11 Self Study (2/3)

Her master truly was a heaven-gifted blessing. The longer she stayed with her master, the more she learned.

While she was healing, the reality of the situation finally sank in. She… was weak.

The hill she once stood on, laughing at those below her, was just that. A hill. She'd been so content to look down on those she considered lesser, yet she hadn't realized the mountain behind her.

It was the first time she had ever felt so… helpless. For the first time in her life, she wanted to run.

To hide away, and burrow deep in the ground like her instincts were urging her.

She'd lost so utterly that her master had to get involved. How shameful! To cower and tremble behind him. It was beyond mortifying when she thought back on it.

At one point while she was healing, her master came to see her. It was without a doubt the most terrifying time of her life.

Her promise to never disappoint him was broken so swiftly it hurt.

So she kowtowed the best she could despite her injuries. She had shamed him with her battle, and there was no excuse to give.

She didn't even deserve to look him in the eye.

At the sight of her poor state, the power that laid dormant within her master raged outward. It tore the air asunder and threatened to bury the world in its rampage.

'This is it.' She thought. Her master was benevolent, but it seemed that even he had limits. That her life was forfeit in front of his overwhelming rage.

For a moment, she considered curling up into a ball like before. Cowering and hiding. But she refused to be like that again. To be weak and helpless.

She would accept her death with honor.

But instead of being smitten by his hand, she was embraced. His power twisted and flickered to surround her wholly and comfort her very being.

Careful as always, he hugged her delicately like she was a statue of glass.

She winced as she realized he was speaking. Something wet trailed down her back as he whispered apologies endlessly.

She didn't know what he was apologizing for, but it didn't matter.

Once more she was humbled by her master. She almost couldn't believe it. He cared more for her health than her power or her shamefulness.

She suspected that even if she was always a coward, he would protect her with everything that he had. He seemed unable to help himself from caring about her.

In his arms, she allowed herself to stop mulling over her failures and finally rest.

[}-{]

Waiting for him at the Pokecenter was a lengthy lecture from Nurse Joy about how his room at the Pokecenter was NOT his house and that he really shouldn't be buying a mini-fridge if he didn't have his own place.

Izan didn't take the lecture seriously considering Nurse Joy was just worried about him.

That seemed to be one of her two modes. It was either she was worried or she was happy.

Such was the nature of a woman born to be a healer, he supposed.

Her worry this time sort of offended him, as she thought he was going in the complete opposite of battle junky and decided to become a freeloader instead.

Though in this life, he figured he was sort of a freeloader so it wasn't unjustified.

Still, after waving it off and assuring her that he was only doing this temporarily, she told him to look into spatial backpacks. They could hold an almost impossible amount of items despite their size and had pockets for refrigeration.

Who knew the Pokemon world had something that advanced? He certainly didn't.

Something to look into, but not for now. For one, he was pretty much broke and couldn't afford it.

And two, he had to talk to the Pokemon currently fidgeting in front of him.

Under the shade of a huge tree, he was sitting in front of his Sandshrew as she sat patiently with him. If it weren't for the meter space between them and the Sandshrew's nervous look, it would've been a peaceful sight.

They had been sitting there for a while as Izan, eyes closed, thought about the words he wanted to use to make this an easier chat to have.

In the end, he gave up and decided to just say what came naturally. That would be the most honest way he could come across.

Breathing in through his nose and out through his mouth, he opened his dark brown eyes.

"Nothing that has happened so far has been your fault. And I mean absolutely none."

Sandshrew reacted as expected. First with confusion, and then with realization and an incredulous look.

"Don't look at me like that, I'm serious. Whether it be how strong you currently are, or how well you did in the battle with that Fearow, all of it was my fault."

She looked down at her paws, clenching them. Looking back up, she shook her head in denial. Ignoring her denial, he continued.

"And I suspect that even if you did have the same level of strength as that Fearow, you still would've lost."

That one threw her for a loop, as she stood up in shock, a flash of rage appearing on her face. "Sandshrew?!"

"That probably sounded like an insult but I'm being honest here. But before we get to that, I need to explain something."

Sandshrew took a second to sit back down, nodding as she did so. There was still a light glare on her face, however.

Izan scratched the back of his head, nervous. "Right, uh, I need to confess something. See… when I first got you, I was using you.

Or, at least I think I was trying to. I had this dream of living a life of a battle maniac. Just fighting over and over while going through life and having as much fun as possible.

I wasn't actively trying to do so, but I only spent the bare minimum of money and resources on you. It was in hopes that my dream could somehow become a reality through any avenue, including money.

It was why I was so obsessed with finding out whatever this strange power is.

But during that fight, I realized I was being stupid. After using all of my strength and even that mysterious power, I was barely able to move it. And if it wasn't for that Ferrothorn, I would've died there.

After realizing that, I put everything on the line to push your training to the next level. If you'll forgive me, I want to fulfill my dream through you.

To make you strong, instead. This time, with everything I've got."

Izan finished his long-winded speech by kowtowing to Sandshrew, something that he didn't think he'd be doing in either life.

Only the Pokemon world would create a situation in which someone earnestly bowed to a pangolin.

The silent stepping of dirt as Sandshrew came closer made him nervous about his response, considering he had pretty much no other options. A rugged paw landed on his head.

He looked up, seeing the expression on Sandshrew's face. It wasn't what he was expecting from her. She just looked… neutral?

She backed up a step and brought up her arms, shrugging, while she shook her head back and forth.

"Do… do you not care?" He asked, confuddled.

"Sandshrew." In response, she made a weird shrug and head tilt gesture that he could only interpret as some variation of 'I expected that'.

"Eh?"

Then afterward, she drew a wing in the dirt before circling it three times, stopping her foot. "Sandshrew, shrew!"

'Huh. I really thought she'd care more about that. Well, works for me I guess.' He thought.

"Oh, right. You want an explanation about me suspecting that you'd lose to Fearow." She nodded emphatically. "That's pretty simple. For one, you're a Sandshrew. Your species isn't that inherently strong. Plus, you still don't know many moves nor how to fight properly. That Fearow probably had years of experience fighting on the other hand." He explained matter-of-factly.

Sandshrew suddenly slumped, sulking on the ground as she made circles in the dirt.

Izan hurriedly held up his hands to reassure her. "Oh but that's just if we change the strength levels! If you had more experience and some training I bet you'd easily kick its ass even with the strength gap." He said confidently.

She looked up with hope in her eyes. "Sandshrew?"

"Really. I have no doubt in my mind that you're capable of that. Which brings me to my next point!" He exclaimed, standing up and taking a stick with him.

As he walked over to a soft part of the land, he began drawing something in the dirt while explaining. She intently listened, her earlier mood completely gone.

Although it didn't show on her face, she was quite happy hearing his 'confession'.

"I'm gonna have a few other Pokemon on the team eventually. And I've been thinking about how I'd structure my team since I was a little kid." That technically wasn't a lie. He did think about scenarios if Pokemon were real before.

He finished up one part of the drawing, moving over to the next.

"And I decided I want two front liners, two back liners, a Pokemon that fits into every role, and a support Pokemon."

With the second part done, he finally began drawing the third.

"That probably doesn't mean much to you, and I'm omitting a bunch of minor details, but the only role you fit into would be a frontline Pokemon."

In the dirt, he drew a shield, a sword, and a skull.

"So I want you to choose what type of frontline Pokemon you want to be. An Assassin, a Warrior, or a Tank?"

Sandshrew's eyes were filled with stars, but her head was almost sideways with how far she tilted it in confusion.

---

->Alot of people really enjoy the idea of him having a Garchomp but like... can someone please sell me on it?

I feel like I'm missing something here but it just doesn't seem that useful for monotype?? At least in the scenario that we are in real-life Pokemon where we don't take turns or have move limits. The type coverage it gives is just unneeded when other Pokemon cover more typings offensively and defensively.

Maybe it's just cuz Garchomp is cool and I'm overthinking it.