With the oddness of meeting my extended family and an awkward conversation with Papa. I pushed any thoughts of that away to focus on what is important.
Training!
I felt kind of bad in a way. Most kids my age did have a Pokemon, even if it was just a family pokemon that they were responsible for, to teach them what they would need on their journey, but there was a difference between that, and what I had.
The early trainer license I was given in order to ensure Milotic was registered to me, meant they would be joining me on my journey. It meant I was legally allowed to take them to a Pokemon Center and use all the benefits that entailed, as well as battle them for money, or even start my journey if I wanted.
I didn’t cause Papa said not until I was ten, so I could start at the same time as the rest of the kids my age, but I would have an advantage. I had years to train Milotic. Up until now mostly focusing on his move roster.
Arcanine I had less time with, but she was also a Police Growlithe, so she already had solid training, and the spark that meant she wanted to train every moment of every day.
But other kids wouldn’t have that time. They would head out with their baby starters, and be expected to evolve them as they go, and catch new Pokemon on their journey.
I already had thirteen Pokemon... Even if most were Milotic and weren’t battlers.
But as unfair as it was in some ways, I wasn’t about to let this chance slip me by. The Pokemon world was crazy, and while I wasn’t planning on saving the world or fighting God. Who knows what would happen. So I was gonna cheat.
Well in between tea parties with Chansey below the Berry trees.
With the testing and discovery that the Iron Tail training like Ash did in the anime worked. I was more than willing to copy a few other things. ’Cough’ Counter Shield ’cough’ from the cartoon to see if it would work.
But I had another idea as well. It was why I needed Chansey. Chansey were healers. But they also got a lot of support moves. Softboiled was an amazing healing ability on top of Healing pulse. It meant Chansey could restore injuries, and fatigue amazingly well. Hence why they were so popular with Nurse Joy and Pokemon centers.
So they were built to take care of Pokemon. The perfect workout buddy.
More importantly. I had read something back in the old world that had given me the idea.
First things first. Teaching Chansey a new move... Which was slow going. I knew Chansey could learn it. But it wasn’t a natural move like Healing Pulse. It was a move that only came from two ways in the game. Breeding, or Move Tutor. Which were people that could teach moves to Pokemon.
So I knew it was possible... Just not how. Thankfully Pokemon were literally designed to learn moves and fight. And with Chansey willing to put in the work, it only took two months of daily attempts before Chansey figured it out.
Two months. I mean it took less time than teaching Milotic Ice Beam, but I also did have a better understanding of what to say and do to help.
But it was no wonder professions like Move Tutors were a thing. If you already knew what to say to a Pokemon to get them to learn a specific move, especially a useful move, it made sense that trainers would pay you good money to teach their Pokemon.
Saves a lot of time.
"Yes!" I couldn’t hold in my shout as Chansey activated the move. Her little hand flippers showed a purple field that almost seemed to absorb light. The field we were practicing in was just another part of the orchard, it was quiet, and purposefully out of the way.
I didn’t want anyone seeing what I had planned.
At first it didn’t look like anything had changed. You can’t see Gravity after all.
But the way all the grass suddenly arced downwards, how all the noises from insects in the area cut out.
"Chansey!" Chansey called out dancing around a bit at the success.
"Yeah! It’s amazing Chansey! You really did it!" I gushed as I hugged the blob. Earning a full squeeze back as Chansey lifted me off the ground and started dancing. My own giggles matching her own as we danced around the clearing giggling together.
Two months of effort to get this far.
"Okay Chansey! Let’s go grab Arcanine and Milotic, I want to show you and them just how important you are to our team!" I inform her as she settles me down with a pat on my head, as I run off to a clearing nearby where Milotic and Arcanine are training.
Today was Speed day. Milotic was working on his movement. Without water, he could still move around in a sort of floating motion, but it was much slower. So today he was doing sprints, trying to get used to moving faster.
Arcanine was in a grid square. Her job was to move back and forth over and over, constantly changing directions to the four cardinals points on the grid. Arcanines greatest strength was her amazing speed. I wanted to make sure she didn’t have just speed, but maneuverability. She had to be able to change her direction on a dime.
"Break time!" I call out pulling both Pokemon from their practice. Arcanine was practically sweating, breathing deep after working hard to improve. Milotic was a bit lazier as long as I wasn’t there, and while he was a little tuckered out, he had been mostly half assing it.
At my call both of them turned and walked up, Arcanine taking a moment to grab some water from the pond river.
"Alright Chansey, can you fix them both up?"
"Chanse!" My pink blob walked up to Arcanine first, and with a Softboiled which created a weird energy egg that slipped into Arcanine restoring her health and stamina. She instantly started shaking to stretch out, sending Arcanine drool across the clearing.
Ew.
Chansey even took a moment to wipe the drool from her face, much to Arcanines embarrassment. Doggo gonna doggo I guess.
"Here Chansey." I offer my blob a towel as everyone settles in Chansey giving a healing pulse to Milotic as well once her face was clear of slobber.
"So I want everyone to give Chansey a round of applause today, despite my complete ignorance on how to properly teach it. Chansey has learned the move we spent two months working on!"
"Woof!" Arcanine offered a happy whuff, while Milotic trilled and used his ear fins to clap a little.
Chansey turned more scarlet than pink for a moment as she hid herself behind the hand towel. It was hardly enough to block her from sight.
It was cute though.
I giggled as Arcanine even gave her a lick as a reward which Chansey used her towel to wipe down.
"So! That means our special let’s become legends training begins now!" I call out earning a riveted look from Arcanine, and a bit of a sigh from Milotic.
Milotic was a lazy Eel.
"Okay Arcanine. This first training is easy, because we need to find out how much you can take. First rule of secret training... Don’t overdo it!" I poke Arcanine in the nose, earning a lick as Arcanines tongue came out in response.
Cute! Unable to resist I distracted myself with booping the snoot and getting a tongue to pop out each time.
Favorite hobby found.
But eventually Arcanine huffed at me to get on with it.
"This training is going to be rough, and we have to be very careful not to overdo it, especially at the start. So let me step back here. Chansey. Go ahead." I comment standing well behind the pink Pokemon.
And a moment later both of my Pokemon gave out a noise as if they were struck. Milotic went from floating to resting in the grass, his normal melodic voice grunting a bit.
Arcanine was staying on her feet but I could tell just how much strength she was using to sustain that.
"Arcanine. Slow walk, get used to the feeling of being heavier! Milotic, Same for you. Don’t just sit there. Try out the muscles, see how it feels!" I grinned as both Pokemon did just that. Slowly starting to move around. "If you feel it is too much, call out instantly! Don’t try to power through! If you injure yourself you set back your training not forward!"
Gravity was an interesting move in Pokemon. It was described, if I recall, as creating an area of "intense" gravity. Was it twice as much? Three? No idea. But it didn’t actually hurt Pokemon, and they could still fight under the effects.
So it should be safe for them. Plus with Chansey, both the creator of the field, and their medic, she would know instantly if a Pokemon was getting overwhelmed. This was step one in my Legendary Pokemon fitness plan. Train in heavy gravity, which as long as this world ran on anime physics which...
Pokemon.
So it should. It would leave my Pokemon much stronger and faster than normal. Watching everyone falling into their roles. Chansey, having to refresh the gravity pretty consistently, was also giving her training in using her new move.
So everyone was training. With a sigh I realized I needed to put in some work too. I started jogging around the clearing. I would need to be used to long distance travel so endurance was my keyword.
For the next hour until Chansey needed a break we all sweat.
Chansey and Healpulse, and Soft Boiled meant we weren’t dying after our exercise. Chansey was a good blob!
—--
Training became our go to. When I wasn’t at school Arcanine was whining and whuffing at me to do more training.
Battle junkie!
Yet time passed. School continued on. People reacted in awe to Arcanine and Milotic. We continued taking care of the Milotic flock.
And then Papa’s birthday came up.
I couldn’t hide my excitement as the sun rose on the day, the Fire Stone was hidden in my pocket ready to go as Mama wished Papa a Happy birthday with a birthday breakfast. Papa had the day off, we spent it doing things for him. I cuddled with him as he watched his favorite TV shows. And Mama and Papa sent me over early to Gram Grams to help her ’prepare’ for Papa showing up.
Which meant they were going to spend some private time together.
But I didn’t mind. I took Growly with me, and his Pokeball for Papa’s gift. Even if Gram Gram hated dogs in the house.
Except Arcanine. She was nice to her.
I grinned. It was perfect. Gram Gram had used me to help her cook dinner, and all the while I was practically bouncing until finally Papa and Mama showed up. Both looked relaxed.
Blegh.
But we all sat down, ignoring Gram Grams pointed remarks about dogs. And simply enjoyed sharing in each other’s company.
Then... As Dinner finished Gram Gram passed Papa a little box with a "Happy Birthday son." Mama gave Papa a box too.
And then I slid my box across the table to the surprise of the others.
"Happy Birthday Papa." I offer with an ear splitting grin. Oh I was waiting for him to open that.
Of course being Papa he instantly knew I had something planned and opened Gram Grams gift first.
Just to spite me I knew!
I pouted at him, as he threw me a grin before opening the gift. "As always mother... Thank you for the cat themed merchandise." Papa said dryly pulling out a pair of cufflinks with Meowth paws printed on them.
"Pfeh!" She offered in return, although both were smiling at the common refrain. Then she reached out and grabbed Papa by his cheek and pinched, earning a yelp. "There, a birthday pinch." Gram Gram offered with a laugh as Papa rubbed his cheek and glared.
And then the jerk revealed his motive. With Mama and Papa out of the house he was without anyone above him, but there was one thing he couldn’t get away with without assistance.
The jerk licked his lips.
"Oh you absolute jerkface. That’s extortion!" But all he did was lick his lips again.
I growled which only made his tail wag harder as I desperately tried to move him myself then, tugging on his paws was pointless his legs alone were probably as heavy as I was. The big fat jerk.
"Ugh! Fine! But I’m telling Papa you are extorting me for treats." I grumble at him, finally causing him to perk up a little at the T word.
He sat up a bit although still in front of the fridge and opened his mouth as if waiting for my payment.
"You are the worst." I grumble at him, as I dig through a few cupboards with Puppy locks to keep him out. Not that it would really stop him, but Papa was not okay the last time he had tried to break into something he wasn’t supposed to.
With that I grabbed a Growlithe treat. The bone shaped dog treat was pulled out and waved at him, but he just kept his mouth open as if waiting.
"You jerk face." I grumble as I walk over and put it in his mouth, and then proving he was the absolute worst, he sat there and ate it slowly still in front of the fridge, despite my orders for him to move, he ate the whole treat like it was expensive ice cream, before he finally rose up a little took a single step away and lay back down.
But at least I could open the fridge. Grabbing one of my sodas I realized I was more sweaty than I had been before.
"I’m going out to the Pond!" I yell at him as I stomp out the house.
When Papa got home I complained to him about Arcanys’ crime, only for Papa to laugh until he cried at my description of Arcanys extortion.
—-
"Chansey!"
I couldn’t help but laugh at Chanseys motions as made pumping motions with her little arms as we stood in the Gravity field.
Chansey had taken a while to get to the point where she could use Gravity and be able to join in the exercise with Arcanine and Milotic...
And a few of the Flock who were interested in growing stronger. I was more than happy to sneak a few of them over to our training area deep on the farm and let them build some muscle.
I was practically dreaming of the day someone decided to try and mess with my babies.
If their Prism scales weren’t quite as perfect? Well that was something I was willing to allow, and not all of them wanted to train so we still got pristine scales as well.
But Chansey was my main focus right now. Watching my Pink blob pump herself up through exercise was absolutely adorable. Whenever she moved it was always with this energy and perkiness.
So cute! We bonded pretty quickly. I don’t know if that was just Chansey, or if it was something I did, but we definitely shared a wavelength. Our shared love of Pokemon, had meant that Chansey had taken up healing lots of wild Pokemon that wandered by. And I fully supported that.
Today though we were moving away from move training. Almost everything I had done up to now was work on Chansey move list. Healing, support, debuff moves like Gravity.
But today we were Gym buddies. Because I was exercising a bit under the Gravity as well. While Chansey was cutely moving her muscles like she was benching weights, I was just walking around. One massively heavy step at a time.
I had a towel around my neck but it felt like I was carrying a Growlithe around my shoulders. But I kept moving. Slowly letting the weight work my muscles.
If I was on earth I would never have done this, but this was not earth. Pokemon often attacked humans only to lead to minor injuries.
A HyperBeam hitting a human on Earth wouldn’t leave more than a smear. Here it just knocked you through a wall and left you with a bad week in a hospital.
Well for most people anyways. Aura was a thing, and humans can use it. Although I wasn’t really working towards that. The amount of people that had knowledge of Aura was... Zero? Just about zero in my experience. But I was fairly confident that the durability of humans in this world meant I would be able to handle some light training.
Chansey being right there with me helped me feel one hundred percent confident. Chansey healing was magic.
Literally.
So we worked out, sweating together as we worked on our physical fitness. Chansey moving on to using the small array of moves she had, Pound, Double Slap, and of course Iron Tail.
Tying rocks to Chansey’s little tail had been hilarious.
I started feeling my muscles really protest the abuse so I moved out of the field letting out a sigh when I finally escaped.
Whew. I was sweating and exhausted just from a short stint inside.
I had no idea how Arcanine handled it. My girl literally never wanted to leave the high gravity. The fact she had seen pretty hefty improvements to her physicality over the last few weeks of practice had turned her into a Gravity junky.
I might have to start calling her Vegeta or something.
I wonder if a normal Arcanine can go shiny? I shook the stupid idea out of my head. Seriously too much anime up there. "How you doing, Chansey?"
"Chanse-EEE!" She called out, continuing to pump up and down. Her tail shining with Steel energy as she spun her little tail around. I had only really taught it to her for one reason. Which was going to be one of our secret moves... Although I hadn’t had a chance to test it yet.
But Gym Bunny Chansey? Had I unleashed a monster? I giggled at the thought. I guess it was still a good thing that Chansey hadn’t gotten much out of battling when we had done some practice matches. She hadn’t really wanted to hurt anyone, although she had done the battles to the best of her ability, in the end it had been obvious she preferred to just help out rather than take part.
Well, I was still planning on having her used in matches, but just as a setup, or debuff Pokemon.
Although I suspected I would have to rely on her battling prowess at some point in the future. Hopefully it wouldn’t hurt her feelings too much to fight.
I turned to look at the rest of my team. Milotic was slacking again. The Eel was supposed to be working on his movement again. Since he was the slowest of my team on land, including Chansey. Although I suspected 90% of his speed was just laziness. I had seen him move pretty quick to come snuggle or to get a treat.
Lazy fish.
Regardless it was nice to see my team strengthening themselves.
I could feel a tooth filled smile stretching across my face at the idea of what was going to happen once we started our Journey. We were going to wreck the Gym circuit! I was giggly when Chansey finally took a break settling next to me as I passed her a bottle of water while she cooled off.
Unfortunately Chansey was able to train for the least amount of time. Using Gravity when she was already exhausted wasn’t easy.
But she was getting better at it. Her Gravity use had, at least in my opinion, been getting stronger as well. Which made sense. She was constantly using the move. Over and over for hours at a time only broken up by breaks to hydrate.
It made me wonder if creating a submission fighter was possible.
Chansey didn’t like hurting Pokemon after all, maybe just utterly pinning them would count for a knock out?
I would actually have to check into that.
Of course my little break with Chansey was broken up by a massive crash followed by a yelp. I gasped that flash of fire had been huge!
"Arcanine!" I cried out as I instantly started running, bulldozing through the Gravity without a care.
My dog was hurt!
I grit my teeth as I stomped into the field past the trees to see what had happened. Wincing as not only was Arcanine on her side, but a tree wasn’t standing anymore.
"Arcanine! Milotic!?" I cried out as well and a moment later my noodle was at my side rushing towards Arcanine to look her over as I stumbled after. Chansey was already ahead of me as well. Doing her little shimmy jog as she rushed towards the downed Pokemon.
I stilled when I finally made it to her before sighing in relief.
She was definitely knocked out, with a big bump on her head, but she would be fine. "What happened?" I ground out not feeling super great under the gravity.
"Chanse? Chansey chanse... Chansey."
"I didn’t catch most of that. Sorry." I offer, actually sad. I always felt like I messed up when my team tried to communicate with me and failed.
A moment later Chansey reached up and put her hands up near her mouth and growled looking like.. Oh my god she was doing Arcanine charades!
I almost died laughed.
Mostly cause I fell to the floor and that actually was pretty dangerous in high Gravity. But after wheezing a bit from knocking the breath out of myself. I followed Chansey’s charades as she made an Arcanine face and then slammed her face into where the tree had been...
"That idiot." I couldn’t help but growl earning a startled laugh from Chansey as I turned to my dog.
I knew exactly what she had done now. With my heart no longer pounding a heavy metal song in my chest. I could think.
My girl had tried to train Flare Blitz. A move I had ordered her not to play with.
Flare Blitz was Arcanines most damaging move. It was also a signature move they learned upon evolution.
But it was a recoil attack. It was a wild attack uncaring that it would reflect damage back. The harder the hit, the more the damage.
It was big, flashy and powerful. Arcanine had been wanting to use it ever since she evolved.
But it was the exact kind of move I hated the most. Hurting yourself to hurt others. Nope.
Not a fuckin’ chance in hell.
I had put a firm ban on that move. Of course my hard headed pup had wanted to practice it. A battle maniac like her wouldn’t mind taking damage to hit even harder.
I gasped then sighed as the Gravity returned to normal letting my aching muscles relax as all of us gathered around Chansey healing up Arcanine.
"Should I take her to the Pokemon Center?" I asked Chansey before my Pinkette gave a shake of her head then to my utter delight she threw a flipper towards me.
She was definitely trying to give me a thumbs up, probably trying to be reassuring.
But she had no fingers!
I burst into giggles, which I only realized after was probably her intention as Arcanine finally stirred twitching as she came to.
Looking around, before noticing me close by and my very very unhappy look.
"Grounded."
Her whine and drooping ears didn’t move me at all.