When I got home I encountered Blue again, who dragged me aside to talk once more. He looked around, making sure nobody could hear us before he spoke. "...I managed to get her out of her room briefly, but she's still pretty worried she might have upset you-For some reason."
Blue sighed. "Anyway, I reckon she'll start trying to hang out with you again in the morning, so be nice to her when she does, okay?"
I nodded silently. Satisfied, Blue left me to my own devices.
Day 16 at Professor Oak's Lab:
Gently another morning arrived, and I almost breathed a sigh of relief when I saw Chee waiting for me outside of my room. There were slight bags under her eyes and a puffiness that implied she had been crying not to long ago, but I was grateful just to see her out of her room.
"Hey Chee, you holding up okay?" I asked with a smile.
Chee nodded quietly, holding up her gloves to show that they no longer had any holes in them. A moment later she pulled her hands back, as if reconfirming there were no holes for herself. Then she gripped her hands together tightly.
...I'm sorry.
"It's alright, really." I replied, raising a hand to try and calm her-But she flinched when I began to speak.
I'm sorry! We can do whatever you want today, so please don't stop being friends with me!
I felt my expression stiffen as she flinched backwards, and I froze in place. I thought for a few moments, before carefully responding.
"In that case... I want to have our daily battle, just like always! If I win, we'll go train with the kids in town, and if you win, we'll do whatever you want." I grinned at her.
...Really?
"I promise."
Finally I saw the fear in her face begin to fade away as she began to relax. Even though she'd been dragging me around the forest like a lunatic just a few days ago... She seemed to be more concerned about losing my friendship from a panic attack than from almost killing me.
"...Blue said you don't have any other friends."
With a sour expression, Chee gave me a nod.
"Would you like to make some new friends today?"
She shook her head. I can't make friends, everybody thinks I'm weird and won't talk to me.
"It's just that they don't understand. But the kids in this town are all 'battle maniacs', as you would put it." I offered a hand to her. "If we do our deciding battle of the day in the Park, I bet you'll be surprised how many kids will think you're awesome!"
Chee looked at my hand hesitantly. ...Do you really think they'd like me?
"I do. Do you trust me?"
Wordlessly, the mute black-haired girl took my hand.
...
The other kids were pretty surprised I showed up to the morning training with a girl in tow. I could tell that Chee was nervous about the whole situation by how tightly she was gripping my hand. In fact, it was actually pretty painful for me, but I tried not to let it show on my face.
"Hello everyone! I did promise to help train you guys today, but I have another promise that takes priority over that." I gestured to the girl beside me. "Every morning, Chee and I have a Pokemon battle. The winner gets to decide what we do for the rest of the day."
I paused, realising a snag in my plan. "I'm just going to say this now, but if she wins and any of you bully her for it, I won't play with you anymore."
I led Chee to the battleground as I talked. "Chee is an amazing battler you know, you'll all be astonished!"
As we reached the battlefield, I could tell that Chee was losing her grip. She was standing there shaking, unable to focus with all the attention directed at her.
"Nervous?" I asked softly.
She nodded quietly, staring at the ground. Yeah, I think the c-crowd is a b-bit too large. M-maybe we should-
"I see, it must be hard to let other people see you lose, huh?" I poked at her competitive spirit, hoping to light a fire under her. Her shaking stopped suddenly, and her eyes drifted up to meet my own, a confused look in her eyes.
...Hah? What do you mean by that?
"Well, I mean I'm obviously going to win today. Look at Yeller, he's in perfect form!" I gestured to my Rattata, who caught on to my bit by doing some overly dramatic posturing. "It's alright, I understand, we can go home if you don't wanna lose here."
No way! I'm gonna win like I do every day!
I grinned as I met her fiery gaze. I'd successfully distracted her from the crowd around her. Both Chee and I took a few steps forward from the designated trainer area, entering the battlefield itself. Chee released her Bulbasaur into the battlefield, and Yeller jumped out in front of me.
"Rick, initiate us if you would be so kind." I ordered smugly.
"But-You're both in the arena... Won't it be kind of dangerous?"
"Watch and learn Rick. Our battles are something different."
Rick looked between both Chee and myself, while we kept our eyes locked on each other. With a sigh, he raised his arm in the air. "Begin!" He exclaimed, swinging it down rapidly.
And Both Chee and I immediately broke into a sprint. "Tackle!" I called, as Yeller and I ran side by side towards the Bulbasaur. Chee vaulted forward, pivoting on one leg to catch the eye of her Bulbasaur without allowing me to make out the command. I broke away from Yeller, sliding out just far enough to catch a glimpse of what she had planned.
...Whip from above!
"Vine Whip coming in from above!" I called out, and Yeller deftly dodged the vines with a sideways roll as they swung directly down on him. I took advantage of this moment to redirect and start sprinting towards Chee.
Her gaze met mine with a pout. Stop trying to catch me! Her eyes shot to meet the Bulbasaur instead. Growl, then overpower it's Tackle with your own!
Without even looking, I ordered my Rattata. "Use Tail Whip when it growls Yeller!"
I reached close enough to make a grab at Chee, who leaned to her right to start dashing. Just as I reached out a hand to grasp her, she revealed her lean was a faint and broke into a full tilt sprint to her left.
All according to plan.
As she did so, I heard the noise of both Yeller and Bulbasaur clashing, and I turned tail on Chee and sprinted as fast as I could. When I turned to look back, we'd had quite a distance placed between us, and Yeller was sent reeling backwards towards me.
The kids in the crowd spoke with surprise and confusion, hardly able to follow this new spectacle of a battle that was unfolding before their eyes.
...Status!
[Yeller
Rattata*
Hp: 17/24
Atk: 17
Def: 12
Sp. Atk: 8
Sp. Def: 12
Spd: 18
Skills:
-Empty-
Moves:
Tackle
Tail Whip
Quick Attack
Focus Energy]
I smiled mischievously to myself. I'd wanted to give Chee a chance to shine, but I still wanted to win this battle. "Alright Yeller, it's time! Focus-1!"
The yellow Rattata's eyes met my own, and there was an instant of understanding. With a powerful leap, the Rattata propelled itself towards me, leaping into my arms. Then it stood in my grip, closing it's eyes to focus.
-Focus Energy.
A move where the Pokemon had to stop moving for multiple seconds in order to build up a powerful blue energy in order to land critical hits.
The Pokemon had to stop moving. That didn't mean it couldn't be moved while it was charging it's power.
To her credit, Chee seemed to figure it out almost immediately, judging that her Bulbasaur wouldn't be able to get in my way in time-It's pretty slow-She sprinted towards me at full tilt. Fortunately, I had gotten enough distance between us that she couldn't get to me before the blue energy solidified around my Rattata.
Yeller's eyes opened, emboldened by a newly refined power just as Chee reached out towards him.
"-Quick Attack!"
And in a flash of white energy Yeller sped across the field, slamming into the lazy Bulbasaur in a explosion of white, followed by a blast of Blue. A critical hit had landed successfully, and the Bulbasaur was sent backwards a few feet.
Ordinarily it would take Yeller at least 6 hits to knock out Chee's Bulbasaur, but using the power of Focus Energy he could deal twice as much damage, and possibly defeat it in as few as three hits.
I didn't let up for even a moment, immediately going for another attempt at a grapple on Chee since she was close-by, and she pulled back to a safe distance in reaction.
The addition of the focus energy strategy was useful for my battling of course, but it's greatest utility was in the focus on me as Yeller's carrier. Ordinarily Chee could get as far away from me as she liked, so long as she could maintain line of sight to her partner. However, with the risk of me protecting Yeller from attacks, she now had to stay close enough to me to interfere if the need should arise, meaning I had more opportunity to tangle with her physically.
And if she was grappling with me, even if she was stronger, she couldn't make eye contact. I grinned at her, fire burning behind both our sets of eyes.
The fight returned to the former pace, but now Chee was forced to stick much closer to me as our Pokemon traded blows back and forth. Even for a girl with her level of agility it was difficult to constantly evade my grapples.
Finally she caved, and made some distance between us in order to escape from my onslaught of grapples.
"Focus-2!" I called, and Yeller once again leapt into my arms. Without wasting even a moment Chee dived in towards me, a frustrated look on her face. As she reached her hand out to try and smack Yeller out of my grip her eyes met mine, and then widened.
...Oh that's just mean.
And with a powerful heave, I sent Yeller flying into the sky. Spinning well out of reach of both Chee and her Bulbasaur.
Again, I reiterate, only the Pokemon itself has to stay still and focus. It can technically be moving. It did take quite a few trials for Yeller to be able to focus while flying through the air though, it was a feat only possible because of the strong bond of trust we shared.
I grabbed onto Chee's arm as my Partner began to glow blue, he stabilised himself in the air and landed on the ground with only a little bit of a stumble. "Quick Attack!" I called out as I pulled Chee towards myself, only to be wrenched back by her own strength. She pried herself out of my grip and dashed back towards the centre of the field, but it was too late.
Another flash of white and blue-Then the Bulbasaur stumbled back to it's feet.
"We've almost got 'em!"
I was startled when Chee herself reached out to try and grapple me, but I managed to successfully repel her attempt and escape past her Bulbasaur. It was time for the finishing touch.
"One more Quick Attack Yeller!"
He sped towards the Bulbasaur again but Chee was ready this time, a wave of vines burst out from the ground, forcing Yeller to evade into the path of a leech seed fired moments afterwards. The seed collided with Yeller, sprouting roots that reduced his momentum and began draining his energy.
Thinking on my feet, I altered the plan. "...Cancel to Tail Whip instead!" The Rattata followed my instruction, slapping it's bushy tail into the face of the Bulbasaur. "Finish it with Tackle!"
And with a powerful hit that otherwise wouldn't have done enough damage, Chee's Bulbasaur went down. The roots covering Yeller fell off as though they'd never been attached, and the field went quiet.
Chee and I both breathed heavily, sweat dripping from our bodies. "See?" I wheezed. "Told you I was going to win today."
Next time-I WILL win. She retorted, her eyes alight with passion.
"...What on earth was that battle?!" Brittney exclaimed, cutting in on our moment of rivalry. "Was-Was that even a battle? It seemed more like some sort of wrestling match!"
I shrugged. "I told you, we just fight different."
The kids began to swarm in, asking Chee question after question just as they had with me the day I'd fought with Blue. Chee wasn't ready for the questions, and before she could even try to answer them she'd be blindsided with another.
I couldn't help but smile, but I did step in before Chee could get too overwhelmed with the attention, forcing open some space around her.
"Calm down everyone, Chee is mute-So she can't communicate with us the way you normally would, but she still wants to be friends with everyone!"
I turned to look at the astounded black haired girl, and I flashed her a smile. "See? I told you they'd like you."
She stared wide-eyed at me for a few moments. ...Everyone are Battle Maniacs!?
"I think you're as much of a battle maniac as the rest of us, now."
Chee was thoughtful for a moment, then nodded eagerly.
...
As I'd promised, I took the entire squad of child battlers in for training today. We began as usual with a sprint, although they seemed to have more trouble keeping up with me than before. They'd probably been slacking on the sprints after I'd been away-I would have to make sure to drill in the importance of speed and stamina at a later date.
When we got back to training on battle specifically, a few of the kids tried to copy what Chee and I had been doing. I scolded them for being reckless, and showed them how acting the way we did without Chee's athleticism or my experience was a sure-fire way to get hurt. They seemed pretty depressed about that, so I taught them an emergency-only tactic as an apology for being misleading.
Once we reached midday Chee was swarmed by battle requests by the other kids. All of them had improved a lot since the last time I fought them-Although I took a sort of smug satisfaction in the fact that only Brittney and Rick were even able to come close to beating Chee.
On the topic of the brother-sister duo, they'd very evidently taken on the leadership role during the two weeks that I was away, and I wouldn't have it any other way. I didn't need to be micromanaging the training regime, to some extent they had to figure things out by themselves.
Rick's Weedle had evolved into a Kakuna-Transforming from a larval insect-like Pokemon into a cocoon Pokemon. It's battle power had dropped for now, but I reassured Rick it would evolve into an even stronger Pokemon after he trained it more.
After my two weeks of absence, the training force assembled in my name had more or less stabilised, with no new trainers joining nor trainers leaving in the last week. As such, I took the time to start properly acquainting myself with the kids beyond some basic general-purpose training. If I could help set each of them on a path to being able to become strong by themselves, it would only be good for Kanto in the long run.
Today I met a quiet kid named Chad, who liked to fight alongside his partner Pokemon Sandshrew. He had sandy blonde hair and his eyes were, like many people from Pallet town, a light silver colour. Chad told me that one of his dreams was to beat a powerful water or grass-type trainer with his Sandshrew, since it was often said that ground-type Pokemon were useless against water and grass type Pokemon.
The duo were a fairly competent fighting pair, although they seemed to be somewhat held back by Sandshrew only knowing two moves-Scratch and Defence Curl. I look forward to seeing what the two of them can achieve once they grow stronger.
As the sun began to set on the rural Pallet Town, the kids began to disperse and head home leaving only Chee and I alone. I was about to suggest we head home when I felt a gentle tug at the shoulder of my shirt.
Chee stood sheepishly at my side, hanging her head.
"Is something wrong...?" I asked, cautious that I had done something to upset her. For all her good points, she was a little easy to upset.
Slowly she raised her head, her eyes meeting mine. Thank you. Her damp eyes were filled with an intense gratitude, and she looked to be on the verge of tears again. I never thought I'd be able to hang out with this many people...
I smiled at the innocent young girl. "Do you think you made any new friends?"
I don't know... But I'm happy.
"That's good. I'm glad that you've Cheered up, Chee."
She nodded gently, and the two of us cheerfully walked home together.