True to my expectations, I was kind of forced into socialising with Ingram after we were both aware of each other's identities and statuses.
Ingram looks to be somewhere around Steven's age. His hair is his most striking feature, a silverish white not unlike those of Drayden's. He offered me the chance to visit his home where his family raises their dragon types, which I declined, because visiting the house of a stranger who you just met sounded like a very stupid thing to do especially when I'm a lone girl in a foreign land and the fact that Ingram's a guy.
I mean, sure, the fact that he is a Gilmart adds credence to his character and that he is someone that could probably be trusted. Then again, the Carriilo family is also a member of the Twenty Assisting Houses and I sure would not forget how much of a bastard Callum Carrillo was. To me, keeping up my guard while remaining polite just seems like the wisest thing to do in my current situation.
If Ingram was offended at my refusal of his offer, he did not show it. Instead, he offered to show me around the Opelucid City Gym where Drayden works. That is a compromise I am willing to make, because even if I assume that he harboured nasty thoughts towards me like how Callum did, I doubt he could go through with it in Drayden's gym. Drayden is well-known for his extremely strong sense of righteousness, which was one reason why he's so loved by the city's residents. The fact that he was not only the city's Gym Leader, but also voted by the people here to be their city's mayor, showed just how much trust the people here have in him.
The interior of the Opelucid Gym was dimly lit, which Ingram explained was done on purpose to make the gym challenge a little harder for the challengers. The architecture of the building gave it an ancient vibe, especially with how dragon-themed statues were sculpted into the walls and the maze within the gym, giving off a very grand and majestic presence while exuding a slightly mysterious atmosphere as well.
We bumped into Drayden easily enough, who was standing high above on a separate platform, leaning against the handrails to observe the battles taking place within his gym below where the challengers were trying to get past his gym trainers. Ingram certainly surprised me when he addressed Drayden as his grandpa. I knew they had to be related, but I wasn't expecting them to be directly related to each other.
"Hey Grandpa, I brought a visitor!"
Drayden turned to look at us when Ingram called for him. A powerful looking haxorus stood by Drayden's side and I could tell with a glance that it had seen its fair share of battles. Compared to the one that I had returned to Jayce, Drayden's haxorus made the one which I previously owned look like a newborn axew. That was just how imposing the haxorus' presence felt.
Similar to the haxorus, Drayden's presence was also equally imposing. I mean, just look at the rippling muscles barely hidden beneath his shirt and that fierce looking beard of his. I'm not even sure if the size of Brawly's muscles could compare to this old man's.
"What is this? You finally found yourself a girlfriend?"
"What? No!" Ingram immediately denied, his face starting to blush as he waved his arms.
'He's certainly attracted to your looks, at the very least,' Rena helpfully informed me and I made a mental note to dash any and all romantic ideas in Ingram's head the first chance I got before they could ever take root. I'm flattered that people think highly of the beauty I inherited from Mum but first of all, I'm not exactly interested in romance at this point. I have enough on my plate as it is. Secondly, Ingram just isn't my type.
"Grandpa, she's Velda Vera of Hoenn's Vera family, also an interpol agent. I met her at the Battle House."
"Ah, I've heard of you," Drayden stood up straight and walked up to me, extending a hand which I shook. "Nice to meet you. My foolish grandson didn't do anything stupid, did he?"
"Grandpa!"
"He's a very pleasant person to be with," I politely replied.
"As much as I like to stay and chat, I'm afraid I have work to do," Drayden spoke and pointed to one of the battles below, where a challenger was about to win his battle against one of Drayden's gym trainers to finally earn himself the right to challenge Drayden himself. "Make yourself comfortable here. If there's anything you need, just get Ingram to do it."
Drayden then turned on Ingram, who actually cowered a little at Drayden's glare.
"You better put on your best behaviour, you hear me?"
"Grandpa, have some faith in me!"
In the end, Ingram and I chose to observe the battles from where we were because the location we were at is the highest point in the gym. From here, we have a bird's eye view of the entire gym and were able to observe every single battle very clearly. We engaged in a casual conversation until I managed to steer our topic to Team Plasma.
"They haven't dared to try anything here with Grandpa around, especially so after we stepped up security across the entire city and the two bridges, but Grandpa kept saying that if nothing is done to quickly cut the Plasmas down to size it's just a matter of time before they set their sights here," Ingram said as another new challenger took up her place and stood before Drayden and his dragons. "If you want more information about Team Plasma, then I'm afraid that we won't be of much help, because we have recently combed the city so thoroughly that we are almost absolutely certain that there are no more Plasmas in our city. Now, our efforts are more focused on ensuring that Team Plasma continues to stay out of our city rather than making investigative efforts on where they might be hiding."
"Understandable. I would choose to do the same in your shoes," I agreed. The interpol was aware of what Drayden had recently done for his city, so I could understand why the Gilmart family took that course of action. Why investigate the whereabouts of Team Plasma when you are able to keep all of them out of your home? Unlike the other cities and towns in the region, Opelucid can afford to focus all of their efforts in preventive measures due to the glaring lack of Team Plasma influence in their city. Drayden's presence alone is a huge deterrence and combined with the efforts of both the local law enforcement and the Gilmart family, I could see why even Team Plasma was so reluctant to expand their operations into this part of Unova after Drayden had recently conducted a thorough sweep through his city. Team Plasma hadn't dared to try sneaking back into Opelucid after the recent sweep led by Drayden.
"How long will you be staying in Opelucid? If you haven't found a place to stay, I have a few suggestions," Ingram offered, and I immediately decided that it might be best to refuse.
For one, there's really nothing much to see at Opelucid and I had seen everything that interested me. The Battle House was the main attraction that caught the interest of me and my pokemon and we already had our fill of fun. Secondly, the Gilmart family probably wouldn't have much information to share about Team Plasma from what I gleaned from Ingram, so there's also no point in staying to get more information from them. Thirdly, Rena had sensed that Ingram might hold some romantic interest in me and dealing with that is more trouble than it's worth.
In short, the best course of action would be to leave as soon as possible. There's no longer a point in staying at Opelucid for any much longer.
"Thanks for your concern, but I have already found a place to stay for the night and I'm planning to leave tomorrow morning," I answered with a small smile. Actually, I haven't found a place to stay the night but Ingram didn't need to know that. Besides, that is a matter that can be easily solved with a few clicks of a button using my phone.
"I see," Ingram let out a brief sheepish laugh after hearing my answer. Ingram covered his disappointment well and if it wasn't for Rena's words earlier I would have missed it because I wouldn't have been paying such close attention. Ingram didn't push that topic any further, so it's a huge relief on my end too.
There's still a few days left until the end of my vacation, but it seems that I will be making my way back to Nimbasa earlier than expected. Honestly, that's fine, I have many other ways to spend my time meaningfully even in Nimbasa. Maybe I could make a short trip to Castelia City too because I never really had a chance to really explore the place.
Yup, sounds like a plan.
I flew back and reached Nimbasa City before noon the next day. The first thing I did was to tell Sebastian that I'm back and gave him the souvenir that I bought for him back in Lentimas Town. He looked a little surprised that he received a gift, but accepted it with a smile on his face nonetheless.
Somehow, snow had started to fall in Nimbasa City when I returned despite the fact that it shouldn't be snowing now. There should be about a few more weeks to a month before snow is expected to fall in Nimbasa but at the same time, this is not the first time this phenomenon has occurred in the city. It seems that winter will come early this year, at least for Nimbasa.
I had also finally finished knitting my gift for Vance last night. So, I asked Sebastian to help me send it back home together with the souvenirs I bought for my family on my little trip. I'm sure that my gifts will arrive before Vance's birthday, so I called Mum ahead of time to help me hide my present for Vance and only give it to him on his birthday. She readily agreed.
I had nothing to do for the rest of the day and I don't feel like resting yet. Unexpectedly, I found something to do very soon because Jayce seeked me out on that very day right after lunch.
I wasn't expecting him to seek me out the way he did. I was taking a nice walk along the lesser travelled streets of Nimbasa to relax myself because this was one of the rare times that I could choose to do nothing and simply relax. Sebastian was a little concerned because the Carrillos are now outright hostile to me and my family. He feared that they might conduct an attack of retaliation and offered to accompany me on my walk. His worry was not unfounded because we were attacked before but I really wanted to have some privacy and be alone for a short while.
I managed to convince him to let me go on a short walk alone because I am more than capable of protecting myself and had travelled to a handful of cities on my own in the last few days without anything happening to me. Even so, I promised him that I wouldn't stray too far from our residence just to let him have his peace of mind.
Then, I sensed it, the presence of a ghost that definitely wasn't mine when I was walking through the streets. Most of the ghosts who followed me had their physical bodies destroyed after their short battle with Jayce and many of them hadn't reformed their bodies yet to be able to return to my side. Even Wacky, one of the most powerful ghosts I currently have, only managed to return to me right before I set out for Lentimas Town and even if he doesn't really seem to be too bothered that he was quite literally bombarded into oblivion by a Draco Meteor, it's also a fact that he was still rather weak right now after getting his physical body back very recently. He would still need another day or two to be back to his full strength.
My newfound ability made me aware that this unknown ghost had its focus entirely on me. Something at the back of my mind, almost like a sixth sense, was also telling me that this ghost must be a powerful one. Whenever I decided to take a step towards the direction where I sensed its presence, it would retreat back in almost the same distance. After a while, I realised that the ghost's actions were its unspoken attempts in trying to get me to follow after it.
Initially, I was a little hesitant, but I decided to just follow after this unknown ghost because I don't feel any malicious intent from it. I don't know how I was so sure about its intentions when it had never revealed itself to me but I attributed it to the mysterious facet of my given ability that I was born with. When it comes to ghosts, I just knew, and I'm very rarely wrong ever since I started to unlock and explore the extent of my abilities for real.
The ghost made its appearance eventually when we were out of sight of the public and I realised that I had met it before. It's the same spiritomb that had helped me back on Five Island and probably the same one who hypnotised me to sleep that night where Jayce and I mistook each other for Plasma agents and fought. It was then I realised that this must be Jayce's doing.
Spiritomb continued to lead me along the twisted alleys that were void of all and any presences and I decided to just release a few pokemon out with me just in case. I'm sure that this is Jayce's spiritomb but you can never be too sure in Unova, where violence seems to be the norm and the prevalent culture here as compared to the safety that I'm used to back in Hoenn.
"No need to be so tense, I don't plan on hurting anyone as long as I'm not being attacked. I'm just here to talk."
My worries turned out to be unfounded when Jayce finally revealed himself, magically appearing right in front of me from thin air thanks to his zoroark. He's not here to fight and neither was I. This is good news for me.
He did go along with his promise and shared with me any new developments he learnt about the Plasmas and their plans. What he shared with me was also information that the interpol had just received, so it was kind of a moot point, but I appreciated the sentiments and the effort he went through on the promise we made.
Obviously, that was not all there was to the meeting. He actually had a favour to ask of me.
As it turned out, he seeked me out because he needed my assistance in a matter that he knew I could help solve. To be more specific, he required the help that he knew that the Vera family would definitely be able to provide assistance in.
He needed a lapras. Reason? Iris wanted a lapras the moment she learned of the existence of such a species of pokemon. I wasn't aware that Jayce was fond of spoiling the little girl he bought off from the auction to spite me. He really didn't strike me as the type to be good with children. I knew that he would be giving haxorus to Iris when I returned the dragon back to him, so was it really a good idea to have a child that young take care of both a haxorus and a lapras?
So, I asked him why he specifically wanted a lapras out of so many species of pokemon he could have chosen. In the end, the explanation he gave was a logical one, and I learnt quite a few things from his reasoning as well.
"Iris wants one, and I don't see why not. Besides, there are things that I want to test regarding her ability. Her ability is very similar to mine and also with what you described what the seven of us can do. I had met three other Ability Holders recently, and apparently none of them had seen any Ability Holder with the same kind of powers as we do. From what they told me, commonly seen abilities are usually physical or mental augmentations, or increased immunity or resistance towards a certain pokemon type. I know of one Normal type Ability Holder who said a cofagrigus tried to curse him only to fail, that's what I meant. Basically, usually abilities are only supposed to give Ability Holder a slight pokemon characteristic in terms of typing. Sensing? Befriending? That's not in their dictionary and the only recorded Ability Holder in Unova with such an ability, as far as they knew, was Champion Harlow."
Now, that was something I would probably take a long time to find out if left to my own devices. That was information that me and the other five of us would be interested in because we had so little knowledge of our own kind and so little avenues available to investigate.
Jayce really excelled in his own unique trade of work, there's no doubting that.
"You are saying that we are not normal, even for Ability Holders."
"Yes, that's what I'm trying to say, which brings me to the next point. Assuming that this is something unique to only us seven due to our reincarnation, then where does Iris fit into all these? She's not like us, yet possesses abilities similar to us."
He's right. If our abilities are so unique that only the seven of us possessed it as far as we knew, why is that so? The only similarities we shared were our reincarnated status. Jayce was certain that Iris was not like us and if so, why was her ability so similar to ours?
"A confusing conundrum indeed," I agreed with a sigh. "Alright, thanks for informing, I will see what I can find out on my end as well. Still, why a lapras for her?"
"As a Vera you should know that there are several species of pokemon who are not dragon types but yet display very draconian characteristics. Usually these species of pokemon are those that are theorised to have been branched out from a dragon type ancestor from the prehistoric era until their dragon typing disappears entirely in this day and age. I'm simply curious as to whether Iris' ability extends to those pokemon as well because pokemon like lapras, for example, do have noticeable traces of dragon type DNA in them. It is also one of the perfect pokemon for her. Not just to test things out, nor is it only just to add into her team when she is finally old enough to be a trainer, but also because lapras are a very gentle species as a whole so the chances of things going really wrong is much lower as compared to trying to give her a charizard or a tyranitar."
It took me a while to digest what he said because if I understood him correctly, he was seriously contemplating giving a little girl a charizard or a tyranitar. Maybe I am not the best person to judge considering that I am also a little girl who has a lapras and a charizard and a tyranitar on her team, but Iris is only… approximately five years old?
What makes him think that this would be a good idea, I don't know, but he at least had the sensibility to first try and test things out with a species that are widely known for their gentle nature, a lapras, so I'm not going to pry any further than this. Besides, our families are now officially allies with each other and as representatives of our individual families, we should get along and help each other out every now and then. It's true that lapras are rare, but my family has our ways to get our hands on them as Dad had proved when he gave Chill to me.
I did tell Jayce in advance that trying to get a lapras that would fit all of his requirements would take time, since he specifically requested for a lapras that is not averse to battling. I would have to get my family's contacts to search for another lapras similar to Chill to give to Iris and Chill was rather one of a kind. I'm not too sure if there would be another lapras like Chill to be given away but I should be able to get one for Iris eventually. It's just a matter of when.
Jayce wasn't planning on asking this favour from me for free. He did ask if there's anything I wanted that he could provide, even going so far to offer his services as an assassin if I want anyone dead and gone. Now gonna lie, a certain Carrillo does come to mind for one brief second.
I mulled over his offer for a few seconds before coming to a decision.
Come to think about it, there is something that he could help me with. It's something that very few in this world could help me with and now I managed to snag myself a willing tutor who owed me a favour. I would be an idiot to not milk this opportunity for all that it's worth.
And so, after informing Sebastian through a quick call that I would be visiting the Dandolos in Lacunosa, that's how I found myself visiting the ancestral home of the ancient Dandolos family upon Jayce's invitation. Not quite how I imagined myself to visit here as one of their guests, but it's quite an eye opener to see how other truly powerful and rich families lived their lives. It's a stark comparison to the humble and homey little house that my parents had been staying in ever since they moved in there to take care of my grandfather before his passing and subsequently had me.
The ancestral home of the Dandolos family is a large historical mansion located at the edge of Lacunosa Town. The large gates of it bore the family's crest, an unsheathed dagger surrounded by a liepard on each side. Just by standing there you could feel the age of this building. It's an infrastructure that radiates history simply by existing.
There's a huge garden surrounding the mansion after you enter through the gates. Pokemon of all sorts resided there and most of them are dark types, and you have to cross the garden to be able to reach the front doors of the mansion. The interior design of the mansion was grand and was befitting the status of a family as ancient as the Dandolos, but it did not emit any luxurious vibes that would make the design seem obnoxious. The decorations and ornaments were mostly simple in design which are a reflection of the Dandolos family themselves, who were mostly simple people as long as you didn't mess with them and with the region which they had been protecting for centuries as per their sworn duty.
"Welcome back, Young Master Jayce."
"Hello, Kevin. Don't mind us, she's just here for a visit as our guest," Jayce returned the greeting to someone who was obviously the butler of this mansion, then turned to me. "Kevin, my family's butler. Kevin, this is Velda Vera from Hoenn's Vera family."
"Good afternoon, Ms Vera," Kevin immediately bowed in greeting. "Please do not hesitate to call for me if there's anything you might need."
"We will be out in the training ground. Please prepare some warm tea for us," Jayce stated as he walked ahead and I simply followed. Soon, he exited through the backdoor and led us to a big training ground outside.
"You said you have three dark types, let them out," Jayce told me the moment he stood on the other end of the training ground and released his team. I knew my lesson with him had officially started, so I did as I was told.
Kratos emerged with a low growl, quickly observing the unfamiliar surroundings before his attention was brought to the menacing hydreigon on the other side of the arena. Hulk punched his fists together, also raring to go. Kel simply looked bored.
"That tyranitar… I will give you my praise, one glance and I could tell that it's very well-trained. Alright, three of yours versus three of mine. Grumpy, bisharp, umbreon, you guys are up."
To my surprise, Jayce did not call upon his menacing hydreigon nor the angry looking drapion beside him who looked like they wanted nothing but to fight a savage battle. I could only watch as a pikachu, bisharp, and umbreon walked up to face my dark types. I'm not doubting the capabilities of the pokemon trained by Jayce himself but… I have a tyranitar. Hulk is a pangoro and their species are no pushover as well.
"If you think this might be an easy victory, you will be in a world of pain," Jayce spoke as if he could read my thoughts. "In this exercise, we will do something different. For the first ten seconds, your side will be the attacker and mine, the defender. After that, we will swap roles, my side will be the attacker and yours the defender. We will keep switching roles like this every ten seconds. My job, is to observe how you command your pokemon in battle when you are the attacker. Your job, is to observe how I command mine when I'm the attacker. This exercise will end only when I say so. Clear?"
"Crystal," I replied. I was pleasantly surprised when a porygon-z appeared from Jayce's smartwatch to help us keep time. I wasn't aware that he had a porygon-z too. Unfortunately, he didn't name his porygon-z Jarvis like how Volkner and I did as I soon learnt. His porygon-z's nickname is Nosy.
"Alright, start."
"Kratos, separate them! Hulk, get the bisharp!"
Till this day, I remembered from my observations back on Five Island how deadly Jayce's pokemon could be when allowed to work together. Thus, the first idea I had was that if we wanted to win, we had to isolate each and every one of his pokemon.
Kratos immediately manipulated the terrain into our favour, commanding rocks and sands to forcefully separate our foes. Unfortunately, our opponents were not planning on making this easy for us, seeing as how the pikachu had immediately jumped onto bisharp's shoulder to hitch a ride and decided to permanently attach itself there. The bisharp easily cleaved through the rocks and sands with a Night Slash as its metal armour glinted brightly. It had probably just used Iron Defence. It's intending on weathering through the full duration of our assault head-on until the ten seconds were up.
Pangoro had closed the distance between him and the bisharp by now, fist cocked back for a powerful punch, but a shield of Protect got in his way as the pikachu on bisharp's shoulder interfered with a deranged smirk on its little face. I had never seen such an unfriendly and unhinged pikachu before. In my mind, these little critters were supposed to be always playful and friendly.
Like trainer, like pokemon.
Umbreon tried to reunite with bisharp and pikachu but Kel was there to foil its every attempt. They both hissed, snarled, and slashed at each other with their claws, their exchange getting gradually heated as the seconds ticked by.
"Kel, Agility! Hulk, don't give the bisharp any breathing room! Kratos, snipe them!"
With Kel and Hulk forcing to keep umbreon's and bisharp's attention on them at every moment, it would give Kratos the opportunity to hit them where it hurts with a powerful ranged attack. Kratos fired off an armada of Thunderbolts with pinpoint accuracy whenever he saw an opportunity but somehow, they were able to avoid the worst of it every single time. Umbreon would use a Wish, and somehow it was perfectly timed to assist and heal bisharp right after he was forced to take a brutal hit from Kratos' Thunderbolt or one of Hulk's nasty punches. I could swear that umbreon had its hands full trying to avoid Kel's assault and could barely spare bisharp and pikachu a glance, so how did it time its Wish to such levels of perfection? There has to be a limit to its ability to multitask.
How did they manage it?
A loud shrill ring resounded from Jayce's porygon-z and I knew that the first ten seconds were up. It's now our turn to be on the defensive.
"Pull back! Kratos, cover them!"
Rocks and sands rose to cover Hulk's and Kel's retreat. Almost immediately, umbreon and bisharp started their assault with equal ferocity. Any defences Kratos put up, bisharp would cut it down almost instantly to carve a way forward. Kel would try to confuse and distract them by creating a sea of illusionary clones through Double Team but it had little to no effect as our foes seemed to know just where Kel really was.
I vaguely heard Jayce blowing a quick series of low whistles and bisharp immediately started a reckless and insane assault, physically pummelling through any defences we could put up. Hulk rose up to meet its challenge only for the pikachu who had been perching on bisharp's shoulder the entire time to suddenly leap and latched itself onto Hulk's body. The pikachu had smartly used its small size to its full advantage as it ran all across Hulk's body as Hulk struggled to grab and throw the pikachu off him. That little rat was really fast for something so small.
Bisharp swiftly used the opening pikachu had created to trip Hulk with a Low Sweep before lunging past Hulk to reach Kratos, finally managing to get close and physical with my tyranitar. Kratos showed no fear because physical fights are just his cup of tea. Kratos roared, and met bisharp's blades with his claws as they both started to clash in earnest. Meanwhile, Kel and umbreon continued their individual battles in harassing and preventing the other from reaching out to assist in the main battle, with none of them having the means to quickly overpower the other and thus their battles were still stuck at a stalemate.
I heard another whistle being blown from Jayce's end and immediately his pokemon beat a retreat. It was just one second before his porygon-z let out another shrill to announce the change in our roles as the previous ten seconds was up. This time, it's our turn to be the attackers. However…
"Paralysis?"
Kratos and Hulk were unable to move freely and pursue the retreating figures of our foes. Hulk was experiencing uncontrollable spasms of his muscles. Kratos was faring much better, but the accuracy of his attacks had now been affected with how the paralysis was starting to work their effects on him and hinder his movements and concentration. The only pokemon I had left that can still fight at full functionality is Kel, but she doesn't possess the firepower that could capitalise on any advantage we could possibly create in these ten seconds where we are now the attackers.
It was then I realised that we had fallen into Jayce's trap. The bisharp's sudden bout of recklessness had to be planned. With my strongest fighters now affected by paralysis, there's a limit to the damage we can dish out in ten seconds while they now have more time to recover before starting their next round of assault when it's their turn to be the attacker. Should this situation repeat itself a few more times, eventually, this would allow them to hold the advantage by gradually wearing us down, even if they were going up against a tyranitar.
What a really sneaky move. I don't believe that such a sophisticated plan could be come up by a pokemon on the fly when they were already so preoccupied with exchanging blows with my pokemon. This plan screamed of human intervention, it was very carefully calculated, and only a trainer would be able to do so from where they would be observing the battle from their position.
"Alright, I've seen enough," Jayce called out and ended our little practice session that didn't even take up half a minute. Kratos looked unwilling to end the match but decided not to push his luck any further when I gave him a look in silent warning to not stir up any trouble for me.
"How did you manage to paralyse my tyranitar and pangoro?" I immediately voiced my questions as Jayce allowed his pikachu to climb up his body to perch itself on his head.
"Remember how this little bugger jumped onto your pangoro and ran all over it?" He asked, pointing to his pikachu on the top of his head and I nodded. "That was when he used Nuzzle to inflict paralysis. It took a while for the effects to set in due to your pangoro's large size and his thick fur, but it worked out in the end. As for your tyranitar…"
Kratos growled, his eyes shifting to the bisharp in wordless accusation. The bisharp simply looked back stoically while sharpening its own blades against each other and standing dutifully by its trainer's side.
"Bisharp used a Thunder Wave the moment he managed to get close and physical. Those slashes he made with his blades earlier, they were infused with Thunder Wave. It was why you couldn't pick it out, because the human eyes are not capable of picking out such small details in a high speed match between pokemon of their calibre."
"That reckless assault by your bisharp was planned."
"Obviously," Jayce drawled. "I would be very worried if you couldn't pick up something as obvious as that. Go on, what else have you noticed?"
"You… I didn't hear you giving out commands to your pokemon, but yet everything seemed too well-coordinated for you to not have commanded them in some manner. I have no idea how you did that."
A small grin slowly broke out across Jayce's face.
"Not bad, it made it worth my effort to make things so painfully obvious by my standards. Yes, you are right, I did issue my commands to them and help them coordinate their attacks and movements. Teamwork is essential to a team of dark type pokemon and the trainer's role as a Dark Specialist is to ensure the perfection of their teamwork. If a pokemon team is a machine made up of many different components, then we trainers are the screw that holds them together. That's what I did."
"But… how?"
Jayce merely did another whistle, this time, a loud and slow one.
"You heard this earlier in the exercise, didn't you? I purposely whistled much louder than usual for you to be able to hear it."
"That was how you commanded them?" My voice naturally rose together with my disbelief. To command pokemon by simply whistling was just… incredulous.
"Whistling is just one method out of many that I use. I usually only use it if I'm feeling lazy or need a very quick method of communication," Jayce replied as if what he just did was nothing amazing in contrast to my gobsmacked expression. "But I can show you a few simple tricks just to make a point, I can't go too in-depth because that would mean giving up my secrets."
He snapped his fingers thrice in what was obviously a very specific rhythm for a certain purpose. I could tell that he made it very obvious for me to pick up on because he did it slowly. The moment the third snap ended, his honchkrow immediately let out a very ear-piercing Screech that had me immediately covering my ears.
"Now, look at this."
He stretched out his right hand for me to see and did a quick series of specific twists and curls of his fingers that I could not quite catch. His bisharp that was standing beside him all along launched an attack at a nearby boulder almost instantly, shattering it.
If by now I still couldn't catch the obvious hints that Jayce had been showing me, I would definitely be a moron. This was exactly how Jayce commanded his pokemon earlier and somehow, it escaped my notice entirely. I'm very sure that he had more tricks up his sleeve that he hadn't shown and definitely wouldn't plan on showing to me. Like he said, these are his secrets.
"Get it?"
"This is… incredible," I cannot help but give my praise, "but how long did it take for you and your pokemon to be able to learn, familiarise, and master all of that? The application of your methods has to be more complex than this."
"You are right, it is very complex," Jayce agreed, his hands now tucked back into the pockets of his coat. "I learnt about it through sheer coincidence. Ever heard about the history of Mahogany Town? The secluded place near the Lake of Rage?"
"You mean the Mahogany Massacre?"
"No, not that. I meant their history way before that incident," Jayce shook his head and continued with his story. "Before and during the era of warring states Mahogany was a town of shinobis, ruled by shinobis. Very few people today would remember this because it's been so long, but shinobis dealt with covert missions all the time. As such, shinobis who raised pokemon to aid them in their dirty work had to find a way to be able to pass their instructions to their pokemon through some way or form that wouldn't catch anyone's attention when they were undercover. Over time, this led to the creation of a very niche method of commanding pokemon."
"You mean… you learnt from a… shinobi?" I asked hesitantly, knowing for a fact that such people still exist because of the presence of people like Koga of Indigo's Elite Four, but it's still a little hard to wrap my head around the notion that there were shinobi arts solely designed and revolved around commanding pokemon. My brain hadn't quite managed to adjust to this new fact which I just learnt.
"No, I did not, but strictly speaking what I employed can be called a version of shinobi arts, just that mine is a bastardised version of it. What I used was a version of their ninjutsu that specifically dealt with methods to command and communicate with pokemon beyond the conventional means. I would not go into the details because it would bore you and I don't feel comfortable sharing so much, but I was exposed to this knowledge when I first stumbled onto an old document detailing the existence and secrets of such a method of commanding pokemon. Still, what I uncovered from that document was just an incomplete form of that shinobi art. After I decided to try and learn it, I had to find and invent ways to perfect it and this was the end result. If I want to, I can effectively command my entire team at once without breathing a single word although if I have to be honest, that's unrealistic unless stealth is your foremost priority. In normal battles, you will have to still bark out a verbal command or two every now and then to maximise efficiency. For espionage purposes though, this form of "ninjutsu" is very useful."
"But if such an art of commanding pokemon was mastered properly…" I found myself trailing off, simply amazed that there was such a method to command pokemon in the first place. Imagine if you have to fight someone like Jayce for real, in a deathmatch, and not knowing just what he commanded his pokemon to do for their next moves simply because you don't understand just what kind of messages he had been passing on to them. Meanwhile, he could still hear all of your verbal commands you gave to your pokemon. Over time, there would be a mismatch of information as he would learn more about your next moves then you would do for him. To know what your opponent would be doing next but prevent your opponent from doing the same, that is a very powerful advantage to hold over somebody else.
"Yes, in the hands of a master, this is a very deadly art to be on the receiving end of," Jayce agreed. "But it's not a popular style in modern times for very good reasons. One, as you had pointed out, it takes too long to learn. With every new pokemon you add into your team, you have to go through with them and the entire team about the ins and outs of each of every single command, how to mesh with the team… In short, it's too much of a hassle. Secondly, this method was also originally designed for trainers who consistently use a small team of one to four pokemon, which was the norm in the warring states due to the lack of advancement in pokeball technology. In modern days, the average number of pokemon in a trainer's team is too large for this method to be effective and thus, making such ninjutsus largely unsuitable in modern times. The only way around it is if you are willing to invest a lot of time and effort to modify it and make it work somehow. Thirdly, the world is no longer at war, and thus combat arts like mine which were created for war had now mostly been rendered obsolete. Last of all, I can tell from how you commanded your pokemon earlier that this is not a style for you so if you were thinking of trying to make this your main battling style, I would advise against it."
"Can I ask why you think that I'm not suited for it?"
"To put it very plainly, you are not suited to be a Dark Specialist. My method of commanding pokemon was specifically modified and geared towards commanding Dark types because I was the one who modified and designed its integral structure for the very purpose to have it be adapted for my sole use. The only way my own method can be used by somebody else is if they are able to fight exactly like me down to a T, but that's impossible. Yes, I admit, my method can be taught and adapted for a different specialisation other than Dark types but it would mean revealing and teaching all of my secrets, something which I won't do for you," Jayce was blunt with his assessment of me and his reasons, which I accepted and took with stride. "Yes, I admit you can be cunning, a needed quality for Dark Specialists. The slap you gave me was a testament to that but you need to be more than just cunning to truly command Dark types. They were referred to as Evil Types in the days of old because if they needed to, they can and will be "evil". Our tricks are very dirty and underhanded, something which goes against your moral compass and if you cannot wholeheartedly accept the very notion of it, then you are not suited for it. The way your Dark types acted spoke a lot about you as a person, you are not someone who is suited to specialise in Dark types because you are too upright. You don't have the capacity to be truly "evil"."
I looked back at my Dark type pokemon, then back at Jayce, who simply elaborated on his point after hearing my unsaid question.
"Look, your tyranitar acts more like a Rock type than a Dark type. Your pangoro acts more like a Fighting type than a Dark type. Anything that is remotely "Dark" as far as I can see is your absol, but that is mainly due to the fact that it is a pure Dark type and you are barely tapping into its potential. It's not a matter of whether you want to help it uncover its full potential, but a matter of whether you can help it or not. You might hate me for saying this but what I saw in our little exercise back there, my assessment is that you are not a trainer that can fully unleash your absol's potential. This is not about your skill and ability as a trainer, you are simply not suited to train a Dark type pokemon; you are not compatible with this particular typing. It's not something that I can help you with because this is just in your nature, your personality just doesn't mesh with Dark types very well. That's all."
I'm not gonna lie, Jayce's assessment had inflicted a huge blow on my pride and self-confidence as a trainer but at the same time, I can understand his reasoning. A trainer's chosen specialisation is very much influenced by their personalities and the kind of exposure and experience they were introduced to from a young age. It's not something you can change in a heartbeat because your personality is something that's engraved in your body and soul. I'm simply not a suitable trainer for Dark type pokemon because I don't have the personality and needed mindset to be one, it's as simple as that.
Nevertheless, Jayce's words felt very much like a death sentence in a way. It was only when Kel gently nudged my leg with her head that I snapped out of my thoughts. She doesn't blame me for this, and I'm glad I have a pokemon like her on my team because she has always been so understanding and full of empathy.
"I'm fine," I assured Kel as I lightly scratched the back of her head with my hand. By all means Kel and I are supposed to be incompatible if Jayce was right in saying that I really do not have much talent in training Dark types, but Kel was never obsessed with strength. She chose to follow me for another reason because she saw something else in me that convinced her to do so. To me, that is enough.
"I can teach you a little about how you can command your team with non-verbal cues," Jayce offered. "Or maybe, how to deal with trainers like me if you ever see one of them, rare as that may be. You in?"
Naturally, I wanted in. What Jayce showed me was very educational because I don't think I would have been able to learn what he taught from anyone else.
He never went into the details for very obvious reasons, but he shared the basis and reasoning of how such methods of commanding pokemon first came about. In its simplest forms, such methods of command boil down to the usage of our five senses: sight, sound, smell, touch, and taste. As Jayce briefly explained, these are the five senses that most living organisms depend on to interact with their surroundings.
His explanation was easily understood. Excluding other uncommon methods like telepathy, sight and sound are the most common senses which most creatures would rely on to navigate their surroundings and are thus the most common ways trainers would command their pokemon. Using verbal instructions in formal battles became such a popular form of communication between trainers and pokemon simply because in such a setting, this method is simply the fastest, most effective, and the method with the least possible room for error when battles get heated and chaotic.
So, in Jayce's words, if someone relies too heavily on their sense of sight, take it away and you would cripple them. If someone relies too heavily on their sense of sound, take that away too and you would have won half the battle. Maybe he was in a good mood, but he was nice enough to show me how he could have forced a breakdown in communication between me and my pokemon if I relied too much on verbal instructions to convey complex instructions to my team. All he did was to have one of his pokemon use one of those nasty ear-piercing Screech and he would have achieved his intended effect.
His methods were simple but brutally effective. It was a truly eye opening experience to hear and learn about all these from a trainer like Jayce because if my suspicions were right, this was probably how he removed all that obstructed him when he was still an underground operative and assassin.
As a Dark Specialist, and definitely a bona fide one if we were to adhere to Sidney's standards, Jayce does know a thing or two in training and raising a tyranitar and pangoro despite not having those pokemon on his own team. He shared those with me even if it really wasn't much, but it was still useful information to know that could possibly be of help to me.
In my opinion, one thing he shared with me which I felt was really helpful was how he trained his porygon-z. His porygon-z is not trained to be a battler, but Jayce trained it to be so good at using its Download ability to take apart and analyse practically anything and everything in the heat of the battle that it puts Jarvis to shame. In fact, I think Jayce's porygon-z might beat even Volkner's own in this department. Jayce's porygon-z simply is that good in utilising its Download ability and playing the role of the analyst on the battlefield, and I'm very glad that Jayce was generous enough to share his secrets with me because this wasn't part of our initial agreement. He had no obligation to do this.
"I think I have shared with you more than I strictly needed to," Jayce idly mused as we sat on a table outside, drinking some warm tea that Kevin had helpfully prepared for us while Jayce was giving his lesson. It may be cold out here because the climate at Lacunosa tends to be a little colder at this time of the year but we were comfortably warm thanks to our pokemon. Simply having Jayce's ninetales be around us was more than enough to ward the cold away and I have Flamel by my side as well.
"To be fair, you wanted me to get you a lapras. I think this much was warranted."
"Fair enough."
"You know, I've been curious about something after you shared so much with me, and feel free to not answer because it may be a little personal but… how would you rank yourself against the other Rocket Executives?"
There was a very brief flash of emotions in Jayce's eyes and I instantly regretted ever asking that question. Still, Jayce didn't outwardly react but rather, took another slow sip from his cup of tea before answering.
"Firepower wise, I would rank myself at the very bottom. My team was not built with the intention to possess heavy firepower because that does not align with the nature of Dark types. In terms of lethality, I'm probably up there with Petrel and if you were to ask which one of us would be the better one, I would say it depends on the situation. If there's someone who I absolutely cannot defeat no matter what I tried, that person would be Archer. If I played my cards right and exploited Proton's hot-headed temper, I might be able to defeat him, but it will come at a price. I don't know much about Arianna's abilities as a trainer because she's the secretive type to hold her cards close to her chest even to her closest friends, so I won't comment. As for Giovanni, I already tried killing him and failed."
Ah, that's right, Jayce had tried to stop Giovanni on his own at the entrance to the Dark Cave located near Violet City during the war.
"I'm not sure if I should ask this but… Was there really a need to try stopping Giovanni by yourself that day? Was there really no time to wait for backup to arrive?"
"I had nobody to rely on and let's face it, who else can I realistically trust? If I arrived a minute later Giovanni might have already marched into Violet City together with his troops. Falkner is not going to survive if he ever meets Giovanni in battle. When that happens, Violet City will definitely fall, and it is too important a place to be allowed to fall into the hands of Team Rocket," Jayce shook his head and sighed. "Giovanni was… really powerful. I don't know how else to describe him. He's a really brilliant man and he really knows how to lead and manage people. He was someone who I will call a true leader, a truly charismatic and inspirational figure. It's just unfortunate that he placed his trust in the wrong person that sparked his downfall, me."
I have no idea what to say to that. I could tell him that his actions had saved Indigo and countless lives living in Johto, but for some reason I knew those words were not going to comfort him in the slightest. These are not words he would want to hear.
Jayce continued talking, unaware of my inner thoughts.
"Did you know? That if I were to truly be a turncoat and assist Team Rocket instead, my original job in the war was to kill Pryce? It's because Giovanni knew that I am the most suited person for the job of eliminating the strongest Gym Leader of Johto, because to kill a shinobi you would need another shinobi. Pryce may not look like it, but he is a trained shinobi. A modern day shinobi, but a shinobi nonetheless. He was someone that incorporated the full breadth of his clan's ninjutsu into training his pokemon, perfecting their battling style that would never require him to speak a word or allowed him to be seen by his foes when used to its full extent."
That certainly was not a piece of information that I was privy to. Learning this bit of information about the elderly Johtonian Gym Leader was a surprise.
"That was what Team Rocket knew about Pryce and yet, I had never told Giovanni before that I myself learned and incorporated a bastardised version of ninjutsu into my battling style and I was sure that I had never done anything to reveal that bit of information to him prior to that. He had never even spectated my battles until we had our deathmatch. But, Giovanni understood right from the start that I was the best option Team Rocket had to kill Pryce. You know what's worse? I know for a fact that if I had time to prepare, that if Pryce wasn't expecting me, I can assassinate him with ease. You might think I'm boasting, but I can guarantee you that Pryce wouldn't even have the time to call out his pokemon to defend him if I were to seriously try and assassinate him from the shadows. I was aware of the extent of my capabilities, but it was so much worse when I realised Giovanni was aware of it too and I never knew how he knew. Do you see now? That was just how sharp that man was, a person who can analyse and strip your secrets bare at just a glance. That was the kind of threat I had to tiptoe around on a near daily basis. There was no room for error and the judgement I arrived at that day was that I had to stall Giovanni long enough for reinforcements to arrive in order for us to have a chance to stop him for good. Does that answer your question?"
"... Yes. Sorry for asking, it was inappropriate of me," I apologised, knowing that I had overstepped my boundaries to satisfy my curiosity. Jayce simply waved it off.
"What's done has been done. Running from my past wouldn't do me any good. Never had, and never will. What will come, will come, eventually."
He might have blandly glossed over the topic with just a few words, but even then I could feel the tiredness, resignation, regret, and sorrow in what he said. It was then that I was reminded that it wasn't his choice to be an underground operative, to be a Rocket, to live his life walking on a tightrope for more than two decades while reaping the lives of others against his will. He had no other choice if he wanted to survive.
The Rocket's Exterminator was a very feared presence in Indigo, but all I see now was a man that was too tired and had seen too much. It was a very sad realisation to come to. Indigo might have protected its peace, but it came at the cost of the sanity of a single man and the lives of 358 others.
That is not something that should be forgotten.