Part 15: An Exercise in Futility, Part 1
2Yr. 3Mo. 2Wk.Based on your input, I decided to prioritize iScream, Natsu, and Chucky in that order for entering tournaments. It turned out I needn't have asked you, though, because there weren't any scheduling conflicts to work around.
Oh, and check this shit out.
Some guy dropped by in a freaking pirate ship to visit us.
Apparently Pollock pulled some strings on our behalf and got this guy to give us a loaner. Which is... a nice thought, I suppose, but I don't know how to sail a boat, let alone an actual ship. Don't you need, like, a dozen hearty men of the sea or something?
Besides, the guy kind of freaks me out.
Chucky continues to dominate all opposition in every match he enters. Unfortunately, there are very few tournaments at his rank in this area.
And Natsu couldn't say the same in his first Class D bout.
Poor bastard went up against one of those pumpkin monsters and just couldn't seem to land a hit. The judges gave it to the opponent in a close decision. I've withdrawn Natsu from tournaments until after the next official match to give him more time to train.
I wound up doing the same for iScream, who ran up against a Lesione that kept destroying his Guts.
And then his cohesion. Ah well, they both tried hard and brought home second place.
So all of a sudden I had a bunch of free weekends, so I decided to go visit Ryuwn and see what I needed to do to get into the higher-level tournaments. Ryuwn's a pretty big place, being the capital and all.
Check out the size of their stadium!
And being the capital, it's the sort of place everyone goes sooner or later. Case in point, one of my old classmates was here, having just finished losing a match. He's working as a breeder right out of school.
He wasn't the only familiar face either.
Apparently she's the top-ranked FIMBA rookie, which is no surprise; she always got the best marks in our class. I decided I'd better stop gawking like a tourist and see about getting into a match so I could see how my school of hard knocks stood up.
Unfortunately, we ran into this douche.
He wouldn't even let us past the lobby without filling out multiple forms, in triplicate, just to set up an appointment. What kind of league is FIMBA running, anyway?
Just so it wouldn't be a wasted trip, I swung by the library, meeting this cheery octogenarian...
...and his unfortunately named assistant.
I had the bright idea of having him take a look at those old documents I'd found, and he was able to translate them for me, which was nice of him. There weren't any secret locations of buried treasure--at least, not that he admitted--but maybe you'll get a kick out of them anyway. Any typoes are in the original text:
- 3 Ancient Deities: The 3 famous gods, Fleria, Gadamon, and Bragma are worshipped by people across the land. Images are found in shrines everywhere. But there is a little-known fact about two of these gods: Gaderman and Phrelia. When these two were young, they bickered about everything, and caused people around them much trouble.
- Monster Mysteries: The regeneration of monsters is a recent phenomenon, but monsters themselves have existed from long ago. However, nobody knows why they were sealed in Saucer Stones, or when they disappeared.
- The Elives School: A number of years back FIMBA and IMa worked in cooperation to create a breeder school called Elives School. The school attracted talented young boys and girls, who, after graduation, joined one of the two groups, FIMBA or IMa starting with an official Breeder Rank E.
- Vizley's Monster: Vizley is known for its long monster lifespan. Currently, people are investigating whether this is because of the warm and comfortable climate, or a result of generating a monster in this town.
- Regarding FIMBA: FIMBA is the oldest existing organization. This group is dedicated to monster culture. Most of the famous breeders we know belong to FIMBA. But in recent years, IMa, through the use of Training Gadgets, has excelled in strengthening monsters for monster battles. This has resulted in a monster strength gap between this group and others. As a result, many young breeders prefer to join IMa over FIMBA.
- Regarding IMa: IMa was created with the FIMBA model in mind. IMa has been concentrating its efforts on the monster battles, and as a result, makes use of grueling Training Gadgets to strengthen their monsters more extensively than other organizations. Some monsters, unable to bear the relentless training, run away. In recent years, the increase in stray monsters has developed into a serious problem.
- Regarding AGIMA: AGIMA is the most recently formed organization. Perhaps because of this, AGIMA is the most experimental of the groups. AGIMA makes the most use of the newest technologies. Furthermore, they are well known for having more advanced monster medical technology than other groups.
- Modern Jungles: The two most well-known jungles in the world are the Kalaragi and Pare-Pare jungles. Pare-Pare jungle, a resort area, is close to the sea. The exploration tours conducted there allow ordinary people to feel like real-life adventurers. In recent years , the discovery of numerous artifacts of ancient culture in the Kalaragi Jungle has surprised academics. However, these investigations have been monopolized by FIMBA, creating a stir among competing organizations.
- Training Gadgets: Use of Training Gadgets has become popular in recent years, especially in Torble. Originally, they were devices used by ancient civilization, but with the successful decoding of ancient Training Gadget blueprints at Torble University, these devices have been recovered. With the help of Training Gadgets, it has become unnecessary to send monsters to far training grounds. But on the down side, some caution that the use of Training Gadgets in place of direct attention has led to a decrease in monsters' bond with their breeders.
Anyway, I'm back on the ranch now. The soonest I was able to schedule an appointment at FIMBA was a week later. They don't look that busy to me... ah well. We must persevere.