Chapter 18 – Talents, Titles, and Records
Ah, the final Chapter of Route 1. It only took five months and over 100,000 words, but we're finally here. Yes, this story has a pacing problem. No, I don't intend to rewrite old chapters. How could I ever learn from them if I did?
Forward, onward, and upward.
After a long evening of grinding for Shinies and Pickups, two Trainers sprayed Repels over their sleeping gear and settled in for the night.
"Night Amber," said the sleeping bag.
"Night Ex," said the nearby tent.
Training Talent
That night, when Mewtwo woke, it saw that it hadn't Teleported in its sleep-
and it realized that it didn't think of itself as male anymore.
That's strange, it thought as it Teleported to Dr. Fuji's tent. I wonder why I thought I was male in that dream. It didn't notice right away that the tent's lights were off. It was too busy thinking about this new conundrum. Is it just my personality that's male? Does my species even HAVE a gender? Am I genderless like Unown and Porygon?
"My Psychic Friend," said a digitized voice, startling Mewtwo from its thoughts.
"Dr. Fuji?" it asked aloud.
(If any non-Translator humans had been nearby, they would only have heard "Mew Mewtwo?". Without a Psychic connection, Mewtwo spoke like a normal pokémon.)
Mewtwo looked around itself but noticed nobody nearby. Feeling for Psychic connections didn't work either. So Mewtwo switched its search from social to material. Soon after, the purple pokémon spotted a Pokédex propped on a pallet crate near the tent's entrance. Mewtwo took a few steps toward the device, then stopped abruptly when the digitized voice of Fuji spoke again, coming directly from the dex.
(Proximity trigger.)
"My Psychic Friend, if you are wondering about my whereabouts, I am currently recovering from sleep deprivation, though I did manage to wake long enough to record this.
"You were right! Sleeping on the problem was just what I needed. Upon waking, I looked at the data we collected from my Pokémon and realized there was a commonality among the pokémon that could use Mimic to learn Transform: they were all level 40 or higher.*
* Originally, I wanted 'needs to be level 40 to Mimic Transform' to be a red herring, obscuring the actual originally-intended-answer of 'only pokémon 25 years of age or older can Mimic Transform'. It was going to be a reference to the fact that you could only Mimic Transform in Gen I, which is almost 25 years old now. Game Freak prevented it in future generations to block strange glitches.
All of Fuji's older pokémon would naturally be high level, so he wouldn't have realized he was confusing correlations and coming to the wrong conclusion. At least, not until the theory was ultimately proven wrong after a bunch of invested effort, forcing him to go back and question his initial hypothesis. This would have hammered home the point that you always need to search for counter-examples to your initial theories as soon as possible. You'll find that the data from chapter 12 allows for both theories to be true, as it contains no pokémon that are both higher than level 39 and younger than 25. It also contains no pokémon that are lower than level 40 and older than 24.
But screw all that noise. I've changed my mind about this plot point: the nonsensical level restriction – which I only first invented as a bogus red herring – will be the true explanation behind Mimic not working for Transform. No misleading, no tricks. Get to level 40 and Mimic will perform for Transform as usual. This'll help me build up a different plot point much more solidly.
I might remove this author's note in the future. Back to your irregularly scheduled program.
The digitized voice of Fuji continued.
"Therefore, it would please me greatly if you attempted to level yourself up. If you are hesitant to do so without supervision, feel free to wait until I can accompany you. But if you wish to train on your own, you should know the basics.
"Inside the tent I have left a Berry Pouch containing Oran Berries. Thanks to the efforts of a very new Trainer, a colleague of mine has informed the wider pokéscientific community of a useful training tip. Oran Berries are apparently an excellent way to boost Experience gains at low levels when training against Wild pokémon. They allow you to earn Flawless Victories – a significant Experience booster – so long as you eat one JUST BEFORE the moment of Fainting your opponent. I repeat: if you take damage during a battle, eat an Oran Berry JUST BEFORE the moment you Faint an opponent.
"You are currently level 1 and you only know a single attacking Move: Confusion. That Move has twenty-five PP, meaning you can only use it twenty-five times before retiring for the night. When you run out of Confusion PP, that would be a good stopping point. If you run out of Confusion PP in the middle of a battle, perhaps Teleport away, but be careful – Teleport itself only has twenty PP. You only have nineteen left, and it will take another Teleport to leave your training grounds when you are finished.
"As for which training grounds to choose, there are many potential sources of Experience in Kanto, but I would recommend going to Viridian Forest and starting against Weedle and Kakuna. Since you are starting at level 1, you will not be able to do much damage to Kakuna until you've won a few battles, so I suggest finding a few lone Weedle to Faint first. Keep in mind that Weedle are always low-level, Wild Kakuna will only use Harden in battle, and both are weak to Psychic Typing, being Poison Types. They are also Bug Types, which are Super-Effective against Psychic, but at the levels you will be encountering them they should not know any Bug Type Moves.
"If a Weedle happens to Poison you with Poison Sting, I have provided Pecha Berries alongside the Oran as well as every other type of Status Berry, just in case. You could also use Safeguard to prevent Poisoning in the first place. Please do not eat the Berries purely for the Flavor.
"Also, please steer clear of Long Grass and Beedrill hives. If you stumble upon one by accident, Teleport away for your own safety. If you encounter any Trainers, same thing: Teleport away. Though you shouldn't have to worry about that last one since you are training at night.
"If you gain enough levels to learn a new Move, your body should use it automatically. Just in case that does not happen and you learn a Move without realizing it, I have a solution. If you Capture and register yourself to my private Pokédex, your progress will be tracked. To get to Viridian Forest in the first place, I've programmed that location as your 'Natural Habitat'. Simply register yourself in my Pokédex- that is to say, place your ball inside the spherical hole right here- (An arrow appeared on the Pokédex's screen, pointing at an open slot in the side. Mewtwo rolled is eyes. It knew how to register pokémon in a Pokédex.) -and you should get Teleported to your training grounds. The Pokédex has been pre-programmed to automatically run through the necessary registration steps. I can then use the Pokédex to check your progress when we next meet. I've also bought a Luxury Ball to make the brief moments you spend inside more comfortable. Good Luck!"
"THIS IS AN AUTOMATED MESSAGE. TO REPEAT, PRESS ONE. TO ENTER STANDBY MODE, PRESS TWO. TO SHUT DOWN, PRESS THREE."
Mewtwo looked around, but saw no 'Luxury Ball', so it entered the tent through the flap and searched. After it had gone through the slightly-less-unpleasant-than-usual process of Capturing itself, it found the Berry Pouch full of Oran, then went back to the propped-up Pokédex.
Mewtwo pressed '1' to hear the message again, focusing more firmly on the training instructions, then pressed '2' to put the dex on standby. It did not press '3' to shut down the Pokédex. The Pokédex needed to be ON for Mewtwo to register itself and it needed to not be OFF in case Mewtwo forgot something and had to replay the message again.
One minute later, Mewtwo found itself in Viridian Forest, searching for an opponent.
The instructions had seemed obvious enough, especially the thing about Flawless Victories and Oran Berries, though it hadn't known about its Type Advantage against Poison Types. But now that it did, training should be a breeze.
And it was a breeze, except that one point where it got Poisoned and had to eat a Pecha Berry – which had the worst Flavor of the five. Afterwards, it used Safeguard before engaging in any Weedle fights so it wouldn't have to eat any more Pecha. Halfway through the night, it retrieved a Basic Backpack, slung the pack over its shoulders, and put Fuji's Berry Pouch into a side pocket so it could readily access its Oran.
Mewtwo reached its 'stopping point' long before the night came to an end, but it didn't feel like stopping, so it returned to the Doctor's tent and began rummaging around inside to see if there was anything else to do. Eventually it found a stock of Ethers it could use to restore its own PP – the same stock Dr. Fuji used to help with Mimic yesterday. With its PP at zero, it needed 2 Ethers to restore 20 PP, so it used them, then teleported back to Viridian Forest.
It quickly exhausted that PP with training, Teleported back, restored it, and restored Teleport as well.
Mewtwo then restored Confusion a third time after it ran out again.
It turned out that Mewtwo really, really liked training and battling.
(Some pokéscientists, if they could witness this behavior, might have remarked that Mewtwo had a natural talent for training. Others would have refuted this, claiming that 'talent' is simply the observable end result of applied interest. Mewtwo was really, really interested in battles and training. Mewtwo applied itself to that interest. Mewtwo therefore grew 'talented' in battle. It wasn't born with battling skills, but it was excited at the prospect and the practice of growing and improving in battle, which was even better. And considering the amount of Experience required to reach level 40 under the PWO Experience Charts, it would need that love of battling if it ever hoped to help Dr. Fuji in a reasonable amount of time.)
Before the night was up Mewtwo learned a new Move, shooting a series of yellow stars from its hands after defeating a particularly high-level Kakuna.
Mewtwo learned Swift! read the message on the screen.
Another screen tracked Stats, Level, and Experience.
A third screen compared those Stats to known Base Stats of other pokémon species at equivalent levels.
The comparisons showed that the total Base Stats of the main screen's pokémon exceeded those of every other species in the region, though certain specific Stats were exceeded by certain individual pokémon, like Voltorb's Speed Stat, and Chansey's Health.
"Interesting..."
Tempting Titles
Bright and early the next morning, Ex stretched, yawned, woke his pokémon, turned on his Pokédex, and opened his emails.
No updates.
He sighed. One email ago, he had been extremely tempted to reply to the "culpability" thing right away, but hadn't done so out of respect for the request Oak made two emails ago:
"If you have any further insights or research to share, please wait until after you receive my next email."
Now, the morning of the third full day on Route 1 (or the fourth day on Route 1, if you included the initial half-day), after the Professor still hadn't gotten around to addressing his research and his brain just couldn't wait any longer, Ex decided that he would follow the letter of the law, if not the spirit.
Although Professor Oak had definitely been implying that Ex should wait until his current batch of research had been peer-reviewed, technically Ex only needed to wait until he received Oak's "next email", which he'd gotten after Rattata died. That was the one his brain wanted to reply to anyway, and he didn't have any "research to share". Furthermore, the contents of the email, phrased as a question, could be construed as curiosity instead of "insight".
Technically, he was doing as requested. Technically.
Reply to ProfessorSamuelOak(atsymbol)pokéweb(period)net?
Yes_
Professor Oak probably wouldn't object. Ex did have something important to ask, and if the Professor did say something about his impatience Ex already had excuses ready. But in the end it was most likely that Professor Oak simply wouldn't notice the infraction. The Professor had probably just wanted to prevent too much research from being dumped in his lap all at once, which Ex wasn't about to do. Again.
Thank you Professor Oak, he wrote in response to the Professor's apologies at what happened to Rattata.
I've already figured out a few ways to prevent the same thing from happen again, and I gave Rattata a burial, so I think things will be okay. But while we're on the topic of preventing tragedy, I'd like to ask something.
Before I fought Ash's Pikachu two days ago, Ash pointed his Pokédex at my Charmander and it said "Charmander, the Lizard Pokémon. Charmander's health can be gauged by the fire on the tip of its tail, which burns intensely in good health."
(His Brain dictated that part in his mind and he simply typed out the perfectly-recalled statement.)
Since that entry was different from mine (and it also sounded wrong, since if Blaze activates at a third HP, why would Charmander's tail represent its Health?) I looked it up online and found out from an 85-year-old article that there's this challenge that involves giving new Trainers false Pokédex entries. But none of the entries I have so far seem to be based on 'myth'. They seem pretty fact-based, actually, and they don't match up with Amber's entries either. Was there a glitch that gave me the modern entries by mistake?
Also, I don't disagree with the test on a fundamental level, but are there supposed to be false entries that concern life-or-death facts? A Trainer with Charmander's original myth entry might think it's a good idea to save the flame of a dying Charmander's tail INSTEAD of doing the sensible thing and healing the pokémon itself. That could lead to a sad situation, don't you think?
Sincerely,
Pokémon Trainer Ex
P.S. I'm attaching my analysis of my battle with Ash to this email. I forgot to do that two days ago. No need to address it anytime soon.
Ex hit Send _, then got out of his sleeping bag and began prepping for the day.
About thirty minutes later, after he and Amber had packed up camp and were walking down Route 1...
Ding!
You have received a reply from ProfessorSamuelOak(atsymbol)pokéweb(period)net. Open?
Yes_
Being a "reply", there was no header to this email. It simply jumped right into Professor Oak's response.
Good thinking, Ex. I had never thought of that before, but now that you mention it, I do indeed concede that situation has the potential to lead to tragedy. I shall notify Silph and a few fellow Professors with my recommendation that a team be assembled to search through current mythological entries for any misleading information specifically pertaining to life-and-death matters.
On a happier note, you need not worry about encountering deliberately false Pokédex entries. Your own Pokédex has already been updated with the modern entries. I remotely unlocked it two days ago, which is why LEAF's entries-
Oh right, Ex thought. I should get in the habit of calling her that in public situations, or Trainer situations.
-were already different from yours at noon that day. Ash's entries, on the other hand, have an entirely different reason for being different. By the time he showed up in my lab three mornings ago, I had run out of Trainer Starter Packs, so I offered him the choice between waiting a few hours or using the Pokédex I used back when I was a Trainer, as well as using the unconventional Starter pokémon Pikachu. You can guess which one he chose.
I am impressed you still managed to discover the truth about Pokédex entries despite already having the true entries yourself, though on the other hand perhaps that made the challenge easier to solve. You may be the first to have learned the depths of the challenge on your own, rather than being told as a reward for disproving a false entry, as is usually the case. I suspect these two facts will invalidate your record time, if such a record even exists, and for that I apologize in advance. Perhaps I can arrange for an honorable mention.
Speaking of honorably mentioning, after reading through most of your recent research, I have decided that adding you to my list of prospective future researchers – which you now know about – is no longer commensurate with your contributions to the pokéscientific community. Therefore, I am adding the "Super Nerd" Title to your profile.
Congratulations!
His brain began laughing uproariously, without hesitation, pause, delay, faltering, or any other stutter. It was one, big, long, continuous stream of mirth. And the worst part was that Ex couldn't even complain about the laughter distracting him because the email had ended there.
It took all of Ex's concentration to type out a reply. Walking, typing single-handedly, and ignoring that much laughter wasn't easy, but he managed to ask:
What are Titles and what does the "Super Nerd" Title mean?
Send_
About twenty minutes after that, he received another email from Professor Oak.
Titles are special distinctions given to Trainers who achieve certain accolades of accomplishment, train certain levels of talent, or provide certain amounts of value to the Pokémon League. I am glad I may skip the part of this lecture where I let down my youngest Trainers, for if you had wished to train pokémon before the age of ten, only the Titles of "Youngster", "School Boy", "Camper", and "Bug Catcher" would have been available to you-
Ah, they're SPECIALIZATIONS! His brain realized. Titles designate Trainer specializations. Understood.
-but as a full "Trainer", you now have the potential to achieve just about any Title, up to and including "Champion". I must emphasize that "Youngsters" are NOT full "Trainers"; they do not receive Starters and they do not receive weekly stipends. They are also restricted to extremely easy Routes. If you encounter any Youngsters, please go easy on them.
Ex paused. Problems with harsh Trainers bullying the weaker kids with humiliating battles, he thought.
In general, continued the email, you are free to activate or deactivate your Titles whenever you choose, though you may only have one active at a time. If you wish to see the full list of Titles and requirements to attain them, click this link.
His brain didn't hesitate.
Title.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,Requirement
Youngster/Lass.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.Register a pokémon before age 10
Trainer.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,Register a pokémon at or above age 10
Bug Catcher.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.Register 2 bug Types
Camper/Picknicker.,.,.,.,.,Spend at least 50 nights on Routes
Swimmer.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.Register one Water Type caught while swimming
Schoolkid.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.Pass the PAT (Pokémon Achievement Test)
Biker.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.Battle at least 100 Trainers while riding a Bicycle
Cue Ball/Roughneck.,.,.,.,Battle at least 100 Trainers while riding a Motorcycle
Blackbelt.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.Become at least 1st Dan in a Martial Arts discipline
Worker.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,Have a full-time job other than Pokémon Training
Fisherman.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.Register at least 5 Water Types caught while Fishing
Sailor.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,Go on three Voyages
Breeder.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.Hatch 50 Eggs
Ranger.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,Pass the Ranger Exam (Minimum Age: 15)
Officer.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.Pass the Officer Exam (Minimum Age: 18)
Poké Fan.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,Be a Pokéfan/Pokéfollower of at least 50 Trainers
Poké Maniac.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.Capture at least 50 Pokémon
Cooltrainer/Beauty.,.,.,.,.,Have at least 50 Pokéfans/Pokéfollowers
Bird Keeper.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,Register 5 different Flying Type species
Hiker.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.Climb 3 Mountain Peaks
Backpacker.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,Travel All Kanto Routes
Super Nerd.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,Make or Contribute to 1 Pokémon Discovery
Rival.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.Manual, Mutual designation between two Trainers.
Gentleman/Socialite.,.,.,.,Reach age 65
Scientist.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,Apply at age 18 / Make 5 Significant Pokémon Discoveries
Psychic.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,Be Psychic
Translator.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,Be a Translator
Rich Boy/Lady.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,Have at least ₽1,000,000 in your account.
Ace trainer.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.Win 8 Badges and 100 non-arena battles in one season
Veteran.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.Win 8 Badges 5 seasons in a row
Gym Leader.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.Pass the Leader Exam and/or be chosen as a successor by a current Leader
Elite Four.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.Pass the Elite Four Exam and be chosen as a successor by a current Elite
Champion.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,.,Beat the previous Champion
Interesting, his brain thought as it Downloaded the list into its memory. A new checklist to be challenged and completed. As it said this, it recalled a quote from Absolblogs about Gen VIII's controversial 'Curry Dex': "It's certainly a feature... that... exists... and that's enough criteria for me to work towards completing it!"
Ex rolled his eyes and tabbed back to Professor Oak's email.
Your Titles list currently only includes "Pokémon Trainer" and "Super Nerd". Super Nerds (and to a greater extent, Scientists) earn a much higher weekly stipend than ordinary Trainers, so I recommend activating your "Super Nerd" Title immediately. You should also seek out a Pokélab once you reach Viridian for more details on the resources now at your disposal.
Beyond resources, the "Super Nerd" qualification allows for application as an assistant or intern at any lab in Kanto. It also allows you to apply for a grant if you think of an idea that needs money or resources to test, though Silph must agree that it is worth testing. Let me know if (or, I suspect, when) you wish to do either of these things.
I would grant the full "Scientist" Title, which allows for pursuit of professorship, but I am bound by certain restrictions that prevent me from doing so, the most important of which has to do with the fact that you are only ten years old.
Age matters with some Titles, I fear, and the "Scientist" Title is one such age-restricted Title. You must first reach the age of eighteen if you wish to become a Scientist as most others do – through application and testing – but there IS an alternate path you could take. If a Trainer actively participates in the development of at least five significant scientific discoveries, the "Scientist" Title becomes available to that Trainer regardless of age. The Title is rarely ever achieved this way, but I have faith in your capabilities. You have already made two out of five significant discoveries and your most recent submissions may very well constitute the remaining three.
Ex briefly went over the items he thought should qualify him:
Pokéspeaking,
Flawless Victories,
Speedy Sapience...
Natures, maybe? But shouldn't that be known already?
Ex decided the exact number of discoveries under his belt didn't matter. At the rate he was going, he'd be a "Scientist" in no time at all. The important thing was figuring out what it meant to be a "Scientist" here in the first place (and, insert internal flinching, what it meant to be a "Super Nerd"), but he would apparently be learning about that in Viridian. For now, he just needed to finish out the email before getting back to grinding. His initial question about Pokédex entries had been answered, after all.
Oh, one last thing which I forgot to mention last time! Leaf prefers not to receive emails, so please tell her on my behalf that I have updated her list of Titles to include "Translator". I did NOT know that she was one. Your video evidence is proof enough for now, but she will have to get tested in Viridian if she wishes to keep the Title for longer than a week. The "Translator" Title provides one of the highest stipends outside of Pokémon Officials like myself, what with Translation being such a rare and valuable talent.
(This might, perhaps, be one of the very few justified uses of the word 'talent'. Unlike most other skills a human can develop over time, pokémon Translation is one of the few that cannot be learned, cannot be trained, can only be naturally and innately possessed.)
Leaf may at some point be asked by Silph or the League to apply her talent, though fair warning should be provided before any requests are made and fair compensation should be provided after requests are fulfilled.
P.S. Apologies for not addressing your latest research, but the preliminary findings are still under way. Your 'Pokéspeaking' technique, on the other hand – the name of which has been successfully coined – is now sufficiently peer-reviewed for me to submit the rest of your payment. I have also marked it as your 'second' discovery of the requisite five. 'Flawless Victories' is your 'first'. The list does not go in order of discovery date/time, but in order of verification.
Sincerely,
Prof. Samuel Oak
Maturity vs. Majority
Ex searched for his 'Super Nerd' Title after closing Oak's email. It took time to find it, his brain sniggering all the while.
When Ex finally did locate the Title section on his Pokédex, he did not switch from "Trainer" to "Super Nerd"; his only goal had been finding the section. He was perfectly content with waiting until he was a "Scientist" to Title himself. If he absolutely needed to activate the Super Nerd Title to receive the benefits, and those benefits were extremely worthwhile in the short term, he would do it. But only then. And he would switch to "Scientist" as soon as possible afterwards.
More importantly, the age thing was an interesting point of fact. It seemed to suggest that the age of 'majority' – i.e. when someone is legally considered an adult – isn't truly ten years old in this world, like he'd first assumed. Ten is just the minimum age for Trainers, which is an independence/coming-of-age tradition, meaning ten years old would be what some might call the youngest age of 'maturity'.
But in order to get adult occupations here, it seemed like you either had to jump through the proper hoops when you turned eighteen (and got your 'majority'), or you had to do something significant beforehand (when you were old enough to be considered 'mature' if you proved your worth). That explained why child and teenaged Gym Leaders were a thing (Liza and Tate, Misty and Brock, Erika, etc.), but also why most Leaders and Officials were adults.
In short, Ex wasn't considered an 'adult' at the moment, just 'independent'. And possibly also 'mature'.
He was fine with that.
With guesses on Title-age-implications freshly made and knowledge on locating the Pokédex's Title section freshly acquired, he turned to his travelling companion.
"Hey Amber," he said. "Professor Oak just told me he activated a new feature on your Pokédex."
"Really?"
"Yeah. Let me show you where it is..."
Power Plants Aplenty
After that, barring Shiny encounters, rare Pickups, and lots and lots of Wild Battles, the third full / fourth overall day on Route One passed without much excitement. The only thing of particular note happened during the afternoon, when Ex noticed something on the Map...
"Hey, Leaf, what's this icon mean?"
"What icon?"
Ex flipped over his Pokédex and pointed at a small square containing an image of a lightning bolt. Judging by distance, it was about a half-hour's walk away.
"Oh, that's a Power Plant. Probably one of Viridian's."
"Power Plant?" Ex asked, the pitch of his voice high in confusion.
Shouldn't there be only one Power Plant in Kanto? Why was there one on Route 1?
As if reading his thoughts, Am-, er, Leaf said, "Yes, a Power Plant. Each city has one nearby. And the bigger cities have more than one."
"Okay..." Ex said slowly.
It made sense logistically, he supposed, even if it didn't match up with foreknowledge. There should be more than just a single power plant for an entire region. But...
"But why is it even displayed at all?" Ex asked. "It's not Trainer-related is it?"
The Pokédex Map so far had only displayed Trainer-relevant landmarks. Rest Stops, major cities, good camping sites, and so on. If you zoomed in on the cities, it would highlight the Pokécenter, the Pokémart, the Gym, the Pokélab, and other places a Trainer might want to visit.
But a public utility station didn't seem Trainer-relevant at all, so Ex didn't know why his Pokédex was showing one.
"Power Plants are where Trainers Capture Electric-Type pokémon," the aspiring Breeder explained. "Like Pikachu and Magnemite and Electabuzz."
And the instant Amber said it, Ex knew he had to visit the Power Plant. Having a Magnemite at this point and time would be absolutely perfect.
"Can we stop there for a few hours?" Ex asked immediately. "Or for however long it takes for me to Capture a Shiny Magnemite... or search the entire place and leave if we can't find any? How big is the Power Plant anyway?"
"Not that big," Amber said. "And we can stop there if you let me visit the Pokélab at Viridian."
Huh? Why would she...
"Um..." Ex said. "I was kind of planning on going there anyway, and I have no problem with us going there together, and you have to go anyway to keep your Translator Title, which I forgot to mention earlier, sorry..." Ex was rubbing the back of his neck at this point. "But can I ask why you want to go there?"
Amber was frowning at his response, possibly due to all the information he'd dumped at once, but she shrugged at his question. "I want to ask the Scientists a few questions. That's all."
Magnificent Magnemite
Two and a half hours later, Ex Captured a Shiny level 1 Magnemite.
Ability: Sturdy (Thank Arceus).
Nature: Lax (Oh well).
Nickname: Not yet assigned, since it was not yet registered. But Ex knew what he would be naming it when the time came.
Despite the fact that Shiny Magnemite was gold, and despite the fact that his Meowth had found three more Ultra Balls (all from the Power Plant), he caught the Magnemite in a Great Ball because he was thinking long term color schemes. The next two Shiny Magnemite would be Captured in Ultra Balls.
This marked the third and final species of pokémon Ex would Capture on Route 1.
This particular Shiny had taken thirty minutes of walking (to get to the Power Plant after learning about it), two hours of searching, and an estimated 4000 encounters before the hunt was over.
His Meowth had scoured the plant from head-to-toe in the meantime. They'd found...
a Rare Sprout in bloom;
multiple Revive Ivy plants (though no actual Revives);
no Berries;
plenty of Trainer Items – an unusually high quantity of which were high-quality;
three Magnets, three Metal Coats, and four Thunder Stones;
and a surprisingly large number of Magnemite.
To reiterate, Ex's brain estimated the total number of encounters after two hours to be 4000 Magnemite, all of which were visiting and leaving the Power Plant at robotically regular intervals. And that wasn't the only perfectly regular thing about them.
All the Magnemite Ex had observed with his Pokédex were level 1, not just the Shiny one he Captured. A quick trip to the web revealed that other pokémon weren't interested in eating Magnemite and Magnemite wasn't interested in eating other pokémon. Wild Magnemite didn't have any reason to battle if they were left to their own devices, so they stayed at level 1.
Furthermore, it seemed that only Magnemite visited this particular Power Plant. Perhaps Pikachu and Electabuzz weren't native to the area. This also contributed to their low levels; Magnemite tended to only be targeted by other Electric types, which is why other Power Plants had higher level Magnemite. But here, where there were only Magnemite, that wasn't the case.
In retrospect, Ex didn't mind that there weren't any other Electric species at this Power Plant. In fact, he preferred it this way. If you want to Shiny Hunt for a specific species, it helps to Hunt in a place where you can only encounter that one species and nothing else. Like Hunting in a tower where you can only see Ghastly, or a cave where you can only encounter Unown... or a Power Plant where you can only meet Magnemite.
It was also fortunate that there weren't any other Trainers around, since that meant no competition. This was another thing Ex hadn't understood until he checked his Pokédex.
The public description of Route 1's Power Plant read: "Least Dangerous Power Plant in Kanto! Contains only Level 1 Magnemite. New Trainers Welcome!"
This statement had probably been made to encourage young Trainers to visit, but whoever wrote it hadn't understood young Trainers very well, because that description is the exact opposite of smart marketing.
A good salesman knows that there's a psychological tick which makes humans more interested in 'restricted' and 'dangerous' and 'secret' things. A baby placed in front of two equally interesting toys – one behind a glass barrier, and one out in the open – will usually go for the one behind the barrier, ignoring the toy that's easy-to-get. If it's 'safe' and 'easy' and 'open to all', why would it be interesting?
In this case, who would care about an easy source of low-level Magnemite? You couldn't get much Battle Experience, you couldn't Capture any high-level pokémon, and you couldn't even brag to your friends that you went somewhere dangerous. Not at this Power Plant, anyway.
Ex came here anyway because he was one of the few – if not the only one in this universe – who saw the potential in a level 1 Magnemite. But without that vision of potential, most young Trainers would probably only see a waste of time. A safe, uninteresting, lame waste of time.
Leveling Largeness
"Dr. Fuji?" Mewtwo telepathed during the middle of that night's string of (mostly failed) tests.
Its eyes now peeked over the table that had been too tall two nights ago. Mewtwo knew that humans grew taller as they got older, at least until they were fully grown, but it had grown a lot in just one night.
"Yes?"
And it wanted to know why.
"What makes a pokémon get bigger?"
"Experience," Dr. Fuji said, not even pausing in his typing.
"How could my experiences be related my size?"
"No, not your experiences, your Experience, with a capital 'E'."
"Um..."
"Though in truth," Fuji continued absently, "'Experience' is a bit of a misnomer. 'Conditioning' or 'Exercise' would say it better, but even those are not completely accurate."
The purple pokémon felt that all-too familiar feeling of being told answers that didn't make any sense. "Ummmm... What?"
"One moment," said Dr. Fuji.
Mewtwo waited patiently.
After a few more seconds of typing, the man sighed heavily and closed the laptop. "Apologies," he said, now addressing Mewtwo more directly. "I tend to ramble when I'm distracted. What I meant to say is that, as a pokémon grows in level, so too does it grow in size."
That finally made sense.
"So the reason I'm bigger all of a sudden..."
"Is due to the fact that you gained a few levels last night, yes."
"Is there any way for a pokémon to get smaller again?"
Dr. Fuji blinked. "I don't know," he said. "Why would you want to get smaller?"
Mewtwo looked at its hands. In that dream a few days ago... he and 'Ambertwo' had been exactly the same size. Now that he was out of the dream again... if Mewtwo got too big or changed too much, she might not recognize him if they ever met again.
"I don't know," Mewtwo echoed Fuji.
His first ever lie.
"If you don't know, why did you ask?" the man inquired, sounding puzzled.
He didn't even know why he had lied, but something was telling him that he shouldn't say his reasons out loud. Not now. Like there was a little voice in the back of his head that was warning him that he shouldn't tell Dr. Fuji about his dream of Ambertwo.
"I just want to know if I could ever get back to my old size again." Mewtwo thought out loud. It might not be fully honest, but it was the practical part of all this. "Can you look into it for me? Please?"
"I don't see why not," Fuji shrugged.
Four Fifths of a Record
On the fourth morning on Route One, the fifth day overall...
In his mind, Ex's brain helpfully looped the "On the Road to Viridian City" song. On the outside, Ex whistling along, his pokémon around him getting strong.
His party pokémon were exhausting their PP right alongside the Shiny Pidgey he hadn't yet registered, who was doing the same. His Shiny Rattata was on his shoulder, hopefully keeping an eye out for other Shinies, as was his Magnemite floating above his head, but how effective that would be given that Rattata and Magnemite weren't smart enough to talk yet, he didn't know. (He had yet to encounter his second Shiny Pidgey or his second Shiny Rattata, but he would do so before the day was out.)
For Pidgey, he trained her like he did everyone else at first: attacking Moves only, eat Oran just before Fainting opponent if damaged. He micromanaged her battles more than usual, but only with respect to enemy strength, not battle orders. He let her fight on her own once she knew the basics, but he made sure she only fought level 4 Rattata so she would gain as much Exp as possible given her limited PP. He took advantage of the fact that Amber seemed to be lucky in these sorts of encounters – he hardly ever encountered level 2 Rattata when she was nearby, reducing the number of Wild battles his Pidgey had to flee from in order to get optimal Experience.
After Pidgey had leveled up to 9 yesterday, he arranged for her to learn how to use Special Attacks if Growled (i.e. Gust; Hidden Power couldn't be taught yet because he hadn't registered her), then he continued letting her fight without his orders. He still told her to run away from certain (low level) encounters, but when she did fight, she fought on her own, just like the rest of his team.
Keeping in mind vague memories of studies about language development in humans, the way she learned the Growl/Special Attack strategy was through lessons from his already-sapient pokémon. For one, teaching others is one of the best ways to prove you really understand something yourself. For two, being surrounded by a language at all times tends to improve the speed at which you learn it. For humans, anyway. His freshly-acquired Pidgey and Rattata had the comparative disadvantage of not doing Pickup, and therefore not "thinking about problems on their own" like his Meowth, so he was testing another way to speed up their Sapience: language super-saturation. Only time would tell if it would work.
His Pokédex chimed halfway through the morning with the sound of an incoming email.
Good News Ex! began the email. I've finally gotten through all your research!
To start, after examining your theories on sapience development, I remembered a similar circumstance from over a decade ago when a young Trainer broke the 'sapience' record. It had taken eight days, not two days, and the record before his had been eleven days. A three-day improvement wasn't TOO outlandish, so most scientists at the time (myself included) simply assumed the Trainer was very dedicated. But what I just yesterday remembered was that this particular Trainer was later discovered to be a Pokémon Translator, a fact which would have allowed him to 'bypass the two weeks', as you put it. Your record still surpasses his by a significant margin – I assume as a result of theories one and two in addition to theories four and five – but I thought I should let you know about this supporting evidence. Your observation on the correlation of sapient pokémon speaking-in-sentences and understanding-human-language at around the same time was already known; the technical term for this moment is the 'Language Threshold'. But if you were unaware of that before discovering it yourself, well done! That sort of mindset will help you greatly in future Scientific endeavors.
A committee of researchers has been formed to test your methods on improving Pokémon Sapience development. It will probably take a few weeks at least (but will most likely take months) to get tangible results. There are too many variables to isolate for the research to advance any more quickly than that. However, your responsibility in the matter is mostly finished (unless you make any more breakthroughs, or submit further data points by Capturing extra pokémon), so I have marked this as one of your five requisite discoveries for the "Scientist" Title and submitted half of its payment into your account. The other half will come when you go to Viridian's Pokélab and submit your pokémon for sapience testing, which should take no longer than an hour. You can do this while Leaf's Translation talent is tested.
Since the record holds for when sapience is confirmed, not achieved, I am afraid you will hold the record at six days instead of two. If you hurry along, that is.
His brain stopped playing "On the Road to Viridian City", now looping the "Hurry Along" pokémon theme instead. But that tune was rather simple and it quickly got old, so his brain went back to "On the Road" soon after.
The current Language Threshold record-holder claims that his own pokémon achieved sapience at six days and that he only made it to the testing center on day eight, so it is not a problem unique to your case. Perhaps they will allow you to hold the record at two days given your video evidence, so long as Leaf's talent and your team's sapience are both verified. I shall submit a query to the records board and see.
Or Ex could just get Pidgey to Sapience before Viridian. Then he'd be guaranteed to set the record at... three days.
Also, I have confirmed your discovery on the association between Natures and Flavor preferences, marking that as your fourth discovery to contribute to the "Scientist" Title. The chart you provided is already a well-known model to Pokémon Professors, of course-
Of course, sighed his brain.
-but only as it applied to Stats and Natures. The association between Natures and Flavor preferences had NOT been known. Ordinarily, it takes until a pokémon reaches around level ten before the Pokédex can determine its Nature from the probabilistic variance of its Base Stats. With this extra Flavor information, Silph believes they may soon invent a way of instantly determining Natures of Captured pokémon, which would be extremely useful. They have therefore authorized payment that would ordinarily go to a full research team, given the usefulness of this information. Please spend it wisely.
A quick check showed this to be ₽100,000. His brain was pleased.
Finally, your additional multiplier information, while ultimately accurate, had little evidence to support it. I believe the term 'lucky guess' applies here, though I wish there was a more polite way to put it. But you said yourself that you were performing guesswork. You did not provide enough data for this to qualify as one of your "Scientist" discoveries, nor enough evidence-based reasoning to earn the full compensation as you did with Flawless multiplier. I am submitting the same payment (per multiplier) as when you inspired me to calculate the Close Calls, as your guesses at the answers did inspire me to run the calculation with proper data sets, and they were ultimately accurate. Please remember to show your work in the future.
"On the Road to Viridian City" came to an abrupt end.
WHAT?! his brain mentally shouted.
...Brain? Ex asked, addressing it in a way he never had before. What's this 'multiplier guesswork' the Professor is talking about?
Um... thought his brain. Nothing?
Brain, Ex thought warningly. Tell me.
I... MAY have sent an extra email to Professor Oak.
What? When?
While you were sleeping.
WHAT?!
I didn't have any other choice! his brain immediately complained. I had to send the email THAT NIGHT or we would have missed out on the money ENTIRELY! I HAD to do it!
You did NOT have to do it, Ex thought angrily. You COULD have WOKEN ME UP!
Can you honestly say you would have listened?
Ex hesitated.
Ex asked himself the question.
Ex pinched the bridge of his nose.
Like I said, his brain thought. I HAD to do it.
And just how DID you do it? Ex asked, still pinching the bridge of his nose.
There was a long pause.
I can... MAYBE control your body parts even when you aren't awake. Or when you aren't all there, like when Ash's Pikachu used Thunder. Your body is hard to use, though. If you only had three limbs, it would be easier. Or maybe just two.
Ex pinched the bridge of his nose even harder.
Then he actually took a few seconds to think about what his brain had said, which made him reconsidered his frustration. If his brain hadn't taken over with Ash, he would have just been standing there blankly for minutes. And if his brain hadn't done this they would have missed out on the money.
You know what? Ex decided at last. Good job.
GOOD job?!
Yes. Good job. Just don't do it again without ASKING me first. Got it?
His brain seemed to sigh in relief. Got it.
Then it, too, thought for a few seconds.
But what if you're asleep again? Or too stunned to move? Can I do it without permission, so long as it's for the benefit of both of us?
...
Fine, Ex sighed. But I still want you to TELL me after you do it. I do NOT want to be surprised like this again. Got it?
Got it.
Good. Now let me finish reading this email.
Ex turned his eyes back to the email, which was almost done.
With four discoveries, you only need one more to achieve full Scientist status. If you continue at your current pace, you'll become the new record-holder for 'youngest Scientist' in no time. I know this record exists because I am the current holder, achieved at age twelve. I cannot wait for my record to be broken! I look forward to your next discovery, whatever it is!
Sincerely,
Prof. Samuel Oak
Ex hit the 'reply' button, then typed up a quick message.
Thanks for the update, Professor Oak.
Is there any way I could access the larger data sets so I can do better in the future?
Sincerely,
Trainer Ex
The reply he received to this said only,
The Viridian Lab should be able to help you. Good luck!
Explaining Evolution
Later that afternoon, Ex asked Amber if they could take a break. He had something important to say to his team, and to Charmander specifically.
They found a clearing, Amber went off on her own again, and Ex called his entire team to order.
"Alright everyone," Ex said in pokéspeech. He was sitting on the ground, cross-legged. "Gather round. I've got something important to say."
His pokémon quickly rushed to his front, some going so far as to tackle him. It took a minute for everyone, including all five new Shiny pokémon, to settle down and listen.
"Charmander," Ex said importantly, still speaking in pokéspeak, "is almost ready to Evolve."
This set off a wave of murmurs, jealous looks, and a few congratulatory purrs. Charmander herself looked surprised.
"When you reach your next level, which will probably happen within the next few battles, your body will begin to glow. If you don't try to stop it from happening, you'll Evolve into a Charmeleon. Do you understand so far?"
He got a nod from Charmander, and five more nods from around the circle.
"There are both good things and bad things that will happen if you Evolve. Charmander, for you, I've heard that Charmeleon are more aggressive and angry than Charmander, but they're also more powerful. Meowth, for you guys – and girl – you won't be able to stand up on two legs anymore. You'll turn into Persian and you'll get the Ability Limber, which means you can't be Paralyzed anymore, but you'll lose your Pickup Ability."
This information also set a wave of murmurs throughout his team.
"On the other hand," Ex continued, "if you don't Evolve, you'll get more Experience from all your battles. And it's not a permanent decision either; each time you level up, you can choose again if you want to Evolve or not. Once you reach level 100 and can't level up anymore, all you have to do to Evolve is eat a Rare Candy." (Assuming this was like Gen VIII, anyway.) "So even if you decide you don't want to Evolve right away, you can always Evolve later. With me so far?"
Everyone nodded. Well, everyone who was sapient. Though Pidgey did have that look in her eye like she was trying, really hard, to understand.
"There are two reasons I'm saying all this. For you Charmander, it's possible that you'll learn Dragon Rage, a powerful move at low levels, when you level up-" Charmander looked very excited at this "-but only if you stay a Charmander." And that killed her excitement. "Charmeleon learns Dragon Rage at level 17, so if you Evolve right away, you'll have to wait a level to get that Move. In fact, Charmeleon in general learns its Moves a few levels later than a Charmander would. But getting back to Dragon Rage, if you Evolve right away all your other Moves will become more powerful, but the power of Dragon Rage isn't affected by how strong you are, so if you don't Evolve right away you'll get to use that very-powerful Move sooner and it won't matter that you're still a Charmander. Understand?"
Charmander, after a time, nodded.
"Good. Then I think it's time you decide what you want to do, since it wouldn't be smart to wait until the last moment to decide. Evolve right away, or wait for a while. It's your choice."
Charmander looked at Ex for a long moment. Then she pointed at him and said something.
"What?" Ex asked, then realized that Amber wasn't here to translate. "Hold on, how about this. Tap your foot on the ground once if you want to Evolve right away. Tap your foot on the ground twice if you want to wait."
Charmander didn't tap her foot. Instead, she shook her head firmly. She pointed at herself, shook her head, then pointed at Ex and nodded her head. She also said a few things in pokéspeech, which Ex didn't exactly understand, but he got the overall impression that...
"You want me to decide for you?"
She nodded.
"Why?"
She pointed at Ex, then pointed at her head, above her ears, saying "'mander".
This one took longer to figure out, and a few repetitions, but Ex eventually figured out that she was saying 'your mind', or something like that. In other words, she was trusting Ex's judgement with the decision.
Ex sighed. "You know, I'm trying to let you guys make your own choices."
Charmander shrugged, then walked up and sat in Ex's lap, giving him Baby-Doll Eyes.
"You won't be this cute if I decide you should Evolve. You know that, right?"
"Charmander!"
Ex sighed again. "Alright. If you really want my advice, I'd say wait at least until level seventeen, or maybe later. Charmander learns all the same moves as Charmeleon, only at earlier levels, and if you stay a Charmander you'll get more Experience. You'll also get to keep your personality longer, and maybe staying a Charmander longer will help you deal with the aggression better." Or maybe personality change was only anime-logic. Either way... "Plus, you'll stay cute longer. Sound good?"
"Char!" his Starter said happily.
"In that case, when you level up... I don't know exactly how it works, but just try really hard NOT to Evolve. Think you can do that for me?"
"Char!"
"And I'll mash the 'cancel' button on my Pokédex, in case that helps. Now," Ex turned to his Meowth, "are the rest of you the same? Do you want me to decide for you?"
His Meowth all looked at each other.
A part of him that he couldn't exactly silence was chanting please say yes, please say yes, please say yes. For all his moral efforts, it would always be hard to ignore the voice of optimization.
His Meowth looked back at Ex.
All but one of them nodded.
"Prime?" Ex asked, looking at the one who didn't. "You want to decide for yourself?"
Prime nodded.
"Okay," Ex sighed. "That's fine. That's good, actually. It'll help me run a few important tests. Everyone else, I'll be wanting you guys to stay Meowth for a while."
Blinky and Stinky suddenly looked like they might regret their decision, though Pinky looked happy, and Winky looked like he didn't care.
"I'll explain all the details later," Ex said to Blinky and Stinky, "but for now, just keep in mind that it's really helpful to be able to walk on two feet and use your Pickup Ability. In a way, you guys might be one of the few pokémon species that can do a lot of the things that people can do." Ex was thinking about Team Rocket's Meowth in particular when he said this. "Persian might be more powerful, but it isn't as much of a... team player as Meowth. It's why Persian is one of the species with more downsides to Evolution." In a real world, anyway, he thought.
His explanation seemed to somewhat relieve Blinky and Stinky.
Ex turned to his first ever pokémon. "Prime, I won't tell you what to do or when to Evolve, but since I assume you'll be the first one to become a Persian, you'll probably be the one to help me figure out if you even can still Pickup things after you get your new Limber Ability. Are you okay with that?"
"Meowth!" Prime said confidently.
"Great!" Ex exclaimed. "Blinky and Stinky, if he can still use Pickup, then I might have you guys Evolve sooner."
Blinky and Stinky nodded.
"Remember, don't just do whatever I say. I want everyone to think about this for themselves. It's a big decision. If you guys change your mind about Evolution later and want to choose for yourselves, just let Amber know and she'll tell me. Does everyone understand?"
"Meowth!"/"Charmander!"/"Rattata!"/"Pidgey!"/"M-a-g-n-e-m-i-t-e."
His other pokémon, despite (probably) not being smart enough to know what was going on, had decided to join in on the final hurrah.
(#Cut Content: Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation)
Lodging Late
When they arrived at Viridian late that evening, Amber immediately led Ex to the Trainer Lodge – a place where Trainers below the age of 15 could stay free of charge. Every major city had a few, often on the outskirts of town, just on the inside of each Route.
Ex, being Ex, had wanted to go straight to the Pokécenter, then the Pokémart, then the Pokélab.
Amber had told him that most places except the Pokécenter would be closed at 10:00 PM.
It was currently 9:30 PM.
The Rest Stop and the Power Plant had delayed them too much, Ex realized too late. But almost in the same mental breath he saw that starting early in the morning would let him do a whole lot in a single day – maybe even everything besides beating the Gym – so he allowed himself to be dragged to the lodge.
The rules were rotely explained to him by the caretaker upon arrival. ("Don't break anything, clean up after yourself, clean up after your pokémon, don't bother other guests, etc."). The punishment for breaking these rules was being banned from all lodges throughout the entire region. Ex was careful to follow them.
At 10:30 PM, Ex and Amber were sleeping in small, separate rooms.
Ex had trouble sleeping at first, his mind going over everything he planned to do the next day and his brain keeping track of the scheduling. But he did get to sleep eventually.
Amber had no trouble sleeping at all. Though she did wonder, before drifting off, if she would dream of Mewtwo again.
Disabling Displacement
When Mewtwo woke that night, it was in a strange place – not the enclosed space it had been dwelling for the past few days.
Mewtwo sighed.
It had happened again.
Mewtwo cast back its thoughts, but it couldn't remember if it had Disabled Teleport before falling asleep last morning. Rather than getting upset, it simply resolved itself to remember after this night. And keep remembering. Any habit could be built if you stuck to it long enough.
Mewtwo nodded to itself, then Teleported to Dr. Fuji's tent. Nothing of note happened during that night's research.
PHEW! Route 1 is officially over.
Cut content below, as usual. Skip to the very bottom of the page if you want to see the current tally of Money, Items, and Team Levels.
# Intrinsic vs. Extrinsic Motivation
I didn't want to cut the following section, but I didn't manage to integrate it into the story well enough in time. Also, the passage jumps back and forth between Ex and Amber's perspective without a page break. Normally I try to stick to one perspective per section, but both Amber's and Ex's internal thoughts were relevant to the lesson. Didn't realize I was writing it that way until it was too late.
As usual, it still happened in this story's continuity, but don't feel bad about skipping it. Chronologically this happened about two hours before arriving at Viridian. If this had made it into the main story, the title of this chapter would have been "Talents, Titles, and Trinsicity."
"Hey Ex," Amber called over the cooking fire. She was preparing Pidgey – the last meal they'd be eating on Route 1.
But unlike just about every other meal she'd ever cooked in the past, this one had felt... forced. Like she didn't want to make it, but she was doing it anyway. She had never felt that way about cooking before.
Also, the quality of her food was going down with each meal, which was reflected in how much she was earning. And she hadn't complained to Ex about him paying less because she knew the quality was going down. Worse, she felt like if Ex ever stopped paying her for the food, she might just quit altogether and switch to Trainer rations.
"Yeah?" Ex asked, eyes on a screen as usual.
"You know how you said if I ever felt like I wasn't having fun cooking anymore, you would tell me why?"
Ex had warned her it might happen back when they shook hands. She hadn't believed him then, but she did now.
"I think I used the word 'motivation', but yeah. Is that happening?"
"Yes."
"Well," Ex said emphatically, closing his Pokédex as he said it. "Now's as good a time as any, I guess."
Ex mentally prepared what he wanted to say.
It wasn't that he didn't know what he was about to talk about, it's just that he got the feeling a good deal of context had been stripped from him by the amnesia. He remembered pokémon-related examples, but not real-life examples, so those he would have to invent on the fly. (Or, perhaps, draw them from his subconscious, which may not have as much Amnesia as he does.)
"What you're experiencing is something I like to call 'Extrinsic Motivation Discouragement'."
"Meaning...?"
"Suppose you took a class of schoolchildren and split them into two groups. You tell the first group that you'll give them a reward if they make art for you, you tell them they'll get candy or something, and the second group you simply give some paper and colors and tell them to have fun. You don't tell the two groups about each other, so the kids in the second group don't know there's a group that's being rewarded, and vice versa. What do you think might happen?"
Amber took a moment to think about it. "I... guess you'd get more art from the ones who were getting candy?"
Ex nodded. "That's one thing that can happen. Reward incentivizes creation, and the kids expecting a reward make more art. But suppose after a while you stopped offering candy and let the kids go back to doing what they normally do. Both groups still have art supplies, but now it's back to nobody getting any rewards. What happens?"
"I don't know."
"What happens," Ex said in a lecturing tone, "is that the kids who were given rewards stop making nearly as much art on their own – now they're making half as much art as the kids who weren't offered any reward in the first place. And the art the formerly-rewarded kids do make isn't as good as it was before the experiment. In fact, the art they made when the experiment was still under way was never as good as the unrewarded art in the first place. They weren't being creative for creativity's sake, they were being creative because they were being bribed. And now they don't want to be creative at all, even if they liked to draw before the whole rewards thing happened. Especially if they liked to draw before the rewards. It's almost like being told in advance that you're going to get paid for something sucks all the life and soul out of a person.
"Like... imagine every time you made art you showed it to your parents. Each time, they put on a fake smile and say 'that's great, dear', rather than telling you how they actually feel. If they actually didn't like it, if they think it's worse than the drawings you've brought to them in the past, they don't tell you because they don't want to hurt your feelings or discourage you. So they just say 'that's great, honey,' even for the worst drawing ever. But that does the opposite of what they want. After a while the compliments stop meaning anything and you won't feel like drawing for them again. The first time they say 'that's great, honey', it feels great. But it means less and less each time they repeat it, until you don't feel anything anymore." (Like the theory of Diminishing Marginal Returns would predict.) "But if you only ever made art because you liked doing it in the first place, and you never brought it to your parents for approval, you just kept it to yourself, that wouldn't happen."
Amber slowly nodded. She had an experience like that with reading, once. The first time she read all the way through Gold Exeggcute and Ham all on her own, her parents had been happy, told her she did a good job, and said she should read more on her own. So she did, but each time she read a new book her parents said the same thing. Eventually she just stopped reading for fun altogether.
"That makes sense," Amber said. "But what does that have to do with cooking?"
"Everything," said Ex. "Cooking is something you've only done for fun in the past, maybe because you liked spending time with your Mom and you liked learning new recipes, or maybe you just liked cooking itself. But now that you're doing it for money instead, your brain is experiencing the same problem as the kids who were expecting a reward for art. You're doing it for the reward, not because it's fun."
With a sudden leap of intuition, Amber realized where this was going. "And if you stop paying me because you'd rather eat rations, like the kids stopped being rewarded for art..."
"Then you won't feel like cooking anymore, period. Even if you liked it before, now it feels like a chore."
Oh.
"So how do I stop that from happening?"
She didn't want to hate cooking. She loved cooking... only now that declaration – which she could always make confidently in the past – felt like a lie.
"It's already happened," Ex said with a shrug. "Not much you can do now except stop cooking for a while until you feel like doing it on your own again. You'll bounce back, I'm sure."
Amber's frown worsened. "But how do I stop it from happening again? I'm not going to cook for you for free again."
Come to think of it, maybe Ex was only saying all of this just so he could get free food again...
Ex shrugged. "There are a few ways around it..."
He could randomly give her a bonus whenever he thought she made an especially good meal. If a third group had been split apart from the initial two groups of schoolchildren and were given the same instructions as the second group, 'have fun', but they were surprised with a reward afterwards, the effect was the opposite of being told about the reward in advance. They actually turn out to enjoy drawing more than the other two groups after the experiment is over. Like submitting a lottery ticket you found on the street, winning 100 bucks, and all of a sudden you're hooked on searching for lottery tickets on the street, or buying them outright, even if you weren't a gambling person before. Which is why Ex wasn't saying this part out loud. If Ex told Amber all that and then he did try to surprise her in the future, she wouldn't be surprised and the effect would go away.
"For me personally," he said, looking back to his Pokédex, "I try not to think about the money." That's what his brain was there for. "I just think about the work I'm doing and try to make it as good as possible."
"That works?"
"Mmhmm. Think back to the Rest Stop and all those kids who enjoyed your food. At the end of the day, if you can manage to think about the money as a side benefit, rather than the actual goal, you can learn to like your hobby again. And this applies for everything you like to do for fun, not just cooking. That's called internal motivation: the goals and standards you use to judge and push yourself, without listening to anybody else."
"Um..."
"Another way this is usually explained is the analogy of trying to warm up on a cold day by exercising instead of taking a hot shower. If you exercise, you heat your own body up using internal, intrinsic forces, so the heat lasts. But if you take a hot shower, heating your body up with an external source, you'll be warm while you're in the shower, but the moment you turn off the water and step outside, the cold day will feel even colder than it did before because now you're all wet. If you can become internally motivated again, you'll be fine. But if you keep looking for external motivation, it's bad in the long run, even if it works in the short term."
"Okay..." Amber said slowly. "So if I focus on cooking, not the money, it will help?"
Ex nodded. "But it takes practice to think like that, so you'll probably need to try something else at first. For example, it doesn't help that you've basically been making the same two meals this entire time." (DMR mostly has to do with doing more of the same thing, so it predicts this as well.) "Rotisserie Pidgey and Rattata Stew. I guess you did skillet Rattata a couple of times, but other than that it's been those two recipes. If you want to get motivated again you should mix it up."
"But I don't know any other Rattata or Pidgey recipes," Amber pointed out.
"Then look them up on the Pokédex," Ex shrugged. "If I told you how much I've learned from the web since I got to Route 1-" Revive Ivy, Rare Candies, the Sparkle Reflex, Gym Rules, all the articles Oak showed him, and everything else, "-your head would explode. We have these-" he shook his Pokédex "-for a reason. The Pokémon Professors might tell you something different, but I say the reason we have them is to have all the knowledge in the world at our fingertips."
(Like owning a smartphone with data, or a laptop with an internet connection. The knowledge is there; the key is learning how to find it, sort it, and use it. Or as his brain might say, search, parse, and implement, with the end goal of being extremely efficient and optimal in your knowledge acquisition.)
"Just be careful of scams and lies," Ex added as an afterthought. "They're everywhere."
And that's really the end of the chapter. Below are the final tallies of Route 1.
Route 1, Final Tally: Money
A/N: The balances are the current balances, but I'm not repeating deposit entries. If you want to see deposits 1-9 for Ex, they're available at the bottom of chapter 9. If you want to see deposits 1-6 for Amber, they're available in the middle of chapter 13.
Account of Pokémon Trainer Ex: Deposits – Notes
4.1. ₽50,000 – New Technique: Pokémon Communication (Peer Reviewed)
Various Deposits: Sum Total of ₽3,750 (from Revives sold/given to Rest Stop Trainers)
Various Earnings: Sum Total of ₽9,775 (from battles at Rest Stop)
7.1. ₽4,000 – New Theory: Close Calls Multiplier / Medium-Large Boost = x1.7 (Inspiration Bonus)
7.2. ₽4,000 – New Theory: Status Condition / Minor Boost = x1.2 (Inspiration Bonus)
7.3. ₽4,000 – New Theory: Type Disadvantage / Major Boost = x2 (Inspiration Bonus)
7.4. ₽1,000 – New Model: List of All Exp. Boosts (Poorly Organized, Will Inspire Better Models)
9.1.1 ₽15,000 – Training Strategy: 'Optimal Oran' Flawless Victory Training (Specified, Verified)
9.2 ₽16,500 – Training Strategy: 'Quantity and Quality' Training (Tested, Specified, Verified)
10.1. ₽37,500 – New Techniques: Speedy Sapience (Prior Evidence Proves Plausible, 50% Payment)
10.5. ₽2,500 – Data: "Pokémon Telephone" Video Evidence (Original, Independent Test of Sapience)
11. ₽100,000 – New Theory: Flavor Association with Natures (Verified, Silph-Approved)
11.1. ₽2,000 – New Version of Old Model: Nature Chart with Mathematical Variance (Well-Organized)
11.2. ₽500 – Updated Old Model: Color Coding Natures/Flavors/Stats/Contest Categories (Accurate)
12. ₽2,500 – Suggestion: Remove Life-and-Death Mythological Pokédex Entries from PT (Commenced)
13. ₽1,500 – Battle Analysis: Lv. 8 Pikachu vs Lv. 9 Charmander (Astute Strategizing)
Current Balance
₽285,095
Account of Pokémon Trainer Leaf: Deposits – Notes
7. ₽50,000 – Rest Stop Lunch Sale (Rotisserie Pidgey: ₽2,000*10, Rattata Stew: ₽1,000*30)
8. ₽1,500 – Dinner (10 Rattata Stew, Not-flavored)
9. ₽1,000 – Breakfast (2 Rotisserie Pidgey, Chesto-flavored)
10. ₽1,250 – Lunch (8 Rattata Stew, Cheri-flavored)
11. ₽1,000 – Dinner (4 Rotisserie Pidgey, Aspear-flavored)
12. ₽500 – Breakfast (6 Rattata Skillet, Pecha-flavored)
13. ₽750 – Lunch (10 Rattata Stew, Cheri-flavored)
14. ₽400 – Dinner (3 Rotisserie Pidgey, Aspear-flavored)
Current Balance
₽65,075
Route 1, Final Tally: Inventory
A/N: All Pickup Items have been calculated based on similar estimates from Ch 6's "Pickup Percentages" section, adjusted accordingly based on location of Pickup Party (Rest Stop + Power Plant = more Trainer Items, Route Path = more Berries), duration of Pickup at each location, amount of incentive to find rare Items (bribes boost Nugget and Rare Candy discovery rates), and so on. Twenty Items per hour with a 1% chance to find rare Items (2% after bribes) has some interesting ramifications when maintained over the course of 4.5 days. I've also subtracted from these totals the hundreds of Oran Berries used for Ex's training, the Status/Flavor Berries used in meals (and to heal Paralysis after Ash's Pikachu, heal Poison after Shadow's Weedle, bribe Shiny Pokémon into being caught, bribe Meowth for finding Shiny Pokémon and other rare things, etc.). I've subtracted the Repels used before sleeping each night and the one used before Rattata's funeral; I've subtracted Potions and Revives used for Shiny Captures, subtracted Revives sold at the Rest Stop, and so on. I've got a whole word document dedicated to this stuff, getting longer with each chapter.
TL;DR: If you're surprised at Ex's Items, well, that's Pickup Parties for you.
Inventory of Pokémon Trainer Ex (at moment of Viridian arrival)
Standard Pokédex
Deluxe Backpack
Silph Co. Berry Pouch – Oran x42, Cheri x28, Rawst x41, Aspear x33, Pecha x59, Chesto x40
Basic Trainer Outfit
TM 10 (Hidden Power) x1
Pokéballs – Normal x90, Great x0 (2 found, 2 used), Ultra x2 (4 found, 2 used)
Potions – Normal x28, Super x3, Hyper x2, Max x0, Full Restore x1
Repels – Normal x67, Super x9, Max x0
Status Heals – Antidote x0, Burn x0, Awakening x0, Ice Heal x0, Paralyze Heal x0, Full Heal x0
Revives – Normal x28, Max x1
Type-Boosting Items – Magnet x3, Metal Coat x3
Evolution Items – Thunder Stone x4, Fire Stone x0, Water Stone x0, Leaf Stone x0, Moon Stone x0
Rare Items – Nugget x11, Rare Candy x12, King's Rock x5
Inventory of Pokémon Trainer Leaf (at moment of Viridian arrival)
Standard Pokédex
Basic Backpack
Basic Travel Kit
Silph Co. Dress
Nugget x2
I'm not sure if I'll ever post something like this again, or how much I'll continue to track the EXACT items; the minutia won't matter soon enough. In the future, the only Pickups that'll make a difference will be the Rare Candies and certain, scattered, location-dependent Key items.
Route 1, Final Tally: Pokémon
A/N: Same deal as Items, I've got a word doc dedicated to tracking Experience gains. Two docs, actually, one for Charmander specifically, the other for the rest.
Team of Pokémon Trainer Ex
Lv 16 Charmander | Hasty, Blaze, Moveset: Scratch, Ember, HP, Metal Claw, Growl, Dragon Rage
Lv 14 Meowth | Modest, Pickup, Moveset: Scratch, Growl, Fake Out, Bite, Fury Swipes, HP Ground
Lv 14 Meowth | Naughty, Pickup, Moveset: Scratch, Growl, Fake Out, Bite, Fury Swipes, HP Fairy
Lv 14 Meowth | Lax, Pickup, Moveset: Scratch, Growl, Fake Out, Bite, Fury Swipes, HP Poison
Lv 14 Meowth | Docile, Pickup, Moveset: Scratch, Growl, Fake Out, Bite, Fury Swipes, HP Flying
Lv 14 Meowth | Gentle, Pickup, Moveset: Scratch, Growl, Fake Out, Bite, Fury Swipes, HP Electric
Unregistered Pokémon of Pokémon Trainer Ex (SILPH WARNING: It is illegal to keep a pokémon unregistered for longer than five days!)
Lv 11 Pidgey | Gentle, Ability Unknown, Moveset: Tackle, Sand-Attack, Gust
Lv 1 Rattata | Adamant, Guts, Moveset: Tackle, Growl (Ugh, should be Tail Whip. Too late to fix.)
Lv 1 Magnemite | Lax, Sturdy, Moveset: Tackle
Lv 5 Pidgey | Rash, Ability Unknown, Moveset: Tackle, Sand-Attack
Lv 1 Rattata | Timid, Run Away, Moveset: Tackle, Growl
Team of Pokémon Trainer Leaf
Lv 15 Bulbasaur, Mild, Overgrow, Moveset: Tackle, Growl, Leech Seed, HP Ice, Vine Whip, Poison Powder, Sleep Powder, Take Down
Final Note: I've created a forum (link at the top of my profile page, or type forum/Pok-Challenges/230373/ after the / after net in the web address above). The forum is there for future challenges, which will no longer be integrated directly into the story. Continuing to do so would have violated this site's terms of service - no "interactive" entries - and I've removed the first challenge from chapter 15 and 16's author's notes for the same reason. I'll provide the forum link again whenever there's a new challenge. One should be coming up within the next three chapters if things go as planned. If the forum thing doesn't work out, I'll also be uploading this story to AO3, where the challenges will carry out as normal.
In short: you won't be able to participate in future challenges simply by reading this story and its author's notes. I'll let you know when they exist and where to find them in the author's notes, but from there it's up to you if you want to search out the links.