The day before the Gym
Every trainer, be it New, Elite or Ace, if there was place where them all could be found, then it was Pokemon Centre.
It was a place where every trainer visits, either if they were in their quest or lost searching for a quest, it was both a checkpoint and the guide for trainers, hence, undisputable best friend of Pokemon trainers.
And Max stood in front of that very building, it was a building that you can never get bored of visiting over and over again. It's peaceful aura and vibe gave the feeling of their own home.
Max entered, the wide room welcoming his, or so he thought, the moment he entered, all glances were at him. People stared at him and turned away in disgust, some muttering under their breath as they did so.
Guess the words have already spread huh...
Ignoring the dirty look they gave him, he walked straight to the counter.
"Welcome to the Pokemon cent-Er..., Oh, It's you..." said Nurse joy, her expression changing from kind to thoughtful.
"Uhm...Yes, may I get my Pokemon healed? please, they are in need."
All his Pokemons were pretty exhausted or not in well condition since the forest incident, so replenishing them was necessary. And beside, you could never go wrong with healing your Pokemon.
I bet there would be someone cursing themselves for healing their Pokemon, unless they hate them or is running poison-guts run.
Nurse Joy nods slightly, despite everything and her opinion, at the end of the day she had to do her nursing job. "Yes, place your them here please....", she said, taking out a tray for him to put his pokeballs in.
Meanwhile, he headed to cafeteria, it was way past noon and he needed to replenish his own energy too.
After the lunch, he went to the underground floor of the Pokemon Centre, the trading zone. The place was decently filled with people looking around for suitables trades. It seems the trade could be done online and too as long as the both are in Kanto.
After exploring the gtound floor more, he found the Battle/training ground too, he will keep that in mind once he earns some badges.
Tired by the nasty look peoples were constantly giving him, he walked back up.
He slumped in the couch as he waited for his Pokemons to heal, Fortunately the Pokemon Centre had a TV on the wall, a big LED one. Now he can finally spend his time without bothering with the looks of other.
The TV had a battle ongoing, it was a gym challenge, Battle between the gym leader Lt. Surge and a female trainer named Eve.
Damn she is beautiful...
The battle started normally, Surge started with Magneton and Eve responded with a Graveler.
Sweet, the battle should be on her favor, but oh boy was he wrong.
Although Magneton was slow, it was still faster the Graveler, it held on the earthquake with it's sturdy ability and annihilated the Graveler with Two Flash Canon.
Next was Onix who although brought down Magneton, but was immensely damaged by it's Flash Canon and only held on with the Sturdy of its own.
Lt. Surge wasn't even taking her seriously as the next thing he did was letting his electrode freaking blew itself.
Her Rhyhorn went down with his Electabuzz and the rest of her non ground Pokemon was wiped out with his Rain dance Thunder Raichu.
Her whole team of six was brought down while his only two had fainted among four used, one of which literally blew itself.
One thing what he learned from this was the gym leaders certainly weren't pushovers and he had to be more careful while fighting one, especially with all those handicap placed on him.
After the battle had ended, and that person named Eve had suffered a humiliating defeat, he could hear people around him making some sad noise and releasing some sigh of disappointment. Seems she had quite a fanbase.
Which was normal to do, good trainer usually had fans and fanbase of themselves, the higher the rank they climed, bigger was their fanbase. What Max witnessed was just a fraction of her fanbase. .
Max was now beginning to think about his own battle with Brock. One of the handicap placed at him said he was only allowed to use the same amount of Pokemon as the gym leaders.
If his memories wasn't betraying him, the first gym leaders usually led with only two Pokemons. So basically he could use only two Pokemon of his own.
So what should his team should consist of?
Sure, first one was gonna be Raiken as it is the only Pokemon who actually have any advantage over Brock's Rock type.
So what was his second Pokemon gonna be?
Shu, Pikachu and Beedrill was completely useless.
Left was Kaen, his strongest Pokemon and Butterfree.
Although Butterfree was completely useless offensively, but the powder moves it had could really come in clutch.
And next was Kaen, it had no hope against Brock at all, but nonetheless, it was most reliable and not to mention his strongest.
Sigh, If only she knew Dragon Rage...
He had been trying to teach her Dragon Rage for a while now, but it was showing almost no result. Rather her Ember have gotten even stronger.
The closest he had reached to teach her Dragon Rage was one time when her Flame showed faint trace of Bluish glow.
Max is requested to the counter.
Decided he stood up and walked towards the Counter to pick up his Pokemons.
The clock in the Pokemon centre showed time of 4:26 PM as he left the Pokemon centre.
The TV on the Pokemon Center now showed a news coming straight from Jhoto.
Team Rocket back? A mysterious boy saves Azalea City from them!
______________
"Kaen, focus, come on, I believe you can do it!"
Kaen nods at Max's motivation, she takes a long breath and fires out, but the result was still an Ember.
"Sigh, It's ok, take some rest now," Said Max as he sat down on the field.
He still had some time, he was gonna challenge the gym tomorrow, if he could somehow manage to teach Kaen before the battle then it could gravely change the outcome.
Kaen sat in silence, looking down with a facial expressions of downhearted.
She must be cursing herself.
Max slowly reached out and pat her head. Surprised, she turned her head up and looks at Max who was looking at her with a kind and gentle smile.
"Don't be down now, we have a whole day to prepare, I know you can do it."
Max words does ease her a bit, but also makes her equally worry, worry of her own failures and fear of disappointing him.
She slowly scoots closer to him,climbing in his lap, burying her face in his chest.
Max slowly reached out and caresses her head.
The very moment, one of the pokeball bursts open and out comes the Pikachu looking refreshed.
Pika!!
Pikachu comes out screaming it's name in grand entrance, but as it's gaze falls to Kaen and Max, it's cheek inflates.
Pi...
Pikachu looks at Max with it's doll like eyes that appeared at the verge of tearing up.
With a sigh followed by immediate chuckle, Max extends his arms towards Pikachu. "Come."
Pikachu smiles widely, wasting no time, immediately climbing itself in his lap next to Kaen.
It smirked at Kaen, but realising the down expression of her, it slowly reached out it's hand and pats it.
Pi... PikaPikachu...
The others, almost as if they could see from inside the ball, burst open their respective Pokeball and immediately runs to him. The training session somehow ended up in a group hug session.
Max found it hard to breathe in all the love he was getting, but he was happy regardless and tried to hug them all back, as much as possible.
A sudden idea popped up in his mind. Pokemon learned the most within a battle, a battle when it was forced to do it's all if it didn't want to get hurt. So why not let Kaen fight with others. Sure it was bound to work right?
And also, it would be a decent training session for everyone and he could also observe the Pikachu who was the newest addition on the team.
"Ok everyone, let's have a training session."
And with that began the training.
But of course not before the naming ceremony.
He figured he should give nickname for his new pokemon as well.
Butterfree, Male, will be named Haze.
Beedrill, Female, will be named Needle.
And lastly, Pikachu, Female, will be named Lux.
(I suck at naming, please don't hate it, the Pokemon loves it I swear)