"alright, this'll be easy, just try to coat it around yourself for as long as you could okay?" I explained to the ball of sludge on my feet. It had been a week since I captured him and he has been growing considerably well. And if his height of 1.6 feet and width of two is to go by, the little guy is a little bit larger compared to the other Grimers of the same age, which I found out is only a month and one week. He was newly hatched when I caught him on the beach and despite that, he was already able to put up a good fight against some of the Pokemon in my school.

not all of our battles were wins, of course, some were losses, especially when we fought against agile flying types that didn't just spam psychic attacks - something that had been made clear my Grimer was immune against on the first day he battled - and dished out physical attacks instead. It didn't help that said flying types are part normal, making them immune to Grimer's shadow sneak; A priority move that I have learned to abuse against anyone who isn't immune to it.

and after around the 8th loss against a Spearrow, I decided that the best thing that I can do to help him win (or at least protect) against those types of attacks was to make him use a move that punishes anyone who gets close to him and after a while of thinking, I decided to just make Grimer coat himself in his own poison gas.

When I told him about it, he said that he didn't really mind losing but would still learn the move. He had put in a lot of effort ever since the training started two days ago and enough progress has been made that the technique became a move of its own.

Grimer aside, the past week had been quiet as well, with Whitney nowhere to be seen thanks to both of our classes' schedules along with our age difference. I do think that she's going to meet with me later on though since today should be a time when we can hang out without any problems. If last week could be based on at least.

In the meantime, Vhira, and even Klaus had hung out with me from time to time during our recess with Vhira asking me questions about Grimer such as his diet, his moves, and even his sleeping schedule. Klaus just wanted to ask me if I could battle against him and I happily agreed, taking it as an opportunity for Grimer to train.

and Klaus had managed to do well in those battles. As much as it surprises me, the guy no longer spammed psychic and instead threw down a lot of flying and normal moves, clearly imitating the other flying type matchups Grimer lost against. Fighting him let me experience how to control the air with Grimer too and after repeatedly using poison gas to counter his Hoothoot, the move had gotten stronger.

"Grimer?" the sludge said, an eyebrow-raising itself in confusion.

"it's a good form of defense," I nodded at him and he nodded slowly in return. "and if you can keep it up for as long as you could, then those flying types will start thinking twice before dive bombing at you with a peck."

his raised eyebrow told me that he wasn't interested but I pushed on,

"just try it!" I encouraged,

and so he did, breathing out a noxious gas that quickly dissolved into nothingness. He slumped, "come on!" I pat him on the head, "it's fine! no one gets it perfect the first few times you know?"

I heard a snicker behind me followed by a purr.

"laugh it off! you'll see it when Grimer won't get touched by physical attackers because they're afraid of getting poisoned!" I gave Grimer another pat on the head, "don't get discouraged bud, you'll get it soon enough." he nodded and I took that as a cue to walk away, "alright, let's try that again but this time, don't fire the move and just let it seep out of your mouth," he gave me a single nod, "alright,- poison mist!"

Grimer opened his mouth and I saw a small flicker of something purple light up inside of his throat followed by a thick plume of toxic smoke. As instructed, he didn't fire it off and just let it flow out. After a few seconds, the smoke started to weaken, and eventually, no more came out of his mouth.

it was a bit longer but I could feel that the amount of gas that came out was the same as the move it was based on. I didn't let the disappointment show on my face and smiled as he looked at me expectantly. I gave him a thumbs up, "good job!"

"Grimer!" he waddled,

"Alright, let's try that again a few more times and see how long you can keep it up before it starts to go away." he nodded and opened his mouth, "make sure to build as much of the smoke as possible and after that, let's see if you can keep a stream of it going."

For a little while, Grimer did as he was told and with each consecutive Poison Mist, the smoke became thicker and the amount that seeped out of his mouth started to slowly get larger. It had gotten to the point that around an hour in, the smoke that I could smell the smoke he was making from where I was standing and even Persian started to cover his nose, growling all the while. He couldn't keep it up for long, of course, but progress was being made.

I clapped my hands, grabbing the toxic slime's attention, "alright! good job let's take a break for the time being and eat yeah?"

at the call of food, Grimer excitedly crawled over with a dopey smile on his face that got even larger when he was handed a bowl of his usual meal. I made sure to increase the amount of poisonous stuff in his food ever since I thought about the move we were training for two days ago and the little ball of toxic sludge had certainly started enjoying his food more and more. The increase in his appetite made me wonder just what does poison taste like to poison types but I'm pretty sure asking them would probably be the same as telling a blind person what blue looks like.

"you too," I gave Persian his bowl, "thanks for accompanying us," he gave me a purr, "of course, of course, you worry about the amount of food you're getting." I rolled my eyes and gave him a grin, "but I'm pretty sure Dad wouldn't take it out on you," he purred again in thanks.

as the two Pokemon ate, especially Grimer, I looked around the spot we were on for any signs of any wild Pokemon. If you knew where to look, Route 34 is relatively peaceful in terms of encounters but even then, you can't exactly trust a route to be wild Pokemon free and just walk around the place as if you aren't under constant danger.

But, for all that it's dangerous, the route was also quite nice. It was peaceful here and thanks to being directly next to the ocean and Ilex forest, the air that blew around the place was cold even during the hot days of summer. In fact, this route is actually quite popular during that time with the place being in constant patrol by rangers thanks to the number of people going over here to do picnics with their loved ones. It was also, of course, a popular spot for couples.

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

save for a few groups of trees placed here and there, Route 35 was mainly grassland with ponds and small lakes scattered around the place. It was in the banks of one of these lakes that the three of us took our spot for Grimer's training. "once you're done go back to the center of the clearing and we'll continue your new move bud," I patted Grimer and got a soft grunt in reply.

"next time try to keep it up for as long as you could," I moved away and opened up my bag, pulling out a still warm sandwich, and started eating. Biting into it felt as if it had just been freshly cooked and I shook my head in amazement at what I considered an expensive lunchbox, "yep, spending my winnings on this thing was worth it,"

after the meal we took a bit of a rest but when we were done? Grimer got back to work eagerly and was pushing out much more powerful poison gasses than before. He was able to hold them out long enough for him to coat himself in poison mist but we quickly found out that pushing it for more than ten seconds made him tired enough that he couldn't use any other move.

"Grimer?" he turned to me after the third consecutive Poison Mist. Just like the last two times, he was asking for a break so I gave him a nod and he went off under the shade of a nearby tree to rest.

"he can only do it once..." I gave the sludge ball a soft look as he closed his eyes, drifting off to sleep almost immediately after going underneath the tree.

Persian gave Grimer a concerned look, "Persian?"

I patted the large cat on the head, "yeah, maybe but I don't know how strong the move will be if Grimer tones it down," I heard a pur and frowned, "yep, maybe a bit of fine tuning on just how much power will do the trick," he purred again and I smiled, "yeah but I'm pretty sure the pokemon around here are used to us attacking them out of the blue already." I heard a chuckle and couldn't help it, I also chuckled myself.

...

"grimer! power up punch now!" my pokemon loudly called out his name as his fist started to glow white, his enemy for the day, a sandshrew, charged at him without any care as he followed his trainer's command to use slash,- Grimer's fist struck and I saw the yellow ball's eyes go wide for a brief moment before he flew to the other side of the battlefield.

Grimer called out his name as he glared at the downed sandshrew, calling it out for a challenge. It didn't go unnoticed as the sandshrew started to get up and met the sludge ball's eyes, he glared back defiantly as his trainer called out another command, "sandshrew! use dig!"

"use shadow sneak and attack him before he can start digging!" I countered, "then use poison gas point blank!"

"grimer!" was the last thing my pokemon said before his body turned black and melted. He was gone from where he was and in the blink of an eye, he manifested on sandshrew's shadow before striking him with a blackened hand. Sandshrew looked like he wasn't even damaged and continued to dig.

Following his attack, purple smoke puffed out of my pokemon's mouth but before he could fully use the move, Sandshrew was already gone.

My opponent's eyes narrowed, "alright! attack grimer and then follow it up with slash!"

"use poison Mist! then brace yourself for Sandshrew's attack!" grimer nodded and used his new move, filling his surroundings with caustic, purple smoke.

his trainer tried to command him to go away but Sandshrew already popped out of the ground and gave Grimer a slash, inhaling most of the mist before proceeding to stumble backward. His breathing became erratic and from where I was, I could see his face turn blue from the poison. "power up punch!"

"grimer!" he said, followed by punching the yellow ball and sending him flying.

"sandshrew fight back!" / "shadow sneak before he could stand up! now!" both of me and my opponent called out at the same time,

with the two attack boosts from power up punch, the sneak attack that followed my command had been powerful and that was enough to put down the weakened sandshrew for good.

"sandshrew is unable to battle! the win goes to Grimer and Lionel!" both of our pokemon were called back after the teacher's announcement.

"thank you," I whispered to Grimer's Pokeball before going out into the field to meet my opponent.

I eyed him as I walked, looks wise, he was the same as everyone else in this world. That is to say, good looking to the point that they would be quite popular back in my old earth. He was wearing a pair of synthetic leather jogging pants along with a grey long-sleeved vest that had a Dragonite printed on the chest- a typical design that's quite popular in my school.

"it was a good battle," I held out my hand,

my opponent took it and nodded, "it was," he smiled, "here,"

I took the 150 poke dollars with a smile, "thank you, let's do this again sometime."

"of course, be ready to lose when we do." he replied, smiling still. "my name's Clark by the way," his blue eyes met mine,

"Lionel,"

...

"what was that about?" Whitney says before I could even sit right next to her. I gave her a shrug, "really? honestly thought you knew each other or something,"

"why's that?" new trainers took positions on opposite sides of the battlefield. The teacher nodded at the two of them and both threw out their pokemon; a slowpoke on the left side and a bellsprout on the right. "huh, bellsprout can be found here?"

the brunette looked at the grass type and softly whined, "I don't know?.." she replied, "I mean, I'm pretty sure that the little guy came from Kanto but what do I know?" she craned her beck and leaned her back against the bench. A preferred position for her when she's looking at Pokemon battles.

"he came from Kanto huh?" I gave the bellsprout an odd look before letting him be, "guess I'll have to stick with Nidoran as my second pokemon then."

"hmm..." Whitney hummed, "are you just gonna stick with poison types?" I nodded, "that's a good idea to be honest, better stick to one type of battle style rather than having a pokemon for every scenario."

"battle style?" I asked,

"yeah, you know, most poison type trainers wait their enemies out with tricks and stuff," she says, giving me an odd look, "if you put other pokemon on your team you need to design a battle style for each."

"then what if you just make your pokemon hit as hard as they could?" I asked and got a loud snort for it.

"sure, do that."

"I just might," she pinched me for that.

...

"good job bud!" I cheered at Grimer from my side of the arena as the teacher called for our win, "this is your 5th win for the day!" he called out his name happily at my cheer.

after collecting the money, I went back to Whitney's side and as always, she glared at me as I made my way to her seat. "you don't have to go here every time you know?"

I hummed, "but I want to?" her glare worsened, and I slowly inched away from her "and I have no friends!" I added, she smiled. "and besides, how many times do we get to talk like this in a week?"

"every day?" she replied questioningly, "what stops you from just walking over to me and talking?"

"like right now?" I asked,

"like right now," she repeated simply.

"oh," I tapped Grimer's Pokeball, "I honestly thought you didn't talk to me because of our difference in year or something?" I raised my hands before she could pinch me, "w-what I mean is that- y-you know since we're in different years I thought that maybe we had different schedules?"

"what?" she backed off, "what?"

"what I mean is-"

"yeah I got it the first time but what?"

I looked at her, is this some sort of code? What was she asking for?- "what?" I repeated and got pinched, "hey!"

she glared at me before turning her head to the side where she then proceeded to ignore me for about two battles but eventually, she did talk to me again, "do better next time and talk to me," she said softly before standing up and walking away.

as I looked at her retreating back, a question popped up in my mind- has Whitney always been this difficult?