CHAPTER 61

“Elekid, Ice Punch into Thunder Punch!”

Elekid’s fist began to crackle as ice formed around it. He hit the opposing Nickit in the Snout before quickly forming a Thunder Punch with his other fist and blowing it away. The dark type struggled back onto its feet, but its trainer recalled it, realizing the battle was lost.

“Damn it!” The girl groaned. She walked up to me and paid two hundred pokedollars, causing me to smile. I had finally done it. I had enough to buy the Thunder Wave TM.

“What could I have done better?” She continued.

I tapped my chin for a few seconds. “Honestly, you could have dealt more damage with Quick Attack instead of trying to use dark type moves. Sure, it would tire out your Nickit faster, but you would have landed more hits.”

“So there was no way I could win?” The girl asked quietly.

“I mean, not in a one-on-one, at least. But you did great, especially since you don’t have a badge. I think overall, you should work on getting your Nickit to use Quick Attack more. Keep at it!” I said, trying to cheer her up.

She nodded and left. Over the last few days, I started gaining in popularity due to all the battling I was doing. I had thought that winning too much would have made trainers reluctant to battle me, but the ones with no badges kept coming back, and it was for a single reason.

I apparently gave good advice.

I was honestly just happy to talk about battling, even though I despised all the attention. Trainers with one badge didn’t want anything to do with me because they saw me as a rival, but some still tried to battle me once in a while. I hadn’t lost once, but some did get pretty close.

Elekid was starting to master Ice Punch, although he couldn’t use it that much yet. I doubted that he would be able to dish it out as many times as Thunder Punch during our gym battle, so I’d have to save the move for attacks I was sure would hit. Right now, he was able to use five of them before they started to get too weak to be worth it.

I smiled as I strode out of the battling arena and hopped on a tram to the nearest Pokemart that would sell TMs. Thunder Wave was a pretty common one, and I was sure it would be in one of the small stores. After around fifteen minutes, I arrived at the store and started perusing the TM aisle. The disks were sold in transparent cases and were coded by type. Electric type moves were yellow, grass type moves were green, and so on. My eyes settled on the Thunder Wave TM, and I groaned.

Thunder Wave - Reusable (25,000)

Silph Co., the company that made TMs, managed to make them reusable a little more than ten years ago, which was a massive boon to trainers. Over the long term, it meant that they spent less money on TMs, but in the short term? They were expensive as hell! Luckily, one of the employees pointed me toward the non-reusable version of Thunder Wave, and I quickly bought the move. I stared at my account and winced. I was completely broke. Reusable TMs were able to be used once, and the move would be stored on your Pokedex forever.

Wasting no time, I grabbed my Pokedex, clicked a small button on its side, and a container with the perfect size for the TM revealed itself. Next, I grabbed Togetic’s Pokeball and placed it in proximity to the device. The screen lit up and asked me if I wanted to teach Thunder Wave to Togetic, and I pressed yes. I wasn’t sure how the process worked exactly, but it was completely wireless and only took seconds, after which the Pokedex told me that it was over. The color from the disk drained. I picked it up and threw it in the store’s TM recycling bin. Silph Co. was able to put new moves on disks and save costs by doing so, so recycling was always encouraged by the company. Not all trainers cared, however, and seeing defunct TMs in trash cans was pretty common.

I quickly made my way back to route 211, which had become my training sanctuary. I released all of my Pokemon, but I’d focus especially on princess today. Even though she technically knew Thunder Wave, she’d still need a lot of practice with it before she could use it properly. I only had three days left until my gym battle, and I knew I was going to cut it close.

——

I nervously stepped into the hotel elevator and pressed the button to the highest floor. I had been training all day today, but I had promised Denzel and Cece to take a break tonight to be well-rested for my gym battle tomorrow. I had done all I could, studied all of her Pokemon and their moves, and trained my team to the best of my ability.

Louis was throwing a party for Denzel and me before our big day, and everybody would be there. Apparently, they had done the same thing before the start of their journey and before their battle with Roark, so it was a little tradition they liked to do. Before stepping into Louis’ apartment, I could already hear the classical music playing behind the door, and muffled voices talking. I wiped my sweaty palms on my pants and took a few deep breaths. This really wasn’t my kind of thing, but he had ordered all of the food, drinks and organized it for us, so it would be rude not to show up.

I knocked on the door, and Emilia opened it, greeting me with a huge grin.

“Grace! Come in, we’ve been waiting for you!” She smiled.

I awkwardly stepped into the huge penthouse and hung my coat on the coathanger. The first thing I noticed was that I was hilariously underdressed. The price of all of their clothes combined probably could have bought out the small TM aisle I had gotten Thunder Wave in. Where had they gotten all of these clothes?! Had they been carrying them the entire time, or did they just buy new clothes every time they were in a different city? I nodded at Denzel. At least he was just like me. We stuck out like two sore thumbs, but at least we’d stick out together. The second thing I noticed was that my eyes couldn’t help but dart toward Cece. She was wearing a tight black dress that made me look places I shouldn’t have been, makeup, and she also wore heels.

Meanwhile, I was here with my jeans, sneakers, and my shirt. I was so lame.

“Sorry I was late, I was doing some finishing touches with Thunder Wave and Ice Punch,” I apologized.

“No talking about Pokemon battling tonight,” Emi said, dragging me toward the massive couch. “Come sit.”

I sat next to Denzel and fiddled with my thumbs. I stared up at Cece, but I looked away in panic when I saw that she was looking at me.

“I feel so out of place,” Denzel whispered, grabbing a piece of sushi. There was a beautifully laid-out sushi plate in the middle of the table. “Thank Arceus you’re here.”

“Let’s just try to have a good time,” I said. “We’ll get used to it.”

“Attention!” Louis said, tapping his glass of champagne with a small spoon. “Now that all of our guests have arrived, I’d like to give a toast.”

We all stared at him in anticipation.

“I’d like to wish good luck to our new friends, Grace, and Denzel in their gym battle tomorrow. We didn’t always get along, but I’m glad you agreed to travel with us. It wouldn’t be the same without you,” The blond man continued.

“I thought we said nothing Pokemon-related,” Emilia complained.

“Well, it is a party to wish them good luck,” Justin said.

“I’d also like to invite all of you to another party the night before all of our gym battles. I’d really appreciate it if you came again,” Louis finished.

“Sure, we’ll come again,” Denzel said. “I mean, this is the best Arceus damned food I’ve ever eaten.”

“Denzel!” I said, bumping his leg. Pauline brought a hand to her mouth and laughed.

“What? It was a joke. Of course, we’ll come because we’re friends.”

Cece stood up and approached me. “Grace, do you want some champagne? You have to toast with something.”

“I don’t know, I’ve never drunk alcohol before,” I said, eyeing Denzel’s drink. Everyone else was drinking, but I didn’t want to. But I couldn’t help but think I was ruining the mood. Underage drinking was illegal, but maybe it was better if I just said yes—

“Don’t drink if you don’t want to,” Cece said. “We have everything.”

I smiled at her. “Do you have some orange soda?”

As the party continued, I slowly felt more and more comfortable. Justin and Emilia were talking about some kind of drama that had enveloped another rich family whose name I couldn’t be bothered to remember, but the owner’s wife was divorcing him after discovering that he was cheating and she wanted to take half of everything he owned. Louis, Denzel, and Pauline were off playing pool, and Pauline kept complaining about her ‘shit luck’, since she was losing over and over. Denzel was giving Louis a run for his money considering it was his first time playing the sport. I personally wasn’t too interested in it, but I occasionally threw in a word or two.

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“What the fuck was that curve?” Pauline groaned. “Is this chalk sabotaged?!”

“I think it might just be a skill issue,” I yelled out so she could hear.

“You’re not even watching the game! I’d like to see you play!” She huffed.

“Fine,” I answered, rising to her challenge. I walked up to the pool table with Cece and looked at the state of the game. There were five balls left. “Someone give me their stick.”

“Here you go,” Denzel said. “Break a leg.”

I bent down and awkwardly aimed at one of the balls.

“Grace, that’s not even the right ball,” Pauline said with an evil grin. “I knew you were all talk.”

“What? I thought you could hit anything you wanted.”

“You’re supposed to hit the white ball to aim toward the others. Usually, a player is stuck with either the striped balls or the solid balls, but we’re just playing for fun, so aim for anything,” Louis explained.

I coughed. “Well, I obviously knew that, I was just testing you all, and you passed.”

“If that’s what helps you sleep at night,” Pauline said. “Just get going. This is going to be good.”

I bent down again, this time in front of the white ball, and took aim. After adjusting the stick for a few seconds, I slammed it forward. The white ball hit the black one with an eight on it, causing it to bounce all around the table until it slowly rolled into one of the holes.

“I did it! That was entirely planned! Cece, did you see that?!” I squealed, jumping around.

Denzel doubled over and laughed. “That… that was the wrong ball. The eight ball is supposed to be saved for last.”

Pauline sniggered. “What a shot! So much for all that talk, Grace.”

“Well, at least I got it in the hole,” I crossed my arms.

“In a completely random manner! You weren’t even aiming for anything.”

“I think Grace was aiming for that hole,” Cece sprung up. “She shot the ball with an amount of determination only someone who knew what they were doing would have.”

“See?” I grinned. “Cece agrees with me,” I said, handing Denzel his stick back.

“Only because she likes you,” Pauline said, rolling her eyes.

I felt my face heat up and stared at the ground for a few seconds. “Um, yeah, I mean, we’re friends.”

“G—great friends, even,” Cece added. “I need to go to the bathroom.”

“Sure, go ahead,” I said.

I hung out with Denzel, Pauline, and Louis while I waited for Cecilia to come back. No matter how hard she tried, Pauline couldn’t win a single game, which I felt delighted at. I was starting to worry a little at how long Cece was taking, but she finally came back, and we headed back to the living room.

“Ah, you guys are back,” Emi said.

“I see you’ve taken a liking to irritating Pauline,” Justin smiled.

“I mean, we’re having fun,” I answered. “We both know it’s not serious.”

“Oh, I know,” He quickly answered, waving his hand. “I just meant that not many had the energy to keep up with her as much as you do. I’d be willing to bet she secretly enjoys it.”

“Pauline’s got a hidden soft side that none of you have ever seen,” Emilia said. “She can be so cute when she tries.”

“I’d pay anything to see that,” Cece said. “I just can’t imagine it.”

“Yeah, and she gets real cuddly too, but she only does that with me or her mom—”

“Emi! My bullshit sensor’s tingling!” We heard Pauline yell.

“How did she even hear that?” I whispered.

“I think she was just born with a built-in ‘anti-Pauline’ sensor,” Cece chuckled.

“Helps her fight anyone that goes against her tough girl narrative,” Emi nodded. “Anyway, on a more serious note… I’m glad everyone’s giving her a chance.”

“What do you mean?” I asked.

“Pauline is a tough girl,” Emilia started. “But she’s so… passionate—”

“That’s being generous,” Justin interrupted.

“Passionate,” Emi said again. “That people tend to give up on her before having the chance to learn more about her. She only had me as a friend before this, but I can tell she’s happier now.”

Cecilia nodded. “She’s been good to all of us, all things considered.”

“Yeah,” I said. “I’m glad we met.”

At around one in the morning, the party was starting to end. Justin and Louis were asleep on the couch in hilariously terrible positions. They’d be sore tomorrow for sure. Denzel and Pauline were talking quietly in the corner of one of the rooms, seemingly having ignited a deeper friendship during the party. Emi had been put to bed by Pauline since she had drunk too much.

“I’m gonna head out,” I told Cece. “This was a lot of fun, I’ll definitely come back when you do this again.”

“Oh, you’re leaving?” Cece said. “Can’t you stay a little longer?”

“I mean, my gym battle’s in the evening, so I guess I could…” I trailed off.

The conversation paused for a few seconds.

“I have another idea. Why don’t we both leave? You… you can sleep in my room, it’s dangerous for you to be walking alone so late at night.”

Huh?

My heart instantly started to pound against my chest. “In your room? You mean the guest room?”

“I mean, if you want to sleep in the guest room, that’s okay.”

Another pause.

“But you can also sleep in my bed if you want!” She said quickly. “I mean, we’re friends, right? Emilia and Pauline do it all the time.”

I swallowed. “Y—yeah. I mean, it’s no biggie. No big deal. Yep, it’s totally fine.”

We bid Denzel and Pauline farewell before leaving, and he kept giving me that smug stare. Nothing was going to happen. Cece was just giving me a place to stay the night, and that was it. We quickly arrived at her apartment since it was on the same floor, and I took off my shoes.

“Make yourself at home, you’ve already been here,” Cece said, taking off her heels.

“Thanks,” I shakily said. “I have nothing on me though. My toothbrush—”

“I have a spare few, don’t worry.”

“I don’t have any clothes.”

“Ah. Of course, you wouldn’t have any,” Cece quietly said as she turned away from me. “I can give you some of mine. I lent you my hoodie back in Floaroma, so it wouldn’t be breaking any… precedent.”

“Right,” I said. “I’ll probably wake you up early, I hope that’s fine?”

“You know I wake up early anyways,” She dismissed.

I nodded and went into her giant bathroom. The last time I had been this nervous was during my battle with Roark, and I was about to collapse in on myself like a black hole. I brushed my teeth and asked Cece for her clothes. She came into the bathroom already in her pajamas and gave me some silk pajamas that were definitely too big for me, but they’d do.

“Um, you can go,” I said meekly.

Her eyes widened. “Right, I’m sorry!” Cece yelled before storming out.

I definitely looked silly in these, but all I could do was hope she wouldn’t notice. I left the bathroom and my stare lingered as she went in.

“Just wait for me in the bed,” She said.

I made my way to her bedroom and gasped at the size of her bed. You could probably fit at least ten of me in there and we’d still be able to sleep comfortably. I felt at the soft mattress before hopping into the bed, practically sinking into the material. It was as if I was floating on water, and I had to focus in order to not doze off. After around ten minutes, Cece showed up and climbed onto the bed.

“Well, uh, I guess good night?” I tentatively said, my heart still pounding against my chest. “Lots of space on this bed.”

Cecilia ignored my comment and settled in right behind me.

“Good night, Grace,” Cece softly said before turning off the lights. “Try to sleep well.”

“I’ll try,” I said.

I didn’t have any nightmares that night. When I woke up, it was around 10 am, and Cece was surprisingly still there.

——

“Gloom, Poison Power, Stun Spore, Mega Drain, Grassy Terrain, Acid, Leech Seed, Bullet Seed, Sunny Day. Grotle, Bulldoze, Strength…”

My leg bounced as I sat in Eterna city gym’s waiting room, and I was reciting Gardenia’s Pokemon and their moves to distract myself. I had practiced for the entire week for this very moment. I had to win. No, I was going to. Nervousness enveloped my entire body when a trainer entered the room with her head hung low. She had just lost, and now it was going to be my turn right after Gardenia’s small break. It was the same anxiety that had taken a hold of me during my battle with Roark. The bright lights, the crowd, and the stakes of the battle all weighed on me like a vice, but the nervousness also kept me sharp.

And I needed to be sharp if I was going to win. I needed to think faster than ever before not to fall behind Gardenia’s flow.

“Grace Pastel, you’re up,” The gym trainer said.

I nodded and got up, and he fitted me with a small microphone.

“There you go, you’re all ready. Good luck!”

“Thank you,” I said, my throat dry.

I stepped out onto the battlefield and on the elevated platform trainers stood on during the battle. Gardenia’s battlefield was simple enough compared to Roark's. It was just a flat plain full of grass, along with a small lake on the left side close to the challenger. There were no trees, no obstacles to hide behind.

Perfect for Gardenia’s long-ranged attacks.

I clenched my jaw to stop my teeth from chattering, and I clenched my fists around my jeans. The crowd was already deafening, and it was way bigger than it had been for my battle with Roark. All of my friends were sitting in the stands somewhere, watching me. I licked my dry lips, closed my eyes, and took a few deep breaths.

It’s just you, Grace. Just you and Gardenia. Ignore the noise. Focus.

“Welcome, challenger,” Gardenia said with a smooth voice. “This will be a four-on-four battle with two switch-ins allowed. I reserve the right to use any Pokemon in my arsenal that I deem fit, and killing any Pokemon will get you disqualified from the League Circuit. Now, send out your Pokemon.”

I exhaled one last time and unclipped my first Pokeball from my belt.