The first thing that she noticed when she woke up was the weight on top of her chest.

Grene looked away from the ceiling and towards her starter, Hollie wasn't exactly heavy, or she has never been heavy at least, but lately, the diet of heavy meat and protein coupled with the vitamins Virah recommended for her to drink had been increasing Hollie's overall mass.

… and now, the Machop couldn't even sleep on top of Grene without straining her chest.

Grene didn't mind, not truly, since despite being heavy, Hollie was still young for her species so her size was just enough that her head only took up some of Grene's chest.

Grene relaxed her neck and allowed her head to fall back down onto the pillow, and she stayed like this for a bit, content on eyeing the ceiling and ruminating things internally.

Everything had surprisingly gone well, Virah had recovered, they managed to schedule a gym battle, they were back to training, both themselves and their Pokemon, and by all means, their journey was back on track.

Grene felt that everything will be fine but at the same time, not really- they still had the issue of Whitney wanting revenge, and Grene knew from experience just how futile it would be to stop Whitney verbally.

What the pinkette needed for her to stop thinking about fighting an honest to Ho oh criminal organization was a slap to the face by reality itself.

A realization that the world didn't run on cartoon logic and that things wouldn't turn out fine if they go looking for trouble.

Currently though, that sort of thing was still far from happening and Grene felt that yes, Whitney will be quicker to experience a world-view shattering event if she goes alone in fighting Team Rocket but…

'What will she experience during that time?' Grene asked herself as she reached a hand out to rub Hollie's head to shake her awake.

Whitney wouldn't just experience defeat in the hands of criminals, Grene knew that, especially if she goes out alone, so yes, something like that would realistically happen and Whitney would be able to stop being so childishly optimistic because of it.

But then she'd only be a traumatized wreck unable to cope with what she experienced in Team Rocket's hands.

'We should definitely go with her,' Grene said to herself as the Machop on her chest stirred awake.

"M-" Hollie yawned, "Machop,"

"Good morning Hollie," Grene smiled at her started and shifted her body to the side, Hollie quickly got the memo and she lifted her head from Grene's chest, allowing the martial artist to breathe normally again, "you're getting heavier everyday,"

"Machop?"

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Grene giggled, "no, I didn't mean that as a bad thing," she replied, "and I also wasn't saying you were getting fat, more like… healthier, I guess,"

Hollie tilted her head downward and inspected herself, Grene followed suit and silently observed her starter's body. It still looked like it belonged to a kid, which was the standard body type for all Machops really, but there were now clear lines and creases across her skin that emphasized her muscles.

Hollie looked just as fit as Grene, though the martial artist knew that despite their arms looking the same, Hollie was much stronger courtesy of her denser muscles.

"I'm glad that the diet Virah recommended is helping us out," Grene smiled.

"Machop, Ma- Machop," Hollie nodded with closed eyes, "Machop."

"Yeah, I know… Virah has problems when it comes to taking in compliments," Grene said, "but you shouldn't push, even if you want to tell her that she's helpful, that'll just make her anxious and make her think that you're making fun of her,"

"… Machop," Hollie reluctantly nodded.

"Good-" Grene sighed in relief, "I'm glad that you agree,"

The martial artist pushed herself out of bed and walked to her wardrobe.

"You know," Grene said as she changed out of her nightwear and into a comfortable set of martial robes, "I think it's about time we update our training regime, what do you think?"

"Machop?"

"No, no- nothing like that," Grene looked away from Hollie and focused on fixing the buttons of her robe, "just… I feel that it would be good if we increase our training by a good amount you know?"

"Machop?"

"No, I wouldn't mind," Grene replied without looking at Hollie, "like I said before, I'll be fine,"

"Machop,"

"Good!" Grene finished fixing her robe and turned to Hollie with a smile, "I'm glad that we're moving up,"

Hollie nodded but otherwise remained silent.

Grene softly smiled and neared the Machop, she rubbed her Pokemon's head and hugged her, "I said I'll be fine, trust me on that okay?"

"Machop." Hollie nodded.

"Good, now come on, we need to go," Grene broke the hug and the two of them made their way into the Dojo's training room where they saw Knuckle, who, as always, had chosen to get up early to start training.

"Good morning Knuckle," Grene waved to the Tyrogue who nodded, "how uhm, how have you been?"

"Tyrogue," Knuckle replied calmly.

"Ah, I guess? How long have you been training?" Grene awkwardly asked, still unsure how to approach her second Pokemon when it comes to his spite towards Alakazams.

His drive to grow stronger was good in Grene's eyes, since it meant that her Pokemon would be a powerful combatant even without her help but at the same time, Grene was worried that he'll burn himself out at some point.

Virah had told her that it was normal for Fighting Types to drive themselves to exhaustion through training and that they'd only end up even stronger because of it but that didn't stop Grene's chest from tightening in worry whenever Tyrogue pushes himself to his limits.

'But it's normal,' Grene thought, 'it's fine if he does something like this, and he will only get stronger because of it,'

Really, the only thing that Grene could realistically do was to go along with him and support him in his endeavors.

So she will.

Grene made her way over to the Tyrogue's side and smiled, "hey, you don't mind if I start doing katas alongside you right?"

"Tyrogue?" Knuckle tilted his head.

"Well it's just," Grene scratched her cheek, "aren't I disturbing you if I do that?"

A horrified look crossed Knuckle's face and he quickly shook his head, "Tyrogue!"

"So it's fine then?" Grene asked, earning a nod from Knuckle, "thanks, don't mind me okay?"

Knuckle nodded and Grene proceeded to start her daily warm up of loosening her body through martial katas.

She raised her hand in a fascimile of a block and heaved a deep breath before moving on to slowly and methodically swing it to the side, then she moved it back up while taking a step back, before stepping forward and blocking.

Like a dancer practicing choreography, Grene moved her body fluidly, the following motion looked smooth from sheer practice and Grene smiled when she saw herself in the mirror.

Slowly, her breathing turned ragged, strained as her muscles started to heat up and her body produced sweat, there were no air conditioners in this part of the National Park, ensuring that the practitioner's body didn't stiffen from the cold and instead loosened up from the heat.

Grene's joints popped and her muscles started to burn as she went even faster, shifting from one kata to the next as a way for her to check on whether or not she could quickly execute such moved in a pinch.

Eventually, she stopped and finished her practice in a bow that reached her waist, directing it towards a non-existent opponent in front of her.

Grene wiped her forehead and sighed, she then activated her Aura and walked over to one of the benches in the corner of the gym, her body wasn't tired just yet, merely exhausted, so her Aura use was completely unnecessary but the strain of doing so would help her muscles grow stronger.

She sat down and eyed her Pokemon, Hollie was still on the barbel, lifting dozens of kilograms like it was nobody's business while Knuckle had moved on from meditating to start practicing the speed of his punch.

Grene watched on as the Tyrogue let out a quick jab that sent the oval bag flying backwards before waiting for it to go back in place, stabilizing it and then doing it again.