Rising early, Booth starts describing his recent battles in his journal. A habit he learned from Ben.
Reviewing his battles is something he did a lot on earth as well. The process is a little different, but has a similar effect.
He writes down his previous decisions in battle, the environment, his position, and any other thoughts he had in the battles. Booth looks over each battle entry and gives his judgement on each one. His words are few, but don't lack any necessary details.
'It's good to have my thoughts on the battles organized. It's much easier to pull new information from these battles while they are written in order like this. Even though I've been able to organize my experiences, measuring my power ups hasn't been so easy.
I need to know how many power ups I have before learning new Arts. Higher level arts generally work smoother the more power ups a trainer has.
I have a good idea of the Arts I want to practice, but I don't want to rush into anything. Arts are pretty affordable at my level, but I don't have enough credits to be blowing it on Arts I won't use.'
Ben wakes up a while later and helps Booth with his problem.
"Do you know what Arts you're looking for?" Ben asks.
"I'm fine with most Arts as long as I can use them for a while." Booth pauses before adding, "But they need to be compatible with my current power ups. Currently, I'm having trouble finding out how many power ups I have."
"It shouldn't be a problem then. If you want to find how many power ups you have, you can check at the Tiered Trainer Center. You won't be able to find the exact number with the equipment there, but it should give you something similar." Ben says slowly.
"Great. I'll do that then."
Booth grabs his shoes eager to leave right away. Ben watches him, baffled with how someone can have so much energy right after waking up.
"Do you know where you want to look for Arts?"
"I figured I could look for some online."
"That's fine, but it might be better to check out a shop in town for Arts. There's a veteran tier 2 instructor who owns a shop near the Tiered Trainer Center. The Arts he sells are on the pricier side, but they should be top quality."
"I'll take a look, thanks Ben."
"Sure, find something cool."
Booth chuckles, "Alright, see you later."
"Bye."
---
Booth arrives at the Tiered Trainer Center soon after. The testing area is one of the primary features of the center. There are only two testing areas at the center and they are frequently used by trainers who want to test their progress.
Lucky for Booth, there is a testing room open. He reads how the testing room works before giving it a go.
The testing area has the trainer activate their power ups and complete three personalized tests. A trainer can activate one kind of power up or all of them for the tests. The results of the tests give a number to estimate the trainer's strength based on how well they do.
Booth observes a trainer in the other testing room to see how he handles the tests. He looks through the glass and sees what the tests are like and how he paces himself. When the trainer finishes, he gets a score of 28.0. It's a pretty good score according to the testing guide.
The average Tier 2 trainer without any power ups will score around 10 to 15 points. A trainer with good control over their power can get a few more points, but it generally doesn't change much.
'I guess I'll try running through the tests without any power ups the first time, and use my power ups on the following tries.'
Booth enters the testing room and brings out his Pansear to be inspected. His pokemon is scanned and weighed by a machine before the test. After the scan, Booth is given some time to prepare.
'I was wondering how the testing room would handle different pokemon, but it seems they have it figured out. It's a smart choice to measure them. As even pokemon of the same species have noticeable differences in things like size and height.'
Booth's integrator flashes on with a red light a minute later. With his link ready, Booth presses a button to start the test.
A short countdown starts and Booth gets focused.
"Ding!" The machine sounds off.
The first test is an obstacle course. The computer had arranged the items for the test according to the information from the scan. Booth sloppily jumps over hurdles and climbs over a wall. His time isn't too bad when he gets to the end, he hurriedly moves on to the next test.
As Booth expected, the second test is a little weird. His Pansear steps into a hallway and sees four small hoops attached to individual cords. Since he understands the test, Booth immediately puts two around his Pansears ankles and grabs the other two with his hands. He pulls in his body tightly as the test begins.
The second machine starts to whirl and the cords try to pull Booth apart. He holds on for a bit, but the machine wins in the end. The machine releases him gently. Booth throws off the bracelets and does a short stretch.
Booth steps up to the last test and sees a couple different objects standing in a row. The last test is to destroy the targets. The targets are hard, but made of a brittle material that crumbles easily to power. Unlike the previous tests, this test is timed.
Power builds up in Pansear and Booth moves towards the target. His fist smashes most of the target. The machine measures the damage to the target, and finds it acceptable. It rotates the first target out of the way and moves the second target in.
After the third target, the targets come in with awkward shapes, and are much harder to break. On the fifth target, Booth takes 4 strikes to destroy the target.
When two minutes pass, the third test ends. Booth stops in the middle of the sixth target. The machine tallies up Booth's score as he waits.
A few seconds later, his score comes up.
'16.0! Pretty good for my first try.'
Under the score there is some additional information on how his score was counted. Booth deactivates his link and considers his results.
'I think I understand how the test works now. The first test is like a mobility test. It mostly gauges a trainer's Fluid power ups. In addition to increasing power, the Fluid power up increases a pokemon's range of motion. The obstacle course creates an area where movements are difficult and the Fluid power up can excel.
What surprises me is that the computer doesn't just use your time to find your results. The computer cared more about how I got around the obstacles than how long it took. Because of this my score for the first test was lower than the others.'
The second test didn't make much sense, but after Booth thought about the strengths of each power up he figured out the second test's objective.
'The second test was for endurance. The Solid power up is perfect for this. A pokemon with this power up can easily hold on longer. It's a pretty straightforward test. The increasing pull of the cords makes the conserving power important for doing well in this test.
The last test measures a couple different categories. The objects that are used as targets get more complicated with each one you destroy. The first targets can be crushed as long as you have a good control of your power. My control is alright, so I made quite a few points on this section.'
Booth watches curiously as a machine cleans up the mess from the targets. He looks at the mess around the fifth and sixth target.
'The following targets were a bit difficult. The awkward shapes made them hard to deal with. My guess is that the third test checks for skill as well as power. The funny shapes made them difficult to deal with, but also created weaknesses in them. I think I got a pretty good idea how to do the tests though, I'll give it another go with my power ups.'
After a few minutes, the testing room is ready and Booth enters a second time.
A similar obstacle course is prepared and Booth gets ready to start. Booth's link is activated in the meantime. He presses the button to start the test.
"Ding!"
Booth's Fluid power up rapidly flows through his Pansear increasing its power and mobility. Booth smoothly maneuvers the obstacles at the beginning. The later obstacles take some effort, but he gets through them with some effort.
Booth faces the endurance test next. He once again attaches the bracelets around his ankles and arms. This time he uses most of his Solid power up to resist the machine's pull.
Concentrating as hard as he can, Booth hardens Pansear's body with the Solid power up. Booth
Combines the power up with his power and tries to last longer. The power up does its job and Booth manages to last for almost thirty seconds before losing to the machine.
Booth starts to get a small headache when he moves into the third test. He doesn't stop and does a light stretch before approaching the targets.
'One more test to go. I try to go all out with my power ups.'
Booth's Fluid power up reacts within Pansear and causes a surge of strength to build up. The first target is smacked. Pieces from the target fly and the machine rushs to move the next target in. From the second target to the fourth each is crushed by his attacks.
Booth adds the last of his power ups for the later targets. He mixes the Solid and Sharp power up together for an astounding effect. His fists strike the fifth target and encounter some resistance.
As he's chipping away at the sixth target, his Solid power up runs out. He continues to hit until the seventh target and receives backlash from using the Sharp power up. The time for the test ends before he can recover.
Sweat drips down Booth's forehead as he catches his breath.
'I never thought the Sharp power up could backfire like that. I knew it was weak in some areas, but I thought it only affected the attack.
I noticed some problems when I was attacking the sixth target and the last of the Solid power up ran out. After that the Sharp power up started to drain Pansear's stamina, and I started losing a lot of mental strength. Still…'
He looks at his score on the screen above.
'26.0, it's more than a 50% increase. It's an amazing improvement. And this is all without using any Arts.
Well, I think I'm done for now. I should know enough about Arts to get started with something at least.'
Booth exits the testing room and decides to take a look at the Arts at the store Ben recommended.