{ === + === }
So.
The reason why I'm being tapped is because Avalanche looked into my employment history, made a few calls, and came to the conclusion that I had talent in teambuilding.
…And that I would do a favor for the Team rather than charging for my services.
Not sure about the talent part but they got my business sense correct.
Sigh.
Anyways, it is now…three days? Since I've received the offer, and I am traveling with Avalanche's own battle bus towards the Rift in question.
To recap, a Rift is a Nonstandard Dimensional Aberration that is basically just a boss fight.
Rifts are also different in that, if the boss is not handled, the Rift never clears.
Or, to be more specific: whatever happens with a Dungeon, after it closes it's closed for good, or at least a few decades. If a Rift closes without the boss being handled, the Rift will reopen at a later date, usually at most a month later. In a somewhat different location.
Strictly speaking a Rift that doesn't do anything the first time around won't be all that different the second time it opens up, but banking on it is wishful thinking.
So the plan for Rifts is generally to guard it, scout it the first time around, see what the threat is, and then come back with a dedicated countering team. There's a clear and structured plan for dealing with this kind of stuff, the Rangers don't normally need outside help.
With how the last Dungeon went, though…
…
The Rift in question is towards the northeastern corner of Kalos. It's sitting…uh, a good fifty feet in the sky. That's going to be tough to reach. By virtue of Avalanche being a primarily Ice-type Team they get serious side-eye from any Flying Pokemon they borrow.
But, huh. Fifty feet up.
The biggest danger of a Rift is the fact that it's a boss fight. There's not much time to get yourself situated before the shooting starts. According to the Avalanche folks, the first to enter a Rift is usually the sturdiest Pokemon, so they can tank the first hit and back out before something more serious happens. Otherwise, the small space makes it difficult to establish the standard Dungeon things like radios, repeaters, cameras, wires, so on, so forth.
Like…if the boss is a Flying type and they pop off a Hurricane, all that equipment dies.
So, the rift being in the sky complicates things. There's not many ways to shuttle equipment up there, and bird Pokemon are limited in how they can move things around. Some birds are quite strong–Staraptor comes to mind–but that they only have claws means things need to be packed and unpacked, and that's hard to do given, y'know, Rift.
Scouting, therefore, is reserved for Avalanche's Glalies. One of them, large enough to mount a full sized camera on its head like a hat, rises slowly towards the Rift before slipping through.
Not a minute later, the Glalie reappears from the Rift, its camera hat gone. A blast of flame follows it through the Rift and wow we are nowhere near the damn thing and can still feel it. A little.
…
Per the Glalie's descriptions as translated by a Psychic Pokemon, the boss of the Rift is a Magmortar. Magmortar is the evolution of Magmar. I don't remember what it needs to evolve nor its stats because I've never trained one. I think it's a special attacker?
Well, game stats aside, this one obviously has a lot of bang behind its attacks. With its parting shot at the Glalie, it has its sights on the Rift, so the next entrance will be difficult.
To that end, what's our lineup?
Avalanche has brought its standard stock: Abomasnow, Glalie, Glaceon, Vanilluxe. They also borrowed some others to deal with typing and counters, Fire being a key point of preparation.
So we have some counter teams in mind.
Magmortar is mono-Fire, and we have to, more or less, tank one shot before we can even begin setting up for counterattack.
My team suggestion, considering the Pokemon we have available, is: Pelipper, Quagsire, Weavile, with three teams: A, B, C.
Team A has the best synergy, B has the best raw firepower, and C is the most defensive.
Kinda.
The idea is very straightforward: Pelipper, the giant Water Flying Protect-spamming Pelican, will spam Protect. Protect and Detect are all fun skills to watch, because they're all about minimizing damage or soaking it effectively. Because of that, they're also extremely difficult to practice and master.
Also the idea of a bird taking hits in noncritical areas makes me smile.
Quagsire is a…mudfish? Wooper is an axolotl and evolves into it, and it gets arms, and is very cute and smily and slimy. It's dual type Water-Ground, and the goal here is to use its moveset and power to help keep Magmortar off balance.
Sneasel is a dual type Dark/Ice bipedal…feline-esque thing. Sharp claws. Weavile is its evolution, and it gets an amazing headdress and even more blistering speed. Weavile's job is to close in and use its speed to its best advantage.
To that end:
Team A's focus is more overall strategy. The Pokemon are very familiar with each other and complement well, so the team has more lighter attacks that gives greater fluidity. Quagsire is even opting to go for Bulldoze, which is weaker than Earthquake but requires less energy to pull off.
Team B's Quagsire is very strong, so his Earthquake is the point that the rest of the team revolves around. To that end, Pelipper is running a very tanky set–Protect, Swallow, Featherdance–so that she can defend and heal and generally be tank. Stockpile is not a real move in this scenario, because it's a Rift and different Dimensions are annoying, so she'll go in with a mouthful of high-energy food to use in its place.
Team C has a very strong Weavile, but it's Dark/Ice and melee oriented, so it doesn't have much options beyond just going up and cutting the Magmortar. To that end, Pelipper and Quagsire are kitted to run distraction, very similar to Team A's loadout, so that Weavile can run it and cut Magmortar's ankles.
My recommended order of operations for my teams is B, A, C. Because C has the highest chance of someone outright dying if things go belly-up, they shouldn't go out there alone.
For clarity, I don't get final say in any decision-making. I'm just a consultant.
…
It takes the better part of three hours or so before the Rift is declared safe for human entry.
Avalanche is pretty good about pulling back its members before things get dangerous, so there are a lot of burn wounds but no fatalities.
My team composition ended up being selected for three entry attempts and they were reasonably successful, so that's nice.
Per Avalanche's operational procedure, a floating ramp is built so that everyone can get a chance to experience the inside of a Rift.
A floating ramp is, quite literally, a big and strong platform being raised by a series of anti-gravity engines, and Sally the Glalie, who was annoyed at being left out of the main operation after being the first camera.
The inside of the Rift is…it's a massive stone cavern with magma laces, I suppose. It's warm, but not to the point where you'd think that we're close to a volcano or whatever.
Might be because of all the water type moves that got tossed around. The ground is muddy and soaked, so, yeah. Probably because of that.
Some Avalanche personnel are running around with…I wanna say LiDAR, seismic gear, Digletts, and Drilbur. Drilbur are moles, and Digletts are also moles but weirder. Are they moles? Do they count as moles? Naked Mole Rats?
Anyways, they're digging around for material inside the cavern's walls. Materials are similar to the stuff in a Dungeon, but usually less concentrated and in a more raw format (like, say, wafers), which makes it more useful if a Team has their own works team. Avalanche does, so, yay for them.
They go until the Rift starts to destabilize, around three hours, and leave with a grand total of…maybe a barrel-full of rocks and gems and stuff. Thirty pounds at best. According to the guys with more experience, that's an above average haul.
I was allowed to look around and get some help from a Drilbur. I get to keep up to ten percent of what I found.
I didn't find much. My Vision showed me the rough drop rates of the Rift and that was about it.
Incidentally, the drop rate of a Rift (and, by extension, a Dungeon) is directly influenced by how much Pokemon Elemental Energy is unleashed within the zone.
To oversimplify, 100 PEE equals one roll, more or less.
A Rift can only handle so much non-native energy before it destabilizes, and I assume a Dungeon runs on similar mechanics.
I guess that makes sense? It's an aberration for a reason.
Digletts and Drillbur digging around do release PEE. That energy, I assume, goes into the Aggregate rolls of the Rift. So the next time somebody thinks 'there must be something here', there ends up being something there.
After I got a sense of the system, I did a little test and found a small ruby after thinking about said ruby, so that's nice.
…
Well, altogether, a fun time. There's not much for the support staff to do after the planning phase is over, so somebody brought a projector and the Pokemon Equivalent of Super Smash Brothers and we jobless support staff had fun while everybody else was busy focused on fighting the Magmortar.
Speaking of, there's no corpse of said Magmortar, nor signs that it escaped. This is normal. Somehow.
…
…
Ultimately, I follow Avalanche around for the next three months as they run around and close Rifts. My planning gets better because yay experience, but I don't do anything of note.
I am getting a lot better at gaming the Rift system, though.
Since it's so heavily responsive to personal feelings, nudging people to have higher expectations and avoid compromising results in better rewards. Longer downtime between rewards, but eh.
Nudging people to be clear in what they want from it also results in those items dropping more often, though, again, the drop rate decreases.
Nudging people also makes stuff drop less for me in general, since I'm no longer focused on getting 'stuff' while inside a Rift.
…In some ways, it turns an exploration into a game of chicken. Does the Rift destabilize, or do rewards pop up?
For clarity: a Rift doesn't close when it starts to show signs of destabilization, but the time between when it shows signs and when it crunches closed is highly variable, so nobody is interested in risking their life in exchange for whatever happens next.
Especially since, y'know, if you're worried about the Rift closing you're probably not focused on seeing rewards, so the Rift would likely not create rewards even as it closes.
…
Anyways, a fun three months.
At the end of the time period, Avalanche has met the mission goals as set by the IPL, and has roughly a 65% injury rate among their team and rented Pokemon. As such, they'll be going into vacation for a few months to get themselves back up and running, with the IPL covering all expenses as a sign of gratitude.
…
As for me…
I made a lot of contacts but not much else. With the materials I got, I was able to use the Avalanche Fabricator to make some little trinkets and toys for Patty and Tappy. I am just now realizing that their names use the same letters.
Er I mean I totally realized it during the three month period
…I am not a smart man.
Anyways.
My next job is a referral from one of Avalanche's Trainers.
He has a friend, that friend has a son. The kid is fifteen, and is looking to try his hand at his first Open-ranked Circuit.
He's also, per being a teenager, a bit on the rebellious side, and has refused help from Avalanche Guy on the basis that he wants to 'achieve it by himself'.
Ergo, I'm being hired as support. Give information and advice, but mostly leave the boy to figure things out.
Now, he has no Pokemon–his Father's stock doesn't count for him–so he'll also be catching his own team. His Open is scheduled to start in March, and it goes until July, so…he'll have five months to prepare before the first match.
The Boy is also heavily into Steel types, so…good luck with that, I suppose.
…
…
First order of business!
My battle van is our home base. The Boy is rebellious, but not rude, so we set up our sleeping arrangements in the van without issue. He's also really, really excited, and has all of his target areas mapped out. Only thing he can't do is drive, and he has no issues letting that one slide.
Our first area, then, is a Lumiose Slag Pile.
The Slag Pile is home to Arons. Can't go wrong with an Aron.
Boy–who wishes to be called Carl–has twelve Pokeballs for this task. I have four, because why not, really.
We have more Pokeballs than this, but there are unofficial rules in each area, and breaking them dramatically reduces the Pokemon's trust, and therefore makes training for Circuits unnecessarily difficult.
The Slag Pile's limit is twelve balls per week. We'll have to wait until a week passes from our last recorded entry to try again, but, y'know, driving to other places is a thing, so it's not like it's a big deal.
Again, Carl does not have his own Pokemon and is not into borrowing for some reason, even for his first capture. He's also too inexperienced to get an Aron to join him by conversation, too meatbag-y to win against an Aron in physical combat, and too nice to win via emotional damage.
Also winning via emotional damage is not recommended because it might cause future problems during training, or alternatively current problems as the Pokemon try to get revenge via physical damage.
Anyways, I'm "allowing Patty to help him", because he's surprisingly hard headed about going solo.
Patty's kit has been retooled for Pokemon capture, while Tappy…insofar as he has a kit, is going to be our panic button in case something goes very wrong.
Patty's has: Razor Leaf, Magic Leaf, Sleep Powder, Stun Spore.
Tappy has: Bite, Dragonbreath.
…I wanted Tappy to learn new things but he's very happy not learning new things, so here we are. He made one concession for Bite and that is to learn to do it with pure PEE, as Goomies have no teeth.
I also have a copy of False Swipe that I wanted to teach to Patty, but False Swipe requires that the user makes physical contact with the target and Patty lacks sharp edges on her body, so…
I mean, Patty can technically use False Swipe via Leaf Blade, but her Leaf Blade involves using a very densely connected line of Razor Leaves like a chainsaw, so fine control isn't exactly an option.
Anyways.
Carl is going with Patty to help capture some Arons, and I'm with Tappy to capture some Arons because, hey, why not.
So, Slag Pile. It's not officially called the Slag Pile, mind. It's a dump for construction parts, and the Arons consume the…iron, I guess. On one hand they do eat steel, on the other they're eating all alloys that have iron as a component. Either way, Arons shed their outer carapace every so often, and it's pretty good quality steel that comes out as a result. They have no issues eating standardized Pokemon food, but food with steel mixed in tend to have the best results in terms of having them grow up healthy. Arons will eat their own discarded carapace if they're hungry, and that should be avoided because it's bad.
…I think I should've bought a better guide to raising Arons.
The Slag Pile is basically a giant pit, three stories deep, and the aforementioned construction materials are just tossed in. It's too dangerous to just walk around, so there are paths and designated meeting areas for people looking to adopt or capture an Aron.
A map of the area is free to download. It's several nice, hand-drawn 3D maps of the site's layers with adoption and capture sites denoted throughout. Adoption sites are denoted with an egg icon, and is generally the place for people looking to convince an Aron to join them. Capture sites are denoted with a patch of grass, and is the place for fighting.
Apart from us, there are about thirty people here today looking for their own Arons, half adopting, half fighting. We join the fighter side. While I want to adopt, leaving Carl alone for his first outing would be…bad.
Not that he would be in mortal danger or anything, but Arons have kind of a nasty bite.
Now, how much do I actually want to help him? My special vision gives me a lot of key information about Pokemon, and I can do this to set him up with the best Pokemon.
…Y'know what? Let's set him up with the best Pokemon. See what he can do. It'll be fun.
There's a handful of Arons in this area, let's see…
…
…
Of the sixteen Arons milling around here, they're all pretty underwhelming. On a scale of 1 to 10, they're a solid 5.
I don't want Carl to end up with a lackluster Aron, but I also don't want his final capture to be botched by a case of the nerves, either.
So, in game, you have to weaken Pokemon to capture them. Er, rather, the catch rate goes up when the target is at low HP and has a status effect. 'Have to' is a bit strong of a term.
In this reality, the more injuries a Pokemon sustains prior to capture, the harder they are to train. The amount of damage they have to heal up from directly lowers their soft cap in terms of how much they can grow. It's not that wild of a concept, really: given the same amount of time, a more injured Pokemon will take longer to recover and be less keen on pushing itself compared to a healthy one.
Balls that perform well and have great rates of capture are therefore very important. Good luck hitting a nonstationary target though.
Also, once again: Pokemon and Trainers work together via contract, and capturing is just that last step. Quick Balls are great on ambush, but other Pokemon can and will free their friend unless you can reach the ball first.
Not everyone agrees, and all that.
Anyways, I say nothing, and Carl finds his first target, a feisty Aron that scores maybe a 2.4 out of 10. First Impressions matter.
This Aron has reduced defenses in favor of better speed.
Now, this is the first true battle against a 'wild' Pokemon. There's no ring, but other Pokemon will not get within a fair distance of the fight, depending on how powerful the two parties are. In this case, the distance is about three meters from the Aron.
If Patty gets too far, then she's considered to have retreated from the battle. If Carl can't regulate distance, he'll be seen as lacking in experience.
If things get out of hand, all bets are off and the Arons will protect themselves by all means necessary. Up to and including calling in help from the Aggrons on the lowest levels.
Anyways.
…
Patty versus Aron.
Round One (of One), Pokemon Battle, Start!
…
Patty unleashes Magic Leaves! Carl hasn't given an order yet!
Arons have bad special defense!
Aron has fainted!
Patty gained experience.
Carl is a little dumbstruck.
…
Patty is strong. Hehe.
Or, rather, why is she so strong? I rather explicitly asked her to pull her punches since we're trying to capture. I mean, the Aron was weak, but still.
Carl, a bit confused, goes and gets a fight with a second Aron.
…
Patty Versus Aron the Second.
Fight!
…
Oh, oooh, oh. I see what's going on. Patty's Psychic affinity has gone up.
I'm watching on the sidelines and my Vision is highlighting all of Aron's weak points.
While Dungeon and Rift-watching, Patty has been bored out of her mind, so she's practiced with her Magic Leaves to the point where they dance with her every move.
She's hitting Aron at multiple weak points at once, so it's taking super duper critical damage.
In game terms, each pinpoint hit on a different weak point raises the critical damage multiplier.
Yikes. Alright, I need to stop watching.
…
Patty Versus Aron the Third!
…
Patty has memorized some of Aron's weak points, so she's only auto-critting for, like, 400% damage.
Welp.
…
A big part of this is the fact that Arons are naturally passive, so they tend to only begin moving after they're getting moved upon. If they don't attack, Patty isn't pressured, and Patty without pressure can guide her missiles to their exact target positions.
Also Carl is way too slow on issuing commands and Patty is, again, a high level loaner, so she's not listening to him anyway.
…
Patty Versus Aron the Fourth!
…
I've convinced Patty to switch to Razor Leaves, since it deals physical damage.
Razor Leaf control is harder, since they can't change trajectory after launch, but she still hits two weak points.
The increased defense of Arons causes this one to soak the hit just well enough for Carl to go "wait, stop!"
Aron throws a rock. Patty counters, by nature, and finishes him off.
…
Hrm.
This is a pickle.
Patty is so in-tune with my Vision that she's basically using its information like its second nature to her. I forget if it was her or the Chingling that had this level of synchronization, but it's nice that she's able to do this without thinking now.
Then again, this is only when I'm able to be relaxed and keep focus on the Vision. Still nice though.
In any case, with Patty absolutely mauling all the Arons, Carl is now more careful in picking his targets. Patty has hit those Arons so hard they're functionally at negative health. Some of the Arons express Sturdy rather heavily, but Sturdy only allows the Pokemon to move, it doesn't actually negate damage.
…
Random thought. What if Patty shoots magic leaf canisters packed with razor leaves? It'd be like homing missiles.
…
We look around in some of the other areas until we find an Aron with a score of 8.7 out of 10. Nice!
Reminder that I'm dramatically oversimplifying what I'm seeing.
Since Patty has been doing so well in the overkill department, I have Carl try using Tappy instead.
…
Tappy Versus Aron!
Fight!
…
Tappy's not much of a fighter. He's curiously observing Aron who charges in with a Headbutt.
Tappy counters with Dragonbreath. Aron is badly hurt and paralyzed. Deep Wild, even untrained, is no joke.
…actually, come to think of it, Patty spars with Tappy on a daily basis to try and keep him out of her personal space, so that might've been where her stats are coming from.
Anyways, Tappy beams Aron but is not interested in following through at all, so Carl throws a Pokeball.
It wiggles, wiggles, rolls, stops. Carl rushes for the ball as another Aron does the same. Tappy is thoroughly uninterested and Patty already got paid in hard candy, so they do not intercept.
Arons don't rush very well, and Carl's got the lanky strides of a teenager in his growth spurt, so he wins that race. He lets his Aron out.
The two of them mutually agree to their contract (ish) and his Aron thanks the other Aron for its last ditch attempt, it was very valiant. The other Aron, per unspoken norms, gets Carl to agree to come back every week for a visit with his Aron in tow.
Carl is…doing the thing where he tries to hide how happy he is at finally having his own Pokemon, and is very bad at hiding said glee. He is currently debating with himself about whether if it is too early to feed Aron the Aron-specific treats that he most definitely did not buy earlier yesterday and I am of course drawing too many conclusions about our previous trip to the market and he is absolutely a professional who will treat his Pokemon professionally and not pamper them at all.
Of course.
Absolutely.
Yep.
…
Alright, now my turn. Having an Aron would be helpful in terms of Van maintenance, because then I can get scraps for the fabricator as needed. It can't make big things, but thanks to the greatness of Pokemon Technology™ it can make many useful small things.
…then again, I'm not feeling it right now, so I'll pass.
…
Alright, next.
The Van gets noticeably heavier when Carl lets Aron out for, uh, "close examination". Like bro just be honest and say you want to pamper your new metal bighead turtle. It's fine.
Next, a power plant.
…
The Power Plant is, again, one of many. This one is an off-shore wind turbine farm near the coast of Cyllage, on the western edge of Kalos. I completely forgot what Cyllage looks like in game, so, comparisons are non-existent.
In this reality: the League-ranked Gym in Cyllage is the Rock gym, being operated by Grant who…I don't remember who he is. Dude's a big fan of rock climbing though, so go him.
The city is similar to Shalour in that it hugs the ocean and therefore is laid out. Unlike Shalour, it lacks industrial port infrastructure, so the city skyline is very low. It's nice, though I'm not fond of how everything's just a little too far away to reach on foot. Biking or roller skates are almost a necessity to get around the neighborhood.
Anyways, access to the Power Plant is granted through appointment. I got a slot for tomorrow at 1300 hours (1 PM). We can't go into any restricted areas and there will be a guide and an Electabuzz escorting us just in case.
The Pokemon of choice here are Electricity based. Carl is looking for a Magnemite, I'm just going to go with the flow, see what happens. Again, it's off-shore, so sometimes they ask visitors to take Pokemon not native to the Plant. It's nature, things happen.
…
As I said, it's tomorrow, so Carl spends the rest of the day training/playing with Aron. We rent a hotel room and Carl gets into plenty of casual matches with other trainers and trainers-to-be that visit. I get roped into a few rounds too.
Yes we have a van with bed. No we're not going to use it.
Overall, his Aron prefers aggression. Even for one of the Aron family, his stats are very defense-oriented, so his attempts to charge at things while moving so, so slowly is…less than desirable.
He's got a weirdly strong special, a good mind to learn, and better elemental aptitude than most. I don't know if he'll be able to learn any true coverage moves, but it might be worth looking into.
Patty…has improved in a frankly scary way. She's so used to using Magic Leaf that it's an ingrained part of her kit. That frees up a slot in case we wanna do some five move shenanigans.
At this point I kind of want her to evolve, just so she can make full use of her powers as a Lilligant. Lilligants are a bit pricey to manage even for grass types, though, so if we make that leap I'll have to worry about a steadier income.
If I'm good enough to win C2s by myself then I'd be financially set for life after two full Circuit victories, but if I'm good enough to do that then I will never have a moment of peace again.
Anyways, Patty is amazing.
Tappy doesn't like battling, and he's restricted from circuit battles, so he'll tussle around but won't commit during serious battles. Otherwise, he loves helping other Pokemon and making friends, and will learn something quickly when he's interested, so he's a very good, very flexible sparring partner for Aron and Patty both.
Also Tappy's Grass affinity is high due to Patty pushing him away with her Energy Balls. Honestly, that kind of play might be why Patty's energy is so high. Her PP's huge, so to speak.
…
Next day, we arrive at the Power Plant during our scheduled appointment and take a boat to the…floating station?
Like, it's a Wind Farm built into the ocean, so there are large platforms rigged around each turbine to help maintenance. Each platform is ten meters by ten meters, so it's not very large. They're secured to the pillars of each wind turbine and have multiple levels, with the visitor platforms being on the lower end. If the waves ever get choppy we'll be wet.
It's pretty calm right now, fortunately. We're only allowed three balls each, and are only allowed to access the platform after demonstrating that we can swim and agree to wear a life jacket.
Pokemon that can't swim (Aron) are given an EB.
EB, or the Emergency Button, is an equip item given to Pokemon that acts as a latch between them and their ball. The specific requirements can be set and changed when the Pokemon is inside its ball, but in general they're designed to activate when the Pokemon is in mortal danger. They're mostly used during Deep Wild exploration and as safety measures on work sites. By default, EBs trigger when damaged, when the Pokemon takes heavy damage, and when the Pokemon is beyond its tethering range of fifty meters.
In this case, the EB is designed to trigger when a Pokemon starts to drown, for very obvious reasons.
Aron wears his on his back, Patty on her chest. The button is a little large for a small Pokemon and is weighty for Pokemon under ten pounds, so it's a little silly-looking on Patty.
Still, with all safety measures in place, we are good to start looking for Magnemites.
The Magnemites working are, of course, not interested in us in the slightest. The ones that come down to this level are the ones looking to go into Circuits. Same as previous, there are zones for battle and talking, though in this case it's a pair of lights mounted on a pillar. If we want to talk, we switch on one, if battle, the other.
Carl thinks on it for a moment and flips the battle switch. About fifteen Magnemites float down to meet him. He explains who he is, why he's here, and half of the Magnemites float back up.
Fighting time.
…
[Aron versus Magnemites]
…
Fight's on. Aron has a problem in that it has next to zero verticality without training, and one day is not enough training.
Magnemite has trouble in that they're magnetic, expressing it in different degrees, and so they're in constant danger of just sticking to Aron if he gets too close. Less 'danger' and more 'embarrassing', but eh.
Well, regardless, Aron does well given its position. The fighting ring is elevated and properly insulated, so there's no risk to bystanders like me, which allows the Magnemites to throw around Thundershocks or Sparks if they felt like it. Spark is a tackling move though, so any Magnemite that tried it ended up getting attached to Aron, who then flails the Magnemite around until it detaches.
Aron loses every match and it's not close. But it's like, y'know, if we expected him to score a 2 out of 100 on a test but he walks away with a 7. The bar is low but at least he cleared it, and all that.
So, no Magnemite through battling. He then goes to the talking side.
Carl did his homework and prepped as much as he could, but he's…not the best liar, and he's got that teenager sulkiness that's clashing pretty hard with the otherwise optimistic contents of his speech. So, no takers.
Good effort.
He's doing his best to shrug it off, but I can tell his pride's hurt.
Oh well.
I could probably use a Magnemite and they're relatively low maintenance. I still remember getting blasted by that Sonic Boom last year, too.
I'm going the battle route as well, but since I have less of a good reason to cap one, I only have three takers.
…
[Patty versus Magnemites]
…
Patty, again, has a type disadvantage here, but her raw power can't be dismissed.
My Vision is less useful against ranged opponents, especially since Electricity moves are near instant, but she still remembers some of her training against Chingling.
Altogether, she has no issues winning all three rounds.
For this place, winner gets to pick who they want, then use the ball after, so I get to pick. I only want one anyway.
Lessee…
Magnemite A is…average all around. Nothing standout but very dependable.
Magnemite B has paper defense and a very good special attack. Slow on the uptake and very passive, though, so…not ideal.
Magnemite C is great at physical, bad at special, fast, but not agile.
Of the three, A has the best long-term growth potential, C has the greatest possible variety of moves, while B has the highest EV cap.
Hrm.
Patty is currently very glass-cannon-y, and I tend to favor special sweepers in general because I don't have creativity, so let's go with Magnemite A to have someone that can be an anchor.
…
[Magnemite A get!]
…
I need a name and I'm already defaulting to Maggy. Sheesh.
…Maggy it is, I guess.
Sigh.
Anyways, Maggy is not altogether strong. They'll be stronger with time and experience, so that's nice. Good physical score, good reflexes…hrm.
It's also nice and circular. There's something I can do with this, I'm sure.
…
Since I'm technically Carl's support during his Circuit, I'll be able to lend him Pokemon if he needs it. I don't think he'll take it, but the option is there.
Next.
…
Oh lordy Carl wants a Mawile.
Mawiles have a jaw as big as themselves attached like their hair, and they're kinda…their body is slim and friendly looking and their jaw is big and deadly looking. It's a deceptive Pokemon. The average Mawile is two feet tall. In other words, the average Mawile has a hair jaw that can open up and wrap around a person's torso.
Mawiles are also choosy as far as Circuit considerations go.
Their first trial is for their trainer to be able to withstand being around a Mawile. They're playful Pokemon, it just so happens that the thing they play with the most is their massive jaw. They're, again, normally thigh-biter sized, so a big part of withstanding Mawiles is restraining yourself from punting said Mawile across the room for closing its jaw onto your leg.
Which is to say, Carl did not pass. I also did not pass because man did it feel like it was about to chomp down on Patty with intent.
Also they are Steel, so my foot hurts.
…
Carl is now willing to look a little further than mono-type Steel. To be fair, as much as he's trying to go solo right now, he's still a little mentally reliant on his family. As in, no sane person flying solo would go with a Mawile even if they could: they're expensive to maintain and raise.
His sense of money is still…y'know. I bill all expenses to Carl's father.
Anyways, since Aron is Steel/Rock, it's going to be weak to a lot of things. Priority cases are Water and Fighting.
To that end, Carl is going to look for a bird.
…
One week later, Carl has his bird.
It's a Starly that landed on the Van when we were taking a break.
With all my love to this incredibly friendly bird, his stat block is low to the point of nonexistence. He has great supporting capabilities–learning potential, flexibility, etc., but it really doesn't matter when his primary stats are so poor.
But, hey, Carl likes him, so he gets to stay.
…
Carl is now debating whether if getting a third unit is worthwhile. On one hand, having more coverage is great, on the other, he knows through experience (Avalanche) that he won't have the time to train all three to the degree needed to win in the Open Circuit with regularity.
We talk it over for a bit, and he decides that, yes, training is more important.
Tappy is the benchmark that he's setting himself up against, because he's strong, but more importantly there needs to be a sense of teamwork between Aron and Starly.
Carl's target circuit is almost all Double battles. Avalanche specializes in doubles matches, so he picked up a lot of tricks there.
Doubles is interesting organizationally. On the lower end of the difficulty scale, they're more popular by far with a lower payout. On higher difficulties (C2+), they're harder with more payout.
Anyways, now we train.
…
Training is similar to capture. Instead of going to sites that have Pokemon on offer, we go on the routes and get a mix of fighting against wild Pokemon and trainers.
It's one of the weirdest, most enjoyable things. I take the Van onto the 'trainer road', link it with the Kalos Field Network, and we just roll at the speed of walking along until we meet somebody, then the car stops, we hop out, have a tussle, and hop back in.
The Kalos Field Network is…well, it's a system designed to latch onto vehicles and bring them back to civilization. First designed for exploration into the Kanto Deep Wilds by the IPL, it's since been adopted by all IPL regions and beyond, both for its initial design and for its general utility. In our current situation, it latches onto the bottom of the vehicle when given permission, and lets the vehicle roll around on the predetermined path. These systems in particular only run on a specific route, which is nice.
The best game parallel I can think of is the mechanic where you get teleported back to the previously visited Pokemon Center if you wipe.
It's nice, since I don't have to sit behind the wheel and can just hang out and invite people in to hang out.
To describe the scene:
We're on a lesser route west of Shalour. Lesser because it's not the named Route Number Whatever. The path is expected to be forty miles long, so at our speed we'll be here for six hours unless we stop or drive away. It's very coastal, windy, warm, and apart from my Van there are at least a hundred other vehicles in sight, with thousands of people and Pokemon milling about.
A lot of young trainers here, too. As one example, there's a family of three, mother, father, child. Child is seven and has a Pichu, the Pichu is fighting a Rattata. The Pichu is constantly looking back at the Child for orders and the child is incredibly overwhelmed and scared, while the Wild Rattata is showing a lot of weak points for the Pichu to hit on purpose.
Another example, a pair of adults are sitting around the pavement with some chalk and drawing a maze for some Fletchlings to hop around. Flying is forbidden, I guess.
Example three: two teenagers are egging on their respective Seviper and Zangoose. The Zangoose has a bouquet of flowers and a furious blush. I wish for their happiness. Alternatively, normies explode.
Example four: Drunk man passed out on the street being dragged away by a Bisharp towards a Ranger. Day drinking is not exactly a common occurrence, hope he's ok.
So, yeah, a lot going on.
…and just because it's on my mind: yes, technically a person can drive away after luring unsuspecting people into their van with the hope of doing some crime, but, y'know, Teleport exists. Electricity spamming everything exists. Pokemon faster than cars or human reflexes exist, so on, so forth.
Moral of the story, please do not crime. According to the Rangers who are probably lying, all Alakazams in the world have a collective betting pool and a chalkboard that says 'it's been X days since the last time we crushed a large object into a small one'.
They're probably lying.
…
Anyways, we train here and on other routes for the next three weeks. Carl's victory rates are as follows.
Type advantage: 20%. Disadvantage: Zero. Neutral: 20%.
Stat advantage: 35%. Disadvantage: Zero. Neutral: 5%.
Which is, contextually speaking, a pretty average score for a newbie trainer.
Arons are limited to counters due to their low speed, and if they're unable to reverse tempo they're at the mercy of their targets. Without a ranged option they're honestly awful.
Carl's Aron has Rock Throw and it's…decent. It gets the job done for now.
Seeing him train Aron has given me a greater appreciation for the…uh…Iron Wreckers? Steel Wreckers? Those guys. Their Arons had a 'if it's not a crit it doesn't count' mentality towards melee combat and wouldn't flinch for anything.
Speaking of, their latest C3 run has been great, and it's re-ignited conversations that they should move up to C2. They seem a little more prepared for it this time, though.
Carl's Aron could use some melee tips. Carl himself shies away from melee fighting, so he's unable to really give Aron the range it's looking for.
To elaborate: since Aron has four stubby legs and a large, heavy head, it really likes short range combat, and dislikes anything longer or even shorter. A Machop, having limbs that are flexible and very strong, likes medium range and in-fighting type combat. Medium range in this case is Machop having to take a step to throw a punch, or a kick, and in-fighting is grappling and wrestling, or the like.
Carl has the knowledge to know that Arons can't turn and can't dash very well, but he lacks the practical experience to train the Aron in such a way. I don't have it either, mind you.
Again, to elaborate: the body structure of an Aron is such that they're able to give themselves a really strong charge by kicking off the ground with all four feet, but if they have to mind their landing or do followup movement, the energy of the charge might as well not exist. In other words, if they can't hit their opponent with one leap they're likely not hitting at all.
The Iron Wreckers were able to have their Aron run with a very distinct low and forward fashion, but their Arons have had a lot more training, so…yeah.
…Well, to be fair, Arons can run, they just can't sprint.
Carl's currently in the position where Aron can fight when the tempo is his way, but the moment the opponent gets an advantage of any kind it all falls apart. He (Carl) is a bit timid, so when things go wrong he wants to retreat and regroup. Arons on full retreat is basically just a big target.
During practice with Tappy, whenever Carl calls Aron to fall back, Tappy just rolls forward and latches onto Aron with his goopy-ness.
I don't think Tappy is faster either, it's just that Arons have to turn in order to retreat and that's slower than Tappy just rolling around. They can back up and retreat that way, but their massive head makes it very likely that their hind legs don't touch the ground if they do it wrong. So, turning and running is, despite the speed, better.
We're brainstorming ways to counter that. There are methods listed on the internet (Ten Best Ways to Train a Circuit Aron), so we're going with that for starters.
Starly has more or less been ignored because, while he has awful stats, his body mechanics are surprisingly good and he learns quickly, so all things considered he's actually punching significantly above his weight.
Patty hates him for some rather silly reasons.
…
In my corner…
Patty the Petilil, again, has Magic Leaf as her fallback move. Her current combat loadout is Stun Spore, Grass Knot, Energy Ball, and Giga Drain.
Hugging a bigger creature and Drain Until Victory seems to be working well, so I'm adding Grass Knot into the mix to help destabilize the target and make it more likely for her to latch.
Energy Ball does good damage,mixes with her non-grass elemental affinity for a little bit of a damage boost, and she can mold it for some defense, so it's a nice all-round coverage move.
Stun Spore can be delivered as packets along with Energy Ball or laced around Magic Leaf to help deter opponent movement. Again, Hug For Victory is what I'm basing all this around. She'll be weak to fast moving targets, but she's always weak to fast moving targets, so that's no loss.
Tappy doesn't count. He does whatever.
Maggy the Magnemite has Lock-On, Spark, Gyro Ball, and Thundershock.
Lock-On lets them, y'know, lock on to the target. It's a pseudo-psychic move that lets Maggy know where their target is until the energy of the move fades. Energy must be spent to keep the lock, and a faster target takes more energy to lock onto.
Spark and Thundershock are similar. Spark is about smacking the enemy with electric energy. Thundershock is shooting said energy.
Gyro Ball is Maggy tucking herself in and spinning very quickly, preferably towards the target.
The goal here is to first Lock-On, then either Thundershock while keeping range or Gyroball plus Spark into melee.
Since Magnemites are round, and Chinglings are round, I'm kind of in a similar mindset with both: just like how Chingling defaulted to spinning to deflect direct hits, I might as well have Maggy learn to do something similar.
Maggy is a lot tougher, though, so she'll probably get more mileage with her spinning.
To repeat, I'm not participating, but Carl can loan my Pokemon to fill up his team if needed, so I'm getting myself prepared just in case.
Speaking of just in case.
.
.
.
{ === + === }