CHAPTER 11

With a growl, Eevee rammed into the biggest Budew walking at the back of the group. They all shrieked and started attacking him.

“Night Shade!” I yelled out to Frillish.

A ghostly, ethereal form appeared in front of Frillish and hit two Budew. Eevee was dodging as best he could, but he was starting to slow down after inhaling spores.

“Change of plans, Eevee! Deal with the small ones first!” Denzel said.

Eevee barked and bit hard into one of the Budew. The group’s attention was now focused entirely on us. I swore in pain as seeds slammed into my abdomen. I coughed and fell to the ground.

“Fuck! Eevee, hurry up!”

My vision was swimming, but I heard a Bubblebeam come out of Frillish’s mouth. I slowly crawled behind a tree and heaved myself up. With a few ragged breaths, I released Togepi, who immediately rushed to my side, her face warped with worry.

“Keep it going! You’ve— fuck, fuck, fuck!” I heard Denzel scream with rage. “Get back!”

I heard a dozen of small impacts scatter throughout the battlefield— most likely that seed attack that had hit me.

“I need you… to help them,” I croaked. “Sorry… I know you’re hurt, so just try to use Sweet Kiss.”

Togepi screeched in anger and joined the battle. I peeked my head and looked at what was going on. Three Budew had fainted, but the largest one was still fighting hard, ejecting seeds toward Frillish and spores toward Eevee. Togepi’s Sweet Kiss hit the smaller one, who immediately received a Night Shade to the face and fainted.

“Get behind him and Quick Attack! We’re almost there!” Denzel yelled out.

Eevee circled around his opponent, much like he had done to Togepi during our first battle. The Budew shrieked, and plants around it began to wither. Eevee crashed to the ground, as did Frillish.

“Togepi… Headbutt.” I said.

She obliged and rammed into the raging Budew, who stopped whatever it was doing. Denzel fumbled around his bag and threw a Pokeball at it. The ball shook amidst the deafening, post-battle silence. One time… two times…

Budew broke out of the ball, but Eevee was back on his feet and bit its bulb. I returned Frillish, who was out for the count, and told Togepi to use Sweet Kiss on Budew. After a few more attacks from both Togepi and Eevee, Budew finally fell to the ground and was caught by Denzel.

——

“How does it look, doc?” I asked Denzel jokingly. My chuckle turned into a painful cough. Laughing hurts. Got it, I thought. “Oof, this sucks.”

Denzel— who was looking at my stomach area— was extremely apologetic. He kept saying it was his fault, and that we shouldn’t have attacked such a big group.

“Lesson learned,” I simply told him. “Now tell me if it’s bad or not.”

“Well, it’s very… purple. I think your entire midriff area’s going to turn into a giant bruise.”

“Damn it,” I swore in frustration. “This is going to suck so bad. How’s Eevee?”

“Poisoned. He could barely stand, so I retrieved him, but we have antidotes and potions for that. Worry about yourself.”

“Well, I’ll live,” I said. I wanted to appear strong so that I wouldn’t slow us down, but in reality, I was terrified. I felt like if I stood, I would throw up because of the pain. “What kind of Budew even was that? A Budew on steroids?” I said sarcastically.

“I never expected it to be so strong, but it was the leader of the group, so it makes sense. I guess I underestimated how strong Pokemon in this forest would be. They’re somewhat passive, but if you attack them… Arceus,” Denzel sighed. “Sorry. I should have been more careful.”

“You should have,” I reprimanded him. “This is going to slow us down. I— I’m not going to lie, I don’t even know if I can walk.”

Denzel grabbed a towel from his bag, soaked it in water, and pressed it on my giant bruise. He asked me if I wanted to get back to Jubilife.

“Just let me rest a lil’,” I said. I released Frillish— who was barely staying afloat— and Togepi. “Hey, if you’re really as sorry as you say, do me a favor and heal my team.”

“Sure,” He murmured.

Denzel did just that, using multiple potions on my Frillish and Togepi. He used the opportunity to heal his Eevee as well.

“What about the little beast?” I asked before leaning back against the tree. The little movement caused the pain to flare up, and I hissed.

“Budew? Now’s not the time. That battle was intense, and we essentially robbed it of her family here… I think it’ll be a while before she even lets me talk to her without attacking me right away, and I don’t want to risk that with your wound.”

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“Makes sense. What move was that, by the way? I’ve never seen it in any battles I watched,” I asked. The truth was, I didn’t really care, but anything to distract me would be good.

Denzel opened his Pokedex. “Bullet Seed. Hold on, let me get the description… ah, there it is. The user forcefully shoots seeds at the foe. Two to five seeds are shot in rapid succession.”

“I’m pretty sure that was five,” I said, holding the wet towel against myself. “What else does it have?”

“Poison Powder, Stun Spore, Growth, and Absorb,” Denzel answered. “Quite the powerful moveset.”

I glanced at the dead, withered plants surrounding where Budew had last stood. “That Absorb… it was way more powerful than Frillish’s. And Budew used it at a distance too, while Frillish has to make contact with his target.”

Denzel tapped his chin for a few seconds. “I think that’s just because Budew’s a grass type, and Frillish isn’t. I read online that moves of a Pokemon’s type will always be more powerful. Plus, I’m pretty sure it used Growth.”

“Makes sense,” I said. The silence settled in again, and I felt the dull ache flare up again. “Ow, um, can you distract me? Talk about something. Anything?”

The next few hours were painful, but Denzel tried his best to keep my mind focused on something else. With his help, I eventually managed to stand up, although I almost cried from the pain. I leaned against his shoulder, and we managed to get back to route 203. I was in no shape to keep going for the day, so we ended up deciding to set up camp and stay here for a few days. Sometimes, he would go back in the forest to train with Eevee or attempt to get on more… civil terms with his Budew, but there was no progress on that axis.

“I don’t understand how to get through to her,” He said as he poured pellets into a bowl for Eevee. “Like, I can’t even speak with her. I don’t even have time to open my mouth.”

I was lying down, carefully avoiding any movement. The pain was slowly getting better, but it was obviously slower than I would have liked.

“I honestly don’t know what to tell you,” I said after a pause. “Maybe she’ll understand that attacking you doesn’t work after a while.”

“I hope so,” He agonized. “I really need her for Roark.”

Eevee threw a powered-down Sand Attack at Togepi when she tried to steal his food, and Frillish was hovering above me, soaking in the sunlight.

“You might be going at it with the wrong angle,” I mused. He frowned at me. “If you want her to listen to you just to beat the gym, then it’ll be hard to bring her on board. Why don’t you try to just hope to reach a mutual understanding first? Sometimes I feel like Pokemon can sense that kind of thing. Or at least that’s how it was with this guy,” I said, nodding at Frillish.

“I mean, I do want that too, but…” He trailed off. “I want— no, I need to get stronger.”

I noticed the straining in his tone. His clenched fist. The anger in his eyes.

“Alright, I have to ask. Did something happen to you in Jubilife? You’ve been kind of weird, and I haven’t known you for that long, so if I’m wrong, just let me know.”

Denzel practically flinched at my question. “Weird how?”

“You never battle with trainers anymore. You seem kind of frustrated with yourself too. Does that make sense?” I asked. “Plus, you stopped posting on the forums before we left. I thought you wanted to get your name out there. Put yourself on the map.”

“You’re right,” My friend sighed after a pause. “And annoyingly perceptive. It was during one of the days when you were on route 202. Some trainer called Chase Karlson absolutely destroyed me. Ever since then, I haven’t battled anyone. I’ve tried going back to the battling facility, but I just can’t… cross the door. I’m terrified of losing again.”

I sat up, which caused Denzel to panic and an unbelievable amount of pain. I took a few deep breaths. “Listen, buddy. I used to be like this until my dad knocked some sense into me, so I’ll try to do the same with you,” I said. “There will always be trainers better than you and I. Gifted, talented people who will dominate the Circuit. People who probably work ten times as hard as we do. But look at it this way: we have a year to catch up.”

“I don’t know… what if I can’t even beat the first gym? Budew—”

“Then you try again. Or we leave and go to another town. Challenge another gym. There’s no set order. There’s no need to give up at the first hurdle.”

“But if I can’t even beat Roark—”

“Arceus, you’re being such a Debbie downer. And I’m the one who can barely move. Pull yourself together!” I said, raising my tone. “Look!” I pointed toward the route. We were sitting at the edge of the road. “Look at all these people. You think they’re all like this Chase guy?”

Denzel shook his head.

“And they’re still trying. Battling, getting better and better. You’re going to be left behind if you keep doing this. Come on,” I extended my hand. “Let’s reach the Conference together.”

He sniffled and shook my hand. “Promise.”

“Also, I hope this internal crisis isn’t why you roped me into engaging with five Budew at once because that would be kind of fucked up.”

“Um. It… was? I think?”

“Shit. You owe me!”

——

In the end, it took another five days for me to be able to walk at a reasonable pace. I already knew Pokemon were dangerous, but to be this hurt by one attack from a Budew? I’d have to be more and more careful as we progressed and reached more dangerous routes that weren’t as well maintained as this one. Denzel was back to battling and was doing well mentally, whereas I was taking a break because of my bruise. Regardless, I was glad that my friend was back to his confident self.

Frillish was getting progressively grumpier as we progressed. I knew him well enough now to know that it was because he hadn’t been in water for too long, but I kept him in line by telling him that there was supposed to be a lake next to Oreburgh gate where he’d be free to do whatever he wanted. Togepi was still making slow progress on Fairy Wind, and she was always cheerful no matter how our training sessions went. I was glad she was there to keep my morale up, and I believed she was also sharing some of her happiness with Denzel.

Finally, after days of painful walking, we reached Oreburgh gate. The mountain looked imposing, and its jagged cliff stretched for thousands of miles upward. The entrance to the mountain was less… wild than I imagined. It looked like the entrance of a tunnel rather than a cave, and a lot of trainers were taking a break at the entrance. Instead, we continued ten minutes to the west and found the lake I had promised Frillish. I released him, and with a happy cry, he dove headfirst into the water.

“Don’t go too far! Don’t kill anything!” I screamed. I knew he was a water type, but I couldn’t help but worry he’d get in trouble with the local wildlife.

We decided to camp out here for a night, and tomorrow, we’d head into Oreburgh gate.