A/N: Posting schedule is now Sundays and Wednesdays.
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I walked back to Santalune City. It was only eight in the morning, so I still had the rest of the day to find the Team Flux people. I didn't need to wait long, however. As I neared the gate, I saw a small group of young Trainers, the oldest maybe thirteen, arguing with two Flux grunts. One of them was a tall man, older, probably mid-forties, with short salt-and-pepper hair and the Team Flux outfit I saw at the protest. The other was a shorter, stockier man who looked like he could match a Machop in a bench press competition.
"I don't care what you say! We need to beat the Gym soon so we can stay on track!" a girl shouted.
"Why can't you kids understand? The League don't give a shit about your success. They just want to make money off of you!" the older man spit. "They're in cahoots with companies and politicians to keep the status quo. They're an oligarchy and want to stay in power by keeping the rest of us down!"
"We don't even know what those words mean!" one of the younger looking kids shouted back.
"Oh, you little shit," the grunt said through gritted teeth. The other grabbed a PokéBall from his belt.
"Stop arguing with them," he said. He was a bit younger, maybe early thirties, and wore a pin on his beret, which likely meant he had a higher position in the team. "We'll just show them why the League's method of withholding resources isn't good for anyone."
"While I generally agree with the sentiment," I interrupted, getting everyone's attention, "I'm not sure if fighting these Trainers is a good idea to show you want to improve their lives." I casually walked in between the two groups, Nautilus attentive and floating by my side. I still had Tetsu in her ball because I wanted her to get used to being in there while traveling.
"And who the hell are you?" the older Flux grunt asked with a scowl.
"Just a concerned citizen wondering why two grown men are arguing with and wanting to fight with a group of children," I responded calmly. I stared him down. The kids could probably handle themselves in a fight, but the games were rife with Trainers getting their Pokémon stolen.
"Fine, you wanna get involved? Let's do it," he said. Both grunts only had one Pokéball each, but I assumed I would fight both. Nautilus moved in front of me, his Hypnosis ready.
The older man released a Skorupi. It turned to glare at its Trainer before focusing on Nautilus.
'Yeah, definitely not good guys,' I thought to myself.
"Fell stinger!" the man yelled immediately, trying to get a surprise first hit. Nautilus released his Hypnosis, causing the scorpion to skid on the floor.
"Psybeam," I stated. Simple, casual, and, best of all, super-effective. Nautilus sustained the Psychic attack until the bug went limp. The Flux grunt stood there, mouth agape in shock. He was either new or the first rung on the Team's ladder. It still surprised me that it went so easily. How strong were Gym Leaders? Never mind them, how strong were the Flux admins going to be?
"Tch, have you been wasting our resources?" the other guy said. "You could have at least got a hit in."
"Do all of you rely on worn-down opponents for a win?" I asked, arms crossed. Inkay crossed some of his tentacles in a hilarious attempt to imitate me. It took all of my willpower not to laugh.
"You shouldn't sound so arrogant," the stockier man said. "It'll make you look stupid when you lose."
"Like your friend there?"
"He's a new recruit. Count yourself lucky," he growled.
"Maybe you'll be a better challenge then."
I honestly wasn't trying to be arrogant. But they wanted to bully those kids into listening to them and were willing to fight them for not listening. It irked me on so many levels, and I felt the need to step in. The calm tone and snarky shit-talking, well, I'm happy that was how my intervention came out. But now I needed to win. There's no point in standing up for others if you can't stand up for yourself.
The human Makuhita grabbed his PokéBall and tossed it in the air. The red beam materialized as a Nincada. It wore a black eye mask and skittered around for a moment before crawling to its Trainer for a head rub.
'Skorupi and Nincada,' I thought. 'A Team of Bug users? But Drapion isn't officially a Bug-type.'
"You ready to lose?" the man taunted. His teammate stood to the side, grumbling to himself. Most of the kids had left already, but one, the girl who mentioned something about the Gym, was recording.
"Lose to adults bullying kids? You're a riot," I smiled.
"Sand Attack, Nina," he commanded.
"Hypnosis," I told Nautilus. With Contrary, I wanted the move to hit. Nautilus zoomed forward, taking a face full of sand that immediately fell, seemingly doing nothing. The guy looked confused for a moment, giving Nautilus the time to use Hypnosis. It snored as it slept.
I looked the Flux grunt in the eye and told Nautilus his next move. "Peck."
My squid's smirk sent shivers down my spine. He started a flurry of Pecks, getting in several hits before she woke up.
"Skitter Smack!"
The Nincada skittered behind and jumped into Nautilus. He cried in pain, but my boy knew exactly what to do. I only said the move to let the man know exactly what was coming. "Payback!" I shouted as Nautilus whipped Nincada with a tentacle covered in Dark energy.
The man's eyes widened, and he lifted the hand holding Nincada's PokéBall. He didn't let her hit the floor. "Damn it. You're lucky we only have one Pokémon each. Let's get outta here."
The two men ran into the city. I looked at the girl, who was busy typing something into her phone. "Are you alright?" I asked.
She jumped in surprise. "Oh, sorry. You scared me. I'm more than fine, mister. That was awesome!"
"Oh, thanks," I said, rubbing the back of my head. "Why didn't you go with the others?"
"They went to find Officer Jenny. I wanted to record the battle!" she said. "You're Inkay is so cool! How many Badges do you have?"
"None," I answered. I wasn't expecting her to freeze at my response.
"None? Are you serious?" she exclaimed. "Is this the level of strength Trainers need? I'm cooked!"
I laughed. I wasn't sure why, but it felt familiar. "Nah, you're fine. You just need to let your Pokémon fight more battles against all sorts of Pokémon."
"Not just against my friends?" she asked.
"No, because then you get used to their fighting style and don't actually learn."
"But you're Inkay used Hypnosis for both battles. Won't others be able to figure that out easy?"
Damn, she had me there. "Yes, and that's why I have Nautilus training three different moves for responding in different ways. We fight any wild Pokémon we can, so we're always learning how to react."
"That sounds like so much work, mister," the kid whined. "But if that's what Shroomish and I need to win, then we're going to do it! Thank you!"
And with that, she ran off. "That was a weird exchange," I told myself. Inkay placed himself back on my head. "But at least you got a compliment, Nautilus. That means we're doing something right! Let's go get some food."
"Inkay!"
In the canteen, I thought about what Viola told me. If Nautilus lacked the raw strength to fight against Viola's bugs, should I put more focus on coming up with a sneaky strategy or beef him up before evolving into Malamar?
I stared at the cephalopod. He had a boiled Krabby stuffed with garlic butter in his tentacles. He used four tentacles and his Psychic powers to rip the shell apart as Tetsu cheered him on. Well, he attempted to. The shell didn't budge and kept him from enjoying the cooked, buttery meat. Tetsu bounced over to him, several spikes already retreated, and leaned against him in reassurance.
'Yeah, let's beef up my boy.'
"Yo, Nautilus," I called out. He glared at me as he continued trying to open the shell. "You're weak."
"INK!" he shouted, slamming the shell on the table. I grabbed it from him, put my thumbs on the inside of the shell, and pulled. It snapped open, releasing a flood of juice onto my empty plate. I set it down and slid the plate over to him.
Nautilus looked at the plate, up to me, and back down at the plate. "Kay," he grumbled, picking at the Krabby meat with his Psychic powers.
"Listen, I'm not trying to make fun of you," I told him. "But if we want to get better, we need to be honest about our problems. Right now."
I pointed at him. "You have enough experience and battle sense for the first Gym, but not enough firepower."
I pointed at Tetsu next. "She's still too young for any battle, so we can't rely on her."
Finally, I pointed at myself. "I will forever be the weakest link and will always rely on the rest of you for protection. That's why I will focus on getting you the resources for getting stronger. But I need you to train and practice with intent and grit."
Nautilus stared at his food for a few moments. He's a smart one, and I know he understood what I meant about intent and grit. He looked at me and nodded. "Alright," I said. "We're going to get serious about your physical conditioning then. Starting tomorrow, you're going to lift weights with your tentacles, I'm going to tie weights onto you so you can float with something heavy, and I'm going to set up obstacles that you'll need to move with just your physical strength."
"I-I-Inkay?!" he stammered, eyes wide.
I laughed. "I'm just fucking with you. I want your attacks to hit harder."
"Inkay!"