Public Displays of Aggression
Chapter 7 – Freaks and Geeks
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Midorima was content to travel alone. He didn't feel the need to depend on someone else for food or company. He was fine. He had a few Pokémon now. He was quite certain that by tomorrow, day three of his "adventure", he would be able to best the Violet City Gym. But Midorima wanted to be sure. There was a lot still here that could act as a possible influence from deterring him from challenging Hayato. For example, if his Oha-Asa was poor tomorrow, he wouldn't challenge the Gym or if he didn't like how his Pokémon performed in battles today, then he also wouldn't challenge the Gym tomorrow.
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Midorima had gotten up early that morning and turned on his PokeGear. He immediately looked up the Oha-Asa website and found out how his luck was looking today, January second. Today, Cancer was fifth which wasn't horrible and his lucky item was a fluffy keychain. His sister had given him a keychain fitting that description for his birthday last year so he already had it on him. That sort of thing uplifted him a bit.
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He proceeded to organise himself a breakfast. He wasn't taken with the fast food that the PokeCentre food court provided but it was decent. The fruit was fresh and the toast was how he liked it. He ate and then checked out of the PokeCentre. He returned the swipe pass to the Chansey that was attending the reception desk. He then left.
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Route Thirty was exactly as Midorima thought it would be. It was a hotspot for Trainers who had decided to "rough it"; something Midorima couldn't really understand. He wasn't fond of the outdoors to be honest. Midorima walked straight into the thick of the campers. He got recognised quite a bit. He didn't find that surprising. He was a recognisable person: tall, green-hair and glasses with a reputation that had easily spread all over Johto.
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Midorima didn't bother with anyone. He was more concerned by the pond. He had a reputation for favouring grass types. It didn't take much brain power to figure out that would mean a lot of people would challenge him with fire or flying types. He needed a Pokémon to combat that.
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A Poliwag leaped into view. It passed him with a curious gaze. It was a cute Pokémon and Midorima decided that a Politoed would be nice. People had told him previously that he also had an affinity for frog-like Pokémon. Midorima had to agree. 'Chikorita!' Midorima called out and his Chikorita pounced onto the ground. 'Tackle!' he yelled. His Chikorita charged at the Poliwag who fought back immediately with a Confusion. Midorima liked its spirit. It would be a hard-worker.
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It didn't take Midorima long before Chikorita had worn down its health enough for him to throw out an empty PokeBall at it. The PokeBall swallowed the small, blue Pokémon and closed itself. It rocked around violently. Midorima was confident that Poliwag wouldn't escape. The PokeBall continued to rock until there was a click. A red shine went over the white button on the PokeBall. Midorima collected his PokeBall and smiled curtly. He was certain that this Poliwag would be a good teammate.
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It didn't take long before some gutsy fool decided that he would step up and take the challenge of dethroning the prince that never missed and never lost. Midorima won every battle someone started with him. It became a game of sorts, after two Trainers, Midorima supposed to test their strength against him. However close they came to winning would be a good indicator of how much they would need to train.
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In Midorima's opinion, no one really came close regardless of how they approached. He always sent out his Pokémon first: alternating between Chikorita and Poliwag. He was proud of them. They had pushed themselves so much in the past three hours but he figured it was time to get moving. Midorima was certain that they would be able to take down the Hayato.
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Midorima turned his back on anyone wanting to challenge him. A few girls gossiped the moment he did that. A few boys growled and did so as well. Midorima didn't care. It happened all the time. Anyone would be bitter in this situation.
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'Hey! Wait, freak!' a voice screamed out and Midorima heard fast-paced footsteps. He was soon brought down by a tackle from behind. Midorima screeched. 'Unhand me! What are you doing?' he yelled. The person got off of Midorima and offered to help him. The person was an average heighted guy with black hair and black eyes. Midorima swatted his hand away and was able to bring himself up. 'Sorry 'bout that. It's just you were ignoring me.' he growled.
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Midorima glared at this person. He was peculiar. 'Now, fight me.' he declared.
'My Pokémon need to rest.' Midorima stated.
'Okay then, fair enough.'
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Midorima began to walk off. He wasn't walking alone. The person was walking with him. Midorima didn't bother to inquire as to why. It was fairly obvious. The layout of Route Thirty was straight; there were no paths meandering off to who knows where so naturally, he was going to encounter people walking the same direction but he found it odd that he was being met with. This person was keeping pace, smiley and upbeat.
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Midorima continued to walk. He ascended some stairs and the fellow Trainer struggled to keep up. 'Hey, freak, slow down. Us shorties can't handle giants like you.' he huffed.
'What is your problem?' Midorima asked.
'We're walking together and you need to slow down.' the Trainer replied. His tone of voice indicated to Midorima that the answer should have been obvious.
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Midorima huffed, even more confused now. 'No, what I meant was why are you walking with me?'
'So I can battle you later. I want to get it over and done with so I can say I got my revenge.' the Trainer prattled.
'Revenge?' Midorima repeated, his confusion deepened.
'You don't remember?' the Trainer inferred; a little offended.
'I don't even know your name.' Midorima said.
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The Trainer huffed. 'Naturally. Of course. Why should a genius remember the names of all the peasants he's crushed? I was fooling myself if I thought that I was different.'
'I really don't know what you are talking about.' Midorima said.
'I'm Takao Kazunari. Two years ago, my broke-ass managed to get a day trip to Violet City Pokémon Trainer's Academy and you were the first person I ever fought in a proper Pokémon battle. You used a Bellsprout and I used a Hoothoot. You were still able to beat my ass. I swore vengeance on the green haired freak – you, Midorima Shintaro!'
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Midorima's heart sank. His eyes widened. Takao stared at his reaction, confused. Midorima composed himself and wrapped himself up arrogance. How could he have forgotten? Midorima asked himself, secretly horrified.
