Attached
A Pokémon Persona Crossover Fanfiction
by Three Black Noises
Chapter 8
When we arived at the ranch, Crystal; along with Bethany and Bella; retired to the ranch house to make business arangements with Henry, leaving the rest of us to our own devices.
as Crystal and Bella had pointed out earlier, the ranch was full of wild Pokémon willing to battle my Pokémon, so training assistance weren't hard to come by.
sarah battled some eletric types for a time, and seemed to figure out how to tell when the electric attacks were coming.
After that, she fought various other Pokémon and tried to perfect the water attack she'd started learning while fighting Cheron.
The "Ice water" attack; as she'd coined it; never got to a point where she could use it reliably, so she chose instead to fokus on turning it into an Icy Wind.
That actually did work; and a lot faster than either of us thought possible, so we next tried to see if sarah could gain a few new water abilities.
Only one surfaced; as it were, and that was Bubblebeam.
By that I mean a proper Bubblebeam, and not the in-between attack she'd been using up to that point that took forever to launch.
After that, I suggested that she learn some moves to keep her safe in battle as well.
It took liz, Rotom and Sora to teach her protect, but; owing to the fact that we were on a farm with lots of dirt, Sarah mannaged to teach herself Dig without any assistance what-so-ever.
After that, she mannaged to learn Endure without much prodding from anyone except Sora; who proved to be a master at it already, and; after chris helped out with the Endure attack to, I felt; at that point; she was as ready as she was going to be for the match against Roxie.
While all that was going on, I still found time to train; and learn about; my other friends to.
Sora fought some fire types, and I learned that he wasn't afraid of hardly anything; not even fire itself.
I also was able to understand him, now that he was a part of my team.
He wasn't the fastest Pokémon out their, but that had to do more with how he fought than anything else.
I came to learn that sora was one of those Pokémon that executed his attacks in a slow; almost bored kind of way that left his opponents constantly guessing as to not only what attacks he was using, but where and how hard they'd hit when they connected; if they connected at all.
Sora had a pretty good poker face to. By that, I mean he could pretend to mis attacks and get pretty frustrated about it while never under or overplaying it, but once his opponent moved in for the kill, he'd be ready with a nasty surprise of his own like Toxic or Sludge Bomb.
Hope fought an asortment of different pokémon types, and did pretty well against them all, even learning a few new moves like Minimize and Wake-Up Slap in the process.
Robin and I couldn't battle together yet, but rotom was pretty insistent that we try and bond while we had the chance.
Liz was way to strong to battle and gain any kind of experience the ranch Pokémon could offer, but she ddid mannage to provide quite the challenge to Robin, who couldn't fly quite right yet.
I wasn't yet skilled enough in the ways of flight to give proper commands to Robin, but Liz and; surprisingly; rotom helped me out in that regard.
Half an hour later; about the time Sarah learned Protect, we'd mannaged to get Robin flying pretty well and higher then he'd ever flown in his life; which was to say he was now flying about thirty feet off the ground.
Chris and Christina were doing their own thing with each other, and I checked up on them throughout the day that soon turned into evening.
Christina; while a skilled fighter, was not vary good at aiming her ranged attacks at her opponents, nor was she particularly good at dodging attacks against her; be they ranged or otherwise.
This is where I was able to help by instructing her to first listen for her opponent to make a move before trying to counter it.
I worked with her for some time, perfecting her abillity to ascertain attacks by type and range and either dodge and/or counter in real time.
She was also able to learn some of the techniques sarah knew by copying her after first listening to the things she did; and sometimes said.
Liz helped chris perfect his new electric powers and tought him Shock wave at the same time, while still being able to keep Robin on his toes; as it were.
after some time, I called all my Pokémon back for a brake.
Henry met us at about that time; his business arangements concluded, and dropped a bombshell on us.
In exchange for letting us use his ranch to train for most of the day, he reserved the right to demand payment in the form of; in this case; a 2-on-2 Pokémon battle.
I Saw no point in refusing, especially as I'd just learned lots of new things about all of my Pokémon friends and wanted to try them out before using them against roxie tomorrow.
With Liz and Rotom agreeing to be the judges, an area of the ranch was quickly set aside for the match.
Henry let me know in no unsirtain terms that he wouldn't be holding anything back.
I said the same, and Henry let me know that one of his Pokémon would be his Amphros.
As it came forward; cooing softly as it did, I called out Sora's name.
He took the field without issue, and before I could call out a move, Henry called for Ampharos to use Safeguard.
this wasn't unusual or unexpected in the least.
sora; being of the grass type; was perfectly capable of causeing a varietty of status effects that could really mess with a trainer's battle strategy, and Safeguard; by its vary nature; prevented these status effects from taking place.
I knew that ampharos; being of the electric type; could cause some nasty problems for Sora as well, so I also called for him to use Safeguard; effectively leveling the playingfield.
"Bullet Seed!" I called.
"Bulldoze!" Henry called slightly behind my command.
A ground attack wasn't totally unexpected from a farming Pokémon, but Ampharos using it when he did sort of wrecked Sora's attack, as the Bulldoze attack; much faster than I'd expected; managed to completely uproot Sora from the ground.
While he was airborn, Henry called for a Volt Switch attack that landed right on target.
While that attack let Henry switch out Ampharos for whatever was his second Pokémon, it also did way more damage to Sora than it should have.
"Sora's not grounded!" Christina said vary quickly.
As much as I hated to admit it, Christina's remark made sence.
As a grass type, Sora most likely defused any and all electric energy into the soyal he was standing in; reducing its effect on him.
While airborn, Sora lost that advantage, and took regular damage from Ampharos' attack.
Sora did slamb into the ground; kind of hard; a few seconds later, and I could hear him defusing the remaining electric energy into the soyal as I'd suspected he would.
Henry; meanwhile; was already calling out his second Pokémon.
"Fletch Fletch, Fletchinder!" it called.
"Fletch what? Rotom!" I called.
"It's not in my database, working..." Rotom responded in a frantically calm way.
"It's some kind of fire bird thing." Liz explained.
"Wel in that case, christina?" I called.
"Um, yes?" she responded; obviously caught off gard.
"You 'wunna go a few rounds with this, Fletchinder?" I asked.
"Huh? You don't 'wunna use me?" Sarah asked.
"It's true you are a water type, but Christina has an ability that makes her just slightly better for this particular battle." I explained.
"Kind of like how I might be better against poison types?" Sarah asked.
"Not exactly, but you're in the ballpark at any rate." I replied.
"My thick fat?" christina asked.
"That's right, It'll help reduce the damage from all that fire that's bound to be coming your way." I afirmed.
So christina took the field while Sarah, kind of sulked.
Hope took Sarah in her arms and started talking to her, but I couldn't listen as I had to figure out how to use Christina's abillities to win against the Fletchinder.
Rotom took that time to float down onto my shoulder and whisper vary quickly into my ear what he'd found on the Fletchinder, and it wasn't much.
It was enough however, and I quickly came up with a strategy for Christina.
The time it took all this to transpire unfortunately gave Henry the first move against her, and it was a U-turn attack.
Christina dodged it easily enough, but my worry was what would happen next, as I knew that the U-turn attack gave Henry the ability to switch out Fletchinder for Ampharos.
He did just that, and Crystal responded with a, "Really?" in an exasperated way that let me know she wasn't happy with the arangement.
"Don't worry Mom I got this." Christina said confidently.
Henry called for an Electro Ball next, and Christina dodged it without my having to command her to do so.
That was kind of a good thing, as I was using the braille display I'd received from Chrystal to read up on Christina's moves; courtesy of rotom.
It turned out; however; that the strategy I'd cooked up for Christina wouldn't work, as her current move set was largely based around the idea of a direct physical asalt.
Given her, inconvenience, it was easy to understand why she'd opted for this strategy, as it assured she'd always be in direct contact with her opponent and less likely to miss connecting with a move.
Henry called for a swift attack just then, and I told Christina to get in close to Ampharos, as I knew that a swift attack never missed its target.
She began moving in, uttering a soft "dam it!" as the swift attack connected.
Henry ordered his Pokémon to "Switch to hand-to-hand tactics," and I inwardly celebrated, as he couldn't use many electric attacks in that mode except maybe a thunder punch or two.
Needless to say it didn't take long for the battle to degenerate into an all-out brawl of punches and kicks that I found vary hard to follow.
It seemed to be pretty even until Ampharos decided to use a DynamicPunch, and extremely powerful punch that left its target vary confused and disorientated for a short time.
christina used the same move; almost at the exact same time, so both Pokémon were out of it.
I chose that time to call Christina back for a breather, but as she stumbled toward me, Ampharos snapped out of his stupor in time to send a shockwave her way.
that move almost never missed, and Christina tried her best to dodge it, but she took a direct hit and fell to the ground moaning.
"That's it! Christina is unable to battle." Liz called.
It took about three seconds for Crystal to scoop up Christina and carry her off the battlefield.
sora was already next to me asking if he was going in next.
"It's not like we have a choice." I responded.
I could hear Crystal and Bella comforting Christina as Sora took the field.
Henry called for a Fire Punch from Ampharos, and Sora took it head on without bursting into flames.
"Ahah! Strong against that kind of fire huh? ampharos, Volt Switch!" Henry called.
"stop that attack!" I called, but sora was already on it.
He almost succeeded to, but Ampharos was just to fast.
As Fletchinder took the field once more, I knew we were outmached.
"Come on Fletchinder this is an easy one. Just keep using Flamethrower on that sunflora." Henry commanded.
sora kept out of the way of the fire easily enough, but I knew that we weren't going to win if we just evaded.
"sora can you seed that thing?" I asked.
"What?" Sora asked; clearly confused.
"Can you use Leech seed on Fletchinder." I clarified.
"what's that?" Sora asked as he nearly took a direct hit from fletchinder.
"Oh come on! I can't believe we're having this conversation! Even I can use Leech seed!" bethany called.
"Well I can't." Sora countered.
"That's impossible because it's in your move list." Rotom and I said at the same time.
"I've never used that move in my life!" Sora yelled as he almost took another hit.
"Yes you have or it wouldn't be on your list of known moves!" rotom yelled; clearly exasperated.
Suddenly I heard Bella walk onto the battlefield.
Henry called off his Fletchinder, but not before one of its Flamethrower attacks scored a direct hit on Bella with a low; kind of rock-like; grating screeching sound.
Bella took no notice and simply scooped up Sora in her arms before sitting down on the spot.
"Sorry for this." she said to him before using some kind of ability that put him to sleep.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"Is it a wipe?" Bethany asked.
"I thought I got wrid of the last of them when we met, but apparently I was mistaken." Bella answered.
"What's" I began, but Liz answered.
"Someone tried to remove some of Sora's memories using a psychic Pokémon."
"It might have been me. I don't remember wiping a Sunflora, but I might be able to recover the lost memories with my psychic powers." bella added.
"You have psychic powers." I said skeptically.
"I have a lot of powers, though all the really bad ones have been removed." Bella responded as the air filled with a strange, well, presence is the best way I can describe how her psychic powers felt.
After a time, Bella made an angry sound before the powers went away.
"It's no good. I didn't do this wipe, but I can't remove it either." she explained.
"Mind if I try?" Liz offered.
Bella didn't seem to mind, so Liz gently took Sora in her arms and used her; much better-feeling; powers.
"Oh man, this gos, deep." Liz said softly before giving up as wel.
"A higher power than ours will have to undo this. If any one of us gos in any deeper than this, the damage to sora could be, vary bad." Bella explained.
"What?" Liz asked after a pause.
"We might be able to arange that, if Henry will give us leave." bella said.
"If it'll help sora out then yes. However before you go, Ampharos if you would?" Henry replied.
The sound of a ringing bell filled the air, and everyone seemed to feel better.
"Heal bell?" I asked.
"Yep, you and your team have a long way to go before you can defeat Ampharos and I." Henry supplied.
"It would seem that way, though I feel the need to thank you for the battle anyway even if it was our payment for using your ranch." I said.
"You're vary welcome. Now get sora's memories back. That's an order." Henry said in a half joking way.
Bella and Crystal didn't take it in the way he'd intended, and I suddenly had a bad feeling about their arangement with a 'higher power'.
The walk back to Crystal's passed quickly, though that was mainly due to the fact that Bella; whom I chose to walk with; had much longer strides than anyone else.
"I'd ask you to slow down, but we both know that's not going to happen." Crystal called in a half joking way as Bella and I got ahead of the group.
I was impressed that Bella could keep up this pace while holding Sora in one arm and using the other to guide me.
Rotom didn't have any objections to me making other friends, and I could tell that; even though he'd never admit it, he was impressed with Bella as well; even going as far as riding on her head instead of mine.
So it was in this way that bella and I arived back at Crystal's before anyone else.
I thought she'd wait outside for the others, but she produced keys from somewhere and let us both in to the house; pulling a note off the door as we entered.
"Ah, the deconstruction on the rouf got done while we were gone." Bella said absently as she threw the note in the trash.
"The rouf?" I asked.
"Yeah they had to remove the dish from up there." Bella answered as she lead me to Crystal's office.
"Did you ever wonder why everybody's so okay with crystal being a computer geek?" Bella asked as she closed and locked the door.
"I did, but I didn't want to push her away with to many personal questions right off the bat." I replied as Bella set sora down on a table.
"Suffice it to say, it's just her cover, but she is really good at it, and might have just taken it up full time for real if we didn't have a more important thing to do." bella added.
"Such as?" Rotom asked.
Bella sat me down in a chair and stood over me; facing me.
"Crystal briefed Bethany and I about your situation before going to pick you up." she began as she bent down to; possibly; look me in the eyes.
"What do the Pokémon games of your world say about gym badges?" she asked.
"Not much, actually. They're more of a kind of progress indicater than anything else. They give the player access to field moves like Fly and Surfe, and they control the level traded Pokémon need to be to obey the player's commands." I explained.
Bella, tried, to lower her voice when she next spoke, but; needless to say; she wasn't successful.
"That first part made no sence to me, but what we really do is keep safe the remaining gym badges that can still control Pokémon against their will." she explained.
"Well field moves just mean, wait! You have gym badges here?" I asked.
bella stood up, walked over to, and knocked on some kind of metal safe.
"We have two left, an earth and a bolder badge in here." she explained.
"You want me to use one of those to force Sora to remember his past?" I asked.
"He's got an implanted desire not to remember it. It might be possible to have Liz or myself go in and override that, but I have no idea at what cost that'd be to Sora." Bella explained just as the others got home.
"How much longer will he be out?" I asked.
"Maybe ten minutes, give or take." Bella answered as crystal opened the door and brought everyone else in with her.
"So what's up?" Hope asked after Crystal locked the door.
I'd had a few suspicions about Crystal, and they were all confirmed in the next few minutes.
Her computer impire was supposed to be a sham cooked up by some people within the government as a cover while her and Bella quietly drained the remaining old gym badges of their power to control Pokémon.
At the same time, the truth about Bella's previous deeds would be covered up so she could attempt to start a new life.
All went well until Crystal actually got vary good at her fake job and really made a name for herself.
Bella and Bethany started up their apothecary soon after, and before long, Crystal had a few new friends who also had a legitimate business on their hands.
Aside from the business, Bella also became a role model for struggling people everywhere, as she was living prouf that, "No matter what hole you've dug yourself out of, you can still rise to greatness with a little hard work and conviction."
Sora came around about the same time Crystal and Bella got done with all the explanations, And I took it upon myself to brief him on the situation.
"So you want to use a gym badge to make me want to remember my past." Sora confirmed.
"It's a win win situation. Even if you can't remember your past, we're no worse off than before we started, and the world still has one, maybe even two, less Pokémon-controling gym badges to deal with." I explained.
"Heck, I'm down with that." Sora replied excitedly.
"Bella and Crystal had remained respectfully silent while Sora and I talked, but they went into action as soon as Sora had made up his mind.
Bella started readying some kind of machine while Crystal brought up some kind of app on her PC.
"What's that do?" Hope asked.
"It blocks the tracking signal that badges send out." Bella said quickly.
"I might be able to help with that." Rotom offered.
"How so?" Chris asked.
"I can mess up all kinds of signals." Rotom laughed.
"I can't see why it'd hurt anything to try." Crystal added.
"What are you doing on your computer?" Liz asked.
"This app helps block signals on the technological side of things." Crystal explained just as a phone began to ring.
She answered it, then made a surprised sound before asking, "Why'd they rope you into doing this?"
Their was a long reply from the other end before Crystal spoke again.
"They really shouldn't have, though a recent development might just save you and I from having to do this job ever again. can I put you on video?"
The caller didn't seem to mind, as crystal pressed a few controls on her PC before the person could be heard by all in the room.
"Wow you don't look a thing like your photo." Crystal said quietly.
"Oh yeah, that was taken when I was twelve, and even though I've updated it, certain people want to insure I'll always be known as 'little Ash Ketchum.'" the caller replied with some disdain in his voice.
"That's not fair to you at all!" Hope said.
"Let's just say being a Pokémon master isn't all it's cracked up to be, dam sure not what they told me as a child. At this point they should just slap a PHD onto my name and move me in with Sam Oak." Ash said.
Crystal and ash laughed at that remark before Ash cleared his throat.
"So what's this development you were talking about." he asked.
Crystal introduced me to ash; the ash Ketchum from the animé, and after some small talk, Sora was introduced as well.
Crystal briefed ash on her plan, and Sora and I told ash we were okay with it.
He gave the matter a great deal of thought before saying, "The ten-year-old me wouldn't have hesitated to give you the go-ahead for this crazy plan. Have you made all the necessary preparations?"
"I have, and we have a little extra help this time as well." crystal said before introducing Rotom.
"That'll help out a lot." Ash said.
"Pika Pikachu?" a small voice asked from Ash's end of the phone.
"No little buddy I highly doubt he's the Rotom we knew." Ash responded before addressing Crystal again.
"You have clearence to proceed, and don't call me unless something goes wrong okay?" he said.
"Fine by me." crystal agreed before we all said by to the legendary trainer.
"How old is he now?" I asked crystal.
"Somewhere in his late teens." she answered smoothly as Bella finished preparations.
I explained that the Ash Ketchum in my world never seemed to age beyond ten, so it was nice to see this world's version aged normally.
"Okay, we're all good here. everything's green whenever you're ready." Bella said in Crystal's direction.
"Rotom?" Crystal asked.
"I'm good to. Can Liz and Bella help me out to?" He inquired.
"We'd do it anyway, but sure. we'll pitch in." Liz confirmed.
"So, what do I need to do?" I asked.
"That's real simple. when everything is active, I'm going to hand you the earth badge so it recognises you. Once I do, command sora to remember his past." Crystal explained.
"That's it?" I confirmed.
"Real simple huh?" crystal asked.
"What about Chris? Do you think this could work on him to?" I asked.
"It might, but I think we'll use the bolder badge for him. The earth badge represents the biggest threat, so I want to use that one up first." Crystal explained.
I knew that; in the games at least; the final badge a player character received gave them complete control over all Pokémon; traded or otherwise; so Crystal's argument made sence to me.
I indicated I was ready, and Crystal took her place at her PC while Bella placed her hand; claw? on the jammer's activation switch.
Crystal counted down from five, then clicked her mouse.
bella pressed the jammer switch and ran to the safe containing the badges.
She and Crystal worked vary quickly to open the safe and extract them.
"Michael?" Crystal asked.
I held out my hand, and she placed a vary small object into it.
"Liz? Rotom?" Bella asked.
Liz took her place beside Bella, while Rotom floated between them.
"Michael? On three, give the command." Bella said.
She counted to three, "Sora? I command you to remember your past." I said; feeling really bad for what I was about to do to the poor flower Pokémon.
"I don't!" Sora cried.
At that point, the earth badge in my hand got really hot and began emitting a strange high-pitched wining sound that even I was hard-pressed to hear.
As Sora resisted the badges effects, it's wining sound increased in pitch as well as volume, until Sora fell to his knees in front of me.
"I can't!" he cried, and the badge did it's work even more.
Finally, Sora bowed his head almost into my lap.
"Yes master." he drawled.
I made up my mind; then and there; that I'd never make any creature subservient to my will in this fassion ever again; even if it ment living out the rest of my life in this world rather than my own.
The badge in my hand started to screech in a way that made me extremely uncomfortable just before sora started to cry before falling into my lap saying, "Please don't hurt me master!" over and over.
"I'm not going to hurt you." I said quietly.
"Huh? Who are you?" Sora asked before Bella knocked him out with her power from before.
"Liz? Do you know how to do a memory merge using me as a conduit?" she asked.
"I'm already on it." Liz said calmly.
Just then, the badge in my hand, well, died, for lack of a better descriptive adjective.
Crystal took it from me before offering me the other badge.
chris came over to me, and I gently took the badge from Crystal; enjoying the feel of her hand as I did so.
"Chris? I'd like you to try and remember anything about your past you might have lost when you dream walked." I said gently.
"I'm not sure I can." Chris said before the badge heated up; though not as much as the earth badge had done.
It's sound was vary different as well, deeper, and more, primal; somehow.
Chris reacted vary differently than Sora; gasping and getting vary quiet.
the bolder badge didn't take as long to die as the earth badge had.
I feared my efforts would be in vain, but just before the badge died, chris whispered, "Mom's name is Norma." and, "I think she and I are from a place called Ferrum. That's all I can remember. Sorry."
"That's okay. It's more than we had before." I said gently as Crystal took the bolder badge back .
"Well, new information has been gained, and the last of the old badges are dead, so, I'd say that was a pretty good use of my time." she said as she returned the badges back to the safe and locked them away.
Bella shut off the scrambler while crystal shut down her app.
"Liz? How's Sora coming along?" I asked.
"He's coming, but it's a mess in there." she said quietly.
"How long?" bella and I asked together.
"Almost done. Give me a few more minutes okay?" Liz responded.
Crystal made herself busy on her computer as Hope came over to lay a supportive hand on Liz's back.
"Is Sora going to be okay?" she asked.
"I'm not sure. He's going to have a lot of sorting out to do once I'm done here." Liz answered.
"Hay Michael?" Crystal asked.
"What's up." I opened with.
"How do you like Bella and rotom?"
I didn't even have to think about my response.
"They're awsome! Why?"
"Well, I've taken way to much time off to help you out, and us using up those badges just now has put me in a bind." Crystal explained.
"How do you mean?" Chris asked.
"I've been working on a major update to my operating system that's really going to help lots of people out, and maybe, hopefully, give me the edge I need to start doing this full-time. It was supposed to come out in a few days, but I might lose my support as soon as tomorrow morning, so I need to pull an all-nighter to get this done." Crystal explained.
"I'm so sorry." I began.
"don't be. The last few days have been the most enjoyable I've had in a long time." she said before throwing Bella her car keys.
"Just in case I'm still sleeping like the dead when you need to leave. You know, if you're not walking..." crystal said as an afterthought.
"You better be thinking about what you want to eat after that gym battle, because I'm taking you, and not taking no for an answer, unless you lose your match." Bella told me.
"Sounds like fun, but you'd better pick, just in case I have to use all my money on taking care of my Pokémon and can't foot the bill." I said; only half joking.
Just then, sora sighed in his, sleep? trance? whatever he was in.
"Okay. I think, I'm done." Liz said vary quietly.
"But you haven't finished integrating his past and present together." Bella said.
"That's going to be up to him, I'm afraid. All I did was put them in separate compartments, so to speak, so he can do that himself when he wakes." Liz explained as she gathered Sora into her arms.
"With your leave?" liz asked as she headed for the door.
Crystal didn't say anything, but she must have nodded or something, because Liz left along with Bella and all the others.
I started to follow only to be stopped by Crystal giving me a hug.
"In case we don't see each other again, thanks for the last few days. they were wonderful. and, I guess I owe you for saving christina from, mental damage or something, so I'll continue to support you, even if it's just through Rotom." she said.
Crystal never broke the hug during all that, and I didn't see the point in making her; even if it did kind of feel like I was hugging a giant role of sand paper.
"You take care of yourself, Bella and Bethany to." I said quietly.
Crystal released me and sat back down at her Pc to continue working.
After several seconds I turned to let myself out of her office, only to hear her blow out a vary loud breath.
"Not looking forward to that all-nighter huh?" I asked.
"No, but that's not the issue. I don't know why but I feel as if I should do or say something more before you leave." Crystal said; getting up from her work.
"Only problem is, I can't think of anything, and it's bugging me." she continued as she came over to me.
"Is it about Bella?" I asked.
"No." Crystal stood right next to me.
"Bethany?" I asked; placing a hand on her face.
crystal shook her head.
"Yourself?" I asked; placing my other hand on the other side of her face.
again, she shook her head.
"Christina?"
another head shake.
"Chris?"
Crystal blew out another breath before speaking.
"NO, but I'll look into Norma and Ferrum for you."
"The badges?" I asked, running out of things to ask about.
"defanatly not." Crystal said with a confident expression on her face.
"Rotom?"
"No!" Crystal laughed; her face braking into a wide grin.
"Your job?"
"Not really. I've got a few backup plans just in case this falls through. This has something to do with you and your friends specifically."
"You worried about Liz and I?"
"No, seeing as she's not the rash type. If you go deeper into your relationship than casual friends, it'll be with the complete consent of the both of you."
Crystal paused then, and I could tell she was trying to nail down the issue that was bugging her.
Finally, she sighed deeply before making to speak.
"Okay, this is probably going to sound really dum, but would you be okay with having friends that nobody seemed to like?"
I finally seemed to understand her dilemma.
"You're worried about what being misfits will do to me and my reputation, aren't you?" I asked.
"That's it." Crystal replied.
"Like I care! I'm done letting people choose my friends for me." I said with conviction.
Crystal finally broke her hug but didn't move away.
"How are you going to train Christina anyway." she asked.
"We've already worked some of that out. Don't worry, I'll treat her right, no using TMs on her or anything like that. If she learns something, it'll be the old-fassioned way." I said.
"And you'll call me from time to time?" she asked.
"Sure I will. You can take that to the bank." I said before playfully pushing her toward her computer chair.
The rest of the night was spent finalising all the gym plans and battle strategies for the next day.
Sarah still had a burning desire to correct her los from earlier in the day, and I saw no reason to deny her the chance to do so.
I wanted to use Sora, but he was vary angry after waking up; saying that he'd repressed most of his memories for a reason, and I'd forced him to remember vary bad things in his past; all for the sake of being able to battle for me.
I explained my reasons for bringing his memories to the surface, and Liz put in her two sence about why she'd left them separate.
"Why didn't you just reteach me the moves I'd forgotten." Sora drawled.
I didn't have an answer to that question, but Liz had my back.
"Sora, even if we wanted to reteach you your forgotten moves, they're linked to the events that were in progress when you learned them, so you'd still have to face your past, one way or another."
"And even if we were to somehow separate the knowledge from the events, you'd want to find out how and why you'd learned the moves in the first place." Bella; who'd decided to sit in on the proceedings; added.
Sora thought about what he'd just been told, then admited in his drawling voice that we were right.
"At least this way I know about my entire life from the start and won't need to feel bad when I find out that the truth I'd been pursuing wasn't what I wanted it to be." he finished.
"So, how can any of us help now?" I asked.
Sora's reply was almost immediate.
"Finish prepping Sarah for tomorrow while I finish sorting myself out. I'll come find you then and we can talk about what's to be done about the second team member."
With that, Sora took his leave.
After he was gone, Rotom approached me to inform me that Trey had called during my battle with Henry.
I didn't know if it was to late to call him, but I asked Rotom to give it a try anyway.
The conversation with Trey was brief, but informative.
He and Ruby expressed condolences regarding my defeat at the gym today, but also let me know that; for some reason or another; it had actually worked out in my favor, as many people all over the world were rooting for my come-back in the next gym battle; which wasn't going to be televised.
Ruby let me know that the translation went well, and asked me if Trey could stay for just one more day so they could enjoy each other's company during the recording process.
I didn't have any objections, and let both of them know I'd touch base either tomorrow or the next day to decide where to send Trey.
Finalising Sarah for tomorrow's gym battle with Roxie didn't take to long either, as she and I knew what needed to be done.
we did run through all of Sarah's new moves real quick, just to make sure she had them all down.
After that, it was just a matter of waiting on Sora.
I made small talk with the rest of my friends to pass the time, but nothing of major note was discussed.
Sora came up to me during that time and just stood their.
Even after all conversation had died, he still just stood their.
I placed a supportive hand on him to let him know he could speak, and after a long time he did, but not in his drawling voice from earlier.
"Okay. I'll battle for you tomorrow, and we'll see what happens. I can use poison moves, so that should hopefully give me some resistance against any Roxie should use" he made a long unsirtain sound; a kind of sigh/moan combo; before continuing. "If I mess up, please don't be mad, okay?" he finally finished.
"Are you going to give it your best?" I asked.
"Of course I am." Sora replied confidently.
"Then you have nothing to worry about." I assured him.
"Well, okay." Sora said unsirtainly as he moved away from me.
"Relax. All of us are totally on your side if something goes wrong." Hope said.
"My side?" Sora asked.
"It means we'll support you." I said with a small laugh; realising that Sora most likely never had anyone on his side before.
Sora just left us then; a heavy sigh on his lips.
"Great. Now I've made him nervous." I said quietly.
"No, you haven't, but his new position has." Liz explained.
"Of course it has. He just made friends, that's scary enough if you've never had them, but his vary first mission is to win a gym battle! I'd be nervous to." Bella added.
"He's got a point regarding that possible poison resistance." Chris put in.
"I just hope my entire plan isn't based on gambles that might not pay off." I admited.
"They're the only chance we've got." Liz softly told me.
"I know. I just feel like I should have more than that." I confided.
"If we had more time you would." she encouraged.
We passed the remainder of the night practicing a few small things, but mainly just getting to know each other and making more small talk.
My confidence level regarding the coming gym battle did rise substantially throughout the evening, to the point where I was able to tell everyone that we'd most likely be victorious tomorrow.
Everyone else dropped off to sleep as soon as they got into bed, but I; however; was having major doubts as to how well I could really be a good trainer to my new Pokémon friends.
I tossed and turned for several minutes before giving up on sleep for the time being and got out of bed.
I didn't want to wake anyone, so I simply went out into the main living room and sat in one of the; way to nice; chairs to calm my thoughts.
I know I passed out at some point, because I awoke to Bella's claw; hand? on my shoulder.
"What are you doing out here?" she asked in her strange attempt at a whisper.
"Did I fall asleep?" I asked somewhat stupidly.
"Yes, but you were mostly just dozing." she answered as she took up a position directly in front of me.
So, what's up?" she asked.
"Just not sure about a few things." I offered.
"Such as?" Bella prompted; moving vary close to me.
I wasn't bothered by her closeness, in fact it actually bolstered my confidence. She also; for some reason; smelled really good. Maybe she was wearing some kind of perfume?
I reached up to feel her face in order to gage her reaction to what I was about to say.
"I'm just not sure I'm the best trainer for those Pokémon in there." I finally said.
Bella took her time to respond. I couldn't read anything in her face, and her baring didn't give anything away either.
"Not every trainer wins the first gym battle." she finally said.
"That's not it exactly. I feel like I'm not going to be able to bring out all they have to offer." I explained.
"Sure you will, once you get some time with them." bella said; leaning just a little closer.
"Do you think they'll be around that long if I can't guide them to victory at least once?" I asked.
"Of course we will." Robin replied from the bedroom door.
"How long have you been there?" I asked.
"About a minute, and Liz is behind me." Robin answered as Rotom landed on my head.
"You can't speak for everyone." bella said.
"Okay, I will at the vary least speak for myself." Robin corrected.]
"You don't need to ask me, unless you suddently doubt my loyalty. Liz added.
"And are you trying to kis him Bella?" Liz asked as an afterthought.
"No because I'm unable to kis." bella answered.
"Oh, are you jealous Liz?" I teased.
"No I was just curious from a scientific point of view." Liz answered as she made her way over to stand on my left.
"No lips?" Bella indicated; leaning in like she was going to kis me.
"No kissing." she finished as she leaned back to be level with Liz again.
"about the most I could do to show affection would be to blow on his cheak, or hug him, though that last one would run the wrisk of braking his bones." Bella finished.
Rotom chose that time to shreak before speaking normally.
"What are we wasting this valuable time with idle chatter for? You still need to decide on your final team for the match today!"
"We did that last night, or is your memory that short?" I laughed.
"No! the new gym rules went into effect at midnight and Roxie now has the option of turning our two-on-two battle into a three-on-three!" Rotom exclaimed.
"I doubt she'd do that." I said; praying I was right.
"You 'wunna run that wrisk?" Rotom asked.
"No but what choice do we have?" I asked.
"A third team member!" Rotom exclaimed.
"Well you can't battle and neither can Hope so who else is their?" I asked.
"Me, if it were allowed." Bela answered.
"Well it isn't, crystal won't, I don't think, and Bethany..." I let the statement hang in the air.
"Would, if she had any moves that'd be of help to you." Bella finished.
"She does, but not enough power to use them." Rotom pointed out.
"So we're back at square one. Who else is their?" I stated.
Robin made a vary loud sound that could have been anything from a low growl to an extremely disgusted sigh, then said, "I might be able to get Feara to do it if, I go out with her."
"I'd hate to make you do that unless you actually wanted to." I admited.
"I just wanted to help her speak better, but somehow between that and how I took charge of that gym battle yesterday... she kind of wants me now as a mate." Robin explained.
"Could you see if she'll at least consider going over a battle plan?" I asked.
"I can." Robin answered in a dejected way before leaving the room, and the house a minute or so later.
"You do know you're going to need to capture her if you're thinking about taking her with us right?" liz asked.
"Yeah I know that, but first we have to talk it over." I said.
"That shouldn't be to difficult seeing as Feara can actually talk." liz pointed out.
I suddently remembered something I wanted to ask Crystal.
"Hay Liz? If I forget, please remind me to ask Crystal if she can"
I suddenly had a thought that stopped me dead.
"What?" Liz prompted.
"Well I was going to say program some kind of thesaurus for feara." I finished laimly.
"What's a" sarah's voice began from the bed room door.
She might have been trying to figure out how to say thesaurus in her own language, but Hope filled in that word.
"Yes, that." Sarah asked as she came over to stand by us.
"And what time is it anyway?" she asked.
Rotom supplied both answers.
"About twenty after six for the time, and a thesaurus is a book that tells you other meanings of words."
"Book being the operative word." I added.
"I see. You don't know if Fearo have anything like a written language." Bella said.
"That's right." I affirmed.
"I doubt it." Liz added.
"Yeah me to." I admitted.
I heard Liz go into thinking mode. That is to say her head whent into her hands and she started breathing in and out in a vary controled manner.
"It might have to wait until we return tonight, but if Crystal can use her programming skills to provide me with the words this thesaurus would contain, I might, and I stress might, be able to place a suggester inside her head."
"That's what you psychic types place inside the minds of those that have gone astray right?" Bella asked slower than she normally spoke.
"Wow you do get around." Liz said quietly before addressing all of us.
"Bella's right about the suggesters. We use them to help Gardevoir who have developed sirtain tendencies toward things like violence." she explained.
"So basically when said Gardevoir thinks about doing something violent, the suggester provides a peaceful solution to whatever situation they're facing?" Rotom asked.
"That's right. I had the rather unfortunate pleasure of having to help set my sister up with one, so I know how they're designed, but I don't have the skills to set up one on that magnitude, though one that just provides replacement words? Yeah I think I could do that, provided that Crystal can find a way to narrow down the list of words to about, maybe one hundred?" Liz said.
"I'm pretty sure she could do that. I'll send her an e-mail later and we'll go from there." Bella said as Robin arrived with Feara right behind him.
He landed with a heavy sigh before addressing me directly in a whisper.
"All right, you've got yourself a third battle partner, and it looks like I'll be siring her offspring at the vary least if you have to summon her into battle today."
"We might be able to get you out of that one." I said before explaining Liz's idea to both of them.
"I would gladly trade mating for speaking properly, if it can be done, otherwise our original arangement stands." Feara said after we finished.
Bella said she'd get the e-mail in Crystal's inbox so it'd be there upon Crystal's waking.
after she left to do that, robin discreetly took me aside.
"I know you want to train me and help me be the best bird I can be, but you should really consider training Feara instead." He began in a quiet whisper.
I thought over his words and realized what he didn't want to say but said anyway.
"Translation. I roodly interrupted your quest to find yourself and you want to finish that first." I said with a smile.
"That's correct sir." Robin answered respectfully.
"I'm fine with that, if that's really what you want to do. I'll even leave you registered to me so you can go where you want without needing to fear another Poké Ball." I replied.
"That would be awsome." he said vary softly.
he seemed to get vary thoughtfull before taking in a sudden breath.
Before I knew what was happening, a small bird was twittering just in front of me in a vary musical way.
"Hay Rotom," Robin began in an off-handed way.
"Is their any info you can't get off the web?" he finally asked.
"Yeah, stuff about personas." Rotom answered.
"I'm pretty sure I can't find vary much of that out there." Robin said as he used his wing to point at a window.
"But I'll check in from time to time and come back if any of that kind of stuff starts happening." Robin promised.
"Tell Sarah by for me okay?" Robin asked as I walked outside to see him off.
"And, please give Feara a chance. she might be just a little rood and full of herself, but she's awsome once you get to know her." Robin told me as he spread his wings.
"Will you at least consider watching the gym from a window or something?" I asked; wanting to at least be able to tell sarah that Robin was still thinking about us.
"I'm not making any promises, but it's vary likely I'll be there in some capacity." he replied.
"You have my number?" Rotom asked.
I do, and you have mine yes?" Robin asked.
I couldn't see how a bir could use a sel phone, but; seeing as Crystal probably gave it to him; I figured it had been modified for his use.
Rotom seemed just as surprised as I was, and my suspicions as to his having aquired a sel phone were sort of proven correct when they exchanged numbers, and Robin called out his persona and; somehow; made it aware of Rotom's number.
Before taking off, Robin walked right up to me before speaking.
"Hay, I know I'm leaving you, but I'm still your friend, and if something really bad happens and you need help, give me a shout and I'll come flying."
As he took off for parts unknown, I was vary glad for his confirmation of our friendship.
"Okay! Lets meat our newest partner!" Rotom said before we both went back in doors.
Training Feara was, vary different from any of the other Pokémon I'd trained up to that point.
Liz, Rotom, and all the others; once they woke up; didn't do much to help me out, so I was pretty much on my own with Feara.
She helped out where she could, but; aside from getting vary frustrated whenever her speech impediment decided to make itself known; she didn't have any experience communicating how she did things to others.
My unfamiliarity with birds; and flight in general; made itself known as well, but feara and I managed to patch up the rough spots in each other's knowledge throughout the morning.
Her moveset was also pretty diverse for what she was.
she had the normal things you'd expect a bird to have, peck, Quick Attack, Fury Attack, Aerial Ace, Pluck, Growl, and Leer, plus oddities like Rage, Detect, Protect and the beginnings of an Ominous Wind attack.
Rotom helped her perfect that last one, and I had an absolute blast watching and learning all her other moves.
Detect and Protect were going to come in vary useful against roxie and all her poison moves later in the day.
As said day war on, Bella asked if I wanted to walk to the gym battle or have her drive us there.
feara wanted bella to drive us so I could have the maximum amount of time to learn her moves, and I couldn't really object to her reasoning.
So I took full advantage of said time to learn all I could about her, and I even convinced Sora, Sarah and Chris to help her learn Endure as well.
Feara wasn't as rood as Robin said she'd be, but that was most likely do to the fact that she had a vary good reason to be as nice as possible to everyone.
I thought her smaller size would be a hindrance, but it actually helped out a lot because she was able to move vary fast for a Fearo; at least according to Rotom.
So training and getting acquainted went hand in hand until we broke for lunch.
Just before we all settled into our food, feara walked up to me and asked me to bend down.
I did, and she blew an extremely hot breath of air into my face.
Is that heatwave?" I asked.
"It can be, but that was the non-ranged version." Feara replied.
"Oh come on! You aren't going to be able to" sarah began, but Feara shot her heatwave; much more powerfully; in Sarah's direction, and it actually set sarah aflame.
Christina was already putting her out before any damage could accumulate however.
"and that's!" feara began as she took her place to begin eating her food.
"The name of that song?" Liz asked.
"actually I was ga" Feara blew out a breath before continuing, "'gunna say, not even a fourth of my power on that attack." she finished.
"We're going to get that fixed, or at the vary least, find a way around it." I vowed.
"da" fearra began before almost screaming in anguish.
"Make not a promis you can't keep." she finally finished after composing herself.
"That, sounded stupid, didn't it?" she asked quietly.
"No just slightly archaic." I said.
"That's, what?" she asked.
"It just means you sound like you were born a few hundred years ago." I explained.
"All right. That's fine for now." Feara said before going into vary lenghthy recommendations for how her moves could be deployed in the up-coming battle.
I found out that she and I thought vary much alike; as far as battle planning went, and Rotom chimed in just once to correct an oversight in Feara's logic.
After we'd all stuffed ourselves full to bursting, it was time to leave for Roxie's gym.
I had to 'catch' feara so I could use her on the team, but she was okay with that, provided her Poké ball was set for maximum freedom.
I complied, and the first thing she did was volunteer to fly above us as Bella drove, to provide an extra layer of protection.
After that, I put Sarah and Sora in their balls in preparation for the coming battle.
During the drive, we talked about who'd be my support for this battle, and Bethany decided she wanted to do it.
Seeing as she specialized in healing, I figured she'd know better how to deal with poison damage than anyone else, so I told her she had the job.
"Bethany?" Bella cautioned.
"I know. don't let my emotions get in the way." bethany replied.
"Not for any reason." Bella stressed.
"Not even if a Pokémon gets hurt." Rotom added.
"We all have to play by the rules this time. Last time was kind of an exception do to Hope, so we have to put on a good showing this time and prove that we can follow the rules like everyone else." Liz explained.
"That means you have to stay with Michael at all times." Hope added.
"Okay I wil." bethany said.
After that was settled, we rode in silence for a few minutes until Rotom spoke up.
"Hay Michael, a few messages just came in for you while we were talking just now."
"Okay play them back." I said.
Suddenly, a familiar voice issued from Rotom's location.
"Hello, this is Trey Wigglytuff. this message will inform you that my sister and I Will be watching the gym match today."
"That's it?" I asked after a few seconds had passed.
"For the first message yes." Rotom replied.
"Ge no pressure or anything." I said, and we all laughed.
After we all calmed down, rotom played the other message.
"This is Margaret from the velvet room. I realize this is sudden, but we just wanted to remind you that using personas in an official gym match is forbidden, as is using them in trainer battles or to capture actual Pokémon. We're all rooting for you today. good luck."
"Wow." I said.
"Direct, aren't they?" Bella asked.
"That's one way to put it." Christina replied from the back seat.
I groped for the window control on my arm rest, found it, and roled down my window.
"Hay Feara?" I called.
She circled around and lowered herself down to my level.
"Yes Michael?" she asked; almost right into my face.
"are you doing okay up there?" I asked.
"Just fine." feara said before making to fly off again.
"Hay their's a really long trafic light up ahead. Are you going to be okay hovering for several minutes?" bella asked.
"a thermal is ahead, I'll be fine." Feara said before flying off again.
And so the rest of the drive passed in silence until we made it to the gym.
bella let me out at the front door, but Liz and the others said they'd wait in the car with Bella while she found a parking place.
I knew this was just Liz's way of letting me know that I was going to be on my own for this battle.
I disembarked with rotom on my head and Bethany on my right shoulder.
Feara landed directly in front of me without being called and gave a small huff.
I knew she couldn't say Poké Ball, so I simply held it up and pressed its button.
After she was safely inside, I headed for the gym with guidance from Bethany.
Knowing the others were safe with Bella for the time being, I pulled open the heavy door and marched into the gym with my cane extended in front of me.
bella looked at Liz with as stern an expression as she could muster.
Are you sure about this? He could really use your help." she said.
"We can't caudal him forever." Liz said quietly before moving over in the front seat to be right next to Bella.
Hope had also moved up to the front with Liz so they could watch the gym battle on the car's built-in computer screen.
"If we keep helping him, he'll never learn how to do this on his own." Liz said; looking Bella directly in the eyes.
"I don't forsee a time where I won't be there for him, but I need to make sure he can function well on his own, and now's the perfect time. I didn't want to tell him about this because of what I just said, but if it looks like he can't do this by himself yet, we'll go in there." Liz continued.
Bella took in a breath and let it out vary slowly before saying, "Your logic is well founded, but I'm worried about him."
"You? Worried? About someone else besides Bethany? That's new." Christina said.
"Yes it is." Bella said; straight-faced.
"Bella don't you want to be there for Bethany?" Christina asked.
"She's always wanted to be in a Pokémon battle, and this is as close as she'll ever get, so, no." bella answered.
Hope leaned over to get a better look at the small screen built into the car's dashboard.
"I can't see that vary well." she said; pointing at said screen.
"Then I'll switch with you." Bella said before they both got out and swopped places.
"Hope sighed as she took her new place.
"Much better. I can actually make out Michael's face now." Hope said.
"I didn't know you had bad eye sight." Liz said.
"It's not bad, just Clefairy eye sight, for living in caves and wondering around at night and such. Hope explained before exclaiming, "Oh! It's starting!"
The opening introductions between roxie and Michael were just finishing up, and it was time for the challengers to send out the first Pokémon they'd be battling with.
A coin toss app was run, and Roxie was told to send out her first Pokémon; a Koffing; as it turned out.
"Predictable." Bella muttered.
Michael looked just a little unsure of wich Pokémon to send out, but that passed quickly, and he sent Feara onto the field.
Needless to say, everyone was a bit shocked.
"I thought for sure he'd use Sarah first." Hope said disappointedly.
"Oh stop worrying. Her time will come." Liz admonished playfully.
"But why Feara?" Hope asked.
Liz just laughed quietly before saying, "I think I know what he's got in mind."
Michael's POV
Feara didn't say a thing when I released her from the Poké Ball, she just took the field in prepparation for the battle.
"The strong and silent type huh?" Roxie asked.
"You could say that." I countered.
"Trainers ready?" the ref called.
"Nearly, I just need to point out to our challenger that I normally play music during gym battles with my band here." Roxie explained, pointing off to the side of the battle arena.
"She's pointing out her members." Bethany whispered into my ear.
"I know, I can hear her clothes rustling." I pointed out.
"Oh you can! So where'd I point?" she asked.
So I told her where each of her; now silent; band members were.
"Vary good. Maybe I should play music after all if your hearing is so sharp." Roxie quipped.
I thought about retorting, but the ref called for the battle to begin before I could.
Feara took off without any prompting from me.
We'd already planned out our opening moves at Chrystal's, and Feara was making good on that plan.
I wasn't worried if it failed, as I had several backup plans already forming in my head.
Feara reached the maximum flight height for the battle and leveled off.
She'd screamed all the way up, so I knew the plan was going to work.
Koffing didn't seem put off in the slightest by the flying enemy it was facing.
That did worry me a little, but I also knew the surprise we'd planned was going to rock; excuse the bad pun; its world.
"Make that bird feel your poison!" Roxie called.
Feara knew what to do, but it went off better than I'd hoped.
First Feara used Protect so that Koffing could open all of the holes on its body and release the gass it used to attack targets from long range.
Then she loosed an extremely thin stream of Heat Wave; more of an improvised Flamethrower attack really; directly into Koffings open holes.
Needless to say, it didn't take vary long for the gasses to ignite and cause a massive explosion.
That threw off Koffings battle plan, but Feara wasn't quite finished yet.
Using Detect, she dove into the aftermath of the explosion and plucked Koffings Bary from wherever it was kept.
She then flew down for a landing, but stopped just long enough to let Bethany take Koffing's Bary to use as a support item.
The ref called the first round in my favor, and Roxie got vary quiet for several seconds.
"I have to admit, that was, brilliant." She finally said.
I knew that Koffing would eventually learn how to control what I'd just forced it to do, and that; in turn; would result in Koffing learning the Self-destruct technique, so I wasn't worried about its health at the current moment.
I thanked roxie for her compliment, and she told me that I'd wouldn't be so lucky again as she sent out her Grimer.
This was the Pokémon on roxie's team I feared, as it could shut down my entire team with its minimize, Harden and Disable techniques.
In order to shut it down before it could bring any of those abilities to bare, I needed to take advantage of feara's exhalent eye sight and uncanny accuracy.
"Feara, I still need you." I said, and she was up in the air before I finished speaking.
"Don't think you can sweep me." Roxie called.
"I have no such delusions." I said.
"Good. That makes me feel better regarding what I'm about to do." she shot back before telling grimer to minimize.
"Feara, full on Heat wave! Do your best to make sure it hits please." I called.
Before Feara could even start the attack, she cried out and fel to the ground.
"Good Disable Grimer! Now we've got her!" Roxie called.
Somehow, Grimer's Disable technique had grounded Feara instead of stopping her Heat Wave attack.
I didn't have time to ponder how that was possible, as Grimer was already starting a second attack on my helpless bird; or so I thought.
"Feara, on your tallons." I called.
She complied, but much slower than I expected.
"What's wrong?" I asked.
Feara just coughed in response.
"Feara?" I asked; getting more than a little worried.
"I'm, poisoned, somehow." She finally said through more coughing.
"That's because Grimer made you land in some of his trademark sludge." Roxie explained.
"How long?" I asked in Bethany's direction.
"Not long enough to be asking me questions. Use Feara's strength while you have it." was Bethany's response.
I hadn't planned on using Feara as a ground-bound creature, but luckily she had moves that could work in such a situation, and I'd taken the time to learn how to use them.
"Feara, use swift while moving around the field as fast as you can." I called.
She didn't say anything, but she did as I asked, and that was good enough for me.
The actual Swift attacks; while not vary powerfull; did hit Grimer and score some damage, but I wasn't done yet.
Before I could call my next command, roxie called for a Venoshock attack from Grimer.
It landed, but feara didn't seem to put off by it.
In fact, she seemed like she was trying to figure something out.
"What!" Bethany and Rotom screamed at once.
"Am I using a new technique?" Feara asked.
"Yeah it's Agility! Why?" Rotom replied.
"Just wondered." Feara called back.
"Feara, use that Agility to keep away from Grimer long enough to power up a Heat wave to combined with Take Down!" I called.
Seeing as feara was already poisoned, their was no need to play keep-away once she got the Heat wave ready.
She did; after about thirty seconds or so, and carried out my request.
It wasn't as big of a success as I'd planned, but it did do lots of damage to Grimer.
Feara seemed winded after all was said and done, so I called her back to my side.
"Ball." she croaked after reaching it.
I called her back and chose Sora as my next Pokémon.
"Ready." was all he said upon taking the field.
"Poison" Roxie began.
"Safeguard!" I called over her.
even though Sora was much slower than grimer, he still managed to get the Safeguard off before Grimers Poison gass attack could connect.
"Now, Natural gift!" I called.
"sora laughed evilly as he used the Natural Gift technique he was so good at; and the Starf Berry bethany had given him; to produce a psychic attack that defeated grimer outright.
Roxie switched into her Whirlipede without a word, and Sora and I already knew what to do.
"Get in there!" Roxie called.
Whirlipede did as it was told and used its speed to get right in Sora's face; which is what we'd counted on.
Sora avoided the giant bug's attacks, then he used Toxic to poison it vary badly.
As he backed off, he used Protect to keep the bug from eating him alive.
"Disable!" Roxie called.
Sora laughed as he snuk in a Leech Seed that would give him a little health back as time passed.
sora laughed again as the disable technique disabled his Leech Seed ability.
Needless to say, Roxie wasn't happy.
Sora spent the next few minutes avoiding Whirlipede's attacks with Protect while also using some of his own attacks to chip away at the bug's health and also reapplying Safeguard whenever it ran out.
He also kept laughing at Roxie for some reason or another; probably because he was besting her Pokémon without much effort.
"Oh yeah! we got this one in the bag!" Sora taunted as he kept moving around the arena.
I wanted to believe him, but just as I started to, I heard the unmistakable sound of Pokémon evolution.
Sora couldn't evolve any farther than he already was, and that left roxie's Whirlipede.
It was at that point that I knew we most definitely didn't have the match in the bag.