88 Travel and roar

I couldn't help but wonder why Mr. Stone was sending a letter of all things to his son when his company literally makes the devices used in communications. I could think of a few easily enough such as how the pokenav's tend not to work in caves as far as calling went and knowing the games Steven he probably spends all of his free time digging for rocks in exactly such an environment. Then again perhaps Mr. Stone merely preferred letters for whatever reason over calling on the pokenav , who knows. It honestly didn't matter but the whole idea was just weird enough to confuse me.-

I passed the trainers on the road that were battling and despite wanting to use them to hopefully polish up Rune enough to train with Gaia and Vulcan nobody was willing to accept my challenge. I could only sigh at this and move on to the forest where I planned to find a nice secluded spot and use my current tickets to hopefully get some useful stuff. Contrary to how it may seem the half million poke I currently had wasn't actually a lot since the prices of many things in reality were much higher than in the games.-

Food was by far the cheapest thing if you were only intending to fill your stomach and satisfy your dietary needs while clothes were a close second. No the really expensive stuff came around when you became a trainer. Medicine , supplements , high quality food , grooming , evolution stones , battle fees and training ground costs were a constant and painful reality for trainers. This was where sponsorships came in most of the time as sponsored trainers got an allowance based on their contract and breathed considerably easier than those without sponsorships.-

The exceptions to these problems are those who know high demand professions like alchemist or pill masters , the rich and then the lucky bastards coming into a windfall like me. In my case though I have the system so I doubt I will ever be so broke that I need to rely on others for my career. Anyways I eventually got into the forest and started heading west since that was the direction of the coast which was the least visited part of the forest by people. The reason for that was because like almost every nonlived in coastal area deep sea monster pokemon occasionally wash ashore in a piss poor mood.-

When I say monster I don't mean like ugly or deformed or anything like that but pokemon so powerful that their very presence was enough to shift the danger rating drastically. The most common of these monsters coming to shore is when a Magikarp in the sea evolves into a Gyarados and goes on a rampage near the coast. Rarely however a battle between monsters happens in the sea and the loser flees to land to recover while no one knows it most of the time. The unlucky people nearby then get subjected to the injured beasts wrath as a result.-

Thanks to this unpopularity however it made the coastal areas perfect for me to do my flashy system stuff like getting a new ability. It was always interesting to see how the power of the local pokemon grows the further from people one gets. Half a days walk east in the forest for example saw the pokemon go from level ten to twenty all the way up to level forties and occasionally fifties. Rune regularly got sent against the less friendly pokemon on our journey and it was doing wonders for his level as he had already reached twenty five and learned five new moves. -

Double team , thunder punch , spark , agility and dragon rage to be specific. The downside to this rough training was that I burnt through my potions entirely and needed to make more from nearby plants. Thanks to how unfamiliar I was with this skill at the moment however my new potions STUNG. Sure they worked but the horrible sensation of like ten hornets at once going to town on the injury made one want to curse every god they knew the name of.-

I know this because I got hit with a sneak attack when my team and I was focusing on Runes battle and I needed to used a potion on myself. I not only got a large scar on my back but also committed so much blasphemy that I am honestly surprised I hadn't been struck down. "I promise that I will fix that as soon as I figure out how to." i swore to Rune who was giving my a "I told you so" look. It isn't very important but the Nuzleaf that attacked me died a horrible death for it as all of my pokemon took the attack to myself very personal.-

Once I was certain that I was far from any other person I had Gaia create the stones i used to make us a hut so I wasn't exposed during the ticket drawing. It was a simple thing that only fit myself inside since I didn't plan on staying long enough for it to matter. Like always i started out with the item tickets I had which gave me a paralyze heal , tm31 brick break , tannery supplies of all things , tm57 charge beam and a zinc supplement.-

To be honest i was baffled by the fact I got two tms and even weirder was that they were both for moves my pokemon could learn. The frustrating part though was that brick break would have been most useful to me a week ago when I was preparing to face Roxanne. The tannery supplies were even more irritating because I didn't even have that skill! The supplement and medicine were both useful to a degree though. "While RNGESUS is with me I should draw this ability." I said and with determination I tore the ability ticket.-

The wheel spun for a minute like usual and I prayed for something useful , my prayers were not heard. The wheel eventually stopped and I learned what I got with a strange expression on my face , roar. That was the ability I got and I didn't know what it was about until my throat felt like it was burning up for a few minutes as the change was made in my body to accommodate the new ability. The ability was to put it simply an innate ability to shout really really loudly , it was rather underwhelming to be honest.-

I sighed after the change finished in my vocal chords and I could now work as a drill sergeant. To be fair to the ability it probably had other uses than degrading fresh meat at boot camp but I think those would be pretty niche , maybe singing? Disappointed with my new ability I headed south with my team to go find Mr. Briney. I knew he lived next to the coast since he was a sailor and had a boat but with the differences between the game and reality there was no telling exactly where that was located.