ToT Chapter 1: Spring Cleaning + Lab Rats

“Alright, let’s get started, shall we?” Horace asked, grabbing a broom. Gary looked around the room. “W-what is it the Scholars do in here that makes it so d-dirty?” Horace laughed. “Science, Gary! Speculative science!” He began sweeping the floor. “This is where they do all of their potion testing, after all. There’s bound to be broken glass and dust all over this place. So watch your feet.”

“I thought that w-we came here to sh-show of some moves, not to s-sweep floors.” Gary mumbled. Horace laughed again. “I thought you wanted to be a Scholar? You’ll have to do all sorts of intern work at first if you want to get in, you know. And besides,” He looked out the window to see Team Courage’s Chip crashing head-first through a training dummy and into the wall, “I feel it would be best to wait until they fix the damages outside. Now come on, let’s get some of these beakers packed away.”

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“Ah, I assume you two are here to demonstrate your special skills?” Graham, the Kricketot Scholar in charge of move studies, asked from atop a stack of books in the outside courtyard. “Well, go ahead then. Tell me what you can do!” Horace pulled out his flute. “This is a Grass Whistle. Using it, I can put enemies to sleep.” Graham sighed. “Yes, it is useful, but many Pokemon can use this move. What stands out from your use of it?”

“Well, when combined with my ability and moveset…” He tossed the Grass Whistle up. Graham’s eyes followed its journey upwards, but blinked to the side when he saw a blur of movement. What he saw was the training dummy splitting in half. His eyes flashed back to see Horace catching his flute out of the air. “So, was that a good combination? I think it could use a little work, but…”

“Wh-what in the world did you even do?” Graham sputtered. “I didn’t even see you move! You were there, then you were gone, then you came back!” Horace grinned. “My ability is Unburden. It allows me to move faster when I lose my Move Tool. That’s how I moved so fast.” Graham chuckled. “Ohoho! That’s a clever trick! But, how did you do that to the dummy? I’ve never seen such a precise and powerful attack from a young recruit.”

Horace smiled again. “That’s because of Acrobatics. When I’m not holding a Move Tool, its power doubles. So, combining that with Unburden, and my Grass Whistle, I can put an enemy to sleep and then knock them out before they wake up.” Graham gave a little dance of joy. “Oho! What a great way to utilize your abilities!” He turned to Gary. “Do you have any special skills?”

Gary blushed and shook his head. “I-I’m not very good with moves. I can use Thunderbolt, b-but that’s about it.” Graham chuckled and gave Gary a pat on the back. “My dear child, there is nothing to be embarrassed about! Why, when I had just begun training myself, I hardly knew any moves at all!” Gary just blushed even harder. “O-oh…”

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“Before we go, let’s just see if they have any more need of us to clean the labs.” Horace glanced into the first one to see an army of brooms and books being rounded up by the various teams inside. “Yeah, maybe going in there wouldn’t be such a great idea.”