Chapter 56

CHAPTER 56

Cece and I stood around twenty feet away from the electric fence we had found Pauline at. It had taken a few minutes to convince her to lend Cecilia her psychic type, but we managed after telling her that she would be owed a favor that she’d be able to call on at any point. I watched in awe as Cecilia released Beldum, Slowpoke, and Gothita. The trainer explained her plan to the three Pokemon, which was just to restrain Scyther if it ever attacked her or me. She quickly released Deino and Fletchinder afterward. The dragon roared out defiantly, but settled down when Cece told him to since we didn’t want anyone to find us. I noticed that he was definitely growing more obedient than he usually was, which was a far cry from Louis’ Gible. Fletchinder sang and flapped her wings, staying stationary in the air. Her voice had grown deeper than before, and all traces of the high-pitched cry she usually had was gone.

“So you’re just going to fight it?” I asked. “No talking?”

I honestly thought she was going to try to reason with it first, like Denzel did with his Budew, but it looked like Cece was just going to go straight into attacking it.

“Strength is the simplest form of communication,” She recited. “Before reasoning, I must teach it that it cannot go against me, and for that, I have to earn its respect by beating it.”

“If you say so,” I sighed, slightly disappointed. No matter what I thought about the matter, there was no avoiding the fact that different trainers had different philosophies that they abided by. Cece valued strength and commanding respect from her team, I valued bonding with them until they loved me. “Do you need me to do anything?” I asked.

“Thank you for asking,” She smiled. “But no, I must defeat it alone, with only Deino and Fletchinder. Just… stay by my side and give me some confidence.”

I nervously stared at the ground and kicked some rocks around. “Of course.”

Cecilia unclipped Scyther’s Pokeball and released the Pokemon far away from us, with its back facing the fence. Every time I saw it, I felt an instinctive fear creep up. Scyther rolled his shoulders, grinding its huge, green armored plates together, and observed his surroundings. His eyes settled on us, and the bug type screeched, sharpening its sickle-like blades together.

“Deino, get in close and bite it. When you do, never let it go,” She started. “Fletchinder—”

Scyther rushed forward, surrounded by a shimmering white aura. I squinted, desperately trying to keep track of it, and it hurled its entire body at Deino, slamming the Pokemon back. The dark type roared as draconic energy gathered in his mouth. He reared his head back and then lurched it forward in one smooth motion. Scyther screeched and took flight, narrowly dodging the attack. I winced, expecting it to destroy the fence, but it dissipated before impacting it.

Scyther was aiming for Cece now, and I hoped the psychics would be enough to stop—

“Fletchinder, Flame Charge!” She commanded, using the flying type’s brand-new move.

The bird cried out as flames appeared and wreathed around her body. Like a meteorite, she blurred forward, and she was just as fast as Scyther was. Fletchinder rammed into the Scyther, melting off some of its armor, and it crashed to the ground.

“Deino, now!” Cece yelled.

I could almost see Deino grin as he opened his maw. Darkness and shadows surrounded his sharp teeth, and the dragon bit down on Scyther’s neck. Scyther screamed and thrashed around, sometimes hurting Deino with Slash or X-Scissor.

“Ember,” Cecilia said with a breath.

The bird cried out, opening its mouth. Dozens of small flames flew toward Scyther, also hurting Deino in the process. I watched as the girl grinned, and I instantly knew what she was thinking. Scyther was a bug type, meaning that he was being hurt more than Deino was. The battle continued like this, with Scyther desperately trying to get out of Deino’s tight grip while Fletchinder harassed him with Ember.

I whistled. I was honestly surprised at how well this was going. The psychics weren’t even needed. Sure, we were out of the forest, which was Scyther’s natural habitat and where he would be able to thrive the most, but this beatdown was unimaginable. What had been the difference? A more controlled setting and a battle on her terms, meaning there was less panic, and she clearly came at the battle with a strategy in mind this time. Plus, Fletchinder had evolved and was looking mighty powerful.

“I think that’s enough,” Cecilia told Deino. He let go of Scyther’s neck with drool dripping all over the bug type, but he still loomed over him. Cece approached the bug type, and I hurried behind her with all three psychics. Scyther looked at her with his eyes bloodshot and ragged breathing. It looked like even with Swarm, he was too tired to do anything.

“I have proven my strength to you, Scyther,” Cecilia started. Scyther just looked away from her, causing Deino to snarl. “I can see you’re not convinced. Very well, I will bring you to a Center to heal, and then we will be doing the same thing tomorrow.”

Scyther’s eyes widened, and for a second, I thought I saw fear.

“Yes, darling,” She smiled. “We will do this until you accept your new arrangement as my Pokemon. It is good training for all of us,” Cecilia continued. “Eventually, you will give in.”

Cecilia recalled him with ambition and satisfaction swimming in her eyes. Fletchinder landed on her shoulder and squawked, while Deino let out a triumphant yell. My eyes wandered to the psychic types. Gothita looked like she was furious that we had just wasted her time, but Beldum didn’t seem to mind— not that I could understand its expression. Slowpoke was just… Slowpoke.

“That was… intense,” I said as I exhaled.

“A great battle,” Cece smiled. “I was sure I was going to win.”

“Won’t it just make Scyther hate you?” I asked, unable to resist. “I don’t see how this holds up long term.”

She nodded. “He will hate me at first, of course, but not forever. How do you think he feels right now?” She asked.

“Hmm…” I thought. “Angry, I guess? I’m kind of drawing a blank.”

“Angry, and humiliated,” Cece added. “In the forest, he was an apex predator. Now all of the sudden, he loses to me? I took his pride and destroyed it. That was the first step.”

My mind flashed to my battle with Chase. “And now what?” I asked.

“He will convert that feeling into a desire to grow stronger,” She said. “And to grow stronger, he will need to cooperate with me. Not today. Maybe not tomorrow, but eventually.”

Cece recalled all of the Pokemon around her.

“So you’re kind of doing what you did with Deino?” I asked. “Beating him to remind him that his best avenue to grow is through you.”

“Exactly,” Cece said with a glint in her eyes. “Well, I suppose it would be instilling that value instead of reminding him since it was the first time I was doing so. I have a good winning strategy, so I believe I’ll be able to convince him quickly.”

We started walking back to the Center. “Restraining him with Deino? That was vicious,” I said.

She smirked. “It wouldn’t have worked without Fletchinder. Her evolution made her grow leaps and bounds, so she’s able to keep up with Scyther and hit him with Flame Charge. She’s the key to all of this.”

“She was great,” I said. “And she’ll be a great help against Gardenia.”

“For sure. What are you planning now?” Cece asked.

“I was planning on picking up my Pokemon from the Center and using Tangela for the first time, why?”

“Well, I don’t want our time together to end yet,” Cece said quietly. “I’ll go and hand Gothita and Beldum back, then why don’t I come with you?”

I beamed. “Sure!”

——

Comically, we went back to that same area where Pauline had taken that phone call and Cece had defeated Scyther. Trainers apparently never came here, seemingly uncomfortable with staying near the huge electric fence, so we figured it was a good spot to hang out. I released Togetic and Tangela. The grass type stared up at me before wrapping a vine around my ankle.

“Prrri!” Princess yelled out happily.

“You were great in that battle with Chase,” I smiled and pet her. “Now I need you to help me out. Can you use Ancient Power and raise some rocks or earth in front of us? Try to make ‘em into spheres if you can.”

Togetic chirped and raised three large… um… shapes from the ground. Those weren’t spheres, but I supposed she tried her best.

“Needs some work, but good job,” I told her. She rubbed her head against my cheek and flew around my head. I looked at Cece, who was holding her hand up to her heart. “What is it?” I asked.

She coughed. “Ah, I’m sorry. I was restraining myself all throughout our travels, but now that I decided to stop hiding my true self from you… that Togetic!”

“What?” I asked.

“It’s— it’s ridiculously cute!” Cece sputtered. “Seriously!”

“Toge!” Togetic said with a satisfied look.

“Right?!” I squealed. “She doesn’t even try, but she’s still the cutest. I love her,” I said, rubbing her neck. “I’ve had her since she was born.”

“You must have such a connection,” Cece said.

“Yep. Since she hatched in my arms, she views me as her mom.”

“Is that how it works?”

“Yeah, Togepi get attached to the first person they see,” I explained before crouching. “But enough about that. Let’s get to you, angel.”

Tangela shook and loosened the hold on my ankle.

“Let’s see…” I started. “Why don’t you start with a simple Vine Whip on one of those rocks princess raised for us?”

Tangela looked at me and tilted his head.

“Vine Whip?” I tried again, pointing at the rock. He apparently didn’t understand.

“How strange,” Cece said. “Pokemon usually instinctively understand human speech.”

“He’s probably just a little confused,” I said, smiling at him. “Let’s take it slow, alright?”

I grabbed one of his vines and extended it before holding it like some kind of whip. I struck the ground with it. “See? That’s Vine Whip,” I said.

Tangela blinked twice before using the move against one of the rocks. “Great job!” I said, clapping. Togetic copied me and clapped as well.

“That Vine Whip is powerful,” Cece observed. “Look at the damage to the rock. It’s…”

There was a huge crack in the middle of the rock, and it slowly grew larger until the boulder split in two. My eyes widened at the sheer power Tangela seemingly held. There was a reason he managed to survive in Eterna forest, and it showed. Tangela excitedly tippy-tapped with his feet, his eyes squinting slightly. 

“Aww,” I said. “Look, he’s happy!”

It was my first time seeing this kind of emotion from him, so that meant huge progress was being made.

“Uh, now let’s get more technical,” I said. “Can you try extending your vine for as long as you can? I’d like to check your range.”

Tangela nodded, and I smiled, thinking he understood, but he just used Vine Whip again, splitting the next boulder in two.

“That’s great, angel,” I said. “But it’s not what I asked.”

I couldn’t help but notice Cecilia holding herself back from laughing. This was going to be a long training session.

——

Angel was… how could I say this?

Angel was slow, which was incredibly cute, but also frustrating to deal with. Luckily, with Cece there to brainstorm with me, we managed to make it use all of its moves and experiment how I wanted. First, I had to extend his vines manually to make him understand what I wanted. His maximum range seemed to be around fifty feet depending on the vine, but he struggled to extend them that far on his own, and when he did, it was slow. The closer his target was, the quicker and the more powerful his Vine Whip or Bind would be. That was definitely something I wanted to work on, especially considering his next move.

Tangela’s Mega Drain worked differently than Budew’s Absorb. Whereas Budew could apparently drain energy from a distance, Tangela had to drain energy through his vines, meaning that if I could get him to improve the speed at which he could grab something with his vines, I’d be able to catch Pokemon off-guard with Mega Drain.

“Bad Deino! Bad! Stay still!” Cece yelled at her dragon. He snarled, biting at the vines wrapping around him, but more kept coming. Cece and Deino were helping me test out the move since he’d be very resistant to it.

“Okay, angel,” I slowly said. “Mega Drain. M-e-g-a-d-r-a-i-n,” I repeated extremely slowly.

His vines’ extremities started glowing, and the energy slowly traveled through until it reached the grass type. Tangela shivered when he received the energy.

“Alright, great job,” I said as he rubbed another vine on my hand. There were so many vines… everywhere. They were an extension of himself, and that meant he used them a lot. Right now, two vines were playing around with Togetic, another rubbing my hand, and six wrapping around Deino.

Angel was slow, but Arceus, he was a fantastic multitasker. There was so much potential all held up in this little ball of vines.

Bind was the simplest move to make him use. He understood that one surprisingly easily, with me mimicking crushing something with my hands. Then it was only a matter of associating the move with the verbal command. Tangela squeezed one of Togetic’s rocks as tight as he could— not enough to shatter it, but enough to leave marks and dents.

Finally, we had Stun Spore and Poison Powder. Unfortunately, I was stumped. No matter how differently I tried to explain the two moves, I just couldn’t get him to use them. Maybe I’d have to ask Denzel to help out since Budew knew those two moves. Surely Budew would be willing to help… maybe. Still, I ended up experimenting for two hours, and those were very productive. Soon, I’d be able to get Tangela involved in our mock battles. Ideas swam in my head on how to best use Tangela as we walked back to the Center. Could I use get him to use his vines as locomotion to move faster? Could I create a combination involving Vine Whip, Bind, and Mega Drain? Again, there was so much potential there, and if I could get his vines to grow longer, then dealing with flying types by slamming them on the ground was definitely possible. Hell, he could even learn Ancient Power!

Princess would be able to help with that, but not anytime soon. First, I needed to focus on what he knew. I did have new moves I wanted to teach Togetic, Elekid, and Frillish on our way to Eterna city and before the gym, but that’d have to wait. Cece and I split up, and I went back to my room to rest.

I sighed when I saw that Chase Karlson was waiting for me, leaning against my door.