A/N: Written for the Advent Calender Challenge on the RLt, and for the Indigo League Challenge on the PMF, Viridian Forest Task (repeat).
Milestones
X – The Tenth
Max made it to Mossdeep without incident, though Skarmory was exhausted. Apparently it was not used to long range flights. The Pidgeot pilot recommended taking Skarmory out for some flying every now and then. 'Practise makes perfect,' he said with a wave as he saw himself off.
Max found Tate and Liza easily enough, and Tate especially was pleased to see him. They asked to see his Pokemon; he showed them, and they oohed and aahed over them all. Clefairy in particular enjoyed the attention, much to Torkoal's disappointment. Skarmory buffed his chest a bit. Kirlia looked keen; maybe she sensed the prowess of the twin Psychic specialists.
He told them how strong Kirlia was. They offered to battle with her, one on one. Then the twins argued, and Max found himself smiling at that, remembering the last time he'd seen them when travelling with Ash and May and Brock.
They used Xatu in the end – and Kirlia beat Xatu easily.
It turned out Max had been right, but even with a newfound desire to become stronger still there was nothing he could do. His team still did not match her prowess, not even Treeko who was the next highest in level.
'She's almost ready to evolve again,' Tate noted, looking Kirlia over. 'And for a Charge Beam to do that amount of damage – ' She gestured at one of the obstacles – or what had been an obstacle.
'But power isn't everything,' Liza finished, before nodding to Max. 'I can see why you've having trouble training her.'
They gave him a few tips after that. New attacks – Signal Beam to counter Dark Types. Shadow Ball to counter Ghosts. Maybe Thunderbolt to replace Charge Beam too, if he wanted to keep the electric attack. And then stats: focusing on defence and speed, because power wasn't everything.
Max realised he hadn't given that much thought, and he took the advice away – along with a request to drop by with a Gym Battle later.