Chapter 16

Admittedly, I had stalled for far two long. In the games, I would spend days, weeks of in game "time", training my entire catalogue of Pokémon in between each gym. The ideal for my play throughs was always increments of ten. Level ten by the first gym, twenty by the second, so on and so forth. And I had tried to do that here too.

I had spent two weeks putting my Pokémon and myself through grueling 18 hour a day training, pushing ourselves to the absolute limits of our endurance. To be sure, it had definitely paid off.

Squirtle was about six inches taller than she had been, and several dozen pounds heavier. She had been bulking up, building mass to withstand the recoil from her more-powerful-than-average water gun attacks. My shy girl was becoming an absolute beast, and she was nearly the size of a wartortle, which told me she'd probably evolve soon.

Pidgeotto had also grow truly massive. His mastery over aerokinesis and his natural flight ability had leapfrogged leaps and bounds over where he had been shortly after evolving. He had also grown more aggressive recently, and his plume was starting to grow longer. Soon he'd be big enough to carry me in flight.

Ekans had shaped up into a straightforward physical bruiser, her wrap and bite attacks were devastating, but her acid attack was no slouch either. I had taught her to concentrate the corrosive and caustic substances into a thick, sticky gel, which I knew would soon evolve into a true Toxic.

Pikachu had thrown herself into training with a singleminded vengeance. She had made it emphatically clear to me that she wanted to evolve again, so I had cut her a deal. If and when she mastered her electrical attacks, I would save up and buy her a thunderstone. The smile on her face had almost lit up the room.

Sandshrew had been… a little difficult. For one, she had a very warped sense of humor. Misty said it fit that she was partnered with me. For some reason. But, when it counted, sandshrew was every bit the warrior as she was a comedienne. When we weren't training, practical jokes abounded, but when we had to focus, she was a master of the hit and run. She was a little slow, but when she curled up and got rolling, she was unstoppable.

My nidos were proceeding along at a good pace as well. Similar to pikachu, I had promised them that, when they were ready, I'd take them back to mt moon to evolve in their sacred shrine to the moon stone. This incentive had really put a fire under them. Nidorino had become a physical power house, mastering horn attack, poison jab, fury attack, and even a few ground type moves like bulldoze and rototiller to complement his future secondary type. Nidorina had gone for a support role, learning toxic spikes, helping hand, attract, and other similar moves to boost nidorino's already monstrous attack power. In doubles matches, the two were unstoppable. Even alone, Nidorino was a brute and Nidorina was a wily tactician.

Vulpix had also grown stronger, but I had noticed she had become broody and introspective. I had an idea what the issue was, but I was at a loss as to what to do about it. She, too, desired more power, to protect me, as well as in general. She saw all her friends evolving around her, gaining power and, more importantly, maturity, while she remained stuck in a young mindset. I knew that evolution also carried a heavy decision for her. A vulpix lived a similar amount of time as a human, but a Ninetales? Urgh.

zubat had started to bulk up as well, her flight power and her supersonic echolocation abilities were way above par. She had also mastered poison fang and toxic, her first truly poison typed attacks, which had made her unbearably happy for days. Still, at heart, she was a cuddlebug, and liked nothing more than to spend the daylight hours inside my shirt, clinging to my chest. Lately though, she was getting a little big for it.

Paras had quickly evolved into parasect, which I'm given to understand is fairly normal for bug type Pokémon. The increased power and size had been ruthlessly put to use. She had become a master of the battlefield trap, using growth and fury cutter to whittle away the opposition, while salting the area with poison and sleep powders. It was a little scary to be honest.

Mankey was another one I had to work a little with. For one, he was almost clinically depressed. From what ralts told me, he hated the fact that his existence was built around being angry. He longed to transcend his nature, to find a sort of inner peace within himself. I had taught him calm mind, and he had become a steadfast and stalwart ally. I wasn't sure if it would work, so I never said anything, but alongside his fighting type moves, I began to subtly teach him to channel his rage into one blow, a devastating spiritual punch. Misty said I was nuts, but I had a hunch. So far it was working too. By charging his fist with emotional energy, it was beginning to spark with ghost type energy. Rage Fist was eminent.

Geodude had begun to truly master his geokinesis, and he actively used it almost all the time. Lately he had begun to grow rapidly in size, bulking up and gaining more and more mass. I was also beginning to notice some deep cracks in his stony hide. I had called Brock, and he had informed me that it was most likely a pending evolution.

And speaking of evolution, a mixture of heavy training and a deep bond had lead igglybuff and Cleffa to simultaneously evolve into jigglypuff and clefairy. Both were still getting used to their new forms, but were already making great strides in mastering fairy type moves, mostly learned from ralts.

Ralts herself had grown almost a foot since we first met. Her psionic abilities had also grown by leaps and bounds. We were close to forming a psionic rapport, and we worked on it every free second of every day. She was every bit as motivated as any of my other Pokémon, but I noticed she was taking more of a support role in the team.

Ralts enjoyed training as much as any Pokémon, but she had made it abundantly clear to me that she simply wasn't as into Pokémon battles as, say, vulpix was. Which was perfectly fine! Let it never be said that I forced Pokémon to battle when they didn't want to! Ralts instead focused on her defensive skills, which was for the thinly veiled purpose of keeping me safe personally, and she was happiest cheerleading the rest of my team from beside me.

My team, and my reserve roster, were all beastly little things.

Finally, after weeks of training, I was ready to face down the cerulean gym. The only question I had was, would I face misty or her sisters?

As I walked into the town, I kept ralts out on my shoulder, drawing squee's of delight from the overwhelmingly female population, while at the same time offering me invaluable tactical insight. She had become adept at reading the surface thoughts of the people around me, and our limited psionic communication was nuanced enough that she could telegraph feelings to me, so we had quickly been able to set up a warning system.

However, most of the time, all ralts would send me would be a sense of interest from the women around me while she blushed radiantly. I had no idea what that was about.

Still, within a few hours, I found myself in front of cerulean gym. I pushed open the doors with a clatter.

"My name is Scott Hall from the town of Pallet! And I am here to challenge the leader for the Cascade Badge!"

End chapter 16

Scott's Pokédex:

Caught: Squirtle, Caterpie, Metapod, Butterfree, Weedle, Kakuna, Beedrill, Pidgey, Pidgeotto, Rattata, Raticate, Spearow, Fearow, Ekans, Pikachu, Sandshrew, Nidoran(F), Nidorina, Nidoran(M), Nidorino, clefairy, Vulpix, jigglypuff, zubat, paras, Parasect, Mankey, geodude, Pichu, Cleffa, Igglybuff, Ralts