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10:00 PM

As I organised with Nurse Joy the use of one of the Pokémon Centre’s battlefields and to still be up for post-battle patch-up, Lucas told the rest of our party about the battle. Ash and Dawn were excited for the battle, Ash because it was a battle, and battles are cool, Dawn because she would finally get to see her brother fight someone who she saw as a challenge for her twin. Brock offered to referee, and Misty seemed to come out of obligation.

Brock formally announced the rules. “The battle between Lucas Diamond from Twinleaf Town and Jack Harvey from the Dochaku region will now commence. The battle will be a one on one and no items or substitutions are permitted. Both trainers send out your first Pokémon.”

“You can do it, Lucas!” Dawn shouted from the sidelines.

Ash, in turn, yelled, “Good luck to the both of ya!”

“Pi ka chu!”

Elaine jumped off of my shoulder and landed softly on the ground, before running forward a couple of metres. She faced her side towards Lucas and held out an arm in preparation for a Confusion attack.

Lucas tossed his Poké Ball overhanded and shouted, “Go, Turtwig!” Lucas’s starter Pokémon summoned itself from the sphere and landed in a wide stance, ready to charge at any moment.

“Alright,” Brock exclaimed, “Battle, begin!”

Okay, Lucas’s Turtwig knows three moves, Tackle, Withdraw and Absorb. Lucas also knows that Elaine knows Confusion, Growl, and Double Team. With that, and how much I’ve been talking about it, he knows that Withdraw is useless, meaning he’ll only use Tackle or Absorb. Tackle is the stronger move at forty power as opposed to Absorb’s twenty, thirty if you include same type attack bonus. Due to Elaine’s frailty, if I spam confusion like I normally do, Turtwig can either Absorb to heal the damage or Tackle to deal damage faster, so going for straight damage is not the best option. That leaves either Growl or Double Team. Growl only weakens physical attacks, so if I do that he will just switch to using Absorb which won’t do anything. Thus, there’s only one option.

“Elaine,” I shouted, “use Double Team!” I have to rely on the luck of the draw and hope that Turtwig misses his attacks.

Lucas shouted “Turtwig, Tackle!”

Elaine dropped her raised arm and then raised both of them to the side. As her corporeal form blurred, Turtwig charged head first towards Elaine. Elaine’s second form had fully materialised when Turtwig rammed his head towards the form on my left, making an impact with Elaine. Her two formed recoiled simultaneously, they fell back onto the floor and then quickly pushed themselves right back up.

Okay, Turtwig is still able to hit relatively easily, but if I stack Double Teams instead of attacking, I may end up getting hit again and then be put into a massive disadvantage, I have to hope that what Elaine already have will allow her to dodge a few attacks.

“Tackle again!” Lucas yelled.

“Confusion!”

Both of Elaine’s transparent forms raised their right hands towards the approaching Turtwig. Her arm began to vibrate, far more intensely then it had before, it was as if her arm had also used Double Team from the speed it was shaking. Then in a blink-and-you’ll-miss-it moment, a thin hot pink laser shot out from in between Elaine’s two forms and right into Turtwig’s forehead, the beam was gone as soon as it arrived. That wasn’t a new move, was it? No, that was still Confusion. Was that a Critical Hit then? Turtwig tripped over his own feet when the Confusion hit him, yet the trip didn’t send him to the ground, instead, he continued to charge at Elaine, making contact again, this time in between her two forms and right into her head, temporarily visualising her singular solid form. As Turtwig passed her, Elaine was able to steady herself before she fell.

Should I Growl? No, it’s too late now, and Lucas is likely to tell Turtwig to Absorb to take back some health from Elaine after that Critical Hit. Keep up with the Confusion. Elaine’s faster than Turtwig, so it should hopefully even out.

“Confusion, again!”

“Turtwig, you can do it! Use Tackle!”

Dammit, I guessed wrong.

Turtwig drifted into a one-eighty degree turn, and then rushed towards Elaine, aiming again in between the two forms. However, before Elaine was able to discharge another Confusion, Turtwig made contact. Or at least, it looked like it, as the Pokémon ran into nothingness like it was running through a haze smoke. Elaine’s two forms spun around and launched a Confusion towards Turtwig’s back.

It’s good that he missed, but why did Turtwig’s move happen before Elaine’s? Wait, are we speed-tied? If that’s the case, then it’s entirely random who goes first. I still don’t know what Lucas is going to do between Tackle and Absorb, so my best option is to just hit them as much as possible. Especially since I don’t know how much more Elaine can take.

“Attack with Absorb!”

“Elaine, Confusion!”

Turtwig’s tiny plant growing from the top of his head began to glow a spring-green colour, and then the light of that twig erupted into various curved lines of light which shot towards Elaine’s dual figures. They were both engulfed in the lights, which briefly corporealised her into a solitary form. Then round globules of light retreated from her body and floated into Turtwig’s form. This new attack seemed to not cause Elaine to flinch as much as she did when she was hit with a Tackle. Elaine’s hand raised her shaking arm to the one who stole her energy and released another Psychic wave into its mind. The resulting attack led angry tears to form in Turtwig’s eyes as the pain in its head began to become unbearable.

They’re both looking weak, either one gets hit and they’re done for. Lucas should know that Elaine might survive another Absorb, so they have to Tackle because they didn’t heal enough to counteract all the damage they’ve taken. So ultimately, it’s who can land the final attack first. Since we’re speed-tied, it’s a fifty-fifty chance who goes first, however, I have a Double-Team up, so the odds are slightly in my favour.

I yelled, “Confusion, quick!”

Lucas replied as intensely, “Tackle!”

Turtwig ran towards Elaine and Elaine charged a psionic attack. Our opponent was approaching quickly, the dust underneath his feet displaced from his violent stride. Elaine’s dual forms vibrated their arms, yet beneath their incorporeality appeared the brief moments of a solid form, like an old TV focusing on its image.

I had seen Elaine charge her Confusion attack multiple times, so I had a good sense as to how long the attack takes. With the distance that Lucas’s Pokémon had covered in that time, I knew that Elaine’s attack wouldn’t charge in time, Turtwig had won the speed tie. Tackle would hit first.

Damnit, c’mon Double Team, work! “Elaine, dodge!” I yelled, but it was a fruitless effort, the collision would occur before Elaine would be able to react properly.

Turtwig was upon Elaine. He had made it to the space between the two forms. And with a dull thud, he had collided with solid matter.

Elaine fell under to the ground with a dazed look in her eyes, she wasn’t getting up.

“Ralts is unable to battle, Turtwig wins!” Brock announced. “Meaning the winner of the battle is Lucas Diamond, from Twinleaf Town.”

Lucas looked at Brock in disbelief, “W…What?”

I walked up to the resting Elaine and gingerly picked her up. She was breathing steadily. She looked up at me, with a sorrowful smile.

“Jack…”

“Hey, it’s alright. You did really well. Nurse Joy will heal you up and then everything’ll be alright.”

She closed her eyes and tried to go to sleep.

First loss… At least it was close. Too bad I had to rely on luck though.

“See what I mean Lucas, you beat me.”

“We… we really won?! Turtwig, we actually won!”

“While you guys celebrate I’m going to take Elaine to the nurse.”

10:30 PM

Thankfully, this version of the Pokémon universe had the healing capabilities of the games and not the anime, Lucas and I only had to wait a couple of seconds for our Pokémon to be good as new.

In the shared room I had with Brock, Elaine was all pouty about our loss.

“Hey, we did our best. It’s okay to lose.”

“Vu!” By pouty, it meant the full puffed cheeks and crossed arms.

“Seriously, it’s not as bad as you’re making it out to be. We always have the option of a rematch since we’re travelling with him.”

Elaine didn’t respond.

“I… Brock?” I called out to the person getting changed into his pyjamas behind the bathroom door.

“Yes, Jack?”

“Once you’re done, can I get your opinion on something?”

“That’s fine with me,” he replied.

I may have a vast knowledge about the mechanics of Pokémon in terms of the games, but I was new to the whole social aspect. From what I could gather, Pokémon had the same capabilities of understanding as human children did. They could understand language and language structure but had difficulty with theoretical concepts. So I didn’t know the best way to go about communicating with Pokémon on a more emotional level, how they think in terms of what they want and how they feel. The Ralts species may have an easy time understanding the emotions of others, but that didn’t mean I had an easy time reciprocating.

The door opened and Brock stepped out of the bathroom. He kindly asked, “What is it, Jack?”

“I’ll be honest, I don’t have much experience with dealing with a Pokémon’s emotions. Elaine’s still pouty from losing our battle earlier, and I’m at a bit of a loss as to what I should do. I was wondering what you think.”

As Brock was travelling with Ash and crew to become a Pokémon Breeder, he had developed a talent in emotionally understanding Pokémon. Which was why I sought his guidance.

“Ah, I see.” Brock brought his hand up to his chin and stared at the little Pokémon sitting at the foot of my bed. “You’ve told her that losing is normal, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And you’re not mad at her for not winning?”

“I’m legitimately not, and I know that she would pick up on it either way with horns.”

“Hm… I think the best thing to do would just be to let her be for a while.”

“You think so?”

“Sometimes it’s okay to leave your Pokémon alone. If Elaine wants your attention, she’ll come to you.”

“That makes sense.” I turned towards Elaine. “You hear all that Elaine? I’ll leave you alone for a bit if that’s okay with you.” I stood up from the bed. “I’m gonna go to the lobby then. Come get me in about half an hour.”

“What are you going to do?” Brock asked.

“I don’t know, maybe check some things online?”

“I don’t think being on computers when it’s this late is very healthy.”

“Really? If so, I must be one of the most unhealthy people on the face of the earth.” Then I left.

I was really confused. Not about Elaine, but battles. When Lucas and I battled, it worked in the same way that the games did, exactly. But then that seemed to contradict the battle that Ash and Paul had. Both sides dodged attacks that would have normally hit with a hundred percent certainty in the games, yet our battle was completely by the books. Why is that? How can Ash’s Pokémon dodge attacks that should hit? Is there something I’m missing? Do battles just follow the system I’m familiar with only when I battle? Is it possible for me to achieve but I haven’t learned how to yet? How are they randomly dodging? And then it hit me. I remembered a feature introduced in the newer games. Is Pokémon-Amie a thing? That might explain it, but then how does it work?

My thoughts were interrupted when I noticed a boy sleeping on one of the couches in the lobby, his Turtwig was similarly asleep in his lap.

I’d hoped your battle would make you tired, but this is ridiculous.

I walked up to him. “Hey, Lucas?” I said softly, “time for you to go to bed.”

“Huh?” He started awake. “Oh, did I fall asleep.”

“Not just you.” I motioned to his sleeping partner.

“Oh, huh.” He pulled out a Poké Ball and held it up to the Pokémon on his lap. “Turtwig, return.” Then the weight was lifted from his legs as Turtwig disappeared.

“So, aside from tired, how are you?”

“That wasn’t all a dream, right?”

“Which part?”

“All of it, those Pokétchs made by Team Rocket, our conversation, that battle?”

“All of that happened.”

“Wow…”

“Yeah, congratulations, by the way, you gave me my first loss.”

“Thank you, but I think I was just lucky.”

“Well… yeah, I’ll admit that you winning that last speed tie was what sealed the win.”

“Speed tie?”

“When two Pokémon have the same speed stat, it’s a fifty-fifty chance to see which one attacks first, at least that’s the theory.”

“Is this theory like Same Type Attack Bonus?”

“Yeah.”

“How do you know there was a speed tie?”

“Well, sometimes Elaine would hit first but other times Turtwig would hit first… actually… I’m starting to think that some of these theories may not fully apply to real-world battles like it does in the games I played. I think there’s an added layer of realism that what I know doesn’t account for.”

“What makes you say that?”

“When Ash battles, things happen that should be impossible in the games. His Pokémon dodge attacks left and right, while Elaine can only barely dodge some attacks when using Double Team.”

“That’s normal though. Stronger trainers and Pokémon are better at dodging attacks than ones who have less experience.”

“Is that so?”

“Did that not happen in the uh… games?”

“No, even in battles with the strongest Pokémon, it still adhered to the rules of evasion. Unless there was a change to the evasion or accuracy stat during the battle, a move like Tackle would always hit. Barring stuff like the Ghost-Type or Protect, of course.”

“Yeah…” Lucas yawned, “that’s not how it actually works.”

“You alright?”

“Just tired.”

“Then you should probably go to bed. Your mum might have a fit if she knew you were up this late.”

“What time is it?”

“A bit past ten-thirty I’d say.”

“Yeah, Mom would be upset if I was up this late.” Lucas slowly stood up from the couch. “Goodnight, Jack.”

“G’night.”

After Lucas left, I decided to do a bit of research, mostly dodging attacks. Unfortunately, I was unable to find anything more than practice methods that didn’t appear very original or novel. The most scientific thing I found was a paper on a correlation between the bond between Pokémon and Trainer and a Pokémon’s ability to dodge, but even that listed a bunch of uncontrollable variables that could have affected it, like a Pokémon’s weight, size, age, species, battle experience and so forth. Essentially there wasn’t enough certainty to make the researcher’s hypothesis into a theory. There was no similar paper about the correlation between a Pokémon’s dodging ability and it’s battling experience that I could find. That meant that it was either common knowledge or that it wasn’t a factor at all. No, it has to be common knowledge, since some wild Pokémon can dodge like that. At least, that’s what happened in the anime.

“Jack?” A tiny voice cried, suddenly, from beside my leg.

“Oh, Elaine. You okay?

“Vuee…” she sighed while she pulled the cuff of my pants leg.

“I guess you want me to go to sleep with you?”

“Vmhm…” she nodded.

“Okay.” I picked her up and headed down the corridor to the rooms. “Hey, Elaine?”

“Vm…?”

“…Thank you.”

“Jack…”