I'm glad we managed not to get lost again, as we quickly made our way out of goldenrod. Tale wanted to go inside the large radio tower, but it was his single vote against our three votes. Noir just clinged to me the entire time, with a pleased look on her face. Seems I have a new pokemon accessory, since a certain flying type seemed to miraculously mature from his evolution, and stopped making me his personal perch. I guess she's a bit better, since she doesn't have sharp talons poking me. She's all nice, warm and squishy. I don't mind her at all to be honest. Oh look, we're finally outside.
"Route 35 is fairly short, and there's a park right after here." Mist announced while having Tale hold the map out for her. I'm glad he's the new item carrying mon, because I was tired of carrying that stupid bag around.
"So what's our plan? Do we head straight for the next town, or do we stop and smell the roses?" Tale asked nobody in particular.
"Well personally, I'd like to do some training today. Since I feel we don't do it enough." I chimed in. They both looked at me.
"Speak for yourself." They said at the same time. Hey!
"Plum, in case you haven't noticed, while you like to sleep in, Tale wakes up before either of us to go practice, and I stay up much later than both of you to practice. I think you're the only one who doesn't train on their own." I frowned at her.
"Well sorry, I didn't know about the unspoken rule that says we have to go train by ourselves at Arceus forsaken times." I felt Noir squeeze my hand. Oh right, I almost forgot she was here.
"Don't worry, I can practice with you. I-if I'm okay that is... I mean, I'm not really good at battling, but I'll try my best for yo- I mean the team." I smiled at her.
"Sure! That would be great." I said with a nod. She smiled back at me. I heard ruffling and turned, noticing Tale putting the map away.
"Great, I'm glad that's settled. Now while I don't have much of a mind to see the sights, feel free to suggest that we make stops if you see something interesting." I nodded.
With that we headed down the road, and Mist wasn't kidding about this route being short, the exit was already within eyesight, although a bit small. As we we made our way through, I noticed trainers battling a little bit off the road, and suggested that we pause and watch the battle. Everyone seemed to agree as they all stopped and watched the match. Looks like it was Vulpix versus Growlithe.
"Vulpix, use fire spin!" One of the trainers called out. It was a young girl with long brown hair, wearing what appeared to be a school uniform. Her pokemon howled, and let loose a spiral of fire right at it's opponent. They didn't look worried however, and just stood there and let the attack connect. The girl smiled when the attack hit, but it quickly turned into a frown when she noticed that the attack had done nothing.
"That wasn't very smart! Don't you know about Growlithe's ability?" Her snobby looking opponent said. This trainer was also a young girl, appearing to be a bit older than the first one. She had long and somewhat curly blonde hair, and was also wearing a school uniform, but this one looked a bit more refined.
"Well in that case, this battle is going nowhere fast..." The first girl stared pouting and looked away. Is she serious?
"Hardly, you give up too easily. Growlithe, use bite!" The girl got a confused look on her face, while her pokemon managed to dodge the first attack on it's own, but Growlithe quickly followed up with several more, finally connecting after the third try. Vulpix slumped a bit, but still appeared to be ready to battle.
"U-uh umm, w-what do I do now?" Looks like miss prim was a bit clueless, as Vulpix looked back at her with an expectant look on it's face.
"Fine, let's get ready to finish this off with one shot. Use howl!" Growlithe let out a echoing howl, which appeared to empower it. Don't ask me how.
Vulpix was still looking back at it's trainer, who was still bumbling around and apparently forgot to teach her pokemon moves of a different type. Vulpix finally sighed, and turned to it's opponent, an eerie glow coming from it's eyes.
"That's..." The blonde trainer got a scowl on her face, as Vulpix's move took effect. Growlithe started running around, and crashing into various rock and trees, as the blonde girl cursed under her breath. Her trainer looked dumbfounded however.
"Ah... she did it again.." She mumbled to herself. But her pokemon didn't seemed too concerned with their trainer anymore, and charged Growlithe at an impressive speed, slamming into it. The impact made it crash into a nearby fence, though not breaking it somehow. Growlithe was knocked out cold.
"Growlithe!" She quickly pulled out a pokeball and recalled her defeated pokemon.
"So... this means I win right?" The brunette awkwardly said. The blonde girl snapped her head back at her.
"I'd say it's Vulpix's win more than anything. I don't think you had anything to do with it." The other girl sighed.
"I know..." She walked over and knelt down beside Vulpix, who was watching her intently.
"That was amazing Vulpix! You know, I'm starting to wonder if you even need me..." Tears started welling up in her eyes. What a drama queen...
"I'm not even sure why I became a trainer in the first place. I just wanted to have a cute pokemon, and before I knew it, we were competing in battles. Well more like you were actually. I can tell you really like to battle, which I think is kinda weird for a girl in my opinion. I just don't think I'm cut out for this. Maybe you should be with someone who can actually help you with your goals... I feel like I'm holding you back..." She wiped her face as Vulpix snuggled up to her.
"Oh Vulpix... you're such a good friend." She picked her up and hugged her. I noticed the blonde girl was walking over and had her arms crossed.
"Vulpix certainly loves you a lot, but I don't think you're the best trainer for her Amy. She needs someone who will help develop her battling skills." Amy looked up at her.
"No, I'm not trading her to you Gwen. I know how you are with pokemon that aren't Eevee or it's evolutions. You trade them away so fast, you hardly get a chance to know them. I need to make sure that Vulpix will be properly cared for, not traded back and forth like some object." Through all of this, I noticed Mist was walking toward them... and hey, hey, hey, that wasn't part of the plan!
"Interesting, so you're worried that Vulpix here won't get the proper training she deserves, but you also want to make sure that her feelings are taken into account as well..."
"Hmm?"
"Ehh?"
"Did that staryu just talk?"
"I think it did... but it was kind of in my head."
They both turned to Mist and stared slack jawed at her. The blonde girl however, quickly recovered and got a smirk on her face.
"Very interesting... I'm certainly interested in catching a rare pokemon like this. Go Eevee!" She quickly threw out a pokeball before anyone could object. Seemed Mist didn't have a choice.
"Use take down!" Eevee quickly charged at Mist, but she easily jumped out of the way.
"Fell for it, use quick attack!" As soon as Mist jumped, Eevee also jumped at an incredible speed, crashing right in her, and knocking her down. Seemed that caught even Mist off guard. This girl was pretty good.
Mist wasn't impressed however, and quickly stood up and retaliated with a quick water gun attack to Eevee's face.
"Hmph, use shadow ball!" She yelled while holding an arm out dramatically. The normal type quickly recovered from the attack and formed a ball of shadowy energy in it's mouth, launching it right at Mist.
Instead of dodging this time, Mist decided to blast it right back with a water gun attack, making it crash and explode in Eevee's face, and the water attack also carried it along the steam, lifting it up into the air briefly before it came crashing down, out cold.
"Oh no! Eevee!" Gwen quickly recalled her pokemon and pulled out another pokeball, as her face became much more serious.
"You're pretty strong to make me fight seriously like this..." She threw out her next pokemon, and oh boy, it wasn't looking good for Mist.
"Jolteon, use thunderbolt!" I could already tell this Jolteon was much more experienced that her other two pokemon, Mist might not be able to win this one. But something seemed to change about Mist at this moment. Was she being 'serious'?
Mist quickly countered with her own thunderbolt however, and managed to stop it for a moment, but naturally a thunderbolt from an electric type would be more powerful, and it pushed straight through her attack. This seemed to create the opening she needed however, as she sidestepped and launched a powerful burst of water straight at Jolteon.
"Dodge!" Jolteon quickly obliged, halting it's attack and swiftly dashing out of the way.
"Pin Missile!" While still running, Jolteon launched several volleys of needles right at Mist. The attack seemed to have extra range, due to the running start it had, It even managed to block any kind of escape route, so dodging wasn't an option.
"Here it is! Use discharge on the pin missiles!" Without missing a beat, Jolteon came to screeching halt, and fired a wide spread electric shock, that electrified all the needles, and made it into some kind of electric web. Mist just stood there. Was she giving up?
"Yes! My victory!" The girl was already celebrating, and was getting ready to toss a pokeball, but after the smoke from that last attack cleared, Mist was still standing, not appearing to take any damage whatsoever.
"What?! That's impossible! Quick, use another thunderbolt!" But Jolteon wasn't quick enough, as Mist fired another stream of water, even more powerful than the last, hitting it dead on, carrying it along the powerful steam, making it slam into a rock. Mist had overcome the type advantage!
"N-no way... that was my strongest pokemon... and this staryu beat it in one hit!?" Gwen called her pokemon back, and walked over to Mist, kneeling down in front of her.
"How are you so strong? I should've won that one easily." Mist simply looked at her.
"Battles aren't simply about type advantages, you were so caught up on that and your fancy new combo attack that made it simple to defeat." The blonde girl sulked.
"Of course I know that, but... but... aww man, I should've won that one!" The other girl, Amy was laughing. And Vulpix gazed at Mist, she was clearly watching the battle very closely. And just for a brief moment I felt that something was different about this fox.
"That was an amazing battle..." She then looked down at Vulpix.
"I think I understand you a little better Vulpix. Even I got an adrenaline rush from that match!" The fox smiled at her and said what probably sounded like Vulpix vul to her, but really meant; "I'm glad you realized the splendor of heated battles."
Oh? Vulpix walked over to Mist and silently looked at her. Seems she also wanted a battle.
"Oh.. I think Vulpix wants a battle too, Staryu. Would you be so kind as to accept our challenge?" Her trainer seemed to also pick up on this. These two were closer than I first thought.
"Of course. I'd be happy to." With that, they got into battle positions, and Gwen walked over and sat next to us.
"To think I'd be beaten so badly by wild pokemon... but all of you guys hardly seem like normal wild pokemon." She started rambling on and on, and I wisely chose to ignore her.
"Okay so, I shouldn't use fire attacks, since Staryu is a water type... umm use quick attack!" Vulpix seemed relieved that her trainer seems to remember her attacks now, and charged Mist at full speed. A straightforward attack like that was hardly going to work on Mist however, she simply stood there and fired a water gun at the charging fox. Amy panicked, but her pokemon wasn't nearly as incompetent and she quickly jumped to the side and fired a powerful stream of fire, making a direct hit. And even though it's supposed to be not effective, it did appear to do decent damage.
"W-wow! So none effective attacks can work sometimes! Good job Vulpix!" At this point she might as well just cheer her pokemon on.
"Not bad. I didn't expect a fire attack to hurt this much..." Mist stumbled a bit, appearing to take more than just a little bit of damage.
"Please take this seriously. I know you're holding back." Mist suddenly looked surprised for some reason, but I have no idea why.
"I can assure you, I am not holding back." Vulpix suddenly lowered it's eyes at Mist. Why aren't they attacking each other anymore? They're just... staring.
"Then why are you using water gun instead of hydro pump now?"
"Because that takes more energy to use, and you aren't exactly going all out either are you? Now who is underestimating whom?"
"I don't appreciate your mind probing, it'd be best if you stopped that bad habit."
"So you noticed? I'm impressed."
"Yes, it's not a very pleasant feeling. Now how about a more formal introduction, instead of all this secrecy?"
"Very well, I'm Mist."
"And my name is Ruby. It's a pleasure."
"That's interesting, your trainer just calls you Vulpix."
"Well... she wouldn't know my old name. Besides, that was a long time ago."
"You don't say? Please do tell."
"I'm sorry, I'd love to, but I'm afraid we're in the middle of a match right now. We've already spoken too much."
"I'm inclined to agree."
"Then, shall we?"
"Yes, let's."
Maybe it's just me, but they've been staring at each other for a bit too long. Just what are they doing? Oh ok, they're back to fighting. Vulpix fired another flamethrower at Mist, but this time she jumped out of the way.
"V-vulpix! Try a confuse ray!" Oh, it seems the schoolgirl remembered that she's a trainer. Her partner complied, it's eyes glowing all purple and stuff. However, it didn't seem to affect Mist at all.
"Umm... okay try and trap it inside a fire spin then!" Vulpix did indeed try, but Mist was rather hard to catch, as she dodged several flame spirals, and then countered with a powerful stream of water. It was definitely stronger than a mere water gun, that's for sure.
"This isn't good, what do I do now?!" Oh dear, she was panicking again. But to everyone's surprise, the stream of water dispersed right in front of Vulpix's face. I did notice that it's eyes were glowing however. What's going on?
"..."
Mist decided to halt her attack, and spun herself low off the ground at high speed, right at Vulpix. Her target seemed deathly calm however, and closed her eyes. And as soon as Mist was within breathing distance, her entire body came to a halt in midair. Vulpix had opened it's eyes at the last second, and stopped Mist in her tracks. The foxes eyes were glowing again, and tails were fully uncurled and swishing around. Maybe it was some kind of psychic power? And if so, why didn't they use it before?
"Looks like this is the end Mist. Though, it might've been different if you were at one hundred percent."
"So you've already developed your psychic abilities this much? And without evolving to boot. You are truly a genius."
"You flatter me. But I've just had more time than most is all. Please excuse me."
Vulpix started charging a ball of green energy in it's mouth, and then bit into it, making it explode right in front of them, hitting both of them. But it looks like Mist was knocked on the ground, and wasn't moving. Vulpix didn't seem very affected at all however, and looked back at it's trainer, as if expecting her to do something.
"O-oh right! The pokeball..." She half halfheartedly tossed a pokeball at Mist, but it simply bounced off of her, without opening at all.
"Okay that's enough." Gwen stood up and walked over to her friend.
"W-what?! How did I mess up this time?!" The blonde girl placed a hand on her shoulder.
"That Staryu has a trainer already. That's why the pokeball didn't work."
"Oh I see." Gwen looked back over at Mist.
"I suppose that explains why that Staryu is so smart and strong, but what about Vulpix? I wouldn't call your Vulpix normal either, since it won on it's own basically."
While they decided to have a chat, we all ran over to check on Mist. She was already using recover to heal herself, and quickly stood up.
"I'd never thought I'd see Mist get beat by a fire type of all things." Of course Tale has to insert his smart remarks at some point.
"I was careless and underestimated my opponent, that's all. It just means I need more training." She just casually shrugged it off. Mist took defeat a lot better than I thought she would.
"Hmm."
"Wow... Mist is amazing..." Noir quipped from behind me. It so easy to forgot that she's even here.
Vulpix left her trainer and her friend to themselves, and was walking toward us. Ohhhh what's going to happen?!
"That was quite an impressive combo you pulled off there." Mist decided to be the first one to speak.
"Why thank you. And excuse me for being so frank... but there is no way you're a simple wild pokemon with skills like that. Mind explaining?" Mist's red core faintly lit up and then went dim.
"You first. And how about you introduce yourself to everyone else first before we continue? They're bound to get lost if we continue like this." She then motioned to all of us, who were just silently watching them. Vulpix hesitated for a moment, and then nodded slowly.
"You may call me Ruby. I'm..." She stopped abruptly and looked away from us. She seemed to be pondering something. Yes, the Vulpix is a girl.
"Well before I continue, I'd like to know all of your names." She looked all of us over, and her eyes rested on me. Merely making eye contact with her made me nervous. I couldn't place my finger on the reason why.
"I'm Plum. I'm uh... nobody special." She tiled her head at me.
"Oh I wouldn't say that, your aura is the most intriguing here. I've never felt anything like it. You're special alright." Aura? Shivers went down my body. It felt like she was peeking straight into my soul. I don't think I've ever felt so exposed... so helpless...
"I'm Tale." Oh thank you, for once you're being nice. I don't think I could take anymore of that. She turned her attention over to him. Silence.
"Is that it?" He looked back at her with a blank face.
"Umm yeah, I don't plan on telling my life story here thanks." Ruby gained a sly smile, and Tale raised an eyebrow.
"Have it your way, majestic bird."
"Are you mocking me now?" And here I think she laughed for the first time I've seen her.
"Of course not." She then turned to Noir.
"Damnit, she's making fun of me."
"And you? You've been hiding behind your friend there the entire time.
I felt Noir let go of me, as she approached the fire type.
"I'm Noir... and excuse me Ruby, but how are you so strong? In the first battle you had, you were most certainly holding back against that growlithe. You could have won easily, but you let that poor thing think it had a chance. And you even beat Mist, a water type who can even defeat something that has a complete advantage against her, like an electric type Jolteon." Ruby closed her eyes for a moment before answering. Oh another note, I think that is the most I've ever seen Noir talk at once.
"Why don't you use your fancy technology to see why? I'm sure it could tell you all you need to know." Noir looked back at the bag on Tale's back.
"H-how did you?" Ruby smiled in a way that said she wasn't going to explain further.
So since nobody else knew how to use it, I grabbed the pokedex from the bag and pointed it at Ruby. It blinked to life with a ping and started spouting information in a robotic voice.
"Vulpix, the Fox Pokemon. Its six tails are extremely beautiful. As it evolves, it grows even more tails. Vulpix uses powerful flame attacks. At the time of its birth, Vulpix has one snow-white tail. The tail separates into six if this Pokemon receives plenty of love from its Trainer. The six tails become magnificently curled." I then pressed the little white button on the side. Come on, give us the info we actually care about!
"Current level 60. Known attacks include: fire spin, flamethrower, fire Blast, inferno, quick attack, confuse ray, hypnosis, extrasensory, energy ball, safeguard and protect." Uh... wow. I could've sworn I saw her get a smug look on her face for just a moment. Just for the heck of it, I used it on everyone else.
Mist: level 37. Moves: water gun, hydro pump, swift, protect, recover, thunderbolt, camouflage and rapid spin.
Tale: level 26. Moves: whirlwind, sand-attack, twister, wing attack, aerial ace, quick attack, and roost.
Noir: level 33. Moves: confusion, psyshock, shadow ball, doubleslap, tickle, protect and thunder wave.
Me: level 23. Moves: bite, vice grip, astonish, fake tears, pain split, and fairy wind.
Fairy Wind? Why haven't I heard of this attack before? And why does the pokedex say I can use it? I'll have to test this out later...
"I see. So it was the level difference." Ruby nods at Mist.
"In any case, could you finish your story now?" The Vulpix simply looked at her, as if expecting something.
"Oh yes... my name is Mist. It's nice to meet you." She smiled at Mist, satisfied.
"I'm... well I'll just say this girl is not the first trainer I've had. She's one of many."
"Exactly how many are we talking about?" Ruby's face dropped.
"I've lost count to be honest, but I remember my first master well. He was a kind gentleman, who lived in a castle." Whoa, a rich person's pokemon. I wonder how she ended up with Amy over there?
"You're very forthcoming with this kind of information, I'm surprised you'd share it with strangers." A warm and motherly kind of smile curved up on Ruby's lips.
"I don't have anything to hide. Besides, I think you are the first one to ask me. Well... the first one to ask, and can understand me that is. Most pokemon I meet are either obsessed with battles, finding a mate, or eating. To be honest, it's bit refreshing." Mist nodded at her.
"In that case, how about you start from the beginning?"
"I'd love to, since I don't think my trainer will be done anytime soon."
I looked over and saw that Amy was on the phone with someone, chatting away. Probably her boyfriend or something. And Gwen was long gone. I wonder what she was talking about... actually nevermind, I don't want to know.