“So you decided accept this commission?” She pauses to look at Storm behind me before continuing. “You are uniquely suited to complete it. Though you should keep in mind that the client will want the fight to be Directly behind the building is an official battle field. I’ll let them know you are heading to it now.”
“Thank you,” I say, giving a nod before heading out the door. A short walk later and I release my pokemon onto the field to train while we wait for the client. We train for an hour or so, focusing on speed and control, before anyone else arrives. With my pokemon focused on improving their moves, I am the first to notice the pair of figures that appear from around the pokecenter.
The first one that I notice is the father. Standing tall at six feet three inches (160 cm) he makes quite the imposing figure, especially when his broad figure and bearded face are brought into the equation. His jeans and flannel shirt contrast sharply with the track pants and TV show shirt that the boy to his right wears. Looking closer at that boy, I find his slicked back hair to be a similar reddish brown as the man beside him. From the softness in his face, I’d guess his age to be between twelve and fourteen. As they draw near, I walk over to introduce myself.
“Jim and his son, right?” Getting a nod of confirmation, I reach out for a handshake as I continue. “My name is Ben. I’m the one who accepted your commission.”
“Good to meet you Ben.” Jim grabs my hand and shakes it before continuing. “This is my boy, James.” He points to the boy who is currently spaced out and ignoring his surroundings. “So, which of your pokemon will you be using to fight my son’s tauros?”
“Yasashi!” I turned my head and called for my highest leveled pokemon. “Time for a battle buddy!” I knew I could have gone with Mamoru for this fight. In fact, I could have all but guaranteed a win with him due to his immunity to normal type moves. But that didn’t seem to be in the spirit of the request. The kid had been winning due to overwhelming stats, so I needed to show him that stats were not everything. That a good trainer can and will overcome a difference in stats.
As Yasashi jogged over to me, James released his tauros. We took our positions at either side of the battle field. Seeing Jim walk to the center, I took a deep breath and released it. I was ready.
“Alright, I want a good and clean match.” Jim’s voice echoed through the field. “James, are you ready?” He looked to his son and received a nod before continuing. “Ben, are you ready?” I looked him in the eye before nodding. “Send your pokemon forward.” Yasashi walked forward and stopped on a well worn spot about ten feet from the center, mirroring the tauros. Seeing our pokemon in position, Jim spoke once more. “Begin!”
“Yasashi, use Leer twice.” Following my order, my bagon scoweled at his foe, releasing two nearly invisible waves of energy in quick succession. Just as the second Leer landed, the tauros crashed into Yasashi with a Tackle. “Disengage and avoidhis attacks buddy. Counter with Bite.” Yasashi growled in ascent. Shaking off the pain, he began to circle the tauros.
Soon a game of cat and mouse began. James would order his tauros to charge Yasashi with a Tackle and my pokemon would dodge the telgraphed move and using Bite on his opponent as they rushed by. A few of the Tackles landed, but the majority were dodged and countered with ease. The kid was beginning to show the lack of experience he and his team had as well as their lack of training.
It took over five minutes, but it finally happened. With open wounds along its sides, James’ tauros lost consciousness and collapsed. The kid rushed over, Poke Ball in hand, and quickly retrieved his companion. I did the same with all of my pokemon, except Storm, before jogging to catch up to him and his father on their walk to the pokecenter. Noticing their silence, I decided to break the ice.
“Do you want to know why I was able to beat you?” Out of the corner of my eye I saw James nod, so I continued speaking. “It is because I practice. Despite having lower stats than your tauros, Yasashi was able to win due to a combination of tactics and ability. Since the day I got him, we have been practicing every move he can use and even practiced chaining them. First it was just a few set patterns of cycling through each move, one after the other. Once he had that down we moved on to what we do now. I call out his moves in one continuous, random sequence.
“Every time we stop for a break during travel, we start training. And every time we train, we push ourselves just a little bit harder than the time before. We aren’t just content with waiting until he evolves to crush everyone with superior stats.” I can see the kid at the edge of my range of vision. At my words, his face changes from upset to contemplative, so I decide to leave him with a piece of advice.
“Don’t be content with your current achievements, James. You won’t always have the highest stats. So make sure you have the best plans.” We walk through the pokecenter’s doors as I finish speaking. Having said my piece, I walk to the side to submit completion of my quest while the father and son duo walk through the center to receive healing.
Pocketing the P$150 reward, I turned to look at the request board once more when the Quests icon in the top left of my vision begins to softly flash. Selecting it, I am once again greeted by three words, with only the top one flashing.
New
Active
Completed
