The Ghost Specialist

“Fury Swipes!”

Claws swiped down at Cyndaquil, rapidly aiming to dig into her sides. She repeatedly hopped back with each attempted scratch, the swipes of the move barely missing her by a hair.

“Ember!” Sam shouted.

Cyndaquil’s opponent was a Teddiursa—a small, bipedal bear roughly her size with brown fur and a crescent mark on its forehead. Facing it was tough, as the Normal Type had immediately rushed forward to try to overwhelm her. Yet, the fire on her back blazed at full power and she breathed out.

Ember hit.

The Fire Type move struck Teddiursa, leaving burn marks on its fur. It stumbled back, bringing its arms up to try to protect its face, but that just meant its stomach was no longer guarded. Taking advantage of that, Sam called for a Tackle, and Cyndaquil pushed off the ground to slam her shoulder into its chest.

Teddiursa fell to the ground. The referee shouted to end the match.

“Teddiursa is unable to battle. Cyndaquil wins!”

“There you go, Cyndaquil! We got our first win!” Sam shouted.

There was a smattering of polite clapping off to the sides, but it was nothing too impressed. While this was Sam's first victory as a Pokémon trainer, it had still only been a match between two novice trainers. Observers could only get so much out of it at this level.

“Great battle. Cyndaquil hasn't been pushed that hard up close before,” Sam said, moving forward to shake his opponent’s hand.

“You sure? Because it looked like she was leaping back pretty nimbly there.”

He chuckled awkwardly. What he said was only partially true. With all the ways Delcatty annoyed Cyndaquil during their spars, Cyndaquil had grown used to opponents trying to strike her up close.

“Well, your Pokémon was still impressive regardless,” Sam said.

The girl grinned.

“Yeah!” she replied.

Sam’s opponent was a girl around his age, though she was maybe a few months older than him since she practically matched him in height. She wore a set of blue overalls over a striped, black-and-white T-shirt, and her blonde hair was kept in a ponytail that hung down her back. As Sam moved off to the side of the field, she followed, and Cyndaquil prodded the side of Teddiursa with her snout to wake it up and encourage it to follow. The girl smiled and waved for it to follow along, too.

“You haven’t explained why you were so quick to challenge me at the end of the last battle,” Sam said. “I thought people would be turned away by my ‘Starter’ Pokémon?”

“Psh. I wanted to challenge you because I saw your battle. And that last guy was a jerk. I can tell you’re pretty cool with how you talked back to him. Why wouldn’t I want to have a match?”

“...Thank you?” Sam said.

“Yeah! No problem!” she said genuinely. “Anyway, what’s your name? My name is Redi.”

Sam blinked.

Did I really battle her without any introductions?

He supposed that was what the life of a Pokémon trainer now entailed.

“I’m Sam, and that’s Cyndaquil, obviously,” he said. “And you said your name is ‘Ready?’”

“Redi,” she corrected.

“Ready?”

“Redi,” she repeated, emphasizing the alternate spelling with her voice.

Sam rubbed the side of his head. He thought her name was silly, but he wasn’t going to comment on it.

Heading over, the ship’s Pokémon Center wasn’t anything that special. An unassuming nurse and a Chansey worked a counter that was built into an open space along a wall. Redi and Sam returned their Pokémon before passing their Pokéballs over. The nurse thanked them before handing the balls off to Chansey to bring to a back room to heal.

“Anyway, Redi, have you been training with Teddiursa for a while? He was pretty strong in our match,” Sam said, finding a place to sit down on a nearby bench.

“Not really. I mean, I’ve known him for years, but we haven’t really practiced,” she replied, sitting down next to him. “I took him with me when I heard about the tournament coming up. That’s the whole reason we’re on this ship, anyway.”

“...Tournament?” Sam asked.

Redi blinked at him.

“Don’t tell me you don’t know,” she said.

Sam’s blank look was an answer in itself. Redi sighed and pressed her hands together in front of her lips.

“Okay, okay. So there’s the tournament, yeah? But it’s the Beginner’s Tournament; it’s not for anyone experienced. Every region has one. Basically, at the start of each season, a random city in a region will host a tournament to see which novice trainer has the best chance to make it to the end-of-season Conference. Winning is a good way to attract sponsorships, earn prizes, make money....”

She put a surprising amount of emphasis on the word ‘money.’

“And this year it’s taking place in Olivine City! Once this boat docks, I think just about everyone here is going to sign up for it.”

“At least the novices are,” Sam said.

“I mean, yeah, that’s assumed. What, do you really think a trainer who’s earned a bunch of Gym badges is going to be allowed in?”

She then snorted and laughed at her own joke. Sam just rolled his eyes.

“Anyway, me and Teddiursa are totally gonna sweep that tournament! See, we have a trick; we don't need strategy when we have power! Everyone always thinks you need some special plan to win your battles, but the way I see it is that everyone overlooks pure, raw power so much that no one is ever prepared for when it punches them in the face!”

“But strategy is important?” Sam countered, scratching his cheek. “What are you going to do if Teddiursa gets burned?”

“Push through and punch them in the face,” Redi easily replied.

Well, I suppose that’s one way to do it.

“So, what'd you think?” she asked, grinning. “Gonna compete?”

“Definitely,” Sam answered. “I was planning on only taking on Olivine’s Gym, but if there’s a whole tournament taking place there, there’s no way we can pass that up!”

Redi’s grin went as wide as it could go, and she kicked her legs back and forth while leaning back on the bench.

“Sick!” she said. “But I gotta ask, if you didn’t know about the tournament, you at least made plans before heading out, yeah? You have a place to stay?”

Sam’s smile wavered. Redi suddenly looked worried.

“...You have a place, right?” she repeated.

“I was going to stay in the Pokémon Center,” he replied slowly.

“Ooh...” Redi looked away from Sam awkwardly. “People always fill the big cities when the season starts. Like, Gym battle slots are reserved weeks in advance, and Olivine’s gonna be packed with all these extra tournament trainers taking up rooms. You might, uh, not find a place to stay.”

Sam groaned.

“I just wanted to start my journey off properly,” he said, bringing his head into his hands.

Redi patted him on the shoulder to try to comfort him. She let a few seconds pass before speaking again.

“I mean, you could always...” She hesitated at first before repeating what she said with newfound confidence. “You could always stay with me!”

Sam blinked.

“...With you?”

“Yeah! My aunt is always open to guests. She wouldn’t mind helping out someone in need!”

Sam stared at Redi with a blank look on his face. She smiled back, not even blinking at how she just offered a family member’s home to someone who was basically a stranger.

“Maybe,” Sam eventually said. The offer was a little awkward. “I’ll check to see if there really is no other place to stay, first.”

Redi shrugged and hopped off the bench. The Pokémon Center Chansey walked back out with their Pokémon.

“Your loss. I’ll still give you her address when you find out I’m right.” She then leaned in, almost mischievously, her words taking on a conspiratorial tone. “And just so you know, I’m always right.”

Redi walked away to collect her Pokémon, cackling.

Walking over to the Pokémon Center himself, Sam grabbed both Cyndaquil’s Pokéball and a piece of paper containing Redi’s aunt’s address before sending Cyndaquil out on the ground. Redi went ahead and stalked off to rejoin the nearby crowd, crouching slightly as if becoming a predator on a hunt for prey: another opponent.

“Two back-to-back battles are enough for now,” Sam said to Cyndaquil. “I think we should head back to our room to rest and talk about what we can do to improve.”

Cynaquil nodded, both tired and in agreement, and she and Sam returned to do exactly as he said. Over the rest of the trip, she and Sam managed to get a few more battles in before the ship finally arrived in Johto.

Sam was struck with awe when he entered Olivine City. The port was nowhere near as large as Slateport, but the buildings were tall enough to scratch the sky.

Office buildings, shopping malls, dozens of different apartment complexes. This place was a true city, one not limited to space available on an island. Streets filled with actual cars divided the city's blocks, and Pokémon were surprisingly common here, too. Though there was only the occasional trainer Pokémon, Sam did see Pidgey perched on signs, Rattata running through alleys, and the occasional Meowth having found a warm spot to sleep in.

“We’re definitely not in Hoenn anymore. All of these species are firmly from Johto.”

Cyndaquil made a mumbling noise of agreement from where she sat in his hood. Just like Sam, she was lost in taking in the sights.

Other than the sights of the city itself, Sam also saw quite a number of decorations. Banners hung between streetlights. Lampposts had announcements taped to them. A few posters had been placed against covered, chain-link fences that blocked off construction sites. All of them advertised the very thing Redi had told Sam about not too long before.

The Beginner’s Tournament—it wasn’t something always held within Olivine, but it would be this year. It advertised how the winners tended to be trainers to look out for. Historically, the trainers that placed almost always earned all eight Gym Badges.

I want to win it, Sam thought. Unfortunately, he was aware of his lack of experience, but now that he was in Johto, this was the perfect time to obtain it.

Filled with anticipation, Sam broke out into a run. He then stopped and politely asked a passerby for directions, where he followed what they said to reach the Pokémon Center.

The building wasn’t the usual, few-story tall building he was used to. It still had the red roof that he was expecting, but it absolutely fit in with the rest of the towering buildings of this city. Pokémon Centers were created to both provide easy-to-access healing for the average trainer while also providing a way for traveling trainers to rest. This place had gone all in on that, being at least seven stories tall and absolutely covered with windows that showed off the sheer number of rooms within.

Sam had never stayed at a Pokémon Center before, and though he was away from home, he pushed past that longing and focused on the excitement.

“Ready for this?” he asked Cyndaquil.

She squeaked, affirming that she was, and then Sam headed inside.

Immediately, Sam was assaulted by noise. The sliding glass door automatically opened up, and just past the entrance, the waiting room was absolutely packed.

Trainers filled the space, lounging on couches, leaning against the walls, and occupying every video phone set up against the back wall. There was a line that stretched from the nurse’s counter to only a few feet in front of the front door. To say this place was packed was an understatement. It was absolutely filled to the brim.

Briefly, he recalled the warning Redi gave him.

“Maybe they have at least one spare room left?” he mumbled.

It took half an hour of waiting in line for Sam to reach the front counter. It was half an hour of standing, waiting, and doing nothing at all. Despite it not requiring much from him, the fact such a short distance took so long to travel made Sam feel utterly exhausted by the end.

“Welcome to the Pokémon Center!” a nurse’s voice said to snap him out of his daze. “We can restore your Pokémon to full health. Would you like to rest your Pokémon?”

A pink-haired nurse smiled at him and waited for his response.

“I...” Sam’s voice came out shaky, so he swallowed and forced himself to be confident. “I’d like to register for the upcoming Johto League! I’d also like to register for the Beginner’s Tournament!”

“Certainly! May I have your information?”

Sam provided it, and the nurse turned in her chair to start quickly typing away on a computer at the front desk. There were two other nurses here, too, and each of them were helping their own trainer to the left and right of Sam.

“Alright... Give me one moment for your trainer card to print out...”

There was a beep followed by a whirring noise. After a few seconds, the nurse leaned over and pulled something from under her desk. She handed it over, and Sam took it to hold with awe.

Trainer cards identified Pokémon trainers. They contained absolutely everything about the trainer they belonged to. Name, region of origin, unique trainer ID number, as well as the number of Gym Badges that trainer had earned. Holding one was required to compete in a Gym, and a number of different tournaments were restricted to registered trainers. With this now in his hands, Sam had proof he was truly a Pokémon trainer.

It marked the beginning of the rest of his life.

“Sir?”

Sam snapped his head up, the nurse’s voice breaking him out of his trance once again.

“Y-yeah?”

“It’ll take some time for your trainer ID to be fully processed with the League, but since you were already registered as a non-competing trainer in Hoenn, that will speed some things up. Before then, do you need to hear the rules of the tournament?”

“That would be nice, thanks,” Sam said, blushing at his brief lapse of attention.

The nurse cleared her throat.

“The Beginner’s Tournament follows the same set-up as the end of the year Conference, though it’s adjusted for smaller teams. It consists of a group preliminary to determine the competing trainers followed by the actual tournament itself. The preliminaries are set to take place in five days, and the tournament itself will occur in exactly one week. Although, I’ll note that only thirty-two trainers will make it out of the preliminaries. You must not be eliminated if you want to compete.”

“Of course.” Sam nodded his head, his gaze locked straight ahead.

At that, the nurse gained an amused smile.

“I’m sure you’ll do great. Make sure to arrive here by 10am the day of.”

“Okay. Got it,” Sam said. “And, uh, if it’s a tournament, how many...”

“Our estimates bring the number of registered trainers to be around four hundred. Most trainers here are here for Olivine Gym. But, if your question is about how many Pokémon will be in each match...”

Sam nodded, encouraging her to continue.

“Only one Pokémon will be allowed in each battle of the preliminaries, but up to three Pokémon are allowed on a team in the actual tournament. If you have only one Pokémon, I highly recommend catching another. Otherwise, you’d be sending your sole fighter through a series of difficult, back-to-back fights.”

Sam grimaced. He needed a way to practice with Cyndaquil, but throwing her into matches like that would serve only to tire her out and leave her exhausted by the end. The nurse was right; if he wanted to win, he needed a second Pokémon.

But where can I catch a Ghost Type in a city like this?

“Can I help you with anything else?” the nurse said, smiling.

“Yes! Do you have a free room?”

Her smile wavered, and Sam’s expression fell.

“...Is there somewhere else nearby I could maybe find a place?” he asked cautiously.

A length of awkward silence persisted, which only served to make Sam feel worse and worse.

“Maybe it might be worth camping at the city’s edge? Trainers are constantly roughing it in the wild!” the nurse offered, doing her best to maintain that strained smile.

The news hit Sam like a rock. Sighing, he thanked the nurse before stepping out of the Pokémon Center.

“At least we managed to register properly,” he said to Cyndaquil.

After a few hours of checking other locations only to confirm a lack of free rooms, Sam found himself knocking on the door of a house within the city’s suburbs. There, it opened up, and on the other side was a certain blonde girl with an utterly smug grin on her face.