"So... I just have to make Zubat do vocal training, huh... It's that simple..."
Anthony muttered in frustration, while his Pokémon, Zubat, in curiosity as it seemed that there would be changes in its training, used its wing to hit the play button. The two humans just let the Pokémon play with the phone. As the play button was switched on, a male voice making Do Re Mi... sound according to the indicated tone and pitch rang out. Zubat tilted its head to the right for a little while before turning to Hana and Anthony, whilst using its wing to point at itself.
"Zuu... Zuu... Zuuu..."
Zubat tried to do as the music, and evidently, as Hana had expected, the Pokémon was able to control its voice better; however, Zubat still got short of breath at the 'Ti' part. Nonetheless, Anthony became confident that Zubat would be able to have basic proficiency in controlling its Supersonic move's volume. However, just then, he suddenly remembered something rather important for their training.
"Mom, I can't just borrow your phone every time we train, right?"
Anthony knew that adults have adult-only content in their phones; he doesn't want to get through a slip-up where he will accidentally browse the search history of his mother or look at her gallery to see things he would rather not see as a son. Curiosity is a dangerous thing, after all.
Hana also realized this problem and nodded.
"That's true, we should buy a speaker or something. But the shop will only open around ten, so you should train Zubat first before we go. I'll give breakfast to the Pokemons and to this table while you're at it."
Anthony nodded at this; their speaker is too big to be moved around daily, so it was common sense to buy a smaller, hand-held one. As his mother went inside the house, Anthony started to clean the splattered glass shards, put them in a bin that he had prepared beforehand, and started training Zubat.
Anthony imposed deadlines, the best he can do to tell Zubat that he trusts its training speed. For the Do re me training, Anthony made it by Saturday, and for the aerodynamic training, for 2 more weeks, as it was significantly harder because the training is already the counterpart of the Do re me for the air current reading and control aspects of Zubat's abilities. As his philosophy has already budded, he has to reinforce his 'heart of steel during training' that he even boasted in the first day of Zubat's training, only to forget it without him even knowing.
_With how I was fairly treated as a salaryman, this is the first time I have wished to have a different profession... I wish I were a teacher, they are very good at steeling themselves with their strictness..._
Anthony sighed, and as he did, he continued the training before Hana called him for breakfast and made him have a shower to go to the musician's shop. Anthony realized that this was his first trip to the inner parts of the Fuchsia City since becoming the new Anthony, which made Anthony realize how much time he had just invested in his vanity, that sowly turned to become a true aspiration to become a Pokémon trainer.
Anthony, the current one, being his first time seeing on site, how did Growlithes and Officer Jennies help each other in manning (or womanning?) the streets while some Machops and Machokes helped an office change locations, to his surprise, Anthony was even greeted by the Pidgey he contracted just yesterday. He also saw a mother using Drifloon as a pram, which made for a rather interesting scene given the Pokémon's dex entry in some versions of the games about them abducting children, or attempting to abduct them.
What startled Anthony the most, however, was the assistant clerk of the musician's shop they had entered, a Loudred.
_Whoa... that's too big a Pokémon to be inside a store..._
Anthony mused in his mind, even Zubat shot a sound wave at it to observe, but it was discovered immediately. The Pokémon of Anthony shuddered and immediately hid inside the chest pocket of Anthony.
"Louuud?"
The Loudred, with an apron and all, helping a customer fine-tune his bass guitar, tilted its head in confusion; however, Hana already finished haggling with the clerk and bought a compact speaker, the round kind, as well as a memory card. As they went outside, Anthony looked at the side of the compact speaker. On the sides were a bunch of Pickachus, Bunearies, and Riolus playing guitars, drums, and pianos, respectively. Anthony, as a Pokémon fan, is quite satisfied with the design.
_In this world, everything is a Pokémon merch, huh..._
Anthony chuckled and went to continue their walk to the bus station, where they would then walk towards their house. Zubat, who had already gone back to Anthony's head, suddenly snapped its head towards the back.
"Zuuu!?"
Anthony and Hana stopped on their tracks on the sidewalk and also craned their heads to their backs.
"Treee! Treecko!"
Behind their back is another mother and son duo with Treecko, Glen, and his mother. Glen is smiling broadly even before seeing his friend and his mother, specifically because of the dotted pillow he has been hugging. Anthony was also quite happy to coincidentally see his friend, so he waved his hand... or was about to do so if not for Zubat and Treecko suddenly making a high-pitched cry in the middle of the sidewalk as they charged at each other. Zubat's wings started to glow with energy while Treecko somersaulted for its Pound attack.
"Wai-"
Both of the Pokemons's trainers and the parents of the trainers tried to stop the Pokemons who seemed to have their own promise between each other to battle it out the next time they saw each other. Anthony and Glen, two trainers who are studying league and battling rules, paled at the impending unsolicited Pokémon battles.
One of the main reasons why Pokemon battles are made to be entertainment is because of the disruptive potential of such magical creatures due to their abilities, this initiative made it so that Pokemons and their trainers will be given a designated public space (Pokemon arenas and Pokemon coliseum for the Champion's league) or anywhere in the wild away from the city, anyone who had a battle or released their Pokemon in the middle of the city with the intent to battle will be penalized.
And what are they doing? Battling in the middle of the sidewalk!
The two tried to shout for their Pokémon to stop; however, it was obvious that another Pokémon was the only one capable of stopping the two Pokémon's momentum, and of course, in the cases where violators of the league rules are involved, only the police, with their right to dutiful use of force, can command a Pokémon during this time.
"Hey! What are you kids doing!?"
An officer, Jenny, shouted while her Growlithe barked. However, before Growlithe can even spew out an Ember to pacify the battle, Anthony suddenly felt the wind in his right ear ring out quite violently, and before he can even react, a black sandal hit Zubat square in the back, causing it to plunge towards Treecko.
"Nothing."
Hana, Anthony's mother, the one who gave Zubat a backshot, answered, however, unlike her, who was calm, all 4 people who were involved are the opposite of the word 'calm'.
"Ma'am/Mom/Hana! The Zubat is smaller than your sandals!"
______________
Fuchsia City, Pokémon Center. Anthony looked at the green machine with 6 compartments for a full-sized Pokeball, one of them, where the Pokeball of his Pokemon is in is glowing. Alongside him is Hana, Glen, Glen's mother, and Treecko, looking at Zubat with relief. After the little fiasco, Officer Jenny thankfully didn't demand them to go to the police station, as the battle was averted; she instead used the police car given to their team to take Zubat to the Pokémon Center for a check-up.
"Nurse Joy said that Zubat is fine and besides the normal aches because of being hit in the back, there's nothing serious."
Hana, one of the few figures recognized by Nurse Joy in the whole Fuchsia city to take advice on, personally went to use her identity as someone prominent even in her retirement as a trainer to put Zubat and Treecko (while they're at it) in priority. As compensation for the trainers who were their first to heal their Pokemons, she became the one who manned the normal desk of Nurse Joy, as breeder knowledge requires medical knowledge, and because of the special position of Hana in the heart of the higher brass of the league, she was allowed to do this.
After that, they just waited for the preemptive standard healing. As the 3 people nodded at this, they decided to take it easy in the Pokémon Center. After releasing Zubat from its Poké Ball and accepting the apology of the two Pokemons, the humans and Pokemons paid for a sumptuous meal that consisted of meat chunks of a Miltank covered in gravy, like a burger steak of some sort, and a few cold teas.
"This is my first time going to a Pokémon Center..."
Glen whispered at Anthony, looking around, unlike the games, just like the lab in Pallet Town, the Pokemon Center is not just a two story building, but rather a whole hospital with priority wing, the general check-up and healing wing (Aka the desk where Nurse Joy says the iconic 'Hello, and Welcome to the Pokemon center' line) and many more. The rooms for extremely sick and injured Pokémon, those that are seen in the wild, and those that are already old are mostly on the second floor, while the first floor is more for accommodation for Pokémon trainers.
The third floor is where the apartment of the Pokémon trainers and coordinators is located. Those were free for licensed trainers and coordinators, and travellers need to pay a price every night they stay. There's also a cafeteria on the first floor. Or so his mother said, and also indicated the map on the wall beside them.
"Me too..."
Anthony, curiously looking around, answered after a while, before tucking Zubat, who had just finished eating, into his head, the part of his body that Zubat is particularly fond of. Glen saw this, so he made Treecko also do the same to his nape. Seeing this, Anthony suddenly remembered something.
"So, how was your and Treecko's progress?"
As Anthony gulped down the last piece of Miltank that he just ate out of sheer force of will, he asked, which made Glen chuckle in glee.
"Heh, not to boast, but my mom is good at crafts and was able to use 5 tall forest trees and turn them into an obstacle course. We borrowed the help of a Trophius of one of our neighbors who had a daughter trainer currently in Hoenn, to reach the higher parts, using the obstacle course. I'm confident that Treecko can outspeed some Flying types."
Glen and Treecko made a "Fuu fuu!" sound as they boasted their achievements, though whether or not that is true is still up in the air when they had a battle. Plus, Anthony is confident that Zubat, when turned into Crobat, will be faster than Sceptile; thus, he didn't bother with the gloating of his friend. Well, it's just a joke, anyway.
Anthony continued.
"I'm also confident in my Zubat's speed, plus, it can now use 4 moves, though more live combat practice is needed."
Glen's eyes sparkled at this, seemingly forgetting about his tea, he asked.
"Oh? Which of them!? Which of tHem!?"
Anthony smirked too, then replied.
"It can now use, though a little bit ineffectively: Wing Attack, Leech Life, and Bite, while its natural perk made Zubat a good Supersonic user. Though I still need to make Zubat able to adjust the volume of its voice for better concealing power. After all, if I use the Double and Supersonic combo, only the original body can produce the true Supersonic sound, and any aptly experienced trainer and Pokémon duo can break through the combo if we haven't trained in this field."
Anthony then recounted what happened just this morning, which made Glen laugh a little, though whether or not he would be able to think of something similar is unknown. Anthony then asked.
"How about Treecko? How many moves does Treecko already know?"
At this question, Glen and Treecko sighed at the same time.
"Well, the training for moves is not that going well, unlike Zubat who was able to learn moves just from the obstacle course because it's more of a physical attacker, Treecko's Absorb is more tricky to learn, so there's only still a stronger Pound and Leer, actually, we bought a training pillow for it to be able to visualize how Absorb works..."
Anthony nodded at this, quite thankful that Zubat has the precursor Leech Life that would help it in learning the move in the future. Just like that, the conversation between two friends continued until it was already 1 past noon, and the time to part ways and go home finally arrived, where the two young trainer wannabes rested for the rest of the day.
With the things that happened, they're not in the mood to train at all.