[ti]closed[/ti][S][C/Spring] Pit Stop

Just as Josh was cutting the strange-looking cake into pieces for his Pokémon to enjoy, a young, handsome teen joined him at the picnic table, Thunder and Storm eying Spring with decidedly neutral expressions. "Hi there! Name's Josh, founder of the Ostellia Cup, UNOVR's largest Pokémon Racing league," he gave his long-winded explanation.

"My prince can be a bit... verbose," the Pyroar added in a noble voice, which Spring would be able to easily understand if his PokéSpeech was fully enabled. "My name is Aslan, and these two are Thunder and Storm," the Shiny lion pointed a paw toward the two Zapdos.

"I am," Josh continued, at last getting a word in over the kingly beast. "Mostly just feeding my Pokémon some well-deserved treats after one of the toughest PVE experiences I've ever had on the server. I haven't seen you around; are you a newer player? You're intrepid to make it out here on your own."

Spring's questions made Josh's smile grow, for the answers were related. "It used to be called the Asper Racing League," the Bolter clarified, a little disappointed in the turnout at the time. Perhaps hosting it inside a large city would bring more attention to it... and perhaps even bring races closer to the cap of thirty entrants. "There's this power plant on the Surge Steppes, called the Thunderworks. On its surrounding roads, I hosted a Pokémon race, and a piece of Zapdos DNA dropped for everyone when it was over. I bought another from the Arena Shop after grinding ladder for a while, then spent 800 BYTES on DNA cloning at Bunya's Lab. Hatched them and have been watching over them for about... five months or so. The last thing I need for them to do in order to grow up is to defeat an adult legendary Pokémon in battle." Both Thunder and Storm squawked at the mention of a legendary Pokémon. Aravan's Kyogre was a tough customer even at a young age. How brutal would the battle be with one at full strength and size, particularly with the trainer having access to PRIMAL REVERSION?

The racer let out a deep sigh. "Gimme a second," Josh breathed back in, finishing cutting his team's treat before putting pieces on plates for his Pokémon and for himself. None of Josh's Pokémon could use forks; they simply dug in with their beaks and fangs, getting their faces messy. They were all smiling; the treat seemed like it was really good despite it otherworldly, almost whimsical nature. "Sorry about that. Anyway, the experience. How familiar are you with the revised RIVAL? I imagine not too much, given how recent the patch was. Used to be a pretty insignificant NPC. Now he grows up with you, almost like he does in mainline."

"There are pickup races there frequently," Josh added, Spring seemingly interested in the course there. It was not an easy one, either; Thunder Road was given a five-star difficulty rating out of six. Nearly every turn was a right angle, and flashes of lightning blinded racers periodically as a feature, not a bug. "When you get a ride Pokémon for yourself, it might be fun going out there. One of these days, we should head to the Surge Steppes and get you one. There are a lot of them out there!" Tauros, Doduo, Ponyta, Shinx... there were so many. Some of them weren't too beginner friendly, but there were a lot of them out there!

Defeating a legendary Pokémon at full power was a tall task. Despite having a type advantage, Josh knew from his arena battle with his rival that for as many Arena Points as he spent on Legendary DNA, Aravan spent on TMs for his Kyogre. "They are. It doesn't even have to be in a PVE context. It can be in PVP, too. The easiest way to make it happen is to just know someone with a legendary Pokémon and do an Arena Battle with them. If you play primarily alone, the only realistic way to get one is through the revised RIVAL system."

Which took Josh to the PVE experience that rattled even him. In the first couple of Pokémon generations, the rival was not a very threatening battle, with a couple of exceptions; Silph Rival was a sticking point for many teams, as that was when players had to deal with a fully-evolved Starter for the first time... and of course, Rival as Champion was the most challenging battle in the game. UNOVR's Rival, though, was a totally different level of challenge. "Spring, I could explain it, but it might be easier to go into your help menu and look at the pages on your Rival. If you have four battles with your Rival, win or lose, they can have an adult legendary Pokémon on your fifth encounter with them. And that fourth encounter was... maddeningly difficult."

"Exactly," Josh answered as he took his first bite out of his dessert. The flavor was strange, but pleasant -- easily something that could have been cooked up in one of Chanda Mama's contests. "Organizing one is as simple as going on Event Chat and saying you want to start a race. UNOVR has enough players that if you want randoms to fill an event, they'll come. And if you ever want to just go alone, there's always Time Attack." He wouldn't admit it to Spring yet, but when he played racing games in the real world, he spent much of his play time in Time Attack, often getting into wars with his ghosts just to save a few frames.

"I would make it as easy as I could for you," Aslan interjected, slowly walking toward him and sitting down next to him. "Is it okay if I also call you Spring, sir?"

"I think Aslan's trying to tell you he'd be willing to show you the ropes sometime. There's not enough room to do it here. Maybe we could go out into the Surge Steppes together sometime." Those thunderous plains were Josh's playground; he loved riding electric Pokémon in particular, and the inclement, stormy weather there made them even faster than normal. There was a certain thrill about blasting across UNOVR's terrain almost faster than it could load.

The battles were crazy. The ones Josh had seemed to use their own combat system separate from UNOVR's simple one. Was it a feature of the RIVAL battle, or was it simply the game adapting to his subconscious desires for challenging combat? He did, after all, possess quite the collection of ATLUS-developed games in the real world. "I'm honestly scared of the finale. I doubt I'll be able to win on the first try."

Some players had a vision of what they wanted from day one of playing their characters. Others got their feet wet and went with wherever the winds of fate blew. There truly was something in this game for all kinds of players. "Even if you don't join races, getting a ride Pokémon will save you a lot of headache," the blonde insisted. "It's much, much faster than walking, especially if you get a Pokémon that's a predator. Something like a Luxray." The Pyroar simply nodded, nuzzling Spring if he allowed it, before returning to his spot at the table and enjoying his helping of the otherworldly sweet food.

While preparation was important, overpreparation also trivialized the encounters with the RIVAL. It was intended to be a great challenge if the player and the RIVAL's levels were comparable, but not unbeatable. "You shouldn't have to worry about that at all! The first RIVAL encounter is designed to be very winnable even with just your starter Pokémon and tier 1 in its class. A lucky crit might decide the outcome, but I wouldn't put too much stock into preparing for it. It's the ones afterward that can be an Ursaring and a half."

Josh listened as Thunder and Storm got their beaks and faces messy digging into the dessert. Some of his Pokémon, particularly the young legendaries, were eager to reach for a second piece. Aslan, though, did not. "You sure you don't want a second piece? I cut enough for everyone to have two."

"It's a trite too sweet for me, my prince," the Pyroar answered, a low rumble that perhaps tickled Spring coming from his throat.

The racer's eyes shifted back toward Spring. "You want a piece? It's moonflower trifle. A bit sweet, but it's really good." The color certainly wasn't the most appealing, but the taste sure would be there. Such was any otherworldly dish! He at last picked up his own fork, took a bite-sized section out of his triangle-shaped piece of the confection, and down the hatch it went. "Holy..." he gasped, feeling like he was going to float into the heavens with how sweet it was. "No wonder Aslan didn't want a second piece. I might have to freeze the rest of this -- this is really sweet."