Chapter 25 : Emma's First Pokemon

Emma was confused once again. One moment, he was the normal Orion that she knew, another moment he suddenly pinched her cheeks causing her some pain like a bully and now he was acting like a mysterious wise old man!

Orion said, "One. When you defeat someone in anything, you shouldn't gloat or celebrate over-enthusiastically. Not everyone is as kind-hearted as me. A few petty people might try to take revenge on you using underhanded means."

Still holding her cheeks, Emma countered, "Isn't that what you did?"

Orion ignored her complaints and continued, "Two, training Psychic powers is good but you need to train your body as well. No matter how much you train, your Psychic powers won't be of much use in the wild until we reach Master Cedric's level. So, you require a strong body to be able to run away from the danger you are facing. As a Pokemon Trainer, your most important skill is your ability to run away from wild Pokemons."

Emma immediately asked, "Why will I run away when I can directly defeat wild Pokemons in battle?"

Orion shook his head and replied seriously, "Take it as advice from someone who has read one library in its entirety and another halfway. Even the Champions can't guarantee that they will be able to defeat the Wild Pokemons they encounter. Though I have never met any, I can assure you that they are the best when it comes to running away!

As for us who haven't even started our journeys, we will have to prepare ourselves for falling into such situations several times. It doesn't matter how strong a Pokemon team you train. If you don't have the stamina to escape, then your fate will be tragic. I don't want to see that happen.

Your progress in Psychic is very good and you are now the best in our age group. From what I heard, even our immediate seniors don't have anyone who has reached the Fourth step yet. But if you want to become a good trainer, you should start training your body as well."

Emma was still not convinced, but she didn't say anything as Orion had a point. Besides, it wasn't like Orion was forcing her to do it. Orion got up and gave her a hand to get up. Emma accepted his hand but was still on guard in case he made a move on her cheeks once again.

Seeing how much she was on guard, he chuckled and said, "Congrats on being the first one in our batch to complete step 3."

Emma replied softly, "Thank You."

Orion smiled before taking his leave. Emma caressed her cheeks again and complained, 'Why couldn't he just congratulate me without pinching my cheeks?'

Suddenly, she recalled why she had been competing with Orion. Her eyes widened and she immediately rushed to find Cedric. On seeing him, she immediately informed him that she had surpassed Orion and even completed step 3 of training.

Cedric wasn't too surprised as he had been keeping track of their progress. He thought, 'That means that Orion is very close to completing the third step as well. It's even more impressive considering that his main focus seems to be training Rhyhorn.

Two students who will complete the third step with 2 years still left before they can start their journey. Though many innocents died, that Drowzee was a blessing in disguise. Both of them should have no problem in completing the fourth step within the next 5 years.'

He smiled and said, "Good work, Emma. Come with me."

Cedric led her to his personal training room. Several of his Pokemons were meditating there. He found a Pokeball, handed it to Emma and said, "This is your first Pokemon."

Emma looked at the Pokeball with curiosity. They had already been taught how to handle a Pokeball, so she knew what to do. She immediately released the Pokemon inside.

A small, blue, humanoid Pokémon with a meditating posture and gem-like appendages on its head appeared in front of her.

Emma immediately recognized the Pokemon and exclaimed, "A Meditite!"

Meditite curiously checked on her new trainer as well. Cedric said, "Yes, a Meditite. She is a female. Go on, you can introduce yourself to her."

Unlike Orion's Rhyhorn, which he had caught in the wild, the Meditite Cedric gave to Emma had been obtained through breeding. As a result, she wasn't aggressive towards humans and there wasn't much of a chance that she would attack Emma without any provocation.

Emma introduced herself to Meditite and began handling her gently. Within a couple of minutes, Meditite was sitting comfortably in her lap. Cedric smiled at how smooth the process was.

He said, "Emma, are you aware of Pokemon talents and other features?"

Emma nodded. While she hadn't read as much as Orion, she had gone through the basic knowledge that every Pokemon Trainer should know.

Cedric nodded approvingly and said, "Good. Meditite's talent has already been tested. She has a Silver talent. So you don't need to test her. Also, your Meditite is very impressive."

Emma asked, "What do you mean by impressive?"

Cedric answered, "She already knows three moves from birth. The three moves are Fire Punch, Ice Punch and Thunder Punch. This will allow you to attack many Pokemons with super effective attacks."

Emma's eyes glittered. Those three moves will provide her with a lot of coverage. Those 3 types along with Meditite's Fighting and Psychic typing meant that Meditite could hit as many as 13 types super effectively!

Cedric handed Emma a similar copy of Pokedex that he had given Orion and explained to her its features. He proceeded to lecture Emma about how she should stick to training Pokemons of just one type, that is the Psychic type. Unlike Orion who had his own views from his previous life and couldn't be convinced easily, he managed to convince Emma. Or rather, almost managed to convince Emma.

Emma was about to agree when she suddenly recalled that Orion had a Rock/Ground type Pokemon despite being a Psychic like her. She asked, "If Psychic is the best type to focus on, then why does Orion have a Rhyhorn? Why wasn't he given a Psychic type Pokemon too?"

Cedric immediately had a headache. He didn't want to say that Orion went out into the wild and caught a Pokemon by himself. He answered, "Orion decided not to follow my advice. His journey will be far more difficult due to that reason."

Emma was confused. She asked, "Why did he decide that?"

Cedric sighed internally. He explained to her about team combinations. Of course, he took the chance to also explain the advantages of training just Psychic types further. In addition, he also explained about Pokemon foods. Learning that she will have to provide for Pokemon food herself if she catches a Pokemon of a different type, she immediately agreed to focus just on Psychic types.

Of course, she wasn't as convinced as she could have been thanks to Orion's existence. Cedric couldn't be sure if she would change her mind once she began earning money. Regardless, there was nothing he could do about it.