"I hope I can save it from staining," I told Atsuko while I was washing the blood off my dusty lavender dress shirt and purple suit jacket, "I didn't even realize I popped one of my stiches in my arm."
"I told you, you should have changed that choreographic bit to something more suited to your injury," Atsuko said while she was petting her Sandshrew on the head while she slept on her lap.
"Yah, yah," I said as I looked over my clothes one last time. The blood stain was still visible but barely and it's hardly noticeable from a distance. I decided that it was going to get as good as it was going to get, and I hung them on the side of the bathtub, drained the bathtub, and picked up the washboard to give back to one of the Nurse Joys.
Atsuko held the still sleeping Dapper in her arms as she followed me out of the washroom. I locked the door behind us, and I found a Nurse Joy to give the washboard back.
"Are you going to go train again," I asked her.
"No," She said, "Later today, we're going to take on Lt. Surge again. I'm going to get the Thunder Badge this time. I just know it."
We walked out of the Pokémon Center and saw our Pokémon playing tag with each other except for Fangs and Elegant who were sitting in the shade of the Pokémon Center chatting with each other.
"Those two seem to be getting along nicely," Atsuko stated.
"A Gastly and a Magikarp," I said, "Honestly, I feel like if it wasn't for us, Pokémon wouldn't be able to make friends with each other outside of their own species and type."
"It is fun to think about it," Atsuko said, "So, what are you going to do today?"
"Oh, I'm just going to start thinking up a new dance routine with Odd and get to work on practicing that, then I'm going to watch the S. S. Anne sail away after saying goodbye to Calem," I said.
"I'm going to go play tag with our Pokémon," she said as she handed Dapper to me who was still sleeping, "See ya later."
I called Odd over to me and I took us to a little café I found after I won my Super Beauty Ribbon yesterday. We sat in an outside table with one of those beach umbrellas and I ordered Odd a Chestoberry smoothie, her favorite, with fish sticks and macaroni and cheese. I got myself some water and Kanto style maki rolls and I got Dapper a glass of chocolate milk for when she wakes up. While we ate, I showed Odd my plans to her, and we discussed what kind of TM's I should buy to teach her some new moves. Eventually Dapper woke up and I got her a grilled cheese sandwich. As we ate and talked and enjoying the ocean view, Calem's Greninja, Garan, found us and came up to us.
"Oh, hey Garan," I said as she came over, "Are you lost or are you just exploring on your own?"
Garan gestured for us to follow her.
"Oh, sure. Let me just pay the bill," I said, getting a waiter's attention.
Odd, Dapper, and I followed Garan back to the Pokémon Center where Calem was waiting for us with his other two Pokémon. Ignace had his back to us, but Gaston was waving enthusiastically at us with Calem.
"Hey, Calem," I said, "Are you wanting to hang out before you leave."
"Actually, can I talk to you," He said sounding serious.
Curious, I said, "Sure? What's up?"
"Oh mec, here goes. I guess I should tell you what's up with Gaston," Calem said, "I got his permission to tell you."
I nodded my head at him to continue.
"Ever since he evolved into Rillaboom, the human women that he's been interested in weren't just random women. They all reminded him of his original caretaker. Miss William was her name, if I remember correctly, and she raises starter Pokémon in the Galar Region," Calem said.
"Oh, so you're homesick and you miss your mother," I said to Gaston.
Gaston looked away from me looking embarrassed.
"Are you embarrassed because of the whole "true love" thing?" I asked, teasing him a bit.
Gaston then turned around completely and sat on the ground.
I couldn't help but chuckle at the sight then I said to Calem, "Now that I know this, I feel kind of bad for spraying Repel in his face."
Calem shook his head and said, "Don't be. It was a good learning experience for him to not invade people space like he can do sometimes, let alone with random women in general."
"Okay but is there a point that you're wanting to bring up with telling me this," I asked.
"Yes. May we join you on your journey across the Kanto Region?" Calem asked.
"Fuck yes! It'll be great to have someone closer to my age around… but wait. Have you talked to Atsuko about this too?" I asked.
He nodded and said, "She's fine with it, but it was under the condition that I help her with her training and that I have to be her rival."
I shook my head and said, "That girl has a way with words. You know she demanded to be friends with me."
He laughed then said, "Really!? Wow."
We stood there in silence smiling about Atsuko's pushy befriending ways.
"Well, thank you for having us. I promise Ignace won't attack you again like he did," Calem said.
"Don't worry. I believed you when you said he is a good boy. It's not his fault that he's a fire type Pokémon and fire types just don't like me," I said.
Ignace looked at me over his shoulder as Calem asked, "Why is that? Do you have any theories?"
"Atsuko theorizes that since I come from another Universe I probably died in a fire in that other world and my reincarnation into this world manifested that through the fire types," I explained.
Calem looked at me like I used Confusion Ray on him.
Continuing, I said, "But I don't remember dying in my old Universe and I explicitly remember feeling like I was being sucked into this Universe through my old LeafGreen Gameboy."
Calem looked so confused that it seemed like he was blinking one eye at a time.
"You starting to regret asking to join our little team?" I asked him.
Calem shook his head to both show that he wasn't but also to shake off his confusion.
"I'm just, it's just. What you're saying sounds super crazy. You know that. Right?" He said.
"I'm aware," I said.
Atsuko, tired from playing tag, came up to me and draped herself on my good arm.
"Water. Please," Atsuko gasped.
I rummaged into my satchel and handed her a bottle of Fresh Water and she guzzled it down.
"It's so hard to outrun Hearty," Atsuko said as she stood back up, "So. Are you okay with Calem coming with us?"
"Yep," I confirmed.
"Yessss! New Rival! New Rival! New Rival!" Atsuko cheered.
"I'm going to go grab the rest of my stuff from my room on the cruise ship," Calem said.
Atsuko waved enthusiastically as he walked off as she called after him saying, "See you at the City Gym later today!"
The Vermillion Gym wasn't as full as when Atsuko first attempted to get her Thunder Badge, but it was still full enough that Calem, our Pokémon, and I had to sit in the back row again.
The referee flipped her coin, Atsuko called heads and she got to have the first attack. Lt. Surge brought out his Pikachu and Atsuko brought out her Gloom.
"Beauty, use Stun Spore," Atsuko yelled.
Her Gloom sprayed an orange-y yellow powder over Lt. Surge's Pikachu and his Pokémon contracted paralysis.
"Pikachu, use Quick Attack," Lt. Surge commanded.
Pikachu ran full speed at Beauty, then body slammed into him. Beauty did not fall backwards, and he took damage but not too much.
Calem, our Pokémon, and I all cheered at the sight.
"Use, Acid," Atsuko shouted.
Pikachu was right there in front of him so the purple goop that emitted from Beauty's mouth hit Pikachu directly on the head. Pikachu took a lot of damage.
"Use Shock Wave," Lt. Surge commanded.
Pikachu tried but they couldn't as they were paralyzed.
"Use Absorb," Atsuko shouted.
Beauty managed to get a critical hit on Pikachu and Pikachu fainted. Our Pokémon, Calem and I cheered loudly. Lt. Surge balled up his Pokémon then he let out Voltorb.
The referee flipped their coin. Atsuko shouted tails and I got really nervous that she was going to lose her chance to attack first again, but the referee revealed that the coin was showing tails. Atsuko got to attack first again, and she switched out her Beauty for Charming, since we discussed previously that Charming was at a high enough level to be able to withstand Self-destruct if Lt. Surge pulled that move out again.
"Use Dragon Breath," Atsuko ordered.
Charming spued white-blue-purple flames from his jaws and ingulfed Voltorb. I thought for sure that would one-hit K.O. the little pokeball mimic but it didn't look that way as the fire cleared.
"Sonic Boom," Lt. Surge commanded.
The sound of an explosion filled the gym as a super condensed area of air raced across the battlefield and hit Charming like a train. It sent the Charmeleon flying backwards a couple of feet, but he quickly got up right after.
"Yah!" Atsuko cheered, "Now use Fire Fang."
His jaws flaming red and yellow, raced across the battlefield to bite into Voltorb. Then he jumped in the air to try and land on top of Voltorb to do the biting.
"Left," Lt. Surge commanded.
Voltorb dodged to the left and Charming missed his chance at biting Voltorb.
"Sonic Boom," Lt. Surge then commanded.
The same exploding sound emitted from Voltorb, but since Charming was much closer this time, the force of the Sonic Boom hit him sooner and harder, and sent him flying across the battlefield, hitting a wall hard.
"I can't watch," I said as I covered my face with Ditto's body.
Then Calem placed a hand on Ditto's head to lower them from my face and said, "No. Look."
Charming stood up, looking like the Sonic Boom did nothing to him. We couldn't help but cheer.
"Use Dragon Breath," Atsuko yelled.
The white-blue-purple flames came out of Charming's jaws like a firehose and once again ingulfed Voltorb. Once the fire had dissipated it was shown that Voltorb had fainted and the referee blew their whistle to signal the end of that battle.
Now all that was left was Lt. Surge's most powerful pokemon, Raichu. The referee flipped their coin and Atsuko called out heads. The referee said it was tails and said that Lt. Surge would get to make the first move. Calem, our pokemon, and I all groaned at our bad luck.
"Use Spark," Lt. Surge commanded.
Yellow-white lightning, thundered out of Raichu and struck Charming hard, and left him paralyzed, but through sheer force of will, Charming shook off the paralysis. Many people in the crowd whispered in awe at the sight, to see a trainer with a pokemon so trusting and willing to fight for their trainer so early in their training career.
"I love you Charming," Atsuko cheered, "Now use Smoke Screen!"
A black smokey fog filled the arena, making it hard for everyone in the arena to see.
"Use Quick Attack," Lt. Surge commanded.
Scattering the smoke as they ran, Raichu sped at Charming at top speed and slammed into him, knocking him down and finally knocking him out.
"Alright, Dapper. It's your time to shine," Atsuko said as she released her Sandshrew into the battlefield and we all cheered.
"Now use Dig," Atsuko cheered.
Dapper dug down deep into the dirt as she avoided any attacks the Raichu could do, then right beneath Raichu's feet, she popped out of the dirt and uppercutted them under the chin. Dealing Raichu a lot of damage and sending them flying back.
"Use Quick Attack," Lt. Surge commanded.
Because of the Smoke Screen, Raichu missed and Atsuko retaliated by using Cut. Their sharp digging claws cut into Raichu, but then Lt. Surge used Quick Attack again and that hit Dapper pretty hard, but she wasn't out of the battle yet.
"I know you can do this, Dapper," Atsuko cheered, "Now use Dig, again!"
Dapper was below the dirt again and Raichu and Lt. Surge were helpless to stop her from attacking Raichu with another uppercut to the chin. This knocked out Raichu and Atsuko won the match, earning her Thunder Badge.
Calem, our pokemon, and I all raced down the bleachers and surrounded Atsuko in a group hug while the stadium full of people mostly cheered for Atsuko and some people booed for Atsuko.
Lt. Surge walked up to Atsuko after we finished hugging her in celebration, then he handed her the Thunder Badge.
"Good job kid. I haven't seen a pokemon like your Charmeleon do that for their trainer so early in a pokemon trainer's career in a long time," Lt. Surge said, "You've more than earned this."
"Thank you, sir," Atsuko told him.
"And thank you for the good rematch," He told her before marching off.
"Let's celebrate," Calem said, "I'll buy the drinks and food tonight."
We all cheered, but first we went to the PokeCenter to heal up Atsuko's pokemon, then we went out to eat.