Chương 62: 5.7 Entree

Aaron's Pokemon - Artoria (Kirlia) - Jeanne (Flaaffy) - Durvasa (Mankey) - Benedict (Egg) - Magellan (Chikorita) Entree 5. 7 Aaron Fulan Rusturf Tunnel We eventually arrived at the first checkpoint and began to set up camp. The cave wouldn't take long to cross. We could expect to be out by late afternoon tomorrow. The rest stop was surprisingly spacious. We learned that a ranger's aggron had carved the space out from bedrock several years ago.

There was enough space for a dozen people to set their sleeping bags, create a cookfire, and maybe even have a battle between smaller pokemon. We weren't the only ones here. There was, of course, the ranger-on-call. She was an athletic brunette with a deep tan and a watchful scowl. She seemed experienced, with a graveler and golbat that were well-suited for the cave. Several trainers had made their way throughout the day and had, for one reason or another, chosen to stay the night.

Camping in the woods was quite a bit different from camping in a cave. For one, there was no readily available kindling for fuel or water for cooking. You had what you had and that was that. It made for a novel experience. Most of us had hammerspace bags of our own and it became readily apparent who was well-prepared and who was not. The night devolved into a flea market in which people bartered for canned goods, pokepuffs, and even some old newspaper someone had torn into kindling.

The ranger eventually felt bad for the less prepared and offered them enriched hardtack from her stash. I didn't envy them. Those things tasted like chalk and bitter cough medicine. Whoever designed them had a sadistic streak, and was probably a dark type specialist. I laid back and allowed the dull drone of conversation to wash over me. I was so used to traveling alone that hearing other voices besides my own was a novelty.

"Hey, kid," I heard an older woman call. She looked like she had more badges than me, but had been taking on newer trainers with the youngest members of her team.

"You want to battle? I bet my sandshrew can beat that kirlia there." Artoria glanced lazily at the sandshrew before letting out a mental scoff. Still, she wasn't one to turn down a challenge. She dutifully picked up her spoon and got to her feet as I did the same.

"Alright, I'm game. Let's go earn some spending money, Artoria."

"Confident, aren't we?"

"Very. Three badges. You?"

"Six, but I got my sandshrew two months ago."

"Sounds good." That was how we spent the night. Artoria clubbed the ever-loving shit out of that sandshrew. The fight was so lopsided that I had to show her my trainer card to prove I only had three badges and hadn't been playing her. The rest of my battles were far more even, mostly because people now knew to avoid challenging the "monster" kirlia. After several wins and a handful of losses, I recused myself for the night. I didn't want my team to be too tired tomorrow.

As safe as Rusturf was supposed to be, I'd learned to be prepared. X Thankfully, we made our way out of Rusturf Tunnel without any deviations. My shitty, "cacturne bait" luck didn't somehow manifest a fresh hydreigon or spontaneous cave-in. By the time we got out, it was two in the afternoon.

"Oh, yeah! Good ol' clear skies, baby!" Matt whooped. He raced ahead and tossed every pokeball on his belt.

"Come on out, guys! We're free!" Four hollow pops rang out through the air as a burst of bright, white light assaulted my still-sensitive eyes. I squinted and could barely make out the silhouettes of four bird pokemon. The light faded, revealing three Hoenn natives and a foreign pokemon I hadn't expected to run into. There was a skarmory, swellow, wingull, and even a fletchinder. The skarmory was expected; it was both Matt's starter and mount. It was only a few inches shorter than Matt, so about five-four or so.

That alone told me how young it was. It didn't look big enough to be a proper mount, but then again, pokemon. Its beady, yellow eyes looked out from beneath a helmet of steel feathers. Admittedly, it was a very intimidating bird, kind of like a cassowary with proper flight and a suit of scale mail. Matt's swellow and wingull were far more approachable. I wasn't surprised to see either; they were rather common to Hoenn. I assumed he had them the moment he said he specialized in birds.

They were noticeably smaller than the skarmory, even discounting the latter's long legs and neck. The two of them chirped their greetings before circling around my team curiously. His final pokemon was a fletchinder, a fire-flying dual type that looked like a cross between a falcon and a robin. It was only a little larger than the wingull, small enough to settle on Matt's shoulder and make a literal bird's nest of his hair.

"Huh, a fletchinder," I mused admiringly.

"I didn't expect you to have one." Matt looked at me with surprise. His mouth spread into a wide grin.

"Wait, you recognize this guy? Most people have never heard of his species before."

"I do. Native to Kalos, right? Fire-flying type? Mid-stage evolution of talonflame? They're very fast and agile, but kinda frail."

"That sounds about right. You know your stuff, huh?"

"I'd like to think so. How'd you find one? And did you find him as a fletchling or as a fletchinder?"

"Heh, are you interested in getting one for yourself? Talonflame are amazing pokemon, you know."

"Eh, not really for my team, but yeah, they're one of my favorite bird pokemon for sure," I said. In the games, Gale Wings used to be absolutely broken before the devs patched it. I'd learned in this life that the competitive game I knew was very different from battling, but I could see the attraction.

"I actually won him. Are you aware of the Feather Carnival in Fortree City?" he asked.

"It's this cool, flying type festival that's hosted by our gym."

"I am. A friend of mine won the junior flying type contest there."

"Wait, the really pretty girl with blue-green hair?" I was a little surprised to hear he'd seen Lisia there, but maybe I shouldn't have been. He started his journey there so he probably stuck around long enough to enjoy the festival one last time.

"Yup. Her name's Lisia and she's Gym Leader Wallace's niece."

"Wow, you know some impressive people," he said.

"But yeah, I won one of the smaller battle tournaments during the carnival and this little guy was my reward. Suits us both well, he wanted to be trained by the best flying type expert and that's me."

"I'm pretty sure that's Gym Leader Winona," I pointed out, taking the wind from his sails.

"Or Elite Drake? Is a salamence and an altaria enough to count him as an expert on flying types, too?"

"Well, yeah, but I'm one of her sponsored trainers and I'll be the best in this generation, just watch. And Drake doesn't count."

"Sure, I'm just messing with you."

"How about you, man? What's the story behind that chikorita? They're even rarer than a fletchinder in Hoenn." I glanced towards Magellan, who looked up at me with a disinterested shrug. I gave Matt a greatly edited version of my time in Petalburg Woods as we made our way towards Verdanturf Town. The road transitioned from mountain trails to verdant fields in short order. Flowers of every shape and size greeted us, bathing us in a constant wave of fragrance.

The view was as gorgeous as I remembered, not that I expected any changes in the few months I'd been away. Magellan enjoyed this shift the most. His leaf visibly perked up as he swayed happily. The greenery here was of a very different sort than the forest, but I had a feeling he'd be loath to leave.

"See, that's why I'm saying you should get a flying type. You can't beat their natural mobility," Matt told me. We were seated at one of several picnic areas for a quick break.

"Flying does sound nice, but I'm not sure I buy the mobility argument. Artoria will eventually master teleportation and you can't beat instant travel," I pointed out.

"Yeah, but the view, man. And waiting for a flying type to grow large enough to ride has got to be easier than waiting for your kirlia to master long-distance teleportation."

"You say that, Matt, but I noticed you trekked through Rusturf Tunnel with me. Given how little you enjoyed being underground, I figure you would have ridden your skarmory if that was an option."

"Hey, now, he'll be strong enough for distance flights soon enough. Then, it won't matter how far away the gyms are, I'll collect all the badges before you do, watch."

"How many do you have, anyway?" I asked curiously. Unlike me, he'd opted not to battle at all in the cave so I had no grasp of his team's strength.

"Just three, but I think I'm going at a good clip. I started in Fortree before taking a plane to Dewford. I figured it's kinda in the middle of nowhere anyway, so why not get it out of the way, y'know?"

"Makes sense. So Dewford to Rustboro?"

"Yup. I'll be following the regular circuit now. Wattson, Moore, then back down to Petalburg for Maple. How about you? You said you were from Mossdeep, right? Was that your first badge?"

"Yes, but no. I want my battle with mom to be my eighth."

"Wait, hold up. Your mom is the gym leader?"

"Huh… I thought I told you that already, but I guess not?" I said sheepishly.

"Yeah. It's not a secret or anything. Artoria's the daughter of Quinn and Alice, her gallade and gardevoir." Love this story? Find the genuine version on the author's preferred platform and support their work!

"Damn, no wonder you know Wallace's niece."

"Actually, I met Lisia because I'm also doing the contest circuit. We're not childhood friends or whatever you think we are."

"Sounds rough. I can't imagine running both gym and contest circuits. How many badges do you have again?"

"Three, same as you. I took a boat to Slateport, registered for the contest there, and then got my first badge in Mauville. Timing didn't line up right so I actually participated in my first contest right here in Verdanturf."

"No shit? Did you win?"

"Nah, we lost. Jeanne and I weren't nearly as good back then. She's the only one on my team who likes contests. We did get a ribbon in Oldale though."

"Cool, so you went from Mauville to Rustboro?"

"Petalburg, then Rustboro," I corrected.

"I'm not sure when I'll get around to Dewford, but you're right. It is a bit out of the way. Maybe when Durvasa evolves and has a better handle on the kind of fighter he wants to be."

"Dur-Oh, your mankey. Shoot, that's gotta be soon, right? I saw him tearing it up last night at the rest stop," Matt praised. Durvasa didn't say anything, but I could feel his emotions surge with pride.

"I'm hoping it will be before we get to Lavaridge."

"Man, you've got one of the most convoluted gym routes I've ever heard of. Mauville, Petalburg, Rustboro, Lavaridge, then… I guess Fortree or backtrack to Dewford? Then Sootopolis since you want to battle your mom last."

"Heh, I guess I'll be doing a ton of backtracking."

"Still think you don't need a good flying type?" I let out a rueful chuckle. We were in Verdanturf proper now and the pokemon center was in sight.

"We'll see. Like I said, I specialize in special cases. Not just any flying type will do."

"I still don't know what that means," Matt said. He looked up and watched his pokemon glide on the warm currents before breaking the silence again.

"Say, Aaron, your flaaffy. How strong is she?"

"Jeanne? I guess it depends on what you're comparing her to. As a flaaffy, she's not as mobile as Artoria or Durvasa, not as physically strong, either. She's also lacking a bit in type coverage, but that's more my fault than hers. I'd say she's in a good spot though. Why?"

"I meant for an electric type her age. How strong are her electric attacks?"

"Oh, very. That's one thing we have absolute confidence in. Her contest routine depends on it. Why?"

"Well, I'm going to be challenging Wattson in about two weeks and I figured since you've got an electric type, why not test out some of my anti-electric tactics?"

"Fair enough. Let's get our room keys then go a few rounds before dinner." X We each got a room to ourselves. Part of it was because, as gym-sponsored trainers, we got priority at pokemon centers. Another reason was that Verdanturf just wasn't a very popular destination for trainers doing the gym circuit, for obvious reasons. It was the definition of a "stop-n-go" town. As beautiful as the scenery was, there wasn't much to do here. That said, for me, there was merit to remaining here, at least until this weekend.

The normal-rank Verdanturf Contest, held monthly, was coming around again. And this time, Solidad and her slowbro weren't around to fist us up the ass. I had a good feeling about the contest. Jeanne thoroughly outclassed the average normal-rank pokemon. In skill, certainly, and most definitely in power. This would be my second ribbon, a much-needed addition if I wanted to meet Lisia at the Grand Festival.

"You're really going to stick around for a few days?" Matt asked from across the training ground. In front of him, his skarmory glowered down my flaaffy with an audible clack of his beak.

"The contest's coming up," I called back.

"Why, did you think we'd be traveling together to Mauville?"

"Eh, kinda?"

"Wouldn't have happened anyhow. I'm going to cut through the wild area straight to Lavaridge from Verdanturf. That way, I don't have to revisit Mauville."

"Damn, alright, then. Are you ready?"

"Yup. Jeanne, let's help them get ready for Wattson," I told her.

"Flaaf," she bleated. She lazily reached down and picked up a dandelion before stuffing it into her mouth. She glanced up at the skarmory and chewed slowly.

"Flaaffy…" I rolled my eyes. I didn't know what she said exactly, but judging by the flare of irritation in the skarmory's aura, it wasn't very nice. My little lamb was starting to develop an attitude, not that she hadn't been a sassy brat as a mareep. The battle began. The skarmory spread out his wings with the sound of unsheathing blades. And… he remained grounded. Rather than take to the sky, he stomped towards Jeanne like an ostrich, wings flapping behind to push him ever faster.

His head bowed low, of-height with his torso. His beak glinted like a spear, his intentions obvious. It was scary as fuck. At about thirty-five miles per hour or so, he was far from the fastest pokemon I'd ever seen, but there was something deeply unsettling about his charge. A bird made of metal had no business sprinting that fast. I imagined that staring down a mounted knight's joust must have felt something like this. Yet, Jeanne was not deterred.

She formed an Electro Ball on her tail before slamming it on the ground. Like she'd done against Chaz and Macherie, she allowed the rotating orb's momentum to spin her around, off the skarmory's line of attack. The skarmory wasn't very good at turning and so exposed his back to her. Seeing how this was not a contest battle and she didn't need to let him recover, lobbed the Electro Ball at his back with a gleeful bleat.

"Perfect!" Matt shouted.

"Ground yourself, like we practiced!"

"Skar!" His starter screeched. With one mighty kick, he drove his claws into the dirt, turning himself into a metal lightning rod. The Electro Ball struck, lighting up his armored body like a Christmas tree. And though he winced in pain, he reared his head with a defiant squawk.

"I guess that explains why you had your skarmory fight on the ground,' I mused. I offered him a slow clap.

"Can I assume that the rest of your team know Steel Wing as well?" Matt pumped his fist.

"Oh, yeah! You bet! My team's completely immune to our biggest counter now!" I looked at the skarmory, then at Jeanne. She glanced downward, at her opponent's foot. She'd noticed the obvious.

"Alright. We'll go all out then."

"Bring it!"

"Jeanne, Shock Wave. Bombardment, please." We watched as Matt's confidence died a slow, shocking death. His skarmory was able to grit his beak through the first salvo. And the second. And third. But by the fifth, he was visibly straining. Eventually, we called the match. Jeanne stood victorious, and barely out of breath. By the time we'd finished, she showed more interest in the stray dandelions than she did in her opponent.

"W-What went wrong?" Matt groaned as he handed off skarmory's ball to the nurse.

"Skarmory's the perfect lightning rod." I decided to give him a bit of help. He was fourteen, several months older than me. The strategy wasn't a bad one, just very limited.

"Matt, want some advice?"

"Huh? Yeah, sure. Why's your flaaffy so fast? She fired off so many Shock Waves back-to-back."

'That's because that's what she's trained for. Jeanne's primary combat style is rapid-fire bombardment."

"So how do I beat that? I've seen Winona use Steel Wing like this. She always won, even against ace trainers."

"Sure, but she's Winona, the region's foremost expert on flying types. You're not. I noticed a few weaknesses to this strategy."

"Yeah? Like what?"

"Well, first off, let's say you're in the middle of an open field. There's a thunderstorm and you're the tallest thing around. Lucky for you, you also have a metal fence post. You stick it in the ground, right? Then what?"

"You lie flat," he told me dryly.

"But humans aren't pokemon. My skarmory can take a ton of punishment."

"You lie flat. You don't keep holding the lightning rod because you're going to get shocked. Sure, it'll blunt most of the lightning's power, but some of it's still going to hurt you. Same thing with your skarmory," I said. I held out a hand to stop his protest.

"Yeah, skarmory's real tough, but that doesn't matter if Jeanne can keep hitting him without repercussions. Eventually, even he's going to get worn down."

"So you're saying I should figure out a way for skarmory to attack at range?"

"That would help, yes. Your tactic only works when your pokemon has something buried in the ground. Leg. Wing. Doesn't matter. It helps you deflect electric attacks, but it also sacrifices the most valuable advantage your pokemon has: flight."

"Now that you mention it, Winona mostly uses this tactic with her pelipper. That thing can still launch Scalds and Hydro Pumps like nobody's business."

"Exactly. I'm pretty sure swellow can learn Boomburst, too. And talonflame can learn all sorts of fire type moves. I'm not saying this tactic won't ever be useful, but it's risky as hell, and probably suicidal against a ranged electric type like Jeanne."

"Yeah, I see your point," he said dejectedly. He didn't seem too bright, but his heart was in the right place.

"Damn it. Should I go to Lavaridge? Leave Wattson for later?"

"I don't recommend it. Wattson's badge will only get harder." I thought about his dilemma. It was something every type specialist had to deal with eventually. At the elite-level, type advantages were more like suggestions; strategy, training, and individual conditioning mattered way more. But we weren't elites. We were rank amateurs and Matt was merely aping Winona's tactic. It was a pity. In my past life, I remembered skarmory being the posterboy for a wall in competitive pokemon.

Even in this life, skarmory were to be respected. Winona had one on her main team.

"Say, what moves does your skarmory know?" I asked Matt.

"Peck, Fury Attack, Roost, Steel Wing, Agility, and Aerial Ace," he said.

"Pretty standard stuff. Why?"

"Have you considered Whirlwind?"

"Whirlwind? I guess he can use it with one leg in the ground, but that wouldn't solve our problem."

"Spikes. Stealth Rock. Roost if you need to recover." That had been the recipe for a "phaser" in my past life.

"I mean, your skarmory already knows Roost so there's that."

"Hmm… So I'd focus on disrupting Wattson's team by forcing switches and setting the field."

"Yup. It's not perfect, but maybe you can pick up Whirlwind and either Spikes or Stealth Rock by the time you challenge Wattson."

"I'll think about it. Thanks, Aaron." I shrugged. Listen or not, it was no skin off my back.

"You're welcome. How'd you beat Roxanne?"

"Skarmory laughed off a lot of her attacks. And my wingull had a type advantage, just like they had one on her."

"Ah, fair enough. I can't think of any ground-flying dual types though, not unless you're willing to bend the 'birds only' rule and pick up a gligar at some point."

"Nope. Birds all the way."

"Then this will be your first major hurdle."

"Looks like it," he sighed.

"What would you do?"

"With your team?" I hummed in thought.

"I don't think your swellow's old enough to learn Boomburst, though I could be wrong."

"No, you're right. He's a recent evolution."

"Then I don't see a way for him to contribute except by making use of his natural speed. Double Team. Supersonic. Wait for a critical Quick Attack with Focus Energy. Oh, there's U-Turn, a bug type move he can learn via TM. I bet he'd make for a great pokemon to lead with."

"Hmm… Go on." I led him inside, towards the canteen. I remembered this place having a wonderful selection of berry products, all locally sourced.

"As for your wingull… She, right? How close would you say she is to evolving?"

"Very. She'll be much tougher then."

"I wonder if it'd make sense to hold off on the evolution until after the gym battle. Will her control over water significantly improve?"

"I… You know, I don't know the answer to that," he said as he passed me a jumbo-sized tray. We had to get food for our entire team, after all.

"You should figure that out. Water, pure water, doesn't conduct electricity. If your wingull can learn to generate pure water and use it as a cloak, similar in concept to Aqua Ring, it could really help her last in a battle."

"Got it. Thanks, Aaron. It'll eat into my savings, but some of those moves sound like they'd be useful even past Wattson. You mentioning TMs reminded me that skarmory can pick up Sand Tomb as well."

"They can? That's news to me," I replied truthfully. Sand Tomb was one of the most forgettable ground type moves. Its competitive niche was negligible, but that was in my past life. Maybe here, where moves were afforded far more creativity and flexibility, it could be a proper threat. We talked over dinner. Matt agreed to stay another day, but was otherwise in a rush to head out. I didn't blame him. Verdanturf was a small town. I doubted its local stores would have TMs like Spikes and Sand Tomb.

Author's Note For the curious, I've decided that a total of six ribbons are necessary for participation in the Grand Festival: three normal-rank to prove you're not a joke, and one each of super, hyper, and master-ranks. Requiring three at the normal-rank is designed as a bottleneck to weed out people who participate in their local contests, and nothing else.

A "serious" coordinator traveled to at least two other towns to experience the region, which is laughable for a battler, but potentially risky in terms of time off from your career, education, etc. for a normal person. Food Fact: Let's talk about virgins. No, not those virgins, perverts. Olive oil is "virgin" because of the way it is made. It just means that it has been pressed mechanically, not processed via heat to extract the oil, is thus the first of the batch.

"Extra virgin" just means it's the first of the first, the best, most flavorful of the batch. Strictly speaking, other oils can be virgin as well. It just doesn't matter as much for other plants for reasons I'm not sure about. Thank you for reading. To reach a wider audience, and because I enjoy a more forum-like setup to facilitate discussion, I like to crosspost to a wide variety of websites. You can find them all on my Link Tree: https: //linktr. ee/fabled. webs.