The next morning, there was a knock at the front door.
It was still early in the morning, the calls of the wild Pidgeys and Caterpie still the only sounds to be noted. My mother and I were still shaking off the depths of sleep as we went to see who it was, and my mother almost fainted in surprise when the door was opened.
Standing at the door was a man in his fifties, wearing a wide-brimmed hat over his greying brown hair. His white lab coat reflected the harsh morning sun, making it a little hard to make out his features, but the man was unmistakable.
"P-p-professor Oak!?" My mother exclaimed. "C-could it be that..."
Oak nodded with a smile. "Perhaps. I'd like to discuss with the two of you, if that's alright?"
A moment later, the three of us were seated around the kitchen table, a thick silence hanging over the room, broken only by the quiet ticking of the clock hanging from the wall. I stared blankly at the checkered tablecloth, wondering why on earth Oak would come to visit my house so early in the morning.
"I received your letter, miss Hughs." Oak began, cutting the silence with a powerful businesslike attitude. "Ordinarily we would refuse such a request outright, but Cyan is a rather unique boy. It will take further consideration but we may decide to accept. With that in mind, is it alright if I borrow your son for a little while?"
"Uh..." I began, before my mother could speak up. "I'm sorry, could you explain what's going on?"
Oak scratched his chin thoughtfully for a moment before answering me. "Your mother sent a letter asking that I sponsor you for the Gym Challenge."
I felt my heart skip a beat.
-The Gym Challenge, an elite training regime for trainers with a strong background. Competing in the Gym Challenge would mean travelling the whole region, getting the chance to battle with strong trainers and promote your growth. Anyone who had cleared the entire Gym Challenge was also eligible to compete with the Elite 4, and attempt to become a Champion.
In my past life, every Champion I'd ever met were the very definition of strong. When they were your allies, it was a massive reassurance. When they were you enemies, it was like marching to your death.
It was a Champion that had killed me, as well.
But in order to get into the Gym Challenge, you had to find an established Professor, Champion, or Elite 4 member willing to sponsor you. Such a feat would've been unthinkable in my past life.
"It would be an honour!" I exclaimed immediately, my excitement temporarily overpowering the social pressures to stay quiet.
"Hold on, I didn't say I'd made a decision yet." Oak raised a hand, indicating I should calm down. "As I was saying-I'm already sponsoring various trainers for the Gym Challenge, and I don't want to sponsor kids who are going to fail to complete the challenge."
My mother held her breath, as though even breathing might cause Oak to reject me. I could feel myself getting tense as well, but Oak laughed at our overly stiff selves.
"You don't need to be so worried, I'm here to give the boy a chance." Oak stood from his seat, gesturing for me to follow him outside. My mother gave me a concerned look, the worry apparent in her face, but I gingerly let myself down from the chair and followed him outside.
The backyard at my house was nothing to write home about. It was a small fenced-in area, maybe half the size of an average battlefield. It was littered with a few pieces of play equipment that I hadn't even touched since returning to my youth. A toy slide, an inflatable pool for those hot summer days, a plastic shovel, toy truck, all scattered across the grass.
Oak was stamping the ground in a few places, checking the quality of the ground. Seemingly satisfied, he turned to look at me, arms folded behind his back. "See, normally I wouldn't accept somebody who hasn't already made a name for themselves, but-Blue vouched for your strength."
Oak shook his head in dismay. "I've never heard that boy praise anyone before. Not for any reason. Even if it was a backhanded statement like 'I'm stronger because of his strategies.' I even heard through the grapevine that you almost won a battle with him."
The gentle wind rustled through the meadow, the blades of grass at our feet shifting ever so slightly with the changes in the airflow. "And so..." Oak continued. "I've decided to give you a test. If you pass this test, I'll train you, and I'll sponsor you-There will be some conditions of course, but you will definitely get the support you need."
Digging his right hand into his coat, Oak retrieved two items. One, a Pokeball with unusual colouring. Instead of the usual Red and White ball, the top half was instead a light blue with two red rectangles protruding from the top. The second item was a pocket watch, which he casually shifted into his left hand.
"You and I will have a battle of sorts. The rules are as follows: One, neither of us, nor our Pokemon may leave the fenced off area of your backyard. If one of us does, we lose." He gestured to the grass around us. "Two, if you get hit by an attack, or your partner faints, you lose."
I felt a cold sweat begin to form on my back.
"Third. You must survive for at least 5 minutes."
In a flash of Blue light, the ball released a large purple monster, a quadruped with thick skin and a powerful purple horn. A male Nidorino, a powerful poison-type Pokemon with dangerous attacks. They were the sort of Pokemon you desperately wanted to avoid on the battlefield, because even if they were weak a hit from them could leave you sick and in pain for weeks. I also knew from experience that Yeller wouldn't even be able to leave a dent in it's hide at our current strength.
"W-wait, isn't this arena kind of small for that sort of challenge?" I asked, a bad feeling welling up beneath my rapidly beating heart as adrenaline began to pump through my body. "Plus it's not clean back here, there's all these toys in the way and-"
"Exactly." Oak said with a beaming smile. "So you'd better be able to dodge well, because your time starts... Now!"
And as he spoke those words, I saw a window from the system manifest itself in the corner of my vision.
[Tutorial 2: Evasion
- Learn to Dodge in a limited space
- Evade the Nidorino's attacks without getting hit
Time Remaining: 4:59
Reward: Gym Challenge, 5 Skill Points
Penalty for Failure: Excruciating Pain for 1 Week]
"Damnit!" I exclaimed, ducking for cover behind the toy slide as the first of many poison stings flew past my torso. Yeller hid beside me, and the bad feeling in my chest solidified.
This is the training from hell!
...
The group of 30 soldiers were gathered on a small battlefield. Each had been handed a letter, and told not to open it until they were all together. I looked around and confirmed that the whole regime was here, and so I opened the letter.
'You have all passed the first phase of training, but a battlefield is rarely so calm as to let you fight in peace. The panic and chaos of a real battle is unimaginable, and if you cannot fight in a chaotic environment you are of no use to any of us.'
I frowned at the paragraph on the paper, annoyed by the holier-than-thou tone it took.
'This field only has enough room for 15 soldiers to evade comfortably. You will have to evade with 30. You will not be permitted to leave the field. And remember, the easiest way to take out a nasty Pokemon is to target it's trainer.'
"Target it's trainer?" A soldier next to me queried. "But how are we supposed to-"
I paid him no mind as I dove to the ground, just barely avoiding a cluster of sharp leaves that embedded themselves into the shoulder of the man next to me.
"AHHHHH!" He screamed in pain. The leaves didn't cut deep, but they hurt like hell.
I tossed away the remainder of the note, I already knew what the rest of it said.
'You will have to survive for 15 minutes. Once you can do that, we'll move on to a longer time. Good luck.
~ Red'
Despite their best efforts, not a single soldier was left unharmed by the end of the time limit, and the barracks were filled with groans of pain for the next three weeks of training.
When asked about it, they all said the same thing.
"That training was hell!"
...
The slide was already riddled with glowing purple needles. It was impossible to tell how many shots had been fired, or how much longer the plastic designed for being safe with children would hold up to the onslaught of the vicious Nidorino.
I wracked my brain desperately for some sort of countermeasure, but every idea I came up with would break the rules somehow. If I was still a grown adult, I could probably manage 5 minutes of pure evasion, but I didn't have the strength or agility to dodge these attacks.
So that meant I would have to resort to creating cover for myself. If it was Yeller, he could probably grab something small and bring it back here once, but there was no way he could bring me anything substantial without his second arm.
The needles came to a sudden stop, and a few moments later the Nidorino walked casually into view.
"Scatter!" I called, diving out of the creature's line of sight, narrowly avoiding another Barrage of needles. Now forced out of my hiding spot, both Yeller and I were in the open. I was mostly watching Nidorino, but I kept half an eye on Oak in case he tried to pull an attack on me himself.
The Nidorino leapt from the ground with alarming speed, and I wrenched my body away from the powerful tackle it threw at me. "Are you trying to kill me!?" I exclaimed, diving to the ground to dodge the follow-up poison sting it shot as it recovered from it's landing.
I quickly rebounded and ran towards the slide-The only piece of actual cover in the yard-But it was blasted away a moment later by another charge from the horned creature.
I felt the sweat, both hot and cold, dripping from my brow. It had been two minutes at most. There was no way that I could hold out for 5 minutes like this. If only I had a way out of this situation! This Pokemon was too strong for me to deal with-
And remember, the easiest way to take out a nasty Pokemon is to target it's trainer.
"Yeller!" I shouted abruptly, swinging my arm to point at Oak. "Quick Attack! NOW!"
In a flash of white energy, my partner followed my command, launching himself at the older man without even a hint of hesitation. The Nidorino turned it's attention to Yeller in surprise, and Oak himself looked up and smiled, deftly dodging the attack of the Rattata with a gentle tilt of his torso.
"You were close, but that alone won't be enough to win this battle I'm afraid."
But I didn't need him to get hit, that moment was enough for me to snag a small plastic bucket that had once accompanied it's shovel. With a powerful shove, I slammed the bucket down on the horn of the Nidorino, which had been distracted by the attack on it's trainer, leaving it hanging from the Nidorino's horn.
With the bucket skewered on it's horn, the Nidorino was no longer able to see accurately where I was.
"Shoulder!" I called, and Yeller leapt back to my shoulder with a deft flip.
I'm so glad you're dextrous fella. I thought to myself.
It wasn't over just yet, but it was an important step that helped me buy time.
The horned creature pawed desperately at the bucket, but it didn't have the range of motion required to easily remove the bucket. I pressed my back to the fence and took a deep breath, steeling my nerves.
"OVER HERE!" I shouted at the top of my lungs.
The Nidorino immediately perked it's ears, turning to face me and firing a blast of poison needles. They were poorly aimed, and I was able to dodge them with little trouble.
"You'll never hit me from that far away!" I taunted. "But I'd be in reaaaal trouble if you came any closer!"
Just as I hoped, the mammal charged at me with the same explosive force it had used on the slide earlier, and I dove out of the way as it busted straight through our flimsy wooden fence. I dropped to the ground with a groan, flipping onto my back.
Oak looked down at me with a bemused look on his face.
"So," I squeaked through heaved breaths. "Did I pass?"
"Well it wasn't what I was expecting..." The grey haired man surveyed the damaged surroundings of my backyard, and the Nidorino getting lost further and further into the distance as it tried to locate me.
"But yes, I suppose you did." He answered with a smile. "So let's talk about getting you a room in the lab, shall we?"
...
Oak's lab was just as impressive a sight as it had been the first day I'd seen it. Even though I knew I was now definitively welcome inside, it was still intimidating trying to walk through the front door. I could hardly believe I'd actually passed his test.
As I entered the pristine lab environment, I was met by the trio of residents within. Oak looked at me with a warm smile while leaning on a wooden cane, his eyes inviting and caring. Blue sat by his side, arms crossed with a glare focussed on my face. His eyes burned with a powerful motivation, making him difficult to meet gazes with. And finally...
I turned my gaze to look at the young black-haired girl, who was glowering at me. She swiftly turned her head away to avoid my gaze, a small 'hmph!' noise escaping her nostrils. Chee was still mad with me for some reason.
"Welcome to the Lab. We won't force you to stay here of course, but you will have a room if you ever want to." Oak smiled with his lips but not his eyes. "You'll be training here for a few months before you go to the Gym Challenge, to make sure you're ready. That's your first condition."
He gestured to the large room in the centre of the lab. "We have a battlefield here for battles inside, or there's another out the back if you prefer training outside. You're also welcome to go into the enclosure and train with the Pokemon there, although I do ask that you don't catch any without my permission." Oak rested his arms back on his wooden cane.
"Oh, and you've already met both Blue and... Chee." Oak gazed down at the two children by his side. "You're welcome to battle with them as much as you'd like-Actually I heavily encourage you to do so as often as you can. Nothing quite like actual battle experience."
Finally he returned his attention to me. "Any questions?"
I cleared my throat, thinking of how best to get Chee to stop giving me the cold shoulder. Honestly the way that both Blue and Chee reacted to every mention of Red was only making me more curious, and yet the things I'd heard about him since my regression led me to believe that he hadn't yet matured enough to be safe around...
Yet, in my past life he was the most powerful and trustworthy of my allies, even if he was a bit malnourished...
I coughed into my hand, deciding to make a small sacrifice for the current peace of mind. "Um... Just real quick, I made a promise with Chee a little while ago." I began carefully. Chee jolted suddenly, looking at me with eyes wide. Don't you dare! You promised! Her eyes screamed.
"I said I'd keep away from Red, since she doesn't want me to meet him. So I just wanted to know if there's like... Specific times I should avoid the Lab, since I don't want to break our promise?" I sheepishly finished, struggling not to fold under Chee's gaze.
Both Oak and Blue seemed to stare at me dumbfounded. Oak glanced over at Chee curiously, who hid her face behind her gloved hands. She seemed to crumple under his gaze, like a wad of paper trying to hold the weight of an entire fridge.
Blue gave me a look like I was some kind of alien creature.
The long silence was broken by Oak coughing into his fist. "Well, Red is currently undertaking the Gym Challenge." He answered with a smile. "You won't be likely to encounter him while you're staying here. I'll be sure to warn you if he says he's coming back."
I had a sudden burst of realisation. "Ah! That's why Chee's mad at me!"
I turned to beam a smile at Chee, but she continued to hide her face in her hands. I walked over to her and softly spoke to her. "Don't worry, I promise I'm not going on the Gym Challenge to find Red, okay?"
She slowly pulled her face out from behind her hands, her eyes looking scared and cautious like a baby Pichu cornered by an Ursaring. ...You promise? It's just a coincidence?
I nodded gently. "I promise, I didn't even know he was doing the challenge. I just want to get better at battling."
Chee's eyes clouded over for a moment, as she was clearly lost in deep thought. A moment later she nodded, and looked back into my eyes. Battle Maniac.
"I suppose I am." I chuckled in response. Her tone was harsh, but her eyes were still soft. She didn't mean anything by the expression this time. "But I'm your friend too."
Chee nodded, her eyes gleaming. And you'll be here more often now! We can play all the time!
"That's right-Although I will need to train some of the time."
We can train while we play! She grabbed my wrist and started pulling me towards the battlefield. Come on! Let's go!
"Ah, I think Oak and I still have to-" I began, but the older man waved me off.
"It's fine lad, go play with her for a bit, we can talk about the rest of your conditions after."
I nodded at Oak, and Chee dragged me into the depths of the Lab once again. But I couldn't shake the feeling that enduring whatever training Oak might have prepared for me would be easier than actually keeping up with Chee.