Chapter 118 (Patreon)

"Let me give it to you straight: I saw Azumarill's battle against Chance. Her fighting style matches my own almost perfectly. Please leave her here," Crasher Wake said.

I blinked a few times at the unexpected situation and my mouth opened and closed without forming a reply. Basically, after Crasher Wake handed over the Fen Badge, he had asked me to talk to him in private. After following him off the field, he then dropped most of his wrestler persona before directly asking me that question.

I was quite reasonably caught off guard.

"So you don’t have any criticisms about how we handled Chance?" I asked.

"Why would I do that? You've been on the road long enough to know how things work between trainers. Chance had it coming, if you asked me. His actions are certainly not granting him any favor among the upper echelons of the League, either. I asked you this question because I wish to battle alongside Azumarill, and because I can train her to be even stronger when she’s not traveling alongside you."

Seeing my continued stunned surprise, he proceeded to elaborate.

"Look,” he started, “at least for me, my whole shtick is strength, and I know power when I see it. The Pastoria Gym doesn't have too many Gym Trainers due to the standard of strength I expect out of them, which is one of the reasons I could only afford to use three Pokémon in my match against you. Training Pokémon to be their absolute strongest is the core of who I am as a person. Azumarill deserves to become even stronger; plus, she’d even be able to fight in Gym Battles if any strong enough trainers challenge me. I’m not asking you to hand her over, I’m only asking for you to leave her here instead of wherever else you’ve been leaving your extra team members. Would that be good for you?"

"I don't know," I said honestly. "'I'd need to ask Azumarill to make the choice, not me."

Crasher Wake nodded in understanding.

"I get it. It’s a Pokémon’s decision on who they wish to train with. Let me know once she’s decided," he said.

Crasher Wake walked off at that, and I left the Gym Building, my mind spinning.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Since I had purposefully left an empty spot on my team for the impending Togepi, I was able to retrieve Azumarill without issue. Once she was sent my way the next morning, I took advantage of my bedroom in the Pokémon Center to have a private space to have a discussion.

“Basically, similar to what happened with Wallace in Sootopolis, you’d have the chance to train alongside Crasher Wake whenever you're not traveling with the team,” I explained. “To my understanding, it’d be as if you were at the ranch, with me being able to retrieve you at any time, but you’d be with him rather than Sycamore. Crasher Wake may be a Water Type specialist, but he deals in raw power rather than Wallace’s gracefulness. You’d be able to constantly fight and spar with his powerful Pokémon, which I know you’d love. You’d still travel alongside me and battle in major battles at regular intervals, too.”

I paused for a moment, a connection coming to mind.

“I guess you could consider this something like a part-time internship, where you work with Crasher Wake and get experience in return.”

Azumarill didn’t seem to get my joke, the Pokémon not really knowing the intricacies of human culture. She instead chose to seriously consider what I was talking about. At first, she seemed wholly uninterested, especially at the idea of being away from not only me but the other members of the team in the ranch as well. However, as I explained the possibility of frequent Gym Battles, she seemed more hesitant to decline outright.

“Zumarill,” she stated, unsure of herself.

She then walked closer to where I was kneeling on the floor and let her head lean into my shoulder.

“Zumarill,” she repeated.

I wrapped my arms around her.

“I’m not trying to get rid of you,” I said to reassure her. “I just want you to have the best opportunities you can. Training with Crasher Wake is a way to let you grow even stronger than what I can do on my own. I can help you with Fairy Type tricks and moves, but Water Type stuff? That’s his speciality.”

Azumarill took a few steps back and pressed her lips together in consideration. Her angry face looked surprisingly less angry than usual. Eventually she made her decision.

Curling one hand into a fist, she smacked it into an open palm.

“Zu,” she declared.

I laughed.

“I should have expected. You want to fight him in order to make a decision, right?”

She nodded, excited.

“Then, let’s do it. I’ll get back to Wake to tell him and see if we can—”

An extremely unexpected cracking sound rang out.

My first thought when I heard that sound was ‘Wait, Togepi is choosing to hatch right now?’

My second thought when I heard that sound was ‘Wait! Togepi is choosing to hatch right now!’

It hadn't even been two weeks since I first got the egg, with traveling from Lake Valor taking five days, and taking six days off to train Carbink’s moves before our battle with Crasher Wake. I was wholly unprepared for Togepi to hatch so soon. Rightfully, I started to panic.

Immediately, I sent out every member on my team that I had with me, then I grabbed the egg case off of the bedside table only a few feet away. My Pokémon were confused for a brief moment before they heard the cracking sounds as well, and with that, the room was filled with the noises of Pokémon expressing their excitement.

I placed the egg down in the center of the circle my team had formed then moved to sit down with them. Everyone leaned in.

The egg, a whitish egg with bright blue and red polygonal outlines of shapes on it, shook with pieces of its shell breaking apart. At its top, flakes fell off of it and onto the floor, while cracks appeared in the sides and on its bottom. Everyone held their breath, Azumarill included, who wasn’t even bothered by the sudden change in topic and was trying her best to pretend she wasn’t as interested as she actually was.

Soon, something cream-colored poked through a spot at the very top: one of Togepi’s head crests made its way out. There was a moment of stillness in the room and the sounds momentarily stopped before an even louder cracking sound echoed out. With that, Togepi’s head, arms, and legs burst out and shattered the parts of the egg that were blocking them from leaving. The rest of the egg shell remained around the center of Togepi’s body, hardening and solidifying to become part of the newly hatched Fairy Type’s body.

As it stood, Togepi was now fully hatched.

Togepi, the species, tended to imprint on the first creature they saw and considered that creature their mother. In this one’s case, they hadn’t yet opened their eyes, and my team started to act.

Whimsicott was the first to call out his name to get Togepi to look his way. Upon realizing what Whimsicott was up to, Ninetales barked out her own name to try to get Togepi to look at her instead. To my surprise, even Azumarill joined in with quiet “Zu”’s and “Marill”’s to get Togepi to look at her, and Carbink tried too.

Both Kirlia and Ponyta stayed quiet, purposefully sitting this out.

At first, I was worried that the variety of noises would intimidate the little Pokémon. However, this Togepi proved stronger than that as Togepi started to laugh and giggle at everyone’s attempts to get them to look their way. I, too, found myself joining in, encouraged to make sounds to attract it as our somewhat silly moment continued.

Despite everyone trying their best to get Togepi to look at them, the new Fairy Type didn’t look around just yet. The sounds continued, regardless, although a few of my Pokémon started to gain frustrated looks on their face. Eventually, Whimsicott saw an opening and sent out a gust of wind that caused Togepi to spin in place towards him. However, he obviously misjudged how light Togepi was, as the freshly hatched Pokémon spun and spun around.

My Pokémon went silent, needing a moment to process what happened. Togepi, meanwhile, laughed and laughed and laughed as its curved egg bottom meant it continued to spin without any resistance. In an honestly mildly terrifying game of spin the bottle, Togepi’s eyes finally opened, locking on to one of my Pokémon in particular.

“Okay, hold on,” I interrupted. “Ponyta is the second youngest Pokémon here. He only hatched about a year ago, for goodness’s sake! How is he supposed to be Togepi’s mother?!”

The rest of my team all looked disappointed in the outcome, with the exception of Kirlia, who had turned in place to stare at Ponyta in shock. Ponyta looked similarly surprised. His eyes went as wide as they could as he stared at Togepi sitting on the floor.

Togepi held their arms out at Ponyta and giggled. Ponyta didn’t move for several long seconds.

Eventually, he closed his eyes and gave Togepi a soft smile before lowering his head in front of the Pokémon. Togepi, still sitting, rocked back and forth before pushing to their feet, where they grabbed onto Ponyta’s horn, and he lifted them up.

At first, Togepi looked to be a bit scared, but as soon as they realized they weren’t falling, they laughed and let go of the horn.

That would have been an issue if it wasn’t for Ponyta’s telekinesis holding Togepi aloft. The Pokémon was moved in the air to sit on Ponyta’s back.

Like a mother showing off her young, or at least like a pony taking its rider for a ride, Ponyta began to trot around the room much to the delight of Togepi on his back.

This outcome wasn’t necessarily what Ponyta or anyone else in the room expected, but, in the end, both Ponyta and Togepi had large smiles on their faces. Since Togepi had now hatched, it was time to get them acclimated to the team.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

Wake wouldn’t be available to fight either today or the next day, so that gave both Azumarill time to prepare and Togepi time to get used to the benefits of no longer being inside an egg.

First off, Togepi chose the same Pokéball that Ponyta had: a pink and purple Dream Ball. This was my first instance of having two Pokémon share the same style of Pokéball, so I would need to get used to telling them apart.

Secondly, after Togepi was caught, I used my Pokédex to scan them to see their information. Togepi was female, and she seemed to already know quite the array of moves. Growl, Charm, and Pound were all expected, as those tended to be the moves most Togepi knew upon hatching. However, Togepi’s Champion-level heritage made itself known with the other moves at her disposal.

Not only did Togepi know those basic starting moves, but she also knew Metronome, Extrasensory, Psycho Shift, and Aerial Ace.

My eyes lingered on the Aerial Ace move in particular, as I had no clue how a Pokémon that couldn’t fly could even learn it. To make that matter worse, I wouldn’t be able to see her use it for several weeks, as she was far too young to do anything involving moves right now!

At least, I had learned from my experience with Ponyta that I had vastly underestimated how quickly Pokémon matured. Accounting for Togepi’s species-specific egg-related quirks, I knew she’d be able to start training within a few weeks and battle in only a month or two. I doubted Togepi would be ready to battle in any high level battles before the Conference, but she would definitely be capable of at least battling.

For now, however, she deserved to be able to explore the world.

Togepi, as a species, didn’t like staying inside Pokéballs, and it seemed like Togepi herself was no different. Once she received her initial post-hatching check-up with a local nurse, I threw on a disguise and left the Pokémon Center, Togepi riding on Ponyta’s back next to me.

Midday Pastoria didn’t have too many people out and about, but the ones that were would smile at the sight of the two Fairy Types trotting along the path. Togepi liked to wave at the people she passed by. Everyone always seemed a little more upbeat and happy after seeing her.

When it came to taking in the sights, Togepi seemed to like to look at people and Pokémon rather than the buildings itself. Personally, I thought Pastoria City looked rather nice, with it not consisting of skyscrapers but spread out buildings between trees instead. The only inanimate object Togepi seemed to like looking at were the various statues of Croagunk, of all things, that had been placed throughout the city. Every time Togepi saw one, she laughed. This ultimately came to head when an actual frog-like Croagunk showed up, where Togepi genuinely could not control her laughter when she saw its cheeks inflate when it croaked.

We took a break from everything that day, choosing to spend time with Togepi instead. Azumarill had no objections, even with her upcoming battle. She tended to stay nearby Ponyta and Togepi whenever she was left out and pretended not to be keeping an eye on them.

The next day, we did shift back into our normal training schedule. I specifically chose a spot outside the city’s grounds to not draw any extra attention to ourselves. There was a bit of an issue in that Togepi would start to cry whenever Ponyta began to leave her presence, so he was forced to always sit next to her and just practice his Psychic Type control instead. I still had some puzzles I had bought when he was young that helped with his control. Togepi was absolutely enamored with watching him solve them.

The rest of my team seemed a bit hesitant to get close, but Togepi almost tried to beckon them over whenever they did. She was extremely friendly despite only just hatching, choosing to get up and touch anyone who approached with a big smile on her face.

Togepi’s presence was a delight. The mood was high in the clearing, and even with the constant distraction of the baby Pokémon, I felt like it had been one of the most successful training days in a long while.

By the time the next day rolled around, Crasher Wake was finally free, and we scheduled Azumarill’s match to take place that afternoon.

_________________________________________________________________________________________

I strode into the Pastoria Gym with Ponyta at my side. Togepi, of course, was on his back. While this wouldn't be a Gym Battle, it would still take place in the main arena, taking advantage of a break between two of Crasher Wake’s battles scheduled for today.

As I approached the field, however, Crasher Wake came up to me before the battle. Like how he was a few days ago, his exuberant wrestling persona wasn't up now that he was out of the public’s eye, but there were still traces of it in the way he spoke and talked.

Notably, no one had ever seen him without his mask or even with a shirt.

"So, my understanding is that Azumarill wanted to battle me to make a decision?" he asked. We hadn’t been able to talk much before this battle was scheduled.

In response to his question, I nodded and sent Azumarill out at my side. When she saw him, she immediately gave him the stink eye, except in her case that just meant she was looking at him consideringly.

"Yes,” I said. “If you win, Azumarill is willing to stay with you on an infrequent schedule. If she wins, she’s decided that you wouldn’t be worth her time."

Crasher Wake rubbed his chin and grinned.

"A battle to decide her choice? I like it."

"Well, it’s a battle, yeah, but there's one rule that Azumaril was set on."

"Yeah? What is it?"

"Neither of us are allowed to give orders,” I declared. “My Pokémon versus your Pokémon, solely based on their own skill.”

Crasher Wake, from under his mask, gained a massive grin. He rubbed his hands together in delight then let out a boisterous laugh.

"Oh, one of those battles, she wants?" he exclaimed loudly. "You'll find that Floatzel and I are so in sync that I practically never give her orders, anyway! You two are in for a great match!"

He continued to laugh, slapping his leg in joy. Once he was done, he turned around to lead me to the field. As we walked the short distance, I spoke up to ask him a question that’d been on my mind since this match had first been scheduled this morning.

"Is this the same Floatzel we battled?" I asked.

"Naw, this is my ace, my starter! Several members of her species work with me in this Gym. Some of them are the Gym's Pokémon with no specific trainer, and others are a few of the local Gym Trainers' Pokémon. My Floatzel is much stronger than the one you fought yesterday, with her personal strength by itself considered to be equivalent to an eleven star Pokémon!" he boasted.

"She's only considered a low ten star Pokémon, though," he added under his breath.

"Huh. What's the reason for the difference?"

"Oh, limited scope of moves and relative lack of flexibility in style, and all that,” he said. “Floatzel is great at what she does, not so great in other aspects. We're working on that, though. More sparring partners always help Pokémon in general."

Crasher Wake glanced back to look after Azumarill, who was grinning madly in excitement.

"Gonna be a great battle," he said. "Can't wait to see what you'll get up to."

We stepped out into the main room at that, where the same floating, wrestling ring-like platform was waiting for us in the center. There wasn't any showy performance or announcement to start us off. Crasher Wake simply moved to the other side of the field.

Azumarill climbed the stairs to the trainer box with me, and Ponyta took Togepi off to the side to watch. The still surprisingly crowded audience looked on, but their excitement wasn't as ecstatic without Crasher Wake feeding into it with his actions.

"So, this’ll be a one on one match, no orders given, and it ends when one side faints,” Crasher Wake said. “Anything else I should add?"

"That's it," I replied. "Ready when you are."

"Then let's do this! Floatzel! Drown them in your waves!" he roared.

Rather than tossing forward a Pokéball, a massive pillar of water burst upwards from his side of the field, and a surprisingly large Floatzel rocketed into the air. In a splash that was closer to a wave than anything else, the Water Type Pokémon crashed down onto the central floating platform, causing it to rock.

Azumarill, still at my side, began to vibrate in excitement. All I had to do was give her the slightest nod before she used Aqua Jet to join her foe on the field.

Without the need for any orders, both Pokémon rushed forward into battle.

Still with the same use of Aqua Jet, Azumarill moved to slam herself into Floatzel. Her much larger opponent used the same move back at her to tackle Azumarill in response.

A massive disc-shaped splash shot out from where the two moves impacted and actually drenched several members of the audience in the elevator stands. The soaked observers screamed in excitement.

With both Pokémon's momentum halted from that impact, Azumarill let herself fall on her back on her tail and bounced to the side with Splash. She then brought up a fist to sock Floatzel with Liquidation, but Floatzel easily blocked it with a smack of its two tails.

From Floatzel's mouth, brightly colored yellow stars suddenly shot out with a Swift. Azumarill tried to duck and weave with Splash to dodge, but Swift was a homing attack that hit her regardless.

Annoyed, Azumarill forwent her Splash-strategy to lunge straight at Floatzel with Play Rough instead. Floatzel was caught off guard by the sudden change in strategy and was hit by the move. She then wrapped herself around Floatzel's center half to pick up the Pokémon and, in a physics-defying heave, slammed Floatzel into the ground.

Not willing to stop there, Azumarill tried to follow her assault up, but Floatzel dodged once again by using Aqua Jet to shift to the side even though it was on its back.

It then flicked its tails to send out another use of Swift and continued backwards to reenter the water. Azumarill was hit by the move and followed Floatzel in.

"Damn," I cursed.

If it was up to me, I wouldn't have advised Azumarill to go underwater like that. The water's surface was her domain, not its depths, especially since Azumarill’s oil-filled tail helped her stay afloat. Floatzel would be able to outmaneuver Azumarill no matter what happened down there. I hoped she would at least pull something off.

The field was silent outside a few splashes from waves formed by the battle underwater. I had no clue what was going on from my position in the trainer box.

Eventually, though, both Pokémon leapt out back to the main floating platform, panting and breathing heavily. Floatzel looked a bit tired and was moderately injured, whereas Azumarill was raring to go but had sustained many more injuries.

To my surprise, rather than lunge at each other again, both Pokémon lifted up their arms. Behind them, the water began to rise with a dual use of Surf, threatening to crash down on their opponents and sweep them away. So much water was being displaced by the moves, in fact, that the floating platform they were on actually dropped a few feet lower into the pool.

Slowly, both Pokémon took a few steps backwards until they were off the platform and swept up into their Surfs. Azumarill disappeared to reemerge at the top of the water, whereas Floatzel positioned itself to sit right in the middle.

Then, both waves moved forward.

At first, they were slow-moving attacks, only capable of shifting a few feet at a time. However, they quickly accelerated until the two waves slammed into each other.

Like the Aqua Jet impact from before, water sprayed out from the impact. The skies filled with countless droplets of water raining down like, well, rain. Togepi giggled on Ponyta’s back, although neither of them actually got wet thanks to psychic interference from Ponyta.

With the waves spread out after their collision, I finally saw the two Pokémon going at it in melee, like I expected this battle to be from the start. Floatzel was tearing into Azumarill with Crunches and Ice Fangs, while Azumarill was using Play Rough and Liquidation.

Soon enough, Floatzel pushed off from Azumarill to launch itself in the air. Azumarill didn’t follow it up, but instead braced herself on the platform for whatever Floatzel would do.

Rather than launching itself forward with either an Aqua Jet or a Surf, it used a move that was something in between. I genuinely didn’t recognize the attack that slammed into Azumarill, a small wave propelling Floatzel forward into a full-body crash.

Azumarill was knocked back rather painfully, but Floatzel looked like it had became somewhat injured, too. However, as Azumarill was already rather damaged, she ended up on her back and was struggling to get up. Floatzel was still on its feet.

There was no delay before a large foot was planted firmly on Azumarill’s chest and stopped her attempt to get up. Floatzel leaned down and growled in Azumarill’s face.

There was a tense moment where neither of them reacted. Azumarill gave Floatzel one last smirk, then let her head fall back against the floor.

She had lost.

Crasher Wake roared in victory. His Floatzel roared too, but strangely enough, despite being closer to an animal than he was, it looked to be mimicking Crasher Wake instead of roaring on its own.

“What a great battle!” Crasher Wake screamed out at the top of his lungs. “Really gets the blood pumping!”

Azumarill wasn’t unconscious, but she wasn’t in the condition to continue the fight. Knowing she’d like to talk after this, I recalled her only to send her out at my side, where I took out one of my emergency Hyper Potions and started to apply it to her.

Still on the field, Floatzel started to limp its way back to its trainer. It dove into the water and reemerged a few seconds later, landing down next to Crasher Wake. He lunged forward to grab his Pokémon in a headlock, rubbing its head furiously.

Honestly, I was starting to get why Crasher Wake didn’t wear a shirt. With how he was treating his Pokémon, it'd be constantly soaked if he had one on.

Once Azumarill was back on her feet, still somewhat injured, Crasher Wake and I stepped off our elevated trainer boxes to approach each other at the side of the field. Both Azumarill and Floatzel stuck to our sides.

“So, what are your thoughts, little one?” he said to Azumarill.

She huffed and crossed her arms at being called “little one.” The large Floatzel at his side chortled at such a reaction.

Since the battle was over, Azumarill took this moment to stare off between the two of them. After a few seconds, she gave them a single nod that was only slightly reluctant. Crasher Wake and his Floatzel cheered and high-fived.

“Ha ha ha! You won’t regret this decision! The amount of fights we'll get up to will be legendary!” he exclaimed while holding up a fist.

I sighed at his ridiculous personality.

“We can figure out a schedule later,” I said. “I think Azumarill needs time to relax.”

“Of course. I don’t mean to keep you waiting. I myself have a battle coming up. It’s only three stars, but sometimes even beginning trainers can be just as entertaining as stronger trainers!”

I nodded and said goodbye before making my way out to the hallway. Ponyta and Togepi rejoined my side.

Azumarill suddenly stopped me when we were out of sight.

“Zu,” she said while gesturing to the Nest Ball at my side.

I nodded, realizing she meant to talk to Kirlia. Grabbing his ball, I sent him out, where he looked around for a brief moment in confusion before laying his eyes on Azumarill. He scanned over her body and her still-present injuries, then tensed when she took a step forward.

Azumarill was taller than Kirlia, but not by very much. However, in this moment, it seemed as though she practically towered over him. Kirlia, who had sustained a moderate rivalry about his power with her for quite some time, looked at her a little nervously.

She laid her hand on his shoulder, then smiled a mad smile.

“Azumarill,” she said.

Kirlia’s eyes went wide.

“Kirlia,” he responded.

Kirlia sounded extremely determined. Azumarill responded with an even deeper grin. With that out of the way, she finally collapsed on the ground, where I freaked out and moved to see if she needed healing. Both Ponyta and Kirlia were also on her in moments, as both knew healing moves that could help others. It seemed she had only fallen asleep, rather than anything serious.

Shaking my head, I returned her to her Dive Ball.

Kirlia, on the other hand, didn’t ask to be returned. Instead, he stared at the ground in silence.

Without making a sound, Ponyta walked forward to stand at Kirlia’s side. Togepi giggled and placed her hand on Kirlia’s shoulder from her elevated position.

Kirlia eventually looked up, seeming more sure of himself than ever before. Azumarill wasn’t off the team, but with her loss here, it was now set she’d be spending some of her time with Crasher Wake. While I didn’t personally understand the full extent of what just happened between her and Kirlia, my best guess is that Azumarill had told him that it was his duty to take up her role as one of the strongest on the team.

Again, Azumarill wasn’t off the team or anything like that. She just seemed to be acting a bit dramatic at the moment.

However, her action seemed to have helped Kirlia become more sure of himself. With his dedication to training, I knew he could live up to her expectations.

====================================================
Author Note:

Remaining TMs to be taught:
-Shadow Ball: Whimsicott
-Psychic: Florges, Carbink

Pokémon mentioned in this chapter:
Croagunk
Floatzel

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