A Journey of Two, a Pokemon Story

Alright, looks like attending the exhibition and training it is. Congrats on Violet becoming a Skilled Survivalist and Expert Tracker along with becoming a Skilled Mountaineer.

Arriving bright and early in the morning, Violet and Willow joined the other trainers milling around the site of the exhibition. The lecture hall itself was rather bland all things considered. Violet thought a member of the Elite 4 would insist on a more expensive venue, but after looking around, there weren't enough trainers to justify the expense.

The seasoned trainers around her clearly had considerable experience among them. She spotted several from other regions along with one or two that she recognized as former participants in the Indigo Plateau. Most of them preferred to keep to themselves, but a few were significantly more social than others. Thankfully for Violet, she was able to use Willow as an impromptu social shield as the energetic girl was notably more eye-catching than the quiet wallflower.

When the clock ticked over to 8 AM, the halls opened. Two attendants associated with the League were posted at the entrance, scanning each of their IDs and admitting them into the hall one by one. Inside, the hall was stark and utilitarian. Rows of seats faced the stage that was furnished with a projector and multiple chalkboards. At the center of that stage was Agatha of the Elite 4, the elderly trainer in the midst of ensuring her exhibits were ready.

Violet spent a few seconds observing the stage before sitting down. There were a few interesting details present, the first being Agatha's Gengar helping out with the setup. The second was a few plants with slight damage to them as if someone had barged through them. And lastly, was the title projected onto the screen, "Tracking Extra-Regional Teams Through Unmapped Terrain."

Taking a seat near the middle of the hall, Violet took out a notebook and pen ready to take notes. Willow plopped into the seat beside her, a grin showcasing her enthusiasm. "This is going to be awesome," she whispered, leaning closer to Violet. "Do you think she'll talk about a real mission?"

Violet thought about it for a moment before nodding. Agatha didn't seem the type to talk purely about theory, not to mention the various plants acting as examples indicating this would be a more practical talk.

Agatha finally stepped forward towards the podium causing the various conversations in the hall to die out. Despite her advanced age, the Elite 4 trainer carried herself with poise as if she were thirty years younger.

"Good morning, trainers," She began, her voice sharp and weathered. "You've been allowed here because you've proven yourself capable, not just in battles, but in more complex situations that demand resourcefulness and resolve. Today we will be discussing how to handle the most complicated situations a trainer can be asked to handle."

The room remained silent, with the only sound besides Agatha's voice being of pen on paper or the clicking of keystrokes on computers. Explaining the background of her examples, the Elite 4 trainer began discussing recent attempts by Team Galactic to create an operations center between Gardenia Town and Cerulean City. Almost immediately a few trainers began raising their hands, trying to ask for clarification due to this having been kept quiet by the League. This was the first time Violet had even heard such a thing was attempted, although … that did explain who V and D were fighting a few months ago. This suspicion was quickly confirmed when Agatha explained that this situation was discovered when the League realized that Team Rocket was clashing with an unknown Team within these mountains.

Going into significantly more detail, Agatha explained the unknown nature of the individuals and how that caused notable issues among League trainers. Unfamiliar with Team Galactic, the trainers that arrived were tasked with tracking individuals they hadn't heard of in an area that was infamous for being poorly mapped. Several trainers required extraction after they became lost forcing the League to request Agatha handle the situation.

It was here that the more practical aspects of the exhibition entered the fray as the Elite 4 trainer walked the trainers through her decisions and observations. She would constantly force random trainers to answer her questions. What do you see in this image? Where would you look with that information? Do you think you need to resupply before traveling further? Etc.

Neither Violet nor Willow were spared from Agatha's direct examination. Violet was asked what caused the damage to a few plants (Violet wasn't familiar with the Pokemon that caused it, but she was able to say the rough dimensions with only a moderate amount of stuttering) while Willow was asked to use that information to determine what to do (which Willow said was to follow those tracks because an unknown Pokemon means it's not one from Kanto). The talk extended onwards, with Gengar snapping their shadowy fingers every now and then to create additional practical effects that complicated the process of tracking.

By the time the lecture ended, Agatha had gone through how to use Pokemon to assist in tracking such as with Crobat's senses, a variety of different indicators of tracks in the wilderness, common issues encountered in unknown terrain, how to forage when in hostile or unknown terrain, and more.

The applause in the room was subdued due to the amount of information thrown at them, but it was nonetheless respectful. Both Violet and Willow had pages of notes to review later on, with both committing to testing them out in the hills to see what tracks they could find. With that done, Violet now had her training with her Pokemon to plan for.

And she almost immediately realized there was so much more to do than she had initially thought.

*Violet becomes a Skilled Survivalist*
*Violet becomes an Expert Tracker*
*Violet upgrades Novice Mountaineer to Skilled Mountaineer*

Pick 1

[] A few days as planned - Originally Violet only planned for a few days of training, but it had been a while since she had done so, meaning there was a lot more experience that she had to apply than she expected.
[] A week is optimal - A week would be long enough for Violet to apply the various changes to her Pokemons' training regimes. But there are likely to be a few new discoveries along the way for her to improve on.
[] Ten days for everything - Spending ten full days on the matter would occupy all of next week leaving her only a few days to help out Willow before her battle with Sabrina. But it'd likely cover everything Violet could think of … provided there aren't any major breakthroughs along the way.
[] Write-in

Alright, I'll be calling it there, looks like a week of training it is. A rather good decision I'd say considering the various buffs you got from this. As for Violet, she's now an Expert Trainer which does come with its own fun little benefits.

The morning after Agatha's exhibition, Violet stood on the edge of a rocky outcrop that overlooked the edges of Saffron City. The air carried the scent of dew-soaked grass while Violet's breath created clouds of mist every few seconds. Her Pokemon were spread out before her, each awaiting instructions with a mix of anticipation and curiosity.

"All right," Violet began, clapping her hands together to create an echo in the hills east of Saffron. "I told Willow I'll be back in a week so we don't have long." All her Pokemon began a series of exercises while Violet moved from one to the other, constantly shifting their training to incorporate the wide variety of battle experience they had gained.

Dragonite practically flowed through the open sky performing wide loops and aerial flourishes between dives through rings of psychic energy created by Psychic. The Dragon Pokemon loved the aerial drills, it being the perfect opportunity to show off. Not to mention falling in love with his new move Dragon Dance.

Violet smiled in appreciation as she watched Dragonite weave between psychic rings. His movements grew sharper and more fluid throughout the week. And at the end of each drill, Dragonite would launch into an Outrage creating craters in the hills and causing loose stones and dirt to fly through the air.

By the end of the week, he'd grown considerably, a far cry from the small Dratini he once was.

…He did now want to go flying with her, which Violet thought would be terrifying.

For Forretress, Violet focused on several different areas of improvement. Protect was refined considerably through repeated uses while target training helped her refine the use of Spikes and Toxic Spikes. A considerable number of spars also allowed her to train her general defensiveness while also helping her unlock several new moves such as Iron Defense and Gyro Ball.

What pleased Violet the most, however, wasn't anything that she had planned for, but rather Forretress growing considerably more perceptive thanks to her wide variety of experience gained.

After she competed at the Indigo Plateau, she really should take a few days and explore with Forretress.

Blissey's training took place by an alpine stream where she could incorporate a wide variety of lessons on her use of Life Dew. Much of her focus was on learning new moves, but Violet was also careful to ensure that she continued to participate in a variety of exercises (although Blissey certainly complained about the purely physical spars). Every now and then, she'd also call out for Blissey to use Protect, forcing her to instantly use the move allowing her to significantly improve the time it took to use among other improvements.

She did get the feeling that Blissey would enjoy a Contest Hall. Maybe she should look into that?

For Magnezone, Violet focused on shooting drills. She'd set up multiple targets for them to hit, cycling between Zap Cannon and Flash Cannon throughout. Violet forced Magnezone to consistently improve their time to hit all targets forcing them to work on their speed, accuracy, and power.

A number of minor flaws were found and corrected, with a special degree of emphasis being placed simply on aiming which is where the majority of Magnezone's problems were. And over the course of the week, Violet could see the difference it made.

…She just wished that Magnezone hadn't forced her to create a fire manually after they hid her lighter and match sticks. It'd been a while since they had messed with her admittedly.

Umbreon's training was notably more freeform due to Violet taking a risk. Allowing him to create his own training regime did improve his understanding of Pokemon battles, while also leading to a barrage of questions that Violet didn't know the answer to. Providing him access to her Pokedex did help, although now she had several videos of various Eevolutions performing workout videos in her history.

While it was unorthodox, Violet did see results. Occasionally corrected problems in his training regime herself prevented anything problematic from occurring and over the course of the week Violet taught Umbreon a variety of new moves.

One of these days she was tempted to allow Umbreon to act as a trainer. It'd be interesting at the very least.

Gengar spent much of his training shadowboxing. Facing imaginary copies of Pokemon, the Shadow Pokemon gained considerable experience when it came to dodging and attacking. A wide variety of improvements followed during the week alongside Gengar learning Destiny Bond, a move that would become very useful for him in the future.

And lastly was Slowbro whose sedate plodding belied far more focus than most people would know. The use of Psychic to create rings for Dragonite to pass through had done wonders for him, but there was more to training that just that. A number of different exercises were shared, with Hermit Crab Pokemon being forced to actually try and dodge. A task he truly hated but still learned.

After a week, all of her Pokemon were tired from the long hours. While Violet was exhausted from the constant running back and forth between her Pokemon along with the various demonstrations she had to do to convey her ideas. But she couldn't deny that there were quite a few results.

"You've all done amazing," she said, her voice soft but filled with pride. "I can't wait for the Plateau."

*Violet upgrades Skilled Trainer to Expert Trainer*

Pick as Many Changes as You Want to Your Pokemons' Movesets. Please Vote in Plan Format.

[] No Changes
[] [DRAGONITE] Replace Thunder Wave with Protect
[] [DRAGONITE] Replace Rain Dance with Dragon Dance
[] [FORRETRESS] Replace Self-Destruct with Toxic Spikes
[] [FORRETRESS] Replace Self Destruct with Spikes
[] [BLISSEY] Replace Sing with Soft Boiled
[] [UMBREON] Replace Helping Hand with Moonlight
[] Write-in