บท 121: Chapter 118

"Choop" came a cry, which shook Alex out of his thoughts. He looked up to see Machop looking at him unhappily, not appreciating the trip down memory lane.

"Hello, Machop, my name is Alex. Nice to meet you" said Alex gently.

Machop ignored him and went back to its training.

Alex stayed silent and watched it.

"That's not going to be enough," said Alex suddenly.

"Machop?" asked Machop.

"I mean, that practising alone won't allow you to beat that Machop" said Alex.

Machop glared at him, and yelled shaking its hands.

"Do you truly believe I am wrong?" asked Alex.

Machop froze, and the. went back to training.

"Fire Punch and Thunder Punch aren't the only TMs Machop can learn you know. And the Black Belt it is wearing will put all its Fighting type moves' strength above yours" said Alex.

Machop paused, but ignored Alex and went on training

"I can help you, you know?" said Alex

Machop stopped its training, and looked over at him, and said, "Chopp?"

Alex took out a Pokeball and said, "Why don't you join me? I can arrange for you to learn moves from TMs, and even get you a Black Belt. Then we can win the tournament for Machop together?" asked Alex.

"Chooop!" yelled Machop angrily, and shook its head.

"Is the no for being my Pokemon or wearing the Balck Belt?" asked Alex.

Machop looked at him, shop its head, and turned away.

"Well, it's like that. Other than a few responses, it doesn't really bond with trainers. Even if it does appear to, it stops listening to them after a while, and runs back here" said Nathaniel.

Alex understood that he was facing a tricky problem. The bad impression left behind by the youth, and a bunch of unqualified trainers made this Machop untrusting of prospective trainers. Alex decided to try a different approach.

"How about this? I won't catch you now, but let's make a deal" said Alex, putting away the Pokeball.

Machop turned around and looked at him curiously.

"I will train you till tomorrow, and we will enter the Machop tournament kg the Machamp Festival together. After the festival, you can decide if you want me to be your trainer. How about that?" asked Alex. Spending and another day here wouldn't be much of a problem. He could try to brush favorability with this Machop until then. If it still doesn't come around till tomorrow after the tournament, he could just forget about it. Whatever time and money he spent on Machop would not be a big deal anyway, and he could get some experience handling a Machop in case he decided to catch one in the future.

Machop looked at him and hesitated.

"Come on. I won't put in a Pokeball. And unless you are registered to a trainer, you probably can't get far in the tournament anyway. No way the sponsors are going to let a wild Machop hog the spotlight you see? So if you do want to participate, I am your best bet" said Alex.

Machop hesitated, looked over at Alex, and finally nodded its head. Alex beamed happily.

"I don't mean to be rude or anything, but fair warning. It's not like no one talked Machop into leaving with them, but they either returned it after it kept ignoring their commands, or it ran back by itself. You can take this Machop, but I don't think that it will work out" said Nathaniel.

"Thanks for the warning Nathaniel. I'll keep that in mind. I'll be leaving with Machop now. If all goes well, I'll see you tomorrow at the festival" said Alex.

He then returned Chansey and Abra, and beckoned for Machop to follow him down the hill back to the city. Machop puffed up its chest and followed.

"If I can't take it into a Pokeball, TMs won't work, as they are designed to teach moves to Pokemon within a Pokeball. Abra isn't proficient enough with its Psychic energy to teach Machop moves, and even if it was, there are no Pokemon with moves suitable for Machop I can use. And Machop doesn't seem to like Balck Belts. Plus, I must win the tournament if possible. I can probably get Machop to break the bottleneck tonight with enough resources, the next food, and its of training. And even if I feed it some highly advanced energy materials, it can probably digest it with all the exercise it will get from the dozens of battles tomorrow" though Alex. After saying his goodbyes to Nathaniel and his grandfather, Alex left the farmland owned by them, and walked towards the city, with Machop following.

No one he met along the way batted an eye, as people travelling with Machop or Machoke training behind them was a common sight in Viridian City now.

Alex booked a room on the most advanced training room in the city on his Pokedex, and led Machop in there.

"This is where you are going to be training today. Your training will go on non stop till tonight. I will get you energy materials, food, and other stuff helpful to you" said Alex to Machop.

Machop nodded with a serious look.

"Well then, let's start. Abra and Nidoran will be training with you" said Alex, as he tossed two Pokeballs onto the ground.

Abra and Nidoran spawned from the Pokeballs. Abra looked at Alex and started dozing off, while Nidoran ran over to Alex and started rubbing his leg affectionately.

"All right guys. Today, all of you are going through some serious training" said Alex.

Machop and Nidoran cried out in acknowledgement, while Abra continued to doze off.

"Well. This is going to be a long day" though Alex.