Disclaimer: Pokemon is owned by GAMEFREAK/The Pokemon Company
Darren and Harmony are owned by ScruffyEevee
Chapter 4
"Pssh come on now Darren. I mean, so they looked at us, there's nothing wrong with that right?" Sorrel tried to reason. "I admit that it's a little weird, but nothing worth getting worked up over." he said to his brother, who looked to be daydreaming.
"Yeah... I think I'm too concerned about it as well, but that stare… just made me so uncomfortable. It looked like… I don't know… almost like they were mad at me or something," Darren said, trying to convey his feelings to Sorrel.
"You think they just found your eyes intriguing?" Sorrel wondered.
"That's probably it. You heard the nurse, my eyes are super rare or whatever. I guess that greninja knew it, and was just taken by surprise," Darren started reasoning to himself.
"See? Nothing to get worked up over," Sorrel said before pausing for a second.
"Speaking of getting worked up over something, this mob is getting on my nerves right about now," he said as he looked over to the group of people that were still complaining.
"Yeah, let's just go to Martha and Harmony," Darren said. Sorrel nodded in agreement, and the two began walking in the direction of their trainer and sister, passing a lot less people and pokemon compared to the dozens that were roaming around downstairs. As they were walking, a familiar voice could be heard in front of them.
"Hey you guys!" Harmony called out to them. Martha was holding her as she did this, and after she turned to see what had caught her pokemon's attention, she saw the two brothers walking up to her.
"Well, hello you two!" she said enthusiastically. "I assume your check-ups went well?" Sorrel wagged his tail in response and Darren just nodded, signalling that they were just fine. She smiled at the two before continuing.
"That's good to hear. Sorry we couldn't get you any shots today or anything," she jokingly said. The two eevees rolled their eyes before going to sit next to her.
"As you can see, we're waiting for our turn to go out onto the battlefields. I assume they don't want a large crowd out there like the one in the lobby, so I guess they are only letting one challenger at a time go out there. We're right at the front of the line though, so it shouldn't take long at all," Martha informed the two.
"Yeah, this waiting is soo boring. I'd rather have that check-up thingy you guys had!" Harmony said with boredom in her voice.
"Huh, well I wouldn't be too sure about that Harmony," Darren began, "Waiting in that room seems a lot scarier than waiting out here."
"Oh come on, that doesn't even make sense," Harmony said, not understanding her brother's sarcasm.
"You guys... we shouldn't even be here for too long now, just a minute or two I hope," Sorrel intervened.
He was correct in his assumption, as the people in front of them had just gone outside, meaning they were next in line. Not only that, but they were now able to see outside the glass doors. Said doors also appeared to be the only transparent objects in the room they were currently in. No windows or sky roofs were facing towards the battlefields, so with these doors, now they could actually get a good look at what awaits them outside. Sorrel and Darren took both the opportunity and looked outside to see what the fields were like, as well as to see what kind of pokemon they were dealing with, or rather, what Harmony would be dealing with. Martha and Harmony both looked outside as well, likely for the same reasons as Darren and Sorrel.
The fields were nothing special. Two standard clay courts that were surrounded by fencing, shrubbery, and of course, the pokemon center. They were pretty clean considering how often they must have been used, but it is to be expected since the maintenance that the only pokemon center in the large port-town of Driftveil receives had to be pretty efficient. Darren and Sorrel looked to see what kind of pokemon were using the fields, and actually saw a pretty diverse roster. One field contained the trainers that were just in line, and standing alongside them was a Machoke, who they had assumed was the trainer's pokemon. The Machoke looked to be preparing to battle against a man in uniform that also his pokemon, a Haxorus, by his side.
Darren inspected the clothing more closely, and noticed that it had a similar design to the medical outfits that the Nurse Joy had on earlier, although with a differing array of colors. The white and reddish coloring were still present, but this uniform contained tints of blue that weren't found on the medical uniforms. It was a very recognizable garment, so Darren had assumed the person was someone who worked for the pokemon center and would skirmish against any trainers who wanted practice or something.
He looked over to the other battlefield, where he saw yet another trainer clad in the same uniform the man at the other field was wearing. This person seemed taller, and his face seemed more familiar to Darren for some reason, almost like he's seen him around here before. The man stood at the far end of the field, and at the other end stood a female trainer, who was busy pouting as she called back her fainted pokemon. Darren assumed the pokemon that caused the fainting must have been the Jolteon who currently stood beside the male trainer. From the looks of it, they didn't have a scratch on them, so they must have been pretty strong.
The two trainers talked for a little bit after the woman recalled her pokemon. They looked to be disagreeing about something, but they eventually parted ways with the man now at the closer end of the field to the pokemon center, and the woman strutting her way over to the doorway with a troubled look on her face. Darren and Sorrel watched as the man called out to the woman in what looked like an attempt to try and talk to her, but she didn't respond and kept walking away.
Darren could hear his trainer say something under her breath, but didn't pay any mind to it. He wasn't all that concerned about the quarrel going on between the two trainers outside, what he was more interested in was the Jolteon that sat at the male trainer's side. They just watched as their trainer tried to call the woman trainer back to him, all the while looking pretty confused at the whole ordeal. Sorrel seemed more interested in them as well, so Darren decided to acknowledge it.
"Uhm… Have you seen that Jolteon around here lately?" Darren asked his brother.
"No, I haven't," Sorrel responded, "but he looks kind of familiar for some reason, and so does his trainer." Darren looked at him with a surprised look on his face before talking again.
"Yeah, I thought he looked familiar too, maybe we just don't get out enough?" he jokingly said. Sorrel chuckled at the remark.
"Yeah, maybe. Though I think there's more to it than that. Like I feel we've met him before somewhere…" Sorrel said as he continued looking outside. Darren turned to look back outside as well, and when he did he saw that the female trainer was now just a few feet from them. She reached for the door and opened it quite roughly before walking past Martha and the eevees, all the while cursing under her breath.
"That snob thinks he's soo good. I'll show him! One day!" Darren heard her say before she disappeared into the crowd behind them. He realized now what was happening between the two trainers, and just passed it off as one trainer being a sore loser. With the woman now having left the battlefield, it meant that the next trainer in line could go outside onto the fields, and Martha was the next trainer in line.
"Alright then!" she said adjusting her purse with Harmony still inside, "It's our turn everyone! Come on!" She said before grabbing the handle to the door and pushing it open. The two brothers walked outside, and were greeted with a small gust of wind and a generous amount of sunlight. Martha closed the door and looked up at the sky to appreciate the breeze herself.
"What a nice day for battling," she commented before looking back down. She began walking over to the battlefield where the male trainer from before was. By now, he was standing at a table near the field looking at a clipboard. The Jolteon that was once next to him was now watching the battle going on at the other field, which by the looks of it, seemed to be a rather slow-paced slug fest between the Machoke and Haxorus. Darren and Sorrel followed their trainer over to the vacant battlefield where the male trainer was. He had now stopped what he was doing in order to turn and look at the people approaching him. Darren was then able to get a good look at the man in detail, and it was then that he realized why Sorrel said he looked familiar.
"Oh wow," Martha said as she approached the man, "You know, I always wondered what you did to pass the time, but I never could've guessed it was this," she said. The man just stared at her before sighing and continuing the conversation.
"Ah, Martha, of course you would be here to see that," he mumbled.
"Of course! And it's not much of a surprise to me. You always did have a way with the ladies Brian," she said smiling at him. The man just groaned again before unclipping the papers on his clipboard. He took them all into his hands to square them up, before clipping them back onto the clipboard.
"Right, well everything you likely just saw was a result from her own actions. She asks for a battle - I give her one - then complains when she loses. It's not my fault Enzo is a natural at battling," Brian said looking at the Jolteon. At the sound of his name, the Jolteon looked away from the battle happening on the other field to look towards the group. His eyes grew wide when he recognized the new faces that appeared, and he quickly trotted over to greet everyone. Brian smiled as the Jolteon made his way over to the group.
"I'm sure he remembers you and the eevee brothers, even if we haven't been over in a while. I mean, who else has an eevee with those eyes right?" he said to Martha. The Jolteon happily walked up next to her before allowing her to pet his spiky yellow fur. Martha chuckled at the pokemon's eagerness to be petted.
"Yes… so Enzo evolved into a Jolteon huh?" Martha asked as she continued petting the pokemon in question.
"Well, last time I checked, that's what a Jolteon looks like," Brian responded. Martha looked back with an annoyed expression.
"Always a smartass… did he choose to be a Jolteon? Or did you just force him...," she said a little more seriously.
"Hey, he picked what he wanted to evolve into. I gave him his choices, and he touched the yellow rock without even hesitating, so I would assume he wanted to become one… though I would've preferred a Vaporeon," he said looking at Enzo, "Anyways, I have a job to get back to. Did you need anything from me?"
"I do actually," Martha said as she stopped her petting and stood up to face him, "You're volunteering here at the moment?" she asked.
"Yes, that's one way to put it," he replied.
"Well, Dahlia's newest kit needs a pokeball, and I have to battle with her to prove she can listen to commands," she informed him.
"Oh really? So that egg finally hatched?... And it's a girl too?" Brian asked.
"Yes… the egg hatched and it is a girl," Martha replied while looking down at the small eevee in her purse.
"'It' has a name by the way. Her name is Harmony," she said with a smile.
"Ah, I see. I was a little curious who that was in your purse… well congrats!," Brian said genuinely pleased for her, "Oh also, did you… you know… end up getting an egg out of Dahlia after her last session?"
She looked up at him with a surprised expression on her face. "Hey! Not in front of the eevees... they… don't know yet," Martha said quickly.
"Oh sorry... I guess that means she did get one then?" Brian said scratching his head as Martha slowly nodded her head. "Well... it's good to know that her and Brayden are still fertile."
"Yeah. Anyways, could you help me with what I needed? You know, battling?" Martha asked, trying to change the topic.
"Of course! I volunteered for this type of stuff anyway," Brian replied, "I'll use Enzo to battle if you don't mind. He's been pretty busy today, but I don't think he wants to stop just yet… even if it means going against his new little sister," he said looking towards the Jolteon who had by then moved over to Darren and Sorrel and looked to be talking to them.
"That's fine. I just want to get this over with," Martha said while taking Harmony out of her purse and putting her down on the ground.
"Uhm… is it alright if Darren and Sorrel stay out to watch?" she asked.
"Oh yeah, that's fine. Spectators aren't allowed right now, but if they're the pokemon of a trainer using the battlefields, then it's alright," Brian informed her.
"Sweet, so are we good to go now?" she asked.
"You kidding? Did you see that line behind you? We have to do this as fast as possible, since all those people are scheduled to use the fields today," Brian said.
"Ah right, right," Martha responded. She turned to Harmony and told her to follow them as they started walking over to the fields. Brian did the same with Enzo, and the Jolteon perked his ears up as his trainer called him, and bid farewell to his brothers as he made his way over to the fields.
Before our little reunion occurred, Darren had to take a second to process what he was seeing. The man was Brian, the former mate of his trainer, Martha, and the current trainer of Darren's father and brother. His brother, who was an eevee last Darren knew, has since evolved into a Jolteon, and was currently heading over to Martha to greet her. He had no doubt that this was Enzo since, much to the surprise of Darren and Sorrel, he had a very similar scent to their brother.
"Wait, so Enzo was that Jolteon? I knew he looked familiar," Sorrel said smiling. Darren raised an eyebrow towards him.
"Sure you did. He smells like him, but I don't think you've ever even seen a Jolteon before," Darren said confidently.
"Well, dad is Jolteon," Sorrel replied. Darren looked at him surprised before talking again.
"Wait, you remember dad? I thought you didn't since… you know, it's been a long time. I didn't think you actually remembered him," Darren said. Sorrel looked at the ground with a blank stare.
"No, no, I remember. It's only a few short memories, but enough. They weren't really the nicest things to remember him by…" Sorrel said.
"Oh, well, I'm sorry about that..." Darren said lowering his ears, "What… memories?"
"We should talk about this later," Sorrel scoffed, "For now, let's go be with Enzo while we can," he said while raising his head to look at the Jolteon. Darren nodded in agreement and lifted his head up as well, only to see that the Jolteon was busy enjoying some head-rubbing. Martha was talking to Brian the whole time and paying little attention to the pokemon, and eventually stopped showing her affection. Enzo noticed this and opened his eyes to see what the problem was, but was instead met with two eevees that were making his way towards him. He smiled and went over to reunite with his brothers.
"Hi guys! Been a while huh?" Enzo said to his two older siblings as they converged.
"Hi Enzo! Yes, it's been a while… and you evolved I see," Sorrel noted. Enzo stood tall with a grin seeing that his brothers had noticed his new form.
"Yep! Just evolved a few days after the last time I saw you guys actually. I was finally given the choice, and as you can see, I chose the best one," he said proudly.
"Ah so… you aren't planning on beating me up later when you come over right?" Sorrel asked, sounding mildly worried.
"What? No! I mean, only if you want to of course. Last time we battled, I was an eevee, but now I've evolved I need to be more responsible with who I fight against. You get it right?" Enzo asked after explaining.
"I see... oh well!," Sorrel said, relieved that he now has an excuse to not battle against the Jolteon. Darren smirked at him knowing why he was so relieved, before looking towards his other younger brother.
"Sooo... Brian just gave you the three stones and that was it?" Darren bluntly asked.
"Heh, pretty much. He said that he would let me evolve into the other eeveelutions if I wanted to, like Glaceon, Espeon, Umbreon, you know… but I already knew what I wanted to be. I took the Thunder Stone without much hesitation," Enzo said sheepishly.
"Interesting… and how long have you wanted to be a Jolteon?" Darren continued questioning. Enzo looked to the sky as if he was lost in thought.
"Well... ever since I first saw one I guess. I've always wanted to be quick and speedy, and I've held that desire all the way up until it was time for me to evolve. Now I'm much faster than before, and I want to keep improving!" Enzo said with excitement.
"Wow. Here I thought you were super fast as an eevee. I can't imagine what you look like now," Sorrel commented. Enzo laughed at his remark.
"I was pretty quick back then, but if you think that's fast, then you ain't seen nothing yet!" the Jolteon said with a spark in his eyes. By now, Martha and Brian were starting to head back to the battlefields, and the Jolteon took notice.
"Oop, looks like it's time to get back to work! Uh, did you guys come here to battle or something?" Enzo asked.
"Well, Harmony has to prove she can follow battle commands in order to get her own pokeball. I guess she just so happens to have to fight you for it," Darren said, "You remember Harmony right?"
"Oooooh, the little tyke! Yes of course I remember my baby sister! This shouldn't take long at all then," Enzo said as he started walking past the eevees towards his trainer.
"Let's go!" he said to them before picking up speed to get to his trainer's side. Darren and Sorrel looked at each other before heading over to the fields to join their own trainer.
"Well, it's nice to see he hasn't changed much," Darren commented. Sorrel smiled and nodded in agreement.
Brain led Martha and Harmony over to the battlefield, and Enzo arrived next to him just as he got to his side of the field. Darren and Sorrel had walked over to the sidelines and jumped up onto one of the benches located there to spectate. Martha and Harmony were on the opposite end of the field from Brian and Enzo, and watched as Brian fiddled inside one of his pockets. He pulled out a pokeball from it before looking at Martha.
"This is the pokeball you will be trying to earn. I'll give it to you if Harmony passes. This battle is the last thing she needs to do in order to qualify for one right?" Brain asked.
"Yes, this is the only thing we have to do," Martha replied.
"Ah, good. That means if she passes, then you can just put her in the ball right then and there," Brian continued. He put the pokeball back in his pocket.
"Alright!" he said loudly, "Since this isn't technically a real battle, we won't have to use the machine over there to act as a referee. This will be a pretty one-sided battle anyway so I wouldn't use it even if we were advised to," Brian stated, "Martha, you are to display your pokemon's entire moveset to me. I won't be using any attacks to harm your pokemon at all, but I will use Quick Attack to see if your pokemon can hit a moving target. If your pokemon is able to do all of that, then I will approve of her as battle capable, and then she'll be able to receive her own pokeball."
"Sounds good with me. Alright, get out there Harmony!" Martha said to the eevee standing next to her. Harmony looked up to her and hesitated before walking out onto the battlefield.
"I'll use Enzo like I mentioned before, alright?" Brian said looking over to her.
"Yeah that's fine. This will be a good bonding experience for them I think," she replied.
"Oh, definitely," Brian said before looking down at the Jolteon next to him. The eeveelution turned his head to look back at him as Brian crouched down in order to get closer to the pokemon.
"Alright, you'll be going against your own sister. Got that?" Brian told the Jolteon. Enzo nodded in response as he got up from his sitting position.
"Now remember, when she uses any damaging moves, just take them," Brian said sternly, "She has to prove she can hit a moving target with those moves as well, so when the time comes , I'll order you to use Quick Attack around her. Try to dodge whatever she throws at you without hitting her, but don't make it too difficult for her to land a hit okay?" he instructed. Enzo huffed in response before looking towards Harmony and trotted over to her. Harmony looked a little nervous to see him by the time he got there.
"Hey, Harmony! It's me, Enzo! Do you remember?" he asked hoping she would recognize him.
"Big bro Enzo?" she asked, looking more curious instead of worried now, "I thought you were an eevee..."
"Oh, I was! Last time we were together I was an eevee, but I evolved into a Jolteon since then! You know what evolution is right?" he asked.
"Well… yes but, I've never heard of a Jolteon before," she answered.
"I see," Enzo said looking lost in thought, "Well it's one of the 7 forms that eevees can choose to evolve into. Jolteon is the electric type pokemon you can become if you touch a Thunder Stone, and as you can see, I was given the choice to do so and took it!" Enzo explained to her. Harmony kept looking at him with distraught as he awkwardly stared back at her. He chuckled as he lifted his arm and scratched his head.
"Perhaps it's too early for you to be learning about this," he said grinning, "Anyways, we're about to start any second now. You know what to do right?" he asked, looking back at her with confidence.
"I just listen to my trainer when she tells me to use a move?" she meekly replied.
"Yeah! All you're doing is displaying them to Brian. I'll have to get hit by them, but I'll just sit still for you. Don't worry, I'm more than capable of taking a few hits," Enzo said.
"Alright, if you say so..." Harmony said with a bit of uncertainty still.
"If you two are done getting acquainted, then may we begin?" Brian said to them. Enzo looked back at him and nodded.
"You're ready Martha?" Brian asked.
"Yes I am," she replied.
"Good. Then let the battle begin… now!" Brian announced loudly. Hearing his shout from the sidelines, Darren and Sorrel looked over and were now paying full attention.
"They're finally starting," Darren said.
"I know, let's watch," Sorrel commented before looking towards the left side of the field. Enzo had gotten into a defense stance and was waiting to see what Harmony would do next.
"Alright Harmony! Show them your Tail Whip!" Martha yelled across the field. Hearing the command, Harmony knew immediately what she had to do next. She shifted her body around so that she was facing away from her opponent, before shaking her tail at him as if to taunt the Jolteon. Enzo's stats decreased slightly from the move which signified its completion. The eevee turned to see the Jolteon hadn't moved at all.
"Good, now show them Growl!" Martha yelled again to her. The eevee responded by giving a low-pitched growl to the Jolteon standing in front of her, and his stats decreased yet again proving her ability to use the move.
"Now, Sand Attack!" Martha ordered, to which Harmony responded by kicking up some off the dirt on the field and aiming it at the Jolteon. His stats were lowered for a third time, yet he still stood there in his defensive stance as he watched the eevee perform her moves.
"Finally, show him your Tackle!"
Harmony hesitated for a second seeing as now she had to intentionally hurt Enzo, but with a nod from the Jolteon, she knew that he would be just fine. Without wasting another second, she started the move and ran at full speed to where he was standing. She rammed right into his front legs with as much force as she could muster given she still didn't want to hurt him. Despite this, she bounced right off the Jolteon like he was a concrete wall. She stumbled back a few steps feeling dazed, before shaking her head and seeing that the Jolteon was still in the same defensive position he was in before.
He smiled, "See Harmony? I'm fine!" he said knowing she must have held back.
"Alright!" Brain could be heard yelling, "Enzo: Use Quick Attack around her!" he ordered. Without hesitation, the Jolteon broke out of his stance and began rushing around the eevee at blinding speeds. Harmony was surprised by his sudden burst of movement, and stood there stunned as the Jolteon harmlessly sprinted around her, but never touching her.
"Now Martha, you must use Harmony's Tackle to hit Enzo while he is moving at the speed of a Quick Attack. This is the last thing you need to do before I can give you her pokeball," Brian informed her.
"Right," Martha said before looking towards Harmony who was stranded inside the circle that Enzo made with his movement.
"Harmony: Use Tackle! Hit him when you think he'll appear in front of you!" she said.
The command sounded quite vague to the eevee, but she knew what she needed to do. She stood watching for a few more seconds as the Jolteon continued making laps around her. She decided to just wing it and activated her attack. She charged at her opponent hoping she would nail him, but to her dismay, the Jolteon easily dodged it. After she passed by, he stopped his Quick Attack and now faced her directly. Not wanting to waste another second, Harmony activated another attack and flung herself towards him. He dodged it almost effortlessly again.
"I like your resolve Harmony! You'll have to be a little faster if you want to hit me while I'm running around though," Enzo commented before activating another Quick Attack. Harmony looked back after hearing his remark to see that the Jolteon was running a bit more rampant around her than before.
"I… can't even see him. How do I hit him" Harmony thought to herself as she watched the Jolteon dash around her at blinding speeds. She decided to just take her chances again, and activated her Tackle when she saw that the Jolteon looked to be getting closer to her during his laps. This time, she was almost about to collide with the Jolteon, but right before she made contact with him, he deactivated his Quick Attack. Enzo stopped abruptly as the eevee careened past him. She stumbled a bit as she halted her failed attack.
"That was close Harmony! Next time you might get me!" Enzo taunted before going back into yet another Quick Attack. Harmony watched him and huffed in annoyance. She thought she definitely should have hit him with that one, but the Jolteon was too quick-witted.
"Harmony! Focus! Wait for a good opportunity!" another voice could be heard yelling to her from across the field. Harmony looked over to the direction of the voice, and saw Darren had his paws cupped around his mouth so that his message would reach her. She gazed at him for a second before shifting her focus back on Enzo.
"Focus… uhm right." she thought to herself as she continued watching the Jolteon quickly run around in front of her. He had gone back to sprinting around her as if to make her dizzy, but she knew she couldn't focus on trying to see him.
"Wait for an opening…" she thought while watching Enzo run in and out of her field of vision. She watched him for a few seconds, before she began to notice something strange about the Jolteon's movements. Enzo was purposely slowing down at times as if to give her a chance to hit him. Harmony knew she had to take advantage, and by the time Enzo came to the same spot Harmony noticed him slowing down at, she activated a Tackle attack and was quickly heading straight for him. Just as she predicted, Enzo retracted his speed right in front of her. He took notice that the eevee who was just standing still a second ago was now barreling towards him having activated her attack. The Jolteon knew he was fully capable of speeding up to dodge it, but after realizing that Harmony must have noticed what he was up to, he decided to just take the hit. The eevee made direct contact with Enzo's side, and effectively put a stop to his Quick Attack almost instantly. Both pokemon stumbled back a bit from the force of their collision. Enzo then quickly regained his composure and jumped back after recovering from his daze. He stood facing towards the eevee, who was still trying to recover from the hit she had just received.
"That was a good one Harmony! You alright?" he said to her, brushing off the side of his body where he was hit.
"Ugh yeah, I think so," Harmony said, rubbing her head as she lifted it up to see the Jolteon. She noticed Brian behind him lifting his arm in the air before she could say anything else to him.
"This match is now officially over - I forfeit," Brian announced. Harmony gave a sigh of relief as she stood back up.
"Congrats Harmony! You did it!" Martha said with excitement. The eevee smiled at her before running over. Martha picked up the little pokemon and checked to see if she was alright. Seeing that nothing was wrong, she put her back down so she could go talk with Brian. Darren and Sorrel were now exiting the sidelines to go meet with them as well.
"Well, as I expected, your pokemon was able to complete the tasks I gave her and showed me she was capable of following your commands," Brain said as he walked over and stood in front of Martha and the rest. Enzo sat next to him as he continued to talk.
"You have now filled all the criteria you need in order to receive your own pokeball, but you know that already," he said before handing Martha the pokeball.
"Thanks Brian," she said smiling at him.
"No problem," He replied before turning around and heading towards the bench where all of his paperwork was located. Martha looked towards Harmony, and saw she was already staring at the pokeball in her trainer's hands.
"Now Harmony, you'll officially become my pokemon when you are captured by this, and then I'll be able to train you. Only if you want to of course, I'm leaving the choice up to you," Martha said before leaning over and placing the pokeball a few feet in front of the eevee. Harmony looked at the ball before looking back up at her new trainer. She quickly turned back to the ball and made contact with it, and was immediately transformed into a mass of red energy that was then absorbed into the ball. The pokeball only shook once before clicking shut, securing Harmony as Martha's pokemon. Martha bent over and retrieved the item before placing it in her purse where Harmony sat before.
"Well… that didn't take much convincing," she said as she crossed her arms, "I'm glad that's finally done."
"I'm happy for you," Brian said from his table. He then got up and walked back over to the group and handed Martha a piece of paper he was holding.
"This is a document recording your battle here today. Official stuff… you know," he said. Martha quickly skimmed the paper before folding it and putting it in her purse.
"Got it. Well, that's all I came here today for, so I guess I'll be heading home now. It was a surprise seeing you here today Brian!" Martha said.
"Yeah it really was a shocker..." he told her before scratching the back of his neck, "Heeey listen… Martha. You know how we were planning on coming over today right?" Brain began.
"I'm aware. What about it?"
Brian hesitated before continuing, "Well, as you can see I'm pretty busy taking care of customers here. I don't get off until late tonight. I don't think we'll be able to make it to your place on time… or at all even."
"I was afraid you'd say that after I saw you here," Martha sighed, "Well then, do you think we could reschedule a time to meet then? You know we're only doing this for our pokemon right?"
"Yeah… uh sure. I've been pretty busy here lately. I've gotten into this whole volunteering thing recently. Sorry, I should've told you a lot earlier," he said.
"It's alright I guess. After all, our pokemon got to see each other again here anyways right?"
"Yeah, that's why I'm thankful for coming in when you did, otherwise it would've been rough trying to explain all this," Brian said bashfully.
"Of course… that would be pretty awkward," Martha told him, "So we're going to meet again another time?"
"Sure! I just need a day or so to plan since I'll be busy here for a while. Thanks for understanding Martha," he said.
"You're welcome. I guess I'll get going now… don't want to keep your other trainers waiting."
"Right, right. Well, so you later," Brian said as he turned to walk back towards his bench, "Come on Enzo!" he yelled looking back at them. The Jolteon, who was currently engaged in conversation with his siblings, looked back at his trainer and nodded before returning to his conversation.
"Sorry guys, I gotta go," Enzo said.
"Alright, it was nice seeing you again little bro," Sorrel said to him.
"You too! I wish we could've gotten to battle a little longer, but me and Brian have a job to do after all," Enzo sighed.
"Hey, you do what you have to. We'll get to see each other later anyways," Darren told him.
"Wait, didn't you hear what Brian said?" Enzo inquired.
"Uhm… about what?"
"I overheard him talking just now. He said we'll have to meet another day since we're so busy here," the Jolteon informed them.
"Aw really? That sucks," Sorrel said, sounding disappointed. Enzo nodded in agreement while Darren just gave a groan of frustration.
"Yeeeah sorry about that guys," the Jolteon said sounding pretty guilty.
"Well, in any case, I have a question for you Enzo," Darren said.
"Oh? What's that?"
"Uhm… have you seen a shiny greninja around the center at all?" he asked.
"Oh boy, here we go," Sorrel complained. Darren gave him a look before turning back to the Jolteon.
"A shiny… greninja?" Enzo said as he thought about his brother's question. "Actually, I have seen one hang around in the lobby a lot ever since I arrived here a few days ago. Some days he's there and others he's not. My guess is that he's an abandoned pokemon that either comes here to watch the battles or to try and find his trainer."
"Hmm… I see," Darren said, "Thanks Enzo. That's all I was curious about."
"What? You have a problem with them?"
"Nah, I'm just curious."
"Oh, well alright! I need to go now, since Brian is probably annoyed right about now. See ya later guys!" Enzo said, giving a quick nuzzle to the two eevees before running over to his trainer still sitting at his bench.
"We should get going as well," Sorrel told Darren, and he nodded his head in agreement. The two eevees quickly trotted their way over to their trainer, who was standing over next to the exit gates that led out of the battlefield area.
"You two are done catching up with your brother?" she asked. Both eevees shook their heads in response.
"That's good, that's good. Your sister is already in her new pokeball, and ready to head home. Now it's time for you two to go inside your own balls as well," she said as she grabbed two other pokeballs from her purse. She aimed one at each eevee, and the two braced themselves as they were suddenly transformed into a mass of red energy and taken up into their own pokeball. Once they were secure, Martha put them both in her purse next to Harmony's ball and walked out of the exit gate towards the rack where she parked her bike before entering the pokemon center. She found her bike locked in place where she left it last, and put on her helmet before taking off her bike lock and putting that in her purse as well. She got on top of it and began heading back the way she came, down the street passing by the many warehouses located just to the side.
Unbeknownst to her, on top of one of these warehouses was a dark and mysterious entity who had been watching her for a while now. They squinted their sharp eyes in her direction before taking off, presumably to follow her.
And after a few more long nights of writing, another chapter has been completed. As is the usual by now, I over exceeded my expectations for the word count in this chapter. I had intended this to be shorter at around 4,500 or 5,000 words... but then I just go crazy and give it a little over 7,000.
The problem was that I had quite a bit of writer's block while working on this chapter in particular since I wasn't sure at all how I wanted to write the fighting scene, or how I wanted Enzo to reunite with his brothers. Nevertheless, I managed to power through and get it done before my deadline, which was April 6th. Literally finished it as late as possible, but hey, I wasn't expecting to write as much as I did, and I procrastinated BIG TIME since I had Spring Break and Easter all last week. And by the way... Happy Easter everyone! It may be past Easter by the time I upload this, but meh who cares. Consider this a late Easter of 2021 gift!
For the next chapter, I already have it planned out. I have everything up to Chapter 8 planned already actually, but who knows how long it'll take to get there. Anyways, the next chapter I am planning to be a longer chapter, and if I initially considered this chapter to be a shorter chapter, I don't even want to imagine how long this next chapter will be. It's not that I don't like writing long chapters, I love to actually, it's just that I have a very limited time to write these chapters, and I don't like taking forever to update this story. I have no idea how long it'll be until the next update, but just know I'll be working on it. Maybe in the next month or two... I think that's a generous timeframe.
Anyways, thank you so much for reading, as always. You guys are awesome! :)
Next Chapter: 50% Complete as of 05/23/2021 (this chapter will be extra-long to celebrate my graduation from high school!)