4 Chapter 4 Lunch and The Challenge
Faust didn't have to wait for long, Kyle came out soon after and the two decided to upgrade their Civilian IDs to Trainer IDs. Trainer IDs didn't have any benefits other than being legally able to carry Pokemon. Of course, there was an upper limit on the capacity. Novice trainers could carry only one Pokemon. The carry limit was removed when one became a Senior Trainer. The limit was imposed to ensure that Novice trainers took care of their first Pokemon properly. Moreover taking care of Pokemon was expensive and the law was for trainers who were foolish enough to keep multiple Pokemon without caring for any one of them properly.
Usually, trainers stuck to six Pokemon since that was the format for the league and advanced gym battles. Faust was surprised at the coincidence and realised that the creator of the Pokemon series on Earth seriously thought about what he was creating.
Some special professions such as the ones involved in research and logistics could carry any number of Pokemon. This was to ensure smooth working for instance a Lab Assistant or a Researcher would have to carry all Pokemon involved in an experiment. Sometimes such cases could involve more than ten or even twenty Pokemon.
While walking towards the administrative building Faust took a look at Kyle's egg and couldn't help but be surprised.
[ Pokemon: Roggenrola(♀)
Ability: Sturdy
Type: Rock
Aptitude: Yellow
Strength: N/A(Egg)
Time to Hatch: 7 days
Moves: Take Down, Tackle, Gravity]
It was not an outstanding Pokemon but a Yellow aptitude was still very good. Moreover, it knew a rare psychic move Gravity. If used correctly it could serve as an essential member of Kyle's team especially while training other members of Kyle's squad.
Kyle suddenly said, "Thanks for waiting up for me. I mean today is gonna be exceptionally bad you know. People were already eyeing me like that…you know the looks of expectation, jealousy, disdain and ridicule. I'm glad you still got the usual uninterested look."
Faust was confused for a bit and suddenly understood. He snorted and replied, "Don't expect any kowtows oh great prince of Applegrove."
Kyle burst out laughing.
"I bet you got big plans oh esteemed Professor Faust."
Faust joined in and the two laughed loudly.
"Shut up and get your asses outta here right now!"
Mr Flint's angry voice rang out and the two of them hurriedly scurried away from the classroom.
Faust and Kyle chatted about random things till they reached the administrative building. The registration booths were exceptionally crowded and it took them nearly an hour to get their IDs updated.
"Phew, that was long but it's done now and I'm starving. Let's go grab lunch at the Sumptuous Grove. My treat." Kyle said as soon as they walked out of the building.
"Umm…sure I guess it's almost lunchtime."
Just as they were about to walk away, Faust heard someone call his name. Turning around he saw Marcie waving at him with Joel next to her.
"Faust! Glad I caught you before you left. Umm hey, Kyle it's been a while nice to see you," Marcie said while Joel looked at them indifferently.
"Hey Marcie what's up? Need something?" Faust asked.
Nodding she replied," Yeah. So my dad invited you over for lunch. His mentor from the Coast City is here and has the appraisal machine with him. Dad wanted you to get your egg appraised saying it would benefit you and allow you to purchase the required nutrition in advance."
Faust was surprised. Marcie's father sure had a lot of benefits as a Senior trainer. The goodwill of an Elite trainer even if he was your mentor was very beneficial. But he hesitated and looked at Kyle.
Just as he was about to refuse since he had already made plans with Kyle, Marcie hurriedly quipped, "Kyle can come too…I mean three or four it doesn't make that big a difference."
Looking at Kyle, who simply shrugged Faust agreed and the four of them left the school together. Faust also looked at their eggs and was surprised at Joel's luck. He had a Tympole with a Green potential and Marcie had a Budew with Yellow potential.
While walking towards Marcie's home, Faust and Kyle were walking ahead of Joel and Marcie. They had deliberately slowed their pace and Faust heard them whispering. Glancing over his shoulders, he saw Marcie shaking her head at something Joel said and then replying to Joel in an agitated whisper, which made Joel frown.
"Hey Faust umm, I don't mean to be harsh by saying this but I think they're uh, ah…it seems like they're quarrelling like a couple. I mean, umm you know how-", Kyle tried to whisper to Faust, who he thought was uncomfortable with the closeness of the two. Faust cut him off.
"Kyle I know. I know they've been dating for quite a while. No need to act so concerned, it doesn't bother me at all."
"Oh umm I thought you liked Marcie and so…", Kyle trailed off.
"Thanks for the concern bud, I got over it a while ago.", Faust smiled at Kyle. Kyle knew about his crush on Marcie and thought that Joel's closeness to Marcie was bothering Faust. Kyle paused for a second at Faust's reply before smiling.
"Haha, that's great. Besides look on the bright side, once you're Professor Faust they'll be lining up to throw themselves at you. Hey, at that time redirect a few of them my way." Kyle said whispered jokingly.
Faust just smiled and shook his head.
The rest of the walk was uneventful and soon they came to a decent-sized red brick house with a large garden out in the front. A larger than average Growlithe was using ember on what looked like a barbeque grill trying to light it up without burning the whole thing down.
Marcie's father was speaking to a stern-looking man with a healthy-looking Vaporeon lying at his feet. Faust instinctively used the identifier on the Pokemon.
[ Pokemon: Vaporeon(♀)
Ability: Hydration
Type: Water
Aptitude: Green
Strength: Mid Elite(Lvl:61)
Moves: Tackle, Baton Pass, Swift, Haze, Water Gun, Rain Dance(TM), …., Hydro Pump, Giga Impact(TM), Dig(TM)]
Faust was surprised. This was the strongest Pokemon he had seen so far and judging by the number of moves it knew as well as the TMs used on it, it belonged to a trainer with a lot of resources and money.
"Haha, Ted your angel is back with her new Pokemon egg! Little Marcie come quick and hug big brother!", the stern-looking man spotted the group and stepped forward laughing.
"Uncle Gerrard you are older than my father…how can I call you big brother." Marcie stepped forward and hugged the man.
"Ah and little Marcie's friends. Oh, and I heard Marcie has a boyfriend. Which one of you is it? Wait don't say it, let me guess. Hmm, it's.....you!", Gerrard suddenly pointed at Faust.
Faust didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Marcie suddenly got flustered and Joel looked like he had eaten shit. Kyle was to the side squirming trying to hold in his laughter.
Faust quickly denied and corrected Gerrard telling him Joel was Marcie's boyfriend.
"Oh, so it's you! Well, they do say love is blind but all that is fine. Now let me warn you boy if Marcie is the slightest bit dissatisfied…I will make you regret the day you were born in this world", Gerrard said menacingly.
"Vapor…rrrrrr", the Vaporeon at Gerrard's feet gave Joel a fierce look, baring his teeth and growling.
"Uncle Gerrard don't bully him! Or I'll never hug you again!", Marcie pouted and pretended to shield Joel behind her.
Everyone laughed at this while Joel looked a little embarrassed he had no choice but to join in. Ted brought the group to an indoor training field and led them to a machine that looked a lot like those X-Ray scanners at the airport.
The Pokemon Egg Identification Machine(PeiM) or the PM had a conveyor belt with grooves to hold the incubator. It took about 30 seconds to appraise one egg. If it was an unknown Pokemon there would be a set of question marks displayed except for the Type information which the PM could detect.
"Well let's get started without further delay! Now just a word of advice…don't be too discouraged if it's not a Pokemon you were hoping for. While people believe getting a known Pokemon is more beneficial, getting an unknown Pokemon is not bad either. New species you receive could be true powerhouses."
The group nodded at Gerrard's words and Marcie decided to go first. She placed her incubator in the machine and Gerrard flipped some switches. The conveyor belt moved and Marcie looked nervously at the screen. After a few seconds of lights flashing and mechanical whirring, the screen lit up with a picture of Budew. Gerrard nodded in approval and even Ted let out a sigh of relief.
"A Budew is perfect for you! Ted did mention how you wanted to enter Pokemon Pageants and eventually aim for Alliance sponsored Pokemon Beauty contests. Roserade is a pretty powerful Pokemon in terms of battling as well. In fact, the Vine family of Grassy City has a gym leader who uses Roserade for competitive battling."
Joel went next and the screen showed a Tympole.
"Not bad! Not bad at all! You kids are like the future versions of powerful Alliance Gym leaders! The Grand Coast City's Lagoon family eldest mistress Aqua uses a Seismitoad and quite a few trainers have had trouble getting past her", Gerrard said handing back the egg to Joel.
Faust and Kyle looked at each other. Faust nodded at him to go first. Kyle handed over his egg to Gerrard. As a picture of Roggenrola showed up on the screen, Faust noticed Kyle's eyes dim a bit.
"Hmm...a Roggenrola. It isn't bad either. Among the two-cycle evolution Pokemon, Boldore has a pretty balanced Attack and Defense power", said Gerrard patting Kyle on the shoulder.
Faust wasn't surprised that no one knew of Gigalith. A Gigalith was a powerhouse with both Attack and Defense at 130 and above. If trained correctly it could contend with Charizard and even wipe the floor with it. Even Zapdos would find itself tested against a well-trained Gigalith.
"Young man, come on let's see what you got. Come on don't be afraid I believe your batch of eggs was the best of the lot."
Faust handed over his egg to Gerrard. As the appraisal result came up on the screen there was a sudden silence in the room. Faust looked at the picture of the Wimpod with a neutral look.
Gerrard looked at the unlucky boy with pity. A Wimpod was the worst Pokemon one could get as a Novice trainer. It wasn't considered much better than a Magikarp. Its cowardly nature made it difficult to train and even small children could best a Wimpod. Moreover, it had no known evolutions. It was considered a delicacy in high-end restaurants in the Grand Coast City but even then it was only worth a few hundred thousand credits. Trainers didn't bother training Wimpods because unlike other bug Pokemon like Caterpie, Weedle, Wurmple, Charjabug and so on it didn't evolve even upon hitting the twenties. So people thought it didn't have evolution at all.
Gerrard looked at the boy's face and was surprised to see no fear or dejection on his face. Thinking about it for a bit he decided to help the kid out.
"Ahem! A Wimpod...isn't an ideal Pokemon. But I can help you out. I could allow you to choose another egg and you can simply compensate me using the money from selling the egg. Also, I can handle all the procedures so how about it?"
Faust chuckled inwardly hearing the proposition but his impression of Gerrard became positive. A Wimpod was indeed not a good choice for a normal trainer. But Faust wasn't normal at all. With the system and his Pokemon knowledge, he could easily evolve Wimpod into a Golisopod within three months. Moreover, he could obtain TMs easily from the Daily Item in his system. Faust politely turned down Gerrard.
"Thank you, sir. But I believe in fate and I ended up choosing Wimpod from dozens of other eggs there, I do not plan to part with it. Besides if it really is so hopeless I will quit being a trainer but I will not give up on my Wimpod."
Gerrard was taken aback by Faust's resolve and then burst out laughing.
"Haha, kid you got spirit! I shall not insult your determination with any pity. However, I shall allow you to help yourself", Gerrard pulled out an incubator from his compression tech(CT) backpack and put it on the table.
Faust used the identifier on the egg and was surprised at the Pokemon inside.
[ Pokemon: Eevee(♀)
Ability: Adaptability
Type: Normal
Aptitude: Green
Strength: N/A(egg)
Time to hatch: 5 months
Moves: Covet, Helping Hand, Growl, Tackle, Double Kick]
Faust was surprised. While Eevee was not an uncommon Pokemon, it was difficult to obtain an Eevee egg. Most Eevees caught were wild ones and perhaps that's the reason it's evolutions Espeon and Umbreon were rare. Creating deep bonds and cultivating high friendships with wild Pokemon was difficult.
Gerrard continued," Four months! I will give you four months to raise your Wimpod to at least the Early Junior Level. After that, you will challenge this lad Joel here! If you beat him, this Eevee egg belongs to you. And to be fair, if you can't beat him then Joel shall take the prize. So tell me are you up for it?"
Faust nodded and after a momentary surprise, Joel nodded as well. He was pleasantly surprised, he had seen the formidable Espeon of the Psychic gym leader and couldn't believe his luck at the opportunity. As for Faust, Joel didn't even consider him a threat. Seriously...how could a Wimpod fight? Moreover, he was confident of raising his Tympole to evolve into a Palpitoad in the next four months.
"Okay, then four months it is. I shall be back then. Faust, you will have to overcome odds stacked mountain high against you. Work hard! Now then! I can't wait to eat Gloria's godly Tauros beef burgers! Let's go eat!", Gerrard walked out saying so and everyone followed.
Faust got home pretty late. It was already 4 pm and he was exhausted as well. So leaving the task of buying berries and nutrition for tomorrow, he took a quick shower and setting the incubator on the couch he slipped into his bed and fell asleep almost immediately.
