CHAPTER 139

Denzel's jubilant screams woke all of us up— in the middle of the night, if I may add. I groggily rubbed my eyes and cut my breath short when I saw a humongous Milotic looming over him. I didn't know what happened, but Feebas had seemingly evolved while we were all sleeping. Since I had never been too interested, I didn't exactly know the condition needed for his evolution, but I did know it had to do with beauty or something of that sort. Denzel laughed, staring at his newly evolved Pokemon with a childlike grin. We all congratulated him, but we were honestly too tired to offer anything else. It did seem to me that Milotic was moving slowly and didn't know how to properly use his new body, and since the tournament was soon, he wouldn't be able to accommodate to his new form fast enough to move as adeptly as the usual Milotic.

Not that I knew what the usual Milotic moved like. Just like Gyarados, they were incredibly rare due to the amount of work their evolutions took to achieve, and the only one I had seen fight was Cynthia's during the hostage crisis at Valley Windworks. As I entered my sleeping bag once again, the little I did remember was that it was a relatively defensive Pokemon, and it had mostly used Protect to keep Cynthia safe.

Was that a sign of what their species was best at, or was I looking too into it? I was already thinking about what I'd do if I had to face him… but then again, Milotic would be new to this, and he still didn't know any moves except Tackle, unless it learned some from evolving.

All I could do right now was drift off to sleep once again.

—

I whistled, finally taking in Milotic's beauty. The water type's scales shimmered in the morning sun, and they were spotless, even after trudging through the grass and dirt. It was like nothing could stick to them. Milotic loosely wrapped around Denzel with a happy look on his face, and the boy smiled.

"Apparently, something happened last night… some type of drama," my best friend said. "I wish I was as good as you at understanding Pokemon so I could get the full context. I'm pretty good with Sylveon, but the others are still kind of muddy. It's honestly freaky how you do that."

We had packed up our camp, and we were close to leaving again. We were going to cut it close for registering for the tournament as it was, so we couldn't afford to stay here for too long. We still had to stop by the Lost Tower to find Cecilia's Golett too.

"Don't make it sound like I'm some kind of monster," I said. "I can only do it with mine, not everyone else's. Anyway, any new moves you want to teach him? You have a few days, so there isn't much you can do."

"I'm pretty sure you understand my Pokemon as well as I do, which is insane considering you interact with them way less. You could probably win, like, an award for it or something. And stop trying to pry, I'll figure something out," he said before turning to Milotic. "I know you want to stay out, but you're not made for long-distance travel on the ground. I'll release you as soon as we stop again, alright?"

Milotic quietly nodded and disappeared in a flash of red. Soon enough, we were back on the road. I released Larvitar and Togetic, who followed closely behind. Sweetheart picked up a rock and started munching on it.

"Don't eat too much, or you won't eat lunch later," I warned her. She ignored me and kept snacking. "Whatever you say… just don't tell me you're not hungry. You need to eat your vitamins."

"Toge…"

"I already told you that you aren't getting any," I lied.

How long would I have to keep up this charade? It had been too long now, it'd be too awkward to reveal the truth. Then again, sneaking it into her food was annoying.

We walked through numerous bridges, large and small. This route was remarkably peaceful, and aside from the occasional trainers or our conversations, there was only the sound of flowing water. It was honestly the favorite route I'd traveled through so far. As weird as it sounded, I wanted to cherish these moments because as soon as Princess evolved, I wouldn't be traveling through the routes anymore aside from the occasional landing to let her rest.

Hmm… in retrospect, I'd possibly do it anyway to accompany Justin and Pauline. But maybe it'd be smarter to just fly to Canalave to get my eighth as fast as possible to have time to train for the Conference.

Oh well, I'd cross that bridge when I got there. But the distance between me and the bridge seemed so small compared to just a few months ago. We were all progressing at ridiculous paces.

I turned my attention back to my two friends. Pauline and Justin were speaking together about something, possibly cooperating with strategies for the tournament. The former still had to catch her fourth Pokemon if she wanted to participate, and she was starting to feel the pressure mount. Not only would it not be trained properly, but it'd probably be weaker than everything else on her team.

"...Figured out it's what I want to catch on this route," I heard her say when I focused on the conversation. "Help me find it."

"What? How?" Justin frowned. "Unless Growlithe's smelled it before, it's a lost cause. You should ask Cecilia's Fletchinder for help—"

"Hey guys!" I interjected, jumping in between them. "I couldn't help but overhear your conversation. Which Pokemon are you talking about? Spill."

"You could probably guess," Justin said with an unusual smugness.

"What's that mean?!" Pauline yelled.

"It means that you're obvious."

I hummed, tapping my chin with a finger. "Whismur?"

"You made that joke weeks ago and it's still ridiculously unfunny," Pauline complained.

"I said Exploud last time, so it's different. And yes, it was funny! How about Mankey, then?"

The redhead turned toward me with a blank stare.

"No way… I got it?"

"Justin must have told you something!" Pauline screamed.

"How can you blame me for this when you just told me yourself?" he said. "Just ask Cecilia—"

"I was getting there before Grace interrupted me. They don't exactly live on the route. There are rumors about it living in the woods off-route after we get through these Arceus damned rivers."

"Rumors? How the hell did you hear about those if you just decided to catch one?" I asked.

"Don't act like I just spontaneously came to a decision! I've been looking this entire time, your annoying pep talk just made me take the plunge."

"What made you decide?" Justin asked.

"They're vicious, angry little guys that keep fighting no matter what," she shrugged. "What's there not to like?"

"For someone that picky, your standards are pretty tame," I said.

"Going off-route is dangerous, but maybe we can send a few of our Pokemon to look for the Mankey," Justin said.

"I won't pussy out. I'm going to find it no matter what."

Justin quite literally recoiled. "Language!"

"Don't care. Cry about it."

"Just tell the others about it first," I warned.

"Obviously, I'm not crazy."

"One could argue otherwise," Justin said.

Pauline pushed him away and launched into another tirade. Well, I'd let them bicker. I also had a lot to think about.

Just like before our double battle, we were all starting to train in secret again, and it kind of irritated me. Not having any knowledge was when I was at my weakest, and everyone knew it. What they didn't know was that I was actively trying to get better at countering that, which I had done rather well against Fantina. The battle against her had still taken a long time to go off the rails, though, and a large part of it was still planned. With the Solaceon tournament, I had challenged myself to go in blind from the start.

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Togetic picked up a few rocks from the floor with Extrasensory and started to juggle them.

"We should work on new shapes for that," I mumbled. "How about a spear?"

She tilted her head at me confusedly.

"A really long, sharp stick. Better at stabbing things deep, better at taking down large enemies with softer hides, and probably better at pinning things down," I said as images of potential applications flashed through my mind with unusual brutality. My eye twitched. "Might be overkill though, I don't think we'll use it that often, and you'll have to be careful with it when you do."

Her eyes shone in excitement, and she immediately started to work on the shape. The rocks combined with each other and elongated before my very eyes, turning into a spear.

She had already gotten it down perfectly, although the molding was too slow to use in battle yet. Her drills were instant, and Princess would need to get just as good with her spear. In the future, we could talk multiple spears too, but right now, it was too big and complicated for her to create that many. Creating shapes required finesse. Larvitar wiggled her arms and asked her sister for the spear-shaped rock, and the fairy type levitated it downward. Sweetheart grabbed onto it and started munching on it too.

Cute.

But it was time to return to more pressing matters. I could always gush over my daughters later. The tournament was fast approaching, and this was no time to procrastinate. What I had learned from the double battle with Chase and Cecilia other than the fact that I needed to get better at improvising was that synergies were a lot more important than what I gave them credit for. I knew they mattered, but I had believed that strategy and individual Pokemon could overcome them.

Of course they could, but not when the playing field would be relatively equal. There was little Larvitar and Jellicent would be able to achieve together, but Larvitar and Tangrowth could have a lot of good strategies they could possibly implement. The good thing about Togetic being a jack of all trades was that she'd go well with anyone, but I'd need to come up with pairs to use and figure out what the others' strengths would be. Luckily for me, figuring that kind of stuff out was when I was at my strongest.

And I could also theorize about what my friends could use. I might not have known some of their new moves, but I knew how their Pokemon fought. Odds were that I wouldn't meet them for the first few days of the tournament anyway, though.

Secondly, controlling the field would be important here. Togetic with Ancient Power, Tangrowth with his vines, and Larvitar once she truly learned Sandstorm would be excellent at that. The thing about Sandstorm is that it was a lot more versatile than it appeared. One could go for the most powerful one possible, like Palossand had gone against us during our gym battle. That meant zero visibility and zero ability for me and my opponent to command our Pokemon unless they had excellent hearing. At the opposite end of the spectrum, it could also be a weakened version of the attack that would only deal chip damage to everyone around the field, and if Sweetheart could master the attack— which she wouldn't be able to for months— thinking about using the move on the opposite side of the field alone was a possibility. That would have been extremely useful for the tournament, but I doubted that she'd be able to achieve that level of control any time soon. Like Tangrowth, Larvitar was more about brute strength than anything else despite her small size, although her control was still better than his.

Ideally, I'd have one 'field controller' and 'brute' out in pairs. Some could fit both, like Tangrowth, Larvitar, and Turtonator— which I wouldn't be able to use— but some currently only had one specialization, like Togetic, Electabuzz, and Jellicent. I was currently having Buddy work on Whirlpool to increase his control. I'd heard things about Volkner's Electrivire being able to turn his whole battlefield into a living hell for non-electric type with something that went beyond the move Electric Terrain, so I knew there was potential there. Controlling the field was kind of his shtick as a gym leader.

With how famous I was now and with how skilled I had proven to be at battling, I was starting to think about asking him about how to evolve Honey when we stopped by. I might have had to impress him in a battle to do so, but maybe I could call in a favor from Candice. Being self-sufficient was nice, but I'd be foolish not to use my connections to my advantage. If I did do that, though, I'd probably have to visit her again in exchange. Candice was definitely the kind to ask for that. If I could manage, I'd have liked to get Honey to his final form before the Conference.

Hopefully it wouldn't be anything too crazy, because I'd already be tight on time—

"Thinking again?"

I jumped out of my skin and turned toward Cece, who chuckled. Fletchinder was preening herself on her shoulder, and Slowking had his usual blank stare.

"Arceus… yeah, I was theory-crafting. What's up?"

"I've been thinking a lot myself," she said. "I'm nervous already. You and Denzel have progressed leaps and bounds recently, so I hope I'll keep up the pace."

"Come on, don't get all flaky now," I said, bumping against her arm. "You'll do fine."

"It's not just about you guys either. The skill level there will be significantly tougher than anything we've faced before. This won't be like Floaroma. There'll be more than first-years there."

"That's true. No matter how good we are, experience is a tough thing to beat."

People that had been with their Pokemon for years would have a lot more tricks up their sleeves, even if they were at our level. Cece didn't do that well against tricks, so I was starting to understand why she was getting worried.

"But I've been working on countermeasures," she smiled. "I think things will work out if I manage to master what I've been studying."

"Studying?" I said, raising an eyebrow.

"In a manner of speaking, yes."

"Looking forward to it then," I said. "By the way, Pauline wants to catch a—"

"Mankey, yes."

"You know? She just told me!"

"Well, Fletchinder picked it up thanks to her excellent hearing, and Slowking relayed it to me through telepathy."

I stared at her blankly. That was so cheating!

"Have you been listening in on everything everyone's been saying? The new moves, what they were practicing… wait, it means that you could also potentially know what the Pokemon are saying too…"

Cecilia's face turned into a confident smile.

"You witch," I scoffed.

"I did say I was studying," she said. "And it'll only work this well on you and the others, although there might be some shenanigans I could come up with against unknown trainers…"

Using a Pokemon with excellent hearing and a psychic type for information gathering was an incredible strategy. I'd need to start being a lot more discreet with my training.

"Why would you reveal it though— oh, you probably just figured out every single new move that everyone was working on before the tournament, so you don't care anymore."

She nodded. "Forgive me?"

"Yeah, yeah…" I grumbled. "Oh! I had a favor to ask of you, actually, so I retract my forgiveness. I need Slowking to speak to me."

"But the pain—"

"Is something I need to get used to sooner or later. I want a psychic as a seventh, but even beyond that, if something happens to you or Pauline and I need to communicate quickly with your psychics, this'll go a long way, especially if the message is long-winded and complicated."

Cecilia turned toward Slowking, and he said something to her. She sighed and accepted my request.

"Only tonight, though. The first time's the worst one. Pauline threw up, and I got a headache that lasted for hours, so I think it'd be best if you were sitting down at camp."

"I'd rather not have to go to sleep feeling sick."

"Well, it's either that, or you might slow us down here. You don't want to miss the tournament, don't you?"

"Yes ma'am," I laughed.

—

It was nighttime now, and my Pokemon were training their respective moves in the distance, away from prying eyes or ears. We had made it through route 209's river system, and we could see the Lost Tower looming in the distance shining with a pale purple hue. We'd reach it tomorrow, and Cecilia would hopefully be able to catch her Golett. I nervously strode up to Slowking and stared up at the psychic. The first time was always the worst, but Cecilia had put the fear of it in me and now I was feeling a lot less confident than before. My pain tolerance was… probably average, but it was probably different with mental stuff. Cecilia had prepared water, towels, and some type of pill? It might have been for the headache.

"Ready?" She asked.

"Uh, yeah. Wait, do a countdown! From five! And keep it to one word for now?" I panicked.

"We don't have to do this now."

"No, I have to push myself through it or I'll never start."

"Well, I did tell Pauline the same thing," my girlfriend sighed. "Very well. Slowking?"

I tightly shut my eyes and tensed, clenching at my jeans as she counted down. Hopefully it wouldn't be too bad—

Hello.

A deep, gentle voice rang out in my head.

My head suddenly felt like someone was driving an axe through it and it was being split in two. My vision went blurry, and every sound sent another throb pounding through my skull. Cecilia said something, grabbing onto my arm to keep me from falling over, but it sounded like a jumbled mess of sounds and echoes. It took at least fifteen seconds for me to be able to stand on my own and hear properly again.

"Grace!" Cece said, keeping me still.

"I'm… fuck."

She gently laid me on the floor, placing my head on a towel and wiping the saliva, snot, and tears from my face.

"You had a stronger reaction than most. I've never seen one this bad," she said, her face twisted with worry.

I blinked a few times, trying to work through the words. I could hear them, but registering what they meant took a while.

"That was the worst," I exhaled. "It still hurts like hell."

"I have some aspirin. Are you well enough to sit up and drink?"

"Just give me a sec," I winced as another wave of pain coursed through my head. She helped me up and handed me her bottle, along with the small tablet. "I've always been bad at— at taking pills."

"Just take a deep breath and tilt your head back."

I nodded, swallowed the tablet after a few tries, and then laid back down.

"It should start to feel better soon," she said. "And I don't think we should do it anymore."

"It'll be better the second time, you said."

"But when it's this bad, it essentially amounts to torture. I won't let Slowking put you through this."

"I— I'll think about it more clearly tomorrow. Hold my hand, please?"

She held my hand tightly, and I inhaled sharply when I realized she was tearing up.

"Why are you crying?"

"Because I did this to you. It was my fault."

I bit down on my tongue to distract myself from the pain. "I wanted this, Cece."

"I should have said no."

"I'm capable of making my own decisions and facing the consequences," I said. "I'll be okay tomorrow morning… I hate it when you feel like this."

We both felt silent, and Slowking placed a hand on his trainer's shoulder.

"Sorry," she sniffled.

"The pain's getting manageable already," I lied. "Hey, it's cold as hell out here."

"Do you want me to carry you to the tent?" She immediately asked.

"No, just… stick around," I said, extending my arms.

Cecilia lay down next to me, sharing her warmth with a tight hug. The first time with telepathy was supposed to be different for everyone, but it was a hell of a gut punch for me. Damn it, I couldn't even think clearly about a potential reason, but one thing I needed to do for sure was try it again tomorrow after the Lost Tower to see if it at least would get better at a quick rate. I already dreaded that moment, but a sample size of one wouldn't do the job.

Eventually, we went back inside of the tent and fell asleep together. The next day, my headache was completely gone.

And we had finally made it to the Lost Tower.