The next day Lexi woke up with new energy. Yesterday she had been too tired from the castle trip to do any work with her pokémon, but today she couldn't wait to start training. Aiden also seemed to have refound his motivation after the battles he had seen the day before. After a short breakfast, Lexi and Aiden let out their pokémon at the park to feed them, while thinking up a training plan.
''Okay, so what do we do first?'' Aiden asked, taking away some empty foldable food bowls.
''Well, let's think back, what went wrong with your battle?''
Aiden frowned and sat down next to her, ''Okay…let me remember. I think the darkness was the biggest problem. None of them were able to see anything, except for Hoothoot.'' Hoothoot, hearing his name, sat down on Aiden's shoulder. ''Hey there boy. Pidgey did her best, those Sand Attacks really helped, but she's not strong enough to do any real damage.''
''So maybe you should use her at the beginning, that way you start with an slight advantage.'' Lexi suggested.
''I could try that. Krabby did pretty well actually, but it would really help if he could move a bit quicker. That way he could dodge some attacks.''
''Well, than that's the plan. Let's practice with Krabby first, to try and get his movement better, and we can continue in the evening to help everyone get more used to fighting in the dark.
A small stone flew past them and Lexi quickly turned around. Pero was holding a clump of dirt and threateningly held it up to Serafine, who snorted with her head held high. ''What is going on here? Why are you fighting?'' Lexi stood up to walk towards them, but Pero let go of the dirt and moved away.
Lexi turned back to Aiden with her eyebrows raised ''Do you have a clue what happened?''
''No. Maybe they were fighting?''
''Well…..I guess it solved itself?'' Lexi wondered, looking at Serafine, who had started grazing again. ''Let's put them back in their pokéballs and find out if there is a battlefield around here.''
After being pointed the way by Nurse Joy, Aiden and Lexi once again walked to the northside of the hill. ''She said it was right past the Gym,'' Aiden held his hand above his eyes and scanned the area. Lexi smelled a sweet familiar scent and looked around. A nearby farmer was feeding his tauros with the same pokéfood her family used. Lexi thought about home, what would her parents be doing right now?
''There it is!'' Aiden's voice shook her out of her thoughts. Lexi followed him to the battlefield, which already had a few scourge marks on it. Aiden took out a pokéball and informed Lexi of his plan. ''I remember one time when my mom's marill hurt his paw, she made him do some exercises to help blood flow. So I think that will be good to do with Krabby as well, to just keep doing those exercises every day.''
Lexi sat down on a bench and looked at Aiden and Krabby. Aiden moved his hands front to back, left to right and Krabby tried his best to mimic him. When his pincher became tired Aiden switched it up by letting him walk left and right as quick as he could. After a while Krabby looked very tired but proud, and even made a small jump to show off.
''I think that will be enough for now,'' Aiden gave his pokémon a berry as a treat, ''His reaction speed has improved and he seems much more in control of his feet. You go and rest now, maybe you can try again tonight.'' Aiden returned Krabby and looked up, ''You wanna go get some lunch?''
Lexi stood up from the bench, ''Sure.''
''Hey look,'' Aiden pointed in the distance. A boy with a red t-shirt and blonde hair knocked on the gym door and was let in by James.
''I wonder how his battle will go.'' Lexi pulled her backpack over her shoulder.
''Hopefully better than mine'' Aiden said jokingly.
(_)
When they came back from lunch the boy was long gone. The sun had reached its highest point and created a nice warm environment. Aiden walked to one side of the battlefield and took out a pokéball, ''Why don't we have a battle? I'm going with Hoothoot, you sent out whoever you want.''
Lexi smiled and took a pokéball from her belt, ''Come out Serafine!'' The ponyta shook her head in anticipation. ''Okay, we'll start. Serafine use Tackle.''
Hoothoot flew up quickly but was not able to dodge the attack, and got thrown back. ''Reflect and then Hypnosis'' Aiden ordered. Hoothoot jumped up and hastily created the rainbow colored shield in front of him as protection before staring at Serafine with glowing eyes. Serafine tried to counter with Ember but fell asleep before she could finish her attack.
''Ha ha,'' Aiden taunted playfully. ''What you gonna do now?''
Hoothoot was able to get in a few Tackle's, but luckily Serafine woke up quickly and fired an Ember at close range. Hoothoot pecked her as he flew away and then hovered in the air awaiting his trainers orders. Lexi could see Serafine had taken more damage than she thought.
''Let's finish this, use Flame Wheel.'' Serafine's flames grew bigger and Lexi clenched her fists in excitement. This was the fourth time she had seen Serafine use this attack and it still amazed her.
Hoothoot flew even higher but Serafine jumped up and threw her shoulder against him. Hoothoot fell flat on its back and it almost looked like Lexi had won. But as Serafine landed next to him, Hoothoot jumped up and catapulted himself against her as in retaliation. The attack hit hard and Serafine stayed down.
''Good job buddy!'' Aiden held up his pokémon, who was hooting loudly. Lexi kneeled down by Serafine and offered her an oran berry, giving the firehorse enough strength to stand back up. ''You did very well'' Serafine nickered and pushed her nose against Lexi's arm.
''That looked very interesting, are you guys trainers?'' Lexi looked up and saw a girl with light brown hair standing at the side of the battlefield. Next to her sat an espeon with a yellow vest on. ''Yes we are, my name is Lexi, and this is Aiden.'' The girl walked onto the field with the espeon following beside her, ''My name is Sharon, nice to meet you. I am a trainer as well. Just got home after a couple months of travel, but I'm planning on going again in the near future. Right now I'm trying to keep my pokémon in shape by battling in my home town. One of you up for it?''
Aiden shook his head. ''I don't know, most of my pokémon are pretty tired. I only have Pidgey and I haven't trained her that much.''
''And what about you?'' she nodded to Lexi. ''You got any that can fight?''
''Well, I guess Pero still need his exercise.'' Lexi walked to one side of the field and noticed the espeon lightly pushing the girl to the other side. ''Okay, come out Kamy.''
Instead of using her espeon, the girl sent a skiploom. It hovered a few feet above the battlefield and looked down on Pero, who smashed his fists together.
''Pero, do Rock Throw'' Lexi ordered. Pero dug his hand into the ground and launched a big rock towards the skiploom, immediately knocking it to the ground. Lexi was certain another Rock Throw would knock it out completely.
''Skipskiploom'' the skiploom exclaimed and Sharon nodded. ''Do Synthesis.'' The flower on skiploom's head turned white and any damage skiploom had seem to vanish. Lexi smiled, happy it wouldn't just be an easy win, and ordered a Tackle. Pero launched itself to the skiploom but before he was able to reach it Sharon ordered her attack. ''Bullet Seed.''
Pero flew backwards when a rain of glowing seeds collided with him. He growled slightly when he landed face down on the ground, but then stayed silent. Aiden held up his hand and declared Sharon the winner.
''Wow, your pokémon is pretty strong.'' Lexi retrieved Pero and walked to Sharon. ''I think your pokémon is in a whole other skill group than mine. May I ask how many badges you have?''
''Oh, I completely forgot about that. I probably should have told you before we fought.'' Sharon showed the inside of her jacket, where they could see 4 badges pinned on. ''Wow, which one are those? I only recognize two.'' Aiden asked.
Sharon traced the first badge with her finger, ''This one is the Piebald badge, which I got after defeating the Dark Gym. It is the first one I got, right before I went away. And this one is the Lapis badge I got from the Rock Gym.'' Sharon's finger then moved to a green badge with orange edges, which reminded Lexi of a boomerang, ''This is the Wing badge I got from the Flying Gym, and this is the Smok Badge I got from the Dragon Gym.''
''What is that last one supposed to be?''
''Well, I'm not really able to see it very clearly myself. But I've been told it is supposed to represent a dark cave with two red eyes in the middle as the 'dragon'. I wonder which dragon pokémon the eyes are based on.''
Aiden quickly apologized, ''Oh, I'm sorry. I didn't realise you couldn't see.''
Sharon shook her head and smiled. ''It's okay, don't worry. I get those responses from most tourists. But which badges do you have?''
''I only have the Piebald Badge.''
''And I only have the Lapis Badge.'' Aiden admitted.
''So you haven't been able to get the Piebald one yet?''
''No, I tried but it's pretty difficult in the dark.''
Sharon smiled. ''I'll give you a small tip that might help you. The dark messes with your pokémon's vision, so maybe you should do the same to your opponents.'' The espeon nudged her knee and the girl looked aside. ''You're right Milly, we need to go. I hope I'll see you two again. Bye!''
Lexi and Aiden both waved, but then blushed as they realised what they were doing and vocalised their goodbyes.
''What do you think she meant?'' Lexi questioned as they sat down.
''Mess with their vision….but none of James' pokémon are impaired by the dark, so then she means that I need to make it more difficult for them another way, I guess. The only move I can think off is Sand Attack.''
''Let's take a break so you can think it over, then we can come back in the evening when everyone has had a rest.'' Lexi picked up her bag and they walked back.
When they returned to the field in the evening, Aiden was still working on his plan. Lanterns were on everywhere and it was quiet. It reminded Lexi of when she just got her badge. The battlefield looked even worse than in the afternoon. Whole chunks were ripped out of the ground and dropped around the field.
Aiden kicked away a small chunk with his shoe, ''What a mess. It's good we weren't planned on using it.''
''We weren't?''
''Hello! How are we going to train in the dark with those spotlights on the field?''
''Oh, of course. I forgot about that.''
''But I still feel people should clean up after themselves. What if we wanted to use it?''
''Well, we didn't really go over it with a broom after our fights either.''
''I guess, but we didn't leave anywhere near a mess like this. Come on, let's get started.''
''You have plan?''
''Somewhat, I looked through a couple pokémon training books. Some talked about very specific things, like practising jumping or improving turnability, but that seems way too detailed for now. I think it is best if I focus on bettering their aim and movement as a whole.''
They walked away from the battlefield till they were just able to see each other. Aiden let out his pokémon and clapped his hands together ''Okay everyone, tomorrow is going to be our big fight so we need some more training in the dark. Let's first start with a small game…Lexi?'' Aiden turned around, ''do you think Pero could use some rocks to make three circles on the ground here? I need them in a row, with a bit of room between them.''
''Sure.''
While Pero created the circles, Aiden checked in with Krabby ''Hey Krabby, do you feel good enough to train with us?'', Krabby tapped his pincher against his stick in excitement. ''You and Pidgey are going to a circle game. I want you two to move to the correct circle when I tell you to go to the right, left or middle okay? The goal is to become more aware of where you are even though you can't see much. Hoothoot, you can stay here and help me see whether they are in the correct one.''
Hoothoot sat down on Aiden's shoulder and watched Pidgey and Krabby as they stumbled towards the circles. Lexi found a clean patch of grass and sat down to watch Aiden's pokémon. But as they were almost impossible to see, Lexi's only real way to tell how it was going was to listen to Hoothoot as he commended on his teammates work by either hooting short and loud or low and long. Lexi guessed the first sound was probably the 'well done' noise, but she didn't hear it very often in the beginning. She looked at Pero who sat beside her, ''It's not really that interesting to look at in the dark, huh?'' Pero just grumbled.
Slowly but surely Pidgey and Krabby seemed to become more comfortable with darkness and the sounds became more positive. After Hoothoot had hooted loudly six times in a row, Aiden stopped the exercise and gave them all a pet on the head.
''You're doing great, guys. Let's try aiming now, Pidgey, you can go and try to dodge the attacks while Krabby and Hoothoot aim at you.'' Pidgey jumped up and flew around but was immediately hit by Hoothoot. ''Oh yeah, that's also not really much of a challenge for Hoothoot. Pero, why don't you throw some rocks around that he can aim at.'' Pero begrudgingly picked up some rocks and started chucking them into the air.
''I'm feeling confident.'' Aiden sat down next to Lexi and looked at his pokémon who were training diligently. ''They were able to find the right circles much quicker than I had anticipated, and Krabby is still quite slow, but he doesn't trip nearly as much anymore. I really think they have become better and we stand a good chance tomorrow.'' Aiden smiled and looked at Lexi's bag, ''Egg still not moving?''
''No, not after that one time. Guess it's not ready yet.''
''I'm really excited to see what it will be.'' Suddenly his eyes went big, ''What if it's a legendary pokemon!''
Lexi thought about it for a moment but then shook her head, ''Legendary pokémon don't lay eggs, and I honestly don't know any legendary pokémon with these colors. I'm pretty sure it is just a normal pokémon.''
But Aiden didn't seem to hear her and had started fantasizing with a grin on his face, ''Maybe it has some kind of special powers, or it will grow up to be gigantic. That way it will be able to carry us everywhere, we'll never have to walk a day in our lives again!'' Aiden looked at her expectantly and Lexi gave in.
''Who knows, we can only know for sure when it hatches so better keep all options open for now.''
Aiden nodded happily and helped her stand up, before clapping his hands to get his pokémon's attention. ''Okay everyone, this was it for today. You've all worked very hard and I'm sure that will pay off tomorrow. Let's all get a good night sleep so we are well rested for our fight.'' Aiden returned his pokémon and Lexi returned Pero.
As they were walking back, Aiden suddenly stopped and pointed to some silhouettes near the battlefield. They walked closer and saw it was a woman with next to her a group of pokémon. The woman turned around when she heard them walk by. ''Oh, were you planning on using the battlefield?''
''No, we were on our way to our hotel room.'' Aiden explained, ''Why? Are you going to do something special with it?''
''Well, not really something special. I'm just fixing it'', the woman gestured to her group of pokémon and a Pidgeot stepped forward. The pokémon turned to the field and stretched out its wings completely before quickly moving them back and forth with great force, creating a powerful Gust. All the feathers, leaves, twigs, strings, small rocks and other things were blown off the field.
''But the field has whole chunks out of it, how can you fix something like that?'' Aiden asked.
The woman seemed happy with this question and started explaining passionately. ''Well, we start with Tori, she cleans the field with her Gust. When she's done we'll place these screens,'' she motioned to some sloped yellow screens on the side of the field, ''to minimise the noise. That sandshrew over there is Taylor, he does a small earthquake to loosen the top layer of the field and then Tori will empty this bucket with special formula evenly across the field. Then we put a big heavy plate on the field and let our big boy Troy jump around a bit till the stones are pressed back together.''
Lexi saw a big Tropius bent its nek and curiously look at them when its name was mentioned. ''Tori then dries the top layer with her Gust so Toby, that small smeargle over there on the bench, can paint the white markings. By tomorrow morning the field will be hardened out and ready to be used again. It might be a little bit more primitive than how other cities do it, but it works fine for us.'' Her pokémon had finished putting down the last screens, and the woman waved goodbye before disappearing between them, abruptly ending the conversation.
''Well, that was…interesting. I always wondered how those things were magically back together each morning, I guess you learn something new every day.''
Aiden just shrugged and they continued walking to the hotel in silence. When they reached the entrance tunnel Lexi looked beside her at Aiden and saw his thoughts were already far away, probably all the way to tomorrow. Busy with the battle he'd fight. Would he win, or lose again?