CHAPTER 9

Dad yelled out my name immediately as soon as he entered our apartment.

“Let me do the talking,” I told Denzel. “You just nod and smile unless he addresses you directly, alright?”

“Got it,” He answered, adjusting the shirt collar around his neck.

I had dealt with an angry father a thousand times before, and that meant I had learned how to diffuse the situation effectively. First, I placed Togepi on the ground and watched as she ran toward the door with a joyous chirp. It had been two weeks since she had seen my dad— the longest she had ever gone without seeing him.

“Grace!” Dad yelled out again as his stomps got louder in the hallway. I could tell exactly when he noticed Togepi because he suddenly stopped walking, then greeted her. His steps were lighter now, so that was part one of the plan completed. There was no way to stay angry with a cute little Togepi at your feet.

He entered the living room with her in one arm and groceries in the other.

“Answer me when I call you, damn it!” He scolded. Dad nodded toward Denzel. “Is this—”

“Togeprrri!” Togepi chirped, waving her hands needily. That meant she wanted a hug.

Dad put down his groceries and obliged her. “So you’re Denzel?” He asked, much calmer.

“Yes, sir,” Denzel answered.

“He has no place to stay, dad,” I started, getting straight to the point. “And his parents aren’t supporting him financially because they disapprove of his decision to participate in the Circuit. It’d be rude not to house him.”

“You could have told me beforehand.”

“You would have said no,” I said.

“Maybe not! You don’t know that,” He said.

I stared him straight in the face, letting him know I could see through his obvious lie.

“Ok, maybe I wouldn’t have,” Dad admitted. “But I pay rent here, so I should decide who gets to stay.”

“Togepi likes him a lot. Plus, she’s just started getting friendly with his Eevee.”

Dad groaned and then looked at Togepi. I could almost see the gears turning in his head, deciding if making his second daughter sad was worth punishing me for my actions. But I knew he couldn’t resist that stare. Nobody could.

“Fine,” Dad sighed. “But I reserve the right to change my mind at any moment. And I don’t want his Eevee on the couch. Fur’s hard to clean up, and since I wasn’t expecting this, I don’t have a lint roller.”

“Yes, yes, yes!” I squealed as I rammed into him with a hug. “Thank you so much dad, you won’t regret it.”

“I already do.”

——

Dad asked us to put away the groceries while he showered, so we did so while letting Togepi and Eevee mingle. Her efforts to get closer to the little furry Pokemon were bearing fruit. Eevee would act angry while she would play around with his fluffy tail, but Denzel told me he secretly enjoyed it. I would still need to show dad Frillish at some point, so I’d also have to figure that out.

“I wouldn’t call that being a softie, by the way,” Denzel said. “His glare was terrifying, and his tone… my dad’s not like that at all.”

“Eh, that’s because you don’t know him,” I said as I placed dad’s beers in the fridge. “I know what makes him tick, so I can plan around whatever made him angry in the first place. Don’t let him know that.”

“Obviously I won’t. But still, it’s usually my mom who yells at me and stuff, and she’s way smaller than I am. I guess I’m just not used to it.”

“My dad wouldn’t hurt a Cutiefly, don’t worry about him. He’ll warm up to you soon enough when I tell him how big of a help you were in the wild,” I smiled. “Plus, notice how he bought all of this food? I bet you he did it because we didn’t have enough food for three people tonight.”

“By the way,” I continued, suddenly getting serious. “This goes without saying, but not a word about what happened at Lake Verity.”

Denzel nodded, and we finished putting the groceries away in silence. Dad came out of the shower and started cooking a big dinner for all of us— Pokemon included. It was somewhat awkward, but at least he and Denzel were making small talk, mostly about his parents, life back in Twinleaf, and our trip back to Jubilife. I would sometimes interject and compliment my friend about his trainer or survival skills. By the end of the night, dad was talking to Denzel like they’d known each other for years.

Ok, maybe that was an exaggeration, but they were friendly with each other. The next few days went back quickly and were spent introducing Denzel to the city and its facilities designed to train your Pokemon. There were dozens of arenas where trainers could battle or gyms that had targets to train your Pokemon on. I battled a few trainers there, and I won the majority of my battles. People here were better than people on Route 202 or 201, and every battle was extremely close. Even Denzel lost a battle to a guy with a Teddiursa.

He was focusing on battles more than I was. He would stay in arenas as long as he could, getting Eevee to be as strong as possible before the Circuit started. Me, however? Just like yesterday, I walked through the gate to route 202 and released my Frillish. He stared at me and began floating in the wind.

“Hey buddy,” I said before releasing Togepi. “Let’s hang out.”

“Prrri!” Togepi chirped happily.

It seemed silly at first. How did you get a Pokemon to warm up to you? Well, as the internet answered when I looked it up on my Poketch, it was something that changed on a case-by-case basis. There were no easy answers, no skips, no special items or berries that would speed up the process. So I decided that we’d just… hang out. I sat on the grass and sliced a bit of Oran with my knife.

“Want some?” I asked Togepi. She chirped, and I fed her. I cut another slice and looked at Frillish. “You want some too?”

The blue Pokemon bobbed his head up and down, and I threw him a few bits of Oran, which he caught mid-air. I still wasn’t able to touch him because then he would always start draining my energy with Absorb, so I had to feed him this way. I struggled to understand how Frillish thought. He was fine with just staying with me, but touching wasn’t allowed? I sighed. At least I wasn’t worried about him attacking me anymore, and I was getting more comfortable with eye contact.

After finishing the Oran berry, Frillish started levitating away. I raised an eyebrow and then followed him. He was floating at a leisurely pace, and I turned down challengers from a few trainers, mostly because I was scared Frillish would go too far and kill their Pokemon. One of the first things most trainers needed to instill in a Pokemon they had just caught was that battling trainers was different than just battling wild Pokemon, and seeing as I still hadn’t even talked that much with Frillish, that was a lesson for another time.

“Toge? Togepi?” Togepi asked. At first, I thought she was talking to me, but it appeared she was addressing Frillish. Needless to say, he didn’t answer. Looking back, I had never even heard him talk.

I kept following him until I reached a small creak. He dove into the water, and for a second, I got nervous. I imagined the worst. Was he going to run away and try to escape? Thankfully, he just stayed there and chilled with his head peeking out of the water.

“Do you miss the ocean?” I asked.

Frillish looked at me and threw a little bit of water at my face. I flinched, thinking it was an attack, but it was just a normal, low-pressure jet of water.

“Does that mean yes?” I continued, wiping water off my face. He didn’t answer. “I seriously don’t get you, dude.”

I paused for a few seconds and smiled.

“Want to come back here tomorrow?”

“...lish” He murmured.

——

Denzel Williams was on top of the world.

Throughout his stay at Jubilife, he had been in sixteen battles, and he had won fifteen of them. The last one had been particularly close, and if he had anticipated that Teddiursa knowing Bulk Up, he would have won, he was sure of it. Instead of playing it safe with Sand Attack from a distance, he would have immediately rushed in with Quick Attack, and Eevee’s brand new move, Bite.

Regardless, he and Eevee had kept it close. Denzel was steadily building his reputation among Jubilife’s new trainers waiting for the Circuit to start, and that would go a long way. The teenager smiled. All of that was far off in the future. First, it was time for another day of battling. He stepped into the large, stadium-like building and saw a number of trainers already battling among the many arenas. He also noticed a few heads turn as he walked toward an empty battlefield and had to stop himself from getting too giddy.

Just you watch mom, he thought. I’ll make you eat your words.

The first two battles went as he had learned to expect. Eevee was on top of his game and only got hit once by a Piplup’s Bubble attack. He had taught him to use Quick Attack defensively without his command, and it was paying off. Most Pokemon couldn’t land a hit on him.

“Great job, Eevee! Keep it up, just a few more.”

Eevee barked at him, clearly prideful about his performance. He loved that little Pokemon, and he couldn’t wait to see how far they’d get.

“Attention!” Denzel heard a yell near the entrance. “Who’s the strongest trainer in here?”

He frowned and observed as a short-haired teen with his cap on backward strode in the building like he owned the place. Denzel rolled his eyes and minded his own business, applying a potion where Eevee had gotten hit. There were always these types of trainers that thought they’d dominate the Circuit before they got knocked down a peg. He waited for a few minutes, hoping a new challenger would approach him, but people had started avoiding him.

“Yo,” He heard to his left. “I heard you’re the strongest kid in here.” The same person who had caused the earlier ruckus approached him with unmatched confidence. He was slightly shorter than him, but looked extremely fit.

“I might be, but I’ve only been here for a few days,” Denzel replied dryly. He disliked these kinds of people. It was fine to be confident, but keep that confidence unchecked, and it would quickly grow into arrogance.

“Battle me and I’ll show all of these losers you’re worth nothing,” The teen with the cap said.

“Oh?” Denzel answered, feeling anger build up inside of him. “Sure, I’ll battle you.”

“Thank you for being a stepping stone for my ultimate goal of becoming the Champion. I just got here, and I need to make a big splash,” He smirked.

“One on one,” Denzel hissed.

“Sounds good to me!”

They each got into position and sent out their Pokemon. Eevee was already out of his ball, so he had sensed his trainer’s anger and was growling in a battle-ready position.

“Your time to shine, Ri,” He said with a bored look on his face as he sent out a Riolu.

The screen counted down and as soon as it hit zero, Denzel barked out the first move.

“Eevee, rush him with Quick Attack and then Sand Attack!”

Surrounded by a white glow, the little brown Pokemon became a blur and dashed toward the Riolu. He had gotten faster, and Denzel struggled to follow him with his eyes now.

“Ah, just deal with it, Riolu. I can’t be bothered.” He said, waving his hand in dismissal.

Denzel clenched his teeth as Eevee used his front paws to throw sand in the Riolu’s eyes. It simply backstepped out of range, and then a small bone grew out of its hand.

“Eevee, keep going! Hit him!” Denzel said.

Eevee listened, and with a jump, he hit Riolu’s torso with Quick Attack. The Riolu, however, didn’t even flinch. He grabbed Eevee’s head, locking him in place.

“Eevee, Bite him! Get out of there!” Denzel screamed, his voice faltering.

With impressive strength, Riolu threw Eevee into the air and slammed him with his bone like a baseball, sending him flying back toward Denzel. It shimmered and rushed forward, positioning himself directly under where Eevee was about to fall.

That was Quick Attack, Denzel thought. So much faster than ours, but what was that bone move?

Denzel snapped out of his thoughts. There was no way for Eevee to dodge what was coming, but maybe—

“Eevee, listen to my voice! Use Baby Doll Eyes!” He screamed. Eevee didn’t move, sending a wave of panic over Denzel’s body. What was going on?

Riolu’s palm shone with a pale blue light, hitting Eevee once again. Denzel couldn’t believe it. His Pokemon was lying unconscious in the dirt, having lost after two attacks. Sure there was the type advantage, but that had been so quick. And Riolu hadn’t even received any commands!

“Well, that was boring. I got my hopes up a little bit after hearing that you were the strongest here, but you’re just as bad as everybody else,” His opponent said, returning Riolu.

Denzel just stayed silent. He couldn’t believe it. The loss wasn’t the issue, the issue was how hard he had lost. He returned Eevee and noticed the small crowd of trainers that had gathered to watch their match. They were whispering among themselves— some of them were even laughing.

“Well, that should be enough. Onto the next arena facility then!” The teen said. He walked off but turned back before leaving the building. “Oh, and the name’s Chase Karlson. Remember it, losers, because you’ll be watching me on the big screen after the first Gym’s sent you packing. See ya!”

The crowd dispersed and people slowly went back to battling. Denzel gnawed on his thumb nail the entire way to the Pokemon Center. He opened up his Poketch and looked up Chase on the forums, hoping that he was some experienced trainer that had signed up for the Circuit again. Deep down though, he already knew the answer. He was fifteen, and it was his first time in the Circuit. There was nothing else on him, but his following had supposedly skyrocketed these past few days after he went around and beat up everything in his path with his Riolu without ordering it a single time during any battle.

How had he gotten so good? Denzel thought.

Failure was a good thing. Something that was always hard to experience but that trainers could grow from. And yet when a loss was so complete and total, without the opportunity to even theorize what had gone wrong, without even entertaining the idea that a battle could have gone a different way, a little thing would start to crawl into your mind. Slowly at first, and then it would become completely unstoppable.

For the first time, Denzel Williams began to doubt himself.

---

TEAM:

Togepi - Pound, Sweet Kiss, Rollout, Growl, Headbutt

Frillish - Bubblebeam, Night Shade, Absorb, Water Sport