Author's Note: My vacation is over so back to regular uploads ie 2-3 chapters per week more if possible.
After Grey had swapped Exeggutor for Persian and told her that she could stay at Bill's house for the day, Persian was a little confused.
She wasn't exactly sure what was going on.
Usually, whenever Grey recalled her into her Poké Ball, it meant they were either traveling, training, battling, or doing something else that required the entire team. So being sent somewhere and then being told she could simply stay there for the day was a little strange.
But that confusion didn't last very long.
The moment Persian properly looked around Bill's house, she became quite happy with the arrangement.
First of all, the house was huge.
No, seriously.
It was really huge.
There were rooms everywhere, and there were so many places to sleep that Persian wasn't even sure where she should settle down. There were multiple sofas, chairs, beds and plenty of other comfortable-looking places where a cat like herself could curl up and spend hours doing absolutely nothing.
There was even a proper place for bathing.
And then there was the butler.
A butler who apparently existed to do whatever she asked.
Persian looked at Ken.
Then she looked around the massive house.
Then she looked at all the comfortable places she could sleep.
Maybe she should just stay here.
The thought entered her head almost immediately.
Why go back?
This place had food, comfort, space and a butler.
Grey wasn't even here.
It was perfect.
Persian happily jumped onto one of the sofas, curled herself up and closed her eyes.
Within moments, she was asleep.
She had no idea how long she had been sleeping when a voice suddenly interrupted her dream.
"Oye, what are you doing, Persian?"
Persian didn't move.
She was busy.
Very busy.
She was currently dreaming about an endless supply of tuna and an equally endless amount of sleep.
Then she heard another voice.
"Fraxure! Xure, Fraxure!"
Persian's ears twitched.
Why was Brother Fraxure's voice suddenly appearing in her beautiful dream?
She tried to ignore it.
Maybe if she went back to sleep, the voice would disappear.
"Wake up, Persiannnn!"
Persian finally opened her eyes.
And immediately froze.
A phone was directly in front of her face.
On the screen was Grey.
Shit.
She had been caught.
"I thought I had sent you there to train, but you are busy napping, I see."
Persian immediately moved her head from side to side.
No.
Absolutely not.
She wasn't napping.
She had simply been... resting.
There was a difference.
At least, that was what she wanted Grey to believe.
Unfortunately, Grey had apparently seen enough.
"If something like this happens again and I find out that you spent the entire day doing nothing instead of training, then no good food for you."
Persian froze.
No.
Not the food.
Food was important.
Actually, food was probably the most important thing in her life.
Right at the top of her priorities was food, followed very closely by sleeping.
Battling probably came somewhere after those two.
She stared at Grey through the phone with a look that practically screamed betrayal.
Grey then spoke to Ken for a little while, telling him a few things before finally ending the call.
The moment the call ended, Persian slowly turned her head toward Ken.
She glared at him.
Then she hissed.
It was obvious.
The butler had snitched.
Ken simply looked back at her.
Then he smirked.
Persian's eyes narrowed.
Goddammit.
The butler knew.
He had somehow figured out her plan to spend the entire day doing absolutely nothing.
There was no way around it now.
She had to train.
And worse, the butler was going to be watching.
Well...
She could still half-ass it.
That was better than nothing.
So Persian reluctantly went out to train.
She didn't particularly enjoy it, but at least she had done something.
And eventually, the reward for her suffering arrived.
Food.
Ken brought her something to eat, and Persian immediately became interested.
The moment she saw the food, however, she realized that it wasn't her usual meal.
It looked different.
There was still the same energy packed into it, but the presentation was completely different.
It looked almost regal.
Persian stared at the food for a moment before taking her first bite.
Her eyes widened.
This was good.
Really good.
No.
This was heavenly.
She continued eating, becoming more and more convinced that this might be the best food she had ever tasted.
If food this good was going to be given to her, she should have trained from the beginning.
Damn it.
She could have been eating this all day.
As she continued eating, another thought suddenly occurred to her.
Was the butler trying to reinforce her training through food?
Persian slowly looked toward Ken.
Ken looked back at her.
They stared at each other for a few seconds.
Persian narrowed her eyes.
Ken simply maintained his calm expression.
She continued eating.
Nah.
The butler didn't seem that smart.
She had figured him out.
At least, that was what she told herself.
Once she finished eating, Persian decided that she would go back to sleeping.
There was no way Ken could snitch on her now.
It was already night.
Besides, she had technically done her training for the day.
So there was nothing wrong with sleeping now.
With that thought in mind, Persian found another comfortable spot and prepared herself for another peaceful night.
Meanwhile, Ken watched her from a short distance away.
The young butler couldn't help but smile.
Persian actually reminded him of a Liepard he had taken care of during his previous job.
Cat Pokémon were surprisingly easy to manage.
They always thought they were incredibly smart.
They always believed they were getting away with something.
But most of the time, it was simply all in their heads.
Ken shook his head slightly as he watched Persian settle down for another nap.
Cats really were predictable.
Author's Note:
I know, short chapter. I was thinking of putting this at the end of another chapter like a comic strip, but this ended up being too large for that, so here it is. I do enjoy writing these Pokémon POVs, as they make the fic feel more wholesome.
Now the reason for this note:
I noticed a bit of a flaw, or let's say a problem with the battle mechanics. Since my fic doesn't have the four-move limit, basically any Pokémon with a lot of coverage options through TMs or training should theoretically be strong. But in practice, how well they use those moves and their STAB also come into play.
Take Persian, for example. She would have a lot of different moves of almost every type, but she isn't going to hit very hard even with super-effective damage unless she uses a Normal-type attack boosted by Technician, which is also something she would eventually unlock.
Second, I had written this fic taking Traveller as an inspiration. Do go check it out, it's a great fic, though it only gets monthly updates if the author has time. Anyway, something that comes up in the later part of that fic is using the type itself to create attacks. For example, having an absurd level of control over the Dark type and using the darkness itself to create shrouds, or using the nature of the Dark type, which is meant to disrupt or disorder things, to rupture other attacks.
I won't go too much into this, but the point is that there needs to be something that separates an ordinary trainer's Pokémon from an Elite Four-level Pokémon or even the main Pokémon of a Gym Leader. Those leaders should have one or two Pokémon that are at the Elite Four level, barely, for example Surge's Raichu and Electabuzz( the old one), or Erika's Venusaur, Koga's Crobat, Sabrina's Alakazam, and other Pokémon like that.
These Pokémon could be masters of their elements or be able to use the element itself in ways that go beyond simply using moves. For example, Crobat's poison might be deadlier than the move Toxic, Raichu could dish out an electric attack stronger than Thunder, or Venusaur might literally recreate something like Hashirama's Wood Release: Nativity of a World of Trees by combining Frenzy Plant, Petal Blizzard, and Grassy Terrain through its mastery of the Grass type.
Again, these are just ideas.
Not all of Grey's Pokémon will reach that level, and the better way to put it is that not all of them need to reach that level because they have other ways of being strong.
Take Persian. She isn't going to master any of the other types to that absurd degree, but she knows so many different types that Grey can simply throw her into a battle and, no matter what the opponent is, Persian will have some way to dish out good damage.
Heracross is a wall breaker, period. Maybe it will develop some Fighting-type mastery, but for the most part, it's going to dish out huge amounts of damage through its physical attacks.
The Pokémon that will improve the most in this area would be Cloyster, Exeggutor, Larvitar, and Charmeleon. Fraxure is in more of a grey area here, but he might also go down the route of Dragon-type mastery.
This is also one of the reasons I wanted to justify why specialists exist in this world. It is easier to achieve mastery over one type than many. You only have to cover for that type's weaknesses and achieve control over that one element.
That is also one of the reasons why trainers, after around three to five years into their journey, start switching toward specialization.
(Something I will cover in the fic at some point.)
Anyway, I just wanted to share my thoughts. Maybe the Author's Note was more serious than the actual chapter, but with that said...
Adios.