to hold increasingly resistant material in her mouth until she manages to degrade parts of a stone with her practice. From this, we will see when she gets to a point where the Everstone is likely sufficiently damaged. At that point, call me and we will work out the next few steps. "

Joey nodded and blinked, and the man was gone and he was left in the clearing with his two Pokemon, but otherwise, alone.

The youngster considered calling out something along the lines of, 'I know you're still here.' If the man was still here but hiding somehow, then it would freak him out, and if he wasn't no one would be here to witness Joey's idiocy. He refrained, Koga was a useful contact to cultivate, and being a respectful young lad was still probably the safest and best way to go forward in the relationship. He looked at Metapod who was taking a sleep of exhaustion, a happy smile on her face. He looked at Rattata, still paused in his efforts and looking at his teammate.

"Well?" Joey asked. "What are you waiting for? Get back to work. Surge ain't gonna beat himself."