143 Chapter 143

…As it is though, Noivern are pure dragon and flying types, which I already have covered with Dragonite. Altaria sheds the flying type when they mega evolve.

And yeah call me sexist, but if I have an Altaria, it needs to be female. Same way a Gardevoir does or a Sylveon.

"Let's go with Altaria." I decided with a shrug after a few moments of thought. Either way, it was going to be a powerful dragon type trained by Lance himself, a champion.

Me wanting one wasn't just for breeding with Aerodactyl. But the simple fact that, a powerful pokemon from Lance, would be perfect for Pidgeot and my other pokemon to train against to fight a high level opponent on the regular and increase their experience fighting at that level and enhance the speed of their growth.

One must always get the most they can out of any singular situation as far as I'm concerned.

The thing about pokemon that I've noticed over my time here, is that the more intense the training and the more powerful the opponents they face off against, the quicker they grow.

It was why for instance my Golbat was capable of hanging in against the members of my squad who I'd been training for quite a bit longer than him. When I first caught him, he was easily crushed by Raticate, yet by time I sent him here to Viridian City, he was actually capable of putting up a fight against the others like Fearow.

Or take Dragonite for instance. When he battled Aerodactyl, he was overwhelmed completely and only his sheer stubbornness kept him from being taken down easily and kept getting him back up on his feet to fight. Yet, the experience of that battle, then going through a gravity training session and being healed by Blissey, had him nearly on par with Aerodactyl during the free for all sparring battle I had between them after that.

Admittedly, such types of training were even better suited for dragon types, but as a whole all pokemon seemed to be somewhat like saiyans in that regard, the more intense training they went through and the stronger the opponents they fought, the stronger they became in a short amount of time.

This also led into my theory on how Ash's newer pokemon rose in strength so quickly in the original world, putting aside the later generations that were a shit show, Ash and Pikachu had a steady growth through Kanto to Sinnoh, so his newer pokemon even when he started over with just Pikachu, had that powerhouse of a mouse to constantly train with, which allowed them to rise quickly and just why shit like a Treecko that only knew Quick attack and Pound could fight a freaking Hariyama head on when Ash battled Brawly.

"Altaria, huh?" Lance mused and tapped his chin in thought for a moment, before a wide grin spread across his face, "I've got just the one in mind, she should fit the bill."

"Oh?" I blinked, "Is she strong then?" I asked, though that kind of went without saying seeing as it's one of Lance's pokemon. How strong is the question though.

"Very, she's the second strongest of my Altaria, I've got seven of them," Lance flashed me a thumbs up, "I caught her two years back when I was on a trip to Hoenn, she was a little thing back then that got kicked out of her flock for trying to battle for the leadership of it and chafes a bit with me because she isn't as strong as my first Altaria."

Lance looked around for a moment before leaning down to me, "Between you and me, she's not far off of same level as Lorelei's ace Lapras and is quite big for an Altaria," he said lowly as if confiding a great big secret, "I actually bred her with one of my clansmen's Sceptile last year, the Treecko born from it turned out to be quite robust and is already a Sceptile. Give it a year and it might reach a level strong enough to be on my main team."

…Huh.

My eyes widened as I processed that information. If what he said was truth, then this Altaria he was going to give me to breed with Aerodactyl, was definitively on the level of the Elite Four.

Which meant it was a complete powerhouse. No, beyond a mere powerhouse. After all, that battle with Lance was enough to tell me, not even Pidgeot was on that level yet.

Perfect.

But-

"Is that alright?" I asked, raising an eyebrow, "I know I was wanting a strong pokemon, but one like that? And you're fine with just giving her to me?"

"Truth be told, normally such a thing would be completely off the table, Aerodactyl or not," Lance shrugged, "But from what I've seen, you have what it takes to control a pokemon of that level and I know from how you treated your pokemon that you'll take care of her. Besides, while she gets on with most of my pokemon, she doesn't like my main Altaria at all, she chafes under it and feels like she's playing second fiddle to another of her same species."

Well, that was understandable I suppose. It was jarring enough for most people to not be the first pick when it came to things they put a massive amount of effort into, but being the second pick to another near complete same as you beyond even that, must have hit the pride something fierce.

A lot of people thought having a lot of pride in yourself and your abilities was a bad thing, I don't. Pride is important. And I personally would be rightfully pissed off, maybe even resentful of having my pride repeatedly stepped on.

"Alright then, I can work with that," I grinned, "Tell me about her though. What kind of food does she like? What things does she like in general? My Clefable for instance loves learning about stories of the past and legendary pokemon like Rayquaza."

"She's a bit of a glutton actually, she'll eat anything edible you put down in front of her," Lance laughed, "Hobby wise she's pretty simple, beyond battling and eating, she likes singing, though sometimes has a bad habit of putting others to sleep without realising it and-"

Lance was cut off the by doors to the Pokemon Centre opening up and quite the large group making their way into the building. Nurse Joy at the front had an exhausted look on her face and she was followed by Professor Oak and Cerise who were practically vibrating with beaming smiles, trailing right behind them was Delia Ketchum who was chatting away happily to Chloe Cerise and at the back were the presences of an impassive faced Giovanni and Surge who met his eyes, before looking away, an uncomfortable look on his face.

"Can't you ever do anything without causing me more work?" Nurse Joy asked in annoyance.

"My bad?" I offered lamely. It wasn't like I was expecting all this general hubbub when I was making my way here. I just took advantage of it for my own benefit. Like I do a lot of things.

She rolled her eyes and shook her head, "Well whatever, you're here now at least, and hopefully won't cause anymore incidents like this, for a while at least."

"I'll try my best." I laughed.

"No he won't, he had fun," Lance snorted. He looked me in the eye, "I've got your contact details and we've hashed this deal out, so I'll be heading out now, I'll get in contact with you later tonight once I make arrangements on my side."

"Leaving already Lance?" Oak asked, "I was actually hoping to pick your brain about young Jord's Aerodactyl if you had the time."

"Sorry Professor Oak, everyone," Lance cast an apologetic look around at the gathered people, "Unfortunately, freeing up any more time than this is quite troublesome, I only managed this because it was such a grand occasion."

"Well, being the champion of two regions, dealing with your clan duties and being a G-man, it's no wonder," Giovanni spoke up, voice clipped, a faint smirk was spread across his face, "Perhaps its time you cut down on some of those duties, I'm sure if you were to be the champion of only one region your schedule would be opened up quite a bit."

There was something to how he spoke to Lance that I couldn't put a finger on. While his tone was clipped, it was polite.

But I couldn't shake the feeling that there was disdain for Lance in his words.

"I'll be happy to do so when someone strong enough comes along," Lance just smiled pleasantly at the gym leaders words, "Always a pleasure Giovanni, I'll be looking forward to your next attempt to challenge me, I'm sure Lorelei will love another battle with you."

Giovanni's eyes narrowed ever so slightly and if I wasn't paying attention to him as he did, I would have definitely missed it, "Quite." was all he said in response.

Lance's smile widened a bit and he dipped his head to me, "I'll see you later Jord." he said, clapping me on the shoulder, before moving, and with a regal, powerful gait, he made his way towards the building's entrance, his cape billowing gracefully over his shoulders.

A moment later, he disappeared through the doors and all attention returned to me, "Uh…" I trailed off, "What's up?" I greeted them.