The reason Erika had been so confident in her win last night was because Aster had lost in the semifinals - to Keta.
Both were fairly strong opponents, but it was undeniably Aster who Erika's team would have a harder time with. Unlike Keta, Aster had a graveller - and it could dig extremely fast, owing to being a ground type that specialized in exactly this sort of thing. Erika's biggest fear was that Aster would copy her strategy of hiding underground and stalling, because much like Falkner, she didn't really have any means to attack and force out pokemon hiding underground.
It would surely be an ironic twist if Erika lost to the same strategy she came up with, but that thankfully wasn't going to happen because Keta had prevailed.
Obviously, at higher level battles there are all sorts of techniques and moves to counter the hide underground strategy, Erika thought to herself as she watched the replay of Aster and Keta's fight. Her legs were crossed and she was tucked snugly under the blankets of her bed. But for a bunch of at most first badge level trainers, if you have the ability to dig and hide underground, this tactic is nearly unbeatable.
Hiding underground as a strategy required specific arena fields to work, though. Even if Aster wanted to replicate Erika's strategy against Keta, he wouldn't have been able to, because their match took place on the Mirror Field, a bizarre field which featured nearly frictionless floors and mirror mazes everywhere. Let alone digging, Aster's graveller even had a hard time standing straight without slipping the entire match, or running into walls.
Even then, you wouldn't normally expect an electric specialist like Keta at roughly first badge strength to beat out a second stage ground type like graveller. However, he had still won anyways, largely owing to his second pokemon, a sort of weird fish with antenna called chinchou. Erika hadn't heard of this particular pokemon before, but she knew it was definitely partially water type, considering the powerful blasts of water it had ejected towards the graveller during their match. The creature moved through magnetism, swimming on electromagnetic fields in a ridiculous manner that made Erika laugh.
While it was great for Keta's semifinal match, the chinchou would now become a burden against Erika. It's elemental water typing meant that it would be far weaker to Erika's grass team, and Keta's long range electric attacks that he depended on wouldn't be able to injure her team much due to the elemental resistance the grass type had against electric.
He's pretty much doomed, Erika concluded. Unless he finds a really ingenious strategy to gain the advantage over my team somehow, but given the moves he's shown already, I can't exactly envision how that's going to happen.
The match was scheduled for early in the morning, so Erika showered and made sure to walk quickly to the arena. There was still a decent amount of time left before the match, so Erika didn't bother hailing a cab and enjoyed her morning walk.
The closing ceremony was already being set up by the organizers, and when she arrived, Erika noticed people carrying around equipment and setting it up in preparation for the end of this year's annual Rising Stars Gauntlet.
The RSG itself wasn't a very large tournament, but it was still considered a semi-prestigious youth tournament due to its ties with the league and the Game Corner. It was a joint initiative, if Erika recalled correctly, which tried to promote competitive battling and draw in fresh talent each league season.
Regardless, Keta was waiting for her, so Erika secured her stuff inside one of the lockers and made her way over to the main arena.
This time, the event organizers had shown up as well, unlike in previous rounds. Erika was pleasantly surprised to see that the league had posted a one-star ace ranger to preside over the final match of the RSG, standing next to a well dressed man in a business suit whom Erika assumed to be the William Corner, the chairman of the massive entity that was the Game Corner.
When Erika passed by them on her way to the podium, the ace gave her a curt nod, and William gave her a friendly smile. Erika gave them both a winning smile that would hopefully ingratiate herself with them, or at least make a good impression, and she readied herself to face off against her final opponent in the RSG.
There were a sizable amount of in person spectators this time compared to her previous rounds, enough to make even Erika's heart palpitate a little. She started to feel a little adrenaline beginning to flow, and Erika was flush with excitement.
From across her, Keta gave her a small wave, which Erika returned.
He looked quite nervous, which Erika thought was appropriate. I'd be nervous too if I had to fight someone as great as me.
"Being able to meet you in the finals is a pleasant surprise," Erika said. "Congratulations on your win against Aster, by the way - being able to beat out his graveller as an electric type specialist is very impressive."
"Same goes for you," Keta returned straight away. "I saw your fight against that skarmory. That was quite the devious strategy."
Erika was about to continue talking, but she noticed William Corner going for a microphone, so she shut up and listened to the finals round speech. William looked to be around his mid sixties, with a graying beard and salt and pepper hair, although he had clearly maintained his physique. Not like that's a good determinant of age anyways, Erika thought. Even average pokemon trainers tend to have a better life expectancy compared to their mundane relatives, let alone aces at the inherited realm. Even if William wasn't an ace, he could easily be 80 something years old and looking 60.
William coughed into his microphone a few times finally talking.
"Thank you everyone for coming here today to attend the final match of the Rising Star's Gauntlet!
His words were met with a wave of cheers. "I'd like to start off this speech by talking about exactly how the RSG was created, and why I decided to partner with the league in sponsoring this initiative. You see, a long long time ago, there was a man…"
Erika promptly turned her brain off after hearing that. She wasn't interested in listening to someone else self aggrandize - only she could do that. William spoke for a few more minutes before offering up the microphone to the ace ranger in charge of the refereeing, and Erika prepared herself to fight for the last time in the tournament.
"I will explain the rules again," the ace announced, ybe her curt voice grating on Erika's ears. "The format for this fight is 2v2 singles, with no switches allowed. A switch out is considered a forfeiture of the pokemon on the field. Should your pokemon leave the confines of the designated arena field, that will also result in a forfeit. Do you understand?"
"Yes," Erika affirmed confidently, her voice bright and clear.
Keta did the same.
"Let the final round for the 22nd Rising Stars Gauntlet commence!" The ace announced. "On my mark, get set, go!"
On Erika's side of the arena, Mordred appeared in all his glory, glowing a brilliant forest green while shrouded within his powerful aura. On the other side, a dangerous looking bipedal feline appeared - luxio.
When she had initially watched VODs of Keta's prior battle, Erika struggled to identify his starter because it wasn't native to any of the Indigo affiliated regions. Or was it? It was possible for some traffickers to have set some shinx loose in one of the island regions controlled by the Indigo League, but that was probably semantics at that point.
Well, it's not like the Orange and Sevii Islands are actual regions, Erika thought to herself. Not since they were colonized by Indigo anyways.
Indigo was a giant behemoth that controlled four vast territories - the Orange Islands, Sevii Islands, Kanto, and Johto - and they were currently reaching for more.
Erika recalled reading something about an ongoing trade embargo with Orre, with Indigo trying to freeze what little traffic went in and out of the already impoverished region so they could gain financial control and eventual dominance of their land, but it wasn't particularly relevant to the situation at hand.
"Strike it with your tail!"
Mordred jumped in immediately and twisted, gathering force with his tail to deliver a devastating blow, but the luxio anticipated it and ducked under his strike. Using one of its paws, it batted Mordred away as he passed overhead, sending him rolling onto the floor. However, Mordred got up without any signs of injuries, disappointing Keta.
The luxio was prowling around, trying to assess the situation while facing Mordred. Erika tried a few more times to not much success, as Keta's luxio was fully committed to staying on the defensive and evading Mordred's powerful tail. Keta definitely warned his luxio about Mordred.
Still, it didn't really matter when the power differential was massive. As long as Erika could have Mordred get one good strike in with his tail, the luxio would probably be flattened.
The issue at hand is actually landing the strike.
Erika pulsed their bond to signal for Mordred to secretly attack, using her second sight to study the luxio and Keta.
Keta must be desperate, Erika analyzed. I've seen the fights that luxio has been in. There's no way he can fight Mordred head on. He must be looking to capitalize on an opening to end the fight in one blow. I wonder…
"Lash it with vines," Erika ordered, keeping an eye on Keta and his starter.
Mordred released a few feelers from his back and sent them flying on an arc towards the luxio, which deftly dodged the blow. He repeated this a few more times to increase the confidence of the luxio, baiting it into committing to an attack, before Erika found the opportunity she wanted.
She pulsed her bond with Mordred twice, signaling for him to lower his guard, and Keta's eyes widened. Game over.
The next time Mordred sent one of his feelers towards the luxio, it dodged and seized the vine viciously between its teeth and bit down. Then, it erupted with electric aura, flaring golden as it pumped as much electricity down the feeler and into Mordred's body as possible.
Mordred recoiled in pain, but his grass type provided some elemental resistance to the electricity, and Erika knew her chance had come.
Keta tried to order his luxio to get away after seeing the twisted grin on Erika's face, but the feeler his luxio bit down on came alive, wriggling and squirming like a living being and coiling itself tightly around the luxio like a vice.
Mordred squeezed hard, binding the luxio until its limbs lost circulation, and Keta was eventually forced to recall his starter.
"Surrender," Erika offered to him. "It's not an ignoble defeat. This was a good match, but you simply weren't equipped to deal with my team. It's possible to overcome a power differential at higher badges with more diverse movepools and strategies, but at our level, raw power tends to trump everything else."
Keta seemed to hesitate a little before refusing. "No. Let's just fight it out to the end. Even if I lose, I can at least say that I stuck it out."
Erika's respect for him rose a little after that, but not by much because he was still losing in the end. It didn't take long for his chinchou to go down, and soon, Erika found herself being hailed as first place.
"Victory to Erika Caldwell, of Celadon!" The ace shouted, sounding the alarm and thus the end of the RSG. "Well fought, both of you. While the RSG is by no means a highly prestigious tournament, it's still rare for kids like you to attain this level of strength so young. Both of you should be proud that you made it here."
Erika nodded humbly, even as she sported a not so humble grin, before heading over to shake Keta's hand.
"Congratulations," Keta told her. "I knew I wouldn't be able to beat you this time, but I still tried my best anyways."
"It was a good attempt," Erika agreed. "Good match."
The ace ushered her and Keta over to the center of the arena, where the organizers had set up a little platform for the top three participants to stand on. Erika proudly took her place at the top, soaking in the attention given to her by the modest audience in attendance. Keta was second, while third place surprisingly didn't go towards Falkner - instead, it was Aster, who secured a 1-2 record against Keta in the previous match.
There were no loser's brackets in the RSG, and since Falkner lost 0-2, third place went to Aster instead.
Once the top three were in place, the organizers snapped a quick photo before handing out the medals.
Erika eagerly reached out to grab the golden first place medal she knew belonged to her, cradling it against her chest like a treasure.
It's all mine, Erika thought lovingly, admiring the shiny metal which she knew to be spray painted gold. Even if the gold itself is fake, the reputation and authority it bestows are very much real.
Once they were done with the medals and photos, the organizers conducted the closing ceremony, which marked the official end of the Rising Stars Gauntlet.
Erika was brought over to a separate room within the Oberlin Stadium where a camera crew from the Morning Sun was already waiting, a woman wearing a green sundress seized her hand excitedly.
"So you're the latest winner, huh?" The woman chattered. "Good to meet you! I'm Amanda, a junior reporter with the Morning Sun, and we're going to interview you so you can get your name out there and start building a reputation. Does that make sense?"
"Yeah," Erika nodded. "That makes sense."
"Great!"
"We're going to ask you a few standard questions, so there's not much to be worried about," Amanda added to assuage any concerns Erika may have had. "We're just going to go over who you are, some fun facts about you, and how you felt about the tournament as a whole. Our team will edit your responses before broadcasting them anyways, so no pressure okay?"
Erika nodded again.
"Alright!" Amanda brought over a camera and trained it on the green screen set she prepared beforehand, inviting Erika to sit beside her. Erika took her place and put on a nice smile.
"This is Amanda Inkwell with the Morning Sun, and I'm here interviewing the winner of this year's Rising Stars Gauntlet! For any of our viewers unfamiliar with the tournament, it's a locally hosted initiative sponsored by the Indigo League and our very own Game Corner to promote fresh talent within the league circuit - the tournament follows the single elimination format and allows 2 pokemon, since it's restricted to trainers without badges."
Amanda turned the microphone over to Erika. "Say hi Erika!"
"Hello," Erika said confidently. "I'm Erika Caldwell, a grass specialist. Pleased to meet you all."
"And pleased she is," Amanda agreed. "We're now going to ask our latest winner a few questions about her life and background, so stay glued to the screen!"
"First question!"
"How old are you?" Amanda asked seriously. "Most winners of the Rising Stars Gauntlet tend to be around thirteen or fourteen, which is the usual age when trainers start their journeys, but I'm guessing you're younger right?"
"I'm eleven years old," Erika told her. "I had my eleventh birthday a few months ago, so I'm still quite young!"
Truthfully speaking, I don't really know my exact age, Erika thought. I'm probably ten or eleven though. Probably.
"Wow!"
Amanda laughed. "We've got quite a prodigy with us this time. What was it like, battling in the RSG? Were you nervous at all? Grass type pokemon have a lot of weaknesses to common elemental types, so you must have been concerned about your matchups right? Please, share your experience with me!"
"I wouldn't say that I was nervous exactly," Erika said slowly by way of explanation. "I'd say that I was more excited, actually. I work best under pressure, so being put into a situation where I'm disadvantaged can sometimes help me out. You saw my match with Falkner right?"
"It was certainly an impressive one," Amanda complimented. "Not many people expected you to win that one."
"Right," Erika agreed. "It's those sorts of situations that really encourage me to think hard. If I always fought people I could beat up with brute force, then I wouldn't ever need to use my brain. That's why I'm excited to battle new people instead of being nervous - being pitted against type disadvantages makes me a better trainer in the long term, something I appreciate."
Amanda seemed quite impressed with Erika's answer. "That's an insightful response, Erika, especially for someone as young as you. Let's move on to another question."
"Who taught you how to battle?"
"Honestly, I'd say most of my skills are self taught," Erika answered honestly.
The next part wasn't as honest though.
"I grew up alone because my parents died early, and my uncle is a full time ranger, so he never had time to take care of me," Erika continued. "I lived with a few distant relatives before my uncle freed up his schedule to properly take care of me, so I always had a lot of free time to experiment and play around with battling."
"For example, here's my oddish!"
Erika uncapped her pokeball and released Gwen onto the camera set, having her preen in front of the camera.
"Oddish dish!" Gwen said, standing straight for the camera to see.
Erika smiled fondly. "Gwen here is my second pokemon. Oddish aren't exactly a common choice for grass type specialists to use, but I've found that they can be surprisingly versatile. Although oddish are physically weaker than other grass types, they're very tenacious, and that's a quality every trainer can appreciate. I've trained her for stamina, mostly so she can do the sorts of things you watched in my match with Falkner."
"Your oddish is most definitely tenacious," Amanda agreed, studying Gwen. "Not many pokemon would be able to last that long when they're this young. Do you mind if I hold her for a bit?"
Erika shook her head no. "Gwen doesn't like it when she's held by other people. Sorry about that."
"No worries," Amanda said easily. "Let's talk about your starter pokemon then. Where on earth did you get a snivy from? Aren't they unova's regional starter?"
There it was. Erika knew this question was bound to come, so she had prepped for it beforehand with Fulton already.
"Mordred here is actually not sourced from any of the breeders licensed by the Unova League ," Erika told her. "My uncle found him in the Whispering Woods while on assignment by the ranger corps, and he gifted him to me for my birthday since he felt bad for not spending enough time with me growing up. Come out, Mordred!"
Erika's starter pokemon appeared in a flash, and he stood uncomfortably in place under the scrutiny of Amanda's camera.
"From the Whispering Woods? Oh my."
"That was my reaction too," Erika said jovially. "My uncle tells me that the Whispering Woods is really weird. All sorts of grass type pokemon from across the world end up lost and wandering in the Whispering Woods within the deeper regions, and if you go in deep enough, you could even catch pokemon from distant regions! Mordred can't exactly remember where he was from either, but my uncle and I think he's probably from one of those unknown islands that house native populations of snivy."
"Still, your luck has to be excellent to stumble upon a pokemon like him," Amanda noted jealously. "You're quite blessed to have an uncle like Fulton."
"I certainly am." Erika smiled, although it didn't reach her eyes. "I love my uncle very much. Although he's not around often, I know he cares for me a lot."
Amanda checked the time and gasped. "Wow, time sure flies. We've only got time for one more question. Do you have anything to say to our audience over at the Morning Sun? Any words of wisdom from the latest winner of the RSG before we end the interview?"
Erika considered it for a second. "I think pokemon training is about sacrifice."
"Sacrifice?"
"It's opportunity cost if you really want to get technical," Erika explained. "There are only so many hours in a day, and if you want to win, you're going to need to invest a lot of time into training with your pokemon. I got to where I am today because I sink all my time into pokemon training, and I disregard everything else. You've got to have commitment, that's what I'm saying basically."
"That's good advice," Amanda remarked. "Well, thank you for coming onto this interview, Erika, but we're going to have to wrap it up here. Congratulations on your win, and I hope we get to see you on here again!"
The cameras stopped rolling, and Amanda got up swiftly and dusted herself off after it was done.
"Great job on the interview," she told Erika. "Most people tend to get sweaty or nervous when they're on camera, but you did a good job staying calm. All your responses were good too - we don't need to do much editing for those."
"I'm only glad it went well," Erika said genially. "It's my first time on air after all, so I had to do the best I could."
"That's a good mentality," Amanda agreed."
Erika waited until the camera crew finished packing up and wheeling the mounted cameras up, before she caught Amanda's arm and stopped her from leaving.
"Is it possible for you to get my interview broadcasted during the evening when there's more traffic?" Erika asked Amanda directly. "Perhaps you could also broadcast the interview a few more times than normal, to make sure my name really gets out there."
"I can't, sadly," Amanda said bluntly. "This interview is scheduled for the morning only."
"What if I offered you a favor?"
The room was silent briefly. "What sort of favor are you talking about here?"
"Oh, surely you know what I'm talking about," Erika smiled snarkily. "It's a 'you scratch my back, and I'll scratch yours' type favor. It's not like we're doing anything illegal either. I'm just asking for a little consideration when it comes time to broadcast the interview, that's all."
Amanda shut the door to the interview room and looked around her before letting Erika continue talking.
"I'd be very grateful," Erika said, putting heavy emphasis on the word grateful. "And having a future ace trainer be grateful to you is something everyone wants."
"Gratitude doesn't pay the bills," Amanda said slowly in response.
"How does fifty thousand pokedollars sound?"
"I'd say it sounds like you're going on the evening news," Amanda replied. "We recently had a change in company policy. It's not a big deal to put you on a few more times than normal."
Erika grinned like a shark. Money really does make the world go round.
A few days later, Erika was happy to find that Amanda really had followed up on their deal after she transferred the money over.
Having her interview broadcasted in the evening didn't make a massive difference, nor did the increase in the number of reruns, but little things added up over time - something Erika was well aware of. Perhaps her decision to bribe Amanda wouldn't result in any major gains within the short term, but having more people know about herself would only pay off in the long run.
I have to seize every advantage open to me, Erika thought. Plus, it's not like I did anything illegal.
Erika generously purchased Amanda a first class ticket to vacation in the Orange Islands, along with a multi-month stay in a five star hotel resort's luxury penthouse - it just so happened to be that all that added up to 50,000₽. If Amanda happened to decide to redeem that ticket back to the resort or sell it off for an equivalent price - well, that was her choice.
So what if Erika was a generous person? She just appreciated the candor Amanda showed in their interview, and she wanted to reward her for her work. That was all.
Erika was currently busy browsing a Silph catalog sent over by the organizers of the RSG, and she was scanning an extensive list of high grade technical machines.
SILPH TM CATALOGUE
Charge Beam
…
Dragon Claw
Thunderbolt
Brine
…
Endure
Dragon Pulse
X-Scissor
…
Shadow Claw
Recycle
Torment
Facade
…
Erika kept scrolling and scrolling on her phone, going through what seemed like an endless list of technical machines until she finally found the one Milly advised her to choose.
Energy Ball.
The true significance of this technique didn't lie in the attack itself, but in the mechanism that enabled the energy ball to be created - energy absorption. Usage of energy ball required a fundamental mastery of ambient AND active energy absorption, something that could take a pokemon years to properly learn.
Most pokemon already passively absorbed energy from the environment to sustain their aura, but energy ball required you to take the next step and begin actively absorbing energy.
And for grass types, the energy source that was most plentiful that they could draw from was obviously nature.
By choosing Energy Ball, it was like obtaining a high speed shortcut for both Gwen and Mordred to master active energy absorption in advance, skipping years of laborious training that would otherwise bog them down and stall their journey.
Once Erika's pokemon became familiar with drawing power from nature, they would be able to drastically enhance their prowess in any fighting terrain that contained plants - and if there weren't any around, you could always force the formation of such a terrain with a special move called grassy terrain.
Not only would Mordred and Gwen find themselves stronger while battling in such a terrain, but they would also be able to actively draw power from nature to fuel their attacks instead of using their own aura, drastically increasing their longevity in battle.
Imagine fighting against me only to realize that my pokemon have barely expended any of their aura reserves, Erika thought. It would be devastating.
Furthermore, aura drawn from nature wouldn't only replace a grass pokemon's aura in fueling their attacks, but it could also enhance it further. If Mordred were to concentrate his own grass aura onto his tail, and supplement it further with grass aura absorbed from his surroundings, his raw power would reach a new high.
There were a myriad of uses for energy ball, the actual attack being included, so Erika decisively chose the technical machine and sent an email to inform the organizers of her choice.
Mordred and Gwen will be unable to use technical machines for a while after learning energy ball, though. It's probably worth it.
High grade technical machines were different from the cheap stuff sold in commercial shops. When a pokemon used a regular technical machine, the most they would get was a faint impression of the move, and it was up to them to comprehend the profundities behind the move the TM contained. If they weren't smart or focused enough to understand, then the TM would go to waste.
What Erika was about to get was vastly different. High grade technical machines actually contained the aura of the original creator of the TM, and they directly imparted the original creator's understanding of the move into the user's mind. Not only would they gain knowledge of how the move functioned, but the user would also have the original creator's aura directly circulate through their bodies to guide them in the learning process of the new move.
There was an entire world of difference between a high grade and a low grade technical machine.
That wasn't to say that low grade technical machines were without merit though. High grade TMs did have some disadvantages as well, one of them being the time differential required between the usage of the current and the next high grade TM.
Since the high grade TM was so much more in depth and invasive, it put pressure on the body, and continued usage could lead to a phenomenon known as aura-immune rejection.
Some scientists likened aura to an immune system, in that it rejected foreign intrusions, and would recognise foreign auras from 'past intrusions,' much like an immune system might recognise a familiar disease and have antibodies prepared.
Overusage of high grade TMs would lead to a pokemon's aura rejecting the aura from future TMs entirely, rendering them completely useless. One usage was perfectly benign, and your aura wouldn't reject it at all, but a second, or even third attempt would definitely provoke a reaction. Erika didn't want that happening for her pokemon, considering how useful TMs were.
Furthermore, learning via this sort of method led to an inflexible usage of the move.
It was important to understand that a high grade TM contained the original creator's understanding of how to use the move.
In the case of energy ball, Mordred and Gwen would be imbued with the original creator's understanding of how to draw energy from nature, form the energy ball, keep the energy ball stable, etc. However, the TM wouldn't be able to teach them other applications or tricks that they might have ordinarily come up with if they learned energy ball through the orthodox method, or even used a lower grade TM.
For example, in one of the biographies of Indigo's ancient champions, Erika had read that his gengar had the unique ability to draw power from a single source, instead of a wide range of plant life like which the energy ball move advocated for. He had originally started out much like Erika, but discovered that rather than draining energy from a collective to power the energy ball, it was possible to focus on a smaller and more limited number of plants - wholly taking away their life force.
Following this progress, his gengar eventually learned to sidestep the nature part of energy absorption to directly drain life from his enemies to power the usage of his energy ball.
Erika had tried to replicate his feat many times using absorb and mega drain, attempting to drain enemy pokemon to fuel Gwen's attacks, but it never really worked out.
It's probably because absorb and mega drain focus on the healing properties of life force, instead of how mutable it is, Erika had concluded eventually. But energy ball is different. The fundamentals of this move focus on repurposing the energy absorbed and channelling it into a different form, so I can use it as a sort of bridge to eventually teach Mordred and Gwen how to directly steal life force from enemies to power their own attacks and heal themselves at the same time.
It was also hard to unlearn habits taught by high grade TMs, but Erika felt that it was worth using one anyways, due to how much time Mordred and Gwen could skip in the process of learning active energy absorption.
In any case, it would take more than a week for the TMs to arrive, so Erika didn't concern herself with the TM catalog any further and busied herself with preparing for the event occurring later in the evening.
As the winner of the RSG, Erika had been formally extended an invitation to the Corner Charity Gala held in the Game Corner. While it was possible to refuse the invitation, only an idiot would do so because it was one of the best opportunities to network available to young trainers.
You also get to gamble, Erika thought excitedly. The Corners have provided entertainment in a fashion typical to their family, and will include rare pokemon as prizes.
Milly had been the one to tell Erika the last part actually, since she and her family were going too. While it was obviously beneath the Family Head to show up in person, some of the younger Beldings were going to be in attendance, Milly included, which meant Erika would have a friend to show her around during the gala.
Erika adjusted her golden kimono and pulled up some instructions on how to tie the obi again, before finally wrangling her outfit into place. Done. Finally.
Milly was already waiting outside her room for her, and upon seeing that she was done, dragged her downstairs towards a waiting car which some of her cousins were already seated in.
Erika shook a few of their hands but didn't really bother to ingratiate herself to them, because she was already 'in' with the most important one of them all - the current family heiress. She made some small talk with Milly's cousins to pass the time before the car arrived at the Game Corner. Erika was quite astonished at how beautiful it was.
"You haven't seen anything yet," Milly told her, rapping her shoulder playfully. "Let's go inside."
Erika followed her friend in a daze while admiring all the decorations the Game Corner had put up, studying and scrutinizing each one in great detail before Milly pulled her away each time.
They're really invested a lot into making this place nice, Erika mused. I even recognize some of Lachika's sculptures here, and they've got tons of Belding style carpentry.
A few people took the initiative to shake hands with Erika, but most didn't recognise her, something that she was deeply disappointed by. Erika was about to walk off in search of more people she could network with when Milly grabbed her hand and dragged her to the slot machines. She threw Erika a pouch filled to the brim with golden coins, and made Erika sit down next to her.
"Don't worry about mingling with the other patrons," Milly said seriously. "The RSG isn't a particularly important event, and although there's some novelty in talking to the winner, it's long since faded from previous years. Let's just focus on having fun gambling."
Erika burst out into laughter. "Okay, you've seen through my intentions Milly. Still, gambling? That's totally unlike you. Shouldn't you be admonishing me for partaking in such a vice?"
"It is what it is," Milly shrugged. "We're all allowed a few vices, you know? I just happen to like gambling. Here, I'll teach you the ropes!"
Milly let Erika spin the slot machines a few times before she gave up, and Erika was rewarded with an encouraging smile from Milly.
"That's lesson one," Milly lectured. "Never play the slot machines. They're completely rigged against you, so you won't ever win unless you hit payout."
"Payout?"
"Yeah," Milly said. "The Game Corner has to let their patrons win sometimes, right? Payout is what us professional gamblers call the point at which the slot machine is hardcoded to let you win. In other words, if you play the slots long enough, you'll eventually be given a win by the machine."
"What?" Erika looked outraged. "Isn't that a total scam then?"
"That's exactly the point," Milly agreed. "Although the rewards are big, the machines only let the players win every once in a while, so the total amount of money that goes in is still more than what the Game Corner will lose by giving away a prize. The only time you'd ever play a slot machine is if you could figure out that it's going to hit payout soon. Otherwise, you're an idiot if you play slots."
"What should we play then?"
"Obviously, it's the claw machine," Milly told her. "Those ones are a lot more skill based."
Milly brought Erika over to the back of the Game Corner where a bunch of claw machines were located, and she started demonstrating how to play. In the meantime, Erika ordered herself a soda with a little umbrella and lemon, and she sipped on it casually while watching Milly.
After inserting a few golden coins, the claw machine came to life and Milly started carefully controlling the claw with an intense look of concentration on her face. Far below the claw were hundreds of miniaturized pokeballs, which Erika thought might have contained things like candies or snacks, before she opened her second sight and realized that there was aura within each and every pokeball.
"Wait, are those real pokemon?" Erika asked suddenly. "The claw machine prizes are pokemon?"
"Not just any pokemon either," Milly informed her. "Rare pokemon."
She gestured to a sticker on the machine which read 'one pokemon allowed each.'
"Do you really think that the Corner Charity Gala would be this popular if people didn't have an incentive to come? Look over there!"
Erika turned to face the direction Milly was pointing and promptly coughed out her drink.
Oh fuck.
Right in the center of the Game Corner was a cylindrical glass tube running from the floor to the ceiling, and within it, Erika saw a dratini swimming around.
"Yes, that's a dratini," Milly confirmed, oblivious to Erika's inner turmoil. "I heard the Corners secured this particular specimen from overseas somehow, and it's the grand prize for this year's Corner Charity Gala. We shouldn't focus too much on it though. It's probably going to be won by one of the Blackthorns in attendance because they like holding a monopoly on all native dragon types."
Erika was still screaming a little inside. That dratini is the same fucking one from the Claw hideout I stole Mordred from! What the fuck?
Erika recognized it from the very unique birthmark she saw on its tail, a jagged imprint that resembled a zigzag. She was barely able to force herself to look away and continue sipping her soda, trying not to expose her inner panic. If the Corners notice something abnormal about me, I'm so fucked, Erika thought. Just calm down. It's normal to be shocked at seeing a dratini. They evolve into one of the strongest dragons afterall.
"How come you're so sure the Blackthorns will win the dratini?" Erika asked Milly, trying to distract herself. "I thought most of the games were dependent on luck?"
"There's still an element of skill involved in most games," Milly explained. "Although, I suspect that the Blackthorns winning this time will be more political than anything. They might have negotiated something with the Corners to guarantee their win, but regardless, the Corners will definitely fleece them for all they're worth. I refuse to believe they're going to win without investing at least a few thousand tries."
"Wait a second."
Erika realized something. She held up the golden pouch in her hand and started counting, before Milly stopped her.
"There's about five hundred coins in there," Milly told her. "Don't ask about what the buy-in price was. That's my congratulations gift for your win by the way."
She gestured to the claw machine. "Basically, we're going to sit here until we each win a single pokemon."
Erika felt a surge of gratitude at Milly's words. She felt oddly warm, and decided that if Milly ever needed her help, she would definitely be the first to come assist.
That's probably what her intentions are, Erika thought amusedly to herself. Still, that doesn't stop me from being grateful. Milly has correctly identified that I'm moved by material benefits, and she doesn't hesitate to shower me with them to build a solid friendship.
I'm not the type of person to add flowers to a brocade. If Milly ever needs help, I'll be the one sending charcoal in the blizzard. To my friends, I will return graciousness hundredfold, and to my enemies, I'll dig out their eyes for the slightest grievance. That's my code.
Erika pulled a chair over to the neighboring claw machine and sat down next to Milly. "We're only allowed one win each right?"
"That's correct," Milly confirmed. "The Corners don't want people gobbling up all the prizes. This is very much a publicity event for them, and they want people to go home satisfied. When all the ace trainers and diplomats and politicians and bigwigs are seen here gambling on television, it boosts their ratings like you wouldn't believe."
"That makes sense."
No wonder they went to all this effort to gather all these rare pokemon as prizes. It's a lure to draw in important people to come gamble to give the Game Corner good PR.
Erika had an attempt at the claw machine but failed miserably. She was able to roughly position the claw over a pokeball that she saw had grass aura within, but when she hit the button for the claw to come down and snatch the pokeball, it missed completely and grabbed another pokeball.
Before Erika could panic at the thought that she wasn't getting the grass type she wanted, the claw suddenly came loose and let go of the pokeball. She breathed a sigh of relief and tried again.
Milly didn't focus on a singular machine like Erika, choosing to alternate between all the different claw machines and only playing once before switching. Erika had ten more attempts before realizing something was wrong. "Why are the claws so loose Milly?"
"Probably because they're designed that way," Milly explained. "You have to remember that there are ace trainers gathered here gambling in this hall as well - and they have supernatural inherited abilities of all shapes and sizes. Regular claw machines wouldn't stand a chance against someone who can see the future or control their muscles so finely that they can operate a claw machine like a precision laser instrument. The Game Corner's claw machines have a weak grip, and you need a nearly perfect orientation for the claws to actually pull up a pokeball without it coming loose. The smooth and circular shape of the pokeball makes it even harder for the claw to find any kind of purchase on it, adding to the difficulty."
"Huh?"
Erika scowled. "How am I supposed to win then?"
"The payout function," Milly answered easily. "Remember what I told you? The claw machines, while more skill based than slots, still have a mechanism called 'payout', which is where the claw will grip tightly and guarantee you a prize after you play enough times. It only happens once every hundred or few hundred tries through. The Game Corner is a business, and they need to satisfy their customers if they want more coming back. There will be a guaranteed win eventually, as long as you sink enough money into the machine - although this strategy is more of a rich person one."
"This type of claw machine actually originates from Unova," Milly continued explaining. "Unovan claw machines tend to focus on gripping and pulling the prize up - with the added difficulty being that the claws are quite loose. The Kantonian version, which is less common, involves prizes being hung from hooks, and you have to use the claw to grab and wiggle them off the hook. These ones usually use glue to secure them to the hook and make it extra hard for players to win. However, both variants still feature the same payout function."
"What's even the point of trying them?" Erika wondered aloud. "If you just need to pour money in to get a prize, can't you just play half heartedly?"
"That takes all the fun out of it then."
"I find that it's much more fun to switch between machines and try to guess which one is close to payout," Milly explained as she played. "Furthermore, the whole point of playing is to have fun. We're obviously here for the prize, but you can still have fun while doing it."
Milly made Erika look at her own machine. There was a fine look of concentration on her face, and she carefully twisted her hand to operate the controls to the claw. Although her claw failed to grab a pokeball securely when it came down, Milly was still smiling anyways. "The act of playing is part of the experience. Having fun is why I came, you know? Plus, there are ways to win without hitting payout as well if you're smart and lucky enough."
"See that machine on the right?" Milly pointed.
Within the glass display box of the claw machine, Erika saw one of the pokeball prizes close to the edge of the dropper, stacked up upon dozens of other pokeballs until it had nearly been pushed over. "There's not much distance between that ball and the dropper box, so as long as your claw can grab it briefly and pull it up a little, it might fall into the dropper box."
Milly slipped a coin into that machine and nudged the claw towards the pokeball, which made it wobble, but it ultimately didn't fall. Erika thought Milly was going to put another coin in to try again, but after looking around a bit, Milly gave the machine a good smack as Erika watched with astonishment.
The pokeball shook again, but it didn't fall.
"That sucks," Milly said mournfully. "The owners upgraded the stabilisation module in the machine again. I used to be able to get the pokeballs out if I shook it hard enough."
"Isn't that illegal?" Erika asked suspiciously, giving Milly a glance.
"Only if they catch you."
Milly hesitated a little after saying that. "Some of the machines come with alarms though, so I wouldn't hit them if I were you. The owners will kick you out if they catch you."
"Have you ever been caught?" Erika wondered out loud.
Milly's face was one of disdain. "Who do you think I am? They've never caught me."
Milly showed Erika a few other examples where you could potentially win without hitting payout, like a prize box that hung from a hook - if you used the claw to slowly drag and wiggle the box away from the hook, you could slide it out given enough attempts.
Since Milly told Erika that there was no actual way to determine if a machine was at payout before playing, Erika decided to just focus on having fun and idling her time away until she found a prize that she wanted.
There were a few times that Erika got close to grabbing the pokeball successfully, but the claw always released its grip before it got to the dropper zone, so Erika eventually gave up and started playing the machines that involved pokeballs hanging from hooks, since all she needed to do was to wiggle the pokeball out of the hook slowly.
Erika threw another twenty coins into trying to get a pokeball from there before giving up again, since she came to realize that the pokeballs were very firmly attached to the hooks. It would probably take another forty coins at least to wiggle any of them off the hook, Erika realized. Let's switch stations again.
Milly was nowhere to be found, so Erika found herself eventually perusing the prize list at one of the television stations set up for guests to use.
The dratini was obviously at first place, but Erika didn't really care about that since her interest was more towards rare grass-type pokemon that she could add to her team. It didn't take her long to find what she wanted.
[7th] AFFINITY MUTATION COMFEY: This comfey inherited a more powerful grass affinity than normal and has developed a mutated Fairy/Grass typing.
- Captured: Colonial Alola
- Relevent Traits: Flower Veil, Flower Shield
Erika's eyes grew massive like stars once she read about the effects of Flower Veil and Flower Shield. Holy shit. This is the ultimate support pokemon for a grass specialist!
Erika started frantically using her second sight to scan the claw machines for any grass and fairy auras emanating from a single pokeball, but there were at least 5 different pokeballs that she found with grass/fairy aura.
Which one is the comfey in?
That was the real question. Each person was only allowed to win one pokeball max, and then the Game Corner would forbid you from taking any more.
Erika saw other people through her second sight as well - and some of them were fellow young grass specialists. When she met eyes with them, Erika's hackles raised.
"Back off," she blustered. "This comfey is mine."
"First come, first serve," one of the grass specialists snorted, looking at her with disdain on his face. "The comfey will go to the one who gets it first. Don't bother trying to intimidate us. We're all from clans here."
Erika thought briefly about the consequences of secretly poisoning him to give him a stomachache just out of spite, before she heard an annoying voice start pestering her again. 'Fulton's great and glorious voice whispers to you… don't do it Erika! Poisoning someone in a big family is not a good idea. This is the 32nd preprogrammed mental message, variant 5A.'
Erika face twisted into a snarl before she forced a smile back on. Did he anticipate me trying to poison a clan trainer? What the fuck.
How can I guarantee that I'll be the one to walk out with the comfey? There must be a way. Erika glanced at the seven other grass specialists milling around the slot machines. They're all confused as well. None of them know which pokeball to take.
Then, it hit Erika. She knew how she was going to find the Comfey.
There aren't that many grass/fairy-type pokemon. In fact, aside from the mutated comfey, I only know of two others - the cottonee line, and the morelull line.
Since there were three possible options, Erika couldn't just search for the one unique aura signature using her second sight. There might only be one mutated comfey, but it could also be the case that there was only one morelull, and that the rest were cottonee, or vice versa. If Erika rashly chose one of the unique-looking auras emanating from the pokeballs and it turned out to be a morelull and not the Comfey, she would surely cough out blood.
In fact, let alone coughing blood, Erika was sure that she might actually burst a blood vessel. She wasn't the type to let things go, and seeing something so good go to someone else was completely contrary to Erika's beliefs.
How could she swipe the comfey before everyone else got to it?
It's time to put my aura perception training to good use.
According to Fulton's words, aura perception training demanded that you expose yourself to greater sensory stimuli to weaken your perception of aura. Erika had been eating sour candies and wearing abrasive clothing while meditating for precisely this reason, and it had been highly useful and helping her learn to focus and increase her perceptivity.
However, the opposite was also probably true, and this was something Erika had noticed. If greater sensory stimulus leads to a weaker perception of aura… then depriving yourself of sensory stimulus must enhance it!
Erika closed her eyes to rid herself of her sight, and slipped on a special blindfold she had prepared beforehand to completely block light. Instantly, she felt a minor change in her ability to sense aura. Although she lost her second sight this way, and thus her ability to visually see aura, there wasn't any point in relying on it anyways since she couldn't use it to differentiate between the cottonee, morelull, and the one unique comfey.
She found herself a secluded corner away from the other grass specialists and pretended to cross her arms, before taking out some earplugs from her pocket and jamming them in. Erika pinched her nose shut, placed her tongue on the roof of her mouth, and took out a special pill which she swallowed.
Her skin started going numb and Erika nearly fell over - the loss of the sensation from her nerves felt horrible, but what really shocked her was the change to her perception of aura.
This time, there was a very noticeable change. Although Erika couldn't see or hear, taste or smell, or feel, she could still perceive.
And what she was now perceiving… was the comfey.
Without all five natural senses obstructing her, Erika could feel the stark differences between the comfey's pokeball and the others. Its aura felt like a fresh field of flowers, soothing and aromatic, yet still subtle enough to go unrecognized.
Gotcha.
While Erika was sure that all the other grass specialists here were from big families, and thus had probably done the same aura perception training she was doing, she was confident that none of them thought to bring earplugs like her, let alone a pill to get rid of sensation in the nerves and a special blindfold that eliminated all visual stimuli. As always, preparation is vital.
Erika didn't get to where she was without planning carefully.
Erika opened her eyes again and waited a bit to see if anyone was looking at her because she didn't want anyone to figure out that she knew where the comfey was, or to try to steal it from her. Sadly, there did seem to be a person watching her.
It was the boy from earlier who had told Erika that it was first come first serve.
"You got a problem with me?" Erika asked bluntly. She walked up aggressively to him and stared him down.
"Not all all."
The boy crossed his arms. "What would you do if I said I do though?"
"I'd tell you that I'm with Millicent Belding," Erika said sternly. "If you cross me, you won't like the consequences."
"We don't have any quarrels," the boy said after thinking for a moment. "It's just a misunderstanding."
"Let's keep it that way then."
After he left, Erika turned back to her chosen machine and started nervously playing. She used the claw to nudge out comfey's pokeball which was buried slightly deeper down, hoping that the claw wouldn't hit payout until she was ready.
Her main concern was that once the machine hit payout, it would definitely grab the next pokeball successfully - and this was bad if the pokeball it ended up grabbing wasn't the one with comfey inside. Erika spent the next few coins on digging the pokeball containing comfey out until it was exposed to the surface.
Thankfully, the machine didn't hit payout during this time. Once the ball containing comfey was exposed, Erika continued trying to grab it and pull it out while waiting for the payout. Erika played for another twenty minutes straight before it happened.
When the payout finally arrived, Erika was already eagerly staring at the pokeball and breathing heavily, her breath fogging up and misting the glass of the claw machine.
Slowly, slowly, the claw descended, and Erika felt an unprecedented sensation of dopamine surge through her system when she saw the claw tightly holding onto the pokeball she wanted. It rose all the way up to the top of the box, and Erika waited with bated breath, hoping that the impact of the claw hitting the ceiling wouldn't jolt the ball out of its grasp.
It didn't. Erika nearly cheered out loud when the claw deposited the pokeball into the reward section, letting the pokeball clatter down and into the flap which Erika could open.
She reached inside and pulled out her prize, admiring it with a brilliant smile.
"Congratulations," a voice said, startling Erika. It was Milly, who was sitting cross-legged with a new pokeball in hand as well.
"You got very into it," Milly remarked. "I didn't expect you to become so absorbed that you didn't even notice I finished."
"Did I?"
Erika looked extremely embarrassed. "My bad. I was just really excited."
"It happens to the best of us," Milly said, waiving it off. "Time flies when you're having fun. Now, show me your prize!"
"I got a cottonee," Erika said in a low voice, putting heavy emphasis on the cottonee and looking at the prize board. "I'll show you later."
Milly looked confused for a second before her face lit up in understanding. "Gotcha. Let's head back now then."
Erika didn't need Milly to tell her twice. The two swiftly left the Game Corner, and it was only when Erika was back in Milly's car that she finally uncapped the pokeball and released it.
Comfey appeared in all its flowery majesty, emanating ripples of grass aura that astonished Milly to no end.
"Do you know how rare this thing is in the wild?" Milly whispered in shock. "The last comfey like this probably appeared thirty years ago!"
"The Game Corner guys must be crazy," was Erika's response. "I can't believe this comfey is only 7th on the prize list!"
Erika reached out straight away with her aura to initiate a bond. When her aura made contact with the comfey, it sent ripples of shock through it. Probably overawed by my grass aura, Erika thought.
However, the comfey didn't accept her bond. Erika talked to it a little and tried to persuade it, but it didn't listen, so Erika released Mordred and Gwen.
"Help me convince the comfey to bond," Erika told her two pokemon. "Just negotiate with it properly and tell it about all the benefits it'll get."
This was by far the most expedient method Erika had learned about. Oftentimes, it was better to let your pokemon do the talking since they could communicate more effectively with non-bonded pokemon, unlike Erika, who could only talk to the comfey and not understand what it was saying.
Mordred and Gwen started talking immediately, chattering away at what would hopefully become Erika's pokemon for the next five minutes before the comfey finally relented and Erika felt it reaching out with its own aura to connect with hers.
Then, their bond was established. A ripple of power was sent surging through the comfey's body as its grass aura exploded violently to life, although it was quickly contained. The comfey looked inordinately happy at what had just happened.
"Since you're part fairy, I'm going to call you Nimue," Erika told her newest pokemon. "Welcome to the team."
Erika felt a little more pressure on her given the additional weight from Nimue's bond, but it didn't matter too much due to how massive her aura was. Regular Initiate trainers would bond at most two pokemon, but a few exceptional trainers with larger than average auras could manage three. I'm clearly one of those exceptional trainers, Erika thought proudly.
She was about to put her new pokemon away when an impulsive thought entered her mind, and Erika reached out to grab Nimue. Her comfey was startled, but it let Erika grab her, and she placed it upon her head like a sort of crown.
Erika turned to Milly. "How do I look?"
Milly put her finger on her chin and examined Erika. "Honestly, it's not bad at all. You could make this part of your look if you wanted."
Erika admired the flower crown she had suddenly obtained before finally recalling all her pokemon and clipping her new pokeball to her belt.
"What did you get Milly?" Erika asked curiously.
In response, Milly opened pokeball she held to reveal a round-looking bird with greenish brown feathers.
Her harvest this time obviously wasn't ordinary either, Erika thought. It seems we both made great gains.
"I got a rowlet," Milly said delightedly. "It suits my needs perfectly as well."
"The Corners included regional starters within the prize pool? Erika was extremely surprised.
"Yeah of course they did!" Milly gave Erika a strange look. "Dratini are Class IX restricted, but the Corners were still able to legally secure the right to award it as a prize. Do you really think regional starters are off the table?"
"Probably not," Erika admitted. "How on earth did they obtain permission to make the dratini a prize though?"
"They probably lobbied really hard and got the league to bend the rules a bit for them," Milly said after thinking a bit. "It's only illegal to sell them. Owning a Class IX puts you on a league watch and tracking list, and you need a ton of licenses and psychological vettings, but if the Game Corner followed all the proper procedures, it's possible to give it out as a prize. The winner would have to be compliant to all the harsh regulations the league sets though, otherwise their dratini would be seized."
Milly took a few minutes to negotiate with her new pokemon and bonded with it, and then the two got out of the car and went back to the Game Corner to gamble some more. Erika stuck closely to Milly this time in case the grass specialists from earlier came back, and they gambled some more before the event finally ended and they went back to the Grand Verdant to retire for the night.
AN: Here's chapter 11 within a week as promised! I'm going to keep writing and churning out more chapters as I go, so that arc 1 will finish within a few weeks at the latest. If I don't procrastinate at all, I think I could maybe write a chapter every 3-4 days, but not procrastinating is kinda hard, and I've got schoolwork now that university life has begun.
I'm super excited about arc 2 by the way. You guys have no idea what's about to come, and it's going to be extremely fun.
If you have time, maybe drop some predictions as to what will happen lol. Who knows, some of you might figure it out.
https://discord.gg/J6ygNC8VhQ
