"Those were some great battles."
Misty walked beside Daemon as they exited the Pewter City Gym. The three battles they were here to see had ended, and the majority of the spectators were along with them.
"That guy from Johto." The black-haired boy browsed through the forums that were open before his eyes. "The psychic focus of his Slowking was stronger than any other Slowking I have seen fight."
"But why is he from Johto?" The orange-haired girl clicked her tongue. "Not a single trainer from Kanto will win the Indigo Conference this year...again!"
Daemon shook his head and scrolled through the trainer profile of Jon Dickson.
The boy from Johto was a trainer sponsored by Prof. Elm, the lead regional professor of Johto. He had been a trainer for seven years, and this was his eighth shot at a conference.
So far, he was among the favourites to not only qualify, but also win the whole thing.
"His ace is a Typhlosion, and he also has a Tyranitar in the main six."
"I have seen him fight. The only reason he lost the Vertress Conference last year was that he was matched against Steven Stone, the genius boy from Hoenn. If you look at the list of every trainer listed for this year's Indigo Conference, I don't think any one of them will be able to defeat him."
"Hey, don't count me out just yet." Daemon looked at her with mock anger.
Misty rolled her eyes. "Don't even joke about it. Unless you are Cynthia Shirona, you cannot win a league so early in your career."
"I heard rumours that her opponents can hear 'Slaughter' whenever she battles. And then have nightmares in which all they hear is that piece of music."
Cynthia Shirona, the champion of Sinnoh.
Calling her strong would be an understatement. Moreover, whenever she fought during the WCCs, her fans would play a piece of music; it was once composed by her ancestor, Volo.
She was from a clan of dragon tamers that was established in Sinnoh even before the region had a different name, Hisui.
One of her ancestors, Volo, was a kind man who was very fond of music and had created a masterpiece that Cynthia later improved upon. It became her theme song, and then a meme, because every trainer who fought her had at least one nightmare in which that piece of music played.
"She is a beauty with brains," Misty said in an admiring tone. If there was another woman she admired besides the ice-type elite four of Kanto, it was definitely Cynthia.
As they left the stands and reached the lobby, the duo soon saw Gary Oak and Cross Thompson surrounded by a large mob.
"What's happening?" Daemon asked someone at the edge of the circle of human bodies.
"Looks like Gary and Cross are about to fight," she said. "They had an argument over who was a better trainer after Cross asked him for a battle. I don't know more than that."
"Thanks," the black-haired boy said.
Daemon and Misty decided to take a closer look and sneaked between a few people, reaching the front of the group, and saw that Cross Thompson was practically frothing at the mouth with anger at Gary Oak and his group of cheerleaders.
"He is so based for that," Daemon commented, looking at the cheerleaders who were present during the battle and were cheering for the boy.
"Boys." Misty rolled her eyes and focused on the argument.
"Let's get our teams healed, and then you battle me, one-on-one! My Growlithe vs your Charmander. I'll show you that you're nothing but overrated Alolan trash!"
A series of 'Ooooohs' ran through the crowd after Gary's challenge.
"Don't you dare talk to him like that." A blue-haired boy standing next to Cross spoke up.
"Shut up, you midget." The spiky-haired boy turned to the boy. "And have some shame, Damian. You ranked second in the regionals last year, and now you are boot-licking this dumbass who is getting all wiggly because my battle shared much of the limelight that was supposed to be his." He turned to Cross. "And if that's what you are worried about, go challenge Jon, see if you can put up a fight."
"You fucker! You want a fight?" Cross scowled at the words, his ego too big to be hurt in such a manner, before so many people.
"Did you not hear what I said, you dumb-mid-ass trainer who can't even train a fucking Charmander?"
"You think pumping TMs into your Squirtle is training?"
"At least mine is strong enough to beat a gym leader. What about your Charmander? You are still a little shit after pumping so many TMs into it. So do us a favour and quit wasting my time. My Growlithe vs your Charmander, you up for it or not?"
"Fuck you, if my Charmander weren't injured, I would have shown you!" Cross spat at the ground in frustration.
"Excuses, excuses." Gary clicked his tongue before turning to his cheerleaders. "Get the car, girls." He turned back to Cross. "Smell ya later, Crosshit."
"You!" The orange-haired boy tried to curse, but Gary had already walked away, no longer paying him any attention.
Seeing there was no longer any argument left to spectate, the people gathered started leaving as well. Of course, they made sure to post the video of their scuffle across various forums.
"What are you going to do now?" Misty asked the boy standing next to her.
Daemon thought for a moment. "I am heading back to Pokémon Centre."
The orange-haired girl hesitated for a second before she asked. "Want to grab dinner?"
"I am sorry, Misty, but I can't." The boy could see the disappointment in the girl's eyes, but he could not afford to waste time right now. "I need to go back and study Flint's battle with Gary and get my Pokémon ready for tomorrow."
"Alright, I will let you go for today." Misty gave him a soft smile. "But you owe me a dinner, the next time we get together."
"Yeah, for sure." Daemon smiled. "See you later, Misty."
"See you tomorrow. I will be there for your battle."
"Thanks." The black-haired boy grinned before walking away, waving her goodbye.
There were five Pokémon Centers in Pewter City to accommodate all the trainers that came here every year. The one Daemon was staying in was a fifteen-minute walk from the gym.
Once he was there, Daemon walked through the hallways until he reached a room at the very back. When he entered after knocking, he found his Ralts busy healing the unconscious Deino, with a Chansey on her side, instructing her.
"Chansey~"
"Ra."
He did not disturb the two and sat on an empty chair before scrolling through the pokenet. His goal? It was to go through the battle of Flint and Gary once again, but this time, instead of watching it for fun and excitement, he started to dissect it as much as he could.
Some patterns became obvious, such as Flint being an avid user of [Rock Polish], which was followed by a "tackling" move.
His research went on for another thirty minutes, and the two Pokémon were also almost done.
Dark-type Pokémon were immune to Psychic-type attacks, but Nurse Joy had taught the psychic fairy a way to bypass that. Of course, it was only possible if the dragon was either willing or unconscious.
In theory, it was quite simple.
Ralts was to use her fairy-type energy to suppress Deino's dark-type, then use [Heal Pulse], a psychic-type move that would now be effective on the dragon. However, it was not easy to perform.
It had taken a week for the psychic fairy to get a hold of this method, and it could only be performed once Deino was thoroughly exhausted and had no energy left.
However, this training had served a purpose other than just having a method to heal a dark-type Pokémon.
Daemon had only focused on the psychic nature of his starter, not the fairy. In her training with Nurse Joy's Chansey, Ralts had become much more proficient at using the fairy-type energy, something the duo had ignored up until now; it was left for when Ralts evolved to her next form.
The results of this training were clear, as the pink mist surrounding Deino did not harm him one bit but only suppressed the dark as well as dragon-type energy in the dragon.
Moreover, the horn on Ralts's head had grown considerably; even the Everstone around her neck was having a hard time suppressing her evolution.
'I guess some things you just can't avoid no matter what.'
The black-haired boy sighed since he hoped to avoid an evolution in a gym battle, but with how strong Ralts had grown, it was impossible to avoid unless Daemon won the gym challenge with Deino...which was not yet possible.
...or was it?
Daemon frowned as he thought about the progress he had made with Deino over the last week. But then a moment after, he shook his head. The three battles he had seen were still vivid in his mind.
While he could not match up to Cross or Jon for now, he could replicate or even surpass the domination with which Gary had fought. Moreover, he had promised someone it would be worth her time...
'Hopefully she shows up.'
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[Author's Note]:
[1]: Hope you all like the chapter. Gym Fight starts next chapter, and after that, every chapter will revolve around Daemon for a while as we travel through some areas. I know the story got a bit slow with him just looking at battles, doing nothing, but it was important for some character introduction as well as Daemon's character development.
[2]: This world also has Pokémon video games like ours (like the ones used in Pokémon Tech Academy). So don't think Daemon is a reincarnator or something like that. NO. He was born into this world with no knowledge of the future and all that jazz.
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