Chapter 15: Health and Wealth

I looked over the recording from the security camera on my tablet, wanting to double check before I made any decisions. 

'Two battles, and his planning is leading to unexpected outcomes.'

Amanda was one thing- she was going easy on the new trainer like usual. The more interesting bit was the battle just now. 

'Ren has been battling for the past two years at a high level. Just having a weaker pokemon doesn't make his coordination disappear.'

'When Ren had borrowed my pokemon, he could use them like an extension of his body- he had even managed to get Noivern to listen to him during a particularly hairy mission, letting him escape when he would have been injured collecting Sawsbuck musk samples.'

I scrolled through the video again, playing over a certain part. It was fascinating- I would have asked the boy to do some testing for me if his arm wasn't injured. I saw him still gingerly using it earlier, probably having taken something to ease the pain. 

'Dragon types are notoriously hard to control, but to lose a battle against somebody who had battled just twice? And with a crippled pokemon at that?'

I nodded my head, slowing the recording at a particular point. The moment the froakie had landed its pound, Mykah's command to attack was almost instant. 

'Even in slow motion, it's barely three frames before he opens his mouth to give the command.'

He had known the hit would land- the command he gave beforehand and his reaction speed showed it. Pokemon generally didn't understand humans, instead having the ability to understand their will, or heart, to a certain extent. This sort of certainty in his command was either ignorance of the typing issue or knowledge of the froakie's fear of the fire- a near impossibility unless he knew of the ability it had, which Ren didn't know himself. 

'Not to mention how rare Protean is as an ability, but to even be able to make a plan based off of the new fear of fire it got… Brilliant if it's true. I'll have to fill Ren in on what happened as well, so he doesn't make the same mistake again.'

I put the tablet into my lab coat, moving back into the building. Most trainers began their journey at ten, though some started later. Since he was from Unova he would have had almost no practice in pokemon battles… So he could very well be incredibly talented in strategy. That was what I needed, if it was the case. 

'I don't know about sending a teenager to protect her, but at least if he's competent in battling it will be alright in that regard. I wish I could, but I can't send Ren… I'll have to delay when she can go- maybe a month?'

~~~~~~~~~~~~

"...And where did you learn to battle!? That was awesome!"

"I learned from my Mom mostly- she was incredible at it."

Ren was a bit closed off, but after a few minutes he was talking like any normal teenager would. 

"It must be genetic. Damn, I'll need to work even harder to catch up to you!"

"Boys? Your pokemon are healed. Here you are!"

Nurse Joy put the pokeballs on the counter, and Kastanna jumped out before I could pick her up to leap onto my shoulder. 

"She's quite lively. It took a bit for her to sit down so I could treat her sprain- make sure you don't push her too hard, okay?"

"Sprain? From a battle that light?"

The nurse nodded to my question. 

"Yes, most fennekin have very thin bones in their front legs- their shins are particularly weak until they evolve, and especially this one's. I recommend buying Iron vitamins, and Carbos if you can spare the money. If it evolves like this it'll lead to even worse arm structure."

'Vitamins… I'll have to check with the professor. He probably thought about it already.'

"Er, yeah. Thanks, Nurse Joy!"

Ren grabbed his froakie and nudged my arm to follow as I put Kastanna into my scarf. I thought for a bit as we walked to the professor's office. 

"...Hey, Ren?"

"About vitamins, right?"

"Yeah. You've been working with the professor, so do you think they might work?"

Ren shook his head, a sad look on his face. 

"Vitamins have improved recently, but even they won't change the natural bone density and structure of your fennekin's body. We did actually test if Iron, calcium, and 'H-PUP's would help, but we ended up needing to flush them all out because of the side effects."

Clack

The door to the office opened, and we moved inside. 

"Side effects? Like what?"

"Vomiting, coughing up blood, the works. Vitamins aren't actually… vitamins, you know? They're latent ability enhancers like Rare Candies, just with more mild side effects for most pokemon."

We got to the desk, and he stepped behind it and started searching for some documents. 

"It's here somewhere… There."

He pulled out a file, handing it to me. I opened it and skimmed the pages, but it was full of medical documentation I would need hours to figure out. 

"You'll want it for the future. Grand Dream City has a hospital you can get help at, but they shy away from the lab bringing in pokemon for help. Something about regulations makes it uber expensive… Well, you'd need a friend inside to not pay crazy costs anyway. Citizens…"

I nodded along, and Kastanna on my shoulder looked at the file with me. I noticed the hexagons and bar graphs were almost all at zero, but the growth vectors were just at minimal. 

'It's normal for pokemon to be a bit above the base their body can operate at, but this is crazy. No wonder I need to bring her to a hospital…'

Tap

"...Don't worry too much, Mykah. Kastanna isn't going to collapse any time soon, of that I'm certain."

"Chirp?"

Kastanna jumped off of my shoulder, landing on the professor who had walked in behind me. 

"Not with that spirit at least. She's gonna be putting up a fight with you for a long time."

Kastanna circled around his shoulders before blowing out hot air and jumping back to me. The professor wiped off his face, taken aback by the surprise. 

"I was just filling Mykah in on Vitamins and Kastanna's records. By the way, sorry if it was a bit too much, dude."

I shook my head. 

"Nah, just a habit of mine to think too much. If anything, I'm more sorry for ignoring you."

"Heh. No worries, I'll just- Shoot, I forgot to close the incubator!"

Ren rushed back into the back room in a storm, the papers he was sorting scattering. 

"A forgetful genius, that kid. If he was more diligent I'd have given him another two raises by now…"

Professor Jenner walked around the desk, picking up the scattered papers and putting them aside. 

"So, I called you into here because I have a request. But first… Are you planning to become a strong trainer right now?"

…This was certainly a question. I thought for a split second, but after that battle I had made up my mind. The guitar begging could be put off. 

"Of course. I'm going to find my Mom."

The professor nodded. 

"Then I want you to help me out with something. In a few weeks my daughter is going to Route One on a dangerous mission. I want you to beat your first gym and accompany her during it- It's not going to be easy, so you'll need to be very well prepared."

A chill ran up my spine. 

'This isn't the kind of thing I was thinking of… Is he dragging me into the human trafficking issues? His daughter as well? But if I'm protecting her…'

"I can't put in a request at the Help center due to the nature of the matter, but I can pay you handsomely. The rewards are…"

He pulled out a sleek red phone and a wad of pokedollars. 

"The Navgear, a staple here in Aevium, and fifty thousand pokedollars. I took the liberty to set up the Pokedex app for you, along with adding my number. I'll provide a second payment after you guys return safely, much more than this, but I hope this will help get you started."

I took the two items, putting the bulky roll of money in my pocket before turning on the phone. 

'Seems new- definitely ahead of my old Pokegear…'

I flipped through a few things before opening the pokedex.

"Why is nothing registered in the pokedex?"

"Haha, well a pokedex is primarily for research purposes, no? It's to incentivize you to scan every pokemon you meet to get the information on them. Pokemon like your shiny fennekin aren't exactly common, and we've found a few which are exceptionally rare and powerful. Ever heard of legendary pokemon?"

I thought back to when Cheren lectured me, but most of what he told me about were the basics and how most strategies were done. 

'Legendaries… Drayden did mention my parents had encountered them. Not Nancy though- He said she was out of the region at that time. Oh, and the… Well, I guess Lugia is a legendary. Not something I should know much about though.'

"Yeah. Unova had the legendary dragons, Reshiram, Zekrom, and Kyu- Cough"

I caught myself before I royally screwed up. Drayden warned me tenfold about, well, folding me ten times over if I ever talked about it outside of him and the other ex-Gym Leaders. It was classified information for good reason- it had almost destroyed the entire region before I was born. Most legendaries were that way, being too powerful to let any trainer get their hands on them. 

"Well you've gotten the basic gist of them then. It's stuff like that that spurred us researchers to commission the app, so we can have the proper understanding of the pokemon in each region."

I nodded. It made sense- phones had caught up to the once incredible tech in the pokedex, so just using an app would be enough to capture the majority of the required information. Height, coloration, sounds- you name it, and the small processors could compute it. 

'Weight would be tough though.'

"Regardless, I won't hold you any longer. I have papers to organize, and I'm sure you're itching to get out of here and start your journey in earnest."

"Thank you for all of this professor! I won't forget our agreement- I'll crush the gym leader by the end of this week!"

Tap-tap

My footsteps echoed in the mostly empty office space as I walked away to the door. 

"Hahaha! I'm sure you've got it on lock. Good luck."

Clack