“It's nice to meet you as well, Cal.” Valerie followed Cal into the office, sitting down in an empty chair just next to him. Larry's eyes wandered around the room, in which paperwork, books, folders, and binders were strewn around almost every table. The entire place had a run-down or well-used look to it.
“Your mother explained the details of your situation to me over the phone already,” Cal tapped away on his keyboard as he talked, “so I already made up a plan for what to teach you.”
“You will be teaching me?” Valerie questioned.
He nodded back, “Yes, I will be. Usually, I’d have two more coworkers who help me out, but with the school year for trainers entirely over, I’m the only one here at the moment.”
“Really,” His trainer sounded surprised, “I would’ve assumed any school would need more than three teachers.”
“If you came here a few years earlier, you would’ve been correct,” Cal sounded slightly irritated at the insinuation, “but the new Indigo Academy seems to replace our school in most people's eyes, even though we still very much exist. Most local families whose kids have aspirations to become Pokemon trainers seem far happier to send their children to Indigo Academy than our little hole-in-the-wall establishment.”
“Either them, or they get a sponsorship from Oak just a short trek south…” Cal now looked downtrodden, “The web makes it so easy for people to simply educate themselves. Why would they even need this school…Sigh…”
“Um…” Valerie wanted to say something to calm Cal.
“Anyway!” Before she could, the young man returned to the same chipper attitude from before. “We’ll have you learn about Type-Effectiveness, Pokemon Husbandry, some simple Outdoor Education and Woodcraft, so you can survive in the wilderness, and finally basic battle strategy. That should suffice for anyone looking to go on their journey. You usually pick up the rest on the road.”
Bending down, Cal hefted a stack of books with the terms he’d just mentioned onto the table, “Take these, they’re on the house, they come with your tuition! We should go through almost everything in the week we have, but you’re bound to miss some important things, so it won’t hurt to take these with you. Read up on ‘em when you need to!” A gulp of trepidation and a weak nod were all Valerie managed to get out when looking at the stack of books.
Ignoring his trainers' woes, Larry looked around the bottom of Cal’s desk at the stacks of various books the man still had in storage and found one that piqued his interest. It featured a Kadabra standing next to a man, with thought and text bubbles next to them as they held a conversation, ‘Wait a minute? Can these guys teach me how to communicate with Valerie? I didn’t even think that was an option!’
The thought tingled Larry at the back of his head, he’d missed actually talking with humans this whole time, and Sybil didn’t make for a good conversation partner. What's with how mysterious and silent the Psychic usually acted. It would make a world of difference to Larry if he could actually tell Valerie about his wants and needs without needing to play a round of charades every time. ‘Even just getting her to say my name was an entire headache! If I can learn to communicate, somehow, then this whole thing would be a whole lot easier!’
He tapped Cal on his knee, and the man looked down at him with a smile, “Hm? What can I do for you, little Larvitar?”
“His name is Larry.” Valerie corrected as she eyed his antics.
“Oops! What can I do for you then, Larry? Are you also looking to learn something?” He repeated.
Larry pointed at the book, “Oh, you’re interested in that book?” He picked up a copy and leafed through it, “This is on Pokemon to human communication, specifically for Psychic-Types.”
Quickly, he pointed at the book and himself, but Cal didn’t quite catch it, “Huh? I’m sorry, but what are you trying to say?”
Looking upon the scene, Valerie had a better intuition, “I think he means he wants to read it?” Larry shook his head at that, “No? Then, do you want to learn what's in the book?”
He nodded vigorously, “Yes!”
“But I don’t think a Larvitar can learn any Psychic-Type moves which would allow them to communicate.” Cal pointed out.
This time, Valerie understood what he meant without any miming, “I don’t think Larry means that specifically. You want a way for you to communicate with us, right? I’ve been thinking the same thing.”
“Yes! YES!” Larry jumped for joy at the correct understanding of his charades, ‘Hell yeah! First try, baby!’
“Hmm…We did run courses at some point for something like that, they weren’t that popular though.” Cal quickly fished a binder from the stack mounting his desk, rifling through it with precision.
“What? Why weren’t they popular?” Valerie asked with a quirk of the head.
“Well, you see. Most Pokemon that would be interested in communicating with their trainers are the smart ones, but as it turns out, most smart Pokemon are also Psychic-Types. At least here in Kanto.” He tapped the book already on the table for effect, “The Alakazam Line is practically the only one here in Kanto, and if you can use Telepathy, there is not much reason to use other ways, even if it hurts a tiny bit. Besides, Pokemon can learn from human textbooks as well with their trainers' help, so the need for a course isn’t quite there either.”
A hum by Valerie was all she managed before Cal finally found the right paper, “There we go! The course was pretty barebones, it taught Pokemon how to write, allowing them to simply write out things so their trainers could read their writing. I should be able to find some teaching material on that.” He turned to Larry, “Your trainer will be busy during school hours, so in the meantime, do you want to learn something too, then?”
Larry nodded back excitedly with a smile, “Yes, please!”
Valerie put a hand on Sybil's side, the bird still sitting with a blank stare on her shoulder, “What about Sybil here then? Since she will be here as well, can she learn communication for Psychic-Types?” The bird blinked at her sudden inclusion.
You might be reading a stolen copy. Visit Royal Road for the authentic version.
“A Natu, hmm?” Cal put a hand on his chin, “Natu aren’t predisposed to Telepathy like Alakazam, so it would be harder to teach. It's also quite dangerous to teach, considering one wrong move could scramble your brain like an omelet.”
“Then how about at least teaching her theory for now?” Valerie suggested, less than enthused to have her brain scrambled, “Educating yourself about your Psychic-Type side couldn’t hurt, right, Sybil?”
“We do have a more generalized book about Psychic-Types as well,” Cal once again fished another book from a stack under his table. On its cover was a picture of an Alakazam with a barrier of Pink Psychic-TE around itself as it floated in meditation. A Hypno stood next to it, emanating rings of Psychic-TE at the camera, its pendulum in motion. Cal addressed the Psychic directly, “This should help you find out more about your powers. Interested?”
A slow blink later, Sybil bowed to the man, “I indeed am. I will be in your care.”
“Great!” Tapping away once again while looking at his screen, Cal sucked in a breath through his teeth, “This will be a lot to fit into a week of learning, you’re gonna have to pay real good attention. Still up for it?”
Valerie grimaced for a second before deciding. She looked for her Pokemon with a fist already pumped, “If it's for our journey, we can learn a bit, right guys?”
“Agreed.” Sybil bowed.
“Hell yeah!” Larry cheered.
…
Seven hours later, the heavyset, real, wooden doors of the trainer school in Viridian City opened once again, and a trainer and two Pokemon squeezed themselves past them and out of the trainer school with all the grace of a student on their first school day. Valerie looked exhausted, her brain nothing more than a sopping wet sponge filled to the brim with knowledge. It felt as though she’d aged 40 years in the last few hours with the sheer amount of material which had been forcefully crammed into her head, “Finally…Freedom…”
Larry didn’t fare much better, even though he’d had much less material to learn. You don’t become a shut-in in your previous life if your education went swimmingly, so he was struggling along with Valerie at a similar pace, even though his material was far easier. His ambitions of learning an entirely new writing system in just a few days had been slashed entirely, and he felt even stupid for assuming he would manage to do so, “I…I think I got a few of the letters down, right? I’m still unsure how I’ll write them without fingers, but…”
“Your performance was adequate,” Sybil commented from Valerie’s shoulder. She had had the easiest thing, as all of her learning material was built around one of her innate Types. Where both Valerie and Larry had to contend with entirely new academic material, Sybil had gotten what was the equivalent of a Psychology Book to her. Education had made the usually quiet bird quite a bit chattier. “Our teacher did an adequate job educating us today, in my personal opinion. Valerie managed to document a lot of her teachings, and they even allowed us to take our books home with us. Even if I cannot read it myself, I think if read by Valerie to me, I will gain a lot of useful knowledge from it. I can already see ways to improve my techniques.”
“Damn Psychic-Types…” Larry cursed under his breath as he whined to himself, ‘It's not fair to have an entire Type of Pokemon all be super smart and educated! What about me?!’
Valerie ran a hand through her hair as she sighed, “Well, at least we can now get to the fun part, training! Let’s find a spot behind the local Pokemon Center, why don’t we?”
Both Larry and Sybil agreed with that. Even if Sybil liked learning, Pokemon always enjoyed training just a smidge more.
Their trainer stopped quickly as she realized something, “Actually, why don’t we go take a look at the Gym first? I wanted to sign up for a Gym Challenge after all.”
Larry curled his head to the side at that, ‘Didn’t her mom say she shouldn’t challenge it?’
“Yeah, I remember what my mom said,” Valerie guessed Larry's question correctly with a teenage eye-roll, “But what's the worst that could happen? Worst case, we get our as-butt handed to us by a Gym Trainer and then go to the next Gym, which is supposed to be easier anyway.”
Larry didn’t mind either way, more than happy for a challenging fight. He shrugged at her argument before nodding along with Sybil, “Sure, I don’t have any strong feelings one way or another.” His mind was somewhere else, ‘The only thing concerning me is the Gym Leader himself, Giovanni.’
…
From the outside, the Viridian Gym had a similar design to many of the League buildings he’d seen so far. Clean, almost clinical modernist designs, almost entirely constructed out of concrete, with only its roof colored an earthy brown, probably to signify the Gym's Ground-Typing. The building wasn’t built like a hospital, though, it was a giant Gymnasium, as the name would suggest. When Valerie entered, it was into a small entrance hall, with a small reception to her left, which was completely empty.
“Huh, where is the receptionist?” Valerie closed in on the reception desk, peering over to see nothing but an empty seat. “Is nobody here?”
Now that she had pointed it out, the entire Gym was eerily quiet, unusual for a place that was usually home to Pokemon battles. Larry strained his superior Pokemon hearing to no avail, the only thing catching his ear was the interior's air conditioning and a ticking clock in the room, ‘Is this normal? They said the Circuit year hasn’t started yet, so maybe this Gym isn’t staffed yet?’
Valerie called behind the desk was a hallway out into it in an attempt to find someone, “Hello! Anybody home?”
“Coming…” A lethargic-sounding voice called out from somewhere in the hallway. After what felt like two or three minutes, a young woman with long, purple hair emerged from the hallway, “Sorry, sorry. What is it?”
“Hello, my name is Valerie Riston, and I was hoping to sign up for the Gym Challenge when the League year starts.” Valerie rattled off politely, giving the woman a bow as well.
The woman curled a brow at her name before peering over her reception desk and at Larry, “Hmm, I’ve heard about you, you were on the news, right? Mount Silver.”
With a sigh, Valerie nodded, “Yes, that’s me.”
She kept her eyes on Larry as Valerie responded, but quickly wrenched her eyes away when the girl stopped, sitting down on the chair on the other side of the reception, “...Small world, I guess. You’re early, but sure, I’ll sign you up.”
“Please do.”
Mousing through a computer on the reception desk, she finally responded again, “Your appointment’s gonna be in two weeks, just when the circuit starts.” Her printer whirred to life, and she handed the girl a small slip with the date and time of her Gym Challenge on it, “Don’t lose that, it's verification. We also check your license, so keep that on you.”
“I will!” Valerie responded in a chipper tone as she bowed to the woman, who was already standing back up again, “Thank you, I’ll make sure to come on time.”
“Sure, sure.” Walking back to where she’d come from, she waved a hand beside herself, “Good Luck.”
‘I would’ve expected more professionalism from a Gym employee, but hey. Maybe she’s known around here for that?’ Larry mused to himself as they exited the gym, ‘She didn’t exactly have that shady look around her, and I can’t for the life of me remember if the Viridian Gym is in cahoots with Giovanni's nefarious activities.’ Larry had never been a big player of the first generation of games, so he couldn’t be sure of the exact run-down of the story. One thing was clear, though, ‘She did eye me for a pretty long time.’
“Now that we've got that behind us, let's get training, guys!” Valerie responded with another pumped fist.
Larry’s musings fell away just like that, ‘I guess I’ll start worrying about it later. Once I figure out how to write, I’ll warn Valerie. We have two weeks to get ready anyway.’
