Chapter 32: Progress!
ROAAAAR
BOOM
A powerful wave of energy hit them all, and they found it hard not to fly away from the force behind it.
"They are still at it?" Nessa asked while looking toward the smoke cloud rising in the air.
"They should be done by now."
As soon as Aeron said those words, a blue sea serpent came out of the forest with a Pokémon in its mouth.
"Dos."
It threw the Dragon in its jaw toward Aeron before standing behind its trainer.
"Hey buddy, are you alive?"
"...Xew." The dragon shook its head, and everyone burst into a peal of laughter.
"Who told you to challenge Nayla?" Nessa picked up the dragon in her embrace and cuddled with it.
"Axew." The Dragon shook its head and refused to say anything else; its eyes focused on the sea serpent behind Misty.
"Ra!" The sea serpent scoffed at the Dragon's weakness and gave it a mocking smirk.
"Axew!" the Dragon tried to stand up, but it was too tired and injured to move, so it could only fight the sea serpent in a staring contest.
"Dos?" Gyarados provoked it once again, but before Axew could respond, Misty stopped them both.
"Nayla, that's enough."
"Ra." The sea serpent shot one last mocking glare at Axew before it rested its head on Misty's lap.
On the other hand, Axew had its cheeks squished by Nessa as she played with it like a little doll. The dragon gave in to the girl, rested its head in her arms, and fell asleep.
"I think we should take a break now." Nessa pouted as she stared Aeron in the eye. "We have spent almost two months in the wilds; I already miss a comfortable bed, and our Pokémon are also tired."
"I was hoping to reach Greenwich Town today." Aeron checked the time, and it was still early in the morning. "We can make it before dusk if we leave in an hour."
"Let's go." Nessa pumped her fists while Misty was happy as well.
"I thought you would never agree." The orange-haired girl said while sighing in relief.
Aeron smiled at their relaxed expressions. "Maybe a few more..."
"Don't you even think about it!"
"Hell no!"
The girls glared at him as if he owed them money but clicked their tongues when they saw him chuckle.
"I was joking. We should go to Greenwich Town; we, and especially our Pokémon, need rest after they trained so hard for the last month." Aeron looked at Growlithe and Larvesta, who had already fallen asleep, one in his lap and the other on his shoulder. "Let's see how far we have made it, shall we?"
The girls nodded and scanned their Pokémon with their dexs before sharing the stats with each other.
-0-
Nessa:
-
[Horsea
Gender: Male
Ability: Swift Swim
Innate Moves: Aurora Beam (B), Dragon Breath (B), Octazooka (B), Bubble Beam (B)
Moves: Leer (B), Water Gun (B), Smokescreen (B), Rain Dance (B), Dragon Dance
TM: Ice Beam (B), Surf, Waterfall]
-
[Pidgey
Gender: Female
Ability: Keen Eyes
Innate Moves: Agility (B), Tailwind (B), Brave Bird, Air Cutter (B)
Moves: Gust (B), Tackle (B), Quick Attack (B), Wing Attack (B), Steel Wings
TM: None]
-0-
Misty:
-
[Wartortle
Gender: Male
Type: Water
Ability: Rain Dish
Innate Moves: Aqua Ring (A), Surf (A), Work Up (A), Rain Dance (A)
Moves: Tackle (A), Water Gun (A), Withdraw (B), Rapid Spin (B), Bite (A), Water Pulse (A), Protect (A), Brick Break (B), Ice Beam (B)
TMs: None]
-
[Gyarados
Gender: Female
Type: Water/Flying
Ability: Intimidate
Innate Moves: Dragon Dance (M), Hydro Pump (M), Crunch (M), Hyper Beam (A)
Moves: Leer (M), Taunt (M), Tackle (M), Protect (M), Body Slam (M), Twister(M), Dragon Tail (M), Waterfall (M), Water Pulse (M), Rain Dance (M), Fire Fang (M), Ice Fang (M), Ice Beam (M), Hurricane (M), Bulldoze (M), Stone Edge (M), Outrage (A)
TMs: Thunder Wave (M), Earthquake (M), Flamethrower (M)]
-0-
~Whistle~
Aeron could not help but whistle as he looked at how stacked Misty's Gyarados was, and this was just its moveset; the sea serpent was physically stronger as well after all the training it had done.
"Nayla is a freaking beast." Nessa looked at the sea serpent, who squirmed in Misty's lap after her praise. "And you still don't want to participate in Gym Circuit?"
"I am going to gather a full team of Water-type Pokémon, stack 'em up, and destroy all competition," Misty spoke with a sadistic grin as she imagined her Pokémon destroying every opponent she would have in the Conference. She then looked at the stats of Nessa's Pokémon. "Your team is coming through great, and Pidgey should be very close to evolving."
"Mhm." Nessa agreed with her words. "Once Horsea has brought [Dragon Dance], [Surf] and [Waterfall] to Beginner-stage, I am going to start adding diversity to its moveset. As for Pidgey, although it is close to evolution, we still have some time...I want it to learn a few more [Moves] before that."
The three trainers shared their evaluation before the girls turned toward Aeron. "Your turn!"
The boy did not keep them waiting as he scanned his three Pokémon and shared the stats with them.
-0-
Aeron:
-
[Larvesta
Gender: Male
Type: Bug/Fire
Ability: Flame Heart
Innate Moves: Quiver Dance (B), Fiery Dance (B), Flamethrower (B), Heat Wave (B)
Moves: Harden (B), String Shot (B), Bug Bite (B), Ember (B), Flame Charge (B), Protect (B)
TMs: N/A]
-
[Growlithe
Gender: Male
Type: Fire
Ability: Intimidate
Innate Moves: Morning Sun (B), Flare Blitz, Heat Wave, Crunch (B)
Moves: Agility (B), Tackle (B), Ember (B), Flame Charge (B)
TMs: N/A]
-
[Axew
Gender: Male
Type: Dragon
Ability: Mold Breaker
Innate Moves: Night Slash (B), Iron Tail (B), Sword Dance (B), Dragon Dance (B)
Moves: Scratch (B), Leer (B), Scary Face (B), Taunt (B), Dragon Claw (B), Dragon Breath (B), Crunch (B), Outrage
TMs: Protect (B)]
-0-
"This should be enough to take on the first gym." Nessa nodded in praise as she looked at the moveset of Aeron's Pokemon. "And I still find it funny that Axew learnt [Taunt] when it flipped the middle finger at Nayla."
Aeron and Misty chuckled when they remembered Axew getting beat by Gyarados, and then it flipped its middle finger before it fell unconscious. The sea serpent was mad at the Dragon but couldn't do anything since the opponent was already down. So, it let out a power [Hyper Beam] at a Rattata that it saw from the corner of its eyes.
Since then, Axew and Gyarados have fought each other at every chance.
"But I am glad Axew considers Nayla a rival." Aeron looked at the Dragon sleeping in Nessa's arms. "Axe has been pushing itself ever since."
The Dragon had suffered many losses from the sea serpent, and it started seeing the Gyarados as a rival. Therefore, it worked hard every day to get stronger to beat what Axew called a 'stupid serpent.'
It brought [Swords Dance] and [Dragon Dance] to Beginner-stage while learnt [Dragon Breath] so it could spit at the sea serpent. It picked up [Crunch] after Gyarados used the [Move] during one of their fights.
"It might be goofy, but I have never seen a Pokémon as talented as Axe." Nessa caressed the sleeping Dragon. "It learns things as soon as it sees them...even some Psychic Pokémon would be put to shame by its learning speed."
Misty agreed with her friend's words. Unlike other Pokémon that helped each other during the training session, Axew never asked for help other than Aeron's. Although it played around during the night, as soon as it was time to train, Axew was the one who worked the hardest and pushed itself beyond its limits.
"Axew used to be very timid." Aeron tried to pick up the Dragon from Nessa's lap, but the girl slapped his hands away and continued to cuddle with it. The boy shook his head before continuing. "Both of us suffered a lot in the Viridian Forest incident, and Axew doesn't want something like that to happen again." A soft smile appeared on his face knowing that the Dragon who loved to play was training as hard as it could so that Aeron would never get hurt again. "But beyond that, Dragon-type Pokémon have deep pride running through their veins."
Aeron explained, and the two girls listened.
"When I was ten, I was lucky enough to attend a training camp held by a local professor. He went into great detail about different types of Pokémon, and among them, the Dragon-type Pokémon stood out a lot to me." Aeron remembered that lecture very well. "Dragon-type Pokémon consider themselves the strongest, and when in your team, they will always want to be the strongest. For them, it is a matter of pride that they cannot be the weakest. Whenever a Dragon's pride is hurt, it retaliates back. When Nayla beat the crap out of it, Axe's pride was hurt, and it won't rest till it becomes the strongest of the two."
He then pointed at his other two Pokémon before fixing his reading glasses with a finger. "Axe might be young, but it is a Dragon nonetheless. It is also my first Pokemon, and thus want to be the strongest of them all. For Axe, it is a matter of pride to call itself my strongest Pokemon and my ace. It will never allow any other Pokémon to take that spot. It will care for its fellow brothers and sisters but never let them call themselves my ace."
"And what if you have more than one Dragon-type?"
"Then they will duke it out. Just because they have unyielding pride does not mean they do not recognize others. They will aim to be the strongest but also respect the strongest and at the same time work hard to beat the strongest." Aeron took out his Pokeballs and recalled them back before patting Nessa and Misty's heads. "Let's go; we should leave before it is too late. I don't think you ladies want to spend another night in a forest."
Aeron walked away to pack his bags, leaving behind two ladies whose faces had turned red.
Nessa watched him leave and said with a smile. "He can be pretty considerate when he wants to be."
"And he is hot," Misty added as her eyes never left the boy.
"True."
"..."
"..."
Nessa and Misty looked at each other before their faces flushed red.
"Let's forget we had this talk."