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A Second Chance

Discussion in 'Literature Library' started by Writer4fun, Feb 2, 2017.

  1. Writer4fun

    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2017
    Posts:
    69
    PokéPoints:
    ₽62.4
    Chapter 21- Ice in his Veins

    Mitch's P.O.V.

    Pryce left the center after he gave his team to Nurse Joy so that he could get a good night of sleep. It would be fair to say that Nurse Joy was concerned about me being gone for an extended period of time but she took it a step further and called me over before I went back to my room. "Are you really sure you can go back to the gym so soon?" she asked with a concerned look on her face. "Do you resent him that much?"

    "Not necessarily resent, but I have never been embarrassed like that. Both in battle and wandering around town like a drunk. Never in my life have I had to forfeit a match I thought I could win. You have no idea what it feels like to lose because you couldn't handle the environment while your Pokémon were doing just fine." I felt like rambling on but I opted to slam my fist on the table to express my frustration followed by putting my head down. Everyone turned in my direction to see what the fuss was about.

    Nurse Joy gave them some kind of look and they all went back to what they were doing. Then she went back to me. "The road to the Elite Four is full of failures. It is better that you learn that here than at the Indigo Plateau. Some trainers find that out too late." I lifted my head back up to acknowledge her words; she continued onward. "Pryce is arguably the only leader that pushes his challengers to the breaking point. League officials understand his tactics and they set guidelines for his gym in order to have a safe battle."

    That irritated me even more. "Safe?! What is possibly safe about that gym? The water on the field is just over the freezing point while they gym itself hovers around zero degrees Fahrenheit. Please... humor me on this one" I said with a sarcastic grin on my face.

    She started to serve a trainer after noticing one at the counter behind me; the multitasking nurse responded. "His gym was illegal for the first month of operation due to his sub-zero temperatures in addition to a big fan to stimulate an all-out blizzard. After numerous complaints from both winners and losers alike it was decided that he had to tone down the intensity. The league loved his concept but it's not good publicity to have any of their challengers dying in the gym. Pryce currently has his gym above freezing with a smaller breeze plus some warm air filtering in. After battles he has trainers leave the gym as soon as possible so they can get warmed up in the lobby."

    I just stood there dumbfounded. "So when he told me to get out of the gym..."

    "Yes. You should have waited for him. He comes off as having a stone heart but he does care about his challengers. I mean, his monotonous voice is a little like a father scolding his child. He actually panicked when he couldn't find you. Running round town, asking the police for information, even asking random people on the street if you were aro... you're all set!" The trainer felt a little guilty that they interrupted our conversation but I showed I wasn't upset. "Where was I? Hmm... anyway, the main point is that Pryce knows what to do. He's seen a lot in his time on earth."

    Now I feel like the bad guy in this situation. Still, that information about waiting in the lobby would have been a little more than helpful but whatever. It was still early evening but I was just too exhausted because of last night's shenanigans. I thanked Nurse Joy for the conversation and scheduled my match for 10:30am then plopped myself onto the soft bed. I started to think of a new plan of attack for tomorrow. It wasn't normally my style but it gave me a legitimate chance to win. Just before sleep overtook me I thought about those two girls making fun of me since their battle is before mine in the morning. It soon dawned on me that those two are royally screwed.

    Compared to my previous night of sleeping in a hollowed out tree trunk with moderate hypothermia, sleeping in a bed was a godsend before my rematch. Nobody in town seemed to notice I was the cause of the disturbance last night (thank Arceus for that) on my way to the gym lobby. I had wanted an earlier time to face Pryce so I could get moving, but just waited patiently for the two girls to come out of the gym. As the time reached closer to 10:30 the doors had still not opened. Was there really a drawn out battle going on in there?

    Only after I started to pace around did Pryce enter the lobby via a side office. "Oh hello Mitch. Are you ready for the battle?"

    "Yeah. Let me guess... the two girls couldn't handle the gym and left after 10 minutes and that's why you're hanging out here."

    "You're wrong... it was after five minutes" he said with a smirk on his face.

    I smiled back. "I guess I gave them too much credit." Any warm clothing was removed just like last time as per the rules. This time was going to be different with the new strategy I thought of last night. A new strategy that I don't fully believe in should probably not be used, yet I feel I have no other choice. Both of us took our spots in the gym after the referee gave us the same rules as last time. Ampharos and Seel were sent out again for a repeat of last time.

    "Interesting strategy sending out your Ampharos first young man. Are you sure that you are prepared?"

    "Without a doubt in my mind. Ampharos, use almost all of your electricity. Discharge!" Seel had already taken its place in the pool so the electrical attack was multiplied resulting in a one hit knockout. Pryce didn't look too worried despite the circumstances while casually tossing Dewgong's ball onto the icy surface; Piloswine would have been better to send out at this moment but oh well.

    My brain flipped a switch after I saw Dewgong fully materialize onto the field and I put my strategy into action. "Ampharos return! You're up Espeon!" I absolutely hate switching out when I have a type advantage. Under these conditions I have to keep rotating my Pokémon so that they don't get too cold or get tossed into the near freezing water. No more pushing my luck for now; the first moment of trouble is the moment someone's out of there.

    Ruby's P.O.V.

    It had been only a day since the whole incident with Mitch running around town until he came up on the forest. Nobody really got a chance to outwardly thank him since he wanted us back in our balls. That being said, I know by now that everyone is willing to put in more effort into their battles to repay his kindness. It still begs the question: what would he be like if he acted like Sara? Despite her negatives she still won countless battles and maybe even got to the Elite Four after I was kicked out into the wild. I know for a fact that he has the ability to turn into a monster; every human and Pokémon has that capability. Sara cracked under pressure but Mitch is doing a much better job that she ever was.

    He did think of a new strategy before going to bed last night that involved a lot of switching. Whether he knows it or not he's always thinking about the worst possible outcome when we fight. I need to get stronger not just for fights, but to be able to talk to him telepathically. Maybe I can tell him that it's okay to push us harder every once in a while and not every battle is going to end up with us severely hurt. Most natural psychic types can talk to their owner from the moment they are caught. Me? I was a normal type before and I only evolved in the heat of the battle against Clair. Had I known Sara better I would've stayed an Eevee so I'm pretty underdeveloped as a psychic type in general. Learning communication skills is going to take some serious time.

    Dewgong was going to be a little trickier to take down with its ability to dive for cover. Both of us were on the icy floor twitching until the flags went up. "Espeon go for Swift then wait." What did he mean by that?

    "Dive into the water then come up for Aurora Beam." Now Dewgong didn't dodge all of the stars but it still hid from the brunt of the move. Seconds felt like hours as it just sat underwater lying in wait. Mitch eventually reached for my ball; that's when it came up.

    "Got you! Psybeam, let's go!" It came back up to fire the Aurora Beam but it wasn't fast enough for the rainbow colored beam.

    "Jump back in and use Rest."

    "Oh no you don't. Use confusion then hit it with Psybeam!" I had to get used to all the rippling water, but I still dragged it out of hiding then fired at will. The Dewgong plopped to the ground once the mist settled. Tally up another one for us.

    I turned to Mitch to see if he would call me back. He had a grin on his face. "I didn't want to disrupt your training session when you were trying it out. It's time for you to rest." Oh, he's good. A happy yelp was my way of acknowledging my hard work for now. The red beam took me back to my warm ball while the two of them stood there talking.

    "Hmm... there seems to be more than switching in your strategy." The opponent said running a hand across his chin. "Only one other trainer has had the guts to try something new after the first battle. She went on to Blackthorn City but I do not know how she fared over there."

    My master took the chance to respond. "Fair enough. Just so you know the battle's not over. I appreciate the praise but I won't let it get to me."

    "Hahaha I guess I can't phase you like other trainers. Piloswine you're up!" The hybrid ground/ice type came out more riled up compared to last time. Knowing Mitch he'll probably throw out Furret since she is the last one to go into battle.

    Mitch's P.O.V.

    So far so good with the fight with the cold creeping in much slower than last time. Even Pryce is being genuine in his compliments although I can understand that he wants to throw me off my game. Piloswine coming out ready to charge ahead is kind of intimidating but Furret can hold her own against it and the cold.
    Pryce wasted no time setting up. "Mist." Shrouding the battlefield was something that I didn't like since the mist was thick and it wouldn't dissipate anytime soon. Furret was caught off-guard by the low visibility then the Fury Attack that followed after a few seconds of inactivity.

    "Furret go to the corner of the field!" A high risk counter since she moved to the right corner. She could only be hit from the front or the left; getting hit from behind or the right meant Piloswine was out of bounds. As far as rules go you can dodge out of bounds but you cannot attack from out of bounds. On the flip side, Furret only has one true escape route by jumping over Piloswine; Pryce is smart enough to send it equidistant from both sides in front of her.

    Again there was a moment of silence before his command from the other side of the field. "Icy Wind."

    Exactly as I predicted. "Dig followed by Slam!" Her paws ripped through the icy ground to hide then she came up immediately and delivered a downward Slam square on its head. No doubt it felt that. "Follow up with Return!"

    "Blizzard!" Wind howled on the field in addition to the massive snowfall. It wasn't looking good for her after she missed the Return attack and the Mist attack had its effect wear off with the addition of more cold into the atmosphere.

    Normally I would gut it out but I refuse to make the mistake of overdoing it. "Furret come back." Red light from the ball took her back to safety. "Ampharos I need some support here!" I opted to throw her in the middle of the field instead of the corner for more range. My electric sheep looked confused as to why she had to come out against a ground type. "Cotton Spore." A proverbial light bulb went off in her head as she sent the speed lowering cotton balls towards the opposition.

    Pryce became unsettled as he saw what was unfolding. "Mist!" It was too late for Mist to negate the effects of Cotton Spore so he altered his attack. "Change to Icy Wind." A direct hit landed on Ampharos which meant a substitution for me.

    "Furret, time to finish it off! Use Return." As soon as Furret was done materializing she rammed straight into Piloswine for massive damage.

    "You got too close boy. Counter with Fury Attack!" Good idea by Pryce until you factor in Cotton Spore lowering the speed of those tusks. Furret easily dodged the counterattack then used Slam to push it near the pool in the middle of the field.

    "Knockout blow Furret! Use Return!"

    "Grab it with your tusks!" Both Pokémon got their way but Piloswine was hit into the pool before Furret was tossed aside like a rag doll. It thrashed about in the pool for about three seconds before a red beam hit it and it disappeared.

    The referee raised my flag. "Pryce has forfeited the round. That was his last Pokémon. Therefore the winner is the challenger Mitch from Violet City."

    "Go to the lobby this time and we shall talk there." Pryce said with a tired look on his face. I quickly recalled Furret followed by sprinting to the lobby where it was toasty. Pryce followed suit shortly after retrieving the Glacier Badge along with the prize money. "This badge proves you are capable of moving onto Blackthorn City for the final badge."

    "Thank you very much. Why did you recall Piloswine though? It could've easily gotten out of the pool with all of its strength plus fight me down to the wire. I was honestly surprised you didn't try to freeze the pool on the first move like last time."

    He took a minute to respond. "Not every battle is the same. You are the only sensible trainer that I can remember walking through those doors in a long time. Nobody had given up when they were so close to victory. In fact nobody had given up at all in my gym. However, I can assure you that every trainer had a serious moment of reflection in victory or defeat. I too had a moment in that battle where my future relationship with my Pokémon was more important than trying to win. You taught me something I almost forgot about: knowing when to concede."

    No denying that he had a sharp mind at his age. "That's the beauty of battling I guess."

    "My gym also is supposed to prepare you for Ice Path. A dangerous path with temperatures much colder than my gym lies to the east of town; it's the only way to get to Blackthorn without spending some money. Making through the battle in minimal clothing is a sign you can make it through there with few problems. Now go get stocked up on supplies before you head out."

    With that conversation in my head I headed to the center to heal everyone in addition to buying some general supplies. A bit of nervousness sank into my mind after I processed his warning about Ice Path. Nurse Joy congratulated me on my win after she was done tending to my Pokémon. All was calm until the two girls strolled in looking to do the same thing.

    "Oh lookey here. How'd you handle your battle today drunkie?"

    A sigh escaped my breath as I took out the badge and slammed in down in front of them. "Pretty fucking good. Plus I at least lasted longer than five minutes in the gym." They were beyond triggered. "Looks like the drunkie has one badge to go before he can go to the Indigo Plateau. Can't say that much about the two spoiled assholes in front of me." By this point the entire Pokémon Center was laughing at my brutally honest response. One of them went to open their mouth and just walked out the front door while the other went to chase after her.

    I made my way over to a corner to double check the amount of provisions. Numbers seemed to be okay so why was I nervous? All six of my Pokémon are in fighting shape and I have adequate funds if I'm in a pinch. Maybe this is just the feeling of being so close to the top? Regardless of what it is, I have to be ready. I didn't get seven badges by pure luck alone and there is no way on Arceus' green earth that I will go down easy.

    The road ahead is full of obstacles. Ampharos, Gyarados, Growlithe, Furret, Umbreon, and Espeon will help me make the path as clear as possible. As they do that, I will make sure to not let them down.
     
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  2. Writer4fun

    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2017
    Posts:
    69
    PokéPoints:
    ₽62.4
    Chapter 22-Frostbitten

    Shade's P.O.V.

    The last few days have been all about meditation and relaxation for me. Mitch hasn't called me into battle at all but I know that he wants to give everyone their fair shot at battling. I'm not going to sugar coat it: I wanted to battle against another gym leader. That loss against Steelix was embarrassing when compared to how much hard work I've put in over the course of my life. Still, it was pretty disheartening to see Mitch unconscious in that tree the day we all saw that defeat. I felt even worse for Ruby considering she was going to win without a doubt until Mitch went into panic mode. Sometimes when I look at Mitch I see Tom's face or I hear his voice at random. Believe me when I say that I miss Tom, but being with Mitch eases the pain more than anything in the world.

    Something about an Ice Path was mentioned in conversation after the battle so I just sat in my ball continuing to clear my mind when I was called out. I took the liberty to stretch and make sure I was well petted for being cooped up for so long. "Hey boy!" Mitch said as if he were talking to a kit. "I need you today. You up for a challenge?" My ears perked up after hearing the one word that intrigues me. "We're going through the Ice Path and I need you to battle any wild Pokémon that come our way. I know how much you like to battle and you can get some exercise." I happily nodded my head; not a bad way to get rid of the cabin fever. We walked to the east end of town raring to go until an old man approached us from behind.

    "So you decided to take the short yet cold way to Blackthorn after all." the man said while a Swinub followed behind him.

    Mitch seemed to know this man very well. "That's the case. I have Umbreon here to guide me through here."

    "Well I thought I would offer you some advice before you go through it. Swinub and Golbat usually are the two Pokémon that you'll most likely encounter. They usually travel in groups. Jynx do not try to engage in battle nor are seen that often but stories have been told where trainers would encounter them, only to have dire results. Blackthorn citizens have seen trainers encased in ice left on the edge of the path while some trainers come out of there hysterical. Some trainers have never even come out of there. Heed my warning on this." It's times like this where I'm glad I'm a dark type. Jynx's ice attacks could still bother me since we would be on their turf.

    "I'll watch out for them. Also, I have a Growlithe with me."

    "Your Umbreon should be fine. The cold isn't that bad for a Pokémon with some fur on it, although keep an eye on it. Having five moves will also be beneficial if you get into trouble." I was stunned. How did this complete stranger know about the one thing that could have me put down? "You think the gym leader of his own town wouldn't follow up after seeing a large hole in the side of a building? Lance said that there was a lone Umbreon running away from the scene before the police arrived. And since they told me about their experiments, I know what's going on here."

    A quizzical tone came out of my master's mouth. "How do you know that it's the same Umbreon from before?"

    "Because Swinub here is hiding in fear and shivering. Pokémon can sense when something is wrong in other Pokémon. Most trainers don't have the patience to train an Eevee either. Although a girl did come by about a month ago mentioning something about getting a Vaporeon after she defeated me. Regardless, you have to be careful when you use it in any trainer battle. I don't think I need to explain why."

    I just fell to the ground at the sheer thought of being taken away for a second time; Mitch helped me back up before responding. "Alright it's true. But he chose to come with me so now what? Do I just abandon him? If you were there that night we met then maybe you would..."

    "Calm down. All I said was to use him carefully in battle. By the way, I saw a large scar on your Espeon's stomach when we were fighting. May I ask where it came from? Your other four Pokémon would appear to be normal."

    That was the last straw. He may be a gym leader but he wasn't there the night Ruby almost was poisoned to death after being tortured for hours on end. He wasn't there when Mitch carried us back to his tent in the pouring rain. He certainly as hell wasn't there when I returned to visit Tom for the first time and saw how everyone rallied around me. I took an offensive stance until Mitch stepped in front of me with a stern look on his face.

    "I honestly cannot tell you what happened before I met her. All I know is that I took them in and we're going to fight like hell to get to the Indigo Plateau". He looked at his badge case. "To get in the Silver Conference."

    "Sorry about that personal question. Umbreon seems to really care about Espeon based on its reaction. Ever since that day I talked to Lance, I realized how much was going on right under my nose. Just promise me that you'll continue to make good decisions along the way."

    Both of them shared a bow before we continued east towards Ice Path. It was a pretty modest day outside with the clouds occasionally covering the sun. Our path got pretty empty once we arrived to the entrance; not even a single Pokémon cry was heard. After the first step in I realized why Mitch was wearing such heavy cloths; it had to be below zero in here. Only eight steps through the cave and we already met a group of three Swinub. Obviously seeing newcomers intimidated them but it wasn't in our best interest to take three Powder Snow attacks.

    "Quick Attack!" I hit all three of them in a flash which sent them scurrying. "Good job Umbreon. I know you have stronger moves, but the faster we get out of here the better. I'm trying not to damage anything too bad in here. Golbats are probably gonna be a little harder to beat though." A scratch under the chin was my reward. I wish he'd do that more often.

    Hours seemed to pass by as we continued to travel deeper into Ice Path when in reality it was only minutes. So far there hasn't been anything other than Swinub packs roaming around. That changed once we arrived to a whole floor covered in solid ice whit only a few stones to grab for balance. If it weren't for the freezing temperatures and wild Pokémon, it would be a great carnival attraction. Mitch took a long look in front of him.

    "Alright Umbreon I hope you can walk on ice." I'd like to think I can maneuver on ice but not so much after I laid a paw on the ice. I looked back at him to see what was taking him so long; he was in thinking out loud. "Wonder if Jasmine had a spare pair of ice skates? Still, this jacket is a godsend." He finally noticed me out on the icy floor so he decided to stop talking. As soon as he stepped on the ice he ate shit... hard. There was no more appropriate reaction than laughing as hard as I possibly could.

    "Alright alright, I blew it. Now let's just cross this damn field of ice." he said while slowly getting back to his feet. It didn't get much better on the way to one of the balancing stones with both of us flailing every three to four steps in the hopes of staying upright. Roughly one-third of the way across, some Golbats swooped down looking for a meal. "Dark Pulse!" That was more like it. All of them took a hit but some decided to come back for round two. "Keep it up Umbreon. Dark Pulse!" A flurry of Golbats rained down readying Leech Life only to be blown back into the dense cave wall.

    We made it about 75% of the way over, only to be distracted by a Jynx moving her hips as if she was dancing. For some reason, Mitch suddenly started to dance as if he were in a trance. Pawing at him didn't make him snap out of it. Whatever was working on Mitch definitely wasn't working on me so I opted to play along. Soon he started to follow it across the rest of the ice. Now on solid ground, we entered another part of the cave with a light filtering out of a wall on the other side. However, we were led off to the right.

    I thought about attacking it until I saw her fist covered in ice and her head turn around for a quick glance at me. She still looked like she had her doubts if I was actually hypnotized. Had I not pretended to dance, she probably would've killed him on the spot. It wasn't much longer before we finally were in a makeshift den. Four more Jynx came out to look at us and Mitch finally stopped dancing; he remained in some kind of trance. General observations showed that the huge den was filled with a whole horde of items on one end while the other end had two bodies encased in ice. Poor souls looked terrified in their ice prisons.

    They were talking about stealing his things before freezing him since he was easily enticed by the dancing. To make sure that we were not able to fight back, they went back to their dancing. Mitch went back to dancing while I followed suit. All five of them came right up on us to take our gear. I let loose a Toxic attack from my fur as discreetly as possible so all five of them would gradually get weaker. Our items were casually tossed onto the base of the pile and then they came back to finish the job with ice covered fists. Dumbasses. I'm a dark type; your psychic tricks don't work on me. Compared to the Arboks in the forest that night, these five were as slow as rocks. Time for a little freestyle battling.

    My preferred move choice was Dark Pulse since there were five targets. The moment they took a step towards us was the moment I fired at will. The den became complete chaos with items flying everywhere and Ice Punch being used all at the same time. I dodged most of them except one that hit me in the side. Cold air rushed to my lungs, making breathing painful. Another round of Dark Pulse was fired to weaken them more and with Toxic accumulating damage over time, this wasn't gonna last much longer.

    The whole group came at me again, only to stop and gasp for air when Toxic finally was starting to severely affect their movements. Most Pokémon who use Toxic see this and think they won the battle. Fair to say that they would turn around and look to be praised when in reality they are about to get nailed. Not me. I know how much Pinsir injured me after I outright covered him in the purple liquid. Just like I thought, they got up again after adjusting their bodies. Doubleslap was the new attack since Ice Punch took too much energy to use. It was much weaker which meant I could just sit there and take25 slaps on my body without feeling too much pain.

    Yet again they dropped to the ground with labored breathing. Now was the time for truly no holds barred battling. I rushed in and used Bite to knock out one Jynx... then I proceeded to shake it until I heard a quiet yet distinct snapping sound. Others looked on in horror as I repeated the process on every single Jynx until they all lay motionless.

    The sheer amount of times I've been in fights that involved me only knocking an opponent out has been too much, especially in the forest. Ruby knows I'm already a cold blooded killer on two separate occasions but what about Mitch? What about the rest of the team? Would they be upset with me? I don't want to kill but when lives that I care about are on the line, all bets are off.

    Killing the Jynx or barking didn't seem to get him out of his trance. Nibbling at his leg wasn't working either. Attacking him might work? Yea Quick Attack might do it. Onnne. Twooooo. Three! I hit him square in the stomach then licked his face. "What the hell happened Umbreon? One minute we're sliding across the floor then we're here the next. Better yet, where's my jacket? I'm about to freeze to death. I'm getting sick of this cold Tauros shit." Black and blue marks covered his exposed arms. It was almost as bad as when we were in that tree. He looked at the five dead Jynx that lured him in here then went wide-eyed when he looked at the two trainers frozen alive. "Oh shit. So this is what Pryce meant." he said in a low voice. "Growlithe, I need a favor." Growlithe came out looking around at the winter wonderland. "Thaw those two out and stay by my side. We're getting out of here."

    Silence followed as Mitch checked their pulses hoping they would be alive; he shook his head slowly before closing their eyes. He gathered his items and took one trainer on each shoulder. "Umbreon, make some markers on the way out. I feel like that I have some explaining to do when we get into town." We walked in silence with the occasional Golbat trying to attack. Luckily for us the Swinubs ran at first sight seeing a fire type in front of them. The exit was not too far away from the den but due to the hole in the wall blending in with the surroundings, there was no reasonable way to see the den entrance unless you were right up next to it.

    Warmth felt so good as we made it into town with the long shadows being cast on the ground. Now it had been hours since we entered into that freezing hellhole. Many of the townspeople were apparently inside because we strolled through town with no questions asked as to why my master was carrying two dead bodies on his shoulder. The Pokémon Center was also very empty with the exception of the nurse on duty.

    "Welcome to the Po... OH MY ARCEUS!" Aaaaaand now someone knows.

    "It's a really long story, but can you see what you can do for these two? I just came out of Ice Path."
    She clearly was traumatized. "I-I-I'll s-s-see w-w-what I c-c-can d-d-do." My guess is that she's going to need more nurses. She took a deep breath to compose herself. "You can have a room here tonight since we're empty. Tomorrow is the start of the Dragon Festival so it will be more crowded."

    "Thank you very much. My Pokémon don't need to be healed right away. Have a good night."

    Darkness finally covered the sky shortly after Mitch's shower. I felt the moon's rays illuminate my rings to help heal off some of the damage from that lopsided battle. He called me back with the intention of going to sleep right away. The ball was much cozier after being outside all day long. I could see Mitch in a deep sleep and the more I thought about it, the more I wanted to go to sleep. At least we made it into another town with a gym leader. Now for some peace and quiet.

    *knock knock knock*
     
  3. Writer4fun

    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2017
    Posts:
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    PokéPoints:
    ₽62.4
    Chapter 23- A Proposition

    Mitch's P.O.V.

    Blackthorn City was a sight to behold after taking the whole afternoon navigating Ice Path. The majority of the trip was one giant blur because of that group of Jynx. All I know is that Umbreon defeated... well, killed... them all and that the two trainers we saw weren't so lucky. One of them was a girl about my age who had two Pokémon on her after she was thawed out while the other was a man who was about five years older than me but still in his 20s; he had one Pokémon on him. I dare not touch their Poké Balls after checking their pulse only to find no signs of life. How would I explain that their masters were dead? Would my Pokémon be able to calm them down or would we have to battle?

    Walking around with their bodies on my shoulder was uncomfortable to say the least. It's not even that I strolled through town with them; it's that I did so with nobody around. My one saving grace was that Nurse Joy told me that everyone was inside their houses getting ready for some Dragon Festival. I'll probably check it out after I shower and rest.

    *knock knock knock* What the actual fu... fine.

    "Hold on. I have to wake up first." It wasn't too late outside but it had been awhile since I went to sleep so early and could afford to sleep as long as I wanted. I prayed to Arceus as I opened the door.

    "We're with the Johto Police Department. You have some explaining to do." Guess I didn't pray hard enough. I opened the door to the sight of two officers about six inches taller than me staring into the room expecting to find damning evidence. "The nurse on duty is still working on the two bodies you brought in. You have five minutes to get dressed and come to the lobby otherwise we'll make you come out."

    "Will do." I grabbed my heavy jacket in addition to my Pokémon since I have a feeling I'm going back to Ice Path. The lobby had become much more crowded since I brought in the two bodies. Outside was even more crowded with some locals along with some caution tape. If anything, this was a sign that I'm not destined to be in Blackthorn right now.

    "Alright, we just want you to take us back to where you saw those two trainers. Don't think about running away. Once we get into the cave then call out that Umbreon of yours since it was with you. Don't even think about trying anything either." Two Arcanine were sent out as our bodyguards. I took them back the way I came into the opening of the cave. Umbreon was called out to help me get back to the spot. Unfortunately he couldn't pick up on the scent of even one Jynx but I was smart to have him leave marks leading to the hidden area.

    Each Jynx still lay motionless as Umbreon left them. Both officers had their Pokémon sniff around for anything suspicious in the large pile of items until nothing set them off. Umbreon had been on high alert for the entire trip probably because there were potential threats around him. Another person came into the secluded cavern wearing a blue shirt and a black cape which had him giving off a low growl that started to crescendo.

    She was pretty annoyed. "What reason do you have for calling me out here before I went to sleep? I get that our two ceremonial bearers were found but unless that item is found, we're going to have some problems. I really hate this place enough as it is. Also, could you call back that Umbreon?"

    "Come on Clair, the item has to be here. They had it on them!" one of the officers said.

    She took about one minute to rummage through the massive item pile to pull out a pendant. "Looks like your Arcanines couldn't find the ceremonial pendant but I did it in such a short time." Both officers looked dejected. "Just go back to the city. I'll deal with this trainer myself." They briskly walked out of the cave while we waited until they were out of sight. Dammit I just want some sleep.

    "So can you tell me what that was about? I just got through here a few hours ago and I really didn't want to come back." I said with a tired look on my face.

    "It's ironic isn't it? Blackthorn has been a city filled with dragon Pokémon trainers since the beginning of time yet we live right next to a cave full of Pokémon that can potentially defeat them without human intervention. Blackthorn records show that dragons could not be defeated in nature except by ice types or other dragons." I just gave her a confused look. "Anyway, I want to thank you for finding those two despite their circumstances. They were our two bravest people in the city to venture through here to get that pendant."

    "Then why didn't you go get it?" Not the best way to make friends.

    Clair actually took it nicely for some odd reason. "The Silver Conference is coming up soon and everyone is trying to get a badge. In years past I made the trip myself but those two said that they would make the trip so I wouldn't get in trouble for skipping out on gym battles." She then turned to me. "I was feeling generous just now but don't you dare talk to me like that again."

    We finally made it back into town as the last house light turned off. She escorted me back to the Pokémon Center with the tape now removed as well as the other police officers. Nurse Joy was back at the desk with no signs that there was ever a body there. Clair shooed me back to bed which I appreciated along with the rest of my team, even though I didn't have to use anyone in a battle.
    Morning came too soon as the sunlight shone brightly through the one window in the room. Nothing changed in terms of my morning routine until I heard another knock on the door. I walked over to open it only to see a package on the ground with a note. A black robe with colorful depictions of dragon Pokémon all looking at some jewel looked to be very important. I kept it close to me as I exited the center to go look around the city. I didn't make it far before a note dropped from the robe.

    Dear Mitch, there needs to be more of a discussion following what happened yesterday. Come to the gym so we can have a talk. Wear this robe just before you enter the gym and none of my gym workers will give you any problems. Do not parade it around town. You have until noon today to get here, otherwise there will be consequences. —Clair. Boy, the pressure of being a gym leader seems like too much for her since she's getting pissed off all the time. Although to be fair, I did most of this to myself in a way. All I want is a gym battle since this would be my last one before the preliminary rounds.

    Townspeople lined the streets selling a lot of dragon merchandise from stands as well as some good food. They all seemed to be wearing some robe with a dragon on it in honor of the festival. On the other hand, tourists were much easier to identify simply because they had regular cloths. The gym was hidden in the far north of the city with a body of water behind it. Nobody stood outside so I put on the robe Clair gave me before I went on. Statues of dragons lined the walkway into the gym, but some I had never heard of before. One was a pure white one with a tail that seemed to be on fire while there was a black one whose tail looked like it was made of pure lightning on the opposite side. Both of them loomed large in comparison to a Dragonite statue. The sliding door opened as I approached and an attendant made his way out. He was about to scold me until he took a closer look at my robe then ushered me in.

    "Right this way. Clair is in the back tending to the Dratini. Please be considerate when approaching them." I get that Dratini are rare or vulnerable but I'm starting to sense an elitist attitude around here; I hate elitists. Other trainers in the gym watched me very carefully on my way through the gym and into an opening behind the battlefield. My guess was that the robe was the only thing preventing them from completely teeing off on me since they had their hands by their Poké Balls.

    A dark path illuminated by only candlelight led me to a large cave with grass and another building on an island. Clair was still kneeling by the lake tending to the little Dratini with a Gyarados lurking in the distance. Once it saw me, it made sure Clair knew I was here. Dragon Rage was charging until she gave the signal to stand down. She still looked stern since the last time we met.

    "You wanted to see me?"

    "Yes. There are a lot of details that I want to know but didn't ask about last night. Let's start with why you were going through there. You could have spent some money to get here and avoid that place."

    "Money has been a problem since the day I was born regardless of if I have it or not. All of my Pokémon have very nice items but I got them at a discounted price or free after my trip to Olivine. Had they been full price, then I wouldn't have bought them. Buying Luxury Balls was even a pain in the ass when I only had four badges because the mart workers didn't think I was rich enough."

    Clair looked like my answer was acceptable. "Now do you remember what happened in Ice Path?"

    "All I remember was that Umbreon and I almost made it out when we were suddenly fact to face with a Jynx. Pryce warned me about them but something about their movements just made my mind go blank. Since Umbreon is a dark type he wasn't affected and just went to town. I wonder if had to kill them though."

    She was deep in thought. "As much as it pains me to say this, I'm glad you did. Pryce and I have talked about the Jynx and how they kidnap trainers but nobody could find their hiding spot. You were the main suspect in the death of those two until you led us there in such a short time. All of the items that were stashed away will be given to their original owners in due time."

    "Glad we could clear that up." I wasn't really sure if I should leave, but this robe intrigues me. "Why did you give me this robe? What does it mean?"

    A proverbial light bulb turned on in Clair's head. "Oh, that. That is the robe of the ceremonial pendant bearer. The jewelry used to be worn by a dragon master in ancient times with the idea that it can control any dragon Pokémon in the world. Centuries passed until the first Poké Balls were invented and the pendant was not needed anymore. However, it still has the power to control wild dragons if they were to walk up to the holder. We see it as an important piece of Blackthorn history which is why Team Rocket took it awhile back. It ended up in Mahogany Town and was on its way back here." Then she ran her hands through her hair in frustration. "I failed those two who risked their lives to get it back. Nobody here has the Pokémon to safely make it through Ice Path twice or the time to take the long way around but they insisted on bringing it back. The least I could do for them was to give them the third highest honor in the city only behind myself and the master of ceremonies."

    I could only sit there, take in the information she gave me, and digest it as best I could. "But why would you give an important position to an outsider that's unaware of your traditions? Surely someone in the city would like to have that right?"

    "The way I see it, I owe you for your help... even if you did it on accident. I could give you a gym battle too. Just know that I won't go easy on you. Now you can go back into town but be back here by 5:30 since the ceremony starts at 6:00 sharp; I'll give you the details then." Just like that, I made my way back into the gym with my head down trying to ignore the glares directed at me. Now I have to take part in this serious ritual that I may or may not mess up. It was still afternoon when I made my way back into the heart of the city so I looked around the various stands. Nothing really looked interesting to buy which disappointed me; Olivine's market was much better plus it had friendlier people. Finally it was time to make my way back to the gym. One gym trainer stood on the outside with a look of displeasure on his face.

    "I've been a part of this gym since I was eight. No way am I going to let some scrub from the outside mock our tradition. Show me you deserve this. Dratini!" What an idiot. I'd hate to imagine if I refused a request by the gym leader of the city but the elitist attitude needs to be beaten out of him.

    "Listen to me. You really shouldn't battle me out of spite. I'm not some scrub; I have seven badges to my name." He still didn't back down. "Alright, it's time to teach you a lesson. Growlithe, let's go!" I know that I won't be using Growlithe against Clair. If I lose this battle he can have the ceremonial robe but if I win, then I can prove that dragon types are only as good as their trainers.

    "Slam!"

    Arcues, what a moron. "Flamethrower." The result was fairly obvious: Dratini fainted after one hit. He ran up to his fallen partner with a shocked look on his face. "Pretty irresponsible for you not to take a warning from another trainer. Sure it may have been a bluff but I had no reason to lie about my strength. Unfortunately you did."

    That stirred him up pretty good. "SHUT UP! You're no better than that bitch who screamed in the gym for hours on end after Clair beat her. She eventually won after four tries but people like her don't deserve to get far in the Silver Conference. I think Clair could win it if she really wanted to! Just know that even though you won, I still can't respect you for what you're about to do tonight." He retreated back into the gym to heal his partner. Maybe if he actually asked Clair to this ceremony then she would consider him. Regardless, Clair was inside preparing for the ceremony when I made my way in.

    "Good, you're here." She gave the pendant to me on a royal blue pillow. "All you have to do is follow me and listen for the master of ceremonies to mention your role. Other than that, just relax." From the gym we all marched through the city as the people lined the streets and bowed with respect. All of the townspeople followed us shortly after to the town square where a large Dragonite statue overlooked the whole city.

    Our master of ceremonies was the first to speak after a long silence. "Citizens of Blackthorn City, we gather here today for the beginning of the Dragon Festival. We honor all of those we lost in this past year in addition to all of our beloved Pokémon with a moment of silence." Between the citizens and outsiders, no one spoke for about a minute. "Thank you. Around this time each year, we see more dragon types near Dragon's Den. It is a splendid time for all here in the city and so we honor our ancestors who connected with dragon type Pokémon by offering this pendant. Would the bearer please place the pillow at the foot of the statue?" I approached the huge statue then placed the pillow on the ground as carefully as possible. "And now we battle to represent the immortal fighting spirit in dragon Pokémon. All battlers may line up across from each other. We will call you two at a time before you start battling. Everyone else may be seated."

    For the rest of the night the trainers battled in front of the whole city. I took advantage of the situation to get some basic information on dragon types. I learned that unless it's a fully evolved Pokémon, it's not really that strong. However, it would be foolish to assume Clair is weak just because she doesn't have a Dragonite. That Gyarados looked like it was more of a monster than my own. Status condition moves were very common in not fully evolved dragons which meant I had to prepare for a drawn out battle compared to pure power. The eventual winner was an elderly woman and her Dragonair named Linda. She had long dreamed of winning the competition so that she could be given permission to enter Dragon's Den. Clair told me that only a select few may enter the domain.

    Once the festivities were all over, it was well past midnight. Clair asked for her robe back before I went to the Pokémon Center to rest up for the night. Despite mentioning being busy all the time, I was her only challenger tomorrow. I mentioned that I wanted to arrive around 11:30 so I could sleep in. My head hit the pillow knowing getting this last badge was going to be one hell of an experience.
     
  4. Writer4fun

    Joined:
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    Chapter 24-Ruby's Return to Blackthorn

    Mitch's P.O.V.

    The Pokémon Center wasn't exactly quiet when I went to sleep. People in the hallway kept extending a conversation about Linda and how she deserved to win the tournament. Clearly she was a good person in the city if the group could only say nice things about her. Seriously, when was the last time you didn't hear a jab at someone? I do remember her Dragonair being very agile which made me think about Clair's team. Gyarados is only one Pokémon that I know of. Oh well, guess I have to wait it out until I'm actually there. Morning sunlight came in through the window so I went through my morning routine of showering, eating, and mentally preparing.

    It was a difficult decision to set my best lineup. It really is a bitch to deal with dragon types because they only have two weaknesses; I have neither a dragon nor an ice type. Rumors of Clair having a six on six battles as the strongest gym leader were too strong to be ignored but I know that Growlithe would be hard to use in this fight. I just kept my head down on my way to the gym until a soft voice came from my left side.

    "Nervous young one?" It was Linda.

    "A little. This is my last badge before I can go to the Indigo Plateau. Of course it would be against one of the strongest types."

    She gave me a warm smile. "You'll be fine. Dragons may be hard to defeat but remember that every Pokémon can be defeated through willpower." Linda wandered off after she wished me luck in battle. Her words were inspiring, yet they were pretty corny as well. I get the whole motivation spiel but willpower can only get you so far. Hold on... Umbreon and Espeon looked awful the night we met, especially Umbreon with his dislocated hip. They were in no condition to fight and they were out of breath but they escaped whatever hurt them. Their will to fight has been on display so many times now that I think about it. Maybe that old phrase holds some weight.

    Blackthorn's gym was still the same as I had remembered through my time in passing. A large gate blocked my way to the Dragon's Den but other than that, the moat in the middle of the battlefield was still there. Clair appeared from behind the gate to get ready for battle along with our judge. Since I was the only trainer on the schedule today, she has had time to think about my Umbreon just as much as I have thought about her Gyarados.

    "Well I see you actually showed up." she said in a playfully aggressive tone.

    I flashed a grin. "I sure as shit hope I showed up. The Silver Conference is coming up soon and you're the last gym leader I need to beat."

    "Fair enough. It will be a four on four battle with you being able to substitute. Choose your Pokémon now then take your place."

    Dammit. I have to make a tougher decision by leaving one of my teammates out of this crucial fight. Umbreon and Ampharos will definitely battle since Umbreon is nearly on par with Gyarados in terms of overall strength with Gyarados being hyper offensive and Umbreon being hyper defensive. Ampharos against her dragons may get me one round if I can paralyze Clair's Pokémon. Gyarados in the lineup as well but I still really don't want to use him unless I'm really in a pinch. Also, he may like going 110% all the time but that will catch up to him at some point in time. So now I'm down to Espeon or Furret for the last one. Furret would have a hard time with that moat whereas Espeon's ranged attacks could still hit hard; Espeon it is.

    I handed over Growlithe and Furret to the judge as per the rules before I took my place in the trainer's box. Our judge went over the rules again and Clair sent out Dragonair as her first choice. Linda's Dragonair breezed through the tournament so I wonder how skilled this one is. Either way, it still proves for a tough opponent. Umbreon has been dying to battle stronger opponents so I'll go with him. After I called him out, my Pokédex was making a subtle beeping noise. It told me that it had learned yet another move: Moonlight. Shit. Now it's really going to take some serious effort to stick with four moves in battles.

    "Go for Dark Pulse!"

    "Into the moat Dragonair!" Umbreon had seemingly predicted that dodging attempt so it aimed for the water to get some small damage on it before it went completely under. That moat is going to be a huge problem unless... "Use Surf!"

    The boosted water attack came crashing on my entire side of the field and with nowhere to dodge, Umbreon took a decent hit.

    "Shake it off and use Dark Pulse again." Now Dragonair went onto the hard battlefield surface to dodge it again; got 'em. "Faint Attack!" Umbreon flashed a smile as he ran full speed ahead into the elegant dragon type. Definitely a critical hit considering how long it took Dragonair to get up again.

    Clair was starting to get tense. "Thunder Wave!" Shit. That Surf still left a decent amount of water on the field to conduct the electricity.

    "Jump up then Quick Attack!" My only defensive maneuver was to get behind the attack. Luckily for me, Umbreon has enough power to jump to the other side. "Dark Pulse!"

    "Dragonbreath!" Both attacks met at midfield only to be turned to smoke. We sat in silence waiting for the smoke to clear but Clair must have seen a gap before I did. "Dragonbreath again." Umbreon had grunted in pain after hearing the move connect. "Follow up with Surf." A large wave came down on Umbreon again while also making the other side of the field wet. Now the smoke had disappeared completely; Umbreon still looked it fighting shape.

    "Umbreon, use Bi..." No. I can't do that. That would screw up my entire strategy, but I have to hold on just a little bit longer.

    "Nowhere to run now Mitch. Dragonair, Thunder Wave."

    "You're wrong Clair; there is a place to run. Feint Attack straight ahead with Quick Attack for extra power!" It was pretty gutsy charging into the air over the water, but I really can't afford to get Umbreon paralyzed.

    A loud noise echoed throughout the gym followed up by a large splash. I think I won until that dragon slithered back onto the land potion of the battlefield with Umbreon holding on. "Dragonbreath. Get it off of you!" The move missed as Umbreon let go on his own.

    "Dark Pulse!"

    "Into the water!"

    I made sure that it stayed submerged for a little bit; checkmate. "Use Toxic ." Blotches of purple liquid were sent into the moat which turned the water into swamp water. In a matter of seconds, a fainted Dragonair floated to the surface.

    "Dragonair is unable to battle. This round goes to Umbreon." Score two for me. One for the actual win plus one for making that moat useless.

    Clair shot me a very dirty look. "How dare you come into my gym and poison these sacred waters. No trainer has done something so dishonorable is my time as leader. Unfortunately I have to let it go since this is an official gym battle. However, you will still pay for that. Gyarados, get out here!"

    Well now, looks like I got inside her head. That alone should get me the win but it's 4-3 in favor of me with a lot of battling left. In my heart of hearts Umbreon could win, but it's much easier to throw out Ampharos. She looked at the poisoned water and went to poke it until the stench pulled her away. I swear she's a handful sometimes. Judge's orders were to start the battle once Ampharos went back to her side.

    Clair wasted no time going for a knockout blow. "Hydro Pump." A huge blast of water came out of its mouth heading straight for the moat. She has a sharp mind trying to dilute the water to the point where the toxins won't hurt anyone who goes in the moat. "Add more force Gyarados!" Now this wasn't about diluting it anymore; this was clearing the moat entirely and putting in her own water. Also, that toxic water was flying all over the battlefield, landing on both Pokémon. Once it was all said and done, both of them looked poisoned. Touché.

    I don't have time or guts to see how this round will turn out if I don't end it now. "Use Discharge!" The result was fairly obvious with Gyarados falling to the ground after the one hit.

    "Gyarados is unable to battle. The round goes to Ampharos." If I didn't have Ampharos, I probably would have had to throw out my own. Even then I'm hoping for a draw at best. Right now I'm in a prime position up 4-2 with a chance to sweep the hardest gym leader in the region.

    She just stared down at her Gyarados' ball before mumbling "Why do I do this to you? Every time someone has to bring an electric type. Don't worry, we're far from done." Piercing eyes met mine along with a scowl. "Time to get serious. Dragonair, you're up." Oh for Arceus' sake another one? This one may have some different moves compared to the other one. I mean, why would you have two of the exact same Pokémon? Regardless of what moves it has, I know that Espeon might be able to control it better with her psychic abilities.

    "Ampharos return! Alright Espeon, showtime!"

    Ruby's P.O.V.

    Amazing isn't it? I somehow ended up at the very place where my life officially became a living hell. It really didn't register in my mind that I was really here since I just shrugged it off as a coincidence. Cold air from the Ice Path still got into my ball but I didn't think about what would happen after we got out of that place. When Mitch walked back to the Dragon's Den for the first time, I saw the battlefield and prayed that we wouldn't be standing near it. Luckily for me that didn't happen the first time. Over the course of the night I realized that we'd be going back for that last badge. Mental toughness is something I have for sure, I just wonder about the power to win. The only reason I lasted so long was because of adrenaline rushes in the last battle plus the thought of making Sara happy.

    "Alright Espeon, showtime!" Why? Why did he decide to use me? Am I really that strong? Do I stand a chance? Most importantly, what happens if I lose?
    Clair was still the same as she was when I last saw her except for the Dragonair in front of her this time. Before the judge started the battle, Clair stared at me then spoke. "A trainer a little younger than you came in here about a month or two ago. She had an Eevee that evolved mid-battle into an Espeon. That still wasn't good enough to defeat me though because she was naïve to think that deflecting attacks would get her the badge. However, I don't remember a scar on her Espeon. You have some explaining to do after this battle."

    Mitch took offense to that last sentence. "Shut up and let's get this over with."

    "I told you not to talk to me like that again. Slam attack Dragonair."

    "Swift!" Dragonair came in for a hard swipe but I set it off course with sharp stars. Unfortunately I still took some damage on the back end of the swipe. "Confusion!" I opted to fire a beam of energy at it for some moderate damage.


    "Dragonbreath!"

    "Psybeam!" We were evenly matched as the smoke started to cover the battlefield. Mitch probably saw the same opening in the smoke and he took the chance to strike. "Psybeam!" Rainbow like beams were sent toward the blue dragon and neither of them saw it coming.

    "Ice Beam!" An icy cold burst of energy hit me dead center; at least I didn't get frozen this time. Mitch wasn't as concerned compared to Pryce's battle. "Another Ice Beam."

    "Counter with Quick Attack!" Faster than the Ice Beam, I easily dodged the attack while landing another hit through the smoke.

    Clair was starting to look like she was in a zone. "Blow it away with Twister!" Best way to describe the attack: like someone put me merry-go-round that won't stop. Balancing after that was pretty challenging but I got it together in time to fire a Confusion attack at Dragonair. I didn't get up.

    "Dragonair is unable to battle. The round goes to Espeon." Perfect. I made it through another tough battle not feeling too tired. Psybeam isn't as exhausting to use compared to earlier which lets me have more options if I need them.

    "You've beaten three of my Pokémon. Now it's time for you to face my strongest one in the moat. Kingdra, I choose you!" No. Please Arceus no. Mitch isn't looking like he'll switch me out either. If there was ever a time to prove myself, this was it. This very Pokémon was the one that flipped my world upside down.

    Revenge isn't really the right word to describe what I'm thinking now. Oh no, that's reserved for Sara if I ever see her again. How I feel right now is anxious.
    Kingdra charged at me firing a Dragonbreath; I countered with Confusion. Mitch was a little stunned at how fast it was but regrouped. "Espeon use Psybeam!" The move connected for some decent damage.

    "Smokescreen." Fuck. I know where this is going. "Surf."

    "Confusion as a shield Espeon!" Shade had taught me so much while we lived n the forest and now was the time to take advantage. Shield height and width were as small as I could make them and still be protected from the wave. It bypassed me harmlessly and another wave was sent my way; I used Quick Attack to jump for the time being.

    I saw Clair smirk once I was above the smoke. "Hyper Beam when it comes down." she said with a stone cold expression on her face after the smile faded.
    "Confusion. Turn it around." Mitch sounded so confident in his strategy but Hyper Beam was the last move that practically ended my life. The attack was fired once I was close enough to the ground. Once I felt my feet touch the ground, I immediately tried to contain the powerful blast. Somehow I was holding the massive amount of energy in place. Then I felt this extra strength to send the attack back to Kingdra. One massive explosion shook the gym and Kingdra was down for good. Redemption.

    "Kindgra is unable to battle. Since all four of Clair's Pokémon are unable to battle, the match goes to the challenger Mitch from Violet City."Unbelievable. I was so hyped up that I ran around the battlefield cheering until I made my way back to Mitch and passed out.
    He gently stroked my head before I fell deeper into unconsciousness. His words were spoken so softly. "You did it Espeon. I'm so proud of you. We'll celebrate later. Get some rest." Just like that, I went back to my ball for the most peaceful sleep in my life.

    Mitch's P.O.V.

    Whatever got into Espeon, it worked big time. She made Clair's strongest Pokémon look like a joke by only taking down in a few hits. Espeon has gotten so much more confident n my time with her. Umbreon may have helped her early on, but it seems like she's been carrying herself better more often. Clair walked over with the badge in hand.

    "You knocked out my entire team. Based on skill you earn this badge. However, I saw that scar on Espeon; don't think I didn't see Umbreon's scar either. The Pokémon League gives us the power to deny badges to trainers in extenuating circumstances. I would say that this qualifies. Linda is the oldest priestess of Dragon's Den. Talk to her then come back to me with her by your side. If she deems you are worthy then I will give you my badge."

    Holding in my anger was very hard to do, so I let it slip out a little bit in my response. "Fine. I will talk with her and I will be back. Have a nice day." The Pokémon Center was a decent distance away so I decided to heal up first before going out to find Linda.

    A voice came from behind me. "Hello young one."
     
  5. Writer4fun

    Joined:
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    Chapter 25- Rising Up

    Mitch's P.O.V.

    There was an odd satisfaction when Kingdra finally fainted. I mean sure, I just won my eighth and final badge to get into the Silver Conference but there was something about Espeon that entire battle. She looked like she was a little nervous when I called her out. Maybe my own nervousness was affecting her since a few psychic types can copy the emotions of their trainers. Regardless, it was a clutch move having Espeon beating two of Clair's dragons because Gyarados got some more rest. I honestly think he's getting restless from not battling for so long. I know I'm pretty restless after not getting the badge because of some scars. If I had truly known what happened that night then I would've just told the truth. Now I have to find Linda and get the only person Clair trusts around here to convince her to give me a badge.

    "Hello young one." Damn that scared me. At least I found her.

    "Clair said I had to talk to you. She thinks I'm not worthy of Blackthorn City's badge because..."

    "Hush. Follow me." Without saying a word, Linda brought me back behind the gym to a small wooden boat. Another gym assistant was already there to row us across to a cave. The short ride over was eerie since the only sound was that of rippling water from the oar. Once we arrived at a dock, Linda finally spoke to me. "You have been in the Dragon's Den before. However, this time you must visit the Dragon Shrine. I will be waiting there along with two other elders. You may choose to go back or you may choose to continue riding. The choice is yours. Farewell." She disappeared behind a large door while I had to continue the ride around.

    The gym assistant looked down at me. "Do you dare continue? I must warn you, the elders do not take kindly to those they see unworthy to enter the shrine, even though Clair may have sent them."

    What could she possibly mean by unworthy? Still, the prospect of punishment did not knock me off of my path. "Take me to the shrine. I accept her invitation." A solemn nod came from the rower as she continued to paddle to the dock that contained the Dragon Shrine.

    Fear mixed with hope was written over her face. "Good luck." Now I'm getting more nervous but I can't turn back now.

    Both doors opened on their own as I approached. The inside was paying homage to all dragons from many different regions as well as many different time periods. Linda appeared in front of me as the doors closed. "You have made the decision to come here instead of fleeing. Now stand in front of the council." She made her way up a set of stairs to a fire pit where the other two male elders lit the fire. "Let us begin." Begin? Begin what? This was getting more intimidating by the minute.

    One elder spoke after they said a prayer to a divine looking statue. "My name is Adam. I have been a priest in the shrine for quite some time. I have seen many a trainer walk through here but a vast majority were not worthy of seeing this place. You will be tested before the three of us. This is your last chance to change your mind if you have doubts about being tested."

    I stood as tall as I could. "I'm not going to walk out. Go right ahead."

    Adam nodded. "Very well call out the two Pokémon in question." Umbreon and Espeon were sent out to just stand there; both of them looked a little beat up since I never went back to the Pokémon Center. "What are your Pokémon to you? Are they your pals? Underlings? Friends?"

    Dumb question. "My Pokémon and I are friends and companions. We both help each other out."

    "Ah, I see. Now what helps you win battles? Strategy? Under minded strategies? Raising your Pokémon?"

    "I raise my Pokémon to face tough battles. If any of my Pokémon are at a severe disadvantage or in danger, then I will concede defeat."

    "Interesting. Which type of trainer would you battle? A strong one or a weak one?"

    "Now this is a trick question. If any other trainer were to come up and ask for a battle, I would battle them regardless of their skill. There is experience to be gained by battling anyone."

    "Finally, what is the most important thing that a trainer needs to raise Pokémon?"

    Interesting that Adam didn't give me options to choose from this time around; this one's on me. "Compassion. Every Pokémon is unique and I wouldn't trade these two for any other Espeon or Umbreon in the world."

    Linda looked to the other elder then to Adam. "Your responses are very interesting. I sense no negative feelings in both of your Pokémon when you were answering. Countless trainers have given countless answers to these four questions. Some have fared well while others did not. Elder Nico, please offer the final test."

    Nico made his way to the bottom step. "We will battle to see if you are truly worthy of a badge or if your victory over Clair was a fluke. You are to use Espeon since it defeated two of Clair's Pokémon. Go Dragonite." The orange dragon materialized looking hell bent on defending the shrine's honor. Espeon looked horrified at the sudden turn of events. Somehow she still staggered to the middle of the shrine.

    "No."

    "Hmmm. What do you mean young man? Do you not want the badge?"

    "I refuse to let her battle in her current condition." He looked at Espeon and studied her movements before he acted.

    An icy command filled the shrine. "Fire Blast."

    What part of "no" did he not understand!? I reached for my ball to call her back but Umbreon had stepped in front of her to take the hit; I couldn't grab both of them fast enough and Fire Blast connected. Umbreon was clearly injured but he was standing albeit panting very heavily; Espeon started to tremble.

    Nico's face remained emotionless. "I thought I told you that you can only use Espeon in this battle."

    I lost it. "AND I THOUGHT I SAID THAT I RESFUED TO LET HER BATTLE!" Silence filled the shrine for five minutes while I regained most of my composure. "How dare you attack my friend like that. She is in no condition to fight let alone move out of the way."

    He still didn't seem to listen to me. "Hyper Beam." Yellow energy started to gather at Dragonite's maw.

    "RETURN!" This time I had both balls in hand to call them back. Nico quickly threw his right hand up by his head and Dragonite stopped on a dime.

    "Call them back out again." Nico said in his emotionless voice. I just stared him down for awhile until he recalled Dragonite. "Now you may call them out. There is no threat anymore." I did so with extreme caution and stood in front of them while he went back up to the fire pit.

    Linda had nodded at Adam and Nico before addressing me. "In the face of adversity you chose to flee. However, you remained true to your beliefs in a challenging time. Your friends were in danger and despite wanting to face a strong trainer to prove your worth; you realized that you have not raised your Pokémon enough to take on such a challenge. Showing compassion to your Pokémon is most admirable. You are indeed worthy of the Rising Badge. Call back those two and come back to the gym with me and stand before Clair."

    She descended from the pit along with Adam and Nico while I made my way to the door. All three of them had a conversation which ended with a bow. The girl who took us over on the boat was very surprised to see me get back on after entering the shrine. Linda had been looking at me the entire time we were still in the Dragon's Den. She told me that Nico was aware that I was reaching for my ball but he never predicted that Umbreon would step in. We arrived back on land behind the gym shortly after and gave our thanks to the gym assistant. Linda must have seen my face considering how confused I was at what just happened.

    "We test trainers that way to make sure that they are ready for the journey ahead. Only a handful of trainers have answered Adam's questions and then acted according to their beliefs. Most trainers give the obvious answer then turn on their word when it comes time to battle with Nico. Even if some younger trainers are not as pure as others, as long as they stick to their beliefs during the test then they will be awarded a badge."

    "So what's the deal if they do lie or do something stupid?"

    Her face formed a scowl. "Those who are unworthy face a variety of punishments. One girl in particular had been yelling at her Pokémon for hours after she suffered a defeat. She won on her fourth try but she failed our test miserably. All four of her answers were similar to yours but when it came for battle, she did not act according to her values. However, she did win which is a testament to her pure strength. Clair had hoped she had seen the error in her ways but had no choice but to give her the badge. You have nothing to worry about young man." The gym was still empty when both of us walked back in except for Clair standing in her trainer's box. We approached her ready to talk it out.

    "I see you've returned Linda. Is Mitch worthy of Blackthorn City's badge?"

    Linda took one more step forward. "He has passed both of our tests. He is indeed worthy."

    Clair sighed while she reached into her pocket. "In accordance with league rules, I give you the Rising Badge." The black badge kinda looked like a dragon head with piercing red eyes; very creepy to say the least. "With this badge, you can register for the Silver Conference. There is a ferry that arrives in New Bark Town periodically to take trainers to the Indigo Plateau. Normally you have to pay but your registration into the tournament waives it." Clair still looked anxious.

    "Linda... what was wrong with Espeon and Umbreon? Did you figure it out?"

    "I'm sorry I don't follow, but what do you mean?"

    "Linda has the ability to communicate with Pokémon on a level that is nearly unreachable; it's like she can figure them out just by looking into their eyes. Ancient dragon masters tried to master this skill but few could. The ability is not passed down either. Only through intense meditation can one communicate with any Pokémon and even that can take an entire lifetime."

    A gentle nudge was given to me by the elderly priestess so I called out the two Pokémon I saved from the forest that night. Espeon was still trembling until Linda started gently petting her while Umbreon was still showing signs of being tense. I calmed him down with some petting of my own. Linda led us back to the Dragon's Den through the gym door and we all sat down on the grass. She took a deep breath and said that both stories served to ease Clair's concerns as well as me understanding them better.

    "Which story would you like to hear first Clair?" She pointed to Espeon. "Very well. This Espeon seemed to be destined to die at a very young age. As an Eevee, she was the runt of the litter with only having brothers. Her Jolteon father and Espeon mother abandoned just her one day and she searched for an evolutionary stone to get stronger. A young girl named Sara caught her and it seemed she was happy with each battle they won. However, Sara was unsure if she wanted a Vaporeon because she had Ice Beam which would have made the battle a little easier to manage. Mid-battle, Eevee evolved into an Espeon for the desire to make her master happy but she lost when you knocked it out with a Hyper Beam. After your first match Clair, she physically and verbally abused the newly evolved Espeon after you left to tend to the shrine for hours on end. Sara had released her into the wild without healing her in the hopes that she would die. She was saved by this Umbreon here and all was going well until they came face to face with one Pinsir and one Ariados. The Ariados took her back to a clearing to torture her with poison and having her unable to move until Umbreon rescued her. She faintly remembers Mitch giving her an antidote before going to sleep. The scar comes from a series of Poison Sting attacks. Ever since she has met Mitch and Umbreon, she is much happier but still fears that she will be let go again or will be too weak to continue the journey despite making it this far."

    Both of us just stared at Linda in disbelief. Espeon went from standing up to lying down with her paws covering her eyes; whimpers shortly followed. What... the...actual... fuck. I mean I knew that Espeon was hurt, but I had no idea it was that bad. Only two things are on my mind after that story: payback for Espeon later and comforting her now. I slowly scooted over to her and tried to pull her in. She flinched initially but held my arms as I scooped her onto my lap where she started to cry again. I started to gently pet her as Linda smiled warmly at me then turned to Clair. "Thank you Linda. Thank you for telling me what I couldn't understand."

    She turned back to me. "I was going to tell you eventually but you were almost late for this battle. Now it's time to hear Umbreon's story. Are both of you ready?"

    "I'll tell it?" Now Clair and Linda looked surprised. "He used to have a loving trainer but he was killed by Team Rocket. Also, Umbreon was taken to Mahogany Town to be experimented on for some collector. To be honest Clair, he knows six moves. He came running into my camp with a dislocated hip after saving Espeon. Oh yeah, I never actually caught them when we met. However, I still brought them to the Mahogany Pokémon Center to get healed up before moving to Ekruteak City. As soon as we entered through the gate he was off to the cemetery to see his old master's grave. From then on, he's been pretty focused on battling and hates losing."

    Linda nodded as Clair looked dumbfounded. "Six moves!? That experiment must have been pretty serious." Umbreon walked over to me. "So why didn't use all of them?"

    "Ummm you're kidding right? You'd probably stop the battle and ask me how that would be possible. I wouldn't have any answers which would open up a can of worms." I turned to Linda. "Anything I miss?"

    The priestess was in thought. "Well let's see... there are some minor details. Umbreon's hip injury was caused by the Pinsir. For whatever its worth too, Umbreon was an Eevee that was sold for money. It wants to prove that it is the strongest. It also loves you unconditionally but still wishes Tom were alive."

    "So you want to prove your strength even more? You gave Furret a run for her money. That in itself is pretty hard to do." He just purred and nuzzled Espeon, who was still quietly sobbing after her story had been told. "Are my other four Pokémon 'normal' then?"

    "Yes. Compared to these two, your other Pokémon have lived normal lives."

    Four remaining Poké Balls were tossed into the air. Furret, Gyarados, Ampharos, and Growlithe all saw Espeon and gathered around her but Furret was the one doing most of the talking while Umbreon was still showing his affection. "Listen up everyone. I want to tell you that we have all eight badges and we are going to the Indigo Plateau. Espeon is worried that she's not strong enough to keep going. Is that true?" Gyarados immediately shook his head. If my strongest pure power Pokémon thinks that Espeon can continue, then I know there is a higher level of team chemistry going on. "See Espeon? I will never let you go. I am not Sara. I promise if we face each other on the battlefield, I will win so help me Arceus."

    Clair's expression softened up. "So you're really going huh? I don't really say this a lot, but good luck."

    I looked down at Espeon. "My Pokémon have already risen to the occasion despite their pasts. Now it's my turn to rise up."

    "Oh master..."
     
  6. Writer4fun

    Joined:
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    Chapter 26-On A Whole New Level

    Mitch's P.O.V.

    Getting praise from Clair was no easy thing according to Linda or any other of the gym assistants. All eight badges had been earned through blood, sweat, tears, heart, mind, and soul by everyone on our team. Espeon has lost the most blood going through this road, but not a single drop fell under my care. Umbreon had probably sweated the most, but he always had sweat out of fear since he always loved Espeon. Since under my care, a bead of sweat has not fallen because of fear or uncertainty. The greatest gift I have given them was a loving environment. Furret had shed the most tears, especially on that day early in my journey. Gyarados by far has the most heart on the battlefield. It's not to say that the other five don't, it's just that he has never lost in any important battle. He's been beaten down so many times yet he always got back up. Ampharos has the one of the best minds on the team since electricity can be used in so many different ways. She makes use of her power very wisely. Finally, Growlithe has the most soul due to him being my first Pokémon. Both of us have been through it all since he came into my Violet City house.

    Both dragon trainers gave me some key information on the Indigo Plateau like its location, what to bring, how to deal with the press, and other smaller things. When I asked about what to expect, they told me I had to experience it myself. I stood up, recalled the two eons, and made my way back to the Pokémon Center to double check my things before I left for good. Back in the Dragon's Den I swore I heard a voice inside my head. Maybe it was just me getting tired or hungry.

    It had been some time since I had a full blown meal so I decided to check for any restaurants in the area. Breakfast and lunch usually consists of cereal bars but sometimes I just don't have the supplies for dinner. Come to think of it, the Olivine Market was the last place I was surrounded by great food. That super coupon I got from winning was mainly for special items. Oh how I wish I could have gotten some extra food plus containers for the leftovers. To be fair it probably wouldn't have fit in my bag anyway. Now that I think about it, my bag has been practically empty for quite some time with the exception of some random items I may never use. Meh, I'm hungry. Here I guess?

    The place looked like it was a little fancy for me considering I was still in my all-purpose coat and hiking pants. Even the hostess looked hesitant to seat me until she realized I was the pendant bearer for the ceremony not too long ago. I was seated at a small table outside with a large area around me.

    "You can let out your Pokémon if want to sir." the hostess said hesitantly.

    "Perfect. After getting the Rising Badge we would love to eat together. Just give me a sec." A look of shock slowly came across her face as she saw all six Pokémon come out onto the patio. "I'll just need a few minutes to order please." She walked back to her station still looking a little intimidated. Let's see what looks good here. Pepperoni Pizza? Absolutely. There seems to be no Pokémon food listed so they probably have some.

    A waitress came out with a notepad looking equally intimidated by my party. "W-what do you want to eat?"

    "I'll have a large pepperoni pizza for myself and Pokémon food for everyone else here. Water too please."

    "Okay I'll put that in." She hustled to the back of the house. I looked down at the table in reflection.

    Leaving Violet City, or at least the outskirts, was a tough decision to make. Money had been a little tight growing up. School was alright except for the fact that I really didn't have friends. Owning a Growlithe was a nice perk in the classroom because not a lot of children had a Pokémon to call their own. Most of the people I went to school with became trainers as soon as they could whereas I worked to put money in my nest egg when the time came to leave. Registering for the Silver Conference was honestly harder than getting my first two badges; any mistake on the paperwork would have meant a delay in getting my trainer's license. A fair amount of my graduating class actually found out that the trainer's life wasn't for them so they either settled back home or wandered down a new path. Most of them still love Pokémon enough to own at least one.

    My waitress came back some ten minutes after I placed my order and tapped me on the shoulder to get me back into the real world. "Here's your pizza plus the Pokémon food."

    "Thank you very much." All six slices in that pizza were scarfed down pretty fast and five of my team members finished their food pretty quickly. Only Espeon wasn't concerned about eating her victory meal. She was too busy staring across the way before going to eat slowly. The sound of feet approaching our table forced me to turn around out of instinct.

    A girl who looked nineteen having red hair and standing about 5'6" was in front of me. "I couldn't help but notice your Espeon was staring at me. Is there something wrong with me? Do I have something on my face?" Those were genuine sounding questions.

    "I mean you look normal."

    She got snarky. "What does that mean?" You're kidding right? What a bitch.

    "All I did was answer your question. I don't want any trouble and I'm pretty sure you don't either." Her hand slowly reached for her back pocket. "For the love of Arceus don't do it. We're in a pretty crowded place."

    She eventually put her hand back by her side then shot me a glare. "I know you probably beat Clair for your last badge. See you at the Indigo Plateau." Just like that she was on her way. Espeon was really looking pale even after she was done eating. I checked the ferry guide once I paid the check. Despite Blackthorn having no ferry service they were nice enough to provide the information. New Bark Town was the closest place for a ferry to the Indigo Plateau just like Linda said.

    Each Pokémon looked drowsy after stuffing their faces full of food so I went to call them back. Espeon violently shook her head which caused Umbreon to growl at a low volume. To my surprise, Espeon nudged Umbreon ahead so that he could go back. The look on his face was mixed between relief and fear while holding a tired smile. It was just the two of us walking through the city to the open southern gate with her trying to hide behind me the entire time. Offering her the chance to get back was declined every time until she sat down in an open field with nobody around.

    "I really don't understand Espeon. What's with you right now? You've never acted like this before. Not even when we met." Whether or not she was trying, the puppy dog eyes came out in full force. "Aww come on. Don't do that..."

    "I thought I would never see her again."

    Mind games just like in Dragon's Den yet... "Did you just say something?" Espeon continued to stare into space. "Your mouth didn't..."

    "You can hear me!? Oh Arceus I didn't think I could do it. Well I guess I finally gained the ability to talk to you through telepathy."

    "So you tried to talking to me back there too?" A small nod to me. I cracked a smile. "Well I'm glad you can now. You probably have a lot to say." Just the wind blowing made the next few minutes a little tense. Luckily the sunset made it a little easier to restart the conversation. "So what did you mean by you would never see her again?"

    She immediately tensed up before talking really slowly. "I-I-I r-r-really can't believe that I would see her face after she left me to die that night. I shouldn't be alive right now." Poor Espeon was starting to cry just like Umbreon the first time he returned to the cemetery. Linda was right when she told me Espeon had a horrible past. Now the Demons have come back except for this one will torment her as long as she is alive and I didn't do a damn thing about it when she was right in front of my face. Arceus dammit!

    Espeon continued to weep for as long as she could before finally crawling into my lap. The sniffling eventually was replaced by slow breathing after the sun had finally set. Gently petting her made her curl up in a tight ball. I made sure to whisper so she wouldn't get scared. "You don't have to tell me everything since I think Linda did a good job. If you want to talk I'll be here. Just know that when I see her again there will be hell to pay. Losing against her is not an option. But let's cross that bridge when we get to it. Now let's pitch the tent for tonight." Placing her gently on the soft grass allowed me to set up camp for the night. It was a pain in the ass without some light until the tent stakes dug themselves into the ground. Espeon had made her way inside after I finished setting up the sleeping bag. She hopped in before I took out her ball; her head shook.

    Her paw poked at my shoulder. "Can you sleep next to me tonight?" I guess sleeping beside Pokémon to comfort them is acceptable. Still, it feels weird because I've never done it with Growlithe even though he was my first. "I just don't wanna go back in my ball right now. Some nights I have nightmares about that night where I should have died from poison or the time Sara threw me away. Mitch, sometimes I wonder if I should have just given up. Even travelling with you I sometimes feel like I'm not good enough."

    Damn. Talk about not knowing your Pokémon. We were always told in school that body language of a Pokémon usually gave away its feelings. Problem is that Espeon has been doing too good of a job hiding how she really feels. Battling in certain situations makes her uncomfortable for sure, but this is something they don't prepare you for in school. Nobody told me how to deal with Pokémon that have been treated like shit their entire lives; that was never a lesson. Any Pokémon that evolves by happiness that are found in the wild are quite rare which was a red flag to me. Nevertheless I didn't dig deeper since both of them affectionately begged me to take them. Hearing that hurt like hell.

    "Don't you dare talk like that to yourself or to anyone else. Even if I didn't want you then I would give you to someone who would. There is no reason to give you up when we're all so close to the top. All the work you put in will continue to pay off. We've been through this before yet the answer is the same every time: I will love you and everyone on this team. We made it too far to doubt ourselves. Sara? I'll make sure I win against her."

    Espeon took a deep breath. "I can't believe it... you're just like Shade. How do you have limitless empathy for a weak Pokémon like me?"

    "First, you're not weak. Second, a Pokémon's strength partly relies on the trainer's own strength. All I want out of everyone is to battle to the best of their abilities. Win or lose, I still love you all. Third... who's Shade?"

    "Oh, Shade is Umbreon. My name is Ruby."

    "So I can call you Ruby or Espeon?" She nodded to both names. "Does anyone else have a name that I'm not aware of?

    "Not that I know of. Maybe you've picked up on the fact that there are some pairings though. Furret and Growlithe are the newest couple; it happened when you were passed out in the woods after the ice gym battle. Gyarados has no idea how much Ampharos loves him which makes the other couple interesting. Shade and I have been really close since the night we met."

    That stay in Cianwood City was her doing. All of them have been a little less anxious since that stay. Living in the Olivine Lighthouse probably made their bonds grow more too. Gyarados took the floor any time there was a bed and Ampharos followed him. How did I not add that up? Arceus I'm such an idiot when it comes to this stuff. "Wow. Maybe I should pay attention to everyone more closely. Unfortunately everyone's going to continue to get hurt in battle. Not a lot of battles happen where one side doesn't get hurt. That doesn't mean I won't try to make sure everyone can stay healthy. Remember that Dragonite? There was no way that I would let you fight that Pokémon in your state."

    Espeon curled up tighter. "I wish you found me first. You are the best master a Pokémon could ask for. As a favor, I can help you talk to everyone else through me. They have a lot to say too. Just don't let me go for now."

    "Master just doesn't sound right to me. You can call me that if you want, but you can always call me Mitch." I gently kissed her forehead. "Get some sleep pretty girl."

    "Hmmmm yup. Exactly what Shade would do."

    Rain started to fall outside about an hour after we were done talking. It would have been horrible except the weatherproof rain cover kept the water out and the sleeping bag was toasty. She had been sleeping soundly while I was fading in and out for awhile. After hearing all of that straight from her mouth err... mind, I just couldn't sleep peacefully. What if I just fought them at first sight? What if they came to me appearing healthy? Killing a wild Pokémon is something I have never done but Umbreon biting me would have given me a reason to kill him. How can I balance all of this in the heat of battle? Jeez, they should probably teach this in school too.

    The morning sun was covered by clouds as I woke up first. Ruby had not woken up when I stepped outside to stretch. When I came back in, she was twitching in her sleep. Just one touch made her stop on a dime; purring followed. Once she was fully awake, she continued to purr while rubbing her had on my arm. "We have to get to New Bark Town so you have to go back. By the time we reach the Indigo Plateau we'll be more than ready to take on any challenge we face." Her paw tapped the center of the ball after a lick to the face. Once everything was put away I had no choice but to stare at her ball reflecting on the past few hours.

    "Keep fighting."
     
  7. Writer4fun

    Joined:
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    Chapter 27- Rough Road to the Show

    Mitch's P.O.V.

    Morning had made its presence known as the sun beamed down from the clear sky into the tent. Wind whipped as I readied my things to go to New Bark Town to catch a boat to the Indigo Plateau. Ferry schedules are accurate most of the time but there is always a chance to be late due to some headwinds or a school of Seaking blocking the boat. Espeon err... Ruby had finally spoken to me after finally learning to control her power. I thought it was just a fluke, but her soothing beautiful voice was much more confident when we were talking last night. I knew something was wrong with her mentally when I found her because psychic types can usually get inside your mind within a few hours; two days at most if they are really slow on the whole mind talking thing. Evolving for a person and having them send you out into a hostile environment half dead would not make me want to talk to anyone let alone trust anyone. There are demons still inside of her that may never leave, but I'll be damned if they consume her. Still, I just can't wait to talk to everyone. Who knows what I've missed?

    The mountain trail south of Blackthorn was ragged and very unbalanced compared to the smooth Ice Path or the common grasslands. I treaded carefully through the thin pass that was carved out for travelers. One look up had me seeing Skarmory in their nests snoozing away where one look down had me seeing a very deep ravine; what kept me from losing it completely was that I could at least see the bottom. School taught me that steel types are more sensitive to vibrations so I had to avoid creating a rock slide if I wanted any chance of going undetected. Another factor was the sun. Skarmory tend to hunt when dusk rolls around since it's easier to catch prey before they can really get a chance to hide.

    Slowly I made my way down the mountain with both hands grabbing at whatever bulged out for balance. Jasmine's jacket was still holding up but I was starting to think it was getting too hot despite the wind blowing. A section of the trail was bigger a few hundred feet down so I took the chance to reassess my situation once I reached the unnatural rest stop. The jacket came off but I opted to keep my pants on as opposed to zipping off the part below the knee for shorts. From first glance it seemed the path was going to shrink again. However, I still had this feeling there would be loose rocks in addition to the path opening up as I continued to go down.

    "Ampharos, I need some backup." She took some time to stretch after being crammed in the ball for so long. Making the decision to have her escort me was not an easy one. Unfortunately there seems like a high chance that Skarmory mothers are going to fight over me if I kicked a stone. "Here's the deal. We need to make it down the mountain but I can't do it alone. Can you help me?" Ampharos looked ready to go; good enough for me. Descending from that small open space was even more dangerous that before with the loose rocks all over the place. Eventually it got to a point where it was a minefield; every step had potential to knock rocks down into the ravine. My luck ran out as both of us were faced with a boulder blocking 90% of our path.

    "Looks like we're going to have to climb over this thing unless we want to walk on the edge of the cliff." Her facial expression told me that climbing over the boulder was the better choice. I somehow made it over but as soon as she made it over the top, it started to shift. She ended up thrashing out of fear which made it move even more. "Hold on! You're almost there!" It was no use. She wasn't actually moving forward so I had to grab whatever loose fluff she had and yank her off; the boulder pinballed down the ravine while we backed up against the side of the mountain.

    "SKARRRRRR! SKAR! SKAR! SKAR!" Looks like our cover is blown. Arceus dammit.

    "Use Discharge!" The whole flock fled after getting zapped only to be replaced by a second wave. Just like the last one, this one was also was scared off. Skarmory are hostile Pokémon that rarely just go away after one super effective hit though. "Keep it up!" Our plan was to back up slowly down the mountain while hitting any one that made their way closer. We had made it only a few feet before one got past the electric field.

    Peck attacks rained down from a very young steel bird which caused me to throw my left arm up to protect my face. Was it fatal? No. Did it hurt like hell? Absolutely. Tossing it aside was easy since it had to be only weeks old, but my arm was practically red Swiss cheese. Things weren't looking good for either of us because Ampharos was expending too much energy just to protect herself; I had to take a risk. "Ampharos let's get out of here!"

    She stopped her attack to start running. I had made sure she was in front of me so that I could easily call her back if anything else were to happen. Slim trail turned to somewhat wider grassland after finally making so far down. The ravine had become a fifteen foot drop compared to what felt like a mile long and I saw that there was a well established trail leading somewhere. We were still relatively high up but each step was closer to the bottom. It dawned on me that I could risk sliding down to the ravine and walking the alternate path so I went for it.

    Baseball sliding on the side of a mountain was probably not the best way to handle it. My left arm somehow got even more covered in blood followed by parts of my left leg that weren't covered by my pants. When both of us made it to the bottom, we tried to hide ourselves the best we could. After a few minutes they all just left. My best bet was that Skarmory hate lower elevations or that they were too far from their home. I went to call back Ampharos but she refused to go back after looking over my bloody arm. We set off on the ravine's path for awhile until a wide open field was before our eyes. Although it was so open, the bottom of the mountain was still a ways away. Our rate needed to improve if we wanted to get down by dusk.

    Off in the distance I saw some very large boulders that were... moving? Wait... "GRAV! GRAV!" Today just isn't my lucky day. A pack of four wild Graveler made its way in my direction. They all looked hesitant but the dry blood was the only thing they needed to know about me; I was a dead man walking. Rollout took me by surprise as I took the hit and was sent flat on my back by their leader. It spun back around for a second hit except that Ampharos stood in front of me to take the hit this time and then a third one.

    I was furious she kept taking those hits. "Get back in the ball dammit! I'll be fine!" No dice. There was something in her eye that kept her going. By the fifth one, she could only get to her knees as she was pummeled again. This time she didn't get back up; the area was about to be reconstructed. "Gyarados!" He was looking well ready after the long hiatus that I gave him. Once he looked back at me his attitude changed drastically. I could barely stand, left forearm covered in red holes, fading out of consciousness, and he saw Ampharos out cold. Whatever fight he had in him was amplified tenfold at the very least. It wasn't just a battle for him anymore, especially after some more Graveler rolled up to the battle area. All of them attacked at once with Rollout but Gyarados countered with the most powerful water move: Hydro Pump.

    Every Graveler was blown back and was sent scurrying back to where they came from. Unfortunately for me, Gyarados kept thrashing about after they were long gone. My Luxury Ball beam couldn't get him to come back; he was too out of control for it to grab him. For the first time as a trainer I felt completely helpless. Nobody else in my party could make him stop. Umbreon has the best shot, but even he would get tossed aside like nothing as time went on.

    "Pa.." There goes my mind again from the exhaustion. "Palu..." I did a double take to see where the noise was coming from a second time. Ampharos had stumbled to her feet and was stumbling straight for Gyarados. She collapsed on the back of his tail and he immediately stopped. I too stumbled over to see the effects of her effort. Gyarados had gone back to being aware of his surroundings with no recollection of how much he carved up the area we were in. His guilt turned to concern once he saw how bad we both were. The first thing he did was coil around Ampharos so that nobody could even see her.

    By this point I was completely exhausted and still losing blood although not as much since the minor scrapes were clotted. A very faint "I'm sorry." was all I could say to my strongest fighter. He was in no mood to take his eyes off of her let alone letting her go. "Please Gyarados I need to heal her. Once I'm done then I'll leave you two alone." Uncoiling looked painful for him as I dumped out some potions to heal her. Bandages were placed on all of her wounds after I was done. Each time she winced or yelped in pain, I was given a harsh glare by Gyarados. He made sure to guard her tighter this time around. The next Pokémon that wandered through the area was met with a ferocious roar. No living thing that had half a brain would come near us for the rest of the day after his roar echoed throughout the mountain range. Camp was set up as the sun was setting after I took care of my own wounds. Darkness finally came after one of the worst days I've had as a trainer.

    Both of their balls were left just under the outer layer of the tent. "You can come back whenever you want. I have to rest." Sleeping bag warmth was something to look forward to as the night air got colder by the minute. There was a serious conversation going on outside that tent since I kept hearing her cries plus his mumbling. How easy it would be to send out Espeon to translate. I've already done enough damage for now. It's best to let them talk about whatever they're talking about.

    Neither of them went back to their ball. However, it was nice to hear Ampharos purring before I finally fell asleep; she's in good hands for tonight.

    Or maybe the rest of her life.
    Morning came when Ampharos made her way into the tent to wake me up. Poking things was always her way of communicating. So innocent yet very effective at getting things done for some reason. Packing up camp under the cloudy sky felt uncomfortable. Most trainers just want to win battles and rise to the top as fast as possible without caring about anything. After having gotten my fourth badge I was just like everyone else. Then an Umbreon with a dislocated hip came rolling in my camp with a near dead Espeon on his back. Realistic trainers would have taken Umbreon while leaving Espeon out in the cold or healing her up so that they wouldn't feel guilty about sending her back to the wild. One night paved the way for a whole new path to follow.

    Gyarados was at his calmest he had ever been at after I threw on my backpack. It was time to really tell those two where I stood. "Are you upset at what happened yesterday?" Ampharos shook her head while Gyarados kept a straight face. "What happened yesterday was an embarrassment to me as a trainer. I failed to protect you Ampharos when it mattered most. All the other gym leaders kept pleading that I make the right decision but that was not the case. Yesterday I made the selfish decision to protect myself without even considering that all of this might have happened. So I ask you this: do you trust me as your partner?"

    They both looked at each other for a solid thirty seconds then nodded at me; I took a deep breath. "I'm very lucky to have you with me. Come on let-"

    "Paluuu!" Ampharos had hugged me while starting to cry. Gyarados bowed his head.

    "I just want you to know that everyone's going to get hurt but I'll do everything I can so that nobody on this team has to go through something like this again. If anyone ends up severely hurt because of someone else, then I will get revenge somehow. Do you want to walk with me?" She nodded. "Let's move ahead. We're almost to New Bark Town."

    By the time we got to the gate connecting route 45-46 gate it was about 10:30am. Workers behind the counter gave me a physical copy of the ferry schedule so that I wouldn't have to memorize it in the future. The next departure wasn't until 12:15pm so I had some time to kill. For a strong trainer like myself it was refreshing to see weaker Pokémon roaming around the edges of New Bark Town. The actual town was fairly small even with the section reserved for Silver Conference registration.

    Killing time was pretty easy due to the laboratory in the northwest portion of town. Professor Elm was pretty open as a person and anyone could come in his lab unless he was in the middle of something big. Luckily for me that wasn't the case. Assistants were bustling about with their research as I moved about the lab. Eggs of many different Pokémon filled the lab which intrigued me the most because Pokémon breeding was a hard concept to grasp. Elm was just about to be finished with his observation when he spotted me.

    "You're Mitch aren't you?"

    "Yeah. How'd you know my name?"

    He looked like he was in a hurry. "Tell any other trainers that I'm not available for a few hours." What was that supposed to mean? "We need to go to the back of the lab right now. I'll explain when we get there." Elm led the way to his security coded door for which he entered the password. It looked like an average area of the lab but it was protected for a reason I guess.

    "So what are we doing Professor Elm?"

    "A league official told me that you had an interesting Pokémon with you. May I see it?" Umbreon was called out. "So it's an Umbreon. Listen Mitch, would you mind if I did some tests on it? Get some readings?"

    "Why?"

    "The person who contacted me told me that your Umbreon has five moves. While I know that Team Rocket is responsible for it, I just want to see its condition."
    "If you told me who told you that information then I'll consider it."

    He sighed. "It was a girl by name of Ashley. She had heard from a gym leader that you were carrying an experiment Pokémon." Pryce told her?

    "Well that is true. I guess I can see what's up. Are you okay with it buddy?" Umbreon stepped forward.

    "Great. Let me just run some tests. You can stay in the room." Over the course of an hour there were numerous pads connected to my dark type fighter along with various monitors. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary when Umbreon had to do something physically oriented.

    "So is there something I need to know?"

    "Based on these tests it's a miracle that nothing else is wrong with him."

    "What's that supposed to mean?"

    "Take a seat please." A chair was pulled up for me. "Any Pokémon that is experimented on usually goes through a rigorous process to normalize them so that they suffer no dangerous side effects. Team Rocket obviously didn't care about that so Umbreon is at risk for a number of things." I took a moment to process everything. "Now it has five moves but it also is severely at risk for what we call 'random attacker' when it is in battle. It means that he could use another move instead of the one you called out on accident regardless of owning all eight badges."

    "But he has six moves. Moonlight was used in the Blackthorn Pokémon Center."

    Elm's eyes grew wide. "Then that's why the data didn't add up. The probability of Umbreon using a random attack is at 50% with five moves. Six moves means that his odds of using a random attack at least once in battle jumps to 80%."

    I rubbed his head. "So how come it hasn't happened?"

    "Well it could be that he is in a stable environment. You are obviously a good trainer to have gotten this far as well as have other Pokémon that work well with him or accept him for who he is. Compassion goes a long way in addition to a mate, which you seem to have on your team based on his tests. I just want you to know that a random attack could happen during any given battle. I don't know what would happen if anyone else knew about the six moves though. Only a few of us know about it but we would never tell anyone. That is on you as a trainer. Just know that you can come back here."

    I stood up. "Thank you Professor Elm. I'd like to talk more but I have a ferry to catch." Everyone went back to their balls before I approached the ticket window across town.

    "How many?"

    "Just one for the Silver Conference."

    "ID and badge case please." Both items were presented to the attendant. "Here is your ticket to the ferry on dock number seven. Good luck young man." The ferry was bigger than I expected but it would still bring me to my destination.

    I can't wait to introduce myself to Kanto.
     
  8. Writer4fun

    Joined:
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    Chapter 28-Really Big Team, Really Big Dreams

    Mitch's P.O.V.

    Ferry after ferry lined the east side of New Bark Town as I hopped on the one that would take me over to the Kanto region. The captain was standing on the top step to greet other trainers as they boarded since it was customary to do so. She cringed as she saw my arm still covered in dry bloody bandages but still welcomed me aboard with a smile once she got over her initial shock. In total there were about 20 other trainers on the ferry with me which was a nice change of pace. Being surrounded by other tough trainers is something I've been longing for since I won my sixth badge; travelling alone takes a toll on the mind over the course of a long journey.

    Below deck there were a few common rooms for the trainers to lounge around as the ferry made its final preparations. As an insurance policy, I found Nurse Joy to heal my Pokémon via the healing machine. A majority of the trainers were travelling with someone else or have had a companion for some extended period of time on their journey. Not me. At no point in my journey did rely on one particular person to help me for so long. I had made friends along the way only to lose them because they were rooted to their homes or jobs. There's nothing a call wouldn't fix but I wouldn't want to bother them with small talk. From my peripheral vision I saw two trainers my age walk up to my side.

    "Hey stranger! How's it going?" The girl looked about 25 years old, stood about 5 feet 6 inches with blonde hair, blue eyes, and had a shirt with a fire pattern.

    "Pretty good I guess. I'm here for a reason aren't I?"

    "Hmmm, you have a point. Name's Carly. My boyfriend has been by my side and he's qualified too. Fire types are my favorite but that doesn't mean my entire team is fire based. Typhlosion is the staple of the team. Why don't you see him? Come on out!" She was pretty hyped up. The de-facto fire starter for the region looked like it had gone through so much on this journey. Fur was far from clean in addition to the various bruises around its claws. "He's always been my pride and joy from the start. Nobody other than a gym leader has beaten him. I can't wait to see what the top trainers have to offer after I earned 11 badges after..."

    "Hold up hold up hold up hold up. ELEVEN badges? Where'd the other three come from?"

    Carly's traveling companion interjected. "We're from the Kanto region. I'm Davis by the way. Carly was born in Celadon City while I was born in Saffron City. Both of us met when we were trying to take the Kanto gym challenge. Unfortunately we realized we couldn't get the badges in time for their tournament. Might as well cross Mount Silver to see if we had what it takes." Davis stood at least my height but looked as tall as 6-2 compared to my 6-0 yet he had a very slender for his stature. His brown hair was well kept for a trainer getting all of those badges; his eyes looked very confident too. Compared to those two, I looked like a mess. The ferry left the docks with most of the trainers waving their goodbyes to their families. I guess I waved out the window since it seemed like the right thing to do despite having nobody to do it to.

    I tried to get away from everyone else and decompress after the trip to New Bark Town but both of them found me again. We talked about our toughest fights and desperate strategies as the ship made its way across the sea. Carly asked if I had any fire types on me so I brought out Growlithe to show her. She seemed to get along well with him even though Growlithe is pretty reserved around strangers. Many of the trainers stayed above deck to enjoy the weather while our conversation continued. Both of them seemed very friendly to me which was a surprise in this very competitive atmosphere. After we seemingly ran out of things to talk about, there was still one thing I had to ask.

    "Question for both of you: have you seen a red headed girl named Sara or another trainer by the name of Cory at any point in your journey?"

    Davis looked into space before snapping his fingers. "Once actually. Sara was in Blackthorn city when we were passing through. Carly had just won against her first gym leader and after the battle we saw her hanging out by a cave in the back of town. She sounded jealous if not hostile when I told her Carly won. She just stomped off into the distance when I told her that I also won. Haven't heard of this Cory person though. Why?"

    "Just wondering." I'm not about to mention what she did to Espeon in front of two strangers I just met on a ferry. "Also, how did you beat Clair as your first gym leader? Did she take it easy on you?"

    A grin came across both of their faces. Carly spoke this time. "She asked us where we were from because our IDs showed us as Kanto residents. After we told her that we had no badges she gave us the option to come back later or battle her right there." These guys have to be ridiculously strong to just waltz into the hardest gym and win against her the first time; please let them beat Sara and Cory if I fail.

    The rest of the ride was pretty relaxing after the couple excused themselves to enjoy the view. I took a power nap then proceeded to the deck for the first time all trip. It had been a solid hour since the ship left port which meant we were at about the halfway point if not two-thirds of the way to Kanto. Growlithe was appreciating the view until he looked down through the railing. A whimper told me that he really wasn't feeling the boat ride anymore so he went back to the ball. Other trainers had one Pokémon out by their side so I thought I should give someone some fresh air.

    Furret was in dire need of attention. "Come on out girl!" She took advantage of the situation by stretching and rolling around on the deck before resting her head in between the rails on the ferry. "Comfy are we?"

    "Furrr!" She had zero problems when it came to water despite the fact that Pryce's gym water didn't look all that inviting. We both stared ahead of us for the remainder of the voyage in deep thought. We have come so far together since that night outside of Cherrygrove City. Arceus only knows what would have happened that night if that old man didn't step in. I was just a weak trainer with only a Growlithe and a Magikarp while she was a Sentret. Now she looks so confident and playful trying to grab the Silk Scarf around her neck. Just enjoying the moment is never a bad idea.

    A woman's voice came over the loudspeaker. "Attention trainers, this is your captain speaking! We will be arriving in Kanto in five minutes. Please gather your things and head to the deck. Thank you for choosing the official Silver Conference ferry as your means of transportation. Good luck to everyone!" Just like that, a wave of trainers came to the bow of the boat to see the Kanto docks getting closer. Even older trainers in their thirties oohhing at the sight of Kanto told me that this was a once in a lifetime chance. We were the last to leave the ferry as everyone else bolted to the second registration area. Vehicles lined the other side of the tent so that trainers could pick how they wanted to get to the Indigo Plateau. Unfortunately they cost too much to rent for my taste. Still, league officials had offered to guide trainers to the trainer's village if they wanted via bus ride. They only made three trips per day based off the ferry schedule and it was about to be the second one.

    Decompressing was more important to me because I did not get as much down time as I had thought. Furret even looked like she wanted a nap after the trip. Her scouting led us to a bench somewhat away from the crowd where we could close our eyes for a few minutes. Rustling of bags woke both of us up after the much needed nap. Another trainer just shot us a confused look as he gathered his things and left. The last bus was schedule to leave in about ten minutes. Something clicked in my head.

    "Espeon come on out." Ruby materialized in front of me looking eager to do something.

    "Did you need something master?"

    I still wasn't used to that title. "Errr yes. Remember, you don't have to call me that if you don't want to. Does anyone want to take the bus ride into the trainer's village or would everyone prefer we hike up a path?"

    She focused to try to get some feedback. "Everyone wants to hike. They thought the ride over took too long."

    Well it's not like they're going to hike next to me. "So I'll walk and call anyone if I need some help. Chances are we won't make it to the Pokémon Center until the morning. Return." The trail that led into the hills was pretty quiet save for the few Pokémon nests to the side. Jacket warmth was starting to be missed as afternoon turned to evening so I dug it out of my bag. Honestly, Jasmine came in clutch when she gave me this jacket. My old windbreaker couldn't have handled Ice Path let alone a mild rainstorm. A cave embedded in the side of Tohjo Falls made for the perfect place to stay the night and build a fire after I made sure no one else was there. Now was the time.

    "Everyone, come on out." Six of the most loyal Pokémon in the world were standing at my feet. "It has come to my attention that Espeon can actually talk to me through telepathy. So... who wants to talk?" Blank stares from everyone until Ampharos walked over first. "Perfect! You guys can do whatever you want while you wait." The three of us made our way just out of their hearing range in relation to the other four. "Let's talk Ampharos."

    Mumbling was all she could manage to do after finally getting the courage to think of something to say. Espeon told me that the words coming into my head are not hers beforehand. "I'm really sorry about the other day for starters." Dammit... I thought we were over that. "You are such a kind and compassionate person. Being caught caused me to get really sad for the longest time. Still, you never gave up on me and had the patience to work with me despite me poking everything new I see. Battles weren't as fun until you showed me all the fun I could have in wins or losses. For some reason I can't explain, being wild just didn't seem as much fun when I was around you. I also want to tell you that I love Gyarados very much. Ever since he saved me from drowning, he's always been by my side. We've talked about getting hurt but please... I'd be lost if he..." Ampharos started to tear up.

    I gently rubbed her back while whispering. "Wild Pokémon are very rarely happy to be caught. I can't imagine what was going through your mind when I first caught you. There was never any intention to let you go just because you were sad. Only a selfish trainer would've let you go back to the wild all sad like that without even trying to make you feel at home. Please believe me when I say that I still remember that day where you were tossed into the water; I couldn't do a damn thing about it and that was the first time I truly wanted to kill another human being. Gyarados battles hard Ampharos. We went over this before, but I will do my best to protect him from things he can't handle."

    "Alright... I'll go back now. Thank you master."

    "Wait!" she turned around. "You don't have to call me that if you don't want to." A smile came across her face as Furret sprinted over and she looked like she wanted to get a lot out in the open. Even Espeon gave a sign for her to slow down.

    "Hellomasterit'ssonicetofinallytalktoyouIwaswond..."

    Espeon somehow got that much to me. "Pause for a second Furret; take deep breaths then slow down."

    A few seconds went by with her finally getting calm enough to talk at a normal speed. "I can't believe we made it here after all we've been through. I'm not surprised though because you are a very smart trainer to get this far. Wild Pokémon hate to be caught but with a right type of master, they will fight for you. Pokémon in the wild are envious of us since you treat us like family. Unfortunately there are times where I have nightmares of that night a long time ago. I'm sorry I've caused so much trouble since then."

    "Stop that." Furret looked down. "That's a lie. You haven't caused any trouble since that night and what happened wasn't your fault at all. Remember, you don't have to call me master if you don't want to since you're a part of my family. Don't worry about Growlithe either; I'll do my best to keep him safe for your sake. Go get him for me unless you have something else to say." She licked my face and went to get Growlithe. He made his way over next after she gave him a kiss.

    For the first time in awhile I truly felt nervous. "Hey partner... it's been a long time coming. Arceus only knows what you probably have to say to me. Have at it." Pure silence for minutes. I couldn't tell if he was nervous or was trying to think of something to say; he finally let out a huge sigh.

    "Mitch... The only human in the world that gave me a home and loved me when nobody else would. You don't know this, but I used to be owned by someone else before we met. I was treated like dirt the entire time he owned me. I'll never know why he kept me for so long. It was a relief when he finally let me go. When I went back outside Violet City, nobody wanted to accept me because of the fact I was previously owned; I wasn't 'wild enough' for them so they didn't support me and took anything I gathered for myself. The night I walked into your house was the night I was about to see Arceus. I really wasn't sure if I wanted to go through the experience of being owned again or just give up that night. After you convinced your parents to keep me after I was fed, it was a sign of hope. That glimmer of hope has been replaced with a loving trainer. Following you has been the greatest thing that has happened to me in my lifetime. Remember, I will always fight for you because nobody else is worth fighting for. You spent so much money just to keep us happy and well fed while you were stuck with old gear; those Luxury Balls mean a lot to us. Also, thank you for taking care of Furret the entire time you've had her. I'm still very weak in comparison to you."

    There is no way to describe how I felt after hearing that. It couldn't be expressed in any words of the written or spoken variety. It was all a mix of anger, sadness, frustration, and the desire to go back in time to prevent it all. I just sat there staring into the ground. "Linda lied to me. She told me that everyone else had a relatively normal life before I found them."

    "She only lied because I begged her not to tell the truth. I wanted to tell you, not have her do it for me. She looked so sad when I pleaded with her but she understood why. Does that make you think anything less of me?"

    I immediately picked him up and held him as tight as I could. Now it was my turn to cry. "N-n-n-no. N-n-no it does not. S-s-stop lying about being weak too. JUST STOP LYING!" Attempting to regain my composure, I gave myself time to calm down before continuing. "I'm scared Growlithe. I'm scared that we'll lose and that everyone won't trust me anymore. I'm scared that I'll turn into a heartless bastard by only caring about winning and not caring about you guys. Every trainer goes down that road, but I haven't done it yet. Something tells me it'll happen here in Kanto."

    Espeon was really doing a good job of keeping herself composed as she continued to send me his calm, soft words. "Now you stop lying. We're all in this as a team. We all have big dreams to win this just like you do. All of us will continue to fight for you as long as we are alive. Umbreon and Gyarados don't want to talk tonight, but maybe down the road. Anyway, that trust is something that we will never lose for you. Not now, not next week, not ever."

    "So everyone else wants to push themselves that much?" A nod. "Then I'll make sure your effort doesn't go to waste. Before we go bed, I need to know: do you remember your previous owner?"

    "Yes. His name was Cory."
     
  9. Writer4fun

    Joined:
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    Chapter 29- Where the Past Meets the Present

    Mitch's P.O.V.

    Sleeping after those conversations with my Pokémon was impossible. Every single one of them was not as happy I thought they were. It just goes to show how much I have to learn when it comes to feeling everyone out. Umbreon and Gyarados still have to go too; can't wait for those. As soon as I was remotely close to falling asleep I put out the fire and just closed my eyes. Some kind of bubble surrounded me as I looked down on Ampharos' memory first. The opponent had just been defeated and he took it out on Ampha err Mareep, by picking her up and throwing her into the water when she collapsed after the battle. I was a step too slow but Gyarados was a faster swimmer that I was. Growlithe's world looked okay until I saw a somewhat younger Cory berating my first Pokémon. Kicks hit him square on his underbelly until he passed out and was eventually thrown outside the house, then flashes of his pack were fed to me. All of the other Growlithe ignored him or robbed him of his food. The nightmare ended when I saw myself feeding him. Furret's past started to form until I was interrupted by a nudge and a soothing voice.

    "Wake up Mitch. Please wake up." Ruby stood on top of me looking worried. "You were sweating and thrashing in your sleep. Is everything alright?" Sunrise was maybe half an hour away but I could still see everyone sleeping peacefully.

    "I saw visions of everyone's past. Well, the ones who talked to me anyway. Everything looked to vivid to be an ordinary dream." Both of us stayed silent while looking at each other. A thought crossed my mind. "You might have projected everything to me."

    She looked at the ground trying to understand. "Maybe. I know that I somehow ended up seeing Growlithe getting abused. I still don't know the extent of my powers though."

    Espeon may not know the extent of her powers, but I have an idea. Psychic Pokémon have the potential to read minds and even insert themselves into a flashback as if they were right next to the subject. Her abilities aren't fully developed so she might have wanted to see what happened and had nowhere else to project them or maybe she thought I needed to see it for myself. Regardless, I know she can't simply turn it "on" or "off" quite yet.

    "The sun's still not up. I'm going back to bed for a little longer." I slept much better without the nightmares and felt a rhythmic tap on my leg; probably wagging her tail in her sleep. Boy... how lucky am I to have something so unique? I can guarantee that not a lot of other trainers have psychic types, let alone ones that communicate with you. Frankly, most of them play pranks on you. How stupid Sara was to just toss aside Espeon.

    Rays of light snuck through the cracks of my miniature campground signaling that it was time to wake up for real this time. The last of my own provisions were eaten while Pokémon food was still going around. Growlithe was right; I really do care for them more than myself. I managed to pack up a lot faster than normal before getting everyone back in their balls and heading out. The trail ahead was pretty beaten down due to the thousands of trainers that have probably travelled down this path in years past. Wild Pokémon didn't really make an effort to impede my progress to the main gate of Victory Road or the checkpoint. Sure, Pokémon usually hate to be found, but the slightest noise like kicking a pebble sent all of them scurrying to bushes or up a tree. Maybe they aren't used to so many people at once? Whatever, I have my team and that's not going to change at all.

    The guards at the checkpoint looked bored out of their minds until the male guard saw me. He immediately called me over to the desk. He looked me over very quickly. "Very unusual of a trainer to arrive here alone. I'm pretty sure we checked in about 15 or so yesterday since that's when the ferry came in. Are you going ahead to Victory Road?" I nodded.

    The female guard placed her hand out. "Only trainers who have proven themselves worthy may pass. Do you have eight official gym badges?" I took out my trainer case and place it in her hand. She carefully inspected each one. "Zephyr. Hive. Plain. Fog. Storm. Mineral. Glacier. Rising. Upon winning all eight badges, you have earned the right to pass through to Victory Road and register as a participant in the Silver Conference Tournament. Best of luck."

    One giant statue stood on each side of the cave gate. A giant stone Poké Ball was the design on top with text inscribed on a gold plaque below: The road to glory is only just beginning. Many trainers have passed through here before you with high hopes. Only those with the courage to keep pressing onward and have a strong bond with their Pokémon will succeed in reaching the Indigo Plateau. If you arrive, do not falter. If you fail, do not give up. Now go forth.

    I took one step into the cave and I was met with a group of trainers who were on their way out. All of them looked physically beaten down and mentally exhausted. Their long faces told me I was in for a long trip through the cave. One managed to look at me with his tired eyes. Just two words came out of his mouth: "too much". His friends begged him to leave the cave so he mindlessly followed them until they were all out of my sight. Too much what? Trainers? Pokémon? Alright, let's see what the fuss is about. Another section of the cave was opened up to me after I made sure I had all of my Pokémon at the ready; his words made me have my hand beside my belt out of instinct.

    Loud echoes reverberated through the cave as I made my way deeper into Victory Road. A blue blur whizzed in my peripheral vision and I felt a little dizzy; Golbat's nest for sure. It circled back around with teeth glowing. It was a complete 180 to see Pokémon attacking me compared to when I first arrived in Kanto. Apparently it came circling around with another one for a combination attack.

    "Ampharos come on out!" Nobody was around in the large section of the cave so I was free to fire at will. "Use Discharge!" The result didn't surprise me in the slightest. What did surprise me was that a dozen more descended from the ceiling, fangs glowing. "Watch out for Leech Life!" She started to miss some Golbats due to the mix of echoes and sheer number of the annoying bats. "Damn it! Return Ampharos!" I wasn't upset at her at all, just frustrated at the bullshit idea of them ganging up on us. Now I understand what that trainer said. Time for some Johto style ass kicking. "Espeon use Psybeam!" Banking on her ability to move quickly and land rapid fire Psybeams paid off as the gang of Golbats flew away in frustration.

    Espeon looked off into the distance. "You did a good job. Ampharos was outmatched and you made sure she wouldn't get hurt despite the type advantage. This is just one reason why we respect you as a trainer. Moving forward with me might be a good idea because I can feel out the cave." I thought about all of the things that could happen but Ruby seemed to read my mind. "Please master... you always talk about keeping us safe. Now it's my turn to keep you safe" she pleaded.

    "Alright I'll go with it. The moment you're in trouble is the moment you're going back. Understand?" She nodded and led the way. Acting like a father figure wasn't in my nature for the longest time. I usually went by reason when it came to making decisions; rarely did I make emotional, split-second decisions. Having to deal with the couples on the team turned me into more of an emotional person I guess. Pokémon like mine can fend for themselves, but why take the risk?

    The remainder of Victory Road was probably easier than what any other trainer had gone through. I was guided by Espeon without having to backtrack or second guess her decisions. We avoided sections full of wild Pokémon nests as well as some trainers itching to battle. Battling isn't the worst thing, but maybe not in a cave where other trainers are on edge. Rumors about this place were that some trainers never made it out alive because they got lost or that they were attacked when their Pokémon were out of energy and couldn't defend against attacks. That plaque sounded motivational, but it's just a dark disclaimer for the hell you might go through.

    Some trainers had been dozing off against the trees when we arrived to the front door of the Pokémon Center. Even more had passed out on couches or the floor of the main lobby; maybe the league should advertise how exhausting Victory Road really is? Regardless, I didn't have to heal anyone due to Espeon's guidance. I saw that Carly and Davis were on a couch in each other's arms. The afternoon warmth kept them and all of the other trainers fast asleep. I could've woken them with up to say hello, but come on... that'd be a dick move. I still made my way to Nurse Joy after tiptoeing to the desk.

    "Hey, I was wondering what to do now that I'm here" I whispered to her.

    She too whispered. "Oh so you're here to register too. Give me your ID and I'll officially register you for the preliminaries." The deed was done pretty fast. "There's an open tour for participants that includes the Hall of Champions near the stadium..." I stopped listening after that. Only those who have won the whole thing are allowed to be enshrined in there. A section of the Hall of Fame is open to the public, but a member gets full access to areas that no average trainer would see. Such a place is off limits; I guess it's an inspirational tactic?

    "Thank you very much. I'll be off" I whispered as I quietly made my way out of the center. Tours for the Hall of Champions were self-guided with the exception of security guards posted in front of the stadium as well as the actual room. Stepping into the place made me feel like I was in a time machine because I was the only trainer there looking in pure silence. Since the Indigo Plateau hosted the Kanto and Johto championships, there was no shortage or star power.

    Red adorned a large section with all of his accolades and memorabilia. His team was legendary in its own right with powerful Pokémon beside him. So many have tried to surpass him only to fail in reaching the last battle at the Indigo Plateau or do some stupid stunt that backfires. One of my goals on this journey was not to become him. He is Red. I am Mitch. There is no reason why I need to become the new Red. Gold on the other hand was someone who was a little harder to immortalize. I guess being from Johto may have hurt his reputation due to Johto being weaker as a region, but he still had tremendous strength. The last shrine that piqued my interest was for Silver. Most of the older champions had a well balanced team while Silver had a glass cannon team; hyper offensive, but could potentially be knocked out in two moves if anyone had a type advantage. Even though Silver stole all eight badges, he still was allowed to compete. After returning them, I guess he was granted a reprieve because he went on to demolish every foe in the Silver Conference.

    "Need any more motivation?" The voice made me jump.

    "Jeez Carly, you scared him. The man was in deep thought and you do that to him? Come on." Carly had shrugged off the playful tone of her boyfriend, Davis, as she approached me.

    "Relax Davis, I didn't know. Sorry about that. I just wanted to say thanks again for talking to us on the ride over. It means a lot to us since we don't know anyone and everyone we did talk to couldn't hang around. Now it's my turn to return the favor. There's a gala tonight for all he trainers who made it early. You can get the details if you battle me."

    I put on a smile "You're on. Outside in five though, I want to soak this in just a bit longer." Both of them left without a fuss leaving me to just look at what could be. When you think about it, so many trainers are in the world yet only a handful has ever made it in here. This is the epitome of greatness... and everyone would have to duke it out in the preliminaries to see if they are worthy enough to get here.

    Outside was turning to dusk considering I stayed in that place for quite some time. The battle would have to start now if any of us could actually see our Pokémon so both of us took our places. "Alright Carly, let's go!" She calmly threw out a Rapidash while I went to Furret. She hadn't battled in awhile and she looked like she was due for a tune-up.

    "Rapidash use Ember!"

    "Dig!" Furret easily dodged the weak fire type move and waited until she sensed Rapidash wasn't moving around so much. The hit did a nice chunk of damage after lying in wait. "Keep it up! Use Return!" Another powerful hit landed on the fire horse but it still looked in top form. "Another one!"

    "Take Down!" Its speed made the impact sound intense along with the horn delivering a critical hit. "Fi..."

    "No more! Furret come back!" I immediately pulled her ball to bring her back to safety.

    Carly stood there confused yet looked like she knew something. "Let me guess, she has a mate." I nodded. "I can sympathize with you. My Rapidash has a mate on my team too. I wouldn't want to hurt her too bad either, especially since this is a battle for fun. Anyway, the gala is in a few hours and it's a black tie event at the Pokémon Center convention area. Don't worry, they have suits laid out so just pick one. Hope to see you there." Davis gently grabbed her hand as they both walked into the sunset. Maybe I should have paid attention to Nurse Joy since that gala sounds like a cool idea. Although... I'm not really used to a fancy or upper class type shindig. At least the league is trying to get us relaxed.

    Freshening up was relatively easy since I really only needed a shower. Making my way to the convention area was pretty hectic since there were about 50 more trainers trying to do the same thing. An area was shown to us so that we could store our equipment if we didn't already have a room yet; the trainer's village would be opening tomorrow for housing throughout the tournament. Coatrooms full of suits and dresses were paired with changing rooms so that every trainer could look their best out on the floor. It felt weird being all dressed up, but I took the chance to grab a bite to eat. I had finally found Carly and Davis when I heard a familiar voice.

    "...so I let it go. No way was I going to win with a useless psychic type. Who knows if she's still out there..." Now I was pissed off. Her looks matched her voice: it was Sara. She continued to talk to three other trainers but I felt the need to crash the conversation.

    "Oh she's not out there. I have her... you Harpy." That got her attention. "You were the reason why Espeon was uncomfortable in Blackthorn and you're also the reason why she nearly died that night you let her go." My voice was rising. "What kind of trainer just lets a Pokémon practically die like that?! She has a scar that will never go away for Arceus' sake! I cannot wait to wipe the floor with you."

    Her group was taken aback by my words but she remained steadfast. "Why not fight right now? I'll put you in your place in front of everyone here. You're going to wish you never won those badges. Piloswine, time to teach him a lesson!"

    I felt obligated to send in Espeon to show her how bad she messed up. "Espeon..." I released her to fight the one person who made her life a living hell, the one demon that would be with her forever. Ruby looked like she was cowering until I gave her a nod of confidence. "Psybeam!"

    "Fury Attack!" Piloswine's tusks landed a few hits before Espeon finally got off the attack; she was obviously nervous.

    "Calm down Espeon and use Swift." Pointed stars made their way to the ice/ground type and leveled it for some decent damage. "Follow it up with Confusion!" She made a ball of psychic energy and hurled it at Piloswine.

    "Dodge and go for Fury Attack again!" Espeon easily dodged the onslaught of attacks but Sara showed me she could get even worse. "Go for the stomach" she said in a cold blooded tone. Only two jabs were let loose and they found their mark too perfectly. The wound started to open again with a little blood leaking onto the floor; Ruby was well beyond knocked out. All I could do was drop to my knees in shock. Getting dizzier by the second, it was Davis who jumped in to stop our battle.

    "Make one more move or we're going to have one hell of a fight on our hands." Sara wasn't too interested in him since our scuffle was over plus the crowd was really focused on us at this point.

    "Whatever. Just know that he started it and I regret nothing."

    I regained my composure and gently picked up my fainted Espeon like a newborn. She was breathing steadily despite the stomach wound reopening. "It's okay baby" I cooed while petting her. "Let's get you healed up." Dozens of people made their way back their previous areas to continue where they left off. On the way to the exit I looked back at Sara to see her still fuming.

    "If you can't beat one of my weakest Pokémon, what makes you think you can beat any of us here?" Sara screamed across the way.

    Again with the silence as everyone waited for my reply with Espeon in my arms. "If we meet in the tournament, it will be a historic record setting battle. I'll 6-0 you in front of the entire world. It will be the first sweep in Silver Conference history. Just make sure you keep winning until we battle."
     
  10. Writer4fun

    Joined:
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    Chapter 30-Heart to Heart

    Mitch's P.O.V.

    Idiot! What the hell was I thinking? So many things went wrong all because I was selfish. One minute I see the second worst human being on the planet, the next minute I just lose my cool and start talking shit. I did it in a packed room and that led to a battle where people could have been hurt. Almost turned into a free-for-all for Arceus' sake. There was a chance that we could meet in the tournament but that would have been too long. How can you have the audacity to just casually mention you let a Pokémon go? I mean, make up a fake sob story or something. Also, don't say it when I'm within an earshot; to be fair, she couldn't have known I was there but still. Maybe there was one saving grace about her. Nope. She dug her own grave when she explicitly mentioned going for the scar. And to top it off, I lost. Looking embarrassed was far from my main concern. Running to the Pokémon Center main lobby was all that mattered. Ruby needed stitches again.

    The rental tuxedo had a fair amount of blood on it so it was really no surprise to Nurse Joy that something was clearly wrong. Her fingers started punching keys into her computer as fast as they could while a Chansey came out with a stretcher. Nurse Joy didn't have to say anything to me as she ran behind the double doors. Luckily the trip up a flight of stairs was short enough for Espeon otherwise I would have to call her back; there's no guarantee that the ball would stop the bleeding because they're meant to only limit ailments like burns or to prevent hypothermia.

    Four feet walked across the lobby floor after I sat down on a bench with my head in my hands thinking about arguably the worst mistake of my life. Carly kneeled down in front of me. "I'm so sorry" she said quietly. "I don't know what to say... so I can at least do this." She sat next to me and hugged me while Davis sat on the other side of me looking curious.

    "Can you tell me what happened so I can understand why I almost started a riot?" A little crass, but he needed an explanation.

    "Remember when I mentioned if you saw those two specific people on your journey?" Davis nodded. "Sara was the reason why Espeon is always been a bit more emotional ever since I caught her. She came running to me with my Umbreon almost dead from a mix of poison and cuts. Just recently I found out that Sara used to have an Eevee that evolved mid-battle into my Espeon. Too much pressure was put on her to win a gym battle and her new powers weren't strong enough. Sara abused her and sent her off into the wild without healing her expecting that she would die."

    Davis softened the expression on his face. "You have my deepest apologies. I just wanted to make sure that I could help you if someone wanted to follow up on tonight. Unfortunately someone will probably do just that since there was some damage done."

    Now I have to worry about retribution from that bitch too. "Thanks, but I don't want to drag you into this too; it's my fight. Plus I want to make sure things are done my way..." He shot me a scowl. "Within reason of course. I still plan to 6-0 her." All three of us just sat there in silence with Carly continuing to embrace me. Davis just looked in deep thought until the operating room sign dimmed signaling the operation was done. Nurse Joy came out looking exhausted. I gently pushed Carly off of me so I could go up to her.

    "How's she doing?"

    "Fine. The previous operation was surprisingly well done considering it could have been better. At least two days of rest will be enough. The things you trainers do are starting to get a little reckless." I almost lost my mind in front of everyone. She just took some serious shots without knowing jack shit. Davis looked like he was about to speak up but I sat him down.

    "I'll make sure she gets all the rest she needs. Thank you." Nurse Joy gave me one more look over as she returned to the back room to move Espeon to a hospital bed. I turned to the Kanto trainers. "And thank you two as well. Why would you stand up for a stranger? Wouldn't it be in your best interest to let me pay for my mistake as we get closer to the preliminaries?"

    Davis looked up from the ground. "Call it a gut feeling. There would be no reason for you to risk getting kicked out of the tournament for something small. It's obvious you care for your Pokémon and would do anything to make sure they are well taken care of. Kind of a shame really... there aren't too many of us here at the big stage. Here's our numbers if you need help. It's the least we can do for making us feel more comfortable on this rough journey. We'll give you some space. See you around." A piece of paper was handed to me as they made their way out.

    So this is what it means to have friends?

    Ruby's P.O.V.

    Mitch wearing a tuxedo was one of the most... interesting things I've ever seen. He looked so refined and confident. You'd think he would have found someone by now, but he's so focused on keeping us happy. He had seen Sara in that room and I could sense him losing control of his emotions from my ball. Begging him wasn't an option because he was past the point of reason. I'm blessed he cares so much about me, but now wasn't the time to fight. I got nervous when I was sent out to fight Piloswine because deep down I know she saved me from my first brush with death as an Eevee; part of my life is owed to her. Mitch's nod gave me the confidence to toss those deep rooted feelings aside and stand up for myself since he was the one who had permanently saved my life. Sara was dead to me as a trainer, but I can't just forget what she had done to me. I only see her as a demon that can't be exercised.

    Fury Attack wasn't the strongest move that could have been dished out but it was pretty annoying. My best guess is that she didn't want to start attacking other people with a move that had more field coverage like Blizzard. Fear never crossed my mind until a tusk jabbed at my stomach; the second one ripped open the scar from that night in the forest. Within seconds I was out cold after only hearing another thud, someone else wanting to jump in, plus something about 6-0. I've never heard of that phrase before.

    I woke up in a very comfy hospital bed with the blankets pulled up over everything except my head. Wrinkles in the sheets led me to look at Mitch with his head sideways on the bed sleeping while I felt a gentle nudge on the back of my neck. There was no doubt in my mind who it was.

    "Good afternoon my queen. I hope you slept well."

    He hasn't called me that in awhile. "How long have you been awake?"

    Shade didn't even hesitate. "Since I was called out. It's been about 13 or 14 hours since you've been in here. Mitch tried his best to stay awake even after the nurse said you would fully recover."

    "So you've watched over me this entire time?" A nod, then I fully turned around to kiss him. "Please go to sleep. You don't have to worry about me anymore." He still looked a little tense. "You didn't talk to Mitch two nights ago when we arrived here. I think you should because he just wants what's best for all of us. Tell him how you really feel about anything; he won't get mad at all." Not quite ready to ease up just yet. "I'll be right there when you do it. Now sleep, your queen demands it. It's okay for a king to relax" I said in a playful tone as I kissed him again. He gently wrapped his paws around my upper body as both of us drifted off to sleep. Just like the first time we met, he made sure I wouldn't get cold.

    All three of us remained asleep for an hour just trying to recover from last night. As usual, Shade was the first one awake and even growled softly at passing trainers until Mitch woke up too. Having him for a mate was tied with Mitch raising me in terms of the greatest thing ever. I mean I was happy with Shade back by Mount Mortar, but Mitch can protect me in ways Shade cannot although he's always doing his best. He sighed heavily as he gently poked me. Judging by his body language, this conversation was going to take a toll on all of us.

    "I'm ready Ruby. Are you sure that you have enough energy to do this?"

    "I'll be fine. Let me start." I poked Mitch to get his attention. "Shade wants to talk now. Are you ready?" Mitch motioned for Shade to start the conversation.

    Shade's P.O.V.

    Getting called on so late at night was fairly unusual since Mitch was asleep. However, this case was something that was well worth my time. A stitched up Espeon, my mate, was lying in a hospital bed with dulled pain; guess she's relaxed now because of the mix of drugs to keep her under. The least I can do it watch over her until she wakes up. Something tells me I should let her sleep on her own for as long as she needs. Even if the drugs wear off then she can still get some natural deep sleep.

    Nurses came in and out periodically which gave me mixed feelings. I want her to get better but can I really trust these people? Mitch fell asleep after Ruby was shown to be alright so I truly was on my own; now that brings me back to my free roaming days after escaping that hellhole laboratory. Hard to believe that those idiots gave me powerful moves expecting me not to do anything with them. Being "tied down" to both of them is what has kept me in check all this time. The more I thought about it, the more I began to dive into my past. Giving her a nudge was by accident because I had shifted to look at a Chansey dropping off some food for when we all woke up. Chansey can't really do anything except heal, but I can't afford any mistakes when she can't protect herself.

    Regardless of how messy her body was Ruby still looked beautiful. She still is my queen and always will be even though I'm not in the forest. A kiss was all I needed to know that she was alright. She had mentioned that I should talk to Mitch since I missed out on the previous opportunity. Ruby had convinced me to fall asleep despite my will to make sure nothing would happen to her. I made damn sure that she would feel safe even when I was asleep as well. This conversation needed to happen so I poked at Ruby to get it started after she told me that the talk wouldn't make her more exhausted; Mitch told me to start.

    "Mitch... I can't believe we made it here. How long has it been since I came to your camp carrying Ruby on sheer willpower alone? The entire run to our den was the worst thing I've experienced in my life. Without you, both of us would be dead. I'm not sure if you knew that the forest you camped in was filled with some of the most brutal Pokémon you could encounter. It was safe to say that you had strong Pokémon by your side. You took us in when we were on death's doorstep plus you didn't even capture us right away. I'm still sorry I bit you though. Our den had all the berries we needed... or so I thought. That's why both of us just dropped when we led you there and saw that there was nothing left..." I couldn't think of what else to say. Luckily he responded pretty fast.

    "It's okay Umbr- err Shade. Back then I knew how much both of you were hurting and I knew how much you cared for Espeon. Biting me really didn't hurt all that much, although now you could easily fracture my hand. Capturing you wasn't in my mind until both of you found me in the morning so you could rub against me. Also, I didn't have any Luxury Balls on me. Any Pokémon with me deserves the best in life."

    I knew that this next part was going to be painful. "Although I appreciate everything you've done, I still want to be with Tom. He's the one who showed me what it means to win battles and he was the reason I evolved from an Eevee. Frankly it sucks that I can never fully trust you because of what I went through. Some days I wish he was alive so we could travel and win the whole league together. Quilava had been my rival since he easily won every battle except for our fight against Morty. I don't think I can ever fully commit myself to you. There... I said it okay?" Silence. Just silence while he digested the fact that I could never fully appreciate all of his hard work, those last four badges, that tournament in Olivine, the compassion he showed to so many people in the time I've been with him. All of it felt like a façade to me.

    "Well... I can't change the past. Tom must have been a great trainer to you. From the first time I took you to the cemetery I knew that you could possibly feel this way; now I can finally hear it for myself. Understand that I never want to be anyone else or even pretend to be anyone else. Question now that I think about it: did you stay with me just because of Ruby? I kept a straight face. "I said I wouldn't get anyone hurt if I could avoid it..."

    I felt myself losing control of my emotions. "Bullshit! You're the reason why she's in this hospital bed right now! You had to try to get revenge as soon as possible just so you could make yourself feel better. Not one second was devoted to thinking about what would happen down there. Things like this are why I can't trust you or any other humans for that matter. Team Rocket took almost everything away from me. Now using a fifth or sixth move can land me back in some laboratory or even six feet under. Do you understand what I have to live with for the rest of my life? I have to protect Ruby and make sure I can control myself. So many Pokémon back by Mount Mortar have been killed by me just so I could be here today. You may think that Linda person or that Nurse Joy back in Mahogany Town told you all about my life but they don't have a clue about what I've done!" I panted heavily after the long winded rant to catch my breath. "What matters to me is Ruby. Arceus be damned if she has to go through this because of your stupidity. That's all I've got for now." I kissed my mate and bolted out of the room; I needed to clear my mind.

    Outside the Pokémon Center it started to turn into late afternoon which meant the moon was getting closer by the second. Using Moonlight at night made me feel really energized so I opted to wait until then. Going to the woods was the only reasonable thing to do since I felt like I belonged there since Tom died. Did I really make the right decision that day to follow Mitch on this path? Ruby is happy while I'm struggling. Damn, now I wish I didn't dart out of the room so fast so that she could know what was going on. She gets a lot of credit for not crying during my rant although I think I saw a tear streak down her eye on my way out. Look at me now... a hypocrite; I care about making her happy then I pull that. What really got to me was that I left too fast to see if Mitch had any reaction.

    Whatever happened back there didn't matter anymore. My mind was on the two figures approaching me in the forest.
     
  11. Writer4fun

    Joined:
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    Chapter 31- Hail the King & Queen

    Shade's P.O.V.

    Nobody stood in my way while I trekked through the dense forest. The Pokémon Center was long gone at this point and was replaced by an enormous mountain in the distance. It's not like I had to worry, but there was a certain point where I felt a shift in power of the wild Pokémon. Any younger Pokémon were well hidden while the older siblings or parents placed themselves at the forefront of the nest. Every single one of them shot me a glare as I walked by. Something about a trainer's Pokémon roaming around is pretty concerning; feels funny that I'm the one doing it now after all that time by Mount Mortar. Dusk approached along with two figures. One looked like a horse while the other looked like a ball.

    One of them decided to shout instead of waiting to get closer. "Are you the king we've heard about?"

    "Who wants to know?"

    Ponyta was the first Pokémon to rush forward with a concerned look on its face. "We heard about you from the other side of the mountain. You were a ruler in one of the biggest parts of Johto. Please... you have to help us."

    "What's going on out here that you need my help? Isn't there someone else that can take care of your problem?"

    The fire horse carefully planned a response. "I never introduced myself. I'm Emily, daughter of the rightful ruler of this area. Mount Silver is a fairly big area so long ago it was decided that the area would be broken up. Over the past few years it's been a living hell because my Rapidash father has been missing. My partner Trent and I still think he's alive..." Emily stopped and miserably looked at the ground; her Tangela partner held steady.

    "As much as I feel for you, I don't think I can help. If this has been going around for years then you've probably looked through every crevice in the mountain. Besides, I gave up that title a few months ago to travel."

    Emily didn't like my response so she raised her voice to me. "If that's the case then where's your master!? Did they just leave you out here to die then? Both of us sense that you're still connected to a ball. Deep down you know you're a wild Pokémon."

    She's right. Mitch didn't rush out of the room to go get me and I was with Tom for what, two days before I got captured by Team Rocket? I've never really been tamed by Mitch in how I act or how I battle. There have been so many times I've sent another Pokémon six feet under in the wild. Mitch still allowed me to battle with my style or even encouraged me to do massive damage; I wonder how that Donphan is doing by the way. Whatever, I'm on my own now.

    "Tell you what... you bring me to a safer place and I'll listen to more. Don't think for a second I'll just help you without knowing what I'm getting into." A small glimmer of hope was on Emily's face as Trent led the way to the Mount Silver's base. The area was arguably the toughest place between the two regions combined and it showed. Hiding spots like logs showed signs of numerous struggles while smaller caves looked not as safe compared to the one I lived in. Another shift of power could be felt as we reached the entrance of the cave.

    "Be careful. Once we get to where we're going, then you can finally relax. The road only gets tougher here so stealth is important" Trent whispered to me. "Maybe you could battle your way out of trouble but we're running if there's a battle. The ruler's daughter staying alive is more important than either of us. Do you understand? You can turn back now without the guilt of quitting on your shoulders."

    How many times have I heard about something like this happening? Some important person is worth more blah blah blah... shut up already. "Lead the way." Trent did so at a mixed pace where he would breeze through sections of the mountain's ground floor while tiptoeing through the other areas. It never occurred to me why we had to tiptoe until I saw Ursaring in groups of four and almost blew our cover. Once we were really off the beaten path, we went into a somewhat secret den area.

    Emily lit a small fire. "Here's the safest place I could think of. Food?" A bushel of berries was nudged over to me.

    "Pass. Now what's going on here? Is it something more than a wild goose chase?"

    "Worse I'm afraid. Ever since my father disappeared, this area has become a terrible place. Him and his heirs-my bothers-were on business but never returned. It has been three years since the search party stopped and there were no signs of them either dead or alive. In that time of chaos we were ambushed by a group of pink Sneasel with a regular colored one as their leader; most of those still in power were slaughtered mercilessly. Now every Pokémon lives in fear for their lives if they cannot support his forces. Sometimes he kills while other times his assassins do it in front of a group for fun. Under his rule he's somehow convinced the strongest Pokémon in the area to fight for him. There is truly no hope."

    My interest has been piqued. "Don't take this the wrong way, but why aren't you dead yet?"

    Tears started to fall from her eyes. "Marriage." Her voice started to get weaker. "Having children with him would never happen. If he tries to mate with me, I'll burn him. If I refuse or if his group hears about what I would do, then I would be executed in front of everyone."

    "How do you know this is going to happen?" Can't you run?"

    "I overheard him in his chamber one night. As for running, it would be impossible. He has his guards around the main points of entry and some of them keep a closer eye on me than others. He lets me roam around on my own for now but I feel the day is coming where he will ask for me to join him. It was a miracle that we survived a dangerous path just to meet you. No sane Pokémon would take the path you were on into our area. I'm not sane... I'm desperate."

    "Did you tell anyone?"

    "No." She covered her eyes. "It's better that they don't know. They already have enough to deal with. Even if they knew about it, they would be too scared to do anything. On the chance we all stood together, we would still get killed in a heartbeat." Emily looked up with a nervous smile. "My father would be proud of me knowing I'd do whatever it takes to keep everyone else safe.. even if it means giving up my life."

    Her story hit me hard. The fact that she first referred to me as a king right away and not just an average Pokémon is enough to convince me she was desperate for someone strong. Circumstances like hers are actually rare. At least the overthrowing group would have the ehhh "decency" to kill all of the old regime and make the change as fast as possible. Psychologically torturing a big group for an extended period of time is something I can't stand. Ruby will be under constant stress for the rest of her life because of Sara and even that was only after few days. Me? I almost let it consume me. Just sitting in the laboratory day after day with zero chance of living a happy life took over my mind until they let their guard down.

    "Emily I need you to look at me. You too Trent." Both of them had a hopeful look in their eyes. "After all of the things I've seen as a king, I was happy to throw it all away. Unfortunately being a ruler has some consequences. My mate has been through hell and back because of my title alone. Having no skin in the game makes ruling easy. Your father has done an impressive job to protect you this long, not to mention raising you as a kind daughter. I'll fight for you because you have what it takes to lead. Also, I want to test my strength. Forget the Silver Conference; my mate deserves someone strong who can protect others in their darkest hour."

    She bowed to me. "Thank you my king."

    "Enough. Remember that I gave up that title to fate. A wise ruler would have thought about a successor. Truth be told I'm not that great of a king since I only wanted power to survive. Ruby changed me for the better though. She taught me that fighting for certain people is worth it in the end. Call me Shade by the way. I want to clear any traces of me being a king."

    "You can't" Trent said shaking his head. "There is an aura about a leader that just doesn't seem to go away. Call me crazy, but I can still sense it for Emily's father. Although you used to rule, no average Pokémon around here may know you. Now let's rest up. The sun is setting and both of us are exhausted. I know you're a dark type, but we need to be in top shape to even stand a chance in battle let alone hike up a few levels of the mountain."

    Our fire was extinguished and we all found a place to sleep comfortably. Sorry Mitch, I can't have you coming for me now. You have no clue what it's like to fight like this. You'd only be hindering me.
    In the depths of our hiding spot there was one sign that morning had come. A small ray of sun made itself known by shining brightly through a crack that fell perfectly in line with my face; of course it would be me with the rude awakening. Stretching would be important to keep me loose as the trek up the mountain would probably take a few hours. My breakfast was a grand total of three berries because I wanted to see how much Trent and Emily would need. Both of them woke up shortly after I finished eating. As I thought, they ate a large portion of their stash slowly. From the looks of it, they seem well prepared for a big mission like this one. Almost as if they were going over the details telepathically. Hmmm...

    "Got a question for you guys." They stopped eating. "Be honest with me. Were you going to battle him today regardless of if I showed up or not?"

    A sigh escaped Emily. "Maybe not today, but I sensed that I had to do it before he told the area that I would join him. It is getting closer to mating season around here." She pointed to the small pile of leftover berries. "We're both full so eat your share."

    "I thought you'd want to save these for later."

    She had fire in her eyes and in her voice. "We've decided that we're not coming back to this place. Either we win today or that's it. Eat up... you're going to need every scrap. If not, then you can leave the cave and fight the Ursaring on the way out. I'm not scared of dying anymore." So they were basically walking into a slaughter before I showed up. Desperation is an amazing emotion.

    We made our way up the mountain with very little resistance. My best guess is that anyone willing to go see Sneasel shouldn't have to deal with security because he'll probably kill you after you're done talking to him. Everything changed when we approached a thin strip of land surrounded by water on both sides. Goldeen were casually swimming about posing no threat. Quagsire on the other hand, really didn't appreciate us trying to advance so it just blocked our path. Only one stood in our way but that was something we all really didn't want to deal with.

    Trent took charge. "Get out of the way. We have somewhere to be." Quagsire stood there looking oblivious as ever. "Last warning. Move or I'll move you." Quagsire's face turned angry at that threat. Its tail tried to come around but Trent stopped it with his vines. "Your loss." Vines continued to come out before hitting the Quagsire for massive damage. Another one jumped on the land to fight for its buddy only to see Vine Whip slap it back into the water unconscious; he turned back to us. "Keep moving."

    Emily was starting to get anxious so her pace picked up while Trent and I stayed behind her. He actually reminded me of my old self back there. "Hey Trent, I have to give you props for taking care of that so efficiently."

    "Nothing should be too hard on the way up now." He took a pause. "You want to know something Shade? I agreed to help her because her father gave me a chance when I was down on my luck. I refuse to let any water or ground type get in our way, especially when we're so close. Just one more level to go up and we'll be on his doorstep."

    More Pokémon seemed to stand in our way the closer we got to his throne room or whatever the hell you want to call it. It's an old mind game passed down from centuries ago: have heightened security at the beginning of your domain as well as at the end before the ruler. Leave the majority of the trip with no forces to lure enemies into a false sense of security. Sneasel really didn't know his enemy since he threw so many Quagsires at us. Trent effortlessly whipped them away or regained strength with Mega Drain. Emily took care of anything from the air like Golbats while I went to work on the stronger Pokémon like Donphan or Ursaring. We made so much noise so it's safe to say there was no element of surprise. Five pink Sneasels stood in front of the ringleader once we forced our way into a fairly large cave.

    He arrogantly sat atop a rock. "My oh my look who it is! If I had known you were coming then I would have at least met you at the bottom. So did you decide to join me my dear?"

    Emily was shaken but took some time to make sure her voice was steady. "Over my dead body. Now what have you done with my family?"

    "Since you don't want to be mine, the least I can do is tell you the truth instead of lying to you for years. All of your bothers? Dead. Fearow food. My boys here made sure that each one was dead four times over. Your father? If you can beat them then I might tell you."

    She was actually shaking so much that she collapsed to the ground; Trent stood in front of her. "Alright... we'll slaughter the five of you first. Don't get too comfortable up there." Vines went for all five pink Sneasel and they all dodged; I knew it would be hard to get a hit in.

    Claws were more favorable to all of them because any ice attack could hit a partner. Their speed couldn't be compared to anything I've ever seen. Both of us decided to attack ahead of the pack so that there was a chance that they would run into one of our attacks. Dark Pulse was a good choice since it had range and could send some rocks at them like a pseudo Rock Throw. One of them eventually anticipated wrong and took a heavy hit from a falling rock.

    Bind was used and Trent easily secured him. He followed it up with Stun Spore to practically cripple the assassin. Mega Drain was used to ensure the knockout but Trent kept going; he was literally sucking the life out of the first Sneasel. When it was over, its comrades saw a shriveled up corpse tossed in front of them.

    "Who's next?" Trent said with some venom in his voice. And I thought I was brutal.

    Their attack pattern continued to be close combat with their claws until I used Faint Attack to instantly knock one out cold. For good measure I threw a layer of Toxic on the unconscious Sneasel to make sure it would die. The trio that was left standing abandoned their strategy of attacking in a pack and just went all out with no intention to dodge. I went for Faint Attack but I got Quick Attack instead. The hell was that about? Luckily for me I sent it against a rock at an odd angle; the audible neck snap made up for that fluke. I just looked at my scarred paw as if that was the problem.

    "Pay attention!" Another pink Sneasel was heading straight for me flashing its claws. A blazing stream of fire pinned it to the side of the cave for a solid eight seconds before slumping to the ground with third degree burns covering the body.

    "I think I'm good." Emily looked like she was still unsettled after hearing all of her brothers were killed. Regardless, she netted a critical kill for us. Desperation caused the last pink Sneasel to charge ahead at Emily only to be grabbed by Trent. He used the same method to finish off the last roadblock to the leader.
    "Where are you?" Trent yelled. In the commotion, the leader had seemingly disappeared.

    "Shut up and look with your eyes you idiot." He came out from behind another rock in the distance walking methodically. "You wanted to know where your father was my dear? Here he is!" A Rapidash was tossed in front of the three of us but still remained closer to him.

    "FATHER!" Rapidash's fire was very oddly colored and dimming by the minute. He was still breathing, though one hind leg was obviously broken and he was covered in gashes plus dry blood. "What... what have to done to h-him?"

    Sneasel flashed a grin. "Just made sure he couldn't escape or put up a fight. How am I supposed to rule this huge area with him unchecked? I was merciful enough to let him live and take care of him... occasionally. But now I think it's time to put an official end to his reign." He ran at full speed from one end of the cave to the other horizontally. A gasp for air was heard and then the fire on his mane no longer flowed; it looked like it turned to coal. It was a clean slice across his entire body. Emily was officially broken; there will be no more battling from her.

    "Wow... that was fun! Can't believe I waited so long to kill him. You guys are next. I'll start with my would-be bride. We could've done so much more but you know everything now. Tell your father I said hello." I knew he was going straight for her. I knew I wouldn't be fast enough to get to him. I didn't know that Trent was even faster when grabbing him from a distance and using Stun Spore.

    "You have caused so much pain to every Pokémon in this area, especially Emily. Now it's your turn to suffer!"

    Mega drain was looking fine until Trent was severely cut form a Slash attack. "Stun Spore isn't that accurate you know." He feigned being paralyzed this entire time. What's that yellow cloud around Trent now? Vines around him were loosened as he dusted himself off. "I'll leave the suffering to you." Fury Swipes was the move that delivered massive damage from five critical hits.

    "I'll be seeing the rightful ruler with Arceus. I'll leave you with these two... and paralysis." Another desperate move: he covered himself in the paralyzing spores so that Sneasel's own attacks would get him exposed. "Shade! I've lived a good life with no regrets. Thank you for helping us in our time of need. Finish the job so that I can die knowing that Emily is safe and she will take her rightful place as ruler. Hail Queen Emily!" The hits took their toll and Trent finally drew his last breath.

    Sneasel was still trying to figure out what had just happened to him.

    Emily was beyond distraught and in no condition to battle.

    The weight of an entire Pokémon community rested on my shoulders. You know what they say about pressure: it can break things down or make diamonds. Pure adrenaline coursed through my veins which caused my rings to shine a glorious yellow. Time to make a diamond.
     
  12. Writer4fun

    Joined:
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    Chapter 32- Complications

    Shade's P.O.V.

    Trent lay dead just a few feet in front of me after covering himself in his own Stun Spore to paralyze the last remaining threat in this whole saga. Sneasel looked shocked at the turn of events and cursed himself for getting into this situation. His speed was the only true advantage he had over me, but that was practically neutralized. I don't know what's been going on in this area over the past few years, but Emily witnessing her father's death and Trent's death in the span of just a few minutes has taken the will to fight out of her; maybe she's even lost the will to live. Sneasel took notice after he was done with his self-evaluation.

    "Your idiot friend sacrificed himself for nothing. I can still move faster than both of you even in my current condition which means that I'll kill both of you. The real question is which one of you will get cut open first?" He moved his claw as if he was doing eney meeny miny moe and he slowed down when he reached the end; it pointed to Emily. "Aww man... I wanted to have a little more fun with you before I send you to see your father. Since I still somewhat love you and I'm a man of my word, I'll make it as painless as possible." A Slash attack was ready to strike her as he moved across the area. Dark Pulse sent him into a rock.

    "I'm also a man of my word. She will rule this area better than you have so far." I turned back to see if she snapped out her shock; still lying over in the corner shaking her head. "Trent didn't sacrifice himself for nothing. Last time I tried to fire a Dark Pulse at your slowest member, I missed by a mile. Still think you're faster than me? You won't even get close to her. Also, I'll be taking her place in battle. It's not really fair to attack someone who has no will to battle." Both of us were on the edge of our toes waiting for someone to move. Something told me to start counting once one of us moved.

    Sneasel made the first move with a piercing Screech attack. The high pitched frequency reverberated throughout the cave while forcing me to cover my ears to the best of my abilities. A Metal Claw hit me square in the side for some decent damage. He continued to hack away until I used Bite to grab one arm. It was a mixed bag because I grabbed the forearm instead of the actual claw. Digging into his softer flesh was very satisfying, even at the cost of him getting in a few extra swipes at my face. I tossed him aside then licked my lips. The adrenaline rush gave my rings a more blinding glow on top of them already being bright for just a split second. He covered his eyes then I fired up a Toxic.

    Poison didn't come out of my mouth though. Dark Pulse did. How? That doesn't make any sense. I literally thought about using Toxic, the poison welled up, but it just... was replaced. There was no warning about the attack being different just before I launched it. That weird professor in New Bark Town said that this could happen but I wish he told me what it would feel like; still landed a nice hit on Sneasel though.

    Heavy breathing came from the other side of the cave followed by the sounds of struggling. "Paralysis is a bitch isn't it?"

    "Not as bad as using a pretty ineffective move. I take it you're not as dumb as her pathetic excuse for a bodyguard so what's the problem?" Not really sure if I want to give away my past or even hint at the fact I have six moves so I just kept a straight face. "Are you insulting me by showing mercy? That'll only get you killed out here!" An aggressive Slash was about to hit me when paralysis kicked in.

    "Just giving you a taste of your own medicine. Why finish this so soon?" Arguably the biggest bluff I've ever had to do in my life. Unfortunately I have no choice but to act on it. "While you're trying to regain some movement, let me tell you that Emily would have never done anything with you. She would have rather died than mate with you. Ha! That speaks volumes considering almost every ruler usually has a lot of Pokémon practically lining up to mate with them. If you're really as keen as you think you are, then you either would've forcibly taken Emily or moved on to find another mate. No other ruler I've seen has been so half-assed when it comes to finding a partner. Rulers have to make decisive choices and live with them which is something that comes with the territory. You're not worthy to rule here on that principle alone. From the sound of it too, you're really not sure what to do since all of the Pokémon in your domain have been living in constant fear and uncertainty for the past few years. As for killing her entire family to get to the top, that is to be expected. However, you seemed to feel that Emily would be okay with that and banked on her feeling defeated or easily accepting that her father was never to be found after the search party stopped. The mind can be a terrible thing when we just ignore it."

    He got back on his feet with a scowl on his face. "And who made you the expert on all of this? Just because you've been there before doesn't mean that your situation applies here. This is Mount Silver, the area home to the strongest Pokémon in the world. There's no way I'll give it up so easily." A grin appeared. "And thanks to you, I have a blueprint to make sure I get what I want in the future."

    My rings' brightness slowly increased. "You won't have a future."

    I readied Bite, but Quick Attack was the move that came out. My body was too unbalanced to land an effective hit plus I was still hurting from the close range Metal Claw attacks. Another thing from that is that he was closer to Emily whereas I was on the opposite side. Sneasel went for another Slash on my exposed side and scored a massive hit. This constant roulette wheel of attacks was getting in the way of this fight. For the first time since Olivine City I feel like I'm going to lose this one fight... the one fight that I can't afford to lose.

    "I saved my strongest move for last" he said while looking over his handy work. A purple aura covered both of his claws as he charged forward to land another hit. I refused to attack in his direction for fear of hitting Emily with something that wasn't Bite. Now I know his mental capacity isn't all that high since he could've gone straight for Emily. What hit me felt oddly familiar and was very weak compared to his other attacks. A look of concern came across his face. "That still should've done more. Faint Attack usually gets the job done against everything, including dark types."

    On the inside I was losing my shit. That was supposed to be strong!? I decided to show him what a real Faint Attack looks like. I got into position in front of Emily but the imaginary roulette didn't give me what I wanted. Moonlight was the move that was being used in place of the one I wanted which wasn't all bad since I felt much better after its effect ended. Frustration set in with Sneasel as he realized that a majority of damage from his attacks were essentially wasted. Then his expression changed and he started to mumble some numbers while counting on his claws.

    "You know six moves... how interesting. Maybe not all humans are worthless." He looked at me with crossed arms. "I'll make you a deal. I won't kill you if you can take me to the human that gave you six moves. What do you say?"

    Maybe he's a little smarter than I gave him credit for or that may have been the dumbest thing to ever come out of someone's mouth. "You cannot be serious. Getting those extra moves was pure hell. I highly doubt you would have the toughness to survive the long process. Shit, you're having a hard time with me. What makes you think you're worthy to have six moves? That last Faint Attack was pure garbage."

    His head shook. "Power. I can have so much more power than every other Pokémon out there. At least I could be able to handle the side effects unlike you. Oh well, I can find them myself." Metal Claw was charged up but it stopped due to the paralysis. An idea popped up in my head as I thought about my next move: don't use the right attack. Mentally I prepared for Bite, but Faint Attack was chosen this time around. The impact wasn't as brutal as some of my previous ones which left me disappointed; still sent him into the dense back wall of the cave.

    "Get up you bitch. I know that didn't kill you." A berry was in his hand as he lay on the ground. "Oh you've got to be fucking kidding me."

    A smirk came across Sneasel's face. "Very observant. This berry cures paralysis so now I can move freely. You know... it pays to have a backup plan. The only problem is that I couldn't get to my little hiding spot fast enough. Bon appétit." The effect of paralysis was almost instantly gone after seeing his arms moving effortlessly. When rising to his feet, there was an obvious wince of pain; thank Arceus I landed a shot to one leg.

    "Don't think that I'll ease up knowing that you're crippled. An enemy to me is either dead or ruled unable to battle by a judge. I don't see a judge or another trainer which means this isn't over until one of us is dead. Leg injuries can lead to something worse if not dealt with properly."

    It was déjà vu all over again as he went from Screech to Metal Claw despite the injury in the leg. This time I opted to counter immediately with Bite rather than just cover my ears. Bite was what I wanted as I thought about using Toxic. Claws were my focus this time so that I could stop the attack. He used his other claw to push me aside and made a mad dash toward Emily. I can't attack though. What if I use Toxic and he jumps? I'd basically kill the one hope for this area; not the reputation I want. A blast of fire nailed Sneasel square in the chest.

    Emily rose to her feet. "I'm done moping around. Sorry to leave you fighting by yourself Shade."

    "Don't worry about it. I'm almost done with him anyway." I felt something well up inside of me; it was definitely Toxic. Could I actually control my attacks now? Purple blobs were sent in Sneasel's direction with each one hitting. Now it was only a matter of time. "I pray to Arceus that Emily's father beats you down into Hell."

    "NO! I won't go down so easily" the faux ruler screamed. "You were all about fairness in fighting so I'll make it fair." Screech echoed throughout the cave at a different frequency. "Ursaring will be here soon to make sure both of you will end up like your friend over there. Take this as a..." another burst of fire sent him up against a side of the cave.

    "I'VE HAD ENOUGH!" Emily teed off on the poisoned Pokémon mixing Stomp attacks, Take Downs, and Ember. When it was all said and done, nobody would be able to recognize Sneasel at the first glance or the fiftieth. "Father's waiting for you. I hope you beg for mercy and don't get any" she said venomously to the corpse. "Stay here while I get some of his berries." Take Down broke open a large hole in the wall and she rolled as many berries as she could over to me. I ate as many as I could fit in my mouth. Being exhausted was something I haven't felt since I saved Ruby on that fateful night.

    "Thank you Emily. What made you want to fight at the end?"

    She looked down. "Revenge, sadly. I heard you talking during the fight and I do feel bad that I dragged you into this whole mess. I'm embarrassed that I couldn't do it on my own."

    I made her sit down next to me. "There's no shame in asking others for help which is why I feel bad about treating you so poorly when you begged me for help. Can you forgive me... Queen Emily?"

    A smile came across her face. "Of course Shade. Now we just have to get out..."

    "URRRR!" An army of about 20 Ursaring made their way into the cave and showed no signs of letting us leave so easily.

    "Emily... get behind me."

    "I can fight! There's no need..."

    "NOW!" I made sure that they formed a semi-circle around me. "This is going to get chaotic so wait until I give the all clear signal." All of them growled until four of them launched themselves at me with Thrash. For reasons unknown, I got Dark Pulse to fire when I was thinking about it. The group was easily knocked back but was replaced by another. Each one took turns trying to get close only to be blown back. Once they got to panting I fired a Toxic attack in the form of a wave so that all of them would get hit. The cycle continued until all of them dropped dead. My signal was given so that Emily could move about.

    "W-w-what h-h-have I d-done? All of them were loyal to my father but now look at them..."

    "You did nothing wrong. Unfortunately it had to come to this." Silence filled the cave until I thought I heard a moan. "I don't trust that they're all dead. Please... you have to let me make sure. Even one of them getting back up could mean some serious trouble on the way back down the mountain. I'll give you time to look away and cover your ears."

    "I understand." It was heartbreaking to see her turn around knowing that we didn't have a choice. One by one I walked up before biting through their necks. By the sixteenth one I was running out of energy to bite down so I had to physically snap their necks. "Alright, every threat is taken care of. Without the toughest Pokémon around, we should have little trouble getting to the bottom." She still looked forlorn. "I'm truly sorry. The least I can do is to carry three bodies down for everyone to see. They have a right to know what really happened."

    "Okay... can I carry my father?"

    "Of course." I gathered the deformed Sneasel and Trent up on my back while Emily managed to get her father on her back.

    The path down was oddly relaxing since there was no resistance like I expected. Any lower tier soldiers fled at the sight of their dead leader. Time seemed to be a nonfactor as sunlight couldn't find a way through the more dense part of the mountain. Emily had to stop every so often to rest from carrying the one thing that mattered to her. On top of the physical weight of 210 pounds/95 kilograms she was carrying an emotional burden far heavier. The sheer fact that she didn't try to throw herself in front of an attack to stop the pain during my battle is a testament to her will. We could see the exit when Emily just couldn't stand.

    "Shade... I need help."

    "What is it?"

    "I can't do it. I just can't do it. I'm afraid to tell everyone what happened. They'll all say that I'm weak. I can't face them with my father on my back. My legs can't handle it, I'm an emotional mess... was Sneasel going to be a better ruler than me?" Tears flowed from her eyes as the harsh reality set in: she was truly alone in rebuilding the area once we exited the mountain.

    "Let me help you by carrying your father the rest of the way so you have all the energy you need. I promise that nothing will happen to him." She tried to stand with the weight on her back but fell down immediately. "Believe me when I say that your father would be beyond proud that you carried him all this way. You would not be dishonoring him if you let me carry him for the last few feet of the journey." Rapidash was left on the ground as Emily staggered to her feet. "Forget about what he said; the Pokémon that have seen you grow up trust you. I realized during our secret meeting that I wouldn't be half the ruler you are."

    "That... means a lot to me..."

    I adjusted my pace after accounting for the extra weight. "Come on, I'll be right by your side."

    Sunlight shone brightly as we exited the hellhole that was Mount Silver and I could finally stop my rings from glowing. The first Pokémon we saw within the borders was a Larvitar who promptly got its parents. After explaining everything to them, Emily convinced them to have everyone gather in a more open area. So many Pokémon showed up despite the short notice all waiting to hear the big announcement.

    "Pokémon of Mount Silver! I come to you today to tell you that the Sneasel that overthrew my father has been defeated by this Umbreon here beside me." I threw its body in front of me. "As for my father... he is dead along with all of my brothers. I am the only one left of the ruling family after three years of heartache. I am not sure if I am worthy to be your leader though. Will you accept me even though I have failed you for such a long time?"

    Minutes went by without anyone saying a word until a Donphan spoke up. "All hail Queen Emily, the true ruler! Your father wouldn't want it any other way! Anyone still loyal to Sneasel may leave now without punishment!" Cheers erupted from the crowd.

    She motioned for them to quiet down. "Before I can take my place, I must give a proper burial to my most loyal companion and my father. Tonight I ask that you give me privacy. Tomorrow we have a fresh start. I am honored that you chose me to serve all of you." More cheers followed as she motioned me to follow her into the forest.

    Guards surrounding the "palace" were thrilled to see Emily return. A hollowed out tree still looked like it belonged to her despite being on the run for so long. She asked me to dig the holes to bury the two that she once knew close to her home once dusk hit. Elegies were said before I buried them for good and placed a makeshift tombstone on top of each one.

    Emily stared intently at me before breaking down again after the ceremony was over and we were walking back to her room. "Shade... I'm scared about the future. What's going to happen now? What's going to happen tonight? Is someone going to come for me?"

    I spoke very softly. "I don't know. Tonight, let's focus on getting some sleep. You deserve it after all that you went through. I'll be outside guarding the room."
    A quick kiss was planted on my maw. "Please don't leave me alone" she said weakly. Her bed was fairly large so she curled up beside me and laid her head underneath my chin while I comforted her; she fell asleep right away.

    "Sleep well your highness."
     
  13. Writer4fun

    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2017
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    PokéPoints:
    ₽62.4
    Chapter 33-A Sense of Belonging

    Shade's P.O.V.

    We both slept under the darkness that covered Mount Silver's base as the three year long struggle came to an end. It really is fascinating that almost all of that fear and pain can be undone in the span of 48 hours. Validation was needed because everyone was still very uncertain if we had actually killed the one Pokémon who had made this place nearly collapse from within. Nothing says "proof" like throwing a horribly disfigured body in front of an entire crowd to show that we survived our fight. Unfortunately Emily's work is far from done. She has to reconnect with this entire region after being prevented from speaking her mind and some things may never be undone. I have no clue how many other Pokémon around here carry burdens; some of those physical and mental scars can run deep. All that matters now is that Emily can look forward to a fresh start.

    Clouds covered the sun when I woke up so I just stayed still while Emily was sleeping peacefully. Once the sun broke through for a split second, I let my rings glow just a little bit; Emily mumbled in her sleep before waking up. She looked so refreshed after fighting a losing battle for so long. Something also looked different about her and I had this weird feeling deep down. Something about wanting to be her mate.

    She rubbed her head underneath my neck. "Good morning Shade. Sleep well?"

    "Yeah. Just wish the sun stayed behind the clouds for a bit longer. Are you ready to claim what's yours?"

    "... I don't know if I can do this. What if yesterday's enthusiasm was a lie? Is anyone going to take me seriously after I abandoned them?"

    Doubt is something that cannot get in the way of her getting everything back to normal. "Something like that is very hard to fake. Don't worry if it takes awhile for things to get back to the way they were. What I said about leadership back then is true though. You have to make decisions and live with them, but that doesn't mean you have to do it all by yourself. It wouldn't be a bad thing if I came with you for moral support. Remember it's your area now. Let's get going."

    The forest Pokémon had felt just like Emily: refreshed and hopeful after hearing that Sneasel had finally been killed. Many of them actually did not need her help because they had still been living the same way during his reign. However, it just was with more fear. With reactions like those, I knew that Sneasel was a terrible leader. He had no idea what to do except for sit on his "throne" and rule from afar. This place may have been a ghost town if he actually visited the forest because his guards didn't do anything on their own. Honestly, it just bothers me how lazy he was yet he still ruled with an iron fist. Everywhere she walked, she was bowed down to and treated as if he father were in charge. Anyone that did have a problem had it solved by a neighbor or Emily would add it to a mental list. It was going pretty smoothly until we walked by a Teddiursa cub and her mother.

    "Mamma... when's daddy coming home? He doesn't have to work anymore" she said in a worried tone.

    The Ursaring mother looked down at her daughter with a glimmer of hope. "Soon. Very soon. When we see daddy then we go back to normal since that bad man is not here anymore." She spotted us and came right up to us. "Your highness! It's an honor to meet you. I know it's been awhile but you've grown up so much. My deepest condolences for the king. I can make you and your friend some food since you took the time to come all the way to the far east of Mount Silver."
    Emily blushed. "Please please, call me Emily and thank you. My father will be missed for sure." She looked at me. "Come to think of it... we could use something to eat. Are you sure that you want to go through the trouble?"

    A smile was on her face. "Not at all Emily. Give me about half an hour to make something up. You can keep walking around or stay close by, whatever works for you." We opted to walk around the nearby area talking to other Pokémon to see if there was anything we could do to get things back on track. Just like before, nobody really had any big problems since all of their problems were fear based. The smell of cooked berries was enough to draw us back for our meal.
    The Teddiursa cub greeted us as we sat around the fire. "Mamma makes the best food around! Fire is hot but mamma makes sure nothing gets burned."

    "But is that fire hotter than mine?" Emily asked playfully.

    "Nuh uh. You're fire is waaaaay hotter." She'd be good with kids.

    All four of us ate our food quietly. There was an odd tension in the room until the Ursaring saw her cub finish the meal. "Sweetie... the grownups need to talk now."

    "Ok!" The innocence in that voice almost made me cringe. I don't think that I've seen a Pokémon that has no clue what is going on in the world. Arceus bless her.
    A forlorn look came across the mother's face. "Would you happen to know where my husband is? He worked as a member of the royal guard under your father but somehow kept working under that Sneasel."

    Emily's first test as a ruler was a tough one. Instead of the typical fight for power, it ended up being a problem with no easy solution. She got straight to the point. "Where was he stationed with Sneasel? Or do you not know?"

    "He said he was assigned to inside the mountain. Since he was one of the strongest fighters, he was placed near the upper levels. We haven't seen him in months but..."

    I had to jump in. "Is there a chance he was a personal guard? Like one that could be called if there was an emergency where Sneasel was outmatched?"

    She nodded. "That was it. He constantly complained about how his ears were hurting. Whenever I tried to help him he told me it was classified training."

    Emily and I looked at each other. Oh my Arceus... I killed him. Not only did I kill him with poison, I snapped his neck for good measure. Despite the damning thing I had done, she had to tell her. Telling someone that their loved one is not technically dead will only lead to long term despair. If she lies then I'm done. Gone. I'll say it before and I'll say it again: you have to make tough decisions.

    Emily looked so nervous. "Umm ma'am... your husband is not coming back."

    "I don't unders..."

    "He's dead!" A long pause before she sighed. "During our battle, Sneasel called his personal guards and about 20 Ursaring came. They all looked like they had dead eyes when they arrived. Both of us fought them and we killed all of them... and snapped their necks for good measure. I'm sorry, I really am."

    Pure silence filled the area as the cub made her return to her mother's side; she hadn't heard a word. "Are you done mamma? I wanna play!" I almost cried right in front of everyone. I know that it's one thing to tell an adult but fuck man, I've never had to tell a young Pokémon anything, let alone that their father is dead. Wait a second... young Pokémon... cubs... kits... Ruby! This whole adventure started because Mitch didn't come after me but now I realize how much I truly hate this lifestyle. I still have a mate that I want to have kits with back at the Pokémon Center and she doesn't even know that I want kits! Does she want kits? I need to get out of here so I can tell her.

    "Shade come back! Excuse me for a second." Emily was faster than I expected because she caught up to me pretty quick. "What's gotten into you?"

    "Dammit Emily I can't do this anymore! All this carnage I've caused and for what? I gave up this lifestyle so that I could be with my mate." I let out a deep breath. "Can we talk about this later please? I'm sorry I freaked out on you." I gave her a kiss on the top of her head.

    Emily walked back to the mother trying to digest what I meant. "I know that I can't bring him back, but I'm willing to go back up to Mount Silver and bring his body back for a proper burial. I'm not going to lie to you: he's beyond injured and I'm not sure if you want to see him after what was done."

    Ursaring thought it over. "An honorable thing to do. As much as I want to accept your offer, I just don't think I can handle it right now" she replied very solemnly.
    "I can offer you the chance to join my family; your food is very delicious and both of you would be safer with me. It's the least I can do. You know where to go if you decide to follow through. Have a nice day." We made our way down the forest path talking to anyone who took some time to talk to us. There were some minor disputes over territory but Emily went off of her father's opinions to make judgments. Once we finally covered as much area as our legs would allow us, we headed back to her bed exhausted. Both of us got into similar positions as last night with the exception of Emily getting really close to me; Ruby would probably be more than upset if she saw how we were.

    "We can talk now Shade" she cooed. "You scared me earlier today. What was going on in your head?"

    "During our fight I started counting. I made a promise to Ruby that anyone who tried to hurt her would be gone in under a minute and those feelings came out for you. Ultimately I failed since the fight took much longer than a minute." She shifted so that her soft, warm neck was rubbing on top of my head. "Ruby is the only one I have left in my life that I truly care about. I ran out here because I thought that my trainer failed to care for her like the way I do. Her life as an Espeon has been horrible and all I want to do is give her the best in life. Now look what I've done: I've helped killed at least 25 more Pokémon here. This isn't me anymore. I just can't stay here anymore but I'm afraid I won't be welcomed back."

    A hoof gently stroked my back. "Poor Shade... I had no idea that you were being eaten up by this guilt." She adjusted herself before going on. "I had a feeling that you had a mate so I didn't ask you to stay with me for that reason. However, I am truly grateful that you helped me get through today when you could have just left after the fight or even just ignored my cry for help. Your mate is very lucky to have you and so am I. My father told me to respect others but I want you to know that it would've been great if you stayed here and been my mate."

    "Part of me wants to stay though. I'm torn on my sense of my purpose in life. Am I better suited as a powerful ruler with few limits or a trainer's Pokémon surrounded by great friends?" I started to fight back tears until another burning question came into my mind. "Why did you lie to that Ursaring and say that we fought all of the personal guards? You didn't attack and it makes you look like a killer. I should've taken the brunt of her anger or sadness."

    "Because a leader has to take responsibility for the actions of their friends. Besides, you were on thin ice with the rest of the wild Pokémon when we first met you. Nobody likes to see trained Pokémon around here anyway. Plus everyone praised you for solving our problem; I wanted you to feel comfortable here."

    Validation is a wonderful thing. "Guess I was right about you; you are a true leader. I'm proud you told the overall truth to her even though it was painful to do." We stared into the outside world in silence for a little while as the clouds were blown away by the warm night breeze. "Emily, I think you would make a great mother. The way you dealt with the cub was very impressive." It hurt to say that knowing I couldn't be with her.

    "Shade, I think you would make a great father if you and Ruby decided to have kits. You're very loving yet stern when you need to be. The biggest thing is that you shouldn't be ashamed of your past." She looked me straight in the eyes. "Next time you see Ruby you should embrace her as if it's your last day on this earth and tell her how much you love her. I took it for granted until my father told me he would be travelling on that day three years ago. Even though I can't be with you, I still told you how I felt and it felt wonderful." Both of us looked up at the stars while thinking about what we said to each other. The fact is that Ruby knows how much I love her but Emily's right about doing that every day of my life.

    "Tomorrow I'm going back to the Pokémon Center and go back to not just my mate, but the rest of my friends. Belonging with Mitch is the path that's right for me to follow. He's gone so far out of his way to make sure I can live the best possible life. Feeling angry at him for so long wouldn't seem right at all."

    A smile came across her face. "A leader has to make decisions and live with them. Are you sure that's what you want to do?"

    I didn't hesitate that long. "Yes. Please unders..."

    Her maw found mine again. "You've guided me through the hardest time in my life when I lost everyone close to me. Now it's my turn to guide you back to where you belong. As long as you're happy, I'm happy."

    Now it was my turn to look her in the eye. "As long as you don't even think about throwing away your life then I'll be happy to have you as my guide on the way back."

    Tears started to form in her eyes. "How did you know?"

    "Call in intuition. Just know that I was happy to see you fight back; I love you too much to have let something like that h-h-happen." We both cried in unison after all of that came to light. I don't even want to think about losing anyone after how far Ruby and Emily have come. Eventually we ran out of tears before falling asleep cuddled up.
    Morning came around with the sound of Doduo yelling at the sun. Neither of us wanted to move after waking up since it would be the last intimate moment we would have before departing back to the Indigo Plateau. Emily was getting the shivers as I embraced her for the last time; I underestimated how hurt she would be as a result of me leaving her side. Before we got up to leave I told her that she has so many Pokémon to help her restore the area back to what it was. The trek back was uneventful overall with the exception of more Pokémon thanking us for all we did yesterday. We were not even halfway to the gate when a Growlithe appeared in the middle of the pathway.

    "Shade? Shade! You're alive!"

    Only one Growlithe knows my name. "I am. Is Mitch nearby?"

    "Yeah, let me go get him."

    He ran off behind a few bushes to get the trainer that protected me at my weakest moment in the forest, the trainer that let me love Ruby unconditionally, the trainer that shared my pain at the cemetery.

    Emily held a nervous smile. "So this is goodbye?"

    I sheepishly put a paw behind my head. "Guess so." I stiffened up. "If you're not busy, I'm competing at this huge tournament past the gate near where you found me. Wild Pokémon probably don't want to go because of all of the people but you're welcome to sneak a peek."

    "I'd like that Shade." One final quick kiss was place on top of my head. "Good luck."

    Bushes rattled as Mitch emerged in front of me with Growlithe by his side. "Umbreon... oh Umbreon. I've been looking all over for you." His voice was so quiet and he sounded exhausted. "Will you come back to me or are you happy out here?" Again I started to tear up; typical Mitch to give me the option to leave him. I sprinted to him and rubbed my head all over him; oh how I missed that scent. He looked at Emily. "If you've been watching over him these past three days then I thank you. Take these." He dug out some food and placed it on the ground. "Come on buddy let's get you healed up so everyone can stop worrying, especially Espeon." He scooped me up in his arms and we were back on the path to the Pokémon Center.

    He rubbed my head and carried me down the dirt road, favoring me in his arms instead of my Luxury Ball on his belt; done exactly like the first time Tom held me.

    I wouldn't have it any other way.
     
  14. Writer4fun

    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2017
    Posts:
    69
    PokéPoints:
    ₽62.4
    Chapter 34- Preliminaries

    Mitch's P.O.V.

    Growlithe has always had the strongest nose on the on the team since I've been travelling. Umbreon really didn't leave much of a scent on anything except a faint one on his Luxury Ball. It was a very tough decision to leave Espeon behind but her reopened wound was too severe to have her just rest inside the ball. Ultimately she decided that her health was more important. Nurse Joy was a little upset that we were leaving her in there when there were some more tests that needed to be done until I explained that Umbreon had run off on me. Even then she still shot me a glare. Honestly, she rips me a new one for getting Espeon hurt (okay that's justified considering how bad I blew that whole scenario) but who the hell would rip a trainer for looking for his lost Pokémon?

    Carly and Davis came to check up on me only to see me getting ready to leave the Pokémon Center. When they asked where I was going, I told them I needed some fresh air to clear my mind. You could argue it was a half truth with me omitting the fact Umbreon had run off. They've already done more than enough for me by risking their eligibility in the tournament by threatening to start a riot at the party and are even willing to go to bat for me when Sara complains. Besides, would Umbreon even listen to them if they found him? Ultimately I needed to go out to the base of Mount Silver since his scent brought us there. Some of the Pokémon were very defensive of their nests yet they didn't want to battle. Any Pokémon that did was defeated after some considerable effort; no scrubs out here that's for sure. To solidify myself as a dominant yet caring presence after a dozen or so fights, I threw down some spare healing berries as I walked by so that all of them knew I wasn't trying to hurt them. I'm all for training, but not like this. By nightfall we were deep in the woods with no signs of finding him.

    The next day proved to be just as exhausting but with fewer wild Pokémon encounters. I think we actually went around in circles getting lost so we cut our losses around late afternoon to rest for the remainder of the day. My body being tired won out over my will to find him which frankly pissed me off since I want to get him out of the wild. If everyone heard his story they'd make sure he'd never go back; one trip through Hell is enough. Looking at the stars with Growlithe was the only thing that calmed me down enough to give me a renewed energy for tomorrow. Lying under the stars when we first got here was something I'd like to do again before the whole tournament starts.

    We woke up at the crack of dawn to reorient ourselves on my map after going in circles all of yesterday. By the looks of it, we weren't too far from Mount Silver. All I could do was take a deep breath out of frustration and get moving along the path. It came to my attention that Pokémon went from outright scared to a little nervous to acting like an average wild Pokémon as we made it closer to the base of the mountain. Growlithe's facial expressions during conversations looked like a mix of shock and intrigue. Eventually he guided me away from the mountain but I noticed that all of the Pokémon that looked scared looked very relieved; almost like a long term heavy burden had been lifted. An Ursaring pointed to the path back to the Indigo Plateau while Growlithe sprinted ahead so I followed in pursuit. Exhausted, I just stared at Growlithe, Umbreon, and a wild Ponyta all together.

    Umbreon... oh Umbreon. I've been looking all over for you" I whispered. "Will you come back to me or are you happy out here?" He looked pretty beat up after some time in the wild but I felt that he was in no rush to come back to me; that was until he ran over and rubbed his head all over me. The wild Ponyta looked like it was going to cry after I was about to walk away with her best friend. "If you've been watching over him these past three days then I thank you. Take these." As a measure of good faith, I took out some food to place on the ground. "Come on buddy let's get you healed up so everyone can stop worrying, especially Espeon." Umbreon immediately went to sleep in my arms and even started to cry in his sleep. Our trip back was uneventful as the afternoon rolled onward. A painful three days was finally over when we made it back to the Pokémon Center. There were a few trainers relaxing in the lobby when I walked up to the counter.

    "Hello, I'd like to heal him up please."

    Nurse Joy gave me another dirty look similar to when I brought in Espeon. "If it were up to me, I wouldn't treat him. You don't seem to learn from your mistakes do you?" Pretty sure I bit my tongue so hard that I made it bleed. "I am required to heal him though. You... not so much. Hand him over." She quickly placed antibacterial cream and bandages on him then handed him back to me after taking him to the back room for awhile. "Have him rest for a couple of hours and he'll be fine. It looks like he's been eating berries to help the healing process."

    "Thank you very much. Before I forget, I'm sure I have a room in the trainer's village because of my reservation to compete."

    She rolled her eyes. "Here's your key to the room. It's in a place called the Silver Hotel and it's located behind the stadium." As I was about to leave she grabbed the back of my jacket. "Next time you come to me it may just be the last thing you do at the Silver Conference" she whispered.

    "What do you mean?"

    "I mean that tournament officials are going to hear about these two incidents. You should enjoy what little time you might have left here. Now get out!" I walked to the back room to pick up a healthy Espeon before exiting the center. Glares from the other trainers served as extra motivation to get to my room as fast as possible plus force me to recall everyone.

    The Silver Hotel lived up to its name for sure. A five star hotel with 12 floors from the outside and giant glass statues of various Pokémon littered the inside lobby. I saw some unfamiliar faces all over the place; probably more new trainers that came over on ferries. The bellhop guided me to the check in counter after I politely declined his offer to take my bags. I just had to show my trainer ID to the desk attendant before I headed up to my room on the fifth floor.

    My room was so big that I could send out Gyarados with a lot of headroom to spare. I can only imagine what all of the other trainers are doing in this place. Still, I don't feel comfortable here. When it comes to fancy things I always find a way to feel uncomfortable. Maybe it's based on the fact that I came from a modest city or any representation of luxury is usually associated with assholes. You could argue it's hypocritical that I have six Luxury Balls, but I'll be the first to tell you that I don't benefit from them. I'd much rather my Pokémon handle luxury than myself. Sure the pillows are fluffier, the bed softer, the television bigger, the food more delicious while costing nothing, but it all won't matter if I get knocked out in the first round. I took a shower after I laid out my clothes for the evening so that I could finally get rid of a mix of sweat and campfire smoke; going from the shower to the fluffy hotel bathrobe felt amazing.

    Burning questions ran through my head ever since Umbreon ran out of the room so it was time to get some answers. "Espeon and Umbreon we need to have a talk." Once both of them shook off the cobwebs, they were beyond excited to see each other. I positioned myself with my back against all of the pillows while I was lying down and they laid down on top of me with their heads near my chest. "Can you tell us what happened Umbreon? We were scared for you." Espeon took a moment to gather the strength to communicate Umbreon's thoughts into English.

    A long sigh came from the black eeveelution. "After I ran out of the room I wanted to get away from everything. No you, no Ruby, no teammates, nothing. I figured the best place to go was somewhere that would be off the beaten path so you couldn't chase after me. A daughter of another ruler came to me pleading to help her take down a strong enemy that took her father's rightful spot and I accepted..."

    "Why?" It was Espeon jumping in starting to tear up. "I thought you were done with all of that. Weren't you sick of dealing with all of the fighting and killing?"

    Umbreon quickly responded. "So did I but some things can't be ignored. This Ponyta was almost like you Ruby; on the edge of throwing her life away with only a loyal Tangela to keep her going. A Sneasel overran the area and took her father hostage after killing all of her family. To make matters worse, she was practically forced to be his mate. I couldn't bear to see another Pokémon who did nothing wrong have their life turned into a living nightmare." He stopped as if to choose his next words carefully. "All I want to say is that I did some things I'm not proud of and helped right a lot of the wrongs that have been going on for the past three years there. Emily is in good hands now."

    "Let me guess, you killed that Sneasel didn't you?" He buried his head into my robe and was sobbing.

    "I'm cursed Mitch. All I want to do is live a happy life but deep down I'm filled with hatred for the world." He turned to Espeon. "I failed you too Ruby. What kind of mate runs off and goes back to his bad habits? Can I really change knowing that deep down I may want to kill someone before I get hurt again?"

    I gently rubbed his head and talked softly. "You did what you thought was right. I know that you did the same thing for Espeon when you met her. Please don't think that I hate you for running away or killing other Pokémon. All that matters is that you're here in front of us right now."

    "...thanks Mitch. Emily said that next time I saw you two I should tell you both how much I love you. So let me say it: I love you as a trainer." He hugged me to the best of his abilities before turning to Espeon. "Ruby... I love you more than you could ever know. I will never take you or Mitch for granted ever again. Will you forgive me?"

    "Oh Shade..." a long kiss was shared between the two. "I'll stand beside you as long as you want me to."

    The passion got Umbreon red in the face and the jitters. "Um Ruby... I was wondering if you wanted to... ya know..."

    "What is it Shade?"

    He really didn't want to go through with it. "Maybe when the time is right. I still have something else though; I was using different moves all the time in my battles up there."

    "Professor Elm said that your chances of doing that were very likely. All I can say is that I will find a way around it somehow. For now, let's all rest up. We're going to need it for the preliminaries soon." We all just lied in my big bed embracing one another after realizing that the air was cleared. A piece of paper was slid under the door and Espeon used her psychic powers to float it over to me. Official letter heading covered the top of the paper.

    To Mitch,

    It has come to our attention that you have made some questionable if not poor decisions regarding your Pokémon in the past few days. You have earned all eight badges and the right to compete in the Silver Conference. However, with over 600 trainers from across the world at this year's tournament, there are preliminary matches that must be completed. Those who have received low marks from gym leaders or have participated in questionable conduct are subjected to multiple one-on-one battles to see if they are worthy to enter this tournament. You must battle four other trainers that meet these aforementioned conditions to make it to the opening ceremonies. Any loss or draw will result in you being eliminated from the tournament. Your first battle is on field 20 tomorrow morning at 9:00 A.M. sharp.

    Best of luck,

    The Pokémon League.

    Oh look at that, more practice for me. First I need some room service so I can plan out tomorrow with a full stomach.
    I had no trouble sleeping with the two eons on top of me since I was exhausted in every possible way. Bathrobe fluffiness also contributed to me sleeping like a rock. My alarm had been set for 7:30 in the hopes that I could eat some breakfast beforehand; it paid off when I woke up. A directory had been given to me in my room so I could find out where I was supposed to battle today. It came as no surprise that I was shoved on the field furthest away from everyone else. Who in their right mind would care enough to watch a battle between "poor" trainers so early? The indoor pool is probably calling their names.

    The field itself was regulation size but there were no bleachers to sit on; not sure if there was even a spot for lawn chairs to set up. Other trainers in the preliminary pool gathered around to size us up. Guess everyone thought they would be battling under the bright lights so soon. I had everything to go at 8:50 while my 16 year old opponent made his way to the trainer's box at 8:55. With both of us there, the match could get underway. Our referee looked like a recent graduate of the official's school based on his constant checking of the rulebook yet it didn't bother me; I know I wouldn't need his help to decide the battle.

    "The first preliminary battle is between Mitch of Violet City and Kevin from Olivine City. The rules are one Pokémon each and a draw means both of you are eliminated. Release your Pokémon at the same time. Begin!" Both balls were thrown to the center of the field with the result having my Gyarados battle Kevin's Rhydon.

    "Horn Drill!" Damn! This kid's going straight for the jugular.

    "Oh no you don't. Hydro Pump!" Rhydon didn't even get close to Gyarados as the blast of water hit for super effective damage; it was over once the water stopped flowing.

    "Rhydon is unable to battle which means that Gyarados is the winner. The victor is Mitch from Violet City!" Kevin gave me the one finger salute on his way out of the battle area as he was swearing profusely. Now I see why he was chosen to be here. "Excuse me Mitch" the referee said after I recalled Gyarados. "Do you want to get it over with now or wait for other trainers to fight? Your call."

    Thank Arceus I don't have to wait. "Keep 'em coming."

    A clipboard was near a group of league officials containing all of the information. "Let me check to see who's up next for you." He sprinted over to see my next opponent. "You're battling Alexis from New Bark Town" he screamed across the way. The girl about my age, maybe a year older at 22, stood unfazed at what I just did to Kevin. "Same rules as before. Begin!" Round two was her Mantine versus my Espeon.

    "Use Bubblebeam!"

    "Try and shield yourself Espeon!" There were too many bubbles to stop at once and Espeon took some slight damage.

    "Wing Attack!" It came at an angle so that she couldn't duck or jump to avoid the hit.

    "Psybeam!" Rainbow colored beams landed directly on the Mantine's underbelly scoring a critical hit. "Follow up with Quick Attack!" I made sure to land a physical hit since Mantine are very good with handling special attacks.

    "Shake it off and use Whirlpool!" The vortex of water circled Espeon preventing me from calling her back or getting off a decent attack. The more time I took to call an attack the more damage she was taking.

    "Quick Espeon, use Confusion to create a hole!" Her psychic energy not only ripped part of the Whirlpool attack open, it also sent a fair amount of it back for damage. "Quick Attack before it can trap you again!"

    "Fine by me. Wing Attack at full speed!" No matter how fast it was, I knew I was much faster.

    "Get behind it and use Psybeam again!" Espeon got a little too close and took some damage but found a way to land a knockout blow.

    "Mantine is unable to battle. The victor is Mitch from Violet City!" Alexis just walked off the field without saying a word. Maybe she was here because of how she handles a loss? Still got a win though.

    The referee screamed out the next challenger. "Next up is Cassy from the Kanto Region!" Either they didn't have any more information on her or they didn't want to give away all of her information. Usually Kanto trainers are treated better for reasons I can't fully understand. This time it came in the form of not telling me where she was from; gym leaders over there have a huge influence on their townspeople's Pokémon. In a twist of events, she rolled out a Forretress to battle my Ampharos. I had to be more careful with my battles since Espeon almost was in deep trouble last time.

    "For some reason I don't want you to succeed Mitch" she said in a sly tone. "You're quite a threat to the field. I got my last badge on the last possible day to register so I know I don't stand a chance. The least I can do for everyone else is take you out. Forretress, use Explosion!" Horror was written all over my face as Ampharos took the impact; she was still standing albeit breathing heavily.

    "You're an idiot for trying to force a draw on the first turn. Can't believe you made it this far Cassy" I said in a frustrated tone as she stormed off the field in disgust. Guess the league wants me out; nobody in their right mind would pull that stunt with so much on the line. Then again I could just be paranoid.

    "Last battle for you Mitch and then you qualify for the bracket portion of the tournament. Your final opponent is Russell from Blackthorn City." Something didn't seem right about him. He just didn't seem like he was into dragon types and his cloths reflected that. I put my trust in Furret to take me to the ceremonies whereas he put his trust in his Golem.

    Furret immediately looked terrified. She still hasn't recovered from last time.
     
  15. Writer4fun

    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2017
    Posts:
    69
    PokéPoints:
    ₽62.4
    Chapter 35- Fighting Through Adversity

    Mitch's P.O.V.-Flashback

    "Come on Sentret let's keep moving. I can't beat Falkner with just you the way we are now." She pouted while her tongue was sticking out. "Look, I know that you know that you're pretty strong but the thing is that Falkner's stronger. He's my hometown gym leader so I know what it would take to beat him." Her head tilted to think about what I said but she ended up turning away. "Once we're out on route 31 then you'll be ready to battle. Get back in the ball." I recalled her in frustration and made my way to the east side of the city to go train. Growlithe was fairly strong at this point since I've had him for a few months while Sentret was just caught yesterday on the outskirts of Cherrygrove City as I was training Growlithe. Falkner on the other hand was a skilled bird master. My only saving grace was that the league has to make him use weaker Pokémon against beginners. I've heard so many stories about how his Pidgeot would dominate and even give electric types a run for their money.

    Route 30 was full of small bug types, Rattata, and the rare Hoothoot that wasn't sleeping. Sentret looked happy to be knocking everything out with ease but eventually she was bored by dusk. She didn't want to lose her battles, but it looked like her attacks were half-assed. We kept progressing through the forest before eventually reaching a lake by Dark Cave on route 31. I figured it was best to get Growlithe out as well so that we all could enjoy the decent weather. He obviously didn't like the water so I let Sentret go for a swim so she could relax and get away from me. From the shore I saw her battle a Magikarp on her own and she was getting beat down. For a Magikarp to be that aggressive was rare so I threw a ball at it and caught it. Dripping wet, she swam back to me looking pissed off. I didn't want to make a snarky comment for fear of her completely disobeying me but I knew she was embarrassed to lose to a Magikarp, even if it was overly aggressive. I went to dry her off and she sprinted into Dark Cave in what can best be described as her own attempt to get stronger.

    Dark cave was more for explorers rather than trainers due its complex layout so I had to get her out before she got herself into trouble; all I had to do was follow the trail of fainted Zubats to get to her. Moonlight was filtering down from above as she tackled a Zubat into a side of the cave. Unfortunately for her, it was a softer spot of a Golem that was sleeping. A mumble turned roar sent her running past me as the Golem rolled after her. My best bet was to run after both of them and call her back before running for my life.

    I did my best to find the two since they both were moving much faster than I ever could, but the indented ground gave me all the information I needed to know. Eventually the trail led me south just outside the Cherrygrove city limits. The forest wasn't quite as dense which meant I could call for help my way. Golem on the other hand, saw me and looked like it didn't want me in the picture. It acted like Sentret wasn't there pinned up against a tree in fear and used Rollout on me instead. The first one was an easy dodge but I knew it wasn't going to get better.

    "Growlithe I'm in trouble!" He materialized looking concerned. "I know you're at a huge disadvantage but your teammate is in trouble. Can you stall for some time?" He still looked nervous. "I'll put my body on the line too." A stern nod followed. "Alright! Use Ember!" The fire attack hardly did anything to the rolling rock type. "Now dodge!" We went in opposite directions with Golem going after me. "Dammit! Growlithe use Ember again!" Just like last time the move did practically nothing. I took a risk and tried to cut to the left but my forearm had to be put out to balance myself while on the run; it wasn't pulled back in time. My arm felt like it was just slammed into a wall and it would've been shattered if it was pinned against a tree or the ground. Golem stopped to assess the damage it caused; Sentret was paralyzed from fear, Growlithe or Magikarp were in no condition to do anything, and I was using all of my energy to stay up and hold my arm. It restarted the Rollout attack.

    "Hydro Pump!" A powerful blast of water landed dead center and forced the Golem backwards before fainting; all three of us looked at our savior. "It was that Golem again... oh brother" he said with a light smile. "I may be old but I still pack a punch haha!"

    I walked closer to get a better look at the man. "How did you find us?" I asked still shaken.

    The old man smiled. "Easy my boy. Your Pokémon's flames of course. Nothing fire-like ever is around here. Let me guess... you're a new trainer aren't you?" I nodded while thanking Arceus that the flames were enough to draw some attention. "Well you can call me the Guide Gent. Long ago I travelled around as a trainer but now I've settled down and like helping new trainers. Come with me." Sentret came to me wailing loudly and grabbed onto my leg while continuing to sob; she didn't let go on the way into the city or for the rest of the night.
    Mitch's P.O.V. Present
    "Come on Furret let's keep moving! This isn't last time at all. You've gotten so much stronger and smarter since then." She shook her head to snap out of her trance. "That's it. Now use Dig!" The softer ground made it easy for her to burrow underground.

    "You're a special kind of stupid aren't you? Magnitude!"

    "Not really, Golem is only fast when it's rolling. Hit 'em hard Furret!" She came up from below to deliver a solid hit; the resulting magnitude was fairly weak. "Go in and use Return!"

    "Get defensive Golem! Rock Throw!" Various sized rocks were rising from the ground at a fast rate in the hopes to slow down Furret; she skillfully dodged all of them to land another hit. "Come on you ball of rocks! Magnitude!" I feared that attack after getting in too close for Return. The field collapsed around Furret, trapping her in the ground.

    "Dig under it Furret!"

    A smirk came across the way. "No use my friend. Use Rollout!"

    Unfortunately for me, my opponent Russell was right. She took a direct hit and she flew into the air. "Quick Attack into Dig!"

    "Rock Throw!" Physics proved before that she wouldn't be able to dodge all of them while falling straight down. She took some hits on her way down but managed to hide again. Russell shook his head as the Rollout attack stopped. "Idiot... this time you won't be so lucky!" Magnitude was used again only this time it looked like it was in the middle of the damage scale. Furret being still faster jumped to avoid most of the damage but didn't quite get enough behind her attack.

    "Finish it with a Return!" She charged head first into the one Pokémon that almost ended her life that night. Her attack landed right between the eyes. Critical hit.
    The judge threw up my flag. "Golem is unable to battle. The winner is Mitch from Violet City!" Let's. Fucking. Go. Furret ran to me and grabbed onto my leg again except it was tears of joy coming from her this time around. I managed to pry her off of my leg to hold her up and meet her eye to eye.

    "You did it girl. You brought all of us into the Silver Conference while conquering your fear!" I said with a big smile on my face; she hugged me still crying.

    "Growlithe will be so proud of you" I whispered in her ear. "Get some well deserved rest." Our referee made his way over to tell us that we were all cleared to go to the opening ceremonies. Everyone else gave us glares knowing that we were soundly in while they all will have to struggle to get in.

    Russell jogged over with is hand out. "Congrats on winning. I want you to have this so that you can get out of a pinch against other rock types if you're at a type disadvantage with her." It was a disc for Iron Tail.

    "Why would you give me this? I just ruined your chance at the title."

    He gave me a serious look. "This year was the first time I wasn't around during the Dragon Festival. Deep down it pained me to be on the road for such an important event. My Dratini is obviously not strong enough to hold its own here so I went with my strongest Pokémon to get me here. The fact that I'm here is a miracle since I won all my badges with a 1-0 score. Also I heard that you, an outsider, carried on our tradition despite a tragedy. This is the least I can do for you respecting and honoring my culture. You can bet I'll be rooting for you in the tournament. There's something about the way you handle adversity that makes me think you can go far."

    Sunlight reflected off of the disc. "Thank you." Russell kept his head held high as he left the battle area knowing his glimmer of hope was now gone. I quickly followed so that I could get back to my room to plan for the real tournament.

    What I failed to notice the first time was that there was a side room with another Pokémon Center reserved for hotel guests only. This Nurse Joy was much friendlier to me as she took my Luxury Balls over to the machine for a quick heal before going to my room. By the time I was back in my room it was roughly 10:30 so lunch would have to wait just a little longer for everyone. To kill time I sifted through the rest of my directory pamphlets. There was so much more I never got to look at because of last night; a knock at the door forced me to put all of the papers down.

    Davis stood in the doorway. "Hey man how's it going? Did you win all of your matches to get in?"

    "I did. How did you know I had preliminary battles today?"

    "Can I come in for a second?" I wasn't sure what he was getting at so I let him in so he could sit at the desk. "Now that we're in private, I can tell you what happened when you were gone." He took a deep breath before carefully telling me everything. "So many people from the league wanted to talk to you about what happened at the gala. They were about to disqualify you but I told you I would go to bat for you. I told them you overheard Sara talking about how she left your Espeon in the forest injured and how upset you got. When they brought her in for questioning she refused to talk. My guess is that if she admitted it then there would be an investigation based on your information. Like you, she was sent to the preliminary round for battling at the gala. I heard that she won all of her four rounds easily."

    I took a moment to take it all in. "So they wanted to disqualify me for standing up for my Pokémon?"

    "Well you did put a lot of people at risk to get hit. Look, the committee gave her two options: either both of you would be eliminated or both of you would be demoted to the preliminary rounds. Obviously she didn't want to get disqualified so she chose the early battles. If she chose the other option, I would argue that the tournament hasn't started yet so that rule shouldn't be enforced." He looked at all of my papers on the bed. "Take some time to look at the rules before the opening ceremony later tonight. By the way... why were you gone for three days? You had us worried when we met at the other Pokémon Center."

    I took a long pause. "That night almost cost me more than Espeon, Davis. By no means am I prefect... but I had to right a wrong so that all of my Pokémon can trust me from this point onward." He nodded and didn't press the matter on his way out the door. He told me that Carly would be wishing me luck as well. Rules of the tournament were staring me in the face until two stood out more than the others.

    Rule 2: After the competition has officially started, at no point shall trainers engage in a battle on Indigo Plateau owned land. Any extracurricular battling on such land may result in expulsion from the Silver Conference tournament.

    Rule 2a: A trainer may spar with members of their own team on an official practice battlefield. If two trainers wish to engage in sparring, it must be done with a league referee or committee member present. If any party deems the sparring to be excessive, they must communicate it to everyone present and the sparring shall stop at that point. Any Silver Conference authority figure has the right to expel a trainer for excessive sparring after a committee meeting is held.

    Davis was right about the rule; I was saved on a technicality. All that was left to do was rest up before lunch and call everyone out. "Time to stretch everyone! I'll be back after lunch with your food." My Pokémon looked happy to be out inside of our big room. The best part was seeing Furret talk to Growlithe about her win that punched our ticket into the main stadium tonight. Both of them went on the balcony then closed the glass door to reduce the noise as they looked into the courtyard below. Only Gyarados was the last Pokémon that has yet to talk to me. If I remember correctly he's never really been through a traumatic experience that I know of. I hope that he's alright.
    Lunch was available in a cafeteria on the main floor to the left of the check in table. It was an all-you-can-eat buffet of various foods ranging from meat to fish to vegetables to pizza. Most importantly there were Pokémon food dispensers so every trainer could bring bags up to their room since Pokémon are not allowed outside of their balls in the cafeteria. I basically binged on the variety of food fast enough so that nobody would bother me. After filling up the bags I went to my room to relax and look over more of the directory notes before the evening ceremonies while my team had their fill.

    My notes in the guide told me to arrive on the stadium battlefield for the opening ceremony by 7:00. Trainers that were participating made their way into the large, 50,000 seat stadium with either nervous or excited looks on their faces. A long time passed as the stadium filled with fans before the start of the tournament. An elderly gentleman made his way to a podium in front of a giant bowl.

    "Welcome to the Silver Conference tournament here at the Indigo Plateau! I am your master of ceremonies Mr. Goodshow. The time has come for these 256 trainers to put their skills to the ultimate test on the biggest stage in the world! In order for each trainer to show off their variety of skills, they will be placed into groups of four and will battle round robin style. Each win grants them three points, a loss zero points, while a tie gives them one point. The top two trainers from each group will move on where it will be a single elimination bracket style tournament. Good luck to all trainers and thank you!" Cheers erupted from the whole stadium while a woman took Mr. Goodshow's place.

    "Now it is time for the story of the Silver Conference." Quiet descended over the arena. "According to legend, a great war ravaged the Johto region. Both Pokémon and the land suffered a great deal as the war raged on for years with no end in sight. Ho-Oh appeared once there was no more damage to be done and used its sacred flames to have the land reborn. One tree remained engulfed in flames to remind everyone of the damage that was done, never able to be put out. The first tournament was held in honor of the new life given to the region and Ho-Oh offered its blessing in the form of a flame that remained lit for the entire tournament. Today its flame at the Indigo Plateau represents the burning spirit of all who have battled their way here."

    Mr. Goodshow took the microphone. "It is with great pleasure that I declare this Silver Conference tournament open!" The sacred flame of Ho-Oh was placed in the bowl and it soon lit the entire structure. "May you all battle with the spirit of a champion!"

    My Pokémon and I have gone through so much to get to this point. Now it's time for us to show the world what we're capable of.
     
  16. Writer4fun

    Joined:
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    PokéPoints:
    ₽62.4
    Chapter 36- Round Robin Round One

    Mitch's P.O.V.

    Ho-Oh's flame illuminated the platform above all of the hopeful trainers once Mr. Goodshow was done with the festivities. The entire stadium murmured in anticipation of the upcoming battle that was to take place where we were standing. All of us were escorted to a luxury box to watch the ceremonial introductory tournament battle where the previous year's champion would battle the Elite Four champion. Depending on what happened before this battle, there was a chance that Lance would be dethroned. Regardless of the stakes it was still going to be one hell of a battle. Once we were all lined up against the window, the two trainers made their way to the boxes. The public address announcer took the spotlight.

    "Ladies aaaaaaaand gentleman. As per tradition, last year's champion will face off against the champion of the Elite Four. Please give a warm welcome to Allison! Allison won by a dominating score of 4-0 last year with some aggressive plays." A roar came from the crowd as the 5'7" green eyed brunette appeared on the large video board waving. "Aaaaaand nowwwwwwwww... forrrr yourrrrrr Eeee-leeet Fourrrrrrr chaaaaaaampionnnnnn! For the past eight years he's held the title of best trainer in Johto. I give you Lance, the dragon master!" A deafening roar from 50,000 spectators didn't even make Lance flinch; the man looked like he was all business. "The rules are a full six on six battle and substitutions may be made by both sides. It's over when all six of one trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle. When the flags go up, send out your Pokémon!" The match was nothing short of amazing from the get-go. Each trainer planned two steps ahead and it seemed rare that an attack would do massive damage; it took a solid 45 minutes for it to be one on one.

    Lance was no longer calm. "Dragonite use Thunder!"

    Allison wasn't backing down either. "Scizor, go in for a Metal Claw!" The red bug/steel type used its superior speed from an earlier Agility attack to slip behind the large dragon type.

    "Your aggressive style has gotten you this far but I'm afraid you took the bait. Hyper Beam!" Allison had failed to realize that Dragonite never started charging up for Thunder and could easily turn around to deliver the finishing blow to the frail Scizor.

    The referee threw up the flag. "Scizor is unable to battle! This match goes to Lance of the Elite Four."

    Unbelievable. The difference in skill down there was so marginal yet it made a world of difference in the end. No way on Arceus' green earth I could compete with that right now. Still, the spectators gave Allison a standing ovation knowing that a 1-0 loss is nothing to be ashamed of. A tear or two fell from her eyes as she graciously shook her competitor's hand and walked away with her head held high. Meanwhile in our box, almost everyone was clamoring for a battle with those two. The Indigo Plateau is where the strongest trainers meet and tonight didn't disappoint.

    I was one of the few trainers who stayed after everyone else had left to take it all in. To make just one decision with basically the whole world watching would be a challenge in and of itself. I was sure I was the last person in the stadium until I heard a quiet female voice behind me.

    "Looks like you made it." It was Ashley looking down solemnly. "My desk was covered with incident reports in addition to your file after the gala incident. Why would you do that?"

    I gave her a stern look. "Some things are worth fighting for." Both of us stood in silence. "Look, did you stay behind just so you could lecture me?"

    "No. I came here to tell you that you're on thin ice. Keep it clean for the round robin portion and you should be fine. Also, I received a call from Olivine the other day. Jasmine was wondering how you were doing; she seemed a little worried that you haven't called in awhile."

    That threw me for a loop. I did share a bed with her that night but I didn't know she thought of it as something more. "I didn't mean to worry her. Tell me something... did she ever call you? At all? For any reason?" Ashley's head shook in confusion. "Okay then, I need that favor from you."

    "Does it involve shuffling you around so get the easiest matchups? I did say you could ask for a favor but I don't have that kind of authority."

    "Hahaha! I'm not that conceded. I just want you to give clearance for my Umbreon to compete without penalty."

    She looked skeptical. "May I ask what you mean by that? From the sound of it, it seems like you're trying to cheat in front of my face."

    I sighed heavily. "It's late so I'll give you the short version. Umbreon knows six moves which would seem like an advantage to opponents but that's only if I get lucky. Pryce told me that other Pokémon could sense what's wrong with him but I have yet to see another Pokémon show signs of nervousness. Maybe it's because they're hardwired for battle or just don't care. So... can I get the okay from you?"

    A light bulb went off in her head. "Oh right! Pryce told me about that case. Don't worry about a thing. When you go to register your team, there will be an inspector to make sure all Pokémon registered are medically able to battle. Umbreon is probably okay on the outside which means that he will get the all clear. Tomorrow afternoon I'll have a pass for you and I can input a code into our servers that grants Umbreon permission to battle. Is that it? I could help you with something else since you nearly kicked Cory out of the gym circuit."

    "Hold up a sec. You're telling me that he's still allowed to compete after what he did!?" She nodded in response. "Let me guess... he's here isn't he?" Another nod. "You're fucking kidding me" I said in a frustrated tone. "I'm too tired to deal with that right now. Thanks for your help with Umbreon. I'll probably be seeing you around."

    We waved goodbye as the night continued to drag on. On the way back I had one thought: there has to be something bigger going on here, right? How on earth do you let a trainer stick around after blatantly giving money to opponents so that they would throw battles? Either this is pure stupidity by the league or money is making more sense than logic. And now I have to deal with Umbreon's condition plus the fact that Growlithe was owned by Cory in the past. I just stared at Growlithe's ball on the way back to the hotel knowing that he may have to fight a lot more than a battle.

    A line of people was waiting for me in the lobby once I made it back. Flyers with the word "registration" guided me to the back of the line while those in front were taken care of quickly. The line's progression was varied, but I was in the front of the line in about 15 minutes.

    "Welcome to the Pokémon registration table" a smiling woman said. "So how many are you going to register?" What was she talking about?

    "Six I guess" I said shrugging my shoulders. A laptop was tilted to me and I was able to punch in all of the necessary information.

    The woman looked puzzled when I was done. "You seem to only have registered six Pokémon. Surely you have more that you would like to register. It is a fairly common mistake to register everyone in your party only." Oh shit...

    "Those are the only six Pokémon I own ma'am" I whispered in embarrassment.

    "Oooooh!" An awkward silence led to me being tapped on the shoulder by the person behind me; the clerk took notice. "Well good luck young man!" I walked away to the elevator guessing that I was the only trainer here without interchangeable parts. Once I got in, I hit the button that had my floor on it and then proceeded into my room.

    Everything was as I had left it before I went to the opening ceremonies with papers all over the place. One paper labeled "FAQs" drew my attention so I took a look at that. It was a useless piece of paper by this point because a lot of these were explained by Mr. Goodshow except for two almost forgettable FAQs.

    Q: How do I know what bracket I'm in? A: the brackets will be constructed and released at 11:59pm the day before the tournament starts.

    Q: Why did I have to register my Pokémon? A: Each contestant must list all Pokémon they plan to use in the tournament (maximum of 12) and submit it to our database. This allows trainers to prepare more thoroughly against one another. Final results can be found at our official website.

    Q: How does the round robin format work? A: It works by... By this point I was too tired to keep reading and I saw the clock read 12:42 so I might as well look at my information now.

    Computers were in the main lobby for trainers to access so I dragged my ass out of the room to figure out my matchups. All 64 groups of four were labeled as numbers but it was much easier to type your name into the computer to find your bracket and/or opponents. About 30 or so trainers' names started with M but eventually it was filtered down to me. I was placed in group 47 along with Wesley from Azela Town, Marissa from Goldenrod City, and Victoria from Cianwood City. The main thing about their teams was that their signature Pokémon was the same type as their gym leaders; diversity still prevailed in all of their teams.

    Wesley pushed it to 12 total Pokémon registered while the other two kept it modest with eight or nine total Pokémon at their disposal. Meanwhile I'm stuck with only six. Out of respect for myself, I chose not to look up anyone else participating; it really wouldn't make sense to hope for a future matchup unless I got out of my group. A very familiar voice came from across the lobby after I logged out.

    "Yes! Looks like my team will have a good time in my group." It was Carly. "Rapidash should be able to out speed... oh hey Mitch!" She waved me over to her computer screen. "So I'm seeing that you only have a total of Six Pokémon. Is there something wrong?"

    "Not really. I just don't think I could do a good job of raising more than six Pokémon so close to the tournament. I mean my parent's Pokémon would listen to me but it makes zero sense to use Pokémon that aren't mine."

    She gave me a confused look. "You do know that everyone will be able to prepare for your team with almost no effort right?" I didn't respond because I couldn't think of anything to say. "So what are you going to do? I'd hate to see you have an early exit."

    Again, I was too tired to deal with this. "Put it this way... I've been using the same team to win all eight badges. If everyone from group 47 has access to my team plus some time to prepare, then I should go 0-3 tomorrow."

    Her shoulders shrugged. "Fair enough. I'm in group 31 so we won't be seeing each other too often. Good luck!"

    For the last time of the night I went to my room. The bed looked so inviting after I took a shower and changed into some more comfortable cloths. The website said my match was set for 10:30 in the morning on field seven; a little closer to the center than my preliminary battles. Wesley had all of his Pokémon native to the Johto Region so I had to expect a dark or steel type in there. My six Luxury Balls lay on my dresser as I turned off the light. "Sleep well everyone. Regardless of what happens, I love all of you."
    Ruby's P.O.V.

    A feeling of uneasiness came over me when I heard that every other trainer had reserve Pokémon. Mitch has complete trust in us but I still worry that he won't be able to deal with the other side's strategies as the tournament moves on. What matters is that we survive and advance. Pomp and circumstance be damned, it's time to get out there and battle!

    From inside my ball I could guess that the weather was warm yet cloudy; perfect battling weather if you ask me. The perfect weather was countered with a not so perfect opponent. Wesley was his name and he looked very intimidating with those amber colored eyes in a sea of people. I heard him talking with Mitch about how he originally was from another region so maybe there would be some new Pokémon to see. Our opponent mentioned he had his own Espeon and Umbreon but he said that their days of battling were over after some kind of mission. They shook hands and walked to their own sides of the field as the crowd started to murmur. My ball got much darker as Mitch's hand grabbed it.

    "Alright gentleman this will be a three on three battle with substitutions. The battle is over when all three Pokémon are unable to battle. Ready? Go!" I was sent out to face Wesley's Hitmontop. From the get-go I knew something was very wrong with it.

    "Triple Kick!"

    "Don't back down Espeon! Use Psybeam!" The fighting type was spinning pretty fast as I went to fire my Psybeam. It took some damage but seemed enraged even more than normal.

    "Come on Hitmontop you're already losing it! Focuse Energy then Rapid Spin!" Everyone could hear the deep breath it took in before coming right to me.
    "Stop it with Confusion!" It was easier said than done since it picked up its speed but I still managed to stop it entirely. "Send it for a ride." Hitmontop was slammed into the ground multiple times before fainting.

    "Hitmontop is unable to battle so Espeon is the winner!" The crowd was surprised the battle lasted for such a short time. Even in defeat, that thing still is out for blood snarling in its unconscious state.

    Mitch was looking cautiously optimistic as we scored the first knockout. Wesley's next Pokémon was the grass type Sunflora. Another Pokémon that had some overly aggressive traits except this one was much tamer than the previous one.

    Be careful Mitch. Something's not right with his Pokémon so I wouldn't change into Growlithe just yet. Please let me scout out the competition before you make a decision." He gave me a nod despite feeling a little nervous about what I just fed him.

    Our referee threw the flags up; Growth was the move chosen to start the round. Ingrain shortly followed so that it would get continuous recovery even after I hit it. Very interesting strategy by not being able to substitute out.

    "Quick Attack!" I let loose a string of Quick Attacks to keep it off balance but it showed no signs of being injured; damn thing has those roots deep into the ground to get back health.

    "Solarbeam!" Sunflora charged up its attack but it was going to take longer than normal.

    After it launches it, switch me out. It'll take too long to attack again. Despite the long charge time I still took the full force of the attack due to Growth giving it some extra juice.

    Mitch immediately held out the ball. "Espeon return! Go Growlithe!" The fire type took the field oozing confidence as it was matched up against the grass type. "Charge in with Flame Wheel!" He did so delivering a critical hit. Sunflora lost its mind and began charging him with no regard for either of their lives after uprooting itself from the ground. Growlithe was caught off guard with how physical this thing was because normal Sunflora use special attacks; Mitch panicked. "Flamethrower!"

    "Dammit Sunflora use Solarbeam!" Flames didn't stop it from rushing in and hitting Growlithe one more time before both of them fainted; the plea for Solarbeam fell on deaf ears.

    Both flags went up. "It's a double knockout. Please choose the next Pokémon." A collective moan came from the crowd. Well I wasn't feeling any better after that Solarbeam so Mitch would have to choose someone else for the potential winning round.

    Wesley stared down at his last hope to avoid taking the first loss in group 47. "Tyranitar I choose you!" Fuck... that means Mitch only has one option if he wants to win this fight.

    "Gyarados!" It came down to the most intimidating Pokémon I've seen versus the one who told me that I belong here. This Pokémon was different in the sense that it was not overly aggressive at all. Since both of them are heavy hitters, this fight should be over in a heartbeat. Give 'em hell Gyarados!

    Wesley looked like he's lost the will to fight. "Thunder..." he ordered in a defeated tone. Tyranitar ignored his master's tone while landing a near fatal blow to a surprised Gyarados. Mitch couldn't have seen it coming either; this thing is just a monster.

    "Hydro Pump! End the Match!" Mitch said in a very intense tone. As soon as the water move hit the rock type, it was all over. The flag went up and that was all she wrote. "Hold up a second!" Mitch ran over to his opponent to offer a handshake. "Are your Pokémon okay? Did I do something wrong during our fight to make them upset?"

    He smiled. "I want to congratulate you on winning the first battle of group 47. As for my Pokémon, there is something I've been working on for years now that needed to be tested on this stage. Please accept my apology for how they acted." A finger pointed toward my ball. "Your Espeon is a strong one for sure. Unfortunately I couldn't bring mine today since they're resting up but I'd like to meet up again so our Eeveelutions can meet. You better treat her like a princess if you want her to succeed." The playful attitude left everyone feeling a bit better after an intense battle. I caught a quick peek at the standings from my ball after the battle had ended.

    Mitch 1-0 3pts
    Victoria 1-0 3pts
    Marissa 0-1 0pts
    Wesley 0-1 0pts
     
  17. Writer4fun

    Joined:
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    PokéPoints:
    ₽62.4
    Chapter 37- The End of Group 47

    Mitch's P.O.V.

    Our match against Wesley, or Wes as he calls himself, was some way to kick off the tournament... or at least group 47. There was some downtime in between battles so I asked if we could talk about our Eeveelutions since we both owned two of them. He looked nervous but it was justified on his part; he said it was the first time he entered a major tournament so the nerves were there. He also mentioned that this was the first time that it was okay to lose. From the sound of his native region, losing in tournaments led to severe consequences. I offered him the chance to hang around if he was eliminated since he told me his work was nearly complete with the exception of the 11 "shadow" Pokémon he brought with him; thank Arceus that his Tyranitar wasn't one. We went back to the hotel so he could transfer over his Espeon and Umbreon since our next battles were at 1:30pm. He wasn't kidding when he told me their battling days were over because they looked mentally exhausted with their tired eyes. Playing around didn't seem to bother them as my own eons did so in the hotel courtyard.

    Next to the courtyard there was a little video information board that had a featured battle streaming as well as a ticker on the bottom to show results of other matches. I kept my eyes on the bottom seeing if our match was officially recorded. Right after our information, I saw that Victoria had beaten Marissa. Usually winning your first match puts you in prime position to punch your ticket to the next round, but I know better than that. We really didn't do too much talking as they were playing, but I did call out Furret to use the Iron Tail TM on her and get rid of Slam. Once the clock hit 1:15 both of us parted ways to our respective fields; my battle was set on field 12 against Victoria. There were a few rows of bleachers for spectators to sit on while looking on. At 1:28 she was still nowhere to be found so the judge came over to me with her score sheet in hand.

    "Your opponent is not here yet and if she fails to arrive on time then you are to be declared the winner. Are you alright with those terms?"

    How easy would it have been to lose my poker face and show a huge grin; I still had to keep my composure. "Yes. " I called out Furret quickly to go over my game plan for round one and returned her when I was done.

    "I'm heeeeere!" Victoria sprinted to her trainer's box with a ball in hand at exactly 1:30. "Let's get this show on the road!" Her bubbly attitude was definitely a façade.

    Our referee took her place at midfield. "This match in group play will be three separate one-on-one battles. The winning trainer's Pokémon of round one cannot be used for round two or if necessary, round three so choose your three wisely. When one trainer wins two out of three rounds, it will be over."

    I waved over to the judge. "Excuse me ma'am, how is this part of the official format? Wouldn't it make more sense to have a three on three battle?"

    She rolled her eyes in annoyance. "Sir, the rules clearly indicate that this format will be implemented in match two of group play. Some gym leaders overseas have this as an alternative method so it's only fair the league give those trainers who battled this way a chance to compete." Damn... I guess I should've read more of that Q & A sheet before I went to the lobby last night. So what the hell is round three supposed to be? Whatever, I'll deal with that later. "If there are no more questions then begin!"

    "Furret let's get it started!"

    "Sudowoodo, show them why we're here!" The angry tree looking thing almost made me call timeout just to I could laugh. "Looks like I have the type advantage so this should be a piece of cake." Oh you have no idea lady.

    "Go in with Low Kick!"

    "Escape with Dig!" Furret easily outsped the rock type to avoid a serious hit but she remained underground for a lot longer than normal. The crowd started to boo at the stalemate and the judge looked like she was going to give Victoria the win. I stomped the ground twice and she popped up to deliver the equivilant of a sucker punch; I had a smirk on my face. "Two can play the waiting game you know."

    Victoria was not happy. "You'll pay for that... use Rock Slide!" Sudowoodo stomped the ground and rocks rained down after they flew into the air.
    Furret was unable to dodge most of the rocks as she soon was covered by them. "You're going to have to do better that that to get a knockout. Dig for cover Furret." The rocks shifted as my normal type hid under the field for the second time.

    "I know your silent cue for her to come up so I'll be prepared this time. Say goodbye to your Furret." Again, we both listened to a chorus boos from the small audience before I stomped the ground once. "Now!" Sudowoodo jumped and used Low Kick where he thought Furret was going to come up but she never showed herself; I stomped once more and she hit it again.

    "Looks like you almost had me but you weren't fully paying attention. Use Return!"

    "Flail!" Uh oh, the move that does more damage when the user is almost out of energy nearly knocked her out at the cost of me getting minimal damage. "Can't use Dig anymore since I know what to expect. So how are you going to win?

    Now it was time for the big reveal. "Iron Tail!" Her tail shined brightly as she leveled the Sudowoodo square in the chest while Victoria's eyes went wide; there was no way she saw that coming. After some tense moments, the referee gave me the round. Victoria was truly unnerved by the unexpected turn of events. Our judge waited for the audience to stop clapping and cheering to ask me to send out my next Pokémon.

    I want the kill now. "Gyarados I choose you!" With Gyarados on the field, he can net me an easy victory unless she has a wall on her side.

    "Raichu you're up!" Or an electric Pokémon. A four time weakness to electricity can also put a damper on Gyarados' day unless the opposition is weak. He seemed uneasy as he looked at the electric mouse; he was shifting uncomfortably on the field. The flags went up for the battle to start. "Thunderbolt!"

    "Dragon Rage!" My plan was to force the two moves to meet in the center and cancel each other out except I didn't get Dragon Rage at all. The new move missed the Thunderbolt but still hit Raichu while its attack leveled Gyarados. The result of battle was a draw after just one turn.

    Victoria was really showing signs of frustration after she thought she had an easy win. "So you have to cheat to win huh? That wasn't Dragon Rage you dumbass... that was a Hyper Beam! I'm assuming you won in the preliminaries by calling out Tackle all the time to confuse everyone? For the love of Arceus it's a miracle you made it this far." She then turned to the crowd. "Anyone wanna tell me why this kid is even here? " Her shoulders shrugged as nobody answered her rhetorical question.

    "Let me tell you something... I only have six Pokémon registered but here you are hoping for a draw against me at best. How did you make it here? Apparently someone gave you a badge or two out of pity."

    She clenched the ball of her last Pokémon. "Machamp... shut him up" she said in a quiet yet demonic voice that made me lose some confidence. "Master Chuck had found a Machop training by the coastline of Cianwood and entrusted it to me. I defeated him with it and now I'll do the same to your last Pokémon."

    "Espeon let's do it!" She yipped, ready to battle as always. Before the official threw up the flags, Espeon noticed something and shook her head to deny it. I went to go say something but she looked back at me with a determined look so I kept my mouth shut and gave her a nod of confidence.

    The tension was thick so Victoria made the first move. "Go in and slam it down with Submission!"

    "Confusion to counter!" It seemed to be working but Machamp broke through the psychic grip and tossed Espeon like a rag doll across the field. This was far stronger than her previous two Pokémon. "Shake it off and use Psybeam!" Espeon scored some damage but Machamp seemed unfazed.

    "Seismic Toss!" It came running to Espeon but she already relayed a plan to me with her telepathy as she used Quick Attack to get behind it before slamming into its back. "Psybeam then Swift!" The onslaught of attacks caused the crowd to ooh and ahh since smoke formed around the fighting type. We all thought that it was over; we were wrong.

    "Dynamic Punch!"

    "Don't let it connect!" This time the Confusion attack held it in place longer than last time until Espeon was too strained to keep up with Machamp's strength. The punch landed just below her neck in an uppercut fashion causing her to fly backwards.

    "Again" Victoria said in a cold tone. The second one was going for her recently healed wound; I wasn't going to make the same mistake twice.

    "Return Espeon!" My split-second decision had the crowd voicing their displeasure.

    My opponent's flag went up. "Mitch has forfeited the round. With a score of one win, one loss, and one draw for each trainer, I declare this match as a draw." The announcement got mixed reviews from onlookers despite the fact that the ruling was correctly enforced. Neither of us got two wins so it was a draw. Our official looked like she was about to argue with me until I recalled Espeon with a straight face and she was in shock that I didn't lose my cool.

    "Couldn't stand the taste of defeat so you ended it early" Victoria mocked. "What's the matter? Afwaid your wittle Espeon is gonna get hurt?"

    It felt like time had stopped and we were the only two people in the world. Surprisingly I kept calm since it would be easy to curse her out in front of everyone. "Actually yes. She's been through hell and back once... and I intend to keep it limited to one time." I turned to our official. "Thank you for your time. Have a nice day." I left the field to a round of applause as did Victoria. Flashbulbs from various cameras went off as I exited the battleground to go back to the hotel before the evening match; apparently I'm a superstar now.

    The walk back to the hotel wasn't as peaceful as I would have liked due to a lot of other trainers finishing their battles around the same time. Nobody talked to me which was fine, but my room was a better place to decompress. A pit stop at the healing machine was a necessity since those gutsy performances got me one handy point. I felt like neither waiting to see the ticker on the screen to tell me who won in the battle of Wes versus Marissa nor looking it up online. What matters now is the chance to get some rest or some dinner considering I didn't eat lunch. The dining area was still loaded with food which gave me the opportunity to fill up in addition to getting my team some food as well. On my way out I made eye contact with Wes; he called me over so I went next to him.

    "What's up?"

    He finished his last bite of food. "I just wanted to ask about your second battle of the day. How are you holding up?"

    "I was actually going to go to my room. You're welcome to join. It's just that I don't want to give everything away in front of everyone else."

    Wes nodded. "Fair enough. Lead the way."

    I took him to my room and closed the door so that nobody passing by could hear our conversation. "Let me start out by saying your final opponent Victoria has a strategy based on fucking with your head. She showed up in the nick of time for starters..."

    "Well what does that have to do with fucking with my head?"

    I was slightly annoyed that he cut me off. "The official tells you that if she doesn't show up then you are the winner. Think about it: it can break your concentration since you practically have the match in two minutes and then she shows up. Now you're thinking 'why do I even have to fight her?' since you were so close to an automatic win. I'm sorry but I don't want to give away my result; the competitive side in me still burns bright in situations like this."

    "So why are you telling me about her strategy? Wouldn't it be easier to let me fail?" Those words hit me hard because I said nearly the same thing to Davis when he stood up for me.

    "Because she's a weak minded trainer and has to rely on mentally overpowering her opponents. She wasn't prepared for what I did in battle. The best part was when I battled with Furret." I sighed. "Nothing in the rules says that I can't help someone who's done a lot more for Pokémon than I will ever do in my lifetime. If you want to tell me about Marissa then go ahead. Just remember that you don't have to tell me anything."

    A smile came across his face. "Her battle style is very defensive to the point of stalling. Be wary of her attacks and strike when you have an opening. The final match of group play goes back to three on three battling so most of the field should be comfortable with that."

    I extended my hand. "Thanks boss. Now if you'll excuse me, I have to prepare my team for tonight under the lights." Wes exited the room knowing that he can't let his guard down against a trainer who I frankly want to punch in the face. First... "Espeon get out here for a second." She materialized with her head cocked all cute-like.

    "What is it Mitch? Something wrong?"

    "Be honest with me... did you know how strong that Machamp was before the flags went up?"

    She sighed. "I did. That Machamp was stronger than Gyarados in terms of power. Please understand that I still wanted to fight it because I didn't want to let you down."

    I knew it. "All I can say is that I hope I did the right thing by calling you back after the first Dynamic Punch hit."

    "You did because I was unconscious. Where was the second one going to land?" Curse me for being honest; I pointed to the scar on her underbelly. "Oh... I see. Mitch, I'm tired of this thing causing you and Shade to worry. I want you to promise that you won't call me back if I can defend myself. I told you that we're all in it to win." I can't argue with that.

    "Fine, but please don't shut me out like that. I do trust you to make decisions on your own like when you used Quick Attack. My request for you is please tell me when there is a problem on the battlefield. No guides are made on how to be the best trainer. However I want to walk that fine line of winning and being reasonable. Now get some rest because we still have to battle Marissa tonight." I called everyone else out to eat while I plopped down on the bed to rest. My hotel alarm clock showed that it was 6:30pm; the battle wasn't until 9:30pm. Humming from the air conditioning unit lulled me to a peaceful sleep until I had a dream.

    "Do you need something Growlithe?" It was a younger Cory staring down my first Pokémon. "It looks like you're fine so don't bother me." Growlithe sulked before walking away to lick at bread crumbs in a kitchen. All of a sudden my dream flashed forward to him sleeping on a living room floor whimpering in the middle of the day. "For fuck's sake Growlithe I fed you two days ago and you're hungry again? Tell you what... if you can beat Skarmory then you'll get something nice. See you outside." Plains surrounded Cory's backyard so there was more than enough space for the battle. Skarmory easily defeated the starving Growlithe so fast that Growlithe couldn't even launch an Ember attack. "Ohhh tough luck there champ. Something nice is still going to happen; it'll just be for me though." Cory took pleasure in pushing it on its side then kicking it in the stomach multiple times. When it seemed like it Growlithe couldn't take the abuse, he fired an Ember attack at Cory's chest causing a second degree burn. He immediately was grabbed by the scruff and thrown quite a distance. "That's it! I'm done with an undisciplined piece of shit like you! See this ball? It'll be broken by the time you're out of my sight. Don't even think about coming back unless you want six feet of dirt above you."

    I woke up in a cold sweat noticing I had about 30 minutes to report to my location for the next round. My Poké Gear had a flashing which meant someone tried to call or text me. I might as well call my Poké Gear my phone since I don't need the map or radio function but the message was from Davis. I saw some of the match against Victoria and congrats! You were supposed to be on field nine but they moved you to center stage tonight because you're drawing some buzz. Good luck!
    "Thanks Davis" I muttered. "Guess flying under the radar isn't an option anymore. Better yet, what the hell was Espeon doing by showing me more of Growlithe's past? I know that she can't control it but come on. Who am I kidding? I'm just talking to myself. Gotta get going guys so come on back.

    Field one was the closest to the hotel which was convenient for me since the trainer's entrance was much more discrete. Each trainer was given some kind of green room to wait in before the battle was started. A small television was in the corner showing the live broadcast while a coordinator waited with a clipboard right next to it. She signaled for me to go out to the battle area so I nodded and made my way outside with Marissa walking at the same time. She waived to the crowd while I just looked straight ahead trying to keep calm in front of 50,000 screaming spectators.

    "Alright trainers it's time to take your place in the box" our referee said with a stern voice. "This will be a three on three battle with neither trainer being able to substitute freely. You are only allowed to switch Pokémon when it is declared unable to battle otherwise you will lose that individual round." Olivine flashbacks went through my head about how I couldn't switch against Cory. Frankly it sucks that they still use this format after how I acted. "The battle is officially over when all three of one trainer's Pokémon are unable to battle. Now begin!"

    "Umbreon!"

    "Miltank!" This was arguably one of the more interesting matchups that I've encountered in a long time. Both Pokémon are fairly defensive but can hit hard when they need to. Marissa looked ready to call the first attack after I quickly found out what four moves I should use. "Body Slam!"

    It jumped at Umbreon quicker than I expected. "Faint Attack!" Power versus power favors Umbreon so it was no surprise that Miltank was knocked back. "Bite!" Umbreon charged ahead to get a good chunk of damage off while still hanging on.

    Marissa seemed to have no problem with Umbreon holding on to her cow. "Defense Curl then Rollout!" Umbreon was forced to let go or risk getting dragged on the ground. Miltank charged straight ahead as it landed a weak albeit solid hit. "Keep going." It gained momentum and came around faster than last time to hit Umbreon again.

    "Relax Umbreon and hit it with Toxic!" With Miltank not wanting to risk losing momentum, I knew it would continue to target Umbreon so why not poison it?
    Purple blobs successfully hit the rolling cow as it came in for the third strike in a row. "You're fine Miltank, just keep going after it!" What? She's going to rack up more damage without fighting it?

    "Dark Pulse at the ground!" Umbreon knew this strategy from his battle against Cory's Donphan; he forced Miltank to be uncomfortable rolling around by carving ramps or ditches.

    "Stop yourself Miltank then use Heal Bell!" Her Pokémon was more than happy to heal the poisoning while adjusting to the field condition; Wes was right about her defensive style. "Body Slam!"

    There was no way I could keep it at bay all day with Faint Attack. "Use Dark Pulse to send it away!" My plan failed as the Body Slam wasn't slowed down enough. The move connected with Body Slam's secondary effect kicking in.

    "Charge in with Faint Attack!"

    "Defense Curl!" Paralysis took some of the speed off of the move causing it to deal less damage than normal. "You make a mistake by getting that close" Marissa said while waiving her finger. "Rollout!"

    I thought about using Quick Attack to gain an edge until I realized that a can of worms would open. Sure Ashley gave me the okay to battle with Umbreon but I prefer to keep that a secret as long as possible. Unfortunately Umbreon has to take the first hit. "Shake it off and use Dark Pulse!" Miltank stopped so that it wouldn't get caught it a ditch but I aimed straight for it; a critical hit made sure it wasn't getting back up.

    "Miltank is unable to battle. Umbreon wins the round." A chorus of cheers rained down as Marissa called it back. It's not quite a stall fest yet but I have a feeling that it's only going to get worse.

    She looked at me with a hand scratching her chin. "I guess it's time to get defensive. Shuckle I choose you!" The time went from 9:35 pm to fuck this shit o'clock in a heartbeat. The most defensive Pokémon in existence is my opponent this round. I wonder how Wes handled this thing.

    As soon as the flags went up, I only had one option. "Toxic Umbreon!" He went to spit out the poisonous move; paralysis stopped him in his tracks.

    "Wrap attack Shuckle!" Vines of some sort came out of Shuckle's shell to restrain Umbreon until it fainted from continuous damage. The worst part of it all is that Umbreon was fully paralyzed during the entire struggle. I recalled him knowing that my one trump card is gone. Wes did say that I had to wait to strike; question is when is that time?

    "Gyarados I need your help!" Absolute monster versus a tank; this should be good. "Hydro Pump!"

    "Bide!" Fuckfuckfuck this thing needs to faint now otherwise I'm in deep trouble. It started to store energy before the wave of water hit it; it was all or nothing at this point.

    "Hydro Pump a second time!" The rush of water hit it to no avail as a blinding light covered the field with Gyarados falling to the ground. Double damage had been dealt to my strongest fighter; it was the first time that he has lost to something other than electric type or some pseudo legendary Pokémon. Forcing the Shuckle to drop was going to take a miracle.

    Marissa kept a smile as she teased me. "Looks like I took out your best chances to win hehe" she giggled. "Do you have anything else up your sleeve?"

    I stood firm despite hundreds of thousands of people watching across the region. "I still have Furret!" Our judge raised the flags. "Dig!"

    "You blew it. Rest up Shuckle!" Nap time came quickly for Shuckle as it regained all of its strength while Furret came up well after it was asleep. "When you wake up use Wrap!"

    Certainly it is tough to beat buy I have to try. "Iron Tail!" Furret landed a hit so hard that it staggered in its sleep; a critical hit for sure but it woke up. My luck ran out as it wrapped her up for awhile before she finally broke free.

    "Let's see if you have the guts this time around. Bide!"

    "Dammit I refuse to give in! Iron Tail again!" It wasn't a critical hit this time around which forced me to call it out again. Everything seemed to be in slow motion as she missed the Iron Tail due to her trying to get more power behind it. As a result, she was right next to him as he unleashed the power of Bide. Furret lay motionless on the ground.

    "Furret is unable to battle. The match goes to Marissa from Goldenrod City!" I lost. On the biggest stage I blew it in front of so many people. Furret was called back with my head held down.

    She called from across the way. "I didn't even use my strongest Pokémon against you. No way you could've won against me." Her strongest must have been another normal type since she comes from Goldenrod.

    After the cheering died down, the PA announcer droned on while the video board updated the final standings for group 47, my group. I had never checked online after everyone's second battle so I saw this before the update:

    Group 47
    Mitch 1-0-1: 4pts
    Victoria 1-0-1: 4pts
    Wesley 1-1: 3pts
    Marissa 0-2: 0pts

    So Wes did manage to get past her Shuckle if she used it against him. The standings were updated after my battle since we were the last battle in our group.

    Group 47 Final Results

    Victoria 1-0-2: 5pts
    Mitch 1-1-1: 4pts
    Wesley 1-1-1: 4pts
    Marissa 1-2: 3pts

    Perfect, Wes had the same result as me so I take it he took my advice. A league official came over to me from the stands with a microphone.

    "Let's give a round of applause to our two battlers for that amazing battle!" Clapping continued for five minutes. "Victoria and Mitch will be advancing to the single elimination round to be held two days from now!" Video replays from other battles played as groups 32-64 had their two winners announced as well. It seems that the other half of the field will battle tomorrow. It bugged me why I was moving on so another official came over to me.

    "Excuse me, how am I moving on? Wes had the same number of points. Don't we have a tiebreaker?"

    A light hearted laugh came from the official. "My boy you've already won the tiebreaker. Since you defeated Wes then you move on despite having the same number of points. Congratulations! Now you face the winner of group 48 while Victoria gets the runner up from group 48. After this is over go get some sleep."

    Video replays continued for another 25 minutes as I saw who ended up victorious. Carly was in group 31 so she would compete tomrrow while her boyfriend Davis actually ended up in group 32; it was no surprise that he went 3-0 in pool play. Once the stadium was empty, I went back to my room in silence at what transpired today.

    I survived group 47.
     
  18. Writer4fun

    Joined:
    Jan 15, 2017
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    PokéPoints:
    ₽62.4
    Chapter 38 Survive & Advance

    Mitch's P.O.V.

    There was no morning sun to shine through my window since mother nature decided to let the clouds roll in. A temporary feeling of relief came over me knowing today I wouldn't have to battle because groups 1 through 31 had to finish their round robin matches. Carly was scheduled to battle in the afternoon portion on account of her group number. I guess the Pokémon League grouped us by skill but even then it makes little sense since there are 500+ trainers to rank. They probably have some lengthy formula to determine a score for everyone and if that's the case, Carly got the short end of the stick. I mean 11 badges has to place her and Davis near the top, right? I would be a little ashamed if I didn't show up to watch at least one battle to see her skills.

    I dragged myself to the shower then took a few extra minutes to enjoy the water temperature after I was done cleaning up. Now that I have my own private room, I wonder if my Pokémon would actually want a bath. Growlithe is a no for obvious reasons and Gyarados would probably prefer a lake since he can't even fit in the bathtub here; everyone else is honestly a toss-up. Maybe the healing machine cleans them too? I don't know, I think they should be looking their best if I can help it.

    Walking down to the little computer room next to the lobby was uneventful compared to the last few times on my way there. A few others were there on a scouting mission while I just wandered the league site looking for specific battle times. It only took a few seconds to fins Carly's profile and her first match location which was on field 12 at 1:15 sharp. The clock in the corner of the room said it was currently 12:57. With that information in hand, I made my way back up to my room to grab my jacket before heading out to the field.

    Field 12 had a fair amount of spectator seating but not many people were there; maybe 50 to 60 people sat in the stands. It also didn't help that the skies were opening up a little bit whereas fields one and two had retractable roofs. Knowing Carly favors fire types means that she's going to be in for a rough day but she wouldn't bring only fire types to a battle in the elements. She was in "the zone" because she never looked to the crowd while the judge was getting her things in order. A tap on the shoulder made me turn around.

    "Hey man, how are you doing?" It was Davis.

    "Pretty good. Just wish mother nature saved the waterworks for later tonight when we're all sleeping. By the way, congratulations on moving on!"

    Davis smiled. "Thanks Mitch. And that goes for you too. Carly and I were there for your last battle; don't worry about it. You have to be honest with yourself and be thankful you lost in pool play as opposed to the single elimination rounds." He was right although I still feel like I could have salvaged a tie in front of everyone. "Look! They're about to start." Carly was swaying back and forth just waiting for the judge to go through her cadence. Battle rules were the same as yesterday so at least she knows what to expect in terms of formatting. Her opponent looked pretty content despite the rain gently falling down. While the judge signaled the start of the battle.

    Her opponent threw out his first Pokémon. "Go Politoed!" It jumped for joy as it saw the rain coming down. "I can't believe you use only fire types! How are you going to handle a little rain, let alone a bulky water type?"

    Davis just grinned. "Looks like someone didn't do their homework" he whispered.

    Carly didn't look phased as she held a Lure Ball. "Lanturn can handle herself just fine." Lanturn looked equally as happy to be sent out in the rain.

    "Shit..." he murmured. "Politoed return! Go Slowbro!" The small crowd was confused as he switched into another water type.

    "Let me guess... you only brought water types to this battle didn't you?"

    His immediately flushed. "N-n-no."

    "Lanturn use Thunder" Carly ordered nonchalantly.

    Her opponent wasn't too concerned. "Psychic to redirect it!" Slowbro held the Thunder attack in place for a split second only to lose control of it; the attack was a one hit knockout to the dismay of the other trainer. "But how?"

    Carly crossed her arms. "Didn't you pay attention in school? Water conducts electricity so Thunder will always find its target in the rain. You might have had better luck if it wasn't raining. It also doesn't help that your Slowbro is weak. So who's up next?"

    He was gripping another Pokémon Ball but his body relaxed. "I forfeit."

    "You cannot be serious."

    "I am serious. Judge, I forfeit this match." Their referee gave a confused look before officially giving the match to Carly.

    Davis turned to me again. "Didn't see that coming. Guess he really had nothing else to hit her Lanturn." Everyone watching left in disappointment knowing that one trainer somehow gathered eight badges and made it through preliminaries; one of them said that his 90-year-old grandma could do a better job. Eight ways to Sunday it was still three points for Carly.

    "Hey Mitch! Hey Davis!" she waved to us. "Staying somewhat dry up there?"

    "We're trying" I replied throwing up my hands in sarcastic frustration. I threw in a playful smirk. "Fire lover huh... I knew you'd have a solid backup plan."
    I left the couple alone after she told me that her second match was slated for 3:05 on the same field. Rain would play a factor in match number two as the drizzle turned to a steady rainfall. Walking around until her next battle was the best way to kill time since I couldn't go back to sleep and I wasn't hungry. The temptation to stay inside would build if I went back as well. Just walking around I saw a majority of trainers taking advantage of the rainfall while I could sense the groundskeepers' frustration about maintaining the fields after the battles were over.

    Round two was about to get underway so I made my way back to field 12 with the expectation that even less people were going to be there; I was right. Honestly I felt bad for Carly with only 20 people watching in person. Maybe more were watching the stream but it is what it is. Davis found me again so we sat in the front row of the bleachers as the battle was about to get underway.

    "The second match format is interesting" Davis commented. "Three separate one on one matches and the winner gets two out of three. We're both used to this format so she should feel comfortable."

    She wasted no time making her decision after the flags went up. "Rapidash I choose you!" Her confidence is definitely up there.

    "Meganium!" The animal-plant quadruped assessed how dumb its trainer was for sending it to battle a fire type and then cocked its head in confusion. "It's raining Meganium so don't worry about fire attacks." A light bulb went off in the Pokémon's head and it nodded confidently. "Body Slam!"

    "Jump up and use Take Down!"

    Rapidash waited for Meganium to start falling before jumping up to deliver a brutal Take Down attack. Its horn ended up leaving a sizeable cut on Meganium's front right leg and Meganium immediately favored it once it landed.

    "Tough it out and use Giga Drain!"

    "Fire Blast!" Rainfall hardly weakened the attack as the flames engulfed the grass type sending it down for the count. I just looked at Davis in shock. How could a Fire Blast not lose any power in the rain? Throwing in a grass type against Rapidash isn't smart regardless but come on.

    He kept looking at his girlfriend while acknowledging me. "She's lucky that nobody is really paying close attention except for you Mitch. Ponyta was her very first Pokémon and since she caught it, she's been raising it to deal with water. As a result, it's the strongest member of the team by a mile. What's a little rain to a high leveled Fire Blast? Nothing. Absolutely nothing."

    Her opponent was still reeling. "How... is this possible? You foreigners are cheating I just know it! Johto will always have the better trainers!"

    "JUST SHUT UP AND BATTLE!" Carly screamed back. "Flareon!" It came out feeling agitated; it heard everything.

    "Hide it all you want but I'll still win this match. Stantler, come on out!" Raindrops finally stopped falling as the official signaled for round two to begin.

    Carly wasted no time trying to end the battle. "Quick Attack into Flamethrower into Bite!"

    "Stantler use Confuse Ray!" Confuse Ray was too slow to affect Flareon as it immediately got behind the Big Horn Pokémon before leveling it in the side. "Hypnosis!" Again the move failed to connect because Flareon was too close and fired a Flamethrower to break up its concentration. Finally, the judge called the match in Carly's favor after it viciously dug into Stantler; it treated the fainted Pokémon like a dead carcass.

    "Go back home you little son of a bitch and don't you ever accuse me like that ever again" Carly said venomously.

    Her opponent wasted no time running away. "You're fucking crazy!" Everyone looked on uncomfortably as the judge radioed the incident to someone else.
    "Your victory is not official yet" she said coldly. "The outcome of this match will be determined by an ethics committee. I can guarantee that your results will be official before the end of your third match. Best of luck on field number two later this evening."

    Anyone who still remained left immediately while only the three of us stayed behind watching in silence. She was rattled and fell to her knees sobbing while pounding on the softened ground. Davis kept a stern face as he walked over and started to rub her back. I believed it was best for me to keep my mouth shut because I don't want to risk saying something to make the situation worse; going back to the hotel was my best course of action. On my way past the two, I saw that Carly was curled up in a ball lightly sobbing on Davis' lap as he rubber her gently. My finger pointed to my phone and he understood what I was getting at.

    The walk back to the hotel was eerie due to the dark clouds rolling in for a second time in the past few hours. Like last time, I ate alone in the cafeteria and grabbed some food for everyone on the team before going back to my room. Showering up came first since I wanted to feel relaxed as a torrential downpour started outside. Feeling a little uneasy, I grabbed my six Luxury Balls and let everybody out to get them relaxed. "So... does anyone want a bath?" They all looked at each other for a while before Furret stepped forward. "Well Furret's up first. Come on girl." She happily yipped as I filled up the bath with very warm water; getting her to stay still was a different story. There was some Pokémon shampoo hiding behind a pile of towels so I washed her quickly then dried her off.

    "Furrrrrrrrrr" she purred after I wrapped her like a burrito.

    "I knew you'd eventually like it. Now go on and send anyone else in that wants it. Get some food too, I brought plenty up to the room." I drained the water as footsteps came from behind me. "Alright let me get... Growlithe!? Don't you hate baths?" He didn't want to make eye contact with me. "Wait a second, is this for Furret?" A nod. *sigh* "The least I can do is make yours quick and put the water temperature to high. No heating it up on your own, understand? I don't want you to burn the place down." He sulked. "Save that for the field" I playfully added.

    He too got the burrito treatment after his quick bath was over. Espeon came in next followed by Ampharos followed by Umbreon. Gyarados was pretty content with just sleeping in the corner next to Ampharos as the remaining couples nuzzled up at the foot of my bed. I really had no motivation to leave the room so I turned on the television in the hopes of catching a good battle while it was muted. Field one was obviously a fan favorite on the Battling Network although field two had its own channel. Carly was looking ready to battle in spite of the emotional breakdown she had earlier in the day. Her record on the screen stood at 2-0 which meant her previous battle was ruled a win.

    Rapidash steamrolled through the competition in a matter of minutes allowing Carly to finish pool play with a perfect 3-0 and facing the second place finisher from group 32. A loss would have her facing Davis in the round of 128 as her final opponent had the same record as her but she dodged a bullet there. Video replays of the day's battles flashed on the screen along with tomorrow's matchups. Commentators briefly went through the matchups where the best of groups 32 through 64 would be duking it out all day tomorrow. Stacy from New Bark Town was my opponent for tomorrow since she won group 48 by going 2-1-0. An official letter slid under the door before I went to sleep; Espeon floated it over to me.

    Dear Mitch,

    Congratulations on making it past pool play in this year's Silver Conference Tournament. Your start time for tomorrow's battle is scheduled for 11:15 am on field four. As part of making it to the single elimination portion of the tournament, you are required to take part in a mandatory press conference before and after each match. Press conferences should last no longer than a few minutes and there will be a media liaison present to assist you. Failure to attend official press conferences will result in punishments ranging from a hefty fine to expulsion from the tournament. Your pre-battle press conference for the first round is scheduled for 10:45am at the field. Everything will be set up before you arrive. Best of luck in the next round.

    -The Pokémon League

    Ah yes, the star treatment now that things are getting serious. At this point in time I think sleep is better than dwelling on this whole media part of the competition.
    Morning came too soon like always only this time the sun peeked through a few leftover clouds from yesterday. I had my Pokémon eat their breakfast before I went down to the cafeteria myself. Wes was alone in the somewhat empty room so I sat across from him.

    "Hey Wes, weren't you were going back to Orre?"

    "Not yet. I've never had a vacation in my life so why rush it? Wish someone else came with me though. She's the reason I made it out of tough spots and I don't feel right just leaving her behind in Orre even though she didn't want to come here." We both ate in silence for a while since I didn't want to push the issue.

    Something just clicked. "Wes, is my Umbreon a Shadow Pokémon?"

    He was taken aback. "Oh no... not at all. Shadow Pokémon have their hearts artificially closed; all they care about is killing other living things. Why do you ask?"
    "Because my Umbreon has killed dozens of times in the past and it's... not normal."

    "Think about it for one second. Why did your Umbreon kill?"

    Flashbacks of our conversation after I found him at Mount Silver reverberated in my head. "To protect Espeon and a wild female Ponyta."

    Wes chuckled. "A ladies' man huh? Anyway, he did it out of defensive instinct. Sure he's not a normal Umbreon but he's far from a Shadow Pokémon. His mate, the rest of the team, and you keep him down to earth. Umbreon are rarely chosen as an evolution due to the stigma of dark types so it's great that you took him in."
    Good to know that he's not as bad as he could be. "Look Wes I have to get going. Trainers have this whole press conference spiel once they hit the single elimination round. See you around."

    Field four had more seating capacity as the spectators filled the 3,000 or so seats; the days of the sandlot fields are gone by this stage in the tournament. Blue tables with bottled water were near the entrance to the field. Stacy's press conference must have already happened based on the chairs being out of sorts in addition to about 12 reporters still there. I took my seat in front of the microphone ready to go.

    "Thank you all for coming. Let's get started so we can start the battle on time. Please say your name and the media entity you represent."

    That voice sounded way too familiar. "Ashley?" She waved. "Holy shit! How've you been?" The reporters' eyes went wide. "Oops... forgot this was on haha. So you guys have questions for me?"

    One hand went up. "Jason Steele, Silver Conference dot com, how does it feel to make it this far only having six Pokémon to choose from?"

    "It's been stressful on my Pokémon more so than me. They're the ones who put in the work."

    One more hand went up. "Margret Bell, Goldenrod Weekly, what do you think about the competition so far?"

    "Ummm, my opponents so far have been really tough. I have watched a few battles on my own where I did question how some people got here. BUT they have eight badges just like me."

    "Do you realize that a lot of people, not just trainers, question how you made it here with six Pokémon? Some would argue that it's a miracle you made it past the preliminaries."

    Should not have asked that question. "Put it this way, our Pokémon that we select for entry are public record. So if the field knows I have only six, why am I here in front of you now? Because I won in the midst of a so called disadvantage. I'll admit that I could have easily gone 0-3 but I didn't."

    Ashley sensed it was going to get worse so she dismissed everyone to press row while ushering me to the trainer's box. "That was... interesting Mitch. Did you plan that out?"

    "Nope. Straight from the heart." She casually shrugged then went away.

    Our official waited for Stacy to arrive in her box before starting. "This first round bracket style elimination match will be a two on two battle with either side being able to substitute. When both of one trainer's Pokémon are knocked out then the battle is over. Begin!"

    What was with the sudden change to two on two? Oh well, gotta adapt to the rules. "Gyarados!"

    "Crobat get out here and use Wing Attack!" Stacy wasted no time going for damage off the bat as is it hit Gyarados.

    "Hydro Pump!" Crobat was too fast for Gyarados' attack to hit home. "Change to Thrash!" A large flailing sea snake that could essentially jump was going to find its target one way or another.

    "Wing Attack again! Don't be scared of it!" Gyarados met it in the middle of the field and tossed it aside like a joke. While on the ground, Gyarados hit it for a second time. "Use Haze for cover!" Black mist shrouded the field; I smirked.

    "Hyper Beam when you find it!" Crobat thought it was covered but Gyarados was too experienced to let a little smoke get in the way. Since it wasn't expecting the hit, Hyper Beam delivered a critical hit earning our first win. "Thanks to you I could get off that Hyper Beam. Haze is like a reset button on the battle and my Gyarados was about to be confused. Unfortunately for you it didn't pay off. Come at me with your best if you want to stick around!"

    My opponent from New Bark Town clenched her fist. "Be careful what you wish for. Noctowl!"

    Option number one is to keep Gyarados in since he still wants to go. Option number two is to switch to Ampharos. Gyarados has been putting in work so far so he can stay. Besides, I have Ampharos in the back.

    "Use Ice Fang Gyarados!" It lunged at the brown bird and bit one of its wings scoring an efficient hit.

    "Ha! It didn't freeze. Noctowl use Hypnosis!"

    "Thrash attack!" Chuck's battle immediately came to mind on how to get out of Hypnosis' mesmerizing powers: you move around recklessly so the attack doesn't draw you in. The only way to calm my Gyarados down proved to be useless as it came down on the flying type on three separate occasions.

    Noctowl was hanging on by a thread but the finishing move couldn't be delivered right away due to Gyarados throwing himself against the ground multiple times from the confusion. "Go in for a Take Down!"

    She made a horrible mistake. "Gyarados, Hyper Beam now!" There was no way to evade the powerful attack and the referee had ruled in my favor as quickly as possible. Cheers erupted from the audience as my arm was raised by the judge. Ashley took me back to the press conference area only this time, there were well over 60 reporters this time around. Nobody looked like they were going to follow the formalities with all of them raising their hands to talk. Guess they liked what they saw on the stream or in the stands. Throughout all the commotion I only heard one question that I genuinely wanted to answer: are you really prepared to face all 126 remaining potential trainers?

    "Hold on!" I said into the microphone; they all stopped. "I don't have to worry about the other 126 trainers. All I have to do is survive and advance."

    "But what does that mean?" someone shouted from the back.

    "You'll see soon enough." It got so quiet you could hear a pin drop.

    I walked out of the press conference with my footsteps echoing throughout the silent room.
     
  19. Writer4fun

    Joined:
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    PokéPoints:
    ₽62.4
    Chapter 39- Pressure to Perform

    Mitch's P.O.V.

    The Silver Conference started off with a bang as Last year's champion Allison went undefeated in group one without losing a single Pokémon! Newcomers Carly and Davis from the Kanto region managed to go 3-0 as well. It's fair to say that having 11 badges as a foreigner means that you're prepared for anything. One trainer is making his presence known the most and that's Mitch from Violet City. He's made it to the round of 64 with only six registered Pokémon and he's still talking the talk.

    "So if the field knows I only have six, why am I in front of you right now?"

    Mitch's overconfidence may be his downfall as he finished in second place in the group stage on a tiebreaker.

    "I don't have to worry about the other 126 trainers."

    It will be interesting to see if the trainer from Violet City can actually walk the walk. That's all the time we have on this week's edition of Battling with Brandi. And remember everyone, you can get tickets to the Silver Conference championships only at www *click*.

    "I guess making honest statements and taking them out of context passes as journalism" I mumbled as I sat in my room the morning after my first true elimination match. Truth be told, this whole media element is kind of dumb since I really don't benefit from them. If I win then I could potentially get mobbed with requests for battles after this is over whereas a loss could give people the opportunity to remind me about how much of an asshole I was on top of the choke job I might pull off. Nobody remembers losers unless they did something incredibly stupid. The pressure would only increase for anyone who made it deeper into the tournament but my mind cleared when there was a knock on my door.

    "Yo! It's Davis! You in there?"

    "Yeah. Just give me a sec." I reluctantly left the comfort of my bed to go open the door in a pair of really baggy shorts and a tank top. "What can I do for you Davis? And don't you have a match today?"

    "It's in the afternoon but I'd like to spar beforehand. I want to see if one of my newer Pokémon has the skill to compete at a high level. I just recently caught it on Mount Silver the other day."

    An interesting proposition; usually sparring happens in the group stage so that weaknesses are fixed before things get serious. "Sure. I'll meet you out on the practice fields out back in about five minutes. Did you request for an official so we don't risk being tossed?"

    "Of course. See you in five." He made his way to the elevator while I went to change out of my sleepwear.

    Small groups were already out back getting in some practice reps before the their first round elimination battle. Davis waved me over to a sloppy looking field where a judge was standing. We all gathered around for how this was going to take place.

    "Gentlemen, this session is meant for a one on six battle where Davis is only using one Pokémon. As the partner, you can make substitutions as you wish or when Davis requests it. If either of you wish to stop, please be vocal about it. Are there any questions?" Neither of us moved. "Avery well. Please stand opposite from each other and begin when you're ready."

    Davis took out an Ultra Ball. "Quagsire I choose you!" Blue as the fountain water out front, it stood there wagging its tail slowly while holding a blank smile on its face. I also couldn't tell if it clapping was its way to pump itself up or to taunt me.

    "Okay then... I choose Umbreon." He came out looking to get some more battling in his system but when he locked eyes with Quagsire, he became more hostile. "Maybe I choose..." Umbreon shook his head defiantly. "Umbreon this is a sparring contest not a battle. You're not supposed to go all out. Go on and use Bite." His aim was for the head but at the least second he went for the midsection to avoid a fatal blow; still too close for my comfort.

    "Slam attack!" Quagsire used its tail to slap Umbreon aside. "Hit it with Earthquake!" Rubble from the ground eventually covered Umbreon as he sunk into the ground a little bit.

    "Blow the debris off with Dark Pulse then go at it with Quick Attack!" Dark pulse easily got rid of the debris but Toxic was the follow up move. Quagsire braced for the poison as it covered it from head to toe.

    Davis remained calm despite Umbreon's condition. "Rain Dance into Water Gun!" Rain from the attack washed or at least diluted the poison and he managed to score a hit on Umbreon. "Charge in and use Slam!" Another solid hit on Umbreon as it came in; Quagsire looked like it flashed an evil grin.

    "Faint Attack!" Umbreon went from down and out to a fast sprint... too fast. "Umbreon return now!" My Luxury Ball's beam almost couldn't bring him back in time. All three of us looked at each other trying to digest what happened until I felt comfortable talking. "Do you want to continue or..."

    "It's fine" Davis said with a hint of annoyance. "I still want to go. Bring someone else out."

    Damn I felt guilty about continuing. "Furret!" She looked up in the sky after feeling the raindrops. "Iron Tail!" I figured that going easy on Quagsire would make it feel a little better about the whole situation.

    "Water Gun!" Furret got pushed back with the boosted water move.

    "Dig!" Softer ground made for an easier time to hide underground before coming up to deliver a hit. "Quick Attack!" Quagsire ended up falling on its back as Davis waved for the sparring to stop; if this were a real battle then I would have won the round. However, Davis would have probably used Earthquake when I ordered Dig so maybe I would have lost.

    An emotionless look was across his face. "Mitch, what the hell happened with Umbreon? Why the hostility?"

    I stared at his ball. "I have no clue. I can get Espeon to help me later. Really, I'm sorry about that. Good luck in your battle today." Guilt riddled me on my way back to my hotel room since there is always a chance that I could face some type of punishment by the league if not Davis. Instead of my room, I made my way to the courtyard so I could call out the Eeveelution Pokémon. "We need to talk." Both materialized intent on listening. "Espeon, translate please. I need to understand the sudden emotional change with Umbreon." She nodded. "Why the hostility Umbreon? I told you it was a sparring match."

    He put his head down. "That piece of shit was one of Sneasel's followers. You couldn't tell by his dumb look, but he almost caused me some problems if I didn't have Trent beside me. Who cares if that was a sparring match, I wanted to kill him. He'll never know what type of Pokémon he looked up to. Also, how could you forget what environment I came from? You should know damn well that anything less than 100% effort got you killed. Call me back now. I'm too pissed off to deal with anything else."

    "As you wish." The red beam brought him back in the ball; I turned to Espeon. "Well Espeon, I wasn't there when everything went down but he has to keep his emotions in check. Once your mind goes, everything else follows. Attacks start missing, your logic is messed up, stuff like that. I've been in my fair share of fights and I always made it a priority to keep my mind focused. I don't know if you can communicate through your balls but could you talk to him for me?"

    "Of course. Just curious, when's our next battle?"

    "Tomorrow. Battles are on alternate days so Davis and Carly have their battles today. It pains me to say this but anything less than 100% effort is going to send us home. There are no redoes, there are no more weak trainers, there are no good mistakes, and there is no way on Arceus' green earth that I will ever give up. I'm sure you felt it, but that loss to Shuckle almost made our hard work worthless. All I ask from you is that you keep going." She nodded sternly. "By the way... has Gyarados wanted to talk to me yet?"

    "No. As far as I know, he's been in his own little world since pool play ended. I'll let you know when he wants to talk." That was all I needed to hear as I called her back.

    Footsteps came from behind me. "You alright?" It was Wes.

    "Me? Yes. My Pokémon? For the most part, no. I think the stress is getting to them with Umbreon handling it a little worse than everyone else. By that I mean he tried to go for a kill during a sparring session."

    Wes sat down next to me. "As you've probably found out, Umbreon as a species are naturally loyal. They fight harder when someone they care about is on the line or if they want revenge on someone. Just curious, how long did it take you to evolve you Eevee?"

    "Not too long. Actually I found it as an Umbreon." I paused. "Didn't I tell you this already?"

    He shook his head. "You only told me he killed a lot of Pokémon in the past. Now my question is who the hell gave it up? It's rare that someone would just leave an Umbreon roaming around."

    I've told this story so many times so I gave him the condensed version. "He was somebody else's, the trainer was killed by Team Rocket, he was taken to a lab and experimented on, he escaped before living in a forest, then I found him after he was running from something. When we got here he told me that he could never fully trust me because of Team Rocket. I know that he's under a lot of stress since his previous trainer was on the same path as me."

    "Well it seems like you have your work cut out for you" Wes said matter-of-factly. "Even though your Espeon can help you in translation, it'll be up to Umbreon to sort it out. I have to tell you as an owner myself that there are times when acts differently and sometimes... it's best to wait it out if the problem is a trainer death. If he wants to be let go, then you have to be prepared to do it; I sense you're a caring person."

    "But that's just it; I don't want to wait it out. I don't want him to self-destruct if you know what I mean."

    Wes' hand grabbed my shoulder. "Look Mitch, you've done more than anyone else would've. Everything will sort itself out eventually. I'll be sticking around to watch and maybe I can convince Rui to come too. She needs a vacation too." With that, he gave me a pat on the shoulder and went through the side door. Guess the only thing left to do is dwell on how to approach my next match back in the computer lab; the walk back felt longer than normal.

    Battles were being played on the various televisions in the lobby as I made my way into the side computer lab. Nobody else was in there as I pulled up a chair to log on. My expected opponent was supposed to be the winner of the group 49/50 matchup so I did my research on the potential opponents for about 45 minutes or so; both of them owned a Heracross which could cause problems for half of my team if I'm not prepared. I had no desire to go out to the fields to watch Davis on field one after the earlier events of today so I opted to go back to my room after snagging some food.

    Pajamas were the way to go as I felt like being a bum while watching Davis' battle on television. In the interest of relaxing, I kept everyone inside of their balls, especially Umbreon. He wasted no time using Quagsire to dismantle his opponent's first two Pokémon and cleaned up as his Hypno tossed around a poor Smeargle; the fact that Smeargle had no offensive moves compounded the beat down even more. Instead of going through video replays, Mr. Goodshow took the mic.

    "As we congratulate our remaining trainers, I want to tell everyone what to expect from this point onward. Starting tomorrow, the matchups will be determined by a lottery at 8:30 tomorrow morning on field one. You'll be able to see all 64 trainers before they fight for the right to advance as all trainers are required to attend if they wish to continue. Thank you all!" He left down a set of stairs as the play by play announcer tossed it to break.

    I turned to my nightstand with the six Luxury Balls on it. "Sucks that I wasted 45 minutes today instead of spending it with you guys. I messed up big time and I'm sorry. Let's see what we can do tomorrow." I turned the lights off. "I'll always be proud of you guys."
    The other 63 trainers were all on the battlefield of field one in front of what could be described as a bingo machine. All of us had no knowledge of what number we were assigned so we had to take the matchups as they come. It took 19 matchups before I was matched up with a guy named Jason from Pewter City; I was number 21 from here on out while he was number 43. Knowing all Kanto trainers, he would have a rock type on his team. The real question comes down to if it's his best Pokémon. As per the rules, the matchup number also determined your time slot in the day starting with a press conference 15 minutes before the scheduled battle time; my time was slated for 11:00 am on field three. Only four fields were to be used so that all fields had optimal conditions and could accommodate fans in addition to the press.

    I made my way back to the hotel dining area since I had some time to kill. Breakfast was the classic bacon and egg combo with a side of hash browns with choice of any fruit juice so I just ate that while hoarding Pokémon food for the rest of my team. Wes wasn't there this time around but I needed some quality time in my room with everyone before our second elimination battle.

    "Okay, everyone out" I said with a hint of enthusiasm. "We have a battle in about two hours so eat up and do whatever you need to do so that you're ready. I need to get a power nap in." They scattered onto the large balcony except for Gyarados and Espeon. "Is it time now Gyarados? I expected you to go eat with Ampharos." He nodded solemnly.

    "Everyone else said that you're a great trainer so let me officially say it: you're not only the best trainer a partner could ask for... you're also pretty smart in how you approach battles. If I didn't have you all this time, then I'd probably lose all my battles despite my strength" Espeon relayed to me. "I feel that I have to battle so that nobody can knock out anyone else and expect to walk away unharmed. Take the battle against Steelix for example. I trust you, but that doesn't mean I can't get upset when someone beats one of us.

    I smiled. He's very loyal to everyone and makes sure that he takes care of problems; not your typical Gyarados. "You have to understand that battling pissed off could tire you out more in the heat of the moment. Thrash attack is much different when you add in too much of your anger. When the adrenaline wears off, you're going to feel exhausted. I've actually been pretty lucky with that because you finish battles before you can't move."

    He looked uncomfortable. "Unfortunately you're right. I've got this nagging feeling that I have less in the tank after every major battle." I looked confused. "My battling is getting more reckless and I'm not afraid to tell you that my battling days are almost over."

    My fist hit the bed in frustration as my smile turned to a frown. "Why didn't you tell me when we got here!? I wouldn't have used you so much in the earlier rounds. Hell, I would've had a whole new game plan. I knew resting you against Pryce was the right decision and we're both lucky that Espeon came through in Blackthorn."

    Gyarados scowled. "Because I didn't want to blow our shot at winning this thing. Look Mitch, I knew as a more aggressive Magikarp back then that I'd run out of steam at some point. It doesn't help that there are so many battles in such a short period of time too." He relaxed his face. "But all of that means nothing. I WILL battle even if I'm the last Pokémon you have and I'm helpless. No way am I going to let the best trainer in the whole damn world lose here on a forfeit; I can handle the pain that comes with the adrenaline rush." A quick point to Ampharos with his head. "Besides, I have to battle for her. I have to be strong so that she can look up to me. What would she think of me if I just gave up?"

    I could feel myself losing control of my emotions. "Well it wouldn't do you much good if you ended up in the ICU ward now would it" I said raising my voice a little bit; tears started to form. "I don't want to lose any of you in any way. I want all of you to all be able to battle because you all love it so much. What kind of trainer would I be if I let something happen to you?" This time I slammed the nightstand. "Dammit! Your health and resting up is more important and you're willing to give it up just so I could take all of the credit!?"

    "I care about you too much to let you down when you need help the most; I can rest easy when I'm dead." A sigh escaped his mouth. "Growlithe with getting a new owner, Furret escaping death as a Sentret, Espeon being taken in after being abandoned, Umbreon looking to be happy after being hopeless for most of his life, Ampharos gaining the ability to confidently battle after she nearly drowned... all of them got a second chance under your care. Little do you know that you gave me one too but that's another story for another day. Point is that a long time ago I decided to give my all for you no matter the consequences."

    "So what can I do so that you won't get hurt?"

    "Trust your judgement; you've been doing great since the beginning. I'll support your choices but please don't hesitate to use me. I am forever in your debt and owe you a lot. Now get some rest and kick some ass when you get there." Gyarados made his way outside to eat with the rest of the team as Espeon looked at me with my head in my hands then offered her head to pet to make me feel better.

    "Oh A-A-AArceus" I sobbed. "What am I going to do?"

    She pushed me so I was lying down on my back and soon cuddled on top of me. "Win. We're going to win. Last night you told us you'd be proud of us like always and we've always been proud of you."

    "I-" Espeon put her paw on my mouth.

    "Rest easy." I could feel Espeon using a little bit of psychic energy to lull me to sleep and I didn't bother resisting since I really needed it. I could have sworn I heard her shortly after I was knocked out but I know the footsteps and sudden increase in temperature weren't just thoughts in my head. Soon I could hear more purring from all directions.

    For a split second in time, the pressure of it all was gone and was replaced with unconditional love by six of the most loyal Pokémon in the world. It was their turn to give me a second chance.
     
  20. Writer4fun

    Joined:
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    PokéPoints:
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    Chapter 40- Round of 64 vs Jason

    Ruby's P.O.V.

    I felt a switch flip in my mind as I saw my trainer sobbing uncontrollably just a few hours before another elimination battle. Mitch has done some unusual things since I've been with him, but this was the most concerning because it was something he had zero control over. He could have waited in the lobby after the battle with Pryce. He could have let me stay in my ball when he saw Sara at the Gala. This time he has no choice in the matter; Gyarados' body is breaking down through no fault of Mitch. My best guess is that the process sped up after battling Chuck but I'm not omnipotent. Hell, I'm not sure if any psychic type can see everything going on with a person. The only thing I could do was calm him down.

    "Oh A-A-AArceus" he sobbed. What am I going to do?"

    "Win. We're going to win. Last night you told us you'd be proud of us like always and we've always been proud of you." His confidence definitely rubbed off on me. About a month ago I would've said something more traditional like 'it'll be okay' or 'we'll find a way'. No. This time was something different. At this point there is no more room for doubt. Either we win or go down fighting so that nobody will be able to move for weeks even with a Pokémon Center's help.

    I seized the opportunity to push him down on his back and stand over him as a sign to relax. When he thought about getting up, I curled up on top of his stomach while staring him in the face. He tried to respond but I started to use a little bit of my power to make him fall asleep. I gave him enough of a push to be out cold while he could still wake up in time for the next match.

    "Pssst. Guys. Get over here" I said softly. Growlithe was the first one to notice my wave while everyone else followed suit. "I'm going to be blunt: Mitch's... everything isn't 100% at the moment. By that I mean his mind, confidence, immune system, stuff like that, isn't at normal levels. I don't want to tell you how to battle but when something seems off to you mid-battle... go with your gut."

    Growlithe stepped forward. "So we shouldn't trust him or listen to him anymore? Is that what you're telling us?" he asked with some offense taken.

    "No! I'm saying that I don't want anyone to get really hurt." I put my head down. "Not after my first time at the Blackthorn Gym. All it takes is one mistake out here and..."

    "Alright alright, we get it. So how do we know when to freestyle battle?"

    Shade spoke from the back. "You'll feel it naturally. I freestyled an entire gym battle a few months ago with my old master. The best way to describe it is that time slows down while you're ignoring all outside distractions; it's like tunnel vision only you're aware of everything else." Everyone else tried to wrap their heads around the concept of freestyle battling while I got ready for a nap.

    "You guys should rest up too. I made sure Mitch would wake up in plenty of time." They all got as close as they could without getting right on top of him. Shade hopped on the bed next to me then nuzzled me.

    "Confidence is contagious and I think I'm coming down with something" he whispered while smiling. "Now let's get some sleep. We only have a few hours before we're out there. How are you holding up?"

    I shifted on top of Mitch's stomach so I was looking straight at him. "Nervous. Very nervous yet confident. Who knows? Maybe I'll throw up on the field. I guess it finally hit me that we could all be kicked out." Shade kept a straight face before gently rubbing my head and eventually went to sleep. I know he's feeling it too. I felt something awkward happening with my psychic powers as soon as I fell asleep.
    Mitch's P.O.V.

    "Get up Quilava!" It was no use as the fire type lay unconscious. "U-U-Umbreon, g-g-g-go." The display of battling by Umbreon was nothing short of amazing as the trainer in the shadows just stood silently. Not a single command was issued to either Pokémon as Umbreon ended up the winner over some dark colored Pokémon with red eyes. Wait a second... Gengar! A paw tapped me on my forehead after the vision was done; it was Growlithe. But what does that vision mean? Why did Espeon replay that specific memory?

    "Everyone ready?" He nodded as the remaining five members had already let themselves back in their Luxury Balls. I made my way over to the field while wondering if Espeon knows she let me see into the past again. Honestly, that ability might cause her more harm than good if she can't control it since all she's seen is negative images whenever she does it. That will have to wait since my press conference is about to start.

    Ashley wasn't there this time around to act as my liaison but it really didn't matter. A slew of reporters packed the seats in a designated area as the guide went through the usual media protocol speech before they got the chance to ask questions. A woman in the front was the first to go.

    "Brandi Carlson, WJTV. Some might argue that your confidence is bordering on cockiness. Realistically speaking, how confident are you in your abilities?"
    What a dumb question. Hold on... "Before I answer that, are you Brandi from Battling with Brandi?" She nodded; I held nothing back. "First off, I have to talk the talk because everyone and their mother wanted me to just lie down and go home. Second, who said I was overconfident? I had no fucking clue that I took second in my group until another judge told me. Third, I don't have to worry about everyone else because I don't have to face everyone else."

    Brandi's facial expression told me that she expected some run-of the-mill response. "But you have..."

    I cut her off. "The point of survive and advance is to only focus on the opponent in front of you. Why would I worry about last year's champion Allison if I don't have to face her today? Use your head people!" Audible gasps could be heard all over the room coupled with a few quiet laughs. "Now to actually answer your question Brandi: I'm very confident in my abilities. We've all earned eight badges plus the right to be here today. Next question." Reporters from all over the room waved their hands in the hopes of getting picked by the liaison; somehow an older man was picked from the back.

    "Harold Drew, Pewter City Daily. How does it feel to battle someone from another region?"

    Thank Arceus this was a decent question. "Just like any other battle. I've made some friends here from the Kanto region while battling others." I smiled a little bit. "One Kanto trainer used a Johto Pokémon in the preliminaries so I think it'll be fun to see a diverse team with a rock type as a staple. I'm well aware of the influence of gym leaders on Kanto trainers."

    The liaison scanned around for another person. "Last question before the battle begins. You there on the right end seat."

    "How will you handle your defeat?" Uhhh what? Questions are usually more open ended than that.

    "Excuse me sir, you must state your name and media organization you are representing" the public relations officer said with a little hostility.

    I could see a smirk forming on his face. "Name's Jason and that's all you need to know." He sprinted out of the room while we all looked on in confusion. My poor liaison sighed while wrapping things up for the remaining reporters.

    I was led to a locker room/lounge area with a couch, television, fully stocked mini fridge (hell yea!), a training table for smaller Pokémon, and a little clock in the corner with a timer counting down to the battle. For simplicity, I kept everyone inside of their balls as I took a bottle of juice from the fridge knowing I wouldn't have much time to lounge around. The timer didn't move until the actual time reached 10:50 so it started to count down from 10 minutes. By far this was the most nerve-wracking battle of the tournament for me. At least if I lost in the group stage then I could get some help but out here I was alone with just my team. I closed my eyes while remembering what I had done to get to this point. Each gym battle was a testament to either my skill or showing off Gyarados' raw power. Time seemed to fly by as a somewhat quiet buzzer woke me up at the two-minute mark.

    "Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the..." the public address announcer blared over the microphone to the crowd of about 20,000 screaming people.; I just kept my head down and eyes closed while in the tunnel. "Will the two trainers please make their way to their respective boxes?" Jason arrived at his box first while I took my time soaking everything in. Due to the environment, the PA announcer laid out the rules instead of the referee. "This will be a three on three battle with both sides allowed to substitute at will. A trainer has lost when all three of their Pokémon are unable to battle. Without further ado, begin!"

    "Growlithe I choose you!"

    "Magnemite!" You could hear the cheering dying down in some parts of the stadium as both of us brought out unevolved Pokémon. I know that there's an advantage to not evolving but for Magnemite not to be evolved is unnerving. Growlithe would have evolved if I found a Fire Stone along the way; they're pretty hard to come by in Johto.

    Jason grinned. "I thought you'd start with a water type but I guess I was wrong. Magnemite come back! Go Onix!" Time for my own switch.

    "Growlithe return! Furret, your turn!" She looked intimidated for a split second then regained her focus knowing her arsenal of moves.

    "I thought you were smarter than that Mitch. Onix use Slam attack!"

    "I am. Dig underground Furret!" Her smaller body allowed her to escape the full brunt of the attack and also let her strike quickly on the counterattack. "Return attack let's go!" Onix wasn't able to get out of the way as she hit him again.

    "Rock Throw!" Its tail slapped the ground causing decent size rocks to fall all over the battlefield in the hopes of hitting Furret.

    "Di..." No. If she digs then she could be stuck underground. "Quick Attack! Get out of there!" The first four or so rocks were dodged but unfortunately the remaining ones around her landed on top of her. "Now that you know where they landed, use Dig to reset yourself!" Some of the rocks fell into her hole as Onix looked on.

    "Screech!" Onix let out a deafening roar that could easily find its way underground to stop Furret from moving around. "Follow up with Rock Throw!" It was rinse and repeat with Furret popping out of the ground. "Slam it into a crater!" The long tail sent her into a crater on the edge of the battlefield while some smaller rocks landed on top of her. "Looks like it's almost done. Rage attack!"

    "Don't give in! Quick Attack to escape and follow with Return!" Her speed got her out of the rubble before landing another blow; now was the time despite Onix getting stronger. "Iron Tail!" Anyone who saw Jason's face saw a look of disbelief as Furret leveled the rock snake and put it down for the count.

    Our judge ran up to Onix as a formality. "Onix is unable to battle. Furret wins!" One down, two to go.

    My opponent held his head down as he recalled his star Pokémon. "How dare you mock me in front of everyone with that bullshit" he said just loud enough so I could hear it. "How about I permanently knock out your Pokémon in the next rounds?"

    His threat didn't sound idle but I had to keep my composure. "Look Jason, I've actually sent Pokémon to the West Johto Regional Hospital before. Believe me when I say that you have no Pokémon capable of doing anything severe to mine. However, if you want to try then go for it. Just don't expect any mercy in return. So what's it going to be?"

    "You better have some body bags back in your lounge because I'm not giving you any of mine." Damn... this escalated quickly. Still, you can't threaten me like that and expect me not to say anything back.

    "Guess I have no choice but to defeat you quickly."

    He grabbed his second ball and sent out a Noctowl; obviously a counter for any grass types. "It was fun crashing your press conference and I laughed a little about when you said that Johto Pokémon are better. Onix is my most loyal Pokémon but one thing's for sure: this is my strongest Pokémon by far. Start begging for mercy Mitch."

    "How about I switch Furret out first before you continue." I beamed her back into her ball. "Ampharos, shut him up!" She came out looking to go after not being used for quite some time. Also, she wasn't looking to playfully poke at anything. I think she heard our little exchange; the flags went up and she was running straight ahead with a Thunderpunch charged up. "Ampharos you can't lose your cool!"

    Jason substituted the angry tone for an arrogant one. "Confusion if you please" he said in a fake aristocratic tone; Noctowl stopped Ampharos on a dime. "Throw it into a different crater this time. One that has no rocks in it." It's bad enough that I'm already behind in the round but the fake voice is getting to me. "I don't care if it's holding a magnet to boost its electrical attacks... it still won't be able to touch my Noctowl."

    "Discharge!" Ampharos quickly got up and fired off several bolts of electricity only to be dodged.

    "Get closer and use Hypnosis!"

    "Ampharos close your eyes!" I banked on the move failing since she couldn't fall into a trance if she wasn't looking at it.

    "Take Down!" It came in too fast for me to answer with my own attack. "Hypnosis again!" Its eyes turned red as Ampharos was too close not to look and soon she eventually fell asleep.

    I went into full panic mode. "Wake up! You have to wake up!" No signs of that happening anytime soon. Growlithe or Furret could come back in for a little bit while I figure out a way to deal with this. "Come back! Go Furret!" Even though she's in bad shape, she can still wear this thing down. "Quick Attack!"
    "You're asking for it Mitch. Take Down!" Both Pokémon met in the middle of the field with Furret being sent flying backwards. "Hypnosis!" Noctowl looked directly into her eyes as she succumbed to sleep. "Finish it with Dream Eater" Jason said coldly. A transparent Noctowl flew straight into Furret and sent her to the ground.

    A flag went up. "Furret is unable to battle. Noctowl wins!" Looks like Ampharos has to wake up eventually otherwise I have to rely on Growlithe to take down this monster plus the Magnemite in the back. I wonder when...

    "Hey! Call out your next Pokémon already! Don't just stand there staring into space" the referee said. Oh, so you'll let him threaten me but ride me when I actually think about strategy.

    "Fine fine. Come ba..." Furret rose to her feet as if the last Dream Eater didn't knock her out; I turned to the referee. "She can still go ref. Reverse your decision."
    He folded his arms. "It's still not in fighting shape. All official's decisions are final. Now call out your next Pokémon or you will forfeit." She turned to me and took about three steps before falling over and vomiting.

    "Furret!" I sprinted out of my box to see her. "Oh Arceus what happened to you?" She moaned in pain as her eyes stayed shut. I gently pet her all over until she winced; pain was on the top of her head. "Has to be a concussion" I mumbled to myself. The crowd clapped in support as I walked back to the box with her in my arms. "Get some rest girl. We'll win then figure out what happened." I gave her a small kiss on the side of her head away from the sore spot then recalled her.
    "Are you all done Mitch? My Noctowl's getting bored over here."

    "Yup. Ampharos! Entertain our opponent please" I said in a fake tone similar to his. Forget stooping to his level; I want to win and maybe I can get inside his head. Unfortunately, she was still asleep.

    "Now what? You expect to win with this sleeping sheep? I heard people count sheep to help them sleep which begs the question: does she count sheep even though she's one herself?" His tongue needed to be dulled. "Dream Eater!" Jason wasted no time taking advantage of my sleeping Pokémon.

    "Discharge!" When she hit the ground, I could tell she was awake yet she didn't move. What was she doing?

    "Again Noctowl!" It came in fast but Ampharos got up and delivered a Thunderpunch uppercut. How did she know that tricking him could be so easy? I can't afford to risk everything on trickery like that but that was a gutsy maneuver. A Take Down would've been deadly.

    "Cotton Spore!" Balls of cotton materialized before clinging to the flying type with ease.

    "Take Down! Show no mercy!"

    Got inside his head for sure; it's moving a lot slower than normal. "Tunderpunch!" Ampharos opted to punch downward thus slamming Noctowl into the ground; something happened to her hand since she started shaking it and blowing on it. She fired a Discharge for good measure.

    The official made his decision quickly since he knew that I would give him hell if he didn't do it this time around. "Noctowl is unable to battle. Ampharos is the winner!" Now he had already revealed his Magnemite so I have this match in the bag.

    Jason clenched his fists knowing that his chance to move on was gone. "Magnemite... go" he said in a defeated tone.

    "Ampharos return! Growlithe!" It was back to square one only this time I had every advantage. "Flamethrower!"

    "Swift." Stars were no match for the powerful Flamethrower as the flames disintegrated them all on the way to hitting the steel type.

    "Magnemite is unable to battle. The winner is Growlithe and the match goes to Mitch from Violet City!" Loud whistles and cheers rained down from the crowd as I waved to them with Growlithe on my shoulder. Jason slammed an extra ball on the ground before walking back to his tunnel as a final sign of frustration.

    The PA announcer took over. "Give our trainers another round applause for an amazing battle! Now Mitch will face the winner of our next battle between..." A clicking noise was heard in Jason's box before a Nidoking emerged from its ball looking ready to take out Jason's frustration on me personally. Growlithe looked ready to fight until a horde of security guards surround the poison type and defeated it with their own Pokémon. Man that guy has problems.

    A public relations officer escorted me back to where I had my pre-battle one with the room even more packed than last time; we're talking borderline sardine level status here. The officer couldn't stop everyone from taking pictures or asking for their question to be answered.

    I lowered my head at the podium. "This press conference is postponed until further notice." That got everyone silent.

    "What do you mean?"

    I looked up and spoke very clearly into the microphone. "My Pokémon's health always comes first."
     

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