18-20

Chapter 18 – Everything for Fashion

 The inside of the room was filled with paints and silk threads. Obviously spun by all the various bug types that call this gym their home. There wasn't a single spot in this atelier that was not covered by these two things. Burgh obviously favored Blues and greens the most, but he didn't hesitate to spruce things up with a dash of pink and yellow.'Burgh is probably the most famous of the major Unovan gym leaders second only to Brycen the movie star. His side gig is being a famous sketch artist and fashion designer. Burgh mostly paints forest scenes, his muse being newly born bug type Pokémon hanging from their silk cocoons.'"What if he can't help us?"'Then I will swallow my pride and give good old grandpa a call.'"Ahhh, hello there young man. What a darling ensemble you are wearing! Red is your color I can just tell. With a few more adjustments you'll be making waves for sure. I am thinking a wild look, as if you have just been roughing it out hand to hand with a throh from the forest.""Thank you for the compliment leader, Burgh. My name is Egon from Lavaridge town. I actually came here to get some advice on hatching a bug type egg that was given to me recently. This is the first egg I have been given to care for and I don't want to mess up.""Well then, I'll just have to see the little sweetling in person then, won't I? If it's a bug type egg we're talking about, you can rely on me."I placed the box on the single stool that was available inside this room before opening it and revealing its contents to Burgh."Oh my… do you know what you have here Egon?""Yes, a larvesta egg. I am having problems finding an incubator with the appropriate settings on the open market. The nice lady at Penny's told me that I should ask you for advice.""Hmm before any of that, let me take a closer look at your body.""What are you…!?"Burgh proceeded to manhandle every nook and cranny of my childlike body until he found what he was looking for on my right upper arm. The first-degree burn hadn't completely faded yet. The distinct smell of moth pheromone still dominates my body's natural scent."Here it is. If you didn't have this mark young man, I would have confiscated the egg. Seeing it on your body puts my heart at ease. It means you have been given this egg with the blessings of its mother. A rare feat for any trainer to accomplish. volcarona don't hand out their eggs to just anyone you know."Burgh proceeded to stick his nose on the mark and taking deep huffs of the lingering scent."Ahh this must be one of the most distinct smells in the world! A hint of ozone mixed with the scent of a loving mother Volcarona who must undoubtedly be at least over one hundred years old going by the richness of this aroma. You will need this mark when the egg hatches, but afterwards if you are still around and interested, I'd like to isolate this smell and turn it into my newest perfume. This mark here can help me produce as many as forty bottles! I'll call it Sun goddess' grace!"'This is the most unique individual I've ever come across.'"I like him."Victini's endorsement was all I needed to trust Burgh and proceed with my inquiry."Leader Burgh, can you give me a recommendation?""I wish that I could, for a promising young pupa such as yourself. Alas there have never been any studies done on optimal incubator settings for hatching larvesta eggs. The best I can do is point you towards the right direction to take. At the moment the league only knows of two trainers that have captured one of their line. Luckily, I have both their Xtransceiver numbers.""There's another one beside Champion Alder!?""Yes indeed, the second one is our very own master sergeant Dianne of the ranger corps. We both started the circuit at around the same age. She was my rival for a long time but now we are just good friends.""But firstly, I have to ask. What possessed a young trainer like you to have climbed the unnamed mountain that's completely removed from the routes like that? For a novice trainer like you that's risking death. The wild Pokémon living on that mountain are strong and temperamental. There's a reason the league decided to obscure that place from our maps.""Mountain…?""Oh dear, I guess it is me not making any sense this time. Let me start from the beginning. The league only knows of one place with a nesting Volcarona, but the mountain she calls her home is off route. I went there myself once together with Dianne. Sadly, the nesting mother only had a single egg to give and decided that my ex-rival was a better fit. You see Egon, a volcarona will only mate with another bug type she deems strong enough. Sadly, there aren't many bug-types capable of besting a mature volcarona especially so in the wild. The league has tried many times to find a suitable partner for her, but she has turned down all suitors until now. I suspect her previous mate that fathered the egg lost to her and has now fallen out of favor.""Doesn't champion Alder have a male Volcarona? A champion's Pokémon isn't strong enough?""The league suspects the two Pokémon to be siblings. They get along just fine, but there is no attraction there.""Hmm." 'That Volcarona must be one of Sunny's daughters that left and established her own nest.'"Based on your reaction I assume you must have found a different nesting mother while on your journey. That is excellent news! To think that there could be another nest out there. The propagation chances of this species isn't as bleak as I originally thought it to be. Let me just call Dianne and have her tell us what she did to get her egg to hatch."Burgh started scrolling the numbers list on his Xtransceiver until he finally picked the one he was looking for. The device buzzed a few times until the call got forwarded through. Burgh put the Xtransceiver on speaker so I could listen in."Burgh? Why are you calling me again after such a long time? I already told you I won't model for your new wild and free clothing brand.""Dear Dianne, it is such a wonder hearing your lovely voice after such a long time. Alas! I have called you for a greater purpose this time. A strapping young trainer has recently brought in a larvesta egg with questions on how to hatch this wonder of nature. Of course, I myself cannot help him. However, then I remembered my dear old friend who found herself in a similar situation years ago. Come introduce yourself, Egon.""Uhmm Hello Ma'am, Egon here. Just like leader Burgh said, I recently received this egg from its mother, and I was wondering how to hatch it."The woman on screen was a brunette wearing a standard issue ranger attire designed for female members to use. A skintight body suit with a vest and latch belt with all the tools one might need to survive in the wilderness."Burgh… did this kid go off route and ignore about a thousand safety precautions to get that egg? Arghh… sorry, that's my work voice speaking. Since I am on break, I will ignore this matter for now. Kid if you want to hatch that egg you will need an incubator that's capable of producing lots and lots of simulated sunlight. Temperature isn't as much of an issue, but sunlight is. The best incubators you can find for this are those developed to house the sunflora and cherrim lines. I still have my old one and can have it sent to you tomorrow. Don't worry about missing out on a few days. Pokémon eggs are hardy and can last for years, even decades until the right conditions have been met."'Sunlight huh? That explains why there were five eggs in Sunny's sanctuary. They don't get any sunlight at all. Any light down there can only be provided by her scattering ember scales.'"That would be great Ma'am, but I don't really have an address you can send the incubator to.""Don't worry about it. I'll send the incubator to Burgh's place, so he can give it to you. All I ask for in return is that if by some miracle the hatched Larvesta is a girl that you do the responsible thing and try to convince her to repopulate the species. Having more wild volcarona around would be a boon for us rangers. Their benevolence extends to all species, and they usually become the de facto leader of any place they call home. Burgh give him my number, I am available if he needs any advice on raising larvesta."The call ended after Burgh and Dianne exchanged some more pleasantries. Followed by Burgh showing me Dianne's number and for good measure he gave me his personal number as well."Now don't hesitate to call me. Especially so for the hatching, I can take a day off of work if it means I get to watch that special moment. Also…"His face suddenly turned serious. "Try to keep the news that you have been given a volcarona's egg on a need-to-know basis for a while. Baby Pokémon are very impressionable, hunters and poachers would not mind adding stealing eggs to their list of crimes. Selling an unbonded larvesta egg would set them up for life.""Thank you, sir! I'll see you tomorrow.""Tomorrow? I don't think the package will arrive by then. Dianne lives all the way over at victory road.""I am up for my second gym badge at your gym. The match was scheduled two weeks ago.""What a pleasant surprise! That I'd be the one that gets to judge your skills as a trainer. Win or lose I'll teach you all about caring for newly hatched bug types." "Is it going to be, okay?""It's fine, this is a 2nd level badge fight against a bug type gym. Within a few blasts it'll be over.""The receptionist said it'll be a three-on-three fight. Do you need me to?""No! I am not resorting to that. You still haven't figured out what you want to do in life. Honestly, I'd be fine with you just hanging out with us. It's been a delight so far."We are currently residing at the Pokémon center. Victini was still concerned by the fact that the battle is going to be a three versus three fight. I wasn't concerned, our major weakness being water types and there not being any bug and water types native to Unova made me pretty confident in our chances to win regardless of being at a numerical disadvantage. Aurea finally caught up with us and was currently giving our egg another look over, stumped by its mystery."Can you please tell me what's inside Egon? I quizzed this encyclopedia on eggs and it's not in there.""You're smart, you can figure it out. We are dealing with our own problems over here.""Judging by your wordings I am imagining that Victini is concerned for you having only two Pokémon capable of battling? I have to say she is right to worry. Gym leaders aren't pushovers Egon. Even with a type advantage Burgh might surprise you.""I'll deal with it. My team has been prepping for another gym battle for over three weeks now. We'll kick their carapaced behinds, piece of cake."'Should I have stuck around longer to catch a Darmanitan?' I am not in such dire financial straits as I used to be. I am by no means wealthy, but I was not in any danger of not being able to afford the basic necessities. The professor's generous donation gave me breathing room and some time to think. I did not want to run the risk of my egg being discovered by the people in charge of the camp that morning. Sunny entrusted her child to me that outweighed the concern of missing a team member to take on Burgh.This being a second level badge fight did mean that Burgh had more freedom to use diverse tactics. I was expecting to see him make liberal use of status moves and the occasional entry hazard. Bug types generally being frailer than most other types meant that trainers that specializing in them tended to use tricky tactics to trip up their opponents. Ultimately, I came to the conclusion that it would behoove us to watch some of Burgh's second level gym battles as preparation. The Castelia gym has a website dedicated to reviewing the gym's past matches. This was mostly so sponsors could watch out for promising trainers to keep their attention on. However, it could also be used by trainers looking to prepare themselves for their upcoming gym battle. The gym charged a small sum for each watched video though this being part of a gym's mainstream income. The Lavaridge gym did something similar. Mr. Moore being the old fossil that he is rented out battle tapes at the gym's desk."Okay gang! I've decided to have us watch some of Burgh's battles on video. Let us make haste to reserve one of the center's computers.""Vuuuul!""Num num!" We watched three videos that evening in preparation for our upcoming gym battle. As expected, burgh favored the use of guerilla tactics in his gym matches. His team for second level badge battles consisted of a shelmet and a dwebble while his third choice was usually preserved to throw his opponent for a loop. We had seen him use a venipede, joltik or even a whirlipede. The latter one on that list he saved for trainers like me who have already been training their team for some time."Okay so we'll lead with you Rena. You are fast enough to dodge those acid sprays from the Shelmet. When he switches in for his Dwebble I'll recall you for Numsy. He can tough it out against those rock blasts. His final Pokémon will likely be his Whirlipede. The most important thing for us is to disrupt its use of rollout. Once that Whirlipede gets going it will be very difficult to hinder its use of the move. Numsy, we'll use smokescreen and mud bombs to obscure Whirlipede's vision. Going at high speeds using rollout while having obscured vision will likely result in the Whirlipede missing us and slamming against the wall.""Vuuuul.""Okay you guys let's go out for dinner. Since Numsy didn't enjoy the frozen desserts last time he gets to pick out our dinner place.""Num num!""That spicy ratatouille from last time?""Num!"I don't know if they have Kalosian restaurants in Castelia city, but it doesn't hurt to look around. I proceeded to look it up on the pokénet. In fact, Castelia did have a number of fancy Kalosian restaurants, but once I got a look at their menu's I was forced to bow down to the fiscal reality of our situation. Going there once would drain my wallet of all it's hard-earned cash. Striaton's gym menu was designed for penniless trainers on the go quite unlike the restaurants of a big city. I proceeded to be more selective on our outing place."How about this Galarian curry place? They say it's the best around the block.""Num num?"Yes, it'll be just as good as any of those fancy places, and they let you decide your own mix of berries that they will put inside the curry. You can make it as spicy as you like."Num!"We made our way out of the Pokémon center and into the neighboring streets. The restaurant I was looking for was just two blocks away, easily within walking distance. I had my whole team out with me. There was a ruling for not having more than one Pokémon out at the same time to prevent overcrowding, but the streets were pretty tame on traffic tonight so no one should mind."Here it is. The Slowpoke Shack. Arceus, I hope they don't serve real actual slowpoke tail here."We made our way inside and it was exactly how I imagined a Galarian restaurant would look like. There was this massive pub table with several high-rise stools lined up alongside it. Behind the bar hanging on the wall was this large flat screen tv or a telly as the Galarians would call it. The bar was probably experiencing a slow day since there were only around six people inside and all of them nursing an alcoholic beverage."Welcome to the slowpoke shack! Table for three?"The barmaid gestured towards me and my Pokémon. Before leading us to sit at a window side table."Can I get you started on anything?""Yes, I'd like some fresh water and give us three cartons of berry juice. Sweet, Dry and Sour. Also, could we get an extra cushion for the egg? You see our incubator hasn't arrived yet and I don't want to let it out of our sight.""Coming right up! We'll bring an extra cushion for you right away."Rena and Numsy took their seats at the table. Pokémon of their size got the booster seat treatment. Sadly, small restaurants like this gave no options for larger Pokémon to eat together with their trainers. Any Pokémon larger than a human needed to go to eateries that specialized in catering to big, bodied eaters. Numsy would start experiencing this problem once he evolved. Victini sat at the table invisibly, using the paper place mats as a makeshift cushion. I tried making small talk with the bartender while we waited."So, the name. Does the owner have a slowpoke or something?""That'd be me, the name's Harry. Yes, we do have a slowpoke. He's the mascot of this restaurant."The gentleman pointed at the west most corner of the restaurant where the dopy Pokémon was sleeping inside a pillow stuffed basket. This slowpoke seems to be of the Galarian variety having yellow markers on the top of its head and tail."Yep, old Scruffer's is essential to the atmosphere of this place. He is one of the few things I kept with me when I married my Unovan wife and we moved back to her home city of Castelia. Judging by the friends you keep with you, you must be from outside the region as well.""Yep, the name's Egon. I am Hoenn born and raised. Go Combuskens!""The Combuskens? The Combuskens are terrible not once have they qualified for nationals.""Sorry, still have to back my home team.""As we all do, my wife tried getting me into what the Unovans here call football, but I just can't see the appeal of a sport where men cause each other concussions on the regular. Well there is at least one pastime that we all enjoy."The man gestured towards the screen where a Galarian gym battle was being displayed. The challenger seemed to be around ten years old like me. Doing reasonably well against his opponents Gossifleur with his Charmeleon."That kid Leon is looking decent. He might be one of the few who makes it to the championship tournament."'So that is Leon huh? Nice Charmeleon.'The Galar league had a completely different structure than the regular circuits from foreign regions. Only a handful of hopefuls each year were selected to join the circuit run. Basically, you needed to have a high-ranking league official or gym leader in your corner before you were allowed to participate. Typically, this meant family members or friends got in quicker in comparison to no-names who first needed to prove themselves capable of going all the way. When trainers lost once during a gym match their run was over which reflected poorly on the official who sponsored them. That system ensured that every match was worth watching since the novice trainers tended to be students of big shot trainers. Naturally, I had an innate disdain to this form of nepotism even though it did produce results. Their television ratings were always sky high making their league more commercialized than those in other regions."Sir, if I was a betting man, I would put all my money on Leon making it to and winning the Champion's cup. In fact, I'd even bet that he will never lose a single battle.""Really? And what makes you so sure that a no name kid can win against heavy hitters like Raihan and Sonia? They both come from trainer families. Sonia's grandmother is the region's professor ensuring that she has her pick of strong Pokémon to train.""Don't tell others that you got it from me, but my sources tell me that Leon was trained personally by the former champion Mustard."Champion Mustard sported a strong reputation, even abroad, being the champion who held onto his title the longest. The decision to retire only came after losing his first partner Pokémon due to old age."So, he is Mustard's disciple, eh? I'd see why you'd want to make that bet."The waitress came back with our drinks and plated our table before taking our orders back to the kitchen. I just ordered the cheapest curry they had, while the rest of my team received curry's that suited their taste palettes. Personally, I would never eat a sweet tasting curry and half expected Victini to throw up after her first bite."I saw you ordering four meals when's your third friend coming?""She's already here. My Kecleon is very shy and remains invisible most of the time even when eating. She doesn't do well in public spaces."I came up with the Kecleon excuse in case we wanted to dine in public places. Your standard Unovans wouldn't know the difference between true invisibility and the camouflage Kecleon are famed for."A Kecleon huh? That's certainly not a Pokémon you can find around these parts. You are a traveling trainer then?""Yessir! I am going to win my second badge from Burgh tomorrow; he won't know what hit him!""Well, you are certainly hotblooded enough to make a lasting impression on Burgh. Especially so with all these fire types."It was at that moment a certain brunette walked into the bar. Aurea having successfully tracked us down gave me a stare as if condemning me for not constantly updating her on my whereabouts. She nabbed an extra chair and took her seat nearest to the egg."Egon, have you already rented an incubator for the egg?""Yes, it's being sent out to me. Also please stop asking questions about the egg. I want to keep it a surprise. You'll find out when it hatches."In a rare moment of clarity, she acceded to my argument and ordered some curry of her own. While I was being distracted by the battle on screen. The curry soon arrived and after giving it a taste I was surprised by the flavor of this Galarian delicacy. The flavors were well balanced and slightly spicy, but not overwhelmingly so.'I was expecting their basic curry to be just plain rice, coconut milk and spices but what is this texture? It reminds me of something I haven't had in a long time.'And then it dawned on me what I was eating. I kept my cool and started asking the owner a few pointed questions."Uhmm… this curry could there possibly be meat inside?""Yes, we put slowpoke tail in all our curries. Now I know that you foreigners have this weird hangup about eating meat, but don't get your britches in a twist. Galarian slowpoke tails fall off naturally. Of course, my partner's tail wouldn't be enough to feed all my customers, so we order in. All ethically sourced none of these tails have been cut."Aurea chose this moment to chime in."It's true Egon, Galarian slowpoke tails fall off naturally. It takes multiple weeks for the tail to grow back though so the demand is always higher than the supply."I looked at my Pokémon. Rena was eating without qualms while Numsy had already finished his plate and was slowly falling into a food induced coma. Victini was still slowly savoring her meal. I put my spoon back into the curry and took another bite."…Not bad." The next morning my team was well rested and fed, ready to get that second gym badge. Aurea decided to come with us and watch our gym battle from the stands. Most gyms sold entry tickets for the higher profile seven and eight badge matches. Lower ranked matches like mine didn't have that restriction the public was free to sit in as long as there was enough space left.I brought my egg with me and asked Aurea to egg-sit for me during the match. Leaving the egg without supervision at any point seemed like a fool's gambit to me. We walked past the revolving gym doors and entered. On first glance I could spot the figure of Burgh already waiting for me in the lobby."Egon, how wondrous that you could make it! And I see you have brought the stunning Aurea Juniper with you. You know Aurea that offer to work together on my spring collection still stands. In fact, I'd be delighted to have you model for my entire deerling seasonal storm clothing line.""It's nice to see you too Burgh, but regarding your invitation sorry I have other aspirations.""Shot down again! No matter, I will have to make do with my other muses. Speaking of muses, Egon the package has just arrived this morning. My dear Dianne has paid extra for overnight teleportation services. We can put that little wonder of nature right inside the incubator."Aurea gave me a glare."You told Burgh what's inside the egg and not me!?""I needed his expertise for hatching the egg! Besides you know who likes him so he's gotta be on the level."Burgh interceded into our conversation."Well then, I must thank this mysterious stranger for his or her glowing recommendation. Now let us depart for my atelier. I kept the incubator on my desk."Burgh guided us into his workroom where the incubator was standing on his desk. Unlike other incubators this one's headpiece was decorated with LED lights. Dianne also generously provided a poké ball to catch the Larvesta in once it was hatched. The ball in question was one of those Devon net balls which had increased effectiveness when used to capture bug and water types. Not that I needed it, but it was a nice gesture, nonetheless. The ball also doubled as a head ornament for the incubator."Okay, Egon put the egg inside. This incubator is triple isolated and has reflective strips at the bottom, see? So, it gets hit with sunlight from up top and down below."I did as Burgh instructed while he was messing with the incubator settings. Eventually he got the thing working, the lights inside went on and the surface temperature of the incubator got nice and toasty."This will do it. It took my dear Dianne around three weeks to hatch her egg after she figured out what to do about the incubator. Come now let us have our match. The beautiful Aurea Juniper can look after the egg while we will have our exciting battle!"Burgh went straight for the room housing his battlefield. The field itself was a standard variety battlefield with no fancy whistles or gadgets, the area surrounding it was decidedly not so. Large trees surrounded us while we walked across the pseudo-forested area."Isn't this astounding? This is our home away from home. My bug types feel most comfortable up and around large trees, so I modeled this room to resemble pinwheel forest very closely."The gym's referee was already waiting for us to begin the match. So, me and Burgh took our positions on the battlefield while Aurea secured herself a good viewing spot from the rafters. Beside her there were two local members of the bug catching scouts there to cheer Burgh on.For our first battle today in the Castelia gym it's Egon from Lavaridge facing off against Burgh the gym leader. Only three Pokémon each, the challenger may substitute his Pokémon twice while the gym leader may not. The match is over if both the leader and/or the challenger's Pokémon are unable to battle.""Let the match begin!""As the gym leader I'll show you my choice of Pokémon first. Go Shelmet!"'Just as expected.'"Go Rena!"

Chapter 19 – Skittering Showdown "Okay Rena just like we discussed; watch out for its acid attacks, if you can dodge that and keep your distance we should be golden." I pulled out my Pokédex to see if the gadget had anything more to add. Shelmet, the Snail Pokémon. Shelmet can spit a sticky poisonous acid when attacking, and it can defend itself by closing its shell. It has a strange physiology that responds to electricity. When together with Karrablast, Shelmet evolves for some reason. "Acid!" "Sunny day!" Luckily me and Rena already walked through this scenario before entering this battle. Knowing that Shelmet had little mobility and mainly relied on its spit attacks. If Rena kept her guard up and didn't engage in close quarters action the odds of her getting hit would be minimal. Shelmet expelled its acid attack, rancid orange goo flew in a straight line towards Rena. Missing her by a hair's breadth, thanks to her expert dodging. Rena took this chance to intensify the sunlight coming in from the glass ceiling up above us. The battlefield became nice and toasty. "Fire spin!" "Protect!" Burgh didn't even bother having Shelmet dodge any of our attacks. The snail Pokémon being as slow as its epithet would suggest. Instead opting to use defensive strategies to protect his Pokémon. The torrent of flame hit Shelmet dead on, but the flames were blocked by a crystalized energy shield that surrounded the bug type. The fire cleared and shelmet came out unharmed by Rena's attack. "Disable!" "Struggle bug!" Rena being the faster Pokémon managed to hit Shelmet first temporarily making the Pokémon forget how to use its last move. This was part of our strategy making Shelmet unable to hide behind this defensive move. Shelmet proceeded to release a red wave of energy that hit all corners of the battlefield. Struggle bug is one of the weaker bug type moves, its after effect limiting the opposing Pokémon's use of typed energy outside the body. Rena did get hit by the attack, but casually brushed it off."Now finish it with Incinerate!"Empowered by the sun Rena fired off this fire type move in a beam towards Shelmet's position. The staunch Pokémon finally panicked after realizing that hiding behind a protective move was no longer an option. A loud bang followed, when the smoke cleared the charred Shelmet was lying unconscious on the battlefield."Shelmet is unable to battle the winner is Vulpix!"Burgh returned his Shelmet before addressing us."That was a great use of disable there Egon, but I wonder how you will fare against my next Pokémon? I choose you Joltik!" His next Pokémon appeared in a flash. The tiny spiderlike Pokémon entered the battlefield.Joltik, the Attaching Pokémon. This Pokémon clings to larger Pokémon, and absorbs static electricity, storing the energy in a special pouch. Joltik that live in cities have learned a technique for sucking electricity from the outlets in houses. Anticipating this move I returned Rena for a more favorable matchup."Return!"My fox dematerialized and in return I called forth my other competitor."Go Numsy!"My little camel friend appeared in a flash of light ready to show Burgh what for. Burgh on seeing my switch in started wearing a contemplating expression.The gym leader's restriction of not being able to switch out Pokémon really hampered the amount of counter strategy he could bear against me. Unless this particular Joltik was trained in the use of an effective hidden power the most it could do was keep dodging attacks until we eventually got a hit in, and at that size a single hit was all it would take. During higher level gym battles this wouldn't be much of an issue. Pokémon at that level of experience had a wide arrange of moves and strategies they could employ, even while at a disadvantage. Burgh knew all this but despite that fact he didn't give up on winning this battle. "Agility!""Bulldoze mess up the field!"The tiny Pokémon increased its speed tremendously zigzagging and jumping around the battlefield like some sort of spider acrobat. That didn't matter much to us though as long as official battles are conducted within the confined space of the battlefield. The maximum allowed size of a league approved battlefield hinders the most common forms of dodge tactics. Joltik would have a hard time escaping from tremors, unless it has also learned how to fly.The battlefield shook, putting a quick halt to Joltik's speedy movements. I imagine this much force had the potential to jumble up the insides of a regular human. Joltik being a Pokémon would be a bit hardier than that, but at that size it mattered little. After Numsy was done with bulldozing the field Burgh's Joltik was left reeling on the floor making a perfect stationary target. At this point doing anymore significant damage seemed cruel, so I opted for the less optimal approach."Ember half power!"Burgh never got the opportunity to counterattack, quickly recalled his Pokémon before it got hurt unnecessarily before addressing me."The gym leader has chosen to withdraw his Pokémon. This counts as a loss according to the gym's charter. The leader Burgh has only a single Pokémon remaining!""Egon your team clearly exceeds the level of experience I have come to expect from any second badge challenger. Allow me to pose to you a real test of your battling skills, with this last Pokémon of mine. Go Scolipede!"A giant centipede like Pokémon appeared on the battlefield.'A Scolipede! This completely changes everything.' Although bug type Pokémon were one of the fastest species to evolve into their next forms, I was pretty sure scolipedes only start appearing at fifth level badge fights or higher.Scolipede, the Megapede Pokémon. Scolipede catches its opponents with great speed and attacks using horns on its head. Scolipede is highly aggressive and will not give up until victorious. It clasps its prey with the claws on its neck until it stops moving. Then it finishes it off with deadly poison. 'An experienced scolipede could destroy my team. Here's to hoping this one has only just recently evolved.'"Numsy strategy 3!""Venoshock."Numsy led off with enveloping his side of the field with a smokescreen. While Scolipede fired off a glob of poison inside the cloud of smoke. Sneakily digging himself deep into the battlefield Numsy waited for my subtle tap to emerge from his hiding spot underground. Strategy three is our go to if we are certain the opposing Pokémon's strength is greater than ours.When the smoke cleared an open tunnel leading deep into the battleground was clear for Burgh to see."Interesting strategy Egon. It gladdens me that you can do more than simply overpowering your opponents, but we won't be beaten so easily! Use protect once you feel it coming up from beneath you, Scolipede!"'That's to be expected from a third stage Pokémon. Its move pool must be considerable. We won't be beaten so easily though.' I tap the ground 3 times to signal a change of plans.A white colored gas started emanating from the hole Numsy left behind which was followed by Numsy breaking free from underneath Scolipede in a torrent of white gas. This was our adapted strategy. Numsy, being immune to its own sleeping gas, can use Yawn to fill the tunnel he dug beneath, giving our opponent a sleep-inducing surprise on his exit from the ground.Scolipede followed its trainer's instructions, and a prismatic shield covered its entire body blocking the gas from affecting the megapede Pokémon. However, it couldn't let up its shield in fear of inhaling some of the gas giving us the freedom to create some distance. 'Protect is such an amazing move I should really invest into getting a TM for it.'"Lava plume!""Take down!""Scooool!""Num!"Scolipede started charging towards us with a considerable amount of speed. Take down was one of the few moves a scolipede at this level could utilize, which my Numsy couldn't resist. Me recklessly commanding Numsy to counterattack knowing he would take this hit head on was part of my calculations. The effect of sunny day was almost over and getting one last fire type attack in, while under its influence, was worth it; knowing Burgh's Scolipede couldn't attack and use protect at the same time.Numsy unleashed the scarlet flames that blanketed the field around it. As Scolipede's hit connected, both Pokémon took a considerable amount of damage in the progress. Numsy got hit so hard he flew off all the way back into the corner of the field. While Scolipede received a fiery shower during the close quarters' engagement with Numsy, while he executed his fire type move."Nuumm…"Numsy stood back up with much effort. The little camel Pokemon was on his last legs, one more hit like that and he'd be knocked out. On the other side of the field Scolipede was having the same problem. The bug type's exoskeleton was scorched black by taking a direct hit from Numsy's lava plume."Poison sting!""Incinerate!"Scolipede fired off a series of toxic barbs faster than Numsy could retaliate. The small barbs struck the side of his face injecting trace amounts of poison into Numsy's system. Somehow Numsy endured the hit without fainting and fired a single ball of fire towards Burgh's Scolipede before falling unconscious. Scolipede took that fireball head on and collapsed on the floor similarly knocked out by the last-ditch effort of its opponent."Both the challenger's Pokémon and the gym leader's Pokémon are unable to battle! The challenger still has two Pokémon remaining, while the gym leader has no Pokémon left! The Challenger wins!"'Ughh that was close! I am pretty sure I would've lost that fight if I didn't have the double typing advantage.'"The challenger may now step forward to receive his gym badge!"Burgh and I walked up to the middle of the wrecked battlefield to get the winner proceedings over with. My hopes of receiving a technical machine are pretty abysmal seeing as I fought with a type advantage throughout the match. Not that my Pokémon could use bug type moves to begin with."Egon for managing to defeat me I award you the Insect badge. For the feat of besting one of my more experienced Pokémon you may also choose a technical machine from the gym's storage.""Thank you for the badge, but uhm do I really deserve to receive a technical machine? I kept using my Pokémon's natural advantage against you.""If it was just that than yes, I would not have allowed you to pick out a technical machine. However, this is the first time I've seen a Pokémon use yawn in such a unique way. That darling Numel showed us his determination, which is most worthy of extra remuneration.""Thank you very much leader Burgh. We'll do our best to make your investment worth it."Burgh led us through a side door adjacent to the room we were currently in. Rows of shelves lined the walls of this room with all sorts of items useful for Pokémon training. Vitamin supplements, cases full of honey and of course lots of technical machines."These are the technical machines our gym has on offer for promising challengers. Take your time to choose, there are no wrong choices."'X-scissor skip, infestation skip, leech life maybe, megahorn if I ever get to catching a ponyta, pin missile skip, bug buzz skip, pollen puff skip,'Burgh had a fine collection of bug type technical machines sadly most of them were unusable for my current team. 'The little one inside the egg could probably use a few of these in the far future.'It took a while but finally I narrowed down my options. I would either pick silver wind or U-turn. If I picked silver wind it would mostly be for the money. This technical machine has recently been discontinued and if I kept it on me for long enough the resell value would probably go through the roof. As it currently stands it was only worth around 5000 P. U-turn is a move that a handful of the speedier fire types can learn. It messes with the return function of the poké ball and lets the Pokémon forcibly recall itself after dealing damage. In official matches this would be considered a legal move."I've decided can I get a copy of silver wind please?""A fine choice. There are only a handful of this variety of technical machines on the open market. Such a shame that only winged bug types can learn this move. If the Larvesta inside this egg ever evolves you can make good use of this technical machine for sure.""Aha!"The stalker that had been following us towards the storage room while still holding the egg. Had been listening in on our conversation from a discreet distance. Now that the cat is out of the bag, she declared her victory triumphantly."I knew there was something special inside this egg. Now tell me how you found this baby while wandering the desert resort?"I took a peek at Burgh who seemed just as eager to find out the truth of this matter. Not reprimanding Aurea at all for her intrusive line of questioning."Not telling. However, the Volcarona who gave me this egg did request to see her offspring from time to time. The next time I visit her you and Burgh can come along, if you stop nagging me."That bribe offer seemingly calmed her down. It had the opposite effect on Burgh the gym leader who almost danced in exuberance."A most gracious offer Egon! I accept of course. Please let me know a week in advance so I can take time off from my gym duties. This will really help me find my next source of inspiration. Do you think the nesting Volcarona would mind modeling for my next work of art?""I guess? She seemed really down to earth for an ancient Pokémon. It's too bad I caught her during a hibernation period. She went right back to sleep after gifting me the egg.""Now if you don't mind, we have to make a trip towards the Pokémon center. Numsy's due for a checkup after how hard he fought."  Following my gym battle I went to the Pokémon center to get Numsy in for treatment. After my successful gym battle the plan was to head back out to the desert resort with Aurea, catch a new partner and then head towards Nimbasa city. My eventual goal was to catch a flight back to Hoenn at the Mistralton airport. Victini noticed the planning session going on inside my head."What is Hoenn like?""The climate is more tropical. There's a lot of interesting sights to see, most of the region is below sea level so there are a lot of water routes. The place where I live is nice and toasty though. There's a good amount of volcanic activity in Lavaridge. It's a great spot for meeting fire type Pokémon in the region.""…can I meet some of your friends?""Of course! Flannery is going to love you and the gym Pokémon are all good friends of mine."We decided to start playing cards in the center's dorm room, while Aurea was busy taking care of our transportation. Victini has a penchant for playing games and I liked to indulge her from time to time. Currently I am teaching her the intricacies of playing poker. Her instincts were spot on, and she quickly got a handle for the new game. However, her poker face was terrible. I folded every time she sported a triumphant facial expression.It was at that moment that I received my very first call on my Xtransceiver. The screen flashed green to let me know I had a call incoming. I put the watch on vibrate for the off chance I was trekking it in the wilderness. Some Pokémon don't react well to sudden noises. Hitting the accept button a familiar face appeared on screen."Heya Egon!""Hello Phoebe, how's traveling in the Unova region? Did you already make it to Driftveil City?""I am already at the celestial tower dummy!""That fast!?""Of course! I just rented a psychic type Pokémon inside Nimbasa to bring me all the way."'Ughh rich people.'"So, how's the tower? Did you meet any Pokémon that struck your fancy?""So many Egon! All these cute litwick are looking for a new home. It's so sad that I only get to bring one of them with me! Not only are the ghost types amazing, the people that take care of this place are as well. Did you know they even give lessons to budding psychics inside the tower? I don't have the gift, but all people are free to observe their beginner courses.""Aren't humans born with those abilities like super rare?""Yep! They only have five students at the moment. They use the tower as a practice ground because of the natural 'silence' it emanates. The hustle and bustle of populated places give psychics headaches. You should totally come visit too Egon! The caretakers of this place are letting me crash for as long as I want.""Friends of your grandparents?""No, but people practicing our craft look out for each other. The lady in charge here has the sweetest Golurk. It picks me up and fares me to any floor I want to visit inside the tower."Phoebe went on a rave about how amazing the celestial tower is. For close to half an hour. Finally, when she was done, a promise was forcefully extracted from me to come visit as soon as possible. Phoebe was planning on staying there for as long as her visa would allow her to stay in the region which was two weeks since her job with the expedition was already concluded. We finished saying our goodbyes, when Aurea came walking in to inform me that she was ready to return to the desert resort.I picked up Numsy and Rena from the nurse Joy stationed behind the Pokémon center's desk and together we were driven back to the expedition camp that was stationed right outside the relic castle for one final time.  We were on the latter half of our journey towards the expedition camp. With nothing to do except watch the scenery Aurea began quizzing me about my plans."Are you sure about this Egon? Lenora might still be at the campsite.""Yes, I have wasted enough time. I'll give catching one of the darmanitan a shot and we will leave for Nimbasa city straight afterwards. I still have a few more Unovan fire types that are available for me to partner up with if this doesn't work out.""Hmmm native fire types, that is going to be difficult.""How so?""The tepig and pansear lines are exceedingly rare to find in the wild. Most trainers have to pay a specialized breeder to acquire them. Pansear of course being the cheaper option of the two. Then you have heatmor which are a very aggressive species. You can find them in the tunnels and their dietary requirements make most trainers a bit squeamish."I pulled out my Pokédex to look up known locations where this species has been sighted.Heatmor, the Anteater Pokémon. Possessing a fire that burns internally, Heatmor breathes through a hole in its tail. A flame serves as its tongue, melting through the hard shell of Durant so that Heatmor can devour their insides.Known locations: twist mountain, victory road. 'I am guessing it can't eat solid foods. Being a species of Pokémon that live underground. These Pokémon must subsist mainly on a carnivorous diet. It'll be hard to train them out of that predatory mindset.' Aurea went on with her summation."Of course, you can always try catching a litwick. Their dietary requirements are even stranger than that of heatmor. Having to subsist on life energy."Litwick, the Candle Pokémon. Litwick appear to be helping to guide the way of people by illuminating areas that are darkened, but in reality they are actually leading them to the Ghost World. They feed off the life energy of people and Pokémon, and use it as fuel for the flames on their heads. This Pokémon is known to haunt dilapidated mansions.'Arceus! This is the Pokémon Phoebe wants to catch? She must be feeling extra crazy. Unless she has some way of providing them with sustenance without turning into a dried-up husk.'"Aurea doesn't that need for life energy become problematic for the health of the trainer at some point?""Wild litwick that live in seclusion are dangerous, yes, because they never know how long it will take to wait for their next feeding opportunity. Trainers that train this species of Pokémon can comfortably provide enough life energy for a singular individual to feed on. As long as the Pokémon knows how to properly portion its meals. The trainer does have to make sure to eat plenty of food and get enough sleep in. Especially since he or she is providing energy not just for themselves anymore. The trainer can also choose to share this burden with his other Pokémon partners making the life drainage completely negligible.""And what is this bit about a ghost world?""That specific entry has been written based on interviews from trainers that managed to escape after being tricked into following a group of wild litwick into their lair. Egon if you do intend to catch one of these Pokémon, I recommend visiting the celestial tower. The litwick that live there are not as feral. They interact with humans a lot more and are being managed by experienced mediums.""Well… I promised Phoebe to visit her at the celestial tower. I guess I can look for a reasonably minded litwick while I am there."Aurea beamed at me obviously satisfied that I picked the safer of the two options. This did mean that my stay in Unova will be extended for a while since twist mountain is a tad closer than the celestial tower. I was relatively disappointed at losing the opportunity to go spelunking underneath twist mountain. Finding hidden buried treasures is a man's romance after all. 'Guess I'll have to wait until returning to Hoenn before I can go caving.'  We arrived at the camp site in the afternoon. It was quiet, since the sun was at its zenith, most members of the expedition were either inside the ruins or were cooling off in their tents. The perfect conditions for me to make my move. Aurea, already knowing what I was planning to do, procured a video camera to film the process of the darmanitan waking up from its long slumber. Which according to her would be of significant scientific interest.Now there were a good dozen or so darmanitan to choose from. Invariably I decided to pick the largest one to add to my team. Who stood at about five ft tall, I figured a bigger darmanitan would make for a better fighter having the advantage of a longer reach and more mass behind each of its blows. In a Pokémon battles experience is king, but adding these small advantages wouldn't hurt my chances of future success.I decided to leave Numsy out of his ball in case this darmanitan was as confused as the previous one that had awakened."Okay, here goes. At any sign of an impending tantrum blast it with your yawn.""Num num!"I unwrapped my final ragecandybar and stuck it in between the petrified Darmanitan's mouth cavity. Like before nothing happened straight away until we heard chewing noises emanate from the blue colored gorilla-like Pokémon. It's blue petrified skin went from purple all the way to deep red. It's dormant eyebrows flared up and its arms extended outwards until finally the Darmanitan returned to its original form.To its credit this one kept its cool for longer than the previous one."Dar!?""Easy there buddy, you've been asleep for quite some time now. The world has changed greatly over the years. Do you want some treats?""ANITAN! DAR DAR!""Let's go with the plan Numsy!"Numsy released its sleep gas in the face of the confused Darmanitan. Sadly, gas like this doesn't take effect immediately and Darmanitan retaliated with a fire punch squarely hitting Numsy in the face. Although the typed energy empowering Darmanitan's thrust shouldn't hurt Numsy, the physical force behind it did. Numsy flew all the way backwards where I managed to catch him inside my arms before he had the chance of falling onto the ground."You okay bud?""Num…"Judging by Darmanitan's face, drowsiness was beginning to set in. Just one more round of exchanges should be able to knock him into slumberland."Okay Numsy, he's almost out, we just need to hit him with one more move. Do you think you are up for it?""Num… Num!""That's the spirit! Let's hit Darmanitan with everything we've got!"Numsy jumped out of my arms in order to hit Darmanitan with a super effective move. The Darmanitan who was stuck between being sleepy and upset gave no quarter. Its body became surrounded in red-orange fire, and it charged at the both of us. Naturally I recognized the move for what It was having seen the use of it on numerous occasions."Hold steady Numsy, that's a flare blitz coming our way!"However, before I could order Numsy to counter that maneuver Darmanitan stopped mid charge. The big guy looked at us dumbly before falling on the ground, face first clearly dead tired."We did it Numsy! Who's a good boy?""Num num!"I fished out an unused poké ball from my backpack and threw it at the downed Darmanitan. The Pokémon being sucked inside after the ball collided with its forehead. The ball wiggled something fierce, but after the fourth nerve wrecking struggle my ears registered the all too familiar click of a successful capture. I stepped forward and picked up the ball laying on the desert sands."We did it! I captured a darmanitan!""Num num num!""Excellent posing, Numsy, completely contest worthy."Aurea, being done with recording the encounter, walked up to me and Numsy and started addressing us more seriously."How are you planning to help this Darmanitan adjust to this now unfamiliar world? The darmanitan that Lenora caught has been sent off to a Pokémon therapist. It kept demanding to be brought back so it could continue its guarding duty.""I was planning to make friends with it. My team are experts when it comes to befriending others. Don't worry we'll take good care of our newest companion."'Tini, with your support I am sure that we can help Darmanitan adapt to this new world.'Chapter 20 – Old Veteran The following morning the uproar, inside the camp, had calmed down somewhat. Professor Hawes and his wife heard about the little skiff with my newly acquired Darmanitan. Hawes gave me an earful about camp safety procedures, apparently the expedition crew brought along a lot of sensitive equipment, so it wasn't appreciated that I commenced a Pokémon battle in the middle of the campsite. Lenora displayed some type of resigned indignation scolding me for my second attempt at catching one of the Darmanitan, but not making any moves to deprive me of my latest catch. Perhaps me defeating Burgh assuaged some of her doubts on my worth as a trainer in her eyes.Victini spent her time mentally communicating with Darmanitan. I requested her help in this matter since I didn't want to get mauled before I could get a word in edgewise. She was supportive in aiding our newest friend by relieving some of his distress, after waking up in an unfamiliar world. She let me know that it was a slow-going process since Darmanitan was vigilant against Victini's mind probing. So far, she's figured out that he used to be a guard Pokémon who worked for the royals that lived inside the castle. Darmanitan's primary duty was to guard against thieves and bandits who were looking to plunder riches and screen for potential ne'er-do-wells entering restricted corridors.This would be my first time releasing Darmanitan from the confines of its poké ball. Yesterday evening the Pokémon was too tuckered out, after its rampage, to wake up from his slumber and have dinner with us. My Pokémon were a bit anxious to meet their new teammate. It isn't only the chemistry between Pokémon and trainer that is important, but also how Pokémon on the same team interacted with one another. Typically, the strongest Pokémon formed the top of a team's hierarchy becoming the de facto leader while the trainer wasn't around. In my team that wasn't really the case since Rena and Numsy are both at around the same level of strength and Victini's childlike personality and insecurity meshed well with the both of them naturally leading to a sort of pseudo mentors/mentee relationship. Darmanitan's presence in the team could throw a spanner into this safe learning environment. Therefore, I spent most of the previous day's evening coaxing my team into giving Darmanitan a fair chance to win their trust.Darmanitan's dietary requirements are well known, but for this occasion I decided to spoil the entire team with a selection of berries instead of just mixing them into the dried stuff. We had plenty of reasons to celebrate after all. The addition of a new team member doesn't happen every day, I wasn't one of those trainers that followed the gotta catch 'em all mantra. The amount of time and care each Pokémon took up wasn't negligible. Only rich trainers and gym leaders could afford to feed and care for more than your standard team size worth of Pokémon. Not to mention the amount of individual attention each of them required. Gym leaders could afford to be a bit negligent of each individual's personal needs since they had staff on hand to do that for them."Come on out, Darmanitan!"My newest Pokémon partner appeared in a flash of light. The first thing he did was create distance between us while holding up his hands aggressively. Darmanitan surveyed his surroundings, his eyes resting on the bowl of food that I prepared for him. The rest of my team greeted the confused Pokémon."Num num!""Vuuuuul!""Vi Vi!"Their enthusiastic greetings eased Darmanitan's aggressive stance somewhat. The Pokémon sniffing the bowl of food presented to him with some apprehension."It's okay pal, those are freshly preserved berries. I didn't know what kinds you like, so there's a bit of everything in there. Take your time eating, it must have been a long while since you've had anything to fill your stomach with."Darmanitan scrutinized me before looking back at his bowl. After some time, he hesitantly grabbed one of the cheri berries and gave it a cautionary sniff before plopping the berry in his mouth. The expression on his face shifted from a serious one to one with a smidge of satisfaction."That's right, fill your stomach first. Then we can discuss what you want to do now that you are awake and capable of movement."I took this opportunity to scan him with the Pokédex.Darmanitan, the Blazing Pokémon, and the evolved form of Darumaka. A Fire type. It has an internal temperature of 2,500 degrees, which gives it enough power to break a dump truck apart. Warning! Thanks to recent new discoveries this entry is incomplete. 'Oh yeah… maybe I'll get credited for rediscovering Zen mode.' The remainder of breakfast proceeded to be quiet but amicable. Darmanitan, now certain I wasn't going to press him into doing anything he didn't want to, started enjoying his meal ravenously consuming the food presented to him. My other team members followed suit relishing this opportunity to dispose of their strict nutritional diets. When all their bowls were emptied, they sat there enjoying the afterglow of a well filled stomach."So… I am guessing that you are very confused about your whereabouts and the time period you now find yourself in Darmanitan.""Dar dar.""He agrees with your statement.""Well… by my estimations it has been around twenty-five hundred years since you went to sleep. The previous kingdom you defended has become a footnote in the annals of time and most of the castle's lower levels have sunk deep into the desert sands."At that news Darmanitan huddled into itself deeply saddened by the revelation."It's okay buddy that's just how these things go. Time is the great equalizer and all that. Kingdoms come and go but the people and Pokémon living inside that nation left behind their descendants to inhabit this more modern Unova region.That seemed to cheer him up a little. His body language tells me that he still needs a bit more comforting, so I decided to introduce him to the team."By now you must have become curious about all my partners sharing a meal with us. They are all great Pokémon to get to know and I am sure they all want to be your friend."This is Numsy, my first partner he likes to sleep in and is the most level-headed in the group."Num!"And this is Rena, our resident princess."Pix"And this is Victini, the mischief maker and liveliest in the team."Hi!" "Vi!"I also pulled out the egg still held inside the incubator to show off to Darmanitan."And this little cutie hasn't been born yet. So, we don't have a name for him or her. Our group takes turns looking after the egg. Its mother lives deep inside the ruins of the castle and she entrusted her child to my care."The egg reveal seemed to shake Darmanitan to the core."Dar Dar Manitan!""He says to show him the mark."'Even this darmanitan knows about the mark? How come everyone we encounter has intimate knowledge about secret Volcarona procedures? No wait, he used to work for the residents of the castle; he might have encountered one of the previous Volcarona that resided here.'I rolled up my sleeve and exposed my right forearm to Darmanitan. The mark was still there but faded one had to know what to look for if they wanted to recognize the mark for what it was now. Darmanitan inched closer and gently held my right arm in his hands scrutinizing the faded mark after he gave it a quick sniff, and seemed satisfied enough quickly dropping his guarded demeanor."So, what do you say big guy? Do you want to partner up with us and travel around the world?""Manitan!""He agrees with your proposal and that you can count on him to do his best to protect a descendant of the Sun."With Darmanitan's loud vocal agreement the rest of my team moved in to sate their curiosity over this new partner of ours. Numsy was still in awe at the strength of our new friend gushing out compliments at the older Pokémon even gifting Darmanitan one of his precious berries as a peace offering. Rena acted standoffish but still moved close enough to listen in on the conversation between Numsy and Darmanitan. Victini nestled herself in my hair content to just watch the new relationships developing.It was at that moment that Aurea briefly announced herself before moving into our tent. The young professor obviously becoming more shameless the longer we interacted with her."Hmm good morning, Egon. I see you have already finished having breakfast. Oh my… have you already warmed relations with your new capture?""Darmanitan has agreed to travel with us. How's your research coming along? We'll be leaving for Nimbasa City in a short while.""Done! I came here to show Victini's completed Pokédex entry to her. With her approval I'll upload it to the lab's database as a secret entry."Victini curiously floated over to look at Aurea's own device to read her newest iteration in a line of embarrassing entries. Victini the Victory Pokémon. This Pokémon brings victory. It is said that Trainers with Victini always win, regardless of the type of encounter. It creates an unlimited supply of energy inside its body, which it shares with those who touch it. When it shares the infinite energy it creates, that being's entire body will be overflowing with power. "Wait wait, that last sentence did you test that while I was away or something?" "Yes! My Mincinno bravely volunteered to be the test subject for Victini's powers. The little munchkin is still sleeping off from the energy high Victini gave him." I quickly addressed the subject of her research. "She didn't blackmail you or anything right? You don't have to use your powers for anyone else's sake except your own." "Vi Vi!" "She said that if I help her that I can have as many berries as I want.""That's fine then just wait a moment."I readdressed the intruder in the tent who is running out of my hospitality."Don't bribe my Pokémon! That's bad etiquette especially from someone in your position. Not to mention the fact that Victini is already eating more than she should be, do you want her to blow up like a balloon?"For the first time Aurea looked truly apologetic."Sorry! I know my curiosity should have limits, but sometimes I just can't help myself. She is designated as number 000 in the Pokédex.""Well at least you know you are in the right profession… Come on guys, give me your empty food bowls, after washing them we'll set out."  Unfortunately, since I have now officially cut my working relationship with Aurea, the expedition was no longer obliged to provide transport for my traveling needs. This wasn't as much of a problem since some extra exercise would do my body good. Not to mention the fact that it has been a while since I've locked eyes with other wandering trainers, getting into the grind again would do us good.The road towards Nimbasa City was fully paved and patrolled by rangers so getting there would be a cinch, no need to take out any maps for this road trip. Not to mention this would give me some time preparing Darmanitan for his first encounter with a city as large as Nimbasa. We walked down the road as I was busy explaining everything about everything to him."Okay, so trainers like me are people who have taken up Pokémon training as a profession. Pokémon training entails capturing wild Pokémon and getting stronger together to compete against others for money and recognition. The device we use for this is called a poké ball."I showed off his own ball to him as a teaching prop."Dar…"He motioned for me to continue."Poké balls can capture and store Pokémon. Trainers use this as a convenient tool to carry their partners with them wherever they go. Did humans use something familiar during your time?""Dar Dar."He gave me an affirming nod."He says its functionality resembles the staves the guardians used to use.""Darmanitan must be referring to the aura guardians. They are a secretive organization, composed of humans capable of wielding a type of energy called Aura. It is the same energy the Pokémon riolu and lucario use to perform attacks.""Vi Vi!?" "Humans can use moves!?""Some humans can. As I said, they guard their secrets closely. There's only a single human that I know of that is trained in the use of aura abilities and he lives all the way over in the Sinnoh region. Anyway, Darmanitan I have been wondering is it okay to give you a nickname? There is a good chance that we'll encounter other Darmanitan on our journeys and I don't want to get confused."This was more for my benefit than Darmanitan's. Any Pokémon would instinctively know who I was referring to when calling out their species' name. Intention is more important than words when communicating with Pokémon. You could be talking in a completely made-up language, and they would still understand you."Nitan.""He says if it's a good name that he will consider it.""Hmm… How about Olive?"Darmanitan shakes his head to let me know his refusal."Paprika?"Shake"Parsley?"Shake"Basil?"Darmanitan was about to refuse again when Numsy popped out of his ball. Obviously looking around for the aforementioned food items. When he didn't find any, he looked up to me expecting me to feed him extra for dragging him outside of his poké ball."Sorry Numsy, I was trying to come up with a good name for Darmanitan.""Num…"We were currently standing on route four's main road towards Nimbasa City. Built entirely out of asphalt concrete, but as expected from a road that's been built in an arid climate surrounded by wild Pokémon, maintenance was rarely done. The road was littered with potholes and also regular holes, probably made by some of the ground types that live in the area."Dar?!"Darmanitan, who has been walking beside me, got his hand cut by a sharper piece of rock. The Pokémon usually walked with both his hands and feet leaving him vulnerable for this type of terrain. Naturally, being a Pokémon afforded him some protection, the sharp piece of rock barely scratched the surface of his skin."Maybe we can get you some gloves over in Nimbasa. If you are going to be walking with me on the asphalted streets of big cities, the roads are going to be a bother.""Manitan!""He liked that name!""What Nimbasa?""No, gloves.""Do you want to be called Glove? It is an unusual name, but oddly fitting. Okay! From now on you will be known as Glove the darmanitan.""Dar Manitan!""Let's keep on going, now that I have to factor another team member depleting our supplies, we'll have to make it to Nimbasa before tomorrow evening. Glove you rest in your poké ball, okay? I don't want your hands getting all scratched up by this poorly maintained road."The rest of route 4 was oddly devoid of trainers to challenge. At first, I was confused until a realization struck me. Who would want to linger around inside a desert environment waiting for passing trainers to challenge? Only certain specialists would want to have their battles here and I certainly don't want to intentionally lose my money while battling at a disadvantage against rock and ground type specialists. My ruminations proved true when I eventually locked eyes with someone whom I expect to be some type of construction worker. He had all the safety gear on him not mentioning the fact that his vehicle parked behind him was filled with power tools."The name's Gus and I challenge you to a two-on-two Pokémon battle!"'Guess I am not getting out of this one…'"That's fine, but ehm… don't you have a job to do? There are a lot of holes on this side of the road.""A fair point you are making there youngster, but you see the wild Pokémon don't like it when this here road becomes too pristine. So, we maintenance boys all got together and decided to only fix the holes that could lead to serious physical injury."'Sure… so you can spend your working hours challenging rookie trainers and earning some extra spending money. Well, he's in for a surprise if he thinks he'll get an easy victory off me.'We moved to the side of the road, to avoid damaging this decrepit road even further."My name is Egon from Lavaridge, I have two gym badges so the wager will be to the amount of sixty pokédollars.""That's fine by me, but don't go crying to your momma when you lose all your allowance for the day."'This guy… I am all for a bit of trash talk but this person is taking it too far. Especially since I am still a minor by Unovan standards.'"Would you mind if one of my newer team members watches the battle from the sidelines? He's still new to the whole recreational battling scene.""Sure sure, let's get on with it."I released Glove from his ball. The worker's face paled at the sight of this towering Pokémon."Glove, I want you to experience what modern battling is all about. So, watch closely, okay? Can you look after the egg?""Dar." Giving a nod of assent he took a seat somewhere out of the way but within eye and ear sight. Carefully holding onto the incubator while doing so.I was betting this guy was sporting a team of rock or ground types to take advantage of the terrain. My best lead in either case would be Numsy."Go Numsy!""Go Drillburr!"'Hmm interesting.'Drilbur the Mole Pokemon, It's a digger, using its claws to burrow through the ground. It causes damage to vegetable crops, so many farmers have little love for it. It can dig through the ground at a speed of 30 mph. It could give a car running aboveground a good race. "This is my partner in battles and work. Those claws can get the job done lickety-split." "Numsy's the best at boiling water for the tea. I don't have to do anything except for holding my all-purpose canteen over his hump." 'Yes, my brag was better.' "…" "Lava plume!" "Sandstorm!" The man was obviously trying to maximize the effectiveness of his surroundings. No doubt trying to fulfill the conditions to activate one of Drilbur's abilities. And seemingly deeming it worth getting hit in the process. The scarlet flames were hampered somewhat by the billows of sand Drilbur was creating but not enough to avoid being able to get hit. The mole Pokémon's fur got singed after taking Numsy move head on. "Our speed is the greatest during a sandstorm! Go dig underground!" "Magnitude!" Magnitude was a finicky move that has fallen out of use ages ago thanks to its unreliability. We favored the use of bulldoze as a replacement since it was great at changing the surface area of the battlefield to our advantage. However, there is one thing magnitude can do that bulldoze is unable to and that is hit targets that hide underground. Not only that, but the move also becomes even more powerful against subterranean targets. Magnitude's power changed depending on a multitude of factors; this one seemed fairly powerful though. "Nooo! Drilbur!" Both me and Guss concluded that the tectonic waves rocking the sandy depths must have knocked out his Drilbur. He was about to get his shovel when I volunteered our rescue services to dig him out. "Don't worry about digging out your Pokémon. Numsy here can get him out, no sweat at all. Isn't that so bud?" "Num num!" Numsy went to work digging out his helpless Drilbur while we watched. While Numsy was busy me and him talked about what happened. "So that Numsy of yours is also a ground type? I'll be honest, I am not that familiar with foreign Pokémon." "Yep." It was common knowledge not to go underground against Pokémon that naturally learned moves such as earthquake or magnitude. If Guss had been more informed the battle would still be up for grabs. The awkward silence was broken by my little camel hauling up the dazed off Drilbur. Guss returned his fallen Pokémon and threw out his second competitor. "Go Boldore!" A rock-like Pokemon with red crystals cropping out at its front and back appeared in a flash of light. Boldore, the Ore Pokémon and the evolved form of Roggenrola. Because Boldore cannot contain its massive energy, orange crystals form on its body. They glow when Boldore's energy overflows. Just one crystal fragment would provide enough fuel for a hundred dump trucks. 'This must be his ace in the hole. Not many trainers carry around a second stage Pokémon on this route.' The sandstorm was still raging on the surroundings making it almost effortless for this weather effect to carry on. Or perhaps we were inside an actual sandstorm. It has been proven that with the assistance of sandstorms rock types gain a microscopic layer of sand particles that protects them from most forms of ranged moves. So, this prospective battle just got a whole lot more difficult. "Mud bomb!" "Power gem!" Both Numsy and Boldore traded blows. Boldore's crystal gems lit up and fired off a series of successive rays of light while Numsy countered with his own move shooting a hard-packed mud ball at the stationary Boldore. The moves impacted both Pokémon equally hard. However, due to Numsy's shorter stature he was the one that got blown away by the blast. My buddy got up pretty fast though, the power gem attack not being all that damaging by my estimations. He could take at least another two of those before being knocked out. I tried coming up with a strategy to counteract our opponent's defenses, but I realized that our only way forward is to keep trading blows like this. The presence of the sandstorm would allow Boldore to weather my super effective hits and its physical defenses were nothing to sneeze at either. "Let's go Numsy, we'll have to rough it out with this piece of rock!"  The battle concluded with Numsy being declared the winner. Both Pokémon were on the end of their ropes. When it came time for their final exchange Numsy's willpower trumped Boldore's sturdy defenses. Guss handed out our winnings and was very sportsmanlike about the whole affair. He offered to drive us all the way to Nimbasa City in exchange for some stories about the Hoenn region. "And that's why you should never swim in the sea routes inside the region or else you'll end up Sharpedo bait. Fresh water is fairly safe though." "Hah! Really! For us in Unova it's the complete opposite. Fresh water is the most dangerous, unless you are absolutely sure there are no basculin in the waters you should stick to dry land. The coastal areas are safe enough though." Guss, despite being a slacker at his job, was good company and very informative about the region. "What is the fastest way for a lone trainer without much money to reach the celestial tower? My friend invited me over; she has been welcomed to stay there with the mediums." "Well… of course teleportation services are the fastest way, but also the most expensive. What's your budget like?" "The Lavaridge gym is sponsoring me, but they only give me money for food and board. Everything else I have to pay for on my own. I have about twenty-four thousand P to spare." "That'll get you a one way teleportation to the celestial tower no problem." "I also have to pay for my plane ticket back home. I already looked it up, second class will cost me twenty thousand." "A cheap way of travelling for four thousand hmm… You could try riding on the Battle Subway." "The Battle Subway?" "It's the public transportation all Unovans use to travel on the cheap. Nimbasa City holds the honor of housing the Gear Station, the platform where all subway cars come through. Those subway cars can ferry you to most of the major cities in Unova including Mistralton City." "And what is this battling part of this subway?" "The operation is run by two brothers Ingo and Emmet; we call them the subway bosses. Those two had the ingenious idea of combining their two great passions: trains and battling. Their subway takes you where you need to go and at the same time provides a great battling experience for trainers who are up to the challenge. A fair warning to you though, it's a tournament style double battling operation with your partner chosen at random. The winners get to face the subway bosses themselves. Most of the trainers taking on the challenge have at least seven badges so as to not hinder their partner's chances at victory." "Can I also board the subway just to get to Mistralton?" "For sure, it's about as cheap as you can travel nowadays. A ticket that gets you all the way to Mistralton is going to set you back three thousand pokédollars."The man got quiet after that, we both just enjoyed watching the sun setting, basking in its orange glow. The egg was secured while Numsy was sleeping off a day's battling. The oran berries I fed him did the trick of getting him into shape, before I could get him looked after by a professional inside a Nimbasa City Pokémon center. 'As soon as we reach Nimbasa city I should go looking for a tutor so Numsy can learn some stronger ground type moves. Master Quagsire wasn't able to teach us the next set because his trainer gave up her journey to start a bathhouse.' Nimbasa City was obviously a city centered around entertainment. The famous rondez-view ferris wheel was visible before we even entered the city proper. Because the sun already set, all the street lights had been turned on and it made for an amazing view. It also held the world's largest sports stadium which the locals just refer to as Big Stadium. Nimbasa is the birthplace of Pokémon Musicals, quite unlike the extremely competitive contests we in Hoenn are familiar with. Pokémon musicals are an option for the Pokémon who want to shine on stage without the pressure of a competition. At the moment I couldn't care less about that though. Drilbur's sandstorm did a number on my attire, every nook and cranny was filled with sand. The thing I wanted to do most right now was take a shower and head to bed. Guss was nice enough to let me off at the nearest Pokémon center. I was mostly asleep by the time we made it. Guss had to shake me up good to get me to wake up. "This is you kid. Good luck on your journey. Maybe I'll see you competing in the big leagues someday." "It's been a pleasure Guss. When I get old enough to participate in the Ventress Conference I'll surely make it back to Unova to leave my mark you can count on that." With a spring in my step, I entered the Pokémon center for a good night's rest.