Another picture came up on the screen.
Dark and red fur with a slim body. Dangerous red claws with sharp fangs.
"Zoroark. Dark type. Speedy mixed attacker, skewed towards special attack. Glass cannon. Illusion lets you throw off opponents."
"Good! Good! Wow, you really do know a lot! Nobody knows about Zoroark. In fact most people accept them as myths. That's only in part because only a handful of trainers around the world own one. They are rare enough that nobody even knows the name. I find it so fascinating that you have your own classification system. Dark type. I suppose that could be one way to describe the void." The Professor, the dude in the lab coat and glasses, practically jumped up and down as he quizzed me about Pokemon. My headache had abated by now, so I was happy to indulge him. I was also hoping this would give me answers to my own questions.
"Hold on. So how do you classify Zoroark then?"
The Professor grinned. "Zoroark is a nasty pokemon specializing in illusions. As a Void type, they are known to be highly erratic and malicious. Sub classifications are Trump 8, Shaker 8, Fang 3 and Claw 6."
"Okay, so I can kind of see how you got Void from dark. And I guess Zoroark do indeed have claws and fangs. What is a trump? Or shaker? And what do those numbers mean?"
The Professor grinned. "Threat classifications range between 1 and 10. 1 and 2 are threats a human can deal with. 3 and 4 can be dealt with by a trained pokemon or any Starfallen Ranger or Ace Trainer with the proper weaponry. Don't worry about anything higher than a 4. If your pokedex tells you any number higher than 4, just run. These ratings give trainers an idea of what kind of Pokemon they are dealing with. Sure it's useful to know something is a Void type. But it's far more useful to know how it attacks. Many pokemon use attacks from afar after all."
I nodded my head. "Yeah, special attacks. Go on."
"So when dealing with a wild pokemon, knowing what it attacks with is far more useful when coming up with a counter. Not everyone has the time to memorize hundreds of Pokemon and all their quirks after all. If a Ranger stumbles across a Zoroark, knowing he has to deal with Fangs and Claws lets him know that Zoroark likes to bite or slash its opponents. The danger of the slashes are far more than that of its fangs, as with a rating of 6 it could dismember even a veteran Pokemon. But as you surmised, the Shaker rating is even higher. This rating applies to how the Zoroark can use abilities that have an area of effect. Likely what you were referring to with a skew towards special attack. Now finally comes the Trump rating. This refers to any effect the Pokemon can have that is outside the standard classification system. Zoroark in particular has a very strong unique ability to create illusions. Other pokemon have the ability to make you see illusions, but those pokemon affect your mind to do that. Zoroark can actually create real illusions that influence the visible light spectrum. It's quite fascinating really. So the Trump classification in this case refers to its ability to make and use illusions, and its high rating shows how dangerous that power is. Most pokemon that make illusions in your head can only affect one person or pokemon at a time. By creating physical illusions, Zoroark have killed off entire groups of trainers by leading them off of cliffs or into the cave's of angry Tyranitar, you name it."
Holy shit. That was a way better way to classify things. Knowing something is a physical attacker doesn't really help me if I don't know if it's going to punch me or eat me.
"So everything that I can remember then. Is it just obsolete?" A look of resignation crossed my face as I looked back to the Professor.
I never would have trusted this guy either. Brown hair, short and all cheery. Those vibrant types never sat well with me. It always seemed faked. But somehow this guy seemed genuine. Plus the name Professor Oak seemed to resonate with me. I knew that name. And there were only good emotions tied to it.
Oak looked down at me, his grin growing wider. "Of course not! Don't you get it? Somehow by some stroke of luck you have been gifted to me by the gods! You have been given an encyclopedic knowledge of all pokemon! Oh Time and Space gods above! Over these last couple centuries, mankind has grown from the brink of extinction to rise as the apex being on this world of mystery and chaos. We have harnessed every power possible. First we harnessed the power of pokemon. With them by our side, we could do anything. Nuclear reactors had nothing on fusion generators based on combustion and electric pokemon."
My look of horror seemed to bring the Professor amusement. "Oh not like that! Some shady groups have used Pokemon as actual batteries, but we have just studied their biology to find more efficient ways to produce and conserve energy. A nature type can convert solar radiation into energy far more efficiently than plants ever could. A combustion type can make fire with chemicals or small fusion reactions inside their own bodies! Electric types can collect ambient static electricity or make their own, transferring ions and creating charge at will. It's incredible!"
I feel like he was screwing with me. Combustion types. Nature types. At least electric types are still called electric types.
"Hey so are nature types grass types or bug types in your weird classification system?"
Oak gave me an odd look, tilting his head to look at me. "How do you mean? All Pokemon of nature are nature types, even when some are more bug like or more plant based."
"What? That's stupid. Do bug types not deal additional damage to psychic and dark types?"
Oak's eyes moved around frantically. His fingers moved as he tracked what I was saying, and tried to apply it to his own knowledge. It was a testament to his genius that he already understood my own classification system, and was constantly comparing it to his own to see the similarities and differences.
"HA! Who'd have guessed. We have noticed that psychic's struggle to use any mind tricks on more bug based nature types, but we hadn't quite made the connection. After all, all nature types are very susceptible to both air and fire attacks. Not many people study all these typings, you see. These classifications matter less to battlers than the actual danger classifications. You see there are always confounding variables when we consider looking into these patterns. A Scyther can break out of an imprison far faster than a Lotad. Both are nature types, although Lotad is also aquatic. Is that because of the Scyther's immense speed? Does it vibrate to escape that prison? Or does its immense strength allow it to break the barrier easier. After all, even though Venasaur is not bug based, they also easily break out of a psychic hold rather quickly, just because of their sheer weight class. So you're saying that Nature types could actually be broken up into Bug and Grass respectively, and each would have their own specific advantages and disadvantages?"
I guess I'd never thought about that. In a real world, when people were too busy fighting for their lives, they would not use the same typings as someone making a game would. Fire and Flying type moves both hit hard against something, and they both live in the forest, so why not rope them together. It would be hard to notice specific patterns when there wasn't already an established classification system. Especially given how many pokemon have dual typings. Even if someone found that Flying type moves dealt additional damage against most bugs, would they discard that theory when encountering a Shuckle? Or a Scizor? Speaking of which, could Scizor evolve naturally?
"Yeah. Grass is super effective on ground, water and rock. It resists water, electric, grass, and ground. It's weak against fire, ice, poison, flying, and bug. And fire, ice, poison, flying, bug, dragon, and steel all resist grass type moves. Bug on the other hand is super effective against grass, psychic, and dark. It resists grass, fighting, and ground. It's weak to fire, flying, and rock. And fire, fighting, poison, flying, ghost, steel, and fairy all resist it's attacks."
Oak staggered back. He blinked at me a couple times. "Okay. Okay. Hold on. Let me write this down." He pulled out a notepad and wrote down what I said. After correcting him on a couple parts, he'd drawn out the basics.
"Wow. This actually explains a lot actually. You know Rowan would love this. He's been analyzing battle data to try and come up with a better classification system for Pokemon. He's always spouting about inconsistencies in the one we have. Says it's bogus. I bet he would love this. You're saying you remember all these, for every single type. And you can't remember why?"
How do I play this? Do I mention that I can remember it's from a video game? I just can't remember anything specific about the game. Names, battle data, accuracy of moves and their efficacy in the competitive setting. Nothing like plot or actual memories. Screw it.
"Yes. I know every single type, their strengths and weaknesses. As well as what types all the pokemon are, as well as specific weaknesses each one might have."
Oak gave me a look. "And you think your knowledge is useless."
I guess he had a point. Even if I didn't know the specifics, knowing the baseline advantages and disadvantages every Pokemon had is a huge boon. Once I got experience in seeing how those quirks applied in a realistic setting I could apply my knowledge more efficiently.
Oak continued. "Alright, well I can't say I understand how you got here. If this were another time, and another place, I would have a lot more questioning for you. This sort of thing just doesn't happen in Kanto. But seeing where we are, I'll just chalk it up to a gift from the gods. You seem like a bright kid. I've got a mission for you, if you want it."
I perked up at that. So far in this world my questions have only brought me more questions. Never real answers. Why was I here? Where were my memories? Why could I remember English, but not how I learned it? Were they even speaking English? What even is English, and why do I want to dump tea in a harbor when I think of it?
Hell. I never did like when I was spoon fed everything anyhow. I like learning shit on my own. Figuring everything out, my own way. A mission would give me purpose. My gut is telling me to trust this guy anyway.
"What do you need me to do?"
Oak smiled.
"Well first, I'm going to need you to get acquainted with some pokemon. This region is callous. You won't be able to survive without one. Of course you'll also need the standard Ranger training if you want any chance to survive in the wild. But let's start with something simple. What should I call you?"
I thought about it. I couldn't remember my name. Maybe it started with a K? That wasn't much to go on. My gut threw up a name, and somehow it felt right. It was a dumb name. A primary color. I knew that nobody I had known had ever had this name. But everything in my body and mind screamed at me, telling me it was perfect.
I turned up to the Professor with a grin on my face. "Call me Red."