Chapter 175

Sam wasn’t entirely sure how he got here, but if his mother was going to present him with a challenge, then he was not going to let her down. He had faced Redi, Eliza, Xavier, and even Victor. He had placed at an incredible top eight in the Conference. His achievements were immense, and his team’s power was great.

But he knew nothing about how his mother fought or even just how strong Delcatty and Sableye actually were.

“Alright, sweetie! For this match, we'll have a double battle! So I want you to send out two Pokémon to face me, alright?”

“Alright,” Sam repeated.

He watched his mother press an arm out to her side to stretch, and in the distance, a lone jogger ran alongside a sweatband-wearing Granbull. A grid of practice fields stretched out around them, but without the Conference going on, no one else was out here to train.

“Right! Here goes!” his mother shouted. “Come out, Delcatty! Get ready, Sableye!”

Appearing on the field were the two Pokémon Sam expected to see: Delcatty, nobly holding up her head as if to show off her pristine coat, and Sableye, scratching at the ground as if not interested in anything going on, but he still shot Sam a look, and there was a certain glint to his eyes.

Sam could see his mother smiling, and she maintained that expression while placing her hands on her hips and waiting for him to send out his chosen Pokémon.

“Don’t hold back! Treat us like any other opponent! You’ll be surprised by just what we can do—so choose your Pokémon carefully!”

He knew that his mother had earned a handful of Gym Badges on her journey years ago, and he also knew that Delcatty had once worked alongside his father as a Pokémon Ranger. Delcatty had absolutely dominated Typhlosion back when she was a Cyndaquil getting ready for her own journey, but that was basically a year ago at this point. There was no telling what Delcatty was like right now.

Weighing his options carefully, Sam wanted to see just how much both sides of this match had improved. And, since this was his mother, he wouldn’t have this battle proceed in any other way.

“Typhlosion!” he shouted, as he knew his starter Pokémon deserved to be here. “You too, Mismagius!”

These two worked well together, but as his mother watched them, she gained a curious smile.

“Choosing your first two Pokémon, hm?”

“I caught Annihilape and Gengar before Mismagius. She’s not one of my first.”

“No, but you told me the story,” she said. “You caught Mismagius far before even Typhlosion, didn’t you?”

Sam sent a glance to the floating Pokémon, who seemed to be having a staring contest with Delcatty. A mischievous grin had crept onto Mismagius’s face, but Delcatty did not relent, almost acting as if that stare was a challenge to her authority that she could not let go unpunished.

“Yeah,” Sam said quietly, watching the Pokémon he had gone through the Ilex Forest with so many years before. “I did, didn’t I?”

“Now then,” his mother said, completing her stretches and righting her stance. “Since I was the one to present you with this challenge, I’ll let you choose what move to use first!”

Her expression was kind, but this offer was anything but. Both of them knew Sam would hesitate to initiate any too-powerful moves against Pokémon that he wasn’t sure of their strength.

“...Sure,” he said, thinking quickly. “Typhlosion, start with a basic Flamethrower. Mismagius, I want you to stay in the back and focus on Nasty Plot.”

Mismagius darted backwards to make room between her and her opponents, and Typhlosion positioned herself close to the center to purposefully serve as a blockade for anyone trying to reach Mismagius. As Mismagius’s eyes narrowed, her mind became filled with thoughts of inflicting pain, and Typhlosion breathed in to build heat. A powerful exhale saw a gout of flame shoot outwards that threatened to burn anything in its path. However, even with all of the power that attack possessed, it was a deliberate move with an obvious path.

Immediately, Delcatty and Sableye jumped out of the way, splitting off to leap to opposite sides of the field. Typhlosion wouldn’t be able to track both of them at once.

“Here we go, Delcatty!” Sam’s mother yelled. “Start with Foresight on both of them! And Sableye—you know what you need to do to shut them down!”

Sableye was no longer staring at the dirt. His gemstone eyes locked onto Mismagius in the back, and his grin exposed his sharpened teeth.

Typhlosion snapped her head to him, recognizing him as the more immediate threat to Mismagius, and she breathed in to prepare another Flamethrower while Mismagius continued to build in the back. However, Sableye looked utterly unconcerned, and all he had to do was snap his clawed fingers to cause her move to sputter out in her throat.

Then, Mismagius suddenly let out a frustrated wail. She practically threw her arms to her sides. In an instant, Nasty Plot failed.

“How did he do that? That was two moves at once?” Sam asked.

“Was it? Or was it just Disable and Torment, used back-to-back?”

“He only snapped his fingers once!”

“Huh. So you’re right,” his mother said.

Disable removed the possibility of any further Flamethrowers, and Mismagius could not use any back-to-back moves. For now, Sam didn’t want to rush into this too soon, so he had Mismagius continue to hang back and focused on Typhlosion now.

“Incinerate. Ward off both of them.”

“Thunderbolt!” his mother shouted to Delcatty. “Into Thunder Wave! Then, run to the back!”

Letting out a loud meow, Delcatty jumped at Typhlosion, and Typhlosion spat out a glob of fire. Sableye took a step back to avoid it, but Delcatty chose to attack straight through the flames.

Her fur radiated with energy, and this was not anything Electric. A lightning bolt shot off of her, but this was using energy only in its rawest sense.

Somehow, her Thunderbolt was a Normal Type attack, not an Electric Type attack, and her Foresight let it hit Typhlosion. The shared Type alongside the conversion gave this move extra power, and even though Typhlosion was able to easily withstand it, she was still pushed back.

That moment was all Sableye needed to run past her side, but Typhlosion was not in a position to stop him without using her full speed. Still holding back, all of her attention was sent toward Delcatty. That feline Pokémon started to charge her, letting Sableye slip into a shadow to slide across the field in a transparent Shadow Sneak.

“Hex, Mismagius,” Sam ordered. “Typhlosion, Incinerate again.”

Wisps formed around Mismagius as a defense, and Typhlosion spat out another glob of flames. Rather than continue his approach toward Mismagius, Sableye’s eyes flashed for a Detect that let him weave through the incoming move.

Meanwhile, Delcatty jumped to the side with a Quick Attack to avoid the Incinerate, and then raw energy radiated off of her again. This time, this was not meant to deal damage but pulse through Typhlosion. Typhlosion did her best to block, but she wasn’t running just yet, and the Thunder Wave was able to paralyze her immobile form.

“Quash. Make an opening,” Sam’s mother ordered.

With his Detect just now wearing off, Sableye slipped right under where Mismagius floated to suddenly jump up and slap her on her back.

Quash made her move stall, and Delcatty had the freedom to run and charge.

So, just like Typhlosion before her, Mismagius was hit with a Normal Type Thunderbolt. Quash prevented her from going through with any defense in time, and she slid back in the air.

“I see. I get it,” Sam said. “I get why you wanted to have this fight.”

“Tell me, then,” his mother replied.

Sam’s eyes flicked over the current state of the field, and he let out a slight sigh.

“It’s a reminder,” he answered. “You’re purposefully using tricks and strategies no one else ever applies. Delcatty has her Normalize ability—and I’m pretty sure that isn’t discovered yet. And Quash? That move? Has anyone ever seriously used that?”

His mother inclined her head.

“You’re using things from the New Pokédex to redirect my focus. To show off that we might have made it to the Conference, but there are so many things we stand to learn how to fight.”

“Except, you’ve made a mistake.”

“How so?” his mother asked.

“You challenged me to a battle to try to get me back to normal, and now, after seeing all of this...” Sam smiled. “I really want to win this fight.”

His Pokémon had been holding back. Typhlosion hadn’t moved or used her speed at all to counter Delcatty’s charge. Meanwhile, Mismagius had barely received any commands, which had given his mother plenty of room to act.

Now that he’d seen his mother’s tricks, Sam wanted to demonstrate some of his own.

He gave his orders fast, and he found there was an energy to his voice that he didn’t have before.

“Mismagius, grab Sableye! Typhlosion, you already know what to do!”

Mismagius lunged, and there was nothing Sableye could do to defend against this: this wasn’t a move. She was simply rushed forward to yank him upwards in her ghostly grip.

He squirmed in his arms, biting and tearing into her to try to escape, but Mismagius offset all of that by maintaining a low use of Pain Split.

Then, Typhlosion still didn’t even need to move. She just needed to use Swift. Delcatty tried to run away but could not outpace the move, and Mismagius’s Ghost Type rendered her immune. Sableye was, too, but the Swift’s purpose was not just to deal damage.

Like it had so many times before, it created a path for a Will-O-Wisp to follow in its wake.

“There! Now both Pokémon are burned.”

His mother stayed quiet, merely watching this battle silently.

“Both of you, finish off Sableye with Hex, and we’ll get Delcatty after!”

With a burn, Hex would faint Sableye quickly, and even if he used Detect, he would not be able to maintain his protection for long. As for Delcatty, her power was much less than either Typhlosion’s or Mismagius’s, and as unfair as it was, Sam was willing to take advantage of that by having his Pokémon ignore her until it was time to finish her off.

The purple wisps from Hex spread out in every direction, and they were like floating daggers ready to stab down into Sableye. He stopped struggling in Mismagius’s grip, looking up in both awe and fear, but the moves never landed.

He was turned into red light, and he disappeared from the field with Delcatty being returned right after him.

“Alright. Enough of that. You beat us, Sam. We surrender.”

Sam blinked at his mother's words and then awkwardly laughed.

“I might have gotten a bit too intense there.”

“It’s fine! That was what I was looking for!”

His mother crossed the field to walk up to him, and Sam’s Pokémon let out sighs as the adrenaline wore down. His mother was wearing a smile on her face as she approached, and Sam had so many questions.

But before he could ask any of them, she suddenly put a hand on his head and said, “Let’s get something to eat.”

Heat rushing to his face, he quickly pushed the hand off while Mismagius giggled.

“Alright,” he grumbled. “But I want you to tell me what you were having Sableye and Delcatty do as soon as you get the chance.”

_______________________________________________________________________

His mother bought him ice cream. She hadn’t bought him ice cream since he was a kid. Except, she didn’t just buy him ice cream. She bought ice cream for his entire team.

With the city so empty, the little shop had a section of unoccupied tables out front. All of Sam’s Pokémon had space to come out, and an entire swarm of shadows was able to enjoy that late afternoon, chilly treat.

Gengar practically swallowed his in seconds, and then he started to stalk around, excitedly looking for more. All of the Gastly and Haunter got their own little trays, and Mismagius watched them all, making sure none of them stole any.

Trevenant passed up the treat, but he got a nice paper cup of berry juice to drop into his mouth and chew. Annihilape, meanwhile, sat on a fence and held his dripping while glaring at anyone who just happened to pass by.

But Typhlosion, Sam, Delcatty, and Sam’s mother all sat around the same table. This time around, Typhlosion was large enough to have her own chair. She wasn’t that interested in the cold treat of ice cream, but Sam had a few extra berries in his pack that she could have. Delcatty shared a bowl with his mother, but the feline Pokémon wasn’t truly interested. It was more like she was just taking the occasional lick just because she could.

“For the past while, I’ve been tutoring and rebranding, in a way,” his mother said while taking small bites of the ice cream from her bowl. “After training you at the start of the season, I realized I missed that kind of work. So, I put up a notice in the local Pokémon Center, and while running my shop, I’ve been taking requests to tutor new trainers alongside Delcatty and Sableye. We give anyone interested tips and advice for training and traveling to help out anyone leaving or passing through Dewford.”

“It’s even been good income,” she continued after taking a moment to take another bite. “We still have our usual business, but this side job has been giving us a surprising amount of extra cash.”

“Some trainers we tutored have even continued to stop by to browse our books,” she said. “It’s like they never fully realized just how much information a book could hold. And then, there’s also you.”

“Me?” Sam asked, stopping with a spoon halfway to his mouth.

“Yes, you!” his mother answered, speaking with a laugh. “In your own way, you’ve helped our little bookstore. When word got out that you’d be competing in the Conference, more and more people started to stop by. They wanted to see if I could share any special tricks, and they wanted to see if there were any tricks to your success contained in our store.”

“That’s why I didn’t brush off Redi’s idea for expansion,” she said, and she held up the bowl to let Delcatty take one more lick. “I like the idea of getting one or two more stores, and I like the idea of a bit of rebranding. Keep it as a bookstore, but one with a heavier focus on Pokémon and training. Make it less of a place to just shop and place orders and more of a place that can offer more. 

“Somewhere to read and chat,” she said. “Somewhere people can go to exchange tips. Maybe a place with a little area out back that novice trainers can use to practice moves?”

Sam could picture it almost as a cafe, but instead of drinks, it’d be a business that provided books and tips instead. He couldn’t imagine the place getting extremely popular, but he could picture that place as having very loyal customers.

It wouldn’t make much more money, but that wasn’t the point. It’d simply make enough, and the real purpose of the change was to simply have a place people would enjoy.

“I... like that,” Sam said. “I like that a lot, actually.”

His mother smiled at him, putting her spoon down, and she leaned forward on the table.

“I’m glad.”

“But, uh, speaking of those tricks people ask you about,” Sam said. “Are you finally going to explain what was going on with Delcatty and Sableye?”

His mother blinked, and Sableye cackled his name from where the Ghost Type was hiding under the table.

“Oh! Oh, yes!” his mother said, her eyes widening with excitement. “So, I might have been cheating a bit by using information from Dad’s little book. Sableye has some interesting abilities—and instead of stating them outright, let me ask you: do you know what they are?”

“Stall, Keen Eye, and Prankster,” Sam answered. He’d long since memorized the entries of just about every Ghost Type. “Stall makes a Pokémon always move last, Keen Eye helps with aiming their attacks, and Prankster lets a Pokémon use status moves extremely quickly.”

“Correct on all fronts,” his mother said proudly. “But, here’s a follow-up question: what happens when a Pokémon has all of those abilities together?”

Sam frowned. Some Pokémon had obvious synergies with their abilities, with the most obvious in his mind being a Zangoose’s. That Pokémon might not have been a Ghost Type, but its interaction with poison had stood out to him. Its Immunity ability made it immune to being affected by poison, but while poison was in its system, its attack would be enhanced due to its Poison Boost ability.

However, that synergy was based wholly around an effect. He couldn’t think of how a Sableye’s abilities would interact, especially with how Prankster and Stall did almost the exact opposite thing.

“They shouldn’t do anything,” Sam answered. “Stall slows a Pokémon while Prankster speeds up a Pokémon, so they should just cancel out. It’s kind of like using a Water and Fire Type move at the same time. Neither move gets to happen; they just wash the other out.”

“Do they?” his mother asked as she raised another bite to her mouth. “Or would a Water and Fire Type move create steam, instead?”

He stared at her even as she gained a cheeky smile. He tried to open his mouth to argue against that, but then he truly considered her words and went quiet in thought.

“So you’re saying that combination results in a secret, third option.”

Proud, his mother nodded her head.

“Prankster and Stall are less about affecting a Pokémon’s speed and more about affecting when a Pokémon uses its moves. Sableye’s Stall means that he’s exceptionally skilled at knowing when to move last, and his Prankster means he’s exceptionally skilled when to move first. So, when combined with the accuracy of Keen Eye, what do those combined skillsets get?”

“A Pokémon that... always knows exactly when to move?”

“A Pokémon that’s exceptionally skilled at proper timing,” his mother confirmed. “Sableye’s speed doesn’t matter. He can choose whenever he wants to attack.”

In the battle, Sableye had used Disable and Torment almost simultaneously, and he had used both moves with nothing more than a single snap. He was able to shut down Mismagius with a clever use of Quash, and, honestly, Sam was pretty sure that one trick was the entire reason his mother had requested a double battle fight.

“With that kind of power... Sableye could completely shut down anyone he fights,” Sam said, amazed.

“Kind of,” his mother replied casually. “It requires a lot of focus, so it tires him out pretty fast.”

“But with enough training, he could combine so many moves together and have his opponents unable to do anything to stop him! Encore, Disable, Taunt, Torment—he could become an absolute menace in battle! He doesn’t need the strength to use any direct attacks if he can stop his opponents from doing anything and force them to struggle until they faint.”

His mother shrugged.

“He’d still need to carefully select each move perfectly, and a Pokémon’s struggles can still hit a foe,” she explained. “A Sableye doesn’t have much stamina, even if heavily trained. Eventually, a Sableye’s opponent would be able to break through.”

“Sure, but he’s...”

His mother was right. A Sableye could withstand a few hits, but they were Pokémon that were skilled with moves rather than innate power.

But hearing this combination his mother applied in their battle had absolutely gathered his interest. Right now, he really wanted to train with Sableye just to see how far he could push that strategy, himself.

“And Delcatty’s attacks were just an application of her Normalize ability,” his mother added after one more bite. “She can empower her attacks and use them without the need for anything but Normal Type energy. Combined with Foresight, that means moves with potential immunities like Thunderbolt will always hit, even against Ground Types.”

“So that’s why you taught her Thunder Wave,” Sam said. “Delcatty has decent speed, and paralyzing her foes helps with that.”

Delcatty let out a proud meow.

“That strategy is actually inspired by you,” his mother said.

A warmth grew in Sam’s chest as he heard her say that. Knowing that his team had inspired one of his mother’s strategies was really... nice. It felt like proof that he was becoming someone people could look up to.

But there was so much he stood to learn, and he knew that was true just by hearing what his mother had described about Sableye. As much as he had the information from the New Pokédex, he hadn’t yet had the chance to experience the true implications of all of that, and there were so many different Ghost Types he was yet to encounter or even see in battle.

“Ugh.” He let his spoon drop. He held his head in his hands. “You’re talking about all these plans and strategies, and you’re trying to get me excited, but I’m just not... as focused as you. Hearing how you’re so put together doesn’t feel like anything I can do. I’m just... here. At the end of the season. At the end of my journey. I’ve had such a straightforward goal to reach the Conference that now that we’ve made it, it feels like—”

“Like you don’t know what to do next?” his mother asked.

Sam stayed silent, and his silence confirmed it for her.

“...You feel as though this chapter of your life is at its end?” she asked next.

Sam wasn’t sure what to say at that, but he ended up whispering the truth of what he was feeling.

“That’s part of why I haven’t picked a sponsor. If I choose one, aren’t I just admitting that all of this is just... over?”

His mother hummed, watching him, and she let him sit in silence while he digested the full weight of what he had just said. However, after half a minute, Sam suddenly heard a loud squeak, and he looked up far too late to see Dreepy hurtling straight at him from above.

The little Dragon Type hit the table and slammed into Sam’s bowl of half-eaten ice cream. It went flying with a spoon spinning high through the air. Typhlosion tried to stand up to grab it, but the spoon was snatched away by a rushing Gastly, and then the bowl slammed onto the ground, its chilly interior spreading out into what would melt into a sticky puddle.

But Gengar appeared and licked all of that up with a single swipe of his tongue.

“Are you okay?”

Sam was less concerned about the ice cream and more concerned about how Dreepy was rubbing his head, still on the table.

Hearing that unexpected question, Dreepy suddenly looked up in shock before truly realizing just where he was. He let out a squeak as if to try to assure Sam that he was okay, but then a shadow fell over the two of them.

They both looked up, and up, and up, at the towering form of the fully evolved Dragapult floating above them.

But rather than fall into any intimidation or any sense of annoyance, the pseudo-Legendary Pokémon dropped her head to let out a surprisingly soft chip. She was extremely apologetic. She had gotten distracted and accidentally sent Dreepy this way.

“It’s okay. As long as Dreepy is alright,” Sam said.

Quickly, Dreepy returned to his sister’s head, and Dragapult sent Sam a smile before shooting back up in the air. As a Dragon Type, ice cream was not in her interest, and she had taken to practicing close to the roof of the ice cream shop.

However, she wasn’t truly practicing. She was just playing. At her brother’s insistence, she was launching him short distances at high velocities, and each and every time, he let out a delighted scream.

And it wasn’t just him—a few Gastly were involved too. As if she were some sort of theme park ride, the Gastly were orderly lining up for a chance to be launched just the same.

“Your Pokémon are well trained.” Sam blinked and brought his attention back to his mother, only to see her smiling at him. “You’re a good trainer.”

“Th-thank you.”

“But can I ask you a question?”

Sam awkwardly shifted around in his seat, trying to find a comfortable way to sit. With the ice cream gone, he no longer had any way to distract himself.

Quietly, he replied with a “Sure.”

“Sam,” his mother said. “Why does it have to end?”

“Why does what have to end?”

“No, I mean, why end?” she repeated. “Why do you think that making a choice means all of this is going to stop? Why do you think that choosing a sponsor means your journey is going to over? Even if this phase of your life is about to reach its conclusion, won’t this all keep going? Won’t your travels continue, even if you’re not in Johto?”

“I know. I know!” Sam grumbled. “It’s just... I guess I’m just worried. I... don’t know what’s going to happen next.”

She sent him a soft smile.

“Does that matter? You’ll figure it out. It’s not hard to know what you’ll get to do. You’ll see new Ghost Types. Encounter new people. Make so many more friends, and probably have a few adventures along the way.

“This might be the end, but it’s only the end of your travels through Johto. You still have an entire world to go through! Even if this part of your life is over, there’s still so much more to see.”

“I know,” Sam said quietly. “But, if I do that... that means I won’t be going home.”

She rested a hand on his.

“I know, but it’ll be okay. I had the chance to catch up and visit you here, and we’ll always be rooting for you, no matter what. But what truly matters right now is the chance you have. You have all the freedom in the world to make the choice that makes you happy the most.”

“Even if I...”

His mother nodded.

“Even if you go to Kanto,” she finished for her.

Sam blinked at her, and she laughed.

“You saw through me that easily?” he asked.

“You're my son. Of course I did. As much as you have so many potential paths ahead of you, you still want to resolve everything with the New Pokédex, don’t you?”

Sam could only let out a short laugh as he thought back to that one paper contained in the packet. Between all of the various offers and requests, there was a simple letter that had written nothing more than a basic invitation.

“I think... part of the reason I’ve been so stuck is because I don’t actually have the information to make a decision yet,” Sam said quietly, deep in thought. “I haven’t done any research. I’ve just been skimming through the offers. I need to figure out which companies I’d even want to consider giving my support, and I’d need to figure out which people I’d want to meet.”

“And your first step?” his mother asked, knowing that he’d already partially made up his mind.

“Before anything else, I’m going to have a conversation,” Sam told her. “Before I make any decision, I need to do something I’ve been putting off for a while. I really need to talk to someone I’ve already met, and I really need to figure out what I’m doing with the New Pokédex, like you said. So, I’m going to...”

Sam looked up at the sky. The sun was setting. Today was about to end.

However, just because today was almost over, that didn’t mean tomorrow would never come.

He knew what he had to do.

“I’m going to head to Pallet Town,” Sam said. “I’m going to meet with Professor Oak.”

There was one more conversation he needed to have, and he could no longer avoid the possibility if he wanted to continue his journey.

=======================================================================
Author Note:

Fun fact: Delcatty and Sableye are neighbors in the Pokédex.

I am aiming to get the very final chapter out on Thursday. It will be released in two parts: the actual chapter, and a short, epilogue section that’ll come out alongside it.

Pokémon included in this chapter:
Delcatty
Sableye
Zangoose

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