This story was co-developed by Titan127 and beta read by ShonnaRose and JhinoftheOpera.
[8-3] Petal With Training Wheels
The sun burned the shape of the window into his blanket, and despite the chill condensing on the glass, he felt nothing but warmth.
Ciel sat up more rested than he ever had in his life. It was a picturesque scene. The guest room, a cleaner white than the coal-plagued snow across Sinnoh, reminded himself of his mother shaking him awake—sometimes very forcefully—for school. Colorful bands, reflected from flowers outside, painted the empty canvas of the room, but from his perspective he couldn't actually see much but an empty pale sky. He was a piece of a vignette; there was nothing beyond this room, and this is where he belonged.
But, of course, training called.
He grabbed fresh clothes from his bag and draped both his jackets over his shoulder before wandering to find the dining room. Laina was already up and at them, sharing an artisan dining room table with their two hosts.
"Blessed morning!" said Aevaren.
"Morgen!" followed his spouse. Their name, he'd found after reasonable confusion, was Evaren. When he asked to call him Ren and them Eva, they agreed.
Ren put down his newspaper, which featured a strange image of men in bodysuits. "Heading somewhere?"
"I've got a laundry list of training notes to work on. I just need to find an open space."
Eva said something in Sinnohan that Ren translated for. "There's a plaza near the town square that's clear. They also say they'll break your arms if you hurt the flowers."
The dozens of vases around the dining room and parlor, each with their own color of bloom, tipped him off. Ren's partner wore a professional apron with lettering and petal designs, implying they worked as part of a flower business.
"I'll note that for later," he said, looking away. "Want to come, Laina?"
She groaned. "No, I have to work on environmental science. I'd probably get distracted if you were shooting fire everywhere."
"Oh, and I've heard there are some shady people around town. Do be careful, good fellow," said Ren, holding up the paper so he could see the image more clearly. The men in question wore segmented sleeves resembling astronauts, looking something like an odd high-fashion display.
Some kind of trouble had followed him all the way from his Sinnohan debut in Canalave. Ciel felt more than prepared to stand his ground at this point, especially with his Pokémon by his side, so he was comfortable enough to brush it off. He traced the wafting steam to mounds of food on the table-bread, a caramel-colored block stuck with a cheese knife, and cuts of fish of some sort. It was a little before noon, so this must be brunch. "Err… do you mind if I…?"
"You're our guest! Eat as much as you like," said Ren.
"Oh, I'm not that hungry," he said, smelling the warm fermentation of the loaf on the center setting.
Laina groaned in her seat. "Please don't do the anime thing with the single piece of bread."
Ciel pulled on his jackets, hung a buttered slice between his teeth, and raised an eyebrow and a wave to his hosts before dashing out the door.
He was rushing off to school, the April wind blowing past him as he pounded up the hills of Goldenrod. Friends joined him from caps in the long brick street walls, and when they arrived at the top of the hill, they took in the maze of gold buildings and the Sekido Ocean flirting with the city limit. As they rushed to class—close enough to being late—they laughed and joked about how they'd be Pokémon Trainers one day, but Ciel released his partner Absol to run alongside them and prove that he was more ready than all of them.
The colder air of the present couldn't quite replicate the scene, and he longed for the feeling of Raven dashing between his legs to show off before she inevitably found a sunny spot on the school grounds to nap the eight hours away. But a forever spring bloomed all around him, and he knew she would be better in no time.
The Pokémon Center prescribed an overnight stay to clear up any issues, but they'd reported even before leaving that she seemed to be calming down. No matter what the whispering voices said, it was nothing to be concerned about.
At the center of town, a large clearing opened to direct the town's traffic, its floor an incomplete layer of stones cracked with time. It was encircled by tall foundations of flowerbeds, which had already dusted the area's benches and ground with pollen and stray petals. He swiped some away with his foot, revealing white chalk. Someone had previously sketched an arena into the stones, and he was happy to inherit the hand-me-down.
Pollen scattered when he released his Pokémon. Hector, Arden, and Brisa greeted Floaroma with similar wonder that he had, and he quickly had to snuff Arden's flames before one singed bloom birthed millions.
He met his friends with excitement. "Hey guys! It's time we—"
Before he managed another word, the unruly Staravia took off and vanished over the flowerbeds.
Well. Less excitement now. "Okay, I guess it's just you two. I should be able to get Raven from the Pokémon Center soon, though."
He retrieved his notes and found relevant bookmarks for his Typhlosion and Rhydon, respectively. They were still working on Arden's raw output, positing him as the main firepower of the team. He certainly seemed to best fit. Hector was stuck adapting old strategies to his newer body, and Ciel told him to warm up while he set up Arden's routine. He needed less guidance for what he had cooking.
This area was nearly the only part of town not overgrown, and even then it wasn't a wide enough space to risk Arden firing off Flamethrowers into the overcast sky. Fortunately, energy pathways in a Pokémon's body weren't specific, and any muscle trained makes the overall body stronger.
"You're a bit one-note at the moment," said Ciel, leading Arden to offendedly scowl. "Almost every one of your attacks is Fire-type, but we need to maximize our coverage, and Water and Flying-types are both pretty common and shut us down hard. We had nothing against Falkner's team way back when, and it's not that much different now."
He fished a small object out of his bag. It was basically a CD, but it was encased in a rectangular case of translucent plastic, looking almost like a floppy disc. The Pokémon League must really not feel the need to update their proprietary formats, sheesh. He loaded it into his Poké GEAR and, after an embarrassingly long boot-up, a view began playing.
"Welcome to the Technical Machine 410!" announced a robot narrator, who appeared onscreen as a digital avatar. "This program concerns the move Thunder Punch. For the next twenty-eight hours, this program will provide instruction videos and—"
"—a comprehensive competitive analysis of the yeah yeah yeah," said Ciel. They all had the same intro. He pressed the "1" key to skip to the instructional menu, and then waited through an agonizingly slow narration of different body types, egg groups, and Typings for their own directory keys. It was never perfect, but the closest approximation to Arden was bipedal, Field, Fire. 612.
It began immediately, the female avatar transitioning into a white void with a blackboard in the background. "Most bipedal Pokémon in the Field Egg Group, as seen in previous videos, have similar biology in terms of their energy output. Fire-types have the benefit of being biologically closest to Electric-types in regard to how they process and store ionized particles. To begin, we will attempt to explain how the electrical signals from nerve impulses can be amassed and redirected from the peripheral nervous system. As seen in this diagram here—"
Ciel thrust the device at Arden, who only took it because it would have dropped otherwise. He stared at the digitized narrator for a few seconds before puffing his flames and scowling at him. Never the bookish type, was he?
"Look, I know it's a lecture, but I'm told these things work and I honestly don't know how else you'd learn to spontaneously generate electricity if not by pure chance," said Ciel. He tried not to comment how he was already growing drowsy despite holding it so shortly.
Arden begrudgingly accepted, set the device on a nearby bench, and powered himself up to follow the instructions. He threw a wide fist. Nothing, obviously. But his wide flailing was the first step to focused, electrically charged flailing.
Returning to Hector, Ciel found him sitting comfortably, his tail grinding along the stone as it swayed with his flower-drunk glee. Monster as he was, he seemed to appreciate the flowers, and had already collected some of the waylaid petals to stuff gaps in his armor. Gaps that Ciel had caused. He drew out his notebook to keep his mind elsewhere.
Hector's plates shifted as he positioned himself to Ciel's guidance. The Rhydon lowered his head to let him examine the coarse, natural drill protruding from his crown. The goal was launching it like a projectile
"Okay, try to just… push this off? Break it off? I don't really know how the physiology works, but this should be able to come off somehow," he said. The spiral shape was uneven between his fingers.
Hector's armor bulged outward as he tensed every muscle in his body and hoped that torque would concentrate in his head somehow. The drill spun—and Ciel wisely stepped clear—but it was no closer to launching. He was afraid the Pokémon would pass out after his eyes rolled back into his head, but it was just a byproduct of the muscle strain. Hector relaxed when Ciel knocked on his breastplate, telling him to chill.
"Don't push yourself. Maybe we should try just developing your body elsewhere. You've been using that horn for everything, but you've got big strong arms and a tail to duel with." Ciel led him over to the center of the clearing.
He spied, rising over one of the stone foundries, some sizable blooms that rivaled both him and Hector in height. He shouted, "Hey! Who owns this plot?"
No answer at first, but the flowers soon rustled, and a massive-looking man stepped up on the edge of the raised stone. He almost beat Hector's muscle mass, as if he slept with his weights. He said, "Hva vil du?"
"Uhh, kan d-du… meg?" Ciel pointed at one of the tall flowers and slipped a bill from his pocket to hand him. "I wish I knew how to say flower."
His face was empty, clearly lost in thought about something, or maybe a lot of things. After Ciel pointed a bit harder at the flower, his attention finally returned to the present.
"Blomst," he answered, then tugged one of the flowers out of the ground, soil and all. They traded, him handing the stalk down and then laying on his stomach to fish for the money.
"Oh. Like "bloom". Same root," Ciel said to himself. He thanked the man and then returned to Hector with the tall flower held between hands as if he was presenting a blade. "I'll set this up. Somehow."
He pulled out some of the camping supplies from his bag, a support pole for the tent and some cloth ties. With some force, he slammed the pole deep into the dirt between some laid stones and had Hector hammer it down for extra assurance. Then he tied the plant's stalk to the pole, leaving it to stand like some scarecrow.
For effect, Ciel whacked the transplanted flower, which sprung back up to position afterwards. "Now you've got a target. You just have to, you know, punch it. Work on your hand-eye coordination. Claw-eye. You know what I mean."
Hector tilted his head at the flower, and then did nothing more than rip off a petal and admire its color. Not that Ciel blamed him, but it wasn't what he meant.
"Okay, how about this? Just follow my lead," said Ciel.
He shrugged off his jackets again and let himself fall into a proper stance. Strong forward foot, back foot angled to the side, one arm up to block and the other ready to strike. It was the simplest stance he'd learned from Chuck, and Hector managed to decently replicate it.
"Migi-chudan!" shouted Ciel, as he thrust his right arm forward. That call really made him feel powerful, no wonder Chuck had put so much zeal into screaming at him. With his left arm, he mirrored. Hidari-jodan!"
Hector's less dextrous strikes bent the standing flower wide before its elasticity returned it to rest.
"That's it, just keep your eyes on the flower," said Ciel. "It's a target, it's after your pack, and you've got to take it down."
With each ratting blow, Hector knocked a few petals and florets free. Ciel was sure he'd have to pay for another one, but as long as it was getting Hector on the right track, it was all right with him.
He continued his kata, occasionally throwing in a kick to see if Hector had the balance to replicate it. No dice. They seemed to be making progress, at least by the metric that Hector's wild swings hit the flower more times than they didn't, but Hector himself seemed to grow increasingly distracted and off-tempo. His eyes were darting off somewhere, and Ciel realized he was staring at his waylaid backpack.
After calling a break, Ciel searched through the bag for the house-shaped Protector. It felt sandy to the touch, and he couldn't quite figure what material it was, exactly. He learned it was actually a custom part for heavy machinery, where it wrapped around computer components to protect them from residual heat.
On his motion, both he and Hector sat back on the stones, and the whole courtyard shook under the latter's slam. Ciel stood the Protector on the stones between them.
"Thinking about this?" he asked.
Hector reached for it, and it withstood the force of his inspection as he squeezed it between two claws.
"It's not going to do much until we trade you with it. Apparently, the trading sequence is a little error prone, and it switches data pointers around a little when extra material is added, or something like that." Just in case Hector was actually paying attention to him, Ciel backpedaled. "Not that it's unsafe or anything! It's just the easiest way to induce material evolution in some cases."
Hector hadn't yet peeled his eyes away from the indestructible armor in his grasp. Tougher pulls threatened to break it in half, but the Protector withstood each like it would stand for thousands of years.
"You want to be like that Rhyperior we saw in Oreburgh, don't you? You want to be the strongest and toughest you could ever be."
He didn't even need Hector's response. It was his duty to his pack to be an unbreakable shield, able to throw himself in front of an attack to save both himself and his charge. Maybe it was nothing more than natural instinct to evolve and become the fittest of his species, and to let his species inherit his strength into new generations. Or maybe it was personal. Maybe he really did want to spite nature for throwing him into Hell, and make it regret that it never killed him.
To manifest his thoughts, he knocked on the plating above Hector's right eye. He'd never be exactly sure what was going on inside his friend's head, but it didn't matter. It was Hector's dreams, and his alone, and Ciel would lead him even if he couldn't read the story Hector wrote for himself.
"Do you think you're ready to evolve already? You've only had that body for, what was it, about two months or so," said Ciel.
After examining the object a little more, even raking his massive dry tongue across it, he set it back down. Ciel flinched, knowing his mistake had probably forced Hector's thoughts. The lasting damage to his plates from holding up the cave-in in Oreburgh wasn't disappearing any time soon, and he probably hoped he could reinforce it through his evolution.
"Well, whenever you're ready, buddy," he said. "There's no rush."
Mantis, his Scizor, didn't rush it either when he offered him the chance to evolve. He'd read that in a book. Most Pokémon actively work towards evolution and train their bodies until genetic triggers spontaneously birth their new forms. But evolutions induced by outside means aren't really "theirs". They have to be ready to go to the next step and feel like they've accomplished everything they can in their own bodies.
Ciel wondered what that would be like, becoming someone else entirely. Would he be able to process it? Would he feel like he was always the person he was meant to be?
A paw set down in front of him.
The shock of her sudden appearance tipped Ciel over. As he laid there, gasping on the floor, he angled his head to see his partner standing over him. The look on her face said 'pathetic'.
"You got out already?"
She sharpened her blade on the ground stones, ready for some exercises of her own. He didn't bother asking how many Center nurses she injured to escape without his signature on the books, and instead focused on her physical state.
Raven bounced on her legs, the most active he'd seen her in weeks, and there wasn't much of any tremors to be found unless she was just trying really, really, really hard not to let them show.
She seemed just fine. He knew it'd all work out okay.
His hands joined together in a resounding clap. "Okay! Are you good enough for some more sparring? I know you've been getting restless."
Raven brought up one of her claws and raked it down the edge of her sickle, generating a bright spark. She could just nod, or something, but of course she had to show off.
His call for Arden sent the Typhlosion tumbling in the middle of a punch. He perked up, and his flames erupted upon noticing Raven. The taller creature learned down and wrapped himself around his teammate—he quelled his fire and she angled her weapon away. It was either a sign of love, or they were saving the scuffles for battle. Ciel noticed that Arden's fur was standing on end, and to test something, he gently tapped the creature's shoulder.
"Agh!" he said, jerking his hand away. A shock coursed through his hand, involuntarily flexing his ring finger. Despite the pain, he was more than satisfied.
Arden stood on one side of the field, ordered to fight autonomously so Ciel could focus on his partner specifically. He held his arm at his side to prepare to command, and locked eyes with Raven.
She tore across the ground stones, scraping her sickle against them. Each step zig-zagged her approach, and by the time she was in range of Arden, he had failed to keep up with her strafing, giving her a clear opening.
"Night Slash!" he ordered. She tore the sickle through him, leaving him breathless for a moment.
He turned quickly and threw a curled paw at her, only to strike the ground after she vanished. She'd used Detect, anticipating her Trainer's own command.
Arden burled both arms at his sides and sent all his power to his flames. A wave of fire erupted from his neck, engulfing the stones and singing the weeds that sought the light between them. From within whatever realm of speed Raven had vanished, she was knocked back into reality with flames caught on her back hairs. She left a trail of smoke when she barrel rolled to snuff them out.
Arden took this opportunity and… rubbed his arms together? Ciel was mystified enough that he stalled on ordering his next attack, just spectating the odd motion—it was like Arden was trying to light a fire with friction.
"Uhh… Raven, use Psycho Cut!" he shouted.
She gathered an alternate energy across her sickle and swung it from afar. The Psychic wave soared past Arden's sidestep, some stray hairs joining the ground's pollen covering. However, he continued striking his forearms against one another. Ciel said he'd leave the decision-making to him, but this was utterly baffling. Some weird instinctual behavior he'd never seen before? A note for later.
"Alright, Quick Attack!" He threw out his hand, tired of waiting. He wouldn't be able to figure out what was happening unless he just went for it. No harm, no foul.
A tremor shook her left hind leg, but after overcoming it, his partner rocketed across the field. She threw out her bared claws to strike him, but he brought his arms up in a cross pattern to block head-on. It was at this moment that Ciel noticed how straight his fur stood, and the miniscule flashes of light that skirted around the outline of his body.
"Wait, Raven! Jump back!" he called.
She slammed into him at high speed, and all the stored electricity in Arden's fur raced to the collision point on his arms. The jolt blasted Raven to the ground and wracked her body not with tremors but with electrostimulation of her muscles. She was temporarily paralyzed, and the Typhlosion's fist was already swinging.
The hook slammed home across her jaw. She was on the ground, and Ciel found a taciturn agreement between them that the spar was over. He wandered over and helped Raven to her feet, where she shook off the punch with a huff and a jerk of her head away from them both.
"Look, you're still not in top form," he said. "Don't worry about just one match, especially when it's him."
Speaking of him, that was great! Ciel couldn't help but poke at his Typhlosion's teal and gold fur, enduring the tiny shocks transmitted with each touch. It was ingenious what he did, and he'd have to note that down to see if any of his other Pokémon could replicate a trick like that.
"It's not exactly Thunder Punch, but that was really great, Arden!" he exclaimed. "Even when you can naturally invoke your pathways to produce electricity, you can always supplement it with your fur static."
The Typhlosion leaned into Ciel scratching the side of his head, and his flames burned tall. They pulsed in rhythm with his scratches, just like massaging a muscle.
A snarl ripped from Ravens' throat, and she began to tremble again. Ciel felt his instinct turn him not towards her, but towards what was coming.
Camella leapt from one of the raised flower beds. It must have been a full sprint, as she cleared nearly the entire square before she landed. Her sunhat slipped off and she trampled it as she pulled to a stop in front of him, her breathing labored.
"What's wrong?" he demanded. That horrible feeling slithered up his spine again, mere centimeters away from biting into his neck.
"You're a Pokémon Trainer, right?" She struggled to cut words between her wheezes. "There's- there's trouble by the flower shop. I heard gunshots."
This part is a notably long one. It would have been much longer had I not pushed some content initially planned here back into Volume 9. I felt like I incurred some sort of "debt" on scenes of Ciel and his Pokemon that I was paying back here, hence why the training segment is decently lengthy. Either way, it was a fun opportunity to show Ciel leading his team in more regular exercises, rather than extraneous ones.
Come back next time for Part 4: Ghost From Beyond the Stars. I'll see you someday!