Chapter 15 – Interlude: Training Technicalities
PLEASE NOTE: This chapter is entirely "cut" content, describing Brain's battles at the Rest Stop. Contained within are my little ways of thanking those who have helped me get this far. I needed a bunch of Trainer names, so there you go. Again, the readers that don't like this sort of thing, feel free to skip it.
# Interlude: Training Against Trainers, Round 1: The Strongest Charmander
Since Ex was not in the mood, his brain handled the battles. Ex was still there, silently watching, secretly moving his body however his brain wanted, but doing nothing beyond that. He'd "traded places" with his brain, which he didn't know he could do, but he was too concerned about other things to care, or even really notice he'd done it.
That meant it was finally Brain's turn to be in charge.
The battling began when a boastful young Trainer claimed to have "the strongest Bulbasaur here!" The Trainer threw out his Bulbasaur with bravado, then blanched as Brain brandished Charmander. But he didn't back down, claiming he'd already beaten a Charmander before.
Given the Trainer's party size (i.e. 1), Brain reasoned that this Trainer had only leveled Bulbasaur, neglecting to Capture or train any other party members. Like most beginners in the main-series games, this Trainer had gotten his team to a decent average level by funneling all Experience gains into a single pokémon and having that be his only pokémon. Even still, Charmander was 1 level higher than the opposing Bulbasaur, thanks to Ex's efficient grinding.
Foe Bulbasaur (lv 11) Fainted! Flawless Victory! Charmander gained 490 Exp. Points!
Trainer Ex defeated Trainer FlyingHelmet! Trainer Ex earned ₽385 for winning!
FlyingHelmet did have decent tactics, Brain observed, by starting out with Leech Seed and intending to Tackle afterward. But since Charmander had a 2HKO with Ember and higher Speed, that battle was an easy win and an easy 490 Exp.
By keeping an eye on the Experience gains, Brain deduced that fighting at a Type Advantage did not lower gains. If there was such a thing as a Type Advantage Experience Divider, the Exp earnings would have been less than 490. Therefore, a Type Advantage Experience Divider did not exist. QED.
Keeping an eye on the Pokédex also allowed Brain to notice that Trainer Names didn't really have to sound like names at all. Trainers could call themselves anything, apparently, even "FlyingHelmet". Bulbasaur's Trainer was wearing a helmet with wings painted on the sides, and he took it off and made it fly straight at a nearby tree when he lost, so it was rather fitting.
Ex recommended relinquishing Revives to repair their reputation as they reaped through their rivals, and Brain agreed to the advice. They had plenty of Revives, and it made no difference to Brain if they were sold now or at Viridian.
So, thought Brain as he searched for a new opponent. Trainer Names are closer to internet aliases than believable pen names? I'm fine with that.
Ex thought nothing, having fallen silent after briefly advising Brain on public relations.
After FlyingHelmet came Everpeach, a Trainer who saw the 1st battle and wanted to see if his Charmander was stronger than Ex's.
Foe Charmander (lv 9) Fainted! Flawless Victory! Charmander gained 345 Exp. Points!
Trainer Ex defeated Trainer Everpeach! Trainer Ex earned ₽315 for winning!
It wasn't stronger, but that had nothing to do with Everpeach's skills as a Trainer. There wasn't much you could do in the face of an enemy who out-Sped your pokémon and won with a single, Super-Effective use of Hidden Power.
The 3rd battle was against a Trainer who watched the 2nd battle and shouted that his Charmander was the strongest at the Rest Stop.
Foe Charmander (lv 11) Fainted! Flawless Victory! Charmander gained 497 Exp. Points!
Charmander grew to LV. 13! Charmander learned Metal Claw!
Trainer Ex defeated Trainer Summer Set! Trainer Ex earned ₽385 for winning!
Again, it wasn't. The "strongest Charmander at the Rest Stop" had been quickly crushed with 2 Hidden Powers, firmly establishing Ex's Charmander as the actual strongest.
Also, fighting an opponent of the same Typing didn't seem to impact experience gains, despite the fact that Fire wasn't very effective against Fire. But since that went both ways, there wasn't really a Disadvantage, Brain reasoned, and therefore there was no Disadvantage Exp boost.
The 4th battle began when a Youngster – not a normal Trainer – said, "I'm already good enough to be a real Trainer! My Diglett has beaten lots of Charmanders already!"
Brain didn't bother bragging in reply, even as it saw the level 12 Diglett. A strong and fast Mud-Slap probably would have been effective against a level 7 Charmander, it thought, but Ex's Charmander leveled up to 13 just now, has a Hasty Nature, and still has 2 uses of Hidden Power left.
Foe Diglett (lv 12) Fainted! Flawless Victory! Charmander gained 1020 Exp. Points!
Trainer Ex defeated Youngster Derpsnort! Trainer Ex earned ₽420 for winning!
She managed to out-Speed Diglett and get another 1H-K.O., leaving her with 1 Hidden Power and leaving her Oran Berry uneaten. Diglett is one of the least-bulky pokémon in Gen I, with low health and bad defenses. It relies on hitting fast and hard, and on not being hit fast and hard itself, so being out-Sped is essentially Diglett's biggest weakness.
And at 1020 Experience points gained, Brain was getting a better understanding of the Type Disadvantage variability. Without the Type Disadvantage multiplier, this battle should have yielded 680 Experience, meaning that the Variable Boost, in this case, was x1.5, not x2. Brain reasoned that this was because Ground Types, although Super-Effective against Fire Types, did not resist Fire type Moves in the way that Water resisted Fire. Beating Ground as Fire was hard, but not as hard as beating a Water type, and therefore it wasn't quite as rewarding.
The fifth and final battle in Brain's initial series of fights found it facing off against a Rich Boy with a Sandshrew-
Foe Sandshrew (lv 9) Fainted! Flawless Victory! Charmander gained 693 Exp. Points! Charmander grew to LV. 14!
-a Bulbasaur-
Foe Bulbasaur (lv 10) Fainted! Flawless Victory! Charmander gained 362 Exp. Points!
-and an Oddish.
Foe Oddish (lv 8) Fainted! Charmander gained 117 Exp. Points!
The first Flawless Victory provided even more evidence that the Exp boost against Ground Types, when using a Fire Type, was consistently x1.5. The second two victories reaffirmed that there was no such thing as an Experience Advantage Divider.
Regarding tactics, it had been the most difficult battle so far – not in the sense that Charmander was in danger of losing, even with the Rich Boy's claim that "My Daddy bought me all the best TMs!" (Probably Earthquake, but out-Speed + Hidden Power sunk Sandshrew in a single shot, to the boy's dismay and Brain's relief, as Earthquake would have been dangerous.) No, that battle had been the hardest so far because, as far as Flawless Victories were concerned, Brain hadn't realized that facing multiple pokémon in a single Trainer Battle meant facing a new problem.
Sandshrew might have been 1-shot, but Bulbasaur hadn't been. And Bulbasaur had managed to get off a Leech Seed. In that second battle, Charmander had first used Ember, then eaten her Oran Berry immediately before her second Ember to restore the Health ticked away by Leech Seed and earn a Flawless Victory. In the third and final victory against Oddish, a Leech Seed tick had left Charmander at slightly less than perfect Health when she Fainted her opponent. Charmander had already eaten her Oran, so she couldn't eat another Oran before the end. In the games, it was impossible to change or replace Held Items mid-fight unless a Move or Ability was used to do it (Harvest, Switcheroo, Trick, Thief, etc.). Here, it was simply against the rules; he wasn't allowed to reach into his bag and toss an Oran Berry to her mid-battle. In other words, Brain couldn't guarantee Flawless Victories across the board if an opponent used more than one pokémon.
As the final message of the first five battles scrolled across the screen-
Trainer Ex defeated Rich Boy Shen Joe! Trainer Ex earned ₽2,835 for winning!
-Brain was already thinking about the problem of Flawless Victories despite consecutive pokémon in a single battle.
Interlude: Payout Formula
After Brain saw the message scroll across the screen, it also began thinking about the phenomenon of earning money through Trainer battles. ₽2,835 was a lot of money, and if it could replicate that amount somehow for other battles, then it would be in business.
It had begun to catch on to a consistent pattern within the rewards system, at least until the Rich Boy's massive amount threw that pattern off, but since that could've just been the result of defeating a Rich Boy, Brain didn't take that into account.
First, it reviewed what it knew.
In the games, there is a set algorithm which determines Prize Money from Trainer Battles:
Level*Base Payout = Battle Payout, where...
Level = level of final opposing pokémon
Base Payout = a set amount of money based on Trainer Class
Battle Payout = money earned from the battle
Youngsters, for example, had a Base Payout of ₽16 in over half of the main series games, including Gen III. If you were to defeat, say, Youngster Ben – who likes shorts because they're comfy and easy to wear – you would earn ₽184. Both pokémon he uses are level 11, meaning the last pokémon he uses will always be level 11, meaning the algorithm will always solve like so:
Level = 11
Base Payout = ₽16
Battle Payout = 11*₽16 = ₽184
So far, in this world, that system had seemed plausible. A victory against a Trainer who only used a level 11 Bulbasaur (FlyingHelmet) earned 385 Pokédollars, the same amount as beating a Trainer who only used a level 11 Charmander (Summer Set). Defeating Trainers using a single pokémon below level 11 earned less than that (Ash = ₽280, Gary = ₽175, Everpeach = ₽315), and defeating a Trainer who used a pokémon above level 11 earned more (Derpsnort = ₽410). Taking those battles together, it seemed that ₽35 was the Base Payout for the "Trainer" and "Youngster" designations.
But hadn't Professor Oak mentioned, during orientation, that earnings were based on team strength and variety? And didn't he also say something about Ex earning more money because he'd won the battle against Gary? Those two little phrases, Brain now realized, clashed with its foreknowledge.
The game's algorithm wasn't affected by team variety. Here, it mattered somehow. And the game's algorithm also only applied to victors; there, losers lost money.
Brain immediately searched its memory, trying to figure out how this world's algorithm worked. It attempted to solve for the underlying formula based on the money values it had already memorized and the battle against Rich Boy Shen Joe, considering factors like pokémon species, team composition, opposing team's-
Ex typed "How Does Silph Calculate Trainer Earnings from Battles?" into the Pokédex's search engine.
Spoilsport, Brain thought, even as it realized that unlike Experience gain – which was a natural phenomenon – battle earnings were intelligently designed. They would have been programmed directly by Silph, therefore following an already-known algorithm. Trying to figure out the algorithm through reverse-engineering when the answer was already known would have been a waste of time... unless Silph suppressed that information.
Silph hadn't suppressed that information.
Idiot, Ex thought back as he clicked on a promising-looking link titled "Official Battle Earnings Index" by Silph Co.
The article began by mentioning in an off-hand way that Trainer Battles were important for a number of reasons, including the fact that they added money to the economy, which entirely and immediately threw off Brain's intended course of research with a quick diversion into the basic economics of this world.
Interludes within Interludes: Inflation and Money Creation
"Money Generation", also by Silph Co., was soon selected and scrutinized.
A single sentence stood out above all others:
Money is added to the economy through Trainer battles; whenever the Pokédex reads "Trainer X has earned Y amount for winning!", that is new money, fresh off the digital printers.
Brain made an affirmative ding sound.
Ah, it thought. So THAT's how it works.
Most governments, Brain could in fact recall, slowly printed money over time – either to replace damaged bills and coins, or simply to stimulate the economy. A small amount of inflation over time, many economists theorized, was actually healthy for an economy, though whether that actually explained why governments printed additional currency, or was simply an excuse for governments to print additional currency in the first place, was up for debate. Brain couldn't recall specifics thanks to the amnesia, but Ex's memory remembered that much. It had assumed the same went on here, and that assumption hadn't been wrong, but it hadn't been exactly right either. It hadn't been specific.
Additional currency was added to the economy of the pokémon world over time, but it wasn't the government that directly decided how much was printed. If Silph – which acted somewhat like this world's government, at least fiscally – wanted to generate more money than usual, it would increase the Base Payouts of certain Trainer Classes within the algorithm. Silph would NOT simply start printing money. In fact, Silph was prevented by law from printing money, according to footnoted hyperlinks to legalese that Brain didn't care to click on, at the moment.
Trainers had to battle each other for new money to be created, and that money would first go to the Trainers who earned it, only spreading to the wider economy when Trainers made purchases. Here, money was "created" by battling.
Which brought Brain back to the original article, containing the algorithm which decided how much money was created per battle.
Earnings Calculation Per Unique Enemy Pokémon
L1*s = A1
L1 = level of opponent's first unique pokémon to see battle (or highest level of non-unique pokémon)
s = various amounts, based on opponent's Trainer Specialization (Full Kanto List Here)
"Unique" in this context referred to species, according to the article.
Overall Earnings Calculation
(A1 + ... + An)*v*F = T, where...
n = Number of Unique Pokémon
v = 1.75 if Victorious, 1 if Defeated
F = 0 if Battle is Determined to be Purposeless, 1 Otherwise (Determination made by Silph)
T = Total Amount Earned
Brain took a moment to Download the data to memory, then another to Analyze, comparing the formula to what it knew.
But there wasn't much to compare.
The only differences were (a) that losing a battle earned the base amount of money, (b) that victory was treated as a bonus, (c) that beating more pokémon species in a single battle earned more money, and (d) this mysterious "F" variable, none of which existed in the games. Actually, those were quite a few differences, but the basic structure of the original formula remained mostly intact, especially when you were fighting against an opponent who only had one pokémon.
Here, beating a level 3 Rattata and a level 3 Pidgey in a Trainer battle earns twice as much as just beating them individually. In the games, it didn't matter how many pokémon you beat in a single Trainer battle; your earnings were based only on the level of the final enemy you Fainted. There was a situation in this world where beating extra pokémon didn't earn extra money, but that only happened when the opponent was breaking Species Clause, like by having 2 Rattata. Or 5 Meowth. In short, variety mattered, like Oak said.
And we have to actually Faint each pokémon to earn the full payout potential, Brain thought. Or we at least need to face them in battle if we end up losing. In order to earn the extra money that comes from battling Trainers who have full parties, we need to get them to actually USE their entire party for the fight. Other than that, it's business as usual: winning earns money, beating strong Trainers earns MORE money, and beating Rich Boys (whose parents are probably wealthy donors to the Pokémon League) ALSO earns more money. Now, to see how Trainer Classes compare...
Brain clicked on the Full Kanto List Here link to see which Trainer Classes were best to battle, money-wise.
Standardized Specialization
(Again, sorry for the formatting. Treat -, –, and ~ as spacers. Also, the "Base Payout From the Games" column is not visible on the Silph website; Brain is simply comparing what he sees to what he knows. Alternatively, think of it as your author's attempt at continuing to comprehensively cover every existing pokémon mechanic.)
Base Payout–(Base Payout From Games) ~–~–~–~~–~– Trainer Specialization
This World–~(Gen I/II/III/IV/V/VI/VII/VIII) –~–~–~–~– (i.e. Trainer Class)
₽20-~–-~–~(15/16/16/16/16/24/16/84) -~–-~–~–~–~ Youngster/Lass
₽20-~–-~–~(–-/100/60/100/100/100/20-280/80-240)~ Trainer
₽20-~–-~–~(₽10/16/12/16/–-/16/12/–-) -~–~–~–~–~ Bug Catcher
₽20-~–-~–~(₽20/20/20/16/–-/16/20/–-) -~–~–~–~–~ Camper/Picknicker
₽20-~–-~–~(₽05/08/08/16/16/16/24/64) ~–~–~–~–~ Swimmer
₽30-~–-~–~(–-/32/32/20/20/20/–-/–-) –~–-~–~–~–~ Schoolkid
₽30-~–-~–~(₽20/32/20/16/32/–-/–-/–-) –~–~–~–~–~ Biker
₽30-~–-~–~(₽25/–-/32/24/24/–-/28/–-) –~–~–~–~–~ Cue Ball/Roughneck
₽30-~–-~–~(₽25/24/24/24/32/48/32/64) ~–~–~–~–~ Blackbelt
₽40-~–-~–~(₽50/–-/48/40/40/64/40/100 Engineer I/III) Worker
₽40-~–-~–~(₽35/40/40/32/32/56/32/64) –~–~–~–~–~ Fisherman
₽40-~–-~–~(₽30/40/40/32/–-/40/60/–-) –~–~–~–~–~ Sailor
₽40-~–-~–~(–-/–-/40/48/48/64/40/96) ~–~–~–~–~–~ Breeder
₽40-~–-~–~(₽–-/–-/48/60/60/80/–-/–-) ~–~–~–~–~–~ Ranger
₽40-~–-~–~(₽–-/40/–-/40/40/–-/40/120) –~–~–~–~–~ Officer
₽40-~–-~–~(₽–-/80/80/64/64/80/–-/–-) ~–~–~–~–~–~ Poké Fan
₽40-~–-~–~(₽50/60/48/64/–-/28/48/–-) ~–-–~–~–~–~ Poké Maniac
₽40-~–-~–~(₽70/88/80/56/56/80/32/96 Beauty #s only) Cooltrainer/Beauty
₽40-~–-~–~(₽25/24/24/32/–-/40/60/–-) ~–~–-–~–~–~ Bird Keeper
₽40-~–-~–~(₽35/32/36/32/32/56/32/80) –~–~–~–~–~ Hiker
₽40-~–-~–~(–-/–-/–-/–-/24/40/24/72) –~–~–~–~–~–~ Backpacker
₽40-~–-~–~(₽25/32/24/24/–-/–-/40/–-) ~–~–~–~–~–~ Super Nerd
₽50-~–-~–~(₽35-99/60-100/16-100/64-100/-/-/-/-)~–~ Rival
₽60-~–-~–~(–-/–-/200/160/160/120/–-/–-) ~–-–~–~–~ Rich Boy/Lady
₽60-~–-~–~(₽70/72/72/200/200/200/200/200) –~–~–~ Gentleman/Socialite
₽60-~–-~–~(₽50/100/48/32/48/72/48/–-) –~–~–~–~–~ Scientist
₽60-~–-~–~(₽10/32/24/32/32/56/48/–-) ~–~–-–~–~–~ Psychic
₽60-~–-~–~(Not in games) –~–~–~–~–~–~–~–~–~–~ Translator
₽70-~–-~–~(₽35/48/48/60/60/100/68/–-)–~–~–~–~–~ Ace Trainer
₽80-~–-~–~(–-/–-/–-/80/80/140/88/–-) ~–~–~–~–~–~ Veteran
₽100-~–-~–(₽99/100/100/120/120/160/160/160) –~–~ Gym Leader
₽150-~–-~–(₽99/100/100/120/120/200/200/–-)–~–~–~ Elite Four
₽200-~–-~–(₽99/100/200/200/200/240/240/240) –~–~ Champion
Brain immediately noticed many of the Base Payouts didn't match up exactly with the games, but then, the games didn't match up with each other generationally, and most of the payouts here were close enough to the averages.
It seemed that, excluding Rich Boys, the Payouts reflected the perceived difficulty of that Trainer Class. Actually, Rich Boys might not even be an exception. Trainers who could afford TMs and Rare Candies would be more of a threat, so it actually would be sensible to make those battles more rewarding, even from a difficulty perspective. In the games, Rich Boys and Ladies could simply heal their pokémon. Here, they can afford to do all the things Brain planned on doing in Viridian, which makes the ones that are smart enough to actually do it actual threats. Pay-to-Win, this philosophy of game-design is called, and Brain wondered if it should be happy that the system is there to exploit, or frustrated that Pay-to-Win was possible.
But the important thing was that, for the first time since arriving, Brain finally found all the Trainer Classes, or "Specializations", listed in one place. Well, the 'Kanto' Specializations, anyway... though again, not everything matched up with memory. "Cooltrainers" in the games were just the Gen III equivalent of Ace Trainers, but here they seem to be the male counterpart to "Beauties". And there were other differences as well, like "Engineers" being absent, "Psychics" being worth far more money here than they were in the games, and basic "Trainers" being worth far less. But that last one wasn't surprising in retrospect. If "Trainer" is the standard designation for most people, then the payout here should be much lower than in the games, where that designation is only ever used for yourself and your rivals, i.e. formidable opponents.
Also, "Grunt" and "Boss" were missing, along with a few other obscure Trainer Classes which only appeared in one or two generations (like Jugglers and Tamers). But juggling had little to do with pokémon, so there wasn't really a reason to have "Jugglers" except for kids to have an interesting character sprite to look at, which is video game logic, not real-world logic. And promoting criminality by including "Grunt" and "Boss" as official Trainer classes is also video game logic... though maybe "Boss" would be fine outside the context of Giovanni.
Brain gave a mental nod after memorizing the list, then clicked on the second link by Silph to see how battles were determined to be "purposeless", when the variable "F" becomes 0.
Since "F" equals either 1 or 0 and it's multiplied against the entire formula, it was there to decide whether or not a Trainer should even earn money in the first place. Or perhaps it was there to decide if money should be created and added to the economy. Either way, Brain needed to see when Silph decided not to award any money for battles (outside of challenging the same Trainer to a battle within the span of a week, which Brain already knew about.)
This time, Brain did see something unexpected. Apparently, Silph did have a few mechanisms in place to prevent Trainers from gaming the system.
If there was at least a 20-level gap between the average level of your team and your opponent's team, F would equal 0 for the weaker Trainer and thus the weaker Trainer would earn nothing (for being stupid enough to start such a losing battle, Brain thought). F would still equal 1 for the stronger Trainer, but the nature of the formula meant that the earnings would be pitiful by their standards, so there wouldn't be much point in accepting a challenge from a weak Trainer.
At least, not much of a fiscal point. Crushing newbies had its charms...
Digressions aside, another constraint was that if a Trainer didn't put any effort into the battle (i.e. didn't use (m)any Moves), F = 0 and they earn nothing. If Silph deems "the Trainer had no reasonable chance of beating any opposing pokémon or earning any Exp", F = 0 and nothing is earned. If Silph otherwise deems "the battle was only held for the sake of earning money and nothing else," F = 0.
You couldn't earn a bunch of money by engaging in battles you had no chance of winning... unless your goal was to gain Exp from lost battles. If your goal was to earn Exp by doing your best but losing in the end, since pokémon here can earn Exp even when they Faint, then you can only earn money if your pokémon actually gain substantial Exp from the lost fight and if your opponents aren't too far out of your league.
There was also a clause about F equaling 0 in "Official Tournaments", "Trainer Colosseums", "Battle Houses", and a few other scenarios, most of which seemed to exist to prevent TOO much money from being created.
Brain didn't see any immediate ways of exploiting this, other than battling as wide a variety of strong Trainers as possible (the maximum potential reward was simple to calculate; beating a Champion who had 6 different level 100 pokémon would earn ₽200,000). But for the moment, Brain had more immediate concerns, like solving the conundrum of earning as many Flawless Victories as possible despite the Oran replacement problem. And dealing with the issue of Trainers not wanting to battle anymore.
Interlude: Training Against Trainers Round 2: "Shift" vs. "Set"
After Brain beat the Rich Boy, who had apparently been the strongest Trainer before Ex arrived, nobody wanted to battle Ex. At least, nobody wanted to battle his Charmander (who was now out of Hidden Power and Ember PP anyway). When Brain's money research was done, Ex helped Brain goad a few more Trainers into battle by shouting, "All I need now is to beat the strongest Squirtle with my Meowth and I'll have the strongest team here!"
Brain's next battles were therefore against a pair of Trainers who each had a level 10 Squirtle and who had been "rivals" up until that point. Both claimed they had the stronger Squirtle, and they'd engaged in many battles, races, and games with each other to prove it. Their pokémon were currently tied for wins and losses, and they agreed that whichever Squirtle won against Ex's Meowth would be the best.
Foe Squirtle (lv 10) Fainted! Flawless Victory! Blinky gained 499 Exp. Points!
Trainer Ex defeated Trainer Nublysse! Trainer Ex earned ₽350 for winning!
Foe Squirtle (lv 10) Fainted! Flawless Victory! Blinky gained 499 Exp. Points!
Blinky grew to LV. 11!
Trainer Ex defeated Trainer Rorem! Trainer Ex earned ₽350 for winning!
To their dismay, they would have to find a different tiebreaker. To their relief, thanks to two of Ex's Revives they wouldn't have to wait until tomorrow to keep competing against each other.
Fake Out had let Blinky get an extra attack, while Hidden Power Electric turned each battle into effective 2-hit K.O.s after that. Blinky only needed to survive a single attack from each Squirtle to win, and he survived on enough HP that an Oran could restore him to full Health and earn him a Flawless Victory each time. Since those two battles were against two different Trainers, Brain was able to replace the Oran Berry in between.
After that, despite Brain's promise to only use Meowth, nobody wanted to battle anymore...
Nobody except the Trainers who hadn't seen Brain's winning streak.
A Blackbelt named Ianfights was the 1st such Trainer. He came from the Tall Grass with two pokémon by his side, noticed Ex, and challenged him to battle. Brain pointed Ex's Pokédex at the new opponents: a level 7 Charmander and a level 9 Mankey. Although it wasn't the Blackbelt's Starter, Mankey was the higher level of the two. Maybe the Fighting Type could get Flawless Victories against Wild Normal-Type Rattata without using Oran Berries, or maybe Ianfights wanted to fight with Fighting Types because he was a Blackbelt. Either way...
Foe Mankey (lv 9) Fainted! Flawless Victory! Winky gained 687 Exp. Points!
Foe Charmander (lv 7) Fainted! Flawless Victory! Prime gained 258 Exp. Points!
Trainer Ex defeated Blackbelt Ianfights! Trainer Ex earned ₽910 for winning!
Brain won.
The apparent x1.5 boost from the Type Disadvantage against Mankey – whose Fighting Typing was Super-Effective against but not Resistant to Meowth's Normal Typing – suggested that Resistance mattered, not just Super-Effectiveness. Now Brain only needed a Rock or Steel or Ghost type, to see if only fighting against Immunity or Resistances counted as fighting at a "Disadvantage", and if so, how much the multiplier would be.
Brain also realized, during that battle, how to get multiple Flawless Victories in a single Trainer Battle with multiple opposing pokémon. Its solution: use multiple pokémon itself. This was made possible either by the "Shift" battle style... or by Brain making an illegal move just now. It didn't definitively know which had happened just yet.
When Ianfights had thrown out Charmander after his Mankey Fainted, Brain switched to Prime and shouted "Fake Out!" so fast that the opposing Charmander couldn't react before being Flinched. That might have worked because of "Shift", or it might have been cheating – Brain hadn't gotten around to looking up all the Trainer vs. Trainer rules here. But nobody objected. Amber didn't say anything. The Pokédex didn't say anything. And if someone eventually did say it had cheated, Brain could just claim genuine ignorance.
But based on what it did know – the rules that Gym Leaders had to follow – Brain guessed the tactic wasn't illegal, and that Trainers under the age of 15 followed "Shift" style, not "Set".
"Shift" is the default battle style of the pokémon games. Whenever the player is prompted with the choice to switch out their pokémon after an enemy Faints while also being told what pokémon the opponent is about to send out next, that's known as "Shift" style. If the player isn't prompted with that choice and the opponent just automatically sends out their next pokémon, it's "Set". Advanced players like to turn off "Shift" to make the notoriously easy pokémon games a little more difficult. The "Shift" mechanic is supposed to help new players think about battles in terms of Type Advantage. If Charmander has just defeated a Weedle and the game tells the player that the opponent is about to send out Squirtle, then an 8-year-old playing pokémon for the first time can realize "Oh, I should switch out my Fire Type for an Electric Type".
But that was all in the games. Here...
A quick web search while waiting for new opponents confirmed that, yes, battles between Trainers under the age of 15 in this world defaulted to something known as "2-Way Shift Battle Style" unless both Trainers agreed, before the battle began, to use "Set". So Brain probably hadn't done anything illegal, and continuing to use that tactic in future battles probably wouldn't be illegal.
Brain confirmed this when, less than a minute later, another challenger ignorant of his recent battles approached. This 2nd sequestered Trainer was a Swimmer named Tundra.
Foe Poliwag (lv 7) Fainted! Flawless Victory! Stinky gained 330 Exp. Points! Stinky grew to LV. 10!
Foe Squirtle (lv 8) Fainted! Flawless Victory! Pinky gained 360 Exp. Points! Pinky grew to LV. 10!
Trainer Ex defeated Swimmer Tundra! Trainer Ex earned ₽525 for winning!
Not long after that, a Fisherman named Literwut became the final regular Trainer to challenge Ex at the Rest Stop. His team consisted of multiple Magikarp and a single, level 5 Squirtle that didn't look like it had been used at all, except to catch more Magikarp. Brain couldn't understand Literwut's reasoning, unless Literwut planned on eventually Evolving them all into Gyarados, or he planned on having Magikarp steak for dinner. For now...
Foe Magikarp (lv 5) Fainted! Flawless Victory! Stinky gained 45 Exp. Points!
Foe Magikarp (lv 5) Fainted! Flawless Victory! Stinky gained 45 Exp. Points!
Foe Magikarp (lv 5) Fainted! Flawless Victory! Stinky gained 45 Exp. Points!
Foe Magikarp (lv 5) Fainted! Flawless Victory! Stinky gained 45 Exp. Points!
Foe Magikarp (lv 5) Fainted! Flawless Victory! Stinky gained 45 Exp. Points!
Foe Squirtle (lv 5) Fainted! Flawless Victory! Stinky gained 145 Exp. Points!
Trainer Ex defeated Fisherman Literwut! Trainer Ex earned ₽600 for winning!
Brain didn't even know why Literwut had bothered, but money was money and Exp was Exp, pitiful though the amounts were. Besides, what better way to waste all that extra Scratch PP than by using it to beat an opponent who couldn't fight back?
Unfortunately, after Literwut Brain hit a roadblock.
After exhausting those 3 Trainers, that was it.
No normal Trainers were willing to battle Ex anymore on account of "I don't want to have to wait until tomorrow to start training again".
There was a Fresh Water pump (i.e. infinite healing) available at the Rest Stop, so Trainers weren't afraid of their pokémon getting damaged, but they were afraid of Fainting. Most of them quite reasonably avoided battles they knew they couldn't win, typically waiting until dinner – after they'd finished training against Wild pokémon for the day – to engage in risky fights against tough Trainers. If not for Ex's tactic of boasting and goading (weren't 10-year-olds easy to egg on?), and if not for the fact that he sold Revives to some of the defeated, most of the Trainers he'd beaten probably would have waited until then. And now, even with the promise of Revives, no normal Trainers wanted to battle.
Fortunately, there was a single type of Trainer that wasn't normal.
Interlude: Training Against Trainers, Round 3: Battle-Hardened Bug Catchers
While the fear of a Fainted party crippled all other Trainers like a Darkrai, there was a single type of Trainer that didn't seem to be affected by that fear at all. Trainers of this variety just kept coming and coming despite their relatively weak teams, despite their useless Moves, and despite their tendency to lose. Their enthusiasm was strong to the point of naivety, Brain thought but didn't say out loud. It didn't want to discourage all the easy Exp coming its way – and all the Scratch fodder.
And what was this wonderfully useful Trainer type?
Bug Catchers.
The first 3, Silver Jo, Ayienne, and Roller Party, all used many Caterpie, providing substantial Exp in return for Scratch PP. Thanks to the Flawless Victory mechanic, these were all-around decent and useful Trainers to battle.
Bug Catchers Mark 17, Kyu 9930, and JustAShadow4 were useful in a different way, as they taught Brain 3 things:
1st, even if you only had 1 pokémon, you could still make a difference.
Mark's Metapod and Kyu's Kakuna wasted a good amount of Scratch PP thanks to Harden, while Shadow's Weedle managed to inflict Poisoning with a Poison Sting. The Poisoning was both good and bad – good because it applied the Poison Status Condition, adding that x1.2 Status Condition multiplier; bad because it applied the Poison Status Condition, requiring an Antidote, recently Picked Up, to heal after the battle. But Brain decided it was a net positive. Oran still allowed for a Flawless Victory despite the Poisoning, and Antidotes were worth next to nothing in the Pokémart.
The 2nd thing these 3 Trainers taught Brain was that you could apparently have numbers in your Trainer Name, and the 3rd thing (which was just a guess at this point) was that the maximum character length of Trainer names was probably 12. Brain imagined there would have been spaces in JustAShadow4's name if the limit was higher.
Prior to Gen VI, the character limit for the player's name had been 7, while the limit for pokémon nicknames had been 12. If you wanted your own name to be "Excellent", too bad for you; "Exelent" would have to do. But starting in Pokémon X and Y, you could give your player character a name that was as long as Pokémon names, the full 12 characters. It was good to know, or at least suspect, that this world was up to speed with the later generations.
In short, the 3 battles against Mark, Kyu, and Shadow were educational, even if they may have seemed small in the grand scheme of things.
The final trio of Bug Catchers to fight Brain – Receive Wind, Blue Apple, and Sandford9687 – all had weak teams, but again, money was money and Exp was Exp.
All 3 of them had suggested something to the effect that they wanted to travel with Ex, to which Brain had replied something to the effect that Ex already had a traveling companion named Leaf, while pointing at Amber.
Receiving Wind had said Ex should travel alone and be independent, while Blue Apple had stormed off in disgust, grinding his teeth, and Sandford had said traveling with a girl wasn't a "good look", then went away to do something else.
Brain had ignored them all and simply gone on to fight the final Bug Catcher at the Rest Stop, who also happened to be the best of the bunch: a Bug Trainer named Frankie U who already had a Butterfree and Beedrill (both level 10). Frankie's Beedrill managed to Faint Winky after Winky Fainted Butterfree, but Prime avenged him with Fake Out and three Bites, the second of which was a lucky Flinch, allowing Prime to only take a single Twineedle, heal to full with his Oran, and earn a Flawless Victory.
The constant stream of Bug Trainers had allowed Brain to get every Meowth up to level 11 by the time PP across the entire party had run low.
Afterwards, Brain asked Frankie why Bug Catchers were so willing to fight losing battles, promising his final 2 Revives at ₽375 each in return for the information.
An interesting fact about Bugs, Frankie explained as he turned down the offer, was that they recovered from Fainting far faster than any other Type of pokémon. Bug Types could wake up from Fainting after only an hour, rather than needing a full night's rest. That's why Bug Catchers were far less reluctant to risk defeat, and why they kept battling (and often losing) to opponents over and over again.
In the games, this strategy wouldn't be viable because Blacking Out meant losing money and earning no Exp.
Prior to Gen IV, you lost half of your money when you lost a battle. After Gen IV, Game Freak got a bit more clever about it. They made the algorithm determining your payout to other Trainers almost an exact replica of the one deciding the payouts from other Trainers.
Payout = Level*Badges
Level = highest-level pokémon in your party.
Badges = ₽8 if 0 badges, ₽16 if 1 badge, ₽24 if 2 badges, ₽36 if 3, ₽48 if 4, ₽60 if 5, ₽80 if 6, ₽100 if 7, and ₽120 if 8.
In other words, your own Base Payout is determined by the highest level pokémon in your party and your current badge count, which acts as your "Trainer Class".
Under that algorithm, if you lost a battle with only a level 1 pokémon in your party and 0 Badges, you would lose ₽8. If you lost a battle with a level 100 pokémon in your party and 8 badges, you would lose ₽12,000 – the maximum you could ever lose from a single battle under that algorithm. If you didn't have enough money, you would simply lose everything you did have.
But here you don't lose money when you lose battles, you earn it so long as F doesn't equal 0. Winning only earns more. And since losing battles also earns Experience, losing over and over again isn't just viable, it's actually pretty smart. The quick recovery of Bug Types allows their Catchers to earn Experience from battling every new Trainer they see, without fear of missing out on an entire day of training. And so long as they use Moves every time, and don't challenge Trainers that are too far out of their league, they can earn money along with the Experience.
Once Brain realized this was standard practice for Bug Catchers, it no longer felt the impulse to insult their naivety, because it wasn't naivety. It was just efficient grinding, which Brain tended to respect rather than ridicule.
By the time there were no Trainers left to battle, Ex decided he wanted control over his body again, bringing the training session to an end.