You Can't Hurry Love

“I give up!” Aaron said, walking into the Pokémon centre where Cat, Brent and I were seated.

“Give up on what?” I asked, having an educated guess as to what Aaron meant.

A few hours beforehand, both Aaron and Brent went up against Lance. For somebody who definitely didn’t deserve to go against Lance, Brent fared quite well. He managed to defeat Lance’s Gyarados (which to be fair, had just been in battle with Aaron) but was obviously no match when Lance called out his Dragonite.

Aaron only lasted three minutes. Literally. There were only about three or four turns, Aaron’s Ariados was no match for Lance’s Gyarados. It’s not even worth describing the match in great detail.

When Aaron lost, he recalled his Ariados and stormed off, not even bothering to make eye contact with everyone else. However, when Brent lost, he thanked Lance for the opportunity and stated that this proved to him he must become stronger, and they’d meet again sometime.

Three guesses to which guy Lance smiled and said he looks forward to that future match.

“This! Pokémon training! I only did it to get the bitches, but that’s obviously not going to happen anytime soon. I have more of a chance just going to nightclubs in Goldenrod.” Aaron shrugged.

“Well if you’re not serious about it…” I trailed off, to which Aaron shot me a glare.

I didn’t care. I was sick of his sooky attitude towards being a Pokémon trainer. He was rushing through towns, skipping them if he thought they were too hard. That was not someone who was a true Pokémon trainer, and of course it was going to be hard if that was his attitude.

“I’ve decided to become serious about it. Before I faced off Lance, I was a little overconfident and cocky. I guess I believed I was naturally talented or something. My love for my Pokémon made me biased when I developed strategies in my head. Now I know the only way to get better is to start over again and go to every city we originally didn’t go to.” Brent explained.

“Count me out. I’m going back to Goldenrod by train tomorrow.” Aaron interjected, before Brent could even invite him.

“So, I guess we’re all going our own ways then?” I asked, after looking at Cat who was not making eye contact with me.

“Well you’re welcome to join me, if you want. Your biggest complaints were we moved around too fast, but now we can go slow. What do you say?” Brent asked Cat and I.

“Well um…” Cat started.

I gave her a glare, which she missed. I had to go on the date with that slimy Rocket Grunt, yet she couldn’t keep her end of the bargain? Never mind, I’d just tell Aaron and Brent instead.

“We’re going to stick around here for a while. Lance has a top secret mission for us, so we couldn’t really continue anyway.” I said, nervously shrugging.

“Are you serious? Why you?” Aaron asked suspiciously.

“It’s top secret.” Cat quickly interjected, speaking up for the first time.

“Aw, well this is a little disappointing. Perhaps it’s for the best we all split up though, as we have different goals. Goldenrod is known to have the best clubs, so Aaron is more likely to pick up there. I have to travel to the start to take my training seriously, and having people come with me could possibly hold me back. And you two girls want to travel together, and we know it didn’t go to plan when you went with trainers. It’s a sad outcome that this era was short lived, but we’ll all move onto bigger and better things.” Brent stated.

“I guess.” Aaron stated sulkily.

I gave Brent and Cat a look. I was sick of Aaron’s moodiness and I was now glad to be parting ways with him.

“I’m going for a walk, I need some bonding time with my Pokémon.” I stated quickly, briskly walking off before Cat or Brent could ask me what was wrong.

***

I was at a small lake about an hours walk out of Blackthorn city. It seemed fairly safe, it was open so I could see any potential threats coming, and even though I was a fairly rookie trainer, my Pokémon were strong enough to take on most wild Pokémon, and any rookie trainer that may come across.

I hadn’t let my Pokémon stretch their legs in what seemed like forever. I only let them out to feed them, and give them general check ups at the Pokémon centre whenever we reached a new town.

But now my Poliwhirl was able to play around in the water, my Butterfree was enjoying the pollen from the flowers nearby, my Furret and Charmander were happily playing in the grass and my Cubone was sitting by my side, enjoying the scenery around it like I was.

However, as all the others were enjoying the scenery, my Furret stopped. It’s ears pricked up, and it pointed itself towards a tree.

“What’s wrong buddy?” I asked it.

“Fur, Furret.” It stated, pointing towards the tree.

I stood up, and my Cubone noticed and got into a battle position, it’s club raised and it’s senses sharp like Furret’s were.

I then noticed the cloaked figure jump down from the tree, and indicated to Furret and Cubone it was a friend not a foe.

“Didn’t anyone tell you it’s not only creepy, but rude to spy?” I asked Lance, a small smirk on my face.

“Usually I don’t get caught.” Lance smirked back.

“What brings you here, anyway?” I asked Lance out of curiousity.

“After this morning’s brutal beatings of your friends, I decided to go check out the local area on Dragonite to check for any suspicious activity. There was none, but I stumbled across you and your Pokémon here. It looked very serene and peaceful, it was calming to see after a long day being Pokémon champion.” Lance stated.

“How long were you watching, anyway?” I asked him.

“Long enough to relax my muscles after tensely scouring the area. Long enough for my pounding tension headache to disappear completely.” Lance replied.

“I see. Well, you’ve done a hard days work, why not come relax with us and let out your Pokémon for some relaxing time? Take a break?” I suggested.

“Sorry, but there’s no time for breaks for the Pokémon champion and members of the G-Men. It’s been a pleasant viewing and a pleasant conversation but I’m afraid I must go back to fulfilling my duties. I look forward to seeing you very soon.” Lance half smiled, half smirked.

Before I could even reply, he called out his Dragonite and hopped onto it’s back, taking off with amazing speed that I didn’t think a Dragonite was capable of.

I smiled at the small figure in the sky as I resumed my seat. I could see why Lance was so sought after by the ladies, mysteriousness was meant to be a turn on, and you can’t get much more mysterious than Lance.