CHAPTER 242 - Grit

"How're you feeling? Can you walk okay?"

Honey stretched an arm in front of me and grunted that I was worrying too much. His movements were slow and deliberate, as if he was scared of breaking something since Nurse Joy had told us numerous times that his bones were still in a fragile state. Volkner's Electivire had done a number on him, and all of that from one Hammer Arm. Honey jumped on my bed, after which I clamored at him not to in case he got himself injured again. He clung to the fabric like it was gold, and after a while, I broke into a smile. He was just happy to be back.

"I want to tell you again, you were amazing during the battle, Hon," I said, patting him on the back. "You used your last seconds of consciousness to use Discharge without even knowing if it would work out or not."

The electric type rolled onto his back and flashed his fangs, saying that everything paid off in the end.

"It did," I smiled. "And today's your big day. Volkner said to come at… five, since he'll be ending his shift early for this. We have a bunch of time to kill, so I have something to show you."

Honey raised a non-existent eyebrow.

"Trust me! Let's head to the beach, and we'll let your siblings out so you can say hello."

Honey hopped off the bed, and with every sudden movement, I felt my heart jump. He was thankfully fine and said I was worrying for nothing. All those times I'd told my father the same was now recontextualized in my brain and a creeping feeling of guilt crawled up my neck, but it was only short-lived. I locked my arm with Honey's and we decided to go to the beach by foot. The electric type had never really seen Sunyshore aside from the boardwalk and the street our Pokemon Center was in, so he was exploring it for the first time.

I noticed his eyes glance over a store— a book store, to be exact.

"Want some new books?" I asked. "You hate history."

Honey rolled his eyes, saying that there was more to reading than tiresome topics. He still couldn't really read properly, but if he wanted a book, I would never say no. We perused the two-story book store for a while, and I was more preoccupied with its interior design than the actual books. I already had a lot of reading on my plate, so I wasn't exactly looking for something new.

Honey yelled at me to come over, and he shrunk when a bunch of people shushed him.

"Yeah, you shouldn't be too loud in here," I said. "What caught your eye— is that the—" I caught myself and lowered my voice. "Is that the brand new comic book in the Detective series?"

He nodded, and I quickly scanned the pages. The first edition had come out years ago and had a detective partner with his Pikachu to solve mysteries, but it had expanded and these days there were a lot more Pokemon involved. This one had a Murkrow accompanying a brand-new main character.

I knew he didn't want to say it, but Honey also liked the images.

"I wanted to read it too," I said. "I betcha the others will like it. Find anything else you like?"

Honey scratched his cheek and then dropped another five books in my arms.

"Okay. Let's buy 'em!"

—

It was barely noon when we reached the beach. Honey grabbed my waist, lifting me over the large rocks before hopping over in a single jump.

"Nice. No one's here," I smiled, staring at the entire beach. "So… before I let the others out of their Pokeballs, is there anything you want to tell me? Are you nervous?"

Electabuzz shrugged, saying that the excitement he felt easily dwarfed any anxiety.

I nodded. "Good to know."

I paused, turning toward him.

"You worked incredibly hard these past few weeks, and I'm so, so proud of you," I gently told him. "You deserve this."

He blinked, and then chuckled. The electric type scratched his belly and said to keep the sentimental words for later.

"I don't want to cry in front of Volkner," I scoffed. "That'd be embarrassing. Anyway, I have something to tell you about Princess. This might be sudden, but I bought her a Shiny Stone that she used to evolve. I'm sorry you weren't there to see it, but if I had waited, we would have had to wait until Pastoria to get our flying license, and she would have wasted precious days when she could have gotten better at getting used to her new body. The setback would have been too big."

Disappointment flashed in Honey's eyes.

"But! I recorded it," I smiled. "Let's watch it together first."

I grabbed my phone and browsed my camera roll, quickly finding the desired video. After handing Honey the device, I put my head on his shoulder and watched in silence.

"To future me— and future us. Today was the day Princess evolved into a Togekiss…"

The evolution was just as emotional to me as it had been the day of. I held back tears and wiped my eyes while Honey grinned as he watched his sister evolve. He was so proud of her that I could feel it permeating from his fur.

"I recorded her first flight too," I sniffled. "Uh, I'll let you watch."

I let the electric type have his fill, and he cackled at Princess flailing in the air over and over. I did let him know that she was a lot better at it now, however. If she wasn't there was no way I would have gotten my flying license.

"Oh! Look at my license, by the way. The picture kind of surprised me and now I look stupid on it," I snorted, pulling out the silver card. My eyes were half-closed due to the flash, and I looked like I was about to sneeze.

We shared a good laugh at that. I'd be willing to bet I was the only idiot in my friend group that was going to happen to.

"You ready?" I asked.

Honey nodded, and I released everyone on the sand. Immediately, he was swarmed by Angel's vines. The grass type surrounded him with so many that his yellow fur was barely visible any longer. Sweetheart burst into tears of joy, cried at how much she'd missed him and demanded a hug. She might have been a brat to him, but she'd never been separated from her big brother for that long. Angel pushed him toward Sweetie and he wrapped his arms around her cocoon. She was far larger than he was now, but they made it work.

Buddy sprayed the back of Honey's head with a tiny jet of water, and the electric type laughed at the harmless prank. He poked the ghost back with a finger, and from the way Buddy rippled, it was clear that he'd been given a small shock. The electric type waved to Sunshine, who slowly approached and awkwardly patted him on the back. Strength was something he admired, and Honey had proved himself ten times over since I'd watched my battle with Volkner at least twenty times.

Which Sunshine and Buddy didn't hesitate to report on, prompting a laugh from Honey. He turned toward Princess, who hovered in the air like a queen in front of him, her chest puffed up and her eyes staring toward the horizon in a dramatic fashion.

"I already told him about you, no need to do a pose."

Princess' face fell, and she cleared her throat, pretending that she hadn't been doing a pose. When she landed, Honey touched her fur and yelled at how soft she was now. I let the entire team mingle for a while, since we had time to waste and I ended up buying lunch on the boardwalk for them. Honey tried to fly on Princess multiple times, but she kept refusing because she feared that him falling would break his bones again, so he decided to read his comics with Sweetheart instead.

"Don't get sand all over those, okay?" I warned.

They answered with half-hearted grunts.

Sunshine lay in the sun, and he growled in annoyance when Princess flew overhead and covered him with her shade. He told her to get away this instant unless she wanted all of that useless fur to burn. The flying type sprayed him with some pink dust and zoomed away as she giggled. From an outside perspective, their relationship would have looked terrible, but I knew they were just fooling around. Sunshine was looking forward to the summer very much, and each day the temperature was just a little higher, his face brightened.

Buddy floated along the beach, and half of Angel's body was in the water as well. The grass type had anchored himself in the sand, stabbing his vines through the ground while he played with the water by splashing it everywhere.

I crouched next to Sunshine and closed my eyes after setting an alarm for 4 in the afternoon.

Life was good.

—

I ended up not needing my alarm, since a group of people claiming the beach for themselves ended up showing up and waking me. They were a bunch of new-ish trainers. If I had to say, they had… three badges? And they'd started fighting low-stakes battle on the beach, much to Sunshine's displeasure. I watched for a little while, and they didn't seem to pay any mind after getting used to Sunshine's glares. Princess had been too busy flying far off into the horizon to care, and Buddy was the closest he could get to sleep at the moment, so my most belligerent Pokemon were under control.

I slipped away at 3:30 and reached the Pokemon Center by 4, so I was pretty early. Cecilia had been completely fixated on politics this last week, and I wanted to try to learn at least a little so I wasn't completely ignorant when she vented to me about what was happening in Unova. Clarence had reached Castelia safe and sound, and Unova was going to turn a blind eye to Sinnoh. Kalos hadn't done anything beyond denounce us, and apparently Galar had been somewhat humiliated because their plan to rally the international community hadn't worked. They were sticking with it, though, and the first round of sanctions had been implemented. According to Louis and Cece, it would take a few weeks for them to actually be felt, so the entire region was bracing itself for an economic crisis (that would be nowhere near as bad as it could have been).

At five in the evening, Metagross came to pick me up by the Pokemon Center's entrance. The hulking, metallic Pokemon still felt odd to look at. So many emotions flashing at once. The fact that he'd already come to pick me up here so many times when I trained with Jasmine meant that it wouldn't turn many eyes. It was just business as usual, or at least we wanted to pretend like it was.

"Jasmine isn't here with you?" I asked.

She said that she told you the next time you would be seeing each other, Electabuzz would be an Electivire and she tends to attach meaning to meaningless words, Metagross sassed, ignoring the passersby looking at him. Alas, it is a part of what makes her stupidly lovable. Let us be on our way.

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Before I could even speak, Metagross had snatched me away, and I was… somewhere in the Gym. In front of Volkner's office, I realized.

"Should I knock?" I pondered.

Obviously, they rolled their eyes before mentally scoffing. Humans.

"Rude," I huffed.

I knocked at Volkner's door, and after twenty seconds I knocked again. Volkner opened the door as he scratched the back of his head.

"Thanks, Metagross. I'll take it from here," he said.

Oh, are you sure you don't want to leak your state secrets to us to celebrate the new partnership between our two regions? Metagross said. Maybe a crumb of classified information?

"Very funny. I'd bet you know the way already but that Jasmine hasn't been informed," Volkner shrugged.

The probability of that is extremely high, the steel type nodded. Oh well, I will be on my way. Jasmine is probably whining again, and I'd better use the opportunity now that the dark emitters are off. Your trainers hate it when I dent the ground due to my weight when I walk around.

"You do that."

Metagross disappeared out of thin air, and Volkner sighed.

"Very sarcastic for a supercomputer," he said. "Come in."

"Oh, we're going inside?" I asked. "Okay."

I entered the Gym Leader's office, and I crouched when I saw a Jolteon sleeping soundly under his desk.

"Don't worry about the noise, Jolteon's a heavy sleeper. You'd think she was using Rest," he chuckled. "Sit."

I dragged the cushioned chair and sat down. Now that I wasn't as nervous as the first time I entered his office, I actually noticed that every inch of Volkner's office was built to be comfortable. Cushioned chairs, rounded edges on his desk, a carpet so clean it looked like I could sleep on it without a problem… he'd definitely fallen asleep here a ton.

Volkner dialed a number on his phone, and he leaned so far back against the backrest of his chair that I thought he'd fall over.

"Mr. Sanchez! The blackouts are imminent now," he said. "Can you confirm the state of our infrastructure one last time so I don't accidentally shut off all of our Pokemon Centers?"

The Gym Leader spun around on his chair, and I heard a faint voice on the other end of the line. The name was familiar, but I was too interested in the blackouts to care.

"Gotcha. Thanks again for the help. Yeah, we'll talk about the sanctions soon. See you."

The Gym Leader hung up and exhaled as he stood. "We're ready to go."

After locking the door to his office, Volkner shuffled toward one of his walls and grabbed two of the Pokeballs on his desk. There was a large shelf full of books hugging the wall.

"Oh! Are you going to pull one of the books and reveal a secret area—"

Volkner grunted as he dragged the shelf away from the wall with all of his might. Jolteon's ears twitched, but the electric type only rolled over, settling into a deeper sleep. Volkner clenched his teeth and pulled, but it was a… pretty pitiful display. Not that I would be able to do any better. He wheezed and wiped the sweat off his forehead.

"The Gym Leader lifestyle is seriously unhealthy," he wheezed. There was a set of doors behind the shelf that were made of stainless steel. Volkner typed in some kind of code on a keypad and nudged his head up. "Get in."

I shot up from the chair and leaned toward the newly-revealed door. It wasn't actually a door, but a secret elevator.

"Has this always been here?" I asked as I hesitantly stepped inside.

"No. It was built during my tenure," the Gym Leader answered.

There was only one button, and we plunged into the depths of the Gym. The elevator rattled and lights flashed as we descended further down.

"It was built specifically for my Electivire the year I became a Gym Leader," he continued. "It looks shabby, but it got the job done."

My body shivered in anticipation when the elevator doors opened and led us to a long, concrete corridor that was barely large enough to fit the width of two people. Thankfully, I wasn't claustrophobic, and we quickly reached another door that Volkner typed another code into. I flinched when a section of the wall slid open, revealing a camera that he stared right into.

"Leader Volkner Doyle recognized," an artificial voice spoke. "Steer clear of the door when it opens."

There was a loud pop and then a hiss as the enormous door strained open. And strain it did. I winced, covering my ears as the unused door slid against the floor with a horrible screech. Volkner rarely came here, and it showed. What came next, however, was a colossal battery the size of Erin's house. It was composed of gigantic cells and interconnected table, and the battery hummed as loud as a truck. Adjacent batteries surrounded the huge device, but each one was still bigger than I thought they could ever get.

And in front of the entire structure lay two large metallic bars, protruding out of the biggest battery with two cracks in the concrete that I couldn't explain.

Volkner whistled and released his Electivire, who grinned at the familiar setting. This place probably held a lot of good memories for him.

"Release your Electabuzz."

I inhaled sharply, and Honey appeared next to me. Electivire squinted at his junior, but chuckled when Honey shot him a dirty look. That Hammer Arm had hurt.

"This is it," I told him. He only responded with a silent nod.

"Do you know why Electivire was virtually unheard of until the harnessing of electricity and urbanization?" Volkner asked. I shook my head. "Because there was never enough electricity to trigger the evolution."

"So when you said blackouts—"

"I meant the entire city."

Goosebumps ran up and down my spine and arms.

"You said virtually unheard of?"

He smirked. "Good catch. Yes, there were some Electivire before urbanization."

"How?"

"The answer's simple. Legendary Pokemon."

I blinked, finally understanding, but Volkner continued anyway.

"Things like natural thunderstorms or other powerful electric types was never enough. Legends? They were. The odds of it happening were virtually nonexistent, but it did happen a few times in history. An Electabuzz struck by an avatar of Zapdos that actually survived the attack would evolve. It is the same for Raikou in Johto and Thundurus in Unova. Odds were, they would instantly die instead," he shrugged. "But when they didn't?"

He pointed a thumb at Electivire.

"What if you could build up electricity throughout an Electabuzz's life?" I asked. "Going slow and steady?"

"No. It needs to happen all at once, or it won't work," Volkner shook his head. "Don't worry, it's safe. We stretch the process out as long as we can to ensure safety and evolution at the same time. Ten minutes."

I swallowed. "Does that mean he'll have enough electricity to power a city after?"

"Oh, he'll stabilize downward," Volkner dismissed. "Most of the energy will be consumed for his evolution, but the potential will be there. That's a pretty lofty goal, though. Even my Electivire can't do it. Think of it like an ultimate goal to strive toward."

Electabuzz grunted, and I caressed his arm.

"I've been looking at trying to build an artificial way to evolve Electabuzz using an item so we don't have to hide it anymore," Volkner muttered. "The last thing the League wants is kids having their Pokemon try to steal electricity from cities in hopes of evolving them. The name I workshopped is Electirizer, but Jasmine says I'm terrible at names. Oh well, that's still a work in progress."

"What's Magmar's evolution like, then?" I asked, thinking of Lauren. "The Pokemon are closely related, right? I can't think of an equivalent… is it getting swarmed by flames?"

"Why would it be equivalent?" The Gym Leader chided. "The two evolutions have nothing to do with each other. But today isn't about that. Don't fish for more information out of me, I've already sent your friend Lauren's battle to Flint. He'll get to it when he has time."

"Thank you."

"I won't lie to you," Volkner spoke grimly, turning to Honey. "It will start with an overwhelming feeling— like you have more power than you know what to do with. You have to retain it. Keep it inside of you no matter what. The electricity will desperately try to find an outlet, and that feeling will slowly turn into agonizing pain. You won't die, but it'll hurt. Are you still ready?"

Honey took a deep breath.

And he agreed.

"Good, good," Volkner said before releasing a Kadabra.

Greetings, the psychic spoke.

"Good evening. Thank you for being here. This is a Kadabra from the League— the same one that stood there with me all those years ago," Volkner said. "I had him sent for the occasion since this is beyond what Gym Kadabra are allowed to see. Grab onto those two handles, and start sucking as much electricity as you can. And don't stop."

Five layers of barrier appeared in front of us, each one thicker than the last, and Honey wrapped his hands around the two metallic handles. His fists tightened around them, and then electricity surged everywhere around him.

I had covered my eyes on instinct, expecting a blinding flash as bright as Thunder, but instead, it started slow. Like a trickle of water that would build and build until it became a waterfall. Honey gritted his teeth and tightened his hold as if it was already hurting. Because it wasn't his electricity, I realized. Electivire observed with a calmness that was entirely out of character and his arms were crossed while Volkner had his hands in his pockets.

The minutes stretched until they became comparable to hours. The electricity grew in power until smoke began to emanate from Honey's fur. Until I could see through his skin and look at his bones. Until I had to cover my eyes because of the brightness of the light. Until I could see said light through my eyelids. And yet, that was nothing compared to the screams my son was letting out.

Each second, another agonized howl. Part of him wanted to give up. His hand slipped from the metallic bar, and Volkner barked to not let go, or all of his pain would go to waste. He was so close. I sniffled, realizing I was crying.

"You're almost there," I sobbed. "You're almost done."

I didn't even know if I was telling the truth or not. Time might as well have been infinite and not have mattered down here. Kadabra's first barrier shattered like glass and flickered into nothingness— or at least I imagined it evaporating. I couldn't see anything.

Minutes. It was only minutes.

"How much longer?!" I snapped. "He can't keep going!"

"Trust him," Volkner said.

An undetermined amount of time later, something in the light shifted.

It was softer. Less erratic. There were fewer flashing lights and more of a uniform glow. I cracked an eye open and saw the electricity slowly subside. I rapidly blinked to chase away tears to bear witness.

It was his height that changed first. Honey stretched, reaching more than 7'5. His stout body became lean, but that was only for a moment. Muscles grew and bulged. His fur thickened. His arms grew and his fingertips turned black. The two claws on his feet turned to three and dulled, and his tail split into two. The smell of rubber filled my nostrils as the tails thrashed around, creating two cracks in the ground. Two more. Honey's teeth flattened, his eyes turned to a deep red and something within him began to hum.

Until it stopped, and Honey fell to the floor with ragged breaths.

"Honey!" I yelled. "Are you okay?! Put the barrier down!"

"Don't get close. He's still overcharged. You'll die through no fault of his own," Volkner said. "Electivire. Go check on him."

Kadabra lowered his barriers, allowing Volkner's Electivire to approach Honey. He leaned on the floor and touched Honey's chest. For a second, they shared a moment, looking into each other's eyes until Electivire pulled him up. Honey staggered, and he could barely stand up straight. His fur was still smoking, and electricity was jumping around erratically. Volkner ordered Kabadra to activate his barriers again and exhaled in relief.

"You did it," he said. "Eleven minutes and thirty-seven seconds."

Honey let out a tired laugh— like the sound of a starting motor, just like Volkner's Electivire. He said he was okay, but he was too exhausted to even speak properly. His words were slurred, and he collapsed on one knee.

"Should I recall him? Send him to the Center?" I stammered.

"Recall him if you want, that'll let him rest some," Volkner nodded. "But I have a few more things to say to you."

I half-heartedly nodded and recalled Honey into his ball. "Rest up, okay? You did perfectly."

"Congratulations to both you and him," Volkner said. "I didn't think I'd see an Electabuzz evolve again. It made me somewhat emotional. First things first, keep him away from the public for a while. At least a week. Some people will associate the blackout with his evolution, but it's nothing a little discrediting can't deal with. So long as it's a small, vocal minority, it'll be fine. That means no giving him to Nurse Joys, which means no battling."

"Got it," I nodded.

"Next up, don't use him in any battles for at least two weeks. Don't touch him or get too close for that long too. He has a lot of power within him now, and he doesn't know how to control it yet. He could accidentally electrocute you without meaning to, and you will die. Feel free to use your other Pokemon to know when he's ready. That Turtonator of yours should be able to resist it no problem."

I felt a pinch of sadness, but I knew it had to be done. I nodded, and Volkner moved on to his next tip.

"And I don't think I need to say this, but just in case. Everything you saw today is top secret and must not be revealed. Even to your friends that are blessed by the Lakes."

"Of course— wait, you know about that?"

"Yes? All of the Gym Leaders know. Anyway, I would give you tips about how to handle battling and how to use Motor Drive properly, but I don't want to make it too easy for you. You were already given more than most will ever get. Figure it out on your own."

"I wasn't going to ask."

He raised an eyebrow. "I'll hold you to that."

Volkner led me back up to his office, and I stared out the windows of his office and saw that lights were slowly turning back on throughout the entire city. My throat suddenly felt dry, and my fingers trembled in excitement. Volkner pushed his shelf back on the wall and unlocked the doors to his office— Jolteon was still sleeping.

"Off you go— actually, before you leave. Jasmine wanted to see you before you get going to Pastoria. If you could pass by tomorrow when Electivire can actually stand on his own, she'd appreciate that. She wants to bid you farewell and probably give you some last-minute advice. Instill some wisdom."

"I would appreciate it too," I smiled. "Uh, I guess I'll go? Thank you?"

The Gym Leader was already sitting at his desk and staring at his computer with his usual terrible posture. He shooed me with his hand, not even looking at me. The League Kadabra Teleported me back onto a random street a few blocks away from my Pokemon Center and immediately vanished to where I assumed was the League or somewhere in its vicinity.

I drew a long breath when I realized what I'd done today.

It was over. We had done it. Months of work and perseverance had led to this. I placed a hand around Honey's Pokeball and exhaled.

Honey was an Electivire.