Fixerbacta: Thanks! I honestly like the realistic aspect of writing this story as well.
Apocalypse-Maker: Yeah, I considered Blaziken too, but she wouldn't want to have a type repeat so early on, and she already has Blaze for a fire type. As for your other suggestions, one of them is already on the tentative team I've got planned. Not telling which one, though.
Guppy72: I don't think so. Official battles will be restricted to a max of 6 pokemon, but no carry limit. Thanks for your words!
McLoggernaut: I intend to. Thanks!
Blackbird0: Thanks, worldbuilding is so unappreciated nowadays it's nice to know some people enjoy it as much as I do.
Guppy72: Thanks! I may change some of the mechanics, since I'm not very convinced on how it turned out. But if I do, I'll let you guys know.
Monxu Aki: Yeah, I always though Lance was a bit of a troll with his dragonites. As for slowbro, yeah, I agree. That thing is powerful when used correctly. It just doesn't fit the theme that Olive is going for, though. And thank you for your kind words!
In a well-lit room stood a long rectangular table with 13 seats. One at the top of the table, and six on each of the sides. There were already 12 people seated at the table, with only the top seat staying vacant.
At the bottom left sat a young woman that was about to let her teen years behind. She had dark brown hair neatly combed in two ponytails and deep red eyes. She was Roxanne, a nineteen-year-old rock specialist and the newly appointed gym leader of Rustboro City. She was the youngest person in the room, but still had enough strength to be in such company.
Directly in front of her, at the bottom right corner sat a tanned blue-haired and blue-eyed man in his early twenties. He was Brawly, gym leader of Dewford Town, and a fighting type specialist. He was the second youngest person in the room but could be seen being comfortable with his place and company.
To Roxanne's left sat a plump old balding man with white hair and beard, and eyes as dark as could get. He was the gym leader of Mauville City, Watson, an electric type specialist and one of the two oldest people in the room. His laugh lines depicted a clearly cheerful demeanour.
In front of him sat the other elder in the room. In contrast to Watson, though, he still had a head full of hair, even if it was completely Gray. His black eyes were covered by his glasses, and he had a cheerful aura about him. He was Moore, the gym leader of Lavaridge Town and a fire type specialist.
To Watson's left was a severe looking middle-aged man. He had black hair with dark brown eyes and was dressed in a black and red tracksuit. He was the epitome of the word serious. He was Norman, a normal type specialist and gym leader of Petalburg City.
Opposed him sat a young woman that could not be more than 30. She had a long thistle coloured hair arranged in a long ponytail reaching the back of her knees, light purple eyes, and was wearing what appeared to be a flight helmet. Her name was Winona, a flying type specialist and gym leader of Fortree City.
On the next seat was a middle-aged woman whose only distinctive characteristics were her deep blue hair and eyes. If one saw her on the streets the first word that would come to mind would be 'housewife'. One would be very wrong. She was Rachel, a psychic type specialist and the gym leader of Mossdeep City.
Opposite her sat a very striking man, though whether that was a good ting was up for debate. He was wearing a blue coat, had black hair with some blue highlights. He looked to be in his thirties but was approaching fifty instead. He was Juan, gym leader of Sootopolis City and water type specialist. He was also the mentor of the current Hoenn champion. Which title brought him more respect was up for debate.
Next was a thin man in his thirties. Everything about him, from his slouched form was sitting on the chair to his red stripe of hair on his otherwise bald head along with his slanted red eyes screamed 'delinquent'. Still, despite his appearance, he was the first seat of Hoenn's Elite 4. The dark type specialist Sidney.
To his front sat a woman that couldn't look more different than him. Where Sidney was tall, she was short. Where he was thin, she had an athletic build. Where he was pale, she had a deep brown tan. Where he looked scary, she had an air of innocence about her. She was barefooted and wearing a strapless sports bra along with a long slit skirt. She had two huge flower ornaments on either side of her head, somewhat covering her short black hair, but accentuating her blue eyes. She appeared to be in her mid-teens, even if she was in fact a good decade older. All in all, she looked harmless. That could not be further from the truth, as this was Phoebe, ghost type specialist and the second seat of the Elite 4.
On the next seat was seated a middle-aged woman whose appearance, pose, clothes, and demeanour just screamed 'elegant'. She was pale as snow, which accentuated her blue eyes and light blonde hair. She was wearing white gloves, and an expensive-looking purple dress. She was Glacia, third seat of the Elite 4 and an ice type specialist.
The last occupied seat was taken by a bare-chested man, who only wore a yellow-rimmed black open coat and a sailor's hat on his head. Judging by his very long white moustache, he looked to be about 60. Still, the man was far from feeble. He emitted a fierce aura that would have anyone he stared at on edge. He was Drake. The fourth seat of Hoenn's Elite 4, dragon type specialist, and the previous Hoenn Champion.
The only missing person was the owner of the top seat, Wallace. He was a 29-year-old water type specialist that was mostly characterized for his flamboyant fashion and his turquoise hair and eyes. He was considered to be the strongest trainer in the region, and it was a well-earned title.
These were 13 most influential pokemon trainers in the Hoenn region, and some of the most influential trainers in the world period.
This was a meeting between Hoenn's Guardians, a meeting to which Wallace was late to by over 15 minutes.
"Seriously, when is that disciple of mine going to show up?" muttered Juan. "I should have taught him better than to let his peers waiting for him like this. It is incredibly unbecoming. Not graceful in the slightest."
"I'm sure he must have something important to do, Juan. He is almost never late to a meeting, especially the one at the beginning of the season. Just give it time." Rachel spoke gently.
"Yeah, he usually is a very punctual guy, almost bordering on obsession. You should've seen the way he scolded me that time I arrived 2 minutes late to a meeting because of a rampaging aggron that got out of the granite cave. It was brutal." Brawly shivered as he recalled the incident.
"Yeah, but it was only the second meeting you attended to, Brawly. He wanted to make the importance of these meetings clear. He isn't obsessive." Moore said with a chuckle.
"Speaking of youthful mistakes, this is your first full meeting, right, young lady? Are you nervous? I remember being nervous on my first one all those years ago. Why, I am sure I peed myself a little! WAHAHAHAH!"
"Watson, don't be so crass. There are ladies in the room." Juan chided.
"And what is that supposed to mean, Juan? Are we women somehow not capable of taking a little vulgar ribbing? Is that it?" There was a dangerous tone in Winona's voice, which made all the males in the room look to Juan with sympathy in their eyes.
"Of course not, Winona dear! How could you think of me so? But even for all your strength and beauty, you must agree there are still things a gentleman should never utter, and a lady never hear."
"I'm afraid I'll have to side with Juan on this one, dear. There are indeed some things men are used to speaking that we ladies have no business hearing."
"I thank you, my dear Glacia, for your words. And would like to reiterate that I meant no disrespect, just a reminder for us to keep the decorum that is expected of our stations."
"Che. I'll never get used to that flowery speech of yours. Thank Arceus you didn't rub off on Wallace, or it would make these meetings unbearable."
"Sidney! Don't be so rude. Everyone has a quirk or two. Juan's just more evident."
"Heh. Like you're one to talk. You are wearing three pieces of clothes in total, and this is a formal meeting. What example are you giving the newbie, huh?!"
"A good example, of course! Even when working, one has to take comfort in the little things in life, like wearing comfy clothes and not being hot all the time." Phoebe nodded sagely after she finished speaking, as if imparting a piece great wisdom.
"No arguments here, man." Brawly sighed contently and shrugged. "You really have to relax whenever you can, especially on this job. I like Phoebe's philosophy a whole lot more than the overly serious thing Juan has going on."
"Bro-ly! I knew I could count on you." Phoebe said happily. "Pay attention to your seniors, Roxy. We know best!" She nodded to herself.
"Roxy?" Roxanne mumbled with a gobsmacked face. Nobody had ever given her a nickname before, and now someone she had never even spoken to was giving her one?
"Don't take it to seriously, she gives nicknames to everybody." Said Norman calmly. "Just ignore it if you don't like it. That is what most of us do."
"Hey!" Phoebe squawked in indignation.
"Yeah, that's true. They are terrible nicknames. You lucked out with 'Roxy'. Mine is Birdie, and Drake's is LizardHead." Said Winona with a wry smile.
Just as Roxanne was about to answer, the doors finally opened again, letting Wallace in. He took notice of everyone being present while he hurriedly walked to his seat.
"My apologies, everybody. There was an urgent matter Professor Birch wanted to talk to me about that he said, and I quote, simply couldn't wait." Wallace took his place and sighed. "Although I can't really disagree with him, it was still an unexpected event, which caused my lateness. But now that we're here, we should start the meeting." He took out a big stack of papers before placing them in front of him.
At this sight, the rest of the participants started to either take out stacks of documents themselves, brought out tablets, and some of them activated the holographic screens of their devices.
"Before we begin with today's agenda, I'd like to welcome the newest Gym Leader of Rustboro City to our ranks." Here Wallace looked to Roxanne's eyes and smiled. "It is always a happy occasion when a young trainer reaches this level, so congratulations are in order. I know that the first league season can be overwhelming for the first time, so please don't hesitate to contact any of us if you have any doubts or problems." He said to a chorus of 'yes' from the other members. "So, first order of business, the state of your cities. Gym leaders, please go ahead." Wallace signalled to the rest of the room, and soon all eyes fell to Roxanne, who started fidgeting nervously.
"Well, umm…" Before she could continue, however, Brawly gave her a sympathetic look and spoke up.
"While usually we do this in the order of the gyms during the traditional circuit, why don't I go first? Just so you can have a better idea of what's expected from us." Roxanne gave a smile and a nod, to which Brawly smiled in response.
"Well, things are mostly quiet on Dewford. You know the place. If there isn't an emergency, its mostly quiet. The number of the hariyamas in the Granite Cave rose just a little, which caused more activity and movement. This, in turn, caused the aggron activity to rise accordingly. As far as I know there hasn't been any truly violent encounter, just a few skirmishes here and there." He adopted a thinking face for a moment before shrugging. "There were also a few mentions of poachers in the jungle, but the rangers handled it last I heard." The hall was silent for about 10 seconds, which was taken as a cue for the next person to give a report.
"Um, well, there hasn't been any movement in Rustboro. A few citizens were somewhat alarmed over my predecessor's retirement, but things got quiet when it was made known that I would be his replacement. After the incident three years ago the people trust in me to keep them safe."
Said incident referred to a stampede of whismurs, loudreds, and quite a few explouds agitated by the construction of the Rusturf Tunnel that were heading towards Rustboro. At this time Roxanne was still a member of the ranger forces and was stationed on route 116 monitoring the flow of wild pokemon. When the attempt to disperse or redirect the stampede was unsuccessful, if fell to her and her alone to stop them. Her whole team made an appearance then.
While she had only finished her conference two year beforehand, she was still a talented trainer. That talent allowed her to be firmly in the ace level by that time. Her whole ensemble of rock types stopped the stampede right then and there.
"There have been reports of a few magmas on the outskirts of the city, but nothing confirmed. I placed a pair of pokemon from my main team to keep an eye on the situation, but so far it has not borne any fruit." Roxanne exhaled and kept quiet. After some time, it was Watson's turn.
"Well, I had to head down to New Mauville again last week. There was a sudden rise in the magnemite line, you see. There had to have been at least a hundred. I caught a few and scared the rest into submission. There quite a few magnetons and I saw three magnezones, so there's that. Also, the female electabuzz with the crooked antenna? She had another clutch. Two eggs this time. Oh man, I can already picture the cute elekids…"
The meeting progressed for about an hour after that. Watson, as usual, couldn't shut up. The only alarming thing was the sudden rise of the sightings of Team Aqua and Team Magma. The Urban Police Force and Winona even had to break a battle royale between the two groups by the Weather Institute near Fortree. Luckily, there were no casualties incurred by the force, but some injuries were inevitable. As always with these kinds of groups, the arrested ones were mostly grunts and recruits, so no viable information there. Shortly after that, though, the meeting was grinding to a halt.
"Well, before we each go on our own merry way, lets just confirm that we have everything ready for the start of the season next week. Roxanne, has your gym been remodelled?" Wallace asked.
Every time a gym leader changes, the gym itself is remodelled to better accommodate the type specialty of the new gym leader. Even when both of them specialize in the same type, their preferences are different, and so a smaller scale remodelling still takes place.
"Yes, everything's ready. I already selected the gym trainers for the challenge, and they are ready to start. The badges have been made and the pokemon provided by the league are ready." Roxanne seemed satisfied with her work.
"Well, that's perfect then. The traditional circuit starts at Rustboro, but not many trainers these days like to adhere to it. You shouldn't have an extraordinarily heavy flow the first weeks. That being said, those weeks are still the busiest for all the gyms, so keep your pantry stocked."
Wallace then continued to ask about the preparations for the gym season for a few minutes and motioned everyone to quiet down once the conversation was developing into chatter.
"Okay, one final thing." Wallace said and went through his stack of papers until he found the correct file. "The results for the standardised starter examination should have been sent to you last night. Did you receive them?" He asked and got nods from almost everyone.
"Oh, right. This is your granddaughter's rookie year, right Moore? Did she get the torchic you made her fight for?" Asked Brawly with a chuckle.
Gym leaders were all powerful people. Every one of them could get their hands on a regional starter if they so wished. It would be difficult, but definitely doable. Still, Moore was an old-school 'efforts are their own reward' type of guy, so he made his granddaughter compete for a torchic like everybody else.
"You haven't even read the list, have you, Brawly?" Asked moore with a strange look on his face.
"Uhh, no? I mean, yeah, they are the most promising trainers of the year and all, but c'mon, they are just rookies." He shrugged. Upon seeing the serious looks everyone was sporting he realized there was something wrong. "Am I missing something?" He asked quizzically. Wallace sighed.
"Brawly, when you are sent something unusual it means it is important." He chided.
"Yeah, sure man. I'll check it right now…" He offered but was stopped by a shake of Wallace's head.
"Don't bother, I'm summarizing it anyway." Wallace said and the screen at his back sprang to life showing the profile of a thirteen-year-old girl.
"This is Olive, no last name. And as most of you already know, she came first place in the most recent starter examination." He got nods from everyone, save Brawley, who was still trying to understand the seriousness of the situation. "The importance of the matter, however, is that she was placed first by a considerable margin. A very, very large margin." And Brawley could see the importance in that last sentence, even if he still thought it was not that big of a deal. "Moore, I believe you wanted to add something to this point?" Said man just nodded.
"Well, as Brawley put it, this my granddaughter's rookie year, and she wanted to get a torchic. Now, while I didn't just give her one, I did my damn best to ensure she could get one." That grabbed the attention of the rest. When an ex-elite 4, gym leader, fire specialist with decades of experience in the type coaches a trainer in a specific subject, the results are enormous. "And it's not just a few pointers, I'm talking about two months of intensive tutoring. Add to that the fact that Flannery is already incredibly talented with fire types and her experience with strong pokemon while growing up, I fully expected her to her first place by a large margin." Once the words had sunk in, he added one last thing. "As a matter of fact, without counting this selection, she had the best general performance for the last 15 years." That immediately grabbed everyone's attention. That was an indication of a promising trainer even among promising trainers. "Hell, the girl is my unofficial apprentice at this point. And while I risk sounding arrogant, the knowledge I passed to her is not insignificant." He looked at everyone in the eye. "She got second place, with the best performance in 15 years, let me remind you, and the difference in the scores between her and the first place is larger than the one between her and the third place." The room went deadly quiet.
While they had checked the results, most did not dig deep enough to collect the results from past years as comparison. That this information came up here, it was alarming.
"Yes, thank you, Moore. I'm sure your words will bring the necessary perspective for all of us to really understand the magnitude of the situation at hand." Wallace once again took the reins of the conversation. "Now, let us discuss her results. She broke the historical record for the theoretical test." Everyone's eyes widened dramatically at that. That was a feat not many ace trainers could accomplish. "And for those of you not in the know, the test includes knowledge at the level of ace trainers, with a few points that even leader level trainers not specialized in the type being tested cannot answer." He let that settle for a few moments before continuing. "As a matter of fact, that test was designed to be unbeatable. No one should achieve a perfect score, because it includes 18 questions that only specialized ace level trainers, sometimes leader level trainers, can comfortably answer. And on that unbeatable test, she only got 7 wrong answers."
The silence that followed was absolute. Some of them even stopped breathing. Truth was, not many of the trainers in the room, the 13 best trainers in Hoenn, could achieve that feat. Maybe Moore and the more veteran Guardians could, given their experience, but it was not a guarantee. After nearly a minute of silence, as each trainer processed the words, someone spoke.
"Oh man, that's…" Brawley could not find the words to describe the statement.
"Indeed." Juan commented, still a somewhat unsettled. After a few seconds, Wallace spoke again.
"And then comes the next tests, which are, arguably, more impressive." Some startled at his words. What could be more impressive than that? "On the pokemon handling portion of the examination, she was assigned, not randomly at all, I might add, a ralts." Some of them winced.
"Man, that's dirty." Brawley said, somewhat indignant on behalf of this young promising trainer. "Why would they do that? I mean, correct me if I'm wrong, but ralts are one of the few pokemon that are always assigned randomly, save for the top spots of the theoretical to not jeopardize a promising trainer's chances, so what gives?" He questioned.
"That, exactly, is the problem." Wallace sighed, looking a little troubled. "She is not a Hoenn national." There were surprised looks from the occupants of the room. "Actually, we don't even know her nationality for sure." He added with a wry smile.
"What?" Questioned Glacia. "Why don't we? All registered trainers must be vetted before obtaining their licenses, and that includes a very thorough background check. Are you telling me that we don't have the girl's history and still allowed her to be registered?"
"Well, we aren't exactly in the dark about her background." Wallace added. "We have records showing her life from 4 years back." He said, and the image on the screen showed her life in that time. "The earliest info we have on her is when she somehow convinced Elizabeth and Gerald Akele to hire her as general help in the Paniola Ranch. For those of you who don't know, that is the best and biggest pokemon breeding facility in the Alola region, and Elizabeth and Gerald are renowned for being some of the best prepared individuals in the field. Each of them could easily get a license as a professor if they just asked for it." He informed the rest, who were processing the information. "Still, she got the job. And here comes the interesting part. After a bit over a year working there, they had her move into their house. And while their relationship eventually progressed to that of a foster family, what made them do it in the first place was the remarkable job she had been doing. At ten years of age, she became the go-to person if either Elizabeth, Gerald, or the professional breeders were unavailable, sometimes even over them." Wallace told them seriously. "Let me reiterate. She was working on the level of a professional breeder and handler at ten." That, that was impressive. Incredibly, unbelievably impressive.
"You thinking she's a wild one?" Drake questioned abruptly, drawing more than a few shocked glances.
'Wild Ones', as they were commonly called, was a very special type of person in the world. They, because of varying circumstances, ended up living in the wilds from a very young age, fending for themselves in an environment in which wild pokemon were dominant. There were few people who returned to civilization after that, most dying before really growing up. The ones that did, though, were either uncontrollable madmen who ended up voluntarily returning to the wild after they failed to adapt to society, or trainers with such understanding of pokemon that they became some of the best for their respective eras.
There had not been any recorded cases of this happening for over 100 years, since technology and safety measures for civilians and trainers alike had been advancing rapidly, but it was still a popular topic since it was such an unbelievable experience.
"We have no solid evidence to back that theory." Wallace added. "In fact, we have some information that seems to disprove it. Rookie trainer Olive was noted to be remarkably intelligent, eloquent, and polite by her carers." He sighed. "That being said, we have no solid evidence to disprove it either, and it would make sense for her to have spent at least a couple of years in the wild, before she was even 10. That could very well explain her expertise in dealing with pokemon, but she was never asked, and neither did she in any occasion made even the slightest reference to such experience as far as we could find." The room was once again tense for a few seconds until Norman broke the silence.
"In any case, our lack of information renders this speculation pointless. She could be a wild one, or just a very talented handler. What else do we have on her?"
While trainers of their calibre would not usually take a deep interest in a rookie, no matter how promising, Olive's accomplishments were too outstanding to be ignored by an organization that values strong trainers.
"Nothing of importance. She spent her time at the ranch, barely going out and even then, only to Paniola Town, and took a ship to Slateport when she turned 13. When asked about her reasons to register as a Hoenn trainer instead of a foreign competing in the circuit she said, and I quote, 'Alola has no gym circuit, and I want a treecko.' This shows her ambitions, and since only Hoenn registered trainers get to try for the regional starters, well, the only option left was registering here. Birch told me she didn't even hesitate when choosing her starter and went directly for the treecko." There were a few snorts here and there. All starters were coveted, but treecko was definitely the least popular one, being the only one of the three that didn't get dual typing upon evolving.
"So, the examiners purposefully made her test harder than it had any right to be because they didn't want a foreigner to get one of the regional starters over a Hoenn kid, right?" Roxanne asked, getting more comfortable with her position.
"That is the conclusion we reached upon watching the videos." Wallace confirmed before adopting an amused expression. "They were in for a rude awakening, however. Rookie trainer Olive kept a calm emotional state and bonded over her assigned ralts in the first hour. After that, they shared lunch as if they had been partners for months, and even practiced some commands and strategies before the battles began. As a point of interest, she showed remarkable familiarity with the ralts species, showcased by the adjusting of her emotional state before approaching, as well as a detailed knowledge of their most common moves, strengths, and weaknesses. Footage shows she even managed to fine-tune her ralts' use of confusion, to the point where it looked like a practiced move, when the videos show it was a move the ralts had not practiced much before."
"Oh boy, I'm not liking my chances right now if she gets a psychic before my gym." Brawley added, trying to inject some levity to the situation, which somewhat worked.
"Yes, well, that gave her a perfect grade for the handling portion of the examination, of course. Bonus points, even, for the difficulty of handling a ralts." Wallace added before adopting a serious expression once more. "Since the second portion is not numerically graded, she didn't break any records there, but she would have if it was. Her handling was perfect. There is nothing I can think of that she could have done better." That made the room do a double take.
It was one thing to praise someone for their expertise, but for the champion to qualify her performance as perfect? That was on another level of skill entirely.
"Then the third portion, the battle test." Wallace took a deep breath here. "She did not break the record, but she matched it." He announced, which was again managed to take them all by surprise. "She participated in and won 16 battles, consecutive battles. With a ralts she had met some hours prior. And once again, footage shows the ralts could handle at least a couple more battles before exhausting itself or fainting. She decided to let the ralts rest when it was tired, which was the reason they did not. The ralts also decided to join her at the end of the test, which almost never happens, and awarded even more bonus points." You could hear a pin drop in the room. "The overall results have her breaking the historical record, my record, mind you, by about 15%." That shocked everyone to their core, since Wallace's record was considered to be unbeatable. For it to be beaten by such a large margin? "That means that this trainer, Olive, who we have no records of before she was 9, and has no real ties to the region, is the single most talented and promising trainer Hoenn has seen since the establishment of the League, period. And considering her team and performance in the theoretical test, is already a budding generalist." Wallace added, surprising all of them. Generalists were rare for a reason; it was hard to succeed as one. But her test results already placed her well above the norm, so it was an exciting prospect.
"Heh, so we may have a new Cynthia in our hands, then?" Sidney questioned, eager.
The existence of the very talented Sinnoh trainer was a bit of a sore topic for every other region. She was, inarguably, the most promising trainer alive. She was one of the few trainers in history to have more than one champion level pokemon before even being a champion, which were her garchomp and lucario. And thanks to her status as a generalist, she could counter everything the second strongest trainer in the world, Lance, could throw at her. If Lance let loose his army of dragonites at her things might go the other way, but in an official battle setting, Cynthia is the strongest there is, no ifs, ands, or buts. As such, every other region's league tried harder than normal to pump out trainers that could reach that level, as the power balance between regions was a delicate matter Lance and Cynthia, but especially Cynthia, were close to breaking.
"More than you think." Wallace added before showing six images beside Olive's picture. "This is the pokemon that Olive has registered so far. If it is a reflection of her ambitions, we have either a powerhouse on the making or a crash waiting to happen." He then kept quiet, letting the others analyse her team.
"Fuck." Brawley plainly stated. And it was deserved.
"Can she handle it?" Roxanne questioned, her educator side worried for this promising trainer.
"Well, good luck to her, I say." Sidney commented. "That girl's incredibly arrogant to believe she can handle all of those and reach a high level." Usually, his caustic words were ignored by most, since that was the way his personality was, but this time everyone had to agree with it.
"Well, the method for Alolan ninetale's evolution can be granted to any ace trainer affiliated with the league, with even some promising elite trainers being informed, but nidoking's is more restricted, being given only to strong league-affiliated ace trainers. Still, she could get them if she reaches that level. Arcanine's, on the other hand, is unknown even to the league." Glacia commented. With her being the record-keeper of the league, the one responsible to update sensitive information, she was the authority on the matter. "Moore?" She asked, to which he shook his head.
"I have no idea, Glacia." He admitted. "To be honest I did try to get a growlithe to evolve into an arcanine, like most fire specialists do, but I gave up after 5 years of failures. I tried everything I could think of, but he just never evolved. Hell, I even tried to buy the method, first from Blaine, then from Oak when he refused, and finally from Birch when he figured it out, but I got shot down each and every single time." It was a sore point for him, being the only fire specialist currently or formerly in their region's Elite 4 without an Arcanine. Blaine had been on it a few decades prior, and Flint and Malva were still on there at Sinnoh and Kalos respectively. The fact that two generalists as Oak and Birch had one of them as well also annoyed him, especially Birch, since Oak at least was the Indigo champion for a time. Birch just got lucky and managed to have his arcanine barely reach leader level.
"And while pidgey has guides available almost everywhere, they are not very good." Winona said to the room. Her pidgeot was just at the low-ace level, but it was already higher than most pidgeots.
"And ralts is an incredibly hard pokemon to deal with, even if when it reaches its final evolution, be it gallade or gardevoir it is one of the best pokemon you could ask for." Rachel added.
"And let's not forget that all guides on treecko are league-regulated information, so she would need connections to get them, connections she doesn't have. There is no way a couple of Alolan breeders, no matter how good, can get detailed information on Hoenn's regional starters." Roxanne added, a worried frown on her face.
"That does not matter that much, since most trainers start their journeys without but the most basic training guides." Norman interceded. "What really alarms me is her confidence. It seems foolhardy, which based on the information we have she is not.
"All of those are excellent points." Wallace granted. "Which brings me to the additional information Birch gave me. The reason I was late, in fact." Wallace stated to the surprise of some of the Guardians.
"So, Birch knows the girl?" Drake asked, interested.
"A little." Wallace admitted. "They met at a diner in Slateport a couple of weeks before the starter examinations. He apparently got curious as to why she had been staring at a wall for 15 minutes during which a waiter served her food and she didn't even notice." Wallace asked humorously, the mental image being amusing. "After he asked, she confessed to being in thought about possible additions to her team as well as the progression of her current pokemon, to which he offered some advice." He told the room. "He was also surprised to see an unregistered rookie with four pokemon, which fuelled his curiosity. This was, presumably, on the day she arrived to Hoenn."
"Well, that's interesting and all, but what did she do that Birch had to inform you personally of this development?" Moore questioned.
"Well, he brought up several points about her after he told me he knew her, three being things I consider important enough for you to know." He straightened his back before addressing the other 12. "First being that after he advised her to change her team to pokemon with known evolutionary methods, she refused, and told him she would take part on her conference with a growlithe and a nidorino if she had to. That she left out her vulpix indicates either she just forgot, she doesn't want it to stay in her team long-term, or she already knows the evolution method." He stated, to the surprise of many, including Glacia.
"That is highly unlikely. The method for an alolan vulpix to evolve is not the best guarded one, but it should be impossible for a rookie to know about." She stated with certainty, until Normal spoke up.
"But if she worked with the topmost alolan breeders for years, she might have seen something she wasn't supposed to, so it wouldn't be out of the realm of possibility." Norman concluded, which brought to the room a thoughtful silence.
"Well, even if she knows, I can guarantee you she is unable to accomplish it at the time being." Glacia added, well aware if just how rare ice stones were.
"Well, that statement, other from her possible knowledge of regulated information, shows us her confidence and care for her team. We also know that both pokemon mentioned, nidoran and growlithe, are the pokemon that had been with her the longest, nidoran being her starter and growlithe her brother's. Why he has her brother's starter is unknown, but Birch thinks her brother might have died. And before you ask, no, the information didn't help to find out more about our mystery trainer." He added after seeing Norman ready to interrupt. "The second point of importance was the level of her team. Please remember, this was the state of her team some weeks ago. According to Birch, her nidoran was ready for evolution, which meant he was delaying it under her orders. Why, we don't know. He also concluded that her nidoran and and growlithe, which had both been with her for about 4 years, were at the high or top novice level, which is way above the rookie she is. Her alolan vulpix had been with her for a month. And she was at medium novice, while her Fairchild pidgey, captured just two weeks prior, was at-low novice level." Wallace said, shocking the room.
"Well fuck." Brawley elegantly expressed, and no one corrected him. "If she trains her ralts as good as she apparently can, I'd just as well give her my badge right now." He complained, impressed.
Rookie trainers were expected to have rookie-level pokemon, maybe some on the initial stages of novice level, tops. Two pokemon on top novice, one at medium, and one at low, was a team that would not be out of place with an adept level trainer, And that was before she even started her journey, which was the period when the most explosive growth could be expected in a trainers career. There was a reason some elite trainers didn't stop after completing the gym circuits of their respective regions and instead elected to travel to other ones instead.
"Yes, it is an impressive achievement, but not unheard of." Juan commented. "There must be something else, right, Wallace?"
"Yes." Wallace nodded and at that moment his expression was so stern that the entire room straightened their backs. "According to Birch, the girl tried to have him tell her the method for growlithe's evolution." He declared. "And while this would normally be just a tad rude, it is completely forgivable, especially coming from an overly excited rookie. The problem was that, according to Birch, the theory the girl had come up with was so monumentally close to the actual evolution method that he concluded that, and I quote: "At this point Wallace took out a piece of paper and read out loud its contents. "'The only reason she didn't get it right was lack of experience, nothing more. I predict she'll have an arcanine on her team before she even finishes the circuit. The girl's a genius. Her degree of logical reasoning is at a level I have never seen before, not even in trained professors. Based on what she said and how she explained her reasoning, I think, and please don't dismiss my words as empty, that with a little research and her brain alone, she can come up with the correct evolutionary method for almost any pokemon she sets her mind to.' Unquote." Wallace then looked at every single person in the eyes. "This is Birch, the pokemon professor in Hoenn, and he says the girl is smarter than him. So much so, that she has, at 13, almost figured out, by herself, the method to get an arcanine, and is capable of getting the method for many others. Rookie trainer Olive is, as of right now, not only an incredibly promising young trainer, but also a person of interest for Hoenn. If she reaches her whole potential, we won't be getting a new Cynthia, we will be getting something better." He declared. "As such, please keep an eye out for her, and notify me the moment she steps into your gyms."
Seeing Wallace, their champion, the strongest trainer in Hoenn, act that way brought to the front of their mind the information they had received on Olive, and they had to agree. If any trainer, let alone with her achievements, got an arcanine they would be declared a person of interest for the league. They all left the room thinking of the future and how interesting things would get. All except Brawley, who promised himself to always read every league message he got.
Hello, my beautiful readers! Crimson here.
I thought it would be prudent to give you an update about my life and mental state. And, well, things are moving forwards.
It really is a whole different thing intellectually understanding what depression is and actually having first-hand experience for suffering from it. I always thought it was more of an emotional state instead of the very serious medical condition it is. If you want to, search in google images the difference between a depressed brain and a normal brain. It was mind blowing when my therapist showed me I was not being dramatic and was actually suffering from a medical condition.
Anyway, moving on with my current state. I am better. Not by much, but better. I still struggle to sleep some nights and there are some days I, literally, do not leave my bed. I don't read, don't write, don't watch tv, nothing. I just spend the whole day laying down on my bed contemplating the many different ways my life is fucked up. It's not very pretty.
BUT, I am moving forwards. I have more energy than usual most days, the same energy I remember having 4 years ago before my depression even started to be a notion in my mind. It's like the difference between being sedated and lucid, if you guys know what I mean. Before taking anti-depressants, my life was so… grey. Lifeless. Purposeless. Empty. Things that should've made cry, laugh, angry, or happy, just slipped by. I didn't care about anything, and in the moment, it didn't look like it was a problem. It took me a failed suicide attempt to actually realize I was sick, and it was a shocking experience for me, who never even seriously considered the possibility of taking my own life before I tried to do just that. It was awful.
The pills, though, have returned some life to me. I enjoy writing again, so there is that.
I've been listening music again! You have no idea how excited I am by that. I had not realized before, but I was so fucked up I spent about 2 years without listening to music at all. It is refreshing.
Anyway, the point is that while I'm still not in a good place, I'm not tethering on the edge of the abyss just waiting for a moderately strong breeze to push me over. It will take me a long time, probably years, to get to how I was before, if I can ever accomplish it, but for now I am better. I'm even writing an Overlord fanfic to pass my free time! I've written 60k words in about… 2 weeks? Maybe? Something like that. I am enjoying it.
As for this work, well, I'm working on it. I have more stuff ready than I did last time I updated you guys, but I feel its still not enough. I am excited about the prospect of enjoying writing as much as I used to, but I make no promises.
Progress in these kind of conditions is not linear. So, even if I was feeling at the top of the world right now —which I'm really not—, I could be just as bad as when it all first started tomorrow. As such, please have a little patience if you start getting frustrated with my release rate. Hell, you can even read BANIX's work, I recommend it a lot, since it was what inspired me to write a pokemon fanfic in the first place. And his pokemon works combined have a total of over a million words, so it will las you for a while.
As always, I hoped you enjoyed and my rant was not a bit too much for you, but I wanted to let you know, since internet is the only place where I can do this kind of stuff outside therapy. Anyway, stay happy and healthy.
Crimson out!