Lucius whipped out his Pokedex to look at Floette's data.
'Floette, the Single Bloom Pokemon. A Floette is usually seen near flowers and gardens, during a battle, it can draw out the power of these flowers. The larger the blossom, the greater the power of the Floette. The flower they hold repersent the the type of flower they draw the most power from. This Pokemon is extremely popular among gardeners and farmers alike.'
Height- 0.3m (0′11″)
Weight- 0.9 kg (2.0lbs)
Gender- Female
Ability- Flower Veil
Lucius now had an obligatory Fairy type with him, well they weretechnicallynot obligatory but without a Fairy type Pokemon, it was nearly impossible to stop Dragon types without one's own or an exceptionally strong Ice type, and both of these options could be beaten through a mix of careful strategy and raw firepower.
Florges were known to be renowned dragon slayers, they were also the only Pokemon capable of stopping a newly evolved Hydreigon's rampage, which made them revered as deities in Unovan villages.
But for now, Floette was only really good in certain terrains. Atleast until Lucius got his hands on a high-quality Shiny Stone. This was also the reason why people avoided catching Flabebe and Floette, because for all their power when evolved, they were rather weak at their former stages and Shiny Stones were exorbitant. However, in a field consisting of flowers, Floette could absolutely wreck opposition as they gained power from the blossom. Floette was also pretty strong at the stage Lucius was at.
I guess it's time to get to get going to Route 3 now, the humidity here is killing me.
Lucius pulled out a holomap on his Pokedex.
Only two kilometers away from the exit
It took him 10 minutes of moderate jogging to reach Route 3. Lucius was sweating like a Machamp after an intense workout session.
It was now 3:00 PM and he was hungry enough that he could eat a Rapidash. Lucius also decided it would be a good time to introduce Floette and Kubfu to each other.
He sat down near a clearing before taking out some packaged food from his backpack, it was definitely not what you could call good, but it did provide all the nutrients needed for a human. Lucius quickly finished his meal before releasing Kubfu and Floette.
So... uhhhh...Lucius realised this was gonna be a bit more awkward than he first thought it would be.Well here goes nothing I guess.
"Kubfu, meet Floette! She is gonna be joining our team, why don't you introduce yourselves to each other?"
Lucius was half expecting Kubfu to be uninterested in a Pokemon which looked so tiny and unassuming but the two were able to bond pretty quickly. Floette was apprehensive at first but after some encouragement from her trainer, she eased up to Kubfu. This incited relief in Lucius' mind as a bond between teammates was a crucial aspect of becoming an expert trainer.
It was getting dark outside now, Kalos' curfew laws mandated that a trainer with less than three gym badges must never stay in Forests after 5:00 PM and Routes after 7:00 PM. Anyone breaking this law would be warned by patrolling rangers and could be get their trainer registration deemed null and banned from becoming a trainer ever again if they were issued too many warnings. Only trainers with eight gym badges could actually stay overnight.
These rules were seen as rather austere by many trainers but it was definitely a rule that had likely contributed in saving many lives of many vacuous trainers. What you couldn't see was something that could very easily sneak up on and kill or injure you.
After all, what you couldn't see was something you couldn't fend off in a direct fight.
There wasn't much of note to do in Route 3 anyway, so Lucius decided to head over to Santalune City.
Santalune City was a stone-walled city featuring brick pathways interwoven between modern, yet cozy looking houses which instilled a homely feeling within. Most buildings and gardens were decorated by flowers, lots of flowers. Santalunians were known for being fanatical flower enthusiasts.
A gym battle with Viola wasn't yet on the cards for him since he only had two Pokémon. All gym leaders used 6 Pokémon even for the first gym.
A fee of 10,000 pokedollars was also compulsory in order to even challenge a gym leader. This was mainly to avoid little kids just barging in with their Rattatas or Skwovets. It was simply a waste of time for the gym leader and the trainer, who was just gonna get steamrolled.
This was also a rule not appreciated by the masses, who considered it gatekeeping and unfair. But this was a rule that was certainly required in order to keep the gym leaders sane. They'd have to fight upwards of a 100 trainers, out of which only about 5 were truly serious on a daily basis.
Fortunately for Lucius, due to his sponsorship with Sycamore, he wouldn't have to worry about getting the funds for gym battles. They would be provided by his mentor and sponsor.
Now, for a first gym battle, six Pokémon seemed like a lot. But in reality, most of those six were gonna be pretty weak Pokémon. In Viola's case, she would always use two first-stage, two-second stage and two fully evolved bug types against her opponents. Lucius would probably be able to brute force all of her weaker mons with Kubfu , Floette was likely going to be able to beat one of her fully evolved bugs, provided it wasn't a Beedrill or something which could easily close the distance and hit it with a strong physical move. Provided, Floette still needed to be trained a bit.
He would only need one decently strong Pokémon which covered Floette's weaknesses to deal with that last mon.
Lucius decided to think about all of this later, and first head to a Pokémon center where he could rest for the night. While healing your Pokémon was always free, you needed to be an official trainer to actually use their rooms, in larger cities, it usually costed a small amount but in Santalune, they were free of charge.
Let me call my parents first, they'd probably think I'm dead or kidnapped if I don't.
He used his Pokédex's calling feature and called his mother who picked up instantly.
"Hey mom, it's Lucius."
"Hi honey! Hope you are doing fine!"
"Yeah I'm pretty fine, caught a Floette and trained my Kubfu today, I'm at Santalune City right now."
"That's nice, are you gonna challenge Viola?"
"Yeah, I'll probably need to train Floette and catch another Pokémon first though. Is dad there?"
"Oh he isn't at home right now, he'll probably be back in a bit, I'll make sure that he calls you when he comes back."
Lucius had a nice little chat with his mother for a while before going to rest for the day.
The room assigned wasn't exactly comfy but it would do, Lucius woke up the next day moderately rested and with a slight backache.
I should probably register for the gym today.
He called up Professor Sycamore who paid the fee to register shortly after and told him to visit the gym for the date of the battle.
Lucius had some breakfast before heading to the Bug gym nearby, the first room was a gallery showcasing Viola's photographs. She was a avid photographer who enjoyed taking pictures of Pokémon and natural beauty.
There were a few other trainers applying for battles there, after waiting for around five minutes, it was Lucius' turn.
The associate was a young blonde with the standard attire for one at that position.
"Hello there, to register for a gym battle, you'll need to fill out some of these details," she said in a monotone while sliding a paper towards him.
"Uh, I've already gotten registered online," Lucius showed proof of registration on his Pokédex, "I just want confirmation on the date of the battle."
"Alrighty... your battle is tomorrow at 11:00 PM. Do remember that missing this battle will mean that the fee paid will not be refunded and that you will have to register again. Same thing applies if you lose."
Lucius thanked the cashier before exiting the gym.
He knew that he ought to train his team up and get another team member that day in preparation for his gym battle.
He had three options, either head south to Route 3, head north to Route 4 or head east to Route 22.
Route 3 doesn't have anything interesting to catch, plus I've already been there so I won't bother. North to Route 4 is more of a road, not many Pokémon or trainers there. Route 22 seems like the best option since there are many trainers and there are quite a few Pokémon that I can catch.
With that decision made, Lucius decided to head on over to Route 22.
I'll train Floette first, Kubfu is plenty strong already.
Lucius released Floette in order to see what moves she knew.
"Floette, can you use... an attack on that boulder over there?"
"Flo!"
Floette started stirring up some pink wind and strikes the boulder with it, not doing much damage.
"Good job! That's a very strong Fairy Wind. Now, can you try using a Grass Knot?" Lucius said before showing a demonstration of a Grass Knot on his Pokédex to Floette.
There are a lot of flowers here, so technically her Grass moves should be pretty strong here.
Floette, taking power from the surroundings, tried unleashing a Grass Knot. However, it looked like nothing happened.
I guess you aren't strong enough to use it yet-
Suddenly the boulder started cracked open.
What the fuck, how did she do that?!
"Wow! Look at that Floette, you're so strong!" Lucius said while trying to hide his awe.
Oh I understood what happened, Floette used the tree roots breaking through the boulder from underneath to her advantage, then she used Grass Knot in the middle, cracking it open. Still don't know how such a small Pokémon did that but atleast I know what happened.
Floette happily floated towards Lucius' shoulder and rubbed against his cheek, jovial at the praise.
"Alright, Floette, one last move, can you use... Wish?" Lucius once again showed a demonstration of the move in his Pokédex.
Floette nodded happily before sending a ball of brilliant, shining white light towards the sky, which came back towards her after a short while.
"Amazing job Floette! Here, have some treats."
He pulled out a pokepuff from his bag before giving it to Floette who devoured it.
I still have to catch another Pokémon here, it's wise to look for one now.
"Alright Floette, take a rest now," Lucius said before recalling her and releasing Kubfu.
"Kubfu, we're looking for another team member, just look around and tell me if anything in particular catches your eye."
Kubfu gave an entusiastic nod.
After a couple of hours of searching and battling trainers, there was still nothing noteworthy to catch there. He had been searching on his own since Kubfu was just attacking the native bird population of the area instead of searching for a teammate.
Ugh, this is frustrating, I've only seen Bidoof and Pidgeys here... I heard Riolus could be found here but I haven't seen a single one yet.
Riolus were extremely coveted Pokémon by most trainers since they were loyal, easy to train, smart and absolute powerhouses when they evolved.
Suddenly, Lucius felt a slight nudge on his calf, upon turning back, he saw that it was a Slowpoke.
Huh, Slowpoke aren't known for their amiability towards humans.
The Slowpoke motioned its paw toward its mouth, asking for some food.
"Huh, you want some some food little guy?"
Slowpoke nodded and Lucius plucked out some berries off of a shrub before feeding them to Slowpoke.
"...thank...you...hu...man..."
Huh? Did Slowpoke just communicate with me?
"...yess...I...did..."
You can read my mind too, huh? Well, you are welcome.
"...human...take...me...with...you...you...give...food...I...be...your...slave...servant..."
Uhhhhhh... okay I guess? I am a trainer, so you might have to fight sometimes.
"...me...bit...stupid...but...me...know...how...to...fight...I...killl...allll...enemies..."
You don't have to killl anyone , just knock 'em out.Lucius pulled out a pokeball from his backpack and placed it in front of Slowpoke.Just tap the centre button of the pokeball and you will be caught.
Slowpoke used his paw to bop the pokeball's centre and was engulfed in a red light sucking him in.
Lucius looked around to find multiple people staring at him. Turns out looking at a Slowpoke without talking out loud makes you look like an absolute weirdo.
He quickly picked up the pokeball and rushed off while acting like he didn't just do something strange. He looked at Slowpoke's data in his Pokédex.
'Slowpoke, the Dopey Pokémon. In earlier days, Slowpoke was thought to evolve into Slowbro upon getting bit by a Shellder on its tail. However, modern research shows no correlation between these two phenomenon. Its tail is a delicacy world wide, Slowpoke tails can be cut off without damaging Slowpoke and can be regrown. They are also known for their slow reaction and bad memory times which sometimes causes them to even forget damage dealt to them.'
Height- 1.4 m (4'5")
Weight- 32 kg (70 lbs)
Gender- Male
Ability- Regenerator (Rare)
Huh, it seems like the ability it has is said to be rare? I guess that's pretty lucky then. I should probably atleast know what moves this guy has.
Lucius released Slowpoke and asked him to show off some of his moves on a nearby stump.
"...okay...I... can...do...this..."
Slowpoke fired some water toward the tree at a moderate pace.
"...and...this..."
He charged towards the stump at a Shuckle's pace and hit it with a solid Headbutt.
Say, can you use any Psychic moves?
"...yes...but...only...on...living...creature...not...tree..."
I see then, can you combine some psychic power with your Headbutt?Lucius asked while showing him a demonstration of a Zen Headbutt on his Pokédex.
"...I...try..."
Slowpoke infused a Confusion into its Headbutt, creating a Zen Headbutt which seemed quite a bit stronger than the normal Headbutt it used earlier.
Good job Slowpoke! I'll give you a treat now.
Lucius pulled out another pokepuff from his dwindling stash and fed one to Slowpoke.
"...soo...delicious...treat...from...heaven..."
Glad you liked it buddy.
Lucius recalled Slowpoke and headed back to Santalune City. He had some standard lunch consisting of boiled rice, curry and an omelette at the Pokémon center.
There was still some time to kill for the day, so Lucius decided to do some research on Kubfu's evolution.
There wasn't too much information on this but from what he could find, Kubfu evolved into Urshifu. Depending on its striking style, it would either evolve into Single Strike Style Urshifu or Rapid Strike Style Urshifu. This also affected its typing with the former being Fighting/Dark type and the latter being Fighting/Water type.
Right now, Kubfu wasn't exactly showing signs of either style in particular. A mixture of both but not leaning towards a single one.
Well, that's certainly interesting, I should probably ask about this to Professor Sycamore later on. Right now, I should probably prepare for my battle with Viola.
After a few hours of research and watching her battles for the first gym, Lucius got a rough idea of what to expect. Her field consisting of flowers meant that Floette was actually going to be pretty strong especially since she could recover off any damage dealt with Wish. She did use a variety of Pokémon to counter any weakness that the trainer might exploit. Dwebble for Flying and Fire types, Surskit for Fire types and Rock types were some of the few examples.
Kubfu was the only one on his team who had a super effective move versus Bug types with his Aerial Ace. Slowpoke was weak to Bug and could probably only help a little against Viola.
After a few hours of planning and strategising, he finally went to sleep.
He woke up early that day at 5:00 AM and went for a morning walk to clear his mind since he was pretty anxious about his up coming gym battle.
The cold and pleasant morning breeze brushed against his skin and calmed his nerves down.
Lucius spent a few hours just sitting on a park bench reminiscing about his childhood and how he much he obsessed over becoming a Pokémon trainer when he was younger.
After a few hours of chilling around, Lucius headed back to the Pokecenter where he had his breakfast and did some last minute prep before heading over to the Bug gym.
He showed the associate his registration and was given the green light to go and battle Viola.
He entered the battle room which was just a forest-type artificial environment. There were a few Psychic types around creating barriers in order to ensure the safety of the trainers.
He saw the young woman with short, sandy blonde hair tied loosely into a barrette the back and untied strands in the front resembling antennae, dark green eyes that shone like emeralds and an informal attire consisting of a white tank top and green cargo pants and a camera tied to her neck. He knew that it was Viola standing in front in him.
"Hello there! My name's Viola and I'm the Bug type gym leader of Kalos, this may be your first gym battle, but that doesn't mean I'll be going too easy on ya. Bring me all you've got!" Viola said before releasing a Surskit.
Lucius sent out his Floette.
"Both trainers may use up to six Pokémon! Three switches are allowed for both parties!" The referee announced before telling us to begin.
"Floette, use Fairy Wind!" Lucius shouted.
"Surskit, use Bubble," Viola replied calmly.
Floette quickly stirred up pink coloured wind filled with fairy dust and sent it towards Surskit.
Surskit tried to use Bubble but due to the strength of the wind, the bubbles weren't able to reach Floette. The lightweight Pokémon was barely able to oppose the winds trajectory while Floette simply floated in the wind using her flower.
"Surskit, use Quick Attack on Floette and reposition yourself."
"Floette! Trip it up with a Grass Knot!"
The Surskit tried to outmanoeuvre but was tripped, falling face first towards the ground. Quick Attack's speed ended up working against it. Surskit hit its head on the floor and got knocked out.
"Impressive, your strategy seems good for a beginner," Viola said while clapping. "But that was only the beginning."
Viola sent out Whirlipede, a part Poison type in order to deal with Floette.
"I will switch now."
Lucius recalled Floette and sent out Slowpoke, while Whirlipede could deal good damage versus Slowpoke with its Bug moves, a few Confusions or a well placed Zen Headbutt would be enough to to dispatch it.
"Whirlipede, use Bug Bite."
"Slowpoke! Use Confusion!"
Whirlipede rushed towards the Water type but was put to a grinding halt due to Slowpoke's Confusion.
"Snap out of it! Whirlipede!"
The Poison type was able to escape the clutches of Slowpoke's Confusion and rushed towards it, using Bug Bite on its shoulder leaving a large mark.
"Slowpoke use Zen Headbutt! Finish it off!"
"Use another Bug Bite."
Whirlipede was able to launch another Bug Bite before a Zen Headbutt from Slowpoke was able to finish it off.
"Kricketune, it's weak, finish it off with Bullet Seed."
Kricketune was sent out who swiftly knocked the Psychic type out with a Bullet Seed.
Lucius sent out Kubfu and Viola responded by switching to Vivillon.
Well, Kubfu does have experience fighting Vivillon.
"Kubfu, avoid its attacks and use an Aerial Ace on its wings."
"Vivillon, fly higher and use Gust."
Viola seemed to be underestimating Kubfu's jumping ability since it was able to leap onto Vivillon and use Aerial Ace midair to cut a wing open before being blasted by gust.
"Quick, get up and use Aerial Ace on the other wing while it's still weakened."
Kubfu sprang up once more, using Aerial Ace to tear the other wing, dropping Vivillon to the ground.
Vivillon was recalled and out came Anorith.
Lucius responded by switching into Floette.
"Anorith, use Rock Blast!"
"Floette, harness power from the flowers, use Vine Whip to destroy the rocks and follow up with Fairy Wind."
Anorith launched a few rocks towards Floette who effortlessly smashed them using Vine Whip before sending a Fairy Wind towards Anorith, slowly chipping at its armour.
Viola commanded Anorith to use Metal Claw on Floette, to which Lucius responded with Grass Knot.
However, Anorith managed to dodge Grass Knot before hitting Floette with a strong Metal Claw sending it flying.
This prompted him to withdraw Floette and send out his Kubfu, using his last switch. He really wasn't expecting Anorith to pull out a Metal Claw.
"Kubfu, use Rock Smash on its head!"
"Anorith, use another Metal Claw."
The two creatures charged at each other, Anorith unleashed Metal Claw which was expertly dodged by Kubfu, before hitting the Fossil's weak skull with a Rock Smash which managed to knock it out.
"Things are getting serious, eh? I like it!" The emerald eyed woman said before adjusting her hair and sending out Swadloon.
"Swadloon, use Leech Seed, Protect when it uses Aerial Ace."
"Kubfu! Use Rock Smash through Protect and Aerial Ace, try your hardest to dodge Leech Seed."
Swadloon was able to hit Kubfu with Leech Seed despite the Fighting type trying its hardest to dodge. Its Protect was able to take Kubfu's Rock Smash, however, the follow up Aerial Ace cut a part of its leafy armour.
Realising that Kubfu wouldn't be able to last much longer, Lucius decided on an all out attack to force a double down.
Kubfu and the Grass type went toe to toe, with each attack Kubfu launched either just grazing the Bug type or simply being Protected.
After a bit of back and forth, Kubfu managed to hit a strong Aerial Ace, managing to knock the Swadloon out.
The injuries sustained also caused Kubfu to collapse.
It was now a one on one, Floette versus Kricketune. However, Floette had seen quite a bit of action till that point unlike Kricketune who was completely fresh.
"Floette, use Wish!"
"Kricketune, quick! Use Bullet Seed!"
A sphere of light went upwards while Floette fended off the fast Seeds with Vine Whips.
"Floette, just dodge or use Vine Whip to block! Don't attack!
Floette did as told and stayed on the defensive against Kricketune's ramapge.
After around 30 seconds, Floette's Wish had finally been received healing up Floette.
Lucius ordered Floette to start a Fairy Wind and use Grass Knot on the Kricketune.
Floette sent a Fairy Wind towards Kricketune and tripped it up with a Grass Knot.
"Kricketune, use Pounce!"
"Floette, use Grass Knot again."
Kricketune's own momentum was used against it just like it had been versus Surskit, causing it to trip and fall down.
"Now! Finish it off with Vine Whip!"
Floette used a super charged Vine Whip, which ended up knocking out Kricketune.
"Kricketune is unable to battle! The winner of this battle is Lucius!"