Chapter 3: Family
"Alright, the basics of [Peck] are for making your beak stronger. So, use your beak repeatedly on this tree to make a hole. The point is not making the hole but becoming familiar with using your beak as a weapon. Go." Cole said to Zeus.
The trainer was once again sitting under a tree, and they were still in the camp they made last night. He is teaching Zeus [Peck] as it is a solid [Flying-Type] move that, when mastered, opens the door to the much stronger [Drill Peck].
Zeus nodded at him with a severe gaze in his eyes and went right into it. Flying at least fifteen feet away from the tree he was practicing on and doing a flip and then flying at the tree as if he was a bullet.
The first try wasn't smooth. It looked like it hurt Zeus, and he also fell to the ground. Cole was expecting as much. This wasn't the most gentle way to learn [Peck], but this training would help Zeus in the long run. Yes, it would hurt. But it will also harden his beak. After that, he will have an easier time with [Drill Peck].
It would also teach him some humility. This wasn't something that you could get on the first try, even if you have a talented pokemon. He will be frustrated, and if the stars smile at him, Zeus will use that frustration to push him further. If not, he will intervene.
Zeus got up and did so again, and again, and again. Even though pokemon were tough creatures, Cole was observing him. He didn't want to injure Zeus.
After feeling like he was pushing it, he called him off. Zeus looked like he wanted to protest, but one look from Cole shut him up. They did the same thing yesterday, with Zeus repeatedly using all his moves. With a twist, though.
Cole went through the trouble of picking up a lot of stones the morning he woke up, making up a pile of rocks next to him. As Zeus went through the [Moves], Cole kept throwing the small stones at him to distract him, and it worked.
The point of this exercise was to get Zeus to move constantly. If he continually moves, opponents will have a more challenging time hurting him. It also worked on his stamina and speed. Zeus's greatest strength right now and for the foreseeable future would be his speed.
Cole wanted to take it to the next level. He wanted Zeus to be so fast that he would become a blur. While that is still some time away, everyone started somewhere.
They continued for a while like that, Cole made sure that the Pidgey was completely exhausted before ending the exercise. After that, he gave him his breakfast and also started eating his own breakfast.
After that, they continued again on looking for berries while battling the pokemon in the forest. Cole tried different strategies with Zeus and also made a few of the battles more training exercises where Zeus couldn't do a certain move or could only use a certain move. The Pidgey didn't win them all but he learned from it.
The berries finding was successful as Cole did find enough to make Zeus food for another few days.
They did that for a few more days, practically only training for the most part. And the morning after that Cole finally decided for going to Twin Leaf Town.
Now, he made sure to wash himself and do the proper hygiene while camping. Still, he looked a little bit rough but that was camping.
Walking into the town Cole looked around himself. It was just a small town, with quite a few cottages and a few shops here and there.
The people around him actually seemed to recognize him as they smiled at him and greeted him.
"Hey, Cole!"
"How is it going?"
"Were you successful?"
He stopped at that and looked at the older gentleman who said it. He arched an eyebrow in an unasked question, he didn't want to speak anything as he didn't know why they were recognizing him.
"The Pokemon, did you catch one?" The older fellow asked back, there was a slight smile on his face.
Cole gave him a slight nod.
The older man's smile grew bigger and he patted him on the back. Cole continued on his path.
Without seemingly wanting to his feet took him before a house. It was an instinct, to return here. He didn't know what was going on. The house looked a bit better than the others. It also seemed a lot bigger.
He knocked on the door and only waited a few seconds before they were opened by a beautiful blue-haired woman. Her hair was short but she seemed kinda tall. She was wearing a simple white T-shirt with long sleeves and blue jeans.
Immediately there was a warmth inside him at seeing this woman, he also got a massive headache. He grunted a little bit as he held his head. The woman looked concerned as she touched his cheek,
"Are you injured?" She asked, tone filled with concern and warmth.
The woman before him was his mother, he also had a sister. This was his house. This was his hometown. He went on to catch his own pokemon because he didn't want a starter from the professor. He died in that forest. He didn't want to go on a journey when he could at thirteen, even though most go at fifteen. He wanted to study pokemon. This body's personality was a lot similar to his current one.
This all went through his head in a second. All the memories came back to him as if they never left.
"... I am fine," Cole responded.
The woman smiled at that and nodded.
"You just missed Dawn, she is probably already on her way to Sandgem Town." She said with a smile as she looked at the road that led out of Twin Leaf Town.
"I see.." Cole said with a blank face.
The woman spent a few more seconds looking at the road before looking back at him, smiling at him, and leading him into the house.
As she led him in she got a good look at him, scrutinizing every inch of him. Touching his face from side to side. After being seemingly satisfied she went back into the kitchen. Cole followed.
He sat down at the table and she went to wash the dishes.
Cole was lost in thought, here he is. Acting as her dead son. The son in question is a bit pathetic, to be honest as he didn't really have a good relationship with his family.
When he was little he was close to Dawn but as they got older he got colder and they grew apart because of him. He didn't have a bad relationship with his mother but that was also because he was nicer to her than to his sister. He was also eighteen this month.
The previous owner of this body was pathetic. He was intelligent, talented, and everything else but he was pathetic. He seemed to have some sort of complex over his sister and was also sometimes a dick to his own mother. He was not a good son. The worst of this was that this was actually affecting him.
He actually felt bad even though he was seeing this woman for the first time. He also felt the regret that the previous owner of this body had for his relationship with his sister.
It was confusing and weird. He didn't know what to do, Cole never had any family before this. The only company he ever actually had were his pokemon barring some women.
It didn't help that due to that his emotional intelligence wasn't high, if there at least was some.
Cole sighed softly,
"I am sorry.." He said to the back of the woman washing the dishes.
His mother looked back at him, her face unreadable.
"I am sorry for worrying you and I am also sorry for being a bad son and a brother.."
Even though he knew the woman for a few minutes there was absolute love and adoration for her, and the same for his sister. It wasn't that the previous owner of this body didn't like her, he just seemed to be socially awkward and wasn't able to convey his feelings well. Everything would be better if he just spoke honestly but he didn't because of his pride. That was why he was pathetic.
She was looking at him for a few moments before stopping what she was doing and going close to him. She hugged him, tightly. Cole eventually returned the hug. After that, they stayed that way for a while.
She broke the hug first and cupped his face with both hands and looked into his eyes,
"Did I ever tell you just how much you resemble your own father?" She asked with a watery smile.
Cole gave her a small smile in return, she was saying that from the moment he was born. In looks, he didn't take anything from her except her high cheekbones otherwise he got dark hair and blue almost grey eyes resembling an ice, of his father. He also got the sharp almost aristocratic features of his father.
"But you are also much more handsome than him, if that is even possible," She giggled quietly.
Cole slowly swiped her tears,
"I will be going on a journey." He said quietly to her.
She didn't seem surprised,
"Of course, you will.. Why couldn't you and Dawn just stay kids forever.." She mumbled the last sentence to herself but Cole heard her nonetheless.
"I will be eighteen this month, I can't just stay living off of you forever."
"You could."
"I will not."
She smiled.
"Right now you seem like an adult."
"I am one."
Her smile got bigger.
"Yes.. you are."
"But before that please shower, you smell." She suddenly said as she went away from him, going to the dishes.
Cole's ears got a little red.
...
After showering and helping around the house he went into the garden to train Zeus. Over the last few days, they spend in the forest, Cole found out a few things about Zeus.
One was that he was a pokemon with a lot of potential, literally. In a few days he mastered [Peck] and moved on to the [Aerial Ace]. He was now somewhat proficient in the move but not perfect, certainly not. So they would work on that and then other exercises. When Zeus perfects [Aerial Ace] they will move on to [Tailwind] and [Drill Peck] and after that, he will stop adding new moves, for now. They will then focus on strengthening everything and working on his weaknesses.
When there will be more variation in him it will be easier for Cole to see the weaknesses than now.
Cole thought a lot about why the Pidgey could learn this fast. He concluded that the reason Zeus could learn this fast was because of his young age, his talent and Cole's guidance also helped. Zeus also seemed to mature a lot in the few days that they spent training together, both in mind and body. Now he actually wasn't that small anymore even if his size wasn't impressive. It was a nice result.
He threw the Pokeball in the air and Zeus came out with a screech, announcing his presence to everybody who would listen. Cole noted that his feathers seemed much darker. He took out his notebook and sat down on the lawn of the house, after getting comfortable, he was also in his house wear, which consisted of sweatpants and a T-shirt.
It went on, as usual, sometimes he would throw something at him while he was doing the exercise. Other times he would suddenly completely change the exercise. He made him do all the moves until he couldn't move. He also got a hang of the [Aerial Ace] now. It went on for a few hours. Cole also made a few notes in his notebook for future references and his plans for Zeus. He also drew a small sketch of the Pidgey.
After making sure Zeus was completely exhausted and couldn't move anymore he immediately gave him food, which he made himself, and let him rest to recover. He continued to write in his notebook.
He heard a light coughing behind himself and looked over his shoulder, there sitting in the sitting place in this garden was sitting his mother and another girl. It seemed that he had an audience for a while. Not that it really mattered, it wasn't like he was doing some forbidden training.
The girl had black hair and very vivid red eyes, she was very attractive.
Currently, she was looking him up and down and smirking at him, she also sometimes looked at the Pidgey with curiosity in her eyes. He ignored her completely and arched his eyebrow at his mother with a silent question.
His mother smiled at him and motioned with her hand to come closer to them. Cole softly sighed and after petting Zeus, stood up and went before them.
He could still feel the girl's gaze, studying him. He ignored her and looked at his mother with an expectant gaze. His mother looked at him and then at the girl and smirked a little. He battled on with his questioning gaze.
"This is Sylvia but I believe you already know her, don't you?" She asked with a small smile.
Cole finally looked at the girl, who was still smirking at him, and shooked his head,
"Never seen her," He said.
She frowned at this.
"You do know me." She said, her face looking annoyed.
"No, I don't." His face was blank.
She huffed at this and rolled her eyes. He looked at his mother who was still smiling listening to their interaction.
"Well, she came by today because of her being in town, and I realized that she is actually an experienced trainer, your age and thought that she could help you."
"How?"
"You could travel with her for a while. She actually won the last two Grand Festivals so she knows her stuff. Quite famous in the coordinator circle actually."
"I don't need her help."
"Oh you will, do you actually have any money that you can spend on living expenses?"
"I will think of something."
"She is also quite rich so she could probably sponsor you for a while if you asked her kindly. I am sure she would love to help a rookie trainer like yourself." She finished with a slightly teasing tone, she was enjoying this. And by the look on the girl's face, she was enjoying this much more as she joined the conversation.
"Of course, I would, I also think we can come up with some sort of 'payment' don't you think so sweetheart?" Her smirk was sinister when she finished.
"Don't call me sweetheart, I will also not prostitute myself to you"
"Oh really?" She gave him a seductive smile.
It was a lost cause, he ignored her once again and looked at his mother who seemed positively amused.
"At least travel with her to the Jubilife City, get to know her a little bit again."
"No."
"Don't be so cold."
"I am not cold." He said with a tired tone.
"She is the daughter of my friend, be nice to her at least."
"I am polite enough."
She gave him a harder look.
He raised an eyebrow.
She deflated almost immediately before her amused smile once again resurfaced.
"Catch up with her, you will set off tomorrow." And she started walking into the house.
Cole rolled his eyes before looking at the girl, Sylvia, who was still watching him. When she noticed his gaze she gave him a sweet smile, he didn't smile back and turned around to leave only to have his hand caught and he was forced to sit in the chair his mother was sitting in before.
Sylvia, who forced him into the chair, sat back down in her own chair. She gave him a grin.
"You know we actually met before right?" She seemed actually afraid he didn't remember her.
"No."
"You are kidding."
"I am not."
"When we were kids, last time was when we were ten or so."
"You have a good memory." He said in a dry tone.
"Thanks." She winked at him with a grin on her face, still looking kinda nervous.
He sighed and looked up at the skies. This was going to be a long day. He knew of her, he just pretended not to know because of the previous Cole difficult and confusing feelings for her.
They used to meet quite a lot when they were kids but that kinda fell off. The last time, they saw each other the ten-year-old Cole definitely liked her. But the current one only has confusing feelings for her. Yeah, she is very attractive to him but he also doesn't know her anymore. The last time they saw each other they were kids, not even talking about that the current Cole doesn't want anything to do with her. He isn't interested but he can't be uninterested. It's weird.
Another weird thing is that even though he was an adult he feels more like a teenager these days. He is also a lot more accepting of his situation than he should be. He should be breaking down, feeling bad about lying to this family because he wasn't their son. But that is the thing, he also felt like he was their son. He didn't feel guilty. He also wasn't on the point of breaking down.
He just rolled with every situation because what else was he supposed to do? Start crying or saying to his mother that he wasn't her son? At least his mother was happy. Another weird thing is referring to another woman as his mother when he didn't have a mother before. It also feels natural and he doesn't feel weird about it.
This situation was confusing but he also died and came back in a different body so the other things just weren't weirder than what he went through when he woke up in that forest with a body that wasn't his.
"Your Pidgey is interesting." She broke him out of his musings while he was staring at the sky.
"He is a good pokemon." He responded without looking at her, still studying the sky.
"Yeah, quite common though isn't he?" She added, her tone light if slightly mocking. She seemed like she wanted to anger him.
"Not really." He said neutrally, still didn't look at her.
"You can find a Pidgey everywhere." She said with a victorious tone, probably also having a victorious smile on her face. He didn't know.
"Not this Pidgey."
"Why?"
"Because he is my Pokemon." He said with a dry tone.
"Hmmm, you got quite arrogant from the last time I saw you." Her tone seemed mocking.
"You haven't seen me in eight years, people change." His tone didn't change, he also thought that the current cloud he was watching looked like a Sudowoodo.
"True enough, while you were wasting away, I became a top coordinator." She said with an overly arrogant tone, she was playing with him. She also seemed relieved that he did remember her. He got her good.
"Did you?" His face was still blank but there was a slight amusement in his eyes.
"Yes, even your mother is praising me now. That is one of the biggest compliments I can get." She was still playing with him but the last sentence seemed sincere.
"My mother was quite the coordinator." He nodded at his own sentence.
"Yeah, it is quite sad to see that her own son is quite lacking." Her tone was, again, mocking.
"Not everyone is impressive. Some just don't match up." He said blankly.
"Yeah, but that doesn't mean they shouldn't try." She said seriously for the first time today.
"Why?"
"Because if you don't try then what's the point of life? You try, you fail, and you get up and try again until you succeed. That's life."
"You actually aren't dumb, quite surprising," Cole said with a dry tone and looked at her for the first time. Her face was serious until she heard him and she looked offended.
"But you don't have to be trying to motivate me, I was just curious what would come out of your mouth. Mother is also serious about me going with you so I will travel with you for a while at least."
She seemed happy at him confirming that he would be traveling with her, then her face got this smirk,
"Oh, could it be that our little Cole got mesmerized by the great me? I am not surprised, I am quite the beauty." She said in a haughty tone in the end.
"As if, also, I am older than you. So show some respect." He said with a bored tone.
Her smirk grew bigger.
"I knew you remembered me. Also, I just respect you so much, your manly ego and-"
"Did you actually think I forgot about you?"
That took the wind out of her sails and she stopped her sarcastic rant. She suddenly seemed almost shy as she tucked her hair behind her ear. She also didn't meet his eyes, suddenly finding the garden a lot more interesting.
"No."
He snorted.
She immediately got angry and started to rant at him. He won this battle and gave her a small smirk, she immediately recognized what he had done and once again stopped her rant. She just had this frustrated look on her face, he tilted his head at her with a questioning look to only infuriate her more. This had a strange response.
Instead of angering her more she actually looked dumbfounded for a second before snickering at him, making him dumbfounded in return.
"You can be strangely cute at times." She said with a snicker.
"I am not cute." He said with a blank look.
"Oh, you are." She continued on.
Seeing the losing battle he just started to ignore her instead, looking at Zeus who ate his food and actually went back to training on his own volution.
He looked at her again. It would be dumb to not take this offer and go with her, he doesn't really have much saved, and to actually get money from his mother when he is an adult makes him feel pathetic. Not even talking about the fact that she is already sponsoring Dawn.
The previous Cole saved something up but it is not something that he can live on a long term. Of course, finding a job and making money could also be a thing but that would only slow him down and make him lose time for training.
The league wasn't easy.
That got him thinking, what is his goal?
He wants to do something worthwhile, something that would make his mother proud. Strangely, it seemed like he already gotten attached. This whole thing was weird. But to say he was unhappy with his current situation would be a lie. For the first time, he has a family, a real family.
He didn't care that he was probably an impostor, not the real Cole of their family. He had a chance, a chance to have a family for the first time and he wouldn't give it away. He was actually happy, something he didn't feel in a long time.
So, he would do something that would make them proud. He would stop being pathetic. He will win the league, that is something to strive for. There is no one in Sinnoh who actually won the league in their first appearance. Not only in Sinnoh but in other regions too, it was unheard of and arrogant thinking.
He won a league before, but it didn't come until much later. Certainly not his first league. But, did he actually have this sort of ambition before? He did not. It wasn't impossible.
Lance, one of the best trainers in the world, the best Dragon Master in the world got top sixteen on his first appearance.
Cynthia, widely regarded as the strongest trainer in the world got top eight in her first league.
Surely, if he won his first league that would be something to be proud of. Well, it wasn't really his first league but no one knew that, did they?
"Do you have at least some sort of a plan for traveling?" He asked Sylvia.
"Plan? What sort of a plan? We go and explore and get a few Contests and Pokemon gyms along the way, that's what you are interested in right?" She asks in an oblivious tone as if the idea of her having a plan was something alien.
"Of course.." He mumbled to himself.
"Yeah, I am interested in collecting all eight badges."
"Oh, ambitious are we. For a rookie trainer, you would be lucky to get four badges in your first year." She said with a teasing smirk in the end.
Yeah, that's true, actually qualifying for the league in your first year was already an achievement. But this wasn't his first league. He would be winning it.
"I will win the league." He said simply.
She actually blinked at that before laughing, quite hard.
"Good, you finally have some sort of ambition even if it is a bit ridiculous. But, sure, I believe you. I also won the Grand Festival in my first year but I was training my pokemon from thirteen so that is quite false. But for the public, I am a prodigy and that's how I like it." She said with an arrogant smile.
Even if she was training her pokemon already before her first Grand Festival, it is still very impressive. She could certainly be called a prodigy. Contests had their own popularity and it wasn't easy to compete there.
It actually impressed him when his mother said that she won the last two Grand Festivals. Original Cole actually didn't know that as he wasn't really the type to watch TV much less care about Contests. Not that he would ever tell her that.
"You are as much of a prodigy as I am a pokemon." He answered in a dry tone.
She huffed at that,
"Let's have a pokemon battle then!" She raised her voice at him as if insulted by the meaning of her not being a prodigy.
"Of course, your fully evolved team against my Pidgey, how prodigious." His tone became drier.
"Humpf, at least you know the result, loser." She ended with a victorious smirk.
That actually annoyed him quite a bit. It wasn't like he ever got to the Champion level, but he got close enough so being this weak right now was annoying. But, he knew his time would come. He would slowly train up his team and made them absolutely powerful.
Now that he thought about it, it probably wouldn't be bad to catch some already-evolved pokemon. Yes, it would be better if he raised them from the start but he probably wouldn't have the time for that. Especially if he wanted to actually win the league and was realistic about it. Zeus was already enough for him.
But then again it's not like he wouldn't catch an unevolved pokemon but he could probably look for a few that wouldn't need that much raising from him.
"Nonetheless, we will set out tomorrow. I will train through the journey and will do whatever I want. You can go your way any time."
"Sure but you will not boss me around. I am actually in charge because I have much more experience in traveling than you." She smirked at him.
"I don't care. Just don't be a bother." He said simply.
She rolled her eyes.
"I will go train. Go, help mom or something." He said as he got up from the seat and started to walk to Zeus who was still training. He will have him do some lighter training now, work on his strength and balance.
"You better change that tone mister, or your mom will hear about you being crude towards me." She said, her tone half serious half teasing, and maybe a little bit angry.
He didn't even spare her a glance and just motioned with his hand for her to go away. He actually heard her grind her teeth. So emotional, he already knew traveling with her was going to be a bother.
---
If you don't like romance then you should probably stop reading. It will be a big part of this fic.
Also, please if you could be so kind as to tell me how was the interaction between the characters and how was the romance that would be great. I am still trying new stuff and actually seriously trying to make it at least readable. Constructive criticism would be great.
Also sorry for the late update. I somehow again found motivation for writing this.
Also, keep in mind that this is fanfiction, I don't have a manuscript so it is quite the mumbo jumbo. But I am trying to at least make it somewhat believable. Quite like it so far. Got some plans but nothing really set. Already got the full team I want, it will not be anything special really.
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