The two purple pokemon battled each other until Rattata took a step back. Scratches and bruises covered the small rodent. Gary's shoulders tensed as he stared at the wimp in front of him. "You can't be this weak already," he groaned in disappointment. He was a moment away from returning the rat back into its pokeball and bringing out Spearow; a pokemon who could actually do some damage instead of faint on the first attack.
Rattata, in return, stood his ground as the other pokemon whipped up its next attack.
"Call it quits," Gary tried to humored himself, "Or do you want to faint before we reach the next Pokecenter?"
The purple pokemon did not fret at his words. Instead, the rat charged forward with a Sucker Punch to the Venonat's fuzzy form. It absorbed the half of the blow with it fur, while the other half affected its health.
Gary glanced down to his other pokemon, Nidoran. The light blue pokemon stayed next to him, even though he captured her yesterday. She was timid in this new setting. Nidoran never entered the forest outside of her homeland so she stuck close to the only lead she had, Gary.
And his other pokemon joined him, Geodude. His duel with the Hoothoot ended in a victory. He thumped his chest with his rock fists as he cheered for his win, but his cheeriness disappeared when he saw the purple pokemon still battling with the bug. Poor thing could barely handle himself in the fight.
Yet, Rattata still stood there with his teeth glinting in the moonlight.
His shoulders slumped and slide his backpack over his shoulder and started digging something out. He really didn't want to resort to this, since getting these types of berries is harder than he first thought. An oran berry. "Hopefully you don't waste this," the brunet uttered under his breath as he handed the berry to the pokemon. Rattata looked at him, surprised, and nibbled on the berry. Imminently, the effects started to show. The scratches ad brusies cleared up on his body and he was ready to go once again. "Now, don't disappoint me."
A squeak came from the purple rat as he turned to face the Venonat once more.
Geodude just looked away. This couldn't end well for the rat.
Rattata bit down onto the bug pokemon, who squealed in pain and jerked away. The rat snarled back and attacked with pursuit. The fur on Venonat's body fizzed out and sent the bug hurling backwards.
"Hyper Fang. Finished him." Gary ordered.
Rattata charged forward as his teeth gleamed in dark intentions. He bite down on the bug pokemon.
And Venonat fainted.
The mouse pokemon took a step back and kneel his head to the ground. It shook from one side to the other. Geodude turned back, ready to shake the pokemon if he turned crazy. While Nidoran huddled closer to Gary's extended foot.
Light shined off the rat and onto the surrounding party. "Wh-?" Gary mumbled. Rattata's figure dis-formed and enlarge. Light glowed from his new shape and slowly faded away. Leaving them alone with a tanned-colored pokemon with sharp teeth. "Rattata?" Gary questioned as he took a step forward.
Bill cheered from the shadows, Nidoran glanced his way. "Bravo! Maleficent!" he complimented as if this was a performance. "I will always cherish this moment. It only happens so often, and with your Rattata, this was his only one."
"What? Who the heck are you?!"
"I am Bill, owner of the lighthouse on top of the hill. And what you have just witness was evolution. Your pokemon transformed into Raticate as it gained more experience from your battle. With this transformation, your Ratta-Raticate has advanced from his later form."
"This wimp actually did something worth something?" he pointed to the rat, who was clattering his new teeth together. The rock pokemon walked over to the new transformed pokemon, who took a nip out of him. And those two were already in another brawl with each other.
Bill shook his head at Gary's apparent discouragement of his pokemon. His eyes were closed as he gestured to himself and to the brown rat. "It counts on how the trainer trains his pokemon. From what I've witness in the shadows, it wasn't until you showed compassion for the small creature, that he felt he was good enough to advance himself. If you still think of him as a wimp, I could always take him off your hands."
"Gramps," Gary uttered into his advance copy of a pokedex. "Do you know a guy named Bill? He acts all important and stuff."
"Bill as in the creator of the storage system?" Oak's voice answered back. "Quite, yes, I do know of him. We were partnered together to find ways on exchanging pokemon without trainers having to travel back to my labs. I can tell you more when I get back to the labs, but it was quite an advan-"
"So he's actually important? Man, and I was just about to knock him out as well."
"Hello? I'm right here, thank you very much." Bill sighed as Gary continued his phone call with his grandpa. He raised his hand to his forehead and looked at the sky, "Your companions entered my house above the hill, and asked me to reach you. Since they were getting scared without you there. I have no clue why they would be scared there. It's only me and a few science experiments. Maybe it's the new test subject I gotten. It has been smelling funny lately, but it shouldn't scare woman."
Gary flipped his pokedex closed and looked at the rambling boy who was pacing around in the clearing as he talked away about his lighthouse and sightings. Not that Gary cared in the slightest. "You can go back. Things just gotten interesting."
"The lighthouse has the perfect view of the lands. One night, I will bring a lady up there to shar-" he paused and looked back at the brunet, "Wait, may you repeat that?"
"Leave," he blinked and turned away, looking at the fainted bug pokemon.
"Oh, no, no, no!" Bill repeated, "Haven't you heard of the tales within this forest? On a full moon, which there is tonight, a giant monster will appear and travel through the trees in search of intruders. I, myself, rather stay within than be squeezed by such a horrible thing."
"Tell the girls I will be back in the morning then."
"Haven't you heard a single word I've said?!"
"Something about you scaring woman in a 10 mile radius."
Bill gasped and covered his mouth with his hand. "I shall never say such a thing! Please do not think that badly of me. I'd only came here on the whims of your beautiful ladies, to keep them contain. And if you do not want to leave with me, I can only take matters within my own whims."
"What are you going t-"
A bulbasaur appeared and surrounded Gary with its tentacles. "Now I shall lead the way," Bill stated as he strolled forward.
"You bastard!" The pokemon trainer yelped.
"Oh, and before I forget," he turned to Gary's pokemon. "You three may return now."
Raticate and Nidoran followed Bill's order without hesitation, while Geodude stayed out and followed his master. Gary's eyes narrowed as he was dragged into the forest. So much for training. He picked up his pokedex once more, as if to call his grandpa to complain, but a message appeared on the screen. He pressed the button.
'From: Gramps
Subject: Ashley'
From that, Gary already thought of pressing the delete button, but instead, he clicked on the reattachment. It was a video his grandfather had taken while he was seated in the middle of an audience. The video played some more, with noises that clouded Bill's rambles. Next to him was Delia; why she was there, Gary had no clue, but the place they were at looked similar.
Lights beamed out on the stage in front of them, and he heard a girl's voice. Daisy's. She was announcing a tale.
And that's when Ash appeared. She was on top of a diving board as she gulped at the sight below her. Her legs were covered in smooth purple fabric; looking like a fish tail. While her upper body, mainly a certain section that he caught sight of a few days ago, was covered in gold starfishes. Violet came out from the shadows and pushed her over the edge of the board, and she flew through the air and landed in the water.
In the water was the orange haired girl, who now had longer hair and a green tail. She danced with the other water pokemon, while Ashley was bobbing in the water by herself. She looked lost compared to the others in the water.
He didn't know what the story, play or whatever it was called, was about, but he watched as Ash was taken by Squirtle's shell and flowed within the waves, like a dance.
"A water ballet?" Gary thought absent-minded. It was what that gym was centered around, being the sisters' hobbies.
Misty then disappeared into the shadows, while the water pokemon were left alone, scared and frighten. They finally swum to Ash, and the group dashed through the waves to Misty's end of the stage. The light followed Ash's movements until Misty came into view.
"That's the end?!" Gary grumbled as the lights came back on with Misty bowing the audience.
Oak turned the camera back onto him and Delia, and the two looked into the lens. "Ashley's first performance! Isn't she so gifted already?" Delia smiled with her eyes closed.
"I wonder if she had her eyes closed the whole play..." The brunet commented.
"What was that?" Bill glanced back at his hostage.
"Nothing."
And with that, the video ended.
His finger lingered on the screen, as he was deciding on deleting this failed performance, or save it for later. He sighed and finally pressed save.