Chapter 15: Climbing uphill.
Korrina had left the Pokemon Center early to find a private place to talk to Looker and explain her situation. She chose a remote location on the side of the mountain for a video call. Lucario guarded her while she was talking. Looker silently listened as Korrina spewed her worries.
"Here's my question," Looker asked. He held his phone above the busy HQ of the International Police. Urgent footsteps mixed with his words, "Why couldn't we do this over intercoms."
"It makes you seem less like a voice in my head and more like someone who cares about my feelings," Korrina said.
Looker sighed, "You think I'm heartless."
"No just too logical."
Korrina heard the Looker open the door to his office. He said, "You haven't started what you want to say, please continue."
"And now I think Tori looks up to me and," Korrina groaned, "I just don't know what to do."
Looker said, "Isn't Tori being inspired by you a good thing, he trusts you more. Your mission's easier."
"Please can you give me something other than the most logical answer?" Korrina asked. She and Lucario had already every scenario like that.
Looker went silent and he stayed silent for longer than he usually did. Korrina couldn't tell whether he was deep in thought or had fallen asleep. Eventually, he said, with the most kindness Korrina had ever heard from him (Which still wasn't much), "I will support what you believe."
"But I don't know what to believe," Korrina said, she had come to him for advice, not validation.
"Then believe in your duty, Korrina, you have to arrest him. That's your mission, and you have to do it, no matter how guilty it makes you feel," Looker said faltering back into his usual logistics.
"I know, but it seems like Tori's a nice guy," Korrina said.
"Nice people can still have dastardly plans," Looker said, the two of them were quiet, waiting for the other to talk, "Korrina I want to believe you but unless you can give me some evidence that Tori's a good person I can't cancel the mission."
"Why can't you?" Korrina asked.
Looker replied, "There's this council that determines missions and I'm only a member, so I only have one vote to decide Tori's fate-" Looker suddenly stopped talking, he put a finger over his mouth and whispered, "Someone's coming, I'm leaving." And then Looker stopped the call.
"What do you mean!" Korrina shouted but Looker could no longer hear her, "You didn't even give me any advice!" Korrina angrily glared at the phone, imagining that Looker was still looking at the other side of the screen so she can see her hateful gaze.
Someone behind her coughed, Korrina spun around and saw Grant, in one hand he held a mountain climbing tool, and his Amaura was cowering behind him, evidently afraid of Korrina. Grant asked, "Bad time?"
Korrina took a deep breath and replied, "No it isn't."
Grant opened his arms for a hug, gesturing for her to come in and said, grinning, "Korrina it's been too long." Korrina entered his embrace.
"Arceus you smell," Korrina said, leaving quickly, Grant's body had the lingering smell of dirt and sweat from climbing a mountain.
Grant laughed, he looked at Korrina closely, "Man I missed this. Where have you been and where's your Lucario?"
Lucario leaped down from his perch, and Amaura dug her large face deeper inside the bottom of Grant's pants. Grant laughed merrily and hugged Lucario as well, he uncomfortably looked at Korrina.
"I've been traveling across the world," Korrina said.
Grant asked, "You find any worthy Pokemon Trainers?"
"A lot," Korrina said, thinking about the highly dangerous criminals she fought across the years,
Grant sighed, "Good for you. You know without you, Kalos has become boring for Gym Leaders."
"Doesn't Bea or Viola still spar with you?" Korrina asked.
Grant snorted, "Bea and Viola never have time. Nor do any Gym Leader, the only people I get to battle are little kids," He looked at his gem-embedded watch, "Speaking of which I should probably start doing."
He started walking to a nearby mountain in which his gym was built into. He asked Korrina, "Are you coming?"
Knowing that Tori and Hop were both going to challenge the gym today Korrina agreed and wanted to talk to Grant more. She followed Grant to his gym, catching up with her old sparring partner.
"Okay, so Grant typically uses physical attackers that are slow but have ways to slow down fast Pokemon like his Tyrunt and Onix. His Pokemon mainly don't have maneuverability and are quite susceptible to fast Pokemon."
"Yeah I know, so use dashes and utilize the speed of our Pokemon," Hop repeated, he tore the notebook away from Tori, "You've told me like a million times, take a break."
Tori reached for his notebook, but Hop kept putting it out of his reach. They had almost reached the gym when Hop finally gave him back his notebook. Tori asked Hop, "Are you worried?"
"What? About the gym?" Hop asked, "Nah, our Pokemon are strong enough."
Tori wanted to spread more of his anxieties on Hop, but they had sadly reached the gym and were ushered in by the employees of the gym.
Surprisingly, inside the mountain the gym was built on, there was another mountain, and colorful stones were scattered across its side, Grant seemed to have transformed his gym into a climbing course. A trolley covered the distance from the foot of the mountain to the peak that was soaked with sunlight. Hop walked to the trolley but one of the employees stopped him. He said, "If you want to challenge the gym you must climb the mountain."
Hop groaned. He dragged himself to the foot of the mountain and looked up, the rocky cliffs were all he could see. He hurled himself onto the rocks and threw himself up the mountain, complaining the whole way up.
Tori took a deep breath and followed Hop up the cliffs slowly, he grabbed onto each colored stone firmly. Every few stones he glanced upward, looking at all the challengers climbing up the mountain with him. Many started to give up at the halfway point and climbed back down. Hop would've done the same if he hadn't seen Tori continue to climb up the mountain.
Weak winds blew from the top of the gym, stinging Tori's tired hands. He breathed deeply. Tori glanced upward, he saw the top of the mountain and a great blue sky inviting him higher, but he couldn't tell whether that was his imagination or reality. Loud noises shooting through his ears, Tori reached his hand upward to get to the next rock but instead of touching the plastic rock, his hand snatched onto an actual rock.
Tori pulled upwards, his feet dangling in the air, he suddenly realized he didn't have enough energy to pull himself upward. His left hand lost grasp of the rock and he was now dangling in the air. Adrenaline shot through him and his senses were suddenly enhanced. He could hear Hop shouting commands to his Pokemon and the sky's color sharpened. However, none of that mattered as he felt his right hand slip, Tori looked down and instantly turned nauseous after he realized how far up, he was. His hands and feet frantically scrambled to hold onto something.
Tori lodged one of his feet into a part of the cliff and he sighed in relief. He hauled himself over the cliff and arrived at the official battlefield for the Cyllage City gym.
It was built slightly inside the mountain like a little crater. Fences surrounded the battlefield, poorly protecting the spectators from the battle. Korrina was leaning against the fences, she noticed his panting and waved at him. Tori limped over to her and sat down beside her, watching Hop battle Grant through the gap between the fences
"The battle doesn't look good for Hop," Korrina said, her eyebrows furling at his Wooloo. The sheep was currently trapped inside Grant's Onix's tail and was being mercilessly smacked into the ground.
"Wooloo use reversal!" Hop commanded, he evidently had given up hope and was just trying to not lose so badly.
Wooloo's head glowed orange and with an ear-piercing bleat, he flipped Onix over, smashing his face into the dirt. Wooloo landed on the ground painfully, it grunted trying to get back up.
"Onix use dig!" Grant said, the rock snake skillfully dug into the ground, disappearing in a matter of seconds.
"Wooloo be on your guard," Hop said. Tori watched the ground, seeing if there were any vibrations, there were none. It seemed like Onix had disappeared instead of digging underground.
The earth shook. Hop shouted, "Wooloo get out of the way!"
Wooloo dashed away just before Onix resurfaced, his long body covered the roof of the gym.
Grant smirked, "Onix use stone edge, finish that Wooloo off!"
Stones smashed into the battlefield, scattering dirt everywhere and blinding everyone. Wooloo didn't even know where to run as the rocks landed around him, trapping him. The dust around Wooloo disappeared as Onix came hurtling down, his tail crashed on Wooloo. Onix slithered away revealing Wooloo, his whole face red and his wool dirty.
Hop rushed over to Wooloo, he tenderly picked up Wooloo and said to Grant, "That was a good rematch."
Grant nodded, "You're not too bad yourself," He shot a confused look at Korrina, Korrina pretended not to see it.
Tori asked, "Hop you've fought Grant before?"
Hop turned to him, surprised that he had gotten up, and said, "Yeah at the chateau. What took you so long?" Tori suddenly realized how challenging a fight this was going to be. Hop hadn't won even though he had a plan and had fought Grant before.
"I think it's just that you went too fast," Grant said, "You got here faster than me, I'm surprised your heart hasn't burst." He looked to Tori, "So are you another challenger?"
"Yeah," Tori replied. Grant gestured for him to enter the battlefield, Tori struggled to get back up, leaning against Korrina to regain his balance. He walked to the battlefield, while Hop moved back to the spectator stands.
Grant looked at him directly, and asked, "So do you have any Pokemon or are you going to fistfight my Pokemon." Anxiety crawled through his hands, numbing them like they had paralyzed them.
Tori snapped out of his worries, he muttered, "Stick to the plan, what's the worst he can give me?" he took out Helia's Luxury ball (Helia had forced him to buy one for her) and threw it at the battlefield. Helia popped out of the Pokeball and haughtily snorted a wisp of flame.
Grant raised an eyebrow, "Never fought against a Fennekin before, I think every trainer who had one held off on using it," Grant casually threw his Pokeball into the battlefield, and a blue Amaura popped out. Her flowing mane glowed in the intense sunlight. The two stared at each other's Pokemon, thinking about how they would act.
"Can someone do something!" Hop shouted, "I didn't stay here to watch a glorified staring contest!"
"You're right Hop," Grant said pointing at Helia, "Alright Amura icy wind slow that fox down," Amura's face inflated, and she let out a gust of strong wind, the icicles inside it stabbed into Helia. She closed her eyes and struggled to keep her grip.
"Flame charge Helia!" Tori commanded. Helia tried to summon fire around her but they were extinguished too quickly by the wind and ice. She gave up and tried to run toward Amaura, but Amaura just calmly backed away.
Grant said, "Amura drop the wind and use ancient power."
The stinging air disappeared, Helia surrounded herself in fire and charged forward. Amaura summoned several purple rocks that crashed into the air, and Helia dashed out of the way. She grunted and lunged at Amaura.
Grant calmly said, "Ice beam aimed at her leg," Amura froze the air around her, the beam of ice attached to Helia's leg, weighing her down. Helia grunted, the ice jutted out of her leg, and scratched her leg. Helia tried to push the ice off her foot by scraping it on the ground. Amaura and Grant both watched Helia's try and fail to get the ice off her foot, containing their laughter.
Tori anxiously looked at the long beam of ice that had stubbornly stuck itself on Helia's foot, "Helia ignore it and use ember." A blast of flame hit Amaura, she cried melodiously, and the side of her neck had darkened visibly, like it had been charred.
"Helia now's our chance to use fire spin!" Tori commanded. Helia spun her head around while blowing fire, and a tornado of flame shot at the weakened Amaura. She limped out of the way, her leg grazing the fiery blaze.
Grant gritted his teeth, "Amaura create some mist, we can't let that fire touch you," The mist blew out of Amaura's mouth, it surrounded the battlefield, making it impossible to see inside the blurry wind.
"We can't let her get away!" Tori shouted into the mist because he didn't know where Helia actually was. He knew if Amaura regained her composure, she would easily beat them, "Use ember blow through the mist."
Helia shot a long blast of flame that burnt through the mist, it burnt through the water but didn't reach its target. Suddenly, Tori felt the area next to him grow colder, he tried to warn Helia of Amaura's location, but he spoke too late.
"Icy wind again!" Grant commanded, Amaura puffed up her cheeks and shot out another long blast of cold wind. Helia was shot to the other side of the battlefield, the long stick of ice spun around her leg, scratching her tail and legs multiple times until she was able to regain her balance, "Finish her off, use ancient power!"
Purple rocks floated from the ground, spinning ominously around Amaura. Helia surrounded herself in flames again but when she tried to run the sharp ice stabbed into the back of her foot, she yowled in pain and fell. The purple rocks shot at Helia, Helia weakly turned her head to look at Tori, his hands were locked together like he was praying. The rocks crashed down and shattered, pebbles dust, and debris scattered everywhere. Everyone in the stadium shielded their eyes from the dust. Tori was the first to peek them open, and what he saw was not what he expected.
Helia's yellow fur burned red hot like she was a living fireball, individual hairs flew around her like she was a storm that was blowing the hair around her. The large chunk of ice that was attached to her foot was slowly melting, drops of water dripped down her leg only to instantly evaporate.
"Didn't think I'd trigger Blaze but okay," Grant said, he looked at Helia curiously, surprised that she was able to survive and triggered her ability, powering her up when her health is low.
Tori, equally surprised, stuttered, "Helia… use flame charge let's take out that Amaura!"
A red-hot inferno surrounded Helia, turning her into a living meteor. She charged at Amaura. Amaura created a green barrier between them, Helia bonked into it like fly. She slowly fell off the shield and struggled to get back to her feet. Grant smirked, "Good thinking, using protect, now Amaura use ancient power."
"Helia use fire spin on yourself, gain some height." Tori commanded, thinking of the time she flew from Viola's hurricane. Helia became a tornado of flame with her in the center, she shot upward, avoiding all of Amuara's attacks and she crashed into the ground.
Amaura tried to use protect again but couldn't complete the shield before Helia crashed into her, flames scattered in a circle around her impact, baking the ground. Amaura winced, her whole body was darker than before.
Grant said, "Amaura use icy wind to push her away!"
Amaura puffed up her cheeks, inhaling the air around her. Helia angrily got back up and trekked through the wind, the icicles melting before they could even touch her, creating a bubble where no icicles could enter, her eyes glimmered maliciously. Amaura started walking backward, afraid of being burnt. Helia chased after Amaura around the stadium in a slowed version of tag. Tori, realizing the one weakness of the icy wind, called out to Helia, "Just last a bit longer, she can't have that much breath left!" Helia grunted and kept walking, she didn't even have the strength to complain to Tori.
Amaura's face was starting to turn red as she ran out of oxygen. Grant, realizing this, said, "Amaura use thunder wave and try to dodge Fennekin's attacks, she can't hold on much longer."
Amaura finally gasped a breath of air but as soon as the wind pushing Helia back was gone, she leaped at Amaura and like a meteor she fell down at Amaura. The icy dinosaur had finally been taken down. Helia proudly stood over Amaura, she smirked at Grant and proclaimed loudly(In her thoughts), "Is that all you've got Grant?"
"Argh," Grant cried out, he returned a fainted Amaura to its Pokeball, Helia fell onto the ground and shook her head surprised that her perch disappeared, "Well, it was hard for me to come back from that. You know I have to give you credit, I didn't think your Fennekin could survive icy wind long enough to make my Amaura run out of breath, I wasn't even expecting that."
Helia snorted, Tori translated, "You think I- I mean Helia's that weak?"
"Nah kid, I'm just surprised that you're able to use her strength well, most people would get impatient," A glimmer of mischief appeared in Grant's eyes, he took out one of his Pokeballs and threw it up and down, "Guess you're not like most people, huh?"
He threw the Pokeball into the stadium. A Binacle popped into the battlefield, its two hands surveying Helia closely, "Alright Binacle get close with razor shell." Binacle leapt into the air with his two hands and cartwheeled toward Helia.
Helia growled loudly, small wisps of fire burst through her flame as Binacle charged toward her with surprising speed, despite the bottom part of it being a rock.
"Show it your acceleration as well use Flame charge," Tori commanded, regaining his lost confidence. Helia dashed out of the way effortlessly, leaving a trail of fire behind her.
"I'm not going to play tag with you, Binacle use ancient power," Grant said. Binacle's hands glowed purple, but instead of conjuring purple floating rocks, it turned the rock they were living in purple as well. Binacle dashed forward with increased speed, and Tori's eyes popped out, he didn't plan for such maneuverability.
"Helia use fire spin, we need to slow it down," Tori shouted, Helia dashed backward a bit more and summoned a tornado of fire.
Grant smirked, "Binacle use withdraw!" Binacle's two hands disappeared inside the purple rock and charged into the storm of flames. The rock was spun around until it finally popped out at the top of the tornado. One of Binacle's hands appeared, and its claws were straightened out to resemble a sword. It slashed down at Helia, unable to dodge Binacle she took the full hit of the move.
Helia winced her whole face glowed as if it was about to erupt in flames, Tori asked, "Can you still fight?" She closed her eyes and shook her head. Tori solemnly returned her to her Pokeball.
Korrina commented, "Helia's quite resilient for such a young Pokemon, holding on to the blaze state for that long would probably kill other Pokemon." Hop and Grant nodded, agreeing with her judgment.
"Alright Lily," Tori said, he threw her Pokeball into the field, "You're up." Lily elegantly landed on the ground, sweeping some of the dust off her leaves.
Grant commanded, "Binacle let's get to it, use ancient power, and whack that flower down!"
"Lily use quiver dance and then leaf storm," Tori said, Lily danced away from Binacle, but it was still too slow and her hand was scratched by the purple rock. Thankfully she blew him back with a barrage of leaves.
"Another ranged attacker with a dash, where's the variety?" Grant sighed, "Well fine Binacle use fling!" Everyone other than Binacle looked confused after hearing that command. Binacle nodded and tugged one of his hands out of the rock and threw it at Lily. It grabbed onto Lily, slithering around her body. Lily tried to grab the hand but it wormed away from her leaves every time like it was coated with oil.
"Lily use leaf storm, get him off you," Tori shouted, Lily summoned sharp leaves around her, and they swirled around her. Binacle's hand scratched into Lily to not be flung into the storm. Lily cried and pushed all the leaves of the storm outward. Tori had to roll out of the way of her leaves.
Grant plucked a leaf out of his elbow and smiled, "Didn't see that coming huh? Binacle hold her down, also Binacle get up close and use razor shell."
The Binacle that had come loose slunk down to Lily's feet and trapped it under his hand. Lily struggled to pry the Binacle off as the Binacle still inside the rock hopped over to her, its hand glowing blue. Tori said, "Lily use energy ball on that Binacle." Lily hurriedly conjured a sphere of solar energy and shot it at the Binacle latched onto her foot. That Binacle, who was outside of the rock, dashed back inside the rock, joining his brother in slashing Lily. Lily used a quiver dance to avoid one of the hands but got hit by the other. Holding her shoulder, she limped away.
"Binacle use cross chop, hit her before she can react!" Grant commanded. The two Binacle hands leapt out of the rock and slashed at Lily.
Tori said, "Punish those hands for leaving their rock use energy ball." Lily charged up the sun, harnessing its power into a glowing sphere, she shot it at the Binacle but they had already withdrawn within their rock, which blocked the attack, only glowing briefly from it. Tori said, "Lily use leaf storm and force those hands out of the rock."
Lily conjured more leaves from her and they flew around the stadium like stationary raindrops. Suddenly all the leaves barraged the rock, it was blown around for a while, however, all the storm did was scrape the rock and the two hands still wouldn't come out. Lily looked back at Tori, he projected into her mind, "If only we could get that rock away from those Binacle, then they'll be screwed." Lily nodded and increased the amount of leaves hitting the rock, determined to break it.
Grant snorted, "Tsk, tsk. How your determination is used. Binacle use ancient power!" The rock glowed purple and sunk downward like the winds from the storm didn't even exist and the resulting shockwave knocked Lily off her feet, she fell onto the ground. She tried to pull herself up, but her injured shoulder filled her mind with pain and she fall back down again. Tori held his hands against his head, he wished he couldn't feel Lily' pain. He could feel his mouth open to forfeit but he realized if he did all this pain would be for nothing.
"Cross chop again we're getting close!" Grant said excitedly. His two Binacles jumped out of the rock and formed an X over the fallen Lily. She rolled out of the way and hit them with more leaves as if threatening them to come closer.
Grant said, "Don't go any closer, get back to the rock."
The two Binacles hopped away from Lily, dodging her leaves with surprising grace. "Lily use grass knot to trip the two Binacle and get to their rock." Commanded Tori. Lily tapped the ground, and two thin vines emerged from the dirt to trip the two Binacles. Lily grunted, enduring her pain, and got up, using quiver dance she dashed to the ordinary-looking rock on the battlefield.
Grant's eyes widened, "Binacle fling the other Binacle and use razor shell." One Binacle grabbed the other one and flung him into the air and like an arrow shot out of a bow the flying Binacle flew toward Lily."
"Lily use quiver-" Tori started.
"Oh no you don't!" Grant interrupted, "Binacle use rock throw!"
The Binacle still on the ground picked up a rock and threw it at Lily's feet, Lily was hit in the middle of her quiver dance and fell onto the ground, mere feet away from Binacle's rock. The Binacle that had been used as an arrow whizzed past her slashing through her back and landed on the dirt, Lily cried loudly but she continued to push her way though the dirt. Determination being the only thing preventing her from blacking out, Lily crawled forward, reaching for the rock.
"Binacles get to that rock now!" Grant shouted, worry was laced with each syllable as for the first time in the fight, he now had the possibility of losing.
The Binacle on the ground hopped toward the rock while the other Binacle got his hand out of the dirt and ran to reach it. Tori said, "Hang on Lily, use stun powder!" A yellow sparkly powder came out of Lily's flower. The Binacles unwisely breathed it in and were paralyzed instantly. Lily got to the rock and using all her force threw it to the other side of the stadium.
Tori said, feeling victory in his grasp, "Lily use leaf storm one more time, let's go!" Lily cried and summoned even more leaves, like homing missiles they charged at the two Binacles, one of them instantly fainted but the other hand was able to avoid most of the leaves but was stabbed by a sharp leaf and was on the brink of fainting. Lily leaned her head over to see Binacle, her eyes were flickering and her strength to keep fighting was running low. The Binacle dizzily hopped toward Lily, his hand weakly glowed a light blue, it winced and fell over.
Tori said, "Lily use grass knot." Lily summoned very thin vines out of the ground, Binacle tripped, and it took him half a minute of wiggling to get up again. Tori and the Binacle looked at each other for one second, all he could see inside its mind was it using all its power to not faint, Tori looked away, not wanting to see his thoughts any longer as his thoughts of forfeiting the battle grew louder. Lily groaned and summoned two more leaves, one of them missed entirely but the other hit Binacle in the face. Both of Binacle's hands had fainted. Tori had won.
Tori stood there, registering what had happened. As if a circuit had been put into place in his mind he leapt into the air. He charged into the battlefield and picked up a damaged and dirt-covered Lily. He spun her around and shouted, "We won!" She weakly laughed and then closed her eyes; she had fainted as well.
Korrina and Hop got off the spectator stands and ran toward Tori. Korrina hugged her, equally ecstatic at his victory. Hop clapped him on the back and said, "That was amazing."
Grant slowly walked toward him as well, in his hands he held a shiny stone with a golden edge around it, "Please give the winner some space," He flourished his hand and his gym badge appeared on his palm, "To get his trophy. Tori, I award you the Trek Badge." Tori looked at the badge in awe, his hand shaking as he delicately took the warm Trek Badge from Grant.
"Hop I got the badge, yeah!" Tori said excitedly, Hop awkwardly cheered with him, however, he hurriedly changed the subject to their injured Pokemon and shooed him into the trolley that led down the mountain inside Cyllage City Gym.
Grant put his shoulder over Korrina and shook her, "Didn't think you'd bring a powerful trainer with you to Cyllage City."
"Do you mean Tori?" Korrina asked. Grant nodded and raised an eyebrow, confused at why she would need him to clarify.
"I meant both of them," Grant sighed and said, "I've faced Hop before, and honestly I think he fought well. He put me on edge, which is more than most of these bozos can do," He kicked a pebble of the large mountain and watched as it rolled beside trainers expecting a fight with Grant, "Why'd you ask me to go tough on him?"
Korrina used the lie she had prepared the minute she set her plan into motion, "Well don't you think Hop has a lot of untapped potential I think that maybe if we challenge him a bit harder than we challenge usual trainers he can become an even stronger trainer."
Grant looked at her skeptically, Korrina looked back at him neutrally, hoping that he wouldn't poke any further. Grant looked back down at the mountain and Korrina sighed a breath of relief. Grant continued, "Tori seems like a great trainer in the making, make sure you train him while the two of you travel to Shalour City."
Guilt suddenly gut-punched Korrina, it now dawned on her that if she arrested Tori there would be little to no chance that he would be able to compete in this Lumiose Conference or anyone after that because he would be on the International Police watchlist, preventing him from challenging any gym in any region. Tori seemed like he wanted to compete, but if he was a criminal mastermind this would all just be a façade to…Korrina took a deep breath, she needed to stop overthinking things. "Yeah, I will train him." She said, "I'll help on his way to his destiny, whatever that may be."
Tori proudly hung the Trek Badge on a piece of string, it jingled happily with the Buzz Badge he got from Viola. He tenderly placed the string carrying his two most valued items back into a hidden pocket inside his hoodie.
"It's done, all our Pokemon are being healed," Hop sat down opposite Tori, he placed his Rotom Phone on the table.
Tori asked, "So how did your fight go?"
"I used Rotom to defeat his Tyrunt and then he got smashed by Onix," Hop sighed, he looked down and continued, "Then you know the rest, my Wooloo was defeated."
"Hey Hop, it's fine," Tori said, he reached over the long table and patted Hop on the shoulder, "We can stay in Cyllage City until you beat Grant." Tori had used these words to comfort Hop but instead, he winced.
Hop lifted his head and said, "Yeah maybe not. Tori, I've been thinking, maybe you should go to the next gym without me."
"What? Hop wha- why?" words stumbled out of Tori's mouth.
Hop leaned back in his chair, "Everyone on this journey's saying that you're better than me and well, if today wasn't enough proof that you are then I don't know what is?"
"But you're just as good as me," Tori said, Hop snickered.
Hop replied, "No, I was never better than you," The advice from Alain and his brother rang in his head, "You're improving faster than I can imagine and if you wait for me to slowly catch up to your level then I'll just be dead-weight to you not an independent trainer. Plus, you need all the speed you can get to pay off Percy's debt before the year ends."
Tori had almost forgotten about Percy's car, something that he accidentally broke, the reason he had traveled Kalos anyway, he stuttered, "But don't you think this is a bit extreme? We'll defintle-probably have enough time to get to the Lumiose conference before the year ends… maybe?"
Hop shook his head, "You'll have enough time, but if I tag along, you'll be spending an extra few days in each city, you can't afford that, especially because you always insist on taking the scenic route," Tori snickered, "You continue your journey, I'll be staying here, training to become better."
Tori's eyes started to water. Nurse Joy shouted, "Hop your Pokemon have been healed."
Hop took his phone case, walked to Nurse Joy and retrieved his Pokemon. On his way out he patted Tori and said, "Don't miss me too much."
Tori watched as he left the Pokemon Center, it dawned on him that he may not be able to see Hop for a while, "Hop, good luck," He croaked. Hop looked back at him, his eyes equally blurry, and grinned. He said a sentence that Tori would repeat in his mind daily until he met Hop again:
"I return your luck to you. Don't worry, Tori. I won't need it anyway."