Trying To Help...

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"Speech"

'Thoughts'

[Pokemon Speech]

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Nate, Kayden and the other pokemon were currently training themselves in an open area, with Kayden and Wimpod sparring against one another while Nate was running a few laps to build up his stamina and more. He had already finished his weight training, which he had managed to buy a few weights at the athletics shop in the shopping mall.

It had been two days since Nate had earned his first gym badge, and had taken the time to train against the various kinds of pokemon in the area. They were all improving greatly, Kayden was getting even better at maneuvering around as he used a nearby rocky area to practice his movements, as well as using the forest.

Wimpod was also improving at a rapid rate as well, with Nate buying him some attachable weights to help Wimpod increase his physical strength. Along with Wimpod training to improve the power behind its special attacks as well, though that was more difficult to train compared to basic exercises to increase general attack.

Kayden and also Nate were putting the most work into their training though. Having been restricted to being in Viridian City limited the ability they had to get stronger, and it was impressive as is that they even got as strong as they had before Nate had become an official trainer.

His parents didn't exactly allow Nate to train with Kayden too much before he became fifteen, which was of course a few days ago when he first started his journey. However, when they did manage to get training in, it wasn't anything serious as either his dad or mum watched over them to make sure they didn't go overboard, though mostly his mother as his dad was busy with work most of the time.

There were times that they battled other trainers that were passing by, though that was incredibly rare as trainers wouldn't exactly want to battle someone who wasn't even officially considered a pokemon trainer yet. The ones he did battle against though, Kayden had gained quite a bit of experience from battling them, as well as Nate.

Now that they were free from such restrictions, the two would make sure to train much harder compared to what they could before. Nate didn't want to end up not training enough that he would greatly struggle in his future battles. Kayden was already powerful as is, he definitely could have beaten Brock on his own, but could definitely improve at a much faster rate now.

Nate was currently on his thirtieth or so lap around this area, and was feeling the burning in his legs. The rather rough terrain was also making it pretty difficult, considering he did a lot of running in the city, where the ground was mostly flat and didn't have things like random rocks and logs as well as random elevated areas.

"Alright... that's enough... for now." Nate panted as he walked over towards where Kayden and Wimpod were sparring. It was mainly Kayden training Wimpod than it was a battle or spar. Despite it only being a small amount of time since the gym battle, Wimpod had already gotten much stronger.

Seeing this, Nate smiled as he knew that leaving Kayden to train Wimpod was a good idea. Nate would also train the bug-type when he wasn't training himself. So, when he was training his own body, he would leave it to Kayden to train the little guy. They both had the same knowledge, after all, so they both knew what they were doing.

Nate took off his shirt before tossing it on top of the foldable table he had set up for them here. He still didn't understand how backpacks could be bottomless. Anyway, he quickly got started on making food for all of them. Despite being able to get some food from the pokemon center and also the stores, Nate was quite skilled in cooking, so Kayden and Wimpod preferred his cooking instead.

However, Nate did find cooking without any available meat a bit challenging. The only thing that he could do was simulate the taste and texture of meat by mixing other things to create vegetarian versions of the meat products, along with using other basic ingredients in the dishes that he would make.

He also had to take the liberty to learn how to make different pokemon foods, which was actually pretty enjoyable as he decided to learn how to make other region's specialty treats as well. Such being Pokeblock, Poffins, Pokepuffs, Pokebeans, and more. If he was going to be a trainer, he wanted them to be happy with the food they ate.

As Nate continued to prepare their food, Kayden and Wimpod continued their training. Wimpod could be seen visibly tired while Kayden didn't appear to be fatigued at all. While Nate and Kayden couldn't do any serious training before becoming trainers, they did run a lot so their stamina was pretty damn high.

"Guys, finish up! Food's ready!" Nate shouted out as both Kayden and Wimpod stopped their training and looked over towards where Nate was. Nate had prepared the generic-looking pokemon food for Wimpod, though of course specifically made for water and bug types. Kayden would just eat what Nate ate.

Nate had placed the plate of pokemon food on the table as Wimpod jumped on up before cheerfully eating away. It had instantly fallen in love with the food that Nate made when he first gave him some pokemon food, it was much better compared to the stuff that he ate when in the wild.

[So, do you think Ash and Misty have arrived yet?] Kayden asked as he slowly ate his food. Nate just looked at Kayden as he swallowed the bite he had just taken. Nate thought about it for a second before giving a small shrug before answering.

"Probably. It's already been a few days, so those two are probably nearing here by now if they didn't end up getting held back by something." Nate answered as he took a sip from the coffee he had made. "Knowing Leaf, she's probably taking her sweet time in the forest. You know how slow she can be."

[True that... kinda glad we didn't decide to travel with her]

"While that is kind of rude, I can't really disagree..." Nate gave a nervous chuckle as he said this. It was true that Nate and Kayden were the types that liked to quickly journey forth, getting stronger at their own pace. Leaf's pace was a bit too slow for them... "What do you think about Ash? Ya think he's matured any compared to his original counterpart?"

[Oh heck no. You could tell just by looking at him the first time that he's probably just as idiotic as he was when first starting off in the anime]

"..."

Nate wasn't entirely sure how to respond to that answer as he just gave a small nervous smile. Kayden could be pretty blunt about things when he wanted to be. They just continued eating while talking about small things, nothing completely serious.

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[♪ We can keep singing without the sun. From your voice, from my voice, the world sings as one ♪]

"♪ The day that I found you, you found me, too. Now whenever our eyes meet, our laughter says more than our words ♪."

Nate and Kayden were now back in the city walking down the street as they were both singing the song named Acacia, which was the song that was utilised within the special music video that was made. This gained them some weird looks from the other people, but no one stopped them as the song sounded nice to them.

While they couldn't understand what Kayden was saying, they seemed to enjoy the little song.

Singing was just one of the many things that Kayden and Nate liked to do to both calm themselves down during stressful times as well as to just pass time in general. Something about singing your heart out about different topics can really lift some weight off your shoulders.

People have praised them for their singing ability, comparable to that of popular singers around the glove. But, they never really paid much mind to it since they never really thought of themselves as amazing singers, they just did it for fun.

"No matter what fate awai- Oh, is that Ash and Misty?"

As the two were passing by the entrance to the city, they noticed two figures walking towards them. The two obviously being Ash and the other being Misty, and they could only sweatdrop when they saw both of the trainers constantly yelling at one another.

"Oh, Nate!" Misty took notice of Nate as she stopped shouting at Ash. Ash and Misty, along with Pikachu sitting on Ash's shoulder, came on over towards where Nate was as they stopped in front of them. "You're here for the gym, right?"

"WAS here for the gym. I actually beat the gym two days ago, I just wanted to get some training in before I moved on. " Nate voiced as he showed them his badge case. Which they could see the Boulder Badge neatly placed within its compartment.

"Woah, so that's a gym badge!" Ash marveled as he stared at the simple yet shiny badge in Nate's badge case. Nate just chuckled at Ash's actions as he closed the case before putting it away back into his backpack.

"I assume you're here for the same reason, Ash?"

"Yep! I'm sure that I'll be able to win the gym, I've caught plenty of pokemon!" Ash grinned as he seemed to puff his chest out with pride. Nate and Kayden shared a look, Misty just holding a deadpan as she heard this.

"Ash, I'm going to give you some information. It's a gym battle. There are rules that you need to follow. You will only be able to use two pokemon in this gym, so choose wisely. It's a rock and ground type gym."

"Hm? So? I'm sure Pikachu is more than enough to beat the gym! I even caught a pidgeotto! AND my caterpie ended up evolving into a butterfree."

[Oh sweet Jesus... Those aren't exactly the best pokemon to use. Though, we kind of can't talk considering you used me in the gym. But, we are a different case...]

"Yeah... I don't recommend you challenge the gym as of right now, Ash. I'm gonna put this straight with you, you aren't ready for this." Nate stated seriously as Ash just blinked in confusion. "Pikachu won't be able to do anything in the gym, unless he has a suitable moveset."

"What do you mean?"

"Pikachu uses mainly electric moves, right? Nothing much else aside from normal-type moves. Ground-types aren't affected by electricity, and normal-type moves aren't very effective." Nate explained with a sigh. He felt like this information was common, so it was weird explaining it. "Go and train as much as you can first, you aren't ready."

"He's right, Ash." Misty joined in as she looked at the young trainer, who looked pretty upset by what Nate had said. "Gym leaders aren't your everyday trainers, you'll need to prepare yourself before taking them on. They're on another level."

"What are you talking about? I'm certain I'm strong enough to beat the gym!"

'I can't believe Ash is this pathetic at the start of the series. I mean, he has his pathetic moments in the current series, but he's unbelievable right now...' Nate sighed as he rubbed his forehead in frustration. He was trying to help the dude right now. "Ash, I'll say it again. If you don't go and train, then you'll be crushed. You stand no chance right now."

"What...?!" Ash gritted his teeth as Pikachu just blinked as he looked at his trainer. Ash then clenched his fists as he then stomped on past them all. "I'll show you two just how strong I am! I'm going to take on the gym right now!"

Nate couldn't help but sigh. He tried to help, but it seems that Ash is too thick-headed. If memory serves, Ash won due to the plot where the sprinklers turned on and allowed for easier victory. Along with his electric attacks working on Onix and Geodude.

However, that wasn't the case anymore.

He also remembered that the sprinklers ended up turning on, thus weakening Onix due to it being a rock and ground type. This allowing for Pikachu's electric attacks to do more damage, which shouldn't at all have worked since simple water doesn't have the same effect as if a pokemon used the move Soak. If it did, any and every pokemon would become a water-type by swimming.

Even with that though, Pikachu's electric attacks shouldn't have affected Onix and Geodude initially at all anyway... There were some pretty dumb moments that happened in pokemon that made absolutely no sense.

"For crying out loud..."

[He's an absolute idiot...]

"He's gonna get his butt kicked..." Misty deadpanned as she then gave a big sigh as they watched Ash running off towards where the gym was. "Sorry about him, all you were trying to do was give him useful advice... and he ignored it. I better go after him."

"Don't worry about it. If Ash doesn't learn from the butt-kicking he's about to get, then I really don't know what will."

[No shit]

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