A/N: Hey guys, DrPhill26 here with another update! It's been... actually it hasn't been a while has it? It's only been like three days actually since we last met.
Tyler: Yeah what the hell man? Why are you so energized?
DrPhill26: Because now it's officially spring and the snow is gone and the sun is shining and I feel great! I'm like a Grass type with Chlorophyll right now. And with that super speed, I cranked out an entire, full length chapter for you guys in no time flat.
Tyler: Yeah, you certainly caught us off guard alright. I don't even think Wendy's here right now.
DrPhill26: Oh don't worry about her. She's not even in this chapter today since she's gone to Solaceon Town, remember?
Tyler: Hmm... it feels kind of lonely without her around.
DrPhill26: Oh how can anybody be gloomy on a day like this? Look at it, no snow anywhere! I can go golfing! So I'm out you guys, enjoy the chapter while I hit up the links. Yahoo!
"Alrighty Tyler, here's your rental bike for the day." A clerk at a bike shop by Cyclist Road said as he unlocked a dark orange, three-speed bicycle from its floor stand and rolled it over to Tyler. "Just remember to bring it back by sunset; otherwise it'll cost you extra."
"You'll get it back plenty before then." Tyler replied, taking the bike from the man and pushing down on the seat a few times. Satisfied with the bounce in the seat, Tyler began walking the bike towards the back door outside.
"Wish I could join you out there. It's absolutely gorgeous out there today." The man said as he and Tyler stepped into the sunlight together. It really was a picturesque day for being outdoors today. There were only a handful of clouds anywhere to be seen and the lightly chilled breeze felt great against Tyler's skin. His only regret was that Wendy couldn't join him on this beautiful day since she'd already borrowed his moped and left for Solaceon Town for the day. It would have been a perfect day for that picnic in the park he thought about doing yesterday.
"You sure you can't just play hooky for a bit?"
"Afraid not, if I wasn't the only one at the shop today I'd probably join you." The clerk admitted which made Tyler and him chuckle briefly. "Take care of yourself alright."
"Yeah, see you in a few hours." Before Wendy had left for Solaceon Town, she recommended that Tyler head to Cyclist Road as a good spot to reconnect and train with his Pokémon, which was why he was here and he was very glad to have taken her advice. As Tyler rode the bike towards the main entrance to the Cyclists's Path he felt the urge to have another race with Caelum. So he grabbed the bird Pokémon's ball and released him to the sky.
"Star Staraptor!" Caelum excitedly cawed, already soaring around in circles above Tyler's head. It'd been too long for the bird to get a pleasurable day to stretch his wings. He felt just as anxious as Tyler was to get out and do some hard work.
"So Caelum, how about another race?"
"Tor Raptor!"Caelum flew straight up into the sky, stalled out and swooped down over Tyler's head, making the human flinch on a reflex.
"You may have to take it a bit easier on me today though since I don't have my hovercraft." Tyler took a look to his right as the actual Cyclist Path on Route 206 started coming into view over a small hill. "Then again maybe not." A childish grin crept onto Tyler's face as he slowed to a stop.
"Rap-Tor!" From where he and Caelum were riding at the top of an open valley, Tyler could see a long downhill slanting bridge that seemed to span almost the entire length of the meadow. He could already see a couple of cyclists furiously accelerating from the high side Tyler was on, down the bridge towards its bottom edge. It had to be at least a full mile long easily, possibly even two miles if it was going to almost reach between the canyon edges. But the reason Tyler had come here wasn't just so he could ride a bike really fast on a bridge. Wendy had told him that the valley itself beneath the bridge was an ideal training spot for Pokémon trainers and he could see why from up here. With varying terrain from patches of open grass, rivers, thicker forest sections and the ever present rocks and cliffs of the nearby Mt. Coronet, this was truly a wonderful spot to go training in Sinnoh.
"Hey! Maybe if I'm incredibly lucky today, I might just catch a Pokémon." Tyler's eyes sparkled excitedly as he slug his backpack off his shoulder and fished around for the Great Balls he'd purchased back home in Phenac. Tyler remembered he'd never actually caught a wild Pokémon before despite all his experience with Magnus, Caelum and Yuki. Today was a chance to check a milestone off his trainer's to do list. "What do you think Caelum? Should we get a new friend to join our misadventures today?"
"Star Star Star!" Caelum lazily looped through the sky lost in his own world. Tyler chuckled to himself, opening the package with the Great Balls in them and clipped three empty ones to his belt, then put the remaining three in his jacket pocket.
"Okay, let's officially start this adventure!" Tyler kicked off the ground and quickly accelerated to speed, leaving his oblivious Staraptor in the clouds before the bird made an alarmed squawk and chased after him. With Caelum flying alongside him, the two made their way to the top of the Cyclist Bridge and stared down its impressive length. Now that he was actually atop the bridge, the length of it really hit home with Tyler. A sign nearby said the bridge itself was actually 2.5 miles long and at a constant ten degree downhill slope throughout to really get that soaring through the sky feeling down and wouldn't be too overwhelming going back up.
Not a moment later and the wind was whipping past Tyler's head as he and his Staraptor were racing each other down the asphalt covered bridge. Although the race was over in an almost instant, Tyler told Caelum to go straight as an arrow at the slope but as fast as he wanted and the bird didn't hesitate to show his stuff. Within seconds, Tyler was left behind a stream of his partner's white contrails as he rocketed downhill. He should have known better than to try and challenge Caelum in a speed contest; he'd need a rocket strapped to his back if he wanted any chance of trying to catch him at this rate.
But as Caelum began to fade from sight, Tyler started to worry in the back of his mind that maybe that recurrent blue aura that had been plaguing Caelum of late with his Aerial Ace move would show up again. A few moments later, the black dot that was Caelum suddenly shot up and climbed in height on the horizon before leveling out again and another minute later, Caelum was back above Tyler's head, cawing his victory. Tyler didn't care that he'd lost again; he was just happy the blue aura didn't show up and hurt him this time.
Once they reached the bottom of the bridge, Tyler ruffled Caelum's feathers a bit and followed the bird into the rolling hills beyond the path. From here, Tyler really could really appreciate the beauty that this route had to offer. It almost looked like a postcard with how calm and tranquil everything looked. A few wild Pokémon could be seen running around in the distance, reminding Tyler that he had two more of his own Pokémon that should be enjoying this beauty with him so he released Yuki and Magnus from their balls as well.
"Isn't today lovely you guys?" Tyler asked his Pokémon as Yuki, Magnus and Caelum all huddled around him. Each of his Pokémon happily called out their names with a smile on their faces. "I know right, this is paradise. So here's the plan, we've got a Gym match coming up with Gardenia, and she's a Grass type user, so all three of you should have a good matchup with her."
"Lava-va! Quilava Quil!" Magnus' back sparked in an excited fire that startled Yuki, making the Ice type run towards Tyler's side to get away from the unexpected flames.
"Settle down Magnus." Tyler chuckled at his partner's energy. "I know you're excited, I am too. But Yuki's an Ice type now, she doesn't like fire that much anymore, remember?" Magnus hung his head and quieted the flames on his back to a mild blaze.
"Va – lava" Magnus looked regretfully towards Yuki, seeming to apologize to her.
"Glacie." Yuki nodded her head then looked back up to Tyler expectantly.
"Good, you two are on the same page again. So like I was saying, we've got a Gym match soon with Gardenia and I need you guys to be ready for it. I feel really confident that as a team we'll walk out of that Gym with our first badge." Again, Tyler's Pokémon proudly called their names in unison. "See, that's the kind of energy we're gonna need when we go in there. Now we're gonna do some training today, but for now let's just appreciate this day for what it is and relax for a bit. I'm gonna do some meditating, but you three are free to do whatever you want as long as you stay somewhat close by."
Again, all three of the Pokémon called their names and rushed off in three different directions while Tyler sat down on the top of a low hill. Naturally, Caelum took back to the sky and was enjoying the hidden air currents. Yuki scampered off towards the nearby river and lay down along the bank, possibly for a nap. Magnus stayed put for a bit putting his nose in the air and giving a smell before suddenly bolting towards a nearby bush having apparently found a snack.
With a smile on his face, Tyler made himself comfortable atop the hill and took off his socks and shoes. He tossed them over by the bike and positioned his legs so that the feet rested on their opposite knee. It'd been a while since he did this so it took a while longer than normal for him to get into the correct position, but once he did Tyler placed the palms of his hands on the bottoms of his feet and began listening to the world around him.
For the first time in a long time, Tyler took the weight of the world off his shoulders and connected with Earth itself. He didn't even notice when his eyes closed themselves and his heartbeat steadied to a serene calm mind. He heard Caelum merrily cawing his head off, no doubt looping in wide circles back and forth over the hill and felt the breeze across his arms and forehead. The curl of a smile widened on his face as Tyler began cherishing this little moment.
"Glae… Glae!" Tyler's eyes fluttered a bit as a soft, slightly damp touch pressed against Tyler's arm. His eyes opened seeing an unclouded and clear sky above him, with one exception being a pair of white orbs in his Glaceon's eyes as she stood above him. She pressed her paw against his forehead this time and Tyler responded.
"Well hi Yuki." Tyler mumbled beneath a yawn as he reached a hand up and pet the back of her head. "Did I fall asleep?"
"Glaceon." Yuki stepped back as Tyler sat up and stretched his arms over his heads. "Glacie Glacie!"
"What? You want to show me something?" Tyler stood up and watched Yuki running back towards the river again. Tyler ran a little bit further upstream of his Glaceon, dipping his hands in the water and splashing it on his face.
"Glaceon!" Yuki called out again and Tyler finally joined her. As he approached though, he noticed a small patch of ice had formed in the river about a foot into the river and three feet wide.
"Hey look at you! Have you been training behind my back?"
"Glacie." Yuki giggled as she proudly pressed on the ice with her front paws. She then pushed off the ice, standing on her hind legs for a moment before pressing all of her weight back on the ice again. A crack formed in the center of it where her paws were, but the ice chunk managed to stay in one piece.
"That is incredible Yuki. You're amazing." Tyler bent down beside Yuki and excitedly pet her all over her body, hearing more excited giggling from his princess. "So if you're ready to get going, how about we get the others and do some heavier duty training?"
"Glae Glae!" Yuki stood on her hind legs again, reminding Tyler of Candice's Glaceon which brought a smile to Tyler's face again.
"Yeah that's it, full of kiai just like it should be." Tyler cupped his finger and thumb in his mouth and made a loud whistling noise, trying to call his Pokémon back to his side while he and Yuki walked back to where the bike lay. Caelum quickly dive bombed out of the sky, dragging his talons low along the grass as he shot beside Tyler and lowly looped back around. Magnus on the other hand took a little longer to rejoin the group and when he did, Tyler noticed the spunky Fire type had what looked like purple berry juice at the edge of his mouth.
"You better not get sick while we're training today Magnus." The Quilava flared up his back again, showing he was ready to go regardless of whether he might have a stomach ache later. "Alright, if you say so buddy."
Tyler hopped back on the bicycle and slowly rode alongside his Pokémon at a short pace, following the river through the meadow. When he'd done training with his whole team in the Pre Center back home he liked to use sections where the environments would overlap to provide different terrain. He felt it helped get his Pokémon used to the potential shifting ground of an actual battle. But in the constant grassy meadow, there was hardly anything close to what he was looking for. So they went more into the forested areas to find better training grounds.
A few minutes into the forest Tyler and his Pokémon found something that caught their eye. But it wasn't a field for training grounds like Tyler had hoped; instead it was a wild Pokémon. They'd encountered a wild Ponyta that had made its way towards the river and was enjoying a drink from the stream. Unlike the other Pokémon that Tyler had heard skittering through the grass; this was the first one he'd seen in full. Seeing its fiery mane blowing in the wind reminded Tyler of Gardenia's Gym and that having a Ponyta in addition to Magnus could only help his challenge.
"What do you guys think?" Tyler whispered to his Pokémon as they hid behind a nearby tree. "Should we add a Ponyta to our team?" All three Pokémon quietly nodded their heads and Tyler had made up his mind. This Ponyta would be the first Pokémon that he'd catch in his life.
"Alright Magnus, I'm counting on you here." Tyler grabbed Yuki's and Caelum's balls and returned the two of them. "I'll call on you guys if I need to, but now it's you and me."
"Lava-va!" Magnus' back ignited in an excited flame. He was feeling the same way Tyler was, an eager mix of anxious energy. He was good to go.
"Use Swift buddy!" Magnus opened his mouth and spat out a round of the classic star shaped projectiles towards the unsuspecting Fire horse. The stars crashed into the Pokémon's side, halting its drink and it looked at Magnus with annoyance in its eyes. The Ponyta stamped its front hoof into the ground and shook its head.
"Hope you're ready to be caught Ponyta. Swift again!" As Magnus opened his mouth, the Ponyta's mane flared up as it opened its mouth and shout out an Ember volley towards the Swift with both attacks canceling each other out in a cloud of burning stardust. Before the dust could settle, Ponyta charged ahead towards Magnus and crashed into him, knocking him back a few feet but still on his feet.
"Tackle huh? Not bad, but it has to hit first, Magnus outspeed him with Quick Attack!" Magnus exploded out of his stance with a glowing white trail behind him as he crashed into Ponyta, knocking it back a bit farther than Magnus had been knocked back. Ponyta raced back again for another hit, but with Magnus' swiftness he was able to jump out of the way, quickly sprint around a nearby tree and hit the Ponyta in the back with a second Quick Attack. Ponyta let out a frustrated growl as it spat out another round of the Embers towards Magnus. But Tyler's own Fre type spat out an Ember of his own to counter the attack.
"Quick Attack again!" For the third time Magnus raced forward towards Ponyta. As he approached, the Ponyta reared on its hind legs and slammed them down into the ground, catching both Tyler and Magnus off guard as he became trapped beneath its front hooves.
"Was that Stomp?" Magnus let out a gagged gasp as he squirmed beneath the fire horse. But Ponyta wasn't letting up, leaning its neck down and spitting a point blank Ember on Magnus' back. Sure Magnus was a Fire type himself so the attack wasn't doing much damage but it still wasn't good for Magnus to take unnecessary damage like this. "Magnus Smokescreen!"
"La-va!" Magnus coughed up a black smoke from his back right into the Ponyta's open mouth, making the Pokémon cough as it struggled to breathe. But more importantly it forced its hooves off Magnus to free him from his restraints.
"Great job Magnus now use Swift once more!" Making sure he was a good distance from Ponyta, Magnus fired off another volley of shooting stars into the Smokescreen. As the stars entered it, the Smokescreen was quickly blown away by a small explosion that revealed Ponyta still hadn't given up with another Ember counter. It let out an angry sounding neigh and its mane sparked up before moving its head in a circle and spitting out a ring of fire in front of it, then charged forward with the ring suspended in front of its body.
"Dodge it Magnus!" Magnus stayed in place for a moment, reading Ponyta's attack and jumped to his left as the fire horse missed its mark. It slowed a bit but turned around back towards Magnus and continued its charge.
"You know, that looks kind of like Flame Wheel… alright, let's show him the original! Use your Flame Wheel!" Ponyta dashed towards Magnus with its flaming wheel as Magnus stood by a tree. He looked up at the tree and quickly took a step back before swiftly jumping up and off the tree. He leapt over Ponyta's back as the wild Pokémon crashed into the tree while Magnus tucked into a burning wheel of his own, landing behind Ponyta and crashing into its side and knocking the Pokémon off its hooves and on its side.
"This is it Magnus, we got him!" Tyler excitedly reached for one of the empty balls on his belt and enlarged it. With the smile of a five year old kid on his face Tyler threw the Great ball towards the injured Ponyta. But the horse saw the ball coming and quickly stood up and sprinted away as the ball plopped harmlessly on the ground.
"What the? The hell is this?" Tyler asked as the Ponyta continued running away from Magnus and him. "Hey! You're not supposed to run away! Come back here and be caught dammit!" But it was a futile effort as the Ponyta quickly disappeared into the forest having fled the battle to go nurse its injuries.
"Lava?" Magnus looked back at Tyler just as confused. He also thought they'd done enough to gain a new teammate just now, but the slightly dirtied Great ball on the ground said otherwise. After letting out a heavy sigh, Tyler began walking towards the ball and picked it up. But when he did, he heard what sounded like laughing coming from a nearby bush that started to get louder as he looked at it.
"That was pathetic. Hahaha! That was nothing short of pathetic dude." A higher pitched voice briefly interrupted the laughter before it resumed which quickly got under Tyler's skin. As he reattached the newly shrunken Great ball to his belt, Tyler saw a boy, who couldn't have been more than 12 stand up on the other side of the bush he was looking at, only to stumble into a nearby tree to keep himself standing where he continued laughing. "You couldn't even catch a measly Ponyta. Haha! You suck!"
"Fucking prick." Tyler thought to himself as the kid continued to apparently laugh at his expense. His eyes narrowed as he looked at the bratty kid wearing a red and white, short sleeved sweatshirt over a long sleeved green shirt and blue jeans. He looked at Tyler, still laughing and ran his hand through the lengthy brown hair that covered his right eye, revealing he had a green and red colored headband beneath his hair.
"I saw that entire thing. How could you not handle catching a Ponyta kid?" The punk stepped over the bush and took a few steps towards Tyler. "I would have wrecked that thing in no time and caught it without even trying."
"Kid?" Tyler recoiled at the word. Sure he was inexperienced in the actual world, but he had to have years more experience than this little brat. "Right, because being a trainer for four years already makes me a kid. No you're absolutely right."
"Four years?! That makes it even lamer that you failed!" The kid's laughter erupted again, further enraging Tyler.
"Like you're any better yourself." Tyler muttered a bit too loudly as the kid stopped laughing and reached into his sweatshirt pocket. "Can you believe this guy Magnus?"
"Quilava…" Magnus huffed an unimpressed ember in front of him.
"Oh yeah, well tell me kid do you have one of these?" The kid pulled his hand out of his pocket and extended it towards Tyler showing a brown pin like object shaped like a boulder with a silver border and inlayed Poké ball in the center of it. "I bet you don't have a coal badge like me." Again the kid ran his other hand through his hair, flinging it out like he was some sort of pretty boy model or something.
"Wait, that's a Gym badge?"
"If you have to ask the question, that just proves that you really are a pathetic excuse of a trainer." The kid pocketed his badge again and looked at Tyler with a snide expression. "I feel sorry for your Pokémon having to be stuck with a bitch of a trainer like you. Five minutes with me and they'd be champions." A vein in Tyler's forehead started bulging. This brat was starting to remind him of his sister. And just like her, he was really good at pushing his buttons.
"Okay you brat, I've had enough of your attitude. If you think you're so good then you prove it."
"Ha! This will be a laugh." The kid replied grabbing a Poké ball. "You do realize who you're talking to right? The undefeated Pokémon Master from Veilstone City who has never lost once in his life, Derrick Ziggler will gladly put you in your place beneath my boots. Follow me."
"Quil Qulava Quil…" Magnus angrily flared up as he started following after Derrick.
"Hey Magnus hold up." Magnus looked up at Tyler suspiciously, still showing his crossness for Derrick.
"Lava! Lava Quilava!"
"Look I agree, this guy is a dick and he's gotten under my skin too. But you're a little hurt right now."
"Lava!" Magnus shook his head and pawed the ground angrily. "Lava-va Lava!"
"I know buddy, chill, just chill okay." Magnus frowned at Tyler in response. "At least let me heal you before we knock the crap out of this guy." Tyler reached into his backpack and pulled out a Super Potion and sprayed its contents over Magnus' back after his flames petered out.
"Are you coming or did you get cold feet?" Derrick called back through the forest. Both Tyler and Magnus growled in unison as Tyler stood up and marched ahead back out of the forest where they found Derrick standing on a flat meadow. "This will be some good training for my team before my upcoming match with Gardenia when I get my second badge."
"Funny, I was thinking the same exact thing." Tyler confidently replied back. Magnus added to the statement by puffing up another, more intense smoke cloud off his back.
"I hope you've got at least three Pokémon with you, otherwise it won't even be a workout for my team." Tyler just rolled his eyes and looked down at Magnus.
"Feel free to start this battle whenever you're ready mate. Me and Magnus are good to go."
"Lava-va!" Magnus jumped into the air and made a very brief midair Flame Wheel before landing on the ground again.
"Go Sandshrew!" Derrick tossed his Poké ball out onto the meadow, revealing a Pokémon Tyler was very familiar with from training under Justy's Gym. The small shrew with its yellow, sand colored hide was a common site in the deserts of Phenac too. "How do you like this? Unlike you, I actually caught something today over by the Wayward Caves on the other side of the route. And what a perfect opponent for him too. Your Quilava doesn't stand a chance."
"Oh no, whatever will we do with your Ground type being so very advantaged against my Fire type." Tyler sardonically retorted. "Shut him up with a Flamethrower Magnus!" Tyler could feel the excitement radiate off Magnus' body as he spat out a blazing column of fire towards the little shrew.
"Dodge it Sandshrew!" At the last possible moment, the Pokémon jumped out of the way of the attack, as did its trainer as Magnus' fire got a little too close for his comfort as well. "I'll get you for that use Swift!"
"Counter with your own Swift!" As Sandshrew rolled up into a ball and spun, Magnus opened his mouth and both Pokémon began shooting out a volley of stars towards their opponent. Most of the stars collided in the center of the two Pokémon with a few breaking through the exploding stardust and hitting their targets for minimal damage. "Shake it off Sandshrew, now use Magnitude!"
"Oh boy…" Tyler worriedly thought to himself as Sandshrew's rolling ball took on a dark brown outline before stopping and jumping into the air. As he unfolded from his ball, he landed on his hind legs and a rippling shockwave of dirt raced towards Magnus from underground. Tyler felt the tremors himself as they approached Magnus, the ground bulging around him. The Fire type tried to scamper forward to a flatter area but the ground jutted up beneath him, launching him airborne before receding just as quickly. Then again as he came close to the ground, Magnus was hit by a second ripple that knocked him back towards Tyler's feet and on his side.
"Ha! How do you like that? My brand new Pokémon is better than your partner of four years!"
"One hit won't end Magnus that quickly, right buddy?" Tyler asked his Pokémon who stood back up again. Magnus looked back at him with an angry fire on his back. He wasn't about to let this arrogant little prick belittle his pride.
"Lava!" Magnus roared and his entire body became briefly shrouded in fire before receding to an intense flame burning along his back.
"Blaze it up Magnus, use Flame Wheel!" This time Magnus jumped into the air and formed the trademark wheel of the attack, blazing a path straight to the Sandshrew.
"Sandshrew, Rollout!" Just like his opponent, the Sandshrew tucked into a ball and raced towards Magnus. The two rolling Pokémon collided in the center of the meadow, knocking each other back with the force of their attacks.
"Again!" Both trainers yelled at the same time as Magnus and the Sandshrew rolled around to make a second charge towards each other. Like before, the two Pokémon crashed into each other with a thump and knocked each other back. But Tyler noticed this time that Magnus was pushed back further than the Sandshrew had been and that his flame withered slightly as he tried to recover.
"Right, because Rollout gets more powerful if it keeps hitting its mark." Tyler criticized himself for having forgotten one of the more basic lessons Justy told him about the move in trainer's school. "But if he can't hit us, he can't hurt us."
"Rollout once more!" For the third time, Sandshrew's racing ball moved towards Magnus who instinctively rolled his own Flame Wheel towards him in an attack.
"Shift to Quick Attack! Jump left!" Tyler called out and Magnus' wheel took on a whiter tint as the volcano Pokémon planted on his front paws and quickly turned to his left and dodged the attack in a white blur. "Now hit him blindside!" With his body still glowing white, Magnus planted his front paws in the ground and pivoted around them, leaving him in perfect position to strike the unsuspecting Sandshrew.
"Sandshrew Defense Curl!" As Magnus charged towards the rolling Sandshrew, a pale blue aura surrounded his body before the collision knocked Sandshrew flying back towards his trainer. The desert mouse landed on his back, breaking the wheel he'd been in for the past few moments and rolled over twice, but managed to get on his feet.
"Not bad kid. Even I have to admit that was a pretty good move just now." Derrick sarcastically applauded. "But even a broken clock is right twice a day. Sandshrew use Magnitude again!"
"Brace yourself Magnus!" Sandshrew jumped into the air for the second time this match, his boy taking on the dirt brown hue before he landed on the ground. But unlike last time with the clearly visible rumblings beneath the Earth, this Magnitude barely even tickled the ground. Derrick looked around with a clearly confused expression on his face.
"What gives? How come that didn't do anything this time?" Derrick asked his Sandshrew who looked back at him just as surprised the attack did little damage if any to his opponent.
"Take advantage Magnus, Flamethrower!" Showing no sympathy for the failed attack, Magnus spat out a furious column of crimson fire towards the distracted Sandshrew. He looked up in time, instinctively curling into a ball before his trainer could react as the flames swept over him in an instant. Derrick stood there in shock as the attack caught him off guard more than his Pokémon. When the flames finally receded, a blackened ball of yellow fur lay where Sandshrew was a moment ago before the Pokémon fell apart of its ball and sprawled out on its back, clearly defeated by the attack.
"Dammit. Lucky shot." Derrick grumbled as he returned Sandshrew to its Poké ball.
"Well kind of," Tyler admitted as he grabbed Magnus' Poké ball, returning the Fire type to his ball. "You do know Magnitude's power varies with each use don't you?"
"Of course I know that!" Derrick angrily clipped the ball back to his belt and grabbed a second Poké ball. "Time for revenge Machop!" Now appearing on the battlefield was a gray skinned humanoid Pokémon with three browned ridges atop its head. It called out its name on arrival with a loud bellowing call and made a guts pose as it did.
"Machop? This is too easy." Tyler reached for Caelum's Poké ball but stopped himself as he placed his hands on it. "Exactly, it'll be too easy with Caelum. I should try and challenge myself a bit. Besides," Tyler's hand slid over Yuki's ball and detached it. "It'll be some really good training for her if she can overcome the mismatch."
"Glaceon!" Yuki proudly called her name as she emerged from the silver energy shower and saw her opponent. Tyler's mind flashed back to the battle she had against a Machop when she was an Eevee and remembered her shuddering. This time despite the same unfavorable matchup, Yuki stayed resolute and pawed eagerly at the ground with her front paws.
"Again with the bad matchup? Are you trying to insult me?" Derrick yelled at Tyler with his face turning slightly red in the cheeks.
"Yeah, and look how well that ended up for you." Tyler dryly replied as he reached into his backpack for another Super Potion and enlarged Magnus' ball. "Magnus here burnt your Sandshrew to a crisp."
"Well if you don't pay attention to this battle, I'm going to crush your Glaceon into powdered snow! Machop use Karate Chop!"
"Double Team Yuki!" Tyler briefly looked up in time to see Machop's arms both glowing white and racing toward Yuki. But before the Machop could reach her, Yuki's shadowy clones covered the battlefield, quickly outnumbering the Machop enough to make Tyler feel confident enough that the attack would miss. He secured the Poké ball to the nozzle of the Super Potion and sprayed as he heard the attack connect to one of the shadow clones and dissipate it. He stood up, reattached Magnus' ball to his belt and saw that the Glaceon clones had surrounded the Machop in a ring.
"Nicely done Yuki, now use Swift!" Each one of the Glaceon's mouths sparkled yellow before shooting out a blanketing arc of stars from all directions towards the defenseless Fighting Type. There wasn't anywhere for him to move as star after star crashed into him and forced the Machop to curl itself up to try and withstand the assault that was beating him down.
"Jump up to get out of there!" The only place for the Machop to go was up so he wisely leapt up before he could take any more damage. "You'll just have to go one at a time, Karate Chop all of them when you land, so that's what we'll do!"
"Quick Attack Yuki!" With the ring around her opponent, the Glaceon clones began charging towards Machop at a staggered rate. But Machop was ready for the first wave, able to pivot around on its feet and dodge the first clone and chop the second that tried to hit him from behind, dissipating it harmlessly. He moved faster than he looked in a close space as he was able to keep acrobatically dodging the assault at close range as well as pick his spots to deplete the clone army to half its size.
But the whole time Yuki herself was biding her time and waiting to strike. Tyler was keeping his eye firmly on her and watched her try to read the Machop's pattern and his trainer's scanning of the battlefield. Occasionally she'd move from spot to spot to make herself less obvious, a couple times faking a charge and backing away to let another clone take her place. But soon she stood beside one of her clones and they both nodded in unison before they and another clone at the Machop's blindside ran ahead.
"At the back! They're trying to distract you with the two of them!" Derrick called and his Pokémon pivoted on its foot and slashed a glowing arm towards the clone, making it disappear on contact to Derrick's surprise. "What? How?
"Because Yuki outsmarted you, that's how. Now go get her girl, use Return!" Yuki's body became coated in her sparkling diamond dust aura as she crashed into the Machop's back, knocking him on his face, and flipping him over twice more before coming to a stop.
"Glaceon Glae!" Yuki proudly called her name again as she looked back at Tyler with a heartwarming smile. Her energy couldn't help but put the same smile back on Tyler's own face.
"Machop get up! We're not about to lose here!"
"Machop Chop!" The resilient fighter pushed itself back up off the ground and bellowed its name before punching its fists together.
"Use Foresight!" A red tint came over Machop's eyes before a faint beam of red energy shot out towards Yuki and outlined her body in the same red energy. "Now just get in there and hit them!"
"Double Team again!" Like she had before, Yuki created a group of clones nearby her person, but this time, Machop made an abrupt turn to his right and his hand began glowing. The slash actually connected with the real Yuki this time, striking her on the upper part of her back and stunning her.
"Yuki!"
"Now Low Sweep!" Machop crouched down and placed his hands on the ground and swung his legs around in a circle, knocking Yuki's front legs out from under her. He then spun around again and connected with a kick to the side of Yuki's head, knocking her on her side before Machop.
"Glacie!" Yuki painfully mewled as she struggled to get back to her feet.
"Finish her off with Seismic Toss!" Machop ran up to Yuki's body and placed his arms around her. He picked her up and started spinning in a circle before throwing Yuki into the air back towards Tyler. She crashed on the ground, rolling over once and clearly looking dazed back at her trainer as she tried to get back up.
"Yuki, you don't have to keep fighting." Tyler worriedly said to his Glaceon as she tried to shake the stars out of her eyes.
"G-lae. Glaceon…" Yuki shook her head again looking at Tyler. This time stars weren't in her eyes, but instead a faint flame. "Glaceon!" She added while pointing towards the Machop and Derrick with her paw.
"You sure you want to continue?"
"Glacie!" Yuki nodded her head and turned back towards the Machop, looking at him and then turned back to Tyler with what almost looked like a cocky smile that made an amused chuckle slip through Tyler's lips. It really didn't suit the princess vibe she normally gave off, but dammit if she didn't look cute with that confident smile on her face.
"G-lae, Glaceon Glae-cie!" Yuki said while pawing at the ground with her front paw before pointing towards the Machop and nodding at Tyler. Tyler placed his hand on his chin as Yuki stood on her hind legs, jumped and then opened and closed her jaw with a frosted tint at her mouth before landing.
"I hope I understood that plan of yours." Tyler laughed nervously as he pet Yuki's tuque. "Because if we mess this up you're getting knocked out.
"Machop, end this with another Karate Chop!"
"Dig underground Yuki!" Glaceon's smile grew again as she jumped up before her trainer and burrowed her way underground before the Machop could hit her. Machop looked around the uneven battlefield with the bumps and small hills Sandshrew created earlier and tried to find where Yuki might be.
"Stay patient Machop. Let her come to you and hit her when she does." The Machop's arms began glowing white as he crossed them over his chest and looked back and forth trying to find any sign of his opponent.
During the temporary stalemate, Tyler took a page out of Yuki's book and began reading Machop's movements himself. He noticed that Machop was falling into a routine very quickly. He'd look left, right, left again and then hop up to spin around and scan the other side. He started timing the movements in his head to get a better idea of when to try and strike. When he planted his feet was one, the first two head sweeps were two, three was the third and both four and five were the hop turn. He figured the best time to strike would be the new blind turning blindside on the hop spin. Machop landed again, one… two… three!
"Spring up now Yuki!" As Machop hopped up to spin around, Yuki jumped up in front of where he was looking and now had his back turned. She was going to hit the blindspot in the defense!
"Pivot on your foot and use Karate Chop with your right!" But Derrick was ready for the attack and so was Machop, following the instruction flawlessly as he spun around on his foot. His arm glowed a brighter white as Machop roared and threw a slash towards his now revealed target.
"Quickly use Swift on his face!" Yuki's mouth opened and as the Machop turned to fully face him, Yuki shot a nearly point blank Swift volley at the Superpower Pokémon's face, dazing it and forcing him to cover his eyes with his arms. "Now use Ice Fang!"
"Glaceon!" Yuki halted her shooting stars as her mouth took on an icy hue and she bit down on the Machop's leg. A small pool of ice surrounded the rest of the Machop's leg, but Yuki wasn't finished. With strength Tyler didn't know she had, Yuki planted her legs and threw the Machop back towards his trainer, landing on his side a few feet away from where she stood.
"End this with Return!" For the second time, Yuki's diamond dust coated her body as she crashed into the Machop as he tried to stand on his frozen leg. With a heavy blow, Yuki threw all her weight into the Machop and knocked him airborne again, only this time sent him flying all the way to his trainer's feet and this time, he didn't get up from the attack either.
"G-lae!" Yuki victoriously called out as she turned back towards Tyler with a purely euphoric smile on her lips. She ran towards her trainer and leapt into his arms with him spinning her around a couple times in victory.
"That was beautiful Yuki!" Tyler gave Yuki an affectionate and lengthy kiss of the forehead once he stopped spinning. "That was a fantastic strategy of yours just now! Wait till we tell Wendy, she's gonna love you for this!"
"Glaceon!"
"Well, you've definitely earned a rest, haven't you princess?" Tyler held Yuki in one hand as he began fishing for her ball with the other. But once he grabbed it, Yuki decided to lick his cheek and the resulting cold shock and shiver down his spine made him drop the ball to the ground. "You little rascal." Tyler knelt down, setting Yuki back on the ground and picked her ball up again. "Go take a nap okay." And with a pulse of red energy, Yuki was returned to her ball as well.
"Alright, that's it. You might have beaten my other two Pokémon, but you can't possibly take on my last Pokémon." Derrick loudly grumbled as he returned his Machop and grabbed his last Poké ball. "This is my strongest Pokémon and like me, he's never lost a match once. Get revenge Prinplup!"
Amidst the silver shower of energy emerged a Pokémon Tyler was again unfamiliar with. Standing before him was a dark blue Pokémon with patches of lighter blue on the tips of his paddle-like arms, his face and most of his lower body. It called its name on arrival, drawing Tyler to the golden ridges on its head like the Machop had earlier.
"Your strongest Pokémon huh? I guess I should use my strongest Pokémon too then. That's the only way to make it fair right?" Tyler said grabbing Caelum's Poké bal. "Take flight Caelum!" Caelum emerged from his own silver shower already flying with contrails behind him as he looped around the battlefield before looking down at the Prinplup with disdain, letting out an intimidating caw.
"Damn, Caelum looks pissed. He must have heard all the shit this kid was talking earlier." Tyler laughed to himself as he saw Caelum resume his default flying pattern over the battlefield. "I would not want to be Derrick right now."
"Prinplup, use Bubblebeam!" The Prinplup opened its beak as it started glowing light blue before shooting a spiraling round of bubbles out of its mouth.
"Outspeed him with a Tailwind!" Caelum cawed in response, flapping his wings furiously and setting up a ring of wind on the outside of the meadow. He then entered his own Tailwind and with the boost, effortlessly dodged the bubbles that were shot towards him.
"Keep on firing Prinplup, we'll hit him eventually!"
"Prin!" Shot after shot of the bubbles filled the sky, but even with the Prinplup beginning to make adjustments to try and lead Caelum to his attack, the bubbles were just too slow moving to keep up with him at all.
"Try aiming into the wind currents!" Prinplup nodded again and fired a constant barrage of bubbles into the ring of wind. Now with the assist from the wind, Prinplup's attack was actually starting to approach its mark. Within moments Caelum was racing back towards where Prinplup was shooting the bubbles into the airstream.
"Caelum, Aerial Ace!" Without hesitation, Caelum dipped out of the air current and looped underneath the spiraling bubbles, now flying above them and let out another angry cry.
"Raptor Tor Tor TOR!" All of a sudden Caelum's body exploded in a bright flash of blue energy as the burning Tyler had worried about earlier surrounded his body. His already boosted speed somehow increased again as he tucked his wings into his body and the aura began sparking off his body. With arrow like precision and grace, the Staraptor began falling straight towards Prinplup.
"Caelum!" Tyler worriedly called out to his Pokémon, hoping he'd be okay since there was no time for him to recover from this attack.
"Dodge it Prinpl-" But Derrick's call for a dodge was already too late as Caelum closed the gap in an instant, slamming into Prinplup's body with an incredible force of energy. An explosion of fiery energy and a dust cloud consumed both Pokémon for a moment before Caelum's body shot out from the center of the cloud.
"Staraptor!" Caelum loudly cawed his name and Tyler saw what look like blue sparks run down the length of his back. But aside from that the predator Pokémon looked perfectly fine. His opponent on the other hand, lay completely motionless in the center of the meadow with his beak wide open and a glazed look over his eyes.
"Holy shit Caelum. You knocked him out in one hit." Tyler said in stunned awe as his Staraptor landed before him and began picking at his wings with his beak. "Um… use Roost?" Caelum quietly cawed in response as his body began glowing in a faint white outline. "Good job man… That was terrifying to watch, but good job."
"Prinplup?" Derrick nervously ran out towards his Pokémon who weakly moved his flipper like arms. Tyler saw Derrick let out a sigh of relief as the Pokémon sat up beside him. "Thank goodness."
Suddenly, Tyler heard a beeping noise from the pocket he kept his P*DA in, which was curious since it'd never beeped at him before like this. He pulled it out of his pocket and saw a red notification on the main screen. Clicking on it, it quickly pulled up Caelum's tab in the P*DA and highlighted something under the Known Moves heading, a new move that Tyler hadn't recognized as there before.
"Brave Bird? Was that what that was?" Caelum stopped his faint glowing as he tilted his head sideways. "Alright then, you learned a new attack. Way to go man." Tyler grabbed Caelum's ball and returned the Pokémon to the ball before standing up and walking over towards Derrick, who had just returned his Prinplup to its ball.
"Hey, sorry about that," Tyler began. "I had no idea that Caelum was-"
"Save your breath kid. You don't need to offer your sympathy to us." Derrick held his hand up to Tyler.
"Oh God…" Tyler frowned as he reached into his backpack. "Stupid kid's about to cry. I should at least offer to heal his Prinplup."
"After all, it's only natural that we'd lose to our rival." Instead of the look of defeat on his face, Tyler instead saw an excited smile on Derrick's face instead.
"What…" Tyler deadpanned in complete disbelief.
"You beat us fair and square, and you're the first person to do so. So that makes us rivals now."
"What…" Tyler repeated.
"Hey, I'm sorry about all the stuff I said earlier. You didn't deserve any of it. You're actually a really good trainer. I mean you'd have to be to beat me right?"
"Uh… yeah?" Tyler nervously smiled as the kid grabbed his hand and shook it.
"What's your name? I mean I can't just call you rival when we keep running into each other in the future since we're now bound by the strings of fate."
"Oh lord, what did I get myself into…" Tyler said internally before finally answering Derrick's question. "Tyler Lawson."
"Tyler Lawson… I'll be sure to remember that man. You'd better believe it. You'll be seeing more of me, Derrick Ziggler in the future! Here," Derrick reached into his pocket again and handed Tyler some prize money. "Take this, a gift truly worthy of my rival. And good luck at Gardenia's Gym, though I really doubt you'll need it with your team as strong as it is right now."
"If you say so man." Tyler stood there completely flabbergasted as Derrick merrily walked away from him back towards the forest. After a moment, Tyler remembered he was still holding a potion in his hands and decided to use it on Yuki's ball so she could be healed up after her fight, then pocketed the money in his other. He looked up in the clouds and saw the sun was still bright overhead, meaning he still had plenty of time before he needed to return the bike to the shop.
"I guess I can keep looking for a Pokémon to catch." Tyler said to himself as he went back towards the riverbank to get a drink from the lake. "Man that's refreshing… but what the hell just was that? I mean… you know what, whatever. Let's just focus on finding a Pokémon to catch." An unexpected rumbling of his stomach caught Tyler by surprise and made him laugh briefly.
"Okay, maybe I should find some food first… Hey, Magnus found a berry bush earlier. Wild berries would be great right now; and I could bring some back for Wendy when she comes back too." Tyler grabbed Magnus' ball and released the Fire type once again.
"Quil?" Magnus looked up at Tyler curiously before looking around, seemingly for Derrick.
"Yeah, we already beat Derrick Magnus." Magnus hung his head in disappointment, clearly wanting to have fought a bit more today. "Yeah well that's not important now. So, you found some berries earlier right?"
"Lava!" In an instant, Magnus' mood shifted to the happy glutton that he almost always was whenever food was being discussed.
"Think you can you show me where the berries are?" In a blur of white energy and flames, Magnus exploded from where he stood and was running as fast as he could back down the riverbank. "Hey! At least wait for your trainer dammit!" Tyler quickly pulled up his bicycle and began chasing after Magnus along the river.
Tyler wasn't able to keep up with Magnus and had to rely on the smoke wafting off his body to find him. But a few minutes of intense peddling later, Tyler was finally nearing the end of the path his Fire type had blazed for him. Off to his right was Magnus, clearly enjoying some high quality berries from the bush, but he wasn't the only one there.
Beside Magnus was a purpleish-pink Pokémon with a pair of pincer like claws at the end of his arms. Beneath those arms was a pair of blue like membrane sheets that looked like wings, one of which unfurled as the Pokémon extended a claw towards Magnus with a berry on the end of it that the Quilava happily accepted. As Quilava ate the berry, the Pokémon smiled at him, showing a pair of fangs sticking out of his mouth in a smile of their own. Tyler pulled out his P*DA again and activated the scanning feature, holding at the Pokémon as it ate on another berry.
"Gligar huh?" Tyler said looking back up at the Pokémon while the encyclopedic information about it loaded. "It sails on the winds with its limbs extended to strike from the sky. It aims for the prey's face…then jabs with its poison stinger… Seems like a smart Pokémon." Tyler put the P*DA in his pocket and approached the two Pokémon from behind. "So this is your berry bush, huh Magnus?"
"Gli?" Gligar and Magnus both looked back at Tyler. Gligar with a look of suspicion but Magnus naturally had a smile on his face.
"Lava. Quilava-va La Quil!" Magnus excitedly spoke to Gligar who now looked at the Fire type instead.
"Gligar? Gar Gli Gli?"
"Quil!" Magnus nodded his head, getting a smile on Gligar's face. The Pokémon used one of its pincers to cut free a Rawst berry and held it lightly in the pincer. He then jumped up and threw his arms out wide, gliding along the air to right before Tyler.
"Gligar!" He held the berry towards Tyler with a goofy looking smile on his face.
"Thanks." Tyler took the berry and took a bite out of it and his eyes quickly rolled back in his head from refreshment. The berry was amazing, perfectly juicy with just a small amount of bitterness to it. "Oh this is great. Thanks Gligar."
"Gligar!" The flying scorpion jumped up and glided back towards where Magnus and he had been gorging themselves on the berries. He cut free another berry and put it in his mouth, smiling back at Tyler and motioned for him to join them.
So Tyler did, taking a seat by Magnus and releasing both Caelum and Yuki from their balls as well, letting them also join in the pending berry feast. This Gligar was acting exceptionally friendly throughout, offering berries to every one of Tyler's Pokémon and him all throughout their lunch. Gligar seemed like he was just naturally gifted at getting along with Tyler's team. And with another berry in his mouth, Tyler started thinking about maybe adding the Gligar to his team.
"Say Gligar," Tyler said as the Pokémon looked at him. He clipped another berry off the bush and held it to Tyler. "Oh, thanks. But I want to ask you something."
"Gligar?" The Gligar picked another berry and tossed it in his mouth.
"Well, you seem to be getting along with my Pokémon quite well, it almost feels like you're already a teammate of ours. So I was wondering if you might want to make it official."
"Gli – gar!" Gligar nodded his head, with a strong look in his eyes. "Gli Gligar. Gligar!"
"Let me guess, you want to test us first though?" Again the Gligar nodded his head. "So let's make it official then."
"Gligar." Gligar grinned as he jumped up and lazily glided to a more open section of the meadow away from the berry bushes with Tyler and his three Pokémon following him. Caelum chased after the Gligar in a lazy game of chase with a smile on his face, apparently having gotten over the Derrick episode from earlier in the day. Magnus and Yuki walked on opposite sides of him as Gligar landed on the ground, facing the three Pokémon and Tyler. "Gli – gar!"
"So, which one of you guys wants to start our battle?" Tyler asked his Pokémon as Caelum landed between Magnus and Yuki. All three of Tyler's Pokémon each made an excited cry of their own, leaving Tyler with one possible answer. "Well, since you're all so eager to fight, we'll all go as a group. Magnus, you're up first."
"Lava!" Magnus jumped forward before Gligar on the grassy field. Gligar saw this is the start of the battle and sprang into the air, throwing his arms out to expand the blue wings under his arms to start flying.
"Use Swift Magnus!" Magnus opened his mouth and spat out a volley of shooting stars into the breeze. Feeling the breeze kick up, Gligar angled his wings in a way to catch the breeze and climb up and over the attack. "Smart little bugger." Tyler thought to himself as he saw Gligar loop back down towards the ground, angling towards Magnus. "So Gligar, what are you up to?"
"Gar!" The Gligar hovered low above the ground and dug his claw in the grass, digging up some dirt and sand as he went before throwing it at Magnus' face.
"Sand attack? Crafty little bugger too." Tyler mumbled as he watched the Gligar soar past Magnus, leaving the poor Fire type partly blinded. Frustrated, Magnus looked around through squinted eyes and fired a star volley off towards a random direction where Gligar wasn't. "Calm down Magnus, he's not over there… actually where is the little guy?" Tyler started looking around, as did his other two Pokémon trying to find the flying scorpion but they couldn't see him. How hard was it to find a flying purple scorpion in the middle of a grassy field?
"Gligar!" Tyler followed the voice and saw Gligar already on top of Magnus and hitting him broadside with a claw to his chest that earned a pained yelp from the Quilava.
"How'd he do that? Take my eye off him for a split second and he just disappears." Tyler pondered as Gligar resumed floating over the meadow while Magnus stood up and refocused. "It's like the Sand Attack was a distraction and then the real attack was just… dammit he used Feint Attack. You really are a crafty little bugger."
"Gligar!" The Gligar replied, sounding pleased with its deceitful hit. "Gli Gligar!"
"Luckly, I like crafty Pokémon like you. Unfortunately for you though, you're not getting that move to work on me twice. Magnus, aim a Flamethrower at 2 o'clock high!" Magnus glared in the direction he was told and fired off a ferocious column of fire towards where the Gligar was floating. This time he folded his arms in, retracting his wings and sunk below the attack before recovering again.
"Aim lower Magnus, just keep on firing where I tell you." Magnus responded in kind, lowering his blaze's trajectory down and the Gligar had to drift around to dodge. But with Tyler guiding the flames, Magnus stayed persistent and his attacks were keeping up. Whether he climbed or fell, shot out in his right or tried looping around the whole field, Tyler continued to call for Flamethrowers in each direction.
"Gar!" After barely dodging another attack, Gligar decided to fall until he was parallel with the ground and shoot towards Magnus. This time his body took on a white hue as he crashed into Magnus' side.
"Well that's definitely Quick Attack," Tyler thought aloud, easily recognizing the attack as Gligar turned around for another attack. "Race forward and use a Quick Attack of your own!" Magnus sprinted forward with his own white blur around his body as both Pokémon crashed into each other and Gligar was finally grounded for a moment with both Pokémon stunned at the collision.
"Flamethrower, dead ahead!" One more pillar of flames shot out towards the Gligar as he hadn't recovered from his being stunned a moment ago. The flames engulfed the scorpion for a moment and Tyler celebrated thinking he'd caught him in the attack. But a moment later, Gligar emerged out of the middle of the fire with a few singe marks and a dusting of soot on his tail, but aside from that he looked fine.
"And you're tough too? Man I really want you on our team now Gligar." But seeing Gligar was being too dominant over Magnus with the air advantage, Tyler needed to knock him out of the sky in order to do that. "Okay Magnus fall back; Caelum, it's your turn!"
"Staraptor!" Caelum's loud, intimidating caw echoed over the valley. Normally it would cause some sort of response to the other Pokémon, but this Gligar seemed completely unfazed by it. He grinned eagerly at the new opponent instead and flew towards him.
"Use Aerial Ace!" Like the Gligar had been doing earlier, Caelum looped back in the air and surrounded his body in white contrails as he descended towards Gligar. Tyler was worried that maybe Brave Bird would take over like it had been the last few times, but the attack stayed true and Caelum was able to clip Gligar's claw with his talon, almost knocking him out of the sky.
"Gligar! Gli – gar!" Both pincer claws on the Gligar's hands began glowing with a crimson energy and he began chasing after Caelum. The two Flying types began weaving and dancing along the air currents in a game of aerial cat and mouse which was fairly ironic given that normally the larger Caelum would be pursuing instead of chasing in this role reversal. Caelum decided to stay low while Gligar climbed higher and then dove towards him, just missing as the Staraptor halted his flight and watched the Gligar race past him. However he looped around much faster than either Caelum or Tyler expected and hit Caelum with one of his glowing claws before hitting him a second time across the back.
"Alright, you want a close fight? Sure, we can do that too. Close Combat Caelum!" Together, Caelum and the Gligar began exchanging a series of attacks as they fought above the ground. Gligar was continuing to try and throw his glowing pincer claws for hits, while Caelum was throwing everything he could at him, talon punches, slaps of the wings and furious pecks. The two aerial Pokémon exchanged blows for a moment before both sides connected with a blow at the same time and knocked the other back.
"How you doing Caelum?" Tyler asked as his bird flapped his wings to re-stabilize himself.
"Star." Caelum called back, shaking his head to alertness as Gligar did the same.
"Good, well if you can keep going, give him another Aerial Ace!" Caelum flapped his wings and charged straight ahead with the contrails around his body once more. Gligar also had the same idea, with is body putting off his own contrails through Quick Attack and again both Pokémon collided in midair. Tyler watched Gligar flip backwards and begin to fall towards the ground, but again recovered enough to climb back up and face Caelum.
"Dammit, I need to knock him out of the sky in order to beat him." He needed speed in order to do it and normally Caelum would be enough with just Tailwind. But with Gligar's ability to take advantage of wind currents himself, he'd end up helping Gligar's mobility as well. It was then that Tyler remembered that blue aura he'd been fearful of until earlier with Derrick. Remembering the moment, Tyler recalled he had a Tailwind up in the battle. But even so, Caelum shot forward with an even more ridiculous speed when he used Brave Bird that first time. Maybe that would be enough to knock the Gligar out of the sky.
"Only one way to find out, Caelum use Brave Bird!" Caelum's intimidating caw echoed through the valley again as he climbed up high towards the sun. At the crest of his ascent, the burning blue aura began enveloping his body and Caelum fell out of the sky like a bullet straight towards the Gligar. He threw his own wings out to catch a breeze and climb, but Caelum made a small adjustment with his own wingtip at the last second and caught Gligar in the chest, resulting in an exploding ball of energy that knocked Gligar out of the sky.
"Staraptor!" Caelum cried as blue sparks surrounded his body and his own flight path began wavering as well. But he'd done more than enough already as Gligar quickly crash landed back on the meadow and was struggling to get back to even a standing position.
"You've done enough Caelum, now Yuki go finish this battle with Ice Fang!"
"Glaceon!" With Caelum wobbling back down to Earth, Yuki ran forward towards where the Gligar lay with frost sparkling around her mouth. It couldn't be more perfect of a chance for them. Gligar was low to the ground, and an Ice attack would be massively effective against it if the attack landed. Tyler hoped that Yuki's move would work as she jumped towards the now standing Gligar and opened her mouth, sinking her teeth into his arm.
"Gar!" Gligar briefly cried out in pain before being overwhelmed by all the accumulated damage and went limp from Yuki's throw over towards Tyler.
"Perfect, let's go Great ball!" Tyler detached one of his Great balls, enlarged it and threw the empty ball towards the defeated Gligar. The ball smacked against its body, bouncing off it before snapping open and consuming the Pokémon in a beam of red light and fell to the ground.
"Come on… please!" Tyler prayed to the ball as he saw the sensors on the button in the center glowing red while the ball wobbled in place. All three of Tyler's Pokémon watched with the same bated breath feeling as their trainer had before it stopped wobbling in place and a faint ping and clicking noise came from the ball. Tyler had caught the Gligar.
"Yes! We did it you guys!" Tyler ran forward full of elation and scooped up the Gligar's ball and thrust it into the sky. "We caught our first Pokémon!" All three of Tyler's other Pokémon called out their names in victory with their trainer's triumphant shouts of joy. After the euphoria began washing away, Tyler reached back in his backpack again and grabbed the last of his initial Super Potions and sprayed the medicine into Gligar's ball to heal him up.
"Well, now that it's official. Come on out Gligar!" Tyler tossed the ball up in the air and Gligar joined the team in a shower of silver sparks, lazily gliding along the wind before landing at Tyler's feet with that ever present smile still on his face.
"You are just full of smiles, aren't you Gligar?" Tyler laughed as Gligar's infectious smile putting one on his face as well.
"Gligar!"
"Well, I suppose we should all introduce ourselves now. Gligar, this is Magnus, Caelum and Yuki," Tyler said pointing to each of his other Pokémon in kind as he said their names. Gligar offered each of them a friendly smile and a wave of his claw. "And I'm Tyler, your new trainer. Nice to meet you."
"G-lie!" Everyone in the group quickly had a laugh as introductions became finished.
"Now, normally I like to wait a little bit to do this," Tyler said once the laughter died down. "But I already have a good feeling about giving you a nickname Gligar and it's perfect for you too." Gligar looked at him curiously but was clearly excited to be receiving a gift from his trainer already.
"Since you appear to be constantly happy and we have already been both blessed and very lucky to be in your presence in this short time, I only feel it appropriate that from this moment on Gligar, that you go by the name of Felix."
"Gligar Gli – gar!" The newly dubbed Felix sprang up and landed on the top of Tyler's head in an apparent hug, which brought another round of innocent and merry laughter to his team. Obviously, the name was a huge success; although Tyler did think in the back of his mind, that Felix would have been happy with just about any name. He was just glad to have some new friends to play with now.
"So Felix, I've got a couple more friends to introduce you to later, but I'd like to get them some wild berries as well. You wouldn't happen to know where we could find another berry bush around here would you?"
"Gligar!" Felix saluted his new trainer and jumped in the air, riding the winds deeper into the nearby forest with Magnus excitedly yipping along at his tail. Caelum lazily rolled through the skies past after them, leaving Tyler and Yuki behind the group.
"Hey Yuki. You did fantastic work all day today. I am super proud of you." Tyler said picking Yuki up in his arms and giving her a kiss on the lips which she happily returned with a frosted kiss of her own. He positioned Yuki so he could hold her in one arm with her paws draped over his back shoulder and grabbed the handlebars of the bike with his free hand, rolling the bike with him as they slowly chased after the rest of their new team.
A/N: Alright, this is great. Chapter 23 is in the books and finally, we've gotten Tyler a new Pokémon to add to his team! Ah I'm so excited for it to be spring! I mean I love winter, but even I get sick of it eventually.
Tyler: I think I'm starting to get sick of the super energized you. I wish some clouds would show up and take away the sun.
DrPhill26: So I should probably say this here if you haven't heard me say it already. I've been on spring break the past week, which unfortunately ends for me today. That coupled with the fact that I've had this particular chapter where Tyler captures his first Pokémon planned out in my head for a very long time now is why I had the ridiculously quick turnaround here.
Tyler: So no more solar powered Phil?
DrPhill26: Hey, Sunny Day only lasts either five or eight turns anyway. And that sun is about to run out on me once I head back to school. So assume this was just a fluke, and that I'll be going back to my regular-ish upload schedule after that. Hope you guys had fun. This is DrPhill26 signing out again and I hope I get to see you all again relatively soon.