FA/N: If you want to know what the 'more realistic' Pokémon in Truth and Lies look like, a good place to start would be Joshua Dunlop's art. You can find it at "joshuadunlop (d0t) art stat ion (d0t) c0m." ... Ffnet is getting more annoying with their filters. He's done most of the first 151, and a couple extras (Espeon and Umbreon come to mind), plus his art is amazing in general. Worth a look.

Also, if you like this story or any of my other stories, please consider supporting me on SUB SCRIBE STAR dot ADULT slash KajaWilder. I can only continue my current (or faster) pace of updates if I can pay my bills. I'm not there yet, but I'm definitely getting closer. If you think about how much enjoyment you get out of a movie- about two hours worth of fun- for $10-20- you are getting far greater value by supporting a writer like myself. If even one in twenty people that read this supported me on Sub Star at any level, I would be able to easily continue focusing on writing more... and you could read more. I'm going to keep writing anyway. But the pace would be and will be a lot faster if you can spare a few dollars monthly. My lowest tier isn't even a small drink at a theater, any more. Is it worth it? Is it worth it to you? If so, then please support me.
Of course, you can ALSO find more of the same stories there. I post everything on this site at least a week after it's posted on SubStar, so if you want more and don't want to wait, well... there you go.
That's enough out of me, though. Enjoy!

Chap. 24: Strategery

Elle was more than a little annoyed that she logged back in with fingers that still ached, throbbed, and were somewhat unresponsive. She and Alex had both been happy the GameFreak servers would be undergoing some maintenance that night, since it meant they wouldn't have to deal with her broken wrist or his sheared off shoulder muscle.

Even the memory of the pain as they ate a quiet dinner in the cafeteria, surrounded by a few hundred other people nearly as perverted as they were engaged in quiet conversation, was a bit off-putting. Alex was in worse shape though: His shoulder, his real shoulder, was swollen when they had woken up, and doctors had been examining it when her questionnaire had been filled out and she had walked to his room.

"Most curious," one of the doctors, the chief medical person, if she remembered their briefing packet right, "We've never experienced such a response from the driver- well, the player- in a case like this. Your avatar- in game of course- is a powerful tool, but they are not invincible. Still, we've known your sync rate is among the highest in the playtest group, Mr. Ward, so it's not surprising that your body thinks it has actually been injured, and responds accordingly. Ah- Miss Berkman? You should give us some privacy, please, Mr. Ward's medical concerns aren't-"

"She can stay," Alex interrupted, "I don't mind. She was there when it happened anyway, so..."

The older gentleman nodded and prodded the swollen, red skin again, "As you say, it's your right to give out or keep your medical information from other people- just not we at GameFreak. That's for your own safety, you understand...?"
"Yes, I know. But her sync rate is as high as mine is, from the last report, so it might happen to her, too."

Elle nodded as she sat down in the last guest chair not taken up by the doctor or his note-taking nurse, "Yeah. Now that you mention it, my hand is a little stiff, too."

"Interesting," the doctor noted, then checked something on his datapad with a frown. "You didn't report pain..."

"I didn't think about it," Elle replied with a shrug, "It's not like it's real bad, just a bit of discomfort, like I whacked it on a door frame walking through or something."

"Hm. On a scale of one to ten then...?"
"Just one," she answered quickly, "It's barely noticeable. Worse if I make a fist."

"Interesting indeed. It's as if your body- or both your bodies- are reacting just like they would if you had suffered the injuries your avatars did. It's not quite as acute, and of course there is no injury to treat... we'll definitely have to look into this. Thank you for reporting it, Mr. Ward, and for updating us, Miss Berkman."

"You can call me Miss Ward," Elle joked, but the doctor only raised his eyebrows, "Indeed?"

His reaction was nothing compared to Alex's, though, who coughed and spluttered, a wild jerk of his hand upsetting the water cup he had been reaching for on his side table, sending it everywhere.

That was a full day ago, and they hadn't spoken about it since. Now, logged into the game once more, she had expected the trope of 'healing overnight' to have, well, taken care of their injuries. And they had recovered quite a lot.

But not completely. Her arm still ached, especially if she squeezed her left hand, and Alex kept rotating his shoulder, or occasionally reaching up to massage the flesh there, which was still red and, in a couple of spots, scabbed over.

If she had to guess, six weeks or more of healing had happened overnight, but it was not a cure-all.

They had not gotten all of their hit points back, in more abstract terms, and it was quite concerning to her. Worse, in some ways, than the new plan they had to come up with. Only the more pressing plans for the blindside of the Typing of Pewter's two Gyms pushed the knowledge that they could suffer real-world consequences for things in the game further back.

"So what are you going to do with your team?" Elle asked her... boyfriend, companion, would-be- or actual-lover.

Alex, who had been picking at his food after finishing half of it frowned down at the now cold fries. "I'm not sure. We've... been planning for Pewter to be a Rock Gym since Pallet Town. At least, I have been."

"I was, too," Elle nodded, "That's been the tradition since GenWun."

"Apparently not anymore. Not for a century, if what that dick said was true," Alex muttered, rubbing his shoulder absentmindedly. "Which I guess sort of dates where this is in the timeline- more than fifty years after any other game."

"Yeah. I don't know, Alex... something just seems fishy about all this. I can't place it, though. I mean... there's some stuff I can't tell you. Stuff I know, but... we can't talk about it in-game, or in GF's headquarters, because they would know that I know, and we'd probably both be in real trouble. But this... it's crazy. Why did my hand hurt, and your shoulder? I don't buy that crap about sync rates."

"We do have higher ones though," he reminded her, "it's something they made public during that meeting where Greengrass got up and talked to everyone, remember? That slide with the ratios? We were at the top of the whole playtest group, and like ten or more points higher than the rest."

"Yeah... still, it's weird. I don't like it. I mean, I guess I can see what the doctor said about our bodies responding to damage they think is there makes some sense, but... There's something fishy going on. Something GF is involved in, and I kind of think they're behind that Morley guy."

"Of course they are," Alex said with a half-hearted snort, "they programmed him, remember?"

Elle rolled her eyes, "You know what I mean. Some of the NPCs seem pretty cut and dry, exactly what they're supposed to be- rote responses, basic combat skills, just sort of... people there to let us practice and get stronger. There's some like the Nurses Joy- you noticed the ones in Pewter and South Viridian were identical, but they acted really different? The one here is the same. She's not fucking people- I asked- but she is fucking their 'mons. Outright admitted it to me, said that's what she likes- taking care of the 'mons who are neglected by their Trainers. Which, aside from us, is almost all of them. Some people are doing it with parts of their team, but she said we're the only ones she knows of who has done something with our whole teams."

"So we're the perverts, then? No shock there."

"No," Elle growled, then leaned in with narrowed eyes, "It means people are fucking their Pokémon quietly, but haven't had full-on team orgies like we did with Morpheus and- well, that whole thing. I don't have to ask why- we can't be the only pervs that signed up for an adult Beta test, after all- but why is GF pushing it so hard? Seriously- we get rewarded with actual in-game benefits for fucking a lot. Why? They're shoving it at us constantly. There's porn on the TV- for free. There's NPCs who are just down to fuck whenever, where ever. Everyone is sexy as fuck, too. There's people of all body types, of course, because people have different preferences- but even people I wouldn't normally be attracted to, I'm looking at and wondering why they're like in bed, Alex. That's... there's just something going on, and it's making me nervous."

After her hissed rant, the blonde sat back in her seat at the booth in the Pokémon Center cafeteria and picked up her soda, sipping at it slowly with her eyes still narrowed. "Fine," Alex muttered back at her, sending a glance around to try and check for eavesdroppers, like it really mattered. If GameFreak wanted to hear them, they would, and everything Elle had seen suggested to her that they listened to and watched just about everything the playtesters did- especially her and Alex. "Say you're right? What do you propose we do about it? Worst-case, we get kicked out of the Beta and they arrest us for Corporate Espionage. You may not have a lot to lose out in the real world, but I do, and I don't want to lose the game, either. I like it here. I'm not saying it's perfect, but I'm having a lot of fun playing this game with you, Elle. Not just the Pokémon, experiencing it like it's real, but you. I don't want you to get arrested. I'd have a lot less fun if you were, you know?"

"Horny man," she murmured right back, rolling her eyes as she fought to hide a grin, "I'd be in the same boat, but... I don't think we should do anything about it. At least, not yet. There's something going on, but I don't know what. Not yet, anyway. But I'm going to find out."

"Just... don't get caught, I guess. I know you won't listen if I tell you to stop. Maybe just... keep your eyes and ears open for now, and only do something stupid if you have a reason? Like, an actual lead or something besides just a hunch? For me?"

"I'll think about it," Elle teased, then glanced around herself. The little eating area was half-full, and most of those present were families or parties who looked like they had had a late night. A few were bandaged up, like she and Alex were, and like a few people at Viridian's Southern PMC had been, too. None looked quite as bad as some of those people had been, but clearly these Gyms were not pushovers, either.

Most of the injuries were lacerations or bruises, but a few people still had feathers in their hair, or small cuts on the skin that indicated, at least to her, talons. "Too bad we can't just see which people have what badges, then we could ask people who won what their strategy was."
"That's if they'd give them to us, though. We're competition, if people are going for the League."

"Still, some might spill. It's not that late in the competition- if there is one- people should be worrying about things like that. Most people are still figuring the game out, after all."

"Like us."

"Exactly. I figure we're pretty middle of the road- we're moving a little slower, but exploring more. Our teams are higher level than most people's, too. I was really surprised Megumi's family all had a Pokémon that strong, you know? I wonder how they're doing."

"Eh, we might not see them again. Or we might. I wonder too, but I'm sure they're still in the game. Their dad was... well, a bit weirded out by everything, but he seemed almost happy his son might be getting some."
"And Megumi wanted your cock."

Alex blushed and looked away, which made Elle smile and lean in again, "So do I, stud. One Gym- either one- for our Badges, and this tight virgin pussy is all yours, Alex. Just think about that... now, how are we gonna go about getting said Badges?"

"Fuck you," he groaned, throwing his hands over his face and running them down it. "Seriously... how am I supposed to plan now, when all I can think about is... is you?"

"Eh. Not my problem."

"Jerk..."

"Ass."

"Yes, you have a nice one. Seriously, though?"

"I know I have a nice ass, and I take it very seriously."

Alex rolled his eyes at her, shaking his head. "No, seriously. I mean... do we need both Badges? What are the rules for that? Can we only do one, or should we try and do both? Should one of us do each Gym?"

"I've been looking into that a little, mostly while you were showering," Elle told him, and popped open her Pokégear's Holo-screen again, then moved through a few tabs faster than Alex could follow. "Ah, here we are- okay... Looks like... Ah, yep.

"So, to go to the Indigo League Championship, you need twelve Indigo League Badges. That's up two from the last twenty or so generations of games, but not that hard. Apparently, there's a Gym for every Type in the first eight generations of Games in Kanto, now. Pewter has two, some have one, but there's a Gym for everything. Any twelve, though. You could hit just six cities that have two Gyms- Saffron has three- and get them all there."

"Hm. Well... should we try both the Flying and Steel, then?"

"Don't see why not. I'm sure that's why a lot of people are still here, in fact. Saves time."

"That's what I was thinking. If we're moving slower, we should save time when we can, at least make it efficient time."

"Yep. So... what about our teams, though? Fire is great against Steel, and we both have strong Pokémon of that Type, but just one. And a lot of Steel have dual-Types that are strong against Fire, so it's just neutral overall. At least defensively."

"That's true," Alex nodded, taking a bite of his half-eaten breakfast burrito before sliding the fries across to Elle and reaching for his drink. "Still, Fire is going to be something we'll have to use. We're kind of at a disadvantage there otherwise, since we have so much Poison on our teams, but their side Types should make up for most of it. Even Cock might do okay, since he's got a few fighting moves that can at least do decent damage to Steel."

'But Lingus, Sappy, and Spike will have a really hard time. Shooter might do okay, even pretty good since Steel/Ground is pretty common, but if you go up against a Trainer- or the Leader- with that Type of Pokémon, you're better off using Sappy anyway just so she gets some experience. She's not going to get a lot at the Flying Gym, anyway."

"That's true... she's still a long way off from evolving. Same goes for Gobbler. If I can get a Sun Stone after she does, I think I'm going to go for Bellossom rather than Gloom."

"Don't blame you- Gloom stink, I bet," Elle chuckled. "But yeah, I have a lot of the same problems. Mostly that I don't have anything really good against Steel, and only a few moves across my whole team that are effective against it. But I don't have any pure Poisons, unlike you. It sucks that the two I have are Grass- and Ghost- as their other Types, though. Neither are really gonna help."

"For sure. Hm...Mirror Move from Nike could be really useful, but it depends on what they have and use. Too situational to rely on, even if it saved our asses yesterday."
Elle nodded quickly, "Sure as fuck did. Really became our 'Wing of Victory', huh?"
A few seconds later, after she had wolfed down his fries in addition to her own, the she started ticking her Pokémon off on her fingers. "So besides my team, I've also got a bunch of bugs, Ledian, Kakuna, Metapod, and so on, my own Oddish which is really weak compared to yours, and that weird brown mole-thing we found in the mine yesterday. That's... pretty much it. Since Steel is only weak to Fighting, Fire, and Ground, I've really only got those two Pokémon that have an Advantage there."

"Yeah... Kole is pretty tough, fast too, but he's not going to be enough by himself. No way. That... Diglett? Is that what it was called?"
"Think so, lemme look," she replied, then moved through several tabs on her 'Gear until she reached her Pokédex. "Yep. Evolves into Dugtrio eventually, just based on level."

"Well, he's not going to be all that strong either. His stats were pretty weak. At least, he went down fast. We can't count on him."

"His attack and speed are really high, though."

"Sure," Alex agreed, finishing his drink with a long pull on the straw that ended in guzzling noises, "but this is Steel. They're all about defense, like Rock, only more so. You can't count on anything going down fast. Just think of the Sturdy ability."

Elle shuddered, "Yeah... that's why I like my status effects. Lots of them get right by crap like that."

"Anyway, you're right to use him. It. Whatever that thing is. I just don't think you should rely on it to last long. We should probably try and catch you another Pokémon before you head to the Steelworks."

"What about you, though? You only have Surtr, and maybe two half-effective ones, if the opposing Pokémon are dual-type and you have an advantage there."

"True, true... Hm. I'll have to get at least one more too, I guess. But Cock isn't gonna be useless. He's plenty tough and determined. Lingus can take a fair few hits, too. I might just use her to wear out an opponent, or switch her in to confuse people."
"No free switching in a Gym battle, though," his younger companion reminded him.

"Oh, shit, yeah- forgot about that. Still, it might be worth it. I'm just glad it's not 'three on three', no subs. That's bullshit."

"Same, I'd hate fighting with those rules. Maybe in a three-Pokémon team, that might be fun, but not one at a time. Anyway, let's... I don't know. What about the Flying Gym?"

Again, Alex frowned, then looked up at her, "Both Grass Types are out. Maybe against the lower level Trainers just there to slow us down, maybe. If I can figure out how to teach him a Rock Move, then Spike is my obvious go-to. He's going to be resistant to whatever they have, too, pretty much, except for the rare part-Grass, -Water, or -Ice Flyers. The rest of my team, barring Sappy of course, will at least be neutral."

"Good point," Elle nodded, shooting him a finger, "But I wouldn't count on that, either. Flying is the second most common Type, after all, right behind Water. With your Rock Type on Spike, it's a good bet at least one of the Gym Leader's team will be able to stomp him based on that alone. Or Steel, Grass, or Fighting. Rock's always had too many weaknesses for such a defensive Type."

"I know it, that's why I like Ground- even its own weaknesses, it does better offensively. Anyway... yeah, I think I should maybe look at at least learning some Moves for my team to help balance things out. Most of mine are due for new ones anyway."

"That's true- I actually haven't looked at what we got from the Mine yesterday. That Golurk was a beast, so... holy shit, Alex. Three more levels for Loki! We're getting pretty tough!"

Seeing her excitement, he quickly brought up his own team's stats, and looked equally shocked. "Cock's gone up three levels, too- and so have Sappy and Shooter! Uh, Lingus went up two, but Spike and Surtr only went up one. That's understandable though."

"Same, only more," Elle said with a happy grin. "Gobbler and Squirt went up three, Morpheus two- oh, but I guess Nike and Kole only went up one each, so that's not quite as good. Damn. I was catching up for a bit."

"It's only one battle rank across the whole team- look, I went up one, too. I'm rank nine."

"Oh, so am I! Sweet. I wonder what that means, though. I mean, I know we're supposed to be stronger, but... maybe it's how the game compares us to Pokémon Moves when we get attacked, or something. I don't know. Nothing in the info packets or tutorials really explains it well."

"Hm. That's weird, you'd think it would matter a lot. Anyway," Alex continued, tapping his own 'gear to expand the Holoscreen, "Look: Horn Attack plus, whatever that means, is a move Cock just learned. Lingus got Stomp. Sappy got Lust Powder, which is a new move I guess. Spike did get a Rock move, Rock Slide."
"That'll be nice against the Flyers, then."

"Yeah. Shooter got two moves- Aroura Beam, Ice, and Bubble Beam, Water-Type. Surtr didn't get one, but that's not surprising if he only gained one level."

"Lemme see what I got. Uh... So, on top of his three levels, Loki learned a couple of moves: Confuse Ray, and Sucker Punch. Not sure how he can do that one without hands- maybe fly through them? It's cool he has a Dark move though. Steel isn't protected against that, if I remember right, so he might have a backup use. And Confuse Ray is good against anything. In fact, since he knows Will-O-Wisp, I might be able to use that to weaken every Steel-Type at the Gym before I go at them with other Pokémon."

"That's a good plan," Alex acknowledged.

"I know, I thought of it," Elle added with a wink, "Anyway, Squirt learned Bubble Beam and Twister, and Kole- even though he only gained one level- knows two moves I didn't know he had. He might've learned one earlier, I haven't been real good at keeping track. Those are Reversal, which is Fighting- so he'll have more tools against the Steel Gym- and Takedown. Uh... that's one of those hurt-you-a-lot, hurt-me-a-bit moves, I think. Normal type, but it does hit really hard."

"That'd be good against some of the softer targets in the Flying Gym too, then. Lots of birds don't have a ton of defense."

"Right, didn't think of that. Kole is pretty tough, though, so it's a good move for him. Uh... I think that's it."

"Still, we've both gotten quite a bit better. What about your Diglett? Are you going to name it?"

"Maybe," Elle teased, feeling her face heat as she thought of something in that moment, "but I'm not telling you what, yet. Uh... I think I might train him, though. Not sure how long it'll take to get him up to fighting fit, but if we spend a day or two out in the fields practicing, then get some actual experience we can probably teach some of them new moves- apparently that's what replaced TM's, remember, actual training and practice- and then get them leveled up. Unless you want to find a new Pokémon to fill in your weaknesses against Flying and Steel, anyway."

Alex shrugged as he stood up and picked up his food tray, "I don't know. I actually feel like, with Aurora Beam as a surprise move from Shooter, I'll be alright with Flying. I have one Pokémon each that are strong and weak there, and the rest are neutral. Steel is gonna be harder for me, because it's totally immune to all my Poison."

"Uh... maybe. I don't know what else we can catch around here that's good for it, though, unless you find a Ground."

"Which is one of my favorite types. But I don't necessarily want to have a heavy-Ground team later, either, and Cock will eventually gain that Type. If I ever find a Moonstone, anyway."

"But Mount Moon is on the way to the next city," Elle reminded him, tabbing over to the map as she stood up too. "Eh, let's go head out to the fields for today, then hunt down a Ground Type for you tomorrow. Maybe something new for each of us, in case my little mole turns out to be a glass cannon. Not that there's anything wrong with that."

"I mean, Loki is... but he's useful."

"Still. I think I wanna do the Flying Gym first."

"Really? I want to do the Steel," Alex told her as they settled their debt and moved for the door.

Conversation moved to lighter topics as they left the Pokémon Center, their monsters in better shape than they were themselves. They at least had the beginnings of a strategy, now it just remained to be seen if they could pull it off.

A/N: A final note before you click away.

DON'T go to if you can help it. I am still posting there, but they are HEAVILY censoring my content (especially this story). If you want the full experience, either be patient, or, to support me and get things sooner, go to Sub scribe Star DOT Adult SLASH KajaWilder.