{ === + === }
Alrighty!
Water Gym Time!
…
[I-38 Circuit (Area), Seashell Gym (Water)]
…
It's a really nice place. The gym shares floorspace with an aquarium and draws plenty of tourists, with Circuit battles as more of an attraction than a real competitive thing. That said, the arena part is integrated with the aquarium part so there's always plenty of people watching.
Of today's lineup, I'm in the third of six sets. Each set has eight people, and winning all three matches of a set is required to win this step of the Circuit. One free retry, with the option for a second in exchange for a harder challenge.
I don't think we have the stamina for that free retry, so I opt out.
Anyways, observation time.
…
Despite being an aquarium, the gym uses no fish Pokemon. The battlefield is a standard circular Pokeball design, but has a layer of water about three inches deep. Three inches is basically nothing, but it's a pretty serious mobility hazard for Patty and Eevee. Eevee especially, since he's furry and retains water well.
The humidity of the ring also reduces dust attacks, so Stun Spore and Sleep Powder are less effective, and afflicted Pokemon can just roll to get it off. The water's drag potentially also rules out Bite due to range, but I didn't train him to run a reduced kit, so Bite has to be slotted in.
Honestly, Eevee fur is weird. It absorbs elements quickly but is also quick to shed said elements. He's going to be at a severe disadvantage unless he jumps a lot, and that comes with its own problems.
Either way, most Pokemon involved in the battles are small, with the Gym favoring a lineup of Poliwag, Tympole, Wooper, and…Wingull?
Uh, ok, I guess.
Most people in an Area Circuit have one to two Pokemon, myself included.
The Gym tends to use the Wingull as the Starter and then any one of the three as their Anchors. In the event that the person asks for that second retry, the Gym uses a dual Anchor setup instead. It's not as impressive as it sounds, especially in this environment where all of the Anchor choices are fairly similar in their handling. Except the Wingull, I guess.
The Wingull is not a very well built Wingull. I think they're there to provide coverage but I'm not seeing it do coverage things.
The Poliwag and Tympole are bigger concerns. They're just big enough to stand securely in the ring while also small enough to use the water to their advantage. Hmm.
Yeah, that's a concern. They're both some variant of oversized tadpole with subpar out-of-water agility, which…puts them about even with Patty if she feels like going fast. Given the watery ring, that's not ideal.
Wooper is cute but hits like a truck for the weight class, but going by how little it seems to withstand hits Patty should be able to counter it no problem. Kinda weird, given how the Wooper line is supposed to be defensive.
Welp.
…
[Round One]
…
Eevee versus Wingull.
Again, I think the Wingull is supposed to be coverage, but it seems to only Growl and Supersonic. Growl is annoying but not a problem, since Patty's the Anchor, but Supersonic's not great. Eevee's got a good bead on the bird's position, but his accuracy drops every time it screeches.
Eevee is trying to Thunder Wave the bird down but the distance and the effect of humidity is causing the electric energy to backfire slightly.
This scene of bird versus fox(?) continues for the next minute until Eevee gets a lucky hit and the bird spazzes and crash lands in the water. Eevee, rather annoyed at the little flying noise machine, puts a paw on its head and repeatedly dunks it in the water until it gets Recalled.
…
Eevee versus Poliwag.
Poliwag's go-to move is Water Gun. Eevee, who's already soaked and somewhat electrified, can't dodge meaningfully, and every hit, grazing or otherwise, is causing him to be even more soaked and weighed down.
They go for a few more exchanges and I call him back. Objectively speaking, Eevee has great body mechanics to deflect so many incoming hits despite being so weighed down. That's probably something I can train on.
…
Patty versus Poliwag.
Alright. Patty's more or less rooted to the spot, so maneuvering is out. Pure firepower it is. The Poliwag is comparatively very fast, already starting its favorite maneuver of using its tail in the shallow water to propel itself while kiting with Water Gun, and
Patty fires an Energy Ball and nails the Poliwag in the head by complete accident. The Poliwag is knocked out immediately and, still traveling under momentum, skids in the water before gently bumping its head against the ring barrier.
…Huh.
Ok then.
Nevermind.
Nice job Patty!
…
[Round Two]
…
I swap Patty's Growth and Sleep Powder for Magic Leaf and Light Screen respectively.
…
Patty vs Wingull.
Different Wingull, but the same bag of tricks.
Unfortunately for it, Patty has actual anti-air options in the form of Magic Leaves, and the Wingull is shot down before it could do anything clever or long lasting. Wing Attack is an option but it requires getting close.
…
Patty vs Tympole.
Poliwag is a tadpole with legs, while Tympole is just a flatout tadpole. Unlike the bipedal and upright Poliwag, Tympole has to swim flat against the ground, but since it's smaller height-wise, it gets more cover and speed from the shallow water.
Unfortunately it's trained as a shooter and has no limbs, so it has to turn towards Patty in order to shoot. When it turns it can't keep swimming, so it loses a lot of momentum while drifting in the shallows. Between the fairly poor accuracy and Patty's Water Infused Light Screen and her Grass-ness, what damage she's taking isn't worth caring about.
In exchange, Patty fires back Magic Leaves shaped like darts. There's some success, but the fact that she more or less has to aim downwards from her already half-submerged position is badly affecting her accuracy.
Again, Patty is a little top-heavy, and the constant motion being made by the Tympole swimming around is creating waves that are buffeting her slightly and throwing off her tracking. Also she has to squeeze her eyes shut and it's incredibly annoying for her, adorable for me.
…Welp, they've adapted. The Trainer has told Tympole to start jumping while shooting, and has swapped over to Bubble instead of Water Gun. Bubble is slower and weaker, but hits more frequently and has a blast radius, ish, so it's a good call. Also, the jumping around is making even bigger waves and Patty is having serious troubles staying upright.
Tympole jumps three more times and Patty, flailing her little nubs wildly, falls onto her back.
Shit.
Tympole is rushing in to finish with either a Tackle or a Return.
Unfortunately for him, Patty is so used to getting knocked down due to Eevee rubbing up against her that this kind of play is nothing.
Patty smacks the Tympole with an Energy Ball at near point blank range. The Tympole is sent flying.
Energy Ball is a great move.
…
We have time for a breather between rounds, so Patty gets some hard candy as a reward.
This was a grave miscalculation on my part. Patty likes to savor her hard candy, so she eats at a rather slow pace. The breather time is five minutes only, and she will not take being interrupted from her yummy candy time.
Ergo.
…
[Round Three]
…
Eevee versus Wooper.
Woopers are bipedal axolotls without arms. This one, in particular, is just large enough that the three inches of water is a hindrance rather than a help.
Still, being a Wooper, it nulls Thunderwave. Fortunately, for some reason, the trainer trained it for melee combat.
Woopers are awful at melee combat because they really only have two options: their tail, and their head. Woopers tend to avoid using their head in melee combat because they get one Headbutt every five minutes, more or less.
Wooper attempts to Headbutt. Eevee jumps out of the way. Wooper is now rolling around in the water, trying to get its face above water.
Isn't that dangerous?
Eevee, concerned, helps flips the Wooper over. Also, not dangerous.
Woopers are not great at lying down on its back, because the tail gets in the way.
Eevee helps the Wooper back onto her feet. The Wooper politely thanks Eevee, gives him about five seconds to prepare, and then Slams him with her tail.
That was probably the most telegraphed Slam in the history of Slams and he still got hit.
Eevee, probably a little hurt emotionally, starts Biting the Wooper's tail. I don't think the Wooper was quite prepared for that, because it's trying to flail. Flail?
As in, the actual move rather than simply a panicking action.
Either way, Eevee has all four limbs planted on the ground and Wooper lost her major balancing lever. While heavier, Wooper can't quite get her footing due to Eevee tugging on her tail whenever she's about to regain her balance. Honestly, being in the water helped a lot: Eevee's balance is poorer, soaked as he is, but being waterlogged and having a hefty grip on Wooper's main stabilization feature did him wonders.
Still, it takes a while, and Eevee is exhausted by the end of it, but he does get his victory. He's too exhausted to go back into his ball, so I let him curl up next to me and rest.
Less 'too tired' and more 'don't want to', but the result is the same.
Fortunately, Patty finished her hard candy a little while ago and is ready to go.
…
Patty versus Poliwhirl.
Oh boy.
There's a distinct weight class advantage to the bipedal gloved…frog? Frog in spirit? It's large enough that the water is not a hindrance at all.
The play here is simple: if Patty is caught, we lose. The Poliwhirl is large enough to just throw her out of the ring.
Alright, here goes.
Round starts with the Poliwhirl shooting water from its palm at Patty's Light Screen. It's a very powerful Water Gun, enough that Patty's resistances aren't stopping her from being affected by the physics of the attack.
Instead, she lets herself get carried by the water so she can focus on the counter. Her Energy Ball hits really hard, but at this point we all know it hits really hard, so the other side is on the lookout for it. Instead, she uses Razor Leaf.
Razor Leaf and Magic Leaf are about similar in power, with Razor Leaf hitting physical defense and Magic hitting special defense, so Patty's Magic Leaves are stronger in practice. Magic Leaf flies in straight lines and Razor Leaf flies in curves.
The nonlinear flight path is what we really want here. Poliwhirl outpowers Patty by a wide margin, so Magic Leaves just get drowned out. The Razor Leaves fly around and hit the Poliwhirl. The initial damage is high enough that Poliwhirl has to evade subsequent strikes, and Patty gets the breathing room she needs to use her harder hitting Magic Leaf.
Still, the pacing is against us. Poliwhirl is light enough on its feet that Patty can't quite lead her shots correctly, and whenever she misses enough times it fires its Water Gun with enough power that she's forced to put up her Light Screen and hunker down.
'Course, after getting distracted by Razor Leaf the first time, it now knows to keep walking while firing so as to help hide its position better.
Hmm.
Well, first off, Patty squats and ducks under the water as much as she's able. It forces the Poliwhirl to more or less overshoot, since if it undershoots it hits the water and creates a wall of water that helps Patty even more.
This additional defense helps Patty shoot Magic Leaves with regularity, although the water does get in her eyes and she's squeezing them shut, so her aim is kinda awful.
All that said, the situation does favor us overall. Patty's superb anti-water defenses means the ball's in Poliwhirl's court to do something dramatic before chip damage wins the day.
…why is the temperature dropping?
Remember how the first Open we attended had a display that showed the move being used? That's observer-only.
…It better not be Ice Beam.
The mark on Polywhirl's belly starts spinning slowly.
Yeeeeeah that's bad news. "Patty, move!"
Patty rolls in the water, away from the incoming Ice Beam.
This is on me. I completely forgot that Water types could run Ice with their kit. Ok, improvising.
Non-STAB moves, moves that don't match the Pokemon's typing, have significant drawbacks in use, especially if the Pokemon is not trained heavily in it. Poliwhirl's not trained heavily in the use of Ice Beam, so it has to stand still and pose while shooting it.
Hell, if it wasn't for the water on stage this fight would actually be over. But, as it stands, the force of the Ice Beam is propelling both the water and the still-rolling Patty with enough speed that she's able to make distance. But she can't counter like this.
Also, she's probably starting to take damage from the water due to Ice Beam dramatically dropping the temperature.
…Screw it. "Patty, up!"
Patty musters all her energy and jumps. She doesn't get nearly as much air time as I would like, but it gets her enough time to clear the Ice Beam and land on a piece of ice that has formed.
Poliwhirl cuts its Ice Beam but has no time to flow into its next move, and gets nailed by a pair of Energy Balls and goes down.
Patty is declared the victor and immediately jumps down from the floating ice towards Eevee, and settles into his fur to warm her poor cold nubbie feetsies.
Foot? Petilils only have three extensions on their body that qualify as limbs. Also Eevee is still a wet animal so it's not that much warmer, but Patty perseveres through determination.
Either way, we win!
Tangent: I think I mentioned this before, but time does not stop in a Pokeball. Think of it less as a means of digitizing Pokemon and more like a transportation to a pocket space. This means that, yes, it is possible to also put items into a Pokeball like toys, furniture, cushions, treats, and so on. Putting treats into a Pokeball is a great way to get a Pokemon to calm down when it's sulking or throwing a tantrum, mind.
Of course, this also means that the space inside the Pokeball requires routine cleaning and maintenance, and some Pokemon such as Minccino absolutely detest a dirty space. In our case, Eevee refused to go back into his ball because he didn't want it wet.
It's a touch silly, but hey, it's his house, his rules.
Tangent over.
For our victory, we get free admission to the aquarium for the next year and a voucher for a free sushi dinner at an affiliated sushi restaurant.
I've been there. It's not great. Still, free food is free food.
We spend the rest of the day touring the aquarium. Eevee and the last Trainer's Wooper have become friends, and are touring the area as a pair. They're very cute together.
Eevee licks Wooper and becomes paralyzed.
Very cute. I think they have less brain cells together than separate, but very cute nonetheless.
The Wooper's trainer is also very cute. She's very talented for a fourteen year old and is very knowledgeable about the aquarium in general.
I think I've worked with her dad once or twice back in Sunshine. Either way, good people.
…
…
Alright, Fire Gym next. I'm doing the fire gym next because the grass gym is going to be the most stamina consuming, and honestly I'd like to do some networking after that challenge so I can get some tips on how to make Patty better.
In the two days between challenges, Eevee will have to get comfortable with comboing moves into QA, as well as using Water Sport effectively. All that, plus using his incredible body mechanics to be extra effective with QA.
One more thing I have to add onto the pile, I guess. Figuring out how to train an Eevee to be more lithe and limber. There's a lot of specific detailed information that isn't available online, or at least is not easy to use in online format.
Oh well, 48 hours of specialized training.
Additional plus: now that Eevee's had a taste of how Circuit combat works, he's a bit jealous at being shown up by a Patty very much so in her element, so he's much more responsive in training.
He's also rejecting every nickname I've come up for him. It's really unfortunate. I mean, my naming sense is awful, but still.
…
[I-38 Circuit (Area), Spicy Salsa Gym (Fire)]
…
Yeeeeah.
It's less of a gym and more of an open-air market. Great street food, wonderful skewers. A little on the pricey side though.
The gym, for a lack of a better term, is the main attraction, surrounded by a layer of stalls, seats, and general merriment. Free beer for everybody who's challenging.
I don't drink, so I get a soda instead.
Alright. Three rounds of challenges, each round has twenty people, three battles per person. Fairly similar to Seashell. It's organized this way so we can spend more money on the stalls while watching the fights.
I'm a sucker for lamb skewers.
Unfortunately, I'm in the first round, though near the tail end.
The gym's lineup is…a bit subpar for a Fire Gym. Growlithe, Fletchling, Rattata(?), Ralts(?).
The Ralts and Rattata have fairly high fire affinity and know some Fire moves via TM, but…eh, they do good work, I guess. This locale isn't a traditional gym by any stretch of the imagination, so their Pokemon are stronger than normal in exchange for having a working moveset as opposed to a Circuit-exclusive one.
For example, Growlithe has Ember, Bite, Odor Sleuth, Roar. They use them to great effect, but are primarily there to help maintain peace and order and chase away foes rather than win fights outright.
Again, fights are betweens rosters of two. The Gym has Growlithe as its Anchor and any one of the other three as Starters. Fletching is a kiting Ember bastard, Rattata goes in with QA and in-fights with Flame Wheel, and Ralts is Patty but Fire. Stand in one place, Ember.
Growlithe is…it's like having your starter be ten levels above everyone else on the team. The Growlithes are not especially tactical in how they do things, just, y'know, aggressive dog energy. Ember at range, bite at close.
Hm. Could be a problem.
Beyond the whole 'grass weak to fire' thing.
…
[Round One]
…
Eevee versus Ralts.
It's only been two days, but Eevee has learned to use its tail very well during Quick Attacks. In the grand scheme of things it's less effective than, say, ramming headfirst into things, but this way he gets more options in terms of follow-ups and disengages while maintaining fair momentum.
He learned it well, and it shows. Ralts's bread and butter is some kind of ranged attack and teleport. The ring's size and Eevee's speed means that Ralts just doesn't have the time to set up its shots. A few QAs and Ralts is knocked down, allowing Eevee to, uh.
Eevee rubs against the Ralts and just plops himself down onto the little humanoid, who squirms and flails in protest.
Did the Wooper teach him some bad manners?
Eevee rolls off of Ralts after a brief moment and crouches next to Ralt's head with shining eyes.
Ralts is shivering. I suppose it's a bit scary being stared at by something that was kicking your ass thirty seconds ago. Ralts attempts to Growl but as soon as it opens its mouth, Eevee blocks with a paw. Ralts gets Recalled.
Nice.
…
Eevee versus Growlithe.
…
Well, this one is fun to watch. It's like watching pets play.
Eevee keeps trying to make distance to use QA properly, but Growlithe has enough raw power to keep up, so Eevee's stuck with whipping it with his tail at opportune times while escaping, and it's not really doing much. In some ways, it's the reverse of the previous fight.
Uh oh.
Growlithe catches up to Eevee and Bites down on his leg.
Oh, that sucks.
Eevee loses significant speed and is immediately bodied by Growlithe.
Yeah, he's done. Hrm.
…
Patty versus Growlithe.
…
Patty's kit: Energy Ball, Razor Leaf, Sleep Powder, Growth.
…We're fully in the Ralt's position, aren't we? Hell, we're even worse than the Ralts because at least it had Teleport.
The match starts, and Growlithe runs right in. Patty throws up Sleep Powder and braces, because there is no way she's running from it. Actually, I see a lot of Preparation Against Eevee Annoyance in her body language.
Growlithe runs right into the cloud of Sleep Powder and gets its jaws around the top of Patty's head. Patty, very annoyed, shoots a puff of sleep powder right into its mouth.
It's no movie Chloroform. Growlithe releases her and coughs up most of the powder while also frantically backpedaling from Patty throwing Razor Leaves at it in vengeance. It eventually manages to shake off enough of the powder that it's not going to be severely affected. Patty, for her part, stops lashing out after a fair amount of my yelling and Growths in preparation.
Growlithe responds by shooting Embers.
He's far enough that Patty can float and dodge, but as soon as her concentration breaks he charges right in with Bite. Patty only gets one option when trying to counter and dodge at the same time, and that's Razor Leaf.
Her aim is nowhere near good enough to get the Growlithe to stop, because the Growlithe has incredible experience at chasing down targets while weaving between a forest of legs. It gets a bite on Patty's torso this time, then twists to slam itself rather than Patty against the ring's retaining wall, dropping her out of the momentum behind its maneuver.
To protect her from taking extra damage.
I respect that. And, at its current distance, Patty has absolutely no chance to take meaningful action.
We lose.
…
Uuuuuuugh that's frustrating.
Patty is livid, and Eevee is downcast. I'm not surprised we would have a hard time in this gym, powered Growlithe aside, I'm just annoyed I couldn't figure out a way to put up more of a fight.
It's an Area Circuit and only has three gyms, so losing one means losing the Circuit. There's no point continuing, but we're going to do the Grass gym anyway for the experience.
For now though, we'll need to de-stress. I take Patty and Eevee and we enjoy the food of the Gym area and watch some of the matches after ours.
The Growlithe that beat us joins us without its, his, trainer. By the end of the day Eevee has made a new friend, and Patty has cooled down enough to take her hard candy again.
I didn't think losing would affect her that much, to be honest…
…
[I-38 Circuit (Area), Arboreal Palace (Grass), Two Days Later]
…
Yeah, it affected her a lot. She has refused to do any training for the past two days. I don't know if it's the loss or the fact that we're done with this Circuit, but she refused any kind of adjustments I have proposed.
Eevee took to the subsequent training rather half-heartedly as well. Hmm.
Well, it is what it is.
This gym doubles as a woodworking shop. Carpenter? I'm not sure what's the best simple descriptor for it. It's a gym with grass pokemon, but most of the gym's financial side comes from a business of dealing in lumber. A wholesaler, I guess.
The Fire Gym culled a lot of people out of the Circuit, but most of us are still in it for the funsies, so this gym has six rounds of six, two matches per person.
This time it's two on two. Uh oh.
I haven't trained for two on twos.
…well, at least we have an excuse, I guess.
Also I'm up. Round One Person One. Uh oh.
…
[Round One]
…
Patty and Eevee versus Phantump and Phantump.
…
Welp. Phantump is basically a floating ghost tree stump. The Ghost subtype is really hard to deal with. Ghost pokemon automatically gets increased defense against elemental physical strikes (i.e. Razor Leaf), nulls Normal and Fighting moves, and gets increased special defense against non-Ghost type specials on top of type resistance, in this case Grass. On the flip side, they're very weak to Physics in general, so even if Patty can't hit for damage, she can hit for interruption.
For the record, I did search this gym online and they did not disclose that they had Phantumps in this most recent lineup. I was expecting Budews and stuff. There's a Lumiose Circuit Wiki, but information about Opens and Areas tend to be hilariously out of date.
I also never trained a Phantump in-game way back in the day, so I don't even have a grasp on its moveset beyond something Grassy and something Ghosty.
Here goes, I guess.
Match start.
Patty uses Razor Leaf against the left Phantump, while Eevee closes in on the right with QA and Bite. I like how I kitted him out to be support or a debuffer for Patty and he's done absolutely none of those things.
The two Phantumps retreat slightly and weave around each other, making singular targeting difficult. Eevee breaks off because he lost targeting and one of the two Phantumps jabs at him with a creepily long branch.
'K, changing tactics. "Sand attack!"
Eevee poofs up its fur and throws said fur, plus some of its Pokemon Elemental Energy™, at the Phantumps. The fur clings to the Phantumps and has a surprisingly outsized effect on the floating bits of ghost wood.
I hope they're not allergic.
For clarity I will also say this: status effects don't last, and Pokemon will heal through some damage if the fight goes on long enough. WIth that in mind, Patty goes into Growth mode while Eevee charges in for Bites.
The Phantumps scatter. One of them beelines towards Patty while the other drags Eevee farther away. Eevee stops to reconsider his position and gets shivved by a branch for stopping. I assume that's a Move and not just an action.
Branch Poke. 40 power grass move, no additional effects.
He runs back to intercept, but the attacking Phantump breaks off while the other one floats in. I would imagine that they have some kind of ranged option?
Eevee is fast enough that the Phantumps can't quite always play keep away, and latches onto one and sinks his teeth in. The Phantump is immediately out of the fight. The stump that is the Pokemon's hard body falling onto the ring like an inanimate object.
I think now's a good time to mention that all Pokemon have that Pokemon Elemental Energy, ghosts are just special in that unlike most Pokemon who are half biology/physics and half PEE and I really should have considered a different term, ghosts are primarily all PEE.
It's really interesting, ghost types. They're extremely easy to knock out but incredibly difficult to actually kill outright. Ergo, the Phantump's not in any danger, it just needs some time to recover.
Still, this puts us at an advantage, one that Eevee is perfectly able to capitalize on, and he latches onto the other Phantump with his teeny tiny fangs and chomps away.
Nice.
…
[Round Two]
…
Patty and Eevee versus Roselia and…Hoppip?
Ok, sure.
Hoppip is flat out not a threat. Roselia and Patty occupy similar roles in the whole stand still and shoot department. Roselia has an innate advantage in being Grass and Poison, but Patty's been doing nothing but Growth in the last round.
In the same vein as status effects fall off over time, status buffs also fall off over time. In other words, she's still got a fairly large amount of her Growth buff up.
Match Start.
Eevee QAs right into Hoppip, the weight difference sending the little flying…weed? I guess? It's a weed with a very round and red body and it's honestly very chill and nice and has absolutely none of the weight needed to withstand Eevee's hit. It's not out, because there's only so much damage it can take while being sent flying, but it's not contributing to the fight.
For the next ten seconds, we have free reign.
Eevee moves to put Roselia at an angle, and pops it with Thunder Wave. I want to avoid Poison Point and Poison Sting in case the Hoppip has a trick or two up its sleeve.
Roselia turns to face Eevee, and the moment it looks away from Patty she lets loose with an Energy Ball that smacks Roselia onto the floor. Like if she was not Ingrained she would have full-on scorpioned from the hit.
Eevee licks Roselia for good measure. It's out.
Hoppip, floating down, is still smiling serenely as Razor Leaves fly out from its body. That's a Slasher smile. Little beady eyes and an unchanging expression that only screams murder.
Eevee brings it down with a jumping QA and drags it kicking and screaming towards Patty, who nails it point blank with an Energy Ball.
Kinda rude, not gonna lie, but it works.
We win! Woo!
Honestly, a good way to end the series. If we ended at the Fire Gym and lost, the two of them would have sulked for weeks.
…
This is also the only gym that doesn't have much of a nearby or integrated commercial presence, unless I wanted to pick up some wood to make a chair or something, so we watched a few of the next matches before leaving for a celebration lunch.
The Grass Gym is no joke. It just so happened that Eevee was very fast on his feet and was able to stop the targets from properly setting up their combos.
The Phantumps' strategy revolved around ghost-type attacks and Will-O'Wisps to do damage over time, but Eevee rushed in too hard for the wisps to come out in the first place.
Will-O'Wisp is a great move, mind, it's just that the high hit rate of the move is more due to it being used as a minefield of sorts rather than a shooting ball of fire, so without the time to set up it wasn't doing much.
Similarly, Hoppip was supposed to toss dust around like no tomorrow while Roselia walks in for Poison or Drain type attacks, but, again, Eevee just bridged that distance too fast.
He's not the only QA-user going into the fight, mind, but he's so much faster than the rest that other people employing similar strategies have significantly less success than he does.
…It's probably more due to the gym anticipating and actively countering the strategy in subsequent fights, but I'll believe that it was Eevee being awesome any day of the week.
Either way, two Area victories, woo!
We celebrate with a day at the park and a bag of hard candy after lunch. Eevee has also developed a sweet tooth, though less than Patty. He's more of a strawberries thing, messy eating and all.
…Well, celebrations are good and all, but now what? I had intended…dreamed, fantasized…about using an Area Circuit victory as a solo-trainer to get myself a sponsor, but a two-of-three winner is a dime a dozen. I mean, you'd need a full Area win to even begin to qualify for the IPL itself…
Uuuuuugh
Guess I better start looking for that desk job.
Dling~
…?
Dling~
There's the sound of a bell somewhere nearby. Patty and Eevee are both looking around too, so it's not just me.
Dling~
Aha.
There's a…what's it called. Chimecho? Rolling around some five feet behind the bench we're sitting on. It's a ghostly animated bell. Kinda creepy, but very small and round.
It's making noise…uh…I know next to nothing about this guy. Hang on.
Consulting the wiki…
…Well, first off, it's a Chingling. Chimecho is the evolved one. Mono-Psychic, not Ghost-Psychic like I assumed. Good records with Special Attacks, and is somewhat in the same boat as Patty–low mobility, high firepower. By virtue of it being a Psychic type, though, not a lot is written about it.
Psychic types are probably the most difficult to train: in order for a Psychic type to train properly, it needs to first create an emotional connection with the trainer, and only then will they take orders.
…Or so Pokemon!Reddit says. Pokemon training depends on a lot of factors and Psychic types add an extra layer onto it called 'not being able to lie about things'. Like trying to smile through the pain.
So what's this guy doing here? The Chingling, a little round bell, is rhythmically ringing while wobbling back and forth.
…After a little research, it seems like this is mourning behavior. Eevee and Patty are cautious, but Eevee picks it up first and looks at me for permission to close in.
I nod the go-ahead, and he hops down to take a closer look, giving off low, curious yips as he approaches.
The Chingling stops rolling around and hops onto its tiny tiny feet and it is literally shorter than the grass it's rolling around. I can't tell what it's saying, but judging by Eevee's language it's mourning the death of its…
…something. I'm not sure what it is, because Eevee's not sure what it is either.
So, like, Pokemon can't do human language, right, but vocalizations tend to have patterns, and those patterns are, in a sense, how words work. In our current situation, Eevee has specific vocalizations for 'Trainer', 'Person', 'Friend', and several other terms that denote relationships and species. He doesn't have specific proper noun stuff, but general categories exist.
So, going by that, none of the noises he's making matches up to what I know about his lexicon.
In other words, it's not a Trainer, a family member, a clan-mate (aka same species), not a friend, not an enemy…but it's most definitely mourning.
I would say it's not my problem, but Eevee has already made a friend and Patty's not exactly against it, so I guess we're going to a Pokemon Center for a reading.
To clarify, both Pokemon Centers and Ranger Bases have Kirlias for synchronizing thoughts, but the Pokemon Center one is free and will not provide detailed feedback. They're also a little meaner, I think.
…Anyways, after syncing, the Chingling is mourning the fact that it has been abandoned. As in, the Trainer it was previously attached to flat out did not want it–her–around anymore, and destroyed the Pokeball to break off the relationship.
Pokeballs are notoriously difficult to destroy.
Now, I don't know if the ball was destroyed-destroyed or symbolically wiped, but the Kirlia and her handler seem to corroborate and agree on the former. If true, that's kind of a big deal.
The relationship between people and Pokemon tilt towards Pokemon by a lot. Somebody opting to go this far to break connections then just abandon said Pokemon is…extreme. Like, insanely extreme.
This is like if somebody decided that the best way to honor their dead pet is to strap both it and a full sized tree to a rocket and shoot it into space. An effort so great that it makes you go 'but why?'.
Otherwise, the Chingling has lost all memories of its previous owner, which is something that the handler said was a sign of another Psychic type tampering with this guy's memories. Again, so much effort for so little point.
I'll pause here and say that we're approaching this from the angle that it was not hostile abandonment. As in, it was not simply discarded from a Trainer's team and left to its own devices, because that would be significantly easier than what may have happened here.
Mm…well, for now, she's surrendered to the Pokemon Center with my name listed as a rescuer. Hopefully they'll learn more about her with a deeper understanding of what's going on, but that's probably unlikely.
Either way, a fair chunk of time has passed while we're looking through all that.
I don't have anything good to do.
…
[Next Day]
…
There's a message from a sender I don't recognize. The number is legit, but…
…it's about the Chingling.
Oh god there's an attachment.
Oh god it's a plain text file.
Oh god it's megabytes.
…
The rest of the morning is spent reading, then scanning through, the document.
…
Uh…huh.
Long story short, it's a Wild Chingling that got jumped by a Ghost and developed hallucinatory memories as a result of it. The rest of the near-hundred-pages documents is more or less a research paper on what hallucinatory memories are–published some years ago by a certain Professor Gary Oak.
The thing I'm most worried about is the report on the Chingling's state. In our short time together, it's imprinted on me, so that makes me its de-facto trainer. I have to go pick it up, and then decide on if I want to surrender it to the Rangers or not.
It's not unusual for something like this to happen, though it's kind of unfortunate. Abandoned Pokemon imprinting, not the memory stuff.
Hmm. Might as well get this over with.
So we do.
Trip down to the Pokemon Center is easy–I have an electric bicycle. The Chingling is just hanging out on a cushion, basking in the sun. It's quite cute, if you ignore the gaping hole that is her mouth. Animated bells are creepy in general. Animated household objects are creepy in general.
Well then. It's probably a faux pas to use my special vision before deciding on abandoning or not, but such is life. Let's see…
…
…Huh.
Its Ghost affinity is really high. It's fire, water, electric…all of its affinities are really high. I've looked up what a Chingling is able to learn and it's got the signature variety spread of a Psychic type, but this is kind of ridiculous.
Its IVs are utter trash though. As close to flat zeroes on all stats as it can get.
…Eight move slots.
Sweet christmas that's a smart windchime-to-be. It can probably chain together moves that are complete and utter bullshit for everybody who's watching. With that kind of affinity chart it…she…can probably throw out rainbows every turn.
…But I don't think I'll be able to train her.
I have the same issues I would have with Patty and Eevee. I simply lack the resources to give her the care she would need to get to that kind of insane competence.
…But I also can't surrender her because that would be a complete abandonment of talent. The Rangers are good at making sure Pokemon go where they're wanted the most. A zero-IV Chingling is likely going to be just relegated to a pet.
…Time to call in some favors, I suppose?
So we do.
…
[Next Week]
…
It takes a little bit of time. I called up the head of the Iron Wreckers to see if they had any Psychic Teams that would be willing to help run a little experiment.
They found one. A subsidiary team of a bigger one, trying to become a C3 Team. They've failed twice already and are on the verge of being disbanded, so they're clutching at straws.
Perfect.
The Chingling and I have bonded, so she's aware of my feelings for her and I'm aware of her feelings for me and others. Thus, she knows I have ulterior motives of incredible financial success on her back, and I know she wants to be acknowledged. Desperately, at all costs.
I feel a little dirty for admitting it, but this could not be more perfect.
…Speaking of motive.
Chingling's memories have been…restored is probably not the right term. Can't restore what's not there. The center had a Musharna poke into Chingling's head a bit to see what's really going on. I'm not privy to the deals because Chingling has chosen not to disclose that kind of personal information, but the long and short of it is that Chingling will benefit from doing this thing.
So, yes, perfect. Questionable, but perfect.
.
.
.
{ === + === }
Author Notes:
All hail the Grass/Normal.