Step 7: Fairplay (Patreon)

Step 7: Fairplay

Route 36 Campsite, Johto.

Falkner had whipped off his falconry gloves and whapped me across the face twice to a gym sanctioned duel.

The stakes were simple - he wins and I’m forced to abandon my Pokédollar printing perch so that he can return to a simple life of pecking rookies into bird feed. He didn’t appreciate beginner trainers somehow having normal Pokémon with decidedly abnormal moves playing cuckoo in his nest.

With the knowledge and Foresight of realizing that I had absolutely zero obligation to pick up the gauntlet just because he demanded it, I set conditions of my own. When I win, I leverage Falkner’s lofty status as a gym leader to give myself inter-region GTS access two gym badge victories early. 

Rich Boy Ryo, my most recent customer, walked off tossing Nidoran’s Pokéball after I’d successfully taught the poison point Pokémon Detect. 

I’d doubt he’d be a repeat customer, if I was honest. Something told me he wouldn’t be quite so cocky after a fight with Whitney, Goldenrod City’s normal type gym leader. There’d be tears at the end of that battle, but they wouldn’t be hers. 

Good thing I got payment in advance.

Grrr. My Teddiursa’s Growl might’ve inspired even a modicum of terror had he not been laid flat out on the ground next to me, struggling to move anything but his quivering jaw under the strain of the macho brace I’d harnessed him into. 

“Grin and bear it, Baloo. I’m not letting you out of that thing for the next five days.” 

Learning moves and building stats were all well and good, but none of that really mattered unless it was serving some overall purpose. In Baloo’s case, we were aiming for combat proficiency.

Battle victories required tactics and strategies. No trainer was gonna Bulldoze over the competition just because their Pokémon knew Hyper Beam. Neither would you win just because you’d trained your mon’s attack stats to the max if the only move it had in its arsenal was Focus Blast or rather focus miss. That move only hit if the target was you - Arceus forbid it ever strike successfully if your Pokémon used it. 

Suffice it to say, training a Pokémon wasn’t a walk in Amity Square. 

Let’s start the race with stats. The statting line. With the full combination of his diet, I had focused heavily on Baloo’s Defense, Special Defense, and HP. My Barboach boat noodle showcased which parameters of his training received the most emphasis. 

Teddiursas naturally had an impressive attack stat, but even following evolution the entire line’s speed was only worth writing home about if all the letters contained were complaints.

Ursaluna looked like a tank. So was it any wonder I was planning on building one?

But the stat training didn’t lose tread merely on meals. With the macho brace, any physical training we’d do would double in efficacy, like when Baloo was used as target practice for my client’s Pokémon moves. There was no value for effort to show how well Baloo’s HP and defenses were growing.

This exercise positively affected baloo’s move pool. I’d say it was inadvertent, but I’d be lying. I was categorical when I used this firing squad method to accelerate Baloo learning Payback. 

Payback was far from the only move Baloo knew at this point. 

Scratch, and Fury Swipes, were moves in the roster that were both naturally there or required about five minutes of work to get down.

 Baby-Doll Eyes was similarly secured once the fairy type gem aura exposure coupled with the moonlit naps woke fairy type energy within the little bear Pokémon.

Type energy didn’t stop with the whimsical nature of fairy aura. My training was also very much down to earth with Baloo and I stubbornly digging our heels in using aura exposure through food and type gem usage to unlock the Teddiursa’s latent well of ground type energy buried deep within. 

At which point I scratched the surface of ground type moves - literally in this case - and taught Baloo Sand Attack and Rototiller. Some of the simplest ground type moves that allow for some quality ground type energy training.

Constant usage of those two movies kicked up enough metaphorical dust in Baloo’s aura manipulation that I could finally get him to a point where I was able to put my budding move tutor skills to the test.

A good attack was first. 

The physical action taken from Scratch. The aura was ground type. We punched a few boulders until Baloo and I created a never before recorded move. A ground type swipe move I’d dubbed Peat Punch. 

It wasn’t at the level of the other elemental punch moves; power-wise it was closer to something like Rock Smash. 

Neither was it the only move Baloo was working on. 

Yecu, my Krabby, was released from his ball. “Alright, Yecu?” The frothing foam from between his mandibles and his rhythmically pumping legs and pincers showed he was in as high a spirit as a Krabby could get. 

“Here’s today’s menu. You’re going to take that meaty claw of yours and smack Baloo any chance you get while trying to avoid him hitting back. Capisce, my dear crustacean? And Baloo, you’re only allowed to use the moves as and when I call it out.” 

“Kraby-by-by!” Hmm… this critter was a little too chipper. Time to pop that Bubble. 

“You better keep that steel aura up at all times, Yecu. We’re working on a new move, and any lapse during Baloo’s retaliating strike will have you on the menu instead.” 

I’d be deriving more amusement from my little crab’s Tearful Look if it wasn’t for the ankle biter suddenly gnawing on the back of my calf. “No, we aren’t learning Bite.” I reached down, yanked him off my heel bone, and put Baloo down on all fours. 

Crouching down to his level. “We’re going to tweak Payback a bit.” Baloo’s ears perked up at the mention of one of his strongest moves. Payback was all about absorbing damage and reciprocating with double the force, but I had a new idea - one that involved his recently unlocked fairy type energy. “Think about how it works.” My fist bopped his head to jog his memory as well as to punctuate my point. “You take a hit, absorb the energy, and then strike back harder. Now, imagine doing the same thing, but instead of dark type energy, you use your fairy aura.”

Fairy type is great overall, it helps counter Baloo’s weakness to fighting type and has decent all around coverage, and the three aura types that resist or are immune to it - i.e. fire, steel, and poison - just so happen to be weak to ground type.

 “Okay, Yecu, Metal Claw only. I wanna see some good scuttle out there.” It’s a good thing steel was immune to fairy or I really would be cooking curry for dinner. 

Clack, clack! Yecu snapped his pincers and scurried into position while I hopped away, with the tiny amount of aura I could also channel to my feet, and gave my mons the space they needed to beat the stuffing out of each other. Yecu dashed towards Baloo, his claws glinting with a metallic sheen. As he swung down, I saw Baloo flex his paws, almost as if he was about to strafe away. “Stand your ground!” Baloo stilled at my Howl. Yecu zoomed in and struck with precision and a hard thunk! “Baloo, your job is to stand there and take it. No dodging, no flinching. Got it? Build up that fairy energy and don’t move an inch.”

Baloo winced, but stayed put. “Diur…” My bear remained determined. He clawed at the ground and hunched over to brace himself for the onslaught. 

Yecu clicked his claws, clearly enjoying his role in this training exercise. He darted in and out, landing hits with Metal Claw while Baloo stood firm. The faint pink glow of fairy aura emanated from his fur.

“Good, Baloo, hold that energy,” I encouraged. “Feel it building up inside you, stronger with each hit.”

Yecu kept circling and striking with Metal Claw, each hit absorbed by Baloo’s growing fairy aura. The pink glow intensified with every strike, and I could see Baloo was getting the hang of it.

So far I’d waxed on and on about building stats and moves, but nothing about strategy. Baloo doing his best impression of pinata was the first part of it.

Most rookie trainers in battle like to holler ‘DODGE!’ any time a move came barreling their way like it was some sort of divine epiphany given to them by Arceus itself.

 Sure, dodging was useful, but it was also instinctual. Any Pokémon with half a brain would try to dodge an incoming attack - unless you were dealing with a taunted Tauros, a raging Rhyhorn, or a vaulting Veluza. Some Pokémon species were born almost too angry to function, but the majority had enough sense in them to not charge off a cliff in a fit of pique.

 The trick isn’t getting your Pokémon to move out of the way, it’s getting them comfortable taking a hit to create a greater opening for a counterattack.

Yecu’s claws kept coming, each strike building more fairy energy within Baloo. The pink glow was getting stronger. This was training a tank into fighting shape, preparing him to withstand and retaliate with overwhelming force.

“Keep going, Baloo! Feel that energy build up inside you. You’re a wall, and Yecu is just a bird batting its feathers at you. You can take it!” The glow around Baloo was now a bright, shimmering pink, radiating with fairy energy. He was ready. 

The name for the move clicked into place as I imagined Baloo letting go and dealing back all the damage he’d received. “Now, Baloo! Fairplay!”

Baloo roared, and with a fierce swing of his paw, he unleashed a burst of twinkling pink light. The fairy type aura burst out as soon as it impacted Yecu’s descending Metal Claw, which sent my Krabby hurtling claw over carapace until he splashed down in the adjacent river with a good ol’ geyser. 

Even as my scuffed up Teddiursa was panting in exhaustion, and my dizzy Krabby began swimming to the wrong side of the bank before turning back, I couldn’t help the Scary Face I was making. 

The power of the move was incredible, and being an UkiUki original - no one was going to expect it. Least of all Falkner. 

“Don’t forget that feeling.” I remained unfeeling as my coaching continued. “Let’s run it again,” Left my mouth the same moment Yecu exited the river. “Same drill, Yecu. Baloo, focus on your fairy aura. You need to build it up faster.”

The rest of the day was spent refining Fairplay, with Yecu zipping around and striking with Metal Claw, while Baloo absorbed the hits and released powerful bursts of fairy energy. Each time, the pink light grew brighter, faster, and the force behind the attack stronger.

Evening fell on us with just as my Krabby’s usually unwavering enthusiasm ebbed and his pincer dropped on the ground instead of on Baloo’s body.

Yecu wasn’t the only one down for the count, as Baloo also capitulated to the constant strain the macho brace had put across his entire form and collapsed right beside his crusty comatose comrade.

Guess it was my turn.

 Unstrapped from the contraption, I recalled both of them back into their balls and set about preparing the restorative dinner. I brought both balls up to my mouth - I hope to never say that sentence in any other context. “Good job, you both. Get some rest. A few more days of this and we’ll have our victory.”

My imagination ran wild with visions of holding that first badge - but before that, tomorrow would bring the second part of my strategic training. A part where I had a larger role to play.

 Only the same fools who screamed dodge, hollered their moves by their real names. And I don’t consider myself one.