A/N: Oops, forgot to post this chapter here. Better late than never I guess? Thanks to Metanoia for beta'ing this chapter!
Ivy looked around, and sighed in relief. She and Emily had managed to go the right way down the hill this time. All they had to do was head towards the giant walls that might as well have been right in front of them.
"Looks like it'll be plain sailing from here on out!" Emily smiled half a second before her Ponyta was snatched away by an unseen force. "Juliet! What's going on?!"
The pair turned around to see two people in matching purple hooded ponchos. They wore gold coloured eye-shaped medallions that hung on pale blue ribbons. One with pale purple hair sticking out of the front of her hood seemed to be using telekinesis to pull Juliet towards her.
"Hey! Give Juliet back!" Emily yelled, running towards them.
"Yeah, nah…" the thief replied, putting Juliet down for a second to knock Emily to the ground with a wave of her hand. "You normals shouldn't be allowed to use Psychic type Pokémon."
The thief turned to the other hooded person, as if she was communicating with him.
"Y-yes ma'am," he nodded, skillfully opening Emily's bag from a few meters away. He pulled out a Poké Ball and levitated it to his accomplice.
"How many times do I have to tell you? We speak with telepathy!"
"Sorry, I'm still not very good at it…"
Emily picked herself up from the grass and took out her remaining Poké Ball. Ivy finally caught up with Emily. The purple haired thief returned Juliet to her Poké Ball.
"We claim this Pokémon in the name of Team Miracle Eye!" she proclaimed dramatically.
"I'm not going to just sit back and let you steal Juliet," Emily frowned. "Ivy, you'll help me out right?"
Ivy nodded and sent Marcus out of his Poké Ball. The purple haired grunt chuckled.
"You dare send another Psychic type Pokémon to face us? When will you normals learn…" she sighed, lifting up Marcus.
Ivy responded by levitating Marcus' Poké Ball a few centimetres in the air. Fortunately that seemed to be enough proof for them to release Marcus.
"So, you're Psychic too," the grunt continued. "Say, you should consider becoming a knight of Team Miracle Eye."
"What do you guys even do?" Ivy asked.
"Are we really going to tell her about this in front of a normal?" the second grunt said to the purple haired one.
Just because she's here, doesn't mean she'll be able to hear any of it… the purple eyed grunt said telepathically. Emily gave Ivy a confused look. It seemed the grunt was right.
As I was saying, we are the knights of Team Miracle Eye. We're a group of psychics working together to make life better for ourselves. We should be leading humanity with our abilities. Like come on, we can tell what people are thinking, we can see the future, we can move things with our minds. Gone are the days of us spending all our time training in academies. Our leader has brought us together to use our abilities to take action!
"Sorry to cut you off, but I'm not in the mood for world domination today," Ivy interrupted.
The purple haired grunt scowled.
"Fine then, traitor. Seeing as you're a fellow psychic, we'll at least let you battle us. If you win, you can keep the Dottler."
Emily sent out Hermes.
"Hey, we never said you could join us!"
"Ivy is my friend, and I still have a Pokémon left," Emily retorted. Ivy gave her a slightly awkward look.
"I guess it's a double battle then!" the second grunt said happily, sending out a Vulpix.
"It is not!" the first one yelled, sending out a Mime Jr. "Now get that Vulpix back in its Poké Ball!"
"You know what, Lavender, you're not my boss. I can do what I want! Vulpy! Use Flame Charge on that Dottler!"
The unexpected attack left Marcus with no time to dodge. The Vulpix barrelled into him surrounded by a ball of flame.
"Okay, erm, Marcus, Struggle Bug!" Ivy panicked. Marcus sent a swarm of glowing green particles flying at the opposing Pokémon.
"Hermes, use Nuzzle on that Vulpix!" Emily yelled.
Hermes charged at the Vulpix, surrounded by electricity. He nuzzled the Vulpix with full force. The Vulpix slowly staggered backwards, paralyzed.
"You idiots!" Lavender yelled. "Fine. If that's how you're going to play this then we can do that too!"
The Mime Jr. didn't seem to need any command. Copying Hermes' attack, it surrounded itself with electricity and charged at Marcus. Marcus tried to move out of the way, but his shell was just too heavy.
"Flame Charge again!" the other grunt exclaimed triumphantly, but their Vulpix was unable to move.
"Nuzzle the Mime Jr.! Let's go!" Emily jumped up and down, seeming a bit too excited about the battle for her Pokémon. Hermes charged at the Mime Jr. and paralyzed it as well.
"Marcus, are you alright?" Ivy asked. Marcus made an ambiguous looking gesture, unable to move much. "Use Reflect if you can, I guess."
A barrier materialized in front of Marcus and Hermes.
"Well, we can always just use a special move! Use Ember on that Dottler!"
The Vulpix fired a small ball of flame from its mouth which exploded into a cloud of smoke as it hit Marcus. When the smoke cleared, Marcus was laying on the ground, fainted.
"NO! Hermes, use Tackle to defeat that Vulpix!" Emily yelled.
Her Yamper charged the Vulpix with all his might. The impact sent it flying into a nearby bush.
"Vulpy, nooo!" the grunt cried as he ran over to his fallen Pokémon.
"Looks like it's one on one now." Lavender sneered at Emily. "Or at least it would be if I cared about people like you. This wasn't your battle to begin with. Your traitor friend lost."
"Not quite." Ivy said with uncharacteristic bravado while rummaging through her bag. "I still have a Pokémon left."
Ivy finally found the Poké Ball and sent out Evelyn. Emily looked over and tensed up.
"Wait… You caught it- you caught that ghost?"
"Aww… Is someone scared of a tiny widdle teacup?" Lavender laughed. "Don't worry princess, we'll save you from the vicious scawwy Sinistea. Use Confusion!"
The Mime Jr. lifted its arms, but fell down just as quickly, electric arcs surrounding it.
"Come on! Attack!"
"Evelyn, use Astonish!" Ivy yelled.
Emily cried out in surprise as the Sinistea let out a piercing scream. It charged at the Mime Jr. before it could recover from the shock.
Lavender looked at her Mime Jr, who nodded. Less than a second later it made a similarly startling cry, barreling into Evelyn. Evelyn was knocked back, the Reflect lessening the damage. Without waiting for another command, Evelyn charged right back at the Mime Jr, this time using Mega Drain. The Mime Jr. copied it again. Hermes ran into the fray, slamming the Mime Jr. with Tackle. Evelyn landed another Astonish, and the Mime Jr. fainted. Ivy withdrew Evelyn, and Emily seemed to calm down almost instantaneously.
"No!" Lavender yelled, stomping on the ground as she withdrew her pokémon.
"You lost. Now please give Juliet back!"
Lavender laughed for an awkwardly long time.
"Really? Is your mind a sieve or what?! This was never for your Pokémon. This was just to decide whether I got that traitor's Dottler too! And there's not really anything stopping me from doing that anyway!"
"What's going on here?"
Lavender and the other grunt turned abruptly to face the new arrival and dropped to their knees. It seemed to be another Miracle Eye member and her Gardevoir. She wore the same purple poncho as the grunts, with a long black plait sticking out of the front of her hood. She also wore the eye shaped pendant, but it hung on an indigo coloured ribbon instead of a blue one.
"Lady Cadence!" Lavender said, smiling nervously. "You came just in time to help us out with these bothersome trainers!"
"I heard you and Gabriel were running around the wild area stealing people's Pokémon, so I come out here and I find you two like this." Cadence stared down at the two trembling grunts. "Care to explain why you thought this was a good idea?"
"It was Gabe's idea! He dragged me into this!" Lavender panicked.
"Oi, you lying Bisharp! This was all your idea!" Gabe retorted.
"So, you're going to try and lie? You're both making a mockery of our organization. Tell me, would the public be afraid of a group of bumbling idiots?"
"No, ma'am," they both replied.
"Exactly, so why would you put on a display like this?" Neither of the grunts seemed to make a noise. "I see. You'll have to explain yourselves to the Duchess, then. Hand the stolen Poké Balls over."
Lavender levitated a single Poké Ball over to Cadence, who was clearly unimpressed.
"This is all you managed?"
"Yes ma'am." Gabe sighed.
"Shame. Cecelia, take these two back to base please." Cadence signaled to her Gardevoir, who nodded and walked over to the grunts.
The three of them disappeared in a flash. Cadence strode towards Ivy and Emily, who were readying themselves for yet another fight. Instead, she handed the Poké Ball back to Emily.
"Sorry about those two. Hopefully losing to you two should knock at least a bit of common sense into them."
She started walking away, but Emily chased after her.
"You think you- You and your people can just steal my Pokémon and then- and just run away?! It doesn't matter that you gave Juliet back. You're still a group of dirty rotten thieves!"
Cadence sighed, continuing to walk away. Her Gardevoir reappeared and, seeing Emily charging towards its trainer, threw her backwards with a powerful Psychic. Cadence paused.
"Cecelia, was that really necessary?" The Gardevoir bowed her head apologetically. Cadence finally turned back to face the pair. "Sorry about her. She has an unfortunate tendency to act first and think later. I guess you and her are alike in that sense. In any case, good luck with your gym challenges. I hope we don't need to meet again."
With that, Cadence and her Gardevoir teleported away.
"What a terrible group of people!" Emily ranted. "Thinking they can walk all over everyone else just because they have powers and we don't! You know what, I'll find those grunts and that Cadence lady. I'll find all of them and take them down once and for all!"
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" Ivy questioned, unsure of whether Emily was serious or not. "Her Gardevoir looked super strong."
"You say that as if we aren't going to get any stronger! We'll get on their level soon enough, then they will pay."
After Emily put her Poké Ball back in her bag, the pair continued on towards the Motostoke entrance gate. Before Ivy knew it they were climbing the stairs. Standing at the gate was a young man a few years older than Ivy. His short hair was dyed pale pink and his eyes were a similar shade of blue to Ivy's. He wore a dark purple blazer and matching trousers, with a Psychic uniform shirt underneath the blazer. A Gothita stood next to him.
"Oh, hey Ivy!" He said, waving at her. "I wasn't expecting to see you here so soon."
"Hi Laurie." Ivy sighed.
"Who's your friend?"
"My name is Emily! What's yours?"
"Nice to meet you, Emily! You'd be Ivy's first friend in a while. I'm Laurel, her cousin."
"Nice to meet you!" Emily replied enthusiastically.
Laurel's Gothita stared up at Ivy.
"Ah yes, your parents were nice enough to give me this Gothita earlier today! I still haven't thought of a good name for her, but she'll be super useful around the gym. Did I mention I became one of Avery's gym trainers?"
"Yeah, in your letter." Ivy grumbled.
"That's impressive!" Emily enthused.
"So, how much did you bribe him?" Ivy said.
"Very funny. You know I don't need any of that. Maybe learn some skills and you could too!"
Ivy sighed.
"Anyway, it's been lovely talking to you but I have to go. I've got important gym trainer business to attend to! I'd say see you later but I don't expect you'll make it very far in the gym challenge." Laurel turned to Emily. "You seem like a bright trainer. Hopefully you'll make it to Avery's gym someday. Try not to get into any trouble!"
"Trouble? What sort of trouble?"
"Oh, you know. Pokémon thieves, hooligans, my cousin…"
"I'm sure that won't be too hard. Ivy and I already fought off a group of ruffians from Team Miracle Eye!"
"As I heard. But those were probably just a couple low level grunts."
"Wait, how did you-"
"Unlike my cousin, I can actually read minds. Almost all psychics can do some basic level telepathy. Anyways, au revoir!"
Laurel sauntered away. Ivy groaned loudly.
"That's my cousin, pretentious as ever. Now he's a gym trainer he'll probably be even worse."
"He certainly could learn some manners, but he seems like a decent person."
"He's really not. Not if you know him personally."
Emily looked at Ivy, slightly confused. She probably wouldn't want to talk about it. She looked up at the sky. The sun was starting to set. That could be a good distraction.
"Ivy, look at the sunset! Isn't it pretty?"
Ivy stared up at the pink sky.
"It's nice, I guess. Not too different than what you get in Postwick."
"The sunsets in Wyndon aren't particularly impressive."
"I'm tired…" Ivy started to yawn. "We should head to the Pokémon Center."
"The Pokémon Center? Why not a hotel?"
"The rooms are cheaper there. Pretty sure they're free once you're officially doing the gym challenge."
"Really? I never knew. Let's go!"
They headed to the Pokémon Center right near the gates. Fortunately, there were plenty of rooms free. Unfortunately, Ivy would have to share a room with Emily, and the both of them could potentially end up with up to four more roommates. The room was rather unassuming. The walls were cream and the floors were wooden. There were 3 metal bunk beds, a desk, some chairs, and a wardrobe that looked a bit too small for a six person room. There were six safes in the wardrobe for storing valuables. Ivy claimed the bottom bunk of one bed, while Emily elected for the top bunk of another.
"I'm going to find some dinner. Do you want me to get something for you?" Emily asked.
"Yeah, sure." Ivy said.
Emily left. Ivy decided she might as well use what was left of the day to try and train her powers. She'd always been told meditation was a good way to do it, but Ivy was never too good at it. Well, today's another day, might as well give it a go. Ivy thought. At least I won't have to listen in on my parents talking about me in the next room.
She pulled off her walking shoes and sat on her bunk. The bedframe creaked as she crossed her legs. Ivy closed her eyes and tried to focus on her breathing. In, out, in, out. Apparently a psychic could meditate to better attune themselves to… Other people's thoughts or something? Ivy couldn't remember. Anyway, back to breathing. In, out, in, out, out, in, out, in, in, out… They said you'd be able to see the future by meditating. Would she have a vision? Maybe she'd see her inevitable failure. Did she even want to see that? In, out, in, out, in, out… She could hear the people in the next room. They were saying something about the gym challenge. She couldn't make out the specifics, though. In, out… In, out… In, out… In, out... Ivy couldn't feel the bed underneath her any more. Was she floating? Probably not. The boys in the next room sounded confused. Maybe even scared. It was probably something else. Or maybe it was working. Either way, she needed to focus. In… Out… In… Out… It had been a long day. Was it disappointing? Was it exciting? She couldn't decide. Either way, Ivy was suddenly aware of how exhausted she was. She was really, really tired. She could probably fall asleep at any moment.
