CHAPTER 226

"Okay, just a second! The timer isn't ready yet— okay, you can go!"

Honey grunted, and his voice distorted into crackling thunder as he blurred forward, leaving a trail of electricity behind him. I stuck out my tongue as the smell of ozone stuck to my throat, and Angel kept my hair down behind me with a vine. As soon as Honey reached and touched the wall (the same wall he had destroyed the first time he'd used Thunder), I stopped the timer.

"That's 3.76 seconds!" I cheered, pumping a fist. "This is actually possible, I think!"

Honey flashed a smile, giving me a thumbs up. It had been three days since my battle with Denzel, and I'd gotten my team back yesterday night. I considered giving them a little break, but they were all too excited to get on with training again, especially when I told them that Lauren and Cece had been training together while they'd been out of commission. I considered joining them today, but I actually needed to work on theory crafting and being alone worked better for that. While Buddy finally finished ironing out Water Spout and Angel finished learning Solar Beam, everyone else was working on custom techniques that I'd come up with while they were in the Pokemon Center. I was actually planning on transitioning from Poison Sting to Acid and from Absorb to Giga Drain. I'd taught the Fire Pillar TM to Sunshine and he was having a lot of fun showing off with it. He needed it after getting humbled by Craig's Typhlosion.

Speaking of Craig, Denzel couldn't stop gushing about having been taken under his wing. It wouldn't be for long, but he was making the best of it. Most of their training wasn't even Pokemon related but on the trainer side of things. I was glad he was finally having his breakthrough. Knowing someone like Craig would come in handy for his career, even if you ignored the skill he'd gained throughout these seven days.

During my battle with Denzel, Honey had left a trail of electricity behind him every time he ran at full speed. Originally I had thought that it was just a side effect of him just being so into the battle that he'd leaked electricity, but I realized soon after reviewing the footage that the electricity was actually speeding him up. When I asked him, he'd told me that it hadn't even been a conscious thing, but I decided to hone in on that and ask him to reproduce it.

And it worked flawlessly. Now all we needed was to refine it. The act actually drained him quite a bit, but it was basically a faster electric type Quick Attack that would hurt anyone he rammed against. It could also be combined with other moves like the elemental punches to pack even more of a punch. The attack would finally enable him to step up as a true speedster like Cece's Talonflame and not just a fast Pokemon.

"What should we name it?" I asked the electric type. "Denzel suggested Flash Step, but that's kind of lame."

Honey nodded, pensively crossing his arms as he thought of a name. Angel wriggled his vines in anticipation, suggesting a bunch of names that were a lot too simple for my taste.

"Electric Hop? Come on," I scoffed at the grass type. "We can do cuter than that."

Electabuzz protested, saying he wanted a cool name and not a cute one.

"You're right, it's your move, you pick," I said.

The electric type sat cross-legged on the rocky ground and lay there deep in thought until his eyes widened. At last, he roared out a name.

"Radiant Leap?" I muttered. "If you want to. That sounds more like a move that uses light, though. Like what Jasmine did with Skarmory."

He shook his head and grunted, saying that his choice was final and I reluctantly agreed.

"Okay Angel, feel free to start training again, okay? Then if we can get you to learn Solar Beam before Volkner, we'll get started on Solar Blade. I want you to stab things."

The grass type happily nodded as he waddled toward Sunshine, who was helping him with the move just like Angel had helped him with Sunny Day.

While Power Whip had been enough to anchor him to the ground during the battle to keep him from getting swept away by Surf, that tactic had still almost failed. Solar Blade would be quicker, and it had potential future applications. Since he could detach vines and keep them infused with TE for a good while now, he could potentially send Solar Blades flying around, and that sounded like a lot of fun both for him and for me. It wasn't only applicable to Knock Off. It worked with Power Whip as well, but less since there wasn't the usual force that he put in the move whenever he detached a vine, and I assumed Solar Blade would have the same problem, but that was just another thing to work on.

I also wanted to get him a lot better at spore attacks afterward and for him to be able to coat his vines in them. That way, he could potentially stab a Pokemon and deposit them directly into their bloodstream. The effect would be instant, and if they didn't escape quickly, then it would basically be game over for that Pokemon.

Of course, that wasn't it. Trapping opponents and forcing them into a melee battle with Ancient Power like we'd done with Lopunny was something that I thought should stick around. And if that didn't work, well, there was always the detaching trick.

"I can't wait," I muttered. "Honey, you keep working on… Radiant Leap. I'll check in with Princess and Sweetheart."

That name would take a while to get used to.

The electric type nodded and waited for me to get to a safe distance before he began to crackle again. For him, I wanted to push his Static ability further after he mastered the move. Doing what Volkner did— the Static Field— was still far beyond our reach, but what if we could create an aura of Static around him? It would basically be like armor. Approach him, and you ran the risk of being paralyzed. It wouldn't be useful against Volkner since his Pokemon were all electric type, but long-term? Both this and Radiant Leap would be a boon to his melee capabilities. They were somewhat lacking since we'd focused on Thunder for so long, and I wanted him to be a balanced fighter capable of doing both.

Steal, Jasmine had told me. Where else to get inspiration for electric type custom moves than Volkner himself? I just hoped he'd be flattered instead of annoyed if I recreated a smaller version of his move. Maybe it'd make him see potential in Honey and hand over his evolution method. I made my way toward Princess and Sweetheart, who'd been far off in the distance because of the destruction the rock type was yielding. Pupitar propelled herself into the air and then slammed into the ground at full force, creating fissures all across the plateau and causing the ground to shake so much I struggled to stay upright even when I was this far.

"Guys! I'm coming, so take a little break!" I yelled, cupping my mouth.

I wanted her to work on a proto-version of Earthquake. The move was far too powerful for her to use before she evolved, but Stomping Tantrum wasn't doing enough for what I wanted her to do against Volkner. Princess lazily rearranged the plateau as well as she could, as she had done each time when Sweetheart had used Earthbreaker, which was a name she'd chosen herself with Sunshine's encouragement. It would only be usable while she was in this form, but it would help a lot with the transition to Earthquake.

As for Princess? Well, there was a reason she was on field-clearing duty. She was so good in Ancient Power that she'd figured out how to implement our idea in two hours. Placing a Pokemon in a cube and exploding it inward— a variation of Shrapnel. Of course, what she would mostly focus on in the coming days was still moving lava around and attempting to speed up how quick she could charge up a Moonblast. Flying moves like Air Slash were on the list, but they wouldn't be of much use against Volkner aside from maybe catching him off-guard.

Sweetheart clamored at me, asking if I'd seen her super cool attack.

"I did, baby," I said. "You're looking good. Keep working hard, alright? I promise you that you'll be the star of the show against Volkner."

After all, there had been a slight change to the lava plan that would make full use of her fissures. The rock type cheered, asking for headpats and I quickly rubbed the little spot in-between her head spikes. She'd been angry she hadn't seen much use against Denzel, but things would be different against Volkner. She was not only a rock type, but a ground one, and she would be until she evolved. That meant she'd be immune to most of his attacks and his field-control capabilities.

Since I'd use her, Volkner pulling out his Lanturn was almost guaranteed, so that was one Pokemon I knew he'd use. Four to go. I wanted to try predicting which Pokemon a Gym Leader would use against me even if I would still plan for every possibility. It was just for fun.

Sunshine was next, and he was even further than Sweetheart and Princess. Not because he was doing anything destructive today, but because he hated to let the team see him fail over and over again when he knew that he was a role model for half of them. Sweetie, Honey and Princess, despite what she might have pretended, all looked up to Sunshine and desperately wanted to surpass him. The dragon stood proud and tall despite his series of failures and loomed over me with an expectant stare. All this time, he'd been practicing with Shell Trap and desperately trying to improve his mobility, and there was progress. Slow, incremental, agonizing progress, but it was there.

And yet, it was too slow for us.

"I've got something for you," I said, snapping a finger. "Rapid Spin."

The dragon type huffed at me like I was crazy. Yes, it was one of his only ways of traveling… relatively fast. Slower than Angel was in the sun. But it was still his best way of going quickly. Sunshine doubted what I was saying, but he asked me to continue nonetheless.

"You combine Rapid Spin and Shell Trap," I explained. "You've got the momentum from Rapid Spin and you get height."

Turtonator let out a series of grunts elaborating the many problems with my idea. One, he couldn't see when he used Rapid Spin since his head retracted into his shell. Two, he'd need to hit his shell against something to trigger his Shell Trap. And finally, three, he'd be oriented wrong.

To go up, he'd need to be upside down.

"You can do all of that," I declared. "It's a challenge. But you can do it. Imagine this. You're fighting against some pesky Pokemon that likes to keep their distance— let's just go with Zachary's Vespiquen. You drop on your back and start spinning. You propel yourself with a series of explosions and fly into them like an Arceus damned missile, and by the time you're there, it's like 500 degrees Celsius around you and rising. They fucking spontaneously combust and burn to a crisp. Doesn't that sound awesome?"

I saw the faintest hint of a smile, and Sunshine said my enthusiasm was contagious.

"You bet it is. Come on, this sounds awesome but we've got to put the work on. First, you need to get used to spinning on your back. Go on."

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I heard him say that he'd look stupid, but that didn't stop him from listening. The fire type got on his back and started using Rapid Spin. He struggled to balance himself and spun into one of the mountain's facades, but he was spinning, and spinning fast.

My vision was possible. It would be long-term like I had said before, but it was possible.

Training continued on until late in the afternoon when I decided to call it a day. I had to call Mira on the phone so she could send Alakazam to get me back to the city. After I recalled my team, the psychic type Teleported me in front of my Pokemon Center, and I felt my phone vibrate in my pocket.

"Melody. Good afternoon," I said as I picked up. "I'm getting in an elevator— you know what, I'll take the stairs for you."

"Thank you. I'll keep this short, since getting a hold of you's been tough these past few days—"

"You called?" I frowned.

"A few times after your battle with Denzel Williams. Good job on that, by the way, the people upstairs loved it. That's what I'm calling you about, actually."

"Uhuh. Go on," I said.

"It took a while for this to sink in, but it is the board's understanding that the livestream had more than a hundred thousand people watching and that you were wearing your Poketch Watch."

"Yeah, I always wear it," I said. "Can't hurt to be seen with it."

Although I rarely used it at all. I preferred their phones, all things considered.

"Large companies are always slow to adapt to things. It's a thousand different moving parts, departments and people that have to agree on a single idea," Melody said. "But in short, more people watched that battle than any tournament or Gym Battle you've been in by an order of magnitude. The company wants to see more of that if possible."

"More livestreamed battles?" I scoffed as I jumped up the Pokemon Center stairs. "Maybe they should shoot Denzel a sponsor. I'm not going to start streaming. That's not my thing. Did you even see the chat? I don't want to deal with those people, they'll make me want to stab something."

"Well, that isn't the company's position. All they're saying is, cooperate with Denzel Williams and get yourself out there. The demographic for streams is overwhelmingly young, and that's our main target, as you already know. There are news about X Technologies wanting to take a bite out of our market share."

"X Technologies?" I asked.

"The company that makes the Xtransceiver. Their profit margins are booming and they want to go international, and it's making the company nervous, especially when they were planning on doing the exact same thing soon. X Tech is getting here first and is forcing us to play on the defensive. It's extremely popular with Unova's younger generation and… if I can speak candidly here, they just make better phones at the moment. Hell, even their watches are better. The only thing we surpass them in is laptops, and don't even talk to me about the mad rush for VR."

"Huh," I said. "Can I extort you, Mel?"

"What?"

I placed the phone between my ear and my shoulder as I opened the door to my room and waved at Cece, who was already waiting for me with my new electric keyboard.

"Can I extort you?" I repeated. "Well, not you. The company."

"I am a part of the company."

"Okay, so I'm extorting you," I said. "My bonus. The idea I floated in Veilstone. I want it, and I can guarantee you more of these streamed battles. I might even just go on Denzel's stream to chat, even. They just can't complain if I lose those battles."

Melody paused for a few seconds. "I can probably sell that, but it'll definitely have to wait until you win against Volkner."

"What? That doesn't have to do with anything we were talking about."

"Grace, this is how it works," Melody sighed. "You have to make them feel like they're getting something out of you. The idea of a fifteen— sixteen-year-old extorting them won't really make the members of the board happy. If we make this more of an equivalent exchange, then it can work."

"Great. And tell them that if they're planning on going international, I'm probably going to Unova next year, so it'd be best if they kept me well-fed, warm, and happy," I smiled. "We can plan a whole launch and expansion with me being there. Without me, they won't have legs to stand on."

"I will get right on that," she said. "What's with the confrontational attitude, though? Not that I mind. I mean, I'm here precisely to smooth messages between you and the board over."

"Well, to be honest, Mel, I've been wanting a Shiny Stone the entire year and I don't exactly appreciate the fact that they keep asking more of me without giving anything in return. I'm their flagship, right? They should treat me once in a while."

"Okay, I'll tell them you'd appreciate it if the partnership was more equal too," she said. "Anything else?"

"Well, try to emphasize the fact that I'm friends with Craig and that I obviously want nothing else but the Poketch Company's success," I said. "Other than that, I'm alright. Thanks as always, Mel."

"Have a great evening," she said.

I felt bad for her, having to speak to a bunch of old people in suits that definitely didn't understand anything about the intricacies of Pokemon battling, but so long as their numbers went up, they'd be happy.

"Important business call, I presume?" Cecilia asked with a smirk.

"Yeah. You'd think getting money from the Poketch Company would be easy," I joked. "Sorry for being late."

"Come sit. It's about high time I teach you how to play piano."

I followed suit and plopped myself down next to her. She placed the keyboard on my lap and grabbed my hands, gently placing them on the keys.

"We aren't playing yet. This is just the proper hand position, okay? Relax your wrists and fingers. My old instructor used to say that your hands should flow like water when playing."

"I'll try to relax."

I hadn't touched one of these since we'd been in Hearthome, and that felt like a lifetime ago.

"I already taught you notes, so I wanted to teach you about clefs, time signatures and note values, but I think you'll have a better time learning in a more… loose manner. Freer," she said. "So why don't you try to play whatever comes to mind. It doesn't matter if it's bad. Just let your hands do the work and find a short rhythm you like."

"Okay… okay."

I softly pressed down on the first note and went where the music took me.

It wasn't great. I wasn't sure I'd even be able to recreate it, but I was doing it.

I was finally playing the piano.

—

A yawn escaped my mouth as I slowly got up from my bed the next morning. I checked my phone while brushing my teeth and smiled when Melody told me the deal had gone through. Now, obviously I would have to uphold my side of the deal, but it was nice to get a win regarding my sponsorship for once. I felt like that hadn't happened since I had signed with them. Unfortunately, Denzel was with Craig day and night, so any stream-related activity would have to wait.

"Want some breakfast?!" I yelled at Cece.

"I'll go get it for us both!" she answered. "They're making hashbrowns today!"

"Sweet!" I celebrated. "Want to get started on that Cynthia autobiography tonight, by the way?"

"Sounds good to me. How many hashbrowns do you want—"

"Six," I said, opening the bathroom door.

She came back soon after that, and we stuck together until we decided to go train. I'd still be doing it alone today, and I would until Sweetheart and Honey had mastered their custom moves. Then, I'd go back to the one-on-ones. I had to think about who to battle on stream. Cece or Lauren would be my best bet, since I trained with them the most, but maybe someone I knew little about like Chase would be better. He'd trained just as hard as us, even if he preferred to do it alone and without Teleporters. I had heard rumors of him terrorizing some kids on route 222 from Erin, and people knew not to even come close to him. Either way, I had time to decide, and I was still focused on Volkner.

Jasmine sent me a message during my training session that afternoon, saying that she wanted to talk over a drink right away. Now, normally I would have refused, but when a Gym Leader asked to hang out, it was very difficult to say no, and I could always come back this evening if I had time. I Teleported back to the city and quickly rode a bus to the boardwalk, expecting Jasmine to be three beers in already, but I was pleasantly surprised to see she was actually drinking sparkling water. She greeted me with her usual smile and gentle wave.

"Hi. Are you alright?" I asked.

"Good afternoon, Grace. I'm very well, thank you for asking."

Things with Volkner must have picked up again, then.

"Great. What did you want to tell me? I was training, but—"

"Grace, if you were training you should have said no. I'm sorry," she said. "Don't let powerful people walk all over you, that's a bad habit."

"Well, you made it sound urgent," I said, sitting down. "I thought you were getting drunk again."

"No, I was just excited to speak to you. It's come to my attention that Craig took Denzel under his wing."

"That was days ago," I nodded.

"Oh, I don't keep track of the news, and that paranoid fellow never tells me anything he doesn't think is necessary, even if we're friends," Jasmine sighed.

"So? Do you want to one-up him?" I asked excitedly. "Train me and see who's the better teacher?"

"Not exactly," she said. "I know you told me you wanted to evolve your Electabuzz by impressing Volkner. I put in a good word for you and your friend Lauren, so it's a lot more feasible than before."

"It wasn't feasible before?" I asked.

"It was, just exponentially harder," she shrugged. "Even I don't know the method despite asking numerous times and I've been dating him for months, but then again it might have been different had I owned an Electabuzz. I think you'll like what I did, but it's going to be a surprise. I saw your battle with your friend. I want to train your Electabuzz specifically and help him get where he needs to be. As you know, the electric type is my second passion."

I beamed, tapping my feet against the floor. "Awesome! He'll be ecstatic! What are you going to teach him?! Can we start today?!"

With each question, I leaned further and further toward Jasmine until I was barely sitting on my chair. The Gym Leader leaned against a palm and responded with a lazy smile.

"Hold on, now. If you agree to this, you'll have to keep it from Volkner. It isn't necessary, but it'd be awkward for us if it got back to him. I am technically helping the trainer he dislikes for having screwed up Maylene."

I shrunk slightly. "Do you think that'll—"

"Make him keep the evolution secret? No, that's not how Volkner is," Jasmine shook her head. "There are two kinds of Gym Leaders. Those who are trainers first and those who are politicians first. Cut Volkner and he bleeds trainer. He's too nice not to help a kid that gave an Electabuzz a chance— after testing you, of course. I don't really care for all this Maylene drama, but I'm still his girlfriend. He'll probably become a grouch if he figures this out. So no leaks to anyone that isn't trustworthy."

"I'll keep it a secret," I nodded firmly.

"You know what I noticed beyond all the tactics in your battle, Grace? Beyond what went wrong or right for both you and Denzel? I noticed that you love to fight using rocks."

I blinked and leaned back in my chair. She was correct. Whether it be Princess, Angel, or Sweetheart, I enjoyed using rocks to battle a lot. After all, the possibilities were endless there.

"Have you heard of railguns, Grace?"

I frowned and thought for a few seconds. "Railguns? Uh, no, but it rings a bell."

"Do you want to fire rocks using electricity?"

"Like Volkner does sometimes? I've seen it, but it isn't that effective, no? I mean, why do that when you can just throw Thunders or Zap Cannons at people."

Jasmine shook her head. "Because when the technique is mastered, it can do a lot more than just hit people with rocks, and it's also faster than Thunder— but still slower than Zap Cannon. Volkner hasn't actually mastered it. Amphy can't do it, but I have two Pokemon that can. Magnezone and Electrode. There are times when the attack is a lot more useful than any Zap Cannon, trust me."

"Obviously I trust you," I said. "Can you help with some custom moves I'm working on with him too?"

"Oh, we'll do the whole song and dance," she said, waving a hand dismissively. "Of course, you won't master it by the time we're done, but it'll at least be usable and you'll be able to practice it on your own. The railgun technique will also help with your Electabuzz's electrical control. Something he dearly needs."

"What do you mean?" I asked.

"The way you battle is wasteful," she said. "So much energy wasted. Your Thunders go all over the place instead of being focused on one target. Sure, that's good if you want to break up the field, but if you just want to hit your opponent as hard as you can, it isn't ideal."

"But it makes them easier to hit," I said.

"It's a bad habit you two need to cut," Jasmine chided. "If you ever want to create advanced electric type techniques, the control Electabuzz will learn here will be sorely needed. Power isn't the only thing Volkner wants to see. As it stands right now, he would be… satisfied by you, not impressed."

"Okay, I get it," I said. "Any other wasteful things we do?"

"Your electric type attacks, mostly," she said. "But none are as bad as Thunder."

I chuckled to myself. "It's the first time someone's ever said that power is a waste to me. It feels weird. My friend Lauren would disagree with your principles like her life depended on it," I said.

"I can't help it. It's how I battle," Jasmine said. "Not one movement or moment wasted. Craig and Volkner like to call me a rapier, which is a nickname I enjoy. I find fulfillment in sophisticated, clean battles."

"A rapier…" I muttered. "That's pretty cool. I hope people have a nickname like that for me one day. Something that makes people quake in their boots whenever they hear it. You have to let these things come naturally though."

"Pfft. Naturally? When I get back to Johto I'll be calling myself the Rapier of Olivine day and night until it sticks. Now, let's have a drink, and then we can get started— Johnny, a beer please! Amber!"

The fact that she called the waiter here by his first name wasn't lost on me. She came here a lot.

"I thought you weren't drinking," I said.

"I was just waiting for you. Don't worry, it'll only be one," Jasmine said. "You have something too. Johnny, can we have some garlic bread?! They make the best garlic bread here, you'll see."

And thankfully, it actually was only one this time.