Chapter 14: EV Training

morning, 12/6

The ground was white with frost that morning, with the sky being an uninspiring pale gray. In the past, Hilda would have preferred to make this kind of day a movie day. It would be cold all day, but there wouldn't be snow to play in. But she was a Trainer now, so she was up while the frost was still visible and heading out towards Pinwheel Forest.

"Well one thing this frost is good for is making it easier to get around here with my crutches," she told Kyurem. "But are you sure you want to keep walking around like that?"

"It's still a little warm for my tastes," he said, still wearing his ragged looking black shirt and pants.

"Because it's above freezing?"

"Precisely."

"But you know that people are going to stare because it's almost freezing and you're around here with exposed skin." Hilda herself was dressed up in a long red coat with white trim, heavy pants that were red with white snowflakes below the ankles, a good white boot on her one good foot, white gloves, and a candy-cane striped hat with a red and white pompom on top.

"It doesn't seem to be stopping them," Kyurem stated, pointing ahead.

In the lower part of the marshes, Hilda spotted the three Trainers who had beaten her team the other day. They were, oddly enough, dressed in martial arts gis and no shoes, running around with a good number of their Pokémon. When they lapped close, they paused near her.

"Hey there, miss!" one of the two guys said. "What happened to your leg?"

She grinned. "I tried to dance with some Pokémon and had an epic fail at it. What are you up to being barefoot during a frost?"

"We're out training ourselves and our Pokémon," he said.

"We're part of the bare feet movement too," the girl said. "We never wear shoes; it's more natural that way. People get too soft relying on small things, so we're out to be tough doing things the old fashioned way."

"Well not entirely too old-fashioned."

Hilda nodded. "I suppose if I were out running around too, I wouldn't mind it for a little while. But can't right now. Say, if you don't mind me prying, how do you train your Pokémon up? You all beat me the other day, but I'm not gonna give up. I'll switch my tactics if I have to, though."

"Well we are probably more advanced than you. You'll get here in time."

"Hey, we should tell her anyhow," the girl said.

"Why? It's our secret teachings."

She laughed at him. "Yah, it's not that big of a secret. Besides, I think she's hardcore enough, coming out here to train her team when she can't get around easy."

"Well if you want to, go for it." The two guys then took off with their Pokémon, leaving the girl, a Timburr, and a Sawk.

"Yeah, well you're just a special breed of lazy!" she called after them. Then she turned to her and smiled. "Hi, I'm Jackie, proud to call myself a battle girl."

Hilda shifted her grip so she could shake hands with Jackie. "Hi, I'm Hilda, a crazy twit."

Jackie laughed. "Well, everyone's a bit crazy, some of us just more than others. Who's your friend?"

"He's my bodyguard, Kyurem the legendary dragon."

"You don't seem too suspicious," he said, refusing to shake hands.

Hilda winked at Jackie. "Hey, I think he likes you."

"Aw, that's sweet," she said, smiling like she didn't really believe that was Kyurem. "Anyhow, about how we train our Pokémon, we use the EV method. It's not usually taught in the public school courses because it's a theory that's only been around for the past two decades. But the proof of it is starting to show in those of us who have been using it for some time."

"It's not some kind of method based on performance enhancers, is it?" Hilda asked, concerned. "Because it takes a lot of money to get the reliable stuff."

She shook her head. "No, although some people do use the vitamin pills. Me and the guys, we prefer more natural ways of it. Like making sure they have less processed foods. But the basics of it are, well, really basic. Most people figure they can raise their Pokémon just by battling them a lot. And that will make them stronger. The trouble is, it won't always make them more effective. You know about stats, right?"

"Yeah, I recently got out of a battles 3 class, which was getting into that," Hilda said.

"Well the EV, or Effort Value method, is about training Pokémon in specific stats." She pointed over to where her friends were off running. "It's the old basics of exercises, but viewed in a scientific way. You can have them train up movement speed by running, then physical strength by lifting and throwing rocks. That's what we train our Pokémon with, since most of them are Fighters. But I also like to train mine in dodging, like playing dodge ball or shooting a foam ball from a toy gun at them."

"That is pretty basic, but a good idea," Hilda said. And it might be easier and more reliable then hunting down battles all the time.

Jackie nodded. "Yeah, but it builds a good base for further training. And if you want to really tweak the system, you can apply the EV theory to the battles you face too. Pokémon and people become stronger by facing resistance, you know. With that in mind, you choose that battle that would give the most resistance to the stat you want to train. Like if you want to train a Pokémon to be tougher with physical defense, then find a Sawk around here. They hit hard. If you want to train physical attack, fight the Throh, because they're naturally tough."

"Huh, and you'd fight a fast Pokémon with a Pokémon you want to be fast?"

"Right. Don't always go for the easy fights; the ones that force your team to be challenged will teach them more than the ones they can win easily." Then Jackie winked. "But we're still ahead of you. You can try having your Pokémon exercise around here today. I'll let the guys know not to bother you for a fight."

"Sure, thanks." When Jackie went off to keep running, Hilda turned to Kyurem. "We should give that a try. But they all have mono-type teams and similar Pokémon, so it's easier on them. You guys are all mixed up."

"As you wish," Kyurem said.

She raised an eyebrow at him. "And you're not going to help with any suggestions?"

"Perhaps."

"Hoo boy, and here I thought you might be getting out of that. Well fine then. I'll figure this out." Hilda then considered the Pokémon she had before calling them out to give them exercises to try out.

Afternoon, 12/8

The Gigalith glowered at him. A few minutes ago, it had been giving off a desire to help him in any way it could. At some point during this battle, that desire had faded, only to be replaced with a desire not to do as asked.

Hilbert tried to ignore it, but the dislike was coming off so strongly that he knew this Pokémon too no longer liked him. "What is it?" he asked, feeling mad. "We've fought against odds like this before, and worse. We can do it.:"

But that didn't help. The Jellicent that his opponent was fighting with was focused on winning. The jellyfish wanted greatly to win and please his Trainer. While the Gigalith was being strangely uncooperative, the Jellicent was able to blast him with water and knock him out. Sturdy didn't even help as the Jellicent had already done some damage.

"Hah, I won!" the younger boy said, jumping up and pumping his fist in the air. "You're nowhere near as tough as you talk."

"I'm having a bad day, all right?" Hilbert snapped. As he adjusted his hat, he heard his watch beep. Some of his money had been transferred over to the winning Trainer's account. "What is wrong with everybody?" he said to himself.

The boy blew a raspberry at him. "Sore loser! I'm going to be more famous than you someday." Then he ran off.

Resisting the urge to chase after him and beat him up personally, Hilbert revived and fully healed up his Pokémon. Then he released the six of them: the Gigalith, plus a Bouffalant, a Haxorus, a Scolipede, a Bisharp, and a Sawsbuck. "Okay, what the heck was that all about?" he demanded of them. "That was the first match I ever lost and that's because all of you suddenly decided to be idiots! Why weren't you listening to me? That should have been an easy win."

He knew he wouldn't get a response he could understand, but he hoped that would get them to stop fooling around and act like the trained Pokémon they were. But the responses he got were still unsettling. The Bisharp ran one of its blades over another, making a sharp tone of warning. The Haxorus and Scolipede both hissed, while the Bouffalant snorted angrily. The Sawsbuck reared up and looked for a moment like he might smash his horns into Hilbert. And the Gigalith just glowered, making the red crystals on its back shimmer.

And Hilbert realized that he could sense something other then desires; he could sense hatred. It was not very strong from any of them, so he wasn't in danger. But it was there all the same, an ember that suddenly flared up when exposed to fresh air. Something had caused all six of these Pokémon to hate him.

It was a smothering darkness when he was used to being surrounded by the light of admiration. Hilbert could feel the color draining out of his face. "Ah, um… okay, I'm sorry. I shouldn't have yelled at you."

The Bisharp ran his blades together again. If he did the wrong thing, the restraint that keeping them from attacking him go away entirely.

On feeling that, Hilbert recalled the Bisharp in a burst of fright. He then recalled the rest of them, getting them away from him. But he could still sense those flickers of hate within the Pokeballs. His breath appeared in the chilly air rapidly. This, this wasn't right.

He looked around, but no lights of admiration appeared to his senses. There were some strong desires around, but none were directed towards him, not even a little. Instead of that, he was getting ignored and looked over, like he was any other person.

Had Kyurem and Reshiram really done something serious to him?

Wanting to believe that this was all a fluke, Hilbert headed for a cafe nearby. He needed something to be normal. As it was mid-morning, there weren't many people around. There was a young woman working at the counter, whistling a happy tune. That was better. Maybe things would be normal in talking to her.

"Hi, welcome!" she said cheerily. "What would you like this morning?"

No recognition. "Um," he glanced at the menu, "a hot mocha latte, that'll do. Small."

"Okay, then, it'll be 285, please. Is something the matter?" And even though she asked, there was a clear desire from her not to have her own good day ruined by having some guy come in and throw his troubles on her.

That hit him like a slap to the face and for a moment, Hilbert wasn't sure what to say. He got out the money to cover for it, but right then, he was tempted to tell her no. But if this was a trial to get the approval of Reshiram, he couldn't do that. "It's been a bad day already," he eventually said as he passed over the Poke. "I won't bother you with it, though."

"Oh, well I hope things get better for you." Once she took the money and registered the sale, she went about to fixing up his drink. And she was back to whistling before long.

Once he had his drink, he went over to a small table and sat there. This did not seem real; he didn't want it to be real. People had admired him his whole life like it was the most natural thing in the world. Now his own Pokémon hated him and the barista didn't want to be bothered by him. Had all that admiration been a lie?

And what about his Pokémon? They weren't going to cooperate, he could tell that already. Maybe it was time he let those six go, either be releasing them into the wild or seeing if anyone wanted to adopt them. Hilbert had plenty of other Pokémon in his Storage Boxes, so surely there would be some to like him still.

Yes, that was the thing to do. He sipped at his mocha and checked his computer to see about building another team. If he got clear of the ones who hated him, he'd feel a lot better and things could turn right around.

Evening, 12/8

N was having difficulty preparing for the Castelia Gym. The Zebstrika was powerful, he could tell that. But no matter what he tried, he was the worst behaved Pokémon N had ever dealt with. Many had acted out because they had been treated badly in the past. Back then, he occasionally got nipped at, sometimes drawing blood. The Zebstrika had nearly hit N in the head with his hoof.

"Zebstrika!" N said sharply. "Not me. Don't kick me."

He snorted, but stayed on all fours this time. "I hate you."

He took a deep breath, then said, "I'm aware of that. We've been working together for nearly two weeks now and I've heard not much more out of you than that. But I want to help you."

The Zebstrika lowered his head, cautious but finally showing some interest. "You understand that?"

"Yes, I do. I understand what you Pokémon are saying." Since he seemed to be calming down finally, N asked, "What's happened to you? I haven't met such a spiteful Pokémon before."

"I'm not going to be a victim anymore," the Zebstrika said. "I'm not going to suffer. I'm going to fight back against all of the evil in the world. And everybody is evil. I'm evil. That's why I suffered. But I won't. I won't take it anymore!"

That was odd. N tried to reach out to him, but that only made the Zebstrika tense. "What made you think that way?"

"I don't know. The hate made me forget. But I will find the source of all hate someday and kill it."

"That's a…" N wasn't sure he should be saying it, but tried anyway, "an admirable quest. I'll let you get back to it. But first, would you help me defeat the Gym in Castelia City?"

The Zebstrika stomped a hoof down. "Fine. But you mess up and I will kill you."

afternoon, 12/17

Castelia City made N nervous. The buildings towered overhead, clustered together in tight groups. Although he'd been here for half an hour heading for the Gym, he still hadn't seen any plants aside from small flowers in boxes. The ground was entirely covered in concrete. There was exhaust from machines hanging in the air as well as the harsh tang of heavy chemical cleaners. And there were so many people, on bikes, on trolleys, on foot, talking, walking, running, calling, laughing, shouting…

There was just the one Gym here, he told himself. He could get in there, beat the Leader, then leave this place and never come back. If he could have gotten away with coming when fewer people were around, he would have done it. But this Gym had erratic and unreliable hours. N knew it would be open this afternoon, so he had to come now.

Finally, he arrived at the Gym. It was crammed in between buildings well over twice its height, making the traditional facade look out of place with the glass faced walls around it. And this was supposed to be the Bug Gym, he thought as he entered. If it were the Steel Gym, then he could understand its placement. A Bug Gym ought to be in a more natural place.

He was met at the door by a guy dressed as an orange and purple jester. "Good afternoon; welcome to Castelia Gym," he said cheerily. "Are you here for a challenge?"

"Yes," N said, passing over his ID and the Zebstrika's Pokeball. Even though he'd run into two other Pokémon that would have been great for this Gym, the presence of the spiteful Pokémon had scared them off.

"Alrighty, we'll go check on this one." The clown whirled off to a desk where he placed the Pokeball in a machine to check on it.

Why did he act like that? N wondered about it. It seemed unprofessional. Then again, he wasn't sure why the worker would be dressed as a clown. He had heard that this Leader was considered an eccentric artist. For instance, the wall just ahead of them seemed to be coated in oozing honey.

"Hmm?" the clown looked surprised. "Did you really catch this Pokémon in Pinwheel?"

He nodded. "Is that odd to find there?"

"Wee-ell, that's not quite it. Sure, I haven't seen a Zebstrika in the forest, but this Pokémon is flagged as a Shadow."

N went over and looked at the display screen. "What's that mean?"

"It's cursed with a kind of battle madness. There was a large outbreak of them in another region several years ago, but a few have shown up in the past year. And, I'm afraid that you can't compete in the Gyms with a Shadow. One of the known ways of creating them involves terrible abuse, so they're not psychologically stable enough to battle with safely."

The information that he couldn't participate today was just a blip compared to the concern the rest of that statement caused. How had this cursed Zebstrika ended up in Pinwheel Forest? And who had cursed it? It was a horrible thing to do, something that must have been more evil that N knew of. But he couldn't be mad at the clown. "I see. What should I do with him? He has been difficult to work with, but I didn't know what was wrong."

The clown handed the card and Pokeball back over. "Best thing to do is get in contact with the Orre Pokémon Research Lab. They have the most experience with the Shadows and will be able to tell you how to handle it. They should also be able to take it from you if that's too much, though. Purifying a Shadow takes a dedicated effort."

Given what he knew, he should be able to pass it along to Anthea and tell her about how to handle it. This set him two weeks back, but he did want to see the Zebstrika healed of its curse. "Okay, thanks."

As he left the Gym he encountered Carol on the sidewalk. She was in her usual attire, this day a black frilled dress with lots of lace, white kid gloves, and black mary-jane shoes. "Good afternoon," she said. "I was going to watch you in the Gym today. Is something the matter?"

"I can't compete with the Pokémon I have," he said, heading down the sidewalk. She walked alongside him. And with her dress' wide skirt, people were stepping aside to give them room; that was good. "It's a Shadow Pokémon."

"That's curious. I wonder what it's doing here."

N took a deep breath and, just past the horrible city smells, he could tell that she was wearing that perfume again. "And why are you and Val keeping wild Pokémon away from me?"

"Pardon?" She sounded like she had no clue what he was talking about.

"I heard about it from one of them," he said, not wanting to give Pricilla herself away. "You two are still wearing that Veiled Mystic or whatever that Pokémon don't like, and then you are apparently hanging around me constantly even though I don't see you. That's keeping me from finding wild Pokémon and it's not helping me at all." Someone gave him an odd look, making N self-conscious. "Anyhow, let's get to the bridge and then talk about this."

Skyarrow Bridge was a marvel. It had a clean white beauty to it, with an airy atmosphere, yet it was engineered to distribute the weight of it not just safely, but deceptively. From looking at specs for it, N knew it was immensely heavy. It only looked gracefully weightless. Sometimes he thought that if he hadn't come into this destiny, he would have wanted to study engineering to create works of art like this, without imposing on the environment.

As they walked up the stairs to the main walkway, N pulled out the Ultra Ball and handed it over. "Here, this is the Shadow cursed Zebstrika. Get him to Anthea and tell her to get it to someone who can pay attention to it for purification."

"As you wish," she said, taking it and placing it in her purse.

"I would like to see him free someday," N admitted, "but as he is now, he's reckless, a danger to himself and others. Now, why are you two keeping Pokémon from me?"

She made an apologetic bow. "I'm sorry, my lord. We weren't aware that our fashions and behaviors were blocking your progress. We will work to correct that issue."

"Good. Well with you here with me, I won't be finding many Pokémon back in Pin…wheel…" he stopped and looked up, seeing a movement of red and brown jumping from cable to cable on the suspension bridge.

"What kind of Pokémon is that?" Carol asked calmly, watching the jumping creature as well.

"I don't know…" he saw the figure cling to one of the cables nearby, then slide down it. "Wait back here; I'll go speak with it."

"Very well." She even took a step back to watch from there.

N met with it as it leapt off the cable and onto the walkway. It was about three foot tall, although much of its height was taken up in tall triangular ears. With a thick winter coat and human-like hands, it would have been perfectly fine in its romp on the bridge. "Righteous timing dude," the tan Pokémon said. "I thought it'd be the time to meet up with ya."

"You were looking for me?" N asked, puzzled. "I'm not quite sure who or what you are."

He scampered over and hopped onto the ledge by him. "Not surprised at that, N. I am the one and only Victini, the lucky Pokémon of victory!" He made a pair of V signs with his hands, grinning. "I got sent to you."

The Pokémon of victory? Sure, N knew of this legend, but he didn't expect to just run into him. "Victini? But, why? And who sent you? You're not the kind of Pokémon that's just out there waiting to be found. You only appear to those who quest for you or who are… worthy…" was that possible? Did Virizion arrange for this, to show support of his mission without leaving her forest?

"Dude, does it matter?" Victini asked, tilting his head. "I'm here."

"Yes, you are." Then N smiled. This had to be a good omen. "Since you are here, would you help me to defeat the Gym in this city? It's for the sake of my mission."

"Groovy." Then Victini whipped out a pair of sunglasses from thin air and put them on. "Let's rock that Gym!"

*insert CSI shout here*

So N's Castelia team turns out not to be Zebstrika, but Victini. And we find out Hilbert's team, only he's going to get rid of them. I love my plot twistys, no matter how little they are.

Actually, I don't EV train. I know how it's done and how people optimize it, but since I never play competitively or take on the Battle Tower-Whatevers, I don't bother. But in universe, it does make sense to train that way. Bodybuilders and other athletes do the same kind of thing in real life, so why not for Pokemon in their world?