"Buneary hang in there!" Cody shouted. The tiny rabbit leapt out of the way, the sparks scathing its abdomen. It appeared to be over, but in a show of grace, Buneary flipped in mid air, landing perfectly amidst the freshly dewed grass. Cody bit his thumb. Crap. That was too close.
"Buzz..." the yellow monster growled, smashing its fists together. Not wasting a second Buneary charged in its giant ears glowing. Well trained but underpowered, this was a long shot of an attack.
"Dizzy punch!" he commanded. Electabuzz roared with displeasure at the attack.
"Oh come on. Make it a challenge. Electabuzz counter with yer thunderpunch!"
Both submitted to the orders. Buneary hopped above the Pokemon's head, brining down powerful blows dealt by strong ears. But Electabuzz was no pushover. At a speed unseen by his kind, he threw uppercut after uppercut of electric punches parrying the glowing ears. For now they lay in a standstill, neither showing any sign of slowing down.
He bit his thumb again. His nerves were wracked and he could do nothing but stare at the two Pokemon. This was close. Dangerously close. No Terra High School student loses in the preliminary round. He'd be the laughingstock of the school if he did. Oh why did he sign up for this? He was never good at battling. So stupid, he thought.
"Enough of this, Electabuzz use a thunderbolt!" Buneary stopped his assault. Threatened by the incoming electricity he dashed away, avoiding bolts as he ran across the field.
"Cody, I need a little help." Buneary said in a strangely calm voice. Cody sighed. Now Buneary had done it. His inexperience at battling will now surely come shining through and it will all end with him not going to school for the next week.
"Uh...um..." he searched for the command inside him. His lips moved slowly as if deciding to say something but he thought against it and looked dumbly at the rabbit leaping over bolts of electricity.
"Pfff. Guess I'm on my own again." Jumping far above their heads, Buneary avoided the last bolt. A sphere of icy blue energy collected in his mouth. He took a deep breath, and then unleashed a beam of ice striking the electric Pokemon between the eyes.
He doubled over, roaring with pain, trying to scratch off the ice.
"Dirty trick." The Electabuzz trainer chided, eyeballing his Pokemon. "You okay Buzz?"
Obviously shaken, the Pokemon struggled to his feet. He gave his trainer the thumbs-up sign and waited for his signal.
"That was awesome Buneary!" Cody shouted, pumping his fist in the air, ignoring the insult. "Now finish it off, another ice beam!"
"Oh now you give me orders." His arms crossed around his furry abdomen.
"Just do it." he commanded.
Buneary rolled his eyes, preparing another beam.
The Pokemon didn't bother moving away, instead his eyes glowed a bright white, the beam fired. A yellow force field came between them; the beam hit the field, ricocheted off sending the stream hurdling toward Cody. He ducked down out of instinct, an instinct that clearly saved his head from freezing over.
"That was new." Buneary blinked.
"That thing nearly killed me!" he gasped, still on his knees.
"Oh. You all right?"
"Do you think I'm all right?!" Cody shouted baring his teeth.
"I was just asking..."
"Cody! Are you okay? Oh my gosh! I saw the whole thing!"
He turned around to face the voice. Standing by the gate was the night. Mina. Dressed oddly weird for winter with a short blue skirt and a long sleeve black thermal. Moron. Cody thought. But in all honestly he did not need this. Mina spelt disaster. Everywhere she went, her hair brained ideas to somehow "win" Cody over backfired, and almost always hurting him in some way.
"Larvi. Larvitar!"
"Great she brought the dinosaur too." he grumbled.
"Forget about them. We're in a battle. Look." he waved a paw at Electabuzz.
The beast growled softy, its gaze piercing through both of them. Currents of sparks rolled over his body, illuminating him to the brightness of the sun.
"I've never seen an attack like this. What should we do?" he inquired, his ears perked up.
Cody munched softy on the end of his fingertip, his stance lopsided as to put his vision in two places. Mina had come in at a bad time, at this critical stage where a trainer would shine; he was lost in his own world. Afraid of embarrassment, afraid of Mina doing this or that. The thoughts plagued his mind, corrupting it. He knew Buneary depended on him but sometimes, he knew his only Pokemon did better by himself.
"Well?"
His heart skipped a beat and he jumped startled. He turned back to Buneary, those huge blue eyes wanting orders.
"I...don't know." The rabbit's ears fell tragically to the sides of his head.
"All right. I'll try my best." He started forward, first at a walking pace, but gradually he sped up. His giant ears glowed a bright white for the second time in this battle and his tiny feet fluttered over the grass.
Cody watched him quietly, ignoring the loud cheerleading of the girl behind him. To tell the truth Electabuzz's calmness worried him.
The still Pokemon stirred into life, it twisted around, facing Buneary. The sparks around his body snaked wildly around his body. They collected around his wrist. The beast swung an electrified fist at the rabbit. Buneary ducked down, mimicking Cody, it was pure instinct. It was horribly close.
The snakes of electricity jolted to the tail of Electabuzz. Buneary had to succumb to fate. No where near fast enough to dodge, the tail smashed into his face sending him flying and crashing into the ground. There was no recovery. His eyes widened in fear. He was unable to move. Sparks eddied off him.
Behind him the Pokemon roared. The remaining rings of electricity crashed together, forcing a golden spear. Clutching the spear he ran toward Buneary. Buneary could do nothing more than to cringe and hope it would end soon.
"Rabbit, you pulled off a great fight." It was Electabuzz's voice. "If it were up to me, you wouldn't suffer this attack, but my trainer demands to do so. Forgive him." Buneary nodded, he shut his eyes now. The attack would not kill him, but the pain would be on an imperial scale.
"Stop! I forfeit!" It was Cody. Electabuzz retreated into his Pokeball. All that remained was the scarred body of his friend.
"Good choice man." The trainer gave him the words of encouragement before leaving him. He would move on to the second round.
The tournament was the last thing on his mind. He dashed toward Buneary, trying hard to hide the tears collecting in his eyes. He scooped up the tiny frame, hugging it close, mumbling prayers that he would be all right.
"Stop it. You're suffocating me." He finally whispered and for the first time that day, Cody managed a smile.
"Are you crying?" quizzed the rabbit, stretching out a paw to collect a bead rolling down his cheek.
"No! That's not it! I was.." He placed the rabbit on the floor, hiding the redness of his face.
"Idiot. Hey look out, that girl is back."
Cody pulled out a blue sphere and tapped Buneary. The Pokemon disappeared inside.
"Oh my gawd, I'm so sorry!" She jumped on him and wrapped her arms tightly around his waist.
He wiggled free, and pushed her from him. "For what? I'm the one that blew it. "He sighed.
"No you didn't! You battled wonderfully!" she exclaimed, patting him on the back. "No one could have done better!"
"Larvi!" Cody turned his gaze from Mina to the baby Larvitar. Larvitar are expensive, only Mina's family could ever hope to afford one in the town they lived in. And Mina was a decent battler. With money to burn and decent skills, Mina should have joined in place of him. Not him. Not a middleclass man who caught his Pokemon off the street. He turned back to Mina.
"Thanks for trying to cheer me up." He dusted himself off and walked past her. "I'm going to be at the Pokemon Center..." he told her before walking off into the distance.
Mina sat for a while staring at the fading figure. "He seemed upset...didn't he Larvi?"
"Larvi!" the little one screamed, holding both of the violet bags with his tiny paws.
"Oh no." she plucked them from the Pokemon. "I forgot about these."
The smell of anesthesia and dish soap curled Cody's nose. Even put away in the deepest corner of the cafeteria, the smell hung, reminding trainers of their gains or losses.
He sighed. He'd been doing that lot lately, and it truly bothered him. It wasn't just the loss that was causing it, it was everything.
Moving to a completely different style of life in the city was a thing he still not had gotten used to. He missed the wide open fields, desolate streets, and the sweet taste of the air that filled his lungs. He missed going out camping and yelling at his Pokemon neighbors that would invade his trashcans outside. And...most of all he missed walking to the edge of Azalea town with his Buneary always telling the story of how they came to come together.
Here, there was nothing. No plants, a gazillion cars, and he couldn't even have Buneary out in public half the time because of the law.
He twirled the spoon in his hot chocolate lazily.
"At least the food is good..." he mumbled, taking a sip. He placed the cup down softly, wiping the chocolate mustache off. Just a little while longer, he thought to himself, and then we can go home.
"Oh my god..." he hissed to himself. As if life could not get any more depressing, Mina the all- mighty bringer of misery was standing right at the doorway of the cafeteria with he hand serving as a telescope ...searching for him.
"There he is!" he heard her say. He slouched deeper into his seat, preparing for the worst.
With rushing footsteps came the words," Hi again Cody!"
She was as happy and full of energy as ever. She slid into a chair, placing her Larvitar next to her.
"You followed me..." he grunted, stirring his drink. The green dinosaur stared at him endearingly, its arms stretched out in his direction. Cody snatched the chocolate, gulping it down, not caring about the burn. It's about time he had the chance to give out some misery today.
"Um...you told me where you were going." she said.
"Larvi..." the tiny creature cried, failing its arms.
"Oh Larvi!" she sighed, picking up the small creature, and sitting it on her lap.
"Oh yeah...I did, didn't I?" So stupid, he thought.
"So how's Buneary?" She leaned in closer to him. He leaned back. The rusted nails of his rotten chair creaked.
"Better. Nurse Joy should be calling me up anytime." He hoped so, for his sake. He turned to the speaker above him, very conspicuous against a pale faded white.
"Oh. All right then." She replied.
"Why did you come here anyways?" he asked but her answer was interrupted by the sound of an intercom. The room seemed to vibrate at the enormous volume. It was Nurse Joy.
"Cody, can you come to front desk? Buneary is all ready to go." He screamed a mental yes and nearly leaped out of the table.
"Wait!" Mina cried throwing up the purple bag, but Cody was already making his way out of the greasy kitchen and into the main room.
"No...Hmp." She slumped into her chair. "I need to teach him to respect a girl."
The main lobby of the Pokemon Center was more so crowded than usual. Hundreds of bodies filled in line, awaiting Nurse Joy to appear, and the rest were cramped into what little space the center had. The worst was the smell. More anesthesia. Cody shuddered. Heaven knows what condition the Pokemon fighting in the tournament were in. If anything had come out of losing that early in the tournament is that Cody avoided seeing the worst of the casualties.
He squeezed his way to the front desk, ignoring many nasty looks from trainers waiting in line.
Nurse Joy wasn't there. He stood on tip-toes trying to spot the nurse possible a while off, but to his shock, nothing.
"Cody!" The voice made him lose his balance. He fell to the floor with a huge thud that made everyone in the center turn and look. He felt his face turn red-hot as everyone was now laughing at him. Perfect end to a perfect day.
He looked up to meet Nurse Joy's blue eyes. He grabbed the Pokeball in her hand without saying a word.
She smiled, probably giggling to himself as well, Cody thought.
"Are you hurt?" He groaned again. Her again.
"Mina, I'm not in the mood." Much of the laughter had died down, thankfully, and he was able to hear her clearly.
"Oh." She hung her head down a little, clutching the small purple bag in her hand. It was only for a moment. She swung around; carrying her Pokemon in her arms, and ran out the door. Cody felt everyone's eyes on him again. This time, they held faces of disgust. But in his mindset, he didn't care much. Nobody seemed to like him here.
A brown paw smacked Cody's face, hard.
"Ow! What was that for?" he cried. The newly bandaged Buneary tilted his head in Mina's direction.
"Apologize." he commanded, raising his fist again. Normally calm brown eyes burned into red.
" Buneary..." he rubbed his face. "She was asking for it."
A brief glow of light registered in Cody's pupil. Buneary hit him with a weakened dizzy punch. His mind turned to mush, and he yelped in pain. All around him, the trainers stared again.
"Do you want to cause a scene?" Buneary pulled his ear close to his tiny mouth. When Cody didn't answer, he shook him.
"I will not let you turn into some evil monster without a fight." he hissed. He regained his senses. Cody pushed him away. He drew his Pokeball quickly, the rabbit turned to dodge. In a weakened state, he couldn't run. The ball hit his abdomen as he leapt into the air.
Cody quickly jumped on the ball, pressing the locking mechanism built into the back. Buneary won't escape now, unless he manually undid the lock.
"Finally. Control that thing, trainer." a voice from afar echoed. He faked a smile, scratching the back of his head.
"Sorry, I- I don't know what got into him." he lied.