Poupee de son
Chapter 36: Chenille
Candice sat nervously. The cold radiated from her own gym was such an alien feeling. Everyone in town had evacuated to the underground, and she found herself obligated to stay on the surface. Despite the warnings, Team Galactic had yet to reach Snowpoint City, but that did not help her anxiety. Her legs, crossed, began to shake.
The bell rang.
Out of everything that could've happened, this caught her completely off guard. Cautiously approaching the door, she peered through the peep hole. Outside stood a boy of sixteen, golden hair, orange eyes, and a fashion sense both pre and post modern.
"Barry?" She hastily opened the gate.
"Candice!" He slipped right through, and the wooden barrier returned to its resting frame. "I was worried, so I ran over here."
"Aren't you supposed to be helping with the fight?" Those words came out more judgemental than she intended. "I mean; wouldn't they call you?"
"I was about to, but then I got a message from Looker." Swiping through his phone, Barry located the text, and handed it over to her. "He says here everything's going well. Just go somewhere isolated to hide."
"You told him you're coming here?" Candice read the rest of the conversation, which only lasted another exchange.
"Yeah, just in case he wants to mobilise everyone."
Candice contemplated on this for a moment, before shrugging off her concerns. "I'm glad you're here, Barry."
"You are?" he slipped, before collecting himself, "yes of course. I figured you'd need the help."
"Well I don't really," the two gazed across the empty gym hall, "but I don't enjoy being lonely either."
"Me neither." Barry scratched the back of his head and smiled. He had not done a particular lot as of recent times, but this opportunity might just be what had always needed.
A knock on the door.
The two spun towards it, and stared at each other for a short while.
"Who do you think it is?" Candice asked.
"I'll check." Barry stepped forward, but he never had a chance to reach the door.
The handle flew straight across the room, as the door it meant to hold in place flung open and slammed against the wall. On the other side stood two silhouettes of a man and a woman, both wearing Team Galactic executive uniform.
"There you are, boy." Cyrus towered over the two teenagers. His blue hair, eyes, and smile took over the atmosphere. Jupiter stood by his side, ready to spring to assistance. "I've been looking for you."
"You!" Barry screeched. He remembered the Team Galactic's leader well, whose air of condescension still haunt the boy to this day. "How did you find us?"
"Such naiveté." The more the man spoke, the more the two hated him. "I don't have time for nonsense. You have something I want."
"What?" Instinctively grabbing his belt, Barry realised what the villainous scheme intended. "No!"
"You can't run, we have the building surrounded," Jupiter chimed in. She wasn't usually this quiet, but the supreme leader was speaking. "There's nothing you can do."
"Back off." Candice stepped between them. She didn't hold all the reasons for this decision, but there was no backing down from this. "You're not getting what you want. This is my town; you go through me first!"
"With pleasure." Jupiter smirked. "Permission to battle, Great Leader."
Cyrus waved his hand. Jupiter bit her lips, and took point. Candice followed suit. Presently, they stared at each other across the ice pit. Barry motioned to interfere, only to find Cyrus blocking his path.
"Step down, boy." The man crossed arms behind his back, no signs of respect. "You'll get your turn once that girl loses."
Barry gritted his teeth. His eyes and Candice's met. She nodded to him, telling him not to worry. He had no choice but to take her gesture as a matter of faith.
"Enough talk." Jupiter already had a pokeball in hand, prompting Candice to do the same. "Let's make this quick."
The two tossed their contestants onto the battlefield. The smoke soon cleared, revealing the abomasnow, white fur and green foliage, against the flying four-winged crobat. Heavy snow began to fall, soon engulfed the air. The crobat didn't react well to the change of weather, which was reflected in the distaste on Jupiter's face.
"Avalanche!" The snowy tree wound up for the attack. Exerting coldness into the air, the falling snow became bigger and firmer in unison.
"Air Slash!" Jupiter's command pierced ears, and her pokemon immediately responded.
The bat, its speed far superior, acted first. Zipping through the air, it effortlessly dodged the ice blocks, and was soon right at the face of its victim. The razor sharp wings came down like butcher knifes, cutting straight through the fur of the green snowman. Candice's pokemon fell, crackling the ice floor beneath it.
"What are you doing, girly?" Jupiter showed no lack of that trademark Team Galactic snobbery. "If you're going to talk big, at least have something to show for it."
The girl had no response. Returning her unconscious teammate into the belt, she had another one waiting. From her second pokeball, came a mammothian four-legged tusked beast. The shade of its brown fur engulfed the battlefield, staring down the puny bat.
Jupiter made no visible response to the masmowine's appearance, but displayed no lack of focus. She understood the level of threat, but also the required display of awareness. Years biding her time after the string of embarrassing defeats at the hand of Dawn gave a lot of perspective. Like it or not, she knew of personal perpetual arrogance. She still talked smack, but those big words were more for show. Candice eyed the woman suspiciously, before they committed.
"Fly," Jupiter commanded.
"Ice Shard."
The bat attempted to take off, but the giant mammoth acted first. Otherwise a slow pokemon, Candice's masmowine exuded a chilling aura which allowed it to flash freeze the air at will. One formed in the way of the crobat as it performed the ascension, resulting in a violent crash into the surface of the ice chunk. Unable to withstand the shock, the bat fell off its path and feebly crashed onto the ground below.
"One for one." Jupiter murmured, and retracted her fallen comrade. The teasing conversation from before had completely halted, to the girl's pleasant surprise. She understood that despite the trade, the pace of the battle fell outside her control. Abomasnow's sacrifice early on, however, gave her team an edge. The prevalent hail would no doubt play to her advantage.
Jupiter released her next pokemon with a flick of the wrist: a large blue sea slug under hard green shell. Its six legs wobbled about the premises, before firmly plopped down at the surface below. Its black and white three eyes gazed about, independent of one another, before falling onto the girl in the sailor uniform standing across the battlefield.
Jupiter threw her hand forward, prompting her gastrodon to take the offensive. Candice took a moment to contemplate her position, before ordering her own command to stand and fight. The mammoth took point and ready to strike, but the opponent proved unnaturally quick. The sea slug's innate speed was seldom considered, but this much above average showed signs of heavy investment. It hurled forth a crashing wave of torrent, overwhelming the mammoth's momentum at the turn. Candice winced, but soon collected herself. Despite the heavy damage, her mamoswine still stood. Jupiter's heavy investment in the slug's speed must have come at a cost of its power, Candice thought. She seized the opportunity, and had her pokemon followed through with the original attack. The beast's gigantic legs shook and stomped, sending massive ripples across the earth, with its enemy caught in the fray. The gastrodon was still standing, albeit barely. Candice believed this to be her great advantage, and she had every plan to push it.
The next round was already in place. Masmowine hurdled forth, once again used its energy to create the falling ice shard straight above the enemy. This move would hit hard any enemy which would otherwise resist a repeat of the earthquake attack, while also sufficiently strong to finish off the injured enemy. Jupiter opted not to do any fancy strategies, simply letting her pokemon stay in and perish under the onslaught.
She made no delay in sending out her next team member, with no effort to keep up the trash talking from earlier, for which Candice was thankful. The girl recoiled physical, however, to the appearance of a foul rodent. White stripes ran through its purple fur, the skuntank prowled about the summoning light, exuding a putrid odour, the strength of which could only be adequately removed with a flamethrower.
Candice reached to her side. An earthquake would easily rid her of this unfortunate circumstance, but the skuntank was inevitable faster. She needed something fast, reliable, and guaranteed good trades.
On the side lines, Barry could do nothing but felt his drumming heart. He justified it as nothing more than second hand nerves, but unable to stay still. He would steal a glance at the Team Galactic leader beside him, who was observing the match with unwavering focus. The sheer intimidation of the solemnity had the boy trembling in his boots, and forced him to divert his gaze back to the action.