"So your saying that a Copperajah walked up next to you in your sleep, past me, and stole your Zapdos meat?" These were the troubled dreams of my little sparky pup.
"Yes! Him and his sneaky trunk stretched so far it you couldn't stop it! I forgive you for not being quick enough to stop him but be faster next time" she ordered.
"Uhuh, I'll do that. In fact, after today we'll start traveling again" She was quite the slave driver. It was the day after my gym badge and shopping spree. Last night I had cooked up the hot dogs since I couldn't store them and greatly pleased Fly. Ian liked getting another oil cleaning with my rag and I remembered to use the whet stone so he was sharper than he had been in a long while. The jar product Puff picked out was apparently a dry conditioner and when applied made her wings made them look slightly shinier.
"It looks so much better, thank you Maxy!" maybe she has better eyes, because again, it only looked slightly shinier. Sin was convinced to try out his dumbbell quite easily, going for a 80 pound bicep curl and then a tricep extension. He gave it a solid nod to which we cheered. He did a quick little workout while some Bunnelby watched. I even brought out the vitamins I got before from the fairy gym. They didn't taste like anything and there were no complaints when they dug into their food. Tonight was Pidgey that was absolutely delicious with salt and some rosemary for flavor.
Thinking back, I could get a pot and store more supplies if I had gotten that spatial backpack. NO, I shook my head to clear it of the magical super useful thingymabob. I'd try and make it to the next city without the bag but everyone else already had one. Even Thomas' poor ass had a hand-me-down from his dad.
Their spending astonished me with how they could spend so much on food, luxuries, and having fun. I heard that Hannah's budget was 20,000 a month. How did they even come up with that much money? Wait, I know the answer to that one. My mom may be great at budgeting and making everything last, but grandmother always burns some of it to gain favor with the gods. CURSE TRADITION!
Well, that was only partially true. The other 99% of it went towards rebuilding our house to have basic accommodations because I swear it is marked by the wilds to be destroyed or something. Seriously, our house hasn't survived one of the big raids in 4 years.
Sigh, I would have loved to stay and watch their challenges, but I didn't want to attach myself to their group they had going. It was a safer way of traveling and training, but I couldn't bring myself to go that slow. Even with our limiting family customs, my brother and sister charged on. My brother had found a girl to travel with him while my sister went fully solo going clockwise around Verk.
I still remember when my grandmother had my siblings and I run around in the forest to build up our bodies. She let weaker Pokemon through a filter into the area we were running while Sawk and herself kept the ones that were too strong away. I was the slowest in the trio, being the youngest of course. It had gotten Aubree and Liam hurt on multiple occasions when they tried to shield me. Nothing major that couldn't be fixed, mostly bruises and little cuts but I didn't want to be the one dragging them down anymore. And that one time when a Snubbull escaped her notice, breaking my sister's arm before Sawk showed up still haunted me to this day. I loved my sister and it pained me to remember her unnaturally curved arm.
Aubree was the oldest at 17 and Liam was 16. They had left to become trainers at 14 like me and called home to tell us about their exploits. Aubree was sitting at 7 badges and was our grandmother's pride and joy while Liam had a nice 4 going while also sending checks back home every month.
It wouldn't be right of me to not even try to catch up. Aubree had even dropped by at the beginning of the summer to see me and the rest of the family for my birthday as she had every year. Her and her team showered me with compliments and played Poke-Ball with me.
My only complaint is that they never let me do anything that could be dangerous. She always said it was for my safety, being a good big sister, and she's probably right. It's just frustrating to still be that little brother, one who can't help out and even hinders everyone around me. I couldn't even earn my second--SECOND badge without that girl with the old Flapple.
My siblings waited in Bluepoint(Aubree) and Luxom(Liam), each trying to overcome their current challenges. Zac and Hannah didn't want to see me go, wanting me to wait to see their battles but the results were pretty obvious to me. Everyone but Hannah would win.
Zac was still on his first badge, Stew had Monster to boost him through his challenge after he evolved, and Chloe in her short time with me had impressed me with her dedication to meeting the Jenny standards. With strict training regimens for her Pokemon and studying tactics online with notes on what to do she was cracking the whip at her team, which was unruly except for Girafarig. Hannah simply hadn't committed to being a trainer and I saw her on her phone a lot playing games and watching contests on PokeTube while Chimchar and the others sat in their balls.
Not that she was a lost cause, just she wouldn't win on her first try. She would win her second challenge right around the time Zac was scheduled with her increased priority, but she would be getting a nudge to remind her that she could fail.
Lastly, I couldn't stay in such a safe haven like the outskirts for much longer. Already it was making me twitchy, having woken up two nights before my gym challenge after Spritzee's scent reached me. Even today I warily eyed a gang of Impidimps around and avoided them as we set up in our routine practicing while I took Fly to battle someone.
Thomas had stopped by to say goodbye and Tammy, his Phantump, fake cried when Ian flew over. Castle(the Sandygast) sat there awkwardly and did a little wave with his sand body. I didn't even see Lori but I knew that she would be in his shadow. As a joke, both Tammy and her minion hopped into Thomas' shadow as well. He was noticeably slower when walking away, having to drag his shoe across the grass.
He picked up speed suddenly when he was about to reach his group and they stood around before their final person arrived. Having been working on this for awhile I had pulled out a couple new schematics for each of my Pokemon to choose from for training. Puff had decided to continue with sing and was working on not just putting Pokemon to sleep, but doing it as quickly as possible.
Sin wanted to do his own thing and I tried drawing up what he wanted, wicked blow. Figuring out a legendary's signature move was going to take more time or maybe be impossible for me to do so I let him have at it with little direction. He was trying his hardest and progressing on forming multiple runes at the same time. His criticism of his own work was lacking but it was best he practice on something so important.
Ian was working on swords dance and not only increasing his sharpness but weight. Honestly, he wanted an excuse to 'drink' some of the mercury I had given him. He absorbed a whole bottle last night and it had an interesting effect on him, making him drunk. I got really worried, thinking that such a BAC equivalent level would kill him after realizing what was happening. I was seriously freaking out and possibly stole Chloe's phone, bribing her Sneasel for the password while she slept, and having Puff search online for an answer. I figured out that being a ghost and originally an object made BAC irrelevant. Side note, Chloe is a really heavy sleeper and looked really funny with her golden curls covering most of her face.
He tried striking at me but was too wasted to hit. He was weighed down when I picked him up this morning so his idea worked if slightly. It also made his sword more flexible such that it would be less brittle. I had 4 more bottles to give him so figured I could make this last all the way to Magnus-City if I let him sip it occasionally instead of chugging a whole bottle down.
I had given him a fourth of a vial and asked Puff and Zac to check up on him occasionally. Chloe agreed to battle with me, and we got some doubles matches going. She had all of her Pokemon line up to watch the fighting since she couldn't trust them by themselves(even with Girafarig in charge). The first battle was shaky but we made it work, after a short break we did a second one.
"Report Growlithe!" she said sharply. Her dog-like Pokemon loyally got into position and intimidated our opponents, a Totodile and a Lombre. They shivered and looked warily back at their trainers.
"Go Fly" I said with less enthusiasm. She treated her team like grunts to order around and it seemed to be working for her now. Most were scared of her for it, but some were close to her and took it in stride. Growlithe and Sneasel in particular.
"Water gun at the Growlithe!" our opponent ordered, he was a tall kid our age and had the Lombre. His companion was a chubby girl who he had just met while we put together this doubles match.
"Do the same Todo" she copied.
"TOTO!!!!!" the starter was roaring to go and absolutely blasted a water gun at the fire type. I told Fly to take the hit instead and it did a lot less than it could have.
Drenched, Fly shook off the water and was hit with furry swipes by Lombre. Growlithe stepped up and Chloe demanded her to use "Flame wheel!"
It was a good hit with Growlithe jumping over Fly and crashing into the larger Pokemon. Lombre backed off but Totodile came in to support him. That's when Fly started sparking. I tried having her use spark but with so much water on her, the electricity dissipated and some of the move flowed back into her causing self-damage.
Noting that, I called out "Uproar and don't hit Growlithe!" The loud howl created a terrible effect on the two recipients. They covered their ears and it was only after Fly ran out of breath that anyone could order anything else. Growlithe kept spinning with flame wheel and sometimes getting into the area of effect of uproar. Defensive water guns aimed at my loud Pokemon but few were able to hit her body as their ears were in too much pain with small amounts of blood leaking from their ears and light bruises from where the shockwave like howls had landed.
"Teeter dance" the boy was fed up with the noise and Lombre did a spinning and shaky dance that confused everyone. I wasn't close enough to be affected but I had a hard time calling out to Fly as she started sparking again until some of the electricity broke through. The spark went wide but the following ones hit Totodile who was gnawing at his own hand. He was knocked out while Lombre finished off Growlithe.
Fly was unable to overcome the confusion and ran circles around Lombre until a quick enough fury swipes snapped her out of it. By then it was too late and she was knocked out. Confusion worked wonders during this battle, I'd need to see what I could come up with to counter it or maybe even use it myself.
I offered up money to the girl who had been harshly speaking to her teammate who had taken it upon himself to win. She took the money, snatching it out of my hand and walking away to get her Pokemon unconfused and healed. After that one, we talked together as we walked to a Indeedee, throwing ideas back and forth on how we could have done better. She was smart and figured out that teeter dance required continuous line of sight.
I liked her way of thinking, breaking down the situation into the essential parts. "Teeter dance works by going through the cerebellum to then overtake the rest of the brain once it enters. The prereq for that uneasy feeling is watching that curvy dance" she explained.
"Did you search that?" I asked holding Fly's unconscious form out.
"No, officer Tess told me to try figuring things out on my own for at least a day before cheating like that" she held out Growlithe. Obvious care was put into the carry as she was healed.
"Who's that?"
"She was the overseer of my school's after school program, she's retired but liked to tell stories about her time as a Jenny to keep us occupied" Growlithe woke up slowly and stretched a bit before getting set down next to Fly.
"Is she why you wanted to become a Jenny?" I questioned.
"Yeah, her stories stuck with me and when I saw the Jenny scholarship I wanted to go for it" she said "That's how I got this sweetie here." I felt a bad omen come about. I shared a look of pity for the fire type as I expected some form of reproval for how she performed. I thought she did well, but sweetie could only mean bad things to come.
To my surprise, nothing happened. Nothing except I got to know Chloe more. Her dedication was not about serving the government or protecting people.
Not quite getting her angle I asked flat out "What do you want to do as a Jenny. I mean, they're just police officers" and instantly tried fixing my words as I foresaw a burning retort.
"Woah woah woah they're not bad or anything" I stuttered.
"They aren't just officers, Jennys serve justice. They make everything right. And they are the only reason the world can run like it does so show some respect" her Sneasel jumped up and smacked her on the back of the head. She muttered her name and Chloe calmed down noticeably. "Sorry, Officer Tess means a lot to me and I..."
I eased off of her and we walked in silence for a bit until she answered my earlier question.
She wanted to make everything right one day. Her, not speech, but rather explanation was passionate, such that a slight aura swirled around her. She wanted to be like the Heroes of Justice in Unova and get into the Jenny training program in the spring. That got me thinking back to Spritzee and why I agreed to let him keep traveling with us. He knew what he wanted to do with his life. So did she. But I still hadn't figured out what I wanted at all. The process was not as easy as it had seemed to me.
As I thought about it, Chloe and I started meshing better as she started eliminating her errors and communicating with me. I tried to do the same but my experience with communicating was short orders in a fight with wilds so I wasn't as good at it as she was with her efficiently stated tactics. I did give Fly some tips though and out of our last 5 battles of the 20 something we did, we won 4.
Her starter was, as expected, her strongest and always bounced around with quick attack to get in close for poison jab or rock smash. At Sneasel's own leisure, she used fake out once per opponent to make them flinch. I didn't understand the intricacies, but I knew that the move wouldn't work a second time.
Girafarig was a ranged turret, sending confusions with her front head while defending himself with the back tail and a nasty bite or double kick. They acted as separate entities and the confusions only stopped when he aimed before sending off the attack.
Wiglett was the simplest of them all, running around and dashing in to slam into other Pokemon. He seemed to go even faster through the ground than in training but Chloe assured me that he was just a little nervous in battles.
Her newest addition, the galarian Zigzagoon from that time we ate with wilds right when they got to Darklauf was a piece of work. She could use knock off like it was nothing and to amp up the damage sometimes, she would pick up random stuff lying on the ground (mostly chalky stones but I once saw her find tumblestone somehow) to toss into her enemies to get the bonus spite effect and increase the power. I thought it was hilarious every time I saw that happen even if I lost most of the battles with her involved. She wouldn't listen to Chloe most of the time in favor of brawling and when she did listen, Chloe wasn't able to use her effectively.
Chloe rotated through her whole team while I stuck with Fly and Ian such that I could monitor my troublemakers. I asked her for her phone number at the end of our battling, wanting to keep save it. I sensed rather than felt, more of that dedication I recognized before. She was going to be strong and I wanted to be around her for the climb.
