"Impressive…" Longwei mused as he and Luxio stepped through a large metal gate.
The contrast between the sprawling metropolis behind him and the expanse of nature ahead of him was stunning. Longwei could only compare it to the feeling of breaching through a layer of clouds and seeing a beautiful sect situated along a misty mountain, or stepping through a pocket dimension and seeing an entirely new world appear before you.
The expanse was comprised mostly of grasslands with the odd clump of trees that seemed like miniature forests. Small rivers snaked throughout the land, each leading to larger bodies of water. It was not all green and blues however—many sections were scorched and devoid of plant life. The harshness of these miniature badlands stuck out like a tiger in a pig pen, especially because of the mounds of earth that protruded upwards despite most of the land being relatively flat.
In the center of it all was an oval-shaped stadium, the Jubilife Gym itself. The structure was so massive that it looked like it could house the entire population of Jubilife City and then some in the event of an emergency. Above its main entrance was the gym's own logo, which was a stylized gradient yellow-blue sword and green-red arrow over a backdrop of purple-orange fire. Directly above the gym's logo was the simpler symbol of a red and white pokéball, which denoted that this was an official Pokémon League building.
The main pathway lead straight to the gym as one would expect, but there were smaller paths that split off from the main one and snaked throughout the park. A few smaller structures were spread throughout, each connected to one of the many paths. Many of these smaller structures were attached to either a fenced in enclosure that housed a number of pokémon or small orchards and crop fields that grew a variety of produce.
Many humans and pokémon alike were walking the paths, simply enjoying the evening. A number of other humans wore uniforms that matched the gym's logo, each of them busy attending to the facilities or the many pokémon residing within.
Some pokémon species throughout the park were more common than others; in fact, most of the pokémon belonged to one of three lines.
One was the otter-like oshawott line. Their youngest splashed energetically within the rivers and larger bodies of water without a care in the world. The adolescent dewotts, joined by some of the more mature oshawotts, practiced their melee forms in organized lines. All of them were being watched by the elder samurotts, who paid the closest attention upon the lines of practicing dewotts and oshawotts. Each line seemed to be practicing a different style depending on which variant of samurott was overseeing them: the lines being overseen by a bright-colored variant were orderly and fluid, while the ones overseen by a dark-colored variant was spontaneous and fierce. It reminded Longwei of the contrast between Righteous and Demonic sect styles.
Another was the owl-like rowlet line. Their members were mostly perched throughout the many branches of the minature forests, but a few deviants had taken to snoozing atop the various light poles dotted along the paths. Unlike the oshawott line who were in the midst of practice, their kind were mostly observing spars and demonstrations being performed by their elder decidueyes. Their styles revolved around the usage of arrows, but while the greener variant always took to the skies and focused on peppering its opponents from afar as most archers do, the redder variant preferred getting in close and mixed close-quarters-combat with its archery. Longwei could tell that such a style was only really viable due to its unique biology: the bow and arrow were essentially built into its arms, rather than being a cumbersome and fragile handheld object.
The last was the badger-like cyndaquil line, which resided mostly in the miniature badlands. Their line were much less organized than the other two. Some were lazing about in groups, snuggled into each other cozily. Others were running around energetically like playful dogs, and even the elder typhlosions joined in on their games. The last groups, which consisted mostly of quilava and typhlosion, were giving their all in attacks that targeted either the lifeless mounds of earth or other members of their line. The typhlosion variants that were matched against each other were especially fierce, and the explosive forces of their attacks occasionally echoed throughout the park. Large pillars of fire erupted from within the center of the badlands, their source obstructed by the mounds of earth, and Longwei suspected that that was where the fiercest of their fighting was being held. It was no wonder these areas were devoid of plant life if these were the creatures living within.
All in all, it was as lively as any sect could hope to be.
Longwei absentmindedly nodded in approval as he and Luxio walked down the wide path to the main structure. Midway to their destination, the greenery flanking the main path transitioned into a series of dirt fields marked with white paint. Many trainers young and old, although mostly young, could be seen practicing or sparring with each other's pokémon in these fields.
A metal sign next to a kiosk on the side of the main path caught Longwei's attention. He approached and read it in a hushed tone so that Luxio would hear. "Stop! Before you challenge the gym, make sure you've done your homework! This gym specializes in several different pokémon types, and the one you face will likely have an advantage against your own pokémon's typing! Ask yourself this: is your pokémon ready to fight an uphill battle? Use this kiosk to receive a generic summary of your pokémon and to see what pokémon the gym leaders will use against them! Prepare yourself well, trainer, for you will be facing the very species of pokémon once used by the Hero of Hisui herself!"
"Mrawr!" Luxio sat on her haunches and posed threateningly, electricity crackling between her extended claws. She was full of confidence.
Longwei arched his brows in an impressed manner at her eagerness. "Certainly, Mr. Farview did claim you were more than strong enough." He then eyed the dimly-glowing kiosk terminal. "However, he had also advised that we should prepare if we wished to receive the largest reward. So prepare we shall."
Luxio chuffed and laid on the grassy floor beside the path. She had been made very familiar with how boring it could be waiting for a human to finish clacking away at machines.
Longwei quickly familiarized himself with the kiosk's mechanical control scheme and began searching through the list of pokemon. He pulled open the page for luxio, and the information he sought appeared.
The page explained that luxio was an electric type pokémon, which Longwei knew already, but also included a small infographic that showed which types were strong or weak against it, which Longwei hadn't known. Many of a luxio's most common moves were also listed. Longwei briefly looked through each move, absorbing the information flawlessly.
He saw that Luxio's most likely opponent would be either a Grass/Flying type or a Fire type. He understood why the Fire type was there, since it was not weak to Electric, but did not understand why Grass/Flying was there. Flying was weak against Electric, was it not? But then he saw a smaller window that revealed the offensive type matchups for the Electric type, and his brows furrowed.
'What? But Electric is not susceptible to Grass, so how is an electric attack weak against the Grass type?'
This went against everything Longwei understood of Qi interactions. The relations between Qi elements were constant both ways, with very few exceptions.
Longwei opened a page that better explained the relations between all types for clarification. The first thing he saw was an 18-by-18 chart that was separated into offense/defense. It was full of inconsistent matchups that didn't align with the Qi elements he was familiar with at all.
A tired groan escaped his lips. Cramming was for juniors, not for elders like him.
He took the time to memorize only the information immediately relevant to Luxio, then stepped away from the kiosk. 'I will need to memorize this all later or it will be a source of much frustration, I am certain of that.'
"It seems we will be matched against a member of the rowlet or cyndaquil line." He said for Luxio's sake.
He scanned the many fields and approached one that was unoccupied and had no others close by. "Now, Luxio…" The two came to a stop near the center of the marked field. "Demonstrate to this senior the techniques you are capable of."
She tilted her head, then turned away and took several steps forward. On her 5th step she stopped and hunched forward aggressively, her body crackling with lightning. Before even a single heartbeat had passed, a jagged arc of electricity shot out of her and slammed into the ground with a sharp bang. The lightning left as quick as it came, and soon the only reminder of its existence was the fist-sized scorch mark in the ground.
Without a word from Longwei she began using another technique, resuming the same stance from before. This time, however, she let her body crackle with lightning for a while longer. The lightning arcing around her form grew in intensity, and after three breaths had passed she was practically glowing. Luxio then lurched forward, releasing a much larger and much fiercer bolt of lightning that shot outwards, the flash of resulting light making it difficult to see. A resounding crack echoed outwards as it struck the ground in an instant, drawing the eyes of several juniors who had been training or simply playing with their younger pokemon. The section of earth at the epicenter of the attack looked like a blackened piece of cracked desert, with lines of scorched earth that extended outwards like veins.
Luxio looked back and waited for a response. Longwei stroked his beard and nodded in approval. "Very good so far, disciple. Continue."
She paused for several breaths, wondering what to show off next.
A mischievous glint reached her eyes. Before Longwei could prepare himself she narrowed her eyes at him, her eyes flashing briefly. A wave of energy brushed against him, and Longwei instinctually recognized that his spiritual body had been rendered slightly vulnerable by the technique.
Luxio looked at him with a toothy smirk, no doubt thinking it was funny. 'I suppose it was, as I had never specified to not demonstrate her techniques on me. However, this is a bad habit to encourage in a disciple. One should never attack another unprovoked, even if the technique is mostly harmless. That path leads to death, either by accident or reprisal.'
He raised a brow but otherwise remained stoic, wordlessly scolding her with his look alone. Luxio's ears folded back and she shrunk in on herself, avoiding direct eye contact. Longwei let her stay like that for a short moment, then gestured for her to continue.
She proceeded through several more moves, albeit with a bit less gusto than before. She demonstrated an electrically-charged bite, an electrically-charged claw swipe, and a dark-empowered bite. She ran two laps around the marked field, once with her body coated in electricity and another with her body coated in a simpler gray sheen that allowed her to move much faster.
She continued demonstrating more moves, some of them requiring Longwei's participation. Occasionally he called for her to stop so she could clarify what move she had just used. The energy of this world was foreign to him, and so he could not tell what was being done through spirit sight alone—especially when she had used a move while a bit too far for him to see. He was already starting to recognize patterns and shapes through his spirit sight, but it would be a long while until he could claim the same mastery that he had with Yongyu's Qi.
In the time it took to finish a cup of tea, Longwei had seen most of what Luxio had to offer. 'So, most of the usual luxio moves plus a few outliers, then. Not bad for a wild spirit beast.'
Luxio sat in front of Longwei and fidgeted nervously. "Hmm. Might you have more to show, but find yourself hesitant to do so?" She nodded. "I presume it is Roar?" She nodded again.
That was understandable; the kiosk had advised against using Roar in public settings, especially if the trainer did not have other pokémon of equivalent or greater strength present. After reading the effects it could have on the one using it and on the pokémon nearby, Longwei could only agree.
"I see. Is there another?" She nodded again. Howl, he presumed. It was the other commonly-learned move that was advised against being used in public, especially if the trainer had multiple members of their team out. Howl was mostly harmless, especially compared to Roar, but it had a habit of exciting those nearby that the pokémon considered a friend. Something like that could easily lead to trouble, especially with juvenile or agitated pokémon, so the kiosk had advised against careless public usage.
Luckily, Longwei had no other pokémon out, and he himself was certainly no juvenile. "If it is not harmful, then demonstrate it."
Luxio hesitated, then took a couple steps back and gathered her resolve. She breathed deeply, then arched her head upwards and released a piercing howl towards the heavens.
A wave of tantalizing energy slammed into Longwei. It was asking him for something, tempting him into action, telling him to rely on his baser instincts. It stirred within him, making Longwei feel the sudden urge to join in the howl and—'!'
He blinked and shook his head, smothering the impulse before he could make a fool of himself. 'The move is more infectious than the description had let on. I see now why she had hesitated.'
"An impressive arsenal." Longwei said to the approaching Luxio. "I can see my decision to accept you as a disciple was the correct one." He brushed a hand through her mane, ignoring the stronger pops of static that came with each movement.
"Mraow." she replied bluntly, as if it were obvious he had made the correct decision in accepting her.
"Indeed, indeed." He nodded. "Well then, before we make our challenge to the gym I shall give you a brief lecture on combat fundamentals and terminology. Heed my words well, for afterwards I shall test your knowledge."
Longwei motioned for her to sit and cleared his throat before he began. "If you know your enemy and know yourself then you needn't fear a hundred battles. The meaning behind this, Luxio, is that one should always…"
(~)
Longwei's lecture took less than half an hour to wrap up. He knew better than to give long-winded lectures to a spirit beast that had only recently entered human society. Plus, night was soon approaching, so he had little time. The gym was open 24 hours a day, yes, but he had no desire to make their debut while tired.
Still, he felt the lectures covered enough. He had touched upon what he had desired, and Luxio had been kept focused through his occasional usage of questions, sayings, anecdotes, and expert topic changes when he felt her focus began to wane. Even if she had not absorbed everything perfectly, he had no doubt her fundamental understanding had improved leaps and bounds—more than enough for a 0 badge challenge, at least.
He was very confident in this, actually, because over the course of the lecture several juniors had moved to the fields immediately nearby and began to not-so-subtly listen in. If even children found his lectures good enough to willingly listen in on, then surely Luxio, who had more reason to be invested, had focused well and absorbed plenty.
His belief was cemented when he set her through a series of drills where she practiced against an imaginary foe and reacted to imaginary events announced by Longwei. They were kept simple, since his intention was to test Luxio's knowledge and to familiarize her with his style of leadership and terminology rather than to drive her to the limits of her ability, but she had performed very well. Sure there was the occasional instance of Luxio misinterpreting an order or reacting to an imaginary situation in an unwise manner, but such instances were rare and she always corrected herself quickly whenever these mistakes were pointed out.
With her drive to improve and willingness to confront her mistakes, Luxio was demonstrating a very stable overall foundation. He was confident that, so long as Luxio did not lose her way, she would go far.
Longwei had only ever seen this level of dedication in disciples that were humble enough to recognize their faults or who had revered Longwei too much to second-guess him. He had trained many disciples, both human and spirit beast, who were too stubborn to acknowledge their faults and heed the wise words of their elders. Such rash stubbornness always led to unstable foundations. A solid foundation was most important of all, both in and outside of cultivation. It was a mistake every arrogant junior paid for when they later found their cultivation plagued with inefficiencies and bottlenecks at best, or heart demons at worst.
His face adopted a thousand-yard stare. 'All of my disciples are dead now.' He stayed like that for a short moment, his almost catatonic state going unnoticed by Luxio or the children, when suddenly a silent fury swelled within him that broke him out of it. His hand instinctively went to Willow's dormant vessel.
He and Willow were still alive. He had made a new disciple. And eventually he would return and deliver heaven's wrath upon the traitor.
Longwei continued his duty to Luxio, but his mind began to wander. Lecturing disciples was something he had done thousands, if not millions of times before. It had become rote and did not require his full attention.
His first thoughts were of his own cultivation. Longwei was eager to start truly cultivating soon, but for that he needed to build up his dantian. Meditation, no matter the method he had used since arriving in this world, had done very little to improve his dantian. It frustrated him greatly. There was some progress, sure, but compared to the progress he made by simply eating one meal? It was practically nothing, like a praying mantis comparing itself against a dragon.
Longwei was determined to continue refining his Dao of Nutrition, as its effects on his dantian were immensely beneficial and will always be helpful no matter his stage of cultivation. He had even suspected that it was enhancing his spiritual base at large, his meridians almost seeming denser and more conductive than before. This made sense to him, considering how the Dao of Nutrition seemed effective in the construction of meridium.
'Perhaps those blob-like cultivators who gorged themselves on meal after meal were on to something… No, none of them ever got far in the cultivation world. Either this world's unique properties make the Dao of Nutrition far more effective, or their understanding of the Dao was weak and they truly were just slovenly pigs.'
Sadly, there was a limit to how much food a human could eat in a day, which greatly limited the Dao of Nutrition. Longwei needed something else to compliment it, something that could be done anytime.
Something like cultivating with spirit stones.
He knew magical stones were present in this world. Many of the ones he saw from his brief foray into the internet bore a vague resemblance to the spirit stones of Yongyu. He yearned to get his hands on them, to cultivate their energies and enhance his cultivation base. If even a bowl of fruits and berries—ones so common and easy to afford that everyday mortals saw them as a mundane snack—could improve his cultivation noticeably, then what kind of improvement would he see from a high-purity evolution stone?
(~)
"That's enough for now, Luxio. It is getting late." Longwei announced. Time was running short if they wished to compete before nightfall.
"Mra." she said with an electric warble, and fell into step beside him. She had been warmed up plenty by the drills, and was eager to show off for real.
Longwei gave a quick nod as he left to the audience that had gathered nearby. The small crowd of children each reacted differently to being caught, but some of them politely returned the nod, which was enough for Longwei.
They quickly reached the main path and then continued along it until they reached the gym building itself. Longwei stepped through one of the many transparent doors and entered the main lobby. He paused for a moment to enjoy the pleasantly cooled air and to take in the building's interior.
The sight wasn't particularly impressive to him. He had seen more spacious stadium lobbies in Yongyu that were constructed with far grander materials than this. And stairs? No sect that cared about their public image would dare provide anything except floating platforms that automatically ferried guests up and down the many levels.
'Well, I shouldn't expect so much from a sect that accepts open challenges and visitation. Especially one situated in the middle of a mortal city. At least it's all very sleek and clean, which is what matters most. Even the simplest of gardens being trimmed reflects upon the host's dignity."
He walked straight to one of the reception desks, which thankfully had no lines, and cleared his throat to pull the male receptionist's eyes away from their book. "Ahem. I am here to challenge this gym."
The receptionist held a hand out without looking away from his book and spoke in an apathetic voice. "License?" Longwei handed over his ID, and the receptionist insert it into a bulky machine by his desk. "One moment sir."
The machine whirred to life and after a few moments it spat out the ID and a ticket. The receptionist took both without looking and handed them to Longwei. "Take this and head down that aisle to your right until you reach the room number written on your ticket. Inside will be a gym trainer who will handle your qualifier round. If they aren't there then go bother some nearby staff and they'll sort it out for you."
Longwei politely thanked the man—who had still yet to even look up from his book—and went on his way.
On both sides of the aisle were a series of doors that had numbers on them. The muffled sound of techniques could be heard through many of the doors, but the building itself did not shake.
He didn't need to walk very far to reach their room. After double checking he had the right one, Longwei opened the door to step inside.
Since they were on the ground floor and since the stadium was a large structure, the room could afford to contain a humbly-sized battlefield. The furnishings were rather spartan, with most of the items inside being practice targets, training dummies, and various exercise equipment, all placed along the walls. There was no seating for spectators, but that wasn't the room's purpose.
A uniformed junior no older than 13 put away a small device and stood up from his folding chair. "Are you Longwei Sun—" The boy paused when he saw who—and what—had entered.
"Yes, I am Longwei Sun. Is something the matter?" Longwei didn't know what the pause could be for—he wasn't even covered in blood this time!
The junior smiled awkwardly, eyes darting between the aged adult and the middle-stage evolution that had entered. "Uh, yeah. I was told you had no badges…?"
Longwei waited for him to continue, but soon realized that was all he had to say. "That is correct. I, Longwei Sun, do not have any gym badges." Longwei arched a brow. "Or do you take me for a liar?"
"What-no! It's just—"
"Then we shall proceed with the qualifying round." Longwei flicked his palm forward, and Luxio confidently took to the field. He would not allow this junior to attempt some petty scheme! "Send out your combatant and let us be done with it!"
With a shaky, hesitant hand, the junior unclipped the lone pokéball from his belt and released a rowlet onto the field. By habit it spread its wings wide and began its battle cry the instant it materialized. "Chir-r-r—!"
Luxio interrupted it and responded with her own Intimidation, teeth bared and electricity crackling along her fur as she produced a deep rumbling growl. Longwei felt an oppressive aura emanate from her and wash past him harmlessly, but he remained neutral. He didn't detect any true killing intent within, and she knew this was not a battle to kill or maim, so there was no cause for concern.
Rowlet froze, then sharply turned its head 180 degrees and gave the junior an accusing stare.
Keith Ohagi, one of the Gym Leaders of the Jubilife Gym and a Warden of the Jubilife Pasture, drank the last of the herbal tea from his cup then set it onto the staff lounge's table.
He was thankful for work days like these, where he could slack off.
The city's contests usually took away a good chunk of the gym's daily traffic whenever they took place, but today was a particularly special case. Johanna Berlitz had come to participate in her final contest, win or lose, and even people who didn't care much for contests came to see or even participate in it. Hell, even a couple gym leaders joined in. And rather than this creating a backlog of trainers who would all file in at the end of the day to get their challenges in, the gym was relatively vacant of challengers despite the contest already being over.
He was deeply thankful that the contest announcers had gotten into the habit of suggesting people wait until the couple days after a contest to challenge the gym, citing that there would likely be large lines immediately after a contest and asking their audience to please not overwork their local gym staff. Funny how that works, really. If they say nothing then there will be lines, but if they give that warning then the thing they're warning about doesn't even happen. A self-defeating prophecy.
Luckily nobody's noticed this trend so far, or at least those who have had the sense of mind to not exploit it or spread the word. Even the foreigners visiting for the special occasion took the advice, which was a welcome surprise to him.
Thanks to this, only one of the leaders ever needed to take on challengers at a time despite Jubilife being such a populated city and a hotspot for beginner trainers. It allowed them to split their shifts roughly into thirds to cover all hours of the day.
It was Keith's shift right now, and the lull in challengers was so extreme that he even found time to relax in the staff lounge. He was the only one here, since the other on-shift staff had been told to train or attend to the park until further notice. On a usual day that wouldn't be the case since they'd need more hands on deck to handle the incoming qualifier rounds or trials, but as it was a particularly slow day they could afford the lack in immediately available manpower. Besides, he could always radio in one of the better gym trainers to handle his battles if he felt like not doing them. It didn't need to be a Gym Leader that handled badge matches under the fourth tier, after all.
The handheld radio attached to his hip crackled, signifying one of his gym trainers needed to speak with a Gym Leader. He hesitated to bring it up, hoping one of his siblings would answer before him even though it was his shift, but after a few seconds of silence he gave in. "Keith here, report."
"Th-there's this guy," he recognized that voice. It was one of their youngster gym trainers, a boy who opted to work and learn under the gym before beginning his journey. Keith couldn't remember their name though. "He said he had no badges, b-but! He fought with a luxio, and they knew what they were doing!"
Keith waited for more, then sighed off-mic when nothing else was said. "There wasn't a problem, was there?"
"Um… yes? How do I answer questions that start with a negative? The fight was over quick and Rowlet's not hurt too bad, just a bit ruffled and paralyzed."
Keith rolled his eyes at his time being wasted, but kept his annoyance from leaking into his tone. "Then why are you contacting me?"
"I'm only supposed to fight other beginners! But he wouldn't listen to me and made me start the fight! Besides, why was he even sent to me anyways, that's not supposed to happen in the first place!"
Keith considered that, and then nodded despite knowing the youngster couldn't see. "You're right. The front staff are supposed to make sure strong trainers aren't somehow matched against youngsters for their qualifiers. I'll deal with that later."
The automation was pretty new and his gym was one of the first adopters of it, and for the most part it worked as intended. But there were still plenty of issues, which was why there was supposed to be staff oversight.
For example, it wasn't uncommon for people to hold off on challenging gyms until their pokémon had evolved at least once. The difference in power wasn't too extreme right after a fresh evolution and most trainers would rush to get their first badge after hitting that milestone, so it hadn't been a scenario anyone considered when designing the filters.
Evidently, that had been a mistake. He would need to speak with the others about adding additional filters. Perhaps a trainer age or home region check?
Keith decided to give the youngster a break to get the kid out of his hair. "Go ahead and clock out of qualifier duty for today. You're free to spend the rest of your shift training or helping out in the park if you'd like. Keith out."
He sighed and clipped the radio back onto his belt. His break had come to an end. The next challenger would be waiting.
He left the lounge and headed for the Gym Leader's prep room. There he would check the information available on the challenger to prepare accordingly.
And if the youngster's words were true, he'd need to take extra precautions.