The Type Specialist

“Can you tell me why you didn’t think I was a Fairy Type specialist, first? I’ve been working towards that goal for a while, so for you to say you didn’t realize...”

Wallace looked away from me, guiltily, as he casually leaned back in his chair and held his tea. It hurt to have been told he didn’t realize I was trying to specialize in the Fairy Type, but out of everyone that could help me with this, he was the best person to talk to outside of an actual Fairy Type specialist.

“Please, do not get me wrong,” he said, “I did not mean your team wasn’t impressive, it was just that you command your Pokémon like a generalist would. Each of your Pokémon is magnificently well trained, and their mastery over their moves surpasses that of most other Pokémon at their level, but there’s no underlying behavior consistent with how Fairy Types fight. You take advantage of the wide variety of Types at your disposal, but you fail to truly make the most out of their shared Fairy Type. Yes, you would most likely win battles anyway, and yes, the Fairy Type moves they know are especially powerful, but the Fairy Type is more than just powerful attacks and an advantage against Dragon Types.”

I sipped the tea in front of me to consider what Wallace just said. We were sitting in a lush garden behind the Gym, and Altaria, Ponyta, and Cottonee were sleeping in a fluffy pile nearby. The rest of my team wasn’t present, as they were still being healed by Wallace’s Gym Trainers. Altaria had been returned already since his healing had started in the middle of the battle, and Cottonee and Ponyta had been dropped off by Wally before he left to prepare to fight Wallace next. Since there was an hour between challenges, Wallace and I had plenty of time to talk.

“Then what’s unique about Fairy Types?” I asked. “What am I missing?”

Wallace frowned and paused briefly.

“Hm. I am not sure that I am the best person to answer that question. I specialize in Water Types, but I have at least worked with many Fairy Type coordinators in the past. From what they have shared with their beautiful performances, Fairy Types tend to focus on trickery, a connection to nature, or sweets.”

I cocked my head.

“I’m sorry, sweets?”

“Indeed. Alcremie and Slurpuff are Pokémon deeply tied to confections. To a lesser extent, Ribombee, with its ability to gather honey, and Aromatisse, with its connection to sweet smells.”

I rubbed my chin to think.

“So then, I’m missing out on the aspects Fairy Types are connected to? Like I should base my team around one?”

Wallace shook his head and raised his hand to stop my train of thought.

“No, no, no. Limiting yourself to a single theme is potentially the worst thing you can do,” he said.

He paused for a moment to sip his tea as well.

“Let’s start with a thought exercise. To me, Water Types are an endless river of inspiration: beautiful, melodic, and flowing. They are both the calm pond and the raging tsunami, a vast sea and a fading puddle. There is a Water Type for every role; like a liquid, they can fit whatever they are thrust into. What are Fairy Types to you?”

Wallace put his cup down, then intertwined his fingers on his lap to watch me as I considered how to describe Fairy Types. I’m ashamed to say it took me a while to respond. I had trouble summarizing my thoughts of what Fairy Types represented, and Wallace noticed.

"I would say that they’re cute, tricky, and misunderstood," I slowly explained. "They act innocent, but are more than capable of defending themselves when pressed. Their appearances tend to deceive, but then again some of them just act like how they look. And some of them have a connection to nature, too? Actually I’m not certain about how Azumarill fits in..."

I paused.

"They’re also frequently pink."

Wallace nodded and absentmindedly stirred his drink.

“That’s a start, but a lot of what you said was just reiterating what I have already told you. I can see that there’s an attempt at a deeper understanding there, but I feel as if you are only scratching the surface. Let’s try another activity. Which members of your team do you feel are most in tune with being a Fairy Type?”

“Ninetales and Florges,” I said immediately. “Ninetales is great at causing her opponents to be unable to find her in the hail, and Florges has a deep connection to nature that shines in her Grass Type moves. Also, when she defends herself from attacks, she moves her body in such a way that it almost looks like it's flowing. She’s extremely graceful, and I think that matches the Fairy Type pretty well.”

Wallace smirked at what I said.

“I have to agree with you regarding your Florges, although you may want to consider relying more on Fairy Type moves rather than Grass Type moves. As she is a pure Fairy Type, she’s much more adept at attacks that use that Type. However, I will say your usage of Grassy Terrain allows her Grass Type moves to be comparable.

“But for your Ninetales,” Wallace continued, “I feel as though you are missing out on her full potential. Her mastery of the Ice Type is incredible, and I myself had a hard time tracking her within the snowstorm. However, you fail to do anything special with it.”

“Huh? What do you mean?” I asked. I knew she had a strong mastery over Snow Cloak, and I had thought how easily she could dodge already made her extremely capable in battle.

As if reading my mind, Wallace responded.

“Well, she dodges, yes, but you’re missing out on the full extent of what she could do. Out of everything I have learned from interacting with Fairy Type coordinators, the number one trait of Fairy Types is that they are tricksters. Imagine what an Alolan Ninetales would do if it had its own territory on a snowy mountaintop. Would it simply hide away in the snow and use its illusions to hide from trespassers? Or would it use its control of the storm and its Confuse Ray to trick travelers into leaving its territory, or worse, falling off the path?”

I leaned back into my seat once he finished his description.

Huh. I think I had her do something almost like that against Norman’s Slaking, but outside of that battle, Ninetales has only been using her abilities and Confuse Ray to dodge attacks or make people ignore her. The most we’ve done with her abilities offensively is to rapidly attack from different angles.

“...You’re completely right,” I replied. “Ninetales could be using her illusions to trick her enemies into taking attacks they wouldn’t normally, or tricking them into entering a bad spot. I’ve focused too much on defense, and hadn’t considered how well illusions could support her attacks.”

Wallace smiled. I continued.

“So then, do you have any other advice you could give me? What else can you tell me to help my Pokémon get a stronger connection to the Fairy Type?”

At that question, his smile turned into a frown.

“I’m not sure I can help you much more with that, Alex. A trainer’s journey is their own. I can sit here and list off ways I have seen Fairy Type specialists battle in the past, but would that make you a Fairy Type specialist of your own right, or just an imitation of others? Trainers develop through their own experiences, and it wouldn’t be fair to you to simply list possible strategies as if they were answers on a test. I believe that every trainer has their own unique way to view the world, and while I have already provided some surface level advice, I do not want to dictate what your beliefs should be.”

I brought my head up to look at the clear, blue sky above us while I thought. He had a point, but I had been hoping he would be able to provide more detailed information about the Fairy Type. However, we still had plenty of time to talk, and I had no plans to let this opportunity go to waste.

I straightened myself back up in my seat and faced Wallace, locking eyes with him with a newfound determination.

“Then what should I do to help me learn more about the Fairy Type, and what can I do to develop my understanding and strategies?” I asked.

Wallace picked up his cup and sipped his tea again while I waited for his answer. He was silent for a while, but asked me a question before too much time had passed.

“You’ve chosen all of your Pokémon individually, haven’t you?” he asked.

I nodded.

“Other than Florges, I specifically sought out most of my team,” I said. “Even still, I wanted to catch a Flabébé and was half looking for one at the time, so I was happy when she asked to join.”

After I said that, Wallace had a satisfied expression on his face as if some profound mystery had just been solved.

“Then, can I ask why you didn’t add a different Fairy Type to your team? As a few examples, you could have used a Carbink from Granite Cave, or obtained a Snubbull from a breeder within one of the major cities or the Safari Zone.”

I paused.

"Well for one, I didn't know that was an option for Snubbull. And two, both of those species are, um..."

"Weak?" he asked.

I nodded and looked down, a bit ashamed of my opinion.

"I can understand why you must have felt the need to focus on Pokémon that are known to be powerful in battles, but consider branching out,” Wallace said, leaning forward to emphasize his point. “It’s difficult to be a new trainer, and it’s even more difficult to be a new trainer with a species of Pokémon weaker than others, but training a weak Pokémon forces you to fully understand their capabilities if you want them to keep up with other Pokémon in battle.

"Let’s compare a hypothetical Granbull with your Azumarill, for example. Azumarill may have a strong understanding of Play Rough, but do you? If you were to train that Granbull, how would you describe Play Rough to it? Granbull is a notoriously timid Pokémon, despite its looks, and it would struggle to use that move with the same brutality your Azumarill demonstrates. Additionally, Azumarill has the Huge Power ability, but Granbull does not. Any attempts to teach Play Rough to Granbull would most likely reveal details that you would not have learned otherwise."

I didn't say anything and Wallace continued.

"Even more so, you lack the use of several supporting Fairy Types moves on your team that a 'weaker' Pokémon would make exceptional use of. I saw you use Grassy Terrain, but never once have you shown Misty Terrain. It may not have a direct offensive boost like other terrain moves do, but I can imagine its ability to prevent status conditions would be incredibly useful to counter Poison Types, which Fairies are weak to. Even more, why do none of your Pokémon use Charm? That is an incredibly useful Fairy Type move that weakens the physical power of any opponent your team might face. I imagine it would have made your battle against Quagsire much easier."

I sat in silence to consider what he had said.

All of my Pokémon are strong in battle, so I only really know how to train strong species of Pokémon. I’ve focused on powerful attacking moves, and left other, more tricky moves that Fairy Types would make excellent use of, to the wayside.

Also, he talked about training a weak species, but I already kind of have one, don’t I? Every one of Mawile’s capabilities is outshined by another member of my team. Azumarill is stronger than her, Florges can sustain more damage, and Ninetales is faster than her. Mawile might be on the weaker side, but her species practically screams deception, a trait reflective of her Fairy Type. Azumarill can deal damage more quickly, but Mawile’s jaws allow her to bridge that gap when she bites. If anything, Mawile is only a weak Pokémon when she doesn’t fight according to her specialty. It may help me understand how Fairy Types trick their foes if I work with her more closely to see how she lures enemies in.

Wallace and I sat in silence and enjoyed the tea as I continued to think about how I could better understand the Fairy Type, trying to follow his advice. Off to the side, Altaria moved in his sleep and wrapped his wings around both Cottonee and Ponyta, almost making Cottonee completely disappear under his fluff.

"Do you have any more suggestions for what I could do to understand the Fairy Type better?” I said, speaking up. “I’ve been too focused on using strong attacking moves like Moonblast and Dazzling Gleam when it came to training the Fairy Type, and I think training something weaker might give me ideas of how my Pokémon can fight more in tune with who they are. Mawile is a good start for me to see how weaker Fairy Types can stay relevant in battles, but other than that, I’m a little lost with what to do."

Wallace nodded once and set his tea cup down again.

“I would have recommended catching a new Pokémon anyway, but since your sponsorship was delayed, that won’t be an option for a while. It might be best to-”

"Sorry, I have a sponsorship? And it was delayed?" I interrupted. “Wait, and you know about it?”

Wallace smiled mischievously.

"Technically you have two, and both have been the topics of discussion within several League meetings. I recommend you tell your friend Marty that your Pokémart sponsorship will not be in effect next season due to pending rule changes. As for your other sponsorship, its delay was simply a result of making sure it will attract no extra interest to your person. Steven would not explain why, but he was adamant that your sponsorship be timed just right to ensure your safety. Your potential sponsor is a big name, after all."

As much as I wanted to ask for more information about my sponsorship, Wallace was smirking as if he wasn’t allowed to say much more than that. It was a cruel tease, but gave me hope that my efforts have finally been recognized.

A big name wants to sponsor me, huh? I wonder how important they must be to cause their sponsorship to be included in a major discussion.

“Anyway, as I was saying before,” Wallace said. “If you cannot catch a new Pokémon, it might be best to simply meet and interact with someone who has a Fairy Type Pokémon of their own. Learning their own thoughts on the Type might increase your understanding, but do not focus on just one person. Meeting many people and many Pokémon to create a wide range of experiences would let you form your own viewpoint about Fairy Types.”

Wallace looked like he had finished talking, but before I could speak his eyes suddenly lit up and literally sparkled as he seemed to have remembered something.

"I cannot believe I, of all people, almost failed to mention this,” he said.

Wallace paused dramatically.

“Have you considered contests?"

I blinked.

"Huh. No, I haven’t. Ninetales and Florges both enjoyed watching them back in Rustboro, but I didn't think I would ever enter one."

He leaned forward, placed his elbows on the table, then crossed his hands to support his head.

"While it's too late to obtain a Contest Pass for this season, contests are a magnificent way to see your Pokémon in a new light. The grace, the elegance, the sheer creativity that coordinators bring to the field of raising Pokémon fills my heart with joy. If your Pokémon already have an interest in contests, I highly recommend trying one out and broadening your horizons."

I hummed in response.

I didn’t think I would ever enter a contest, but honestly, I don't really have a reason not to. Thinking of and creating a performance might be fun, and I wouldn't mind showing off how incredible my Pokémon are.

“It’s an interesting idea,” I said. “I’ll definitely think about entering a contest or two next season.”

Our conversation scaled back a bit after that, going into more specifics of certain moves and Pokémon. Wallace actually came out to say he wanted to work with Azumarill since he was enamored with her fighting style. I agreed to let her spend a few hours of the day with him and the other Gym Trainers for the next while, more than happy to let a potential Champion-level trainer tutor one of my Pokémon. I bet Azumarill would be excited as well.

Eventually, the rest of my team was returned to me, healed, and they joined us in the gardens to rest. Wallace made sure everyone got treats of their own since it would have been rude if only he and I were having something.

Soon, our discussion wound to an end and Wally was finally ready to challenge Wallace. We finished the tea and I returned my Pokémon, then headed back to the Gym's arena for Wally's Gym Battle.

Wally won, of course.

Wallace used a different set of Water Types, and Wally easily cleared through them.

The first battle was a Pelipper versus Magneton, which Wally quickly beat with a sudden Thunder Wave to paralyze it followed by a few Thunderbolts. Wallace’s second Pokémon, Whishcash, proceeded to gunk up Magneton with Mud Slap and fainted it with a Mud Bomb.

Comfey was Wally’s second Pokémon, and honestly I was a bit surprised to see her out. I always thought of her as more of a healer than a battler, and was looking forward to seeing how the moderately unfamiliar Fairy Type battled. A little voice in the back of my mind reminded me of the conversation I just had with Wallace, so I kept a close eye on her as she fought.

Comfey had the ability Triage, which let her use healing moves faster than normal. I had thought that would only include a move like Heal Pulse, or her signature move, Floral Healing, but apparently it also worked with offensive moves like Draining Kiss and Giga Drain.

Comfey was able to quickly faint Whiscash thanks to the four times effective and fast acting Giga Drain, and then followed that up with another quick knockout of Wallace’s Gorebyss. However, Comfey’s self-sustain wasn’t enough to let her last through a third Pokémon, Clawitzer, and the lobster’s Mega Launcher ability made quick work of Comfey thanks to several rapid-fire boosted Water Pulses.

The Clawitzer and Wally's Delcatty ended up both fainting each other in their match, and with that, Wally was left with two Pokémon against Wallace's ace for this battle, a Kingdra.

After a short fight where the Kingdra was both poisoned and affected by Leech Seed, it fainted Wally's Roserade with a well placed Ice Beam, dealing extra critical damage thanks to Kingdra’s ability, Sniper. Gallade was able to finish it off soon after, using his slashing moves to cut through and deflect Kingdra’s ranged attacks and finish it off with Psycho Cut.

It was an impressive battle that just reminded me that I might have to fight him in the conference. I needed to work harder to keep up. Learning how to better embody the Fairy Type in battles would ensure I would have a fighting chance.

With Wally's battle over, we chatted in the Pokémon Center to figure out what to do next. I had already made plans for Azumarill to train in the Sootopolis Gym for a few days, and wanted to see if Wally was okay with staying in the city.

"So we're going to Mossdeep next, but do you mind if we stick around here for a bit?” I asked. “Azumarill has a chance to train with Wallace, and I want to take some time to sightsee. Is that okay with you?”

Wally quickly agreed without taking much time to think about it.

“I’m fine with that, but we have to take a boat directly to Mossdeep, then. It’s super important to get there soon. There's a tournament in Lilycove next month that the League keeps hinting will be important, and if we take too long to earn our seventh badge, we might miss it!" he exclaimed.

That's the one Steven mentioned. He acted like it was important back then, too. Wally is right that we need to participate.

I nodded along with Wally's reasoning.

"That makes sense. I imagine we would need to continue training in Mossdeep once we get there, so we might only show up for the tournament at the last minute. Is that still okay?"

"As long as we don't miss it!" he replied.

With our plans set, we each started to work out how we would train our Pokémon within the city. We ended up spending two more weeks in Sootopolis, and for me, when I trained with my Pokémon, I decided to spend my time focusing on finding new ways to let my Pokémon act much more in line with their Fairy Type.

Florges was the easiest, since she was a pure Fairy Type and inherently acted like one. When she wasn’t working on learning Synthesis, I encouraged her to get more practice with Moonblast, and even Fairy Wind, despite Fairy Wind being a weaker move. I realized that she could use Fairy Wind much more quickly than Moonblast, allowing the move to be an easy way to throw off her foes if used at the right time. I acknowledged my mistake of only having her focus on high power moves, and switched around her schedule to include Fairy Wind in her practice.

Ninetales was a different story. We already knew her Snow Warning and Snow Cloak abilities were great for defense, but I wanted to have her use her abilities and Confuse Ray to better support her offensively. We worked on causing her foes to position themselves wrong, luring them to any terrain hazards, forcing them to fall prone, and tricking them into throwing themselves into Ninetales’s attacks. I am ashamed to say how much we had been underutilizing Confuse Ray. Ninetales's illusions were incredibly powerful, and our new strategies would massively increase her capabilities in battle.

When I trained Altaria, however, I began to truly realize that he wasn’t a Fairy Type. I had initially caught him to be my flier and because his species was capable of learning Fairy Type moves, but I had incorrectly thought Swablu and Altaria behaved closely to Fairy Types. I couldn’t have been more wrong.

Ignoring Altaria’s unique personality, Altaria as a species were Dragon Type, and Dragon Types demanded a fighting style that took advantage of their power. They were a species built to go head on against their foes, thanks to moves like Cotton Guard for defense, and Dragon Claw and Dragon Dance for offense. There was little room for any misdirections or strategies that Fairy Types might use because their species was explicitly not Fairy Type. I was more motivated than ever to find an Altarianite, and considering that Altaria was the one to steal the Key Stone from Courtney, he more than deserved to Mega Evolve at this point.

I ended up having Altaria train with Cottonee, unable to think of much else for him to work on.

When Altaria and Cottonee trained, they worked on developing their abilities with each other. Cottonee tried to paralyze Altaria with Stun Spore, and Altaria worked on dodging and curing himself over time with his ability, Natural Cure. After using Stun Spore many times, and even figuring out when to best use Growth to enhance himself, Cottonee had finally completely figured out his Prankster ability, most likely to the doom of my peaceful days.

For Cottonee, I didn’t see much reason to change how I was planning to have him fight, since he would be reliant on tricking his opponents with his Prankster ability. I had several plans to have him sneak in uses of certain moves without his opponents realizing, and couldn’t wait for him to catch up with everyone else.

Mawile was a different story for the weeks we stayed in Sootopolis. She and Ponyta were the two Pokémon I spent most of my time with, since everyone else could practice with another member or just needed to work on moves on their own. Mawile and Ponyta worked together on physical conditioning, and did extremely careful light spars. Ponyta was just a few weeks out from being able to fight in low-level battles, so I wanted him to be in good shape. He was quiet and dedicated, and made good progress, so I didn’t need to help him that much. My focus was on Mawile instead.

Mawile needed a way to improve her battle capabilities as she was the weakest active member of my team. However, she was more than strong enough when she managed to close in on her opponents and lock them in place with her jaws. She only beat Luvdisc since it had gone in close to confuse her with Sweet Kiss, but if it had stayed back, she would have had no way to win at all. We needed to find a way to get enemies to approach her, and I had a few ideas.

Fake Tears was a strong move, in that it made her look defenseless and tricked her opponents into lowering their guard. However, Mawile was also capable of learning two moves that could make her opponents more willing to attack her as well: Sweet Scent, and Taunt.

Mawile learned Sweet Scent in only a few days since it was a pretty simple move. The move let Mawile emanate a pleasant scent that relaxed her foes, causing them to take the battle a bit more lightly. I hoped that Sweet Scent combined with Fake Tears would either make her opponents more willing to approach, or cause them to feel less wary and let her approach a lot more easily. However, for opponents that refused to be tricked by Mawile’s tactics, the other move came into play.

Taunt was a TM move for Mawile, so she only barely understood the basics at the end of the two weeks, and it would be a long project to get her to learn it. She had an advantage in that it was a Dark Type move, and she was already familiar with Dark Type energy, but the move itself was complicated to learn. Essentially, it acted like Swagger in that it taunted her opponents from range, but rather than confusing them, Taunt convinced her opponents to move in to attack. Pokémon under the effects of Taunt wouldn’t use utility moves, and I hoped that meant they would aggressively approach Mawile, letting her trap them.

As for the last Pokémon on my team, Azumarill, it took until the day Wally and I were leaving for her to show off what she had learned within Wallace’s Gym. While I was impressed, Azumarill was a bit disappointed in herself since Belly Drum still wasn't in a battle ready state. However, Wallace said she would be more connected to the Water Type after she was done, and he wasn't kidding. Azumarill had learned two Water Type moves from him: Surf and Liquidation.

Surf let Azumarill conjure large waves of water to damage her foe, but it wasn't as strong if there wasn't already water in the field for her to control. It wasn't a physical move, so her massive strength wouldn’t apply, but she now had a way to affect a large area of the field and potentially cause her opponents to lose their balance.

The second move, Liquidation, was honestly perfect for her. The move was like Aqua Tail in that it coated part of her body with water and Water Type energy, but it was any body part of her choice. It was supposed to be difficult for her to learn without a TM, but she was apparently able to learn it quickly due to her experience with both Aqua Tail and Play Rough. Even though Aqua Tail was slightly more powerful, Liquidation required less effort to hit and the injuries it left could be debilitating enough to reduce their defenses. Luckily, just reminding Azumarill of the brutalities she could perform with Liquidation cheered her up from her inability to master Belly Drum in such a short amount of time.

Those developments with my team were what my two weeks in Sootopolis were focused on. I did go sightseeing a few times, but I largely focused on improving my team further and on how I could better incorporate Fairy-like strategies in their battles. I was starting to understand what Wallace meant when he said he primarily believed Fairies to be tricky, but I doubted that I would be able to create truly deceptive strategies until I was even more experienced working with them.

Now that our time in Sootopolis was coming to an end, it was time for Wally and I to head to Mossdeep. I would be returning to the city I had stayed in when I first arrived in this region, the same city in which I had caught both Ninetales and Azumarill.