Author's note: First thing first, there's a trainer battle in this chapter, sorry for the wait on those. Secondly, I'm Really sorry for the delay recently! I won't try to excuse it by saying I've had writer's block or that I didn't feel like writing it, truthfully I just forgot about it for a while and other things caught my attention. I'm prone to forget stuff like this, even things I create and love. I'll try to set myself straight and remember more often; but other than that this marks the last current review chapter. More reviews = more chapters so please lay em' on me, good or bad. I really do appreciate people who take time to review my work and tell me what I can improve. Already from just the few reviews so far I've learnt a lot about writing, so I thank you all. Have a good day!
I haven't found a partner yet... I figured it would be at least a LITTLE bit easier considering the city is bustling and jam packed with all sorts of trainers, but every single trainer I've been able to flag down turns down my offer. And it's either two groups of excuses too! One group always usually says "Sorry, but I don't battle" whilst the other group sometimes say "I don't know you…" And then of course that one guy who I asked who doesn't even own pokemon, but that was a justifiable mistake because he LOOKED like a good trainer.
I rested on a nearby bench, pooch in hand. Fenrir tagged along with all of the questionnaires and was responsible for scaring away a good load of people. Not that I minded though, those people were likely to turn me down too.
Taking in my surroundings, I became crestfallen as the sun started to seep back into the earth, the night sky slowly approaching. I had yet to find a trainer and the day still moved on without a hint of care.
"Ruff" Barked the ever so convenient timed doggo. I looked down to my lap and noticed Fenrir looking up at me, barking and wagging his tail."Y'know, I don't actually know your moves.. We've never even battled together. Wanna train?" Fenrir the Rockruff, ever so willingly, jumped out of my lap and onto the ground, racing around in excitement.
He didn't even respond naturally, but I took the general idea of his actions and got up from my seat, chasing him around town. Minutes passed and I finally caught up to him in front of a shop. "Slow down Fenrir, we're supposed to be training not playing tag!" I told the Rockruff. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't having fun regardless.
I picked up Fenrir, carefully this time, and looked up properly at the shop we were near. In front of the shop sat a wooden sign that hung over the concrete ceiling, slowly in a swinging motion. With simple words it read " The Machine shop: A place to buy TMs and TRs." Oh cool, so they have standalone shops for this kind of stuff in this world. That makes more logical sense than just selling them in poke marts since they're pretty useful in the games..
I walked inside, Fenrir in arms. The shop, as the name implied, was filled to the brim with discs all displayed colorfully around the shop. To my right stood a small counter, and to my immediate front stood rows upon rows of different colored discs. The shop was sectioned into two areas, one labeled TMs the other labeled TRs. TR.. why did that word ring a bell? And more importantly, why did I not know what they were? As far as I was aware, I knew almost everything about pokemon stuff..
"Why hello there customer, what can I do for you?" I turned to my right, looking at the man behind the counter. He talked with a scruffy but friendly voice, and was an older gentleman. He wore simple clothing, brown pants with work shoes and a green long-sleeved shirt with a tiny blue vest.
"Oh hello sir, I just wanted to peruse the shop and see what you had to offer. By any chance do you also have a lot of information about Technical Machines?" He grinned at me, a toothy grin at that. "Why yes, it's been a long time since I've heard the real term for these bad boys. You're a bright young trainer aren't ya? Any questions you need about the items in my store, I'll be more than happy to answer."
Well, that was pretty cool of him. I guess now would be the time to ask him if he had a few particular TM's I had in mind. Time, as it always does, passed and I was able to pick out a few TM's from the store. Me and the shop owner talked for a bit while he was checking out my purchases. "You're a smart one y'know. Most people just come in here to get the fancy big moves like Hyper Beam or Explosion. The only other person who I've met who really gets it is my Daughter, but she usually doesn't have time for me.. You're one of the few to realize the value of utility moves like the ones you're getting here".
"Thank you. I'm very fond of pokemon but I'm also very competitive, if I didn't find the value in even the smallest of TM's then they wouldn't be nearly as popular as they are right now; everyone included." The man smiled, clearly happy with our common interest.
"By the way, I was wondering if you could tell me about this thing I have. Now I wouldn't entirely call myself a TM expert, but I would say I should know enough that not understanding what this disc is makes me a bit intrigued." I picked through my pocket and dug out the reddish disc I had found earlier.
The owner took the disc from my hands and examined it back and forth. "Hmm, I recognize this quite well, I have a whole section of them in my store. These are TR's". He waved this disc back and forth, turning it around and examining the reddish color in the middle of the disc.
"As you know, TM's have infinite uses and in turn can be used multiple times by any trainer. However, TR's are particularly delicate because they're known to hold much rarer moves then TM's with the cost of being single use". The owner then handed the disc back to me.
I took it and decided to put it in my backpack instead of my pocket, since that was probably safer the first time around anyway. The man, however, continued. "In your particular case, your TR is Reversal. Now I wouldn't call any of the items I sell worse in any case, especially since I just told you how good I think utility moves are. However, that particular move is incredibly situational, and requires a lot of strategy if you want to pull it off right."
Wait… Reversal? That's the one that does more damage the lower the health of a pokemon. I grinned, both internally and… externally? "Don't worry sir, I think I can put it to good use." He chuckled, replying with "I'm sure you do. Also, TR's differ from TM's because TR's have a majority of the disc colored in as black, with the middle color being different depending on the type of the move."
Well, at least something made sense. The reason why the word TR rang a bell but I couldn't quite remember what it was is because they were introduced in Sword and Shield, so my knowledge of them varies.
The man continued once more, clearly happy to have someone to talk to. "Before I check out your purchases, how about we play a little game? I haven't had someone as interested in this stuff as you are for a long time now…" The man sighed, clearly trying to relieve the old days. I pondered for a moment, deciding it wouldn't hurt to see what kind of game he was offering. "Sure thing, what game do you have in mind?"
The man flicked the dirt off his vest absentmindedly, turning towards me. "Well, Your purchase would normally come out to 5000 poke dollars. However, if you can tell me the effect of a random TM that I name, I'll halve the total cost." Oh this sounds pretty fun actually. "Deal. Lay it on me, I think I can win this."
The man grinned, thinking for a moment for a difficult answer. "Well lets see... How about, Wonder Room? Obviously I won't ask for the TM number, since they are different depending on the region." Wonder Room? I wasn't good enough with TMs that had similar names and effects, like Wonder Room, Trick Room, and Magic Room. I'd have to think about it for a moment...
Wait a moment! I remember Otrera used Trick Room in battle before, and that allowed her slower less evolved pokemon to move faster in battle. Which means Wonder Room either disables item usage for a certain amount of turns or switches pokemon's defense and for a certain amount of turns...
If we think logically here, TM names usually give a hint towards their effect. In this case Magic Room sounds more likely to suppress Pokemon's held items, leaving only Wonder Room.
"Does Wonder Room swap the defense and of pokemon in battle for five turns?" I asked hesitantly, unsure of my 50/50 chance. The man looked up at me, at first serious faced, and then slowly growing a smile. "Hahaha! You got it right! Good job. It's been a long time since I've seen someone guess right. As promised, you get a half priced purchase, meaning your purchase now only comes out to 2,500 poke dollars."
The man entered in the price deduction and then I pulled out 2,500 poke dollars that I had earned from helping set up the stadium. We said our goodbyes and then I walked out, waving goodbye one last time. That was a pretty enjoyable experience, for both him and myself.
Fenrir, surprisingly, was pretty tame during all that. We both walked out of the shop pretty pleased, although I was probably a BIT more pleased. The reason being I was able to snag some pretty powerful TMs that I can put to good use right away. But, looking around I think there was just a tad more shopping I'd like to do before I call it a day.
Just about an hour passes, and me and Fenrir finally get a chance to relax on a nearby Bench, slightly tired from all the shopping. By "All the shopping" I really just mean all the browsing me and him did. The only place I really bought anything was the TM shop, and surprisingly enough a Tutor shop.
Yep, they have shops for people to teach Tutor moves to pokemon too. I was absolutely livid and immediately got my Rockruff Stomping tantrum for 2,500 poke dollars. It was easily worth the buy, that move is a pretty solid ground type coverage move. Plus, by teaching Fenrir Stomping Tantrum, I got to learn that his only other moves were Crunch and Rock Tomb. Giving me a perfect chance to teach him one of the TM's I bought, protect.
Now I'm not one to try and copy strategies from other people. But protect is probably one of the best utility moves I can get and I just NEEDED to get my hands on this little guy. The other TM I bought was Shadow Claw, simply because I thought it would be pretty useful coverage if I ever get the chance to give it on someone.
Stretching from my seat, I got up whilst Fenrir jumped back down on the ground, ready for another walk. Looking around us, the sky had turned into a dark blue. Stars were slowly becoming more visible as we kept looking around at the sky. In other words, it was night time.
Man... guess I didn't get the chance to find a partner today, maybe I'll have to try tomorrow or something. "Come on Fenrir, let's go." I started to turn to head back to the pokemon center, ready to not only head to bed but check on Leonidas, when something in the corner of my eye caught my attention. Looking back behind me, I noticed that I saw small movement by the edge of the trees separating the forest and Sinope city. Curiously, I walked over to investigate.
Trekking over, me and Fenrir hid behind a bush to investigate the noise. Or rather, I actually just put him inside his pokeball quietly so he wouldn't blow our cover. Looking up from the bush, a very small clearing could be seen, encircling a tiny area surrounded by trees at the edge of the city.
"Charmander, go for flare blitz." Looking up from my spot, I noticed a slim figure standing behind a Charmander, hands in pocket. The stranger looked like a guy, someone probably around my age. It was hard to distinguish his features from far away during the night, but I could notice a few things about him. Firstly, he had wild cloud-like white hair around medium length, bunched together. He wore a simple hoodie with two colors, which I could only guess had some form of black on it since It was hard to see.
A weird odd green orb-pendant hung from his neck, swinging slightly as he took in small breaths in the night's cold wind. A headband wrapped around his forehead, slightly covered by the hair. He looked pretty comfortable with those Denim joggers and sneakers. To finish it off, he's also got just a regular single-strap backpack, the mans got some casual taste.
Whilst getting a good look at him, the Charmander flung itself at a tree, bursting into flames and ramming head first into a tree, fiery sparks flying all around. The Charmander looked like it took some recoil damage from the attack, because when it turned to head back to the trainer, he looked slightly bruised. "Nice work bud." The trainer spoke with a calm but serious tone.
He then took out a small potion and sprayed it over the Charmander. When doing so, I also noticed a new feature to himself, fingerless gloves. Not gonna lie, pretty jealous about that. I loved wearing cool stuff like that, and as I looked at my barren hands I became just a tad more jealous.
The stranger sniffed the air, but I failed to notice this. Then, he turned directly to my spot."Hey... who's there?" Shoot, cover blown. I stood up from my spot with my hands raised in the air. "Uh.. sorry, I just noticed stuff happening nearby in the forest, so I came to see what was up."
The trainer looked me up and down, unimpressed. "K." Said the stranger, turning away and walking off. Quickly, I ran after him. "Wait.. Hey hold on for a moment!" I breathed in a bit harder as I caught up. The stranger barely turned towards me as he kept walking, me in pursuit. "Hold on a minute, are you a trainer by chance?" The stranger kept walking, leaving the forest and walking along the edge of the city and forest. He didn't bother to turn towards me when he finally decided to respond.
"Of course I am, you were spying on me already, weren't you? Surely you knew that I had pokemon already, not that hard to put two and two together." I rolled my eyes, continuing to follow after him. The stranger suddenly stopped and turned towards me, clearly not happy. "Look, can you just leave me alone already? I don't like talking with people."
I tripped a bit trying to stop so I wouldn't bump into him. "Look, I just need a partner man, I've asked everyone around town and I've gotten turned down, I need someone to help me out here." I looked up at him just as seriously. The stranger looked up at me, before nodding his head no and turning back to walk away.
What do I do.. I stopped walking after him as he was slowly breaking distance between us. I can't let him get away, I need somebody, he's my last hope. Wait.. I have an Idea. "I- I challenge you to a battle then!" He quickly spun around. "Huh.. what did you say, you're challenging me to a pokemon battle?"
"That's, That's right. I said I challenge you to a battle. You can't turn down an offer now, otherwise you'd look like a coward." The man snarled just a bit, were those fang-like incisors I saw just then? "I'm no coward". I smirked, I finally had him on the ropes. "Alright then, let's battle and test that theory. If I win you have to listen to what I have to say, if you win then I'll leave you alone for good".
The stranger pondered for a moment, contemplating his options. "Ugh, fine, let's do this. But I've only got one pokemon, so this'll be a one on one match." Then his Charmander, who had quietly been following along the entire time, jumped out from behind his trainer and ran in front of him, screaming "Char! Charmander!" whilst getting into position.
"That's fine by me, I've only got one pokemon on myself too. Come on out Fenrir!" I pulled out my Luxury ball with him inside, enlarging the ball and chucking it in front of me, with my Rockruff popping out. Fenrir barked as he got into his own battle stance.
The stranger quickly acted. "Let's end this quick Charmander, go for a full frontal Brick Break!" The Charmander lunged forward, extending his right arm as he jumped up into the air and tried to land his attack onto the enemy Rockruff. "Fenrir, Roll to your right and use Crunch!"
Fenrir nodded and waited patiently. Just as the Charmander was about to land the hit, Fenrir knelt his knees and titled his body to the right, springing himself from his spot and rolling away. He then landed on all fours, ready to intercept. Before the trainer or Charmander had time to react, Rockruff sprinted forward and caught the Charmander on his landing, Biting him on his other arm and flinging him backwards towards his trainer.
The trainer knelt and lifted up the Charmander, brushing off the dirt from him. "You alright?" The Charmander nodded, replying with a simple "char, char char". The trainer nodded, returning to his spot.
Taking the opportunity, I made my move. "Fenrir, go for Rock tomb!" Fenrir nodded and turned himself back to me, digging downwards into the ground and using his back legs to kick up small boulders from the ground into a pile. He then situated himself directly behind the boulders, kicking them even higher into the air and nearby the Charmander.
"Charmander, try and dodge!" The Charmander attempted to dodge, and successfully escaped the pile of rocks attempting to trap him in. I guess I'll have to practice that move more with Fenrir.. "Charmander, now go for dragon dance!" Oh no oh no. I gotta be careful here, that Charmander is beefing up.. Charmander then proceeded to spin in circles, jumping in the air and flipping around. A small glow could be seen encircling around him. The Charmander certainly LOOKED like it could hit hard now.
"Now go for Thunder Punch!" The Charmander once more lunged towards us. This time instead of getting ready to chop us, he enveloped his fist in a small current of electricity, how this fire salamander was capable of doing so I had no clue, but I didn't have time to think about it. "Fenrir, go for Protect!" Fenrir concentrated and was able to successfully block out the attack from the Charmander, as though it conducted a small invisible wall between the two. "Now, push past the protect and go for another thunder punch!"
With minimal time to react, the Charmander landed, jumped up, and twisted itself around the Rockruff as it slammed it's fist into Fenrir sending a jolt of electricity to run through it. The Charmander bounced back towards its trainer. The stranger looked down at his partner, smiling just a little before returning his eyes to me.
Similar to the stranger, I walked over to Fenrir and checked if he was good. Fenrir looked pretty healthy, but a dragon dance boosted thunder punch still hurt, even if it wasn't 'very effective'. Fenrir stumbled up and licked my face. "Ruff ruff." I sighed in relief. "Good to know you're still in this buddy, let's do this."
We both stood up and got into position, ready for the last bout. The stranger clenched his fists. "Now, let's finish this with a bang! Go for Flare Blitz!" The Charmander revved itself up, bursting into a thing of flames and running at Fenrir at full blast. "Fenrir, try and counter with a Stomping Tantrum!" As the Charmander blasted forward, Fenrir concentrated and then proceeded to slam its hind legs and front legs into the ground, shaking it quite a bit as he proceeded to have a tantrum. As the Charmander was running forward, the stomping tantrum's whiplash on the ground shook him and sent him upwards into the air. The Charmander however kept going, flinging itself into Fenrir like a missile. The two pokemon connected and erupted into a pile of smoke. Both the stranger and I coughed as we tried to cover our eyes and mouths from the blast.
The blast, also in a short wave of motion, sent both of us flying back into the ground. Finally, the smoke cleared away, and it was revealed that both pokemon were down and out. The stranger and I sat there in stunned silence, taking the battle in.
The stranger finally got up, dusting off the dirt on his denim joggers. "That.. wow. That was my first pokemon battle I've ever had with a trainer.. That was.." "Invigorating?" I finished his sentence, also in the same state of mind. "Yeah" he said, "Yeah, invigorating. What a rush of excitement". I smiled at him, happy to finally hear something positive for once.
"Yeah, well that was my first trainer battle too. Now I'm certain I wanna keep doing this.. But, both our pokemon fainted. I assume your Charmanders flare blitz was so brute forced that he fainted from the recoil. Is this a draw?" The stranger looked up and nodded, returning his fainted pokemon to its pokeball. "Yeah, I guess it is a draw, which means you didn't win and therefore I don't have to listen to you, cya." The man then attempted to walk away for the fifth time tonight.
I quickly got up, grabbing my Luxury ball and returning Fenrir, saying a quick "Rest well, and thank you" As I stumbled after him. "Wait just a minute, you didn't win either, which means you can't leave just like that, that's not fair!" The stranger looked back, clearly no longer on the high of battle. "Well, life's unfair dude. You're just gonna have to get used to that like I did."
For once in all my time here, I was starting to give up hope. My body slumped to the ground as tears formed in my eyes. "Please.. Just please." The man turned towards me, clearly annoyed. "Look, you're being very.." He then noticed me. Sighing, he walked a bit forward towards me. "Fine, I'll listen, but don't you have anyone else to ask? Any friends, family? Why bother with me at such a late time at night?"
I didn't bother looking up at him, I felt defeated at this point, but I still replied. "I.. I did have someone. I had a friend with me on my journey, but she left me because I was dumb and ran out into the night to get a breath of fresh air. I ran into a bunch of wild Mightyena and Poochyena and my other pokemon, Riolu, got hurt. She hasn't forgiven me since and demanded we split up. My Riolu is still in the pokemon center and I have no one else to go to..."
The tears were clouding my vision, but it's not like I was looking at anything but the ground at this point. "I- I messed up bad, real bad. I've spent the day today asking for any sort of help but I've been denied by everyone I met. You were my last hope, But I guess I lost that chance too.. Sorry."
The stranger looked at me, pity enveloping his usual standoffish personality. "Yeesh, stop crying already. Look.. Ugh, how do I put this? I don't hate you dude, I just don't like people and try to avoid them, I don't trust them and for good reason, because they're usually not genuine". He held out his hand to me, Which I accepted as I quickly wiped the tears from my eyes. "But, from what just happened now, I can tell you were entirely truthful and genuine. I guess if it'll make you happy, I'll help you out and be your 'partner' or whatever. Speaking of, what's the partner thing for"?
I stood up fully at this point. "Thank you, I'm glad I have someone to count on now. The partner thing is for the Gym challenge in Sinope city. My Name's Bahamut by the way". I extended my hand to his, ready to shake. The stranger rubbed the back of his head, contemplating.. "Ah alright fine" He took my hand and shook it. "My name's Ryan. Ryan Drake. Let's just get this partner thing done so I can finally leave". I smirked, "Nice to meet ya Ryan. But, there's a few things we need to do first before we can take on the Gym..."