IntersectingJourney

Chapter 14: Chapter 14: Princess and Knight P1

Norman's pov

" Well Norman's got a child around the same age so he's got experience working with children. I vote he trains the boy." Drake said.
" Yes I agree, besides Norman has incredibly refined basics that will help Liam build a good foundation." Glacia said.
" He lives in Rustboro City shouldn't Roxanne train him?" I'd remarked trying to get out of training a child other than my daughter or son.
" Yes in fact I teach a couple of his classes at the Trainer School." Roxanne responded before continuing. " While he's recently become quite gifted I can only give him the same opportunities as other students so I'm not accused of favoritism plus he's not the most social of my students. You would probably get along with him Norman."
Unfortunately by that point everyone seemed in agreement that I was the best candidate to train Liam, at least Steven said he'd help despite his busy schedule so the two of us had begun devising a training schedule for Liam.
Which was why a month later I was standing outside my house with a Beldum Steven had insisted on leaving waiting for the boy to arrive.
Eventually I spotted Walter making his way towards me with a smaller figure in a black hoodie I presumed was Liam trailing behind him.

Time skip: 1-ish Year later

It turned out surprisingly nice passing on what I'd learned to someone eager to learn, I thought to myself as I watched Liam and his Charcadet practice their moves on the targets I'd set up. Even better was the fact he got along well enough with my family so that every month when he came over to stay the weekend was met with relative joy from my family at least for the most part. Caroline outright adored the boy claiming he was helpful and polite, while Max seemed to idolize him viewing him as a goal to match. The only member of my family to dislike him was May, who for some reason could rarely stand him and tried to avoid him whenever possible.
For today's training we were working on the move Take Down and how to minimize it's downsides. Oddly enough Liam seemed extra focused today, he'd sped through the warm ups with seemed quieter than normal.
" When you have Charcadet uses Take Down you want him to him roll after making the tackle but before he hits the ground to lessen the recoil damage." I explained after seeing them them attempt to use the move on a target.
!!!! Ring Ring Ring!!!!

May's pov

" Hey Mom, where's Dad? " I asked as Max and I entered our house.
" Well your father is out training Liam." My Mom said smiling.
" Liam's here ! " Max excitedly exclaimed. " Can I go watch them? "
Great mister "practically perfect in every way" Liam Saterr was here again. I swear he relished in showing everyone else up, always being unfailingly polite and having an answer for everything. It was infuriating how much my family seemed to enjoy having him around. Max seemed to idolize the brat wanting to be a pokemon trainer just like him, and Dad would take time to personally train him, even Mom seemed taken with him because before and after his training he'd offer to help out with chores around the house.
" Sure but only if May goes with you to the training grounds." Mom replied snapping me out of my thoughts.
" Ok I'll take him." I replied internally frowning. I really didn't want to watch Dad train Liam but Max wanted to so I guess I could grin and bear it. Max immediately grabbed my hand and practically dragged me towards Dad's training grounds.After a few short minutes of walking we arrived at the clearing Dad liked to use for training.
" Liam!" Max excitedly shouted running towards Liam and his Charcadet. Looking around I noticed that Dad wasn't there and that various targets were covered in burn marks.
" Where's Dad at ? " I asked.
" Hi Max, May. Oh Norman left about an hour ago." Liam replied as he and Charcadet looked up at us from where they were sitting. " He got a call and said something urgent had come up then rushed off. "
" Oh." Max said bummed that Dad wasn't there but his disappointment faded as he continued. " Well can we watch you train?"
" Well I was actually about to go into town and grab some lunch and do some shopping." Liam said with a smile that seemed outta place given his almost melancholic tone. " But you two are welcome to join me."
"That'd be fun maybe later you can help me with some of my homework assignments." Max said.
" You know I could help you." I interjected.
" Cool than we can all work on our school work together over lunch." Liam said his tone lost the hint of melancholy as he stood up seemingly unbothered over my interruption. " Beldum let's go."
The Beldum that seemed to follow him around everywhere floated out from some of the trees and began following us as we walked towards town.
" Hey Liam, I don't think I've ever thought to ask but what's the deal with that Beldum?" Max asked.
" What do you mean?" Liam replied.
" Well you only have a provisional license right?" Max began before continuing. " So since Charcadet is yours Beldum can't be but it only shows up when you're around and follows you everywhere even though Dad has the pokeball for it. I was just wondering why?"
" You know I'm actually curious myself." I said as I realized that though I'd never thought of it, Max was right having a provisional license only allowed a person to have one pokemon but Beldum only was around when Liam was here and obeyed him not Dad.
" Oh Beldum belongs to a mutual friend of your dad and I." Liam started answer before continuing. " I think he plans to give it to me eventually but like you said I only have a provisional license so he's lending it to your dad so that it can observe me."
" Why would it need to observe you?" I asked mildly curious about the situation and knowing that Liam wouldn't be able to resist explaining so as to flaunt his knowledge.
" The Beldum line are like computers, infact the final stage Metagross is said to process information faster than a supercomputer." Liam said going into his "look at how impressive my knowledge is mode" and continuing. " There's a theory that the entire line functions like a computer. So like a computer Beldum requires user settings to operate in sync with its trainer and it calibrates those settings by watching me. That's why it goes pretty much everywhere I go."
That explanation made a lot of sense about the Beldum's presence around Liam. It also raises the question of who the Beldum actually belonged to. What was weird was the fact that Liam seemed certain he would eventually officially receive the Beldum. While I did my best to ignore Liam, I distinctly recall him explaining that Beldum was rather rare and powerful. So why would someone all but give it to a 7 year old boy? Even if I begrudgingly admitted he was talented it just didn't make any sense.
I was snapped out of my thoughts when Max dragged me into a restaurant I'd never been to before.