CHAPTER 222

"She answered?" Cecilia said. When I nodded, she sighed in relief. "Finally!"

My eyes glanced over Lauren's response as I read it out. "I'm sorry I took so long to reply, I was busy creating a new concept for a move and spent the entire time without looking at my phone— yeah, that sounds like her. Anyway, she agrees."

"When?"

"Now," I said.

"Wow. How… punctual."

"That was some not-so-subtle sarcasm. She's in our Center, so I think that's why."

It had been two days since I witnessed Craig and Jasmine's battle. Craig was leaving in a few days, but of course, he told me to tell his sister he'd said hello. Jasmine, meanwhile, had apologized for getting so drunk with me and said it was unbecoming of an adult. I really didn't mind much, especially with how much information I'd gotten out of her, but she wanted to make it up to me so I asked her if she wanted to meet Cece. I'd considered inviting her to my birthday before remembering that a twenty-seven-year-old probably wouldn't enjoy being alone at a party with a bunch of teenagers, so I didn't actually send that text.

"Maybe we should have slept in, then," Cecilia said as she sipped on some apple juice.

"Who doesn't like to go to a bar at ten in the morning?" I said. "We should go, though. I don't know when she'll be available again."

Since Erin had been taking a break today to deal with the new recruits in New Wave, I'd brought Cece to the same bar Jasmine and Craig had been in. It was a cozy spot by the boardwalk, so what was not to like? Plus, the eight badger tournament in Jubilife was still going on and we were having a lot of fun watching. That grass type specialist girl had made it to the semi-finals and I was rooting for her. We quickly downed our drinks and left.

We hopped on a bus back to the Pokemon Center, and I checked my messages again. Denzel, Pauline and Emi were coming back sometime this evening, and the party was tomorrow night. Our battle was drawing closer, but I felt confident. All training was going according to plan and we were progressing at a rapid pace. Sunshine still had problems, but we were actually making progress there too, despite it being so slow.

"Think we can do this out of the city?" I asked. "How about my route?"

"You call it your route now?" Cecilia smirked.

"Well, I've been going there every day since Veilstone."

"It depends on what Lauren says," she said. "She might want to stick to the arenas."

"Hm. I think she'll agree," I said. "I don't want to do this in public. Too many people and no cameras. I don't want the Poketch Company to complain because I lost a few one-on-ones."

"I've been thinking about sponsors," Cece said. "Oh, do you—"

Someone had just gotten off one of the seats and she offered it to me with an outstretched hand. I sat down and thanked her.

"Sponsorships? How are you doing on money?" I asked.

"I still have enough for a few years. It's not like I've been going on a spending spree," she said. "But it wouldn't be about the money. I would like being sponsored by a professor… someone who had information to give instead of money."

I chewed on her words and remembered Barry Lane existed. He was supposed to be in Sunyshore as well.

"There are a lot of professors out there, but not that many of them offer sponsors. Only the biggest ones like Rowan," I said.

"Yes. And it's not like it would be feasible at the moment. They tend to only sponsor children they know or that can have them study rare Pokemon in return."

"Zweilous is rare," I said.

"They're rare, but I mean truly rare. Like fossils, for example. I'll have to keep a tab on it for now, since it's not like it's an urgent matter. It's also a little late in the year for new sponsorships."

"Fair enough," I said.

Lauren was waiting for us in front of the Center already, donning her usual mask and sunglasses. Cecilia turned toward me and opened her mouth to ask why, but I shook my head. It'd be best if we just left first.

"Good morning," Lauren whispered. "I'm happy that we're doing this."

"Right? This is great," I grinned. "Is Mira busy? Do we have a Teleporter available? We wanted to do this on route 214."

"Alakazam should be," Cece said. "I'm worried about her. She's being a bit of a shut-in."

"Well when I asked, she said she was working on something great, and she looks fine," I said. "I wouldn't worry too much. Plus, she'll be at our party, so we'll get her out of her room. Lauren, what do you think?"

"About Mira? I don't know her well—"

"About training on the route," I said. "Slowking's good at barriers."

"You don't have to tell me twice. I don't like crowds," Lauren muttered.

We went to get Alakazam and he Teleported us to Route 214. He was getting interested in Erin and pestering me to line up our schedules so he could study her. She had three normal types now, but since they weren't powerful at all, they weren't going to change her behavior and the way she looked at the world. Still, Alakazam was interested in studying the potential start of the process. I told him he'd be able to talk to her during my party. Even if telepathy would give Erin a terrible headache, he could still write down questions on pieces of paper if needed.

"You still haven't fixed your carving?" Cecilia smiled as she stared at the mountain's facade.

"Well, it was for you, so it'd be odd to fix it," I said. "We can keep it here. It's romantic."

Cece's smile widened, and she grabbed onto my hips—

"Who's starting?" Lauren asked. "I want to go first."

"Um— I guess I can go," I said. "Remember, we need to find the right balance. Enough to maximize growth, but not too much. We don't want our Pokemon to go to the Center for multiple days."

It was a bit risky doing this with my battle with Denzel in two days, but I trusted myself to recognize when to give up or to stop attacking. Cece released Slowking, who quickly began to raise a barrier for us. It was a lot slower compared to Dot's, and it was no doubt weaker as well, but it would do for the amount of power we could throw around. Lauren released Magmar next to her along with Sirris, who had evolved into a Reuniclus during Lauren's battle with Maylene.

"Sirris is here for moral support," Lauren said.

Howdy! The psychic type said. I heard two voices instead of one, which made sense, considering they were two brains sharing one body.

Thanks for taking care of Laulau!

Lau's thankful for your companionship!

The voices were interspaced this time. They were kind of like Metagross in that regard, but unlike Jasmine, Lauren referred to them as singular.

"She's a friend," I said. "The pleasure's all mine."

Magmar had grown slightly, although he was shorter and stouter than Honey. I could feel the heat radiating from him due to the flames constantly lit on his shoulders. I knew his heat was dangerous, but he didn't come to Sunshine's level yet in that regard. Lauren made her way toward her side of the arena with her two Pokemon, but I didn't miss Mags shooting me a dirty look as he stepped behind his trainer.

I mentally shrugged. I knew how he was already.

"I might as well use Honey for this," I told myself. Since we were putting them in a pair anyway, it'd be nice to see how they matched up. "Is Thunder too much? It's probably too much."

I released Honey and quickly brought him up to speed. Gone were his days were he'd be anxious before such a fight. This was training, and win or lose, he knew that he'd progress.

"Good luck," Cece said.

"Thanks."

What was Magmar's biggest strength, I instantly asked myself. Versatile, but stronger up close due to the heat while Honey was the opposite. Lauren's play would be to get close and finish the battle that way while mine would be to keep my distance as much as possible. Lauren probably had a bunch of custom moves under her sleeve and we had none.

I really needed to get started on those, and quickly. I was close to finishing building up a base. Something for all of my Pokemon to stand on. Now it was time to expand and branch out.

Alakazam positioned himself next to Slowking, who counted down in both of our minds.

Three, two, one, begin.

"Thunderbolt," I said.

"Mach Punch!" Lauren yelled, her meekness and innocence torn away.

Magmar rushed forward, becoming a blur of fiery red as his fist glowed white. A powerful burst of electricity immediately flew toward the fire type, hitting him in the chest until he arrived and punched Honey in the head.

"Grab onto him and Emberburst!" Lauren screamed.

Not good, I bit my lip.

"Electrocute, Screech and Cross Chop," I quickly ordered.

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Magmar firmly gripped onto Electabuzz as the temperature rose and his snout glowed dark red. A quick shock fried Magmar and the fire type convulsed for a few seconds. Then, Honey roared right into the fire type's ear until he let go and slammed two glowing arms onto his shoulders. The mere contact burned Electabuzz, whose fur was already starting to smoke.

"Flamethrower!" Lauren said.

This time, a huge stream of flames exited Magmar's mouth quickly and engulfed Honey, who grunted in pain beneath the fire. I didn't know what Emberburst was, but it took a while for Magmar to charge up, and its range was seemingly limited.

"Thunderbolt again! Keep your distance!"

Honey circled around Magmar as multiple bolts of electricity slammed into the fire type. Lauren retaliated with another Flamethrower, but this time, I was ready and ordered Honey to put up a Protect. The flames were so quick that we barely had time for even that.

"Smog Wave!" Lauren commanded.

Toxic gasses spewed from Magmar's snout in huge quantities, but it didn't just stay there. Superheated air gushed forward and pushed it toward us.

"Now Mach Punch!" She continued.

A shimmering, green barrier appeared in front of Honey again, this time without my order. Magmar's fist bounced off the Protect with a loud clang, and the Smog finally reached both Pokemon. I knew Honey would hold his breath, but it would only be effective for so long, and the heat was getting to him at the same time. This was like Heat Wave and Smog combined, and the move was appropriately named. Honey's fur lit ablaze as he awaited my next order with a pained grunt.

"Discharge!" I yelled.

Electricity burst out from every inch of his skin, illuminating the battlefield and clearing away the Smog. Magmar hadn't moved, however, and despite being hurt by the attack, dormant flames already spewed from his snout.

"Now!" Lauren yelled.

Mags spat out the Emberburst point blank, and I screamed for another Screech. At first, the flames didn't look like much. They were a dull red that reminded me of the weakest Flamethrowers I'd seen, but a second later, something inside of it sparkled and exploded. Then again. It was a chain reaction of fiery explosions that overtook both Pokemon.

I desperately craned my neck to see what was happening, but a Screech from Honey let me know he was still kicking. The sound cleared some of the flaming smoke, revealing Magmar covering his ears with a snarl. At this point, no matter how much we kept our distance, he would always catch up with Mach Punch. Lauren knew how to push her strengths and how to put people on the back foot.

"Low Kick and Thunderbolt!" I ordered.

Honey squared himself and swept Magmar's feet. The fire type grunted as he crashed into the ground backward and another Thunderbolt coursed through his body. Honey bared his teeth as he gripped the fire type's arms, pinning him against the floor and he Screeched again as countless volts coursed through Magmar's body.

"Fire Pillar!" Lauren ordered.

The ground under both of them burst open, and flames and earth spewed from the opening. Honey tried to keep his grip on Magmar for as long as he could to electrocute him, but there was too much force. He flew back toward me and fell onto the ground, his body a burned, smoking mess. Magmar struggled to stand up and the confidence he'd exuded at the start of the battle was nowhere to be seen. He stumbled around and fell again.

Still, Honey was unconscious. That meant that that round was their win.

"Good job, kid," I smiled as I recalled him.

A few things ran through my mind. One, I of course needed to get started on at least one custom move before the fight with Volkner now that we had Low Kick and Screech evidently down, and I had an idea in mind now that I'd seen Jasmine battle. Two, I wanted to find a way to replicate how annoying fire types were to fight from up close, but with Honey instead. Could I make him impossible to approach without getting hurt, somehow?

Definitely. The problem was figuring out how. That was our next steps.

I released Honey outside the barrier and applied potions to his skin while Lauren did the same with Magmar. She hadn't used Lava Plume or altered the terrain, and we hadn't used Thunder, so I was glad we actually managed to respect the etiquette of this training regiment.

"I'm next, I presume," Cecilia said. "Am I battling you or Lauren?"

"You can fight Lauren," I said. "Then we can go after."

They took around five minutes to get ready. Since Slowking was in charge of barriers, she couldn't exactly use him, so she really only had four Pokemon to choose from. Cece released Scyther while Lauren released Sceptile. Volis was his name, and I actually hadn't seen him battle since the Solaceon tournament.

Slowking counted down, and the battle began anew.

"Agility and scope him out," Cecilia said.

"Root Surge! Slam him!" Lauren yelled.

Scyther pushed a foot against the ground and took flight, his wings beating so fast that they were just a blur. The flying type slashed a scythe, and an arc of air that was almost invisible rushed toward Sceptile, who dodged the move with ease. His main strength was his speed, and he could keep up with Scyther without even using Agility. Everywhere he moved, something green shone under his feet, leaving thorny roots behind him that burst from the rocky ground and tried to wrap around Scyther's body.

Scyther circled around Sceptile, slashing across the roots before they could get to him. This song and dance continued for around ten seconds until Cece spoke up again.

"Cut in and Night Slash," she said.

There was a short gust of wind behind Scyther's back, and the bug type actually sped up further as he blurred toward Volis, who croaked and spat out a Bullet Seed. Scyther angled himself in order to protect his wings, and the seeds broke through the tough exoskeleton on his torso. Both of his sickles grew dark, and he cut across Sceptile's chest in the shape of an X. Sceptile quickly turned and slammed him away with his tail, but the damage was done.

Darkness continuously leaked from the wound.

"Fury Cutter!" Lauren yelled.

My eyes widened. She knew? Cece was also surprised and quickly swept her arm.

"Double Team and Air Slash!" She yelled.

Ten after-images of Scyther appeared all around him and they spun around each other to confuse Volis, who was still struggling to charge up the attack.

"Detect!" Lauren continued.

Sceptile blurred impossibly fast, narrowlingly dodging the Air Slashes that had beelined toward him. Fighting and bug type moves could push through dark TE, and Lauren was in the know. What she hadn't expected was for another Air Slash to cut across Sceptile's flank as soon as he finished using Detect. The grass type slammed his tail against the floor in a display of frustration and ran toward Scyther, then jumped. Finally, the Fury Cutter had activated. Scyther flew toward the left, but the grass type twisted his body and kicked him in the waist with Double Kick. The Fury Cutter had been a feint.

"Counter!" Cecilia bellowed.

There was a glint in Scyther's eyes, and the bug type's body straightened as he slammed his entire body against Volis. Sceptile tumbled back toward the ground and Scyther followed, finishing him off with an X-Scissor on the back. Cece and Lauren congratulated each other and healed their Pokemon.

Even with the type advantage, that had been an impressive showing from Scyther. He wasn't the most powerful or the fastest of Cecilia's team, but he was among the trickiest to fight with his harassing and skirmishing tactics. The fact that Sceptile had managed to stand up to him was a testament to his strength. He might have made it close had he not been locked into bug and fighting type moves. I definitely needed to look into more of those types of moves for my team in case some other trainer ever had the same tactic as Chase and Cece.

These battles were relatively short and more fast-paced than usual since we could play them a lot more aggressively than usual because there were no consequences to a loss, but I was still learning a lot.

Cecilia grinned as she patted Scyther on the back. "I can't believe that worked! You did great!"

The bug type screeched and shook his head dismissively. He didn't really care about her praise much.

"Is it the first time you managed the darkness trick?" I asked.

"Yes. Chase helped me, but we never got it down until now," she excitedly said. "Now I just hope we can replicate it in battle."

"You will. And it's you and me now," I told Cece. "I'm going to use Princess."

"Princess, hm?" Cecilia mused. "I'll use Talonflame, then."

"Hell yes! Remember the last time they actually fought one on one? That was the Floaroma tournament."

Lauren walked up to us with a smile. "This is so much fun. Who knew battling with friends felt like this?"

"I told you you should have hung out with us sooner," I said. "I'll get in position."

Talonflame was actually a perfect matchup for Princess, since I was interested to see how good she'd gotten at shielding herself against extreme temperatures in a situation that wasn't a controlled environment. She'd have to multitask, so this was going to basically simulate the actual battle with Volkner. We released both Pokemon, and they floated high in the sky. Slowking counted down, and the battle began anew.

She's going to build up speed and Heat Wave, I thought to myself.

"Agility, Tailwind, Flame Charge and Heat Wave," Cecilia ordered.

"Keep a barrier around yourself and get some rocks," I said.

Talonflame's body loosened as she flattened her wings against her sides. The bird fell to the floor, speeding up until she caught herself at the last second and her body burst into flames. With a squawk, she blurred toward Princess and started gaining altitude with the wind at her back.

The air was growing hotter.

Princess ripped a set of fifteen head-sized rocks from the ground and chirped as they began orbiting around her. Talonflame simply circled the arena as she built up her Heat Wave, since they didn't want to get in Princess' Psychic range.

What they didn't expect was that we had another move at our disposal.

Princess grunted as the heat pushed against her shield, and I knew now that she was struggling to keep her shield up. Using it while doing other things was still too difficult for her, but practice made perfect. I waited just a few seconds until Talonflame reached the closest point and sprung to action.

"Extrasensory in front of her!" I yelled.

By the time the command had gotten out of my mouth, Talonflame was just where we wanted her. The air in front of her blurred, and the fire type screeched as she flew through it. She'd gotten a headache no doubt, but what I'd been waiting for was for her to slow down. Princess knew me and how I fought by now. The rocks orbiting around her flew toward Talonflame and reformed into spikes mid air.

Lances would have won, but that would have been overkill.

"Air Burst!" Cecilia yelled.

One of the spikes stabbed into Talonflame's chest, but that was all we got. The fire type flapped her wings with a defiant cry and a powerful gust of wind pushed the remaining stones away. The air was sweltering by now, and both Pokemon's form were blurry through the barrier.

"Air Slash," she continued.

"Air Cutter from below," I countered.

Talonflame flew quickly, but Air Slash was slower than what we had. The air below Talonflame sharpened and cut her body, slashing into feathers and skin. It'd been even faster than I expected thanks to the massive updrafts from the superheated air. I ordered Princess to gather some rocks again, and she did so. Having them in that form not transformed into anything would keep an opponent on their toes and guessing what we'd do.

Now, in a normal battle, the best play for Cecilia would have been to keep away from Princess while the Heat Wave did its job, but this was no normal battle.

"Go as fast as you can and Aerial Ace!" Cecilia yelled.

She was going for broke and hoping that the force—

"Extrasensory and Psychic!" I said, my words so quick they were barely coherent.

—behind the move would be enough to push past Princess' barrier, Extrasensory and Psychic.

A pillar of air in front of Princess grew strange in an effort to slow Talonflame down, and she threw all of her rocks forward, opting for blunt force this time instead of spikes. Talonflame slowed, but she pushed and kept going. The streaks of air forming from her beak destroyed most of the rocks, and she kept flying toward Princess.

We needed more juice.

"Dazzling Gleam!" I yelled.

Of course, the problem with Dazzling Gleam was that the move came from Princess' skin, and that for that, she needed to pull down her barrier. Her fur caught ablaze as she dissolved the last amount of protection she had, and light and wind exploded out of her. The Dazzling Gleam blinded Talonflame and burned her body into a hazy, smoking mess.

With a tilt of her head, Princess grabbed Talonflame's body with Psychic. The fire type had only stopped mere inches from her face, and she struggled in a desperate attempt to break free as Princess recreated her barrier.

"You win," Cecilia conceded. "You could just slam her against the ground and break her wings."

I nodded and wiped the sweat off my brow. Some of the heat had leaked past Slowking's barrier too. I recalled Princess to free her from the fiery arena and healed her with more potions. One thing was for sure, this was efficient, but we'd burn through potions pretty quickly. Slowking made sure to keep the barrier up until the air naturally cooled. Once I walked up to Cece again, she was already healing Talonflame with potions. The headache would stick around, though, so she'd need a big break.

"Isn't Princess just the worst to fight?" Cece asked Lauren. "You can't slip up even once."

"I'd like to have Sirris battle her," she grinned.

"Well, Flare Blitz or Brave Bird would have broken through and taken us down," I shrugged.

"Let's not do what-ifs," Cecilia said. "You won, end of story. Now, who's going next?"

We ended up doing this game the entire afternoon, cycling through our Pokemon who had gotten enough rest. Even Alakazam wanted to go home and thought we were insane. Since Cece had fewer Pokemon available than we had, she battled the least, meaning that Lauren won the most battles, I was second and she was third. By the end, all of our Pokemon were exhausted and definitely needed to spend the night in the Pokemon Center. I'd wanted Sunshine to battle Lauren's Rhydon, but we were interrupted by a text.

Denzel, Emilia and Pauline had arrived in the city.

Alakazam Teleported us back to Sunyshore immediately. Lauren bid us farewell, saying that she wasn't really good with reunions, and we waited at our Center after texting them the address.

Needless to say, I tackled Denzel to the floor as soon as he walked through the doors.