If He's Good Enough
#20 of Cassidy's Journey
Fenny sat outside of the house, a small distance away from the front door and in their grass field. He wouldn't wander farther than that, but he wanted to watch the sun rise, and it was nearly halfway in the sky. Fenny had been here for thirty minutes so far, mainly thinking about the upcoming Pokémon League. Fenny felt he was more nervous about it than Cassidy was. He wanted to battle for her, and it's what she'd been recently training him to do, but fighting against more experienced opponents was barely in his nature. He always tried to avoid it in the past. Fenny knew he'd gotten better at that, but the last thing he wanted to do was fail Cassidy. He loved her too much not to help ensure that she reached her goal.
Before he could head back inside without being queried, the front door opened. Fenny was afraid of that. He didn't want to throw his troubles at Cassidy when she had her own issues. There she was though, in that same cute skirt and a casual black tee and high top shoes.
"I figured you'd be out here," she said upon walking over and kneeling beside him. "You doing okay?"
Fenny briefly nodded.
"What brought you out here, then?" Cassidy kept her eyes on him.
'Just... the sun. I wanted to watch it rise,' he replied. That wasn't a complete lie.
"Okay..." She slowly sat beside him. "So, there's nothing you want to talk about?"
Fenny knew Cassidy wasn't leaving. She read him like a book. He wasn't composed enough to hide anything, especially from her. 'It's not that important...' He didn't look in her direction and kept his head down.
"If it's bothering you, then it's important. You don't have to tell me, though." Cassidy gave him a choice but wanted to know what was on his mind.
'It's... you know how I've never really liked to battle? For some reason...' Fenny trailed off.
"It's just who you are. What about it?"
'And... now I've been wanting to train so suddenly to battle in the league, which isn't far away. I might be too late. Even Añu performs better than I do...' Añu battled consistently and for a longer amount of time than Fenny had.
"Fen, don't downplay yourself. I know the others have been battling more than you, but it doesn't take away from your capability. All four of you are trained by the same person, and I'll make sure you're ready. No one is the same. No one moves at the same pace. You're your own... pokémon," Cassidy reassured and placed her left hand on his shoulder. "Want to go inside? I know you're hungry. I am too."
'Mhm...' He nodded again and gave her his eyes this time.
--
'Are we going to fight the next gym soon?' Fenny sat at the table and in the chair directly across from Cassidy.
"Of course. Anistar City is right next door. I know all about its gym too. The leader uses psychic types... like me," she explained while waiting for Fenny to pass her back her mug.
He did, but only after taking another two sips of the forbidden liquid.
"I'll have to use Violet to combat this gym effectively. She's a dark type, and that works well against psychic types. You'll get your turn to battle soon. Don't worry, hun."
'It's okay. I can wait.' He really could. Fenny wasn't that disappointed about not battling next, but his time would come very soon, and he wasn't opposed to it.