Chapter 10

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Luke's Pokémon (In order of captures):

1. Asch - Charmander -> Charmeleon -> Charizard: His starter pokemon

2. Sparrow - Spearow -> Fearow

3. Macaque - ???

4. Dartz - Weedle -> Kakuna -> Beedrill

5. Sylvie - Eevee -> Sylveon

6. Kidd - Ghastly -> Haunter -> Gengar

7. Lenny - Tangela -> Tangrowth

8. Thor - Elekid -> Electabuzz -> Electavire

9. Epona - Ponyta -> Rapidash

10. Tempest - Magikarp -> Gyarados

11. Kamina - Scyther -> Scizor

12. Jubilee - [Egg] -> Togepi -> Togetic -> Togekiss

13. Leonardo - Squirtle

14. Fafnir - Dratini

Pending Captures:

1. Ursaring

2. Teddiursa

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"Get ready, Luke! This will finally be the day that I absolutely crush you!" Bellowed my first opponent of the day.

You know in hindsight; this wasn't as bad as I thought. Sure, I tempted fate with my big fat stupid mouth, but in all, things could have been worse. Today, I woke up willingly and looked forward to helping out at mom's café. Sure, it was partly because I wanted to bring over Fafnir and show him to Mrs. Verdant, but the prospect of having a battle to shake off my restlessness did overrule my need to sleep in.

Mom was delighted to see me up and active this morning, especially when I offered to accept any early challengers that came in for a meal and wanted a battle to clear the tab. Ash was disappointed that he wouldn't be around to see me battle, so I promised to take him for a quick flight around Pallet Town's skies on Asch's back. Only if he finishes his homework on time after school before the sun begins to set. Mom was very insistent on there being "NO" late night flights, and she won't even let me fly at night alone unless it's for an emergency.

My promise to my excitable little brother aside, I helped set up the outside battlefield with the help of mom's Nidoqueen, Elizabeth. The quiet and amicable pokémon had a bit more bounce in her step as she happily crooned when helping to set up the outside veranda. She and mom's Persian, Cleo, were always this cheerful after every Sunday. Mom flies over on her Pidgeot's back to leave them in the forest on Sundays, then returns to pick them up.

Considering that I've been around mom's pokémon for my entire life growing up, I'm glad that they could still manage to gather some form of happiness with their individual mates after…dad's passing. It still was gross to hear their suggestive "crooning" and "purrs" whenever they returned home. Doubly more so when Ash keeps asking why Cleo and Eliza return home so dirty yet so happy.

Yeah, I simply played stupid and avoided having to be the one to give my 6-year-old brother the "talk" about the birds and the bees especially when it came to the subject of pokémon. That was like adding another layer of awkwardness to the Embarrassment cake.

So, after the sweeping and cleaning the field of the debris and mess from past battles, I rolled out the Field Stripe Machine to properly add a fresh layering of paint on the faded lines. Once sufficiently added and left to dry, I went about unlocking the nearby fake boulder meant to camouflage and protect the café's personal Psychic Barrier projector. The one that we managed to purchase from Silph Co. certainly wasn't cheap along with the crucial maintenance to keep it running.

The machine whirred to life and the distinctive purple glow along the carved lines in the battlefield where the rest of the machinery laid came to life. We were officially a-go, and since I was actively taking the first challenger of the day, I was free to simply wait outside on my side of the field until a challenger was ready to step up.

Since it was Monday, it was a bit of a slow day with some people coming in, but the numbers wouldn't see any rise until deeper into the weak. For now, we only had the early crowd coming in for breakfast. A couple of very familiar faces came in to relax, and among all of them finally came a challenger who bought three orders of stacked cheri berry pancakes.

And so, as a small gaggle of customers moved from inside of the café to the veranda to watch the match with their meals, my only response to the challenger cockily grinning at me was a resigned sigh.

"Okay, but are you sure that this is what you want to do, Jimmy?" I regarded the blue cap wearing boy across from me with an awkward smile.

"Of course! I didn't wake up this early just to lose the rest of my allowance! Rattata and I are prepared to make you eat my shorts! Isn't that right, pal?" Jimmy exclaimed and earned a resolute "Ratta!" from his steadfast pokémon.

Not that I didn't like the energy that they have, but…

"I was told that you requested a three-on-three battle for the opportunity to pay off your breakfast and get a free meal voucher for your next visit." I explained, hoping to see if he'll finally piece together my meaning.

Obviously, he didn't because the kid proudly puffed up his chest. "Yeah, I know! We're going to mop the floor with you!"

"Yes, you and Rattata." I shook my head. "No, just Rattata. Jimmy, you only have one pokémon to do battle for you. Don't you think that your giving me the unfair advantage by limiting yourself like this?"

"Of course not! I'm just giving you a better chance at beating me, Luke! Rattata is in the top percentage of all Rattata in the world, so giving you a handicap is more than fair." Ugh, the heads of these youngster trainers were filled with hot air as always.

Though they might be obnoxious, for once I expected a trainer that wanted to beat me for being a Conference contender to show up. I was looking forward to a battle where I could battle a seasoned trainer a bit more seriously, but instead I'm going to have to indulge one of the local kids aggrandizing the skills of their recently caught pokémon.

I shrugged. "Well, if this is really how you want it?" I nodded to Miss Lola, one of the café staff, acting as our referee.

"This match will be a three-on-three battle between Challenger Jimmy Palmer and Café Attendant Luke Ketchum. Substitutes are freely allowed for the match, and the first trainer to defeat all of their opponent's pokémon will be the winner. Trainer Luke, please release your first pokémon!"

I complied and chose just the pokémon for the job. "Leonardo, I choose you!" My dutiful little Squirtle emerged from his pokeball with a deep bow. First, he bowed to me, then to his opponent before adopting a stance. Man, I really let Kamina influence this little guy too much.

A couple of "aws" and cheers from the small crowd of customers watching did have Leonardo blush a bit, before he quickly ignored the attention with a stubborn shake of his head.

"What!? Come on, you're not even going to use your Charizard? What a gyp!" Annoyed, Jimmy crossed his arms in a huff.

I shrugged. "Hey, you wanted a battle and I'm giving it to you." I questioned whether he felt that confident in himself and his Rattata that they could immediately handle one my Starter right off the bat. "If I were you, I'd focus on actually beating the opponent in front of you."

"Hmph! Have it your way, Rattata and I will force you to pull him out!" Jimmy confidently jutted his chin out.

"Okay." I shrugged. Time for me to give this kid a wake-up call.

"Are both trainers ready?" The referee held up both of her flags. I chose to quietly nod as Jimmy belted a loud "You bet I am!".

"Then let the match begin!"

As the flags lowered, I gestured my hand over to my opponent. "You can make the first move."

Jimmy snickered, "Hah, you're going to regret that!" I sincerely doubted that. "Go Rattata, use Tackle!"

Leonardo kept his gaze on his opponent, awaiting my command. "I'll only provide commands for attacks. Judgement on whether you should take a hit or dodge will be deferred to you." Squirtle nodded and awaited for his opponent to finally cross the battlefield and attempt to hit him with a full-bodied tackle.

The small rat pokémon's blow completely missed.

Jimmy punched the air. "Again, tackle him again! You'll wear that slow Squirtle down in no time!" I snorted, knowing how true that statement would be if he weren't facing a Squirtle that's currently being trained by a Scizor.

I settled back with my arms crossed and watched as Leonardo effortlessly dodged the opponent's relentless oncoming tackles with swift ease. This just kept on going with little Jimmy not providing much beyond the same move repeatedly.

This wasn't going to stop until the Rattata tired himself out, so I decided to give the match some immediacy. "Tail Whip." Mid-dodge, Squirtle's tail cracked itself against the tackling Rattata's head, sending the purple rat tumbling on the ground.

"Rattata!" Jimmy cried out for his pokémon. The rat pokémon shakily got up and resolutely nodded to his trainer.

"R-Rat…Rattata!"

"Good, we're still in this buddy! Now let's use our new signature attack!" I was about to give Leonardo the order to simply use Tail Whip should the rat pokémon continues it's tackle assault again. Jimmy slashed his hand in the air. "Quick Attack!" Rattata barreled across the battlefield in a blur at Leo.

Leonardo still dodges the blow with ease despite the attack having more speed to it.

Still, I didn't expect the kid to pull out a move like that. I blinked and nodded with a bit of a smile. "At least it's a nice change of pace this time around." Now lets see what he'll do with the move.

"Yeah, that's it, Rattata! You have him on the ropes now! Keep it up with another Quick Attack!" My smile fell as Jimmy simply returned to the old tried and true method of repeating the same attack.

Though I had to give his Rattata some props, the little guy did have good stamina to execute as many Quick Attacks as he could in a row like this. Pity that he didn't nearly have enough to sustain such a rigorous assault, and that his trainer has yet to see it.

"Okay, Rattata one more time!" Jimmy cheered as he noticed a slight lull in between his pokémon's attacks.

"R-Ratta…ta…" The purple rat pokémon panted, their sides frantically expanding with each shallow breath taken.

"Get some distance." I called out and for some reason instead of backpedaling, my Squirtle decided that the apt thing to do was jump and execute a (completely unnecessary) mid-air backflip. The crowd watching us whistled and clapped at the display while a part of myself died from self-disappointment for letting Kamina truly corrupt Leonardo THIS badly.

Jimmy smirked. "Heh, running away? Not a chance, Luke! Alright Rattata, use Quick Attack! Full Power!"

Now slower from exhaustion, Rattata took a bit more time to gain speed and cross the field after my pokémon. Scratching my head, I waited a bit longer for Rattata to close the gap before giving my command.

"Permafrost." A pale blue beam of condensed energy hit the field and formed a frigid layering of smooth ice over the standard battlefield. Once Rattata's paws hit the icy flooring, his fate was sealed. The speed of Quick Attack ramped up his momentum, so the only thing to stop his frantic sliding and tumbling was a nearby tree.

The loud thud of its body hitting the tree coupled with Jimmy's panicked cries filled the area as the poor mouse pokémon limply fell and twitched from the pain. He wasn't going to get back up.

"Challenger Jimmy's Rattata is unable to battle! Thus, the match goes to Trainer Luke's Squirtle with Luke Ketchum as the winner of the battle!" With the flag raised to my side, I waved at the small crowd clapped and congratulated the both of us as I made my way over to Leonardo.

"Excellent work as always, Leo." I congratulated the small turtle pokémon with a pat to the head.

"S-Squirt-squirtle!" Flattered, the little guy rubbed the back of his head. Leonardo was the best for battles like this. I may have trained him to fight above his weight class, but he certainly knows how to pull his punches when against those less strong and experienced than him. It was a bit of a struggle at first since he's been conditioned to battle the likes of Asch, Macaque and Kamina, but we managed to buff that out by using the café battles as training to perfectly adjust the level of power behind each of his moves.

Plus, his attitude was the best for low-level battles like this. I wouldn't dare place either Kidd or Sylvie against that Rattata. I'm not an asshole who loves to crush rookies and I want these kinds of young challengers to put up some form of a fight against me. I'm here to pop their overinflated and unearned confidence, not shatter their dreams.

"H-How? I-I…we were supposed to be stronger…" Joey muttered and looked as if the whole world was coming down on him. God, I really hope Ash won't turn out like this when he faces his first loss.

Leonardo and I made our way over to the kid just as he balled back his Rattata, I scratched my cheek and sighed. "So, with your loss, you now owe us the payment for your meal." I crossed my arms and regarded the boy, who now had this faraway look. Sheesh, is the loss really hitting you this badly, kid? "But that can come after, so…let's review. Why do you think you lost?"

"…Y-You…" My question did bring the kid out of his "existential crisis" to completely regard me. "You cheated?" With a twitch of my brow and Leonardo's unimpressed glare, Jimmy at least had the decency to look ashamed. "Y-You used an Ice type move that I've never even heard of before and-."

"Kid, that was just a code name I made to command Leonardo to fire an Ice Beam to the floor. It's allowed in official League battles, so it shouldn't be counted as "cheating"." I tiredly explained.

"R-Really? That's a thing?" He asked.

I nodded. "A pokémon battle is a battle between not just the pokémon but the trainers as well. Sure, your pokémon may be the ones doing the fighting, but you give them the commands. This obviously applies to your opponent as well and thus you can react to their commands, and they can react to yours in return. Getting your opponent stumped and unable to react to your command is just as essential as making up a new combination move."

"Whoa…combination moves…" Jimmy was in awe before blinking in confusion. "What's that and can I do 'em?"

I laughed as the reaction reminded me a bit of how Ash would act. "Erh…that's a little too early for you, little man." I furiously rubbed his head much to his childish indignation.

"Anyway, trainers are the type to find an advantage in battle through sheer force, trickery, or anything that's legal enough to get away with. Some use hand gestures when calling out a move just to signal their pokémon to use another move, others shorten the name of their moves to initials to leave their opponents pondering away precious seconds, and there are conniving psychics that telepathically communicate their commands without saying a word."

I noticed that most of this was intriguing the kid but also going over his head, so I coughed and continued with my original point. "But enough about trainer tactics, I'm just going to point out the mistakes you made in battle." I raised one finger. "One, you were too cocky." Jimmy's mouth opened. "Ah, let me finish."

Jimmy glowered and I chuckled.

"Your chances of winning this battle would have been a lot better if you had requested a 1 on 1 instead of a 3 on 3. You killed your shot at winning by stacking the odds against you, and if I'm being super nice about it just to make what you did seem sensible, it would have been a nice way to push you and Rattata's limits. Except you came in headstrong with the belief that you'll win, which blows that theory out of the water." I shrugged.

"So, any reason why you chose a 3 on 3 battle when you only have the one pokémon?"

"I-I…" Jimmy stuttered then sighed. "Rattata and I were on a winning streak, and we've beaten nine other trainers on Route 1 who have had two or three more pokémon than I do. I just thought that we were strong enough to beat you too."

Ah, so he was intoxicated from his own winning streak. Makes sense. "And since you knew and requested that I use my Starter, I have to ask you… Were you that confident that you could win?"

"Yeah." Jimmy awkwardly looked down at Leonardo who curiously tilted his head at him. "I mean, I thought I did…"

"Having confidence is good but too much of it can make you your own worst enemy. Remember that."

"I will…"

"Now let’s move on to reason two on why you lost…"

From there, I mostly gave Jimmy the rundown on his flaws in battle. Reason two was just that he was too repetitive with commanding Rattata to us Tackle back-to-back. It tells me, the opposing trainer, that he has no overall strategy and is basically putting all his eggs in a single basket. He did mention that his plan was to wear out Leonardo since that strategy had worked for him in the past, but the issue was that was his only plan with no fallback.

I would give him props if he had planned to use his Rattata to tire Leonardo out then send out another pokémon to take advantage of my pokémon's possible exhaustion (under the assumption that I wouldn't switch Leo out). Sadly, he still came up dreadfully short by only using a single pokémon in a 3 on 3 battle.

Finally, the third reason was his lack of creativity and truly pushing to better what his Rattata truly had.

I gave him advice on how to make the most out of Tackle and Quick Attack for his Rattata. Practice. Practice. Practice. That's all he and every other new trainer has to focus on. Rattata when using Tackle and especially Quick Attack tended to over pursue and placed as much of his energy into running as he did when trying to stop himself mid-dash just to redirect himself. That's why I recommended that the rat pokémon be trained to make swift turns with each usage of Quick Attack.

After giving him the self-same exercise that I used for Sylvie when she was an Eevee learning to harness Quick Attack, he and I exchanged sportsmanlike handshake, earned more encouraging cheers from the small crowd of customers, and went our separate ways.

I had offered that our Blissey, Angel, could heal and perform a check up for his Rattata, but he declined. Probably wanting to save face despite all the praise coming from the crowd trying to ease his bruised confidence.

And thus, that was the end to a disappointing battle.

The bright side to all of it was that I managed to teach a youngster humility and give him something to improve his skills as a prospective trainer. Better that he learned to swallow this bitter pill now than later when he starts his journey.

I gave my thanks to my mom's Nidoqueen as she was already on top using Flamethrower to melt the iced battlefield. With the battle done with, I returned to the interior of the café through the veranda and was congratulated by the local customers. A bunch of the older folk praised me for lending advice to little kids as a couple grannies gave me some hard candies as a reward (I loved butterscotch!).

"You were just amazing, Lukey! A fantastic battle that left me speechless!" Mom called out from over at the cashier as she finished receiving Jimmy's payment and ringing in the next customer behind him.

I sheepishly laughed. "Thanks mom, but…" I scratched my cheek. "You say that for every match you watch."

"That's because no matter if it's win or lose, any battle that my baby participates in will be nothing less but spectacular~!" God, that was such a mom thing to say.

"Love you too, mom…"

"Squirt-Squirtle!"

"And yes, even you were spectacular too, Leonardo. Here's a special treat for being such a hard worker!"

Failing not to blush, I rolled my eyes and left mom to coddle my Squirtle with some pokéblocks that she kept on hand. I made my way over to a certain booth in the establishment where I had left Fafnir in the care of Mrs. Verdant, Blossom's mom. The hungry little noodle stuffed himself silly with the smorgasbord of pokéfood, berries, and meats.

The little glutton had been stuffing himself with food ever since I had introduced him to mom. One look at my little Dratini's starved form was all it took for her to dish out and make as much pokéfood for the pokémon. With Angel's help of course because no sane Blissey would ignore a starved pokémon's plight.

From last night to this morning, Dratini's been gorging himself on his meals with gusto.

He did show signs of slowing his eating when around Asch's constant vigil, but when I took him with me to a public establishment like this, he reverted to old habits and selfishly ate as much as he could while suspiciously keeping a look out for something that'll pounce on him. That was his behavior until I had gotten Mrs. Verdant to see him.

"Slowly now…slowly…" Fafnir broke away from his meal to delight in the way the tips of the woman's fingers pressed under his neck. He wiggled, crooned, and leaned into the touch as Mrs. Verdant gently scooched him away from the dishes to the other corner of the table. "We wouldn't want you to spit up all the food you'll need to grow up big and strong. Just relax and allow your stomach to settle, then you can eat again in a while. I promise."

Watching this, I was more than convinced that Mrs. Verdant was truly some sort of Dragon Whisperer since she got my gluttonous new pokémon to comply.

"Bliss?" Angel came out of the kitchen and over to them with dishes brimming full of pokéfood and diced berries.

While patting Fafnir's head, Mrs. Verdant shook her head. "Thanks, and sorry for making you go through the trouble of making more, Angel. Lets give him an hour."

Our family's Blissey happily nodded as if she wasn't inconvenienced. She simply placed the large amounts of food on the table, bowed and returned to the kitchen. I shot her a wave that she happily returned when I reached the booth.

"So how is he?" I asked sliding in to sit next to the older woman.

Mrs. Verdant hummed. "He's well enough. All that's needed for now is for him to gain the proper pounds necessary for his growth. It looks like the last time he his skin was ages ago." She pointed to the small pokémon's scales. "See how faded and thin his scales are?" I winced and nodded. "Whenever a Dratini sheds, their new scales will initially come out softened but as time goes on, they'll harden and be as bluer as the sky. You can tell the health of a Dratini by more than just the size they grow to."

I grimaced. "Did you find any signs of scarring?"

Mrs. Verdant's smile fell a little. "Well, it's quite faint, but I did notice a couple of scratches. They were particularly a bit too deep to be buffered out…"

I gritted my teeth. "So, there were more?"

Mrs. Verdant sighed. "Unfortunately, that's a possibility." She pointed to one deep scratch that started from one scale but was cut short on its path to another. "You'd have to know what you’re looking for when seeing it, but whoever groomed him last probably focused on limiting the amount of marks as best as they could."

I frowned. Now I'm curious whether this was all Clair or the Grandmaster of the Blackthorn Clan trying to insult me by covering their tracks. Especially the lengths that they went through just to do it.

Focusing on my pokémon's health, I asked, "So how long would you estimate until the time for his next shedding?"

Mrs. Verdant noticed me worrying and laughed to dispel it. "Oh, don't worry, Luke. It won't be as long now since it looks like up until now, he's been lacking enough protein and sustenance to kickstart the process. I wouldn't worry about starting a specific diet for him until after his…hm…I'd want to say third, but since he was most likely taken from there, I'd say you should focus on dieting him after the fifth shedding of his scales when he's much healthier."

I blinked in surprise. "Sure, but is it really going to take that long?"

"That long he says…" Mrs. Verdant clicked her tongue in amusement. "Again, you have nothing to worry about, Luke. Once a Dratini sheds their skin and keeps a consistent build up of life energy the time between each shedding lessens. It may take a while for the first shedding since he has a lot to catch up on when building up said energy, but at the rate you and Delia feed him, I'm sure he'll have a consistent shedding schedule.

Just don't try to rush it and take your time with it. Otherwise, you'll find yourself accidentally making a legitimate issue later down the road."

Blinking, I realized now that she wasn't just giving this lesson to me from out of the blue. "Did Blossom do something again?" The soul draining sigh I received confirmed my suspicion.

"Honestly that girl, she's always so focused on everything that she can't finish any one thing. This morning, she wanted Bud and I to let her walk to school on her own with either of our pokémon watching her on the way. Instead of standing like a united front, Bud agreed for the both of us and after some convincing, I conceded."

I nodded and gestured for her to go on.

"Then when it came time for breakfast, I was pleasantly surprised to find Blossom didn't need help waking up. Sadly, that was the only good to come from this morning since I basically had to trail after her and ensure she was wearing ALL her clothes, finished washing all of the dried-up shampoo in her hair and take over for her as she tried to make us all breakfast. After that I just took her to school without much urging from Bud…"

I bet Blossom complained the whole way to school too. "Y-Yeah, I can see how that could warrant the lesson." I felt some sympathy for her since Ash was the exact same way too whenever he felt the need to be a "grown up".

Mrs. Verdant huffed. "And that's why she shouldn't be surprised that I might suspend her going on her journey until she gets her act together and listens. I'm sure you're aware but being scatterbrained in the wild is a surefire way to receive injury or…worse."

I nodded in agreement as memories of my first outing with Asch as a Charmander showed me how self-reliant you had to be. Sure, Blossom may whine about how overprotective her mother was, but it comes from a genuine place. Not too overprotective in the sense that she's shielding Blossom from the world, but more in line with her preparing Blossom for the world.

Mrs. Verdant continued to give me some more insight into Fafnir's health, identifying the signs of his imminent shedding, the recommended times to avoid having him battle after said shedding, and warnings not to overfeed him. Having a keen eye for dragon types was pretty much her thing. Everything was sort of coming full circle when I chose to come to her for advice on raising Dratini, the same way that I approached Mr. Verdant for tips on raising a Charmander just before my first journey began.

In Pallet Town, Mrs. Verdant basically was THE person to go to for all of your dragon-type pokémon troubles. Prof. Oak even states that her counselling regarding dragon types was better than his own, the former freaking Indigo Champion. The weight of his word and the barebones information of Mrs. Verdant being a former resident of Blackthorn City further supported the significance of her prowess.

Which is why I told her the full extent of my interaction with Clair the other day and the full terms of our trade. The woman seemed contemplative as I told my story, but by the end of it the only expression etched onto her bespectacled complexion was exasperation.

Pushing her glasses up, the assistant manager of the café pinched the bridge of her nose, she deeply inhaled, "I was only gone for a day to visit the Vermillion City markets when she came. Imagine my surprise to hear of how we're down a staff member because of her ill mood driving her to severely batter the poor server's pokémon." She shook her head. "But hearing your story only further adds to my sheer disappointment. She should know better than that…"

Adjusting her glasses, Mrs. Verdant deeply bowed her head. "I'm sorry that you had to put up with Clair's nonsense, Luke."

"No, no its fine. I kind of knew what I was getting into when she popped up out of nowhere." I was a little vindictive with the way she snubbed Daisy after their conference match and extensively studied her habits and excessive pride just to gain the advantage I needed to best her.

"I'm sure you did, and knowing that girl, she'll just be angrier if you were to tell her that to her face." Really? Good to know for future reference.

Mrs. Verdant smirked. "I know that look, Luke, and I must tell you to refrain from doing that. You may have beaten her before, but poking an already mad dragon until it becomes livid is a poor strategy."

I yawned and scratched my head. "Fine…"

"Good. Her pride's already taken some hefty blows after her loss to you. Further fanning the flames can only make things worse for the both of you. Though I don't think I can ever condone her recent behavior, and neither should the Elders."

The way that she spoke so casually had me curious. "Mrs. Verdant, you personally know Clair?"

Her smile widened. "Of course I do, we're cousins." I physically reeled back at the news which earned a light giggle from the woman. "Or I guess to specify, we're second cousins. Our grandfathers were brothers if the context was needed to help you piece it together."

"Y-Yeah, but I'm surprised that you're actually a part of the Blackthorn Clan." I mean, not every person in Blackthorn City was directly a member of the clan, but news of their relation only solidified Mrs. Verdant's affiliation with them.

"Oh, I never was a part of the Blackthorn Clan. I was born to the Silverfang clan, a Side branch to the Main branch of the Blackthorn Clan." Noticing my confusion, she continued. "The Silverfang clan's purpose was to act as protectors of the Blackthorn Clan ever since it's inception. Secrets, heirs, and the dragon pokémon that lied within the Blackthorn Clan's territory were the responsibility of the Silverfang Clan to protect no matter the personal cost."

"Huh…that sounds pretty…" I started to but she cut me off and predicted my next words.

"Harsh? It certainly was and though I disagree with the indoctrinations they imparted onto us since our youth, I can't say that in a weird way their methods did bear me spectacular results later in life."

I was personally going to compare the whole main and side branch thing to the Hyuga Clan from Naruto but yeah, I agree with her explanation. I only hope that the Silverfang-Blackthorn dynamic wasn't as fucked up like it was with the Hyugas. "Are you referring to making it to your Indigo League conference's Finals?"

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Mrs. Verdant had a good laugh. "If only." After some nudging, she led Fafnir back to his increased stack of delicacies. "Back in those days, the Indigo League was still trying to run itself after Samuel ceded his title of champion to Muramasa. Not even a year after him was when Blaine retired from his spot in the Elite Four."

Mrs. Verdant had a faraway look as her mind must swam through memories of pure nostalgia. "Oh, Luke, you could only imagine the havoc that began to reign upon the circuit that day. Trainers from everywhere in Johto and Kanto buzzing about the two regions. Battling to attain greater power, risking life and limb to brave the uncharted wilds to capture only the best, and to prove one's mettle at the end of the year at the Conference.

"The Elite Four up until Oak's leaving had been rigidly locked since his tenure as champion. No one aside from Muramasa himself was close to even breaching those four pillars to reach the region's strongest. So, when one willingly stepped down to leave his seat vacant left countless ambitious trainers attempting to snatch it."

Mrs. Verdant's smile became a little toothy as the lenses to her glasses shined ominously. "The opportunity to surmount the remaining elites and reach the Champion was tempting enough, but the prospect of failing and claiming the vacant Elite 4 status as a fallback? With so many doors opened for success, none from our generation were foolish enough to turn the chance down."

Looking wistful, she calmed down with a sigh. "Unfortunately for me, I couldn't be the one to reach such heights as I was thoroughly beaten by that Musclehead Bruno."

Huh, so Bruno was from Mrs. Verdant's generation, and Mrs. Verdant was potentially so close to being a member of the Elite Four. It's amazing how much significance some of the citizens in this humble town had in the grand scheme of the region's machinations.

"Yet despite it all, the loss didn't eat at me as much as I thought." She smiled lovingly at the metal band wrapped around her ring finger. "The pain, sweat and tears that brought me to that stage did help me find what was truly important beyond what I initially wanted."

That's right, she and her husband Mr. Bud met during the gym circuit as rivals and faced each other in the Semi-Finals.

Coughing to compose herself, Mrs. Verdant continued. "But I'm going off topic, let me finally get to the point and answer the questions you had regarding your trade with Clair and the situation that this little guy was in. I promise to answer as best as I can, but due to being "defanged" by my clan, I am limited in my capacity to elaborate on the personal matters of the Blackthorn Clan itself."

"Meaning you can't or won't tell me if I asked about their breeding methods or training?" I didn't really care but I needed to know the extent.

"Yes, to both." Well, it's a good thing I didn't give a shit then.

Still… "What does "defanged" mean?"

"Excommunication." She spoke with such fierce finality that I decided not to push it. "Now, about your trade, I would say that you were indeed gipped. The Dratini provided wasn't one that was bred and trained by the Blackthorn Clan but instead the Silverfang Clan. I know this since Fafnir's condition was representative of all the runts found in the Silverfang Clan's stables. They're too weak amongst the more wild, unruly Dratini and Dragonair, and poorly fed from losing their food in bouts against their betters."

"So, either Clair or this Grandmaster guy did try and insult me with this trade." I groaned in annoyance. "Even lied about Fafnir even being born and raised from the clan."

"Technically, they didn't really lie since the Silverfang clan is an auxiliary clan to the Blackthorns so indirectly your Dratini did come from them but those are just semantics. However, enough about that." Mrs. Verdant wagged her finger at me. "Answer me this: Have you done anything that might have earned the ire of the Grandmaster? Have you done him or the clan any wrong?"

"Well, I did beat Cla-."

"You bested her in a clear-cut battle for all to see and proved yourself. The Blackthorns acknowledge the strong and any who best one of their own." Mrs. Verdant cut me off. "Anything else?"

"Well, I am a trainer sponsored by the professor and Clair did mention her grandfather hating his guts." I said.

"Irrelevant. A dragon best saves their personal grudges with the one that wrongs them. Grandmaster Talon would best conserve his energy in gaining recompense from the individual and not those affiliated with them." She gestured for me to continue, but I shook my head.

"Nope that's it from me." I scratched my head.

"Since there's no feasible evidence that the Grandmaster has reason to disrespect you, then the true culprit is simply just Clair trying to spite you." Mrs. Verdant tiredly sighed. "I may not know the true specifics of what was to be brought to you for the trade, but Clair certainly wasn't supposed to bring a runt that no one would even notice, or care was gone."

Why am I not even surprised, but hey, at least I didn't piss off the leader to the dragon taming clan.

Fafnir heard this and sadly stopped his eating to lower his head, my heart tightened at the sight. Reaching out, I tried to copy Mrs. Verdant's trick and came out with a jubilantly squirming dragon noodle that relished my physical affections.

"Don't worry little buddy, I'm going to make you such a force of nature that they'll regret ever giving you to me." He preened and crooned more loudly with my promise.

"Good. That's a nice mentality to have." Blossom's mother approved. "He may have come from the same pen as my Dragonite, but he's going to need a lot of work. Your support to build him up is the perfect way to build trust between you and ensure that any form of disobedience will be snuffed out once he reaches his final evolutionary stage."

Raising her finger, Mrs. Verdant continued. "Now if you're not interested in my thoughts about the potential fallout with the trade, then just tell me to stop. If not, I'll continue."

I rubbed my chin and narrowed my eyes. "Is it that bad?"

The woman snickered with a sly smile. "Probably, but certainly not for you, Luke."

Oh, I like where this is going. "Continue."

"The Blackthorn Clan are a clan that keep their word and honor an equal trade. You mentioned giving them a rare and living Aerodactyl to breed and add amongst their ranks, and in return Clair provides for you a Dratini that's not even close to the vaunted standard they value in their other dragon type pokémon. Considering the last-minute change to your end of the deal, the scales have drastically shifted."

Mrs. Verdant leaned back and laced her fingers together. "Once word of this trade reaches the clan, and certain truths of Clair's actions have been unveiled to the Grandmaster and his council well…" Mrs. Verdant made a couple of jazz handed gestures and deviously laughed. "She's going to have a lot of explaining to do."

"This day could not get any better…" I sighed with a luxuriant smile on my face.

"Would you like to see the pictures I took of her when I was assigned as one of the servants for the clan?"

I take back what I said earlier because this day totally CAN get better. It was a bummer she couldn't send me the pics. It would certainly make Daisy feel better about her loss to Clair while I'm sure that Joey would be dying of laughter. Getting as much of a full story about the Silverfang-Blackthorn Clan dynamics as I can from what limited info Mrs. Verdant was willing to share helped clear things up about Fafnir.

Runts like him weren't long for the world when kept in that pen with the other savage dragon types. Clair going out of her way to insult me by picking him had inadvertently saved him from further abuse from the other pokémon and the uncaring neglect of the two clans.

Thinking of the future, my mind was made up. It was not going to be a matter of if anymore. I don't know how or even when it will happen, but I was going to make Lance and Clair eat shit just to have Fafnir prove himself. That was the long-term plan but for now I settled for the short term and allowed my new pokémon to eat his fill and rest up.

Today was the day that he'll be introduced to the rest of my pokémon so he was going to need all the energy he can. I had sent Sylvie and Kidd back to Sanctuary just to help gather the others for my arrival. Once I am done with my shift at the café, I'll just pick up Asch, call over Epona then be on my way.

Mrs. Verdant wouldn't budge on elaborating more about the Blackthorns, but she still had my gratitude for informing me. I had even offered to take up most of her shift until her lunch break as thanks. The crowd of customers were starting to flood in and so things did get a little hectic, especially when I had to regretfully renege on my offer to help Mrs. Verdant when mom approached me with the word of a new customer challenging the café.

As I stood facing my challenger on the opposite side of the battlefield, I couldn't help but notice the deep frown that my opponent sported. That and his posture seemed more self-assured than overtly confident like Jimmy. This meant that the poor taste from this morning's battle may be washed out with whatever this guy can bring to the table.

"This match will be a three-on-three battle between Challenger Aaron Fulan of Mossdeep Town and Café Attendant Luke Ketchum from Pallet Town. Substitutes are freely allowed for the match. Trainers are you ready!"

"Yep." "Of course." We both nodded and intently watched as the referee's flags were raised.

"Then begin!" Once those flags came down, the two of us instantly went into action.

"Leonardo, I choose you!" My diligent little Squirtle dashed onto my side of the field.

"Flaaffy, prepare for battle!" My opponent's ovine pokémon took the field with a jubilant bleat and a happy bounce before a sharp "Focus!" had them stiffen up and assume what looked like their game face. It was too cute to even look remotely intimidating, but their electric typing proved to be a threat.

Good. This was going to be good practice and a fun battle. "Get ready, Leonardo."

"Squirt!"

"…odd…" I barely caught what my opponent said before he started to make the first move as was his allowed right as the challenger. "Flaaffy use Thunder shock!"

"Leonardo, hustle!"

An impressive bolt of lightning barely struck Leonardo as the Squirtle nimbly sidestepped the attack.

"Keep firing and rush them!" Now the Flaaffy was running after Leonardo, relentlessly firing bolts of Thunder shocks that skirted near the strength level of a low Thunderbolt. Clumps of their sparkling cotton began to spread around the field with each heavy step they took amidst their pursuit.

I wasn't about to let this guy set up the field with Cotton Spore. "Use Water Gun to wash away the falling spores!"

"Flaaffy, double time! Keep that Squirtle moving and corner them." Despite the escalation in my opponent's tactics, I remained cool as Flaaffy began to let out more coordinated bursts of lightning Leonardo's way.

Earlier it could be said that Flaaffy was keeping Leonardo at bay while dropping their dry and easily conductible wool around the field. However, when Leonardo was given a command beyond dodging, then you'd see that the paradigm was reversed. My Squirtle was able to expertly dodge the shockingly powerful lances of electricity while washing away the electrical clumps of wool surrounding the field.

He would soak away the thrown cotton before, amidst, and after dodging the Thunder shocks with practiced ease. It was surreal and highly entertaining for the crowd to watch a Squirtle move so swiftly. That's the result of having a Scizor personally act as his teacher. Kamina had ensured that Squirtle would be trained to utilize his smaller size to his advantage.

After all, a small target was already hard to hit, but a moving one as well only made taking aim that much more difficult.

Aaron certainly didn't seem to share the audience's awe as that frown of his only deepened. His pokémon's breath quickened with each unsuccessful blast of Thunder Shock that failed to hit my Squirtle. The wool around their neck was starting to lessen in thickness with each clump of cotton thrown off as they continued their charge.

They were showing the early signs of exhaustion, so it didn't surprise me that Aaron abandoned ship with his failing tactic for another.

"Flash!" Aaron bellowed. My body tensed in surprise at the sight of Flaaffy's tail beginning to shine a blindingly sharp light before quickly pulling up my goggles. My third gym battle with Surge had forced me to consider investing in anti-glare goggles after my first loss to him.

Unfortunately, Leonardo didn't share the same luxury as he flinched back amidst washing away more electrified cotton on the ground.

Tch, even with my goggles, I could still barely make out Flaaffy's silhouette. The pokémon was hunched over and the smell of ozone that permeated the area had only worsened. Were they using Charge with another attack?

Another set-up after the initial one failed? Now this was getting fun.

Snapping my fingers as the blinding burst of light covered the battlefield, I directed my Squirtle who was doing his best to remain calm while futilely trying to see through the hindering light. "Leonardo let's Beyblade 180 degrees to the right!"

"Squirt!" My busybody of a pokémon was already on it, shucking his head and limbs into his shell.

Two snaps from the other side of the field rang out along with a command. "Thunderbolt!"

"Flaaf-Flaaffy!" Now if Flaaffy's thunder shocks before had bordered on reaching the level of a thunderbolt, then this Thunderbolt quite literally bordered on Thunder. The move Flash was only heightened with the destructive clap of lightning that Flaaffy let loose. The ground was gouged out and burnt on my side of the field as the psychic barriers dutifully took the brunt of the attack before any of the thrown gravel and dirt could hit me.

The anticipation to wait for the Flash of light to go down began to irk me before my goggled eyes were barely able to perceive Flaaffy's panting shape amidst the light along with a rather odd wide shadow just between their legs. Good, he made it into position with Rapid Spin.

"Hydro Pump dead ahead!" I ordered, in retaliation my opponent screamed for his Flaaffy to use Cotton Guard. Flaafy's figure expanded as the wave of pressurized water blew them over to my side of the field. The ovine pokémon crashed and slid down the psychic barrier wall in front of me.

They shakily stood on their feet as their drenched mane of neck wool had expanded outward. The pink pokémon swiftly stood to face Leonardo just as the illumination of their Flash had ended. Pulling up my goggles, I had noticed that Aaron was sporting a pair of shades that he stuffed in his pocket. He was just as prepared to employ that Flash tactic as much as I was to defend myself against it.

But that's not all that this new clarity from Flash had brought to me. I can now see the deep, purple bruise on Flaaffy's back and just how haggard they were. The fluff of wool on their neck no longer seemed as plentiful as it did in the beginning of the match. Their tactic from the match's start had bitten them in the rear, and thus the Cotton Guard didn't fully protect against Leonardo's full-powered Hydro Pump.

However, the trade-off for lowering the defenses of Cotton Guard did come with a trade-off.

"S-Squirt-Squirtle?" My Squirtle was twitching and currently stuck in place a huge ball of cotton had trapped his legs.

"Clever." I chuckled. So those snaps from before were to signal his Flaaffy to lay Cotton Spore behind them. To use Flash just to simultaneously set-up a Charge + Thunderbolt combo and a rear Cotton Spore trap was impressive. Yet, I was more concerned about how oddly timed that tactic was.

Beyond my battle in the conference, I've never actually used Leonardo in an official pokémon battle. No tournaments or any competitions either. The only times that I've used him since then was whenever I gathered my team to train or in these Café battles.

So, if I was able to be read so easily by this guy then that led me to only one conclusion.

My smile grew a bit tense as I focused my attention on my opponent, who's frown seemed to deepen as they quietly regarded me with those fierce blue eyes. It seems that someone's been preparing for me, and I honestly found myself elated to see what else he has in store for me.

My curiosity heightened as Flaaffy was removed from the field in a dazzling red light.

"I am forfeiting Flaaffy from the match. She's taken on too much damage to continue." Aaron exclaimed to the referee, who nodded. I smiled since it was a nice change of pace for a café challenger to realize when to withdraw their pokémon and to consider their well-being.

Aaron looked to Flaaffy's pokeball and callously spoke to it. "Barely adequate. You could have done better."

My smile grew a bit tense as I focused my attention on my opponent, who's frown seemed to deepen as they quietly regarded me with those fierce blue eyes. It seems that someone's been preparing for me, and I honestly found myself elated to see what else that he has in store for me. This welcoming sense of DeJa'Vu hit me as memories of my past opponents from the conference came to mind. Trainers that couldn't even properly research their rivals and leave the plans to blind luck were always the first to go…

…unless you're Joey and unfortunately my little brother until I can beat some sense into him before he goes out on his journey.

Either way, this guy was good, and I wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt with that last comment.

After all, a battle was the go-to way in figuring out a trainer's true character.

With the announcement of Flaaffy's withdrawal from the match, I was now up three to Aaron's two pokémon. The referee reminded Aaron of his appointed thirty seconds to choose his pokémon otherwise the act would spell his immediate forfeiting from the battle.

Aaron didn't even give the poor lady the chance to finish her reminder as he plucked out another pokeball and released his next combatant. "Rio, prepare for battle!"

I was not ready for a freaking Lucario off all pokémon to appear then disappear in a blink of an eye. One second the bipedal jackal looking pokémon emerged on the field with a growl, the next, they vanished in thin air and slugged my trapped Squirtle across the face with a Thunder Punch!

It knows Extreme Speed? "Shit."

"Language!" I ignored my mother's admonishment from amongst the crowd.

"Close Combat!" This time Electricity surged around both of Lucario's paws. What, he's even trained it to use combination techniques too?

"Use Aqua Jet straight up into the air!" In a column of water, Leonardo was able to simultaneously propel himself to the skies, free himself from the cotton wool, and put distance between himself and Lucario. This should give him some time to recover and get his head on straight.

"Use Bone Rush to vault after them!" Aaron shouted. His Lucario backpedaled and formed a light green bone of energy the size of a quarterstaff, and in a feat that reminded me of the Olympic athletes in my old world, the aura pokemon took measured leaps forward before stabbing their conjured bone staff into the ground and used the momentum to propel themselves into the air after my retreating Squirtle.

"Cease Aqua Jet and withdraw into your shell!" The Aqua Jet did stop, but Leonardo's head and limbs remained out of his shell. "What?" I squinted my eyes and focused on my pokémon's form in the air. Was Leonardo twitching?

"Paralysis?" Tch, of course Flaaffy's cotton wool would have enough electric energy to induce. Stuck slowly descending, Lucario met Leonardo midway in the sky.

"Bullet Punch!" At Aaron's swift order, I winced as a barrage of steel type energy hardened fists assailed my Squirtle, who was virtually a sitting duck in the air.

"Use Hydro Pump!" My command failed spectacularly as Lucario's continuous assault had punched Leonardo so hard that his head snapped off to the side and unleashed the Hydro Pump in the opposite direction. Thankfully, I didn't worry for long since Leonardo used the momentum of getting punched to land a well-executed Aqua Tail on Lucario.

The aura pokémon staggered back from the blow.

This gave Leonardo a moment to breath, but Aaron wasn't going to give us the chance to regroup.

"Grab its tail and use Thunder Punch!" Aaron growled.

"Raise your head and use Hydro Pump!" The force of Leonardo's Hydro Pump had sent him falling to the ground before he could be grabbed.

"Aura Sphere!" Lucario slung down a sphere of concentrated aura the size of basketball.

"Water Pulse!" My Squirtle retaliated with his sphere of condensed water energy. The two attacks exploded upon contact and a slight downpour of water from the Water Pulse rained down onto the field. Both pokémon landed back onto the battlefield with Leonardo visibly panting on one knee and Lucario somewhat stumbling before righting themselves.

Aaron narrowed his eyes at this, searching for the cause of his pokémon's slight disorientation.

I looked at the aura pokémon, specifically the deep bruise on their chin. Kamina has really been teaching Leonardo to be precise with those Aqua Tails of his.

"You think you can handle going on a little further, buddy?" I was more than fine with switching him out, but if he wanted to keep going then I'll oblige. Leo knew his limits and I trusted him to know when he had enough.

Despite the heavy toll from weathering the recent electrical attacks, Leonardo gave me a grin and nodded. Getting back on his feet, he smacked his cheeks and roared. I did my best not to laugh at how cute it was just to save him from the embarrassment.

Unfortunately, we had a crowd watching.

"Aw, that's so adorable~!"

"Look, he's trying so hard to look fierce~!"

"All of it! Get this cute Squirtle all the treats!"

"That's our Leonardo~!" I heard my mom cheer amongst the crowd of café customers and workers.

"S-Squirt…" Leonardo sunk his lower face into his shell out embarrassment. His eyes never left his opponent.

"Don't be shy, Leo. They only show you support because they're your fans." I laughed.

"And that's my baby boy Lukey! Do your best, sweetie~!" O-Okay, mom, I appreciate the sentiment but that's a little too much don't you think?

I felt Aaron glare at me from the other side of the field. Well, at least I think it was a glare. It seemed like he was looking at me far more intensely. Was he mad that the battle was stalled by the cheers?

"You're not switching?" Ah, so it was because of that. For the first time since our match, Aaron spoke to me. A look of befuddlement on his rigid expression.

I shook my head and waved my hand. "Leonardo says that he's still capable of continuing, so I see no reason to." Aaron took a glance at Leonardo's damaged state and regarded me once more with some slight disbelief.

"And you're actually deferring judgement to them based on their word alone?" He sounded utterly baffled by my reasoning.

"Of course."

He squinted his eyes at me before scoffing to himself. "Odd…" And like that, he immediately gave his order to Lucario. "Speed up and use Thunder Punch!" The combination of Extreme Speed + Thunder Punch was executed flawlessly, but the slight stagger in Lucario's first step had given us the opportunity to react.

"Permafrost!" Just as Lucario vanished in a blur, Leonardo directed a swift Ice Beam to the ground. The layering of thick, slippery ice had impeded Lucario's movement as the aura pokémon tried and failed to stop their built-up momentum.

Watching them slide toward Leonardo, I gave my order. "All fours. Beyblade to the right." Leo laid on his belly, retreated into his shell and spun to the side before Lucario could crash into him, then re-emerged on all fours to keep watch of his foe.

Lucario was sliding directly toward the Psychic barrier's walls to no doubt make a violent crash like Flaaffy did. The surprise that came from losing their footing gave way to sheer focus as without an order, they gathered what little stability they could, jumped straight for the barrier's wall, and bounced right off it to propel itself right back into Leonardo’s space.

I internally commended it's clean recovery as Aaron's orders came in the form of a rapid barrage of Vacuum Waves. "Beyblade! Upper Left! Right! Down! Repeat! Up!" I guided Leonardo through each wave since Rapid Spin had effectively left him unable to see and dodge the attacks at the same time. I had to be his eyes and guide.

The turtle pokémon rapidly spun around the icy field, dodging the blasts of air while Lucario slowly drew closer to his immediate area. The aura pokémon's attacks weren't hitting the small pokémon and at this rate he'll fall.

"Use Bone Rush to station yourself!" The battlefield shook as Lucario stabbed into the ground with a bone mid-fall and used their impressive upper body strength to hold up their body and skillfully balance on the end of the bone.

"Okay, now that's impressive." I laughed as the crowd happily clapped in amazement at the skillful showing displayed.

"S-Squirt…" Leonardo nodded in awe at the feat.

Aaron apparently did not care for the praise. "Sunny Day!" Goddamit. Artificially created rays of harsh sunlight began to beat down on the field, thus slowly melting the sheet of ice over it. Now the field was against me AND Leo's water type moves were halved from their usual effectiveness.

"Aqua Jet!" Lucario responded to Leonardo rocketing at him with a well-timed backflip off their bone staff. The dodge was clean and apparently well timed since Leonardo's physical body within the pillar of water was just mere inches away from the aura poké-.

Oh crap.

At Aaron's sharp shout of "grab it", his Lucario had managed to tear its arm into the surging veil of water and tightly grip onto the Squirtle's tail while in mid-air.

"S-Squirt!?" My pokémon gasped as he dragged along the unwanted passenger up into the air. That close of a range while Leo was submerged in Aqua Jet was a prime opportunity for Aaron to employ Thunder Punch.

"Get as high into the air as you can!"

"Don't let him, Rio! Keep using Thunder Punch until it succumbs!"

I kept my sights on the battle above, it pained me to see my little Squirtle take all those super effective hits as he endeavored to reach as far into the sky as he could. I wouldn't dare doubt that Leonardo would cease his climb to the heavens over a couple of blows from a Lucario.

The Squirtle had taken much stronger hits from Thor who had STAB on his side to back up his own electrically powered attacks. No, I was worried if he would possess enough strength left to pull off what I had planned when he reached the top.

Everyone held their breaths as the two combatants stubbornly followed the command of their trainers.

Eventually, Squirtle did reach a high enough height. Now it was time to see if he can follow through with my plan. "Cease Aqua Jet right now, Leo!" The veil of water surrounding my pokémon dissipated and now both he and Lucario were back to plummeting to the ground again. Lucario still persisted in battering my Squirtle with Thunder Punches, but through all that the Squirtle runt stubbornly persisted.

Leonardo was now above Lucario, giving him the high ground!

"Leonard use Scald!"

Aaron's stoic complexion broke in utter horror as my water pokémon sprayed a torrent of scorching, steaming water directly onto Lucario's face. Lucario's scream of agony resounded across the grounds of the café. Flocks of Pidgey and Spearow in trees afar were scared off into the skies.

I winced in some sympathy for the pokémon, but the trick more than worked. Lucario visibly reeled back from the attack and released Leonardo's tail. With an opening, it was now time to hammer this "nail" down.

"Quick, Leo! A.J. into B.B.!" I punched forward.

"RIO! Quickguard into Thunder Punch!" I clicked my tongue as my opponent obviously studied my move abbreviations from my past café matches.

For a moment I panicked until Leonardo had managed to land the first blow my headbutting his water enshrouded body into Lucario's gut before the aura pokémon had time to raise their guard. The force of the blow sent Lucario hurtling back down to earth faster as Leonardo uses the fall’s momentum to spin within the confines of Aqua Jet and execute a devastating Brick Break.

The blow had slams into Lucario's torso just as they reached the ground. A sizeable crater formed from the attack as debris and dust clouded the field.

We waited patiently for the dust cloud to settle and either of our pokémon to emerge.

To everyone's surprise, Leonardo AND Lucario had managed to crawl themselves out of it. Yet both had taken too much damage to feasibly continue. Upon reaching equal ground, both pokémon shakily stood up and stared at each other in a battle of wills.

Neither back down for a span of a minute that tensely lasted too long for comfort.

Eventually one of them did fail and in turn I allowed myself to let go of the breath I was holding.

"Lucario is unable to battle! The match goes to Luke's Squirtle!" The referee raised the flag over to my side.

Returning Lucario, Aaron's expression slightly softened as he said, "You performed adequately, Rio. Still, there's much that we have to improve upon." Huh, so he wasn't an asshole. Just super hard on himself and his pokémon. Good to know.

Whistles and cheers for both pokémon and their stupendous efforts filled the battlefield as I walked out and over the damaged field to catch my fumbling pokémon, who was struggling not to fall onto his shelled back. "Way to go, Leo."

"S-Squirt…" I patted the back of his sturdy shell and lifted him back up and over to my side of the field. There, Angel, our lovely Blissey had already prepared a stretcher to take him away. Leonardo protested the unsaid withdrawal, but quickly conceded once I plopped him down onto the stretcher and allowed Angel to jam one of his favorite pokétreats into his mouth.

"I leave him in your capable hands, Angel!" I saluted the Blissey, who seriously saluted me back. I was joking but seeing her act so studiously had me rethink laughing it off as a joke.

"I would like to withdraw Leonardo from the match please." The referee happily noted that, and now I had two pokémon remaining to Aaron's one.

My opponent regarded me seriously as this time, they pulled out a polished and scratched great ball. Hesitation was blatantly displayed on his face as he kept squinting his eyes at me before tiredly sighing upon not finding whatever it was, he was searching for. I've been passing it off the last few times, but I was curious why he kept doing that.

Since I was the victor of the round, he was meant to release his pokémon first while I had the right to wait or simply go ahead with releasing my own should I request it. I kept quiet and watched as my opponent let his thirty second time limit to release his combatant slowly run out.

I didn't mind him studying up on me before requesting the battle, but I'm not going to waste this potential advantage.

Eventually Aaron released his last pokémon just as the referee reminded him that he had five seconds left lest he automatically forfeit the match.

"Mordred, prepare for battle!" A Kirlia was released on the field.

A few of the trainer Lasses in the crowd cooed and aww'ed at the well-known and infamous (at least in certain parts of Hoenn) pokémon. The Kirlia didn't give a single whiff about them as unbecoming of their delicate and nimble form, they physically squared their body up in some kind of kata that looked oddly like the ones performed by the trainers and pokémon of the minor Fighting Gym in Saffron City.

"Café Attendant Luke, please select your pokémon." At the referee's urging, I chose my next battler without even hesitating. They didn't have a Type advantage over the Kirlia but I'm sure they'd find some fun out of this battle. I'm sure the "fun" that he's had with the electric types that he attracted to the Power Plant would pale in comparison to some good old-fashioned violence.

"Time to bring the thunder Thor!" I happily roared as I released my strongest (and only) electric type onto the field.

"Electa-viiiiiiiiiiiiiire!" Thor emerged onto the field and roared into the sky. The crowd positively roared at his emergence since he'd barely be used in these café battles unlike Leonardo, Sylveon, and sometimes Jubilee.

"Kir…" Kirlia spat at the ground and taunted the Electavire to come at them. Aaron visibly groaned and crossed his arms at his pokémon's display.

"Vire?" Electavire regarded the much smaller pokémon with a look before turning back to me.

I shrugged and stuffed my hands in my pocket. "Hey, they are technically begging for it. So, you ready for a fight, Point Break?" A hearty laugh of his own name erupted out of my pokémon as he loudly banged his fist against his chest then spun back toward his opponent with a manic grin and a raised fist to the sky.

"Vire? Electaviiiiiire!" Now that my battle maniac of a pokémon was geared up and ready for a fight, I immediately fell into giving him orders as Aaron reluctantly did the same for his Kirlia. The battle was as weird as it was entertaining. I've never seen a Kirlia straight up cast aside their known special attacks for simple physical ones.

The pokémon did employ special defense moves like Reflect and Light Screen to mitigate and block Electavire's attacks, but the way that Kirlia decided to enshroud one arm with the physical and special resistant barriers while the other was ablaze in intense flames from Fire Punch. A "sword" and "shield" that valiantly repelled Electavire's Thunderbolts and redirected the impact of his Thunder Punches was unique.

The Fire Punches were intense that some of Electavire's fur began to singe, but overall, the Kirlia's power just wasn't enough to truly shake one of my Expert tiered pokémon. Electavire was thrilled with the fight being an actual brawl as the surprise of fighting a seemingly delicate pokémon in a fist fight was what he truly loved.

Though he did get a bit over enthusiastic with one electrically enhanced Brick Break shattering the heavy layers of Reflect and Light Screen that covered the Kirlia's arm. The resulting damage from the destroyed barriers had pushed Kirlia over the edge of nearly fainting and evolution.

I and everyone were amazed that such a special moment was happening in the very battle while Aaron looked annoyed, which further deepened to aggravation as the special light signifying evolution began to fizzle out. Kirlia seemed to be struggling in pushing back the tide of their evolution. All the energy that could have been spent in battle was used for this denial in metamorphosis.

Aaron looked pissed once the evolution was fully canceled.

"I would like to forfeit Mordred from the battle."

"What?" "Vire?"

"Kir! Kirlia!"

"Stop."

Electavire and I were utterly baffled and Kirlia looked to be just as pissed as their trainer as they vehemently cried out their name in protest. This didn't last once Aaron had fully laid his furious eyes on the psychic pokémon. Kirlia flinched back and it made me wonder what their empathic senses were picking up from the guy.

Nothing positive I can tell you that much.

"You disobeyed me and broke your promise not to halt your evolution. Why should we continue when you can't even follow my instructions or keep to your word?" Aaron's harsh words had floored the Kirlia just enough to kill whatever argument they had and bitterly bow their head to them.

They disappeared in a scarlet light and with that I was deemed the winner of the match.

I didn't know how to feel about this while Thor was more disappointed that his fight couldn't reach a satisfying conclusion. I cheered him up with a promise that I'd prepare his favorite berries when we arrived at the Sanctuary to introduce Fafnir to the rest of my other pokémon.

Returning him to his ultra ball, I crossed the field and met Aaron halfway. We shook hands and despite the anti-climax of our battle, the crowd still cheered us on for a well fought battle and good sportsmanship.

Hands on my hip, I smiled. "Good match, man. Its been a while since I've had an exhilarating battle like that." Huh, I don't even feel as tired as I used to; best to conserve the energy for the Sanctuary trip.

"I appreciate the sentiment, but please don't patronize me." With crossed arms, Aaron looked to the side.

I chuckled and scratched my head. "I'm not. You really gave us a hard-fought battle."

"It took two of my pokémon to defeat your Squirtle." Aaron clicked his tongue.

"It sure did, but it doesn't detract from how hard you guys fought just to bring him low." Leonardo was still a work in progress compared to my other pokémon. He still wasn't as close to breaching past his Advanced tier into the lower Expert tier like most of my other pokémon, but there was no need to rush. It takes time, and I'm gladly enjoying the process.

"Tch, I guess this means that my level of power is nowhere near close enough to handle the foreigner if we could barely take on the pokémon that his ace defeated." Aaron sighed, and muttered, "I guess Yujo was right about that?"

Excuse me, but what? "Hold on a minute, you know Joey?"

Aaron quietly looked at me before awkwardly looking away. "I was curious and wanted to confirm something."

"Huh?" I had no clue where he was going with this.

"From back in the conference and after being defeated by him, I wanted to see if we were the same. The colors, I mean, you looked like you were in the same boat as me. Except that wasn't the case. You're…different than you were back then. After finally getting to battle you with this as the result well…"

He quietly sighed. "I guess I'm left unsatisfied with what I found."

…Okay, so I had no clue what any of that meant. I was obviously missing context for stuff that didn't pertain to me so I was going into this conversation completely blind. I mean, he looked sad, so I said the only thing that came to mind. "I'm…sorry?"

He glared at me. "I don't need your pity. You've won and the fault of my dissatisfaction lies squarely on me." Oh, come on, dude! Just how was I supposed to respond to all that nonsense you dropped on me suddenly?

I groaned, "Well, if you say so…" I trailed off then the cued uncomfortable silence kicked in. Hoping to break it, I asked, "So about your Kirlia, what happened there?"

"He didn't want to comply with my orders and I didn't want to further entertain his nonsense." Aaron stated matter of factly.

"I get that, but what specifically is the proble-?"

"None of your business."

I smacked my lips. "Well, okay then…"

…

…

…

God could someone please save me from this awkward as hell moment.

Wait, I almost forgot.

"You never answered my question on how you know Jo-?"

"Congratulations, Lukey~!" I groaned and tiredly smiled as my mother rushed over to drag me into a hug. Eh, I guess I'll just ask Joey when he gets here. "That battle was as spectacular as the last and twice more fantastic!"

"Again, mom, you say that about every battle of mine that you watch."

"That's because no matter if it's win or lose, any battle that my baby participates in will be nothing less but spectacular~!" Mom happily giggled and lovingly rubbed her cheek to mine, much to my embarrassed displeasure.

Urgh, come on not in front of my opponent, mom…

I turned to apologize to Aaron if he was bothered by this interrupting our conversation. I paused when I saw that he looked utterly baffled and envious of me and my mom.

Recomposing himself, Aaron straightened himself upright and gave us a bow. "Thank you for having me in your fine establishment these past few months, Mrs. Ketchum." Wait, what? "Your food and treats were above average as advertised."

"Oh, it was no problem at all, Aaron. Thank you for coming around and giving my cute little Lukey some much needed stimulation." Hold on, mom was in on allowing this guy study me!? "If you're still in town, we'd still be happy to have you."

Aaron grimaced. "Yeah, I…I don't really find myself going home any time soon, so I'm still determining what to do when the Circuits start back up. Until then, I'm staying at lodges down at the Pokémon Center."

"Well, if you don't have much time on your hands, then feel free to return and challenge my sweet child again. Lukey had a blast, and it's been ages since I've seen him this happy!" Mom…please don't tell me you did all of this just to cheer me up. "It never hurts to have more friends, and I'm sure the two of you can bond over your battling every once in a while."

"I…" The guy seemed as overwhelmed as I am. Ugh, I'm not so anti-social that you have to push me to make new friends mom.

"Think it over, okay?" Mom winked, grabbed Aaron by the shoulders, spun him around, then led him back to the café. "Now what do you say we get the payment of your orders over and done with, hm? For giving the other customers a good show, I'll even let you pick out a free cake to take with you back home~!"

"S-Sure…" Aaron stuttered with a bit of a blush as he got dragged away before we could finish our talk.

I blinked then turned to Elizabeth, who stomped over to give me a messy pat to the head. I looked to my mom's starter and pointed at my retreating mother's back in exasperation. "Elizabeth? What just happened?"

The Nidoqueen simply huffed in amusement then lifted me in her arms like a baby and carried me off the field. "Oh, okay…" I let it happen despite how demeaning it was because I couldn't fathom the lengths that my mom went through just for this battle. Mrs. Verdant happily spilled the beans that Aaron has been a consistent customer for the café these past three months since January.

My mom had made Mrs. Verdant and all the other workers keep it a secret until he was ready to face me, and I was fully in the mood to seriously battle in the café beyond simply doing it to train Leonardo. I appreciated the thought since the lengths that she went to give me an actual fun battle was heartwarming, but damn! Mom had delicately manipulated everything just to ensure I wouldn't be suspicious of an outsider frequenting the café.

She made sure that any shifts I worked in the past would prevent me from meeting Aaron.

Those times that she conveniently let me leave work early. Aaron had shown up one too many times in a week and she didn't want me catching on too quickly and memorizing his face.

Drat, that last part had her take advantage of my laziness! Of course, I wouldn't think twice about taking the rest of the workday off.

Mom was quite the clever manipulator, and despite it all, I can still confidently say that I love her.

Still didn't stop me from giving her "the" look throughout the rest of my shift. She just smiled and waved me off when it came time for me to put my apron away, gather Fafnir in his pokeball, retrieve Leonardo from his thorough healing from Angel, and be on my back home to pick up Asch and Epona.

It was finally time to go to the Sanctuary and have the rest of my pokémon (hopefully Macaque will be there) meet Fafnir.

Currently, Daisy isn't in town. Strangely, she wouldn't answer my calls, so I had to call Mrs. Oak to learn that she's off to Celadon City to meet with a couple of her friends again. Erika was probably among said group of friends since the two seem super tight.

So, it was just going to be me alone with my pokémon.

Things were sure to be fun with the whole gang back together again. Sylvie and Kidd must have already informed the others to be ready for my arrival. If not Kidd, then I at least trust Sylvie to be diligent and do that much. As for Kidd, hopefully he'll tell the others not to get too enthusiastic with their introductions lest they overwhelm and scare the Dratini. After all, my pokémon are a representation of me as a person and trainer. That automatically means that they'll be well-behaved (Kidd doesn't count) and know when not to do too much.