I arrived in Santalune in the middle of spring, specifically the month of Shaymin's Flight. The weather was perfectly neutral: not too hot or cold, not too windy, and just bright enough to put most in a cheery mood. The next month, Suicune's Blessing, was not perfectly neutral. It rained and stormed nearly every day. It was difficult to do most Tasks, but Nautilus and I managed a few that paid handsomely.
Xerneas' Blessing came next, and that was a beautiful time. Flowers bloomed, produce was fresh as could be, and the wild Pokémon population exploded. It brought many Tasks my way, ensuring I had money flowing in. Nautilus had plenty of battles. A few times we battled a wild Litleo and were chased away by a Pyroar. Nautilus almost brought down a Pyroar during one specific chase, but we didn't bother recreating that experience.
It was Groudon's Wake now, and it was warm. The air was extremely humid, which made the weather feel hotter and stickier than it had any right to. I did NOT want to leave the cooled rooms of the PokéCenter. I finally bought myself a backpack with expanded storage, which fit all the traveling gear I already had and some extra food supplies. I used the fanny pack for Berries and medicines I bought.
With 67,246$ in my bank account, I didn't need to do more Tasks. Nurse Joy told me the average Trainer only started with 25,000$. However, I wanted tougher battles for Nautilus. He was close to reaching another level of power. He mastered Peck, Payback, and Psybeam, though they still lacked the punch to hurt stronger opponents like Pyroar. Nautilus relied heavily on Hypnosis to get through tougher fights, and Viola definitely had a counter for that.
The reason I thought he was close was that the PokéDex app had a section called 'Learning.' I noticed two moves in that section after his training changed to adding more energy into Psybeam and Peck: Pluck and Psyshock. Since then, I had him focus on condensing Type Energy and holding it for as long as possible. I didn't know if it actually helped with learning the new moves, but Peck and Psybeam hit just that much harder after a month.
We were currently in the Center's gym. Nautilus was improving his Rain Dance and Disable attacks. I was in the middle of squatting 385 pounds when I heard Tetsu belt a war cry.
"Ferro! SEED!" she shouted, and the weight on my back intensified. I slammed onto the floor, only saved by the squat rack's spotter arms. Even without the weight, I could barely move. It felt like the gravity in the room had multiplied several times.
'Wait, gravity?' I thought. My eyes widened. "Tetsu! Stop your Gravity, please!"
"Ferro?"
Within moments, everything turned to normal. "Oh, thank fuck," I gasped. I slowly stood up, rubbing my neck and shaking out the strain in my body. I saw Tetsu giddily bouncing in place, Nautilus flat on the floor next to her.
"Oh man," I said as he shakily floated up to eye level. "I guess Tetsu finally used her first move. Was that Gravity?"
"Seed!" she said, her eyes closed in a cheerful expression.
"That's great! That means you can start training with us if you want to," I told her, rubbing the top of her head. She leaned into it and purred. "You have lots of moves to choose from, so we'll have to plan out something for you. But to start…"
I looked at Nautilus. His dirty face twisted in a scowl. "Come here, Nautilus."
He floated over, his scowl disappearing as I pet him. "I've just discovered your next training tool."
He froze. "Inkay?"
"That's right," I smiled. "We're going to let Tetsu help by using Gravity on you."
He turned to Tetsu, who was happily moving side to side as she hummed. "Ik," he grumbled. She froze, and tears appeared in her eyes.
"What did you have to say that for?" I scolded him as she started crying. He guiltily looked down at the floor. "Go ahead, apologize."
"Kay," he said, looking at her. She sniffled and stared at him, still looking hurt. "Inkay, Ink. In Kay."
She nodded and rolled over, the two hugging it out. "That's what I like to see," I told them, smiling. "I know you'll have each other's backs. But for now, we're still doing the Gravity training."
Inkay's resigned look told me everything about how this was going to go. I picked him up and made him look at me. "I'm not doing this to punish you. This is only to make you stronger, I promise. When you evolve to Malamar, you're going to be the beefiest of squids. I'm counting on you the same way you count on me, got it?"
He nodded. He obviously didn't like the idea after being slammed into the ground, but he was willing to do it so long as it made him tougher. "I'll do it with you. I'm sure we'll come across some bad people who use it against us. Better to be prepared than caught lacking."
I walked in front of Tetsu, staying several feet away from her. Inkay floated by my side, ready to start. "Tetsu, this will be your training. I want you to get used to using Gravity. Once you get to that point, we'll focus on learning to control how strong it is, okay?"
"Ferroseed!"
"Great, go ahead and start!"
*thud*
"Ik…"
"Ow… I think that's enough, Tetsu."
0-0-0
The next week, I found myself in the Santalune Gym. Nautilus and I hadn't made much progress with Tetsu's Gravity, but her energy usage improved dramatically throughout the week. I still didn't plan on using her for the Gym Battle. But that was assuming I could get the Gym Battle. I was currently signing a form for the Gym Challenge.
Each Gym had its own spin and ideas for what qualified a Trainer. Here, it was navigating a maze of webs without running out of time. I signed the waiver and challenge forms. When I handed them in, the receptionist told me my Gym Battle appointment was in five days, and I had until then to complete the challenge without my Pokémon.
"Alright, let's do this."
I walked into the dark room. I couldn't see anything at first, but even after my eyes adjusted, I could barely see my hands when I held them out. The walls of web were very sticky, taking most of my strength to get my hand free when I accidentally walked to far to one side. That would definitely be a problem if I didn't take my time. Unfortunately, I had a time limit of one hour.
I walked with one arm out. After what felt like a few minutes, I came to a split in the maze. There, a teen Trainer stood waiting.
"Come on out, Joltik!" he announced, releasing a tiny flash of yellow. I released Nautilus. I hoped his Psychic powers made up for the lack of light.
"You know what to do, Electro Web!"
"Peck through it! You know what to do," I commanded. Nautilus reacted beautifully. The string of electrified webs shocked him, but he cut through them anyway and put the tiny bug to sleep by spreading the wave of Hypnosis wide. After that, the usual round of Pecks did their job. After the Gym Trainer returned his Pokémon, the room brightened just enough for me to see the Trainer but not the web behind him.
"Good, you were able to react quickly. We increase the illuminance of the room each time you beat one of us," he said. "You've got fifty-two minutes left. I suggest going to your right."
"Thank you," I responded as he walked to where I entered from. I still couldn't see the walls, but I had better view of my path. The path behind me was covered in foliage. Going left would have had me walking on the same green foliage. The right path, however, had lots of twigs and branches covering the floor. My first step broke a branch, and a string of web shot out from the side.
I stepped back, barely avoiding the attack. 'Do I have to be silent?' I thought. I stepped and broke another branch. Another String Shot flew out.
"Fantastic," I muttered. I looked at the floor, looking for spots clear of any leaves and branches. Taking a deep breath, I stepped onto a relatively clear spot and waited a few seconds. Nothing.
I took my time tiptoeing along the path. The good thing was that each String Shot came from the same height, so I could just squat to avoid them. I didn't want that to change, so I stayed cautious the whole time. It was difficult. I couldn't avoid making noise, and it was getting progressively more difficult to dodge the String Shots.
I felt like I was crawling. I scanned the floor with each step, waiting an extra second in case I made noise. Each step made me want to hurry, but going faster led to noise and String Shots. Finally, after an eternity, the path cleared up. As I approached another fork, I saw a lone Volbeat.
I immediately released Nautilus. The Volbeat looked at us and then disappeared. Four Volbeat appeared around us, all four moving in sync. "Psybeam!" I shouted. Nautilus released the attack nearly instantly, passing through two of the Volbeat and causing them to disappear. One Volbeat disappeared again, and four more appeared.
'This is going to waste my time,' I thought. "Keep using Psybeam, go wide!"
As Nautilus went after the Volbeat, I looked around. One path was muddy, while the other had fog covering the floor. There was no Trainer this time, so I couldn't get a tip. The area where the Volbeat was waiting was spotless.
"Vol!"
I turned to see the Volbeat slam onto the floor of the muddy path. It got up and shivered, forgetting about us as it cleaned itself. Maybe the Volbeat itself was a clue. Maybe there was something in the PokéDex…
I quickly scanned it and read the information on the screen:
Volbeat: The Firefly Pokémon. Volbeat uses its tail to communicate with others at night. They love the sweet scent of Illumise. They will move their nests if the pond water is not clean enough.
"Nautilus, Peck!"
He shot forward, capitalizing on its distraction. The Volbeat dodged but couldn't avoid Nautilus' Psybeam. He sped with another Peck as Volbeat careened through the air. The light grew brighter, allowing me to see the wall of webs and signaling the end of the battle. I walked over with an Oran Berry.
"Awesome job, my guy, have a Berry," I said, petting him. "Double Team and likes to avoid dirty water."
"Inkay?"
"Sorry, just thinking out loud," I told him. He shrugged and continued munching on the Berry. "The PokéDex says it avoids dirty water. Mud is dirty water, so maybe we should avoid the muddy path? I guess it makes sense. Fog is basically just a cloud, which is a collection of water droplets that isn't heavy enough to fall. I guess we'll go right."
We got moving once he finished. We didn't have to travel far, though. In the middle of the foggy path, a Trainer stood with her Ledian. She looked older than Viola.
"Good," she called out, her voice echoing oddly. "Leader Viola said you could figure out that little puzzle. Now let's see if you have the power to face a Gym Leader!"