The following morning, Booth and Emmet pack up their gear to go back to town.
The past three days have brought in a great haul for the both of them. The power ups have been a biggest boost to their strength. But Booth is more excited to find the abilities he wants to grow.
The forest at this time is quiet and calm.
The sky is dark, and the ground still seems a little wet. Booth smells a faint sweetness in the air as he breathes in deeply. He takes one last look at the scenery before he leaves. Once all of the gear is back where it belongs, Booth and Emmet start the trek back.
The hike is easier than before. The valley isn't any less dangerous, but Booth's confidence has risen by a lot. Travelling the area before had made Booth uneasy and afraid. After experiencing battles with wild pokemon, gifted pokemon, and hordes his fear of being ambushed has lessened a great deal.
Booth's mind is clear this time. He has a comfortable feeling similar to the feeling of having plenty of sleep. Things that would have been tiresome before are done simply and with energy.
Because of this it takes less than an hour for the two to get out of the valley. With the hardest part of the hike done, Booth thinks about other things to relax his mind. He decides to share some of his thoughts with Emmet to pass the time.
Booth shares his methods and thought process for battling. Emmet listens and agrees with much of it. He gives a response when Booth is done talking.
"I think you have a good idea of battling already. Your understanding of things like distance, size, and power is as good as mine. And from what you've said, it sounds like you can accurately judge your conditions for victory.
That's good, but I think you need to consider the differences between tier 1 and 2 a bit more. Wild pokemon, even gifted pokemon lack a lot compared to tiered trainers. How you use power becomes a huge wild card in tier 2 battles." Emmet tells Booth.
"You're saying things are different in tier 2 battles." Booth replies with interest.
"That's right. I think traditional and tier 1 trainers put too much attention on a pokemon's strengths and weaknesses.
The weakness of many traditional and tier 1 trainers is that they use pokemon only according to their pokemon's strengths. By relying on their pokemon's strengths, they miss putting in their own strength."
Booth raises an eyebrow and thinks about the statement. 'I guess it makes sense. The goal of battles is to win, and using the strengths of your pokemon is the easiest way to achieve victory. But always taking the most powerful option can make it hard for a trainer to implement their own strategy.'
"So it's something like a trainer favoring their pokemon's strengths over their own growth." Booth finally says.
Emmet nods, "That's what I believe. I think these trainers grow accustomed to learning the strengths of their pokemon, but miss out on the important lessons of battling.
It's like this. Trainers who exclusively use flying pokemon may find it difficult to use grounded pokemon later. Of course they can learn by fighting against them, but they would spend much more time and effort to do so."
"Lessons of battling, huh. Thanks for telling me. I'll remember it." Booth says.
Booth had already been working on some similar ideas, but hearing it from Emmet was helpful. Booth fixes his mind on the ideas Emmet introduced and keeps himself occupied.
From the river to the lake, the two pass each area without a problem. They reach town, and the trip to Redwater Valley is finally over.
"I guess I'll see you another time, Booth." Emmet stretches up tall as soon as they get into town.
Booth smiles and thanks him, "I had a great time. See you later, Emmet."
"Yeah see ya." Emmet says his goodbye and walks into a separate direction.
Booth takes his time heading to the tier trainer center. Enjoying the liveliness of the town as he walks. Normally a trip like this would have made him tired. But today, he feels ready to go.
---
For the rest of the day Booth spends his time training. Training usually helps him focus, but he has too many things on his mind today. Booth knows why he's having this feeling.
'Ever since I started as a tier 2, I have been looking for what's next. Thankfully, I've found what I need now.'
Since the trip to Redwater Valley, Booth has finally determined the objectives for developing his skills. Originally there were just two objectives, but after talking with Emmet, Booth added a third.
The first objective is to train tier 2 powers and Arts. Snakebite showed amazing results in the pokemon domain. Its power was even able to immobilize a pokemon Fighter. Booth spent a good deal of effort in learning Snakebite, and he was more than happy he did.
His second objective is getting power ups. Collecting the maximum of every power up is the goal to tier 3, which makes it a natural step. Just a small amount of power ups brought a big change in the way Booth can use moves already. Thinking of what he can do with more power ups, fills Booth with excitement.
The last objective is gaining experience in battle or 'learning the lessons of battling' as Emmet said it. This objective is simple in words, but hard in practice. Luckily there are always pokemon to fight, whether it's with trainers or in the wild.
There are a couple options for training to reach these objectives.
'Doing them one at a time is the simplest method. Focusing on just one skill generally means it will take less time to learn it. It's also the best method for learning Arts.
The second method would be to combine all the objectives. For this method I would use the pokemon domains to quickly train skills outside.
This method could be a risky way to learn Arts though. After all, the pokemon in pokemon domains aren't the type to lie around waiting their turn as I prepare my Arts.'
Booth sits down and takes a sip of his drink.
'The first method isn't without its faults either. If I didn't go out to the pokemon domain, it would have taken me much longer to figure out the true usefulness of Snakebite. By not regularly testing my Arts I could end wasting my time on a useless Art.'
After sitting down for a while, Booth figures there's merit in both of the methods. He chooses to combine the methods.
'Combining the methods probably isn't the most time effective method. Completing the objectives individually is likely to be the fastest method. However, the third method is the safest one, if I want to keep my mistakes to a minimum. I can spend enough time to learn the Arts and practice them in the wild when I'm ready.'
Booth is satisfied with his training for the day, and goes to his apartment early.
He arrives at the apartment before Damon and Ben.
He washes up and changes his clothes. He goes outside to clean his part of the camping gear. After Emmet lent him the gear, Booth insisted he would clean it before returning it.
As he is finishing up, Ben and Damon come back.
"Booth, you're back!" Ben says from behind. "When did you get back?"
Booth turns around and sees Ben. "Ben, Damon, hello! Emmet and I got into town just before noon. I was at the tiered trainer center until a while ago."
Damon points to the door and asks, "We were going to have dinner inside. Are you almost done?"
"Yeah, I just finished." Booth takes the cleaned gear and heads inside.
During their meal, Booth answers some questions about the pokemon domain. Ben is intrigued when he tells them about Cole's team.
"You think they're from out of town?" Ben asks Booth.
"That's what Emmet thought. We never really asked where they were from so I'm not sure." Booth answers truthfully.
"It's not that rare. There are a lot of tiered trainers looking for good opponents to raise their skills. Although, my guess is that they were just trying their luck." Damon says.
"How so?"
"They were probably looking for powerful gifted pokemon. Redwater Valley is out of the way from most other towns, so people rarely go there and explore it completely. You mentioned they searched a good deal of the area, so this is likely the case."
Ben seems confused "Wouldn't somewhere like Superior Plains have plenty of higher level gifted pokemon for them to find?"
"Who knows, maybe they wanted a greater volume of gifted pokemon." Damon shakes his head.
Booth suddenly has a thought, "Do you think there could be any Art stones in the valley? Pokemon generally seem to like them."
"It sounds pretty likely. Maybe we could all go to Redwater Valley at a later time to see if it's true. I was planning on going there once I'm done learning my Art to gather some power ups. I was hoping you all would want to come."
"Sounds good to me." Booth says with a smile.
"Yeah, I'll come too." Ben states.
Damon nods, "It shouldn't be too much longer, so prepare well until then."
Booth finishes his dinner and watches some battles on TV with Ben. He looks at the different Arts on the screen and makes his decision.
'I'll get started researching some new Arts tomorrow then.'