CHAPTER 34

“Hell no!” Denzel yelled, looking at me like I had just murdered someone in front of him. “There is no fucking way!”

“What? Come on!” I pleaded.

“Are you kidding me? Traveling with those arrogant assholes in the middle of a deadly forest? No!”

“But wait, you haven’t even listened to the conditions I added yet—”

“Grace, I would honestly rather die than spend a minute with Louis Bianchi. Did you not hear the way he spoke before and after our battle? If I hadn’t been so worried about Eevee, I would have made a scene.”

“I know, but Cecilia said she could get them to behave normally. And apparently, they’re impressed with us,” I said.

“Impressed?”

“Yeah,” I added. “Apparently, they liked the way we battle.”

“They have a really funny way of showing that, then,” Denzel said as he stopped pacing around the room.

“Think about it. We get to train with Cecilia! By the time we’re out of Eterna, we might be close to her level.”

My friend paused. “We get to train with her?”

“Yes! And just her, not her friends. Doesn’t that sound awesome?!”

Denzel avoided my eyes. “That does sound good, but—”

“You haven’t even heard the best part yet. Doesn’t forcing the Louis Bianchi to apologize to you with his head hung low sound like the sweetest revenge?” I grinned.

I saw a glint in Denzel’s eyes. “Okay, I’m in.”

“What? But I haven’t even told you about the potions and the antidotes yet.”

“Wait, we’re getting their stuff too? That’s icing on the cake! You’re like a master negotiator. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think Cecilia’s taken a liking to you.”

My heart practically jumped out of my throat. “M—me? Shut up, you idiot! You don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Ouch. I didn’t even say anything.”

“Yeah, whatever. I’m going to the bathroom.”

I opened the bathroom door and sat down on the toilet before sending Cecilia a text telling her that I had convinced Denzel. I made sure to add that the apologies were crucial and that we were eagerly expecting them. After calming myself down, I looked at myself in the mirror and groaned.

“Ugh, is that a new pimple? Crap.”

I froze as my hand hovered over the door handle. I grabbed my wrist and shook it, forcing myself to push forward. Every time I stepped out of a bathroom now, I couldn’t stop my thoughts from racing. I couldn’t help but expect something terrible to happen to me on the other side of that door. Luckily, I was slowly getting better. When I walked out, I noticed Denzel quickly changing the channel from the news back to some random cartoon. I was thankful to him for trying to keep anything regarding team Galactic out of my reach, but it was obvious he wanted more information.

“I’m going to go out for a bit,” I told him. “Training Elekid and stuff.”

“Oh, alright. Remember, I’m one phone call away if anything goes wrong.”

I smiled. “Thanks.”

I walked out of the Center and made my way to the spot where I had first trained Elekid. Another way I had found to keep myself distracted was to focus entirely on training. And I would need it, especially with danger ramping up so quickly in the region. I was still scared, but Cynthia’s words made me want to be able to fight back. If team Galactic ever came back, I at least wanted to take down a few grunts. Hell, Chase Karlson had dove into danger to do so.

I wonder what he’s doing now? I thought.

Well apparently, I was a psychic, because Chase Karlson was currently in the distance doing sit-ups along with his Riolu. Meanwhile, Houndour was practicing using a move that looked like Fire Fang, and his Grubbin had apparently evolved into a Charjabug, who was scuttling on the ground surrounded by electricity. It looked like a tough training session, and even though I wanted to thank him for trying to break us out, I also didn’t want to be anywhere near the aggressive trainer, but I felt obligated to at least thank him. I called out as I slowly jogged toward him.

“Hey! Chase!” I said.

“What?” He grunted. He glanced at me for a second before resuming his sit-ups. “You’re that girl from the power plant. I argued with you in Oreburgh, right?” He asked. I was surprised he could speak so easily while working out.

“Yeah. I just wanted to thank you for busting into the plant—”

“Thank me? I failed. I lost, and I got captured, why would you thank me?” He said. I could feel anger rise within him as his tone got more aggressive. His Riolu stopped his exercise and barked at him. “Sorry…” He said, more subdued than I had ever heard him.”

“You didn’t let me finish, but yeah, I was about to get…” I swallowed. “Tortured. I know you didn’t do it for me, but I still feel like I owe you.”

“Whatever, I guess.”

“Sorry for bothering you. Take care.”

All in all that could have gone worse. I made my way to the meadow, then released my entire team, who greeted me in their respective way. Togetic floated up to me and nuzzled against my neck. Frillish bobbed his head toward me, and Elekid screamed as he flexed and spun his arms around. I had gotten him back at the start of the week after confirming that he was mine. To do this, the League made sure that the Pokemon knew you, but apparently, every Pokeball had a serial number that the League, stores, and manufacturers could use to keep track of them. I guessed this was why Pokemon trading always had to be tracked. Some trainers even kept stickers on their Pokeballs to differentiate them. Either way, this system made sure that there were very little errors whenever an accident happened where Pokeballs were lost or mixed up. I grinned and clapped my hands together.

“Alright, everybody! Time for more training! Togetic, I want you to keep working on Extrasensory. You used the move well during the tournament, but I want you to start being able to lift Pokemon soon, so wild Pokemon aren’t off limits..”

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“Prrrri!” Togetic chirped happily.

“Frillish, I want you to work on Hex if you find any wild Pokemon out here, but remember, no killing. If you can’t find any, then keep working on Poison Sting like yesterday. It’ll be a great surprise against the grass types of Eterna forest, or even Gardenia if I’m forced to use you. Plus, if we poison one of her Pokemon, Hex will deal double the damage. Keep Togetic close to you and take care of her, alright buddy? Meet me back here in two hours.”

“Lish,” He murmured as he lazily floated away with Togetic. She squealed happily and affectionately butted her head against him.

I crouched and looked at Elekid. “And you’re with me, as usual. Let’s keep working on your endurance.”

Normally, I would never have trained on wild Pokemon that didn’t attack me first, but after what happened to me, something clicked in my mind. I needed to get stronger faster to protect myself and my team if team Galactic was ever going to come knocking. I couldn’t afford to pull any punches and hold back my team’s progress. It hurt to think that Frillish or Togetic could potentially get a wild Pokemon killed by injuring them, but I couldn’t afford to feel bad. I watched with my arms crossed as Elekid kept his Thundershock going for eighteen seconds.

“Kid!” He screamed, clearly frustrated. I could tell he desperately wanted to catch up to the others.

“You’re doing great, hon,” I comforted him. “That’s a great amount of progress in less than two weeks.”

“Elekid!”

“I’ll use you in a real battle soon. Here, why don’t we look for a wild Pokemon together.”

Elekid flexed his arms, agreeing with me. There weren’t that many wild Pokemon this far into the meadow, but we still managed to find a Buizel skulking around. It had probably come here from the river on nearby route 205.

“Are you ready?” I whispered to Elekid. He nodded. “Hit it with Thundershock, you’ve got the element of surprise.”

Elekid made a noise akin to a scoff before loudly announcing himself to the Buizel. He spun his arms and grinned menacingly.

“Or not. You want to fight fair and square, hm?”

“Kid!”

Buizel squared itself up and let out a warning cry as its tails spun menacingly, but Elekid wasn’t intimidated. He charged at the water type, who let out a high-pressure jet of water. Staying at a safe distance, I smiled as Elekid weaved to the right. He was quickly becoming my fastest Pokemon.

“Hit it with Thunder Punch!” I ordered.

Elekid spun both of his arms and gathered electricity into his fists before hitting Buizel with a quick succession of punches. The water type cried out in pain before trying to ram Elekid with its tails, but I could tell it was already almost out for the count. Elekid didn’t even need my help. He held the Buizel and channeled a Thundershock directly into the wild Pokemon, who promptly fell to the ground as smoke emanated from its body. Elekid celebrated with a triumphant yell before making his way back toward me.

“You did great, but we did have the type advantage. Still, it looks like your electric type attacks are becoming really powerful.”

I continued watching as Elekid trained. I had gotten him back one day after the attack, and I had used the opportunity to explain everything to my team. Frillish still hadn’t recovered. I could tell that he felt like he failed me, no matter how many times I told him it wasn’t his fault. Togetic had cried and had fully embraced her role as my sleep aid, which I was grateful for. Elekid also felt down, but his reaction was a little bit more peculiar. He stopped wanting to go to the Power Plant altogether.

Come to think of it, why had Elekid wanted to go to the Power Plant? It surely wasn’t for energy, or he would have kept pestering me about it even now. Had he known something?

Something about what would happen?

No, that would be impossible.

But what if?

I called him over, and he panted as he trudged toward me.

“Good job,” I started. “You deserve a little break. I have a question to ask you.”

“Kid?” He said in a curious tone.

“Do you remember how you wanted to bring me to the Power Plant last week? And how just two days later, team Galactic attacked it? Did you know something?”

Elekid fidgeted around nervously, a far cry from his usual boisterous behavior.

“I’m not mad,” I smiled. “Let’s try going by process of elimination. Did you know team Galactic would attack soon?”

He shook his head.

I frowned. “Did you know something bad would happen soon?”

“Kid! Kid!” He nodded.

My eyes widened. “How? What gave it away?” I asked. Obviously, though, he struggled to explain. It was at times like these when I wish I could understand what my Pokemon said. I tried finding out what he knew for a few more minutes, but it was to no avail, so I sent him back to train. I needed to figure this out at some point, but right now, it was like I was speaking to a brick wall. Before finishing our training, I went on a run and practiced doing push-ups on the ground. I only managed to do six before I fell flat. Seeing Chase Karlson work out like that had kind of inspired me, but I was nowhere near his level yet. At the end of our training session, Togetic came back carrying an unconscious Pachirisu with Extrasensory, closely shadowed by Frilish.

I looked at the small electric type guiltily for a few seconds, before turning toward Togetic with a smile. She always liked to bring things she lifted with Extrasensory back to me as a ‘reward’. “You did great, Princess. You didn’t have to bring it back to me, though.”

“Toge!”

“Well, you do you. Frillish, what’s the progress on Hex?”

The ghost type eyed the Pachirisu for a few seconds, and then looked back at me. It took me a few moments to realize he was asking for permission to use the move.

I took a deep breath. “Go ahead.”

Frillish’s eye brightened as smoke began emanating from the Pachirisu’s body. Even while unconscious, the small Pokemon began to convulse violently.

“That’s enough,” I said. “Good job, you two. You brought down an electric type together despite the type disadvantage.”

Frillish nodded. I quickly grabbed a potion and used it on the little electric type. It was still unconscious, but at least it would wake up with no wounds. Plus, I was going to get access to a lot of them soon thanks to traveling with Cecilia’s group, so I felt like I could use them more freely.

“Come to think of it, I have to tell you guys about our temporary new travel companions…”

I explained everything to my team. Frillish scowled and turned away from me, and Elekid crashed his fists together, creating a spark.

“You guys are even worse than Denzel,” I sighed. “At least you’re fine with it, princess,” I said as I gently scratched her back.

“Togetic! Prrrri!”

“Well, let’s get back then.”

When I came back to my room, Denzel was gone. He had sent me a message telling me that he was off to spend some time with his team, but to call him if I needed him. I spent the rest of the day lazing around with my Pokemon. Elekid was slowly making Frillish warm up to him, even though he kept throwing water at him whenever he got too annoying. Whereas Frillish probably thought of Togetic as a little sister he needed to protect— which even though I never said anything about, I found very cute— he probably viewed Elekid as an annoying brat that was loud all the time. Ghost type Pokemon were immortal, so he was probably a jaded old man anyway. If I had to place Elekid’s age… I’d probably say he was still a kid, no pun intended.

When it was time to go to sleep, Frillish floated protectively above my bed, since he didn’t need to sleep. Elekid slept by leaning against a wall with his arms crossed— the little bugger spoke and yelled in his sleep, by the way— and Togetic snuggled under the covers with me. I felt happiness swell inside of me as I relaxed, slowly drifting off to sleep.

I would have gotten my eight hours, but I was woken up by a text from Cecilia at 5:33 am.

Cecilia O.

The deal went through. We will travel together in two days until we reach Eterna city. I am honoring my side of the bargain right away, meet me in the Pokemon Center lobby with your friend to start our training.

I fell out of my bed.