After my conversation with the good captain I headed straight home impatient and ready to talk to Grandma Heidy about my next move. She already knew my plan but like me was unsure of the feasibility. Hopefully she would allow me to train Lillipup to use him to prove that I could train effectively.
That said I was also relying on the idea that I could in fact train a Pokémon effectively. Something which despite my knowledge and experience with humans I was fairly sure I could do but there's still a bit of doubt in my mind about it no matter how much I reason that it will be fine. If there was one thing for certain it was that I was moving forward and I needed to make the most of the time I had to achieve as much as possible before applying for my starter. Getting a good starter, hopefully a regional starter, would be a god Arceus send.
But that was enough drifting off for now. I had more pressing concerns. Leo had just seen an ice cream shop and was giving me the look.
“Pweeese, just one”
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Walking down the corridor to Grandma Heidi's apartment felt harder than normal. Not physically difficult. Not due to Leo making a fuss, he was the picture of childhood contentment with his Emolga shaped ice cream, no it was difficult mentally difficult. As the anxiety of the future conversation was slowly building in anticipation of her answer.
In fact a part of me was just guilty. She had already done so much for me with how she looked after Leo while I was at college. As it was I hoped that this conversation would go well, if she agreed to let me train Lillipup that would just be ideal.
As I reached her door it swung open before I could even knock.
“Hello Luis, come in. How was your meeting?” she asked with her kind smile which reached her eyes.
Grandma Heidi was a small woman, standing only 5ft tall. She had short grey hair and bright blue eyes that shone with an age defying strength and a deep wisdom. Her strong gaze contrasted with her frail body which seemed to be moved through force of will from her strong spirit.
“Hi Grandma Heidi, It went better than I had hoped. In fact she brought up more ideas for me to consider.” I answered matching her smile with my own as we moved into her lounge/ kitchenette. My feelings of anxiety evaporating right then and there.
“That’s good, Lillipup and I were worried for you. In fact he ran to the door as soon as he heard you in the hallway.” she said gleefully as the Pokémon in question waged its tail and barked excitedly. No doubt having run all over the apartment before we got here.
“Aww you thought about us Lilipup, thank you so much” I said whilst reaching down and patting him.
“And how have you been Leo? Were you good?” she asked as she took a seat on the sofa and gave Leo a cheeky smile.
“Ofcawce, I even got an Ice cream” he said with a smile proudly showing off his prize.
“That’s good, your such a good boy. Why don’t you go play with Lillipup, I’m sure me and your brother have a lot to talk about.” she said.
“Yep!” Leo replied with a cute smile as he ran off into the spare room to play with his toys, Lillipup quick on his heels. Many of which were kept here due to the babysitting arrangement.
With Leo gone Grandma Heidy turned back to me, gestured for me to sit and said.
“So tell me what happened,”
With that I explained, in detail, what was discussed in the meeting. Making sure not to leave anything out and ending with a request to train Lillipup for her as a proof of concept. When I was done talking she just sat there staring, studying my expression for any hint of deceit.
The silence was tense and I could feel my anxiety bubbling up threatening to consume me.
“So tell me what happened,”
With that I explained, in detail, what was discussed in the meeting. Making sure not to leave anything out and ending with a request to train Lillipup for her as a proof of concept. When I was done talking she just sat there staring, studying my expression for any hint of deceit.
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The silence was tense and I could feel my anxiety bubbling up threatening to consume me.
“So it went well overall then, that's good.” she said slowly easing her serious expression into a pleased smile.
“Yeah it went better than I expected, as for training Lillipup. I know I’m asking a lot but I really think I know enough and can help him get stronger if you…” she raised her hand, cutting me off before I could word-vomit further.
“Calm down, I’m not interrogating you. I won’t stop you from training Lillipup” she said
“Really? Thank you so much!” I say relief flooding into me, seeing my smile she laughed softly.
“Of course, that said, I do have a few requirements.” She said in a stern but not unkind way.
“First, you must write up a training plan for him and explain it to me. Second, you must not force him to battle if he doesn’t want to. Third, if you want to change his diet that comes out of your money, Fourth nothing dangerous to either him or you is allowed, so no going into the wild.” She listed off, with extra emphasis on the last one.
“Of Course that's to be expected, I will happily agree to that.” I reply, warmth flooding me as I realise for the first time how lucky I am to have Grandma Heidy’s support.
With that thought I ran up and embraced her. Hoping to convey my thanks in the best way possible.
“Thank you so much” I say.
“Don’t thank me yet, I still want to see that plan.” she said with a kind smile embracing me back.
With that conversation out of the way I sat back down and we just talked happily for the rest of the evening.
The next morning I was up early like normal, with this being the weekend there was no need but I was a creature of habit. So I was up early making breakfast, normally I would be going on a run too but instead I had to prepare a training plan for Lillipup.
As a rule it is best to start a training plan by thinking about what your goals are. The goals of Pokémon training were often different to the goals of the human ‘training’ I was used to but there was still some crossover.
As almost all Pokémon were trained for battling and getting stronger to fight was part of that there were no sports considerations. Just specialisation differences: special Vs physical and speed, defence or offence. While all would be trained to some degree some species gravitated to specific fighting styles.
The lillipup line in the games heavily leaned towards being a bulky physical attacker. In this world it seemed to be the most common way to train them too with those in police roles having more flexibility into special attack.
With the goal set, first, I am going to focus on building up general physical strength and endurance. This is because Lillipup had trouble keeping up with playing with Leo at times and he's a baby.
My initial plan is to spend the mornings working on endurance by taking him running with me this way he'd get to train and with Pokémons natural healing ability be ready for weight training in the evening.
Something that given his physiology would be based on heavy sled pulling and bite work.
That left moves, which given Grandma Heidy’s hints at him being unwilling to battle (rule 2) might not be relevant until the little guy gets some confidence. That said, they could not be fully overlooked as familiarity with moves can't be a popular method for no reason.
With the basis of my plan it was time to give Leo his breakfast and get to Grandma Heidy's apartment.
Walking into Grandma Heidy’s apartment I got straight to work explaining to her my plan for Lillipup and what we were going to work on. She did ask questions about move training but I reassured her that it wasn't urgent if Lillipup didn't want to battle currently. This assured her about my plan, with that I went up to Lillipup ready to start training right away.
“That said I do still need to know his moves as we will train them just not as the focus” I say whilst pulling out a notepad and pen.
“Ah he knows bite, tackle and growl. Though I was told he should learn thunder fang with little effort because of his parents,” she said.
“Huh that's cool what is his parentage?” I ask.
“Oh did I not tell you? Lillipup is a failed police dog.” she said with a smile. As if what she said wasn't slightly concerning. But that did explain thunder fang, which was often trained to paralyze criminals.
“Why did he fail?” I ask cautiously, suddenly aware that I might've bitten off more than I can chew.
“He was too timid and tended to run away instead of towards danger too often to be seen as reliable. Don't worry he's not vicious.” She said partially assuring me of my worries.
“Hmm I'll have to focus a bit more on building confidence then,” I say just thinking out loud. This was not only important for Lillipup and for battling but just general safety. A confident Pokémon was much less likely to lash out by mistake. A lot of loud aggressive dogs were often just scared after all, that went for a lot of people too. That said the problem had a lot more potential issues when Pokémon were involved.
"Yes, especially if you want him to battle. He gets scared even watching others," she said soberly.
After a brief somber moment we move on. Having already talked to Lillipup about the arrangement last night. Grandma Heidy hands me his Pokeball and sends me off to train him, after reminding me to be careful of course.