Chapter 10 - Training Day
Nettle was woken up by the sound of the washroom door clicking shut. He looked up maneuvering his head to see the door, allowing his eye to adjust to the light. He saw Peter packing his wash bag into his bag.
"Sniiiii.." He yawned loudly, stretching.
"Morning." Peter said cheerfully, leaning over the scratch Nettle on the back on his head, "I hope you had a good sleep!"
"Snivy!" Nettle said happily, pushing his head into Peters hand, enjoying the scratching.
"Good." Peter said, sounding more serious.
Peter got up and walked over to the fruit bowl on the desk by the window. He leaned on the desk looking outside. The sky was covered in thick grey clouds, although the sun was struggling to shine through the small gaps in the cover. Peter took a banana from the fruit bowl, starting off the peel he stepped back over to Nettle.
"Here." He said passing the banana down to the snivy.
Nettle took the banana with both hands, carefully he peeled the skin from the top of the fruit and munched it.
Peter picked up his bag in one hand flung it onto his shoulder. Nettle jumped up into Peters arms still clutching the banana and the two left to meet Jade and Kelly for breakfast.
Turning into the main reception Peter was surprised to see Kelly and Jade standing waiting for them. Jade stood looking into her Pokegear, whilst tepig played around her feet trying to catch the pom pom on his curly tail. Kelly was glancing at her watch, dewott stood obediently to attention next to her, as if he was on guard duty.
"Snivy!" Nettle waved through a mouthful on banana. He jumped down carefully, taking care to not drop his banana. He ran over to tepig who greeted him warmly with a loud "Tepig!"
Nettle snapped a chunk of the banana off and handed it to tepig who chomped it down, thanking Nettle through each chew.
"Vi." Nettle said closing his eye and looking up. As he did so he broke off the last piece of banana and held it up for dewott.
Dewott bowed politely and took the banana from him.
"Ott." He said thanking him.
"Vi." Nettle said indifferently although he was trying his best not to smile. He turned to see Peter stood next to him he pulled on his trouser leg and offered Peter the empty banana skin.
"Thanks," Peter sighed taking the skin, "Well since those guys have eaten its our turn!"
"Theres no time for that!" Kelly snapped, "We have training to do!"
"Oh but.." Peter was cut off as Kelly threw an apple at him.
"Here's an apple," She said, "No time to waste." She turned and walked towards the doors.
Having caught the apple, Peter stared at it for a few moments.
"She's in battle mode." Jade sniggered, tapping Peter on the arm with her elbow, "Lets go before she tells us off any more!"
The group stepped outside, it was muggy with very little breeze. Peter took off his white coat and rolled up the sleeves on his shirt.
Nettle and tepig lead the way along with Jade, whilst Peter, Kelly and dewott brought up the rear.
Tepig and Nettle were playing chase around Jade's feet, having fun chasing each other and once one of them was tagged, running in the opposite direction. Jade was bringing up the map on her Pokedex, looking down at the screen she could see a park a short distance away which had training facilities. She turned her head back to Kelly,
"Just up ahead!" She smiled.
Kelly nodded determinedly.
Tepig tagged Nettle by tapping his snout on the leaf on his tail. Nettle laughed, turning to run back in the opposite direction - right towards the busy highway.
Suddenly Nettle felt himself slam into a furry object, the impact making him fall backwards onto his bottom. Looking up he saw dewott standing over him holding out his paw.
"Ott." Dewott said bowing, 'Here.'
Nettle looked around him as he took dewotts paw and got back to his feet. He had been running directly into the road, he hadn't seen it when he span around. A huge truck roared by, making Nettle take a step backwards at the noise.
Quickly composing himself Nettle stood up straight.
"Vi." he said, bluntly, closing his eye and turning his head upwards.
Dewott bowed again. Once he had seen Nettle turn away he shook his head.
Nettle paused, and looked back over his right shoulder at dewott.
"Snivy." He added, softly 'thanks.'
Dewott bowed again and smiled as Tepig came racing over and playfully butted in between them, making them laugh.
The group continued on to the park, Nettle sticking close to dewott the whole way.
They trudged up a large bank, at the top were 3 pokemon battle courts surrounded by some netting. At one side was a wall with some graffiti on it where trainers had drawn targets. The other sides were open, with a couple of small benches scattered around for spectators.
As they approached the first court, Peter saw a middle aged lady in a long blue coat training a Servine. She was throwing up sticks and having the servine hit them with leaf blade. The servine was easily cutting them in too and whilst Peter had been watching at least, it had not missed once.
"Your servine is very impressive!" Peter called.
The lady turned around slowly to face him.
"Why thank you!" She grinned.
"May I?" Peter enquired, stepping forwards.
"Of course!" The lady said, "Please, Zeus just loves to meet new people!"
As Peter stepped towards servine it lowered its head to left him stroke its muzzle. Its green skin had a deep shine and its golden V shaped collar swept gracefully over its shoulders. It had a small elegant head crest which lead down the centreline of its back where it had 3 large healthy leaves with a forth bigger one capping its tail.
Seeing Peter petting the servine Nettle came scurrying over. He stopped, in awe of the evolved pokemon.
"Zeus is in really excellent shape!" Peter remarked, still stroking the servine.
"Thanks!" The lady smiled, "I have had Zeus here from an egg! And is that your snivy?" She crouched down next to Nettle, noting his scars and eye patch, "It looks like he has really been in the wars..."
"Yeah," Peter said, "I kinda rescued him from an abusive trainer. Unfortunately not soon enough to save his eye though."
"Oh the poor deer!" The lady said sympathetically, stroking Nettles nose "Some people just treat their pokemon like slaves, they dont see the bond of friendship that comes with them."
Nettle shook his leafy tail and closed his eye enjoying the petting.
"Right!" Peter agreed, "Especially as Nettle here is such a gentle guy, his nature is quite different to other snivy, he doesnt have any of that superior attitude you see with others..." He paused looking at the servine next to him, "No offence intended."
"Haha," The old lady laughed, "Dont believe everything you read in text books! My Zeus is the kindest and most gentle pokemon you could wish to meet, but in battle he is as strong as the best of them!"
Peter nodded and smiled.
"Im Peter by the way," He quickly added, "Im a Pokemon doctor."
"Agatha." The woman replied, climbing back to her feet.
"Hey!" Kelly called from the other side of the court, "Come on! You cant stand there talking all day!"
"Ah right," Peter said, glancing back over his shoulder, "We are supposed to be training!"
"Oh?" Agatha said, raising her eyebrows, "Your little snivy still likes to battle?"
"Yeah, although he has a lot to learn." Peter replied.
"Maybe Zeus can teach him a thing or two?" Agatha suggested, "what moves does your snivy know?"
"Snivy, snivy!" Nettle said frustratedly 'Im Nettle!'
"He knows tackle and vine whip." Peter replied, "But the main reason for todays training was to see what we can do about his blind side. He has lost a lost of spacial awareness you see."
"Hm." Agatha frowned, "Zeus, what do you think?" She turned to her pokemon.
"Servine!" Came the response.
"Alright!" Agatha replied, "Zeus says he can help," She crouched down, "Nettle is it?"
"Vi." Nettle replied proudly.
Zeus stepped forwards and lowered its head to Nettles level. As Peter and Agatha looked on the two Pokemon seemed to be discussing something.
Jade came trotting over and tapped Peter on the shoulder.
"You better get over there," She said, "Kelly is ready to go and still in battle mode!"
"Um," Peter scratched the back of his head, nervously, "Agatha here mentioned her servine may be able to help Nettle with a few pointers and since Nettle and Servine are both the same species I thought it might do Nettle some good.."
"You better tell Kelly... " Jade said, "Hi ... Agatha." She added, giving a wave to the lady.
Peter left Nettle with Zeus and Agatha and walked over to explain his plan to Kelly. She was having dewott slice blades of grass she was tossing up into the air, with his scalchops.
"No, thats fine..." Kelly said after Peter had explained, "Go ahead."
Peter and Jade looked at each other.
"Thanks," Peter replied, "I hope this doesnt mess up any training plans you had in mind."
"Ooohh, no." Kelly said, "Its not like I had prepared anything or waited for you for ages this morning!"
"Um, well I am sure we can keep training after Nettle has learned something from Servine?" Peter suggested.
"No thats fine," Kelly said, "Besides, we have Jade and Tepig to help us as a fallback plan!"
"Tepig..." The pig pokemon nervously took a couple of steps back behind Jade's legs.
Peter rejoined Agatha and the two grass type pokemon just as Zeus was performing a leaf tornado for Nettle. The Servine span its body building up a whirlwind of energy emanating from its tail. It used this vortex skilfully picking up a rock, keeping it suspended in the tornado before slamming it back into the ground shattering it into small splinters.
Nettle clapped as Zeus landed gracefully in front of him.
"Servine." Zeus said, 'now you try.'
Peter and Agatha looked on as Nettle started to spin, jumping off the ground as he had seen Zeus do. A small vortex started to form at the tip of his tail.
"Youre doing it Nettle!" Peter exclaimed.
Nettle was using all his concentration, but the vortex was not growing at all. Nettle stopped spinning, unable to hold it any longer. He landed on the ground dizzy.
Zeus shook his head, he stepped over to the snivy and barked some instructions whilst giving demonstrations of what position his body should be at each stage.
"Zeus looks like a great teacher." Peter said, looking over at Agatha.
"Yes, he is." Agatha said, "You see, Zeus and I work at a Pokemon college - so he's used to helping other Pokemon!"
"Thats great!" Peter exclaimed, "Its lucky we ran into you then!" He said, watching as Nettle tried the move again.
This time the vortex started to grow, but Nettle was again unable to hold it for long enough for it to develop into a tornado.
Suddenly there was a large explosion behind them. Agatha and Peter span around to see Kelly shouting at Jade across the court at the far side of the park. "You have to be quicker than that! He had to dodge it! Try again." She bellowed, red faced.
Jade just stood hanging her head and Tepig climbed back to his feet and trotted over to her.
Peter and Agatha glanced at each other with eyebrows raised,
"Your friend is quite intense," She said, "But I bet that means she has some really powerful pokemon!"
"Yeah, today I am learning all about Kelly's passion for training." Peter replied.
The pair turned back to see Nettle ready to try leaf tornado again.
"I know you can do it Nettle!" Peter called to his pokemon.
Nettle paused and looked over to him, he nodded confidently. He desperately wanted to show Peter he could master this move and not let him down.
As Nettle jumped into the air Peter concentrated on his pokemons movements. Watching the way he started to spin and the position of his leafy tail as a vortex started to form. He focused himself, believing that Nettle could do it.
Suddenly Nettle felt a boost of confidence, he started to spin faster and faster, he could feel the powerful tornado building at the tip of his tail.
Nettle stopped spinning, controling the tornado spinning from his tail. He selected a small boulder on the side of the court allowing the winy vortex to consume it. He raised his tail and the tornado moved upwards, taking the rock with it. With a flick of his tail Nettle slammed the object into the ground, smashing it into splinters.
Nettle allowed his body to rotate twice slowly before flicking his tail forwards putting himself into a somersault and landing gracefully next to Zeus.
The Servine looked down at the snivy and nodded approvingly.
Nettle was overjoyed at being able to complete the move, his mouth wide and eye closed he couldnt contain his joy.
"That was awesome buddy!" Peter exclaimed, rushing to pick him up. He held the little pokemon out in front of him at arms length, looking into his happy face.
"Snivy!" Nettle laughed.
"Good technique and excellent power." Agatha nodded, "Very good, if he can keep practising that he will be quite formidable on the battlefield."
Peter put Nettle down and he rushed back to Zeus who seemed to congratulate him and give him some more pointers.
"Wow." Peter remarked, looking over at the lady, "Such power from such a little snivy."
"And you?" Agatha asked.
"Sorry?" Peter replied, frowning.
"I was watching you, the way you were so focused. Did you feel the connection?" Agatha smiled.
"I... I guess I felt something.. " Peter said thoughtfully, "I was trying to focus my energy on Nettle, I wanted him to succeed. Kind of stupid I know.."
"The connection between Pokemon and trainer," Agatha began, "To know what your Pokemon is thinking and feeling is the key to becoming a great trainer. Keep practicing together." She smiled knowingly at Peter before turning back to Zeus and Nettle, "Again!"
From the other side of the park dewott was squaring off against poliwrath when he heard a loud noise followed by a sharp gust of wind. He looked over towards Peter and Nettle to see Nettle landing gracefully completing another leaf tornado. He allowed himself to grin at the sight and nodding to himself.
"Lets take a break." Kelly said, noticing Nettles new move also.
Jade sighed a sigh of relief and jogged over to stand next to Kelly, watching Nettles training.
"Impressive." Kelly said through a grin, "Who would have thought that tiny snivy could be so powerful."
"Dewott." Dewott replied to her.
"You see that tepig?" Jade said crouching down next to her pokemon, "We need to keep training so we can keep up with them!"
"Tepig!" Tepig replied confidently, blasting embers from his nostrils.
"Alright!" Agatha said, "keep practising that leaf tornado to build even more power!"
"Snivy!" Nettle said, landing proudly after another successful move.
"The next thing you mentioned was the spacial awareness because of his bad eye?" Agatha said, turning to Peter.
"Yeah, do you have any suggestions?" Peter asked.
"Well, very much like people when once sense is lost, we can develop others further to compensate. Usually with sight loss you see hearing developed to compensate." Agatha mused, "Perhaps your snivy is relying too much on 'seeing' where things are coming from rather than using its other senses."
"Huh.." Peter said thoughtfully, tapping his finger on his chin, "So we should focus on sound rather than sight?"
"It would be a good starting point," Agatha said, "as well as building his speed and agility."
Agatha began jotting some notes down on a small brown covered notepad. She ripped off a page and handed it to Peter.
"Here are a couple of exercises you could do together." Agatha said.
Peter scanned the notes, a few games such as blind mans buff and Marco Polo were listed as well as some suggestions for agility training.
"Thanks a lot!" Peter said enthusiastically, "You have been such a huge help, how can I replay you?"
"Oh, dont be silly!" The lady said laughing out loud, "Being able to help your snivy learn something new was all the payment I needed!"
"Servine!" Zeus added, stepping over to her side.
"Thank you both so much." Peter said.
"Snivy, vi!" Nettle added.
Servine nodded.
"I expect we will meet again at some point!" Agatha said, "I'm looking forward to seeing how the training goes!"
"We will work hard!" Peter said, glancing down at Nettle.
"Good, you will need to give Zeus a challenge next time we meet." She smiled, "Come along then Zeus, lets head home."
Peter waved as the two left the grounds. He looked down at Nettle and a feeling of pride hit him.
"Well done buddy!" Peter exclaimed, "What you accomplished today was so amazing!"
"Snivy." Nettle replied, smiling up at Peter. He felt proud also, not only that he had not let Peter down, but also proud to be with a trainer who actually cared about him.
The group headed towards a restaurant for dinner, on the menu today was Pizza. The group filed in and ordered two of the biggest Pizza's to share between them, one with extra anchovies for dewott who stayed out of his pokeball with them for dinner.
It didn't take long for their food to arrive and the group tucked in with gusto. Nettle carefully took a slice of the pizza, struggling to hold it due to its sheer size in comparison with him. He sat backwards with one end of the slice in his mouth whilst the rest almost covered him like a blanket. He gnawed happily enjoying the new flavours.
"We'll have to get moving if we are going to make it to Eindoak Town for the harvest festival." Jade said, glancing up from her pokegear which was resting on the table.
"Oh yeah!" Peter exclaimed, "I have always wanted to visit there since I was a kid... I heard that last year the whole castle was moved to a new spot?"
"Yeah it was all in the news," Kelly replied, "Even Reshiram and Zekrom were involved! it must have been amazing to witness that."
Both Peter and Jade nodded in agreement.
"Hey seems like that same group of trainers from the museum were there then as well!" Jade added, spinning her device around on the table to Peter could see it.
"Oh yeah, huh." Peter said, leaning forwards to view the screen, "They must be some kind of detectives or something."
"It doesnt say anything like that here... " Jade continued, spinning the pokegear back to face her and scrolling through the news articles, "Although one of them does look familiar from somewhere.. I swear I have seen that hair somewhere before."
It wasn't too long before there was only one slice of pizza remaining.
"Anyone want to help me with this last bit?" Peter said, tearing the last piece in two.
Peter looked around the table. Nettle looked stuffed, as did dewott, both the pokemon shook their heads wearily.
"No thanks." Kelly said, "I couldn't eat another bite."
"Tepig!" Tepig exclaimed, jumping up and resting his front feet on the table.
Jade reached over and took the last slice, ripping it in two she looked at Tepig,
"Alright, lets have half each." She said, handing one piece to her Pokemon. It snuffled it up happily.
After they had settled the bill they returned to the Pokemon centre for their last night there. As the gang stepped through the doors Nurse Joy immediately called Peter over to her.
"We'll catch you tomorrow." Kelly said, heading up the steps to the rooms.
Peter nodded and hurried over to the reception desk with Nettle in his arms.
"Hi," Nurse Joy said happily, "Someone called for you, it was kind of hard to make out as a Samurott kept barking in the background, but I think he said he was your father."
Peter laughed, "Sounds like him."
"You can use the phones over there." Nurse Joy pointed to a row of video phones on the wall under the staircase.
"Thanks." Peter said, turning and walking towards them. He felt a bit guilty he hadn't updated his father sooner. Still, the surprise of him with Nettle should make up for it he thought to himself.
He let Nettle jump onto the counter in front of the screen, before keying in the numbers into the pad on the right. The phone rang a few times before a "Please leave a message" sign appeared.
"Oh, uh, hey dad its me," Peter began awkwardly - he was terrible with answering machines, "Um I got your message so giving you a call back. I hope you are doing good. The journey is going well and I guess, I caught my first Pokemon a few days back.."
"Snivy?" Nettle turned back to look at him, raising one eyebrow and putting his hands on his hips.
"And, umm, I met some new friends and we are travelling together... at least until we get to Opilucid City." Peter scratched his head, "Say hi Nettle.." He put his hand on Nettles back.
"Sniiiivy!" Nettle waved at the screen.
"Well, I guess I will try and call you again when we get to Castellia City." Peter continued, "Hope you and Samurott are fine, ummm bye then!" Peter waved at the screen briefly before hitting the disconnect button.
It wasn't unusual for Peters father to be busy outside on the farm, even at this time in the evening - probably doing the rounds checking the Mareep flock.
Peter and Nettle raced up the steps and back to their room.
Before turning in Peter did the usual checks to make sure Nettle's eye was alright before they both closed their eyes and turned in for the night.