Fat snowflakes swirled in the cold air as Melissa watched from the mouth of the cave. Anyone else would've stopped to marvel the beautiful sight of a windswept flurry backed against majestic peaks, but Melissa, already frigid to the bone and distinctly frustrated with the mountain's gigantic labyrinth, didn't appreciate the rugged beauty of the moment. Or anything for that matter, instead focusing on changing her damp socks.
She hated going through Mount Coronet. It was only on her request (more accurately, her begging and whining) that her erratic delivery schedule rarely included Snowpoint, Sinnoh's constantly wintry northernmost city. Even on her first trek through the maze-like caverns, she was too ruffled by the swarms of zubat dropping on her head and the many caves and pathways to notice much of the ornate formations the rocks had created. She came out of the experience sore, cold and scraped and with the conclusion in her head that this wasn't something she would want to do again. And then, of course, her top priority was the honey.
Nothing could happen to the honey. The honey was the customer's, and a single nick on the little glass jars would mean the Goldgate family just lost 100 poke plus tax. Once on a particularly awful route to the Hotel Grand Lake, Melissa had grown so irritated with her duffel bag full of honey impeding her speed that she lobbed it into the marshes of Route 212. It was a phenomenally stupid move on her part, as not only were her income and custom-made company bag gone, but the honey was beginning to attract hordes of curious and hungry pokemon. Waterlogged, muddy and worn to the point of tears, Pastoria City had never been so welcome to her.
Melissa Goldgate, delivery girl, she thought to herself, and chucked a yellow tennis shoe at the wall. It bounced harmlessly off the stone, and landed back in front of her. She sighed, picking up the shoe and sliding it back on her foot. 13 years old, I should've been champion by now. But it wasn't that she truly disliked her job. With the trainers and the fat wad of cash she got from her family's various benefactors, she made more money than anyone her age. Besides, she knew the title of champion was more often than not a pipe dream small children held. That didn't mean she had to step away from pokemon forever, though. Nearly every job in Sinnoh required having at least one pokeball at your belt, and, running her finger along the line of five of them at her waist, collected over the three years she had been a trainer, she was pretty confident in her training abilities.
Sliding a thick down jacket over her black turtleneck and tightening her red scarf, Melissa walked out of the cave and onto the white mountain path of Route 216. Her two bags bumped against her body as she walked and the wind was somewhat lessened in the little alcove. But she had been on this path before; soon it would give way to a horrendous blizzard with snow so high it was no better than the giant marshes of Pastoria. But for now, the solid blanket of white was only broken by the rock face occasionally peeking through and the lower needles of the pine trees. The snowflakes fell innocently on her jacket and short blonde hair, and she acknowledged that, besides having wet toes, it really wasn't that bad.
"Hey! Hey, girl! I'm challenging you!"
A girl with long black hair and a red fur-lined jacket trudged as quickly as she could through the snow, and Melissa, rooted to the spot, pondered if a clear violation of trainer etiquette was worth making a break for it. But it was too late; the girl was too close to her and, with a sinking feeling in the pit of Melissa's stomach, she looked much older than her, late teens at the least.
"Three-on-three, all right?" the older girl said, eyeing Melissa's belt.
"Do we- Um, I'm, um, really busy- have somewhere to- oh, all right." Melissa awkwardly fumbled for three pokeballs, while the cool and collected woman took a quick, cautious glance at her location and carefully unclipped three from her belt. Oh, great, Melissa thought, biting her lip, she's a strategist.
They backed apart, and the other trainer elegantly threw her first pokeball on the snowy ground. The white aura inside took form and became a tall blue duck with a glistening red gem on its forehead. The golduck crouched low to the ground, ready. Melissa clumsily lobbed the ball onto the battlefield and the aura formed into a large burly bear, which roared loudly, his formidable claws extracted. The black-haired woman took another assessing look at the ursaring and yelled "Golduck! Fury swipes!"
The golduck rushed forward with its own claws out and began to take vicious swipes at the ursaring's trunk-like arms, which were held up to protect the bear's face. He was being forced backwards, and blood was beginning to trickle down the long thin scratches on his forearms. When the ursaring began to swing his massive arms at his attacker, the golduck jumped back, and Melissa could swear it was smirking. The bear pokemon shrugged off the cuts and snorted, ready for his command.
"Um, all right, ursaring! Use slash!"
The ursaring stormed forward, claws at the ready, kicking up snow behind him. One uppercut towards the golduck not only left a large gash on its chest, but the movement knocked the blue pokemon onto its back. Melissa pumped her fist in the air, but stopped to look at her active pokemon worriedly. The caves must've taken its toll on her ursaring, who was swaying on his stocky legs and the little droplets of blood were falling down on the snow, vivid scarlet against white. The small worry grew when the opponent's golduck weakly pushed itself up and steadied itself on the wet ground, another bloodstain on the snow. Melissa was glad to hear a hint of worry in her opponent's voice.
"Hang in there, golduck! Water pulse!
Three successive large rings of water were spat from the golduck's mouth, spiraling towards ursaring, landing hard on the circle on his stomach. The rock walls shook as the ursaring collided against them, propelled backwards by the water. A small cascade of disturbed snow fell on his head and shoulders. Melissa crossed her fingers that he wouldn't get up confused and turned her attention to the golduck, which looked like it was on its last legs.
"One more should do it, ursaring…" Melissa muttered to no one in particular. She then quickly turned to her pokemon, who was on its feet, snow still on his body.
"Ursaring! Use faint attack!"
For a six-foot-tall bear, it was hard to believe that it became nearly invisible on that command, but it seemed to melt into the shadow cast by the mountains and pine trees. The older girl scanned the area with a critical eye, waiting to shout any hint as to where the ursaring was to her pokemon.
Suddenly, a club-like forearm swung down on the golduck's head, making it crumple to the ground. Its eyes were dazed and it was clear that it couldn't fight any longer.
"You're not bad, kid." Melissa's opponent said, returning the golduck to its pokeball, which lost its clean red-and-white sheen. Melissa was too focused on her ursaring to really pay much mind to the girl, who had tossed her next pokemon into the fight. The ursaring was panting, and Melissa awkwardly urged the pokemon to continue fighting. When she finally looked up, she saw the trainer standing proud next to a rapidash. The fiery horse tossed its head and stomped a hoof on the patch of rock that the snow had melted away from. Melissa's ursaring slowly stood up and planted its feet, bracing for an impact.
"Rapidash, use take down!"
The rapidash charged forward and steam rose from the ground that its hooves touched. Melissa didn't have the time to shout 'dodge!' as the rapidash sped like an arrow towards its target, its skull meeting the ursaring's stomach as the bear roared in pain, before falling onto his side. Melissa began to chew on her tongue nervously. This means we're equal, doesn't it? She thought. Before withdrawing her ursaring back into his now dull pokeball, Melissa noticed the rapidash had recoiled backwards, obviously in pain. She knew enough to not send out her favorite, but instead reached for the pokeball that contained her clefable, which was, as far as she was concerned, the only good thing to come out of the mountains.
The rapidash regained its intimidating air and nobility, straightening up with ears pricked and ready to listen for its trainer's command. Melissa swayed anxiously; she hadn't used her clefable very much for trainer battles, and her opponent surely spent more time with her rapidash than Melissa had with the pink fairy-like creature that now stood in front of her.
"Okay, rapidash, use fire blast!"
The flames on the horse's mane flared up as the rapidash reared up on its hind legs, before falling back down and blasting a net-like flame at Melissa's clefable. The fire engulfed the fairy pokemon, and when the blaze died down, the clefable seemed exhausted and the curl on its head was badly singed. Melissa slipped her hand into her backpack and felt around for a burn heal; she had a bad feeling she'd need one.
"Err, clefable? Can you- Use metronome!"
Playfully, the clefable wagged its finger, and an odd glowing sphere rose into the air, higher and higher. Melissa stopped worrying about the battle. What was that? The other trainer seemed to be confused as well. Even the rapidash quickly raised its head to pay attention to the rising orb. Without any warning, the silver orb exploded, and the debris, followed by bright trains of light, crashed into the rapidash, blowing it backwards. It fell to the snowy ground, defeated. But its trainer only nonchalantly returned the pokemon, her eyes faraway and face bewildered. The clefable, overjoyed by her victory, began spinning on one foot. Melissa wiped her bangs out of her face. Silence filled the air, certainly unusual for a battle.
"Um, miss…? Can you-"
But the older girl already threw her third and final pokeball onto the ground, and a medicham sprang out, balancing on one foot while holding its body in a fighting stance. A small stab of fear shot down Melissa's back; wasn't her clefable weak to that? She was about to draw out a different pokeball when her opponent shouted "Medicham! Hi jump kick!"
The medicham sprang lightly into the air before landing hard on Melissa's clefable, its heel digging into her face. It let out a squeal as the medicham bounded backwards, hardly leaving a dent in the snow. The clefable had struggled up, and seemed angrier than ever. Melissa considered using metronome again, just to see another spectacular move. No, she thought. Even you know that would never happen more than once.
"Clefable, metronome!"
Idiot.
Again, the clefable wiggled her finger and a much less impressive jet of bubbles sprayed from her mouth. They fizzed around the medicham before popping, and the medicham hardly looked hurt, instead annoyed. The trainer, who Melissa could've sworn was expecting something amazing to happen as well, scoffed as she commanded her medicham to give the force palm that would leave the clefable falling flat on her face, groaning in pain.
"It's one-on-one now, kid. How're you doing? Hard?"
Melissa, after withdrawing the unconscious clefable, looked up at the trainer.
"Not… really." Melissa said, not knowing how else to answer that question. She threw her last pokeball out onto the battlefield, and a vespiquen formed. The queen bee twirled gracefully in the air before locking its amber eyes onto the medicham. Vespiquen was Melissa's pride and joy, if only since she spent a month waiting for a combee with a gem on its main forehead to tumble out of the little tree in her yard in Floaroma Meadow. She was her first pokemon, and her elegance had won a spot in her heart. Melissa awkwardly drew herself up to seem taller; her vespiquen often made her feel a little confident.
"Medicham, fire punch!"
Melissa slumped back down, her premature confidence already lost as fire formed around the medicham's fist. The vespiquen seemed to hold itself in a dignified matter, before medicham's fiery hand met her dress-like abdomen and the fire flared up to engulf her entire body. It's over. Melissa reached for her wallet, glad that it was only a three-on-three battle so she wouldn't be sent back to Hearthome's pokecenter.
A weak buzzing sound filled Melissa's ears; she looked up and saw that her vespiquen was looking back at her, her small battered wings beating frantically, struggling to keep herself suspended in midair. Melissa took a small steadying breath. Not yet. Not just yet.
"Vespiquen… Heal order."
Small bees crawled out from the honeycombs in the vespiquen's dress, crawling around her weak body. Her wings straightening, she hovered more steadily than before and she held her back straight. The bees quickly retreated back into the vespiquen's abdomen and the red gem on her forehead glowed faintly. The other trainer sighed.
"Medicham, fire punch!"
Fire enveloped the medicham's hand again as it charged forward, but the vespiquen shot higher. Melissa shielded her eyes from the blinding white sky as her eyes followed her pokemon. She shouted at the top of her lungs, unsure that the vespiquen could hear her through the flurry.
"Vespiquen, aerial ace!"
A yellow flash dropped down from the sky, a white streak of energy on her fist. The energy served as a blade that sliced into the medicham. The medicham staggered backwards, almost falling on its back but rectifying its balance, which, Melissa noticed, hadn't once swayed during the entire battle. Melissa's confidence was slowly coming back to her, but she knew that one more punch like that would wipe out her vespiquen, and turn, she would lose the battle. Don't think about that. She took another deep breath.
"Ice punch!"
Another punch was readied; this time shrouded with a heavy layer of ice, and as the medicham lunged forward, Melissa's vespiquen swerved to avoid the attack.
"Just one more aerial ace, vespiquen!"
White blades of energy surrounded the bee pokemon's orange claws and the vespiquen drove a strong fist into the medicham's face. Its impeccable balance gave as it stumbled backwards, finally defeated. The older girl, sporting a look that looked like a mix of reflection and anger, returned her last fainted pokemon and waded forward, hand on a vintage black wallet. She counted a wad of bills and held them out to Melissa between her fingers and thumb, as if Melissa would bite her hand if she left it on her palm.
"4200 poke. Take it."
Melissa complied, taking the crisp bills just as gingerly. "Listen, about the, um, the, uh, metronome… thing, I didn't know, I don't know what that-"
"No, it's fine. It wasn't you." Melissa couldn't help but sense a little vitriol in her voice, and saw her eyeing the pokeball containing her clefable like it was somehow tampered with. The girl quickly glanced behind her before saying "There's a little cabin back the-"
"Y-yeah, I've, uh, I've been on this route before."
"Good."
That seemed to be the end of the short, yet awkward, conversation. Melissa trudged downwards, not daring to look back at the other trainer. The wind whipped around her ponytail and bangs, and the snow was picking up, stinging her cheeks. A little lodge loomed into sight, a warm orange light in the windows flickering warmly. Wearily, she leaned against the little worn sign in front of the building. She could say what it read in her sleep, 'A warm bed and little else.' After nervously and pointlessly knocking, she pulled the heavy door open and entered.
There were the usual couple of trainers huddled next to the stone fireplace and the old hiker who owned the lodge was on the battered couch, absently looking forward. Melissa, feeling self-conscious in spite of herself, stumbled as she pulled off her shoes and jacket. The older trainers hardly looked up from their seats at the fire. She fell onto the heavily quilted bed and huddled against the pillow, rubbing her red nose. Pulling her backpack out from behind her, she opened a small pocket and pulled out a jar of marmalade and a roll of slightly shattered crackers.
Chewing on a marmalade-slathered cracker and trying to warm her arms, Melissa's mind flickered back to the large silver orb. There was something… oddly magnetic about the moment. Slowly the outside became nearly black, the only light being the small gleam of the moon on snow, and Melissa had long since crawled under the bed's covers. It was just metronome, she thought. There are a million moves you don't know. It wasn't special.
No, this was different.
Melissa curled into a ball and shut her eyes, the dying embers of the fire giving the room an eerie orange glow.
Okay, this is my first story up here, and I hope it's quality work. If not, I would like someone who could recommend a good pokemon beta. I tried really hard for the battle not to sound corny with the move shouting but what're ya gonna do.
I promise the exciting bit will pick up later.