Tyler Kimball - Lessgently
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New Beginnings - Chapter 32 (Revised)
🕑 Added 2024-07-08 19:33:11 +0000 UTCDeleted the old version of Chapter 32 to have this new an improved version take its place. I feel like this one is much better than the last. Thanks for all the help and for sharing your thoughts about the previous one. Sometimes, an outside perspective is perfect.
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“You know, I think most people work very hard to earn the right to battle against you. I don’t think we should battle at all.” Ethan began throwing out excuses. He wasn’t a battler, and he didn’t want to battle the Champion at all. It would be a battle for hurting his pokemon for no reason. They wouldn’t win, nor did he need to prove himself to anyone.
Cynthia nodded along, agreeing with him. “While that’s very true, I think you’d prefer someone who you can trust not to injure your pokemon for your first battle. If you picked the wrong opponent, then they could maliciously do harm to your pokemon.”
Ethan shook his head. “That’s where you’re wrong. I’m not looking to pick any opponents. I don’t need to. Battling isn’t something I want, need, or feel inclined to do.” He sighed as he locked eyes with Cynthia, who was judging him with a critical eye. “Look… I appreciate the opportunity, but I don’t want to battle.”
“Ethan. Sometimes the battle comes to you. There will be times when you can’t opt out.” She gestured all around her. “What would you have done if Team Galactic came by and threatened to steal all the pokemon who call your ranch home? Would you roll over and let them do as they pleased? I do not think you would. You should battle to train for the moment you least expect. I am the Champion. A title I earned through battles alone. Take this as advice. Battle me.”
Ethan stared into Cynthia’s fierce gray eyes and gulped as the usually slight breeze suddenly picked up in intensity, blowing her long blonde hair about. She stood there, ready for anything. A defender of a region. What she said made sense, and it wasn’t like he had zero interest in battling. It was mainly the fact that he didn’t want his friends to get hurt out here in the middle of nowhere.
Chatot shuffled along his shoulder and leaned forward with narrowed eyes as her tail clicked and clacked back and forth like a metronome. Pachirisu’s cheeks surged and sparked with built up electricity… and Cynthia smiled, turned, then walked off into the training field.
Ethan looked to his two pokemon. While he didn’t want to battle, they did. He’d seen Chatot enjoy the little scuffles they had when they made their way here from Eterna City, and while they weren’t the real deal, he could see that she wanted to at least try. Likewise, Pachirisu was ready to rumble. Whether it was because he wanted to cement his title of strongest on the team or not, Ethan didn’t know… but he knew they wanted this a lot more than he did.
As they were alone for a second as Cynthia quickly cleared the field for the upcoming bout, he said a few words to his friends. They didn’t know what they were getting themselves into. “That woman is Champion Cynthia. She is bar none, the strongest pokemon trainer in this entire region. She is the top of the top, the pinnacle. She will take it easy on us, but know that if she were to try, you wouldn’t stand a chance. I don’t say this to disparage you, but to make sure you know what you’re getting yourself into. Do your best, but stay safe. If you hear me say a command, follow it. Whether it be a move or to dodge. I may see things you can’t. If you get recalled, it’s because I care for your health and don’t want to see you get hurt... are you two ready?”
“Pachi!” Pachirisu nodded, a confident look gleaming in his eyes.
“Chat-tot!” Chatot flapped her wings and sped up her tail.
They were ready.
With trepidation, Ethan made his way out into the now cleared field and walked to the opposite end of where Cynthia stood calmly with a hand on her hip. Her carefree and friendly demeanor was gone, and in its place stood a woman who would demolish anyone who stood in her way.
The trainers and pokemon didn’t even bother to look his way, as they had their full attention on Cynthia. The trainers had their phones out, taking pictures or filming videos of their upcoming bout, which already was a terrible sign.
“Smeargle.”
Smeargle calmly said his name, jolting Ethan out of his worrisome thoughts. The dog-painter was looking up into Ethan’s eyes—no fear, no worry… nothing. Smeargle pointed at himself with his orange-tipped tail and then out to the field with a question. Ethan smiled and rubbed his bereted head. “Maybe… thanks for offering. I think It’s Chatot and Pachirisu’s time to shine. It’s their first time.”
Smeargle nodded and turned his body to look at Cynthia, waiting for the battle to begin.
Seeing that he was ready, Cynthia spoke out loudly in a sure and strong voice. “This will be a four v.s one battle between Ethan Reed, pokemon tutor and breeder, and myself, Champion Cynthia. Ethan will have three substitutions available to him and I will judge whether or not a pokemon is unable to battle. Are you ready, Ethan?”
Ethan turned his head from side to side, looking at Chatot and Pachirisu, before nodding toward Cynthia. “I will send out my pokemon, then you may choose which one to send out.”
Cynthia didn’t even need to look at her waist as she chose her pokeball. She flicked out her wrist, sending the normal pokeball flying outwards, releasing a feline of ice and snow.
“Glaceon!” The ice-type evolution had a faint mist surrounding her form, but her keen eyes scanned her surroundings. She registered the small field, and then Ethan, but turned to look at Cynthia with a questioning gaze. Seeing Cynthia’s hard look, Glaceon turned back around and lowered herself to the ground in a ready stance. Not another word needed to be said between the two of them.
Chatot fluttered her wings, wanting to be sent out, but Ethan wasn’t dumb enough to send a flying type versus an ice type. He was bad at the games, but he wasn’t that bad. “Pachirisu. You’re up first.”
With a resolute nod and a confident ‘Pachi!’ Ethan’s electric rodent launched himself off Ethan’s shoulder and righted himself on the field. Ethan’s heart was hammering in his chest. He knew all of Pachirisu’s moves, but none of them were super effective versus an ice type.
“Glaceon, take it easy. Begin!” Cynthia commanded.
And the two pokemon wasted no time. Pachirisu immediately sprinted off to his left, summoning white stars which launched toward the ever-growing mist enveloping Glaceon as she ran clockwise to match the circling rodent. Not even three seconds had passed before small pieces of hail began dropping from the sky, Glaceon had used either Hail or Snowscape.
“Keep using Swift! Glaceon has the ability Snow cloak! She’ll be harder to hit in the hailstorm!” Ethan shouted.
Cynthia smirked and nodded, approving of his order, but gave a command of her own. “Match the Swifts and set-up.”
Glaceon’s stars of Swift came out instantaneously, larger, and more numerous, than Pachirisu’s. Pachirisu chittered in a panic, then dug down using Dig to avoid the stars altogether, as his move was being blasted apart. Glaceon didn’t appear to be alarmed at the use of Dig, and sat calmly on her hind legs as her eyes flared purple. Using Calm Mind if Ethan was to hazard a guess.
“Come up and Eerie Impulse, Pachirisu!” Ethan shouted loudly so that Pachirisu could hear him from beneath the earth. Eerie Impulse was an interesting move Ethan didn’t even know existed. He’d researched it as it was the move he’d used against Chatot during their bout for his shoulder, and it lowered the target's special attack stat by two stages. Whether that did a lot in the real world? Ethan didn’t know, but he had to cancel out the buffs from Calm-Mind one way or another.
Like all the times before, Pachirisu launched himself out of his hole, sending himself high up into the air. While he missed Glaceon by a few feet upon his exit, he’d heard Ethan’s command and used Eerie Impulse when he reached maximum altitude. The spiraling electric ray was nearly unavoidable given its speed. It tagged Glaceon as she hopped back into the ever-growing snowscape.
“Ice Shard.” Cynthia said, causing a thick crystal of ice to launch out of the mist, leaving a gaping hole in its wake revealing Glaceon as she prowled about, formerly unseen. As Pachirisu was still falling from its launch, he was unable to dodge out of the way and was slammed with the crystalline Ice Shard, sending him tumbling through the air. Ethan already had a hand on Pachirisu’s pokeball and was about to recall him, but Cynthia spoke loudly. “Don’t. He’s not done yet.”
Ethan ignored her words, not even bothering to look at her, as he recalled Pachirisu before he impacted the ground. “I’m using a switch.”
Cynthia gave him a disapproving look, but waved her hand for him to send out another pokemon.
This was a horrible idea. This wasn’t a match they could win. While he appreciated Pachirisu’s and Chatot’s enthusiasm to battle, he didn’t have an ounce of their motivation. He didn’t care if he won, and couldn’t be upset against losing to The Champion… but he wanted to try his best for his pokemon. They’ve done a lot for him, and it was time to return the favor.
“♫ Chaa-tooot! ♫”
Chatot fluttered her wings and launched herself into the air, not even waiting for Ethan’s command. She turned and gave him a cheery and excited smile as she soared upwards, much higher than in her battle with Pachirisu, likely having learned her lesson.
Unsurprisingly, Chatot used her favorite opener—Chatter. Her singsong squawks sent forth a rainbow aura of color, which washed over the entirety of the snowing and hailing field.
“Gla!” The shocked and confused tone of Glaceon yipped from within the snow, unseen, but not unheard.
Seeing as the bright eyes and eager smile of his first companion, he’d try his best to support his pokemon’s dumb decision. “Use Round!”
“♫ Chaa-tooot-tot-tot! ♫”
Another blast of colorful sound was sent barreling down into the hazardous terrain which Chatot circled over. She was flying outside of his small training field, but Cynthia didn’t seem to care about that minor bit of rule breaking in their spar.
“Set-up again. Plus three.” Cynthia said calmly as she kept her eyes locked on Chatot as she flew up above.
Ethan had two choices here. One, he could order Chatot to use Taunt, stopping the use of Calm Mind, or he could order Encore and have her locked into the move. Since Cynthia was unable to switch. He went for the latter.
“Encore!”
Chatot clapped her two wings together as she sang a happy, encouraging bird song.
“♫ Chaa-tooot tooot-tooooooot! ♫”
“Now, go all out! Hyper Voice and Round! Whatever you feel comfortable with!” Ethan shouted.
Chatot sped up, launching colorful sound waves toward the faint yips heard throughout the snow. Cynthia, still unflinching, kept her eyes on the sky. “Enough playing around, Ice beam.”
The sound of rupturing, crackling ice was the only warning Ethan and Chatot had before a trail of cyan-blue icy-energy rocketed out of the mist and slammed into Chatot. He wasn’t sure if it was the difference in power, or whether his colorful bird was just unlucky, but Chatot fell down as an ice cube toward the ground, frozen solid. He recalled her and stared at her ball as his heart ached.
That… wasn’t her best showing. She got hit by a singular move and was frozen solid. A part of him worried about her health, but since Cynthia was standing calm and confident across the field, he assumed that the frozen effect was similar to the games. She wasn’t in any real danger.
As he gazed sorrowfully at Chatot’s pokeball, He looked up to meet Cynthia’s fierce eyes. “We’re done. I surrender. Shuckle doesn’t like to battle and Smeargle isn’t my pokemon.” As he finished speaking, Ethan felt a small press into his waist. Looking down, he saw Pachirisu’s pokeball wiggling, pressing itself into his hip.
While Ethan was focused on the wiggling pokeball, Cynthia walked over. Even though she wasn’t as tall as him, he felt like she was a giant as her shadow crossed over him.
“Your pokemon could still continue.” Cynthia stated, causing Ethan to shrug. It was his first battle, and it was hardly a minute long. He was going to make mistakes.
Cynthia walked alongside him as he turned to head off toward his home.She gazed about his ranch as she spoke. “One hit was all it took for you to recall Pachirisu. Do you think he would send himself too high into the air if he was afraid of being hurt upon landing? He knows what he’s capable of and he would have been fine once he landed—Ice Shard or not.”
She sighed and carried on. “Chatot and Ice Beam was an unlucky freeze. That recall was understandable. While you may think me cruel for using Ice Beam, Glaceon wasn’t actually using any set-up moves. After Eerie Impulse, its strength was weakened severely. I would not hurt your pokemon, Ethan. I just wanted to show you that they are more powerful than you think. Your Chatot is growing nicely. When she’s able to use Boomburst with no downside, she will be a formidable pokemon.”
Ethan smiled as he shook his head. “She doesn’t need to be a formidable pokemon. She can be if she wants to, but she doesn’t need to. You and all the others who go on their journeys can feel free and train your pokemon to be the best of the best, but I’m happy with friends and family. I’ll be the support those battlers need. A place for pokemon to rest and recover, to learn new things, to be safe. That is what I want to do.”
Ethan opened the door to his home and walked into his kitchen to place the two pokemon eggs he’d been carrying on the table. Cynthia walked inside and looked around his home with an appreciative gaze. “I understand. I just think that you and your pokemon would be safer if you were to have some experience and strength.”
He walked off toward his room, then into the bathroom to begin heating the water for a shower. Hopefully, a warm shower would help his chilled bird. “I lived out here in the wilderness for a year without any pokemon. I think I know how much danger I could be in. The only true danger is other people at this point.”
“And that’s what I’m worried about…” Cynthia said, causing Ethan to turn and look at her conflicted face.
Comments
Marian Ch
Cynthia needs to sit down and have a long discussion about how his reticence and overall refusal to learn how to battle is nothing but harmful in the long run. Pokemon want to grow, to battle, to be strong. Not only is he making a decision for everyone in his party without consulting them, he's actively stunting their growth. Worse, he is well aware of the many dangerous people that still roam around the place, attempting to trigger an apocalypse or another. He needs to be able to protect himself, because that safe pokemon haven won't happen just cause he wishes it really hard. Learning that he needs to be combat capable can come in two ways - willing or unwilling. Hopefully Ethan learns willingly before pain and loss teach him the same lesson everyone else learns unwillingly.
Kyle Peterson
Hey don't let me tell you how the story should go. But if you want to avoid the battle route with Ethans pokemon, maybe have an experienced trainer who's retiring an older pokemon could leave the pokemon with Ethan, so he's able to live out the rest of its days on the ranch in peace. While giving Ethan needed protection of an experienced pokemon at the same time. Just a thought.
Duke of Coffee
Well a little better. Still Ethan is not a battler type unlike other Pokémon SI fanfics guessing this chapter is suppose to cement it.
Daniel
This also sets up potential for after the thinking and talking with his pokemon for maybe asking for a second chance if only because his Pokemon want a rematch
Tyler Kimball
Oh yeah, like has been said many times before, Ethan wasn't ever good at battling in the games. So, he isn't going to be good here either. He still has a lot to learn about the limits of his pokemon, or just pokemon as a whole, as well.
Kiwi
Same thought as Danny, and i think Cynthia is a bit more understanding
Kyle
Much better.
Danny
Well he no longer comes off as whiny and a sissy so good job fixing that. Plus this leads into some character development later on so I’d count this as a solid rewrite. Don’t get me wrong Ethan is still 100 percent naive about battling but I think if he stays up late and does some thinking and talking with his pokemon we’re good with the setup from this chapter
Tyler Kimball
Let me know your thoughts about this one. I like it a lot more than the last, but I might still make some minor improvements along the way.
