Chương 123: Chapter 105

"Angel— that tickles!" I said, barely managing to get out the sentence with how much I was laughing. The grass type finally loosened his hold on all of us, but he kept Larvitar wrapped in his vine and placed her on his head. She giggled, seemingly happy to be so high up when she was usually the smallest out of all of us. Togetic seemingly wanted the same, and she flew up before plopping herself down on his soft head. Electabuzz wanted to get on his head too, but he was too big, so he jealously grumbled.

Still, he was happy for Tangrowth, who extended a hand and pat him on the head, while Frillish just sighed as the grass type held onto his tentacle like a balloon string. The first thing I noticed was that even though Tangrowth's appendages looked like hands, they were actually bundles of vines tightly wrapped together into a coherent shape. He could extend or retract them like any other vine in his body, and that meant that he could also attack with them. I grabbed my Pokedex and decided to give him a scan.

Tangrowth, the Vine Pokemon. It tends to ensnare prey by extending its vine-like arms, but it also uses them as bait to escape predators since a lost arm will regrow in a few minutes. Its vines grow so profusely that during warm seasons, you cannot see its eyes.

Well, this was Sinnoh, so I probably wouldn't have to worry about him not being able to see properly and having to shave his vines, and that regeneration speed was an incredible boon that meant that Tangrowth basically had an almost infinite supply of vines in battle unless we were facing a particularly powerful fire type or a Pokemon with a strong fire type move. What caught my eye, though, was that mention of prey.

If Tangrowth caught prey, then that meant that not only could they sustain themselves with sunlight, but also with food. I hurriedly unstrapped my bag and rummaged through Togetic's Oran Berries, grabbed a tiny piece of cut-up food, and held it out in front of him. For so long, I had promised him that he would be able to enjoy food one day.

"Angel," I said, my voice slightly shaking.

"Can you— can you eat this?" His eyes honed in on the slice of Oran, and he gently wrapped a vine around it, pulling it deep into his body. We all watched in anticipation, waiting to see if he'd be successful or not. After a few seconds, Tangrowth shivered and bounced around, dropping Togetic and Larvitar. The former caught herself with a laugh by simply floating, while Tangrowth saved the latter with a vine.

He had always been capable of lifting her, but he was now doing that like it was nothing, and she hadn't even been at her full weight before.

"Did it taste good?!" I asked with a grin. The grass type shivered and shook his arms excitedly.

"Do you want more? I'm sure Togetic wouldn't mind sharing, plus I have plenty of other food too. Let's find out your favorite!" Around thirty minutes of taste testing later, I found out that Tangrowth didn't really have a favorite food. Everything he ate was seemingly the best thing he had ever eaten, and he reacted appropriately, jumping around and shaking every time he ate.

I didn't know how exactly it was that he actually swallowed anything, if he had a mouth under all those vines, or if he somehow dissolved the food in there, but at least I had fulfilled my promise to him now.

"You're fully capable of using Ancient Power now," I smiled at him. Sure, the control wouldn't be as good as Togetic's, but she was more of an exception to the rule.

"That was the bottleneck that kept me from working on new moves with you, since you needed it to evolve. You know what that means, right?" Tangrowth blinked twice.

"That's right, we're going to teach you as many new moves as possible before the fight with Fantina," I nodded.

"But first, let's see what you can do with what you already have." To be honest, it was a wonder that we'd gotten this far with Tangela— or Tangrowth now— having so few moves, but his versatility and utility made all the difference. I asked Togetic to raise a few boulders in front of us, which she did, and they were all perfectly spherical. First, I had Tangrowth strike them with Vine Whip.

Whereas before, it would have taken a few seconds after an attack for the boulder to be cut in two, now that he had evolved, Tangrowth could immediately make one crumble with very little difficulty. I could tell that he was holding back in order to protect us from any fragments flying our way, even though I had full trust in Togetic's abilities to stop them with Extrasensory. His maximum range as a Tangela seemed to have been fifty feet, but he could easily keep them responsive at eighty now.

Bind was next, and angel could easily squeeze a rock until it crumbled into a hundred pieces. I couldn't exactly test Mega Drain on anything that wasn't alive, but I was sure the move had improved a whole lot as well. For his powder moves, they didn't seem to have particularly improved, but they weren't exactly a big part of our fighting style, so it was understandable.

"Okay, you're extremely strong," I said as I clapped my hands. He was very physically inclined for a Tangrowth, even more so than he had been as a Tangela. Usually, his species were slightly more focused on special attacks.

"Now we need to work on new moves." I scanned him with my Pokedex once more and came up with a list he should prioritize.

"We're going to be fighting Fantina's ghost types, so I want you to work on Knock Off first," I explained.

"Gym leaders don't use held items, nor do any official battles in the Circuit, but the move is still dark type, and combined with how far you can extend your vines, it'll be very useful. It'll probably be hard to get started on, but… I have an idea of how to jumpstart the learning process." Items weren't really used in the Circuit because the League wanted to give every trainer an equal footing, but they were allowed in the Conference. Tangrowth responded with a series of fierce blinks.

"Next one's a doozy," I smiled.

"We need to work on Sunny Day, but that's more of a long-term project." I had said that I wanted to get better at using my Pokemon's abilities, and I was putting money where my mouth was. Unfortunately though, weather moves were notable for how difficult they were to learn and master. There was a long way to go until I reached Gardenia's level with Sunny Day, but the earlier we started working on the move, the better.

Plus, if I was going to catch a fire type, then it would synergize pretty well with my future member.

"Last but not least," I said, crossing my arms.

"Power Whip." I grinned when I saw his vines wriggle in excitement at the move's name.

"Believe it or not, despite it being the most powerful move on the list, it should be the easiest to learn. It's a pretty natural progression to Vine Whip, just a bajillion times more powerful. Let's get the others working on their moves too!" The entire team let out cries of encouragement and got to work— even Larvitar, who I had previously told that she could stop. I called Togetic over and beckoned her to join me with Tangrowth.

Double Edge would be lower priority, since Fantina was a ghost type gym leader, but I still wanted her to work on something else, along with helping Tangrowth with Knock Off.

"Princess, you're going to be learning Wish," I told her.

"It's a restorative move that's delayed, so I could switch out and heal someone else if I needed it, but you also need to help Tangrowth with his Knock Off." There were a few reasons I had chosen Togetic to help Tangrowth. First, after working together on Ancient Power for so long, Togetic had become a masterful teacher, and they meshed well together. The other reason was that since princess was a fairy type, any successful Knock Offs wouldn't deal that much damage to her.

I looked through my bag, grabbed my knife, and handed it over to Togetic, who clumsily held it with both of her hands and playfully acted like she was about to stab me. It was a sturdy one, so I wasn't worried about it breaking. After all, I had owned it for my entire journey, and it showed no signs of disrepair.

Like I had stated before, Knock Off was a move that rid a Pokemon of their held items, not just by knocking it off of their body or wherever they were wearing it, but by infusing the attack with dark energy to make sure that even if the Pokemon picked that item back up, or it didn't actually get off the Pokemon's body, they wouldn't be able to use it for several minutes.

Something about dark type energy screwed with the properties of items, but I wasn't smart enough to explain it in detail or know how it worked, and it wasn't like any of these two doofuses would understand anyway. Obviously, giving your Pokemon a knife in battle was… not allowed, but the point was that having Togetic hold anything would be a good starting point for Tangrowth.

I wasn't sure how a knife was going to be rendered unusable, but it sure was better than anything else I had, and I wasn't about to waste food, and it being a weapon would probably help. After explaining the process a few times, I let them start training and began working on Larvitar again. A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation. The group came looking for me two hours later with looks of relief on their face when they found me.

I had forgotten that I hadn't told them that I was going to stay this long. —— The next day, while we were taking a short break due to how tiresome walking up this Arceus damned hill was, I decided to take Justin to a secluded part of the route. If he was going to beat Fantina, he was going to need my help. Even if he was actually training hard now, I thought that a small push wouldn't hurt anyone.

I had to stop myself from asking him for a list of all of his Pokemon's moves and abilities so that I could build a training plan. Micromanaging every part of his training would no doubt suck out the newfound fun he was feeling in the process. Plus, it was probably somewhat toxic behavior that I was glad I was able to stop. I couldn't micromanage every little thing, especially when it didn't have to do with me or my team. I would speak with Justin about broad concepts and hope that it would help him enough.

"So, Justin," I said, crossing my arms.

"Have you found joy in your way of battling yet?"

"What do you mean by that?" He asked.

"Every trainer enjoys battling for different reasons," I explained.

"To me, it's all about the planning process and watching that plan succeed, or scrambling to find something else if it doesn't. To Cece, it's making her attacks as powerful as possible and taking down her opponents in the shortest amount of time possible. To Denzel, it's about improvising and keeping his mind going at a steady pace throughout the battle until he wins."

"Ah, I understand," Justin nodded.

"Well, I haven't really done much stalling yet, but I do daydream about it sometimes—" he stopped and blushed when he saw me smile. He cleared his throat.

"Anyway! My Pokemon and I lack in experience and the moves to implement that type of strategy, so I'd say it's too early to know if I truly enjoy it or not. For all I know, it could be a dud."

"Nah, it's too late," I shrugged.

"You caught the bug."

"The what?" I waved my hand dismissively.

"The training bug— but anyway, why don't we have our Pokemon spar a little? Larvitar's been making good progress, and I'd say she's at your level, or maybe slightly stronger, so it'd be good practice for her too."

"Well, it's embarrassing that you've had a baby catch up to me so fast, but I don't see why not," the boy said.

"What should I use?"

"Anything works," I shrugged.

"But probably not Growlithe."

"Will you be fine if I have the type advantage?"

"Yeah, don't worry about me," I said. I released Larvitar, who stomped a foot angrily at the ground.

"Did I interrupt your nap? Sorry sweetheart, but we're battling," I said. She immediately perked up and forgave me. Justin released his Sandile, who liquefied the ground under him and sunk halfway into the floor. The terrain was ideal for both of our Pokemon, but I had one strategy I had hurriedly come up with that I believed would pull me and Larvitar over the top.

"Sand Tomb, then sink into the ground!" Justin ordered. The ground under Larvitar turned to mud, leaving Sandile enough time to bury himself underground, away from any attacks. Or at least that's what Justin thought.

"Stomping Tantrum," I said. Last night's intense training bore fruit, and Larvitar cried out angrily as she started stomping the ground, causing it to shake. More precisely, however, she was focusing on the spot Sandile had just been in, meaning that it was taking the brunt of the attack and that he would be forced to unbury and make a move soon enough. I was countering Justin's Dig strategy by pressuring him into making a move. I was the one in control.

After thinking for around ten seconds, Justin clicked his tongue and ordered Sandile to attack Larvitar directly. The ground type hit her with Dig and sent her sliding across the rocky ground.

"Smack Down," I quickly said. A rock quickly flew out of the ground and rammed Sandile's face.

"Again."

"Sandile, bury again—""Rock Throw under him." Larvitar raised a rock from under where Sandile was standing, preventing the ground type from hiding away, but even if he did, the outcome of the battle wouldn't have changed. Stomping Tantrum would counter any attempts to hide with Dig. I was just speeding up the process. Sandile was thrown into the air, and I ordered Larvitar to hit him with one last Smack Down.

This time, the rock went over Sandile, and then sharply switched directions, hitting the ground type from above and causing him to be rammed into the ground.

"I think that's enough," I said.

"We don't want to go too far. Good job, sweetheart."

"Larvi!"

"Already?" Justin sighed.

"Alright, then. That certainly was eye-opening."

"Well, you're not the one that was thrown into Mount Coronet," I told him.

"My circumstances made me improve faster than the average trainer. Anyway, let's see if you can spot your mistakes." Justin placed a hand on his chin and mulled it over for a few seconds.

"Not anticipating the Stomping Tantrum, perhaps?"

"No, no, that was fine," I shook my head.

"The problem was when you tried to make Sandile bury again when you already knew it wouldn't work. Why?"

"I suppose I just panicked. It's my go-to strategy to escape from tough situations. I always use it to catch my breath during battles, so I just automatically used it."

"Okay, that's the problem," I said.

"You never want to be on autopilot during battles, alright? Every action has to have thought behind it. If something didn't work the first time, don't do it again. Now, what was another mistake?"

"I… I don't know?"

"You took too much time to make a decision during the first Stomping Tantrum. Ten seconds. I counted. That was ten seconds where you weren't doing anything and Sandile was just getting hurt for free. Never let your Pokemon get hurt without at least trying to dish out something in response. Every action your opponent takes should have a cost. Sometimes, that cost isn't as high as what you paid, but at least it's something. Next mistake?"

"Arceus…" ——"So, do you think you've learned a lot today?" I asked Justin.

"Well, I certainly learned a lot more than what I usually do on my own," he smiled.

"It honestly feels refreshing."

"Ideally, you want to have these reflective moments after every battle— or at least every difficult battle," I explained.

"Spotting your mistakes makes you unlikely to ever repeat them. Anyway, it's not over just yet."

"More training?"

"No, no, just more advice," I said.

"You saw my battle against Candice, right?" He nodded.

"I don't exactly run a full-on stalling strategy, but I do try to scout out my opponent's moves during a battle if I can. I think that's something you might want to try doing, especially when you get better at lasting longer in battles."

"Right, I actually wanted to do that with your Larvitar, but I panicked."

"It takes a lot of discipline," I said.

"You've got to keep your finger on the trigger but not squeeze until the exact right time. Finding out what that exact timing is is hard, and I'm not that great at it yet."

"It seemed to have worked rather well against that Glalie, though."

"Nah, I could have gone for it earlier," I said, shaking my head.

"If you make it to the Conference this year, stalling won't be enough either, or at least not in the way you're doing it now. Sure, stalling is a defensive battling style, but you need to be more aggressive, I think. You've got to have a plan to actually get a win, not just wait for time to run out."

"Why?"

"Well, first, that's the goal of battles, right? To win. You saw how it affected the way you and Sandile fought, too. You were only focusing on buying time, not actually beating me, but that's not the only reason. It's also about building the habit for the future. Conference battles are thirty minutes instead of twenty like gym battles— or at least at the group stages. When people reach the knock-out rounds, that gets extended to one hour." His eyes bulged.

"One hour of stalling? I don't think that's feasible."

"Right? Even thirty minutes is pushing it, so in the future, at least, you'll need to figure out how to take down Pokemon and stall, but there are a lot of moves that can help you do that. I know it's kind of difficult right now with your limited options, though."

"Hm," he hummed.

"What happens if I do stall for thirty minutes or one hour? Hypothetically, of course."

"Well, according to Denzel, the trainer with the most Pokemon remaining automatically wins. If you're tied, it goes into a sudden death battle where the one who takes down the other's current Pokemon first wins the entire battle, and all switching becomes prohibited— if you had any left in the first place."

"So it's like you said, I'd be better off trying to figure out another way," Justin sighed.

"Well, it's not like I'll make it in this year regardless."

"Come on, Justin, have some confidence," I said.

"You can—""Guys, we're leaving!" Denzel yelled out at us.

"Okay!" I answered.

"You can make it, you've just got to work hard. This is a rare form of battling, so finding people to emulate will be hard, but the internet exists! You can just look up good trainers that are stallers and start doing the same things they do little by little, and implement my advice too. I try to emulate Gardenia, for example, although I guess that was kind of obvious. I think Cece's doing Cynthia, and I don't know if Denzel is copying anyone yet." Justin stood and helped me up.

"Thank you, Grace. My mind feels clearer after today."

"No prob," I smiled.

"Just pay me back in french fries." —— After six days of grueling travel, we were close to the foot of Mount Coronet, and a huge ranger outpost stood in the distance— bigger than the ones that had been at Eterna Forest's entrance and exit. Hearthome was getting ever closer.