A Late Start

A New Teammate

"Alright, little guy, show me what you've got." Erah stood firm in front of me, hands raised in a traditional fighting stance.
"Remember, this is just training, so try not to hurt each other," Ethan called out from across the road.
"Erah, let's start off slow, just show me what moves you've got." The blue creature gave me a thumbs up before turning back to Royce.
"You heard her Royce, just focus on taking the hits for now." The Geodude nodded as it curled itself together, a steel-like shine enveloping the rock type. "Alright, We're ready." Erah started by focusing its energy, becoming enveloped in the same orange glow as Cheren's pokemon. He then charged at Royce, becoming cloaked in white light, Charging at Royce, colliding less than a second later. He then threw a punch, but he stopped before the attack connected as his other hand become charged and he stuck with it instead.
"Work up, quick attack and what was that... fake out?" I mumbled to myself, taking notes on Erah's attacks. What came next surprised me as the Riolu backed up once more, his fist becoming cloaked in a silver-white shine. He seemed to disappear from view for a brief moment, before reappearing, having struck Royce with a powerful punch, sending him sliding back a good 4 feet. He then extended his claws using the same energy as he ran up for another follow-up attack.
"Alright, ERAH! that's enough. Stop." I yelled out. Causing Erah to stop his attack a few inches from Royce's face. He retracted his claws before turning to face me, a look of confusion on his face.
"This was only supposed to be a training exercise. You're not supposed to go all out like that." The Riolu scratched the back of its head awkwardly.
"Damn, I knew fighting types were strong, but even with Royce being bulked up like that he still had his defences shattered with ease. Just what was that attack?" Ethan sprayed Royce over with a potion, a mysterious healing agent stored in a purple bottle. I don't know exactly how they work but they're able to speed up a pokemon's already impressive regenerative abilities.
"I have no idea. I've never seen anything like it." I looked over at Silas, who was resting on a nearby rock, even he seemed impressed. "Erah, come over here a sec." The pokemon trotted over to me before stopping at my feet. "Alright, It's time for your scan." I tapped his Pokeball to his head, recalling him before strapping the ball into my Pokedex. [Species: Riolu, Classification: The Emanation Pokemon, Gender: Male, Age: >1 year, PL: 1738, Moveset {Quick Attack, Endure, Feint, Metal Claw, Counter, Bullet Punch} Unregistered pokemon detected. Would you like to register? Yes/No] I selected yes. I guess it's official now. [Set nickname?] I quickly inputted Erah's name and tucked my dex away.
"So, what crazy move was that?" Ethan interjected.
"Bullet Punch, a steel type move. It's no wonder Royce's defences cracked so easily." I sighed. "The follow-up attack would have been Metal Claw."
"I had no Idea Riolu could even learn bullet punch."
"They can't. At least, not normally."
"Then... how does Erah know it?"
"I... I don't know." I released Erah from his ball once again. He did a little stretch as he materialised in front of me. "I guess even pokemon have their secrets."
"What's his Power level? Think he'll be ready for the tournament?"
"It's about 1700, just a little lower than Silas'
"Man, Royce just hit 2200 the other day, no wonder you're always going on about type advantages."
"I told you, but even still, I figured Royce would be fine since he's so much stronger."
"Is that why you won't let him fight Silas?" He teased.
"Royce is a rock type, which means he resists all of Silas' moves, that plus the power difference is more than enough for me to know that Silas wouldn't stand a chance in a one on one battle." I heard Silas scoff from behind me
"Still, he did pretty well against Ester."
"Ester? Oh! You finally come up with a name for your Oshawott?"
"Dewott now, actually and yeah, it was my mom's idea though."
"Aw man, It evolved already?"
"Yeah, just the other day while we were training, guess it must've already been close when I caught it."
"One of the days I stayed home to drill our strategy for Cheren through Silas' head no doubt."
"Haha, Yep." He chuckled.
"You ready to get back to it?" I asked, mostly for Royce.
"Yeah, I think so. Maybe save the sparring though since we have to be at our best for the tournament."
"Yeah, we'll just do some reaction training and call it a day." Ethan ran down the field to set up. "Alright Erah, the idea of this one is that Royce is going to be throwing rocks at you, all you have to do is avoid getting hit by one for as long as you can, you can do whatever you have to avoid them, dodge, dig, jump, if you think you can, smash them. All that matters is you don't let them hit you. I'll be calling out which direction they're coming from. If you can't see them, so you can use that to react too." Erah gave a short nod as he got into position. "Ready?" Another nod. "Alright, Ethan, ready when you are." I called across the field "remember, I'll be saying where the attack is coming from, so dodge the other way." I made a note of it even though I planned to stay silent at first to judge his natural perception. The first rock came flying a few seconds later and Erah sidestepped it with ease. The next few were the same story, Erah ducked between them with no issue whatsoever. As the exercise went on the rocks began flying faster, more frequently, this proved to be of little issue as the Riolu continued weaving through them like nothing.

After about 20 minutes or so, Ethan had an Idea.
"Pretty good, let's step it up a touch should we?" He stated with a smirk. I nodded, thinking I understood what he had in mind. He pulled the second Pokeball from his belt.
"You ready for this?" I asked Erah quietly. He was still avoiding Royce's attacks but he managed to give a thumbs up.
"Alright Ester, time to join the fun." Sure enough, the now evolved Dewott joined the battle, almost doubled in height, the white on its body now completely gone, the shell on its chest had split and relocated to the creature's thighs, one on each side. Its demeanour was much more focused and it looked ready for battle. "We're just Training, Ester. Jump in and throw some attacks at that Riolu." The Dewott nodded before leaping forward, wielding one of its Scalchop shells in either hand.
"On your right!" I called out, deciding now is as good a time as any to join in. Erah glanced to his right just in time to see the Dewott closing in, stepping back to avoid the first slash while also getting out of the way of another rock. We kept training for another half hour, I was calling Ester's attacks and letting Erah's instincts cover the rocks. By that point, all of the pokemon were starting to tire, despite not giving their all they were still locked in a battle for over an hour. Erah decided he'd had enough, as he countered Ester's next attack, sending her recoiling before punching the last of Royce's rocks causing it to shatter into dust before him. A thin trail of steam was coming off of his still charged fist and he gave a quiet.
"Lu" as an indication he was finished.
"I guess we should call it for now huh?" I stated calmly.
"Yeah, the sun is starting to set anyways," Ethan replied as he recalled his pokemon. "Erah is really well trained in hand to hand combat huh?"
"Well, he IS Lucy's son, she probably raised him to take care of himself." I pulled Erah's Pokeball off my hip and recalled him. "Great work out there today, You'll be ready for that tournament in no time," I said to the sphere in my hand as I shrunk it and clipped it back onto my hip. "Hey Silas, you ready to head home bud?"
"Vuh" his response was quick and disgruntled
"How's your leg feeling?" He put his weight back on his injured leg without flinching as he stood up from his perch. "Awesome, you should be good to join us tomorrow, I know you hate being on the sidelines." He rolled his eyes and trotted over to my side. "Come on now, don't be like that bud. You know it's for your own good that you rest today."

As we turned to head back into town I noticed something, just beyond the treeline. I told Ethan to wait up as I carried Silas over to it.
"Check it out bud, Pecha berries, should we take some home for a new flavour?" Silas plucked one of the berries off with his mouth and took a bite out of it, he made some pleasured squeaks, so I assumed he liked them and packed as many as I could into my berry case before returning to Ethan.
"What did'ja find?" He queried as soon as I got back.
"There's a Pecha berry bush on the other side of those trees." I pointed to where I found it. "I rounded some up so Silas and Erah can have some new flavour in their food."
"Oh cool, Pechas are pretty common too but it's crazy to see a full bush so close to the trail."
"I wonder if it's a wild tree or if someone planted it there."
"Hard to say, I just can't believe we hadn't seen it before."
"It probably just didn't have any berries until recently, so it wasn't eye-catching."
"Yeah, you're probably right. Good idea grabbing some before they're all gone, Can't imagine they'll stick around," he chuckled. We arrived back in town shortly after and decided to watch the sunset from the lookout point. I sat Silas down on my lap as Ethan sat next to us.
"Don't your arms get tired carrying him like that?" He asked quietly.
"Not really. He's not all that heavy you know."
"I know I wouldn't be able to carry Royce like that all day. That's for sure."
"Royce is also made of rock Ethan, Silas only weighs as much as like two bags of flour."
"I don't work in a bakery so I don't know how much a bag of flour weighs."
"Dude. He's like 15 pounds, max."
"Oh, well that makes sense. Still, it must get tiring after doing it ALL day."
"Usually he's on my shoulder, not being carried and it's only for a little while at a time." I felt a rather ungrateful lump shift objectionably on my lap.
"I don't think he likes us talking about him like that," Ethan interjected with a chuckle. I let out a sarcastic gasp
"Silas, I had no idea you were so conscious of your weight!" I teased, tapping Silas gently on the nose with one finger. "Do we need to put you on a diet?" He bit me, not hard enough to actually hurt but enough to send a message. "Ah, jeez, Sorry," I was only half being sarcastic. "Just having a bit of fun bud." He scoffed and buried his face in my lap.
"Even when he's mad he can't help being cute." Ethan chimed in quietly.
"That's Silas for you. A bit of a brat, but cute all the way to the end." He bit me again, on the thigh this time. "Hey! Alright fine I'll stop." I couldn't help squealing a little at the sudden sensation. "What are you looking at?" I shot over at Ethan, who was sitting there with a dumb look on his face.
"You know what they say about trainers and their pokemon..." He trailed off.
"Bite me... NOT YOU," I shot back, putting a hand on Silas' back before he got any ideas. By this point, the sun had fully faded behind the trees and the city streetlights flooded the area with artificial light. Ethan and I parted ways and I took Silas home for the night.