Statistics are basically records of battles won and lost in different formats. They were self-recorded with names, Pokémon used, and Pokémon faced but didn’t do anything other than record that. I haven't been doing this so I had nothing but Stew had over 50 wins and 31 losses. Pretty impressive percentage actually since he was challenging a lot of older trainers as well. Also, rivals are usually seeded such that they run into each other at where they are expected to get eliminated so they battle at their relative peaks. You can only have two rivals though, the system doesn't accept more. Not that I really knew what I was doing anyways with the rival stuff. Pretty much the government made rivals…because.
As for his last name he wouldn't tell me, "That's for me to know and you to find out" he says. Well one day I would find out so there.
We returned to find the other two bros already there. "NO, I will NOT try your warm bean water!" Zac forcefully told Thomas.
"It's tasty coffee, I promise. Fills you with energy too" a much more energized Thomas responded, holding a cup out to Zac. While Zac didn't smack it aside, he would not be putting that stuff near his lips. Thomas had us try the steaming brown liquid to prove him right.
I tasted it and made a face "Tastes bitter." I hurried to drink some water and downed half my bottle. That reminds me, I need to check out rain dance for my Pokémon since many of them can use it.
Stew on the other hand didn't react at all "It's just coffee." Zac looked at me and looked at Stew, then finally back to the cup of coffee Thomas offered.
"Not risking it" he turned and started walking away.
"Oh, and I beat Max in a battle" Stew called out to Zac who turned back and gave a shrug.
"So have I, not like he's that good or anything." I would like to think I'm pretty good. Although his Froakie did beat Puff once back in Blossom. Zac was more about getting better than worrying about the money since his family didn't budget him only a thousand pokedollars for a longstanding family tradition. 1000 pokedollars was probably a lot more back when my family invented that rule hundreds or thousands of years ago. Not that they could offer much more than that since we spent tons of money on keeping the village protected with protect dome technology and barriers. My grandmother was one of the strongest in the village and took her duty as a defender seriously. Donating more to defense of our home than most even when it cut into other parts of our budget.
We hung out, I got Ian and Sin healed up alright and proceeded to get some more battles in. A loss against a galarian Darmanitan that I wasn't too disappointed by when the thing has muscles the size of my torso and evolved early with an ice stone. Bad luck I guess, although both Ian and Sin were able to fight against it for a short while and feel pressure from an overpowering foe.
After that bit of tough love in actually continuing to battle, we went on a win streak of two in 1v1 format before it started getting late. I wondered how long they would be and it wasn't 10 seconds before I smelled that sickly sweet smell from Spritzee who had asked to go with his best friend Puff. I turned to find Fly sprinting towards me with the rest of the girl squad in the distance. They looked much the same as when they had left except cleaner and fancier. Fly crawled her paws up my leg and demanded head scratches and protection once Chloe got closer.
Asking for why she was avoiding her in particular I received a "SHE WAS MEAN TO MEEEEEE!!!" Fly started to cry and sob. I turned to Chloe to ask what was up, and pulled Fly closer to cover her ears.
"What happened?"
"We went to a Pokemon spa and I brushed your Electrike. She didn't like it because of all the knots in her fur but I got them out. Really you should keep up with that daily" she responded, smiling at the teary-eyed puppy.
Hugging my pampered sleeping buddy, I tried to comfort her with words. "It's alright, everything will be ok. Don't worry, scratcher Max is going to protect you from evil Chloe."
Puff settled down on my head as I did so and ruffled it a bit "Long time no see, miss me Maxy?" while looking at me upside down.
"Welcome back. Of course I missed my fluffy hat, what am I ever going to do when you evolve and get too big for my head." she giggled at that and started humming a new tune that I hadn't heard before. "Did you have fun?" I saw that behind her was Hannah with her head tilting down towards a new phone in her hand, swiping away at some game.
"Your fluffy hat had a great time and also I have a list of products I want" she dropped a piece of paper in Hannah's handwriting. It was a list of 5 products with prices each above 50 pokedollars. While I could afford these luxury goods currently, it wasn't like I had a good source of funding to get more money other than battles. I would have to check out if the Pokémon center had any side jobs I could work from the locals if I couldn't maintain a good backup stash of cash.
For now I sarcastically answered "Great, how much money do you have?" Puff gave me an unsatisfied face so I continued "Then you can get one of these."
She guffawed "Uh, a trainer's supposed to take care of their Pokémon Maxy!"
"I am, look at Fly here. She seems to be having a blast" my hands ran up and all around her large head, grazing through the fur. "If you want I can fluff your wings to see if you can develop some cheaper tastes" she looked tempted but declined because I was making fun of her.
Still, it was nice to know things went well on their half of the day trip. I gave Spritzee a look, the feathery pink ball was practically gleaming as he naturally spread around his sweet scent and shimmered at the right angles. I turned away just as quickly to get Fly all settled, calming her and thinking of where to get a brush since Chloe recommended one.
————-
Elsewhere Elaine was walking into an apartment, one of many in the not so good part of town. She went up the stairs twice and took a left. Elaine was excited, she had done a good job. She had done just as she was told by Mulin and was bringing back the documents she was sent to retrieve. Documents that while not important in of themselves, put together were immensely useful.
Many other operations like her had succeeded, although a lot easier than this crotchety old man. Without Pokémon, but adept at running away and leaving behind illusions instead of fighting, he had given her and the others competing with her a hard time pinning him down. Zi had been the one to put an end to his nonsense since visual illusions didn't work on the blind Zweilous. She had taken a few days to hide out, worried that the Jennys might have learned something about her appearance from that boy or investigated Zi's stupid rampage with Dominance.
Letting him have his way with that annoying old guy had been a step too far, even if he had evaded her for the whole summer and he was a criminal. She had knocked some sense back into her dragon with some extra tiring training but was worried the lesson wouldn't stick. Either way, she was here to claim her next mission and reward from the last one. 10 Dominance orbs and 10,000 pokedollars. The Dominance was the real prize but the money would feed her for a little.
She knocked on a door only to be teleported to the apartment across the hall. A series of rushed footsteps could be heard before a fed up middle aged lady yelled at the empty hallway from her open door "QUIT KNOCKING ON MY DOOR AND RUNNING AWAY YOU BRATS, THIS IS THE 5TH TIME THIS WEEK!!!!"
"Don't mind her. She just doesn't like getting interrupted when she's doing bills" a teenage boy commented from behind her. "Well, you got the docs? Rogers was supposed to have spent half his life studying natural TE out in the wilds so it should be some good stuff. Mulin might even give you a bonus for working on his case." A Reuniclus floated behind him and had teleported her inside.
"Yeah I got it, took long enough that the hoot might have died if it took too much longer" Elaine grumbled. The boy smiled and led her to the back of the apartment.
There she was met with the sight of a glitching computer that fizzled and bounced sometimes. “Cut that out Rotom, call up the boss. Reuniclus please ready the scanner” the boy, Will, was responsible for this outpost. Really the important part was the computer and keeping up the apartment.
He was like her, a semi talented trainer that had gotten at least three badges and after a year or more had stopped winning gym challenges for one reason or another. Not good enough to receive more funds from scholarships, sponsors, or other sources and forced to figure it out themselves anyways. It would have been fine if that was it, but they were also from small hometowns. Places that didn’t exactly have the best prospects to go back to, but they couldn’t make much more in a larger place due to their lack of a good education.
So here they were, working for this organization that rewarded them for completing missions. This game like bounty structure had enticed them and they were getting stronger again, with tips from their bosses and Dominance they were able to struggle towards the end of season conference once more.
The computer bounced a couple times before settling and Elaine sat down. Will closed the door once his Pokemon was done. The video chat picked up and Elaine saw Mulin, a teenage girl of Johto descent with sharp eyes was lazing sideways in a chair "Heeeeyyy giiiirrrrl! How ya been?" She sat up elegantly, words casual and relaxing.
"Doing good, finally got the fourth badge even though it took so long. Even beat Clemens in our little race so thanks for all your help" she chatted. She liked Mulin, her boss liked to check up on her and talk about her life for a little before getting down to business. Made her feel good and sort of like a reward on top of the consumable and monetary enticement.
"No sweat, Elaine. How's your Sylveon holding up? Hope he's not totally freaking out over the defenses training I mentioned" they went on like this for several minutes before Elaine brought up the briefcase she had with her.
"So you aren't going to believe this, but it's really the holy grail like the rumors say. Centuries of mapping and testing done in all of the restricted, protected, and dangerous areas in central and southern Verk" Elaine explained. There was also stuff from Hoenn and other regions but that was less important.
"Sweet, sweet! Was it seriously everything everyone hyped it up to be?" Mulin was interested but didn't seem to fully believe Elaine.
"I'll start sending it but it is definitely what it was hyped up to be. I glanced at the documents and it has some very specific measurements signed the Cartographer" the word lit up Mulin's face. The expansive map that Elaine pulled out also added to the proof that the old man was important. The paper map seemed old but was well taken care of. It detailed a continent with large swaths of ocean and many chunky islands, leaving no room for doubt in Mulin's eyes when she saw some of the ink was moving slightly. This was the real deal.
Over the next couple hours, Elaine scanned in the documents from the spatially enhanced briefcase. She had her work cut out for her while Mulin kept her company, talking about her own team. She specialized in fox like Pokémon and had some funny stories to tell about them while Elaine worked. But since the briefcase had enough extra spatial storage to be the lunchbox for multiple Snorlax, she had to call it a night and leave. Mulin gave her a wave bye and they wished each other good night. Elaine passed by Will on her way out who had prepared her reward of Dominance and transferred the funds already.
He teleported her out of the building, in a nearby alley, and walked over to the computer room again. He glanced at the stacks of documents, leaving the weird map alone before going over to the briefcase and pulled out a stack. Both he and his Reuniclus sorted through them and past midnight he told Rotom to call up his boss. The computer bounced around, dodging the tracing net surrounding Darklauf that recorded all incoming and outgoing connections as Rotom made its own connection to an unknown location.
Another person hopped on the call, connecting to their computer and an average looking young man appeared. He looked sleepy but his eyes gazed at Will through the screen "What is it Will?" His voice was calm, as if expecting something.
"Rogers was caught by a candidate and half of his research has yet to be uploaded. His title is Cartographer and I sorted through the documents to find the most useful ones. As for the rest of it, the ones the candidate uploaded appear to be some of his more recent exploits. Ones that aren't as valuable" Will reported. Rogers had mapped enough to have accomplished a feat but, after dozens of years, he was unable to visit the more dangerous areas anymore. Like all humans, he lacked a worldly status as an alpha or even beta, and therefore longevity.
"Good job Will, and good night" despite the curt words, the young man on the other end of the screen was making an effort to be polite before he ended the connection. Will was satisfied with the call and knew what he had to do for the boss he trusted to bring him power. Strength guaranteed to be at least ACE trainer level, and he knew for a fact it was possible. He had showed him footage, one of a real life alpha and the attempt to capture it. As one of the youngest and weakest ones on the continent, a big Scyther had taken on a team of 6th badge Pokémon and won, driving off Pokemon that could damage a large part of a city before the Jennys could react. Even with all of them on Dominance, the trainer hadn't been able to fully match its talent and ability at all. When the man had stepped in to help her, a swarm of other wilds had intercepted him and a few others that stepped up to support their friend.
The man promised that power to him and others under his personal leadership. If they helped get ahead of the larger effort within the organization, they would become conference goers or even winners. Objective 1 was currently in operation and as Elaine came back to complete her task the next day, she didn't notice the few dozen papers missing from what remained, nor the ash in Will's kitchen trashcan.
