Chương 122: Chapter 104

"So you're saying you're actually interested in battling?" I asked smugly.

"I wouldn't go that far," he said, scratching his cheek.

"I don't think I'm good enough to get as good as everyone else is, so why not try it this way? I mean, maybe Pherzen's reputation will take a hit, but…"

"If you can make it work and show the world that there's more to the strategy than meets the eye, then Pherzen's image could be left unscathed," Cece said.

"Right, but could I even do that? I'd need to basically start from scratch and train my Pokemon in a completely different manner," he said.

"Would you?" I frowned.

"I mean, Sandile can burrow and trap his opponents in Sand Tombs, right? Now, I will say, it definitely won't be enough for your third badge—""Especially against Fantina," Cece added.

"She's considered the most skilled gym leader, you know?"

"Right, I remember hearing rumors that her true team is as good as an Elite Four member's and that she still holds back against trainers that have gone through the entire Circuit multiple times," I explained. I could tell that he was getting cold feet from all of this, so I decided to continue quickly.

"What I wanted to say is that you already have something there. A base to build up from with Sandile."

"Arcanine are one of the fastest Pokemon on land, since they can learn Extreme Speed," Cece said.

"And they can also learn Teleport… so perhaps you could work out something with that in the future."

"They can?" he asked with wide eyes.

"Growlithe was the one I was struggling the most to come up with something with. I've— I've never felt this fired up before." I smiled at him.

"Now you know how it feels, man," I chuckled.

"What about your Lotad?"

"Um… he's actually a Lombre now."

"Excuse me?!" I exclaimed, almost falling over.

"Since when?"

"I started up training again after your gym battles, and he evolved while fighting Growlithe," Justin said.

"I just never found an appropriate time to reveal it."

"You idiot, there's never a bad time to reveal an evolution!"

"Sorry," he awkwardly smiled.

"I was thinking about using Rain Dance and Swift Swim, but it's still all in the theory stage. Growlithe isn't ready to evolve, although I'll try to buy myself a Fire Stone in Hearthome, and Lombre can't use Rain Dance."

"Still, that's excellent progress," Cece said.

"Any idea for future team members?"

"Well, I definitely want something more defensively minded to round out my team… I was thinking about buying an Audino. They're rather common, since a lot of Nurse Joys seem to covet them over the usual Chansey. Plus, I figured it'd be nice to have a Pokemon that can help the others if they ever get injured beyond what a potion can do."

"Oh, right," I said, slamming my fist into my palm.

"What's the move… Heal Pulse. I know about that."

"There's also Wish, Life Dew, Heal Bell, Healing Wish—""Sheesh, you've read up on this!" I said.

"I think you've got a real shot at this stalling thing, and if you're as passionate as you look—""Passionate? This is just… me trying something new." Cecilia laughed.

"Come on, Justin, you look more excited than I've ever seen you. I bet Pauline would say the same, and she's known you for years."

"It does feel different this time," he admitted with a sigh.

"Thank you for this, and sorry for interrupting… whatever it is you were going to do. I just felt like venting and putting it all in the open. I feel more sure about this now, but it's still not a guarantee. I'm just thinking about it," he said as he got out of the tent.

"Well, would you look at that," Cecilia said with a slight smirk.

"Justin Gardner himself, enamored with Pokemon battling, even though he's pretending not to be."

"Did you know I was like that once?" I said.

"Really?!" She gasped.

"H—how? I can't even imagine you like that, it's antithetical to your whole being."

"Right?" I laughed.

"It was before I started this entire journey. I just stayed holed up in my room all day and watched battles on television or browsed the forums or whatever."

"Wait, are you saying that's all you did? That seems like you were still… passionate?"

"I mean, in retrospect, yeah," I shrugged.

"But back then, I was in denial, I think. I was too scared of the risks of being a trainer to take the plunge, but my dad gave me a slight push, and I've never looked back. It was the best decision of my life."

"I'm thankful for your father, then," she said.

"For getting me to realize that sometimes, you've got to get out of your comfort zone to get what you truly want?" I said.

"Yeah, he was the one that did that."

"And you know… without him, I never would have met you." I felt her hand on mine and turned toward her. I sneaked another look toward the tent's exit, confirming that Justin or Pauline weren't coming in, and then leaned in for the kiss. She quickly took the lead and gently pushed me down, slowly lowering herself to my ear.

"I love you," she whispered. ——"Again, so sorry," Pauline apologized.

"I should have known something was happening when Justin asked me to hang out by the fire."

"I tried to keep her as long as possible—""Then say something obvious, you idiot!" she groaned.

"Not that they, and I quote, might be busy. Life's too short to skirt around some words you find scary. Just say they were making out, Arceus!" We were on the road again, and Mount Coronet stood tall in the distance. It was starting to feel a bit unsettling, how wherever you were in Sinnoh, it seemed to always just be there. An oppressive reminder of how small we were. On a lighter, or stranger note, Pauline had walked in on Cece and I last night, but she was understanding and madder at Justin than anything.

"Come on, Justin, you'll get used to it in no time," Denzel said.

"They can barely keep their hands off of each other, it's actually surprising that they managed to do it this long—""Denzel, I'm going to end you," I hissed. He raised his hands innocently.

"Come on, don't shoot the messenger."

"Let's just forget it happened, alright," Cece muttered embarrassingly.

"Anyway, how close do we need to be to catch that Rufflet?"

"Oh, we should be getting into their habitat right about now," Pauline said.

"They live all along this part of the route, up to Mount Coronet's entrance. I was going to ask if you could get your Fletchinder to help me look?" Cecilia agreed, releasing the flying type, and had Pauline describe Rufflet's appearance to her. Catching a flying type was deceptively hard, even the more common ones like Starly or Pidgey because if they felt threatened, they just flew away.

The best way to go about catching a flying type was to hit it hard enough by surprise with your first attack so that they'd be too weak to fly again, so I was thankful I wouldn't need to catch one since I already had Togetic. Catching a Pokemon by surprise like that just wasn't how I did things. The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"How are you planning on getting it low enough to throw a Pokeball at it?" Justin asked, enunciating my thoughts.

"It's a Rufflet," Pauline smiled.

"It'll want to fight anything that moves. Just get Fletchinder to lure it back to us and it'll be fine."

"Do you know something about Rufflet that I don't?" I asked.

"I thought they were just aggressive, not suicidal."

"Not suicidal, Grace. They have balls. Balls. I told you it'd fit me," Pauline grinned. Justin practically shivered.

"How uncouth…"

"Don't get smart with me, Justin." We kept up a good pace, and even though we were meeting fewer and fewer trainers, they were still in relatively good numbers. I had Larvitar battle a lot more, and she won every single battle. She fought a Geodude, a Helioptile, and even a Bulbasaur, although that one had mostly been because I was too good at strategizing for my opponent to keep up, even with the type advantage.

She was progressing incredibly fast, and I almost wanted to move on to trainers with one badge because this felt too easy. Larvitar needed to be challenged to grow quicker, and trainers without badges weren't cutting it. Maybe I'd have Electabuzz train her tonight. Angel would have been the better pick, but I needed to redouble our efforts to learn Ancient Power. He was getting close. His eyes even shone whenever he tried to use the move, but he just needed that final little push, and he'd get there.

Hopefully, Togetic would be able to help. I was starting to miss Savika's lake. He would have learned the move for sure if we were still there, but alas, we weren't, so I had to make do with my current situation. One thing was for sure, he would evolve before my gym battle with Fantina, so that would be fine. Fantina excited me. I knew that she was a pain in the ass to fight because of her ghost types, especially with my previous...

terrifying experiences with those, and I knew that she was an incredibly strong trainer, but I was excited to dive deep into the nook and crannies of how exactly she battled. I would dissect it and solve it like a puzzle, and we'd have an incredible battle. Four badges. Four badges would be a dream for any first year trainer, but I would go further still. Around three hours later, Fletchinder screeched in the sky and dove down back to us.

"Find something?" Cecilia asked. The fire type nodded and pointed toward one of the humongous, mountainous cliffs to our left. I squinted and managed to barely see a speck of white and blue, way high up and nestled against one of the thousands of small ledges that covered it.

"That's your Rufflet," Denzel said, shielding his eyes from the sun.

"Darling, could you somehow get it down here?" Cece asked. Pauline excitedly released her Charmeleon and Gothorita. The fire type yelled as soon as she was told a fight was coming. She seemed to be like Louis' Gible in that regard, always wanting to battle powerful opponents and triumph over them. Fletchinder bolted upward, using Agility to make sure she was faster than Rufflet's top speed as she flew up toward the cliff.

At the height they were flying at, I couldn't hear anything, and I could barely see any better, especially with the sun shining in my eyes, but I managed to make out Fletchinder flying so close to the Rufflet she might as well have been grazing it. The wild Pokemon took no time to take the bait, and it flew down after her. The closer it got to us, the more I realized it was way too loud for its size. The flying type landed in front of us, and it reached slightly above my knees.

It beat its wings threateningly, clearly wanting to get us to either back off or fight.

"Rufflet, I challenge you to a battle," Pauline declared, stepping forward with her Charmeleon. The fire type slammed her tail against the ground threateningly, and Rufflet just screeched even louder, causing all of us to cover our ears.

"If I win, you're coming with me." Rufflet's eye twitched, and in a burst of speed, it flew toward Pauline, its beak elongating, and streaks of air formed around it. Charmeleon wasted no time and sent an Ember that at this point, looked more like a Flamethrower at Rufflet. Surprisingly, it just ignored the fact that its body was on fire and just kept going toward Pauline.

"Gothorita," Pauline inhaled sharply as she took a step back. The psychic type raised a hand and restrained Rufflet in the air, throwing it back— not at the ground, however. She gently placed it back on the ground.

"If you keep attacking me, I'll gang up on you and fight two-on-one," Pauline said.

"But—" With a wild screech, Rufflet took flight again, and this time its wing shone instead of its beak. It was still aiming for Pauline.

"—you'd like that, wouldn't you?" Pauline smirked.

"Win the fight." Gothorita gave her a slight nod and restrained Rufflet while Charmeleon screamed out a Dragon Rage that engulfed it completely. She rummaged through her bag, grabbed a Great Ball, and sent it toward Rufflet. The ball shook thrice and then let out a small 'ding'. Pauline had finally caught her third Pokemon. We all congratulated her, and even though she was trying to hide it, I could tell she was happy.

I knew how much she hated the fact that she had fallen behind us, and this was a way for her to finally feel like she was making progress again. Pauline immediately released the wounded Rufflet and grabbed a potion. I decided to scan it with my Pokedex. Rufflet, the Eaglet Pokemon. With its powerful legs and sturdy claws, they can crack even the hard shells of Shellder and pluck out their insides—"Ew. Not cool, Pokedex," I groaned.

—They will challenge anything, even strong opponents, not out of courage, but out of recklessness in a relentless quest for strength.

"Arceus, that does sound like you," I muttered.

"You did pick a fight with Harvey and Clarence."

"And I won," Pauline shrugged before turning to her new Pokemon.

"Listen up. I'm going to put you through so many hard fights that you could only dream of on this shitty route. I'm the best trainer you could hope for." The flying type's neck feathers puffed up, making it look bigger than it was.

"Tough girl, aren't you," Pauline smiled.

"Let me heal you, and we can start training tonight. Charmeleon and Gothorita pack a punch, don't they?" Rufflet nodded immediately, eliciting a few chuckles from the group, and Pauline healed her up with potions.

"So since you seem to be going for Pokemon that fit you," I started, holding back a laugh.

"Are you going for an Exploud next or—""Grace, you little shit!" —— It was nighttime now, and we had gone through another day of travel. The terrain here was miserable, as Denzel had warned. It was rocky, uneven, and we were going constantly uphill. Luckily we had found a flat spot to set up camp at, but there would be five more days of this until we reached the outpost that separated Mount Coronet from route 207.

At least, other than how terrible my legs felt, the rest of the route was easy, easier than route 216 or 217, even. If there was one thing I was glad about, it was that when we were past this section of Mount Coronet, it would be a while until wild Pokemon could threaten us ever again.

"One more time, sweetheart," I told Larvitar. With ragged breaths, the rock type stomped on the ground, and it shook slightly. Right now, the best way I had found to start working on the move Stomping Tantrum was for her to manipulate the rocks underground enough to make the floor shake, but it wasn't strong enough to even hurt me yet, so there was still a lot to work on.

"Good job," I said, crouching to pet her hard scales. She huffed and smiled at me.

"Of course, I knew you'd be able to do it. Let's call it a day for now, alright?" Larvitar hesitantly nodded and followed me back to the rest of the team. Electabuzz was practicing his Discharge to improve its range, so he was far away from the rest of us in order not to accidentally hurt anyone. Discharge would be my counter against Cecilia's Fletchinder, so I'd need him to be just as good with the move as he was with Thunderbolt.

Frillish was taking it easy tonight, but he had practiced the speed of his Shadow Balls. What I was focused on, however, was Togetic and Tangela, who were practicing Ancient Power. At this point, princess was getting so good with the move that I was starting to wonder if I could have her alter the forms of the rocks somehow. Maybe if I could have her mold it into spikes or something, they'd be better at penetrating Pokemon with heavy armor, but then again, maybe blunt force was more effective.

It was something I'd have to work on soon, but tonight was Tangela's night.

"Toge. Togetic," Togetic whispered to me and Larvitar.

"Already?!" I exclaimed.

"That's— that's awesome!" The grass type turned toward me and gently led me forward with a vine.

"Angel," I said.

"How's it going?" He extended a few vines and pointed toward Electabuzz and Frillish.

"You want me to call them?" I asked. He answered with two blinks.

"Honey, buddy! Come here!" I yelled. Electabuzz sprinted toward me so quickly that he appeared in a flash, and Frillish was there soon after.

"I think— I think angel's ready," I declared, trembling in excitement.

"Go ahead. Whenever you're ready." Tangela stared up at me and gave me a firm nod. He closed his eyes and his vines started to wriggle, all independently from each other. When he opened his eyes again, they were blue, illuminating us in a cold glow. A lone pebble started to bounce on the ground, and then there was a rumble. When I thought that he was finally about to use Ancient Power, the shaking slowed and his eyes returned to normal. I crouched.

"Don't stress, you've got this, angel," I told him.

"We're all here for you." Togetic gave a hearty, reassuring cry and clapped her hands. Frillish nodded and patted the grass type on the head. Electabuzz crossed his arms and encouraged him, and Larvitar wriggled her arms excitedly, as if she was on the edge of her seat. Tangela smiled with his eyes and they shone once more. A huge rock emerged from the ground and soared into the sky, hitting the cliff in the distance and breaking into a dozen pieces.

"Angel— you— you did it!" I squealed.

"You did—" Light enveloped Tangela's body and he grew. Up, and up, until he was way taller than me. Two arms sprouted from his sides, tipped in red, and his vines grew more numerous and thicker. His shoe-like feet turned into short, stubby legs. His eyes had stayed the same size, but they were on the upper side of his head instead of at its center.

"You're so… you're so tall," I exhaled as I stared up at him. He was a foot taller than me now, and he was taller than any of us in the group, including Denzel. Suddenly, a dozen vines extended toward us and he wrapped the entire family into a tight hug.