Grass-Type Elite Four Training System 1: Ding!
Grass-Type Elite Four Training System As the alarm clock blared, Evan Lane opened his eyes in a daze.
A sharp ache throbbed through his head.
He struggled on the bed for a long while, finally tried to spring up, and still failed to sit properly.
“I should’ve gone to bed earlier last night instead of playing so late…” Last night, Evan had been playing Pokémon battles.
He had used Substitute, Protect, and Toxic stall tactics, along with a truly obnoxious Whimsicott, to make his opponents wish they had never queued up.
The rush had gotten to his head, and he had stayed awake until three in the morning.
“Grass-type Pokémon really are the most annoying…
cough, cough, I mean the coolest Pokémon!” Just as that thought crossed his mind, his mother’s voice came from downstairs.
“Get up, Evan!
You still have to go pick your starter Pokémon today!” Evan, who had finally managed to sit up in bed, froze.
Starter Pokémon?
What starter Pokémon?
Senior year was starting in a few days.
Wasn’t today supposed to be the day his mother forced him to finish his summer homework?
Just then, his phone chimed.
He picked it up and saw a message from his childhood friend, Connor Hale.
“Evan, are you ready yet?
Don’t tell me you’re still in bed.
Have you decided?
Why don’t we both pick Fire-types?
They’re so cool!” Evan hurriedly got up and looked down from the window.
Sure enough, Connor and his parents were waiting outside.
But Evan was still completely lost.
Starter Pokémon?
Fire-type Pokémon?
Was he still dreaming?
He went to the bathroom sink and splashed cold water on his face.
The stabbing pain in his head struck again.
Leaning against the wall for a while, Evan finally came back to his senses.
“So that’s what happened…
I’m still Evan Lane…” A flood of memories poured in.
After sorting through them, Evan understood.
He had arrived in a world where humans and Pokémon lived together in harmony.
And the place he was currently living in was the Arcadia Region, one of the ten major regions governed by the Pokémon League.
Unlike in the games, however, the League had long ago passed a law stating that trainers could only receive their starter Pokémon and begin their journey at the age of sixteen, in order to reduce trainer casualties.
Reality was not a game.
If someone ran into a violent Pokémon with a bad temper, there was a real chance they could lose their life.
After all, not everyone was built like some superhuman from Pallet Town.
Someone like Ash could take a Thunderbolt head-on, stare down Legendary Pokémon, shake the soot off his body afterward, and somehow look completely fine.
After battling through multiple Leagues and finally winning in Alola, you looked back and realized the guy left home at ten, yet somehow looked even younger when he became Champion.
In the Arcadia Region, high school students became eligible to receive their first starter Pokémon during the summer before senior year.
Once senior year began, they would officially start studying Pokémon-related knowledge in a structured way.
In truth, students had been introduced to basic Pokémon knowledge since childhood.
It just had not been systematic.
Only after receiving their own Pokémon would they begin studying the subject in full.
Evan’s current school, Mapleford First Academy, was a prestigious high school focused on training future Pokémon Trainers.
The difference between a prestigious academy and an ordinary high school was not only the depth of its trainer resources, but more importantly, the cost.
Raising Pokémon was not as simple as feeding them.
The resources Pokémon needed, along with the expenses required for training, were the most realistic barriers standing in front of many ordinary families.
For example, the tuition for one senior year at Mapleford First Academy alone ranged from $30,000 to $40,000.
That did not include the cost of buying a Pokémon or registering as an official trainer.
Evan looked around his familiar room.
Thankfully, nothing else had changed.
Pokémon had simply become part of this world.
His familiar friends and parents were still by his side.
Just as Evan was getting emotional, his mother’s furious roar came from outside the door again.
“Evan Lane!
If you don’t roll out of bed right now, your starter Pokémon is going to be a Caterpie!” What?
Starting with Rayquaza?!
Evan quickly shook his head.
No, no, no!
He could not handle that!
After quickly getting ready, Evan rushed downstairs, wolfed down a few bites of breakfast, and the two families headed toward the League Starter Center.
The League Starter Center was the official place under the Pokémon League where Pokémon and Pokémon Eggs were sold.
Of course, there were also many private Pokémon shops to choose from.
In terms of price, they were much more expensive than the League Starter Center.
Still, many wealthy families preferred private shops, because by paying a high price, they could reserve Pokémon with high potential or extremely rare species.
After all, who would not want to start out with a powerful and rare Pokémon?
Evan kept thinking about that question on the way to the League Starter Center.
His family was ordinary.
His parents had already sacrificed a lot to support his dream of becoming a Trainer.
On top of that, they still had to pay the expensive tuition once school began.
Not only that, registering as a junior trainer required five consecutive years of licensing fees.
After deducting those costs, ordinary household expenses, and the money needed to buy Pokémon food and supplies, whatever remained would be the amount Evan could use to buy his first Pokémon.
Considering his situation, Grass-type Pokémon became Evan’s first choice.
Putting aside the three traditional starter lines, there were also many excellent options among more affordable Grass-types.
For example, there was Breloom, a Grass and Fighting-type; Sunkern with the Solar Power ability; the lightning-fast Whimsicott; and Ferrothorn, which had nine resistances and one immunity.
All of them were very solid choices.
But Breloom, with its Fighting typing, and Whimsicott, with its Fairy typing, would not be cheap.
Sunkern had weak early combat ability, and if he wanted it to evolve into Sunflora later, he would need a Sun Stone, which was also a problem.
Evan’s mouth suddenly twitched.
Was he really going to have to choose a defensive wall like Ferrothorn?
And since it had Steel typing, the price probably would not be cheap either!
As he was thinking, the group arrived at the entrance of the League Starter Center.
Looking around, he saw many parents bringing their children inside.
There were also plenty of people walking out while carefully holding Pokémon Eggs.
Mapleford had three high schools.
Mapleford First Academy mainly trained Trainers, Second Academy leaned toward Breeders, and Third Academy was not considered a prestigious school.
Right now was the peak season for buying Pokémon, so this kind of crowd was completely normal.
After the guide reserved by the two families arrived, Connor and Evan separated, each going to choose their own Pokémon.
Just as the guide Evan’s parents had booked, a young woman named Mia, was about to explain the process, Evan’s voice came from beside her.
“Please take us to the Grass-type Pokémon section.” Mia froze.
Shouldn’t boys usually like Fire-types or Steel-types?
Or powerful Dragon-types, although their Starter Center did not have any of those anyway.
Then, as if realizing something, she silently sighed.
This high schooler named Evan really was a considerate kid.
Evan’s father and mother exchanged a glance, then turned toward him.
“Evan, your mother and I still have some savings.
Besides, your starter Pokémon will affect your battle score on the college entrance exams…” Hearing his father say that, Evan was momentarily thrown off despite having already prepared his answer.
“Dad, what are you thinking?
I just like Grass-type Pokémon more.” Why was it that whenever people mentioned Grass-types, they automatically thought of them as easy to raise, cheap, and weak?
Although, to be fair, there was some truth to that.
Even Evan himself had thought that way at first.
But on the way here, Evan had already figured it out.
He had always believed in Grass-type Pokémon!
Sure, Grass-types were not as well-rounded as Steel-types, and they had five weaknesses with only four resistances.
They were not as mysterious and tricky as Ghost-types.
They did not suppress powerful Dragon-types the way Fairy-types did.
They did not even have a single pseudo-Legendary.
But in Evan’s heart, Grass-type Pokémon had always been the coolest Pokémon!
If Boss Giovanni could train a Beedrill with a base stat total of 395 to go toe-to-toe with Legendary Pokémon, then why couldn’t the mighty Grass type, with all its talented species, do the same?
There were no weak Pokémon, only trash Trainers!
He, Evan Lane, was going to use a full Grass-type team and stand on the Elite Four stage!
He was going to drive the price of Grass-type Pokémon through the roof!
“Ding!
Congratulations, host.
The Grass-Type Elite Four Training System has been successfully activated!”