…

[Next Week]

…

I have the money from those contracts, so I'm not in immediate financial danger. Having Patty be strong will also be great for my resume.

Anyways.

I found a grass gym in Lumiose that allows outsider training, and has equipment to train special attack. Gyms like these are not rare, but getting a spot in a timely fashion is a bit hard.

Either way, we're in now. Patty's overall structure works against her. Her Nature spread reduces her special attack and her IVs are below mediocre. Natures are, similar to abilities, not 100% one kind or another. Patty's spread is what they are, but she can be nudged against the grain to show more of her Modest and Timid sides. Normal training tends to focus on what a Pokemon exhibits the most and bring out that personality in action. It's not going to be nearly as impressive as the bonuses in game: her Special attack will probably only see a net bonus of 0.6% or something.

Nobody particularly likes to have a Pokemon dramatically express only one nature, because that is the sign of psychological issues with the Pokemon and will require therapy.

I can also subtly affect her IV, but that's secondary to actually getting her Moves down pat.

Now, I'm a fan of Liligant, but not a very good player. Anyways, Liligant's moveset would be…what, Petal Dance, Quiver Dance…two more things? In game they had a pretty limited moveset. There's one move I'm forgetting that's their main damage dealer.

Here, I want Patty's final kit to be Petal Dance (or that main move), Quiver Dance, Synthesis, with Stun Spore and Leaf Blade as backups. I'd want something like Water Pulse too, but that's too off the mark for Patty at the moment.

Leaf Blade is an off move, since the Petilil line is so special attack focused. But, as Palla demonstrated, Leaf Blade does create a pseudo-physical blade that can also be used for melee defense, so I want that as an option. I learned the rough outlines for how it would work via Palla, but if Patty ends up not learning it, then that's fine too.

Anyways.

I pay for two days.

The first course of action is to increase Patty's innate energy. This is a little different from raising special attack EVs, but follows the same general idea. Patty is a Grass type Pokemon, so she's both fine with eating things and sitting in a pot of soil, though she doesn't like sitting in a pot of soil because she dislikes getting dirty. She also dislikes the subsequent rinse to get rid of the soil, because she likes mud. I've long since stopped asking why.

She's so cute when sitting in a pot of soil though. She gets buried from the neck down and then demands for the pot to be spun around so she can look at things, and then demands for water to be rubbed into the leaves on her head.

I feel like that's counterintuitive to how a plant works, but then again I'm taking orders from one, so, eh.

In response to her constantly asking to be moved around in her pot of soil (when she gets in), I rolled up two balls of cotton and glued them to the edges of the pot, so they look like hands. It is disgustingly cute how well she can do Baby-Doll Eyes while being so small.

Anyways, the off hours for the two days are essentially spent feeding Patty nutritious things, and the gym hours are spent making sure the energy of the food (separate from the nutrition) is properly integrated into her body.

Patty has plenty of room to grow and I'm no beginner with Petilils, so it goes smoothly. The luster of her leaves have gone up and she's slightly fuzzy around the edges.

Her on-training hours are spent honing what I think are her advantages now. Honestly, I've never seen a Lilligant fight, and I don't think I would evolve Patty just on a whim, so I'm better off training her with the bread and butter Petilil kit for now. To that end, the focus is on Energy Ball and Light Screen.

It's straightforward: hunker down and shoot.

She more or less satisfies the basic energy requirement of the attack, but it takes a lot out of her. She's young for her type.

Still, I pay for three more days to do much of the same.

Honestly, it's kind of a blessing that Grass types can just bury and soak up nutrition. It saves on food bills. Pity Patty has a sweet tooth.

Patty is currently munching on some hard candy with delightfully smiling eyes while buried in her pot.

…How's she doing that? I've never seen her mouth.

Either way, I should look into getting Patty a wingman. I can't really do Circuit stuff, but I want to keep working with Pokemon, so I have to do Circuit or Invitational matches, and I can take some prize money home every once in a while as I build my resume.

I mean, yes, I can just get a non-trainer related job but c'mon now

Who would be heartless enough to leave Patty alone for a desk job for eight hours a day

I mean just look at that face

When not in her flowerpot, Patty sleeps on a makeshift waterbed (a water bowl for large dogs with a layer of plastic wrap over it).

Anyways, need a wingman. Patty's weaknesses are Fire, Flying, Bug, Ice. Bug and Ice are unusual enough that most people aren't using one or keeping them home on a lark. Both are finicky to maintain for different reasons–Ice types require specific caretaking, and Bug types are financially unstable.

By which I mean, most bug types need to be in their final evolution to be effective in a C3+, and final evolutions are naturally caloric heavy, so Bug specific trainers don't keep most of their final evolutions for longer than one cycle.

Do note that I'm talking about this in terms of the 'encountering these typings during PvP rounds in a Gym' scenario. I'll just flat out avoid Bug and Ice gyms.

Which leaves Fire and Flying as the main types to be worried about.

Fire is weak against Water, Rock, Ground(?). Flying: Electric, Rock.

…I want a Chinchou. Too bad it's a fish fish and does not float.

Failing that, hmm…well, I can look around. Catching wilds isn't the only way to do things.

But, I can only have one extra. I don't have enough time and resources to train a full team of three.

So while Patty soaks in the sunlight, I do some research online. Strictly speaking, while I want type coverage, I'm not beholden to it. There are nurseries who are hatching their latest crop of eggs.

Lessee…most recent nursery sales…

Salamence ranch selling a veteran pair. Thaaaat's a scam. I refreshed and the website disappeared. Probably getting strung up a tree by a pissed off Ranger for wasting their time.

…Imported Vulpixes from Alola…Ice types? Weird. I don't have the knowledge to raise them, though. Pass.

…Freshly hatched Woopers…Water/Ground is good, price is good, but Woopers are somewhat too high maintenance for my wallet at the moment. Soft pass. Maybe later.

…Fresh Growlithes…highly energetic and will probably burn Patty to a crisp trying to play. Growlithes also grow better with other dogs around and I don't have one. Soft pass.

Fresh Onix. Ha. no.

Fresh Skittys. On one hand, no real synergy with Patty. On the other, Delcatty is fairly light on calorie demands. Price is kind of high, though. Pass.

…Fresh Deinos? At the price of a Rattata? Scam.

Pseudo-legendaries don't just grow on trees. They don't mate often and clutches of eggs are small. Between that and the inherent power of a pseudo-legendary, nurseries dealing with them have waitlists a year long.

Everybody dreams of being the master of their own Salamence until they realize that Intimidate also works on people.

What else, what else…

…Ah ha. This one is nice: a batch of Eevee eggs hatched and the price is pretty nice. Let's go see.

…

[Travelling…]

…

So, it goes without saying that, in much the same way that Gyms are different, Breeders are different too. Or maybe not so different.

First off, genetics matter. Pokemon are not so random and they can just come out of the box with fully randomized IVs. Not even Eevees.

Second, stock matter. A no-name Breeder with no noteworthy connections will not give good Pokemon, and in turn those Pokemon are not expensive to adopt.

Thus, the daycare in question. It's a no-name nursery being run by a loving family, with three different Normal type Pokemon in their care (Bidoof, Eevee, Minccino). Their most recent hatch is twenty-eight Eevees. They hatched about ten days ago. Eevees are good for adoption after their first week.

Of the twenty-eight, sixteen have no interest in Circuit battles and are up for adoption as housepets. Eevees make awful housepets.

Or, rather…putting aside innate advantages Pokemon have over regular pets, Eevees are even then very smart, very trainable, and cute as all hell, but their unstable genetic code means they tend to have dramatic changes to their aptitude, personality, behavior, and so on. Thus, it's not exactly a shock that Eevees have both the highest rate of adoption and abandonment of all common pet Pokemon.

Either way, twelve Eevees are left who are interested in being battle-oriented Pokemon, and of those twelve, only seven are interested in going into Circuits, or at least begin training for Circuits.

Of the seven…all have severely subpar IVs. Their IV caps are low, too.

…well, Eevees are cute, but from a Circuit perspective I guess I can skip on them. Theoretically I can use an Eevee Ring to give one temporary transformative abilities, but the stones for that ring are not cheap.

Eevee Rings were invented some years ago: they're essentially a watered down Mega transformation. A temporary change from an Eevee into an -eon form (Flareon, Vaporeon) with not as much stats as a full evolution. It also helps regulate their genetic volatility to some degree.

A Ringed Eevee is simultaneously really cool and incredibly difficult to train. For them to do well they need to have at least one move for each -eon form and that's fairly difficult. A well trained Ringed Eevee is incredibly strong, despite its lack of stats.

…So I were to get an Eevee, what would I actually do with it?

One of the Eevees nibbles on our shoelace and makes Baby-Doll Eyes once we stare at him.

God Damn That's Cute

Alright, fine, I lose.

Their IVs suck across the board, but there's probably some way I can redeem them. Good thing I'm the only person here right now. Let's see…

"Alright, everyone." I clap my hands to get all of the Eevee's attention. "Can you all line up for me?"

Sadly, the Eevees are very young and do not follow orders very well.

We're currently in like a play area at a pet shop. It's not big, barely large enough for me to lie down. The retaining walls are fairly tall, because while the Eevees are well mannered and will not leave the area, the store does carry non-Pokemon like cats, and they do what they want.

Anyways, since the Eevees aren't lining themselves up, I pick them up one by one and line them up manually. Eevee #4 showed the most resistance at being manhandled, so she's probably out.

Alright, analyzing.

Let's see here…

Of the seven, Eevees 2 and 6 have the greatest potential for shenanigans.

2 has the specs to reliably run a fifth move slot, and 6 has a weirdly high affinity for water, so he might be able to learn water moves for coverage.

On the flip side, I don't have the freedom to just ditch them for a better option later down the line. I could Surrender them or sell them, but as a Trainer with no backing that would be a bad move. It would be a bad move after I survive the mauling because I'm damn sure Patty would not lift a finger in my defense if I did such a thing.

I can either let myself be guilt-tripped into taking an Eevee and train them to be subpar, or I can suffer and move on for a better option.

…

Sigh.

I pay the money and adopt Eevee number 6. 2 and 6 were very similar, but 6 is somewhat more patient.

I'll decide on a name later.

What happens to the Eevees that are not adopted?

Breeders and Nurseries in general have more options to distribute their Pokemon at a loss if need be, and the IPL will compensate them in case of situations beyond their control, such as financial troubles. Absolute worst case scenario they'll be euthanized, but I don't think I've ever actually seen or heard that happen. Most likely they'll get flown away to the other regions in the IPL.

Actually, correction: they'll most likely get flown to the various safari zones in the IPL. The only one that wasn't under piss-poor management was the Sinnoh one, the rest are all in a dire need for Pokemon.

The Safari zone's initial premise was to help dramatically reduce the Pokemon numbers near the city it was established, the one in Kanto, but it was too successful and unfortunate side effects happened, so now they're like a Pokemon Sanctuary.

Anyways, I'm now up an Eevee. Time to introduce him to Patty.

…

First impressions!

Patty tries to impose her position and is technically bigger than the Eevee (by a little bit), but the Eevee has better weight distribution. He pounces on Patty in his excitement and Patty is stuck wiggling her nubs as he licks and rubs his chin against her.

So, yes, a little overzealous by our new friend, but he's friendly, so it's all good.

Once I get him to calm down some, I formally introduce the two. Less the "hello my name is X" and more "welcome to the team, here's what we're trying to do".

Alright, tactics.

Well, no tactics. Eevee is freshly born, he'll need to get his feet under him before he can do anything noteworthy. Thus, he'll be doing stamina training.

With a new Eevee, I have enough money left over for a month of no income, and then things'll get dicey. If I want to win a Circuit match I won't have the time to dedicate to job hunting.

Ergo, the first match will be a reasonably easy C3 for a grass type three weeks from now. Eevee will not be ready, not even close, so everything will ride on Patty's shoulders.

…

…I guess I should do some job hunting.

For the record, the IPL guarantees UBI (Universal Basic Income) but it really only covers living expenses for a non-trainer. Taking care of Pokemon is expensive. Lumiose is expensive. Moving out of the city is…well, it's not expensive, but it's kinda dangerous. Pokemon interested in going into Circuits will jump out at a person, but not all Pokemon that jump at a person are interested in going into Circuits.

In many ways, the Pokemon world is fair and dangerous. Money can buy a lot of body armor, but it can't protect against a Mismagius that really, really hates your guts.

Well, I guess I'll consider that an option, moving out.

For now though.

…

The daily routine involves taking Eevee and Patty out for a walk, with Patty being more or less strapped to the Eevee's back while in her pot. She does not like this arrangement. He loves this arrangement. Eevees are also fairly decent tree climbers. Petilils dislike being forced to be horizontal.

Long story short, it takes about three days before the Eevee stopped climbing trees.

Not because Patty was mean to him or whatever, but because he genuinely wants to be friends and could tell, finally, that his rambunctious energy was making her upset.

Job one done, I guess. The Eevee had serious Rash Nature and there was no way in hell he was going to take any orders from me beyond go and stop, so having that dialed down is a dramatic plus.

This also made Patty more Timid, and also more Brave…slightly more Brave. She will now pluck herself out of the flower pot rather than ask to be plucked out and throw a tantrum when I don't do it fast enough. Yay positive side effects, though I still feel kinda bad. I mean, she agreed to it, but…

As an added bonus (Job Two) Patty gained a heightened affinity to wind due to the Eevee blazing trails with her on his back. Wind, Flying, same idea.

Now, affinities are a totally hidden trait. While everyone is aware of it to a degree, I'm the only one (that I know) who can quantify it to a useful degree. Higher affinity with a type does not grant a Pokemon that type, but it does lead to useful bonuses.

The big bonuses everyone is more or less aware of, such as having a water-typed Light Screen, access to nonstandard coverage moves like Palla's Leaf Blade, so on, so forth. Minor bonuses include damage bonuses to coverage moves in general, like a Starmie with Ice Beam getting slight buffs to said Ice Beam despite being Water/Psychic, defensive bonuses against elements, better affinity with Pokemon of said element…there's a lot that could happen, but the difference is generally written off as having higher respective IVs or good luck or such.

Patty with Flying affinity could go a long way to cover her mobility issues, but specialized training requires resources I don't have, so that's out.

Eevee gained significant Grass affinity, which is a problem, because Eevees can evolve as a result of being overly exposed to affinities (i.e. a Fire Stone). I'm pretty ok with not having a Leafeon right now.

Yay more expenses. I buy an Everstone necklace for Eevee, which makes Patty incredibly jealous, which forces me to buy an Eviolite circlet for her. Funnily enough, 'useful' trinkets like these are actually cheaper than decorative ones, even if these are small and relatively useless because they're not 'pure'.

The stones are sized to match their respective bodies, so there's no worry about Patty being unable to lift her head.

Honestly, I'm probably overreacting–plenty of Eevees live for years, if not decades, with other Pokemon and evolution via that kind of exposure has never been documented.

Anyways.

I'm not particularly sure how to train my Eevee past standard physical conditioning. He needs to be able to supplement Patty, which automatically makes Patty the Anchor, but objectively speaking Petilils are godawful Anchors.

In general, Anchors follow one of three patterns: fortitude, flexibility, firepower. It's straightforward: take hits, give strong hits, or give a variety of hits.

Petilils are firepower based, technically speaking, but they lack the necessary aspects to really shine at it, so they're awful Anchors.

But, Patty is cute so she gets to be special.

Now, Patty's trait is that she's going to stand in one place and shoot like the adorable little cannon she is. The Eevee, then, is going to make sure whatever she's shooting at is unable to properly defend itself.

Huh.

To that end, we can actually make do with a purely supportive moveset. Quick Attack, Sand Attack, Stun Spore, Thunder Wave.

Stun Spore is an off move that's possible due to him playing with Patty a lot and getting that grass affinity. Thunderwave can be learned via TM and he's open to doing so.

Alright, let's do it like this.

I take the pair to the local Ranger office and purchase one charge of Thunder Wave. It's a sleep-use machine, because currently he doesn't have the affinity to actually use it.

Affinity for Thunder Wave is actually pretty easy to get because the Internet is a wondrous thing. There's a breeder/adoption center not far from where I live that deals primarily with Electric types. They have Open Play times with some of their Pokemon on Thursdays, where some of their surrendered, abandoned, or hatched Pokemon get introduced to humans (again).

To that end, we pay a visit on Thursday.

We get to play with two Electrikes and a Pichu. The Pichu is a fairly new hatch learning how to control its electrical powers, while the Electrikes–green, four-legged canine/lupine-esque–are Surrenders due to the family that adopted them being badly under-equipped to actually handle them.

Imagine a dog that's surrendered due to viciousness, now add electricity into the mix. It's not pleasant.

Anyways, Eevee plays a lot with the three due to its overbearingly extroverted nature, and fifteen minutes in there's so much electricity in its furs that it basically is just a giant cotton ball with ears and legs.

We watch him run around despite having basically no vision. He trips over nothing, rolls around, and keeps going.

That steadfast ability to enjoy himself is incredible, not gonna lie.

But, now that he's rubbed himself up against the Pichu and got a taste of what being paralyzed via electricity feels like, he'll be better equipped to learn it. So, job done.

…

Alright.

…

[Day of C3]

…

So, uh, I seem to have forgotten one very important aspect of joining a C3+.

I need to be registered as a Trainer.

I'm not.

Wups.

…

[C3 Failed]

…

So that's a thing.

For clarity, I'm currently licensed as a Gym Trainer, which is a different license from just plain 'Trainer'. The Trainer license is harder to get, but the difference is mostly just bureaucratic. Being a Trainer also comes with a stipend that scales depending on circuit performance. Serena (IPL Champion) is basically set for life several times over. Gym Trainers do not get that additional stipend in exchange for being essentially in an IPL-wide Gym Union.

There's a lot of minor differences that I honestly don't really know about because they're structures of law and legality and that just isn't my field. Plus, the licenses are not mutually exclusive, so most people who have one license have the other.

I just forgot.

So embarrassing.

Ahem.

…

Getting the license is straightforward. I just have to present one Pokemon that is willing to obey my orders and declare the Circuit I'm aiming for. Presenting the Pokemon is obvious, need to check ability and all that. All Trainers must have at least one Circuit declared to get their stipend ahead of time.

Again, for the record: clearing anything under C3s is great for padding the trainer resume, but is generally not a good use of time with regards to a single person's IPL-centric income. It's good if you're trying to get interviews or advertisement deals and such, but even then, y'know, if you could clear Opens with that kind of ease why are you still doing it, and all that.

So, after thinking it over, I declare for an Area Circuit. I can still go to C3 gyms that have one-shot tournaments, but I'm probably not getting any money from those.

…

Well, Area Circuits, huh…

…I guess the one that suits my current lineup the best would be the I-38. So named because the three gyms are all accessible via that highway. The three Gym typings, incidentally, are Fire, Water, and Grass.

We're kinda screwed on the Fire one so there's going to have to be some retraining for it, but the Water and Grass gyms should be easy enough that we can scrape by.

Let's see…

Eevee's kit will still be QA, Sand, Stun, TWave. B-Moves are Water Sport, Bite.

Patty's kit will be Energy Ball, Razor Leaf, Growth, Sleep Powder. B-Moves are Magical Leaf, Light Screen.

Water Sport is basically my cover for Fire Types. It's the only thing I have access to since neither of them are interested in Rain Dance or have the affinity for any damaging water-type move.

We'll be training for that.

I'm getting kinda excited, not gonna lie. I wanted to be a Trainer right after I got, I dunno, isekai-ed into this world, but the situation at the time went against me. Got my chance now.

The first gym (Water) has their Circuit match at the beginning of the month, with Fire and Grass two days after each other. That's…ten days away.

Jeez that's not a lot of time.

OK training time!

…

Patty's not in the mood because I ran out of hard candy.

Alright, hard candy for Patty then we train.

…

Eevee's not in the mood because I haven't brushed his tail today.

Alright, brush time.

Patty's now jealous because I didn't rub water into her leaves.

Alright, rub time.

Eevee wants to play now.

So on, so forth.

…

The actual amount of time I can dedicate to proper, combat-oriented training is fairly small in the grand scheme of things.

This was also true back with the Iron Wreckers too, by the way. Pokemon may be convinced but they cannot be forced. Trust paid with trust, etc etc etc.

Also, speaking of the Iron Wreckers. I got curious why they chose a Circuit that was so heavily against their typing. Long story short, they needed to prove that they were not ready to be bumped up to a C2 Team in the court of public opinion. They made good money wiping C3s that went with their typing and didn't feel like changing it this year.

I'm sure I mentioned this before, but having a spectrum of types on your team like the games is rare, and a well trained spectrum even more so.

That aside.

Training goes well. Eevee takes very well to his training and learns to use his moves without issues. I don't have a training partner nor the time to really get his reflexes nailed down, so the first few fights are going to be more chatty.

Patty is more or less at the limit of what I'm able to do without a more dedicated plan, which is nice. Her training is more about snap casts and general moveset usage, which takes more time and will not be done in these ten days, but every little bit helps.

…

With that, ten days pass, and we're ready for our first, proper, gym battle.

Woo I'm getting butterflies

.

.

.

{ === + === }

Author Notes:

Imagine how bad puppy mills would be in the Pokemon world if Psychic types were not a thing.