CH10 (71), That Stuff Really Happens???

Yesterday, during my walk towards the central lane of Route 4, I did not see anyone else, with that I mean no humans. That was probably because I was walking right through the fringe area. Today, I am going to walk along the central lane, so I should see some human presence, at least I hope so. After saying goodbye to my mother, I ask Xatu to Teleport me to the last spot we reached yesterday, and he does. One moment we are in front of our home, and the next we are 60 km away. The progress of a whole day of walking was accomplished in a few seconds and while it was not uninterrupted walking you get the idea.

Now that I think about it, couldn't I ask Xatu to Teleport me directly to Honey City, since we have already been there before. Xatu, at that time Natu, should have remembered the location of both the bus station and the teleportation hub. I could save around 90 km that way. On the other hand, the whole reason I am doing this is to explore, so skipping part of the journey without doing the walking myself, at least once, seems counterproductive. I think I am going to just walk for today. Maybe I will teleport towards Honey City tomorrow, depending on how much of a distance still needs to be covered.

On another note, I can't believe I forgot to go over Weedle's full status yesterday. In all that elation and hurry to resume walking I simply checked her new potential and ignored the rest. I can't believe I let myself get swept away by excitement like that. Well, actually I can, but still, I didn't even check her moves. At least, this is something that can be easily rectified. I let out Nyx as well as Butterfree and start walking, before checking Weedle's status.

'Name: None

Species: Weedle

Gender: Female

Age: 29 Months

Type: Bug, Poison

Potential: Blue (0.4%)

Genetic variation: None

Abilities: Shield Dust, Run Away

Talents: None

Affinities: Bug/Growth, Poison

Bond: Mikail (artificial, weak)

Quirks: Food-focused, Hardworking

Parameters:

Stage: Iron Stage (mid)

Vitality: E

Strength: E

Endurance: E

Agility: D

Energy Capacity: F

Energy Density: F

Resistance: Grass (Major), Fighting (Major), Poison (Minor), Bug (Minor), Fairy (Minor)

Weaknesses: Fire (Minor), Air (Minor), Psychic (Minor), Rock (Minor)

Condition: Healthy, Happy, Determined

Masteries: Bug E. Manipulation (Initial), Poison E. Manipulation (Novice)

Techniques: Poison Sting (Proficient), String Shot (Beginner), Bug Bite (Beginner)'

I look over the whole thing and have to nod at what I see. 'She is less than a year old, which is good because I don't have to worry about her lifespan. That's one of the disadvantages of most bug types, they have a shorter lifespan. Take Weedle for example, her kind has a lifespan of 3 years while they are Stageless. Upon breakthrough, to the iron stage, their lifespan lengthens, and at the (high) Iron-stage their lifespan doubles. This is enough to break through to the bronze stage or to evolve, but if one wants to let them do the full limit-breaking training then they have to be young otherwise their time runs out and they have to abort.'

*Haaaaa* I sigh for a bit. 'I always get derailed while thinking about the age of my bug types. Anyway, her potential managed to barely reach blue, so it seems I got lucky on that front. No talent has been unlocked and she did not possess one before. While this is unfortunate, that could change upon evolution or breakthrough, maybe, hopefully. The bond is artificial for now, but that will turn into a genuine bond soon enough after I spend some time with her. Now her quirks are interesting. The food-focused part will probably go away after she gets used to the fact that she does not have to worry about going hungry anymore. Her hardworking quirk on the other hand is probably something that every trainer would wish his or her Pokemon possessed. That's an awesome quirk to have, as long as she does not start shouting YOUTH, everything will be fine.' *Pffffft* 'Just thinking about a Beedrill with bushy eyebrows and a bowl-cut makes me laugh' I can see my Pokemon looking over. "Everything's fine. I just thought of something funny. That's all." I tell them. 'Oh, good. I thought I might have fried your brain while teleporting.' Xatu broadcasts telepathically. Nyx and Butterfree snicker at that. "Ha, Ha. Really funny." I tell him and ignore him in favor of looking around while walking.

I seem to have reached the area where trainers regularly walk through because I can see a few trails that have been created, so I should start to see some trainers soon. A few minutes later I start to see the first few people. They are as I had assumed all trainers, but that had been obvious. I mean why would civilians walk around outside the official pedestrian roads. The pedestrian roads, vehicle roads, and highways were always at the centermost part of the routes. These roads had a high traffic volume and were used by everyone. Pokemon generally avoid those places, so they were safe most of the time, even it cost a heavy price to get that far. Everywhere else on the routes was the area that generally only trainers walked around. Anyway, I am observing all trainers that I see and I have noticed that most of them are either teenagers or young adults. So they should be mostly Junior-Class or Senior-Class trainers, as long as they are not some kind of super-talented person. Naturally, it is also possible for them to be Rookie-Class trainers, but I have heard that those tended to stay near the civi areas since those parts were safer. Knowing this is important in case I decide to battle against someone. Junior-Class trainers will be my choice since that should be my current weight class, so accepting a battle with someone better would be asking for a beating, and I have no intention to do so.

As I said I am observing all trainers I come across, and I occasionally approach one of them. Not to challenge them, mind you, but to ask them what kind of trainer they are. Some are unwilling to entertain me, but most are ready to answer me. I learn from them that most newcomers either focus on Bug, Poison, Normal types, or a mix of them since they are the most prevalent and easy Pokemon to encounter as well as catch at the beginning. As a consequence, most Rookie-Class, and Junior-class trainers have Pokemon of these types, with the occasional one having a Pokemon of another type. This did not mean that there were no Rookie or Junior-Class trainers that focused on other types or were generalists, just that they were the minority. Most only started to diversify their Pokemon upon reaching Senior-Class or near advancement, that is if they did not decide to just specialize in one of those types.

The trainers here are a precious fount of information on trainers, just like the one I am talking to right now. "Yeah, no. Something like forcing others to battle just because your eyes meet does not happen." *pfft* Mary, that's her name, by the way, answers my question, before laughing a bit. "I don't know where you heard that, but that does not happen. Actually, someone might approach you to ask if you want to battle, but he or she won't force you to accept. After a while, most trainers start to get a feeling for when another trainer is willing to battle from the look in their eyes or their stance. The same is true for the opposite as well, so they avoid those that seem unwilling. Naturally, there is no guarantee that their guess is right, but in that case, the challenged trainer simply declines." She gets a bit contemplative, after saying that. "Actually, that might be the reason why you heard that you had to battle someone after meeting their eyes. Someone probably used that mood reading skill as a basis to prank some newbies, and the joke spread from there." She nods at her explanation and I nod along because her explanation does kind of make sense.

"So there really might be trainers that approach me to battle after meeting my eyes or looking at me? I just don't have to battle them if I don't want to." I ask her just to make sure. "Yeah." She answers, 'So that stuff from the games could really happen after all! Even if it is not as extreme, since one can decline and they do it only if they believe the other party to be willing, but no one can deny that people do approach others for a battle after seeing them.' I think and nod at her. "What about battles? Do you need to register them somewhere or can you just battle?" I ask her. "Well, that depends on the type of battle and the willingness of the two trainers. All Alliance-supported events, like tournaments or Gym Battles, are official battles, which means that you need to register them in the system, either through their trainer account in their Pokedex, the Pokedex App, or another terminal connected to the Alliance system. If two trainers want to have an official battle then they can either go to a venue that presides over such battles or they simply use their Pokedex to register their match. The reason people hold official battles is twofold. First, in case they agree on a monetary prize the Pokedex directly deducts the money from the loser's account once a winner is chosen, so running off is impossible. The second reason is that the alliance keeps track of your battle record and gives out rewards depending on your wins." Mary explains, and I interrupt her for a bit. "How does the Pokedex know who won, if they are alone I mean?" I ask her.

"Good question. The Pokedex has a recording function that can be enabled to record the battle. Some algorithms use the recording to determine whether someone has won or not, and in case there is a disagreement, the recording can be used to settle the problem." I nod at that. 'Makes sense.' I think to myself and just when I am about to ask her another question, she preempts me. "Seeing your current get-up, I can already guess your next question. You want to know about unofficial battles right?" She says and I release an embarrassed chuckle at that before I nod. "No, need to get all shy on me. While not really common, people hiding their identities are not that rare. No one really cares as long as you don't try anything too illegal, because in that case, you're in deep shit. In such situations, the case is directly transferred to the higher-ranked trainers, since no one wants an anonymous risk factor, and believe me, those guys and gals will find you no matter how good your disguise is." *gulp* Mary says and I unconsciously have to swallow at that.

"Still, no need to worry, that only happens if you do something really bad, or if you repeatedly get seen doing something illegal. Anyway, back to unofficial battles. Those are rather common as well. In case the trainers don't want to register their battle, they simply don't use their Pokedex. In that case, they have to verbally agree on the prize, but there is nothing that guarantees that they will pay up. Still, cases, where a trainer breaks the agreement, are rare, because of the bad rep one can gain. Don't think anonymous people are safe from that because there are some really vengeful people out there. I know of a case where someone ran away without paying up, so the winner published everything he could remember of the loser. Height, shape, skin color, eye color, hair color, behavior, quirks, Pokemon, everything he noticed during their meeting he published. The loser got recognized by others because of those clues despite being disguised at that time." *hahaha* She explains and laughs a bit at the story she tells. I nod at her.

"So unofficial battles are the same except for the risk of the loser running off. Does one have to wager something, or is it possible to just battle as well?" I ask her and she shakes her head. "You don't have to wager anything, but the number of trainers that are willing to battle just for the battle's sake is really low, so you will probably be unable to find someone that agrees to a battle with no wager. Anyway, we have talked so much about battles, how about it do you want to have one with me?" She answers me, before asking me for a battle. She previously told me that she is a Junior-Class trainer and that she currently focuses on poison types, so it shouldn't be an uneven fight. "Yeah, why not. How does 3 vs 3 sound?" I ask her and she agrees. "That's great. Let's see what you can do." She says and we stop once we find an area that can be used for our battle.

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