29 Chapter 29: Psychic Training and Double Battle
While the other 4 left, Xander and Cynthia rented out a private training room to get in some more training before their match. After sharing how terrible the Gym Leader was from Xander, Cynthia scoffed and didn't take the Gym seriously. This training was just to help improve their Pokemon for the battles ahead of them.
Xander split off his Pokemon into two pairs, sending Mothra with Fenris to improve Fenris' Fire Moves and his defense while Mothra would use his moves on Fenris to practice controlling them against a moving target. Meanwhile, C.C. and Tamamo were both trying to develop their Psychic abilities.
C.C. was still in her base evolution so her powers were at their weakest while Tamamo needed help to unleash her latent psychic abilities. The pair were pretty much neck and neck in terms of their overall psychic powers.
Xander also split the Pokemon into pairs he planned to regularly use for double battles. Mothra's final form, Volcarona, was great at special attacks that used energy to deal damage while Fenris' final form, Salemance, was the physical attacker. Both were very fast which made them great at hit-and-run battles or fighting in open spaces.
C.C. and Tamamo were the opposite. Both were pretty similar in terms of their abilities, with Tamamo having Ice Moves to make her different while Xander was planning on having C.C. learn Electric moves to cover a type that his team was missing. Instead of using their differences, he wanted to pair to use their similarities to create situations in which both of their strengths would improve by a large margin, such as using moves like [Psychic Terrain] or [Misty Terrain] which would improve moves used by both of them.
While Xander's Pokemon were training, Xander was also undergoing his own training. And that involved a metal spoon in front of his face.
Xander was standing up and looking at a metal spoon, trying to bend it with his mind. This was the only method that Xander remembered seeing from the anime so it was his best shot at improving his psychic powers without a proper teacher. So he did the basic training, trying to force his will on the spoon.
Xander spent the entire morning staring at the spoon but the spoon bent was about 10 degrees. That was pretty impressive for someone who had recently awakened but he still needed to get the spoon bent around 110 degrees more before he could be considered a full psychic.
After they had their lunch at noon, Xander and Cynthia were about to return to their room to train some more when another pair of trainers came up to them.
"Hey, guys. You wanna have a double match with us?" one of the pair wearing a karate gi asked
"Sure. We betting cash?" Xander asked, wanting to fill up his savings even more
"Just what we wanted. 20k per person sound good?" a girl wearing black and red clothes responded
Once they agreed on the amount, everyone went down to the public battle arenas and stood on opposite sides of one another. All 4 of the kids shared a look before picking up a ball at the same time and throwing it forward.
The two from Xander and Cynthia's side were Gabby and Tamamo. Gabby was always eager for a good battle while Tamamo was Xander's strongest Pokemon.
The other trainers sent out a Machop and Scyther. Machop was a humanoid Pokemon who looked like a buff child with blueish-grey skin and three ridges on his head. Scyther was a large Bug Pokemon that looked to be a mix between a mantis and a grasshopper. It had two large blades replacing its hands but it was known for its aggressive and dangerous fighting style, especially in the wild.
'Tamamo, can you hear me?' Xander called out to his Pokemon mentally and tried to form a connection. But even if Tamamo could, Xander was unable to hear a response from his Pokemon. It was still too soon to try and use telepathy to assist him in battle.
"Mage, Tamamo!" "Feeling Spicy, Gabby!"
Their Pokemon called out in response to the commands before Gabby charged forward while Tamamo leaped back. Machop and Scyther were not as fast as Gabby but they were fast enough to react to her sudden charge.
When Gabby appeared in front of them with her glowing green claws, Machop brought down one of his hands in a glowing karate clop while Scyther clashed with one of his arm-blades. While their moves were unable to stop Gabby's attacks, they were strong enough to parry them so the duo could dodge.
As Scyther began to spread his wings and take to the air, it was suddenly hit with a light blue beam that struck it directly in the face. 'Agh!' Scyther cried out in pain and fell toward the ground.
Gabby saw that Tamamo was focusing on Scyther so she turned her full attention to Machop. The aggressive Pokemon began to slash wildly with her claws, leaving small cuts on Machop's arms as it tried to block the attacks.
Something seemed to awaken in Gabby when it saw all of its attacks being blocked. She let out a cry of rage before turning her body, with her tail glowing purple, and slamming it into Machop's arms. The attack broke through his defense before pushing forward and striking Machop in the face. Machop screamed as it was sent flying before crashing into the ground unconscious.
"Gabby learned [Breaking Swipe]!" Cynthia cheered when she saw the new move that her ace had learned.
Scyther saw that his partner had been beaten but he was not in a better situation. Tamamo had been unleashing a torrent of cold wind toward it, making Scyther unable to move from its position as its limbs lost all feeling in them.
"Wait. We give up," seeing that her Scyther stood no chance, the female trainer threw in the towel.
"That's enough, Tamamo. The battle's over," Xander had his Pokemon stop, not willing to inflict further harm on the Scyther. Tamamo immediately stopped when she heard Xander's command before turning and looking to get praised.
"Good job, girl. You're the best," Xander did not hold back with his compliments. Tamamo had been proving her strength since she evolved and had earned her place as Xander's current ace.
The trainers transferred over the funds before thanking the duo for the battle. They had to get their Pokemon to Nurse Joy so they could recover for their journey.
