Amourshipping : One Day Off

Chapter 19

"Ursaring, Hammer Arm!" 

Paul's Ursaring let out a loud battle cry, and began to power up its hand. It charged straight for Ash's Torterra. Torterra stood strong, ready to take the blow. Ursaring then struck, striking Torterra hard. Torterra's head went back, and it's foot work left much to be desired. The strike had hit harder than Torterra had anticipated. 

"You aren't standing strong enough! Get into stance and take the strike!" Paul yelled. "Never take an opponent lightly!"

Torterra seemed to respond, taking in the advice. He readjusted his stance, and prepared to take another strike. When Ursaring came in with another strike, Torterra stood strong, this time not seeming to react, taking it with strength. 

"Okay, good. That's more like It." Paul said with indifference.

Ash nodded. "Okay, let's give Stone Edge a try, Torterra!"

Torterra nodded, and began to focus. Rocks from the surroundings began to orbit Torterra, and began to glow. Paul was reminded of his own Torterra now, watching Ash and his. In an instant, the rocks began to fire towards Usaring, who began to dodge them, moving out of the way by stepping to the sides. 

"Change up!" Paul told Torterra. "You need to focus. Focus all of your energy into the rocks you fire, and you'll create a link between you and the rocks. One you do that, you can control their direction. Try it again, Ash."

Ash nodded. "Torterra, can you give it a try?" 

Torterra nodded, and began to try. The rocks began to circle it once again. Torterra focused, closing its eyes, channeling its focus. It began to feel the links between it and the rocks around it. Again, it fired, and again, Ursaring dodged. Torterra focused on the rocks. They began to glow a tinted green, then changed direction, hitting Ursaring. The bear Pokémon. The attack was powerful. It nearly knocked Ursaring into a wall. It prevented being sent flying by gripping its claws into the ground.

Ash smiled. "I think that's enough for today, Paul." He raised Torterra's Pokèball, and recalled it. "Thanks a lot for your hard work, Torterra. You rule."

Paul nodded. "Alright." He returned his Ursaring to its Pokèball. He didn't thank it for its efforts. Same as usual.

Paul had come to help train Ash for the Kalosian league along with Trip. No one else had come along with them. They didn't want to see Ash until after he had "won" the league. Ash had trained with Paul for a while now, and he had noticed a few things about him. He seemed to be more relaxed than he was before, much less intense then he used to be. More respectful and tolerable. He no longer called his Pokémon that couldn't keep up with his training worthless. Rather, he used harsh words of encouragement. He would call them weak, edging them on. He had no harsh intent in the words he said, unlike back in Sinnoh. The words he used pushed his Pokémon to try harder, to make him eat his own words. Put simply, it was a training style Ash could tolerate.

"Looks like Torterra's gotten all the training it can get." Trip commented with a grin. He was leaned against a metallic wiring fence. Trips personality had remained relatively unchanged from when Ash last met him in the Unova league. "Now it's just gonna have to apply it in tomorrows battle."

"I did everything I could for it." Paul said. "Everything I did with mine, the rest will come down to how Ash trained it."

"That shouldn't be a problem then." Ash said, with a grin of his own.

Trip laughed. "I beat your Pikachu with a Snivy when I just began traveling! You expect me to believe you did a better job with a Torterra you only kept with you for one region?"