Leaf found it kind of annoying that he and Glacia had to give up their playing field so that Frost could have a sparring match with the adult Eevee, but he knew complaining wasn't going to get him anywhere.
It just wasn't fair, but since when did anyone care whether something was 'fair' to Leaf? Glacia probably wasn't even going to be around very long, since her mom lived up in the mountains and was just visiting A/C for a day or two. This was the first chance Leaf had gotten to play outside with another Pokemon close to his age, and now that was being taken away from him for a stupid reason. Even Frost felt this fight was stupid.
Well, if it was so stupid, then maybe he should go somewhere else, so that Leaf and Glacia could keep playing. Shadow could probably watch them, unless he found the conversation between the other adults more interesting than letting Leaf play with a new friend. Then again, knowing Shadow, he probably did.
"First, a few ground rules," Frost stated pleasantly, his tail flicking idly as he stood across from his Eevee opponent, who had identified himself as 'Blaze' a few moments earlier. The other Pokemon were sitting on the sidelines, with the soft-spoken Vaporeon sitting further away from Leaf and Glacia, her expression dull and unamused, as if the entire situation was a pointless inconvenience. Well, at least someone agreed with Leaf.
Glacia fidgeted restlessly from beside Leaf, and he moved nearer to her, curling his leaf-like tail around her. She squeaked inquisitively, looking at his tail curiously, and then nipped the leafy part.
"Ow! Glacia, that's not food," Leaf complained. The Eevee giggled, releasing his tail from her teeth, and then making little spitting sounds, as if she had tasted something unpleasant, before grinning up at him mischievously. "Oh yeah? Then let's see how your tail tastes, huh?" Leaf growled playfully.
"Excuse me?" Frost demanded, turning his head towards them, his eyes narrowed dangerously. Leaf flinched at the glare, before pointing his paw at Glacia.
"She bit my tail!"
The female Eevee squeaked indignantly, and widened her eyes innocently, while pointing her paw at Leaf, as if he had started the whole situation. Frost was unfooled, and rolled his eyes in exasperation.
"Both of you, just behave, and stop tasting each other."
Leaf noticed that the adult Eevee and the Vaporeon exchanged equally bewildered looks, as if neither were sure whether they had heard correctly. If anything, they seemed slightly concerned, as if this sort of conflict was somehow really weird. They probably just didn't have siblings, or friends close to their age when they were younger.
"What are the rules?" Blaze asked quickly, eager to get back to the sparring match. Frost continued to fix Leaf with suspicious, narrowed eyes before turning back to his opponent.
"First off, this battle must be conducted in a sporting manner," Frost stated, returning to his pleasant tone. "Keep language kit-appropriate, refrain from unnecessary insults and taunting, and accept the outcome without griping or gloating."
"So, you're just not going to talk all fight?" Blaze wondered.
"You're adorable," Frost muttered under his breath, but continued speaking as if there had been no interruption. "Secondly, in the interest of fairness, I will grant you a handicap and refrain from using any of my Ice techniques, including weather-based abilities such as Hail. You have no such limitations."
Leaf blinked in surprise. Frost wasn't going to use his Ice abilities? Even during sparring matches, the Glaceon almost always used at least one of his Ice techniques, even if it was something basic like Ice Shard. Why would he choose not to use his best attacks?
"Fine, whatever. Can we get on with it already?" Blaze growled.
"As you wish," Frost murmured, shifting smoothly into his battle stance. Glacia looked up at Leaf and squeaked inquisitively, pointing her paw towards her father.
"They're having a battle," Leaf explained, his tail flicking with enthusiasm. It was a really cool feeling to be the older one for a change, and have someone looking to him for answers or advice about things they didn't know much about. "It's playful fighting," he continued, when the Eevee still seemed confused. "It's a lot of fun, just watch and see," he assured her.
Come to think of it, Leaf was a little surprised that Glacia didn't know anything about battling yet, if Frost was her father. Maybe she was still too young to learn? That might be why, since Shadow had only started teaching him about a month ago, and Leaf was a few months older than Glacia, at least according to Frost.
Encouraged by her Leafeon friend's words, Glacia sat up straighter, and tilted her head slightly to watch as the two battlers stared one another down. Blaze seemed tense, yet oddly determined, whereas Frost seemed completely at ease, as he usually was. Leaf had sparred enough times with the Glaceon to recognize when Frost was completely in control of a situation. This fight was no different to him than a sparring match against Leaf, in spite of how riled up his Eevee opponent might be.
Blaze was the first to break the staring contest, and he charged forward in a straight line, picking up speed, but not bothering to dart from side to side like a normal Quick Attack. It was brief, but Leaf saw Frost raise an eyebrow right before his mouth curled into a confident smirk.
Just when the Eevee seemed about to connect with Frost's chest, the Glaceon nimbly side-stepped out of the way, and then immediately kicked off the ground to slam his weight into the Eevee's side, knocking the unevolved Pokemon to the grass. Blaze sprang back to his feet at once, as if recovering from a fall was something he did so often it was second nature, and pounced upon Frost, sinking his teeth into one of his ears, and latching onto one of the dangling fur flaps.
The reaction was instantaneous, as tears of pain flooded the Glaceon's eyes, and he immediately dropped himself low to the ground, ensuring that Blaze's weight did not cause him any further pain. Leaf cringed sympathetically, as Frost had emphasized many times during their spars just how sensitive those were to rough handling. From beside him, Glacia giggled, her tail swishing enthusiastically, completely engrossed in the battle before her.
Frost growled in a mixture of pain and rage, yet the Eevee's grip on his fur flap kept him from attempting to shake his opponent off him, and Leaf could already see a problem with Frost's promise not to use his Ice techniques. Normally, he would easily be able to force an opponent back by exhaling a gust of icy wind at point-blank range, but with such options limited, he had to use a different approach while distracted by pain.
The Glaceon twisted his head sideways, bringing his ear lower to the ground, and then snapped his teeth at his opponent's neck and shoulder, seemingly forgetting that an Eevee was protected by a surprisingly thick collar of fluffy fur that rendered such attacks ineffective. Blaze likewise seemed to realize this error in judgment, because he tugged on Frost's bitten ear, then released his bite and slammed his head forward, delivering a fierce headbutt to the Ice Eeveelution's face.
Frost staggered backwards, growling and massaging the dangling flap Blaze had latched onto. The smug amusement in his face had vanished, replaced by an expression of cold contempt.
"There's no honor in your style at all," Frost growled, and for a moment, Leaf felt a gust of cold air sweep around the field, sending a shiver through his body. Glacia noticed his discomfort and chirped in concern, then immediately cuddled against Leaf's side, as if sharing her body warmth with the Leafeon. He smiled a little, and draped his tail around her, in a silent show of gratitude for her consideration.
"No ice!" Blaze reminded the Glaceon, and Frost scowled, only to give a firm nod immediately afterwards.
"That's right. No ice," he said quietly. And just like that, the cold chill in the air dissipated. Frost's dark eyes narrowed upon the opposing Eevee. "I hold to my word, no matter how dirty my opponent fights."
"I don't fight dirty," Blaze spat, his eyes narrowing as a mirror to the Glaceon's expression. "You just thought if you kicked me, I'd stay down. This is just what happens when the victim refuses to lay down and take it."
"You challenged me," Frost countered incredulously. "Are you calling me a bully now, because I accepted?"
"Why not? You're calling me a cheater, just because I got the jump on you," Blaze retorted. "You think you're better than me, so you're holding back to mock me, but when you start losing, you cry foul...I hate guys like you...it's always comes down to being my fault. My fault for being a victim, my fault for standing up for myself, my fault for everything..."
Leaf shuddered, and Glacia again squeaked her concern. It wasn't about being cold this time, though, but rather the bitterness and venom contained within the adult Eevee's voice. He was speaking barely above a whisper, yet the words carried over the field easily.
"Oh? Is that your reason for fighting me, then?" Frost scoffed. "You just want to feel like you won against some kithood antagonist of yours by standing up to someone who is confident and has the ability to back up that confidence. How childish. Makes me wish you were just trying to woo the pretty Vaporeon over there, because I could at least respect that motivation."
"Bite me," Blaze retorted, and Leaf squinted in confusion. What did that even mean? Why would he want Frost to bite him? Leaf made a mental note to ask Shadow about that later, because he somehow doubted Frost would explain what it meant.
Frost merely smirked in reply, and then darted towards Blaze so swiftly that Leaf only saw a blur of blue, and in the next moment, Blaze was tumbling across the grass. Without giving the Eevee a chance to recover, Frost launched two spheres of purple energy from his mouth, each one striking the ground just below Blaze's paws and exploding with enough force to propel him backwards. Grass stains clung to his fur as he rolled to a stop, and a number of fresh scrapes had appeared along his side.
Growling quietly, Blaze pushed himself back to his feet, swaying a little, but his eyes burning with determination. "I won't stay down," he warned the Glaceon. "No matter how many times you knock me flat, I won't stay down!"
"That's fine, I applaud your willpower," Frost commented dismissively. "But I take no pleasure in abusing you. For this battle to continue, you have to fight back. Simply rising to your feet infinitely does not equate to a stalemate."
Blaze growled and charged towards Frost again. A small smirk tugged at the Glaceon's mouth, and he launched himself towards the Eevee, his tail glowing white before he spun to strike Blaze with it. The smaller quadruped abruptly tripped over his own feet, offsetting his timing enough that the Iron Tail merely grazed his cheek, and the near-miss caused Frost to lurch off-balance.
Whether caused by happy accident or purposeful planning, Blaze seized the opening by hurling his body at Frost, using his momentum to knock the Ice-type's legs out from under him, and both of them crashed to the ground in a heap. The Eevee was faster to recover from the fall, and he immediately began biting and clawing at the Glaceon, as the latter fought to dislodge him. It was increasingly obvious to Leaf just how little experience Frost had with such basic, close-range tactics, because he was lashing out more from desperation and confusion than his usual calm, methodical tactics.
Glacia whined nervously, and prodded Leaf with her paw, begging for his attention. He smiled down at her, and gave her a reassuring nudge with his head. "It's okay," he told her gently. "It's still playful," he added, although this was just as much to reassure himself as it was for her.
There was a loud crunching sound, and Blaze yelped, recoiling from Frost, clutching his muzzle with his paw, and Leaf cringed, seeing blood spilling from the Eevee's nose. Frost staggered back to his feet, his dark eyes narrowed with distaste, and he was clutching his forehead with one of his paws, suggesting that the uncomfortably loud sound had been the product of the respectively injured areas colliding.
"Are you okay?" the Vaporeon asked Blaze, a note of alarm evident in her tone. She started forward, ignoring Blaze's attempts to wave her off. "Let me see it," she practically growled, when Blaze continued to resist her efforts to examine the injury.
"Get back, Aureia!" Blaze snapped. "The battle's still going!"
"Shut up," the Water-type retorted, yet the words lacked the hostility or frustration that normally accompanied the phrase, and she curled her large tail around the Eevee, pulling him close to her. "Call it a draw or whatever, but it's done now."
"Um...no, I'm not accepting a draw with him," Frost scoffed. Aureia fixed the Glaceon with a cool glare, but Frost was unfazed. "He started this fight for petty reasons. Like hell should he be absolved of the consequences."
There was a long silence as the Vaporeon simply stared at Frost.
"Oh wow, you're actually serious," she stated blandly. "A fine example to set for your daughter." Frost narrowed his eyes, and Aureia rose to her feet, unraveling her tail from Blaze. "Fine, I'll take his place. Go ahead and use your ice attacks if you want, it makes no difference to me," she said, without a hint of emotion in her voice. She even started to walk towards the Glaceon, only to pause when Blaze touched a paw to her side to stop her.
"Aureia, wait..." he pleaded. "I need to fight my own battles. I can't just sit back and let other people face the penalties owed to me."
"You can if they volunteer, which I have," Aureia countered. "This entire conflict is stupid, and I feel I shouldn't have indulged it for as long as I have. There's no need for you to get hurt further just to satisfy his ego. If he won't accept you withdrawing from the fight, then I will finish it in your place."
"But-"
"Blaze, if you make me spell this out for you, I'm going to spend the next month exclusively giving you mixed messages until you go crazy," Aureia deadpanned.
"No, I get it," Blaze insisted, a bit of blood still dripping from his nose. "But that's why it's so important to me. I've always been kicked around and treated like crap...almost no one stuck up for me, and even if they did, I still felt like less than dirt, because I needed someone else to fight my battles for me. I'm a weakling and a burden...and I want that to change...for my own sake."
Leaf blinked, lifting his head to study the Eevee, his ear twitching. Although the Eevee's situation sounded more miserable than his, he could actually relate to his situation. Shadow was always fighting to protect him from danger, and putting himself at risk. While it felt wonderful to have someone who cared looking out for him, for the longest time, he had felt useless...a burden that had to be protected, because he wasn't strong enough to protect himself. Even now, Shadow and Frost preferred to do the majority of the heavy battling, and constantly seemed to prioritize his safety over their own. He hated that feeling of uselessness.
"So what do you want to do?" Aureia asked Blaze blandly. "You want to keep fighting and get your tail kicked, or more of your face all bloody, and I'm just supposed to sit by and pretend it doesn't bother me? You want me to support you being a reckless idiot?"
Blaze was silent for a long time, just staring at his paws. When he finally spoke, the words were whispered so softly that Leaf barely heard them.
"Would you do that?"
"Can I support you while repeatedly emphasizing how stupid it is?" Aureia retorted. Blaze's next response was inaudible, but the Vaporeon rolled her eyes. "Fine, but I'd greatly prefer if you just NOT do stupid things at all."
"Noted," Blaze replied with a hint of a grin, and his tail wagged a little as he stepped forward, with the Vaporeon reluctantly returning to the sidelines. Frost raised an eyebrow, a smirk of amusement tugging at the corners of his mouth.
"A curious dynamic you have with your love interest, there," he noted pleasantly. "But in all seriousness, let's wrap this up. Rather than chip away at one another again and again, how about we declare that the first to pin the other for three seconds claims the win?"
"Fine," Blaze growled, shifting into a crouched stance. Glacia's ears perked up, the younger Eevee seemingly aware that the battle had returned to a more playful format, but Leaf wasn't so sure.
He couldn't quite explain why, but he was getting the strangest feeling about the situation. There was a subtle tickling sensation in the very back of his brain, but whenever he started to notice that sensation, he would abruptly see a connection or detail he hadn't noticed before. He even remembered the same sort of thing happening just a few days ago, when he and Shadow had been fighting with the poisonous spider back in the forest, before Bee-Bee had intervened. Soon after the spider had disappeared into the shadows, Leaf had experienced the tickling sensation within his mind, and had suddenly felt completely at ease, no longer worried about the threat preparing to ambush them. It had been as though his senses had transcended normal limitations, and pinpointed the opponent's location long before Shadow or Renard had.
No one had commented on the shift back then, but Leaf hadn't forgotten about it. Right now, he was beginning to experience the mental sensation again, but he had no idea what it meant.
Further introspection was paused by Blaze advancing on Frost. Unlike before, the Eevee was not charging forward, but inching nearer cautiously, like how Shadow used to sneak up on Starly before he had evolved. Frost didn't take his eyes off the Eevee, and was likewise shifting his stance in preparation of the fight concluding with a pouncing maneuver.
Even Glacia was starting to get into a pouncing stance, her tail swishing with innocent enthusiasm, although Leaf found that he was getting his thigh smacked a little too frequently for comfort. For a few moments, he toyed with the prospect of playfully nipping at her tail, not only because the young Eevee was presenting the opportunity without realizing it, but also to get some belated revenge for her doing the same to him earlier.
It wasn't until the Leafeon started to absently lick one of his fangs that he remembered Frost's admonishment on the subject, and he shook himself to clear his thoughts. He'd get her back later.
Blaze abruptly lunged towards Frost, and the Glaceon instinctively lashed out with his paw to swat the smaller quadruped aside, only for the Eevee to shift direction at the last moment and dart around the Glaceon. Frost pivoted hastily, trying to keep himself facing the Eevee at all times, but Blaze shifted direction again, this time circling around Frost in a counterclockwise direction.
The frustration and confusion in Frost's eyes was undeniable, and Leaf had to fight back a grin. The Eevee's movements were so...random. It was as though the Eevee had no idea what he was aiming for, and was just following whatever impulse entered his mind at that exact moment. Frost stumbled in his effort to keep his eyes on the Eevee's movements, and to cover his momentary weakness caused by his loss of balance, he spun wildly, his tail glowing white.
Blaze ducked away from the defensive Iron Tail, and his eyes lit up right before he pouced into Frost's side, his weight combining with Frost's misplaced momentum to bowl the Ice-type over, and they tumbled across the grass together. Frost writhed in a vain effort to dislodge the Eevee, and then expelled a flurry of star-shaped bolts of light from his mouth, which struck Blaze repeatedly in the chest, dazing him enough for Frost to roll out from under him.
Glacia chirped her support, bouncing excitedly on the pads of her paws, stopping only to nudge Leaf excitedly and point towards the battle, undoubtedly asking whether he had seen what had just happened. Leaf grinned and nodded, his own tail flicking. This was the type of battle he liked to see more than the rough pummeling the two Pokemon had been doing earlier.
Frost and Blaze retreated a few paces, the Eevee breathing more heavily than the Glaceon. Both of their eyes were alight with a competitive glow, which was beginning to spread to the rest of their bodies.
Leaf did a double take, only to discover he really wasn't imagining it. A subtle black aura was forming around the Eevee's body, so faint that it was almost imperceptible. Across from him, a pale white aura was surrounding Frost's body, but unlike with Blaze, Leaf had seen such a thing happen before, and he instinctively cringed, expecting the surrounding area's temperature to plummet. The last time such a white outline had formed around the Glaceon was back when he had been fighting the armored insect back in the Eterna Forest. His memory of the incident was rather foggy, due to how rapidly he had been sapped of energy at that time, but he definitely recalled that white glow.
Chancing a glance at the other Pokemon, Leaf found that no one else was visibly reacting to the battle auras. Was he the only one who could see that, or was it just not a strange sight to see from battling Pokemon? Aureia just might not be the type to show much outward emotion, since her heart was so closed...wait...
Leaf was starting to feel a bit light-headed, as if he had suddenly fallen ill with an intense fever. Was he going completely crazy? How would he know anything about a Vaporeon he had only met briefly, mere minutes ago? Speaking without much passion and emotion wasn't an odd occurrence, because Shadow tended to use a similarly flat tone when he was annoyed or tired, and Frost often made sarcastic remarks in a similar tone. So why would he be labeling anyone as one thing or another?
Shaking himself once more, Leaf took a deep breath, hoping that he wasn't really getting sick. Even after blinking and rubbing his eyes, he discovered that the black and white auras had not faded, and the odd tickle in the back of his mind was growing more incessant, like a feather tapping his brain repeatedly.
"I almost got you," Blaze whispered. Frost smirked in response, his eyes glittering in the sunlight.
"Bet you can't do that twice," he retorted, and the white aura surrounding his body flared up briefly. There was something vaguely different about the Ice-type's tone now. Despite the setbacks of the last few rounds, he was standing with more confidence and self-assurance than ever before. Not a doubt existed within Frost's mind that he would win this match.
"We shall see," Blaze murmured, and his body glowed for a split second. Frost raised his head, perplexed. There was an unnerving sense of confidence radiating from the Eevee, a sharp contrast to the emotionally driven and impulsive personality he had shown earlier. "What do you wager?"
"Beg your pardon?" Frost asked, raising his eyebrows.
"You bet that I can't do it again," Blaze explained with a grin. "What do you wager?"
Frost shrugged indifferently. "I don't know. What do you want?"
Blaze smiled subtly, and Leaf felt another shiver run through his body. "How about giving a taste of humble pie? If I pin you, you bow down and kiss my feet."
Frost's eyes widened incredulously, losing his composure for a second, but the self-assured grin returned immediately afterwards. "And likewise for you when you lose? I agree. But I don't see what you hope to gain by embarrassing yourself."
"Merely the honor of paying homage to someone of your caliber," Blaze murmured. "Weighed against the pleasure of watching your ego deflate."
"I feel like you're just stalling now," Frost chortled. Blaze smiled again.
"That's right. I am."
"What?" Frost could not hide his surprise, which only grew as the sky directly above the Eevee filled with sparkling, twinkling lights. One by one, the lights descended upon the Eevee, showering him with sparkles.
As the light touched the Eevee's injuries, they mended in an instant. The blood from his nose disappeared, as if it had never been spilled, and the scrapes and grass stains upon his fur vanished, until the light faded to reveal the Eevee in pristine condition. Even his fur seemed freshly washed and groomed.
"I see. You cast Wish?" Frost murmured. "How pointless. Those injuries were hardly debilitating, and the win condition of this fight no longer relies on staying in peak condition. Even stalling the fight long enough for it to resolve feels inelegant, as it could have restored your strength at a critical time and turned the tide in your favor."
"It wasn't pointless," Blaze countered, his smile widening slowly. "All for the sake of gaining peace of mind."
Peace of mind...something within Leaf's mind registered a connection with that phrase, and something else, something that seemed just out of reach of his understanding, yet the more he focused upon it, the more it started to click in his brain.
"Solace," Leaf spoke aloud, yet the moment the word left his mouth, he had no idea why he had said it, or even what it meant. At the same time, he felt incredibly clever and smug, to the point that when he grinned, it wasn't out of sheepish embarrassment, but out of genuine delight.
It might have been his imagination, but Blaze seemed to shoot him a suspicious, resentful glare before immediately refocusing. Frost likewise glanced towards Leaf, but didn't seem to have any particular reason for doing so.
"Fighting causes so much stress, you see," Blaze continued, making eye contact with Frost. The Glaceon tensed, refusing to drop his guard for even a moment. "An Eevee's stress response is more often to flee, rather than fight, and to avoid conflict entirely. When one's mind is free of anxiety and fear, finding a solution to reach their goal becomes easier. So, let's end this fight with as little conflict as possible."
"What are you-" Frost began, but stopped as the black aura dissipated from around the Eevee's body, and instead, the Eevee's entire body became engulfed in white light.
Leaf let out a gasp and sat up straighter, his eyes widening, despite the uncomfortable intensity of the light. He knew exactly what this was, even though it felt like forever since he had last seen it happen.
When the light finally faded, the Leafeon's mouth fell open. Standing where the male Eevee had been just a few moments before now stood a quadruped with pale cream fur, but the ends of its paws, its tail, and its ears were pink. A white and pink bow sat upon one of its ears and another lay beneath the new Pokemon's chin, with four strange, fluttering ribbons extending from these bows.
Blaze blinked, now possessing vibrant blue eyes with silvery pupils. He seemed completely disoriented, and not helping matters was the way that everyone seemed to be gawking at him. Frost had completely stopped in his tracks, staring uncomprehendingly at the newly evolved Pokemon, and even Aureia seemed in awe. Glacia was squealing with such curious enthusiasm that Leaf nearly had to physically restrain her to keep the kit from running over to the pink and cream-colored Eeveelution.
"Okay, I know I'm cute, but when even the guys are staring at me, it gets a little weird," the fairy Pokemon noted.
He must have spotted one of the fluttering ribbons attached to his ear bow from the corner of his eye, because he turned his head, only for the ribbon to continuously dart just out of his line of sight. This went on for far longer than the former Eevee probably would have wanted to admit, before he finally noticed that his paw pads were pink.
"Wait...is this how normal Espeon look?" he wondered, using his paws to physically examine his body, eventually coming across one of the ribbons. He stared at it blankly for a few moments. "Okay, no idea what I am, but...shouldn't I be an Espeon, if I evolved during daylight hours?" he asked.
All he received in response were blank looks, and he scowled in annoyance. He started to take a few steps forward, only to immediately lose his balance. Two of the ribbons snaked out and stopped his fall before he face-planted on the ground, and after a brief struggle, Blaze managed to climb back onto all fours.
"Ooh, handy," he marveled, watching as one of the ribbons flicked and gestured in front of his face. "And I can control these like limbs!" he practically squealed, looking around before noticing that Frost was standing the closest. With a mischievous grin, he extended one of the ribbons and caressed Frost's cheek with it.
To everyone's surprise, Frost's reaction was to simply shake his head, as if an insect had landed on his nose, and then to give the fairy Pokemon a bewildered look, like he couldn't believe that Blaze had just done that. Intrigued by the absence of a hostile response, Blaze waved the ribbon in front of Frost's face, and the Glaceon retreated a pace, his eyes distractedly following the fluttering appendage.
"Okay, that's kind of weird," Blaze noted thoughtfully. Leaf could practically see the wheels turning in the fairy Pokemon's mind as he looked between his ribbon and his Ice-type opponent. With a grin, Blaze simply pounced upon the sedated Glaceon and near-effortlessly pinned him to the grass. "Yay! I win!"
"...what the hell just happened?" Frost demanded dully from the grass.
