“Ow.”
Jenny held a hand in front of her mouth, clearly shocked or concerned–
She coughed once, then completely failed to hold back her giggles.
David looked at her, puzzled and unamused. How did she switch from psycho trainer to friendly without any gap in between? “Ugh.” Groaning, he lay down fully, resting his head on the wet floor. It was too early for this.
The laughing came to a jerky half stop. “What are you doing? Get up.” More giggles. ”You can’t be that hurt.”
“Why is the floor so wet,” He groaned, laying in the tatters of his dignity. They hadn’t even started training yet. They hadn’t even reached the room, and already he was battered. “It’s too early for things to be cleaned.”
That made the giggling stop. “The gym needs to be clean,” Jenny stated in a voice so unconvincing that he lifted his head up to look at her.
Jenny was wearing a different bandana around her spiky hair bun today. It was a lurid purple, and would have been a bold fashion statement in any other city. Here it was probably regarded to be as normal as her banana colored hair. The bags around her eyes weren’t as developed today. Her face was softer without them, and it was much easier to forget the slave driver hiding within the small frame.
“The gym needs to be clean at whatever god awful hour this is? And with this much water?” Some drunk wandering home had woken him up again this morning. That was what he’d rather believe over the idea of his new sleep schedule anyway.
Jenny squinted at him. “This is a kind of irony I guess.”
“What?”
“I can’t believe you just fell over. Have you never learned how to balance before?” Jenny asked, turning to continue through the gym.
David winced and pushed himself up. Some of the water had soaked into his clothes, but they would be sweaty soon enough anyway.
“I slipped. It was an accident. It’s not like you can learn how not to have accidents.”
“Are you sure?” Jenny asked skeptically.
-.-
The training started with a round of what David was going to call “Run & Gun”. It was essentially the same thing as they did yesterday morning with half the pressure and anger.
Venomoth chased David and Venonat around the arena and while he tried to coordinate both of their actions and escape. It was intense, but in an exercise way instead of life-threatening. They stopped after an hour, but he was dreading the next session in a few hours with Pidgey.
After the ‘warm up’, Jenny started into Move training. Supersonic was a Normal type move that infused sound waves with energy to mess with an opponent's balance and aural senses. When used properly by a strong Pokemon, it could cause the sound waves themselves to be visible. Not the air they traveled through, the soundwaves. David was very confused by that, but Jenny was insistent.
Now, if you thought that training a Move that used sound indoors, even in a large arena, was a bad idea, you’d be correct. Jenny warned him about it, described the ear plugs she wore for indoor battles and handed him a set of ear muffs. While Venomoth demonstrated the Move to Venonat, he wore the ear muffs. When Venonat attempted to replicate the Move, both Jenny, and he took them off.
“How does the move work?” He asked, as the two Pokemon communicated after a failed attempt.
“Because the move uses sound, it changes by the Pokemon.” Jenny settled into her teacher pose, hands crossed and back straight. “Zubat for example, use their vocal cords, the same ones they use for echolocation. That’s why it’s such a strong move for their species. Venomoth uses the move by vibrating their wings– something you will have to train after Venonat evolves.”
“Venonat uses his vocal cords then? The sound he's making, it's kind of like when he's hurt or confused.”
“Mhm. Pokemon without vocal cords or wings create vibrations with energy to produce the waves, in the same way several Pokemon speak their name, but it’s less effective. It’s rarely worth the effort.”
Saying their name is a... Move for some Pokemon? That was... weird.
Venonat let out a rattling buzz that David felt in his fingers, but had no other effect. Another miss.
“Ear muffs,” Jenny ordered.
By the time Venonat was tired and ready to sleep, David’s ears had been thoroughly pinched. He was sick of standing around almost looking forward to “Run & Gun” again. Almost.
-.-
Cloudburst was officially healthy and ready for battling again today. This happy news alerted David to a glaring issue in the current training schedule.
The meals at the gym had reduced his expenses, but they had not fallen to zero. If he wanted to keep eating, he needed to earn money. It wasn’t an immediate issue which was why he hadn't noticed before. All of their battling in Fuchsia had given him a nest egg, over 550P still, but that wouldn’t last. Especially if he needed to spend 500P on the rechallenge fee. There wasn’t enough time in his midday break to battle, nor would Cloudburst and Venonat have the energy. He could do an hour’s labor at the market, but that wouldn’t cut it.
If you spot this story on Amazon, know that it has been stolen. Report the violation.
Reluctantly, it was the first thing he brought up with Jenny that evening.
“David, I told you before. Your challenge has already been booked. You don’t need to worry about it.”
“Yes, I know, but it’s the fee. I need time to battle outside of training.”
Jenny set down her shovel, looking very uncomfortable. It felt like an odd reaction given how nonchalant she was seconds before with the weirdness of the next training method. “You pay the fee while booking. It’s been taken care of.”
“Oh.”
Cloudburst, who had been dead set on ignoring him, turned back to him. Her wings twitched, shifting.
“Why?”
It was 500P he didn’t have to spend, but... Koga hadn’t mentioned it. After all that seriousness around inviting or forcing training upon him, why wouldn’t he have mentioned the monetary reward? Was it guilt? Because David’s challenge had been rigged?
“I couldn’t say,” Jenny said stiffly. She dug the hole deeper. “Now, are you ready?”
David exhaled slowly and stepped into the knee-deep hole. Cloudburst stood in another, much smaller hole, a foot or so away within his reach. She had to be that close, having vehemently opposed the idea of having Jenny and anything to do with sand near her.
David and Cloudburst were going to bury themselves in sand.
It was a step towards training Sand Attack, or so said one of Jenny’s friends. Privately– no, publicly David was more than suspicious, and half expecting a group of people to burst into the room laughing when they were... dug in. But. But it was so stupid it might just work. Pidgey were Flying type Pokemon. They had wings, they flew in the air. The closest Cloudburst got to the ground was the dirt baths she occasionally liked. Burying her– up to her stomach, which was all she would allow– was going to get her close to the Ground and the sand and energy she was meant to use.
It might even work.
He didn’t stop giggling like a mad man the entire time he shoveled sand. Even when Cloudburst started to squawk at him, he just couldn’t help it. It was too absurd. His life was so bizarre now.
How many people got to say they played in the Pokemon gym's sandpit?
-.-
Venonat’s training that night was a very different vibe. The safety equipment alone was grim, facemasks, sealed goggles, gloves, and waxy plastic jackets to cover it all.
Inhaling the particles from Poison Powder wouldn’t kill him, but it would make him sick, and if those particles came from Venomoth, very sick. David decided to treat it as he would asbestos. Experience from a distance if at all. Jenny wasn’t worried about herself, citing a long developed tolerance, but wore the equipment in solidarity with him.
“The covers you can do without first. Then the gloves, and then the face mask and goggles. Slowly though. Very slowly and always near enough to a Pokecenter in case it becomes a problem.”
Well, that answered David’s question about Pokecenters and healing humans. There were still hospitals in this world though, the Fuchsia one was a couple of blocks down from the city center, so maybe Pokecenters limited themselves to Pokemon related injuries.
Like with Supersonic earlier, there was little he could do to aid Venonat’s lesson. Instead, he watched and listened to Jenny as she told him tidbits and stories about Poison types. Time passed by the training uninterrupted until a man slipped into the room.
David didn’t hear the door open. He only noticed the man closing it out of the corner of his eye. They were short, and wore the usual Fuchsia gym uniform. The man took up position by the door. After checking with Jenny, who didn’t seem bothered by the intruder, David was content to ignore the newcomer. His subconscious wasn’t so easily appeased though, and his eyes continue to drift towards the man.
Eventually Jenny noticed, she followed his gaze, scanning the wall only to find nothing and turn to David with confusion in her eyes and a raised eyebrow.
He blinked. Did she not see him? The man wasn’t moving, but it wasn’t like he was hiding. He just stood there, a curious smile on his unassuming face. He was plain with angular cheekbones, but– wait.
David focused, dusting something from his mind.
Koga.
The curiosity turned sharp and Koga pressed one of the pokeballs at his waist and stepped away from the wall.
Beside David, Jenny jerked. She sank low, settling into a tackling stance with one hand forward while the other grabbed for her pokeballs.
“I thought I might pop in.” Koga’s voice was formal, but the amusement had yet to leave him.
Jenny stiffened. Her hand dropped from her belt, but she did not straighten up.
David hadn’t moved an inch. He was caught between considering Koga’s invisible man act, and figuring out the social graces of this moment. Was he supposed to welcome Koga to his own gym? Thank him for the involuntary training? How were you meant to act with a head of state carrying weapons of mass destruction? He sure as hell wasn’t going to bow.
“Hello.” It wasn’t a strong opener.
His voice jolted Jenny into action. She straightened up and bent forward at the waist. The movement was stiff, and she’d wiped any expression from her face.
So you did bow to gym leaders.
Koga did not acknowledge the gesture, walking forward calmly like he hadn’t just been caught spying.
“I am glad to see the training is progressing. You are recovering well David.”
David’s shoulder throbbed. Was this his chance for answers?
“Why didn’t you tell me? That I was sick.”
Koga met his eyes. “It was... unexpected. A slow decline. I could not manifest it without issue. My debt remains, and were you to have symptoms, the consequences would be severe.”
Silence followed the statement, which Koga seemed quite pleased by.
“I believe I will add another element to the training.”
David was relieved to see that Jenny looked as comfortable with that statement as he was.
“Gym Leader?” She said, “What would you have me do?”
Koga smiled warmly. “There is more than one student in my gym.” And with that cryptic answer, he turned and walked out the door.
Jenny was distracted after Koga left. No, distracted wasn’t the right word. She didn’t commit to the training as much, instead breaking out of her musings to scan the room every now and again. She also refused to discuss Koga or his visit at all.
David couldn’t say the change in her behavior made the training worse, but it was noticeable. Especially how she reacted to any sound, like his yawns, by whirling around to face the source of the noise.
He figured they both needed the break when the training was called to a stop. Jenny escorted him again through room after room of gym with wet, slippery floors. She didn't make another joke about his fall, too busy frantically scanning around her.. They stopped in what thankfully seemed to be the same side exit as yesterday.
“David, about tomorrow night’s schedule-”