41 Chapter 41

"Let's get down to grinding," Jord's voice echoed back through the clearing where they were camped, "To defeat our foes!" he seemed to be singing an oddly catchy song.

She'd actually heard him humming the tune for it Hilda noted as she heard him continue on during the past five days they'd been travelling together, but it was the first time she'd heard him put words to the tune.

They'd just finished breakfast and he decided he wanted to get some training in. Odd considering he'd already trained his pokemon this morning. He got up every morning between five and six from what she'd saw to get training in, then breakfast. Then they'd travel a bit, then have lunch, before he weirdly tended to sleep for a few hours before dinner and more training.

It wasn't his normal training he was doing right now though. He claimed it was more something he wanted to 'impart' onto his team about battling in general.

"Did they send me Tailow, when I need-" he continued singing, "Ho-oh!"

Despite herself a small snort left Hilda's lips.

"You're the weakest team I've levelled up, and since I haven't caught Mewtwo," Hilda's eyebrows rose, what was a Mewtwo? "Team, somehow I'll, make a mon out of you!"

...Since he wasn't technically training, it didn't go against her agreement to get a look at what he was up to right? He was right there after all, she could blatantly hear him!

Curiosity got the better of her and Hilda made her way over to peer through the bushes into the next little clearing where he was with his pokemon.

She blinked as she caught sight of her Snivy sitting on a rock just in front of the bushes watching what was going on in interest. 'So that's where she went.'

She, Snivy actually had taken to watching Jord and his team a lot. They were a much more...battle oriented team than her own. Sure, Hilda was aiming to reach the Pokemon League, but she wasn't aiming to win, she knew her limits. She was aiming to reach it simply to make money, get her name out there even more and make inroads with high profile trainers.

she knew where her talents lay, and while she was decently talented as far as training pokemon went, she wasn't someone who could reach the heights Jord was clearly aiming for.

The heights Snivy was interested in pursuing.

And Hilda could see why Jord peaked her interest. Her eyes drifted to Jord and his pokemon. All of his pokemon were lined up facing him as he walked up and down the line, arms clasped behind his back.

Despite the demeaning words of his song though and his swagger, he had a big cheesy grin on his face and all of his pokemon weren't much better, his Fearow was outright sniggering through its beak and the Charmander that he was rarely apart from was grinning widely.

Really, the only one of his pokemon that she couldn't tell the expression of was his Zubat.

For obvious reasons.

Still, Hilda's eyes were drawn to two specific pokemon in the line up. Oddish and Bellsprout, or rather the pokemon that were formerly Oddish and Bellsprout. Now they were Gloom and Weepinbell.

From what she had picked up here and there from just overhearing him by accident, he'd spent a lot of time working with the two of them since they left Cerulean City. He'd spent a lot of time with all his pokemon and she knew from him telling her that he was trying to teach them all a bunch of attacks.

He was specifically working with Gloom and Weepinbell though so they could get down their powder spore based attacks to higher degrees, and learn all three between the pair of them. His Bellsprout had known Sleep Powder, while his Oddish had known both Poison Powder and Stun Spore.

And Jord was not shy in showing off his pokemon after they evolved and proudly bragging about them managing to do what he wanted. He apparently had big plans for those two. Big enough that before they left Cerulean City, he'd bought both a Sun Stone and Leaf Stone.

Hilda was frankly surprised he hadn't used the evolution stones on them both already considering they had both evolved by yesterday.

But yes, those two drew her attention specifically, because they drew Snivy's attention. She'd had Snivy for months and she had yet to evolve. Yet Jord had only had his own pair of grass types for a few weeks and they had already evolved and were no doubt soon going to reach their final stages.

Snivy was jealous.

"Alright lads!" Jord suddenly stopped in the middle of the line and about turned to face his pokemon, his suddenly sharp bark breaking Hilda from her thoughts, "And ladies." he added, nodding to Chansey, Clefable, Gloom and Milotic.

And did she mention Milotic? Because holy hell, he had a Milotic! And she knew for a fact that he only had a Feebas when they met. But, no matter how much she needled him on the matter of how he evolved her so easily, he remained tight lip.

Considering she offered to let the little horn dog squeeze her ass and he still refused, well that told Hilda that it would be something very juicy and worth knowing.

She'd never even heard of anyone his age having a Milotic. Hell, they were extremely rare to the point where the only trainer that Hilda could name off the top of her head that had one was the Hoenn Champion Wallace!

A trainer having a Milotic was spoken of in the same vein as a trainer having the likes of a Dragonite or Hydreigon or something. Some random kid having one was just not something that should be happening.

And my goodness was it a beautiful pokemon. That graceful serpentine cream body, that luscious pink hair and those glimmering absolutely gorgeous blue scales at the end of her tail.

It made her want to conduct an interview with him right than and there the first time he sent Milotic out and proudly, braggingly, showed the pokemon off to her.

The brat. He knew what he was doing, constantly dangling stuff like that in front of her.

"You all know how to battle, right?" Jord asked them all.

In return, he got a few weird looks from his pokemon before receiving a barrage of nods and noises of confirmation

"Yes you do, cuz you're all badasses, as expected of my pokemon," Jord nodded proudly and she had to resist the urge to roll his eyes. He sure loved boasting about himself and his pokemon, "But, you don't know how to fight!"

'What?' Hilda blinked, confused. And she was not the only one, many of his pokemon gave him confused looks as well, clearly like her not understanding the distinction.

"I'll be teaching you a few rules you stick to when in a fight," Jord carried on, "Number one, talking isn't a free action. When a trainer stops to start talking about whatever, or their pokemon does to taunt you or something, or hell even if I'm talking and taking the piss out of our opponents, don't stop attacking. Be relentless!"

...That was good advice Hilda...guessed? It was kind of custom for trainers to trade banter a lot during battles. It was kind of dickish though.

"Rule number two, body blows are for amateurs!" Jord snapped his fingers, "Aiming for the torso is generally easier yeah as a bigger target boys and girls, but when you get the chance? Aim for the soft spots. Hit them under the chin, smash their elbows or even like in the case of a fighting type like Machamp, beat the crap out of the back of their knees and topple them, hell Charmander when in close I want you to exhale Smokescreen from your nostrils into your opponents eyes!"

Hilda felt her mouth drop and her eyes widen slightly. 'How...brutal and ruthless.' she thought. And honestly, not something that ever occurred to her. But, when she thought about it, Jord grew up on the streets did he not? So it wasn't really surprising that such ruthless tactics seemed common knowledge to him when she had never thought on it herself before. It just had never occurred to her because battling was a sport and that kind of battling wasn't taught back at the trainer school she attended.

Yet despite the utter brutal advice his pokemon all nodded to his words and gave noises of agreement.

"Char char!" the cute little Charmander even snapped of a salute!

"Third, take advantage of your opponents own bodies," Jord continued after nodding at their understanding, "Take Scraggy and Scrafty for example. They have the skin on their legs that they wear like trousers, and it's really stretchy. Pull it up over their heads and tangle them up with it and cut off their vision. Then lay into them and beat them down!"

...That was just plain mean! He really was shameless wasn't he? Jord would really take advantage of any opening presented to him wouldn't he?

Was that the kind of ferocity needed for someone to reach the top heights of the elite of the elite?

"And fourth, the final rule when it comes to the basics of a fight," Jord continued on and took a moment to look into the eyes of each and every single one of his pokemon, "Don't back down, don't give any quarter. If you can't dodge or block hit your opponent with all you can. Make them terrified to even try and hit you. If you catch them, don't land a hit and break off, keep hitting them until they fall. And don't be afraid to fight dirty. Spit in their eyes, bite them, pull their hair, whatever it takes to get the advantage. That's how a real man fights, you get me!" he pumped his fist into the air as he finished.

His pokemon cheered and pumping their own limbs into the air. Milotic spat a stream of water in the air even and happily agreed to his words.

...He was turning his pokemon into thugs! 'It's so wrong to see a pokemon as majestic and beautiful as a Milotic happily and gleefully agree to that kind of advice.' Hilda gaped.

That was something she'd expect out of a Gyarados, not a Milotic!

"Sni, Snivy!" the voice of her own pokemon broke her from her gaping thoughts and she looked in front of her to see her serious little Snivy, her arms crossed, big amber eyes shining as she looked at Jord and nodding eagerly along with his words.

Something was clearly wrong with this picture. Hilda couldn't help but think that. Something so small and cute shouldn't be so eager to inflict such brutal bodily harm!