"Ah..."
Ben could only make an incomprehensible sound as Blastoise was hit square in the core area of its lower shell by the Solar Beam. It didn't help that Blastoise was just scooped up from underground by the force of the Dragon Pulse, and the Solar Beam is buffed through the Sunny Day.
"Blaaaargh!"
Blastoise grunted as it drew an arc alongside the rubble it was in. Its stomach is now full of injury, which made Ben squint his eyes a little as he looked at the Miniature sun on top of the battlefield.
Then, without waiting for Blastoise to land, Ben uttered a command.
"Aqua Jet."
Blastoise immediately obliged, cloaking itself with water from its canon muzzles, doing a 360 in the air, and then driving itself at unimaginable speed towards Charizard. Hana smiled faintly at this before looking at the miniature sun too.
_Like 5 more..._
Hana thought before hurling out a command.
"Flare Blitz."
Upon the command, Charizard immediately spat out flames all over its body, cloaking itself with them whilst also buffing itself through the energy released by the Sunny Day before also launching itself towards Blastoise.
The two Pokemon pierced through the dust they have created and collided with each other, and as expected, the collision of opposite elements caused the explosion to release a lot of steam, however, unlike before, the audience who continued to shout whom their bets are didn't wait for even a second, for again, two streaks, one blue and one red pierced through the steam without even the command of their trainers.
"Blaaaaaaaa!"
"Chaaaaa!"
Blastoise and Charizard again used Aua Jet and Flaire Blitz, banging towards each other, ignoring their injuries that are of the same level, even though Blastoise has the type advantage. That's because of the Sunny Day of Charizard that matched the oxygen consumption of its fire to the oxygen levels of the water of Blastoise.
Again and again, for 5 times, the two Pokemons banged against each other, giving each other differing injuries while making the battlefield damp through the steam they made. Soon, Charizard and Blastoise seem to be unable to continue such a reckless way of fighting, especially Charizard, which had its type disadvantage finally catch up to it.
"Cha... Cha..."
"Bla... stoise..."
The two Pokémon went back to the sides of their trainers, smirking whilst panting heavily and keeping their eyes from closing and losing the battle. This caused the fans of both sides to frown and hold their breath in anticipation. Glen, who requested the battle, had his excitement extinguished from his face, and only the focus on what would happen next was present.
Anthony is also analyzing the battle.
_The battle is just about 8 minutes in length... this should be longer if not only the two trainers stop commanding their Pokemons and allowed them to use Aqua Jet and Flare Blitz continuously until the two Pokemons are exhausted to their limits..._
_Every 6 on 6 battles between my mom and dad always end with Blastoise and Charizard facing... and every time they reach the end they..._
Just as Anthony paused his thoughts, two large thuds were heard inside the battlefield, which prompted Koga, the referee, to put both his hands up in the air.
"Both Pokemons are unable to battle; the battle is a draw!"
The crowd was stupefied before erupting into a cheer. For them, watching two old titans fight against each other is what is important; the clash between crude strategies and brute force is already a spectacle to watch. Even Anthony and Glen sighed and clapped their hands.
_The two Pokemons are powerful... but in the end, this is not a life and death battle but a battle between two rivals... but still, I want to see more sophisticated strategies and a longer fight so that I can ask more questions other than 'Why did you stop commanding them in the middle of battle?'_
Anthony sighed once more while accepting the compliment of his friend about his parents being strong trainers.
_The strategy is going well in the first half with Charizard liberating the faster casting speed of Sunny Day to use a grass-type move that can damage Blastoise, and Blastoise using a very powerful dragon-type attack to make the positional disadvantage of Charizard exploitable... and then they just went bonkers with the Aqua Jet and Flare Blitz..._
However, when Anthony saw his parents in front of him, he still smiled.
_I hope I will have a rival that will make me abandon strategy in the future too..._
Anthony knew that Glen, given the right opportunities, would be able to become a good rival. After all, he has a friend whose parents are the 'what-if' of the Pokémon League, as long as he's a little shameless, he can absorb teachings from Hana and Ben like a sponge.
_I would, however, prefer someone like Cynthia..._
Anthony grinned a little while looking at his mom and dad, who were already coming close towards him. The two of them are looking at both their son and their son's friend, their faces smug, expecting the amazement of the two.
"You two are so cool."
"THAT WAS AMAZING!"
Anthony didn't skimp in his compliment, while Glen didn't skimp in his volume. After 5 minutes or so of the kids asking questions and the adults shaking hands with Hana and Ben, the crowd dispersed. Koga then looked at the two.
"That's not worth an analysis at all, you should've at least used your signature strategies."
Hana and Ben laughed a little at this before Ben replied.
"Well, you can use the early sequences, the strategies of that part involve casting time, boost moves, and classical physics, you can still have some bucks using it."
Koga sighed, shaking his head. Anthony stared at the poison gym leader intently as he started to clean up his small camera set; his Adam's apple bobbed up and down.
_Fuck it, I'm just a kid._
Anthony jogged towards the Gym Leader and then tugged on his shirt, causing Koga to look down and Janine to stop clamping back their tripod. Anthony put the blue lid of his hair wax in front of Koga.
"Uncle, I want an autograph."
Koga's knitted eyebrows eased a little, and then he patted the head of Anthony silently before pulling out a marker and signing the wax container. Just when Anthony was about to say thank you, he heard a whisper.
"Be like them."
Anthony's eyes widened at this, but he nodded still before going back to the side of his mom and dad. Glen then berated him for not inviting him and then ran off for an autograph using his shirt, too. Finally, the two families went and had a group outing where they left Blastoise and Charizard at the Pokémon Center before going to the Arcade in where they played games until lunch.
All this while, however, Anthony seems to be unable to enjoy himself, because somehow, the one advice Gym leader Koga has given to him stuck with him more than what is intended by the Gym Leader. After all, he was still deathly curious about the past of his parents.
_The author should really stop it with the piling up of mystery about my mom and dad... My name's Anthony, not Klein..._
_____________
Hana and Ben, after a long morning of battling, healing their Pokémon, and playing with their child and his friend's family, silently walked towards the bus station. Unlike before, they stayed silent while their Pokemons were walking at the back.
In their eyes flashed all of the moments in their quite illustrious career. Their victories, defeats, records that they have broken, their records that are broken by others... their brushes against the scythe of the grim reaper... all alongside their trusty partners.
It was like their lives flashed before their eyes, maybe because deep down, they knew that the battle they had just now would be their last. Last strategy, last recklessness, last everything. From today on, they would be Daycare owners, they would be raising Pokemons for others, they would be incubating Pokemon eggs for others, cheer in the sidelines for their son...
From this day, everything would officially come to an end.
The Dover couple looked at each other, and they held hands before continuing their slow walk.
_Goodbye to the Profession I loved._
______________
The month of November in the Indigo regions, Kanto and Johto, is characterized by slowly lowering temperatures; it's a sign of the approaching winter, which made constructions, renovations, and other private infrastructure projects that would have trouble in acquiring heated materials start to increase their human and Pokémon workers.
This caused the renovations in the house of the Dover family to be done in just 3 weeks, now, the house is 2 story, the first floor accommodates all the needs of the future daycare from the reception area, storage of Pokemon eggs, as well as Pokemon Food storage, there's also a big oven inside the storage as the foods are needed to be custom made for the breeding Pokemon to maintain their base strength.
There is also the living room, kitchen, and dining room on the first floor. On the second floor, the books inside the room of Anthony's, Hana and Ben's rooms were placed inside a mini-library, the place would become the most frequented place of Anthony and Zubat. On the side of the two-story house is the gym of the Dover family with the basic equipments, treadmills, dumbbells of different kilograms, and barbells, as well as plates.
There is no advanced equipments specifically targeting the back, etc. However, as they were more used to using barbells in training such places, the couple didn't mind. There is also a parking lot for future delivery trucks, but for now, a tricycle with a hooded sidecar is the only vehicle parked on it. This is for private transportation purposes and might be omitted in the future and become a car.
The minifarm has also been repurposed already with mini ecosystems over it. A mini-forest for the Grass and Bug types breeding Pokemons and future Pokemons that would be taken care of, with the guardians being Venusaur, Breloom, Heracross, and Scizor.
Plains for Fire Types, A mini pond of Water type, and more. Electric types are currently not available as eggs as they need a power-plant-like environment to thrive, something that can only be provided by Oak's lab as of the current. The renovations made Anthony's life more convenient, especially the library, as that would mean less distraction from the temptation of his games. He can also use the treadmill now, meaning he doesn't need to go out that often anymore.
Though he doesn't really mind going out.
There is one big problem, however.
_It's been 3 weeks since Zubat trained its fundamentals, all of its training is all battle training against my dad's Spearow, now being commanded by dad..._
Now, while battle training is important, there is a reason why fundamental trainings are called fundamental training; they should always be incorporated in training, especially so when a Pokémon is not being extensively used in a journey.
_The fundamental gains of a Pokémon are hard to go away once it was achieved due to the difference in physique between Pokemons and humans... but still, Zubat would start getting lazy again if this went on..._
Anthony, while reading something with his day-by-day worsening eyesight, mused, right now, Zubat is still festering him on when they would be having zoomies outside the mini-library since it doesn't want to learn how Hana tamed a Gyarados, so it was slowly flying around the mini library, somewhat downcast.
_Hmm... I wonder where I can train Zubat... the obstacle of the trees is not just cutting it out anymore when I tried to throw around Zubat, the obstacle course of Treecko will also not work since it's tailored for walking bipedal and not flying-types..._
Anthony is conflicted on the matter as he just can't tell his parents to stop their business, and their hands-off kind of parenting made it so that he would need to fend for his own most of the time.
_Actually, I just need to ask them and I'm sure they'll help... another thing where I have to set aside my pride as an adult..._
The first time he needed to do such a thing was when he had a mistake in the supersonic training of Zubat. Just as when Anthony mulled over such problems, he suddenly heard the door of the mini library creak open, revealing Baby Kangaskhan.
"Kang! Kangaskhan!"
The child Pokémon cried out while gesturing its hand towards its mouth repeatedly, signaling that breakfast is ready.
_Just in time..._
As Zubat greeted its fried and perched itself into Baby Kangaskhan's head, Anthony stood up, determined to let the adults determine the solution to his own problem before going to the dining area where the rice and plethora of Pokémon meats and vegetables are already present. After he washed his hands and sat down with his parents, Anthony immediately started the topic.
"Mom, Dad, I have a problem."