Hi! (Isn't this like, the best chapter name EVER? Yeah, I thought so XD)
So big edit: Leah actually has black hair and gray/silver eyes. Sooo...I'll probably fix that in the last chapter, but for now just think of it as a typo ^^;
So here's the training chapter! Yeah!
...Yeah.
Disclaimer: If I owned Pokemon...OH! YOU COULD CHOOSE YOUR STARTER OUT OF MORE THAN JUST THREE!
x.X.x
Leah led me back to Route 203, telling me to deliberately walk in the wild grass and ignoring the disbelieving stare I gave her.
"Well, go on!" she prompted, giving me a little shove forward. I resisted.
"How do you know Riolu will want to fight?" I asked, and she shrugged.
"You said you were going to apologize, didn't you?"
"Well, yeah…but why can't we just fight with you?"
"Because your Pokemon is weaker than mine. I might accidentally make Riolu faint."
"Riolu is not weak!" I objected hotly, despite my annoyance at him. No Pokemon of mine was weak!
"Then prove it!" There was a small smirk on Leah's face, knowing that she had me riled up, but I failed to notice or be affected by it as I let Riolu out of his Pokeball and charged headlong into the grass. Almost immediately, a Bidoof appeared, chattering angrily, and I called, "Riolu, use Quick Attack!"
Nothing happened. I looked behind me, seeing Riolu standing just outside the patch of waist-high grass, turning his face away with a disdainful sniff. "Riolu!" I exclaimed disbelievingly. "You've got to fight!"
"Rio!" he answered indignantly, his eyebrows lowered over his eyes. "Rio-lu!"
"C'mon, Riolu! We've got to train so that we can beat Roark!"
"Rio."
"Riolu, be nice! Don't do this to me!" I looked back, over my shoulder at the Bidoof, and then gave a small squeal and rolled out of the way just in time to avoid the tackle. "Riolu!" I called, but he still turned away and plopped down cross-legged on the ground. I took off running as the Bidoof gave chase, diving out of the grass and skidding, belly-down, on the ground. Unwilling to go into the open, the wild Pokemon turned away, and I looked up angrily as Leah cracked up.
"That's some volleyball dive you've got there," she told me between laughs. "You could be a professional."
"Be quiet!" I snapped, unwilling to say "shut up" in case my phone had somehow called Mom and she was listening. I'd get my bootie whooped for sure. Besides, Riolu or Leah could always tell on me, and I wasn't risking that. So I tried to make my "Be quiet!" as menacing and scary as possible.
"All right, all right," Leah said, spreading her hands in a peace gesture. I was not appeased, however, and got up to dust my pants off while pointedly ignoring her. Then I looked at Riolu, who still had his back turned to me, hunched over with his arms folded across his chest. I walked up to my Pokemon, squatting next to him and waiting. Dad always said that the best way to help someone was to apologize, but how was I supposed to apologize if I didn't know what I had done that had made him so angry? I mean, sure, there was the nail-biting, but was that why he was acting like this?
"Riolu?" I asked finally, and he didn't look up. "What's wrong?"
"Rio." That, of course, held no answers.
"Was it…losing to the Gym?" I had heard that Pokemon got angry or bad-tempered when they lost, and had even experienced it with Flareon and Growlithe back home. But Riolu snorted and shook his head.
"Rio-lu." I was limited to yes-or-no questions, so I shrugged helplessly.
"Do you not want to train?" Another head-shake. "Well, what is it?"
"Riolu."
"Because I was biting my nails?" I inquired, my brow creasing, and he shrugged. So…halfway right. "Because I was mad at you?" No answer this time, except to hunch down further and turn slightly away from me. "Because I was mad at you…for stopping me from biting my nails?" This time, there was a tiny, "Rio," of assent.
"Oh." I sat back, resting on my haunches now instead of squatting, and put my chin in my hands. "Well…uh…I'm sorry…" I remembered that Riolu could read emotions, and my mind was drawn back to the first day I had gotten him. Mom had made me apologize, saying that my Pokemon would determine whether I meant it or not. I tried to make it sound meaningful, but I was kind of…halfhearted about the whole thing. He was being this mean because I had stopped him from stopping me from doing something I wanted to do?
"Riolu." I heard the inflection in his voice, and I didn't think he really believed me, but he stood anyway and prepared to fight.
"Ready?" Leah asked, and I nodded, wondering where her snide comments had gone. The Hoenn region, maybe? "Okay, you two try again."
Again I charged into the grass, this time surprising a Starly and sending it flying toward us. Not wanting to use Quick Attack over and over again, I commanded, "Riolu, use Counter!" It was a good offensive move, after all, like Leah had said. My Pokemon, looking slightly confused, obliged. Nothing happened.
"Rio…?" he asked slowly, and my brow creased.
"Huh? What happened?" I muttered to myself, and then shrugged and decided that it had just malfunctioned or something. "Try again!"
"Riolu…" my Pokemon said slowly, but shrugged and charged for Starly. Again nothing happened, and I rubbed the back of my neck.
"What's wrong?" I asked Riolu, who shook his head. "Okay…try Quick Attack, then." This one worked, and Starly reeled back in surprise. "Again!" I told Riolu, who nodded and used punches, kicks, and a combination of both until the Starly was defeated.
"You got lucky," Leah said when we walked back to her, though she was clearly laughing at us. "That was a low-level Starly."
"Why didn't the Counter work?" I asked her, confused, and she held back a snort. I felt my eyebrows lowering in anger, and I put my hands on my hips. Why was she laughing at me?
"Sorry, sorry," Leah apologized, smiling. "Well, see, Counter only works if your Pokemon has already taken damage. Then, Riolu would attack Starly to cause double the damage he took."
"Oh. So…it didn't work because Riolu was the first to attack?" My anger receded, to be replaced with surprise.
"Yeah, pretty much."
"…Oh." I sighed, blowing a raspberry. "Sorry, Riolu."
"Rio," he grinned, but it was more of a laughing-at-me type grin than a friendly one, and blew a raspberry as well. Leah burst out laughing.
"Does he always copy you?" she asked between snorts and giggles, and I shrugged, trying to ignore her chuckling.
"Only when I do that," I explained. "So how long before Riolu learns a move other than Quick Attack?"
"Well, that's up to him." She seemed to have recovered a little, and was now holding back the rest of her guffaws. "But the next move most Riolu learn is Force Palm. It might be awhile, though."
"Oh," I said for the third time. So I was stuck with Quick Attack for-what? Years? Months? Decades? Riolu, I noticed with a slight pang of frustration, noticed my disappointment with that emotion-reading skill of his (one that was quickly become a little frustrating), and turned away angrily.
Leah's voice interrupted me, gesturing back to the grass. "Ready to try again? You'll probably be stuck with using Quick Attack for the first couple minutes, and then once you've taken some damage you can use Counter." I shrugged, huffing, "Fine." I knew that already, so she didn't have to tell me. "Ready, Riolu?" I muttered, and he nodded with a low chirp. I walked into the tall grass without trying to be quiet as I usually did, and almost immediately another Bidoof appeared, chattering angrily. I backed up, saying, "Riolu, Quick Attack," as I halfheartedly tried to hide behind the stalks of grass, remembering the first Bidoof today charging me. Riolu nodded without any of his usual cheeriness, jogging forward and sending the Pokemon reeling with a well-placed smack, at my command repeating the move until his opponent attacked.
I glanced at Leah, who nodded, and then I gave the order. "Riolu, Counter!" So far, the only attack the Bidoof had been able to get in was a tackle, but it wasn't much of a problem, providing what Leah said was true. Riolu nodded and leapt toward the Pokemon, spinning around in the air and striking the Bidoof on the jaw with one foot as he did. As soon as he landed, he whipped back around with a punch, and the wild Pokemon staggered forward a few steps before swaying and collapsing into a heap on the ground. It was quite impressive, and a new move of his, but somehow I failed to be excited by it as I usually would have been. "Good job," I told my Pokemon, nodding. Riolu said nothing, glancing at my eyes accusingly and then looking back at Leah as she spoke.
"Well, nice job, you two." She gave a small smirk. "Now we get to keep that up until you at least learn Force Palm, and then you get to start battling me."
"You say that like I need to be scared," I answered defiantly, and she grinned.
"You should be." She turned, calling over her shoulder, "I'm going to go stock up on a few potions and such. You two keep training, and I'll be right back." As soon as she was out of earshot, I put on my best mocking voice and muttered, "You should be." Then I turned huffily away, muttering, "C'mon, Riolu. I'm gonna show her."
x.X.x
Uryu Ishida is officially THE most EPIC character in the HISTORY of Bleach. Srsly. He's like "WAPOW! I HAVE A SWORD! BUT WAIT! IT'S GOT REISHI ROTATING AROUND AT 3 MILLION CYCLES PER SECOND WHILE YOUR FLIMSY FEATHERS ONLY HAVE 1 MILLION! HA! SO IT'S LIKE A CHAINSAW! BUT WAIT AGAIN! IT'S ACTUALLY AN ARROW!"
Then he pwns the Arrancar whose name started with a C... *checks in Bleach* OH! IT'S CIRUCCI! Or something...
Okay, so now stuff about the story. I feel like I'm either going too fast forward with their relationship or too fast backward (as in they're either suddenly best friends or they suddenly hate each other). Opinions, anyone, anyone? Yes, you in the back!
Anyway, I know I'm forgetting something I wanted to say, but oh, well =D
