Chapter Five: The Beast Tamer’s Abilities

Oak Research Institute.

Amu sat in his room, once again using his Pokédex to make a video call back to Matsuzao Town.

“Is this the Pokémon Center? Oh, it’s Professor Oak’s lab… I remember Grandma mentioning it before… Have you been eating your meals on time at night?”

“Kiyomi, why are you fussing over that brat so much? Today’s March 10th—if by this time next year he hasn’t collected eight badges, he should face reality and come home to be a pharmacy apprentice, plain and simple!”

Kiyomi cared about whether Amu was eating properly while traveling alone, while Granny Reishi’s words remained as sharp as ever.

Amu accepted both forms of concern with equal gratitude.

After the call, Amu released the Bulbasaur he’d just received into the room.

Eight badges—the standard to qualify for the rookie tournament.

In truth, not many manage to earn them all in their first year!

Generally, if one collects eight badges before the age of twenty-five, they’re considered to have the potential to become a “professional trainer.”

Of course, there are late bloomers now and then, but as a rule, if you haven’t earned eight badges by twenty-five, you have to start thinking about another career.

As for Amu, he also had his pharmacist’s talent to consider—he’d achieved expert level at eighteen.

If, as a trainer, he couldn’t even qualify for the regional rookie tournament, how was he any different from a failure?

As for the so-called “badges,” they are a form of certification obtained after challenging a gym.

Unlike in the cartoons or games, you don’t earn a badge by defeating the gym leader personally. Otherwise, not only would the gym leader be overwhelmed, but requiring challengers to defeat all eight leaders just to compete would be underestimating the gym leaders’ status!

Although there are more than eight official gyms, all certified gym leaders possess at least one Elite-tier Pokémon.

Across the Kanto region, there are hundreds of gyms—if not a thousand—mostly run for profit and to promote their battling styles, often by retired trainers.

However, only fifty gyms have “official” status, with no more than one official gym per city or town.

These fifty official gyms are authorized to issue badges.

Each gym sets its own criteria for awarding them, but what’s consistent is this: the more badges you have, the harder it becomes to earn the next.

For example, if you have no badges and challenge your first gym, they’ll usually send apprentices to battle you—the first few badges are routinely awarded.

But as the difficulty increases, some responsible gym leaders may step in themselves to test those challenging for the eighth badge—though certainly not with their full strength!

Beyond tournament eligibility, the number of badges you hold determines many other privileges.

And eight isn’t the maximum…

Among the fifty official gyms, twenty-four can grant up to the tenth badge—when you challenge for this, the gym leaders will give it their all, as ten badges grant access to certain important protected areas.

Another twenty gyms can issue an eleventh badge, while the six most prominent gyms, located in the six largest cities, are authorized to grant the twelfth badge.

Twelve badges—that’s the threshold to vie for a position among the Elite Four or even the league champion.

Of course, Amu intended to participate in the rookie tournament, and if all went well, he hoped to enter both Quartz League tournaments within the year!

Whether he could win, though, he had no certainty.

He possessed a “beast master’s” abilities, but in this world, trainers boasted a wide variety of talents—geniuses were hardly in short supply!

Even though it was a rookie tournament, the bar was not low—eight badges required a full main team at tournament grade, plus at least one or two elite-level Pokémon. (See Note 1)

Each gym, on average, only issues one or two eighth badges per year, and at stricter gyms, not even one may be given out in a whole year.

Thus, those qualifying for the rookie tournament via badges usually number only thirty to fifty.

Of course, the first badge is easy—typically requiring only two Pokémon for evaluation.

Especially since Amu planned to head north to Viridian City next—the official gym there specialized in ground types, while both of his Pokémon were grass types, so earning his first badge would be no trouble.

As for the newly acquired Bulbasaur, Amu decided to start its “training.”

“Bulba, bulba~” Bulbasaur seemed to take a liking to Amu right away.

Resting his hand atop Bulbasaur’s head and letting it nuzzle for a while, Amu then said, “Little Bulbasaur, let me give you a name! Hmm… how about Garlic?”

“Bulba?” Bulbasaur paused for a moment.

Seeing how pleased it looked, Amu was reassured, and released Exeggcute as well. “Garlic, Amen, from now on you’re both my mainstays—be sure to get along!”

Amu then began his “training”—no need for a formal training field, just his room sufficed; there wouldn’t be too much commotion.

Placing his hand on Garlic’s head, a wave of invisible power pulsed through the air. Garlic closed its eyes, and when it opened them again… there was a newfound depth to its gaze—at least, compared to the usual innocence of Pokémon, it now appeared profound!

Beast Master: capable of sharing senses with Pokémon, and of unlocking their hidden potential.

Amu had already tested this ability on Amen; this “shared senses” skill, when pushed to the limit, produced a “possession” effect—the spirit in question being Amu’s own!

At this point, his understanding and control of the Pokémon’s body matched that of his own.

Amu’s body remained half-kneeling, hand resting on Bulbasaur’s head, while the “possessed” Bulbasaur took a few steps back, then bounced around the room.

Amu experimented with the way Bulbasaur’s body moved—unsurprisingly, in every aspect, it lagged far behind Amen.

After all, by human reckoning, his Exeggcute was over level 20, while Bulbasaur was only level 5—though Pokémon only have the concept of evolution, not “levels,” for convenience, the major leagues have a standard system to assess and assign a “level” to each Pokémon.

Even species values and individual values have been given statistical numbers. (See Note 2)

Of course, Pokémon themselves possess no such “data”—it’s just a human convention.

Except for godlike legendary Pokémon, the species values were as Amu understood them, but the legendaries…

Most are completely unknown; the rare few who have much contact with humans and are still young, such as Latias and Latios of the Water Capital, have values above 1200!

Under these Pokémon senses, Amu could feel energy steadily accumulating, as though there were an “energy gauge” being filled, and once “full,” he could use “moves.”

Indeed, Pokémon battles work this way—once ready, they unleash powerful moves, but during preparation, they also rely on ordinary attacks to engage the enemy.

It’s not like the games, where in “turn-based” battles, Pokémon just stand idle when not using a move; the process is more akin to the animated battles.

The “speed” stat in human terms refers more to how quickly this energy gauge fills—or how fast a move can be prepared—rather than simple movement speed!

Usually, Pokémon who charge energy quickly also move quickly, but not always proportionally. For instance…

Kanto’s signature pseudo-legendary, Dragonite, is said to have the fastest flying speed among non-legendary Pokémon—Lance’s Elite-tier Dragonite can circle the globe in sixteen hours, breaking records—yet its energy charge rate is only “above average,” so its speed stat is set at 80, which is a far cry from being the “fastest” by the numbers.

After experiencing Bulbasaur’s basic state, Amu moved on to the most important aspect…

“The ability to unlock a Pokémon’s potential”—in this state, Amu could awaken the power dormant in a Pokémon’s genetic code!

Simply put, Amu could help a Pokémon awaken all of its inherited moves…

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Note 1: Tournament grade refers to Pokémon with a battle power above 15,000. Elite grade is 30,000; quasi-Elite Four is 50,000; Elite Four grade is 60,000—see Note 2 for measurement details.

Note 2: In this story, Pokémon themselves are not actually digitized, but humans have their own system, thus the existence of species values and individual values.

Species value refers to the standard stats for a given Pokémon species, just like the numbers seen in the games. Individual value represents variance from the species base, expressed as a percentage, e.g. “+3%” or “-2%”…

There is also a growth value, equivalent to “effort value” in the games, likewise expressed by percentage. The difference is that individual value is inheritable, while growth value is purely acquired.

Battle power equals “level × species value,” with individual and growth values factored in as percentage modifiers. For example: a standard pseudo-legendary with a species value of 600 at level 100 equals 60,000 battle power—Elite Four grade.

After level 50, attributes like attribute lv and ability lv are added, with fixed increases to battle power calculations, to be detailed later.

The system is largely based on the one from “Dimension Forum,” but with more precise refinements.