Chapter 4: Megalophobia
Having taken the day off on Sunday, the friends set out on Monday. They trained their Pokémon, chatted, and discussed their plans for Team Rocket. They tried convincing other people to join their group, but they were unsuccessful.
They occasionally let their Pokémon out to socialize with one another, which would always end abrubtly because Vincent's Pinsir would get mad over something and it would try to attack everyone else causing Vincent to return it. Then all of the other Pokémon would get salty and lose their own cool. The group really needed to work on their Pokémon's attitudes.
The four friends pitched up two tents that night with Jimmy and Vincent in one and the two girls in the other. Morning came quickly and Marina was the first person up, not wanting to wake up Casey, she went outside and started making breakfast. Everyone with the exception of Vincent had sufficient cooking skills, but Marina's was regarded as "the best" so she had been picked to cook for a majority of the time. She didn't mind though, it meant that if someone mistreated her, she could just exclude them from a meal.
Casey awoke around 15 minutes after Marina and steeped outside to greet her older friend; "What 'cha makin'?"
Marina turned to the direction of Casey, "Good Morning Casey, I hope you slept well. I'm making eggs and bacon for breakfast."
"Sounds delicious, do you need any help with anything?" Casey asked.
"Nope, I've got it covered. If you want, you can practice pitching with Electibuzz."
"I think I'll go ahead and do that. Tell me when the boys wake up." Casey said.
"You mean IF the boys wake up." Marina corrected her.
"Ah, right."
Jimmy and Vincent had trouble getting up in the morning. It wasn't because of any special reason, they just liked their sleep like all teens do. After a half an hour, Marina finished making pancakes and Casey was able to slightly increase her pitching accuracy for baseball with the help of her faithful electric type. At this time, the boys still weren't up and it was 7:55 AM. Some people like to sleep in later, but they were on a mission right now, no time for slacking.
"How long does it take for those two to wake up in the morning, this is getting ridiculous." Casey said to Marina, clearly annoyed.
Marina looked at the boys' tent and had the look of exasperation on her face; "I know right? I take forever fixing my looks in the morning, and when I'm done with that, they STILL aren't awake! I have to go wake them every morning because their parents can never wake them up."
"How do you manage to wake them up though?" Casey asked the former top coordinator.
"I try harder than their parents do." Marina answered her sixteen-year-old friend.
Casey looked at the boys tent and smirked as if she had just come up with an evil idea; "What do you say we wake them up manually?"
"How do you figure?"
Casey grabbed two pillows from their tent and gave Marina a knowing look. Understanding Casey's proposal, Marina walked up to the boys tent and opened the zipper. After they peeked inside to find the two boys still sleeping soundly, they both nodded to each other and prepared to throw their pillows and the duo.
"WAKE-UP-CALL!" They yelled as they threw their pillows at the two males, both woke up instantly and turned to the girls, giving them the evil eye.
"WHAT WAS THAT FOR?" Vincent yelled at them at the top of his lungs.
"Check your watch Vincent." Casey responded slyly.
Vincent grabbed his watch that he took off when he went to bed the previous night, it read 8:03 AM. What was initially anger quickly turned into panic. He informed Jimmy on the situation and politely asked the girls to leave the tent so that the boys could get dressed. As they were getting dressed, the girls were laughing hysterically outside.
"That reaction was priceless! I wish I could have recorded that!" Casey said.
Marina smiled evilly at her friend, "Don't worry, because I did."
"Ooooh, entertainment!"
The two girls must've watched the replay of their prank at least a thousand times, the reaction created by the two males during the prank never got old, as they giggled every time the video finished playing.
"This" Casey began, as she laughed before finishing. "Is worth paying for."
"Amen to that." Marina agreed with the electric type enthusiast.
Jimmy and Vincent were already dressed and ready to go and the girls were still replaying the video, giggling every time. The two boys shook their heads at the two girls questioning their existence.
Vincent, being the jokester, decided to ask Jimmy an embarrassing question so he could gain some amusement himself; "So Jimmy, remind me why you like Marina again?
Jimmy's face turned bright red, Vincent just had to mention that of all times, but he regained his composure and gave his male friend a somewhat vague answer, "Sometimes, I don't even know myself."
Vincent nodded showing he understood before yelling out to the girls with obvious sarcasm in his voice, "Hey, if you are done giggling at what failures we are, I think it's time we eat breakfast!"
Marina put away her recording device and set the table for everyone, the boys weren't in the mood to socialize as the two girls were still discussing the misfortune of their male companions. After everyone was finished, they thanked Marina for the food and started packing up their items.
The friends finished packing and started walking on the trail to Cherrygrove city. As they were talking whatnot to eachother, when they heard two voices arguing with each other off to the side. The voices seemed to be coming from the woods. Curious, the group walked towards the voices and say a brunette girl in a red and white outfit arguing with a green haired boy with glasses on.
The girl yelled angrily at her companion, "You said you knew which direction to go and look what happened!"
The boy responded just as angrily, "You kept on chasing off a wild Pokémon you wanted to catch so that's why we're lost!"
"You have some nerve for blaming me!" The brunette spat at him.
"The same can be said for you!" He fired back.
The group hadn't been noticed yet as the duo were too busy arguing with each other, so they decided amongst themselves who would go over and break apart the argument.
"So, who's going to break the argument?" Casey asked
Nobody spoke for a while, then Jimmy reluctantly raised his hand, "I volunteer as tribute."
Jimmy then carefully walked towards the arguing duo and spoke, "Ahem."
When the duo didn't notice him, he cleared his throat again, this time much louder, "AHEM!"
The boy and the girl turned to Jimmy and both gave him angry glares for interrupting their argument. Jimmy backed away slowly in fear, "Shoot, their glaring at me! Abort Jimmy! Abort!" He thought to himself as he separated himself from the duo.
He turned around to walk away but then a felt someone grab his arm. He turned around and saw the girl doing so, "Sorry about that, were you trying to break up our argument?" She asked him.
Jimmy smiled at her, "Well yeah, arguing never solves anything does it?"
She smiled at him, "That's sweet of you, and no, arguing never solves anything. Right Khoury?"
The boy, now identified as Khoury smiled in response, "Your right Lyra, arguing only leads us farther from the solution." He then walked up to his female companion, "I'm sorry for arguing with you, could you forgive me?"
The girl, now revealed to be named Lyra spoke to her best friend, "Sure, but can I get a hug first?"
Khoury would have rolled his eyes, but he didn't because he knew that Lyra was a person that could be classified as "huggy", therefore, he smiled at her instead, "Of course Lyra."
The two then hugged it out before turning back to Jimmy, "Thanks for breaking up our argument, if you didn't do that, well, a lot of bad stuff could've happened."
Jimmy smiled at them "No prob, but how about I introduce myself, I'm Jimmy from New Bark Town."
Lyra suddenly got excited, "I'm from New Bark Town as well! My name is Lyra, I'm 17 years old!"
Khoury then introduced himself to Jimmy, "My name is Khoury, Lyra's best friend, I'm also 17."
Jimmy was about to say something, but then he felt a tap on his right shoulder. He whirled around to find the three musketeers- I mean his three friends standing in front of him.
"So, are you going to introduce us to your new friends Jimmy?" Casey asked.
Jimmy laughed lamely, "Oh yeah, haha, sorry about that. Everyone, meet Lyra and Khoury."
Jimmy's friends then introduced themselves to Lyra and Khoury. The duo was happy to meet new people.
"It's so nice to meet you all! I don't want to come off as rude but why are you out here in the forest? Unless you are new trainers, shouldn't you be using flying Pokémon to travel the region?" Lyra asked.
Jimmy answered, "That's not offensive, I would be wondering that myself if I were you. The truth is, we are on a mission that requires us to travel on foot."
"If it's not too personal, what kind of mission?" Khoury asked.
"Well, New Bark Town was attacked by Team Rocket two days ago." Vincent said in a serious voice, which was completely unlike him.
The two teens took a few seconds to process the information before answering; "WHAT?!" They exclaimed simultaneously.
"Fortunately, only one building was damaged. Unfortunately, it was Professor Elm's laboratory." Jimmy said.
The two best friends calmed down when they heard that, at least the entire town wasn't in ruins; "Good, because we both live there." Lyra said.
"You're from New Bark?" Marina asked.
"Yep! But we kind of live in a remote location there, so that may explain why you haven't met us yet." Lyra answered the older girl.
"Ah, I see." Marina said, satisfied with the answer.
"So as I was saying, New Bark Town was attacked recently, and we felt that it won't be Team Rocket's last attack. We are travelling the region again in order to find any leads to them, recruit more people, and hopefully take them down." Jimmy said before continuing, "I don't know what Team Rocket has to gain from attacking our small town, but we aren't going to find out if we just sit here."
Lyra and Khoury both nodded, both of them were quite impressed by the foursome's bravery. It reminded them of a friend that they met while they were visiting the Sinnoh region, but that's a story for another day.
"So, what about you two? You also seem to be a little old to be traveling the region by foot." Casey asked.
Lyra answered, "Well, we both have only been trainers for 2 years instead of 7 like you may think. Plus, me and Khoury are a little slower when it comes to training Pokémon. The two of us are traveling the region for different reasons; I'm trying to get all of the gym badges so that I can compete in the Silver Conference this year while Khoury wants to learn everything he can about Pokémon so that he can become a researcher."
The group looked at Khoury for more information; "She pretty much summed it up, I don't have anything else to add."
The group nodded their heads, understanding. Everyone in the group with the exception of Casey had competed in the Silver Conference before, and if they used one word to describe it would be... difficult...
Something was bothering Jimmy though, if Lyra and Khoury were from New Bark like they had said, and they were trainers for at least two years, wouldn't they be in another city and not right outside their start position
With this in mind, Jimmy decided to ask another question, "So Lyra, how many badges do you have?"
Lyra answered his question, "I have five!"
Jimmy smiled at her but then became confused, "But if you have five badges and you're from New Bark Town, shouldn't you at least be in Cianwood city?"
Lyra's cheerful expression instantly disappeared, Jimmy knew that he had overstepped a boundary. "Oh, I'm sorry I asked." He said trying to make up his mistake.
Lyra smiled at him, "It's okay Jimmy, you didn't know, besides, it wasn't that bad."
"You going to be alright Lyra?" Khoury asked, clearly worried.
"I'll be fine Khoury, thanks for looking out for me." Lyra told her best friend before turning to the rest of the group, "I hate keeping people in the dark, so I'll tell you what happened."
Flashback, 11 years ago.
When Lyra was born she was like most other young kids, full of energy. She was relatively happy throughout most of her life until one day, she was playing with her friends and she strayed into the woods. She had gotten lost, unable to retrace her steps. Eventually, she collapsed to the ground and stayed in place, hoping that someone would find her.
Then she noticed one of the trees move a little bit, curious, the girl walked up to it to see that the tree had a face, it was a Sudowoodo, known as the Imitation Pokémon. Being about seven feet tall, the Sudowoodo looked down at the lost young girl in front of it. Being a generally friendly Pokémon, Sudowoodo extended its arm- err branch to the Lyra, Sudowoodo knew the woods quite well so it was certain that it could find the girl's home.
If only Lyra had seen it that way.
Lyra had interacted with Pokémon before, and she was quite fond of them as well, but she had never encountered one so large before, she didn't even think they could get that large. When Sudowoodo held out its branch to her, she froze up in fear, unable to do anything. She wanted to run or call for help, but she just stood there shivering. Eventually, the fear was too much for the poor girl's mind and she slipped into unconsciousness and almost fell to the ground.
The Sudowoodo panicked and quickly caught her before the fall could possibly hurt her. Then it scooped her up and ran as fast as it could to New Bark Town in order to find a nurse of some kind. The Imitation Pokémon found an adult, who took the unconscious girl back to her parents. Two hours later, Lyra woke up a little shaken up, but perfectly healthy, nobody knew what to make of the situation.
From there, things only got worse, whenever Lyra saw a Pokémon she deemed to be "too big", she would shiver uncontrollably and completely shut down. Eventually, adults were able to figure out that large Pokémon were causing her mental breakdowns.
A month later, Lyra was diagnosed with Megalophobia, the fear of large objects, or in Lyra's case, large Pokémon.
Her family and friends tried their best to support her, but her phobia showed no signs of subsiding. Eventually, all of her friends except for Khoury left to go on their own Pokémon journey. Lyra wanted to go on a Pokémon journey too, but she was too afraid that she would encounter something that would trigger her phobia, and she didn't want that to happen if nobody was around. Khoury didn't want to go on a Pokémon journey for two reasons: One, he wanted to learn all he could about the world of Pokémon before he left so that he would be going in with knowledge on his side, and also because he wanted to continue to support Lyra.
Lyra never had any resentment towards her other friends who left on their journeys, in fact, most of them wanted to stay back to support their friend, but Lyra told them that she'd be fine and that they should go on their journeys anyway. Reluctantly, they all left the town for their travels, making sure to call often. Around five years later, Khoury finished his studying and he was ready to go on his own Pokémon journey, but he didn't want to leave Lyra so he asked her if he wanted to accompany him on his journey. Lyra had matured over the years and her phobia was a little less severe, but it would still cause problems if it activated again. Lyra knew that if she had a spasm from her phobia, then Khoury could get her to a Pokémon center to get better.
The duo then got their starter Pokémon from professor Birch with Khoury getting a Totodile and Lyra getting a Chikorita. Lyra was determined to achieve her dream: Becoming Johto's next Champion, and she wasn't going to let her phobia get in the way of that
That changed when Lyra eventually challenged Jasmine for her sixth gym badge
Lyra always went into gym battles not knowing what Pokémon her opponent would use. Sure, she knew what type of Pokémon they would use but she didn't know which Pokémon specifically the gym leaders would use.
This proved to be one of Lyra's biggest mistakes.
Lyra didn't think that Pokémon could grow above ten feet tall, which is scary enough on its own but it was no where near as tall as they could actually be, and when Jasmine sent out her 30-foot tall Steelix, everything went downhill. Lyra stared at the massive beast with one expression on her face: fear. The girl couldn't move, she was completely illiterate. Then the shaking started, and Lyra's vision began to spin, which would have caused her to collapse on the ground if Khoury didn't catch her in time. Jasmine, understanding the severity of the situation returned Steelix to its Pokeball and ran over to help Khoury. Lyra's best friend explained Lyra's Megalophobia to Jasmine, which made the gym leader feel awful.
Lyra eventually woke up with Jasmine and Khoury at her hospital bed. Jasmine tried to apologize for sending out Steelix on her, but Lyra interjected and said it was her fault instead for not explaining her condition to her. Lyra couldn't get out of the mindset that the entire dilemma was caused by her carelessness towards her phobia. After Lyra got out of the hospital, she said she wanted to go back to New Bark to rethink her life. Khoury didn't want their journey to end, but he knew that this was what was best for Lyra, this was for her sake.
No matter how hard she tried, Lyra was too afraid to finish up her journey.
Back to the present
Silence filled the air as Lyra finished her story, the group all felt very sorry for Lyra. She loved battling and wanted to become the strongest trainer Johto has ever seen, but her phobia just wouldn't allow that.
Marina broke the silence; "I'm so sorry to hear that Lyra, it must be terrible having to live with that."
"I guess so, but I still have a question." Casey said.
"Ask away." Khoury said.
"If you were staying in New Bark Town all this time, then why are you out here now?"
Khoury nodded at the reasonable question, "Every once in a while, Lyra wants to go out and try to get back on her feet again, but it unfortunately has never worked."
"Okay, well it was great to meet you guys, I hope we get to meet again!" Marina said towards the duo.
Khoury smiled at the group, "Yeah, for sure. C'mon Lyra, let's go back."
But Lyra didn't move, she had been deep in thought as soon as Vincent mentioned Team Rocket. She had run into the villainous group when she and Khoury were visiting the Sinnoh region. The two had met Ash, Dawn, and Brock in the Sinnoh region and found out that a band of three villains wouldn't stop harassing them. When Lyra and her green-haired friend flew back to Johto, Khoury did some research and discovered that the villains were a part of Team Rocket, an incredibly large organization that uses Pokémon as tools to complete their evil motives. The thought of this made her angry, there was no way that she was going to let the four friends take on Team Rocket alone, she HAD to help.
Then she remembered her condition, Team Rocket definitely had some large Pokémon on their side, so she would just be a burden to the group. She couldn't have her phobia cost the group their mission, but she didn't want to be on the sidelines and watch everyone else do all the hard work. After a few seconds of internal conflict, she made up her mind.
"Wait a minute." She began.
All of the attention turned to her, it was the kind of attention you get when you do something heroic and the public keeps chanting "Speech! Speech!".
Lyra, then spoke with determination, something she hadn't done for a long time; "I want to come with you guys, me and Khoury have met Team Rocket before when we travelled to the Sinnoh region. I know that I'm not the fit for the job mentally, but my phobia isn't going to go away if I don't do anything. You might not want someone like me on your team, but I want to make my presence known."
Her words shocked everyone, Khoury then turned to her, "Lyra, are you sure about this."
Lyra's tone was serious, "Positive."
Jimmy then spoke, "Well, to be fair, you can't get in so easily. There's an entrance exam."
"Entrance exam?" Lyra asked.
"You have to battle one of us." Jimmy answered.
"Ah." Lyra said.
Lyra became a little discouraged after hearing that, she could tell that Jimmy and his friends were no ordinary trainers. They had years of experience, so she felt like it was impossible to win. Despite this, Lyra still wanted to take the "exam".
"Alright, I'll take your test." Lyra said.
"Excellent, but before that..." Vincent began before turning to Khoury, "You want in too fam?"
A smirk started to form on Khoury's face, which was pretty rare coming from him, "Heh, the only reason I didn't ask earlier was because I didn't think Lyra would want to join."
Jimmy smirked as well, "Confident huh? I like it." He said before turning to a certain blue-haired girl, "You want to help me out Marina?"
"Of course." She said.
The group went back on the main trail and started setting up for a battle. Once they were finished, the two sets of trainers took their places on opposite sides of the trail. Vincent acted as referee and Casey spectated from a distance.
"This will be a double battle between trainers Lyra and Khoury, and trainers Jimmy and Marina. Jimmy and Marina will send out their Pokémon first."
Jimmy turned to his female friend, "Starter duo?"
"Thought you'd never ask." Marina answered.
"Go Typhlosion!" Jimmy announced.
"Your up Feraligatr!" Marina said.
Two Pokémon emerged from the Pokeballs, out of Jimmy's was a 5 1/2 foot tall rodent-like fire type, while Marina's was a crocodile-looking Pokémon...
…that was over 7 1/2 feet tall!
Marina eyes then widened as she mentally kicked herself, how could she be so stupid to forget about Lyra's condition. The blue-haired girl was about to return her water-type until she saw Lyra's expression.
Lyra had flinched when she first saw Feraligatr, but other than that she wasn't as afraid as she thought she'd be. Her determination to join the group overshadowed her fears, mostly anyway.
"You alright Lyra?" Her best friend asked.
"Yeah surprisingly, I'm a little afraid, but all I can think about is passing this exam. Let's show them what we are made of!" Lyra answered.
"Heck Yeah! We'll give them everything we got!" Khoury exclaimed, no longer worried about Lyra.
The two quickly took out their Pokedexes to scan their opponents.
"Typhlosion, the Volcano Pokémon, a fire-type, and the final evolved form of Cyndaquil. If this fire-type's rage peaks, it becomes so hot that anything that touches it will instantly go up in flames."
"Feraligatr, the Big Jaw Pokémon, and the final evolved form of Totodile. This water-type usually moves slowly, but it attacks its prey at blinding speeds."
Khoury gazed at the Big Jaw Pokémon with wonder; "So that's what my Croconaw will become one day." He said.
"I don't know how a feel about that." Lyra said, still slightly intimidated by Feraligatr's size.
Lyra told Marina that it was okay to use Feraligatr, and then she and Khoury revealed their Pokémon.
"Blitzle! Battle time!" Lyra exclaimed with enthusiasm.
"It's time Gabite!" Khoury said with the same enthusiasm.
Out of Lyra's Pokeball came a white and black striped Pokémon, while Khoury's revealed a Pokémon with a draconic-looking appearance.
Having never seen these Pokémon before, Jimmy and Marina took out their Pokedexes just like Lyra and Khoury did before.
"Blitzle, the Electrified Pokémon. When thunderclouds cover the sky, this electric-type will appear. It can catch lightning with its mane and store electricity."
"Gabite, the Cave Pokémon, and the evolved form of Gible. As this dragon/ground type digs to expand its nest, it habitually digs up gems that it then hoards in its nest."
"Where'd you two get these Pokémon?" Jimmy asked.
"I caught Gabite when it was just a Gible in the Sinnoh region. Lyra caught Blitzle when we visited Unova not long after." Khoury answered.
Now that everyone was ready, Vincent finally began the battle; "Battle begin!"
Lyra decided to make the first move, "Use Thunderbolt on Feraligatr!"
Khoury followed suit, "Use Rock Slide on Typhlosion!"
The two Pokémon performed their respected attacks on their respective opponents with Blitzle launching a thunderbolt at Feraligatr and Gabite summoning an array of rocks and launching them at Typhlosion. The two attacks hit their targets, kicking up some dust.
"Awesome job Blitzle!" Lyra praised.
"You too Gabite, but we aren't in the clear yet. Did you notice that Jimmy and Marina didn't even tell their Pokémon to do anything." Khoury said.
Lyra's cheerful demeaner faded a little bit; "That's right, but why would they do that? We sent super effective attacks their way and they didn't even command them to do anything. That must mean that- oh no."
The dust settled, which revealed the larger Pokémon each with a light smirk on their faces. They looked hardly damaged at all! Jimmy and Marina had confident looks on their faces as well.
"Let's show them some real attacks Marina." Jimmy said to his blue-haired friend.
"Gladly." She answered.
"Use Flamethrower on Blitzle!" Jimmy commanded his Pokémon partner.
"Use Crunch on Gabite and stay there!" Marina told Feraligatr.
"Dodge it!" Lyra cried out to the Electrified Pokémon, she knew that unlike her opponents, Blitzle couldn't afford to get hit.
"You too Gabite!" Khoury said, following Lyra's example.
Due to its speed, Blitzle was able to easily dodge the incoming flamethrower. Gabite though, wasn't so lucky; Marina's Feraligatr lunged and bit the Cave Pokémon on the arm, refusing to let go. Gabite cried out in pain because of the attack.
"Use Thunderbolt on Feraligatr!" Lyra called out.
"Hey, don't forget about me now. Typhlosion, use Brick Break!" Jimmy said.
Blitzle launched a thunderbolt in Feraligatr's direction while Typhlosion rushed at the electric type with its hand prepared to deal a blow to it.
Marina had a plan to counter the incoming thunderbolt; "Use Gabite as a shield!"
Being stronger than the Cave Pokémon, Feraligatr heaved Gabite in front of the thunderbolt with its jaw still attached to its arm. The thunderbolt struck Gabite, but everyone knew that electric type attacks had no effect on ground type Pokémon.
"Now use your speed to get behind Typhlosion!" Lyra called out.
Blitzle very quickly rushed around Typhlosion so that it could get behind the Eruption Pokémon.
"Now use Thunder Wave!" Lyra called out.
"Not so fast! Bulldoze!" Jimmy commanded.
Khoury then came up with a plan; "Use Slash, then Dual Chop, then Dig to get out of there.
Blitzle tried to use shock wave, but Typhlosion stomped on the ground, which created a shock wave that caused the ground to move up and down. Blitzle got hit by the attack, causing the thunder wave attack to cancel and for Blitzle to take a lot of damage. Meanwhile, Khoury's Gabite used its free claw to slash Feraligatr's head, causing the Big Jaw Pokémon to let go and groan in pain. Gabite then used both of its claws to slash the water-types face once again, before escaping by digging a hole underground.
Lyra called Blitzle back to its side of the battle field, then Gabite appeared right next to it when it got there.
"These guys are no joke." Lyra stated the obvious.
"Yeah, but that's what we should expect from trainers who have been battling for four times as long as we have." Khoury said.
Lyra's eyes then lit up, as if she had an idea, then she whispered to Khoury.
After she was finished, Khoury gave her a surprised look, as if he hadn't expected such an idea to come from her; "That idea's so crazy, it might just work."
"Gabite! Go back underground!" Khoury commanded.
The Cave Pokémon escaped back into its hole, leaving Blitzle alone with two menacing beasts.
"Feraligatr, go over to that hole and shoot a Hydro Pump into it!" Marina told her water type.
"Typhlosion, use Flamethrower on Blitzle!" Jimmy said.
"Dodge it Blitzle!" Lyra called out.
Feraligatr made its way towards the hole very quickly while Typhlosion shot another Flamethrower at Blitzle. Just like last time though, Blitzle dodged very easily. By this time, Feraligatr was on top of the hole and was preparing to launch a Hydro Pump.
"Use Shock Wave on Feraligatr!" Lyra said to Blitzle.
"What did I say about forgetting me? Typhlosion use Brick Break!" Jimmy commanded.
"I don't think so." Khoury said.
The shock wave attack hit Feraligatr, causing to cancel its hydro pump and for the Big Jaw Pokémon to grit its teeth in pain. Then Gabite came up from the ground, which happened to be underneath Typhlosion, damaging it and canceling its attack.
Jimmy and Marina were quite shocked by their strategy, Lyra and Khoury were definitely tougher than they thought.
Jimmy put on his serious demeaner and commanded the Volcano Pokémon; "Go up to Blitzle!"
Marina followed suit, "Go to Gabite and used Aqua Tail!"
Typhlosion made its way to the Electrified Pokémon while Feraligatr used its surprising speed to whack Gabite in the face with its tail, causing quite a bit of damage.
"Dodge Typhlosion, quick!" Lyra called out to Blitzle.
"Grab it." Jimmy said simply.
Blitzle attempted to dodge the incoming fire-type, but it was caught in its claws before it could escape.
"Use Dual Chop Gabite!" Khoury called out.
"Nope! Use Hydro Pump to push it back Feraligatr!" Marina commanded.
Gabite tried to slash the Big Jaw Pokémon with its blades, but a huge wave of water coming from Feraligatr's mouth prevented it from doing so. After the attack, Gabite was barely standing.
Meanwhile, Jimmy had a plan to deal with the Blitzle that was now trapped within Typhlosion's grasp, "Use Eruption to finish it!"
Lyra tried to come up with a plan, Blitzle's moves included Thunderbolt, Thunder Wave, Shock Wave, and Flame Charge. She came up with a risky idea that might not work, but it was better than doing nothing.
"Use Flame Charge!" Lyra called out.
Blitzle's body heat increased as Typhlosion charged its attack. Then Typhlosion released a huge amount of heat energy as the flames on its back grew ginormous in size. Everyone stared in awe at the sight of Eruption, then the heat died down, weakening Typhlosion's strength temporarily, allowing Blitzle to escape, damaged, but okay.
"What? That attack surely should have taken it out!" Jimmy was surprised that Blitzle was still standing.
"Well, I told Blitzle to use Flame Charge because of its type. Since Blitzle isn't a fire type, a protective barrier is formed to protect it against heat so that it can use Flame Charge without burning itself. I used this to my advantage so that Blitzle wouldn't have taken as much damage from eruption as it should have." Lyra explained before adding, "Just goes to show that Khoury's nerdiness can come in handy... rarely."
"I resent that!" Her best friend retorted.
"Hmm, they're tougher than I thought, guess there's no more holding back now, right Marina?" Jimmy said.
Marina nodded before each of them commanded their respected Pokémon.
"Bite on Gabite's arm again, but use Ice Fang instead!" Marina exclaimed.
"Bulldoze on Blitzle!" Jimmy said.
Typhlosion plowed through the ground once again, causing Blitzle to take devastating damage once again. It was hardly keeping itself up now.
Meanwhile, Feraligatr snarled at its victim and lunged forth once again. The dragon/ground-type tried to dodge it but its arm was caught in freezing jaws. Unlike crunch, ice fang was massively effective on Gabite, instantly causing it to fall to the ground, fainted. Feraligatr let go once Gabite was no longer able to go on.
"Gabite is unable to battle!" Vincent announced.
Khoury walked over to his fallen Pokémon and helped it stand; "Thank you Gabite, you gave it your all, take a long rest." Gabite gave a sad nod as Khoury retuned it to its Pokeball.
Meanwhile, Blitzle's legs were wobbling, it was weak from taking so many attacks, it didn't want to give up though.
Lyra called out to her wounded Pokémon; "C'mon Blitzle! I know that you can do it! Show them how strong you are!"
The Electrified Pokémon heard its trainer's cries, it needed to prove how strong it was. Just as it found its will to continue, Blitzle gave into the pain and fell to the ground.
"Blitzle!" Lyra called out in worry.
"Blitzle is unable to battle, which means that Typhlosion and Feraligatr are the winners!"
The Pokémon that won gave each other a high-five while Jimmy and Marina did the same.
Lyra ran over to her fallen electric type and knelt down next to it; "Hey, thank you Blitzle, you really gave it your all out there, I'm proud of you."
"Blit…" The Pokémon said, disappointed in itself.
"Don't be so sad, we'll use this battle as a learning experience. We may not have passed the exam, but we'll get stronger and battle them again, and then we'll beat them for sure!" Lyra consoled the Electrified Pokémon.
Blitzle smiled weakly before Lyra returned it to its Pokeball.
Jimmy and Marina then walked up to her and Khoury.
"Great battle you two, you pulled off some good moves back there." Jimmy said.
"Yeah! You guys are smart!" Marina added.
"Thanks! But we couldn't beat you, so we failed the exam. Lyra said, feeling a little dejected.
Jimmy and Marina put on confused looks for a second before Jimmy answered, "Lyra, do you think Vincent and Casey are on this team because they beat us?"
"Um, yeah. Did they not beat you or something?" Lyra said.
Marina smiled, "The point of the exam was not for you to beat us, but for you to show how well you and your Pokémon perform in battle. You must understand that none of Vincent and Casey's Pokémon can defeat Typhlosion or Feraligatr, not even Vincent's Meganium. The point is that you showed off some strategy and teamwork during the battle, and for that, both of you passed!"
The two younger trainers were in a bit of a shock after hearing that, "W-we passed?" Khoury asked in disbelief.
"Yee-up! Welcome to the team!" Marina said.
Vincent and Casey walked up to the new members, "You two were so great! Most trainers don't last more than 30 seconds against Jimmy and Marina! I look forward to traveling with you guys!" Casey replied in her usual enthusiastic nature.
"Heh, don't go slowing our team down you two." Vincent replied, but everyone could tell he was joking and happy to have new members on the team as well.
"Thank you all, I promise that me and Lyra will give this team our all." Khoury said.
"Yeah! Let's do this!" Lyra pumped her fist in the air.
"Hey, I'm supposed to be the leader here." Jimmy mumbled.
Same day, 10:46 PM
Khoury was sleeping in a large tent with the other boys, tired from the events that took place today. The group liked to travel rather quickly, which didn't work for his weak leg muscles, he really needed to work out more. Then he awoke needing to use the restroom. He quietly unzipped the tent in order to not disturb the rest of the tent's inhabitants and stepped out into the warm summer night. It was relatively quiet, with the occasional Yanma beating its wings in order to fly. Using his flashlight, he trudged over to the dense forest.
After he was finished emptying his system, he started heading back to the tent until something caught his eye. A silhouette of a person turned away from him was there, staring into the night sky. Curious, he crept closer to the figure, realizing that it was his best friend.
"Lyra? What are you doing up?" He asked.
The girl turned towards the green-haired boy, compared to how she looked during the daytime, you almost couldn't tell that she was Lyra. She was missing her hat of course, and her hair was down, not in pigtails like usual. She gave Khoury a quick smile; "Hi Khoury, I'm fine, just doing some thinking, nothing to be concerned about."
"That's all the reason to be concerned." He replied.
"Ouch. Alright, I'll tell you." Lyra said before continuing, "I'm starting to question whether or not I made the right decision joining Jimmy's group."
"Are you scared Lyra?" Khoury asked in concern.
"Well yes, and no. I don't know anymore, this is one of the craziest decisions I've ever made." Lyra replied.
Khoury sighed, "Yeah, I don't have your condition, so what I have to say won't make it go away. I can understand that choosing your safety or helping others is very difficult."
"What do you suppose I should do?"
"That's not my choice to make, but how about you look at it this way: Your phobia has been controlling your life ever since that day 11 years ago, but what do you want to do about it?" Khoury said.
"I want it to go away, but its not that simple." Lyra said.
"Your right, there are certain steps you have to take in order for it to soften. It'll likely never go away, but you can take action to soften its effects." Khoury said.
"Like what?"
"We found a potential solution today."
Lyra gave Khoury a confused look before realization hit her, "Marina's Feraligatr?"
"Not just Marina's Feraligatr, but others as well." Khoury responded.
"Similar to some allergies, the simplest way of treating a phobia is to be exposed to the thing your allergic to or afraid of. You can start by warming up to Pokémon like Feraligatr, and..." Khoury paused before continuing, "...my Gabite when it evolves into Garchomp."
"How big can those get?" Lyra asked.
"Over 6 feet." Khoury nervously answered.
"Khoury! You lied to me!" Lyra said sticking her tongue at him.
"I didn't lie! I just, didn't bother to tell you..." Khoury said attempting to defend his actions.
"Lies of omission are still lies Khoury."
"Fine, you win."
the two friends sat in silence for a few more minutes before Lyra stood up; "Thanks for the talk Khoury, I needed it."
Khoury smiled, standing up as well; "What are best friends for?"
Before they went off to bed, Lyra hugged Khoury for a while, a sign of appreciation and friendship. After the long hug, Lyra let go.
"See you in the morning Khoury!" She said before heading off to her tent.
"Heh, you too."
Trainer Card: Lyra Stevens
Age: 17
Hometown: New Bark Town, Johto
Birthday: December 26th, 1987
Height: 5'5
Blood type: B
Eye color: Brown
Hair color: Brown
Trainer class: Pokémon Battler
Secondary class: Pokémon Trainer
Others Hobbies: Any sport that requires a lot of moving, hanging out with friends, annoying Khoury
Notable achievements: n/a
Special Conditions: Megalophobia
Titles: n/a
Pokémon (On hand)
-Bayleef (M)
-Girafarig (M)
-Marill (F)
-Blitzle (F)
-n/a
-n/a