“Karrablast, use Horn Attack!” Sammy yelled the command, louder than he probably should.

  Karrablast focused its energy on its horn and lunged at one of the Weedles in front of it.

  Meanwhile, Scyther and Dwebble dealt with 2 other Weedles that had attacked them.

  Scyther was flying through the air, gracefully dodging Weedle’s many Poison Stings while slashing its opponent with Fury Cutters. There was no mystery in this fight, and soon Scyther would turn victorious.

  She has learned to use Scyther’s advantages to win without getting hurt, very good. Kai was pleasantly surprised by Jo’s growth.

  Scyther was faster than Weedle and could also fly, so there was no need for it to tank hits in this battle, and by using the cumulative power of Fury Cutter, before long, the fight was over.

  Under Rick’s command, Dwebble first used Withdraw repeatedly, raising its defenses to a point that Weedle’s attacks couldn’t even puncture its rock anymore. After that, he commanded Dwebble to use Smack Down a few times, and after using a super-effective STAB move twice, Weedle fainted.

  A good strategy, too conservative maybe, and it could have gone wrong if Poison Sting had poisoned Dweeble, but it would be too much to ask Rick to battle in any other way.

  Rick was also settled, which meant the only problem was Sammy.

  Karrablast was currently overpowering Weedle with its physical advantage, but Kai saw that it was out of breath and struggling to focus on the battle, a clear sign of it being poisoned.

  In game terms, Sammy would be someone who continually mashed A with no thoughts about strategy. He simply spammed Karrablast's strongest, and in Sammy’s opinion, the most satisfying, moves without taking his opponent into consideration.

  Scratch that, he didn’t even take Karrablast’s characteristics into consideration. Karrablast was not a bulky pokémon to begin with, and even if he wanted to trade blows, he should have gone with Fury Cutter, like Jo did, so the power of the move would accumulate and end the battle sooner.

  As Kai waited for Sammy to finish the battle, Jo and Rick finished theirs and began to tend to their pokémon.

  ***

  Sammy felt a fat drop of sweat fall from his brow to his face and then to the ground, leaving behind a lingering ticklishness that felt surprisingly pleasant.

  It was summer in Kanto, and the Viridian Forest greedily absorbed the heat emanating from the scorching sun.

  The forest came alive at this time of year. He remembered Rick saying this was the season when most Bug-type Pokémon reproduced, so there would be an influx of new baby Pokémon along the outskirts of the Viridian Forest as they made their way.

  He seemed to be right, because this was the second attack they had to face in the few minutes since they entered the forest.

  “Karrablast, use Horn Attack again,” he commanded his pokémon with ease. This time, he thought, there wouldn’t be a problem, since Karrablast was faster. Karrablast was accurately hitting Weedle with its horn, each attack throwing the other pokémon a great distance.

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  Weedle also made a few good hits, but Karrablast would win soon.

  He watched as Karrablast charged its horn with energy before pouncing on Weedle, and felt an explosion of excitement.

  He could almost imagine himself in Karrablast’s place, fighting the other pokémon. Sometimes he wished that he were a pokémon just so he could enter battle himself and use these cool moves.

  Unfortunately, he couldn’t do that, so he had to seek the vicarious feeling he got when he was in battles.

  Oh, how he wanted to be a professional Battle trainer!

  Graduation would be soon, and so would the beginning of this year’s Indigo League.

  He could see himself registering and participating, maybe his talent would bloom, and he would even become the Champion?

  He was taken from his reverie by the sound of Karrablast hitting Weedle yet again, throwing it deeper into the forest.

  The little worm got up with difficulty and, seeing the situation it was in, began to run away while crying.

  Sammy lost interest when he saw his opponent had lost its fighting spirit and turned to his friends, surprised by what he saw.

  “You guys already finished your battles?” Sammy felt a sting of inferiority in his self-esteem. If he was last, didn’t that make him the worst trainer in the group?

  Jo and Rick had already finished their battles and were doing some checkups on their pokémon, but Scyther and Dwebble seemed to be in good condition.

  His Karrablast, on the other hand, had many scratch marks on its body, with one puncture wound looking particularly bad.

  Karrablast was sweating profusely and seemed to be having trouble breathing.

  “Yep,” Jo replied flatly, clearly not considering this to be a big deal.

  “We just finished. Luckily, Dweeble and Scyther had advantages when fighting Weedles, so we could barely end our battles faster.” Rick noticed Sammy’s mood and tried to spare his pride.

  So that’s why. They had advantages that Karrablast didn’t, so it’s normal for them to end their battles faster.

  Rick’s commentary was effective in lifting Sammy’s mood, so he began to believe in himself again.

  But Kai poured a bucket of cold water on him.

  “You don’t need to cuddle him, Rick,” Kai approached him with a stern look on his face.

  “It’s true that Scyther and Dweeble have advantages over Karrablast when it comes to dealing with Weedles, and it can indeed help them end their battles faster,” Kai continued, building up to something.

  “But the fact this id-” Kai stopped, measuring his words.

  “The fact that Sammy still thinks that finishing the battle faster means something about the strength of a trainer, and that this was the main problem in his performance, shows that he is not even trying to learn anything from this.” Kai looked him in the eyes, and Sammy felt himself becoming smaller and smaller under his gaze.

  Kai then pointed at Karrablast.

  “Look at your Pokémon and then look at Scyther and Dwebble.” He pointed at them.

  “They were mostly unharmed in their battles, and it’s not due to their so-called advantages, but because Jo and Rick were responsible when giving commands. A Pokémon battle is not a place for you to show off how cool your pokémon’s moves are. If you’re interested in this kind of thing, go do contests instead.” Kai’s tone got harsher and harsher as he kept talking, and he seemed to notice that.

  Kai paused and sighed.

  “Look, Sammy, you need to understand that your pokémon depends on you during your battles, it trusts you to give it the best way to defeat its opponent, so be more responsible in the future, ok? I know that you don’t like to think too much about these things, but for the sake of Karrablast, give it a try.” There was still some edge to Kai’s words, but this time they were carefully wrapped in a layer of gentleness.

  Sammy mulled over Kai’s words as he looked at Karrablast.

  Memories of the two of them flashed before his eyes in quick fashion.

  The birthday when his Grandpa gave him a pokémon egg, his excitement when Karrablast hatched, their first victory, their first defeat, their time building the secret base, and many other moments filled his mind at the same time, merging with the battered and bruised Karrablast in front of him, who even in this state looked at him joyfully with eyes full of love and trust.

  Guilt, shame, and anger at himself mixed inside of him, welling up until he couldn’t hold them back anymore, and they burst out of him.

  Tears fell from his eyes as he hugged Karrablast, only saying, “I’m sorry, buddy.”