CHAPTER 69

I watched in awe as Cecilia’s battle came to an end. I didn’t know the kind of training she underwent, but the amount of progress she had made since Eterna forest was easy to see. Not only had she just beaten Gardenia three-on-four, but she also beat her Breloom with a type disadvantage. Fletchinder and Slowpoke had been amazing, but Deino was just a monster. The dragon’s scales were too hard for the fighting type to defeat him easily. I smiled as we exited the stands. I wanted to get to her level so badly, and seeing this made me want to push myself even harder after my break. Surprisingly, during her battle, I didn’t try to think about what I would do if I were her, or guess what Gardenia would do next.

I found myself workshopping a battle strategy against Cecilia herself. Here’s what I had found out. At this stage, since she knew about my team and I wouldn’t be starting with the informational advantage, I would just lose. Probably even worse than what had happened at the Floaroma tournament.

Togetic should be able to deal with Deino, but Cece would have no reason to let that matchup happen. Until Elekid knew Shock Wave, hitting Fletchinder with anything was a pipe dream. Slowpoke would be the easiest one to deal with right now, but he was no pushover either, and I didn’t know enough about Scyther to form an opinion yet.

Cecilia greeted us in the lobby with a confident smile that made my knees buckle. Arceus, she was so attractive when she was like this.

“You were awesome,” I spoke up immediately. “Congratulations.”

“Thank you, that means a lot to me,” Cece answered.

“You control your dragon much better than some,” Pauline said.

“I would have won just as easily if Gible had listened…” Louis moped.

“That’s what I was implying,” She rolled her eyes before staring at her Poketch. “We have five hours to kill until Justin’s battle. What should we do?”

“I’m going to get my Pokemon to a Center,” Louis sighed.

“Let me come with you, actually,” I said, much to the group’s surprise. “What? Can’t hang out with my friend?”

“No, I just wasn’t expecting that,” Emilia said. “I’m just going to relax until my battle. I can’t be bothered to do some last-minute studying.”

“Pauline and I will stick around to better ready ourselves,” Justin said.

“What he said,” The redhead nodded.

“Cecilia and I can keep you company, Emilia,” Denzel said. “If you don’t mind?”

The girl smiled. “Not at all. Let’s meet here thirty minutes early. The stands are going to be packed again.”

“Sure,” I said. “Louis?”

He nodded.

The group split, and Louis and I started walking toward the nearest Pokemon Center. He was down in the dumps, and it was hard not to pity the man. That win had been humiliating, and his reputation likely wouldn’t recover for a while, or at least until he proved that he could control Gible in his next gym battle or tournament. I didn’t really care about all of that. What I cared about was making sure Louis didn’t get himself killed. Gible was growing stronger and stronger, which meant his behavior was becoming worse as time went on. If the dragon evolved with their relationship still like this? I had no doubt in my mind that he would try to kill Louis, and if it evolved before Deino did, none of us would be able to stop it. I had princess, but her Fairy Wind would be too weak to take down an evolved dragon type.

Louis handed his team to the Center, warning them about Gible. He was about to leave when I stopped him and pointed toward one of the chairs.

“Let’s talk,” I said, sitting down. “Come on.”

“Can’t this wait until we get back to the hotel?” He said.

“No, come on, it’ll be easier if we do it here. Being in a Center and seeing all these trainers come and go makes me feel more grounded, like I’m a part of something bigger than myself. What about you?”

I was hoping that it would at least tone down his ego a little bit.

“Nothing in particular,” He sighed. “Perhaps it makes me feel thankful for modern Pokemon medicine.”

“Eh, good enough,” I said, putting my head against the palm of my hand. “Are you going to sit or not?”

“Fine,” Louis said. “What’s the issue?”

“The issue is that we need to start figuring out how to make Gible more amenable,” I started. “It’s one thing having the best Pokemon money can get you, but you still have to be a good trainer. You know it deep down, don’t you? You won’t win your third badge if this keeps going.”

Stolen content warning: this tale belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences elsewhere.

“I’ve been trying everything I can—”

“You haven’t,” I interrupted. “When was the last time you tried having a conversation with Gible instead of just trying to order it around over and over?”

The boy paused before answering. “I haven’t, but he’d… he’d attack me if I did. Gible doesn’t like talking, he only wants to fight. As long as I’m giving him opponents to fight against, he won’t mind being my Pokemon.”

“He still needs to listen to you somewhat,” I said. “You could do it like Cece and ask for our help, Louis. Although if I were you, I definitely would not attack him. It would ruin things further. Maybe just restrain him with our psychics if he tries to attack you. Even Togetic can help out with Extrasensory. We’re all your friends, but you never ask for anything. Lean on us for a bit, it won’t kill you.”

“If I do that, I won’t be my own man,” He said, his face downcast. “I already rely on my father too much. I've apparently fallen behind Cece. If I can’t even do this on my own, then what’s the point?”

I sighed internally, cursing at the fact that all of my friends apparently had a terrible relationship with their parents.

“You’re not weak for relying on others, Louis. Denzel taught me that a while ago.”

“Look, I appreciate your help, I really do,” He said. “But I won’t change my mind. I need to do this alone.”

Damn it! I thought. Talking it out usually always worked out for me.

I sighed. “Tell me you’ll at least consider talking to Gible.”

“I’ll think about it,” He answered with a sad smile. “Now, let’s go home. All that battling tired me out.”

I nodded, sad that I hadn’t changed his mind, but happy that I had at least gotten him to think about changing things up. As we walked back to the hotel, I was lost in thought. At the heart of every trainer’s Pokemon was a desire for something. They were fully sapient beings with their own likes, dislikes, and goals. The goals didn’t have to be grandiose. In fact, they could be quite simple. Togetic wanted to stay with me because she saw me as her mother, Elekid wanted to get as strong as possible as fast as he could and to have a good time in general. Frillish had taken me a while to figure out, but I knew that he wanted to protect all of us from harm. For Tangela, I wasn't too sure yet, but he probably wanted to experience touching new things.

The key to Louis’ problem, and by extension, Cece’s problem with Scyther, was to find what each Pokemon wanted to achieve and to try to compromise or change their mind. For example, Frillish had turned from a murderous sea ghost to a reluctant part of the group, and finally to a loving, protective member of the team. Goals weren’t static, they were fluid. They changed with time and different experiences. According to what Cece had told me back in Floaroma, dragon types tended to value strength above everything. They wanted to fight hard, difficult battles to push themselves to their final evolutions, and Gible’s behavior aligned with that goal. Louis just had to convince him that he was the one that would make Gible achieve that goal.

A task that would be easier said than done.

——

When we got back home, I readied myself to tell the truth to Cece. To tell her that I liked girls, and if that made her uncomfortable, we could stop being too close, but when the time came, and I saw her, I froze up. The words wouldn’t come out of my mouth, and I ended up not saying anything at all. I groaned as I sat on the couch. I felt like shit, and no matter how much I tried to convince myself that I would do it soon, I knew I would keep putting it off if I kept going on like this.

My mind wandered to Pokemon battles again. They had become my escape at this point. Thinking about my passion was way better than thinking about relationship problems and if letting a straight girl unknowingly cuddle with a gay one was a problem. Unfortunately for me, I couldn’t help but worry, still. The next three battles were the ones I doubted the most, although I didn’t tell my friends that. With Denzel, Louis, and Cece, I was sure at the bottom of my heart that they would pull out a win. But the others?

Pauline was a good battler— much better than Louis— who enjoyed being a trainer, but she only had two Pokemon, and I didn’t know if she would be able to push past that disadvantage. I could only hope she had worked something out. Justin had the strategy I had given him, but I feared he wouldn’t be able to adapt if it went sideways and Gardenia saw through it. Plus, Growlithe and Sandile would be able to pull their weight, but he hadn’t trained as much as I would have with his Lotad, who was weaker than the other members of his team, which would probably be an issue. Still, I at least believed that they could win if they were on top of their game.

Emilia, though? The girl’s disinterest in Pokemon battles was coming back to bite her. When we had first gotten to Eterna city, I believed that she would train just as hard as the others and I did, but she just… didn’t. Even Justin, who disliked battling trained hard to make sure he would win the battle, but she just wasn’t motivated to do anything training related. Beldum was still a very strong Pokemon, but her other team members had no doubt fallen behind, even with the vitamins, and Gardenia was the type of gym leader that would punish you heavily for relying on only one Pokemon.

I was starting to understand a bit more about Pokemon training now. It didn’t really matter how rich your parents were and what Pokemon and supplements they bought you. If you weren’t willing to put in the work, you would still end up losing eventually. Even if Emilia somehow pulled through and won against Gardenia, if she didn’t change fast, she would never win against Fantina, who was the third gym leader on our radar.

To be honest, I was considering only battling Fantina once and then moving on to Maylene. She was the oldest gym leader in the region, and her ghost types’ illusions made her almost impossible to beat for newer trainers, and I didn’t think it would be any different for me. Maylene was the newest gym leader, and she’d be a lot easier to defeat, but I doubted Emilia would beat her either.

Still, those were thoughts for the future, and I would have to bring it up to the group eventually, but maybe if Emilia lost, it would be better to just skip Gardenia for now and move on with us. Gardenia was notoriously hard to beat right after you lost to her once, so it would be better to let a few months pass until she had battled so many trainers she forgot about you.

Or maybe I was just being selfish about not wanting to waste time in Eterna too long. I sighed and sunk deeper into the couch. So many thoughts and ideas, and so few easy answers.

——

I waited in trepidation as Gardenia’s current battle ended— in another surprising draw. Draws were pretty rare in Pokemon battles, so to see another one so soon was something. I lazily clapped at the trainer’s victory and waited for Justin’s turn. He was already waiting in the lobby, and even though he was hiding it well, he was incredibly nervous. The thin teenager finally stepped onto the trainer platform, wearing the Pherzen logo— a ‘P’ with a red and white pill inside of the letter— on a slick, white shirt. He ran a hand through his brown hair and grabbed a Pokeball before Gardenia even finished enunciating the rules of the battle, which was one of her usual three-on-three with two switch-ins allowed.

Justin immediately released his Lotad and straightened his back.