(RPJ)Chapter 157: The defining feature (Patreon)

Flannery went quiet at that and I finally opened my eye to look at her "So what else you want to talk about? Maybe my new eye , that ones popular these days?" I asked casually. Flannery herself was in a bikini in the hotspring that had flame patterns on it and covered what it needed to but little else. At least above the water where I could see anyways as I wasn't going to use my x-ray just to get a complete take of the outfit. There was no point in it when her expression told me that I'd likely get a good view of what is under it in the next few days I was here in Lavaridge.-

She was red up to her ears and I don't think it was from the water with how nervous she looked. "Let me guess you want to thank me for what I did in the Magma base right?" I asked after a moment since she didn't say anything. She looked startled "How'd you know!?" she exclaimed. I chuckled "You are acting like a girl who wants to confess to her crush but can't work up the nerve."-

" If you were going to offer yourself to me in some sort of bid to not feel guilty you may as well forget it. I don't do that sort of thing for that reason." I said and she practically turned as red as her hair. "I-I wanted to ... before." she mumbled embarrassed. I raised an eyebrow at that "Oh? In that case you are more than welcome to help yourself but I am curious why you'd be interested in that sort of thing?" I said curious. Despite her regularly wearing fairly revealing clothes in the form of a bikini top rather than a shirt she never struck me as the type all that interested in sex.-

Too naïve and inexperienced for it so learning she was interested in doing it with me was out of my expectations. Infatuation I could understand a bit since I was built like a Greek god and pretty powerful even beyond that. While I could get normal women wanting to sleep with me for my looks or fame Flannery had both of those herself and could get pretty much any guy she wanted including models. Hell she was actually MORE famous and powerful than I was at the moment as a gym leader.-

One need not forget that the bare minimum a gym leaders personal power was elite level with an entire team and I only had two pokemon at that level in the form of Gaia and Vulcan while Yani , Rune and Hades were at most at the ace level with Hades being the closest to elite level in terms of pure raw power. "I took an interest in you originally when you battled Roxy. The way you acted and battled was everything I wanted to have myself. Free , proud and confident in your pokemon , I wanted to be all of that but I could never pull it off."-

"Every battle I am nervous and try to act in the way that would bring pride to my family and the rest of the league but i always mess it up." she said looking a bit dejected. 'Well this took a weird turn. I was expecting her to get all flirty and stuff but instead I seem to have been taken for a therapist.' I thought amused at the situation. I didn't mind though since I was fairly curious anyways.-

"You seem to be under a bit of a misunderstanding it seems." I said calmly and she looked confused. "What do you mean?" she asked hoping to improve. "Do you know what every great trainer has in common regardless of who it is? Personality. Each and every powerful trainer you can think of acts how they do both in and out of battle the same. Not out of some misguided image they think would make someone else proud but because that is simply who they are. Brawly is intense and upbeat , Watson is cheerful but wise and even the current champion Wallace is just as flamboyant as he shows everyone on the outside."-

"You inherited the position of gym leader here in Lavaridge after getting all of your team trained to their current level but as a result your own personality got lost in the responsibility you feel. The two DON'T need to be mutually exclusive. You can in fact act the way you normally would so long as you also make sure things keep running like they should." I explained easily what her problem was and how to fix it. "So I should just ignore everyone's expectations of me?" she asked with a conflicted expression.-

"Ha! No not at all. Expectations aren't responsibility or some static thing to conform to , they are only hopes and dreams of what one wants to be. A subjective yearning for reality to fit their perceptions and beliefs. Listen to what those are and if you find that they fit you well then simply allow yourself to live up to them. But remember that in the end reality can only fit so many shapes at once and you too are equally limited to only what you can do. You can't make everyone happy so at the very least you should make yourself happy no?" I said with smirk.-

Oh I am very much aware that what I was saying was downright anarchist in nature but that was just how I saw the world. The opinions of others were noted but my own always took priority in my mind. Why should I conform to the rest of the world when it will bring me only misery? Instead I will force the world to witness me as I am and bow or i'll break it's knees to get the same result.-

Flannery looked lost as she thought about what I said and while she was lost in thought I left the hotspring. Afterwards I took my team outside Lavaridge to get some practice with type energy done. The way I accomplished this was by having whatever pokemon used that type of energy create a thin and weak layer of it that I interacted with my aura to try and grasp. For the moment I was working with Gaia to grasp rock and ground type energies as those were amongst the most common elements around me at any given moment. Flying type energy would be a close third given that it was basically just wind energy.-

This wasn't an easy process despite what one would think however as I not only needed to be VERY familiar with the way the energy felt but then I had to translate my own energy into the same thing. Whats worse was that after I succeeded in doing so I had to remember how I did it later if I wanted to do it again. Keep in mind that the conversion was different for each typing and as a result I had seventeen different conversions I had to memorize.