The eyes of Louis' parents widened in surprise.
"Come to the academy?" began Miguel.
"...to watch you at the tournament?" Janet finished.
Louis nodded.
The house fell silent before erupting into excitement.
"Of course we will!"
Louis smiled, happy at the quick response.
"Great," he said. "The tournament starts in one week, so you'll have plenty of time to get ready."
Miguel crunched some toast.
"I'm looking forward to it! Especially the trip over the seas, ...it's been a long time," he chuckled.
The man was already calculating how many spare pages he had left in his journal.
"...I could also use a break from my cataloguing," Miguel added.
Janet chuckled, while Louis cleared his throat.
"You'll ask Taki and Crocanaw if they want to come too, right?" he asked.
"Yes, we will," reassured Janet.
The boy sighed in relief.
Then, there was a knocking sound coming from the door in Louis' room.
"Oh, that must be my other friends," said Louis. "I should probably get going."
"Alright, we'll see you in a week, ok?" inquired Miguel.
"Ok," replied Louis. "Bye."
The boy hung up the receiver and the videophone switched off.
Louis stood up, walked over to the door and opened it.
The face that met his friends this morning was a stark contrast to the last he wore when they'd met. Louis was finally smiling.
"Oh! ...hey Louis," greeted Suzuki.
"Hehe. Hey guys," replied Louis.
"We're about to head over to Coach for some more training," said Roy. "You wanna come?"
"Sure," responded Louis. "I can learn about Marowak's new moves doing that."
The three other trainers looked at each other, bewildered.
"Marowak?" blurted Violet.
The trio looked past the boy's shoulders to see the newly evolved Marowak standing behind him.
"Ma-ro," it said.
"Cool!" cheered Roy. "When did your Cubone evolved?"
"During the night," answered Louis.
Suzuki, still concerned for the boy, moved closer to his ear.
"Um...Louis, are you feeling any better from yesterday?" he asked.
"Yeah. It was just a tough day for me," reassured Louis.
"So, you're feeling much better today?" the veteran asked, smiling.
"You bet," answered Louis. "I feel so much better, I could take on Team Rocket again! ...I wonder how those jerks are right now...?"
Somewhere, in a tree many miles away, sat two Team Rocket members, upside down in a new net that they had placed. They could now confirm the net indeed 'worked.' They just needed a way to get down...
"You shouldn't have made the net too difficult to notice, Biff," grunted Cassidy.
Butch groaned.
"As soon as we get down, I am changing my name," he muttered.
Back at the academy, Violet looked at her watch.
"We should get going," she said. "We'll be late if we're not fast enough."
The coach stared at the Braviary circling high above the academy.
"Now! Attack" he yelled skyward at the bird-type.
The bird Pokémon's wings began to glow light blue and started to flap faster, firing crescent-shaped blades from them towards a target embedded to the ground. The energy from the attack created an explosion of dirt. As the view cleared, what remained of the wooden target lay shredded, leaving hunks of splintered wood on the ground.
"Looking good, Braviary!" cheered Coach.
"Nice one!" yelled the Pokémon's trainer.
"That...was...AWESOME!" yelped Roy.
Coach turned to meet the newcomers.
The trainer prepared his Pokémon for more flight tests. Coach walked over to the four students watching on.
"Here for some more training?" the man asked.
"You know it," grinned Suzuki.
Out the corner of his eye, Coach spotted a different shape beside Louis. He turned his head to see Marowak. The man grinned.
"And I thought seeing Suzuki's Blastoise evolve was a surprise," he chuckled.
Louis chuckled.
"I had a feeling you'd notice right away," he said.
"Alright," the coach began, pointing to the sky.
"LET'S BEGIN YOUR TRAINING!" he cheered.
Louis stared wide-eyed at the man.
"Uh..." he paused.
"He always does this," said Suzuki. "We're used to it."
Their training for the tournament went by rapidly for Louis. Because, before he knew it, a week had passed. In that space of time, he had learned all of the current moves Marowak now possessed and grew more confident in his duties as a trainer.
"Phew, talk about a workout," said Louis.
As Louis and his Pokémon began their break, Coach walked over to Suzuki, Roy and Violet.
"Y'know, I don't think I've ever seen a newcomer have a connection with their Pokémon this strong before," he said. "I wonder what his secret is?"
The trio of trainers looked to one another, unsure of how to respond.
"You really wanna know?" inquired Roy. "Ask him."
"What? You guys know it?" prodded Coach.
"We do, but we promised we wouldn't tell anyone else," answered Suzuki. "It's best if you ask Louis."
After a brief moment, Coach nodded and walked over to the boy in question, and his Pokémon.
"Hey, Louis?" called Coach.
Louis looked over to the man.
"Yeah?" he said.
"I've been paying close attention to you and your Pokémon..." Coach began.
"...and I've never seen a trainer have bonds that are this strong with their Pokémon in a short period of time. What's your secret?"
The boy nervously shifted his stance, before seeing his friends in the distance, watching and smiling.
"Did they tell you to come over and ask me?" questioned Louis.
"Yeah, they did," the coach responded.
Then, Louis took a deep breath to calm his nerves and said;
"I can speak to Pokémon."
"Oh ok," said Coach, before slowly shifting his face into a look of confusion.
"...wait, what?"
Well, it looks like there is one more person who knows Louis' secret.
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