How to Train Your Pokémon

A/N: Let's begin, with Chapter 13! Roll it!

Bold italics- Pokémon speech

Chapter 13

Learning and Training

The next day, early in the morning, the Ketchum siblings went over to the cave where Elysia was staying to share some breakfast. As the Electric type ate some more Berries, Mari told her about the spark fest that she displayed two days ago.

"Really?" Elysia asked, impressed. "You actually created electricity?"

"Yeah." Mari confirmed. "But I don't know how that is possible."

Elysia thought about it for a second. "Call this a hunch, but I might have an idea how. You said that you were angry."

"Yeah." Mari answered.

"Well, usually, our powers, from any kind of Pokémon no matter the type, come from our emotions." Elysia explained. "But, there is a trick that might work for you." The female Pikachu stood up, trying to be gentle on her bad hind paw. "Picture the sparks in your mind, and then focus your energy into your hands."

Mari was a little hesitant, but decided to give it a try. She pictured the yellow sparks that she showed a couple of days ago. The bright golden electricity dancing across her fingertips. The more she pictured it, the more she felt amazed by the sight and powerful.

"Now, let it out!" Elysia instructed.

Mari released her inner energy, and yellow bolts of lightning came out of her fingers and hit the ceiling, causing a scorch mark to form and some rocks to crumble off and land in the spring with a splash.

The Ketchum girl began laughing out loud in amazement. "Ha! Did you see that?" She turned to her brothers, who were slack-jawed at what they saw.

Elysia was impressed. "Not bad." She said. "I think with a little more practice, you can really be a great thunder master, as if you were an Electric type yourself."

Mari went down to her knees to Elysia's eye level. "Can you teach me how to?" She asked, excitement in her eyes.

Elysia shrugged. "Why not? After all, you probably don't want to lose control again like what happened with that time you told me." Mari nodded while smiling bashfully.

"What about us?" Luke asked, as he and Evan came on over.

"Well, did anything strange happened to you two?" Elysia asked. "Besides you two understanding me?"

The twins thought about that for a few seconds. "Nothing, actually." Evan said.

Elysia thought deeply for a minute as she looked closely at the twins. She could sense that there was a warrior's spirit inside Luke, while Evan usually has a gentle but carefree nature, always flowing like the ocean. Just like with Mari, who had a powerful spark within her.

"Well, how about this?" She carefully went up to Luke and led him towards one of the rocks. "Focus on your center, or your inner spirit, then when you feel like you have reached your highest, release it."

Luke was a little confused about what she said, but nodded anyway. He faced the rock and closed his eyes, listening intently. He then felt a soft and warm feeling bubbling up in his chest. A blue light slowly began glowing behind his eyelids, but he still kept them closed. Out of instinct, he stretched out one of his hands. Feeling something build up in his hand, he finally opened his eyes.

A blue flickering flame was in the palm of his hand!

"Aah!" Luke exclaimed. He swung his hand away from the blue fire, and it flew towards the rock, breaking it into pieces. "What was that?" He breathed, looking down at his palm.

"I think you just used Aura." Elysia said. The three Ketchum siblings looked at the Electric type with awe. "It's kind of hard to explain since my kind can't usually sense it, but basically, Aura is the life force all living things give off. Lucario and Riolu are pretty much the only Pokémon that has learned to sense it, harness it, and use it for attacks. There are very few others, but that evolution line is the most famous for it."

"That is cool!" Luke exclaimed.

"I agree." Mari added.

"What about me?" Evan asked. "What ability do I have?"

"I'm not sure." Luke said, shrugging. The youngest Ketchum then ran over to the spring. "Where are you going?"

"Maybe my ability has something to do with water." Evan suggested. "Since I love the ocean, it could be possible."

"Maybe." Mari said, sharing a shrug with Luke and Elysia. "How about you try it?"

Evan nodded, and then turned back to the spring and stretched out his hand to it, focusing intently. After a couple of seconds of nothing happening, he tried twisting his wrist left and right. Slowly, a column of water began to rise out of the spring.

"Whoa." The older two breathed out in amazement.

"Not bad." Elysia said. "You are quite the insightful one."

Evan beamed at the little Mouse Pokémon. He then thrust his hand towards another rock, and the water column zoomed towards it, shattering it while dissipating.

"Now that is cool!" He exclaimed, then turned to Elysia. "Can you teach me more about that?"

"Well, I'm not a Water type, but since I'm the only Pokémon that you three trust, I can try to help in any way I can." Elysia said. "But I think Mari would be the one progressing the most since she and I share the same abilities."

"We'll still try our best." Luke said.

"All right, then." Elysia proclaimed. "We start training, first thing tomorrow." The three Ketchum kids nodded in agreement.

*****************************

The very next morning, after a quick breakfast, Elysia was taking her role as a mentor very seriously as she trotted in front of the three humans, careful of her injured leg.

"You three, the first thing that you need to know is that your powers flow through your veins. It's a part of you." She said. "You need to find your center, and then, you can release it when you have reached it."

She then stopped in front of Evan. "Water is an element of life, as you might have known already." She began. "Do what you did yesterday, but this time, try to do it faster. When in battle, you have to be on your toes at all times, while at the same time, be versatile."

Evan nodded, and then began twisting his wrist a little faster. A column of water then rose from the spring once again. "Now, strike!" Elysia commanded. Evan immediately thrust his hand out, and the column of water hit one of the walls, creating a small dent in it.

"Nice!" Elysia commented.

"If I am correct, Water has an advantage over Fire, Rock, and Ground types, right?" Evan guessed.

"That's right." Elysia said. "But it does have its disadvantages too, like with all other types. Water is weak to Grass and Electric."

Evan glanced over at Mari and Luke, and they seemed to be thinking the same thing.

****************************

Later that day, in the Arena, the recruits were training against the Larvitar again. After it gave Keira a blow to the head with a Stone Edge attack, it made its way over to Mari. The Ketchum girl smirked, then slid her way past the Rock type, brushing her fingers against the smooth skin. Luke and Evan did the same thing.

"Hey, get back here!" The Larvitar said, its voice donning it to be male.

Evan then spotted a water bucket nearby. He ran towards it and subtly held his hand towards it. The water then began rising slightly out, and then he used the small column to make the Larvitar back away quickly.

"No!" The Larvitar panicked. "I hate getting wet!" Once he ran back into his cage, Luke shut the door behind it. Mari gave her brothers a thumbs-up. What the three siblings weren't noticing was that their synchronized teamwork was starting to draw in a crowd.

Later after training, Jenna was asking Evan a ton of questions about his plan. But, he couldn't come up with a good response without revealing about Elysia. He hated lying to his best friend, but it was for the best.

"Well, actually Mari came up with it." He fibbed.

Thankfully, his sister came to his rescue before Jenna could pry more. "Um, Evan." She began, giving him a wink to tell him to play along. "I think you left your grappling gun in the ring."

"Oops." Evan said. "Sorry, Jen. Gotta go."

"You guys go on ahead." Luke added in to the act.

"We'll catch up later." Mari said, before quickly dodging Aiden, who had been behind the group.

The Newton boy watched with suspicion as the Ketchum siblings ran off towards the Arena. He had a feeling that they were up to something, but he just didn't know what exactly.

***********************************

The next morning, in the cave, Elysia was working with Luke, who was blindfolded with a dark blue cloth tied around his eyes, attempting to try and reach out with his Aura senses. Before they would train, they would check to see how Elysia's leg was doing. So far, it was healing great.

"With the power of Aura, you can sense your surroundings without having to see them." She said. "And you can also detect what might be coming towards you."

"What do you mean?" Luke asked. No sooner did he say that, with his Aura, he sensed a Thunderbolt coming towards him and he dodged it by barrel rolling to his right. "Hey!" He exclaimed.

"That's what I mean." Elysia said smugly. 

Luke rolled his eyes behind his blindfold, and then he removed it. Hearing what Elysia had said, Mari began thinking of another plan.

***********************************

In the Arena that afternoon, the recruits were battling against Espeon again. Aiden swung his baton towards the Psychic type, but it used Psychic to catch the baton in midair. It then began using its power to make the baton come after Aiden.

The Newton boy dodged it, but then saw that it was coming towards Luke from behind. Before he could shout to warn him, Luke jumped to the side, dodging the moving baton. Suddenly, the three Ketchum siblings then ran towards the Espeon, discreetly touching it to hear its voice.

"How in the world did you do that?" The Espeon asked Luke, revealing it to be female.

Luke turned around to show that he was blindfolded the entire time. He only smirked before he removed his blindfold and Mari threw her lance at the Espeon. The chain wrapped around her, making her lose her psychic control on Aiden's baton.

The Newton boy quickly grabbed it and was about to head over to the three Ketchum kids, but before he could, Mari swung the Psychic type around with her lance before throwing her back into her cell, with Evan shutting the door.

The following evening, the recruits were having dinner in the center. Immediately after the Ketchum siblings sat down at a table by themselves, a crowd of people came over and began asking them questions and singing them praises.

Aiden angrily glared at them, watching them slightly stutter and scan the cafeteria to try to find a place to escape to. What are they hiding?

*********************************

The following morning in the cave, Elysia was training with Mari. Just as she expected, Mari was getting more confident with her abilities, like her brothers. But, she was accelerating at a more faster rate because she has the same powers as Elysia.

"Now that you have builded up your power, try to fire quickly at random targets." The female Pikachu instructed. "Go!"

Mari nodded, then began zapping random boulders in procession, breaking them one by one.

"Yes!" The Ketchum girl pumped her fist.

"Great job." Elysia said, carefully climbing up her shoulder. "But here's one quick tip. Though these powers are great, not unlike Pokémon, you can use other things to help you stay alive in battle. When you're stuck, try to look for a new angle."

Her words got Mari thinking.

**************************

That same afternoon, the recruits were facing a new Pokémon.

"Meet the Water type, Piplup." Gary introduced as he opened the cage. Then, a little light blue penguin came waddling out.

"Aww." Keira cooed. "It's kinda cute." She said.

The Piplup then glared at the recruits. It then raised its flippers up in the air, chirping loudly. A huge vortex of water appeared above its head.

"Oh, shoot." Jenna said.

"Head towards the walls!" Mari commanded. "Now!"

For once, no one protested as they scrambled over to the walls. The Ketchum siblings took one quick second to poke at the Piplup to enable their comprension of its speech before following everyone else.

"What now, genius?" Aiden asked the Ketchum girl. Mari then snatched his baton. "Hey!"

Mari scanned the Arena, and then saw the chain ceiling above. She quickly extended Aiden's baton up to where it touched the ceiling.

"Start climbing!" She ordered, handing the large pole back to the Newton boy. She then got out her lance and swung it up to the ceiling. The spiked ball wrapped around one of the thin chains, and Mari launched herself to the top, grabbing the ceiling chains. "Hurry!" She called.

Evan and Luke then knew what their sister was planning. Evan fired his grappling gun at the chains above. He then grabbed Jenna by her waist. "Hold on!" He said. Jenna tightened her arms around her best friend and the two of them were pulled up.

"Shall we head up together?" Keira asked Luke, giving him a flirty smile. Luke rolled his eyes.

"Nope." He said, pushing Keira over to her brother. "I'm gonna get a running start." Grabbing his staff, Luke began running and pushed himself upward towards the chain ceiling.

Keira pouted. Aiden scoffed and grabbed his sister. "Come on!" He shouted. Then they quickly climbed up his extended baton and took hold of the ceiling, not before Aiden brought his baton back to its normal size.

The Piplup then released the Whirlpool attack, and all of the water flooded the Arena, even crashing against the walls. Mari smirked as some of the water even got into the open electric outlets she left out.

The electricity from the outlets then electrocuted the water, even the Piplup. Once all of the zapping was done, the little Water type was dazed.

"Hey, did anyone see the Tauros that came through here just now?" The Piplup asked through his stupor, donning it male. He then fainted dead away.

Mari smirked over at her brothers, then the three of them squeezed through the chains and out into the open. The Newton siblings followed their lead, but by the time they got out, the Ketchums were already running out of their sight.

"Wow." Keira said. "That girl is getting pretty good. Maybe even better than you are." She pointed out to Aiden.

"Don't make me throw you back in the Arena." He threatened. Something was up, and he was going to find out what it is.

*******************************

That same afternoon, the three Ketchum siblings were checking up on Elysia. "How are you feeling?" Mari asked her.

"Better." Elysia answered, rubbing her front paw.

Mari took the female Pikachu in her arms to get a better look. "Well, I think that tomorrow, you'll be good as new." She said.

"Terrific!" Elysia cheered.

Mari smiled. "Hey, Evan." She called. "Can you get some more bandages from my first-aid kit?" She asked.

Evan went to do so. "Uh, sis?" He called her attention. "I think we have a problem."

"What?" Mari asked.

"We don't have any more bandages." Evan said.

Mari groaned. "Great." She said sarcastically. "Guess I'll have to get some more from Gary's lab."

"Can I come with you?" Elysia asked her. "I'm getting tired of being stuck here in this cave all the time."

"No!" Mari replied.

"You can't." Luke added. "It's too dangerous. The town will lock you up, and we will get grounded for life. Or worse, get banished from the faction if someone reports us to our mother."

"Sorry, Elysia." Mari said to the Pikachu. "But as your friend, I am putting my foot down." Elysia gave her a dry look.

***********************************

That night, a guard passed by the Ketchum siblings, who were standing near the entrance of the laboratory.

"Kids." He greeted courteously. The three siblings waved back and waited in their spot until the guard was out of sight. Elysia then popped out from behind a barrel and carefully climbed up Mari's shoulder.

"Remind me to never put my foot down again." She whispered to her brothers.

"Let's just get the supplies, get out of here, and head back to the cave before anyone suspects a thing." Luke said.

"Come on." Evan whispered. The three then entered the lab.

"Hey." Elysia said, jumping down from Mari's shoulder to investigate a shelf with trinkets and photos. "For a human lab, this doesn't seem so bad."

When she hopped down from the shelf, her tail knocked over some of the props on the shelf. Evan quickly steadied them before they caused too much noise. Unfortunately, someone did hear a slight noise.

"It will be if we're discovered here with you." Mari hissed softly. "Now, keep quiet."

"Hey." A familiar voice called out. "Is someone there?"

The Ketchum siblings froze. It just had to be him.

"Aiden!" Luke quietly mouthed.

Mari handed Elysia to Evan. "Find the supplies." She said. "I'll stall him." With that, she left the lab and quickly shut the doors behind her to face the Newton boy. "Aiden, hey." She said nervously. "Hi, Aiden. Hi."

From inside, the twins silently slapped their foreheads. Even though Mari wants nothing to do with Aiden anymore, she still sometimes act like a stuttering mess around him.

"Who is this Aiden?" Elysia quietly asked.

"Uh, supplies now, questions later." Evan whispered.

Outside, Aiden was talking to Mari. "Look, I normally don't care what people do, but you and your brothers have been acting weird lately." There was a slight crash from inside the lab, making Mari flinch. Aiden tried to move past her. "Is there something in there?" He asked.

"Nope, nothing to see here." Mari said quickly, before trying to push him away from the doors. But, she misstepped and almost fell to the ground, if it weren't for Aiden quickly catching her by the waist. Mari's hands grabbed his shoulders to keep her balance.

The two remained in that position for a couple of short minutes, just staring at each other. Mari felt her cheeks turn bright red, and she was suddenly grateful that it was dark so that Aiden couldn't see it.

Mari finally snapped out of her daze when she saw a cyan blue light dot hit her vision for a second. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw the twins and Elysia beckoning to her. In Luke's hand, there was a new package of bandages.

"Uh, sorry about that." She quickly said, slightly pushing Aiden away. "Well, it's late, and I don't wanna be late for training tomorrow. Bye!" With that, she left Aiden in front of the lab and dashed into the forest, where Elysia and her brothers were waiting.

"That was too close!" Evan whispered before handing Elysia back to Mari.

"Who was he?" The Pikachu asked with a teasing smirk. "He's kind of cute, for a human."

Mari blushed, but scowled at the Electric type. "Don't you even start."

A/N: If anyone is a little weirded out by Elysia's last little comment, hey, remember anyone can find anyone attractive in anime, even if they're not the same species. Remember Bayleef, Latias and Meloetta?

So now, all three of the Ketchum siblings have discovered some awesome new abilities. In the next chapter, not only will they all discover a new one, but someone returns home that might make the situation more complicated.

Until then, I'll see y'all! Please leave a comment about what you think!

Got to fly! ;)