//------------------------------// // Chapter 23 // Story: Starlight: Redshift // by the-pieman //------------------------------// I get to the Battle Park and it takes a few moments to locate Rarity. Then I get an idea. I walk up to her. “Hey, whatcha doing?” “Working on some choreography.” She’s concentrating hard on the display before her, her pokémon doing the splash-in-place thing she’d discovered. Meanwhile, her Sewaddle was sitting on her shoulder, with an enormous leaf in its mouth, which it was nibbling slowly away at. “Well, I got my badge. I think the next thing that should be covered is a cooperational double battle. We have a pretty diverse team between us. We should figure out how well they can work together, right?” “Oh, I don’t know if I’m really up for battling. They have something there, but I can’t... quite... grasp it.” she begins to mutter under her breath, occasionally shouting things to her pokémon. That fish of hers is gleefully keeping up the splashing, and even Ledyba is keeping her balance. “There’s really not much available to either of them honestly. That’s the point of needing to be creative. Though Feebas will take you far if you give her the chance, outward appearance or not.” “Mhmm. Now let me see... neither has a very large move pool, so perhaps...” She trails off, and stands there, thinking for several seconds. “Oh, I’ll need to think this over for a little while. You two can stop, if you’d like. We’re taking a break, dears.” She sits down and pulls a stylus out of her éTech, and begins doodling on it. I didn’t know it had a stylus... “I’ll just leave you to that.” I walk further into the field and think about those pokémon I hadn’t seen before. There must be lots more... I pull out my éTech and go over what I should search for. “Let’s start with the obvious.” I pull up the Pokédex’s search function and use a voice command. “Look up Eevee’s evolution tree. Exclude Flareon, Vaporeon and Jolteon.” The machine in my hand beeps a few times and pulls up Eevee and Espeon, Umbreon then Leafeon, Glaceon, Sylveon and... holy crap! “Eliminate Espeon and Umbreon, and run a comparison of the remainders.” A few more beeps later a chart is pulled up with a comparison of base statlines, known abilities and known movepools for Eevee, Leafeon, Glaceon, Sylveon, and ten others. I quit the voice commands and just x out the pokémon I’ve already seen before, and enlarge the graph a bit. Looks like they’ve discovered the rest of the type variations. One catches my eye though. I cancel out the others and look at the Fighting type, and hit the ‘data’ button. -Hostileon, the Strife Pokémon. These warlike pokémon will fight until they are physically unable to. While many can at least be stopped and held in place, some will fight until they die of exhaustion. They can level entire mountains by themselves in a week, but will be so exhausted afterwards they might suffer heart failure. Instead of blood sugar, they have adrenaline in their veins, constantly keeping them battle-ready. However, they are highly prone to heart failure.- Jeez, this sounds like one hell of a bruiser. Apparently it’s the opposite of Umbreon, leveling up during the day with low bond strength. Yeesh. In fact, according to the data, it’s supposed to have a powerful negative bond. “A pokémon evolved through the sheer force of hate...” The idea makes me shudder. “That’s harsh.” Trying to find a better thing to read, I go back and look at another one, the Ghost-type. thank goodness most Ghost-types aren’t actual ghosts, just rather spectral. They’re usually quite friendly in f- -Spectreon, the Tormented pokémon. It is said that these pokémon are the spirits of deceased Eevee, murdered by the trainer they trusted and buried in a crossroads at midnight. They have a keening cry that tears at the soul and heart alike. They have no mercy nor love in them, for they were betrayed in a past life. The faded sheet wrapping their bodies never comes off, and there is nothing to be seen underneath. However, their burning, ghostly pawprints burn until the dawn's light extinguishes them.- I think back to the games themselves. Yeah some of the entries were dark, but... “E for Everyone my ass! This is getting downright sick! They can’t all be like this... who’d do that to an Eevee?” Shuddering, I slide to another, hoping for something lighter. There, the Flying type. Please don’t be something like ‘dropped off a cliff’... -Zephyreon, the Silver Lining pokémon. These fluffy pokémon float on their puffy, air-catching coat. They're so soft, that their fur is often used to stuff pillows for the very rich when it's shed. The puffy, fluffy coats of these pokémon catch the air and repel most forms of weather. They can float hundreds of miles on a strong breeze. It is hard to acquire these pokémon, as they only appear from places with a strong connection to the sky and wind.- Breathing a sigh of relief, I look up the picture for this one. I can’t help but giggle at the sheep-like poof of silvery-white fur, and the little swirl of fuzz on its forehead. It looks like a Swablu with legs! “So that’s interesting. I’ll have to get my hands on an Eevee sometime.” Suddenly a little dark blue icon catches my eye in the ‘related pokémon’ list, indicating a Dragon type... I decide to check this one and save the others for later. A Dragon Eeveelution... wow. -Drakeon, the Regal pokémon. These regal-looking pokémon are very rare. They are coveted by collectors, as their scales shimmer even more beautifully than a Milotic's. In spite of their grand appearances, they are fussier than a Persian, and will pick on any pokémon that they think is stealing the attentions of its trainer. While they are beautiful pokémon, they have an ugly temper, and will often harm or even 'remove' pokémon they see as threats to their meticulous grooming and attention standards.- Heh, cool, the typical Dragon type. Wonder what moves it can learn... eh, I’ve wasted enough time on this, I should get some practice with Double Battles. I stand up and wipe the grass off my pants as I start looking for trainers. Best bet would be one who has at least one badge... unfortunately it seems I’m the only one who wears them as badges, so I have to ask around. Eventually I find someone who looks like they’re about ready to leave town. “Hey man, where ya headed?” He turns to me and says “I’m headed for Seashallow Port to get my next badge. What’s up?” I grin. “I was looking for a double battle but most of the trainers around here are a bit under my league. Whaddya say we have a battle before you leave?” The guy shrugs and starts walking towards the nearest Arena. “Sure, I’m always up for a battle. Three pokémon, double battle, no outside items?” “Works for me.” When I reach my end of the little outline of the arena, I toss Geodude onto the grass and Carvanha into the moat, addressing them. “So this is gonna be a bit new, but you’re gonna have to work together on this one, think you can handle that?” Carvanha snaps its jaws with vigor, and Geodude thumps his ches- er, his chin. I think that’s a chin. Either way, my pokémon seem ready, and my opponent is throwing out his pokémon; a Spearow and a Fletchinder. That explains the guy’s heavy glove... “Now, seeing as how both of those have a disadvantage to my team... I’m gonna say you have a trick up your sleeve.” “Eeyup. I already got an HM. Er, not one that’s all too useful here... but I’ve also got some TMs! Fletchinder, Steel wing the Geodude! Spearow, U-Turn the Carvanha!” He points his fingers at my pokémon, and I begin to react immediately “Carvanha, Aqua Jet, now! Geodude, Rock Throw!” The pokémon immediately go cross-court, going after the pokémon targeting the other. The Fletchinder is stricken out of the air and into the moat by the Aqua Jet, while the rock stops the Spearow mid-flight and leaves it with a goofy face as it hits the ground. However, not all was in my favor. Carvanha was swimming in a distinct circle, a large scorch mark across its side making it grimace in pain. Geodude has his ‘karate man’ pose up again, and that Spearow is circling menacingly. The Fletchinder thrashes and splashes in the moat, screeching in pain and fear. The other guy recalls his pokémon before any permanent injury can accrue. Then, he throws out a Wingull, who begins to turn in a long arc. “Alright, let’s try again. Spearow, Iron Wing! Wingull, Water Pulse! Concentrate on that Geodude!” And the two pokémon race at mine, who is already hefting a chunk of stone and aiming. Thank goodness I don’t have incompetent numbskulls for pokémon. However, Geodude can only throw in one direction... “Carvanha, try and take that Water Pulse for Geodude!” The fish doesn’t look very enthusiastic, but goes for the intercept. The aquatic blast shifts and thrums, and Carvanha ends up upside-down as Geodude pegs the Spearow in the face again, this time taking it out of the fight. Unfortunately, the combination of the burn and the Pulse has also taken Carvanha out of the fight. Still, I’m one up in the fight. I throw out GLaDoS and think of a plan. Might as well start with the basics. “GLaDoS, Sunny Day. Geodude, Rock Polish!” The two pokémon begin their prep work, as my opponent orders his Wingull to fire a Water Gun at Geodude. Heh, he doesn’t know what Voltato do. Yet... “GLaDoS, intercept that attack!” The smaller pokémon takes the brunt of the attack, climbing onto Geodude’s back and extending a ball of roots like armor around the rock-type pokémon’s core. “Now Charge!” Luckily, the resulting electricity won’t hurt Geodude. GLaDoS starts charging and sparking similar to what I used to do with my powers making me miss them briefly before the jet of water hit GLaDoS, and the sparks leap up the water and zap the seagull out of the sky. “Geo!” “Tay-to!” my pokémon cheer, Geodude raising a fist triumphantly as the Wingull is recalled before hitting the turf. The trainer I faced curses and swears a few times, before pulling out a payment chit, and transfers 1000 to me. I can’t help but smile, even if he’s scowling and storms off towards the pokémon center instead of the town’s exit. I decide to go gloat. After all, my pokémon did excellently, and I do want to show them off. And get them healed on the kiosk I saw on my here. How do you not notice something like that as a trainer? The kiosk only has room for three pokémon at a time, and is a lot slower than the pokécenters, but still. Once the healing process is finished after a few minutes, I take the balls back and shrink them down replacing them on my belt in the order I had them in before. I don’t want to accidentally toss out the wrong pokémon at a critical moment. After a while of just relaxing, I see Twilight walkup. “Hey Twi. You get your badge too?” “Yeah! Tepig was knocked out, unfortunately, but he recovered to watch the last part of the battle. I think he’s really progressing.” She smiles broadly. “And, I fought a trainer on the way over here; I beat her, too! I think Tepig’s almost in his twentieth level, if I’m making my calculations right.” “Heh, then in that case I’d say he’s about ready to give us a show. You’ll be the first of us to get a pokémon to evolve, even though under normal circumstances it should have happened for Ledyba first... You’re not doing too bad.” She smiles at the appraisal of her accomplishments. “So, how about we see how Tepig does? If he wins... well we’ll have to see if you are accurate with your math.” She smiles, and we head off.