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Chapter 6 - The Trainer’s Eye

The early-morning sun above beamed down on Route 2, pleasantly shining down on Pokémon and humans alike. The cool temperatures and gentle breeze added to the ambiance and serenity. A textbook-perfect morning for traveling.

“So… when is Regulation C even used? It seems… too restrictive to use. I know that the battle with Juniper was at her request, so I can get that to eliminate any variables in the data she wanted to collect…”

‘Oh, right... I promised I’d go over battle regulations with him, didn’t I?’

Sighing lightly, she tore her eyes away from the trees along Route 2 down at the screen of her Fine Styler, flipping it back open to show the Unova Pokémon League Rulebook on both screens. William was next to her with his Xtransceiver scrolling through the same document, albeit with more difficulty because of the screen size.

Lena thought for a moment through her memory to recall, quickly coming up with an answer. “It’s most common during certain special tournaments or events. Gym Battles, Elite Four, and Champion battles use B. And A is…”

“Common street battles, right…” William finished as she looked at him expectedly, but he was slightly frowning as he glanced back at the small screen on his wrist. “The size of this thing is gonna be the death of me…” He muttered as he carefully pinched it to zoom up to scroll up faster, and then zoomed back in. The slightest touch of his finger across the screen sent him scrolling back down, prompting a curse under his breath as he repeated the action.

Lena gave a sympathetic smile, grateful for her new Fine Styler that had much bigger screens and navigation controls. ‘I’d be in the same boat with my normal Capture Styler… only a button and directional pad to navigate? Only voice control to type? No thanks.’

Around them, their Pokémon were out for fresh air, as they thankfully hadn’t seen any travelers in a while. Charon stood a bit behind William and stared off into the distance through the trees and forest. He was holding Ronin as he did so, who was speaking to Rina who walked beside them both.

“Oshaaawott… Osha-wott-wott?” (Water is… pressure?)

“Float-Floatzeel… Zel-Float-Floatzel.” (You ever hear the phrase ‘go with the flow’? For Water Types, pressure is everything. Physical water moves are all about managing your Water energy into a consistent flow, but Special moves are all about building up Water energy and releasing it all at once.)

Arthur nodded and hummed in agreement with Rina's analogy. “Indeed. When I use Water Pulse, it feels like a rush of water filling up my arm and hands, until I release the water forward. When I use Ice Punch, it feels… more akin to building it up, gathering it and adding instead of pushing…”

“Zeeeeeel.” (Ice Moves are different, let’s not confuse him too much right now.”) Rina chastised.

“Oshawott? Osha?” (What about… Water from my body? That I don’t… release?)

Lena diverted her attention from that conversation and turned back to William as he spoke up again. “What about scoring? I remember that Professor Juniper said ‘1-0’. Shouldn’t it have been 2-0? As Charon knocked out Rina and Arthur…?”

Lena shook her head slightly but understood where the confusion came from. “No, it’s scored based on how many Pokémon either side has remaining. For example, if someone had a team of… five, and I took out three, but they knocked out my full team of six, their score would be 2-0, and mine would be 0-2.” She clarified.

William still seemed a bit confused. “Why would you score it like that though?”

Lena bit her lip. ‘Kid always asks the tough questions, doesn’t he.... How do I explain this nicely....’

“It’s a... holdover... from when battling was less... organized, if you understand my meaning....”

William looked at her for a minute before the light bulbs went off inside his head. “...When battles were about survival and not for sport. Right... um...”

The conversation quieted for a few minutes before William finally spoke up again.

“There was… one other thing I wanted to ask about…” William scrolled up slowly instead of doing his pinch-swipe-pinch method, stopping at a section as he squinted to read for a moment before speaking up again. “What’s… with the phrasing of ‘manual switches’? How is that defined?”

“What do you mean?”

“Like…” William paused for just a moment, raising his hand out as he visibly put together his sentence before speaking. “Moves like Roar force the opponent’s Pokémon to be returned, so that wouldn’t be a manual switch, right?”

Lena nodded, prompting him to continue. “So what about U-Turn? That’s a move a Trainer can call that attacks and then switches the user out. Would that be considered a manual switch since they chose to use it?”

“No, it’s... it’s more of just a property of the move itself.” Lena grunted in frustration for a minute. “It’s kind of hard to explain, admittedly. Moves can be weird like that.” She turned to William, who was looking away with his face hardened in thought, Klinklangs turning in his head. “…You’d make a good lawyer, you know that? I don’t even think the League has thought about that before.”

William turned back, with that small stunned look Lena had begun to pick up on whenever he was brought out of his thoughts suddenly. “Uh… I’ll pass. Too much paperwork. And I don’t have a suit.”

Lena laughed heartily. “True, paperwork sucks.” It was strange to Lena that William was so fixated on the rules when most Trainers wouldn’t even remember the first half of the book since the battle formats were so heavily standardized.

William turned his Xtransceiver off after that, seemingly satisfied with the review as he sighed and rubbed his neck. “I just hope that we don’t get too many battles on Routes, the idea of being too far…”

Lena glanced at him as he trailed off, her mind filling in the blanks as to why he was so anxious about battles. The beginning of the review he focused on was practically only about when Pokémon could be returned, and penalties on the use of excessive force... “Too far from a Pokémon Center? It can be nerve-wracking the first couple of times, but that’s why there's one in almost every town… plus a Poké Ball’s stasis can help in dire situations.”

She knew it was because of the incident with Charon using Overheat… given the not-so-subtle glances William kept giving at both Arthur’s patchy, uneven fur, and the heat vents on Charon’s back.

She couldn’t stop herself from frowning as she thought back to when William had run forward to the field after Overheat had hit the Lucario. The panic in his movements was genuine, and how he applied the Burn Heal was stiff, but good even for a starting Trainer. It was good instincts, and he clearly had some experience with medical care, but he was going to get himself hurt if he ran up like that again....

“Yeah, without a Pokémon Center….” William murmured, but was clearly lost in his own thoughts to properly respond before he shook his head. “Doesn’t matter anyway… just gotta keep going and hope —”

“Heeey!”

A sudden voice from the side cut William off, the entire group turning to the right to look at the source. From what looked like a thinner path emerged what looked like an eleven or twelve-year-old to Lena from his age and voice.

A Youngster Trainer. Someone with a limited Trainer license with permission from parents and teacher, limited only to the Routes surrounding their town, and certain Pokémon they can have in their team. He had a grin a mile wide and spoke with an excitement that made Lena’s head spin. “Man, I was wondering where everyone would be today! The Route felt almost empty!”

Lena gave a friendly smile and looked back and forth for a moment down the route as she thought about it. “Well, it’s early in the season. Give it a week and Route 2 will probably have a lot more Pokémon Trainers coming through.”

The kid snorted slightly. “Yeah, and they’ll all be a week behind everyone else. If I want to get ahead, I have to train now!”

He was so fired up that Lena practically could see the flame in his eyes alone before he calmed down and quickly introduced himself while pointing a thumb at his chest. “The name’s Carmen! I’ve just been going back and forth to prepare for my full license next year!”

“Nice to meet you Carmen, my name’s Lena, a —” A quick nudge from Arthur’s Aura quickly reminded Lena of what she was supposed to say, the jackal shooting her a discrete look as she nearly blurted out from muscle memory. “— volunteer right now.”

She turned to face William, who was staring at Carmen with the same mask Lena had seen on him before. The polite, ingenuine smile had found itself on his face as he looked at Carmen. “Hello, hope you’re doing well today Carmen. I’m William.”

The change in William’s posture was also noticeable, becoming straighter… stiffer. It was like all the work Lena had done to help him relax had come undone within a few short seconds. ‘I hope it’s just because he’s being shy... or does he think something’s wrong because of the lie?’

Carmen didn’t notice, or didn’t look to care about the awkwardness of William, simply grinning and looking at the Pokémon in their party. “You sure have a lot of strong Pokémon. Are they all yours?” He asked, turning to Lena, who had to shake her head.

“Only Lucario and Floatzel, their names are…” Carmen had already turned away from Lena, making her trail off. He was looking at the Hisuian Typhlosion with the Oshawott in his hands, his eyes trailing to William. He stared at him for a moment before realizing struck him and he pointed at him, enough to make William flinch back in surprise.

“It’s you! You’re the one the gate attendants were complaining about!” He cried out with a sharp, almost accusatory tone at William. Lena quickly interjected and raised a hand to stop Carmen from speaking as William started to look uncomfortable.

“Hold on, what do you mean complaining?”

“Well, I speak to the gate attendants a lot, because they have to check my Trainer Card to make sure my Youngster License hasn’t expired.” Carmen started, Lena following along and thinking back to when they passed the Accumula Gate to Route 2…

‘Oh yeah, the guard there had given William a bit of a side eye… my own Ranger and Trainer ID had stopped questions, though.’ She thought before barely wincing, seeing where this was going…

“They said that a little kid who is a smartass—”

“Hey, watch your language, kid!”

“—has been making them look bad. And they were relieved that he was finally moving on to bother other gate people, and had an Oshawott!” He said with a growing grin, eyes fixated on William, before he tilted his head with a questioning look. “They mentioned he was young, but I didn’t think he was a baby.”

William said nothing, holding his stiff smile and just gave a slightly helpless shrug. Charon was the one who actually looked unamused by the descriptor, and glanced at William who said nothing, but his eyelid did twitch faintly.

Almost like a scene straight out of a movie, Carmen pulled out a Poké Ball from his belt and pointed it at Will, expanding it while having a grin. “You might be smart enough to avoid the gate, but when Trainer’s eyes meet, they must battle! I challenge you and your Oshawott!”

‘Ah yes, the ‘Trainer’s eye’.’ Lena mused as a reminiscing smile formed as she remembered her own younger days. It had absolutely no legal bearing and held the same weight as being ‘double-dared’ to do something on school grounds. Kids and younger Trainers still used it as a declaration to start a battle, even if no one could force you to battle.

‘Being dared to do something, though? Oooh, you better do it then.’ The thought had a teasing tone, and Lena couldn’t help but chuckle despite herself. She had to admit that she entertained the idea of passing Trainers while on patrol on a Route. With a lot of Regional culture being so ingrained in battles, it was an almost… unspoken joke about what happens when two Trainer’s eyes meet.

William stared at the Poké Ball for a moment before looking back at Charon and Ronin with a raised eyebrow. A brief, silent conversation happening between the three with no one else's input. Lena almost felt bad for Carmen, who was standing there awkwardly in silence as that happened, glancing at Lena with a brief look of confusion.

Whatever they silently spoke about didn’t take long, with William turning to him with a faux, almost perfect customer service smile if not for the fact it was on a seven or eight-year-old face. “We appreciate the offer, but… no thanks, we’ll pass.”

Carmen reacted like he was physically struck, even angry like a Lillipup who had its toy taken away. “W-What?! Why not?”

“None of us are interested in a battle at the moment, so we’ll be continuing on.” William said with a faint bow before turning and heading forward. Lena did her best not to keep her growing smirk visible, though it was hard as Charon had also turned with William and was walking away.

Carmen looked absolutely baffled, outright confused by what was happening, almost making Lena break into laughter as he turned around to chase after William. 'Whew William, gave him a taste of reality early?’

“Carmen… might simply be a bit too eager, I feel. Our battle two days ago might still be fresh on William’s mind…” Arthur chimed in, a thoughtful look on his face as Lena glanced over at him. The patches of burnt fur had mostly disappeared, but there were still faint sections that would take another day to heal fully…

‘That’s a fair point… William’s mood after that battle had been… off.’ Lena thought to herself, the laughter from before vanishing as she glanced at William now… who was doing his best to ignore Carmen badgering him for a battle.

“Come on! You’re a Trainer, and Trainers battle!”

“When they want to.”

“Well, duh! You aren’t a real Trainer if you don’t want to battle like their Pokémon!”

“So, by that logic, Pokémon aren’t Pokémon if they don’t battle either?”

“What? What are you talking about?”

Lena quickly walked forward with Rina and Arthur to not get left behind. William was doing an impressive job sidestepping Carmen as he held his Poké Ball out again and pointed it at William. A deeper frown formed on her face at the sight. Even most Trainers would relent after being told no… why was he so insistent?

“If you think you’re such a hotshot with a fully evolved Pokémon, you should be able to beat me no problem in a battle then with your Oshawott!”

“His name is Ronin, and he doesn’t want to battle either.” William said, his tone similar to a parent telling a kid ‘no’.

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“Why not? Both too scared?” Carmen tried to taunt, William’s shoulders sinking as he closed his eyes before rubbing between them and sighed. It was a bit jarring to see William so clearly frustrated.

Ronin, still in Charon's arms, looked similarly frustrated with a glare directed at Carmen. It was an emotion that Lena hadn’t seen in the young Water Type and almost seemed… contradictory to what Professor Juniper described.

“Carmen, with all due respect, we just want to get to Striaton City.”

“You’ll be able to after battling me! It’s not fair that you have a Trainer License while I am still a Youngster! Prove that you deserve it!”

‘Ah, and there it is…’ Feeling some sort of inadequacy at not having a normal Trainer License while a younger kid has one, and a fully evolved Pokémon.

Granted, their situations were likely very different, and if news about a Youngster licensed Trainer having a lost evolution Starter…

Just thinking of the slippery slope and tidal waves that would cross every Region from the news of that formed a physical headache for her. Said headache must have been contagious as William unfortunately looked to be feeling himself in real-time.

“Jesus kid, you’re giving me a migraine already…” He continued to rub between his eyes and stopped walking, taking a deep breath while looking even more frustrated than when Lena had found him and Charon for the first time.

After a moment of silence from William, a deep breath more akin to a sigh left him, his eyes opening with a glare at Carmen. “Fine. We’ll have a battle..”

There was the faintest bit of resigned forcefulness in his tone before he turned around and walked over to Lena. A wave of… almost forced calm seemed to wash over his expression before he spoke, mirroring the tone as well. “I’m sorry to ask, but can you be the referee for this match?”

Although his expression was indifferent, his posture looked exhausted in the short time he had Carmen badgering him. Lena shot him a pitying look and nodded. “Yeah, I will. Glad we reviewed those battle regulations?” She teased to try and lighten his mood. William nodded, but sighed in resignation.

“Yes, but I really should have kept my mouth shut about hoping for not a lot of battles…” William muttered, walking over and kneeling down to Ronin, who had been put down by Charon now and was staring up at him.

He spoke softly to the young Water Type, an almost guilty tone present within. “I’m sorry to put us in this situation so soon before we could work things out more, but are you okay with battling like we discussed?”

Ronin glanced over at Carmen, his eyes narrowing as he simply nodded in response. William sighed and stood up to face Carmen, who was smirking like a Liepard as he made a motion with his hand for everyone to follow.

“Come on, I know the perfect spot for a battle near here. You’re going down, Typhlosion kid.”

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Carmen had led them to an opening on Route 2 that previous Trainers had clearly used, with evidence of previous skirmishes all around with holes, divots, and marks where Poison Type attacks had landed.

‘I’ll probably need to put in a report to have this spot reviewed to make sure it’s not getting out of hand or disturbing any Pokémon here.’ Lena noted to herself as she stood off to the side of the area, Arthur and Rina next to her to observe the battle as well.

William was on his side, kneeling down and speaking to Ronin and Charon. What they were speaking about was unknown, but William’s serious face was met equally by Ronin, who nodded in response to what William was saying. Lena did her best not to frown, she didn’t know if it would hold true, but William seemed to take battles… a bit too seriously.

‘Is it from anxiety, though? Or something else…?’ She cut her own musing on the matter to glance over at Carmen, who was casually throwing his Poké Ball up and down before he yelled across the field.

“Hey! Put away your weird Typhlosion! I don’t want any tricks from whatever he can do!”

Lena could make out the offended look on Charon at being called weird, and less so at being accused of possibly cheating. William shot Carmen a glare across the field but pulled Charon’s Poké Ball from his belt. He expanded it… on the second attempt this time, and the Typhlosion simply poked the button to disappear in a flash.

‘Well, let’s get this show on the road…’

Lena stood straighter, clearing her throat for a moment to make sure her voice was clear as it took a more formal tone across the field. “This will be a single battle between Trainer William and Trainer Carmen using one Pokémon each as agreed! No items can be used as agreed. The battle will end after either Pokémon on one side cannot continue, or if a Trainer resigns. Trainers, are you ready?”

She may have shortened it compared to Juniper, but it covered everything that would be applicable here. William’s face had transitioned that would look neutral to the other Trainer, but Lena picked up on the other habits he had shown. The slightly pinched eyebrows, and the lightly clenched fist in his sweatshirt among them.

William sighed but nodded. Lena barely was able to hear him mutter “...let’s get this over with…” under his breath as he forced himself to focus on the field.

Carmen gave a more enthusiastic “Heck yeah!” and raised the Poké Ball in his grasp eagerly.

“Trainers, select your first Pokémon!”

“Patrat, come on out! We’ve got a fight!” Carmen yelled as he wound his arm back and threw the Poké Ball forward, sailing through the air before it popped open with a white flash. On the field, the form of a Patrat appeared, who looked around from side to side before staring at William and Ronin.

“Patrat-Rat…” (You’re the opponent Carmen’s roped into battling today? Sorry kid, but I’m gonna fight the best I can!) The Normal type chittered out, looking at Ronin with a smirk and glance from the corner of his eyes.

Ronin simply walked forward onto the field with no preamble or call from William. Lena thought it looked almost reminiscent of Charon. Was Ronin possibly trying to be like the elder Pokémon?

‘Lena, focus,’ Arthur chided through the Aura link, though there was a hint of amusement in his tone as Lena shook her head and focused. Rina nearly broke it again by crying out her own words of support.

“FLoatZEEEEL! FLOATZEL!” (Wash him away Ronin! You got this!)

Lena distracted herself from laughing by raising her hands, and after a moment of pause for each Trainer, she threw them down. “Begin!”

“Patrat! Go in for a Tackle!” Carmen screamed at the field, throwing his hands to the side as his partner charged forward on command towards Ronin, jumping left to right to avoid going in a straight line. The Water Type in response lowered himself, almost looking to wobble back and forth as if to gauge which way Patrat was going to go with his tail moving left and right.

“A-Avoid, like we practiced.” William stuttered after a moment of pause, as if forgetting to instruct Ronin. His eyes were darting around to follow Patrat’s movement as he charged forward.

Ronin halted for a moment as Patrat neared, before suddenly rolling to the right to avoid a full-body collision and darting forward deeper into the field. Patrat slid into the ground from putting his full body weight into the Tackle, but he caught himself, got back up, and quickly moved for Ronin once again.

“Keep the pressure, Patrat!” Carmen screamed as Patrat charged for Ronin again. The Oshawott in question had stopped his dash forward and was carefully following Patrat’s movement before suddenly shifting to the side to avoid another Tackle. Patrat didn’t land on his body this time, and instead slid a lot less, before leaping into the air towards Ronin, who had just turned to face him.

“D-Dodge! Down!” William rapidly cried suddenly, his eyes going wide as he did so. The sudden cry made Ronin freeze for just a moment, but he followed the outburst. It was barely too late to avoid all the damage, with Patrat’s arms and claws catching Ronin’s sides as he grazed him. The Oshawott cried out in pain and shifted from the force of the attack, but got up quickly and stared at Patrat, who was skidding across the ground with his back turned to the Water Type.

“Tackle!” William cried next, even sounding panicked as Ronin glanced at him for a millisecond before leaping into action. He slammed his entire body weight into the Normal Type almost like a football player, sending Patrat sprawling for a moment.

Lena couldn’t help but frown… it was like William was attempting to use the same strategy he had used on Rina, but Ronin was far too young and green in battles to be using any status moves the same way Charon did.

“While this is Ronin’s first battle technically… he and William aren’t… no, hold on…” Arthur chimed in quietly, his eyes scanning the two Pokémon on the field as he closed his eyes, and his tassels floated for a couple seconds. Lena turned with a confused expression, but Arthur opened his eyes and looked impressed at Ronin and intrigued. “Tail Whip, so.. that’s their play strategy.”

“Still… Patrat has clearly seen more battles…” Lena murmured, glancing at William who was clearly stressed as he watched Ronin on the field. The Oshawott shifted, barely avoiding another Scratch that grazed just barely against his own scalchop, before shoving his body into Patrat with another Tackle.

“FloatZeeeell. Zel-Floatzel.” (Ronin is gonna win, no doubt about that.) Rina responded confidently, crossing her arms and smiling as she watched the fight go down.

Carmen appeared frustrated by William’s tactics, his face etched into a frown and his eyebrows pitched as Patrat grunted slightly while pushing himself up, a red bruise forming at his side as he stood on his two feet. “We’ve got the first hit in still so we're ahead, shake it—”

“Follow up — Tackle!”

While Carmen was thrown off by William interrupting him, Ronin didn’t hesitate to charge forward and slammed into Patrat again with another strike of his body. Carmen looked angry with a scowl forming on his face now, turning to Lena and pointing at William as Patrat was sent flying again and rolled on the ground, the same bruised spot looking bigger now.

“Hey! That’s not fair! I wasn’t finished speaking!”

Lena kept her face neutral and shook her head, trying her best to act as an impartial referee. “According to League Rules, if a Pokémon is standing or listening for commands, any Trainer or Pokémon can attack or use moves. You’ll need to speak faster!”

Carmen’s fists clenched and he growled to himself. “Fine then! Tackle, then Bite!”

Patrat let out a chattering noise, glaring akin to a Leer at Ronin who was rubbing the raw scratch mark on his side. The Water Type leveled a glare right back with his tail still whipping back and forth.

William on his side looked a tad uncomfortable, even looking about to speak for a moment, hesitating before he seemed to change his mind on his order in his mind. By then, it was too late. Patrat already charged forward in that moment of nothing from William and was on top of Ronin.

Ronin attempted to avoid again, but Patrat used the sudden momentum of using Tackle to shift their momentum sharply, pushing him on top of Ronin and pinning him to the ground. He reeled his head back as a dark miasma surrounded his buck teeth to pierce the Water Type.

Ronin’s eyes were wide as he struggled underneath, and William’s posture was almost in a panic himself with his eyes wide, about ready to leap into the field himself to stop the battle.

Ronin’s flippers moved automatically before any of that could happen, and he grabbed the scalchop on his stomach and shoved it forward towards Patrat’s mouth at the same time he bit down.

There was a horrid scraping noise as Patrat’s teeth and the Dark Type Energy of the move ground against the makeshift defensive tool, but the attack was only deflected. The momentum of Patrat’s Bite carried him down Ronin’s arm, and a trickle of blood formed as he scraped down it to about halfway, a painful cry leaving the Oshawott.

“R-Ronin — Throw him off and end this!” William finally grabbed his voice and used it after hearing Ronin’s pain.

The Oshawott narrowed his eyes and let a growl from his throat, before practically backhanding Patrat’s head with his scalchop by yanking his arm away, which cut him more, then whipping it back across his face. The movement made Patrat jerk and stagger back, as a cut formed on the side of his cheek from the force and angle of Ronin’s scalchop hitting him.

Carmen waved his hand to the side, cutting the air as he cried out an order with a frustrated tone. “Oh, no you don’t! Patrat! Use Tackle to get away!”

With a bit of space, Ronin pushed himself up and took a deep breath as Patrat attempted to get away with empowered Normal Type Energy, but Ronin gave chase as quickly as he could.

“It’s no Quick Attack, but Tackle still forces the opponent forward a bit…” Lena murmured as she frowned and crossed her arms, but Rina was grinning next to her, looking excited and almost bouncing on her feet.

“Floatzeel. FLoatzel-Float-Float…!” (He’ll catch up, I know it. Come on Ronin…!) Rina said in response with a face-splitting grin.

Ronin was panting as he ran, his eyes focused on Patrat who was darting back and forth as best he could. Almost as if a dam had broken, Ronin let out a loud cry of his name and leapt into the air as a rush of water swirled around him and added a lot of speed to his momentum. The sound of rushing water drowned the sound of Carmen’s disbelief out, as did Rina’s triumphant cry from the side.

The force of the sudden move shot him forward, crashing directly into Patrat who let out a squawk of pain with his eyes bulging. His body launched away from the attack and crashed into the ground in a cloud of dirt, rolling until he came to a stop, as a groan left him before falling silent. He was down for the count, and Carmen’s slump of his shoulders at being defeated sealed the deal.

Lena quickly raised her hand in William’s direction. “Patrat is unable to battle! The winner is William and Ronin with a score of 1-0!” She yelled even as William rushed forward to check on Ronin. Technically, Trainers were supposed to wait until the referee had finished their call out, or all Pokémon were returned, but she couldn’t fault him for being worried from the drops of blood running down Ronin’s arm from Bite.

‘It is something I will need to talk about with him though…’ She made a mental reminder to herself as she glanced in Carmen’s direction to see him gently lifting Patrat with a defeated look. To be defeated suddenly by a sudden move not used in the entire battle was rough, but Carmen appeared to be lost in his own thoughts and made no motion to return him yet.

William’s eyes darted across Ronin as he sprayed a Potion over his injuries, the anxious expression over his face shifting and softening slightly as Ronin looked up at him. “You did great, Ronin… you did amazing with that Aqua Jet, and using Tail Whip before practicing the idea on short notice… you took it home today.” He said with a huge helping of praise and warmth in his tone, genuinely smiling at the Water Type.

‘And to use it without commands… man, that’s even more brutal for any unsuspecting Trainer…’ Lena said before she turned to Carmen, who was frowning and glaring at William as he stepped forward with Patrat gone from sight, making her assume she had returned him.

“Hey! Why didn’t you call out Tail Whip, even use Aqua Jet sooner!? Are you a psychic and said nothing to order him?!” He accused William, who was frowning as he carefully stood up and turned to face the older Trainer.

“Stat raising and lowering moves are a necessity for higher-level battles. Just because a Trainer doesn’t give a command doesn’t mean a Pokémon needs to be inactive on the field.” He countered, giving a moment of thought before speaking again. “You could have used Leer by telling Patrat to use it from afar as well.”

Carmen seemed even more sour at the advice, William only sighed and shifted his bag slightly to open up a pouch. He reached in and shuffled around for a moment before he found what he wanted, a fresh Potion, which he then lifted to Carmen to offer it.

“Use this to heal Patrat, I know we’re still a while away from a Pokémon Center.” William said with an attempted gentle tone, but Carmen must have felt it was patronizing from the sour expression that formed.

Still, he took the Potion with a bit of a forceful grab and ran off back toward the main Route 2 path. Lena noticed him grab Patrat’s Poké Ball as he did so, clearly going to heal him, but apparently not in front of them.

William sighed, looking a mix of guilty, frustrated, and even drained as he watched him head off. In contrast, Rina was excitedly talking to Ronin on the ground, praising him for his use of Aqua Jet, prompting the Oshawott to blush from the praise. Lena ignored that conversation to focus on William’s discomfort over the battle.

“You know, you could have refused to battle in the first place if you didn’t want to.” Lena said gently, not missing how William slumped a bit more and nodded.

“Yeah, I know. I could have, but he probably would have pestered us until we reached Striaton City…” William said as he closed up his backpack and put it back on, glancing slightly at the faded cut on Ronin’s arm from the Potion before he glanced in the direction that Carmen had scurried off to. “...On top of that, I know Ronin isn’t gonna get experience from just training with Rina or Charon… I need to get those bureaucratic metal pins anyway…”

Lena hummed at the bitter comment. He wasn’t wrong, but battling seemed to be a source of… disconnect for him. Even when he fought Rina, the rather tame injuries made him ask her if she would be okay… it showed he was either highly empathetic, kind, nervous, or fearful for one reason or another.

“Are you scared about the injuries you cause?” She asked in the same gentle tone, William tilting his hand back and forth as he formulated a response.

“Sort of…? I just — injuries are inevitable in a battle, I know. However, I… just need to get used to them. Even with Charon’s explanation on how Pokémon feel about battling, I don’t… I’d rather the battle ends quicker for both sides, instead of dragging it out or — nevermind.” William cut himself off with a sigh, while Lena noted how he was closing himself off again and she couldn’t help but frown herself.

She internally sighed at the sight, but recognised that it wouldn’t be good to push in this situation… instead, she’ll piece together his performance during battle.

His actions, while sound, were a lot sloppier than when he fought together with Charon. Stuttering, having to give commands more directly besides some moments when Ronin took the initiative like with Aqua Jet or using his scalchop to deflect the Bite. The only bit that went smooth for William and Ronin was using Tail Whip without orders, which is what allowed Ronin to win as he did.

‘He’s not as collected as he seems. The link, or whatever he and Charon have, acts as a sort of crutch for him. He plans a lot ahead of time, though, which is impressive and carries most of his nervous actions.’ Lena gathered to herself, looking at William who was speaking to Ronin for a moment before he moved his hand to his Poké Ball. Fumbling only once as he expanded it, he managed to actually return Ronin through the return beam, staring at the Poké Ball for a moment as it shook once before he minimized it.

Noticing Lena staring at him as he turned around, he quickly clarified. “Ronin was feeling tired, and… I want to get him looked at the Pokémon Center first before anything else.”

Lena nodded and glanced at the sun… they should have enough daylight to reach Striaton City still if they hoof it a bit. She communicated this to William, which had a noticeable effect of making him relax a little. “That’s good. Let’s head out then.”

Lena agreed with a hum and tilt of her head, Rina and Arthur nodding in understanding as she returned them to their own Great and Dive Balls. She placed them on her belt before she took the initiative and started for the main path, William following close behind.

Still, she couldn’t help shake the feeling of wrongness, and the disconnect between battles that William had despite being aggressive with his style. A thought she had from his first battle returning to her in a different form…

Just what happened at home where William was from to create such a response to even such a low-level battle? Such nervousness and panic at the sight of injuries?

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Beta Readers:

David “TheBlizWiz” R

Garmfild