While remembering the contest trainers from yesterday, Booth tries out some different ways to use a pokemon's power. He can already change moves strength and speed, but after testing he finds a way to change a move's size, concentration, and shape.
Booth's initial problem in modifying moves comes from his lack of understanding of how a pokemon's power works. The intense study from yesterday helps Booth figure out a solution.
'I've been thinking that a pokemon's ability is purely mystical. Pokemon definitely have a mystical aspect to them, but there is more to them. Naturally, a pokemon's abilities can still be broken down and understood. Even the pokemon in games have some kind of physical component to their abilities.
I'm thinking that the power across Pansear's body is controlled by something other than just his brain. Instead of the brain something like a power organ controls a pokemon's power.'
Booth's next step, creating moves, is moved back a little as he tests his theory on the power organ. With Pansear well rested, Booth starts testing his new ideas.
Booth closes his eyes, and searches and tries to feel Pansear's power. He has some experience with power already, which makes it easy to recognize. Sure enough Booth finds a separate organ in Pansear gathering power and giving orders.
Booth watches the power organ work for a while. Once he is satisfied with his knowledge, Booth takes control of the power organ. He mimics the power organ's earlier actions and begins collecting power. Booth collects power much slower than Pansear, but it is preferable to wasting power by going too quickly.
A smile creeps onto Booth's face as he gets a hang of things. Booth doesn't stop there and moves onto modifying the move Incinerate!
'The more concentrated the flames are, the more they tend to "pop" when they hit something. Pansear hasn't yet learned Flame Burst, so I'll try to create that first.'
Booth makes his first fireball, which turns out a little bigger than a softball. The fireball flies at a decent speed, but it doesn't go very far. The fireball hits the ground and explodes as expected.With a couple more tests Booth manages to increase the volume of the main explosion little by little.
On the fifth fireball, Booth takes advantage of this kind of fireball's high concentration, making flames spit out wider and birth several smaller fiery projectiles. As far as a normal Flame Burst goes, Booth's move is very similar.
'The strength of the fire looks good. The speed too. The range is different than I expected, I'll try and see if I can improve it. If not, I can try firing it at a different angle or something.'
After a few hours of training in the morning, Booth gets the move how he wants it. He leaves the training room to go find Ben to practice his moves. A short while later, Booth finds Ben.
Booth asks Ben simply, "Can you have a match with me. I've worked on some new stuff and I need an opponent to help me."
"Sure I'd be happy to help." Ben looks at Booth's intense gaze and suggests something else. "Although you look like you need a test subject, not a training partner! You can fight wild pokemon if you want target practice."
"Huh? I guess that never occurred to me. That sounds good, I'll do that. Thanks, Ben."
"No problem. Feel free to ask me if you need anything else." Ben says with a laugh.
Booth thinks for a moment then responds, "I'm good for now, See you later."
"Goodbye."
Booth leaves the center and begins his search for some wild pokemon.
---
Booth goes to Woodruff Forest to try his luck finding an opponent. Woodruff Forest is the one Booth first came to this world in. The forest looks thick from the outside, but has many large open areas inside. The terrain also has a lot of hills, which make it tough to travel through.
'I didn't really think about it, but how does a pokemon's fire work? This forest isn't too dry, but I'm just here to test moves. I wouldn't want to become an arsonist by being stupid. I suppose I can only test to make sure.'
Booth finds a more open area and has Pansear dig a trench around a small area of greenery. Then he has Pansear launch an Incinerate at the plants. The fireball strikes the area and clears out some of the dead foliage. Most of the live plants are only partially singed. The fire spreads a little beyond the initial target area, but it goes out despite having more dry fuel around it to burn.
'That's weird. There was still more fuel.' Booth thinks on what could be the problem, 'This might be the mystical quality of pokemon moves. It seems pokemon fire and normal fire work differently. Something like how a normal fire burns with oxygen while a pokemon fire burns with pokemon's power or something.'
Booth believes this is probably it and does another test to a similar result. 'This raises a lot of questions, but that's not what I'm here for right now. It seems safe enough to use pokemon fire, so I'll go ahead and find some wild pokemon.'
Booth finds a wild pokemon soon after looking around. The wild pokemon is a Glameow. Glameow is a quick and agile pokemon. It has a thin, but relatively tall body. It has sharp claws and plenty of moves to mess with the opponent.
Booth calls his Pansear out for battle and activates his Integrator. 'It's approaching slowly for now, let's see if we can hurry it up. Pansear use Yawn.'
Booth observes how Pansear uses the power organ to gather power for the move. Pansear lets out a yawn with more power behind it than Booth would have expected. The Glameow receives the move which causes it to fumble for a second. It recovers quickly, but not without being a little confused.
Without warning, Glameow jumps at Pansear. The leap puts Glameow a few feet higher than Pansear in a matter of moments. Booth calls Pansear to retreat back and tells him to use Fury Swipes. The Glameow is quicker in this case, and it lands its Fury Swipes first.
Immediately after getting hit Booth uses the power organ to strengthen Pansears legs to dodge the rest of the attack. He takes two more hits with Pansear, but is able to duck out of the remaining hits. 'Pansear, Scratch.'
Pansear still has some power left in his legs and is boosted forward. Pansear's claws grow longer and sharper. He slams his claws into the side of Glameow. The Glameow was ready for the hit and took it well.
Booth next tries using the footwork he learned to keep Glameow from getting a lead. The Glameow is once again faster; it shifts to Pansears side and prepares its next move. Booth commands Pansear during the Glameow's advance, 'Turn and block the hit then counter with a Flame Burst.'
Glameow's paw falls down on Pansear's block. Glameow moves Pansear's arm out the way, and brings its other claws down on Pansear.
Booth, who had just finished building the power for Flame Burst, reacts with surprise, 'Oh no!,' however the claw that descends is weak, leaving Pansear with just a scratch. "Huh?" Booth and the Glameow seem a bit confused.
Boom!
Pansear fires a blast point blank into the defenseless Glameow. The Flame Burst smashes into Glameow. Embers spit out from the main blast torching the nearby ground. The Glameow is blown back and meets the ground with a crash. Glameow's body is burnt and many of its hairs are still smoldering.
Booth's face transforms back into one of surprise. "That was incredible! Great job Pansear!" He takes a look at the aftermath and admires the might of the attack. The surrounding ground that was affected by the embers soon stopped burning, reinforcing Booth's idea on the nature of a pokemon's power.
Booth looks at the main recipient of the blast with pity. 'Damon said pokemon are extremely resilient, but I can't help but feel a little bad. The burns don't look too serious. I'm sure they hurt a lot though.'
The Glameow did feel quite a bit of pain, but it passed out after hitting the ground. A serious injury is fatal for a pokemon as well as a human but the power needed for such an attack is far beyond the level of what most pokemon can manage. After resting the Glameow will be fine.
'The Glameow's last move was impressive, but the Scratch failed for some reason. It seems like it had just forgotten to imbue power into the move.' Booth looks at Glameow for a few seconds then he figures it out. 'It must have been Yawn's effect. Normally it puts pokemon to sleep. Here the Yawn must have shut off Glameow's ability to use its power instead.
While the effect isn't quite as good as in the games, it can still make the opponent defenseless. In this case 'sleep' means you can't use moves, while waking up restores your ability to use moves.'
When a pokemon is in a sleeping state their power goes into disarray. In fact, all pokemon related status conditions have their own effect on a pokemon's power. The sleeping state in particular carries a big advantage. The weakness of sleep is just like the games, where a pokemon can still 'wake up' early.
Booth continues to walk around the forest to find another opponent. A couple of the pokemon run away. Nothing else really poses a challenge. Booth is still satisfied though, as he gained a good deal of insight from the fights.
The Glameow fight taught him some of the advantageous positions in battle. When Glameow pounced at the beginning, Booth found himself in a spot he immediately wanted to retreat. Thinking over it again Booth could have made a lot of better moves. Another good move was something the Glameow also did. Getting to Pansear's side had easily created a spot to exploit Pansear's defense.
'I also need to improve my footwork for opponents who are faster than me. The speed difference between me and Glameow was only a little faster, but it made its decisions so quickly and put itself in good situations consistently. If there is something I can do now, it would be to learn to identify more of these situations.'
Booth keeps these things in mind and walks back to town.