The required tournament episode.
Parts of this (mostly dialogue) are quoted from the game.
This time, Amber made sure to take on the trainers in the forest and cave that she had skipped previously, managing to eke out more practice with Eevee's Psychic powers in between battles.
Upon passing onto Route 1, she changed her training strategy, alternating between Squirtle, Metapod, and Bulbasaur to move them closer to evolution.
After a detour through the Dark Cave into the local garden, Amber made it to Midna Town, where she immediately checked in at the Pokémon Center to heal her Pokémon, and then proceeded to the Trainer's School to try and register for the tournament.
"My apologies, ma'am. We're currently unable to allow you to register for the tournament, since my paperwork-assistant cum tournament champion, Nora, is currently missing, and as such, we're unable to register you," said the teacher.
"Really." Amber raised her eyebrows. "That sounds like you need to alter your paperwork situation to be more amenable to operation without her, since I don't anticipate her sticking around forever."
"Be that as it may, I am still as of yet unable to register you. If you went and got her from where she's training in the local mine, I think you'd be able to register." The teacher shrugged. "Otherwise, not so much."
Amber pressed her hand to her face, covering one eye, then sighed. "Fine, fine. I'll go get her." Under her breath, she grumbled "Stupid author-mandated word count-padding fetch quest bullshit."
And that was how she found herself spelunking through the mine.
"Am I the only one who hates the buzzing those lights make?" she asked, pointing up to indicate the string of incandescent bulbs hung from the ceiling.
"They're definitely annoying, but I'm not sure I'd say 'hate'," replied Squirtle.
"I mean…" Amber trailed off while descending stairs, then sighed. "That's fair, but the buzzing is still not the greatest of signs. Like, I know we could just have Charmeleon help us see if they went out, but it still kinda worries me, plus it's starting to give me a headache."
"Oh. I didn't realize that." Squirtle frowned.
"I mean… it's not a huge deal, it just kinda hurts."
They walked in silence until they got through to the room where a green-haired person was standing over four fossils on top of a raised area.
"Alright, the fossils are in place! You can do it, Celebi! I believe in you!" Releasing the Grass/Psychic Pokémon in question, she called out "Move these fossils through time! Use Tesseract!"
In a flash of green light, a Kabutops, Omastar, Bastiodon, and Armaldo stood there, blinking dumbly.
"You did it! I'm so proud of you!" She turned to look at the fossils, then sighed. "I can't believe it. All of our hard work finally paid off! Who'd have ever thought that these Pokémon would see the light of day again?" She nodded, satisfied, then turned back to her Pokémon. "You can turn them back now, Celebi. I think we're done for the day." Another green flash left only fossils. "I can't believe how far we've-"
She froze, looking straight directly at Amber.
"Who are you? How much did you see?" she snapped, hopping off the raised platform and getting right in Amber's face.
"Not a poacher, or a cultist, if that's helpful. And I saw just about as far as the fossils coming back and then being unrevivified." Amber stepped back, raising her non-staff-holding hand in front of her chest.
"Look, I… I don't know who you are, but you can't tell anyone about this! I'd be in grave danger!"
Just as Amber was about to speak, a pink bubble swelled into existence, then popped, revealing Mew. "Oh, hi, Celebi! What's going on?"
"Mew? Is this your trainer?" replied Celebi.
"Not yet, but eventually I do plan to journey with Amber," the Psychic-type giggled. "Is this yours?"
"Yes, I'm training with Nora so we can be ready to fight when the time comes."
"Is that… Could it be? You were chosen by Mew?" Amber forced her attention back to the trainer as opposed to the two Mythical Pokémon. "I thought I was the only one! But if you were also chosen, then… hmm."
"That I was," drawled Amber. "Is there a particular reason that you not being the only one chosen by a Legendary is important?"
Nora nodded. "I should probably explain. Not many people know about it, but a long time ago, there was a prophecy written about Torren. Nobody knows it word for word, but it talks about the cults and the Augur. It said that a trainer, chosen by one of the legendary Pokémon, would be the one to find and defeat the cults. It also said that the legendary would be an Illusory one. You know, like Mew, Victini, or Hoopa. When they found out, the cults wanted to rid the world of that trainer. People were terrified. No one knew who the hero was, and they feared that this hero might never appear."
Amber snorted at this. Sooner or later, some big-name trainer would come by, be they Ash or not, and wipe the floor with the cults, it was only a matter of time.
"But then the First Augur came, and he protected us. He was incredible, and took out half the cults on his own, but disappeared recently. People think the prophecy was about him because he was friends with Hoopa, but he's gone now. Nobody-" well, not nobody, since at the very least Jaern, Persephone, and Amber knew, but they hadn't exactly made his trip to the dream realm public knowledge yet- "-knows where he is. Augur Jaern's trying to take his place, but the cults are all kicking into high gear, and he's being run ragged all over the region trying to fight them all off at once, and I don't think he was chosen by anyone. That's why I can't let anyone know about Celebi, there's safety in obscurity. That's why we're training down here, in secret. I mean, I don't think I'm the hero of the prophecy, but… well, if Mew chose you, the prophecy could be about either of us. There might even be others."
Nora looked Amber dead in the eyes. "You can't let anyone know that Mew chose you. It hasn't joined your team yet, has it? That's probably because it's worried about you becoming a target. So be careful from now on, we're too valuable to risk."
She looked at her watch, then sighed. "I'd better get going. Up in Midna Town, there's a Trainer's School I learn from. None of the other students are any good, but practice is practice. There's a tournament about to start, so I need to get going." She frowned, then her face lit up. "Hey, why don't you enter too? It's a good way to train and learn more about being a trainer. And you and I, we need all the training we can get."
"Sounds like a plan to me, Nora. I was actually here to get you for that anyways, since I wanted to sign up and the teacher told me you were the paperwork wrangler." Nora deflated a bit at this, but not too much.
"Alright, then I'll see you up there." Nora recalled Celebi, then released her Honedge, which cut a hole in space that lasted long enough for both them to pass through but collapsed after that.
Amber sighed. "She couldn't let us go through."
"Good luck with the tournament, Amber! I'll be watching!" Mew vanished with a sound like a balloon popping and a flash of pink light.
Amber sighed, then released the rest of her Pokémon. "Alright then, team. Time to get ready for the-"
Amber blinked, surprised, as Metapod began to glow. "Well… I suppose that's one way to get ready for the tournament."
The now-Butterfree shivered, then shook its pink-tinted wings, still perched on the bright orange shell it had inhabited until now. "Wow, it really feels a lot different outside of that shell!"
Amber sighed, then nodded. "I suppose it would, now, wouldn't it?"
The registration passed in a blur, thanks to Nora's help streamlining the process, then it was straight into the first round, where Butterfree demolished the ninja boy's Riolu and Tyrogue without much fuss, and only needed a moment of rest to be back to peak form.
Damian and Nora also advanced easily into the second round, where Amber found herself facing off with Damian. "No hard feelings, right, miss Amber?" asked Damian.
Amber laughed. "Let's stay away from 'miss', why don't we? I'm not that old yet, kiddo," she said, grinning.
The teacher, who was serving as referee, blew a whistle, at which point both Amber and Damian let fly with their Poké Balls.
Squirtle ended up facing off with a Corphish, whose opening move, as per Damian's orders, was an Icy Wind that ended up slowing her down fast enough for the Water-type to tag her with a Waterfall.
"Bite, then Beat Up!" suggested Amber. Squirtle nodded, then manage to snag one of the crustacean's legs in her mouth.
Squirtle then thumped the floor, and in a flash of blue-green, a duplicate of each of the other members of Amber's team appeared, outlined in that same Squirtle-colored light, before diving onto the Corphish, each landing one solid hit before dissipating.
The crawdad put up a valiant fight, but after Squirtle slammed her own blue-glowing paw into its underbelly, it tapped twice against the floor with one its claws, signaling to all and sundry that it wasn't willing to continue the fight.
"Wow, your Squirtle's really strong!" shouted Damian, sending out a Luxio at the same time.
Squirtle breathed in deeply, then turned to face this new opponent.
"Get in close, then pummel it!" shouted Damian, and in a flash of yellow-white electricity, Luxio obeyed, snarling. The electrical charge grounded out through Squirtle into the floor, then spun to kick out with both hind legs, sending Squirtle staggering back.
"Alright, Squirtle, pivot out!" The Dark/Fighting type in question nodded, and in one last burst of blue light kicked off from the Luxio's chest, launching herself back towards Amber, who already had her Poké Ball out.
"Alright, Bulbasaur, try and capture it!" The quadrupedal Pokémon did so, lashing out with psychic power and smacking the Electric type skyward, then began juggling it with quick bursts of Psychic power. After about a minute of Luxio trying (and failing) to disrupt her concentration with Thundershocks, the judge called it, and Damian recalled his Pokémon.
"Alright, we're down but not out! Get ready for a turnaround, Amber!" Matching word to action, Damian sent out his Eevee, which was wearing a scarf around its neck.
"Secret Power!" called Damian, causing Eevee to charge forward, electrical power propelling it forwards quickly.
"Trap it, then pin it!" shouted Amber.
Eevee slammed into Bulbasaur first, discharging its charge into Bulbasaur with a loud snapping sound and locking up her legs.
Unfortunately, Bulbasaur didn't need her legs to fight.
A massive surge of psychic energies slammed into Eevee from below, and while the little Normal type didn't hit the ceiling, it was a near thing. Damian recalled it before it could hit the ground, forfeiting the battle good-naturedly to Amber.
"Wow, Amber, you really trained your Pokémon well!" Damian grinned infectiously.
"You too, Damian," said Amber. "Keep it up, and I wouldn't be surprised if you could make a run at the League soon."
Amber turned around to congratulate Bulbasaur just in time to see the characteristic light of evolution die down and reveal her as a Delta Ivysaur.
After a quick trip to the Pokémon center by both Amber and Nora, the two of them were ready for the finals match.
"Hey, no matter who wins, you've done well getting this far, Amber."
"Thanks, Nora, you too." Amber inclined her head and flicked two fingers off her forehead as a salute.
When the whistle was blown, Amber opened with Ivysaur, which immediately became a problem when Nora's Honedge materialized on her side of the field.
"Oh, boy. Alright, Ivysaur, try and smack it around, like getting it stuck in the ground or something!"
The Psychic type tried to slam the possessed blade into the ground, but it sheathed itself too fast and bounced off even closer, before opening up with a Fury Cutter. A series of psychic impacts snapped out, each stronger than the last, but they either missed or had little effect.
Too late, Bulbasaur tried to wrap herself in a barrier of psychically corralled air, which didn't protect it sufficiently from the Fury Cutter.
Amber recalled the beaten starter, then snapped Squirtle out, opening up with a "Beat Up, then Bite!" that made quick work of the opposing Ghost type.
Nora's next Pokémon was a Trapinch, to which Amber responded by replacing Squirtle with Charmeleon.
The diminutive Ground type spent that time burrowing down into the ground, leaving Charmeleon without any targets for either direct attacks or more esoteric techniques like Will-O-Wisp. "Amber? What do I do?"
Amber pressed one hand to her eye, focusing on what she could hear from Trapinch's mind. "Hang on…" There! She'd got a lock on where it was thanks to its own tremorsense. "Jump left, then Will-O-Wisp!"
Charmeleon wasn't quite fast enough to dodge Trapinch's jaws closing on its tail, but it managed to flare its tail flame within the Ant Pit Pokémon's mouth, burning it there. This wasn't enough to dissuade Trapinch, who clamped down harder despite wincing, and when it shook its head, Charmander's head knocked against the floor, sending it into unconsciousness.
Squirtle returned to the battlefield, and thanks to the Trapinch's distraction with the burn in its mouth, it didn't react fast enough and was taken down by Beat Up clones of Eevee and Butterfree.
"Wow, you are good," said Nora, grinning. "But now you have to deal with my ace!" She snapped her arm forward, and from her Poké Ball came a Bayleef.
Amber nodded. "Keep it up, Squirtle!" The Dark type did, pulsing out multiple Beat Up clones, but Bayleef breathed out a haze of Fairy-type energy that popped them like soap bubbles.
"Well then." Amber pressed her lips together, then shook her head. "Okay, new plan. What other range have you managed to put together?"
"Uhh…" Squirtle backflipped away from another haze of Fairy Wind. "I might have Vacuum Wave?"
Amber laughed. "Actually, that's about the perfect one. Go ahead and try and carve a path."
Squirtle didn't manage it immediately, due to having to keep evading, but eventually, she snapped out a punch that shoved a shockwave through the air to land on Bayleef's flank, even managing to drag a little of the Fairy Wind residue with it.
"Alright, just keep it up!"
"Razor Leaf!" shouted Nora, and Bayleef swung its head-leaf to send tiny leaflike blades towards Squirtle, who barely managed to dodge by jumping off an Eevee Beat Up clone.
Amber and Squirtle both saw the gap that left in Bayleef's defensive screen of Fairy Wind.
Two Beat Up clones and a Vacuum Wave later, Bayleef was staggering back, and another Vacuum Wave was enough to both finish off the Bayleef and kickstart Squirtle's evolution.
After the lightshow and another quick trip to the Pokémon Center, Amber stood near the edge of town with Damian and Nora. "You moving on too?" asked Amber.
"Yeah. I figured that at this point I feel safe enough to go on the gym challenge, so I figure I might try and head to Suntouched City and take on Orion first."
Damian was practically vibrating with excitement. "Hey, we're going to fight Orion too! You wanna go together?"
Nora gave Amber a Look, which Amber responded to by mouthing "He knows" accompanied with a gesture that mimicked cat ears.
Nora sighed, then shrugged good-naturedly. "Sure, why not. But I do have a secret I need to tell you, that you need to keep absolutely quiet, once we get out into the wild."
Damian saluted, and Amber had to fight down the urge to both snicker and squee. "You got it, miss Nora, ma'am!"
"By the way, we haven't been properly introduced. I'm Nora, she/her," said Nora, offering her hand to shake.
Amber froze for a moment, then took it. "Amber, she/they, and… well, I'll wait until after your bombshell to drop my second one."
"I look forward to it," said Nora, grinning. She squeezed Amber's hand one last hand, then let it go.
End of Season 1
Okay, so to clear this up: I absolutely know that Delta Squirtle can't learn Beat Up normally, but… well, I've got a few ways I could explain this, ranging from improvements on Double Team to [Spoiler] to a combination of both, which I'm leaning towards at this point. (There should actually be a hint as to what the spoiler is, so if you look back and figure it out, I'll… Honestly, I'm not sure. I'll burn that bridge when/if I get to it.)
Well, we have confirmation on the nonbinary character, and... well. Spoilers.
Not 100% satisfied with the ending, but it works well enough, and I'm already cutting it close enough as it is.
In terms of scheduling, I'll be posting… some other story, be it a oneshot or the start of a different SI for an actual murderworld, next posting time, then after that I'll be back with Season 2.
Still looking for a beta, so if you're interested, hit me up!
Please read and review, and have a nice day!