Chapter 1
New
Major_League_Trainer
Youngster
- Pronouns
- He/Him
Hi, I'm new here. I'm still figuring out how things work around here, so if I make a faux pas or break some rule, please let me know so I can fix it.
----
It’s one thing to see it all through a screen, as words on a document, and as colorful cartoon characters.
It’s another thing entirely to see the real thing- to be the real thing.
I’m a pokemon, now. A smeargle. I have three fingered hands, paws for feet, and a thick fur coat.
It’s less distressing than I was expecting.
This body was new, completely different both in structure and in substance, but it is still undeniably mine.
Seeing the other pokemon was a bit of a trip though.
A pack of rattata scurried around in the grass, freezing as I drew near.
I squatted down, and extended my three fingered hand.
(Foreign Yet Fair Activated!)
One of them, evidently the bravest of the bunch, came closer, wiggling its nose cutely as it sniffed me. Evidently whatever it found, it was non-threatening, because it drew up on it’s back legs so it could grab my own much larger fingers with it’s own much smaller hands.
They scattered almost instantly, as an ear cracking boom rang out.
Within that same instant, I instinctively flexed some internal muscle, and a move I instinctively knew activated.
(Mythical Achievement Activated!)
‘Sketch’. The sole natural move of my species. The whole reason I chose to be a smeargle instead of an incineroar, or a tyranitar.
And now, a second move has been added to my repertoire. ‘Teleport’.
I pushed aside the influx of knowledge that came with the new move, in favor of inspecting just what happened.
From the spatial warp a dark mass dropped straight down and splattered against the ground. It reconstituted itself, slowly and painfully dragging itself back into one whole.
The dark mass then went limp, as a pair of eye searingly bright golden eyes opened, at first wildly, and then tiredly, gasping for breath through it’s small pink mouth.
I walked over, and sat down next to it. I waited patiently, as it caught its breath.
“You are my jumper.” It gasped out, in between heaving breaths.
“I am.” I replied. The silence hung in the air for a few moments. “So, you know about this… whole situation?”
“I do.” The dark mass replied, “Your benefactor explained it to me: I, and two others, are your eternal companions, and in return you use a portion of her blessing to empower us.”
I sighed, “Yeah, I guess you could describe it like that.”
We sat in silence for a time, before it decided to reopen the conversation. “What are you?” It asked bluntly. “I’ve only ever seen humans, and my siblings.”
“I’m a smeargle.” I replied, “Our thing is that we don’t learn moves naturally. We just have the move Sketch, which copies other moves permanently.”
“Do you know what I am?” the blob asked next,
“You don’t know?” I asked, a little surprised.
“I never had a chance to speak to my siblings,” he said, “And the humans who operated the facility did not speak to me directly.”
That… is concerning for a number of reasons. “You are a cosmog.” I said, “The first stage of a three-stage evolution line-”
“What does that mean?” Cosmog asked,
“It means you’ll become a whole new species twice, changing into a much stronger form each time.” I explained patiently, knowing that Cosmogs had a species wide predilection towards curiosity. “Your second form is just a larger, much more durable version of your current body, but your final form is orders of magnitude more powerful. A god of either the sun or the moon, depending on what time of day you evolve.”
“What does ‘god’ mean?” It asked,
“A god is a supreme being of sorts.” I said, “A god has ultimate authority, and power beyond anything else.”
“And… I will become one?” Cosmog questioned,
“Yes.” I answered, “You’ll become a god. There is I reason that I chose you as one of my companions.”
Cosmog sat silent, as I patiently waited for it to collect its thoughts.
And then a human came from the brush.
(Righteous Lord’s Roar Activated!)
Cosmog teleported, hiding behind my back out of sight from the human.
The human wore impractical clothes: a long skirt, a cardigan over a thick wool sweater, and short ankled slippers more suited to hardwood floor than the thick brush of a forest.
Beside her floated a small figure, a paper white humanoid the size of a paper clip carrying a flower by its pistil.
I only half paid attention to them. Instead, I directed my focus to Cosmog, who was trembling in terror as it pressed itself flat against my back, desperately staying out of view from the human.
“You- you’re the Jumper, right?” she asked,
“I- I am.” I said, stumbling as I forced my vocal cords to make noises that match human speech.
“Ah, I’m Anne.” She said, introducing herself, “And this is Aurora.” She gestured to the small figure, who shyly waved a tiny nub towards me.
I stood up, turned to look over my shoulder, “Cosmog, this human is one of my companions. She isn’t going to hurt you.” I said, suddenly becoming aware of how I wasn’t speaking english.
“Are- are you sure?” It asked,
“I am sure.” I replied,
I felt it as Cosmog physically fortified itself, hardening, as it floated up, peaking over my shoulder.
“This is Cosmog.” I said, “He- they are also my companion.”
“Nice to meet you, Cosmog.” She said,
“Nice to meet you.” Aurora echoed, in pokemon speech.
“My name is- well, it isn’t important.” I said, “But I usually just go by Cael.”
Anne just smiled awkwardly.
“So, what is the plan? Are we going on a journey?” she asked.
I nodded, “Well, my goal is to get stronger, and I can train practically anywhere, especially since Cosmog and I both know Teleport. So a journey isn’t especially important.”
“I want to go on a journey!” Aurora spoke up, her small voice straining to be heard,
“Aurora wants to go on a journey.” I repeated for Anne.
“Really?” She said, glancing down at the small pokemon, “I thought-” She cut herself off, “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. Things are different now.”
----
Anne swallowed nervously, as she sat across from the Jumper.
Anne had seen smeargles before. She went to a smeargle fan convention back when she went on her first journey.
She even thought about getting one herself, though she ultimately decided against it.
But Cael was unlike any other smeargle she had ever seen before. He was larger, wider, and wearing broad powerful muscles like a proud knight wears armor.
He exhaled, a noise that reminded her of a train releasing steam, and stood up.
He was larger than she thought he’d be, she didn’t even reach half his height. And Anne was actually rather tall.
“So, you’ll be our trainer, right?” he asked, in that facsimile of a human voice, just a bit too deep and hoarse to sound right, before turning to the small gaseous ball of cosmic space dust resting on his shoulder, and rumbling. He turned back to her and said, “Cosmog, and I, I mean.”
Anne hesitated, “Well…” She said, “I guess so.”
It was a bit uncomfortable for her to be the trainer of a pokemon she was fairly certain used to be a human. Plus, she didn’t really have the best track record as a trainer anyway.
“So, um, are you hungry?” Anne asked, “Or should we get straight to training?”
“I’m not hungry.” the monstrous smeargle said, “And neither is Cosmog.”
Alright then, that is one issue put off till later.
Still, there was another issue. “So, um, I’m not actually sure how to train smeargles, or whatever Cosmog is.” She said, deciding that honesty was for the best, “I was a fairy specialist.”
“That’s fine.” Cael said, “I have a good idea on how we should train anyway.”
“So, what should I do?” She asked,
The smeargle shrugged in an eerily human motion, “You have the perk Nature’s Wonders, right? I guess you should make stuff with it that we could use. Get Aurora to grow you some fruits to make into pokeballs to capture me, or to make into pokemon steroids or something.”
“That makes sense,” She said, easily agreeing to his statement, “So- wait, what do you mean get Aurora to grow fruits?”
He just looked over to the flabebe directly, and rumbled, and she chittered back.
“She will demonstrate.” the smeargle said.
And then Aurora floated up and over into the center of the forest clearing.
And then, without warning, life surged into existence.
The grass lengthened, turning a deep vibrant green. Wild flowers sprouted on the ground, as the bushes nearby became gravid with berries and the trees with fruit.
More than that, there came a certain warmth that Anne knew had nothing to do with temperature. She could feel that warmth flow through her, healing small bruises from bumping into furniture, removing the mark of nearly two decades of life on her joints, leaving Anne feeling revitalized.
Anne stared wide eyed at her starter.
Aurora chirped happily, before flying in towards Anne for a hug.
Anne embraced the tiny fairy type, mostly on auto pilot as she struggled to reconcile this immensely potent Grassy Terrain with the pokemon who could barely use Razor Leaf.
“So, for today, I think the smart thing to do is to see what each of us are capable of, right?” He said,
“Yeah.” Anne agreed,
“So, Cosmog, you want to go first?” The strange pokemon let out a distressingly deep roar, sounding like a distorted roar of a distant pyroar, “Yeah, Cosmog will go first.”
The cosmic cloud floated upwards, like Aurora had moments prior, and exerted it’s psychic presence.
The earth twisted and warped, and the vibrant plant life receded, in favor of a flat pink ground and distant dark purple skies.
“What- what is this?” Anne asked, alarmed, as Aurora drew closer to her.
“Psychic Terrain.” Cael calmly answered, “It is the psychic equivalent to Aurora’s Grassy Terrain.”
Cosmog roared again sounding so much louder. The ground shook, as a massive blast of psychic energy opened a large trench in the ground.
“That was Psychic.” he casually said, not at all alarmed by the sheer scale of the damage being done not even twenty feet away.
The ground around the cosmog suddenly cratered, like a massive sinkhole, and that crater terminated just a scant few inches away from her.
“That was Gravity.”
Anne realized that she was extremely out of her depth.
Cosmog then teleported away and then back.
“That was Teleport.”
The Psychic Terrain vanished, but the damage to the ground and the surroundings remained.
“Alright,” Cael said, “Aurora, you want to go, or should I?”
The flabebe trilled, as she floated forward. Once more plant life surged, even in the crater and trench that Cosmog opened in the earth.
Aurora knew five moves, Tackle, Fairy Wind, Vine Whip, Razor Leaf, and now Grassy Terrain.
And one after another, she demonstrated.
To Anne’s carefully hidden disappointment, her Tackle and Fairy Wind were underwhelming, no stronger than they had been before she received the blessing of the Benefactor.
No, the changes were with Vine Whip and Razor Leaf.
Before, her Vine Whip was a single vine the width of a shoelace, and carrying similar amounts of force. But now, a dozen vines of varying widths, ranging from her finger to her arm in size whipped around at the air, whistling and crackling with the sheer speed and force they carried.
The Razor Leaf, on the other hand, was a dark green cloud of leaves resounding with a deafening shriek as it shredded entire trees into sawdust.
“Sweet, now, my turn.” the smeargle said.
A few minutes later, as the smeargle’s own demonstration came to an end, Anne then realized that she struck gold with this group of monsters.
----
The strength of a pokemon is, in large part, up to chance.
This is simply due to the fact that pokemon trainers keep information on lockdown.
Even something like what moves can a given pokemon learn is treated as extremely important family secrets.
And that means that, for an independent trainer, any and all training methods need to be refined through trial and error.
Take for example, Cosmog.
Is training psychic power the same as training physical power, in that gaining strength does not enhance endurance? Because in that case, that means that Cosmog needs to prioritize endurance above all else, since it can only fire off three consecutive Psychics before needing a break.
Does increasing psychic power increase endurance by reducing the percentage of total power necessary for an action? Because if that is true, then Cosmog should be prioritizing raw power above all else.
Do power and endurance training require the same amount of rest after each workout? How does training then both at the same time affect total systemic load? Does psychic ability even grow through breakdown and recovery like muscle does? Do moves even use the same psychic ‘muscle’?
The answer to all of those questions is ‘I don’t know, and I can’t change that without months, maybe years, of study’.
So, the solution Anne and I came up with was to train as close to a real battle as we could manage.
As we had three pokemon, we settled on a fairly simple system.
Since I’m by far the most durable and with better endurance than both of them combined, I stay in, while Cosmog and Aurora switch off whenever they get more tired.
The fact that I have their combined moveset meant that they did a lot of their growth just by copying me.
When I asked my benefactor for complete mastery right off the bat for any moves I copied using Sketch, she really came through.
It made fighting me a bitch and a half.
And since Aurora could copy that mastery with ease, that meant that fighting her was a bitch and a half.
Cosmog was a bit of an issue, though. Since it had very lacking in endurance and raw power, it couldn’t really copy me like Aurora did.
Still, between me and Aurora, Anne decided that, after only a week of training, it was time to go and fight our first gym battle.
This is a pokemon fanfiction based off of the Pokemon Anime Jumpchain by Regalus.
To those of you who are interested, the build, and the source document, will be posted shortly.
To those of you who are not familiar with Jumpchain, it is a sort of role playing game, where you take these prompts, which each give you a budget to purchase various perks, items, and companions, along with the option of taking drawbacks in exchange for a larger budget.
The basic premise is that the player is you, a literal self-insert, and that they get to go to a fictional world, and if they survive a full ten years, they get the choice to go back home to Earth, remain in their current world, or proceed to another fictional world where they will receive another chance to purchase more.
The protagonist of this fic is one such ‘player’, called a Jumper. This is his first time, his first ‘jump’, as such, he lacks any fully out of context powers, beyond what he recieved as he came to this world.
To quickly summarize his build, he has chosen to be a complete ‘Drop-In’, appearing ex-nihilo as what is essentially an alpha smeargle, with a number of fairly potent perks ensuring him against various forms of pokemon thievery, and providing immense skill and ability with the move Sketch, among other things.
In addition he has purchased three total companions, a trainer, a cosmog, and a flabebe, all three with their own sets of perks, items and drawbacks.
Now, as for the direction of this fanfiction, it is a journey fic of sorts. The protagonist will be undertaking the Gym Challenge in Johto, and, after that, continue to explore other regions, battling powerful trainers, among other things.
As an experimental format, and because the perks can be rather esoteric in function, I will also be inserting notifications when each perk comes into play.
As a final word, please let me know what you liked about this fic, and especially let me know what you didn’t like. I am always striving to improve as an author, and I am not always the best judge of quality for my own works.
To those of you who are interested, the build, and the source document, will be posted shortly.
To those of you who are not familiar with Jumpchain, it is a sort of role playing game, where you take these prompts, which each give you a budget to purchase various perks, items, and companions, along with the option of taking drawbacks in exchange for a larger budget.
The basic premise is that the player is you, a literal self-insert, and that they get to go to a fictional world, and if they survive a full ten years, they get the choice to go back home to Earth, remain in their current world, or proceed to another fictional world where they will receive another chance to purchase more.
The protagonist of this fic is one such ‘player’, called a Jumper. This is his first time, his first ‘jump’, as such, he lacks any fully out of context powers, beyond what he recieved as he came to this world.
To quickly summarize his build, he has chosen to be a complete ‘Drop-In’, appearing ex-nihilo as what is essentially an alpha smeargle, with a number of fairly potent perks ensuring him against various forms of pokemon thievery, and providing immense skill and ability with the move Sketch, among other things.
In addition he has purchased three total companions, a trainer, a cosmog, and a flabebe, all three with their own sets of perks, items and drawbacks.
Now, as for the direction of this fanfiction, it is a journey fic of sorts. The protagonist will be undertaking the Gym Challenge in Johto, and, after that, continue to explore other regions, battling powerful trainers, among other things.
As an experimental format, and because the perks can be rather esoteric in function, I will also be inserting notifications when each perk comes into play.
As a final word, please let me know what you liked about this fic, and especially let me know what you didn’t like. I am always striving to improve as an author, and I am not always the best judge of quality for my own works.
Violence, Child Abuse, Pokemon Abuse, Profanity, Intended for older audiences.
This is not torture porn, gore porn, or even a tragedy. This is just a journey fic depicting more mature themes. If you feel that any of the content I have included in this story requires it's own warning, or is otherwise not suited for this forum, please let me know so I can correct it.
This is not torture porn, gore porn, or even a tragedy. This is just a journey fic depicting more mature themes. If you feel that any of the content I have included in this story requires it's own warning, or is otherwise not suited for this forum, please let me know so I can correct it.
----
It’s one thing to see it all through a screen, as words on a document, and as colorful cartoon characters.
It’s another thing entirely to see the real thing- to be the real thing.
I’m a pokemon, now. A smeargle. I have three fingered hands, paws for feet, and a thick fur coat.
It’s less distressing than I was expecting.
This body was new, completely different both in structure and in substance, but it is still undeniably mine.
Seeing the other pokemon was a bit of a trip though.
A pack of rattata scurried around in the grass, freezing as I drew near.
I squatted down, and extended my three fingered hand.
(Foreign Yet Fair Activated!)
One of them, evidently the bravest of the bunch, came closer, wiggling its nose cutely as it sniffed me. Evidently whatever it found, it was non-threatening, because it drew up on it’s back legs so it could grab my own much larger fingers with it’s own much smaller hands.
They scattered almost instantly, as an ear cracking boom rang out.
Within that same instant, I instinctively flexed some internal muscle, and a move I instinctively knew activated.
(Mythical Achievement Activated!)
‘Sketch’. The sole natural move of my species. The whole reason I chose to be a smeargle instead of an incineroar, or a tyranitar.
And now, a second move has been added to my repertoire. ‘Teleport’.
I pushed aside the influx of knowledge that came with the new move, in favor of inspecting just what happened.
From the spatial warp a dark mass dropped straight down and splattered against the ground. It reconstituted itself, slowly and painfully dragging itself back into one whole.
The dark mass then went limp, as a pair of eye searingly bright golden eyes opened, at first wildly, and then tiredly, gasping for breath through it’s small pink mouth.
I walked over, and sat down next to it. I waited patiently, as it caught its breath.
“You are my jumper.” It gasped out, in between heaving breaths.
“I am.” I replied. The silence hung in the air for a few moments. “So, you know about this… whole situation?”
“I do.” The dark mass replied, “Your benefactor explained it to me: I, and two others, are your eternal companions, and in return you use a portion of her blessing to empower us.”
I sighed, “Yeah, I guess you could describe it like that.”
We sat in silence for a time, before it decided to reopen the conversation. “What are you?” It asked bluntly. “I’ve only ever seen humans, and my siblings.”
“I’m a smeargle.” I replied, “Our thing is that we don’t learn moves naturally. We just have the move Sketch, which copies other moves permanently.”
“Do you know what I am?” the blob asked next,
“You don’t know?” I asked, a little surprised.
“I never had a chance to speak to my siblings,” he said, “And the humans who operated the facility did not speak to me directly.”
That… is concerning for a number of reasons. “You are a cosmog.” I said, “The first stage of a three-stage evolution line-”
“What does that mean?” Cosmog asked,
“It means you’ll become a whole new species twice, changing into a much stronger form each time.” I explained patiently, knowing that Cosmogs had a species wide predilection towards curiosity. “Your second form is just a larger, much more durable version of your current body, but your final form is orders of magnitude more powerful. A god of either the sun or the moon, depending on what time of day you evolve.”
“What does ‘god’ mean?” It asked,
“A god is a supreme being of sorts.” I said, “A god has ultimate authority, and power beyond anything else.”
“And… I will become one?” Cosmog questioned,
“Yes.” I answered, “You’ll become a god. There is I reason that I chose you as one of my companions.”
Cosmog sat silent, as I patiently waited for it to collect its thoughts.
And then a human came from the brush.
(Righteous Lord’s Roar Activated!)
Cosmog teleported, hiding behind my back out of sight from the human.
The human wore impractical clothes: a long skirt, a cardigan over a thick wool sweater, and short ankled slippers more suited to hardwood floor than the thick brush of a forest.
Beside her floated a small figure, a paper white humanoid the size of a paper clip carrying a flower by its pistil.
I only half paid attention to them. Instead, I directed my focus to Cosmog, who was trembling in terror as it pressed itself flat against my back, desperately staying out of view from the human.
“You- you’re the Jumper, right?” she asked,
“I- I am.” I said, stumbling as I forced my vocal cords to make noises that match human speech.
“Ah, I’m Anne.” She said, introducing herself, “And this is Aurora.” She gestured to the small figure, who shyly waved a tiny nub towards me.
I stood up, turned to look over my shoulder, “Cosmog, this human is one of my companions. She isn’t going to hurt you.” I said, suddenly becoming aware of how I wasn’t speaking english.
“Are- are you sure?” It asked,
“I am sure.” I replied,
I felt it as Cosmog physically fortified itself, hardening, as it floated up, peaking over my shoulder.
“This is Cosmog.” I said, “He- they are also my companion.”
“Nice to meet you, Cosmog.” She said,
“Nice to meet you.” Aurora echoed, in pokemon speech.
“My name is- well, it isn’t important.” I said, “But I usually just go by Cael.”
Anne just smiled awkwardly.
“So, what is the plan? Are we going on a journey?” she asked.
I nodded, “Well, my goal is to get stronger, and I can train practically anywhere, especially since Cosmog and I both know Teleport. So a journey isn’t especially important.”
“I want to go on a journey!” Aurora spoke up, her small voice straining to be heard,
“Aurora wants to go on a journey.” I repeated for Anne.
“Really?” She said, glancing down at the small pokemon, “I thought-” She cut herself off, “Well, I guess it doesn’t matter. Things are different now.”
----
Anne swallowed nervously, as she sat across from the Jumper.
Anne had seen smeargles before. She went to a smeargle fan convention back when she went on her first journey.
She even thought about getting one herself, though she ultimately decided against it.
But Cael was unlike any other smeargle she had ever seen before. He was larger, wider, and wearing broad powerful muscles like a proud knight wears armor.
He exhaled, a noise that reminded her of a train releasing steam, and stood up.
He was larger than she thought he’d be, she didn’t even reach half his height. And Anne was actually rather tall.
“So, you’ll be our trainer, right?” he asked, in that facsimile of a human voice, just a bit too deep and hoarse to sound right, before turning to the small gaseous ball of cosmic space dust resting on his shoulder, and rumbling. He turned back to her and said, “Cosmog, and I, I mean.”
Anne hesitated, “Well…” She said, “I guess so.”
It was a bit uncomfortable for her to be the trainer of a pokemon she was fairly certain used to be a human. Plus, she didn’t really have the best track record as a trainer anyway.
“So, um, are you hungry?” Anne asked, “Or should we get straight to training?”
“I’m not hungry.” the monstrous smeargle said, “And neither is Cosmog.”
Alright then, that is one issue put off till later.
Still, there was another issue. “So, um, I’m not actually sure how to train smeargles, or whatever Cosmog is.” She said, deciding that honesty was for the best, “I was a fairy specialist.”
“That’s fine.” Cael said, “I have a good idea on how we should train anyway.”
“So, what should I do?” She asked,
The smeargle shrugged in an eerily human motion, “You have the perk Nature’s Wonders, right? I guess you should make stuff with it that we could use. Get Aurora to grow you some fruits to make into pokeballs to capture me, or to make into pokemon steroids or something.”
“That makes sense,” She said, easily agreeing to his statement, “So- wait, what do you mean get Aurora to grow fruits?”
He just looked over to the flabebe directly, and rumbled, and she chittered back.
“She will demonstrate.” the smeargle said.
And then Aurora floated up and over into the center of the forest clearing.
And then, without warning, life surged into existence.
The grass lengthened, turning a deep vibrant green. Wild flowers sprouted on the ground, as the bushes nearby became gravid with berries and the trees with fruit.
More than that, there came a certain warmth that Anne knew had nothing to do with temperature. She could feel that warmth flow through her, healing small bruises from bumping into furniture, removing the mark of nearly two decades of life on her joints, leaving Anne feeling revitalized.
Anne stared wide eyed at her starter.
Aurora chirped happily, before flying in towards Anne for a hug.
Anne embraced the tiny fairy type, mostly on auto pilot as she struggled to reconcile this immensely potent Grassy Terrain with the pokemon who could barely use Razor Leaf.
“So, for today, I think the smart thing to do is to see what each of us are capable of, right?” He said,
“Yeah.” Anne agreed,
“So, Cosmog, you want to go first?” The strange pokemon let out a distressingly deep roar, sounding like a distorted roar of a distant pyroar, “Yeah, Cosmog will go first.”
The cosmic cloud floated upwards, like Aurora had moments prior, and exerted it’s psychic presence.
The earth twisted and warped, and the vibrant plant life receded, in favor of a flat pink ground and distant dark purple skies.
“What- what is this?” Anne asked, alarmed, as Aurora drew closer to her.
“Psychic Terrain.” Cael calmly answered, “It is the psychic equivalent to Aurora’s Grassy Terrain.”
Cosmog roared again sounding so much louder. The ground shook, as a massive blast of psychic energy opened a large trench in the ground.
“That was Psychic.” he casually said, not at all alarmed by the sheer scale of the damage being done not even twenty feet away.
The ground around the cosmog suddenly cratered, like a massive sinkhole, and that crater terminated just a scant few inches away from her.
“That was Gravity.”
Anne realized that she was extremely out of her depth.
Cosmog then teleported away and then back.
“That was Teleport.”
The Psychic Terrain vanished, but the damage to the ground and the surroundings remained.
“Alright,” Cael said, “Aurora, you want to go, or should I?”
The flabebe trilled, as she floated forward. Once more plant life surged, even in the crater and trench that Cosmog opened in the earth.
Aurora knew five moves, Tackle, Fairy Wind, Vine Whip, Razor Leaf, and now Grassy Terrain.
And one after another, she demonstrated.
To Anne’s carefully hidden disappointment, her Tackle and Fairy Wind were underwhelming, no stronger than they had been before she received the blessing of the Benefactor.
No, the changes were with Vine Whip and Razor Leaf.
Before, her Vine Whip was a single vine the width of a shoelace, and carrying similar amounts of force. But now, a dozen vines of varying widths, ranging from her finger to her arm in size whipped around at the air, whistling and crackling with the sheer speed and force they carried.
The Razor Leaf, on the other hand, was a dark green cloud of leaves resounding with a deafening shriek as it shredded entire trees into sawdust.
“Sweet, now, my turn.” the smeargle said.
A few minutes later, as the smeargle’s own demonstration came to an end, Anne then realized that she struck gold with this group of monsters.
----
The strength of a pokemon is, in large part, up to chance.
This is simply due to the fact that pokemon trainers keep information on lockdown.
Even something like what moves can a given pokemon learn is treated as extremely important family secrets.
And that means that, for an independent trainer, any and all training methods need to be refined through trial and error.
Take for example, Cosmog.
Is training psychic power the same as training physical power, in that gaining strength does not enhance endurance? Because in that case, that means that Cosmog needs to prioritize endurance above all else, since it can only fire off three consecutive Psychics before needing a break.
Does increasing psychic power increase endurance by reducing the percentage of total power necessary for an action? Because if that is true, then Cosmog should be prioritizing raw power above all else.
Do power and endurance training require the same amount of rest after each workout? How does training then both at the same time affect total systemic load? Does psychic ability even grow through breakdown and recovery like muscle does? Do moves even use the same psychic ‘muscle’?
The answer to all of those questions is ‘I don’t know, and I can’t change that without months, maybe years, of study’.
So, the solution Anne and I came up with was to train as close to a real battle as we could manage.
As we had three pokemon, we settled on a fairly simple system.
Since I’m by far the most durable and with better endurance than both of them combined, I stay in, while Cosmog and Aurora switch off whenever they get more tired.
The fact that I have their combined moveset meant that they did a lot of their growth just by copying me.
When I asked my benefactor for complete mastery right off the bat for any moves I copied using Sketch, she really came through.
It made fighting me a bitch and a half.
And since Aurora could copy that mastery with ease, that meant that fighting her was a bitch and a half.
Cosmog was a bit of an issue, though. Since it had very lacking in endurance and raw power, it couldn’t really copy me like Aurora did.
Still, between me and Aurora, Anne decided that, after only a week of training, it was time to go and fight our first gym battle.