A Journey of Two, a Pokemon Story

Sir LagsAlot said:

Daemon Hunter is Sabrina's style of gym intentional by the Pokemon League?

We've discussed before how the league is a training program run by the government that's designed to facilitate the development of potential soldiers in addition to providing many other benefits after all. And, her style of gym fits quite well into such a program due to its central nature meaning that practically no matter where you start in the region you'll challenge it as your third, fourth, or fifth badge fight allowing it to function as an ego check for aspiring trainers that will teach them how to take a loss.

That's not to say I believe her to be aware of such considerations as I'm almost certain that she does seriously think that a trainer going for their third badge should be capable of beating her over leveled teams who have access to several TM moves. Rather I'd infer that due to her nature as a prodigy which leads to her consistently fielding over-strength teams, and her willingness to escalate battles if a challenger is performing well that the League purposely selected her for the position of Saffron City gym leader as these qualities make her perfect for the role.

Her being unaware of this just so happens to be incidental.

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To an extent yes. As it is, the gym predated the Kanto League structure as @veekie mentioned, but the way they were used before that was essentially an improvised method to train and create a pseudo-military force for the city. At the time Saffron City had both Sabrina's Gym and what is now known as the Fighting Dojo. The Kanto League when it formed then wanted to only have one official gym in the area to effectively act as one of the eight aspects of their training program.

With a choice between Sabrina and the head of the Fighting Dojo, the League had a number of reasons to prefer Sabrina. As you surmised, her central location coupled with her gym battles being skewed meant that she was a very effective ego buster for trainers that were aiming for their 3rd-6th badge. Additionally, she's one of the few high-level psychics in Kanto, and the League really wanted one of their gyms to have a method of producing high-end psychics. As a result, when they were deciding who would be the official leader they elected to organize a battle between Sabrina and the Dojo rather than conduct a broader analysis or any other method.

It's caused a few issues locally as a result, mainly due to the Fighting Dojo complaining endlessly about the decision which has caused some concerns from the League that's led to it being funded as an unofficial gym in order to prevent defections to Johto.

As far as Sabrina is concerned, she hasn't really given any thought to the broader geopolitical realm or internal politics. As far as she's concerned, her battles are fair and reasonable. It helps that the League has an internal policy to downgrade complaints of excessive difficulty for challenges in the Saffron Gym. While they do occasionally put their foot down, it's almost always with the equivalent of a slap on the wrist.

Brock meanwhile is effectively the opposite having been designated as effectively a "freebie badge" due to the League wanting a training pipeline that doesn't alienate new trainers and instead draws them in.



On that note, it's time for me to close the vote. It seems that you'll be a part of the Rescue Force which means you're in for some very exciting times. Next update we get to see two of the groups get ambushed by a pack of unnaturally aggressive Eevee led by a series of unusually skilled evolved forms.

Violet joined a surprisingly large group of trainers headed into the wilds northeast of Saffron City. Every trainer she could see was carrying enough supplies for 1-2 weeks of travel through the wild. Of the roughly 150 trainers, Violet spotted a few she recognized. Three of them had fought in the Indigo Plateau last year not to mention the presence of Sabrina and the remaining gym attendants. Then there was Willow and Testuya, both of whom gave her a quick wave.

Before she could greet them personally, Sabrina's eyes glowed and she began to direct the crowd into groups. While she was mostly willing to allow trainers to choose where they would be, her judgment was final when it came to compositions and deployments. Willow ended up being in the smallest group alongside one of the Indigo Plateau trainers. Tetsuya joined the Rescue Group and Sabrina herself indicated she would be leading the group of elites. Glancing in Violet's direction, the shy trainer was surprised that Sabrina asked her where she wanted to be.

'You surprised me before, despite the lack of badges, you would be useful anywhere.'

Most of her Pokemon weren't fast, which prevented her from committing to the Scout Group with Willow. Looking at the largest group that would be patrolling Saffron City, Violet couldn't help but recognize that it was made of the weakest, most inexperienced trainers present. Then she looked at the group Sabrina was leading and tried to figure out what she could do to assist a gym leader going all out alongside her attendants. Not much was the answer.

"I-I'll join the Rescue Group," Violet replied with only a slight quiver in her voice at Sabrina's intense, analytical stare. She didn't mean to win so hard against her! Wasn't this a rather one-sided rivalry?

Sabrina looked away, but not before Violet caught the trace hints of smug amusement on the gym leader's face. Making her way to her group, she was immediately beset by her childhood friend.

"Violet!" Tetsuya welcomed her in a rather loud voice. "Now we don't have anything to worry about."

Several of the other trainers looked at her after that statement causing Violet to squirm in place. "I, uh, I'm not - " She cut herself off as one of the Indigo Plateau fighters looked her way. Named Jasper, the man in question had managed to get out of the round-robin stage before being immediately eliminated in the subsequent fight. The only reason his fight was even shown was that it was against the trainer who eventually won the entire championship. From what Violet remembered, he was a rather standard trainer who focused highly on the fundamentals. "I think Jasper can handle that."

The trainer seemed surprised that she recognized him. Sure he had changed his hairstyle and dyed it, changed his clothing style, and was wearing light makeup. But it wasn't like it was that hard to tell who he was. "Glad to see you're not too full of yourself," he said lightly, surprised at being recognized. "What'd you do to impress him like that?"

"You seen the memes?" One of the other trainers interjected with a pleased smile on her face. "The one of shocked Sabrina?"

"The one when she faced Cynthia? I thought that was from years ago."

"Nah, from last week when she fought her." Violet squirmed as the girl in question pointed at her. A second later she was the center of attention as several of the trainers most active on social media began to direct questions at her.

"You're that girl?"

"No way, how'd you manage it?"

"I haven't seen anyone get a perfect run against Sabrina."

"You've got to tell me how."

Overwhelmed by the sheer weight of words and bodies, Violet subconsciously took a step back. "Um…" she uttered, internally panicking as she was inundated with attention she hadn't asked for.

"Guys, give her some space!" She heard Tetsuya shout out. "Just watch the video, you don't need to surround her!"

Most of the crowd seemed to get the memo. Sheepishly giving half-hearted apologies, they stepped back to engage in other conversations. A few individuals, however, were less cognizant of the situation and continued to press her for answers.

A Pokeball snapped open and a very annoyed Dragonair emerged. Clearly displeased, he rose from the ground, intentionally towering over the most annoying trainers. His nostrils flared as he leered at them. Taking a deep breath, Violet drew comfort from the presence of her oldest Pokemon companion. Forcing herself to speak, her voice was quiet but confident. "Can you … go away?"

Finally getting the message, Violet was given the space she wanted. Tetsuya waffled between walking up to her to talk and giving her time to relax. Eventually, his guilt at accidentally causing the whole situation caused him to decide on the latter, but not before whispering. "I'm really sorry about all that." Violet sharply nodded to make sure he knew she heard him, but for the most part, remained to herself as the group began to travel.

The group's main goal was to locate and rescue the missing attendant. To do this, the Rescue Group would be split into 3 groups of 10. One group would be placed at the base of the hills to act as a reserve while the other two would hike into the mountains guided by the faster Scout Group. Organizing themselves based primarily on Jasper's advice, Violet found herself in one of the groups in the mountains alongside Tetsuya, and 8 other trainers. Most of the trainers had 2-3 badges themselves largely due to the most experienced fighters joining Sabrina's group.

Considering that Violet was likely the strongest member in her group, a lot of responsibility suddenly fell to her. A part of her hoped that there wouldn't be any action, but within a day, Willow and the Scout Group reported initial contact with the aggressive Pokemon. During the brief skirmish, they reported an extremely dangerous Umbreon along with three Glaceons, a Lefeon, two Flareons, three Jolteons, and an estimated 23 Eevee. However, this did allow them to identify several aspects of abnormal behavior.

The first abnormal behavior was the level of organization displayed by the various Eevee and their evolutions. The Umbreon effectively acted as a trainer, managing to organize and pull off complex strategies and tactics. Moreover, of the evolved Pokemon nearly all of them displayed a disturbingly skilled set of strategies that fit more with trained Pokemon rather than wild Pokemon. This was further complicated by Umbreon using Hyper Beam, a move only learnable via a TM. Additionally, Willow and the Scout Group were able to determine that this was but a portion of the wild Pokemon pact, estimating the full number at nearly 300.

Notably, the Pokemon were doing their best to avoid Sabrina and her group, abandoning much of the forested area to flee into the mountains. It was this that allowed the Scout Group to locate what they believed to be the highest level of leadership among the wild Pokemon.

Listening to these reports, Violet wisely decided to order a watch for the night. While it would delay them due to the extra sleep needed, it was also necessary considering the fact that the Pokemon were capable of human-level tactics. Making camp in a small, flat clearing, Violet ensured her Pokemon were ready for battle as did all the other trainers present.

Violet took the first shift alongside another trainer who was rather focused on his Pokemon. As such, their shift passed in blissful silence before the two of them woke up the second shift. Falling asleep, Violet kept her Pokeballs nearby just in case.

An hour before the sun rose, Violet's eyes snapped open to the sound of trainers shouting orders followed by a massive impact. Practically tearing her way out of the tent, Violet grabbed a flashlight and her Pokeballs before sweeping her eyes across the scene in front of her.

The first thing she noticed was Tetsuya battling a Jolteon, Vaporeon, and five Eevee. Outnumbered 7 to 4, his Pokemon were doing what they could, but they were being rapidly worn down. Behind Tetsuya was another more important battle within the camp's inner circle where three trainers were battling a group of 5 Eevee, three Flareons, a Lefeon, and an Espeon that were trying to set the tents on fire. Having deployed a full set of 12 Pokemon, the three trainers were managing to slowly win thanks to the weight of numbers and better coordination.

Before she could intervene in either fight, her flashlight caught another battle, this one between a rather worn-down Charmander and a Vaporeon. Next to them was a very worried trainer alongside his unconscious friend who had been defeated in battle. While she could see another two Pokemon on the trainer's hip, she also recognized that he wasn't that experienced and Vaporeon would win rather easily. It was further complicated by the fact that the Vaporeon was likely the most dangerous Eevee evolution she had seen so far.

Continuing to sweep her flashlight through the area, Violet froze as twin red eyes gazed at her. An Umbreon looked at her with eyes that conveyed a level of focus and clarity that reminded her of Sabrina. Seemingly recognizing her as the most dangerous threat present, the Moonlight Pokemon dashed forward with Quick Attack, only to slam into a Protect from an alert Forretress who swiftly countered with Bug Bite which Umbreon avoided with the use of Detect.

Barking a series of orders, three other Pokemon appeared from the darkness. First was a Flareon that stepped forward to face Forretress, behind him was a Glaceon and a second Umbreon.

Violet cracked her neck then her fingers. "Alright, let's battle."

As she did, she looked over the Pokemon in front of her before glancing at the ones behind her. If this remained a 4 vs 4 she could win easily. But a 3 vs 4 would be far more difficult. If she used all her Pokemon, however, then that would mean relying on the other trainers to win and avoid their tents and supplies being burned down. Based on what she saw of the more experienced Umbreon, however, she was sure they would take advantage of any numerical mismatch.

General Strategy Pick 1

[] Have all your Pokemon fight here - Focusing on the most dangerous wild Pokemon makes the most sense. Although there is considerable risk that the trainers behind you end up defeated.
[] Send Dragonair to assist the other trainers - Avoiding super effective ice moves from Glaceon, the loss of your sweeper will cause this fight to be harder. But he may win the other battles quickly.
[] Send Forretress to assist the other trainers - Losing your wall will make some of the attacks more problematic. But Flareon is an issue. She may also allow the other trainers to win quickly enough.
[] Send Magneton to assist the other trainers - Losing the special attack capability could be problematic, but he's poorly suited for defeating the Umbreons who are the most dangerous.
[] Send Chansey to assist the other trainers - Losing the healing ability of Life Dew will be difficult but manageable. Then again it would mean that other trainers can get their Pokemon in the field once more.

Capture Attempts Pick 1

[] None - You're really worried about what's going on with these Pokemon. Avoiding capture attempts and focusing on winning would be wise.
[] The Experienced Umbreon - Skilled enough to know Assurance and Hyper Beam while capable of acting as a trainer, he would be a valuable Pokemon to catch but also the hardest to catch. He would know the most about what's going on.
[] Flareon - Knowing Fire Blast and Bite, it's clear that this Flareon was taught by a human at some point. However, he'd also not add much to your team even if he may know some answers.
[] Glaceon - Somewhat bland, Glaceon's knowledge of Blizzard makes him extremely dangerous. An Ice Pokemon is always useful.
[] The Young Umbreon - The weakest of the four, but still dangerous. This young Umbreon has been taught Hyper Beam and Taunt. He clearly knows the least of these four but would be the easiest to capture.

Alright, I'll be calling the vote there. Looks like Chansey is being sent off and you're catching the experienced Umbreon.

As it is, it winds up being a little harder than Violet expected. Mainly thanks to the Umbreon body blocking Glaceon to try to line up a Blizzard. Unfortunately for them, they didn't expect the Protect from Magneton which caused them all sorts of issues as their major attack in the second round was almost entirely negated. And ends with Forretress knocking out the inexperienced Umbreon. They do manage to cause Magneton to faint next round, but then Dragonair lands a rather massive hit on Glaceon then follows it up quickly while Forretress blocks the last Blizzard. And despite a critical Hyper Beam from Umbreon, he's a bit too late when he calls for a retreat which means he gets captured. However, some of the other Pokemon involved in the other fights do escape. Even if Chansey ensured no real damage occurred.