"So, even though they knew the Honey was from me, they still stole it and then beat you up?"
"Yeah. They hit with practiced precision… you can't see any wounds from the outside, but..."
Zirc went silent. He was too embarrassed to say it hurt.
"Tell me about them."
"There are three of them. They have an Ekans, a Shinx, and a Stunky. All of their Pokémon are at the Skilled tier. The Shinx counters my Zubat pretty hard… I wouldn't lose in a one-on-one against the other two. But they usually gang up on me..."
'So basically, you get wrecked,' Haruki mentally filled in the blank.
"They have connections 'upstairs' too, right?" Haruki continued asking.
Zirc didn't hesitate. "Yeah. They're close with Wesley and Zachary… those two are veterans in the Intelligence Division."
"Let me guess. They're both entering the selection too?"
"Yeah. I've collected their info too and added it to the USB. Each of them has two Veteran-tier Pokémon. They're hot favorites in this round of selection."
"Well, that explains it. Seems like you getting jumped today probably had something to do with me."
Haruki understood.
…MIO selection had already begun.
But Zirc didn't respond to that. He understood the situation clearly.
"It's still my fault for being too weak..."
Hearing that, whether Zirc meant it sincerely or not, Haruki saw him in a better light.
Then Haruki said seriously, "So you've made up your mind? You're choosing to follow me?"
Zirc looked up, a bit embarrassed. "To be honest, big bro, I looked up your info after I got back."
"Oh? And what'd you find?"
"Not much, actually. But the fact that you got recommended for the selection despite having no background… that's what made me decide to follow you."
Haruki smiled. "Alright. That's pretty textbook IT thinking."
Zirc scratched his head, looking awkward, but when Haruki smiled, he relaxed a lot more too.
'That should count as passing the test.'
"Let me see your partner."
"Ah, sure."
With a flash of red light, a Zubat flew out and perched on Zirc's shoulder.
Haruki leaned in to examine it closely...
Nothing stood out.
'No problem.'
"Two options. I can go beat those three up right now and get the Honey back. Or I lend you some points so you can train, and later you win back your pride yourself. I'll deal with Wesley and Zachary."
"I choose the second one."
"Alright. Time's tight, let's start training tonight. Go book a training room first."
"Got it! Thanks, Haruki!"
Watching Haruki move so decisively, Zirc felt even more confident that Haruki really would help him.
Ten minutes later, the two of them had arrived at the training room.
Coincidentally, they happened to run into those three bullies along the way.
When the trio saw Zirc with Haruki beside him, their mocking expressions vanished immediately. Seemed they were pretty good at "self-preservation."
Seeing that, Haruki felt even more certain in his judgment.
'Alright then. Time to stick to the plan and take it slow.'
Inside the training room, Marowak and Zubat were having a free match.
True to its appearance, the Zubat wasn't anything special, but the fact that it had inherited Hypnosis gave it a bit more tactical versatility.
Haruki hadn't trained a Zubat himself, but thanks to Christopher's earlier explanation, he had later made a point to study this species on his own.
"How many points do you still have access to?" Haruki asked.
"Around 500... not much," Zirc replied softly. He had saved those points one by one.
"The [Steel Wing] TM costs 1,000. I'll lend you 500 more. Go exchange it for Zubat."
Haruki let out a silent breath of relief. Good thing he'd caught a few Pokémon on the road; otherwise, it would've been awkward not being able to follow through on his big words.
Next, Haruki explained his idea to Zirc: use Steel Wing to conduct electricity into the ground. If it worked, it would greatly help Zubat against Shinx.
Additionally, if Steel-type moves were used defensively, they could also reduce the damage from Poison-type attacks, a lesser-known tactical advantage.
But what shocked Zirc even more than Haruki's strategy was Marowak's strength…
It might have only looked like a low Veteran on paper, but its battle presence and timing left Zubat in the dust.
So strong!
The two stayed in the training room until late at night, only returning once Zubat could no longer keep up.
Back in the rest room, Haruki plugged in the USB Zirc had given him and began thoroughly going through the files.
Zirc's intel skills were actually pretty good. He'd collected a lot of information about Base No.1, all of which was exactly what a newcomer like Haruki needed.
Let's not forget, Haruki had been brought directly from the Kanto Region headquarters by Christopher. Many in the Sinnoh division were curious about him.
Some out of interest, some out of wariness, but most leaned toward the latter. There was a natural rejection toward "outsiders."
And the USB included everything: the base's leadership, zone supervisors, factions, major incidents, gossip…
As well as the full list of competitors for the selection, the evaluators, final rewards, and even an outline of the "tournament" format; which hadn't been officially released yet, but was probably close to the truth.
After reading through all of it, Haruki felt a lot more confident. He wasn't going in blind anymore.
A quiet night passed.
Early the next morning, Haruki arrived at the training room ahead of schedule to begin training Skiploom.
In under three days, getting Skiploom to master the Toxic-Protect-Substitute combo from scratch wasn't just difficult.
It was extremely, extremely difficult.
First was move acquisition.
Haruki didn't understand the science behind how TMs worked, but using them was incredibly simple.
Just press the sensor of the TM against the Pokémon as instructed, activate the device, and before long the Pokémon would learn the move.
But learning it was only the beginning.
Ensuring consistent execution, improving releasing speed, accuracy, and potency… All of that required a tremendous amount of training.
Thankfully, the one undergoing this special training was Skiploom, a naturally gifted prodigy!
Since Skiploom already knew how to use Poison Powder, Haruki had it start by learning the move Toxic.
The TM was activated.
Soon, Skiploom's yellow floral crown began to glow purple. While spinning, it released a burst of violet liquid at high speed.
The liquid splashed onto the target, instantly corroding it and sending up white smoke.
Toxic: learned successfully.
Under the TM's stimulus, Skiploom launched the move two more times.
After the third use, the TM went silent and stopped functioning.
Haruki clicked his tongue in amazement, but then again, the Pokémon world didn't exactly follow the rules of science so he didn't bother dwelling on it.
"Give it a try."
"Skip~"
Skiploom responded sweetly, then focused on recalling the feeling of releasing Toxic just moments ago.
Ten seconds later, a smaller glob of poisonous liquid -only about half the size of before- shot forward and splashed on the ground.
"Nice! You pulled it off on your first try! Let's keep going."
"Skip~"