18 Bulking It Up

Before this chapter kicks off, I just wanted to say that one of the harem members WON'T be Cynthia, and before you make any complaints, please listen. As you know, I have made in my story that trainers start their journey at the age of fifteen, and I'm pretty sure she has held her title as a champion for a number of years now if I'm not mistaken.

I'm personally not comfortable with having my main character paired with anyone that will be a significant number of years older than himself. In this story, Cynthia's age will be twenty-five. A few of you did mention how my MC wouldn't be able to beat the champions so easily even after if he wins the league, mainly because of their years of experience.

So, I apologise to those that are disappointed by this. I just don't feel comfortable writing pairings that aren't within one or two years apart from one another. I hope you can understand this and just continue along with the story as normal.

Also, I wanted to just ask a question out of curiosity. Who is actually the stronger champion? Alder or Diantha? I know Diantha has a Mega Gardevoir, but Alder has a lot of experience, far more than any other champion. Though, that doesn't seem to matter much as he was beaten by Cynthia, who is significantly younger than he is. I want to make him stronger than Diantha in this story, but I honestly don't really know...

If you want to know my reasons for why I want to make him stronger, it is because Diantha seems to focus more on her whole actress career than actually training to maintain her champion title. While I don't know what Alder does in his spare time, he probably dabs in training every now and then, maybe? Though, he did lose to Iris... Gah, I don't know!

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"Speech"

'Thoughts'

[Pokemon Speech]

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"So, how long have you had these three?"

"I've been with Machoke and Machamp for a few years now." An older man's voice sounded as Nate had asked the question. The man that responded appeared to be pretty old, most likely in his seventies or so, though he seemed to be able to walk with no difficulty and had some decent muscles.

At the current time, Nate and his pokemon had finished their training and were currently resting as they were going to be continuing their training later tonight. The place they were currently at was a simple-looking house belonging to the man Nate was speaking with.

The man that he was speaking with was Mr Renno, or previously known as Master Renno. From what Nate had learnt, this old man used to be the master of a dojo in another city that helped in training fighting types. Though, he voluntarily retired to allow his grandson to take it over.

Mr Renno was also the owner of the three fighting types that had joined in on their training, and the three were currently conversing with the other three on the ground while they were resting. Kayden was asking them if they did P90X. Nate just deadpanned at the guy when he did.

"So, what about Machop?" Nate curiously asked as he turned his attention down towards the smallest of the fighting trio. Unlike normal machop, Nate could see that the machop was indeed shiny. Which was pretty damn rare. "He seems... distant?"

"Yes... I have only recently caught that machop while we were training in the mountains. It hasn't completely gotten familiar with the other two..." Renno voiced as he gave a small sigh. True to his words, Nate and his pokemon noticed how the machop seemed to distance himself from its evolutions and didn't really speak much at all to them.

However, it seemed that the machop was getting along better with Kayden and the other two than its own evolutionary line. Nate just smiled in amusement at this before turning back to Renno before asking. "Do you have any idea why machop seems restless though?"

"I actually do. I'm not sure if you are aware, but some machop tend to favor exploring the world to become stronger. Since I have retired and have remained here in Celadon, machop probably isn't happy about it..." Renno explained as Nate nodded his head in understanding. "That leads to a request I want to ask of you."

"A request?"

"As I just said, I am not really in the state that I wish to travel the world anymore at my current age. So, I know I can't satisfy machop's need for adventure and power." Renno stated as he looked at the machop, who was smiling and talking with the others. "That's why I want to ask you to take him with you."

"So, you want me to take him with..." Nate said in a bit of surprise. He had a feeling that Renno was going to ask him something like that, but he didn't expect to be asked so bluntly. "Can I ask for the reason as to why you want me, in particular, to take him though?"

"You did say that you were going to be travelling across the world to win all of the leagues, correct?" Renno smiled as he crossed his arms over his chest. "I saw how determined you were to get stronger back in the park, and the fact that you have such high goals solidifies my resolve to allow you to take machop with you."

"I don't really mind taking him at all, it's just whether or not he wants to go with me."

"We'll just have to see. Machop!" Renno called out to the small muscular pokemon, who blinked in confusion at it suddenly being called out. Machop looked towards Renno and rose an eyebrow before standing up and walking over to the man. "Machop, I know you want to get stronger. So, I'm giving you a decision. Do you want to explore the world and become stronger with Nate and his pokemon?"

Machop blinked for a second before widening its eyes and looking towards Nate in surprise, Nate just kept a calm look as the others went silent as they listened to the conversation. Whether Machop wishes to go with him or not, Nate and the others will respect his decision.

It wasn't too long before Machop grinned and began nodding his head vigorously, along with flexing his arms up. Seeing this, the other pokemon felt amused by the machop's actions as they looked towards Nate, who smiled as well.

"Hahaha~! It seems that he is more than happy to come along with you, young man!" Renno laughed wholeheartedly as he saw the machop's excitement. Renno then took out a Pokeball before handing it to Nate. "This is Machop's Pokeball. Do take care of him, would you?"

"Of course." Nate smiled as he took hold of the ball. He then walked over to Machop before kneeling down on one knee, Machop watching him with a big smile on his face. "Machop, you will be training alongside the others and I from now on. I'll be blunt, our training won't be easy and we are aiming to become stronger, even we don't know how strong we want to become. I hope you will be committed."

Machop grinned before holding his fist up to Nate, who gave a small smirk before fist-bumping.

The others soon came on over to welcome him to the team, with the two evolutionary forms of Machop standing back and smiling with approval as they were happy for their junior. They knew what it felt like to have that same mindset of wanting to explore the world, they were once machop after all.

Nate smiled and took out his Pokedex before scanning the Pokeball that he was just given. If he wanted to train machop, then the first important thing was to know just what moves Machop knew so he could properly provide the correct training and such. Along with knowing if there were any holes they needed to patch if the moves weren't that versatile.

Such as being if Machop went up against flying types, he would be at a great disadvantage.

"What the..." Nate blinked his eyes in surprise as Kayden climbed up onto Nate's shoulder and also went bug-eyed as he saw the information that was just provided. Seeing their expressions, Renno could only laugh out loud as he was greatly amused.

"He is a special one, don't you agree?! Hahaha~!"

『Machop』

Pokedex Entry: Machop exercises by hefting around a Graveler as if it were a barbell. There are some Machop that travel the world in a quest to master all kinds of martial arts.

Ability: Guts

Moves: Fire Punch, Ice Punch, Thunder Punch, Bulk Up, Karate Chop

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It was getting late now as Nate and his pokemon were now back at the pokemon center, with them having left Renno's house around two or so hours ago. They had some lunch an hour ago as they were now back to their final training session for the day.

This time, Machop was training alongside them all as they were going through the same routine as before, though tamer compared to before. Aside from Nate and Machop, the others were currently focusing on improving the power of their moves as they were attacking the targets that Nate set up at the back area of the pokemon center.

Nate had also provided Machop with his own weights from the nearby department store, with them totaling out to be eighty kilograms. While it is known that machop train by lifting up gravelers, Machop would be wearing these weights pretty much twenty-four-seven to train. Luckily, their muscles don't strain nearly as easily compared to other people, if at all.

While Machop was physically powerful, he wasn't nearby as physically strong as Golisopod at the moment, and along with being a decent bit stronger than Victreebel in that regard. Even if the game data seemed to suggest that victreebel has more physical strength than machop, it wasn't the case here as Machop was definitely the more physically powerful out of the two.

However, Nate didn't want machop to just have raw power. At the current time, while the others were practicing on getting their moves stronger along with sparing, Nate was teaching machop some basic close combat techniques. Along with how to redirect a powerful hit, especially if that hit would be extremely damaging if it hit you.

Nate was showing this by having a small spar with Machop, which he obviously knew that Machop was the stronger one out of them, despite being the size of a child. Nate easily redirected Machop's strikes, greatly minimizing the amount of damage that is inflicted on him. The only reason he knew how to fight was thanks to his father, original father that is.

His original father was a part of the military, and practiced in a number of different fighting styles. One of them that he was taught was Krav Maga, which he showed Nate how to do as well just in case he finds himself in a really dangerous situation. He might try to teach Machop that style at some point, but probably not for a good while.

Anyway, the training was going pretty well. Nate was quite certain that they would be able to win tomorrow, though he wasn't going to be overconfident.

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