Goldenrod University was one of the most prestigious institutions in the world, toping league tables on the best places to study year in and year out. It boasted graduates from all areas of life, both Pokémon and Human related though those weren't mutually exclusive these days. It's history dated back hundreds of years and had been the school of choice of the world's foremost Pokémon Authority, Professor Oak.
Today was the day where it's infamously difficult entrance exam was being held in it's very doors, People gathered from all over to participate, greedy for the limited spots available.
Blue let out a yawn as he casually finished the final of the questions on the test sheet. The teen was about average height for his age, with spiky brown hair that seemed to require untold amounts of gel. He wore a plain navy blue shirt under a leather black jacket. Over his Attached to his brown dress pants was a trainers belt. "Too easy, even for this place's standards…" Blue muttered as he stood up and left the paper on the main desk at the front of the exam hall, collected his bag and singular Poke Ball and exited the room.
It was nearing night time as he stepped out of the colossal yet archaic building when suddenly, the Poke Ball on his belt released a single stream of a bright white light, leaving his Eevee exposed to the world. She gave a loud yelp before jumping on him, Blue barely kept his footing as he caught her in his arms. "Hey girl, test was a piece of cake. No way we're not in!" The brunette bragged to the brown furred vulpine as he walked down the streets with her.
As they walked towards the Magnet Train Station, Eevee's head turned to look at the Stadium parallel to their destination. She whined and hovered a paw into it's direction. Blue didn't even need to turn to know what she was looking at. "Oh.." A distant look overtook his face as his eyes glazed over. "It's been three years…and I'm still not over Raticate…." Eevee whined once more and licked his hand, trying to convince him.
"…You're right. I've been ignoring your wants for too long…." Blue admitted as he turned towards the Stadium. It was far from the colossal Colosseum housed within Indigo Plateau but for the small Poke Ball Cup tier tournaments that were most commonly held within, it got the job done. "I'll think about it….." He finished as he returned the fox into her Poke-ball and turned back to walk to the train station. He didn't want to deal with her wandering off again, not when it resulted in those painful memories being brought to surface.
His plans of getting back home to Saffron were almost immediately foiled by the fact that a system failure had occurred, causing the trains to shutdown indefinitely. This left hundreds of people who transferred between the two cities on the daily stranded. Forced to walk back to his temporary hotel room, Blue made for the underground tunnels, once having been made for use as escape routes during the war, they were renovated to allow for easier access to certain sections to the city.
The tunnels were uncannily quiet, usually springing with people getting about in the city. Blue didn't mind this though, as the recent conversation had left his mind constantly flashing towards a dark spot in his past. "If only I was more careful, If only I didn't push him so hard…" The spiky haired brunette spat as he remembered the fatal Poison Fang an Ekans from a Rocket Grunt had landed on Raticate. It'd activated his Guts ability, allowing him to finish all of them in record time, but the wound had gone entirely unnoticed by him, leaving the rat to die a miserable death as the venom spread through his body, killing him from the inside out. It was the peak of his incompetency and had brought about his indefinite retirement from the field.
Suddenly a loud noise grabbed his attention, some form of rattling coming from somewhere in the alley of the tunnel he was passing through. As he moved closer to the source of the sound, Blue noticed that it was coming from behind a door, one seemingly locked by a mechanism requiring a password. "This won't do…" Blue said as he got out his Pokedex. Professor Oak's invention had a myriad of functions outside of being the world's best Pokémon database. Blue'd personally customised it more closely resemble the Devon Nav from Hoenn, coming with all of it's functionalities and more. He'd been in talks with his grandfather about trying to get this to be the base model, but they'd encountered licensing and copyright issues so it was put off.
"Alright, I think this should work!" He smirked as his little hacking stunt went off without a hitch. It'd been a simple task of just having his Pokedex analyse the last combination entered into the system and reusing it, implying usage of the door had been rather recent. "You'd think there'd be more security, but oh well." Blue sniggered as he walked into the room, only to be stopped in his tracks by what he saw.
Rows upon rows of empty, blood stained, rusting cages. At the end of the room was a railcart with a tunnel ahead, clearly implying this was used for importing Pokémon, and not in the good way…
In front of him however, was the exception to the rule. Sitting behind one of the outdated containment device was a battered, green scaled. It was bipedal, with a red diamond shaped spot exposed where the green scales did not reach. It's head was large and atop it lied a large horn. A Larvitar, offspring of one of the world's rarest but also most feared Pokémon. As Blue approached it, it simply stared, quiet and unmoving.
"Woah there buddy, quiet one aren't you?" Blue whispered as he looked around him. There didn't seem to be anyone around him, but he really needed to get out of here quickly. "I don't know who or what's left you here, but it can't be for anything good…" He moved his Pokedex around the room to take pictures for later use. The evidence would come in handy if he needed to file a report with the local Police Station.
There didn't seem to be any memorabilia to capture, so once he finished taking the pictures, he brought his full attention back to the Rock type. Reaching into his bag, Blue got out one of the few Ultra Balls he kept on his person just in case and threw it at the Larvitar who seemed far too mild to resist. Having finished his business in the room, he made his way out of the room, quietly making sure he locked the door behind him to avoid suspicion arising if people came back.
As soon as he exited the tunnel, Blue'd made a beeline for the Pokémon Centre. He needed to get the Larvitar checked out immediately.
As he entered the medical facility, he noticed that it relatively empty. Goldenrod had several of them in it's vicinity and the one in the north end seemed to be one of the lesser used ones.
He'd half a mind to show the Larvitar to the Nurse but explaining the location made him feel like she'd suspect him immediately. So he went for the other option.
Calling Oak Labs. Please wait a moment.. …
The screen flared up, revealing an aging man, head full of grey hairs with a clean shaven face. His body covered by his signature lab coat. "Blue? Didn't expect you to call yet
"Hey gramps. I need some help." The brunette admitted as he put his Pokedex into the slot on the Computer to allow the Professor to access the files on it. "While passing through the underground tunnel, I came across this room. I took some pictures with my Pokedex. It seems like it's still in use and was filled with cages and rail lines. I suspect that it was being used to smuggle Pokémon in and out." Blue finished as the files had been successfully transferred to his grandfather's database.
"Oh dear. I'll have a look and send it to Goldenrod's Ranger Department. They'll definitely want to know about that, but if that's all, why didn't you talk to them first thing?"
"Because I found a Pokémon still in there. A Larvitar, to be precise." That grabbed the Professor's attention very quick. Smuggling rare Pokémon wasn't anything unusual for the seedy underbelly of metropoli such as Goldenrod and Saffron, despite the League's best efforts.
But Larvitar?
They were impossible to find outside of the Ore Mountain ranges, even then they stuck to the tall mountain peaks and caverns within, rarely ever making an appearance outside of there. For one to be in here implied that whomever was operating this scheme had quite a bit of clout in the Black Market.
"That's very worrying. What condition is it in, any signs of abuse?" Samuel Oak quickly went into full analysis mode as he interrogated Blue. If there was one thing that riled the old man up, it was Pokémon Abuse.
"It seems fine, large for it's apparent age, no real signs of malnutrition or starving. It was put there recently for sure. I'll have it checked out by Nurse Joy just to be sure but it seems perfectly normal as far as I can tell." Blue finished his report as he removed his Pokedex from the Computer, the transfer having finished.
"Alright then. Make sure to take care of it, having another Pokémon under your care outside of Eevee aughta do you some good. Larvitar's aren't particularly easy to please, y'know?"
Blue sighed. Here gramps went again. "Aside from that, Eevee wanted to participate in a tournament again." He paused for a moment. "It wouldn't be that hard, she's kept up with her training regularly, even if we haven't battled anyone in three years but…"
"Blue…I know that incident shook you, but forcing yourself from what you love because of something that wasn't even your fault is going to do nothing but leave infinite regrets. Take it from me, give it another chance." Oak lectured while giving his grandson a sympathetic look. "Tell you what. Try out the Goldenrod City Gym." The old man suggested out of the blue.
"Gramps, I came to Goldenrod to to get a Degree and get a cosy job at Silph, not to start a new journey all over again." Blue replied, he wasn't particularly surprised at his grandfather trying to convince him again, it'd been a thing for the past year or so.
"Yes. Results don't come out for another 6 months, your semester won't begin for another 8. You have plenty of free time and now a new Pokémon to spend it on. What better time to reignite an old passion than now?" His grandfather attempted to persuade him. "You've got many years ahead of you, don't force yourself to settle down now. Take it from me." The wisened old man advised.
Blue conceded eventually. "….I'll give it a go next week or something. I need to get Larvitar checked out first and then look into Whitney. I'll make no further promises after. Night Gramps." The duo exchanged their goodbyes before the call ended. Blue walked to the front desk finally and handed his Poke Balls to the kind nurse, asking her to have a critical eye on the Larvitar in the Ultra Ball, asking her to note down anything strange from it, before asking for a room to retire to for the night.
The Police couldn't find much, whoever had used the railnet and tunnels for their business had covered up their tracks relatively well. They couldn't gleam much from Larvitar's history either as it didn't seem to be a registered Pokémon on the League database before his capture of her. As a result they let him keep it.
While waiting for Larvitar to be discharged, he'd gone for some sightseeing in Goldenrod. Between the beautiful beach at the shoreline, the theatre's and malls all over and the world famous Radio Tower, The City was a shining diamond in the midst of the devastation that had ravaged Indigo in the Regional Wars. With Goldenrod, Olivine and Cianwood being large port cities with supplies shipping and out constantly they had been subject to countless attacks and blockades. Sinnoh had focused on Olivine the most, bringing nothing but devastation from the north through it's skyborne army and hampering support from the south with it's marines.
The war had ended over a decade prior however and the nations had entered an era of peace. Sinnoh had elected to join a united front along with Hoenn and Indigo, creating what was now known as the IPLA, short for International Pokémon League Association. Alola had joined recently, however Unova and Kalos had preferred to stay separate, preferring full independence and self governing rather than be advice and overseen by foreigners.
Or so people said. It was more tentative than anything. Tensions had been rising lately in spite of the unions and alliances set up, though that was a lot of politics that Blue preferred to stay out of. The League Circuit had been set up both as a way to keep their people trained and able to protect themselves as well as a way to regulate the trainer base, something which had been an issue for years prior.
Meanwhile Eevee had ran ahead and was playing with a wild Growlithe a few meters a head.
Blue furrowed his eyebrow.
He was seated inside the Pokémon Centre's own training facility, Eevee sitting beside him while he had his Pokedex out, scanning the newly caught Larvitar to see what moves it had and other characteristics he wasn't aware of. Nurse Joy had given the two back to him in the morning, citing that there seemed to be something wrong with Larvitar mentally. It seemed extremely subdued for it's species, it had barely reacted to her presence. For such a typically prideful Pokémon it was very unusual to be this quiet. It hinted at some form of extreme conditioning imposed upon it from birth.
Larvitar. The Rock Skin Pokémon. This specimen is Female. Rock/Ground type with a Dark type disposition in it's most mature state. Closely related to the Aggron family. Found only in the Ore mountains in Kanto and Johto. Sight isn't too well developed, leading to it using the horn on it's head for most sensory functions, particularly while underground. Raised on nutrients it finds in the dirt, it eats large amounts of dirt before it becomes a pupa.
This Larvitar is roughly two and a half years old and average size for it's age. It currently knows the moves Iron Defense, Sandstorm, Bite, Ancient Power, Chip Away, Screech, and Earth Power. Ability is Guts.
That was a lot more moves than he'd expected. The Ancient and Earth Power were especially rare moves typically only known by higher level Pokémon, implying Larvitar was specifically bred or tutored those moves. If nothing else whomever had owned the stone creature prior to this had given him quite something to work with.
"Alright, now let's check you out Eevee, haven't done this in a while.." Blue moved the lens of the device to focus on his starter.
Eevee. The Evolution Pokémon. This specimen is Female. Normal type with the ability to evolve into one of 8 types, more pending discovery according to current research. Mainly found in urban areas, often in research facilities, or the deep forests within Johto. An Eevee has an unstable genetic makeup that suddenly mutates due to its environment, allowing it to evolve into so many different creatures.
This Eevee is roughly 6 years old and above average size. It currently knows the moves Quick Attack, Dig, Substitute, Baby Doll Eyes, Charm, Shadow Ball, Swift, Tail Whip, Sand Attack and Return.
He whistled. "Not bad here either, guess the practice every other week's been keeping you in shape still." Blue praised the vulpine who preened into his touch. "Let's get our new friend out and start training, alright?"
A flash of light released the reptile into the outer world. It reacted with a growl as it tried to get it's bearings, it's nose working on overdrive to allow it to sense as much as it could.
Blue knelt before it, trying to calm her down. "Hey Larvitar, I'm Blue." He kept his voice low and soothing to prevent it from agitating the Larvitar The former trainer didn't know how sensitive it was in that aspect so preferred to veer on the safe end.
In response the Larvitar turned it's head slightly in confusion before leaning forward, biting down slightly on the hand Blue had outstretched with it's beak like mouth. It didn't seem particularly aggressive outside of that though.
"Ow. I suppose that's a yes." He muttered as he felt the momentary pain from the bite vanish, showing that the Larvitar had done it more to feel him out rather than an actual attack.
Directing the reptile's head to his left with his hand, he gestured towards Eevee to introduce her to Larvitar. "This is Eevee, my other Pokémon." Eevee whined out a greeting to Larvitar who growled in return.
"I don't know if we'll continue past this, but for the next week our aim is to train to get the Plain Badge from the Goldenrod Gym." He announced much to Eevee's excitement. "Before….Raticate happened. We obtained three badges, so the gym challenge will be adjusted for a trainer going for their fourth. This means we may face evolved Pokémon, so training is definitely in order." The brunette explained the plan to the two who listened with rapt attention.
Blue frowned, the Larvitar just acted so oddly. Additional information in the Pokedex spoke of their famous tempers, yet it seemed extremely docile.
"We'll start on ranged move practice first. A week isn't enough time to master any moves that would be particularly helpful in this so we're better off refining what we already have."
The Goldenrod Gym specialised primarily in Normal types, with the odd fairy type popping up here or there. It's Gym Leader Whitney had made a name for herself in the past two years, having previously won several Ultra Ball Cup tournaments before making quite a name for herself by reaching the Semi-Finals in her first real attempt at the Conference. Needless to say that despite her dazed and cloud headed appearance and demeanour, she was a mean battler.
A look at the 1 Badge rules stated that the Gym Leader could use anything of what they deemed an appropriate level, there was nothing particularly registered. Most battles were preferred to be two on two single battles. On the other hand the video recordings of recent challenges painted a relatively clear picture for him.
Whitney liked using Furret, She had a large amount of them, each with different traits and moves. She favoured a more physically oriented one for One Badge trainers to keep the more physically inclined battles of the lower levels. Sometimes she used Clefairy or Nidorina, however neither were parts of her main team, but they seemed very well trained and had countless strategies drilled into them that you rarely saw on the average trainer. Well versed in close ranged combat with surprising speed for something of their size.
It'd be a piece of cake to take out, Blue thought as he instructed Larvitar to perform Earth Power once more. So far the Larvitar had displayed very little skill in actually executing the advanced ground type move. Blue didn't expect it to for quite some time yet, however it had a specific purpose.
Earth Power allowed the user to create shockwaves that they would then direct to hit the opponent in it's most basic state. More advanced users would be able to use it to manipulate the very earth around them like putty. Even at it's most basic level however, it allowed the user to sense the vibrations passing through the ground.
Suddenly Eevee appeared behind Larvitar in a burst of speed, the green figure twitched as the brown fox came back in to strike with ferocious fervour, only for Larvitar to pivot and attempt to lunge at her with her own sickening purple glowing jaws. Eevee ducked to the right, barely avoiding the attack and digging a hole with Dig almost instantly out of routine.
Blue nodded approvingly. "Good, we're getting the hang of it now." He walked over to them, sharing some treats with his two partners for a few minutes before getting back to their routine.
"Again!" Eevee popped into a new hole near Blue as Larvitar got back to concentrating on sensing the vibrations the earth exuded.
It'd been a couple days since they'd started practising. For Eevee it'd mostly been a case of shaking off some rust with her non normal type techniques and getting back into routine, whereas Larvitar had proven to be able to use most of her long range attacks but preferred to use her jaws. The limited form of echo-location the line had achieved was nowhere near the mastery of the art that the Zubat line carried. Earth Power would help with some of that once fully mastered but for now she was better off using it augment her ability to strike with overwhelming force. He'd used her in a battle with another trainer the other day. For being so young, she was surprisingly obedient and capable of battling, clearly having had another trainer before him.
He was broken out of his musings by a couple of trainers viewing the large monitor behind him, it appeared a match was currently being played. More precisely, a replay of this year's Conference finals. Blue snorted derisively and moved to turn away until the announcer's voice blared through the room.
"-and Green Sakaki brings out her third Pokémon. This marks the first match where this astounding prodigy has had her ludicrously powerful Dragonair taken out!" Blue had frozen the moment the name Green Sakaki had been mentioned.
How could he not, they'd gone to school together. Him, Green and Red had all attended Viridian City's Trainer Academy when they were younger. They'd gone their separate ways but Blue could never forget the seething hatred he had for the scion of the illustrious Sakaki family. She was the daughter of previous Elite Four member and now Viridian Gym Leader, Giovanni Sakaki, and good lord did the girl take pride in it, lording it over her peers along with her-
Blue's teeth clenched as memories came rushing back before he dispelled them. He'd just started getting out of that, going right back into that was NOT something he was aiming to do.
He briskly returned his Pokémon before leaving the training room.
For being such a large building, he certainly did not expect the Gym to be a glorified day care playground. Obstacles and slides were scattered everywhere with the rooms being painted all sorts of gold, white and pink.
He'd made it here first thing in the morning, allowing the brunette to register himself at the counter before any other trainers could. Blue'd already gone over their pre-prepared strategies so there was little to do other than wait for him to be asked in.
"Trainer Blue? Leader Whitney is waiting for you in the arena." The receptionist called him from the front desk. He mentally prepared himself before walking through the door that led towards the arena.
The battlefield was pretty much what he expected, plain and standard. Normal types weren't particularly attuned to any specific element and could typically fight anywhere, so it made sense. A large monitor was attached to the wall to the right. Across from him on the other side stood Whitney. She was a somewhat short pink haired girl wearing a white blouse and blue shorts.
"Heya! You're Blue right?" She shouted at him from across the field. Blue responded with a curt nod as he walked to his spot. "Not much of a talker are you? That's fine by me." Whitney giggled before grabbing a Love Ball from her belt.
"The receptionist told me you already had three badges from Kanto, so this'll be a two on two battle!" Blue raised an eyebrow at this. He didn't know badges from other regions counted, but he supposed that both Johto and Kanto badges were eligible for the Indigo Conference. "Substitutions allowed, no held or healing items can be used at any point." The hyperactive girl threw the specialised Poke Ball and released her Furret as expected.
The brown ferret was almost snake like in length even when coiled. It's body had tan stripes intersecting through it's body. It let out a cry as it landed on the battlefield and stretched a bit to get prepared for the battle ahead.
"Larvitar, let's go!" In a red flash the Rock Type was released on the battlefield. "This is the real thing, get ready!" Upon hearing her trainer's calls, Larvitar started growling, baring her fangs out.
Whitney snapped her fingers and the monitor flared to life, displaying icons of both trainer and Pokémon alike.
"Challengers have the first move!" She winked at him. A smirk crept up Blue's face as their plans came rushing back to him. "Begin with Screech!" Upon his command, Larvitar released a shrill cry so powerful that the shockwaves that came after were visible as they travelled towards the Furret.
Whitney didn't give him long to capitalise on the opening move however. "Dig!" The simple command he'd long since seen coming. The evasive manoeuvre was taught to almost anything that could learn it as quickly as possible due to just how much it provided.
It wouldn't work.
Upon seeing it's opponent vanish into the ground, Larvitar had stopped her attack and already closed her eyes to begin focusing on the vibrations given off while the ferret dug around in it's tunnel. Once she sensed it directly below her, she sprung into action, a silver gleam covering her body as it hardened drastically. By the time Furret had unleashed it's attack, she was ready. Furret slammed into her only to bounce off her iron-clad skin before rushing back in an instinctual use of Quick Attack to avoid the follow up Screech.
Whitney looked slightly impressed, if the growing smile was any indicator. "Not bad, but something like that won't catch us out! Furret, give it a taste of Brick Break!" The brown feline quickly fell into a Quick Attack once more to approach Larvitar, fist glowing a bright orange as it prepared to unleash a flurry of stone crushing strikes to get past Larvitar's defences.
"Send it an Ancient Power and get ready!" Blue bellowed out, Larvitar to her credit reacted quickly, glowing a dark purple as she summoned a series of dirt clumps from the ground before her to fend off the incoming adversary.
One by one the clumps were lobbed forward, each moving forward in a manner as to impair Furret's field of vision if possible as it slammed down it's fists, sending dirt flying around them upon contact, before moving on to the next. In the time given by the momentary distraction, Larvitar had began controlling her breathing, focusing on her opponent and reading herself to strike before erupting forwards, jaws set apart, her fangs painted a glossy midnight black, right as Furret broke through the last piece of raised earth before being assaulted by a flying green dinosaur intent on turning it into her next chew-toy.
The attack struck home and Furret reeled backwards with a screech as Larvitar latched onto it's large body with it's tiny limbs and clenched her jaws tighter and tighter.
"Get it off you Furret, Reversal!" Whitney finally acted, realising that Furret was too struck by pain to act for itself. Upon hearing it's trainer, Furret fought through the pain and grabbed Larvitar before slamming a Brick Break into it, forcing Larvitar to let go, before following through with the attack Whitney ordered by slamming it's tail into Larvitar. This was an opportunity ripe for the taking however, Blue couldn't in good faith not take advantage of it.
"Bite onto the tail, quickly!" As before, Larvitar latched onto Furret once again, this time it's tail was the point Larvitar claimed as it's own as it dug in. "Good, now slam it into the ground and follow up with Chip Away!" Blue exclaimed, excited as the momentum swung in their favour. The second part of the combo was simple and Larvitar executed it excellently. It's strong jaws allowed her to force the entirety of Furret's body into the ground, capitalising on the weak point Blue'd spotted while watching Whitney's recorded matches.
Furret's were lengthy creatures, this length often allowed them to intimidate and constrict smaller foes while warding things off with their tail. However if they happened to be assaulted from the tail and then grounded, they were left helpless due to how short their other limbs were. As a result it was pounded by the numerous attacks aimed at wearing it down.
Whitney smiled. "Iron Tail on the ground!"
Suddenly, Furret used slammed it's tail onto the ground and propelled the upper end of it's body forward using it's moment, sending the unprepared Larvitar tumbling back, saved from much damage through channelling Iron Defense through her already stone hard body. Furret didn't get out of the exchange well though, it seemed extremely worn down if it's increased reliance on it's tail to keep it up and it's laboured breathing were primary indicators.
"Larvitar, let's wrap things up, Ancient Power!" Once more dirt clumps rose out of the battlefield, two separate rings of them this time before firing them at Furret in a bid to overwhelm it.
A flash of red light recalled it before the attack could land, leaving them to helplessly drop to the ground in front of where Furret previously stood.
"That attack would've done him in, he wasn't going to be able to break through or dodge all of those and only one would have to land." The pink haired gym leader clarified with a bit downcast look as she swapped the Love Ball for a Moon Ball, her face lifting up smiling, and chucked it revealing a Clefairy. "Watch out, she's tougher than she looks!" Whitney exclaimed as the monitor flashed and updated, showing only one remaining Poke Ball on Whitney's side with Clefairy over Furret.
As if to emphasise her owner's claims, Clefairy instantly summoned multi-coloured glowing leaves out of nowhere and sent them towards Larvitar in a flurry. Magical Leaf was an attack that seemed to home in on the target, through whatever wondrous force that created and manipulated it, it simply could not miss, only destroyed.
Blue frowned. He hadn't expected Grass moves. "Iron Defense won't help against this, blow it back with Screech!" The sound waves blared out once more, repelling back the leaves. However this was merely the start of the assault as the Clefairy had bounced up to Larvitar in the mean time. "Water Pulse it down!" Blue's eyes widened as a light blue orb appeared in the Clefairy's hand and released a wave of water as it met Larvitar's skin, drenching the Rock type completely as it was sent reeling with the wave.
Water type attacks tended to be extremely damaging towards Rock types and their ilk. While not all were made of rock, the water tended to have slightly erosive properties that damaged their skin. Larvitar wouldn't be able to take another one of those and Blue'd be damned if he just stood there and allowed her to.
"Ancient Power!" He wondered if Clefairy's speed would allow it to dodge a barrage of attacks like this.
More of the battlefield was ripped from the ground and circled Larvitar as she got up before being flung at Clefairy one by one with a relentless fervour to pay the fairy back.
She didn't even get the chance to aim them. "Think fast, Teleport!" Whitney's call came and Clefairy vanished from Larvitar's line of sight in a grandiose flash of light and appeared behind her, and to Blue's horror, another Water Pulse at the ready as she slammed it into Larvitar who hadn't expected the sudden use of Teleport.
Neither had Blue. Teleport was an extremely rarely used technique by non-Psychics. The TM for it had long since been phased out due to how limited the amount of Pokémon that could harness it was. It was also incredibly taxing for inexperienced Pokémon which meant that Clefairy had expended quite a bit of energy using the advanced technique.
Blue looked at Larvitar and noted that she seemed to be in quite a bit of pain from the force of the exploding orb of water. He got out her Ultra Ball and returned her, thanking her for a job well done. He wouldn't her work to go to waste, he promised to himself as he got out Eevee's weathered Poke Ball.
Upon being released, Eevee's excitement was a sharp contrast to the muted and serious Larvitar. She yelped and started jumping around immediately. "It's been a while Eevee, let's show them what we're made of!" Blue encouraged his starter as his eyes wandered over the battle field and towards the opposing Clefairy, who'd moved back to being near Whitney and was now jumping erratically, amusing it's trainer. "Swift and get moving!" Blue called immediately, Eevee responded by quickly summoning the circle of yellow stars which homed in on Clefairy and shot off at incredible speeds. Swift utilised slight amounts of Psychic energy and homed in on a target. It was a simple move and often a starting point for Pokémon to learn Psychic moves or for Psychic types to expand outwards in their repertoire.
Eevee followed it up by rushing towards Clefairy with Quick Attack in a bid to overwhelm it, only a brown blur was visible as she approached the alien creature.
"Light Screen then Wake up Slap when it gets close!" A luminous golden barrier appeared before the Clefairy, shielding it against the ranged attack, Clefairy wasn't given much of a chance to breathe though as Eevee was upon her the moment the stars cleared.
She slapped Clefairy back with her Tail before the Wake Up Slap could land and unbalanced the Fairy. Blue grinned as his suspicions were proven true. While varied in it's arsenal, Clefairy was not particularly fast. It got away with it against the dreadfully slow Larvitar, however it was quickly turning to be an Achilles Heel against Eevee's relentless attacks.
"Slam into it with Return, don't give it any time to catch up!" Eevee yelped before slamming into the Clefairy with a full body tackle, taking advantage of it's staggering. Clefairy was unprepared for the attack and was sent flying several feet backwards. Now that the momentum of the battle seemed firmly in their favour once more, Blue looked across the field to see how Whitney had reacted to the relentless attacking Eevee employed.
She was smiling. "Clefairy, give them a taste of your Counter!" Blue's eyes widened in shock. Counter struck twice as hard as the damage dealt to Clefairy. Clefairy started jumping forwards, much faster than before, with a red glow surrounding it as it aimed to strike back.
"Don't let it hit you, Substitute and get back!" They hadn't used the move much due to simply not needing it much. This however, was a situation where it very much so was. The technique was a more focused, advanced version of Double Team. While Double Team focused on raw numbers making finding the user extremely difficult, Substitute offered a more corporal and realistic copy at the expense of much more energy.
Eevee shone a bright yellow and a duplicate of her was formed next to her. The clone then ran into Clefairy with a Quick Attack, forcing it to unleash the energy stored up by Counter on it and destroying the clone in the process.
Knowing Clefairy knew Counter, they could no longer attack recklessly. However, Light Screen remained for some time after use so ranged attacks were far from optimal either.
Stuck between options, he preferred to keep going with their current overwhelming tactic. "Quick Attack let's go!"
Once more Eevee vanished in a brown blur as she rocketed towards Clefairy who'd summoned Magical Leaves as her defense. However, Eevee struck before she could set their target and so they fell to the ground helplessly much like their owner.
"Good, now Shadow Ball, don't let it get the chance to use Counter!" An orb of pure darkness was summoned in front of Eevee's mouth, slowly gaining in mass and diameter before being fired towards the recovering fairy. Before it could reach her however, Clefairy vanished in another surge of white light, appearing behind Eevee much like it did against Larvitar and began a barrage of slaps who's sounds reverbed in the arena.
This caused Blue to clench his fists in frustration, having momentarily overlooked Clefairy's ability to teleport to make up for it's lack of speed. Upon doing this however, he noted just how much he missed this feeling of exhilaration, the rush of a good battle.
After near a dozen slaps, Eevee snapped out of her stupor and quickly jumped back before ramming into Clefairy with another Return, one with much more force packed into it than the one before. The attack sent Clefairy tumbling until it hit the wall, knocked unconscious.
The monitor updated once more, fading out Whitney's final Poke Ball before centring his face with a VICTORY label underneath.
Eevee came running back towards Blue, as he looked at the monitor with a proud smile. "Well done girl." He whispered to her as he scooped her up in his arms and pet her for a job well done.
Blue looked at Whitney once more to see that she'd already returned her Clefairy and was walking over.
"Congratulations! I don't think I've ever seen a trainer bring a Larvitar in here, they tend to be extremely temperamental-" Whitney started while handing him his newly earned badge. She cut off as she paused and yawned loudly. "Sorry about that, ever since the League pushed opening times earlier, I've been getting terrible amounts of sleep." She stretched her arms for a moment before continuing.
"As I was saying, that Larvitar was really calm and obedient. Impressive. Eevee on the other hand was downright w-o-n-d-e-r-f-u-l-l~" She sang as she reached over to pet the furball who responded with a gleeful whine. "Good control and with how strong those Return's were, she must really love you. Thought about what you want her to evolve into yet?"
"She was my starter, been with me for nearly four years now actually." Blue explained while putting the Badge in his pocket. He'd long since gotten rid of his badge case. "Not really sure. Haven't really thought about it before, I always thought it'd just happen eventually." He confessed. Eevee's were notoriously indecisive and evolution often only happened because their trainer made them evolve through the required exposure to stones or natural conditions or through a situation forcing so much adrenaline through their bodies it initiated the process naturally.
"Ah, I'll leave it up to you two then, although she does seem to be very fond of physical combat. Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to take a quick nap in the other room, tell the receptionist I went out for a run or something!" Whitney winked at him before running off to catch up on some sleep in her quarters. It was hard to forget that Whitney was barely older than him and not nearly as taken with her duties. Blue smirked and turned around, making a beeline for the Pokémon Centre as he left the Goldenrod Gym behind him, intent on treating himself and his Pokémon.
It'd been so long since he felt that satisfied with an accomplishment.
Blue'd waited until noon until using the Pokémon Centre's Video Phone, his grandfather wouldn't have been awake for another couple of hours, and he preferred to not leave countless amounts of voice-mail.
"Ah, Blue. How has Goldenrod been treating you my boy." The elder Oak responded, clearly multi-tasking as his eyes turned from one direction to the other at high speeds.
Blue snickered at his grandfather's pace. The old man barely took a break when something had piqued his interest, something that had happened far too much to be healthy.
"Fine. I've mostly been sightseeing – did you know that the Tohjenders, that show you always watch gets broadcast from somewhere north of Cherrygrove? Always thought it was from here." Blue didn't much like the show unlike his Grandfather, preferring playing games or messing with some computer code but that had surprised him.
He sighed before continuing. "I…I don't think I've had nearly as much fun in years as I had battling today." He admitted. He'd tried so hard to distance himself from it, but all it took was one stray Pokemon and he was right back into the midst of it all.
Samuel Oak nodded, a knowing smile growing on his face. "As I said, it'd do you some good to take care of that Larvitar. It took me years to get over the death of my own partner, Charizard's untimely demise still sticks with me to this day. But we owe it to them to move forward, never forgetting but not letting it haunt us." The Professor finished his little lecture before focusing back on the papers in front of him for a moment.
"Yeah…well I won the Plain Badge, so I might just go and get the rest, these Johtoans won't know what hit 'em." A grin splashed across Blue's face as plans started forming within the cogs of his mind.
"Don't get too cocky, season's been going on for a few months now and I hear plenty of trainers have been rising up the ranks. Competition will be stiff this year. I hear Elm's been boasting about two of his doing exceptionally well"
"Yeah, yeah. I'm thinking of heading to Ecruteak first, gives me more options than going south to Azalea at least. I'll be seeing you around Gramps, I'll try to call often." Blue confirmed his plans.
His grandfather's mention of Professor Elm reminded him of the recent theft that had taken place at the man's lab. The culprit had stolen a Pokedex and a Starter Pokemon and was apparently still at large. It'd be something to be wary of.
"Stay safe. I've been hearing increased reports of criminal activity east of Ecruteak. Be alert at all times." His grandfather advised before they ended the call.
Blue stood up, with a vigour he hadn't felt in years coursing through his veins. One down, Seven to go.
And those Seven couldn't come soon enough.
A/N: So after years of reading stories such as Traveller by The Straight Elf and Challenger by darkfire1220 I thought to have a crack at it myself. I've always liked writing stories and the world of Pokemon fascinates me deeply. This world depicted will be a mix of the Games, Adventures Manga and Anime, taking aspects from each. I hope that you can all enjoy it, please leave a review if you can. Constructive criticism can never hurt.