Story 8 - Progress. (5-28-02)
Celeste was wandering through the forest with Eon in her arms, hoping to stumble across some random Pokemon for her small Eevee to challenge. The win over the Charmeleon in the trainer battle had definitely boosted her confidence, and she thought all they needed to do was try a little harder in the battles and they would be successful.
"Eon, I say let's win some battles against these wild Pokemon, then I'll switch to Alpestreon and let it get some wins, then we'll take on Brock. Even if you're not strong enough to battle him, the type advantage Alpestreon has over him should equal the playing field, and plus you guys should be pumped and excited to battle after all the winning we're about to do!" Celeste exclaimed excitedly.
"Vii!" Eon squeaked and wiggled in her arms, aggreeing with her.
Celeste smiled down to her Eevee, then stopped dead in her tracks. She silenced Eon and listened carefully. In the nearby bushes, she heard some rustling movements. She looked down at Eon, who was looking up at her, and she nodded her head and set it down on the ground. It scampered off into the bushes, jumping deep into the heart of the rustling. After a few minutes of struggle, Celeste heard some loud, annoyed squaking and saw a Pidgeotto fly out of the bushes lazily, but obvously rustled out of its home.
Celeste slapped her palm to her forehead and ran into the bushes, knowing what she'd find. She parted the foilage to find Eon passed out in the shadows. It appeared as if it had only been hit once and knocked out, because there were no visible scratches or signs of struggle anywhere else on its body. She got out some of her cures and sprayed them on it, reviving it. She then extracted it from the bushes and continued her walk.
"Well, at least we know not to try that ever again, don't we? Always look before you leap, I guess." Celeste said, a little angry at herself for sending her pokemon off into the unknown.
Eon squirmed in her arms until Celeste set it down on the ground, a little perplexed.
"What, you want to do some scouting by yourself?"
"Vii!" It looked back over its shoulder at her and ran off into the underbrush.
Celeste sighed and sat down, putting her head in one hand and opening her pack with the other.
"They just never learn. At this rate, we'll be training forever before Eon gains enough experience to battle Brock. Not to mention Alpestreon, who hasn't won YET... better get it out so it can watch battles before having some of its own..." She reached past the potions in her bag and pulled out Alpestreon's pokeball and threw it on the ground in front of her. The characteristic red light appeared and the Pokemon materialized, ready for battle.
"Nothing yet, Alpestreon. I just want you to watch until it's your turn, OK? Right now we're looking for agitated pokemon leaving the forest so we can locate the prone form of Eon."
Alpestreon, understanding, laid down on the ground in front of Celeste, both waiting patiently for several minutes until Eon came trotting out of the forest holding something in its mouth. Celeste got excited for a moment, amazed at the fact that it had won a battle without her assistance, but then she realized that the pokemon was still conscious, and that the pokemon happened to be a Metapod. Celeste groaned.
"Honestly Eon, have you no shame?" She muttered as she got up and reached to take the Metapod out of its mouth, knowing full well that what it wanted to do was wrong. Eon whimpered and recoiled from her hands, trotting over to a large open area and setting the Metapod down, then walking an appropriate battle distance away from it.
"Ok, ok, I guess it's a good way to gain some strength. We're only doing a couple of these though, because I think this is very, VERY wrong, you understand?"
Eon gave a solemn whimper as it faced the Metapod and prepared itself for battle.
"Honestly, attacking a poor defenseless pokemon... but I guess desperate times call for desperate measures. Eon, tackle attack..." Celeste said wearily.
The one sided battle went on for several minutes, Eon tackling it and it hardening in turn. Finally, Celeste gave the call for a bite, successfully ending the battle in Eon's favor. Feeling rather guilty about the creature, Celeste treated its wounds and set it in the branches of a nearby tree, streching up on tiptoe to reach.
"Now that you've had your win, go and find a REAL challenge, if wandering around in the brush is what you want to do." Celeste said, taking her seat beside the bored Alpestreon.
Eon gave a merry squeak and ran off into the underbrush again, Celeste's gaze following it as she shook her head.
Eon came out a few minutes later with a Kakuna in its mouth.
"NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Celeste said, getting angry with Eon. "I told you to find a real challenge, not something that can't defend itself against your attacks!"
Eon just looked up at her and whimpered. Celeste sighed and calmed down. "Ok, but this is the LAST ONE. If you bring back any more, I'm going to put them in the trees, do you understand?"
Eon squealed happily and set up the battle. Celeste took her place behind it and called out attack phrases. The Kakuna was down with two tackles and a bite. Celeste was pleased and hoped that the battles with the defenseless pokemon was at least helping raise Eon's level. After it had been knocked unconscious, Celeste took it in her arms and healed it as she had done the Metapod. However, after she had finished with the Kakuna, it started glowing in her arms. The shell split, and out flew a Beedrill.
Startled, Celeste let out a shriek, dropped the shell and Beedrill, and took a couple cautious steps back. Once she had realized what had happened, she got a smug look on her face and turned to Eon.
"Well, you defeated it once, I think it's time you do it again, what do you say, Eon?"
Eon whimpered weakly, but when it saw Celeste planned on making it pay for preying on the weak, it took a battle position in front of the agitated Beedrill.
"Yea, that's what I thought. Do a sand attack to disorient it! These are strong, but I think you can do it, Eon!" Celeste yelled, having confidence in her poor Eevee.
Eon's worry immediately melted away as it entered the heat of battle. The fur on it's back bristled as the Beedrill started to take flight. Before it could get itself entirely airborne, Eon turned around and kicked dust in its eyes with its back paws, looking over its shoulder as it did so. The Beedrill's flight patterns became sporadic and close to the ground as it tried to clear its vision by letting the wind blow the dust away.
"Excellent Eon! That was wonderful! Now tackle it and see about getting it on the ground!" Celeste was excited, the sand attack had worked wonderfully.
While the Beedrill was still flying around disoriented, Eon waited until it made a loop close to the ground, then jumped up and knocked it out of the air. The moment its paws touched the ground, it only had time to look back at Celeste before she yelled out the next attack.
"Quickly, while its still on the ground! Bite it until it's done!" She yelled out, in a state of pure bliss at the sure win coming their way.
It jumped quickly on top of the Beedrill as it started to pick itself up and beat its wings to take off again. Eon began biting it savagely all over while the Beedrill thrashed madly with all three of its stingers. Eon took a couple hits from its arm stingers, and even one from its poisonous rear stinger, but it was in a near trance while it bit, knowing if it continued, it would be a sure victory. After only a few minutes of thrashing, the Beedrill went limp as Eon's victory was secured.
Celeste and Alpestreon bolted over to the small animal, who was sitting winded and a little woozy from the poison working its way through the small body. Celeste hugged Eon tight to her chest and smothered it with kisses, then set it on the ground and lavished it with medical attention, not saying a word in the meantime. After its wounds had been seen to, Celeste picked it up again and held it in a single tight embrace.
"I'm so proud of you, Eon. Just keep doing that for me, at least a few more times out here today. Think of how far we'll go! All of us, together as one big happy family..." Celeste was so overwhelmed by the victory, tears escaped her eyes and she was oblivious to the stranger watching her from the shadows in the path up ahead.
"That's some Eevee you've got there. I've never seen one of those before, let alone in battle. Some swift work, if I do say so myself." The stranger, a female, said as she stepped into Celeste's line of vision.
"Thank you very much, we haven't been training very long. The victories make me so happy, even though there haven't been many." Celeste said, smiling at the kind words.
The stranger walked right up to Celeste before stopping to pet Alpestreon's soft coat. "This one sure is strange, I've never seen anything like it before." She said, smiling as she scratched Alpestreon under the chin.
"Oh, it's one of a kind. A plant evolution of Eevee that my parents raised." Celeste said, setting Eon back on the ground and turning to talk to the girl.
"You sure do like the rare ones, ma'am," The stranger said, bending back up to talk to Celeste. Celeste wondered about the "ma'am," the girl appeared to be a few years older than herself. She shrugged it off.
"Yea, I like 'em, all right. Not too easy to train, though. But it is very rewarding, and I love them like I would my family." Celeste said, smiling down at Alpestreon.
"That's key, all pokemon trainers should. By the way, my name's Belinda. I would be much obliged if you would favor me with a pokemon match between my two pokemon and your two rare beauties here. Win or lose, it sure would give me something to talk about." The woman took off her hat and bowed slightly to Celeste. She had clear blue eyes trimmed with some messy bangs, brown hair set off in two stiff pigtails that ended at her waist. She wore a red jacket and a white skirt, with red boots that reached her knees. She wore a green backpack and had green hairties in her hair.
Celeste pondered a moment how good she felt after the win. The girl was very kind, much more so than Yotari had been. However, she thought that her pokemon still had a long way to go, and figured it best if she kept off the trainer matches for awhile, even though she felt sorry for disappointing this girl.
"No, I'm sorry, I'd better not. They still need a whole lotta training, and I'd feel better saving mine and their pride until they're better prepared, because at this point I think we'd almost certainly lose." Celeste said with a hint of regret in her voice.
The girl stood with her hat on her hands. After staring at Eon for a few seconds, she put it back on her head and made another low bow to Celeste. "I understand, I guess that's how we all start out. Well, thanks anyway for your time, I hope our paths cross in the future!" Belinda called brightly as she continued on the path and into the forest.
Eon jumped back into Celeste's arms as she stared after her. "You know, I feel real sorry for turning her down, she seemed very nice, you know that?" She said, the tone of regret still eminent in her voice.
Eon nuzzled her face, then jumped back out of her arms and ran back into the bushes. Celeste shook herself from her musings to call after it as she took a seat.
"No more defenseless creatures! You just took down a Beedrill, drag up something sensible!"
Eon didn't bring back any more Kakuna or Metapods, but instead found a wide array of forest creatures. At first it ran out with a Rattata in persuit, but after a valiant effort Eon was sadly defeated. After some thorough healing, it came back again with a Caterpie, and this time Eon came out on top. This caused it to battle two more Caterpie, beating both. The last one was a near thing though, and since she hadn't healed it after the battle with the first two since it had taken minimal hits, Celeste had to cure it yet again. It went downhill from there, however. After getting mountains of praise after each of its three successful victories, Celeste could only watch in horror as Eon was defeated by five Weedle, two Butterfree, a Rattata, and a Pidgey. After the final Weedle crawled off successfully and Celeste lavished cures on her poor Pokemon, she decided it best to let Alpestreon train for awhile.
"Well, ignoring the losses, you had five victories, Eon! That's so wonderful, especially given your previous record. We'll try some more later, but for now let's see if Alpestreon can win any battles, OK?" Celeste gave Eon a big smile as she cradled the small pokemon in her arms. She turned to Alpestreon as she said "You up for it?"
Alpestreon licked Celeste's hand, then turned and ran into the bush to find its own battles.
As Celeste walked along the path with Eon in her arms, Alpestreon came running out of the bushes hot on the heels of a Pidgey. Celeste groaned. After Eon's parade of losses, Celeste could've stood watching it beat up on a couple defenseless Metapod to build up its strength. She took her position behind Alpestreon, still with Eon in her arms, and started calling out attacks.
"Ok Alpestreon, get it with your vine whip and hold it!" Celeste said, hoping her strategy was improving along with her pokemon's strength.
Alpestreon wasted no time executing the attack. It jumped in front of the Pidgey and grabbed it with vines that appeared from its thick, petal-filled mane. It held it with some while it smacked it with others. The Pidgey freed itself after a few minutes, but not without taking a thrashing. Squaking angrily, it flapped its wings and executed a sand attack. Alpestreon hid its eyes from most of it, but did get blinded by some particles. Instead of wiping its eyes, it simply waited for its next attack.
"Great job, Alpestreon! Try a restrict now! You're doing so great!" Celeste cheered, hoping honestly her encouragement helped even just a little bit.
Alpestreon grabbed the Pidgey with its vines again and started to squeeze. The Pidgey flapped its wings, but couldn't free itself for several minutes. When it did, it sent up a furious gust attack. When it cleared, Alpestreon struggled to get back up on its feet. When it finally made it, its vines shot out once again and grabbed the Pidgey, without any command from Celeste. With sand in its eyes and wobbling slightly from the weakness sustained from the gust, Alpestreon squeezed the Pidgey until it fell limp. It gave a satisfied call, then collapsed on the ground. Celeste came running over, potion in hand. She spent a few minutes with revives and potions before Alpestreon finally sat up and acted cheerful.
"That was so wonderful! You defeated a Pidgey on your first try! You didn't have to go after something so difficult, you could've brought out a Metapod or Kakuna to build up your strength like Eon did, I wouldn't have been mad. Oh, I'm just so happy you had a victory! Maybe your size helps a little with your power? That certainly would be good, wouldn't it? Well, let's continue on, we can't stop while you're on a streak, now can we?" Celeste chirped as she hugged Alpestreon around its big neck. She only needed to bend over to do this, Alpestreon was quite a large pokemon.
She ended the embrace, and Alpestreon took a position next to her as they continued down the path, Alpestreon darting in and out of the bushes looking for prey from time to time. It had one battle with a Metapod, which it won with only one constrict attack. That pleased Celeste to no end. However, while she watched Alpestreon wander through the forest underbrush, she almost ran smack into another trainer.
The trainer looked very young, probably 10 years old and about a head shorter than Celeste, he had bown hair cut in a bowl style. He had cruel blue eyes, and wore a yellow shirt, long denim shorts, and red tennis shoes. He also carried a brown pouch that looked for all the world like a purse. He was none too pleased.
"How rude of you, not to watch where you're going! I demand a 1-on-1 challenge with you!" The boy yelled in a shrill voice as he took a couple steps back, dropped his bag to the ground, and began to rummage.
Celeste watched the small boy with a certain note of amusement. "Sorry kid, I'm not battling trainers at the moment, I don't think my Pokemon are strong enough. Maybe some other time." She said as she began to walk around him, Alpestreon coming out of the bushes and staring pointedly at the small boy.
"Hey, you're not allowed to walk away from a trainer challenge, it's an honor that can't be broken! Besides, YOU especially can't walk away because you ran into me!" The boy continued shrilly as he recovered two balls from his bag and stood up, Celeste's back now to him.
Celeste sighed and adressed the boy with a look over her shoulder as she continued to walk, Alpestreon walking backwards to stare at the boy beside her. "For one, I don't remember signing anything that said I wasn't allowed to turn down trainer battles, and for another, I never touched you, kid. See ya."
"Hey, DON'T WALK AWAY FROM ME! You have to battle! I want to fight your Tangela and Sandshrew!" The boy said, jumping directly in her path ahead and extending his arms so she couldn't pass.
Celeste's amusement at the agitated child had long abated, and it was being replaced with agitation of her own. "I told you NO kid, and that's final! Besides, I wouldn't battle a poor kid who doesn't even know what type of Pokemon he's going up against, let alone how to count, since you challenged me to ONE-ON-ONE." She muttered loudly as she roughly pushed the boy out of the way and continued on, Alpestreon also losing interest in him and facing forward.
The boy was now very furious. He once again darted in front of Celeste and put his hand straight out in front of him to stop her. "Lady, don't insult my intelligence, and don't turn down trainer battles from Petey! You'll live to regret it!" He said, thick anger very evident in his voice.
Celeste put her own hand out and pushed him hard to the ground. "Listen kid, if you don't get out of my way and leave me alone RIGHT NOW, you'll be the one that lives to regret it. Zephyreon, COME ON OUT!" Yelling now, she reached her hand behind her in her pack and retrieved her tallest, most imposing pokemon.
Zephyreon materialized and, once again, sensed Celeste's displeasure at this trainer and began to growl menacingly down at the boy and show its large, sharp teeth.
The boy, looking as if he would soil himself, got off the ground in a hurry, grabbed his bag, and ran quickly off into the woods. Celeste took a few minutes to calm down, an edge of anger still in her voice.
"Geez, I could never have taught children like that. He would have found himself outside my classroom so fast... But all that's behind me now. I must focus on the task ahead, and eventually on Indigo, isn't that right gang? Zephyreon, I'm very sorry about calling you out to scare people. I know Ferreon or others might do a better job, but you're the biggest, and people would just be afraid of your size when you come out growling." Celeste gave Zephyreon a big hug as high as she could reach before putting it back in its pokeball and resuming the routine of watching Alpestreon dart in and out of the foilage with new challenges.
Eon had slept through the entire ordeal in Celeste's arms, and after fluttering its eyes open and giving a big yawn as it watched the boy run off, it went back to sleep.
It was a horrible thing to watch, because outside the earlier victories over Metapod and Pidgey, Alpestreon's record was considerably worse than Eon's had been. It battled 7 various forest animals, and lost to all but a Caterpie. Even the Metapod it brought out of the forest trounced it. There was a particularly ugly loss to a Pikachu, who Alpestreon accidentally stirred out of its nest. Although it grounded some of the electricity and fared much better than Eon would have, it still ended up fried on the ground as Pikachu wandered back into the forest with only slight bruises where Alpestreon had managed to get in a good squeeze. After the Pikachu, the last fight, Celeste realized she was out of cure, and could only allieviate Alpestreon's suffering slightly as she put it back in its pokeball and walked dejectedly out of the forest. While she had won several matches, she had also lost an overwhelming amount more. Perhaps they were a little stronger. Perhaps they were a little better off.
Celeste supposed that's all one could hope for amidst loss.
Celeste was wandering through the forest with Eon in her arms, hoping to stumble across some random Pokemon for her small Eevee to challenge. The win over the Charmeleon in the trainer battle had definitely boosted her confidence, and she thought all they needed to do was try a little harder in the battles and they would be successful.
"Eon, I say let's win some battles against these wild Pokemon, then I'll switch to Alpestreon and let it get some wins, then we'll take on Brock. Even if you're not strong enough to battle him, the type advantage Alpestreon has over him should equal the playing field, and plus you guys should be pumped and excited to battle after all the winning we're about to do!" Celeste exclaimed excitedly.
"Vii!" Eon squeaked and wiggled in her arms, aggreeing with her.
Celeste smiled down to her Eevee, then stopped dead in her tracks. She silenced Eon and listened carefully. In the nearby bushes, she heard some rustling movements. She looked down at Eon, who was looking up at her, and she nodded her head and set it down on the ground. It scampered off into the bushes, jumping deep into the heart of the rustling. After a few minutes of struggle, Celeste heard some loud, annoyed squaking and saw a Pidgeotto fly out of the bushes lazily, but obvously rustled out of its home.
Celeste slapped her palm to her forehead and ran into the bushes, knowing what she'd find. She parted the foilage to find Eon passed out in the shadows. It appeared as if it had only been hit once and knocked out, because there were no visible scratches or signs of struggle anywhere else on its body. She got out some of her cures and sprayed them on it, reviving it. She then extracted it from the bushes and continued her walk.
"Well, at least we know not to try that ever again, don't we? Always look before you leap, I guess." Celeste said, a little angry at herself for sending her pokemon off into the unknown.
Eon squirmed in her arms until Celeste set it down on the ground, a little perplexed.
"What, you want to do some scouting by yourself?"
"Vii!" It looked back over its shoulder at her and ran off into the underbrush.
Celeste sighed and sat down, putting her head in one hand and opening her pack with the other.
"They just never learn. At this rate, we'll be training forever before Eon gains enough experience to battle Brock. Not to mention Alpestreon, who hasn't won YET... better get it out so it can watch battles before having some of its own..." She reached past the potions in her bag and pulled out Alpestreon's pokeball and threw it on the ground in front of her. The characteristic red light appeared and the Pokemon materialized, ready for battle.
"Nothing yet, Alpestreon. I just want you to watch until it's your turn, OK? Right now we're looking for agitated pokemon leaving the forest so we can locate the prone form of Eon."
Alpestreon, understanding, laid down on the ground in front of Celeste, both waiting patiently for several minutes until Eon came trotting out of the forest holding something in its mouth. Celeste got excited for a moment, amazed at the fact that it had won a battle without her assistance, but then she realized that the pokemon was still conscious, and that the pokemon happened to be a Metapod. Celeste groaned.
"Honestly Eon, have you no shame?" She muttered as she got up and reached to take the Metapod out of its mouth, knowing full well that what it wanted to do was wrong. Eon whimpered and recoiled from her hands, trotting over to a large open area and setting the Metapod down, then walking an appropriate battle distance away from it.
"Ok, ok, I guess it's a good way to gain some strength. We're only doing a couple of these though, because I think this is very, VERY wrong, you understand?"
Eon gave a solemn whimper as it faced the Metapod and prepared itself for battle.
"Honestly, attacking a poor defenseless pokemon... but I guess desperate times call for desperate measures. Eon, tackle attack..." Celeste said wearily.
The one sided battle went on for several minutes, Eon tackling it and it hardening in turn. Finally, Celeste gave the call for a bite, successfully ending the battle in Eon's favor. Feeling rather guilty about the creature, Celeste treated its wounds and set it in the branches of a nearby tree, streching up on tiptoe to reach.
"Now that you've had your win, go and find a REAL challenge, if wandering around in the brush is what you want to do." Celeste said, taking her seat beside the bored Alpestreon.
Eon gave a merry squeak and ran off into the underbrush again, Celeste's gaze following it as she shook her head.
Eon came out a few minutes later with a Kakuna in its mouth.
"NO! ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Celeste said, getting angry with Eon. "I told you to find a real challenge, not something that can't defend itself against your attacks!"
Eon just looked up at her and whimpered. Celeste sighed and calmed down. "Ok, but this is the LAST ONE. If you bring back any more, I'm going to put them in the trees, do you understand?"
Eon squealed happily and set up the battle. Celeste took her place behind it and called out attack phrases. The Kakuna was down with two tackles and a bite. Celeste was pleased and hoped that the battles with the defenseless pokemon was at least helping raise Eon's level. After it had been knocked unconscious, Celeste took it in her arms and healed it as she had done the Metapod. However, after she had finished with the Kakuna, it started glowing in her arms. The shell split, and out flew a Beedrill.
Startled, Celeste let out a shriek, dropped the shell and Beedrill, and took a couple cautious steps back. Once she had realized what had happened, she got a smug look on her face and turned to Eon.
"Well, you defeated it once, I think it's time you do it again, what do you say, Eon?"
Eon whimpered weakly, but when it saw Celeste planned on making it pay for preying on the weak, it took a battle position in front of the agitated Beedrill.
"Yea, that's what I thought. Do a sand attack to disorient it! These are strong, but I think you can do it, Eon!" Celeste yelled, having confidence in her poor Eevee.
Eon's worry immediately melted away as it entered the heat of battle. The fur on it's back bristled as the Beedrill started to take flight. Before it could get itself entirely airborne, Eon turned around and kicked dust in its eyes with its back paws, looking over its shoulder as it did so. The Beedrill's flight patterns became sporadic and close to the ground as it tried to clear its vision by letting the wind blow the dust away.
"Excellent Eon! That was wonderful! Now tackle it and see about getting it on the ground!" Celeste was excited, the sand attack had worked wonderfully.
While the Beedrill was still flying around disoriented, Eon waited until it made a loop close to the ground, then jumped up and knocked it out of the air. The moment its paws touched the ground, it only had time to look back at Celeste before she yelled out the next attack.
"Quickly, while its still on the ground! Bite it until it's done!" She yelled out, in a state of pure bliss at the sure win coming their way.
It jumped quickly on top of the Beedrill as it started to pick itself up and beat its wings to take off again. Eon began biting it savagely all over while the Beedrill thrashed madly with all three of its stingers. Eon took a couple hits from its arm stingers, and even one from its poisonous rear stinger, but it was in a near trance while it bit, knowing if it continued, it would be a sure victory. After only a few minutes of thrashing, the Beedrill went limp as Eon's victory was secured.
Celeste and Alpestreon bolted over to the small animal, who was sitting winded and a little woozy from the poison working its way through the small body. Celeste hugged Eon tight to her chest and smothered it with kisses, then set it on the ground and lavished it with medical attention, not saying a word in the meantime. After its wounds had been seen to, Celeste picked it up again and held it in a single tight embrace.
"I'm so proud of you, Eon. Just keep doing that for me, at least a few more times out here today. Think of how far we'll go! All of us, together as one big happy family..." Celeste was so overwhelmed by the victory, tears escaped her eyes and she was oblivious to the stranger watching her from the shadows in the path up ahead.
"That's some Eevee you've got there. I've never seen one of those before, let alone in battle. Some swift work, if I do say so myself." The stranger, a female, said as she stepped into Celeste's line of vision.
"Thank you very much, we haven't been training very long. The victories make me so happy, even though there haven't been many." Celeste said, smiling at the kind words.
The stranger walked right up to Celeste before stopping to pet Alpestreon's soft coat. "This one sure is strange, I've never seen anything like it before." She said, smiling as she scratched Alpestreon under the chin.
"Oh, it's one of a kind. A plant evolution of Eevee that my parents raised." Celeste said, setting Eon back on the ground and turning to talk to the girl.
"You sure do like the rare ones, ma'am," The stranger said, bending back up to talk to Celeste. Celeste wondered about the "ma'am," the girl appeared to be a few years older than herself. She shrugged it off.
"Yea, I like 'em, all right. Not too easy to train, though. But it is very rewarding, and I love them like I would my family." Celeste said, smiling down at Alpestreon.
"That's key, all pokemon trainers should. By the way, my name's Belinda. I would be much obliged if you would favor me with a pokemon match between my two pokemon and your two rare beauties here. Win or lose, it sure would give me something to talk about." The woman took off her hat and bowed slightly to Celeste. She had clear blue eyes trimmed with some messy bangs, brown hair set off in two stiff pigtails that ended at her waist. She wore a red jacket and a white skirt, with red boots that reached her knees. She wore a green backpack and had green hairties in her hair.
Celeste pondered a moment how good she felt after the win. The girl was very kind, much more so than Yotari had been. However, she thought that her pokemon still had a long way to go, and figured it best if she kept off the trainer matches for awhile, even though she felt sorry for disappointing this girl.
"No, I'm sorry, I'd better not. They still need a whole lotta training, and I'd feel better saving mine and their pride until they're better prepared, because at this point I think we'd almost certainly lose." Celeste said with a hint of regret in her voice.
The girl stood with her hat on her hands. After staring at Eon for a few seconds, she put it back on her head and made another low bow to Celeste. "I understand, I guess that's how we all start out. Well, thanks anyway for your time, I hope our paths cross in the future!" Belinda called brightly as she continued on the path and into the forest.
Eon jumped back into Celeste's arms as she stared after her. "You know, I feel real sorry for turning her down, she seemed very nice, you know that?" She said, the tone of regret still eminent in her voice.
Eon nuzzled her face, then jumped back out of her arms and ran back into the bushes. Celeste shook herself from her musings to call after it as she took a seat.
"No more defenseless creatures! You just took down a Beedrill, drag up something sensible!"
Eon didn't bring back any more Kakuna or Metapods, but instead found a wide array of forest creatures. At first it ran out with a Rattata in persuit, but after a valiant effort Eon was sadly defeated. After some thorough healing, it came back again with a Caterpie, and this time Eon came out on top. This caused it to battle two more Caterpie, beating both. The last one was a near thing though, and since she hadn't healed it after the battle with the first two since it had taken minimal hits, Celeste had to cure it yet again. It went downhill from there, however. After getting mountains of praise after each of its three successful victories, Celeste could only watch in horror as Eon was defeated by five Weedle, two Butterfree, a Rattata, and a Pidgey. After the final Weedle crawled off successfully and Celeste lavished cures on her poor Pokemon, she decided it best to let Alpestreon train for awhile.
"Well, ignoring the losses, you had five victories, Eon! That's so wonderful, especially given your previous record. We'll try some more later, but for now let's see if Alpestreon can win any battles, OK?" Celeste gave Eon a big smile as she cradled the small pokemon in her arms. She turned to Alpestreon as she said "You up for it?"
Alpestreon licked Celeste's hand, then turned and ran into the bush to find its own battles.
As Celeste walked along the path with Eon in her arms, Alpestreon came running out of the bushes hot on the heels of a Pidgey. Celeste groaned. After Eon's parade of losses, Celeste could've stood watching it beat up on a couple defenseless Metapod to build up its strength. She took her position behind Alpestreon, still with Eon in her arms, and started calling out attacks.
"Ok Alpestreon, get it with your vine whip and hold it!" Celeste said, hoping her strategy was improving along with her pokemon's strength.
Alpestreon wasted no time executing the attack. It jumped in front of the Pidgey and grabbed it with vines that appeared from its thick, petal-filled mane. It held it with some while it smacked it with others. The Pidgey freed itself after a few minutes, but not without taking a thrashing. Squaking angrily, it flapped its wings and executed a sand attack. Alpestreon hid its eyes from most of it, but did get blinded by some particles. Instead of wiping its eyes, it simply waited for its next attack.
"Great job, Alpestreon! Try a restrict now! You're doing so great!" Celeste cheered, hoping honestly her encouragement helped even just a little bit.
Alpestreon grabbed the Pidgey with its vines again and started to squeeze. The Pidgey flapped its wings, but couldn't free itself for several minutes. When it did, it sent up a furious gust attack. When it cleared, Alpestreon struggled to get back up on its feet. When it finally made it, its vines shot out once again and grabbed the Pidgey, without any command from Celeste. With sand in its eyes and wobbling slightly from the weakness sustained from the gust, Alpestreon squeezed the Pidgey until it fell limp. It gave a satisfied call, then collapsed on the ground. Celeste came running over, potion in hand. She spent a few minutes with revives and potions before Alpestreon finally sat up and acted cheerful.
"That was so wonderful! You defeated a Pidgey on your first try! You didn't have to go after something so difficult, you could've brought out a Metapod or Kakuna to build up your strength like Eon did, I wouldn't have been mad. Oh, I'm just so happy you had a victory! Maybe your size helps a little with your power? That certainly would be good, wouldn't it? Well, let's continue on, we can't stop while you're on a streak, now can we?" Celeste chirped as she hugged Alpestreon around its big neck. She only needed to bend over to do this, Alpestreon was quite a large pokemon.
She ended the embrace, and Alpestreon took a position next to her as they continued down the path, Alpestreon darting in and out of the bushes looking for prey from time to time. It had one battle with a Metapod, which it won with only one constrict attack. That pleased Celeste to no end. However, while she watched Alpestreon wander through the forest underbrush, she almost ran smack into another trainer.
The trainer looked very young, probably 10 years old and about a head shorter than Celeste, he had bown hair cut in a bowl style. He had cruel blue eyes, and wore a yellow shirt, long denim shorts, and red tennis shoes. He also carried a brown pouch that looked for all the world like a purse. He was none too pleased.
"How rude of you, not to watch where you're going! I demand a 1-on-1 challenge with you!" The boy yelled in a shrill voice as he took a couple steps back, dropped his bag to the ground, and began to rummage.
Celeste watched the small boy with a certain note of amusement. "Sorry kid, I'm not battling trainers at the moment, I don't think my Pokemon are strong enough. Maybe some other time." She said as she began to walk around him, Alpestreon coming out of the bushes and staring pointedly at the small boy.
"Hey, you're not allowed to walk away from a trainer challenge, it's an honor that can't be broken! Besides, YOU especially can't walk away because you ran into me!" The boy continued shrilly as he recovered two balls from his bag and stood up, Celeste's back now to him.
Celeste sighed and adressed the boy with a look over her shoulder as she continued to walk, Alpestreon walking backwards to stare at the boy beside her. "For one, I don't remember signing anything that said I wasn't allowed to turn down trainer battles, and for another, I never touched you, kid. See ya."
"Hey, DON'T WALK AWAY FROM ME! You have to battle! I want to fight your Tangela and Sandshrew!" The boy said, jumping directly in her path ahead and extending his arms so she couldn't pass.
Celeste's amusement at the agitated child had long abated, and it was being replaced with agitation of her own. "I told you NO kid, and that's final! Besides, I wouldn't battle a poor kid who doesn't even know what type of Pokemon he's going up against, let alone how to count, since you challenged me to ONE-ON-ONE." She muttered loudly as she roughly pushed the boy out of the way and continued on, Alpestreon also losing interest in him and facing forward.
The boy was now very furious. He once again darted in front of Celeste and put his hand straight out in front of him to stop her. "Lady, don't insult my intelligence, and don't turn down trainer battles from Petey! You'll live to regret it!" He said, thick anger very evident in his voice.
Celeste put her own hand out and pushed him hard to the ground. "Listen kid, if you don't get out of my way and leave me alone RIGHT NOW, you'll be the one that lives to regret it. Zephyreon, COME ON OUT!" Yelling now, she reached her hand behind her in her pack and retrieved her tallest, most imposing pokemon.
Zephyreon materialized and, once again, sensed Celeste's displeasure at this trainer and began to growl menacingly down at the boy and show its large, sharp teeth.
The boy, looking as if he would soil himself, got off the ground in a hurry, grabbed his bag, and ran quickly off into the woods. Celeste took a few minutes to calm down, an edge of anger still in her voice.
"Geez, I could never have taught children like that. He would have found himself outside my classroom so fast... But all that's behind me now. I must focus on the task ahead, and eventually on Indigo, isn't that right gang? Zephyreon, I'm very sorry about calling you out to scare people. I know Ferreon or others might do a better job, but you're the biggest, and people would just be afraid of your size when you come out growling." Celeste gave Zephyreon a big hug as high as she could reach before putting it back in its pokeball and resuming the routine of watching Alpestreon dart in and out of the foilage with new challenges.
Eon had slept through the entire ordeal in Celeste's arms, and after fluttering its eyes open and giving a big yawn as it watched the boy run off, it went back to sleep.
It was a horrible thing to watch, because outside the earlier victories over Metapod and Pidgey, Alpestreon's record was considerably worse than Eon's had been. It battled 7 various forest animals, and lost to all but a Caterpie. Even the Metapod it brought out of the forest trounced it. There was a particularly ugly loss to a Pikachu, who Alpestreon accidentally stirred out of its nest. Although it grounded some of the electricity and fared much better than Eon would have, it still ended up fried on the ground as Pikachu wandered back into the forest with only slight bruises where Alpestreon had managed to get in a good squeeze. After the Pikachu, the last fight, Celeste realized she was out of cure, and could only allieviate Alpestreon's suffering slightly as she put it back in its pokeball and walked dejectedly out of the forest. While she had won several matches, she had also lost an overwhelming amount more. Perhaps they were a little stronger. Perhaps they were a little better off.
Celeste supposed that's all one could hope for amidst loss.