Standing in the Lumiose gym, Clembot opposes me, back ramrod straight as he awaits my command. I had to remove a few changes for my plans today, but I’ll put them back after I’m done. Courtney leans on a railing nearby from the spectator’s stand, sipping on a juice box.

Before I can actually command Clembot, my phone buzzes, forcing me to deal with that before I can run the training protocol I rewrote for Clemont and recompiled on Clembot.

Noticing that it’s a phone call from the caller id of the other number Sycamore gave me, I put on my best customer service voice. “Hello, you’ve reached Nicole.”

“Hi, for personal reasons, I can’t tell you my name, but you should know that I’m an archeologist currently studying the Hisui era of Sinnoh.” Several things of note: female voice, muffled by a cloth or something, archeologist studying Sinnoh, and she’s remaining anonymous. “I was in contact with Augustine, and he told me that you came into possession of an alpha pokémon fossil in the Kalos region.”

Calling Sycamore by his first name, huh? I guess they are both scientists. However… “I’m afraid you’ve been misinformed. I don’t possess a fossil. I possess an alpha pokémon itself. She is a Ralts that was hatched from an egg, not revived through any fossils.”

Silence. Courtney’s giving me her questioning stare which I wave off. Whoever’s on the other end of the line isn’t giving me as crazy vibes as Lusamine was. “Hello?” I ask after a solid minute and a half of silence.

“Sorry, I was just checking my schedule. I’m still interested in studying your Ralts if you wouldn’t mind. Nothing invasive, but it would be more in-depth than what you would get at a regular Pokémon Center checkup. Is there a time and place where you would be willing to meet with me?”

I raise an eyebrow, not that she could see it. “Umm, not that I’d be able to recognize you, but sure, I guess. I’m staying in Lumiose City for the foreseeable future, so we could just meet at the Pokémon Lab.”

“Perfect. Don’t worry about recognizing me either. From what Augustine tells me, you should easily recognize me.”

I frown, eyes drifting towards the black screen on my cheek. “What do you mean by th—?” The line goes dead, cutting me off. I roll my tongue around in my mouth in thought. “Strange…but not unwelcome.”

I turn back to Clembot, interruptions finished. “Activate squad training routine!” With this, Clembot releases all of the pokémon that Clemont gave to him in order to serve his purpose as temporary Gym Leader. Of course, he doesn’t use all of them, but he does switch them between challengers. They are, in the released order, Magnemite, Magneton, Magnezone, Emolga, Helioisk, Galvantula, and Ampharos.

The three of the Magnemite line stare at me with a modicum of interest on account of their lack of ability to express themselves, and the fact that they’re usually on patrol around the gym to keep out intruders. Needless to say, they probably recognize me. However, without Clembot’s approval, which I have, they won’t directly hurt me.

Mirroring Clembot, I release all of my pokémon… All 17 of them. Dang, I have a lot of pokémon. Let’s see… Robin the Dratini, Hazel the Ferroseed, Cecilia the Vespiquen, Elspeth the Alolan Vulpix, Alexandra the Noibat, Primrose the Feebas, Gwendolyn the Shiny Alpha Ralts, Penelope the Taillow, and Elaina the Misdreavus.

There’s also the eight Eevees. I haven’t named them yet, but to sort out the identical nature of them, I bought a bunch of ribbons that I tied into bows around their neck. Luckily, the pokéball allows decorative items to be pulled in with them. I had each of them choose a ribbon under the condition that no other Eevee had one.

So, we have Pink, Lilac, Black, Blue, White, Yellow, Green, and Orange. I bought nine other colors, but it appears that they chose ones that specifically line up with Eevee evolutions—eeveelutions. I am slightly crossing my fingers that they do end up evolving into their respective eeveelution since each one is a fairly good pokémon, but I’m keeping these thoughts to myself since I want them to have the choice to choose their evolution.

Of course, on the topic of evolution, there is the slight problem that many pokémon on my team require specific conditions to evolve. Flareon needs a fire stone, Jolteon needs a thunder stone, Vaporeon needs a water stone. Espeon and Umbreon need me to have a solid connection with them and they need to choose to evolve during the day or at night. Leafeon needs to evolve near a mossy rock, but there are some reported cases that a leaf stone works. Glaceon needs to evolve near an icy rock, but, in a similar vein, there are cases of an ice stone working as well. Sylveon requires that they know a fairy-type move and we love each other in almost every definition of the word.

And that’s just the Eevees! Elaina requires a dusk stone, Primrose needs a prism scale, and Elspeth needs another ice stone. Even with funds borrowed from Xerosic, those are each extremely expensive purchases; probably more than buying eight Eevees.

“All right everybody! I want you all to learn autonomy in a simulated battle environment. I’ll do my best, but you should be aware that I might not have all of the answers in battle. So, borrowing Clembot’s pokémon, I want each of you to pair up with someone unfamiliar to you and battle them using your own executive functions. I’ll be walking around and giving tips.”

The pokémon agree in one form or another. Notably, Clembot’s do it begrudgingly. I stalk between them, pointing out flaws in technique and pointers that I can give to the best of my ability. Most importantly, I’m using the many sensors hooked up to my spine to collect as much data as possible.

I stop at Primrose who is fighting Helioisk. Helioisk himself seems extremely confused as what they’re supposed to be doing. Yeah, it’s a slight problem. As she is, Primrose only knows Splash and Tackle. That’s all she can learn in her current form unless she has a move inherited from her parents or if I buy her a TM.

I probably need to move ‘get a prism scale’ higher up on the to-do list.

Speaking of the to-do list, I look down at my left hand, clenching my right fist. I think it’s time to stop procrastinating and get serious. I need a new hand.

flintseal

Not much to report on. I've just been thinking about what kind of arm Nicole should make for her first few iterations.

I'm thinking...functional first, then loud and stupid for fun.

Thanks for reading!