Pokemon: Way of Life Chapter 44

Hi all,

Here is the next chapter. So, next week is the debut of my new HP story finally. As a result, the schedule will change.

(NZST)

Monday - Harry Potter: The Artisan’s Path.

Wednesday - Harry Potter: The Mage's Path

Friday - Pokemon: Way of Life

There was a sombre silence at breakfast the next morning. Lucas had let the others know what had happened last night, and their excitement for the gym battle today was extinguished by the news of the tragedy. Lucas had not been able to get a single wink of sleep last night. The scale of the slaughter was almost impossible to comprehend. According to his research, the town had over two thousand residents. Life was precious in this world, so any large number of losses was devastating.

It was a popular tourist destination, as it was located at the foot of Evolution Mountain. A great deal of Evolution Stones were discovered there in the last few decades, and the location had been heavily excavated. The government had taken over the place when they realised that it was being mined too frequently, leading to a decrease in Evolution Stones appearing. They regulated the number of people who could mine at any one time, and there was also a fee you had to pay to access it.

Jason looked up from his phone. "Lucas, your grandfather is on the news."

Lucas and the others took out their phones and searched for the news website. He found the live feed and opened it to see his grandfather on screen, standing at a podium and in the middle of making a statement.

"....we have questioned the survivors and so far, we can determine that the people that attacked the town with their Pokemon were dressed in camouflage and wore masks over their faces. They struck the town hall first, where most of the citizens were gathered for a meeting. It was a planned attack. They picked a specific time when most of them were gathered in one place. We urge anyone who has seen anything suspicious to contact us with any information. This heinous crime will not be left unpunished. This I swear on my honour."

Lucas had stopped listening. His mind was brought back to a week ago when he encountered a group of young men and women in the forest. Was it a coincidence that all of them were dressed head to toe in camouflage clothes? The situation was too serious to simply make that assumption.

"Lucas, what is wrong?" Faith asked, placing a hand on his shoulder.

Lucas didn't answer, waiting until his grandfather finished the press conference before calling his number.

"What do you want, Lucas? I'm too busy at the moment to take your call." His grandfather sounded stressed.

"Actually, it's about the attack on the town," Lucas said, not wasting any time. "A week ago, I came across a group of people in camouflage clothes in Viridian Forest. It could be a mere coincidence, but they were trying to more or less rob me, before their leader recognised me and let me go."

"Tell me everything," Tobias demanded. Lucas narrated the encounter in detail.

"You said that Pinsir was slightly stronger than your Pokemon? Then it couldn't have been them specifically. The Pokemon that were used to attack the town were at a high level. It is for this reason that the people of Stone Town were unable to organise a strong resistance. They may be related to the people who did attack, however."

"Who would do such a thing? And for what reason?" Lucas asked angrily.

"That's what I'm planning to find out. Every last one of them will be executed for this," Tobias said gruffly. "Listen, I need to hang up, but I will be sending someone to search for the people that you encountered. Don't you dare go looking for anyone by yourself."

"Do I look stupid?" Lucas questioned, only to be met with a long silence. "Funny. Are you sending one of your apprentices?"

"Yes," Tobias confirmed. "I will send Charlie."

"Why him?" Lucas groaned.

"He is best suited to poking his nose around without being noticed. Take care of yourself, grandson."

Lucas hung up the phone, only to be met with three pairs of inquisitive eyes. He sighed and began to explain what he had encountered in the forest. Faith looked upset.

"Why didn't you say anything?"

"Er...it slipped my mind?"

Judging by the scolding he received, that wasn't the best answer he could have given.

If it was the old Lucas, he may have felt responsible for the tragedy that occurred yesterday. Last week, he had considered having Giro follow them, but had decided to let it slide. He would have made an absurd leap in logic and determined that his lack of action was the cause.

However, his mindset had changed. There was no way he could have known what was to come, and it was still questionable if the group he met had any connection to the massacre. He wasn't responsible for everything terrible people decided to do, and he couldn't save everyone.

It was imperative that he made that clear in his mind before he had his gym battle. Lucas didn't want to be distracted. Although, he was kind of surprised that the gym hadn't closed for the day, considering what had happened. It just goes to show that life must carry on regardless.

{0(((..)))0}

Lucas looked up at the Viridian Gym with admiration. The building was the most impressive display of Asian influence that he had seen in this world so far. The pagoda was a multi-story tower with each floor separated by eaves that protruded outwards, making for a unique and striking display. A spherical roof topped the building, with a column attached to it that reached another a few metres into the sky and tapered off to a fine point. Unlike normal pagodas however, the building was wide, and took up a lot of real estate.

The Pokemon League and the Kanto government certainly did not spare any expense in building it, which made sense. Trainers were the lifeblood of every region, and what allowed them to carve out a place in the world. Lucas compared it to the United States in his old world, where they had a colossal budget for their military.

It was curious how the ethnicities of this world mirrored the game in some ways. In the surrounding areas of Kanto, Johto, Hoenn, and Sinnoh, there was a mix of both Western and Eastern ethnicities. Kanto leaned more toward the west, with a smaller population of Asians and less influence on culture and infrastructure.

From what he read in the history books, the Kanto region was settled by colonists that had travelled far west across the ocean from the Unova region. They had made a perilous journey that had taken a lot of lives. Back then, there was no bonding with Pokemon. Therefore, they had to survive on their own wits, but it mostly came down to luck, whether a Pokemon would target them or not. One had to wonder why they had made the journey in the first place. It was because of a lack of resources, as Pokemon dominated the Unova region at the time. There were a number of scattered tribes of people surviving there but with no unity amongst them. They probably felt that crossing the sea was the lesser of two evils.

They entered the gym and into the reception area. Lucas turned to the others and said, "I will see you on the other side with my gym badge."

"Someone's confident," Faith teased, before hugging him. "Good luck."

"Yeah, you don't want to lose before I have to get my first badge tomorrow," Misty slung an arm around his shoulders. "That would be embarrassing."

"Are you taking on the hardest difficulty?" Lucas asked curiously after she let him go.

"Hell, no. I only need about two hundred more trainer points to level up," Misty said.

"Have you already won a tournament?" Jason questioned.

"Yep, but it was only a small one with about twenty trainers," Misty said. "Not that I care. Once I level up, I can finally add another Pokemon to my team."

"Well, I'm off," Lucas said, and walked over to reception with his Pokemon, while his friends entered the elevator to the fourth floor. They were allowed to watch the final match for the gym badge, but everything else was secret. This didn't stop trainers from telling others about the route, but the gym did change it up often.

"Hello, sir," the man at reception greeted him. "Are you participating in a gym battle?"

"Yes. Lucas Walker at eleven o'clock."

The man tapped on his computer. "Do you have your Pokedex for identification?"

Lucas handed it over and the man scanned it, before handing it back, along with a small knapsack.

"Very good. You have chosen the hardest difficulty. Your gym challenge starts in five minutes. Head through the double doors and down the hall to the waiting room. When your name is called, exit through the door and your challenge will commence. You must find and defeat the three trainers on the first three floors to access the fourth floor, where you will battle one of the gym leaders' apprentices. You have a time limit of half an hour on the first three floors to locate and defeat the trainer. If time runs out, or you lose any of the Pokemon battles, then you fail the challenge. Any consumable items you find, you may keep. However, any other items you find must be returned after the challenge."

So the trainer battle was included in the time limit. That made things a bit harder, but he wasn't one to use defensive tactics in battle, anyway. With his abilities, he didn't think it would be too challenging to navigate the floors and find the trainers.

Lucas entered the waiting room and sat down. His Pokemon surrounded him, looking relaxed, as if they were embarking on a picnic.

"Please, don't look so nervous." Lucas said wryly.

'What is there to be nervous about?' Duke asked.

'You're the one bouncing your legs. Isn't that a sign of nervousness?' Imara remarked.

"It's a sign of anticipation," Lucas retorted, and he received four expressions of disbelief, which was a comical sight.

Lucas heard a voice on the intercom. "Lucas Walker, your gym challenge starts in ten seconds. Good luck."

Lucas set the timer on his watch to thirty minutes so he could monitor his remaining time. When the counter hit zero, he rushed through the door with his Pokemon, only to stop when he saw - or did not see - what was in front of him.

The entire area was shrouded in heavy fog. He could barely see a metre in front of him. Additionally, the fog was saturated with aura, so it made his aura sense completely useless, which he found out when he activated it. He was blinded instantly by the brightness stabbing at his eyeballs.

"This may be a problem," Lucas rubbed his eyes. He was essentially walking around blind just like any other trainer. This place was huge as it took up the majority of the first floor. According to the size of the building outside, exploring it thoroughly may take a long time. If he wasn't careful, he could fail the challenge.

There was one saving grace and that was his map function. With his current perception, he could unlock more details within a radius of eight metres around him. That meant that he only needed to walk within range of the trainer, rather than physically find him. Lucas switched the map function into a mini map that was displayed on his user interface.

"Everyone should be on alert. With the lack of visibility, we may be ambushed at any moment. They have placed Pokemon here that are acting like wild Pokemon. You need to be careful not to go too far and kill them, otherwise we will be in serious trouble."

Dante stepped up and spoke to the rest of the Pokemon.

'We will be in a diamond formation around Lucas. Maximus will stand in front, and I will cover our backs. Imara and Duke will be placed on either side of Lucas.'

'Who made you boss?' Imara glared at Dante.

"That's enough. It's a sound plan. Let's go," Lucas said.

Lucas walked forward, protected on all sides by his Pokemon. As they passed the street sign, they almost stepped into a huge sinkhole in the street. It was only Max's lightning-quick reflexes that prevented him from plunging downwards. Curiously, the road looked immaculate on the mini map, so it was clear that it didn't show everything. They would have to be cautious going forward.

The road damage was extensive, including potholes, uplifted concrete, and various debris that was strewn across the road. This made their progress slow. A minute later, they came across an intersection.

According to the minimap, there were buildings on the other side of the street, leading off to the east, west, and north. Obviously, the primary objective was to find the trainer. However, if he could find supplies that would help him traverse this place, and healing items for his Pokemon, then that would be ideal. He had access to his inventory, but he was getting into the spirit of the challenge, and didn't want to cheat. Maybe that sounded a bit hypocritical, considering his gamer ability was one major cheat, but whatever.

Lucas reached the first building on the north side, which looked like a pub. The front window was smashed in, and the door was hanging off its hinges. He stepped carefully over the threshold and looked around. There was some fog that lingered in the building due to a portion of the roof having collapsed onto a pool table, exposing the building to the elements. However, it was still significantly easier to see than outside.

Not wanting to waste time, Lucas quickly searched the building, but the place was almost stripped bare, with only the furniture remaining untouched. He did, however, find a potion beneath the front counter, and he placed it in his small knapsack.

Lucas hurried to the next building, which was a takeaway shop. He ascended the steps to the front door and entered. This time, he was not so lucky and exited the building empty-handed. The next building was a police station. Here, he hit the jackpot. Not only did he find a potion and a full heal, but also a handheld LED flashlight, which would help him navigate the fog.

Quickly leaving the place, he decided to hasten his search. By using the flashlight, he was able to increase his visibility by a few metres and avoid any hazards. When he was about two thirds of the way through searching the buildings on the street, he encountered his first Pokemon.

Spearow ~ Level 10 ~ HP: 170/170 ~ Aura: 170/170

It was perched on a streetlight, staring at them with menacing intent. It was certainly putting on a good act, or maybe it was naturally mean. Fortunately, with the flashlight and his map, Lucas was able to spot it in time to warn Max.

Whether it was told to act more like a wild Pokemon, or it couldn't handle instructions well without its trainer, the Spearow was hardly a challenge. No better than your average wild Pokemon. Lucas left the fainted Pokemon on the sidewalk and continued exploring.

He checked the time and ten minutes had already passed. Half an hour really wasn't a lot of time to explore the place, but it was the hardest difficulty for a reason.

"We are going to speed up even more," Lucas said. "So keep an eye out."

Lucas increased his speed until he was almost jogging. He headed to the next intersection, where a bunch of cars were piled up, looking like they had been involved in a major collision. He had to praise the set designers for the gym, as it really looked like a scene from an apocalyptic movie. If he didn't know better, he might have thought it was real, it was so atmospheric.

They met another Pokemon, which Duke dispatched this time, and Lucas turned right and continued exploring. On the next street over, he began scanning the buildings quickly in search of the trainer's location. He was almost halfway through the street when he finally spotted him.

He was inside a medical centre, in one of the examination rooms. Lucas rushed inside and opened the door, where a teenage boy was waiting for him.

"You found me," the teenager said. "Let's go and have our match outside. The fog clears up as soon as the trainer is found."

"Okay," Lucas followed the trainer outside and onto the street. They stood fifteen metres apart, and a referee appeared to officiate the match. Lucas looked at the time. He had less than half the time remaining to defeat the trainer and find the exit to the next floor.

"The rules of the Junior Gym Challenge state that I have to choose my Pokemon first," the trainer said. He released a Pokemon onto the stage. It bounced around the stage as if it had been pumped full of adrenaline.

Aipom ~ Level: 10 ~ HP 160 ~ Aura: 210

Since he was on a time limit, Lucas got the sense that the trainer may use delaying tactics in this fight. They didn't have to win the fight after all, just delay him until he didn't have enough time to reach the exit. He would have to be extremely aggressive and not allow the trainer to dictate the battle.

"Max, you will start things off."

'Why does it have a hand coming out of its butt?' Max asked as he walked onto the stage.

"It's attached to his tail," Lucas said with exasperation. The trainer seemed to understand the context, and he chuckled.

Lucas observed the battlefield as he waited for the match to start. Movement was going to be an issue, as there were uneven patches of road, and some debris.

As soon as the two Pokemon were in place, the referee began the match. In this instance, both trainers were allowed to substitute one Pokemon, and they were also allowed to use one healing item with their recalled Pokemon if they wished to do so.

'Quick Attack.' Lucas ordered quickly. 'Get closer.'

Max dashed forward, and he reached Aipom in seconds. The Pokémon avoided the hit by jumping to the side and hiding behind a barrel. This caused Max to halt his momentum and turn around. Aipom picked up the barrel with its arms and threw it at Max. Who the hell did Aipom think he was? Donkey Kong?

Max dodged it and continued to close the gap. Lucas was initially taken aback by the Pokemon using environmental objects, and he realised that the trainer had the advantage in this specific instance. He probably had practised in these environments a lot.

The Aipom continued to run away from the confrontation, and it was effective as it had a small advantage in speed. For the next minute, the situation remained the same, with it running away from Max. Occasionally, it would grab a piece of debris to throw at Max to slow him down.

Sure enough, the trainer was trying to run the clock down. Lucas wanted to cry foul at the shameless tactic, but he could hardly complain. He looked around the battlefield and noticed another bit of debris, a cinderblock, and came up with a game plan.

'Drive him towards the cinderblock, but don't be too obvious.'

Max showed remarkable restraint in slowly guiding the Aipom towards the cinderblock. Lucas was counting on the trainer not being able to resist using it again as a throwable projectile.

It worked! Aipom picked up the cinderblock in preparation to throw it at Max. It was temporarily stationary.

'Feint into Rock Smash.' Lucas ordered quickly.

Max vanished from his opponents' sight, and appeared above the Pokemon. Max quickly cancelled the attack, and gathered fighting-type energy in his fist. The Aipom reacted quickly and flipped on his back while still holding the cinderblock, and threw it up at Max.

Max brought his fist down on the block, and it exploded into pieces of stone and grey powder. It didn't end there, as Max still had momentum. He brought his fist down on the abdomen of Aipom, causing it to exhale, not able to cry out as it lost its breath momentarily.

It's super effective! 59 damage dealt to the Aipom.

Aipom's defence has been lowered by one stage.

HP: 101/160

The Aipom rolled around the ground, gasping for breath.

'Brick Break.' Lucas ordered ruthlessly.

The move was similar to Rock Smash in appearance, except it was an open palm that came chopping down. At the last moment, Aipom activated his special ability, Run Away. It disappeared from sight and Max's attack impacted the ground, smashing some of the concrete to pieces.

Aipom appeared ten metres away, however it still hadn't recovered fully from the first attack, and it was struggling to get to its feet.

'Feint into Brick Break.'

Max appeared again on the Pokemon's side. This time he executed Brick Break after cancelling Feint. Aipom was unable to avoid it and was struck, sending the Pokemon flying across the street.

It's super effective! 129 damage dealt to Aipom.

Aipom has been defeated.

The Aipom fainted after landing and Max raised his fist in triumph. Lucas clapped for his Pokemon. "Great work, buddy. But you need to reset quickly. We are on a timer."

Max hurried over to his starting position while the trainer withdrew his Pokemon. "That was a smart strategy. I think I got a little obsessed with using the environment to my advantage."

"If you have an advantage, use it. Just don't overdo it or the opponent may adapt." Lucas said, while checking his watch. He still had ten minutes left. As long as he could finish off the next Pokemon quickly, he should be able to find the exit easily enough with the fog cleared.

The trainer summoned his next Pokemon onto the street.

Meowth ~ Level 10 ~ HP: 160 ~ Aura: 220

Lucas had already faced Meowth in the tournament. Apparently they were also very popular in this world as well, but he thought it was totally undeserved. Game Freak already gave it too much attention by giving the Pokemon two alternate forms, both of them progressively uglier than the last. Maybe he was just salty that Team Rocket's Meowth attacked him in the forest.

From what he recalled, most of their stats were fairly average, but their speed was insane, at least at the earlier levels. After giving it some thought, he decided to replace Max with Duke. He did this for two reasons. With Rain Dance, Duke would be able to run rings around Meowth with his speed. The primary reason, however, was that Duke needed some experience in an official match. If he needed to use him in the gym battle, then he would rather have him participate in a couple of official battles first. Maybe he should have thought of that before doing the gym challenge, but it was too late now.

"I would like to make a substitution," Lucas said to the referee. He recalled Max to his side and turned to Duke. "Okay, Duke. It's your first official match, so go on out and make me proud."

'Heh. This will be a piece of cake.'

Duke zoomed into position. When the referee resumed the match, Lucas took a chance that the trainer would avoid confrontation at the beginning.

'Rain Dance.'

A small dark cloud formed over the battlefield and it began to rain steadily.

Duke's speed has been doubled for the duration of Rain Dance. The power of water-type moves has increased by fifty per cent.

Meanwhile, Meowth retreated, taking the opportunity to boost its stats with Work Up.

Meowth's Attack and Special Attack have been raised by one stage.

It seems that the trainer had changed his tactics and was going to go on the offensive. However, he made the mistake of giving Duke the chance to cast Rain Dance. His speed now outstripped Meowth by a large degree, as long as the Rain Dance was in effect. Duke would have to finish the fight quickly, however, as it only lasted about two minutes at its current mastery.

'Get closer and execute Clear Smog.'

When he first taught Duke the egg move from the Move Tutor, he had completely forgotten about the affinity requirement. So when Duke first tried using it, Lucas was surprised that it worked. But it seemed in his case at least, there was no affinity requirement for egg moves. This had some implications for some of the other egg moves of his other Pokemon. Especially Max, who had some powerful fighting-type moves, but would require an affinity of eighty-five or higher for him to learn. It was too bad that TP was limited or else he would have acquired every egg move for all his Pokemon. However, it may be difficult to explain to others about obtaining a bunch of new moves for his Pokemon.

With his speed boost, Duke was really fast. He came within a few metres of his opponent in an instant. Meowth sprinted forward, its claws glinting with normal-type energy. Duke inhaled, and then released a long stream of poison gas at Meowth.

His opponent abandoned its attack and leapt to the side to avoid the poison. However, Duke was able to turn quickly while maintaining the attack, and Meowth was struck, sending the Pokemon tumbling across the ground.

31 damage dealt to Meowth.

Meowth's stat increases have been removed.

HP: 129/160

'Octazooka.'

A ball of ink emerged from Duke's snout and shot at the downed Meowth. The Pokemon responded by disappearing from sight.

'Evade.' Lucas said almost simultaneously, anticipating a Feint at some point. If you knew that the move was in your opponent's arsenal, it was possible to dodge it if your reaction was fast enough. Duke cancelled his attack and used his fin to twist his body just as Meowth tried to slam into Duke from the side.

Meowth went stumbling forward after missing the attack, and Duke used the move Octazooka to attack it again. This time, Meowth wasn't able to dodge and was struck by the ball of ink, and the Pokemon hit the ground hard. Its back was covered in ink, which probably made Meowth feel very uncomfortable.

90 damage dealt to Meowth.

HP: 39/160

The damage boost from Rain Dance was really substantial. Even without a type advantage, the combination of the move's power and the enhancement removed over half of Meowth's health. It helped that the Pokemon didn't have a very high special defence.

'Finish it off with a Water Gun.' Lucas commanded.

Duke aimed a jet of water at Meowth on the ground. However, just as it was about to hit, the Pokemon stood on its four legs and leapt over the attack. It landed on top of the water briefly before launching itself forward. Lucas was so surprised that he wasn't able to react in time, and Meowth launched a pile of huge golden coins at Duke - Payday.

Duke managed to evade a few on his own initiative, but there were too many to dodge, and he was struck by the heavy gold coins, and sent flying. To add insult to injury, unlike in the games, the move didn't pay out Pokedollars at the end of the battle. After the attack was over, the gold disappeared quickly.

22 damage dealt to Duke.

HP: 148/170

Fortunately, Duke's defence was good enough to minimise the damage.

Meowth executed Feint again. Lucas quickly ordered Duke to stay down when he was about to lift himself off the ground, and Meowth appeared at his side, preparing to strike. However, Duke was so low to the ground that the Pokemon's attack missed completely, and Duke took advantage of the situation to launch another Water Gun.

75 damage dealt to Meowth.

Meowth has fainted.

"Meowth is unable to continue. The match is awarded to Lucas Walker from Pallet Town."

It was a testament to how well his Pokemon had trained that they made the battle a lot easier than it could have been. Even Duke had put in an impressive performance

Lucas walked forward and picked up Duke and hugged him. "Not bad for your first official match, Duke."

'Naturally.'

Lucas met the trainer in the middle. The trainer shook his head wryly. "You are already beyond my level. I don't think the next two trainers are going to give you too much trouble, but Ryan, one of the gym leaders apprentices, is a different matter."

"I look forward to it," Lucas replied.

"Here is the keycard," the trainer gave him a plastic white card with a number two on it. "You need to find the elevator and insert the keycard into the slot. It will only take you to the next floor."

Lucas thanked him and checked the time. He still had over six minutes left. He and his Pokemon rushed off in search of the elevator. Now that the fog was cleared, he was able to move a lot faster. Two minutes later, they found the elevator set into the north-eastern wall and entered. They rose to the second floor and stepped out into a small room with a single door ahead of them. A voice came over the intercom.

"You have two minutes before you need to enter the next floor. Take your time to heal your Pokemon if needed."

Lucas used the time to check his gains from the last match.

=====

Congratulations!

The player has won the trainer battle!

Lucas has earned 217 experience + 20 trainer points.

Title: Unstoppable has increased; +29% exp gain.

Opponent: Aipom

⦁ Maximus has earned 100% (92 exp) and it has been added to his exp cache.

Opponent: Meowth

⦁ Duke has earned 100% (78 exp) and it has been added to his exp cache.

=====

Break time was over and Lucas stepped forward and opened the door to the next stage.

So, what do you think? I won't draw out the trainer battles like I did with the tournament. The next chapter, Lucas will have his gym battle.

Thanks for reading.