Two days have passed since Shuichi’s group encountered Pierce. Nothing much had changed, there weren’t many trainers Shuichi could battle that wanted to bet with him. He had two A-rank badges which was a big indication of his current skill

Cheryl on the other accepted all the challenges she could and rapidly improved. Her Pokémon were also rapidly growing with the increase in battles, the downsides were of course the sustained fatigue and damage her Pokémon would take.

As a result, their journey would take longer but Shuichi was the only one on a schedule and even that was pretty lenient as he still had 37 days on average to get the next gym badge. It was average and Shuichi could technically go over it slightly as long as he got to the other gym quickly.

It was the morning of their third day and Shuichi and Cheryl were preparing for another training session, Shuichi was making some poffins while Cheryl seemed to be looking through her bag to find something.

“Now I see why you’re only willing to take betting matches, it costs money to have your Pokémon be healthy,” Cheryl commented as she looked through her remaining medicine, her stocks were quickly dwindling once she had more battles under her.

Shuichi smiled, “Now you know how expensive being a trainer can be. Speaking of Pokémon, have you decided on a third team member yet?” He asked about Cheryl’s ideas.

Cheryl nodded and pulled a pot from her bag, “I’ve decided to use this to attract a very special Pokémon, this is the enchanted honey and the Pokémon has to come for this.” She explained as she was holding the pot of honey.

Shuichi understood that she was going to use a honey tree method to attract a certain Pokémon, the honey tree method entailed slathering the bark of a tree with honey and waiting for a Pokémon to come.

If she was willing to use such strong honey, it might just boil down to one of the rarer Pokémon one could find using honey like Heracross. Though Shuichi doubted she would want a Heracross, he had known her long enough to understand what she wanted in her Pokémon.

There was a drawback to that method “How long do you plan to wait until the honey attracts that Pokémon?” Shuichi asked. It took time for Pokémon to find the honey and it could take days or even weeks for Cheryl to find the right Pokémon.

Cheryl only smiled and popped open the pot of honey, instantly a very sweet smell permeated the area. “I don’t think time will be an issue,” Cheryl said. Indeed with something this strong, Pokémon would swarm the honey in an instant.

Cheryl smeared some honey on a tree as they were going to undertake another training session, she smeared it around knee-high height and kept a close eye on the tree.

It didn’t take long for Pokémon to come, there were Aipom, Burmy, and even Wurmple attracted to the smell. Cheryl didn’t disturb them as they were feasting on the honey, she planned to wait for the right Pokémon to come by.

Soon enough her patience was rewarded, a Pokémon with a plump, teal-coloured body and a cream-coloured spot on its chest appeared and walked to the honey. The Pokémon has big, round eyes and large pointy ears accompanied by five-fingered hands and cream-coloured feet with three clawed toes.

It was a Munchlax, one of the rarest Pokémon one could attract with the honey tree method, Shuichi didn’t know if it was her luck or the enchanted honey helping her out. Cheryl immediately stopped training and focused on the Munchlax, it was indeed the Pokémon she wanted.

It was now up to Cheryl to catch or convince Munchlax to join her, Shuichi wasn’t going to help her but he also wasn’t going to interrupt her as this was her choice, not his. Cheryl calmly approached the Munchlax as he struggled to enter the tight circle of Pokémon for the honey.

Munchlax noticed Cheryl was coming closer and looked curiously at her, Cheryl got down to eye level with Munchlax and took out more honey. “Hello there Munchlax, do you want some honey?” She smiled as she asked Munchlax.

Shuichi could feel Munchlax’s emotions ranging from curiosity to reluctance, it was clear Munchlax wanted some honey but didn’t trust Cheryl completely. Cheryl placed some honey on the floor and retreated a little, Munchlax’s curiosity got the best of him as other Pokémon noticed the honey.

Munchlax was feasting on the honey and Cheryl only smiled and waited, soon the honey was gone and all the Pokémon were now looking at Cheryl. “I’m sorry, I can’t feed you all. However, I was hoping Munchlax would join me?”

All the Pokémon were disappointed and Munchlax was surprised at being singled out like this, hesitancy was clear in its emotions and he looked at Cheryl with some scepticism.

Cheryl understood what Munchlax was asking and said “I’m Cheryl and I’m hoping to become a great treasure hunter, of course, you will need to become strong enough to help find us treasure.”

Munchlax thought about it for a second before a resolution came to its face, he took an aggressive stance with clear intent to battle Cheryl. “Chansey, are you ready?” Cheryl asked and Chansey was already there.

The rest of the Pokémon and Shuichi cleared the way for the two to begin their battle. Munchlax started off the battle by making its fingers glow white and waving them back and forth, Shuichi was surprised and quickly gave Eevee a hint to be ready for a Protect.

The move that Munchlax was using was known as Metronome. Metronome allowed the user to use any move chosen at random, Metronome could choose String Shot or even Self-Destruct.

Munchlax stopped wagging its fingers and suddenly became engulfed in flames, he then started to roll with uncanny agility. Shuichi recognised the move as Flame Wheel due to his battles with Paul and his Chimchar using it against him.

Cheryl kept calm and watched Munchlax rolling towards her, “Chansey, Counter.” She said once Munchlax was close enough. Chansey’s skin gained a thin film of red and orange light as she concentrated, Munchlax slammed into Chansey but she remained standing tall.

Suddenly the light around Chansey exploded and sent Munchlax flying backwards, “Now! Egg Bomb!” Cheryl capitalised on Munchlax being sent flying. Chansey nodded, she grabbed her egg from her pouch and threw it at Munchlax.

Munchlax landed on the ground and looked up to see an egg flying directly at him, he quickly rolled up into a ball for protection as it used Defense Curl. The egg exploded on impact and was sent back to Chansey, Munchlax unrolled and looked at Chansey.

Munchlax charged at Chansey and wanted to Tackle her, “Chansey, Counter again.” Cheryl went with the safe option and wanted to counter it again, the same light appeared around Chansey and it was prepared to take a hit.

Munchlax however suddenly stopped his charge and looked at Chansey, Cheryl and Chansey were surprised by the sudden stoppage and Chansey’s light soon faded. This was another downside of Counter, the timing needed to be precise or it wouldn’t do anything.

Munchlax noticed the light was gone and charged in again for the Tackle slamming into Chansey, Chansey was sent back but landed on her feet looking fine with not much damage. Munchlax also noticed that Chansey wasn’t as damaged as he’d liked.

Cheryl didn’t give Chansey another order as she looked at Munchlax, he needed to do something big to win and when that attack came she would Counter it. Munchlax also came to that conclusion.

Munchlax started to glow golden as gold light entered his body, Shuichi and Cheryl both frowned as they could not recognise the move that Munchlax was using. Cheryl still trusted Counter and hoped the move counted as a physical one.

The golden light around Munchlax coagulated into a giant star, it was different than Eevee’s big Swift variant as this star was much more powerful. Munchlax gave a yell and shot the star towards Chansey.

“Chansey, Counter!” Cheryl instructed once the star was close enough, Shuichi doubted it would work as this move may be considered a special attack. The light appeared around Chansey again as the star slammed into her.

The star suddenly stayed still and Chansey frowned as she struggled to send it back due to the attack being more powerful than she had imagined, she gave a big yell and pushed out with her arms to send the star back with more speed and force than before.

Munchlax didn’t expect the star to be rebounded with more speed and power making its reaction late, the star slammed Munchlax as he was sent flying once more falling flat on his belly unconscious.

Cheryl threw a Pokéball at Munchlax, the ball hit Munchlax and he was transformed into a red light and sucked into the Pokéball. The ball shook a few times before the red light in the middle stopped and the ball was still, “I just caught a Munchlax!” Cheryl celebrated as she picked up the Pokéball.

“Congratulations, I wonder what that last move was.” Shuichi congratulated Cheryl as he looked through the Pokédex to find something like that last move Munchlax used, the Pokédex had all sorts of recordings and demonstrations recorded for moves.

“Oh, It was actually Last Resort,” Shuichi said as he showed Cheryl a recording that showed the same move being used, “Last Resort is technically a physical move so I suppose I got lucky,” Cheryl commented, if Last Resort were a special move then Chansey would’ve taken some damage but nothing too harsh.

“You still would’ve won, you’ve gotten much better at battling.” Shuichi gave his viewpoint on Cheryl’s battle. Cheryl smiled at the compliment, “It’s mainly due to your help that I was able to get better.”

Shuichi doubted that. Cheryl was one of the five talented trainers in the games, he only sped up her progress a little, she had the talent all along.

Cheryl released Munchlax and brought him up to speed, Shuichi had expected Pokémon to at least resist somewhat when they were caught the old-fashioned way but Munchlax was strangely content with his sudden new home.

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It did make some sense in hindsight, Cheryl had shown she was stronger and she would provide food along the way. Pokémon’s instincts were food and strength and humans could provide both in better ways than if they remained wild.

They continued their journey to Celestic Town after Cheryl caught Munchlax, Cheryl had a plan for Munchlax as he would stay that way for a very long time. She would fit him with an Everstone soon and she started training him to use Body Slam.

If Munchlax evolved into Snorlax his appetite would increase fourfold and Cheryl couldn’t afford that type of upkeep just yet. Munchlax already needed nearly 200 pounds of normal food daily, luckily Munchlax only needed some of the enchanted honey and it should last Cheryl for a while.

They reached a checkpoint after travelling for half a day where they could rest at the Pokémon Center and stock up on supplies at the Market there. Cheryl dropped off her Pokémon for a check-up but Shuichi didn’t.

His Pokémon didn’t fight much due to Shuichi not accepting battling with no bets, which meant that he wouldn’t grow as rapidly as he had been doing so far which was fine for Shuichi. His Pokémon had grown rapidly and now it was time to experiment with some moves and strategies.

Shuichi asked Nurse Joy if the Machoke problem was already taken care of or not, “No, It’s not taken care of yet. If anything it's gotten even worse.” Nurse Joy sighed as she spoke. “How has it gotten worse?” Shuichi asked.

“All of the Machoke have suddenly gotten very aggressive when you travel with a fighting-type Pokémon and want to pass them. As a result, a lot of trainers have had their Pokémon severely injured.” Nurse Joy explained the situation.

(‘They have something against fighting types? That seems very odd.’) Shuichi didn’t know why but he wanted to see what their reaction would be once he showed them Combusken. He could understand their emotions better and find out the reason why they were so aggressive.

Shuichi went to Cheryl who was having lunch courtesy of the Pokémon Center and discussed with her about the update. “Are you sure you want to show them Combusken? It sounds very dangerous.” She concernedly asked Shuichi.

Shuichi nodded “Combusken is close to evolution and I hope the Machoke can push her to evolve.” He explained to Cheryl. It was a risky strategy that could very easily backfire, if Combusken got hurt too badly she would even be set back and her evolution could be delayed.

Evolution required a ton of energy that was accumulated over time, if a Pokémon were too injured they would use some of that energy to recover. Pokémon got knocked out as a natural self-defence mechanism, you could still attack if they were knocked out but they would take very serious damage and it was heavily frowned upon.

Cheryl was still uncertain and said, “Maybe you should also discuss this with Combusken herself.” It was a valid point, Pokémon had their thoughts and wants. Shuichi however already knew how she would react.

“Just to be clear, this can be very dangerous. Are you sure about this?” Shuichi asked Combusken; she just looked offended he would even ask that question. She nodded and her emotions showed expectation for the incoming Machoke.

And with that ‘discussion’ it was settled that Combusken would try to convince the Machoke and find out what the problem was, Cheryl just shook her head knowing this wouldn’t go well.

After the quick stop, they continued onto Route 211. Cheryl had to buy a lot of food supplies for her new foodie which took a little bit, Shuichi was a bit surprised where the money even came from.

Speaking of money, Shuichi didn’t buy anything as his stocks were still looking fine, after winning ₽1,000 from Pierce he was back up to ₽13,000 total. He expected to solve the Machoke problem and make another ₽1,200.

They quickly came to the bridge and they noticed the commotion from a distance, three Machoke were blocking the bridge off. Machoke looked like a well-trained human man with a reptile-like face.

Shuichi felt Machoke's emotions and it was more different than what he expected, from what he heard from Nurse Joy he expected them to be angry or something along those lines.

Instead, he felt they were annoyed and also determined, it was a strange mix of emotions that befuddled Shuichi. Nonetheless, he released Combusken and the second she materialised they locked onto her and their emotions skyrocketed.

Their emotions turned into a mix of happiness and excitement, it was completely just completely different from what Nurse Joy had described. What did happen as Nurse Joy described was the three Machoke charging at Combusken like mad-men.

Combusken didn’t expect to be bum-rushed and quickly jumped back, Shuichi’s body also moved before he could contemplate their emotions and immediately went into fighting mode. Cheryl also quickly jumped out of the way as the Machoke ignored her.

“So, they want to fight? Fine, Big Ember.” Shuichi commented and instructed Combusken to fire back, he also quickly pulled out his Pokédex to record the interaction. Combusken took a deep breath and fired off a big fireball towards the three Machokes.

Strangely they didn’t seem to have any intentions of dodging as they put up their guard and stood firmly against the fireball, the fireball slammed into them and they weathered through the flames.

Their bodies then glowed orange as they charged at Combusken again this time with more speed and more power, Shuichi recognised this move as Revenge. “Guard with Bulk Up,” He responded.

Combusken her muscles swelled as she took her guard up, the three Machoke slammed into Combusken with their fists onto her guard as she gritted and slid back a few steps. “Double Kick into Ember,” Shuichi said.

Combusken kicked upwards with one leg and hit the middle Machoke which threw it into the air, she did a slight hop with her other leg and kicked the left Machoke which sent that one flying. Finally, she looked at the last Machoke and let loose a barrage of fiery Embers that slammed into it.

Shuichi was glad that Combusken could handle them for now but he could see that the Machoke weren’t down yet, they slowly got up and stared at Combusken again with more determination.

Shuichi didn’t know why they were so fervent in fighting Combusken and why they were so ‘happy’ to see a fighting type, the Machoke didn’t have any intention of telling Shuichi as they charged at Combusken again.

The closest Machoke made its arm glow as it went for a Karate Chop, Combusken didn’t need Shuichi to tell her to dodge as she jumped back. The other Machoke also chased after Combusken with Karate Chops.

Shuichi could see this dodging contest wasn’t getting Combusken anywhere, “Quick Attack into Double Kick.” She needed to take the initiative and attack to win this battle.

Combusken jumped far back to avoid an attack and charged directly at the Machoke, her speed was too fast for them to react in time and one of the Machoke got shoulder tackled back again.

She then kicked hard and threw the second Machoke back, she then turned to kick the last Machoke but as she kicked something unexpected happened. The Machoke caught Combusken’s leg and pulled her in, it then grabbed her in a full-body hold and started to roll.

Shuichi narrowed his eyes, (‘Submission.’) He recognised the move that Machoke was using. After rolling for a bit and gaining speed Machoke threw Combusken into another Machoke.

The second Machoke was ready with a Karate Chop as Combusken was thrown its way, “Shadow Claw in the ground.” Shuichi wasn’t going to let them use Combusken as a baseball and instructed Combusken.

Combusken’s claw gained a ghost-like shadow and she stuck it into the ground halting her momentum, the three Machoke stood ready again as Combusken watched them warily.

Shuichi also watched calmly, the battle seemed to be going in the way of Combusken but that would be an incorrect assessment. Combusken was still outnumbered and her stamina wasn’t infinite either, this was a race, either Combusken fell or the Machoke all fell.

The Machoke all suddenly flexed and started to glow orange as they used Focus Energy, Focus Energy allowed the user to pinpoint weak spots and hit them for Critical Hits.

This meant that Combusken had to be careful or else one wrong hit would do heavy damage, however, Shuichi had wanted the Machoke to pressure Combusken into evolving and keeping away wasn’t going to pressure her.

“Flame Charge and engage with Double Kick.” Combusken grinned as she burned with orange and red flames and ran into the group of Machoke. She slammed into the Machoke as they also tried to intercept her with Karate Chops.

What followed was a high-speed exchange of kicks and dodges as Combusken now outspeeds the Machoke and she narrowly dodged their Karate Chops as she kicked out.

There wasn’t much Shuichi could do as Combusken had the situation under control for now, however, one little slip-up and that could change. Combusken kicked a Machoke again, she was getting a little winded as she kept the Machoke at bay.

Suddenly she was grabbed from behind by another Machoke as she was caught off guard, the Machoke jumped high into the air and turned mid-air to have Combusken’s head pointing to the ground. It was using Seismic Toss.

The Machoke started to spin and fall while still holding Combusken. The other two Machokes suddenly jumped and crossed their arms, both of their arms glowed orange as they also fell and executed a Cross Chop as Combusken would slam onto the ground.

Shuichi was impressed by their teamwork however now was not the time, “Big Ember at the ground!” He yelled to make sure Combusken would hear him. Combusken focused and took a deep breath as she fired a big fireball to break her fall.

An explosion rang out and Machoke had to let go early which allowed Combusken to break her fall to get minimal damage and dodge the incoming Cross Chops. Combusken threw out another fireball once the incoming Machokes fell and grouped up.

Another explosion rang out and the three Machoke were all engulfed in flames, Combusken was breathing heavily and the dust and smoke covered the field. Suddenly a fist came from the smoke and Combusken put up a quick guard as she was sent flying.

The first Machoke had recovered first and threw a heavy Revenge at Combusken, the smoke cleared and all three Machokes were covered in burns. Shuichi had a bad feeling as he noticed their emotions reaching a fever, all three of their eyes glowed red and a red aura came from them.

Shuichi frowned, it was the Guts ability. Guts was an ability that increased a Pokémon’s power if they were inflicted with a status condition, in this case, all the Machoke were burned.

Combusken on the other hand activated her ability of Blaze as she got up, this battle was getting close to the wire and Shuichi noticed Combusken's emotions slowly reaching a pitch. One final push and she could trigger her evolution.

(‘I suppose there’s only one move here.’) Shuichi thought as he noticed the situation, “Combusken, now or never. Flame Charge.” Combusken nodded and cloaked herself in bright red and orange flames.

She took a deep breath and charged at the three Machokes. The three Machokes seemed to have reached an understanding as they all stood ready with Karate Chops, this would be the final blow.

Patches of burned grass and flames passed with every step as Combusken charged at the Machokes, the Machokes were unperturbed as they watched the flaming Combusken charge at them.

The Machoke swung down full force as Combusken was close enough and Combusken crashed full force against the Karate Chops, sparks flew out as they collided and neither Pokémon budged.

Combusken gritted her teeth and so did the Machoke as neither side seemed to give way, all Shuichi could do now was watch and trust Combusken. Combusken tried her best to push the Machokes away but they just wouldn’t budge.

Her stamina was getting low and her flames were starting to weaken, she also started to slide back a little bit as the Machokes were overpowering her. She didn’t want to lose, she had promised her trainer she would evolve and he had given her this chance.

Combusken gave a yell as her determination reached a peak and she started to glow, Shuichi smiled however that quickly changed to shock as the three Machokes also gave a yell and one of them started to glow.

Everything suddenly clicked in Shuichi’s head, the Machokes were so aggressive because they also needed one final push for evolution. Fighting types were battle lovers and they knew that battling a fighting type could give them a higher chance of a good fight.

They purposefully blocked an area where a lot of trainers came to increase the amount of battles they had, it was only a matter of time for the Machoke to find a good trainer and evolve and Shuichi was just the right candidate.

Luckily it was only one of them evolving and not all of them or else Shuichi would intervene, The other two Machokes backed off as they saw the scene in front of them play out. Shuichi didn’t need to sense their emotions to see that they were happy for their friend.

Combusken rapidly grew in size getting even bigger than Shuichi himself as she was still growing, her claws turned into three-fingered hands and her feet got covered in feathers. Feathers also started to grow out of her head and stretched down to her back.

Machoke also grew in size but not by much, however, the main point of attention was that another two arms were sprouting from its back. Machoke evolved into Machamp and didn’t change much in terms of colour.

Combusken evolved into Blaziken and her colour changed drastically, her torso and face were covered in fiery red feathers and her feet were covered in yellow feathers. Her claws were light brown and her torso sprouted a tan-coloured plume that stretched to her back.

Blaziken and Machamp both separated and roared in excitement from their evolutions, “Well done Blaziken.” Shuichi congratulated her and Blaziken looked at Shuichi. Shuichi frowned a little, although she didn’t say anything, her emotions betrayed her by revealing contempt.

This was not a good sign as Shuichi had hoped this wouldn’t be the case but now it seems like her ego had increased just as big as her height had increased. “Suppose you don’t want to finish the battle?” Shuichi commented and pointed to Machamp.

Blaziken immediately focused on Machamp with a grin and yelled out to it, Machamp was currently surrounded by the other two Machoke. Machamp nodded and pushed back the two Machokes.

Blaziken ignited with even brighter and hotter flames than before as she charged at Machamp again at high speeds. Machamp didn’t go for a Karate Chop this time but crossed his arms and also charged at Blaziken with a Cross Chop.

Both of them clashed again but this time there was no stalemate as Blaziken overpowered Machamp and sent it flying, it was incredibly surprising for Shuichi that Blaziken got that much more powerful compared to Machamp.

Machamp fell onto the ground and was promptly knocked out, the other two Machoke didn’t charge at Blaziken but were equally dumbfounded. Blaziken wasn’t happy with Machamp going down and charged at the other two Machokes.

“Blaziken, Stop!” Shuichi commanded but Blaziken just ignored him and continued charging at the Machoke, the Machoke suddenly turned fearful as they watched the now battle-hungry Blaziken running at them.

Yet before Blaziken could attack them a red beam struck her and she was sucked back into her Pokéball, Shuichi had recalled her just in time. He looked at the Pokéball and felt a headache incoming, Blaziken’s evolution gave her too big of an ego boost and now she wouldn’t listen to him anymore.

Shuichi sighed and looked into his bag, he pulled out three Sitrus berries and threw them at the Machokes and Machamp. “Here, as thanks for helping her evolve.” He told them and they nodded in thanks.

“Also, don’t block the bridge anymore. Complaints have been made and you don’t want that kind of trouble on you. If you still want to battle trainers just move away a bit and ask them for a battle, if they don’t want to battle then so be it.” Shuichi advised them, they seemed to accept his advice as they all nodded and grabbed Machamp and the berries as they retreated.

Cheryl came closer to Shuichi as he still looked at Blaziken’s Pokéball, “Congratulations I guess? Did Blaziken have these problems in the past?” She asked him.

Shuichi shook his head, “No, I only met her as a Combusken and she didn’t have these problems then.” Although she was aggressive when they met, that was only due to the Spell Tag influencing her thoughts.

Cheryl looked concernedly at the Pokéball, “What are you going to do next?” She asked, if Shuichi couldn’t earn Blaziken’s respect then they most likely would have to separate.

Shuichi scoffed and answered her, “I have some ideas.” This wasn’t the first time he would be dealing with some unruly recruits, he had plenty of experience in that field.