Hm. I just realized, did we ever see what Mundane Clay is like when used on the other members of the team? I'm especially interested in Bellossom. Would it turn her into a lizard like the one Fire transformation? Or would she be a mammal, without her Grass type?
Typechange Johto
- Thread starter E.I.G.
- Start date
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- Tags
- pokemon sequel transformation
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
A good question. The reason the others have not tried it is simply that it has a week long term, and none of them are interested enough in the Normal type to spend a week as one. Now, with Celebi's teaching of how they might be able to cut down those times that might change, and I might need to note that down as something to work out for when that is available.
Placement Testing
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
--- Placement Testing ---
They emerged out of the catering supply store, and ran immediately into the local Gym Leader. William was in no way happy with being ambushed by another Gym Leader given what happened the last time.
"Assistant Larch, could I set up some time this week to speak with you about using Mundane Clay?" Whitney asked, and William realized there was a worse possibility for this moment than another extreme challenge. "I heard about that substance from a new report from the Ruins of Alph, and you were mentioned as being familiar with it."
"Alexa, as your Starter and the pokemon who will likely face the strongest one she can justify for an official match, I implore you to set this after we are done with the Gym battle," Charizard requested sensibly.
"I'm not going to use a pokemon that has just been given a new type without at least a week of working with them on it," Whitney complained with a huff after they all froze at Charizard's translator repeating that request. "I just got some strange instructions from the place that sells the stuff, and I want an expert on hand in case there is an issue."
"I still probably want to wait until after the Gym match," Alexa admitted with a thoughtful ribbit that had William worried. Alexa only ribbited when she was considering something strange. "If only because it lasts a whole week and we need to work out if it works on you too somehow."
"Is being Normal typed as a human from the clay really that impressive?" Whitney questioned a bit smugly. William flinched at that poorly considered comment.
"Well, given I am currently a Poison typed human, and a friend of ours who uses the stuff was warned about possibly becoming a weasel of some kind I think so," Alexa informed the Gym Leader with some confusion. "Not to mention there is some concern about excess sticking to your hands if it doesn't work on you. That can be a hazard for any pokemon you interact with if you don't clean them properly."
"The weasel thing was about humans?" Whitney asked quietly. "Okay, yeah that is something to wait until I have free time for it then. I don't think I can risk spending a week as a pokemon. Falkner's arguments for how that can be done and still run your Gym aren't that great."
"Has news of our third Gym matches reached here yet?" William found himself asking before he fully thought through the question. He cringed, his vulpine face fully visible making the movement more obvious, if possibly harder to read and easy to mistake for anger.
"Do I want to know what Bugsy did?" the local Gym Leader asked, then shook her head. "Wait, no, I definitely do, but I do not want to make you tell me if it is bad enough I need to be asked that. I guess that's all I was interested in for right now. Do you know when you plan on signing up for a match? I can tell you a general timeline for when I am open for the next two weeks. We've just finished up most of the nearby none and one Badge trainers who arrived by train in time to sign up for the League this year."
"Not today or tomorrow for us," Charizard said, and then continued after the currently Water/Poison type got a glare from Alexa. "I don't think our list of things we need is short enough to get everything in one day," the Starter explained. "Especially with how we are going to get stopped by curious people like Leader Whitney here all day."
"I'm going to have to agree there," William added with a thought to his own supply list. He needed to shop for quite a few things that he had been even less prepared to run out of than Alexa's team, and also would be openly a Zoroark for the first time in a big city. "At least the day after tomorrow."
"It is going to be at least four days then," Whitney specified. "Today is a day off for my Gym pokemon, but tomorrow would be the day for free slots in my schedule to VIP trainers. The next two days after that are booked full, and if you don't want to wait an entire week after that it is going to have to be on different days." That sounded like a fairly full schedule to William, but at the same time he could understand that it was likely a result of being in such a big city.
"Can you give us the times you have?" Alexa asked, which sounded like a good idea. "Also if there are going to be any conditions."
"For a fourth Badge match?" Whitney asked. "Only if you want to do something tricky, and I mean beyond what I've heard about so far from Douglas and Falkner. Douglas in particular was torn on if he was happy or disappointed to get your team for his first Gym match." William contemplated that initial question. Admittedly he had been in only standard fights with Gyms so far, but after the last one he was sure that things would get more complicated now. "I'm not going to like hearing what Bugsy did at all I can see," Whitney added as she looked at their faces.
"No, I don't think you will," Alexa admitted, and William had to look away from both of them. He wasn't sure he was up for whatever faces they were making.
---
They spent most of the rest of the day going between food and travel supplies shops. As a result the specific pokemon care items and other things that had worn out more by chance than being expended from travel were delayed to the next day. Charizard personally felt that they could probably afford to hold off on that for another day given they also needed to find a training field before their scheduled Gym matches.
"Alexa?" Whitney questioned them as they emerged from the hotel to get started with that. Given that Charizard's trainer was a Lobasalt today that was a fair enough thing to question. His trainer bobbed her body in something that worked as a nod. "I've looked into what Bugsy pulled. Do you want another third Badge match, or are you going for a fourth?"
"Fourth, I want to just get past that," Alexa bluntly replied. "At this point I just want to get on with the rest of the League."
"To change topics," Charizard added before the Leader could reply, then paused as he considered the letter he had received the day before. "The League has requested that I have one or more Gym Leaders assess my skill level to determine what Badge ranking is appropriate for me. I'm not registered in the current League, and don't have any proper Gym Badges yet only a League one, so I should try and work it around any current League matches."
"I thought you were a Starter, not a trainer," Whitney pointed out with a curious look at both of the proper trainers next to him. He was glad she could recognize him as well given he was in his natural form for today.
"It is a bit of a long story. My parents, or well, the humans who helped raise me, taught me to read and write. That made them think it would be a good idea to sign me up for the full trainer classes and registration," he explained with a shrug. The lack of tone from his new translator wasn't the best for this, but it did let him speak for himself. "Apparently the League wants to know what I've learned as a Starter."
"Hmm, that actually is something I've had to deal with before. From a set of pokemon-trainers that used to be pair trainers. One decided they only liked the Starter side better, while the other preferred the trainer part," Whitney said with a nod. "Two Zorua at the time. They waited for eighth Badge to challenge me, and the one who didn't want to keep being a trainer found out from the local League that they still needed to be tested for their ranking." She nodded decisively. "You will need to check with a second Gym Leader to fully verify, which was a problem for them, but I can spare some time for that today if your trainer can spare you."
Charizard clicked off the translator. "William, stick with Alexa. Make sure she doesn't go through the extra money we got from Celebi too fast," he requested.
"Are you sure you want to do this alone?" Alexa asked, without any argument about that request.
"I want this done and over with, and it shouldn't tie us up more than it has to," Charizard replied bluntly. "We can put off shopping if you want, but I'd rather not interrupt the search for a training field we can use like that."
"Okay, alright," Alexa allowed with a bit of a huff. "But stay safe, okay?"
Charizard switched the translator back on. "I should be fine, annoyed at most," he said to return the conversation to human understanding. "Will I need anything in particular for this?"
"No, the test is specifically for trainers without proper teams. You will be using Gym pokemon when needed," Whitney clarified. "It is common enough, and usually private. The average trainer without their own team who needs to be assessed doesn't want to make a spectacle of it."
"I'd prefer that honestly," Charizard admitted with relief that for the first time he was truly upset was not translated. "I don't suppose you have a better translator there?"
"Unfortunately not, but I can hear your tone alright past it," the Gym Leader informed him.
---
A pokemon following the local Gym Leader was much less interesting than one on their own, so Charizard managed to get to the Gym without any real issue. Once inside Whitney quickly led him to a side room, that seemed to be for small lectures. "Alright, so the first part is going to be a written test. I'm going to need a bit to get the papers and get you entered into the system. Do you have any questions before I leave you here to get those?" the Gym Leader questioned.
"Is it going to be a while? This doesn't seem like it is actually common enough of a thing to just have these on hand," he asked with a chuckle.
"Technically this is something that all teamless trainers are supposed to take every year, but nobody has the time to schedule them for anyone who isn't notable," Whitney answered easily. "Anyone who previously had four Badges and is traveling with an active trainer, or anyone who gets caught up in a major event who doesn't have their own team."
"So I probably should have had one before now then?" Charizard asked with a blink. "From the way things sound I was probably on that list already."
"It is mostly just so people like me can look at the local Pokemon Center listing of nearby trainers and work out who can handle some extra pokemon to deal with a disaster," the Gym Leader answered. "That isn't normally a big deal to have fully up to date given there are usually enough trainers who do have teams on hand, but it is important to have good records. Someone who should only be relied on to watch pokemon to keep them safe out of the fight should have only one or two Badge ranking, while people who can actually take an unfamiliar pokemon and help them fight should be ranked at least four."
"So, how high can this push me?" Charizard asked thoughtfully. Both to work out where he could end up and what the test would be like.
"This one will see if you are up to fourth Badge. If you do score high enough for that I will be giving you a letter with your results to take to a second Gym Leader for a harder test to see where you are on the four to six scale. A trainer needs a team of their own to be able to reach seventh or eighth," Whitney explained. "If you make it that far you still won't officially have the Badges, that would take a team and a bunch of Gym challenges, but your trainer card will be updated to say you can handle pokemon on a higher level."
That made Charizard untense in a way that also made him realize he had been tense about that possibility the entire time. He nodded to show he understood, and didn't have any more questions, mostly because he didn't trust himself to not say something rude about how happy that technicality had just made him.
"Alright, I'll be back with the packet soon," the Gym Leader said and left him in the room alone.
Charizard finally realized he would have to actually fill out a written test again. The room was even similar to the one at the Celadon Gym that he had taken his 'Advanced Starter' written tests in. The other Starters had been present, they just didn't get paperwork only lessons on how to exist in human spaces.
He moved over to one of the desks, and paused at the difference now. Back then he had been small enough he had needed to stand on the chair to reach the desk. Now he was hefty and tall enough that he might not fit. A quick check revealed that the desk hinged in a way to allow considerably larger humans, which was more than enough for him to sit down.
That once more reminded him again of back then. The stares, merely curious and joking, of the other Starters. Of the Expert Trainers who asked him questions he answered with a pad and at the time no confusion. Some of the questions were asked of other pokemon, and he was tasked to translate for them once or twice. Charizard smiled at the memory, and then stopped to wonder if any of the other Starters had thought about being trainers after they learned the real reason why he had those written tests.
"The world is changing isn't it?" he asked himself at that strange thought. "I'm probably not really the first, but now people are going to be asking that question when they work with Starters."
"What question?" Whitney asked, and he turned to see she was back with a surprisingly small packet of paper, although she did have a slightly larger stack of blank lined paper as well.
"I was wondering if the other Starters in my advanced class ever asked about being trainers," Charizard explained. "I know I was the only one who could read and write, but they still got most of the same questions."
"I doubt the League can get around the 'need to be able to read and write' restriction, so they probably won't be able to for a while, but I could check for you," the Gym Leader offered as she set the packet and paper on his desk along with a couple of pens. "You have as long as you need for this, and you are allowed to ask any questions you have. In fact you will be partially graded on what questions you ask."
"So some of these are going to be impossible without extra information," Charizard noted with a nod.
"You're familiar with that kind of thing?" Whitney asked as she moved to sit in the desk next to him.
"We had quite a few things like that in Starter classes. Not that we could really ask-ask, but if something didn't make sense we were supposed to stop and make sure we needed to do the thing first," Charizard answered as he quickly flipped through the packet. It was six pages, each with a few paragraphs of a scenario and three to five questions below with space for answers. "A Starter can't just fire their attacks randomly, because we are our trainers' first help to deal with stuff in the wild. If they want something hit outside of a fight we should take the time to make sure we know the right place to hit."
"Huh, I don't handle Starter training for the Gym so I might need to compare that to our trainer training," Whitney laughed in response.
The first scenario was a field battle, unofficial between yourself and another trainer. Charizard read over the entire set up three times. "Who is acting as the referee for this first one?" he questioned unhappily before he even got to the questions. "It only mentions the two trainers." Which wasn't impossible, sometimes you didn't have anyone else present, but the scenario specified there was a pot of cash up for the victor.
"No one is currently, but there are a few other trainers around," Whitney happily answered.
Charizard looked over the three questions on the page. The first asked how many and which pokemon out of the four you were said to have would be appropriate to use in the battle, the second asked what you should do if you lost, and the third asked if you needed to do anything else before you started the match.
"Which pokemon is my Starter here?" he followed up with as he tried to work out how to ask if there was a way out of this dubious sounding match.
---
At least two hours later Charizard had worked out that every one of the half dozen scenarios had some trick question that entirely changed the situation, and basically needed more information to solve. Only five questions overall actually needed more space for an answer than he had been given on the packet itself, and that was mostly because of those tricks. The extra information made it so many questions were very quick to answer, while it might have taken much longer without that knowledge.
"So, the next bit is a practical test," Whitney said as she looked over his written answers briefly. "It is entirely separate from this written part, mostly because it takes a while to go over these answers."
"I'm probably not going to know how I scored today, am I?" Charizard asked as he got up to follow her out of the room.
"You asked all of the questions to get the full four Badge rank, and given that I doubt your answers can be that far off," the Gym Leader replied. "Next you will be given three pokemon for a two on two match against me. You will have one hour to get familiar with the pokemon before the match." Whitney stopped for a moment. "Although usually trainers who take this test can't just ask the pokemon what they can do as easily."
"Really? Alexa seems to think that is a core skill a trainer should learn," Charizard joked. "She got that from her mother I think."
"I might need to be more prepared for your team then if you've been talking with her longer than just this League," Whitney said while she giggled at his comment. "So here is Snubbull, Eevee, and Pidgey."
Charizard looked at the three unevolved pokemon, who looked back at him with considerably more confusion. "Um, that's not a trainer," the Eevee said with a bit of confidence, and Charizard could see who the leader of the three was already.
"Personally I think of myself more as a Starter, but the League messed up my paperwork," he joked, but the sound of his translator repeating his words ruined the effect a bit. "So, what kind of fight is this other than two on two?" Eevee were adaptable, Pidgey could fly, and the Snubbull looked pretty tough.
"Second Badge teams on both sides, other than that you need to work out who you are using on your own," Whitney replied and then left him alone with the three pokemon.
"Right, who here is the most excited to have a match?" Charizard asked as he turned off the translator for this. Eevee didn't really react other than a continued critical look, Snubbull stuck out their chest, and Pidgey tried to look smaller. Which was just as good as the answer he now was clearly not going to get. "Alright, now if you went up against each other who would win?" Eevee still did not react, but Snubbull sent a brief glare at Pidgey.
---
"Have you picked which two you are using?" Whitney asked an hour of almost entirely one sided interaction later.
"Yes," Charizard said after turning the translator back on again. "Pidgey and Eevee," he specified deliberately in the wrong order, although the Gym Leader didn't look very tricked.
"Okay, then you are up against one of my younger Miltanks and a Clefairy," Whitney replied and handed over a pair of pokeballs while returning the upset Snubbull herself. The third pokemon had already worked out that Charizard wasn't using him a half hour ago and had spent the remaining time pouting.
"So a preview of what I might end up against myself on a smaller scale," Charizard huffed as he returned the other two.
"Oh no, you're a first time trainer without a team. This is a two Badge match equivalent, only without a chance to officially be awarded the Badge due to your lack of team," Whitney explained. "I'm mostly looking at how you handle the fight."
They arrived at a small arena, one of the more private ones probably used for one on one teaching more than official matches. Charizard felt a little awkward to stand back in the trainer section of the arena, and waited for the Gym Leader to send out her first pokemon. Whitney sent out the Miltank, so Charizard matched with Pidgey.
"Sand Attack," Charizard clearly ordered, the two young pokemon both more used to direct orders instead of thinking for themselves or recognition of other ways to say a given move. "Stay in the air." They also seemed to need too much focus to comment during a match.
"Rollout," Whitney said to her pokemon, who a bit smugly curled into a ball and shot towards the now airborne Pidgey surrounded by a cloud of dust.
"Gust, target below yourself and use the move to fly out of the way," Charizard specified, and cringed as the young pokemon only barely avoided the Miltank with a Gust that was under-powered as a result of being used mostly to flap out of the way. The good news was it did work to send the kicked up dust more fully into the Miltank's face. "Good, Sand Attack again."
Pidgey managed to get three good hits in, and Miltank slammed into the wall on their own from the dust in their eyes once, before the Rollout connected and Pidgey went down. "Alright, come back," Charizard declared while the very unsteady Miltank was returned by Whitney.
"Same for you Miltank," Whitney said thoughtfully. "Your turn Clefairy."
"Eevee, Quick Attack into Tackle," Charizard ordered before his second pokemon even fully emerged, and was rewarded with a surprised look from the Gym Leader as the little leader quickly slammed into Clefairy twice before Whitney got off her first instruction.
"Double Slap," Whitney quickly followed up, but only one of the quick palm strikes hit before Eevee was out of range.
"Behind Clefairy, Quick Attack into position, Tackle, and Quick Attack away," Charizard got out fast enough that his translator hitched a bit and ended up speaking long after the blow landed. "Now hang back to catch your breath."
"Clefairy, Sing!" Whitney countered, and as Charizard half expected Eevee responded immediately with a Quick Attack to interrupt the move.
"Good, now just Tackle," he quickly said to reassure the pokemon, who had looked nervous for a moment after using the attack on their own. The strike sent Clefairy into a bad stumble that sent her down. "Hold off!" he added at that, these weren't strong pokemon and over-attacking was just as bad as over-confidence.
"That's enough," Whitney agreed, and returned Clefairy. Charizard kept Eevee out a moment longer just in case. "That's all I need," she added to him.
"It is a lot more stressful from this side of the fight," Charizard had to admit as he finally breathed properly again and returned the now smug little fox-cat.
"So," Whitney started. "Why those two?"
Charizard returned the two pokeballs to the Gym Leader before he answered, "Because Snubbull loses to Pidgey, and Eevee was in charge." He gave her a serious look. "How hard was it to make sure they wouldn't actually answer everything I asked?"
"Hard enough that you've just earned that letter to have someone else give you the higher rank test," Whitney said bluntly.
Charizard grumbled a bit about that, but couldn't really argue. Just like he couldn't bring himself to mess up the tests on purpose.
---
[Author's Note]
... this was originally going to be the actual Gym battle instead of Charizard having something like one.
Additionally, the actual Gym battle is proving a struggle to write. I just seem to stall a lot with fight scenes, and with at least two trainers traveling around it is a lot to work out. The thing is a pokemon journey story kind of needs Gym battles, and it theoretically should be a good place to show off changes.
I have to ask you, my readers, what are your opinions on skipping some of the fights just to focus on the interesting ones? I have William's Gym match written up, where he has teammates that haven't gotten screen time show off a bit along with his changed teammates, but don't even know what to do for Alexa's this time yet.
They emerged out of the catering supply store, and ran immediately into the local Gym Leader. William was in no way happy with being ambushed by another Gym Leader given what happened the last time.
"Assistant Larch, could I set up some time this week to speak with you about using Mundane Clay?" Whitney asked, and William realized there was a worse possibility for this moment than another extreme challenge. "I heard about that substance from a new report from the Ruins of Alph, and you were mentioned as being familiar with it."
"Alexa, as your Starter and the pokemon who will likely face the strongest one she can justify for an official match, I implore you to set this after we are done with the Gym battle," Charizard requested sensibly.
"I'm not going to use a pokemon that has just been given a new type without at least a week of working with them on it," Whitney complained with a huff after they all froze at Charizard's translator repeating that request. "I just got some strange instructions from the place that sells the stuff, and I want an expert on hand in case there is an issue."
"I still probably want to wait until after the Gym match," Alexa admitted with a thoughtful ribbit that had William worried. Alexa only ribbited when she was considering something strange. "If only because it lasts a whole week and we need to work out if it works on you too somehow."
"Is being Normal typed as a human from the clay really that impressive?" Whitney questioned a bit smugly. William flinched at that poorly considered comment.
"Well, given I am currently a Poison typed human, and a friend of ours who uses the stuff was warned about possibly becoming a weasel of some kind I think so," Alexa informed the Gym Leader with some confusion. "Not to mention there is some concern about excess sticking to your hands if it doesn't work on you. That can be a hazard for any pokemon you interact with if you don't clean them properly."
"The weasel thing was about humans?" Whitney asked quietly. "Okay, yeah that is something to wait until I have free time for it then. I don't think I can risk spending a week as a pokemon. Falkner's arguments for how that can be done and still run your Gym aren't that great."
"Has news of our third Gym matches reached here yet?" William found himself asking before he fully thought through the question. He cringed, his vulpine face fully visible making the movement more obvious, if possibly harder to read and easy to mistake for anger.
"Do I want to know what Bugsy did?" the local Gym Leader asked, then shook her head. "Wait, no, I definitely do, but I do not want to make you tell me if it is bad enough I need to be asked that. I guess that's all I was interested in for right now. Do you know when you plan on signing up for a match? I can tell you a general timeline for when I am open for the next two weeks. We've just finished up most of the nearby none and one Badge trainers who arrived by train in time to sign up for the League this year."
"Not today or tomorrow for us," Charizard said, and then continued after the currently Water/Poison type got a glare from Alexa. "I don't think our list of things we need is short enough to get everything in one day," the Starter explained. "Especially with how we are going to get stopped by curious people like Leader Whitney here all day."
"I'm going to have to agree there," William added with a thought to his own supply list. He needed to shop for quite a few things that he had been even less prepared to run out of than Alexa's team, and also would be openly a Zoroark for the first time in a big city. "At least the day after tomorrow."
"It is going to be at least four days then," Whitney specified. "Today is a day off for my Gym pokemon, but tomorrow would be the day for free slots in my schedule to VIP trainers. The next two days after that are booked full, and if you don't want to wait an entire week after that it is going to have to be on different days." That sounded like a fairly full schedule to William, but at the same time he could understand that it was likely a result of being in such a big city.
"Can you give us the times you have?" Alexa asked, which sounded like a good idea. "Also if there are going to be any conditions."
"For a fourth Badge match?" Whitney asked. "Only if you want to do something tricky, and I mean beyond what I've heard about so far from Douglas and Falkner. Douglas in particular was torn on if he was happy or disappointed to get your team for his first Gym match." William contemplated that initial question. Admittedly he had been in only standard fights with Gyms so far, but after the last one he was sure that things would get more complicated now. "I'm not going to like hearing what Bugsy did at all I can see," Whitney added as she looked at their faces.
"No, I don't think you will," Alexa admitted, and William had to look away from both of them. He wasn't sure he was up for whatever faces they were making.
---
They spent most of the rest of the day going between food and travel supplies shops. As a result the specific pokemon care items and other things that had worn out more by chance than being expended from travel were delayed to the next day. Charizard personally felt that they could probably afford to hold off on that for another day given they also needed to find a training field before their scheduled Gym matches.
"Alexa?" Whitney questioned them as they emerged from the hotel to get started with that. Given that Charizard's trainer was a Lobasalt today that was a fair enough thing to question. His trainer bobbed her body in something that worked as a nod. "I've looked into what Bugsy pulled. Do you want another third Badge match, or are you going for a fourth?"
"Fourth, I want to just get past that," Alexa bluntly replied. "At this point I just want to get on with the rest of the League."
"To change topics," Charizard added before the Leader could reply, then paused as he considered the letter he had received the day before. "The League has requested that I have one or more Gym Leaders assess my skill level to determine what Badge ranking is appropriate for me. I'm not registered in the current League, and don't have any proper Gym Badges yet only a League one, so I should try and work it around any current League matches."
"I thought you were a Starter, not a trainer," Whitney pointed out with a curious look at both of the proper trainers next to him. He was glad she could recognize him as well given he was in his natural form for today.
"It is a bit of a long story. My parents, or well, the humans who helped raise me, taught me to read and write. That made them think it would be a good idea to sign me up for the full trainer classes and registration," he explained with a shrug. The lack of tone from his new translator wasn't the best for this, but it did let him speak for himself. "Apparently the League wants to know what I've learned as a Starter."
"Hmm, that actually is something I've had to deal with before. From a set of pokemon-trainers that used to be pair trainers. One decided they only liked the Starter side better, while the other preferred the trainer part," Whitney said with a nod. "Two Zorua at the time. They waited for eighth Badge to challenge me, and the one who didn't want to keep being a trainer found out from the local League that they still needed to be tested for their ranking." She nodded decisively. "You will need to check with a second Gym Leader to fully verify, which was a problem for them, but I can spare some time for that today if your trainer can spare you."
Charizard clicked off the translator. "William, stick with Alexa. Make sure she doesn't go through the extra money we got from Celebi too fast," he requested.
"Are you sure you want to do this alone?" Alexa asked, without any argument about that request.
"I want this done and over with, and it shouldn't tie us up more than it has to," Charizard replied bluntly. "We can put off shopping if you want, but I'd rather not interrupt the search for a training field we can use like that."
"Okay, alright," Alexa allowed with a bit of a huff. "But stay safe, okay?"
Charizard switched the translator back on. "I should be fine, annoyed at most," he said to return the conversation to human understanding. "Will I need anything in particular for this?"
"No, the test is specifically for trainers without proper teams. You will be using Gym pokemon when needed," Whitney clarified. "It is common enough, and usually private. The average trainer without their own team who needs to be assessed doesn't want to make a spectacle of it."
"I'd prefer that honestly," Charizard admitted with relief that for the first time he was truly upset was not translated. "I don't suppose you have a better translator there?"
"Unfortunately not, but I can hear your tone alright past it," the Gym Leader informed him.
---
A pokemon following the local Gym Leader was much less interesting than one on their own, so Charizard managed to get to the Gym without any real issue. Once inside Whitney quickly led him to a side room, that seemed to be for small lectures. "Alright, so the first part is going to be a written test. I'm going to need a bit to get the papers and get you entered into the system. Do you have any questions before I leave you here to get those?" the Gym Leader questioned.
"Is it going to be a while? This doesn't seem like it is actually common enough of a thing to just have these on hand," he asked with a chuckle.
"Technically this is something that all teamless trainers are supposed to take every year, but nobody has the time to schedule them for anyone who isn't notable," Whitney answered easily. "Anyone who previously had four Badges and is traveling with an active trainer, or anyone who gets caught up in a major event who doesn't have their own team."
"So I probably should have had one before now then?" Charizard asked with a blink. "From the way things sound I was probably on that list already."
"It is mostly just so people like me can look at the local Pokemon Center listing of nearby trainers and work out who can handle some extra pokemon to deal with a disaster," the Gym Leader answered. "That isn't normally a big deal to have fully up to date given there are usually enough trainers who do have teams on hand, but it is important to have good records. Someone who should only be relied on to watch pokemon to keep them safe out of the fight should have only one or two Badge ranking, while people who can actually take an unfamiliar pokemon and help them fight should be ranked at least four."
"So, how high can this push me?" Charizard asked thoughtfully. Both to work out where he could end up and what the test would be like.
"This one will see if you are up to fourth Badge. If you do score high enough for that I will be giving you a letter with your results to take to a second Gym Leader for a harder test to see where you are on the four to six scale. A trainer needs a team of their own to be able to reach seventh or eighth," Whitney explained. "If you make it that far you still won't officially have the Badges, that would take a team and a bunch of Gym challenges, but your trainer card will be updated to say you can handle pokemon on a higher level."
That made Charizard untense in a way that also made him realize he had been tense about that possibility the entire time. He nodded to show he understood, and didn't have any more questions, mostly because he didn't trust himself to not say something rude about how happy that technicality had just made him.
"Alright, I'll be back with the packet soon," the Gym Leader said and left him in the room alone.
Charizard finally realized he would have to actually fill out a written test again. The room was even similar to the one at the Celadon Gym that he had taken his 'Advanced Starter' written tests in. The other Starters had been present, they just didn't get paperwork only lessons on how to exist in human spaces.
He moved over to one of the desks, and paused at the difference now. Back then he had been small enough he had needed to stand on the chair to reach the desk. Now he was hefty and tall enough that he might not fit. A quick check revealed that the desk hinged in a way to allow considerably larger humans, which was more than enough for him to sit down.
That once more reminded him again of back then. The stares, merely curious and joking, of the other Starters. Of the Expert Trainers who asked him questions he answered with a pad and at the time no confusion. Some of the questions were asked of other pokemon, and he was tasked to translate for them once or twice. Charizard smiled at the memory, and then stopped to wonder if any of the other Starters had thought about being trainers after they learned the real reason why he had those written tests.
"The world is changing isn't it?" he asked himself at that strange thought. "I'm probably not really the first, but now people are going to be asking that question when they work with Starters."
"What question?" Whitney asked, and he turned to see she was back with a surprisingly small packet of paper, although she did have a slightly larger stack of blank lined paper as well.
"I was wondering if the other Starters in my advanced class ever asked about being trainers," Charizard explained. "I know I was the only one who could read and write, but they still got most of the same questions."
"I doubt the League can get around the 'need to be able to read and write' restriction, so they probably won't be able to for a while, but I could check for you," the Gym Leader offered as she set the packet and paper on his desk along with a couple of pens. "You have as long as you need for this, and you are allowed to ask any questions you have. In fact you will be partially graded on what questions you ask."
"So some of these are going to be impossible without extra information," Charizard noted with a nod.
"You're familiar with that kind of thing?" Whitney asked as she moved to sit in the desk next to him.
"We had quite a few things like that in Starter classes. Not that we could really ask-ask, but if something didn't make sense we were supposed to stop and make sure we needed to do the thing first," Charizard answered as he quickly flipped through the packet. It was six pages, each with a few paragraphs of a scenario and three to five questions below with space for answers. "A Starter can't just fire their attacks randomly, because we are our trainers' first help to deal with stuff in the wild. If they want something hit outside of a fight we should take the time to make sure we know the right place to hit."
"Huh, I don't handle Starter training for the Gym so I might need to compare that to our trainer training," Whitney laughed in response.
The first scenario was a field battle, unofficial between yourself and another trainer. Charizard read over the entire set up three times. "Who is acting as the referee for this first one?" he questioned unhappily before he even got to the questions. "It only mentions the two trainers." Which wasn't impossible, sometimes you didn't have anyone else present, but the scenario specified there was a pot of cash up for the victor.
"No one is currently, but there are a few other trainers around," Whitney happily answered.
Charizard looked over the three questions on the page. The first asked how many and which pokemon out of the four you were said to have would be appropriate to use in the battle, the second asked what you should do if you lost, and the third asked if you needed to do anything else before you started the match.
"Which pokemon is my Starter here?" he followed up with as he tried to work out how to ask if there was a way out of this dubious sounding match.
---
At least two hours later Charizard had worked out that every one of the half dozen scenarios had some trick question that entirely changed the situation, and basically needed more information to solve. Only five questions overall actually needed more space for an answer than he had been given on the packet itself, and that was mostly because of those tricks. The extra information made it so many questions were very quick to answer, while it might have taken much longer without that knowledge.
"So, the next bit is a practical test," Whitney said as she looked over his written answers briefly. "It is entirely separate from this written part, mostly because it takes a while to go over these answers."
"I'm probably not going to know how I scored today, am I?" Charizard asked as he got up to follow her out of the room.
"You asked all of the questions to get the full four Badge rank, and given that I doubt your answers can be that far off," the Gym Leader replied. "Next you will be given three pokemon for a two on two match against me. You will have one hour to get familiar with the pokemon before the match." Whitney stopped for a moment. "Although usually trainers who take this test can't just ask the pokemon what they can do as easily."
"Really? Alexa seems to think that is a core skill a trainer should learn," Charizard joked. "She got that from her mother I think."
"I might need to be more prepared for your team then if you've been talking with her longer than just this League," Whitney said while she giggled at his comment. "So here is Snubbull, Eevee, and Pidgey."
Charizard looked at the three unevolved pokemon, who looked back at him with considerably more confusion. "Um, that's not a trainer," the Eevee said with a bit of confidence, and Charizard could see who the leader of the three was already.
"Personally I think of myself more as a Starter, but the League messed up my paperwork," he joked, but the sound of his translator repeating his words ruined the effect a bit. "So, what kind of fight is this other than two on two?" Eevee were adaptable, Pidgey could fly, and the Snubbull looked pretty tough.
"Second Badge teams on both sides, other than that you need to work out who you are using on your own," Whitney replied and then left him alone with the three pokemon.
"Right, who here is the most excited to have a match?" Charizard asked as he turned off the translator for this. Eevee didn't really react other than a continued critical look, Snubbull stuck out their chest, and Pidgey tried to look smaller. Which was just as good as the answer he now was clearly not going to get. "Alright, now if you went up against each other who would win?" Eevee still did not react, but Snubbull sent a brief glare at Pidgey.
---
"Have you picked which two you are using?" Whitney asked an hour of almost entirely one sided interaction later.
"Yes," Charizard said after turning the translator back on again. "Pidgey and Eevee," he specified deliberately in the wrong order, although the Gym Leader didn't look very tricked.
"Okay, then you are up against one of my younger Miltanks and a Clefairy," Whitney replied and handed over a pair of pokeballs while returning the upset Snubbull herself. The third pokemon had already worked out that Charizard wasn't using him a half hour ago and had spent the remaining time pouting.
"So a preview of what I might end up against myself on a smaller scale," Charizard huffed as he returned the other two.
"Oh no, you're a first time trainer without a team. This is a two Badge match equivalent, only without a chance to officially be awarded the Badge due to your lack of team," Whitney explained. "I'm mostly looking at how you handle the fight."
They arrived at a small arena, one of the more private ones probably used for one on one teaching more than official matches. Charizard felt a little awkward to stand back in the trainer section of the arena, and waited for the Gym Leader to send out her first pokemon. Whitney sent out the Miltank, so Charizard matched with Pidgey.
"Sand Attack," Charizard clearly ordered, the two young pokemon both more used to direct orders instead of thinking for themselves or recognition of other ways to say a given move. "Stay in the air." They also seemed to need too much focus to comment during a match.
"Rollout," Whitney said to her pokemon, who a bit smugly curled into a ball and shot towards the now airborne Pidgey surrounded by a cloud of dust.
"Gust, target below yourself and use the move to fly out of the way," Charizard specified, and cringed as the young pokemon only barely avoided the Miltank with a Gust that was under-powered as a result of being used mostly to flap out of the way. The good news was it did work to send the kicked up dust more fully into the Miltank's face. "Good, Sand Attack again."
Pidgey managed to get three good hits in, and Miltank slammed into the wall on their own from the dust in their eyes once, before the Rollout connected and Pidgey went down. "Alright, come back," Charizard declared while the very unsteady Miltank was returned by Whitney.
"Same for you Miltank," Whitney said thoughtfully. "Your turn Clefairy."
"Eevee, Quick Attack into Tackle," Charizard ordered before his second pokemon even fully emerged, and was rewarded with a surprised look from the Gym Leader as the little leader quickly slammed into Clefairy twice before Whitney got off her first instruction.
"Double Slap," Whitney quickly followed up, but only one of the quick palm strikes hit before Eevee was out of range.
"Behind Clefairy, Quick Attack into position, Tackle, and Quick Attack away," Charizard got out fast enough that his translator hitched a bit and ended up speaking long after the blow landed. "Now hang back to catch your breath."
"Clefairy, Sing!" Whitney countered, and as Charizard half expected Eevee responded immediately with a Quick Attack to interrupt the move.
"Good, now just Tackle," he quickly said to reassure the pokemon, who had looked nervous for a moment after using the attack on their own. The strike sent Clefairy into a bad stumble that sent her down. "Hold off!" he added at that, these weren't strong pokemon and over-attacking was just as bad as over-confidence.
"That's enough," Whitney agreed, and returned Clefairy. Charizard kept Eevee out a moment longer just in case. "That's all I need," she added to him.
"It is a lot more stressful from this side of the fight," Charizard had to admit as he finally breathed properly again and returned the now smug little fox-cat.
"So," Whitney started. "Why those two?"
Charizard returned the two pokeballs to the Gym Leader before he answered, "Because Snubbull loses to Pidgey, and Eevee was in charge." He gave her a serious look. "How hard was it to make sure they wouldn't actually answer everything I asked?"
"Hard enough that you've just earned that letter to have someone else give you the higher rank test," Whitney said bluntly.
Charizard grumbled a bit about that, but couldn't really argue. Just like he couldn't bring himself to mess up the tests on purpose.
---
[Author's Note]
... this was originally going to be the actual Gym battle instead of Charizard having something like one.
Additionally, the actual Gym battle is proving a struggle to write. I just seem to stall a lot with fight scenes, and with at least two trainers traveling around it is a lot to work out. The thing is a pokemon journey story kind of needs Gym battles, and it theoretically should be a good place to show off changes.
I have to ask you, my readers, what are your opinions on skipping some of the fights just to focus on the interesting ones? I have William's Gym match written up, where he has teammates that haven't gotten screen time show off a bit along with his changed teammates, but don't even know what to do for Alexa's this time yet.
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This is fine by me, at least; the battles aren't really the focus of this story, so skipping (or one-sentence summarying) ones that don't add to the narrative makes sense.
I'm fine with it either way, but if we skip a match that is uninteresting but important in-universe, there should probably be a brief recap, something like "It was a perfectly average match, with only one minor hiccup, blah blah blah" Shouldn't just like, totally skip a Gym battle without mentioning what happened at all, imo.
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
Right now the two ways I'm thinking are either a brief summary after William's match, or to have it covered in Alexa's phone call home, which is planned for the chapter after next.
A fun chapter, and always nice to get some new background events, stuff like this kind of test doesn't come up often in Pokémon stories.
Yeah, I'd be wary about sudden Gym Leader attacks too, after what they've gone through.
Ah, that moment of forgetting that your human audience can hear you too now.
Ok, yeah, that was a dumb question considering you're talking to a typed Human. I can understand a bit of ignorance on the rare subject of human transformation, but assume the expert knows more than you about things, especially when they currently aren't human.
Ah, Charles is starting to embrace his Trainerhood, whether he means to or not. Setting up the plans for his team. So proud.
Better than Bugsy's completely ignoring the unique Pokémon in the group potentially being the person you're looking for.
And able to recognize tone in a Pokémon, despite the translator. I'm starting to like this one.
Charizard: "Aww, thank you. That's the nicest thing I've been told all month."
Whitney having to specially prepare the test for someone who could just ask about details they should have to estimate, and Charizard's recognizing and working around that is very fun. Overall, I loved this whole test portion.
I'll second what the others have said; this story isn't about the battles so much as the science and social aspects. So long as the gym battles and other "major" battles aren't entirely ignored, if they aren't important to the primary plot I don't mind them being summarized rather than written fully out. Maybe a brief scene from William's perspective mentioning the back and forth of the battle; without necessarily going into every move and command.
An after the fact summary works well too. Though I personally prefer a "live" summary for story flow, there's no reason a phone call segment or something similar wouldn't work. Overall, just do what you're comfortable with.
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
Admittedly it is rare to see anyone if a pokemon story who both travels and doesn't have at least one pokemon of their own, but this still made sense as a thing that exists in my setting for trainers who for one reason or another do not have teams.
It is a bit unusual to get directly confronted by two in a row as well.
It can be fun, and makes a good way to handle starting out with translations available.
A bit of one, but the exact details of how Alexa's transformations work isn't as widely known as the fact she transforms as well as her team.
Still, it possibly indicates the warnings aren't written quite right.
This is Charizard's trainer chapter after all.
Not that low of a bar to cross honestly.
Whitney has been fun to write. I'm looking forward to the rest of what I'm doing with her.
Yep.
Glad it worked out. I was really happy to go into this one once I started writing it.
I think I have a plan for it, at least in broad strokes. Hopefully it works fine.
Having Whitney here and so well in tune with everything is a very nice contrast to Bugsy's appearance. Bugsy treats Pokémon-form Alexa as immediately dangerous and potentially hostile, while Whitney is up front and friendly. Bugsy completely ignores the multiple-form possibilities, while Whitney is quick on the draw with realizing Alexa's changed shapes that day.
There's other details with less neat parallels, but overall it comes out the same. Whitney is a far more ideal example of a Gym Leader relating to unusual trainer situations than Bugsy was.
I'm sure it'll work out just fine. I'll be patiently waiting on the edge of my seat.
Huh, was just doing some rereading, and did we do any experimentation with the.....Mud Contagion? they discovered when Alexa started using the Loam Berry transformation on Lobasalt? I know it hasn't been used on anyone at time except for Wooper, who obviously didn't get a type change out of it, but did it get used off screen at all?
Also, I'd personally love a sidestory or interlude about the one Pokemon who's been chaining permanent transformations and almost can't remember what they started as. That sounds like a potential minor Legendary if I've ever heard one.
Also, I'd personally love a sidestory or interlude about the one Pokemon who's been chaining permanent transformations and almost can't remember what they started as. That sounds like a potential minor Legendary if I've ever heard one.
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E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
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- It/They
Thank you. Whitney is meant to be a good one to contrast the bad encounter last time.
Alexa wants to wait for her father to at least do a basic check on it this time, so it should come up during the phone call, and I already have it planned for where its exploration will fit in the story itself.
That might be an interesting sidestory to touch on, although it is not the side topic that I've come up with for the phone call conversation. Mostly because I have not actually decided what that pokemon currently looks like or what types they do know they went through.
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
Fair enough. "Extremely dangerous monster of a trainer" is easy enough to hide in the right scenario so I can see that interpretation of events.
It does make me wonder what other Contagion moves there might be. Did the Water wave that transformed Bellossom really poorly back at the Lab have a name? I think he needed to be Water type and already have a pool of water, so I don't know if it wasn't developed enough to be a move.
Fey Contagion seems like it would be very dangerous, and I feel like the move 100% exists. A Rock type Contagion move seems hard to imagine. It'd probably be more something like....Crystallization? Floral Contagion seems like it'd involve Vines growing into or seeds growing on you. Seed Contagion maybe? Can't imagine a Psychic type Contagion move either. Seems like you could maybe grant a Psychic type, but I don't think there'd be much transformation like we see with a contagion move. Potential for something along the lines of 'forcefully opening the third eye," but coming up with a move name for that is difficult. Paradigm Shift? Forced Enlightenment?
Fey Contagion seems like it would be very dangerous, and I feel like the move 100% exists. A Rock type Contagion move seems hard to imagine. It'd probably be more something like....Crystallization? Floral Contagion seems like it'd involve Vines growing into or seeds growing on you. Seed Contagion maybe? Can't imagine a Psychic type Contagion move either. Seems like you could maybe grant a Psychic type, but I don't think there'd be much transformation like we see with a contagion move. Potential for something along the lines of 'forcefully opening the third eye," but coming up with a move name for that is difficult. Paradigm Shift? Forced Enlightenment?
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
The "Water wave" was the canon move "Soak", which changes opponent pokemon into pure Water types. I do not know if I have actually firmly decided on how it functions for pokemon other than Alexa's team.
As for Contagion development, I approve of thoughts on how it might work out, and plan on going into some detail later on about how experiments to make more types of it work out.
I feel like I remember it doing different things than normal Soak....maybe I need to reread. I think like it turned Bellossom into some sort of kelp mermaid. Maybe I just need a reread.
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
"Kelp mermaid" describes when she tried the Clearwater Geode, she ended up octopus like with the Soak.
... but re-reading might help here, I'm not sure how that came across during that fic offhand.
- Location
- calgary
talk about rock contagion makes me think of a medusa type attack. an eye-based attack that causes petrification in an opponent.
also makes me think that there should be a region based on the Mediterrane filled with classical monsters.
also makes me think that there should be a region based on the Mediterrane filled with classical monsters.
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
Both of those sound like interesting ideas.
A Rock type gaze based typechange move that also gives the paralysis status could have interesting battle implications.
Ooh i never event thought of a Petrification-type move! Obviously, the Medusa-esque would be derived from Glare, but I think Onix would have a decent chance at learning a petrification breath type attack, like a gorgon from DND(the iron bull monster) with some tweaks to Dragonbreath.
I appreciate how the tests boiled down to:
"What, if any, pre-existing understanding of pokemon battle rules does the non-team trainer have?"
And
"What, if any, pre-existing understanding of acceptable pokemon behaviors does the non-team trainer have?"
It was also greatly enjoyed how much the test was a conversation between examiner and examinee.
"What, if any, pre-existing understanding of pokemon battle rules does the non-team trainer have?"
And
"What, if any, pre-existing understanding of acceptable pokemon behaviors does the non-team trainer have?"
It was also greatly enjoyed how much the test was a conversation between examiner and examinee.
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E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
A test that is able to help tell apart someone who only knows the theoretical from someone who has the practical skill, which means that they don't just have answers to the questions, but also questions for the questions.
So the discussion part is critical for the written test to get a high score, and a good handling of unfamiliar pokemon is key to the practical.
The practical in particular ties into the way the test results are used, as if a teamless trainer can handle a new set of pokemon that might be uncooperative properly then they can likely handle pokemon that are willing and strong in a real emergency.
Tam Lin
The Evolution QM
Idea for a transformative item: the entire team on the same type of Contagion (Mercury, Toxic or Magma) then have blood-equivalents drawn from them and mix them in the same manner used for creating that healing sap.
Idea is that this creates a more 'potent' version of the contagion that, instead of simply changing their primary type, the new 'processed' contagion actually changes a pokemon into a monotype (Similar to the Terastal phenomenon for the upcoming pokemon game). Via this method, the Mercury, Toxic and Magma contagions become "[x] Type Converter Fluid" (I.E. Steel Converter Fluid, Poison Converter Fluid). These have extremely 'fucky' effects if the Converter Fluid matches the pokemon's 'Hidden Power' type.
Additionally, the Converter Fluids can be used to make Chlorophyll Jade equivalents when used to treat a depleted elemental stone. However, the effect is much weaker as the proper way to treat the stones haven't been discovered yet. Instead, the Chlorophyll Jade method is applied to the depleted Elemental Stones. In this case, the 'Converter Fluid Treated Stones" or CFTS merely changes the type of the Pokemon's 'Hidden Power' move rather than causing any outward changes.
Idea is that this creates a more 'potent' version of the contagion that, instead of simply changing their primary type, the new 'processed' contagion actually changes a pokemon into a monotype (Similar to the Terastal phenomenon for the upcoming pokemon game). Via this method, the Mercury, Toxic and Magma contagions become "[x] Type Converter Fluid" (I.E. Steel Converter Fluid, Poison Converter Fluid). These have extremely 'fucky' effects if the Converter Fluid matches the pokemon's 'Hidden Power' type.
Additionally, the Converter Fluids can be used to make Chlorophyll Jade equivalents when used to treat a depleted elemental stone. However, the effect is much weaker as the proper way to treat the stones haven't been discovered yet. Instead, the Chlorophyll Jade method is applied to the depleted Elemental Stones. In this case, the 'Converter Fluid Treated Stones" or CFTS merely changes the type of the Pokemon's 'Hidden Power' move rather than causing any outward changes.
E.I.G.
Robo-Bird
- Pronouns
- It/They
I like it. A monotype conversion from the refined material does sound fitting in this case, and the not-quite-there stones also is a nice outcome.
... I'd just need to find a place to have them try to make these.
Mercury is a solid at -40ish degrees Fahrenheit, a frozen blob of Mercury Contagion sounds like an evolution stone for an Ice-type into a Ice/Steel type to me for sure. Maybe a branching evolution path from Prinplup, or a bigger and bulkier Piloswine?