Lows fought with the Grunt Squad Leader, Peggy and with Ziggs' evolution, they won the battle and Steven rescued him from danger. After suffering a hard time with going down the slope, Lows reached Lavaridge Town, and what awaits him is going to be another trainer. However, this trainer is different from all the trainers. Who is this trainer going to be and how is his attitude towards Lows?
Chapter 19 - The Nicest Trainer in Lavaridge
Right when I stepped into Lavaridge Town, the first thing that welcomed me is the warm air from the hot springs. Ah, this feels nice and warm! Maybe I should go to the hot springs when I'm here...
Overall, not many citizens lived here in this town, even the amount of tourists might be more than the citizens here. Anyways, I quickly walked into the PokéCentre to heal my Pokémon.
When I stepped into the PokéCentre, there's another part that is different from the other PokéCentres. I saw a door at the far left corner of the PokéCentre, with a hot spring symbol. I assumed that's the entrance to the hot springs, as there are many people rushing to go through the door, while some workers are helping them to be patient and line up properly.
After I healed my Pokémon, I walked towards there to see if I have a chance to get into the hot springs. It turns out that there's too many people there, waiting for their turn. I'm not really a guy who waits too long for something, so I decided to leave, until a boy similar to my age called me.
"Hey, do you want to go into the hot springs? It's free, but you might have to wait for a little bit longer. There are many people here, after all." He said politely while having his smile on his face.
"Well... No thanks, there are just too many people here, and I don't want to wait for too long." Seeing his kind smile makes me feel comfortable, so I smiled back while giving my response.
"Oh, you're not really a guy who likes to wait? Well, don't worry." He suddenly whispered into my ear, "The time where people are lesser are most likely at night. If you don't want to wait for too long, night time is the best choice for you."
Hearing his suggestion, I agreed that I should go to night time. What a nice worker to give me suggestions...
He is such a nice guy! I think I should thank him for that.
"Thanks a lot! Do you give these kinds of suggestions to everyone?"
"Yeah, I told most of the tourists that if they're impatient. But most of them don't really like to spend their night in the hot springs, so they just continued waiting. So, what's your decision?"
"I think I'm going to the hot springs tomorrow night. I'll be here for a while before I continue my journey."
"Your journey? Are you a Pokémon trainer too?!" His eyes sparkled when he realized I'm a Pokémon trainer.
"Yeah, I am, but I'm not that strong compared to others. I still have a lot to learn."
"I'm sure you can get stronger in the future! I raise Pokémon too, but I'm not really good at it..." He hesitantly said, his face turning red.
"It's okay if you're not really strong. You love Pokémon, don't you?" I can tell he loves Pokémon a lot by his expression.
"Y-yeah! I'm glad that Pokémon exists in this world! Ermmm... If you're free, can you come to my house later? I would like to learn more from you." He suddenly offered me to teach him about Pokémon in his house. I got shocked, but I'm also happy that someone would actually want to learn from someone... like me. I guess it's not a bad thing...
"Sure! But wait, aren't you working right now?" I asked in confusion.
"Oh, actually..." He checked his watch before continuing, "My work day is almost done here. I will be off work in a few minutes. Mind if you wait for me here? I'll be back later."
I nodded, and after a few minutes, he came back to me with a new outfit. He is now wearing a red shirt with shorts, looking like an ordinary youngster. Hr then lead me to his house, which is not too big, but enough for a family.
Walking into the house, I saw a middle-aged lady in the house, doing the housework. The boy smiled and greeted, "Hey Mom! I'm bringing my new friend here for a little bit!"
"Alright, boy!" His mother smiled as allowing him to bring new friends to his house, and when our eyes met, I smiled politely at his mother.
He then later bring me to his room and we sat down on two small stools. He then said, "Oh wait! I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Sip, and I'm 12 this year. I do have a trainer license, but I'm not traveling yet, so I can work for the hot springs here." He then suddenly said in determination, "But, I don't plan on staying here forever."
"Huh?"
"I want to start my own journey too. But unfortunately, I need to work for my family's living too. We don't earn much money working here, so all of us work to earn enough money."
"Oh..." I felt bad for his condition, but I also gave him advice. "But if you really want to go on a journey, you should try to tell your parents. They can be more reasonable than you thought."
"I-I don't know..." He said nervously, "My parents are very worried me on going on a journey. I'm just kind of a country boy who just don't have much experience in battling. I don't go out this town that often..."
"It's okay. Why don't you ask me tips about battling instead?" I quickly changed the topic, and he enthusiastically asked me questions about battling. I guess he really likes Pokémon...
"...So, there are going to be lots of strategies in Pokémon battles, and they can give you a big advantage if you koe them well." After answering his question about strategies in battles, he suddenly stood up, and he nervously said, "Ermm... Your explaination is really nice, I thank you for that. But..."
"Is anything wrong? I tried my best in explaining..."
"N-no! Everything is fine with your explaination. But... I would like a battle with you. I want to learn more by experiencing it myself. I don't battle that often, so this will be a good experience for me."
After thinking for a while, I feel like he needs to learn more about Pokémon battles too. So, I accepted his challenge and said, "Sure! Why don't we go out the field to battle? We can't really battle in your house..."
He nodded, and we walked out of the house and found a suitable place to battle. Some curious people came around us to watch the battle. Pokémon battles don't happen often in this town, after all.
"A-alright!" He said while throwing his Pokéball nervously, "G-go, Magma!"
A limbless Pokémon composed of magma appeared in the battlefield. Its body is bright red, and its lower body is irregular in shape, and occasionally emits bubbles. [Slugma, the Lava Pokémon. A common sight in volcanic areas, it slowly slithers around in a constant search for warm places.]
So this is a Slugma... I heard that Slugma is commonly found in the slopes of Mt. Chimney. I guess he must had caught some there.
Knowing who I should send out, I took out its Pokéball and threw it. "Let's battle, Power!"
Power, who is carrying the heavy item, got Sip's attention as he asked curiously, "What is that heavy item for? I've never seen any Pokémon holding something like this."
"Oh, you'll see later." I smiled while saying, "You can have the first move first."
"A-alright! Magma, use Ember!" He gave out his first command to his Pokémon, and the Lava Pokémon obeyed his command and shot small flames towards Power.
I quickly reacted to it and commanded, "Power, dodge and use Karate Chop!"
Power quickly dodged the flames and sprinted towards Magma before giving it a hard chop. Magma got pushed back by the impact, but still able to battle.
Sip was shocked by Power's speed, despite carrying the heavy item. "Your Pokémon... it's something I've never seen here before... It's incredibly fast despite carrying that item!"
"Thanks, Power had done some speed training, that's why."
"Alright... But I'm not giving up that easily! Magma, Ancient Power!" The Lava Pokémon quickly formed floating boulders, and threw them at Power.
"Power, break those boulders with Karate Chop after using Focus Energy!" Power quickly focused and punched the boulders. The boulders were broken easily by Power, but he also took some damage from breaking the rocks.
"Magma, Ember again!" Magma shot more flames and this time, Power who was starting to become tired, got hit by some of the flames despite that he tried dodging them.
"Power, Low Kick!" Power kicked the Lava Pokémon in succession, but when he came back, small flames started coming out of him as he turned red.
"Oh, no! Magma's ability must be Flame Body, which burns the opponent in contact! Nice strategy, Sip." I praised him, and his face turned red in embarrassment.
"Well, it wasn't really on my intention... But thanks..." He then saw both Pokémon panted hard, then gave his last command to Magma. "Magma, use Ancient Power, full power!"
"Alright then, it's time!" Power knew what I was going to do and readied himself. "Power, use Fling now!"
As Magma charged its attack, Power threw the heavy item as hard as possible. Magma was caught off guard and it threw the boulders in panic. They were both hit by the attacks, but Power didn't take that much damage because of his type resistance and the impact wasn't that strong either. Magma on the other hand, it got hit by the heavy object and collapsed after his last bit of damage was taken away by the attack.
"O-oh, I lost the first battle... Thanks, Magma, you did well." He said as he returned Magma. I also praised Power, "Nice work, Power! Now, take a short break." He smiled in happiness, happy that he won as he got returned back to his Pokéball.
"Alright... This is my last Pokémon. Let's go, Bounce!" He threw his last Pokéball out, and a gray, pig-like Pokémon appeared. It has dark, circular eyes, a large gray nose, a pearl on its head. But the most attention-catching body part is its spring-like tail, as it was bouncing around using it.
It sure does live up to its nickname... It's really cute though! Thinking that, I scanned it and the Pokédex said, [Spoink, the Bounce Pokémon. It apparently dies if it stops bouncing about. It carries a pearl from Clamperl on its head.] I got shocked by the entry. That's why it has to keep bouncing...
"What a cute Pokémon!" I exclaimed, happy to see a cute Pokémon here. Bounce, who was happy to hear my compliment, jumped around happily while saying, "Thank you! Thank you!"
Anyways, I thought of which Pokémon I should use after that. I think it's time for it to shine. It didn't battle much since that, after all.
"Go, Grace!" I said while throwing Grace's Pokéball. She gracefully landed on the battlefield, and excited to battle after a long rest from her sickness.
"A Kirlia... I heard that it has a new evolution for male Kirlias now... Are you planning to get one?"
"Not really, she's a female Kirlia." Saying that, I suddenly got curious how Wally got his Gallade. I've never seen that Pokémon that common anywhere. I did see a lot of Gardevoir on TV before though... Might as well ask Wally about that if I have time.
"Anyways, let's start." Sip nodded as an agreement, and commanded, "Bounce, use Psywave!" Upon hearing his trainer's command, Bounce shot a huge wave of psychic power towards Grace.
"Grace, Teleport and use Magical Leaf!" Grace teleported away from the psychic wave, formed the colourful leaves and shot them towards the Bounce Pokémon.
"Bounce, bounce your way through and use Psybeam!" Bounce immediately bounced through the leaves and shot the psychic rings towards Grace. Grace got caught off guard of how fast he is and got hit by the rings, but her type resistance reduced the damage.
"Grace, you want to try that move?" I asked Grace if she want to use the move, despite that she haven't master it yet.
"It will be a great experience to practice. Let's do it." She nodded in determination, and I smiled and commanded, "Grace, Shadow Ball!"
Grace focused her energy and formed a dark blob. She managed to control her power and threw the dark blob towards Bounce. Bounce got hit by the attack and took a huge amount of damage due to its type weakness against Ghost type moves.
"Great job, Grace! You finally mastered Shadow Ball!" I gave her a thumbs up while she smiled in relief too.
"Looks like Bounce won't be able to hold on much anymore... Bounce, use Psywave again, full power!"
"Grace, Shadow Ball once again!"
They both charged up and released their attacks. Despite them both got hit by the attacks, the situations are totally different. Grace barely took any damage from the non-effective attack, while Bounce winced in pain as he suffered the super effective attack and collapsed shortly after. The audience clapped upkn seeing the results.
"Oh, I lost... Well, that is what I expected from an experienced trainer. Haha..." He then laughed foolishly at himself.
"Well, thanks, but I'm not really an experienced trainer. As for you, to be honest, if you practice more, you can be a good trainer." His head raised up at me as he heard my compliment, "You are the nicest trainer I've ever seen in Hoenn. You're kind to your opponents, even when you're battling, and most importantly, you love your Pokémon more than anyone else, even me. I have a lot to learn from you too."
He smiled upon hearing my compliment. "T-thanks, Lows. Thanks for this battle. I will always improve better by training in the slopes of Mt. Chimney."
"Oh, is that so, Sip?" A familiar voice appeared behind Sip, and he turned around and realized that it was his mother. He became embarassed and said, "H-hey Mom, I'm just..."
"No need to explain anything, son." A deep male voice appeared beside Sip's mother, who I assumed that he is Sip's father. "We saw everything, and we really think... you should do something more than just working in the hot springs."
"Wait... Really, Mom and Dad? Won't you two not have enough money if I leave? I can still help..." He was shocked and worried at the same time.
"It's all good, son. When you talked with your Pokémon, I had a feeling that you love Pokémon a lot, and willing to achieve amazing things with them. We can still survive with our salaries, but for you, if we don't let you start a journey, my son's potential won't be shown at all! Go for it, Sip!"
Sip's eyes turned red as he said, "T-thanks, Mom and Dad." After that, they had a big hug together, while the audience clapped at the touching scene. After the hug, Sip's father looked at me and said, "Thanks a lot, trainer. You became a good friend of Sip to let me see his potential in Pokémon battles. You are indeed strong too. I admired you for that. I'll be cheering for you too."
I was surprised by an adult's compliment, but I smiled and said, "Thank you, Sip's father." Then, I turned to Sip and asked, "When do you want to start your journey, Sip?"
"I guess I will start off my journey after your battle against Flannery. I want to watch it so I can learn more from watching battles too."
"I guess that's settled," I smiled at his decision and said, "I'll stay here for a while. The places here are nice and I would like to relax a bit. Mind if you bring me to the hot springs later tonight? Hahaha!"
"Well... That doesn't seem like something that I can't do. Alright! I'll bring you to the hot springs tonight!"
"Thanks, Sip!"
"No problem!" We then laughed at each other, and there we go, a new friendship has begun again. Sip is a very nice friend with good traits, and I hope that our friendship lasts for a long time...
Lows' Pokémon Team:
Surfer (Wartortle, Male) Jolly Nature
Ability: Torrent
Moves: Bite, Water Gun, Water Pulse, Mud Slap
Ziggs (Linoone, Male) Naive Nature
Ability: Quick Feet
Moves: Dig, Headbutt, Swift, Facade
Grace (Kirlia, Female) Calm Nature
Ability: Synchronize
Moves: Teleport, Magical Leaf, Shadow Ball, Psybeam
Woody (Grovyle, Male) Lonely Nature
Ability: Overgrow
Moves: Pursuit, Leaf Blade, Bullet Seed, Rock Throw
Power (Machop, Male) Timid Nature
Ability: Guts
Moves: Fling, Focus Energy, Karate Chop, Low Kick
Questions of the Chapter:
How do you think of Sip?
Do you have/meet people with big ambitions, but have to give up due to your conditions?
Do you have supportive parents, or overprotective ones?