A Late Start

Early morning

I rolled lazily out of bed, switching my alarm clock off with a well-practised yet sloppy motion. I check the display, it read 06:15 AM. I blinked twice, momentarily forgetting why it was set for so early today. I was certain I had a reason for being awake this early. I opened my bedroom door and dragged myself downstairs in the dark, not wanting to wake up my mother, who was likely still asleep in her room across the hall. The tile floor of the kitchen was cold on my feet, I liked to use the sensation to kick my brain into gear when I woke up like this. I made myself a bowl of cereal, racking my brain to remember why I needed to be awake. There was something important about today but I could not remember what it was, no matter how hard I tried, it was just too early. After I had finished eating I went back upstairs to grab my slippers before heading outside. The sky was still dark, the first hints of sunlight barely starting to peek over the hills to the east. The air was quiet, leaving me alone with the stuttering sounds of my thoughts struggling to wake up. not even so much as a birdsong breaking the silence. "Come on Lex, think," I said quietly to myself. "What was so important today." Before I could finish collecting my thoughts a familiar voice rang out across the street.
"Hey, Lexi glad to see you're up"
"Ethan?" I called back, turning to face him as he came running across the street. "You're up early."
"Wha? of course I am, don't you remember what today is?"
"Honestly, not at all. It's way too early for me to remember much of anything right now."
"Never were a morning person, were you?" His tone shifted to mildly sarcastic. "Today is the day Royce and I are taking on the gym challenge here in town, I asked you to get up early today so you could hang out with us while we warm up."
"Well, that answers my number one question for today so far. Guess I should go and get ready then huh?"
"Yeah, I'll be waiting for you just outside Route 19, meet me there as soon as you can okay?"
"Alright, I'll be there in like 30 minutes."
Almost as soon as I'd finished he'd run off, impatient as always. I turned to go back inside, only to find my mother looming inside the doorframe.
"What's with all the commotion?" She said sternly
"Oh, Ethan just wanted me to meet him out by the route to help him warm up for his gym challenge today."
"The route? And what makes you think you're allowed out there?"
"For one, Ethan will be there, so it's not like I'll be alone and two, it's barely outside city limits, he just wants company before he takes the challenge. We won't even go far enough for there to be any chance of danger, promise."
"Fine, but no further than the bend in the path, and keep it down would you? It's still dark out."
"Okay Mom, sorry for waking you up I just need to get changed and then I'm heading out anyways."
"And by the way, I'm meeting with a friend out at Floccesy today, I trust you'll still get your chores done even with the extra distractions?"
"Yes Mom, I'll get them done as soon as Ethan finishes."
"Good."

With that, we both headed back inside. I went to my room and she went to hers, most likely to get some more sleep. I pulled my door shut and started to dig through my closet for something to wear. It was still cold out and I didn't want to look too formal because things could get messy. Eventually, I decided on black leggings and a matching skirt, one of my more plain navy shirts and a dark grey hoodie. After getting dressed I put on my black and white trainers. I decided to leave my hair down, thinking it would be too much effort. I grabbed my backpack on the way out the door. Sliding into the bathroom before I got downstairs to brush my hair and teeth before finally heading out. By the time I had gotten outside again the sun had started to rise, the sky glowing a deep orange as the first signs of life began to emerge. I stopped to admire the sunrise for a few brief moments before heading down the road toward Route 19. As I approached the exit to the route I quickly looked around, expecting Ethan to try something to catch me off guard. He was nowhere to be found so I headed out onto the route, figuring he'd already started training. I made it as far as the corner with still no sign of him. Not wanting to go further I found a nearby rock and sat down on it. I decided to give him a call to find out where he was. Setting my backpack on the ground I carefully pulled my Xtransceiver out and selected Ethan's name. The device rang twice before the call connected.
"Hey, Lexi, what's up?" He burst out the moment he was on the line.
"Hey, where are you? I thought we were meeting on the route."
"Yeah, of course, where else am I gonna train? you must be a bit further back then."
"Dude, you know I can't go past the corner, it's too 'dangerous' remember?"
"Haha, your mom still being a wet blanket eh? Alright, I'll be there in just a second." CLICK, he hung up before I had a chance to respond. While I was waiting I decided to pull out my PokeDex and read through the data I'd been able to collect so far. Before long I felt something rubbing on my leg, I glanced down to see a Lillipup sniffing at my calves. Taking the opportunity I immediately scanned it with my Dex. the display lit up with all the Relevant information on the Pokémon. [Species: Lillipup, Classification: The puppy Pokémon, Gender: Male, Age: approx. 1 year]
"Hey there, little guy, what're you doing here?" I asked, carefully lowering my hand towards it, stopping about a foot from his face. The small creature just stared at my hand for a little while its brown ears were twitching gently as it sniffed at me, scanning for any signs of aggression. "It's okay, I'm not gonna hurt you," I said, quietly. After a short while, he put his face on my hand, realising I was no threat to him. I gently scratched behind his ears and his tail started twitching. "Very friendly for a wild 'mon aren't you?" The Pokemon let out a gentle bark before moving away from my hand, sniffing at my bag in curiosity. "Hey now, there's nothing in there for you little guy," I told him, carefully sliding down from my position on the rock to the ground below. seeing this he almost immediately found a space between my legs and sat down with me, very unusual behaviour for a wild 'mon. maybe he has a trainer that's just gone missing, I thought to myself.
"Well, look at you, making friends without me?" A familiar voice called out
"Apparently I am. Jealous?" I shot back
"Nah, you know Royce and I are tight as thread."
"Speaking of. we should probably get started."
"Yeah, probably, though we already did a little training further on while we were waiting for you." He placed his hand on his hip and I heard a distinct clicking sound as he took Royce's Pokeball off his belt before tossing it across the field as a bright white light shot from it, eventually materialising into the form of Royce, Ethan's Geodude. The rock creature cried out as it posed dramatically, I couldn't help but chuckle at the rock with arms posing. "Alright, buddy." Ethan called out "Let's show Lexi here what we've been working on." By this point the Lillipup that had made itself at home on my lap had stood up and was obviously on guard, I had placed my hand gently on his back to try and reassure him, but he was obviously nervous at the sight of the pumped-up pebble. "It's okay, he's a friend" I tried to reassure the little pup
"What? Your little friend scared of Royce here?"
"Clearly, he's still a wild 'mon after all."
"Haha, maybe we can use that against Cheren later." He jeered
"I doubt that." I said, flatly "Cheren is an experienced trainer, and he's been working with his gym team for over a year now. I don't think they're gonna get spooked by the angry rock routine"
"Yeah, you're probably right, good thing we got a secret weapon then." He smirked as he said the last few words "Royce, show Lexi here your magnitude." Royce planted his hands firmly on the ground and it began to shake. feeling this I grabbed my bag in one hand and the Lillipup in the other as I jumped up onto the rock I was sitting on earlier. The ground where I was just sitting started vibrating before giving out to a small hole about the size of my pack, and no deeper than my fingers.
"DUDE! what the heck was that for?" I yelled out. Ethan looked at me, smirking before breaking into a laugh.
"Gotta keep you on your toes somehow." I wanted to slap him, but I quickly noticed a sharp pain in my right hand. I glanced down to see that the Lillipup had bitten me in the panic. I bent down and placed it back on the ground before pulling my hand away, almost immediately the pup ran away and vanished into the bushes. I checked my hand for any damage, I was bleeding a little out of my thumb, but nothing serious.
"You coulda just left him on the ground y'know," he said rather smugly. I snapped my head towards him, glaring daggers
"You could have just not attacked me, you know?" My voice was sharp like a knife
"Jeez, calm down Lexi, it was just a bit of fun" his cocky demeanour immediately vanishing.
"Whatever, have you put any thought into your strategy for dealing with Cherens team?" I queried, completely ignoring his comment.
"W..well, Royce is a rock type and Cheren only has two normal types, so he should have a hard time dealing significant enough damage to us, we should be able to just smack him down before he can us." He said timidly, scratching the back of his head.
"That's it?"
"Well, yeah. Why?"
"Cheren's team likes to use work up to make their attacks stronger so him dealing damage to Royce isn't going to be much of a challenge. Even rock types have their limits."
"So, I should stop him from doing that. But how?"
"You could try to use magnitude to knock them off balance while they try to focus. It could interrupt the setup while also giving a good window for you to attack."
"But magnitudes strength is randomised, what if it's not strong enough to knock them off balance?"
"If it fails, you could always try to bolster Royce's defences to negate some of the extra damage."
"Like with defence curl?"
"Yeah, that would work. Assuming Royce can recover in time."
"Heh, good thing I brought you here to help me warm up."
"If by 'help' you mean to be a test dummy for your new move, then yes."
"Okay, still mad I see. hows about we head to the trainer's school then, maybe Royce and I can get in some sparring with the other trainers there before the battle."
"Alright, let's go then. You have a badge to win after all." Without another word we made our way back into town and headed towards the trainer school.