Chapter 34
"Okay, where the hell is he?" Carly asked, more than a little ticked off. Trevor hadn't shown up at all since dinner last night, and now we were short a man.
"He's got a Charizard now, remember? He can just fly off to wherever he wants, and we have to deal with it. Now let's go. We're probably going to the same place," I replied, more fiercely than I should have.
"Okay, new question. The hell is wrong with you?" Carly barked back at me.
"Nothing is wrong," I defended.
"Bullshit. You've been pissier than usual. And, you're way more assertive than normal. Not in a good way though. It's like you're competing with your Pokémon for control," Carly explained. "Besides, it's Nicole who's really worried."
That threw me for a loop. "Really?" I had to respond.
Rolling her eyes, Carly answered me. "Yes, really. Make your Arceus-damn move already. And if Trevor's not coming, let's go."
As we rode northward from Calgary, I kept looking up in the sky for signs of a Charizard. I don't know why I was so worried about Trevor; besides the obvious fact he was a man-child in training, because of how he'd behaved. He'd been crass, disrespectful, put women before us, planned on leaving anyway after getting his badges- Why was I friends with this guy?
Maybe because we'd been a lot closer when we were little. He was always the big man on campus, me not so much. But, he'd treat me like I was just as important. It was a nice feeling, and we'd bonded.
Now we were opponents. Nothing more. He'd have a Charizard, Scolipede, Ambipom, Ludicolo, Electrode and Machamp if he evolved everything to its final form. It would be a tough match, but nothing I couldn't handle.
Carly would be trouble too actually. She was potentially packing a Staraptor, Luxray, Venusaur, Chandelure, Feraligatr and Beautifly. Well, no. Carly wouldn't use that… thing of hers in a battle. With all the insistence that ghost was cute, Carly wasn't training it into the psycho life-force sucker that was Chandelure anytime soon.
Meaning she'd try and catch something else.
And she'd have a whole month thereabouts more than me to do it.
Huh.
As we pulled into the clearing to take an afternoon rest, I clued in to the fact we hadn't seen anybody else for, well, hours. Maybe Edmonton wasn't so in demand this time of year or something. Anyone on the western side of Canada would have visited it already. It was just those more from the east going there. We'd been ahead of the rush for a while now, right?
As Nicole sat down, she let out Tepig and began to pet the little guy. Walking over to her, I sat down beside her, just silent momentarily. I'd known her this long, and couldn't hold a conversation with her.
Well, go with what you know: the first thing that pops into your head.
"Zapdos is clearly the thunderbird, but what legend does Articuno represent?" I asked her.
"Articuno's the tricky one. It's an aspect of the Raven, found in the far north. It appears in the cold of the night to lead freezing travelers," She began to explain before stopping. Drawing in a breath, it seemed almost like she didn't want to finish.
"You're leaving something out," I observed.
"Yeah. The tricky part. It either leads the travelers to safety, or certain death. It depends on who you talk too," she finished with a sigh. Bowing her head, she then took a sip from one of our water bottles before going back to her silence.
"Is there something between us?" I blurted out. Nicole's normally pale face turned a crimson red at this, while I covered my mouth. Hell of a way to tell her man, hell of a way to tell her. I needed to save myself fast. "I-I don't mind either way, but I'd kind of hoped there was."
Still blushing, Nicole studied her hiking boots like they suddenly were the most interesting thing in the world. I couldn't hear her reply even though we were right beside one another she'd gotten so quiet.
"Beg pardon?" I prompted, desperate for the answer.
"I think there might be. Should there be?" she responded.
"I'd like there to be. What should we do now?" I answered.
"Well, are we dating or something?" I stated, exasperated. This was way more frustrating than I thought it was going to be.
"Yes. Let's say we are," Nicole confirmed.
"Alright then. I need to step away for a moment," I said excusing myself.
Once I was sure Nicole had fallen out of earshot, I had to let it out. "Yes!" I screamed in excitement, practically jumping for joy as I did so. Victory. Pure and glorious victory.
"You know what's funny Carly?" I asked her as we approached Edmonton. "This whole time we haven't had a battle."
Carly stopped at this in the middle of her stride. As she began to mull it over in her head while Nicole and I carried on, she slowly dragged behind. After this continued for a short period of time, I suddenly got yanked backwards while Carly held onto my hood.
"Four on Four singles. Substitution is fair game," Carly stated in a rapid fire fashion while continuing to forcibly pull me over to the nearest patch of uninterrupted flat ground. Finally letting go of me, Carly then put a fair amount of distance between us, understandably due to the fact we were both packing some really large Pokémon. With a wave of her hand, Carly motioned for me to make the first move.
Weighing over my options, I grasped a couple of my Pokémon before my final decision. "Stunky, come on out!" As the flash quickly ended, the Dark and Poison type sudden burst into a cold sweat and all the while nervously fidgeting. I must have shocked her out of a nap or something.
Carly then responded with a large, blue and black feline. Its jagged mane was unusually prominent for its species and its yellowy eyes almost gazed into my soul. A frickin' Luxray. Way to play fair Carly, way to play fair.
"Stunky, you can do this! All you need to do is strike the thing as hard as possible while it's not-" I began to explain, before Luxray began to pounce. As the Electric type's fangs began to come to life with an electric charge, Stunky went for her instinctive panic button- Haze.
Covering the field with smoke, I couldn't see a thing. And that would normally be good, because then Carly and Luxray would be in trouble. Except, Luxray could see things. It was crazy how much wasn't hidden from them- natural x-ray vision, 20/20 sight even when it was almost too dark for anything- and Carly's was out for blood.
With a ferocious growl, Luxray easily tracked down Stunky, and as the smoke cleared managed to clamp down on the poor girl. Shaking around its head violently, while still sending huge amounts of electricity through Stunky's veins, all I could do was helplessly watch the proceedings.
Finally thrown from Luxray's grasp, Stunky skidded across the ground, barely conscious. Now that I was good and panicky, I ran to make sure I hadn't gotten another one of my Pokémon seriously injured. Clasping Stunky, I saw the helplessness burning across her face. Calling her back, I returned to where I began the battle. It was on.
I began to reach for Marshtomp, and then had my doubts. While mostly recovered, he couldn't handle a fight like this. I'd have to go to a big gun. I held onto Hariyama, then thought better of it. I needed to keep Luxray at bay, and Hariyama couldn't do that.
"Manectric, I choose you!" I snarled. The canine took an aggressive stance of his own, and with a simple nod of my head, he knew what he had to do: Sic'em.
The two collided as they lunged at one another, Luxray slightly outpacing Manectric as they did so. Trying to crunch down hard with the same electrical bite as before, Manectric immediately began to perk up, empowered by the voltage now in his fur.
"Signal Beam!" I ordered, and the psychedelic blast hit Luxray squarely in the face. The lion recoiled, losing precious ground while Manectric continued to march onward. Time for a new attack to take the stage, and Carly wasn't expecting this one anytime soon, I could guarantee it.
"Switch to Flamethrower!" I called out, and the previous attack quickly changed into a gushing inferno forcing Luxray back even further. A look of surprise crossed Carly's face, hardening the minute Luxray started to stagger.
Luxray ran forward in a last ditch offensive at this point, tail turning into the texture of sheet metal. Venom oozing from its glare, Luxray itself wanted more blood than Carly. Very much a scary thought.
As Manectric own tail turned into the same metallic structure, the two swung their bodies to meet one another mid attack. Both of them continued to push at one another, until finally Luxray gave out, unable to keep going.
As Luxray was being recalled, I took the time to stop and watch out for Manectric's wellbeing. Panting heavily, the dog made all the motions for wanting to continue. However, sweat dripped along his sleek, angular crescent and I could almost see the wobble in his step.
"Come back for a rest. I'll bring you out again later," I told the Electric type. A twinge of rebellion appeared along the dog's face, but quickly faded.
Vanishing into a red glow, both sides of the field were empty once again. Reaching for Pokémon number 3, I braced myself for the next surge of the battle.
Wow. 100 reviews. Thanks guys. I feel honoured. How about we see if we can hit 200? That would be huge, but possible. Thanks to noshadowone for the big 100, especially as a new reader. And now I've got a lot of replies to take care of. New Poll Too guys!
Mau5girl: Trevor's actually the combination of 4 different friends of mine, potentially five. So it is somewhat from experience.
noshadowone: Okay, I'll answer everything up until this point you've put in your reviews. Firstly, I wouldn't take a helicopter to a Legendary Pokemon A) for the political backlash as the birds have standing with the native peoples in Canon and B) to avoid some sort of Pokemon riot. Trevor's disappearance is part of his development arc. He'll be back, potentially for the better- although he's had his moments (see chapters 16 and 25) of being the voice of reason, so it's not like he has as far to go as everyone thinks.
Manser77: I do too; I'm just sharing a world sentiment of the story.