Teaching
"Take care, honey!"
"Always, Mom!" Gold called back, fondly rolling his eyes as he left the house. Even after becoming champion, she still fussed after him. Maybe it was just a parent thing. At his feet, Poliwag chirped an agreement as he followed his trainer.
He'd actually swung by the house just to pick up the little guy and play with him a bit, although his mom seemed plenty happy to have a small, cute pokémon running around their home. Lapras had long since replaced him on his battling team, but there was no reason not to spend time with a good companion. Besides, guess who helped him get out into the water to meet Lapras in the first place?
He waited until they reached the edge of town to call out Skarmory, who was not fond of Gold's small-town neighbors gushing over his fairly-exotic self. The pokémon stretched his wings contentedly, and seemed a little disappointed they weren't going all that far.
"We'll do some real flying tomorrow," Gold promised him, which seemed to mollify him as he took off towards Violet City.
Poliwag spent most of the ride burrowing into Gold's hoodie and making two-hundred-percent sure his trainer had a firm grip on him, but when Gold dismounted and coaxed him into looking around, he let out a chirp of surprise and hopped to the ground with wide eyes.
With a grin, Gold led the way to the pond in front of Sprout Tower, and upon coming in sight of the water Poliwag rushed ahead with an excited cry, opting to swim alongside the path until Gold sat down on the small island between the bridges. At that point he promptly set about splashing near the edge, and Gold's grin merely widened as he splashed back.
Skarmory gave himself a thorough once-over, but not long after Gold sent him off to go fly to his heart's content. He'd make sure everyone got some quality time outside later today, but right now he wanted to focus on Poliwag. Besides, Skarmory could take care of himself for an afternoon. Maybe he'd run into Falkner doing some training. He seemed to like the gym leader… well, as much as he ever liked anybody.
Poliwag blew some bubbles his way and made sure he was paying proper attention.
Seeing the little guy's excitement, Gold let out a small sigh of mixed relief and contentment. He'd thought about just heading to Cherrygrove and letting Poliwag play on the shore, but figured it would be more fun to bring him back to where Gold had found him. It seemed like he was right.
The splash fight continued for awhile until Poliwag decided to go explore some of the deeper areas of the pond. Gold watched him go, but soon let his attention wander, greeting the few passerby who passed by on their way to Sprout Tower and back.
It wasn't too long before he saw her. An anxious-looking girl slowly walked past the other end of the bridge, holding a squirming pidgey close to her chest. A couple years younger than him, he suspected, having just received her first pokémon from the gym. She was certainly dressed for travel, but otherwise she definitely didn't look ready.
Well, someone had to approve her trainer's license. She probably just walked out into the beginnings of her journey only to realize she had little idea how her school knowledge translated.
She was smarter than he'd been, in that respect. He'd rushed headlong into Professor Elm's errand and figured out what he didn't know the hard way.
It was a no-brainer to go and talk to her. "Hi there! New trainer?"
The girl jumped, startled, but quickly settled into simple curiosity at a stranger greeting her. "Y-Yeah. I wasn't sure where to go first, so I figured walking to Cherrygrove and back would be good practice."
"That's smart," Gold said, nodding. "Have you ever battled before?"
The girl's eyes widened. "Um, no, I haven't. Are you-"
Gold waved off the assumption. It wouldn't be fair to her and was pointless for him. "Nah, the gym can help you there if you want. What about catching pokémon?"
The girl shook her head. "No. Mr. Earl brought me to the gym and helped me get Pidgey." The little pokémon chirped at the sound of its name. "I mean, I kind of know how but I've never seen anyone do it."
Gold smiled. "Well, would you like a little demonstration?"
The girl's eyes lit up, so even before she answered verbally Gold turned away to call out to his pokémon. Within moments he caught sight of the little guy watching him, probably curious from hearing his voice. "Hey Poliwag! C'mere!"
The pokémon chirped and quickly joined him, and he turned back to the girl. "Follow me."
As he led the way to Route 31 an old memory sprung to mind, of a random traveler demonstrating the use of a pokéball to him and Cris. And sure, it was pretty intuitive to them both, but a nice gesture all the same. Maybe the girl would feel more confident with a direct experience.
Gold smiled to himself. He never did get the dude's name, but at least he could pay it forward now. Things were coming full circle, it seemed.
They were passing the pokémon center before it occurred to Gold to look through his pack and see if he even had the tools to get the job done. It'd been a long time since he'd actually captured a pokémon himself, but sure enough, a little digging as they walked pulled up three normal pokéballs, buried in there long enough that he'd completely forgotten when he'd gotten them. He moved them to his hoodie pocket for easy access later and flashed a grin at the curious look the girl was sending him again.
He didn't bother explaining and instead began scanning their surroundings as they emerged from the guardhouse on to the route proper. "Wild pokémon usually keep off the main paths," he explained, "but they'll challenge you if you go looking for them." He pointed. "See how the grass and everything gets denser and stuff back there in the trees?"
The girl nodded. "That's where all the food and shelter is, so there's no reason for the wild pokémon to come out on the maintained parts, or stay there very long if they're crossing from one patch to another."
"Exactly!"
Poliwag chirped an agreement with his trainer as the group walked into the taller grass, and it wasn't long before they found what they were looking for. Or rather, it found them.
Poliwag squeaked and bounced to the side as sticky string hit the ground where he'd been standing. The girl jumped too, but Gold held his ground without care, instead tracing the attack's path. He tapped the girl on the shoulder and motioned with his head to the caterpie hanging onto the side of a tree, crawling down even as he pointed it out.
"This one's a competitor," Gold said with a laugh as he motioned Poliwag forward. "Okay, now just sit back and watch;" he told the girl, "you and Pidgey both. Poliwag, use bubble!"
The caterpie reared up for what Gold assumed was another string shot, only to wince at the bubbles smacked it in the face. It never ceased to fascinate Gold how much force could be put behind those things. The thought aside, he was struggling not to laugh at least a little. How long had it been since he had a battle this tame?
He told Poliwag to have at and let the two smack each other around a bit while he turned to the girl, keeping one eye on the battle just in case. "So you learned about sleep and stun effects too, right?"
She nodded. "Those help with captures too, right?"
"Yep. Now watch this." He turned his full attention back to the battle. "Poliwag, hypnosis!"
Poliwag got right in the caterpie's face, and almost immediately the little bug-type started swaying, struggling to stay in a battle-ready position. Gold drew out one of the pokéballs from his pocket and expanded it. "You're going to want to practice your aim, but you don't have to throw hard." He demonstrated with a gentle toss, landing a glancing hit on the caterpie's side.
"Wait for the click." Gold said as they watched the ball shake. Once… twice… thrice… and there it was. He walked over and picked it up. "Just like that," he finished with a grin. Poliwag chirped happily.
He held out the ball to show the girl. "Of course, the more you wear it out the easier it is to catch, but you knew that, right?"
The girl nodded, and even Pidgey seemed interested now, wriggling out of its trainer's now-loose hold and perching on her shoulder.
"Here." Gold pulled the remaining two pokéballs from his pocket and handed them to her. He had no use for them, and even if he needed some later it wasn't anything a quick trip to the mart wouldn't fix.
The girl took them and smiled. "Thank you." She looked around and immediately spotted another caterpie. Gold followed her with sight as she rushed towards it, only for the wild pokémon to immediately scurry back into hiding, well out of reach of the pidgey that had just taken to the air. "Aww…"
"Hey, leave that one," Gold said gently, tapping her shoulder to make sure he had her attention. When she looked at him questioningly he just shrugged. "If they don't wanna fight, they don't wanna fight. Let me tell you a little something I've learned while travelling." He gestured with Caterpie's ball for emphasis. "There are plenty of wild pokémon out there that would challenge you like this one did me. It's not fair to you or the pokémon if you're hunting one down that doesn't want to fight. You know the other reason we battle pokémon before catching them?" When the girl shook her head he answered his own question. "You have to earn the pokémon's respect too. Battle's as good a way of doing it as any, if the pokémon rises to the challenge."
As he finished, he released the caterpie – not just out of the ball, but entirely. Sure enough, the little bug-type was still raring to go. "Can't give you what you want," Gold admitted with a lopsided smile. No, he didn't have the patience to raise this one and continue his team's current training. Beside him, Poliwag chirped something that for all he knew was a translation to help Caterpie understand.
However… his gaze slid over to the girl. Well, between her, Caterpie, and Pidgey, they'd figure something out. He glanced up, seeing a familiar silhouette, and raised his hand. A signal.
"Well, that's that. I figure that'll get you as far as Cherrygrove." He scooped up Poliwag. "And hey, since you'll be in the area," relatively speaking, "you should stop by New Bark Town. Professor Elm can have some good advice if you can get him away from his computer." On cue, Skarmory swooped down and Gold deftly leapt onto his back, the pokémon barely even touching the ground as they took off again.
He only glanced back once to see the girl staring after him, and then chuckled to himself and rubbed Poliwag's head. He'd probably never top that exit. Did a good job keeping that air of cool mystery, if he did say so himself.
But who knew; maybe one day he'd see a girl with a pidgeot facing him on Indigo Plateau.
Author's Notes:
When I was brainstorming ideas for this collection, I knew I wanted to do a "coming full circle" thing with someone who'd been taught by a random stranger to catch pokémon, choosing to be that random stranger for a new trainer. That pretty much ruled out the Hoenn and Sinnoh kids by default (not a random stranger), and instead I borrowed the dude from the original Gold/Silver/Crystal versions, and Gold just... fit. The fact that he's the Johto champion is just a nice nod to their form of involvement in the original games. :D
Someone mentioned Gold being an optimist to me once and it just clicked in my head, like 'yep, that's exactly right.' I also feel like this is exactly the kind of philosophy he and most of the other MCs would have regarding pokémon from an in-universe perspective. And considering the giant collection of quotes I can make regarding how highly people value working with pokémon and not around or even against them, I'd like to think such a philosophy has a cultural basis. It does in this 'verse. :)