Chapter 36.5 (Patreon)

Today’s chapter is short to help me stave off burnout. We’ll be back to full chapters on Monday.
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All Gym Leaders had their share of responsibilities. For Morty, that included managing his Gym, keeping an eye on the local ghost population, and protecting places of spiritual importance, which included both the Burned Tower and the Bell Tower.

However, he had one more responsibility, as mandated by the Pokémon League. All Gym Leaders were required to regularly meet to stay informed about developments across the region. The meetings historically took place twice a year, but with rapid increases in technology, the schedule increased to one a month before settling into an every-other-week schedule.

For these meetings, Morty liked to be punctual—if not to let him be on time, then to give him a chance to slack off. He was almost always one of the first Gym Leaders to join the call, and if he was alone, he would be able to spend a few minutes browsing the Ghost Type forum online. If he didn’t have those few minutes to spare, then he could always chat with whoever was also there. Either way, it was a way to relax before the greater responsibility.

Today, Morty leaned back in his desk chair as the video phone screen flashed to make the call. Owning a personal video phone was expensive but necessary. The Pokémon League had covered the costs of its installation, as it was policy to have each Gym have the most up-to-date method of communication.

Behind him, his Pokémon played, most of them invisible to the phone’s camera. As Morty waited to connect, Gengar manipulated shadows, Bannette tried to interfere, Dusclops stared out the window, Mismagius practiced with her tea.

They knew not to interrupt, as this was both Morty’s personal time and a very important call. Still, sometimes his camera would pick up a shift in the background or a flick of a shadow, and sometimes another Gym Leader would notice. It was always funny to see the color drain from their face—even among Gym Leaders, Ghost Types had earned their reputation of being scary.

He chuckled to himself, remembering one moment where Jasmine had gone silent mid-sentence  when Gengar floated past Morty’s head. The Pokémon had shown up as a shifting shadow, and Morty never answered whether or not it had been his Gengar or a real ghost.

Soon enough, a beep. The call connected, and the image of another person appeared on his screen. Morty was a little disappointed he wouldn’t be able to sit back for a bit, but he was also a bit surprised about who was there, waiting for him.

“Aha! I knew you’d be here! So, Morty. What did you do?”

He winced when Whitney’s voice caused the phone to whine in his ear. He pulled it away from his head until the sound stopped before sighing and focusing back on the screen.

“Hello, Whitney,” he said, a polite smile returning to his face.

“Don’t play coy with me! You know exactly what you did!”

Morty kept his expression placid, pausing briefly to think. He’d been so concerned with local matters, that he had absolutely no clue what she could mean.

“Alright.” Morty pinched his nose. “I don’t suppose you could—”

“That boy. The one you taught?” Whitney asked. “He took out my poor Clefairy with a Ghost Type attack! You know that shouldn’t be possible! Normal Types should be immune to Ghost Type moves!”

Ah.

Morty understood.

Whitney’s question was about Sam.

He couldn’t stop himself from smirking, which caused Whitney to scowl.

“It was just a bit of tutoring,” Morty said, waving her off. “A few tips with a few moves, and a little bit of team-building advice. Plus...”

He paused. Whitney glared at him, daring him to continue.

“Clefairy is a Fairy Type,” Morty said anyway. “Of course a Ghost Type move would hit.”

Whitney huffed and crossed her arms. She refused to look at him through her screen.

“No such thing as a Fairy Type,” she immediately replied. “Clefairy is a Normal Type.”

“Sure, sure,” Morty said, chuckling as he did.

Whitney was in a tough spot both politically and socially. She was Johto’s newest Gym Leader, and she was struggling to prove her strength. The last Goldenrod Gym Leader had been an indomitable man with several powerful Normal Types to back him up. Whitney, however, took a much “cuter” approach, relying on kind-looking Pokémon that were deceptively powerful. She was even lucky enough to have a family farm full of Miltank behind her as well as a befriended colony of the Clefairy.

The problem with her situation was that the public expected Gym Leaders to stick to one Type. She hadn’t known her beloved Pokémon were Fairy Types when accepting the job, and now if she ever admitted to it, there’d likely be a public outcry regarding her speciality. What made matters worse was the conservative faction led by the Blackthorn Clan’s elders. If a Gym Leader ever publicly acknowledged the Fairy Type, especially one that used so many of them on her personal team—

Morty chuckled again.

Lance would absolutely make a public announcement supporting Whitney. In a way, he already has. But if he ever does voice his support, I imagine the elders of the Blackthorn Clan would absolutely use that against him. Whitney’s days would be numbered, and they’d dangle that over his head.

Thankfully, the clan was rather insular, so she wouldn’t have any problems if she didn’t make waves. As long as she never admitted to the existence of the Fairy Type—even in private situations, just in case—she would have time to gain the support she needed while acceptance of the Fairy Type slowly grew.

“You’ll get there eventually,” Morty said, smiling. “The whims of the public may be varied, but they’re ever-changing. You’ll get your support soon enough.”

“...And what’s that supposed to mean?” Whitney grumbled with a huff.

A beep—another Gym Leader connected to the call. This one with blue hair and an imperious expression on her face. However, when she noticed Whitney, that expression softened with a slight smile.

“Whitney! How goes it?” Clair said.

The Normal Type Gym Leader sniffed.

“Awful,” Whitney said. “I was publicly crushed by a single Pokémon, and then I lost a back-to-back challenge without any of the challengers’ Pokémon fainting. One of them even managed to use a Ghost Type move against me!”

Clair raised an eyebrow. From her reaction, Morty could tell she had already forgotten about him. She had taken it upon herself to mentor Whitney, Johto’s newest Gym Leader. Clair was a rising star when it came to Dragon Type trainers, and it helped that she herself was the Champion’s cousin as well.

“Hm. What level were your challengers?” Clair asked, rubbing her chin.

“Three-stars, all of them. But I messed up and thought one was two-star since she only had one Gym badge but both of her Pokémon were three-stars and totally beat my team!”

Clair brought up her chin, and Morty braced himself for another lecture.

“You need to project your strength! Find a new challenger and crush them publicly!”

“...Aren’t I supposed to help growing trainers?” Whitney asked.

“Yes, but that doesn’t matter here. Consider this—encourage an Ace Trainer to battle you, and then destroy them with your core team,” Clair said with a smile.

Morty tuned out the rest of the conversation. He wasn’t needed anymore. Whitney got her complaints in, and now Clair was here to provide advice—or, at least, provide what she thought was advice. To Morty, it felt more like a one-sided lecture and a list of demands, but Whitney seemed to appreciate it.

His thoughts wandered back on the boy who caused all of this in the first place—Sam. He never once thought he would meet the person who suggested Hex, nor did he ever expect them to be so young.

Morty had been more than happy enough to give Sam advice, especially with how valuable Hex was as an attacking move. It was stronger than Shadow Ball at times, for goodness’ sake!

However, what was strange to Morty was the boy’s choice of team.

Why a Cyndaquil? Why a Mankey?

Well, Morty at least now understood why Sam had a Cyndaquil. It had taken a bit of research, but he found a few sparse mentions of an ancient variant of Typhlosion said to be a guide for wandering spirits.

He wouldn’t be surprised if Sam was intending to obtain that vaunted variant, but he wouldn’t be surprised if the boy failed, either. Still, there wasn’t anything wrong with having such a strong Starter Pokémon on his team. The kid had potential, but he needed experience and a bit more hands-on practice to get up to par.

Morty planned to watch the kid’s career with interest, as he did with most Ghost Type specialists that wandered through Johto. Few ever figured out something as incredible as Hex. The last person to do that was a certain old woman he refused to think about.

Another beep—another Gym Leader joined the call. Jasmine quietly greeted everyone before Clair quickly resumed her lecture.

Others slowly connected. The boisterous Chuck. The intimidating Walker. A representative for Azalea. Arriving a few minutes late, as part of his usual silent form of protest, was Pryce. He joined the call as the final Gym Leader to arrive.

With his presence, Clair stopped her domineering lecture before clearing her throat and addressing every Gym Leader at once.

“Good. Everyone is here.”

“...Is Champion Lance not coming?” Jasmine asked, voice just barely above a whisper.

“No. Lance is busy. Kanto’s been experiencing a wave of crime, and he’s actively trying to tackle that. In his place, he’s asked me to lead this meeting.”

The small smile on her face told Morty that Clair considered that a point of pride. After all, the Champion had asked her to take charge.

The fact that they were cousins didn’t seem to have much weight in her mind.

“So! The purpose of today’s meeting is to address that very issue,” Clair continued. “The Champion wants all of you to be on high alert. Warnings have already been sent to precincts across Johto, and you need to pass a few more details to your local Ace Trainers and Gym Trainers...”

Shadowy figures stalking alleys. Black-uniformed individuals stealing rare Pokémon. It spoke of an organization, which was worrying. No one here wanted them to extend their reach into Johto.

Clair talked about signs to look out for, directing everyone to their recently-sent emails as she did. Morty took note and planned to send some Ghosts Types out to act as watchdogs across Ecruteak.

But, this was primarily a Kanto problem. Other than putting the right people on high alert, things would continue on as usual in Johto. More Gym Battles, more Gym Trials, more training of Pokémon—

But Lance is trying to fight that organization himself, huh?

Something about Lance’s actions appealed to Morty—the idea of the raw strength possessed by Champion Lance and his team. It was more of a team of Flying Types than Dragon Types, but Morty would never say that to the Champion’s face. The man boasted incredible power; power that Morty was now starting to want to test.

How much of a difference would Hex make? If he took on the Champion, how would he and his team fare?

Gym Leaders could always request private matches, and the idea was tempting.

Rather tempting, in fact.

If Morty defeated Lance, he could finally prove himself to be truly powerful. And if he proved himself to be truly powerful—

Then the tale will come true, and I might finally catch a glimpse of Ho-oh.

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Author Note:

This chapter continues in the next post.

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