Chapter 7, Erika.

The next day, I flew back to Cerulean, met up with Misty, and watched the show. Then I just spent the day with my Pokemon, resting. I told them resting and recovering was important for training so they could get used to the levels of power they'd built up.

So we just spent the day wandering around various parks and the outskirts, where we beat some fellow trainers on Nugget bridge, before wandering down the route, to where Bills house was in the games.

The fact it was a Lighthouse, here, didn't turn me away. I'd gone in after knocking, and getting no response. Then Bill had been a Clefairy, like in the games.

I'd fixed him up with the machine, and then he'd given me an Eevee and a ticket for the SS Anne like he'd done in the games. It was with a beaming smile I left the Lighthouse, and wandered back to Cerulean. I was back in the center with time to spare, as I looked over the Eevee in my dex.

The Eevee was male, and clearly bred. It knew moves it shouldn't be able to.

Wish, Gravity and Protect were standouts. It shouldn't even be able to learn Gravity as an Eevee, though. According to the games, at least. I know the anime world broke a lot of the rules, but still. This is a bit out there.

Either way, though, I wanted a Sylveon, and I know how to get one. He already has a Fairy type move, Charm, and really I just need to train him while playing with him every day, like I do with the rest of my Pokemon. Brush him, feed him his favorite foods and then just keep up the system.

Which is what I do with my team every night before bed already, and feeding them their favorite foods is something we do many times a day. Most of my team likes dry, spicy food. Leafeon and Dratini like sweet foods.

Eevee, after some testing, likes tart foods. Dry food is good too. So I make a note to get some dry tart treats in the shop, then go to bed, ready for my gym battle the next day.

When I arrived in front of the Gym - Misty opting to go fishing instead of watching me smash this gym just like the last couple - I stepped inside to find there was already an audience, and another person battling.

I recognize the person, which is a bit surprising. The person?

Cross.

I step off to the side, behind him, as his Incineroar slams a Lapras into the platform and knocks it out, rendering the last member of Daisy's team unable to battle. Cross was also his last member. He quickly takes his badge with no post battle niceties and leaves, chin in the air. After five minutes, the battlefield is all fixed up.

The crowd goes wild as Lily calls for an intermission, and then locks eyes with me and gestures for me to come over.

I do so, and am impressed by what I see. All three sisters looked dead serious. I'd expected gold digging losers, honestly. Except for Violet, maybe.

"So, like, you've been destroying gyms. Brock said you'd be around 5-badge level and the others said you'd be around six. Would you like to do three, one on one battles? We'll battle you with a five, six and seven badge pokemon. In a row. One on one, as I said, and then, like, we'll know what recommendation to have you fighting against from here." Daisy says, gesturing to the field. I give a nod of agreement, and then she and her sisters clap in unison, which is eerie. Clearly very happy.

"Great! First, Lily will be your opponent. I'll ref the matches until it's my turn! If you beat one of us, you get the badge. If not, then we know five badges is a good spot!" She cheers, and then heads over to the ref booth, explaining the special event to the audience, hyping me up and calling me a new trainer taking the circuit by storm.

The crowds roars are so loud I'm happy when I step into the near silence of the trainer's box barriers, which I'm pretty sure were to keep trainers in stadiums from getting distracted.

"First! We have my sister, Lily, using our Five-Badge ace against the Challenger! Greg Daniels of Pallet town!" Daisy calls, getting more cheers. "The Challenger will choose the pokemon second! You may send out your pokemon at any time!" She calls, and Lily sends out a large Golduck. I give it a look over, noting its defined musculature.

Probably a Surf and Psychic using Golduck, as its best attacks from what I remember from the games. I tap each of my pokeballs in turn, then grin.

"Clear the Forest and burn the pond, Dratini!" I call, throwing my Dratini out. It lands on the platform with a big, goofy grin on its face, and then, the crowd screams at how adorable Dratini is. I can't even hear Daisy as the flag drops, and I smile. Dratini knows how to handle water types from fighting some of Misty's pokemon. The Thunder Wave came without prompting from me as the crowds roar started to die down.

"Dominating Dragon!" I yell, and Dratini bobs, then turns into a blur as the Golduck flips away from the Thunder Wave's path, only to get slammed in the side by a Dragon Tail from the Dratini under Agility. The blow throws the large duck into the Thunder Wave, as its eyes glow blue.

Dratini is flung hard into the barriers, and then slips down into the water.

Dominating Dragon is full melee against a foe who prefers ranged. Slow them down and beat them up.

Dratini bursts from the water with a Dragon Rush, slamming into Golduck's back and taking a swipe from what I think is an Ice Punch in return, even if it only barely clips her. I wince with sympathy, and watch on as the battle continues.

Dratini takes strafing runs as Golduck tags her occasionally with Psychic or Ice Punch. It goes back and forth for awhile until Dratini finally lands a fully clean hit, bounces off, and blasts Golduck with a Dragon Breath as she turns back into the water, only to meet hard ice which had been formed from Ice Beam. Then, Golduck is on top of her.

I can't hear Lily at all over the crowd, and can barely hear the fight. "Speed!" I yell, but it's too late. Dratini takes a full on Ice-Punch to the face, while the gem on the Ducks head glows blue, and before it can fire, Dratini screams in defiance and then explodes in light, allowing the evolution to hit. I'd explained that Dratini should evolve when they need to evolve to win a battle, and Dratini had been holding off for as long as he could.

But in the face of defeat, the dragon rose, and blasted the intrepid Golduck away with a swipe from his tail. He followed with Extreme speed, and then slammed into Dragon Rush. The combination being enough to blow the Golduck into the water, and knocking it out.

Lily recalled the Golduck, and gave me a bow, then swapped places with Violet, as I recalled Dragonair and murmured my congratulations into the ball, before clipping it back.

Daisy repeated the rules from before, and a larger Lapras than the one cross fought appeared in the pool.

Water and Ice type. Certainly a special attacker. Weaker to physical attacks. Pretty slow but tough as hell.

"Scizor! Clear the Snow Capped trees!" I call, sending out my choice. I see Violet grimace, before ordering something, while I do the same. I still can't hear her above the roar of the crowd.

"Full Metal Assault!" I command, and watch as Scizor explodes outwards. The Lapras explodes with a wave of ice and cold as I recognize Blizzard. Too late, however. Scizor is on her back, railing her with Bullet Punch, then Metal Claw, and finally wrapping up with a Swords Dance as She's tossed a good distance away. The Swords dance being used to repel the Ice Beam, as I remember Bugsy doing in the anime. It'd taken a bit of thinking to figure out, but Scizor's trust in my knowledge was absolute. She'd figured it out in four hours, and from there had been perfecting it at every chance to work on moves.

Then, Scizor disappeared with a crack, and continued the beatdown on the Lapras, who exploded with Ice as Scizor appeared on her back and resumed the beatdown.

The type advantage and the boost in power proved to be too much after a minute of repeating Scizor getting tossed, then Scizor dodging the attack thrown at her with her speed, and then pummeling Lapras. Shortly, Violet's Lapras was floating, unconscious on the waves of the pool. With a sigh, she swapped with Daisy as I recalled, and thanked Scizor for the fight.

Daisy gave me a big, goofy grin and then, waited for Lily to finish explaining the rules. She then sent out a thick, powerful looking Quagsire.

My responding Leafeon drew gasps, and Daisy looked very put-out.

The battle was hardly even a battle. I merely ordered Leafeon to use the combination Quick Attack, Agility and Leaf Blade - "Quick Blades" and the Quagsire managed to throw out large waves of water, but they did little while every Leaf Blade did significant damage.

Then, the Quagsire was out, only managing to fire three of its own attacks. Daisy sighed, nodded, and then the match was called in my favor by Lily.

I paused, in thought, as I realized this meant I was going to be fighting seven-badge level teams. Still, the only people I think have things I need to worry about are the same as they were before.

Maybe Surge will be a problem, but I'll take a couple days to teach my team the grounding move, or refine it if they already have the basic abilities. So Celadon is my next stop. Whatever it is, this is my fourth badge.

Celadon for five, Vermillion for six, Saffron for seven, Viridian for eight, Fuchsia for nine and Cinnabar for ten.

Plan laid out, I go over and accept my badge. The crowd being magnitudes louder outside of the barrier. After giving me the badge, they kiss my cheek, one after the other, so when I take their hands, instead of shaking them, I kiss the back of their hands in turn.

The crowd goes berserk, and Daisy gives me a sultry up and down, then a wink before walking away, a sway in her hips.

I sigh, and walk away, shaking my head with a rueful grin aimed at the ground. I'm not getting suckered into that little trap.

I leave the gym, and find Misty right behind me as I exit. She gives me a look, then huffs as I release Pidgeot. She hops on the back, and I hop on the front before we soar off into the sky.

Celadon awaits. The department store will be the best place to begin, I think.

I could use some TMs.

*** Scene Change ***

According to the games, gym 8 is around level 50 at the peak. I assume gym 7 is around 45 or so. My pokemon are almost on that level. We managed to beat the Quagsire because of a supremely effective strategy.

I think I'm in the lower half of the 40s, and honestly, training alone is giving diminishing returns. We need to refine our moves and skills, along with increasing our power.

So I'm going to take the gyms day by day. Having my team fight at a gym, then train for a day and grow their technique with what they learned from their fights. The gym leaders aren't using their full power or their combination moves, and they're not really using their most powerful team members who they have the most synergy with. My team and I have been discussing ways to improve our moves, combinations we can use, and so forth. My team is very well versed in combinations. So I'm using incredibly advanced strategy and moves while the leaders are using 'badge level' strategy and moves. Simple combinations, moderately advanced strategy which is looking one or two moves ahead.

I, having less restrictions and being used to considering every move someone could take and predicting what they'll do on every possible turn.

I am one of the people who played pokemon recreationally, but won tournaments in my last life. I smashed people with any given type for mono-type tournaments, I beat people in ladder using the same team for most of three generations, and I was known for being able to predict almost as well as the players in the world championships sometimes. I'd played against them in Showdown for almost all of generation five and six, at the lower level to be sure. But I'd been there.

Here, where people hoard information and how they learn can't really compare to someone like me who's seen generations of the anime, watching Ash go from the bottom to the top. I'd seen how a lot of trainers raised their pokemon. I'd seen how the game had tools the anime did not and had figured out ways to replicate that. From Gravity to throwing rocks for them to hit moving targets to spars with and without gravity enhancement.

Because I'm pretty sure that's what Super Training comes down to. An intense training area where you increase the base stats of your pokemon, limited by the game logic, and then you go dogpile on wild Pokemon for levels. But that's not how fighting works. You don't get experience only if you win.

You get experience, maybe better experience, if you lose. You can spend time working on refining your technique, closing the holes that were exploited and then you can try again. More seasoned and powerful.

For Pokemon, who grow at exponential rates, this is only ever more true.

So, how do you make Pokemon who are near mastery with their current abilities grow further when training is slowing down their growth?

You give them a load of new stuff to master.

Hence TMs.

Nugget Bridge, the Cerulean Sisters and a few trainers with six badges in Celadon for the seventh badge, earn me enough to get a few.

So I pick up Thunderbolt, Toxic, Ice Beam, Light Screen, Protect, Dig, Earthquake, Shadow Ball and Psychic. I want to get Poison Jab and Shadow Claw, but I figure this will have to do. Because what I'm doing is I'm teaching most of these to the members of my team who did not take part in the last battle.

Except for Dragonair. He gets Thunderbolt and Ice Beam.

Then I let my team train with each other and explain how the moves work at my direction to each other. How things feel and how they can use the move. They trade tips, tricks and I see that Ninetails interrupts the explanation of Ice Beam to Milotic to add some tips on Ice energy, while Ninetails masters it in minutes, having been close before the teaching from Dragonair. Then, Ninetails takes over the teaching while Dragonair goes over to learn Flamethrower from Charizard.

Pidgeot, Leafeon and Scizor are all trading tips on general energy use, and as I watch them over the course of an hour, I see Leafeon go from sharp with the leaf-blade to nearly razor levels. I can see the difference in her first attempt at a tree a few miles north of Celadon - which had done some but not a ton of damage, compared to the wholesale severing of a tree - cleanly cut in half - after only an hour of explaining how to sharpen energy for cutting.

Pidgeot gets faster, Scizor gains greater striking power, and his stance tightens as Leafeon blows holes in his style. She needed to refine her cutting power on something. Pidgeot smashed through Leafeon's defenses in turn and Scizor punished Pidgeot's unrestrained aggression. They may not be learning moves, per-say, but they are refining their direct melee combat skill.

My other members? They're tightening their aim, and working those moves into their fighting styles. And by the end of the day, everyone who can has learned a new move.

So I decide to take a couple days off, and rotate who trains with who to refine those moves and how they fight against people with more refined movepools.

The gym challenge can wait.

*** Scene Change ***

In the end, even Chansey took hand in training, using Gravity, Sing and Pound to prove how people can punish some of my Pokemon. The fully mastered Gravity attack was a shock to a number of my Pokemon, but when they adjusted to having gravity fluctuations, random bouts of drowsiness and monstrous slaps from pound, they all improved massively. Stances were tighter, moves executed faster, and combination moves crushed through seventh badge level trainers.

Because after I'd spent a week training and refining my technique, making sure each team member had mastered every move they could with sparring until someone landed three clean hits, my team had grown a lot in power. We were probably about equal to seventh badge gym leaders, maybe even eighth badge, because of our advantage on Ground Types.

With tighter control, better form, and stronger moves, we moved on to the Gym.

The gym was large, looking like a Gloom, with the flowers being solar panels. I looked it over appreciatively, then entered the gym. The receptionist gave me an appreciative once-over and then, with a flirtatious smile, she gave me a wave. Misty, behind me let out a nearly inaudible scoff. I walked up to the counter, and gave her a lazy grin.

"Is the gym open for challenges?" I asked, tilting my head to the computer. The receptionist positively beamed.

"Oh, yes! You can go right back. Erika hasn't had many challengers recently who've given her much of a challenge, so I'll wish you luck!" she said quickly, before giving me another smile, and gesturing to the door to the left of the desk. I nodded, and went on back.

What I did not expect to find was three ladies sitting around a tea set in a small forest clearing, and who I recognized as Erika sitting on a large pillow looking sleepy and drinking tea.

I just stand there for a minute, watching as the two other ladies go on laughing together at some story, while Erika looks mildly amused as she sips her tea, a tired look on her face.

Clearly, being a gym leader is a lot harder than it looks, especially for the biggest city in the country, for a woman who's 24 years old. She'd won the conference on her third year, at twenty one, and took over her gym from her uncle the year after.

The old man had fallen off the map almost instantly, leaving her to deal with the city. It's clear that it's taking its toll.

I'd looked into every gym leader, actually.

Flint had won twenty two years ago, Daisy had won four years ago, Erika had won three years ago. Surge had won sixteen years ago, Koga twenty years, Sabrina two years, Blaine would hit the big five-oh this year, and Giovanni won twelve years ago. Other gym leaders averaged somewhere on thirty plus years ago while their successors won ten years ago and the kids of their successors were still children who would go out in a handful of years. Using generational training as a holdover from clan days to try to make a superpower, replicating the Wataru clan dominance.

The only clans close to the Wataru in power are the Kyou and the Natsume clans, which are Koga and Sabrina's clans respectively. They'd held on through the control they have over homeland security, with the main-line battlers having all died out or falling to obscurity.

It was an interesting history lesson. Erika's family was one of the clans who looked to be filling that void, along with the clans headed by Flint and potentially the Cerulean Sisters, who got the gym from their dad. He'd had four potential masters of the water type born within six years. Daisy and Violet, then Lily and Misty. Misty, being barely seventeen showed how quickly he had kids after settling his gym, trying to secure the power to the clan. Maybe too ambitious, really, since his children were mostly failures in the anime, manga and games. Only Misty ended up realizing the potential in the Anime.

Really, Kanto right now is a story of small clans who had ties to the original rulers of the area before Kanto was unified. With the clans leading their jurisdiction falling out of favor, they may well take over the mantle of power.

But that's besides the point.

I stepped forward, and let out a loud cough to draw the giggling ladies attention to myself.

Erika looks up, and her sleepy look melts as she takes me in. My Six-foot three, well muscled frame is never as evident as it is before the absolutely tiny woman. She's maybe five-one, and probably weighs one hundred pounds soaking wet. She stands from her pillow, and raises a brow.

"Are you here for a gym battle?" She asks, and I nod. She smiles. "Very well. This will be a three-on-three. I recognize you as the recommended seven-badge trainer who only has four badges and a month under his belt. While impressive, realize that from here, you will be truly challenged. The difference between the Seventh badge and those which come before is a gap many never close." She offers a small smile, before unclipping the ball from her belt. "This is due to the strategic differences between the sixth and seventh badge. While you may have bested a seventh badge Cerulean Gym member, those sisters always relied on power over finesse. I am not so crude." She finishes, before tossing out the ball, which opens to reveal a Vileplume.

I give her a smile, nod, and then my smile turns into a chuckle which sounds positively villanous, even to my own ears. "Good." Is all I say, before unclipping Pidgeot's ball. "Clear the Forest, Pidgeot." I call, tossing the ball out lazily as one of the women - blonde, maybe twenty three, takes a position on the referee's box between us, and recites the rules. I can switch, yada yada.

"Suppression, blades." I say in my normal volume as Erika calls her attack.

"Dance."

Petals begin to fly off of the Vileplume as Pidgeot takes to the sky, and as the Petals begin flying en-masse towards Pidgeot, they are rebuffed by gale-force winds, right back at Vileplume. Some Air Cutter attacks are thrown in for good measure.

"Overload." Erika continues calmly, and I raise an eyebrow. Not relying on raw power indeed? What else could Overload be reliant on?

"Break." I counter. Break referring to the sound barrier, and being achieved through Ariel Ace, Quick Attack and Agility.

Pidgeot screeches as the world explodes in pink petals, and I lose visibility. The traditional follow up is to hit hard with the initial strike, then either disengage if the opponent can use close-status moves - which Pidgeot knows this gym certainly can - or to disengage after the hit and then reset the field.

I hear the wind, before a tornado engulfs the arena, before the tornado seems to explode with petals, and then the petals go still, and fall. They reveal a very damaged Pidgeot, covered in cuts, and an unconscious Vileplume, who is swiftly recalled.

"Brute force with advanced tactics? You fight like Blaine." Erika comments, and sends out a Bellossom. "Tyrant Killer." She orders and Pidgeot whips up another blast of wind with gust to test it. Bellossom seems totally unaffected as it creates a sword wreathed in crackling ice, somehow, and leaps into the air, before walking on the air and, in a flash, appearing before Pidgeot who is already singing his wings in an X to trade blows with Bellossom, as he propels himself forward with an Ariel Ace. The Wings hit, then the Sword and finally the Ariel Ace slams into the Bellossom, and there's a small explosion of ice as the sword finishes impacting Pidgeot, and Pidgeot is blasted hard into the ground, completely knocked out. Bellossom lands, and I watch as it glows faintly with Synthesis as the large cuts in its body begin to close.

"Clear the forest, Ninetails!" I call, sending out my next pick, as I settle Pidgeot back on my waist, in his ball, fondly caressing the object, before ordering "Winter Wonderland." And Erika blanches as a sudden Blizzard rips into the Gym, as Ninetails uses Hail, and uses her cryokinesis to crush the hail into snow, generating her ideal battlefield.

Her control over Ice has grown massively this last week. She is no master, but her range of control and power is huge. It expanded more with every ice-move she helped others grip.

"Magical Leaf!" Erika calls, and I smile.

"Blizzard."

The Bellossom is unconscious in a mere moment. I only know that because I see the flash of red indicating a recall moments after my call.

"Tangrowth, Oven!" Erika calls as her Tangrowth materializes, and the Hail is replaced by beating sun, which begins to melt the snow.

"Hide and Seek." I reply, not seeing Ninetails due to the snow. Until it's gone, Erika will have trouble. We'd had a good foot or so inside the battlefield within the thirty or seconds of battle. It's what happens when you condense a square mile of hail into a tiny space and turn it into snow.

Hide and Seek uses the snow, confuse ray, and double team to make hitting Ninetails basically impossible while she strikes from as many angles as possible, with whatever she thinks will be effective.

Which is Moonblast, apparently, as twenty Ninetails burst from various piles of snow and hurl glowing balls of power at Tangrowth, who explodes in a heat wave - which may well be the move - and melts the snow and the Double Team clones.

But that focus cost him being hit with the ball of Fairy energy in return for his blow on Ninetails. A fire-using grass type with all the tricks the line already has?

How absurd.

"Heart of the Storm." I call out Ninetails finisher, which is devastating. If tricks won't work and traps won't work, I'll take advantage of this Tangrowth being confused. Even if I'd not seen the confusion, I don't see why Ninetails would have attacked, otherwise.

Maybe she snuck it in with the snow to hide her better? If so, that's great! If not, then it'll be something to add to the strategies as a standard trick. That's a good idea.

Heart of Winter is a very complicated move. It was my attempt at recreating Sheer Cold. It was not successful, but it was very deadly to things susceptible to ice moves. Really, it was my Garchomp, Dragonite and Salamence counter move.

But it works on grass monsters, too.

The explosion of ice from Tangrowth after Ninetails appears in front of it with Agility, before body slamming it, is impressive. More so, because Ninetails is almost unhurt from the attack.

What the move is, in essence, is a concentrated Blizzard she pushes straight down into the enemy, which is concentrated in her paws. So when she makes contact and the Blizzard explodes out, the enemy is encased in Ice, and deals the full damage of Blizzard.

Meanwhile, Ninetails is given a free method to disengage the enemy, as she flips back to position. The fact she adds in a Moonblast as she flips away and then after she lands secures the win, as the two explosions send shards of the ice covering Tangrowth right into its massive body.

The fact it's unconscious after three consecutive explosions of ice does not surprise me at all.

Grass Types are the best set up for stalling and tricking you into handing them victories while healing from your suffering. Powder moves, leech seed, giga drain - really the list is nearly endless for the combinations.

You beat that by making them fight honestly with speed and power, or as Erika pointed out, by fighting like Blaine. No Berserker would beat a real master of the type, so you needed to have tricks and methods to counter traps. Weather manipulation is my tactic for this. Wind, then snow to redirect and block the spores and speed and power. I showed I had tricks, which she'd beaten with raw power, so I responded in kind.

Tricks lose to power which loses to a wall which loses to tricks. It's the simple circle of Pokemon battling. Masters can fight in all three methods, to suit their needs. I prefer power and tricks, myself. Steven Stone likes Power and Walls. Geeta from Paldea likes tricks and walls, which is why people think she's so easy. She doesn't really have the raw power of a champion - but that's because she doesn't really need power. Most people fall for a trick or can't scale the wall.

Distracted, again. I shake my head lightly, and brush Ninetails coat with a smile. "Good battle. It was enjoyable. I actually got to see something other than someone yelling direct attacks at me or simple status moves. It was refreshing. The people in the center who complain that you're an unbeatable 7th badge may have a point. But they're probably at their natural limit without some outside force. Most people aren't made to be world-class trainers. I can see why you are, though I did make counters for you - and those like you - the way you handled them shows I still have some refinements to make." I praise. This isn't, any of it a lie. The graceful smile on Erika's face shows she appreciates it.

"Well, yes. Either way, I do think you have quite earned the Rainbow Badge. I hope to have a rematch with you in the future, though. Perhaps before the conference you would indulge a battle with my true team?" She asks, giving me that same happy smile all the while.

"Sure! For now, I can't wait to see what eight gym-badge levels look like. If I get ten badges, I will come back for a rematch. You can count on that. It'll help tune me up after I fight Blaine for the tenth badge. You, Koga and Sabrina are the real goals, there!" I explain happily, and she gives me a dazzling smile. I refrain from commenting that this is largely because of the fact that she is the only walling trickster in the gym circuit. Everyone else likes to use power if their main schtick fails, where for her it's the desperate last resort.

I need more battles with people who don't use power to get the juices flowing on how to do that better, since relying on only power is a method of stagnation. Even Ash fell into that pit until he broke through and started to create tricks of his own.

Sinnoh was such a scam, as a season.

"I look forward to it. Before I forget, I should also give you these - a TM for Giga Drain, and a few other things you may have some use for. Vouchers and coupons. These are mostly for stores in Celadon, and I think you can make more use of them than I could." she says, handing me a small bag, which she pulled from behind her pillow. I pull out a voucher and see it's for a free set of the latest camping gear. Backpack included. I look the voucher over, before it comes to me that a Gym Leader has no use for such things.

Ah, yes. A Japanese custom was to give people who are guests in your home small gifts. And for them to give one back. Her gym is her home, though I think she may be using the custom to get rid of stuff she's accumulated in the last week to the first trainer who's impressed her. Still, I'm not one for debts. So I pull out a notebook, flip to the page on the line she is most famous for, then take it out of the notebook carefully.

"It's not much, but please, accept this as a sign of my appreciation." I respond, offering her the paper with both hands. It's covered, front and back, with all of the knowledge I have on movepools, optimal training for and ways I remember the line being used in tournaments at all levels. It's not nearly as much as the main line OU meta mon's but there is a good bit, because everyone has made everything try to work at some point, and I've run into nearly everything.

So while I don't remember much, to someone like her?

The soft gasp she lets out as she looks over the list of moves, training ideas and tricks is like music to my ears.

"I could not possibly accept this! It's priceless!" She exclaims, and I feel Misty positively fuming from where I stand. I give Erika the lopsided grin, and shrug.

"I've memorized that page, and if you want to repay me, then I'm sure we can find something which I'll find great use for. Like helping my team grow in power via some training or tips of your own. I find raw information and ideas like that to be easy to generate, but after I run out of those ideas? Well, it has been getting harder to advance as time goes on. Another perspective, especially one who has gone as far as you have, would be appreciated." I conclude. I'm laying it on a bit thick, but Erika has always been my favorite. She's elegant, strong and doesn't mind making her opinion known while enforcing it.

"I - I suppose, yes. I could spare some time. Would you be willing to stay in Celadon for a week or two? We can discuss plans tonight, and I can train you from where you are with what I know of your pokemon from experience battling others of their kind, and what I've seen work. Then I will work with you to get your team to that level." She offers, and I give her a beaming smile.

Her main team may have a Bellossom and a Vileplume, which will both benefit massively from that page - as I list the milestones of mastery over their innate abilities - read the learnset - and how you can see how powerful they are in raw skill compared to other members of their line. Listing the final moves as the peak of what their race can learn naturally, with examples if possible from the Anime on what the peak of mastery and power in that looks like.

Keeping each species of pokemon to one page has been hard. Thankfully, Vileplume and Bellossom share a lot, and what they do not is easy.

"I will note that these are from observations from myself and my mother, and perhaps her family before that. We could have some misconceptions if there was a peculiarity with breeding or we have not seen the full capabilities of the Pokemon in question. Still, I can say with certainty that what's on there is true. I only keep things I know for sure in my main notebook. The other one is for what is probably possible. Speaking of, I have to add a page because of you on elementally infused projected melee attacks, like that frozen leaf-blade of yours. Brilliant, and I'm going to steal it for my Leafeon, if not in that exact form." I ramble happily, and she nods with a smile.

"I think I have another battle scheduled in ten or so minutes, but if you'd like, come back at seven pm. It's when the gym closes, and we can discuss where your training will go from here." She politely closes the conversation - shelving it for later.

I give a smile, bow, and then offer a casual. "See you later!" as I come up from my bow, and she returns it with a soft

"Stay safe." The smile which never left her lips grows the smallest amount as she comes out of the bow, and meets my eyes before I turn. The last image is of a smiling woman holding the paper I'd given her like it's the most precious artifact.

Misty was, in fact, glaring holes in my back that whole time.

*** Scene Change ***

"You realize that 'gift' you gave her could be construed as a marriage proposal, right?" Misty asks, when we're in my room at the Center. I pause, in the middle of grabbing the supplements my team needs for post-training feeding time.

"No, I did not." I say lamely, and Misty snorts.

"Yea, well, you just gave her a resource people would kill for. It's probably a very solid way to tell how powerful a Pokemon is, from a few standpoints. When you mix that with what her clan specializes in, you've probably just given her what amounts to validation of her clan's research, or a completely new look into the subject which will allow for exponential growth in her personal power. Compared to two weeks of training by her with ideas on things not anywhere near so important as her personal secrets and clan tricks, you're basically giving her a gold mine and asking for a single nugget as payment. Classic marriage technique for someone from no notable clan to marry into a much more notable clan. Even your presentation was almost right out of one of those old-time romance novels." She sighs, then sags where she sits, as I stand frozen. "I honestly wonder if the only thing in your head is Pokemon, because while it explains a lot, it makes you a real piece of work for any woman who tries to take on the task of taming you. You'll inadvertently end up like the Emperor of Indigo with ten wives from the clans, and it'll be uncannily like that because those ten wives will be from clans which each become major clans, like the ones he was married into. Then you'll be champion with an Elite Four of just your wives, and the strongest gym leader of each region will also be your wife and every other region will be terrified of us, again. Just like olden times." Then she gives me a dramatic sigh, and a pointed look. "If that's what you want, then keep doing what you're doing. You're a monster battler, like someone from a story. You act like someone out of a story with your single-mindedness and I'll be damned if you don't have the charisma of someone out of a story. I can't forget you're just as oblivious as someone out of a story, too." She concludes, the gives me a look like women do when you're a real idiot.

"I mean, I guess. I just know a lot about some things and almost nothing about others. I'm fixing that as I go along, thanks to you. I guess I'll just have to give you something other than the page on the Feebas line, and just settle for a Milotic as a gift instead." I tease, getting the exact reaction I want out of her.

"You know, that's another - potentially more potent - wedding gift?" Then she smiles at me. "Not that I'd say no to such a gift. Milotic owners are somewhere around one-hundred and it seems random if a Feebas evolves or not. They just say to shower it with affection and it evolves, but if that were true then there'd be a lot more of the species. There's clearly some other requirement, and you being able to just give one would make you the most eligible bachelor in the world for any clan of water specialists, and maybe Dragon Specialists since the similarity the Milotic family has with the Dragons is very high." She then puffs another sigh. "Of course, knowing you, you'll just do it anyways and forget that you're giving me literally millions of outright money and millions more in revenue over time via selling shed scales and publicity for the shows my sisters put on." Then she just gives me a tired look.

"Maybe I'll just help you catch and train a Feebas to a Milotic instead?" I offer, giving her the lopsided grin, and she glares. "Yea, then I'm indebted to you forever and basically have to marry you anyways. Or give you a bunch of stuff equal to the Milotic, and the effort you put in training it with me, and making up for blunders I make. That's sounds just perfect." She grumbles the last bit, and faintly blushes, and my lopsided grin turns positively shit-eating.

"At least you'd be one of the elite four?" I ask, and then, she started throwing things.

I'd managed to escape to training in tact, then complete my daily training, feed my team and make it to Erika a whole twenty minutes before the Gym closed, in spite of Misty telling me it made me look even more like a suitor to anyone with eyes.

I'm not going to show up on time when I'll be early to everything if I can help it. If I'm going to be in this city for a few weeks, with training and sparring with Erika's true team at night, then I need to find something to do during the day. What was to-do in Celadon other than the store, and stomping trainers?

I thought about that for a whole ten minutes before I remembered, it'd been a long time since I'd played generation one.

The Game Corner. If it exists and they have a hidden Rocket base under it here, then I can hijack the main character's role and destroy Giovanni and Rocket, hopefully before they get control over and / or ruin Mewtwo and he tries to end the whole world! Yea, that's a good goal. Pre-empting the villains.

Which also means stopping the crazy bird man, kicking the shit out of the Hoenn antagonist teams… and then Galactic. In order. I have to do them in order.

Magma is on Mt. Pyre and Aqua are in… Lilycove? Yea.

Galactic are super obvious and I just need to punt them around a bit, crush their setup on Mt. Coronet and stop them from finding the Lake Trio. 'easy!'

Hunter J is a problem too. I have no idea where she is really before her appearance in the Anime and I have no clue when exactly she is where, exactly. She may come to me if I make a big name and people want to poach my Pokemon. She'll poach! Or try.

Self bait, what a 'heroic' plan. Read: Idiotic.

Then we have Plasma and their insanity, followed by Flare being dumbasses and the convoluted ass Alola situation going on.

Then it's nothing big. Fans being jackasses and Chairman Rose being severely narrow-minded. Finally we have the school rejects who get bullied. That gets resolved by peaceful mediation and showing the kids that rebelling isn't cool, with the faculty making a genuine change to not just… let the bullying happen.

I puff out a sigh as I finish thinking about how to handle the Rockets in the city. I'm going to do the smart thing. Go in, get proof the Rockets are there, and turn them in if they're doing super illegal shit. Except I'm going to need a Porygon, which means… gambling so I can buy a Porygon, or just asking Oak for one so I can test if it'd be a good security system for my phone since it has vital data on it I don't want stolen.

Then proceed to use it to steal the fuck out of the data on the bases records, and see what Rocket is up to. I'll just need to…

Steal Giovanni's PC? If he's there he's fucked as hell. GG, it's over for Rocket.

100% turning the base in to Erika directly tomorrow if I confirm it's there. Even if it's not Giovanni, then they lose an Admin. Some of those guys are brutal and need to get locked up or accident-ed in a battle. Matori, Archer, Proton, Petrel, Ariana, Madame Rocket or Giovanni will be in there, almost certainly. If it's Matori, then Giovanni is fucked. If its one of the others, then he's still probably fucked and Team Rocket is on the clock.

I just have to break in there and figure it out. Goodie me, I have a Ninetails, a pokemon famed for their ability as illusionists.

Too bad it's too early in fall for believable snowfall…

I huff in disappointment at the worst time, because it's then that the door opens and Erika prances out of the back for our first night of training.

Her face was very amusing. Explaining I was having troubling thoughts was much less fun.

*** Scene Change ***

A few things I figured out pretty quickly in the game corner.

First, All black was in style here. I even fit in better with the long black trench coat from the survival set Erika gave me.

Second, no one reputable would every go to the back of the place. It was clearly a din of iniquity and sin. The front was pretty PG, but the back, well… no.

Third, the back was guarded, and you had to be 18, be a trainer and/or have a full team OR at least three badges to get in. Why? Because it was a Team Rocket scouting ground is why. I was pretty sure.

Using the bathroom in the literal strip-club in the back of a Casino, I tapped around, cuz no one else would use a bathroom in this place and found a secret door.

Fourth thing I found out - the casino was 100% a Rocket base which was into super illegal shit! I know because the bathroom led into a tight, black hall with no lights, which led to other secret doors. I went "to the back" of the building along the secret door, found stairs behind the secret door on the right wall (I was able to tap both, and the feel between solid wood and a thin plywood veneer is very obvious if you've ever done woodwork. Let me tell you.)

The first thing at the bottom of the stairs?

A bunch of Pokemon in test tubes getting stuffed full of drugs. None of the scientists even looked up when I silently walked in, not noticing me. I casually walked past them, and into another hall like I belonged. On silent feet.

The doors here were also Silent. Why do that?

Because stopping, turning and running is a great way to get humans - or anything with eyes - to look at you. Its not a normal movement.

So I released Scizor, and put a finger to my lips gestured to the room, then whispered "Knock them out silently please. I need to confiscate their laptops so we can shut this place down." and then waited about three seconds before walking back in the room, scooping up the various laptops in the room, snapping a few pictures of the room, slathered in Team Rocket Logos, and then swiping two of the scientists Wallets and all of their pokeballs.

Because fuck Team Rocket.

Then, to sell the image, I reached into my backpack and pulled out a some - what I am sure is illegally strong alcohol - and then released Chansey to help me administer the 'medicine'.

They'll wake up with splitting headaches, not remembering how they got where they are. Suspicious, but not so much when you smell like booze. Just another day at work then got drunk upstairs and went to bed in the… barracks.

Fuck am I an idiot.

I flipped through the wallets, and found a room key card. Specifically, Barracks #201. The other three scientists had the same barrack designation. I sent Scizor to find the room, which was fast. It was apparently the door literally next over on the right.

In case the tests went bad?

I Scizor and I put them in their beds, and I was thankful for the lack of good cameras yet in the Pokemon world. They had big honking ones, and ones on phones, but the phone ones sucked ass. 420p, and for some reason no one had made like, security cameras yet. Not inconspicuous ones.

Even if they did I guess Team Rocket wouldn't have them because it's a Cyber Security issue, if someone hacks the Camera. You'd be super fucked if it was in this illegal ass place.

I ask Chansey if those Scientists will be out for twelve hours before we leave, and she gives them a pound on the head each, then checks them over before repeating two more times before confirming.

I ask if they're in a coma, and she nods. I ask if she can heal it, and she gives me a very cheerful nod.

That's one problem down, but two more created. I just spill some alcohol on their stuff, then make it look like they made a mess in the lab on their way through, having moved the laptops but in the drunken stupor who knows if they were up in the bar or if they were in the room in some cubby hole or anywhere in between. If Rockets come looking hopefully it is enough for 12 hours.

Oak or Erika, Oak or Erika…

Oak is the better bet.

Former champion, head of worldwide research in pokemon… I want this place smashed. And he'll be able to figure out what the fuck the "Berserker Gene" is supposed to be, and what these performance enhancement, mind break and other drugs do exactly. Because it's too techy for me. They sound pretty on-the-tin but how it is done may give us a way to undo it.

I slide the four laptops into one of the special bags I'd picked up with the Voucher Erika gave me earlier and then slide it back on, before going back up and leaving in the secret door at the front of the building. It leads out into another bathroom in the front of the house. An out of order stall. I exit quickly.

I walk halfway to the Center, slip into an alley, wait three minutes, and then send out Pidgeot.

I need to get to Oak.

***Scene Change***

"So, you were looking into the adult side of life, didn't like the gambling, remembered some trainer talking about Strip clubs, went into the trainer only section, and went to the restroom after a few minutes. You bumped the wall, it felt hollow so you pushed, and there was a secret door which led to a secret Team Rocket base under the Casino where you confiscated the laptops as evidence, before coming to me. Is that right?" Oak asks, and I nod.

"Without a lot of detail, yes. Again, I like anonymity from everyone not named you specifically." I remind him, and get a nod of affirmation.

"I'll deal with it." He said, then after pressing a big shiny red button, an Alakazam appeared. "Get the team. We're going to get Lance and ONLY his most trusted people and then we're going to strike a blow against -" he gestured angrily at the computer screens, which Alakazam didn't even look at, merely giving Oak a look, before nodding and vanishing. Then an Arcanine, Blastoise, Venasaur, Charizard and Dragonite appeared one after another, each looking angrier than the last. Oak recalling them one by one as they appeared before Alakazam appeared in front of him, and then? They were gone.

I hopped on Pidgeot, and flew back to Celadon, post-haste.

When I walked into the Pokemon center four hours later to pandemonium. First, there was a lot of activity. Second, Misty AND Erika were there looking worried to death about SOMETHING and then, an old woman looked me over, nodded, and hobbled over.

Which got Erika and Misty's attention.

"Greg!" They both exclaimed, and I literally slow-blinked as my brain short circuited. Then rebooted. Then the old woman was in front of me.

"You are Greg Daniels of Pallet Town. Oak speaks well of you, and claims you are worthy, so take this, and tell him the Shirona clan owes him no longer." Then, the old woman walked out of the Center, ignoring the Pandemonium. By the time I looked over my shoulder at who I am ninety eight percent sure was fucking Cogita, Erika was hugging me, crying.

So, my brain shut down again, and I just hugged her back. Misty looking upset, relieved and giving me the look of a mother whose son just got home from a warzone. Seeing no damage, she nodded.

"Do you know how worried we were? First, the Elite Four suddenly come out of the Game Corner with a fucking train of Team Rocket grunts floating behind Professor Oak's Alakazam and are trailed by Agatha's Gengar - all thirteen of them - and then, when they're clear, everyone in the building is arrested by order of Lance. As soon as he says that, the roof is blown off - literally - by a Hyper Beam. Next thing anyone knows - and Erika knows because she was there - Giovanni and the four known team Rocket Executives, an older woman and some known Rocket Elites are fighting Bruno, Lorelei and Lance. Really it was just Lorelei keeping civilians from getting killed while Bruno and Lance fought all of them. Then, midway through the battle, the whole Game Corner explodes with enough force to severely damage the rest of the block, which didn't cause a massive fire because Lorelei stopped it, and THEN Giovanni and two of the Admins - Archer and Arianna - escaped! Giovanni has been declared the head of Team Rocket and has a bounty of 100,000,000 on his head. Meanwhile YOU are gone?! Where? Last anyone had seen which we heard about, you went to the Game Corner! We thought you were going to get dragged in on a stretcher!" Misty finishes her hysterical - justifiably hysterical - babble. I sigh and rub Erika's back as I consider.

"Yea, I went to the Game Corner. I wanted to see what gambling was like - it sucks. Then I tried Pachinko, and it sucked. Then I took one look at the stip club and felt like I was going to vomit at the thought, so I left. I took a flight on Pidgeot to get some training in because I wanted nothing to do with the place and felt disgusting. Then I jumped in a river for a bit, before drying off and coming back here. I didn't see any smoke or fires or hear explosions. If I did, I'd have called." Speaking of, I checked my phone.

After unlocking it, I see I have twenty three missed calls. Thirteen from Erika, Eight from Misty, one from an unknown number and one from Oak. Five Voice Mails -

Two from Erika, one from misty, one from the other two. I put the phone to my ear as I listened to Oak's, grimly telling me it's been dealt with and Lance had his PERSONAL Alakazam and Hydreigon verify Oak was not under mind control, then Agatha did the same with three different Gengar. Lance figured it out via Alakazam who told him, and would be in contact soon. Also, I needed to pick something up at the Center when I had a chance. But I should see Lance first.

So I listened to the second call, and got confirmation it was Lance, he wanted to meet me first thing. Literally right now if I can. He needs to talk to me, and anyone I trust. I sigh. Erika's red eyes looking up at me from my chest, where I give her a weak smile, then gesture to the ceiling.

"Privacy?" I ask, and get a muted nod as a few tears squeak out of her eyes. I scoop her up, and then walk past Misty. "You too." I say before continuing in silence, then I meet Erika's eyes, and whisper "Looks like you get to figure out a lot more than I thought I'd have to tell you, but I think you're both trustworthy." I say, and she blinks up at me with big, watery questioning eyes. "I wanted to tease you about the voicemails first, but that can wait. Duty calls." And I opened the door to my room, and placed Erika on the 2-seater, directly on my left, while I pointed Misty to the one-seater. Then I pressed the call-back button on the number Lance called me from. I just left it on the table, on speaker.

Erika gasped in quiet shock at the number, before looking at me with the most adorable expression of confusion ever. Then, the phone was picked up.

"You free?" Lance's voice asks, and Misty gapes.

"Yea, room 401, Celadon City Pokemon Center, exact coordinates are…" I list them off, knowing how teleportation works after exhaustive research. TLDR - know where you're going or know exactly where you're going. I'd given him the coordinates for the desk I had been sitting at last night, when I did research on some moves. I'd begun making lists of exact positions for the various Pokemon centers. They might be rooms but if my team is dying, I'll gleefully ruin some hanky-panky to get them to safety and a healer.

As I finish the last decimal on the XYZ for him, there's a flash behind me and then the sound of a Pokeball sucking what I assume to be an Alakazam in, and in short order, Champion Lance is before me, arms stretched over the back of the three-seat couch. I figured he'd be using the Alakazam to make sure my story checked out, which would be… probably bad.

I'd not lied but I'd also not said I knew it was a Rocket base before I went in there. I just avoided that bit entirely.

"Interesting choices in people you implicitly trust." is all Lance says. I look at the red-eyed and tear stained Erika, and the shocked Misty, who suddenly points at me.

"I knew you were a Ringer sent in by the league, who knows some crazy league stuff! It's the only way you could be as good as you are!" She exclaims, and Lance starts laughing so hard I'm afraid he's going to break that couch with the groan the wood gives with each slap of his hand on the back.

I just roll my eyes, wait for Lance to stop, and then gesture at Misty. "She's my only traveling companion. I have to trust her implicitly, but I also have proof of her good intent. Trust but verify." Then I give Erika a half-hug and squeeze. She blushes amazingly. "This is my current teacher and also, I can trust her. You didn't see her reaction to seeing someone who she probably regards at best as potential romantic partner material or good but new friend coming into the center. She literally didn't let go until I set her where she is currently sitting. You don't react like that unless you are terrified for a person, which shows she is very emotional and invested in keeping her people safe. I was someone to protect thrice over and she felt she might have failed and her reaction wasn't anger, but such immense relief at my safety and obvious terror at my maybe not being so that she could not stand or walk for a minute. That's a very, very strong way to prove character. Not to mention, my whole team likes and respects her a lot. I think you know how good at determining emotions Ninetails, the Dratini line and Milotic are?" I ask, and Lance nods at my explanation while beaming at Erika after my first bit, and by the end he seems to be tempted to give her a raise, promotion and whole office of assistants - whatever she needs to do her job better!

Erika looks fit to pass out from embarrassment, and Misty looks one part confused, two parts indignant I didn't wax poetic about her, and one part shocked about Lance being here. Still.

"Good enough. I know you really like privacy, and my Alakazam has told me you are an inherently Dark aligned creature, which explains why you bond with people who have strong emotional bonds so quickly and defend them so vehemently. I suspect your aura also leans to the Fairy type, because you are extremely like the only Dark Fairy type, with how you train, like privacy and prank people. But we can discuss that interesting bit of you later. Your privacy is secure as long as I, the Professor and these two do not speak of what you told Oak. Your discovery of that hideout was very, very important. As a result, I am giving you Giovanni's badge, as the only person this season to get it - because all other challengers will be facing Bruno - and a hefty paycheck. I will also give you any one favor within my power." Lance says, before tapping his hand on the couch, and then gives me a grin and says "Within reason of course."

"Define, 'within reason.' because the last time a person on your level said that, I jokingly asked for a Gible and some old lady came by and gave me a Gible, and that the Shirona clan owes Oak nothing now. So, reason seems relative to you people." I counter, and his grin widens.

"Most ask for money or training when I say that. You're smart. Reason, here, is something along the lines of carrying capacity upgrades and someone to come with you to help keep your pokemon healthy. Or a guidebook on how to train that Dragonair you have. I think you get the idea." He says offhandedly.

A whole ass guidebook?

"You want to marry me or something dude? I gave Erika a page and she got all blushy on me. You're offering me a book."

"You may have saved the region from a calamity. I will repay my debts."

Ah. He figured out about Mewtwo or considered Team Rocket a calamity already.

"I want a few things. Tell me which of these you can do. Increased carry capacity to twelve, a large food supply in a crate I can carry with me for the team and someone to help with the team, and a Ralts. I think I'm going to need a teleporter." I tell him, and he nods.

"Those are almost non-favors. The helper and food is expected. The Ralts is a non-issue. We have a lot of them in training because they're just good Psychics and Hoenn wants to see if the species can go from rare to uncommon, and is having other allied regions breed them in captivity and having seeded wild Ralts in various habitats. I'll get you a standout. The cook is actually harder, but not much of an issue. 12 Pokemon is lowballing yourself." Lance tells me bluntly. I shake my head.

"I only want 12 for the Conference. I need to train them all and I won't have time."

"Fair. Give me a list of your ideal team-mates you need to travel out of Kanto for. If you asked for Gible and Ralts, you probably have others." He 'guesses.'

"Are any Marill in Kanto?"

"Yes."

"Then it's a short list."

"Shoot."

"Right now? Snivy, Ferroseed, Jangmo-o. If I can get Chansey in a support slot and not a team slot." I tell Lance, and he gives me the most shit-eating grin.

"I love the Jangmo-o line. The other two are Unovan. I'll ask Surge, it'll be no problem. Snivy are draconic but pure grass types. Snivy and Ferroseed can be a… mating pair gifts to Erika for finding and taking the correct action with this Rocket cell. I think that's ideal. You?"

"Sounds great. I caused a mess in her city, so it makes sense I repay her. Also, we can explore the limits of the Unovan grass types. She'll really make good use of the Ferroseed line. Ferrothorn are a right pain, which is why I want one." I say with a grin splitting my face.

"Yea, I know. I have a Charizard almost exclusively as a counter to that thing. You see one, then you're going to remove it or it's going to make your life miserable. Hazards, massive defense, crazy powerful attacks… the thing is not fair."

"Erika, are you alright?" I ask quietly, looking down at the woman who is shaking and gripping my shirt, crying again. All the while Lance waxes about Ferrothorn being the only reason he didn't win the Unova league back when he tried, after having won the Silver Conference. I'm sure he's doing this to keep Misty enraptured, because he's surely noticed the shaking Gym Leader.

"..d… u." I don't understand any of her mumbles into my shoulder, so I very lightly shift my arm hugging her and shift her so I can here better while letting at an almost inaudible, questioning, hum. This time, I catch it. "I am going to be forced to marry you." She mumbles again, and I poke her back and smile, saying.

"I think that wouldn't be so bad. But I'd need a year or two. I plan to smash Lance first." Then I give another squeeze and actually focus on what Lance is saying.

"... and so my Charizard and I destroyed that wretched thing which denied me my victory! The fool hasn't set foot in Kanto or Johto since!" He booms, and Misty looks like she's been told the holy gospel straight from the mouth of… Arceus.

"How much of that is real?" I ask and Lance laughs for about ten seconds.

"Well, I destroyed the guy in the Unova league, the rest is accurate." He says, still chuckling.

"Flamethrower Dragonite is cheating in that place. Cheating, I tell you! Half of their good pokemon for really skilled trainers are Steel Type, and the rest are ground types, starters or almost impossible to train. Like Haxorous and Hydreigon." I boo loudly and Lance goes back to laughing, while he types something on his phone. We go on for around fifteen minutes, before he nods, and then holds out his hand.

"It's been good, but I need to go. You should get your pay for helping with the Team Rocket fight - protecting a building I said it was - and the team increase is already through. The new team members should be in Oak's ranch by the end of the week. Surge apparently has a whole herd of Snivy and Ferrothorn back home because his wife's family are breeders in Unova. I thought they specialized in Electric types, but apparently not. They do starter trio and other high-difficulty breeding for the region. Very impressive." he continues, as I shake his hand. "But we'll meet again. Don't break any hearts until then, Greg." I nod, and he disappears.

"So," Misty says, glancing between me and Erika. "Who's going to go out on which date night?" She asks, and Erika blinks, looking between us, then shrugs.

"You already get days. I only get nights. This seems fair to me." She concludes. Misty grumbles, but agrees in the end.

Did they just agree to date me simultaneously?

Do I seriously need to look up how fucking courtship works in this world?

I'd find out, the next morning as I read up, that yes. I did. Men tended to become trainers a lot more than women (on the order of 5:1 in Kanto.) and as a result died a lot more. So there was around a 63% female population in Kanto. Men could - and did - marry up to three wives. Three! Clan heirs could do up to five, if required. Especially if two heirs were marrying then they'd need at least to have 3 people in the relationship, probably four.

Someone has to raise the kids, and there are (sadly) no cures for infertility. Women with it get married as homekeepers and men with it generally just… get to suffer.

Kinda bleak. Both ways, but at least the women get a family. I guess.

Also clan laws are like ancient medieval shit. Erika is a Clan Heiress and Misty very well could be the next head of her clan if she becomes the most powerful because only women are in her generation. So according to tradition, I'd need a third wife of "hopefully common stock" so I had a measly three wives. Pitiful compared to some powerful trainers.

Drayden had six wives at one point. Six! They'd all passed away before him, mostly due to medical complications, which I think means heart attacks because he's a crazy old man who rides dragons and fights the big fights with dragons, and they blow things up. On TV. A lot.

There were others like that. Bruno had four wives, and he usually just didn't divorce them. He'd marry them, and if the woman wanted to separate, he'd do it but keep them as his wife until they found someone else and keep them safe from evil. There was a literal post about how Bruno had beaten a man bloody because he'd been in Pewter visiting one Ex to check on their daughter and found a guy creeping on his ex. He checked the guy was, in fact a creep with his ex, and when confirmed, he just stuck around for a few weeks, caught the guy doing some mildly illegal stuff, and took him to jail the hardest possible way.

No one fucks with Bruno's kids. Or ex wives.

Lance had had one Wife. Once. She died of unknown causes. I think it was Team Rocket if Hyper Beaming a random Team Rocket Grunt was any indication.

Steven had yet to be married but was rumored to have two fiancée's right now. One from another ancient clan to secure an alliance, and the other someone he fell in love with while growing up.

Oh boy, this world was fucking wild. It was basically 'if you're strong enough, you make the rules.' and no one had any issues with that.

Which made sense. They have magical monsters capable of ending all life on earth as pets in balls on their hips. Put one Dragonite on Earth that's brainwashed to kill every human and not get caught doing it, and everyone is probably dead. And Dragonite have Harems. Strongest Dragon gets all the ladies. They want strong kids who will rule over all the other dragons. Dragon-Logic. Look at what happens to Charizard in the Anime. He falls in love and gets turned down cuz he's a wimp.

That episode is pretty much exactly how it works for humans too, it turns out.