I believe I may have found the reason I'm not updating as much as I used too. It's very simple, actuelly.

I'm getting bored of typing this.

I'm going to stop writing Rotten Luck for a while. That doesn't mean I'll stop writing, though.

Once you've finished reading this chapter, click on my name on the top of this page if you want. I've got a new story!

Chapter 31: Training

Rodent Fields had a lot of clearings to train in. The clearing we were going to train in had a lot of rocks on the ground, as well as fallen trees. Waiting there for us were Lord Volt and a Pikachu.

"So are you ready to train, son?" asked the Pikachu, who had what looked like a small triangle like nick on the tail.

"Yes, Mommy," Rocky responded.

"Lord Volt, would it be alright if you trained your son on your own today?" Nutty asked, "He requested that I train a friend of his who has difficulty using his attacks."

"There's no problem with that, you may train him," Lord Volt answered.

"Nutty, is our son old enough to learn that attack yet?" asked the Pikachu.

"He's about two weeks old now, so yes, he's old enough," Nutty answered, "Do you plan to teach it to him, Lady Lema?"

"Yes. I fear he may encounter some trainers in the city. It may be best for him to have a trump card in case of that happening," she responded.

"Come, Rocky. It is best we train in a clearing that's more suitable for the training you're about to receive," Lord Volt said as he led his son elsewhere.

"See ya later, Jonathan," Rocky called as he left.

"So how exactly do you plan to train a psychic type when you know no psychic attacks?" I asked.

"I spent a long time trying to figure that out," said Nutty, "I figured since you used your powers when there was danger, I would try to recreate it."

"That doesn't sound pleasant."

"Relax, it's not going to be life threatening."

"So what are you going to be doing?" I asked.

"I'm going to be throwing rocks at you in hopes that you'll be able to stop them with your mind through instinct," he said as three rocks flew at me.

"That sounds logical," I said, rubbing the three bumps on my head.

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Since trying to stop rocks with my mind failed, Nutty decided to train my ability to teleport. "I don't like the fact that we're up in a tree," I said.

"Don't worry, I softened up the ground below in case you don't teleport."

"You mean when I don't teleport."

"That too."

Looking down below, it looked like we were several stories off the ground. I knew, of course, that it couldn't've been more than fifteen feet, but I was so short it looked like fifteen floors high.

"Say, Nutty, there's been something I've been meaning to ask you," I said in hopes of distracting him from the pain I was most likely to feel in a moment.

"What is it?"

"What's with your name?" I asked, not knowing what else to say, "It sounds like a trainer gave it to you."

"… I prefer not to talk about it," he said as I fell towards the ground.

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While I was training with Nutty, I was unaware of the fact that I was being spied upon by another pokemon, one that wanted to settle a score with me.

He was looking for the opportune moment where he could jump out of the bushes to challenge me to a fight, hoping the surprise would give him the advent- "Hiya, Brick! Wadda ya doing hiding in the bushes?"

"WAH!!" Brick yelled, somehow silently, "Taffy, be quiet! I'm planning to challenge that Ralts to a fight!"

"Oops, sorry," she whispered in embarrassment. Looking over towards the training area, she whispered, "I remember that bowtie! I think his friends called him Johnson."

"His name's Jonathan and he's the only psychic to ever defeat me," Brick said, "Did you become a girl, by any chance?"

"Teehee, you noticed," she replied. "So what happened that made him beat you?"

"Well, the problem was that we were so busy strengthening my special defense, my physical defense was weak. He surprised me when he fought without his mind. I spent the last few days training to correct that."

"He didn't fight you with his mind? What did he do, beat you with a stick?"

"…"

"… He did, didn't he?…Hahahahahaha!!"

"Shut up Taffy!!" Brick whispered.

"That's no way to talk to a lady," Taffy countered.

"It's not like you're going to stay that way!"

"I'm still a lady!"

"Whatever, I'm gonna challenge him to a fight now."

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"So it seems putting you in harm's way isn't how to bring out your psychic powers. I guess we'll have to try safer metho-" Nutty was interrupted when a Tyrogue jumped out of the bushes.

"Jonathan the Ralts, I challenge you to a battle!" Brick yelled, pointing at me in a dramatic pose.

"Who are you?" Nutty asked. "Wait a minute, aren't you that pokemon who was fighting our soldiers the other day?"

"They weren't worth my time; it took your lord to defeat me!" Brick bragged.

I noticed something in what Nutty had said, "Did you say soldiers?"

"Yes," Nutty answered, "Rodent Fields has an army to defend itself with in case of an emergency."

"And they need better training if they were beaten by me alone!" Brick bragged.

"Brick, you were attacking the new recruits," Taffy, who came out of the bushes, said. "Most of them were panicking and scattering like they've never seen battle before."

"Really? Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I was looking for a four-leaved clover in the grass!"

"Is there something different about your voice, or is it just me?" I asked, remembering that the Ditto's voice was a bit deeper last time I met it.

In response, she threw a mud ball at me. I don't know why.

"Ahem!" Nutty coughed to get everyone's attention, "Jonathan, perhaps I'll put you in harm's way one more time (Son of a-) in a battle against this pokemon. He may drive you to the point where you have to use your powers."

"Do I have too?"

Brick wouldn't let me back down, "Too late! Your master has decided to test your progress and so you shall!"

"But he's not my-"

"Very well, I'll be the judge of the battle," Nutty said.

"I'll help!" Taffy added.

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"Are you sure this is a good idea?" I asked Nutty.

"Don't worry, Jonathan. The only attacks a Tyrogue knows is tackle, helping hand, and fake out," Nutty responded.

"Oh no," Taffy interrupted, "I taught him lots of attacks!"

"I see," Nutty remarked. "Jonathan, don't get hit. He's bound to get tired eventually."

"Oh, that'll be hard! I made sure his speed was top notch!" Taffy said.

"Hmmm, really…. Jonathan, you mentioned he had a weak defense. Hit him with all you've got."

"Brick's been training his defense ever since his defeat! He can withstand a full blown psybeam!"

"What kind of trainer are you?" Nutty asked.

"Fighting types are easier to train than psychics," she explained.

"… Are you sure this is a good idea?" I asked again.

"Don't worry, it's not a fight to the death," Nutty reassured. "I'm right, right?" he asked Taffy.

"Yep."

"Can we start now?" Brick called from the other side of the clearing.

"Don't worry! We were just clearing some things up!" Taffy called back.

I decided to ask when we would start, "When do we start this-"

"BATTLE START!!!!!" Taffy announced.

Like a rocket, Brick launched from his side of the clearing. Before he got to me, he punched the ground with enough force to slide the rocks right out of the dirt. I ducked right, running away from the debris.

Brick ran after me in an attempt for a tackle. I ran to the nearest tree and climbed up it as fast as I could. Brick, his head down for a tackle, didn't see where he was going, thus he ran into a tree. He left quite a dent.

"You believe a mere head injury'll keep me down? Ha! You don't know me all that well!" he bragged.

What is his head made out of?! I thought. I felt a sudden shake go through the tree. Looking down, I saw Brick using his immense strength to lift the tree off its roots!

I jumped down before he could uproot the whole thing and ran like hell. I then made a mental note that Brick could outrun hell.

Before he caught up to me, I turned around and swung a branch I snapped off the tree at him. That didn't hurt him as much as it did during our last encounter, but the surprise did make him stumble and fall. A stick isn't as reassuring as I thought it was once, I thought, looking at my broken stick.

Brick got up quickly, "Did you seriously believe that a stick could bring me down! I've been training ever since our last encounter to raise my defense! Not even those rocks you're throwing at me as I speak work!" he bragged as the fourth rock made contact with his head.

I bent down to pick up a fifth rock, futile as it was, but when I got up Brick was right in front of me in a full speed tackle! Using all his strength, he tackled me to the ground.

As I lay, feeling the pain from his attack, I wondered to myself, Why doesn't this hurt much? Sure it hurt, but it was as if he wasn't even trying!

I saw him running towards me, prompting me to jump back up and dash again. Brick stopped in surprise. "How did you get up?! I hit you as hard as I could!"

"I can explain that!" Taffy announced, "By training his defense, he neglected his attack power, just like he did last time!"

"Why didn't you tell me I was neglecting one of my attributes again?!?"

"I did! Wait… no, sorry! I was looking at the grass!"

As much as the news of him being weaker was good, the attacks still hurt me. If we were to spend a long enough time in this battle, he would win. Not to mention the fact that he was so much faster than me.

Brick ran up to me again and threw his fist right at my face. I instinctively closed my eyes to brace for impact, but he surprised me by punching me in the gut instead.

"That attack is called fake out," Nutty said because I couldn't think of how to put the words fake and out in the same paragraph.

He used fake out again, causing me to flinch for the second time. This time, however, I noticed something was going on with me. As I ran, I noticed that every time after he attacked, I ran just a bit faster. Soon I was fast enough to dodge his attacks!

"H-how are you getting faster?!" asked a confused Brick.

"I'm not sure, but I'm not complaining!" I answered as I traced circles around him at a steadfast pace. Seriously, I had no idea how the hell I suddenly became faster than him!

"Never mind, try to dodge this!" he yelled. He then dug his hands into the dirt, and using his strength, he then lifted a huge boulder out. It didn't matter if he threw weakly or at full strength, that boulder would knock me out with its weight either way.

When he threw a boulder at me, I immediately face planted to dodge. The boulder flew over my head and landed behind me. Once I got up, Brick reached down and pulled out two more boulders, one in each hand!

He threw one and I dodged left. I dodged right for the second boulder, and noticed what an idiot I was for not thinking ahead. I had a boulder behind me, to my left, and to my right. In front of me was a Tyrogue holding a decent sized boulder, aiming it at a trapped Ralts.

I gulped as the boulder flew at me. If only I knew confusion! I thought as the flying piece of hurt flew at me. Suddenly, I noticed a flash of energy fly through the air from the woods. The attack connected with the boulder, shattering it into a thousand little pieces. If I remembered, that attack was a confusion like the one I used on the Primeape.

I looked towards the source of the attack in time to spot a blue figure run into the woods. I would've run after it, but I'm sue Brick wouldn't approve of tha-

"Gotcha!!" Brick exclaimed as he tackled me to the ground. "Taffy, now!!"

Taffy stepped… crawled… let's just go with stepped. Taffy stepped up to where we were and slammed her blob of an arm on the ground next to us. "One…! Two…! Three!!! Brick wins!"

Brick jumped off of me and punched his fists into the air, "YES!!! I AM THE CAMPION AGAIN!!!" then the strangest thing happened to him.

His body began to glow with a bright white light. Looking past the light, I saw his fists grow to a size similar to a boxer's. His shoulders turned more pad like and his head began to change sha- "Nonononono! This isn't the one I want!" Brick yelled. His shape then returned to normal and the glowing faded. He was still a Tyrogue. Acting as if this was something he had experienced before, he called to Taffy, "Let us go, Taffy! On to the next challenge!"

"I'm hungry, can we get some food first?" she asked as she followed Brick.

Nutty walked up to me and helped me stand, "Glad to see the training worked!"

"No, it didn't. Some other pokemon used that confusion." I wonder who, though.

"(Sigh) So my training didn't work?"

"Sorry, but no."

"It's alright. You are the only psychic I've ever trained, after all."

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I told Rocky goodbye once he arrived. Once he said goodbye too, I left for home. Upon reaching it, I collapsed on my bed, exhausted. I heard a tapping on the window and got up to open it.

Ziggy noticed how tired I was, so she didn't pounce on me, "What happened to you?"

"Stuff happened that I'd rather not think about right now. So, what is it that you came here for?"

"Oh, right. Ahem… I'm going to be in a pokemon contest!!!"

"Really? Good for you! When's it going to start?"

"In three days! Look, I even got a ribbon!" she said, turning so I could see the pink ribbon that was tied around her neck.

"Wow, you've got a lot of preparing to do."

"Actually, that's one of the reasons I came here for. Could you, Ember, and Rocky help train me for the contest?"

"Yes, as long as you don't say train for a while."