CHAPTER 37

Even though I had had this axe for months, it was my first time actually using it for its intended purpose: cutting firewood. The activity was grueling and harder than I expected. First, I had to find the appropriate tree. A fallen one or a young, thin one always worked best, but sometimes I could also easily tear some branches off. Second, swinging an axe over and over was tiring.

"Prrrri!" Togetic cheered behind me as I brought down my axe toward another log.

"Thank you, princess," I said.

I was trying to make them around thirty centimeters long if possible since that was the optimal length, according to Justin. He was apparently used to camping outside, and would frequently do so with his father as a child, where he learned a lot about living in the wild. I was honestly surprised. I had thought that he had been a sheltered kid just like I was, but he was currently helping Denzel chop down a bigger tree.

"Need any help?" Cecilia asked after coming up to me.

I wiped sweat from my forehead and gathered all the wood I had cut. "If you could help me carry this back, I'd appreciate it. Is it enough?"

"That should be enough, yes. I already brought my share back, so I wanted to see if anyone needed my assistance."

"Thanks."

I left Denzel and Justin and got back to camp, where Pauline and Emilia were setting up a huge tent. It actually looked more like a miniature circus tent than a normal tent a young trainer should have. It looked like it could fit at least ten people. How did they even carry this thing? I turned and smiled before almost telling a joke.

That was close, I thought. I unconsciously mistook Cecilia for Denzel, since he was usually always next to me. A joke in bad taste now would just be rude, especially when everyone had just apologized earlier today.

"Impressive, isn't it?" Cecilia said, breaking the silence.

"No kidding. How can you even fold this into one of your bags?"

"Well, it has a few parts…"

Cecilia began explaining the intricacies of their huge tent as we dropped off the firewood. Togetic grabbed two pieces to play with using Extrasensory and brought them with her as she followed closely.

"I haven't forgotten our training, by the way," Cecilia said, sitting down on the ground.

I sat down next to her— not too close, of course. "I sure hoped so. It was a part of our deal. I want to get as strong as possible," I said, feeling determination swell inside of me.

She grinned. "Good. We can start after dinner, if Denzel is okay with it? We won't be able to do mock battles against each other in Eterna forest."

I nodded. "Yeah, that would be too risky. Let's do that then!"

We watched as Pauline and Emilia finished bringing up the tent. I felt somewhat bad for not offering help, but I was tired from all the wood cutting I had just done. Soon enough, Denzel and Justin came back with even more firewood— probably more than we needed for one night. I figured it was a good time to release the rest of my team, so I let out Frillish and Elekid. Frillish glared at Cecilia and floated up away from everyone no matter how many times I called him, and Elekid was just screaming and being hyper, as usual.

"He sure is a little ball of energy," Cecilia said, looking at him.

"Kid!" He answered back proudly.

"He might be too much, sometimes," I smiled.

"It is good that you're so close with your team. It will definitely help in the long run."

"I mean, they're my partners. We can't work together if we don't get along."

Cecilia sighed. "I'd like to get that through their thick skulls," She said, nodding toward her group. "Oh, Louis is back. He'll want to see me. See you later?"

"Yup. See you later."

The girl stood up and left, after which Denzel immediately slipped into her spot.

"Where have you been?" I asked.

"Talking with Justin," Denzel answered as Eevee climbed down his shoulder to cuddle next to me. I pet him behind his ear. "I also didn't want to interrupt."

"You would never be interrupting. Just join the conversation if you feel like it."

"That's not what I meant, Grace."

I eyed him annoyingly. "I told you I'm giving up. Even you said so, we were just passing the time."

"If you say so. Anyway, about Justin! He's actually kind of cool if you can get past the weird way he speaks."

"Really?" I asked. "Like how?"

"Eh, he's just a really nice guy, you'll have to speak with him to figure it out. You've been hanging out in your little corner, you should try to talk to people— well, maybe not Louis," He whispered.

"I will, I'm just not used to such a big group. If it was one new person, I'd be fine, but this is somewhat different than how I imagined it."

"We can speak to them as a group if you want. That way, you don't have to initiate alone."

"How about we do that tomorrow, then?"

"Gotcha. Holy shit, did you even see that tent, by the way?"

"Hard to miss it," I joked.

He laughed. "Do you think they have a maid in there?"

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

My eyes widened. "I was gonna make that joke!"

We fooled around for a few more minutes until it was time for dinner. We were all gathered around a fire Charmeleon had lit with his tail. Our Pokemon ate the usual— berries and food pellets, while the few Pokemon they released ate things I had never even considered before. Louis' Gible stood in a corner as he savaged some poor wild Pokemon's corpse, eating it raw, while the rest ate some kind of paste that their trainers had brought in a bag. I would have to ask Cecilia about it after our training. Meanwhile, we ate the food we had bought in Floaroma and heated with our portable oven.

Finally, it was time to train, and we walked around five minutes away from camp to not disturb the others. I decided to focus on Togetic and Elekid today since Frillish was brooding in the sky. He hadn't even come down to eat a berry. Being in such a big group had seemingly angered him greatly, and it would take some time for him to get back to his usual self. Today, I wanted Togetic to finally master Extrasensory, while for Elekid, I simply wanted him to keep working on all of his attacks. Cecilia released her Slowpoke, whose tail had regrown slightly since the last time we saw each other, and her Fletchling. Denzel was obviously going to train with Eevee, but he released Budew to watch.

"No Deino today?" He asked Cecilia.

"No, I don't want to risk any injuries that would force us to turn back," She answered. She seemed deep in thought for a few seconds before snapping her fingers. "Here's how it's going to go. Togetic is going to be working with Slowpoke, and Elekid is going to be working with Eevee again. Fletchling, you can watch and join in if one of our Pokemon gets too tired."

Fletchling sang happily and rubbed its head against hers.

"For Elekid and Eevee, we're going to be doing the same as last time, except that you're going to be directing them," She said, pointing at us. "Togetic should just try to lift Slowpoke with Extrasensory as much as she can. He's heavier than he looks, so if she can lift him, she'll be in good shape to fight most threats."

"Toge!" Togetic said happily before flying a few feet away. Slowpoke lazily followed behind her, and I could have sworn I heard him sigh.

"Have fun, princess!" I said to her.

Denzel and I positioned ourselves opposite of each other, and our Pokemon got ready to battle. Elekid punched the air with quick consecutive jabs while Eevee simply stood slanted forward, with its hind legs ready to give a powerful burst of speed. I eyed my friend and smiled nervously. It had been so long since we last battled, and even though this was just, training, it still had some weight to it. Cecilia just observed with Fletchling still on her shoulder, and soon enough, she started the battle.

"Quick Kick!" Denzel yelled out.

Eevee blurred forward with a quick burst of speed, but Elekid was also extremely fast. He stepped to the side, but Eevee just turned incredibly fast and kicked him in the back. Elekid roared before spinning his arms as a burst of electricity sparked all around him.

"Chill out, hon," I said. "Use Swift,"

Elekid calmed down, and stars materialized above him before barrelling toward Eevee, who had retreated back to Denzel.

"Dodge with Quick Attack!" He ordered.

I grinned. The stars followed Eevee around no matter how many times he zig-zagged, and it was only a matter of time until they hit. Right now, all he was doing was expending energy. I waited for a few more precious seconds, where Eevee dashed madly around the battlefield before extending my hand.

"Corner him with a short Thundershock."

Elekid spun his arms as electricity quickly shot out of his horns, blocking Eevee's path. The normal type struggled to stop, sliding across the grass before getting hit by Swift. Elekid stopped his attack right afterward.

"Get in, and Thunder Punch him as many times as you can," I said.

Elekid rushed forward, only slightly slower than Eevee, as electric energy surrounded his fists.

"Sand Attack, then Bite!" Denzel yelled.

Eevee flung dirt across Elekid's eyes, and he promptly fell to the ground. He started furiously rubbing his eyes, desperately trying to get his vision back to normal.

"Charge up! Don't let him touch you!"

Elekid ignored my order, still desperately trying to get the dirt out of his eyes. Eevee bit into his arm, and Elekid yelled before punching him in the head, forcing him to let go. The two Pokemon stared at each other, ready to go again.

I can't approach him with that Sand Attack, so better do something that worked, I thought to myself. "Swift again!"

Denzel let out a frustrated groan. "You have to take it, but get as close as you can!"

Elekid released another set of stars that homed in toward his opponent, while Eevee Quick Attacked forward, simply pushing through Swift's impact and ramming into Elekid. Elekid was grinning wildly as he released a point-blank Thundershock. Eevee yelped and retreated with smoking fur.

"That's enough," Cecilia said. "The first round is finished, let me go grab some potions."

"Wait, the first round?" I asked.

The girl smiled beautifully. "I did say I wanted to train as much as possible, didn't I? And we have enough to go around."

Elekid and Eevee did nothing but battle for the next three hours. The two Pokemon were obviously developing quite a friendly rivalry, and they were the two members of our teams that enjoyed battling the most. Toward the end, though, Elekid was clearly getting the advantage in most fights, and it wasn't because Eevee was weak. It was because I was starting to predict what Denzel and Eevee were going to do, and I was always able to respond accordingly. Plus, we had ranged attacks while Eevee did not, meaning he was forced to approach while I pestered him with Swift and Thundershock. The two Pokemon were exhausted. Potions only healed injuries, after all. Meanwhile, Togetic was lifting Slowpoke and making him do flips in the air as she joyfully chirped and clapped her tiny hands against herself. We couldn't help but laugh when we saw the oblivious Slowpoke just lying in the air, all limp and taking it with that signature blank stare.

After we returned our Pokemon to let them rest— except Togetic, of course— Cecilia wanted to tell us what she thought about the battles.

"To a degree, you two have the opposite problem. Let's start with Denzel. Here's the good, your Eevee is a machine, and it seemingly never goes down. It was moving around a lot more than Elekid, and still, it was less tired by the end. However, your attacks lack… variety? No, let's call it creativity. You do the same thing over and over and expect it to work. Why?"

Denzel scratched his head. "Well, I haven't really thought about it. Usually, Eevee just pushes through until it works, and we win."

"Not good. Find new ways to use your moves. Improvise, and surprise the enemy. Quick Attack into Double Kick works the first few times, but then the enemy learns. Always think about what the other trainer is going to do next. Which is something Grace is good at," She said. I resisted the urge to grin like an idiot. "Also, you need some variety in your team. Using only Eevee might have worked so far, but you need to either start using your Budew, or catch something new for the fight against Gardenia. Do you realize how dangerous it would have been to go into Eterna forest with only one usable Pokemon if you hadn't joined us?" She continued. Denzel nodded, but I knew he was probably angry at himself. "Now, Grace, you anticipate your enemy's movements, but that's not all. When something doesn't work, you try to change it. Keep doing that. Although… you seem to overcomplicate things sometimes. You don't need to use Swift into Thundershock all of the time. There were many times during the battle where you could have hit a simple, longer Thundershock and dealt more damage than by trapping Eevee using the two moves."

I thought back to the battle, trying to find the moments she was thinking about. "I see what you mean. I guess sometimes, a simpler move just works."

"Correct. For example, in Deino's case, a simple Dragon Breath is more powerful than setting up an elaborate trap with Incinerate to block their escape by burning the grass behind the enemy and then running up to use Bite or Take Down. There are undoubtedly moments where traps are useful in battle, but they have a time and place. Sometimes, simple is just better."

I nodded, absorbing all of the information she was telling me. Cecilia was a treasure trove full of battling advice, and I couldn't help but wonder where she had gotten all of that information. Her brother, maybe? He was the Champion, but it felt inappropriate to ask since I knew she had family problems. Either way, we were tired, and it was time to hit the sack. We made our way back to the camp, where the fire had been extinguished, and they were already sleeping inside of that huge tent. We entered the tent, and I hopped inside my sleeping bag while Togetic settled next to me, showering me with happiness. Tonight would be another full night of sleep, and I would need it, because tomorrow, I would have to socialize.

Oh, and I also needed to ask them about their Pokemon food, which I had somehow forgotten about.