Pokemon Regression

Chapter 46: V.S. Lt. Surge!

Day 75

Although he looked at me like I was insane, Blue had agreed to team up with me to face against Surge. He'd mumbled something about it being better than cheating, but I didn't care for the specifics.

I swung the halberd horizontally, slamming it into the dummy and feeling the reverberations across my arm and shoulder. Then I used the recoil to slam the hook into another and pull sharply.

And the weapon slipped from my fingers.

Even with the agreement to work together in place, I still hadn't been ready to jump straight into the confrontation with Surge. I liked the Halberd Blue had given me, but I had no experience with polearms. Learning a new weapon from scratch was no easy feat, and unlike last time, I didn't have Red personally coaching me.

Over the past two days, Surge had been dutifully teaching me the basics when he was free, but he was a busy man, and as befitting a weapon with so many applications, even the basics were more complicated than they would be on another weapon.

Where with a spear you basically only had to worry about swinging and thrusting, the Halberd required you to keep the orientation of the weapon in mind for any attack you made. Thrust too far off? Well, if your weapon is rotated one way, you'll miss. Another and you slap them with the hook, another and the axehead will get caught, etc etc.

I was coming to grasps with it, but I still desperately lacked experience. I suspected these basics were something I'd be training in for a very long time to come.

Nearby, my partner Rattata was repeatedly slamming his head into a training dummy of his own. Each impact made a powerful crunch, but neither dummy nor Pokemon seemed to note that fact.

I sighed and retrieved my halberd, resting it over my shoulder. The sun was beginning to set outside, so I dutifully returned the practice weapons and left the Gym, returning to the PokeCenter to rest.

"You're still not ready?"

When I arrived at the Pokemon Centre, Blue was waiting for me on a couch in the foyer. He looked mildly annoyed, which I took to mean he was back to his normal state.

"I still have to clear the first phase before we can do the battle. I got everything I need for our strategy from the market last night."

Blue snorted dismissively. "We're still cheating then?"

I shook my head. "No, we're making strategic use of intel."

He looked at me skeptically.

"We won't hide, we won't cheat. That's what you wanted right?"

"Better not..."

He turned away grumpily, and we sat in silence for a few moments. Eventually, he stood up.

"If you have everything ready, let's do the challenge tomorrow."

"I'm not good enough with the Halberd to-"

"I'll buy you a book on how to use them. Just pass the test."

We locked eyes for a moment, and Blue raised an eyebrow at me, though I thought I caught a hint of a smile behind his eyes.

"Well, we can try."

Blue nodded with that faint cocky grin, then sauntered off upstairs to his room. I watched him leave, then turned to the nurse behind the counter.

"I'd like to use the call centre."

"Again?"

"Yeah. Same recipient please."