Chapter 172

Chapter 172

CHAPTER 172

Chase walked up to Lucario and helped him up. The fighting type grunted when he pulled on his arm too hard. It seemed that Angel's Power Whips had done a number on him, even if it hadn't been enough. I ignored Sunshine's mocking laugh and comforted Sweetheart, who seemed to be the most disappointed at the loss. Really though, her and Princess were especially worried about Angel.

"He'll be okay," I gently reassured them. His vines would grow back within twenty minutes and he'd be as good as new, although I'd have to dig deep within them to apply the potion to his skin if I waited too long.

I directed my attention to Chase.

"You beat me. How about some prize money?" I asked.

"I guess I did earn it," he said, rubbing the back of his neck.

I nodded, requesting to transfer ten thousand Pokedollars onto his account. His eyes widened, and his expression turned into an angry grimace.

"I'm not taking that much. The usual number's five hundred," he said.

"That's nothing. I started this League Internship thing and I'm getting paid extra, so you can at least have some of that. Use it to buy some potions from the Poke Mart."

"No—"

I tightly grabbed onto his wrist and smiled. "What was that?"

"No—"

"Yes?"

"...uh, fine? Wait what the hell—"

"Perfect!" I exclaimed. "You can't go back on your word. That'd be fundamentally wrong."

"Arceus, you're creeping me out Pastel. Fine, I'll take your money."

Lucario gently bumped him on the shoulder.

"And thank you," he added.

"No problem. I know what it feels like to not want to accept money from friends, but you've got to straddle the line between pride and practicality," I said.

I released Honey and Angel to heal them with potions of my own. Chase still refused for me to lend him anything, even if I said he could pay me back later. I quickly sprayed the cold, transparent liquid on Tangrowth's black skin, and the vines began to grow even quicker. I could see it happen in real time, slowly growing inch by inch. The grass type petted my head in appreciation.

"You were amazing out there," I praised him. "That aura stuff is pretty funky, huh?"

"Tell me about it. I don't even know how it works half the time. My dad used to talk to me a bit about it, but he was pretty hush-hush. I just know that it seems to bypass some stuff sometimes. Like I managed to hit that ghost I told you about even though he could pass through a normal Bone Rush."

"Yeah," I muttered as I moved on to patching up Honey. If possible, I would have liked to ask Cynthia about it, but the opportunity had passed me by. Aura seemed to act independently from type energy, or at least it operated under different rules. "You're getting a lot better with Protect, and you were very annoying to fight. That's a great job in my book," I told the electric type.

He grunted, happy with his performance. I knew that even though we'd lost the fight, what he worried about the most was himself.

"I honestly thought you would have sent out that monster of a Tangrowth against Zangoose," Chase said. "I had a pretty good tactic to beat him."

I raised an eyebrow. "And? What was it."

"Well I ain't gonna tell you now. I'll keep it for next time," he smiled, recalling the rest of his team. "I'll be off, then."

"What? Already?"

"Well, you've got to do your own thing and I've got to buy potions before leaving for Veilstone."

"Huh. Alright, then."

I hadn't planned on asking him to travel with me, but I thought we could hang out for a day at least.

Well... maybe I could just ask him.

"Hey, why don't we go together? It's been a while since we've met, we can't just separate already."

"What's up with you?"

"No ulterior motives," I rolled my eyes. "If I had any, you wouldn't have guessed so easily. I just want to hang out with a friend."

Chase sighed. "Well, I wanted to make it to Veilstone and challenge Maylene ASAP, but I guess I can stay if you really want to."

"You're talking like I'm holding you at gunpoint."

"It's the best you're going to get, Pastel. Take it or leave it."

"I'll take it!" I immediately said.

—

"You know, you're a tricky fighter, Pastel," Chase grunted.

He was currently doing squats in sets of fifty. I was feeling tired by just looking at him, but he was somehow holding a conversation with me while working out. We'd walked a bit further to the east to avoid attention because our fight had actually brought in a few spectators that had spread the news. I hoped the Poketch Company wouldn't give me a hard time for losing. For the first time, I actually felt good after a loss, and I didn't want them to ruin that. Maybe Cynthia's words about losses being good for growth were resonating with me more than I knew.

"You've said that already," I said. "And I just noticed, but we're back on a last-name basis? What happened to good old Grace?"

"That never happened. Wipe it from your memory."

"No, I'm pretty sure that's stored forever in my long-term memories now," I smirked.

"Well you won't be hearing that anymore. But seriously, it's like— whew, fifty," he exhaled. "It's like, to beat you, a trainer has to find a specific way to go through the battle in order to win, and if they don't, they just slip and start to get stomped," he pondered. "Each one of your Pokemon has a trick to it."

"A trick?" I asked. "Oh, I guess I know what you mean. Like Angel's vines."

"Vines for Tangrowth, regeneration for Jellicent, control for Togetic... the only one with a decent amount of versatility's your Electabuzz. Can't know what the hell you're getting into when fighting him. Can't say for the other two though, I've never seen them fight."

"That's a fair point," I nodded. "I've been trying to work on Night Shade with Buddy, but progress is slower than I'd like. Then again, having a gimmick isn't exactly wrong."

"Oh, it isn't, but you've got to be able to transition into something else when it doesn't work. Well, Jellicent worked in this instance, but Tangrowth didn't."

"So you prioritize versatility then?"

"To an extent. You've still got to focus on something. A Pokemon can't really be good at everything, at least not at our stage. My Zangoose is terrible at long-distance fights, as you saw. I'm still workshopping a training regiment to deal with that weakness. Abomasnow's not the best at them, but we've been working on it," he said, starting his squats again.

Chase finished his fifth set of squats, letting out a satisfied sigh and then downing an entire water bottle.

"Fair enough," I nodded. "Aren't you tired? You're at like a bajillion squats now."

"Today's leg day," he said. "I'm going to run now, so if you want to keep hanging out, you better keep up with me."

"Huh?"

"You heard me."

Chase began to run, and I followed.

—

"You're... fucking... crazy," I breathed out. My lungs were on fire and I couldn't feel my legs. "Now I'm gonna have to... wash myself."

"Just take a shower in the Cabin. I'm sure the people there will give you a room."

"Shut... up..."

How? How was he just talking to me like nothing was happening? He'd been jogging for nearly an hour and forcing me to follow. At some point, I even considered getting Angel to carry me, but he said that he'd leave if I did.

"You've got to get some meat on those bones, Pastel. Being a trainer ain't only about getting your Pokemon into shape. You've got to whip yourself into shape too."

"I'm healthy," I exhaled. "I walk through the routes and climb and stuff."

I couldn't do it anymore. I stopped and collapsed on the floor, rolling onto my back and taking deep breaths. Chase stopped and looked at me disappointingly.

"You almost made it an hour. Pretty good for your first run, honestly."

"Now you're the one... humble bragging."

"I'm not. I used to be skinnier than you back in the day."

Right. I remembered that picture with his dad that he showed me, and he'd been a pale, almost sickly-looking kid, which was a world's difference of what he was like now.

"I used to be kind of a shut-in. My first run barely lasted five minutes, but it's all about steady improvements."

"I used to go on runs," I said, finally able to speak normally. "With my Electabuzz to build up his stamina. We stopped now that he's found better ways to do it, though."

"You got complacent and lazy."

"No, I just had a lot of other things to worry about."

"Whatever. Just know that being so weak will bite you in the ass one day."

"Hey. Why did you start working out so heavily?" I asked.

Chase sat on the floor next to me and leaned against one of his palms. "I thought I needed to be stronger. If I'd been, then... y'know, I could have done more."

More during whatever happened to Falkirk? He clearly didn't want to go into it, so I didn't pry, but I would definitely look up what happened to it later during the day. If I was getting a room in the Café Cabin, then it'd be dumb not to make use of the WiFi there. Plus, maybe I'd be able to start looking at resources for physics and chemistry. There ought to be at least simple interactions I could do during fights, although those type of tactics would work a lot better during double battles. It was a shame that I probably wouldn't fight in one again for a long time.

He stood up and held out a hand. I grabbed it.

"Thanks. I hope you won't force me to do anymore physical activities, because I literally can't feel my legs."

"That's good. It means that you worked hard," he said. "But no, you're fine. I'm done too."

"I feel so icky. I need to get a room at the cabin and go shower. Want to grab a bite after?"

"Do you think they sell chicken and rice here?"

"What? No, they're a bakery!"

"Then no. Too much sugar and shit. Can't be assed."

"Your loss."

"I was going to leave anyway. It's the evening," he said.

"You could use my shower."

"I don't care about that. I'm going to be traveling in the wild, no one's going to smell me."

My nose wrinkled, but I agreed to let him go. Hanging out had been fun, but Chase wasn't the type of guy to stick around for long. He was a loner at heart, and he enjoyed that. He let me say goodbye to his team, and I did the same with mine. Ri issued us a bow while Abomasnow gently huffed, releasing mist and snow out of his mouth. Zangoose grunted, not bothering to look at us, while Houndoom licked my hand. His tongue was so hot it was almost uncomfortable, but he was cute nonetheless. I rubbed his chin until Chase told me to stop babying him. Vikavolt buzzed at me in some weird pattern while Sigilyph beeped, approaching me upside down until our faces barely touched.

Needless to say, Princess hated her guts. She still chirped goodbye to Lucario, and then everyone else when I told her to be polite. Angel gently rubbed all of Chase's Pokemon with his vines, but Zangoose easily dodged and hissed at him. Sweetheart happily clamored at Lucario, who responded with some gentle words that I didn't understand. Honey shook the steel type's hand, and Zangoose actually shot him a respecful look, which was a world's off of how she looked at everybody else on the team. It seemed that their battle had resonated somehow, and Honey bid her farewell too.

Sunshine didn't say goodbye, but at least he was standing behind me now and not a ways off. Chase was probably similar to Kamaile in some regards.

And just like that, he was gone as fast as he'd come. Hopefully we'd see each other again in Veilstone.

"Now I need a shower," I sighed.

Thank you to my - Spandaz, Alex Walters, androide, ObsidianOlive, A Ferret, MKK, Oblige, Joe, Emilowish, Sean, Tim Schmidt, Dim, Violett T, Dom Noct, yesnomaybeso, Sean M, Cypha, Daniel, Ryan T, Kail H, Bridie, dragonslaver

TEAM

Spoiler

Togetic/Princess (Hustle) - Pound, Sweet Kiss, Growl, Headbutt, Fairy Wind, Ancient Power, Extrasensory, Thunder Wave, Air Cutter, Wish, Psychic, Shadow Ball, Dazzling Gleam

Jellicent/Buddy (Water Absorb) - Bubblebeam, Night Shade, Absorb, Water Sport, Water Pulse, Hex, Poison Sting, Mist, Acid Armor, Shadow Ball, Recover, Brine, Whirlpool

Electabuzz/Honey (Static) - Thundershock, Swift, Electric Swift, Thunder Punch, Charge, Leer, Ice Punch, Thunderbolt, Discharge, Fire Punch, Protect, Cross Chop

Tangrowth/Angel (Chlorophyll) - Vine Whip, Absorb, Mega Drain, Stun Spore, Bind, Poison Powder, Leech Seed, Ancient Power, Power Whip, Knock Off, Sunny Day

Pupitar/Sweetheart (Guts) - Leer, Tackle, Horn Attack, Rock Throw, Payback, Stomping Tantrum, Smack Down, Bite, Rock Slide, Crunch, Sandstorm

Turtonator/Sunshine (Shell Armor) - Smog, Ember, Smokescreen, Incinerate, Iron Defense, Flamethrower, Shell Trap, Dragon Pulse, Bulldoze, Scorching Sands, Rock Tomb, Body Slam, Flash Cannon, Solar Beam, Rapid Spin, Scale Shot, Iron Tail, Focus Blast

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