章 21: New Resolve (3/3)

[}-{] Chapter 3/5 for the week. [}-{]

Six hours, a whole lotta sweat, effort, and a ton of aprijuice, and it was finally done. Just cleaning up the damn clearing was more of a workout than any other they'd done before.

If it wasn't for the stamina-boosting aprijuice, he wasn't sure they'd be able to get it done in a single day

Now though, he was considering just getting rid of it. The juice most definitely helped with endurance, but it tasted like ass in a can.

Izan and Sandshrew groaned as they laid their heads down at the table. After all of that work, sitting down to eat with Sandshrew was one of the most satisfying feelings in the world.

Shedding off twice his bodyweight was where the majority of the feeling came from.

Though no one could really call it eating. They were just laying there while food sat next to them.

Izan's fingers were red and overworked from pushing and pulling things on the surface. Meanwhile, Sandshrew could barely move from using [Dig] while being weighed down.

The Diglett had messed up a lot more underground than they did aboveground. If she didn't fix it, the ground would've caved quickly.

"Are… are you two okay?"

He blearily looked up and was greeted by Nurse Joy's concerned face leaning over him.

"I'm… man, you are pretty. Are you a Pokemon?" He drawled, laying his head back down but still keeping his eye on her.

She sighed. "Thank you, Izan, that's nice of you to say. No, I'm not a Pokemon." Laying her hand on his forehead, she raised an eyebrow. "No fever. Just exhaustion, then? What'd you do to yourself?" Sandshrew lazily reached up to swipe her hand away from Izan. "And to Sandshrew, for that matter."

"Training." He yawned. "Are you sure you're not a Pokemon? You and all the other Nurse Joys look just as pretty."

She rolled her eyes. "That's because we're related. I assure you we are not Pokemon."

"Do you think there's a goth version of a Nurse Joy like how there's a dark-type version of Rattata? That'd be hot." He rambled.

"I- what? Chansey, can you just come and heal these two for me? Please." She asked, exasperated.

Chansey, who was cleaning up after someone, heard her and happily hopped over. Looking over the two, she put her hands up as waves of pink aura flowed over them.

Immediately, any exhaustion disappeared from his and Sandshrew's body. The smell of food was vivid now that he was alert and up.

And he remembered what he was talking about just as vividly.

"…I regret nothing I said. If you were a big titty goth chick who heals people, it would be hot as shit. Thanks for the heal, by the way, it was…" He trailed off as he started stretching.

None of the kinks he was expecting in his body were there.

He felt great. His muscles weren't even sore like he hadn't just spent six hours pushing and pulling rubble.

He clenched his fingers, and then flexed his muscles.

She noticed his pause. "Uh, are you sure you're alri-" She reached out with her hand again, and he caught it.

"Joy!" He blurted out, clasping her hand in both of his. "Let me borrow your Chansey sometime! No, borrowing would be messed up, I'll pay. 3,000 for a week." He offered, then shook his head. "No, you're right that's not enough."

Nurse Joy was flustered at his sudden closeness. "I-I can't let you borrow Chansey. For any amount of money, she's too important to the people at the center."

Oh. Right.

He deflated. That… that made sense. He was just so excited from the prospect of another exploit.

Healing right after training. In theory, with enough sustenance and sleep, he could fit full weeks of training into a single day.

His ticket to surpassing those who worked just as hard as him. To surpass those who worked harder, even.

A thought occurred to him. 'Vegeta tried this shit, now that I think about it. It didn't stick though, did it? They just substituted the long hours with shorter and more intensive training.'

Gravity training was possible, wasn't it? [Gravity] did exist, after all.

He'd need a really strong Pokemon for that, though. [Gravity] at a normal level was only known to magnify gravity enough to impede flight. It also affected speed, but not like the insane levels Dragon Ball had.

Even something like the [Gravity] that Serebyi's Ferrothorn used would be hard to come by. By default, the move simply affected a large area, not a specific Pokemon.

Maybe [Psychic] could work better? Or maybe just using weights with [Gravity] active?

It was something to think about.

Finally letting go of her hand, he dejectedly started eating. "Ah. Thanks anyway, Joy. You don't mind if I come to get healed after training though, right?"

The red of her face faded as he calmed down. "That's what we're here for. Though I'd prefer if you didn't break yourself into pieces every day just to get a bit stronger."

'Speaking of being broken into pieces, I wonder if Nidoran is getting any better. Maybe Nidorino could help me with training. He used a psychic attack, didn't he?'

"Today was much harsher training than normal, don't worry." He waved her off. "Oh, by the way, how're those two I caught doing?"

Her face fell at the mention of the two rabbit-like Pokemon.

"Nidorino will be fine, I can assure you that. He's a fighter, that one. Nidoran on the other hand…" His heart dropped to his stomach.

His feelings must've shown on his face as Nurse Joy waved her hands quickly. "I-it's not what you think! She just… I've never been good at explaining stuff like this, but she will live. I promise you that."

He held his chest, letting out a breath he didn't know he was holding.

'Why am I so invested in this? Am I normally this emotional?'

It didn't matter at the end of the day. He still felt sorry for the little rabbit and that worry wasn't going anywhere.

"It's just… I don't think she'll be much help to you if you want to be a battler." She took out a tablet, put it on the table, and swiped to images of an x-ray. "If you look here, you'll see she has gone through a significant amount of trauma dealt to her head."

The tablet showed a few pictures of brain scans, with the notable part being the multiple white spots on parts of the brain.

Something that clearly shouldn't have been there.

"It seems that whatever the Diglett were doing, they caused a massive amount of injuries throughout her entire body. The most severe being the trauma to her brain. Besides the risk of extenuating her injuries through battle, I doubt she'd have the capacity to battle efficiently at all." Joy explained with a frown.

So she mentally impaired? Well, that made things easier, actually.

"I see. I was planning on selling her over the league website, actually. I was just going to consult her mate beforehand."

Her lips thinned, but she relaxed at his lack of a negative reaction. "They're siblings, actually. And I, uh, don't think you'll be getting his approval for that. This happened shortly after you brought them in."

Taking the tablet again, she swiped until a picture of the backroom showed up.

In the picture, there was a clearly injured Nidorino sleeping next to a glass intensive care unit. Inside the unit was his sister Nidoran.

Far in the back of the picture was a Nidorino-sized hole in the wall.

'The fuck? Is Nidorino a major siscon? Wait, yeah he is. That much was obvious. But how did he know Nidoran was in that specific room? Or did he just start breaking rooms until he found her?'

'…Did he have to pay for that?'

[}-{]

Nidorino slept. He dreamt. He once again experienced that dreadful day.

The nightmare reminded him of his promise. Of his failures.

His sister would say that it wasn't his fault. That their parents were strong, and that if they couldn't win, he wouldn't do much better.

Deep down, he knew she was right. Yet that didn't make him feel any better.

So she reassured him again. She reasoned that his transformation stopped him. That if he were to fight off the invaders with their parents, if he were to go to battle, he would be stuck in that form forever.

That, too, he knew to be true. And yet still the nightmares persisted.

Of the final moments with his parents.

Of the creatures, those pink bastards, who roamed with dull looks on their faces. He knew as everyone else did, they would be nothing if it weren't for their leader.

If it weren't for his schemes. For his trickery.

If it weren't for the power that he too harbored within him. The power to control things with the mind.

The promise he'd made to his older sister was the only thing that kept this nightmare away.

And now that his promise had been broken. Now that she'd been hurt, it returned in full.

Yet he didn't have it in him to fight the nightmare.

He deserved this. He was a failure.

A light shone through the darkness that was his nightmare. Gold eyes blazed, looking through his very soul. They encompassed him, benevolent. Empathetic.

They sought to protect him. To protect his sister as well.

The field of blood, of corpses, of death, became one of life. Of grass and flowers and his frolicking family.

…He didn't trust those eyes. There was nothing free in this world.

It, too, would reveal its true intentions.

---

->RQ: Hitmonchan, Hitmonlee, or Hitmontop? Also, do you have any questions for me? I usually ignore most of them to avoid spoilers.

Fun Fact, the original premise for this story was much blander. I was just gonna throw a guy into the world without ANYTHING but the clothes on his back. There was gonna be a whole new language he'd have to learn, too. Then have him become a fisherman for money, and try to beat the 8 gyms with his first Pokemon being Magikarp, obviously.

It was a fun idea, to watch him go from zero to hero, but writing it was beyond boring.