NABC Chapter 238 – Catharsis
Chapter 238 – Catharsis
Chapter 238 – Catharsis
CHAPTER 238 - Catharsis
Gotta get up.
My chest thumped as the cheers from the crowd died down and transformed into worried whispers. From up there, it had probably looked like I'd passed out. It wouldn't even be the first time, since I'd had the exact same thing happen after my fight with Candice. Arceus, that was a long time ago. I took a deep breath and pushed myself back up as best I could. My movements were sluggish and awkward. Now that the adrenaline was leaving my system, a tiredness was slowly taking over. I wanted nothing more but to crash into my bed and sleep for the rest of the day.
When I climbed down the steps of the podium, Volkner was already waiting for me at the side of the arena with his hands in his pockets. I shuffled there as fast as I could so I wouldn't make him wait too long. I had no idea if he had other fights after this or if he was just going to let his Gym Trainers take over, but I knew that Gym Leaders' breaks were precious and not to be wasted. As usual, our microphones were already off at this point, so no one could hear us.
"Congratulations," he said. "ID, Pokedex, you know the drill."
I nodded, ignoring the pride swelling in my chest and handed him my card and the device. After thirty seconds, he handed them back to me.
"You're now the owner of the Beacon Badge, and I've transferred 40,000 Pokedollars into your account. You also have access to the Charge Beam TM in its unlimited form."
Charge Beam was for sure going into Princess' arsenal. I didn't think we'd use it that much, but it was always good to have some extra options just like when I'd taught her Shadow Ball. I didn't see the need to teach it to Honey, though— not when Thunderbolt was a faster and better option for a consistent, low-energy move.
"Thank you," I smiled.
"Sorry about your Electabuzz," Volkner said, shoving his hands back into his pockets. "Electivire doesn't like to lose, even when it's not a real battle. He got a little carried away there."
"That's the price of battle," I said. "So... for the evolution—"
"Come back here when he's healed up. It works out anyway because there'll be a lot to prepare."
"Got it!" I grinned.
"Well, off you go then," he waved me away.
The idea that Honey was actually going to evolve soon had reinvigorated me and I jogged back toward the lobby. I quickly passed through the waiting room, passing a nervous-looking trainer that I told 'good luck' to.
When I emerged in the lobby, there was pandemonium.
I couldn't even see the Gym's exit. People— mostly trainers crowded over me asking a million questions and were so loud my head was spinning. It wasn't so much the first part of the battle that had impressed them. In fact, I suspected that all of my and my team's efforts would be overshadowed by Honey 'dueling' Electivire. Honey did deserve the attention, and I wasn't about to let anything ruin my mood.
I'd won.
"I've got to get my team to the Center!" I yelled.
I broke through the wall of trainers and noticed that Denzel was pulling away at some of them in another section of the crowd in an attempt to get to me. I called out to him and he sighed in relief. All of my friends followed closely behind him— although I did notice that Erin and Emilia looked a bit pale.
Congratulations rang out from every direction. Cece called me wonderful as she grabbed both of my hands and said I'd been beautiful the entire battle. Denzel patted me on the back, demanding to know what the hell my deal with lava was and how I'd gotten Electivire to fight me. Louis was more preoccupied with Honey's state at the moment, and I knew from one look at his face that he'd been terrified multiple times during the fight, and Justin (who had been dragged here by everyone else) simply gave me an acknowledging nod next to him. Chase was already theorizing on how to counter my lava strategy and called the battle with Electivire a show that didn't matter in the grand scheme of things—
"Guys. Let me get to the Center first, okay?" I said. "Ugh, I'm so sweaty."
"You're telling me what that was all about on the way there," Denzel demanded with folded arms.
—
The fact that I'd only told Cece about the fight with Electivire kind of pissed all of my friends off, but they were too happy to care at the moment. Already, Chase's mania had spread and by the time we were at the Center, he, Cecilia, Denzel and Lauren were talking about ways to counter them. I listened to their conversation while I handed my Pokemon to Nurse Joy. I'd told her to get back to me regarding Honey as soon as she could. Mira leaned against a wall with Louis and Justin, probably talking about some TE stuff. The blonde had clearly disapproved of my strategy, but he hadn't said anything about it yet.
Pauline and Emilia spoke to Erin next to the elevators, probably soothing her. On the way there, she'd asked me what the lethal version of the plan was.
It was to bury my opponents in more lava until they turned to ash. It'd be surprisingly effective on most Pokemon. Still, I'd told her that the non-lethal version was perfectly valid and that pain from burns or burning was among the worst for any living being to go through.
"I mean, we knew Turtonator was going to come into play at some point," Chase said. "You can't stop him from heating shit up with dark TE, but one thing I was thinking about was using the lava yourself. Throw it back right into her Pokemon."
"Hard to do it without Ancient Power," Denzel said.
"Good thing Sigilyph learns Ancient Power then, Williams," Chase jeered. "It'll be a good move to add anyway. It's a pretty versatile attack."
"The only Pokemon I've got capable of standing up to that lava-Ancient Power combination is Milotic. I've actually been working on the Safeguard tactic—"
"Safeguard?" Lauren scoffed. "I'd have Prime bury the lava in some cold mud and call it a day. Or maybe I'd have Paragon or Mags play around in it like a kid in a ball pit."
"Well some of us want sophisticated strategy," he rolled his eyes. "It would work perfectly to protect her from the heat."
"Zweilous' scales won't be tough enough until they're a Hydreigon... but Lehmhart could stand close and be alright, I think," Cecilia noted. "But the real key is taking down Princess. Without her, the lava's just stationary. Annoying, but possible to deal with."
"You only say that because you're going to have three Pokemon capable of flying by the time your team is fully evolved," Denzel sighed.
"Cecilia's got Scyther for dark Type Energy stuff and I've got Houndoom. One Darkfire and Togetic's entire shtick collapses."
"That Moonblast trick was pretty nasty too," Denzel muttered. "Didn't know the move could mess with gravity. I hope Sylvi can learn it when he's out of this rut."
I grinned.
The knives were out to get me.
After six minutes, one of the Nurse Joys approached me over the counter.
"Grace Pastel... your team will recover after three days aside from your Electabuzz. What in the world happened to him?"
I raised an eyebrow and felt a twinge of worry. "He got hit by Volkner's Electivire using Hammer Arm—"
"Ah, yes, that would do it," she sighed, shaking her head. The fact that she wasn't acting surprised or asking me any questions was refreshing, but Nurse Joys usually saw so much during their career that nothing surprised them any longer. "A shattered spine, multiple broken ribs, a broken collarbone, a broken arm, dislocated shoulders, cracks in his pelvis... he's got a laundry list of injuries. It'll take a week and a half to get him up to speed, and even after that, you'll have to wait another week for any kind of training while the Ditto cells solidify properly, or he'll break his bones again. They'll be fragile for a while."
I didn't know what to say to that but to thank her for the help. Honey had been a lot more injured than I had thought at first. Hopefully they had him on some powerful painkillers in there, and I'd have to ask Volkner if that meant I had to wait even longer for his evolution. Electivire wasn't just powerful for his speed, but for his strength too. There was a whole lot of musculature hidden under his thick fur.
"Of course, these are all expensive and I won't be able to get them all at once, but I did get a raise, so it gets easier from there. Sunshine's decked out with moves already, but more wouldn't hurt. I'd need to think about it more, though. Oh! Did you know he actually managed to do that explosion thingy we were working on!"
Buddy's eyes flashed in surprise.
"I know, right? He was so great out there! You better praise him when he's back."
The water type rippled as he laughed, telling me to imagine Sunshine's reaction to praise.
"Yeah, he'd definitely get all shy about it and act like he doesn't care. Actually, let me just tell you about the part of the battle you couldn't— hey, come on, don't sigh at me! Indulge my passion a little, I'm not tired enough to go back to sleep. I'll let you rant about history to the entire team tomorrow since we're almost done with your book."
Buddy was mostly worried about how our family actually was and how they'd been hurt rather than the battle, but he listened anyway, and he did contribute some ideas. Angel woke up along the way and excitedly hung to every word too.
I didn't sleep that night.
—
Three days.
Three, agonizing days.
And yet, here I was, finally grabbing Princess' Pokeball and my other Pokemon from a tray. The hype from my battle with Volkner was still the talk of the forums, but it had thankfully subsided in real life. My friends had all slowly started to sign up for their Gym Battle. They were spread out throughout the week.
I had Mira's Alakazam Teleport me to route 214 on my own. Today, we weren't training. Today was special. I released my entire team onto the cliffs, and their first reaction was to cheer and celebrate their victory once I told them that we'd won. Even Sunshine couldn't help but smile, and Buddy did end up praising him, which made Sweetheart do the same.
If dragons could blush...
Angel had already known about the victory, but he acted like it was his first time hearing about it anyway and he wrapped his vines around all of us.
"Listen up," I grinned. "Your brother's still at the Center. He fought well, but Electivire hit him a little too hard and he still needs to rest for a few days. You all did amazing. Truly. We're getting better at fighting as a team and not as individuals."
My family responded with grunts and nods, although Sunshine scoffed at the notion of Honey being his sibling. He wasn't there quite yet, but if I'd gotten Buddy to agree to it, I'd hopefully get him one day too. I took a deep breath and pulled out my Shiny Stone from its casket, and Princess' eyes immediately narrowed. She stared at it, breathless as she instinctively floated closer.
It was my first time actually touching the Shiny Stone. It felt warm in my hands, but not hot enough to be uncomfortable.
"Hold on," I said.
Princess froze in place. She was eager. She'd wanted this just as much as I had. I nodded and spoke again.
"Originally, I wanted Honey to be here, but I've got a little something for him!"
I placed my backpack on the rocky plateau and pulled out Denzel's tripod that he had lent me. Then, I placed my phone on it and opened my camera app.
"We'll record it for him so he can watch when he's back," I said. I felt a twinge of sadness, but I couldn't bring myself to wait any longer. I'd waited months for this, and holding back was impossible. "Hold on, I'm getting all of you in the shot... Sweetheart, stop hogging all the space! This is Princess' moment— there you go. Angel, stop poking Buddy, you've bullied him enough when it was just the two of you. Sunshine, are you scooching away? Get in the shot!"
After wrangling everyone for around two minutes, they formed a semi-circle around Princess, who was shivering in excitement.
I clicked on record and spoke. "To future me— and future us. Today was the day Princess evolved into a Togekiss."
By the time I finished my sentence, I was already next to my family.
I held out my hand to Princess, and the stone touched her forehead.
It instantly started to shine, as did she. The stone turned to dust that her body absorbed as she grew. Arms retracted into her, wings spread and grew, her body changed. We all held our breath during the process. My heart was going so fast I could feel it drum against my ribs. I was so overwhelmed I felt like crying of joy. All of our hard work, everything we'd done for months had led to this moment. My little girl was all grown up.
And it felt so fulfilling.
Princess was slightly taller than me when she finished evolving. Air and pink dust swirled around her until she opened her eyes and brought it to a stop. I wiped a tear from my cheek and touched her head. Just being near her felt soothing. I'd have to get her to reign that in, but I'd let it slide for now.
"You did it," I softly said. "You did it."
My daughter chirped and placed her forehead against mine.
She was smaller than Cynthia's own Togekiss, but she still had a bunch of growing up to do and she was already big enough to let me ride her. Angel was the first to try to touch her, and he wriggled as he ran his vines all over her.
"Right? She's so fluffy now!" I laughed. "You can be a pillow! You're just as soft as Ninetales."
Princess huffed, but she relented to her pillow duties. We all observed her body for a while, and she tried to stretch her wings. The movement was slow and awkward, which was to be expected. She could float, but flying with her wings was much harder than it looked.
"It's going to take you a while to get used to this new body, but you'll be stronger for it," I said. "You can become just as fast as Talonflame without losing any of your current skills."
Princess let out an excited cry, and she flapped her wings a few times. Somehow, no gusts of wind blew my hair away, and those that did come were barely noticeable. I'd seen how Cynthia's Togekiss hadn't disturbed the world around him when he flew, even when he was going as fast as he could.
Sunshine congratulated her and said that she'd finally stop being babied all the time now that I couldn't carry her in my arms every time she was out of her Pokeball.
Princess froze—
And she cried.
"Did you have to say that?" I groaned.
He groaned, saying that he sometimes forgot she was a kid with her murderous tendencies.
It took a bit to get her to calm down. I had to promise her that I'd try to carry her later. Togekiss were actually quite light as far as Pokemon went (she was actually lighter than I was), but getting her to fit in my arms was a completely different problem entirely.
Oh well, I'd try, still.
But now, it was time to start getting her adjusted to her new body, and the first thing on the list was getting her used to getting in the air.