CHAPTER 8

We waited a few hours for Togepi and Eevee to heal, and I used the opportunity to call dad to tell him I was back in Sandgem and that I’d be back in Jubilife soon. I also introduced him to Denzel and said that we’d be traveling together, and he seemingly did not approve. I got embarrassed because I knew exactly why, and I hung up on him before he could run his mouth. Just because we were the opposite sex didn’t mean we couldn’t just be friends.

Anyway, after getting Togepi back, I had one more thing to do before getting back on the road. Denzel was curious, so he came with me to observe. We made our way to the beach, then I rolled back my sleeves, took off my shoes, and dove into the water.

“What in the world are you doing?” He asked me.

“How haven’t you figured it out? I’m trying to bait a Pokemon to attack little old me,” I said. In reality, I was more scared than I let on. We were on the non-public side of the beach, which meant wild Pokemon would be there.

“You should have bought a fishing rod or something. Is this even deep enough?”

“Doesn’t hurt to try, right? You should probably do it too. We’re going to challenge Roark first, right? But we don’t have anything good against rock types. I’m just trying to remedy that.”

“I have a specific team in mind I’m trying to build, and the water type I want wouldn’t be here. But knock yourself out, I guess. All you’ll get is a Magikarp, probably.”

“I’d take a Magikarp. Who wouldn’t want a Gyarados?” I said, as I continued wading through the water.

“According to some stats I found online, only 5% of all Magikarp owners actually manage to evolve them.”

“Why? Does it take some super rare stone or something?” I asked.

“The exact method isn’t known, but it just takes a lot of time. And by time, I mean years, where all you have on your team is a Magikarp that can’t fight.”

“Okay, that does sound awful,” I agreed. “But all I’m saying is that Gyarados are really—”

I felt a shiver run down my spine. Something cold touched my leg and I felt tired. Denzel noticed, jumped into the water, and dragged me out. I could barely keep my eyes open, but I saw a blue pokemon with five tentacles, shining red eyes and some kind of light blue collar around its neck. I grabbed my Pokedex and scanned it.

Frillish, the floating Pokemon. It wraps its veillike arms and legs around prey swimming by, uses its ghostly powers to tire them out, and drags them down to the depths of the ocean.

Type: Water, Ghost

I’d only be able to see its moves and ability if I managed to capture it. It hovered over the water and began to approach us. I saw Denzel grab his Pokeball, but I stopped him. This was my fight. I released Togepi.

“Sorry about this,” I told her. “I know you just got healed, but I need you for this fight.”

“Prri!” She said, determined to help me.

You’re too nice to me, I thought.

The Frillish’s eyes shone brighter as it yelled and launched a stream of bubble toward Togepi.

Was that bubble? No, it’s too fast, it’s—

“Togepi, roll out of the way, then stop!”

The Bubblebeam attack pounded the ground and threw a good amount of sand all over me. Our opponent kept throwing out bubble attacks while I was trying to find a way to bait it toward Togepi so I could deal damage to it.

An idea formed in my head. I got back into the water and watched it smile gleefully as it floated toward me. It attacked me with another Bubblebeam, but I dove underwater, avoiding the attack by the skin of my teeth. I slowly made my way toward Togepi and waved my arms to keep the Frillish’s attention.

As soon as it got close enough, I dove to the side.

“Use Sweet Kiss, Togepi!”

The heart barely avoided me and confused the Frillish, who moved haphazardly. It began hovering over the sand, and now I knew I had it.

“Headbutt it!”

“Prrri!”

Togepi jumped and hit the Frillish as fast as she could. The Pokemon fell to the ground onto the shining sand, and I threw an empty ball at it.

“Get closer and prepare to Sweet Kiss and Headbutt again if it breaks out,” I warned.

The Pokeball shook once, twice, and finally, three times. I laughed in disbelief. I had caught my first Pokemon!

——

Moves: Bubblebeam, Night Shade, Absorb, Water Sport.

Ability: Water Absorb

As we waited in the Center, I was giddy when I saw my new team member’s moves. This was a perfect moveset for my future battle against Roark, and it would seriously add to my long range offensive abilities. Denzel had berated me for using myself as a distraction to trick the Frillish, but it had been worth it. I felt like I was making real progress now.

We finally made our way back to route 202, and that meant I had to start getting familiar with Frillish before we reached Jubilife. Trainers were obligated to have their Pokemon under control if they wanted to release them in cities— and even then, some Pokemon were considered too dangerous. Regardless, I released Frillish from his ball, and he started attacking us right away. A ghostly replica appeared in front of him and rushed toward me. I managed to recall him just in time for the attack to dissipate before hitting me.

“That was Night Shade,” I said with a shaky voice. “I wasn’t expecting it to hate me that much.”

“It always depends on the Pokemon. Sometimes, they’ll warm up to you real quick, like my Eevee. Other times, well… they try to kill you repeatedly.” Denzel explained.

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“Let’s try again.”

After releasing Togepi just in case, I freed my new teammate from his ball again, this time at a distance.

“Frillish! I’m sorry I tricked you and caught you, but I really need your help. We can be friends—”

A stream of bubbles exploded where I stood just a second ago. I cursed under my breath and continued.

“Ok. I get it; not friends. I still want us to be a team.” I pointed to Togepi. “She’s my Pokemon, just like you now—”

His eyes shone, and he flew toward me. I returned him again.

“Okay, ownership seems to be a no-no,” I said.

“It didn’t attack you right away this time,” Denzel pointed out. “That’s progress.”

I nodded and released Frillish.

“Alright, I’m sorry. I think I know what the problem is. I still want you to help me on my journey, but I won’t force you to do anything. If you don’t want to do something, I won’t make you. That’s already how I treat Togepi, but I guess the wording I used confused you,” I said. I spoke slowly, and methodically, expecting to get attacked at any moment. The attack never came. “I won’t force you to battle or train if you don’t want to. But I’ll keep you fed and healthy, and maybe if you change your mind one day, we can be partners.”

Frillish paused and nodded slowly. I did the same.

“So, uh— do you want to stay out? Or I can return you to your ball,” I asked hesitantly.

Frilish bobbed his head and gestured toward the ball, and I obliged. Denzel breathed a huge sigh of relief.

“That was impressive. I thought it’d take much longer for you to convince it,” He said.

“Him,” I clarified. “But you’re right, I’m also surprised. I was winging it the entire time. I honestly thought I’d take a Bubblebeam to the face at some point and that we’d have to rush me to the Center.”

“And yet you still tried.”

“No risk, no reward.”

We resumed our journey, battling a few trainers and wild Pokemon along the way. Denzel did most of the fighting, and for every battle, I had Frillish out to observe how Togepi and I fought. He didn’t look interested, often drifting off in the wind and looking somewhere else. Either way, I was happy he wasn’t attacking me anymore, but I couldn’t help but watch my back every time he was out. Something about his eyes disturbed me. They were both carefree and intense at the same time somehow, and I couldn’t help but break eye contact every time I talked to him, something I’d have to fix if I wanted to gain his respect. Frillish seemed not to hate Togepi as much as me, however, and I’d seen them talk a few times. I wish I knew about what.

We took the long road around the woods I had found Scyther in. Denzel was interested in going in and trying to fight, but I dissuaded him. Scyther were ruthless predators, and extremely quick. If it decided to come after us instead of our Pokemon, it would be impossible to dodge. Eventually, however, we finally made it back to Jubilife.

I took a deep breath, smelling the city air. “Home sweet home,” I said.

Denzel was speechless. This was his first time in a city, and considering it was the biggest one in Sinnoh and home to hundreds of thousands, it must have been a big culture shock. We stopped by one of the Centers to heal our Pokemon and shower, and then we grabbed a bite in a restaurant close by.

“So what now?” I asked, shoving a handful of fries in my mouth. “Every Center is packed. You’ll have to wait to get a room.”

“I can buy a few nights at a hotel with League money, it’s not a problem.”

I pointed a fry toward him. “You’re weird. You never ask for any help. Is it, like, an independence thing?”

He laughed and took a sip of his drink. “So straightforward. No, I just don’t want to intrude in your house when it’s not necessary.”

“What if I told you I didn’t have a problem with it,” I said.

“I know you wouldn’t, but your dad?”

“Eh, my dad will come around. He’s a big softie.”

“If you say so… but if he gets mad at you, I hold no responsibility. Thank you, though, I really appreciate it.”

“Gotcha. Our couch can turn into a bed, so you should be fine.”

After we finished up our meal, Denzel decided to go and buy a Poketch. He bought an older model to save money, and then we took a bus ride home for free— another benefit of being a League trainer. We reached my apartment, and I showed him around. It’d be a while before my dad came back. I wanted to show Frillish around too, but I was scared he’d make a mess since he wasn’t used to… civilization.

“It’s pretty small, but it looks cozy,” Denzel commented. “Can I let Eevee out?”

I nodded and also let Togepi out, who was ecstatic to be back home.

“Shouldn’t we let your dad know about this before he comes back from work?” He asked.

“I’ll call him. I just need to change into my PJs first. Oh, crap, are you alright with your clothes, by the way?”

Trainers usually traveled with clothes that were fit for living in the wild, not cities. That meant that he wouldn’t have something comfortable to sleep with.

“Don’t worry about it, you’ve done enough. Sleeping with normal clothes won’t kill me.”

I left him in the living room and changed in my bedroom, putting on shorts and one of dad’s t-shirts that were way too big for me that I had stolen. I let my hair down, placed Frillish’s ball on my desk, and called my dad.

“Grace? I’m a little busy at the moment, so make it quick if possible,” He said.

“Hey dad. Remember how I told you I was going to travel with my friend for the Circuit? Denzel from Twinleaf?”

“Yeah?”

“Great! Well, we’re back in Jubilife, and since all the Centers are full, I decided to let him stay with us until the start of the Circuit—”

“Excuse me?” He interrupted, incredulous.

“He’s actually already here, and it’d be really rude to kick him out—”

“So I have no say in this?”

“You owe me for delivering Herdier’s Vitamins and reconciling with mom, and I’m cashing in the favor now.”

“No, we should talk about this—”

“Hello? Dad? You’re breaking up.”

“Grace, don’t you dare—”

“Okaythankyoubye—”

I hung up. That could have gone better, but he’d come around. Denzel and I spent the rest of the day watching television and browsing the Circuit forums. We created profiles and verified our accounts using our trainer cards. I didn’t want to post anything, preferring to just lurk on the forums and observe the different posts and comments. Meanwhile, Denzel started commenting under a lot of posts. According to him, it was to start getting his name out there.

“Being a good trainer is half the work,” He said before pausing. “Alright, that sounded wrong. Let’s say it’s two-thirds of the work. But you also have to build connections, and not only with other trainers. Sometimes, rich people use the forums and bet on who’s getting the furthest that year, or they even sponsor you and pay for a lot of your expenses.”

“Holy crap, really? You’re not pulling my leg, are you?”

“No, I swear. Oh, speaking of sponsorships, look,” He said, showing me his brand-new Poketch. “Cecilia Obel is sponsored by a bunch of big names. The Bianchi family, Tanaka Ikeda, and Carla White.”

“I have no idea who any of those people are,” I said with a blank expression.

“And I’m the one from the middle of nowhere,” Denzel joked.

“I don’t care anyway. I’m going to become the Champion without any help from these bigwigs. Plus, I feel like we talk about this Obel girl too much.”

Never mind that I was probably more intrigued with her than I wanted to be, I thought.

We kept hanging out for the rest of the day, and then dad came back.