Chapter 57 (Patreon)

"Uh, hello?" I said to the woman at the front desk of the Weather Institute. "I received an invitation to be trained here...?"

She took the document I had received only a day ago, and visibly perked up. She cheerfully read it over, and once finished, smiled brightly at me.

"You must be Alex. I'm supposed to be working with you until the Conference. It’s nice to meet you."

I gave her a polite smile back.

“It’s nice to meet you too. I don’t suppose you could tell me your name...?”

“Oh! Sorry, I got a bit caught up there. I’m Millie.” Millie stood up and started to move out from behind the front desk. “I’ve been working here at the Weather Institute for just over a year now. I’m an expert in both meteorology and weather and terrain effects. My theoretical knowledge is second to none, and I’ll be teaming up with one of the resident Ace Trainers to work with you. ...I should get Jude.”

With that, Millie walked towards a hallway leading deeper in, motioning for me to follow.

Millie looked like any other general researcher, wearing the same lab coat I had seen so often during the two expeditions I was a part of. She had medium-length brown hair that was tied back into a short ponytail, and carried a clipboard with a few sheets of paper already on it.

“I’m really excited that this is happening,” she said as we walked. “They've had me do data entry the entire time I've worked here, so it'll be nice to actually do something interesting for once."

It didn’t take long for us to emerge into a courtyard positioned between a few different buildings.

The Weather Institute consisted of a few spaced apart individual buildings and a thick wall that protected the place from both wild Pokémon and terrorist organizations. We had left the main building where most of the office work was done, but there was also a small apartment complex, a few hangars for experiments, and even a small Pokémon Center for both travelers and emergencies.

The purpose of the Weather Institute was in its name: the people here studied weather, both natural and created by Pokémon. It tracked weather across the region, and even recently created a device that could change the weather without needing a Pokémon’s influence.

It was located right on the edge of Route 119, southwest of Fortree, so its population was pretty stable at around a hundred researchers and Ace Trainers, with only the occasional wandering trainer stopping by. As we approached one of the battlefields set up between the buildings, Millie spoke up when she saw me looking around.

“You know, there used to be a lot more Ace Trainers present, but they ended up leaving only a few months ago. Since Team Magma was practically broken up after TV Mauville, they didn’t think this place needed as many defenders,’” Millia said. “These fields are usually empty now, so you’ll be able to use them as much as you want.”

We approached a specific field in particular, and off to the side was a different woman with bright blue hair. She was sitting on a bench absentmindedly eating a sandwich, I noticed she was wearing the red vest that signified her as an Ace Trainer. At her side was a Castform, a Pokémon that could change its form based on the weather.

"Hey! Jude!" Millie shouted.

Jude, the woman we were approaching, hurriedly stuffed the last few bites of her food into her mouth and washed it down with a bit of water.

"Hey," she replied, "Who's this, Millie?"

"Alex. The trainer we're supposed to be helping."

I waved my hand.

"Hi."

Jude jumped to her feet, overjoyed and pumping one of her fists in excitement.

"Finally! I've been sick of sitting around, doing nothing all day. Come on, let’s do this! You can go ahead and release your team."

I didn’t expect her to be so thrilled to help me, but if she was just here as a guard I could understand why she was so bored. I unclipped everyone's Pokéballs, then tossed them forward to send them out. As they appeared they all looked around to take in their surroundings as Altaria yawned and Mawile took out her stone. Altaria was still a bit tired from spending all morning flying me here, and Mawile seemed uninterested since we hadn’t started training yet. Azumarill, on the other hand, was pumped to get started.

Seeing my team, Jude whistled, impressed, and Millie had already started to write notes on her clipboard.

"Damn, looks like you got temporary permission to carry seven? That Ponyta's definitely seen its first battle already," June said.

I nodded.

"It’s the case until Ponyta evolves. We're working together to train his Psychic abilities to protect my mind. Actually, since I’m getting your assistance training, can you help with that?"

Jude hummed.

"Mmhm. Alakazam should be able to handle it. That takes care of one Pokémon, then. What do you want to work on for the rest of your team?"

I pursed my lips as I considered what to request.

"Honestly, I’m not sure. I tend to overfocus on my Pokémon’s moves when we train, so maybe their movements and defenses? I’m also still working on my current strategies. What do you think I should do?"

"I need to know more about your battling style to answer that," she replied.

"Battling style? Can you be more specific?"

Jude grumbled.

"Ugh, what are they teaching in trainer school?" she complained. "A battle style is basically how you train and tell your Pokémon to fight. Like being hyper offensive, slow and steady, using stall, setting up, etcetera, etcetera. You get the point."

I took a bit to consider how to best phrase my description.

"I think I tend to focus on having my Pokémon set themselves up, or I at least make sure they’re always in a good spot. They all know beneficial utility moves, and I also use weather and terrain moves to help them further. Although recently it's mostly only been Misty Terrain, to prevent status conditions.

“For my team members in specific, Ninetales uses Hail, Calm Mind, and Confuse Ray to support her attacks. Florges uses self-healing and Grass Type moves, Azumarill uses rain, Aqua Ring, and Belly Drum, and Mawile uses Taunt and Fake Tears. Cottonee is a bag of tricks, and Ponyta is a work in progress. Altaria’s the only exception, as I’ve been struggling with training him since his strategy is based solely on raw power, if you ignore Roost. That's basically it."

Both Millie and Jude took a few moments to consider my words, until Millie looked up from her notes to ask me a question.

"Hmm... so you're like a 'set up and control' kind of trainer?" she asked.

I tilted my head in confusion.

"Could you elaborate what you mean by that?"

Millie looked genuinely excited to explain and stood up a bit straighter to do so.

“Alright, 'set up and control' is a combination of two different fighting styles, 'set up' and 'control.'"

Jude looked at me and mouthed "this is your fault." Millie continued, unaware.

"'Set up' is where a trainer has their Pokémon learn a bunch of utility moves that buff themselves up. A popular version of that among Psychic Type Pokémon is Cosmic Power, Calm Mind, and Stored Power, where the user sets up a single powerful move. Alternatively, to a lesser extent, ‘set up’ can also be moves like Aqua Ring, Mist, and Safeguard, which are utility moves that protect your Pokémon from negative effects. ‘Set up’ can even be something as simple as just using Swords Dance.

"Terrain moves and weather also count, but keep in mind those can be used to specifically enhance multiple Pokémon rather than just a single individual,” Millie said.

So ‘set up’ just refers to using any utility move to buff or defend its user. Not very specific but pretty self explanatory.

"So then what about control?" I asked.

"Glad you asked! Control is all about making sure you can do what you want, and preventing your opponents from doing the same. Taunt is a great example, since that move stops any utility moves from being used. Moves that interrupt your opponent’s strategies also count for this, like using Baby-Doll Eyes to slow an attack, Disable to temporarily disable a specific move, and even just using Fake Tears to catch your opponent off guard. It’s not to be confused with weakening strategies, where a Pokémon wins by making their opponent worse with moves like Charm or Captivate, rather than shutting down their foe.

“Control is basically about giving you as many options as possible, and making sure your opponents have as few options as possible.”

I blinked.

"I'm pretty sure you just described the basics of Pokémon battles but gave it a fancy name," I said.

Millie huffed and crossed her arms. She looked over to Jude, expecting the Ace Trainer to defend her.

Jude just shrugged impassively, basically agreeing with me.

“Pokémon battles are all about finding a way to win, and there’s always different thoughts on how best to do it,” Jude said. “You can maximize your Pokémon’s options, you can hyper focus on a single one, do both or neither, overwhelm them with physical power, weaken them so they can’t fight back, and a bunch of others, too. It’d take a while to explain them all since there’s countless different ways to battle. I think you don’t follow ‘control’ as much as Millie thinks you do, but there’s a good way to figure it out. How about a Pokémon battle?”

I chuckled.

“I was wondering when you’d ask.”

Jude and I approached the empty battlefield we were next to, and Millie jogged to the side to referee the battle.

“Let’s make this a two-on-two. We can have more battles later, but I want to get a feel of your style right now to better know how I can help you,” Jude shouted.

“Sounds great,” I shouted back. “Ready when you are.”

Millie went over the basic rules, and soon Jude and I sent out our first Pokémon.

On my side of the field, Ninetales charged forward from where the rest of my team was watching, while Jude sent her Castform onto the field as well. A large snowstorm formed around Ninetales, and Castform’s normally gray, dewdrop-like body shifted and expanded into a purple sphere held up by a spiraling cloud of wind and ice.

“Test it with Moonblast,” I told Ninetales.

“Eliminate the weather,” Jude ordered.

A ball of Fairy Type energy was sent forward as Castform floated around in the air to dodge it. Castform managed to move pretty well, but the Moonblast still clipped it and burst on impact, dealing a decent chunk of damage to the relatively frail Pokémon.

As Ninetales prepared a second Moonblast, Castform conjured a sphere of fiery energy that lit up the sky and seared the snow clouds away. Sunny Day came into effect, and Castform’s body shifted to that of an orange, sun-like sphere being held aloft on a few small clouds.

“Fire Blast,” Jude commanded.

“Get away! Set Hail back up!”

Empowered by the sun, Castform’s new Fire Type body helped it form the incredibly powerful Fire Blast attack. Ninetales was forced to cancel her Moonblast to move out of the way, but the flaming sphere exploded on impact and the burst caught her off guard. The heat was intense under the sun, and with that one attack Ninetales was already significantly injured.

Despite her injuries, Ninetales managed to pull through and use Hail to revert the weather. Castform lost its Fire Type and became its Ice Type snowy form again instead.

“Repeat, Castform.”

“Get in close for Dazzling Gleam!” I shouted.

Ninetales ran in close to stop Castform from hitting her with a Fire Blast again. The weather shifted to sunlight as she closed in with Quick Attack, and a burst of light forced me to cover my eyes when she approached. Unfortunately, the light wasn’t just from Dazzling Gleam, as Castform managed to get its Fire Blast off, and both Pokémon fainted.

I returned Ninetales and sent her out next to me to let Florges begin to treat her. Jude returned Castform on the other side of the field, and grabbed a green and yellow Nest Ball at her waist.

“That was good, but it could have been better,” Jude yelled. “I can tell you’ve never had Ninetales’s weather dominance challenged. We’re going to work on what to do when you’re not in control.”

I nodded, both a little upset that Ninetales had fainted to a Castform, but also proud that she had taken out an Ace Trainer’s Pokémon in a casual battle.

“Send out a strong one next, I’m switching up strategies,” Jude shouted.

I looked over to Azumarill to tell her to go forward, and she gained a cruel grin as she stomped onto the field. Mawile looked a bit disappointed to not be chosen, but considering how quickly she would have lost to Castform, she wasn’t too upset to not be sent out.

Meanwhile, Jude tossed out a Shiinotic, and I raised my eyebrow.

“You have a Shiinotic?”

“Yeah, I have two Fairy Types, actually. Shiinotic, which I caught after a visit to Alola, and Wigglytuff, who I caught on the west coast. My familiarity with the Type is part of the reason I was assigned to help you.”

Shiinotic was a Grass and Fairy Type Pokémon, and looked like a thin white humanoid with empty holes forming eyes and a mouth in its head. On top of it, a large pink mushroom cap grew out and expanded several feet in each direction.

Azumarill stomped in place excitedly as the battle began, and both Pokémon began to use their moves.

“Aqua Ring into Belly Drum, Azumarill.”

“Rain Dance.”

Rain overtook the field as Azumarill gained a thin layer of healing water, and I looked at Jude questioningly.

“Won’t the rain assist Azumarill?”

Jude smirked.

“Shiinotic has Rain Dish.”

As if to prove her point, Shiinotic held up its thin, unnaturally long hands and the mushroom on its head glowed with a strange light. Water from the rain soaked into it, and once it started to get damaged, it would be able to slowly heal itself.

Shiinotic didn’t do anything as Azumarill stood in place and used Belly Drum. She punched herself in the stomach a few times to start a chain reaction that maximized her strength, and bent over, ready to attack.

“Azumarill is too stationary when she uses Belly Drum. We’ll work on getting it used faster,” Jude said.

Without needing any further instruction from me, Azumarill dashed forward with Aqua Jet, impacted Shiinotic, and promptly fell to the floor.

“...What?”

Jude tried to hold back her chuckles.

“I don’t want to hurt your Pokémon, so let’s call the battle here. It was hard to see, but Shiinotic created a faint cloud of Sleep Powder underneath its mushroom. That combined with its ability, Effect Spore, meant that Azumarill got a face full of it when she ran into Shiinotic. I have to ask, why didn’t you use Misty Terrain? You should have known there was a risk of status conditions when fighting a Grass Type.”

Florges moved over from where Ninetales was standing back up to use Aromatherapy on Azumarill. Jude returned Shiinotic at the same time.

“Since this was a casual battle, I wasn’t focusing as much and thought that Azumarill would be able to take it out with her boosted physical strength. I assumed that paralysis or poison might come into effect, but didn’t consider sleep.” I shrugged. “If this was a Gym Battle, I would have been more careful.”

“That’s a common mistake, Alex. Never take your opponents lightly, even if it is a casual battle. If there’s a difference in raw power, yeah, maybe hold back, but even if this was just a basic fight to test your style, you should battle as if you’re fighting in a Gym,” Jude said. “Anyway, I got enough information to go from here. How about you, Millie?”

Millie finished what she was writing as the rain on the field died down.

“I do. Do you want to hear my thoughts, Alex?”

“That’s what I’m here for,” I replied.

“Well to start, your basic strategies are fine for your level. However, I expect them to improve as you take on future Leagues. As for your Pokémon, I can tell they’re decently trained, but as you said earlier, you clearly focus on moves a little too heavily. As it stands, I would expect you to make it to about the middle rankings of the Conference, but with our help, you can get even farther.”

I smiled.

“Thank you. So what specifically do we need to work on?”

“A lot of general movement patterns, defenses, and honestly a move or two wouldn’t hurt. Ninetales would benefit from Agility, and Azumarill relies on Aqua Jet far too much and should develop her running speed. We’ll figure out the rest of your team from here, but for now general physical conditioning should help fill some gaps,” Millie explained.

Jude walked forward as Azumarill glared at her, annoyed at losing in such a manner.

“Alright. Guess it’s time to get everyone properly ready for the Conference. Let’s get started.”

_________________________________________________________________________________________

"So Ponyta's training is actually the easiest. You've got a good handle on the pace a young Pokémon should go, so for now, we’ll just have Alakazam help train his Psychic Type abilities,” Jude said.

"Does Alakazam help protect your mind too?" I asked Jude. She nodded.

"Most Ace Trainers are required to have a Psychic, Ghost, or even Dark Pokémon for that purpose. Psychic and Ghosts are the best choice, since they can do it at rest, but that doesn’t mean Dark Types are any less useful. Alakazam has been helping protect my mind for a few years now, and he actually caught a pair of thieves and their Drowzee reading people’s minds to find easy targets. He has plenty of experience with that skill, so for now, we’ll just keep them together."

I turned to the side where Ponyta and Alakazam were locked in an intense staring contest, presumably working on their Psychic powers together.

Later, under the keen eye and advice of Alakazam, Ponyta had a few battles against some of the researchers and their weaker Castforms, using his time in battles to finally work on the last two egg moves we hadn’t been training: Double-Edge and Morning Sun. He managed to learn them pretty quickly, and the healing effect of Morning Sun actually compensated well for the recoil damage of Double-Edge.

In addition, he figured out Agility alongside Ninetales, giving both of them a powerful and long-lasting boost to their speed.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Azumarill had the power and defense, but she didn’t have the speed. Aqua Jet was a crutch for her movement, so she needed to work on making sure she was pushing herself as hard as possible. This started with a few spars with the extremely elastic Wigglytuff, but turned into a series of races between my Pokémon. Ninetales and Ponyta tended to win since they were both training Agility, but to my surprise, Mawile also beat Azumarill.

Mawile was overjoyed to have finally beaten Azumarill in something, and that kindled the spark of rivalry within Azumarill’s chest. She started to go on frequent jogs in the morning, and by the end of the few weeks we spent at the Weather Institute, the two of them were neck and neck in every race, with about even chances to pull off a win.

Azumarill also learned the final major move I wanted her to learn: Protect. She and Cottonee were both learning that move, and helped each other learn how to infuse their bodies defensively. (And by help, I mean Cottonee would annoy Azumarill as she tried to follow his instructions for the move. Honestly, it really helped her develop her focus.)

_________________________________________________________________________________________

“I want to teach two of your Pokémon new moves,” Millie said, approaching me from behind as I helped Ninetales improve how she fought outside of hail. We turned around to face her, and looked at her curiously.

“Which Pokémon and which moves?” I asked.

“I’m glad you’re interested already. Your Ninetales is extremely strong and her cryokinesis is impressive for a Pokémon of her strength. She has the control for Blizzard, and with her reliance on hail, it’ll be near impossible for her opponents to dodge the attack when it's enhanced by the weather.”

I nodded.

“That’s about in line with what I had planned soon. What about the second move?”

Millie looked a bit more hesitant to say the next one.

“Well... it’s a bit more niche than Blizzard. I noticed that Florges is adept at taking hits, and is working with your Altaria to dodge better, but wouldn’t it be better if she wasn’t getting hit at all? She already uses two different Terrain moves, and I figured ‘Hey! Wouldn’t it be great if they were even better for her?’

“So, I figured out a solution. I think Florges would be happy to know it makes her Grass Type moves even stronger. I want her to learn Camouflage, which lets her change her Type to match that of her natural surroundings to help her blend in. It both makes it harder for her opponents to see her and therefore harder to hit, and would change her to the Grass Type when Grassy Terrain is up. Her Petal Dance would be boosted even further.”

“Done. Let’s do it,” I said, not even having to think about it. Considering how much I knew Florges liked Grass Type moves, I could tell once she heard about Camouflage, she would jump on the opportunity to learn a move that enhanced her Grass Type attacks even further.

And, like I expected, Florges threw herself into training the move with extreme fervor, and by the end of the three weeks, she had a good handle on the normally difficult-to-learn egg move. It was usable in battle, but still needed a bit more development to be used in a reasonable amount of time. Considering the first week of the Conference tended to be pretty relaxed, she would be able to improve it then.

(Also, Ninetales learned Blizzard, as suggested. Her cryokinesis was strong enough that she managed to do so in less than a week.)

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Since I was interested in them as a Fairy Type specialist, I spent some of my time with Jude and Millie to learn more about Jude’s Shiinotic and Wigglytuff.

In the past, I focused on how Fairy Types tended to be tricky, and while both Shiinotic and Wigglytuff were tricky in their own ways, both of them embodied two different traits some Fairy Types tended to have.

Shiinotic was... creepy, to say the least. Its hollow face remained unmoving, and its slightly-too-long appendages gave off “uncanny valley” vibes. It relied heavily on tricking its opponents with strange lights and spores, but it definitely relied on how uncanny it was to throw opponents off even more. It felt unnatural despite its clear ties to nature in the form of mushrooms, and because of that I kept being reminded of how Aster called Fairies “otherworldly.”

Wigglytuff, on the other hand, was a lot more whimsical than my Pokémon. Of course, Cottonee was a bundle of excitement, and Ponyta tended not to emote much but experienced strong emotions, but Wigglytuff took it to another level.

Wigglytuff’s body could inflate like a balloon, and its pink fur was exceptionally soft. It could both sing and reach unreasonably loud volumes, and took joy in seeing people react to its actions, no matter if they were positive or negative.

In battle, it took advantage of its elastic body to take blows most Pokémon couldn’t take, making it a surprisingly decent melee combatant. It supported its moves like Play Rough and Double Edge with close-ranged special attacks like Hyper Voice and Disarming Voice. Even more, it knew supporting moves like Sing and Charm to disable and weaken its opponents. It looked a bit silly when it fought, but I couldn’t say it wasn’t effective.

Between the two of them, I liked Shiinotic more. There was something about its inherent creepiness that resonated with me, and I especially liked how its Rain Dish ability would synergize with Azumarill’s Rain Dance. If I had to choose, I would definitely rather catch a Shiinotic than a Wigglytuff, plus having another Grass Type on the team would make Florges happier.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Mawile still had two more TM moves she had to learn: Ice Fang and Fire Fang. Since there was a Pokémon Center at the Weather Institute, I was able to teach both of them to her, and with her experience with both Psychic Fangs and Thunder Fang, she got used to them pretty quickly.

In addition, she learned another biting move she honestly should have learned a long time ago: Crunch. She had a number of Dark Type moves already and was already extremely familiar with that Type, so following Jude’s advice, she learned it within only a few hours. Mawile now knew a large variety of biting moves with a variety of Types for coverage, so when we weren’t working on improving Stone Edge, we worked on finally helping her learn Sheer Force.

Sheer Force was actually Mawile’s hidden ability, but it gave her another option in battle. It had been on the backburner for a while, but it was the perfect time for her to finish developing it. Once she figured out how to properly use it, the ability meant that Mawile could put far more power into her attacks, shifting some of the power reserved for a secondary effect into more damage. Thunder Fang, Fire Fang, and Ice Fang could paralyze, burn, and freeze opponents respectively, but instead of using energy to cause those effects, she could further empower her jaws to deal more damage.

It could be argued that forgoing extra effects to her moves would make her weaker in battle, but it was the opposite. Sheer Force was an active choice rather than a passive ability, so Mawile could choose whether she attacked with full power or not. It was a pure buff for her because if she had Misty Terrain up, it was just free bonus damage on her elemental fang moves as they wouldn’t be able to inflict a condition anyway.

Also, since Iron Head could flinch, if she forwent that effect she now had a powerful finishing move that she shared a Type with.

At the end of our time in the Weather Institute, Mawile had Sheer Force down, and that combined with her three status inflicting moves meant her options in battle skyrocketed.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

“I’m really struggling with Altaria,” I said to Jude and Millie in the back of the room as a separate group of researchers set up a projector for movie night. The event happened about once a week, and as someone who was sticking around for a while, I was invited to come.

“I love him, but I can’t figure out any other strategies that are more advanced than just using his raw power,” I continued.

There weren’t many people in the room, mostly Pokémon, and everyone was just relaxing and having a good time.

Jude took a sip of her drink.

“I think that’s understandable,” she said. “You’re very focused on the Fairy Type, so a Pokémon like Altaria that focuses on pure offense is a struggle for you. Azumarill at least has a number of supporting moves to help her. Are you sure you can’t figure out any tricks for him in battle?”

“I guess he could learn Sing, but he wasn’t able to figure it out in the past, and learned Uproar instead,” I replied.

Jude snorted at that, finding it humorous, causing Millie to admonish her from the side.

“I think I know a solution, although it’s a lot of move training for you. That should be fine considering how much you focus on moves anyway,” Millie said.

“What is it?”

“Continue teaching Altaria Dazzling Gleam, like you already were, but also teach him Ice Beam. It increases his coverage, but truly important moves for him to learn would be Power Swap and Wonder Room.”

Both Jude and I looked at her curiously.

“Altaria can learn those?” I asked.

“Yup. Power Swap would let him switch attack boosts with anyone who tries to set up against him, and Wonder Room would let him swap the physical and special defensive capabilities of foes he encounters. His flying is good enough that he would be able to dodge attacks while using these moves, too. They give him niche counters to strategies that are effective against him.”

I chuckled at her answer.

“You know, I actually fought a Mr. Mime once that used very similar moves...”

The next day, I had Altaria start working with Ninetales to learn Ice Beam, which he only barely managed to work out before the end of our time here. Dazzling Gleam came to him a lot faster since he had already worked on learning it in the past.

Wally had the TMs for both Power Swap and Wonder Room, so I held off on teaching him those moves for now. Instead, he practiced with Mawile’s status-inflicting moves to develop his last ability, Natural Cure. Natural Cure let him passively heal himself of status conditions over time, although it worked slightly faster when he was at rest. It would be useful to cure him of status effects in long-lasting battles.

His ability was near being completed towards the end, and I hoped to get it in better shape by the end of the Conference.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Cottonee had two moves to learn: Substitute and Taunt. Substitute was easy to learn, since it was a TM move, but it was harder to use. It was similar to Protect, in that it took a lot of energy to use and could be used in a few different ways. For Cottonee, he created a mimicry of himself out of some of his spare cotton that could take an attack or two. His Prankster ability let him improve the move even faster, and Protect also got similar improvements, now reinforcing his fluff to protect him instead of the more energy-intensive version of creating a shield.

Taunt was similar in that he learned it quickly, by the end of the second week. He had a harder time familiarizing himself with Dark Type energy than learning the basics, but he was now capable of the fabled Taunt-Encore combo I had told him about in Lilycove.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

I arrived at the Weather Institute on January 10th, so when the three weeks were over it was January 31st, the day before the Ever Grande Conference. I had thought I needed to leave earlier if Altaria had to fly all the way, but Jude’s Alakazam could Teleport me there, so I was leaving as late as possible.

Honestly, I was getting spoiled by how many Psychic Type Pokémon had been Teleporting me around, and decided to catch a Pokémon that could do the same when I got the chance.

While there would be time for a sad goodbye later, I had one last development for my team to do before I left.

Jude and Millie joined me on the same field I had first met Jude at, and I sent out Cottonee. He looked around excitedly, expecting to be in Ever Grande City, but when he saw he wasn’t he looked at me, confused.

“Cottonee, you’ve been on my team for a while, and your capabilities in battle have been improving by the day. Considering you’ve learned all of the basic utility moves I had planned, I think it's time.”

Cottonee looked at me curiously, and when he saw what I was holding in my hand, he began to vibrate in excitement.

“This is a Sun Stone, which, when touched, will allow you to evolve into Whimsicott. It’s a big decision if you want to go through- oh, okay. You already touched it. Here we go, then.”

I blinked and Cottonee was leaning against the stone. The second he tapped his head against the orange sun-shaped rock, both he and the stone began to glow.

It started with Cottonee’s fluff expanding, becoming large enough to take up over half of his form and moving around his body to only grow behind his head. The two leaves on the side of his body then curled up and condensed, moving up his head and becoming a pair of green horns. At the same time, his head shrunk and expanded downwards, forming a short brown body with legs and arms. As the light faded, he floated to the ground and landed, now having feet to stand on.

The first thing Whimsicott did after his evolution was move his arms around. No longer was he constrained to picking things up by lodging them in his cotton, he now had hands.

Arceus save us all from the pranks he can get up to now.

Excited, Whimsicott jumped into the air and circled around me, still able to float with his new body. He moved with a faint breeze pushing him around, and was excitedly chattering away.

Seeing how happy Whimsicott was, I turned to Jude.

“I think when we Teleport to Ever Grande, I’m going to need to leave Whimsicott out of his ball. I can tell he wants to get used to his new body.”

Whimsicott floated down to land on my shoulder, holding on with his new hands, and soon Jude’s Alakazam teleported me to Ever Grande City, where the yearly tournament would take place.

It was time to see how I would measure up to the other trainers of this region.

====================================================
Author Note:

This chapter ended up taking me a bit longer than I expected, since I was trying something new when I came to training. Next chapter is still coming out tomorrow at the usual time.

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:
Alakazam
Castform
Shiinotic
Wigglytuff

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