14. Father and Son

For a long time Robert was convinced that there were no true Pokémon trainers here on the farm, after the last two months of training with his father he knew how very wrong he was. Dennis was a strong trainer. Over the last two months, their training to become Pokémon trainers with Dennis isn't the only change the three siblings have had to their schedule.

The lessons with their mother Mariah also changed a lot. As a Pokénurse Mariah was naturally, knowledgeable about Pokémon. Now that the children had shown interest in being trainers, most of the lessons were about Pokémon. She announced she was going to teach them how to tell a Pokémon's general age and level, whether it's injured and aggressive or calm and relaxed, among other things. for now, they had to start with the basics though. During these lessons, they found out that their mother was a skilled trainer as well. She was not as skilled in battling or as strong as their father but by no means a weakling.

With these lessons with their mother, they learned that as a Pokémon rises in level it becomes harder the higher the level. Robert was prepared for this as that's how it is in the games. Different from the games though is that certain levels are a lot harder to push past than others, known as level blocks.

There are two different types of these level blocks and they are known as a soft level block and a hard level block. These level blocks are major hurdles for a Pokémon and if it doesn't have a high enough talent, are permanent walls that forever block its path forward.

The first level block a Pokémon encounters is a soft level block at lv20. A soft level block is by far the easiest to overcome and is usually a matter of time and extra effort. As if the normal amount of exp to get past a level had tripled. When a Pokémon makes it past they get a mild boost in strength. Not anything over the top but a Pokémon at lv21 would have a noticeable advantage over one at lv20. A hard level block was far more difficult.

A hard level block cannot be overcome by the Pokémon alone and needs an outside source to help it. Unless you're Pokémon has an incredibly high talent, even then it only works for the earlier ones. This outside help can be certain items filled with the power of the same attribute as the pokemon or most commonly a difficult battle. The second way however while more commonly used is not guaranteed, the more desperate the battle is the more likely it is to push past its limit. Most trainers prefer this method even if they can afford those expensive and rare items as the items may be less effective next time and it could be stuck at its next hard level block.

The first hard level block a Pokémon will face is at lv30 and while Pokémon with a bronze phase talent can surpass this, some silver phase Pokémon have been known to get stuck at this level. If a Pokémon does get past a hard level block its power receives a major boost to its strength. A Pokémon at lv31 with the right moves can hold off two of the same Pokémon at lv30 with ease, some talented ones could even defeat them.

These level blocks occurred every ten levels and alternate each other, so lv40 is a soft level block and so on. While training with his Father, Robert had seen his father's Pokémon and learned what their level was. Dennis had a Bouffalant at lv40 and a Taurus at lv46! He had two Pokémon past their first hard level block and one approaching its second. Robert knew that if he had any hope of getting to the source of that strange feeling that was still shouting at him in the back of his head, he needed his father's help.

Robert ran back to the house like his ass was on fire with a Moltres right behind ready to reignite it. As soon as he made it to the house and flung the door open he then continued to race into the lounge. Robert spotted Dennis sitting on the lounge alone with the news going on the TV, currently looking at him in shock. Robert didn't pause for a moment and continued until he was directly in front of his father, he then dropped to his knees and said in a pleading and desperate tone. "Dad I need your help with something dangerous, I promise that if you help me this time, I'll never ask for anything again".

Dennis was absolutely flabbergasted by what was happening. He knew his son well and although he seemed a bit odd most of the times, he always committed to things he set out to do and never complained or backed down from hard work. In fact, Dennis was the one telling him to take it easier with their training sessions. The boy never seemed to want anything for himself and when he did ask for things it was usually more beneficial to someone else than it was to him.

Just as Dennis was about to question his son what in the world was going on, the words seemed to get caught in his throat. It was the look in his sons' eyes. Full of confusion and begging but most of all desperation. Desperation so strong that even Robert himself didn't realize it. When Dennis saw how desperate his son was for whatever he was asking for the words he wanted to say seemed to die in his throat.

Dennis stood up and said one simple word, "ok". Truth was that Dennis felt rather guilty towards this son of his. When Robert, Sasha and Stephanie first expressed their desire to train their Pokémon and themselves, he didn't think too carefully about it and was simply happy his kids needed his help. After seeing how hard working they all were he started to get suspicious, they were all children after all. One day he managed to get out of them how it started.

He learned of Robert telling the sisters of the incident with the shiny Miltank. Robert proceeded to apologize for telling the twins about that night and how desperately he needed to talk to someone. Dennis knew after hearing all this that as a father, he had made a major blunder. He had been too worried about more people coming for shiny Pokémon or Team Rocket coming for revenge. He didn't think carefully about what sort of lasting effects being a witness to the whole bloody mess could have on his son. The self-blame was even more of a shock to him. As far as he saw it all the blame went to the Team Rocket goon, he didn't realize the self-blame Robert was feeling over Kurt's death.

He felt like a horrible father. Now, even if it was dangerous, he would help him and protect him no matter what. Maybe with that, he could make it up to his son a little.

Robert was wild with joy at his father's response. Father and son quickly set off, telling Mariah they would be back late as they left in a rush.