Amourshipping : Love, Loss & Loyalty

Surprise

Paul's eyes had widened when he saw Ash's face on the big screen. Such a revelation had been completely unexpected. It had been well over three years since he saw his old self proclaimed rival from his Sinnoh journey. The same one who knocked him out of the Kalos league, and made him wonder around Unova for a couple of years. Contemplating. In the last year, he had somewhat returned to formula, although his methods were still harsh, his treatment had eased up. He pushed his Pokemon the the limit, and when they had reached their limit, he pushed them some more. Some Pokemon collapsed during an average session with Paul, but they were stronger for it. He never referred to his Pokemon as 'pathetic' anymore. He also praised his Pokemon when they deserved it, another one of Ash's influences. An easier way of saying it was 'Tough, but fair.' 

Paul simply let out a small grunt and made his way to the Pokemon center that had been installed just for the yearly event, additionally serving as a resort for trainers on the road. Fully functioning with a medical bay, video calls, a training field, and bedding. Paul made his way to the front desk, when he hit the service bell twice, and waited calmly and patiently to be served. At such a busy time, the service was slow. Nurse Joy eventually made her way towards him, acting calmly and sophisticated despite having been frantically running all over the place a few moments ago. "Sorry for the wait, how can I help you?" 

"I need to use one of your video phones." Paul stated simply. 

"Certainly. If i can just take your name?" The nurse quickly grabbed a pen and a sheet of paper, looking up at Paul as she spoke. 

"Paul." 

"And the nature of this call?" 

"Transference of Pokemon." 

The Nurse scribbled onto the paper in neat penmanship before looking at the Sinnoh native. "Okay, that's all fine. Use terminal six please." She pointed out the terminal for Paul to use as she spoke, indicating to a green terminal with two trainers either side of it. 

Paul bowed lightly. "Great. Thanks." He said in gratitude before making his way to the terminal. He punched in the dials of the terminal absent minded. He had done it so many times before, it was basically done on automatic now. He hit the call button and stepped into the view of the camera, waiting for the call to be picked up. 

"Hello?" The call stuttered for a second, before focusing. "Ah, hey Paul!" 

"Reggie." Paul acknowledged his older brother on screen with a nod, still as irritatingly upbeat as every. That opinion of his older brother hadn't changed. That didn't change the fact he cared about Reggie. But he did find himself wanting to tell Reggie to shut up and punch him in the stomach a lot. Instead it manifested itself as passive aggression. 

"I saw you on the TV. Torerra really did a number on that Salamance, huh?" Reggie said, complimenting his brothers powerful Pokemon. 

"It was a waste of time." Paul closed his eyes, and said simply. "Torterra won't get stronger beating up Pokemon that weak." 

Reggie folded his arm and raised an eyebrow. "Sounds like you're still taking your loses at the Battle Pyramid hard, huh?" 

Paul grunted. "The advice Brandon gave me there was valid. So I'm acting on it. I don't have the Sinnoh league to worry about getting in the way this time." 

"You know, you never did tell me what Brandon said to you." Reggie noted, tilting his head. "Mind filling me in?" 

Paul simply nodded. "He used an analogy. He said if I could lift a weight without difficulty, then my strength never improves. If I only use those weights to train, my fitness doesn't improve."