Chapter 7

Ecruteak City, The Burned Tower

So this is the place huh?

I walk along the charred -yet somehow preserved- wooden floorboards. There's a flap of a Zubat's wings up in the rafters and the air has a slight pungent odor to it that tells me there's at least one Koffing lurking around here somewhere.

In the main game series this is the location where your playable character encounters the three Legendary Beasts for the first time. Also known as the 'Legendary Dogs' by some of the fanbase. Which as an aside has never made much sense to me considering they're all clearly designed off of cats. A lion, tiger, and leopard respectively.

I descend down a public ladder that leads into the basement. 'I'll concede that maybe there can be some confusion with Suicune. He does have some canine-like features. Maybe Entei too. But in what world could someone look at Raikou with its sabertooth teeth and somehow consider that a 'dog'?' I kick over a blackened rock and cast my eyes around the dimly lanterned room.

If this were a different tale I suppose this would be where the seed of some grand adventure would start for the Main Character. Maybe Ho-Oh flying overhead and letting a single feather drift down through the open ceiling. Perhaps some ancient writing etched onto a secret tablet in Unknown letters that in some way shape or form is related to Lugia or Celebi.

Heck, maybe that complete Suicune fanboy Eusine could show up and... I dunno... do something. He could at least make for some good Exp. 'Wait a minute. Is his name an anagram of Suicune?' I mentally rearrange the letters. 'No. He's missing the 'c'. And we need to change an 'e' into a 'u'. Still though... being only two letters off is a liiittle suspect. Enough that I'm willing to put money on the table that Eusine isn't his real name. Don't fanboy too hard kids. That shit's cringe as hell.'

Tapping the center of the stone floor with my boot, I send off a pulse of Ground energy to get a look beneath the surface. Any caverns? Hidden spaces? A secret basement only used by the monks who manage the place maybe?

...

...

Nope.

Just solid bedrock.

Not even a Sandshrew nest to accidentally wake up. 'That was a bad day. Mama Sandslash angry.'

"Alright guys, let's roll out of here." I communicate to the team. "We'll see if we can rustle up any good matches before lunch and then start heading east."

"Gli!" Vlad chirps inquisitively from my shoulder. "Gli! Gligar?"

I hum thoughtfully. "That is true. We did see a so-called 'Ace Trainer' mopping up some of the local competition outside. Might be fun." 'I think I vaguely recall his face from when I was in the crowd of a tournament a few months back too...yeah...now that I'm thinking about it, I'm pretty sure it's the same dude...tried to coast by on his Typhlosion and then got riggity wrekt when the rest of his team was hella underleveled.'

And based on the Skiploom and Granbull I saw him employing in a doubles battle when I walked past, it's an issue he still hasn't corrected.

"Gli! Gligar!" Vlad agrees, having gleaned an idea of what I was thinking.

I laugh. "Alright, fine fine." I begin ascending the ladder back up. "You've convinced me. Let's go see how we match up against a 'Circuit Pro', even if this one is a bit of a scrub."

Route 42

Johto tradition demands that one travels westward after obtaining the Fog Badge and finishing up with Ecruteak City. That way lies Route 38 and the path to Olivine and Cianwood. The "fifth and sixth" Gyms of Generation II.

It's a relatively noteworthy Route gameplay wise. Has some uncommon Pokémon in it such as Tauros and Farfetch'd -who, sidenote, both make excellent HM slaves in the older games- as well as some useful ones like Magnemite which a trainer might consider scooping up for their main team. Especially if one has knowledge of Magnezone. There's also Johto's largest Miltank farm and the biggest supplier of Moomoo Milk in the region. 'Both cheaper than Super Potions, and more nutritious for your Pokémon!'

To tradition I have to say, get bent.

I've got shit to do in this direction.

Besides, battling Pryce and Claire before Chuck and Jasmine won't even be my first deviation in the Gym circuit from the classic route everyone's familiar with.

Technically.

You see, back in Azalea Town...I have to confess that I didn't actually beat Bugsy. The reason for that being, that the young Bug-type enthusiast is a literal child at this point in the timeline that I find myself in. As in more so a child than he was in canon. 'Which was what? Twelve years old maybe? Fourteen if we're being generous? Insane that the League let that happen. To let an actual preteen be put in charge, prodigy or not.'

Instead my second Gym Badge was awarded by a different native son of Azalea Town. The Psychic-type specialist, and Lori's eventual successor in a few years, Will.

Now I know what you might be thinking. What? The Psychic guy with the dumb mask? Why would he be in charge of the Gym? The town is right next to Ilex Forest, it has to be Bug themed! Caterpie, Weedle, Pineco, Paras and Venonat, they're all right there!

To that I have to say, 'ho ho ho, not so fast, Psychic may not be the large stretch you think it is.' Azalea is also home to the famous Slowpoke Well and neighbors Union Cave. And what does Union Cave connect to? Why, the Ruins of Alph of course. Your one stop shop not just for the mysterious secrets of the Unknown but the Psychic bird Pokémon Natu as well. In fact, I'm pretty sure every Xatu Will has, originated from that local flock.

Moving in the other direction, the Ilex Forest has more to offer than just an infinite supply of Bug-types. There's also populations of Exeggcute if one knows where to look. And moving beyond the forest into Route 34 one can get access to both Abra and Drowzee.

Discounting Legendaries, that's basically 50% of all the Psychic species in Indigo covered right there.

So yeah, not really much of a stretch.

"No! Nidorina, get back up!"

Oh shoot. Caught myself daydreaming in the middle of a match. Gotta stop doing that.

Nidorina: Lv. 22
Nature: Sassy
Potential: E+

'Poké Maniac' Shane grits his teeth angrily. "It's not fair…it's not fair!" he begins to shout as his frustration starts to boil over. "I've been out here for weeks looking for a Moon Stone. Weeks! And we haven't found shit! If only we had…if we had this wouldn't be happening! It would be you who's losing!"

From the other half of the field Simon starts looking uncomfortable at the other trainers' breakdown. He's dropped his new battle pose and is now rubbing at his arm nervously, glancing between me and the downed Nidorina as he's not sure what to do.

Golett: Lv. 34
Nature: Docile
Potential: S

Leaving the subject of Simon's nature somehow changing for a different day, there is a part of me that does sympathize with Shane here. Knowing that an evolution item exists and you just can't seem to come across it...it's frustrating.

For Moon Stones it can be especially bad. There's not a lot of places they can form. You need the right type of mineral to be exposed to the right amount of moonlight for the right minimum amount of time and...it's just a pain. Plus, since four of the six species who can evolve from it are here in Indigo, the demand massively outstrips supply.

Then you get into things like purity, size, grade and natural effects that laboratory settings just can't replicate well and... I don't want to get into it. It's a whole monster of a subject.

So I understand Shane's feelings. Even if he is just being a whiner instead of searching for a solution.

'If you're really that desperate, why not just do some jobs for Team Rocket like I did? That's how I get into bed with them.' A few shady projects. Some unscrupulous contracts. I did the work required and soon enough I was the owner of a high quality stone that shined just like the moon in an empty night sky. 'Nidorino on a Wednesday. Moon Stone on a Thursday.'

Nidorina disappears into a beam of red light and her trainer glowers at me. "This isn't over! You hear me! I'm gonna rematch you someday and then you'll be the ones left in the dirt!" With an angry shout he twists on his heel and sprints away full speed in the direction of Mahogany Town...and I let him go. There was no agreed upon bet for the match. He was just looking to vent off some steam. 'No matter. His personal issues aren't my problem.'

My head turns up to the immense cliff face towering over the valley that is Route 42.

Mt. Mortar.

The bronze medalist for most dangerous place in Johto. It only loses out to Victory Road and Mt. Silver itself.

"Alright Grundy..." I murmur under my breath. "As promised."

Inside the Mountain, Lowest Floor

Nidoking laughs as the group of Machoke all try to dogpile him. There's one at each of his legs, another trying to circle his waist, and a fourth failing at getting the Alpha Pokémon into a headlock. With a large meaty hand he grabs one by the bicep, casually peels it off, and then flings it upside down into the nearest rock wall where the stone cracks and splinters from the impact.

Air Cutters from a Golbat up above rain down at Grundy's backside but the new king of the mountain just laughs them off, weathering the onslaught with only minor annoyance or by clutching one of the Machokes and using them as a...well not a human shield, but you get the idea.

Nidoking: Lv. 70
Nature: Bold
Potential: B

Of everyone I've recruited for my team, Grundy remains the only exception that I've made in regards to potential. Pokémon that are D and E rank? They're the chaff. The antithesis to 'cream of the crop'. Encountering 'mon's out in the wild, at least 50-60% of everything you're going to see will fall in one of those two categories. C's are a little more uncommon but they're not rare. B's a tad more so. When you wander into a new area and find some local 'boss' Pokémon who's running the show or has marked that area as its territory or some such, you can reasonably expect it to be at least a 'B'.

It's the 'A' ranks that you have to really search for. You remember the 1% encounter rates from the games? Think of that. Except now you're actually trudging out in the wilderness instead of just moving a character through a patch of grass over and over.

It's one of the reasons why finding Simon at 'S' was so monumental.

Vlad was found at A-rank when I caught him, as was Ma Ma. Obviously neither has evolved since I obtained them. K. Rool...I searched for a long time in that desert looking for an A-ranked Sandile. I think they might have been being killed off. Older males eliminating potential threats before they can grow up and evolve, that sort of thing. Which is not a nice mental image, but they're Dark-types who live in a desert. They're not meant to be nice.

Regardless, a B+ 'mon as part of a three-stage evolutionary line was probably just as good. Once K. Rool evolved from Sandile into Krokorok against Whitney he entered 'A' territory and has kept my streak going of only working with the best.

Which leaves Grundy as the exception. He was only a middle of the road C-rank Nidoran. 'For whatever that even means when you've been blessed with Alpha genes.'

Machops, Machokes, Geodudes, Gravelers, Golbats, Raticates, a Makuhita -'Oh, that's rare. That Fighting type shouldn't be here.'- they're all working together to try and stop the rampaging purple dinosaur that has suddenly found its way into their home. Grundy opens his mouth wide and sprays an Ice Beam at a ledge where two Graveler are harassing him with Rock throw. In mere seconds the entire upper ridge has been transformed into a jagged deathtrap of misty blue-white crystals with his assailants no longer to be seen.

'Frankly I don't think my little 'cheat' is capable of reading him accurately.' I admit within my mind. Just another way in which the ability is limited. 'He's just too much bulkier, heavier, stronger than a typical Nidoking for me to believe anything else. Unless Alpha's are operating on their own separate scale which would mean...Nope. Not gonna think about that. We're gonna ignore 'that' terrifying notion.'

"Ki ki ki ki king! Ki ki ki ki king!" Grundy laughs as the resistance of the local mon's starts to waver, his voice a deep rumbling gravelly thing. Like a living mountain himself. "King! King!" he taunts to the leader of the Machokes, asking -nay daring- for them to come try again. That this is just starting to get fun for him.

Water erupts from the nearest underground pool and the biggest Seaking I've ever seen leaps dozens of feet into the air. "Seaking!" The fish Pokémon hits the zenith of its aerial arc and then begins homing in on Grundy like a missile, the point on its head shining green with the incredible power of Megahorn!

And with one Sheer Force boosted Thunderbolt, the Lv. 45 lord of the miniature lake is already unconscious. Its eyes whited out as thin lines of smoke waft from its electrically scorched body.

I sigh. "Ma Ma, could you go throw that back in the water please?"

"Ring!" she objects. "Ursa-ring!" which is easy to translate as 'Why do I have to do it? I didn't make that mess!' She eyes the overly large fish and licks her teeth instead. "Ursa...ring ring?" she proposes as an alternative.

"No, you're not eating it." I order with no nonsense in my voice. "We don't waste food like that. Most of it would go unused and besides, you've already had your berries, your Poké chow, and a whole Goldeen today. How many bites would you even get in before you're full? Now go toss it back. Please."

"Ursa..mmgh..ring, ursa" Ma Ma grumbles under her breath as she stomps forward. Pulling her leg back she delivers a swift -and almost contemptuous- kick into the Water-type's side, punting it back into the pool with a tremendous splash. "Ursaring." she then pouts, folding her arms together and taking a seat cross-legged on the rocky floor.

An angry Machop charges at her -due to us being clearly associated with Grundy- but she dismissively catches the wild 'mon by its head and then throws him in the water too.

'I swear,' I look between the sulking grizzly and the -for all intents and purposes- Pseudo Pseudo-Legendary that's still tearing the place up. 'Some days I really don't know why I bother.'