A/N: Hello. Sorry for the wait. I got into competitive battling and have been doing a lot of local tournaments, as I want to try the regional tournament circuit next season. I didn't realize how much work went into doing it (team building, practicing, battling). I decided to put that on hold for the moment and see if I want to invest time in that. Also, I started a new job, so that also has taken some time away as well. I can't seem to come up with good titles lately. Thank you for reading, and hopefully the next chapter won't take as long! Enjoy!
Pokemon Journey: Indigo League
Chapter 35: Heat
"Hi Mom," Saul says, sitting at the video phone in his room. Beside him, Pikipek flutters onto his shoulder.
"Hi Saul," a short woman responds, wiping the sweat from her brow. She's holding a pair of Seeing her son, shearing scissors. le, seeing her son and it only grows at seeing Pikipek. "Hello, Pikipek. Are you keeping Saul safe?"
"Piki!" Pikipek replies, nodding and chirping happily.
"Thank you," Saul's mom smiles at the Woodpecker Pokemon and places the scissors on the table before sitting down. "And how are you doing, Saul?"
"I can't complain," Saul says with a smile. "I made some friends, and got to see some of Kanto."
"That's great," his mom says, arching her sweaty eyebrow. "But what dear?"
"How did you..", Saul starts to ask then stops himself. "Of course, you would know there is a but."
"I'm your mother, Saul," she says with a slight chuckle. "I know when there is a but."
"Fine. I just don't know if this is for me," Saul says softly. Pikipek looks at him curiously. Saul notices the look and quickly explains. "I mean, traveling. It feels like a waste of time."
"Is it?" Saul's mother asks him with a questioning look."Tell me how it's a waste of time."
"I'm spending more time traveling than I'm spending time training," Saul explains. On the other side of his closed door, he hears Brandon telling him he will train.
"So you have no time to train?" His mother asks him. She quickly gets up and grabs a cup of water. She sits down, as the sun begins to set.
"Exactly," Saul says, a little too quickly.
"Hmm," his mother replies, unconvinced. "Is that because you don't have the time to train, or you don't want to train?"
"Mom, I'm just exhausted from all the walking," Saul replies.
"I see," Mom responds. "And you feel like you will get better training if you come home."
"Exactly," Saul responds. From his room, he can see that Brandon brought out his entire team to train, and, surprisingly, Ava also brings out her team to train as well.
"Oh Saul," his mom says, shaking her head. "You always do this."
"What do you mean?" Saul asks as Pikipek flutters from his shoulder and perches on the window sill, looking out to the sky.
"You never commit to anything and always give up too easily," his mother explains gently.
"I do not," Saul starts to speak but his mother interrupts him.
"You do dear, you do," his mother says. "You started the Island Challenge, got halfway to Verdant Cavern and then just gave up and came home. In school, you were supposed to be the lead in a play but again, you gave up."
"They were just not my thing Mom," Saul explains, leaning back in his chair.
"We know. We've noticed that surfing is one thing you are passionate about," his mom says. "We're happy that you found what makes you happy."
"So would it be alright if I come back?" Saul asks hopefully.
"Tell you what," his mom countered. "Finish traveling around Kanto and place in the Kanto Surf Tour and in the summer, we will get you into the Waving Riding Academy."
Saul's eyes light up. "Oh, crap. Mom, are you serious? It's near impossible to get into that school."
"Leave that up to us dear," his mom responds. "Do we have a deal?"
"We do Mom," Saul says with a grin. Pikipek looks over at her trainer, cooking her head. "Bye Mom. I have some training to do. Love you! Come on Pikipek!"
Saul excitedly disconnects from the call, grabs his Pokéballs, and rushes down towards the training field.
His mom chuckles, watching her son leave the call before standing up and grabbing a plate of food, her husband beside her.
"Now, Mary, why did you do that?" Her husband asks curiously.
"John, Saul needs a goal to obtain. We both know that Saul wouldn't have that fire in his eyes if left to his own decisions," Mary tells her husband, sitting down at the table.
"I suppose that's true," John responds, cutting his steak. "I hope this gamble pays off."
"I'm sure it will," Mary says confidently. "I never saw him more excited than when he got Mantyke and learned how to surf for the first time."
"Well, looks like I will need to talk to Dean then," John says.
"How much will that set us back?" Mary asks, dreading the answer.
"Just leave that to me," John says, patting Mary's arm. "But let's just say, Saul will owe us a nice Christmas gift for the next few years. Well, I have a few things to do before bed. I will see you later. Love you."
John gets up and places a kiss on Mary's head before heading back to the fields. Mary looks up towards the sky and whispers. "Don't make me regret this Saul."
"Nidorina, awesome job!" Brandon praises his poison type, watching her slam her feet into the air. "It seems you are getting quicker on your double kick. That's what I love to see!"
"Nid!" Nidorina grunts though not breaking her focus. Brandon smiles, turning his attention to Tangrowth, who was practicing his stun spore release.
"Awesome job Tangrowth," Brandon praises him, stepping towards the Vine Pokémon. He thought for a moment. "Try an ancient power."
Tangrowth nods, firing off an ancient power but the release and accuracy of it were poor, leading Brandon to nod.
"Great try Tangrowth," Brandon encourages his Vine Pokemon. "Let's work on speed and accuracy of it alright."
Tangrowth nods again, focusing on trying to release it faster but couldn't seem to make any progress. Frustrated, he tries again but still no progress. He slams his vines down on the ground angrily. Brandon is taken back to the actions.
"It's alright buddy," Brandon says softly to the frustrated Pokemon. "We can work on it."
"Tang," Tangrowth mutters, moving away from Brandon and the others.
Brandon blinks, not sure why the sudden change. He doesn't dwell on it, turning his attention to Joltik, who was practicing his string shot.
Brandon watches, remembering the strategy he wanted to work on. Joltik clearly remembers as he's jumping from one side to another, using string shot yet he can't seem to get the webs to stick on the ground.
"Doing good Joltik," Brandon praises the little spider. "Try it again."
Brandon watches as Joltik jumps around, again using string shot yet still can't get it right. Brandon thinks but a voice interrupts him.
"It looks like you are trying to teach Joltik sticky web," Kyle surmises, stepping towards the group. Behind him, Saul joins Ava, as she trains her team. "That will be a difficult move for Joltik to learn."
"Difficult or not, we will learn it, right buddy?" Brandon asks the yellow spider Pokemon, who nods determinedly.
"I admire that spirit," Kyle chuckles watching the pair of them. "But it's difficult to learn because only Joltik's evolution can learn it." Kyle can see the confidence drain from the pair, so he hastily responds. "Joltik seems to have gotten stronger."
Brandon nods, looking towards his partner. "We're still struggling with using string shot at long distance."
"Understandable," Kyle says with a smile. "Joltik seems like a determined Pokemon. I'm sure he'll learn it."
"Blast!" Blastoise roars, attempting to fire off a flash cannon, but like before, it goes wild, smashing into a tree, and knocking down a sleeping Caterpie from a branch. Caterpie angrily chirps at Blastoise before crawling away to look for a new sleeping area. Blastoise rubs his head apologetically before sitting down, feeling blue.
"Blastoise is having trouble controlling flash cannon," Brandon says. He looks between Joltik, Tangrowth, and Blastoise, wondering how he can help.
Kyle shifts his focus between Blastoise and Brandon, and it suddenly dawned on him. "Blastoise evolved recently, didn't he?"
"Yep. A few days ago," Brandon answers, not sure why the question.
"Think about it," Kyle replies, looking at Brandon expectedly.
Brandon frowns, then looks at Blastoise. He studies his Pokemon, trying to figure it out. His eyes swept Blastoise before his eyes rested on his cannons. His eyes go wide with realization. Kyle nods, knowing Brandon figured it out.
"If I grew cannons out of my shell, I know I would have trouble," Kyle says.
"So he's not having trouble because of the move," Brandon says out loud. "He's having trouble because he's not used to his body yet. Hmm, I wonder.."
Brandon walks over to Blastoise and sits beside him, smiling. "Hey buddy, I see you are still struggling to control flash cannon."
"Blast," Blastoise replies, looking down, feeling ashamed.
"Hey, nothing to be ashamed about," Brandon says, placing a hand on Blastoise's arm. "You just aren't used to your new weight yet. I mean, if I grew cannons, I would have trouble as well."
"Blast?" Blastoise asks, lifting his head.
"Instead of focusing on flash cannon, let's focus on you getting used to your body," Brandon says, though now he's completely lost on how to do that. Beside him, Blastoise scrunchies up his eyes in thought as well.
Kyle sighs before unclipping a Pokeball and summoning his own Blastoise. Ava and Saul now join them, curious to see what is happening.
"Brandon, I challenge you to a wrestling match between my Blastoise and your Blastoise," Kyle says, heading to the middle of the field.
Brandon and Blastoise look at each other before nodding and following. Joltik, Tangrowth, Nidorina, and Taillow all gather around to watch.
"The rules will be simple," Kyle explains. "This will only be a wrestling match. No moves allowed."
"Sounds good to us, right Blastoise?" Brandon asks Blastoise. The Shellfish turtle nods, planting his feet and growling at the other Blastoise.
"Blastoise, the goal of this wrestling match isn't to win," Kyle instructs his Blastoise. "The goal is to help Brandon's Blastoise to get used to his new form."
"Blastoise," Blastoise replies, nodding his head.
"Blastoise, take a defensive stance," Brandon calls out.
"Blastoise, charge his Blastoise and try to flip him!" Kyle commands.
Brandon's Blastoise plants his feet and crouches a little. He holds up his hands in a defensive position, as Kyle's Blastoise comes charging. Blastoise shifts his weight and dodges his opponent's attempted grab and in return, Blastoise grabs Blastoise's arm, and attempts to judo-style throw him (like he used to as a Squirtle and Wartortle) however Kyle's Blastoise uses his tail to leap over Blastoise and attempts to come down with a karate chop. Upon seeing this, Brandon's Blastoise turns around to use his shell as a defensive mechanism and tries to use his tail to sweep his opponent.
A sudden snarl erupts through the practice field, causing everyone to pause what they were doing and turn towards the source. Standing in front of them is a black and white dog Pokemon with horns, eyes glaring at Blastoise. It opens its mouth and an eruption of flame comes bursting out, narrowly missing Blastoise but hitting a tree, causing it to erupt in flames. There is a stampede towards the door as smoke fills the practice field. However, the new Pokemon only has eyes for Blastoise as it opens it's mouth again and another jet flame comes hurling towards Blastoise.