The Arts store wasn't hard to find. It was already close to the tiered trainer center to begin with. The building seems pretty generic at first, but after comparing it to other stores on the street Booth feels that the store attracts his attention more than the others.
Booth enters the store and looks around. The Arts are lined up displaying a wide variety of types. Some of the Arts are recorded in instruction manuals, while others seem to be stored digitally in a flash drive.
Booth looks around briefly before he approaches the store owner. The owner looks to be around forty, and has a stern looking face. Ben had said the owner of the store was a Tier 2 trainer and instructor and that his experience would be helpful in looking for Arts. The owner sees Booth coming over and turns to look at him.
"What can I help you with?" He says plainly.
"I'm looking for an Art that I can learn quickly, and that makes good use of power ups."
The instructor follows up with another question to help narrow down the options, "What are you planning on using the Art for? Do you want an Art to help you practice power ups, battling trainers, or hunting?"
"I'll be using it for hunting. I likely won't have more than a week, so I wanted something that can be learned quickly."
"Alright," the instructor leads Booth towards a section of Arts and gives his recommendations.
Booth listens to each of the Art's descriptions. He can tell the Arts are good quality from the details the instructor gives on each one of them.
The first Art that catches his interest is Sturdy Punch. The Art is basic, but very popular. Sturdy Punch's power increases substantially with Solid power ups. The punch is true to its name. The Art can withstand attacks and break down the opponent's defenses with it's beefy blows.
His second favorite Art is called Mend. The Art restores a pokemon's physical condition while removing foreign power and status conditions from the pokemon.
There are many Arts to choose from, but restorative Arts are the most preferred Arts by beginners. Status conditions make beginning trainers anxious and cause them to make a lot of mistakes. Because Booth doesn't entirely understand status conditions in this world, he thinks Mend would give him peace of mind for the next time he encounters any invasion to his pokemon's status.
'Mend is useful for more than just status conditions, it also restores a pokemon's physical condition. Although, I can't help but think that restoring my physical condition is a waste of power. I'm going to be hunting anyway, so I can just use potions to heal my pokemon.
I'm not keen on playing long defensive battles that need healing either. So while learning the Art might be easy, figuring out when I should use it could be hard to put into my battlestyle.'
Booth looks back at the Sturdy Punch Art.
'I'm currently lacking a powerful Art. The moves I have now have good raw strength, but they consume a lot of power. Sturdy Punch gives me a strong physical move that won't lose to others. The move is simple, but that's what makes it such a good move in multiple situations.'
The instructor sees Booth looking between the Sturdy Punch and Mend, and decides to show Booth one more Art.
"I have another Art, if you want to take a look at it."
Booth isn't ready to make a decision, so he listens to the instructor.
"Sure, why not."
The instructor seems quite excited to share the Art.
"The Art is called Rebound. It's made for physical attacks, but it can be used for special attacks if you try. The Art reinforces your attacks to an extreme degree. The power of the move is even stronger than Sturdy Punch.
The problem is that unlike Sturdy Punch which stays tough throughout the duration of the Art, Rebound is quite vulnerable to foreign power. To help with this the Art is equipped with the ability to rebound off strong defenses to preserve and build its power."
When the instructor finishes his explanation, he gives Booth the Art manual for Rebound. Booth takes some time to read over the Art's description and learns the Art's specifics.
'Rebound has a tremendous effect for when the Art is activated. Its strength drops off when it encounters the other pokemon's power, but if used carefully it should work much more efficiently than Sturdy Punch.
However, Rebound's manual is longer than all the ones I've seen so far. As impressive as the Art is, the Art seems like it will be problematic to learn. Additionally, I can't tell if the rebound effect is good or bad. In my experience simple moves have been the best. They may be boring, but boring is what wins battles.'
Booth takes a look at the prices of the Arts, which all range from 80 to 100 credits. Out of curiosity he inspects Rebound's manual for its price, but doesn't find it.
"Sir, what's the price for Rebound."
"Do you like it? It's an Art that I worked on personally." The instructor suddenly says with a voice full of pride, "How does 40 credits sound?"
Booth wanted to correct him, saying he was just curious, but he stops when he hears the price.
'40 credits! I figured an Art like this would cost more than that. Is he desperate to sell copies of it or something? He's recommending it so strongly, I'm sure that would make anyone suspicious.
Ben said the owner was a veteran tiered trainer. And all the Arts he's shown me have been pretty decent. This Art isn't bad either, it's just a little extreme.'
At the end of his thoughts, Booth considers something he heard from Emmet.
"Does it have good compatibility with power ups?" Booth asks.
The instructor smiles,"Rebound works great with all types of power ups, I can guarantee it."
"I'll take it then." Booth finally says.
Booth pays for the Art and thanks the instructor for his help. He walks out of the store and takes out the Art manual he just purchased. The manual is somewhat plain looking, but the fresh packaging is nice to look at.
'Emmet talked a lot about the kind of trainers who just let their pokemon's ability lead them rather than improve on their own. No matter what I think, I almost slipped into what was most comfortable with out of habit. I need to get it out of my mind that there is one best option.
I shouldn't just pick Arts to deal with my opponent. I still want Arts that are versatile, but I'm not sure I'm ready to use them. I feel like I need to try difficult Arts like Rebound if I'm going to grow and find new ways to implement my attacks. I'm sure that if I can manage these kinds of Arts I can deal with any situation.'
Booth is satisfied with his resolution as he takes his manual and walks back to the tiered trainer center.
---
After working for a few hours, Booth starts to make progress slowly. Rebound is a long manual. The authors of the Art were very passionate and wanted the trainer to build a firm foundation with the Art. The extra advice was kept to minimum in order to not interfere with the trainers learning process. But the main instructions on how to use the Art were as detailed as possible.
It was Booth's first time learning an Art through ordinary means, and the process was certainly more difficult than practicing Snakebite.
Suddenly, a new power as thick as syrup moving as quick as a blink passes through Magnemite and erupts into the air.
Booth sweats profusely at the difficulty of his current task. Rebound's power is hard to get moving at first, but it quickly evaporates quickly if pushed too fast. Booth ran Pansear's power dry before moving onto Magnemite.
'This nonsensical Art. I wanted an Art that worked well with power ups, not one that only worked with power ups. It's like the Art is designed to always have a Fluid or Solid power up to balance it out. The Fluid power ups soften the Art and make it flow better. The other option is to use a Solid power up to make the Art more steady.'
'The manual says that Rebound is made to work without power ups, but it's truly tiresome. I would say the attention needed to control the Art is excessive, but...'
Booth examines the destroyed targets. The pieces of the target were from a tougher composite, which needed at least a 25.0 rating from the practice tests to break them cleanly.
'The results speak for themselves. The power consumption is reasonable, and with its strength I even managed to collapse some of the sturdier targets.'
Booth eases up and laughs, 'I have to admit the instructor knew what he was talking about with Rebound. Since things are looking good, I'll keep going. At this rate I should be able to get Rebound down before next week.'