Cobalt in Red - Chapter 5

The rest of the morning flew by in a blur. Poli had to separate Cobalt and his partner before they started pulling hair, but not before they were both left with a few bruises. 

The picture his mother managed to take made it seem like they had just gotten trampled by a herd of tauros. Both of them were smiling under obvious duress, Cobalt had a black eye, and both were utterly soaked from their time in the lake. 

The ten year-old didn’t protest the picture much, though. It was very much like a ‘first day of school’ picture that his previous set of parents had insisted on. It took him most of his previous life, but he came to understand the value of retaining memories, despite his current feelings on this particular instance. Hopefully he and Kong would be able to look back on this and laugh, at some point.

After the little bastard stopped being a little bastard, that is. 

Cobalt looked down at the puffball that was walking next to him, sipping on his smoothie. Already looking much more awake, and a bit less grumpy than before. The magic of a berry smoothie in the morning really was something else.

The smoothie was mostly Persim berries for the sweetness, but also included Chesto, Oran, and Leppa berries for their additional effects. Chesto was the main actor in the whole thing for a breakfast smoothie, as it had a sleep cure built in. Leppa helped with its stamina regenerating factor (represented in-game as PP, apparently), and Oran was added mainly to help counter the spice of the Leppa. That little bit of healing magic still helped clear away the morning brain fog, though, and was augmented by the Persim’s ability to clear confusion.

Cobalt started every single day with this smoothie, and he was convinced he would die without it. It was essentially coffee - with cocaine instead of sugar, and none of the side effects. It really was the only reason he was able to get so much done in the past ten years. 

It was also probably why every attempt he made to meditate and get a head start on aura utilization, ended with him vibrating off whatever he sat on. 

He dreaded the prospect of giving up his drugs morning smoothie to actually learn how to use aura. He knew how completely obnoxious and grumpy he would be during that whole process, and it did not bode well for anybody. 

Addiction? Withdraw? What’re those? Could he put them in a smoothie?

“Alright.” Cobalt said, coming to a stop, and pulled a folded sheet of paper out of his bag. Unfolding it revealed a heavily marked-up map of Indigo. The damn thing was basically the exact same pixelated map that you could find in the games. Straight, blocky paths that denoted the Routes. Green circles, and blue and red squares that indicated places of interest, cities, and towns. Hundreds of hand-written notes, courtesy of a coke’d-up Cobalt. Etc. 

Everything he could remember about Indigo was written somewhere on the map, either right next to the places they were about, or bulleted on the back. His notes also included tidbits of information that he had learned while actually living in this world, as well. For instance, there was a long line of blue marker that followed the migration patterns of pidgey. There were notes on the hibernation patterns of various bug pokemon during the winter months. Hypotheses on wild pokemon areas and the species that might inhabit them. Notable territories of strong pokemon, not to be fucked with.

You get it. Cobalt put a lot of work into distilling down all the information he had into a travel-sized, useful sheet of paper. 

Now, because he currently lived in a cartoon/video game world, the obvious thing to happen next, was that his life’s work would be either immediately stolen or destroyed, right? 

Absolutely-the-fuck-not. He had no less than twelve backups tucked away in his magical bag, a full stack of them tucked under his bed, and had even digitized the damn thing on his PC. 

His parents were very annoyed at the number of times he jammed the photocopier. Not to mention the amount of ink he used. Though, was he worried about anyone stealing his information? Taking a copy, and beating him to the punch on any of his knowledge? Ha! Good luck. Cobalt prided himself in his shoddy handwriting. 

“So,” Cobalt continued, squatting down so Kong could see the map, “I’ve got a general plan, but for the most part, we’re going to just be winging it.”

“Mankey.” Kong said, like he expected nothing else. 

“Good to see you’re on board.” He replied, heedless of Kong’s deadpan stare. “Anyway, we’re doing the traditional circuit. Starting at Pewter,” he pointed at the city on the map, “and moving back to Cerulean. Then to Vermilion, Celadon, Fuchsia, Saffron, Cinnabar, and finally, Viridian.” His finger moved along the map as he noted each location.

“Currently, we’re here.” He pointed at the northern end of Route 5. “So we’ve got a bit of a trek to get to Pewter, which is why I wanted to start a couple weeks early. Account for travel time and all that. Any questions so far?”

“Man. Key~mankey?” Kong asked, looking down at the map.

“Indeed, we will be training the whole trip. We’re going to force Brock to use a stronger team than he has ever used for a-”

Kong’s empty smoothie bottle bonked off of Cobalt’s forehead, with much less force than it had been launched with previously, and fell to the ground. 

The mankey mumbled to himself, eye twitching, and poked at the map deliberately. “Mankey. Key~mankey?”

Cobalt rubbed the sore spot on his forehead and glared at his starter, before looking down at where the ‘mon pointed on the map. “Cerulean? What about it?”

Kong sighed and moved his finger an inch south onto Route 5, tapped it once, then dragged it back to Cerulean. “Key~mankey?” 

“Wondering why we’re not hitting Cerulean first?”

Kong nodded.

“Well,” the boy frowned, “we could, but we’re going to have to backtrack regardless.” He gestured to the city in the top left of the map. “Pewter is a little out of the way, considering we’re starting off in the middle of the region. Figure we can start on our way before the circuit opens, and get a bit of a lead on the competition.”

The mankey frowned back at him, but shrugged in acceptance.

“OK, so first thing on the docket for today is some verification.” Cobalt packed the map back up, and stared down at his partner. “I know Archie put you through the ringer, but agility is going to be really important. I wasn’t kidding when I said I wanted you to be able to use it constantly.” He had an image in mind of Goku coming out of the time chamber, effortlessly in Super Saiyan. Though he wasn’t sure how that would translate to a move that actively cost energy to use.

“Basically, I want you to use it before doing anything. You’re already capable of using it instantly, thanks to Archie’s gauntlet last night, but it’s going to be exhausting to do what I’m asking, here.”

“Mankey? Man-key, mankey key?” Kong tilted.

“Not a clue what you’re asking. Anyway,” he bulldozed, “ultimately, I want to cut back on the needed energy for agility, to the point where you don’t even notice the drain when you use it. I want it to be second nature. I want it to be the default for every step you take. Every punch you throw, and every time you dodge an attack. No one will be able to hit you.”

Kong’s eyes widened, and Cobalt could tell he was selling the idea.

“You’ll be a master of guerilla warfare when I’m done with you, but for right now, we just need to make you a stamina monster - to go along with your speed. Hitting harder comes later.” 

The boy reached back into his magic bag, and pulled out a set of cuffs. There were four of them, and looked to be woven with a tough, black fabric. “These are training weights.” He continued. “Not all that heavy, but we can add more weight later. You’ll be wearing these for the foreseeable future.” He rolled up his sleeves, showing the ‘mon his own set. “And you won’t be alone in all this either.” 

The mankey looked between his trainer and the weights. There was a little sparkle of respect in his eyes, but it was drowned out by a good bit more confusion.

“What?” Cobalt asked with a sly grin. “My goal is to fight god. I’m not letting you have all the fun.”

Kong huffed a quiet laugh, and took the weights.  

__________

Cobalt watched his partner trounce one of the local meowth with a small, contemplative frown. The cat was a feisty little thing, and was just swinging wildly as Kong dodged - completely giving up on any strategy, in favor of whatever feral attack pattern its instincts supplanted. With each miss, the boy could see frustration building, and it was starting to just get… sad.

Kong wasn’t attacking back, as this was just supposed to be a practice bout. Stamina training with agility, hampered by the weights. Cobalt wanted to see how long his partner could last without getting hit, but this meowth was not particularly helpful. 

“Alright, stop.” The boy rubbed the bridge of his nose. “Thanks Meowth. I think we’re done, you can go.” He tossed it a random berry from his bag, which the cat barely caught in its exhaustion.

“Ow. Meowth.” It grumbled, and just scampered off, Kong looking after it in disappointment. 

Cobalt turned to his partner. “So are you actually a badass, or does that cat just suck ass?”

“Key~mankey.” The mankey straightened proudly.

“Yeah, you’re right.” Cobalt nodded. “The cat sucks ass.” He ducked absently, dodging a pebble that was kicked at his head. “That was pretty much useless. A waste of ten minutes. Don’t pretend you got anything out of that.”

Kong deflated.

“Well, let’s keep moving.” The boy looked at the path ahead. “I want to make it to Cerulean before noon.”

That wouldn’t actually be all that difficult. Route 5 was essentially a straight shot between Cerulean and Saffron. They were just taking their sweet time. The way to Pewter was going to be a lot more annoying. 

Cobalt looked down at his partner, noting that the pokemon had a barely visible, white glow about him as they walked. A focused look in his eyes, and a tenseness in his muscles. Kong was taking this agility training seriously, it seemed. 

The boy could tell that his starter was having difficulty moving slowly with the move active. Every step jerked forward slightly, before Kong reeled it back into a more controlled movement. He fought the momentum of the weights on his arms and legs with each jerk, and Cobalt could tell that it was starting to tire him out. 

It was fascinating that this was the part that was more exhausting for Kong. Actually fighting seemed to be a walk in the park, but limiting a move like agility, and just walking around with it active probably felt like wading through white-water rapids. 

Cobalt distractedly wondered about the biological effects of agility. Did pokemon have slow, and fast-twitch muscles? Did agility alter muscle structure temporarily? Did it act like a stimulant of some kind, or was it just some magical bullshit? 

Cobalt was hoping for magical bullshit. He knew how to exploit magical bullshit. 

In a world where The Power of Friendship™ was a legitimate source of power - with mega evolution, and Z moves - he could only hope that pure, stubborn willpower would be enough to tip the scales in his direction. 

“Hey Kong.” Cobalt mused, hands behind his head, and came to a stop. “Try something out for me?”

Kong looked up at him, and raised an eyebrow. 

“You’re using normal-type energy, right?” The boy asked, and received a nod. “Can you try doing the exact same thing, but with fighting-type energy? The same stuff you use for low-kick, or seismic toss?”

The mankey blinked at him, but dropped agility, and closed his eyes a moment later. Over the next minute or so, Cobalt watched as a reddish-brown aura bubbled around the spherical monkey until it encompassed him entirely. He held it for a second, before opening his eyes, and looked at his hands.

The fighting aura was a good bit less controlled than what the mankey had shown with agility. It was wavering around his body, like it was barely being contained. The twitchy movement that had been present with agility also didn’t seem to be happening - in fact, there didn’t seem to be anything happening at all, except for the aura itself. 

Cobalt wasn’t sure what he expected. Maybe get an early look at bulk-up? He had seen members of his father’s team use that move, and it literally ballooned their muscles slightly. So this wasn’t that. 

“Try the same with dark-type? Same as night slash.” He suggested.

Kong sighed, not seeing where his trainer was going with this, but did as asked. A moment later, a black, light-bending aura started to cover the pokemon’s body. It was like looking at the accretion disk of a black hole, making all of Kong’s edges look a little blurry, but otherwise didn’t seem to do much of anything.

For some reason, this one seemed to come more naturally to him. Perks of being literally born with it, probably - the energy coming from an egg-move. Fighting-type energy was still pretty new to him, despite being a fighting-type pokemon. Most of Kong’s move-set was normal-type moves, and it was only the newest two moves, low-kick, and seismic toss, that were his natural typing. Cobalt was pretty confident that his starter would pick up fighting moves relatively quickly compared to just about everything else, but that didn’t discount the experience he had with normal, and dark-type energy. 

Cobalt studied his starter with a growing smile. “Alright. That one has potential.” He nodded. “You can drop it, and start up agility again.”

Kong squinted at him, obviously wondering if he had just wasted his time, catering to his trainer’s whims, but did as bade. 

“Okay.” Cobalt began once agility was active again. “Now I don’t want to get into any more battles before we get to Cerulean, but that’s still a couple hours off. In the meantime, I want you to try and activate that dark-type aura you just used - simultaneously with agility.”

“Mankey?” Kong gave him a look that screamed, ‘are you nuts?’

“Don’t look at me like that. I have a plan, here.” 

“Key-key~ man.” The pokemon waved at him mockingly.

“Oh fuck off, you puffball.” Cobalt grumbled. “We’ve got to figure out what works, and what doesn’t. This should accomplish something useful, even if it doesn’t work.” 

Kong just stared at him condescendingly, waiting for the explanation.

“First.” The boy held up a finger with a glare. “If you’re able to do it, that means you might be able to blend moves together, create multi-type moves, or something else entirely. I don’t know, but I would love to find out. Second,” he held up a second finger, “If that doesn’t work, this should hopefully help you switch between type energy on the fly. If you’re unable to use both at the same time, then being able to switch between them at a moment’s notice will be supremely helpful.”

“Third,” he held up a third finger, “This should help with your mastery of agility.” He lowered his hand. “We’re splitting your focus. I fully expect agility to fail while you’re trying to get the dark-type energy going, but the goal is to keep it running the whole time in the back of your head. Make it second nature, so that you only have to actively focus on the dark-type aura.”

Kong frowned at him, but Cobalt could tell he was thinking it through. Weighing Cobalt’s points versus his own understanding of how type-energy worked. 

“Look.” The boy sighed. “I know that I don’t have any experience in how this actually works. I’ve never used aura of any kind - at least not consciously, and I don’t know how type-energy is gathered. That’s one of the first things I want to learn, once we figure out how to communicate better, but in the meantime, humor me, will you?”

Kong looked at him searchingly for a moment, then sighed and closed his eyes. 

Seconds passed. Then a minute. Then two, until Kong flinched and dropped agility. No dark aura to be seen. 

“Key~ man, mankey.” He grumbled with an accusing glare at his trainer, but then took a deep breath and closed his eyes again.

Cobalt rolled his eyes and moved to pick up his partner, lifting the ball of angry fluff up and onto his shoulders.

“Mankey?!” 

“Oh shut up.” The boy flinched as the pokemon grabbed onto his hair for purchase. “Ow! Dammit, stop that!” 

“Key. Man. Key.” Kong ground out.

Cobalt started walking along the path, ignoring whatever his starter had just demanded. “You keep closing your eyes to do the thing. I’m not waiting in the middle of Route 5 for the rest of the day, so I’m gonna carry you.” He turned his head to glare at Kong, but sputtered as the pokemon’s fur got in his mouth.

“Just keep doing the thing. I’ll do the walking.” He growled, and kept moving. 

Kong, from his position on the boy’s shoulders, stilled. Cobalt could feel the tenseness in his muscles, but also felt as they gradually started to relax. Then, after a few seconds, he felt a slight buzz as agility activated.

Cobalt would have smiled. He would have been happy that they were making some progress, and that his partner was actually listening to him, and not taking this opportunity to pluck more hair from his scalp. He would have been excited at the prospect of a real start to his journey, but this angry little puffball was heavy.

“Goddamn.” He groaned. “What were you eating before we met? I’m putting you on a diet.”

Kong’s lanky monkey legs reached around his neck, and squeezed. The sudden lack of air, and blood flow to his brain forced him to trip and faceplant in the dirt.

“You’re a dick.” Cobalt choked out after a couple seconds, when the mankey let him go. 

“Key~ Mank. Man~” The pokemon glared at him, pointing up the path, then hopped back up on his shoulders. 

The boy’s eye twitched, but figured he would let Kong have this one. They had already lost more time than he had originally wanted. He sighed, and started forward again, hoping something actually came from this little trial. If he ended up carrying around the puffball for nothing, he was going to be upset.

Though, to be fair, the extra weight made for a decent workout, even if it came from the world’s most violent ball of lint.