A/N: Hey guys, DrPhill26 here with another new chapter for all of you to enjoy today and our first of the new year. Say guys, I know it's late in asking either of you seeing as it's already the middle of January, but do you have any New Years Resolutions?
Tyler: My resolution? I dunno, I guess I'll say I want to make more friends. Both with people and Pokémon. That and I want to get stronger as a
Pokémon trainer.
DrPhill26: Nice, a guy can never have enough friends after all. What about you Wendy?
Wendy: I want to go see the world. Just go travel and have fun with the people I care about.
Tyler: I get to come with right?
Wendy: Of course you do, my other resolution was to spend more time with you.
DrPhill26: As for me, my resolution was to write more chapters for my stories. So here's another chapter of Evolution for you guys! Enjoy.
"Okay Glalie, summon up a hailstorm!" A floating ball shaped Pokémon covered in ice and rock opened its mouth and soon small pellets of ice rained down around Candice, Tyler and his Pokémon as they stood in a field behind the Snowpoint City Pokémon Center.
"Get ready Yuki, here it comes." Tyler said looking at his Glaceon.
"Glacie!" Yuki's ears flapped as the ice and wind bore down on her from above. Tyler braced himself with an arm raised to shield his eyes. As the small chunks of ice and snow attacked him, Tyler thought about grabbing the goggles he'd left in his hovercraft helmet over by Wendy, who was sitting on a bench to the side of the field, but decided against it. He didn't want to interrupt Yuki's training session even if for a moment. Still the pelting ice against his unsheltered face was starting to annoy him and both his Pokémon who had taken shelter behind him. Yuki however seemed completely unfazed by the snowstorm, standing confidently in the center of the field proudly calling her name.
"I guess she really is an Ice type now." Tyler thought aloud as Yuki smiled back at him.
"Here's your first lesson about battling with an Ice type Pokémon Tyler!" Candice yelled over the storm. "All Ice type Pokémon can use the move Hail to summon a hailstorm like this. Not only does it make it harder to see, but the falling ice also damages non-Ice type Pokémon."
"That's an understatement if I've ever heard one." Tyler commented as a large chunk of snow hit his forehead, knocking him off balance for a moment. Shaking the stars out of his vision, Tyler shielded his eyes with his hand, trying to focus on the Gym Leader. But even though she was no more than 100 feet from him, Tyler could only barely make out her blue sweater that was once again being worn instead of being around her waist.
"You sure you don't want your goggles? They might help you see better!"
"I won't need them!" Tyler confidently called back. "This is just like my training with Justy and his Sandstorms. The only difference is its hail instead of sand… Still just as annoying though." He added after taking another large clump of snow to the shoulder.
"If you say so Tyler, then let's get started. Candice wants to see if you're as skilled a trainer as you think you are." Even though he couldn't see it, Tyler could feel the confidence carried in Candice's voice. It may have just been training, but her pride as a Gym Leader wasn't going to let her take it easy on him.
"Okay Yuki, this is our first battle in your new form. Are you ready?"
"Glaceon!" Yuki dug into the snow with her front paw, growling menacingly towards the floating ball of ice.
"She's so adorable when she's serious! You can do it Yuki!" Wendy's voice swooned from off to the side of the makeshift battlefield. Despite the encouragement, Yuki's confident stance slackened with her ears lowering and her tail drooping between her legs.
"God dammit Wendy…" Tyler sighed as he shook his head in annoyance. "Just ignore her Yuki and focus on the battle. We might be going up against a Gym Leader, but I have full confidence in you."
"Glacie Glaceon!" Yuki shook herself back to attentiveness, planting her paws firmly in the snow.
"That's my little princess! Now let's get started with Double Team!" With a confident cry of her name, Yuki summoned a large group of clones of herself that quickly filled the makeshift field and surrounded Glalie. "Okay now use Quick Attack!" Just like the night with the Sneasel, Yuki and her clones charged towards the floating rock of ice trying to get in some sneak attacks from different directions and throw him off guard.
"Glalie, Protect!" The Pokémon's blue eyes briefly glowed before a teal colored force field surrounded its body. The Double Team clones harmlessly disappeared against the barrier, but when Yuki tried to attack from Glalie's side she bounced off it instead, briefly stunning her.
"On your left Glalie, use Rollout!" Glalie's body began spinning where it hovered before dropping to the ground and racing towards Yuki. The rolling snowball crashed into Yuki's front, knocking her off her feet and towards her concerned trainer.
"Are you okay Yuki?"
"Glae Glaceon!" Yuki growled standing back on her legs and shaking herself to alertness.
"Rollout once more!" Candice's Glalie made a large looping turn and veered towards the Glaceon once again.
"Dodge with Quick Attack!" Yuki hopped backwards to create an opening and swiftly dove to her left, missing the charging snowball. "Damn that was close."
"Don't celebrate yet Tyler. Glalie, hit her with an Ice Shard!" The rolling ball launched itself back into the air, spinning around to face Yuki with large chunks of ice surrounding its body. It opened its deceptively large jaw and clenched it shut before firing off the icy projectiles.
"Counter with Swift!" Yuki opened her mouth and shot out a volley of yellow stars to intercept the oncoming attack. Both attacks crashed into each other, creating a cloud of diamond dust that sparkled brilliantly for a moment before being blown away by the wind.
"So you were able to stop our attack huh? Not bad Tyler, but can you stop this? Glalie, use Blizzard!" Once more Glalie's eyes glowed light blue as he opened his mouth again, shooting out a swift moving blast of snow and ice.
"Dig underground, hurry!" The oncoming Blizzard quickly blinded Tyler's view of the battlefield, its ferocity forcing him to fully shield his eyes in the arm of his jacket. He had a hunch Candice would be tough even in a training match, but this was far more intense than he'd expected. A moment later Tyler unshielded his eyes, resurveying the battlefield and finding a small hole obscured by a pile of snow from Glalie's field of vision. The ball of ice looked around confused as it searched for his foe.
"Yuki, spring up and use Return!" A small eruption of blue fur leapt from underneath the Glalie and crashed into him from below before he could react. The floating Pokémon fell to the battlefield below with a hard thud. As he slowly started rising off the ground again, Yuki's body began sparkling in her diamond dusted aura as she charged towards her injured foe."
"Protect!" Once more the teal force field surrounded Glalie's body, suspending Yuki's attack in mid air for a moment before pushing her away from her target. She landed on her feet aggressively pawing at the ground in front of her, still showing her willingness to fight.
"Way to go Yuki! You're doing great!" Tyler cheered, seeing Yuki look back at him with a confident smile. "Let's show Candice some more of your kiai! Use-"
"Hold it Tyler!" Candice interrupted, stifling a giggle as she waved her hand over her head. "I can't believe he actually said kiai."
"What's that Candice?" Tyler asked at the quieter second phrase.
"I said let's take a break for a bit!"
"Oh come on, really? But we were just getting started." Tyler complained as Yuki's tail drooped disappointedly. She wanted to battle more too.
"No I know, and you're doing surprisingly well for a novice. Candice is impressed." The Gym Leader replied, returning Glalie to his Poké ball. "But I want to talk about a couple things quickly and then we can continue our battle. Besides, you might want to check on the two popsicles hiding behind you." Confused, Tyler looked behind him and saw what Candice was referring to. Both Pokémon were having difficulty being in the heavy cold with Magnus unable to keep his flames lit and Caelum pecking at ice that had formed on the tips of his wings.
"Whoops, sorry guys. Kind of forgot you were here." Tyler grabbed both of their Poké balls and returned the two of them to the safety of their homes. "Would either of you happen to have an Ice heal on you?" He asked Wendy and Candice.
"Sorry Ty, I don't have one." Wendy called back.
"You can always just get one from the Pokémon Center. It is right over there." Candice offered pointing at the tall gray building off in the distance.
"Alright, I'll be right back." Tyler sighed as he dusted himself off. "Yuki, go play with Wendy or something until I get back." He watched Yuki happily trot through the snow towards an ecstatic Wendy before he turned and jogged towards the Pokémon Center himself.
Stepping inside the familiar building he was quickly spotted by Nurse Kohl who was making rounds in the lobby. She had a frown on her face seeing Tyler coming back so soon after his release, making a comment about him being reckless. But he explained why he was back and the nurse quickly escorted him down a hallway towards one of the supply rooms.
She opened the door with her keycard and told Tyler to wait for a moment, soon returning with a pair of small white bottles with blue caps. But as he was about to release his boys from their Poké balls, the nurse stopped him, telling him that Ice heals work best when given through the Poké ball instead of directly to the Pokémon. So Tyler enlarged the ball in his hand and lined up the release button with the nozzle, hearing a click when the two were connected and sprayed. He repeated the process and added two of his potions to get his boys back to full health and thanked Nurse Kohl for her services once again before returning to the training field.
"Hey… I'm back." Tyler panted having run in a dead sprint from the hospital to the battlefield. "Can we get… back to… training now?"
"At least catch your breath first Tyler." Wendy shook her head sounding amused over Tyler's eagerness. "Right Yuki? Tyler should be more patient." She added to Yuki, who was currently sitting in her lap.
"Glae…" Yuki shook her head as she looked up at Wendy. "Glaceon Glacie G-lae!"
"That's my girl!" Tyler grinned as Yuki hopped off Wendy's lap.
"But… but I wanted to play more Yuki." Wendy looked crestfallen, like a kid who'd just had her favorite toy taken away from her.
"That can be arranged." Candice said with a wink, detaching a Poké ball from her belt and releasing her own Glaceon from its ball.
"G-lae! Glaceon!"
"Glaceon?" Having heard Candice's Glaceon, Yuki turned around and looked at her male counterpart, quickly approaching him curiously. "G-lae? Glacie?"
"Glaceon! Glaceon G-lae Glacie?" Candice's Glaceon spoke in a slightly lower voice, but that was honestly the only way you could tell the two of them apart as the two Pokémon continued to excitedly speak to each other in their own language.
"Okay that's enough you two." Candice said stepping in between the two chatty Pokémon, turning towards her Glaceon. "We're going to do some training over in the nearby field, so I'd like you-"
"Glae G-lae, Glaceon!" Her Glaceon eagerly stood on his hind legs for a moment, showing his eagerness to train before falling to all four once again. Candice quietly laughed to herself as she rubbed her Glaceon's ears.
"I always loved your energy Glaceon. You can join us later okay. For now I'd like it if you could keep her some company for a bit until we need you, okay?" She said pointing to Wendy, whose eyes lit up excitedly as soon as the words left Candice's mouth. "She's gets a bit excited seeing Eevee-lutions like you, so be careful or she'll tire you out before we can train."
"Glaceon!" Candice's Glaceon proudly nodded its head before jogging over to Wendy who quickly scooped up the Ice type and spun him and herself in a circle.
"There, that should get her out of our hair for a moment." Candice giggled as she turned around to the field. "Now why don't we get back to work Tyler?"
"Thanks for that. She can be such a kid sometimes."
"Aren't we all kids at heart Tyler?" Candice and Tyler both laughed as they watched a dizzy Wendy fall on her back with the Glaceon still in her arms. "We all have things that we get really passionate about, stuff that brings out the inner child in all of us."
"You mean like your Tamato bars." Tyler teased remembering how excited Candice got whenever he heard her talking about them.
"That's not the only thing Candice gets passionate over but yes." She replied without a shred of embarrassment. "I also can get really into romance novels. Have you heard of The Burning Tear series? It's so full of kiai!"
"Can't say I have, then again I've never been a fan of romance stories."
"Oh you're missing out! It's a fantastic story about a guy named Ryan and a girl named Samantha and her Growlith Aster. See, Samantha comes from a really troubled upbringing and her only friend is Aster until Ryan moves into the house across the street from her. Now you might think it's the whole new boy comes to town story and they meet in a chance encounter at the bookstore or something but it's not that at all. You see what actually happens is-"
"Um, Candice I'm sure it's a great story and all, but can we get back to training please?" Tyler said raising his hand in front of Candice's face. "You can tell me about the story later if you want. It's just that I want to make the most of this lesson with you."
"No no, I understand. Thanks for stopping me when you did." Candice replied taking her spot along the field from before. Tyler and Yuki soon did the same. "By the way, before we start up again, may I say a few things about your battle style?"
"Sure. Is there anywhere I can improve?" Tyler nervously brought his hands together and folded them, worried about the experienced leader's potential criticism.
"Well it looks to me like you're naturally inclined to a more hit-and-run style combat that uses deception and speed to your advantage over raw power. Am I wrong?"
"Nope, that's pretty much my strategy. It's what Justy specialized in back home so I just naturally picked it up, especially through the Sandstorm training we did."
"Then let's get back to practicing evasion then. Ice types are usually a bit on the slower side, so you'll definitely want to find ways to boost your Glaceon's evasion in battle like with using Double Team."
"Is that so? Alright I'll keep that in mind." Tyler said watching Yuki roll in the snow and shake it off her fur.
"Also I didn't get a chance to say it right away since you went to the Center but that was pretty smart of you dodging Blizzard by using Dig. See, in a hailstorm, Blizzard almost always hits its target because you can't see where it begins or ends if the storm is intense enough. So digging underground like you did is one of the only ways you can dodge the attack effectively." Tyler nodded in understanding while Candice detached two Poké balls from her belt. "Now let's get back to training."
"You heard her Yuki. Let's get ready for round two." Yuki rolled over from her back, onto her legs and quickly assumed a ready stance.
"Glalie, Abomasnow, I choose you!" Candice's towering shaggy behemoth took center stage beneath the familiar floating rock, bellowing its name as he and Candice both adopted their trademark folded arm stance. "So just like Candice said earlier, we're going to let out a series of attacks and all you have to do is dodge all of them, okay?"
"Glaceon Glae!" Yuki nodded as she sized up the shaggy creature before her. It may have been three times her size, but Yuki wasn't showing any signs of backing down from her opponent.
"Glaie, another hailstorm please!" Within moments chunks of ice and snow began falling and clouding the field. "Let's start with some close range combat. Abomasnow use Ice punch!" The behemoth's fists glowed blue as he charged towards Yuki and swung. She ducked underneath the first attack and dodged a second punch swung low with a hop to her side.
"Great start Yuki! Just keep focusing on the attacks and you'll do fine." Even in the low visibility, Yuki was reading the attacks well, having dodged another Ice Punch from the shaggy monster.
"Aboma… snow!" The Abomasnow growled annoyed that his attacks weren't hitting.
"Just keep throwing Ice Punches Abomasnow. You'll hit her eventually." The behemoth grunted as he threw the first of what became a barrage of lefts and an occasional right. Snowdust glinted off his fist with each thrown punch towards the swiftly moving Glaceon. The size difference between the two Pokémon was not in Abomasnow's favor as most of his punches had to be thrown down at an angle, making them easier to dodge. Tyler thought she was starting to get the hang of it. That is until Abomasnow changed his attack pattern and started focusing on rights. A trio of quick punches struck Yuki's body, knocking her away from the beast.
"Okay distance training, Abomasnow use Razor Leaf!" Abomasnow's forearms glowed green as same colored wisps of energy shot out amongst the snow.
"Counter with Swift!" Tyler called out as the shooting stars crashed into the green wisps, the resulting explosion briefly blowing away the snowstorm. Before even being called to, Glalie's eyes glowed bright blue and the hailstorm upped its intensity, leaving Tyler almost unable to see his own Pokémon, let alone Candice's.
"Keep using Razor Leaf!" A flurry of the light green wisps shot into the storm once again. The attack's green color made it easier to spot in the hail, letting Yuki and Tyler both know where it was coming. The first wave crashed into the ground beside her, but the Glaceon let her guard down and was struck by the brunt of the attack. She shook herself to alertness, seeing a second attack launched towards her. This time she didn't stop moving past the first wave, running to her left and outpacing the attack. The more she practiced the better Yuki got at reading the attack, but she wasn't perfect at it yet. Whenever Abomasonw's attack caught her by surprise, Yuki instinctively fired off a Swift volley to protect herself. But with her trainer's guidance, Yuki was steadily improving with her dodges.
"Good job Abomasnow, now you join in too Glalie. Use Ice Shard!" The floating ball of ice moved in front of Abomasnow, jaw already gaping open as the behemoth's arms stopped glowing. Thicker chunks of ice surrounded Glalie's body in a ring before the jaw clenched shut and the chunks were shot towards Yuki. She tried moving to her left but both she and Tyler sensed the attack was still going to hit. Yuki's body stiffened as the attack approached, telling Tyler she wanted to fire another Swift volley to counter.
"Hold it Yuki Don't use Swift!" Yuki looked back at Tyler in surprise as the ice chunks crashed around her and against her side.
"Glacie?" Yuki asked as she took a few steps towards her trainer. "Glae Glaceon G-lae!" Tyler bent to a knee and beckoned Yuki to come all the way beside him. Politely, Yuki made her way to Tyler but sat down in front of him with a frown on her face.
"I'm proud of you for thinking about fighting back with Swift like you have been, that's good instinct. But there's a reason I didn't want you to attack this time." Yuki's frown stayed on her face as she cocked her head sideways. "I know it's difficult seeing Candice's Ice Shard hidden in the Hail, and that Swift fights it off nicely. But that's exactly why we can't use Swift here."
"G-lae?" Yuki raised her front paw like she was asking a question why.
"Because Yuki, the more difficult the training we do, the faster we'll get stronger. You saw Candice's Glaceon earlier right?" Both Tyler and Yuki looked over towards Wendy and Candice's Glaceon. Somehow Wendy had gotten the powerful Ice type to show off its more graceful side and was dancing with her. The Glaceon stood on its hind legs as Wendy held his front paws in her hands and carefully guided him around in a circle to the beat of their own whimsical drum.
"Glaceon…" Yuki looked at the two of them with as deadpan an expression a Pokémon could manage.
"Yeah I'm as surprised as you are." Tyler dryly commented before turning back to his own Pokémon. "Anyway Yuki, aside from dancing surprisingly well, Candice's Glaceon can do this kind of training too. And you saw how strong he was in battle earlier. If we're going to catch up to him and Candice we need to do difficult training like this too. You understand?"
"Glae." Yuki looked down from Tyler's face.
"Oh come on, where's that smile of yours I love?" Tyler asked tickling Yuki beneath her chin with his finger. "Where's that smile? Where is it?" Tyler continued teasing his little princess, getting her to giggle at his lighthearted touch. The teasing came to an abrupt end when Yuki suddenly opened up her mouth and nibbled on Tyler's finger much like she'd always done as an Eevee.
"Ow!" Tyler quickly jerked his hand out of Yuki's mouth, shaking the pain off his finger. Since she'd evolved, apparently Yuki's little nibble was a bit sharper than before and a single drop of blood appeared on his finger. "Your bite got stronger alright." He commented sucking on his injured finger and teasing her ears with the other.
"Glaceon!" Yuki happily smiled, raising her paw towards Tyler.
"Of course princess." Tyler took her paw in his hand, raising it to his lips and kissing it. A momentary chill went through him as her chilled fur pressed against him, but Tyler endured it and pointed back towards Candice's two Pokémon. "Let's get back to work alright?" Yuki said nothing as she turned around once again facing the Gym Leader with an arctic flame in her eyes. Across the field from her, Candice saw Yuki's renewed determination and without saying a word watched her Pokémon assume a ready stance once more.
"Glalie, you know what to do." Yet again a hailstorm was summoned that quickly engulfed the battlefield, clouding Tyler's view of his opponents. "Ice Beam!"
"Glalie!" The floating Pokémon's low voice sounded as a bright blue ball of energy formed between the two black horns on top of its body before firing a jagged beam towards Yuki.
"Glaceon!" Yuki called out her name with vigor as she leapt to her side, dodging the beam, watching a jagged patch of ice form where she stood a moment earlier.
"That's my girl! Keep it up Yuki!" Tyler cheered as another beam was shot towards the Glaceon. Once more she leapt to her right away from the attack, and hopped back from a quickly fired second one.
"Abomasnow, you use Ice Beam too!" Candice called over the hailstorm.
"Snow!" The shaggy behemoth and Candice both folded their arms in perfect sync while another ball of blue energy formed before Abomasnow's face. Now two beams of blue energy arced towards Yuki in rapid succession. As she dodged the first beam with another side hop, Abomasnow's crashed against her body, covering her in a light coating of ice.
"Shake it off Yuki!" Yuki shook her body, cracking the thin layer of ice and sending it flying around her. "Try taking shorter hops, that way you won't get caught midair."
"Ice Beam again!" Both Glalie and Abomasnow shot out another round of the jagged beams towards Yuki. Following her trainer's advice, Yuki took a short hop to just dodge the first one and a larger hop backwards to successfully dodge the second attack. As Tyler celebrated, Yuki continued to hone her reflexes on the two part attack. She continued for a few minutes, occasionally slipping up and getting hit, but the gap between hits was widening with more practice. Even after Glalie upped the hailstorm's intensity to near blizzard conditions, the determined Glaceon still was able to see the attacks and dodge them without difficulty.
"Good job Tyler, you too Yuki." Candice said over the blowing storm. "You ready for another round?"
"Glae Glae!" Yuki answered before Tyler could even open his mouth. She was fully ready for the next step, whatever it was.
"I'll take that as a yes. Alright then, Glalie focus on maintaining the hailstorm. Abomasnow, use Razor Leaf at full kiai!"
"Aboma!" The beast roared loudly as it pointed its glowing green arms towards Yuki and shooting off the familiar green wisps of energy towards her. The first few fell to the ground around her, with the Glaceon trying to jump back away from the volley, only to be hit with the brunt of the attack hitting her face and legs.
"Brush it off Yuki. You've got this." Tyler said encouragingly. "Find the spot where the attack isn't as intense and head there."
"Snow!" Abomasnow roared again, firing off another volley of the energy wisps towards Yuki. Her eyes studied the attack as it approached. But again before she could move the attack crashed into the snow behind her, kicking up a cloud of snowdust that was blown away by the howling winds.
"That's it Abomasnow. Keep up the attack!" Candice called out as she struck a pose. A third consecutive wave of leaves was fired off towards Yuki. Like before she waited in place, reading the attack as it rose and fell in the blustery wind and made a move forward to her left. But it wasn't fast enough as the attack crashed into her back and around her back legs.
"Glacie…" Yuki grit her teeth as she pushed herself back off the ground and to a fighting stance.
"Snow-aboma!" Another attack from the snow behemoth was shot into the snowstorm, dancing along the cold breeze as it arced towards the struggling Glaceon. Again she watched the attack like before, this time taking a heavy jump from her spot at the last moment. Most of the attack crashed harmlessly beneath her feet, and only a handful of stray wisps made their way towards her in the air. He cried out again and a second consecutive attack followed the same arc. This time Yuki was ready, quickly running to her left as the attack made its way towards her, completely missing her for the first time in this storm.
"Glalie use Ice Shard!" Candice said catching Tyler off guard.
"Counter with Swift Yuki!" Tyler's instinct called out before he could stop himself as Yuki fired a star shaped volley towards the oncoming ice chunks. Both attacks collided with strong force in the center of the field, a handful of both attacks making their way through the collision and hitting their intended target. "Sorry, I couldn't stop myself in time."
"Don't apologize, that's a good reflex to have as a trainer." Candice replied, dismissing the apology. "But we are going to keep the attacks coming now. Glalie, keep firing Ice Shards!" The ring of Glalie's ice chunks surrounded him as they were quickly fired off with a second wave forming moments after the first were launched.
"Brace yourself Yuki! Watch the attack so you know what to look for next time." Yuki nodded briefly before being struck by the unexpectedly fast first attack. She shook herself back to alertness in time to see the second wave approaching her. Fortunately the hailstorm was again starting to die down, allowing the larger ice chunks to be spotted easier. Using the short hop technique she'd used earlier, Yuki began rhythmically dancing back and forth in place as she ducked and wove her way through the attack. After a few repetitions Tyler and Yuki were both starting to pick out the attack with regularity. The chunks in the attack were narrower than the hail that surrounded it and once Tyler could regularly find them, he could help Yuki dodge the attack with regularity.
"Just a little bit longer and we'll take a break Tyler." Candice's voice echoed as Glalie fired yet another attack that Yuki was able to jump up and over. "But we're going full kiai from now out. I hope you're ready."
"Of course we're ready, right Yuki?" The tired Glaceon looked over at Tyler, slightly winded but still having the same energy in her eyes that she had at the start of their training. She said nothing, only smiling back at him briefly before looking back at Candice and her Pokémon, saying her name again.
"Okay then, you set up the hail this time Abomasnow." With a low grunt and a curt nod, Abomasnow threw his arms wide, bellowing his name and quickly summoned a blindingly intense storm. Compared to the storms that Tyler had seen earlier, Abomasnow's was easily the most intense. It looked like he'd surrounded the entire battlefield in an actual blizzard more than just whipping up a hailstorm. Hailstones the size of Glalie's attacks pelted the field, a pair of heavy stones hitting Tyler's chest, knocking him on his backside. As he sat up he saw Yuki holding steady with her ears and the diamond tufts flapping in the severe winds.
"Alright both of you…" Candice continued thrusting her arm towards Tyler and Yuki. "Give them everything you've got. Double Ice Beam!"
"Double?" Tyler asked in surprise as he saw two light blue balls forming in the polar vortex. Both attacks fired off at the same time towards Yuki, who instinctively ran to her left in a dodge. Tyler watched in a mix of shock and awe as the ground where she stood a moment ago completely iced over in a second, looking like a large blooming ice flower. The two Gym Leader's Pokémon attacked again, Yuki taking a larger hop backwards thinking it was just one, as did her trainer until a second hit her chest.
"Stay focused Yuki, we're almost done." Tyler said encouragingly as Yuki stood up again.
"Keep firing!" Both the Gym Leader's Pokémon continued alternating their shots towards Yuki. With frightening precision, the two powerful Ice types read each of the Glaceon's moves and quickly adjusted their attack to match. All of Yuki's previous agility seemed to be failing her as she could only dodge a handful of the beams anymore, and the ones she did dodge were too close to comfort.
"Fine, if you're going full power then we should too. Use Dig and get underground!" Yuki glanced back at Tyler for a moment before jumping up over an Ice Beam headed her way. Before the second could connect with her, she quickly dug herself underground to take shelter. Across the field from him, Candice looked surprised.
"You know Tyler; if you wanted us to stop you could have just said something. It is your lesson after all."
"Use Double Team, then spring up from underground!" Tyler commanded. A moment later a trio of erupting mounds of snow and blue fur sprang up across the battlefield with multiple clones on Tyler's side of the field. Neither of Candice's Pokémon reacted, but an amused smile crept on Candice's face.
"Very creative Tyler. But we're ready for you, Abomasnow use Razor Leaf!"
"Surround him and use Swift!" As the Abomasnow raised his forearms again for an attack, the Glaceon army took off towards him. As he fired off the green wisps, the Glaceons each used Swift, creating a cascade of stars that dwarfed Abomasnow's attack, countering it and hitting him with a barrage of shooting stars. With the Abomasnow stunned from the attack, the rest of Yuki's clones were able to surround him completely, each of their mouths glowing slightly as they prepared for another attack.
"Glalie use Rollout!" The floating ball of ice began spinning in place where it hovered for a moment before lowering itself to the ground and racing forward, a trail of snow in its wake as it aimed for the ring of Glaceon around Abomasnow. A few of the clones were alert enough to see the attack coming and jump out of the way, but the first five Glalie made contact with disappeared on contact.
"All of you use Return on Abomasnow!" The remaining group of Glaceons all started glowing with a faint white outline. As the Glalie turned around for a second pass, the Glaceons charged in a staggered pattern trying to confuse Abomasnow with their numbers.
"Abomasnow use Ice Punch!" As the first Glaceon leapt towards Abomasnow's face, he raised his glowing blue fists and threw a heavy punch right through the shadowy clone's body. Yuki went second attacking from behind and hitting the shaggy beast in the back. He spun around and flung a quick punch that Yuki was able to duck underneath, and then jumped back from the rapidly approaching Glalie which missed both the Glaceon and his ally.
"Aim for his face, use Swift!" Tyler called out as Yuki shot a brief flurry of stars at the Abomasnow. He raised a forearm to shield himself, allowing him to keep an eye on Yuki and throw a heavy punch to her side which sent her flying back across the field towards Tyler.
"Good job Abomasnow, now let's see if you can dodge this. Use Razor Leaf! Glalie you use Ice Shard!" Both of Candice's Pokémon called in response before Tyler saw the green wisps shooting from the center of the battlefield. And although he couldn't see the shooting ice hidden within the brutish hailstorm, he certainly knew the attack was coming.
"Use Quick Attack to dodge!" Yuki quickly charged towards both attacks leaving a white trail of her own behind her before abruptly leaping into the air and disappearing from sight while both attacks swept over the battlefield. Tyler dropped to a knee, bracing himself as the crashing wave of snow, ice and leafy wisps engulfed his vision. Once the furious attacks subsided, Tyler looked up, seeing the hailstorm had finally stopped and drifting snow blew over the battlefield, covering it in complete whiteness except for Candice's Pokémon. But Tyler's own Pokémon and her remaining clones had all disappeared from sight "Yuki? Where'd you go?"
"Glacie!" A singular eruption of snow in the center of the battlefield showed where Yuki was. She'd managed to make her way into one of her previously dug holes just before the combined attacks hit her and her remaining clones. She proudly but tiredly made her way towards Tyler before shaking the remaining snow and dirt off her body.
"Okay Glalie, Abomasnow that's enough. You two can take a break now, you've earned it." Candice said returning both Pokémon to their Poké balls and clipping them to her belt. "That got pretty intense towards the end huh Tyler. You and Yuki did pretty well against us today."
"You think so? That means a lot coming from a Gym Leader like you Candice." Tyler smiled, picking Yuki up in his arms as he walked towards Candice. She however motioned back over towards the bench where Wendy was sitting with a sleeping Glaceon resting its head on her lap.
"Hey you guys!" Wendy excitedly whispered as the two approached. "I caught the tail end of that just now. Both of you looked pretty fired up out there."
Yeah, it was fun. You did great out there Yuki. I'm real proud of you." Tyler said nuzzling her head with his cheek.
"How's my little sleepyhead doing?" Candice asked sitting next to her Glaceon.
"Great, thanks for letting me play with him today. He is just so adorable. I really wish I had an Eevee I could call my own."
"How'd you tire him out anyway?" Tyler asked taking a seat on the bench. "Like seriously, Yuki was out there working her butt off dodging attacks during our training session and you were just here dancing with him the whole time. Not to mention he's a Gym Leader's Pokémon so he's got to have more stamina than Yuki does, especially considering she just evolved within the past week."
"Actually, I have a theory about that. But I need to ask you a question first Tyler." Candice said picking her Glaceon up into her lap, lightly petting his head.
"What's that?"
"Do you remember what Yuki's ability was when she was an Eevee?"
"Um… I'm not sure actually." Tyler pondered, scratching his chin in thought. "To be honest most of my training with Yuki was in the basement of the Pre Center against stationary targets. In fact if you count today's training as a battle, this would be only her fifth official fight. I guess I never really learned her ability because of it."
"Well, Eevee can have one of three abilities." Candice began. "They can have either-"
"Run Away, Adaptability or Anticipation." Wendy interrupted with a twinkle in her eye. "But Anticipation is a fairly rare ability to have in Eevees. Only about one percent of Eevees have it naturally. However of those Eevees with the ability, they have about a fifty percent chance to pass it along to their kit." Tyler and Candice both looked at Wendy with a mix of surprise and amusement once she'd finished. "What? Eevee is my favorite Pokémon. I know practically everything about them and all of its equally adorable evolutions."
"Right, those are the three abilities it can have as an Eevee." Candice continued. "But when it evolves into the Ice typed Glaceon, its ability undergoes an icy change and becomes either Snow Cloak or Ice Body."
"So which one does Yuki have?" Tyler asked curiously.
"That's what Candice is trying to figure out, but i could be either of them based on the training we did." All three of them stayed in silence thinking things over before Candice resumed speaking. "You said you didn't use Yuki in battle much before right?"
"Yeah, four times to be exact. I remember all of those fights pretty well."
"Do you remember using her against anyone who had Fighting type Pokémon on their team?" Tyler lost himself in thought as he recalled each of Yuki's fights. He'd used her in two separate fights against Justy, but his mentor didn't use Fighting types in battle. He'd also used her against his friend Charlie once in battle, but he also had no Fighting types. The only other battle was one against a green haired kid from Phenac City who came to challenge Justy's Gym. He made Tyler fight him as a warm up battle and Tyler used Eevee in that fight. Tyler was quickly beaten by him because of his Pokémon's vicious Karate Chop that stunned Eevee, which then allowed him to pick her up and throw her across the field and defeat her.
"Yeah actually there was one battle with this kid who beat me with a fairly strong Machop, but then Justy went and beat the pants off him. Why?"
"Do you remember Eevee acting strange at all in that battle, like at the beginning specifically?" Wendy asked this time as Tyler replayed the beginning of the fight in his head. As the kid sent out his Machop Tyler reached for Eevee's ball and released her. But the moment she arrived on the battlefield her entire body shivered, which she hadn't done in either of her previous fights before.
"Um, well after I released her from her ball, Yuki kind of shivered when she saw the Machop. But I'm sure that was just her being nervous from being in her first legitimate battle. Both fights she'd been in before were more like today, kind of half battle and half training." Wendy looked at Candice, both of them nodding at each other with a grin on their faces.
"You lucky son of a bitch." Wendy grinned as she playfully slapped Tyler's back, almost knocking him off the bench in the process. "Yuki had Anticipation as her ability before she evolved."
"Seriously?" Tyler said in shock. "So that wasn't just her being nervous about the fight?"
"Well, technically yes and no." Wendy began anew with excitement in her voice. "Anticipation can best be described as a reflex that Pokémon with the ability have where they can sense their potential for being at a disadvantage in a fight with other Pokémon. So when your Eevee fought that Machop, she instinctively knew she was at a disadvantage and shivered before the battle. But as Candice said, the ability changes when Eevee evolves."
"That's exactly right." Candice jumped in. "So as a Glaceon they can have either of the two abilities we said before, Ice Body or Snow Cloak. My Glaceon has the latter, which is the much more common ability. But if your Eevee had Anticipation as her ability, there's a very high chance that she kept the rareness of her ability, and developed the Ice Body ability when she evolved. That means that inside a snow or hailstorm, your Glaceon will actually improve her stamina the longer she's in the battle."
"Oh now I get it." Tyler said looking from his more alert Glaceon to the one stirring in Candice's lap. "So that's why she's still got some energy left in her despite taking all those hits in the training battle."
"Glacie!" Yuki merrily called her name as Tyler scratched her beneath the chin again, and once more getting nibbled on after a moment.
"Hey! Stop that you rascal. Princess' don't bite." Tyler teasingly wagged his finger at Yuki, only for her to once again gnaw lightly on his finger when it got too close. While Tyler gingerly sucked on his finger, both girls beside him quietly laughed at his expense a moment before Candice placed her Glaceon on the ground and stood up.
"Well come on Tyler, we've got one last thing I want to do today with your Glaceon. And we're going to need your help now." She added crouching to her Glaceon's eye level.
"Glae Glacie!" The Glaceon energetically responded.
"Go run over to that field over there we'll be there in a moment." Candice watched her Glaceon take off quickly to the battlefield before turning back to Tyler. "Yuki doesn't know any Ice type moves yet does she?"
"No, but I get the feeling you want to fix that don't you Candice."
"That's the plan. She should be more than ready to learn Ice Fang now that she's evolved. But we're going to need some targets for her to practice on. Can you guys help me make some simple snowmen in the field?"
"Gladly! I haven't done this sense I was a little girl." Wendy eagerly replied, grabbing both Poké balls from her belt. Wendy released both Tess and Pulse from their balls, the two of them standing side by side in the snow. "We're making snowmen for Yuki to practice a new move with. Think you guys can help out?"
"Am-Ampharos! Tess smiled as she sat down in the snow, sweeping her tail behind her and dragging a large pile of snow in front of her. She quickly set to work using her tail and paddle like arms to fashion a group of small snowballs. Pulse stoically nodded his head, saying nothing until Wendy pointed over towards Candice and her Glaceon. Tess had already made a packed ball about a foot and a half high and pushed it over to Pulse, who took it and began rolling it across the field towards the Gym Leader. By the time Pulse had rolled his ball over to Candice, Tess had finished a second one, larger this time and pushed it before Tyler.
Stretching his arms first, Tyler bent over the ball and gave it a heavy push. It rolled a few feet in front of him before stopping. He walked up and gave it another push and another as he rolled the ball behind Pulse's path. About half way there he saw the Lucario sprinting across the field back towards Tess to grab another ball and also saw Wendy starting to push another snowball a good distance behind him. Once he reached Candice, the Gym Leader helped him lift Pulse's smaller ball on top of his, creating a crude but effective snowman standing about three and a half feet tall. The group continued this assembly line of snowmen until they'd made ten of them, when everyone reunited at the center of the field.
Candice then instructed her Glaceon to demonstrate the proper attack on the first target so Yuki could get a sense of what the move would look like. Her Glaceon stood back from the group and eyed up the first target on the left. The air around his mouth took on a heavy chill before he took off, quickly moving towards the target and leaping towards the snowman. His mouth opened fully with an icy blue hue inside it as he bit down on the side of the target, taking a large chunk out of the crude sphere and collapsing it in a pile around its base.
As he returned by his master's side, Candice called both Glaceons over and began teaching Yuki about channeling the ice energy necessary for the attack into her mouth. With the experienced Glaceon demonstrating and giving her encouragement in Pokéspeak, Yuki opened her mouth and briefly channeled frost into her breath. It took her a while to sustain it for a lengthy period of time, but after a few minutes of practice she was able to hold the frost in her mouth long enough to satisfy Candice.
After another successful demonstration by her Glaceon, Candice told Yuki the last eight targets were hers to practice on. She followed Candice's Glaceon to where he'd stood before he began his attacks and after another pep talk from him, Yuki gave the move her first attempt. She ran towards the snowman, her mouth sparkling with iciness as she leapt towards her target. Her mouth opened wide and bit the snowman, but it wasn't as clean or showy as the other Glaceon's was. Additionally when she landed and looked back at the snowman, it was still standing with a small chunk of his head missing. She turned around and attacked the snowman again, successfully knocking it over in a powdery white pile, shaking the remains off her body.
With encouragement from everyone watching her, Yuki ran back by the other Glaceon and charged towards her second target. This time the attack was shallower than the previous one, with her barely making contact with the edge of the snowman. Again the second attack knocked it over and the same pattern repeated itself with the third, fourth, fifth and sixth snowmen she attacked. With only two targets remaining Yuki looked slightly defeated at not quite getting the hang of the attack. She'd managed to knock down the last one with one attack like Candice's Glaceon had, but she was still having difficulty with maintaining the frosted energy for the attack.
She tried again, channeling the energy in her mouth and jumped straight towards the target again. As she bit into the snowman, she intensified the output of ice in her mouth and clamped her mouth shut. She looked back in time with her landing to see it fall apart in much the same way the more experienced Glaceon had before her. Her eyes lit up excitedly as Tyler and everyone else applauded her first successful use of the move. She ran back to her starting place again and charged towards the last remaining target using the same technique again. However the result was more in line with her first attempts. However with having completed the move successfully, Yuki was all smiles as she made her way back to her joyful trainer.
"That was great Yuki. Way to show your kiai out there. I'm so proud of your work today." Tyler scooped up Yuki in his arms and nuzzled her cheek again.
"Candice can't believe you're actually saying that word now." The Gym Leader laughed as she returned her Glaceon to his ball and both Tyler and Wendy returned their Pokémon as well.
"Hey I told you, it's a word with a sort of ring to it that I like. I'm gonna start using it." Tyler and Candice both smiled at each other while Wendy rolled her eyes. She opened her mouth so say something but was interrupted by a brief jingling noise in her pocket.
"I wonder who that could be." Wendy said to herself as she dug into her pocket and pulled out her phone. "Oh, it's from Mr. Kaleo."
"Your boss? What does he want now?" Tyler wondered.
"It's about the incident in Sunyshore City." Just like that the cheery atmosphere of the three deflated to one of concern and worry. They'd all been so engrossed in their training earlier that they'd each forgotten about the attack on the Pokémon Center earlier that afternoon.
"What's it say?" Candice asked.
"Nothing new, just that they announced the time the mayor's press conference would start. It'll be in two hours from now at 8:30."
"So what are we going to do for two hours because I am dead tired." Tyler commented, stifling a quiet yawn beneath his hand.
"Then why don't we all head back to my house for the night." Candice suggested. "We can take it easy for a while until the news report begins and we can find out about what happened in Sunyshore."
"A Gym Leader's house." Tyler grinned as he lost himself in thought. "If your Gym was any indication, I bet your house looks amazing."
"Oh it's nothing too special. Just a quiet little cottage on the north side of the city. But it'll be nice to have guests over for a change. So let's get going!" Candice grabbed her Dodrio's ball and released the bird, quickly climbing on top of its back. She offered a ride to Tyler and Wendy but both of them were declined, instead opting to walk alongside the bird to the parking lot of the Pokémon Center where Tyler had parked his hovercraft. With the sun beginning to set atop the trees, the three of them made their way back into the heart of Snowpoint City on their way to the Gym Leader's home.
A/N: There we go, that makes 20 chapters in the books for this story. So I think I'll go get right back to work on my resolution and start working on another new chapter for you all to enjoy. I hope you've enjoyed yourself and once again, this is DrPhill26 signing out and I'll-
Wendy: Hey wait Phil! You didn't ask Pulse about his New Years Resolution.
DrPhill26: I didn't? Oh my bad Pulse. What's your resolution for the coming year?
Pulse: My resolution is rather simple, and I am almost certain that I can accomplish it.
DrPhill26: Confident are you? So what is it? You going to try and get stronger? Become the best Lucario ever?
Pulse: Actually my resolution is just to annoy you more than I have over the past year. I believe it shall be an easy one to accomplish.
DrPhill26: ... ... This year is going to suck for me isn't it? Whatever, this is DrPhill26 signing out and I'll see you guys next time.