The elevator dinged as its sleek chrome-plated doors slid open, allowing Nora and Gregory to step out into the center’s bottom floor. They returned to the counter, still manned by the same nurse who had helped them earlier.
She looked up just as they stopped in front of her workstation.
“Oh, I was actually just about to call you miss,” The nurse said to Nora, giving them both a bright smile, “Your Vulpix has just finished his treatment. It was a good thing you brought him to us when you did. His wounds were severe, and with him being so young, I feared the worst.”
“I’m so glad that he is okay, but he’s not actually my Pokemon. I just caught him to make sure he made it here in time,” Nora said. Her voice became hesitant near the end, and her eyes flicked away, no longer meeting the nurse’s gaze.
“If you say so,” The nurse said. She lifted an eyebrow at the shy teenager. “In that case, the Center can take over from here and release him back into the wild for you.” She reached into a drawer beside her computer and withdrew a sheet of paper, which she then attached to a clipboard. Placing it in front of Nora and then, with a click, held out a pen for her to take. “We will just need you to fill out this form here.”
When she said this, Nora’s eyes snapped up to the woman before they fell to the form in front of her. She slowly raised her fingers to grasp the pen from the nurse’s outstretched hand. Gregory watched as Nora hesitated, a myriad of emotions playing out across her face, the pen hovering about the sheet. She eventually released a sigh and placed the pen flat on top of the clipboard, a side of the internal struggle playing out inside her having won out.
“A-actually, could I, uh, see him first before I sign this,” She said nervously, one of her hands coming up to rub at her opposite shoulder.
“Of course! I’ll go grab him,” the nurse said, amusement dancing in her eyes as she turned and walked through the door.
Gregory chose not to comment on Nora’s behavior, instead choosing to release Fennekin from her ball. The little vixen appeared in a flash of light by his feet, a wide yawn causing her jaws to pop and her eyes to scrunch up cutely.
“How’re you feeling girl?” Gregory said as he knelt, scratching behind her ear. Her soft fur was warm beneath his fingers as they glided across its surface. Fennekin leaned her head into the affection, making a noise in the back of her throat at the pleasant sensations.
At that moment, Gregory felt another strange alien feeling scraping at the back of his mind; it lasted longer than it had the first time. Tendrils of that same warm feeling seeped through his body. As quickly as the feeling came, it was gone just as fast, leaving a coldness in its wake that made him want to shiver. His hand stilled its scratching, causing Fennekin to nudge it in protest as he looked around, surreptitiously moving his eyes around the center’s lobby. All he could see were a few trainers sitting in the chairs towards the front half of the building, whispering amongst themselves.
‘What on earth is that feeling and where is it coming from?’ He thought to himself, once again gliding his fingers through the fur of Fennekin’s back in a gentle scratching motion.
The sound of the backroom’s door closing caused Gregory to stand back up, Fennekin jumping up to make herself comfortable on his shoulder. The nurse from earlier entered the room, a soft grin on her face, carrying the Pokeball Nora used earlier to bring the Vulpix here.
“Here you go, miss. I’ll just take this form back. It’ll be here if you change your mind,” The Nurse said as she handed the Pokeball to Nora. The sly look on her face made Gregory think she didn’t actually expect to be using that form later.
Nora thanked the nurse but still looked a bit nervous as she clipped the ball to her belt.
“we were also trying to register for the Beginners Cup, could you help us with that?” Gregory asked as the nurse took her seat, jiggling the mouse to wake her computer screen back up.
“Sure, I’ll need to see your IDs again. Also I’ll need to know which Pokemon you’ll be using.”
The process only took about five minutes as Gregory handed over his ID again. She quickly entered his information into her computer and handed it back.
“Are you not going to sign up?” Gregory asked as he turned and saw that Nora hadn’t pulled out her ID.
“Yes, I am. I just wanted to do something first,” Nora said, the fingers of her right hand grazing across the surface of the Vulpix’s Pokeball.
“Okay,” Gregory shrugged, following her as she walked over to one of the vacant sides of the foyer and sat in some of the chairs lined against the wall.
Above them was a Television; its volume had been turned down, from which the low voices of the newscasters filled the silence that had settled over them. Gregory glanced over to the screen, not really interested in the show, but the flash of an image drew his attention. In a small box above the anchor’s left shoulder was a picture of a man with a long rectangular face, sharp features, and a strong jawline. The most striking feature was his intense eyes. It was as if his gaze was piercing through the TV into him.
“Today marks the third anniversary of the mysterious disappearance of the former Gym leader of Viridian city-” Having already lost interest, Gregory turned his attention from the droning of the anchorman to the fox snoozing in his lap. She had jumped down to his lap as soon as they had claimed their seats. The warmth radiating off her yellow fur was comforting against the slight chill of the building’s air conditioning. Beside him, Nora removed the Pokeball that contained the Vulpix, rolling the red and white sphere around in her palm. Gregory could almost see the nervous energy emitting from her. Mudkip also gave her a worried expression from where he sat in her lap. She bit her lip with her brows furrowed in thought as she kept the Pokeball moving in little circles.
“Okay, what’s got you so nervous, Nora? You’ve been acting weird ever since that nurse told you that Vulpix was done with his treatment,” Gregory said, his concern tilting the edges of his mouth downwards.
She flicks her eyes briefly at him before returning them to the ball in her palm. She chewed on her lip some more and remained quiet for a few moments. Gregory was just starting to think she wouldn't answer when she finally broke her silence.
“I-It’s just I feel bad about catching him without asking him first. Whenever I thought about going on my journey, I also told myself I wouldn’t force a Pokemon to join me,” she said slowly, tripping over her words initially as she tried to get her thoughts together. “I know I can just release him, but I admired his determination during that fight against all those Spearow, and I want him to join me on my journey. I’m just afraid that he will resent being forced into a Pokeball and not want to come along.” A sad sigh escaped her as she finished, which caused Mudkip to stand up on his hind legs placing his forelegs on her chest so he could nuzzle his head against her—giving her as close to a hug as he could manage.
“Thanks Mudkip. What would I do without you?” She smiled down fondly at the little amphibian, patting his back with her free hand. He gave her a low croaking noise from the back of his throat, its reassuring timbre causing her smile to stretch a bit wider.
“Well all you can do is try,” Gregory said, a little lamely, as he tried to reassure her. When all she did was give him a raised brow in response, he rallied himself and tried again.
“What I mean is, try to explain what you just said to me to him. You heard the nurse; if we hadn’t put him in a Pokeball, we wouldn't have made it in time. Surely he would be understanding considering the circumstances.”
This time, Nora gave a hum of consideration as she looked again at the Pokeball. Then she clicked the release button, the bright light dimming to show the vermillion coat of the Vulpix standing on the laminated floor in front of them.
The Vulpine Pokemon shook his head, blinking his eyes against the harsh fluorescent light that illuminated the center. Vulpix looked around, taking in the unfamiliar sights and sounds. The quiet murmuring of the other trainer’s chatting, which was pierced every so often by a quick bark of laughter, and the loud chime of people entering and leaving the pokecenter caused his ears to twitch at each unexpected sound. A wrinkle of confusion, which Gregory thought was rather cute, appeared on Vulpix’s brow.
Having finally noticed their presence, the Pokemon took on a more guarded expression. The deep brown pools that were his eyes flicking back and forth between Nora and him. Fennekin cracked open an eye from his lap, keeping the other fox Pokemon in her sight.
“Um, Hi Vulpix, my name is Nora,” she said, a hesitant smile twitching at the corner of her lips, “Your wounds had been really bad after that fight, so we had to take you to the Pokemon center to get them fixed.”
Her hands started to fidget nervously with the Pokeball, rolling it between both palms. She looked down at the metallic sphere for a few seconds, then returned her eyes to meet Vulpix’s chocolate orbs. “I had to catch you in a Pokeball to make sure you got here in time. I’m sorry about that, and I can release you if that’s what you want.” She seemed to struggle with how to word the next bit, but eventually, she went with, “I would love it if you chose to come with me though, the way that you held your ground against all those Spearow was really admirable, and I think having someone as brave as you on my team would be a good thing,” She finished a hopeful look in her eye.
All the while that Nora was talking, the Vulpix relaxed out of his wary stance, head cocked a more curious mein taking its place. He took a seat on the floor, all six of his tails curling forward to wrap around the right side of his body.
“Vul, Vulpix pix vul?” Vulpix asked after Nora had finished speaking. His question caused Fennekin’s ears to twitch in interest. Gregory saw Nora’s brow crease in concentration as she tried to work through the pokespeech.
“You want to know if I can help you control your fire better?” she asked haltingly after having the Pokemon repeat what it asked a few more times. Thinking back to the battle with the Spearow, Gregory remembered that the ember attacks from Vulpix seemed a little on the weak side.
Vulpix nodded its head to let her know she understood what he was trying to say. Gregory thought the Pokemon had a rather hopeful light in its eyes. A few of its tails twitched eagerly across the floor.
Nora, who had not received an immediate rejection as she feared, was beaming now, with a broad smile and determined eyes replacing her earlier anxious look.
“Of course! I would be honored to help you,” She said excitedly.
“I’m still new to being a trainer, but I’ll find a way to help you,” she added a second later, pumping her right arm once.
Then she held an open hand out toward the young tod, who, with an excited wag of his tails, placed a paw in her waiting palm.
“It’s a promise then,” she declared, gently giving his paw a single shake before she released it.
Their partnership agreed on, Vulpix jumped up onto the chair next to her, closing his eyes in contentment as Nora ran her fingers through the light red fluff between his ears.
Fennekin was still eyeing Vulpix with interest until Gregory stood up from his seat, causing the little vixen to jump down to the floor lest she tumbles down instead.
“I’m glad you could work it out, Nora!” Gregory said as he watched her Pokemon melt into puddles from the affection she gave them. “I’m going to go find someplace to do some training. I promised Ari we would do some more tonight,” he continued as he started walking towards the center’s exit, giving her a wave.
“Give me a call if you need anything. Don’t forget to sign up for the tournament!”
“I’ll see you later,” She called out as the sliding glass doors closed behind him.
Gregory stepped out into the dying sunlight, the oranges and reds of the sunset giving way to the dark blue of the burgeoning dusk. The city street in front of the center was illuminated by street lamps just now beginning to turn on. Pulling out his pokegear, he began searching the pokenet for places he and his team could get some training in. After a few taps of some buttons, he got a list of various Pokemon battle clubs, Outdoor Battlefields, and Pokemon Athletic Clubs scattered around the city. Most were closed already; however, a few were open 24 hours. He plugged the address of the nearest one into the Pokegear’s GPS and began walking, Fennekin trotting along happily at his side. The little fox had a look of awe in her red eyes as she took in all the tall buildings surrounding them like a concrete jungle.
This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Their destination was only about three blocks away. They saw it on the right of the road as they turned the corner. The building was nearly half the block in length and only about two stories tall. The Squat building had modern steel architecture, and the whole front portion was made up of glass windows. Just like Gregory hoped, it was still open, the lights from inside illuminating out from the glass.
As he approached, he saw a sign situated above the entrance to the building. In a bold script, it read; Chasaji Sports Club. Next to the lettering was an image of a Machamp with three cups of tea and a massive dumbbell. When he entered the lobby of the sports club, he saw a reception desk in front of the doors. Off to the right was a male and female locker room; to the left of the reception was what looked like a tea shop, the fragrance of many types of teas permeating the whole space.
Behind the desk was a woman; she wore a pink long-sleeved athletic shirt and had her long blonde hair tied in a loose braid. She had a steaming cup of tea in front of her as she flipped casually through a fitness magazine. Sitting next to her was a Machamp; even sitting down, the humanoid Pokemon was massive. The upper two of its four arms held its own fitness magazine, while the lower two were curling two 350 lb dumbbells with barely any effort. Gregory’s eyes bulged slightly at the ease at which the Pokemon lifted the weight.
As he walked towards the desk, the blonde-haired woman looked up from her magazine. She gave him and Fennekin a welcoming smile.
“Welcome to the Chasaji sports club, have you been here before?” She asked as she put the magazine she was holding away.
“No we haven’t. Fennekin and I just got into the city, we were looking for a place to do some training and saw this place on the net,” Gregory said
“Well, welcome to Cherrygrove. My name is Linda. I’m glad you chose to come to us to do some training!” Linda exclaimed as she got up from her seat, “I can give you a tour of the facility if you would just follow me.”
Gregory could’ve sworn he saw a manic glint in her eye when she said training but just chalked it up to a trick of the light. He followed after the muscular woman as she pushed through one of the double doors on either side of the reception desk. The room on the other side was massive; it looked to be about half the length of the building. Arranged throughout the facility were treadmills and other aerobic equipment in all different sizes, from the normal human-sized ones to larger reinforced ones that looked like an Arcanine could run on it with no problems.
“So this is the aerobics room, as you can probably tell,” the lady said as she swept her arm out across the room like a curator showing you the breadth of his collection as a museum. “We have machines that both humans and pokemon can use, though if you have pokemon on the bigger side please make sure to check the signs on the machines. They’ll tell you the maximum weight they can tolerate.”
Running on one of the smaller treadmills was a Machop. The small humanoid Pokemon shared the same light blue skin, red eyes, and three head ridges as the Machamp at the front desk. Its diminutive size was at odds with the lithe dense muscle that made up its body.
Gregory raised an eyebrow as Linda walked over and increased the treadmill speed, causing the little fighting type, who was already at a sprint, to have to push even harder to keep up with the increased pace. The machine was letting off a shrill whine, clearly at the limit of its function.
“Great job Machop, dig deep and keep pushing!” she praised as she walked back over to him, that same manic twinkle back in her eye.
“If you’ll follow me this way I’ll show you the weight room,” She began before leaning in close as if to share a secret with him. “Personally that’s my favorite room,” She whispered, raising a hand to the side of her lips as if to stop someone from overhearing her.
Near the room's back corner was a staircase leading up to the second floor. The woman instead took them through a door on the room's left-hand wall. On the other side was a room similar in size to the previous one, except this one was filled with machines that served an entirely different purpose. One side of the space had classic dumbbells lining the wall in front of mirrors and more traditional free-weight racks like squats and bench presses.
The most oversized boxing bag Gregory had ever seen was in another corner of the room, hanging from the ceiling from a thick chain. It was at least 7 feet tall and had to have weighed over 300 pounds. There was a Pokemon actively hitting it when he looked over at it. It danced around the bag like a human boxer, and its humanoid frame almost made you believe it was a human. However, the blunt, spiky protrusions from its head and the broad, pauldron-like growths from its shoulders quickly broke the illusion. Gregory watched its fists, red and vaguely shaped like boxing gloves, echoing loudly as they impacted the monstrous-sized bag. Each punch was fast and crisp, sounding like cannon blasts against the sturdy material of the bag. Despite its weight, the Hitmonchan still made the extra heavy bag slide effortlessly across the floor as if it was merely filled with air.
On the opposite side of the room from the bag were racks of many colored bands, all varying in size. The center of the room, though, had rows of empty space with tape marking straight lines; between each pair of lines was what looked like a sled with a long pole you could stack weighted plates on.
“Like the last room, we have equipment for both humans and Pokemon here. The sleds in the middle of the room and the bands over that way are useful for Pokemon that don’t have limbs or limbs with opposable thumbs,” she said, making a gesture at each corner of the room, gesturing last at the side where the Hitmonchan worked the bag. “We also have that bag over there if you have pokemon who enjoy throwing punches.”
After pointing out all the main sections of the room, Linda led them up the staircase in the back of the room. Unlike the bottom two rooms, the top floor had large booths, one on either side of the walkway that split the space in half. Stopping in front of one, Linda began to explain their purpose.
“So these are useful in training your Pokemon's accuracy and dodging abilities. Or if you're feeling adventurous your own,” She said, giving him a wink. Though Gregory had a sneaking suspicion that she was exactly the kind of person to use them herself.
“You just select what kind of training program you want to use and the difficulty from the monitor here, and voila, the computer takes care of the rest.” She explained, giving the protruding monitor a loving pat on the side.
“So that’s all there is to show you. If you have any questions or need some help I'll be back at the front desk, have a great workout!” As she began to walk back to the staircase, she suddenly stopped and turned around to face him. “Ah, I almost forgot, I’ll need to see your trainer ID. We are a league affiliate so you don’t have to worry about paying, but I do need to scan your card.”
“Here you go,” Gregory said as he handed over his card.
“I’ll come find you to give this back when I’m done with it,” Linda called over her shoulder, heading back toward the staircase.
“This place is amazing,” He said as he turned to look down at the little fox sitting by his foot. He grabbed Ari’s Pokeball, releasing the arachnid Pokemon on the floor. After he had finished materializing, Ari looked around and then up at him expectantly.
“Are you ready to train?” He chuckled as Ari clicked his mandibles together excitedly.
Gregory had decided that he wanted to use the upstairs facilities first. So he had both of his Pokemon enter their own booth as he turned to the kiosks to select the program. There were a few different options but Gregory decided to go with a combination of dodging and target practice on an easier difficulty to start. After he selected the program, there was a whirring noise as the machinery within the walls of the booths started to activate.
“Alright you two, you’re going to have to dodge and hit the targets as they appear!” He called out to Fennekin and Ari. They both responded with nods in the affirmative.
He watched panels all around the inside of each room slide open to reveal black cylindrical objects. Every time Fennekin or Ari shifted their bodies, Gregory saw that the cylinders moved to follow them. A panel flipped around at the back of the wall, revealing a classic target- concentric circles with the center one being a filled-in red circle. Before either of his Pokemon could fire their respective attacks at the target, one of the cylinders shot off a rubber ball. The speed of the ball was not very fast, but the surprise caused Fennekin to falter a bit, barely able to get out of the way in time. Ari was able to overcome the surprise in time to dodge out of the projectile’s path.
“You can do it Fennekin! Try to maintain your footing so you can react in time,” he called out.
And so they spent the next few hours working on firing off attacks and avoiding the soft rubber balls. During that time, Linda returned to give his ID back. She ended up staying to observe, pointing out small mistakes his Pokemon were making in how they landed or the stance they took when shooting off an attack. Instead of just telling him how he should correct it, she asked him what he would do to fix it or why it was wrong in the first place. She used her questions to direct him to discover the answers himself. After she left, he decided to use his Pokedex to make videos so that he could show them how to adjust later. When the program finally stopped, and they exited the machines, Ari and Fennekin were spent.
“You guys did such a good job, I can already tell that you’ve improved since we started,” He praised as he knelt and gave them both scratches on the head. Careful to avoid the pointed horn on Ari’s head. There was little friction against Gregory’s fingers as they glided across Ari’s smooth, hard carapace.
Fennekin especially soaked up the praise, the vixen nudging her head closer into his palm to get his fingers to hit just the right spot.
Gregory ignored Fennekin’s whine of protest as he stood back up. He pulled up the videos he took and, crouching back down, had them watch.
“See right there, Ari, your feet weren’t well placed as you landed. That cost you some time having to adjust before you could get your poison sting off,” he coached as he paused and replayed parts for his little green spider. Ari soaked up every tip and mistake Gregory pointed out to him, a determined fire visible in his eyes. The little arachnid insisted that he replay the video a few more times, his focus unwavering as he watched it.
They left the sports club after that, waving goodbye to Linda and her Machamp as they headed out the door. The sun had now fully set. The tapestry of stars in the night sky was dampened by the city's light pollution but was still no less impressive. Gregory and his Pokemon quickly made their way back to the Pokecenter. The faint calls of hoothoot from the trees that lined the street rang out through the night, followed by the answering calls of Murkrows as they flew around the city looking to commit mischief. The lobby was empty except for the nurse manning the front desk- a different one from earlier.
The heavy door of his room clicked closed behind him as he bent to remove his shoes. Ari and Fennekin wasted no time claiming one of the many cushions on the room's floor. Gregory prepared a quick meal for himself and his Pokemon before changing into a pair of P.J.s that he packed.
His team’s and his hunger satiated, he pulled out his Pokegear to call home. It was a little late, but he figured one of his parents would probably still be up. Plus, he wanted to at least let them know he had made it to Cherrygrove safely. Dialing the home phone, he waited as it rang a few times before his father's voice finally sounded from the other end of the line.
“Johnson residence, and before you start, whatever deal you're hocking, it probably isn’t even that good,” Myles said in a dry tone.
“Ha ha, Dad, I know you know it’s me. The phone has a caller ID,” Gregory responded, copying his dad’s tone.
“Okay, you caught me, Greg. It’s good to hear from you. How’s the open road treating you?” his dad chuckled.
“So far, so good. We just made it to Cherrygrove a few hours ago,” Gregory said. He then went over all that's happened to them so far, meeting the ace trainer Brian, catching Ari, saving Vulpix, and signing up for the Beginners Cup. His dad would occasionally ask a question but mostly let him talk.
“So yeah, we are going to have to get a lot of training in before the tournament in two days,” Gregory said as he finished his retelling.
“I know you’ll do great Greg, just work on the basics like that Brian fellow told you and you’ll be fine. If my time in the ACE League taught me anything, it is that with a good foundation there is nothing you can’t achieve,” Myles said.
“Thanks dad, that was the plan. Nora wanted to go see if she could find some books on pokemon nutrition tomorrow, i’ll probably grab one too.”
“That’a boy. Well, Son, It’s getting late and it sounds like you have a big day planned tomorrow, so I'll let you go. Just remember your mother and I are proud of you, win or lose, just give it your all. I’ll let her know your doing well, have a good night, love you,”
“Yeah I love you too dad,” Gregory said, his cheeks heating up a bit from the praise.
The line died with a click as his father hung up the phone. Looking down, he saw that both his Pokemon were already fast asleep. So, with a big stretch and a yawn, he crawled into the center’s soft bed, his heavy eyelids slamming shut as he drifted off to sleep.
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Here are the Pokedex entries of some of the Pokemon Nora and Gregory encountered in this chapter:
Machamp are tremendously powerful Pokémon, capable of moving mountains with just a single hand. They use a variety of fighting techniques to pummel their opponents, most of which involve all four of their limbs. For example, they may use three of their arms to hold down foes while using the fourth to deliver a punch strong enough to knock them over the horizon (or derail a train, as one infamous incident had proven; luckily, no one was hurt in the accident). Alternatively, they may instead execute a different move with each of their limbs--for example, an uppercut, a hook, a straight, and a karate chop all simultaneously with their four limbs. They can deliver swift, endless volleys of punches to relentlessly pummel down opponents. There is even a unique name for a complex grab these Pokémon perform using all four of their arms: "the Machamp special." Machamp love challenges and will only fight harder when faced with strong opponents. However, they are terrible at delicate, precise work; their arms get jumbled together when attempting to manage fine details, and they will often end up destroying whatever they were trying to work with in the first place.
Machop, the superpower Pokemon. Making their homes in mountains, these pint-sized powerhouses can toss a hundred adults with ease. Machop are a determined Pokémon that are never satisfied with the amount of effort they are exerting. Their muscles never tire or cramp, so they can continue training and lifting almost indefinitely. Machop practice all styles of martial arts. Using the mountainous terrains in which they dwell to their advantage, they are often seen practicing by hurling Geodude and lifting Graveler that also live in these areas (much to their dismay). If there aren’t any of these Pokémon around, Machop can also make do with similarly-sized boulders. A Machop can lift a sumo wrestler above its head without breaking a sweat. The majority of their body composition is pure muscle, allowing them to perform these amazing feats of strength. They can throw powerful punches and kicks thanks to their constant and relentless training, allowing them to utilize Fighting-type moves such as Karate Chop, Low Kick, Vital Throw, Cross Chop, and even Dynamic Punch. In areas where they live alongside Makuhita, they will sometimes challenge them to battles after sparring with their own friends.
A Hitmonchan’s punches are as fast as lightning, nearly invisible to the naked eye. Hitmonchan may appear to be standing idly when, in fact, launching volleys of punches faster than bullet trains into thin air as practice. However, these punches do tire them out--after three minutes of intense work, they need to take light rests. However, Hitmonchan are determined, having the spirit of champion boxers, and will not give up no matter what. Even during these breaks, Hitmonchan will often move around or jog quickly in place. They punch in a corkscrew fashion, with enough force to pulverize concrete. Even slight grazes from their blows can cause mild burns. They are also skilled in sparring with light punches, allowing them to act as sparring partners to fellow Hitmonchan or aspiring human boxers (the latter almost always lose but learn from fights nonetheless). Like Hitmonlee, Hitmonchan can be found training in dojos but can sometimes be seen punching away at mountain boulders.