astridspokemonfic

[astridspokemonfic]

Episode 8: Spheal the Deal!

Narrator: After their brush with Team SubZero, our heroes have recovered from the harrowing ordeal only to come to an abrupt realization.

“I never got to actually go inside the aquarium!” Astrid shrieked. Considering it was 10 in the morning, it wasn’t exactly a pleasant sound. The twins gave her the most annoyed look they were capable of. (Especially considering that they woke up late.) Janine thankfully, was spared from the sound since she was inside taking a video call.

“You didn’t realize?” Kaytlyn raised an eyebrow.

“No I didn’t!” She scowled.”I was caught up in that poacher stuff!”

“You tend to not notice a lot of things.” Kayla muttered. “There was the Double Contest thing last week… and now with the aquarium.”

“Shut up!” the teen huffed, “Why don’t you ever tease Janine about anything?”

Kayla thought for a moment before turning to her sister. “Should I?”

“Janine never really does anything tease-worthy-”

“Yes she does!” Astrid interjected. “First of all she’s a total weeb.”

“True.”

“She has scoliosis.”

“Also true.”

“She’s an emo.”

“Uh-huh.”

“She’s-“

“I’m what?”

Astrid let out a shriek, unaware that Janine had somehow snuck up on her. The trainer gave her an unimpressed look before continuing.

“I got a call from Adrian. He’s gonna be here in a few minutes and he wanted to make sure that we were still here so we could finally battle.” Janine explained.

“You do know that Adrian has a type advantage on you right?” Kayla pointed out. Janine shrugged.

“I’ll just do the same thing I did with Romeo back at the gym.”

“Uh, but what if Mudkip evolved?”

“What?”

Kayla gave her a concerned look before Astrid cut in, “Mudkip evolves into Marshtomp, complete with a Water/Ground-Typing. Fire has a quarter of its usual effectiveness, and Electric does absolutely nothing.”

“Well… that’s a problem.” The trainer stated, dumbfounded.

“Yeah. On the other hand it becomes double weak to Grass-Types.” Astrid said smugly, offering Kayla a hi-five since they both chose grass-type starters.

“Well. Time to spam Double-Kick.”

“You can’t just do that!” Kayla pointed out.

“Yes I can.”

“That’s the most basic and unoriginal strategy I’ve ever heard.”

“Bet. I’ll beat him.”

“I hate you.”

~*~*~*~*~

After a few minutes of waiting, Adrian and his friends had shown up at the entrance of the Pokemon Center. The group caught their attention with a series of shouts and joking cat-calls. (At least on Astrid’s end)

“Please shut up. You’re all so embarrassing.” Adrian pleaded, glancing around to other bystanders.

“You love us.” Astrid crowed, meaning to embarrass him further. She narrowly dodged an incoming slap and moved over to hug Sheyla and Andrea.

“How was Route 3?” Janine motioned to his ragged appearance.

“Other than the ungodly amount of Mightyena and Poochyena everywhere, it was great! I caught two Pokemon!”

“Woah! Two?” Kayla asked curiously. At Adrian’s nod, the teen beckoned Astrid over, hoping she would lend the Pokedex to her for a few minutes. Wordlessly, Adrian reached to two more Pokeballs hanging at his hip (Wow, how did they not notice those?). Each Pokemon popped out with their own unique cries.

“An Aron and Ralts?”

Astrid handed her Pokedex to Kayla and knelt down to poke at the Psychic-Type.

“Ralts, the Feeling Pokemon. Ralts senses the emotions of people using the horns on its head. This Pokémon rarely appears before people. But when it does, it draws closer if it senses that the person has a positive disposition.”

Kaytlyn snorted. “Well that makes absolutely no sense.”

“What do you mean?”

“Adrian, you are one of the most aggressive people I’ve ever met. Second to a rampaging Tauros.” She snickered. Adrian gave her a hard look before sighing.

“True.”

“Is there a particular story behind this?” Janine asked, remembering her Mareep.

“Not with Ralts. He just threw the Pokeball as soon as he beat him. Pretty standard.” Andrea shrugged, “But Aron? There’s a story behind that one.”

“Ralts is a he?” Kayla gave Ralts a onceover, not understanding how such a feminine Pokemon could possibly be male. “Remind me to introduce you to Astrid’s Vulpix.” she muttered.

“Sh! I want to hear the Aron story!” Kaytlyn threw leaves at her sister, acting over dramatic. Kayla gave her a wounded look and simply scanned Aron in response.

“Aron, the Iron-Armor Pokemon. This Pokémon has a body of steel. To make its body, Aron feeds on iron ore that it digs from mountains. Occasionally, it causes major trouble by eating bridges and rails.”

“Okay, so basically.” Sheyla began, “Adrian had already caught Ralts like the day before, and he was training up her Magical Leaf attack. And then out of nowhere the Aron comes out.

“Adrian’s like ‘Oh this is going to be great training experience!’ and he sends Ralts to battle. Andrea and I just sorta… move away because this is probably the eighth time he’s done this in the past hour or so. He’s insane.”

“I was training my Pokemon!”

“You couldn’t have waited until we got to a Pokemon Center? You’re the reason it took 3 days to get here! Whatever.” Sheyla waved him away and the boy sat down, no longer able to tell his own story, “Anyway. We were just talking about how stupid Adrian is, and then he starts screeching. Out of nowhere.”

“It was concerning.” Andrea added, giving the gay a disgusted look. Adrian narrowed his eyes in response.

“Mhm. Well. We go over and we’re like,

‘What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Is Ralts hurt?’ But no. Instead he starts yelling at us to give him his bag, and he won’t answer when we ask what’s going on. So we just fling his bag over and he’s all panicky, and he doesn’t even look and he throws a Pokeball at Aron. But it doesn’t work. Obviously. And Aron escapes and starts to run.”

“Yes, of course, I’d run too.” Astrid nods, unhelpfully. Janine scoffs.

“And instead of battling it again, like a logical human being, Adrian throws another Pokeball. Which doesn’t work. And he continues this maybe 4 more times before finally throwing a Great Ball.”

“Why on Arceus’s green Earth would you do that?” Janine turned to the boy in question.

“Aron has a Secret Ability!” Adrian said, showing them his Pokedex.

“Secret Ability?”

“You know how Pokemon have abilities?” Sheyla began. Janine nodded.

“Arroz has Static as her ability.”

“Arroz? Who the- Actually, nevermind. Anyway, Secret Abilities are just really rare abilities that a certain Pokemon species may have. For Aron species in particular, their secret ability is Heavy Metal, meaning they become heavier in battle. Most Pokemon have Hidden abilities that make it so that they have a better advantage in battle.”

“I heard about Hidden Abilities before in school, but I didn’t think we’d actually meet a Pokemon with one!” Astrid said in wonderment. Kayla had a similar look as they inspected Aron thoroughly.

“I wonder if any of our Pokemon have a Secret Ability.” Kaytlyn thought out loud.

“I wouldn’t even know the difference.” Janine admitted. She turned her attention back to Adrian, “So about that battle…” Adrian nodded in excitement and was about to set the terms before Astrid interrupted.

“Woah, woah, woah! I’d just like to remind you that I haven’t gone to the Aquarium yet!”

“Literally no one cares.” Adrian gave her a harrowing look. Astrid glared right back.

“You can wait. I’ve wanted to go to the Aquarium since the first day we got to this sandy purgatory! Listen. You two can battle after we visit the aquarium.” She turned to Kayla and Andrea and began to drag them along, “Before something ridiculous happens and Team SubZero decides to blow up a daycare or something.” Sheyla watched the coordinator drag her friends along before a thought struck her.

“Who’s Team SubZero?” Janine took a double-take.

“You haven’t encountered them yet?”

“It doesn’t really matter, they’re just a bunch of Pokemon stealing weirdos in parkas.” Kaytlyn said dismissively.

Adrian nodded sagely. “Like Team Rocket.”

They have him a look.“Who’s Team Rocket?”

“This group back in the 90s that- actually nevermind it doesn’t matter. Just follow them before they get themselves run over.”

~*~*~*~*~

Turns out saving Pokemon from being kidnapped comes with its perks. When they started to pay for their tickets, the lady at the ticket booth had told them ‘It was already taken care of’ and told them to pass right through.

Andrea eyed the ticket booth in suspicion.“Did you somehow join the mafia in the time we’ve been gone?”

“More like stopped the mafia.” Kayla corrected, “We got Team SubZero to back off yesterday, so I’m guessing this is their way of saying thank you.”

“You keep mentioning this Team SubZero.”

“Bruh. We met them the first day we started our journey!” Astrid began her over dramatized tale of rescuing the twins, much to their chagrin.

“You never finished that story back in Rocens, you know.”

“I was nervous for my contest.” She shrugged. Janine narrowed her eyes.

“So you mean to tell me that they never crossed paths with you guys once?”

“Nope!”

“We’ve crossed with them twice! And they’ve tried to kill us both times!” Astrid exclaimed. Kayla could only offer a long-withering sigh.

“Coincidence?”

She glared up at the sky just long enough to avoid permanent eye damage. “Arceus is playing some huge trick and is laughing his plates off right now.”

“Wait a minute! Backtrack!” Adrian paused in front of her, “What do you mean tried to kill you?”

“Uh. Kind of? The first time there was this Ciela woman who wanted to catch the twins and she took their Pokemon too.” Janine thought back.

Astrid giggled. “Then we destroyed her stupid machine.”

“Yeah, and then she wanted to freeze-dry us with her Froslass!”

“Don’t be stupid. Froslass can’t learn Freeze-Dry.” Kayla gave her a grin.

“You’re all surprisingly calm about facing a criminal organization.” Sheyla pointed out.

“Oh, it’s never calm. Every minute it feels like I’m about to either cry, punch someone, or a mix of both.” Kaytlyn grimaced, “It’s not fun.”

“Either we’re suppressing our trauma, or we’re sociopaths.” Kayla glanced at her phone, “At least according to Google.”

“Or you’re adrenaline junkies with hero complexes.” Sheyla suggested. Janine considered for a moment before agreeing dejectedly. Astrid let out a loud gasp and dragged Kayla through to a glow-in-the-dark display.

“Kayla! Check out these Tentacool!”

“I already saw them- Stop pulling on me!”

Kaytlyn heaved out a sigh before following her sister. “Sweet Arceus.”

The group slowly crept through the aquarium, stopping frequently to marvel at the different types of Water-Type Pokemon that called the aquarium their home. Janine had to admit that there were details she hadn’t noticed before when she was running around looking for culprits. The silence was broken every few moments when someone would crack a joke or had an interesting fact to share.

The teens followed each exhibits, until they had gone through the entire building, exiting in the courtyard. From there, it was of little argument where to go, as they all agreed that it would be most interesting to watch one of the upcoming shows.

Their curiosity led to a designated pool area that was surrounded by glass, likely to keep people from getting too close to the Pokemon. There were hardly any people sitting in the arena, maybe two or three adults and the rest were staff who were easily recognizable in yellow polos.

Next to the pool was a platform where a man in a wetsuit was standing with his arms crossed staring down at a group of round blue Pokemon.

Janine took out her Pokedex and scanned the Water-Types.

“Spheal, the Clap Pokemon. Spheal always travels by rolling around on its ball-like body. When the season for ice floes arrives, this Pokémon can be seen rolling about on ice and crossing the sea.”

“It’s so round…” Kayla looked at the Pokemon with wide eyes. The group of Spheal clapped enthusiastically, some rolling around dumbly. A single Spheal was the outlier of the group far away, and refusing to even get close. The Pokemon began to practice some sort of routine, each taking turns bouncing a beach ball to each other. In a word, it was one of the cutest displays they’d ever seen. Until it was the last one’s turn.

The Spheal smacked the ball back with more force than necessary, bonking one of the others in the face.

“Spheal, come on! Please cooperate for once!”  The trainer pleaded to no avail as the Spheal absolutely ignored him. “Spheal!”

“Woah, that Spheal really doesn’t want to listen to him.” Astrid whistled, pressing closer to the foggy glass. Kayla nodded.

“Maybe it doesn’t want to do their routine?” she suggested. The Spheal bounced closer to one of the others and promptly smacked it so hard that it rolled backwards into the water. “Or. Maybe it’s just mean.”

The man seemed to be at wits end as the Spheal bounced/rolled around causing chaos amongst the others.

“Spheal it’s not that hard! Bounce the ball!” The handler seemed to try a different approach, giving a nervous laugh as he gently tossed the ball in said Pokemon’s direction. The Spheal gave him an angry look at smacked the ball back again. The handler barely caught it. Spheal opened its mouth and began to form a ball of ice.

Sheyla recognized the move immediately. “That’s Ice Ball!” The handler seemed to notice and thankfully dodged the first time. However, he wasn’t so lucky the second time and was knocked backwards.

“Shouldn’t someone intervene?” Andrea looked around nervously and spotted some of the staff ignoring the scene in front of them, or maybe it wasn’t that big of a deal?

“Woah, let’s talk about this!” The handler scrambled backwards as another Ice Ball shot past his face.

“I think we should intervene!” Adrian said, prompting his friends to run to the glass door on the side that read ‘Employees Only’. The teens pushed their way past each other through the narrow door. Kaytlyn was the first to throw a Pokeball out.

“Charmander, use Ember!” Her Fire-Type released a barrage of small fires at the Ice Ball, throwing it off it’s trajectory and down to the tiled floor. Andrea helped the man up while Kaytlyn faced down with the angry Pokemon. The Spheal stared down Charmander with a surprising amount of ferocity. The Spheal let out a bark and began to roll towards Charmander at an alarmingly fast pace. The lizard hopped to the side to avoid the attack.

“That was Rollout!” Astrid exclaimed as the group parted to avoid the still rolling Pokemon. She threw down a Pokeball, “Vulpix use Fire Spin to keep it in place! Wait- but not too strong!”

The fire fox popped out and released flames from its mouth that quickly formed a circle of fire around the spheal, a muted version of it’s usual fire tornado. The Spheal rolled in place inside the fire circle for a few moments before rolling out, completely oblivious to the flames. Astrid let out a shriek and scooped Vulpix out of the way.

“Charmander, use Dragon Rage!” Charmander gathered a collection of orange energy in its mouth and released it towards the Spheal resulting in a cloud of dark smoke. When the Water-Type came into view, it seemed injured, but continued to glare at Charmander as if it wanted to continue fighting. Charmander let out a growl and Spheal’s glare faltered for a moment.

“That’s it! Spheal, return!” The handler recalled Spheal back to its Pokeball. The man sighed heavily before turning to the teens, “I’m sorry for Spheal’s behavior.”

“Is it usually like this?” Andrea asked warily. He sighed again.

“Unfortunately, yes. Spheal’s been causing trouble for the Aquarium for quite some time. Because of that, Spheal is the only Pokemon here that needs to be in a Pokeball.”

Sheyla looked up from where she was staring at a snoozing Spheal. “Is Spheal originally from the wild?” “No.” He replied, “Spheal was hatched and raised here in this Aquarium. We have no idea where he learned how to battle though.” He rubbed the back of his head, “He’s been picking fights with the other Pokemon, so we couldn’t have him in any exhibits. Similarly, he struck out in the petting zoo…”

“You let him around children?”

“Yeah, that was a mistake. This Spheal show is the last chance we have for him.”

“What do you mean last chance?” Kayla gave him a curious look.

“Well, if Spheal can’t live in the Aquarium, we either send him somewhere else or we release him to the wild. Because Spheal is so volatile, they’re leaning towards the latter.” 

Sheyla narrowed her eyes. “Don’t Pokemon raised in captivity die in the wild?”

“Wait they do?!” Kayla’s eyes were wide with surprise.

“Pokemon that are raised in captivity aren’t used to life in the wild; They don’t know how to hunt  or protect themselves. It’s almost as if their natural survival instincts have been wiped away completely. Unless a Pokemon is exceptionally strong, it’s not advisable to send them into the wild on their own.”

“That’s cruel! Why would they be leaning towards that option?”

“Because Spheal’s built up a reputation as being difficult with other people and Pokemon. None of the Breeding Centers and Aquariums we’ve contacted want him.” The handler glanced down at the Pokeball in his hands. “We can’t find anyone who can handle him, and he’s purposely been messing up the shows by trying to fight everything in the immediate vicinity. Including me. The most we can do is hope that when we release Spheal, he’ll be caught by some nice trainer.”

“Or…” Adrian cut in, “You could cut out the middle and just give Spheal to a trainer directly.”

Astrid gave him a look. “What trainer could control Spheal?” She held her hand up, “And don’t say you.”

“Pff, no! I already have a Water-Type. I meant Kaytlyn.”

“What? Me?” Kaytlyn and Charmander had been half-heartedly been listening to the conversation until her name was called.

“Well, yeah. You got Spheal to back off long enough for its handler to call it back to its Pokeball. I’m sure you could handle it.” He gave her a pat on the back as if it was any consolation.

“That’s right! You took on Romeo and beat him despite the type disadvantage! You’d totally be able to handle a water type!” Astrid joined in, blatantly ignoring Kaytlyn’s motions for her to shut up. The twin turned to Janine in the hopes that she’d stop them.

“...You might be able to teach Spheal to calm down. You’re pretty calm in most situations.”

“No I’m not!”

“You have to admit that Spheal gives you a tactical advantage. Spheal would give you an advantage over Rock-Types and Ground-Types. Which are strong against Charmander.” Sheyla added. 

Kaytlyn turned to her Charmander who was staring up at her intently. “What do you think? Would you be okay with another Pokemon on our team?” Charmander seemed to consider a moment before letting out a happy sort of growl, letting the flame on its’ tail grow larger. “Well if you’re okay with it…”

“You seem to be a strong trainer. I’m trusting you with Spheal okay? So… take good care of him.” The handler gently placed the Pokeball in her cupped hands. “I should go practice the routine with the others, so good luck with Spheal!” The handler said brightly, leading the Spheal herd away through a door.

“So… what now?”

~*~*~*~*~

With the aquarium trip cut short, the teens sat out in the grass outside the Pokemon Center, lounging on the grass in various states of relaxation. Kind of.

“Kaytlyn, just let it out!” Kayla was thoroughly done with her sister.

“No! It’s going to attack me or something!”

“Then I’ll do it for you!” Kaytlyn dodged her sisters hands before she could grab the Pokeball. “Why are you so scared? Charmander is right there.”

Astrid looked up. “We could all let our Pokemon out if that helps.”

“That’s not a good idea.” Janine placed her hand on the Coordinator’s shoulder to keep her from releasing her Chikorita. “If there are too many Pokemon around it might get intimidated and then it’ll actually attack.”

Astrid let out a groan, “Then do something already! We didn’t even get to see the petting zoo area!” She threw a short twig at Kaytlyn in annoyance.

The girl gave her a dirty look before taking a deep breath. Charmander cooed in support while the other trainers backed up significantly.

“Here goes.” Kaytlyn flung the Pokeball into the air and tensed up. When Spheal materialized in front of them it immediately looked around and began to glare at Charmander. She quickly stepped between them, blocking their glares. “I’m just gonna cut in here, Spheal, I’m your trainer.”

“Way to rip off the bandage!” Kayla teased from her safe spot behind Janine. Kaytlyn sighed and knelt down to offer her hand to the Pokemon.

“Listen, we didn’t start off on the best terms, but I hope we can work together.” The Water-Type gave her an unimpressed look and turned away huffily.

“Maybe Spheal is still mad at you and Charmander.” Andrea tried.

“At this point I think it’s less that Spheal’s holding a grudge and more that this is just how he acts.”

“Oh That’s right!” Adrian nodded, “Spheal didn’t even listen to his handler!”

“You two need some bonding exercises.” Astrid suggested, “Why don’t you play a game?”

“What game do you play with a Pokemon?” Adrian wrinkled his nose.

“Ducklett, Ducklett, Yungoos?” She tried.

“No.”

“Rowlet’s funny. That’s why we get along. ” Kayla mentioned. Adrian looked at her and decided to offer his advice as well.

“My Pokemon and I have a common goal: to be the strongest team in all of Niacal.”

“Ooh, same!” Astrid gave him a hi-five, “But also Chikorita, Vulpix, and I have a lot in common personality-wise.”

“So what I’m getting from this is to have a common goal, find what we have in common, and try to find a good personality trait.”

“Yeah.”

“Basically.”

She sighed again. Janine thought for a moment.

“You battle.” Janine paused, “Or share a life-threatening experience. That’s how it worked for Arroz and Pollo.”

(“She still hasn’t explained why they’re named after food.” Andrea muttered to Sheyla.)

“Wanna re-enact the Mightyena attack?” Kaytlyn gave her a sarcastic look.

“No, but battling is actually a really good idea!” Sheyla said, “In fact it’s probably what’s gonna help you and Spheal learn more about each other! There’s a whole study about how battling strengthens the bond between Trainers and Pokemon and helps them grow!” At this, Spheal suddenly rose to attention, growing more interested the longer he heard about battling other Pokémon.

“Yeah, but who wants to battle Spheal?” Kayla asked. No one volunteered until Janine spoke up.

“I know I promised to battle Adrian today, but actually, Adrian, would you mind battling Kaytlyn and Spheal instead?” “It’s good with me, but you’re going to have to battle me next time.” Adrian said, pushing himself up off the grass. “I assume you’ll be using Spheal for this?” Kaytlyn faltered for a moment.

“I’m… not so sure… Spheal will hardly listen to what I have to say.”

“Then start off with Charmander. Having Spheal watch the battle would mean he’d understand how the battle works first.” Kayla said. Astrid let out a few condescending scoffs before pulling Kayla back by her shoulder.

“Actually, it would be better for Spheal to experience the battle with Kaytlyn. They’d get a first hand experience at a partnership.”

“And Spheal could also completely ignore Kaytlyn and do whatever it wants getting itself, Kaytlyn, or other people and Pokemon in the process.”

“Kayla, I can watch the Olympics for a week straight. It doesn’t mean I can do backflips! You can’t learn it just by watching- Especially not with battling. Besides, it’s just a practice battle. You act like they’re facing the League.”

“People could get hurt!”

“Yes. And?”

“What?”

“I thought we’ve already gone over this: I don’t care about people.”

“Wha- Astrid!”

“Kayla!” she mocked.

“Or?” Sheyla stepped to intervene, “They could double battle. That literally combines both your solutions. You’re both stupid.”

Adrian swept stray grass off his pants and stood in a battle-ready stance. The twin gave him a look before turning to the Pokedex Janine had stuffed into her hands. It said that Spheal’s known moves were Ice Ball, Water Gun, Encore, and Rollout.

“So I’ll just avoid the obvious type disadvantage. Go! Marshtomp and Ralts!”

“I told you it evolved!” Kayla pointed out to her travelling companions.

“Janine, I don’t mean to alarm you, but if Adrian’s your rival, then maybe you should invest in some Grass-Type Pokemon.” Andrea stage whispered, causing the teen to let out a sigh in acceptance. Astrid took the opportunity to scan Adrian’s evolved starter.

“Marshtomp, The Mud Fish Pokemon. This Pokémon plays in mud on beaches when the ocean tide is low. Living on muddy ground that provides poor footing has made its legs sturdy.”

“Charmander, Spheal! Let’s go!” Surprisingly, Spheal was compliant, easily hopping up next to Charmander, giving a somewhat intimidating stare to Marshtomp.

“Ralts, start us off with Magical Leaf!” Ralts raised its hands above its head, summoning up a group of glowing green leaves. Ralts threw his hands down sending the leaves spiralling towards Spheal.

“Use Ember to burn that up!” Charmander hopped in front of Spheal and shot bolts of fire at the offending leaves, burning them up to ash.

“Marshtomp, Mud Bomb!” Marshtomp dug its arms (fins?) into the ground and hurled a blob of mud at the Fire-Type who was left momentarily defenseless. Kaytlyn opened her mouth to command Spheal, but hesitated a moment too late, unsure that Spheal would even bother listening. Spheal took action for her and formed an ice ball and throwing it back, countering the attack before it could hit.

“Have more confidence in your Pokemon!” Kayla cheered from the sidelines.

“Spheal reacted before Kaytlyn did. Interesting.” Sheyla hummed, “And Spheal countered the Mud Bomb just as Charmander did with the Magical Leaf.”

“He’s learning!” Janine marvelled, “He’s a natural battler.”

Spheal reared back and prepared another ice ball to throw at Ralts.

“Spheal, wait!” Kaytlyn called out. Spheal paid her no mind and shot the Ice Ball anyway.

“Ralts use teleport!” Ralts popped out of existence for a moment dodging the ice, leaving Spheal both confused and vulnerable to attack. “Marshtomp, use Tackle!” Marshtomp let out a cry and moved to throw itself onto the Spheal with full force. Spheal panicked for a split second

“Block that with Dragon Rage!” Charmander gathered a small amount of orange energy in its mouth and shot it out at Marshtomp, not hitting it, but preventing it from continuing its’ attack. This bought Spheal enough time to bounce away from the Marshtomp in the chaos.

Janine leaned over to Sheyla and Andrea.

“Kaytlyn isn’t going to win this is she?”

“Nope.” Sheyla didn’t bother to take her eyes off of the field.

“No, she isn’t.” Andrea cast an amused glance to the side, “Marshtomp is an evolved Pokemon with a double advantage against Charmander. And Ralts knows a Grass-Type move.”

“What’s important is that Spheal learns to that Pokemon Battles aren’t just about fighting.” Sheyla explained. “Battles are about showcasing the bond between Trainer and Pokemon.”

Andrea nodded, “That’s why Adrian’s holding back on attacking. He wants Spheal to realize that. Or maybe he’s getting a feel for the battle before destroys them… Either way.” She shrugged.

“That’s kinda… brutal…” Janine turned back to the practice battle.

“Charmander, use Scratch!” Charmander aimed its claws at the Marshtomp but was easily blocked. Most of Charmander’s moves would be useless either way, the most she could do was use Smokescreen to buy time-

“Use your other Pokemon!” Kayla yelled out to her, “Idiot.”

“What?!”

“Ralts, use Confusion on Charmander!” Ralts’ eyes were glowing blue under its bangs while Charmander seemed to have a blue outline. Without warning, Charmander was flung backwards into the dirt. “Marshtomp use Tackle again!” Marshtomp nodded in assent and threw itself at the Ice-Type Pokemon. Without Charmander to help defend, her only option was… Kaytlyn threw caution to the wind and took a chance.

“Spheal, use Rollout!” Spheal had no hesitation as it began to rapidly roll and landed the first actual hit in the battle, slamming into Marshtomp’s stomach. Spheal rolled back to Kaytlyn with a happy expression on his face. “Great Job!” She received a happy bark in response.

“It listened to her!” Janine let out a happy whoop and clapped a bit in encouragement.

“Marshtomp use Water Gun!” Marshtomp puffed its’ orange cheeks up then released a strong stream of water at Charmander. Kaytlyn looked to the Pokedex in her hand before deciding her next move.

“Charmander, use Ember to counter! Full Power!” Charmander glanced back at her with a ludicrous expression but followed her direction and shot out at the water. The Fire-Type move didn’t do much, barely keeping the strong water at bay. “Great! Spheal use Rollout on Ralts!” Spheal got a flopping start and spun its way over to the Psychic-Type.

“Ralts, use Teleport to get out of there!” Ralts easily popped out of view for a few moments, allowing him to dodge Spheal’s attack. Ralts reappeared in the same spot, confident in having dodged the attack.

“Come back!” Kaytlyn let herself grin watching her half-formulated strategy come to fruition. Like a yo-yo, Spheal rolled in place for a moment before rolling back in the same direction, hitting the unsuspecting Ralts. “One more time!” Spheal stopped for a second before changing direction and hitting Marshtomp who was busy fending off Charmander’s full strength Ember. Spheal rolled back to Kaytlyn, clearly satisfied with his accomplishment.

“That was so cool!” Astrid skipped over to shower the clearly uncomfortable Spheal to shower it with head scratches.

“You can’t just- This is a battle!” Adrian yelled from his side of the field. The coordinator didn’t even spare him a glance as she scratched behind the Water-Type’s ear.

“Practice Battle. We both know that if you really wanted to battle Kaytlyn, you wouldn’t have deliberately focused on one Pokemon at a time.”

“He was what?” Kaytlyn turned to her opponent in question. He shrugged unapologetically.

“I wasn’t about to straight up destroy the Pokemon you just got. I’m not stupid. You needed to build trust.” He rolled his eyes.

“Wow. Adrian being prepared. What a scholar.” Sheyla teased. He ignored her determinedly, even when the others joined in. Meanwhile Kaytlyn crouched down to Spheal’s level.

“So, Spheal, do you wanna stay on my team?”

Spheal gave her a funny look, like he was asking something. Kaytlyn mirrored the look before deciding to just explain in general.

“I’m aiming to be a Top Trainer here in Niacal. Maybe even the Champion given enough training. There’ll be plenty more battles like that, and you can grow stronger with me and Charmander. We work together as a group. So?”

Spheal gave some aggressively enthusiastic barks, clapping its’ fins against its’ round stomach.

“I’m assuming that’s a yes.” Kaytlyn gave another grin and scratched its’ head in thanks. When she dragged her attention back to the group, Adrian was discussing tomorrow’s activities.

“Tomorrow I’m taking on Romeo. Are you guys staying to watch it?” Astrid made a hissing sort of sound.

“Yikes. We’re kinda leaving tomorrow morning…”

“Are you serious? Every time?!”

“I don’t know, if you’re upset ask Mew for advice. Anyway, we’ll be heading to Silkgem for Janine’s second badge.” Kayla explained. She glanced at her other friend, “And probably stopping at any and all contests for Astrid. I can almost guarantee that you’ll catch up in a day or two.”

“If we don’t run into trouble.” Janine sighed, “Our battle is postponed again.”

“I don’t get it, why can’t we battle now?”

“For one, your Pokemon are exhausted and second, you should probably rest for tomorrow’s Gym Battle. Just a suggestion.”

“Also, Janine has the Harbor Badge and you don’t. If you ask me it’s kind of unfair since she has more badges than you.” Astrid cut in, clearly hoping to rile him up. She clearly succeeded if his indignant tone was any clue.

“Oh shut up!”

“On the upside,” she continued, “We can finally have that sleepover we didn’t get to have in Rocens city. We can make face masks!”

“Please don’t make face masks.” Janine groaned, causing her friends to laugh.

Narrator: With a new friend by her side, Kaytlyn begins to build her Pokemon team! With adventure just beyond the horizon, what will our heroes face next?

The entire group was sitting in a room that was clearly too small to house them. There were two bunks on either side. The bottom bunks held Sheyla, Andrea, Astrid and Adrian while Janine and the twins opted to sit on the floor rather than cram themselves onto the Pokemon Center beds. After their 4th round of Uno they began to calm down and were leisurely throwing down cards without any real malice. A thought crossed Janine’s mind as she threw down a Red Two.

“No seriously, you’ve never met team SubZero?” Janine asked seriously. Andrea shook her head while Popplio gave tilted its head.

“Not once.”

“Huh.”

“If you do, try to stop them from whatever it is they’re doing. It’s probably going to be nefarious and involve destruction.” Astrid brushed her Vulpix’s tail while he obediently sat still.

“Honestly.”

“It’s so weird though, what are their goals? Why drill in the forest? Why poach Pokemon and go through all the effort to kidnap them again?” Sheyla pointed out, “And why would that guy let you go?” She motioned to Janine.

“He said something about truths and ideals; Honestly I blanked out.” She shrugged.

“And why hire other people to do the poaching when they could clearly do it themselves?”

“The poachers said they were offering lots of money too.”

“It doesn’t add up!”

“You know what does? This Wild Draw Four!” Astrid howled, breaking the tense silence. Kayla who was next to sighed and accepted the cards with slight grumbling as the game heated up again and the topic was almost completely forgotten.

[astridspokemonfic]

Episode 7: Poaching Pursuit!

Narrator: With their first Pokemon gym battle completed, our heroes have decided to explore Mistdrive City! First stop: The Mistdrive Aquarium!

“I’m so excited for this! I haven’t been to an aquarium in forever!” Astrid was practically skipping to the subway escalators. Her Chikorita let out a happy trill as she followed her trainer. Janine and Kaytlyn had stopped by the Pokemon Center after their battle where the other half of their small group had discovered that Mistdrive had an intricate set of subway systems connecting major landmarks.

“Isn’t that where Officer Jenny said they were rehabilitating the Pokemon those poachers took?”  Kaytlyn asked. Janine nodded.

“What’s the difference between catching a Pokemon and poaching them?” Kayla asked. The other trainers stopped and stared at her for a moment. “I mean sometimes Pokemon don’t want to be caught, and some trainers can be just as cruel as poachers.”

The truth of her statement caused the teens to stop and think for a moment.

“Well... poachers don’t catch Pokemon. They steal them. They have no intention of training those Pokemon or even keeping them.” Janine said slowly.

“Yeah, they were probably going to sell off those Pokemon to really bad people or something.” Astrid chimed in.

“What about bad trainers?” Kayla persisted.

“‘There are good and bad trainers as there are good and bad Pokemon. That is the truth. You cannot change their ideals if you are unwilling to accept that’.” Astrid said cryptically. Kaytlyn gave her a narrow look.

“Which play is that from?”

“Black and White: Heroes of Unova. How’d you know?”

“I had a feeling.”

“Well yeah, they’ve got a point. There are some really bad people out there, but they can be changed if you accept your differences and move on.” Astrid continued. Janine mulled over the girl’s quote and found herself silently agreeing.

“You and your plays…” Kaytlyn shook her head.

“No listen! It’s totally awesome; The Hero of Ideals and The Hero of Truth have to battle to prove whose Truth/Ideal is stronger, and they basically put their heart and soul into it because, like, that’s the only way to figure out whose stronger ー If they both put their ideals on the line! And they basically have the fate of the world on their shoulders- Well, the fate of Unova, but still…!” Astrid continued rambling, completely oblivious to her friends who were only half listening to her rant. The only interested audience was her Chikorita,

“Can we go to Tide Street first? There’s a ton of food stalls we could stop by.” Kayla interrupted, changing the subject as she flipped through a brochure.

“Do you only think about food?” Kaytlyn asked incredulously.

“Yes.”

~*~*~*~*~

The subway ride to Tide Street had been surprisingly pleasant. The train cart wasn’t crowded and each of them managed to snag a seat. The only concerning parts had been when there was a sharp turn and the lights would flicker on and off causing Astrid’s Chikorita and Kayla’s Rowlet to panic every so often.

Now, Janine stood at the sidelines as Kayla ordered some sort of pastry from a street vendor. She could still hear Nathan’s words ringing through her head. She was still loathe to admit that her victory had been dependent on Pollo’s evolution. She was dragged out of her thoughts with a sharp kick to her shin.

“Ow! What-” A pastry was shoved in her open mouth.

“You were staring off into space like an idiot.” Astrid replied, munching on her own dessert. Janine took the pastry and bit into it with vindication. Kayla was almost done with hers while Kaytlyn seemed to have barely eaten hers. The bread was slightly sweeter than she had expected, but she enjoyed it.

“What’s wrong with you?” She asked. She shrugged.

“Is it about what Nathan said?” Kaytlyn guessed with a scowl. When Janine’s chewing slowed for a moment she knew her guess she was right. “Janine, you’re a great trainer. He was just being a jerk!”

“It was a double type disadvantage. You did what you could! It doesn’t cheapen your win; you know that right?” Kayla stated, having finished scarfing down her snack. Janine smiled lightly at her friends.

“I know that, it’s just- It felt like I was gonna lose anyway.” They fell into heavy silence.

“Because you were losing.” Kayla said blankly. Her sister whacked her arm. “Ow, Kaytlyn!”

“Too blunt…” Astrid muttered with a sigh.

“She was! You were there, she was ready to forfeit!” She pushed Kaytlyn away before she could get hit again. “Can I finish?! Arceus! She was losing but did she actually lose? No! Cause she trained her Pokemon and encouraged them to the point that one felt that evolution was necessary. That’s all I was gonna say, gosh!”

“She’s right! If anything, Combusken is proof of how good of a trainer you are!” Astrid interjected. “If you let him out now, he’d feel the same.” Chikorita gave a coo of agreement.

Janine could almost feel the Pokeball at her belt shaking with conviction. She gave her friends a reassuring nod.

“You’re right. Saying I didn’t deserve that win is an insult to my Pokemon. They worked hard for this.” She said, resting one hand on Pollo and Arroz’s Pokeballs. Astrid let out a happy yell.

“And an insult to you too, but y’know. One step at a time.” Kaytlyn said, taking another bite of her pastry.

“You’re still not done with that?” Kayla asked.

“Get your own!” She smacked her twin more playfully this time. Astrid handed Kayla what was left of hers, saying that she was too excited to eat. Janine let her thoughts go to the trainer from the gym as her friends interacted. Arceus, that guy was such a jerk!

“Janine come on! I wanna get there before the ticket line gets too long!” Astrid grabbed Janine’s hand and dragged her down the street.

“Aren’t we gonna take the subway?” She yelled, attempting to pry herself out of the coordinator’s grip.

“The subway line is actually more roundabout; it makes some unnecessary stops. It’s faster to walk.” Kaytlyn said, easily keeping pace. Kayla was more unlucky and was dragging behind due to her weak lungs.

“Astrid, we have asthma!” Janine yelled, finally yanking her hand away. Astrid made a whiny sound, but moved at more manageable pace for her friends, though she still ran ahead every few seconds, her Chikorita hanging from her arms like a ragdoll.

“You’re like a hyperactive child!” Kayla yelled. Janine silently agreed, slightly miffed. Said girl shrugged unapologetically.

The aquarium seemed just as large as the gym if not larger. Even at the entrance, Kaytlyn could see that the front building was only a portion of the aquarium as there was a clear fence that stretched far into the horizon.

“I think this place has acres of land for the exhibits.” Astrid mentioned, staring past the fence. When the entrance came into view, they noticed two figures conversing in front. One of them was Officer Jenny, who was taking down notes. The other was a young woman in clear distress who noticed the trainers first.

“I’m sorry, but the Aquarium at maximum capacity for today.” She said tiredly, returning to the officer in front of her.

“An elevator reaches maximum capacity. That’s not a thing for Aquariums.” Astrid muttered under her breath.

The other teens stared at her in clear confusion until Officer Jenny glanced at the teens.

“Hey! You’re the teens that bargained with me for the shiny Magikarp!” She exclaimed. Janine nodded.

“Officer Jenny, what’s going on?” Kaytlyn asked. The woman gave them a tight frown.

“The poachers from yesterday escaped the precinct, and we’re worried that they’ll try to come after the Pokemon in the Rehabilitation Center. This is Miss Bethany. Her father is the owner.”

“Wait, why would they come back?” Kayla interjected, “Wouldn’t they just run away?”

“Yes, normally they would… But we think there was a security breach a few hours ago.”Jenny sighed. “Some of them may still be on the grounds, but the police can’t investigate unless we want to cause everyone to panic.” Bethany explained. She buried her face in her hands, “If father hears about this I’d be in so much trouble!”

“Can’t you just disguise yourselves?” Astrid asked. Jenny shook her head.

“Our police force is too recognizable… Wait you guys are trainers right?” Jenny asked. When they nodded, she continued, “Do you think that maybe you could help us search? You’d look like regular aquarium visitors. “ Her radio rang. “Ah. Excuse me.”

“Bethany, do you have any idea why they would want to steal those Pokemon again?” Janine asked gently. The girl looked at her shoes in thought.

“They tried to steal one of the Slowpoke in the Rehabilitation Center.” Bethany paused. ““A-and they seemed really interested in the Feebas for some reason…”

“Slowpoke?” Kayla made a face, “Who would want a Slowpoke?”

“People cut off Slowpoke tail for soups.” Astrid said, recalling a magazine. “It’s a delicacy in some regions.” Kayla grimaced, looking a little disturbed.

“Oh my Arceus why-”

Jenny returned to the group in a rush. “Some of the poachers were sighted on Tide Street, so I need to head there right now! Could you keep the Aquarium safe for me?”

“Dude, there are four of us we could just split up.” Kayla deadpanned. Her friends shrugged in agreement. Jenny paused.

“Are you sure you can handle it?” Jenny furrowed her brow in concern. Wordlessly, Janine and Kaytlyn shined their Gym Badges in her direction. “I suppose you’ll be fine then…”

“I’ll go with Officer Jenny for backup!” Astrid volunteered, ignoring Kayla’s mutter of ‘Teacher’s Pet’ as she followed Officer Jenny down to the road she had been not an hour earlier.

“I guess I’ll guard the entrance here with Ms. Bethany.” Kaytlyn sighed and took a seat on the floor. “You two will investigate inside then.”

“I think they may be hiding where there are less adult tourists, or we would’ve gotten more complaints.” Bethany said, “Please be careful!”

~*~*~*~*~

“I can see why Astrid likes these Aquariums so much.” Kayla said, staring at a school of Remoraid swimming by. The duo were currently in an underwater tube, allowing them to walk ‘underwater’ and see the fish from all sides.

“You know we’re supposed to be looking for suspicious persons right?” Janine muttered lowly. Kayla shrugged.

“I don’t really see anyone suspicious right now. Mostly just kids with plush toys.” She watched a group of children run past them to the darker areas to look at glowing Tentacool and algae.

“Let’s check out the glow-in-the-dark display.” Janine nudged her friend towards the darker room, when it turned up empty, they ended up outside, in a sitting area surrounded by building with different categories of oceanic wildlife.

“We could try the Mantine petting.” Kayla suggested. “This place is really big, if anything they’re probably hiding in one of those dark corners. We should split up and cover more ground.”

Janine nodded in agreement.

“Text me if you find them. Do your best to not battle them-” She said.

“Don’t worry mom, I’ll be fine.” Kayla said sarcastically, heading towards the children’s area. The trainer looked at the map she had been provided, resolving to go to the research facility. Unlike the other more colorful buildings, this one was stark white on the outside and had a distinct hospital feeling to it. When she entered, many of the scientists ignored her while most of them just barely giving her passing glances. So clearly this part of the aquarium was open to tourists, but was less visited. (She assumed because no one was very interested in seeing sick/injured Pokemon).

She absentmindedly wandered around the halls of the center, making sure to glance around corners for the poachers. Her mind wandered to her Combusken, who was relaxing in his Pokeball. Her first evolved Pokemon! She felt a rush of pride as her Pokemon

She was so caught up that she bumped into someone on her way out, causing him to drop his clipboard.

“Arceus! Sorry, I didn’t notice you.” She knelt down to pick up the clipboard, noticing his long lab coat.

“No, it’s… fine.” he replied. Janine glanced down at the clipboard for a moment before returning it to the taller male in front of her. Before she could look up the man swiped it from her hands and rushed off leaving her to stare at his retreating back.

Something about him seemed… familiar.

‘Familiar enough to be suspicious’ Janine decided, following the scientist down a shadowed corridor.

~*~*~*~*~

“Excuse me, have you seen anyone suspicious around here lately?” When the man shook his head no Astrid sighed. “Thank you for your time!” She gave him a tight-lipped smile and ran off to the next vendor.

Before she could begin her dialogue, she felt a gloved hand at her shoulder.

“Oh! Officer Jenny! Did you find anything?”

“I think so. Some vendors down that way were complaining about so-called mysterious noises from some of the back alleys here.” She pointed to the thin crevices between large brick buildings.

“Has no one actually checked there yet?” Astrid asked raising an eyebrow.

“Hopefully not. The safety of civilians is a top priority. I shouldn’t even be dragging you into this…” the officer muttered. “You don’t even have a Gym Badge like your friends!”

Astrid scowled unabashedly and cut in front of Jenny to get through the alleyways first, muttering the entire time.

“I’ll have you know that I’m a Coordinator! And I’m a good one at that!” She huffed, side stepping in a murky looking puddle. “I won my first Ribbon three days after I started my journey. And it was a Double Battle too.” She continued, muttering darkly to herself while Jenny watched her in concern.

“Uh, are you alright?”

“Nothing!” Astrid said suddenly, her bright smile ever-present. “It widens out over here, so we should be more careful- Yikes, it’s dark.” Officer Jenny gave her one last unsure glance before stepping in front of the girl with a flashlight from her utility belt.

The alleyway that they had slipped through had plenty of sunlight streaming between buildings, but it seemed that the back alley spaces were almost completely dark. Officer Jenny flashed her light around the corners, illuminating scurrying Rattatas and dripping puddles along with various pieces of garbage. So basically, standard alley things.

Astrid followed Jenny cautiously when a tug at her shirt caught her attention. Chikorita tugged at her with her vines over to a chain-link fence and began pointing at it in excitement. The teen felt her way around the fence and found that one side was clipped, bending open just large enough for an adult to walk through.

“Good job, Chikorita! Officer Jenny, I think we found something!” Astrid stage whispered, waving her over. Officer Jenny looked at it for a bit in suspicion before pulling out a Pokeball.

“Growlithe, help me out!” The orange canine popped out with a howl. “Growlithe, can you use Odor Sleuth and tell me if there are any people down there?” The Pokemon went straight to work, sniffing at the gate with practiced ability. Astrid took out her Pokedex and scanned the new Pokemon.

“Growlithe, The Puppy Pokemon. Its superb sense of smell ensures that this Pokemon won’t forget any scent, no matter what. It uses its sense of smell to detect the emotions of others. Extremely loyal, it will fearlessly bark at any opponent to protect its own Trainer from harm.”

The Growlithe barked at Jenny, apparently indicating that there was a familiar scent lingering in the dark abyss.

“So… Is this the part where we investigate?” Astrid asked, hopefully. Officer Jenny gave the Coordinator a onceover before replying.

“No. This is the part where I investigate. You stay out here. You’re still a civilian.” The woman said with finality, crouching down through the fence. Her Growlithe followed her in, leaving Astrid to rub the tips of her shoes into the gravel beneath her.

“Well… This blows.”

~*~*~*~*~

Janine huffed out another breath as she rounded another corner while following the scientist. Was it just her, or was she this guy beginning to move faster and faster? With every turn she caught another glimpse of his face and he looked more and more familiar.

Janine followed him down corridor after corridor, distantly wondering if this scientist had any idea where he was going. Down this hallway, turn left, and- oh. This time he actually went through a door. The trainer followed slowly, stopping in front of the room labelled “Pokemon Rehabilitation”.

Janine glanced around only then noticing that this hallway was nearly devoid of people. Was this a coincidence? Probably not. The teen steeled herself before slowly turning the knob and poking her head in.

The room itself was unintimidating: there were frankly massive fish tanks lining the shelves around the room, each housing some Pokemon. Standing in the middle was the scientist who she was tailing, his back still turned to her. He was completely relaxed, inspecting at a tank of Luvdisc float around in the water.

“You’re following me.” He stated. Janine blinked in confusion. He sounded… really annoyed?

“Is that a statement or a question?” She said before she could stop herself. She spent too much time around sarcastic people nowadays.

“Why?” He said, his voice was now tinted with malice, like he was trying to intimidate her. She snorted, unimpressed.

“Because you’re suspicious. And familiar.” She added after a short pause.

“I’m familiar to you…?” He asked slowly. He sounded monotone, but you could just barely catch a hopeful lilt at the end of his words. Janine favored to ignore this as her annoyance was nearing its peak.

“Yes, you’re familiar.” She repeated, nearly snapping. The scientist turned his head to look at her, consequently shifting his body enough for Janine to finally catch a view of his face. “You- You’re the guy from the forest! You’re with Team SubZero!”

The stranger seemed to suddenly deflate at this as his gaze returned back to the fish tank in front of him. He held his hand up to the glass and let the Luvdisc follow his finger.

“Ah. You’re right, then.” He murmured. “My name is Lucian. I’m the leading scientist of Team Subzero.”

“What’s Team SubZero have to do with poachers?” Janine questioned angrily. The older teen turned to her and raised an eyebrow.

“Why do you care?” He responded. “Wouldn’t it be easier to just ignore it?” He said cryptically. He stared at her with a critical eye for a moment before looking away from her completely seeming to judge that arguing Janine wasn’t worth his time as he moved to sidestep her. Janine easily slid in front of him forcing him to step back.

“Because it’s the right thing to do.” She answered resolutely. There was a pause. He closed his eyes in contemplation.

“Prove it.” he turned to her, “Battle me.”

“Excuse me?” Janine said, affronted. The other teen scoffed. “Battle me.” He repeated blankly. “Prove you’re right. That’s the only way to settle things in this world.”

Janine furrowed her brows.

“Here?”

“Where else?” He gave her a dark smile. “Prove to me your ideals!”

~*~*~*~*~

Astrid remained silent, waiting next to the gate with her Chikorita.

“Do you think they’re done yet?” The Chikorita let out a low sound. She sighed “I don’t think they’re done either.” Astrid busied herself thinking of new combinations. “You know Officer Jenny’s been in there for a while now…”

Chikorita made a clicking noise and dragged her trainer’s hand down to the ground, away from the fence.

“Aw come on! You know how boring it is just waiting here!” Astrid shrugged her Chikorita off. “It’ll be fun!” She pushed the fence open and crouched through, shifting to pull it open for Chikorita who was clearly hesitant. Chikorita reluctantly stepped through and Astrid scooped her up and walked down the damp alleyway.

“Man this place is gross.” She could practically feel grime sliding down her skin. The alleyway was dark and she could barely see puddles that were dripping with what she hoped was water. “Let’s move faster.” She quickened her pace a bit until she was at an almost jog and was about to turn when she heard Officer Jenny’s voice.

“Growlithe! Use Flamethrower!” Bright light illuminated the darkened alleyway in front of her as Officer Jenny came into view. “Growlithe track them down!”

“What’s going on, Officer Jenny?”

“Didn’t I tell you to wait outside?” She yelled back at the teen. Astrid gave the woman an unimpressed look. “I found their temporary hideout, but they went running off! I need to follow Growlithe before I lose him!”

“I’m coming this time!” Astrid’s voice rang out as she ran off to follow the Puppy Pokemon. She didn’t get very far is Growlithe was pawing at the ground in front of it.

“The manhole…” Jenny pointed at the slightly out of place metal plate.

“Does Mistdrive City have clean sewers?” Astrid’s face had twisted into a grimace. Jenny shrugged.

“Moderately clean.” She responded and dropped herself into the hole, Growlithe following after her. Astrid let out a groan and reluctantly followed.

~*~*~*~*~

“Ideals…?” Janine parroted back. Lucian seemed to be ignoring her as he reached into his lab coat for the first Pokeball. “You want me to prove that my ideals are stronger?”

“That’s what I said isn’t it?” Lucian hissed, growing evermore impatient and annoyed with Janine.

“That’s just… a very... weirdly specific tag-line to challenge me to battle…”Janine mumbled lowly, reaching for Pollo’s Pokeball. “It can’t be helped then. I’ll prove that what you’re doing is wrong!”

Lucian let out a derisive snort and threw out his Pokeball without another word. Janine froze mid-reach, instead pulling out her Pokedex to scan the winged creature.

“Golbat, the Bat Pokemon. Golbat loves to drink the blood of living things. It is particularly active in the pitch black of night. This Pokémon flits around in the night skies, seeking fresh blood.”

Janine gave the Bat a once-over, clearly creeped out by the Pokedex entry. She spotted Lucian turning his face away to hide his oncoming chuckles. The trainer made a last minute switch, hoping that type-effectiveness would help her in the end.

“Arroz! Let’s go!” Janine tossed her Pokeball in the air, releasing the sheep mid-air. The Mareep made a show of crackling the electricity in its fur to intimidate the Golbat. Both Lucian and the Golbat paid it no mind.

“Golbat! Use Confuse Ray!” Golbat’s eyes began to glow a sickly purple as it formed multiple golden orbs around it, throwing them at the Electric-Type.

“Arroz! Use Discharge to block it!” Mareep showed no evidence of being nervous as it shot wild spikes of electricity in the surrounding area, destroying the Confuse Ray and nearly hitting the Golbat, who flapped around in distress. “Great job!”

“Not bad.” Lucian said, seemingly unperturbed by his Pokemon’s panicky demeanor. “Golbat,  Bite.”  He said sharply. The Pokemon seemed dazed for a moment before following the command, swooping down towards Mareep at a high speed.

“Arroz, use Charge!” The Sheep began to shift around, building up static electricity in its’ coat to supercharge its’ next electrical attack. Golbat swooped low, chomping down on Mareep with its fangs. Mareep barely seemed to notice as it continued to gather electricity, glaring at its’ much larger opponent. “Thunder Wave!” Mareep released a weak shockwave of electricity, meaning to paralyze its opponent. Golbat moved away at the last second, very nearly getting caught by Mareep’s status move.

“Hm?” Lucian glanced at the battlefield, “Oh. Swift.” Lucian ordered flippantly. Golbat crossed its wings in an X-Formation sending throwing stars right back into the Mareep’s Thunder Wave, cancelling out the move. The stars continued on and rained down on Mareep who was unable to block.

“Arroz!” Her Pokemon shrugged it off, letting out a shock of electricity to show that she was okay. “Thunder Wave again!”

“Torment.” The Golbat’s eyes began to glow a a faint purple let out a high pitched screech, something Janine found to be indecipherable, but the Sheep Pokemon clearly understood as it began to bleat in annoyance. Arroz herself didn’t continue, finding herself unable to use Thunder Wave for a second time as the effects of the Torment began to kick in.

“What?” Janine went scrambling for her Pokedex to find the effects of the Dark-Type move, only for Lucian to interrupt her.

“When a Pokemon uses Torment, its opponent can’t use the same move twice in a row.” He explained in a condescending tone. Janine looked back at her Arroz who was clearly trying to send out another Thunder Wave to no avail. “You don’t know much about this do you?”

“Oh, shut up!” Janine rolled her eyes. “Arroz, use Take Down!” The Mareep shook its head to clear its focus and took a running start to the Bat Pokemon, making direct contact into its side.

“Bite.” Lucian ordered in an ever-so-calming tone that was really beginning to grate on Janine’s nerves. Golbat twisted itself around and once again clamped its mouth down on Arroz’s wool.

“Alright, now! Use Discharge!” Mareep released its pent up Electricity, shocking Golbat inside out due to its close proximity. The Bat Pokemon flopped to the ground, down for the count. Lucian gave his Golbat a sideways glance before looking away, clearly uninterested. Janine felt herself beginning to get ticked off. He’s the one who challenged her to battle in the first place! The least he could do is pay attention! 

“That bothers you?”

...Did she say that out loud? Janine shot a glance over at the scientist, realizing that she had been muttering just loud enough for him to hear. She cleared her throat.

“Well… you’re the one who basically ordered me to battle you!” She began, “And you’re barely paying attention! It’s like you didn’t even want to battle in the first place!”

“You didn’t want to battle me either.” He pointed out, “Before you talk about hypocrisy, you should first realize that you weren’t exactly excited into battle.”

“Well, I accepted didn’t I?!” Janine yelled back, growing increasingly frustrated. What exactly did he want from her? When Lucian let out a scoff, the trainer felt her patience snap. “If you’re that unimpressed by the battle, it’s because you’re not putting any effort into it! I can’t ‘prove my ideals’ to you if you don’t care!” Janine threw her hands up, placing air quotes on his words. “Unless you put your Ideals on the line too, this battle is meaningless!” She finished. (That line sounded familiar.) Lucian stared at her for a long moment and looked away yet again. Janine opened her mouth to yell at him again, cutting herself off when he let out a line of chuckles that could almost be mistaken as a laugh.

“Ah… It’s been a while…” Lucian’s chuckles stopped abruptly as he recalled his Golbat. Janine followed in suit, calling Arroz back to her ball. “But don’t say I didn’t try to go easy on you.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

“It smells like a Garbodor in here!” Astrid whined. The walkways were sanitary, but it didn’t do much to hide the foul stench coming from the water flowing next to her. “I swear I’m going to gut those poachers!” Astrid walked a fair distance behind Officer Jenny, more focused on her surroundings than anything else.

“Chika!” Chikorita wrapped a vine around her trainer’s ankle, pulling her in the opposite direction.

“Huh…?” Astrid glanced down to where Officer Jenny had run off to (She honestly couldn’t tell where anymore. This entire place made her feel like she was in the sewer scene from Ratatouille) “Are you saying that Officer Jenny’s wrong? But she has a Growlithe with her! Y’know. The Pokemon that is literally bred for police because of its amazing sense of smell?”

Chikorita gave her an annoyed look.

“Alright fine! Lead the way!” Astrid threw her hands up in exasperation. “You’re lucky I trust you.” She muttered under her breath as Chikorita dragged her along. Chikorita led her to one of the darker tunnels pointing down into the dingy darkness.

“You’re absolutely sure about this?” Astrid gave her Pokemon one last unsure look. The Chikorita whacked her shin with a vine in response. “Ow! Arceus okay!” The Coordinator hissed and carefully navigated her way down the tunnel. A dim light illuminated the darkness behind one of the turns. Suspicion slowed the teen down, as she stepped lightly, peeking over the corner.

“I’m tired of waiting here!” A gruff voice yelled.

“Will you shut up?!” Another voice yelled back. The teen squinted through the yellow light and found herself recognizing the men who were yelling at each other as two of the poachers from the other day.

Astrid pulled herself back to behind the corner, pushing herself against the concrete wall to remain upright. She hugged Chikorita a little closer to calm herself before tentatively getting her phone out to text her friends.

No service?! Astrid mentally groaned. Of course there was no service! She was underground! The coordinator shoved her phone back in her bag with a little more force than probably necessary.

“Did you hear something?” One of the voices asked behind her. Astrid froze immediately and slowly backed away, inadvertently tripping over her own feet. She landed onto the concrete with a resounding thump. “The cops found us!”

Astrid pushed herself up to find that the poachers had already turned the corner, looking less intimidating than she had first thought. In fact they looked more frightened than angry.

“Nah it’s just some kid. Scram!” The teen rolled her eyes at his dialogue.

“You sound like a mobster from a 40s movie.” She deadpanned, suddenly feeling a burst of confidence. “Besides, you’re the poachers that escaped the precinct aren’t you?”

The poacher she had insulted had the decency to look at least a little offended, backing up when he realized that she wasn’t intimidated in the least. The duo of poachers in front of her decided to switch tactics, each pulling out a Pokeball.

“We don’t have time for this! Koffing go!” The other followed in suit, releasing a Rattata.

“And you think I have time for this?!” The girl yelled incredulously. She let her Chikorita down and reached to her belt to release Vulpix from his ball. “You’re not getting past me!”

~*~*~*~*~

“So you’re going to actually battle me now?” Janine’s voice had a hint of doubt as the scientist opposite to her was still wearing an infuriating smirk. But something had changed. It didn’t feel condescending at all.

“Yes, of course. That’s what you wanted,” Lucian pulled a different Pokeball from his coat. “Isn’t it?” His grin turned almost predatory for a moment before vanishing as if nothing had happened at all. Janine shrugged off the feeling that she was walking into a trap.

“Yes… I want a proper battle.” She said, pulling out Pollo’s Pokeball, “Anything less is insulting.” She said.

“Hm. I wonder if you’ll be saying that after this is over.” Lucian mused. “Then, Elektrik, it’s your turn.” He leisurely tossed the Pokeball up, releasing his Pokemon. A blue and yellow eel-looking Pokemon popped out, floating above the ground with a blank look in its eye. It didn’t even look angry, which for some reason, was far more disconcerting.

Janine followed in suit, throwing out her Combusken with one hand and reaching for her Pokedex with the other.

“Elektrik, The EleFish Pokemon. They coil around foes and shock them with electricity-generating organs that seem simply to be circular patterns. These Pokémon have a big appetite. When they spot their prey, they attack it and paralyze it with electricity. Then it chomps.”

Disturbing PokeDex entries aside, Janine wasted no time in getting Combusken to attack.

“Pollo, use Flame Burst!” The recently evolved Pokemon wasted no time, easily shooting a bright, yellow-orange fireball at the eel. Elektrik didn’t have the speed to dodge the fireball, instead choosing to coil around the incoming attack. The Flame Burst passed through without touching the eel, though it was still hit by the splash damage.

“Elektrik, use Spark!” Lucian commanded. The yellow circles on its side began to light up as it surrounded itself with yellow electricity and charged at the Fire-Type.

“Dodge it!” Janine yelled. Her Pokemon slid to the side to avoid the attack.

“Combusken’s faster than Elektrik, huh.” The scientist nodded to himself. “Elektrik, use Crunch!” The Electric-Type rushed towards Pollo again, this time contracting its mouth menacingly.

“Dodge again!” Combusken jumped up this time, right above the floating Elefish.

“Now, use Bind!” Elektrik slithered up to the Fire-Type and wrapped itself around it, and squeezed. The Bind did double, managing to keep Combusken in place and hurting him enough to cause some damage. Janine winced in sympathy as Combusken struggled in the other Pokemon’s hold.

“Use Peck, Pollo!” Pollo’s beak glowed a bit as it slammed down onto the Elektrik’s smooth skin. While the move itself didn’t do much damage, it shocked the Elektrik long enough for Pollo to wiggle free from its’ hold.

“Clever.” Lucian commented with a smile of something akin to being impressed. “You saw right through that strategy in seconds.”

Janine furrowed her brow in confusion. The strategy wasn’t necessarily complicated… She wanted to say. But something about his ‘compliment’ made her skin crawl. It felt underhanded.

“You’re planning something.” Janine stated bluntly. She was not going to play this psychological game right now.

“Ah! You’re right again.” Lucian shrugged, chuckling again. “Then… Let’s try this! Elektrik, Use Spark again!” The eel charged again, forcing Pollo to slide away again, to avoid the attack. “Spark!” The scientist commanded for a third time.

“Dodge again, Pollo!” Janine watched Lucian’s face, trying to figure out what he was doing. He continued to have Elektrik use spark and Combusken continued to dodge. After a while, Lucian commanded his Elektrik to stop leaving both Pokemon panting. “What exactly was your plan there?! Both of our Pokemon are exhausted.” After a pause he responded.

“Did you know that 94% of the time, your Combusken slides to the left instinctually to dodge?” Lucian asked. “Interesting data.”

Janine felt her stomach drop. “Wait a minute-”

“Elektrik, use Double Team!” Almost instantly, copies of the Elektrik began to pop up around the room, confusing both Janine and Combusken over which was the real one. “Now, use Spark again!” All of the Elektrik lit up the bright yellow and charged at Combusken, forcing it to slide to the left just as Lucian had predicted.

“Pollo, move!” Combusken shifted to the side a little too late, as another Elektrik shot out, clearly hitting Combusken’s arm. Another Elektrik lit up in front of Combusken. “Attack it head on! Use Ember!” Pollo shot small flames at the eel, only to find that it was a copy when it faded out of existence. Another Elektrik shot out and hit Combusken’s back dead on. “Pollo!” Janine yelled out in concern as her Pokemon cried out.

“I did warn you.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Koffing, use Clear Smog!” The (taller) poacher yelled.

“Rattata! Bite!” The other commanded. Astrid raised an eyebrow at their last ditch efforts to turn the tide of the battle.

“Chikorita, use Razor Leaf! Vulpix! Use Extrasensory!” Chikorita shot leaves at both Pokemon, hitting Rattata and knocking it out. The move didn’t do much to the Koffing, but Vulpix’s Extrasensory was super effective, hitting the Koffing and subsequently launching it into it’s trainer.

“You done yet?”Astrid already had an escape rope in her hand as both her Pokemon glared down at the fallen poachers. They both nodded in disappointment and allowed themselves to be apprehended. “Now, are you gonna tell me what’s going on?”

“Well-”

“Shut up!” The other hissed. Astrid groaned.

“You’re going to make this hard for me aren’t you? Just tell me so I don’t kick you lamers into the sewage water!” She yelled, no longer caring if her voice bounced around the walls. The taller poacher seemed reluctant to say anything, but the other whose accent she had insulted earlier seemed to be easily cracking.

“Look, we had orders!”

“Dude!” The other cried out, in an offended tone,

“I can’t swim! Do you want me to die?!”

“Who had orders?” Astrid interrupted them impatiently. When they remained silent for more than a few seconds she began to slowly slide them closer to the murky sewage water with a bored look. “I’m not above just kicking you in and then pulling you back out.”

“That’s like waterboarding! Torture is illegal!”

“So is Pokemon poaching.” The teen shot back. Well that shut them up. She thought.

“Team SubZero.” One of them blurted out. Astrid narrowed her eyes.

“SubZero?”

“They’re these freaks in parkas! They hired us to poach Pokemon-” The other began to blubber, spilling everything despite his friends vehement protests.

“Wait, wait, wait! What was that about the Aquarium?” Astrid stopped his confession midway through. The thug slowed his sniffling for a minute.

“They have an inside-man working in the aquarium? Yeah, he was going to help the others sneak the Pokemon out in a truck or somethin’. Was gonna make it look like they were being sent somewhere else…” He continued talking absentmindedly, while the others head hung low in shame.

“Watch them.” Astrid ordered her Vulpix and Chikorita as she ran off to the closest manhole and held her phone up to it, hoping to catch a signal. “Arceus, this place is worse than the music room at school... There!”

The teen began to frantically shoot texts to her friends, growing more and more frustrated when they wouldn’t go through. She eventually resorted to phone calls, desperately trying to connect to any one of their phones.

Eventually one of them picked up.

“Kayla! Thank Arceus! Sh! Just shut up and listen to me!”

~*~*~*~*~

Pollo can’t handle much more... Janine thought, watching her starter get thrown around by Elektrik. The Combusken would get hit and then stumble straight into another Spark and the cycle had been going on for the past few seconds, Pollo, looking worse for wear with every hit. I need to think!

Janine tried to study Elektrik’s movements as Lucian had before. Elektrik only moves in a linear path… It can coil itself, but it can’t really turn it’s body to attack… How do I use that? Janine paused. Lucian fights like he thinks. Meaning…

“Pollo! Use Double Kick!” The Pokemon forced itself up against the incoming Elektrik, kicking the copy as it faded away.

“Elektrik wait!” But the Pokemon was already heading straight towards Combusken who kicked a second time, throwing the Elektrik away.

...the only way to get through is to be direct!

“Pollo! Get rid of those doubles with Flame Burst!” Combusken gave a powerful kick with its legs, jumping up high into the air and throwing a fire ball down to the ground beneath it. The fire didn’t particularly hit any of the copies, but the splash damage was enough to make them fade away, leaving the original alone.

“You…” Lucian didn’t even seem angry, and seemed more stunned if anything else. He quickly snapped out of whatever trance he had fallen into. “Elektrik, use Bind!”

“Ember!” The Fire Type opened its mouth, and let out an onslaught of flame on the incoming Elektrik. The Elefish paid no mind and continued on its path to entangle the other Pokemon for a second time. “Use Double Kick on the ground!” Combusken followed, inadvertently jumping high into the air before Elektrik could reach it.

“Use Double Team!” The Elektrik began to immediately multiply again.

“Flame Burst!” Pollo shot the Flame Burst down to the ground before he landed, getting rid of the doubles before it could get caught in another situation as it had before. Surprisingly, the hit landed on the Elektrik below as it was thrown back by the force of the fire.

“Elektrik!” The Pokemon weakly forced itself up, lighting up a bit to show its trainer that it was okay.  Lucian glanced up at the weak Combusken, deciding that it wouldn’t be able to dodge another time. “Use Spark!”

“Counter with Double Kick!” The Elektrik began to surround itself with electric energy again, lighting up in a bright yellow while Pollo stood unmoving for a moment. Both Pokemon rushed each other, colliding in an explosion of electricity, kicking up enough dust to block them from view.

“Pollo!”

“Elektrik!”

~*~*~*~*~

Kayla panted heavily. Running was a bad choice. Astrid had quickly explained that there was a truck coming to pick up Pokemon disguised as a delivery truck.

“-Likely somewhere near the docking area in-” Was all she heard before the call was dropped. Wherever she was, there was no doubt that the Coordinator had probably thrown a tantrum over her bad cell service. Kayla had released Rowlet a while ago, telling him to fly up and try to find the docking area Astrid had talked about.

She jogged back to the courtyard outside, checking the map for a docking area, but found that the information wasn’t available to visitors. She let out a sound of frustration and was about ready to slap the next person who looked at her like she was insane. Just as she was heading to the Research building, the door slammed open revealing a familiar face.

“Janine! Astrid called-” She gasped for a moment. “Docking area- The poachers-”

“It’s fine. Are you okay? Where’s your inhaler?!” Janine dug through Kayla’s pockets and handed the inhaler to the girl, patting her back in concern. Kayla shook her head, shoving the inhaler back into her hoodie.

“I know where the poachers are. Follow me.” Janine said, taking the other girls arm to lead her away.

Kayla made a confused sound, but saved her breath as she followed Janine to the Coastal exhibit building. The other teen completely ignored the obvious entrance and moved to the side of the building. She easily pushed on the side gate, allowing it to swing open easily.

“All the aquarium buildings have separate docking stations.” Janine explained, “It would take forever to search them all. You would never be able to tell unless someone told you.”

“So…” Kayla regulated her breathing a bit “Astrid’s call got through?” She looked up at a cooing sound and found that Rowlet had returned. Kayla gestured for him to remain silent before she looked up at Janine’s confused look.

“What? I never got a call from Astrid.” Kayla opened her mouth to reply when they were suddenly joined by a third voice.

“Where is he? We need his access card to get into the Aquarium!”

Janine mouthed ‘Poacher’ to Kayla before pushing her towards the exit.

“We need to get Officer Jenny!” Kayla whisper-yelled.

“There’s no time! You get Officer Jenny or Kaytlyn. I’ll stay here and keep them from doing anything.” Janine made a shooing motion.

“You have a death wish!” The teen whispered back in annoyance.

“I’ll be fine!” Janine reasoned.

“Even with Combusken, you can’t just stay here alone!”

“Uh, about that… I can’t use Combusken right now.” The Trainer admitted.

“What?!” Kayla yelled, completely forgetting that their situation.

“Hey! Who’s over here?!” The voice from earlier called out. “What are you teens doing here?! Raticate, go!”

“What?! Patrat!” A fourth voice responded followed by the familiar pop of a Pokeball.

“Later.” Janine promised her. “Mareep, I choose you!” The trainer sprang into battle with well-practiced vigor.

“Rowlet, you too!” Kayla yelled, practically flinging her bird onto the battlefield. Janine looked at her friend like she was insane. “Two on one isn’t fair!”

~*~*~*~*~

“Janine you’re okay!” Astrid squeezed her friend upon seeing her at the entrance of the Aquarium. “You weren’t answering any of my calls or texts! Even after I got out of the sewer you weren’t replying!”

“What were you doing in the sewer?” Kaytlyn gave the girl an incredulous look.

“...Waterboarding poachers.”

“What?!”

“And Officer Jenny was chasing after the wrong Raticate and- Ugh don’t get me started.” Astrid shuddered. “What happened?”

Janine shrugged. “We took down these poachers and then Officers showed up to take them away.”

“I called them.” Kaytlyn admitted. “One of your texts got through to send cops to the Coastal docking area.”

“Wasn’t the whole point of this stealth mission to make sure people wouldn’t panic?” Kayla asked, a smile playing on her face.

“They played it off as something with the fish tanks I think.” Janine said, furrowing her brow. Kayla nudged her.

“You still need to explain how you knew what was going on.” She gave the other trainer a level look.

“Yeah, none of my texts or calls went through for you.” Astrid waved her phone in Janine’s face.

“And why was Combusken already injured?” Kayla added.

“Well…”

~*~*~*~*~

“Pollo!”

“Elektrik!”

When the smoke cleared, both Combusken and Elektrik were lying in heaps on the floor. Combusken had swirls in his eyes while Elektrik was twitching weakly on the floor. There was no need for either of them to state the obvious. Combusken was down, and Elektrik, though clearly hurt, was the last Pokemon standing.

Janine sighed in disappointment, knowing that she wouldn’t be able to pull answers out of Lucian now. She resigned and ran over to her fallen Pokemon.

“You did fantastic, Pollo.” Janine gave the Pokemon a reassuring smile, digging through her bag to give him an Oran Berry. Pollo weakly reached for the berry and forced itself to eat. “Rest for now.”

She approached the still blank-faced Lucian and offered him a Super Potion for his Pokemon. Before she could say anything however, he fell to his knees.

“Woah! Are you-”

“You won.”

“Wait what?” Janine looked at the man more critically. She wasn’t 100% sure he was right in the head in the first place. This entire thing was only confirming her suspicions.

“You won.” He sat back letting himself lean on the Luvdisc tank behind him.

“No I didn’t?” Janine pointed out, “You’re Pokemon, though clearly unable to do much right now, is still conscious. Mine fainted. That usually means I lose.”

“You won.” He stated again, giving her a soft smile, free of malicious intent or cockiness. He looked better when he was relaxed. “My ideals… were weaker than yours.”

“Our ideals…? You mean-!”

“You proved your ideals were stronger. I lost.” He said, pushing himself up to look at the oblivious heart shaped Pokemon swimming in the tank. He looked up at her suddenly and began to inspect her as he had before he asked her to battle. It was different this time though. He seemed more curious than judgemental. He wasn’t being annoyingly cryptic. He actually looked…almost sincere. He pushed himself up and took the Super Potion she offered him.

Before Janine could retract her hand, Lucian’s arm shot out and he gently gripped her wrist to keep her from moving away. Gingerly, he turned her hand over and placed a small, yellow, diamond-shaped item in the middle of her palm.

“A Revive?” Janine stared at it for a moment. The older teen moved back and recalled his Elektrik and stared at its’ Pokeball for a few moments before turning back to her.

“The poachers are hiding behind in the Coastal aquarium at the docking station. Don’t go to the other aquariums; it would be a complete waste of time. The side-gate should be unlocked.” He said, turning away from her, letting his lab coat flare behind him in a sweeping motion.

“What-”

“There’s only two of them there, the others are hiding in the sewers, though at this point they’ve probably already been spotted. You should hurry before they leave.“ Lucian calmly walked away, his facade back in place.

“Wait- How do you know this?!” Janine followed after him a bit. He stopped abruptly and turned to her with a bitter smile.

“Who do you think let them in?” He asked sardonically. “Go.” He turned away for the last time and was out the door before Janine could ask another question.

~*~*~*~*~

“Wait so he just let you go like that?” Astrid asked, wrinkling her nose up, “That’s…weird… And cryptic.” The coordinator was sitting on a bench next to Kayla while Janine and Kaytlyn stood.

“He’s the one who let them in?!” Kaytlyn hissed. “Are we just going to ignore this crucial fact?”

“Yes,” Kayla replied, “because what’s more confusing and concerning is that he ratted them out.”

“Maybe he did it to bail himself out?” Kaytlyn suggested.

“He said it was because my ideals were stronger than his. I don’t understand, I lost.” Janine explained.

“Well, Battles of Ideals are about proving whose ideals will prevail in the end. You proved something to him I guess.” Astrid suggested.

“Yeah, but then wouldn’t you prove that by winning the battle?” Janine pointed out. Astrid shook her head.

“I’d just like to preface that this evidence comes from a play.” The Coordinator began, “But the reason the Hero of Truth and the Hero of Ideals clashed multiple times because the Hero of Ideals had doubts in his own beliefs. No matter how many times he lost, he would go to the Hero of Truth again and again and they’d battle so he could figure it all out-”

“I’m not particularly interested in some guy’s moral dilemma.” Kaytlyn interjected, “I want to know what Team SubZero wanted with all those Pokemon.”

“That’s another mystery that has yet to be solved.” Kayla muttered. “Let’s go to the Pokemon Center, we need to rest for now.” She said, leading her frustrated sister away. Astrid got up to follow the twins when Janine stopped her.

“Astrid, about the Heroes…”

“Hm?”

“The Hero of Ideals wanted to figure what out, exactly?” Janine asked. Astrid thought for a moment.

“He wanted to prove that what he was doing was right. It wasn’t. The Hero of Truth had to prove it to him again and again.” Astrid said, with a fond smile on her face, “That’s what I was saying, he didn’t win every battle against the Hero of Ideals. But each time he managed to get the other Hero to realize the truth, at least a little bit.”

“You think I showed him the truth?” Janine gave astrid a dubious look. Astrid laughed a bit.

“I think you showed him whatever it was he was looking for. Truth... or maybe something else entirely.” She shrugged. Janine nodded and walked alongside her on the way to the Pokemon Center. It wasn’t until they were halfway there that Janine remembered something.

“Wait, isn’t that play considered a tragedy?” She stopped, “What happened?” Astrid looked at her for a long moment before glancing away.

“It was some meta thing. It was meant to teach the audience that no one escapes judgement.” 

“...What happened?”

“The Hero of Ideals died.”

[astridspokemonfic]

Episode 6: Enter Romeo! The Harbor Badge!

Narrator: The day for Janine and Kaytlyn’s Gym Battle has finally arrived! Weeks of hard training have come down to this crucial day! Will they emerge victorious and become one step closer to the Pokémon League?

Janine released a sigh, standing outside the Pokemon Center. Her companions were inside, taking their sweet time getting ready. Finally, the doors slid open and her friends stepped outside. Astrid was clearly sleepy as she was clutching her Vulpix against her chest. (Maybe Vulpix was warm?). Kayla seemed entirely nonchalant about today as if nothing important was going to happen in the next two hours.

Janine almost envied her.

Kaytlyn was just as pensive as she was, maybe even more since she had decided to go first in battling the Gym Leader.

“How are you feeling? Are you ready for your first Gym Battle?” Janine asked the twin. Kaytlyn shrugged.

“It’s going to happen.” She said impassively.

“I don’t see the appeal of this. Why is it so important to get a badge?” Kayla asked.

“It brings us one step closer to the Pokémon League.” Janine tried. When she was met with a blank look she laughed tiredly.

“Don’t even try. She doesn’t understand the Gym system at all.” Kaytlyn gave her sister a disdained look. Astrid took it upon herself to explain the system to the older girl.

“Well excluding Alola, each region has a Gym System. The Gym System is basically the whole thing where there’s 8 Gyms in different places in the region, each specializing in a different type. You get a Badge each time you beat a Gym/ Gym Leader.”

“And the point of that is…”

“If a trainer gets all 8 Badges, that means they can compete in the League Conference. It’s basically a week long thing where really strong trainers battle it out in all-out battles. The winner gets the right to challenge the Elite Four and then the Champion. If you beat the Champion you take their place and become the strongest Champion in the entire region!” The Coordinator explained.

“What about Alola? What’s so different about their system?”

“Ugh, don’t even get me started.”

“They have this thing with Trials and I don’t even know if they have conferences!” Astrid rolled her eyes. “They have Halas and Kahunas and these Totem Pokemon? I just- I don’t understand.”

“Why is their system so weird?” Janine asked. Astrid looked to the side, trying to recall information.

“Well, for one, their Pokemon League is like, barely a decade old. And instead of Gyms they have trials and Totem Pokemon.”

“That’s weird.”

“Yeah, Tote-ally!” Astrid gave Janine a smug grin. Kayla and Kaytlyn groaned simultaneously. The teen turned away and power-walked away. “Wait- wasn’t it funny?!”

~*~*~*~*~

Janine and Kaytlyn led the group to the Gym this time, though they were clearly nervous. Daniel’s warning that Romeo was no pushover was endlessly ringing in Janine’s head. From behind them, Astrid and Kayla were talking mindlessly, completely oblivious to their companions nerves.

“I was reading a brochure at the Pokemon Center, and it said that there’s a subway connecting this place to the Aquarium.” Kayla said. Astrid made an awed sound and began asking what types of Pokemon had exhibits.

“We should go to the Aquarium after your battle!” Astrid exclaimed with excitement. “I wanna see if they have any Wishiwashi! They have huge schools!”

“I wonder if they have a sushi bar.” Kayla said jokingly. Astrid gave a loud gasp and smacked her shoulder. Janine stopped listening to them when the Gym came into view.

Kaytlyn looked up at the large building where they had been barely the day prior. For some reason it looked much larger than yesterday. Janine joined her, feeling more antsy than they had yesterday.

“It seems more intimidating than yesterday…” She muttered. Kaytlyn nodded in agreement.  

Today, the glass doors swung open with light pressure, revealing the inside of the gym to the teens. There was a large below ground pool that was as a large as a basketball court. White circles that seemed to be about an arm span in width were floating in it, presumably for non-water type Pokémon to stand on.

“Is that a pool?!” Astrid made a step forward, but Janine grabbed her upper arm.

“You’re not supposed to run at the poolside.” She gently reprimanded. “You’ll fall.”

“Yes mom!” Astrid said sarcastically. Their attention was drawn by the Gym Leader who was standing at the far end of the pool.

“Hello, challengers!” Romeo gave an excited wave from his end. “I’ll say it again for formalities sake: my name is Romeo, and I specialize in Water-Type Pokémon. And I’m the Gym Leader here!”

Janine glanced at Kaytlyn, giving her a reassuring look before ushering Astrid and Kayla to the side stands to spectate.

“My name is Kaytlyn. I’ll be challenging you first.” Kaytlyn held Charmander’s Pokeball in front of her.

“Alright, then! Fine by me!” Romeo reached into his jacket and retrieved a Pokeball. “You only have one Pokémon right?” At Kaytlyn’s nod, Romeo turned to the referee. “It’ll be a one on one battle then.”

Kaytlyn stepped up to one end of the pool with a determined look.

“Kaytlyn’s going to be using Charmander, right?” Astrid turned to Kayla. “This battle is already off to a rocky start. Romeo’s type advantage is already gonna be a challenge.”

“We’ll see how she handles it then. She was training for this when we first started our journey. I wasn’t interested, so I never watched her train.” Kayla explained. “I have no idea what strategy she’ll use.”

“This one on one battle between Gym Leader Romeo and Kaytlyn, the challenger will now begin!” The referee called.

“Go! Charmander!” Charmander popped out of his ball and landed perfectly on a white circle.

“A fire type?” Romeo had a confused look on his face before giving a short laugh. “I’ve seen weirder. Now, for my Pokémon!”

“Do you think he’ll send out a Gyarados?” Janine murmured over to the others. Astrid shrugged.

“I hope not…” Kayla shuddered.

“Come on out!” Romeo threw his Pokeball at the water, and it wasn’t until the Pokémon materialized that the teens in the Gym recognized it.

“Luvdisc?!”

Janine pulled out her Dex and scanned the heart-shaped fish.

“Luvdisc, the Rendezvous Pokémon. It lives in warm seas. It is said that a couple finding this Pokémon will be blessed with eternal love.”

“Why would he choose a Luvdisc?” Kayla wrinkled her nose.

“We shouldn’t underestimate it.” Janine warned. “He chose Luvdisc for a reason.”

“Charmander, use Ember!” The Fire-Type released a barrage of small fires at the fish who easily dove into the water to avoid it. Romeo raised an eyebrow at the choice of move.

“Luvdisc, use Water Pulse!” Luvdisc jumped up from the water and shot a blue ball of water at Charmander before returning back to the water.

“Dodge it!” Charmander hopped up to avoid the super effective move.

“Luvdisc! Use Heart Stamp!” The Luvdisc jumped out of the water again, this time behind Charmander and blew a kiss at it. The kiss materialized into a heart shaped stamp that hit the Pokemon’s back perfectly, nearly toppling the Flame Pokemon forwards and into the water.

“If Kaytlyn and Charmander can’t figure out where Luvdisc is coming from, they’ll be at a huge disadvantage for the whole battle.” Astrid said. Charmander pushed itself up onto the platform, panting slightly in exhaustion.

“That’s going to be a problem if she plans on hitting Luvdisc with anything.” Janine wondered for a moment how she would be able to overcome this problem with Arroz

“Charmander, stay calm.” Kaytlyn reassured her starter.

“Luvdisc! Use Water Pulse again!” Romeo commanded. The Luvdisc jumped out of the water again and shot another blue ball of water at the Flame Pokemon.

“Now!” Charmander jumped up to avoid the orb, landing on a different platform. Luvdisc flopped back into the water, swimming back to its trainers’ side.

“So your Pokemon knows some fancy footwork huh?” Romeo smiled. “It’ll take more than that to counter Luvdisc though! Heart Stamp!” Luvdisc jumped out of the water and sent a kiss to Charmander, flopping down then repeating the process again and again. The other Pokemon dodged again and again, though it was clearly beginning to get tired.

“Woah, that’s fast!” Kayla exclaimed, watching the fish speed around.

“What Luvdisc may lack in size and power, it makes up for in speed.” Janine assessed. “Charmander can dodge, but he can’t dodge forever.”

One of the Heart Stamps eventually hit Charmander mid-jump, nearly forcing the Pokemon into the water.

“Charmander!” The lizard grappled at one of the white platforms, attempting to regain balance. While he was struggling to pull himself back onto the platform, Luvdisc jumped out of the water again.

“Luvdisc, use Heart Stamp again!”

“Charmander! Counter with Smokescreen!” Charmander blew a cloud of dark smoke at Luvdisc, interrupting its’ attack and pushing it away.. Charmander continued to blow smoke all over the battlefield, preventing Luvdisc from being able to see.

“Well, she fixed that problem.” Kayla stated matter-of-factly.

“Yeah, but now no one can see what’s going on!” Astrid retorted. “How is she going to hit Luvdisc with anything if neither of them can see?”

“Clever.” Romeo gave a half-smirk. “You eliminated the advantage that Luvdisc had by blocking her visibility.”

Kaytlyn didn’t give him a reply as she searched the smoke all

“But you didn’t eliminate Luvdisc’s mobility!” He shouted. “Luvdisc, use Water Pulse in the same place!”

“That’s right! Charmander’s stuck on one platform now!” Janine remembered, squinting through the smoke to catch a glimpse of either Pokemon.

“Charmander’s a sitting duck!” Kayla leaned over the edge of the railing in concern. Strangely enough, Luvdisc’s attack went straight through the smoke without any indication that it had hit the Flame Pokemon. Romeo seemed surprised while Kaytlyn only gave a small smile.

“Wait, that doesn’t make sense.” Astrid murmured to her friends. Rowlet tilted it’s head in confusion.

“Charmander! Use Dragon Rage!” Kaytlyn yelled. There was a flash of muted orange light from the smoke. If Luvdisc’s pained cry was any indication, then the move had hit perfectly.

“How did-” Kayla began.

“Dragon Rage again!”

“Luvdisc!” Romeo called out in concern. When the smoke cleared, Luvdisc was floating in the water with swirls in her eyes.

“Luvdisc is unable to battle! Kaytlyn and Charmander win!” The referee called. Romeo stared in stunned silence before giving the teen a shining smile.

“You beat me fair and square. I think. Anyway, here’s the Harbor Badge!” Romeo walked the length of the battlefield and handed her a blue pin shaped like a wave. “If you don’t mind me asking, what did you do?” Kaytlyn accepted the badge gratefully before explaining.

“Charmander doesn’t have much difficulty seeing in smoke, so it was easy for him to dodge. From there it was just a matter of Charmander guessing where your Luvdisc would pop up next.” She shrugged. “I was originally planning to just spam you with Dragon Rage, but Luvdisc was just too fast. So we improvised.”

“So she turned the tables on Luvdisc moving unseen in the water to Charmander moving unseen in the smoke.” Kayla explained. “It’s a sound strategy.”

“That’s brilliant!” Astrid said. “It’d be bad for contests though. The judges being unable to see you is a huge no-no.”

Janine stepped down from the stands, offering Kaytlyn a hi-five as they passed each other. The twin sat between Astrid and her sister, each of them offering her congratulations.

“So, it’s your turn then?” Romeo assessed the trainer for a moment before walking back to his place on the other side of the field.

“Whoo! Go Janine!” Astrid cheered from the stands. Chikorita gave a similar cheer, waving a flag with her vines.

“I’ll be using a different Pokemon for our battle, if you’re okay with that?” The Gym Leader pulled out a Pokeball presumably different from Luvdisc’s.

“Fine by me!”Janine responded. “I have two Pokemon, so would it be a two versus two battle?”

“Bingo! Here’s my Pokemon! I choose you, Alomomola!”

“That...just looks like a bigger version of Luvdisc…” Kaytlyn snorted.

“It has hands, Kaytlyn.” Kayla pointed at the top and bottom fins on the Pokemon. Astrid scanned the Pokemon hastily.

“Alomomola, The Caring Pokemon. It gently holds injured and weak Pokemon in its fins. Its special membrane heals their wounds. The reason for this behavior remains unknown.”

“Arroz! Let’s go!” Janine released her Mareep onto one of the white platforms. The Mareep let out a shock of electricity as if it was trying to intimidate the other Pokemon. The Alomomola seemed to hold itself higher in irritation.

“That thing looks anything but caring.” Kayla said in apprehension. Astrid sighed.

“At least it’s big enough that we won’t have the same problem as Luvdisc: we’ll be able to see exactly where Alomomola is. I think the water’s only three feet deep.”

The tension in the air was palpable as the Pokemon seemed to be caught in some sort of glaring contest.

“This official two on two battle between Janine and Romeo will now begin.”

“As challenger, I’ll let you have the first move.” Romeo  said invitingly. Janine narrowed her eyes in suspicion.

“Arroz, use Discharge!” Janine said, though her hesitance was clear. The Mareep released light blue bolts of electricity at the Water-Type Pokemon.

“Alomomola, use Protect.” The Alomomola glowed a faint green before a turquoise force field surrounded it. The Discharge dissipated upon hitting the defensive field. “Use Aqua Jet!”

“Counter with Take Down!” The Mareep jumped from its platform hit Alomomola head on. The Aqua Jet completely overpowered Arroz, forcing the Pokemon back.

“Mareep don’t exactly have the best Attack or Speed.” Kaytlyn said with a worried look. “Her best stat is her Special Attack, but…”

“All Alomomola has to do is use Protect and it becomes useless.” Kayla finished, sounding disheartened. The teens could see Janine throw herself into thinking a way around the problem. Arroz turned to Janine with a determined look to show her that the attack didn’t phase her in the least. Janine gave a sigh.

“I have an idea but… this might hurt a little.” The Mareep gave a bleat and dug its’ small feet into the platform. “Okay Arroz, Charge up!” The Mareep surrounded itself in yellow sparks as her wool began to gather electricity. The ball end of Arroz’s tail began to glow brightly.

“Alomomola, use Aqua Jet!” The fish surrounded itself with water and charged towards Mareep.

“Take Down again!” Arroz leapt up from its’ platform again, meaning to collide with the fish a second time.

“What is she doing?!” Astrid’s cheering had ceased for a moment. “Doesn’t she know Take Down has recoil damage?!”

“This is surprisingly reckless of her.” Kayla’s brow furrowed in concentration. She swiped Astrid’s pink Pokedex and began to scroll through it.

This time, Mareep wasn’t the only one thrown back by the attack as Alomomola went flying through the air, hitting the water with a huge splash.

“What?!” Romeo let out a panicked yell and leaned forward to see his Pokemon twitching as small shocks of Electricity coursed through its body.

“That’s it! One of Mareep’s abilities is Static! By using Charge, Arroz’s chances of paralyzing targets increased!”

“Awesome! She paralyzed Alomomola!” Kaytlyn exclaimed. Astrid let out an encouraging cheer.

Mareep stood itself up on its feet, slightly scuffed up, but clearly proud of its’ accomplishment.

“Now, Discharge!” Once more the Sheep Pokemon released bolts of blue electricity at Alomomola, this time, twice as strong thanks to the static electricity stored in her wool.

“Use Protect!” Alomomola twitched and began to glow a faint green again, but before the move could be completed, another shock of electricity went through the Alomomola’s body as the Paralysis took effect. Discharge was a direct hit, frying the Water-Type inside out. Alomomola looked slightly burnt, and had clear swirl lines forming in its eyes.

“Alomomola is unable to battle, select your next Pokemon.” Romeo recalled his Pokémon with a sigh.

“That fish is looking extra crispy.” Kaytlyn giggled to her twin.

“Oh my god that’s horrible.”

“I’m impressed you took down Alomomola. That battle really made a splash!” Romeo brought out another Pokeball. “But let’s see how you deal with this! My last Pokémon! Go!” Romeo released a pink Pokémon with branches growing out of its back onto one of the platforms.

“Does he own any Pokémon that aren’t pink?” Kaytlyn muttered.

“Oh no.” Astrid murmured. “This is… not ideal.” Kayla took one glance at Astrid’s worried expression before scanning the opposing Pokémon with her Dex.

“Corsola, the Coral Pokemon. Corsola’s branches glitter very beautifully in seven colors when they catch sunlight. If any branch breaks off, this Pokémon grows it back in just one night.”

“I… don’t see the problem?” Kaytlyn said. Astrid shook her head.

“Cosola can learn Ground-Type moves!” She hissed. Kaytlyn’s eyes widened and they both began to watch the battle with rapt attention. Janine seemed to come to the same conclusion as they did as she nervously assessed the other Pokémon.

“Corsola! Use Mud Slap!” The Pokemon opened its mouth and fired mud at Arroz. The Electric-Type was unable to move away in time and found its face covered in mud. “Now, Ancient Power!” Corsola began to glow white then formed a silvery white ball in front of its face and shot it at the panicking Pokemon. Mareep took a direct hit and was blown off the battlefield to Janine’s side with swirls in its eyes.

“Mareep is unable to battle! Challenger, you’re next Pokemon.”

Janine returned her Pokemon with a sigh. All she had left now was…

“Pollo. She has no choice but to send Pollo out now.” Kayla said.

“That’s a double type disadvantage.” Kaytlyn watched Janine nervously. “Arroz’s moves will be less than half of their normal effectiveness.”

Janine grit her teeth in frustration. By knocking out Mareep, they were pushing her into a corner, forcing her to send out her last Pokemon. Janine recalled her Mareep with a sad smile.

“You did great Mareep.” She said. She turned back to Romeo and his Corsola. “Now for my last Pokemon. You can do it, Pollo!” Janine released her Torchic onto one of the white panels. Romeo gave a seemingly sorry look.

“Corsola! Use Bubble Beam!” The pink Pokemon gave a loud inhale before releasing dozens of blue bubbles in Pollo’s direction.

“Pollo! Use Flame Burst!” The Torchic mirrored Corsola, giving an almost violent inhale before releasing a huge fireball in the direction of the bubbles. The Flame Burst seared right through the bubbles, hitting Corsola head on. “Great Job!”

When the smoke cleared, Corsola remained in place, hardly scathed by the blast.

“That was a direct hit! Why didn’t it do any damage?” Kayla asked.

“Fire-Type moves are at a fraction of their usual effectiveness.” Astrid whined. “I hate type disadvantages.”

“What’s important was that Pollo avoided the Bubble Beam.” Kaytlyn said. “But I don’t know if it would be as effective for the other moves.”

“Corsola! Use Ancient Power!” Corsola again formed a silvery white ball in front of its’ face. Corsola sent it flying towards the Torchic who dodged easily.

“Use Peck!” Torchic hopped across white platforms to reach the Corsola.

“Bubble Beam!” Torchic jumped back to avoid the bubbles, unable to get close enough for a Peck attack.

“At this point Pollo will never get a single attack in!” Astrid slumped in her seat with annoyance. Movement caught her eye and she looked to the entrance and saw an older teen walk in. He had shortish dark green hair with similarly colored eyes. He glanced at Janine’s battle and gave a scowl, deciding to lean on the wall rather than sit in the stands. In short, he reminded Astrid of a character from one of her childhood shows. Sesame Street, was it?

“Pollo, use Scratch!” The small chick hopped close between the Bubble Beams, and launched at Corsola feet-first.

“Iron Defense!” Romeo yelled. Corsola gave a cheer as its body became outlined in blue. Pollo waved its’ feet around, but didn’t manage to even put a dent in Corsola’s strong defense. “Ancient Power!” The Corsola made another silvery-white ball and shot Torchic point blank to the other side of the battlefield. The floating disc he landed on swayed menacingly as the weakly chirped.

“Pollo are you alright?!” Janine fell to her knees and leaned forward to get a closer look at her Pokemon. The Torchic hadn’t fainted yet, but was clearly close to reaching that point. Janine glanced up at Corsola who was still standing strong and made a decision, pulling out Pollo’s Pokeball. “You did great. You don’t have to battle anymore.”

“So are you forfeiting the battle?” Romeo asked, his face unnaturally blank. Janine stared at the ground, still debating with herself.

“Is Janine really forfeiting?” Astrid murmured.

“She either withdraws or gets brutally beaten by Corsola.” Kayla shrugged. “Sometimes it’s better for trainers to walk away from a battle than to force their Pokemon to fight til the end.”

“She got so close though. If Romeo had used Corsola against Charmander I wouldn’t have even gotten close to beating him!” Kaytlyn said. “He seems to be unusually harsh on her.”

Janine opened her mouth to answer only to get scratched for her troubles.

“Ow! Hey-” Pollo was standing up and was glaring at her fiercely. “You’re at a double disadvantage! Just let me forfeit!” The only response she received was a strong Peck at her legs. Romeo laughed from his place.

“I don’t think Torchic wants you to forfeit!” He gave one last chuckle. “Battles are a test between the bond between Trainers and their Pokemon. We have a mutual relationship and help teach each other to grow. I think he’s trying to teach you something now.”

Janine stared at her determined starter with shining eyes. She stood up suddenly at full height, and reignited with fighting spirit.

“We refuse to forfeit! We’ll see this battle through to the end!” The battered Torchic hopped back onto a platform, chirping at the Gym Leader.

“So be it! Corsola, let’s give them our all!” Romeo smiled.

“Us too, Pollo!” The Torchic gave another excited chirp before beginning to glow brightly. The three spectators leaned down to squint at the field. The Pokemon’s form began to shift erratically, it’s form lengthening and it’s wings began to swoop down to create arms.

“No way! Is this really-” Kaytlyn never finished her sentence as she was cut off by the newly evolved Pokemon.

“Combusken!”

Astrid stole her Pokedex back from Kayla and scanned Pollo’s evolved form.

“Combusken, the Young Fowl Pokemon. The evolved form of Torchic. Combusken battles with the intensely hot flames it spews from its beak. Its kicking mastery lets it loose 10 kicks per second with outstandingly destructive power.”

“Wait, kicks?” Kaytlyn pulled the Dex to her face with a confused look.

“Combusken has double-typing! It’s a Fire/Fighting type!” Kayla exclaimed. “It learns Double- Kick upon evolution!”  Janine was still staring at her Pollo with shining eyes, but Kayla’s comment snapped her out of it.

“Alright, Pollo! Double Kick!” With surprising agility the Combusken ran across the white platforms, no longer needing to hop with its new form. The Pokemon reached Corsola in no time, kicking Corsola into the air like a football.

“Corsola! Use Iron Defense!” The Corsola followed the command despite its mid-air panic, glowing light blue. Pollo paid no mind and jumped up after it, kicking a second time with its’ other leg, sending it crashing to another platform in a cloud of smoke.

“I honestly don’t think that Iron Defense did much in blocking that hit…” Kaytlyn said, slightly taken back at the sudden turn of the tide. Next to her, Astrid and Chikorita were cheering their heads off, even more motivated than before.

“Corsola! Are you alright?” As the dust cleared it became clear that the winner of this battle would be none other than Janine’s new Combusken. 

“Corsola is unable to battle! The winner is Janine and her Combusken!”

Romeo recalled Corsola with a smile and walked around the pool to Janine’s place at the other end.

“Seems your bond with Pollo was exceptionally strong. His evolution was unexpected, but you’ve clearly trained them hard.” Romeo smiled. “You’ve earned this.” He placed another Cascade badge in her hand. Janine held the badge with absolute euphoria and carefully placed it on the first slot of her Badge Case. Pollo hesitantly approached her, suddenly shy for its new form. Janine beamed at it and threw her arms around her Combusken’s neck.

“You were amazing! You really pushed through for me, even when I wanted to give up.” The Pokemon’s face grew prouder and nuzzled itself into its trainer.

The bystander that had walked in before walked past Janine, completely ignoring her.

“I wanted to challenge your Gym.” He told Romeo without a trace of hesitance. Romeo seemed a little off-put by his tone, but took it in stride.

“Alright. I’ll heal up my Pokemon and return in a few minutes.” He turned to Janine once more before leaving. “Congratulations again.”

Once Romeo had left the area the girl felt another hug wrap around her back which turned out to be Astrid.

“That was so amazing Janine! And Combusken’s evolution? Oh Arceus, you have a badge now! You both do!” She gave a happy screech. 

The green-haired trainer gave a derisive snort. Silence fell over the building.

“Haha… Excuse me?” The coordinator turned to the only male in the room.

Kaytlyn stepped away from the murderous teen. The aura she was giving off wasn’t even close to intimidating with her bright pink clothes, but the smile on her face just didn’t feel right…

“Who exactly are you?” She gave him a blank smile. He gave a huff of laughter.

“My name is Nathan. I’m a trainer.” He raised his eyebrow.

“And what exactly did you mean, “Trainer“ Nathan?” Astrid mocked, giving air quotes when she said ‘trainer’. His eyebrow twitched up in annoyance.

“She passed the battle with the skin of her teeth. She only won because her Combusken evolved at the last second. That wasn’t skill. It was luck.” He bit out.

Janine furrowed her brow at the abrasive teen. But she had to admit that he had a point. She only won because of the well-timed evolution…

“Janine is a great trainer! You weren’t even there for the whole battle!” Kayla piped up.

“I didn’t need to be!” He retorted. “She won by pure dumb luck, just accept it. You can’t rely on spontaneous evolution to win a battle!” Astrid opened her mouth to retort but Janine pulled her back and stood in front of her.

“I trained my Pokemon with everything I had. I’m sorry you’re opinion is different, but my Pokemon worked hard for this badge. And maybe it was dumb luck. But guess what?” Janine stepped closer. “I. Don’t. Need it.” She turned to the exit without a second glance and her Combusken instantly followed.

“Oooh! Get a Rawst Berry for that burn!” Kayla whooped.

“Can you leave? You’re starting to annoy me.” Nathan growled at her in clear annoyance.

“That’s not fair, I can’t ask you to stop existing.” Kaytlyn sneered. Astrid cackled and the trio moved to follow Janine.

“Bye, Oscar the Grouch!” She called as she walked away. The coordinator heard a definitive shout as the doors slammed and mentally congratulated herself. When they reached the outside of the Gym, Janine was waiting there silently with a sour look on her face.

“That was a sick burn, yo!” Astrid cheered, clearly trying to alleviate the atmosphere. Kayla gave a disgusted look at her lingo.

“What’s wrong?” Kaytlyn nudged her with her foot. Janine gave a heavy sigh.

“He was… partially right. Let me finish!” She pointed at Astrid who was ready to interject. “I was ready to give up when Pollo almost fainted back there. I had literally no other strategy. I couldn’t think of any way around it. His evolution was really the only thing that pulled me through.

But…”

“Yes, but?” Kaytlyn made a huffing sound.

“He was also wrong. He didn’t see the first half of the battle where Arroz wiped the floor with Alomomola. So his testimony isn’t really valid.”

“That’s the spirit!” Astrid whooped. “That dude had total Grinch vibes by the way. It looked like he wanted to destroy everything that was happy.”

“How many green character metaphors do you have for this guy?”

“Oh you have no idea.”

Narrator: And with that, Janine and Kaytlyn come closer to the Pokemon League and their dreams of becoming Pokemon Trainers! They’ve got quite the journey ahead of them! Will they reach their dreams, or will something sinister stop them in their tracks?

[astridspokemonfic]

Episode 5: All That Glitters is Gold!

Narrator: As our heroes finally arrive in Mistdrive City, they come to the precipice of their first Gym Battle! What adventures await them in this new city?

“Woah, I’ve never been to a seaside city before!” Janine said in wonderment. From their path, they could already see the soft sandy beaches, directly adjacent to several tall buildings.

“Wait, Janine. Sylmar is a seaside city.” Astrid pointed out.

“It has 13 ports and no beaches.” She responded. ”It looked nothing like this. Those buildings are huge!”

“Those are resorts. The beach combined with the Gym makes for a booming tourism industry.”  Kayla explained.

“Sylmar deals mostly in fishing, so maybe that’s why we don’t get any visitors,” Astrid wondered out loud. “All we have is the Pokemon Research Lab and a windmill.”

Janine took the lead in the group, Kaytlyn close by while Astrid and Kayla lagged behind. Astrid ran up behind them and slung both her arms over their shoulders.

“So are y’all ready for your first Gym Battle?” Astrid asked. Janine nodded.

“Definitely. My Pokemon have been training hard for this. Pollo in particular. We need to get over that Type disadvantage.” Janine said seriously.

“Charmander’s doing his best too. We think we might be able to beat the gym. Especially with him knowing Dragon Rage.” Kaytlyn said, “I wonder if it’ll be enough.”

“You just have to believe in your Pokemon!” Janine encouraged.

“Can you slow down?! I have asthma!” Kayla yelled from behind them.

“Ah, Sorry!” Janine said, switching to a more comfortable pace for the twin. Astrid removed herself from the trainers and walked behind them with Kayla.

“So what do you wanna do when we get there?” Astrid asked, wanting to fill in the silence. Janine hummed thoughtfully.

“We should get to a Pokemon Center. Arroz needs a shave.” Janine laughed, “We don’t have shears that can cut through wool, so we had to wait for a while until now.”

“After that, we head straight to the Gym- I call battling first!” Kaytlyn yelled, cutting Janine off in the process, as she was about to say the same thing.

“Woah! I can already smell the ocean!” Astrid exclaimed. “I can’t wait to check it out after your battles!”

“Hm. That’s a lot of people on the beach.” Kaytlyn muttered. Sure enough, there were probably dozens of people all over the beach, swimming, playing, or just relaxing in general.

“Hey, there are fishing docks here!” Kayla said, pointing at the water. “Maybe Sylmar should invest in that to increase tourism.”

“What is there to see?” Astrid snorted. “People only go if there’s something interesting. No one’s going to come for plain old fishing.”

“You’d be surprised,” Janine said. The group had finally made it into the city, and they practically rejoiced when the dirt path beneath them turned to concrete. “Alright, so first things first. Let’s find the Pokemon Center.”

Kayla went up to one of the billboards and inspected it for a few moments.

“It looks like the Pokemon Center is somewhere close to the Gym,” Kayla said. Kaytlyn shrugged. “Makes sense.” She muttered

“Ah! There’s a contest hall here! Though the Mistdrive contest has already passed.” Astrid muttered. Janine glanced around before deciding to just ask for directions.

“Excuse me, do you know where the Mistdrive Gym is?” Janine posed the question to a young mother walking with her child.

“Oh! Are you a trainer?” Janine nodded her head. “Well, the Mistdrive Gym is right in the middle of the city. If you head down this road and make a right, it should be on one of the side streets.”

“Thank you!” Janine waved goodbye to the kind strangers before turning to her own ‘children’.

~*~*~*~*~ “Closed?!” Janine yelled out. Astrid tried to pull on the Gym door handles only to fall flat miserably. Chikorita, who had been resting peacefully on her shoulder flopped onto the floor.

“Yeah, they’re closed,” Astrid stated sardonically. Janine sighed.

“Oh! Did you come to challenge the Gym?” A male walked out from behind them. Kaytlyn glanced at him and nodded.

“Do you know where the Gym Leader is?” She asked.

“Do I know where he is? You’re lookin’ at him!” He exclaimed. The group stared him down, only now noticing how he looked. He had dark blue hair and light blue eyes. There were clear tan lines on his torso and arms, likely from a swimsuit. He was dripping wet and wearing black and pink jammers. “I’m Romeo. I’m the Mistdrive City Gym Leader!”

“I’m Janine, a Pokemon Trainer. Kaytlyn and I wanted to challenge your Gym today.”

“I’m Kaytlyn.” The twin interjected, raising a hand.

“Woah, you’re so young!” Kayla interrupted from behind Janine. He laughed sheepishly.

“I’m twenty-three…” He whined. “I just look like I’m 17!” 

Kayla let out a “Yikes.”

“You can’t battle today?” Astrid asked, changing the subject.  He shook his head with a sudden serious expression.

“There’s a group of delinquents causing trouble in the city. Those kids never learn… When stuff like this happens, it’s the Gym Leader who has to resolve it.” He explained. “I’m afraid I’ll be battling tomorrow, Miss..?”

“Astrid. I’m a Pokemon Coordinator. And this is my partner Chikorita.” She introduced. She turned to Kayla.

“Oh! I’m Kayla, and I’m a trainer as well, but I won’t be challenging your gym.”

Romeo processed the information and gave them a nod.

“Well Ladies, duty calls! Make sure to come by tomorrow for your Gym Battle, okay? You guys should look around Mistdrive for today!” He yelled as he ran down the street.

“Is he wearing crocs…?” Astrid asked, narrowing her eyes in disgust at the Gym Leader’s half bare feet.

“To be fair, they’re waterproof.” Kaytlyn halfheartedly defended the adult.

“There is no excuse for croc-wearers.” Astrid hissed.

“Oh yeah, Astrid. Didn’t you want to go to the beach?” Janine asked the coordinator. Astrid beamed.

“Bless.”

~*~*~*~*~

After stopping by the public bathrooms to put on swimwear, (or in Kayla and Kaytlyn’s cases, T-Shirts with loose shorts), the group found a nice corner of the beach close to the docks where they could lay down and relax. Astrid had talked Janine into releasing the Pokemon from their Pokeballs so that they could run around and have fun.

“Man, this is so peaceful,” Kayla commented. She laid back watched Wingull and Pelipper soar around. “Why is this more peaceful than Sylmar?”

“Because there are huge, loud fishing boats,” Kaytlyn responded.

“Well, it was kind of relaxing hearing the market. It was loud, but it was familiar.” Janine said. Astrid shook her head.

“No way! I saw two old ladies get into a fight over a dead fish! That was not relaxing.” She said while Chikorita cocked her head in confusion. After a moment, Astrid pushed herself up. 

“Okay, relaxing is boring! Janine! To the Ocean!” The teen grabbed her friend’s arm and practically dragged her to the waterline. Janine’s Pokemon watched silently as Astrid basically threw Janine into the water and with little hesitation, jumped in herself.

Kayla threw her reservations to the wind and ran in with them. Astrid swam as far as possible and did her best not to drown whenever the waves crashed on her. Janine and Kayla were chatting in the water, occasionally shrieking when seaweed brushed past their legs. Meanwhile, Kaytlyn remained on the beach watching their Pokemon play around.

Chikorita, Rowlet, and Pollo looked like they were trying to make a castle, though now it looked little more than a mound of wet sand with a leaf sticking out the top, courtesy of Rowlet. Arroz and Charmander seemed to be taking the moment to actually relax and Vulpix was ignoring everyone around him in favor of a nap.

After almost being drowned by Astrid for the umpteenth time, Janine decided to return to their spot, causing some sort of chain reaction as her friends followed her to the sand. They all sat around like before, staring at the ocean tide and relaxing.

An enraged scream caught their attention.

Heads turned to a teen around their age as he threw a fishing pole across the dock in anger. Poor Arroz nearly jumped a mile high and ran behind her trainer.

“Is he okay?” Astrid leaned toward Kayla.

“What a mood.”

“Hold on.” Janine shaded her eyes from the sun and squinted at the figure. “Kaytlyn, do you have my phone?”

“Yeah,” The twin handed it to her. Janine tapped it for a few moments and watched the figure intently. She held it to her ear, clearly making a phone call. The figure in the distance reached into his pocket, glanced at something before putting it back in.

“I knew it.” Janine tossed her phone back to Kaytlyn. “I know him.”

“You know the angry fisherman?” Kayla asked. Janine nodded and the group followed her lead as she went up the stairs to the almost empty docks. The Pokemon followed in suit.

“Daniel!” Janine cupped her hands around her mouth and yelled. The teen turned his head to her before abruptly turning away. Janine let out an annoyed hiss and marched up to him. Her friends watched from a distance.

“Daniel.” Janine leaned on the rail next to him and he made a show of pretending not to know her. When Janine looked about ready to punch him, he ended the bit and offered her a short side-hug. She waved the group over. The male next to her faked a gasp.

“Janine! You have friends?!” She gave him a scathing glance before introducing him.

“This is Daniel. We’ve known each other since middle school. He went on his journey like last month, I think.” Janine explained.

“I can introduce myself thank you very much, my name’s Daniel, and I’ve known Janine since middle school. I started my journey last month.” He stated, giggling toward the end when Janine sighed in exasperation. She tapped Astrid’s shoulder to tell her to introduce herself.

“I’m Astrid, a Pokemon Coordinator!” Astrid said. Daniel nodded.

“Ah. so not a real trainer. Got it. Next!” He turned to the twins. Astrid gave Janine an affronted look and the other teen merely sighed and gave her a pat on the back.

“I’m Kaytlyn, and this is my twin, Kayla. We’re both trainers.” Daniel nodded again, but before he could say something equally offensive, Janine cut in.

“Daniel, what are you doing in Mistdrive? Shouldn’t you be at your second badge at least?” Janine pointed out. “You’ve been on the road for almost two months now!”

“Well, you remember that story about a black Charizard?” Daniel asked. Janine nodded. “Turns out that’s a thing. Sometimes Pokemon are born with different coloring, and it causes them to stand out!”

“You mean Shiny Pokemon?” Janine asked. He nodded

“Well,” He began. “I was about to leave, but I heard some locals talking about a golden Magikarp around here! So I figured I should try my luck.” Daniel said.

“Isn’t it like, a one in a thousand chance to ever encounter one?” Kayla piped up.

“Well, I must be getting close, because I’ve been here for two weeks!” He said in a cheerful manner. “Janine, why are you here? Have you battled the Gym Leader yet?”

“Well I was going to battle him today, but he had official business or something. He promised to battle me tomorrow though, so I don’t really mind.” Janine gestured to the group. “We needed to relax anyway.”

“Yeah, another question. Why are you travelling around in a group? I thought you were gonna go solo.”

Janine shrugged. “The professor had us grouped up because of the recent kidnapping incidents. I ended up paired with Astrid over there and the twins came shortly after.”

Daniel nodded and was about to speak when the fishing pole next to him began to shake. He immediately rushed over to it pulled with as much strength as he could. Unfortunately, his catch was a plain old Magikarp that was flopping around with a blank look. Daniel made an annoyed sound and threw the Magikarp over the railing and back into the water.

“Do you do that every time?” Kaytlyn asked.

“Well, yeah. I’m not gonna keep a Magikarp unless it’s gold.” Daniel poked a Berry onto his hook and threw the line again. “What really sucks is the wait.”

“The wait?”

“It takes around twenty minutes for another fish to come biting.” He sighed. “So. Are all of you challenging the gym?”

“Nah, just Janine and Kaytlyn. I don’t challenge Gyms.” Kayla laughed. “It’s kind of ironic since Astrid and I are the only ones who have the type advantage with our starters.”

“Romeo is no pushover. His Gym was difficult to beat. If I hadn’t had the type advantage I would have been dead.” Daniel warned.

“Type advantage?! You chose a Fire-Type starter!” Janine pointed out.

“Yeah, but I caught an Electric-Type on the way. Check it out.” Daniel took out a Pokeball and threw it down. “Let’s go, Galvantula!”

“A Galvantula!” Astrid pulled out her Pokedex and scanned the new Pokemon.

“Galvantula, the EleSpider Pokemon. When attacked, they create an electric barrier by spitting out many electrically charged threads.”

“A giant spider?!” Janine sidestepped the Bug-Type and stood behind Astrid. “Demon.”

“He evolved after my battle with Romeo. He was just a Joltik when I caught him.” Daniel explained. The Galvantula made a gurgling sound that Janine assumed was its’ cry.

“Of all the Electric-Types in Niacal, you choose the one that looks like a spider?” Janine hissed.

“Aw, don’t be like that Janine, he’s kinda cute..?” Kayla tried. The Galvantula gurgled again and nuzzled her leg. “Oh… yay…”

“You guys should battle!” Astrid exclaimed, clapping her hands together.

“What?”

“No like, listen, it’ll help you get ready for your battle tomorrow with Romeo. It doesn’t have to be an all-out battle. Just to train a little.” She said.

“Daniel doesn’t even have any water-type Pokemon!” Janine argued.

“You don’t know that!” Daniel yelled defensively.

“Do you have water types?” Kaytlyn asked blankly.

“No.”

“Come on! It’ll help pass the time!” Astrid encouraged. Janine sighed at the girl’s excitement.

“I’m down if you are.” Daniel gave her a condescending smile like he was goading her into battle.

“Fine.” Janine sighed and turned to her Pokemon. “You guys ready?” Pollo and Arroz made sounds of agreement.

“I’ll be the referee!” Astrid chirped. The coordinator tugged Janine about ten feet away from Daniel and ushered the twins to a bench next to the railing and off the makeshift battlefield before choosing to stand across from the twins.

“This unofficial battle between trainers Janine and Daniel will now begin! It will be a one on one battle with no substitutions. Trainers, do you have your Pokemon ready?” At their nods, Astrid dramatically threw her arms up. “Begin!”

“She’s dramatic...”Kaytlyn laughed to her sister.

Janine turned to her Torchic. “Alright, Pollo! I choose you!” The Torchic jumped up to their battlefield, hopping a bit in excitement.

“Galvantula, let’s go!”

“Bug-Type Pokemon are weak against Fire-Type moves.” Kayla pointed out. “What is he doing?”

“He must have something up his sleeve, he looks totally overconfident,” Kaytlyn whispered back.

“Alright! Pollo use Ember!” Janine threw her hand out. The Torchic was quick to respond and released a barrage small flames at the Galvantula.

“Counter with Electro Ball!” The Galvantula created an orb of electricity and flung it straight at Torchic’s attack, nullifying it in a cloud of dark smoke. “Again!” Another Electro Ball cut through the smoke, heading straight for the Fire-Type.

“That was so quick!” Kaytlyn gaped. “Galvantula didn’t need any recovery time!”

“Pollo! Dodge!” Pollo jumped high in the air to avoid Galvantula’s attack. Kaytlyn narrowed her eyes when Daniel made a smug sound.

“Now! String Shot!” Galvantula shot a sticky web at Torchic from its mouth, trapping the Pokemon in its grasp.

“Pollo! Get out of there!” Torchic began to struggle to find a way out but only seemed to be making the web worse. “Pollo, stop!” Janine called out in desperation.

“They were anticipating Torchic’s dodge!” Kayla exclaimed. “How did he know where Torchic would go?”

“This isn’t the first time he’s used that strategy, it was too practiced.” Kaytlyn replied. “Now it’s a question of Janine’s ability to get Torchic out of that web.”

“Now! Fling it!” Galvantula pulled on the web connected to Torchic, basically supplexing the Pokemon against the hard wood of the dock. Torchic winced in pain when he made contact but still forced itself up. Janine scrunched up her eyebrows in concentration and forced herself to think.

“Pollo can’t use and close-range moves because of that web, so her only options are Ember and Flame Burst.” Kaytlyn crossed her arms. Sure enough, Janine made the same judgement.

“Pollo! Use Flame Burst!” Janine shouted, and Torchic followed in suit, throwing a ball of fire at the spider.

“Dodge!” Galvantula easily moved away, avoiding the fire easily and pulling Pollo along with it. Janine’s eyes widened in realization.

“Pollo! Keep going! Use as many Flame Bursts as you can!” She shouted. The Torchic continued sending balls of fire while Galvantula continued to move out of the way.

“Galvantula will just dodge the Flame Bursts, so what’s the point?” Kayla asked. Kaytlyn narrowed her eyes in similar confusion before finally realizing Janine’s strategy.

“Flame Burst causes splash damage, and she’s using that damage to hit the web!” She called out. Sure enough, the web caught fire and began to burn down the Sting Shot, freeing the Torchic from its sticky prison.

“So you got out of the web. Figures you’d find a way out.” Daniel said in slight disappointment as his strategy failed. “Use Electro Ball again!” Pollo jumped up to dodge the ball, but Janine saw Daniel’s next move coming from a mile away.

“Use Ember!” She yelled. Pollo’s ember made direct contact with another String Shot, completely destroying it and heading through to Galvantula.

“Galvantula, no!”

“Alright! Galvantula was hit with double because of its’ type disadvantage!” Kayla cheered from the sidelines. Daniel suddenly froze and went rushing to the railings as he pulled on the rod with all his strength. The trainers watched silently as Daniel frantically pulled on his fishing rod.

“I couldn’t even hear that…” Kayla muttered. Daniel pulled the Pokemon up only to find that it was a plain Magikarp. He groaned in disappointment and threw the Pokemon back harshly.

Astrid, still standing in her place, began to speak.

“Uh, it’s a...draw? I think? You guys never really finished…” She mumbled.

“Daniel, I don’t mean to concern you, but you’re like, really behind on your badges.” Kayla pointed out. “Janine started around last week and she’s getting her first badge tomorrow.”

“I don’t mean to make this sound harsh but, maybe you should give up on finding a shiny Magikarp,” Janine said. Daniel sighed and pushed himself away from the railing.

“It seems like a waste if I don’t find that Magikarp, though,” Daniel said. “I’ve been here for a good portion of my journey so I might as well stay.” He shrugged, Janine was about to chew him out when Astrid’s shout caught her attention.

“Hey, is that Romeo?” Astrid gestured beyond the dock to a figure on Jet Ski chasing a motorboat. “What is this an action movie?” She muttered.

“I think he’s literally chasing down the delinquents,” Kaytlyn muttered from next to her, squinting. Janine leaned close to the edge of the railing trying to get a good look at what was going on.

“This is normal. From what I see, the delinquents cause trouble nearly every week. But they usually can’t afford a motorboat…” He narrowed his eyes. Heavy wailing drew their attention and the group turned to see Officer Jenny on the beach, following the chase on her motorcycle.

“And the police don’t usually get involved,” He continued. “They usually leave it to Romeo to take care of the delinquents.”

“We probably shouldn’t get involved,” Kayla began, but she looked unsure as her companions seemed to have a spark of curiosity in their eyes. “But we will anyway because you’ve all got hero complexes the size of a Wailord…” By the time she had finished her mutterings, Janine, Kaytlyn, and Daniel had gone rushing off the dock with their Pokemon, Astrid only lagging behind to drag Kayla along.

Officer Jenny was staring out at the ocean with her binoculars, her Growlithe loyally sitting next to her.

“Officer Jenny! What’s going on?” Kaytlyn asked. The older woman looked at them and recognized them as trainers before explaining.

“Our Gym Leader, Romeo, was dealing with a call on a group of rude, troublemaking civilians, but it turns out it was actually about Pokemon poachers and not the city’s usual delinquents.”

“Pokemon poachers?” Kaytlyn asked. Jenny nodded.

“The waters here in Mistdrive are protected since it’s been recognized that we have flourishing oceanic life. This, unfortunately, attracts poachers who want to capture the many Pokemon who live here.” She continued to look out her binoculars.

“Shouldn’t we do something?” Janine asked, beginning to feel antsy as the chase continued. Jenny shook her head.

“Romeo can handle this much. Right now my job is to keep civilians from interfering! So,” Jenny pulled a megaphone from the motorcycle. “This is the Mistdrive City Police Department! Everyone get out of the water!” Officer Jenny continued to repeat the phrase while other officers attempted to keep crowds away.

“Pokemon poachers?” Astrid murmured over to Kayla. The girl shrugged. The Speedboat came closer to the shore, getting dangerously close to some swimmers still in the water. Romeo seemed resolved to stop the boat first. He pulled out a Pokeball and threw it out in front of him.

“Frillish let’s go!” A pink jellyfish-looking pokemon popped out and floated above the water.

“A Frillish!” Astrid scrambled for her Dex and frantically scanned the Pokemon.

“Frillish, The Floating Pokemon. This Pokemon has distinct male and female forms. If its veil-like arms stun and wrap a foe, that foe will be dragged miles below the surface, never to return.”

“But it looks so pink and happy…” Kayla mumbled, clearly concerned with the disparity between the Pokedex entry and the Pokemon’s appearance.

“Frillish! Use Ice Beam on the propellers!” Romeo pointed and Frillish floated in front of him, and opened its mouth, forming a light blue ball. Light blue beams shot out and hit the propeller of the boat, freezing it completely. The boat shuddered to a stop and smoke began to erupt from where Janine assumed the engine was. Whoever was on the boat seemed to panic and jumped overboard, swimming to the shore where Officer Jenny was waiting with handcuffs.

Romeo returned to the shore, abandoning the jet ski when he reached shallow waters, instead choosing to walk back to the beach. Kaytlyn faintly heard a number of girls shriek at his appearance. She shrugged, unable to see the appeal of bishounen boys. Some police officers took several trips to the boat, returning with a variety of Pokemon, one in particular caught her eye and she kicked Daniel’s shin to grab his attention.

“Arceus, what’s wrong-”

“Shut up and look!”

There, flopping in a net was a golden Magikarp.

“It was being poached?” Astrid said incredulously.

“Can’t we just like, take it?” Kaytlyn asked.

“No way, dude! The authorities are involved, we gotta ask for permission.” Astrid said, “It’ll probably take a good bit of convincing…”

Janine glanced at her longtime friend who was staring at the shiny Magikarp with something akin to wonder. She grabbed Astrid and Kayla’s wrists and pushed her way through the crowd to Officer Jenny.

“Officer Jenny, what’s going to happen to these Pokemon?” Janine asked, feigning interest.

“Well, they’ll first be sent to the aquarium for rehabilitation, and then if they’re healthy enough, they’ll be set free,” she explained. She followed Janine’s line of sight to the flopping Magikarp. “In the case of shinies, we can’t return them to the ocean in good conscience.”

“What do you mean?” Janine asked. Officer Jenny sighed and prepared to explain, but Astrid beat her to it.

“Shiny Pokemon are considered rare because there are so few of them in the world. But that’s because their unnatural coloration makes them more visible to predators. Releasing any shiny into the wild would be the same as leaving it for dead. Unless the shiny is a predator itself but..” Astrid trailed off her monologue in a series of mumbles.

“She’s right. So we’ll likely be sending this Magikarp to the aquarium, but we won’t be releasing him.” Officer Jenny responded kindly and turned away. Janine nudged Astrid and she caught on quickly.

“Oh! Officer Jenny!” Astrid called her attention again. “Would a trainer be able to take in one of these Pokemon? I mean no disrespect, but I think that it would be better if these Pokemon were given to trainers who could really take care of them!” Officer Jenny sighed.

“Normally I would agree, but we can’t just find trainers for all these Pokemon, and some of them might actually want to be returned to the wild.” She gestured to a Horsea that was whinnying sadly.

“What about just one?” Janine pointed her thumb over to the Magikarp flopping on the sand. Officer Jenny looked unsurprised at this. “That Magikarp is shiny, so you can’t release it right? So why not let a trainer catch it? I mean, we could at least give Magikarp the option to choose.” She finished nervously. The Officer eyed the Pokemon wearily.

“The aquarium doesn’t have any Magikarp.” Kayla added, “I mean Magikarp are common! They don’t exactly have a Magikarp exhibit. There would be no reason to keep it other than the fact that it’s shiny. He wouldn’t be able to find a school, and therefore would be unable to rehabilitate properly.” At least now Jenny thought they were well-versed in Pokemon Rehabilitation.

“I suppose you’re right,” Jenny admitted. “You can take the Magikarp.” She assented. Astrid gave Janine a hi-five. “But! Only if you have Nurse Joy take a look at it at the centre. So which one of you will be taking Magikarp?”

“None of us!” Janine beamed. “Daniel!” She called her friend over and explained the situation.

“So I can take Magikarp?” Daniel asked Officer Jenny. She sighed in exasperation.

“Yes, you can! Now get out of here! You’re loitering at the scene of a crime!” She nearly yelled. Daniel picked up the flopping fish and bumped a Pokeball to its forehead, capturing it in three binging sounds and one click.

~*~*~*~*~

After Daniel had captured his Magikarp, Romeo had walked up to their little group.

“Well, now that the poaching problem is over, I can finally get back to my Gym Battles!” Romeo said, stretching his arms out. “Tomorrow you’ll be facing me in battle, so I hope you’ve trained hard!”

Janine and Kaytlyn nodded and Romeo gave an excited smile. “Then I look forward to it! Till then!” And he ran off without another glance.

“So what will you be doing now?” Kayla asked.

“Continue my journey, of course! Now that I have my Magikarp, I can move forward!”

“Will you stay to watch me and Kaytlyn’s gym battles?” Janine asked.

“The next gym is in Silkgem Town, and that’s pretty far. I’ll be leaving as soon as Nurse Joy is done with Magikarp. So I won’t be there to see your battle.” He said apologetically. Janine nodded in slight disappointment.

“We technically didn’t finish our battle.” Janine pointed out. “Next time we meet I’ll absolutely destroy your team.”

“Arceus, you’ve gotten aggressive.”

“That’s a good thing, actually.” Kayla piped up. Astrid nodded in agreement. Daniel laughed and offered Janine’s friends fistbumps.

“Be careful!” Janine yelled at Daniel’s retreating figure. “And call your mom! She keeps calling me!” He gave her a thumbs up without turning around, causing the group to laugh.

When he was finally out of eyesight she turned to Kaytlyn.

“Let’s train.”

[astridspokemonfic]

Episode 4: An Electrifying Encounter!

Narrator: After Astrid’s success in the Rocens City Contest, the group has decided to hit the road yet again! Our trainers are on their way to Mistdrive City where Janine and Kaytlyn will hopefully get their first gym badge. Today, Janine trains for her upcoming Gym Battle!

“Alright, Pollo! Try it again!” The Torchic nodded and began to gather fire into a ball. “Almost there!” Suddenly the ball of fire burst in Pollo’s face in a small explosion, leaving its beak charred along with its trainer. Janine sighed and took the towel off her shoulder and began to carefully wipe the soot off her Pokemon’s face.

“It’s okay, Pollo. We’ll get it next time…” Janine said. The Pokemon gave a sad chirp and nuzzled into her chest. “Let’s get some food, okay?”

Janine returned to their makeshift camp where Kayla was frantically trying to flip over slices of bread while Astrid yelled at her. Kaytlyn was watching the entire thing with an exasperated look on her face. Their Pokemon were sitting nearby, half-asleep. Kaytlyn looked up from the makeshift cooking show in front of her when she noticed Janine approaching.

“Hey! How’d it go?” She asked.

“We’ve almost got the hang of it. If Pollo can let out strong enough fire, it might be enough to help with the type-difference.”

“What do you mean?” Kayla asked, only to get smacked by Astrid. “What?!”

“You’ll burn it again.” Astrid said, strictly. She turned to her Vulpix. “Again, please.” Vulpix gave her a weary look and carefully blew more flames to the fire beneath the pan.

“Well, I want Pollo to make a strong enough fire to evaporate any water attacks.”

“Have you considered dodging the attacks?” Kaytlyn asked sarcastically. Janine gave her a scathing look.

“Yes, I have. It’s just that if she can’t I want to know that she can deflect them at the very least.” Janine let down her Torchic so it could run off with the other Pokemon. “Our first Gym Battle and there’s already a type disadvantage.” She let out a ‘tsk” sound.

“It’s okay, Janine. We’ll help Pollo train!” Kaytlyn said.

“How? None of us have any Water-Type pokemon.” She pointed out. “Actually, thinking about it,  we only have Fire-Types and Grass-Types...”

“We’ll… improvise, I guess.” Kaytlyn muttered

“Kayla you burned the toast!”

“Sorry!”

~*~*~*~*~

“Okay, ready Pollo?” The Chick- Pokemon let out a chirp. “Okay, let’s go!”

The duo stood close-by to the stream surrounded by trees and brush, while Astrid and Kaytlyn rolled their pants up to their knees and waded into the water. Astrid ran her hand through the water towards the Torchic.

“Ember!” Pollo released small bursts of flame at the oncoming droplets, somewhat evaporating it, however, a large part of the water ended up on Torchic, who let out unhappy noises. Kayla sat nearby in the shade of the trees with everyone’s Pokemon, making sure to keep Charmander away from the water.

“Yikes,” Astrid said. “Uh, Janine how about you try the move you were teaching Torchic earlier?”

“Okay.” Janine nodded. “Pollo! Use Flame Burst!” The Torchic took a deep breath and began to form a ball of fire in front of its’ face. Astrid and Kaytlyn both gathered water into their hands, ready to throw a wave of water at the Pokemon. “Come on! A little more!” Janine encouraged. The small fire type closed its eyes in effort and let the fireball grow a little more before letting it go.

“Now!” Astrid yelled and they both sent as much water as possible in the Pokemon’s direction. The Fireball went straight through, and the two teens fell back trying to avoid it. The Flame Burst exploded in the stream nearby, completely evaporating the water for a moment.

“You did it Pollo!” Janine picked up the Pokemon and hugged it tightly as it chirruped.

“How about you work on aim…?” Astrid said, crawling out of the water, soaking wet. Kaytlyn pushed herself up, her previously straight hair beginning to turn wavy from the water. She nodded in agreement.

“Wait. I heard something.” Janine said, pausing.

“Ugh, you with your hearing…” Kaytlyn groaned and flopped onto her back, letting the water drip back onto the grass. Kayla shushed her.

“Shut up, I hear something too.” Kayla hissed. Astrid and Kaytlyn paused, unable to hear anything besides the rushing of the stream. Then, very faintly, they heard a pained Pokemon cry.

“Janine. Doesn’t flame burst cause ‘splash damage’?” Astrid looked up at her friend with worry.

Janine immediately rushed towards the sound, Kaytlyn following her closely. She stopped at a bush that was near the spot in the stream where Pollo’s Flame Burst exploded.

“Oh no.” Janine murmured, catching sight of an injured Pokemon. The Pokemon was laying on the ground and Janine could see it’s injured leg clearly. She reached out to touch it and was subsequently whacked in the head.

“Don’t be stupid! It’s wild and injured, it could seriously hurt you.” Kaytlyn hissed. Janine looked back at it.

“Well, I can’t just leave it alone. Especially since it could be my fault.” She said. Janine slowly crawled over to the Pokemon, looking for any serious injuries before carefully gathering the dirty fluffball. “Ow!” Janine felt a sudden sting in her arms and Kaytlyn moved to reach out for her. Janine shook her head, but the other reached out anyway, making contact with her upper arm.

“Ah!” Kaytlyn pulled away suddenly. “Static.” Janine looked at the Pokemon she had dubbed ‘Fluff-Ball’ in her head.

“It must be an electric type.” Now that Janine got a closer look, she noticed the Pokemon actually did have a face and horns, though they were mostly covered. And it had more wounds on its body than she had previously thought. Janine carefully walked back as to not jostle any of the injuries. At their makeshift training area, Kayla and Astrid were talking animatedly. She could hear a bit of their conversation as she got closer.

“...Flame Burst is that kind of move. It causes damage not only to the target but also adjacent objects and Pokemon. That’s what ‘splash damage’ means.” Astrid explained. Kayla nodded and the duo looked up to see Janine approaching.

“Woah is that a Mareep?” Kayla asked. “It’s so dirty.”

Astrid took out her Pokedex and scanned the Fluff-Ball in Janine’s arms.

“Mareep, The Wool Pokemon. If static electricity builds in its body, its fleece doubles in volume. Touching it will shock you.” The Pokedex recited.

“Huh. It looks dirtier than in the picture.”Kayla pointed out. “It’s wool is way longer too.”

“How did you know it was a Mareep?” Kaytlyn asked.

“Because I read.” She retorted. 

“I think it was injured before it ever got hit by Pollo’s flame burst. The splash damage shouldn’t have hurt it that much, but I think its health was already low.” She slowly sat down, crossing her legs, and depositing Mareep onto her lap. “Kayla, come over here with my bag.”

The twin complied and sat down.“Uh, open the Berry Bag, I need an Oran Berry.” Kayla rummaged for a bit before placing one in Janine’s waiting hand. “Can you get some Potions and bandages?” Kayla nodded while Janine proceeded to coax the Mareep into eating.

“Come on, at least one bite?” Janine held the Oran Berry in front of Mareep’s face until the Pokemon finally took a reluctant bite. Then another. Then another. Janine had Chikorita hold it while she reached for the medical supplies. Mareep flinched for a moment when Chikorita’s vines replaced Janine’s hand but eventually relaxed when Chikorita maintained her friendly atmosphere.

Janine carefully began to tend to all visible wounds, cleaning and disinfecting them before wrapping them up in bandages. Janine finally got to a fresh minor burn on Mareep’s tail and winced.

“You got hit pretty badly huh…?” Janine whispered to the Mareep. Chikorita had long since left after Mareep had finished it’s berry. Pollo came running over and began what Janine assumed was apologizing. The Mareep let out a soft bleat and allowed the Torchic to nuzzle her. The calm and quiet atmosphere had prompted everyone into relaxing for the time being. Astrid was going over her map, Kayla was resting on her back with Rowlet on her stomach, and Kaytlyn was throwing pebbles in the stream. By the time Janine was done, the sun had already begun to set.

“There. All done.” Janine let Mareep crawl off her lap and sit near the other Pokemon. Surprisingly, Mareep wasn’t very scared of the other Pokemon, and now without its injuries, it was interacting more with the others.

“What are we going to do with Mareep?” Astrid approached the other teen.

“Well what happened was my fault, so I should take responsibility. We can’t let Mareep back into the wild since she still has injuries. There’s no way of telling if she’s at full strength yet.” Janine said. Kaytlyn hummed in agreement. Astrid nodded and turned to Kayla.

“Let’s set up camp. Kaytlyn, go get firewood, Kayla, help me set up the tents.” Astrid ordered. The twins, seeing it better not to argue, simply rolled their eyes and obeyed. Kaytlyn took her Charmander along with her, while Kayla received help from Rowlet on how to set up a tent. Janine nodded to herself and stood up, deciding to help her friends in setup.

~*~*~*~*~

It wasn’t until everyone was already eating dinner that the thought had occurred to her.

They were eating food that was supposedly safe (”I promise I didn’t poison the food.” Astrid deadpanned) while Janine was scrolling through her Pokedex.

“Don’t Mareep usually live in herds?” Janine asked. Her companions looked up from their food to stare at her. Kayla spoke up after a moment.

“I mean usually they’re from ranches, so they have a whole flock living with them. Maybe this one was just on its own.” She said.

“The map doesn’t have a ranch on it. At least not anywhere near here.” Astrid said, having looked through the map earlier.

“How did you get here then?” Janine posed the question to the Mareep as it relaxed close to the fire. The Mareep in question looked up and bleated a bit before closing its eyes again.

Janine sighed lightly and returned to her meal, deep in thought. Eventually, it was time for bed, and after Kaytlyn had put out the fire with an empty pot everyone went to their tents for the night. Janine had begun to step in when she realized that Mareep wasn’t following her.

“You wanna come in?” She asked, opening the flap invitingly. Pollo hopped in to show her that it was safe, but Mareep refused to go in all together. Janine eventually sighed and entered the tent herself, leaving the sheep pokemon outside.

She returned a few minutes later in her pyjamas with her sleeping bag, a pillow, and a lamp. The Mareep gave her a confused look and Janine gave a small chuckle. “You didn’t think I was gonna leave you outside alone, right?” The teen settled into her sleeping bag, but unzipped it, leaving it open for Pollo to snuggle in next to her. Mareep took about three seconds before deciding to snuggle up next to both her and the Fire-Type, clearly willing to sacrifice solitary for warmth.

“It’s surprisingly nice out here. Woah, I can see all the stars!” Janine exclaimed, looking up between tree branches.

“Can yoU SHUT UP?!” Kayla yelled from inside her tent. Janine laughed nervously.

“I forgot she’s a light sleeper,” Janine muttered while full-on cackles were emanating from Astrid’s tent.

Kaytlyn left her tent first, saying that her insomnia was making it difficult to sleep at all. Charmander sat close by.

Kayla followed, complaining that it was too cold in the tent.

Astrid was next, pouting about how unfair it was that they left her out of such a fun activity. Both her Pokemon were zipped up in her sleeping bag with her.

“Look at us, we’re a bunch of idiots sleeping outside when there are three perfectly good tents over there,” Astrid said, the smile on her face betraying her sarcasm. Meanwhile, Kaytlyn had re-lit the fire, allowing everyone to feel warm as they lied down around it.

“When I decided on a Pokemon Journey, this is exactly the kind of experience I was looking for,” Janine said wistfully. “I always wanted to camp under the stars with my Pokemon.”

“I felt like that when I first set foot in the Contest Hall a couple days ago! It was so cool!” Astrid mentioned.

“I haven’t felt like that yet,” Kaytlyn muttered with a tinge of sadness. Kayla mumbled an agreement and Astrid twisted herself around to look at them.

“It’s okay,” Astrid reached out to grab Kaytlyn’s upper arm. “We just started our journey. We still have more experiences heading our way.” With that, the group fell to silence. The calm of the fire and the night sky began to lull them to sleep. Astrid was already beginning to yawn, while Kayla seemed close to conking out. Janine could feel her eyelids grow heavy and even Kaytlyn’s head began to nod. Janine let her hand reach out for Mareep in a comforting pat before she began to hug Pollo close to her chest as darkness enveloped her senses.

~*~*~*~*~

When she woke up, Mareep was gone.

The sun hadn’t even risen yet, and her comrades were still fast asleep in their sleeping bags. Janine stood up and stretched for a moment as she wiped the sleep out of her eyes. Pollo joined her for a moment before realizing that Mareep had seemingly disappeared.

“What?!” Janine rushed to put on her shoes and jacket. Her resounding yell had forced her friends awake.

“It’s like, 5 in the morning! Let me sleep..!” Astrid whined and rolled over so that her face was in her pillow. Kayla groaned in agreement.

“Mareep is gone!” At this, her friends perked up with looks of alarm.

“Isn’t Mareep injured?” Kayla asked, scrambling for her glasses.

“That’s the problem!” Astrid retorted, deciding to just put her boots on rather than change out of her pyjamas.

“Okay, Kayla, stay here in case Mareep comes back. Astrid, Kaytlyn, let’s split up and look for her.” Janine said, grabbing her bag. “Text me if you find any clues.” With that, the group split up, Janine heading to the fields near the route, hoping to find the Electric-Type.

“Mareep!” Janine yelled out. Pollo was calling out too, hoping to hear the other Pokemon respond. There was a loud and pained cry. Janine ran towards it with a sudden sense of deja vu. Unsurprisingly it was Mareep, who was running towards her with shining eyes.

“Mareep, you’re ok!” Janine held her arms out wide and let the Sheep Pokemon run into her arms. She nuzzled it without restraint, unaware of her hair beginning to float from the static. She shot a quick text to her friends when a growl caught her attention.

A pack of angry Mightyena was staring her down. The one at the front had a scar on its eye, and Janine assumed it was the leader of the pack. A thought struck her.

“Is this why you were so injured when we found you?” Janine asked. A Mightyena barked at her. She narrowed her eyes in annoyance but began to back up nonetheless. She was far outnumbered by the wild Pokemon, and so far, fighting seemed to be the best option.

“Alright, Pollo. You ready?” Janine asked. The Fire-Type chirped in determination. “Keep your eyes open this time okay? Pollo! Use Flame Burst!”

The Torchic opened its’ mouth and gathered up as much flame as possible and let it form a ball. “Throw it, now!” Pollo released the fireball with his eyes open this time and watched it hit one of the Mightyena. The Fireball exploded on impact, releasing more wisps of fire that hit the surrounding Pokemon. The Mightyena in the front went running back while the others were still growling at her. 

Mareep wriggled out of Janine’s arms and stared down the leader. The Mareep suddenly let out a cry and sent bolts of electricity at the other Pokemon, completely electrocuting most of the Pokemon in the group. The pack went running, whimpering the whole time as they followed their leader.

“Janine! There you are- oh Arceus.” Janine vaguely heard Astrid’s voice from behind her. “What did you do?”

“Pollo used Flame Burst properly!” Janine said, giving a lame explanation.

“Your hair is a mess.” Kaytlyn laughed. “I’m heading back to camp.”

“Ah! Me too! I wanna sleep some more.”

“The sun’s already rising, you idiot!” Janine looked up at the sky and noticed that the previously dark sky was fading to be bright clear blue. She knelt down in front of the Electric-Type.

“Mareep, I don’t think they’ll be bothering you anymore.” The Mareep gave a happy bleat. Janine smiled and ruffled its’ coat, giving it a wide smile. “Be careful okay?” Janine turned only to feel tugging at her pants.

“What’s wrong?” Mareep continued to tug until Janine crouched down again. “Mareep what are you-” The Pokemon pulled at Janine’s bag until the trainer eventually just let the bag down, allowing Mareep to rummage through it. Pollo chirped in confusion. Eventually, a Pokeball rolled out and the Electric-Type stopped its rummaging. “Do you...want to stay with me?” It nodded with excitement. Janine picked up the ball and softly tapped it against Mareep’s nose. The Pokemon disappeared in red light. One blink. Two Blinks. Three Blinks. The resounding click let Janine know that Mareep had really chosen to stay.

~*~*~*~*~

At camp, Astrid was helping Kaytlyn pack up what was left of their tents while Kayla cleaned up any trash.

“Where’s Mareep?” Kayla asked. Janine held the Pokeball out with a smile on her face. “You caught it?”

“Sort of? More like we came to a mutual agreement to travel together.” She shrugged.

“Hey wait! Mareep’s an Electric-Type! That’ll be perfect for your Gym Battle!” Astrid said. “That lined up so well…” She muttered.

“What moves does it know?” Kaytlyn asked, shoving a pack into her backpack. Janine pulled out her Pokedex and scanned the Pokeball. “Uh, Discharge, Thunder Wave, Take Down, and Charge.”

Astrid slung an arm over Janine and looked over her shoulder.

“Oo, when it reaches its final evolution, it learns Thunder Punch!” Astrid said, pointing at a picture of an Ampharos. Kayla came over and scrutinized the photo.

“That doesn’t make sense: It doesn’t have hands,” Kayla said, scrunching up her eyebrows in confusion. “Ampharos doesn’t have hands; it can’t punch!” Astrid patted her back while Janine stared at the name.

“I’m naming it Arroz,” Janine said with finality. Kaytlyn looked at her,

“You can’t keep naming your Pokemon after food,” Kaytlyn muttered.

“Pfft are there rules?” Janine asked smugly. “I’m naming her Arroz and she and Pollo will help me beat the Mistdrive Gym.” A shriek forced them out of their conversation.

“Kayla! You are banned from ever making our food again!”

“It’s one piece of toast-”

“It was several pieces of toast!”  

Janine laughed at Astrid’s frustration while Kaytlyn decided to put Kayla out of her misery and take over for cooking. Janine walked over to her neatly folded pile of clothes and placed Arroz’s Pokeball on her red belt, enjoying the shine that glinted off of it.

[astridspokemonfic]

Episode 3: The Rocens City Ribbon!

Narrator: The day of the Rocens City Contest has finally arrived! After some setbacks, Astrid is ready to take her first ribbon! A fierce, new rival has set her competitive spirits high.

“Vulpix! Use Ember!”

With a cry, the fire-type released a barrage of small flames, directly hitting Chikorita’s Razor Leaf, with nothing but charred remains.

“Alright! So we’ve gotten accuracy down! We’ll still need to come up with a winning combination for the Performance Stage though…” Astrid mumbled. “Maybe something simple for now, until we can find a way to be flashier. Okay, let’s try…”

Janine and the twins watched her from afar.

“She’s trying really hard to come up with good combinations.” Kayla observed. Vulpix let out a huge fire spin while Chikorita comically struggled to keep away from the flames. The Fire-Type stopped immediately and both trainer and Pokemon panicked when her leaf caught fire. They began to frantically try to blow it out, coincidentally making it worse. Kayla watched with concern. “Do you think she’ll get past the first stage?”

“She’ll win.” Janine said easily. Kaytlyn nodded.

“It’s Astrid. She’s been planning for this day all her life! She’ll be fine.”

“Kaytlyn, she had one day to practice. That’s not enough time!” Kayla argued back.

“No, it’s not.” Astrid agreed, suddenly standing next to the trio. Kayla jumped in surprise. Vulpix and Chikorita sat behind her, both eating poffins. “But at the very least, it’ll be the best learning experience of my life.” she chuckled. She moved to reach for her bag which Kaytlyn passed to her.

“When we get to Rocens city, I need to go straight to the Contest Hall and get my Contest Pass.” Astrid said, absentmindedly petting her Vulpix.

“You need a Contest Pass to compete?” Kayla asked.

“Every person who wants to compete has to get a Contest Pass…” She gasped suddenly. “You guys should totally compete!” Astrid hopped up, her eyes practically shining.

“Astrid. We only have one Pokemon each…”Janine reminded her. This did nothing to sway the other girl.

“Next time then! When it’s a Singles contest!”

“I guess if we have time…” she muttered.

“It’s a promise then! I’ll hold you to that!”

“Don’t we need Ball Capsules and Capsule Seals to compete?” Janine asked. The twins breathed a sigh of relief.

“Nah, they give those to you with the Contest Pass. So no excuses!”

“Wait, what’re Capsules and Seals for?” Kayla asked. The Rowlet on her head tilted its head a full 90 degrees in joint confusion.

“Don’t they add special effects to Pokeballs when you release the Pokemon inside?” Kaytlyn asked, throwing out a vague definition. Astrid nodded.

“They’re kinda important! Along with costumes.” Astrid added.

“Ah! We don’t have any costumes-”

“That’s the easiest part of Contests.” The girl deadpanned. “Stop trying to get out of it!”

The group laughed nervously.

~*~*~*~*~

“Here’s your contest pass! Along with the two ball capsules, a Seal case, and the rule book! Make sure to read it carefully!” The Reception Lady presented Astrid the items on a tray with a smile. Astrid carefully placed them in her bag.

“Of course! Thank you.” Astrid bowed slightly to the older lady and ran back to her friends waiting in the lobby of the Contest Hall. “So I finally have my Contest Pass… and I have everything I need to compete. Honestly, all that’s left to do is get changed…”

“What’s wrong? Something’s up with you.” Janine said. “Suspicious.”

“I guess I’m a little nervous…” Astrid said, looking down at her feet.

“Dude, you have like 4 hours until the Contest starts. Let’s go look around.” Kayla said, glancing at her phone clock. Kaytlyn nodded in agreement.

“It might calm you down.” She added. Astrid nodded and walked along with them with a troubled look on her face.

She only looked up when she felt Janine elbow her.“Isn’t that the group from Prof. Laurel’s lab?” she pointed at a group of three teens who were sitting on a bench on the side of the sidewalk. Astrid squinted and recognized the taller girl with a Popplio in her arms. She nodded and cupped her hands around her mouth.

“Hey, guys! Adrian! Sheyla! Andrea!” The coordinator shouted out, causing the other trainers to look around in bewilderment until Adrian’s eyes landed on them and he waved back, calling the group over.

“How have you guys been?” Janine asked, somewhat relieved to see familiar faces.

“We’ve been fine! We’re just sightseeing the city for now!” Andrea said happily. “We were planning on going to the art museum later today, would you like to come?”

“Ah, actually I’m competing in the contest in a few hours,” Astrid said sheepishly. “You guys are free to come and watch if you want.”

“That sounds way more fun than a boring museum!” Adrian exclaimed.

“Hey!”

“It’s true, Andrea! They’re all dead! I don’t care!” He turned to Astrid. “We would love to watch your contest later.”

“We can go to the museum tomorrow, chill.” Sheyla placated the other girl. She seems to have warmed up to them. Janine thought.

“Wait, did your group double since the last time we saw you?” Andrea asked. Astrid beamed and nudged the twins forward. Kaytlyn tensed considerably while Kayla seemed bored.

“We met them in Gemlock Forest. A funny story actually.” She giggled lightly and prompted Kaytlyn to introduce herself.

“I’m Kaytlyn. I'm a Pokemon trainer.”

“I’m Kayla, and I’m comedic relief.” She deadpanned. Janine whacked her shoulder in annoyance.

“A mood.” Adrian replied. While the others introduced themselves, Astrid pulled a Pokeball off her belt and stared at it for a moment before putting it back. She slung her arms around Kayla and Janine’s shoulders and began to lean on them.

“Alright, so who wants ice cream?”

~*~*~*~*~

Astrid sighed in the waiting room, trying to push her nerves down. Both her Pokemon were safe inside their balls, already with seals. Astrid stared hard at the viewing screen on the wall as the announcer began her opening.

“Hello, everybody, and welcome to Rocens City! I’m Miriam, and I will be your Master of Ceremonies for this evening! Tonight we have…”

The faint echo of Miriam’s voice reverberated below the stage, down to the coordinators waiting to be called up. Astrid began to play with the hem of her yellow dress.

One by one, each trainer left the room and returned, some looking victorious, while others… didn’t.  Astrid stole a peek at Pearl who waltzed past her and to the stairs leading up to the stage with a smirk. Unable to resist the urge, Astrid watched the monitor as Pearl practically danced onto the stage.

“Stunfisk, Quagsire! Go!” The ground types were released from their Pokeballs as Ribbons of light swirled around them.

“Oh, so that’s what Seals do!” Kayla exclaimed in the audience. To her right, Kaytlyn gave her a tired look while Janine let out a laugh she disguised as a cough. To her left were the three other trainers that they had barely met that day. She squinted a little harder at the stage and gave off a whine.

“Eugh! What Pokemon are those? They’re so ugly!” She whispered to Janine. The trainer looked for a moment before turning.

“Stunfisk? I mean, it looks like a pancake so-”

“It looks like a peanut and a pear fused with bird… And the blue one is even worse!” She pointed at the aforementioned Quagsire with such revulsion that Janine had to laugh.

“It doesn’t look that bad!” Janine said, trying to placate her. Kayla let out another gurgled hum before Pearl finally began to get her Pokemon to perform.

“Quagsire, Mud Bomb!” The Pokemon swiped its arm, creating a ball of mud and throwing it up into the air. “Stunfisk! Use, Hidden Power!” The flat Electric-type threw orbs of power at the mud bomb, causing it to blow up in sparkles.

“What a stunning use of Hidden Power! The audience is loving this!” Miriam said.

“Let’s keep it going! Quagsire, use Water Gun! And Stunfisk use Discharge!” Pearl crossed her arms in an ‘X’ fashion over her chest.

“Wait, won’t that move hurt Quagsire? Discharge attacks everything in the immediate area! And Quagsire’s a Water-type…” Andrea furrowed her brow in confusion. Adrian shook his head.

“Quagsire is a dual type: Water and Ground. And as you know... Electric-type moves won’t affect Ground-type Pokemon.” he explained. Stunfisk’s Discharge hit Quagsire who remained oblivious. The Quagsire used Water Gun, directing the electricity charged water upwards in a fountain.

“Wow! A dazzling display of electricity from Stunfisk! Quagsire’s water fountain is simply breathtaking!”

Pearl took a bow along with her Quagsire. Her Stunfisk just sorta flopped around.

“That’s going to be a tough act to follow. That fountain really appealed to the audience.” Janine said, glancing around at other spectators. A few more coordinators, performed on stage until it was Astrid’s turn.

“Vulpix, Chikorita! Spotlight!” Astrid threw her Pokeballs in the air, releasing both her Pokemon in a sea of stars.

“Chikorita! Let’s start off with Poison Powder!” Chikorita twirled her leaf around, expelling a purple powder into the air in a tornado fashion.

“Vulpix, use Attract!” Vulpix winked, summoning hearts that got caught in the tornado. “Ember!” The Ember dispelled the poison tornado, leaving sparkly purple hearts floating around.

“Vulpix and Chikorita have created a beautiful display of hearts, now floating around the stadium!” Miriam said in slight awe.

“Chikorita, use Vine Whip!” Astrid made eye contact with the Chikorita at her side and winked, signaling something to her Pokemon. The Grass-type got a determined look on her face and reached out with her vines.

“What is she doing? If Chikorita touches those hearts-” Adrian began. Janine shushed him.

“Watch.”

Chikorita wrapped her vines around Vulpix’s middle and flung him high into the air.

“Vulpix use Ember!” Vulpix stopped mid-somersault and blew Embers out at the hearts from the Attract earlier.

“Razor Leaf, Chikorita!” Chikorita sent dozens of sharp leaves up at the hearts above. The combined attack destroyed all the hearts, causing pink sparkles to rain down on the audience below. Chikorita effortlessly caught the falling Vulpix with her vines, depositing him softly onto the ground.

“Wow! Chikorita and Vulpix’s performances seem to have impressed the judges!” The announcer said, looking to the judges who were all smiles. “And that concludes the Performance Stage of the Competition! We’ll return with the results before intermission!”

“Do you think Astrid passed?” Kaytlyn murmured. Kayla considered for a moment, then nodded. Janine watched the judges apprehensively, choosing not to reply.

“And the results are in! These 8 Coordinators have made it past this stage and will be moving on to the second part of the Contest!” Miriam announced. She turned to the screen behind her.

For one tense moment, the screen didn’t move, then 8 faces flashed onto the screen at once. Astrid’s eyes immediately zeroed in on her own smiling face staring back at her like a reflection.

“We will be back after Intermission for the Battle Stage, where these trainers will battle head to head for the Rocens City Ribbon!”

Astrid let out a happy whoop and pulled both Chikorita and Vulpix close, giving them a tight hug.

“Alright let’s win our first ribbon!” She said with determination. Both Pokemon gave a cheer in response.

~*~*~*~*~

“Alright, Ladies and Gentlemen! You’ve waited patiently! Now it’s time for our first battle! To my right I have Judy! And to my left…”

Astrid zoned out for a bit in the waiting room and glanced around. There were only six other coordinators in the room, the others had already left after hearing the results of the Performance Stage.

“Hm. So you can fool everyone into thinking you’re good after all.” Astrid turned to find Pearl standing next to her. “You probably won’t make it to the final battle, but kudos to you for trying.” Astrid resisted the urge to roll her eyes. Next to her, Vulpix bristled.

“Kudos to you for wearing one of the only colors that clashes with your hair.” She retorted, walking away, leaving Pearl sputtering as she gripped her gaudy lime-green dress. Her Pokemon followed in suit, walking away with their heads held high.

The teen sat closer to the stairs, waiting not-so-patiently for her turn. Finally, the previous coordinators returned, the male looking victorious while the other girl rushed off towards the restrooms. Astrid felt a twinge of sympathy for the other teen. Astrid recalled her Pokemon and took a deep breath before running up the stairs to the stage. 

Astrid’s opponent this round was a male teen around her age. He wore a dark cape along with an outfit that instantly reminded her of the outfits Princes wore in fairy tales.

“To my right, I have Astrid! And to my left, Darius! Alright, Coordinators! Five Minutes on the clock! Begin!”

“Chikorita, Vulpix! Spotlight!” Astrid released them with a flourish, both Pokemon bursting from swirling ribbons.

“Come on out, Surskit, Munna!” The opposing trainer called as his Pokemon burst forth in a splash of color.

“Munna, use Round! Surskit, use Bubblebeam!” Surskit shot out dozens of bubbles while Munna let out a ringing sound that boosted the power of Surskit’s move.

“I don’t think so! Chikorita! Use Razor Leaf to burst those bubbles!” Darius’ points sunk down at Chikorita’s counterattack. “Alright! Vulpix, use Ember!”

The other trainers’ Surskit moved to intercept, but Vulpix leapt over it and hit Munna square on its head.

“Astrid’s really going at it,” Andrea said, watching as Chikorita unleashed a wave of leaves on the opposing Surskit.

“That Type difference is going to be difficult for Surskit. Chikorita’s Grass-Type moves could decimate any water type.” Adrian murmured. Janine nodded in agreement but kept her eyes glued to the points on the screen above the battleground. The opposing coordinator’s points were steadily going down to slivers while Astrid’s only had a sizeable dent in comparison.

“Munna use Zen Headbutt!” Astrid glanced up at her opponent who seemed to be sweating with desperation. Astrid sent a silent apology his way.

“Dodge it!” Both of her Pokemon jumped away from the rushing Munna in a V pattern. “Vulpix! Use Ember!”

“No! Surskit use Quick Attack on Vulpix!” The Surskit let out a small cry and went rushing to Astrid’s Vulpix.

“Chikorita, use Vine Whip to intercept!” Chikorita’s vines stretched across the battleground and managed to grab onto one of Surskit’s thin legs. “Toss ‘em!” Chikorita flung Surskit across the field and back to the block where its trainer was standing. Meanwhile, Munna took a direct hit from the Ember.

“Oh no, Surskit, Munna!” Both of the Pokemon were lying down with swirls already forming in their eyes.

“Surskit and Munna are unable to battle! The winner of Block B is… Astrid!” Miriam announced. Astrid stood there panting slightly. She smiled lightly at the crowd before running back to the stairs, her Pokemon following her. The coordinator sighed in relief in the waiting room, pausing when she saw the Coordinator from earlier. She gave him one of her brightest smiles and offered him a handshake.

“Darius, right? That was a good battle.” Darius eyed her hand warily before shaking it hesitantly. Astrid beamed and filed him away in her mind as a potential friend. “My name is Astrid. That combination with Round and Bubblebeam was really cool!”

Darius gave her a surprised look. “Really? But you cut through it so easily...” Astrid shrugged.

“That was just the type difference between our moves. They cancelled out!” Astrid explained. “Your combinations were really amazing!” Before Darius could reply, Miriam’s voice echoed again.

“And the winner is… Pearl!” Astrid flinched and looked up to the Screen in the room where Pearl had already won her battle. Her eyes widened in shock.

“T-That was only a couple minutes…” Astrid stuttered. The teen next to her glanced up and paled considerably.

“I’m actually glad I got you instead of her. That was just… brutal. She demolished me in the Mistdrive contest.” Darius muttered. He eyed Pearl’s smiling face warily. “The combo of Surskit and Floette was no match for her…” Darius murmured again, clearly disheartened. Astrid shook her head stubbornly.

“But she’s not unbeatable. I’ll show you that when I’m holding that ribbon.”

Darius absorbed her words with a spark of determination in his eye.

As if on cue, Pearl strutted in, clearly proud of her accomplishment.

“Next time,” He said “I’ll be the one you’re competing against.”

“That’s a promise then!” Astrid said in a sing-song manner. She shot a glance at Pearl who was preening in a mirror.

“You better demolish Pearl in the finals or I won’t forgive you for beating me.” Darius said, his competitive spirit reignited. He gave her a smile before departing to the changing rooms. Clearly if Astrid was ever going to get this ribbon, then Pearl would be the one to beat.

~*~*~*~*~

“I’m back and I have food!” Adrian said, scooting past the twins and seating himself between Janine and Andrea. He passed popcorn to each of them.

“You missed Astrid’s second battle.” Sheyla deadpanned. 

“Did she win?” He asked.

“Yes-”

“Then I didn’t miss anything at all.” He gave a self-satisfied smile.”Besides, from what I heard, this is the battle I shouldn’t miss.” Janine nodded.

“Apparently, Pearl challenged Astrid’s integrity as a coordinator, so she really pushed through just to get to this battle!” The trainer said, remembering her desperate hunt for Vulpix and Astrid’s determination in training them both.

“It all comes down to this! The Rocens City Ribbon will go to the winner of this battle! In Block A, Astrid! And in Block B, Pearl!” The crowd cheered loudly. “Let’s get this started! Trainers! There are five minutes on the clock! Battle, begin!”

“Chikorita, Vulpix! It’s showtime!” Chikorita and Vulpix both gave Pearl a fierce glare and Pearl merely raised an eyebrow.

“Quagsire, and Stunky! Show ‘em how it’s done!” Quagsire was the furthest thing from intimidating, but Stunky glared right back.

“Stunky, use Fury Swipes!” Stunky charged at Chikorita.

“Chikorita, Vine Whip!” Chikorita whipped Stunky away, causing the skunk to retreat.

“What Pokemon is that?” Janine asked out loud, pulling out her Pokedex. Kayla shuddered at the Quagsire once again.

“Stunky, the skunk Pokemon. It protects itself by spraying a noxious fluid from its rear. The stench lingers for 24 hours.” The Pokedex recited perfectly.

“Oh,” Janine paused, thinking about the description. “Ew.”

“Ew! Stunky’s even worse than Quagsire!” Kayla whined, making a face. Kaytlyn patted her back without any real sympathy as they watched the battle continue. Astrid and Pearl seemed to be taking turns, both of their points steadily going down until they were both at about half.

“Quagsire! Water Gun! Stunky use Acid Spray!”

“Vulpix, Ember! Chikorita, Razor Leaf!”

Janine watched with bated breath as Astrid countered another one of Pearl’s attacks, causing Pearl’s points to go down by quite a bit. The coordinator growled.

“I’m done playing around! Stunky, Smokescreen!” Without pause, the Stunky jumped back and released dark smoke all over the battleground. “Quagsire, Mud Bomb!” The Quagsire threw the bomb into the fray, dispelling the smoke and hitting both Chikorita and Vulpix. Chikorita shook it off easily, but Vulpix seemed to have more difficulty. Astrid’s points went down to just below half.

“A Ground-type move like that is super effective against Vulpix.” Janine said, causing Kayla’s eyes to widen in understanding.

“Doesn’t that make Quagsire super dangerous to Vulpix?” she asked. Kaytlyn nodded stiffly.

“Don’t let up! Quagsire, use Water Gun, Stunky, use Feint!” Astrid gasped.

“Chikorita use Razor Leaf on Quagsire! Vulpix get out of the way!” Chikorita’s move hit Quagsire square in the chest, but she got the full force of Stunky’s feint. “Chikorita!” Pearl’s points went down a bit, while Astrid’s points were now down to around one-third of their original amount.

“Quagsire, use Rain Dance!” Quagsire began to shift its arms about in a strange way, causing rain to pour down in the Stadium. Vulpix’s ears flattened to his head.

“What does Rain Dance even do?” Kayla asked. Janine had a tense look on her face as she answered.

“Rain Dance lowers the power of Fire Type moves by half.”

Pearl had a triumphant look on her face. “It’s all over for you now!”

Astrid grit her teeth. Vulpix wasn’t being hurt by the rain, but he clearly felt weakened. Chikorita was still recovering from Stunky’s Feint. Astrid ran her head through her options when it suddenly clicked.

“No! It’s not over yet! Vulpix, use Fire Spin!” Vulpix unleashed a beautiful tornado of fire around Quagsire, the tornado sustaining itself around the Ground-Type.

“What are you doing?! Fire-Type moves are weakened in rain!” Pearl yelled. From the audience, Adrian and Sheyla gave each other confused looks.

“That doesn’t change the fact that Quagsire is trapped in that Fire Spin!”

“Quagsire, use Ice Beam!” Quagsire attempted to shoot and Ice Beam but was unable to shoot one through the flames.

“Chikorita use Poison Powder!” Chikorita’s powder joined the Fire Spin, making the tornado sparkle. The powder wafted inward as Quagsire began to suffer from the effects of the poison.

“Stunky! Use Fury Swipes!” Pearl yelled. Stunky began to take a running start towards Vulpix.

“Nuh-uh. Vulpix! Attract!” Astrid stood with bated breath as Vulpix’ hearts hit Stunky dead on target. To her absolute relief, Stunky began to stumble around, clearly infatuated with Vulpix. Pearl gaped as her points were neck and neck with Astrid’s.

“A male Vulpix?!” She yelled. The rainclouds faded away.

“Vulpix! Use Ember on Stunky, Chikorita, get ready!” Stunky was knocked back into Quagsire, forcibly pushing them through the Fire Spin. Pearl’s points began to diminish.

“Rrrgh, Quagsire! Use Ice Beam on Chikorita!”

“Vulpix, intercept!” Vulpix jumped in front of Chikorita and opened its mouth. Astrid had expected Vulpix to release an onslaught of flame on the Ice Beam. Instead, Vulpix’ eyes began to glow yellow and a rainbow-colored beam of light was released from his mouth, overpowering the Ice Beam and getting through to Quagsire. Astrid struggled to form words.

“Was that…” She stammered.

“...A new move?!” Kayla exclaimed in the stands. Kaytlyn swiped Janine’s Pokedex out of her hand and had it analyze Astrid’s Vulpix. She narrowed her eyes and began to read it out loud.

“Known moves: Fire Spin, Attract, Ember, and… Extrasensory.”

Astrid’s eyes began to shine as Vulpix glanced back at her with a determined look. Chikorita cheered next to her. Astrid glanced up at the clock. 20 seconds left.

“Chikorita! Use Razor Leaf! Vulpix, use Extrasensory!” Chikorita’s Razor Leaf headed straight for Quagsire. “Quagsire, Ice Beam to intercept!” Quagsire shot an Ice Beam to deflect Chikorita’s move, but the leaves boosted with Vulpix’s Extrasensory cut straight through the Ice Beam and subsequently hit Quagsire. Pearl’s points went down.

“Vulpix, use Ember on Stunky!” Vulpix let out a cry and shot the Ember, resulting in a mini-explosion as Stunky was knocked back and into Quagsire.

“Quagsire, Stunky, get up!”

“Chikorita, Vine Whip!”

Both trainers stopped suddenly, pausing to looks up at the screen. Astrid’s points were just barely larger than Pearl’s. The screen changed to feature Astrid’s face along with Chikorita and Vulpix. Champion shined in bright gold.

“Ladies and Gentlemen what a turnaround! The Rocens City Ribbon goes to Astrid!” The crowd cheered loudly.

“We did it?” The coordinator was tackled by both her Chikorita and Vulpix. “We won! We won our first Contest!” She could very faintly hear her friends yelling in the stands.

~*~*~*~*~

“It is with Great Honor, that we present you the Rocens City Ribbon. We look forward to your future performances.” The Contest Director said, presenting the ribbon to Astrid on a tray. Astrid accepted it and bowed gratefully. Soon enough the people onstage began to disperse and the coordinator left to the changing rooms, ribbon in hand. She entered the waiting room below only to find Pearl waiting for her, no longer wearing her gaudy green dress, which she had switched out for the red one she had been wearing the day previous.

“So you aren’t that bad of a coordinator after all.” She said haughtily, refusing to look her in the eyes. Astrid resisted the urge to shove the ribbon in her face and instead offered out her other hand. Pearl glanced at it before turning around, completely snubbing the other coordinator. She stopped suddenly.

“Today was a fluke,” she announced. “Next time you won’t be so lucky.”

Astrid watched her stride off with an exasperated look on her face.

“She’s absolutely insufferable.” a voice said from behind her. Astrid spun around to face Darius, no longer in his costume, and instead was wearing a dark red hoodie.

“You stayed!” Astrid said joyfully, “Oh yeah!” Astrid showed him her open palm, revealing a light purple ribbon. “I told you she wasn’t unbeatable. No one is.”

Darius laughed and scratched the back of his neck sheepishly. He suddenly got a determined look on his face. “Well, that means neither are you. So next time, I’ll beat you and Pearl!”

“I look forward to it.” Astrid smiled.

“Congratulations on your first ribbon, by the way.” Darius offered her a good-natured handshake, which Astrid accepted.

~*~*~*~*~

“You did it!” Andrea yelled and gave Astrid a tight hug. Kaytlyn and Sheyla followed in suit while the others offered their own congratulations.

“My first ribbon! I’ll be Top Coordinator in no time!” Astrid laughed.

“Vulpix learning a new move in the middle of a battle? That was insane!”

“Actually, I think Vulpix knew that move or at least was learning that move before he met us,” Astrid said looking to her Vulpix. He was sniffing around Andrea’s Popplio, while Popplio was clapping their flippers together in excitement. “It just kicked in when we were onstage I’m guessing.”

“Alright! So tonight, let’s rest up at the Pokemon Center! Tomorrow we go to the Art Museum!” Andrea cheered. Janine shook her head.

“Tomorrow we head out to Mistdrive city. I’m going to try and fight the gym there and get my first Gym Badge.” Janine said. “So is Kaytlyn.” The twin shrugged non-committedly.

“So I guess we part ways-again,” Adrian said quietly. “Janine, after you get your first badge, we should battle!” Janine nodded and gave him a hi-five.

“I promise.”

Narrator: With her new ribbon, Astrid is one step closer to her dreams of being Top Coordinator. Now, it’s on to Mistdrive city, where the Mistdrive Gym awaits!

“Huh? That’s weird.” Kayla stopped in front of a billboard as they were leaving the city. Kaytlyn hummed in confusion and backtracked to where her sister was standing.

“What do you mean?” Astrid asked. Kayla furrowed her brow.

“You know how Kaytlyn and I had already visited this city?” Kayla reminded them. Astrid nodded.

“That was one of the reasons why we travelled with you in the first place.” Janine chuckled.

“Yeah well, that was only two days ago, right Kaytlyn?” Kaytlyn thought back a bit.

“Maybe two or three.” She admitted. Kayla gulped and stepped away from the billboard with a dark look on her face.

“What’s wrong?”

“The number of “Missing Person” posters has tripled since then.” Astrid and Janine shared a look. Kaytlyn scanned the board for a moment before pulling Kayla away by her shoulder.

“You’re imagining things.” Kaytlyn said offering her sister a smile. Kayla gave her an unsure look and glanced back at the posters before following her friends.

[astridspokemonfic]

Episode 2: The Embers of Competition!

Narrator: Last we left our travellers, they had just gotten through Gemlock forest, and were on their way to Rocens City for Astrid’s very first Pokemon Contest! Soon, however, she’ll be receiving some distressing news…

It was a bright and early morning. The twins had helped Janine and Astrid get through Gemlock forest and they had camped outside the night before, knowing that they wouldn’t make any progress in the dark. (Janine and Kayla had been reluctant to sleep outside at all for fear that Team SubZero would find a way to attack them. They were eventually convinced to shut up and sleep.) Now, with the embers of last night’s campfire all burnt out, it was back on the route, and forward to progress. The group walked on, Astrid skipping at the front and Kayla following at the back, breathing heavily.

“You’re too excited for 9 AM…” Kaytlyn muttered, narrowing her eyes at the girl next to her. Astrid beamed.

“Today, we make it to Rocens City. And then tomorrow is the Pokemon Contest!” Astrid nearly squealed. Kayla and Rowlet were clearly not morning people/Pokemon since both of them looked nearly murderous at her high pitch. Janine just smiled in exasperation.

“It’s your first Pokemon contest right?” she asked.

“Mhm!” Astrid affirmed as she skipped ahead of them, her Chikorita following in a similar jovial manner. “I’m so excited!”

“What do you guys even do in Pokemon contests?” Kayla asked in a disgruntled manner.

“Pokemon contests are kind of like Gym Battles, except it’s important that we show off our Pokemon’s attributes while we battle. It’s kinda hard to explain without showing you..” Astrid explained.

“Please show us!” Kayla said, less out of curiosity, and more out of exhaustion. Kaytlyn laughed lightly and the teens moved off the trail and settled down, ready for Astrid’s impromptu performance. Astrid turned to her Pokemon.

“Alright, Chikorita! Think of this as our first Contest! Let’s show em what you got!” Astrid cheered. The grass-type let out a “Chika!” in response, signalling their start. Janine’s Torchic and Kaytlyn’s Charmander cheered simultaneously.

“Wow, they sure are fired up,” Janine observed. “I guess they’re really excited right now.”

“I think they’re just glad to be off their feet.” Kaytlyn retorted, glancing over at Kayla and her Rowlet who seemed more tired than happy.

“Okay! Chikorita! The stage is yours!” Astrid yelled, Chikorita hopping in front of her, and striking a subtle pose.

“Chikorita, use Poison Powder!” Astrid shouted. Chikorita nodded and began to whip around the leaf on its’ head, as a light purple powder began to rise into the air.

“Now, Razor Leaf!” Chikorita, whipped the leaf around again, this time summoning sharp leaves to tear through the floating powder. The Poison Powder caught onto the leaves, as they began to sparkle.

“Perfect! You know what to do, Chikorita! Use Vine Whip!” Chikorita hopped into the air, sprouting vines from her neck as she did so. She whipped them around, hitting the leaves in midair. The leaves dispersed in a cloud of sparkles, falling gently, as Chikorita landed on the ground, using the leaf on her head like a propeller.

“Woah!” Janine and the twins marvelled at the display.

“Are you gonna use that in the contest tomorrow?” Janine asked.

“Yep!” Chikorita and I are so ready for this!” Astrid said, taking a determined stance.

“Oh please!” A voice called from behind. “That’s what you’re going to use in the contest? There’s no way you’re gonna win with that!”

Astrid whipped around to see a girl with purple hair pulled back into a bun. She was wearing a bright red dress and was giving her a condescending look.

“Excuse me?” Astrid hissed. Janine gulped. She may not have known the coordinator for very long, but she recognized a murderous look when she saw one. The smile Astrid was pushing onto her face wasn’t helping either.

“You heard me the first time.” She sniffed.

“Who exactly are you?”

“I’m Pearl. An actual coordinator. Not some wannabe like you.” She smirked. Astrid scowled in response.

“I’ll have you know I am an actual coordinator.”

“Really? How many ribbons have you won? I have two. Pearl asked, giving her a disbelieving look. The other girl shuffled a bit, looking miffed.

“None…” She admitted. Pearl let out a shrill laugh and Astrid felt a vein pop. “Yet! None yet! But the contest in Rocens will be my first ribbon!”

“I wouldn’t be so sure about that. Since I’ll be competing as well!” Pearl said. “This is gonna be my third consecutive win. At this rate, I’ll be Top Coordinator in no time!”

“Did you come here to brag or to battle?” The dark-haired teen ground out.

“I don’t need to. I’ll beat you tomorrow at the double contest anyway.” Pearl huffed dismissively. Astrid rolled her eyes. “It was fun talking to plebeians like you, but I must be on my way! Bye, newbie!”

“My name is Astrid!” She shouted after the retreating figure. “I’m not a plebian…” She muttered. She turned back to her friends with a sour mood on her face.

“What was that?” Kaytlyn asked, incredulously. Astrid sighed and looked away.

“Coordinators can get really… competitive to say the least. I guess it’s part of being so dramatic for crowds.” The trio nodded in understanding. What they had seen had been pretty indicative of the competition. “It’s not usually like that, I mean, we’re dramatic, sure. But I’ve never heard of a coordinator as rude as she is.”

“Then I guess you’ll have to show her up tomorrow!” Janine said, instantly lifting the mood. Astrid smiled at her and Chikorita nuzzled her knee.

“You’re right! Chikorita and I will just train hard until we reach perfect form! Then we’ll crush her winning streak and get our first Ribbon!” Astrid shouted.

“That’s the spirit.” Janine beamed.

“Astrid, can Pokemon contests have more than one Pokemon per trainer?” Kayla asked with an unsure look.

“Uh, yeah. Those are usually called Doubles and are way more difficult than regular contests. Both Pokemon have to exhibit teamwork while showing off all their attributes. Those actually make me a little nervous…” she rambled.

“I don’t mean to alarm you… But didn’t that girl say that it was a double contest?” she pointed out.

“What? No way! I would have known if…” she trailed off and got a pensive look. Suddenly her face paled considerably and she wilted to her knees. “Oh god, it is a Double Contest. I don’t even have two Pokemon!”

“Without two Pokemon…” Janine began.

“You can’t compete…” Kayla murmured. Astrid seemed to be close to tears and her Chikorita was frantically trying to comfort her.

“I mean, it wouldn’t normally be a problem, but… It was just so convenient! And with all that Team SubZero nonsense, I completely forgot that it was a Double!”

“Can’t you wait until there’s another contest?” Kaytlyn asked.

“I mean I could, but… Pearl issued a challenge to me. She put my integrity as a coordinator on the line. And backing out would just be cowardly. It would have been fine if I had even lost to the competition, because at least then I would be able to improve! But now I’m eliminated before I could even sign up…” She muttered. She buried her face in her arms as Chikorita forced herself onto her lap and nuzzled up to her stomach.

“You’re being entirely too overdramatic about this,” Kayla said bluntly. “Just catch another Pokemon! We have a whole day before your Contest.” Astrid looked up at her reviewed her options.

“Alright.” Astrid got back up. “I’ll go and catch another Pokemon! I’m sure we could come up with something! Right Chikorita?” Astrid sniffed and looked at her Chikorita. The grass type purred in encouragement. Janine laughed nervously at Astrid’s sudden shift in demeanour, but at this point, it was commonplace amongst their little group.

“Now the real question is: Which Pokemon should Astrid catch?” Janine inquired curiously. The group began to throw out suggestions to each other.

“Beedrill?” Kayla suggested

“After yesterday? I think I’m traumatized..” Astrid laughed nervously. Janine nodded vigorously

“Bellsprout?” Kayla tried again

“Chikorita’s already a grass type…”Janine murmured.

“I could do that, but I think I’d prefer a different typing.” She paused. “Also Bellsprout freaks me out a little.”

“Snorunt?”

“We’re in a forest, Kaytlyn. Not a skating rink.” Kayla  pointed out. Her twin made a dismissive gesture.

“I like Ice-Types though, so I’ll keep that in mind. Maybe a Flying-type?”

“Swanna?” Janine asked with a thoughtful look.

“Did you see one in that forest?” Kaytlyn retorted. 

“Normally, I’d love to have Swanna, but under the circumstances... Maybe one that’s more common,” Astrid suggested.

“Hm. A common Flying-type Pokemon, huh.” Janine scrolled through her Pokedex.

“Starly?”

“I think maybe I could work with that. Sinnoh Pokemon are my speciality after all.” Astrid admitted. “Okay gang, let’s go find ourselves a Starly!”

“That was so cheesy,” Kaytlyn muttered.

“We better hurry though, I really want to work out some combinations!” Astrid said, running off in a random direction, leaving her friends to follow her.

“How hard could it be?” Kayla said.

~*~*~*~*~

Apparently very difficult was the answer.

They had found Pidove and a Pidgey, but neither had really interested Astrid. They did find one Starly, but it had run away the moment it saw humans. Astrid sighed.

“Maybe I should just settle for a Pidove or something.”

“You sure?”

“Well, yes. I want to be able to train the Pokemon together with Chikorita at the very least. I want to get them to learn at least a couple combos while we can.” The coordinator sighed again and walked around aimlessly, hoping to catch any Pokemon at this point. The girl paused suddenly hearing a Pokemon cry. She hid behind a tree and slowly peeked out, noticing the Pecha Berry tree standing tall.

“Woah…”

A Vulpix was using Fire Spin to roast a berry still hanging off a tree branch. When the berry inevitably fell off, the Vulpix leapt high into the air, catching the berry mid-somersault before landing gracefully on its paws.

Astrid could practically feel her excitement exploding. Carefully, Astrid pulled out her Pokedex and had it scan the fire-type.

“Vulpix, the Fox Pokemon. Inside Vulpix’s body burns a flame that never goes out. During the daytime, when the temperatures rise, this Pokémon releases flames from its mouth to prevent its body from growing too hot.” The Pokedex recited in its mechanical voice.

“Woah, a Vulpix?” Janine popped her head next to Astrid’s, watching the Pokemon eat daintily.

“I know which Pokemon I want to catch now! Did you see those jumps?!” Astrid beamed. “Alright! Let’s go Chikorita!”

With a sense of bravado, Astrid stepped out of the bushes closely followed by her Chikorita. The Vulpix glanced at them briefly before returning to its berry, clearly nonplussed by their behavior.

“Oh. Uh, I guess you’re not very impressed, huh? But that’s okay! Vulpix, I want you to join my team! I’m going to be a Top Coordinator one day, and I think you could really show off those acrobatics of yours if you came with us.” Astrid finished, offering the Vulpix a hand. In response, the fox made a show of yawning before using Ember to knock the trainer off-balance.

“Arceus! Astrid, are you okay?” Kaytlyn called out from the bushes. Astrid hopped up.

“I’m fine!” She glanced around. “Ah, but it seems Vulpix got away…”

“You should really be more careful,” Janine said with motherly concern.

“I’m fine now! I just need to find that Vulpix and get it to join my team!” Astrid said, running off in a random direction.

“She’s gonna get burnt to a crisp…” Kayla muttered. Janine nodded in agreement while Kayla sighed in exasperation.

“Let’s go wait for her by the route,” Janine said. She sent the coordinator a text “Astrid will catch up later.”

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Where could Vulpix have gone?” Astrid asked out loud. Her Chikorita chirped and glanced around.

“Chika!” The Chikorita let out a loud cry as it pointed out beyond the bushes. The coordinator looked over and saw the Vulpix drinking water from a nearby pond.

“There you are!” Astrid exclaimed, running over to the Pokemon. I won’t let you get away this time! Chikorita! Use Razor Leaf!”

The fire type dodged easily, leaping high into the air. Vulpix countered with its’ own Ember. “Chikorita! Get out of there!” Chikorita ran off to the right, successfully dodging. “Okay, Chikorita! Tackle!”

Chikorita charged at the Vulpix, only for Vulpix to easily leap again, dodging her attacks. The Vulpix, huffed, clearly annoyed. The Pokemon let out a low whine and flicked it’s tail, summoning multiple hearts, which it threw at Chikorita. Astrid gasped.

“Was that Attract?” Chikorita began to stumble around with literal hearts in her eyes. 

“That means… Vulpix is a male?” She muttered. “Oh no, Chikorita!”

Chikorita had begun to stumble around, clearly infatuated with the other Pokemon. Vulpix let out another barrage of Embers, clearly meaning to end the battle. Chikorita took the full force of the attack, falling backwards, injured and still infatuated. Astrid let out a sigh and returned Chikorita to her Pokeball.

“So you’re a male, huh?” The Vulpix huffed haughtily and turned around, deliberately ignoring the trainer. “Aw! Don’t be like that! I’m sorry I thought you were a girl!”

Vulpix refused to look at her. Astrid made a ‘Hn’ sound and reached into her backpack. “I have poffins?” She offered. Though Vulpix didn’t turn around, his ears stood at full attention, causing the girl to giggle.

“All right, here!” Astrid offered a Red one out, and the Pokemon slowly turned its head before rushing over and taking the poffin with its’ mouth. “That’s a Cheri Berry poffin. Tastes pretty good, huh?” The Vulpix let out a bark. 

“Probably cause my mom made it. She’s from Johto, but she’s always looking for new recipes, even if they’re from different regions. I know I have...” The trainer began to rummage through her bag.

When she looked up, Vulpix was gone.

~*~*~*~*~*~

“Vulpix… Vuuuulpiiiix…” Astrid called out to the Pokemon, hoping that it would answer. “Geez, Vulpix really doesn’t wanna be found if he doesn’t want to, huh Chikorita?”

“Chika…” The grass type murmured. Astrid glanced around before spotting a nearby berry tree.

“Wanna stop for a snack Chikorita?” She asked her Pokemon who seemed to be drooling at the thought. “I’ll take that as a yes…”

The girl stepped up and reached for one of the closest Berry’s she could find before passing it to her Chikorita, who took it with her vines. Her trainer continued her picking as she tried to reach for one of the higher berries.

The Chikorita peeked to the other side of the tree trunk to see the Vulpix as it tried to reach a Nanab Berry that seemed to be just out of reach. Chikorita reached for it with one of her vines and offered it to the other Pokemon with a smile. The Vulpix eyed her warily but accepted it nonetheless with its delicate paws.

“Chikorita! I got another-” Astrid stopped wide-eyed when she saw the duo eating their berries. They turned to her in silence, and the girl nearly screeched at the Vulpix before them. The clearly uninterested Vulpix continued its meal as it sat down, nibbling on the berry. Astrid stared for a few moments before settling down next to them and eating a berry herself.

“I guess I interrupted your lunch, huh?” Astrid laughed lightly. “Sorry about that.” The Vulpix glanced at her for a moment but ultimately ignored her.

“Y’know, you’re a pretty cool Pokemon. You’d be perfect for contests. Chikorita has major confidence and you’re a real show off!” She winked. “Together you’d both blow the judges away!” Vulpix only stared back. 

“I guess it would be easier to show you... Come on Chikorita, just like this morning!” Astrid cheered. Chikorita hopped up. Both of them unaware of the wonder in Vulpix’s eyes as he watched them. 

Astrid finished her routine with a smile and Chikorita jumped into her arms. She looked back at Vulpix to see him looking disinterested. The trainer gave a sad smile and gave a resigned look.

“Ah, I suppose it doesn’t really matter much anyway…” She glanced at the unaware Pokemon before sighing. “You seem pretty happy out here. Let’s go Chikorita.”

Astrid steeled herself and placed a Cheri Berry at the Vulpix’s feet and gave it a short pet on its head before turning and walking away. Chikorita waved the leaf on its’ head in goodbye. Vulpix looked up from and stared at the Cheri Berry.

~*~*~*~*~

“Hey what happened to Vulpix?” Janine asked as her friend returned to their little picnic by the route.

“I figured that if Vulpix didn’t want to be caught, then I should just leave it alone. He seemed pretty chill about it.” Astrid said.

“What about tomorrow’s contest?” Kayla asked.

“Eh. There are other Pokemon I can catch.” she smiled sadly.

“That’s the spirit!” Janine said, patting the girl on the back. “Though Vulpix is a pretty cool Pokemon. I’d catch her if I didn’t already have Pollo.” The Torchic blew embers near her trainers’ feet. “Hey!”

“Yeah. It was pretty strange though. Vulpix aren’t usually found in this forest.” Kaytlyn said, scrolling through Janine’s Pokedex.

“I have a theory…” Kayla began.

“Hm?”

“What if Vulpix was abandoned by its trainer? It would make sense, I mean, she isn’t scared of humans unlike the Pidoves and Starly’s from before…”

“That makes sense. Vulpix knew Attract. That’s not a move it could learn out here in the wild.” Astrid joined in on her theorization. “Man, now I feel bad for him. He’s been alone out here for who knows how long...”

“I don’t think you should give up on Vulpix.” Kaytlyn interrupted.

“Why?”

“Because it clearly needs a trainer right now. Also because it’s running this way.” The trainer pointed. Astrid whipped around and saw Vulpix rushing towards them with the Cheri Berry stem hanging from its mouth.

“Vulpix?! What’re you doing?” Astrid knelt down to the Fox Pokémon’s level. The Vulpix placed the Cheri Berry at her feet and crooned softly. “Did you change your mind?”

“I think Vulpix wants to go with us.” Janine pitched in. Astrid pulled out a Pokeball and offered it to the Vulpix. He swatted it away with a paw.

“What the- hey! I thought you wanted to join us!” The coordinator whined. Kayla let out a wheeze of laughter.

“With how sassy he is, I think he prefers that you battle him first!” She chuckled when Vulpix rolled the Pokeball back to the kneeling teen.

“Alright! I’ll prove that I can be a good trainer for you! Let’s go Chikorita!”

Chikorita hopped up in a ready stance.

“Chikorita! Use Razor Leaf!” The Vulpix let out a cry and used Ember, charring the oncoming leaves to ash. Vulpix gave a wink, once again summoning multiple pink hearts.

“Oh no, we’re not falling for that again! Chikorita, use Razor Leaf! Don’t let any of those hearts touch you!” The grass- type used the leaves to cut through the surrounding hearts as they shattered in a mess of sparkles. “Don’t give Vulpix time to recharge! Use Vine Whip!”

Vulpix got the brunt of the attack as he fell back.

“Here goes!”

Astrid finally threw a Pokeball, capturing the fire-fox. She watched the button in the middle blink red twice before hearing a resounding click, indicating that the Pokémon had been captured.

The trainer let out a whoop and went to go retrieve the Pokeball, nuzzling it to her face.

“I promise to be the best trainer I can! Oh, you’ll do so well! Rest for now, okay Vulpix?” Astrid smiled at the ball, before putting it on her belt.

“Now you can actually compete tomorrow.” Kaytlyn said. If Astrid’s smile was any indicator, she was well aware. “You should be thinking of new combinations by now.”

“I’m already thinking of at least seventeen.”

“That thing where Chikorita destroyed the Attract with Razor Leaf looked cool.” Kayla chipped in. Astrid nodded.

“Alright! Now let’s get ready for that Contest!” Astrid cheered.

[astridspokemonfic]

Episode 1: A Meeting of Chance!

Narrator: Our world is inhabited with creatures we call Pokemon, each with unique personalities and strengths. Pokemon and people help each other grow and improve in a codependent relationship. Be that in work, play, or battle.

Astrid stretched her legs as she hopped off her bed. Today she would be receiving her first Pokemon from Professor Laurel! While she had virtually no interest in battling, she was most definitely planning on becoming a Top Coordinator. Quickly changing, she ran down the stairs, yelling a quick goodbye to her mother as she left.

She wasn’t the only one who would be starting her journey today. There would be four other kids she would meet today who were also going to get their starters.

Rushing up the hill of her hometown, she mentally ran through the list of pokemon she wanted. She had a first choice, but she was prepared for limited options. Astrid nearly slammed the door open, startling nearby scientists as they eyed her warily. She noticed she was somewhat early and took a seat next to a shorter girl who was reading through a thick book. It seemed that with her included, they were only waiting for one more person.

“Hello! I’m sorry I’m late! I was so interested in the- Oh I’m not late.” A woman in her late twenties came rushing into the lab, actually slamming the door open in her rush. She had frazzled dark red hair, and her glasses were askew on her nose. Given her lab coat, Astrid assumed that this woman was Professor Laurel. The scientist pressed her glasses into place and walked past the seated teenagers, through a door, and deeper in the building. A few moments passed and she popped her head out behind her, looking at them with confusion.

“Well come on then, aren’t y’all excited for your first Pokemon? Yeesh. You bunch aren’t very talkative. The group last month? Wouldn’t shut up.” The woman continued, seemingly ignoring the group behind her. Astrid lagged behind the group as she glanced about the room. Heavy footsteps echoed in her ears as she turned around. Ah. The last teen had arrived, almost late, but arrived nonetheless. Astrid analyzed the girl with a critical eye: She was wearing mostly black, the only bit of color she saw was the dark red belt at her hip, devoid of any Pokeballs so far. She followed the group silently, clearly hoping not to make a scene at her tardiness.

“You all should introduce yourselves to each other while I get the Pokemon ready.” The Prof moved to a side room without so much as a passing glance. All the teens were silent. Someone coughed.

“Uh, my name’s Astrid. I want to be a top Pokemon Coordinator.” She said, hoping to break the ice. The dark-clad girl next to her nodded and decided to go next.

“I’m Janine. I want to be a Pokemon Trainer.” She said simply, offering a handshake. Astrid took it and smiled slightly. The only male in the group spoke up.

“I’m Adrian, and I want to get into the Hall of Fame!” he said smiling brightly at the duo.

“Hi, my name is Andrea, and I want to travel with my Pokemon.” A pretty girl with long hair said softly.

“My name is Sheyla, and I want to become a Pokemon Professor.” The short girl announced in turn, finishing the introductions. The professor hadn’t come back yet.

“So… which Pokemon do you guys want to get?” Andrea asked. Astrid’s eyes lit up at the question.

“I want a Mudkip!” Adrien said first. Astrid nodded, thinking about it. A water/ground type would be a surprise for electric types, but one grass type move would absolutely destroy it with double effectiveness.

“I want a Chikorita!” Astrid said in response. Adrien looked at her as if thinking about a Chikorita’s stats. Before the other girls could respond, Professor Laurel came in holding a large tray of Pokeballs.

“Well, Astrid, you just might get your wish. You too Adrian! I managed to snag 6 traditional starter Pokemon, so you guys are super lucky!” The Prof said setting the tray down. She picked up all 6 balls and threw them into the air with vigor as different Pokemon all popped out in a burst of light. Sure enough, there was a Chikorita strutting amongst the other Pokemon, clearly trying to capture everyone’s attention.

Adrian had immediately rushed towards a Mudkip and was kneeling close to it, conversing quietly. Andrea was already nuzzling a Popplio who seemed to be slightly exasperated with her and a Snivy had actually approached Sheyla outright, looking up at her with an expectant expression. The Chikorita clearly seemed annoyed that no one was paying attention to her and had begun to pout slightly. Astrid beamed; this Pokemon’s personality was perfect for coordinator battles! She approached the Chikorita and knelt in front of it, allowing it to look up at her critically. The Chikorita seemed to accept her as its trainer as it nodded curtly before placing its tiny paw on her knee.

Astrid gathered the grass type into her arms and glanced back at Janine who seemed unsure in her choice.

“You having difficulty choosing?" She asked, startling the other girl out of her thoughts. She nodded sheepishly in response.

“I hadn’t put a lot of thought into this moment I’ll admit.” She conceded.

“Hm. I always knew I wanted a Chikorita, so I wouldn’t know how you feel, but I think that you should go with whatever Pokemon would compliment you.” She advised. Janine nodded and looked across all the Pokemon that were sitting around. Her eyes seemed to scan across all the Pokemon before her eyes settled on a fire type that was hopping around an annoyed Bulbasaur. She stopped for a moment, before a smile spread widely across her face.

“Torchic?” She called, and the Fire-type immediately rushed over to her, tripping a little, but overall reaching her quickly. Janine smiled.

“Would you like to be my first Pokemon?” She asked softly. The Torchic chirped happily in response and hopped onto her lap. Astrid giggled at the overenthusiastic Pokemon. Professor Laurel watched with a gleam in her eye.

“I assume you’ve all chosen the Pokemon you want?”

“Yes!” Astrid spoke up as her Chikorita nodded with a satisfied look on its face. Professor Laurel nodded and led them to a table off to the side.

“These are PokeDexes. Consider them to be sidequests on your journey. I want you all to work on filling them up with as many Pokemon as you can. It’ll be useful for my research.” She allowed the teens to pick up a Pokedex and handed them all five Pokeballs each. “For safety’s sake, I wanted to put you all into groups.” She analyzed them all critically. Janine felt herself shift under the woman’s piercing gaze. “ Hm. Yes, that’ll do fine. You three.” She pointed at Adrian, Sheyla and Andrea. “Annnnd you two.” She flipped her hair and gave a knowing smile to both girls.

“These groups are completely optional; there’s no obligation to stay in the same group. But recently trainers have been going missing at an alarming rate. For my own piece of mind, I was hoping you’d stay in these groups.” She finished.

“Ah! It seems I have to go check on an experiment!” The Prof. herded the teens out with a wave of her hand. “Be safe, and make sure to have fun!”

Janine and Astrid looked at each other and laughed at the woman’s antics, reluctantly nodding and stepping out of the lab.

“We should probably re-do introductions then! My name is Astrid, and I want to be the Top Coordinator in the Niacal Region!” She stated proudly. The Chikorita in her arms nodded, seemingly agreeing with her plan.

“My name is Janine and I want to become the strongest Pokemon Trainer in the Niacal Region!” Janine said with a sudden burst of confidence. Astrid smiled and offered her a handshake.

“So! Let’s get to it!”

“The first gym is in Mistdrive city. I think I want to go there to get my first gym badge.” Janine said, pulling out a town map. Astrid glanced at her Poketch.

“There’s a contest in Rocens City. We could kill two birds with one stone if we passed through there first.”

Both girls came to an agreement.

~*~*~*~*~

“I don’t understand why the first place we have to go through is a forest,” Astrid said, looking through her map frantically. The duo had been walking for what was maybe 15 minutes, but they seemed nowhere close to the end of the forest.

“We needed to get through here to get to Rocens City. From there we can decide where to go.” Janine said, looking at the map over the coordinator’s shoulder.

“Aagh we’ll be stuck here for years!” She groaned. Her Chikorita chirped in response.

“You’re more pessimistic than I thought you’d be.”

“Ugh, that’s cause I didn’t know the Gemlock Forest would be a literal maze!” She said, throwing a pinecone behind her.

“The other group probably passed through here, they left almost immediately,” Janine muttered while Astrid looked around the forest feeling on edge.

“Something doesn’t feel right.” The girl felt like a thousand eyes were piercing into her back. A buzzing sound drew her attention as she whipped around. “Beedrill. Of course. Because this day couldn’t get any worse.”

“Run!” Janine hissed at her. They both sped off in a single direction as they were followed by the irate bee Pokemon.

“We can’t keep running forever you know!” Astrid panted out while her Grass-type Pokemon seemed to be close to tears.

“I know, but what are we supposed to do?!” Janine asked, ducking low to avoid another branch. Astrid dug her sneakers into the ground and spun on her heel to face down the horde of Beedrill.

“Battle them!” Astrid yelled. Chikorita stood in front of her, clearly scared, but determined.

“Chikorita! Use Razor Leaf!” Astrid commanded. The Pokémon chirped and flipped the leaf on its head, summoning sharp leaves towards their attackers. The Beedrill crossed their stingers to protect their bodies, but they continued their assault immediately.

Astrid let out an “Eep!” And turned tail running.

“It’s no use! Chikorita’s moves aren’t effective on Bug-Types! We could probably battle one on one, but there’s too many for any strategy right now!”

Janine paused in thought and glanced at her Torchic.

“Torchic! Use Ember!” The bird hopped up and blew small wisps of Fire at the oncoming horde.

The Beedrill seemed to cower in response, slowing down substantially.

“Perfect! Torchic’s Ember is effective against Bug-type Pokemon!” Astrid shouted. “Let’s get out of here!”

“Great job, Torchic!” Janine yelled. The Torchic chirped happily and hopped up to its trainer. Finally, both girls managed to outrun the angry Beedrill, stopping to rest near a picturesque stream.

“What even set them off anyway?” Janine asked. Astrid huffed and thought back to her actions before.

“Oh my Arceus. I- I think it’s because of the pinecone I threw earlier. It must’ve aggravated them in some way.” Janine gave it some thought before shaking her head.  

“That was so small! There’s no way that got so many Beedrill upset at once.”

“Unless I hit one on the head.” Astrid retorted. Janine reluctantly agreed.

“Now then, we need to get out of this forest,” Janine muttered.

“We could try following the stream! I read once that people settle near water.”

“We could try.” Janine looked both ways of the stream before deciding to go downstream. Astrid followed silently.

“So. What made you decide you wanted to be a trainer?” Astrid asked.

“Hm, I think I wanted the adventure of meeting different kinds of Pokemon and people. I spend a lot of time at home, so this is a new experience. What about you?”

“My mom’s originally from Johto, and so was my dad. I always found Contests super interesting, so I would always practice with my mom’s Lillipup. Though Honey wasn’t very interested in Contests…” Astrid said sheepishly.

“Sounds like Contests are your passion,” Janine noted.

“Yeah. They are. No one in my district was really into Contests though. When I heard I could go on this adventure, I took the first chance I got! So. Why do you want to travel and meet Pokemon?”

“Well my parents were trainers themselves, so there’s a lot of Pokemon at our house, and they seem to keep taking in any they can find! I sort of wanna do the same things they did.” Janine said, thinking back, “My little brother wants to go on a journey too, one day. I think he wanted a Charmander.”

“Solid choice,” Astrid commented. “I don’t have siblings but-”

“Wait.” Janine held up her hand. “Do you hear that?” Astrid went silent for a minute.

“I can’t hear much over the stream- Oh wait I hear it now! It’s sorta… rumbly? Is that a word?”

“We’re in the middle of the forest; So why does it sound like a construction site?”

“Maybe some Timburrs got antsy and decided to build something.”

“We should check it out.”

“Should we really? I don’t think we should get involved- Janine!” Astrid ran to catch up to her friend who was already running towards the sounds. She caught up to the girl when she knelt behind some bushes. “Don’t run off like that!”

Janine grabbed the girl’s arm and motioned for her to be quiet. Astrid gave her a confused look before Janine told her to look through the bushes. It seemed that there was a giant drill boring into the side of a hill.

“That’s got to break like, 4 conservation laws on its own,” Astrid whispered.

“Whatever they’re doing, it’s definitely illegal. Wait. This must be what pissed off those Beedrill earlier! They’re not supposed to be here! They’re invading the Beedrill’s natural habitat.” Janine whispered back. “We need to stop them.”

“What can we do? We barely started our Pokemon journey!”

“Well, we can’t do nothing!” Janine hissed. Astrid considered for a moment. Her Chikorita seemed ready to battle, and Janine’s determination was becoming infectious.

“We need to investigate more.” Astrid decided on. Both Pokemon and Janine gave her an incredulous look. “And that’s exactly what I’m going to do.”

“Wait, what?” Janine paused “I meant we get an Officer Jenny here, what were you thinking?”

“If they’re not doing anything wrong, then they’ll have no problem telling a passing trainer what’s going on.”

“Are you sure about this? There’s a difference between getting the authorities and jumping headfirst into danger.” Janine warned.

“I mean, sure! Why not?” She let out a shaky breath. “This can’t be any different from acting in a play.” The coordinator stood up abruptly and stormed right through the bushes with Chikorita running to match up with Astrid’s pace.

“Excuse me-“ Astrid began, but her eyes widened and she immediately ducked down to a nearby rock, pulling the Chikorita out of anyone’s line of sight. She peeked over the edge to make sure that she wasn’t jumping to any conclusions. Sure enough, there were two trainers who looked vaguely alike that were tied at the wrists and gagged.

“Okay, now this is definitely illegal!” Astrid muttered. She turned to Chikorita. “Chikorita, do you think you could cut those ropes with a razor leaf?” The Chikorita nodded and took careful aim. In one swipe, the ropes had snapped off and the two trainers were free. Both of them looked shocked and confused until Astrid managed to sneak over to them.

“Are you guys okay?”

“No! They took our Pokemon!” One of them said.

“Who did?”

“Team SubZero!” The other answered, wringing her wrists painfully. Astrid took the opportunity to look at the duo. They looked vaguely alike, but they had major differences. One had clearly dyed blonde hair and was skinny. The other’s hair was curlier, and she was wearing a dark blue vest.

“Team SubZero? Like the temperature?”

“No time to explain. We need to get our Pokemon back and stop them from drilling into that mountain.” The blonde said, rushing towards the drill. Astrid looked to the bushes where she knew Janine was crouching with Torchic. She gestured for them to come over, and the trainer discreetly ran to them.

“What’s going on?” Janine asked. “I thought you were going to talk to them.”

“I didn’t need to. This girl was tied up here. Now I am 100% sure that something illegal is going on.”

“Are you okay?” Janine asked the teen. She nodded.

“Kayla.” The blonde from earlier had returned and tossed a Pokeball in her direction. Kayla caught it and immediately released the Rowlet inside. Janine noted that the newcomer had a Charmander nuzzling happily onto their leg.

“We should get out of here,” Astrid said sternly.

“Leave? We can’t-“ Kayla began

“We’ll come back later. We should talk about what’s going on first.” Astrid hissed. Janine considered her for a moment before reluctantly agreeing.

“She’s right.” Janine gave off a sense of finality, leaving the duo with no room to argue. They all snuck off the drill site and back to the safety and coverage of the forest.

~*~*~*~*~

“Now let’s start. My name is Janine, and this is Astrid. We started our Pokemon journey like what? Two? Three?”

“Months ago?” Kayla asked.

“Hours. Around three hours ago.” Astrid intoned, hugging her Chikorita close. “Could you guys please explain what’s going on?”

“Uh okay, my name is Kayla, and this is my twin sister Kaytlyn. We started our adventure around last week. We had decided to come to the Rocens city Forest to train when we heard that rumbling sound from the drill.” Kayla began “I explained this before: We asked what was going on and they used a Hypnos on us. When we woke up we were tied up and our Pokemon were gone. Around an hour later, you came around and rescued us.”

“We had it under control,” Kaytlyn muttered. Astrid scoffed.

“What were you gonna do? Chew through the ropes?”

“...Maybe.”

“As ridiculous as that sounds, it wouldn’t have worked. How did you get your Pokemon back anyway?” Astrid asked

“I dropped a rock on the guy who was supposed to be watching us. He was slacking off.” Kaytlyn smirked.

“Oh my Arceus! Kaytlyn!” Kayla whacked her sister on the arm.

“What?!”

“Is he even alive?!” Kayla hissed

“I mean he wasn’t bleeding…” Kaytlyn muttered. Kayla rolled her eyes at her twin and turned to the duo in front of them.

“How did you guys get caught up in this?” Kayla asked, prompting Astrid to launch into a long-winded tale that boiled down to: because we were too curious for our own good.

“Well, I overheard them talking. I think there’s a weak point in the drill. If we damage the engine enough, we may be able to stop them.” Kaytlyn said. Her Charmander was still nuzzling her leg. She gently nudged it away with her foot.

“That could work. We need to have a coordinated attack though.” Kayla said.

“Coordinated you say?” Astrid interrupted with a shining look in her eye.

“W-What?” Kayla stuttered, put off by the teen’s excitement.

“Oh. Astrid’s Dream is to be the Top Coordinator in Niacal. I assume she has a plan.” Janine said expectantly.

“Mhm! I have somewhat of an idea of what to do.”

~*~*~*~*~

‘So the goal of the plan is to damage the engine as much as possible with your fire type Pokemon.’

Janine and Kaytlyn stealthily snuck behind the drill, carefully hiding just out of sight from any prying eyes.

‘Kayla and I will serve as distractions. We’ll act like I was caught helping Kayla escape��

‘Why do I have to be bait?!’

‘Shush. We’re gonna make it look like I had released Kaytlyn and that I was in the middle of untying Kayla.’

“One of those pesky trainers escaped!” Janine waited until their voices and footsteps had faded away before climbing up and spotting the parka-clad SubZero grunt who was operating the machine.

“Geez, do they ever get warm?” Kaytlyn muttered behind her. Janine silently agreed with her before pulling out a pouch of silver powder and tossing it to Kaytlyn.

‘You guys could knock out the driver with Chikorita’s poison powder.’

‘Won’t that kill him?’

‘Only if ingested orally. Other than that, he’ll just lose all feeling from the neck below’

Kaytlyn quickly climbed up the side of the drill, stopping just underneath the window to the driver’s seat.

Kaytlyn carefully blew the powder at the man above her, watching him slump down onto the dashboard, unable to speak. She smirked at his fallen body and repressed the urge to draw all over his face. Kaytlyn gave Janine a thumbs up before climbing into the vehicle herself. She made sure the keep it running, to prevent any suspicion.

‘We only have one shot at this so make sure it’s a direct hit. You’ll need to get in and open up the control panel for the engine.’

Janine carefully ran her hands along the side of the drill before she felt the slightly raised surface of the panel.

“Ha! Gottem!” Janine smiled triumphantly, using a stick as a crowbar as she popped the cover off the panel.

“Oh wow.” She muttered. She had a clear view to the engine. “This is so not secure.” She turned to the Charmander and Torchic next to her who were both excited to help.

“Alright. Torchic use your strongest Ember straight through that hole. Charmander, I think Kaytlyn said you knew Ember too?” The Charmander let out a soft wheezing sound before nodding. “Alright let’s do that.”

Both Pokemon took in big inhales of air before letting them out at the engine. From the driver’s seat, Kaytlyn could already feel the dashboard getting warmer. The teen waited until she felt the drill shudder to a stop and then begin to shake. She pushed the grunt out and hopped down herself. Janine pulled away from their fire types to help Kaytlyn drag the body away into the brush.

“Hey! You guys done yet?” Astrid yelled, running up to them with Kayla lagging behind in a slow jog.

“What happened? I thought you guys were gonna be distractions.” Kaytlyn asked. Astrid sighed.

“It didn’t work out. They caught up way too quickly, so we just battled them. Luckily they had mostly Normal-Types. Is the engine done?”

“Almost. It’ll pop any second now.” Janine said, glancing through to the engine. “Oh yeah, it’s definitely gonna pop soon-the engines melting!”

“If that’s the case we better get out of here,” Astrid said, grabbing Kayla’s wrist and dragging the already panting girl to the safety of the forest. Janine and Kaytlyn quickly followed.

The boom of the explosion still rang in Janine’s ears as she watched the drill go up in smoke. Astrid laughed gleefully and pulled the other three into a close hug.

“I knew something was up when the Beedrill got mad.” Janine pointed out.

“Yes, yes. You were right.” Astrid conceded. Their joy was cut short when a piercing screech echoed from the clearing with the drill.

“Who did this?!” The group turned to see a 20 Something-year-old woman wearing earmuffs and yet another white parka, as she raged at the destroyed machine. “This drill was supposed to be indestructible! How did you fools destroy it?!” The grunts cowered away from her perfectly manicured nails. Janine snorted. The drill was clearly not indestructible. She turned to the trio next to her who were watching apprehensively.

“You guys don’t have to join me.” She muttered.

“Wait what? Janine-“ the teen stood in the clearing, Torchic proudly standing tall at her calf.

“I broke your stupid machine!” Janine yelled, calling the attention of the woman and the surrounding grunts.

“You brat! That was private property! I’ll have you thrown in jail for this. Janine swallowed nervously.

“Well, this forest is protected property of Niacal! You can’t drill here!” Astrid ran in with Chikorita in her arms. She placed a hand at Janine’s shoulder in reassurance.

“Ah. Two Brats.”

“Four.” The twins stepped up, both of their Pokemon raring to go. Dozens of grunts surrounded them, boxing them in and preventing escape.

“I got rid of you the first time, I’ll do it again.” The woman called out a Glalie that stared down at them icily.

Astrid leaned to Janine, whispering. “Glalie is an Ice-type. Our best bet would be your Torchic and Kaytlyn’s Charmander.” The trainer nodded and signalled for her Torchic to get ready.

“You don’t have to fight them, Ciela.” A male voice called from behind a wall of grunts. A man in his late teens stepped between the identically dressed grunts. He wore a white lab coat and had an easygoing air about him. His dull brown hair was slicked back “Our preliminary research was a fluke. There’s nothing in this forest. Below ground or otherwise.”

“So these past two days were a waste of time?!” Ciela shrieked again in her shrill pitch. “I’m not explaining this to the boss, Lucian!”

“Fair enough. But we’re wasting our time here.” Lucian stopped, suddenly serious. “Let’s not cause any more trouble.” Ciela seemed to disagree but reluctantly recalled her Glalie. She gave the trainers a piercing glare over her shoulder as the grunts followed the scientist guy.

When all of Team SubZero had left, Astrid collapsed onto her knees in relief.

“That was so nerve-wracking! If every day as a trainer is going to be like this I don’t think I’ll survive a week!” She said. Kayla let out an involuntary wheeze as she chuckled at the girl’s antics.

“We should probably report this to the Officer Jenny at Rocens though,” Kaytlyn said, sitting down next to the dark haired teen.

“Oh yeah. We still need to get out of this forest.” Janine said, causing her partner to groan in annoyance.

“Wait, what?” Kayla was extremely confused

“Oh yeah, the whole reason we were in this mess in the first place was because we couldn’t get through this forest,” Janine explained.

“Hey, wait a minute, we’ve already been to Rocens city! We could help lead you out of the forest,” Kaytlyn said.

“I am suddenly super happy that we ran into both of you.” Astrid smiled, throwing an arm over Kayla’s shoulder. The coordinator began to talk the others’ ear off about contests. Her twin was listening in, giving her opinion from time to time.

Janine let out a tired sigh and the four headed to Rocens city as the sky began to stain orange.