Chapter 2: Hoenn and first 'battle'

Thumbing the stone in her pocket idly, Janine stared out at the vast ocean as the passenger vessel she had been on for the past few days slowly cut through the seemingly endless clear water. 'Not long now.' 

As always, her Spinarak rested on her shoulder, dozing off. Thoughts churned inside her head - she had to have gone over her routing and badge plan practically a hundred times by now, and yet every time she found some way she could theoretically tweak it.

In truth, she was looking for two specific things. One, the exact Pokemon she knew she wanted from Hoenn, and two, impact. Janine wouldn't be starting off with the hardest gyms first, nay. She would work her way up from roughly the easiest to definitely the hardest, even if that would drastically affect her routing and make her clearing speed of the eight badges far slower than it likely could be otherwise. 

Not only that - she would do it in style. Perhaps it was pride, but the thought of ignoring type advantages, optimization of team, or any such notion of taking an 'easier' route, and crushing through all 8 major badges with sheer strength and skill sent a shiver down her spine. 'It's a shame I won't be able to get the Normal or Dark type Pokemon I want for a while.' For obvious reasons, Slakoth and Zangoose were heavily restricted, with one needing at least 4 badges for Zangoose, and the entire 8 badges for Slakoth.

Which, honestly? Completely reasonable. A well-trained Slaking was an utter monster when you were limited by things like 'attack once, then go to sleep.' On the flip side - for the Dark types she wanted, Absol was similarly restricted to the fourth badge, and Seedot wasn't technically a Dark type until it evolved, so - it was not fitting for her 2nd Pokemon. Even if the Poke Ball could brute force a bond between the two of them, it wouldn't help her own personal growth, nor would she be able to massively bolster a Seedot's until it evolved. 'On top of that, Cacnea are rare, and I don't wish to deal with the desert for now.' 

There was a reason why Lance could raise a dragon into its final evolution within a year, yet couldn't do the same for a Nidoran. After all, the social AND mystical bond between Pokemon and Trainer was important and was what made every generation of Trainer stronger and stronger.

So - that just left her with one type: Poison. Rubbing the stone in her Pocket once more, Janine held back an amused smirk. 'After all, why would anyone restrict the gentle and not obscenely strong Roselia, it doesn't have any evolutions!' Indeed, with Sinnoh still having its borders closed; no one had yet to make a connection between Roselia and the still unknown Roserade outside of the region, and thus, she had a prime opportunity. 

Considering she held little interest in Swalot, and Seviper would cause problems with her future Zangoose - quite literally she was left with only one option unless she wanted her 2nd Pokemon to be a Kanto or Johto option. Perfectly acceptable, but she had her entire life to capture those, and her 3rd Pokemon was already going to be one anyway. 'So then, the question is simply… do I sweep the first gym with a Roselia or a Roserade… and do I sweep the 2nd gym with a Honchkrow or a Murkrow?' 

Speaking of Pokemon, the rules for Hoenn were a bit unique when it came to them. Due to the fact that trainers started out younger, and thus the Type Energy inside of a kid was naturally smaller, on top of the need for multiple boat rides, and thus time wasting in the midst of the league; they imposed strict capture caps based on Gym Badge, or individual evaluation.

With no badge, you could only capture 2 Pokemon. With 1 badge, 3. Then, at 3 badges you could capture a 4th, and then once you've obtained your 5th badge, it went up to six.

From there, per law you could only have six on you at one time unless you were inside of your own domicile, were a member of law enforcement, a Gym Leader, or other such positions. However, you could have more Pokemon, as long as they weren't on you.

'The trap lies there.' In all honestly, she imagined it was formatted like that specifically to check the intelligence and knowledge of Trainers. Because, in all honesty, capturing and forming bonds with every Pokemon you came across once you had 5 badges was stupid. To go even further, it was suicidal.

While the Poke Ball did help form the bond between Pokemon and Trainer, it was just a mere tool. The true bond was rooted with the individual sides, and so; capturing a dozen Pokemon in a short spurt because you now could was likely to lead you to being sent to the hospital while they hurriedly shoved you full of every nutrient and vitamin imaginable and praying you wouldn't wither up like a husk and crumble to dust.

It was a give-and-take relationship. The Pokemon took Type Energy from you to accelerate your growth, and as they got stronger, you gained more Type Energy. It was through this process that one was meant to slowly grow their team until equilibrium was reached. Some people hit that at 6, some point, or even 20. Some were unlucky and could merely have 1 or 2 Pokemon. This was the sad part where talent and money played a part. Enough money? You could get certain Pokemon or Trainers to artificially bolster your Type Energies. Enough talent? Pfft! Go ahead and do stupid shit. Go capture a Dragonite with no Pokemon, that's what Lance did after all!

As can be seen, it was also the reason why certain Pokemon were banned before certain badges, no matter the region. Simply put, if a normal Trainer caught a Dragonite as their first Pokemon, they'd likely die in seconds. Or, if someone got a hold of a Regional Starter and they weren't ready for it - well, bad times ahead. 

'Luckily, I won't have that issue.' Glancing down at her sleeping Spinarak, a smile graced her face for a second. 'After all, we've grown quite strong in our year together, haven't we, buddy?' 

In truth, it was likely that until at least her 6th or 7th Badge, Janine's newly caught Pokemon would be acting more as 'leeches' instead of the symbiotic relationship the bond between Trainer and Pokemon was meant to be. Even without having caught a Pokemon, it was much the same for her Spinarak; he had quickly reached the 5th badge in strength before slowing down in growth. Even then, a lot of that slowness had to deal with the fact that he was ready to evolve. 'The benefits of reincarnation, adult memories, and the natural talent of someone who was already good enough to be a Gym Leader.' 

A part of the key strategy that all clans took to maintain their reputation was delaying a year like she had, a dirty little secret. Start your child a year late, and all of a sudden, they look like a prodigy that's just soaring through the Gyms. 'Of course, when you're a REAL prodigy, that strategy just blooms even more.' 

Due to the nature of lacking battles, adventures, and just a general lack of world experience, this strategy generally leaves clan children leaving their homes with Pokemon on the level of a 4th, maybe 5th badge Pokemon.

Janine had been destined to be at minimum a Gym Leader from the day she was born. She already had worldly experience, and most importantly - a good enough brain between her two ears, and the knowledge that the world was dangerous, and there would always be more mountains to climb.

'We still have a long distance to go… but this first circuit? We've got this.' 

The blare of the ship's horn snapped Janine out of her thoughts, and as she turned towards the front of the ship, she spotted the reason why. 'Slateport… here I come.' Hurrying off the deck and towards her room, Janine quickly filled everything into her magically space-expanded bag, which even after intensive research into classified studies she still couldn't figure out how it worked, before gently tapping Spinarak awake.

"Hey, buddy. We're almost here." A sleepy chittering noise escaped from Spinarak's mouth and Janine gently rubbed a hand down his back. "No, not quite. We have to get to Mauville to catch our first companion, remember?"

He lazily blinked his eyes before the lines and dots on his back, characteristic of every Spinarak turned into a sheepish grin. 'Silly little Spider. I get you're getting sleepy from being too strong for this baby form of yours, but at least try to remember.' Letting an amused huff escape from her mouth to make sure he understood she wasn't mad, Janine slung her backpack over her shoulder and checked herself out in the mirror to make sure her makeup and hair were fine, before walking out of the room. 

Sadly, she wouldn't be able to instantly leave Slateport, as a bag and Pokemon check at the dock was mandatory, then official registration and check-in as a foreign visitor was required at the local Poke Center, on top of Energy Scanning. Honestly, if it wasn't for the fact that she had been taught as a child how to mask and even change her own internal Type Energy, she would have refused to come to Hoenn just because of the last part, even if it was the orders of her Father. 'I'm surprised someone didn't try to start a war just for that requirement alone.' 

In essence, Hoenn was requiring any Pokemon Trainor that was from Kanto or Johto to get the equivalent of their soul read, that was how tied to one's Physical and Metaphysical being Type Energy was.

Stepping back onto the deck, Janine was only briefly surprised to find the vessel already rapidly slowing down before, with a jerk coming to a complete halt. 'Alright, gametime.' "All passengers, please prepare to leave the SS Daggenforth, I repeat. All passengers, please prepare to leave the SS Daggenforth. Please keep all bags and cargo on your person and ID at the ready."  The deck rapidly got crowded as passenger after passenger came up from their rooms, dining, entertainment, or pool areas, and with utter ease, Janine blended into the crowd. She was neither first, last, nor in the middle of the people to leave from the exit ramp. A perfectly random and arbitrary placement, yet one that wouldn't stand out.

Walking down the pristinely blue-painted board, Janine followed the queue towards the blue and black tents at the end of the dock. Through the crowd of people of various ages; some as young as 13, and some as old as 80, she could spot those under the tents. Non-descript adult males and females in uniform, and only one of them sporting the famous blue hair of the worldwide Jenny Clan. Gazing at the eight separate lines quickly forming in front of each attendant under the tent, she shifted herself upon recognizing one of them. 'There he is…' Casually positioning herself through the crowd to enter that line, Janine patiently waited.

Twenty minutes later, she was at the front of the line casually handing over her bag and all of the Poke Balls on her to the man her clan had exorbitantly paid, and with a quick flash of her electronic ID, she was through. 'I hope he enjoys the Toxic Orb.' Quickly breaking free of the crowd, Janine followed the map given to her and directly made her way to the Pokemon Center, as was required for any of the Indigo trainers planning to compete in the League.

Considering her legs were longer than the 13-16-year-olds, or she was actually in shape compared to the elderly, she actually knew how to read a map, on top of the fact that Slateport was surprisingly scheduled to be a less popular starting spot, Janine wasn't all too surprised when she entered the Pokemon Center and found it completely empty besides a Nurse Joy behind the counter.

Ignoring the dinging bell as she stepped through the doors, Janine had already plastered a soft smile across her face. Stepping up to the counter, she spoke, her voice like it often was soft and airy, "Excuse me, Nurse Joy? I'm here to register for the League, I'm from Kanto."

The woman perked up, a bright smile across her face. "Of course! If I could see your Pokemon for a check-up, we can get started on all the other procedures." Nodding her head, the soft smile still remaining, Janine patted Spinarak once before returning him, and handed over his ball. "Thank you!"

Carefully taking hold of the slightly worn standard Poke Ball, Nurse Joy slotted it into a machine. "Now then, if I could see your ID I should be able to pull you up to make sure you've done all the proper forums, then we can move on to the Energy registration, and have you good to go!"

Pulling out her Pokephone once more, Janine quickly pulled up her ID. Showcasing it, she kept up her soft smile, even as Nurse Joy visibly reacted at seeing her name. 'The downside of being from my clan… Everyone who knows about it and sees your name will immediately be suspicious of you unless you're the Gym Leader and thus a heroic figure. However, she likely wouldn't react this way if she wasn't doing my registration. Damn League politics.' "Right, Janine Kurosawa, daughter of Gym Leader Koga Kurosawa?"

"That's correct Nurse Joy." There was a moment of silence as the suddenly far more emotionally detached and standoffish woman began to pull something up on her computer, before a minute later she nodded. 

"Everything seems to be in order." It was as the pink-haired woman spoke, that a soft ding echoed from the machine where her Spinarak had been previously placed. "Perfect timing. Let's see here. Your Spinarak is in excellent condition, although he has a bit too much energ- Oh? What's this?"

Seemingly reading off the screen, Nurse Joy's nose wrinkled. "I see, an Everstone. Well, these energy and physical readings showcase that your Spinarak is more than ready for Evolution and will be classed as a Seventh-Badge Pokemon." Pulling the Poke Ball out of the machine, Nurse Joy quickly handed it back over. "Now then, just stand still and you can be on your way." Somehow, someway, Nurse Joy managed to turn even more frosty at the knowledge she was using an Everstone to suppress her Spinarak's evolution.

'Yes, because I clearly am doing it because I want to hurt him, and not because stupid laws in Indigo and Hoenn make it so I can't evolve him yet.' Janine was too trained to drop the pleasant smile or to roll her eyes, but internally she was already done with this entire meeting.

She hadn't expected a Nurse Joy of all people to be the first one to let her experience Hoenn's 'hospitality', but here she was.

As a red light seeped from Nurse Joy's computer and began to scan Janine's body from top to bottom, her Type Energy carefully controlled inside of her body, began to twist just so. Not enough to visually change its typing - but just enough so that if necessary, she wouldn't be able to be tracked from the imprint and tamping down on the quantity of it. 

As for if that was discovered… well, it's perfectly normal for such a thing to change through adventure, capturing Pokemon, and all of that! There was an awkward silence as Nurse Joy frostily stared at her, and Janine did not deign to attempt small talk. 'If this is what all of Hoenn is going to be like, then Koga owes me big time.' 

An excruciatingly long five minutes later, Janine stepped out of the Pokemon Center and hurried north towards the exit of the city. 'I can already tell this is gonna be a sucky first League.' 

At least the Hoenn air smelled nice, she supposed… 

— 

Walking through the grasslands of Route 110 north of Slateport City, which was far larger than the games, Janine quickly called back out her Spinarak, who like always crawled onto her shoulder and fell asleep. Giving him a few quick scritches, she pulled out her Poke Phone, and began to do a few basic things.

The first thing she did was to check her official Hoenn League profile.

Janine Kurosawa - Kanto Visitor

Record: 0-0-0

0-Badges (No history of League participation)

League Registered Pokemon:

Spinarak

1 Empty Slot

Amusingly enough, even though Nurse Joy slipped out what his rating would be, such a thing didn't showcase on her profile. Nor was there any reference to what her Type Energy was, nor how potent it was. 'Then again, this profile everyone can see. What would be interesting is to see what my true profile looks like…' 

Shaking it off, she quickly registered for the Hoenn League online boards and then linked her ID. 

ElegantVisitor66

Certified 0-Badges 

Holding back a snicker at the simple name, she took the time while she was on the emptier part of the route to scroll through the forums, but finding nothing of immediate interest, decided instead to turn off her phone and simply enjoyed the stroll in silence.

"HAH! I caught your eyes; now we have to battle." Of course, it was as she did so that a kid likely barely having turned old enough to even be a Trainer jumped out of the bushes, pointing directly at her.

A smile tugged upon Janine's lips. "Are you sure you want to do that?"

"Of course! 1 on 1! My Wingull can take on that tiny bug easily!"

"Alright then, if you're so sure. Would you like to wager, say… 100 Poke Dollars?"

"Deal!" Janine's smile grew wider. Was it cruel to basically be taking candy from a baby when she was certifiably rich? Perhaps. 

Pulling out her phone again, Janine tapped it against his own outstretched one, before taking a few steps back. "Spinarak! Go! Have some fun buddy." Making a clicking noise, he lazily jumped down onto the ground in front of her.

In response, the kid who basically looked like the perfect representation of a youngster, even with the iconic blue cap and yellow shirt, tightly gripped onto his sole Poke Ball. "Go, Flappy!"

In the iconic scene, he threw the Poke Ball into the air, and with a hiss and a flash of red light, out came a white bird with blue stripes - Wingull. 

"Flappy! Start off strong, Quick Attack!" As the Wingull came swooping down from the air, her Spinarak took the time to turn around and stare at her with questioning eyes.

She shrugged. "He challenged us. Just web the Wingull up."

Turning back around, Spinarak let out a chittering sigh, then just before the Wingull slammed into him, spayed out a String Shot. Showcasing his mastery of the technique, what came out of Spinarak's mouth was not a singular line of sticky string, but instead something akin to a shotgun blast as dozens upon dozens of strands directly impacted the water bird, causing the Wingull to slam into the ground.

If anything, her Spinarak seemed even more depressed as he idly prodded at the bird with one of his legs. "Is… your Wingull okay?" 

At Janine's words, the kid gritted his teeth. "He's fine! Buddy get up and Watergun!"

The Wingull began to shake, covered in string as it was, and Janine let out a sigh. "Just… knock him out with Psychic."

In response, her Bug/Poison type's eyes flashed blue with psychic energies, and a visible wave left him and slammed into the Wingull, who immediately stopped moving. 'Honestly, now I just feel depressed.' "Yo-you big bully! Why didn't you tell me you were so strong?"

Janine's face turned blank as the kid returned his Pokemon before running away. Aah… now she was the asshole.

Spinarak stared at her. "Spina…."

"Yeah, yeah I get it. It was dumb of me to accept, and even more so for thinking it would be amusing because I wanted to relieve my anger at Nurse Joy. I know." With a click of his mandibles, Spinarak jumped back onto her shoulder, and lightly bit her neck in a show of disapproval, before snuggling in. 'That was stupid of me, he was just some dumb kid excited to finally be able to Pokemon battle.' 

Shaking her head, Janine continued on the route, unaware she had just caused far more trouble than she could have ever imagined…

Truly, what a great and beneficial first day in Hoenn. 'What's next, Janine, kicking a puppy? By Mew, you truly are your father's daughter. He'd practically be beaming with how I just destroyed a Hoenn child's dreams.' 

Continuing to walk in silence for a few hours, Janine wasn't surprised she didn't encounter any more trainers, and only very rarely spotted a wild Pokemon. After all, she had a couple of weeks still till the League officially started, so everyone was either training, resting, or preparing; and the League wouldn't have started to prod weaker Pokemon near the routes yet. 

'I should probably check how exactly they do that in Hoenn. Is it like Kanto or Johto where the strength of Pokemon guided to official routes is based on location, or more fitting how they do things here? Do they slowly, throughout the season, get stronger and stronger Pokemon to show up on the routes?' Of course, 'prod' isn't quite the correct word - considering what she knew of how Kanto and Johto did things, it was more like negotiations with the Alpha of each route, but it was a close enough representation of how things were done.

Then again, Hoenn DID have a traditional route, so it could be more like the Indigo League. It was just that the traditional route was far more ignored here compared to back home, where it was practically mandatory. 'I can research all that when I get to Mauville; it's a shame I completely forgot about such a thing before coming.' Still, she wasn't surprised. Having had a minimal amount of time to do research, it only made sense she would miss quite a few things. 

Taking a quick glance at the sky, Janine picked up her walking pace a little bit. 'I won't make it today too Mauville, but I should be able to tomorrow as long as nothing delays me.'