Chương 141

Left, Right, duck, block the knee backpedal as Riolu tried for a high kick with the other. She stopped breathing heavily, her coat covered in sweat as she stood there breathing then slowly lowering, hand on her knees.

"Ri-Rio."

"You're doing good. Don't get disheartened now."

"Rio!" She snapped at me, glaring, and then rising back to her feet. A few days of Gravity training and the results were already showing. Sure, Riolu could only just move around, and actual training tired her out quickly, which was hilarious considering Riolu's normal stamina, but it meant she was growing stronger. I looked over the field, then smirked as Elizabeth continued to slowly crawl forward right alongside her Delcatty. They looked hilariously similar. The fact Princess the Vulpix had also taken part…

Well it was kinda annoying to be honest. Baby was nowhere near ready for something like this, and it was annoying to be outdone, but that was just pettiness talking. So I had of course okayed it, and let Elizabeth bond with her pokemon through eternal suffering! And to think! I'd only had to drag Elizabeth out of the Gravity field by her Ankle a few times! She was making steady progress even though she was struggling.

Blissey watched it all on, unbothered by the weight on her shoulders, or the fact her mere presence pressed all into the earth. Such was the power of a Goddess after all! I breathed out and looked at Riolu.

"Again?"

"Rio!"

"Alright." I called out bringing my mitts up. And Riolu charged in as quickly as she could to start punching. Her fighting spirit was certainly stoked. Fighting the older pokemon, getting a chance to push herself everyday to grow stronger. Unfortunately not everyone was quite so eager. Just like Milotic had once been the one quickest to hide away…

"Mimikyu! I see you! Come on back out." I called over to the bushes he was hiding in. I could hear his shoulders slump, as his disguise crackled at the movement and then he slid out. His poor disguise was all lopsided and the normal Pikachu face looked even more sad than normal.

"Come on buddy! Pump up those muscles!" I called out, and Riolu grumbled at me, as I was only half paying attention to her attacks. The others were doing well. Brave was woogling around pushing against the force constricting her, she was looking a lot better than just flat like she had at first. Tini was… Well he had a bit of his papa in him, his little rival crowing his victory made my little buddy jump into training to prove him wrong. Jangmo-o was taking to it well, after the first bit.

I think the fighting type spirit inside him made him refuse to be weaker than any of the others, and Tini and him were once more competing. Which was good for both of them. And Gible… She was hanging out with Dragonite. This was too early for her… Or maybe it would be better to say I was a little worried about what a super power Gible would look like. Besides, Gible was working on Dragon Breath with Dragonite so she could defeat Nidoran. Having a Rival had…

Well okay I wasn't sure if Gible had even noticed, but at least she seemed a bit more cognizant of battle training from Dragonite. And other than Princess, the other Vulpix and their Papa either watched on, or ignored the silliness. They had quickly decided they didn't want to get crushed and thought we were weird… Well okay Ninetales kept walking into it following Arcanine around, but that was just going to be a constant issue. And so we trained.

An alarm went off and I stopped stepping back from the sweating panting Riolu.

"Break! That's a wrap for today, no more training everyone get a good rest! No extra training!" I called out looking at Arcanine who I wasn't even sure felt the Gravity anymore. She sent me a passing attempt at Babydoll eyes, but I ignored her. Walking around I checked on everyone. Dratini and Jangmo-o collapsed next to each other and were making cute little grumpy noises at each other. And Brave just slowly woogled back to the Goomy den.

"I'm proud of you all!" I called out, and then walked over to Elizabeth… Yep, I reached down and grabbed her ankle.

"I-I can walk!"

"Doubt." I said and then just tugged her towards the house. Was I enjoying the way she groaned as she was dragged through the grass? Yes. Yes I was. But I didn't torture her or anything just brought her up to the porch so she could collapse and be given some water and a snack —-- I looked at what I wrote in my notebook… It seemed right? Ugh. I just don't remember abilities and hidden abilities that well!

Stupid pokemon, they weren't even a thing during the original games, and I was terrible about remembering random ones. Shaking it off I looked at the description. The rest of it was fairly accurate. I think.

"Vicky! Phone!" I blinked and got up. Slipping through the house and giving Meowth a scritch as she leaned out of the Indigo Tournament champion cup as I passed. Mama didn't answer my questioning look as I headed for the phone and picked it up.

"Hello?"

"Umm. Hi, Vicky… Ummm."

"Bugsy! Hey, how are you?" I sat down and happily started chatting. My words seemed to calm the poor boy as he started talking clearer.

"Hi! I'm doing good! The winter rush is over and things are finally calm over here. I was umm. If you wanted to have that battle?"

"Heck yeah! That sounds fun! Oh! I can bring my babies this time, and get some training in with them!" That was a great idea!

"Babies?"

"Oh my younger team. The pokemon I made friends with in Kitakami, before."

"Oh I thought you went to Alola?"

"Oh I did! But I didn't bring back many pokemon. I did get the Ninetales, and Vulpix though."

"Whoa, Vulpix are really rare."

"Hehe! These are even rarer, cause they're Ice Type Vulpix."

"That… That's a thing? And you just found them?"

"Yep! I went looking for an Ice Rock, after I found Cabbage, and wanted to-Wait I have to explain Cabbage first huh?" I muttered ugh, I wish they had just released the information on Cabbage freely already! I hadn't set up signs on Johto for the Eevee research. Maybe I should have?

"Cabbage?"

"Right. Cabbage is a Leafeon! A Grass Type Eevee!"

"That… That's a thing!?"

"Yep! There is also Ice Type Eevee Glaceon. Anyways. Mama and I found Cabbage, and made him take us to where he evolved, and we found the Moss Rock, which lets Eevee evolve into Grass types! Then I figured. There should be an Ice Rock, which lets Eevee evolve into Glaceon!"

"Okay sure, I'm following."

"So we went up to the mountains of Alola, which were super cold, and it was full of caves which is kinda the problem. We didn't find an Ice Rock, I just didn't have the time, but we ran into the Vulpix family, and after a series of events they came with me. They're really cute! They're white like snow instead of red."

"Whoa. A Fire Type became an Ice Type? That's… How does that work?"

"Environmental factors. Living on icy mountains for generations they adapted."

"I wonder what other pokemon do that?"

"Lots! It's fun right? Even pokemon we might know all about can change! I love Pokemon!"

"Me too."

"Anyway! A battle sounds good. Want me to come to your gym?"

"Y-yeah! If that's okay." Enjoying the story? Show your support by reading it on the official site.

"Sure! I'll grab my friends and head over… Oh I guess It'll have to be like five on five, since I'll need Dragonite to get over."

"That's okay! Besides, I want to see how far I've come."

"Ah gotcha. Sure! I'll head over now okay?"

"Yes!"

"Bye Bugsy! Mama! I'm off to Johto! Byyyyee!"

"Fly safely! Honestly. Just running off to Johto like it's nothing." —-- After a series of short flights, since Dragonite knew where she was going, we landed with a soft thunk in Azalea town. It still had that quiet retirement home vibe, but covered in snow, and barely any tracks in it? The entire place had a quiet serenity to it. Especially since I could see people hanging out on porches near heaters, or fire pits, just enjoying the weather. I shook it off and hurried into the gym.

"Brrr! I'm too much of a Dragon for that much cold!" I told Dragonite who tittered at me as she hurried in as well. We both sighed a bit as the warmth of the Gym lobby hit us.

"Vicky!"

"Bugsy!" I greeted, laughing as he ran up, and then stopped a bit away.

"Oh hello again Dragonite, are you well""Drag!" She offered back and I looked at Bugsy."

"You got a bit taller huh?"

"Oh… Did I? You got all tanned!"

"Hehehehe! That's what the sun in Alola does to you! Oh I have some pictures of bug types in Alola to show you." I offered pulling out a picture book of my Alola Adventure. I hadn't taken super many pictures but I had remembered from time to time and had enough that Mama had bought a book for me to fill it up with.

"KuKkUKkkuk." Mimikyu offered, as I opened my bag he held out the book from inside.

"Thanks Buddy. I told you the flight would be cold."

"KKkuk!"

"Heh." I laughed at his complaining. He had not liked how cold it got over Mt. Silver when we flew over the mountain range. And we hadn't even gone over the real Mt. Silver.

"Bug Types?" Bugsy finally asked practically bouncing on his feet in excitement.

"Yeah, Alola has a bunch of cool ones. Ah, here is a Charjabug. They are an electric type." I offered, having flipped through and shown him the picture of the pokemon I'd caught while walking around the Pokemon School one of the days.

"Whoa!" He gasped utterly enthralled and I just laughed.

"Why don't we sit and I'll let you look through all of them? I didn't get a picture of a Volcarona unfortunately."

"What's that?"

"A really amazing Fire and Bug type. They're really pretty and powerful!"

"Oooh!" —--"Dragon Pulse Area! Blow the powder away!" I shouted out, and Jangmo-o jumped to do just that. Releasing enough energy to even hit the Butterfree that was hovering above.

"Don't let up Butterfree! Keep going!"

"Hah! What a Bug Trainer thing to do! What next are we going to keep yelling Harden at each other? Keep going Jangmo-o don't let the powder reach you!" I called out, teasing Bugsy at the same moment as we continued to counter his move. From the way his ears reddened I wasn't wrong that he had done that before. I swear. Bug Trainer Boys were just like that. Our moves continued to flow and a lot of powder was dropped over the area… Ah.

"Tricksy! Jangmo-o! The powder is still around. So be careful where you move!"

"It's too late for that." Bugsy said with a sudden conviction that had me look up.

"Whirlwind!"

"Hey! That's like what Erika does!" I groaned, because yeah it was over. Too much powder in the area was suddenly all gathered up, and even as Jangmo-o tried to Dragon Pulse it away, he hadn't learned enough Counter Shield to keep it going. Not against such an easy to sustain move like Whirlwind. Soon the wind disappeared and Jangmo-o was lying on his back legs twitching.

"Sorry buddy. That's our loss!" I called out grinning at Bugsy's gobsmacked look.

"I won?"

"Yep! Good job! You Battled way differently than before!"

"Ah-Well… I decided to learn a lot from when I watched the conference. There were only a few trainers that used Bug Type pokemon, but I watched them and how they battled."

"Yeah! I see you took some of Ivy's tricks there."

"Yes! She was amazing with her Butterfree!" He chirped, practically gushing. Heh. Bug Nerd. I walked over and picked up Jangmo-o and walked over to where the rest of my pokemon were resting. Setting him down I sprayed him with some Paralyze heal. And once he was wiggling a bit getting control of his buddy he grumbled at his loss.

"You fought well. Don't lose heart. It was a tough match up." I offered him some snacks and soon he was more focused on his stomach than his loss.

"Feeling better?" I asked, looking down at Baby as she finished her snack.

"Vuu!" She had, despite losing, actually seemed to enjoy the battle against Bugsy's Ariados. Bugsy finally seemed to come back to himself and walked over to plop down next to me. Grinning like a loon.

"It wasn't your strong pokemon but… I definitely got stronger."

"Yep! Super fast too." I agreed, that Butterfree I think was new. As in he'd trained it from scratch since the conference. Bug types were cracked like that. I looked over the rest. Mimikyu had fixed his disguise after Pinsir had sorta crushed it. Honestly the battle had shifted from a normal battle, and had just been us throwing pokemon at each other. Bugsy had gone through like a dozen of his team as we played around. He had fought Dragonite though, so I mean that was expected.

"She's cute." Bugsy offered, looking at Vulpix, who looked up and preened at his compliment.

"She is a little cutie, that's true. But she'll grow up big and strong just like her Papa right?"

"Vuu!" It's kinda amazing. A pokemon that no one has ever heard of."

"I mean that's a little off. Alolan Vulpix were sort of known, they were just heavily restricted, and they will revert to normal Vulpix in a generation or two without the environmental factors that cause the change." I explained and Bugsy nodded.

"She's still amazing."

"Heh. You should see Ninetales. He's fluffy everywhere." I explained and Bugsy laughed at my waving arms.

"Sounds even more amazing. It makes me want to go… Just explore I guess."

"Traveling is fun, it really shows you how little we know. Anyway! How about we do a few more battles?"

"I'd like that." —--"Baaack!" I called out as I walked inside. It was getting late so I wasn't going to drop off everyone at the reserve, so I had my baby team and Dragonite here to hang out.

"Welcome home, You're a bit late for dinner. Hungry?"

"Starving! And freezing!" I called out as I was peeling off all my winter clothes.

"Then go jump in the bath while I warm up dinner."

"Thank you!" I rushed off and towards the bathroom, and then grinned.

"Come on out!" My pokeballs popped. All but Dragonite who was just too big for the bathroom.

"Jang?"

"Tini!"

"Vuu!" The three chatty ones all called out as they looked around at their environment. Brave just sort of looked at everything but could see the steam coming off the bath and woogled over. I picked her up and with a bit of work set her up so she could get some water and be comfortable.

"KUKkukku?"

"Yeah I know buddy, you can go anywhere you want, you don't have to jump in with me. Jangmo-o does though. Cause he got dirty." I told him and he huffed, but at least didn't run. I got to work washing up myself and my friends that were joining me for bath time. Vulpix was a little iffy at first, but as she jumped up and sort of tapped the water in the tub she giggled and seemed to like it well enough. She settled on the edge and was dropping her paw into the water.

Jangmo-o, and Dratini were both washed up lightly and then slipped into the tub. Riolu was back at the reserve as she'd volunteered to stay behind so Baby could come. Honestly she just wanted to laze around a bit, so I let her. I slipped into the heat with a sigh as my friends all swam around. Dratini of course was the best at it, slithering around the bath without any effort as Jangmo-o doggy paddled around to the side so he could cling on. As I rested back I felt a nose nudging me a but and I looked up.

Baby had circled the tub and was hovering close… I reached up and gave her a strong rub pushing her into my cheek a bit which seemed to calm her, as she nuzzled in. I guess… This was the longest she'd been away from her family and I wasn't traveling all the way to Fuchsia tonight cause it was freezing out there still. So instead I pet Vulpix, until she relaxed snuggling into me.

"We'll see your Papa in the morning okay?"

"Vul.. Vulpix!" She chirped as she wiggled around until she was basically curled around my shoulders. Her fluffy tails dipping into the water and growing heavy and wet… I was gonna spend a lot of time drying her off after this huh? Oh well. —--"Vicky."

"Hmm? What's up Mama?"

"I'm not sure… There was a call from the Pokemon Association… They wanted to set up a meeting between you and a Johto Gym Leader… Pryce." Mama said hesitating as she spoke his name.

"Huh… I wonder what grumpy wants?"

"I don't know, but the request is coming from the Indigo League… Pryce put in the request officially, and he wants to meet you." I thought about it and shrugged.

"Okay. I can do that."

"Alright. Well they set up a meeting time if we accepted."

"Why I could just fly to his Gym?"

"Vicky, Pryce is… Let's just do it how the League suggests."

"Fine. Not like I didn't beat him up anyways." I shrugged. This all sounded like Politics… Greeeeat.