Chương 136: Chapter 116

"Wish." Togetic shut her eyes as tightly as she could and started to glow, forcing me to shield my eyes. After five seconds, a light shot up from her body and high into the sky. Five seconds. That was a lifetime during a battle, and yet it appeared to be princess' bottleneck unless anyone she cared about was in mortal danger. It took slightly less than two minutes to fall back from the sky, like a bright star falling down to earth.

I congratulated her, gently petting her head, which she nuzzled against my hand, and Electabuzz put his arms up and flexed, screaming to celebrate. The move wasn't as good as it could potentially be, but at least it was usable in battle now. I couldn't sleep, so I had decided to go out training instead. My dad's arrival in… approximately eight hours excited me too much, and I kept tossing and turning in my bed.

I was currently on the shores of Amity Square's enormous lake, and because it was so late at night, it was completely empty. I was honestly surprised the place never closed. I had almost expected to get turned back at the entrance, but some poor man half asleep on his night shift had let me through.

What I had learned, however, was that battling wasn't allowed in Amity Square, nor was using any kind of offensive moves, so all we had managed to do was get Wish as close to perfect as we can— which wasn't close whatsoever. At least the team was having fun. Frillish was off somewhere swimming in the lake, while Larvitar was dipping her tiny feet in the water. I had told Tangrowth to watch over her, and he had a vine wrapped around her like a life buoy in case she went too far.

Electabuzz was keeping Togetic company and encouraging her.

"You've done enough for today," I told her.

"The next time we train, we gotta work on that Ancient Power variant idea."

"Prrrri!" She chirped. The goal would be to shape the earth and rocks into drills to penetrate Zweilous' armor. From all the times I had seen it battle, the dragon was impressively good at resisting blunt trauma, or super effective attacks in general. Even as a Deino, he had shrugged off multiple Mach Punches from Gardenia's Breloom. However, his hard scales had been penetrated by Icicle Crash in the fight against Candice. I only had one example, but it was still empirical evidence.

Piercing his armor would be more important than hitting it with Fairy Wind. Although at this point, Togetic could probably keep a constant, low-powered Fairy Wind going throughout the battle. Still, she had come a long way since not being able to even create spheres with Ancient Power back when I had first trained angel. Now, she could create whatever shape she wanted without a second thought. I was excited to see what she'd be able to do with Psychic. Arceus, Chase couldn't get there soon enough.

There was only so much planning I could do without knowing the other person I'd face. I had considered just starting now and creating a strategy to fight them both, but I realized that if I wanted to strategize, I'd need to do it with my teammate.

"Well, let's head back home. Angel, call buddy over!" I yelled. Larvitar protested, wanting to stay to play in the water longer— which was very surprising for a rock type— but Tangrowth dragged her away and started gently tapping the surface with his vines. Around twenty seconds later, Frillish emerged from below the surface, his red eyes appearing like spotlights in the darkness.

"It'd been a while since you got to enjoy a lake, huh?" I told him as he approached.

"I'll bring you back when I have time." Unfortunately, I hadn't released Turtonator here because I feared that he'd burn the grass here to annoy me, and this was a public park, not a route. It'd be rude to the people that worked to maintain it every day and the others that visited it. I recalled my team aside from honey, who walked me back to the Center, and I finally managed to fall asleep. —— I anxiously waited in the airport, standing at arrivals to see when my dad would pop up.

His flight had been delayed, so he was arriving an hour late. Unfortunately, I hadn't seen his text warning me about it until I had already gotten there, so I had just been at the airport for more than an hour, letting the excitement and anticipation build up. My friends had asked to come, but I had told them that I wanted to be alone with my dad, at least for now. Introductions could come later.

Plus, even though I was sure my dad would like to meet my group, interacting with teenagers for too long would probably annoy him somewhat. And even though I didn't want to admit it, I wanted some alone time with my dad too. Togetic let out a longing chirp as she lazily floated and placed her head on my shoulder.

"Sorry, princess," I said.

"It's my fault you're tired. I should have let you sleep—""Toge!" She let out an ear-piercing yell, turning a few heads around us, and dashed toward arrivals. My head swerved toward the massive, automatic doors, and I gasped. Dad was here! Before I even realized it, I was running, weaving and dodging in between people to get to dad faster. Togetic got there first and tackled him, practically making him fall to the ground. I was right behind her, embracing him as tightly as I could.

"Grace!" He said as he softly caressed my hair.

"I've missed you, kiddo."

"Toge!"

"You too, princess," he added.

"Dad…" I sobbed into his shirt. I was so happy.

"I know, I know," he said. He gently pushed me back and smiled.

"Look at you! You've grown so much. That's at least an inch."

"You're such an idiot," I chuckled before sniffling and wiping my tears.

"Should we get out?"

"I'll go and book my hotel room and rent a car," dad nodded.

"Then, we can do whatever we want."

"Sweet!" ——"So you even watched my battle against Candice? You didn't say anything!" I grumbled as we exited dad's hotel room. He had just dropped all his luggage there, and now, we were free.

"I did, and you were wonderful in it. You know, people in my department are all rooting for you now. You're like a little celebrity there." I hid a smile. Dad wasn't really well versed with the trainer-internet space, so he didn't really know I was still somewhat of a celebrity, even now that the Mount Coronet story had died down.

"That's embarrassing. What about their own kids?" I asked.

"None of them are as far along as you are in the Circuit," he said.

"They're still rooting for them too, obviously, but you too."

"Well, you're enough for me," I shrugged.

"Will you be there for my battle against Fantina? It might be in a while… more than a week for sure." I asked him the question with the biggest Lillipup eyes I could muster, but I surprisingly didn't even have to convince him.

"Is that even a question? I'll be out there yelling your name, and when you're down there, I'll tell everyone you're my daughter." I blushed.

"Please don't. Anyway, where do you want to go?"

"Are you sure you don't want to pick?"

"No, no, today's your day!" I exclaimed.

"Choose already!"

"Well, I heard the Poffin House might be fun," he said.

"Oh… yeah, save that for another day. I want us to go with my… girlfriend." Well, that had been as subtle as a brick through a window, but it'd be better to get it out there as soon as I could. Plus, dad already knew I was gay. I had come out to him immediately after figuring it out two years ago, and he had the best reaction possible: he kept acting normal and treated me no differently than he had before.

"Oh," He said, raising an eyebrow.

"Which one is she?"

"Cecilia," I said.

"I can already tell what you're thinking. Don't be hard on her."

"I wasn't going to be hard on her. I was just thinking we could have a little talk when I meet her," he explained, pausing when he saw me glare.

"Nothing bad, kiddo. Don't worry about it."

"Well, I can't not worry about it now," I sighed.

"I'll have to warn her. She's already anxious about meeting you."

"Come on, I'm not that bad, am I?"

"You look intimidating. Just because you're being mean, I'm picking where we're going. The new Pokemon Mystery Dungeon movie came out recently, and I've been wanting to go see it."

"Mystery Dungeon? Didn't you use to watch those when you were younger? I thought those were for kids."

"No! People keep saying that because it looks like a cartoon, but that's just a stylistic choice! The movies have a lot of depth. A lot more than most of the garbage coming out these days."

"Still got your passion for movies, I see," he said.

"Alright then, I'll trust you on this. Where's the nearest theater?"

"I… don't know." Dad chuckled.

"Let's ask around."

"We can just look it up, dummy..." —— Dad wiped the tears from his cheeks and sniffled as we walked out of the cinema. He'd bawled like a baby at the movie's ending. The two main characters were separated forever. One became the most famous adventurer, and the other returned to his world— a world without Pokemon. A world without Pokemon? How depressing. I had teared up a little as well, but I knew the movie would get dad. He'd always been a softie. This book is hosted on another platform.

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"I can't believe you made me watch this," he complained.

"But it was good, right?"

"Yeah… you win, it was good," he sniffled.

"I can't believe Riolu and Vulpix are never going to see each other again."

"Yeah, that sucks," I nodded.

"Their movies are usually sad, but this was definitely the saddest ending yet."

"Whew, that was something," he exclaimed.

"Hungry?"

"I ate a large popcorn, so no," I said.

"But you can go eat something if you want. I'll just drink some water." We quickly stopped by a drive-through at Arlyle's— my favorite fast-food chain, and dad ordered a burger with two fries, which I proceeded to steal as soon as he parked to eat.

"Thank Arceus I bought two sides," he said.

"Well, if you put fries in my face, I'm gonna eat 'em," I retorted, leaning back against the seat and placing my feet on my dashboard.

"So much for not being hungry," he laughed.

"Arlyle's still as good as ever."

"You haven't eaten any since I left?"

"No, I only ate some when I was with you," he answered.

"I've got to watch my cholesterol, remember?"

"Right," I said.

"Oh, by the way, the Poketch Company's offered to meet me." Dad started to cough and almost choked on his food. He drank half of his water to wash it down.

"We're— we're sponsoring you? That's great!"

"They might," I nodded.

"I wanted to hear what you thought about it." Dad paused for a few seconds to calm down.

"Uh, I think you should go for it, but there are things to watch out for," he said.

"I'm getting it's going to be a closed-door meeting, but never sign anything without being sure—""Oh, I know all of that already. I have business-savvy friends, remember?"

"They grow up so fast…"

"Dad!"

"So you were asking what I thought the company was like as a whole, then?" He asked, ignoring my outburst.

"Yeah. I mean, you've worked there since before I was born, so you must know a lot."

"I honestly think they're a decent company, but I suppose I'm biased," he said.

"The benefits I get are excellent, the pay is good, even if you get an entry-level job, and even though the work is hard and my boss can be a real hard ass… I couldn't imagine working anywhere else." I nodded, chewing on a fry.

"I was thinking it was too good to be true. I got suspicious."

"I mean, feel free to make your own decisions, Grace, but you have to remember that sometimes, good things just happen."

"You're… you're right. I should give it a try, at least."

"Gotta hand it to the Poketch Company, though, they know where to pick the best trainers out there," he said, looking at me.

"Ugh, you're so embarrassing uh," I groaned, hitting his shoulder.

"Stop it!"

"So I can't even compliment my daughter?"

"No!"

"Arceus… just tell me where to next."

"Amity Square," I said.

"I'd like for you to meet my Pokemon." ——"They're all nice, no need to be scared," I said, looking at my dad, who was trembling like a leaf.

"Well, one of them isn't, but you won't be meeting him."

"That Frillish of yours was a problem when he stayed at my house."

"Oh, that's right, I remember!" I smiled.

"He scared you a little bit."

"Not just a little," dad sighed.

"Just go ahead."

"Come on, he was just smiling at you," I said, grabbing my Pokeballs.

"We'll go one by one, okay? Princess is first." Togetic flew out of her Pokeball and started pulling on dad's hair.

"Hey, no! Don't do that, I have very few of those remaining!" Togetic laughed, clapping her hands after pulling a few strands.

"Come on, dad, you aren't that bald. Just bald ing. There's a difference."

"You saying that hurts more than you would know," he said. I ignored him and released Frillish next.

"Hey bud," I greeted him, pointing toward dad.

"Remember my father? I said he'd visit soon, right?" Frillish's eyes lit up brightly as he stared at dad, causing him to shrink back.

"Stop scaring him!" I laughed.

"What's with you? You're never like this with anyone else. Be cute like you usually are." The water type huffed but flew toward dad and gave him a curt nod before flying off into the lake. That was probably the best I was going to get.

"Well, he's a bit anti-social, but he's a lot of help."

"Sure… I think he just hates me."

"Well, this one won't," I smiled, sending out Tangrowth.

"This is angel. Angel, this is my dad who I told you about." The grass type's vines wriggled, and he wrapped six vines around my father, who let out an uncharacteristically high-pitched screech.

"What is he doing?!"

"Calm down, this is just how angel says hello. He's non-verbal."

"Why's he going under my shirt?!"

"He just likes feeling skin instead of clothes, so he can differentiate you from other people with touch. Look, he has one around my ankle." After around ten seconds, Tangrowth finished his inspection, and dad looked like he was already ready to leave even though we weren't close to done.

"Don't be a baby," I teased.

"That was terrifying." Tangrowth petted him on the head, and his eyes saddened.

"He's apologizing."

"Oh… I forgive you," dad sighed. I released Electabuzz next.

"This is honey." Electabuzz confidently strode up to my dad and extended his hand for a handshake.

"Oh, this one's normal enough," dad hesitantly said.

"Wait, don't! He's pranking you."

"What?"

"Your hair." Dad realized that the hair on his head was standing up, and he retracted his hand quicker than I thought was even humanly possible. Electabuzz had just tried to give him a small jolt.

"Honey… don't prank my dad. He's not into stuff like that."

"Buzz…"

"Prank Frillish when he comes back, okay?" I said, releasing Larvitar. I introduced her to dad, and she didn't seem to be exactly impressed, but she certainly had the most normal reaction of the bunch, and since she was a baby, she reminded him of Togetic as a Togepi. Which meant he was head over heels for her.

"Isn't she cute?" He said, trying to approach Larvitar. She turned away from him and hid behind my leg.

"She's a little shy, but I guess that's better than being jealous."

"Jealous?"

"Yeah, she gets jealous sometimes when people get too much of my attention," I explained.

"She might be tolerating you because you're my dad, though." The rock type huffed, clearly denying my accusations and waddled toward Electabuzz, who started playing tag with her. Dad ended up spending the most time with Tangrowth and Togetic after all, and the grass type was growing on him. It was impossible not to like angel, as odd as he was. After around thirty minutes, dad took on a more serious expression that I knew all too well.

He was going to bring something important up, and I already had a suspicion of what it was. He cleared his throat.

"Grace. I was waiting to see if you were going to bring it up yourself, but I know that you won't," he said before exhaling loudly.

"How are you dealing with your burns?" I froze and averted my gaze.

"You told me your last Pokemon gave them to you," he continued.

"I'm wondering if you're… let me think about how to say this," he sighed before continuing.

"Look, I'll support you no matter what. I'm the one that gave you the first push to go on this journey, and I've already told you I'd cheer you on for your battles, but I'm starting to think you're taking too many risks, kiddo."

"I… I know that. I've already told myself that I'd stop, and now that I have six Pokemon, I won't have to risk myself stupidly like that again."

"Okay, that's good," he nodded.

"I don't want you to do something like that ever again, Grace. First, you throw yourself into an unpatrolled part of Mount Coronet—""It was to save Cece!" I snapped.

"I don't want you to throw your life away."

"Being a trainer's dangerous. You know this already."

"I do, but there are things that you shouldn't do. Slow down a little, Grace. You don't need to throw caution to the wind like you only have a year to work with. You'll be doing this for possibly a decade. You have time. Stop acting so recklessly."

"You're only right about me taking needless risks to catch Turtonator. If I had to go into Mount Coronet to save any of my friends, I'd do it again." Dad looked at me with a pained expression and sighed.

"It's hard, Grace. It's hard to think that when you leave the city, you might make a mistake."

"I said I would stop," I exclaimed.

"You're telling me that because you want the discussion to stop," he said.

"Not because you're actually agreeing with me." I flinched.

"What? I'm your dad, kid. I know you. You just want the argument to be done with. Your actions could have endangered your friends and your Pokemon too, couldn't they? It's you I care about the most, but it's not just you that you have to watch out for." I said nothing, but I knew he was right. Cecilia had tried to get me to back out of the battle against Turtonator, and she could have gotten burned just as badly as I did. To be honest, it was a miracle she hadn't.

"I want you to look me in the eyes and tell me that next time you want to do something incredibly dangerous, you'll remember this conversation, and you'll back out."

"Unless my friends are in danger."

"Can't you call the rangers or the League?"

"Sometimes, they're not enough. They won't prioritize my friends. There are tens of thousands of trainers out there."

"Just… be safe."

"I will, I swear," I promised.

"I didn't know you were that worried."

"How could I not be? That'd make me a horrible dad. But you still haven't answered my original questions. How are you dealing with your burns?"

"I'll have to learn to deal," I breathed. I explained to him how ugly I found my face and body now that they was scarred and how looking at my burns reminded me that I had failed.

"You're holding yourself to impossible standards." I let out a sad laugh.

"Cece said the same thing."

"Well, she's getting that right," he said before pausing.

"You'll get used to the scars, Grace. Humans can get used to anything. But at least for now, can't you reframe the entire thing? Instead of the scars reminding you of the mistakes you made, can't they remind you that you managed to survive a near-death situation—""I didn't almost die—""You did, Grace," he interrupted.

"And pretending otherwise won't help. Use the scars to remind you to cherish what you have. Life is short. Before you know it, you'll blink, and the majority of it will be behind you."

"Yikes… are you having a midlife crisis?"

"I know you like to joke around when a conversation gets uncomfortable for you, but this isn't a joke," dad scolded.

"When you look at your burns, tell yourself that you'll keep yourself, your team, and your friends safe instead. Be optimistic about the future— because you know you'll have one." I nodded, and we sat in the grass, completely silent as we looked at the lake. People from all walks of life were visiting Amity Square. Coordinators, trainers, tourists, Hearthome residents… it was soothing, in a way.

"I don't think I'll be able to do what you said easily," I told dad.

"I think that failure will always haunt me. But I can certainly try my best." Dad smiled and ruffled my hair.

"Doing your best's all I've ever asked of you. If you do that, I'll be happy."

"Thanks," I muttered.

"By the way," he continued.

"I wanted to be gentle about this, but you need a haircut."