A young girl with black hair sat on her bed, anxiously holding a Pikachu plushie to her chest. The girl had just recently made her first real friend, and she desperately wanted their friendship to last. She looked up at the notepad on her desk, wondering if she'd made the right decision.
She didn't want her friend to have anything to do with a monster like Red.
Chee squeezed tighter at the plushie sitting in her lap. It had always made her feel safe and calm, it's cuteness let her forget about her troubles and fears, at least by a little. The sweet scent of lavender faintly drifted from the felt, which usually filled her with a sense of ease.
But today her fears remained ever-present. Cyan had promised, but he was still very interested in Red. Deep down she knew she was the only one that could do anything about it, before that dullard Blue went and did something stupid.
She was scared as she set down her plushie, and picked up her notepad, but she was equally determined.
Determined to make sure that Cyan would never meet Red.
...
Chee eventually had to leave-although not before making me promise not to look for Red an additional three times. It occurred to me afterwards that I hadn't gone looking for actual rumours about Red ever since I'd been sent back in time, and I began to do so.
The results were very surprising to me-Most of the townsfolk I asked had no idea who 'Red' was, and those that seemed to have heard of him all said he was known as a problem-child.
I suppose I only met Red after the war, but I thought he'd always been a respectable leader. I guess even Red had his rebellious phase.
Although considering what I'm planning, I may not be any better.
It was now dinner-time, and my mother was humming to herself while pouring me a bowl of soup to eat. For the third time since I'd gotten Yeller, I asked the same question. "Mum, can I go play outside after dinner?"
"No dear, it's dangerous after dark!"
The sun hadn't even set yet, but that was hardly the point.
"I wanna train with Yeller!" I complained, but my mother simply shook her head gently.
"You already gave us quite the scare when you took so long getting Yeller... I don't want you leaving the house as soon as dinner is over, you hear me young man?" She berated me, handing me the warm bowl of soup.
"Yes mother..." I sheepishly replied, taking the bowl and beginning to eat my portion.
After dinner I excused myself and went to my room. Then, I waited about an hour, and quietly went to check on what my mother was doing. I found her in a chair in the front room of the house, reading a book somewhere she could keep an eye on the door.
Perfect.
I skittered back up to my room and opened the window as quietly as I could manage. I gently slipped out onto the roof, and checked that I could remain stable on the slippery tiles. "Alright, c'mon Yeller." I murmured, sliding alongside the roof to the back of the house, where I could safely lower myself to stand on the fence of our property. From the fence I was able to gently drop to the ground, and sneakily scamper away unseen. My mother would have no idea I was even gone.
...
Yeller and I cautiously moved forward, eyes alert for any potentially dangerous Pokemon in the wild bushes. They were why we were here, after all.
I'd spent the last few days training with Yeller to make sure we could still be in sync, which turned out to be a largely pointless. Yeller and I were just as in sync as I always remembered, and it didn't take long to reteach him how to respond to my commands.
I held up a hand, signalling a full stop. Yeller stiffened, solid as a board of wood, and I listened carefully for rustling in the leaves.
Training Yeller with traditional methods was all well and good, but Pokemon grew the fastest when engaged in actual battles with their fellow Pokemon. Ideally I would have liked to train with Red, but after hearing about the way Red seems to be in the past I'm less certain that's a good idea. Besides, it doesn't hurt to grow stronger before I battle anyone meaningful.
So instead I've elected to take the slightly more dangerous route of battling wild Pokemon. Yeller is still a bit weaker than a usual Pokemon, but with the training we've done he should still be able to fight at least one-Assuming we don't find something too dangerous.
I met the eyes of my partner, who was asking me a question. Why are we waiting? Is there something nearby?
I put a finger to my lips and gestured to a bush shortly ahead of us, which was rustling quietly. "Quick Attack" I whispered, pointing at the bush.
In a flash of white energy, Yeller charged headlong into the bushes, colliding with the purple Rattata contained within. The Rattata let out a hiss, jumping back in response. It looked upset with us, but it quickly started glowing with white energy just like my own.
Time to start playing dirty. "Tail Whip" I commanded my partner, who raised his tail in preparation. "Clockwise Counter, on my mark."
The opposing Rattata Dashed forwards, leaping off of the trees and other obstacles to try and confuse Yeller, who looked a little rattled by the quick movements of the rodent.
"Steady..." I soothed him, and his look of distraction faded slightly.
The Rattata did a final leap off a tree, flinging itself directly at Yeller.
"Mark!" I exclaimed, and Yeller immediately tail-whipped the air by doing a clockwise spin. The end of his tail smacked the opposing Rattata in the face, sending it off-course and flying directly into a tree, where it slumped to the ground, dizzy.
"Tackle!" I couldn't afford to give it time to get it's bearings, so I immediately sent Yeller in again. Unfortunately the opposing Rattata wasn't so keen to go down, and it tackled Yeller at the same time. They clashed for a moment, and the wild Rattata dropped to the ground unconscious.
"Good job Yeller." I praised my partner, giving him a gentle pat on the head as I examined the unconscious Rattata. It was always worth double-checking your opponent had really been defeated.
Just as I was thinking this, the now-familiar system opened itself in front of me, presenting me with two windows. "What's this?"
[Log:
Type Proficiency: Normal: +5%
Type Proficiency: Normal: +5%
Type Proficiency: Normal: +5%
You defeated a wild Rattata!]
Come to think of it Type Proficiency was mentioned on my status page, I'd forgotten to investigate what it meant. But before I could rectify that, the other window caught my eye.
[Quest: Defeat 5 Wild Pokemon
Defeat 5 Wild Pokemon (1/5)
Reward: Pokemon Status]
I looked down at Yeller, stroking my chin thoughtfully. "Another 4 might be pushing it, huh buddy?"
The Pokemon nodded gently, his determined gaze meeting my eye. I think I can do another two, though.
I nodded back, agreeing with his assessment. "No need to push ourselves for today, we'll do what we can and then go home."
...
[Quest: Defeat 5 Wild Pokemon
Defeat 5 Wild Pokemon (3/5)
Reward: Pokemon Status]
Yeller stumbled into my arms and closed his eyes to rest. "You did good buddy, I reassured him, as I began the trek back home. It was fully dark outside now, and I could only hope that my mother hadn't yet realised I was gone. I wanted to train, not to worry her after all.
As I walked while cradling my partner, I decided it was finally time to investigate the Type Proficiency section of my status.
Status
[Cyan Hughs
Status:
HP: 16/16
Atk: 5
Sp. Atk: 0
Def: 5
Sp. Def: 5
Spd: 10
Stat Points (10)
Skills:
Eye to Eye
Regression System
Type Proficiency 3% {Tap to Expand} ]
I tapped the words 'Type Proficiency', and another window opened up with a list of coloured bars, each with a name and Percentage next to them.
[Normal Proficiency: 70%
Fighting Proficiency: 0%
Flying Proficiency: 0%
Poison Proficiency: 0%
Ground Proficiency: 0%
Rock Proficiency: 0%
Bug Proficiency: 0%
Ghost Proficiency: 0%
Steel Proficiency: 0%
Fire Proficiency: 0%
Water Proficiency: 0%
Grass Proficiency: 0%
Electric Proficiency: 0%
Psychic Proficiency: 0%
Ice Proficiency: 0%
Dragon Proficiency: 0%
Dark Proficiency: 0%
Fairy Proficiency: 0%]
I let out a low, quiet whistle. That's a lot of bars. I wonder what they all mean?
Absentmindedly I tapped the first bar, but it didn't open any new menus.
I guess I don't get any help with this one.
Even so I was pretty sure I had a good idea of how to increase it. I'd been watching the log during my battles with Yeller, and the message telling me my Normal Proficiency had gone up would appear every time Yeller landed an attack on another Pokemon. Whenever he missed, it wouldn't go up, even if he hit the ground or another object.
In other words, it was somehow related to battling. It wouldn't take long to hit 100% anyway, so I wasn't too worried about it.
There was something else that had caught my attention about the menu-The 'Stat Points'.
Dismissing the Type Proficiency window, I tapped on the text that told me I had 10 stat points, which-as I expected- Opened up another window for me to interact with.
[Allocate Stat Points:
HP: 16/16 + -
Atk: 5 + -
Sp. Atk: 0 + -
Def: 5 + -
Sp. Def: 5 + -
Spd: 10 + -
10 points remaining
Confirm
Cancel]
I fiddled with the menu for a few minutes on the way home, and figured out that I could add and remove points from the various 'stats', but it looked like once I confirmed my decision I wouldn't be able to change my mind. I also couldn't take out points from the values that were already there, nor could I go into debt on my .
Satisfied, I dismissed all the menus and decided I would try allocating Stat Points at another time. Carefully I climbed back up the fence, the roof, and back into my room. I worried at first that my mother might have noticed I had run off, but she seemed to assume I had just gone to sleep, as one would expect for a child my age. When I snuck around the house to see what she was doing, she was still reading in the entrance, although she looked far more relaxed.
Alright, this is viable. I'll add the night-time battling to my daily regimen.
That meant I was now doing:
Stretches & Stamina training (running) in the morning
General Training at noon
Investigation & Miscellaneous until evening
Dinner and Battling from evening to night.
I nodded to myself as I changed into the spare set of clothes I had prepared before leaving, weariness setting in. It was a little tough on myself, but I needed to take every advantage I could get to grow stronger in preparation for the war.
Every day was vital.
But so was sleep...
...
The next day I followed my schedule once again, doing an early morning jog, when I heard a strange beep. Tilting my head to the side, I realised the 'Log' had opened again.
[Log:
Your dedication to fitness has improved your stamina! Max HP + 1]
I paused for a moment, opening my Status window.
[Cyan Hughs
Status:
HP: 16/17
Atk: 5
Sp. Atk: 0
Def: 5
Sp. Def: 5
Spd: 10
Stat Points (10)
Skills:
Eye to Eye
Regression System
Type Proficiency 3% {Tap to Expand} ]
"Interesting..." I mused aloud. It seems like I can increase my status by doing exercise as well. Stamina is my main priority for now, but perhaps later on I should add strength exercises and other workouts?
I shook my head. I still didn't know what the Status really was, or how valuable Stat Points were. I couldn't rush into any decisions like that.
I closed the system and got back to running. The system appeared to be a helpful tool, but I needed to make sure I wasn't too dependant on it, who knows what would happen to me if it were to disappear some day.
I wonder why the System saved me anyway...?
Chee didn't come to find me that afternoon, so I decided to try going to the lab for a change. Oak's lab was as overbearing as always, and when I got to the front door it took an incredible amount of courage just to ring the doorbell.
I expected to see Chee as I opened the door, but I was startled to be greeted by Professor Oak himself. The man oozed a sort of refined wisdom, and I could tell that he was appraising me from his gaze.
I did my best to stand up straight.
"...At ease boy. You're-" He stopped himself suddenly, coughing into his hand. "You're 'Chee's friend, right?"
I frowned at that comment. "That's my nickname for her, it's not her actual name right?"
"No, but it seems she's taken quite the shine to it. She's been insisting we call her that for a few days now." Oak responded with a laugh. "Whenever we call her by her actual name, she'll sulk and refuse to listen to us. It's actually been a bit troubling..."
"...I'm sorry for the trouble." I apologised sheepishly. I felt rather bad that I'd inadvertently caused problems for Oak.
"No no, it's all fine. We have a little rule in this house you see..." He paused, before gesturing for me to come inside. "Anyway, do come in. We can explain it all later, I'm sure you're here to see... Chee, right?"
I nodded and tentatively stepped into the lab.
The interior was absolutely stunning, filled with high-tech equipment of various varieties I couldn't even begin to decipher. The lab opened into a large room with all the devices, but there were also rooms to both the right and left leading to other wings of the building, and an exit at the back of the large room which I assumed led to the Pokemon enclosure outside.
Chee came running in from the west wing, carrying her Pikachu plushie as usual.
You came! You really came this time! Her eyes exclaimed with glee. I couldn't help but smile.
"Yeah, well you did ask me to. And you told me you'd get them to let me in." I replied.
Mhm! I told you I'd do it!
"Well yeah, but I thought they wouldn't let you... I'm surprised I'm even allowed close to this place..." I folded my arms, scared that I might accidentally bump into something and knock it down.
It was a piece of cake!
"A piece of cake...?" I muttered in disbelief. I then felt the distinct penetrating stare of Oak appraising me yet again. I met his gaze.
"So you... Can actually tell what she's thinking?" He asked suddenly.
I blinked a few times, before realising how outlandish our conversation must have seemed to an outsider. I'd gotten somewhat used to it after talking to Chee a few times, but it was still odd that we could communicate without her speaking, even if she sometimes had to use a notepad.
"I... Think I understand at least partially...?" I let my eyes drift back over to Chee, who was pouting at Oak. Cyan's amazing! He's my friend!
"I'm not really amazing, but thank you Chee."
Chee gave me a thumbs up.
"Unbelievable..." Oak almost muttered. "Well regardless, it seems that-Chee, wasn't lying about you."
I turned to look at him again. "Ah-So she convinced you to let me in because I can tell what she's thinking?"
Oak shook his head. "Not quite, you see we have a special rule in this household." He flashed me a grin unbecoming of a famous professor.
"If you win a Pokemon battle, you can demand whatever you want!"