Chương 7: Chapter 6

My knights and I were facing off against a pink… something. I didn't recognize the Pokémon, but it didn't look all that threatening. It was almost entirely the color of bubblegum, with a pair of three-fingered hands tipped in little claws. Its ears were tufted with brown fur on their ends, and an uncontrollable swirl of hair crowned its head. Seriously, not the most intimidating combatant. Still, I knew better than to underestimate an opponent.

Especially one led by a much older, and presumably more competent, trainer. The barriers flickered on around us, and true to Janine's word, we were stuck inside the battlefield with our partners. I wasn't too worried, my knights weren't throwing around enough power to really be dangerous, and Janine would presumably keep things at about our level. I hoped.

"I'll let you have the first move, Fe. Show me what you and your partners can do!"

"Don't mind if we do, Janine," I shouted back.

"Knights, Focus Energy!" Glowing orange energy surrounded my knights as they pumped themselves up. According to the notes provided by Ronda's Galarian Aunt, Focus Energy was an easy move to train Falinks in, and helped them develop stronger status-enhancing techniques down the line. I wasn't sure about the exact mechanics at play, but I knew that for the rest of the battle, my knights' attacks would have an improved chance of hitting harder than normal.

It took eight full seconds for my knights to complete the move, though Lance finished his effort in half the time. As promised, Janine and Stella held still the whole time, letting us get our enhancement off. We weren't done yet, though.

"Knights, again!" I called out. Sure enough, the telltale orange glow began anew, as they sharpened their energy further.

"Alright, enough of that," Janine shouted from across the battlefield, eyes flashing.

"Stella, hit them with a Pound!" The small, pink Pokémon trundled forward at the ranger's command, hand clenched in a glowing fist. Stella didn't run at us particularly quickly, but she'd reach my knights well before the troops finished buffing themselves up. Luckily, the brass got done faster.

"Lance, intercept!" I called out, hoping that he could buy time for the troops to finish their move.

"Tackle her!" Lance followed my directions, no problem. Unfortunately, the dissonance between the previous orders and Lance's battle cry confused some of my knights, causing them to lose their focus. Percy and Bers dropped their attempt at Focus Energy, but it wasn't a complete catastrophe. Tristan, Kay, and Galad were still buffing up, and would be done after just a few more seconds. That just left Lance and Stella's confrontation. Unfortunately for us, the results didn't bode well for the rest of this battle.

Stella easily dodged out of the way of Lance's charge, smacking him in the back with a glowing fist as he passed. The moment of distraction gave us an opening though, and Lance had bought enough time for the second buff to go off on three of my knights.

"Now, Tackle!" I shouted, directing the rest of my Falinks into a charge. A half-second later, Lance barked a command, repeating my orders. My knights barreled forward, glowing with white energy, but for the first time that I could remember, I saw in real time as the lost time between my order and the brass' cost us.

Stella turned back to face my knights, and with grace I wouldn't have expected from her tottering form, danced away from their blows, avoiding most of the Tackles, and deflecting poor Tristan with a whip of her curly tail. Janine's Pokémon moved like it was used to taking on multiple opponents, mitigating the natural advantage my knights had found against most of their foes thus far. My suspicion was further confirmed by Janine's next order.

"Swift! Scattershot!"

"Standard order!" I called out, directing my knights into their standard, straight-line formation.

"Shields!" Lucky for us, this was the easiest, most habitual assemblage for my knights. The troops made it behind Lance without a second to spare, as a scattering of glowing stars erupted from Stella like the spray from a frayed hose. The homing projectiles curved around, locking onto the nearest target and slamming into poor Lance's shields. He was able to hold the line, however, and protect the more vulnerable troops behind him. As soon as the assault ended, I called out my next order.

"Knights, surround and smash!" A trumpeting war cry sounded from the Brass, and my six brave partners ground forward, their stubby legs stamping an impressive tattoo on the stony ground of the battlefield.

"Don't get surrounded!" Janine called advice from her side of the battlefield.

"Slow them down with a Charm!" The pink puffball winked at my knights, backing up and wiggling its body in a way that was sort of charming, I guess? It worked on my partners better than me, judging by the way they slowed their charge. I grimaced. Still, there was nothing for it but to continue forward.

"Push through it knights! Get your Rock Smashes in!" Another impassioned call from Lance reinforced my order, and the troops maintained discipline, rushing in and smashing their shields into their retreating foe. Stella let out a piteous cry as she was struck by my knights, each impact giving the next troop a chance to follow up.

While Stella was weathering the blows, the knights who struck first generated a perimeter around her, and after Tristan rammed his glowing shields into Stella's body, he completed the encirclement, staring her down fiercely.

"Not bad!" Janine called out.

"Stella really felt some of those hits. But we're not done, are we partner? Let's show 'em how far they have to go. Disarming Voice!" I didn't know that move, but it sounded like bad news.

"Stop her!" I shouted, directing my knights forward. Lance relayed my command, and all six of my partners trundled forward, shields aglow, but those half-second delays caught up to us again. Before any of my knights could reach her, Stella let out a haunting, melodic cry. I felt something in me crack, just a little, but the feeling was far eclipsed by my concern for the effect the move had on my partners. All six of them stood in place, orders and techniques forgotten, wincing in pain and shuddering.

Before I could even issue another command, or try to recall them, my Pokémon collapsed, all six knocked out by the strange attack.

"Knights!" I shouted, rushing out onto the battlefield to check on my partners. Luckily, Stella's move didn't last very long, in spite of its outsized effectiveness. The pink blob stepped back as I slid to a stop by my prone Pokémon, clearing the way for me to kneel down to check on them. I'd seen my partners worn out before, I'd even seen a couple of them fainted, but never had they all been laid out at the same time like this. In my head, I knew this sort of thing happened all the time.

Battle Pokémon knocked each other out almost every fight, when they hadn't strengthened enough to stay conscious without their syn. Turns out that knowledge didn't make it hurt your heart any less when it was your partner sprawled across the turf.

"Don't panic," I heard Janine's voice from above me.

"The best thing to do when your Pokémon has fainted is to recall them right away. The stasis effect in the Poke Ball will activate when it detects that they're out of ki. I knew that, that you were supposed to recall your partner when they were knocked out. I'd forgotten in my panic. Hurriedly, I yanked my knights' ball off of my belt, and activated the recall function, pointing the button at Lance.

The red bean connected with him, and then shot out to each of the troops in turn, pulling them all back into the safety of their ball.

"There. They'll be fine after some rest, Fe. Disarming voice doesn't cause any physical harm, it just messes with the target's ki. No permanent damage, I promise." I felt some of the tension leave me.

"You're sure? They'll be okay?"

"Absolutely," Janine nodded.

"In fact, follow me." The woman set off, walking across the gym, accompanied by her diminutive pink partner. As she walked, she nodded to Bakiru, who'd made it to the door during our battle, apparently not interested. The Psychic-Type nodded back on the way out, but didn't stop. I twisted my head away from that door to find Janine striding towards a different exit. I stowed my knights' ball and ran to catch up.

"What kind of move was that, anyways?" I asked as I reached her side. Hopefully a bit of conversation would help me calm down. And also help Janine forget my little freak-out.

"It seemed more like a status move, but it did a lot of damage to my knights."

"Disarming voice is a Fairy-type attack that doesn't miss, as long as the target can hear it," Janine's answer was quick and precise.

"It's great for dealing with large groups of Pokémon, or single opponents with multiple minds and ears." I nodded along with her explanation, mumbling to myself.

"It's a Fairy-type move, that's why it did so much damage." Something stuck out to me, however.

"Wait, is Stella a Fairy-type? I guess she sort of looks like one, but that doesn't make much sense. It seemed like she took a lot of damage from Rock Smash."

"A good question." Janine nodded as we walked. She stopped for a moment to scoop her partner up, holding the pink Pokémon with one arm and good-naturedly stroking the tuft of curly hair atop her head.

"Clefairy actually have two different types, depending on where they're from. If they hail from Kanto-Johto, like Stella here, they're Normal-type. Elsewhere in the world they're almost always Fairy-type." With an affectionate nod at her partner, Janine held up a ball, and recalled the pink Pokémon. I blinked. So Stella was a Clefairy. I filed that information away as I asked my next question.

"I've never heard of two Pokémon of the same species having two different types, how often does that happen?"

"You'd be surprised." Janine shook her head.

"Many Pokémon develop different typings when enough generations are born in disparate environments. Generally, there's also some level of physical dimorphism to accompany the type change, but not all."

"Wow, I had no idea. What other Pokémon have differing types?" Janine pushed a door open on the far side of the gym and began leading us through another gray corridor.

"There's a bunch, but off the top of my head, I know Meowth, Koffing, Grimer, Vulpix, and Tauros can have different types depending on where they hail from. It's actually a really fascinating phenomenon. A local professor is doing some research into it right now, if you're interested in learning more." It did sound sort of interesting, but I'd also just completed my last year of compulsory school.

Right now the idea of listening to a professor monologue about their research sounded far too similar to what I'd just escaped. Unfortunately, my treacherous mouth, used to years of over-achieving and connection-chasing, got ahead of my mind.

"Sure? What's their name? I can look them up later."

"Professor Ironwood," Janine answered immediately.

"He's based out of NCT. Runs some classes there, though I've heard he's mostly into research." Neos City Tech was a great school. Probably the best in the region for secondary education. A research professor there would be a good contact. It still sounded boring as sand, but maybe it would be more interesting than I was expecting. Sure, it would probably be pretty dry research, but it was about Pokémon, which automatically made it ten times more interesting than if it was about anything else.

I was in it now, might as well commit.

"Well if there's ever a chance to speak with him, I'd love the opportunity." The older ranger looked down at me for a few moments, consideration in her gaze. For a second, I was worried she was going to call me out on my false enthusiasm, but whatever she found in her examinations, it was apparently acceptable.

"I'll let you know." Any further conversation was forestalled by our arrival at another door. She didn't push this one open, instead putting a code into a keypad on the side of the imposing metal bulwark.

"This is our secure room," the ranger gestured at our presumed destination.

"It's where we keep certain supplies, Poké Balls, and our healing machine." With an affirmative beep, the door slid open, the metal panels pulled apart into either side of the wall. Frankly, the entrance looked more secure than the surrounding partitions, rendering it sort of moot, but I'd keep that observation to myself. The inside of the room was covered in blinking lights and electronic panels, and the whole ensemble looked more like the interior of a server room than the vault I'd been expecting.

Tucked into the back of the room was a state-of-the-art healing machine.

"That's a Turmine Thirty-twenty," I couldn't keep the surprise out of my voice.

"Pokémon Centers won't be getting those until the end of the year, how do you guys have one?" Janine smirked.

"I should have expected the daughter of a Joy to recognize it." She led us over to the machine, patting it affectionately on the front.

"We have a contract with Turmine to field-test their equipment before it goes out for full distribution. We get the newest potions and status recovery formulas as well." Stolen novel; please report. I felt my face twist a bit at the mention of my parentage, but I smothered the reaction.

"That file really does have everything, huh?" Her response was a shrug.

"It certainly has a lot of information about you, but it can't tell me who you are in the same way as your actions and your words." The reminder was welcome. I was still in an interview, even if things had been pretty casual thus far. I tried to shift my mindset accordingly.

"So you guys get access to advanced healing machines and formulas, but you're part of the testing process. Isn't that risky?"

"A little bit," Janine admitted.

"There have been some minor… incidents. Nothing too dangerous so far though, and being on the cutting-edge is worth it. Especially because restoratives in Ferrum are so far behind the global curve." Right, I knew about this. We didn't farm Ditto cells in Ferrum. We believed too strongly in the partnership between people and Pokémon to keep the little guys around just to harvest their flesh for its miraculous healing properties.

"We still have synergy stones though," I pointed out.

"I heard that the latest Turmines are outperforming global competitors."

"Sure, marginally," Janine replied dryly, while holding out her hand for my knight's ball. After a moment of hesitation– I'd never be comfortable handing it away, no matter how trusted the recipient– I passed the device over to the ranger sergeant. She plugged it into the beeping Turmine, slotting it into the device's first receptacle.

"But it's not like these things need that much improvement," Janine continued as the machine whirred to life, humming a pleasant tune and pulling up a readout of my knight's current syn. We both watched as the bar representing the essential energy ticked up before our eyes.

"Seconds off of your ki restoration don't make up for the ability to regrow limbs or replace destroyed organs." The cheerful tune of the Turmine provided the backdrop to my thoughts. Or the abrupt lack thereof. My brain needed a second to restart after what I'd just heard.

"Wait, Ditto cells can do that?" I was finally able to ask.

"Oh sure," Janine nodded.

"And heal burns, reverse necrosis, and restore tissue. It really is a panacea." I cast about for a response.

"Well, at least we don't need it, here in Ferrum." I finally settled on.

"And thank Arceus for that," the older ranger agreed emphatically, stalling my train of thought again. I hadn't been expecting such resounding support for my statement. Janine wasn't done though.

"That's actually why I decided to come to Ferrum. Things here are a lot less dangerous here than out in Johto. Makes for far less hectic shifts." I didn't get a chance to question that statement, as the healing machine fell silent.

"Ah, there we go." Janine retrieved my ball from the device, passing the now-warm sphere over to me.

"Good as new. Just a couple more things Fe, and I think we can close this interview up." I nodded, doing my best to appear eager.

"What's next?"

"Next, we see how you train." - Back in the gym, I released my knights again. I called them in immediately, dropping to my knees so I could rub them all affectionately and lavish them with praise.

"Good job knights. It was a tough fight, but we made a good showing." I could tell from some surly looks at Janine that my knights were not fully mollified, but I knew just the remedy for that.

"Sorry to ask this of you all after such a difficult battle, but do you all think you have enough left in the tank for some training?" Some raised horns and eager eyes, and I knew I had them.

"So what are we doing, Janine?" I turned to the older ranger.

"That's actually my question for you," the older ranger responded.

"First, show me what kind of training you do on your own, and then we'll see how you handle what we do here." That was easy enough, and yet I felt a certain sense of pressure that I was unused to. Would she approve of our routine? Find it wanting? I still wasn't sure how much I wanted to be a ranger, but just the idea of failing this interview was crushing all the same.

"Knights, warm-ups." When feeling pressured, best to fall back on routine. That was the point of practice. And we'd had plenty of practice with training. I didn't even need to tell them what to do anymore, they were so used to things by now. I joined them for the first exercise, as always, working the shuttle runs until I couldn't keep up with the stopwatch. After that was pad work, and then we were on to move training. Janine observed, and I did my best to do everything the same as normal, in spite of her gaze.

I don't think I was wholly successful, but I gave it my all. We didn't run fully through any exercises, I didn't want to take up four hours of Janine's time, but we spent a solid hour doing a condensed version of our usual schedule. I made sure to explain how long we usually spent on each section, and the older ranger seemed particularly interested in our formation training, asking me plenty of questions about the process of getting my knights to learn new configurations and reinforcing their existing ones.

There was a bit of dissatisfaction from my knights when I called an end to the session, they never liked leaving things half done, but I promised them that we'd do another block of training in the afternoon, once the interview was over. That mollified them enough that I could have an unbothered conversation with Janine. I sent my knights to explore the gym, and the older ranger was kind enough to offer Stella as a guide.

We watched the seven of them tromp off, the pink Pokémon pointing to various objects, and chattering away with my knights. Once they seemed distracted, I turned to Janine.

"So, what did you think?"

"It wasn't bad," the older ranger nodded.

"There were some weak points, but for a regimen you came up with yourself, with the resources you had available, I'm pretty impressed." I felt a bit of warmth in my chest at the praise, but from her words, Janine had identified some areas for improvement.

"What would you change?" I asked her, curious about her insight.

"The long answer to that question requires more time spent getting to know each other. Each person and Pokémon is different, and nothing is one-size-fit-all. Short answer's a bit easier though. Having so many partners so early on in your career makes it hard to give them all the individual attention they might need. You're spreading yourself a bit thin right now, have you considered that it might be better to focus on training the leader and let him filter things down to his troops?" I was impressed.

Janine had immediately hit on the crux of my current dilemma with training my knights.

"I've thought about it, but it's not exactly a simple question." Janine gestured for me to go on, so I elaborated.

"A nurse I know was kind enough to get me some notes from another Joy in Galar. According to her, it's possible to foster independence in individual troops. While it's a challenge, and it requires a lot of hard work and effort, the payoff is huge. I'm sure you noticed already how much time we lose letting Lance, he's the brass, filter my orders down during battle." The woman nodded, face twisted in thought.

"And you feel like you can put in the effort to overcome this weakness?" she finally asked. I took a few moments to craft my answer.

"I think we've made a lot of progress already," I finally said.

"Sure, it hasn't been easy, but I've seen glimmers in some of the troops that make me positive this is possible. To ignore the possibility feels– wasteful. Like we'd be squandering potential."

"By focusing on something difficult so early, you might be stunting their growth, you know," the older ranger made another good point, but I'd already considered that myself.

"It might slow us down in the short-term, but I think if we don't work on this now, it'll get harder and harder, until it's just impossible."

"You're certainly not someone to take the easy path," Janine noted. I couldn't read her expression, but her tone contained something approving.

"Still, I bet you have an advantage that your contact in Galar hadn't taken into account." I blinked a bit, nonplussed.

"Really? What's that?"

"Your Falinks are your only partners. They get to be your exclusive focus. In a lot of regions, a trainer your age is already balancing two, or maybe three Pokémon. Perhaps not in Galar, they start a bit later over there, but you get the picture. Ferrum is a bit of an exception, but in most places, people don't usually focus all of their attention on a single Pokémon."

"Really?" The question came out a bit louder than I'd intended. A bit more surprised. I was getting a lot of culture shock today.

"How many Pokémon do people usually train in other regions?"

"Three to four is pretty common." Janine explained.

"But when you start getting up in badge levels, the numbers really balloon. Six is the minimum at higher levels, but people often have nine to twelve partners." I felt my jaw drop. The number was astounding.

"That's crazy!" I couldn't keep myself from blurting.

"How in Arceus' name are you supposed to care for and train that many Pokémon?"

"It's a full-time job," Janine nodded.

"I knew folks who spent ten hours a day training, seven days a week. The rest of the time they spent feeding and caring for their Pokémon." That was… daunting. Even the most focused dojos in Ferrum didn't adhere to that kind of schedule. You'd completely wear a Pokémon out with the workload. I guess if your efforts were distributed to a bunch of individuals the equation changed quite a bit. Something still didn't make sense to me, though.

"Ok, so people train a lot of Pokémon. I still don't see why they'd do that, even if you can. Aren't you better off training one or two partners who you know are reliable, rather than split your time with a bunch of battlers?"

"Well, in most regions, the standard battle is six versus six, instead of the one versus one format you all prefer here. You can switch Pokémon out and in, and some regions even emphasize double battles, where both trainers have two Pokémon out at once." Janine shook her head, ruefully.

"It always surprises me how insulated Ferrum is. You'd think I'd be used to it after nine years, but it keeps creeping up on me."

"Six versus six? Double battles?" I found myself repeating the words spoken to me, which didn't seem like a good impression to be making in an interview. I took a second to center myself, determined to make my next statement something intelligible.

"That… would explain why you'd need to train so many partners." I felt my brows furrow as I thought about it some more.

"It would really change how battles go, a lot. Like, more than the difference between synergizing and not."

"Absolutely it does," Janine agreed.

"I can't really describe just how different it is in the short time we have, but I bet you can come up with some stuff on your own, you seem like a smart girl." I was already pondering all of the ways the battles would be different.

"They would need to be a lot more strategic, if they involved that many Pokémon," I reasoned.

"And type advantages would matter a lot more, without the buffer of the trainer's syn to mute their impacts. It would be like a back-alley, sort of, but scaled way up." Another thought struck me.

"A lot of useless moves could be pretty effective in that sort of battle. I was wondering why First Impression was recommended so strongly for my knights, but if you can swap them in and out…"

"Right you are. It becomes a lot stronger, as do other moves and strategies," Janine nodded.

"But to compete in these battles, you need to have all of your Pokémon at a similar level, and develop your team so they complement one another." Janine pointed towards the corner of the gym, where Stella was demonstrating the use of a treadmill to my knights.

"The synergy between your partners is almost as important as their synergy with you. They need to cover each other's weaknesses, and be ready to execute on a lot of different strategies together, depending on what they're facing. The required flexibility is why high-level trainers put in the immense effort to maintain large teams." That made sense. A lot of sense, once I disentangled her use of the word synergy from my immediate association with Ferrum Battles. It was still daunting, though.

Trainers in other regions had that many partners, and fought all their battles at that complexity? A Ferrum battle was a contest of strength and will between two combatants. These foreign fights sounded more like a miniature war, with all the tactics and strategy implied therein. Still, as intimidating as it sounded, there was inspiration here.

"But it is possible? To train six, or even more Pokémon at once. To compete at that level?" My question earned me an affirming nod, and I felt my resolution solidify.

"Well if people in other regions do it, there's no reason that I can't. It should be easier for me, even. My knights are six different individuals, sure, but they already share a connection that goes beyond what most Pokémon can form."

"You could," Janine nodded.

"But not with the time you're putting in right now. It'll take a lot of effort, and a lot of drive, and you're about to lose a lot of time in your day if we end up accepting you." Janine was ticking off points on her fingers, but she looked into my eyes for her last statement, fixing them on me.

"Still, it is doable. It is possible. Do you think you're up for it?" I knew there was only one answer for that kind of question. I kept my eyes on hers as I responded.

"We are. I'm sure of it." My response earned a grin.

"That's what I like to hear. Now come on, grab your partners. We have one more part of the interview to get through before I let you go." - It turns out that I'd been prescient in my preparations. The last task involved an evaluation of my skills in woodcraft. I thought I'd do pretty well at this part going into the interview, but as it turns out, Janine's expectations were sort of ridiculous.

The hike through the surrounding forest was easy enough, I had been in decent shape before my Battle Break had begun and had been training with my knights for months now, but I could barely answer her questions about what various plants and trail signs meant, I couldn't identify any of the tracks she pointed out, and apparently, I missed a few warning signs about dangerous Pokémon nearby.

I found it surprising that anything that could pose a threat to humans could be so close to the city, but apparently the line between civilization and the wilds was blurry and indistinct on Techne's eastern side. The older woman seemed a bit disappointed at my lack of skill, but honestly, I wasn't sure what standard she could be comparing me to. No teenager I knew had any experience with this kind of stuff.

My knights made a better impression than me, maintaining a respectable escort formation and keeping up with us the whole way through. Hopefully their abilities reflected well enough on me that I'd be excused for my weakness on this part of the interview. Still, in spite of that last hiccup at the end, I felt pretty good about things as a whole. When Janine sent us on our way, I was confident that we had a fair shot of making it into the program.

Sure, I wasn't the greatest outdoorswoman, but that was something I could learn. Either way, we'd tried our hardest, and that was really all I could ask. Janine told us to wait a week and look for a letter in the mail telling us whether or not we were in. As promised, I brought my knights to the beach after we made it back into the city. The black sand was scorching hot, but my knights didn't seem to mind.

They were still raring to go in spite of battling today, and I owed them the time spent under the sun after all they'd done for me in today's interview. I put them through their paces, and already, I could tell that they were improving with the pad exercise. It was slow progress, minute at best, but we had the drive. I could tell, this was possible. My knights could learn to show initiative, to grow and develop independence from one another. All it would take was effort. Luckily, for my knights, I'd do anything.

When I got home, it was time to put together a new training plan. One that involved the sort of hours we needed to compete with the best.