Vs. Eevee

  The sun had long passed its zenith, and the green, mossy trees of Viridian Forest began to cast longer and longer shadows. Jesse wanted to get as far away from the city as possible, but a fresh glance at his young charges told him that they needed to be finished with traveling. The foursome had just finished moving through the towering old growth and were about to begin pushing through denser, younger trees. Jesse guessed they must have been planted late last cycle, or early this cycle. Abruptly, he stopped walking.

  “Are we stopping here, dad?”

  “Yeah.” Jesse indicated what he’d seen. “There’s enough space over here to camp for the night. Get in some quick Pokémon training too. I don’t know how far that thick stuff goes and we’re liable to wake with a branch up our nose.”

  Sam was too tired to point out the missed rhyme. “And here I thought we were almost finished learning new things in one day.”

  “Wassamatter, Sam? I thought you liked learning,” Dillon joked, sliding off his backpack.

  Sam watched Jesse pace between trees, as if measuring the distances, and said nothing.

  When the boys had dropped their packs and caught their breath a little bit, Jesse directed them all towards a tree each. To Sam’s immense surprise, Jesse started them through punching drills. Straight punches, uppercuts, jabs, and hooks. Dillon and Owen fell into practiced, planted stances, and mechanically repeated the motions as Jesse called them.

  Sam’s back ached but in a slightly different manner than before, and Jesse assured him that the focus needed to be the proper mechanics.

  “Oh good,” Sam said with relief. He swung a careful punch that sailed harmlessly in front of his tree. “And here I thought you’d start with Pokémon types.”

  A ghost of a smile formed on Jesse’s face. “Oh, we can cover types real quick. Here, face me.”

  Sam turned to see Jesse only a couple feet away, in a relaxed stance that looked suspiciously like a more refined version of Owen’s. “Are you going to have someone tackle me again?”

  “No, that was me,” Dillon chirped.

  Jesse’s eyes met Sam’s, and both could see the other refrain from rolling them in exasperation. “You’ve played Rock, Paper, Scissor, Sam?” He formed his fingers into the relevant positions.

  “Yes, Mr. Mitchell.”

  “Alright, so we’re gonna do that. First one is normal, but if you lose, you get to go again.”

  “Um, okay.”

  “Also, we’re going to hit each other.”

  Sam’s eyes widened.

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  “Remember your foundation?”

  Sam stared for a second, then uncomfortably adjusted his stance.

  “That is your leverage against the ground, but that’s not what I told you the foundation of your training was going to be.”

  “Foundation?” Sam tried to cast his thoughts back a few long hours of hiking. “Breathing? Breath?”

  Jesse nodded. He held his hand up, ready but loosely, hovered around his solar plexus.

  Sam put it together. He switched his hand between a fist, an open hand, then two fingers extended. “Maybe I can’t counter pick you, but I can put my best attack into your weak spot. Like disrupting your ability to breathe?”

  “Don’t get me wrong, understanding type matchups is important, but it’s not foundational. With a solid foundation, you can win a good matchup a little easier, lose a bad matchup a little harder, turn an even matchup into a victory, or keep and even matchup from becoming a loss. It all matters in the long run, whether you want to play the League, travel the wilds, defend yourself, or just be that little bit better.”

  Sam took a measured breath and thought about Jesse’s words. “Not all Pokémon breathe though. What about those?”

  Jesse winked at him. The older trainer stepped back and renewed calling punching combinations. Sam snapped back to his tree with a fresh understanding, and relief that he wasn’t actually going to get punched.

  “For this next series of punches,” Jesse called out, “We’re going to go the sharp, controlled breathing that we did earlier. In, then punch on the out. Right hook, then left hook. Sam, don’t hyperextend your elbow here, keep a slight bend. In! Out and Right! In! Out and Left!”

  Sam’s head felt airy, but Jesse’s barked commands and his own leaden legs grounded him enough to focus. He could feel his punches increase in power just from the change in breathing.

  After a few more minutes, Jesse called them off. “Congratulations,” he said as the boys collapsed yet again. “You’ve just experienced a taste of what you’re going to put your Pokémon through as you train them. Now call them out so we can all meet each other.”

  Sam looked nervously at Jesse, then Owen, then Dillon. “I thought we weren’t supposed to reveal what we had? In case of emergency?”

  Jesse summoned his first three Pokémon, Golem, Alakazam, and Gengar. “If these three can’t handle an emergency then there’s nothing you can do. We have our own way of training and cooperation that works well for us, and it’s important that you tailor your training to yourself, your team, and your goals. Go ahead. Dillon, Owen, include your aces this time. This is about as safe a time as any, and you won’t want your aces to not know who your allies are.”

  Dillon grinned. “I’m so happy you let me call it my ace.” He produced two Pokeballs, threw one at Sam, and held up the other one threateningly. “This… is a monster. Often overlooked, but you can find it anywhere. No one knows how to deal with it, and its power is unrivaled. You ready for this?”

  Sam held out Pikachu in front him. “Shoot.”

  Dillon smirked and threw down his Pokémon. Amidst a cloud of smoke drew forth… a Magikarp.

  “…really?”

  “Oh it’ll happen.” Dillon replied confidently. “See? You had no idea what to make of this Magikarp! But when it eventually evolves into Gyarados…”

  “Eventually.”

  “It’s going to be one of my powerhouses, land, sea, or air!”

  Sam hugged Pikachu. “I’m pretty sure this guy could just zap that silly. Really easily.”

  “But!” Dillon pointed out, “Magikarp will still grow from losing! Remember what dad said about the Bug-types?”

  “Okay, sure,” Sam replied wearily.

  “Besides, it’s a Water-type, and every good trainer needs to train a Water-type,” Owen recited importantly. He released his own two Pokémon: Squirtle and Machoke. Squirtle immediately locked eyes with Pikachu, who squirmed out of Sam’s arms. The two small Pokémon began immediately running circles around each other. Machoke shared knowing looks with Golem and Alakazam, and then placed itself near Owen, arms crossed.

  Sam licked his lips nervously, and Jesse sent out his other three Pokémon. Charizard. Blastoise. Venusaur. The three starters towered head and shoulders over the four trainers. Sam could almost feel the energy emanating from where Jesse’s team stood, and indeed only Machoke and Jesse himself seemed unintimidated.

  “Ooo!” Dillon pleaded, “any chance we could fight you, three against one, six on six?”

  Machoke stepped forward into a loose ready stance. Magikarp flopped.

  “Let’s at least see how Sam feels about,” Jesse replied, “but I imagine that might be something we can train towards.”

  Sam shook his head. “No, I don’t think I’ll be able to contribute much to that. For one, I don’t have two Pokémon. For two, we aren’t exactly equipped to be going only two at a time. We have to be all six.”

  Dillon grinned. “Works for me. Come on, let’s see them.”

  Six pairs of long brown ears emerged from the smoke of Sam’s Pokeballs. Six pairs of bright, shining eyes took in the Viridian Forest once more. From six pointed black noses to six fluffy tails, Sam’s team of Eevees sat ready for orders.

  Dillon howled with laughter.