Winding her way around the shelves of a modestly sized library, Tanya's eyes flick up and down the rows, mentally earmarking important looking books to check out after she's finished her current reading list. As it stands, she's halfway through a first pass read of the books Amelia had shown in their meeting, the curriculum for the first and second year of nursing school. She did double check online to ensure the books were actually what she needed to read. The fact it's possible is a relatively recent and profoundly useful tool in accelerating her education. Completing her route, Tanya pulls out an appropriately sized pad of paper and crayon from her pouch, and writes down two more books on pokemon anatomy. One, a compendium of unique edge cases like Slugma; the other, the second volume on ghost types. Tanya pauses in her writing to stare at the word 'ghost' and contemplates how absurd this universe is sometimes. Not just things that look like ghosts –though the typing contains that too– but genuine ghosts. An occurrence so common as to have entire books studying how they work and how to keep them… Tanya blinks consideringly. Keeping them involved with the world of the living, using medicine that she has to study. Shaking her head, she puts the writing tools back in her pouch and steps around a corner, finding her sisters right where she left them. The pink blobs scattered across the kids section reading the selection of children's books. Though she does note a few of the more advanced readers branching out, standing on stepladders to pursue the more complicated stories higher up. Fortunately, nothing seems to be amiss so Tanya's free to get to her other studies. Turning on her heel and marching her way to the front desk of the library, she ignores the provided stepladder and hops up onto the desk, taking care to land on the designated happiny mat as she does. The courtesy, a flat sheet of colored PVC, printed with an abstraction of her species face among a dozen other symbols. The librarian looks up at her arrival –one of the very few humans Tanya has seen without pink hair– instead sporting a complete silver accompanied by sharp eyes framed in boxy glasses. "Already found what you're looking for?" The woman asks, pushing aside a ledger. "Ready to check out?" Tanya shakes her head and gestures down to the mat, then places her foot on the symbol of a computer. The librarian looks down at the mat, then back up to her with a slightly strained smile. "...Oh? Are you sure you don't want to check out a book instead of looking at that box?" Tanya takes a second to sigh, then looks back down at her feet to figure out how to express this. After a moment she pulls out her notepad, flips it back to the books she has checked out, then taps the symbol for checkout and gestures to the circled items currently taken from the library. The librarian, to her credit, proves her skill by seemingly having an encyclopedic knowledge of her library's stock, as when she sees the list it only takes her a second to put it together. "Oh! Rose mentioned you." She smiles, opening a drawer and pulling out a key, then writing out the date, time, and her signature on a wall mounted clipboard. "Here's the key, just remember the internet safety lessons and if anything goes wrong just call me and I'll fix it, alright?" Tanya refrains from rolling her eyes as she takes the key and nods. The 'internet safety lessons' were just as… innocent as the name implies. A near perfect reflection of a society who just got access to computers just a few decades ago. Bouncing over to the PC, she hops up onto the desk, pushes the monitor back, and places the keyboard on the computer, giving herself a place to sit where the keyboard used to be. Settling down, she inserts the key into the box and turns it over. She's not exactly sure what the key does to allow the computer to process inputs, but she's near certain it's a mechanical action. Her best guess is that it's literally closing a circuit interrupt, reconnecting the input channels to the PC. Which, if true, is almost adorably quaint. Pulling on psychic mana, Tanya grips the mouse and keyboard and begins the slow process of acclimating to this relatively new method of typing and getting herself in the proper frame of mind to use japanese. The psychic mana is a life saver. Without it she'd be reduced to finger pecking with her fingerless limbs, as it stands her only issue is the mental block slowing her typing speed. Tanya squints at the keyboard, pulling every symbol into her mind then hesitantly combining and rearranging them into proper words. She's working through it, for some reason being able to see the characters on the keyboard speeds up the mental process. But as it stands she's still limited to an abysmal fifty words per minute. Having warmed up language skills to her satisfaction, she drags the mouse over, flips it upside down in front of her, and places a limb on the trackball. Unfortunately, speaking the language is turning out to be significantly more difficult than she'd first thought, the mental block halting her increasingly frustrated attempts before they can begin. Her current theory –due to her inborn language not having a written component– is learning to read and write was easier as it suffered less from her biological impediments. Opening the internet program, Tanya almost sighs in satisfaction as the landing search page comes up in under an eighth of a second. Something she was not looking forward to with old technology was the joys of dialup internet. Thankfully the infrastructure here is significantly more developed, leading to bandwidth and speed that's comparable to Japan. Pulling out her notepad again, she flips to her list of useful websites and questions to look further into. Unfortunately no one's created as all encompassing as wikipedia just yet, and she's got maybe another half an hour of computer access to gather all the information she can. An amount she already knows won't be enough based on her handful of previous glimpses into this world. Because this universe is bizarre. Clicking the search bar on 'Ask-a-kazam' Tanya stares at the keyboard for another second to put together the words in her head before the keys flare purple as they clack away. Her first inquiries upon accessing the internet were on the natural world, namely the risks of her species being eaten, and the information she received started the running theme. Namely by creating more questions than answers while simultaneously making Tanya doubt the veracity of the information itself. Because, from the extremely reputable looking scientific journals she's reading, the majority of all species are omnivorous. With rare edge cases –such as the reanimated dinosaurs– being some of the only 'mon to break the pattern. Tanya scoffs as she creates another tab split screen and opens the news. But she's dived deep, into even the most obscure references and down multiple rabbit holes of cited work. Finding the material internally consistent all the way back to where her knowledge of the world begins. Thus, she's forced to conclude it would be absurd to create such a massive lie, and must believe it as fact. Her crayon is lifted by psychic mana and one question is crossed out as it's answered to her satisfaction and another three are written beneath, two more tabs opening on the screen as she does. She still doesn't have any definitive statistics on predation rates, which are becoming increasingly suspicious by their absence. Because nature does not create omnivores, and not have them eat each other, but every source she sees completely ignores that fact of reality aside from a few sparse references to historical texts and by implication in extreme circumstances such as natural disasters. Thankfully she's found a solid lead with the Hoenn Department of Forestry and Ranging. Unfortunately, that led to her research brushing up against the government. Tanya pauses in her flurry of activity as she comes across an article about 'Champion Stone' in one of the news sites, glaring at the man's smiling face as he leans against one of his partner's legs, a metagross. He proved himself to be the best trainer a few years ago, winning out against the previous champion in the annual regional championship. And what was his prize for winning this… sporting event? Tanya's glare sharpens. He gets to be the King of Hoenn. She forces herself to continue scrolling, reminding herself of the infinite other questions she has about the world that can't be answered by being angry at a system of government that should not work. The locals call the position 'Champion' but the difference is in name only. The core of his power is final say in any law or policy, plus the ability to draft his own laws to be sent down to the senate to be revised and sent back up for approval. This isn't just on-paper power either, she's read news articles debating the man's decision to block a controversial piece of legislation. Something that, apparently, no one was surprised about! In fact is it's not really in the senate's purview to check this near unlimited power, instead falling to the King's advisors and nearest peers, the 'elite four.' Positions the senate does have significantly more control over but are, at the end of the day, chosen by yet another trial by combat. Technically the senate has to approve the appointment of a new champion, but she's looked for instances where they've denied whoever won the title and not found anything in recent public memory. A question is scratched off the list perhaps a tad more forcefully than needed. Regardless, the fact the entire country hasn't collapsed into the violent anarchy this 'might makes right' system encourages means she's missing something. Her current theory is Stone is a figurehead, but rather than the position being ceremonial he's a puppet. Most likely chosen by whoever's really pulling the strings picking an already strong trainer and ensuring he wins the trial-by-combat style election by fixing the matches. Such a conspiracy would have to be massive, but it makes more sense than the system working as it's being presented. Even with the added complication of having to work through pokemon, Tanya knows human nature. Thus she knows exactly the kind of person who would have the drive to push their way to the top, and that kind of person doesn't create a stable government. The fact the entire country isn't a flaming pile of rubble and warring city-states necessitates the information to be lying somewhere. Tanya blinks as the computer's fans whir even louder than they already were as the windows on the screen start tearing and stuttering. Glancing around at the twenty three windows that are littered on top of each other it's not hard to figure out why. Sighing, she closes out the majority and jots down a few websites she found that might be useful. ᴛʜɪs ᴄʜᴀᴘᴛᴇʀ ɪs ᴜᴘᴅᴀᴛᴇ ʙʏ novel(ꜰ)ire.net She takes a long look at one of those sites, an anonymous blog by someone posting several daily unhinged rants about a shadow government controlling the region, mixed with pseudo-religious hagiography and some genuinely well researched explanations on volcano geology. Unauthorized use: this story is on Amazon without permission from the author. Report any sightings. They're conspiratorial at best, and downright unprofessional on a good day. But with the rest of the information she has access to clearly censoring itself –even down to pokemon predation rates– she's had to resort to less… credible sources for another perspective. Glancing at the clock, she finds herself with just over five minutes before it's time to go, not nearly enough time to look into any of her other research topics. Scanning over her still open windows, Tanya realizes the battle archive site is still up with a video of Champion Stone's most recent fight against a challenger to his throne from last year. She's seen battles, it would be harder to consciously avoid seeing battles on this internet. It honestly feels like the entire system was designed for easier access to videos and media about battling. She looks at the clock again, then to the play button. She's got nothing better to do. Plus, it'll be useful to see how dangerous a fully grown 'mon can be in the event she's attacked by a hungry one. Block, grapple, counter. Trecko slams into the ground, thrown over Tanya's head by his tail, and the fight concludes in under a second with the first strike. Confirming he's not trying to get back up, she steps back and looks out at the crowd. There's a pause, one that's been growing longer and longer each time a fight concludes, before a torchic hesitantly steps forward. Because he's not here. The bird gets into a pale imitation of her Rival's runner's launch and slowly starts running around the perimeter of the arena, firing off embers as he goes. Deflecting the flames with psychic energy, she considers charging after him but decides not to waste the mana, instead waiting for him to approach. He doesn't, instead continuing to waste mana and time on an attack she barely even has to think about countering. Eventually, and completely done with the farce, she redirects his own attack into the path of his predictable sprint around the arena. The sudden approach of the fireball is apparently a surprise, despite having all the time in the world to see it coming and dodge. He does, stumbling to a stop and nearly falling on his face as the ember passes half an inch in front of his beak, then looking distinctly pleased at this poor showing. Right up until a pink limb pounds into the side of his head and he flies out of the arena. Tanya shakes out her arm. He's sick apparently. Or at least that's what Torchic's broodmates tell her, a fact she has no reason to dispute. But the idea of her chicken being brought low by something as base as an illness doesn't seem right. Some part of her just assumed he'd try and physically fight the illness… then win somehow. She smirks at the thought, then takes a step back and looks around. There's a general shuffling of feet and muttering amongst downcast eyes. She's gone to the yard twice since her last fight with Torchic. The first day he'd not been here Tanya was elated, without the bird here to constantly bother her she'd assumed there'd be nothing in the way of relaxing. Unfortunately, that happy fantasy lasted only five minutes, before the usual crowd gathered anyway. It turns out they were quite excited to fight Tanya now that Torchic wasn't 'hogging' her. Her gaze sweeps over the hesitant crowd, one that was so thrilled to bother her just a short while ago. There's another moment of muttering, but this time a small group huddles together for a few seconds, occasionally glancing over their shoulders at her. After a second she identifies three of the strongest fighters below Torchic looking between each other and nodding. The little group huddle breaks up and, after a second's hesitation, the mudkip of the trio steps into the ring. "We're doing a triple battle!" He proclaims, pausing to look at Tanya. She nods and gets into a ready stance, seeing the torchic and treecko of the group hesitating to enter the ring as she doesn't react. Tanya blinks, working through some basic context clues with this already non-standard format. "And who will your swaps be?" There's another few seconds of silence before another mudkip and treecko hesitantly raise their arms. Tanya nods levelly and gets back into her ready stance. "Whenever you're ready." At this the two other top battlers step into the ring and slowly fan out, Tanya allows them to position themselves, resolving to consider the fight started when the first blow is thrown. It takes a frustrating amount of time before any of them do so. But after a few more seconds at some unspoken signal they each leap into action, tossing their ranged attacks as the water and fire type rush in. Psychic mana is brought to the fore again the ember is pushed into the glob of water, which disappears with a sizzle. Continining the motion, that same arm deflects a peck from the slightly faster chicken who arrives first. Working to counter she's almost caught off guard as the bird jumps back and her attention is redirected to mudkip who leaps at her in a tackle that's easily blocked. Taking a quarter second to deflect a volley of thrown leaves, she lashes out with a pound to counter. But instead her arm is blocked by a wall of shimmering energy. Though she can see the protective barrier was difficult for the amphibian to cast. The torchic is predictable so she doesn't have to look in order to deflect the ember and her attention is redirected again as Treecko blurs into existence beside her, already halfway through a tail strike. Taking the blow, she sees the lizard jumping back in a guard, mana flowing defensively to enhance reflexes and his stance prepared to dodge any follow-up attack. So she doesnt bother. The plan is transparent, they each harass and perform hit and run tactics in turn, putting everything into defence whenever Tanya turns her attention to them and trusting the others to distract and wear her down. A thrown ember is redirected toward Treecko and he detects it, turning to face the attack while dodging mid-air. Meanwhile she continues to push Mudkip, sending out a blow that's blocked by yet another energy wall, forming just before the strike would have landed and putting further strain on Mudkip. More leaves shoot from behind while Torchic leaps in with talons primed to scratch. But he's too predictable. She sidesteps, suddenly forcing the bird to dodge the leaves, chipping away at his health and putting him out of action for a few seconds. Tanya reaches for Mudkip a third time and the protection comes up too slowly, her limbs shattering the half formed mana and firmly gripping his head fin. She can see him panicking, throat bulging as water builds up within for an instinctive attack. Momentarily a non threat. She rotates on the spot, building up speed, chucking him at the torchic, then grabs a downward swinging tail as Treecko blurs into existence beside her yet again. The bird squawks, jumping up to avoid his thrown teammate and sends out another ember. Tanya doesn't waste the energy dodging, simply timing her overhead slam of Treecko into the ground to swat the fire out the air with his body. Quickly shaking off the shock, the lizard begins to struggle in her grip. Realizing he's still in play, she winds up another spinning toss at an unsteadily rising Mudkip, bowling him over yet again. Unfortunately her distraction has allowed the chicken a moment to breathe. Using space to flare his mana, he makes his wings flicker with tongues of flame, a pale imitation of her Rival's own technique. The speed boost is similarly poor, but it turns out to be just enough for his goals as he rushes into close range yet doesn't attack, instead keeping at the perfect distance to remain a threat while not committing to any maneuver that would damage her, or she could counter. Pushing forward to close the gap she has to block as a new treecko blurs in with another quick attack, fresh and uninjured. Tanya takes the blow and counters, expecting him to dodge, instead Treecko takes the hit and sends out one of his own. But as the blow lands Tanya feels the distinctly unpleasant sensation of her aura being sucked away though the limb that just hit, flowing into the lizard to reinforce himself. Torchic blurs in with leg raised for a kick at her five o-clock. Sensing this Tanya pivots to meet the new opponent as she leans backward, dodging the lizard's followup attack. Meanwhile she sends psychic mana into the earth to disrupt their movemen– Treecko jumps backward and suddenly what feels like a rock hits her hard from below where he just was, the strike disrupting her mana flow like her Rival's crush claw. Instinctively she steps back, pulling from endless memories of fighting Torchic to make a blind guess and deflects a scratch from behind. Yet this decision allows mana infused leaves to strike her in the side while distracted. Caught off guard, she sees her opponents moving in to capitalize, Mudkip and Torchic priming for another attack while Treecko starts to blur– And in that perfect stillness, calm inside a single moment of chaos, Tanya considers her next move. The flames ripple like they're in molasses as she works her way through the optimal path, accounting for every variable in a moment of perfect focus. And the world continues. Tanya ducks under a blurring Treecko, dodging the swung tail. Using the downward momentum she pushes forward, grips Mudkip's head fin, and twists it to the right just as a jet of water shoots out his mouth. Then as Torchic dodges the water she adjusts her grip on the fin and lifts. Recovering from his stumble after missing the tail strike, Treecko looks up. Just in time to be hit in the face by Mudkip. Following through, Tanya uses the 'mon as a bludgeon and smashes him into Torchic, then tosses the amphibian to the other side of the arena. Breathing heavily for a second, she assesses the state of her opponents and finds them incapacitated, but not unconscious. Not even the mudkip. Tanya smooths her breathing and straightens up. Good. As much as she'd been trying to moderate herself she'd been concerned the final toss was excessive. Stepping away from her groaning opponents, she calmly walks back to the center of the quiet arena, stabilizing the final trembles of disrupted mana as she does. She'd assumed they'd stop challenging after a few losses, allowing her to leave. Unfortunately she'd realized too late that this was the same kind of thinking that led to her having to deal with Torchic. But she'd assured herself that, with the skill gap so wide they'd –eventually– want to stop. Coming to a stop, Tanya scans the crowd one last time, noting how they flinch back as her eyes cross over them, and gets into a ready stance. Thankfully it seems to be working.