"Horseas' ink, or the ink from just any of their evolutionary lines, has this really special layer of oil that you can use to coat your body with," Zades very helpfully taught me something that I would never have known until I asked him for hair care tips the very next day.
According to Zades, the ink that the horsea line secretes does more than serve as an escape mechanism for their species to buy time to run away from their predators. When collected in a container and left to settle on its own for an extended period of time, the unique oil in their ink will naturally separate itself from the ink sediment due to its hydrophobic nature. From there, it is simply decanting the oil out into a separate container for your own use.
Interestingly enough, this oil nourishes and protects the skin and hair really well from the salt in seawater, much better than any known products out there on the market. Zades told me that he would usually coat his entire body in a thin layer of said oil before rubbing sunscreen over it before he goes out to sea. This is also a folk remedy that fishermen and sailors would use from what he explained, an ingredient that's relatively easy to procure since horseas are not an uncommon species that inhabits Hoenn's waters and their ink can be easily bought if you know where to purchase them. Thanks to the information that Zades so readily provided when asked, lessons on the sea are now much more bearable for me and several of my pokemon.
I'm still making very slow progress in regards to my ability, but Zades did praise me (in a way) for making progress in naval battles, both on the surface and in underwater. I'm still unable to defeat any of his pokemon but we were starting to last longer and longer in our training as he assisted me in figuring out the best method for me to conduct naval battles given my team's composition.
Assisting my pokemon to master their selected preferred moves was also progressing well, albeit a little slow, but this was not a process that can be rushed. Bigblue and Chill benefitted massively since Zades is a Water Specialist although it still irks me a little how he took one bored look at Bigblue's Rain Pulse combo that I proudly showed him before blandly stating, quoting him word for word, that it's "all show and no substance". His comment was that Rain Pulse is something he would expect from a coordinator, not a trainer. Rain Pulse was a Rain Dance and Water Pulse combo that Bigblue and I came up with together in the period of time right between after we completed our gym circuit and before we participated in the conference. Juan even assisted me by offering some advice.
Wonder what Juan would think if he knew that his youngest student stated that this is "all show and no substance" but to be fair, Juan wasn't very convinced at the feasibility of my idea from the beginning, only offering a few tips in the end when I asked him very nicely. Maybe he was simply too nice to tell me the harsh truth and decided to simply go along and humour me.
Bigblue's control over Water Pulse is a lot more refined now under Zades' tutelage. We had also discarded the Rain Pulse combo entirely under Zades' advice. Chill's mastery over Surf also massively increased ever since she started learning under his water types, the area which her attacks are now able to cover and the power packed behind it was distinctively much greater as compared to before.
"We are heading to Dewford tomorrow?"
"The area where our lessons will be held is at Route 106, to be exact," Zades very "kindly" informed me and my team let out a collective groan at the realisation of what this will entail. It's been close to a month since our lessons started and while we still were unable to fish Zades out from whatever hiding spots he chose to hide that day, we finally managed to familiarise ourselves with the entire area of Route 124 and what possible hiding spots there are in the vicinity. This is a great boon to have in our search and we were so close to finally starting our lessons "on time" for once and now he's switching the location of our lessons?!
Zades is evil, plain and simple.
Zades sported a rare smirk on his face but it looked massively sadistic in our eyes. He knew what changing the location of our lessons meant for us.
"Why the long look? I was told by your father that you love to travel and I thought you would be bored from having our lessons at the same place day in and day out–"
"No, we are not," I quickly denied everything as my survival instinct came in full force, my pokemon shaking their heads as vehemently as I did. None of us were interested in starting the very first segment of our daily lessons from scratch again. Zades' method of training us to scout and search the sea was excruciatingly hard and he's one slippery guy to even catch a glimpse of the moment he's out at sea.
"Huh? Wasn't travelling the world your greatest dream? I'm sure you hadn't seen the full extent of Hoenn's sea, it's so beautifully vast and I can show you all the hidden treasures our sea has to offer–"
"We are fine as it is, really," I quickly assured him and even someone as prideful as Kratos had temporarily put his ego aside to try any means necessary to convince Zades to change his mind. That's how much trauma Zades' scouting lessons had inflicted on our fragile hearts.
"Look, there's no need to be so formal with me. It's really not much trouble for me switching our training spots every now and then." But doing so is a huge trouble for us! "By the time we finally finished our lessons you would know every single sea route in Hoenn at the back of your hand." While I'm sure that outcome would be nice I'm really not looking forward to experiencing the process.
"We are not going to change your mind, are we?" I sighed in defeat, my pokemon following my example as well. We are not looking forward to tomorrow.
"Nope," he chirped back. Chirped, Zades actually chirped.
"How about this?" Zades spoke and I looked up at him from where I was sitting on the sandy ground of another random piece of land jutting out along Route 124. "I'm sure you have never explored the seabed before. When you finally manage to locate me before the start of our lessons, I will give you an underwater tour around Hoenn for one entire day of your choosing. No training, just one full day of fun in the unexplored depths of Hoenn's sea and I will show you the greatest sights the sea has to offer. Not just you, but your entire team as well. Yes, including your rapidash and charizard, I have ways to allow them to join in and not die in the process. Deal?"
I'm sold. In fact, my entire team was immediately convinced by that very notion of being able to explore the underwater world of Hoenn's sea for one entire day because that is not something that we will be capable of doing.
"Deal," I said through gritted teeth despite dreading the unavoidable process of failing countless times over and over again in his search and scout training that might last for a few more months before we finally hit his passing mark.
"Once you are finally good enough in search operations at sea I can finally move you along to further refine your combat style and help you figure out a few escape techniques that's uniquely yours. I think you need something that is not Shadow Sneak or Teleport. Don't get me wrong, those are great, especially Shadow Sneak, but it's always good to have alternatives."
"Agreed," I nodded, suddenly recalling my encounter with that monstrous volcarona at the Relic Castle with vivid clarity.
"From that look on your face, I assume you faced such a situation before?"
"Back in Unova we had a run-in with the craziest volcarona we ever met, a Champion level one that broke all laws of physics and common sense," I recounted and even my entire team collectively shuddered at the horrific memory. "I even had a Pillar level friend with me and our combined efforts barely allowed us to escape alive."
"Pillar level?" I had definitely caught Zades' interest with my description. Suddenly, I had this weird thought in my head that Jayce and Zades would get along swimmingly well with each other. They are both hellishly elusive with their respective expertise; Jayce with his zoroark and Zades with his pokemon's mastery over Bubble. They both actively avoid attention and prefer solitude too.
Maybe I should really introduce them both to each other someday. I would also love to witness a battle between them if it's possible. I'm sure lots of dirty tricks would be involved and that will be a feast to watch.
"He's a Dark Specialist. He's a lot like you actually. Quiet, sharp tongue, quick-witted and has a knack of riling up people without even trying," I sarcastically remarked and some of my pokemon burst out laughing at my words so I probably hit a few correct points. "Possess an entire warehouse of dirty tricks and has a sadistic hobby of making everyone's lives miserable."
"Sounds like someone worth befriending," Zades was obviously in a good mood since he played along, nodding with his arms crossed. Zades' style of battling does share several similarities to a typical Dark Specialist. His bubble techniques really are on the level where it should be illegal: invisibility, nullification of nearly all types of water techniques, extreme resistance to physical force, flight capabilities with speed that shockingly puts them on par with trained flying types… I don't even know if Vance could defeat him and let's not forget that he's an ability holder with a Hydrokinesis ability who had mastered Resonance.
He would really make a great successor to Juan if he ever desired the position of Sootopolis Gym Leader.
"Your bubble techniques reminded me of Volkner too. His electric types' mastery over Magnet Rise is unreal and they fly really fast. You really should have a racing competition with his electric types, see if your bubble techniques are better or if his Magnet Rise is superior."
"He's going to have me beat, hands down," Zades instantly admitted.
"Actually, why don't you want to be Sootopolis Gym Leader? You are clearly qualified enough to be a Pillar," I asked curiously. This is not my first time asking him this question. Wallace and Juan are slated to be retiring from their current positions soon but if nobody is good enough to replace Juan, either Wallace will have to take over Juan's duty or Juan might have to continue serving as Sootopolis Gym Leader until a suitable successor can be found. If Wallace is really going to take over Juan's duties, then the arrangement of having a Champion stepping down to be a Gym Leader is going to be the first in PWL's history and it's stirring up all sorts of discussion. I'm not too sure what Wallace would think about having to take orders from his former subordinate and successor, Steven, and I'm not sure just what kind of arrangements the league has hashed out if they choose to accept this outcome, but isn't the very nature of Wallace's previous title going to be awkward for them both?
"They did try to convince me to take Juan's position before," Zades revealed and I'm not at all surprised at his revelation. He is clearly qualified and the only reason why the public is not aware that they have another highly capable talent in their midst was because of Zades' extremely low profile nature and also because the league was purposely hiding his existence from the other regions until the succession problem came up. Like dad said, his ability has the strategic war potential to turn the tide of any battle quite literally when used right. From a militaristic standpoint, his very existence is a unique and highly invaluable one.
"Then…?"
"I refused," he replied. "I don't want to handle spoiled, entitled kids with a fragile heart who can't accept any kinds of setbacks on a daily basis. I don't have that kind of patience."
"I think you did very well for me," I gave him my honest praise but he simply shook his head.
"You are different. You have a much broader worldview thanks to your travels and you are much more mature than your peers. You might not have even celebrated your fifteenth birthday yet but you are not someone who I will see or treat as a child. At the very least, you are bearable, and I'm only five years your senior. We don't have that big of an age gap but can you imagine dealing with eleven years old? I don't know about you but I would probably commit homicide one day."
I burst out laughing trying to imagine what would occur if Zades were to deal with bratty eleven year olds who threw a tantrum upon losing their battles. Perhaps he has a point.
"So Wallace will end up taking Juan's position? There's no… better alternatives?"
"Not too sure, I wasn't involved in their discussion and I honestly have no interest," Zades replied. "Being a pokemon trainer is a highly lucrative job for trainers at my level and I made a few insanely profitable investments on the side during my time in ACE. I had already earned enough to comfortably set me up for life. Now, I'm content doing odd jobs for the league every now and then as an independent agent and spend my free time wandering the seas. I'm not an ambitious person."
"Have you ever thought about exploring the seas beyond Hoenn?"
"Of course I do, but the league would never let me do so, I'm too unique to be let loose from their sights. Believe it or not, my mission to retrieve you from Unova was my first time sailing out into foreign waters," Zades audibly scoffed the moment the league was mentioned. "I've always wanted to try surfing Alola's seas or riding Kalos' waves… Don't think I will ever have the chance though."
"I think we finally found something that we both have in common," I nodded. Zades apparently loves to travel as well, as can be seen from his frequent trip out at sea and his daydream of surfing the waters of a foreign region. It's just that his love for travel is solely reserved for the seas.
"I envy you, in a way. Even if you are stuck in Hoenn for the rest of your life at least you have travelled to other regions before. Venturing beyond Hoenn is a luxury that I will never have the moment I caught the league's attention."
"I see where you are coming from. I admit that travelling is fun but at the end of the day, home is the nicest and Hoenn is much safer than any of the other regions I had been to. Going out there really makes me appreciate the efforts the league puts into our homeland security," I verbalised my heartfelt thoughts because it is only in Hoenn that I felt safe enough to fully let my guard down because I know I wouldn't find myself wondering if I would get myself mugged if I wander out alone at night, if I would get home safely after a long day outside. Hoenn's homeland security is really top notch and the only other region that has it beat in this department by a very narrow margin is Sinnoh, thanks to Volkner's efforts during his tenure as Gym Leader.
"I will take your word on that."
The days continued to pass by peacefully like that. There are days where our lessons would end earlier or start later because I have to familiarise myself with the family's business from time to time per dad's plans for me. Sometimes our lessons for the day would be cancelled entirely because I'm not feeling too well due to my Insomnia ability and needed to rest. I still couldn't pass Zades' scouting practice but we were getting steadily better at it.
Good news is, I finally made a small baby step in learning how to control my ability. I could finally activate a small smidgen of the "energy" within me and shakily direct that tiny amount into Zades' body in his daily dipstick test. It's still not enough to get me to progress to the next step of his training but progress is progress and Zades was also satisfied with the rate at which I was progressing. I could still remember how giddy I was in joy for the entire day when I first realised I could control a small bit of the "energy" within me now.
Just like that, approximately two months passed since the start of our lessons. Zades sadistically shifted the location of our lessons to Route 109 just as my pokemon and I were about to fully familiarise ourselves with Route 106 so now I had to teleport to Slateport every weekday for my lessons. I'd like to think that we are now very good friends too despite our contractual tutor-student relationship. I don't have many people my age who I can refer to as my friends but Zades is definitely on my short little list.
"Hoenn's waters are commonly infested with the "Three Thugs of the Sea". If you are to frequent the waters you need to know how to effectively deal with them. These wild pokemon aren't much to write home about individually, but they are a real pain to deal with if they come at you in groups out in the wild."
Not all of our lessons consisted of training. Zades will occasionally bring me out on a leisurely trip after the mandatory scouting practice and teach me all sorts of interesting information that I would otherwise not be aware of. Some of it would be verbal, some of it were hands-on lessons where he would bring me to places where he knew I would be ambushed by territorial wild water type pokemon and have me experience for myself how to properly deal with such situations. It's actually quite an enriching experience.
The "Three Thugs of the Sea" are three infamous species of pokemon that infests Hoenn's waters and can be easily found at nearly every corner of Hoenn's seas. They are namely sharpedo, tentacruel, and crawdaunt. They are informally referred to as such by Hoennians because each of these species are ruffians and bullies of the highest level and they are the main threats to the ships cruising Hoenn's commonly used sea routes. Like Zades said, the average trainer would have no problems dealing with one or two of them on their own but it's a very different story if they assault your boat or ship in groups and unfortunately, these thugs love to assault ships in huge groups. I could still remember very vividly how we were on the receiving end of such an attack during our voyage back home from Unova.
"What about gyarados? I think they are much more dangerous."
"You are right. If these three are thugs, then gyarados would be the mafia boss," Zades agreed with my statement as we took a leisurely surf around the waters surrounding Slateport on our pokemon's backs. "The difference is that gyarados are more commonly found in the deeper parts of the sea where our ships are not capable of disturbing them and similarly, gyarados have no reasons to actively seek us out because the deeper parts of the sea are where its main food source can be found. You have to keep in mind that these are wild pokemon we are talking about here and it's very difficult for a magikarp to achieve evolution on its own in the wild. As such, encountering wild gyarados in Hoenn is actually much harder than you think it might be. To encounter an entire pack of them is even rarer."
"But the trio frequent the shallower parts of the sea closer to the surface and it's much easier for them to achieve evolution as compared to magikarps, so this is why they are a bigger problem instead of the more powerful gyarados?" I deduced and Zades affirmed my suspicions with a nod of his head.
"You saw for yourself how my tentacruel enjoys pulling your lapras down underwater in our practices. Imagine an entire tentacruel colony doing that to a boat. If their numbers are huge enough, they could even try pulling a ship down with them," Zades pointed out and I winced at the mere thought of it. Zades' tentacruel is a pain in the neck to battle against in a naval battle for just that one thing alone and I'm not even getting started on its ridiculously overpowered defensive prowess that puts even Lily's to shame. I really have no idea how Zades trained such a commonly seen species to attain such a level of power.
"A wild tentacruel's greatest weapon is their numerous tentacles, their venom, and their habit to temporarily immobilise their prey using Supersonic. However, wild tentacruels are also big cowards because while they are aggressive they also have many predators out there in the wild that hunt them for an afternoon snack. You are clearly skilled enough so what you can do when you meet an aggressive colony is to swiftly take out their leader and the rest will quickly disperse. If you are somehow caught by their tentacles there's no reason to panic either, wild tentacruels are not that skilled with their venom and it takes an average of two seconds to actually inject their poison and another five seconds for their poison to start numbing an average adult. You can do a lot in seven seconds to save yourself. Just beware when you see their orbs flashing because that's a precursor of them about to unleash a Supersonic. A trained tentacruel wouldn't make this rookie mistake of broadcasting their intentions but wild tentacruels are usually not that smart."
Zades then patted the back of the sharpedo that he's riding on.
"Wild sharpedos are much more brutal but at the same time, highly predictable once you understand their behaviours," Zades continued. "Wild sharpedos will definitely aim to rip through the hull of the ship if it attacks one. Their fangs are sharp enough and their jaw strength is powerful enough to easily do so but once you know what it's going to do it's really easy to take advantage of it to launch a counterattack. Additionally, the inherent weakness of their species lies in their stamina. While they have the capability to produce incredible bursts of speed at a moment's notice that's really all there is to it when it comes to their speed. Their greatest drawback lies in their inability to swim long distances at their max speed. So, if you are ever chased by a pack of wild sharpedos and your water type has enough speed and stamina, just run. Keep running and you will find that they will tire themselves out much faster than your pokemon will do. Their chase rarely extends over three minutes."
"And crawdaunt?"
"The most violent species out of the three. In my opinion they are the most dangerous threats for the average trainer," Zades remarked. "They love to battle because their shells are sturdy enough to protect them from most threats and their pincers strong enough to crush most defences. They are extremely territorial and no pokemon loves to make their homes in their territory but that is precisely what you can use to protect yourself. If you spot no water types in a water body and you know that there are sightings of crawdaunts in this area, just leave immediately. Chances are, you had just entered a crawdaunt's territory."
"And if you have the unfortunate luck to run into them?"
"Then only aim for two things: their eyes and their shoulder joints, those are its only weak spots," Zades pointed to his own eyes and shoulder to illustrate his point. "Don't bother aiming your attacks anywhere else because their shells are really tough, especially so if they have the Shell Armour ability. Their shoulder joints, however, are a weak link you can exploit. You don't see it often but wild crawdaunts often break their pincers when the fight gets tough for them so there's no need to feel bad for dismembering them, they will eventually grow it back anyway. They turn cowardly the moment you break off their pincers and will definitely flee like their lives depend on it. They will then hide and never come back out until their pincers grow back. That's a wild crawdaunt for you."
"So they have a strong tendency to bully the weak but fear the strong?"
"Precisely why they are ruffians. Have you ever read their entries in your pokedex? They are labelled as "Rogue Pokemon" for a reason. Bear in mind though, whatever I said about those three thugs is only applicable to wild pokemon, decently trained pokemon will never act in such a manner because the trainer would have trained these bad habits out of them. Even if you successfully tore off a pincer of a trainer's crawdaunt do not expect it to back down. Instead, you would have successfully angered it to the point it would make your battle harder. When it comes to that your only viable option would be to tear off its other pincer and render its greatest weapon useless."
"Curious question. Can a crawdaunt's pincers, uhm, be eaten?"
"Eaten? Sure, they are definitely edible but the meat in their claws absolutely stinks. You wouldn't want to go anywhere near it. A fallen claw from a crabrawler or clauncher though, those are delicacies, but please note that actively hunting or raising them for this purpose is illegal. If you ever happen to chance upon a freshly fallen claw from any of those though, that's permissible, so feel free to try it out. I tried my clawitzer's claw before when its claw fell out during training when it was still a clauncher, it's pretty good."
"And your clawitzer just, I don't know, watch you eat its claw?"
"He even tried a bite himself and agreed that he tasted nice. Isn't that right, clawitzer?"
Zades' clawitzer grunted in affirmation and I really have no idea what to think about that.
"I know that its claw naturally falls off and it regrows back over time but… but doesn't eating a part of your pokemon, like, feels weird to you?" I cannot help but question because I personally cannot imagine eating something that used to be a part of my pokemon's body, even if they could naturally regrow back without trouble or leave any lasting side effects.
"I think this is really a matter of perspective. I mean, while hunting pokemon as a food source is illegal and I also fully support that notion, for certain pokemon shedding their body parts is really as harmless as us cutting our fingernails or shedding our hair. Have you ever seen a tropius? Tried some of those sweet bananas grown on its neck? How is eating one of those any different from trying out my clawitzer's claw that naturally fell off during training? The berry juices that shuckles naturally ferment in their shells; those are sold at high prices too and they are completely legal. There's no difference to me."
I opened my mouth to formulate a counterargument, only to find nothing. He may be a little out of line here but frankly, he made a valid point. Dad had actually made me try one of the bananas grown on his tropius' neck when I was young and it was delicious, only that I didn't know I was eating a banana that was grown on tropius' neck until after I had consumed it. I simply assumed it was a normal banana. I felt very queasy for the entire day after learning the truth and it was from then onwards that dad never offered any of those to me ever again after he learnt that I was extremely uncomfortable with that idea.
I still see him snacking on some of those bananas from time to time though.
"Kingdra's ink can actually be eaten too. It's just that there's a need to process it to remove any possible toxins in it to be on the safe side. I mix it with my pasta and while it gives it a weird black colour, it's surprisingly tasty. I call it the kingdra ink pasta."
"Do you just eat the body parts of your pokemon as long as they can be harvested?!" I cannot help but exclaim, still resistant to the idea of consuming anything that once used to be a part of a pokemon's body even if no lasting harm was done to it and they consented to it.
"Not a fan of this, huh?" Zades remarked. "I mean, sure, I respect your choice, but if even my pokemon don't see a problem with this I don't see why I shouldn't try it out at least once."
"Sorry, I overreacted," I apologised after taking a deep breath to calm myself down. He's right. If it is not against the law and if even his pokemon is okay with this then I have no right to comment otherwise as an outsider.
"Oh it's fine," Zades flippantly waved it off, indicating that he's not offended by my earlier outburst.
"So are there any other body parts of your other pokemon that can be eaten that you want to share with me?" I joked and then froze when I saw that look in his eyes.
No way.
"If you really want to know, the dorsal fins of sharpedos can be eaten and people used to hunt them as a high end luxury food source until it was outlawed about a hundred years ago. Tentacruel's tentacles… technically speaking, can be eaten even if it's kind of a far stretch. Their tentacles naturally fall off as they age and they have a very chewy texture, but it's too much work to remove the venoms in them."
"You are unbelievable. That's like, half of your team that you just laid out on your dining table."
"You were the one who started it by asking me if a crawdaunt's pincer can be eaten."
I kept my mouth shut and made the wise decision to drop this topic altogether.
He wins this round.
Character and pokemon list:
Velda Vera, Age: 14, Female, Pokemon Trainer
Pokemon on hand:
1) Rapidash (Flamel), male
2) Swampert (Bigblue), male
3) Banette (Dolly), female
4) Flygon (Snap), male
5) Absol (Kelsa), female
6) Charizard (Toothless), male
7) Cradily (Lily), female
8) Espeon (Rena), female
9) Pachirisu (Fuzzy), male
10) Tyranitar (Kratos), male
11) Clefairy (Joy), female
12) Nidoqueen (Ness), female
13) Pangoro (Hulk), male
14) Porygon-Z (Jarvis), genderless
15) Scizor (Archer), male
16) Lapras (Chill), female
17) Gengar (Wacky), male