A/N The first half of this chapter is still scattered with remnants of the old plot structure I had for this story. It'll get expositiony again, though not as bad as last time because I've cut out the worst offenders and moved them below the effective end of the chapter.

The hashtag (#) symbol indicates dry and cut content; if you want the full, original (and boring) experience, feel free to scroll down whenever you encounter a hashtag to read the uncut version of the section.

Chapter 10 - AFTERNOON ACCOMPLISHMENTS

On the second half of his second day as a Pokémon trainer, Ex accomplished a number of things.

The first was largely thanks to Amber. Or maybe he should call her...

Alienating Aliases

"By the way," Amber said not long after Ash was out of sight. "I forgot to mention it earlier, but could you not call me 'Amber' when we're around other trainers?" She brought a finger to her cheek. "Or whenever you record yourself?" She tilted her head. "Or just about anywhere, really, unless we're alone?"

"Um... why?"

"Because I asked nicely," Amber huffed. "Use my Trainer Name instead. That's what you're supposed to do anyway."

Ex stumbled only slightly. "What? 'Trainer' name?"

"Yes. My Trainer Name is 'Leaf'."

Ex stumbled a bit more. "LEAF?!"

Amber nodded. "Yes."

His brain automatically supplied details at the prompt. Canonical name for the player character of Fire Red and Leaf Green when you choose 'girl' instead of 'boy'. There was an outward pause as it frantically tried to calculate the implications of trainers using aliases, and of AMBER being LEAF. Did Gary choose the name Blue, or maybe Water? Is Ash's REAL name Satoshi, with only his 'Trainer' name being 'Ash'? If Amber chose 'Leaf' and Red already had his journey a few years ago, does that mean AMBER is the main character for THIS journey? Are we experiencing the equivalent of the Fire Red / Leaf Green plot in a world which ALREADY HAD the Red/Blue/Yellow plotline? Or...

This left Ex with the unfortunate task of continuing the conversation while his brain was rambling. "Um... why did you choose that name?"

"My green hair," she shrugged. "And because I wanted a Bulbasaur. By the way, why did you choose 'Ex'? And what's your real name?"

"Um... 'Ex' is short for 'exploit'," he decided after a time. He just thought it was a cool name when he was a kid, but 'Ex' being short for 'exploit' was more fitting now. "And I'd rather not talk about my real name."

Amber frowned. "But I already told you mine."

Ex shrugged helplessly. "Sorry. All I can say is... you remember that time when I joked about my backstory being that I don't have a backstory?"

"Yeah...?"

"Well, I wasn't completely joking."

They walked the next few minutes in silence, Amber because she was trying to understand that, and Ex because he wanted to drop the subject. The silence ended when they encountered an obstacle: a waist-high ledge, blocking the middle of the path.

AA0 – Leaping Ledges

"Oh!" Amber gasped. She rushed up to the ledge and pointed at a large plant draped over the side. "Look!"

Ex, who had been about to walk away in search of stairs or a hill, paused mid-swivel. The mass of leaves and vines almost made the curved ledge look like a hedge in that one specific spot. He walked closer and squinted. He didn't see anything unusual about it, just normal ivy.

"What am I looking at?"

"It's Revive Ivy," said the amateur wilderness survivalist.

"Revive Ivy?" Ex echoed. "What's that?"

Amber looked at the Pokémon 'Professor' like she thought he was kidding. "Where Revives come from. Duh." Then her gaze returned to the plant, inspecting it closely. "Too bad this one doesn't have any Max Revives on it," she said as her fingers traced the leaves. "Or any Revives, really." She sighed. "I guess that's what happens when it's in the middle of the road where everyone can see it." In the span of a second, her fingers went from tracing the ivy to grasping it. She gave it a few experimental tugs, then pulled herself up to the top of the ledge in a single motion. "Makes a good handhold though," she said as she dusted off her dress.

Ex was (almost) Frozen at the sight, his mental voice shouting YOU CAN'T DO THAT! at the top of its mental lungs. His brain was saying things like E-R-R-O-R and D-o-e-s n-o-t c-o-m-p-u-t-e! on repeat.

Amber looked down at him expectantly. "You coming?"

Ex, in a daze, approached the ledge and stared at it.

"Well?" Amber asked impatiently.

"Um..." He stared at it some more.

"Ex," Amber said, beginning to sound annoyed.

He looked at the girl who had so easily climbed it, snapping out of it long enough to ask, "You mind helping me up?"

Amber sighed, knelt down, and offered her hand. Hesitantly, Ex extended his own. Hers quickly grasped his, yanking him up with surprising strength and speed. In no time at all, he was standing right next to Amber, on top of the ledge. His companion nodded in satisfaction and began walking down Route One again, but Ex simply stood there. He looked over the edge of the ledge's hedge – which (his brain was saying) should have been unclimbable by any means. "I feel like I just cheated somehow."

Amber giggled. "You're so weird sometimes," she sang out over her shoulder.

Ex took a shuddering breath, then took a few quick steps to catch up.

When he and his brain had calmed down again, he used his Pokédex to look up 'Revive Ivy'.

AA 1 – Researching Revives and Rare, Rare Candies

The search results were eye-opening.

Revives were a natural medicine, not artificial – a mineral-like substance produced by 'Revive Ivy'. They weren't made by people; they were made by a plant.

Actually, Revive Ivy was just one of the plants that made Revives, albeit the most common. Others included Revive Cacti (in deserts), Revive Moss (in caves), and even Revive Seaweed (on the ocean floor). But no matter the plant type that spawned them, fully formed Revives were loose and light enough to blow away in the wind (or sea currents). They could land just about anywhere. That was why he was finding so many.

(Revive plants also made Max Revives, but those took much longer to 'amalgamate'. Max Revives were also too heavy to blow away in the wind like normal Revives, so if you wanted to find Max Revives, you had to find the physical plant.)

And there was more.

In order to make Revives, the plants needed something called 'Pokémon Energy', which all Pokémon radiated. The more Pokémon you had, the more 'Energy' there was, and the more Revives could be grown. It was similar to how Pearls were made by Clamperl, Honey was made by Combee, and Big Mushrooms were made by Paris, according to the article.

So grouping a bunch of Paris together will make more Mushrooms? And same with Clamperl making Pearls? Ex had thought, and a quick search confirmed it. He didn't even bother looking up if more Combees made more Honey; that seemed obvious enough.

But in the case of Revives, it was floral instead of faunal – they were byproducts of plants, not of pokémon. When Ex checked to see if there were any other Items like that, he found a single result. Well, he may have found more if he'd scrolled down the screen, but this one sprung to the very top of the search engine and immediately caught his attention. He clicked on an article with the title "Rare Candies for the Rarified Researcher, by Professor Elm" and skimmed it, quickly learning many things.

# (Cut content: In-depth Revive Ivy explanation and the non-summarized version of that article.)

First and foremost, Rare Candies were naturally occurring fruits, similar to how Revives were naturally occurring minerals (i.e. both came from a plant). Rare Candies sprang from tiny sprouts almost too small for the naked eye to see, but the 'Rare Sprouts' were there if you looked for them. This meant Rare Candies were not sweets made by humans, like he'd previously believed. The blue wrappings were petals of a flower, not plastic or paper, and so long as the fruit stayed inside the petals, it wouldn't spoil.

The second and ultimately most important he learned was that the 'Rare Sprout' cannot be grown in controlled environments – they shrivel up and die if humans spend too much time around them. This is in addition to the fact that each plant requires a great deal of "Pokémon Energy" to produce just one fruit. Therefore, RARE CANDIES COULD NOT BE CULTIVATED OR MASS-PRODUCED. (This was the part of the paper which disappointed Ex the most.)

Third and also important, Rare Candies do here what they did in the main games. They do not do what Rare Candies did in Pokémon Go.

Fourth and finally, if a human consumed a Rare Candy, they would get a tasty and healthy snack but not much else. Ex didn't plan on doing something that dumb, but it was good to know he wouldn't get hurt if he ate one by accident.

He nodded to himself, closed the link, then searched the Pokéweb for more general information on Rare Candies.

One article described what most trainers do with the Rare Candies: they sell them to Pokémarts, which in turn sell them back to Trainers. Another article was an opinion piece about the unfair advantage Rare Candies provided to Rich Boys. A third article claimed many scammers will try to sell fake Rare Candies to gullible newbies. Dealing with scammers was, apparently, a sort-of trial by fire here in the Pokémon World. Either you wised up or you washed up, and 'wising up' in this case meant sticking to official sources if you were looking to buy.

The prices of Rare Candies, when Ex examined these 'official' sources, were exorbitant as expected – almost ten thousand pokédollars for a single Candy.

Ex had mostly decided he would stick to gathering them himself by that point, but the prices were the cincher. After one full day on Route One (yesterday's noon to today's noon), he already had two Rare Candies, and he would no doubt be finding more. Since the fruit didn't spoil if it stayed settled inside its protective blue petals, it could be stored indefinitely.

And it didn't take long for him to realize what this discovery meant. The discovery hadn't been a part of any foreknowledge to date. The discovery was completely new to him and his brain, not coming from any canon or even fanon sources. His foreknowledge hadn't even hinted at the possibility, meaning all foreknowledge was now suspect. He might be able to make educated guesses, but now he knew that's all they'd be: guesses and assumptions.

Ex's first accomplishment that afternoon, therefore, had been overcoming a few previous assumptions: first about Ledges and second about Revives and Rare Candies, clearing up many questions but also closing off many exploits. No buying in bulk from the Rare Candy Factory, since there was no such factory.

Oh well.

AA 2 – Outsourcing Obstacles

The second thing Ex accomplished on the second half of his second day as an official trainer was... not as monumental as that might have made it sound. But it was still significant. And it was again in the vain of information-gathering.

Ex needed to know, first and foremost, how Pikachu had known Thunder. And he was not going to accept protagonist-itis as an answer. It hadn't even seemed like Ash knew about Thunder, let alone had the wherewithal to teach Pikachu beforehand.

His brain had offered a few suggestions – taught by a TM, known at birth à la Egg Move, learned via Move Reminder – but honestly, (1) Ex couldn't see Ash knowing about any of those, (2) his brain said Thunder couldn't be learned by Egg Move, even as it offered the possibility, and (3) Pikachu had no prior Trainer, meaning no-one else could have taught him Thunder either, unless Professor Oak had decided to give Ash an advantage. But if he hadn't, there may have been another 'realism' factor at play, which may or may not involve Thunder being available as an Egg move. Since this wasn't the games, he couldn't necessarily rely on his 'knowledge' about learnsets and movepools.

He could have tried looking for the answer online like he did with Revive Ivy, but if it wasn't the Egg Move thing, then none of the online sources would know Pikachu's exact situation. The only one who had a chance of knowing that was Professor Oak.

And when he realized that, he also realized Professor Oak would know about something else which had caught his brain's attention...

(After reviewing the battle against Ash, his brain had declared that Charmander yet again earned too much Experience from a rival/Starter battle: just over double what the Gen Five algorithm predicted. His brain guessed that perhaps the same as-yet unknown multiplier from Charmander's first battle had come into play, hypothesizing that maybe all Starters gained double Experience when battling each other, which would explain both the battle with Pikachu and the one with Squirtle.

But Ex wasn't convinced. The 'Close Call!' message implied that something similar to a 'Flawless Victory' had happened, except instead of finishing a battle on full health, Charmander had finished the battle on a single hit point – a 'difficult' battle, and thus a more 'rewarding' one, to use the terminology from his Experience lecture.)

...And before his brain could go off on any long tangents, Ex decided to do what he should have done last time.

Hi Professor Oak,

I fought a low-level Pikachu which used Thunder. Are there ways to get moves early besides TMs or Move Reminders? And is there a list of all known Experience Multipliers, like Close Calls?

Sincerely,
Pokémon Trainer Ex

He couldn't make the email any longer; it was hard enough to type with one hand while walking, but that should be enough. Professor Oak would know of Close Calls, as he knew of Flawless Victories. He would know about the other multipliers as well, and he would probably know about Pikachu, so Ex may as well just ask for all of them at once. The pride he lost in admitting ignorance was sated by the satisfaction of actually realizing he could outsource his question in the first place. It was simple, effective, and efficient; why should he do the work himself when he didn't have to?

There was only one problem: even just asking the multiplier question might cause Professor Oak to attempt to solve them.

The Pokémon Professor would be able to use his vast swaths of data to calculate any currently unknown multipliers, like Ex had done with Flawless Victories. Ex, or rather his brain, had been planning to yank those low-hanging fruits off the tree of discovery. It had been planning to do the math itself. This had the potential to earn lots of money – 40,000 for each multiplier – and his brain did not want to give up that potential. But from the tone of Oak's last email, Ex had a feeling it didn't matter.

So in the end, he decided to hit 'send'. Thus, his second accomplishment that afternoon had been outsourcing an unexpected obstacle. Or, put more simply, asking for help on a confusing problem.

But now he needed something he could use to distract his brain from shouting E-R-R-O-R at the lost financial opportunity, so in between his second and third accomplishments, he got back to Experience grinding.

Interlude: Learning Learnsets

Now that his Meowth had all reached level 6, Ex was teaching them a new training rotation. He'd politely requested that his brain stop shouting E-R-R-O-R and start helping him with Experience, and that had been enough to both calm it down and prompt it into developing a pretty good strategy:

1. Open with Bite.
2. Hope for a Flinch.
3. Eat Oran if attacked.
4. Finish with a Scratch (or Hidden Power if Growled.)

(The Hidden Power thing wasn't strictly necessary any more – even a Growled Scratch would finish off most Rattata – but if he wanted to teach his pokémon the difference between Attack and Special Attack, there was no better time to learn than the present.)

Bite Flinches should save a few Oran Berries in the long run. It would also get his Meowth thinking about how to use the Flinch mechanic effectively, since they would be learning Fake-Out at level 9 – or that's when they should learn it, at least.

Learning Bite at level 6 implied his Meowth had a learnset from one of the generations between four and seven (inclusive). Those movepools are each different from each other in their own rights, but they also have many overlapping features. One commonality, example, is that Meowth learns Bite at level 6 and Fake-Out at level 9 in those generations.

One of his eventual goals was to figure out all pokémon learnsets, i.e. what moves they learned and when they learned them. Ex wondered if it would be something straightforward like "It's always the Gen 5 learnset" or if he'd be given another curveball, like the PWO Experience charts. Either way, regardless of whether the answer was acute or obtuse, the first step (in what would probably be a very long series of steps) was asking the question: "Do Meowth learn Fake-Out at Level 9?"

Though his Meowth would have to switch back to Pickup long before they reached level 9, since Ex was almost out of Oran again.

AA 3a – Berry Bribery

The third thing Ex accomplished that afternoon... well, it wasn't exactly his accomplishment, but...

"Meowth!" Prime called, rushing out of the Tall Grass. Despite the fact that the Pickup Party was going, he was not holding an Item, and he seemed rather excited. "Me... owth... Me... owth!"

"Um... What?" Ex asked, pooping the party of his peppy partner.

"He said, 'Trainer! I saw gold bird!'" Amber translated, causing Prime to pep back up again. She sounded surprised. "What gold bird?"

"A Shiny Pidgey," his brain said automatically. "Or perhaps..." Ex started, then cut himself off just as he almost made another foreknowledge slip. A Ho-Oh, he switched to private thoughts, flying overhead now that Ash's troubles are over. He knelt down in front of Prime. "Human hume human hume human man? (Was it a Pidgey or something else?)"

"Meowth Meowth!" shouted Meowth, excited again.

"Amber?"

"'Was it Pidgey!'" she translated verbatim, then stopped short. "Wait a minute. That was a full sentence just now. And before, too."

"He's getting smarter," his brain instantly observed. Ex, annoyed at the unsolicited use of his body, took over again. "Though his grammar sucks, so he still has a ways to go."

"Language," Amber warned.

Ex rolled his eyes, "Fine then, his grammar swallows." If her giggling was anything to go by, this went completely over the ten-year-old girl's head. Ex, still kneeling at Prime's level, asked, "Human hume human human human? (Was it on the ground or in the air?)"

"Me...owth... Meowth!"

Ex looked at Amber expectantly. "You shouldn't be so mean," she chastised. "His grammar is better when he slows down to think about it. He said, 'It was in air!'"

Not capturable, in other words, thought his brain with a sigh. The intelligence issue had been interesting, but ultimately a distraction. Now it could get back to the real issue at hand. It's good to know Shiny Pokémon exist here. But it's never fun when the Capture attempt goes awry. We'll have to retry.

Which is why, Ex thought, I'm going to let my Meowth know they'll get a reward if they bring back a Shiny. Maybe THAT will help increase our odds.

What reward? his brain frowned. We ran out of Pokéchow yesterday.

I'll bribe them with five of their favorite Berries, Ex answered, now that I know their Flavor preferences. This way I can ALSO put all the Status Berries we've been getting to good use. And now that I think about it, bribes would be a good incentive for Rare Candies and Nuggets too.

In that case, his brain postulated, Shiny Pokémon should be worth more than Rare Pickups. It then went into the mathematical reasons behind this, something to the effect that Shinies were forty times rarer than Rare Candies.

But Ex wasn't paying much attention to the math at the moment, since bribery with Berries led him to discover an additional fact.

AA 3b – Speedy Sapience

Prime had shown the first signs of speaking in sentences by stating he spotted a Shiny Pidgey. Every other Meowth soon followed in the wake of his waxing wisdom.

According to Amber, all of them had begun using 'sentences'. The subject matters of their sentences were nothing complex. The grammar was terrible. And it's not like Ex could understand them anyway. But it was a sign that they were all getting smarter, not just Prime. They mostly said things like "Find Shiny I will!" (Stinky) or "I find Nugget!" (Pinky) or "Easy was that." Winky said this last sentence with a shrug after bringing back a Rare Candy. He seemed content with the feat itself, turning down the berry bribe in a Docile manner.

Due to the grammar problems, Ex didn't think too highly of this development until...

"Drop the Nugget and I'll get your Berries," he said to Pinky. In human speech, not Pokéspeak, because his attention was distracted by his brain's mathematical ramblings.

And she dropped the Nugget.

It wasn't until he handed over the two-Cheri bribe that he realized what had just happened. He immediately tested his realization on the rest of his party.

It turned out that, around the same point his Meowth had begun speaking in full sentences, they also began responding to regular human words. Ex no longer needed the 'Pokéspeaking' crutch outside battle. Things like "stop" and "come here" and "stay there" were now well within their comprehensive clutches. And, of course, "drop the Nugget". It was at that moment Ex realized something truly strange was going on. All the articles he'd read last night on Pokémon Sapience claimed it would take around two weeks – no less, and certainly not two days – to get to this point.

Ex's Meowth were experiencing an absurdly fast rate of development, which his brain invented multiple theories to explain. It then proceeded to dictate those theories into a manual entry, with Ex intervening after each one to summarize.

## (Cut content: Five Speedy Sapience theories.)

For the most part, the theories boiled down to "I've taught them to think for themselves" (i.e. battle on their own, scout out areas on their own, consider new battle tactics) and "I interact with my pokémon a lot" (i.e. talk to them in their own language, bribe them, don't keep them in balls, etc.).

Human-pokémon interaction is, after all, how pokémon get smart quickly, and learning how to think independently is how life in general gets smarter.

Once his brain's theorizing was done, Ex decided he would record the evidence later. Ex's main scientific responsibility in this case was to report the unusual phenomenon to the more experienced Pokémon Professor, and he could do that after they settled in for the night, when he didn't have to worry about Pickups or Experience. He'd be better able to gather evidence in a more relaxed setting, and he'd also be able to type out a more complete email.

His third accomplishment of the afternoon, therefore, was actually his party's accomplishment: a speedy rise to sapience.

AA 4a – Improving Implementation: Spamming and Scramming

Ex's fourth and final major accomplishment of the afternoon was a smarter use of tactics, the development of a better training strategy, and a massive amount of Flawless Victories.

### (Cut content: Experience gains, battle summaries of his grinding, and current levels of his team.)

At the start of training the afternoon, Ex had said to his party, "Hume Human hume human man human man human. (Don't bring their bodies back unless I say so.)"

Before that point, they had to either drop/eat a Berry to free up their Held Item space for the Rattata's body or walk slowly and carefully while holding both Oran and Rattata. Going 'against their programming' was possible, but not easy. Leaving the bodies behind was a much simpler solution. Now his party only returned to him if they needed another Oran Berry; they didn't return to him after every fight to deliver a Rattata.

But that was something he only realized in hindsight. The reason he gave the order in the first place: lunch's leftovers. After seeing it firsthand, the idea of eating every Rattata they Fainted no longer seemed feasible, let alone practical. Ex was fairly confident that any Rattata they Fainted would heal overnight, so he was okay with his pokémon spamming attacks and scramming away afterwards. Sure, the Fainted Rattata would be vulnerable to preying Pidgey, or maybe even the pokémon of other trainers, but that was just nature. It wasn't like the Rattata were Sapient, so there weren't any ethical issues. And although Amber was uncomfortable with it at first, she'd eventually conceded that it was just nature, after he explained.

Getting back to pragmatics, the order saved both time and Oran, turning his team from a Poaching Party into a Practical Party. He was still low on Oran Berries when his Exp. grinding was over, but that was expected. New moves meant more PP, which meant more battles and more Oran usage. He was okay with being low, especially when his overall training time was about the same as yesterday, despite all the extra battles. In fact, being low on Oran just meant he was using his Pickups optimally.

Using Items as you get them is better than setting them in your bag and letting them rot.

And no Horde Battles besides that first one, his brain remarked. Hordes must be exclusive to Long Grass, like in ORAS. Or, if we want to trigger them elsewhere, Sweet Scent and Honey.

AA 4b – Improving Implementation: Extra Experience

The rest of the afternoon passed without any major incidents, but there was that minor one where...

"Hey you!" shouted a kid that was younger-looking than either Ex or Amber. "I challenge you to a battle!"

...Ex had to turn down a battle with a Youngster because he had already exhausted all of his team's attacking PP.

Trainer encounters weren't something his brain had accounted for when designing an optimal training algorithm, and after less than a minute's worth of thought it came up with a solution:

1. Train early in the morning to exhaust most but not all attacking PP.
2. Save some PP for potential trainers.
3. Spend the rest of the day doing Pickup, or Pickup as needed for Oran.
3. Use remaining attacking PP just before bed.
4. Go to sleep at night with no PP left.

This new algorithm would have the same end result as the one he'd used today: no attacking PP at the end of the day. But it had a slightly improved implementation for how they got there, one which opened the potential for extra Experience from trainer battles. Also, now that his brain thought about it, they would need to save some PP for potential Shiny encounters.

And emergencies, Ex agreed with a nod.

The new algorithm was flexible, optimal, and able to handle emergencies – the perfect Experience grinding strategy while on Routes.

And in the end, turning down the Youngster battle wasn't too much of a loss – it was only against a level 3 Rattata, and Amber's Bulbasaur fought that battle and won. Or maybe Ex should say Leaf's Bulbasaur fought and won; he should probably get into the habit of calling her that in the context of training – a context which helped him ignore his brain's disgruntlement.

Leaf learning how to battle trainers is more important than the extra... what, twenty Experience that trainer's Rattata would have given, as opposed to a wild one?

25, his brain grumbled.

Yeah, I'd say Leaf learning how to battle is more important than that.

All she did was spam Tackle, his brain whined.

Exactly, Ex grinned. See? She IS learning.

Nothing else happened that afternoon except a few rare Pickups, including one King's Rock. Amber/Leaf also 'borrowed' a few Potions so her Bulbasaur could get more training in after it learned Vine Whip, and Ex decided not to argue. They were taking up a lot of bag space anyway.

In the evening, however...

Cautious Killing

"Hey, Ex?" Amber asked over the sound of boiling water.

"Yeah?" Ex asked, not looking up from the Experience values on his Pokédex.

Ex thought he might have heard a tinge of annoyance creep into her voice. "Do you think we could catch something other than Rattata tomorrow? Like, I don't know, Pidgey?"

Ex sighed. He had been avoiding Pidgey so far because they flew away whenever he encountered them, and his brain had advised against it.

In order to Faint Pidgey under 'realistic' conditions, he would need a one-hit K.O. at range. Ember was the most powerful attacking move across his entire team, but when Charmander still had Ember PP this morning, she was still level 8. Technically her attacks weren't a guaranteed one-hit K.O. against Pidgey at that time. He could have still gone for a lucky Crit, or a lucky Flinch after his Meowth learned Bite, but there wouldn't have been much point. Every Pidgey battle with normal luck would have just result in a loss of PP without any Experience to show for it. Maybe restricting their movements with Leech Seed would've worked (he hadn't tested that idea), but Leaf's Bulbasaur only got 10 Leech Seeds a day, which meant only 10 Pidgey total. So he'd ordered his team to exclusively hunt Rattata. He could still Faint those even if the first attack wasn't a one-hit K.O.

"Poaching Pidgey wouldn't be easy," Ex summarized out loud, still not looking up from his Pokédex.

"Well, I'm getting sick of this smell," Amber said from above the pot of stewing rats. "And the taste."

"What tastes better normally, Pidgey or Rattata?"

"Pidgey," Amber said instantly. "Pidgey taste way better."

And just like that, his mind was changed. "Then I guess I can help. Even if it's not easy, it's not impossible." To the protests of his brain, he stopped scrolling through Experience values and moved over to his team's summary page. Thoughts?

His brain made a frustrated error noise as it recalibrated its priorities, then took stock of his current team and started speaking out loud. "Now that she's level 10, Charmander should be able to beat level 2-4 Pidgey in a single shot of Ember or Hidden Power," it said rapidly, trying to get this over with as soon as possible. "That's 35. If you use Leech Seed to prevent them from flying away, that's another 10, but Leech Seed might not work that way and Flying resists Grass. It would be best if my team does the attacking while Bulbasaur stays away. And when my Meowth get to level 9 they'll learn Fake-Out, which should make them Pidgey-ready too."

How? Ex asked. It's still a 2-hit K.O.

Under 'realistic' scenarios, his brain answered privately, where Pidgey attempts to fly away at the first sign of danger, Fake-Out should allow Meowth to instantly close the distance, get damage and a Flinch, then follow up with a Scratch for a quick 2-hit K.O. That's basically a 1-hit K.O. in terms of the opponent's ability to retaliate, even if it's 2 hits in terms of PP.

"And Blinky can 1-shot with his Hidden Power Electric even before he reaches level 9," his brain added out loud. Unless it's against a level 5 Pidgey, it thought, or level 4 with high HP and Special Defense IVs, a Sp. Def. boosting nature, and we got a low damage roll. Then it wouldn't be a 1-shot.

Hmm... Ex thought. If the Pidgey survived under those conditions, it would be in the red. Recall what happens when pokémon are on low health here. Picture the scene you just described.

His brain visualized a Pidgey that was barely able to move attempting to flee, fly away, or otherwise escape. Good point. Can you put the Pokédex back how it was now?

Ex switched the screen to statistics of past battles, to his brain's satisfaction, and asked out loud, "How many Pidgey would we need for a decent meal?"

Amber was frowning, possibly because she couldn't keep up with his explanation on who would be Pidgey-ready and why, but she seemed to understand his question well enough. "Pidgey are bigger than Rattata, so... maybe two for Breakfast, four for lunch, and six for dinner? For each of us, I mean. Maybe one each for Charmander and Bulbasaur, and Meowth can share."

"If we ate only Pidgey tomorrow," Ex said, adding it up, "and our Pokémon ate whatever, we would need at least twenty-four total. Charmander can take care of thirty-five on her own, so if you want to eat Pidgey instead of Rattata, we can make it work."

"I don't like the idea of only eating Pidgey either," Amber sighed. "But it's better than Rattata. And I guess we'll be out of Route 1 before the taste gets old. But we really need to buy some rations when we get to Viridian."

"How much would that cost?"

"I don't know," Amber frowned. "Not much, though. Rations are bland, but it's a good fall back plan. It's what most trainers eat."

"I'm not sure if I want to spend money on food when we could just catch it," he said, though it was mostly a sentiment that came from his ever-optimizing brain. "Especially if it's not as good. And we'll have more species to choose from in later Routes."

"Well I'm not sure I want to cook three times a day," Amber huffed. "Besides, not all species of Pokémon are edible. Especially in Viridian Forest. Bugs are nasty, it's dangerous to prepare Poison types, and human-like pokémon usually don't taste good."

"Human-like?" his brain asked, flashed through the Kanto species falling into that Egg Group and linking lips to knowledge. "You mean the Abra line, the Machop line, the Drowzee line, the Hitmons, Mr. Mime, Jynx, Electabuzz, and Magmar?"

Amber blinked. "...Yes, I think..." Her eyebrows furrowed. "Those are the really human-like pokémon, but I wasn't talking about those. I was talking about pokémon that stand on two legs and have two arms. Those are the sort of human-like pokémon, and those are the ones that don't taste good. Usually."

"Examples?" Ex prompted.

"Mankey, Jigglypuff, Golduck, Poliwhirl, Cubone, most Starters, and those are just the ones I can remember off the top of my head," the Pokémon Breeder/Ranger/Chef answered. "Well, I guess Torchic tastes good, but that's only before it evolves. The more human-like Blaziken tastes terrible. And I read somewhere that really human-like pokémon taste even worse, so wouldn't be a good idea to eat them even if we could."

"What do you mean, 'even if we could'? Couldn't we eat them as easily as we're eating these Rattata?" Then he paused. "Wild human-like pokémon aren't intelligent, are they?"

Amber shook her head gravely. "Not a lot of people know it, but it's wrong to kill really human-like pokémon, even if they're wild and not-that-smart. That's what Dad told me."

Dr. Fuji, eh? his brain thought. "Did he say why it's wrong?"

"No, but he did say it's against the law in some places."

Note to self, thought Ex, look up a list of acceptable-to-kill pokémon sometime before leaving Viridian. Or just ask Amber on a case-by-case basis. Do NOT risk illegally killing pokémon.

They were still on Route One, home of the not-at-all human-like Pidgey and Rattata, so the risk of killing a pokémon he shouldn't was not a risk that needed his immediate attention. Also, his Pokédex was currently occupied and couldn't be used to look up the answer at the moment.

His brain had decided earlier that it wanted to memorize the information from all of yesterday's battles, not just Prime's. It had Traced today's battles as they came in, and it was getting faster and faster at Analyzing information lists with each iteration. Now, it only had a few remaining battles to Download into memory. That was why it had been annoyed earlier – it had set Ex to scrolling through various Experience values and didn't want to be distracted from that goal.

Naughty vs. Sassy, Round 1

"Food's almost ready," Amber said with a frown directed straight at the pot. "Ugh. Do you have any more Rawst berries?"

He did, in fact, have a few. "Yes, I do." More than a few, actually. Over 20, last time he counted. Pickup was a hell of a drug – er, Ability. Pickup was a heck of an Ability. He wasn't addicted to the rush he got from each rare Pickup. Honest.

Amber looked up from her pot. "Could I have some? I need to add them now for the best flavor."

"No, you can't," Ex answered, eyes still on his Pokédex.

His peripheral vision noted that Amber had crossed her arms. "Why not?"

Because he did not, in fact, want to add the Bitter flavor to any food that would be going into his mouth. "Because they're mine."

"That hasn't stopped you from sharing so far."

"I hate the Flavor," he shrugged. "I know that now. I'll still share the other Berries."

"But I like Rawst."

"Then you can add some after you've split up the meal into two portions."

"But it's best if they go in now, and we only have one pot."

"Tough," Ex said, his voice flat.

Amber's voice, on the other hand, had been rapidly rising in pitch and volume. "Well then, maybe I won't cook AT ALL anymore!"

"You need to eat, too," Ex said, voice still flat.

"Then maybe I'll cook for me and not you!" she snapped.

"You already made plenty," he pointed at the pot without even looking up. And since Amber had a thing about not wasting food... "What are you going to do, dump out the rest?"

"I was talking about tomorrow," she said, voice dripping with Sassiness.

"Good luck catching Pidgey without my help," Ex's brain said Naughtily, having immediately noticed the problem with her threat. "I'm sure Bulbasaur will appreciate the Super-Effective Pecks and Gusts. "

Do Pidgey even LEARN both those moves at this level? Ex asked, not perfectly familiar with Pidgey's learnset. One Flying type move I can understand, but two?

No, his brain said smugly. Pidgey don't learn Peck at all, and unless we're in Gen 1, they don't learn Gust until level 9. If Amber fails to notice that, it's her loss.

Stick to the truth, please, Ex sighed in frustration. I don't want to win an argument with outright falsehoods.

It's what she gets for distracting me from my memorizing, his brain sniffed haughtily. I'm going at a Slugma's pace now.

Do I have to threaten to look away from the screen?

"What if my Bulbasaur doesn't need your help?" Amber sassed.

Fine, his brain mimicked his frustrated sigh. I'll stick to the truth.

"Bulbasaur might be able to defeat Pidgey without losing much health," his brain allowed, "but that's assuming Leech Seed will even prevent Pidgey from flying away in the first place. We haven't tested it. And even if it does work, good luck getting more than ten without my help. And good luck out-Speeding them with your slow Bulbasaur. If Bulbasaur can't move first, Leech Seed won't connect."

Again, Ex's peripheral vision noted a change in Amber's posture. She now seemed to be looking around, possibly for ideas. And she soon found one. "If you don't give me some Rawst, I won't let you use MY sleeping bag!"

"I paid for part of it, so it's partly mine," Ex said, his eyes still on his dex. "Plus, we already had a deal. I get whatever sleeping thingy you don't use. If you go back on your word, I'll call you a liar."

Which is something he knew would bother her.

Ex's brain noted that it wouldn't have really cared if someone called it that – it was a liar when it suited its purposes. It cared about not lying to the extent that it would damage its reputation if the fact became known, because that would make future negotiations more difficult. It was a pragmatist in every sense of the word, only having a mild preference for honesty in social interactions.

Ex, on the other hand, was principled. On principle, he valued honesty, or perhaps 'valuing truth' would say it better. Ex strongly preferred honesty, but he would lie if he had to. He would try to phrase it in such a way that said true things, but led people to form their own false conclusions, but he would still lie in emergencies. What he couldn't stand were outright falsehoods coming from his own lips. And to a lesser extent, the lips of other people.

He knew, however, that Amber cared much more about lies than either he or his brain did. Ex likened the term 'virtue ethics' to describe her philosophy, while his brain called her a 'moralist'. Amber would tolerate – and even enjoy – a bit of 'kidding'. But intentional, deliberate, meaningful lies? Or trickery? Or deceitfulness? Or dishonesty? Nope. Her outlook could be summed up with the phrase: "Good people don't lie."

"Do you want to be a liar?" Ex pressed.

"No..."

"Then I get to use our sleeping bag."

"AGH!" Amber threw her arms in the air. "Then maybe I'll... maybe I'll..." She trailed off, failing to come up with another immediate threat.

"Maybe you'll get your own Pickup team, so you don't need to pester me for Berries all the time?" Ex offered.

"YEAH!" Amber shouted. "MAYBE I'LL DO THAT!"

"Perfect!" Ex exclaimed with a smile. He looked up from his Pokédex, his brain having memorized the final value a few seconds ago. "Now you'll be able to afford your own stuff, instead of mooching off me all the time! I'll lend you some Pokéballs when we get to Viridian and show you the ropes. Then you can pay me back for everything you've 'borrowed', starting with the Potions. I'm glad we had this little chat. Is the food ready yet?"

Amber screamed.

Ex laughed.

The Special Defense boost provided by the Sassy Nature does not help against the Attack boost provided by Naughty, and the Speed drop of Sassy means that Naughty pokémon have the upper hand. In a battle between Naughty and Sassy pokémon, with all else being equal, Naughty often wins.

Phew. Again, sorry for the exposition. The chapter is effectively over, but below are the parts that've been cut from the main content. They matter in a technical sense – closing up potential plot holes, filling in details, that sort of thing – but not as much in a storytelling sense. It's the kind of world-building that probably only appeals to a certain kind of reader.

Think of it like bonus content. It is part of the story, it's not omake or anything, but it's not mandatory reading. I'll briefly summarize my reasons for writing/cutting the segments, to give you an idea of what goes into the writing process.

For this first one, I needed there to be some reason for Rare Candies to (1) be regularly found in the wild and (2) not be mass-producible, and I didn't want to go with the "stupid trainers drop their Rare Candies all the time" excuse. So I went with a more... natural explanation.

# Researching Revives and Rare Candies

Typing 'Revive Ivy' into his Pokédex turned up a few interesting facts.

First: 'Revive Ivy' could grow anywhere, at any time of the year, and in any environment, so long as there were pokémon nearby. The plant was therefore well-known. Actually, it was wrong to call it a single plant – 'Revive (insert name of plant here)' covered multiple plant types, all suited for different environments: one was a type of moss which could be found in caves, another was a seaweed found in the deep sea, a third was a little sprout that could grow in between cracks of concrete in large cities. Revive Cacti grew in deserts, Revive Pine Shrubs in frozen tundras, the list went on.

Depending on which particular plant you were dealing with, they often required little water (cacti), soil (city sprout), or light (cave moss) to grow, but in every case – and this was the second interesting fact – the primary source of nutrition for Revive plants was something called 'Pokémon Energy'. Whatever that was. So long as there were pokémon around the plant, it would use their 'Energy' to grow and produce Revives, with more Revives being made when more pokémon were around. This wasn't an invasive process – all pokémon naturally exuded 'Pokémon Energy' and the plants just absorbed the ambient power, sort of like how normal plants absorb sunlight. But the energy was exclusive only to Pokémon – humans did not produce Pokémon Energy.

The most common version of the Revive Plant, Revive Ivy (or 'Hedera Revivo' as it is officially/scientifically called), is difficult to cultivate but easy to harvest. It is sturdy, rigid, hard to uproot, and would easily be classified as a 'weed' if not for the fact that it made Revives. And Max Revives too, of course.

And the Revives themselves are even more stubborn than the plants – able to 'survive' being attacked with moves, buried underground, even fossilized in stone, and still be functional afterwards.

When Ex checked to see if there were any other Items like that – occurring naturally instead of artificially – he found a single, surprising result. (He did not know that this particular result shot to the top of the list because he had 'Revive Ivy' in his very recent search history.)

Rare Candies for the Rarified Researcher, by Professor Elm

Rarus Persica, or "Rare Candies" as most people call them, are the product of a certain species of plant named the Rosidae Rarus. Rarus Persica are not the byproducts of Rosidae Rarus, as Revives are the byproducts of the Hedera Revivo. Rarus Persica are the actual products of Rosidae Rarus.

The 'Rare Sprout', i.e. the colloquial name of Rosidae Rarus, is so small that many people who encounter it do not see or notice it, only the Rare Candy if it has blossomed. The Rare Candies themselves are fruits of the Rare Sprout, with each fruit containing a seed. Any pokémon that eats a Candy will eventually leave droppings to spawn another Sprout. It is a lesser-known fact that the blue wrappings around the Candies are actually the blue petals of the Rosidae Rarus. This particular flower is interchangeably called the 'Rare Flower' and the 'Rare Rose' by those who even know that it is a flower.

Rosidae Rarus blossoms all year round, like Hedera Revivo, but does so according to how long the plant has been alive and in intervals of one month, not according to how much Pokémon Energy is available.

More accurately, Rosidae Rarus produces a single Rarus Persica fruit over the course of the 29.5-day lunar cycle. Once the 'Sprout' has a fully formed 'Candy' on its end, the 29.5-day timer goes dormant until the 'Candy' is harvested, then becomes active again after being de-candied. The 'Sprout' can only produce one 'Candy' at a time, and a single 'Sprout' can make multiple 'Candies' over the course of its lifetime.

Hedera Revivo, on the other hand, grow and produce Revives according to how much Pokémon Energy the ivy absorbs. Where Hedera Revivo can produce multiple Revives in a single day, or go years without producing any at all, Rosidae Rarus either blossoms after about one month if it has accumulated enough Pokémon Energy, or it does not.

A further disparity between Rare Sprouts and Revive Ivy is that, while Hedera Revivo can be grown in controlled environments with enough effort, resources, and pokémon, Rosidae Rarus is uncultivatable. Like Revive Ivy, Rare Sprouts require 'Pokémon Energy' to blossom, but unlike Revive Ivy, they further require a near-complete absence of humans. If humans spend too much time around Rosidae Rarus, it stops producing fruit and eventually dies. Rare Sprouts can therefore only be found in the wild, or in parts of civilization where there are many pokémon and few humans, like abandoned facilities, parks, or buildings.

This is why I theorize that humans produce a different kind of energy than pokémon, one which interferes with Rare Sprout growth. Or perhaps this 'Human Energy' merely interferes with the propagation of Pokémon Energy waves...

Beyond that, Ex couldn't understand the jargon involved. He had no idea what this 'Pokémon Energy' was in the first place, and Professor Elm – who authored this article – assumed the reader would know, which was why Ex was even more lost when the professor started conjecturing about 'Human Energy'. There was only one other part of the article he could understand.

As far as functionality is concerned, Rare Candies will always increment a pokémon's level by one unless the pokémon has already reached level one hundred. Rare Candies also reset the Experience threshold to zero after the level-up, so it is recommended that trainers wait until immediately after a pokémon has gained a new level before using one. It is also recommended that trainers wait until higher levels in general before using a Rare Candy to get the maximum benefit.

Humans, on the other hand, are unable to get the full benefits from Rare Candies – or from just about anything else that pokémon can use (Berries, Pokéballs, Medicine Items, etc.), which is another point in favor of the 'Human Energy' theory. Humans can get some benefit from Rare Candies, of course, as the fruit is rather tasty and energizing, just like a human can get some benefit from eating a Chesto Berry if (s)he wishes to stay awake, or a Persim Berry if (s)he wishes to relieve a headache. But Rare Candies do not have the same power-boosting effect on humans that they do on Pokémon, just like Pokéballs do not have the same intelligence-enhancing effects on humans that they have on Pokémon. Rare Candies are minor stimulants to humans, like sugar in a piece of candy. Nothing more.

Ex stopped reading there.

His brain desperately wanted to know more, but Ex assured it that they could read all about this 'Pokémon Energy' in Professor Oak's Silph-published books (when he got around to buying them). Those books would almost certainly cover the topic – Ex couldn't see how stats and levels wouldn't be related to this 'Pokémon Energy', since Revives and Rare Candies, which interacted with stats (like health) and levels, needed it to grow – but he had more immediate problems on his plate. Namely, Ash's Pikachu knowing the move Thunder.

I cut this content because a summary worked just as well and didn't slow down the pace as much. It's not from any canon source, so it's entirely original (as far as I'm aware), but it's also entirely boring (to many readers), which happens sometimes. And I cut the next segment for the same reason.

## Manual Entry: "Five Hypotheses about Speedy Sapience" by Trainer Ex

(Brain) "The purpose of this recording is to examine an unusual phenomenon. My pokémon, despite the fact that I only caught them 2.5 days ago at the earliest, are already capable of understanding human speech outside of battle. I understand that, under normal circumstances, this is supposed to take at least two weeks. I'd like to propose a few theories about why this might be happening earlier than usual. I admit that, at this point, I don't have a way to test any of them, but they should provide a good framework for future research."

(Ex) "These five theories all involve what I've been doing with my team. Even if they don't turn out to be the true, they'll help me describe the situation."

(Brain) "My 1st theory revolves around the fact that I've been keeping my team out of their Pokéballs at all times, especially after I learned that brain development in Pokémon can be accelerated by Pokémon-human interaction. My Pokémon have only been confined to their balls in emergencies, when Fainted, or when I took the train from Viridian to Pallet, where passengers weren't allowed to let their Pokémon out."

(Ex) "In other words, I interact with my pokémon often and regularly."

(Brain) "My 2nd theory relates to the tasks I've been assigning my pokémon. So far, I've sent my Pokémon on independent missions that range from battling without my supervision to scouting out an area. They've had to get used to thinking for themselves, rather than following orders for every individual action they take. Even if they were ultimately following a set of instructions on what to do, they had to remember those instructions without constant reminders. Note that by 'constant reminders' I am referring to the typical situation of trainers directing every battle their team ever has, constantly giving orders when they could be teaching strategy and independence instead, like I did. I assigned my pokémon tasks, and if they encountered something unexpected, they had to figure out how to handle it on their own."

(Ex) "My pokémon have been trained to think for themselves – as much as that can be trained this early on."

(Brain) "My 3rd theory is this: A pokémon's intellectual development might be linked to level-ups, stat increases, or number of opponents defeated. My pokémon already have at least 25 battles each, which may or may not be unusual after a day and a half of training, and they've each leveled up at least 4 times."

(Ex) "In short, battles and Experience might help mental growth."

(Brain) "On the other hand, my Charmander's gaining the most levels and Experience while still not being sapient yet argues against that theory. The logic of theory 3 would suggest she should have been the first to gain a semblance of sapience on my team, not the last."

(Ex) "So theory three is unlikely, but possibly still a contributing factor."

(Brain) "Theory 4 involves my Pokéspeaking technique, which is currently being verified by Professor Oak. Pokéspeakers are able to communicate with freshly Captured pokémon immediately, even if the pokémon can't communicate back. In short, I'm able to talk to my pokémon in a way that they can understand by saying the words 'human, man, hugh, and hume' over and over while actively thinking the words I want to convey. This, apparently, is how sapient pokémon communicate with each other. As a result, my pokémon have heard me talk in full sentences of their own 'language' many times, which might be why they learned how to do so themselves without the normal two-week waiting period. Theory four is, essentially, that Pokéspeaking accelerated the language development of my team."

(Ex) "They might have learned quickly in the presence of constant example."

(Brain) "I should also like to note that, thanks to the help of a Pokémon Translator, I've learned that the moment where a Captured pokémon begins responding to human language outside battle is the same moment when they begin to use full sentences in their own language. The grammar and complexity of these sentences... leaves much to be desired, but it's a noteworthy milestone that coincides with another, closely-related sapience milestone: understanding human sentences."

(Ex) "In other words, a pokémon becoming smart does more than just make them able to understand humans – it makes them able to understand each other. And both of these things happen at about the same time."

(Brain) "Finally, there's the 5th theory behind the speedy sapience of my pokémon. Like theory 4, involves my Pokéspeaking technique. It is possible that being able to speak to my pokémon immediately after capture improved my ability to 'interact' with them, thus improving their rate of brain development. I imagine that being forced to wait at least two weeks to be able to speak to a pokémon gets in the way of human-pokémon interactivity in most cases, and thus gets in the way of rapid brain development."

(Still Brain) "The fact that the Bulbasaur of my traveling companion, who as I said is a Pokémon Translator and can therefore bypass the two weeks in her own way, is also on the cusp of intelligence lends me to believe that theory 5 might be the most plausible of the 5 theories. On the other hand, she's doing many of the other aspects of theories one through four... so I guess that doesn't help distinguish much between the theories. A better way of putting it is that she's mimicking my tactics at a delayed pace because it takes a bit of time for her to learn them. This perfectly explains why her Bulbasaur is becoming sapient at a delayed pace compared to my team, though he's still much further along than the average pace. The only thing she doesn't need to mimic is my Pokéspeaking because she's already a Translator. But if other translators have also experienced fast brain development in their pokémon, theory 5 might be why."

(Ex) "Maybe other examples of Pokémon Translator trainers could provide some insight with this last theory."

(Ex again) "And to summarize theory five: Pokéspeaking itself may have bypassed those two weeks, instead of just providing an example for my pokémon to learn from."

(Brain) "I'll need more information on what typically happens within the early weeks of Capture to see which theory seems most plausible, or if it's some combination of the 5, or if none seem right and it's something else entirely."

(Ex) "Hopefully Professor Oak already has some answers on his end."

(Both) "End recording."

Ex didn't immediately send the recording to Professor Oak after it was done. He needed to get some footage of his pokémon understanding human language outside of battle first, then he'd package the video and the theories together.

Professor Oak did say to provide observations and evidence before conclusions. Even if he has no evidence for his theories, he could at least get proof of his claim. He was more or less relying on Professor Oak to provide 'evidence' for the actual theories this time, since Professor Oak would be more familiar with typical examples of brain development in Pokémon.

The recording session happened soon after Amber requested they take a break. They stopped by a river for a quick drink and a snack. Amber wandered off for a while without her backpack, taking her Bulbasaur with her, to 'look for something', and Ex's brain seized this moment, monopolizing their rare stretch of free time for its own purposes.

This arguably could have made it into the story, to the point where some of you are probably thinking 'This is important, why didn't you include it?' Understand that I share your opinion. I think it's important too, which is why I'm still including it down here. But not everyone thinks the way we do, and many readers simply don't care about the minutia. Some even actively dislike it. That's why I summarized this in the main story. Similar end result, much lower word count.

### 4a Expedited Experience

Ex's fourth and final major accomplishment for the afternoon was a massive amount of Flawless Victories.

Including the Horde Battle this morning, Charmander had defeated 42 Rattata, all Flawlessly, and one Pikachu by the time she used up all her PP. In the end, she had only needed a few Oran berries, and unlike his Meowth she didn't need to be taught when to eat them correctly. Ex had gotten her into the habit of eating at the right times (i.e. just before her opponent fainted, and only if she took damage) when he was in charge of her battles yesterday. Even if he hadn't explicitly told her why those were the right times, she'd still mimicked the orders on her own afterwards.

His Meowth had slightly less impressive numbers by the time they were out of PP, but still much improved from yesterday, both in quantity and in quality. They had beaten around 30 Rattata each, averaging about 20 Flawless Victories apiece, with Prime on the higher end of those averages and everyone else on the lower end.

Charmander was still level 10 by the time her training was over, though she wasn't far from leveling up again. Prime was still level 8, but almost level 9 when he ran out. Everyone else had barely made it over the level 8 threshold before running out of attacking PP; the "inky" Meowth seemed to be leveling more or less in tandem, even if their Experience values didn't match up exactly.

Ex could see about finding some Elixirs and Ethers when he got to Viridian, to make his team's leveling even faster.

This arguably could have made it into the story as well. But again, many readers simply don't care about the nitty gritty behind Ex's Experience grinding. I probably should have cut the bit about body-collecting as well, but there was a bit of foreshadowing in there that I just couldn't bring myself to remove.

Now the chapter is completely over. To all those who read this far, thanks and good on you.