Ghostdragon1660
Youngster
- Pronouns
- Her/hers
Chapter 1- Of All the Days...
I stared at the monstrous Elite Pinsir before me and blew my bubblegum pink hair out of my eyes, 'This will be interesting…'
The Gym leader across from her was swaying on their platform and slurring their words, "I accept your stupid challenge, Send out all the Pokemon you want, Ruthless will beat em' all,"
There was not a single person in the stands on either side of the battlefield, it was nearly the off-season for this Gym and, as a consequence, there was no one to witness this sham of a Gym battle. Nor was there a referee for our match, the bug-type gym of Kalos was one of the few gyms where the leader was trusted to not injure a challenger's pokemon, its bugs were too weak to do any real damage.
The Pinsir before me, however, was one of Gym Leader Talisin's real team, one that had beaten the Elite Four, the four most powerful trainers in Kalos besides the Champion. It was massive and plated with thick brown armor, scars running up and down its exoskeleton. If it were any other battle, I would have forfeited right then, but I couldn't afford to lose, not this time. The game was on.
I took a deep breath in and out then threw two Pokeballs into the air, releasing my Froakie and Goomy onto the battlefield in front of me, "Bit of a change you two, this battle is gonna be a hit and run, don't, under any circumstance let Pinsir hit you, you'll be knocked out instantly,"
My Froakie, Edge, immediately scanned the battlefield, which was in the center of a large greenhouse with many ancient trees and exotic plants to give bug types an advantage. She followed my command and leaped for the relative safety of the trees. My Goomy, Nozomi, quickly glided over to a small pool meant for any water pokemon who came to the gym. He sank to the bottom and stirred up some silt to at least partially hide. I smiled, for I had taught both of them well.
The drunk Gym leader laughed, a deep, throaty chuckle, "Hiding doesn't matter, Ruthless'll get them just as easily, Hyper Beam on the trees and pond, fry the little jerks!"
A powerful beam of light jumped from the Pinsir's maw and cut through the trees like a knife through butter, but not before the Pinsir shot his trainer an uncertain and almost scared look, it had never seen it's trainer like this before.
Edge lept from tree to tree as each fell to the Pinsir's Hyper Beam before the Pinsir switched to evaporating the small pond.
"Nozomi, get out of there!"
My little Goomy slid out of the pond just before the beam reached its mark. He crawled under one of the small bushes in the undergrowth of the indoor forest.
"Edge, try to slow Pinsir down with your Frubbles!"
Gobs of sticky, white foam pelted the Pinsir as it slowly lumbered over to the pond to assess what damage he did. The Frubbles were brushed off as minor annoyances to the Pinsir, only barely slowing it down. The Pinsir almost seemed to sigh in relief when it saw that it did not fry my Goomy to a crisp, obviously, it's tough appearance hid a soft interior. I giggled at the look on the massive Pinsir's face, if I didn't know any better, I would say that the Pinsir didn't want to battle with his drunk trainer, especially against such small Pokemon.
"You think this is funny! I'll show you funny, Ruthless, Mega-Evolve!"
I twitched as a small gem set directly into the Pinsir's thick exoskeleton began to pulse with light in time with the stone in the Gym leader's bracelet. Spiderwebs of colored light spread in midair from Gym leader Talisin and connected to the Pinsir with an audible cracking sound. I had never seen Mega Evolution in person before, but even to my untrained eye, there was something... off about his Mega evolution. As topaz wings pierced the Pinsir's armor, I could feel a change in the air. It was as if the drunken anger currently filling Talisin had passed into the Pinsir. Its newly amber eyes opened, filled with indescribable rage. I reevaluated my life choices right then, the sliver of hope for winning this fight dying with each recalculated variable.
"Guys?" I called out to my currently hidden friends, as the Pinsir's new wings buzzed into the flight, "New Plan, don't try to attack it, just run, run now!"
The Pinsir roared with fury as my two pokemon shot out from their hiding places. A dangerous game of cat and mouse commenced as the Pinsir flew at incredible speeds to chase my Pokemon. If there wasn't so much cover in the veritable jungle of a battlefield, my pokemon would have surely died many times over. Five harrowing minutes of close calls later, it was obvious that my pokemon's stamina was wavering. I studied the Pinsir, looking for weakness, injuries, or anything that would give me an advantage over the beast and its furious master. My eyes widened with surprise when I noticed that the Pinsir was lagging behind my pokemon, even in their weakened state.
"Edge, Water Pulse, it's weakening!" The Pinsir was gaining on Nozomi, the slower of my two pokemon. A smaller than normal ball of water slammed into the side of the Pinsir, enraging it further, yet giving me two valuable pieces of information. One, my Pokemon were severely exhausted, I would have to forfeit if this went on any longer, and two, that small strands of light were beginning to spread from the Pinsir's stone back to Talisin's, a sure sign of an impending de-evolution. In all of history, only two pokemon could still stand after de-evolving from Mega-evolution, the mythical sky dragon, Rayquaza, and the 13th Champion's cornerstone Charizard, Ignus. I doubted that even the elite Pinsir before me could match the power of those legendary figures so I took a risk.
I scanned the battlefield for anything I could use for the half-formed plan in my mind, 'There, Perfect,' "Nozomi, Trust me, Stop now, Protect!"
He paused with a confused look on his face in front of one of the trees that had barely escaped the rage of the Pinsir. A Hyper beam began to form in the Pinsir's frothing maw, the beam of immense energy charging with sparks of heat and light jumping off of it. I counted one, two, three, four seconds before it released with a blast of sound directly at the tiny slimeball that was my precious Protected Nozomi … and the tree behind him.
"Nozomi, Get out of the way now!" I screamed my emotions on full display for the first time in the fight. Edge's eyes widened as I seemed to have given my Goomy a suicide mission. My Froakie was scrambling to the top of the tree behind Nozomi, right as it began to topple…on top of the Pinsir. She jumped off the tree but didn't seem to get enough height until the second light of evolution enveloped her. In mid-air, my little Froakie's legs began to lengthen along with her "cape" of Frubbles.
"No way…" I stared at the light as it merged into my newly evolved Frogadier, who flew away from the falling tree as if shot from a cannon. She tumbled as she landed, just barely catching herself. She stood to her new height of two feet for a few seconds, before she fell to the ground again, unconscious. I returned her in a flash of red light then turned to the freshly fallen tree as a similar light enveloped the de-evolved Pinsir.
In a childish manner, Talisin turned his back to me with his hands up, "Ugh, You win okay, I need a drink… Go get the stupid badge"
He walked off the stage as I cried out, "Nozomi!"
I returned him, which was a good sign, and looked at his pop-up stats which came from his Pokeball after I pressed a hidden button. 'Nine percent! You took quite the beating…"
I walked off of my stage and out to the main lobby. Before I could get to it, a small, mousy lady rushed into me, nearly knocking me over.
"Woah! Are you okay?" I recognized her as the front desk receptionist who greeted me kindly as I walked in and warned me that Talisin was not in the mood to battle. 'I didn't listen …'
"Am I okay?! I should be asking you that question!" She backed away from me and looked me over, "Talisin isn't very merciful when he drinks…"
"Are you kidding me? He sent out his Pinsir on me,"
"Not Ruthless…" She seemed to shrink back at the mention of the powerful pokemon, "Ruthless would never hurt those sweet little pokemon you registered, unless…"
"He certainly lived up to the name once he Mega-evolved him, my pokemon...,"
"Are they…" The unasked question hung in the air like thick, black smog.
"No, neither of them died, in fact, I won,"
She stepped even further back from me and turned her head, "H-how?"
"I think his drunken anger sorta… passed into Pinsir once he Mega evolved, if it weren't for that, well…"
The receptionist stared at me for a second, as if looking me over with new eyes, then she laughed heartily, "Oh, Talisin's going to feel that once morning comes, Well, you certainly deserve a badge for that battle, Come with me!"
Her entire nervous demeanor changed as she swerved on her heels and began to walk briskly towards the lobby. I followed her into the spacious room and waited as she rummaged in her desk, bringing out a small brass beetle and a green disk.
"Trainer I.D.?" She asked and I brought out my sleek Pokedex for her to scan the badge in. Physical badges often got lost in times past, so Gyms had the policy to scan a badge into a trainers I.D, in this case, my Pokedex, before they left the Gym. After she placed the back of the badge on the surface of the phone-sized device, she flipped the brass badge into my hand like a coin, "Congratulations, here is the Bug Badge!"
"What's this?" I pointed to the green T.M. in her other hand.
"This here is the T.M. Infestation, It's quite useful for catching Pokemon, keeps 'em from escaping," She handed me the fragile disk, then waved me away "I believe that cute Goomy is able to learn it, now go, go, the Pokecenter is waiting,"
"Thank you," I placed the badge into a small case and the T.M. into a special pocket in my backpack, which I had left on a waiting bench in the lobby, then I left the building and went into the bustling square of Santalune city. Dodging a few Gogoat taxis, I made my way across the busy square to the Pokecenter. Before I went in, I made sure to put my hood up. The Pokecenter was not busy, most regular trainers were long gone by now. It was rare that anyone waited until two weeks before the deadline, after all. The deadline is a time limit of 6 months from April 1st that trainers have to finish the first Gym and become a real trainer in the League. That way, people won't get the benefits of being a battling trainer such as free room and board at Pokecenters, without the League getting their tax money's worth.
Trying to make the interaction as short as possible, I quickly detached my two Pokeballs from my belt and handed them to Nurse Joy at the front desk.
"Here's my Pokemon, they...they're pretty beat up, my Froakie evolved near the end, she might need extra care,"
The nurse squinted at me, trying to make out my face as she took my Pokeballs, "Hm... okay, I'll be sure to take a look,"
She turned away and gave the Pokeballs to a waiting Wigglytuff, who ran to the back of the foyer and into a door marked "Employees Only", before following it.
I walked over to a small group of couches in the large main room of the Pokecenter and collapsed onto one of them, my head in my hands.
'That-That battle,' I thought as the wave of emotions from the Gym battle crashed over me, held in since the moment I won the battle, "I can't believe I won,"
I had trained with my pokemon for nearly six months for this, I waited for the day no one would be expecting me, and of course the day I chose the Gym leader was drunk. Just my luck I suppose. My pokemon were exhausted and badly hurt from the strenuous battle, but at least we won...at least we won.
Stewing in my thoughts, I waited for my pokemon on that couch. An hour passed, then another, until Nurse Joy came out of the door and over to me.
"Here is your Frogadier, but your Goomy is going to need at least the night, may I ask what happened?"
"He was drunk, guess what happened," I lifted my tired eyes to hers, not in the mood for chatter, "Now can I have my room key or not?"
A silent "Oh" formed on the kind Nurse's face as she saw mine. Without comment, she went back over to her desk and grabbed something small from underneath it. She came back over and gave me both the key and the shrunken Net Ball that held my Edge. I stood up on wobbly legs and walked ungracefully through the center to the hallway that led to the rooms for visiting trainers. I looked at the key and stumbled into room 114, then I released Edge.
She appeared in a crouching position on my bed, as if about to ambush prey, "Edge, It's me, the battle's over, you...you evolved,"
I could look her over in full now that the danger had passed. Her skin was now a dark, cobalt blue on her back and a lighter sky blue on the bottom. Two small horn-like structures were now atop her head, right behind her eyes and her Frubbles now looked like a scarf instead of a cape. What I noticed most, however, was the brand new, powerful muscles now on her legs and arms, I would need to focus on strength and speed training with her from now on.
I hugged her, "Congratulations,"
She seemed surprised at my sudden show of affection but then leaned into the hug. Suddenly, she pulled away and looked me in the eyes, as if asking me a question.
"Nozomi's gonna be fine, he was pretty beat up though,"
Relief filled her eyes as she relaxed into a more comfortable sitting position to begin looking over her new body.
I looked over the small Pokecenter room. It was simply decorated, with a bed and a nightstand for me and an aquarium, dog bed, and perch for any of my pokemon.
It was around 7 o'clock at night now, and I had a little time to spend before I needed to go to bed.
"Edge, you up for a little victory dinner, I think we deserve a little real food other than protein bars,"
She nodded vigorously, before looking slightly guilty at her enthusiasm.
"Don't worry Edge, Nozomi can have plenty of victory food at breakfast,"
Edge made to jump for my shoulder but stopped herself just in time, she wasn't a little Froakie anymore.
"Come on," I shrugged my backpack off onto my bed and began to walk out the door, "You need to stretch out those new legs,"
Using my bed as a springboard, Edge leaped and flipped in the air before landing next to me with the utmost grace. "Showoff…"
We walked down to the Pokecenter's cafeteria, where another Wigglytuff was serving a group of rambunctious Pokemon Rangers.
"...like you could beat my Salamence, your Absol is weaker than my great grandmother, and she's dead!" One of the male Rangers said, a scar near his mouth working as he spoke.
"Is that a challenge?" said a lady ranger with spiky, platinum blond hair, "'Cause I doubt your ickle Ronnie could even touch my Uriel."
I quietly received my food with Edge and continued to watch the exchange.
"So what if it is? I bet you won't take it, After all, nothing could touch your precious Uriel," The male Ranger walked up to the lady and stood in front of her, nearly a head taller than the girl Ranger.
"Hah, Challenge accepted, you and me outside right now" She stood on the tip of her toes to meet the scarred Ranger in the eye.
"Guys, Guys, you need a judge if you are really going to duke it out outside, I volunteer myself," The third Ranger spoke, pushing his black hair out of his gray eyes. I was surprised at his voice, it was as if he had appeared out of thin air between the two other Rangers!
"Heck no," The girl ranger looked at the new ranger, not surprised in the least at his sudden arrival"You'll vouch for Corporal Jack's Ronnikins every time, we need an impartial judge, Shiro,"
"Ugh! How many times do I have to tell you, her name is Rhonda! But Zoe's right, Shiro," The scarred man looked around the cafeteria for a moment before spotting Edge and I, "Hey you, yeah, the girl with the Frogadier, think you could referee for our little spat?"
I realized that he was indicating me and I stood up, "Uh, Sure,"
Edge and I followed the trio to the back of the Pokecenter, where two doors led to a massive battlefield and general training area. Since it was close to the off-season for this Pokecenter, there was no one out there except us.
As Zoe and Lieutenant Jack took to the two ends of the main battlefield, I walked to the middle on one side with Shiro and Edge.
As Zoe and Jack prepared themselves, Shiro turned to me, "That's a strong-looking Frogadier, is she newly evolved?"
"You have a good eye," Frogadier has no visible ways of telling gender, it took an expert eye to spot the differences, "And yes, she's recently evolved, just a few hours ago actually,"
"Wow, you'll have to tell us the story after this," Shiro took out a Pokeball and threw it into the air, releasing a large Greninja, "Daisuke, do you want to teach this little one a few tricks? Zoe and Jack are at it again,"
"T-Thank you," I was flattered, Rangers and their pokemon need at least 6 badges to enter boot camp. I would gladly allow Edge to train with a far more experienced pokemon any day, especially one of her own species.
The two frog-like Pokemon left for one of the other training areas. Shiro took out another Pokeball from a pocket on his tactical vest. He released a Gardevoir and asked it: "Alura, Can you put up some barriers, I don't think they're going to hold back,"
The beautiful girl-like pokemon opened its arms and sent out a wave of light which formed itself into shimmering barriers on every side of the battlefield as Zoe and Jack sent out their Pokemon.
Corporal Jack sent out a monstrous Salamence, at least ten feet tall at the shoulder.
"Is his Salamence female?" I asked Shiro, who nodded. Female dragon types are often larger than their male counterparts, so it made sense that his Rhonda was no different.
Zoe released her Pokeball from her hand, sending out a flash of white that transformed into a lithe and feminine looking Absol. The curve of white hair atop its head was spiked like Zoe's and seemed to sparkle in the waning light. It snarled at the Salamence, who roared back, apparently, the two pokemon had the same rivalry as their trainers.
I called out to the battlefield, "I'm assuming you two are ready?"
"Yeah, ready to kick Zoe's puny Absol into the next town!" Jack seemed to send some kind of silent signal to his Salamence, who immediately flew into the air.
"You might have won last time Jack, but Uriel and I have a few new tricks up our sleeve, we're ready as well," Zoe shot back, "Uriel, prepare aerial countermeasures!"
"Begin!" I cried out before sitting back on the bleachers to watch the match, my job as the referee was to watch for any truly foul play, so I needed to have a keen eye on the battle.
Uriel shot out a multitude of shadow balls that seemed to attach themselves to a swift move, which never misses. The Shadow-Swifts seemed to aim themselves to the wings of Jack's Salamence, before impacting many key points along them to bring the dragon to the ground. 'Hm, impressive combo, but Jack doesn't seem to be bothered by it, he must have seen it all before.'
He yelled to his Pokemon, "Brick break, then back to the air,"
Rhonda tried to slam her tail into the Absol, but he dodged the super-effective move and retaliated with a shadowy claw. Rhonda roared in pain, then flapped her wings to take off.
"Uriel, jump on Rhonda's back, Slash and Claw!"
The Absol leaped onto Rhonda's broad back as she flew higher into the air, then began to use Night Slash and Shadow Claw liberally on her back scales.
"Rhonda, fight the pain and fly as high as you can!"
I could see the cogs working in Zoe's mind as her Absol was flown straight upward, forty, fifty, then sixty feet before she commanded Uriel, "Jump off!"
Uriel obeyed his trainer, but just as he began to fall, the Salamence caught him with her claws, "Uh oh, this is going to be a shorter match than I thought'
"Yes! Use Giga impact!" Jack smiled as Rhonda's entire body began to glow with a Normal-type aura as she dove straight to the ground. She slammed Uriel into the ground, dealing a massive amount of damage and began to use Brick Break over and over again on Uriel's stunned body. When she finally backed away from Uriel, I thought that he must be unconscious, nothing could survive such a brutal series of attacks, especially from a dragon, the most powerful and rare of types.
I was about to call the match, but Zoe held up a hand to stop me. Uriel was getting up! He stood on shaking legs then looked back to his trainer. A silent interaction passed between them, a decision was reached and Uriel turned to the Salamence, still shaking but holding firm.
"You forced my hand, Jack," Zoe said almost sadly, "I wanted to show you this later in the battle, but I guess you can't wait can you, Uriel, Mega-Evolve!"
Jack and I did a double-take as both Uriel and Zoe were surrounded by beads of both shimmering light and abyssal darkness. A somewhat familiar gem showed itself set into a hidden headband on Zoe's head and began to shine in tune with the larger gem previously covered by Uriel's hair. Their mega evolution was completely different from the Pinsir, this was much more stable and seemed to come from the dark aura of Absol rather than the bug-type aura of Pinsir. Uriel began to evolve, long lengths of fur growing rapidly from his white coat as a secondary horn peeked out of his cowlick. The light began to condense on the Absol's back as Jack regained his senses,
"Rhonda, focus, and use Outrage!"
Zoe's eyes shifted to Jack, surprised at the notorious dragon-type move. Apparently, Jack had a few aces he was hiding from Zoe as well. As pure rage began to burn in the terrifying dragoness' eyes, Uriel finished his Mega evolution with a flourish of two brand-new brilliantly white wings that seemed to grow from his lengthened mane. Uriel shot into the air just as a stream of pure blue dragon fire blew past him.
Outrage was a move famous for its destructive power, and Rhonda's was no exception. Fire spewed from her mouth without care to where it hit, draconic energy seemed to envelop her entire titanic body, and her every step shook the ground. It was a fearsome sight and one that could have leveled entire cities long ago, yet Zoe's Absol showed nothing but nerve in the face of this ferocious display. Uriel seemed to move with the shadows and struck with precision at the dragon. Shadow claw after shadow claw was poured into the enraged Rhonda. The pain only seemed to fuel the dragon type's anger, she roared with frustration at the sneaky Absol, erupting with even more draconic flame.
A minute went by, I was impressed with the Salamence's power, the dragons I had seen in gym matches never lasted this long before the effects of Outrage faded and confusion set in. Both Rhonda and Uriel were looking haggard, for Uriel, it looked like the very act of entering the dragon's aura was dealing massive amounts of damage, while Rhonda seemed to be spending the last of her energy reserves to keep the Outrage running. 'This battle's going to end soon, one way or another,'
Zoe yelled out to Uriel just as light motes began to release from their stones, "Finish this!"
For the first time since it had mega-evolved, the Absol flew out of the shadows and directly in front of Rhonda's maw right after she had let loose a jet of flame, a familiar light forming from his own mouth. Like an angel of death, Uriel spread his wings to their fullest extent and unleashed Hyper Beam at point-blank range, screamed commands from Jack falling on deaf ears. It created a smoking crater in between the dragon's eyes, not deep enough to kill her, but a grievous injury.
Seconds passed as Rhonda stood frozen in place until finally, she fell over, unconscious and bleeding from her head wound. Jack returned her and began to walk forward stiffly, stunned. Zoe returned Uriel just as he was about to de-evolve, spent as well. They met in the center of the field and seemed to exchange a few words that neither I nor Shiro could hear from this distance. Jack seemed to end the conversation with a sad nod and Zoe walked back to us, a smile on her face with a now depressed Jack a few paces behind her.
"Guess my Uriel's a bit faster than your dead grandma," Zoe proclaimed as she came within earshot, Jack came up behind her, head held low.
"Where in the world did you get an Absolite? I...I could have never expected that,"
Zoe ruffled the hair of the Corporal, "I'm not telling Like I would give you that advantage…"
Jack seemed to regain a little of the fire he lost in the battle, "So that's why you were gone for three months, I knew it wasn't "'a sabbatical'"
"Yup, me and Uriel were getting beefed up for our next match, couldn't let that Outrage pound us like that again,"
The duo seemed to be engrossed in their banter and ignored Shiro and me until Shiro fake-coughed into his shoulder, "That was an incredible match from both of you yet again, Congratulations Zoe,"
"Ha, Thanks Shiro, that's great praise coming from you" As Zoe spoke, Shiro's Gardevoir floated over to our group and looked towards Shiro.
"That Outrage almost destroyed your barriers," I walked up to the Gardevoir and looked at her, she was obviously tired yet Shiro did not return her. 'Perhaps this is good strength training for a psychic,' The Gardevoir cocked its head at me and her eyes began to glow, Shiro nodded at some telepathic exchange, then he turned to me.
"Yes, Alura did not anticipate how long Rhonda was going to Outrage," Shiro spoke, "That was impressive stamina, Jack, nearly thirty seconds longer than last time,"
"So analytic Shiro, I just thought it was awesome," Jack replied, the adrenaline from the intense battle began to wear off, " Now let's go get something to drink shall we?"
"Um, Can I come? I mean I don't want to intrude but I could definitely use some company right about now," I asked awkwardly as the trio began to walk away and into the Pokecenter.
"Of course! you were the one crazy enough to be our referee," Zoe roped me into the group and put her arm over my shoulder, "You look like you could use some early Ranger initiation,"
"Zoe, she's like 14, come on," Jack chided.
"Well, I don't drink," I spoke up as we walked out of the Pokecenter and towards the nearest bar in Santalune.
"So you're like Shiro then?" Zoe shoved her shoulder into Shiro's as she teased, "Guess that means that Jack'll be buying more drinks for me,"
"Ugh, at least I'll be drinking enough to forget this mess, Zoe... winning…Ugh," Jack settled into a sullen brooding as we entered the bar, a relatively clean, but old pub full of rowdy night patrons.
"Oh that's not all," Zoe had an evil smile on her face as we sat at the bar and she called the bartender over, "Everyone, a round of drinks on this man right here! He just lost a bet!"
A cheer filled the bar as Jack grunted, "Oh you are evil…"
He coughed up the necessary money as beers were passed out to nearly every person in the bar.
The rangers drank and began to tell me stories of their journeys.
"I just got this Inkay from a mission at Grace Tower," Zoe showed me a Pokeball that looked normal but had a small, rectangular indent above the release button, "See that mark? That means that I can keep rehabbing Pinky without her counting against my team number…"
Even Jack got in on the revelry once he had a drink or two, "You think Rhonda's big? Well you should see my Gunther, he's a Garchomp, his father was a King, 15 feet tall and counting…"
"Hey, why were you in the Pokecenter? No one comes so close to the deadline," Shiro looked me in the eye once Zoe and Jack had another drink and a few hours had gone by.
I told him about my Gym battle, about the Elite Pinsir, the drunk Gym leader, everything. He listened attentively, with Zoe and Jack joining in after having their drink. As I got to the part about the Mega evolved Pinsir, Zoe gasped,
"That's not good at all, Mega evolution… you and your Pokemon's emotions have to be in sync or else… it's very dangerous"
"Well, if it wasn't for that quirk, I would never have won…"
I continued my story, telling them about my Froakie's evolution and how close my Goomy was to death.
"Goomy? How did you find a dragon here?" Jack leaned towards me with a spark in his eyes, " I have an open spot…"
"Well, If you want a pretty powerful one, I heard that there's Dragalge and Skrelp off the coast of Route 8, they have acid that can melt steel…"
He took out a small notepad and wrote down what I said, then motioned for me to continue. I ended with me getting my badge and the T.M, before rushing to the Pokecenter.
"Well, after that, I waited for Edge and went to get some food, which is when I saw you guys,"
"That's some story, usually the bug gym is a pushover," Zoe patted me on the shoulder, "I hope your Goomy's going to be okay,"
"Talisin must have had one of his pokemon die recently, it's the risk you take when you specialize in bug types…" Jack sobered for a second.
"Oh," I looked to the side, pausing guiltily at this realization "...Still, it doesn't excuse what he did, both of my pokemon could have died as well, he's still a Gym Leader"
Jack turned back to Zoe and began to drink yet again with renewed vigor, he was going to have a killer hangover in the morning.
"I think it's time we return to the Pokecenter, let's leave these two to their drinks shall we?" Shiro held out his arm for me to take before opening his other hand for his Gardevoir, who had been meditating in the back of the bar with another trainer's Kadabra.
We teleported instantaneously to the back of the Pokecenter, where Edge and Shiro's Greninja were still training hard.
I looked at my Pokedex and noted that it was 11 at night, they had been training for three hours!
"Daisuke! That's enough," Shiro called to his Greninja, who seemed to appear in an instant out of the shadows behind us, with Edge leaping towards us seconds later.
I looked over my Frogadier, still so newly evolved. She seemed exhausted but happy.
Meanwhile, Shiro was talking to his Greninja, with Alura's eyes glowing at intermittent times to translate. A few minutes went by before he nodded to end the conversation and turned to me.
Shiro got serious, "My Greninja has discovered something about your Frogadier,"
"What do you mean?" I focused my gaze on him, curious.
"It seems she has a special ability that only a select few of the Froakie line manifest per every generation, Daisuke saw that your Frogadier had the signs for it and he trained her in the basics,"
"What? What is it?" I walked over and looked at Daisuke, Shiro's Greninja; it was barely breaking a sweat after three hours of hard training!
"It's known as the hidden ability Protean, It essentially changes Frogadier's type to align with the move she uses. As long as she collects the aura needed for the move, she is, for all intents and purposes the same type as the move,"
"That's...That's incredible…" I was stunned, the ability could have so many strategic uses, "Why haven't I noticed it before? Edge has moves that are different than her own type, like Lick and Pound,"
"Well, she will not really be able to utilize her ability until she gets more experienced in this form and gets a bit more in tune with aura, I recommend getting the T.M. Hidden Power for her, it is quite the useful move for a Pokemon with her abilities,"
I called Edge to my side, "Does Daisuke have it?"
Shiro laughed, "No, We know a guy who does, Daisuke's ability is a bit of a mystery, Wait, that reminds me, make sure to call me when she evolves, pokemon with her ability can be, temperamental, at evolution,"
"I don't think I'll have to worry about that for a while," I rubbed the top of Edge's head, then returned her, "Edge needs to do a bit more growing before then, maybe a few more months,"
"May I ask how you got her? It's rare to find a trainer with one of the famous Kalos starter Pokemon, let alone one with her ability,"
"Edge came from… a friend," Shiro cocked his head slightly at the look on my face, then continued.
"You know, You're more intelligent than you let on," He stared at me with those gray eyes, " I was watching you during Zoe and Jack's battle, you were analyzing it the whole time, I could tell,"
I stared back at him, my bright green eyes meeting his piercing silver, "A battle like theirs is a great chance for me to learn from experienced trainers, I'm not going to pass that up,"
"Hm," He returned both of his pokemon, then came over and gave me his number, "Someone like you would do great in A.C.E., they need people as clever as you."
I said nothing as Shiro walked into the Pokecenter ahead of me, then I followed him, only to see that he had disappeared! I looked from side to side, finding no trace of where he went. "Where..?"
A whisper of wind is all that answered my call. A Wigglytuff passing by looked at me strangely as I began to shuffle back to my room, waves of fatigue from the busy day overtaking me. I got to my room and fell into my nighttime routine, then I collapsed on my bed to sleep.
I woke to the shrieking of my alarm in a daze. Without even realizing it, I got myself dressed, packed my backpack for travel, and walked to the Pokecenter's Cafeteria before I fully woke up.
Like I was slapped, a thought suddenly entered my mind, 'Nozomi!'
I made my way to the front desk, where the Nurse Joy from before was waiting with bags under her eyes and a shrunken Pokeball in a plastic tray in front of her.
"Nozomi!" I traded the Pokeball for my room key and released my Goomy onto the counter to look him over.
He burbled happily once the red light of de-digitalization cleared from his eyes and he saw me. He seemed physically fine, except for a burned off antenna, which would grow back quickly. I picked him up and placed him on my shoulder, ignoring the deluge of slime that began to crawl down my shoulder.
"I'm so glad you're okay buddy," The slimy dragon-type licked me in appreciation, then situated himself on my shoulder. I looked back at Nurse Joy, noticing her exhausted look, "Did he give you any trouble?"
"Oh, No, of course not," The Nurse Joy smiled at the thought of my Goomy, then frowned, "He did great, I was glad to work with a tiny dragon-type for once, That Salamence however…"
"Thank you," I said sincerely, feeling her pain, "Do you know any place for buying survival supplies? I'm going to train in Santalune Forest for a bit,"
"Oh, of course! We sell basic potions and the like right here, but I would go straight for the shopping district if you are looking for anything extra," She looked at me closer, trying to place my face, "I'm sorry, have we met before?"
"No, No, I, uh, just have one of those faces," I replied, before swiveling on my foot and strolling out the door of the Pokecenter, "Thanks for the info, Bye!"
I took out my Pokedex and searched for a city map of Santalune. I followed it to the bustling shopping district of Santalune, then looked for a bench to sit down on. I sat, and took Nozomi off of my shoulder and put him into my lap.
"Nozomi, I have something to tell you," He chirped in reply, "You didn't see this but during the battle, something happened to Edge,"
His little eyes widened in fear, I took out Edge's Net Ball and released her, "She evolved!"
If a Goomy could gasp in surprise, Nozomi would have blown us all away at the sight of Edge's new body. Edge took in his admiration with grace and seemed to preen under his surprised and happy look. I let them talk with each other in the way that only Pokemon can for a while, before putting Nozomi back on my shoulder and standing up.
"Guys, now that we won our first Gym battle, things are only going to get harder from now on," I began to walk towards the nearest trainer gear store with Edge by my side, " We are going to be training in the Santalune forest for a few days before moving on, and I was hoping to get a new team member, but that is for us to worry about later, for now, let's relax,"
I entered the store and looked around. There were Pokeballs, potions, berries and other Pokegear covering one wall, while the other was devoted to camping gear such as tents and premade meals. I restocked on potions and premade meals then went over to the Pokeball section to grab a few run of the mill regular Pokeballs and a single great ball. I checked over my items, then brought them over to the cashier to ring up.
"Where are you planning to go?" The young cashier looked up mid-scan, "I'm assuming you just beat Talisin,"
"How could you tell?"
"No one ever comes here before they challenge him, and afterward they either have to train harder to beat him or are leaving for Lumiose,"
"You're correct, I just beat him, I'm planning to train in the Forest, got any advice?"
"Bug-types are stronger than they look," The cashier finished ringing up my items then lifted his sleeve to show a massive, knotted scar up his arm, " Don't be stupid, the Rangers are there for a reason,"
I looked at him closer, his eyes boring into mine as I did so, "I'll be sure to keep my Pokedex close,"
"That thing is what saved my life back then," The cashier pointed at the small button on the side of my Pokedex, it was a panic button that called the nearest Ranger station when one was in danger, "Don't be afraid to push it,"
Nozomi burbled sadly, realizing what he meant.
"That will be 6000,"
I forked over the money, hard-won from both the gym and the many battles I had before. My pokemon and I took one last silent look at the man, who waved, then left the Pokemart.
"Well, that was...interesting," I sighed at the heavy facts that the cashier had imparted upon us, then remembered something that made me smile, "I almost forgot, Nozomi, I still have some money left, let's get victory breakfast!"
Nozomi chirped and began to literally shake with excitement at the prospect of getting actual food. I walked over to a small cafe and ordered a pastry and water for myself and some Poffins for my Pokemon. I sat down on a stool near the front of the cafe to watch people and pokemon go by as we ate.
The warm pastries came to us on a small tray, I thanked the barista as my little Goomy devoured Poffin after Poffin, with Edge taking a more civilized approach to nibble on the pastries.
I began to eat my own breakfast when the sound of the small bell at the door rang in my ears. A familiar man in his thirties walked in, his short-cut blond hair skimming the top of the cafe's door. It was Talisin, the Santalune gym leader, currently holding his head in what had to be a painful hangover.
I tried to avoid his notice by turning to leave, but he spotted me with ease. He loped over to my table and I realized for the first time just how imposing he was, at over six feet. 'Strange for a man who deals with tiny bug-types…'
"You, hey you," He sat rather uncomfortably on the seat next to me, Nozomi looked up from his feast and began to growl as menacing as he could, while Edge got into a battling position, "You're the one who challenged me yesterday right?"
"Yes,"
He sighed and seemed to deflate, "I came to apologize, I did not act at all like a gym leader yesterday…I'm sorry,"
I stared at him, "Go on,"
"Uh," The Gym Leader looked at me sheepishly, then took a deep breath in, before speaking as quickly as he could "I was drunk and angry and I didn't expect a challenger so close to the deadline, I took out my grief for my Stinger on you and your Pokemon and for that, I am truly sorry,"
'Jack was right…' I sighed and waved off my pokemon, Nozomi simply continued to eat, while Edge kept a wary eye on Talisin, "I understand, and your Pokemon was...a challenge to overcome, but I defeated you in a Gym match and that was what I really came here for,"
Talisin studied me for a second, an indecipherable look on his face, then he laughed heartily, "Now that's the kind of trainer I like! Ruthless, a simple challenge... Oh, I haven't laughed like that in ages…"
He wiped tears of joy from his eyes, then got serious " Listen, it takes guts to take on any Elite-level Pokemon, let alone one that can Mega Evolve, I respect that. I don't remember much of it, but it was certainly a worthy battle,"
"A bit more worthy than what I was bargaining for, however," I shot back.
"I wasn't finished," His blue eyes hardened, "You see, each Gym is supposed to help trainers by teaching them a lesson about your journey, I was too… indisposed… to tell you it yesterday, but the Bug-type Gym's lesson is that every Pokemon is dangerous no matter their type. Ruthless would have killed both of your Pokemon if I wasn't drunk,"
"I guess that just means that I learned a bit more of a lesson from your Gym than most people,"
He stood up and gave me a small slip of paper, "Well, since you survived it, that battle's worth a favor from me, call me when you think of it,"
He left me in the cafe with my thoughts swirling around what this favor could mean. I typed his number into my Pokedex contacts as Nozomi finished his pile of pastries. I held out my bare arm for him to climb to my shoulder, then walked out after Talisin with Edge on my heels. I watched him walk towards the Gym and disappear around a corner, then turned to Edge.
"Well, that was... interesting," I started towards the outskirts of Santalune City, passing through the rest of the shopping district and two neighborhoods before I got to my destination at the edge of the city boundaries. The beginnings of Route Three didn't look like much, just a simple dirt road, with a spattering of trees on either side, but I knew that looks could be deceiving. This was the start of my true journey, not the 5-month limbo that was before my first gym. With the Bug Badge now registered, I was now an official battling trainer in the eyes of the League. 'Leo would be so proud…"
I strolled down the path, keeping my eyes sharp for any trainers on the road ahead. Though most battling trainers had moved on to Cyllage and Shalour City, Route Three was often home to kids from the Pokemon Academy in Santalune. My search was rewarded with the sight of a small group of three kids in Academy uniforms making a beeline towards me.
"Wait up!" The leader of the trio squeaked, "Are you a trainer?"
I sighed, these kids weren't likely to be a challenge, seeing as they would probably have only one Pokemon each. Domestic trainer licenses were available to kids as young as six, as long as they caught a single low-level Pokemon, of which Santalune forest had plenty. The trio in front of me couldn't be older than eight.
"We challenge you to a Pokemon Battle against all three of us!" All three of the children released their Pokemon, a Pansage, Pansear, and Panpour.
'Hm, those Pokemon are usually found in Santalune forest, these kids might be useful…' I waved Edge forward, "Okay, I accept on one condition, instead of money, if I win show me to where you found your Pokemon,"
The three kids looked at me strangely, but then shrugged in unison, the leader stepped up, "That's fine, You're not going to win though…"
Edge jumped out from behind me and in front of the three elemental monkeys. The three kids gasped at the sight of the rare Kalos starter, but only seemed to be more determined to win. I bent down to Edge to whisper, "Edge, I'm not going to give you any orders this match, only to play on the monkey's weaknesses, get them to attack each other, I leave the rest up to you,"
She nodded and I spoke up for the students' benefit, "3 on 1, Begin!"
The leader ordered her Pansage first, "Vine Whip!"
Edge dodged the vine easily, just as the second student commanded his Pansear, "Use Incinerate!"
The red-tufted monkey blew flame toward Edge, who jumped straight into the air to avoid it. As she came down to earth, Edge suddenly blurred in a move I recognized as Quick Attack.
I was impressed, as a Froakie, Edge wasn't nearly as fast as she was now. Now, she could move behind and attack all three monkeys before they could react. Suddenly, Edge seemed to stop in front of the Pansear, prompting the third kid to yell to his Panpour, "Water Gun, Quickly!"
The blast of water shot out of the blue monkey's mouth. Just as the pressurized water was about to hit, Edge shifted out of the way, letting the water slam into the fire-type behind her. The pansear was flung into one of the trees on the side of the route, knocked out by both the super effective move and the impact into the tree. It's trainer ran over to it as the two remaining looked at me incredulously, before continuing the match.
"Scratch the Frogadier, Leaf!" The Pansage's gleaming claws slashed the image of my Frogadier, only to hit air.
"Water gun again!" Edge was stopped in front of the Pansage, who had only a second to look surprised before a full-powered water gun slammed into its face. The Panpour looked terrified at its actions, which quickly changed to anger when the incited Pansage Tackled it to the ground and began to hit it over and over again with its vines. The Panpour shot a Water Gun at point-blank range in retaliation, to the horror of the two remaining trainers.
The two kids shouted commands to their monkeys to no avail as Edge stood over the two tussling elemental monkeys with what amounted to a proud smile on her face. The two kids, knowing they were defeated, returned their Pokemon as their third companion came back to their group, a filled Pokeball in his hand.
The leader came up to me, "That was so cool! We can show you to where we caught our Pokemon, it's a bit far from here though,"
The three students didn't seem mad at all at the easy defeat of their pokemon, apparently, they only wanted to battle for the fun of it, not caring if they win or lose. I respected that, it wasn't long ago that I was just like them.
The three kids led me down route three for a few minutes before going off the designated road and into the underbrush. A small, worn path began about ten minutes in, the dirt covered in overgrown roots and Pokemon tracks. The trees were much thicker here and I could hear the tell-tale buzzing and chirping of bug-type Pokemon close by.
The three kids turned to me, and the leader stepped up, "Just follow this path for a while, it's a shortcut straight to the place we found our monkeys,"
"We gotta get home for lunch, but maybe we'll see you there later," The Panpour's trainer turned away and rushed back the way they came, quickly followed by the other two students, "Bye!"
"Bye!" I smiled, always glad to battle such good sports, "Thanks for the help!"
Nozomi burbled happily towards them from my shoulder, he enjoyed the battle as well. Edge leaped down from trees nearby, she had been following my path the entire time.
"Okay, Edge, try to scout ahead as fast as you can, we still haven't tested your limits since you evolved," She immediately shot into the trees and was gone, "Nozomi, do you want to stay out, or do you want to nap in your Pokeball,"
Nozomi whined, a small sound more appropriate for a baby Growlithe than a dragon type, "Outside of the ball it is, but you are not going to battle, you still need to heal up from the gym mister,"
We continued on the path for three more hours until we reached a large clearing with a grove of Pecha berry trees, presumably imported from Hoen a long while ago. I checked the grove for signs of Pokemon and found marks from an elemental monkey troop, but not recent ones. I called for Edge to come back with a sharp whistle, and she appeared within seconds.
"Edge, the rest of the day is yours to test your limits, I trust you to realize what those are, come back to me when you're exhausted. I'm going to set up camp here while you are gone so this is the place you should remember," Edge nodded before rushing off, excitement in her eyes. "Knowing Edge, there's going to be quite a few bug pokemon sore by tomorrow,"
I fully entered the grove of trees, discovering a small pond in the center with a clear area on the other side. There were a couple of small pokemon inside, like Pidgey and pond variety Goldeen, they wouldn't bother us. I picked Nozomi off of my shoulder and placed him in the small pond, then wiped off the copious amount of slime he left behind.
"Nozomi, your job for the rest of the day…" My little Goomy burbled with anticipation, "...is to relax and heal up in this pond, I need you to be fully healed by tomorrow,"
Nozomi seemed to deflate into the pond, saddened. He began to glow with energy as he used Absorb and the water around him to heal himself and regenerate the water he lost from being nearly fried by the Hyper Beam.
"Don't be so sad, I need you to be healed so I can teach you a new move," I dug through my backpack and showed Nozomi the shiny green T.M. His antenna perked up at the mention of a new move, but he was now fully concentrating on healing himself.
I began the tedious work of setting up the campsite where I would be training and finished within an hour. I checked the time on my Pokedex, it was about three o'clock, 'Perfect timing,'
As a finishing touch to my campsite, I laid out a small mat, sat upon it, closed my eyes, and began to meditate. I breathed in and out, in and out until I was in tune with the forest around me. I could feel the cycle the forest goes through from Scatterbug, to Spewpa, to Vivillon, from fall to winter to spring to summer. It reminded me of the marshes near my home of Anistar City, except with overwhelming bug-type energy instead of a water-type aura. I opened my eyes and noticed a tiny, white flower on the edge of my mat. I was that delicate flower, I still bloomed even in the late season. Even though the odds were stacked against me, I passed the trial of the first gym and was now preparing for the next seven. I was a trainer in the eyes of the League.
I meditated for an hour, then got up and began to run through my patterns for self-defense training until the sun reached the horizon. The forms were so familiar to me that I could let my mind float away as my body performed the long series of kicks, punches, and stances. I switched easily from Taekwondo to Kantonese Jiu-Jitsu to Kung fu without conscious thought until my muscles were as numb as my mind. In a foggy daze, I made a fire and cooked dinner for myself and Nozomi, leaving Edge's food to the side and went to bed.
In the middle of the night, I was awoken by Edge's weak shaking. She was exhausted and had more scrapes than usual, but she was victorious. Without fanfare, I returned her to her Pokeball to sleep, then fell back to sleep myself.
I woke up and made breakfast for myself with the remnants of last night's fire and a pack of tasteless, dehydrated trainer meal.
"Oh, Nozomi!" I called in a sing-song voice to my best friend, who immediately responded with happy whistling noises. I smiled, and shook my head, 'Just like when we were younger…'
I returned him to his Pokeball, then slid the T.M. disc in between the two halves of the Pokeball to be scanned. Lime-green energy raced across the Pokeball in a spider-web like pattern, then stopped with a dramatic flash of white energy and a chirp. The T.M. was gone, digitized directly into Nozomi's brain.
I threw Nozomi's Pokeball into the air to release him onto the ground in front of me, "You got it, buddy?"
He nodded then looked up to me with his button-like black eyes, waiting for orders.
"Get familiar with the Bug-type energy while I work with Edge, we might be needing you later, It shouldn't be too hard around here, especially with so many bug-types around"
The Goomy began to collect lime-green energy around his mouth as I walked out of the grove of trees and released Edge.
In Pokeballs, depending on the setting, Pokemon bodies can experience a semblance of the passage of time, while their brains do not, so Edge was well rested when I released her. I checked her over, the minor scrapes and bruises she collected were healed. I marveled at the wonders of Pokemon biology, so superior to our own.
"How are you feeling?" I could tell that most of the euphoric post-evolution hormones had left Edge and she was looking slightly less perky than before. Nevertheless, Edge nodded to show that she felt fine, "Well, I forgot to do this last night before I let you go, can you stand still for a moment?"
I took out my Pokedex and scanned my Frogadier's body until it beeped and new data began to show up on the screen.
Frogadier, The Bubble Frog Pokemon, and the evolved form of Froakie. Frogadier can throw Frubble covered pebbles with precise accuracy, hitting targets up to one hundred feet away-
I scrolled past the basic description. I had that memorized since I was three. I went to the juicy stuff- like average sprint speed and grip strength calculated from Edge's age, size, and sex.
"Let's test your physical capabilities now,"
I set the Pokedex to now measure her abilities at a glance, I turned to Edge and pointed out a tree across the clearing, about 50 yards away, "Run from here to that tree as fast as you can,"
In nine seconds flat, my Frogadier loped to the tree and back, nearly double the speed she had as a Froakie, and far faster than any normal human.
I smiled, "Above Average! Now jump straight into the air,"
Edge's muscles tensed and released, rocketing more than twenty feet into the air before landing on her feet, also double than it was before. I set the Pokedex to continue analyzing, "Edge, keep testing your limits physically while I check on Nozomi,"
I went back to the pond in the center of the grove, where Nozomi was currently practicing his new move. Infestation seemed to consist of a swarm of concentrated bug-type energy that encircled and constantly stung the target. I could see its use in capturing Pokemon in the way Nozomi used it on the trees around him, which were now peppered with tiny holes.
The swarm traps its target as long as Nozomi concentrates, which for now was around 5 seconds, "Nozomi, try using less power and learning to concentrate on the move for longer, I want to use it as a trap instead of a damaging move,"
He nodded and began to focus again as I went back over to Edge.
Just as I picked up the Pokedex to look at her stats, a loud rustling echoed through the clearing as something crashed through the forest towards us.
'A pokemon? But nothing here is that big…' "Edge, get ready!"
She pivoted and got lower to the ground, battle-ready.
For the rest of the day I went back and forth between my two pokemon, training Nozomi in his use of Infestation and Edge in her use of her new body and its physical limits, breaking only for lunch and my daily meditation and self-defense training at the end of the day to clear my head. My pokemon and I fell asleep quickly that night, exhausted by our efforts.
After eating breakfast the next day, I decided to send Edge out to battle the native Pokemon, as battling was the best way to improve a Pokemon overall and I had no new moves to teach her as of yet. I worked with Nozomi on Infestation, trying to increase his concentration on the move, until Edge rushed out of the forest about four hours in.
She seemed distressed about something, with urgency in her eyes, I walked up to her, "What's wrong Edge?"
She beckoned for me to follow her back into the forest, barely waiting for Nozomi to climb up my arm before leaping into the trees. Edge brought us deep into the forest, as we ran by, I could see some marks of her battling, an unconscious bug-type here, or a scarred tree there. Edge suddenly jumped down from the trees once we reached a seemingly innocuous small clearing.
She pointed to the ground near a small bush, towards what appeared to be Pokemon tracks. I looked closer and realized that they were mammalian in nature, but not that of primate elemental monkeys or rodents like Pikachu or Rattata, these tracks were pawprints of some kind.
"Perhaps it's a Pokemon from Route twenty-two, But the only two mammals from there that I could think of are Riolu or…" I pushed through the bush and came upon a large feline pokemon with a fiery mohawk slowly backing away from me into a tree, "Litleo…"
Litleo were leonine Pokemon that lived in large prides up and down Route Twenty-two, it was rare to find a lone Litleo like this one. That most likely meant that this Litleo was a male that was banished from his pride to find his own way into the world. "You must have been pretty strong to be pushed out this far, Do you want to battle?"
The litleo cocked its head at me for a second, as if mulling over my question, then lunged for Edge, "I'll take that as a yes then! Edge, use Water Pulse, get it back to the tree!"
I set Nozomi down as Edge barraged the growling litleo with a slew of weaker water pulses to make it back up into the tree, "Edge, use quick attack over and over, exhaust it!"
In a prolonged blur of movement, Edge began to batter the litleo with Quick Attack as it tried to attack her with a flaming Ember. Thirty seconds passed of Edge constantly attacking the lion cub and dodging its counter attacks of Ember and Headbutt. Edge's superior speed was too much for the wild pokemon to counter, especially with Quick Attack buffing her already impressive speed. The Litleo's fight or flight instincts began to kick in and it tried to run, "Nozomi, make sure it can't get away with Infestation!"
A swirling mass of stinging bug-type energy surrounded the pummeled fire-type, preventing its escape and damaging it slightly. "Edge, finish him with Water Pulse!"
The ball of watery aura crackled between her webbed hands as Edge flipped into the air above Nozomi's infestation and plowed it into the fiery lion's head, knocking it out. I quickly took out the great ball and threw it towards the Litleo, hoping the higher catch rate will account for the cub's power. The blue and red Pokeball sucked the Litleo in with a slightly lighter shade of red light, as capturing is different than returning, then fell to the ground and began to shake as the Litleo's unconscious mind fought against the capture.
Ten seconds passed before the ball stopped shaking, nearly double the average time. I picked the ball up and held it close, I caught a new pokemon!
"Great job Edge, Litleo was no match for your power," My Frogadier basked in the praise, "Let's go back and have lunch shall we?"
I let Edge continue her battling after lunch, and even went exploring with Nozomi for a few hours, but the only thing on my mind was the Pokemon I had just captured. I went through my nightly routine of self-defense training, calling Edge in to train with me, then went to bed.
I woke up and made myself and my Pokemon a full breakfast, we would need it to tame the Litleo. Fire-type Pokemon were well known for their aggression, and the fact that Litleo was carnivorous didn't help matters. Both Edge and Nozomi were mostly herbivorous with only the occasional small fish or bug on the side. Carnivorous Pokemon were unruly unless their need to hunt was fulfilled, a problem for trainers with prey pokemon on their teams or owners of prey animals like cattle or sheep. Litleo would be tough to tame.
I prepared Edge and Nozomi to protect me if the Litleo attacked me the moment it was released, then I held up the Great Ball and released the Litleo facing away from me.
It came out with every hair on its body standing straight up and snarling, then it immediately turned and lunged for me, only to be beaten down by Edge. I sighed and returned it, then released it farther away from me.
"Litleo, I just want to talk, please calm down," The Litleo ignored my voice and opened his mouth to send an Ember my way. This time, Nozomi stepped up to protect me, combating the cloud of embers with Dragon Breath. I slowly walked towards the Litleo with my hands out non threateningly. Litleo lashed out with his claws as I got close, trying to Scratch me, and only to be rewarded with being returned and released even further away near the edge of the clearing.
"Litleo, will you please just listen!" He tried to run into the forest, only to be returned again.
Litleo got the idea and did not try to run or fight when I released him again.
"Good," Litleo glared at me warily as I came a foot closer to him, "Edge can you translate what I say?"
Edge nodded and called to the litleo in their language as I began the same speech I had given to her long ago, "Litleo, I mean you no harm. Right now it might be confusing or even frightening that you were taken away from your habitat so suddenly and captured in this little ball,"
I showed Litleo his Great ball, to which he snorted with disgust, "But this ball is a gateway to a world of unimaginable power if you choose to accept it. If you choose to accept me as your leader through thick and thin, I can bring you to your evolution and beyond,"
Litleo perked up at the mention of his evolution, 'So that's how you tick' " Litleo, Your evolution might seem far away now, but if you become one of my partners, the time needed for you to evolve will shorten,"
His golden eyes snapped up to mine, challenging me to uphold the promise, "Yes, Litleo, I promise to take you to heights of power and glory that any wild pokemon can only dream of, I know this because it happened to me,"
Litleo cocked his head, confused, as a painfully familiar face flashed through my mind. Edge explained how I was talking about her, and that she had evolved a mere few days ago.
I noticed that the forest had gone completely silent. In my entire time here, the forest always had a background symphony of life, with Fletchling constantly calling to each other through the trees or Rattata rustling in the underbrush near the clearing, or even the distant sounds of bug trainers on the main trail. There was nothing, nothing except a steadily growing buzzing sound, "Vespiquen…!"
I immediately took one hand off of the Litleo, who had gone still at the sound, and pressed the panic button on my Pokedex. As the buzzing grew to a crescendo that reached past my ears and began vibrating my very bones, I used my body to cover the Litleo then put my hands over my head, just as a writhing, aggressive swarm of Combee and Beedrill entered the clearing. They noticed my prone body and immediately attacked, 3 inch long stingers entering and leaving my body in an infinite series of punctures.
My entire body was paralyzed with pain, I couldn't scream, I couldn't move, I couldn't do anything except be stung over and over again by the swarm. Litleo was mostly protected from their attacks by my body. What felt like hours passed until the swarm moved on, where were the Rangers?
I could feel the blessed darkness slowly encroaching my mind. Is this the end? Those voices, they were nearby yet so...so far. I felt two new sharp pains on either side of my stomach, followed by a release of warmth that spread through my body. Was I dying? My mind, in shock most likely, went white. Leo was… he was wrong, I never became a great trainer, never even lived past route three, I'm...I'm so sorry…
I stared at the monstrous Elite Pinsir before me and blew my bubblegum pink hair out of my eyes, 'This will be interesting…'
The Gym leader across from her was swaying on their platform and slurring their words, "I accept your stupid challenge, Send out all the Pokemon you want, Ruthless will beat em' all,"
There was not a single person in the stands on either side of the battlefield, it was nearly the off-season for this Gym and, as a consequence, there was no one to witness this sham of a Gym battle. Nor was there a referee for our match, the bug-type gym of Kalos was one of the few gyms where the leader was trusted to not injure a challenger's pokemon, its bugs were too weak to do any real damage.
The Pinsir before me, however, was one of Gym Leader Talisin's real team, one that had beaten the Elite Four, the four most powerful trainers in Kalos besides the Champion. It was massive and plated with thick brown armor, scars running up and down its exoskeleton. If it were any other battle, I would have forfeited right then, but I couldn't afford to lose, not this time. The game was on.
I took a deep breath in and out then threw two Pokeballs into the air, releasing my Froakie and Goomy onto the battlefield in front of me, "Bit of a change you two, this battle is gonna be a hit and run, don't, under any circumstance let Pinsir hit you, you'll be knocked out instantly,"
My Froakie, Edge, immediately scanned the battlefield, which was in the center of a large greenhouse with many ancient trees and exotic plants to give bug types an advantage. She followed my command and leaped for the relative safety of the trees. My Goomy, Nozomi, quickly glided over to a small pool meant for any water pokemon who came to the gym. He sank to the bottom and stirred up some silt to at least partially hide. I smiled, for I had taught both of them well.
The drunk Gym leader laughed, a deep, throaty chuckle, "Hiding doesn't matter, Ruthless'll get them just as easily, Hyper Beam on the trees and pond, fry the little jerks!"
A powerful beam of light jumped from the Pinsir's maw and cut through the trees like a knife through butter, but not before the Pinsir shot his trainer an uncertain and almost scared look, it had never seen it's trainer like this before.
Edge lept from tree to tree as each fell to the Pinsir's Hyper Beam before the Pinsir switched to evaporating the small pond.
"Nozomi, get out of there!"
My little Goomy slid out of the pond just before the beam reached its mark. He crawled under one of the small bushes in the undergrowth of the indoor forest.
"Edge, try to slow Pinsir down with your Frubbles!"
Gobs of sticky, white foam pelted the Pinsir as it slowly lumbered over to the pond to assess what damage he did. The Frubbles were brushed off as minor annoyances to the Pinsir, only barely slowing it down. The Pinsir almost seemed to sigh in relief when it saw that it did not fry my Goomy to a crisp, obviously, it's tough appearance hid a soft interior. I giggled at the look on the massive Pinsir's face, if I didn't know any better, I would say that the Pinsir didn't want to battle with his drunk trainer, especially against such small Pokemon.
"You think this is funny! I'll show you funny, Ruthless, Mega-Evolve!"
I twitched as a small gem set directly into the Pinsir's thick exoskeleton began to pulse with light in time with the stone in the Gym leader's bracelet. Spiderwebs of colored light spread in midair from Gym leader Talisin and connected to the Pinsir with an audible cracking sound. I had never seen Mega Evolution in person before, but even to my untrained eye, there was something... off about his Mega evolution. As topaz wings pierced the Pinsir's armor, I could feel a change in the air. It was as if the drunken anger currently filling Talisin had passed into the Pinsir. Its newly amber eyes opened, filled with indescribable rage. I reevaluated my life choices right then, the sliver of hope for winning this fight dying with each recalculated variable.
"Guys?" I called out to my currently hidden friends, as the Pinsir's new wings buzzed into the flight, "New Plan, don't try to attack it, just run, run now!"
The Pinsir roared with fury as my two pokemon shot out from their hiding places. A dangerous game of cat and mouse commenced as the Pinsir flew at incredible speeds to chase my Pokemon. If there wasn't so much cover in the veritable jungle of a battlefield, my pokemon would have surely died many times over. Five harrowing minutes of close calls later, it was obvious that my pokemon's stamina was wavering. I studied the Pinsir, looking for weakness, injuries, or anything that would give me an advantage over the beast and its furious master. My eyes widened with surprise when I noticed that the Pinsir was lagging behind my pokemon, even in their weakened state.
"Edge, Water Pulse, it's weakening!" The Pinsir was gaining on Nozomi, the slower of my two pokemon. A smaller than normal ball of water slammed into the side of the Pinsir, enraging it further, yet giving me two valuable pieces of information. One, my Pokemon were severely exhausted, I would have to forfeit if this went on any longer, and two, that small strands of light were beginning to spread from the Pinsir's stone back to Talisin's, a sure sign of an impending de-evolution. In all of history, only two pokemon could still stand after de-evolving from Mega-evolution, the mythical sky dragon, Rayquaza, and the 13th Champion's cornerstone Charizard, Ignus. I doubted that even the elite Pinsir before me could match the power of those legendary figures so I took a risk.
I scanned the battlefield for anything I could use for the half-formed plan in my mind, 'There, Perfect,' "Nozomi, Trust me, Stop now, Protect!"
He paused with a confused look on his face in front of one of the trees that had barely escaped the rage of the Pinsir. A Hyper beam began to form in the Pinsir's frothing maw, the beam of immense energy charging with sparks of heat and light jumping off of it. I counted one, two, three, four seconds before it released with a blast of sound directly at the tiny slimeball that was my precious Protected Nozomi … and the tree behind him.
"Nozomi, Get out of the way now!" I screamed my emotions on full display for the first time in the fight. Edge's eyes widened as I seemed to have given my Goomy a suicide mission. My Froakie was scrambling to the top of the tree behind Nozomi, right as it began to topple…on top of the Pinsir. She jumped off the tree but didn't seem to get enough height until the second light of evolution enveloped her. In mid-air, my little Froakie's legs began to lengthen along with her "cape" of Frubbles.
"No way…" I stared at the light as it merged into my newly evolved Frogadier, who flew away from the falling tree as if shot from a cannon. She tumbled as she landed, just barely catching herself. She stood to her new height of two feet for a few seconds, before she fell to the ground again, unconscious. I returned her in a flash of red light then turned to the freshly fallen tree as a similar light enveloped the de-evolved Pinsir.
In a childish manner, Talisin turned his back to me with his hands up, "Ugh, You win okay, I need a drink… Go get the stupid badge"
He walked off the stage as I cried out, "Nozomi!"
I returned him, which was a good sign, and looked at his pop-up stats which came from his Pokeball after I pressed a hidden button. 'Nine percent! You took quite the beating…"
I walked off of my stage and out to the main lobby. Before I could get to it, a small, mousy lady rushed into me, nearly knocking me over.
"Woah! Are you okay?" I recognized her as the front desk receptionist who greeted me kindly as I walked in and warned me that Talisin was not in the mood to battle. 'I didn't listen …'
"Am I okay?! I should be asking you that question!" She backed away from me and looked me over, "Talisin isn't very merciful when he drinks…"
"Are you kidding me? He sent out his Pinsir on me,"
"Not Ruthless…" She seemed to shrink back at the mention of the powerful pokemon, "Ruthless would never hurt those sweet little pokemon you registered, unless…"
"He certainly lived up to the name once he Mega-evolved him, my pokemon...,"
"Are they…" The unasked question hung in the air like thick, black smog.
"No, neither of them died, in fact, I won,"
She stepped even further back from me and turned her head, "H-how?"
"I think his drunken anger sorta… passed into Pinsir once he Mega evolved, if it weren't for that, well…"
The receptionist stared at me for a second, as if looking me over with new eyes, then she laughed heartily, "Oh, Talisin's going to feel that once morning comes, Well, you certainly deserve a badge for that battle, Come with me!"
Her entire nervous demeanor changed as she swerved on her heels and began to walk briskly towards the lobby. I followed her into the spacious room and waited as she rummaged in her desk, bringing out a small brass beetle and a green disk.
"Trainer I.D.?" She asked and I brought out my sleek Pokedex for her to scan the badge in. Physical badges often got lost in times past, so Gyms had the policy to scan a badge into a trainers I.D, in this case, my Pokedex, before they left the Gym. After she placed the back of the badge on the surface of the phone-sized device, she flipped the brass badge into my hand like a coin, "Congratulations, here is the Bug Badge!"
"What's this?" I pointed to the green T.M. in her other hand.
"This here is the T.M. Infestation, It's quite useful for catching Pokemon, keeps 'em from escaping," She handed me the fragile disk, then waved me away "I believe that cute Goomy is able to learn it, now go, go, the Pokecenter is waiting,"
"Thank you," I placed the badge into a small case and the T.M. into a special pocket in my backpack, which I had left on a waiting bench in the lobby, then I left the building and went into the bustling square of Santalune city. Dodging a few Gogoat taxis, I made my way across the busy square to the Pokecenter. Before I went in, I made sure to put my hood up. The Pokecenter was not busy, most regular trainers were long gone by now. It was rare that anyone waited until two weeks before the deadline, after all. The deadline is a time limit of 6 months from April 1st that trainers have to finish the first Gym and become a real trainer in the League. That way, people won't get the benefits of being a battling trainer such as free room and board at Pokecenters, without the League getting their tax money's worth.
Trying to make the interaction as short as possible, I quickly detached my two Pokeballs from my belt and handed them to Nurse Joy at the front desk.
"Here's my Pokemon, they...they're pretty beat up, my Froakie evolved near the end, she might need extra care,"
The nurse squinted at me, trying to make out my face as she took my Pokeballs, "Hm... okay, I'll be sure to take a look,"
She turned away and gave the Pokeballs to a waiting Wigglytuff, who ran to the back of the foyer and into a door marked "Employees Only", before following it.
I walked over to a small group of couches in the large main room of the Pokecenter and collapsed onto one of them, my head in my hands.
'That-That battle,' I thought as the wave of emotions from the Gym battle crashed over me, held in since the moment I won the battle, "I can't believe I won,"
I had trained with my pokemon for nearly six months for this, I waited for the day no one would be expecting me, and of course the day I chose the Gym leader was drunk. Just my luck I suppose. My pokemon were exhausted and badly hurt from the strenuous battle, but at least we won...at least we won.
Stewing in my thoughts, I waited for my pokemon on that couch. An hour passed, then another, until Nurse Joy came out of the door and over to me.
"Here is your Frogadier, but your Goomy is going to need at least the night, may I ask what happened?"
"He was drunk, guess what happened," I lifted my tired eyes to hers, not in the mood for chatter, "Now can I have my room key or not?"
A silent "Oh" formed on the kind Nurse's face as she saw mine. Without comment, she went back over to her desk and grabbed something small from underneath it. She came back over and gave me both the key and the shrunken Net Ball that held my Edge. I stood up on wobbly legs and walked ungracefully through the center to the hallway that led to the rooms for visiting trainers. I looked at the key and stumbled into room 114, then I released Edge.
She appeared in a crouching position on my bed, as if about to ambush prey, "Edge, It's me, the battle's over, you...you evolved,"
I could look her over in full now that the danger had passed. Her skin was now a dark, cobalt blue on her back and a lighter sky blue on the bottom. Two small horn-like structures were now atop her head, right behind her eyes and her Frubbles now looked like a scarf instead of a cape. What I noticed most, however, was the brand new, powerful muscles now on her legs and arms, I would need to focus on strength and speed training with her from now on.
I hugged her, "Congratulations,"
She seemed surprised at my sudden show of affection but then leaned into the hug. Suddenly, she pulled away and looked me in the eyes, as if asking me a question.
"Nozomi's gonna be fine, he was pretty beat up though,"
Relief filled her eyes as she relaxed into a more comfortable sitting position to begin looking over her new body.
I looked over the small Pokecenter room. It was simply decorated, with a bed and a nightstand for me and an aquarium, dog bed, and perch for any of my pokemon.
It was around 7 o'clock at night now, and I had a little time to spend before I needed to go to bed.
"Edge, you up for a little victory dinner, I think we deserve a little real food other than protein bars,"
She nodded vigorously, before looking slightly guilty at her enthusiasm.
"Don't worry Edge, Nozomi can have plenty of victory food at breakfast,"
Edge made to jump for my shoulder but stopped herself just in time, she wasn't a little Froakie anymore.
"Come on," I shrugged my backpack off onto my bed and began to walk out the door, "You need to stretch out those new legs,"
Using my bed as a springboard, Edge leaped and flipped in the air before landing next to me with the utmost grace. "Showoff…"
We walked down to the Pokecenter's cafeteria, where another Wigglytuff was serving a group of rambunctious Pokemon Rangers.
"...like you could beat my Salamence, your Absol is weaker than my great grandmother, and she's dead!" One of the male Rangers said, a scar near his mouth working as he spoke.
"Is that a challenge?" said a lady ranger with spiky, platinum blond hair, "'Cause I doubt your ickle Ronnie could even touch my Uriel."
I quietly received my food with Edge and continued to watch the exchange.
"So what if it is? I bet you won't take it, After all, nothing could touch your precious Uriel," The male Ranger walked up to the lady and stood in front of her, nearly a head taller than the girl Ranger.
"Hah, Challenge accepted, you and me outside right now" She stood on the tip of her toes to meet the scarred Ranger in the eye.
"Guys, Guys, you need a judge if you are really going to duke it out outside, I volunteer myself," The third Ranger spoke, pushing his black hair out of his gray eyes. I was surprised at his voice, it was as if he had appeared out of thin air between the two other Rangers!
"Heck no," The girl ranger looked at the new ranger, not surprised in the least at his sudden arrival"You'll vouch for Corporal Jack's Ronnikins every time, we need an impartial judge, Shiro,"
"Ugh! How many times do I have to tell you, her name is Rhonda! But Zoe's right, Shiro," The scarred man looked around the cafeteria for a moment before spotting Edge and I, "Hey you, yeah, the girl with the Frogadier, think you could referee for our little spat?"
I realized that he was indicating me and I stood up, "Uh, Sure,"
Edge and I followed the trio to the back of the Pokecenter, where two doors led to a massive battlefield and general training area. Since it was close to the off-season for this Pokecenter, there was no one out there except us.
As Zoe and Lieutenant Jack took to the two ends of the main battlefield, I walked to the middle on one side with Shiro and Edge.
As Zoe and Jack prepared themselves, Shiro turned to me, "That's a strong-looking Frogadier, is she newly evolved?"
"You have a good eye," Frogadier has no visible ways of telling gender, it took an expert eye to spot the differences, "And yes, she's recently evolved, just a few hours ago actually,"
"Wow, you'll have to tell us the story after this," Shiro took out a Pokeball and threw it into the air, releasing a large Greninja, "Daisuke, do you want to teach this little one a few tricks? Zoe and Jack are at it again,"
"T-Thank you," I was flattered, Rangers and their pokemon need at least 6 badges to enter boot camp. I would gladly allow Edge to train with a far more experienced pokemon any day, especially one of her own species.
The two frog-like Pokemon left for one of the other training areas. Shiro took out another Pokeball from a pocket on his tactical vest. He released a Gardevoir and asked it: "Alura, Can you put up some barriers, I don't think they're going to hold back,"
The beautiful girl-like pokemon opened its arms and sent out a wave of light which formed itself into shimmering barriers on every side of the battlefield as Zoe and Jack sent out their Pokemon.
Corporal Jack sent out a monstrous Salamence, at least ten feet tall at the shoulder.
"Is his Salamence female?" I asked Shiro, who nodded. Female dragon types are often larger than their male counterparts, so it made sense that his Rhonda was no different.
Zoe released her Pokeball from her hand, sending out a flash of white that transformed into a lithe and feminine looking Absol. The curve of white hair atop its head was spiked like Zoe's and seemed to sparkle in the waning light. It snarled at the Salamence, who roared back, apparently, the two pokemon had the same rivalry as their trainers.
I called out to the battlefield, "I'm assuming you two are ready?"
"Yeah, ready to kick Zoe's puny Absol into the next town!" Jack seemed to send some kind of silent signal to his Salamence, who immediately flew into the air.
"You might have won last time Jack, but Uriel and I have a few new tricks up our sleeve, we're ready as well," Zoe shot back, "Uriel, prepare aerial countermeasures!"
"Begin!" I cried out before sitting back on the bleachers to watch the match, my job as the referee was to watch for any truly foul play, so I needed to have a keen eye on the battle.
Uriel shot out a multitude of shadow balls that seemed to attach themselves to a swift move, which never misses. The Shadow-Swifts seemed to aim themselves to the wings of Jack's Salamence, before impacting many key points along them to bring the dragon to the ground. 'Hm, impressive combo, but Jack doesn't seem to be bothered by it, he must have seen it all before.'
He yelled to his Pokemon, "Brick break, then back to the air,"
Rhonda tried to slam her tail into the Absol, but he dodged the super-effective move and retaliated with a shadowy claw. Rhonda roared in pain, then flapped her wings to take off.
"Uriel, jump on Rhonda's back, Slash and Claw!"
The Absol leaped onto Rhonda's broad back as she flew higher into the air, then began to use Night Slash and Shadow Claw liberally on her back scales.
"Rhonda, fight the pain and fly as high as you can!"
I could see the cogs working in Zoe's mind as her Absol was flown straight upward, forty, fifty, then sixty feet before she commanded Uriel, "Jump off!"
Uriel obeyed his trainer, but just as he began to fall, the Salamence caught him with her claws, "Uh oh, this is going to be a shorter match than I thought'
"Yes! Use Giga impact!" Jack smiled as Rhonda's entire body began to glow with a Normal-type aura as she dove straight to the ground. She slammed Uriel into the ground, dealing a massive amount of damage and began to use Brick Break over and over again on Uriel's stunned body. When she finally backed away from Uriel, I thought that he must be unconscious, nothing could survive such a brutal series of attacks, especially from a dragon, the most powerful and rare of types.
I was about to call the match, but Zoe held up a hand to stop me. Uriel was getting up! He stood on shaking legs then looked back to his trainer. A silent interaction passed between them, a decision was reached and Uriel turned to the Salamence, still shaking but holding firm.
"You forced my hand, Jack," Zoe said almost sadly, "I wanted to show you this later in the battle, but I guess you can't wait can you, Uriel, Mega-Evolve!"
Jack and I did a double-take as both Uriel and Zoe were surrounded by beads of both shimmering light and abyssal darkness. A somewhat familiar gem showed itself set into a hidden headband on Zoe's head and began to shine in tune with the larger gem previously covered by Uriel's hair. Their mega evolution was completely different from the Pinsir, this was much more stable and seemed to come from the dark aura of Absol rather than the bug-type aura of Pinsir. Uriel began to evolve, long lengths of fur growing rapidly from his white coat as a secondary horn peeked out of his cowlick. The light began to condense on the Absol's back as Jack regained his senses,
"Rhonda, focus, and use Outrage!"
Zoe's eyes shifted to Jack, surprised at the notorious dragon-type move. Apparently, Jack had a few aces he was hiding from Zoe as well. As pure rage began to burn in the terrifying dragoness' eyes, Uriel finished his Mega evolution with a flourish of two brand-new brilliantly white wings that seemed to grow from his lengthened mane. Uriel shot into the air just as a stream of pure blue dragon fire blew past him.
Outrage was a move famous for its destructive power, and Rhonda's was no exception. Fire spewed from her mouth without care to where it hit, draconic energy seemed to envelop her entire titanic body, and her every step shook the ground. It was a fearsome sight and one that could have leveled entire cities long ago, yet Zoe's Absol showed nothing but nerve in the face of this ferocious display. Uriel seemed to move with the shadows and struck with precision at the dragon. Shadow claw after shadow claw was poured into the enraged Rhonda. The pain only seemed to fuel the dragon type's anger, she roared with frustration at the sneaky Absol, erupting with even more draconic flame.
A minute went by, I was impressed with the Salamence's power, the dragons I had seen in gym matches never lasted this long before the effects of Outrage faded and confusion set in. Both Rhonda and Uriel were looking haggard, for Uriel, it looked like the very act of entering the dragon's aura was dealing massive amounts of damage, while Rhonda seemed to be spending the last of her energy reserves to keep the Outrage running. 'This battle's going to end soon, one way or another,'
Zoe yelled out to Uriel just as light motes began to release from their stones, "Finish this!"
For the first time since it had mega-evolved, the Absol flew out of the shadows and directly in front of Rhonda's maw right after she had let loose a jet of flame, a familiar light forming from his own mouth. Like an angel of death, Uriel spread his wings to their fullest extent and unleashed Hyper Beam at point-blank range, screamed commands from Jack falling on deaf ears. It created a smoking crater in between the dragon's eyes, not deep enough to kill her, but a grievous injury.
Seconds passed as Rhonda stood frozen in place until finally, she fell over, unconscious and bleeding from her head wound. Jack returned her and began to walk forward stiffly, stunned. Zoe returned Uriel just as he was about to de-evolve, spent as well. They met in the center of the field and seemed to exchange a few words that neither I nor Shiro could hear from this distance. Jack seemed to end the conversation with a sad nod and Zoe walked back to us, a smile on her face with a now depressed Jack a few paces behind her.
"Guess my Uriel's a bit faster than your dead grandma," Zoe proclaimed as she came within earshot, Jack came up behind her, head held low.
"Where in the world did you get an Absolite? I...I could have never expected that,"
Zoe ruffled the hair of the Corporal, "I'm not telling Like I would give you that advantage…"
Jack seemed to regain a little of the fire he lost in the battle, "So that's why you were gone for three months, I knew it wasn't "'a sabbatical'"
"Yup, me and Uriel were getting beefed up for our next match, couldn't let that Outrage pound us like that again,"
The duo seemed to be engrossed in their banter and ignored Shiro and me until Shiro fake-coughed into his shoulder, "That was an incredible match from both of you yet again, Congratulations Zoe,"
"Ha, Thanks Shiro, that's great praise coming from you" As Zoe spoke, Shiro's Gardevoir floated over to our group and looked towards Shiro.
"That Outrage almost destroyed your barriers," I walked up to the Gardevoir and looked at her, she was obviously tired yet Shiro did not return her. 'Perhaps this is good strength training for a psychic,' The Gardevoir cocked its head at me and her eyes began to glow, Shiro nodded at some telepathic exchange, then he turned to me.
"Yes, Alura did not anticipate how long Rhonda was going to Outrage," Shiro spoke, "That was impressive stamina, Jack, nearly thirty seconds longer than last time,"
"So analytic Shiro, I just thought it was awesome," Jack replied, the adrenaline from the intense battle began to wear off, " Now let's go get something to drink shall we?"
"Um, Can I come? I mean I don't want to intrude but I could definitely use some company right about now," I asked awkwardly as the trio began to walk away and into the Pokecenter.
"Of course! you were the one crazy enough to be our referee," Zoe roped me into the group and put her arm over my shoulder, "You look like you could use some early Ranger initiation,"
"Zoe, she's like 14, come on," Jack chided.
"Well, I don't drink," I spoke up as we walked out of the Pokecenter and towards the nearest bar in Santalune.
"So you're like Shiro then?" Zoe shoved her shoulder into Shiro's as she teased, "Guess that means that Jack'll be buying more drinks for me,"
"Ugh, at least I'll be drinking enough to forget this mess, Zoe... winning…Ugh," Jack settled into a sullen brooding as we entered the bar, a relatively clean, but old pub full of rowdy night patrons.
"Oh that's not all," Zoe had an evil smile on her face as we sat at the bar and she called the bartender over, "Everyone, a round of drinks on this man right here! He just lost a bet!"
A cheer filled the bar as Jack grunted, "Oh you are evil…"
He coughed up the necessary money as beers were passed out to nearly every person in the bar.
The rangers drank and began to tell me stories of their journeys.
"I just got this Inkay from a mission at Grace Tower," Zoe showed me a Pokeball that looked normal but had a small, rectangular indent above the release button, "See that mark? That means that I can keep rehabbing Pinky without her counting against my team number…"
Even Jack got in on the revelry once he had a drink or two, "You think Rhonda's big? Well you should see my Gunther, he's a Garchomp, his father was a King, 15 feet tall and counting…"
"Hey, why were you in the Pokecenter? No one comes so close to the deadline," Shiro looked me in the eye once Zoe and Jack had another drink and a few hours had gone by.
I told him about my Gym battle, about the Elite Pinsir, the drunk Gym leader, everything. He listened attentively, with Zoe and Jack joining in after having their drink. As I got to the part about the Mega evolved Pinsir, Zoe gasped,
"That's not good at all, Mega evolution… you and your Pokemon's emotions have to be in sync or else… it's very dangerous"
"Well, if it wasn't for that quirk, I would never have won…"
I continued my story, telling them about my Froakie's evolution and how close my Goomy was to death.
"Goomy? How did you find a dragon here?" Jack leaned towards me with a spark in his eyes, " I have an open spot…"
"Well, If you want a pretty powerful one, I heard that there's Dragalge and Skrelp off the coast of Route 8, they have acid that can melt steel…"
He took out a small notepad and wrote down what I said, then motioned for me to continue. I ended with me getting my badge and the T.M, before rushing to the Pokecenter.
"Well, after that, I waited for Edge and went to get some food, which is when I saw you guys,"
"That's some story, usually the bug gym is a pushover," Zoe patted me on the shoulder, "I hope your Goomy's going to be okay,"
"Talisin must have had one of his pokemon die recently, it's the risk you take when you specialize in bug types…" Jack sobered for a second.
"Oh," I looked to the side, pausing guiltily at this realization "...Still, it doesn't excuse what he did, both of my pokemon could have died as well, he's still a Gym Leader"
Jack turned back to Zoe and began to drink yet again with renewed vigor, he was going to have a killer hangover in the morning.
"I think it's time we return to the Pokecenter, let's leave these two to their drinks shall we?" Shiro held out his arm for me to take before opening his other hand for his Gardevoir, who had been meditating in the back of the bar with another trainer's Kadabra.
We teleported instantaneously to the back of the Pokecenter, where Edge and Shiro's Greninja were still training hard.
I looked at my Pokedex and noted that it was 11 at night, they had been training for three hours!
"Daisuke! That's enough," Shiro called to his Greninja, who seemed to appear in an instant out of the shadows behind us, with Edge leaping towards us seconds later.
I looked over my Frogadier, still so newly evolved. She seemed exhausted but happy.
Meanwhile, Shiro was talking to his Greninja, with Alura's eyes glowing at intermittent times to translate. A few minutes went by before he nodded to end the conversation and turned to me.
Shiro got serious, "My Greninja has discovered something about your Frogadier,"
"What do you mean?" I focused my gaze on him, curious.
"It seems she has a special ability that only a select few of the Froakie line manifest per every generation, Daisuke saw that your Frogadier had the signs for it and he trained her in the basics,"
"What? What is it?" I walked over and looked at Daisuke, Shiro's Greninja; it was barely breaking a sweat after three hours of hard training!
"It's known as the hidden ability Protean, It essentially changes Frogadier's type to align with the move she uses. As long as she collects the aura needed for the move, she is, for all intents and purposes the same type as the move,"
"That's...That's incredible…" I was stunned, the ability could have so many strategic uses, "Why haven't I noticed it before? Edge has moves that are different than her own type, like Lick and Pound,"
"Well, she will not really be able to utilize her ability until she gets more experienced in this form and gets a bit more in tune with aura, I recommend getting the T.M. Hidden Power for her, it is quite the useful move for a Pokemon with her abilities,"
I called Edge to my side, "Does Daisuke have it?"
Shiro laughed, "No, We know a guy who does, Daisuke's ability is a bit of a mystery, Wait, that reminds me, make sure to call me when she evolves, pokemon with her ability can be, temperamental, at evolution,"
"I don't think I'll have to worry about that for a while," I rubbed the top of Edge's head, then returned her, "Edge needs to do a bit more growing before then, maybe a few more months,"
"May I ask how you got her? It's rare to find a trainer with one of the famous Kalos starter Pokemon, let alone one with her ability,"
"Edge came from… a friend," Shiro cocked his head slightly at the look on my face, then continued.
"You know, You're more intelligent than you let on," He stared at me with those gray eyes, " I was watching you during Zoe and Jack's battle, you were analyzing it the whole time, I could tell,"
I stared back at him, my bright green eyes meeting his piercing silver, "A battle like theirs is a great chance for me to learn from experienced trainers, I'm not going to pass that up,"
"Hm," He returned both of his pokemon, then came over and gave me his number, "Someone like you would do great in A.C.E., they need people as clever as you."
I said nothing as Shiro walked into the Pokecenter ahead of me, then I followed him, only to see that he had disappeared! I looked from side to side, finding no trace of where he went. "Where..?"
A whisper of wind is all that answered my call. A Wigglytuff passing by looked at me strangely as I began to shuffle back to my room, waves of fatigue from the busy day overtaking me. I got to my room and fell into my nighttime routine, then I collapsed on my bed to sleep.
I woke to the shrieking of my alarm in a daze. Without even realizing it, I got myself dressed, packed my backpack for travel, and walked to the Pokecenter's Cafeteria before I fully woke up.
Like I was slapped, a thought suddenly entered my mind, 'Nozomi!'
I made my way to the front desk, where the Nurse Joy from before was waiting with bags under her eyes and a shrunken Pokeball in a plastic tray in front of her.
"Nozomi!" I traded the Pokeball for my room key and released my Goomy onto the counter to look him over.
He burbled happily once the red light of de-digitalization cleared from his eyes and he saw me. He seemed physically fine, except for a burned off antenna, which would grow back quickly. I picked him up and placed him on my shoulder, ignoring the deluge of slime that began to crawl down my shoulder.
"I'm so glad you're okay buddy," The slimy dragon-type licked me in appreciation, then situated himself on my shoulder. I looked back at Nurse Joy, noticing her exhausted look, "Did he give you any trouble?"
"Oh, No, of course not," The Nurse Joy smiled at the thought of my Goomy, then frowned, "He did great, I was glad to work with a tiny dragon-type for once, That Salamence however…"
"Thank you," I said sincerely, feeling her pain, "Do you know any place for buying survival supplies? I'm going to train in Santalune Forest for a bit,"
"Oh, of course! We sell basic potions and the like right here, but I would go straight for the shopping district if you are looking for anything extra," She looked at me closer, trying to place my face, "I'm sorry, have we met before?"
"No, No, I, uh, just have one of those faces," I replied, before swiveling on my foot and strolling out the door of the Pokecenter, "Thanks for the info, Bye!"
I took out my Pokedex and searched for a city map of Santalune. I followed it to the bustling shopping district of Santalune, then looked for a bench to sit down on. I sat, and took Nozomi off of my shoulder and put him into my lap.
"Nozomi, I have something to tell you," He chirped in reply, "You didn't see this but during the battle, something happened to Edge,"
His little eyes widened in fear, I took out Edge's Net Ball and released her, "She evolved!"
If a Goomy could gasp in surprise, Nozomi would have blown us all away at the sight of Edge's new body. Edge took in his admiration with grace and seemed to preen under his surprised and happy look. I let them talk with each other in the way that only Pokemon can for a while, before putting Nozomi back on my shoulder and standing up.
"Guys, now that we won our first Gym battle, things are only going to get harder from now on," I began to walk towards the nearest trainer gear store with Edge by my side, " We are going to be training in the Santalune forest for a few days before moving on, and I was hoping to get a new team member, but that is for us to worry about later, for now, let's relax,"
I entered the store and looked around. There were Pokeballs, potions, berries and other Pokegear covering one wall, while the other was devoted to camping gear such as tents and premade meals. I restocked on potions and premade meals then went over to the Pokeball section to grab a few run of the mill regular Pokeballs and a single great ball. I checked over my items, then brought them over to the cashier to ring up.
"Where are you planning to go?" The young cashier looked up mid-scan, "I'm assuming you just beat Talisin,"
"How could you tell?"
"No one ever comes here before they challenge him, and afterward they either have to train harder to beat him or are leaving for Lumiose,"
"You're correct, I just beat him, I'm planning to train in the Forest, got any advice?"
"Bug-types are stronger than they look," The cashier finished ringing up my items then lifted his sleeve to show a massive, knotted scar up his arm, " Don't be stupid, the Rangers are there for a reason,"
I looked at him closer, his eyes boring into mine as I did so, "I'll be sure to keep my Pokedex close,"
"That thing is what saved my life back then," The cashier pointed at the small button on the side of my Pokedex, it was a panic button that called the nearest Ranger station when one was in danger, "Don't be afraid to push it,"
Nozomi burbled sadly, realizing what he meant.
"That will be 6000,"
I forked over the money, hard-won from both the gym and the many battles I had before. My pokemon and I took one last silent look at the man, who waved, then left the Pokemart.
"Well, that was...interesting," I sighed at the heavy facts that the cashier had imparted upon us, then remembered something that made me smile, "I almost forgot, Nozomi, I still have some money left, let's get victory breakfast!"
Nozomi chirped and began to literally shake with excitement at the prospect of getting actual food. I walked over to a small cafe and ordered a pastry and water for myself and some Poffins for my Pokemon. I sat down on a stool near the front of the cafe to watch people and pokemon go by as we ate.
The warm pastries came to us on a small tray, I thanked the barista as my little Goomy devoured Poffin after Poffin, with Edge taking a more civilized approach to nibble on the pastries.
I began to eat my own breakfast when the sound of the small bell at the door rang in my ears. A familiar man in his thirties walked in, his short-cut blond hair skimming the top of the cafe's door. It was Talisin, the Santalune gym leader, currently holding his head in what had to be a painful hangover.
I tried to avoid his notice by turning to leave, but he spotted me with ease. He loped over to my table and I realized for the first time just how imposing he was, at over six feet. 'Strange for a man who deals with tiny bug-types…'
"You, hey you," He sat rather uncomfortably on the seat next to me, Nozomi looked up from his feast and began to growl as menacing as he could, while Edge got into a battling position, "You're the one who challenged me yesterday right?"
"Yes,"
He sighed and seemed to deflate, "I came to apologize, I did not act at all like a gym leader yesterday…I'm sorry,"
I stared at him, "Go on,"
"Uh," The Gym Leader looked at me sheepishly, then took a deep breath in, before speaking as quickly as he could "I was drunk and angry and I didn't expect a challenger so close to the deadline, I took out my grief for my Stinger on you and your Pokemon and for that, I am truly sorry,"
'Jack was right…' I sighed and waved off my pokemon, Nozomi simply continued to eat, while Edge kept a wary eye on Talisin, "I understand, and your Pokemon was...a challenge to overcome, but I defeated you in a Gym match and that was what I really came here for,"
Talisin studied me for a second, an indecipherable look on his face, then he laughed heartily, "Now that's the kind of trainer I like! Ruthless, a simple challenge... Oh, I haven't laughed like that in ages…"
He wiped tears of joy from his eyes, then got serious " Listen, it takes guts to take on any Elite-level Pokemon, let alone one that can Mega Evolve, I respect that. I don't remember much of it, but it was certainly a worthy battle,"
"A bit more worthy than what I was bargaining for, however," I shot back.
"I wasn't finished," His blue eyes hardened, "You see, each Gym is supposed to help trainers by teaching them a lesson about your journey, I was too… indisposed… to tell you it yesterday, but the Bug-type Gym's lesson is that every Pokemon is dangerous no matter their type. Ruthless would have killed both of your Pokemon if I wasn't drunk,"
"I guess that just means that I learned a bit more of a lesson from your Gym than most people,"
He stood up and gave me a small slip of paper, "Well, since you survived it, that battle's worth a favor from me, call me when you think of it,"
He left me in the cafe with my thoughts swirling around what this favor could mean. I typed his number into my Pokedex contacts as Nozomi finished his pile of pastries. I held out my bare arm for him to climb to my shoulder, then walked out after Talisin with Edge on my heels. I watched him walk towards the Gym and disappear around a corner, then turned to Edge.
"Well, that was... interesting," I started towards the outskirts of Santalune City, passing through the rest of the shopping district and two neighborhoods before I got to my destination at the edge of the city boundaries. The beginnings of Route Three didn't look like much, just a simple dirt road, with a spattering of trees on either side, but I knew that looks could be deceiving. This was the start of my true journey, not the 5-month limbo that was before my first gym. With the Bug Badge now registered, I was now an official battling trainer in the eyes of the League. 'Leo would be so proud…"
I strolled down the path, keeping my eyes sharp for any trainers on the road ahead. Though most battling trainers had moved on to Cyllage and Shalour City, Route Three was often home to kids from the Pokemon Academy in Santalune. My search was rewarded with the sight of a small group of three kids in Academy uniforms making a beeline towards me.
"Wait up!" The leader of the trio squeaked, "Are you a trainer?"
I sighed, these kids weren't likely to be a challenge, seeing as they would probably have only one Pokemon each. Domestic trainer licenses were available to kids as young as six, as long as they caught a single low-level Pokemon, of which Santalune forest had plenty. The trio in front of me couldn't be older than eight.
"We challenge you to a Pokemon Battle against all three of us!" All three of the children released their Pokemon, a Pansage, Pansear, and Panpour.
'Hm, those Pokemon are usually found in Santalune forest, these kids might be useful…' I waved Edge forward, "Okay, I accept on one condition, instead of money, if I win show me to where you found your Pokemon,"
The three kids looked at me strangely, but then shrugged in unison, the leader stepped up, "That's fine, You're not going to win though…"
Edge jumped out from behind me and in front of the three elemental monkeys. The three kids gasped at the sight of the rare Kalos starter, but only seemed to be more determined to win. I bent down to Edge to whisper, "Edge, I'm not going to give you any orders this match, only to play on the monkey's weaknesses, get them to attack each other, I leave the rest up to you,"
She nodded and I spoke up for the students' benefit, "3 on 1, Begin!"
The leader ordered her Pansage first, "Vine Whip!"
Edge dodged the vine easily, just as the second student commanded his Pansear, "Use Incinerate!"
The red-tufted monkey blew flame toward Edge, who jumped straight into the air to avoid it. As she came down to earth, Edge suddenly blurred in a move I recognized as Quick Attack.
I was impressed, as a Froakie, Edge wasn't nearly as fast as she was now. Now, she could move behind and attack all three monkeys before they could react. Suddenly, Edge seemed to stop in front of the Pansear, prompting the third kid to yell to his Panpour, "Water Gun, Quickly!"
The blast of water shot out of the blue monkey's mouth. Just as the pressurized water was about to hit, Edge shifted out of the way, letting the water slam into the fire-type behind her. The pansear was flung into one of the trees on the side of the route, knocked out by both the super effective move and the impact into the tree. It's trainer ran over to it as the two remaining looked at me incredulously, before continuing the match.
"Scratch the Frogadier, Leaf!" The Pansage's gleaming claws slashed the image of my Frogadier, only to hit air.
"Water gun again!" Edge was stopped in front of the Pansage, who had only a second to look surprised before a full-powered water gun slammed into its face. The Panpour looked terrified at its actions, which quickly changed to anger when the incited Pansage Tackled it to the ground and began to hit it over and over again with its vines. The Panpour shot a Water Gun at point-blank range in retaliation, to the horror of the two remaining trainers.
The two kids shouted commands to their monkeys to no avail as Edge stood over the two tussling elemental monkeys with what amounted to a proud smile on her face. The two kids, knowing they were defeated, returned their Pokemon as their third companion came back to their group, a filled Pokeball in his hand.
The leader came up to me, "That was so cool! We can show you to where we caught our Pokemon, it's a bit far from here though,"
The three students didn't seem mad at all at the easy defeat of their pokemon, apparently, they only wanted to battle for the fun of it, not caring if they win or lose. I respected that, it wasn't long ago that I was just like them.
The three kids led me down route three for a few minutes before going off the designated road and into the underbrush. A small, worn path began about ten minutes in, the dirt covered in overgrown roots and Pokemon tracks. The trees were much thicker here and I could hear the tell-tale buzzing and chirping of bug-type Pokemon close by.
The three kids turned to me, and the leader stepped up, "Just follow this path for a while, it's a shortcut straight to the place we found our monkeys,"
"We gotta get home for lunch, but maybe we'll see you there later," The Panpour's trainer turned away and rushed back the way they came, quickly followed by the other two students, "Bye!"
"Bye!" I smiled, always glad to battle such good sports, "Thanks for the help!"
Nozomi burbled happily towards them from my shoulder, he enjoyed the battle as well. Edge leaped down from trees nearby, she had been following my path the entire time.
"Okay, Edge, try to scout ahead as fast as you can, we still haven't tested your limits since you evolved," She immediately shot into the trees and was gone, "Nozomi, do you want to stay out, or do you want to nap in your Pokeball,"
Nozomi whined, a small sound more appropriate for a baby Growlithe than a dragon type, "Outside of the ball it is, but you are not going to battle, you still need to heal up from the gym mister,"
We continued on the path for three more hours until we reached a large clearing with a grove of Pecha berry trees, presumably imported from Hoen a long while ago. I checked the grove for signs of Pokemon and found marks from an elemental monkey troop, but not recent ones. I called for Edge to come back with a sharp whistle, and she appeared within seconds.
"Edge, the rest of the day is yours to test your limits, I trust you to realize what those are, come back to me when you're exhausted. I'm going to set up camp here while you are gone so this is the place you should remember," Edge nodded before rushing off, excitement in her eyes. "Knowing Edge, there's going to be quite a few bug pokemon sore by tomorrow,"
I fully entered the grove of trees, discovering a small pond in the center with a clear area on the other side. There were a couple of small pokemon inside, like Pidgey and pond variety Goldeen, they wouldn't bother us. I picked Nozomi off of my shoulder and placed him in the small pond, then wiped off the copious amount of slime he left behind.
"Nozomi, your job for the rest of the day…" My little Goomy burbled with anticipation, "...is to relax and heal up in this pond, I need you to be fully healed by tomorrow,"
Nozomi seemed to deflate into the pond, saddened. He began to glow with energy as he used Absorb and the water around him to heal himself and regenerate the water he lost from being nearly fried by the Hyper Beam.
"Don't be so sad, I need you to be healed so I can teach you a new move," I dug through my backpack and showed Nozomi the shiny green T.M. His antenna perked up at the mention of a new move, but he was now fully concentrating on healing himself.
I began the tedious work of setting up the campsite where I would be training and finished within an hour. I checked the time on my Pokedex, it was about three o'clock, 'Perfect timing,'
As a finishing touch to my campsite, I laid out a small mat, sat upon it, closed my eyes, and began to meditate. I breathed in and out, in and out until I was in tune with the forest around me. I could feel the cycle the forest goes through from Scatterbug, to Spewpa, to Vivillon, from fall to winter to spring to summer. It reminded me of the marshes near my home of Anistar City, except with overwhelming bug-type energy instead of a water-type aura. I opened my eyes and noticed a tiny, white flower on the edge of my mat. I was that delicate flower, I still bloomed even in the late season. Even though the odds were stacked against me, I passed the trial of the first gym and was now preparing for the next seven. I was a trainer in the eyes of the League.
I meditated for an hour, then got up and began to run through my patterns for self-defense training until the sun reached the horizon. The forms were so familiar to me that I could let my mind float away as my body performed the long series of kicks, punches, and stances. I switched easily from Taekwondo to Kantonese Jiu-Jitsu to Kung fu without conscious thought until my muscles were as numb as my mind. In a foggy daze, I made a fire and cooked dinner for myself and Nozomi, leaving Edge's food to the side and went to bed.
In the middle of the night, I was awoken by Edge's weak shaking. She was exhausted and had more scrapes than usual, but she was victorious. Without fanfare, I returned her to her Pokeball to sleep, then fell back to sleep myself.
I woke up and made breakfast for myself with the remnants of last night's fire and a pack of tasteless, dehydrated trainer meal.
"Oh, Nozomi!" I called in a sing-song voice to my best friend, who immediately responded with happy whistling noises. I smiled, and shook my head, 'Just like when we were younger…'
I returned him to his Pokeball, then slid the T.M. disc in between the two halves of the Pokeball to be scanned. Lime-green energy raced across the Pokeball in a spider-web like pattern, then stopped with a dramatic flash of white energy and a chirp. The T.M. was gone, digitized directly into Nozomi's brain.
I threw Nozomi's Pokeball into the air to release him onto the ground in front of me, "You got it, buddy?"
He nodded then looked up to me with his button-like black eyes, waiting for orders.
"Get familiar with the Bug-type energy while I work with Edge, we might be needing you later, It shouldn't be too hard around here, especially with so many bug-types around"
The Goomy began to collect lime-green energy around his mouth as I walked out of the grove of trees and released Edge.
In Pokeballs, depending on the setting, Pokemon bodies can experience a semblance of the passage of time, while their brains do not, so Edge was well rested when I released her. I checked her over, the minor scrapes and bruises she collected were healed. I marveled at the wonders of Pokemon biology, so superior to our own.
"How are you feeling?" I could tell that most of the euphoric post-evolution hormones had left Edge and she was looking slightly less perky than before. Nevertheless, Edge nodded to show that she felt fine, "Well, I forgot to do this last night before I let you go, can you stand still for a moment?"
I took out my Pokedex and scanned my Frogadier's body until it beeped and new data began to show up on the screen.
Frogadier, The Bubble Frog Pokemon, and the evolved form of Froakie. Frogadier can throw Frubble covered pebbles with precise accuracy, hitting targets up to one hundred feet away-
I scrolled past the basic description. I had that memorized since I was three. I went to the juicy stuff- like average sprint speed and grip strength calculated from Edge's age, size, and sex.
"Let's test your physical capabilities now,"
I set the Pokedex to now measure her abilities at a glance, I turned to Edge and pointed out a tree across the clearing, about 50 yards away, "Run from here to that tree as fast as you can,"
In nine seconds flat, my Frogadier loped to the tree and back, nearly double the speed she had as a Froakie, and far faster than any normal human.
I smiled, "Above Average! Now jump straight into the air,"
Edge's muscles tensed and released, rocketing more than twenty feet into the air before landing on her feet, also double than it was before. I set the Pokedex to continue analyzing, "Edge, keep testing your limits physically while I check on Nozomi,"
I went back to the pond in the center of the grove, where Nozomi was currently practicing his new move. Infestation seemed to consist of a swarm of concentrated bug-type energy that encircled and constantly stung the target. I could see its use in capturing Pokemon in the way Nozomi used it on the trees around him, which were now peppered with tiny holes.
The swarm traps its target as long as Nozomi concentrates, which for now was around 5 seconds, "Nozomi, try using less power and learning to concentrate on the move for longer, I want to use it as a trap instead of a damaging move,"
He nodded and began to focus again as I went back over to Edge.
Just as I picked up the Pokedex to look at her stats, a loud rustling echoed through the clearing as something crashed through the forest towards us.
'A pokemon? But nothing here is that big…' "Edge, get ready!"
She pivoted and got lower to the ground, battle-ready.
For the rest of the day I went back and forth between my two pokemon, training Nozomi in his use of Infestation and Edge in her use of her new body and its physical limits, breaking only for lunch and my daily meditation and self-defense training at the end of the day to clear my head. My pokemon and I fell asleep quickly that night, exhausted by our efforts.
After eating breakfast the next day, I decided to send Edge out to battle the native Pokemon, as battling was the best way to improve a Pokemon overall and I had no new moves to teach her as of yet. I worked with Nozomi on Infestation, trying to increase his concentration on the move, until Edge rushed out of the forest about four hours in.
She seemed distressed about something, with urgency in her eyes, I walked up to her, "What's wrong Edge?"
She beckoned for me to follow her back into the forest, barely waiting for Nozomi to climb up my arm before leaping into the trees. Edge brought us deep into the forest, as we ran by, I could see some marks of her battling, an unconscious bug-type here, or a scarred tree there. Edge suddenly jumped down from the trees once we reached a seemingly innocuous small clearing.
She pointed to the ground near a small bush, towards what appeared to be Pokemon tracks. I looked closer and realized that they were mammalian in nature, but not that of primate elemental monkeys or rodents like Pikachu or Rattata, these tracks were pawprints of some kind.
"Perhaps it's a Pokemon from Route twenty-two, But the only two mammals from there that I could think of are Riolu or…" I pushed through the bush and came upon a large feline pokemon with a fiery mohawk slowly backing away from me into a tree, "Litleo…"
Litleo were leonine Pokemon that lived in large prides up and down Route Twenty-two, it was rare to find a lone Litleo like this one. That most likely meant that this Litleo was a male that was banished from his pride to find his own way into the world. "You must have been pretty strong to be pushed out this far, Do you want to battle?"
The litleo cocked its head at me for a second, as if mulling over my question, then lunged for Edge, "I'll take that as a yes then! Edge, use Water Pulse, get it back to the tree!"
I set Nozomi down as Edge barraged the growling litleo with a slew of weaker water pulses to make it back up into the tree, "Edge, use quick attack over and over, exhaust it!"
In a prolonged blur of movement, Edge began to batter the litleo with Quick Attack as it tried to attack her with a flaming Ember. Thirty seconds passed of Edge constantly attacking the lion cub and dodging its counter attacks of Ember and Headbutt. Edge's superior speed was too much for the wild pokemon to counter, especially with Quick Attack buffing her already impressive speed. The Litleo's fight or flight instincts began to kick in and it tried to run, "Nozomi, make sure it can't get away with Infestation!"
A swirling mass of stinging bug-type energy surrounded the pummeled fire-type, preventing its escape and damaging it slightly. "Edge, finish him with Water Pulse!"
The ball of watery aura crackled between her webbed hands as Edge flipped into the air above Nozomi's infestation and plowed it into the fiery lion's head, knocking it out. I quickly took out the great ball and threw it towards the Litleo, hoping the higher catch rate will account for the cub's power. The blue and red Pokeball sucked the Litleo in with a slightly lighter shade of red light, as capturing is different than returning, then fell to the ground and began to shake as the Litleo's unconscious mind fought against the capture.
Ten seconds passed before the ball stopped shaking, nearly double the average time. I picked the ball up and held it close, I caught a new pokemon!
"Great job Edge, Litleo was no match for your power," My Frogadier basked in the praise, "Let's go back and have lunch shall we?"
I let Edge continue her battling after lunch, and even went exploring with Nozomi for a few hours, but the only thing on my mind was the Pokemon I had just captured. I went through my nightly routine of self-defense training, calling Edge in to train with me, then went to bed.
I woke up and made myself and my Pokemon a full breakfast, we would need it to tame the Litleo. Fire-type Pokemon were well known for their aggression, and the fact that Litleo was carnivorous didn't help matters. Both Edge and Nozomi were mostly herbivorous with only the occasional small fish or bug on the side. Carnivorous Pokemon were unruly unless their need to hunt was fulfilled, a problem for trainers with prey pokemon on their teams or owners of prey animals like cattle or sheep. Litleo would be tough to tame.
I prepared Edge and Nozomi to protect me if the Litleo attacked me the moment it was released, then I held up the Great Ball and released the Litleo facing away from me.
It came out with every hair on its body standing straight up and snarling, then it immediately turned and lunged for me, only to be beaten down by Edge. I sighed and returned it, then released it farther away from me.
"Litleo, I just want to talk, please calm down," The Litleo ignored my voice and opened his mouth to send an Ember my way. This time, Nozomi stepped up to protect me, combating the cloud of embers with Dragon Breath. I slowly walked towards the Litleo with my hands out non threateningly. Litleo lashed out with his claws as I got close, trying to Scratch me, and only to be rewarded with being returned and released even further away near the edge of the clearing.
"Litleo, will you please just listen!" He tried to run into the forest, only to be returned again.
Litleo got the idea and did not try to run or fight when I released him again.
"Good," Litleo glared at me warily as I came a foot closer to him, "Edge can you translate what I say?"
Edge nodded and called to the litleo in their language as I began the same speech I had given to her long ago, "Litleo, I mean you no harm. Right now it might be confusing or even frightening that you were taken away from your habitat so suddenly and captured in this little ball,"
I showed Litleo his Great ball, to which he snorted with disgust, "But this ball is a gateway to a world of unimaginable power if you choose to accept it. If you choose to accept me as your leader through thick and thin, I can bring you to your evolution and beyond,"
Litleo perked up at the mention of his evolution, 'So that's how you tick' " Litleo, Your evolution might seem far away now, but if you become one of my partners, the time needed for you to evolve will shorten,"
His golden eyes snapped up to mine, challenging me to uphold the promise, "Yes, Litleo, I promise to take you to heights of power and glory that any wild pokemon can only dream of, I know this because it happened to me,"
Litleo cocked his head, confused, as a painfully familiar face flashed through my mind. Edge explained how I was talking about her, and that she had evolved a mere few days ago.
I noticed that the forest had gone completely silent. In my entire time here, the forest always had a background symphony of life, with Fletchling constantly calling to each other through the trees or Rattata rustling in the underbrush near the clearing, or even the distant sounds of bug trainers on the main trail. There was nothing, nothing except a steadily growing buzzing sound, "Vespiquen…!"
I immediately took one hand off of the Litleo, who had gone still at the sound, and pressed the panic button on my Pokedex. As the buzzing grew to a crescendo that reached past my ears and began vibrating my very bones, I used my body to cover the Litleo then put my hands over my head, just as a writhing, aggressive swarm of Combee and Beedrill entered the clearing. They noticed my prone body and immediately attacked, 3 inch long stingers entering and leaving my body in an infinite series of punctures.
My entire body was paralyzed with pain, I couldn't scream, I couldn't move, I couldn't do anything except be stung over and over again by the swarm. Litleo was mostly protected from their attacks by my body. What felt like hours passed until the swarm moved on, where were the Rangers?
I could feel the blessed darkness slowly encroaching my mind. Is this the end? Those voices, they were nearby yet so...so far. I felt two new sharp pains on either side of my stomach, followed by a release of warmth that spread through my body. Was I dying? My mind, in shock most likely, went white. Leo was… he was wrong, I never became a great trainer, never even lived past route three, I'm...I'm so sorry…