"Unbelievable. Giovanni's actually out here mentoring rookies." Akiyama's face did something complicated.
What was he supposed to do with that?
Every member of Team Rocket he'd personally run into had either tried to kill him or come close by accident.
Fine. Someday Gardevoir's going to lift you off the ground by the collar and I'm going to ask you a few questions.
He started typing a reply.
Since you've already sent it, I'll accept it. Thank you—that's very generous of you.
Keep pushing forward. Looking forward to the day we cross paths again.
—Akiyama
Send.
The way he figured it, whatever Reika had picked out was something she'd put real thought into, and refusing a gift already in the mail would just make him look stubborn.
He wouldn't find out until Frostvale City exactly what kind of surprise she'd sent him.
But that came later.
He took Gardevoir's hand and went back up to the room.
And that was how one easy, pleasant day passed.
The next morning he crawled out of bed, washed up, and sat down to the breakfast Gardevoir had made.
"Class with Takeru starts today." He grinned into his rice.
He headed out with Gardevoir and Kadabra. Gengar had vanished sometime before dawn, presumably off having fun somewhere. Akiyama didn't bother hunting for him. As long as he came home by nightfall.
He stepped aside in the hallway to let another guest pass, then stopped at Nanami's door and knocked. The sound carried.
Nothing.
She didn't seem to be in there.
Maybe she already left? He knocked again, in case she'd overslept.
Still nothing. He gave up and headed for the Gym with the two Pokémon.
The Gym's front doors sat half-open, and for once there was no line—no challengers at all. It looked closed for business.
Akiyama pushed his way in like he'd done it a hundred times.
Sure enough: Takeru, Urshifu, and Nanami perched on top of Gyarados's head.
"You're early too." Takeru stood up and came over to meet him.
Nanami, arms folded, cracked one eye open and stared at Takeru like he'd sprouted wings.
What did Akiyama slip you? Since when are you friendly?
Akiyama, meanwhile, was looking Takeru over. One day, and the man's whole bearing had changed. He might even have dropped a couple of pounds.
"A fighting will that splits stone. I can see it now."
"If I could split stone, I wouldn't look like this." Takeru laughed at himself and waved him in. "Forget it. That's not what today's about."
Akiyama nodded and followed.
Nanami watched all of this without a word. Something had happened between the two of them, and she'd clearly missed it.
She hopped down, recalled Gyarados, and followed them into the back room behind the Gym floor.
The space was packed with old training equipment, and the smell of sweat hit them at the door. Wooden posts. Rope rings. Heavy bags. Iron hoops. Everything on the market, plus a lot of things that had never been on the market.
Takeru got straight to it, starting with what fighting actually meant.
Gardevoir hung on every word. She knew this was for her.
Kadabra listened and analyzed at once, a storm going on behind his eyes.
Nanami absorbed approximately none of it.
Then came the demonstration. Takeru versus Urshifu.
Man and Pokémon went at each other with real contact, fist against flesh, and even if Urshifu was holding back to maybe a tenth of his strength, it was enough to shake the room.
Nanami's half-lidded eyes came alive. She tracked every exchange, and every time a strike got read and turned aside, her fists tightened.
Gardevoir couldn't keep up with all of it. These moves went past anything she'd seen from Hikaze's Scyther, and she'd assumed that Scyther was the ceiling.
For Kadabra, time thinned out. His intellect gave him something close to bullet time. He filed every motion away with perfect fidelity, confident he could reproduce all of it.
It didn't take long. Takeru lost, and ended up leaning against a wooden post, soaked with sweat.
Urshifu stood where he was, breathing deep, perfectly still.
He hadn't even started pushing.
"Well?" Takeru asked.
Teaching fighting didn't require lectures. It required getting hit.
He looked at Nanami. "You get it?"
"Some of it."
"Then go try." He nodded toward Urshifu.
Straight to hell difficulty, right out of the gate.
Nanami nodded anyway, walked out, and set her stance against him.
It started fast and ended faster. Even with Urshifu using nothing but technique and no strength at all, she wasn't remotely in his class. Two, three exchanges, and she was done.
"Guess you did learn something." Takeru nodded, satisfied.
Gardevoir went next.
Maybe because she was a Pokémon herself, she lasted longer than Nanami and hit harder.
Takeru watched their fists collide and nodded in approval.
But the gap was a canyon. She went down soon enough, taking an open palm that sent her flying back into Akiyama's arms.
She lay there breathing hard, her slim hands trembling.
And she'd learned an enormous amount.
Takeru had recovered enough to run the demonstration again and give everyone a chance to rest.
Kadabra stepped forward instead.
I'd like to try. The words landed in everyone's mind at once.
Takeru blinked, then nodded and allowed it.
For once, Kadabra set his spoon down and took a stance.
Urshifu looked down at him, and there was a flicker of this species wants to trade punches? But he didn't disrespect an opponent over it.
They closed.
Oh?
Urshifu's attention sharpened.
Kadabra's movements were Takeru's. Identical. He was running the earlier fight back move for move.
"How is he—" Nanami's mouth opened and stopped.
But his body wasn't built for close quarters, and reproduction wasn't adaptation. He had no answers of his own.
Urshifu broke pattern, caught him by the tail, and put him on the floor.
"You okay, Kadabra?" Akiyama asked.
He shook his head, got up, and retrieved his spoon. Fine.
"That's real talent," Takeru said. "If his body were stronger and he could improvise, he might actually have a future on this road."
Gardevoir just thought Kadabra was amazing.
Nanami's hand closed into a fist. She wasn't taking that well.
First round of the day, and the best showing had come from the one who wasn't even supposed to be studying.
The second demonstration started soon after, with nearly the same sequence of moves—Takeru clearly giving them a chance to review and absorb.
When he lost again, Nanami stepped in.
This time she lasted longer.
~~
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