Chương 129: Chapter 111

"Speaking of your favorite song, did you know I've always wanted to play the piano?" Cece let out a surprised hum and smiled at Grace.

"Really? That came out of nowhere, but I feel like it'd fit you," she said.

"Why have you never tried?"

"Well, no time. You know how being a trainer is," Grace replied with a small shrug.

"But my therapist Amanda had one in her office, and I never got to play it before leaving Floaroma."

"I'm sure you could find one in Hearthome somewhere…" It had been two days since Grace's surgery, and like every time she was allowed to visit, Cecilia was keeping her girlfriend company. The others were all busy— especially Pauline and Justin, who were trying to implement their teachers' respective strategies into battle.

Grace was recovering well, although patches of skin on the entire left side of her body were discolored going up to her neck and cheek, and the skin graft still needed to heal for another two days before they'd be able to travel. The recovery process would be painful. Cece relaxed in her chair, and Grace sneakily grabbed her hand.

"Worried about something?" She asked.

"You, mostly," Cecilia answered, eliciting a small laugh.

"Don't laugh, I'm serious! You're the most reckless girl I've ever known!"

"I said I wouldn't do it again. Come on, forgive me already," she pouted.

"Well, I can't stay mad at you for too long anyway," Cecilia said.

"But now, we're even, I suppose."

"That we are," Grace smiled, tightening her hand around hers.

"But come on, I know you're worried about something else." Cecilia inhaled sharply and stared into Grace's green eyes. It was terrifying sometimes, how perceptive she was at catching the littlest things, and the way she applied that in her battle strategies was even more so. She had a gift for finding out how people worked after observing them for just a few days or hours.

"Even if you don't tell me," Grace said as she stood up straight on her hospital bed.

"I think I can figure it out." Cecilia let out a defeated sigh.

"You can read me like an open book, can't you?"

"If you want to go train, you can go," she said.

"I can be alone for a few hours. I told Denzel the same thing."

"But you're in pain… you're hiding it too."

"I am, but it's not too bad, and it's been getting better," Grace said.

"If it hadn't, I wouldn't have been able to hold your hand."

"Fair enough," Cecilia sighed.

"Then I'll be leaving?"

"I'm a big girl, I can handle it! Now go before I change my mind and I make you stay the whole day."

"I wouldn't be against that." Grace laughed heartily. It was like music to Cecilia's ears. How was she keeping her spirits up after what had happened to her? Was she just pretending? Even if she was, Cecilia would be there to talk when she was ready to.

"Come on Cece, I'll just watch something on TV. The Nurses will help with everything, and they're only one call away."

"Fine," she grumbled.

"I'll be back this afternoon." The blonde girl grinned.

"Thanks! I love you!" Cecilia's heart spun and danced in her chest.

"I love you too." She kissed her forehead and quickly strode out of the Pokemon Center with her Pokeballs on her hip, and wondered on what to do. Cecilia could either go off and train on her own or find Pauline. Denzel was also training out there somewhere, but for some reason, finding him while his Sylveon was out had been difficult recently. Cecilia would ask him where he had been, and he would answer with someplace she had walked through to look for him and hadn't seen him anywhere.

In the end, Cecilia resolved to find Pauline, but before that, she went to a generalist store that sold everything a trainer might have needed and bought Grace some new shoes. She had sneakily found out her size the day before by grabbing one of her half-melted shoes, and she knew that she needed new ones before they left. Cecilia tried grabbing the closest design to what Grace currently had— some white sneakers.

Satisfied with her purchase, she quickly dropped them in her Center room and went back out to find Pauline, which she did in about fifteen minutes. Finding her hadn't exactly been difficult. She seemed to have garnered a lot of attention due to how much she battled lately, and there was always a small crowd that watched her. Justin, meanwhile, was more discreet with his battles, opting to do that in isolated corners of the outpost. Grace was rubbing off on him.

Pauline stood proudly with her hands on her hips as Rufflet triumphantly squawked with a talon over a Furret's neck. Cecilia had worked with the bird a whole lot, and she was extremely loud and reckless, but the move Brave Bird hadn't been named after Braviary for nothing, or at least that's what the stories said. It wasn't really possible to verify.

Pauline's opponent recalled his Furret and transferred prize money to her trainer ID, although loudly remarking that it was scummy for her to take his money because she was rich. Pauline replied by telling him to go fuck himself and giving him the finger.

"Ah, Cece! Did you see me wipe the floor with this guy?" Pauline asked with a confident smirk.

"It was like you said, I overwhelmed him, and he could barely respond to my attacks."

"I didn't see it, but it certainly looked like it. Rufflet seems unharmed. How about your other Pokemon?" Cecilia asked.

"Charmeleon took a few hits earlier, but other than that, nothing."

"Good. Let's find a quieter corner to train," she said.

"I thought you'd stay with Grace for a while," Pauline said as they began walking.

"That was the plan, but she practically ordered me to go train. She could tell I wanted to, and Grace would hate it if I started holding my progress back because I was staying with her."

"The little gremlin's freaky like that," Pauline grinned.

"Is that going to be a thing?"

"What? The gremlin thing? I think it's cute and it fits her. You should try calling her that."

"Absolutely not," Cecilia scoffed.

"Anyway, right now, it's about you, not her." They found the spot they were looking for— a fenced area that kept trainers from falling down into one of Mount Coronet's many canyons. A huge river system flowed through them, and some trainers could even be seen down there riding on their water Pokemon, no doubt having figured out that getting off the mountain was quicker like this than just scaling down the proper path.

"Did you do what I asked of you?" Cecilia asked.

"Yes, yes," she sighed, waving a hand.

"Ten battles in a row with no trips to the Center. I honestly think I can go up to fifteen now. You saw how my Pokemon barely took any hits." Cece clicked her tongue dismissively.

"Don't get overconfident now. The reason you can go up to ten is because you've been fighting all kinds of trainers— including those without badges. If you want to be able to go up a level, you need to fight ten in a row with at least one badge."

"Fine," Pauline grumbled, flicking her hair back.

"What do you have in store for me today, my dear teacher?" Cecilia grabbed Slowpoke and Zweilous' Pokeballs and released them. Slowpoke wasn't exactly here to do anything, he was mostly here to observe. And practice speaking to her. Good… Cecilia… well… Cecilia's eye twitched at the slight headache. It would have been much more painful if he could speak to her properly, but Cecilia feared that he wouldn't be able to until she finally bought him a King's Rock in Hearthome.

Still, from the three words she had heard, she could tell what Slowpoke had meant.

"I am well, Slowpoke," she smiled.

"Keep practicing, I'll keep your voice at the back of my mind."

"Wait, he speaks to you?" Pauline asked, her eyes widening.

"I thought Slowpoke couldn't do that!"

"He can, although the words aren't clear," she smiled. Slowpoke's psychic abilities were special, after all. When he evolved… Cecilia shuddered in anticipation.

"And I've already told you that you should let your Gothorita do the same." Pauline groaned.

"I tried, but the pain… it's like self-inflicted torture."

"It's like training a muscle, it gets better the more you do it," she sighed.

"But anyway, release your Charmeleon."

"Easy for you to say. Gothorita's words are smooth and clear, and it's like someone's putting a jackhammer in my head. Are we having her and Zweilous fight?"

"No, not yet. We're having a lesson first," Cecilia said.

"What do you think is the biggest weakness our way of battling has?" Pauline placed her hands on her hips, thinking for a few seconds while Zweilous and Charmeleon growled threateningly at each other.

"I don't know. If using power to blow past our enemies doesn't work, we're fucked, maybe?" Cecilia's eyes widened in surprised.

"Wow, you actually figured it out."

"Fuck off. That sounded like a backhanded compliment." She cleared her throat.

"But yes, using power— shock, and awe to win in a battle is well and good when it works, but what if it doesn't? How would you counter that?" Hearthome was fast approaching, and they had all already agreed to a double battle— although Chase still was nowhere to be found, so they'd have to wait for him. Cecilia already knew that Grace and she would be on opposite sides, and her girlfriend wouldn't just let Cecilia overwhelm her with power. She was too good for that.

Of course, she was doing the best she could to come in a position of strength, such as hiding herself whenever she trained, teaching her Pokemon new moves in secret, and planning to buy TMs behind Grace's back to catch her by surprise, and slowly but surely amassing strength. She had been thinking about this since Snowpoint, and she had recently come up with an answer.

"Argh, I can't come up with anything!" Pauline groaned.

"Gimmie the answer." Cecilia placed a hand on Sol's head and smiled.

"Deceit."

"That was an extremely broad answer that doesn't help whatsoever. I promise you that didn't sound as good as it did in your head." Cece rolled her eyes. Only Grace understood how satisfying answering long-winded questions with one word was.

"They say that you should know thy enemy. As we progress further and further into the Circuit, the number of trainers you will have to watch out for will thin out. At the top, most trainers know each other and their teams, so they fight by withholding information."

"Right, Grace told us something about that."

"Craig explained it to her when we were with him," Cece nodded.

"So you must deceive your enemy. Keep your moves hidden until you are sure they will destroy the opposition. For example, your Charmeleon recently learned Flamethrower, did she not?" This story has been unlawfully obtained without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon. The fire type screamed proudly, and her trainer nodded.

"Grace does not know that yet, so take her, for example. When a battle starts, she will usually scout out an opponent's moves. What if you tricked her by only using Ember, Dragon Rage, and Metal Claw? Then she would think that you do not have Flamethrower. What happens when she switches into her Tangrowth because she thinks that Ember is too weak to hurt him?"

"I don't know why we picked Grace as an example," Pauline started.

"But I suppose I would catch her off-guard and use Flamethrower, then."

"Right. That was a simple example, but it still applies. Even when prioritizing power, battling is, first and foremost, informational warfare, and you cannot ignore that side of it. I have been doing so for too long."

"Okay, so with Justin, for example," Pauline said, tapping her chin.

"If he tries that annoying burying trick with his Sandile against me, then I could try to act helpless and use that technique you helped me and Gothorita develop—""No, no, acting helpless is going too far, Pauline," Cecilia shook her head.

"We are simply deceiving while still being strong, not acting weak."

"Hm, alright," Pauline said.

"Deceiving while still kicking ass. This would work a lot better if I had more moves."

"Well, you'll be able to get TMs in Hearthome, although you shouldn't go overboard. Organic growth will always be superior to artificial progress."

"Sure, I only want a few for Charmeleon anyway," she smiled.

"This deceit stuff sounds nice and all, but doesn't it only work once? You can only reveal that your Pokemon has a move once."

"Against recurring and thorough opponents like Grace would be? Yes, but the vast majority of people aren't like her. Plus, there is more to it, but I'll tell you in a later lesson."

"Why not now?" The redhead grumbled.

"Because you aren't ready. But here's a hint. A small slice of the cake, if you will. Deceiving doesn't only apply to moves," Cecilia explained.

"Recall your battle against Gardenia. You were outnumbered and fighting two versus three. What was it that cemented your victory?"

"Ahhh," she exclaimed.

"Blaze." Cecilia smiled.

"You are in a unique position, Pauline. Did you know that despite abilities like Torrent, Blaze, and Overgrow being so common, a lot of trainers don't bring those to their full potential? It requires walking a very small tightrope, and a lot of Pokemon go out of control when they are affected by the ability. Charmeleon has already blown past that second issue."

"That's fine by me, I like living on the edge," Pauline grinned.

"Perfect," she clapped her hands.

"The lesson is over. Throw everything you have at Zweilous, and we will do the same to you. When Charmeleon enters Blaze, the real training will begin." Blaze, Torrent and Overgrow brought out a Pokemon's hidden potential, so what happened when one trained under its strain? They would progress and grow ever faster. Cecilia took her job as a teacher very seriously. ——"Roselia," Denzel sighed.

"For the last time, we are not getting a Grimer."

"Rose!"

"No, we aren't! I know why you want me to get one, you think they're ugly and that Sylveon will hate it. Less competition for you."

"Snoooooooooo," Snorunt laughed. Roselia clicked her tongue and kicked his leg, which was obviously painless. For as much as Roselia acted like she hated him, Denzel knew that she cared, although depressingly, she liked Sylveon more than him. They had come a long way since she relentlessly tried to kill him with Bullet Seed early in their journey, or just didn't listen to anything he said. Roselia stomped off toward her recently acquired best friend Buneary, and Snorunt sniggered while she sat on Sylveon's head.

"Sylv…" the fairy type sighed.

"Not your fault," Denzel said.

"She's gotten better recently. Maybe you guys can come to an agreement soon or something, like she gets you on Mondays, Buneary on Tuesdays…"

"Sylveon!"

"I know you're not a thing. I was mostly joking," he smiled.

"Snooooooo." Denzel raised an eyebrow. Snorunt loved using extremely long vocalizations for some reason, but he found that kind of endearing.

"Okay, you get him on Wednesdays, then," he said.

"We've got to work on your moves soon, by the way." The ice type's creepy grin widened, and Denzel continued browsing through his Poketch. He was currently looking for a sixth team member, but he was struggling to find one so quickly. It had taken him years to plan his first team, after all, so picking a new Pokemon in a few weeks felt inadequate. And yet he knew it had to be done.

"Sylvi, what do you think about one of the Oricorio? They seem pretty versatile," Denzel asked as he showed his phone's screen the fairy type. Sylveon tilted his head, but then shook it.

"Yeah, I'm not really feeling it either," he sighed.

"Plus, I'd have to wait until we get back down south. That'd take too long." He was involving his Pokemon in the decision-making this time. Even Feebas had taken part a little earlier, although he had to recall him a few minutes ago due to the lack of water. Roselia and Buneary kept picking the ugliest Pokemon they could find, while Snorunt just kept picking ghost types, so Sylveon was basically the only one taking this seriously.

His Pokemon were training lightly today in preparation for everything that was going to happen in Hearthome. Due to Fantina's ghost types, Buneary was busy learning Foresight in between conversing with Roselia about love or whatever it was that they spoke about these days, but he was also thinking about buying a reusable Shadow Ball TM for both her and Snorunt. Ghosts were the best at taking down ghosts, after all, and the same principle applied to ghost type attacks.

Maybe he could ask Emilia to lend him her Shadow Ball TM… had she bought a reusable one? He quickly shot her a message, and she answered immediately. Emilia L. Obviously, I'll lend you Shadow Ball! You didn't even have to feel bad about asking! Does anyone else want it? Denzel W. Emi, were you procrastinating by looking at your phone again? Emilia L. Absolutely not. Denzel W. Yeah… sure… just make sure to work on your contest stuff, alright? Pauline's worried about you, I think.

She won't tell me anything, but I can tell. I don't think anyone else wants the move, but I'll ask around. Emilia sent him a series of emojis that he struggled to decode. What the hell was a man walking supposed to mean? Anyway, he knew Grace was never going to accept someone else's TM, even if it was reusable and had already been bought. It didn't seem like it until you got to really know her, but Grace was too prideful, almost to a fault.

Seeing her take down that Turtonator alone and getting burned all over had terrified him more than he thought it would. He had felt just like he did when Cecilia had gone alone into Mount Coronet. Losing any of his friends would damage him beyond repair, and being so dependent on people scared Denzel, especially in a line of work as dangerous as being a trainer was.

"How about a… Dratini."

"Sylveon…"

"Snooo."

"Eh, they do fit every criteria, but they don't really live in the wild in Sinnoh," Denzel nodded.

"I've heard you could win one in Veilstone, and they'd be less expensive than getting one from a professional breeder, but the cost would still be in the millions, so I'll probably have to pass. Plus, I'm no gambler." Dragons were rare in general, but he certainly wouldn't say no to one, especially after seeing how powerful that Turtonator was. Denzel didn't know how long it would take for Grace to be able to use him, but he had no doubt she'd succeed.

It was impossible not to like her dorky self, old grumpy dragon or not.

"Dragons seem fun," he muttered.

"What else would fit… Swablu?" Swablu… Swablu fit, and Altaria were big enough to fly on, which was something Denzel considered a must. If he was going to become a content creator, then he'd need to be able to zip across the region fast enough to get to different tournaments or film different stuff. But where could he even find a Swablu? A quick search revealed that they lived in the foggy route 210, which he could swing by on the way to Veilstone.

"You like it?"

"Syl!" The fairy type nodded. Snorunt grumbled at the fact that it wasn't a ghost type, but Denzel was just happy he had settled on something. He'd need to let it simmer in his head to see if he still felt the same as they got closer to route 210, but that would take a while.

"Okay, Snorunt, are you ready to train?"

"Sno!" She said excitedly. Denzel was excited about her prospects. The price of Dawn Stones was currently lower than usual, and he was almost sure he'd be able to nab one in Hearthome depending on which sponsor he got. He could have sorted through them here already, but he had decided to wait until Grace was ready so that they could do it together, or she would procrastinate about it until the year was almost over. He'd need to watch out, however.

Evolving ghost types too early was a recipe for disaster, and he knew it would be a while until Snorunt was ready to become a Froslass. Froslass weren't like Frillish, who only had the ghost typing due to having some amount of ghost energy in his body. They were true ghosts, like Ghastly, Duskull, or Misdreavus. That meant that they shared their malevolent nature, which was why there were so many myths and legends about Froslass in the first place.

Freezing men and kidnapping them, never melting ice, haunting small villages up north during the old Hisuan period. And ghosts tended to… injure or murder. Or worse.

"Blizzard," Denzel whispered. Snorunt shivered, and the temperature started to drop drastically. The wind quickened around them, picking up the materializing snowflakes into a frenzy. Roselia and Buneary shrieked and ran away, and the entire area where they had just been standing was covered in frozen ice.

"Snorunt, Don't aim for them!" Denzel groaned as he facepalmed. They'd retaliate for the next week. Roselia was annoying, but Buneary especially held her grudges for a long time. Snorunt jumped and laughed wildly. There was one thing only Denzel knew about his Snorunt. Despite being in such a tiny body, she was a fucking genius.

He had only tried learning Blizzard to see how close they could get to using the move a few weeks ago, but he was surprised to see that Snorunt easily learned to use it in two days, and she was still figuring out ways to improve the move, and she shared the rest of the team's endurance, meaning that she could use it multiple times in a row. That was the other reason Denzel didn't want to evolve her yet. An out-of-control Froslass that knew Blizzard?

There was no way that he was going to have that on his hands, at least not until the rest of his team was strong enough to fight back. Still, he reckoned that it'd be very useful during the battle against Fantina and his friends. Denzel wasn't as flashy as Grace or Cecilia, but as Craig had said at Candice's party, he was consistent. He might have been behind right now, but he knew he would catch up. ——"Thanks, Nurse Joy," I tiredly said as I grabbed my Pokeballs.

Five days in total had passed since my surgery, and I was finally being discharged. My burns were healing wrong. I'd be keeping the scars. Forever. Even the ones on the left side of my face. What was this feeling? Was it dread? Disappointment? A mix of the two, maybe? A sinking feeling now that I understood that the situation was finally real. I shook my head and thought about something else. I wiggled my toes in the new shoes Cece had gotten me and smiled.

I had just gotten legal ownership of Turtonator, and we were finally leaving today. It'd take another five days to reach Hearthome— four if we were quick. I still had to wear so many bandages I felt like a mummy, I couldn't move my arm around too much, and the entire left side of my body still hurt, but it was getting better. My hearing in my left ear was still screwed, but it was also better than it had been. My friends greeted me in the Pokemon Center's lobby, and Cecilia kissed me softly, turning a few heads.

We hadn't really made an official announcement or anything like that, but it was pretty obvious that we were dating now. Justin had also told me that there were some rumors about me having caught Turtonator, but that couldn't be confirmed just yet. I'd keep that fact hidden for a bit longer.

"Are you sure you want to leave this early?" Denzel asked.

"We can wait another few days."

"Nah, I've held you guys back long enough," I said.

"Pauline and Justin need to hurry if they're going to make it to the Conference."

"Not if," Pauline complained.

"Stop it with the semantics," Justin sighed.

"I'm glad you're back on your feet, Grace."

"So am I. Now I have to wrangle with Turtonator some more."

"At least wait until we're at Hearthome," Cecilia said.

"What if you're burned again in the middle of the route?" I was about to protest, but I had already told myself many times that I didn't know what Turtonator's reaction would be now that he was out of the cave, so I conceded and agreed. After making sure everything was in order again, we were back on the road. Scaling down Mount Coronet was hell, and we went at it slowly so that I could take it easy.

In the end, Tangrowth didn't battle any trainers, which I felt sad about, but I probably would have won against anyone at the outpost anyway. Most trainers worth their while didn't stick around that long. Togetic still tried to work past her mental block with Wish, and she was getting incrementally better at the move, and still helping angel with his Knock Off, which he was finally getting the hang of. Sunny Day still eluded us, however.

Electabuzz was still taking it easy because he needed his hand to rest, and Frillish had mastered Shadow Ball to such an extent that he could basically send one out instantly and mold it however he wanted. There was something off about him that I couldn't place, like he was anticipating something. The new year came and went. In the end, due to how slow I was, it took us seven more days, and we finally made it to Hearthome— the city of warmth and kindness, and the city at the center of Sinnoh.