Chapter 7
Lore got, Encounter Table Learned, and Rival Get?
The foray into the library had turned out to be monumentally beneficial to, presumably, both of us. First off, there is a dune/desert area at the northernmost part of this region, complete with a town, which could be the habitat of a baltoy or claydol. Second of all, the forest leading to the next town over have shuckle living in it; however, I must temper my non-existent excitement, as these sightings are excessively rare, meaning I will need to pull all-nighters. And, lastly, there are 18 different gyms. Dear god, do I have an adventure on my hands. At least i can begin the e4 challenge at as little as 8
And, lastly, and arguably most importantly, by no means other than plot armor should the current champion, well, BE the current champion. The last one had a Sandstorm team, with a frankly incredible degree of type coverage, due to the fact he recognized pokemon like Reuniclus were immune to weather damage. It had a balance of both physical and special sweepers and/or tanks. He even had a pair of Choice Specs for his Alakazam, for the Hearts' sake! Although, that is just heresay. I dare say I could consider myself his successor.
Little miss power of friendship, however, had a mish-mash of 6 pokemon, none of which had much synergy aside from covering weaknesses, which was made redundant by how she "Believed in her friends to overcome any weakness!" and never even considered switching. She didn't even use a SINGLE recovery item, much less spam them like any good league challenger knows to do. Didn't even have them hold Orans. Urp! Oh god, I am gonna be sick.
I theorize I will know Glorious Schadenfreude once I dethrone her like french royalty. I hope that day comes quickly.
"I just realized, I never got your name. May I have it?"
"Oh! Sorry! My name's Marie."
"Apology accepted. I am one Sir Whittington. Charmed."
"Oh! And, in case you were wondering, my starter is an Eevee."
Oh-hoh. Eevee is a universally rare catch. And it has a number of... Viable evolutions. Considering the nature of this journey, I see a number of applications for them.
"What do you plan on evolving it too?"
"Eh, I'm good with whatever it wants."
"Hm, valid, valid. All of it's evolutions are strong in their own right, just need to ensure it fits the team structure."
That confused her.
"Team structure? Why would their evolution affect how the team likes them?"
Ah, right. Smogon is not the parliament in these lands.
"Well, first of all, certain Pokemon just seem more difficult to make get along; for instance, water or ice types and the slugma line. A careless water type is likely to get them wet, thus solidifying & effectively killing them. With ice types it is much the same scenario; slugma and magcargo are so active and restless because it is the only thing keeping them from solidifying them, and colder temperatures of course means they have to be even more unreasonably fast to not become alive'nt. The big problem with them hardening is that the flowing magma/lava acts as blood, and circulates energy and nutrients and whatnot. As such, if you plan to have one of them on the team, you shouldn't let your eevee evolve into a vaporeon or glaceon, and more importantly, you should study what Pokemon cannot tolerate, lest you risk accidentally getting them killed. And that is only the moral ramifications, as I doubt you would care about having a unbalanced team."
I had gotten lost in my little lecture, so I didn't notice the expression of distinct disgust and horror growing on her face.
"Before you ask, no, I do not know because I instigated such a scenario, or because I got blindsided by it myself."
"OhthankArceuswhatarelief. I honestly don't know how to react if it turned out you let a Pokemon die so unwitting trainers don't repeat the situation. Like, one one hand, you killed a Pokemon, and on the other, you did it EXPLICITLY so other people don't accidentally kill them. Like, what is the proper judgement there?"
"A near-criminal regard and lack of morals, in favor of furthering the human race's comprehension of reality. A proper sentence would be having a supervisor around them at all times."
Again, Marie looked disturbed at it, but after a bit decided it wasn't too heinous.
"Yeah, that, that seems both humane and just. Honestly, you scare me sometimes with how easily you can break down and resolve these sorts of things."
"Life is but one big program running thousands of calculations. Just gotta make yours have a positive result."
"That... is oddly inspirational. Leave it to you to turn weird and probably depressing things into inspirational messages."
"I prescribe to the idea of optimistic nihilism; there is no reason to life, everything just exists, the only obligations and concerns we have are the ones we give ourselves, come hang out and eat pizza."
That got a snort and a quick laugh out of her. Strange. It fills me with this heat in my chest. Not like just turning up the ac, but that satisfying warmth you feel after sunbathing and then putting on comfy clothes.
I want more.
"Ah, yes, laugh at the court fool! It is, after all, my job to inspire mirth and joy among the royals! Does my jingling hat and quick-as-lightning wit not amuse you, my lady?"
This got her cracking up. Laughter was simply pouring out from her, a wondrous peal resonating with my soul. I am half convinced this is what a drug feels like, and that I must be becoming an addict.
"Carry along now, we have a champion to dethrone, can't do that if we're stuck here giggling at the entrance of a forest."
"I- I- I'm sorry, I-its just, you're always so calm and uncaring, and to suddenly hear you joking around is still hard to believe."
"Oh, just because I'm the stereotypical intellectual downer, I can't be the funny man?"
"Exactly! You get it!"
The smile informs me this was just jest.
"Oh! I am struck! The audacity!... Alright, thats enough, let's get moving."
"Alright, but you need to joke around more like this. A stranger would like at you and think your heart is dead."
Hm. How right they would be.