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-SpiritOfErebus
"Ah, yes. Dewford." I exclaimed, taking in the town around me.
It wasn't honestly that grand. Despite the brightly colored signs, those were only formerly brightly colored. The sun had probably bleached the color out of the plastic and painted pieces of metal that advertised either fishing shops, restaurants, or gift shops.
Fishermen lined the coast, casting a line into the sea, and a dock lined with old, rusty boats sprawled out in a particularly favorable stretch of coastline was behind us.
Looking at this scene, why a gym was in Dewford in the first place was a mystery.
"What's got you so excited?" Holly said. "This place looks kind of like a shantytown."
"Well, yes." I conceded. "However, there are advantages to live in places with plentiful natural resources and a profound lack of opportunities. That combination makes this the place with the lowest prices in all of Hoenn."
"Those pokeballs look quite expensive, though." Holly said, pointing at one of the local blue-roofed pokemarts.
"Well, obviously," I said, "This place doesn't have the best supply chain. Manufactured goods are probably going to be expensive."
"But can't you focus on something else for once?" Holly said. "Like, the beaches, the nice weather, the food, and-"
"The gym!" I exclaimed, pointing at the largest building in town.
"Now you're getting it." Holly said, smiling. "Something other than prices."
"Well, that is my primary goal." I nodded. "Still, our first priority should be finding lodging."
As Holly pulled out her pokenav to survey the local landscape, I, instead, looked at the far reaches of town. Other than the somewhat idyllic beaches and forested innards, there was a hustle and bustle around one particular area, past the stretch of a beach. In particular, the amount of people that were heading to and fro the area was very, very high.
"What if we took a look over there?" I suggested. "A lot of people seem to be congregating around that area."
"Hmm… according to my pokenav, that's where the mining area is."
"Mining area?"
"Yep. Apparently, one of Dewford's main economic opportunities."
"...This is a mining town?"
"No. It's a tourist town." Holly said. "People can go nugget hunting there."
"Nuggets? Aren't those, like, pretty expensive?/"
"The average one is about five thousand." Holly said. "That, and the deeper parts of the Dewford Caves are actually areas where mining happens."
"Well, hopefully I won't have to resort to that to pay my rent." I only half-joked, looking at the limited number of tourists in bright yellow hats entering the cave for an experience that other people absolutely abhorred.
"Should I reserve a hotel?"
"Well, it is pretty warm here." I said, "And looking around us, I don't see a lot of wilderness regulation."
"Are you actually insane? Are you going to go live in the woods? With no air conditioner?"
"Well, there are perks to having an ice type pokemon." I said, patting my pokeballs. "Besides, it would save me a lot. What's not to like?"
"...Living in a tent, with no plumbing, electricity, and easy access to a fire to cook with." Holly listed.
"Well, I have a tent." I said. "It would be a waste not to use it."
"I'm getting a hotel." Holly said. "See you later, maybe at the gym?"
"Yep." I said, shouldering my bags and walking away.
Behind me, Holly looked at me walking towards the woods, before shaking her head and sighing.
…
I finally stood up after an hour of work. My tent and everything was finally set up, with my bags laying mostly empty on the dirt, save for my changes of clothes, reserves of soap, and utensils.
While I had set up the tent, I had released my pokemon to find an array of stones to create a decent fire pit.
Well, two of my pokemon went to actually perform the task. Glalie sped out almost immediately, seeming as if he was avoiding something, while the Ralts chased after the floating block of ice.
The Wurmple, however, merely flopped onto the grass and began to enjoy the sunlight. Judging by the scars and scratches on its chitinous shell, it seemed to actually be somewhat old. Therefore, I left him alone. It was probably better to just let him relax, given the fact that old bugs probably weren't the most keen on doing… anything.
At least the Ralts seemed energetic enough.
Initial observations of my team aside, I admired my camo green tent and firepit. With the comfortable wind blowing gently through the forest, I was genuinely content for once.
I had a rent-free place to live. The food in this city was cheap. And, most importantly, I didn't have to live in the woods for long.
After all, I was going against a fighting gym, and I had a psychic type on my team.
What could possibly go wrong?
…
"So, what moves do you know?" I asked the Ralts, who was, at the moment, sitting on a rock and staring at the grass. The air felt like it was getting colder and colder, as my optimism froze over as I realized that things… may not necessarily be as good as I thought.
"Ralts..." the pokemon said.
"I can't actually understand you." I said, scratching my head. "I really don't know that much about psychic types, but you're supposed to know the precursor move to psychic, right? Confusion?"
"Ralts."
"I might be the one hit by a confusion here. Maybe it's already working…?" I muttered. "What do you think, Glalie?"
"Glalie." the expressionless ice rock said.
"I don't understand you either." I sighed. "Okay, so, what can you do?"
The Ralts rushed to the firepit, chose one of the largest rocks, and then lifted it over his head.
"Very impressive." I said, watching the child-like figure of a pokemon lift a rock the size of about two bricks. "But how does this relate to fighting?"
The rock was thrown at a tree, scarring the bark slightly.
I stared at the rock for a few seconds. The rock did not stare back.
Well, this was sad.
As the pokemon in the clearing collectively stared at the rock, I began to think why I brought this upon myself.
Then again, the Ralts seemed… awfully young.
Was that it?
Across the multiple theories of pokemon development, one theory notably depended on the concept of experience.
By being able to defeat opponents and get in combat situations, a pokemon would be able to learn about how to use its own energies better. Perhaps, given the fact that the Ralts hadn't even unlocked their first psychic move, they were literally incapable because they had never learned in a combat situation?
Maybe that was it?
Then again, perhaps this was born out of literally never having performed any move before, given the Ralts's insistence of physical strength and utilizing rocks as projectile weapons, as opposed to psychic blasts.
But then again, the Ralts would never actually beat anything in a fight, thereby leading to the problem of getting it to understand moves in the first place.
"Now… what if there was a way that you could learn a move without actually winning anything combat related?"
My gaze looked at the caves, with the phrase "Government mandated flash HM provided" printed on a faraway sign.
"We'll get our opportunity soon enough."
…
"Welcome to Granite Cave, the most popular tourist location in all of Dewford! How may I help you today?" an attendant said.
"Hello.?" I replied. "I was considering visiting the caves, but I don't have the flash HM yet."
"Of course! Please show your granite caves ticket so that we can give you the complementary hidden machine!"
Damn it. I had to actually buy a ticket.
"...Can I buy one, right now?"
"Okay, sir! How many people and pokemon are in your party?"
"Do pokemon in pokeballs count?" I asked.
"Yes, they do. After all, within the mapped experience of the caves, there are space limitations. The price is fifty per person, one hundred per giant pokemon, thirty for average pokemon, and ten for small pokemon."
"And I have to buy a ticket for each of them?"
"Yes, sir. As a matter of fact, you will have to display all of your registered party "
"All my registered party?" I said, subtly shifting one of my pokeballs into my pocket.
"Yep. It says on the record that you have a… Glalie and a Wurmple?"
"Correct."
"That would be 160."
Sighing, I took out my pokenav and transferred the requisite amount. I had saved ten dollars through loopholes and deceit, but did I really save money?
"Hey, kid." one of the people near the back of the line whispered as I left the customer service booth. "My cousin came through here once, and told me that all you have to do is edit your party before you actually go buy the ticket."
"Really?"
"Yeah."
I looked at the sky for a moment, before looking at the three pokeballs on my belt. I remembered the smile of the customer service person. They had probably seen the fact that I had three pokeballs in my pocket, but they permitted it anyways. Just having Glalie in the list probably netted them a gigantic profit.
"I still have so much to learn…" I whispered.
The man in line patted me on the shoulder, before turning to his own pokenav and making sure that his pokemon party consisted of nothing but a ghost type, which happened to not actually occupy physical space, costing nothing.
…
"...And that's why I'm heading into the caves." I said to Holly, recounting my day to her while sipping a cup of water and munching on a misshapen potato I had boiled in the woods. Holly, a burger in hand, sighed.
"You don't really have to go, you know." she sighed. "And if you really wanted to, we could have just gone together. It would have been… kind of nice."
"Yeah."
"Y-yeah? You agree?"
"Why not?" I said. "After all, having two of us means that the chances of finding a nugget are increased."
"...This is the aspect you focus on?"
"It's five thousand." I said. "That amount renders equals all of my efforts in Rustboro!"
"...Fine, then. I'll go get a ticket."
"About that, I do have a quick trick with that."
After whispering my findings, Holly looked at me with nothing but disgust.
"Isn't that basically shoplifting?"
"No. It's more of a tragedy of the commons." I said sagely. "Us taking advantage of government property that we typically would finance via taxes in normal analogies."
There was a moment of silence, where Holly took out her phone and typed approximately four words into the search bar and I frantically consumed the boiling fragment of potato that I had just bit into.
"Tomorrow, then?" she said, after finally finishing her Slateport-Special Soda Pop (trademarked).
"The day after tomorrow. I have to try something first with Ralts."
…
The HM clicked once, and Ralts… didn't feel any different.
His trainer had given him a move, right? So, why hadn't anything happened?
"What do you guys feel when you learn a new move?" Ralts asked the fellow pokemon in the clearing.
"Nothing, really." Glalie said. "I was… kind of born with the knowledge of how to use powder snow. The other moves were just variations of powder snow, and using energy in different ways."
"It's all biological for me." the Wurmple said. "Of course technique had to be passed down from generation to generation, but the raw ability to do so was always there within us bug types."
"Well, that's not helpful." the Ralts grumbled, flexing his hands and trying to activate his secret powers.
"Okay, can you feel it now?" his trainer said. "I've never actually used one of these things, but it should theoretically have worked, right?"
Everybody in the forest clearing looked at Ralts expectantly.
Slowly, Ralts felt a little tingle in his hands. Was… was this it? Could this be it?
He extended his hands, closed his eyes, and felt the itch… slowly increase in intensity. Was this what using a move felt like?
Ralts took a deep breath… and finally took a peek at his fingertips. They seemed to be somewhat swollen.
"Oh, no." he cursed. "Poison ivy…"
As he fell to his knees and resisted the urge to scratch the affliction, his trainer knelt down and patted Ralts on the head.
"You know what? Maybe it's my fault." his trainer said. "Maybe I didn't use that thing right. Glalie can apparently use Flash, right? I'll try the same thing on him."
A quick maneuver later with some foreign technology later, and Glalie recoiled from the device, almost as if struck.
"Does it work?"
Everybody in the clearing was temporarily blinded.
"...I'll take that as a yes." Ralts's trainer groaned. "Well, Ralts should be able to learn flash too, so I don't know what's happened."
Kneeling on the grass, Ralts continued to resist scratching at the poison ivy, all the while feeling mighty miserable.
"I couldn't even learn an HM right… a move literally spoonfed to me."
…
After careful consideration, I decided to leave the Ralts outside of my lineup. Despite the fact that I would likely still be only facing two pokemon if I bought two unevolved pokemon in with my Glalie, my Ralts… couldn't really do much.
Besides, this was just about testing the waters.
By coincidence (or, because of the fact that Dewford was never a really populous town) Brawly was open to challengers… given the fact that I could actually defeat the trainers.
"A fighting type gym." I said, to nobody in particular. "Well, I'm still at a disadvantage here."
By the virtues of kung fu and pokemon fists being stronger than ice, fighting types had an advantage against ice types. Still, they were made of fleshy, susceptible… well… flesh, and that could actually freeze.
Therefore, there was a method for victory.
Oh, and Wurmple? Wurmple was just… there. He was an unevolved bug pokemon. That was honestly enough said.
The registration and camera system at Dewford was honestly a lot less showy and advanced compared to Rustboro. The waiting room didn't have a vending machine, and instead hosted a quaint little stand that pointed you to all of the seafood restaurants in town. Which made sense, given the fact that another major source of income was probably the restaurants for people that wanted to taste that fresh seafood.
Which was weird, given the fact that Dewford was just on an island besides Hoenn, which was a bigger island.
Shrugging, I took a couple of fliers that had coupons on them. Fish cooked in your backyard caught in your local pond was one thing, but actual proper seafood was something else. The costs of getting here certainly amounted to… well… something, so the opportunity cost of not eating the seafood just seemed too great.
Shoving them in my backpack, I continued onwards and… just walked into the room that hosted the gym trainers. Given the fact that I had an evolved pokemon, I was once again assigned to an advanced gym trainer.
Well, it was time to see if my hypothesis about ice working on fighting type pokemon moreso than rock types was true.
…
Glalie looked at a Medicham.
The Medicham stared back.
Across from me, a man with unruly hair and bulging muscles, wearing a karate outfit stared at me in the eyes.
"Make your first move, challenger! Prove to me that your skill is sufficient to challenge Brawly!" he roared.
His Medicham changed his pose, its arms alternating from high and low.
Besides me, Ralts and Wurmple looked at the pokemon. It seemed like Ralts was starstruck, while the Wurmple… seemed impassive.
Was the bug really that old? Did a battle on this scale not even surprise this first stage bug pokemon?
Well, it was time to act.
"Ice beam!" I shouted.
"Detect!" the trainer roared, at least twice as loud as me. I winced slightly as the sound reverberated around the room.
True to the move's function, Medicham was able to dodge out of the way of the blast of ice. Part of the dirt field became crested over in ice and icicles, hardening that specific area into permafrost.
"Ice beam!" I yelled again.
"Detect!"
The same thing happened again, only more of the room was now frosted over.
The two pokemon stared at each other more.
"Fine, then. Use hail." I said.
As Glalie began to gather up power for the weather move, the opposing trainer yelled out an attack move.
"Psychic!"
Telekinetically empowered dust swirled up into a vague purple blob and launched itself at Glalie.
For a moment, I considered dodging. It was just dust. It wasn't going to hurt, righ-
Glalie was nearly knocked into a wall. Despite everything, he still managed to start the hail. The ice-type weather move started to coat the room, making everything much harder to see.
"Glalie, you can still see them, right? Use Ice Beam!"
"Detect"
"...Damn it." I sighed.
It was honestly very annoying. The Medicham couldn't really find and hit Glalie, because detect was strictly a defensive move, but at the same time, apparently it was skilled enough with detect to actually use it many times in a row. Or maybe they're using a different move in between the detects, thereby reducing the mental strain.
At the same time, Glalie wasn't doing too good. Medicham was occasionally attacking with more psychics, and given the fact that he was severely hurt by the first one, he really didn't want to get hit by the second.
Slowly, Medicham was probably worn down by the cold temperatures, and slowly, Glalie recovered from the initial psychic attack via his ability to heal with the ice suspended in the air. And also, slowly, the hail effect began to wear off.
When the weather cleared, Medicham seemed to be shivering mildly, which for a fighting type pokemon that theoretically resisted ice types, was already showing enough.
The constant hail was having an effect.
"We can see them now!" the trainer roared, pointing one hand at Glalie. "High jump kick!"
The Medicham crouched and leapt impossibly high in the air. Watching it was like watching a Froakie catch a bug pokemon, with the long, muscled legs of the Medicham extending forth into a picture perfect leaping kick.
Glalie moved five feet to the left.
The Medicham hit a wall.
"Glalie, are you feeling okay?" I asked. Glalie nodded. The scratch marks from the psychic attack were nearly gone now.
And I was, for once in my life, confident for a gym battle.
I could do this.
I could beat Brawley.
For once, the notification of prize money entering my bank account wasn't the thing that I was most excited about. Because soon, I'd be out of Dewford.
…Right?
Looking at my strange team, I hoped that Brawly wouldn't pull any pokemon out of his pocket that were too bad of a matchup.
…
"Ice types, huh?" Brawly said, looking at the report that his gym trainer filed. "Well, I guess it's a good thing that Makuhita is on my elite team."
The sumo-wrestler like pokemon stood reassuringly, its bulky body and blubbery exterior proving that it was, indeed, ready for the winter.
…
Suffering builds character. Suffering builds character.
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-SpiritOfErebus