Chapter 7 "Worst Kept Secret"

"Shut up," Gary says, "What would you even know?"

"I know that the only reason you got first place was because you had better knowledge on other regions pokemon. I mostly focused on dietary needs and such. Which, if I remember correctly, you scored the lowest in."

Gary growls for a minute, glaring at John.

"Well Arthur," he says after a moment, "I think I should mention that you should be careful who you hang out with. After all, John there isn't exactly well liked by most people. You might find yourself a target."

I look at him with an amused smirk on my face, "I think I'll choose my own friends thanks. At least with John I'll be able to avoid the people who want to hang onto my coat tails for a little while."

John snickers for a moment, while Gary is doing a pretty good Magikarp impersonation.

"Hey John, let's go see if we can get some food," I say. We quickly leave the cabin before we both start laughing.

******

The remainder of the day, we had no problems. The Starting Ceremony took place, and we all got the rules. They went over that for a bit, before we were given a schedule of events.

We had three classes this week. One was mandatory for everyone, and was scheduled to take place once a day until everyone in the camp had taken it. John and I were in the first group to take the class. Of course, we were there with all of the rest of the NTSP recipients which meant Gary would be there as well.

But it wasn't too bad. The next day when we showed up for the class all of the scholarship kids were already there. I spotted Ethan rather quickly, which meant we found Gary just as quickly as they were talking to each other. Lyra was off talking to some blonde girl. I think that is Cynthia, though I haven't heard anything about her. I remember that she is from Sinnoh though.

Most of the rest were already forming into what we recognized as groups. There were very few that didn't fit into that mold. Lucy from Jubilife, Steven Stone from Hoenn. Of course, I had to include John and myself in that number. We didn't quite fit. Steven actually won the NTSP, but chose to take a special pokemon instead of one of the royals. And Lucy of course has the adorable fire monkey from Sinnoh, Chimchar.

That's when we get a bit of a surprise. Professor Oak himself walks in, and looks at all of us. "All right, if everyone could take a seat please, we'll get this class started."

As we all get seated, the professor starts talking, "You might have noticed that this class doesn't have a name. That's because we are going to go over the worst kept secret in the world. Basically anyone who wants to become a trainer already knows this, and it doesn't take all that much to go on the internet and see the different research done on this as well. However, no one explains any of this to anyone under ten. More commonly, prospective trainers don't even find out about it until they are thirteen or fourteen."

"That is, the power rankings of Pokemon and Trainers, as well as the benefits bonding with pokemon bring. Obviously, everyone knows about the baby stage, which is pokemon that are newly hatched. After that, you have the Iron Stage. Pokemon at the Iron stage make up the majority of the pokemon population. These pokemon are not considered sentient, and often rely on instinct. This makes them more dangerous to new trainers, as well as less dangerous to well-prepared ones."

"Above Iron Stage, there is the Bronze stage. At this stage, most pokemon will still rely on instinct. However, they are stronger than Iron stage pokemon. This is the real start of the hierarchy that we see in wild pokemon. Also psychic type pokemon, and those that have been at the bronze stage for a while may become more sentient. This means that older bronze stage pokemon can sometimes be reasoned with. Then you have the Silver stage. This is the stage that really separates rookie trainers from experienced ones."

I'm quickly absorbing this information, which is making certain dots connect for me definitely. The Mareeps we have back home are probably all at the Iron Stage, with the Herd leader being at the bronze. Or so I think.

"Silver stage pokemon are where a trainer's bond kicks in. Once you have a Silver stage pokemon and they are actually your partner, different things will occur. For example, trainers who have fire type pokemon will notice a slight ability for fire or heat resistance. Water type pokemon give their trainers the ability to hold their breath for longer, and trainers that specialize in Flying types will be actually lighter. There are several reasons for this, but it is agreed that the stronger the bond with a pokemon the more effects there are. Also having more of that type of pokemon will increase the effects as well. A prime example of this is with Gym Leader Erika."

"By focusing her training style on Grass type pokemon, she has managed to effectively cultivate a constant Grassy Surge around her. The downside to this, is that if there is not enough sunlight out, she tends to become slightly narcoleptic. So all of you are aware, this is a trend with most trainers that prefer a pure typing, over diversifying their pokemon teams."

"The other benefit that can be noticed at the Silver stage, is that trainers will start to age slower. This isn't to say that the aging process stops. However, trainers that have a full team of Silver stage pokemon will live longer than those who do not. Every stage above Silver also increases this effect. This is a major reason why we have older trainers that look much younger than they actually are. Case in point, I myself am seventy years old. However, my grey hair only set in less than five years ago and I can fully expect to live till I am in my mid hundreds."

"Now above Silver is the Gold Stage. Gold stage pokemon are all considered sentient. At this stage, it is entirely possible to teach them sign language, and you can have a full conversation with you pokemon that way. If you don't already have a psychic type that would allow you to use telepathy."

"Higher than that are the Dark Gold, Platinum, and Diamond stages. I'll only cover them to say that they do exist. However, getting pokemon to those stages is an endeavor in and of itself. There are stages above that, however that get's into the territory of Legends."

"As for Trainer rankings, all of you are considered Rookie rank. How you progress from that is just by starting your journey at 15. That will advance you to Basic Trainers. Above Basic are Junior, Intermediate, Senior, Pro, Elite, Master, and Champion. For junior and intermediate, the advancement requirements are all based on the Alliance point system. To advance to Junior you need at least thirty points and three badges. Then to advance to Intermediate trainer, you'll need to have at least six badges and ninety points."

"Above Intermediate Trainer, things get more complicated. Of course you'll need to get the last two gym badges to compete in the league. But after that? Everything is based on the trainer in question. Number of badges, how many times that trainer has competed in an official league tournament. The list goes on, but basically everything a responsible trainer does above and beyond what is asked for will go towards alliance points which improve a trainer's rank."

"This isn't a guarantee of course. Between each of the higher ranks, there are tests and sometimes a committee must approve the rank up before it will be allowed. Once again, I don't need to talk about all of this as it is still some years ahead of you all."

"Lastly, before I open the floor for questions, items can be given descriptors like this as well. Normally if an item would come from a pokemon, or if it can be used to aid a pokemon, they can be identified as a ranked item. Perfect example is Oran Berries. The Oran berries that we can eat are normally Iron ranked. The older the berry tree, the more likely those berries will be higher ranked. It is highly recommended that you do not give your pokemon anything that is higher ranked than they are. Also until you have pokemon of a matching rank, do NOT eat or try to use any item that is higher ranked than your pokemon. We had a young man a couple of years ago get severely sick from eating a silver ranked fruit, while his pokemon were still in the basic stage."

"All right, any questions?"

After several rounds of asking question, we run out of things to ask. What it boils down to, is the pokemon ranks describe how strong a pokemon is, while the trainer ranks give a general idea on how skilled or powerful a trainer is. Focusing on one specific type of pokemon will bring certain benefits, but it also has downsides.

"Now for the reason we are telling you all this now," the professor finally says after our questions are answered. "For those of you who attend my camp, either through the scholarship or by way of money, we tell you this so you can try to plan ahead. There have been a number of former campers who have radically changed the pokemon they wanted and caught after hearing this news."

"I'll leave now, however think about it for yourself. There is no right answer to this. It all depends on what you want, and where you want to go."