The Ghost Specialist

Over the next month, Sam trained.

He jogged through town with Cyndaquil, not intending to build speed but to build stamina. At first, neither of them could run for longer than a few minutes at a time. But, by the end of it, if they maintained a consistent pace, both of them could reach the end of the town and come back while only being moderately out of breath.

He returned to Granite Cave, and while he and Cyndaquil didn’t go in, the exterior was a perfect training ground to practice moves. Through repeated attacks against the ample present boulders, Cyndaquil narrowed the width of her Ember, improved Tackle so it could be used alongside quick bursts of speed, and figured out how to use Smokescreen much faster than before. Not just that, but Sam also worked on timing his commands. He himself got a handle on knowing exactly when and how he needed to call out to get Cyndaquil to respond.

Then, against Delcatty, they sparred, though these were the only battles he and Cyndaquil fought for now. While his mother worked the shop, Delcatty brought the pair to the alley out back, and she ruthlessly led Cyndaquil in circles while demonstrating an agility that prevented all incoming attacks from landing. Yet, despite the lack of success and the exhausting battles, Cyndaquil managed to build up quite the withering Leer from where she always seemed to collapse onto the ground.

The New Pokédex was not left out of Sam’s training, either. While nothing was immediately applicable, he made sure to learn as much from it as he could. Though, memorizing a thousand-entry-plus Pokédex within a single month was a big task.

Altogether, Sam and Cyndaquil did very little that was “new.” Everything about their practice was about building up the basics and preparing themselves to take on the rigorous travels of a trainer’s journey. Sam, while still pale from all the time he spent indoors, now at least had the slightest of tans to him. Also, somehow, Cyndaquil looked more lean and less pudgy than before. And, as Sam frequently helped out his mother as part of the punishment for entering Granite Cave, she lectured him about all of the tips, tricks, and survival skills he would need to know when it came to surviving away from home.

All of this was for a single goal. Everything Sam did was to ensure he’d become the best Pokémon Trainer he could be.

By the end of it, he packed what he could into his backpack and set out alongside his mother and Cyndaquil. His mom used her contacts to get them a ride to Hoenn’s Slateport City. Now, what time was left had run out, and Sam stood at the end of the Slateport docks while his mother fawned over him as throngs of people passed them by.

“You’ve made sure to pack a change of clothes, right?” his mom asked.

“Yes, Mom.”

“Cyndaquil’s Pokéball?”

“Yes, Mom.”

“The New Pokédex?”

Sam paused when she stated the title so bluntly and in public. Then again, its title wasn’t very descriptive for what the book actually contained.

“...Yes, Mom,” Sam answered.

She smiled at him with her hands on his shoulders. It looked like she wanted to say something more, but her eyes started to tear up.

“A-and,” she said, voice choking up, “you’re really sure you want to head out?”

“I am. I will become a proper Ghost Type Specialist. Cyndaquil and I are going to conquer Johto,” Sam said, staring unerringly forward, determination clear in his voice.

For one last time, his mother looked him up and down before bringing him in for the tightest hug of his life.

“I know you will, Sam,” she said. “Just remember I love you.”

“I love you too, Mom.”

She did the same thing to Cyndaquil, who was riding in Sam’s hood like always. The little Fire Type squeaked and saluted when his mother told her to keep everyone safe. Then, Sam ascended the staircase that led up to the cruise ship heading to Johto—Olivine City, specifically—and he and Cyndaquil waved goodbye to his mother until she was nothing more than a speck on the horizon.

He stood silent for a long while as all the ship passengers around filed inside. They returned to their rooms, but Sam stared out into the ocean and the rapidly fading landmass on the horizon.

His heart pounded in his chest.

He could already feel his blood racing.

With this boat’s departure from Hoenn, Sam’s journey had properly begun.

“...Let’s explore the ship, Cyndaquil,” he said.

He turned around and took the first step of his new life as a Pokémon trainer.

The S.S. Sagittarius was a cruise liner, but not in the classic sense. It transported thousands of people at once, but it lacked the high-end, luxury features most cruise ships boasted. Instead, it sailed from Johto, to Sinnoh, to Kanto, to Hoenn, and then finally back to Johto for one purpose and one purpose only: collecting and transporting trainers that wanted to see the world. It was more like a floating hotel than anything else, but it had the amenities needed to attract trainers of all forms. Battlefields, training grounds, an in-ship Pokémon Center, and even trading machines, this was the perfect place to begin a journey as everything and everyone here was all about Pokémon battles.

Sam moved through upper walkways and looked around in awe. Rooms surrounded him in stacks that overlooked an interior, open space filled with trainers. He found his own reserved room quickly enough and deposited everything but Cyndaquil’s Pokéball and the New Pokédex. The only reason Sam had been able to board was due to his mother buying him a ticket from the profit of the Pokédex sale. He didn’t want even a single cent of that to go to waste.

He ran downstairs, moving so fast that Cyndaquil bounced in his hood. He descended level after level to reach the lowest deck, where the ship’s battlefields had been set up. They weren’t as large as official battlefields, but there were many of them lined up in a row. Already, trainers participated in battles while others stood off to the side, watching the matches, mingling with one another, and waiting for their own turn.

“There has to be at least fifty, no, at least a hundred people here,” Sam said to Cyndaquil. “Actually, I think there might be more.”

In a town as small as Dewford, gatherings as large as this were practically unheard of. There were just that many trainers here. Not just that, but alongside those trainers were Pokémon. Plunging into the depths of this crowd, Sam pulled out the New Pokédex and began to look through it to identify what he saw.

A Beedrill stabbed its arms towards a Pidgeotto that ducked and weaved between its attacks. A craggy Geodude tore chunks of dirt out of the field to toss them at a yellow sheep, a Mareep, that buzzed with sparks. At the furthest end, a battle took place that far surpassed the rest.

A bright orange Charizard released an onslaught of flame against a stout Vileplume. The Grass Type was trying its best to resist the fire, but the super effective attack was slowly wearing it down. At the side of that field, an Alakazam was locked in intense concentration to maintain a protective psychic barrier around it. Sam could see how the flames of Charizard’s attack spread out and licked up the sides, unable to reach the audience thanks to Alakazam’s efforts.

“That’s...” Sam shook his head, realizing that he had stopped walking, absolutely enthralled. “Cyndaquil, that’s going to be us one day.”

He heard a soft squeak from behind his ear. Cyndaquil was just as lost in her observations as Sam was.

“Before that, though, we should probably find someone to battle.”

In a place like this, Sam would be an absolute fool to not fight someone in a match. He had a full month of training that he wanted to put to use against another trainer. Sure, Cyndaquil might not have learned any new moves, but her baseline had increased so dramatically that Sam had absolute confidence in his Pokémon.

He rushed over to where a ship employee managed one of the fields and signed himself up to reserve a slot for a battle. He had no opponent set, so he would be skipped over if he didn’t find one. At least, Sam was now guaranteed to have the chance if he managed to get an opponent.

So, he began to run through the crowd.

“Hey, do you want to battle?”

Sam stopped in front of one trainer holding an Oddish in her arms. She turned and smiled at him, but that smile fell when her eyes locked onto Cyndaquil behind his head.

“Yeah, right. You’d crush us way too easily with your Fire Type.”

The response was disappointing, but he moved away and found someone else soon after.

“You... want to battle my Seel?” the trainer said. “You know that Seel is a Water Type though, right?”

“Yeah! Type Advantage or not, I want to have a battle!” Sam replied.

The Pokémon trainer in front of him gained a funny look before shaking their head and walking away.

Someone else, then.

Finding potential opponents was a little difficult, because Sam had to find people with Pokémon around the same level as Cyndaquil. Despite the sheer number of trainers here, it was hard to simply eyeball the relative strength of the people he saw. Too strong, and they’d decline a pointless match. Too weak, and they wouldn’t want to risk it against Cyndaquil.

Yet, when Sam did find trainers he thought were at his level, they always seemed to find some sort of excuse after taking a single look at Cyndaquil.

“Did I read the room wrong?” he quietly asked his Pokémon.

She mumbled something, but Cyndaquil was just as confused as he was.

“It’s likely because your Pokémon is a Starter Pokémon,” a voice from behind Sam said. “I don’t think you realize how intimidating it is to be approached so suddenly by a trainer who has one.”

Sam stopped where he was sulking and turned to whoever had just spoken to him. Approaching him was a boy maybe a year or two older with brown hair smoothed back against his head.

“Starter Pokémon?” Sam asked. “Why would that make a difference?”

“Starter Pokémon make all the difference. If not in their potential power, then in their relative rarity,” the boy explained, straightening out the sleeves of his suit coat. “Each region has a trio of Pokémon specially bred to be given out as Starters—primarily to those that either test into it or who are hand-picked by regional Professors. With your approach being so excitable, and with your Cyndaquil in your hood—”

“They all think I’m some kind of low-level, pseudo-elite!” Sam concluded.

The boy raised one of his eyebrows.

“I wouldn’t have phrased it exactly like that, but yes, you have the gist of it.”

Sam rubbed the side of his head, a little embarrassed at how he had missed that connection, himself.

“Xavier,” the boy said, introducing himself while holding out a hand.

“Sam,” Sam replied, taking the offered hand and shaking it. “Thanks for the information. It’s a little annoying because I didn’t meet Cyndaquil through any of that. We only met because of my grandfather.”

“Is your grandfather a Professor?” Xavier asked.

“No, but I’m pretty sure his Typhlosion is currently living with one of those specialty breeders you mentioned,” Sam replied.

Xavier hummed and looked over Sam, seemingly taking him in. Sam watched as the boy’s eyes darted to his lack of Pokéball belt, the aged tome in his hands, and then to Cyndaquil in his hood.

“You know,” Xavier said, “I wouldn’t mind testing the apparent power of a Starter Pokémon, myself.”

Sam grinned.

“Great! I already have a battlefield reserved, so if you want to head out—”

“That would be fine,” Xavier said with a polite smile.

He and Sam walked over to the side of the soon-to-be-his field.

Sam went on to try to talk to Xavier, asking the boy about his own background. Yet, any attempts to make small talk was rebuffed with either silence or a one-word answer. Quickly realizing Xavier wasn’t here to make friends, Sam went silent.

If he just wants a battle, I guess that works too.

On the field itself, two identical Magnemite battled it out in a species-based grudge match. Their metallic bodies released shock after shock until one eventually fell, and it was Sam’s turn to go up.

“Next up, we have... Sam!” An employee of the ship called out. “You’re up!”

The field’s manager waved over Sam and Xavier as they stepped onto the field.

“No high level moves like Hydro Pump or Fire Blast are allowed,” the ship employee said to them. “Anything else that risks affecting the ship is not allowed, either. Under no circumstances are you allowed to use Earthquake. Again, do not use Earthquake. We’re on a ship, people. Use common sense.”

The man sighed, as if tired. Sam couldn’t help but to feel embarrassed on behalf of whoever thought it would be smart to use an earth-shaking attack like that on a floating boat.

But, it wasn’t like Sam had any of those high-level moves at his disposal. He and Cyndaquil were just beginners and were incapable of using anything that strong.

For now, he thought to himself.

“Other than your Cyndaquil, how many Pokémon do you have?” Xavier asked.

“Just the one,” Sam replied.

“...Of course,” Xavier mumbled under his breath. “Well then, I will use only one of mine. I wish you luck in our battle. You’ll need it.”

The two of them split off, moving to their respective trainer boxes on the sides of the field. Xavier sent a respectful nod to the ship employee while Sam waved to signify he was ready. The employee nodded back to acknowledge the signals before holding out both arms in a mimicry of an official referee’s flags. He then brought them down and called for the two trainers to send out their Pokémon.

“Cyndaquil! I choose you!”

Despite yelling what he always saw on T.V., Sam still felt the heat in his face when he shouted such a cheesy line.

Cyndaquil squirmed out of his hood and pushed off his shoulder to jump onto the field. Once she landed, she let the flames on her back flare up.

Xavier, however, had a much more basic entrance for his Pokémon. He merely reached into his jacket’s front pocket and pulled out a certain, black-and-gold Pokéball—a Luxury Ball.

Those were significantly more expensive but were significantly more comfortable for a Pokémon in exchange.

“Yanma,” Xavier said calmly, releasing a three-foot long, red dragonfly.

Nice! If it’s a Bug Type, we’ll have the advantage!

“Begin!” the referee shouted a second later.

Sam was ready for this. He spent almost a full month preparing for battle, and this would be his and Cyndaquil’s first match away from home. His blood raced, and his grin widened. He pointed forward, shouting a command in the very same instant Xavier shouted his own.

“Ember!”

“Sonicboom.”

Each combatant exploded into action, but in very different ways. Cyndaquil’s flames burst to life at a rate she could not achieve before, and sparks of fire shot out of her mouth in a steady stream. As for Yanma, the bug Pokémon darted side to side, using the immense speed and agility its wings granted it in the air. Ember chased after it, and even with all its efforts to dodge, Yanma failed to prevent the attack from clipping it in the side and leaving blackened scorch marks on its red carapace.

“Yes!” Sam shouted.

This was a huge improvement over Cyndaquil’s wide sprays from before.

However, the battle wasn’t won just yet. Still going, the Yanma zipped forward.

Quickly, the Bug Type raced through the air, pushing past any pain and building up speed to close in onto Cyndaquil. She squeaked in alarm as Yanma forced its wings to flap at an incredible pace and convert its momentum into a blast of air that hit her head-on.

Sonicboom might have been a Normal Type move, but it was an extremely consistent attack that packed quite the punch in a low level fight like this.

“Again, Yanma,” Xavier said.

Sam bit his lip in thought as Cyndaquil heaved herself back up.

“See if you can get it to waver with Leer,” he said, taking advantage of a brief delay as Yanma turned around. “Use Ember after.”

Yanma built distance between them once more to repeat the same, bombing-run-like dive it had used last time. Cyndaquil braced herself, and when the Bug Type neared, she glared at it with a sudden, spine-chilling Leer. All of her practice sending Delcatty harsh looks paid off as Yanma wavered in the air, its eyes widening underneath their compound lenses.

“Go!” Sam shouted.

A second Sonicboom screeched towards Cyndaquil right when she unleashed her own Ember. The two attacks hit their targets; Cyndaquil was too slow to dodge out of the way, and Leer had made it so Yanma wasn’t prepared to dodge. The Bug Type crashed into the ground, the heat of the Fire Type moves getting to it. As for Cyndaquil, the Sonicboom blasted her back. She didn’t have the defenses to resist.

Both Pokémon groaned and tried to get back up, but in the end, neither of them managed to push off the ground. Two back-to-back Fire Type moves were too much for Yanma, and the two Sonicbooms were similarly too much for Cyndaquil.

“Cyndaquil is unable to battle! Yanma is unable to battle!” the referee called out. “The outcome is a tie!”

It wasn’t a win, but Sam couldn’t stop grinning. Sure, the Sonicboom had knocked Cyndaquil out, but what a match! Quick battles were expected at low levels, so he didn’t even blink at how little time it took. Instead, he was just proud that Cyndaquil knocked out her foe.

He was also more than satisfied with the results as the match helped him narrow down what needed to improve. Namely, while Cyndaquil had a decent offense, he needed to help her with her agility and the ease at which she could dodge attacks.

“Cyndaquil! You were amazing!” Sam rushed forward to kneel on the ground and scoop Cyndaquil up into his arms. “Perfect use of Leer and Ember. How are you feeling?”

Cyndaquil stirred and shook herself to better come to. Fainting in Pokémon battles didn’t always mean true unconsciousness; a lot of times, battles simply went until one side was genuinely unable to continue or until a Pokémon had run out of internal energy, which taking attacks tended to drain.

“Your thoughts?” he asked, repeating a similar question.

She slumped, disappointed, but Sam smiled and shook his head.

“No. Your Ember was way better aimed since our match against Buck, and your Leer paved the way for a perfect, second hit. We might not have won, but we still tied. A success in our first true battle!”

Cyndaquil looked to be considering Sam’s words, and he knew she’d feel better soon. He turned his gaze up to thank Xavier for a great match, but when he looked at the boy, Xavier was frowning, obviously disappointed.

“That’s all the power a Starter Pokémon has to offer?” Xavier asked. “You lost to a Bug Type.”

“We didn’t lose. We tied. There’s a difference,” Sam said. “Cyndaquil and I have only been training for a month, anyway. We’ve basically spent the past few years of our life being lazy and growing fat.”

Cyndaquil snorted, somewhat offended.

“That’s no excuse,” Xavier continued. “If you didn’t win, you’ve lost. If you want to be a Pokémon trainer, you should put in more effort.”

Sam frowned.

“You sure about that?” he asked cautiously.

Xavier didn’t respond right away. Instead, he returned Yanma to its Luxury Ball as he was no longer occupied with silently observing Sam. His frown deepened as he placed the ball back inside the pocket on his chest.

“What I’m sure about is that if you want to be successful, whatever you've done so far hasn't been enough,” Xavier said. “Starter Pokémon are given out for a reason—they’re amenable to training with a fast rate of growth. Honestly, Yanma has only been with me for a few weeks now. If you’ve had a full month to train, this outcome was genuinely pathetic.”

“Yeah?” Sam snapped. “You realize that you tied with us, which means you’ve lost as well according to your own logic.”

“That’s different. I was merely testing—”

“You were facing us in a fight,” Sam said.

Xavier scowled and turned around.

“I knew I shouldn’t have got my hopes up,” he said.

Sam glared at his opponent as he walked away. Honestly, he didn’t expect to meet someone almost as rude as Buck.

“Ugh. Not sure what his problem is, but at least everyone else seemed alright, just intimidated by us,” Sam grumbled. “Though, after Buck, maybe an ego is needed to become a Pokémon trainer?”

He chuckled at his own joke and stood up to leave the field to make room for the next person to use it. However, the second he turned around, he jumped when he realized there was a girl standing behind him, only inches away.

“Battle me!” she shouted with a wide grin on her face.

Sam was frozen out of surprise, but he eventually managed to get out a reply.

“...Alright?”

The girl pumped her fists and ran over to the field manager to slot in a new reservation. Sam just stared as he moved to the side.

At least I don’t have to work to find another opponent.

And this time around, he had a good feeling his opponent wouldn’t turn out to be a jerk.