Monday, January 8th, 2018

"So can we address the Cufant in the room?"

"You mean car," Cait corrected from the driver's seat where she was piloting our excursion to Rochester.

"Right, Cufant in the car," John amended with a snort before turning around to look at me. "Why in the world did you name your Ponyta, a Pokemon that's white, blue, and pink, Shadow?"

I chuckled at the exaggerated question before explaining, "One of my favorite book series back home had a white horse in it named Shadowfax and I felt like it fit. Plus, she's quiet enough that the name works even without the reference." Shadow was still as silent as she'd been when she'd first hatched a week ago, but she wasn't particularly shy and seemed healthy so I'd decided not to worry about it.

John took a few seconds to consider, "Alright, I guess it's a solid name then."

"Thanks for your approval," I answered dryly, then paused when something occurred to me, "Actually, is there a particular reason why your Pokemon don't have nicknames?"

"Oh, they do," John said with a wide grin. "They're just not ready for them yet."

"Am… I supposed to know what that means?" I asked haltingly.

"I have absolutely no idea what he's saying either," Cait assured me.

"They're more of stage names than actual nicknames," John explained. When it looked like neither of us still got it, he sighed and added, "Some of them only work once they're evolved."

While I understood what he was talking about, I still didn't get it but decided not to press the issue. Instead, I asked, "So what are they?"

John's grin returned, "I don't want to ruin the surprise."

Seeing my own words from more than a month ago returned to me, I shrugged, figuring that I would find out soon enough. Cait apparently still wasn't entirely on board with the idea since she commented, "You're ridiculous."

"Hey, they're awesome," John defended himself. "Besides, if you really want to stand out as a trainer, you need to have something like that."

"So being a ground specialist isn't enough for you?"

"Ah, but I'm not actually a ground specialist," John said conspiratorially," I'm just letting everyone think that. That way everyone will be surprised when I show up at the State Fair with a bunch of new rock types."

I could help myself from laughing at his big reveal, "I don't think there's a big enough difference between ground and rock for that to really surprise anyone."

"He's just doing it for the attention," Cait said dismissively, but if she expected John to deny it, she was disappointed.

"Exactly! A rock and ground specialist isn't all that special. But one from Minnesota will really get people's attention!" John paused from his exclamation to give Cait a sideways look, "Besides, you don't get to act like you're not doing the exact same thing. I've noticed the pattern in your team."

"That's different," Cait protested, sounding uncharacteristically flustered.

I quickly ran through Cait's roster in my head, then frowned and asked, "Wait, what's the pattern?"

"They're all Pokemon that people see as pests," John succinctly explained, leaving me to puzzle it out for myself. Cutiefly and Shuppet were easy enough to figure, and Tynamo was an invasive species so it fit as well. Houndour and Poliwag seemed a bit like a stretch, but I figured they got somewhat of a pass given that they were her first two Pokemon. Machop was the one that I was really stuck on until I finally remembered what it evolved into here.

While I'd been mentally running through her Pokemon, Cait issued her rebuttal to John, "That's your own fault, you know. I never would have gotten the idea without your reaction to seeing Flit!"

Rather than risk the conversation devolving forward, I quickly interjected, "That's when you guys met in Hinckley right? I'd actually been meaning to ask one of you guys if I could borrow your Fire Fang TM so I can teach the move to Nin."

I could almost see the gears shift in John's head at the sudden topic shift. After a few seconds, he frowned thoughtfully, "I'm pretty sure that Ekans can't learn Fire Fang."

Completely ignoring her fellow trainer, Cait answered, "I'll do it if I can borrow Water Pulse to teach Poli."

"That sounds good," I replied with a thankful nod even though I knew she couldn't see it.

"Wait, you shouldn't take advantage of-" John started to say, but quickly cut himself off. "Sorry, that was way too harsh, but still. Thomas doesn't know what moves Minnesotan Pokemon can and can't learn so that's not exactly fair."

If Cait was offended by John's slip, she didn't show it and dismissively said, "I'll just wait to use Water Pulse until after he's used Fire Fang."

"It's fine either way," I added, "Even if Nin can't learn it, I'm happy to lend Cait Water Pulse. You guys have helped me out more than enough that it's the least I could do."

It was quiet for a few seconds before John laughed ruefully, "Alright, sorry then. Guess I'm just a little too used to dealing with my sister when it comes to stuff like this." After Cait and I had both let him know it was alright, he nodded gratefully and gave Cait a curious look, "So do you think Nin will actually be able to learn the move?"

"I'm not sure, but he's definitely doing something right with how many non-standard moves his Pokemon know."

I wasn't sure what I was doing that could be considered different than anyone else, but John changed the topic again before I thought to ask. "So what are you both thinking for the gym battle? I'm still trying to decide who I'm going to have sit out."

Not counting Shadow, I was in a similar situation in that I would have to use all but one of my Pokemon. "Blitz is definitely in for me and then probably Peren and Nin for the other two. I actually had to look up fairy type effectiveness since I'd completely forgotten that fire resists fairy."

"That makes sense," Cait commented with a contemplative nod, "Knowing Pokemon types wouldn't have been a big deal for you back home since it was just a game and not something you were planning on doing for a career."

"Well, yes, but I still pretty much had the type chart memorized even though it was only a game. I just sometimes forget fairy since it's new."

"What do you mean new?" John asked with a confused look.

I finally realized what I'd said and tried to explain, "The fairy type wasn't added until the Kalos games, which were the sixth generation of games. I'm just still not used to it yet."

John and Cait made quiet noises of bewilderment for several seconds before Cait finally asked, "How do you just add a type?"

I shrugged nonchalantly, "A lot of Pokemon that are fairy were either normal typed or didn't have a secondary type yet, but a good chunk of them just weren't in the games yet. I'm pretty sure that the developers added fairy Pokemon to nerf dragons." I hesitated slightly when I saw where that train of thought was leading but continued working through it. "Although, how would game developers in my world add something for balance reasons when it's something that's always existed here?"

John and Cait quieted again for a bit before John finally said, "Maybe it's best not to think about that one." True to his word, he immediately changed the topic back to the gym and we spent the rest of the car ride discussing what we were thinking for our gym matches. To be specific, John and I did most of the talking since Cait was oddly quiet on the topic of the gym.

We finally arrived in Rochester about an hour and a half after leaving Minneapolis and Cait parked the car in the hospital's parking ramp. The Marill Clinic was the largest treatment center in the state for both humans and Pokemon, with the gym located in one of the attached buildings. Since we needed to get our challenge out of the way, we followed the signs for one of the smaller checkup clinics instead of the gym when we made our way inside.

Our arrival at the clinic revealed a waiting room that looked completely identical to every one that I'd been in in the past, complete with old magazines scattered on end tables. As usual, Cait took charge and walked up to the receptionist's desk to get us checked in. The three of us were given clipboards with forms to fill out and then told that someone would be with us for the checkups shortly.

The information on the form ended up having a few questions for me to answer about myself, but the vast majority of it was reserved for information about my Pokemon. There were fields for all of the basic questions including species, sex, and approximate capture location. Each Pokemon also had a section where you could fill out comments, but I left that blank for everyone except for Shadow, where I noted that she was newly hatched.

Once I'd completed filling the forms out, I handed the clipboard back to the receptionist who said that it wouldn't be too long of a wait. As expected, that wasn't entirely accurate since we spent the next twenty minutes quietly conversing in the waiting room before Cait was finally called back. John was called next a few minutes later and then finally it was my turn.

A woman who introduced herself as Doctor Larson led me back to the examination room that we would be using. Like the lobby, the room had roughly the same layout as what I was used to, though there was one distinct difference in that the room was significantly larger than any examination room that I'd seen. Since the room was intended for Pokemon checkups, the increased size certainly made sense as it would likely accommodate almost any Pokemon not named Wailord.

Once we'd entered the examination room, Doctor Larson consulted the clipboard she was carrying before saying, "Why don't we get started with your Deerling and then work our way down?"

"Sounds good," I said and pressed the button on Peren's Pokeball. When he materialized, he looked around the room and nervously shifted his feet around, but otherwise stood still while the doctor began her inspection.

While she leaned over Peren's head to inspect the health of his flower, Doctor Larson spoke up without taking her attention away from him, "One thing that I like to do during these checkups is to ask trainers how they're currently training each of their Pokemon. That way I can give you any feedback or suggestions that I have regarding that particular Pokemon's needs."

"Sure, that makes sense. We've been switching back and forth between Worry Seed and Stomp for a while now, trying to get both moves in a good spot."

The doctor lightly hummed in acknowledgment and silently continued checking Peren. After a few minutes, she lowered the leg that she'd lifted to inspect his hoof and then asked, "Can I get a sample of a Worry Seed?" Peren glanced at me and when I nodded, he sprouted one from his flower. Doctor Larson gingerly picked up the seed and then placed it in a sample bag before turning back to me, "Overall, your Deerling is in excellent health. The primary item that could use more attention would be his hooves, which are worn from walking on hard surfaces, but that can be remedied by more frequent usage of healing machines."

I frowned at the news and lightly berated myself for forgetting such an obvious aspect of caring for hooved animals. Turning to Peren, I asked, "Have they been hurting you?"

Peren immediately shook his head and Doctor Larson assured me, "It's only at the point where he would have felt mild discomfort and as long as you keep it in mind, it won't be a problem beyond that. At any rate, he's cleared for the gym battle so we can move onto your Fletchinder." With that said, she distractedly gestured to a small perch a few feet away from us before returning her attention to writing something on her clipboard.

I returned Peren but hesitated before pressing the button on my next Pokemon's ball, "He's sometimes a bit of a handful so I'm not entirely sure how well a checkup will go." I'd warned Blitz ahead of time that he would have to behave for the checkup or else he couldn't fight in the gym, but I wasn't sure how well the message would have stuck.

Doctor Larson only laughed softly at my caution, "I've been warned about that exact thing countless times. It's more common than you might think for middle-stage Pokemon, especially flying types, to be on the stubborn or even ornery side."

I decided not to inform her that Blitz had been like that since he was a Fletchling and instead shrugged, sending him out in the direction of the perch. He landed on the perch and spent the next few seconds peering around the room suspiciously.

When the doctor had finished noting things on her clipboard, she set it down and approached Blitz with a smile. "Hello there! Is it alright if I check your feathers?" Blitz slowly nodded after a couple of seconds and allowed her to carefully extend his wing.

I was so surprised at how well the examination was starting, that I almost missed Doctor Larson's question about what we were working on. Somewhat hesitantly, I replied, "I've been looking to get him some non-fire ranged options, so we've been working on a ranged version of Peck." I suddenly realized that I probably should have checked with John and Cait regarding the viability of my plan for Blitz and hoped I hadn't sounded like an idiot.

My fears were not assuaged when the doctor ignored my reply while she continued inspecting Blitz's wing. When she finished, she turned and gave me a curious look, "Why a ranged Peck instead of something like Gust or Air Slash?"

"He prefers to attack with his beak instead of his wings, so I thought it would be a better fit," I said, hoping it was a valid explanation. I omitted a piece of information again, this time that I was fairly sure that the Talonflame line were more of physical attackers than special. I didn't know if that was something that applied here as well, which would be something else that I would have to check with John and Cait about.

At any rate, the doctor seemed to accept my explanation and returned her attention to inspecting Blitz's other wing, beak, and talons. After a few minutes, she said, "Your Fletchinder has a perfect bill of health and is cleared for the gym battle as well." Blitz preened at the news, prompting another light smile from Doctor Larson, "We can move onto your Pachirisu next."

This time, she retrieved a small stool for Scout to stand on so after I'd returned Blitz and sent her out, I pointed Scout to it. She eagerly scampered up the stool and chittered excitedly while the doctor finished her notes. This time when Doctor Larson started her inspection, I preempted her question and said, "We've been trying to work on Protect, but it hasn't been going great. She's able to make a shield out of electricity, but it's too unstable to be useful right now." Scout's ears drooped slightly so I quickly amended, "She's definitely been making good progress though."

Doctor Larson hummed and then moved to the desk to retrieve a small device with several wires coming off of it. She handed the wires to Scout to hold and asked her to shock them. Like Peren, Scout looked at me for confirmation first, then discharged electricity into the wires once I'd nodded.

The doctor watched the device for several seconds before saying, "You can stop now sweetie." Once Scout had stopped her Thunder Shock, Doctor Larson took the wires back from Scout before placing it on the desk and looking at me, "Her electricity output is on the low side so it would be a good idea to work on that first before moving onto more complex moves like Protect. It's a fairly common issue for Mentor trainers to run into."

"Thanks for the advice," I said. Before I could consider if my ignorance was giving anything away, I asked, "What do you mean by Mentor though?"

Thankfully, she didn't seem phased by the question, "It's a way of classifying different trainer styles though I'm not surprised that you haven't heard of it. Trainers usually don't use the labels so as to not Pidgeyhole themselves. As for what it actually means, Mentor style trainers tend to focus on teaching their Pokemon new things constantly, moving onto the next move or ability as soon as they've finished learning the previous."

"Ah, well, that does sound like what I've been doing," I admitted. "I'll definitely keep that in mind going forward and we'll shift to working on her electric output." With that said, I was very interested in her casual mention of teaching abilities and made a mental note to look into that later.

After the rest of Scout's checkup had finished, Doctor Larson said, "The one notable piece for your Pachirisu is her teeth. In a sense, they're the reverse of your Deerling's hooves in that her incisors need regular wear to prevent overgrowth. Once again, it's something that can be covered with regular usage of a healing machine, but it's something to keep in mind if you ever find yourself in a place without one for an extended amount of time."

Once Scout had been cleared for the gym battle, I returned her and sent Nin out. The stool that Scout had used was a bit too small for Nin to fit on, so he ended up staying on the floor for his inspection, meaning that Doctor Larson had to kneel down on the ground to check him.

After John's reaction in the car, I wasn't entirely sure about telling her about my plans for Nin, but ultimately decided that it would be good to get her honest opinion on the matter, "I've been trying to teach him Fire Fang, but so far he hasn't been able to generate the heat for it." Unlike Scout, Nin was nonplussed by his apparent shortcoming so it wasn't necessary for me to hedge.

Doctor Larson lightly chuckled, "Well now, that's a Mentor's goal if I've ever heard one. What have you been feeding your Pokemon?" I was a bit surprised by the sudden question so it took me a second to recall the brand. Once I'd told her, she said, "It's very likely that your Ekans has a slight vitamin D deficiency. Normally he would get enough by basking in the sun, but there isn't as much of an opportunity for that in the winter. Since vitamin D helps with the absorption of calcium, he's likely he's deficient there as well. Giving him some calcium supplements should cover that and they should make the process of learning Fire Fang slightly easier as well."

I nodded along with her explanation, especially enthused by the suggestion when I remembered that calcium raised special attack in the games. I made another mental note to pick some up when we returned to Minneapolis and give the supplements to Scout as well.

The last thing that Doctor Larson checked was Nin's fangs and when she had finished that, she let me know that he was cleared for the gym battle as well. I let out a small sigh of relief, glad that his deficiencies hadn't disqualified him. With his examination done, I returned Nin and lastly sent Shadow out. As I'd already gotten used to, Shadow's response to being sent out was to stand completely still apart from her head, which slowly moved to take in her new surroundings

While she looked around, I decided to fill the silence by saying, "She just hatched last week so we haven't gotten started on any training yet." Doctor Larson absently nodded at the information and bent down to start inspecting Shadow's mane, tail, and legs. She was just as quiet as Shadow was during the inspection, which started to make me a bit nervous.

Eventually, she spoke up, "Your Ponyta appears to be in excellent health for a newborn. Have you been brushing her?"

"Yeah, I got one and have been brushing her nightly," I confirmed with a quick nod. The stereotypical imagery of brushing a horse's mane had kept coming to me so I'd made the purchase two days after Shadow had hatched.

"When it comes to training, the first thing that you should do would just be to jog alongside her. Both the Galarian and standard Ponyta variants become very strong runners as they age, but they're quite weak in that regard when they're young. The extra exercise would be good for her in that regard and it would also help the two of you bond." The doctor paused for me to nod along before she added, "And what I said about your Deerling's hooves would apply to her as well."

"I thought that Ponyta had particularly hard hooves?" I asked, recalling one of the few Pokedex entries that had gotten stuck in my mind over the years.

"Kantonian Ponyta have hard hooves," Doctor Larson corrected me. "I'll admit that the reason for your extra wait was that I had to review materials on Galarian Ponyta. At any rate, I can't allow your Ponyta to compete in the gym, but I'm guessing that's not much of a disappointment or surprise."

"Not at all. I wouldn't have used her even if for some reason you'd given the okay."

Doctor Larson smiled, "Were there any other general questions that you had before we finish up?"

Given that part of the reason why we had come here in the first place was for me to ask questions, I was a bit surprised to find that I didn't have any. Granted, most of the questions that I would have had had been asked and answered naturally during the checkup so I didn't think much of it. With a shrug, I replied, "Nope, I think we're good to go. Thanks."

Once I'd recalled Shadow, Doctor Larson led me back to the lobby and returned to the back after wishing me a good day. John was already waiting in the lobby, though Cait was still missing, which was a bit odd given that she had been the first one to be called back. Granted, she did have an extra Pokemon compared to John and me, so I supposed it wasn't too surprising.

John and I spent the next ten minutes quietly conversing before Cait finally returned to the lobby, looking somewhat frazzled. "Everything go alright?" John asked cautiously.

Cait slowly wiped a hand across her face before answering, "First Flit got a bit nervous during her exam and accidentally activated Schooling. After that, Pep refused to sit still for her's." She took a deep breath, "Everyone got cleared though so it was fine in the end."

"That's good," John said. "Same here."

"Shadow didn't, but I was expecting that," I added.

"Excellent," Cait said, seemingly regaining some of her composure. "How about we get some dinner and then head to the hotel?" John and I didn't have any complaints so we headed back to the car, and a couple of hours later we checked in at the hotel that was about a dozen blocks away from the hospital and gym. The three of us spent the rest of the day hanging out in the room that John and I were sharing, chatting about whatever came to our minds.

The one notable thing that we talked about was an article that John had been able to track down in the last week. He had vaguely remembered hearing the story a few years ago and the article in question was about a man who reportedly had amnesia and had fallen out a hole in the sky near Canal Park in Duluth. After showing Cait and me the article, he apologetically said, "I tried to find more about it, but beyond this one article, I couldn't find anything else about what happened to him."

"Thanks for looking into it," I sincerely told John, hoping that we weren't grasping at straws with our guess that the man in question was also from a different world. If that was the case, I was glad that I had avoided his condition, but also wished that we had more information about what had become of him. Given the limited information that we had, the only real outcome of John's find was that it made me even more nervous about the idea of revealing my origins to more people.


A/N: Sorry for the (long) delay on this one.

Thanks to krazykz and Star for betaing. Next up is three gym battles in one with Chapter 23: Physical Exam