12 Chapter 12: New Adversary
[General POV]
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Eli was awoken by a weird feeling in his right arm. Groggily waking up, he saw Fuecoco biting him. As he got up, he asked the crocodilian, "Hungry?" as he yawned and brought Fuecoco a bottle of Moomoo milk. As the crocodilian drank the milk, Eli absent-mindedly petted his head, still half asleep, but seeing his whole team slowly waking up, he decided to get ready for the day and get some extra training in even though the sun hadn't even risen yet.
Making his way to the clearing where Andre and he had been training, he let out his Pokémon as he gave each of them an assignment. "Kubfu pair up with Kirlia, as he uses Light Screen and Reflect use Brick Break." He was met with a nod and a word of affirmation telepathically. "Corvisquire, you'll be alone for today. Train Air Slash on the trees; our goal is to get it to expert rank by the end of this week." the avian Cawed was in agreement as he flew up before training Air Slash. Fuecoco looked at him with a questioning look, as if to ask, 'What will I be doing?' Eli chuckled, grabbing the crocodilian and hugging him close as he explained, "You're still too young to train; maybe in a few days we'll start training; for now, just look at them as they train." Fuecoco nodded as he snuggled close to Eli as he watched the rest of the team train, the tufts on his head glowing from time to time, signifying his excitement.
As the sun slowly started to rise, quite a bit of time had passed since they had started training, and the environment was decimated by mostly Corvisquire's Air Slashes as he continuously trained. "You seem to have gotten busy." Eli heard a familiar voice, and to his left he saw Andre with his whole team out, even Eevee, who seemed to have warmed up to Andre, and on his Onix's horn he saw a Larvitar seated as if it were riding the Stone Serpent. "Yeah, Fuecoco woke me up, and since I couldn't sleep after that, I just decided to get some extra training in." Eli explained as he scanned the Larvitar.
Pokémon: Larvitar
Lvl: 1
Type: Rock Ground
Ability: Guts
Gender: Female
Potential: Gold
Moves: Tackle (unusable), Leer (unusable)
(Innate Talent) Rock Slide (unusable) (Innate Talent) Earthquake (Unusable)
'Not bad at all.' Eli mused as he realised that Larvitar could get to a minimum of Shallow Diamond rank with how rich Andre was. "So same as usual, right? Kubfu and Pancham spar as we train with the rest one on one." Andre asked, to which Eli shook his head. "I got Kubfu a lot of moves to use, as what he naturally learns is abysmal, but I realised that he hasn't even used those moves a lot; I want him to train in them before they spar again." Eli explained, to which Andre nodded. "Fair, I'll let Pancham do his thing as we train."
"Alright, Corvisquire, pair up with Eevee; she'll use Shadow Balls on you while you use Protect as much as you can, and in case you do get damaged, use Roost." Eli instructed his crow, who nodded as he went away with Eevee. "Kirlia, go with Pancham to spar instead of Kubfu; you need some battle experience. Make it your mission to always have Reflect up as you fight. Also in case if anyone does get injured, I need you to use Heal Pulse." Eli gave his empath the training plan. 'Affirmative Friend Trainer.' Kirlia replied, leaving with the Pancham. "That leaves you, Kubfu. I want you to spar with Onix using only the TM moves I gave you; you need to get used to using them." Kubfu nodded as he stared down the stone serpent, who looked back.
"Alright, get to it. Me and Andre will come around from time to time to give you guys advice." Eli clapped his hands as he urged his Pokémon. "So, got any plans for what you'll do in Paldea?" Eli asked his friend, who shrugged. "I dunno, I plan on catching at least one new Pokémon if anything interests me; other than that, maybe challenge a few gyms there and return, I guess; I'm just going with the flow." Eli nodded as he made his way to where Eevee and Corvisquire were. The avian in question did have a few bruises here and there, but he was taking the Shadow Balls like a champ. "Good work. I think you'll get these moves to Expert rank soon, then we'll see what you need next." The crow nodded as he got back to training with Eevee.
Pancham's sparring with Kirlia was a sight to behold. Whenever he got too close, Kirlia would just blind him with with Dazzling Gleam before teleporting away, and on the off chance Pancham did get a hit in, Reflect would make the damage negligible. "Your Pancham really needs ranged options; maybe Rock Slide?" Eli suggested seeing the one-sided spar, to which Andre nodded, seeing a massive flaw in Pancham's fighting style. Next, they arrived at where Onix and Kubfu were practicing. It was a close fight, but slightly in Onix's favour, as Kubfu only had Low Sweep as the fighting move he could use, and everything else did too little damage, but this was needed as Kubfu relied almost too heavily on Brick Break.
They continued on till noon as Eli called back his Pokémon as he made way deeper into the forest, Eli bid farewell to Andre as he decided to go deeper into the forest. As he got deeper, he felt like someone was following him. To verify his concerns, he let out Kirlia, who did indeed sense another person near them. 'Friend Trainer, a bit farther back, seems to harbour ill intentions.' Kirlia reported it gravely.
Eli got serious as he let out Corvisquire, whom he had Kirlia mentally instruct on what to do. The avian nodded, feigned searching for Pokémon ahead as he looked straight at where the person was. "Come out before you regret it." He said this as a person came out from behind the tree. "Bravo, you have great instincts; sadly, you have to die today." The person in question had a pure black uniform on with a big red R plastered on its centre.
"What have I done to gain Team Rocket's ire? As far as I know, there is nothing I have done." Eli was genuinely curious, as he had tried his best to put his head down in this new world. "You are suffering from your success. Team Rocket had put a lot of money on that Gödelstride kid, but you somehow won the fight. While the Gödelstride kid is basically untouchable due to his family's status, you as an orphan wouldn't be noticed if you just happened to disappear. Sorry, kid, you shouldn't have won that tournament." The rocket shrugged as he threw out two Poké Balls. "Zangoose, Grimer, end this quick."
"Kirlia, Kubfu go." Eli sent out his Pokémon curtly as he scanned the two Pokémon.
Pokémon: Zangoose
Lvl: 27
Type: Normal
Ability: Toxic Boost (Hidden Ability)
Gender: Male
Potential: Gold
Moves: Scratch, Leer, Quick Attack, Fury Cutter, Metal Claw
(Innate Talent) X-Scissor [E] (Innate Talent) Facade [E]
(TM) Poison Jab [E], (TM) Brick Break
Pokémon: Alolan Grimer
Lvl: 26
Type: Poison Dark
Ability: Poison Touch
Gender: Male
Potential: Shallow Gold
Moves: Poison Gas, Pound, Harden, Mud-Slap, Disable, Sludge, Toxic [E]
(Innate Talent) Venoshock [E] (Innate Talent) Shadow Punch [E]
He seemed to have quite the strong Pokémon for a grunt; not that it mattered, Eli had full confidence in winning. "Confuse ray on Grimer, Brick Break the Zangoose into a Mega Kick." Eli swiftly took the first move of the battle. "Toxic on Zangoose Facade when it comes close." The grunt commanded. The Grimer got the toxic off on Zangoose but got confused, making it a liability. As Kubfu neared, the now poisoned Zangoose used Facade, but Kubfu swatted it away with a Brick Break followed by a Mega Kick connecting to the Zangoose's chin. Kirlia didn't stay idle either, as he was using Draining Kiss to slowly but surely knock out Grimer. "Swap, Kirlia bombard Zangoose from afar, and Kubfu finish the Grimer." Kirlia Teleporting, swapped his and Kubfu's positions then blinded the Zangoose with Dazzling Gleam before using Confuse Ray while continuing the onslaught. Meanwhile, Kubfu used everything he could, from elemental punches to Brick Breaks, as the Grimer, bruised and battered was finally out for the count.
The grunt, shocked at what was happening, growled as he took out something from his belt; it was a gun. While fire arms weren't effective on Pokémon, they sure as hell worked on humans. "Alright kid, I didn't want to resort to this, but say your prayers." As he trained the gun on Eli's head, Eli was tense, hoping Corvisquire would hear him. "NOW CORVISQUIRE!" Eli shouted before dropping down to the ground. In nearly an instant, he heard a slice and a scream. Corvisquire had met his mark; with an Air Slash he had cleanly severed the grunt's arm.
As Kirlia finished dealing with Zangoose, he ran back to Eli in concern. 'Friend Trainer, are you ok?' He asked, readying a Heal Pulse as his Kubfu also came near him. 'I'm getting deja vu about the Nidorino Incident.' Eli thought wryly. "I'm fine, all of you. I want some answers from him. Kirlia search his mind." Kirlia nodded, his eyes glowing with a blue flame as the grunt shouted out in pain, with his one remaining hand grabbing his head and shouting, "Make it stop, make it stop."
After Kirlia was done, the grunt had died from the pain. 'Serves him right' Eli thought as he received a briefing of what Kirlia learned from searching his mind. 'So his name was Brandon, the son of an admin in charge of the Celadon Game Corner hideout who was tasked with assassinating me.' As Eli collected his thoughts, he kept Brandon's fire arm and ammunition in his cube for his own self-defence and returned the grunt's Pokémon to sell later, as he had Kubfu dispose of the body using Fire Punch.
'Friend Trainer, am I a monster?' Kirlia asked as he looked out of it. 'Why do you ask Kirlia?' Eli asked his Pokémon through the psychic link. 'I killed him, yet I feel no remorse.' Kirlia looked into Eli's eyes for an answer. Sighing, Eli patted Kirlia's head as he spoke physically. "You are not a monster, Kirlia; this world is just like this; it's a dog eat dog world; you can't feel remorse for anyone; that's just the truth, so don't have these thoughts; the path to strength and revenge is filled with darkness; you have to make peace with that." Kirlia, looking enlightened, nodded as he quietly walked. He had a lot to think about.
Eli and his Pokémon were high on alert, lest they want something like that to happen again. As time went by, training continued, and he made his way back to the Poké Centre when night fell.
Pokémon: Kubfu
Lvl: 29
Type: Fighting
Ability: Inner Focus
Gender: Male
Potential: Deep Gold
Moves: Rock Smash, Leer, Endure, Focus Energy, Aerial Ace, Reversal [E]
(Innate Talent) Brick Break [E] (Innate Talent) Bulk Up [E]
(TM) Protect, (TM) U-Turn, (TM) Ice Punch, (TM) Fire Punch, (TM) Thunder Punch, (TM) Mega Kick, (TM) Mega Punch, (TM) Substitute, (TM) Low Sweep
Pokémon: Corvisquire
Lvl: 29
Type: Flying
Ability: Keen Eye
Gender: Male
Potential: Gold
Moves: Peck, Leer, Power Trip, Hone Claws, Taunt [E], Fury Attack
(Innate Talent) Drill Peck [E] (Innate Talent) Tailwind [E]
(TM) Roost, (TM) U-Turn, (TM) Fly, (TM) Protect, (TM) Air Slash
Pokémon: Kirlia [Shiny]
Lvl: 28
Type: Psychic Fairy
Ability: Trace
Gender: Male
Potential: Shallow Diamond
Moves: Growl, Double Team, Disarming Voice, Confusion, Hypnosis, Teleport [E], Heal Pulse, Drain Kiss
(Perfect Talent) Dazzling Gleam [E] (Perfect Talent) Magical Leaf [E]
(TM) Protect, (TM) Light Screen, (TM) Reflect, (TM) Confuse Ray, (TM) Psychic, (TM) Shadow Ball
Kirlia had almost caught up to the rest of the team and would probably even surpass them soon. Such was the benefit of having Diamond Potential Pokémon. Exhausted from having his life flash in front of his eyes yet again, Eli quickly fell asleep, leaving a few bottles of Moomoo milk out for Fuecoco in case he got hungry again. As he tried to sleep, the fight with the grunt Brandon and the events that transpired constantly played in his head. He had a feeling that this wouldn't be the last time, especially after killing an admin's son. After what felt like hours, he finally passed out from sheer exhaustion.
