AN: Synchronizing again.
-/-
"One last fight," Koga said. "Between you and me."
Joey stared silently at the gym leader standing in front of him, trying to read the joke off his face.
The man was as serious as a stone.
He didn't look like he was joking.
People fighting in the Pokemon world wasn't a taboo per se. After all, there were many martial arts practitioners training in fighting types and sparring with each other.
Hell, Joey himself had knocked out a Team Rocket member all those months ago.
Still, human-on-human combat was uncommon to say the least, although to be fair, it had certainly been a part of the manuals that Koga had sent over.
The only question was…
"All out?" Joey asked with a raised eyebrow, referring to his ghost typing and the poison tricks Koga likely had access too.
"It's a gym battle, not a spar," Koga said while nodding his head.
Joey looked at the older man critically. Corded muscles, weapons hidden in his sleeves.
"That's the most interesting proposition someone has made to me in a while," he eventually admitted. He'd practised some martial arts in his last life, but it had mostly been to stay fit, not to compete.
"I take it you agree then," the gym leader stated with a satisfied glint in his eyes. "It's hard to find someone who can look past the prejudices enforced on reality by the fact that we share this world with creatures we will never be able to defeat on our own."
"Yes, well, it's always better to be different," Joey muttered as he turned towards the stands and walked towards Jessie, who was tilting her head at him.
"You won!" she congratulated him with Happiny in her arms and Wurmple on her shoulder.
"Yeah, I think after those consecutive explosions I'll be taking a break from battling for a week," Joey told her with a grimace. "Help you with the contest if you need it."
"Sure. I'd appreciate it!" she exclaimed with a smile while Happiny crossed her arms… unhappily.
"Anyway, I just wanted to say that I have to discuss something private with Koga and that it might take a while," Joey continued. "So if you want, you can already return to the Pokecentre, familiarise yourself with Wurmple maybe."
Jessie hummed and stood up. "Sure thing," she said and waved him off. "See you later!"
Joey watched her leave before turning around and looking critically at the purple-haired referee who'd stayed behind.
Janine seemed to get the message and nodded. She put her hands together in a seal and tried to disappear the way her father tended too.
She wasn't very good at it.
Joey saw the smokebomb fall out of her pocket and her form quickly run to the exit door.
"She's my daughter," Koga said briefly as Joey went back to join him on the destroyed battlefield.
"I never would have guessed," Joey replied with a half-lidded stare as he unclasped his Pokemon belt and threw it behind himself. "Regardless, two people can only keep a secret when one of them is dead."
Koga smirked, several Pokeballs falling out from his sleeve. He promptly threw them behind himself.
"Were you older, I would have suggested a mixed battle," the gym leader admitted. "But one first needs to practice the two separately before combining them."
Ghostly energies flowed through Joey's body, firing up his nerves and slowing down his perception. He felt his pupils dilate and fill out his now red iris.
"Honestly, after thinking about it," Joey started in a raspy voice. "I'm glad for the opportunity to test my limits."
"I'm curious about one thing," Koga said suddenly as he took a few steps back. "Why not specialise in ghost types? You obviously have an incredible affinity."
Joey frowned. "Everyone asks me this stupid question. In the end, the answer is simple." His thoughts turned to what he remembered from the anime and from the games. Greatest legend… Red, generalist. World Champion coronation. Winner, Ash, runner-up, Leon, third place shared between Cynthia and Diantha. Not a specialist in sight.
He smirked and melded in his own shadow. "I do what I fucking want," he growled before his head disappeared in the black.
Joey's perception suddenly shifted, and his view switched to a bird's-eye perspective as he reappeared not behind Koga but above him, all the way in the gym's rafters.
He extended a finger downwards and collected a crackling ball of energy at the tip, before shooting it off.
The Shadow Ball shot down like a meteor, causing Koga to look up with calm eyes. No wasted moment, he simply jumped back and drew a kunai from his sleeve to throw it upwards, his arm blurring.
Joey's enhanced eyesight noted that the weapon was blunted, although it was glinting a decisively unpleasant-looking purple. He dropped towards the man's position as the Shadow Ball impacted the ground and exploded, kicking up dust.
It was as he fell that Joey had to suddenly expel energy from his side to avoid the second kunai, which had been hidden in the shadow of the first.
He extended a hand midair as he spun, catching it by the handle as he dropped onto Koga with his leg and heel extended in an axe kick.
His enhanced leg met Koga's raised, crossed forearms with a satisfying thwump.
The ghostly energies lightened Joey's body, enhanced his perception, and strengthened his body coordination. He pushed off Koga with his heel to do a backflip during which he threw the man's kunai right back at him, using his body to hide the trajectory until the very last minute.
He landed on the ground just as the gym leader deflected the incoming projectile with his mesh-covered arm.
Joey landed in a crouch, kicked off for a palm strike at the poison master's solar plexus.
Koga jumped back to avoid the palm, but failed to do so quickly enough. That was what triggered alarm bells in Joey's head. Instead of finishing the attack, he sank into his own shadow and reappeared behind the man just in time to see him spew a cloud of poison gas where he'd previously stood.
A kick suddenly impacted Joey's stomach as Koga twisted his backwards jump into a backwards kick. Even with the air forced out of his lungs, Joey was aware enough to hold onto the leg digging into his stomach with one hand and bringing up an elbow to smash into the knee.
Koga, not even looking, jumped up, spun in place and brought up his other foot to fly at Joey's face.
The trainer abandoned the elbow strike to use the arm to block the kick.
Now both of Koga's legs were in the air, which should have technically destabilised his position, but the man simply propped himself up with one arm, looked up at Joey from below and whipped another blunted blade at his opponent.
Joey scowled and let go of the gym leader's foot to duck underneath the thrown kunai.
A finger gun fired a small Shadow Ball at point blank, but Koga just flexed his arms, now both on the ground to handstand backflip over it, kicking at Joey again.
The trainer, for his part, had to hastily backtrack as the gym leader threw a series of whip-like kicks at him. He had to take a few unfortunate glancing hits as he did so, too destabilised to disappear again.
Koga forced him back with a combination that Joey barely kept up with. He had to frantically deflect, accept, and parry blows that he could perceive but do nothing against.
His back suddenly slammed into the wooden podium behind him. He'd been forced all the way back. He ducked underneath a punch flying at his face and elbowed down at the knee, coming up to meet his solar plexus. The two appendages met, but Koga had mesh greaves running up his shin to knees so the impact hurt Joey more than it did the gym leader.
Head bent, Joey lost vision of Koga's upper body for just a second, which was just enough for the gym leader to place a finger on the back of his neck for a brief second.
Joey froze in place and scowled as the man retreated.
"First point goes to me," Koga said simply as he let Joey catch his breath.
"Punching down on that spot could kill someone, huh," Joey said with a sigh.
"Spinal tap," the gym leader agreed with a nod.
"How many points we doing?" Joey asked as he righted himself up, hissing at the pain in his elbow.
"I thought you'd know this," Koga said with a smirk. "Exercise is best done to failure."
"I'm forced to use my abilities to keep up with you not using them. You have more reach, more experience, more skill, armour and weapons. I'll run out of stamina first," Joey observed.
"Then you have a win condition," Koga replied. "Get more points before you drop."
Joey nodded simply.
It would be hypocritical of him to refuse a fight when he regularly sent out his team onto the battlefield.
"Let's see who drops first, old man," he said with a scowl before suddenly kicking his leg up and spraying sand at the gym leader.
"That's more like it!" the man laughed as Joey rushed him.
-/-
Joey stared at the wooden beams of the gym ceiling as he caught his breath.
His elbow hurt, his ribs hurt, his legs hurt from a series of low kicks. His head was ringing and his stamina and energy reserves were in the negative.
"21-1 points, Fifteen minutes of fighting," Koga stated as he stood over the trainer.
"Harder than it looks," Joey wheezed.
"You have good instincts, good-decision making. You simply lack certain skills and the experience to weave them together into something coherent. The only thing that doesn't need work is your willpower. Most people can't go until they literally can't anymore," the gym leader continued.
Joey tried to get up, but failed as his limbs gave up on him.
An extended hand suddenly appeared in his field of vision.
A minute of rest, Joey reached up to take it.
-/-
"Being able to fight, obviously it's a good fallback option, but wouldn't it be more valuable to simply train more team members?" Joey asked several minutes later when the two were sitting in the office of the gym, drinking tea.
Koga shrugged as he poured himself another cup from the buddha shaped teacup.
Joey used the opportunity to examine the room.
The walls were wood, and there were various scrolls with calligraphy hung on them. Perseverance, Flow, Strength, things like that.
"Pokemon training is an ever-evolving discipline," Koga eventually spoke, face slightly obscured by the steam rising from his tea. "We discover more moves, more abilities every decade. The Pokemon League is a relatively new invention as well. When has it ever been so easy to improve one's craft in low-stakes battling as it is now?" He shook his head. "Never. A Pokemon of the eight badge level would have been a champion-level fighter a hundred years ago. I am 100% sure that the champions of today would only be Elite Four members in another half a century and gym leaders in another half."
"Was there ever a time where humans were actually strong enough to make a difference?" Joey asked skeptically.
"My clan keeps records," Koga confirmed, "although the average human most certainly was not anything but a stumbling block to a Pokemon in the past." His gaze drifted to one of the pieces of calligraphy on the wall. The Kanji was so outdated Joey couldn't even make out the meaning. "Those humans who mastered their aura could compete, add stealth and surprise tactics on top, and it was still possible to vanquish a Pokemon back in the day."
"Ergo the ninja part," Joey muttered in realisation.
The gym leader nodded. "Indeed. Pokemon have grown stronger however, and we've grown weaker. There has been less need to develop our fighting potential in this world of relative harmony and monstrously strong creatures. Regardless, a tool is a tool, and it is better to have many. Survive an attack, serve as a sparring partner for a new team member…" He paused. "The most useful part to me has been the understanding I gained by mastering certain aspects of the poison type. I can train my Pokemon much more effectively."
"Most of the strongest trainers in the world are specialists at the moment. That's probably why," Joey mused. "On the other hand, as research explores more and more intricacies, even a trainer who doesn't perfectly understand type energy has the theory on hand."
"Generalists often develop general aura abilities," Koga remarked. "Stronger body, faster mind, more empathy. It helps less in understanding type energy, however, as these aura uses are often purely on the instinctual level."
"The future belongs to the geniuses. Those who understand even without personal experience," Joey concluded as he thought about the direction the games and anime would take. Had there been a type specialist champion again after Lance (although even Lance seemed to focus on both dragon and flying)? Steven could arguably be called a steel-type specialist, if you ignored Claydol (ground/psychic), Cradily (rock/grass) and Armaldo (rock/bug), that was.
Koga remained silent for a few moments, seemingly contemplating. "Perhaps the champions will be generalists, maybe there is a genius every few generations. Oak was all those years ago. The Elite Four will likely remain specialists, however. I refuse to believe that there will be so many capable of cracking the code without personal experience."
"You're probably right," Joey agreed. "I'll try my hand at being a generalist. If I can't succeed by the time I turn twenty, I still have time to change my approach."
"That's a steep deadline," the gym leader commented.
"I have a timeline I want to stick to," Joey explained. "I have seven badges already, so I'm ahead of schedule, even."
"And what happens at the conference?" Koga asked.
Joey shrugged. "I don't win, obviously, do I?" he asked rhetorically.
Koga snorted. "Most certainly not. That would have been the case even without this year's more special competitors."
"I think I can win the conference next year, though," Joey said next, causing the man sitting opposite him to narrow his eyes.
"The current record-holder is from Sinnoh if I remember correctly," Koga said. "She won in her third year as a trainer."
"Yeah, but she just kept ramming her head against the same conference in Sinnoh," Joey replied. He crossed his arms. "I'm thinking, if I don't evolve my Pokemon, other than Metapod of course, until this year's conference ends… I go to Hoenn, or Sinnoh, get the advantage by having a team nobody quite understands, have a bunch of private gym battles, evolve my team… Everybody would only have video recordings that are a year old. I lead with a team wrecker, trying to reveal as little of my team as possible. Maybe I'd only have to reveal my full six in the quarter-finals? This would give everyone way less time to figure me out. A bit of luck, bam."
"You'd also be at a disadvantage if you changed regions, new Pokemon, new strategies," Koga pointed out.
"They wouldn't understand me, I wouldn't understand them, sounds like a perfect balance to me," Joey retorted, refraining to mention that he could name every single Pokemon native to Hoenn and Sinnoh if asked.
"Then what? You win a conference at 14. You beat one Elite Four member every year until you're 18 and then face the champion when you're 19?" Koga asked sardonically.
Joey nodded his head. "Why even ask?" he teased. "You obviously know as well as me."
The gym leader snorted and rolled his eyes. "Well, you have a plan at least, that's better than most." He brought a hand to his temple. "This battle was private. You have seven months until the conference. Keep your next gym battle private as well, and you can even execute the same strategy here in Kanto. Which Pokemon were you thinking of using as a sweeper until the 6v6 brackets?"
"Misdreavus. Hypnosis and Dream Eater," Joey answered bluntly, before pausing. "Or Rattata, depending on how his move coverage improves."
"He needs Protect and Super Fang," Koga concluded.
"We've recently managed to combine a bunch of moves with Detect," Joey said with a sigh. "I guess I have neglected the damage options."
"You were right to focus on Detect," Koga suddenly said. "You need to survive to gain experience. I didn't see much, but if he's anything like the rest of your team, then he's ready."
"Still, laying low for seven months, making sure none of my battles are recorded," Joey wondered.
"You'd need to be as stealthy as a ninja," Koga joked.
"Indeed…"
"Metapod?" Koga asked. "Last I heard, the Everstone is almost gone."
"She'll evolve before the conference," Joey said confidently.
"It would be curious to see how her poison usage will impact her moveset as a Butterfree…" Koga mused.
"I'm curious how big she'll be," Joey remarked. "She's already three times the size of a normal Metapod."
Koga nodded absent-mindedly. "When are you planning to face King?" he suddenly asked.
Joey paused a bit at the sudden topic shift. "Misdreavus needs to learn Charge Beam, Rattata needs to learn Super Fang. Metapod needs to evolve, I'd say. Slugma and Diglett… It will be hard."
"Your team, they're already pushing the lower limits of eight badges," Koga informed him. "But the battle you'll be going into. Difficult."
"You think three months is reasonable? Just train everybody up so much that the unfortunate match-ups don't matter?" Joey asked.
"More like four," Koga replied. "The perfect trainer is supposed to attain eight badges in one year. One every month and then set aside two months to train specifically for the conference." He snorted. "This is a delusion for most, obviously. The general rule is that one month of incredibly effective training is enough to jump up one badge level, however. Double that because nobody is that consistent, and then double it again because of the unfortunate typings involved."
"All I hear is I can do it in two if I'm incredibly efficient," Joey said with a smirk.
Koga laughed. "I have an offer for you," he suddenly said.
"I'm all ears," Joey replied.
"After you beat King, come back here and train for the conference," Koga said. "I want to see a poison-using Butterfree. Perhaps it's one of the things I need to expand my range. I'll train your personal abilities and be available for advice for the conference."
"That's a generous offer," Joey said. "What's in it for you?" he asked.
"My daughter," Koga said with a shake of his head. "She lacks ambition because nobody her age can match her. Perhaps an example will help."
"Trade being a gym trainer for more personal instruction?" Joey asked.
Koga tilted his head before nodding. "You have a deal," he said as he extended a hand. "The earlier you beat King, the more you'll benefit. I'm curious to see your two-month miracle."
Joey smirked as he stood up, before wincing at the pain radiating all over his body. He shook the gym leader's hand.
"There is no miracle," he answered succinctly. "Only skill."
-/-
Joey returned to the Pokecenter drained, but happy.
Incredible efficiency would be necessary to complete his new mission in the desired timeframe.
That week that he'd been planning to take off…
Maybe it would have to be cut down to four days instead…
-/-
AN: This was the last of the quick updates for the pokemon fic. I think everyone that was gonna already checked out my new story and I ran out of chapters anyway. If you want to read ahead now only choice is patreon, lol.
I'll mention it one more time then not again here . Check out my new story on Royalroad: Re: Villain (to Hero)
Anyone that also reads video game cultivator rejoice, going to do the same thing over there now.